'Gone Girl' is back in demand at the library

In 2012 the library acquired many copies of Gillian Flynn's 2012 mega-bestseller 'Gone Girl' to keep up with demand. Topping the 'New York Times' bestseller list for months, in demand by bookgroups and readers of mysteries, we could barely keep up with the lengthy reserve lists for the book. Then demand quieted down for a year or so - until this week. The movie starring Ben Affleck will open tomorrow, the reviews are pretty good and the advertising and p.r. for the film are ubiquitous, so we brought the books up out of storage and put them on display. (Thanks to library staffer A-M S. for that idea:-) Library  patrons instantly checked out every single copy we own and the book is probably checked out at most public libraries and trending on book sales this week.
Our library book group read and discussed 'Gone Girl' a year ago in September and our imaginary blog correspondents, Marian the Librarian and Fleur the Frog wrote 'Gone Girl, the definitive review' in alternating parts to mimic the conflicting points of view of married couple Amy and Nick Dunne that Ms. Flynn uses in her book. In the review, Marian the Librarian presents a dark, obsessive point of view teetering into madness. Fleur the Frog presents a cheerful facade masking a dark side. Both Fleur and Marian frankly seem a bit unhinged, possibly from reading this book and possibly from identifying with the characters in the book a bit too much. To say that this book takes the idea of the unreliable narrator to extremes is an understatement. The twist at the end is worthy of Alfred Hitchcock and Patricia Highsmith. The creepiness of the characters turns off a lot of readers, but the page-turning suspense will probably make you want to finish the book anyway.
Did the book group like 'Gone Girl?' Well, yes and no. The verdict: it is readable, entertaining, clever, and original, but the main characters are so loathsome that most book group readers found it all a bit unsettling. Still, I would recommend this book to most readers of fiction and mysteries. Just wait a few weeks until the movie is gone, and then the copies will all be back on the library shelves.
The 'Gone Girl' review from last year follows: thanks again to 'special' correspondents Marian and Fleur. We hope they are reading happier books and are recovering from their 'Gone Girl' experience.

Gone Girl: the definitive review

MARIAN THE LIBRARIAN
THE DAY OF THE BOOK GROUP MEETING

When I think of my book group, I always think about how many people will come to the meeting, how many will have read the book, did they like the book, should I have questions ready to ask about the book? The book group starts in 45 minutes. Where to start? I finally read the mega-bestselling thriller/mystery Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn (2012) and I did not go into the reading with an open mind. People either love this book or hate it. The opinions I heard from patrons at the library and from friends and family and the reviews I read had already made me dread reading it. I don't like to read bestsellers; they sell themselves; I like to read literary orphans. I don't like dark books with twisted characters; I like sunny distractions, the book equivalent of a situation comedy on television.

FLEUR THE FROG
AUGUST 26, 2013

JOURNAL ENTRY

Tra and la! I am a happy frog blogger reading the nifty bestseller for the library book group. I am so happy I finally got my book from the holds list so I can see what all the excitement is about this huge bestseller. I put the book in my perfect little froggy book bag and went home to make a cup of green tea and sat down with great anticipation to read Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. Even though she's not a frog, I hear she's a really good writer. My parents are the famous authors of the 'Fantastic Fleur the Frog' series about the perfect little frog who always does the right thing. They based the books on me because I'm perfect and always cheerful and also I like to make up puzzles just like Fantastic Fleur does.
1. Do I pretend to like this book even if I don't?
2. Do I just read reviews and get back to my fun books that I want to read.
3. Do I read the book, take notes, write a review and ask questions from a list at the book group meeting?
Answer: I think you know that Fantastic Fleur will do #3, don't you? Don't you? You don't? Oh, I might have to punish you, dear reader.

MARIAN THE LIBRARIAN
THE EVENING OF THE BOOK GROUP DISCUSSION OF GONE GIRL

The clock on my computer says 6:56 PM so I have to finish my review before the group meets. I have read the book. I'm not sure I liked the book. The book was compulsively readable, but nasty. Oh, I feel so dirty. It drew me in, and I ate it up, but I hated the characters and the plot was so contrived and unbelievable at the end, but I kept reading anyway. I felt like putting it down and reading something fun like Alexander McCall Smith, something light and sunny and uncomplicated, not dark and twisted like Amy and Nick Dunne's story. But that would be cheating. On the book, turning my back on the book group. So I read it. I couldn't help myself. I loved this book, but I hate it too, I just don't know how to tell the truth about this book.

FLEUR THE FROG
AUGUST 29, 2013
JOURNAL ENTRY

I'm so fantastic. I finished the book in less than three days! Here's a quiz I made up about the book:
1. Do you hate Amy or Nick more?
2. Did you guess what the plot twist was?
3. Did you want to kill Amy more than Nick does?
4. Did you want to make as much money as that lawyer of Nicks?
Answer: all of the above!!! Duh.

MARIAN THE LIBRARIAN
ONE MONTH GONE SINCE I CHECKED OUT THIS BOOK

You can "Google" the title and find reviews and, as the vernacular saying goes, unless you've been living under a rock,  you know that this book is the story of a marriage, a failed marriage, between two really twisted people. On their fifth wedding anniversary Amy, the wife, disappears and soon after, Nick the husband is suspected of her murder. The book is told from the point of view of Nick alternating with Amy's journal entries chronicling the story of their marriage up until the day of her disappearance. The second part of the book, and here's the spoiler, is told from Amy in the present tense and continues with Nick's narration too.
Quiz:
1.Did you see the spoiler there?
2. Did you see it coming? I did.
3.Do you feel cheated, manipulated as a reader or
4. Do you just not care anymore.
Oh, wait, I'm Marian, not Fleur. Fleur's the character who makes up quizzes.  I think our characters are merging. Help I hate that frog, I love that frog, I am a frog.

Posted by Fleur: Fleur's other contributions to the blog
Posted by Marian the Librarian: Ms. Librarian's previous posts

How Do Libraries Select Books

The majority of adult fiction, mysteries and science fiction is ordered for the library based on reviews.  I regularly read Booklist, Library Journal, and Publisher’s Weekly.  In addition, I subscribe to several on-line review sources and also check the reviews in People and the Sunday edition of the Star Ledger.  Whatever I am reading, I look for reviews.  The reference staff checks a variety of bestseller lists.  Yes, we do our homework before a book is shelved and available to our patrons.

Reviews can be very straightforward and even forceful,  the reviewer may command, 

"All public libraries should buy this book!"  

 Reviewers are sometimes very polite and use phrases such as,

 "Nice but not essential," or imply the book might not be the author’s very best effort. 

     

Reviewers can be absolutely brutal,

"No public library should buy this book!"

Frequently, the reviews are puzzling and offer no real guidance or indication of who the intended audience might be.

The following snippets caught my eye this morning:

           " … sensitive readers may not get past the foul language…"

            "…if her novel has any weakness, it’s a lack of plot and character development…"

           '"…recommended for fans and those who’ve enjoyed a good cookie table…"

            "…fun if gruesome horror read…"

            "…gets off to a strong, compelling start but loses its way midpoint…"

            "…her novel’s startling ending may leave some readers scratching their heads…"

            "…readers will find that all their tears are worth it…."

Would you read any of those books?

Oh well, back to reading reviews and trying to find the right books for your library.

Related websites:

The New York Times bestseller lists

USA Today book section

The EarlyWord

S. Bakos

Most Popular Titles This Year

The top ten most circulated titles at Berkeley Heights Public Library so far this year:

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Racketeer by John Grisham
Notorious Nineteen : a Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich
Six Years by Harlan Coben
The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy
Inferno by Dan Brown
The Husband List by Janet Evanovich
The Forgotten by David Baldacci
Alex Cross, Run by James Patterson

 Reading suggestions on the slat book display near the Circulation Desk

If you like hard-boiled mysteries...

I took a sharp detour from reading my usual cozy mystery genre to venture into the dark underbelly of crime, violent characters, urban decay and deceitful treachery of the noir genre. The 39th installment in the Spenser series by the late Robert B. Parker,  Sixkill introduces Zebulon Sixkill, an American Indian whom Spenser takes on as an apprentice. Parker's Spenser series is always dependably engrossing and well-written and Sixkill will not disappoint fans.
Next, I read George Pelecanos' The Cut, the first in a new series featuring investigator Spero Lucas. Spero is an Iraq vet and D.C. native who works for a local lawyer and takes his own cases recovering lost property. Fans of TV's the Wire and Treme, written by Pelecanos, will know to expect a very dark view of humanity and lots of heart-wrenching violence.  Despite the fact that I don't generally read or particularly like violent novels, The Cut held my attention and I finished it despite an incredibly graphic and disturbing murder scene which made me want to quit reading altogether. Fans of Michael Connelly will like Pelecanos' books. Washington, DC natives will recognize the local landmarks, schools, restaurants and haunts that only natives are familiar with. This is not the DC of people who live in Georgetown and the northwest section of Northwest and who come and go with political jobs. It's the DC of rabid Redskins fans and people who know how to get around without ever using the Beltway.
Related websites:
George Pelecanos
Robert B. Parker

It's Ten P.M. Are your children practising violin 'til their fingers bleed?

Amy Chua's recent memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, which recounts her strict parenting style, has caused quite a stir lately. The New York Times scathing review reads:
 "Ms. Chua was not about to raise prizeless slackers. She wanted prodigies, even if it meant nonstop, punishing labor. So “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother” chronicles its author’s constant demanding, wheedling, scolding and screaming."
Ms. Chua, a Yale law school professor, is an American-born Chinese and claims that her methods of child-rearing are in the Chinese tradition, which is debatable. Her suggestion that Western parents are too lax with their children raises the hackles of American mothers, but it also speaks to American fears of being overtaken by China says this week's cover story in Time Magazine. The book is a stew of stereotypes, but this title has risen to the top of the non-fiction best seller lists. It flew of the shelf at BHPL and has a number of holds.
On a related topic, this morning I read in the Star Ledger that the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that slapping your teenager does not count as abuse.
"The parental decisions made within this family unit may not have been exemplars of stellar parenting, but they did not rise to the level of Title Nine violations," wrote Justice Jaynee LaVecchia, referring to New Jersey’s child abuse laws.

All this angst about child rearing techniques got me thinking. First of all, let me say that the Berkeley Heights Public Library is way ahead of the curve on this whole issue. The library has a "Parenting Collection" in the Children's Room which is popular. We select books that represent the spectrum of child raising opinions and advice from Spock to Brazleton to Penelope Leach.
When my first child was born, my mother-in-law gave me a copy of her generation's pediatric bible: Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care; my OB gave me a Penelope Leach book and a cookbook by Jane Brody; the pediatrician recommended Fraiberg's The Magic Years and Bettleheim's The Uses of Enchantment; and my mother swore by Yale's Dr. Gesell. Not that I had much time to read all those books from cover to cover, but they all had something worthwhile to contribute to the child raising challenge. I found it hard to say to my child, "wait, let me look this up in Spock before I decide whether to give you a "time out" or a politically incorrect smack on the butt," but Spock came to the rescue when my toddler actually swallowed a penny. The index listed, "coins, swallowed" I recollect.  I also got to reminiscing about being raised during the Eisenhower years, possibly the last time when parental authority was still an admired, expected and sometimes achievable goal in America, but at the same time children enjoyed a level of freedom and unstructured playtime that seems rare these days. For example, just today I came across a website that explains how to go sledding in the snow. I'm sure it included safety tips. A friend of mine bemoaned that she did not see one child outdoors during the recent school snow day and she suspected that kids were sledding using a computer game simulation.

Related material: New York Times article about the evolution of child rearing theories.
Jane Brody's website with a link to the Good Food Book the doctor gave me.
A poster of Dr. Gesell studying a baby at the Yale Child Psychology Lab, is that  my mother in the audience?
An article about Selma Fraiberg, author of the Magic Years which my pediatrician recommended to better understand my kids' imaginations and fears.

Anecdotes I wanted to include in this post: The time my mother, totally exasperated with The Brother Who Did Not Study Enough who kept putting a half-nelson hold on the Brother Who Studied a Lot, while he studied, called him out on this behaviour by accusing him of being a "nosy fuddy" and hitting him with an almost empty Kleenex box.  This resulted in gales of laughter by all of us and a great loss of authority on my mother's part.
The time The Brother Who Studied a lot, left a plastic boat of sand crabs in his underwear drawer for a week and mom hit him with a half-empty box of Saltines. Again gales of laughter at how painless this punishment was and many accusations about the shattered inedible crackers and jokes about my brother's hard head etc etc.
The time my mother caught the TV addict brother WATCHING TV ON A SCHOOL NIGHT so she cut the electrical cord off the TV which appalled even my TV-hating father.
And finally, the many tall tales my father told me in what he thought of as teachable moments but which took me years to find out were not true. No, spaghetti does not grow on trees in Pennsylvania and Antonio Stradivarius was not my Uncle Tony. Who knew?

The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

Since BHPL is showing the three Swedish films based on Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy, I thought I'd review the second book, The Girl Who Played with Fire. Fire begins with Mikael Blomqvist's magazine about to expose several johns involved in sex trafficking, among them journalists and policemen. Lisbeth Salander is still hacking into Mikael's laptop, and she discovers a connection with her past that draws her into the case.

I've heard other people say the second book/film was even better than the first one (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), and I have to agree. The way Tattoo began made me think it was a financial/political thriller/missing persons case, but the end was a little too creepy for me. Fire unfolds in a more believable fashion than Tattoo, but just was just as compelling to read, and Lisbeth Salander's past makes her a more interesting character this time around. Be warned that you'll want to dive right into The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest once you've finished, since the ending of Fire is a cliffhanger.

There are discussion questions available for all three of Larsson's books. However, those don't address a really interesting point, which is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo's original Swedish title, Men Who Hate Women. Manohla Dargis's New York Times review of the film version points this out:

“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” was originally published as “Men Who Hate Women,” which apparently wasn’t sexy enough for English-language bookshelves. The title change certainly spices things up, no matter how commonplace body art is, at least outside of Stockholm, and it plays down its overarching theme, which the movie only does further. Just as significant is the substitution in the title of “girl” for “women,” a categorical displacement (and diminution) that also shifts the emphasis from the crime (and criminals) and places it on Salander’s slender back.

It’s an attractive back in the movie, as is the tattoo adorning it, even if, like all the prettily photographed winter landscapes, the dragon covers up something the filmmakers seem loath to reveal and simultaneously eager to exploit.

If you've read the Millennium trilogy, or one of the books in it, what's your opinion about the violence? How do you deal with the fact that you're being entertained by tale whose central plot depends on some very violent acts? Are the books OK but the movies too graphic?

Top Ten Books of 2010 at BHPL

Fiction published in 2010 with the most checkouts so far at BHPL:

1. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
2. Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
3. Worst Case by James Patterson
4. 61 Hours by Lee Child
5. Deliver Us From Evil by David Baldacci
6. 9th Judgment by James Patterson
7. Deception by Jonathan Kellerman
7. Private by James Patterson
9. Innocent by Scott Turow
10. Postcard Killers by James Patterson
11. The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

Yup, the top ten is 40% James Patterson. That's why I threw in Sarah Blake, for some variety.

Nonfiction published in 2010 with the most checkouts at BHPL:

1. The Big Short by Michael Lewis
2. Game Change by John Heilemann
3. Oprah : a biography by Kitty Kelley
4. This Time Together by Carol Burnett
5. Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang by Chelsea Handler
6. Steinbrenner by Bill Madden
7. Making Toast : a Family Story by Roger Rosenblatt
8. Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush
8. War by Sebastian Junger
8. Women, Food and God by Geneen Roth

If The Big Short isn't enough for you, Henry Paulson's On the Brink and Joseph Stiglitz's Freefall were next most popular on the list.

The Millennium Trilogy

The library book group will discuss Stieg Larsson's The Millennium Trilogy tomorrow night at 7:30 pm. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the two sequels, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest,  have been huge international bestsellers since their initial publication in 2005. Amazon announced in July 2010 that Larsson was the first author to sell over 1 million books in the electronic format for Amazon's Kindle ebook reader. The Telegraph reports that  "Larsson could become the biggest-selling translated author ever." The upcoming American remakes of the Swedish movie are predicted to continue to stimulate sales of the trilogy. Random House's profits have soared, increasing by a billion dollars in 2010 so far, thanks to it's ownership of the U.S. rights to the books. Libraries can't keep the copies on the shelf;   the nine copies of Tattoo owned by BHPL have gone out a total of 112 times and currently have 5 holds (reserves).

For a thorough summary of the book, take a look at Shmoop's recap.

The Top 10 of 2009

The snow has brought Berkeley Heights a tabula rasa for the New Year.



Here's a look back at our most popular books and DVDs of 2009. BHPL is closing at 1 p.m. on New Year's Eve and is closed all day on New Year's Day.

The Top 10 Most Checked Out Fiction Titles at BHPL in 2009:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
Handle with Care by by Jodi Picoult
Divine Justice by David Baldacci
The Associate by John Grisham
The Shack by William P. Young
Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Loving Frank by Nancy Horan
The Gate House by Nelson DeMille
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo

The Top 10 Most Checked Out Mystery Titles at BHPL in 2009:

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
Run for Your Life by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
Cross Country by James Patterson
The 8th Confession by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
Scarpetta by Patricia Cornwell
Gone Tomorrow : a Reacher Novel by Lee Child
The Private Patient by P.D. James
The Scarecrow by Michael Connelly

The Top 10 Most Checked Out Nonfiction Titles at BHPL in 2009:

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Kitchen and Bath Ideas
Remodel : Ideas for Your Home
The Outliers : the Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
Dewey : the Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron, with Bret Witter
J.K. Lasser's Your Income Tax 2009
Freakonomics : a Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
Eat, Pray, Love : One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
Images of America : Berkeley Heights by Virginia B. Troeger
The Glass Castle : a Memoir by Jeannette Walls

The Top 10 Most Checked Out DVDs at BHPL in 2009 (Excluding Children's DVDs):

Madagascar. Escape 2 Africa
Star Wars Trilogy
Marley & Me
Monk. Season Six
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
John Adams
Monk. Season Four
The Grand : Complete Collection
Bolt
24, Season 5

Is There a Librarian in the House?

People don't become librarians for the fame, fortune or excitement, but there's a little Walter Mitty in all of us...
Marian the Librarian is flying to a librarian convention, nodding off in her middle seat, which she has thoughtfully not tipped back to avoid annoying the passengers behind her, and trying not to snore or drool or touch either arm rest lest she infringe on her seatmates' personal space, she hears the P.A. announcement,
"Is there a librarian on board? we have a slight emergency in Business Class requiring immediate biblio assistance."
Marian jerks awake instantly, eye's pop open, she nods apologetically to the passenger in the aisle seat and indicates she needs to get by. Grabbing her bookbag from under the seat, she hurries up the aisle to the Flight Attendant and whispers,
"I'm a librarian. How can I help?"
"There's a passenger in extreme distress, hyperventilating over a book he's reading and looking pale and clammy, almost like he's in shock," the FA explains as she leads Marion through Business Class to a seat where, indeed, a male passenger, middle-aged, well-dressed, is breathing unevenly with his hands gripping the latest Dan Brown best seller tightly.
"Oh dear, that's the third case I've seen this week. Deadly Prose Syndrome with Implausable Plot Complications. We have to act quickly."
Marian carefully pries the stricken man's fingers from the Lost Symbol and places it in a sick bag for disposal.
"I'm afraid the only treatment for this patron, er patient, is an immediate infusion of The Classics or failing that, any book with sufficient character development, three-syllable words and dependent clauses to act as an antidote. I think this will work."
Marian riffles through her black bag and pulls out Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and places it gently in the man's hands.
"That should do it. I may have to read it aloud to him at first but then his ability to read on his own should kick in and he'll be right as rain."

People Magazine Recommends

I just finished reading How I Became a Famous Novelist by Steve Hely which was reviewed in the September 7 issue of People Magazine. While The New York Times Book Review tends toward Literary with a capital L in its reviews and Oprah's recommendations are famously gloomy and depressing, People Magazine, not surpisingly, usually reviews bestsellers, thrillers, chick lit, vampire romances and beach reads all year round. Reading People's recommendations is just like watching television, except you have to turn the page instead of clicking the remote. Hely's book was an antidote to Every Patient Tells a Story, the book about medical mysteries I had just finished.

Pete Tarslaw, fictional narrator of How I Became a Famous Novelist, decides that writing a popular book simply requires understanding the formula that sells books and then fitting the plot and characters into that trusty template. He studies the bestseller lists and concludes:
"The financial success of an author is inversely proportional to the literary worth of the book." (p.47) Cynical, but hard to argue with in many cases.
He makes a list of rules for bestsellerdom: "Rule 4: Must include a murder." (p. 50) "Rule 6: Invoke confusing sadness at the end." (p. 52) and so on. Hopped up on coffee and ADHD drugs, Tarslaw writes The Tornado Ashes Club, a patched together family saga/road trip/war story/mystical-spiritual saga with the hokey prose of The Bridges of Madison County meets every sappy war story you've ever read mixed with a heavy dose of quasi-philosophizing as in the Secret or the Alchemist. Meaningful gazing, pregnant pauses, wise old people, wily peasants, salt-of-the-earth types who are smarter than book-learned types: they're all there. Throw in every dreadful literary cliche you can think of and you will get a sense of The Tornado Ashes Club. It rises to the heights of the bestseller list of course.

How I Became a Famous Novelist mocks the pretensions of publishers, authors and readers especially well in the fake bestseller lists included in the book. The comments on Amazon and other websites are very favorable and report much laughing out loud hilarity while reading this book. I didn't laugh out loud, but I did read bits of the fake "Bestseller Lists" aloud to people, which was at least less gory and stomach churning than the medical book excerpts I shared last week. (See previous blog post.)

What People are Reading

There are several ways to find out what people are reading: the bestseller lists of course, and running statistical reports of library circulation records, or skimming the holds and reshelving carts to see what people just returned and are about to take out. The holds cart (where we shelve books reserved by patrons) usually reflects the bestseller list, but the carts holding books waiting to be reshelved are real goldmines of random titles on every subject and by every author past and present. If you like arts and crafts, browse the 700's cart (700's are the Dewey numbers for those subjects.) This week I found eco-craft: recycle, recraft, restyle by Susan Wasinger, a nifty book about using everyday objects to create useful and unique household items. Ms. Wasinger has an amazing ability to repurpose mundane "trash" like old milk bottles for example to make quite stylish furnishings. A plastic milk jug light fixture looks very modern, like something from Ikea. Really. The idea of making art without an expensive trip to an art supply store is great. What's the worst that can happen? If you don't like the result, toss it in the recycle bin where it was headed anyway.

Wowbrary Wows

Have you ever wanted to poke around the supersecret room at BHPL where all the new stuff is "in process"? Now you can, virtually. BHPL has teamed up with Wowbrary to provide you with a weekly email about all the new books, audiobooks and DVDs that have been added to BHPL's catalog in the past week. It's your chance to put a hold on a book, often before it even hits the shelf. Just click on the title you want in Wowbrary, then click Hold Request. To sign up for the email newsletter, go to the Wowbrary site.