Summer Reading: a Summer trilogy, Books about Bookstores, turn back the clock a decade or two and more...

Summer Reading So Far

I have been remiss in writing a summer reading post this year.  My intentions were good, as usual, but the last few hot days have served as a reminder that I can’t ignore.  I always start with a summer/beach trilogy and Mary Alice Monroe’s Low Country Summer Trilogy is just right.  When the first book, Summer Girls, ended with a cliff-hanger, I was anxious to see how the second book, Summer Wind, would start.  Well, it started the next day.  No flashbacks or explanations, the action picked up right where it ended.  The last book, Summer’s End, ties up the loose ends and almost everyone lives happily ever after.  

Next, several staff members were excited about Cynthia Swanson’s The Bookseller.  I was a little reluctant after Gabrielle Zevin’s The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry and Sarah Jio’s Goodnight June.  Really, how many good books can you expect about bookstores? The Bookseller surpassed my expectations and returned me to an earlier time in the 1960s. 


To turn the clock back one more decade,  Judy Blume’s In the Unlikely Event  takes us back to the early 1950s in Elizabeth, New Jersey.  Three plane crashes and many deaths brought the city to a standstill.  You couldn’t live in Elizabeth without knowing someone who had suffered a loss or been somehow impacted by the tragic accidents.  Newark Airport was closed during the investigations.  In the Unlikely Event offers a precisely cut slice of life in 1950s Elizabeth in the same way that Blume’s Wifey offered a slice of Plainfield in the 1970s. 

Many people know that TheGuernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society is one of my favorite books.  I  found  it so charming that I couldn’t decide if I had high expectations or no expectations for The Truth According to Usby Annie Barrows, co-author of TGL&PPS.  Once again I was speeding back in American history and, this time, I landed in the late 1930s.  The characters are as quirky as the small town is pretentious. The federal government is busy employing people through the WPA (Works Progress Administration) to move the economy forward at the same time a local factory is squashing any attempts to unionize.  I enjoyed the fictionalized history lesson; I enjoyed the main characters; I laughed when appropriate; I pondered the mysterious fire at the factory; I enjoyed the parts of the story told by letters to people we never met; and, I sympathized with any and all affairs of the heart.  However, I was more confused than charmed by the story as a whole.  Although my praise is so faint it may disappear from  the screen, I am glad I finished the book.  

Although I never want summer to end, I am looking forward to The Girl in the Spider Web (David Lagercrantz continuing for Stieg Larsson) and The Secret Chord (Geraldine Brooks).  Fall always brings books to remind us that lazy reading is over and it’s time to get serious again.

- S. Bakos

Waiting for new books in series: George R.R. Martin and the Eager Fans

There may be nothing more impatient and enthused than a fan waiting for the next installment of a beloved book series. Whether it's fans of George R.R. Martin's series 'A Song of Ice and Fire' or readers of Diana Gabaldon's 'Outlander' series or of Jean Auel's 'Earth's Children' series, fans are caught up in a world of internet author sites, fan sites, Twitter hashtag hysteria, Facebook 'likes' and even publisher-fueled rumors. The next book is right around the corner! here's an interview with the author! the last book is just out in paperback! the movie is in the works! and so on. All false hopes to the series-starved reader.
Here are some of the misunderstandings that can come about with books published in series.

• Often a series is referred to by the first book in the series, but this may not be the actual name of the series. The series known as 'A Game of Thrones' is actually titled 'A Song of Ice and Fire.' Remember that Auel's first book 'Clan of the Cave Bear' is not the name of the series which is 'Earth's Children'. 

• The name of the TV show or movie may not be the same as the name of a book or series; it may be the name of the first book, but cover all or part of various books in the series. Think: 'All Creatures Great and Small,' the TV series, drew from many of the books and no doubt made up some material and altered some too. 

• Now add in the fact that about a year after a book comes out in hardcover, it will be released in paperback to as much fanfare as the publishers can give it. Sometimes, the book will be re-reviewed. This often gives readers the idea that their favorite author or series has a NEW BOOK OUT! But no, really no, trust us on this, we can check the catalog, check Amazon, check Fantastic Fiction and there still will not be that new book you have been yearning for. We feel your pain.

And so there are many a slip between cup and the lip when it comes to sequels in series fiction. Sometime authors rapidly churn out the first few books in a series and then j u s t 
s l o w doooowwwwn. And who can blame them? Series, especially fantasy series, tend to be real door-stoppers in size. And even in the non-fantasy area, think about Ken Follett's series: his 'Century Trilogy' started with - 'Fall of Giants' (2010) which clocks in at an impressive 985 pages, while the second in the series, 'Winter of the World' (2012) came to an equally impressive 940 pages. Not a week goes by that patrons don't ask where the third in that series is. Ken? Oh, Ken? Typing away, are you, I hope?

Resources we use to verify series sequels rumors:
Fantastic Fiction lists authors' books by series and in chronological order
The Berkeley Heights Public Library catalog with enriched content from Novelist and Goodreads that lists read-alikes and books in series
Good old standby Amazon.com
Author websites often tell the next book an author is working on with a target date for completion, to be taken with a grain of salt.

Note to fellow librarians and collectors of weird professional lingo: the process of figuring out exactly what book a patron wants by piecing together the clues that are given is called 'bibliographic verification'. Right, anyone remember that? I was totally mystified when my professors went on about that, but now, I know. it can be tougher than it sounds. A cigar might just be a cigar to Dr. Freud, but to librarians, it could be any number of book titles, subtitles, authors or just plain unsubstantiated rumors. The watchword for bibliographic verification: mistrust & verify. For related post see: Butchered Book Titles

Kinsey and Me by Sue Grafton

Kinsey and me: stories by Sue Grafton (2013)

Fans of Sue Grafton's 'alphabet' mystery series which started with "A" is for Alibi, a Kinsey Milhone Mystery (1982) will want to read this collection of mystery short stories which feature Kinsey early in her career as a private detective. Each story achieves the amazing feat of quickly setting the scene, introducing the characters in brief, deft descriptions and setting up the murder mystery. Kinsey energetically pursues the leads and usually figures out the solution before the actual story ending. Each story ends with a twist: unexpected, sometimes bizarre, often ironic or funny.

The second half of this book, the 'and me' part, are autobiographical essays about the author's childhood and early life with her alcoholic parents. What does it take to make a child raised in a family with problems, survive and succeed as a writer? Maybe the key is in these stories. When asked in an interview for Oprah Magazine how she survived her troubled childhood, Ms. Grafton answers:

" Writing. Pure and simple. Writing was my anchor and gave me a way to convert all of that unhappiness into something that would serve me."

Read more: http://www.oprah.com/entertainment/Sue-Grafton-Interview-Kinsey-and-Me#ixzz2aZauKpjD

Highly recommended for fans of the series, murder mystery fans and fans of the short story. I loved this book and was sorry when it ended. I must go back and reread some of the alphabet series.


Related sources:

Sue Grafton's website http://www.suegrafton.com/

Oprah Winfrey interview with Sue Grafton

More Mystery Series Worth Faithfully Following

A year ago, I wrote about 'Mystery Series Worth Reading' which I have re-posted below, followed by further thoughts on this topic.

From 1/25/2012:
'Sometimes a book series starts with a bang, ends in a whimper and dodders around in the interim, but readers are loyal and will wait out a few weak entries if they like the characters and setting and mood. Looking at my reading journal for 2011, I noticed that I read several continuations of mystery series that have mostly stayed strong from the first book. For "cozy" mystery fans, I recommend Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles series, set in Texas and featuring herb-growing sleuth China Bayles. In Mourning Gloria (2011), the series is at top form. For fans of the British cozy, try Alan Bradley's Flavia de Luce series. This series is sometimes classified for teen readers, but it is suitable for all ages. Flavia is really a pretty obnoxious pre-teen sleuth, but lovable in her own quirky way. Speaking of quirky, try Christopher Fowler's Bryant and May series. Set in London, two old friends in the police "Peculiar Crimes Unit" solve mysteries with their unconventional methods and treasure trove of cerebral trivia about London's history.  Chris Evan's Good Thief's Guide to (insert city name here) series never fails to entertain. His good thief/narrator's adventures remind me of the caper movies so popular in the 1950's and '60's. Topkapi, Charade etc.
On the darker side of mystery series, I can always count on Jacqueline Winspeare's Maisie Dobbs series and Louise Penny's Inspector Armand Gamache series.'

A year later, I still like the series listed above. Here are a few others I've grown to depend on for pure escapism; dependable writing, plots, and characters.

For light humor, try anything by Dorothy Cannell, especially her U.K.-based Ellie Haskell series.
Nancy Bell's Judge Crane mysteries and Donna Andrews' Meg Lanslow series also fall in that wisecracking mode, the U.S. version.
Joan Hess writes several light, regional Southern U.S.-based mysteries. Try her Claire Malloy series or her Maggody series.
Carola Dunn's Daisy Dalrymple series take us back to the flapper era in England and might appeal to the Downton Abbey crowd in search of a light mystery fix.

For more recommendation of light mysteries, so called 'cozies', take a look at a blog devoted to just that genre The Cozy Mystery List

A Conspiracy of Friends

I just read and loved the third installment in Alexander McCall Smith's Corduroy Mansions series, A Conspiracy of Friends.

Ellen reviewed the first novel in the series when it appeared in 2008 as an online serial in the Telegraph , in audiobook and  text form. The title was later published as a paperback.
Our blogger Ellen wrote:

 'If you're a fan of Alexander McCall Smith's series 44 Scotland Street, take a look at his newest serially published novel, Corduroy Mansions, which is about a group of neighbors in the Pimlico section of London. Unlike 44 Scotland Street, which is first published in the newspaper The Scotsman, Corduroy Mansions is being published a chapter a week on The Telegraph's web site. Not only can you read it online, but you can listen to it on the site as well.'


Getting back to A Conspiracy of Friends, you can read or listen to it on the Telegraph website or you can check it out of the Berkeley Heights Public Library. Whichever way you choose to read it, I hope you find it as rewarding as I did. Here is my review from Goodreads:

'Storyteller Alexander McCall Smith takes readers back for a third visit with the denizens of Corduroy Mansions, a slightly shabby, but cozy, apartment building in London. If you like the author's 'No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency' series, you will enjoy the gentle humor and ruminative narrative style of this series also. The friends and apartment mates in these tales find and lose love, advise and ignore adult children, lose and take in stray dogs, all the while thinking about these everyday occurrences in the meandering manner that fans of the author will enjoy.

When William ponders a personal problem, he thinks:

"So what he should do, he decided, was to take a deep breath and do what the British always do in the face of crisis: put the kettle on for tea. That was what they did when they heard the Spanish Armada was heading their way: they had tea. That was what they did when they realized the Luftwaffe was droning towards them; those pictures of the pilots sitting on the grass in front of their Spitfires - what were they doing? They were drinking tea." (201)

This is how the slightly addlepated characters think; they are loveable, but a bit impractical or indecisive. If decisive, they make wrong decisions. If practical, their family members are not. If clear-eyed, they are waylaid by the wanderings of friends and associates. Best of all, if the characters are mean and unethical, it will turn out all right. The episode of the nasty politician who is zapped by the large hadron collider is one of the funniest examples of a happy accident in this book or any book, really.'

 FYI: The second in the series was The Dog Who Came in from the Cold starring Freddie de la Hay who has further amazing adventures in the third book.

Roberta Isleib on Berkeley Heights and Asking for Murder

Roberta Isleib, a Berkeley Heights native and the author of the Golf Lover’s mystery series and the Advice Column mystery series, has stopped by the blog today for questioning! Her latest book, Asking for Murder, is the third to feature Rebecca Butterman, a divorced 30-something psychologist and advice columnist.

Can you tell us about your experience growing up in Berkeley Heights? Did you ever suspect that you would become an author back then?

Berkeley Heights was a wonderful place to grow up! I moved there just before first grade and my family stayed until I was in my early twenties (minus a few years outside Detroit, which we hardly count!) I lived on Sutton Drive, a brand-new neighborhood packed with kids. The parents threw block parties and Halloween parties and coffee klatches and bridge sessions, and the kids tore around the streets on bikes and built forts in the woods. As a fanatic reader, I also spent a lot of time in the library. My sister and I would come home from school and go directly to our rooms with books. Of course I read every Nancy Drew installment, along with Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames, the Bobbsey Twins, and lots of mainstream novels. But I never imagined I'd grow up to be a writer, especially not fiction. The only fiction I ever wrote during those years was a saccharine short story involving a romance with Mickey Dolenz (one of the Monkees.) Let's just say I'm glad that's been permanently lost:)

I was always picking up interesting snippets of psychology as I read your books (one tip from Deadly Advice: don’t sit between your patient and the door!). Your background as a psychologist is perfect for writing mysteries, isn’t it?

From the very beginning, I wanted to use my training in clinical psychology by including reasonable psychologists in my novels. The challenge was to dream up characters who could use the principles of psychology to help solve mysteries without imploding with self-importance, stumbling over personal issues, or crossing ethical boundaries. Most of the time, shrinks in the media end up looking very foolish! It's been a lot of fun to write about Rebecca Butterman's world--her psychotherapy practice is very similar to the one I had (though of course I wouldn't use my own clients in the mysteries.)

A psychologist has to think like a detective in many ways: start with the patient's problem (the so-called "crime"), look for clues in their history, and follow these trails to find a solution.

Do you ever get to do any real-life research for any of your books? I hope you tasted all of the meals in Asking for Murder to make sure you described them properly!

When I was writing the golf mystery series, the research was a huge bonus! Who else but a writer gets to play on amazing golf courses and write it off on her taxes? Rebecca Butterman's books are set close to home--the town next to mine--but I've still had some fascinating experiences. ASKING FOR MURDER features a sandplay therapist, which I knew nothing about when I started. Based on the principles of Carl Jung, this kind of therapy invites the patient to choose from shelves and shelves of figurines and place them in a large sand box. After the arrangement is "complete," the patient and therapist look it over together and try to understand the meaning--or make the unconscious meaning conscious.

As for food, my character loves to cook and eat (as do I--though she's a more dedicated cook.) I watch my most talented friends for recipe ideas. Rebecca throws a dinner party in ASKING FOR MURDER that includes spaghetti carbonara and red velvet cake. Yum, yum. My previous character, Cassie Burdette, was a junk food addict, so I enjoy trying Rebecca's concoctions. One friend asked if she was on a diet in this book--no, never!

Do you have any favorite advice columnists or one that inspired the character of Rebecca?

I am an advice column junkie. Probably my favorite of all time is "Can This Marriage Be Saved?" published monthly in the Ladies Home Journal. This column is deeper than most because each month it features a real therapist working with a troubled couple. And marriage therapy is hard--the magazine articles make it seem so easy. I also loved Ann Landers, and her daughter Margo Howard, who wrote Dear Prudence. Margo agreed to read and comment on DEADLY ADVICE before it was published. I was so nervous! But she loved it and was very gracious with a quote for the cover.

Cassie the pro golfer and Joe the sports psychologist from your first series have been mentioned in Rebecca's books and vice versa. Do you think Cassie and Rebecca could ever team up to solve a crime?

Rebecca made cameo appearances in the second and third golf mysteries, A BURIED LIE and PUTT TO DEATH. I added the cameo about Cassie to DEADLY ADVICE because I got the news about the series ending before I had the chance to wrap it up in a way that would satisfy her fans.

Unfortunately, both Rebecca and Cassie were interested in Joe the golf psychologist, which got them off on a bad foot. Cassie thought Rebecca was a prig, and Rebecca thought Cassie was reckless. It would be great fun to get them all together, because I'm sure the tension would still be there--but they'd have to work together somehow...

Thank you so much for hosting my return visit to the Berkeley Heights library! Please stop by and visit me at my website and blogs--if your book group is interested in discussion questions--or recipes--you'll find them there! Roberta