Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Book Review: The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton



The Secret Keeper by Kate Morton

Genre: adult fiction

Pages: 481

Published: 2012

Rating:  4 out of 5 stars


I have always been a fan of Morton’s novels and this one is no exception. The Secret Keeper, similar to the rest of Morton’s novels, entwines family secrets and mysteries with so many twists and turns that you may just be reading well into the night. 

Told in the voice of three different characters and over the span of 70 years, this novel will keep you guessing and changing your thoughts of the ending all the way until the end of the story. Morton has the unique ability of telling stories through the generations and yet the flow the story continues with no interruptions. If you are a fan of Morton’s this in a must read and if you have not read her yet, you will not be disappointed.

This is her fourth and most recent novel. Visit her website at www.katemorton.com

(submitted by Heather L.) 

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Reviews--books by Rebecca Skloot and Libba Bray

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
By: Rebecca Skloot
Genre: nonfiction
Pages: 370
Stars: 4 out of 5

This book is truly eye-opening with an amazing personal touch. The reader doesn't need to be a biology enthusiast to enjoy its impact. The story is focused on the opinions of Henrietta’s children and how they discovered that doctors have been keeping their mother’s cells alive for 20 years before her own children discovered this fact. You will be enthralled with the voice of Deborah, Henrietta’s only daughter that lived. Skloot entwined the facts of the scientific methods developed and the illnesses the HeLa cells cured with the personal facts of Henrietta and her family’s story of their growing up, mostly without the presence of their mother due to her young death. I would love to see more work from Rebecca Skloot in the future.  You can find out more about her and her work on her website:  http://rebeccaskloot.com/

(The title above was the January book club pick for the Twin Lakes Readers Book Group that meets every third Wednesday at Twin Lakes at 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. in the meeting room.  For more information about this book discussion group you may call us at 262-877-4281 and ask for the Information Desk.)

The Diviners
By: Libba Bray
Genre: YA fiction
Pages: 578
Stars: 3 out of 5
I had heard Libba Bray speak at the Austin Teen Book Festival in September 2012. I mention this fact because this novel is written in 3rd person and I envisioned Bray’s voice as the narrator throughout the novel. While I wasn’t connecting enthusiastically with the story until over half way through, I felt Bray did a great job developing the characters; by the last half of the novel I felt I knew the characters and their voice. I was hoping to see more about Memphis and Theta in the story line, but perhaps that is part of book 2 of the trilogy. While the book’s main focus is the special and unique divining skills of the main characters there is a great mystery, too. I look forward to the rest of the trilogy as now I feel connected with the characters and can’t wait to see the rest of their story unravel.

(Reviews submitted by Heather L.)

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Holiday Closings

The Community Library will be closed on the following days for the holidays:

Sunday, December 23rd
Monday, December 24th
Tuesday, December 25th


Sunday, December 30th
Monday, December 31st
Tuesday, January 1st

We wish you a safe and happy holiday season!

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Upcoming Book Discussion Books--Salem

We are discussing this selection at our January 3 meeting. Call us at 262-843-3348 for details.


This will be our February 7 book at Salem. Call us at 262-843-3348 for details.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Library closed Thursday, November 22

Community Library will be closed at all locations on Thursday, November 22 in observance of Thanksgiving.  We will resume our normal hours on Friday, November 23.  Please see our library website for our locations and regular hours.

Have a safe and happy holiday!


Monday, November 12, 2012

Website review: Fantastic Fiction

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/fantasticfiction.gif
Love that book by a certain author and want to know what else he/she wrote?

Do you want to read the next book in a series but don’t know the title?

Remember the title but can’t remember the author’s name?

If you have ever asked a question like that, you need to use Fantastic Fiction,
the website for all things fiction.

Use the browse menu on the left side of the home page to find authors by their last name or type the author’s name in the search box on the right side of the page.

Most of the author pages give a brief biography for that author. Titles are listed by date of publication. If the author writes books in a series, titles are listed under the series name in order!

You can also search by title, scroll through a list of Series names, look for authors by Country, or browse a list of Awards. At the very bottom of the home page is a list of books by Genre.

The home page of Fantastic Fiction displays newly released books and along the right side is a list of soon to be released books. The site has over 30,000 author bibliographies with the latest books, covers, and descriptions.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/




(submitted by Susan M.)



Thursday, November 8, 2012

Free & reduced price e-books



Do you have an e-reader or other portable device in need of free or reduced price e-books?  The following websites might be able to help you out!

Pixel of Ink

Pixel of Ink Young Edition

Pixel of Ink alerts you to free and reduced e-books available for the Kindle.  If you subscribe to them via e-mail or follow them on Facebook or Twitter, you will be sure not to miss any bargains.  Many types of books appear on the lists—even popular authors.  Kind of like shopping at an outlet store—you just have to look!

Also check out their sister site, Pixel of Ink Young Edition, for free and reduced children’s and YA books.

eReaderIQ.com

Another site that alerts you to free and reduced priced Kindle books.  You can also enter books whose prices that you want to track and the website will send you a notification when the price drops.  This is a free service.  Books are categorized and they track children’s books, too.

Monthly free e-book from the University of Chicago Press
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/books/freeEbook.html

Every month the University of Chicago Press posts a free e-book.  Past selections have included: Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West by Erin Hogan and The Chinese Maze Murders by Robert Van Gulik.  Sometimes the book is nonfiction, sometimes fiction.  To get the free e-book you just need to submit your e-mail; you will then receive a link to download the book which you can view with Adobe’s Digital Editions software. 

Feedbooks Public Domain Books
Feedbooks has thousands of books that are in the public domain and available to download for free.  You read them on a PC or MAC with Adobe Digital Editions software or on many different mobile devices.  You can point your Kindle directly to http://m.feedbooks.com/ and use the links to download books.

See Feedbooks Main Help Page for assistance with downloading.



Project Gutenberg

Amazon’s free e-books





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