Welcome to Topsham Tales, the official blog of Topsham Public Library. Join the staff of Topsham for news, reviews and discussion.
Showing posts with label Staff picks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Staff picks. Show all posts

Thursday, June 13, 2013

What are you reading? What should I read next?

Not sure what to read next? Here's what the TPL staff have been reading recently!

http://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=9781620875261/LC.JPG&client=mainep&type=rw12 In Don't Lick the Minivan, Shirtliffe captures the bizarre aspects of parenting in her edgy, honest voice. She explores the hazards of everyday life with children such as: The birthday party where neighborhood kids took home skin rashes from the second-hand face paint she applied, the time she discovered her twins carving their names into her minivan's paint with rocks, the funeral she officiated for "Stripper Barbie," the horror of glitter, and much more!
 
http://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=9780316126113/LC.JPG&client=mainep&type=rw12
Evie O'Neill has been exiled from her boring old hometown and shipped off to the bustling streets of New York City--and she is pos-i-toot-ly thrilled. New York is the city of speakeasies, shopping, and movie palaces! Soon enough, Evie is running with glamorous Ziegfield girls and rakish pickpockets. The only catch is Evie has to live with her Uncle Will, curator of The Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult--also known as "The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies."

When a rash of occult-based murders comes to light, Evie and her uncle are right in the thick of the investigation. And through it all, Evie has a secret: a mysterious power that could help catch the killer--if he doesn't catch her first.


http://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=9780446505291/LC.JPG&client=mainep&type=rw12 After his December 2003 arrest, registered nurse Charlie Cullen was quickly dubbed "The Angel of Death" by the media. But Cullen was no mercy killer, nor was he a simple monster. He was a favorite son, husband, beloved father, best friend, and celebrated caregiver. Implicated in the deaths of as many as 300 patients, he was also perhaps the most prolific serial killer in American history. In the tradition of In Cold Blood, THE GOOD NURSE does more than chronicle Cullen's deadly career and the breathless efforts to stop him; it paints an incredibly vivid portrait of madness and offers a penetrating look inside America's medical system. Harrowing and irresistibly paced, this book will make you look at medicine, hospitals, and the people who work in them, in an entirely different way.


http://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=9781781162644/LC.JPG&client=mainep&type=rw12
 Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.





http://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=9781937007447/LC.JPG&client=mainep&type=rw12
 Sookie has a murder investigation on her hands.

A young girl has died at a vampire party - and it looks as though her lover, Eric, might be responsible. Eric swears he didn't do it, the police don't believe him, and even Sookie isn't so sure. Nor is she inclined to take his word for it, not having caught him enjoying the victim's blood minutes before she was killed.



http://syndetics.com/index.aspx?isbn=0679447393/LC.JPG&client=mainep&type=rw12
 A modern classic of personal journalism, The Orchid Thief is Susan Orlean’s wickedly funny, elegant, and captivating tale of an amazing obsession.

From Florida’s swamps to its courtrooms, the New Yorker writer follows one deeply eccentric and oddly attractive man’s possibly criminal pursuit of an endangered flower. Determined to clone the rare ghost orchid, Polyrrhiza lindenii, John Laroche leads Orlean on an unforgettable tour of America’s strange flower-selling subculture, along with the Seminole Indians who help him and the forces of justice who fight him. In the end, Orlean–and the reader–will have more respect for underdog determination and a powerful new definition of passion.



Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Helen's Top 5 of 2012

1. New York by Edward Rutherfurd

2. The Wolf Gift by Anne Rice

3. The Yard by Alex Grecian

4. The Unholy by Heather Graham

5. Cold Vengeance by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child




Saturday, January 12, 2013

Jen's Top 5 of 2012



On Writing by Stephen King

Moon Over Manifest by Clare VanDerPool

In the Woods by Tana French

The Watch That Ends the Night by Allan Wolf

Fall of Giants by Ken Follett

Dale's Top 5 of 2012

Games of Thrones by George R. R. Martin (book)

Marvel's The Avengers (movie)


The Dark Knight Rises (movie)


The Hatfields and McCoys (TV series)

The Amazing Spiderman (Movie)

Susan's Top 5 of 2012



The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Kashmir Shawl by Rosie Thomas

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Thursday, January 10, 2013

Cyndi's Top 5 of 2012

A couple of my favorite nonfiction books that I read in 2012:


Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen. 

An engrossing and slightly horrifying look at how different viruses have spread from animal to human populations and the adaptability some possess when jumping to their “new host”.  As a result of reading this book I now periodically check the World Health Organization’s website.







 The Murder of the Century: The Gilded Age Crime That Scandalized a City & Sparked the Tabloid Wars by Paul Collins.  

A fascinating look at the cut throat completion between New York City’s newspaper moguls Pulitzer and Hearst and the extreme measures they were willing to take to be the city’s top paper.  Armed reporters investigating crimes, hiding evidence from the authorities, and creating false clues to insure they broke the story first.  Anyone that questions the ethics of today’s journalists needs to read this book to understand just how far the profession has come.

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson.  

A horrifying yet at times funny exploration of  human behavior and why some people act like they do.  This book will have you looking twice at the actions of the people around you.  Just remember, if you are worried you might be a psychopath then you are not a psychopath.  










And on the lighter side…

Took a side trip in the form of  Keeping the castle : a tale of romance, riches, and real estate by Patrice Kindl and For darkness shows the stars by Diana Peterfreund.  Both books give a strong nod to Austin classics. 

Set in 19 century England, Keeping the Castle is Austen's Pride and Prejudice distorted by the strength, humor and sarcasm of 17 year old Althea Crawley.  The story line follows Althea as she attempts to hold on to her impoverished family's crumbling castle by the only means available--marrying a wealth man.  Anyone familiar with Austen's work will recognize Kindl's subtle spoof of the limitations imposed upon women during this time period.  I enjoyed Althea's ingenuity as she continued to find ways of keeping up the appearance of wealth-- serving her neighbors reused tea bags as they sat on furniture that literally crumbed underneath them.  This book was a quick, fun, slightly familiar read.

The setting of For Darkness Shows the Stars is an island cut off from whatever remains of a world destroyed by a genetically engineered DNA experiment gone horrible wrong.  Elliot North is trying desperately to keep her family's farm running despite her father and older sister's selfish acts of cruelty and wastefulness.  Four years ago she refused to leave the farm to travel with her best friend Kai, feeling honor bound to stay to protect the farm workers from her father. Now Kai is back and determined to make Elliot regret her decision. This book is Austen's Persuasion in a post-apocalyptic world that argues the benefits of scientific intervention verses allowing nature to take its course.  

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Julie's Top 5 of 2012



For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund
   Will Elliot choose tradition or love?

 Let's Pretend This Never Happened:  a Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson
  Grampa's cheek is touched by a dead raccoon to wake him up.  Just one of many very funny happenings in this memoir!

Little Bee by Chris Cleave
  Amazing story about an African refugee and a British couple that meet on a beach in Africa.

 The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
  A story of love and a magical circus!

Days of Blood and Starlight by Laini Taylor
   Karou and Akiva return but seem to be fighting from opposite sides.  Is there  hope for their dreams of peace and their love for each other?

Friday, January 4, 2013

Lynne's Top 5 of 2012

 1. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

2. The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

3. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain

4. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

5. Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness by Susan Calahan



Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Staff Picks!

Need a book recommendation? Check out our staff picks here at the library.  There's a display of them behind the new book display!