An Embarrassment of Riches

Birds of a Feather - if you like Alexander McCall Smith - by Helen Read all the books in No 1 Ladies Detective Agency series and looking for another good read?
Check out A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson. 

Mr. Malik has been secretly in love with Rose Mbikwa who has been leading the Tuesday bird walks. Now he faces competition from an old rival of his schooldays. The two decide to make a deal. The one to identify the most species of birds in a week's time will have the privilege of asking Rose Mbikwa to the Asadi Club's annual ball in Nairobi, Kenya.

This is a charmer of a book with an old-fashioned feel.

Knit-Lit - Knitting, with Spice - by Laural There’s a fiction fad about knitting and relationships. My latest read was How to Knit a Love Song by Rachael Herron. I haven’t laughed out loud in a long time and this book remedied that problem. Herron has written some really funny dialog between the protagonist and the cowboys in this romance. Abigail, the main character is a young Californian fiber artist starting over on a ranch. She inherits a cottage from another fiber artist.

This book reminded me of the other 'knit-lit' title I loved, The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club by Gil McNeil. Both books have great characters, funny dialog and a moving plot. The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club is about Jo, a British widow who starts over in seaside town with her two small boys. Jo is taking over her grandmother’s knitting shop.

Knitting circles give people a chance to relax, create, and connect with other people. This positive community building gathering seems the perfect activity around which to build the plot of a novel. The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society by Beth Pattillo and The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood are also more great examples of this genre.

Perhaps you want to try your hand at knitting? When you're done reading and want to knit with others, check out the knitting circles that are hosted at some of our branches.

The English Character - by Ruth I've been accused of being obsessed with England. I don't think that's entirely true because If it were, I would probably eat beans on toast for breakfast, and that's a dietary choice I just can't fathom. I will, however, read pretty much any book that's set in Britain as long as it's not too gory. Historical, mystery, contemporary, whatever - I'll read it if the place is across the pond, and I just finished two that I absolutely loved. Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier tells the story of two women living in the seaside town of Lyme Regis in the early 1800s. One is Mary Anning, a young, uneducated girl who is a whiz at finding fossils which are called "curies" or curiosities by the locals. The other is Elizabeth Philpot, a spinster from London who is living in somewhat reduced circumstances with two of her three sisters. She is also fascinated by curies and sets out to gather her own collection that focuses on fossil fish. Tossed into the mix are characters who are also based on real people (both Mary and Elizabeth actually lived in Lyme, and Mary did discover the skeletons of several species) including members of the religious and scientific communities who debated the meaning of fossils and how they related to God's creation and intent. Extinction was a radical concept then, and many people could not accept the fact that something that once lived could no longer exist. Chevalier's research is extensive and she uses that to good effect, recreating Lyme and the time period and making those involved in the discovery and collecting of fossils, including the icthyosaur and plesiosaur, come alive.

Anyone who has read a Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie knows that underneath the roses and quaint cottages, the English village is not always serene. Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson examines the pettiness, racism and greed that exists in one village, and frames them in a romance between an elderly major and the local, lovely shopkeeper, Mrs. Ali. Mrs. Ali was born in England but her ancestry is Pakistani and so she is looked upon with some suspicion and is not fully accepted into Edgecomb St. Mary's society. I loved Major Pettigrew's Last Stand for lots of reasons, but I especially liked it because it follows the traditional romance form and, like the very best romance novels, also provides a thoughtful story of substance.

If you, too, have ever been called "obsessively Anglophilic", just go with it and enjoy these novels.

Haiku Review - The New Yorkers - by Alison

Looking for true love?

Get yourself a sweet puppy -

Parade down the street

In The New Yorkers by Cathleen Schine, a cute dog can make anyone seem more lovable.

Those Sexy Highlanders and Time Travelers - by Laural

Mrs. Claire Randall is on her second honeymoon in the Highlands of Scotland. It’s 1945 and she's a former combat nurse who has taken up the hobby of botany to fill her free time. She is gathering plants at the stone circle Craigh na Dun when she is catapulted through time to 1743 and finds herself in the midst of skirmishes prior to the Jacobite rising of 1745.

This first, page-turner novel of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon is a spicy romance with depictions of violence, and explicit sex scenes. If you're squeamish about these things this isn't the novel for you. But these depictions are presented in the context of the times, giving the story historical resonance. I found comic relief in Claire’s swearing. She doesn’t swear like a sailor but she swears like a healthy woman dealing with brawny men, exciting, brutal times, and frustration. I don’t know about you, but if I was a fish out of water I might swear a lot too!

If you like the idea of romance, time travel and Highlanders you should also check out author Karen Marie Moning’s Beyond the Highland Mist.

Looking for something different? We can help. Whether it be contemporary, historical, set in urban L.A. or rural Lancaster, just tell us what you're looking for and we’ll try to find it.

The Wrong Man - by Ruth For those of us who have ever fallen for the wrong man, Alice Hoffman's latest book assures us that we are in plentiful, if not necessarily good, company.  There are many women in The Third Angel - so many that I had a bit of trouble at first keeping track - and their stories are told in interconnected, almost novella-like pieces.  At least three of these have fallen for, or are with, men who are neither right nor good for them.  Madeleine gets involved with her sister's fiance (big mistake), Frieda is attracted to a drug-addled singer (why?), and Bryn is still desperately in love with her wildly attractive and Irish-American (sigh), but criminal ex-husband although she is engaged to another man who is dull, dull, dull by comparison.  Bad boys - ya gotta love 'em, and yet, I didn't really like them in this book.  I didn't see the attraction for either the men (well, OK, Michael the Irish-American was dishy and interesting and seemed to maybe truly love Bryn) or the women.  I didn't really like anyone, nor did I have much sympathy for them, although I found their stories somewhat interesting and sorting out of all of the relationships was a bit amusing.  I never really got the whole third angel bit - was it Teddy Healy?  Call me dense, but then explain it to me please.  I did enjoy the hope that came at the end of each piece, because, as any of us whose heart has been bruised by the wrong guy will tell you, there are few happy endings.  

For a fun book on getting over an ex-boyfriend (it will make you laugh while you're crying), check out The Ex-Boyfriend Book:  A Zodiac Guide to Your Former Flames by Rowan Davis.  Sign by sign, dysfunction by dysfunction, you'll learn what you'll miss, what you won't miss, why you are so much better off without him, and, if you so foolishly decide you really want him back, how to get the job done.  But really, why bother?  There's probably another wrong man for you right around the corner!