November Newsletter

Flyer #11 Thursday, November 29th, 2012

 

Seasons Greetings! We have come to a most familial and prestigious time of year. I can’t help but sit back and enjoy a great book with a hot cup of cocoa, and share classic tales with my family to while away the cold and dark hours with my family. Truly classic tales of Early American Thanksgiving gatherings and Old World traditions find a warm spark in my heart, and often encouraging daring attempts at old recipes with the kids. With Turkey Day (duck at my house) and Black Friday Shopping behind us, most folks have put their holiday shopping lists behind them and started the festive tasks of decorating the house for the upcoming December festivities. With the Spokane office deciding to opt for an in-house Holiday Party this year, I am delighted and eager to see how folks dress up their spaces and hear the wonderful tales of social gatherings!

 

Delightfully, many folks have put their culinary talents to work in the kitchens and great food will be appearing. Enjoy, indulge with great aplomb, and don’t stress too much. With great tastes in mind, we hope you will enjoy the selections of this newsletter’s suggested reads!

 

As always, we truly care! Please, remember to celebrate safely and with responsibility in mind.

 

 

Email:

 

Many of us lead busy lives and we may not always have time to read the newsletter at work. We also are open to new members 24/7… all year long! Just email me and I will add you to our email distribution, so you don’t have to go hunting up the latest rendition of our great suggested reads!

 

 

NEWS!

 

I would like to thank everyone that was able to donate extra books for our book donation/exchange. We are still accepting donations for our upcoming charity book sale and raffle. We will be announcing our Book Sale Dates and Times soon, so please keep your ears to the ground for this great mini-event!

 

 

Meeting Schedule:

 

Due to varied schedules, we would like to announce that we will not be holding club meetings as of this time. As such, we greatly encourage the use of our Blog for communications and discussions on the titles we publish with each newsletter.

 

For Sale:

 

For those of you still looking for a great gift idea, I am happy to share this great opportunity!

·         NOOK eReader w/ Glow Light ~ For More Info, Contact Bradley Bower @ bbower@ecova.com or at 329-7475!

If you have something you would like to advertise in our newsletter for sale or trade, email me the details and you will be added in our next newsletter!

Where can I get a copy of that book?

           

Did you enjoy that book? Not sure where you can obtain a copy for your library or as a gift? Well, if you borrowed it from a library or shared via your Kindle or Nook, try one of these great stores! You might find more than you anticipated!

 

http://www.auntiesbooks.com/

http://www.gohastings.com/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

http://www.2ndlookbooks.com/

http://www.mycomicshop.com/

http://www.amazon.com/

http://www.thecomicbookshop.net/

http://www.thebookparlor.com/

http://nwbooklovers.org/

 

What we were reading:

 

*October 2012 reading list was:

·         Series Pick!

o   Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene

·         Monthly Pick!

o   “America’s Most Proclaimed Haunted Places” by London Knight

·         Other Suggested Titles!

o   Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

o   The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

o   Dracula by Bram Stoker

o   The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

o   Sex, Murder and A Double Latte by Kyra Davis

o   Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

o   Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

o   The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

o   Haunted Legends by Ellen Datlow

 

Check out our blog where each suggested reader pick has an entry where we would love to have your input! So many wonderful book suggestions! So little Time!

 

Readers Challenge:

 

There will be a new monthly addition to our blog. It will be titled “Readers Challenge,” where you, the reader, can post a reading challenge or recommendation of a book you have recently read.

 

Series of the Month!

Garrison Keillor’s

Lake Wobegon Novels:

 

Lake Wobegon is a fictional town in Minnesota, said to have been the boyhood home of Garrison Keillor, who reports the News from Lake Wobegon on the radio show A Prairie Home Companion.

 

Lake Wobegon is characterized as "the little town that time forgot, and the decades cannot improve," and as the town "where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average." As taken from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Wobegon.

 

Garrison Keillor has a gift for telling a heart felt tale of life in small town Mid-West America. Hold onto your sides and keep a box of tissues close at hand, and let these stories of love, life, loss, and triumph sweep you off your feet!

About the Authors:  Garrison Keillor

Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (born August 7, 1942) is an American author, storyteller, humorist, and radio personality. He is known as host of the Minnesota Public Radio show A Prairie Home Companion (also known as Garrison Keillor's Radio Show on United Kingdom's BBC Radio 4 Extra, as well as on RTÉ in Ireland, Australia's ABC, and Radio New Zealand National in New Zealand).

 

As taken from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garrison_Keillor.

This Month’s Reading Pick:

 

 

Westley ... handsome farm boy who risks death and much, much worse for the woman he loves; Inigo ... the Spanish swordsman who lives only to avenge his father's death; Fezzik ... the Turk, the gentlest giant ever to have uprooted a tree with his bare hands; Vizzini ... the evil Sicilian, with a mind so keen he's foiled by his own perfect logic; Prince Humperdinck ... the eviler ruler of Guilder, who has an equally insatiable thirst for war and the beauteous Buttercup; Count Rugen ... the evilest man of all, who thrives on the excruciating pain of others; Miracle Max ... the King's ex-Miracle Man, who can raise the dead (kind of); The Dread Pirate Roberts ... supreme looter and plunderer of the high seas; and, of course, Buttercup ... the princess bride, the most perfect, beautiful woman in the history of the world.

S. Morgenstern's timeless tale—discovered and wonderfully abridged by William Goldman—pits country against country, good against evil, love against hate. From the Cliffs of Insanity through the Fire Swamp and down into the Zoo of Death, this incredible journey and brilliant tale is peppered with strange beasties both monstrous and gentle, and memorable surprises both terrible and sublime.

Other Suggested Reads!

 

                In celebration of the start of a fabulous holiday season, we have dusted off the following classic titles to entertain your more nostalgic and traditional interests this month. Please feel free to enjoy any of the following titles at your leisure!

 

A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens

One of the best-loved and most quoted stories of "the man who invented Christmas"-English writer Charles Dickens-A Christmas Carol debuted in 1843 and has touched millions of hearts since. Cruel miser Ebeneezer Scrooge has never met a shilling he doesn't like. . .and hardly a man he does. And he hates Christmas most of all. When Scrooge is visited by his old partner, Jacob Marley, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come, he learns eternal lessons of charity, kindness, and goodwill. Experience a true Victorian Christmas.

 

Treasure Island

By Robert Louis Stevenson

The most popular pirate story ever written in English, featuring one of literature’s most beloved “bad guys,” Treasure Island has been happily devoured by several generations of boys—and girls—and grownups. Its unforgettable characters include: young Jim Hawkins, who finds himself owner of a map to Treasure Island, where the fabled pirate booty is buried; honest Captain Smollett, heroic Dr. Livesey, and the good-hearted but obtuse Squire Trelawney, who help Jim on his quest for the treasure; the frightening Blind Pew, double-dealing Israel Hands, and seemingly mad Ben Gunn, buccaneers of varying shades of menace; and, of course, garrulous, affable, ambiguous Long John Silver, who is one moment a friendly, laughing, one-legged sea-cook . . .and the next a dangerous pirate leader!

The unexpected and complex relationship that develops between Silver and Jim helps transform what seems at first to be a simple, rip-roaring adventure story into a deeply moving study of a boy’s growth into manhood, as he learns hard lessons about friendship, loyalty, courage and honor—and the uncertain meaning of good and evil.

 

The Sun Also Rises

By Ernest Hemingway

The quintessential novel of the Lost Generation, The Sun Also Rises is one of Ernest Hemingway’s masterpieces and a classic example of his spare but powerful writing style. A poignant look at the disillusionment and angst of the post-World War I generation, the novel introduces two of Hemingway’s most unforgettable characters: Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley. The story follows the flamboyant Brett and the hapless Jake as they journey from the wild nightlife of 1920s Paris to the brutal bullfighting rings of Spain with a motley group of expatriates. It is an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions. First published in 1926, The Sun Also Rises helped to establish Hemingway as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century.

 

The Hunchback of Notre-Dame

By Victor Hugo

In the vaulted Gothic towers of Notre-Dame lives Quasimodo, the hunchbacked bellringer. Mocked and shunned for his appearance, he is pitied only by Esmerelda, a beautiful gypsy dancer to whom he becomes completely devoted. Esmerelda, however, has also attracted the attention of the sinister archdeacon Claude Frollo, and when she rejects his lecherous approaches, Frollo hatches a plot to destroy her that only Quasimodo can prevent. Victor Hugo's sensational, evocative novel brings life to the medieval Paris he loved, and mourns its passing in one of the greatest historical romances of the nineteenth century.

 

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

By Jules Verne

French naturalist Dr. Aronnax embarks on an expedition to hunt down a sea monster, only to discover instead the Nautilus, a remarkable submarine built by the enigmatic Captain Nemo. Together Nemo and Aronnax explore the underwater marvels, undergo a transcendent experience amongst the ruins of Atlantis, and plant a black flag at the South Pole. But Nemo's mission is one of revenge-and his methods coldly efficient.

 

Don Quixote

By Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Don Quixote has become so entranced by reading chivalric romances, that he determines to become a knight-errant himself. In the company of his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, his exploits blossom in all sorts of wonderful ways. While Quixote's fancy often leads him astray -- he tilts at windmill's, imagining them to be giants -- Sancho acquires cunning and a certain sagacity. Sane madman and wise fool, they roam the world together, and together they have haunted readers' imaginations for nearly four hundred years.

Little Women

By Louisa May Alcott

In picturesque nineteenth-century New England, tomboyish Jo, beautiful Meg, fragile Beth, and romantic Amy come of age while their father is off to war.

 

The Scarlet Letter

By Nathaniel Hawthorne

Set in the harsh Puritan community of seventeenth-century Boston, this tale of an adulterous entanglement that results in an illegitimate birth reveals Nathaniel Hawthorne's concerns with the tension between the public and the private selves. Publicly disgraced and ostracized, Hester Prynne draws on her inner strength and certainty of spirit to emerge as the first true heroine of American fiction. Arthur Dimmesdale, trapped by the rules of society, stands as a classic study of a self divided.

 

The Three Musketeers

By Alexandre Dumas

One of the most famous historical novels ever written, The Three Musketeers (1844) is also revered as one of the world's greatest adventure stories--its heroes Athos, Porthos and Aramis symbols for the spirit of youth, daring, and comradeship.

READ! It feeds the mind!

October Featured Series!

Nancy Drew Series:

 

Nancy Drew is a fictional character in a juvenile fiction mystery fiction series created by publisher Edward Stratemeyer. The character first appeared in 1930; the books have been ghostwritten by a number of authors and are published under the collective pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Over the decades the character has evolved in response to changes in US culture and tastes. The books were extensively revised, beginning in 1959, largely to eliminate racist stereotypes, with arguable success. Many scholars agree that in the revision process, the heroine's original character was changed to a less assertive and more feminine character. In the 1980s an older and more professional Nancy emerged in a new series, The Nancy Drew Files, that included romantic plots for the sleuth. In 2004 the original Nancy Drew Mystery Stories series, begun in 1930, was ended and a new series, Girl Detective, was launched, in which the title character drives a hybrid electric vehicle and uses a cell phone. Illustrations of the character have also evolved over time to reflect the Nancy Drew type in contemporary terms. The character has proved continuously popular worldwide: at least 80 million copies of the books have been sold, and the books have been translated into over 45 languages. Nancy Drew has featured in five films, two television shows, and a number of popular computer games; she also appears in a variety of merchandise sold over the world.

 

As taken from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Drew.

 

About the Authors: Carolyn Keene

Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Syndicate, hired writers, beginning with Mildred Wirt, later Mildred Wirt Benson, to write the manuscripts for the Nancy Drew books. The writers initially were paid $125 for each book and were required by their contract to give up all rights to the work and to maintain confidentiality.

 

Benson and Harriet Adams (Stratemeyer's daughter) are often credited as the primary writers of Nancy Drew books under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene; other ghostwriters who used this name to write Nancy Drew mysteries included James Duncan Lawrence, Walter Karig, Nancy Axelrad, Priscilla Doll, Charles Strong, Alma Sasse, Wilhelmina Rankin, George Waller Jr., Margaret Scherf, and Susan Wittig Albert. Also involved in the Nancy Drew writing process were Harriet Stratemeyer Adams's daughters, who gave input on the series and sometimes helped to choose book titles; the Syndicate's secretary, Harriet Otis Smith, who invented the characters of Nancy's friends Bess and George; and the editors at Grosset and Dunlap.

In 1978, the Stratemeyer Syndicate changed publishers to Simon & Schuster, a move that the former publishers, Grosset and Dunlap, went to court to prevent the switch, claiming a breach of contract. The decision was made in favor of the Syndicate, stating that they could choose which publisher they would like to go with subsequent entries in the series. However, since the editors at Grosset and Dunlap were so heavily involved in writing the Drew books, they won the rights to the volumes that they had published.

In 1986, the Syndicate was bought by publishers Simon & Schuster; the Drew books are now handled by Mega-Books, a New York book packager.

 

As taken from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolyn_Keene.

October Reading Pick

Have you ever sat up late at night and seen something just out of the corner of your eye? Turning to look, do you find nothing there? Have you heard your name being called out by a loved one that isn't home? Witnessed doors that mysteriously open and close on their own? What about footsteps approaching, only to turn and find emptiness echoing aloud? Every year, thousands tell the stories of their personal accounts of ghostly hauntings. Are they just that: stories? Or is there something else, lurking outside the boundaries of what we call reality. From the famous Amityville house to the tragic case of Murder Ridge, do the murders that took place there tell the whole story? Or do the dead hang on, struggling to share their voice with the willing and the ones that seek to learn? Take my hand and come with me into a world where the dead themselves speak to the tragedy of a life lost to time. The evidence is all here within the pages of this book. It's up to you to decide if you choose to believe.

Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie

"Murder at the Vicarage" marks the debut of Agatha Christie's unflappable and much beloved female detective, Miss Jane Marple. With her gift for sniffing out the malevolent side of human nature, Miss Marple is led on her first case to a crime scene at the local vicarage. Colonel Protheroe, the magistrate whom everyone in town hates, has been shot through the head. No one heard the shot. There are no leads. Yet, everyone surrounding the vicarage seems to have a reason to want the Colonel dead. It is a race against the clock as Miss Marple sets out on the twisted trail of the mysterious killer without so much as a bit of help from the local police.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but has no understanding of human emotions. He cannot stand to be touched. And he detests the color yellow.

This improbable story of Christopher's quest to investigate the suspicious death of a neighborhood dog makes for one of the most captivating, unusual, and widely heralded novels in recent years.

Dracula by Bram Stoker

Famous for introducing the character of the vampire Count Dracula, the novel tells the story of Dracula's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to England, and the battle between Dracula and a small group of men and women led by Professor Abraham Van Helsing.

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

Biographer Margaret Lea returns one night to her apartment above her father’s antiquarian bookshop. On her steps she finds a letter. It is a hand-written request from one of Britain’s most prolific and well-loved novelists. Vida Winter, gravely ill, wants to recount her life story before it is too late, and she wants Margaret to be the one to capture her history. The request takes Margaret by surprise—she doesn’t know the author, nor has she read any of Miss Winter’s dozens of novels.

Late one night while pondering whether to accept the task of recording Miss Winter’s personal story, Margaret begins to read her father’s rare copy of Miss Winter’s Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation. She is spellbound by the stories and confused when she realizes the book only contains twelve stories. Where is the thirteenth tale? Intrigued, Margaret agrees to meet Miss Winter and act as her biographer.

As Vida Winter unfolds her story, she shares with Margaret the dark family secrets that she has long kept hidden as she remembers her days at Angelfield, the now burnt-out estate that was her childhood home. Margaret carefully records Miss Winter’s account and finds herself more and more deeply immersed in the strange and troubling story. In the end, both women have to confront their pasts and the weight of family secrets. As well as the ghosts that haunt them still.

Sex, Murder and A Double Latte by Kyra Davis

Sophie Katz is a novelist, famous for her thrilling murder mysteries, and one of her novels is about to be turned into a movie! That is, until the man interested in producing the film, Michael Tolsky, commits unexpected suicide. Something about his death seems off to Sophie and, after some thought, she realizes what it is. His death is identical to a death scene in one of his films. The scene it imitates, however, is one that appears to be a suicide, but is in fact a murder, a coincidence of which Sophie can't let go. Sophie is distracted from this by her encounter with a gorgeous but obnoxious Russian man named Anatoly, who just happens to be everywhere Sophie is. However, she is quickly pulled back into the mystery when she experiences some eerie incidents of her own. Things from Sophie's novels begin happening to her in real life, and she becomes increasingly convinced that there is a connection between Tolsky's death, the death of a famous rap singer who died in the same manner described by one of his songs, and the increasingly more alarming things going on in her own life. No one is what they seem, and the stakes get higher and higher for Sophie as she races to catch the killer before he catches up with her.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley began writing Frankenstein when she was only eighteen. At once a Gothic thriller, a passionate romance, and a cautionary tale about the dangers of science, Frankenstein tells the story of committed science student Victor Frankenstein. Obsessed with discovering the cause of generation and life and bestowing animation upon lifeless matter, Frankenstein assembles a human being from stolen body parts but; upon bringing it to life, he recoils in horror at the creature's hideousness. Tormented by isolation and loneliness, the once-innocent creature turns to evil and unleashes a campaign of murderous revenge against his creator, Frankenstein.

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Creatures once extinct now roam Jurassic Park, soon-to-be opened as a theme park. Until something goes wrong...and science proves a dangerous toy.

The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm

Perhaps no other stories possess as much power to enchant, delight, and surprise as those penned by the immortal Brothers Grimm. Now, in the new, expanded third edition, renowned scholar and folklorist Jack Zipes has translated all 250 tales collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, plus twenty-nine rare tales omitted from the original German edition, as well as narratives uncovered in the brothers’ letters and papers.

Truly the most comprehensive translation to date, this critically acclaimed edition recaptures the fairy tales as the Brothers Grimm intended them to be: rich, stark, spiced with humor and violence, resonant with folklore and song.

One of the world’s experts on children’s literature, Jack Zipes is a professor of German at the University of Minnesota and is the author of numerous books on folklore and fairy tales.

Haunted Legends by Ellen Datlow

Winner of the 2010 Bram Stoker Award for Best Anthology!

Darkly thrilling, these twenty new ghost stories have all the chills and power of traditional ghost stories, but each tale is a unique retelling of an urban legend from the world over.

Multiple award-winning editor Ellen Datlow and award-nominated author and editor Nick Mamatas recruited Jeffrey Ford, Ramsey Campbell, Joe R. Lansdale, Caitlin Kiernan, Catherynne M. Valente, Kit Reed, Ekaterina Sedia, and thirteen other fine writers to create stories unlike any they've written before. Tales to make readers shiver with fear, jump at noises in the night, keep the lights on.

These twenty nightmares, brought together by two renowned editors of the dark fantastic, are delightful visions sure to send shivers down the spines of horror readers.