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Updated February 2008
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People of the Book
by Geraldine Brooks |
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From the Publisher
In 1996, Hanna Heath, an Australian rare-book expert, is offered the job of a lifetime: analysis and conservation of the famed Sarajevo Haggadah, which has been rescued from Serb shelling during the Bosnian war. Priceless and beautiful, the book is one of the earliest Jewish volumes ever to be illuminated with images. When Hanna, a caustic loner with a passion for her work, discovers a series of tiny artifacts in its ancient binding—an insect wing fragment, wine stains, salt crystals, a white hair—she begins to unlock the book's mysteries. The reader is ushered into an exquisitely detailed and atmospheric past, tracing the book's journey from its salvation back to its creation.
In Bosnia during World War II, a Muslim risks his life to protect it from the Nazis. In the hedonistic salons of fin-de-siècle Vienna, the book becomes a pawn in the struggle against the city's rising anti-Semitism. In inquisition-era Venice, a Catholic priest saves it from burning. In Barcelona in 1492, the scribe who wrote the text sees his family destroyed by the agonies of enforced exile. And in Seville in 1480, the reason for the Haggadah's extraordinary illuminations is finally disclosed. Hanna's investigation unexpectedly plunges her into the intrigues of fine art forgers and ultra-nationalist fanatics. Her experiences will test her belief in herself and the man she has come to love.
If you like this book, you'll enjoy reading Away by Amy Bloom, or The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell. |
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This |
Stardust
by Neil Gaiman |
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From the Publisher
In the sleepy English countryside of decades past, there is a town that has stood on a jut of granite for six hundred years. And immediately to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here in the town of Wall, Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. One crisp October night, as they watch, a star falls from the sky, and Victoria promises to marry Tristran if he'll retrieve that star and bring it back for her. It is this promise that sends Tristran through the only gap in the wall, across the meadow, and into the most unforgettable adventure of his life.In the sleepy English countryside of decades past, there is a town that has stood on a jut of granite for six hundred years. And immediately to the east stands a high stone wall, for which the village is named. Here in the town of Wall, Tristran Thorn has lost his heart to the hauntingly beautiful Victoria Forester. One crisp October night, as they watch, a star falls from the sky, and Victoria promises to marry Tristran if he'll retrieve that star and bring it back for her. It is this promise that sends Tristran through the only gap in the wall, across the meadow, and into the most unforgettable adventure of his life.
This book has been made into a major motion picture released on DVD and available in the Bud Werner Memorial Library collection.
If you like this book, you'll enjoy reading Tithe: a modern fairy tale by Holly Black. |
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The Traveler: the first novel of the fourth realm trilogy
by John Twelve Hawks |
From the Publisher
Gabriel and Michael Corrigan have always lived "off the grid" -- that is, beyond the reach of the technological surveillance that we all know so well. Their protectiveness is not mere paranoia; it stems from stories that they may be Travelers, prophets and seers who stand in constant danger of discovery and capture. Halfway around the world from their Los Angeles hideaway, a 26-year-old woman has been called on an urgent mission: She must race to California to save two men who may well be the last surviving Travelers.
If you liked this book, you'll enjoy reading Camouflage by Joe Haldeman, or Good Omens by Neil Gaiman. |
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The Writer's Journey: mythic structures for screenwriters and storytellers
by Christopher Vogler |
From the Publisher
At the beginning of The Writer's Journey, Christopher Vogler asserts that "all stories consist of a few common structural elements found universally in myths, fairy tales, dreams, and movies." Some may be hard-pressed to accept this idea (and will wonder how storytellers from Homer to Shakespeare to Robert Altman might respond to the proposition). Others may imagine that since Vogler uses movies like the Star Wars trilogy and The Lion King to defend his mythological philosophy, he is, unwittingly, listing the reasons why Hollywood films of the last 20 years have been so unimaginative. But there's no doubt that Vogler's notion, based on psychological writings by Carl Jung and the mythmaking philosophy of Joseph Campbell, has been profoundly influential. Many screenwriters have used Vogler's volume to understand why certain scenarios sell, and to discover a blueprint for creating mythic stories of their own.
If you enjoyed this book, you'll also enjoy Screenwriting: techniques for success by Jimmy Sangster and This Business of Screenwriting by Ron Suppa. |
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The River Why
by David James Duncan
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From the Publisher
Since its publication by Sierra Club Books nearly two decades ago, The River Why has become a classic, standing with Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It as the most-read fiction about fly-fishing of our era. Duncan's protagonist, Gus Orviston, is an irreverent young flyfisherman—a vibrant character who makes us laugh easily and feel deeply, and who speaks with startling truth about the way we live.
Leaving behind a madcap, fishing-obsessed family, Gus embarks on an extraordinary voyage of self-discovery along his beloved Oregon rivers. What he unexpectedly finds is man's wanton destruction of nature and a burning desire to commit himself to its preservation.
The River Why is a tale that gives a contemporary voice to the concerns and hopes of all living things on this beautiful, watery planet. It is the story of one man's search for meaning, for love, and for a sane way to live.
If you enjoyed this book, you'll also enjoy Question of Attraction by David Nicholls or Washington's Crossing by David Hackett Fischer. |
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Anansi Boys
by Neil Gaiman |
From the Publisher
When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie “Fat Charlie.” Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing “gifts” his father bestowed — before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life.
Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie’s doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who’s going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun… just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie.
Because, you see, Charlie’s dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself.
If you enjoyed this book, you'll also enjoy A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, or Wintersmith by Terry Pratchett. |
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The Diogenes Trilogy
Brimstone, Dance of Death, and Book of the Dead
by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
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The Diogenes Trilogy are the three novels that, together, form the story of Agent Pendergast's epic confrontation with his brother, Diogenes.
Brimstone:In the wake of a series of bizarre murders in which claw prints are found near each of the victims, agent Pendergast teams up with officer Vincent d'Agosta in an investigation with apparent ties to the supernatural.
Dance of the Dead:Stalked throughout his life by his brother Diogenes, FBI Special Agent Pendergast finds himself framed for several murders, a situation that forces him to flee while he works alongside a friend from the NYPD to prove his innocence.
Book of the Dead: Psychotic killer Diogenes faces down his incarcerated FBI agent brother, while the Museum of Natural History reopens a long-closed tomb exhibit, a decision that coincides with a series of murders and sparks rumors about an ancient curse.
If you enjoyed this series, you'll also enjoy Cold Moon by Jeffery Deaver or Black Order by James Rollins. |
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