The Man Booker Prize Shortlist

On September 10, the 2013 Man Booker Prize short list was announced. After reading 151 novels,the judges finally chose six books that represent a very diverse range of selections. One of those chosen was the latest novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland. Lahiri is also the acclaimed author of Interpreter of Maladies (winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2000), The Namesake, and Unaccustomed Earth. Much of her writing deals with people trying to bridge cultures and generations.Her parents were born and raised in India, while she was born in London and moved to Rhode Island with her family a few years later. She considers herself American, but her deep familiarity with India allows her to write with authority on her chosen theme.

 The other novels making the list are:

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Harvest by Jim Crace

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín

The finalist will be announced on October 15th. Meanwhile, the books on the list are all worth considering for anyone's "want to read" list.

The rules of the Man Booker Prize will change for 2014. Entries will include any book originally written in English, published in the UK, and entered by the UK publisher. Geography and nationality will not be considered. As with any change in tradition, this move has sparked debate. For details, check the website:
www.themanbookerprize.com.

Fall into Fiction

Some people turn over a new leaf in the new year, making resolutions and all, but I like to do it in the Fall when the leaves are actually falling. I think it must be tied to the season, sort of a way of preparing for what comes next, winter. The shorter and colder days sometimes make it hard to complete tasks so before winter, a sort of nesting instinct kicks in. Here are a few autumn titles to go along with the season.

Wicked Autumn: A Max Tudor Novel by G. M. Malliet

Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin

A Year Without Autumn by Liz Kessler

When Autumn Leaves by Amy S. Foster 

Autumn Bridge by Takashi Matsuoka

Rocktober

Celebrate Rocktober at home this month and choose a film from our display in the Audiovisual room -- chock full of a great rock-and-roll film moments on DVD in both the non-fiction and feature film collections.  Check out Jack Black's classes at the School of Rock or walk the halls of the Rock 'n' Roll High School, explore the Beatles' A Hard Day's Night or take a look at the fascinating, Academy Award winning documentary on Detroit musician Sixto Rodriguez called Searching for Sugar Man.  Follow Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story in Almost Famous or watch the beautifully chronicled romance between Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova in Once.  Whatever flavor or style you like, there's plenty of good rock and roll movies to choose from.  And while we are watching the rock this month, keep your eyes peeled for new CD releases in the music collection this fall by Nine Inch Nails, Arctic Monkeys, Sebadoh, Neko Case, Sting, Jack Johnson, MGMT, Sheryl Crow and many, many more.

The Witching Hour Is Upon Us

It’s only three weeks until the clock strikes midnight on Halloween Eve, and the spirits are swirling in the witch’s caldron. We are ready with all your witching needs so pick up a witches’ brew book and start reading!

Fiction 
Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult (2002, c2001) - Love can redeem a man...but secrets and lies can condemn him. A handsome stranger comes to the sleepy New England town of Salem Falls in hopes of burying his past: Once a teacher at a girls' prep school, Jack St. Bride was destroyed when a student's crush sparked a powder keg of accusation. Now, washing dishes for Addie Peabody at the Do-Or-Diner, he slips quietly into his new routine, and Addie finds this unassuming man fitting easily inside her heart. But amid the rustic calm of Salem Falls, a quartet of teenage girls harbor dark secrets -- and they maliciously target Jack with a shattering allegation. (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

The Witches of Eastwick by John Updike (1984) - It's the marvelous story of three ambitious witches living in a small New England town in the late 1960s, who find themselves quite under the spell of the new man in town, Darryl Van Horne, whose hot tub is the scene of some rather bewitching delights. (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

The Witching Hour by Anne Rice (1997, c1990) - Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding stoyrtelling, Anne Rice makes real a family of witches--a family given to poetry and incest, to murder and philsophy, a family that is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous and seductive being. "Unfolds like a poisonous lotus blossom redolent with luxurious evil." THE LOS ANGELES TIMES (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

A Discover of Witches by Deborah Harkness (2011) - Witch and Yale historian Diana Bishop discovers an enchanted manuscript, attracting the attention of 1,500-year-old vampire Matthew Clairmont. The orphaned daughter of two powerful witches, Bishop prefers intellect, but relies on magic when her discovery of a palimpsest documenting the origin of supernatural species releases an assortment of undead who threaten, stalk, and harass her. (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

Non-Fiction
Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft by Raven Grimassi (2000) - Craft Elder and author Raven Grimassi has revised and expanded his indispensable reference work, the award-winning Encyclopedia of Wicca & Witchcraft. (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

Witch: A Magickal Journey: A Hip Guide to Modern Witchcraft by Fiona Horn (2000) - It's enchanting, making magick. In Witch: A Magickal Journey, the beautiful Fiona Horne reveals the intimate secrets and know-how of her spiritual calling, including the daily business of being a modern Witch at home, work, and play. With practical tips for effective Witchcraft, detailed outlines of annual festivals, interviews, internet sites, and a whole reference library of contacts and events, Witch also delves deep into the mysteries of spellcasting, moon worship, reincarnation and magical music. (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

Audio/Downloadable
Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire (2005) (CD) - In the land of Oz, after Dorothy has destroyed the witch, an adolescent boy named Liir, who may be the witch's son, is willed back to life at the Cloister of Saint Gilda. (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

The Winter Witch by Paula Brackston (2013) (Downloadable) - Mute fledgling witch Morgana is married for her safety to a kind farmer in the mountains of Wales before she is targeted by townspeople who are being manipulated by a dark force that compels Morgana to harness her powers. (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

Video/DVD
Practical Magic (DVD) (2009) - The wry, comic romantic tale follows the Owens sisters as they struggle to use their hereditary gift for practical magic to overcome the obstacles in discovering true love. (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

Witches of Eastwick (DVD) (1997) - The "witches" are three modern-day women yearning for Mr. Right in a quaint New England town. Wealthy Daryl Van Horne arrives in town and sets out to prove he's a devil with the ladies. (excerpt from Bibliocommons)

-KF

Forthcoming Fiction for November

Here are some titles coming out this November. You can reserve them by clicking on the links to our Online Catalog.

The First Phone Call from Heaven by Mitch Albom
King and Maxwell by David Baldacci
Purgatory by Ken Bruen
Dust by Patricia Cornwell
Mirage by Clive Cussler
Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich
The All-Girl Filling Station’s Last Reunion by Fannie Flagg
Hostage by Kay Hooper
Bleeding Shadows by Joe R. Lansdale
The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon by Alexander McCall-Smith
Sins of the Flesh by Colleen Mccullough
Cross My Heart by James Patterson
White Fire by Douglas Preston
No Man’s Nightingale: An Inspector Wexford Novel by Ruth Rendell
Stella Bain by Anita Shreve
Tatiana: an Arkady Renko Novel by Martin Cruz Smith
Through the Evil Days by Julia Spencer-Fleming
The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan
The Supreme Macaroni Company by Adriana Trigiani

Great Suggestions for Book Discussion Groups

My favorite resource for good book discussion titles is a list called Great Group Reads. I have blogged about this terrific resource in this past. Published annually each fall, the titles selected are part of a program created by the Women's National Book Association "to promote reading groups and to celebrate the joy of shared reading". My own book group recently read two titles from this year's list: The Round House and The Yellow Birds. Both titles resulted in excellent discussions.

Here are the Great Group Reads selections for 2013 with links provided to our catalog. If you are searching for a good, discussable book for your reading group, you may very well find an intriguing title here. This year, all 21 titles are fiction.

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

Big Brother by Lionel Shriver

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra

David by Ray Robertson 

The House Girl by Tara Conklin

How It All Began by Penelope Lively

Is This Tomorrow by Caroline Leavitt

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Margot by Jillian Cantor

Mary Coin by Marisa Silver

The Middlesteins by Jami Attenberg

Nowhere Is a Place by Bernice L. McFadden

The One-Way Bridge by Cathie Pelletier

Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell

The Round House by Louise Erdrich

Schroder by Amity Gaige

Sparta by Roxana Robinson

Wash by Margaret Wrinkle

The Yellow Birds by Kevin Powers

Lyric Opera of Chicago - 2013/2014 Season

This year's Lyric Opera of Chicago 2013/2014 season will be an exciting one, featuring many operas written by Giuseppe Verdi beginning with Otello on Thursday, September 26 in the Mutilpurpose Room at 7:00 p.m.  Our facilitators will be from the Lyric Opera Education Corps.  Our opera display can be found in the Audiovisual Room.  

Otello by Giuseppe Verdi - Thursday, September 26 First performed in La Scala, Milan in 1887, Otello is based on Shakespeare's tale of the Moorish general and his fatal jealousy.  It is widely accepted as one of Verdi's finest operas.  It includes a Storm scene, a Drinking Song where the evil Iago gets Cassio drunk. It also has a Heroic Aria where the heroine bids good night to her maid in a single line which can be a Mad Scene, a Farewell Aria and suicide Aria all rolled into one.  It also includes an Oath Duet for tenor and baritone.

In the film Serenade, Mario Lanza plays an operatic tenor who is singing Otello for the first time.

Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini - Thursday, October 30

Premiered at La Scala on February 17, 1904, it was badly received.  During the first performance, the crowd booed and jeered.  Puccini, suffering from a car accident leg injury, stood in the wings saying, "Louder, louder you beasts!  You'll see who's right - this is the best opera I've ever written!"  It was first performed in two acts and later the second act was split in half.  It was shown three months later to great acclaim.

"The story of Madama Butterfly is based on an actual incident involving a young Japanese girl who became pregnant by an Englishman and attempted suicide." (Lyric Opera Season Companion 3013/2014)

The Broadway and West End musical Miss Saigon (1989) was, in part, based on Madama Butterfly.  The location was moved to Vietnam and Thailand during the Vietnam War and the Fall of Saigon.

Parsifal by Richard Wagner - Wednesday, October 30

Parsifal was first performed in Bayreuth in 1882.  It was a religious drama and Wagner's last opera.  He died in Venice six months after the premier of Parsifal.  "Parsifal is a tale of a "young fool," an innocent who must learn of life's sorrow before he can fulfill his destiny as the king of the knights of the Holy Grail." (NPR)  The Third Reich banned it in 1940 and was not performed in Russia until 1993.

Wagner learned that the scenery was moving too slowly and had to add a few bars between the Transformation Music and the Grail Scene.  "They always said my music was too long!" Wagner raged.  "Now it is too short!" 

Parsifal was a sacred art and one was supposed to be reverent.  August Forster said, "Just wait - Wagner's not long for this world!  A man who is capable of producing a thing of that order cannot have much time left on earth.  His work is finished!"

La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi - Wednesday, November 13

La Traviata premiered in Teatro la Fenice, Venice in 1853.  It is a romantic tragedy where a high-priced prostitute gives up the only man she loves and then dies of TB.  This is based on a true story.

It was a failure on opening night because modern-day clothing rather than the period garb was used.  The leading tenor lost his voice and the soprano did not look like a woman dying of tuberculosis.  A year later, the opera was produced again in the same city and was a success. (Opera for Dummies)

Verdi took interest in this story because he himself was living with the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi.  He was a widower since 1840, but because they were not married, the residents of Busseto in Italy were appalled.