Man Booker Longlist Just Announced

The Man Booker Prize is a highly coveted award which annually honors the author of an English language novel published in the United Kingdom in the current year by a citizen of the British Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland. It was established in 1968. It promotes the finest in fiction by rewarding the very best book of the year. The prize is the world's most important literary award and has the power to transform the fortune of the author as well as the publisher.

The longlist is a baker's dozen - thirteen contenders for the 2015 Booker Prize for fiction. It was just announced on July 29. The shortlist will be announced on September 15. The winner will be announced on October 15. So, stay tuned. . .
What I found very interesting is that five of this year's nominees are American novels and they are here on the shelves at GPL. They are as follows:

A Spool of Blue Thread (Feb 2015) by Anne Tyler
In this book, we come to know three generations of Whitshanks--a family with secrets and memories that are sometimes different than what others observe. The book’s timeline moves back and forth with overlapping stories, just like thread on a spool. Most readers will find themselves in the story. Once again, Tyler has written an enchanting tale.

Lila (Oct 2014) by Marilynne Robinson
Abandoning her homeless existence to become a minister's wife, Lila reflects on her hardscrabble life on the run with a canny young drifter and her efforts to reconcile her painful past with her husband's gentle Christian worldview.

Did You Ever Have a Family (Sep 2015) by Bill Clegg
Lit by the clarity of understanding that true sadness brings, Did You Ever Have a Family is a story that reveals humanity at its worst and best, through loss and love, fracture and forgiveness. At the book’s heart is the idea of family – the ones we are born with and the ones we create – and the desire, in the face of everything, to go on living. This title is on order and you can place a hold.

The Moor's Account (Sep 2014) by Laila Lalami
This is a work of historical fiction following Estebanico, a Moroccan slave, who is one of four survivors of the failed Narváez expedition to colonise Spanish Florida in the sixteenth century. Of the four, his was the only testimony left off the record.

A Little Life (Mar 2015) by Hanya Yanagihara
A Little Life is a depiction of heartbreak, and a dark examination of the tyranny of memory and the limits of human endurance.



The remaining titles and author (nationality) are as follows:
The Green Road by Anne Enright (Ireland)
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James (Jamaica)
Satin Island by Tom McCarthy (UK)
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma (Nigeria)
The Illuminations by Andrew O'Hagan (UK)
Sleeping on Jupiter by Anuradha Roy (India)
The Year of the Runaways (UK)
The Chimes by Anna Smaill (New Zealand)

Read one or all and see if you can predict the winner of this prestigious award!

Book of the Year- Christy Awards 2015

And the winner is...Thief of Glory by Sigmund Brouwer!

For ten year-old Jeremiah Prins, the privileged son of a school headmaster in the Dutch East Indies, his idyllic childhood comes to a halt in 1943 after the Japanese invade the Southeast Pacific. Jeremiah must take on the care of his younger siblings when his father and older stepbrothers are forced into an internment camp and separated from the rest of the family. Life in the camp is especially difficult for Jeremiah's mother who is frail and fragile adding to Jeremiah's burden. Amid starvation, violence, loss, Jeremiah draws upon all of his strength and cunning to fill in for his troubled mother. Life in the camps is made more bearable as Jeremiah's boyhood crush with Laura deepens into a friendship from which they both draw strength.When evil threatens to overpower Jeremiah and Laura, they draw upon God's grace to help them. Time and war will test them and the only thing that will bring them safely to the other side is the greatest bond of all.

Sigmund Brouwer is not only the author of over 40 novels, he is also an inspirational speaker and the co-founder of the Young Writers Institute. He is married to Christian recording artist, Cindy Morgan and they have one daughter Olivia.

RITA Awards Announced!

The Romance Writers of America (RWA), the trade association for aspiring and published romance fiction authors, announced the winners for the 2015 RITA on July 25. The RITA—the highest award of distinction in romance fiction—recognizes excellence in published romance novels. 

Contemporary Romance: Long
Baby It's You by Jane Graves

Contemporary Romance: Mid-length
One In a Million by Jill Shalvis

Historical Romance
Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran

Inspirational Romance
Deceived by Irene Hannon

Paranormal Romance
Evernight by Kristen Callihan

Romantic Suspense
Concealed in Death by J.D. Robb

Young Adult Romance
Boys Like You by Juliana Stone


For more information on the RITA Awards including awards for novellas and unpublished works:
https://www.rwa.org/p/cm/ld/fid=1640

Forthcoming fiction in September

Here are some new Fiction titles coming out in September. You can reserve them by searching our Online Catalog, or give us a call at 847-729-7500.

The Hanging Girl by Jussi Adler-Olsen
The Darling Dahlias and the Eleven o’Clock Lady by Susan Wittig Albert
The Heart Goes Last by Margaret Atwood
Dishing the Dirt by M.C. Beaton
The Bark Before Christmas by Laurien Berenson
The Girl With the Deep Blue Eyes by Lawrence Block
The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
Driving Heat by Richard Castle
Make Me by Lee Child
The Man Who Fell From the Sky by Margaret Coel
The End Game by Catherine Coulter
The Solomon Curse by Clive Cussler
The Last Midwife by Sandra Dallas
Obsession Falls by Christina Dodd
The Scam by Janet Evanovich
Dark Ghost by Christine Feehan
A Lesson in Hope by Philip Gulley
Dragon Heart by Cecilia Holland
Dance of the Bones by J.A. Jance
Shadow Play by Iris Johansen
Come Rain or Come Shine by Jan Karon
The Drowning by Camilla Lackberg
The Photograph by Beverly Lewis
Entry Island by Peter May
Christmas in Mustang Creek by Linda Lael Miller
A Knights Bridge Christmas by Carla Neggers
The Murder House by James Patterson
Corridors of the Night by Anne Perry
Devoted in Death by J.D. Robb
Two Years, Eight Months and Twenty-eight Nights by Salman Rushdie
Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter
Undercover by Danielle Steel
Shanghai Redemption: An Inspector Chen Novel by Qiu Xiaolong

Women in War Time

Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale, is a moving story of two sisters in occupied France during World War II. Life during wartime could be horrible for those in battle, but what was it like for those not in the direct line of fire?

The Postmistress by Sarah Blake

An emotional story of three women, an American journalist in London, the postmistress of a small town in Cape Cod, and the wife of the town doctor, whose lives intertwine as World War II begins.

Charlotte Gray by Sebastian Faulks

After leaving Scotland, Charlotte meets and falls in love with an RAF pilot. When he is lost over occupied France, she volunteers to join the Resistance to find him.

City of Women by David Gillham

Berlin, 1943. With her husband away in the army, Sigurd’s life is tense and difficult, but she has a secret, a Jewish lover. As the war continues, she is drawn ever deeper into the struggle to survive and what it means to those involved.

Trapeze by Simon Mawer

Nineteen years old and fluent in French, Marian Sutro is recruited by the British to work in German-occupied France as a saboteur. Her mission: go to Paris and convince an old flame, an atomic physicist, to work for the Allies.

Lisette’s List by Susan Vreeland

Sent to Provence to care for her husband’s ailing grandfather, Lisette discovers he is the owner of a fabulous art collection. Her husband hid the paintings before being sent to the front. As the Germans move in, she must find a way to protect the priceless works of art.

What season is it?

Have you been wondering what’s going on with the weather? Here it is, mid-July, and it still feels like Spring. Some of us might not mind the cooler temperatures, but it's supposed to be hot and muggy. After all, it's summer in the city! So, is it global warming? Whether you agree or not with this theory, it is worth looking into.

There are several thought provoking documentaries, on DVD and CD:

Let's start with An Inconvenient Truth:a Global Warming, hosted by former Vice-President Al Gore, as he talks about the myths and truths of global warming. 

From 2005, Global warming: the signs and the science. Filmed in the U.S., Asia and South America, it profiles the people affected by the changing climate and how they are making a difference in their communities.

For a visual look, there's Chasing ice, which documents the receding of the Solheim glacier in Iceland as a result of climate change.

On CD is Earth's changing climate, a 6-disc collection of lectures by Professor Richard Wolfson of Middlebury College.

For more information on climate change, the weather and the environment, please check the Library's catalog. 

Waiting for Harper Lee’s new book

We are a patient people, as shown by the long waiting lists at libraries for a recently re-discovered book manuscript. In the mid-1950s, before To Kill a Mockingbird was published, Harper Lee had written Go Set a Watchman. The events take place two decades after the original story. In this new book, Scout returns to her father’s home in Maycomb, Alabama in the midst of social and political turbulence. The town and many of the same characters appear, but now Scout arrives home, a child no more, and sees everything with new eyes.

The novel is set to be released in mid-July. In the meantime, you might enjoy dipping into the novels and stories of a few other noteworthy Southern writers.

Truman Capote was Harper Lee’s childhood friend and neighbor while growing up in Monroeville, Alabama. His book The Complete Stories of Truman Capote might be a good way to slip into a Southern state of mind.  Reynolds Price, another small-town Southerner who grew up  listening to grown-ups tell entertaining stories full of local color, was called "one of our greatest novelists" by Harper Lee herself.  Kate Vaiden is one of the favorites of many of Price's readers.

Also fitting right in with this stellar group is Eudora Welty, who grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. We have her Complete Novels which includes The Optimist's Daughter, Delta Wedding, and Losing Battles (also available in individual editions).
Carson McCullers' Complete Novels is another repository of Southern stories now considered classics. One of her titles most often recognized is The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.
Finally, we have Flannery O'Connor, playing out her darkly tragic yet humorous religious themes in stories with strange, memorable characters. Her book  A Good Man Is Hard to Find and Other Stories is considered one of the most original story collections of her time. She wrote her recently discovered and published spiritual diary, A Prayer Journal (2013) during her time away at college in Iowa. It offers readers insight into her deep passion for writing and religion. 
Of course, there are many other Southern writers, and discovering more about their lives and books seems like an enjoyable way to wait for Go Set a Watchman. 
For an interesting article on Harper Lee, visit:

http://www.al.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/02/the_favorite_thing_i_ever_read.html