Brooks Reads

YOUR LAST CHANCE TO VOTE!

2011-10-30T11:00:00.003-06:00

This is your final chance to vote for Brooks Reads 2012. Cast your vote here online or by coming into the Brooks Public Library and filling out a ballot. Remember, everyone who votes is entered to win a Brooks Reads Prize Pack which includes a one year individual membership to the Brooks Public Library. Votes must be submited before midnight on October 31, 2011.

Brooks Reads: Staff Picks - Nominated Titles
Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
Jar City by Arnaldur Indridason
Room by Emma Donoghue
Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay

What is Brooks Reads?

2011-10-30T10:59:00.001-06:00

Brooks Reads is hosted by the Brooks Public Library every October, and celebrates literacy and Canadian Library Month. Each year, five local residents are asked to nominate a book of their choice that they feel the community would enjoy reading. Throughout the month of October, Brooks residents are invited to vote online or in the library for the book that they feel should be the one book that 'Brooks Reads' at the end of the month a winner is crowned!

In October 2007 the Brooks Public Library hosted the first ever Brooks Reads competition. Five Brooks residents chose the books that they love to read. After 31 days of intense voting, the community chose Sahara by Clive Cussler as the book that everyone in Brooks should read.

In October 2008, the Brooks Public Library hosted the second Brooks Reads event. At the end of a very close race, the community chose The Horse Whisperer by Nicholas Evans as the book for Brooks to read in 2009.

In October 2009, the people of Brooks selected When the Bough Breaks by Jonathan Kellerman as the book to read in 2010.

In October 2010, Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert was selected by the residents of Brooks as the book that Brooks should read in 2011.

Persepolis

2011-09-30T09:04:00.001-06:00

Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi
Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran: of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life and of the enormous toll repressive regimes exact on the individual spirit. Marjane's child's-eye-view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a stunning reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, through laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.

About the Author
Marjane Satrapi was born in 1969 in Rasht, Iran. She now lives in Paris, where she is a regular contributor to magazines and newspapers throughout the world, including The New Yorker and The New York Times. She is also the author of several children’s books, Embroideries, and the internationally best-selling and award-winning comic book autobiography in two parts, Persepolis and Persepolis 2.

Check this book out from the Brooks Public Library

Room

2011-09-30T09:03:00.000-06:00

Room
By Emma Donoghue

To five-year-old-Jack, Room is the world. . . . It's where he was born, it's where he and his Ma eat and sleep and play and learn. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma it's the prison where she has been held for seven years. Through her fierce love for her son, she has created a life for him in this eleven-by-eleven-foot space. But with Jack's curiosity building alongside her own desperation, she knows that Room cannot contain either much longer. Room is a tale at once shocking, riveting, exhilarating--a story of unconquerable love in harrowing circumstances, and of the diamond-hard bond between a mother and her child.

About the Author
Born in Dublin, Ireland, in October 1969, Emma Donoghue is the youngest of eight children. She attended Catholic convent schools in Dublin, and in 1990 she earned a first-class honours BA in English and French from University College Dublin. She then moved to England and in 1997 received her PhD from the University of Cambridge. In 1998 she settled in London, Ontario, where she lives with Chris Roulston and their two children, son Finn (7) and daughter Una (4).
Check out this book from the Brooks Public Library

Sarah's Key

2011-09-30T09:02:00.000-06:00

Sarah’s Key
By Tatiana de Rosnay

Paris, July 1942: Sarah, a ten-year-old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door to door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard—their secret hiding place—and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released. Sixty Years Later: Sarah’s story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles onto a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and to questions about her own future. In Sarah’s Key, Tatiana de Rosnay offers up a mesmerizing story in which a tragic past unfolds, the present is torn apart, and the future is irrevocably altered.

About the Author
Tatiana de Rosnay is the international bestselling author of ten novels. Together with Dan Brown and Stieg Larsson, she was named one of the top three fiction writers in Europe in 2010. Tatiana lives with her husband and two children in Paris, where she is at work on her next novel.

Check out this book from the Brooks Public Library

Jar City

2011-09-30T09:01:00.001-06:00

Jar City
by Arnaldur Indridason

When a lonely old man is found dead in his Reykjavík flat, the only clues are a cryptic note left by the killer and a photograph of a young girl's grave. Inspector Erlendur discovers that many years ago the victim was accused, but not convicted, of an unsolved crime, a rape. Did the old man's past come back to haunt him? As Erlendur reopens this very cold case, he follows a trail of unusual forensic evidence, uncovering secrets that are much larger than the murder of one old man.

About the Author
Arnaldur Indridason was born in 1961. He worked at an Icelandic newspaper, first as a journalist and then for many years as a film reviewer. He won the Glass Key Award for Best Nordic Crime Novel for both Jar City and Silence of the Grave, and in 2005 Silence of the Grave also won the Crime Writers Gold Dagger Award for best crime novel of the year. The film of Jar City was Iceland’s entry for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Indridason lives in Reykjavík with his family.

Check this book out from the Brooks Public Library

The Giver

2010-10-01T00:04:00.000-06:00

The Giver
by Lois Lowry
ISBN: 0395645662
Nominated by Darcie Fleming

From the Publisher: Jonas's world is perfect. Everything is under control. There is no war or fear of pain. There are no choices. Every person is assigned a role in the community. When Jonas turns 12 he is singled out to receive special training from The Giver. The Giver alone holds the memories of the true pain and pleasure of life. Now, it is time for Jonas to receive the truth. There is no turning back.

Check out this book from BPL

Learn more about this book from Bantam Books (Random House)

Learn more about author Lois Lowry from her official site

Darcie Fleming works at the Volunteer Resource Centre in Brooks, Alberta. She selected this book for Brooks Reads.

The Kite Runner

2010-10-01T00:03:00.000-06:00

The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
ISBN: 9781573222457
Nominated by Lori Walsh

From the Publisher: The unforgettable, heartbreaking story of the unlikely friendship between a wealthy boy and the son of his father's servant, The Kite Runner is a beautifully crafted novel set in a country that is in the process of being destroyed. It is about the power of reading, the price of betrayal, and the possibility of redemption, and it is also about the power of fathers over sons—their love, their sacrifices, their lies.

The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner tells a sweeping story of family, love, and friendship against a backdrop of history that has not been told in fiction before, bringing to mind the large canvases of the Russian writers of the nineteenth century. But just as it is old-fashioned in its narration, it is contemporary in its subject—the devastating history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years.

Check out this book today from the Library

Learn more about this book from Riverhead Trade (Penguin Group)

Learn more about author Khaled Hosseini from his official site

The Kite Runner, now a major motion picture. Watch it today!

Lori Walsh works at the SPEC Association in Brooks, Alberta. She selected this book for Brooks Reads 2010.

Shoe Addicts Anonymous

2010-10-01T00:01:00.014-06:00

Shoe Addicts Anonymous
by Beth Harbison
ISBN: 980312348236
Selected by Biftu Adballa

From the Publisher: Four different women. One common shoe size. And a shared lust for fabulous footwear.

Helene Zaharis’s politician husband keeps her on a tight leash and cancels her credit cards as a way of controlling her. Lorna Rafferty is up to her eyeballs in debt and can’t stop her addiction to eBay. Sandra Vanderslice, battling agoraphobia, pays her shoe bills by working as a phone-sex operator. And Jocelyn Bowen is a nanny for the family from hell (who barely knows a sole from a heel but who will do anything to get out of the house.)

On Tuesday nights, these women meet to trade shoes and, in the process, form friendships that will help them each triumph over their problems---from secret pasts to blackmail, bankruptcy, and dating. Funny, emotional, and powerful, Shoe Addicts Anonymous is a perfect read for any woman who has ever struggled to find the perfect fit.

Check out this book from BPL

Learn more about this book from St. Martin's Press (Macmillan)

Learn more about author Beth Harbison from her official site

Looking to swap your stylish threads with other fashionistas? Check out Swap Style for ideas and tips.

Biftu Abdalla works at the Red Cross in Brooks, Alberta. She selected this book for Brooks Reads.

Fahrenheit 451

2010-10-01T00:01:00.013-06:00

Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
ISBN: 0743247221
Nominated by Lynn Pye-Matheson

From the Publisher: In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires--they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal--a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television "family," imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.

Check out this book from BPL

Learn more about this book from Simon and Schuster

Learn more about author Ray Bardbury from his official site

Learn more about the 1966 motion picture Fahrenheit 451 from the Internet Movie Database

Lynn Pye-Matheson works for Brooks FCSS in Brooks, Alberta. She selected this book for Brooks Reads.

Eat, Pray, Love

2010-10-01T00:00:00.000-06:00

Eat, Pray, Love
by Elizabeth Gilbert
ISBN: 9780670034710
Nominated by Amy Purvis

From the Publisher: This beautifully written, heartfelt memoir touched a nerve among both readers and reviewers. Elizabeth Gilbert tells how she made the difficult choice to leave behind all the trappings of modern American success (marriage, house in the country, career) and find, instead, what she truly wanted from life. Setting out for a year to study three different aspects of her nature amid three different cultures, Gilbert explored the art of pleasure in Italy and the art of devotion in India, and then a balance between the two on the Indonesian island of Bali. By turns rapturous and rueful, this wise and funny author (whom Booklist calls “Anne Lamott’s hip, yoga - practicing, footloose younger sister”) is poised to garner yet more adoring fans.

Check out this book from BPL

Learn more about this book from Penguin Books

Learn more about author Elizabeth Gilbert from her official site

Let yourself go! Check out Eat, Pray, Love the motion picture.

Amy Purvis works at the Lakeside Leisure Center in Brooks, Alberta. She selected this book for Brooks Reads.

The Power of Now

2009-09-29T10:00:00.004-06:00

The Power of Now
By Eckhart Tolle
Selected by Vivian Nielsen

From the Publisher: To make the journey into the Now we will need to leave our analytical mind and its false created self, the ego, behind. From the very first page of Eckhart Tolle's extraordinary book, we move rapidly into a significantly higher altitude where we breathe a lighter air. We become connected to the indestructible essence of our Being, “The eternal, ever present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death.” Although the journey is challenging, Eckhart Tolle uses simple language and an easy question and answer format to guide us.

Vivian Nielsen is a Career/Life Coach and the Owner of Minerva Employment & Career Services. She was born and raised in Brooks, then left "for learning and adventure post high school." After living in Calgary, Nanaimo, Yellowpoint, Victoria, Salt Spring Island, Vivian returned to Brooks in 2004. When asked why she chose this book, Vivian said "Most of my reading is non-fiction. My background is human and group behaviour --I am fascinated by people's motivations and in my work I guide people to shift negative beliefs to those that move them to more joy and success. Eckart Tolle is a wise and learned individual who shares wisdom and tools that I have used personally and within my work. His belief that all that matters is the present moment, that each moment is where we will find contentment and peace, makes sense to me. I know many who have benefited from his work, both his books and his workshops. I know I have. And in this hectic, unstable, unpredictable time where so much is unknown, grounding oneself in the present is invaluable."

Read more about this book from New World Library

Check this book out from the Brooks Public Library

Find out more about author Eckhart Tolle from his official website.

A Severed Head

2009-09-29T10:00:00.003-06:00

A Severed Head
By Iris Murdoch
Selected by Collin Wildschut

From the Publisher: Martin Lynch-Gibbon is serenely enjoying both a beautiful wife and a delightful lover. But when his wife, Antonia, suddenly leaves him for her psychoanalyst, Martin is plunged into an intensive emotional re-education.

Collin Wildschut is a photographer who has lived in Brooks for 34 years. He moved to Canada in 1975 after living in South America, Scotland, and Indonesia. When he's not busy taking photos or travelling with his wife Rita, Collin says that he loves reading because it helps to calm him down. 'A Severed Head' by Iris Murdoch is his choice for Brooks Reads because, as he says, "it's short!"

Find out more about this book from Penguin Group Canada

Check this book out from the Brooks Public Library

Another Roadside Attraction

2009-09-29T10:00:00.002-06:00

Another Roadside Attraction
By Tom Robbins
Selected by Ryan Kiedrowski

From the Publisher: What if the Second Coming didn’t quite come off as advertised? What if “the Corpse” on display in that funky roadside zoo is really who they say it is—what does that portend for the future of western civilization? And what if a young clairvoyant named Amanda reestablishes the flea circus as popular entertainment and fertility worship as the principal religious form of our high-tech age? Another Roadside Attraction answers those questions and a lot more. It tell us, for example, what the sixties were truly all about, not by reporting on the psychedelic decade but by recreating it, from the inside out. In the process, this stunningly original seriocomic thriller is fully capable of simultaneously eating a literary hot dog and eroding the borders of the mind

Ryan Kiedrowski is the Editor for the Brooks and County Chronicle. Ryan moved to Brooks eight years ago from "sundry places in Saskatchewan". He tells us that he chose this book for Brooks Reads because "I've always been a Tom Robbins fan, and was fascinated with the characters he created in this, his first of many stellar novels over the span of more than three decades. Where else can you combine hippies, organized religion, a baboon named Mon Cul and a hotdog stand zoo, then have it all somehow seem sensical? His writing style is beyond comparison in general, but in Another Roadside Attraction, I found myself needing to close the book at certain points in order to laugh hysterically. It's one of those books you can't put down and wish never came to an end."

Read more about this book from Random House

Check this book out from the Brooks Public Library

When the Bough Breaks

2009-09-29T10:00:00.001-06:00

When the Bough Breaks
By Jonathan Kellerman
Selected by Courtney Potts

From the Publisher: In the first Alex Delaware novel, Dr. Morton Handler practiced a strange brand of psychiatry. Among his specialties were fraud, extortion, and sexual manipulation. Handler paid for his sins when he was brutally murdered in his luxurious Pacific Palisades apartment. The police have no leads, but they do have one possible witness: seven-year-old Melody Quinn. It's psychologist Dr. Alex Delaware's job to try to unlock the terrible secret buried in Melody's memory. But as the sinister shadows in the girl's mind begin to take shape, Alex discovers that the mystery touches a shocking incident in his own past. This connection is only the beginning, a single link in a forty-year-old conspiracy. And behind it lies an unspeakable evil that Alex Delaware must expose before it claims another innocent victim: Melody Quinn.

Courtney Potts is the Drive Show Announcer for 101.1FM the Fox Brooks. She has lived in Brooks for three years and is "lovin' every minute of it". Courtney enjoys reading because she can escape from reality and make use of her imagination. She also says her favorite place to read is in her bed just before going to sleep. When asked why she chose this book for Brooks Reads, Courtney replied "This was the first Johnathen Kellermen book I even read (my mom gave it to me) and I have been hooked on his "Alex Delaware" stories ever since. Great Murder mystery, WOOT WOOT!"

Read more about this book from Random House

Check this book out from the Brooks Public Library

Things Fall Apart

2009-09-29T10:00:00.000-06:00

Things Fall Apart
By Chinua Achebe
Selected by Michael Nuul Mayen

From the Publisher: Things Fall Apart tells two intertwining stories, both centering on Okonkwo, a “strong man” of an Ibo village in Nigeria. The first, a powerful fable of the immemorial conflict between the individual and society, traces Okonkwo’s fall from grace with the tribal world. The second, as modern as the first is ancient, concerns the clash of cultures and the destruction of Okonkwo's world with the arrival of aggressive European missionaries. These perfectly harmonized twin dramas are informed by an awareness capable of encompassing at once the life of nature, human history, and the mysterious compulsions of the soul.

Michael Nuul Mayen is a settlement counselor for Global Friendship Immigration Center. He moved to Brooks in 2007 from Winnipeg after completing his studies in Manitoba. Michael says he likes to read because "I believe reading many different books has broadened my knowledge and expanded my mind. I think reading is a key to knowledge that can create effective communications to all human beings. I have received advice from teachers, professors and they encouraged me to read in order to have a better understanding of global issues." He also says that he chose 'When Things Fall Apart' for Brooks Reads because "it talks about different cultures, language, and religion and gender roles in the African contents. I look at the content that can fit our Canadian’s mosaic or Brooks’ diverse community. The language is very essential in the book and that is why I was interested in the Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. I see the similarities that face new Canadians and long time residents in Brooks, because our cultures and languages are playing very roles in our community."

Read more about this book from Vintage/Anchor Books

Check this book out from the Brooks Public Library

The Horse Whisperer WINNER - BROOKS READS 2009

2008-09-25T02:05:00.000-06:00

The Horse Whisperer
by Nicholas Evans
ISBN: 978-0440222651
Selected by Peggy Desgagne

From the Publisher: He is the stuff of legend. His voice can calm wild horses and his touch heal broken spirits. For secrets uttered softly into pricked and troubled ears, such men were once called Whisperers. Now Tom Booker, the inheritor of this ancient gift, is to meet his greatest challenge.

Annie Graves has traveled across a continent with her daughter, Grace, and their wounded horse, Pilgrim, to the Booker ranch in Montana. Annie has risked everything -- her career, her marriage, her comfortable life--in her desperate belief that the Whisperer can help them. The accident has turned Pilgrim savage. He is now so demented and dangerous that everyone says he should be destroyed. But Annie won't give up on him, for she feels his fate is inextricably entwined with that of her daughter, who has retreated into a heartrending, hostile silence. Annie knows that if the horse dies, something in Grace will die too.

In the weeks to come, under the massive sky of the Rocky Mountain Front, all their lives--including Tom Booker's--will be transformed forever in a way none could have foretold. At once an epic love story and a gripping adventure, The Horse Whisperer weaves an extraordinary tale of healing and redemption--a magnificent emotional journey that explores our ancient bonds with earth and sky and hearts untamed. It is a stirring elegy to the power of belief and self-discovery, to hopes lost and found again.

Peggy Desgagne has lived in the City of Brooks for 27 years. She has been an active member of our community volunteering with many organizations including the CNIB. This year Peggy was awarded the honour of Citizen of the Year 2008. Being blind from the age of 7, Peggy reads all her books through alternative materials, such as books on tape and sound recordings. Peggy chose this book because she is a horse fanatic. She says that this book has a good message about trouble in your life, the things that happen, and working hard to make those things happen.

Learn more about this book from Bantam Dell

Check out this book (and/or the movie) from BPL

Learn more about author Nicholas Evans from his official site

See how the book translates on to film! Check out information on the 1998 film from the Internet Movie Database.

Lord of the Flies

2008-09-25T02:04:00.000-06:00

Lord of the Flies
by William Golding
ISBN: 0571224520
Selected by Marcus Fitzgerald

From the Publisher: A plane crashes on an uninhabited island and the only survivors, a group of schoolboys, assemble on the beach and wait to be rescued. By day they inhabit a land of bright fantastic birds and dark blue seas, but at night their dreams are haunted by the image of a terrifying beast.

In this, his first novel, William Golding gave the traditional adventure story an ironic, devastating twist. The boys' delicate sense of order fades, and their childish fears are transformed into something deeper and more primitive. Their games take on a horrible significance, and before long the well-behaved party of schoolboys has turned into a tribe of faceless, murderous savages.

First published in 1954, Lord of the Flies is now recognized as a classic, one of the most celebrated of all modern novels.

Marcus Fitzgerald has lived in the City of Brooks for 11 months. He is most famously known as one of the voices of 101.1 FM The Fox, Brooks’ local radio station. Marcus loves reading and thinks that it is especially important to read to kids. Marcus is not necessarily a fiction fan, but this book sticks out in his memory as a favourite. Marcus refers to it as “Lost before Lost happened”. He says he enjoyed it because he could relate to the age of the characters and the author was very good with imagery. Tune in Monday to Friday from 6-9am to hear Marcus on the Fox.

Learn more about this book from Faber & Faber

Check out this book (and/or movie) from BPL

Learn more about Nobel Laureate Sir William Golding from the Nobel Foundation

See how this classic translates on film! Check out information on the 1990 movie from the Internet Movie Database.

Rainbow Days

2008-09-25T02:03:00.000-06:00

Rainbow Days
by Josephine Cox
ISBN: 978-0747272991
Selected by Anna Marie Luchies

From the Publisher: You're everything to me. I would have to lose my life before I'd lose you.

This is the vow Silas makes to Cathleen on the day he asks her to marry him. Throughout their childhood, their love for each other has grown stronger and now, in 1900, they start to plan a life together. But a jealous woman is determined to ruin their happiness and use Silas's father--a good and honest man--to do so, forcing him to make a terrible sacrifice. As a dutiful son, Silas has no choice but to obey his father, and Cathleen must pay the bitter price. Separated, each is swept along to a place where it seems there is no love or peace and no way back...

Anna Marie Luchies has lived in Brooks for the last 10 years (this time around). She is currently the manager of the Brooks Food Bank and does many things around the community, including serving as a member of the Appeals Board for the City of Brooks. Anna Marie loves to read, teach Sunday School, and spending time with her Grandchildren. Anna Marie chose this book because the book cover and synopsis caught her eye, and if a book doesn't catch her attention right away she doesn’t bother to finish it. She recommends this book to anyone as it is an easy read and a great story.

Learn more about this book from McArthur and Company

Check out this book from BPL

Learn more about author Josephine Cox from her official site

Telex From Cuba

2008-09-25T02:02:00.000-06:00

Telex from Cuba
by Rachel Kushner
ISBN: 978-1-4165-6103-3
Selected by George Newton

From the Publisher: Young Everly Lederer and K. C. Stites come of age in Oriente Province, where the Americans tend their own fiefdom -- three hundred thousand acres of United Fruit Company sugarcane that surround their gated enclave. If the rural tropics are a child's dreamworld, Everly and K.C. nevertheless have keen eyes for the indulgences and betrayals of the grown-ups around them -- the mordant drinking and illicit loves, the race hierarchies and violence.

In Havana, a thousand kilometers and a world away from the American colony, a cabaret dancer meets a French agitator named Christian de La Mazière, whose seductive demeanor can't mask his shameful past. Together they become enmeshed in the brewing political underground. When Fidel and Raúl Castro lead a revolt from the mountains above the cane plantation, torching the sugar and kidnapping a boat full of "yanqui" revelers, K.C. and Everly begin to discover the brutality that keeps the colony humming. Though their parents remain blissfully untouched by the forces of history, the children hear the whispers of what is to come.

At the time, urgent news was conveyed by telex. Kushner's first novel is a tour de force, haunting and compelling, with the urgency of a telex from a forgotten time and place.

George Newton has lived in Brooks for 15 years. He is currently serving as President of the Chamber of Commerce for his second term and is also a member of Rotary Club. George is a very active person and especially loves to play tennis. George chose this book because the subject of the book interested George and he really enjoys historical novels. He feels that there is not a lot known about Cuba in the 1950s. He thought it was very interesting with authentic facts as the author had family members with personal experience in Cuba. He refers to it as an eye opening account of what went on in Cuba during the time when the then Cuban government was chasing the Americans out of the country.

Learn more about this book from Simon & Schuster Canada.

Check out this book from BPL.

Learn more about author Rachel Kushner from her official site at Simon & Schuster.

Go in depth, see photos from the period, and learn more about Cuba's history at the offical site for Telex From Cuba.

No Country for Old Men

2008-09-25T02:01:00.000-06:00

No Country For Old Men
by Cormac McCarthy
ISBN: 978-0375406775
Selected by Sandra Stanway

From the Publisher: Set in our own time along the bloody frontier between Texas and Mexico, this is Cormac McCarthy’s first novel since Cities of the Plain completed his acclaimed, best-selling Border Trilogy.

Llewelyn Moss, hunting antelope near the Rio Grande, instead finds men shot dead, a load of heroin, and more than $2 million in cash. Packing the money out, he knows, will change everything. But only after two more men are murdered does a victim’s burning car lead Sheriff Bell to the carnage out in the desert, and he soon realizes how desperately Moss and his young wife need protection. One party in the failed transaction hires an ex–Special Forces officer to defend his interests against a mesmerizing freelancer, while on either side are men accustomed to spectacular violence and mayhem. The pursuit stretches up and down and across the border, each participant seemingly determined to answer what one asks another: how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?

A harrowing story of a war that society is waging on itself, and an enduring meditation on the ties of love and blood and duty that inform lives and shape destinies, No Country for Old Men is a novel of extraordinary resonance and power.

Sandra Stanway is a reporter forThe Brooks Bulletin here in Brooks, Alberta. She selected this book for Brooks Reads 2008.

Learn more about this book from Random House Publishing.

Check out this book from BPL.

Learn more about author Cormac McCarthy from his official site.

See how the book translates into one of the most critically acclaimed films of 2007!

Bed of Nails

2007-09-27T11:00:00.000-06:00

Bed of Nails
by Michael Slade
Cover design by Jae Song
Selected by Michael Glynn Macdonald

From the Publisher: From deep within the high security ward of a mental hospital, the Ripper plots revenge against Inspector Zinc Chandler of Special X.

When Chandler responds to a bizarre murder at a hotel in Vancouver-a Hollywood producer found suspended upside down like the Hanged Man card in a Tarot deck-the Mountie becomes enmeshed in a psychotic chain of events. Chandler time-travels from Jack the Ripper's London in 1888 to a deadly car chase with guns blazing in the streets of Vancouver. Then he travels from Ted Bundy's house in Seattle to the Thirteen Steps to Hell in Maltby Cemetery, and finally to a nail-biting climax in the cannibal isles of the South Pacific, where the Mountie must win the ultimate game of survivor.

Beginning almost 20 years ago, five writers have adopted the Michael Slade pseudonym: John Banks, Jay Clarke, Lee Clarke, Richard Covell, and most recently, Jay and Rebecca Clarke.

Michael Glynn Macdonald selected this book for Brooks Reads.

Read more about this book from Penguin Group Canada

Check this book out from the Brooks Public Library

The Partner

2007-09-27T10:36:00.000-06:00

The Partner
by John Grisham
Selected by Heather Kazimir

From the Publisher: They hired him. They trusted him. Now they don't want justice - they want revenge. For four years, Patrick had often wondered how it would feel if they caught him. Now he was terror-stricken. Practically naked and strapped down like an animal, he knew the next few hours would be insufferable. Once he was a well-liked, well-paid young partner in a thriving Mississippi law firm. Then Patrick Lanigan stole ninety million dollars from his own firm--and ran for his life. For four years, he evaded men who were rich, powerful, and would stop at nothing to find him. Then, inevitably, on the edge of the Brazilian jungle, they finally tracked him down.

Now Patrick is coming home. And in the Mississippi city where it all began, an extraordinary trial is about to begin. As prosecutors circle like sharks, as Patrick's lawyer prepares his defense, as Patrick's lover prays for his deliverance and his former partners wait for their revenge, another story is about to emerge. Because Patrick Lanigan, the most reviled white-collar criminal of his time, knows something that no one else in the world knows.

He knows the truth.

John Grisham is best known for his novels about modern legal dramas. He is a former American politician and attorney and divides his time between his home on a farm outside Oxford, Mississippi and a farm near Charlottesville, Virginia.

Heather Kazimir selected this book for Brooks Reads.

Read more about this book from Bantam Dell Publishing

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American Gods

2007-09-25T10:38:00.000-06:00

American Gods
By Neil Gaiman
Selected by Jacob Vossepoel

From eReader.com: The storm was coming. Shadow spent three years in prison, keeping his head down, doing his time. All he wanted was to get back to the loving arms of his wife and to stay out of trouble for the rest of his life. But days before his scheduled release, he learns that his wife has been killed in an accident, and his world becomes a colder place. On the plane ride home to the funeral, Shadow meets a grizzled man who calls himself Mr. Wednesday. A self-styled grifter and rogue, Wednesday offers Shadow a job. And Shadow, a man with nothing to lose accepts. But working for the enigmatic Wednesday is not without its price, and Shadow soon learns that his role in Wednesday's schemes will be far more dangerous than he ever could have imagined. Entangled in a world of secrets, he embarks on a wild road trip and encounters, among others, the murderous Czernobog, the impish Mr. Nancy, and the beautiful Easter -- all of whom seem to know more about Shadow than he himself does. Shadow will learn that the past does not die, that everyone, including his late wife, had secrets, and that the stakes are higher than anyone could have imagined. All around them a storm of epic proportions threatens to break. Soon Shadow and Wednesday will be swept up into a conflict as old as humanity itself. For beneath the placid surface of everyday life a war is being fought -- and the prize is the very soul of America.

Neil Gaiman is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. His book "Stardust" was turned into a feature film in 2007. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and three children.

Jacob Vossepoel selected this book for Brooks Reads.

Learn more about this book from Harper Collins

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Sahara WINNER - BROOKS READS 2008

2007-09-24T14:30:00.000-06:00

Sahara
By Clive Cussler
Selected by Tony Allen

From the Publisher: 1996, Egypt. Searching for a treasure on the Nile, Dirk Pitt thwarts the attempted assassination of a beautiful U.N. scientist investigating a disease that is driving thousands of North Africans into madness, cannibalism, and death. The suspected cause of the raging epidemic is vast, unprecedented pollution that threatens to extinguish all life in the world's seas. Racing to save the world from environmental catastrophe, Pitt and his team, equipped with an extraordinary, state-of-the-art yacht, run a gauntlet between a billionaire industrialist and a bloodthirsty West African tyrant. In the scorching desert, Pitt finds a gold mine manned by slaves and uncovers the truth behind two enduring mysteries - the fate of a Civil War ironclad and its secret connection with Lincoln's assassination, and the last flight of a long-lost female pilot. Now, amidst the blazing, shifting sands of the Sahara, Dirk Pitt will make a desperate stand - in a battle the world cannot afford to lose!

Clive Cussler's first novel was published in 1973, and has nealry 100 million copies of his Dirk Pitt novels in print. Clive is an active underwater explorer and is a fellow of the Explorers Club, the Royal Geographical Society and the American Society of Oceanographers. He divides his time between the mountains of Colorado and the deserts of Arizona.

Tony Allen selected this book for Brooks Reads.

Read more about this book from Simon and Schuster

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Doctors

2007-09-24T13:38:00.000-06:00

Doctors
By Erich Segal
Selected by Judy Tokuda

From the Publisher: Sweeping us into the lives of the Harvard Medical School's class of 1962, Erich Segal's stunning novel reveals the making of doctors - what makes them tick, scheme, hurt, and love. From the crucible of med school's merciless training through the demanding hours of internship and residency to the triumphs and sometimes tragedies of life, Doctors brings to vivid life the men and women who seek to heal but who must first walk through fire. A heartbreaking, witty, inspiring, and utterly, grippingly realstory, this is a vibrant portrait that culminates in a murder, a trial and a miracle.

Erich Segal is an American author, screenwriter, and educator. He is best known as the author of Love Story and for writing the screenplay for the 1968 Beatles film Yellow Submarine. He is currently a Professor at Wolfson College, Oxford.

Judy Tokuda selected this book for Brooks Reads.

Learn more about this book from Bantam Dell Publishing

Check this book out from the Brooks Public Library