July Multicultural Book Group
A Year in Provence by Peter Mayles is the book selection for July. It is a fairly light, entertaining and humorous travel journal about a British couple's first year of experiences adjusting to life in Provence, France. Provence could be Door County. The story sounds familiar, a newly retired couple adjusts to life in a beautiful, idealic location full of interesting "characters."
For those who really enjoy the book, check out the DVD's of a television series based on the book.
A Year in Provence television series
More information:
May Multicultural Books - The Secret Scripture
Sebastian Barry's The Secret Scripture, is set in Sligo, Ireland as are all of his novels. He writes about the places he knows and incorporates the stories he heard as a child from his mother. In an interview the author describes how this book is fiction but the concept is based on his great aunt who lived in an asylum much of her life. According to Sebastian Barry, people were not only placed in asylums for medical reasons, but also for moral reasons, such as having a child out of wedlock.
What were these asylums like? A website that documents the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum in photographs describes the history of an asylum in Menston, Yorkshire, England. One inmate from this asylum was committed for having "milk fever."
St. Columbus Lunatic Asylum is the asylum in The Secret Scripture and the building itself, like the asylum in Yorkshire, is a beautiful and impressive structure reminicent of a palace. In modern days it has been turned into a luxury hotel, The Clarion Hotel Sligo.
Sebastian Barry reads from the Secret Scripture : Roseanne's testimony of herself
Finally, a fun review of Sebastian Barry from Prairie Lights bookstore in Iowa :
“WORST CASE” by James Patterson & Michael Ledwidge
The son of a wealthy family is snatched off the street and held hostage by a man who considers himself to be the ultimate environmentalist, amongst other obsessions. Detective Michael Bennett and Special Agent Emily Barker (FBI) must find the killer as he systematically kidnaps the children of rich parents. the killer quizzes the kids for the price of their life on issues involving the price some pay for the luxury of others. Fast paced thriller, with some romance; the Nanny of Michael’s numerous adopted kids seems to be having mixed feelings, plus Special Agent Emily is attracted to our detective's warm personality. This new novel is good read reminiscent of previous books written by Patterson.
-Barb, Forestville Library
Wisconsin Author, Guest Speaker for Readers Rampant Book Club
Members of the Readers Rampant Book Club of the Sister Bay-Liberty Grove Library will be visited by a Wisconsin author on Tuesday, May 11th. Mary Bergin will be the guest speaker that evening. She has written Hungry for Wisconsin: A Tasty Guide for Travelers and Sidetracked in Wisconsin: A Guide for Thoughtful Travelers. She is a lifelong journalist who writes a syndicated travel column that appears weekly in daily newspapers throughout the state. Her interest in food writing has been more about people, passions and trends than kitchen techniques. She's also a "farm girl" who has lived in Madison since the 1980's.
More on Mary Bergin at her website, Roads Traveled.
Teddy Roosevelt and His Incredible Amazon Journey
Attention history buffs! Don't miss the April 15th, 6:30 pm discussion of Candice Millard's thrilling adventure story, The River of Doubt : Theordore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey in the Sturgeon Bay Library. One of this country's most colorful presidents, Theodore Roosevelt participated in many expeditions in his life. But none was as treacherous or challenging as his journey down an uncharted tributary of the Amazon, the River of Doubt. Last season's history book discussion covered Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough, which focused on Roosevelt's early life. Professor John Harris will once again lead a lively discussion on another aspect of the life of this fascinating personality, President Theodore Roosevelt.
"This is one of the best books I've ever read." - Alison Greaves
A film summary of the River of Doubt expedition released by the Library of Congress gives a visual picture of the members of the expedition and some background information:
April Multicultural Book Discussion
Guernica by Dave Boling
This month the book group is discussing a novel set in the Basque Country on the Atlantic coast northeast of Spain and west of France. It is an epic novel reminiscent of Hemingway, which spans the Spanish Civil War through the bombing of Guernica by the Germans in 1937 on the eve of WWII. Guernica was made famous by Picasso with his powerful painting which memorialized the tragedy of the attack.
A recent PBS special Simon Schama's Power of Art devoted a chapter to this work. A DVD of this program is available through InfoSoup.org.
Historical background on the bombing of Guernica, including videos of survivors is available online:
More information, including an eyewitness account:
Scandinavian Mysteries
I’ve been enjoying fiction by Scandinavian authors lately. Håkan Nesser, whose Swedish titles have been translated into English, has written a series of mysteries with Inspector Van Veeteren as the lead investigator. Borkmann’s Point, the first in the series includes many characters and builds into a crescendo who-done-it. Håkan Nesser has won the Best Swedish Crime Novel Award three times. I enjoyed this one enough that I’ve put a hold on the next Nesser novel with Inspector Van Veeteren, The Return.
-Becca Berger, Door County Library Director
March Multicultural Book Discussion
The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim tells the story of Najin Han, the daughter of a skilled artist, a calligrapher, in the early part of the 20th century Korea. In order to escape an arranged marriage near the beginning of the novel, Najin is sent to court to serve as a companion to the Princess. Her time in the royal household ends with the death of Emperor Sunjong, the last emporer of the Joseon dynasty in 1926. She goes on to college, marriage, life as a servant in the house of her in-laws, and later prison and hardship in Korea under Japanese contol at the dawn of World War II.
Background information:
February Multicultural Book Discussion
The Floor of the Sky by Pamela Carter Joern is the story of a modern day family living in the rural farmlands of the Nebraska sandhills. As with most contemporary families, there are plenty of mysteries and emotion churning beneath the surface. Want to know what happened to the descendants of the pioneer immigrant families of Willa Cather's My Ántonia? Join the Multicultural book discussion on Tuesday February 2 at 1:00 pm in the Sturgeon Bay Library.
Background information:
Nebraska Pioneer Photographer - Solomon D. Butcher
When the Shimerdas, the Bohemian immigrant family in Willa Cather's My Ántonia first arrived in Nebraska, they lived on the prairie in a sod house. Resourceful prairie residents, lacking access to wood from trees, turned to the use of sod as an early form of shelter. The sod house in My Ántonia was little more than a hole in the ground. But some sod houses built in Nebraska at the end of the last century were fairly elaborate and included multiple floors and glass windows. Many of these sod houses were photographed, along with their inhabitants and their prized possesions, by Solomon D. Butcher. The Nebraska State Historical Society has a remarkable collection of his photographs, The Solomon Butcher Collection.
Books about Solomon D. Butcher and his photographs are also available through the library catalog:
Solomon D. Butcher : photographing the American dream by John Carter
Prairie visions : the life and times of Solomon Butcher by Pam Conrad
- Laura, Sturgeon Bay Library
