Poetry Challenge Winner

Congratulations to Orsola Acosta, winner of this year's Poetry Challenge! Thank you to everyone that participated.

If you didn't get a chance to take part this year. Try again in 2010.

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month and the library is celebrating!

There are a few ways you can join our celebration and we hope you will.

• Take our Poetry Challenge and win prizes
• Share your favorite poem on our library "Poet-Tree"
• Check out a poetry book from our display
  
• Take part in Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 30 . Pocket poems will be available at the library later this month.

We'll be featuring poems here throughout the month, too.
Share your favorite poem and we'll be happy to post it.

Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates

I often find that I'm usually in the minority when it comes to appreciating and enjoying popular books and movies. It's happened again with Revolutionary Road. Those of you that have been following my reviews know that I tend to base my opinions on how the characters and story affect me. This was the most stressful and depressing story I've ever read.

Frank and April Wheeler, a restless young suburban couple of the fifties, are disenchanted with their seemingly traditional life. April devises a plan to jaunt off to Paris which she thinks will bring life to their dull existence and save their relationship. For awhile this brings harmony to the discord. Unfortunately, it's short-lived.

Was it well written? Absolutely. You experience and feel all the turmoil, angst and struggle Frank and April suffer individually and as a couple on every page. Your heart breaks for their two children.

After the book I'm not sure I'm quite ready for the movie.

~Submitted by Lisa

And the Winners Are...

Spring will soon be here and that means our Annual Warm Reads Event has once again come to a close. Thank you to all of you that contributed to the blog! I hope you enjoyed the reviews posted here and that they inspired you to try some new authors or genres. I know I've discovered new authors thanks to all of you. I've also really enjoyed hearing the thoughts and comments about our new blog that you've shared with me during your library visits.

Please feel free to continue to send your reviews online through the review form on the right. We'll continue to post them. I look forward to hearing about the books you've enjoyed.

Winners of our Warm Reads Raffles over the past weeks include:
Susan Birchman
Helen Lynch
K McDwyer
Joanne Pinello Kaley
Helen Meurs
Rosemary Ragonese
Susan Abolafia
Eileen Cuneo
Elaine Light

Our Grand Prize Winners were:
Judy Acocella
Aimee Heinly
Judy Rosenfeld

Congratulations to our winners!

The Bloody Tower by Carola Dunn

This book is excellent for lovers of cozy mysteries and history. Daisy is one of those people who stumble over bodies with amazing regularity. Since the story is set in the Tower of London in 1925, she still reacts like a lady was expected to when presented with a distressing scene. However, she is a thinker and likes to figure out the puzzle of what happened. Her Scotland Yard detective husband would of course prefer that Daisy stayed out of it but she never does, and it is Daisy who ultimately figures out the murderer. I have enjoyed all of the Daisy Dalrymple mysteries by Carola Dunn. They are entertaining and amusing and just delightful and they never disappoint me.

~Submitted by Karen

America America by Ethan Canin

An Audiobook Review

This is a superbly written story; read
so convincingly by Robertson Dean, that
I felt I was actually hearing the voice
of the main character as he describes
his life events, thoughts and feelings.
Canin's writing is philosophical in nature,
with the main characters pondering many
of the common and not-so-common
experiences in their everyday lives.

The story begins in the 1940s in a
working-class town.  It then follows two particular families.
The first is hard-working and smart, although financially
very modest.  The second, in contrast, is extremely wealthy
and philanthropic heirs to the town's founder. The tale focuses
on the son of the first family, and how his character develops
through involvement with the wealthy and politically savvy
second family; always with the backdrop of his parents
externally simple, but always thought-provoking lives.

The story line is interesting, building up to a climax during
the Vietnam years.  But as good as the plot is, it is the
narrative of a man's life and the forming of his character
that continually held my interest.  The main and secondary
characters are all unique and note-worthy; contrasting and
complimenting one another in such a way as to create a
compelling story. Extremely well-written; a very-good read.

~Submitted by Elaine

Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict

I just finished reading Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict and I absolutely LOVED this story. I have read practically all of Austen's novels and I love the stories and the characters. I have always wondered what it would be like to have lived during the Regency-era and find my own Mr. Darcy. This novel brought to life that fantasy. Courtney, a 21st-century woman living in LA wakes up one morning and find herself in the body of another person in another era. She is now Jane Mannsfield and living in the world of Jane Austen. Rigler's debut novel tells the story of how Courtney copes with living the life of Jane, yet having no memory of Jane's experiences. Who is Barnes and was he a lover? Should she fall in love with the handsome Edgeworth? Why did Austen leave out the less romantic points of the time period - the limited personal hygiene, the tight corsets, the unprotected male seducers? But at the same time Courtney struggles with the dilemmas of Jane's life, she struggles with her own. How will she manage to return to her own life as Courtney? Will she ever find her way back or forever live her life as Jane? Well, of course I won't tell you the answers to those questions! If you love Jane Austen, I would definitely recommend Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict.

~Submited by Samantha C.