IT'S SUMMER!!

‘Cause it’s summer

Summer time is here
Yes, it’s summer
My time of year
Summer by War

Ah, summertime. The pace of life slows down, lazing around feels good, hanging outside at the end of the day feels delightful…and reading is the best way to end the day. Ah, summer! Okay maybe all this doesn’t really happen, but I do hope you find time to end your day reading a book!!

Some highly recommended books for your summer reading follow:

One of the best non-fiction books I read this winter was Horse Soldiers by Doug Stanton. This is a terrific account of a U.S. Special Forces Unit fighting alongside Afghans in the mountains against the Taliban. The contingent of US soldiers sent over had their first surprise when they discovered they had to ride horses, and almost none of them had been on ever been on a horse. It seemed these horses were descendents of the horses Genghis Khan Army had ridden out of Uzbekistan. A great written account of the triumphs, misery, courage and horror of war with, surprisingly, some humor. (You will forget you're reading non-fiction.)

One of my favorite legal thriller writers is Scott Turow. His latest book is Innocent which is a (20 year) sequel to Presumed Innocent, one of my all time favorite legal books. (Which was made into a pretty good movie.) Rusty Sabich and Tommy Molto are once again pitted against each other to determine did Sabich kill his wife…or didn’t he? Turow makes you pay attention and think while you read his books; his characters drive the storyline very nicely and I haven’t found anyone who does a courtroom scene better….and yes, that includes John Grisham.

We said a sad goodbye to Robert B. Parker this year and his wonderful characters: Spenser, Jesse Stone and Sunny Randall. As much as I liked his mysteries, I loved his westerns; Brimstone; Resolution; Appaloosa... and a personal favorite, Gunman’s Rhapsody. As luck would have it, one of Parker’s last novels is a western, Blue-Eyed Devil: the Virgil Cole/Everett Hitch. This is one I am looking forward to.

If you enjoy good westerns, here are some of the best written.

*If you haven’t read All Our Yesterdays or Double Play by Parker…give yourself a treat.

Ah, Daniel Silva! If you haven't read Daniel Silver you are missing out on one of the best spy/espionage series being written! Silva kicked this series off with The Kill Artist and introduced one of the best espionage spies to date, Gabriel Allon. The Rembrandt Affair, number 10 in this great series, comes out in July. This one is on the top of my summer reading list. I can’t wait to read it and find out what Gabriel Allon is doing…. since he was supposed to have retired….

Nelson DeMille new one is The Lion, and he brings John Corey back to tangle with old nemesis Asad Khalil, aka the Lion. Hard to believe we first met Corey in Plum Island in 2002. It’s been a wild ride with every one of his adventures since. While DeMille’s Corey series is always a thrilling ride, if you haven't read some of his early stuff, Charm School; Word of Honor; Cathedral to name a few, give them a try. Sometimes you can be surprised to see how writing styles of an author have changed.

I know Dennis Lehane is better known for his books (made into movies) Shutter Island and Mystic River; I would be remiss if I did not point out he has a great series featuring private dectectives Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro that is set in Boston. (The movie Gone, Baby, Gone is from this series.) Sadly, Lehane will bring this series to a close in November with the last installment, Moonlight Mile, which is a sequel to Gone, Baby, Gone. This series kicked off with A Drink Before the War, a debut that hooked me, especially because of the way Lehane writes. If you want to get hooked on a great series, you can get started on this one and be caught up by the time Moonlight Mile comes out. I am so glad to have Kenzie and Gennaro back, even if it is the last time.


Little romance for the summer?


Karen Marie Moning has a great Highlander series that has it all, love, romance, time-travel, Scotland and sex (yes, I said sex)

Starting with Beyond the Highland Mist you are off with Adrienne, a 20th century gal, who gets swept off her feet and back to 16th century Scotland by the laird known as Hawk. Nothing better than traveling back and forth through time while being in Scotland. There are seven books in this series so if you like the first, your summer reading should all set.


I love a good historical romance and when I read (many many years ago) The Wolf and the Dove by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, I was thrilled. Woodiwiss is considered the founding mother of historical romance and after reading this I know why. Pick up this golden oldie.....Normans, Saxons, …enemies, passion, and betrayal….it is England after all.


Sarah Addison Allen enchanted me with Garden Spells, her first book. Touch of whimsy, magic, family ties and love…she did another wonderful job with the Sugar Queen. Her latest, The Girl Who Chased the Moon is just as charming as her other two.  Any or all of these will leave you with a little smile on your face, happy you met these quirky characters of small Southern towns, and so glad you could pay a visit.





Hopefully, one of these strikes your reading fancy and you enjoy your summer!


Happy Summer! Happy Reading!

It's Raining Books!

It's raining books                                                                 
Hallelujah
It's raining books
and.......
Every special book there is....
Fiction and Non-Fiction
Romance and Suspense

Horror, Science Fiction, Fantasy and Biographies!

(regards to the Weather Girls)


Check us out!

I'm gonna go out

I'm gonna let

myself get

absolutley soaking wet!

Grab a good book and Happy Reading!

Get Cookin' With a Good Book Soiree!

I have always imagined that paradise
will be a kind of library.
Jorge Luis


We said goodbye to the winter reading club with a get together to chat about....books! (and, of course, eat)
Amazingly, over sixty folks handed in their completed Reader's Card! I love when so many participate and enjoy it.

Proud to say, these are the cupcakes I made for the soiree! (Yes, you are seeing penguins)

The prize for reading eight or more books was a cookbook full of the library
 staff's favorite recipes.....which has been a big hit! I have even been offered money for a copy of the cookbook, which seems to have become the book to have. Nice.
We had a tie for top reader, Celie Lutz and Roberta Kalous both read 32 books; both were given a plaque and penguin salt and pepper shakers!



Top Books Read for Get Cookin’ With a Good Book…..


The Help by Kathryn Stockett


Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith


Split Image (Jesse Stone Series #9) by Robert B. Parker


Every Day in Tuscany: Seasons of an Italian Life by Frances Mays

Lost Symbol by Dan Brown


Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg


Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by S. Levitt and S. Dubner


The Tourist by Olen Sternhauer


Wait Till Next Year: Summer Afternoons with My Father and Baseball by Doris Kearns Goodwin


Going Rogue: An American Life by Sarah Palin

While there was a little chuckle about some of the books on the top ten list, general consensus was it was an interesting top ten. To be fair, Freakonomics was our book discussion book, but it seemed to have been a hit with others too.

Raffle prizes were won, plenty of food to enjoy, good company and great book talk,can't ask for a better evening then that.

Time to start working on the summer book club...Where On Long Island Is~~
Waddle I. Read?

Happy Reading!

Apples Falling.....

"Real luxury is time and an opportunity to

read for pleasure."
Jane Brody

Does the apple fall far from the tree? If a parent is a well-known popular author, does that gene carry down to the offspring? Sometimes it does, which the following three young authors show. I asked several patrons to try these authors-without telling them why.

James Lee Burke is one of my all time favorite authors. I love his style of writing, the characters and the setting…New Iberia, Louisiana which just happens to be outside New Orleans. Daughter Alafair Burke has two series; we are introduced us to her main character, Samantha (Sam) Kincaid, an ambitious, tough Deputy District Attorney in Portland, Oregon, in her debut, Judgment Calls. Hoping to make a name for herself, Sam takes on a case that is not as open and shut as it first appeared. The questions that start to nag at her include-Who do you trust?

The three in the Sam Kincaid series are; Judgment Calls, Missing Justice and Close Case.

Burke’s other series features Ellie Hatch, a rookie police detective in New York City. Hatch has been called in to help in a murder investigation that is similar to a murder committed a year ago….and Hatch just happens to fit the profile of the victims. There are three books in this series, Dead Connection, Angel’s Tip and her recently published, 212 .

Consensus seems to be that Ms. Burke can more then hold her own.

Jesse Kellerman has the double whammy of writers Jonathan Kellerman and Faye Kellerman as his mom and dad. That can be a hard act to follow. In his debut, Sunstroke, Kellerman does okay, but did not impress many patrons. Then he followed with Trouble. Feedback has been more positive on this one. Psychological thrillers can be tricky if not done right, but Kellerman seems to have nailed it with this one. What can drive someone to the verge of madness? You will be on the edge of your chair from the beginning and find you won’t put it down until you have finished it. Like one that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up? Here you go. Kellerman followed with The Genius, another edge of your seat thriller; and his latest, The Executor, proves he is a writer worth checking into.


Joe Hill has written one witty, dark, engaging, morbid horror story. Heart Shaped Box is about a middle-aged heavy metal rock star, Judas Coyne, who is a collector of the macabre, most of them gifts from his fans-cookbook for cannibals, used hangman’s noose. When he hears that there is a ghost in a suit for sale on the internet-why not? The haunted suit comes in a black heart shaped box with a little extra that Judas isn’t aware of until…… (Word has that the movie rights to this book have been sold.)

Hill latest is Horns. After a night of drinking- and other things he can’t remember, or chooses not to. Remember, Ignatius (Ig) Perrish wakes up with a raging hangover headache…and horns growing out of his temples.

Dad is Stephan King who must have told this kid some bedtime stories. Rumor has it that Hill might have outdone Dad with his horror novels. Hills' books have been hot ones with many patrons.


Give one of these authors a try. I think you'll be pleasently surprised.

Happy Reading!