Category Archives: Books

Books

Book Suggestion: Robert B. Parker’s Old Black Magic

Robert B. Parker’s Old Black Magic, by Ace Atkins

 

 

We love to read books, and to talk about books. Check out our entire series here! Need more book chatting and suggestions in your life? Check out our book group podcast, Reading With Libraries! You can find every episode, and stream all of them, right here!

This week I was feeling like a fun mystery story, and Robert B. Parker’s Old Black Magic fit the bill perfectly! The writer Ace Atkins has taken over writing the series, and has breathed new life into it. This book tells a fictionalized story of the robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner art museum. This is one of the most famous art robberies, and the unsolved case is still a big mystery. In this fictionalized world,  Spenser of course, can help to find the lost art and solve the 20 year old mystery. Nobody knows the thugs and mobsters of Boston the way Spenser does, so it’s fun to see him take on a mystery that resonates with the real world!

From Amazon:
“The heist was legendary, still talked about twenty years after the priceless paintings disappeared from one of Boston’s premier art museums. Most thought the art was lost forever, buried deep, sold off overseas, or, worse, destroyed as incriminating evidence. But when paint chips from the most valuable piece stolen, Gentlemen in Black by a Spanish master, arrives at the desk of a Boston journalist, the museum finds hope and enlists Spenser’s help.

Soon the cold art case thrusts Spenser into the shady world of black market art dealers, aged Mafia bosses, and old vendettas. A five-million-dollar-reward by the museum’s top benefactor, an aged, unlikable Boston socialite, sets Spenser and pals Vinnie Morris and Hawk onto a trail of hidden secrets, jailhouse confessions, and decades-old murders.

Set against the high-society art scene and the low-life back alleys of Boston, this is classic Spenser doing what he does best.”

Books, Podcast

Episode 201: Picture Books

Welcome to our podcast Reading with Libraries! It’s our first show of Season Two  – and our first show with a fun new name, and first one hosted on a fun new server. So there are many fun things happening here!! And we are so excited to be back here chatting about books with you!

Subscribe to our podcast on your favorite podcast app, so it’s delivered right to you every Thursday morning. Search for our name, or use this RSS feed: http://readingwithlibraries.libsyn.com/rss. Or, just click the play button at the top of this article!

Have you visited our Patreon page yet? Support the show, join the book group community we are building, and let Lady Grey know you value her contributions! At $1 a month contribution, we will send you a nice postcard signed by Mary, Angie, and Lady Grey. More rewards are available, based on your interests.

This week we are discussing Picture Books! We are excited to welcome returning Guest Host Kelly Groth!

Check out our full page with all the information: themed beverages, books, and suggestions for more recommendations!


Picture Books are children’s books that provide a “visual experience” – telling a story with pictures.  There may or may not be text with the book.  The content of the book, however, can be fully explained or illustrated with pictures.  Note that picture books do not even need to tell stories – they might illustrate letters of the alphabet or numbers.  A picture book may even tell a story entirely with illustrations.  Many times, these books are published in a small size, something that children can actually hold in their small hands – these books are called hand-books. There are fun books for young, non-reading children to play with.  Often, they can tell the story based on the illustrations, pretending to “read” the book.

 

 

Books

Book Suggestion: Anna and the French Kiss

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

We love to read books, and to talk about books. Check out our entire series here! Need more book chatting and suggestions in your life? Our book group podcast Reading with Libraries resumes this Thursday! Listen to the previous season here.

When it starts to feel like summer, a lighthearted romance that takes place in Paris is always a good idea! I first heard about this book during our book group podcast episode about the genre of Romance, and have since noticed it on numerous lists of “feel-good” books. So far it is definitely an enjoyable story, perfect to read while relaxing in your hammock!

From Goodreads: “Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris–until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all…including a serious girlfriend.

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?”

 

Books

Reading Across MN: Road Trip and Field Trip

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, and it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota!

We like Minnesota authors here, and Gary Paulsen is from our lovely state. He was born in Minneapolis, and we have put our pin into the map in Bemidji where he went to college.

Just in time for summer, here are a couple of books, written with his son, about a couple of father-son road trips – complete with dogs!

Road Trip:
 “ A summer adventure you’ll never forget, from a beloved Newbery Honor winning author!

Dad and Ben haven’t been getting along lately, and Dad hopes a road trip to rescue a border collie will help them reconnect. But Ben is on to Dad’s scheme, and he’s got ideas of his own. Like inviting his buddy, Theo, who’s sure to get into fun (and trouble) along the way. And if Dad wants a family road trip, then the family dog, Atticus, should get to come, too. What could go wrong?

But when their truck breaks down, the family trip takes plenty of unexpected turns. Before they know it, they’ve commandeered an old school bus and joined forces with its cranky mechanic, Gus. Next, they pick up Mia, a waitress escaping a tense situation. Only sharp-eyed Atticus realizes that Theo is on the run from something bad—and someone is following them.

With alternating chapters from both Ben and his dog, Atticus, this fast-paced book takes readers on an unpredictable ride that’s all about family, friendship, and surprises.”

Field Trip
“Father-and-son writing team Gary and Jim Paulsen pick up where their Road Trip left off. Ben has been invited to try out for a special hockey academy. But Dad wants Ben to catch up to the school field trip instead. So Ben, Dad, and their dogs, Atticus and Conor, jump into their truck. Ben concocts a secret plan to make the tryout, but Atticus and Conor are on to him. Ben and Dad’s road trip turns into a wacky adventure full of new friends and surprises.”

Books

Book Suggestion: Noir

Noir, by Christopher Moore

We love to read books, and to talk about books. Check out our entire series here! Need more book chatting and suggestions in your life? Listen to our Books and Beverages podcast! (And check out our lineup for Season Two which is coming soon!)

If you have read any Christopher Moore, you know you are in for a funny adventure when you get started! Some are laugh-out-loud funny, some are more subdued but entertaining and a fun story. This is the second type. Many of Moore’s stories are set in San Francisco, and this one is set back in 1947. WWII is recently over, and the characters are coping with the ramifications. Add in some snappy dialog, a lost snake, a mysterious narrator, a horrible kid, and hey – what’s going on with that mysterious flying object over in Roswell, New Mexico? It all ties together for Sammy and his best girl: the Cheese!

From Amazon:

“The absurdly outrageous, sarcastically satiric, and always entertaining New York Times bestselling author Christopher Moore returns in finest madcap form with this zany noir set on the mean streets of post-World War II San Francisco, and featuring a diverse cast of characters, including a hapless bartender; his Chinese sidekick; a doll with sharp angles and dangerous curves; a tight-lipped Air Force general; a wisecracking waif; Petey, a black mamba; and many more.

San Francisco. Summer, 1947. A dame walks into a saloon . . .

It’s not every afternoon that an enigmatic, comely blonde named Stilton (like the cheese) walks into the scruffy gin joint where Sammy “Two Toes” Tiffin tends bar. It’s love at first sight, but before Sammy can make his move, an Air Force general named Remy arrives with some urgent business. ’Cause when you need something done, Sammy is the guy to go to; he’s got the connections on the street.

Meanwhile, a suspicious flying object has been spotted up the Pacific coast in Washington State near Mount Rainer, followed by a mysterious plane crash in a distant patch of desert in New Mexico that goes by the name Roswell. But the real weirdness is happening on the streets of the City by the Bay.

When one of Sammy’s schemes goes south and the Cheese mysteriously vanishes, Sammy is forced to contend with his own dark secrets—and more than a few strange goings on—if he wants to find his girl.

Think Raymond Chandler meets Damon Runyon with more than a dash of Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes All Stars. It’s all very, very Noir. It’s all very, very Christopher Moore.”