This post is a part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books. Please share your take on books you have read recently. If you have a book you would like to showcase, please send your review to our offices

Title: In Sunlight and In Shadow, by Mark Helprin

Written by Maria Burnham, media specialist at Sauk Rapids Rice High School

This was my first experience reading anything by Mark Helprin. I was told his writing was lovely, and I couldn’t agree more. I’m the type of person who LOVES descriptive writing, and that’s just what I got in reading this novel. Lovely details, plenty of sensory notes, a nice balance of plot lines, and a set of characters to believe in. Set during post WWII in New York, Harry Copeland of the famous Copeland Leather Company, has returned home from war to run the family business. Upon arriving home, he meets and falls in love with Catherine, a well-to-do singer and actress of the New York stage. Theirs is a love story for the ages–hopeless, fearless, and intense. However, for Harry, though being in love has lifted his spirits, he now struggles with the mafia requiring payment for “protection” of the business. In an age of corruption and reconstruction, Harry is unsure how he will keep his father’s business and pride afloat while maintaining the steep payments due to the mob.

The novel beautifully blends the story of love, war, and courage through the perspective of the noble Harry, who continually works to do the right thing all the while following his heart.

I was entranced with the book. My only (minor) complaint would be the length of the book. 720 pages is significant, and by the end I was starting to get impatient for a conclusion. Otherwise, a beautiful story–one that ignites introspection and appreciation for life.

This post is a part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books. Please share your take on books you have read recently. If you have a book you would like to showcase, please send your review to our offices

Title: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, by Jesse Andrews

Review by Maria Burnham, Sauk Rapids-Rice High School Library Media Specialist

This book was on the YALSA 2013 Top Ten Best Young Adult Books, and  I will keep the book on my shelves, but it’s not one I’d recommend to just anyone.

I’m going to start by saying that this is the perfect book for a certain type of reader.  That reader was not me, so I only gave the book 3 stars out of 5.  I originally picked up this book because the summary reminded me a bit of The Fault in Our Stars, a very popular book in my library right now.  I’m always looking for those “If you liked this book, then you should read…” kind of novels, and since the storyline is about high school senior, Greg, who befriends an acquaintance from his past, Rachel, as she is battling leukemia, I thought there might be a connection between the way the reader experiences teen friendships throughout illnesses.  I was wrong.  Me and Earl and the Dying Girl ‘s plotline is, in fact, about a friendship formed thanks to Rachel’s leukemia and Greg’s obligation to make her feel better through laughter while she’s battling her terminal disease.  However, this book reads in short, simple sentences, the characters are quite flat, making it hard for me to feel connected to the story, and the language in this book makes me cautious in getting the book in the hands of the right reader.  The Fault in Our Stars read nothing like what I just described.  In Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, there is much swearing  from both the narrator and his crude, immature friend, Earl.  Many times in the book, sex is referenced and derogatory remarks about female body parts are frequent conversations, mainly from the direction of Earl.  I have no doubt that some teen boys think and talk this way; however, I do think that this book greatly increases the chances of students and/or parents feeling offended by this book.  After all, I was a bit offended and I’m an open-minded reader. At the end of the book, we see another side of Earl; however, his redeemable qualities in the end were not enough to salvage the plotline.

I do believe this book is worth having on my shelves, but I will be sure to be aware of who is picking it up.

This post is a part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books. If you have a book you would like to showcase, please send your review to our offices

Book: Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman

Review by Katherine Morrow, Branch Librarian, Mille Lacs Lake Community Library

If you’ve seen the Netflicks series Orange is the New Black you may want to pick up the book with the same title.  Though you’ll find Piper and many of the same characters in the memoir, don’t expect as much conflict and drama as the television version.  If you haven’t heard of it, the author, Piper Kerman, who is a Smith graduate, is arrested and incarcerated over 10 years after she committed a drug-running crime.  She is in her mid-thirties in a stable home with her fiancé Larry when she has to surrender to the federal corrections institute in Danbury, CT.  In prison she stands out with her blond hair and college degree.  She bonds with her fellow inmates over inventive ways to use sanitary napkins and confiscated ketchup and also helps them with their schooling and legal cases.

This book dramatizes the problem that was recently highlighted by Attorney General Eric Holder, that too many non-violent individuals are being incarcerated for drug offenses.   Kerman serves her 15 months and is able to return to her former life.  Many of the women she meets are not so fortunate and end up back in prison.

I checked out this book through the ECRL Overdrive site and read it on my Kindle.  Although there was a small wait, I probably got the digital version sooner than I would have as a regular book.