A Thousand Splendid Suns
By Khaled Hosseini
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The Library Ladies of Braswell Memorial Public Library give Charm readers their top book choices. Reviewers are, from left, Rose Gallagher, Melissa Corso, Tracy Thompson, Jennifer Stearns and Jane Blackburn.
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Hosseini's new book takes readers to the top of the world and plops them into the heart of an Afghan family with no introductions and no survey of culture and literature. But the characters are so fully drawn and carefully conceived, the reader is simply swept along by the force of their personalities and compelling events of recent years.
The shoemaker of Khabul and his two wives – one older and barren, one younger – are surely not the usual inhabitants of garden variety reading. Nor is the relationship between the two women, which develops in the midst of war into an extraordinary thing carved out of the mountains, the hatreds and hardships of life in the midst or war, and the beauty of the "thousand splendid suns" of Afghan history.
This publication is presented on 11 compact discs and is read by Atossa Leoni, of Afghan and Iranian descent.
Reviewed by Rose Gallagher, youth services librarian
The Sunday Philosophy Club
and The No. 1 Ladies'
Detective Agency series
By Alexander McCall Smith
Don't you just love to come across a series by an author you like? If you happen upon Book One first then you can happily anticipate the next books in the series. If you read one of the later books first, then you have the pleasure of reading Book One knowing, not necessarily how it ends, but what it leads to. We've all read passages and said to ourselves "Oh, so that's why so-and-so did thus-and-such in Book Two!" Here are two series I recommend. Read them in sequence, or not.
Alexander McCall Smith's two fictional series – "The Sunday Philosophy Club" and "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" – are both delightful. His books are short and "easy" reads – but are not fluffy. Deceptively simple language, straightforward plots, and likeable characters manage to raise philosophical and moral questions, yet do not demand (although they might invite) the reader to consider the issues.
"The Sunday Philosophy Club" series is set in modern day Edinburgh and has as its main character professional philosopher/amateur sleuth Isabel Dalhousie. Isabel is the editor of the "Journal of Applied Ethics." In the four books of this series, Isabel solves minor mysteries, ponders philosophical problems and falls in love.
McCall Smith's other series, "The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency," is certainly cozy, but in a hot, dry, Botswana-kind of way. This series belongs to Precious Ramotswe, who is divorced, has just lost her father, and has set herself up as the owner-operator of a detective agency. In "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," you will run across a host of eccentric characters and will learn to love them, and Mma Ramotswe's Botswana, as she does.
Reviewed by Jane Blackburn, library assistant director
Twisted
By Jonathan Kellerman Mystery readers have long enjoyed Jonathan Kellerman's psychological dramas of L.A. based child psychologist Alex Delaware.
Since 1985, Delaware and cop partner Milo Sturgis have kept readers glued to Kellerman's novels. In 1998's "Billy Straight" and 2003's "A Cold Heart," Kellerman added artist turned homicide detective Petra Connor to the L.A. crime scene. Connor appears again as the main character in Kellerman's 2004 novel "Twisted".
In "Twisted," Connor has her hands full working a gang-related drive-by slaying while dealing with the stress of her boyfriend's assignment to terror-filled Jerusalem. As if this is not enough, a whiz kid graduate student stumbles upon a connection between several unsolved murders. It's up to Petra and the whiz kid to unravel the killer's twisted logic before he strikes again.
In "Twisted," Jonathan Kellerman gives us the same psychological thrill ride that he sends Alex Delaware on in each of his other novels. This novel, not centering on Delaware, lives up to the standards readers have set for Kellerman.
Reviewed by Jennifer Stearns, Read and Grow librarian
Unlocking Your Genetic History: A Step-by-Step Guide to Discovering Your Family's Medical and Genetic Heritage
By Thomas H. Shawker, M.D.
Genealogy has become one of the most popular hobbies in recent years and with the current advances in the study of DNA, family research can suddenly take on a more significant meaning. Instead of researching the dusty records of the dead merely for satisfying curiosity, biology is allowing us to research our past and find important information for the living present.
Dr. Shawker has packed much information into this book. He covers why knowing your family medical history is important; the basics of genetics; genetic diseases; how to compile your family medical data; how to use traditional genealogical resources to discover family medical problems; genetic diseases; genetic testing; where to go online for more information; and the future of genealogy and genetic research.
The book makes for fascinating reading, not only because of the subject matter itself, but because of the interwoven stories. Shawker draws on real-life occurrences, often in the lives of the rich and famous, to illustrate the text.
Reviewed by Tracy Thompson, local history and geneaology librarian
