What is Airport Lit? Well, as Dominique Browning, a NY Times travel writer, opined recently, it's literature that features "plain, old-fashioned, unrelenting, compelling storytelling." She finds such books so engrossing that she can easily ignore the increasing indignities of air travel (hence the name).
My reaction is - why save such good reads for the airplane? They're engaging and satisfying anytime and anywhere.
Ms. Browning listed some of her favorite 'AL' authors - George R. R. Martin, Scott Turow, P. D. James, Maeve Binchy, Bernard Cornwell, Ruth Rendell - and opened up the article for comments. Her readers cited a wide range of writers, including novelists Deborah Crombie, Jo Nesbo, Ian Rankin, Charles Todd, Joanna Trollope, Georgette Heyer, and Louise Penny, and such nonfiction authors as David McCullough. Here's a link to the article and reader suggestions.
I would enthusiastically include in this group fiction writers Philip Kerr (Bernie Gunther series), Robert Harris, and Elizabeth Jane Howard (Cazalet Chronicles), plus nonfiction notable Erik Larson.
Have you got any names to add to this list of sure-bet reads? Please add them below!
Mary Hoskinson-Dean
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Romantic Reads - teen edition
"Birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it, let's do it, let's fall in love" *
Teenagers of both sexes find the lure of love just as irresistible as their elders do - though they may be less willing to admit it! But the most popular teen novels often use romantic tension to keep readers rapidly turning pages.
What would THE HUNGER GAMES be without the emotional triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale? Could the DAIRY QUEEN trilogy, with its full complement of football, basketball and tractors, retain its appeal absent the poignant bond between D. J. and Brian? Would readers rush to finish THE SCORPIO RACES if they were not tugged by the fledgling relationship between Puck and Sean?
To introduce you to a wide variety of well-written, briskly-paced novels with engaging characters and satisfying endings (many of which will appeal to older as well as younger readers), here's a link to a list of some of the best teen "romantic reads" of the past few years, organized into various categories for your browsing pleasure, such as "At Death's door" (characters with fatal conditions) and "What's a good war without a buddy by your side?" (dystopias are no fun without a special friend). Hope you find a new favorite!
Mary Hoskinson-Dean
* thanks, Cole Porter
Teenagers of both sexes find the lure of love just as irresistible as their elders do - though they may be less willing to admit it! But the most popular teen novels often use romantic tension to keep readers rapidly turning pages.
What would THE HUNGER GAMES be without the emotional triangle between Katniss, Peeta and Gale? Could the DAIRY QUEEN trilogy, with its full complement of football, basketball and tractors, retain its appeal absent the poignant bond between D. J. and Brian? Would readers rush to finish THE SCORPIO RACES if they were not tugged by the fledgling relationship between Puck and Sean?
To introduce you to a wide variety of well-written, briskly-paced novels with engaging characters and satisfying endings (many of which will appeal to older as well as younger readers), here's a link to a list of some of the best teen "romantic reads" of the past few years, organized into various categories for your browsing pleasure, such as "At Death's door" (characters with fatal conditions) and "What's a good war without a buddy by your side?" (dystopias are no fun without a special friend). Hope you find a new favorite!
Mary Hoskinson-Dean
* thanks, Cole Porter
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Tattle Tattle for Feb 2012
Award winning authors offer words of inspiration and dramatic stories - Two to read now and one to look forward to:
Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death and Hope in a Mumbai University - Pulitzer Prize winner Katherine Boo offers a dramatic story of families striving for a better life in a city of stark contrasts. Based on three years of uncompromising reporting, a bewildering age of global change and inequality is made human.
What we Talk About When we Talk About Anne Frank - Nathan Englander grapples with the great questions of modern life. From a gifted young writer and award winning author chosen as one of "20 writers for the 21st century."
When I Was a Child I Read Books - The Pulitzer Prize winner author of Gilead and Housekeeping offers a series of essays that reviewers are describing as "tightly developed ...some personal but mostly more general, on the Big Themes: social fragmentation in modern America, human frailty, faith." Place your hold now for the March debut of this work.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Romantic Reads
Every 5 seconds someone buys a romance novel, making it a $1.2 billion dollar a year industry. A percentage of that growth is driven by gals who are eBook fans. 91% or romance book readers are well educated women who have healthy incomes. (Source: Romance Writers of America)
So in preparation for Valentine's Day why not check out the popular display table featuring romances of all sorts. Here’s a quick peek at the most popular writers loved by Mark Twain Library fans of the genre!
Jude Deveraux is a top selling author whose books offer a bit of romance, a bit of the past and a bit of the present.
Nora Roberts is a prolific writer whose works are peppered with a bit of spice and lots of family sagas. Her works are frequently made into television movies and lots of fun to read.
Eloisa James – Fordham University professor by day… romance writer by night? Historical romance bestsellers
Saturday, February 4, 2012
The Children's Book "Oscars" have been announced
Well, Allison and I were - once again - poor prognosticators of the American Library Association's children's literature awards - but we were still happy about the winners.
Chris Raschka's A BALL FOR DAISY won the Caldecott for the best illustrated book of 2011. This wordless melodrama for toddlers about a puppy who loses his ball is enlivened by Raschka's trademark squiggly figures and will be a wonderful lapsit book for any child and grownup.
OK, we dare you to read DEAD END IN NORVELT, the Newbery Award winner for the best children's novel of 2011, without guffawing at least once! Jack Gantos has focused on one special summer of his childhood in the dying town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, when he assisted his neighbor in preparing obituaries of the town's founders. Apparently this turned out be a weird, funny - and continually embarrassing - experience, which Gantos has made into a compulsively readable story.
The Printz Award for the best 2011 novel for teens went to John Corey Whaley for his first book, WHERE THINGS COME BACK. It's another tale about a boy's life in a small town, this one in Arkansas, but comedy is only one of its many attractions. Tragedy, suspense, religion, love, mystery all intertwine in a story that rewards your reading to the last word.
Next time you're in the library, take a look at the bulletin board outside my office. Now posted there are all the 2011 award winners and notable children's books lists. You're sure to get some ideas for great reading!
Mary Hoskinson-Dean
Chris Raschka's A BALL FOR DAISY won the Caldecott for the best illustrated book of 2011. This wordless melodrama for toddlers about a puppy who loses his ball is enlivened by Raschka's trademark squiggly figures and will be a wonderful lapsit book for any child and grownup.
OK, we dare you to read DEAD END IN NORVELT, the Newbery Award winner for the best children's novel of 2011, without guffawing at least once! Jack Gantos has focused on one special summer of his childhood in the dying town of Norvelt, Pennsylvania, when he assisted his neighbor in preparing obituaries of the town's founders. Apparently this turned out be a weird, funny - and continually embarrassing - experience, which Gantos has made into a compulsively readable story.
The Printz Award for the best 2011 novel for teens went to John Corey Whaley for his first book, WHERE THINGS COME BACK. It's another tale about a boy's life in a small town, this one in Arkansas, but comedy is only one of its many attractions. Tragedy, suspense, religion, love, mystery all intertwine in a story that rewards your reading to the last word.
Next time you're in the library, take a look at the bulletin board outside my office. Now posted there are all the 2011 award winners and notable children's books lists. You're sure to get some ideas for great reading!
Mary Hoskinson-Dean
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Emotional Intelligence
Want to understand others better. Read fiction. Studies indicate that reading fiction activates neuronal pathways in the brain that measurably help the reader better understand real human emotion — improving his or her overall social skillfulness.
A little bibliotherapy is good for what ails you. A good read doesn't just mimic life, it helps to intensify experiences and make them more intersting. But, it does this from a safe distance. If your hero confronts a tragedy or gets caught up in events spiraling out of control, you can put the book down and pick it up later after having taken a bit of time to ponder the problem form a safe distance.
So if your feeling a bit too self absorded , immerse yourself in a good book from the Mark Twain Library.
Psychologists have been studying the impact for a while now. One noted researcher in the field, Keith Oatley of the University of Toronto put it best when he noted that "literary soul maetes expect nothing of you."
A little bibliotherapy is good for what ails you. A good read doesn't just mimic life, it helps to intensify experiences and make them more intersting. But, it does this from a safe distance. If your hero confronts a tragedy or gets caught up in events spiraling out of control, you can put the book down and pick it up later after having taken a bit of time to ponder the problem form a safe distance.
So if your feeling a bit too self absorded , immerse yourself in a good book from the Mark Twain Library.
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