I need your help! We love to know what you have been reading during the summer! Last year we created a booklet of reader's reviews following our "Summer of Mystery". We would love to do the same thing for our "Summer Read 2010: WWII and the Holocaust. Did you read a book or see a movie that you enjoyed this summer relating to our theme? Did you absolutely love a book you would recommend to your friends and neighbors? Did you read something you disliked intensely? Let us know about your reading, positives and negatives. You can pick up a form at the Library or enter your review online at the Library website. By submitting a review you are eligible to win one of the weekly prizes.

Onto September, more books, lots of reading. Lisa Grunwald will be the Library's Literary Luncheon speaker on September 23rd. I highly recommend her latest novel, The Irrestible Henry House. Also, the September 1st Friends Lunch Bunch Book group will be discussing Lisa's novel, Whatever Makes You Happy! so I don't know about you but reading a good book always makes me happy.

Summer is almost here....time to load up on poolside and backyard reading! You will find a wealth of new titles at the Library. I am recommending My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira. It is a lovely debut novel about an ambitious young woman in the time of the Civil War.
Helen Simonson's Major Pettigrew's Last Stand is a charming novel with great characters and subtle humor. I loved it.
In Non Fiction pick up The Secret Life of the Grown Up Brain by Barbara Strauch. The author explains the good news about how our brains change as we age.
It is not too late to start a vegetable garden, and Raised Bed Vegetable Gardening Made Simple by Raymond Nones will show you how.

The Library has a busy Summer schedule of events for our Adult reading program, It Happened In..... The kick off is just around the corner on June 7. Look on our webpage to see the entire schedule, and make plans to attend some or all of the events. There will also be a separate blog set up for It Happened In....so look for that as well. You will be able to post book reviews and comments there.

Upbeat Reading for the New Year!

Our January list of recommendations is available, and it is full of great reading.

In Fiction, we have selected a lot of funny books and books with happy endings for you, some you may have heard of and some that may be new to you.

In nonfiction, we have recommended books with positive messages covering topics like happiness, family/work balance, and more.

In the advice section we have some inspiring books about how to keep a positive outlook and good habits.

It was hard to decide what books and authors to recommend, so here is a list of recommended authors that didn't make the list. All of these write fiction that either has a happy ending or positive message (think "comfort reading"!):

Philip Gulley

Elinor Lipman

Susan Wiggs

Jan Karon

Debbie Macomber

Alexander McCall-Smith

Happy New Year of reading from New Canaan Library!

Happy Endings!
We all love them, don't we? And yet we can't help but notice that so many books are depressing. Reading groups seem to love a good depressing read. Here at the Library we are challenging ourselves to come up with a list of recommendations that will all be upbeat reads with happy endings. I think this is a great idea, particularly for the New Year ahead: a way to start off on the right (literary) foot, so to speak.
So look forward to our usual Holiday list of recommendations in December. That list will reflect all that is new in holiday and winter fiction, with other good (non-holiday) books as well. Then await our upbeat list for January, our gift to you for the New Year. And please let us know if you have suggestions for us. You may post them here or tell anyone at the Reference desk. Thanks and Happy Reading!

Fall reading at New Canaan Library

Our shelves, as usual, are brimming with good reading, and we have made a lot of great new recommendations this Fall. Here are some of my favorites:
Fiction: Something Missing By Matthew Dicks is a very charming, very funny novel about a burglar with OCD tendencies who takes only items that the homeowner will not miss. A Carrion Death by Michael Stanley is a mystery set in Botswana. Since many of us have become familiar with Botswana through Alexander McCall Smith's charming series, I thought it would be good to point out the Stanley book. It is the first in a series...we have the sequel as well. Blame by Michelle Huneven is a riveting story of an alcoholic and her redemption, beautifully written. On a lighter note, Murder at Longbourn is a mystery by Tracy Kiely that is set in modern times but has many nods to Jane Austen, including part of the title.
In nonfiction we recommend two somewhat related books for those of you thinking about your personal economy: The Mom and Pop Store by Robert Spector pays homage to small business owners in America and encourages us to support them. Related is Cheap: the high price of discount culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell. The author investigates the real cost of our obsession with discounts and how our quest for low prices may be hurting us overall.
Lucky Girl by Mei-Ling Hopgood is a memoir from an American girl who was adopted from Taiwan. She actually is contacted by her birth family and goes to meet them. There have been several books like this of late but Hopgood's is the most thoughtful and well done.
I am currently reading American Passage: the history of Ellis Island by Vincent J. Cannato (listening to it, actually, I have the book on CD and it's a long one!). I am learning a lot about the history of immigration to this country and how our laws were shaped over time. The book touches on the history and philosophy behind immigration law and public health issues.
In the self-help area we recommend Facebook Me! by David Awl, for those of you trying to get up to speed and reconnect with old pals, or just keep up with your kids. And lastly we like Rabbi Harold S. Kushner's latest little gem called Conquering Fear: living boldly in an uncertain world. He is a wise and practical man and an excellent writer. We hope that you enjoy his wisdom, and all our other recommendations.

Mystery Fans! NPR's Morning Edition radio program has been running a special feature called Crime in the City, featuring mystery writers and the cities they write about. Today feature is Cara Black, who writes a series about murders in Paris. The series has featured several other beloved mystery writers. Check it out at:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13795507

"The Janes"!

Author Jane Cleland and Library Staff Member Jane Frazier get ready for

the Summer of Mystery.

Summer of Mystery

at the New Canaan Library

Hot fun with Summer Reading! The New Canaan Library is celebrating the mystery this summer. Readers are asked to write reviews of recommended books. It's time to uncover your secrets, your mysteries and your puzzles. It doesn't have to be a traditional murder mystery, it can be a "true crime account", or perhaps a medical mystery, maybe some historic never-solved mystery, or a scientific mystery..."what ever happened to The Lost Continent of Atlantis or the Bermuda Triangle". Check the Summer of Mystery Link on the website and find out what books your neighbors are reading. You can submit your review in one of three ways, either click on the adult summer reading link on the Library's website, http://www.newcanaanlibrary.org/, or email bookreviews@newcanaanlibrary.org or fill out a form available at the LIbrary.

We have had some wonderful authors of mysteries and thrillers at the Library this summer. Karen E. Olson kicked off our Summer of Mystery on July 7th with her newest novel, The Missing Ink, followed by Margo Berwin with Hothouse Flower and the NIne Planets of Desire, then Jane Cleland introduced us to Killer Keepsakes and today, Stephen Carter left everyone on the edge of their seat, "dying" to read, Jericho's Fall. Tomorrow evening, Thursday, July 23rd, Elizabeth Bettina will be discussing her book, It Happened in Italy, about Italian heroism during the Holocaust. We were also entertained and educated by Richard Wiese as he shared his experiences in Born to Explore and will conclude our summer author programs with New Canaan author Jeff Blumenfeld next Wednesday as her talks about his book, You want to go Where?

Then August arrives and we read and read and read! We also get ready for a Fall/Winter schedule of events that will keep readers at the Library. It's a "Mystery to Me" how we solve the riddles, but don't forget to enter our weekly raffle of Mystery Trivia. The question is posted in the Library and on the website each week.