Spring in New Canaan: The daffodils are up, the forsythia's in bloom, and the April edition of Beyond the Best Seller List is available! So much good reading out there...sometimes it's hard to decide which titles to recommend. But the list is out and here are some suggestions:
Fiction: Mystery readers can catch up with Charlie Moon in James D. Doss's series. This latest installment is titled Snake Dreams. Charlie is a Native American rancher and sleuth. If you like your mysteries laced with humor this is a series to take a look at.
Jan Brogan has a new book featuring investigative reporter Hallie Ahern. This one is titled Teaser and it has Hallie investigating chat room predators.
The Manual of Detection by Jedidiah Berry is one of the most unusual mysteries I have ever read. It is a Kafkaesque tale of longtime clerk in a detective agency who is mysteriously promoted to detective-and then things become even more surreal.
On a lighter note, The Yummy Mummy by Polly Williams is a funny look at new motherhood, featuring a bewildered new mom who tries to keep up with the fashionable and waiflike other moms. It's a funny peek at the pressures put on women.
Those looking for a great longer read, City of Thieves by David Benioff will fill the bill. This is a novel based on the author's grandfather's tales of WWII in Russia.
For non-fiction, we are pleased to recommend: Africa: altered states, ordinary miracles by Richard Dowden. This book explains so much about the complex continent in a very readable style. The author does a fantastic job of telling the background about each country, and how it got to it's present state.
Are your kids learning more keyboarding and less penmanship at school? Kitty Burns Florey has written Script and Scribble: the rise and fall of handwriting, to tell the history of handwriting. Who remembers the Palmer Method?
Local interest: Philip Johnson: The Constancy of Change edited by Emmanuel Petit is a volume of eminent voices in architecture who write about Johnson's designs and intellect, along with admiration for his Glass House compound right here in New Canaan.
For How to's we are pleased to recommend Cooking Know How: how to be a better cook with hundreds of easy techniques, step-by-step photos and ideas for 500 great meals by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. It's a technique book, and a pretty big one at that , but it is full of useful information for the home cook. Even better than the book: the authors are coming to the Library on April 22. Be in the Lamb Room at 7:30PM for their presentation.
Keep reading, and keep telling us what treasures you found on our shelves!

The March issue of Beyond the Best Seller List is out and I am pleased to recommend so many good books!
Fiction: Songs for the Missing by Stewart O'Nan is a story of a family in crisis. O'Nan is such a great writer...and we are ever so pleased to say he will be here with us tomorrow in the Lamb Room, talking about his book.
Mystery readers often liked to get hooked on a new series. The Organ Grinder by Maan Myers is seventh in a series called the Dutchman Historical Mysteries. They are set in 1899 New York City. Maan Meyers is actually a pseudonym for the husband and wife writing team of Annette and Martin Meyers.
On March 25 we are hosting a mystery writers event, with panelists Jane Cleland, Meredith Cole, and Rosemary Harris. We recommend Big Dirt Nap by Harris and Posed for Murder by Cole. I am currently reading and enjoying Posed for Murder. Jane Cleland's Killer Keepsakes isn't out yet, but we will have it in April.
On the Non-Fiction side, I highly recommend Enough by John Bogle. The author, a financial legend himself, having founded the Vanguard Group of Mutual Funds, explores the greed infecting our business world. Read it and think about what constitutes "Enough" for you in your work and financial life.
The Journal of Helene Berr is the actual diary of a young Sorbonne student who lived in Nazi-occupied Paris. It was a best seller in France, and now is translated for us. Fans of Nemirovsky's Suite Francais will want to read Berr's journal.
In the advice arena we recommend: Germ Proof Your Kids by Harley A. Robart. The author explains how to keep children healthy without going overboard with antibacterials.
Any men out there looking to upgrade their style? Pick up The Handbook of Style from the editors of Esquire. It explains the latest in suits, ties, and grooming, and it's a neat little book: the cover looks like a suit and the title is actually a cloth label.
We hope you enjoy the variety that we recommend. Please let us know what you are reading.

Some of the Connecticut Authors listed on the Library's Beyond the Best Seller list will be visiting and discussing their books at the New Canaan Library. Stewart O'Nan, author of The Circus Fire will share his new book Songs of the Missing with readers on Wednesday, March 4th at noon when the Friends of the New Canaan Library's Lunch Bunch Book Group presents an Authors on Stage event.

We are very excited to have Frank Delaney, Connecticut author of Ireland, Tipperary and Shannon, Sunday, March 15th, at 4:00 pm, celebrating St. Patrick's Day, a wee bit early at the Library.

Then on Wednesday, March 25th, at 12:00 noon, Connecticut Mystery Writer, Rosemary Harris, author of Pushing Up Daisies and The Big Dirt Nap will join colleagues Jane Cleland, Killer Keepsakes and Meredith Cole, Posed For Murder for Under the Writer's Veil as part of Author's on Stage at the Library.

Connecticut is a great place to write and a great place to write about.

Our February issue of Beyond The Best Seller List has a special theme! We decided to focus on the state of Connecticut, and we make recommendations for fiction set in Connecticut as well as nonfiction titles about our state.
Putting the list together was an interesting process, and I learned a little history as I went through the process. Probably my favorite book on the list is The Merritt Parkway by Bruce Radde. It tells the story of the road from conception in the 20's to completion in the 40's , with an interesting analysis of the history of the region and the place of the automobile in American culture.
We honor the people of our state by recommending biographies of famous residents Mark Twain and Charles Ives, and honor unsung heroes with Connecticut Speaks for Itself, a compilation of personal testimonies of hardworking people and immigrants tales. Local architecture is celebrated in the book The Harvard Five in New Canaan. Stewart O'Nan's The Circus Fire tells the sad story of a fire in Hartford in 1944 that killed 169 and injured many more.
On the Advice, How-to and Miscellaneous list I recommend Pat and Lester Brook's Food Lover's Guide to Connecticut. These two local authors have put together a great book of where to eat and shop locally.
On the Fiction side of the list there is a lot of good fiction, some new and some old. Mysteries by Rosemary Harris (Pushing Up Daisies) and Laurien Berensen (Dog Eat Dog) are recent books that are set in Fairfield County. Rick Moody's The Ice Storm is set right here in New Canaan. Mary-Ann Tirone Smith's novel Masters of Illusion is a fictional take on the aforementioned circus fire in Hartford.
As with all issues of Beyond the Best Seller, the kids aren't left out: take home N is for Nutmeg for your younger kids. Older (grade 4-6) would enjoy The Forbidden Schoolhouse of Prudence Crandall. What a story: Crandall stirred up a controversy when she opened a school for young African American girls in the 1800's in Canterbury CT.
We hope that our patrons will enjoy these Nutmeg State recommendations. If these pique your interest we have plenty more books about and set in our state. Just ask a Librarian!

Our first list of recommendations for 2009 is out, and we recommend:

Fiction: The Legal Limit by Martin Clark is a legal thriller with themes of family loyalty and doing the right thing. Fans of Janet Evanovich will enjoy Maggie Barbieri's books. Think of them as madcap but in a more toned- down way. We are recommending Murder 101, which is the first in a series. We have the two sequels as well, but start with Murder 101.

How many of us have been stuck at an airport with no recourse after a cancelled flight? Well Jonathan Miles was in that spot himself and has penned a very funny novel called Dear American Airlines, which starts with a letter expressing his frustration with the airlines and then moves into a reflection on his life and relationships.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, a philosophical novel set in Paris, is translated from the French. It was a pretty big seller abroad and has received quiet praise in the US.



Nonfiction: Factory Girls: from village to city in changing China by Leslie T. Chang is a fascinating inside look at the lives of factory girls. These young women leave home villages and live in cities in dorms attached to their factories which are churning out sneakers and whatever else the world wants to buy. Both home cooks and biography readers will devour Amarcord: Marcella Remembers by Marcella Hazan. Ms. Hazan is the cookbook author who introduced real Italian cooking to Americans. Her story is fascinating both for the period details as well as the food and shopping discussions.



New Year's resolutions, anyone? If you have resolved to get your financial house in order The Smart Cookie's Guide to Making More Dough by the Smart Cookies and Jennifer Barrett will help you out. The Smart Cookies are women who started a money group to get control of their finances. If you have resolved to pull yourself together style-wise, Isaac Mizrahi is ready to help with his book How to Have Style. It's glitzy book but if you look beyond the high-fashion photos you'll see real people who made real changes.



Happy New Year of reading from your Library!

As the December holidays approach many readers like to read books that reflect the season. For some, that means taking out a copy of Dickens's A Christmas Carol or curling up with your old copy of Moore's A Night Before Christmas. We have those at the Library as well as lots of current fiction with holiday themes. Many authors publish a bit of Christmas fiction every year, often in the form of short novellas or quick-to-read mysteries, perfect for you to fit in some reading time in a busy day. May we suggest: a new mystery by the mother-daughter team of Mary Higgins Clark and Carol Higgins Clark, Dashing Through the Snow. Anne Perry checks in with A Christmas Grace, and we have several new works of holiday fiction for young adults , including Let it Snow: Three Holiday Romances from popular authors John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle.
A year doesn't go by without new Christmas cookbooks, and this year is no exception. There are several new cookbooks in our collection as well as many old favorites to help you plan your holiday baking.
The "green " theme has extended into the holiday nonfiction collection: we recommend that you check out Green Christmas by Jennifer Sander and A Greener Christmas by Sheherazade Goldsmith. Both will help you enjoy the holiday season while doing your part for the environment.
Pick up a copy of our New Holiday Reading list when you are in the Library, and happy holidays!

The December list is out and there is lots to talk about on it! Sometimes you just can't get into a long novel, which may be the case this month as we prepare for the holidays ahead. This is when we should pick up some short stories. Anne Enright's new book Yesterday's Weather: Stories is a marvelous read. This book is a collection of tales about people in Ireland who are trying to make their way in a rapidly changing society. The Letters is a short novel told in letters by Luane Rice and Joseph Monninger. Two writers combined their talents to create one moving novel about an estranged husband and wife. The format alone will get you thinking about the beauty of real written communication, particularly in this age of email. Several of our patrons recommended this book to us...we love it when you do that !

Mysteries we recommend this month include The Black Tower by Louis Bayard and Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclay. The Black Tower is set in Paris in 1818 and features the world's first plainclothes detective. Completely different, Too Close to Home is a page turner about a murder in a small town and a boy who is the number one suspect.

Readers of Non-Fiction also have plenty to choose from, and some authors will be here this month, so you'll definitely want to check these out:

On December 5 we are hosting James Campbell, Charles Slack and Logan Ward together. They will speak about "Living the Adventure" . We have recommended Campbell's Final Frontiersmen, a riveting tale of one family's Alaskan adventure.

Ken Wells has written The Good Pirate of the Forgotten Bayous, and he will be here to talk to us all on December 16. His book is the story of the residents of Saint Bernard Parish during and after Katrina. Wells is an accomplished journalist who knows the territory, being a native of the Louisiana bayou country himself.

Leonard Bernstein: American Original by Burton Bernstein and Barbara Haws is a truly fabulous collection of essays and photos that explore the impact the man had on America and the world. If you are tired of gossipy biographies you'll enjoy this one.

Some of you may recall that in years past the December issue of Beyond the Best Seller List had a holiday theme. Stay tuned....there will be a separate list of holiday recommendations next week.

November has brought with it a bit of cooler weather, and we have turned our clocks back to standard time. Afternoons are shorter and it gets dark well before dinner time. All this makes for more curl-up-with-a- book evening time! So here are our recommendations for your fall pleasure reading:
Fiction: The Mercy Rule by Perri Klass is a heartfelt novel about contemporary parenting. The author is a pediatrician and a noteworthy author of fiction and nonfiction works. For a humorous read, try Jim Harrison's The English Major. It features a 60-something divorced guy out on a cross country road trip. Fans of "Chick Lit" books will not be disappointed with Emily Giffin's latest, entitled Love the One You're With. Who knew that the playwright Anton Chekhov was also a short story writer? He actually was a prolific author of short fiction and published quite a bit of it in his lifetime. A new compilation features many of his stories of psychological suspense: A Night in the Cemetery and Other Stories of Crime and Suspense. Mystery fan? Check out Kate Atkinson's latest thriller set in England: When Will There Be Good News? If you prefer your mysteries with a bit of light entertainment, a la Janet Evanovich, read Bone Island Mambo by Tom Corcoran. His books are all funny and fast paced.
The nonfiction list of recommendations has something for everyone. There are so many books being written about living "greener" and helping the environment: green consuming, green housecleaning, etc. Lots of how-to's. But one that we found very interesting is Bottlemania: How Water Went on Sale and Why We Bought It by Elizabeth Royte. The author explores the bottled water trend of the last decade. Interesting reading now that we are all more concerned about waste and recycling. Dry Storeroom No. 1 : the Secret Life of the Natural History Museum by Richard Fortey is a museum lover's dream come true: a look behind the scenes at the Natural History Museum in London: the collections, the space, the workers who put it all together. Are you raising a son or just want to understand today's youths? You'll want to read Guyland: the Perilous World Where Boys Become Men by Michael Kimmel. The author is a sociology professor who studied and interviewed males between the ages of adolescence and adulthood to find out what makes them tick.
We all seem to be eating out less and cooking more at home these days. Cooking With All Things Trader Joe's by Deana Gunn and Wona Miniati is loaded with recipes using TJ's ingredients. Combine their unique sauces with their other healthy fare and you've got a meal in no time.
We hope that you enjoy these recommendations and find other worthy books that aren't on the big bestseller lists. Let us know what you enjoy!