Evening Class by Maeve Binchy

An odd assortment of disillusioned people from varied backgrounds meet each week for an evening class to learn to speak Italian. These classes culminate in a once in a lifetime trip to Italy where some of them make decisions which change their lives for the better! If you like Maeve Binchy's writing, check out the writings of Elizabeth Goudge, Rosamunde Pilcher, Belva Plain, and Anne Rivers Siddons. -Reviewed by Deb.

March by Geraldine Brooks

Set during the Civil War, March, explores the moral complexities of war, racism, slavery, and family. Told from the view of Mr. March, the absent father from Louisa May Alcott’s classic, Little Women, the historical novel follows March as he decides to join the Union forces in his forties as a chaplain. Author Geraldine Brooks based Mr. March on Louisa May Alcott’s father, Bronson Alcott, and like Alcott, the main character is an abolitionist, participates in the Underground Railroad, and has radical beliefs in education. Throughout this Pulitzer Prize-winning story, glimpses of March’s life before his marriage, and his letters home to his wife and girls convey wonderfully lush historical details and a beautiful love story. - Reviewed by Sarah

This summer, the Tompkins County Public Library is sponsoring our 7th annual Community Read. We urge all Tompkins County residents to read this historical novel and meet with friends, neighbors, community organizations, and area libraries to discuss March by Geraldine Brooks. TCPL has 300 copies of March for people to check out, and copies are available at all other local libraries. We also have copies in various foreign languages, as well as foreign language copies of Little Women. TCPL also has extra copies of Little Women available, as well as the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Eden’s Outcasts: the Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson (Matteson will be at TCPL on August 16th at 1 PM for a lecture). Copies of Cornell’s New Student Reading Project title, Lincoln at Gettysburg by Garry Wills, are available in addition and together these books offer readers a wonderful reading complement to the Civil War era.

Please join us for our Community Read Kick-Off this Saturday at 1 PM in the Borg Warner Community Meeting Room, when Jan Turnquist, director of Orchard House, Louisa May Alcott's famed childhood home, will assume the identity of Alcott to tackle 19th Century issues like suffrage, abolition, the Underground Railroad and equal education. For more information, please visit: http://www.tcpl.org/march/events.html.

Lover of Unreason by Yehuda Koren

If you’re intrigued by the Sylvia Plath/Ted Hughes story, you’ll want to read this fascinating biography of Assia Wevill whose existence very probably helped push Sylvia toward suicide. More than just the beautiful ‘other woman’ in the Hughes marriage, Assia’s past included escaping the Holocaust, life in the newly created Israel, three husbands as well as a talent for art, translating poetry, creating advertising campaigns and seduction. She and her 4 year old daughter by Ted died in 1969. - Reviewed by TCPL Staff

The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus

April is a single mother who supports herself working as a stripper in the Puma Club for Men in Florida. When her normal babysitter, Jean, ends up in the hospital, April is forced to take 3-year old Franny to work with her. Leaving her with the house mother while she dances, April becomes involved with Bassam, a Muslim who is on his way to becoming a September 11th hijacker and who pays April to talk to him in the Champagne Room about why she chooses to dance for a living. With April being occupied with high-spending Bassam, Franny wanders into the parking lot of the club and is snatched by a disgruntled club customer who has been thrown out for getting too close to a dancer.

Set mainly over one night shortly before the September 11th attacks, author Dubus explores a multitude of characters in short, effective chapters, drawing readers into their sad lives and the impending doom of the terrorist attacks. Although over 500 pages, this is a fast-paced, taut exploration of fate, sexuality, and power. Dubus is the author of the acclaimed novel, House of Sand and Fog, and if readers liked that novel, they are sure to enjoy this electrifying novel. - Reviewed by Sarah

Manhunt: the Twelve-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer by James L. Swanson

John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin, escaped from Ford's Theatre the night of Lincoln's assassination with a broken leg. He headed South and was aided by several sympathizers for twelve days until his luck ran out. Mr. Swanson describes Booth's motives for killing Lincoln and his flight from Washington, D.C. in great detail, engaging the reader into the life of a famous killer. - Reviewed by Deb.

The Hummingbird's Daughter by Louis Alberto Urrea

The Hummingbird's Daughter is a fascinating tale of Mexican history that focuses on a young woman now known as Santa Teresita. The author, Urrea, explains that she was a distant relative and that he spent 20 years researching the novel.

The story follows the life of Teresita, illegitimate daughter of a 14 year old peasant, Cayetana (the "hummingbird" ) and a powerful Mexican land owner, Don Urrea (surname of the author), a man driven by his instincts for land, money, sex and power. Teresita possessed a special talent for healing and becomes the student of the old curadera of the ranch who recognizes her gifts.

The personal evolution of Teresita's life upon the backdrop of the Mexican revolution kept me turning the pages. The book dives into Christian mysticism and surfaces on the gruesome frontiers of a cruel Mexico, harsh for Indians and the "people."

I thought the ending of this work was a bit unsatifsying, but, generally, I would recommend it to anyone with a taste for Latin American fiction - especially historical fiction, which, some say, the Spanish do best. - Reviewed by Joyce