The Mighty Queens of Freeville: a Mother, a Daughter and the People Who Raised Them by Amy Dickinson

Anyone who has read advice in the “Ask Amy” column in the newspaper will appreciate the behind the scenes look into the life of Amy Dickinson. As a child growing up on a farm in Freeville, New York, Amy and her family experienced the dissolution of the family farm and the divorce of her parents. As a single mother, her mom not only took care of her family, but she held a job and went back to college. Witnessing her mom’s trials and tribulations gave Amy the opportunity to formulate some coping skills that she would need later in her own life.

Amy provides some humorous looks into life in a small town in upstate New York. One of my favorites is when she taught Sunday School and one of her students ate an important piece of the manger scene. Ever present is her remarkable relationship with her daughter and her invaluable support from her female relatives (thus the “Mighty Queens of Freeville”). I can see them sitting at the local diner hashing out the daily news and plotting how to best deal with anything that life sends their way!

This is a wonderful account of how a local girl found success and happiness right here in Tompkins County. - Reviewed by Deb

The Ten Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer

I generally avoid articles, blogs, books and the like that seem to inflame the “mommy wars” where judgments fly fast and loose about others’ parenting choices. Yet I was intrigued by this book’s wry title and decided to dive in.

The book is meant to be a look at the lives of four professional women who chose to leave the world of work behind after the birth of their children. While the characters acknowledge they are fortunate to have such a choice, given that most families have no alternative to a two-working-parent household, I still bristled at their privilege and narrow existence. As a result, I didn’t much like or care about most of the characters. There also wasn’t much happening until about two-thirds of the way through, so if you are looking for a forward-moving, plot-driven book this isn’t for you.

The author also used the practice of including as separate chapters flashbacks to stories about the protagonists’ parents (and in one instance, Nadia Comaneci!) to flesh out how the women came to be who they are. I found it distracting and ineffective.

Did I expect too much from this book, thinking it would provide some insight into and sense of satisfaction with my own work/life/parenting decisions? I think not. In this instance, I was merely looking for characters whose life stories were interesting and possibly relatable. I didn’t find them. - Reviewed by Suzanne

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

A fateful meeting on a Nigerian beach years before sets the tone for this heartbreaking novel by British author Cleave. London magazine editor Sarah and her husband Andrew are having marital problems. Sarah is involved in an affair and feels she must decide if she wants to stay with her husband and young son, Charlie. When a free invitation comes addressed in her name to the magazine she edits, she decides that the trip to the Nigerian coast would be the perfect getaway to save her marriage.

One perfectly normal, sunny afternoon on the coast turns into a nightmare, when two young girls, Little Bee and her sister, suddenly run towards Sarah and Andrew. They are being chased by soldiers who are destroying area villages in their quest for oil. The soldiers give Andrew an ultimatum – chop off a finger and Little Bee’s sister will live. His decision results in everyone’s lives changing forever.

Perfect for book groups, this quiet and stunning novel shows how a “what if this happened to me?” situation changes everything. Frightening, yet also redemptive, the novel alternates narration between Little Bee and Sarah. It is also a novel about the growing friendship, against many odds, between Sarah and Little Bee, especially since Little Bee shows up on Sarah’s doorstep many years later – and also on the day of Andrew’s memorial service. How did she survive and know how to find Sarah? What led Andrew to take his life? All the mysteries are solved by the heart-wrenching end that readers can see slowly building up. Cleave, also the author of the outstanding novel, Incendiary, is definitely a writer to watch. I also found this novel to be very similar to Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones, a review of which can be read at http://www.tcpl.org/sarah/2007/12/74-mister-pip-by-lloyd-jones.html – Reviewed by Sarah

A Very British Gangster

A look at the real life of Gotti-esque Dominic Noonan of Manchester, England. He gets things done for his community members that the police and social service agencies can’t achieve such as reuniting a mother with her baby “stolen” by the grandparents or making sure one neighbor doesn’t feel free to assault another neighbor with a hammer. Of course, Dom doesn’t have to worry about what he can legally do to effect change. He does whatever he thinks will work even though that might include threats of or actual violence.

There are a whole bunch of Noonans, brothers, cousins, godchildren, in Dom’s “security business.” When one of his brothers dies in a motorcycle accident, so many people come to show respect that the police have to spend thousands of pounds on crowd and traffic control. If you liked watching the Sopranos, try this Manchester version of crime family life. - Reviewed by Nancy

The Ultimates, volumes 1 and 2 by Mark Millar

Marvel’s Ultimate line is an attempt to solve many of the problems casual readers have with comic books and comic book collections, sometimes called graphic novels. The Ultimate line takes the characters who exist in Marvel’s mainstream books and strips them back down to their essence, taking out most of the continuity that has creeped up over the years, and making their origins more believable to 21st century science – more genetic engineering and less radiation.

The Ultimates are Marvel’s attempt at bringing the Avengers in to the Ultimate line of comics. All in all, it’s a successful attempt, at least in the first series. (The Ultimates lasted only 13 issues, collected in to the two volumes. There have been subsequent collections, Ultimates 2 and Ultimates 3, that have been less successful) You don’t need to know anything about the comic book characters to understand what’s going on in this book, they reintroduce everyone (with one exception; the Hulk – and even with him, they give enough of an explanation so that you don’t get lost). Certainly, fans of Marvel are more likely to notice some of the similarities and differences between this and normal Marvel stories, but it is not needed.

Ultimates is, by nature, an ensemble cast, but it focuses on Captain America. This Captain America is a very patriotic, fairly conservative, but ultimately a friendly guy who has been given powers by an experiment that let him be an ultimate soldier. He’s also one of the few characters with powers that is, more or less, still balanced. Iron Man is an alcoholic, though a functioning one. Thor is a deranged medical student... or maybe a Norse God. Giant Man and Wasp are in an abusive relationship, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are kind of ickily all over each other for a brother and sister... you need Captain America to hold on to in this story, because believe it or not, he’s the every man you feel your connection to.

In the end, the story is fairly straightforward comic book fare, but its well done, and the takes on these characters is a bit more realistic and updated than a lot of other comic book stories. If you’ve been thinking of getting in to super-hero comics, this isn’t a bad place to start. You could also consider volume 1 of Ultimate Spider-man or volume 1 of Ultimate X-men. - Reviewed by John

The Novels of Ariana Franklin

If you like, historical fiction, mysteries or just plain good writing, I highly recommend Ariana Franklin. She is described by Karen Harper, author of the Elizabeth I mystery series, as "bold, brilliant... the medieval answer to Kay Scarpetta and the CSI detectives." She is as good as Ellis Peters and is a winner of the Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award. A former journalist herself, Franklin writes with the immediacy of journalism. She does meticulous research and seamlessly matches fiction with fact. Start by reading Mistress of the Art of Death when you will be introduced to her heroine Adelia, who is doctor and medieval pathologist - not a common or safe career for a woman. Follow with City of Shadows and you will be left poised for more. Be warned, however, today's torture is nothing compared to medieval torture and she leaves none of the cruelty and horror of those times out of her writing. Highly recommended and TCPL has both books. - Reviewed by Sally

The Sinner by Petra Hammesfahr

The Sinner, a psychological thriller by German author Petra Hammesfahr, was a haunting page-turner that was difficult to put down. The mystery revolves around Cora Bender, a young mother who suddenly and inexplicably stabs a man during a family outing at the lake. Her sudden attack on this newlywed who was necking with his wife on a nearby blanket horrified the onlookers and puzzled the police detective-in-charge, Inspector Grovian. Based on the evidence - witnesses and Cora's own admission of guilt - it should be an open-and-shut case.

However, good mysteries don't work that way. Inspector Grovian, puzzled by Cora's apparent lack motive for the murder, was intrigued. Whatever Grovian's reasons - professional pride, guilt over his relationship with his own daughter (who, like Cora, was in her twenties), Cora's alternating fits of apathy, despair, terror and arrogance - the Inspector probed and pried to explain the crime.

Meanwhile, Cora descends into a deep, black hole of memories that almost surface but cannot emerge clearly enough to explain the murder.

Author Hammesfahr continually reels out clues. In the beginning, I savored the story and followed the leads to piece it together. After about 100 pages, though, I needed to know the answer and could not put the book down.

The Sinner - as one might suspect from the title - is loaded with sex overshadowed by religious fanaticism and psychological trauma. It flirts with incest and sadomasochism. It drew me into Cora's deep well of pain and, like the Inspector, I could not figure her out until the very last page.

I highly recommend it for curious adults who enjoy suspense and a well-written mystery. TCPL also owns a copy of The Sinner in German. - Reviewed by Joyce

Victorian London Street Life in Historic Photographs by John Thomson

This book was originally published as Street Life in London in 1877. The photographs aren’t quaint or pretty, but document real people in real places. John Thomson, the photographer, and Adolphe Smith interviewed some of the people in the pictures and wrote sympathetic descriptions of their lives. As is noted in the preface, this is a new perspective on the poor.

The first photograph is titled “London Nomads” and it tells almost the whole story: the wooden caravan ‘home on wheels’ with a couple of kids peeking out the door, adults with worn clothes, tired faces and the bare earth beneath their feet. They wander about, making money when they can.

Perhaps saddest of all is the picture of one of the “Crawlers.” They are generally old women who have fallen into extreme poverty and live sometimes in the workhouse and sometimes in an available doorway. There are many more photographs that make Victorian London come alive for a moment. - Reviewed by Nancy

The Last Queen by C. W. Gortner

Juana of Castile, also known as “Juana, the Mad”, was the daughter of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain. She saw her parents drive the Moors from Granada and unify the kingdoms of Spain. In an effort to expand the Spanish rule, Juana was sent to Flanders to marry Philip the Fair when she was only sixteen. Her sister, Catherine of Aragon, was sent to England to marry Henry VIII for the same reason.

The author tells her story of romance and betrayal through Juana’s voice. In the beginning, her marriage to Philip was one of passion. As their family grew, so did their problems. By marrying Juana, Philip assumed that he would become the King of Spain. After Queen Isabella died, there were major confrontations as both her husband and father positioned themselves to rule Spain. Juana was imprisoned under the accusation that she was mad. As her relationship with both her father and husband began to deteriorate, she became the victim of their plots. Her estranged husband Philip, became ill and died before he could become the King of Spain. Although abused by him, Juana was deeply affected by his death. She traveled throughout Spain in an effort to assert her control and Philip, in his coffin, traveled with her. She was rumored to have had his coffin opened several times so she could see him again. For this and other peculiarities, she became known as “Juana La Loca.”

C. W. Gortner gives the reader new insight into the world of the Spanish royal family and humanizes the woman who was the last Queen from the royal lineage. - Reviewed by Deb

An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination: a Memoir by Elizabeth McCracken

McCracken writes in her memoir this simple sentence: “This is the happiest story in the world with the saddest ending.” She was a successful novelist and writing instructor in her 30’s when she met her husband and decided to start a family. Always resigned to be a spinster, McCracken was surprised when she quickly became pregnant and embraced her growing family. What happens next is the basis of this beautiful, poignant memoir. Days away from giving birth, she loses her baby and is forced to deliver her stillborn son in a hospital in France, where the new couple is living.

Powerful, bittersweet, but never self-pitying, McCracken explores what her life was like during that horrible time in France. The memoir is also humorous, uplifting, and happy in the end, when readers learn that McCracken is typing the manuscript with her new son (born a year after losing her first child) in her lap. One of the best examinations of grief, this memoir topped many “must read” lists in 2008, and would be perfect for those who loved The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. - Reviewed by Sarah