1783 was not a good year for Captain Ross Poldark. A British army officer, he has just returned from their defeat in the American Revolutionary War. He comes home to find that his inheritance is in shambles, that his family thought he was dead, and that his beloved Elizabeth has married another. Well, specifically, she married his cousin Francis. As you can imagine, complications ensue. . . .
So . . . perhaps you read our Exploring the Fjord Side post and thought, “That Scandinavian crime fiction sure sounds bleak. I don’t know that I want to read something that snowy and brooding.”
In that particular case, perhaps Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s The Naturals, a gripping but decidedly less brooding (and non-snowy) YA mystery would be a little more to your liking.
Happy New Year and welcome to the first installment of our new monthly series, Oddly-Specific Genres!
Last year, we hosted the 2016 Library Challenge, which was pretty intense. This year, we decided to take a more relaxed approach and are instead inviting you to step into a new genre in 2017…or really 12 new genres, one per month. And we don’t want people to get bored so we’ve come up with sub-genres, or perhaps sub-sub-genres (what I have termed “oddly-specific genres”) to tempt you to take that plunge. The library will be displaying books in that month’s Oddly-Specific Genre each month, and I will be highlighting some here and on our Facebook page. Read along with us and let us know with your comments on the blog or on our Facebook page. Prizes will be in store for those in the Berryville area that conquer at least 10 of these this year!
As winter begins to take hold, there is no better way to start off than with an escape to the fjord side…yes, you guessed it, Scandinavian murder mysteries, aka Nordic Noir (which just happens to be one of my personal favorites.) I’ve talked about my love for Scandinavian fiction here before, but what I love about the books in this genre are their highly atmospheric settings and their psychological insight. Most of the authors I’ve read in this genre are skilled at combining police procedurals with suspense, and even though these books can be fast-paced, they also tend to be more character-driven than a lot of other mysteries.
With that being said, let the Scandinavian crime spree commence!
Continue reading “Oddly-Specific Genres: Exploring the Fjord Side”
What was your year in reading like?
I know a lot of my bookish friends tend to describe their year in reading by how many books they read — and I do that too — but that still doesn’t say much about your year in reading, like what you were actually reading in those 10, 25, 50, 75, 100, etc. books you read over the course of 2016.
And, so to that end, I thought I’d recap my year in reading –a lot of which did not end up on the blog — and you could share your year in reading in the comments.
Note: not all of the books I mention are available in the library, but we can certainly try to get them for you through ILL if you’re interested!
Call me what you will but I LOVE historical fiction. It’s one of my favorite genres.
However, I am one of the first to admit that a lot of historical fiction novelists are much better at writing either the historical aspect or the fictional aspect, but not both. So when I find a work that manages to integrate history and fiction seamlessly and handles both effectively, I consider it a gem. Michael Shaara’s classic The Killer Angels about the Battle of Gettysburg is just such a gem (and the winner of a Pulitzer Prize – maybe I should be a judge?)
A whole new year, a whole new blog? Not exactly but definitely time for a few tweaks.
This year, a lot of our blog posts have focused on our 2016 Library Challenge. But as the year is winding down and the challenge deadline is drawing near, I wanted to spend some time looking ahead to next year.
George Armstrong Custer is one of the most controversial figures in American history.
Don’t believe me?
Pick up any book about him or the American West or the American Civil War and see what the authors have to say about him. Some will praise him as a brave but misunderstood genius, some will denigrate him as an egotistical moron, and some will eulogize him as a tragic figure.
I’ve personally always found Custer a fascinating but relatively unsympathetic historical figure, but reading T.J. Stiles’s excellent, Pulitzer-Prize winning Custer’s Trials forced me to re-evaluate some of my assumptions about him.
Continue reading “T.J. Stiles’s Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America”
This is it. Believe it or not, you have made it to the last post of the 2016 Library Challenge.
If you’ve been participating in the challenge or following along with the blog, you know we have taken quite the journey this year, working our way through a range of interesting challenges, everything from romance to nonfiction to badly-reviewed books.
The only one left is a book published in the last year. So, without further ado, let’s take our last romp of the year with a round-up of some recent releases that have received positive reviews.
As always, if you’re interested, please visit our online library catalog for more information on any of the books.
Continue reading “2016 Library Challenge: A Book Published This Year”
In my life, some have accused me of being a grinch.
But I think that’s less a reflection of my own thoughts on the holidays and more a reflection of other people’s enthusiasm for them.
I can’t even think about the holidays until December rolls around, so anytime I see Christmas decorations and advertising or hear Christmas songs in October and November, I have to restrain myself from reacting with more than a grimace or an eyeroll.
Oh I suppose I should just be happy people are enjoying themselves, but I can’t help but think, “Wait your turn, Christmas! Let pumpkins and turkeys get some attention first!”
But since we’re into December now, I think it’s safe to venture into holiday reading territory now, and I thought it would be fun to share Christmas reading traditions.
Continue reading “2016 Library Challenge: A Book Set During Christmas”
One month to go!
As the year is winding down, this is just a friendly PSA that if you’ve been participating in our reading challenge this year and have or will have successfully completed 40 of the 48 challenges by the end of the year, you’ll need to present your scorecard in person at the Berryville Public Library by December 31st.
Here’s a link to a recap of the rules and a downloadable copy of the scorecard.
Personally, I still lack 4 categories. I have the books I need to read for them checked out. They stare at me reproachfully every night before I go to sleep, but I’ve managed to ignore them while I read other things. . . .
So, how’s your reading challenge coming along? If you’re not participating in the 2016 Library Challenge, how many books have you read this year? How many books are you planning on reading in December? Tell us in the comments!
Berryville Book Buzz 