NaNoWriMo!

With the advent of eBooks, publishing books is easier than ever, but writing them is still hard! So check out the National Novel Writing Month (thus the NaNoWriMo...) website. There's all sorts of tools and help for aspiring writers!

From the Washington Post: "…Once you start reading 1Q84, you won't want to do much else until you've finished it. Murakami possesses many gifts, but chief among them is an almost preternatural gift for suspenseful storytelling…Despite its great length, Murakami's novel is tightly plotted, without fat, and he knows how to make dialogue, even philosophical dialogue, exciting…There's no question about the sheer enjoyability of this gigantic novel, both as an eerie thriller and as a moving love story…I read the book in three days and have been thinking about it ever since."

From Publishers Weekly: "This adrenaline shot of uncut geekdom, a quest through a virtual world, is loaded with enough 1980s nostalgia to please even the most devoted John Hughes fans. In a bleak but easily imagined 2044, Wade Watts, an impoverished high school student who calls a vertically stacked trailer park home, lives primarily online, alongside billions of others, via a massive online game, OASIS, where players race to unravel the puzzles OASIS creator James Halliday built into the game before his death, with the winner taking control of the virtual world's parent company, as well as staggering wealth. When Wade stumbles on a clue, he's plunged into high-stakes conflict with a corporation dedicated to unraveling Halliday's riddles, which draw from Dungeons and Dragons, old Atari video games, the cinematic computer hacker ode War Games, and that wellspring of geek humor, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (Of course.)... [S]weet, self-deprecating Wade, whose universe is an odd mix of the real past and the virtual present, is the perfect lovable/unlikely hero."

From Library Journal: "Anyone familiar with Ellis's work knows his fascination with Physeter macrocephalus, the sperm whale. In homage to Herman Melville, he and his masterpiece, Moby-Dick, are referenced throughout as Ellis approaches these cetaceans from a number of facets-their history (as well as we know it) and legend, biology, social lives, human interaction (they're friendly), adversarial relationship with and taste for squid (best chapter title: "I'll Have the Calamari"), the whaling industry, and efforts to protect them. Buttressing the text, which incorporates science lingo but is still accessible to lay readers, are 122 photos and illustrations, including many of Ellis's original artworks. At once a richly detailed, informative, scientific exploration as well as a love sonnet to the ocean's greatest leviathan, this will appeal to fans of nautical history, nature, Melville, and armchair cetologists. A superb addition to Ellis's canon."

From Publishers Weekly: "Phil Hunt leads a quiet life with his wife, Nora, raising horses near Auburn, Wash., except when he's helping make drug deliveries through the mountains to Canada. Twenty years earlier, Phil killed a man during a botched robbery, and though he did his time, he's still serving the emotional sentence. Living in nearby Silver Lake is deputy Bobby Drake, the son of a legendary lawman who got arrested smuggling drugs just like Phil. Disaster results after Bobby, who hasn't seen the elder Drake in 10 years, inadvertently stumbles on Phil and his new partner during the middle of a drug exchange. Soon, Phil is on the run not only from the law but also a ruthless assassin sent by the smugglers. Waite eloquently depicts men in turmoil for whom the choice isn't necessarily between right and wrong but where to draw the line."

From Publishers Weekly: "It's hardly surprising that Ebert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967, begins this candid examination of an extraordinary life with an allusion to Ingmar Bergman's Persona, about an actress who loses her voice in mid-performance. Though three thyroid cancer surgeries resulting in the removal of his lower jaw have left Ebert unable to speak, eat, or drink, these are not famous last words. Forgoing a traditional linear format, each chapter-particularly "My Old Man" and "Big John Wayne"-could function as a stand-alone essay. Born in Urbana, Ill., in 1942, Ebert spent a carefree childhood, often with his nose in a book. Drawn to newspapers beginning in high school, he became the sports reporter for his school paper before rising to the rank of co-editor. The position of film critic fell into his lap at the Sun-Times and Ebert hasn't looked back. And while films have governed his life for close to 50 years, he wisely doesn't choose the greatest hits version of his reviewing career, focusing instead on the life he's lived in between screenings: his battle with alcoholism; tight-knit friendships forged in the newsroom (and bar); and his marriage to Chaz, whom he calls "the great fact of my life." Hollywood gets its due, but it's an ensemble player, sharing the screen with reminiscences both witty and passionate from one of our most important cultural voices."

From Library Journal: "Following Love Walked In and Belong to Me, de los Santos's third novel embraces the draw of college friendships. Catalina, Will, and Pen meet on a drama-filled night their freshman year and from that moment are completely inseparable, a solid trio whose bonds seem unbreakable. But something serious does come between them, and after college the friends stop speaking to one another. Yet each one feels the others' absence deeply. Until one day when Pen and Will receive a curt email from Cat: "Please come to the ten-year reunion, I need you." It's a mystery that neither Pen nor Will can ignore. What they find at the reunion is unexpected. This novel is partly a deep look into a friendship and what strengthened it as well as what ruined it, and partly a mystery that sends Pen and Will halfway around the world to the Philippines. The story unfolds in pieces-why the friendships fell apart and what reunites the friends in ways they would not have thought possible are slowly unveiled."

Free eBook class for Kindle users!

Kindle compatibility with eBooks from the Red Wing Public Library is here and we have been fielding lots of questions! So many, in fact, that we are going to offer a free class on checking out books and downloading them to your Kindle or Kindle app. Our next class will be Thursday, October 27 from 5-6pm. Registration is required - space is limited. Please email rwpl@selco.info or call 385-3645 to register. If possible, please bring your Kindle. We are more than willing offer classes at other times if the one above doesn't work for you - so please call if you are interested!

One of National Public Radio's recurring features is "You Must Read This," which presents conversations with authors about the books they love to recommend. Well worth a look!

From Publishers Weekly: "Dispelling the idea that science is based on unchanging rules, Harvard physicist Randall offers an insider's view of modern physics, a vital, continually "evolving body of knowledge" in which previous ideas are always open to change-or even disposal, when researchers discover a theory which better fits observational evidence. While acknowledging art and religion as different ways to search for truth, Randall celebrates how science "seeks objective and verifiable truth" through careful observation and measurement. As our technology allows our view of the world to expand, the range of things we can observe also expands, from what we can see with our naked eye to the world of subatomic particles and forces studied by particle physicists. The Large Hadron Collider is the biggest, most complex tool yet built to parse this tiny world to answer some of physics' biggest questions: the source of mass and gravity, the secrets behind dark matter and dark energy, and the underlying structure of the universe. Randall's witty, accessible discussion reveals the effort and wonder at hand as scientists strive to learn who we are and where we came from."

From Library Journal: "When a family tragedy strikes in a Colorado mining town, young Jozef Vinich and his father return to pre-World War I Austria. Together they live in poverty, working as shepherds and hunting to support themselves. When Jozef's cousin Zlee joins them, a strong bond grows between the two young men. Despite the pastoral setting, Jozef grows increasingly discontent with his rural lifestyle. Eventually Jozef and Zlee join other Austrian men on the Italian front. They not only confront the horrors of combat but also contribute to those horrors through their skill as expert marksmen. This is Krivak's first novel; his earlier work, A Long Retreat: In Search of a Religious Life, is a memoir about his experience in a Jesuit formation program. An unsentimental yet elegant look at a character's coming-of-age as well as his survival of the Great War's brutality. With ease, it joins the ranks of other significant works of fiction portraying World War I-Erich Maria -Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front or Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms."

From Publishers Weekly: 'A new father, Hertsgaard was growing increasingly anxious and despondent about climate change and the world his child would inherit. His new book is his investigation into the techniques that could allow his daughter and her generation "to survive the challenges ahead." This readable, passionate book is surprisingly optimistic: Seattle, Chicago, and New York are making long-term, comprehensive plans for flooding and drought. Impoverished farmers in the already drought-stricken African Sahel have discovered how to substantially improve yields and decrease malnutrition by growing trees among their crops, and the technique has spread across the region; Bangladeshis, some of the poorest and most flood-vulnerable yet resilient people on earth, are developing imaginative innovations such as weaving floating gardens from water hyacinth that lift with rising water. Contrasting the Netherland's 200-year flood plans to the New Orleans Katrina disaster, Hertsgaard points out that social structures, even more than technology, will determine success, and persuasively argues that human survival depends on bottom-up, citizen-driven government action."

New Jack Reacher novel!

From Library Journal: "What turned career army cop Jack Reacher into the wandering and deadly version of a knight in rusted armor? In this 16th novel in the highly successful Reacher franchise, Child goes back to small-town Mississippi in 1997. Women have been murdered near a secret Ranger base. The Rangers are suspected, and the official investigation is a mess. Reacher is sent to town disguised as a bum to keep one eye on what might be a flawed army investigation, the other on a series of similar killings in the town, and if he had a third eye, he would use it to cover his back. Exciting and suspenseful, with deceit and cover-ups, violence, and sex, this is another great entry in Child's compelling series. Reacher's many fans can only hope there will be many more. Highly recommended for anyone who likes intelligent, well-written, tense thrillers."

From Library Journal: "The digital age took what was essentially an antiquarian hobby-the study and identification of typefaces and fonts-and turned it into a flourishing present-day avocation. What font do you select when typing at your keyboard? And which do you prefer for your e-reading? Baskerville? Verdana? How much do you know of the magical history behind your choices? Here is a wonderful update for those whose fondness for matters typographical predates the digital age, as well as those whose eyes need awakening to this particular enchantment. Garfield has a light touch and moves effortlessly among various aspects of typography past and present, not only from design perspectives but from accessible social, historical, and legal angles as well. There's a fascinating discussion of the ampersand, references to rock album covers with title fonts that stir the emotions, and a sobering clarification about copyright. Throughout, Garfield offers "fontbreaks" in which he focuses on the provenance of a particular typeface. An added pleasure: the book's own text switches fonts to briefly reflect the typeface under discussion. Highly recommended to all, whether or not you feel predisposed to like this kind of thing! Eye-opening and mind-expanding!"

From Kirkus Reviews: "While working in Milan in 1997, the author met his future wife Bruna. Although she was Brazilian, they decided to marry and make their home in the New Jersey beach community where he was raised. Sean was born in 2000. In 2004, Bruna and Sean traveled to Brazil to visit her parents. Goldman planned to join them in a week, but four days after her departure, she phoned to inform him that she was leaving him and demanded sole custody of their son. Seeking legal advice, he learned that this was not just a custody case. According to the Hague Convention, which had been ratified by both the United States and Brazilian, his wife had kidnapped their son. Despite the fact that U.S. courts ordered the immediate return of the Sean to the United States—where a custody hearing would be held in accordance with the Convention—Goldman was thwarted continually by the Brazilian judicial system. In 2008, having no other recourse, Goldman decided to seek publicity for his case. Featured on NBC, he attracted the attention of New Jersey Representative Chris Smith, who became a determined advocate on his behalf and enlisted support from fellow congressmen, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Obama. Sean became a poster child for thousands of other abducted children, and finally, in December 2009, he was released to the custody of his father. A riveting tale of an unusual abduction and a father's determination to regain rightful custody of his son."

From Library Journal; "At the start of this sweet romance, our well-read heroine, Laura Horsley, is quite distraught at the thought of her beloved Henry Barnsley Books closing its doors. Without any job prospects and leading a somewhat sheltered life, she is thankfully blessed with a knack for organizing fabulous bookshop events. At one such event, Laura is unexpectedly tapped by the notoriously demanding literary agent Eleanora Huckleby to plan a grand literary festival. Not only will Laura be setting up the festival, she is also charged with securing an appearance by the famous and reclusive Irish author Dermot Flynn. Having been a longtime fan and student of his work, she is not prepared for the complicated man she meets and his effect on her. In learning to challenge and trust herself, Laura takes some leaps of faith and learns a lot on the way. Fforde creates intelligent and humorous characters in Laura, Dermot, and, particularly, Eleanora. Readers can easily imagine how much fun it would be to be in Laura's shoes."

From the publisher: "An irresistible new collection from the New York Times bestselling author and [former] host of MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann. In his particular wit and style, Keith Olbermann skewers politicians, celebrities, and people behaving badly. This book starts right after President Obama's election and collects all of Olbermann's acclaimed "Special Comments," a few of his "Quick Comments," all but one of his feature "WTF," selections of "Bushed" and "Still Bushed," and, of course, a healthy dose of "The Worst Person in the World.""