Top Ten Reads
Here are the top ten books that Niagara-on-the-Lake Library members are reading. Request a book by clicking on the Login to My Account button in the top right-hand corner of the web page.
Fiction
The Appeal by John Grisham
"The Appeal is a powerful, timely, and shocking story of political and legal intrigue, a story that will leave readers unable to think about our electoral process or judicial system in quite the same way ever again."--BOOK JACKET.
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
An atmospheric, gritty, and compelling novel of star-crossed lovers, set in the circus world circa 1932, by the bestselling author of "Riding Lessons." "Gritty, sensual and charged with dark secrets involving love, murder and a majestic, mute heroine (Rosie the Elephant)."Q"Parade."
Duma Key by Stephen King
A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a "geographic cure," a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch." "Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth's past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating."--BOOK JACKET.
7th Heaven by James Patterson
At the start of the gripping seventh Women's Murder Club thriller from bestseller Patterson and Paetro (after 2007's The 6th Target), San Francisco is still haunted by the disappearance of Michael Campion, the much-adored teenage son of a former California governor, three months earlier. Following up on a tip that Michael was last seen entering a prostitute's house, homicide inspector Lindsay Boxer and her new partner, Rich Conklin, are shocked when the hooker immediately confesses that Michael, who had a heart defect, died during sex and she disposed of his body. Lindsay's ADA pal, Yuki Castellano, is sure she has a slam-dunk case, but the trial soon takes a bizarre turn. Lindsay and Rich also scramble to track down a serial arsonist responsible for murdering a string of wealthy couples. Lindsay races to put the pieces together before the fires hit too close to home. In true Patterson style, the reader is privy to Lindsay's thoughts as well as the killers', ratcheting up the suspense an extra notch. Fans won't be disappointed with the twist at the end that not even Lindsay sees coming. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Honor Thyself by Danielle Steele
Supreme spinner of romantic yarns, Steel (Amazing Grace, etc.), in her lamentable latest fable of female courage, fortune, fame and fashion, features Oscar-winning actress Carole Barber, who, at age 50 and trying to write a novel, travels to Paris, scene of a tragic love affair 15 years before. On her first night in the City of Light, she's badly injured during a terrorist attack, after which she is left with no memory and no choice but to rebuild her life with a new perspective on her career, family and personal relationships. Steel flirts with themes of motherhood, second chances and writing, never settling on any one for long as Carole discovers the importance of pursuing her own desires while being generous to others and of keeping the men she wants in her life close but not too close. The best part is Carole's rehabilitation; as she reacquaints herself with family and friends, Carole the patient shows the patience author Steel lacks to probe beneath the surface. Though the message is murky at best, Steel delivers a sympathetic heroine and a scene or two that makes the heartstrings quiver. (Feb.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Non-Fiction
The Film Club: A True Story of a Father and His Son by David Gilmour
From the 2005 winner of the Governor-General's Award for Fiction and the former national film critic for CBC television comes a delightful and absorbing book about the agonies and joys of home-schooling a beloved son. Written in the spare elegant style he is known for, "The Film Club" is the true story about David Gilmour's decision to let his 15-year-old son drop out of high school on the condition that the boy agrees to watch three films a week with him. The book examines how those pivotal years changed both their lives. From French New Wave, Kurosawa, and New German cinema, to De Palma, film noir, Cronenberg and Billy Wilder, among many others from world cinema, we read about key moments in each film, as the author teaches his son about life and the vagaries of growing up through the power of the movies. Replete with page-turning descriptions of scenes and actors and directors, the narrative is framed with the tender story of his son's first bittersweet first loves. This is a charming and poignant story about a very special time in a father and son's relationship.
The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters by Charlotte Mosley
"The great wits and beauties of their age, the Mitford sisters were immoderate in their passions for ideas and people, counting among their diverse friends Adolf Hitler and Queen Elizabeth II, Cecil Beaton and President Kennedy, Evelyn Waugh and Givenchy. As editor Charlotte Mosley notes, not since the Brontes have the members of a single family written so much about themselves, or have been so written about." "The Mitfords offers an unparalleled look at these privileged sisters: Nancy, the scalding wit who transformed her family life into bestselling novels; Pamela,who craved nothing more than a quiet country life; Diana, the fascist jailed with her husband, Oswald Mosley, during World War II; Unity, a suicide, torn by her worship of Hitler and her loyalty to home; Jessica, the runaway Communist and fighter for social change; and Deborah, the genial socialite who found herself Duchess of Devonshire." "Spanning the twentieth century, the vivid letters of the legendary Mitford sisters constitute not just a superb social and historical chronicle; they also provide an intimate portrait of the stormy but enduring relationships between six beautiful, gifted, and radically different women who wrote to one another to confide, commiserate, tease, rage, and gossip - and above all to amuse."--BOOK JACKET.
Bitter Chocolate: Investigating the Dark Side of the World's Most Seductive Sweet
by Carol Off
Bitter Chocolate is a social history, a passionate investigative account and an eye-opening exposé of the workings of a multi-billion dollar industry that has institutionalized misery as it served our pleasures.
A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas
When Abigail Thomas #38;#8217;s husband, Rich, was hit by a car, his brain shattered. Subject to rages, terrors, and hallucinations, he must live the rest of his life in an institution. He has no memory of what he did the hour, the day, the year before. This tragedy is the ground on which Abigail had to build a new life. How she built that life is a story of great courage and great change, of moving to a small country town, of a new family composed of three dogs, knitting, and friendship, of facing down guilt and discovering gratitude. It is also about her relationship with Rich, a man who lives in the eternal present, and the eerie poetry of his often uncanny perceptions. This wise, plainspoken, beautiful book enacts the truth Abigail discovered in the five years since the accident: You might not find meaning in disaster, but you might, with effort, make something useful of it.
Beijing Confidential: A Tale of Comrades Lost and Found by Jan Wong
