Loving this trilogy!!! The concluding volume, Hero of Ages is scheduled for publication this fall and I’m looking forward to reading it.
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The setting for this trilogy is a mist-haunted, ash-ridden, barren world. Like many fantasy novels, the society is feudal. For one thousand years, the Lord Ruler has led an oppressive empire in which he proclaims himself God, the families of those who originally supported his rise to power have inherited noble status—and the families of those who did not support him are kept in perpetual servitude.
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Mistborn gets the trilogy off to a strong start—in the author’s own words, we have a gang of gentleman thieves, each of whom has his own distinctive magical power. What brings them together? A daring plan to overthrow the Lord Ruler. The author has stated that he wanted to create a heist story along the lines of Sneakers or Ocean’s Eleven—and I personally think he was successful—however, Mistborn is more than a heist story in a fantasy setting—much more.
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The Well of Ascension keeps the momentum going. What’s going on with the mists? They seem to be lingering past sunrise—something no one remembers them doing before. They also appear to be killing people—but how? And the mist-figure that seems focused on Vin—what purpose does it have? Does a journal from the days before the Lord Ruler assumed control have the answers?
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This is a fast-paced, action-packed trilogy with clever twists. I did not see the ‘ending’ of The Well of Ascension coming at all—the clues were there but I did not recognize them until it all came together. Sanderson’s character development is top-notch—I particularly love the characters of Vin and Tensoon.
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I picked up this series because I wanted to check out the writing of the author who will be completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series. We’re in good hands!
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For more on Brandon Sanderson, please visit http://www.brandonsanderson.com/index.php
Becky, Interdepartmental Librarian
March 31, 2008
I enjoy food. I enjoy reading about it, cooking it, watching other people cook it, growing it, and, of course, eating it.
How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman is the cookbook that I turned to in order to learn the secrets of crème brulee. I recommend dropping five semi-sweet chocolate chips into the ramekin before you pour in the custard to bake. It makes for a nice chocolaty surprise on the bottom.
Last year I had the opportunity to hear Eric Schlosser, author of the inspiring Fast Food Nation, speak at IPFW as part of the Omnibus Lecture Series (these lectures are free!). He is an interesting speaker, and a wonderful writer.
For more about fast food, check out Super Size Me, the Academy Award nominated documentary by Morgan Spurlock. If you like it, check out Spurlock’s TV show 30 Days, available on DVD at ACPL. My favorite episode in Season One is “Off the Grid”. In this episode two Americans with enormous ecological footprints move to an eco-village for 30 days.
If you want to be inspired to start a garden, check out Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: a year of food life by Barbara Kingsolver. After reading this, I finally listened to my partner who had been trying for a long time to convince me to THINK a little more about our food supply.
Another fascinating food title is The Omnivore’s Dilemma: a natural history of four meals by Michael Pollan. I wouldn’t ever have imagined that a book about food would keep me up half of the night, but once I started reading about corn production, I had to finish the chapter. Everyone who lives here, where corn and soy are grown, should read this book. Pollan has a new book out, In Defense of Food: an eater’s manifesto, I haven’t read it yet, but I am on the holds list. I am also waiting for A Botany of Desire: a plant’s eye view of the world.
The Kingsolver and Pollan books can be heavy and frightening at times, but don’t let that stop you from reading them. They are filled with information that makes the Svalbard “Doomsday” Seed Vault in Norway sound like good, solid planning.
For lighter food reading, check out Under the Tuscan Sun: at home in Italy by Frances Mayes or A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. You can almost smell the food from the descriptions in these books. If you like to listen to your books, Simon Jones provides a wonderful reading of Mayle’s French Lessons: adventures with knife, fork and corkscrew.
Finally for dessert, check out a piece of fiction about food: Chocolat by Joanne Harris. This title will force you to visit DeBrand’s at least once before the last page.
An Omnivore Librarian
March 28, 2008
The Anasazi mysteries by Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear expertly weave together two suspenseful, haunting storylines: one from A.D. 1200 and one from present day. The Visitant is the first title in the series and it takes us to the desert of present-day New Mexico. Archaeologists excavating a Chaco Anasazi site uncover mass graves containing the bodies of young women, all with their skulls smashed. The story alternates between past and present with characters in each time period trying to solve the crime. If you enjoy historical mysteries with a touch of the mystical, you’ll want to give this series a try! (The Visitant, The Summoning God, Bonewalker) For more on the series, please visit http://www.gear-gear.com/
The Monkeewrench series by P.J. Tracy is an excellent choice if you like an unpredictable plot, quirky characters and snappy dialogue. Monkeewrench is a Minneapolis software company run by eclectic misfits. In the first title, Monkeewrench , the company has created a computer game where the killer is always caught and the good guys always win–but the game becomes a nightmare when someone begins copying the fictional murders in real life. Two police departments as well as the Monkeewrench team strive to piece the clues together and end the killing spree–and in the process, one of the detectives will discover that Monkeewrench itself has a mysterious past . . . . (Monkeewrench, Live Bait, Dead Run, Snow Blind) . For more information on the series, please visit http://www.pjtracy.net/books/monkeewrench.asp
The Amelia Peabody series by Elizabeth Peters is set in the late 1800s–the series features spunky heroines and employs a perfect combination of romance, archaeology and mystery. Crocodile on the Sandbank is the first title in the series; it introduces us to Amelia Peabody, a self-proclaimed spinster at age 32. She’s a strong-willed, no-nonsense woman–and she has an inheritance which enables her to pursue her passion of Egyptology. As she undertakes her first archaeological dig she is faced with a mysterious mummy–and a dashing, opinionated archaeologist named Radcliffe Emerson . . . . For a complete list of books in the series, please visit http://www.ameliapeabody.com/bookshelf.htm
The Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich is a fun mystery series that’s actually light on mystery–its hallmarks are quirky characters, snappy dialogue and lots of humor. For more about this series, please check out my post on Plum Lucky.
Finally I have to mention the Three Investigators series by Robert Arthur–I was hooked on this series when I was in elementary school and I still think they are fun reads. Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews are the investigators–in the original series they are probably in their early teens as none of them are old enough to drive. Their headquarters is a trailor cleverly hidden among the junk in the Jones Salvage Yard–they’ve created several secret entrances–the attention given to their headquarter’s secrecy is half of the fun! The first title in the series is the Secret of Terror Castle–in this book, the Three Investigators investigate a house rumored to be haunted. Wikipedia actually has a very good entry on this series http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Investigators .
And that concludes my list of my all-time favorite mystery series! If there’s a series you think should become part of my list, please share it–I’m always looking for a new series to try!
Becky, Interdepartmental Librarian
March 26, 2008
ACPL’s awesome Genealogy Department is launching a new Lecture series called Tree Talks. The first Tree Talk is scheduled for Saturday March 22nd at 10 am; the hour-long session will focus on using census records. For more information about this new series, please follow this link to the Genealogy Special Programs page–once there, click on the Tree Talks link. http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/genealogy/programs.html
Hope to see you there!
Becky, Interdepartmental Librarian
March 21, 2008
Allen County Public Library has a Chess Club. It meets every Saturday from 10 am to 12 noon in Young Adults’ Services on the second floor of the Main Library. All ages are welcome. We’ve started to get more people at meetings recently, and we want to keep it going. Whether you’re an advanced player or just starting out, we’ve got something for you!
If you want to keep closer tabs on the Chess Club, bookmark the chess blog: http://acplchess.wordpress.com/
Ian, Chess Club Facilitator
March 19, 2008
Irish lass Sinéad O’Connor released Sean-Nós Nua, an album of traditional Irish songs in 2002. Most are sung in English, with two songs in Irish.
My favorite song from the album is Molly Malone. My mom said that many people would sing it in the pubs in Ireland. I’d love to someday take a trip to the land of my ancestors.
~Sara
General Reference Librarian
March 17, 2008
Irish Travellers, Tinkers No More by Alen MacWeeney
I’ve really enjoyed this book. I love coffee table books, and I’m a fan of everything Irish like many people are anglophiles. I don’t know if I have Irish blood or not (though I know I’m very much French-Canadian) but I adore the food, the music, the geography, the language, everything.
Irish Travellers are like gypsies, in that they have no real settled homes. Although I’m not naive enough to think there’s something romantic about living in poverty, I still enjoyed the book. The black and white illustrations are fascinating to look at. The people in this book literally lived in dirt and mud! Even though they are covered with filth, they’re smiling. They know something we don’t. 
I’m not ready to give up my life to become an itinerant tinker, but I looked at these photographs and once again was thankful for the blessings I have.
There’s also a music CD with the book. This is folk music at its roots. One of the songs was really peculiar: unaccompanied singing of a verse alternates with choruses of really strange rap/scat/storytelling. The person’s voice was very scratchy and I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman. REALLY different and worth listening to!
I am now going to find a nice recipe for something Irish and delicious.
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Melissa, IT Librarian and Erinophile
March 17, 2008
Speaking of Steve Martin, his novella The Pleasure of My Company was sweet and quirky and hilarious. Daniel Pecan Cambridge, the main character, “suffer[s] from a mild mix of autism and obsessive-compulsive disorder.” It is an interesting look at the life of someone dealing with these illnesses. Granted, it is fiction.
Another book that deals with autism in a fictional, yet enlightening way is The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. I sympathized with Christopher and feel that he helped me gain more understanding of mental illness.
~Sara
March 12, 2008
Just finished Born Standing Up: A Comic’s Life, by Steve Martin. He traces the development of his comedy from his childhood through about 1981, when he quit doing stand-up comedy. As I was reading it, I appreciated the insight into his place in the history of comedy, but as I finished it, it suddenly struck me that Steve Martin had a pretty powerful influence on me. I guess it’s because he was becoming a superstar just as my adolescent brain was waking up. It’s odd that that influence has remained dormant and unnoticed for so many years … It’s probably because stand-up comedy is more ephemeral than, say, sketch comedy, so Monty Python and Saturday Night Live are influences that I’m more aware of.
Anyway, the book is a fun, quick read, and full of celebrity sightings (obviously, famous people know more famous people, but it’s still surprising in some ways) and keen observations on the nature of creativity, relationships, and life. And I’m guessing that if you were in your teens or 20s in the late 70s, you’ll really like it.
Ian, Young Adults’ Services Librarian (and Steve Martin fan)
March 12, 2008
Original poems related to the theme of “Change” are being accepted through March 29 at all ACPL locations. Allen County residents 18 and older are invited to submit up to 3 entries in our 3rd Annual Poetry Contest. Poems must be typed or word-processed to be considered and the poet’s contact information must be written on the back of each entry. Official rules are available at http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/ssh/rules.pdf . Prizes will be awarded.
Becky, Interdepartmental Librarian
March 11, 2008
