The Glass Castle, By Jeanette Walls

In November I went to BookMarks and Sonia Coffin who is a retired librarian from CPCC brought a lady named Kirsten Sikkelee with her. Kirsten works over at the YWCA. The YWCA has a program called Women in Transition. Among the many programs offered for these ladies they started a book club about two years ago. For the past 3 months they have been meeting at Park Road Books in Park Road Shopping Center. I have always been a bit wary of book clubs, but Sonia said “I felt like I was home”. I trust Sonia’s opinion and I was intrigued by their book selection, so decided to go. We met last night at Park Road Books we sat in the Children’s section from 6:30pm to 7:30pm.

 

I loved the book. Jeanette Walls grew up in a family of six with an adventurous lifestyle including an alcoholic father and a mother who clearly had her own issues. The opening sentence was “I was on fire.” I loved Jeanette’s honesty. I loved her lack of judgment for her parents. I am amazed how well she turned out. I love this book club. Ladies of diverse backgrounds getting together and discussing a good book, it just doesn’t get any better than that. The ladies will meet again in January they haven’t yet decided on a book, but all the choices are good. I will definitely be back.

3 Out of 4 Stars

Reviewed By: Anne Egger, Library Services

The Future of the Past, By Alexander Stille

The Future of the Past, by Alexander Stille, is a very readable book about how man’s best efforts to preserve the past are failing, and in some instances, causing the opposite effect. It is not a step-by-step manual about how to preserve the past, but rather a warning that, once again, man is a destroyer. Whether through the work on the crumbling Sphinx in Egypt, the loss of the Latin language through onerous lessons, the literal looting of crypts, or destruction of monuments and cities, we are losing the artifacts of the past. Are the computer and the internet the savior of the past? Does having a facsimile of an object retain its intrinsic importance in history enough? Perhaps, but so far, man has yet to create a device or method that stops the destruction. Despite the doom and gloom of the subject, the book is a fascinating read and travels the world for examples for each chapter.

4 Out of 4 Stars

Reviewed By: Abby Rovner, Library Services

How to Avoid Marrying a Jerk, By John Van Epp

A terrific book for dating singles–I learned a lot! Basically all the bad relationships a person has have one thing in common–that person. Dr. Van Epp’s book has a terrific scale that determines how to find a good partner, how to break bad habits of past relationships, and how to really see a bad partner for who they are, and not who you want them to be. The book gives you the tools you need to judge your partner’s character based on compatibility, relationship skills, friends, and patterns from family and previous relationships. I wish I’d read it ten years ago!

4 Out of 4 Stars

Reviewed By: Erin Payton, Library Services

The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, By Douglas Brinkley

Douglas Brinkley, a professor of History at Tulane University, chronicles the Katrina disaster with the insight of his first-hand experience of the hurricane and his historian’s eye for detail. The book covers the period of Aug. 27 through Sept. 3, 2005, and weaves together many different narratives of survivors and responders from New Orleans and throughout the Gulf Coast. The tales of survival are nothing short of harrowing, while the actions of survivors and responders in the storm’s aftermath with alternatelty amaze and enrage you. Brinkley has put together a remarkable piece of Katrina scholarship, both educational and gripping.

4 Out of 4 Stars

Reviewed By: Jennifer Arnold, Library Services