Page Turners

Here is a list of books that have been shared on KMA's Page Turners with the Shenandoah Public Library.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

CAPITAL CONSPIRACY—William Bernhardt—Newly appointed Senator Ben Kincaid, liberal from Oklahoma, finds himself the lead in supporting a Constitutional Amendment to set aside, under certain circumstances, eight articles of the Bill of Rights following an attack on the President in which the President's wife was killed. Ben's wife and Chief-of-Staff continues looking to find out who the real perpetrators of the murder was....terrorists from without our within. Scrapes with death and odd twists and turns makes for good fun escape reading.

THE BISHOP AT THE LAKE:A Blackie Ryan Novel—Andrew M. Greeley—Blackie Ryan is sent to the Lake to scope out the Nolan family...and one if it's members designs on following Sean Cronin as Cardinal in Chicago. The cleric is murdered in his room, a locked room, by a swarm of hornets leaving Blackie to unravel the mystery as well as understand other issues going on in the Nolan family..a job compounded by the growing love affair of a Nolan and a Ryan. Another fun Greeley read.

Tuesday, February 12, 2008

THE ZOOKEEPERS' WIFE: A War Story—Diane Ackerman—Magnificent true story, mixed with beautiful writing (sometimes distracting) tells of Anatonia Zabinski, wife of Zookeeper Jan Zabinski, and how the couple endured World War II in Poland. Together with their 5 or 6 year old son, they housed up to 300 Jews escaping the Nazis at the Zoo. Ackerman's command of the language paints beautiful word pictures of the Zoo prior to the war and the same command of the language, some of the horrors of the War for the Polish. Jan, a very active member of the Underground found ways to turn the Zoo, after it's destruction, into other uses (a series of garden plots, a fox farm, among other things) to cover the comings and goings of all sorts of strangers. Relying Anatonia's journals, there are wonderful stories of the many various animals living at the Zoo or in the house; at one point, hyena pups, hamsters, piglet, baby badger, arctic hare, muscrat, cockatoo, lynxes...all at once.
A wonderful book of personal sacrifice by a non-Jewish couple at a desperate time who “did what they had to do”.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

FALLEN FOUNDER—Nancy Isenberg—Ms. Isenberg concludes her biography of Aaron Burr by saying, “What separates history from myth is that history takes in the whole picture, whereas myth averts our eyes from the truth when it turns men into heroes and gods.” In presenting the life of Aaron Burr, (and in the process being called a “revisionist”) scholar Isenberg attempts to focus on many of the good qualities of Aaron Burr, his intellect, his power of communication, the facility of his mind and place those in the social, political, and economic times in which he lived; no better nor worse than others. In doing so she also writes of strengths and weaknesses--often focusing on the weaknesses of other more well known of the Founding Fathers. The style is of writing seems between scholarly and general reading with approximately 20% of the pages devoted to citations and notes. The power of scholarship well used to portray a time in U.S. History, open new doors of understanding and explanation. Excellent.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

SKIPPING CHRSITMAS—John Grisham—When Luther and Nora's daughter Beth leaves for a stint in the Peace Corps and won't be home for Christmas, Luther and his wife plan a cruise during the holiday. Luther's figured the cost of Christmas and even with the cruise, there would be savings. Their friends, co-workers, neighbors and others in their community take a dim view of their idea making life difficult in several ways. On Christmas Eve things happen which demonstrate the Christmas Spirit