Fairy Tales for Adults

Who says fairy tales are just for kids? Try some of these fairy tales for adults:



Wicked, Son of a Witch, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire

Neverwhere, Stardust, Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman
The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

Dystopian Fiction

Dystopia: From Greek, “bad place.” This refers to a fictional land or society whose regimentation dehumanizes people for the sake of security and a small ruling elite. The plight of the characters in the drama or fiction taking place in a dystopia serves as a commentary on actual politics, cultural trends, and social mores. (From the Literary Reference Center database)

Try some of these classic and modern dystopian novels:

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Jennifer Government by Max Barry
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Children of Men by P.D. James
In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders

It's a Mystery @ Your Library

In case you haven't already heard, the Pasco County Library System just began it's first ever Adult Reading Program. The rules are simple: read books and get prizes! The theme is It's a Mystery @ Your Library, but you don't have to read only mysteries--any book (or audiobook) will do! To sign up click here. For more information about the program call 861-3040.

New York Times Notable Books

The New York Times has announced its list of Notable Books for 2007. The Pasco County Library System has the following titles from the list:

Fiction

The Abstinence Teacher (Tom Perrotta)
Bearing the Body (Ehud Havazelet)
Bridge of Sighs (Richard Russo)
Call Me By Your Name (Andre Aciman)
Exit Ghost (Philip Roth)
Falling Man (Don DeLillo)
A Free Life (Ha Jin)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J.K. Rowling)
House of Meetings (Martin Amis)
In the Country of Men (Hisham Matar)
Knots (Nuruddin Farah)
Later, At the Bar: A Novel in Stories (Rebecca Barry)
Let the Northern Lights Erase Your Name (Vendela Vida)
The Ministry of Special Cases (Nathan Englander)
Mothers and Sons: Stories (Colm Toibin)
On Chesil Beach (Ian McEwan)
The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid)
Remainder (Tom McCarthy)
The Septembers of Shiraz (Dalia Sofer)
Then We Came to the End (Joshua Ferris)
Tree of Smoke (Denis Johnson)
The View from Castle Rock (Alice Munro)
What is the What (Dave Eggers)
The Yiddish Policemen's Union (Michael Chabon)

Nonfiction

American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic (Joseph J. Ellis)
Brother, I'm Dying (Edwidge Danticat)
Circling My Mother (Mary Gordon)
The Diana Chronicles (Tina Brown)
Edith Wharton (Hermione Lee)
How Doctors Think (Jerome Groopman)
Imperial Life in the Emerald City: Inside Iraq's Green Zone (Rajiv Chandrasekaran)
Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (Tim Weiner)
Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (Ishmael Beah)
The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court (Jeffrey Toobin)
Ralph Ellison: A Biography (Arnold Rampersad)
Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography (David Michaelis)
Thomas Hardy (Claire Tomalin)
Too Close to the Sun: The Audacious Life and Times of Denys Finch Hatton (Sara Wheeler)

Christmas Stories

With Christmas just around the corner, here are a few titles to get you in the spirit:

Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews

The Christmas Train by David Baldacci

Highland Christmas by M. C. Beaton

The Christmas Box by Richard Paul Evans

Skipping Christmas by John Grisham

Christmas, Present by Jacquelyn Mitchard


For more titles, ask at your local branch library!

National Book Award Winners

The winners of the National Book Awards were announced on Wednesday. The Pasco County Library System has the winners in the Fiction and Nonfiction categories:

• Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
• Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA by
  Tim Weiner

To see a listing of all the National Book Award finalists and winners since the award's inception in 1950 click here.

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month--a time to raise awareness about the adoption of children from foster care. You can learn more about adoption by visiting your local Pasco County library. Here are just a few titles in our collection that deal with adoption:

Adoption Fiction:

• Digging to America by Anne Tyler
• Reunion by Karen Kingsbury
• China Run by David Ball
• Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born by Jamie Lee Curtis
• Over Land and Sea: A Story of International Adoption by Steven L. Layne

Adoption Nonfiction:

• Cross-Cultural Adoption: How to Answer Questions from Family, Friends, and Community by Amy Coughlin and Caryn Abramowitz
• The Complete Adoption Book: Everything You Need to Know to Adopt a Child by Laura Beauvais-Godwin and Raymond Godwin
• The Adoption Resource Book by Lois Gilman

For more information on adoption visit the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

In Honor of Veterans Day

Here are a few titles from the soldier's perspective:

World War II

• Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
• A Bridge Too Far by Cornelius Ryan

Korea

• The Coldest War by James Brady
• The Coldest Winter by David Halberstam

Vietnam

• Angels in Vietnam by Jan Hornung
• Born on the Fourth of July by Ron Kovic

Iraq

• House to House by David Bellavia
  
• One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick
  

For more information on Veterans Day, visit the Department of Veterans Affairs website and view the President's Proclamation on Veterans Day 2007.

Spotlight on Animal Stories

Enjoy these engaging and often amusing books about animals in our lives:

• Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte
• Fowl Weather by Bob Tarte
• Fifty Acres and a Poodle: A Story of Love, Livestock, and Finding Myself on a Farm by Jeanne Marie Laskas
• Marley & Me by John Grogan
• The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: A Love Story--With Wings by Mark Bittner
  

Good Reads

The Pasco County Library System now offers you Good Reads--a collection of e-newsletters highlighting titles in specific categories. Simply subscribe to the categories of interest and you will receive an email notification of new titles in those categories. In addition to the listing of titles, you'll be given a brief description of the book and a direct link from the e-newsletter to the library catalog to place a hold on items of interest.

Here's a sample of what is available from Good Reads:

• Meet the Author
• Audio Books
• Books on the Air
• Fiction Preview
• Non-Fiction Preview
• Romance
• Science Fiction & Fantasy
  

If you don't have an email account or aren't sure you want to sign up for the e-newsletters, you can preview the newsletters here.

And the Winner Is...

Anne Enright was awarded the Man Booker prize for her bleak family drama The Gathering. In addition to the monetary reward, Anne Enright is guaranteed a boost in sales and worldwide recognition.


If you're in the mood for lighter fare, try National Book Award Finalist Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End. From the book jacket:

"No one knows us quite the same way as the men and women who sit beside us in department meetings and crowd the office refrigerator with their labeled yogurts. Every office is a family of sorts, and the ad agency Joshua Ferris depicts in his debut novel is family at its strangest and best, coping with a business downturn in the time-honored way: through gossip, pranks, and increasingly frequent coffee breaks."

National Book Awards

The finalists for the 2007 National Book Awards have been announced.

"The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America."


An independent panel of five writers will select the winners in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature.

For more information on the awards and the National Book Foundation visit their website.

The winners will be announced November 14.

Baseball Fever

It's time for the playoffs! Check out the official site of Major League Baseball for team info and schedules and check out the library for great books on baseball.

Baseball Fiction:

• The Natural by Bernard Malamud

• Double Play by Robert B. Parker

• Hanging Curve by Troy Soos

• The Great American Novel by Philip Roth

Baseball Nonfiction:

• Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville

• Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners, Semi-Experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks by Zack Hample

• Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season by Jonathan Eig

• Wrigleyworld: A Season in Baseball's Best Neighborhood by Kevin Kaduk

Booker Prize Shortlist

The Booker Prize shortlist was announced on September 6. The six titles are:

Darkmans by Nicola Barker
The Gathering by Anne Enright
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones
On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
Animal's People by Indra Sinha

Here is the shorlist announcement, followed by a brief synopsis and author bio for each title.

The winner will be announced on October 16.

Quill Book Awards

The Quill Awards celebrate the best books of the year in 19 categories including: Debut Author of the Year, Romance, Religion/Spirituality, Sports, Cooking, Humor, General Fiction, and Biography/Memoir. The Quills Voting board, which is comprised of 6,000 booksellers and librarians, will select the best title in each category. Winners will be announced September 10.

Click here for a list of the nominees.

After the winners are announced, readers will have the chance to cast their vote for Book of the Year. Voting will be open from September 10 to October 10. To cast your vote, go to www.quillsvote.com

Booker Prize

The longlist for the Man Booker Prize, one of the most prestigious literary prizes, was announced August 7. The Booker Prize is awarded each year for the best original novel written by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations or the Republic of Ireland. The PCLS currently owns the Davies, Hamid, Jones, and McEwan titles.

The shortlist will be announced on September 6 and the Prize will be announced on October 16.