Thursday, December 23, 2010

Halifax Public Libraries Staff Favourites - part two

Avid readers on staff at Halifax Public Libraries have been polled and here is the annual Staff Favourites list of 2010 for your enjoyment.
(btw, this is the second half of this list, click here to view the first half.)


The Infidels by Marcel Dzama

"A beautifully assembled survey of recent work from Winnipeg born artist Marcel Dzama. His work is a rich and strange melange of surrealism, outsider art and the popular culture of the past used to reference the present, executed beautifully in collage, dioramas and paintings with root beer based pigments."


Damaged by Pamela Callow

"I really enjoyed it, it is a local - set in Halifax - thriller. Well written, suspenseful and involved the subject of tissue donation and brokering which I knew nothing about. So, I learned something, too!"



Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

"This book makes you laugh out loud: it shows what our world would be like if Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were taken to ridiculous extremes - then it gives a touching portrayal of how this world could collapse."


The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

"Spanning 50 years and set in Rome, The Imperfectionists follows the lives of an assortment of characters who run an English language newspaper. A former newspaper editor and foreign correspondent himself, Rachman applies his knowledge skilfully in this witty debut novel."


This Body of Death: a novel by Elizabeth George

"A multilayered jigsaw puzzle of a story skillfully structured to keep readers guessing until the very end, This Body of Death is a magnificent achievement from a writer at the peak of her powers." - publisher


Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

"Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice. But now that she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. Who do they think should pay for the unrest? Katniss. And what's worse, President Snow has made it clear that no one else is safe either. Not Katniss's family, not her friends, not the people of District 12. Powerful and haunting, this thrilling final installment of Suzanne Collins's groundbreaking The Hunger Games trilogy promises to be one of the most talked about books of the year." publisher

The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

"Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. Born a poor black tobacco farmer, her cancer cells - taken without her knowledge - became a multimillion-dollar industry and one of the most important tools in medicine. Yet Henrietta's family did not learn of her 'immortality' until more than twenty years after her death, with devastating consequences ...Balancing the beauty and drama of scientific discovery with dark questions about who owns the stuff our bodies are made of, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" is an extraordinary journey in search of the soul and story of a real woman, whose cells live on today in all four corners of the world." - publisher


Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

"Set in Quebec's Eastern Townships, this is an excellent addition to the Inspector Gamache mystery series."


Blue Lightning by Ann Cleeves

"Inspector Jimmy Perez takes his fiancee home to Fair Isle, the tiny island he comes from, to meet his parents. The island is a magnet for bird watchers, who congregate at the local inn and lighthouse. When a local married celebrity, who had an eye for the lads, is murdered, Perez discovers that the suspects are very close to him indeed. With a sensational ending destined to create much buzz in the mystery world, Blue Lightning will thrill suspense fans everywhere." - publisher


The Janus Stone by Elly Griffiths

"The second Ruth Galloway mystery, sees Ruth literally up to her neck in trouble. She's standing in a trench cut into the ground floor of an old Victorian mansion in Norwich once run by the Catholic church as a home for children. Now it is being demolished to make way for a condo development, and because a medieval church was originally on the site, the town council has ordered an archaeological survey before the new buildings go up. And now they won't go up, not until Ruth has finished her investigation, because she's staring at the headless skeleton of a child buried under the imposing front door." - publisher

The Vinyl Cafe Notebooks by Stuart McLean

"I am a big fan of the Vinyl cafe stories. They are funny, wise, and Canadian."

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