M.C. Beaton’s Agatha Raisin and Hamish MacBeth series Readalikes.

a post by guest blogger Trish A. (NSCC Library Technician)

M.C. Beaton is actually a pseudonym for Marion Chesney. Under her M.C. Beaton pen name she writes two contemporary series falling under the “cozy mystery” genre. Her characters are very quirky and unusual. In her own words regarding Agatha Raisin’s personality “I chose to make Agatha into a public relations executive because I wanted to create someone the reader might not like but would want to win through to the end.”

Interesting to note: Abe books claim M.C. Beaton has actually outsold J.K. Rowling in their 2008 sales.

The Agatha Raisin series take place in the Cotswold’s of England. The setting is charming, relaxing and yet Agatha seems to be constantly causing friction by her antics and personality.

Some suggestions for readalikes for the Agatha Raisin Series are:

Lillian Jackson Braun- The Cat Who series takes place in fictional Moose County, United States “400 miles north of everywhere” and the main character Qwilleran is like-able from the moment you “meet” him. However, you will find this series to have the same mood of tranquility. The quirkiness in the series comes from Qwill’s cats KoKo and YumYum and his relationship with them while he solves crimes with their indirect help.

Ann Granger’s Markby and Mitchell’s series have a similar flavor since the mysteries also take place in the Cotswold’s of England. The 35 year old amateur sleuth named Meridith Mitchell is not teamed with Chief Inspector Alan Markby therefore causing the often humorous conflict between the two while they both solve the same crimes. They also happen to be oddly attracted to each other.

Finally one can not forget the classic mystery writer Agatha Christie with her enigmatic protagonist Miss Marple. Miss Marple, living in an English village has many quirks and appears to be somewhat dimwitted or “fluffy” however, she in fact possesses a sharp logical mind. Although Ms. Marple is not as verbally sharp (in the negative sense) than Agatha Raisin, the reader will enjoy the subtlety of her sense of humor.

The Hamish MacBeth series written by M.C. Beaton take place in the Scottish Highlands and features an under achiever/lazy Hamish who solves crimes because of his natural “Highland curiosity.” This series is so popular they have made it into a BBC television series.

Caroline Graham’s Chief Inspector Barnaby series is similar to Hamish since he appears to be slow moving and yet is extremely perceptive of the smallest of clues. The stories are usually set in the English villages that are under his county jurisdiction. These novels have also been made into a television series named “Midsomer Murders.”

Catherine Aird’s Inspector Sloan series is set against a British backdrop featuring Detective Chief Inspector Sloan and his slow-thinking helper Detective Constable Crosby. The humorous tension in these novels is found between Sloan’s cranky but driven superior, Superintendent Leeyes and himself. Sloan likes to tend to his roses, when he has time, to relieve his stress; reminding the reader of the under achieving Hamish Macbeth.

December Author Birthdays - part 1

I'm still working with library school student Lara on several projects around the library. She was kind enough to contribute another guest post...

It's time for December author birthdays! With any luck we all have a bit of holiday time approaching that will allow for some extra reading time, so why not consider something by one of the following authors?

Ann Patchett, born on December 2, won the PEN/Faulkner Award as well as the Orange Prize in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Her most recent novel, Run (2007), is a story about family, the class divide, and ambition. A Publisher's Weekly review noted that Patchett's tightly-constructed, fast-paced story reads like popular dramatic TV shows The Sopranos and Six Feet Under.

December 4 is the birthday of one of my favorite poets, Rainier Maria Rilke. I credit the German poet's short work, "The Panther" with opening my eyes to the depths of emotion that can be conveyed in just a few lines.

Joan Didion published her highly acclaimed memoir of grief, The Year of Magical Thinking, in 2005. Her birthday falls on December 5, and the event that later prompted the writing of her memoir also occurred in December: the sudden, unexpected death of her husband, author John Gregory Dunne, on the 30th. The Year of Magical Thinking won the US National Book Award for Nonfiction, a gut wrenching journey into the grief and frustration with time that Didion experienced after Dunne's passing.

On an escapist note, if the gray skies and chilly temps of December in Atlantic Canada are getting you down, consider some humorous travel writing by Bill Bryson, born December 8. Author of In a Sunburned Country (2000), Bill Bryson's African Diary (2002), and Notes from a Small Island (1995), Bryson writes hilarious descriptions of his experiences traveling the world. More recently, Bryson has turned to larger nonfiction subjects like Shakespeare: The World as Stage (2007), and in A Short History of Nearly Everything (2003) he tackles, well, practically everything. With every topic Bryson turns his attention to, he makes keen observations about details both mundane and fascinating, and draws out the common humanity of people and places most of us will never meet or see.

The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy Continues

The sixth volume in the Hicthhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series has been published, even though original author Douglas Adams passed away in 2001.

Douglas Adams' widow approached Eion Colfer, best known as the author of the Artimis Fowl series, to resurrect the famous trilogy.

The result is And Another Thing... :Douglas Adams' hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy, part six of three.

The resulting novel has been very well received.

"The reviews have been mostly positive. The Guardian's Mark Lawson, for example, admitted that the book has completely eliminated his initial skepticism about the venture. "Colfer has achieved the best post-mortem impersonation I have ever read," Lawson wrote in his column. "If Adams's family had chosen to tout this manuscript as an original novel discovered in a cupboard, their subterfuge would have been hard to rumble."

Flattering words - and yet Colfer says an impersonation was the last thing he intended: "Inevitably, there's a touch of Douglas about the book," he says, "but I'm not him. He developed a whole new way of writing - satirical, long-winded, with these labyrinthine sentences - and it's usually a dismal failure if you try to imitate this. So yes, I put a bit of Doug's voice in there to show that I was fond of him, but really just did my own thing.

Vanessa Farquharson, National Post

"With the franchise rebooted, I’m looking forward to a sequel. To sum it up in one word: froody."

Curtis Silver, Wired.com

Muscular Fiction

An acquaintance (who shall remain nameless to protect the weak) sustained a bicep injury reading Under the Dome by Stephen King. In one hand he held his mug of coffee (his beverage of choice while reading) and with the other arm he reached for and attempted to pick up this 1074 page tome. Coffee drinkers beware: This book is a two-hander.

The book's flyleaves are blank. There is no explanation about the book or ringing endorsements on the dust jacket. You have to admire the confidence. It's Stephen King, just read it. The 1000+ pages cover one week in the life of Chester Mills, Maine. An invisible force field has surrounded the town entirely isolating its inhabitants leaving them to the mercy of a tyrannical politician.

Sometimes I look at these huge books, which require not only a big brain but also well developed muscles, and think that life is just too short. However, in the case of Under the Dome, Publishers' Weekly describes it as a "nonstop thrill ride". I can attest that my acquaintance is sailing on through the book, presently at about page 450.

Another brawny read that made waves in recent years is Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace. Library Journal says this book is "not for the faint-hearted or the weak-wristed". (See, they understand!) Destined for a cult following, Infinite Jest is a witty social commentary that covers most aspects of American culture. For the truly dedicated you can find a website with instructions about how to read the book and another with page by page annotations.

Receiving mostly negative reviews when first published the weighty Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand is making a resurgence. Heavy both literally and figuratively at over 1100, Rand explores a dsytopian United States in which its creative and productive citizens disappear. See this page from the Ayn Rand Institute for an explanation, in her own words, of her philosophy of objectivism.

If your attention span is up to the test, how about a classic? Clarissa; Or the History of a Young Lady by Samuel Richardson is over 1500 pages (Penguin edition). It' s considered to be one of the greatest novels of the 18th century. Clarissa is a tragic heroine who, against her will, is to be married off to a rather unsavory character. She is tricked by the rake Lovelace, who she sees as her protector, and so her downfall begins.

If you enjoy lists (and who amongst us does not!), try LibraryThing's Really Long Books : 1001 Books to Read Before You Die.

2009 Writer's Trust Awards

The 2009 Writer's Trust Awards have been announced:

Annabel Lyon is the winner of the 2009 Roger's Writer's Trust Fiction award.

"Annabel Lyon's Aristotle is the most fully-realized historical character in contemporary fiction. The Golden Mean engenders in the reader the same helpless sensitivity to the ferocious beauty of the world that is Aristotle’s disease. In this alarmingly confident and transporting debut novel, Lyon offers us that rarest of treats: a book about philosophy, about the power of ideas, that chortles and sings like an earthy romance."

-2009 Jury (Marina Endicott, Miriam Toews and R.M. Vaughan)

The Writer's Trust Non-Fiction prize was awarded to Brian Brett for Trauma Farm: a rebel history of rural life

“a lively, well-researched blend of memoir and socio-political commentary; a rare celebration of youth, age, and the tumultuous, surprising journey between them.”

- 2009 Jury (Tim Bowling, Anne Hart and Bruce Meyer)

Also announced:

The Writer's Trust Notable Author Award to David Bergen

"David Bergen is a writer trying to work things out that interest him. When you read what his characters are doing and thinking, you realize the core of a story is never what the story is about. A man and a woman may be trying to sleep with each other in rural Canada but one of them is thinking of a mare being inseminated then whipped with horseshoes in southern Egypt. This image and its residual feeling suggests the larger world within the intimate one David Bergen’s characters are living in as they learn to love and hate and love each other again.

Bergen’s material is both mundane and wild, tactile and complex, and he combines techniques of craft using flat surfaces with complex patterns of the psyche to create the world as he sees it, which happens to be a way none of us have ever thought of seeing it before. How does Bergen do it? How does he apply his interests and subject matter, so varied and widespread, so fantastic in ways, erotic and psychological, and make them our concerns? This mystery is at the heart of a very well crafted realism, and

David Bergen is, simply put, one of our best modern writers"

-2009 Writers’ Trust Notable Author Award Jury (Diane Schoemperlen, Rudy Wiebe and Michael Winter)

Marthe Jocelyn won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature.

"In her more than twenty books for preschoolers, elementary school children and young adults, Jocelyn demonstrates a rich versatility with genre, medium and style. She has published compelling narratives in a wide range of genres, including young adult realism, historical fiction, biography/memoir, fantasy and picture books. The emotional range of tone in her work is as broad and deep as her exploration of genre: she writes with equal conviction in the voice of satire, comedy and tragedy. Inventiveness, humour, and a sharp understanding of human nature underlie her work for all ages.

She is a visual artist as well as a verbal one, as her numerous picture books show. Her collage art glories in the beauty and grace of the child’s domain, rich in artefacts, objects of play and contemplation. Her subtle use of endpapers and framing, textured materials, fabrics and found objects — her use of real “kid things” — creates a visual world of identity, interest and choice, showing the creative possibilities and thoughtfulness in the child’s world."

- 2009 Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature Jury (Deirdre Baker, Julie Johnston and Judith Saltman)

Staff Picks - Short Stories in Coming Attractions 08

Coming Attractions 08 is an annual collection of short stories published by Oberon Press. A well constructed short story can be as satisfying a read as any full length novel. The author can relate and reflect on a single incident which could be a pivotal moment in a person's life or the catalyst for sudden and intense clarity. The narrative tends to be crisp with each word carefully chosen.

Rebecca Rosenblum's characters are young urban

types who have not quite found their place in the world. They are independent of, or estranged from their families and rely on their circle of friends and co-workers for their communities. In The House on Elsbeth, a young woman is assaulted by her stepfather and sets up an almost random community with fellow students from an anthropology class. They are seemingly fused, physically and emotionally, by Toronto's heat. Their lethargy is contrasted by the violence of couple next door. (photo Jane High)

Of Daniel Griffin's three stories, The Promise, has stayed with me the longest. Two brothers, different in temperament, maintain a relationship due to their connection with their mother. Both have failed marriages. One has moved on in a comparatively mature way and the other is causing concern all around. The Promise ends with an intense jolt that, for me, is the hallmark of a great short story.

The final three stories are by Alice Peterson. In Among the Trees and After Summer there is a sense of relationships ending and families disintegrating. Two boys are raised by their widowed father. One brother did not seem to sense the lack of cohesiveness in his family until he had reached adulthood. The other brother broke ties and established his own life. The younger brother is left with an uncertain sense of the future.

Coming Attractions (1980-2009) has been a forum for Canada's best new young fiction writers. Past editions have been peopled by no less than: Rohinton Mistry, Frances Itani, Peter Behrens, Lisa Moore, Dennis Bock, Neil Smith, Diane Schoemperlen, Timothy Taylor, Bonnie Burnard, Sharon Butala, Steven Heighton, Mary Swan, Caroline Adderson, and Gayla Reid.

Taking a look at Celebrity Authors

I haven't had a chance to blog recently, but I have been working on a series of reading lists that deal with celebrity authors. I think that, with our preconceived notion of celebrities, it's easy to judge what they write before we actually read their work.

For me, it was eye-opening to see that these celebrities can write more than just a memoir on their life, but have the ability to touch on the same concerns, topics or area of interest that we also have. Many of their works reinforce that celebrities are, in fact, just people who go through the same trials and have the same concerns as the rest of us.

In dealing with these reading lists, which will soon be appearing in our main catalogue as well as our kids' catalogue, Cheryl Stone, a colleague here at Halifax Public Libraries, has been incredibly helpful. Here's what she has to say on celebrity authors and their books:

"Occasionally I come across a familiar name while working with books. They aren't famous authors, award winners, or people I personally know, they are famous people turned author. I am surprised to find actors, singers, comedians, sports celebrities, and more, in the role of author. I suppose I shouldn't be as it's all under the category of creative people.

As I work with children, and have two of my own, I have read far more children's books than adult books. Some of my favorite celebrity authors have included Madonna, Billy Crystal, Julie Andrews, and Will Smith.

Madonna's Mr. Peabody's Apples is about a town and one particular young boy learning a valuable lesson about rumors in a surprisingly metaphoric way.

Billy Crystal's sentimental I Already Know I Love You touches the hearts of every parent more than the children and has wonderful, soft-toned pictures.

Julie Andrews has children's storybooks such as the Dumpy series as well as the touching tale Thanks to You about lessons learned as a mother and is accompanied by beautiful photographs.

The comedic and dramatic actor, Will Smith, surprises me with his sentimental book Just the Two of Us. In his book he reveals how a father's love for his son motivates him to be the best dad ever, to protect him, to teach him powerful life lessons, and to have fun.

These gem stories, speak to me more than books by other authors because of my media-promoted, pre-conceived understanding of these people, these entertainers. I have learned and continue to learn that we all have something in common no matter how famous or unfamous we are. We all love our children and want to do what's best for them including teaching them life lessons and keeping them safe from harm."

The Young Adult Label

I recently read a very interesting opinion piece in the Globe and Mail, The Curious Incident of the Y/A label, by author Joan Clark.

This article discusses North American bookstore's and publisher's use of the Young Adult (YA) fiction label, which we use at the public library as well.

Ms. Clark feels that the use of the label greatly restricts a book from finding it's full audience. That there lies great crossover potential for many young adult and adult fiction titles that is discouraged by separating and/or labeling the collections.

Apparently the YA label is not used in the UK, where fiction is classified as "for 12 years old and under" and "over 12 years old".

I think I might agree with Joan?

Some of my most satisfying reads as an adult over the years have been classified as YA.

For example:

Chanda's Secrets, by Alan Stratton. This story deeply affected me and is still inspiring/haunting me two years after reading it.

Honour the Sun and Silent Words. These two YA novels by Ruby Slipperjack have also left a lasting impression on me, despite reading them as an adult more than 15 years ago.

I have also offered up these titles as reading suggestions to other adults.

As well, I recall reading Joseph Heller's Catch 22 as a teen, having picked up my mother's copy. I really enjoyed it, so much that I have re-read it several times. This title would not have been on the reading radar of many teens of the time.

Joan's arguments might also be used for making a case against using any genre stickers. I bet a lot of readers would enjoy Robert J. Sawyer (Science fiction) or Peter Robinson (Mystery) if they ignored the stereotypes associated with genre stickers.

Having said all that, I do understand the value of making it easier for readers to broadly identify the parts of our collection that are most appealing to them. Genre stickers are very helpful in that regard, as are genre separations.

Perhaps the only truly effective solution is the case of Harry Potter: create separate adult and youth versions and shelf them in all parts of the collection.

What do you think?

Read Your Lunch - Holiday Special

If you're planning on including books in your holiday gift giving this year and you need a bit of inspiration, stop by the Spring Garden Road Library on Tuesday November 24th for Read Your Lunch. Librarian Kristina Parlee will have suggestions of great books from the last year and more that will make great holiday gifts (or reading anytime).

The focus will be on books for adults, fiction and nonfiction and include award winners, genre favourites, nonfiction suggestions and much more. Bring your questions, your suggestions and your appetite for reading!

Our Read Your Lunch holiday special has become an annual event, here are just a few of the books we've suggested over the years. We'll have lots more great suggestions this year!

For the Can Lit devotee ... The Flying Troutmans by Miriam Toews. A quirky tale of a family road trip across America from the GG winning author of A Complicated Kindness. Toews' endearing and well drawn characters will leave you wanting more.

For the conscientious eater... In Defense of Food: an eater's manifesto, by Michael Pollan. Follow up to his widely acclaimed The Omnivore's Dilemma, journalist Pollan looks at what's wrong with our modern food system and offers advice on how to make it right.

For the serious history buff ... Old World New World: Great Britain and America from the beginning by Kathleen Burk. Hefty, detailed, yet readable tome examining the relationship between two great nations over 400 years.

For a history buff with nerdy tendencies ... The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell. Author and NPR personality Vowell turns her wit and wisdom to New England Puritans. Her past inevitably comments on our present, and her amusing personal stories round out the lesson.

For the mystery lover ... The Art Thief by Noah Charney. A novel of theft in the art world, that provides thrills and intrigue alongside well crafted insight into the dark side of art collection.

Staff Picks - Woman's World by Graham Rawle

I'm not normally impressed by celebrity or author endorsements of books, but when it's Joanna Lumley and she says "As mad and believable as a dream. Dreadfully funny and oddly unsettling. I think Graham Rawle may be a genius." I will listen. Patsy cannot be wrong.

Woman's World by Graham Rawle is one of the more original books, both in story and visually, that I have read in a long time. Rawle created the book out of 40,000 text fragments cut from 1960s women's magazines. Painstakingly, over five years, he wrote the rough draft and then arranged the text fragments to tell the story. It is an amazing work of collage art.

I won't say much about the plot, because there is a puzzle to work out and some uncertainty over what is real and unreal. On the face of things, Norma Fontaine is a twenty-something British woman in the 1960's living with her brother and housekeeper. She is obsessed with her own good looks, and style. She feels that she is the embodiment of feminine grace. Others can be put off by her, but no matter, they are only jealous. Her brother Roy takes a new job and meets a lovely young woman, but Norma is a strain on the relationship

One reviewer complained that Rawle's collage technique was tiresome after a few pages. I have to totally disagree. I read this 400+ page book in the better part of a morning. Not only did the story keep me turning pages, but my eyes were continuously engaged on the page. Each page offers something new to look at. The text fragments gave the story a sometimes odd flavour, for example, "Red rage rose within me like mercury in a toffee thermometer and I know I had to leave before I reached the boiling point for fudge."

I wouldn't want to subsist on a diet of books like this one, but it certainly was a welcome treat. It brought to mind Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence by Nick Bantock. Each page is beautifully illustrated and contains an envelope with a letter from the lovers. It has a unique visual appeal and gives the reader a strange sense of intruding on a private romance.

While in a different category visually, I was also reminded of Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn. The island of Nollop (named after the person who penned - The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog) is a totalitarian regime. As the letters from Nollop's statue drop off, they are banned from use on the island. The novel is a series of letters written with progressively fewer choices in letters of the alphabet. Although this books was straightforward typeface, I found it to be a more difficult read than Woman's World.

Twins and Triplets - novels about special siblings

This post has been written by our newest staff blogger, Rosemary.

While reading the The Time Travelers’s Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger, I was struck by the mysteries and magic relationship that twins or multiples seem to have. There is always the struggle of trying to be an individual when society, and even sometimes family, have difficulty in keeping identities separated. The following novels provide a little insight to the outsider looking in on this interesting family dynamic.

Her Fearful Symmetry, by Audrey Niffenegger. The story of identical American twins. Valentina and Julia inherit the London house from their mysterious aunt, estranged twin sister of their mother. Slowly they discover old family secrets that caused this separation while trying to resolve their own struggle for independence.

The Girls - Lori Lansens. In this wonderful novel is a very unique story of 29 year old conjoined twins. Rose beginning writing their biography with Ruby writing the occasional chapter. Lansens creates a distinctive “voice” for each twin. Even though the girls are conjoined, therefore together 24/7, it is amazing that they don’t know each other as well as they think they do.

Quintet by Douglas Arthur Brown. This story set in Cape Breton tells the story of identical triplets. Adrian, Rory and Cameron come back to Cape Breton after the unexpected and tragic death of their parents. While they are home they realize that they are virtually strangers to each other. To overcome this they create and write in a journal to solve the mystery of their family history.

National Book Awards

The winners of the National Book Awards have been announced:

Colum McCann has been award the fiction prize for

Let the Great World Spin: a novel.

"In the dawning light of a late-summer morning, the people of lower Manhattan stand hushed, staring up in disbelief at the Twin Towers. It is August 1974, and a mysterious tightrope walker is running, dancing, leaping between the towers, suspended a quarter mile above the ground. In the streets below, a slew of ordinary lives become extraordinary in Colum McCann’s intricate portrait of a city and its people. Let the Great World Spin is the author’s most ambitious novel yet: a dazzlingly rich vision of the pain, loveliness, mystery, and promise of New York City in the 1970s". - publisher's description

T. J. Stiles has won the non-fiction prize for

The First Tycoon: the epic life of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

"Founder of a dynasty, builder of the original Grand Central, creator of an impossibly vast fortune, Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt is an American icon. Humbly born on Staten Island during George Washington’s presidency, he rose from boatman to builder of the nation’s largest fleet of steamships to lord of a railroad empire. In The First Tycoon, T.J. Stiles offers the first complete, authoritative biography of this titan, and the first comprehensive account of the Commodore’s personal life." - publisher's description.

The poetry prize was given to Keith Waldrop for his work, Transcendental Studies: a trilogy

"This compelling selection of recent work by poet Keith Waldrop presents three related poem sequences—“Shipwreck in Haven,” “Falling in Love through a Description,” and “The Plummet of Vitruvius”—in a virtuosic poetic triptych. In these quasi-abstract, experimental lines, collaged words torn from their contexts take on new meanings. Waldrop, a longtime admirer of such artists as the French poet Raymond Queneau and the American painter Robert Motherwell, imposes a tonal override on purloined materials, yet the originals continue to show through. These powerful poems, at once metaphysical and personal, reconcile Waldrop's romantic

tendencies with formal experimentation, uniting poetry and philosophy and revealing him as a transcendentalist for the new millennium." - publisher's descripton.

The award for Young People's Literature goes to Phillip Hoose for Claudette Colvin: twice toward justice.

"On March 2, 1955, a slim, bespectacled teenager refused to give up her seat to a white woman on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Shouting “It’s my constitutional right!” as police dragged her off to jail, Claudette Colvin decided she’d had enough of the Jim Crow segregation laws that had angered and puzzled her since she was a child. But instead of being celebrated, as Rosa Parks would be when she took the same stand nine months later, Claudette found herself shunned by many of her classmates and dismissed as an unfit role model by the black leaders of Montgomery. Undaunted, she dared to challenge segregation again a year later—as one of the four plaintiffs in the landmark busing case, Browder v. Gayle." - publisher's description.