Life of Pi

by Rebekah Layton | Dec 1, 2015 | 0 comments

Life of Pi

by Yann Martel

After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, one solitary lifeboat remains bobbling on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen-year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orangutan…and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger.

The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary works of fiction in recent years.

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Bekka rated it ★★★★★ and said, “Wow—this is one fantastic book! Incredible story, but so infused with depth and nuance that it takes on a life of its own. It’s definitely one that will hold up to repeated readings, with new things being discovered with each reading. The ending is completely satisfying! I have no idea how they can possibly put this into a film, but I’m really curious to see now! At any rate, I can’t recommend the book highly enough. This is a fantastic read, and will leave you with much to think about.”

Lorna rated it ★★★★★ and said, “At times it seemed bogged down somewhat with details, but overall I have to give this book 5 stars for character development, theme, language usage and the story. Amazing!”

Cathy rated it ★★★★★.

Timely Topic: Tired of Trilogies?

book-to-screen fantasyfiction

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

by Rebekah Layton | Dec 1, 2015 | 0 comments

The Time Traveler's Wife

by Audrey Niffenegger

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Audrey Niffenegger’s dazzling debut is the story of Clare, a beautiful, strong-minded art student, and Henry, an adventuresome librarian, who have known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, and were married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry thirty-one. Impossible but true, because Henry is one of the first people diagnosed with Chrono-Displacement Disorder: his genetic clock randomly resets and he finds himself misplaced in time, pulled to moments of emotional gravity from his life, past and future. His disappearances are spontaneous and unpredictable, and lend a spectacular urgency to Clare and Henry’s unconventional love story. That their attempt to live normal lives together is threatened by something they can neither prevent nor control makes their story intensely moving and entirely unforgettable.

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Bekka rated it ★★★★ and said, “A nice grown-up book.”

Miranda rated it ★★★★★.

Timely Topic: Tired of Trilogies?

book-to-screenromance time travelscience fictionfiction

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

by Rebekah Layton | Dec 1, 2015 | 0 comments

The Help

by Kathryn Stockett

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Three ordinary women are about to take one extraordinary step…

Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.

Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.

Minny, Aibileen’s best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody’s business, but she can’t mind her tongue, so she’s lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.

Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.

In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women–mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends–view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don’t.

Ratings and Reviews from the Librarians

Bekka rated it ★★★★ and said, “A little slow to start—the dialect threw me off a bit—but very good once you get into it. Quite an inspiring story.”

Rachel rated it ★★★★★.

Emma rated it ★★★★★.

Betsy rated it ★★★★★.

Valerie rated it ★★★★★.

Cathy rated it ★★★★★.

Lorna rated it ★★★.

Rebekah rated it ★★★★★.

Timely Topic: Tired of Trilogies?

book-to-screen historicalfiction

Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam

by Rebekah Layton | Jul 17, 2015 | 0 comments

Rocket Boys

by Homer Hickam

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A Library Book Club meeting for this book was held July 21, 2016.

The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir that inspired the film October Sky, Rocket Boys is a uniquely American memoir—a powerful, luminous story of coming of age at the dawn of the 1960s, of a mother’s love and a father’s fears, of a group of young men who dreamed of launching rockets into outer space . . . and who made those dreams come true.

With the grace of a natural storyteller, NASA engineer Homer Hickam paints a warm, vivid portrait of the harsh West Virginia mining town of his youth, evoking a time of innocence and promise, when anything was possible, even in a company town that swallowed its men alive. A story of romance and loss, of growing up and getting out, Homer Hickam’s lush, lyrical memoir is a chronicle of triumph—at once exquisitely written and marvelously entertaining.