Horror in the Woods

Do you like scary stories? How about scary stories set in deep, dark woods well off the beaten path? If so, then The Ritual by Adam Nevill is the perfect book for you.

Four old college friends get together for a vacation backpacking in a very remote area of Sweden. Unfortunately, a couple of the guys are unprepared for their trip even before encountering the creepy unknown thing in the woods. Behind schedule, the group decides to veer off of the trail and bushwhack through the woods to make up for lost time. (Never a good idea, but especially bad when backpacking in remote areas that very few people ever tread.) On the map, it looks easy – cut through a slim section of woodland and then pop out near the river and enjoy the evening in a tourist hut. Unfortunately, the forest is not easy, the friends are unprepared, and there is something awful living in these woods.

From the very first page, The Ritual pulls in the reader and does not let go until the end. Suspenseful and surprising, this is a very fast paced book. Nevill does a great job of both building tension and developing the relationships between the characters. The sense of dread throughout the book definitely places this story strongly within the horror genre; in spite of this, the story does have glimmers of light and is not all gloom and doom, but readers should be prepared for more than a few gruesome scenes.

- Sarah, guest poster for Ravenous Readers

Eye Spy

I love large photo books, the kind that cover your lap and look good on your coffee table. Serengeti Spy: Views from a Hidden Camera on the Plains of East Africa by Anup Shah is a gorgeous title containing pictures of animals from the national parks and reserves of Tanzania and Kenya. There are photos of cape buffalos, jackals, elephants, gazelles, zebras, and vultures. Each photo's caption is short and interesting; the image details are so clear that I find myself flipping through pages over and over.

In the introduction Shah explained how he camouflaged the camera, but could not fool the lions and monkeys. Sometimes the animals heard the shutter click and came in closer to investigate, treating the reader to a shot of a hyena's nose or a group of curious lion cubs. The author hid the camera in strategic locations on the ground, so instead of seeing the subjects from above, it is like sitting down next to them. If you have ever wanted to be in the midst of a wildebeest migration or come face to face with a cheetah, this book has photos for you.

Dog on It

If you ask me why I am an adult services librarian I will tell you, “Because I don’t want animals to talk in the books I read.”  OK, so there are other reasons too such as I am really really bad at dancing the Hokey Pokey.  Dogs in books should bark or even sometimes growl, but they should never talk.  However, after six people told me I should read Dog on It by Spencer Quinn, I reluctantly gave in and checked out the book. As you probably have guessed, the book is narrated by Chet the dog.  To my surprise, I truly enjoyed the book and loved Chet.  If dogs could talk, I imagine that they would sound just like Chet.

Chet’s sidekick is private investigator Bernie Little. He is a bit down on his luck. He needs money

Once Upon a Flock

If you've ever had a flock of pet chickens or suspected that you might one day want to build a chicken coop in your backyard, or if you enjoy stories, photographs and drawings of adorably fuzzy chicks, then you should scoop up a copy of Lauren Scheuer's Once Upon a Flock. Scheuer adopts four tiny chicks and immediately begins to pamper them by building them a palace of a coop and by teaching her dog to see himself as flock leader rather than flock eater. During the months that follow, she invents recipes to use dozens of eggs, learns to identify the meaning of various chicken grunts and coos, discovers how deep human-chicken bonds can go, and participates in a wide range of crazy schemes to ensure that her chickens remain safe and happy. Once Upon a Flock is quick read, each page supplemented with whimsical hand-drawn chicken caricatures and photographs of Scheuer's pets.

~Queen of Books

Rules of Civility: A Cool Read for a Hot Day

Great historical fiction can be a great escape when it transports you to another time with well-researched and lushly-rendered descriptions, and evocative story-telling. With Rules of Civility, Amor Towles delivers a perfect time machine of a novel--he positively owns glamorous, jazzy, 1930s-era Manhattan--plus, it's a rollicking good read.

The setting won’t be unfamiliar to movie buffs with a taste for black-and-white flicks from the ‘30s (picture Rosalind Russell or Kate Hepburn playing the spunky heroine who arrives in Manhattan from the provinces and lands in a boarding house with a wise-cracking roommate). Katey Kontent, fresh from the Midwest, has a job in a typing pool, but it can’t hold her for long: she’s on her way up the career ladder--and the social ladder--fueled by her own limitless smarts and the champagne cocktails she shares with tuxedoed playboys in smoky jazz clubs and on Long Island estates. From the 21 Club to the Lower East Side, Katey is living the dream until a random event demonstrates with painful clarity that choices matter, luck can turn on a dime and people (especially rich people) are often not what they seem. 

Falling Glass by Adrian McKinty

Am I the last to discover Adrian McKinty? Has everyone else already been reading him for years? It was only by chance that I stumbled upon this Irish thriller writer. McKinty's recent book Falling Glass has started a new obsession for me as I research his back catalog and look forward to new releases. McKinty's Celtic Noir style blends fast moving action, lyrical description and a wry sense of humor. Falling Glass also gives a glimpse into the culture of the Pavee, Ireland's nomadic ethnic minority.

At the start of Falling Glass, ex-enforcer Killian is out of "The Life" and enrolled as a mature student at University. However, when the collapse of the Irish property market leaves him short of cash, he is persuaded to do "one last job" to get some easy money. Of course, one thing leads to another and Killian is offered some serious cash to find the ex-wife of one of Ireland's richest men.

Awful First Dates

I love serendipity in the library. When I first started using libraries, there was the joy of the card catalog (yes I'm showing my age here) and as you looked up your favorite author or topic your eye might catch another card describing a book that looked intriguing. As much as I rely on computers, I just don't run into that same level of randomness. That's where browsing the shelves comes in. I have my paper with all the call numbers written down, but once I get to the shelves, the sky's the limit in terms of what I might find. This month I think I was looking for books about volunteering and community organizing but somehow found Awful First Dates: Hysterical, True and Heartbreakingly Bad by Sarah Wexler in my hands - and what a treat it is!