Let's Talk About... The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Join us for a discussion of Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane next Thursday, March 6 at 10:30 a.m., here at the Library in the Junior Home Room. I reviewed the audiobook version of this novel over the summer, and you can read what I thought here. Short version: I loved the book and I am a big fan of Gaiman's, and I hope that you enjoy it as well.

At first glance, Gaiman's newest book for adults since 2005 certainly does not look like an adult novel. It is only 160 pages, and the protagonist is a man remembering strange happenings from when he was a seven-year-old boy. However, Gaiman effortlessly evokes the innocence, joy, simplicity, and even fear inherent in one's childhood, provoking a nostalgia for things past. The book is appropriate for all ages, but adults will find special meaning in the themes that Gaiman explores.

We'd love to see you at the discussion, and here are some questions to get you thinking before the big day:

1. Were the fantastic moments real or just how the boy saw the world at the time? Why?
2. Gaiman describes this as a book for adults. What sets it apart from novels for young adults or children?

Please stop by and join us for light refreshments and stimulating discussion. The door is always open, and we'd love to see you there!

Shannon Wood, Adult Services Librarian

Curtsies and Conspiracies

Gentle reader, you may remember that I reviewed the first book in the Finishing School series by Gail Carriger, Etiquette and Espionage, and found it quite enchanting. We again join Sophronia in Curtsies and Conspiracies, where she is continuing her education as an intelligencer at Lady Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality. While learning such social niceties as how to faint (backward, never forward!), Sophronia spends her time sneaking about the airship and spying on teachers. She is still caught up in a conspiracy over a valuable prototype, and she suspects that an upcoming trip to London has something to do with it. And it is so difficult to spy properly in ladies' skirts and petticoats!

With the second entry in the Finishing School series, Carriger again creates an intricate plot (perhaps too convoluted at times) that is sure to keep readers guessing. The author is a master of satire and silliness, and the book had me laughing out loud. However, characterization were problematic - all the characters besides Sophronia are flat and Sophronia herself is too perfect. She receives top marks in her class, all the boys love her, and she is the only one who seems to know what is going on. This is disappointing in a series that tries to pick apart young adult fiction tropes and stereotypes. Nevertheless, if you are a fan of spunky young adult heroines and intricate, steampunk settings, you should investigate Gail Carriger's newest YA offering.

Shannon Wood, Adult Services Librarian

Join us to discuss The Girls of Atomic City!

Feeling a little stir crazy after all these cold, snowy days? Get out of the house and join us for the first meeting of the "Let's Talk About It" book club of 2014. We will be discussing The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan this Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 10:30 a.m. in the Junior Home Room.

This is the true story of the women who worked and lived at the mysterious Site X in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, never knowing that what they were working on would change the world forever. These women held not just the traditional feminine jobs of secretaries and nurses, but were welders, engineers, statisticians, and much more besides. They took pride in making the Site X complex a home, even though they were forbidden to talk about their work in producing the atomic bomb.

To get you thinking before book club day, check out these discussion questions:

1. Denise Kiernan explains in an author’s note, “The information in this book is compartmentalized, as was much of life and work during the Manhattan Project." How does the book manage to recreate the workers’ experience of months-long ignorance, and the shock of finding out what they were working on?
2. Discuss the role that patriotism played in everyday life during World War II. Do you think Americans today would be willing or able to make the same sacrifices—including top-secret jobs, deployment overseas, rationed goods, and strict censorship—that families of that era made? Why or why not?

For a multimedia experience, including music of the period and photos of the mysterious Oak Ridge, check out GirlsofAtomicCity.com.

Join us for light refreshments and a discussion that's sure to warm up your day!