Before I Go To Sleep, by S. J. Watson.

Each morning, Christine wakes with no memory. From the clues she left herself, she tries to piece together her identity and sort lies from the truth. The unrelenting pace thrusts the reader into the
confusion of a waking nightmare in which revelations of her past lead to a frantic crescendo.

Check availability in MINERVA or Read about this title at Amazon.com

Silk is for Seduction, by Loretta Chase

Ambitious dressmaker Marcelline Noirot will do almost anything to secure the patronage of the Duke of Clevendon’s intended bride. Neither her calculated business plan nor his campaign of seduction can withstand the force of their mutual attraction. Witty banter and strong-willed characters make this a memorable tale.

Check availability in MINERVA or Read about this title at Amazon.com

See the full reading list at ALA.org

“Mission to Paris” by Alan Furst.

The highly esteemed writer of World War II thrillers sets this one in Paris, where American film star Frederic Stahl is making a movie in 1938. The Nazis see him as a valuable asset to be enlisted. He’s not interested, but they insist.

Check availability in MINERVA or Read about this title at Amazon.com

“The Red House” by Mark Haddon.

The author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time tells the story of family strife from eight perspectives. A doctor invites his estranged sister to share a vacation home. He has a new wife and stepdaughter, she brings her husband and three children. Everyone gets to say their piece.

Check availability in MINERVA or Read about this title at Amazon.com

See the full list at NYDailyNews.com

Ben Hellwarth’s Sealab is the underwater Right Stuff: the story of how a U.S. Navy program sought to develop the marine equivalent of the space station—and forever changed man’s relationship to the sea.

While NASA was trying to put a man on the moon, the U.S. Navy launched a series of daring experiments to prove that divers could live and work from a sea-floor base. When the first underwater “habitat” called Sealab was tested in the early 1960s, conventional dives had strict depth limits and lasted for only minutes, not the hours and even days that the visionaries behind Sealab wanted to achieve—for purposes of exploration, scientific research, and to recover submarines and aircraft that had sunk along the continental shelf. The unlikely father of Sealab, George Bond, was a colorful former country doctor who joined the Navy later in life and became obsessed with these unanswered questions: How long can a diver stay underwater? How deep can a diver go?

Was he the greatest novelist of the Victorian era? You decide!

Trivia
Dickens wrote his novels to be read aloud (the literacy rate in London during Dickens’ time was not exactly sky high).

In a childhood plagued by poverty, Charles Dickens sought refuge in books (a scene he recreated in David Copperfield).

As a young reporter, Dickens covered parliamentary debates in England’s House of Commons—an experience that gave him a considerable disregard for government.

The Mystery of Edwin Drood is truly the greatest mystery story ever written because Dickens died before he could finish it!

Dickens loved the theater and relished acting but chose to be a writer as acting was a not a respectable occupation in the Victorian era.

Dickens loved walking the streets of London and observing people. He loved the city and felt lost outside of it.

Much of Dickens’ work was semi-autobiographical and many of his colorful & diverse characters had real-life counterparts.

Dickens’ reputation as a novelist is unsurpassed but his works are filled with poetic imagery:

“A brilliant morning shines on the old city. Its antiquities and ruins are surpassingly beautiful, with a lusty ivy gleaming in the sun, and the rich trees waving in the balmy air.”

Alert!
Please make sure the Dickens novel you read has illustrations! Dickens prose combined with the whimsical yet often poignant illustrations of Hablot Knight Browne aka “Phiz” was truly a match made in heaven.

Library Tips:
Search the Curtis Library catalog (via the “word” category) for “Phiz” and / or “Hablot Knight Browne.”

Search for Dickens, Charles under “Author” and look for “ill.” (short for “illustrations”) in the book records.

Search the Marvel for database for literary criticism on Charles Dickens.

Ask a Reference Librarian for assistance.

I initially picked up Still Life for a book group. Then something magical happened, I fell in love with the bucolic village of Three Pines and Armand Gamache, Penny’s calm, courtly, thoughtful, compassionate and strong detective.

Set in the Canadian province of Quebec, Still Life features many hallmarks of a British whodunit, including murders by unconventional means, bucolic villages, large casts of suspects, red herrings, and a dramatic disclosure of the murderer in the last few pages of the book. Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie, and while there is a surface resemblance, Penny’s novels delve deeper into characters and the darkness within. Her villains are regular people – they blend in, they’re you and me and people we know. And that’s the horror. Not that we’re betrayed and attacked by perfect strangers, but that the attack comes from within.

And all this is happening in a perversely idyllic setting, making the darkness all the more stark. Three Pines is a tiny village in Quebec, close the border with Vermont. It’s part French and part English, as is Quebec. Many say that Canada is not an exotic enough locale for U.S. readers – but Penny’s novels do very well here. She says part of the appeal is the “French fact – It’s romantic and gracious, the food is different, the culture is different… and yet it’s close enough and familiar enough that Americans can relate.” As a resident of a small village in Quebec herself, Penny’s insight into the bilingual, bicultural aspect of Quebecois life rings true.

Another appeal is Penny’s detective. Still Life introduces Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team of homicide detectives. According to Penny, Gamache is partly based on her husband and partly on her idealized man. “He was created because I never wanted to tire of my main character… I needed someone I would choose to spend perhaps the rest of my life with. And so I intentionally created a man I would choose to marry. Superficially he was inspired by the heroes I had growing up. My grandfather, who taught me poetry, Walt Disney, Ben Cartwright, Walter Cronkite. Middle aged men who have a calm, and a decency.” Gamache is a man with a moral center. A man who, while flawed, will always try to do the right thing, rather than the easy thing.

There is much to enjoy in Still Life – including a deftly plotted traditional mystery. I hope you enjoy your visit to Three Pines as much as I did!

Happy reading-
Sarah

Immerse yourself in the world of books!

The Readers Corner shares some of our favorite links to book sites, information about book groups, online lists and book reviews. Learn more about downloadable books available through OverDrive with your Curtis Memorial Library card.