The Short List

“The 2008 Kids & Family Reading Report, a follow up to a similar 2006 study, both of which were conducted by Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, and TSC, a division of Yankelovich, a leader in consumer trends research, again found that the time kids spend reading books for fun declines after age eight and continues to drop off through the teen years.”

Some excerpts from the report include: that 89% of the 5-17 year-olds in the study said that the books theirfavorite books were the ones they picked out themselves and that parents who are a good resource for selecting books their children would enjoy reading have a difficult time finding information on books for their children–especially those aged 15-17.

We have many resources available to help parents and children find books they’ll enjoy. Please stop in at the Library and discover what’s at your fingertips.

Of the many new books on our shelves or on order are a group that might find women as their main readers. Not necessarily confined to being light reading, their topics revolve around love and family relationships and perhaps a juicy murder here and there. See what you think:

Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You by Judith McNaught

Love The One You’re With by Emily Giffin

Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen

Outtakes From A Marriage by Ann Leary

Death Of A Cozy Writer by G. M. Malliet

How To Be Single by Liz Tuccillo

The Road Home by Rose Tremain

Outcast by Sadie Jones

On Account Of Conspicuous Women by Dawn Shamp

The what? “The Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award is an annual award of 35,000 euros, ( almost $55,000) as such it is currently the world’s richest prize for the short story form. The award is in memory of the late Frank O’Connor, one of the world’s most renowned short story writers. The award is presented in O’Connor’s hometown of Cork, Ireland. It is organised by the Munster Literature Centre and funded by Cork City Council in association with the Irish Times.. The award goes to the author of the book judged to be the best collection of stories published in English for the first time anywhere in the world in the twelve months between September of one year and August of the next. If a translated book wins, the purse is shared equally between the author and translator.”

This year, the jury, in an unprecedented move, dispensed with a short list for the award and announced the winner outright: Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth. Patrick Cotter, Director of the Award said: “With a unanimous winner at this early stage we decided it would be a sham to compose a shortlist and put five other writers through unnecessary stress and suspense. Not only were the jury unanimous in their choice of Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth as the winner, they were unanimous in their belief that so outstanding was Lahiri’s achievement in this book that no other title was a serious contender.”

Jhumpa Lahiri was born in England, in 1967, to Bengali parents who moved to America when she was three. Her first collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies, won the 2000 Pulitzer Prize – and sold 600,000 copies. Her 2003 novel, The Namesake, was made into a successful film of the same name. Ms Lahiri lives in New York with her husband and two children.

The Essex Library’s Summer Film Series kicks off at 7 P.M. on Friday, August 8^th, with BIG NIGHT, the first of six very different movies with a common theme; the starring role of food in the lives of their protagonists. Naturally, we’ll also be serving refreshments! Food and family, food and passion, food and culture; join us on this filmic “cook’s tour” of the world as seen at table.

BIG NIGHT is actor/director Stanley Tucci’s film about two brothers (Tucci, with Tony Shalhoub of MONK) whose Italian restaurant teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. But when they learn a big star is planning to visit their bistro for a multi-course feast, the brothers pull out all the stops, in the hopes that the “big night” will save their business.

Next, on August 15^th, BABETTE’S FEAST centers on a mysterious woman, the banquet she prepares for the people who helped her in her hour of need, and the secret she hides until the end.

August 22^nd , MONSOON WEDDING, director Mira Nair’s spicy extravaganza, plays out during the preparations for an arranged marriage, highlighting different aspects of love and crossing boundaries of class and continent.

In MOSTLY MARTHA, screening September 5^th, German director Sandra Nettelbeck whips up a tragicomic tale about an uptight professional chef whose world turns upside down when she takes in her newly orphaned niece.

Sweden’s charming, witty KITCHEN STORIES is about the oddball relationship between a social scientist and his subject, an elderly farmer whose eating habits he’s been sent to study (Sept. 12^th).

September 19^th we’ll screen the Chinese family drama/comedy that boasts some of the most gorgeous food ever filmed, EAT DRINK MAN WOMAN, in which widower and master chef Chu discovers that no matter how well he runs his kitchen, he’s got no control over his beautiful, libidinous daughters.

All films will begin at 7 P.M., and admission is free. For reservations, please call 767-1560. We’ll save you a plate!

As part of our summer reading theme we’re showing movies every Wednesday from 3-5p.m. in July. Here is the schedule:

July 2 “Antz” Rated PG

July 9 “Charlotte’s Web” Rated G

July 16 “Akeelah and the Bee” Rated PG

July 23 “A Bug’s Life” Rated PG

July 30 “Bee Movie” Rated PG

Catch the Reading Bug @ Your Library.

The Summer Reading Program is open to children of all ages from preschool through high school. Children must read 10 hours to complete the Summer Reading Program. Great prizes that children will earn by completing the Summer Reading Program are: An Ice Cream Cone from Sweet P’s on Main St in Essex, Tickets to a CT Defenders Game or a New Britain Rock Cats Game, and several others that have not been confirmed yet… Many thanks to the generous sponsors of the Essex Summer Reading Program.

Check our website for a complete list of summer activities for kids. http://www.essexlib.org/services-childrens.html

Great news! The Russell Library in Middletown is joining the Wallingford Public Library in allowing LION patrons to place holds on most of the materials in their adult collections including: new books, DVDs and music CDs. Both Wallingford and Russell have great collections and this change should make for a wonderful opportunity to have easier access to them. In addition, on July 1, the Case Memorial Library in Orange, CT will join the LION consortium and its materials will also become available to other LION patrons.

We’ve got more than 20 great new titles available for download to your computer which you may then transfer to a compatible portable device (MP3 players and many cell phones) or burn to CD where allowed. New titles include:

1434 by Gavin Menzies

7th Heaven by James Patterson

America America by Ethan Canin

Audition by Barbara Walters

Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer

City of Thieves by David Benioff

Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman

The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted by Elizabeth Berg

Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz, David

One in a Million by Kimberla Lawson Roby

Remember Me? By Sophie Kinsella

Sundays at Tiffany’s by James Patterson

The Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer

The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman

Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber

What Happened by Scott McClellan

The Whole Truth by David Baldacci

A recent spate of quality espionage fiction has come to our attention bringing with it a return to Cold War-style spy stories of old. John le Carré created the yardstick by which most other spy novels are measured against along with a number of other contemporaries who propelled the genre forward with protagonists who were as morally ambiguous as their enemies. Le Carré returns this fall with A Most Wanted Man. Set in Germany, it chronicles the fate of a Muslim man who relocates to Hamburg to begin medical school but has a shadowy past that attracts the attention of intelligence agencies from Germany and beyond.

Robert Littell also produced well-crafted spy fiction in the 70’s and still continues publishing. His 2002 fictionalized account of the CIA, The Company, a bestseller, was made into a multi-part series by both the BBC and TNT. He has followed that up with Legends, a darkly humorous story about an aging spy’s identity crisis and Vicious Circle, an account of a kidnapping plot gone bad sending Israel and Palestine to the brink of collapse.

Charles McCarry had a small but devoted following in the 70’s for his books featuring CIA agent Paul Christopher. McCarry too, has seen a recent renaissance in his popularity beginning with Old Boys which brought back Paul Christopher and an aging group of fellow co-workers. Last year’s Christopher’s Ghosts continues the popular series.

We are lucky to have a cadre of newer writers to continue presenting espionage in the Cold War tradition. Olen Steinhauer has a first-rate series of books featuring Inspector Emil Brod set in a fictional Eastern European country. The first, The Bridge Of Sighs, nominated for multiple awards, begins at the end of WWII. The series closes at the fall of the Berlin Wall with Victory Square, portraying the corruption that has etched itself on Brod over the preceding 40 years.

Jenny Siler also writes as Alex Carr. Her books depict events still resonating in our society: Easy Money, portrays drug running with its origins in the killing fields of Vietnam, and An Accidental American covers the 1983 Beirut bombings. Carr’s newest novel brings us up to date, exposing the underbelly of Morocco in The Prince of Bagram Prison.

Alan Furst uses WWII and the days immediately following as glamorous backdrops for his espionage tales beginning with The Night Soldiers and continuing with the just-published The Spies of Warsaw.

Daniel Silva’s bestselling series starring Mossad agent Gabriel Allon carries on the tradition with his take-no-prisoners scenarios and plenty of action just begging to be bought up by Hollywood. His latest installment, Moscow Rules, is due out in July.

In a similar vein, but already cashing in on the Hollywood interest, is Robert Ludlum with Eric Lustbader and the Bourne series. The latest Bourne book, The Bourne Sanction, is due out the end of July.

Although William F Buckley is gone, he’s certainly not forgotten, and his bestselling Blackford Oakes series will continue to find new fans. Oakes, a CIA agent described by Buckley as being “distinctly American”, acquits himself with style and charm. The series begins with Saving The Queen and concludes with Last Call For Blackford Oakes.

Science fiction stylist William Gibson brings his expertise with cyberspace to the genre with two espionage novels that won critical acclaim: Pattern Recognition and Spook Country.

Last but not least, Ted Bell has produced an enjoyable spy series with Alex Hawke as the lead character who works for both the American and British governments. The series includes Hawke, Spy, Assassin and TSAR due out this September.

Some great new books for summer reading are arriving almost daily. Here are just a few recent arrivals in no apparent order:

Death Of A Cozy Writer by G.M. Malliet ~~ “Detective Chief Inspector St. Just finds himself with a pretty puzzle when a father and son are murdered in a snow-shrouded Cambridgeshire manor house. The family of wealthy mystery writer Adrian Beauclerk-Fisk have arrived in response to a shocking wedding invitation. Long divorced from his first wife, he delights in keeping his unloved heirs on edge by constantly changing his will. Upon their arrival, they learn that he has already married beautiful, aristocratic Violet Winthrop, who Ruthven, his oldest son, announces was accused of murdering her first husband.” Kirkus Reviews

Gas City by Loren Estleman ~~ “Estleman exposes the black heart of a seemingly stable, well-run city suddenly pitched into violence and chaos. A delicate balance of forces—greed and corruption, ambition and desire—run out of control in the wake of a serial killer’s grisly rampage. A power struggle—between a police chief who has looked the other way for too long, a Mafia boss who holds the city’s vices in his powerful grasp, and media reporters looking for a big story—turns what has been a minor dispute into a desperate struggle for survival.”

Outtakes From A Marriage by Ann Leary ~~ “How does a free spirit turned wife and mother cope with her actor husband’s infidelity? According to this debut novel from memoirist Leary, with tears, irreverent humor and, ultimately, a reaffirmed sense of self.” Kirkus Reviews

When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris ~~ “David Sedaris uses life’s most bizarre moments to reach new heights in understanding love and fear, family and strangers. Culminating in a brilliantly funny account of his venture to Tokyo in order to quit smoking, Sedaris’s sixth essay collection will be avidly anticipated.”

While America Aged by Roger Lowenstein ~~ “Bestselling author Roger Lowenstein explains how corporations and governments ran up ruinous pension and health-care promises to workers—promises that are now coming due and that will hit America like a tsunami if nothing is done.”

Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber ~~ “Anne Marie Roche wants to find happiness again. At thirty-eight, her life’s not what she’d expected—she’s childless, a recent widow, alone. She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle’s Blossom Street, but despite her accomplishments, there’s a feeling of emptiness. On Valentine’s Day, Anne Marie and several other widows get together to celebrate…what? Hope, possibility, the future. They each begin a list of twenty wishes, things they always wanted to do but never did.”

Ladies Of Liberty by Cokie Roberts ~~ “Roberts presents a colorful blend of biographical portraits and behind-the-scenes vignettes chronicling women’s public roles and private responsibilities.”