Hello mystery readers!
Here are our next six book selections. All meetings start at 7 pm. We hope to see you there!
Tuesday, September 14
The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler
Tuesday, October 12
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, by Michael Chabon
Tuesday, November 9
Belshazzar's Daughter, by Barbara Nadel
Tuesday, December 14
Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear
Tuesday, January 11
Wednesday's Child, by Peter Robinson
Tuesday, February 8
The Brass Verdict, by Michael Connelly
We have more copies on the way for many of these titles. And if a book is unavailable from Sunnyvale Library, try the Link+ catalog. Link+ is a free service that lets you order books from other libraries, to be delivered to Sunnyvale.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Friday, July 30, 2010
Up Close and Personal with Tony Hillerman
"[A lot of people] began the autographing chat with a disclaimer. They'd assure me they were not mystery readers. They read my books because of the tribal cultural material intermixed with the plot line. They wanted to learn a bit about American Indians. It occurred to me that I had tapped into a mass of American readers who suffer from the same workaholic problem that besets me. Reading for idle amusement left them feeling guilty. My books, like a sausage sandwich spiced with antiacid tablets, give absolution along with the sin." -- Seldom Disappointed, p. 300.
Tony Hillerman's long and distinguished life included Army combat during World War II that earned him a Purple Heart, a stint as a newspaper reporter and editor, and a childhood among the Pottawatomie and Seminole Indians. If you'd like to learn more about the author of our August book, Skinwalkers, check out these resources from the library:
Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir, by Tony Hillerman
The Tony Hillerman Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to His Life and Work, edited by Martin Greenberg
These two books are full of fun facts. For instance:
In a 1993 interview published in the Companion, Hillerman says that when he started writing Skinwalkers, he hadn't planned to bring together his two main heroes, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. But he needed "a superior for [Chee] to deal with. And there was gold old Joe Leaphorn on the shelf, whom I knew very well, so I just started using him." (p.61).
What would you like to know about Tony Hillerman? Does reading Skinwalkers make you wonder about his life or his writing process?
Tony Hillerman's long and distinguished life included Army combat during World War II that earned him a Purple Heart, a stint as a newspaper reporter and editor, and a childhood among the Pottawatomie and Seminole Indians. If you'd like to learn more about the author of our August book, Skinwalkers, check out these resources from the library:
Seldom Disappointed: A Memoir, by Tony Hillerman
The Tony Hillerman Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to His Life and Work, edited by Martin Greenberg
These two books are full of fun facts. For instance:
In a 1993 interview published in the Companion, Hillerman says that when he started writing Skinwalkers, he hadn't planned to bring together his two main heroes, Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee. But he needed "a superior for [Chee] to deal with. And there was gold old Joe Leaphorn on the shelf, whom I knew very well, so I just started using him." (p.61).
What would you like to know about Tony Hillerman? Does reading Skinwalkers make you wonder about his life or his writing process?
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
More books on the way!
Hello mystery lovers! Some of you may have noticed that it's getting hard to find a library copy of July's selection, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie. But we've ordered six more copies, and they should be here soon. You can place a hold by clicking "request" on this page.
Let us know if you're having trouble getting your hands on the book. See you July 13th at 7 pm! We'll be meeting upstairs, in one of the library conference rooms.
Let us know if you're having trouble getting your hands on the book. See you July 13th at 7 pm! We'll be meeting upstairs, in one of the library conference rooms.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Last Night's Discussion
Thanks to all who came to our inaugural meeting last night!
Below is the list of books that everyone suggested, to the best of our memory and notes. Please tell us in the comments if we left something out or if there are additional great titles that need a mention.
Thanks again, and we hope to see you July 13, for a discussion of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.
Below is the list of books that everyone suggested, to the best of our memory and notes. Please tell us in the comments if we left something out or if there are additional great titles that need a mention.
Thanks again, and we hope to see you July 13, for a discussion of The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.
Mysteries
Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin
Rolling Thunder by Chris Grabenstein
Monkeewrench by P. J. Tracy
Tao Yun Shan series by Eliot Pattison
C.I. Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny
Inspector Salvo Montalbano series by Andrea Camilleri
Commissioner Guido Brunetti series by Donna Leon
The Grave Tattoo by Val McDermid
Bloodhounds by Peter Lovesey
Cooper and Fry series by Stephen Booth
Science Fiction
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
Novels and Short Stories
Housekeeping and Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Friday, June 4, 2010
Mystery v. Thriller
Is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a mystery, or a thriller? And what's the difference?
The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction points out that every mystery is a puzzle, in which the author must hide certain key elements. "[T]he author provides clues to the solution but attempts to obscure some information so that the puzzle cannot be solved too easily."
But for a thriller to function, the reader must be more aware of what is going on behind the scenes. "The role of the readers of thrillers is to watch, to follow the action step-by-step," Joyce G. Saricks writes in the Guide.
The Web site mysterynet.com has an interesting essay on the subject from novelist Janet L. Smith. She notes that according to master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, suspense is created when the audience is "holding its collective breath," waiting for an event that it expects will happen -- like a bomb under the table that the audience knows is set to explode at a certain time. If the bomb goes off without prior warning, then it is simply a surprise, but not suspenseful, Smith writes.
Readers of thrillers may know about the bomb under the table, but mystery authors often must keep the reader in the dark. "The dilemma created for the writer of traditional mysteries," Smith writes, "is the fact that the villain and the details of the crime must remain unidentified, breaking Hitchcock's rule of keeping the audience informed."
When does The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo act like a thriller and when is it a mystery? Does it go off track and become more about vengeance than solving the crime? Bring your thoughts to the discussion.
The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Fiction points out that every mystery is a puzzle, in which the author must hide certain key elements. "[T]he author provides clues to the solution but attempts to obscure some information so that the puzzle cannot be solved too easily."
But for a thriller to function, the reader must be more aware of what is going on behind the scenes. "The role of the readers of thrillers is to watch, to follow the action step-by-step," Joyce G. Saricks writes in the Guide.
The Web site mysterynet.com has an interesting essay on the subject from novelist Janet L. Smith. She notes that according to master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, suspense is created when the audience is "holding its collective breath," waiting for an event that it expects will happen -- like a bomb under the table that the audience knows is set to explode at a certain time. If the bomb goes off without prior warning, then it is simply a surprise, but not suspenseful, Smith writes.
Readers of thrillers may know about the bomb under the table, but mystery authors often must keep the reader in the dark. "The dilemma created for the writer of traditional mysteries," Smith writes, "is the fact that the villain and the details of the crime must remain unidentified, breaking Hitchcock's rule of keeping the audience informed."
When does The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo act like a thriller and when is it a mystery? Does it go off track and become more about vengeance than solving the crime? Bring your thoughts to the discussion.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Life Imitating Art
Time magazine has an interesting article this week about the fight over Stieg Larsson's estate. It turns out his longtime partner, Eva Gabrielsson, has inherited nothing from him because they were never married. (Due to Larsson's work reporting on fascism in Sweden, and a Swedish requirement that married couples publish their address, marriage could have been unsafe for the pair.)
Now Gabrielsson is fighting Larsson's father and younger brother for Larsson's estate. With 40 million books sold worldwide, it's a hefty figure. "The irony here, or one of the ironies, is that embattled, disenfranchised women are Larsson's fictional specialty," write Lev Grossman and Carla Power in Time.
Here's a link to the article (works for now). The text is also available from the library's MasterFile Premiere database, which you can access here with your library card.
Now Gabrielsson is fighting Larsson's father and younger brother for Larsson's estate. With 40 million books sold worldwide, it's a hefty figure. "The irony here, or one of the ironies, is that embattled, disenfranchised women are Larsson's fictional specialty," write Lev Grossman and Carla Power in Time.
Here's a link to the article (works for now). The text is also available from the library's MasterFile Premiere database, which you can access here with your library card.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Save the Date
Well, it's official! The first meeting of the Sunnyvale Library's new mystery book club will be Tuesday, June 8, at 7 pm, in the Library program room. We'll generally be meeting on the second Tuesday night of each month, either in the library Program Room or upstairs in the library's Fireplace Room.
Our title for June 8th will be the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson. The book is available in hardback, on CD, and in paperback from the library. Check back on this blog before our first meeting for some food for thought about the book.
Come one, come all. We can't wait to meet you!
Our title for June 8th will be the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson. The book is available in hardback, on CD, and in paperback from the library. Check back on this blog before our first meeting for some food for thought about the book.
Come one, come all. We can't wait to meet you!
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