Lord John series by Diana Gabaldon.

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Lord John and…   Diana Gabaldon    books published 2003-2007

Lord John Grey is a secondary character in Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander  series who the author has made the principle character of a series of mysteries set the eighteenth century. Lord John made his first appearance as a teen-aged adjutant to his elder brother Lord Melton in Dragonfly in Amber part of the Outlander series, and has been in each of the following books in that series.  Gabaldon has written the Lord John is “a very interesting character…and he appears only intermittently in the Outlander novels, no reason why he couldn’t be having interesting adventures off stage, on his own time”.
Beginning with the short story Lord John and the Hellfire Club, now included in last year’s novella collection, the first complete novel, Lord John and the Private Matter, then Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade and Lord John and the Hand of Devils, a novella collection both published last year. Gabaldon takes us to the one eighteenth century place the Frasers have never been, London itself. Peopled with her usual mix of astutely rendered fictional characters, and a sprinkling of actual people of the era ranging from Diderot to Horace Walpole and Sir Frances Dashwood, the novels follow Lord John Grey in investigating everything from murder to political intrigue.
Lord John is a  Major in his brother’s regiment, a loyal son to both his deceased father and lively mother, and the brother who must be both head of the family and commander of the family supported regiment.  He is well acquainted with the many layers and possibilities of both 1750s London and the German battlefields of the Seven Years War, indeed, he reflects in several places on the difficulties and stern honor required of a being a soldier. Those who have read the Outlander series know that Lord John is a homosexual, and this strand of his personality and its reflection in the plot is handled with sensitivity and an awareness of both the social mores of the period and the wishes of the human heart.

Diana Gabaldon’s ability to pull characters out of the background of her previous books and have them seamlessly take on additional roles is a talent that her readers can only wonder at. This series with Lord John Grey is a digression from the major Outlander series, but one that readers will welcome for the chance to spend time in her wonderfully well rendered world of the eighteenth century, and the chance to see the exuberance of London through her, and Lord John’s, eyes.

- M. Spore-Alhadef

Don’t miss these great new picture books in the children’s room!

The Jellybeans and the Big Dance

by Laura Numeroff and Nate Evans; Laura Numeroff, illustrator.

Starting on the cover with the adorable little creatures in their sparkly costumes then following their adventures and misadventures in dance school, readers will fall in love with Emily and her dance partners as they prepare to perform “Oh Little Bug.” Illustrations by Laura Numeroff (If You Give a Mouse a Cookie) dance on the pages and are sure to charm readers.

Blackie, The Horse Who Stood Still

By Christopher Cerf and Paige Peterson, illustrations by Paige Peterson

This is the true story of Blackie, who had the unique capability of simply standing still. His story, told in rhyme, tells of Blackie’s unique talent being put to good use by a rodeo bull roper, posing for photographs in front of the spectacular scenery in Yosemite Valley, and finally standing in a field above Richardson Bay so an oysterman could find his way home. There he stood for 28 years. After his peaceful demise, a life-sized statue was erected to honor Blackie. You can see in in Tiburon, California. Beautiful illustrations.

- C. Webster

The Rake by William F. Buckley.

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The Rake is William F. Buckley’s last novel, and the tale of a charming rogue who goes from calculating undergraduate to all-but-announced candidate for President of the United States. Set from the 1960s through 1991, the story of the charismatic but unscrupulous Ruben Castle is a political cautionary tale of what happens when driving ambition collides with a reality that includes an abandoned wife and unacknowledged child. The book can be read as a well-veiled roman a clef about a prominent political figure still very much in the public eye. Buckley’s amusing insights into academic life as well as political maneuvering, and his sympathetic portrayals of the characters and their moral compromises make this an entertaining book, as does his stylish and witty writing. One could say that this book proves the theory that reformed rakes make the best husbands, since the unreformed Reuben Castle makes a very bad husband, but a repulsively fascinating principal character.

- M. Spore-Alhadef

Americans’ Favorite Poems: the Favorite Poem Project Anthology edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz.

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A great choice for National Poetry Month. ”Poet laureate Pinsky’s Favorite Poem Project was a stroke of genius. Americans were invited to share by letter a poem they treasured; then many were recorded reading their chosen poems for inclusion in a national video and audio archive. The response was tremendous, and as Pinsky notes, many of the matches between reader and poem defy stereotypes, and all attest to the vital role that poetry plays in more lives than seems possible in a country that appears to pay scant attention to this quiet art form. Here each poem is introduced in extraordinarily moving personal disclosures by the reader who chose it. Teenagers and octogenarians, a social worker, a farmer, a nurse, a truck driver, a commodities trader, a librarian, a judge, and an alcoholic who memorizes poetry to test her sobriety selected poems by Lucille Clifton, Emily Dickinson, John Keats, Haki R. Madhubuti, W. S. Merwin, Sylvia Plath, and Dylan Thomas. No one person, however well read, could have created this resounding collection, which may well become a favorite in its own right.” – Booklist

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winnifred Watson.

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Originally published in 1938, Miss Pettigrew has been rediscovered and reprinted in a beautiful paperback edition by Persephone, including gorgeous line drawings.  A fantasy screwball comedy a little like a Thin Man movie crossed with with an episode of Upstairs Downstairs gone mad, Miss Pettigrew has now been adapted as a major motion picture starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams. ”Miss Pettigrew, an approaching-middle-age governess, was accustomed to a household of unruly English children. When her employment agency sends her to the wrong address, her life takes an unexpected turn. The alluring nightclub singer, Delysia LaFosse, becomes her new employer, and Miss Pettigrew encounters a kind of glamour that she had only met before at the movies. Over the course of a single day, both women are changed forever.  [The author] Winifred Watson (1907 – 2002) grew up in Newcastle, and was a secretary until, in 1935, she married Leslie Pickering, the manager of a timber firm. She wrote six novels in all, but after the birth of her son in 1941 she stopped writing and lived quietly in Newcastle for the rest of her life.  The Times interviewed her at age 94 when Persephone Books reissued the book in 2000. The headline was ‘Bodice-Ripping Fame at 94.’” – Publisher’s Description

Once – directed by John Carney.

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Simply put: I couldn’t love this movie more. It’s a musical slash story of friendship slash tribute to artistic creativity and struggle.

“Once is just a wisp of a tale, but it avoids the curse of cuteness – despite the fact that each and every one of the characters is nice-while Hansard’s songs meet the emotional needs of the story without ever becoming intrusive. Highly recommended” – Video Librarians

Service Included by Phoebe Damrosch.

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If you like books like Kitchen Confidential – juicy tell-all tales of the restaurant industry – this is a book for you! Damrosch dishes the dirt on Per Se, Thomas Keller’s New York restaurant. It offers a detailed glimpse of the intricacies of high-end dining service and offers tips on what not to do in a fine restaurant (don’t put your napkin on the plate!).

One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson.

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“Having won a wide following for her first crime novel…Case Histories, Atkinson sends Det. Jackson Brodie to Edinburgh while girlfriend Julia performs in a Fringe Festival play. When incognito thug “Paul Bradley” is rear-ended by a Honda driver who gets out and bashes Bradley unconscious with a baseball bat, the now-retired Jackson is a reluctant witness. Other bystanders include crime novelist Martin Canning, a valiant milquetoast who saves Bradley’s life, and tart-tongued Gloria Hatter, who’s plotting to end her 39-year marriage to a shady real estate developer. Jackson walks away from the incident, but keeps running into trouble, including a corpse, the Honda man and sexy, tight-lipped inspector Louise Monroe. Everyone’s burdened by a secret infidelity, unprofessional behavior, murder adding depth and many diversions…crackling one-liners, spot-on set pieces and full-blooded cameos help make this another absorbing character study.” – Publishers Weekly

Thrones, Dominations by Dorothy L. Sayers and Jill Patron Walsh.

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“…Sayers fans will rejoice at the release of this new Lord Peter Wimsey novel 61 years after the publication of Busman’s Honeymoon….While perhaps not vintage Sayers, this novel fragment, completed by English novelist Walsh from Sayers’s outline, takes up where the honeymoon left off:  Now murder intrudes on the newly domesticated Lord Peter and Harriet Vane as one of their acquaintance, also newly married, is murdered. This has all the requisite stock characters, witty dialog, social satire, and red herrings of a classic Sayers, though perhaps marriage has mellowed the characters a bit too much. Highly recommended…” – Library Journal

Daughters of the House by Indrani Aikathi-Gyaltsen

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“Set in rural India, this quietly moving tale of doomed passion, scandal and betrayal sensitively probes one family’s problems. Chchanda, the sarcastic, precocious teenage narrator, burns with resentment and insecurity when Aunt Madhulika, who raised her, brings home a fiance, selfish lawyer Pretap Singh…In sharp, shining prose Indian first novelist Aikath-Gyaltsen dissects domestic life with the gimlet precision of Jane Austen.”
- Publishers Weekly