Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk

Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk by David Sedaris


If anyone could write a book for adults about animals from the points-of-view of animals, it's David Sedaris. A squirrel and a chipmunk on a date, a stork explaining sex to her son, an owl seeking wisdom from other animals--genius! I'd expect no less from Sedaris.

Freedom

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen


After more press, more anticipation, more build-up than any novel I can recall, Freedom was a real let-down. How do people use their freedom? How can freedom some time lead people astray? Why are so many middle-class Americans depressed and unhappy with their lives? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Luckily, David Sedaris has a new book...

Orange is the New Black

Orange is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman


Thirty-something Piper Kerman spent nearly 15 months in a minimum security prison for her involvement in a drug ring shortly after college. Orange is the New Black" is a detailed reflection on her time behind bars in Danbury, CT. I was prepared for stories of sad lives and mentally ill prisoners, but I wasn't prepared for all the privileges Kerman enjoyed behind bars--reading books for hours, taking yoga classes, and watching television with her prisonmates. At times it sounded like a college freshman dorm. If anything, this is a book with a strong voice against the absurdness of the justice system. Most of the women behind bars were in for minor drug offenses. The charge per prisoner per year? Over $30,000.

It was interesting for 200 pages and then it takes a boring drop. I wanted to hear what life was like after prison, but she stops before we can get to that part of the story.

Reference Librarianship: Notes from the Trenches

Reference Librarianship: Notes from the Trenches by Charles R. Anderson and Peter Sprenkle.

I can't count the number of times I've talked with two of my library friends about writing books about life on the reference desk. My friends who don't work in libraries are shocked by what actually goes on at a reference desk. This book proves how strange and interesting reference desk interactions can be, but truth be told, it didn't make for the best reading. The backstory to the book is that "a young reference librarian in a Midwest library, using the pseudonym 'Ref Grunt,' posted these transactions daily to an online blog. These blogs are published here in unexpurgated form..." Indeed, we get text message size nuggets such as "An Internet terminal crashes. 'Grant books are over here, right?' Consumer Reports for lawn mowers. Train schedules. Books on leadership. You need to type @ after your username, sir. Asbestos information, but she wants the other side of the argument. The third request for divorce forms today. He did not read asign, the copier took his money, and he's mad at me." Funny. But to anyone who doesn't work at a reference desk? Maybe not. You just gotta experience it yourself for the full effect.

Fly Away Home (audiobook)

Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner


I can't say enough how plesantly surprised I was by this book. I'd not read any of Weiner's previous novels so I decided to try the latest in audiobook. Sylvie Woodruff, a 60ish Senator's wife from New York City, finds her life torn apart when she learns (via the television news) that her husband had an affair with a much younger legislative aide. While the mother deals with that crisis, her twenty-something daughters deal with crises of their own. None of the storylines are trite, and none are easily wrapped up. I'm ready to read her backlist!

Elegies for the Brokenhearted

Elegies for the Brokenhearted by Christie Hodgen


Elegies for the Brokenhearted is an original book about some common topics--love, family, and loss. Hodgens spins five little stories together about different people in Mary Murphy's life, and through the stories of these people, we follow Mary as she grows up a quiet, but insightful girl. The writing is beautiful, the stories are sad and shocking and true.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery (audiobook)


In this novel by French author Muriel Barbery, the two main characters become unlikely friends--Rene Michel, the 54-year-old concierge of an elite apartment building in Paris, and Paloma, the 12-year-old daughter of one of the building's rich tenants. This was basically one long diatribe against society's class system. Rene Michel is interesting, but Paloma and her melodramatic suicidal declarations are annoying. I expected more from this book after all the buzz it got at pub, but I was left disappointed.