After hearing the interview with the author on public radio, I thought this powerful book would be about the complexities of race: black children raised by white parents, and their not fitting into either the white or black community. But it was so much more than that. The story begins as brothers, Achilles and Troy, return from the war in Afghanistan to learn that their father has just died. Their mother hands them sealed envelopes from their father, telling them about their birth parents. Achilles can’t open his; Troy does, reads it, and then leaves immediately for parts unknown. Achilles is the older and had always been Troy’s protector. The rest of the book is Achilles’ obsessive search for his brother, following tips that Troy had been seen in various cities. The writing is spiral and can be very confusing at times. Much of it covers incidents that occurred in Afghanistan — sometimes in the form of memories, dreams or hallucinations in the present, without clarification as to which. But they reveal the most intimate thoughts and emotions (or lack of them) at the time. This story has given me a much clearer picture of the brainwashing that must prepare recruits for war-readiness, the horror they must endure, and then the abrupt transition they face when coming home to loving people who have no basis of comparison in their own lives. Although billed as a novel, this book reads like an autobiography. I feel that Hold It ‘Til It Hurts is a book that all of us who have never been to war should read for better understanding.

Susan Beard ]]> http://rutlandfree.org/readers-resources/readers-blog/patron-book-review/feed/ 0 http://rutlandfree.org/readers-resources/readers-blog/50-sha/ http://rutlandfree.org/readers-resources/readers-blog/50-sha/#comments Fri, 12 Oct 2012 16:02:49 +0000 Lyndsey http://rutlandfree.org/?p=4060 Are you on the waiting list for 50 Shades of Grey? Can’t get enough of Christian Grey? Here are some books that you might like!

Sweet Surrender by Maya Bank

Searching for the man who had killed his partner, Dallas cop Gray Montgomery follows a trail of clues that lead to a link between the murderer and Faith, a beautiful stranger, but when he tries to get close to her to uncover the truth, he discovers that his actions have now made Faith a target.

Obsession by Gloria Vanderbilt

New York social maven Priscilla Bingham discovers a hidden cache of letters that reveal her late husband’s affair with a sophisticated dominatrix who has recorded the intimate details of their relationship, a finding with which Priscilla becomes increasingly obsessed.

Bared to You by Sylvia Day

Eva Trammel, plagued by her own insecurities, is drawn into an intense, obssessive relationship with the wealthy and arrogant Gideon Cross.

Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey

The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by A.N. Roquelaure

This retelling of the traditional Sleeping Beauty fairytale explores its undeniable connection to sexual desire. Here the Prince awakens Beauty, not with a kiss, but with sexual initiation. His reward for ending the hundred years of enchantment is Beauty’s complete and total enslavement to him.

The Beauty of Surrender by Eden Bradley

A master of Shibari, the ancient art of erotic restraint, Marina has never hesitated to dominate anyone. Until she meets James, a dark, gorgeous, towering journalist.

Its coming up on the one year anniversary of Hurricane Irene. We wanted to share with you some of the books published over the last year about Irene and Vermont.

The Wrath of Irene: Vermont’s Imperfect Storm of 2011 by M. Dickey Drysdale
On August 28, 2011 Hurricane Irene, now diminished to a tropical storm, arrived in Vermont. Her once mighty winds were now little more than a stiff breeze and yet the storm drenched the state with over eight inches of rain, overwhelming mountain streams and creating ribbons of destruction that swept away homes, bridges, and roads. While damages were statewide, the region hardest hit was the watershed of the White River where entire communities were cut off from the rest of the world. How these communities responded is a story of courage and cooperation, revealing a side of the human condition that isn’t seen often on the evening news. This is the story of Irene–the before, during, and after–as it appeared originally on the pages of one of the nation’s great weekly newspapers, The Herald of Randolph.

A Mighty Storm by Yvonne Daley
Tropical Storm Irene roared into Vermont in the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 28, 2011 while many were still asleep. By morning, it was pouring up to 10 inches of rain onto the spine of the tiny state’s Green Mountains. Twelve hours later Irene was gone, but in many towns the destruction was nearly total – and many small communities were completely cut off from the outside world. What happened next was not what you might think. Not only did the people in these tiny outposts and isolated communities work together to rescue the stranded and begin rebuilding roads, salvaging what they could from debris, but they rediscovered collective bonds of strength and resiliency that lie within all of us.

Goodnight Irene by Craig Brandon, Nicole Garman, and Michael Ryan
“Good Night Irene” manages to convey in powerful ways the storm’s fury and the drama of the people caught up in it. Another thing that emerges in clearer light through the book is how widespread and monumental Irene’s swath was. In the immediate aftermath, folks had so much to do in their own communities that a wider look was impossible. With much work still to do, that broader perspective is still difficult. “Good Night Irene” accomplished that.

The Year of the Storms by Candace Page
A book of pictures of the devastation of Irene and the resilience of Vermonters.

Prime Suspect: Helen Mirren stars as a female police detective investigates a series of serial murders while dealing with sexist hostility from her male comrades.

Luther follows the cases of a troubled yet brilliant English police detective, DCI John Luther. Separated from his wife, whom he loves passionately, he is torn between an unrelenting approach to solving serial killings and his attempts to rekindle his marriage. Luther is a highly charged emotional man who is not above stretching the law to solve a case or save a life.

Dalziel & Pascoe The blunt-talking Detective Superintendent Andy Dalziel does not suffer fools gladly, but he has even more trouble with what he call the “smart arses” of this world. So when the inexperienced Peter Pascoe joins his team at Mid-Yorkshire CID, the omens don’t look good. Pascoe is one of the new breed of career police officers, armed with a degree, a caring attitude and a sharp brain. But just as Pascoe is surprised by the intuitive methods of his brash boss, so too does Dalziel begin to recognize the merits of his Detective Inspector…

Trial & Retribution In this Law & Order-like British series, Lynda La Plante follows cases from the commission of the crime to the trial of the accused. She examines grueling, pressure-packed police investigations in all their gritty detail. Going behind closed doors, she reveals the strategies of both prosecution and defense as they maneuver toward a final verdict.

Case Histories Jackson Brodie used to be a soldier in the British army and then an officer in the Lothian and Borders Police. Now the tough detective has turned private investigator, compelled to bring peace to victims and their families. Based in Edinburgh, the good-hearted Brodie finds himself looking into everything from lost cats to wayward spouses and killers on the run. He does a lot of running himself, partly to unwind from the stresses of his work, but mostly to escape the memories of his own traumatic past.

Waking the Dead Det. Supt. Peter Boyd (played by Trevor Eve) is the leader of a multi-discipline police team of detectives and scientists, the Cold Case Squad, which investigates old, unsolved murder cases using modern methods and new technology that may not have been available during the original investigation.

The Revealers is a novel about three 7th graders who are being bullied and ostracized in school, and about the positive, creative ways they figure out to deal with it. True Shoes is a sequel, involving the same three kids and some of their friends, focusing on cliques and the social pressures on 8th graders. The stories are told in the first person by Russell Trainor (one of the original three kids). His thoughts, emotions, confusion, feelings of justice and loyalty, initial sense of helplessness, and need for keeping silent are beautifully described. The dialog just couldn’t be better.

Even though these two books were initially written for young readers, I think they should be given as much general public exposure as possible. I was lucky not to have experienced much of that negativity growing up, so, as an adult, I have found these books extremely enlightening. Even if I had known what it was like, I still wouldn’t have known how today’s technology has made it MUCH WORSE. Intimidation can be anonymous and reputations instantly ruined through the spreading of lies via group e-mailings.

You may be, or know, one of those kids who is going through their difficult teens and suffering the additional burdens of bullying and social pressures. These books can help.

Here is Doug’s website: www.dougwilhelm.com – Susan Beard

The Witness by Nora Roberts

The Wind through the Keyhole by Stephen King

The Innocent by David Baldacci

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

Young, Moira. Blood Red Road. 2011.

In a distant future, eighteen-year-old Lugh is kidnapped, and while his twin sister Saba and nine-year-old Emmi are trailing him across bleak Sandsea they are captured, too, and taken to brutal Hopetown, where Saba is forced to be a cage fighter until new friends help plan an escape.

Bacigalupi, Paolo. Ship Breaker. 2010.

In a futuristic world, teen Nailer scavenges copper wiring from grounded oil tankers for a living, but when he finds a beached clipper ship with a girl in the wreckage, he has to decide if he should strip the ship for its wealth or rescue the girl. Winner of the 2011 Michael Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature.

Condie, Ally. Matched. 2010.

All her life, Cassia has never had a choice. The Society dictates everything: when and how to play, where to work, where to live, what to eat and wear, when to die, and most importantly to Cassia as she turns 17, who to marry. When she is Matched with her best friend Xander, things couldn’t be more perfect. But why did her neighbor Ky’s face show up on her match disk as well?

Grant, Michael. Gone. 2008.

In a small town on the coast of California, everyone over the age of 14 suddenly disappears, setting up a battle between the remaining town residents and the students from a local private school, as well as those who have “The Power” and are able to perform supernatural feats and those who do not.

Ness, Patrick. The Knife Of Never Letting Go. 2008.

Pursued by power-hungry Prentiss and mad minister Aaron, Todd and Viola set out across New World searching for answers about his colony’s true past and seeking a way to warn the ship bringing hopeful settlers from the Old World.

Oliver, Lauren. Delirium. 2011.

Lena looks forward to receiving the government-mandated cure that prevents the delirium of love and leads to a safe, predictable, and happy life, until ninety-five days before her eighteenth birthday and her treatment, when she falls in love

Roth, Veronica. Divergent. 2011.

In a future Chicago, sixteen-year-old Beatrice Prior must choose among five predetermined factions to define her identity for the rest of her life, a decision made more difficult when she discovers that she is an anomaly who does not fit into any one group, and that the society she lives in is not perfect after all.

Lu, Marie. Legend. 2011

Day is one of the totalitarian Republic’s most wanted criminals; June has a personal vendetta against him. When their paths cross by chance, June—unaware of Day’s true identity—is attracted to his good looks, charm, and courage. In trilogy opener Legend, Marie Lu crafts a dystopian world rife with inequality and rebellion, with personal dynamics complicated by romance and betrayal

FIC Patterson

FIC Rice

FIC Crombie

FIC Byatt

974.502 Bar

306.2097 Gol

If you are anything like me, you were addicted to Downton Abbey after the first episode. Having just watched the last episode of the 2nd season I don’t know if I can wait until season 3 airs! Here are some other titles to tied you over until the next season of Downton or to prepare you if you are on the holds list!

The Forsyte Saga DVD Drama
In Victorian England, Soames Forsyte, a man from a wealthy and arrogant family, meets a falls in love with Irene Herron, a poor woman. After taking her step-mother’s advice, Irene marries Soames. After four years of marriage, Irene is not happy because she does not love him. Soames tries to win her affections by giving her the things he believes every woman wants, dresses and jewels. He can not give her the one thing her heart desires, freedom. This series chronicles three generations of the Forsyte family from the 1870s to the 1920s.

Howard’s End DVD Drama
Encounter of three social classes of the England at the beginning of the century : the victorian capitalists (the Wilcoxes) considering themselves as aristocrats, whose only god is money ; the enlightened bourgeois (the Schlegels), humanistic and philanthropist ; and the workers (the Basts), fighting to survive. The Schlegel sisters’ humanism will be torn apart as they try both to softly knock down the Wilcox’s prejudices and to help the Basts.

The Remains of the Day DVD Drama
A rule bound head butler’s world of manners and decorum in the household he maintains is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper who falls in love with him in post-WWI Britain. The possibility of romance and his master’s cultivation of ties with the Nazi cause challenge his carefully maintained veneer of servitude.

Upstairs, Downstairs DVD Drama
In 1936, Sir Hallam Holland and his pretty young wife Lady Agnes return from a diplomatic posting abroad and take up residence at 165 Eaton Place, formerly the home of the Bellamy family but vacant for several years. By chance, they ask Rose Buck, herself a long-time servant in the Bellamy household, to find them a suitable staff. In the end, Rose herself joins them as the Housekeeper. The 1930s are a difficult time in England. The Depression has taken its toll with high levels of unemployment. Fascism, which has become popular on the Continent in Italy and Germany, is also finding followers in the UK with Oswald Mosely’s British Union of Fascists. As the new staff begin their daily work, the downstairs family begins to take shape.

And here are some books to check out:

Fall of Giants by Ken Follet FIC Follet
Follows the fates of five interrelated families–American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh–as they move through the dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women’s suffrage.

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear FIC Winspear
Private detective Maisie Dobbs must investigate the reappearance of a dead man who turns up at a cooperative farm called the Retreat that caters to men who are recovering their health after World War I.

The Children’s Book by A.S. Byatt FIC Byatt
A tale spanning the end of the Victorian era through World War I finds famous children’s book author Olive Wellwood taking in a runaway and exposing the boy to dark truths about her family’s summer bacchanals at their rambling country house.

Using the Vermont Cheese Council’s “Cheese Trail” as a guide, this book gives profiles of 33 different specialty cheesemakers in the state. Though it is admittedly a cheese marketing book, drawing heavily upon the cheesemakers’ own words to describe their products, the producer information is representative of how robust and diverse the artisan cheese sector is in Vermont. For someone looking for recipes, this is not your book, but if you want to know what you’re looking for when you taste Vermont cheeses or when you go to the cheese shop, this is a wonderful primer.

Cheesemonger: a life on the wedge, by Gordon Edgar
Call Number: 641.373 EDG

I was reluctant to pick this up because it is a food memoir, not a cookbook nor a book about food, but about the author’s relationship to food. Once I started reading it though, I found it lacking the snobbishness that books about wine and cheese sometimes have, like being a personal confidant of the cheese guy at the deli counter. The author is the cheese buyer for a worker-owned food cooperative, and he devotes equal time in the book to talking about the particulars of cheesemaking, talking about worker owned cooperatives, and food politics. Very informative reading about cheese!

Reviewed by Ed Graves