Pember Library

Earlier this week, the Pulitzer prize for fiction went to “A Visit from the Goon Squad” by Jennifer Egan (Alfred A. Knopf).

Back in 2007, One-Minute Book Reviews’ Janice Harayda put up a list of 10 great novels that didn’t win and which books beat them.

Among the losers: Main Street, The Great Gatsby and For Whom the Bell Tolls. Other losers and the books that defeated them appears here.

It is the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. Many new books are being written and others being re-published to take advantage of people’s interest in this period of American history.

So far, two of the new books have been added to the Pember collection and a third is on the way:

1. Father Abraham : Lincoln and his sons by Harold Holzer.

• Publisher’s description: Abraham Lincoln was devoted to his country — and to his family. President Lincoln called America a “House Divided” but he struggled to keep his own house united. It would prove to be an impossible task. Sickness, loss and family tensions overwhelmed Abraham, Mary, and their four sons. Opening up the Lincoln family album, noted Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer highlights the family’s heartaches and happiness. Illustrated with archival photographs and backed by extensive primary source material, this compelling portrait illuminates the private lives of four generations of a prominent American family.

2. Discovering the Civil War by The National Archives Experience’s Discovering the Civil War Exhibition Team

• Publisher’s description: A generously illustrated book commemorating the 150th anniversary of the outbreak of the Civil War -Foreword by leading documentary filmmaker, Ken Burns, creator of the award-winning film The Civil War -Accompanies a major exhibition showing at the National Archives Building, Washington, DC, November 10, 2010 – April 17, 2011; Henry Ford Museum Dearborn, MI, Summer 2011; Houston Museum of Natural Science, TX, Fall 2011 through Winter 2012; Durham Museum, Omaha, NE, Fall 2013 Discovering the Civil War peels back 150 years of accumulated analysis, interpretation, and opinion to reveal a Civil War that is little-known. Featuring over 250 letters, diaries, photos, maps, petitions, receipts, patents, amendments and proclamations from the incomparable holdings of the National Archives, it takes a fresh look at the Civil War through little-known stories, seldom-seen documents, and unusual perspectives. Grouped into themes such as Spies and Conspiracies, Prisoners and Casualties, Global War, and Raising Armies, this new book looks beyond the battlefield to the experiences of ordinary people – be they the names of men listed in the substitute book who were paid to replace draftees, or firsthand accounts of the Battle of Gettysburg at the Gettysburg veterans 75th anniversary reunion in 1938. Famous documents, such as the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, are juxtaposed with innovative wartime patents, including a multipurpose device that could serve as a tent, knapsack, or blanket, and a message in Chinese script asking for Confederate ships to be barred from Chinese ports – proving that the Civil War became a truly international struggle.

3. Lincoln on war by Abraham Lincoln

• Publisher’s description: President Lincoln used his own weapons—his words— to fight the Civil War as brilliantly as any general who ever took the field. In Lincoln on War, historian Harold Holzer gathers and interprets Lincoln’s speeches, letters, memoranda, orders, telegrams, and casual remarks, organizing them chronologically and allowing readers to experience Lincoln’s growth from an eager young Indian War officer to a middle-aged dove congressman to a surprisingly hardened and determined hawk as the Union’s commander-in-chief.We observe a man willing to sacrifice life and treasure in unprecedented quantities, to risk wounding the pride of vain generals, and even to mislead the public if it meant the preservation of an unbreakable union of states, the destruction of slavery, and the restoration of America as an example to inspire the world. This volume covers strategy; tactics; the endless hiring, sustaining, motivating, and dismissal of commanders; military discipline; and military technology. Modern commanders-in-chief have repeatedly quoted Lincoln to justify their own wars, so it behooves us as citizens to know Lincoln’s record well. From masterpieces such as the Gettysburg Address to lesser-known meditations on God’s purposes, Lincoln on War is the first book to highlight exclusively Lincoln’s sublime and enduring words on war.

I have read the first four of Louise Penny’s Quebec-set mysteries and thoroughly enjoyed them. The sixth book, Bury Your Dead got starred reviews in all the pre-pub journals and made a number of “Best of 2010” lists.  Louise Penny’s website says “Like the rest of the Chief Inspector Gamache novels, BURY YOUR DEAD is a murder mystery. But it’s not actually about murder. It’s not about blood, but what’s in the marrow. What we harbor and hide deep down. Our terrors, but also our grace.”

When asked, “should the books be read in order?”  Ms. Penny replies “…  while it’s not necessary to read them in any particular order (they’re designed to be self-standing) there is quite a strong character development arc. I think you’d enjoy the books even more if read in order. ”

From the first to the most recent:

• Still Life
• A Fatal Grace
• The Cruelest Month
• A Rule Against Murder
• The Brutal Telling
• Bury Your Dead

The random number generator tells me that Maryann A Cadella Dodge has won the Stephen King book. Stop in this week to pick it up!

SALS has purchased new eBook versions of children’s and young adult graphic novel titles. They are accessed through OverDrive just like the downloadable audiobooks. Just click on the OverDrive “Downland audiobooks & eBooks” icon.