What will you read next? …Wait, I am still trying to catch up!
Just wanted to take a moment and wish you all a happy and healthy holiday season and a great start to 2012. It has been an exciting year in the world of library marketing and we were fortunate enough to share many unforgettable titles with you this year. Of course, we will be starting off the new year immediately with can’t miss page-turners, like The Dressmaker, The Fallback Plan, and The Orphan Master’s Son. So make sure to get to those books that have been piling up on the nightstand for months and months of 2011.
I didn’t want to go into January too far behind- so I did get to a few titles in the past few months that I had been meaning to read all year- and if you haven’t read them just yet, definitely carry them into 2012! Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan I listened to on Audio Book– it was so good that I was actually hoping for more traffic on my way home from work- I couldn’t wait to get back in the car each day so I could see in what ways Alice would infuriate someone in her family, oh how she reminded me of my own grandmother! And to see how Maggie handled dealing with a boyfriend that just couldn’t be who she needed. I was obsessed with the Kellehers- obsessed long after the seventeen hours of the audio book – one day I even missed the exit for work because I was so enthralled in the reunion between Alice, Kathleen and Ann Marie- ugh- sometimes you really do just need to squash someone’s tomato plants!
Next up on my “hurry and up read before the end of 2011” list was The Paris Wife. I don’t know if I have the right words to describe how beautifully written I thought this book was- after meeting Paula McLainlast year at ALA, Midwinter- I knew the book would be special- but even still it far surpassed my expectations. She captured the love affair, the good and the dysfunctional of Ernest and Hadley so intimately you almost felt like she was there witnessing the entire experience through both of their half-drunken minds. And I must admit I am semi-permanently saddened that a man that could write so beautifully could never capture any inner contentment of his own- don’t we all know someone just like that? The late night drinks with Hadley and Ernest, (or Tatie and Tatie) the train rides, the long letters, the violent bull fights and the famous friendships they made have stayed with me, every detail…so much so that I have started calling my nephew “Bumby” and I don’t plan on stopping!
And other than some of the other titles that I have already expressed my undying love for this year, such as; Sisterhood Everlasting (Oh How I missed Lena, Carmen, Tibby and Bridget!)Among the Wonderful, (making the odd ordinary and the ordinary odd) The Art of Hearing Heartbeats, (reaffirming the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.) Marzi (moving story and images of an ordinary girl in turbulent times.) and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, (For 70 years, it was the last day of their lives!) I am still trying to get one more in under-the-wire. Vaclav & Lena.
Again, listening on audio book , I am already about three hours into the lives of Vaclav & Lena, and I am sure that I will be saddened to say good-bye to them as well. The thought of that one friend that makes all of life seem bearable, and brings the rest of all the craziness into balance, well that is enough for me… I may have to take the long way home this week to finish it up- being in the car has never been so fascinating!
Here’s is to hoping that you have enjoyed the best of 2011, and that you will be ready for the best of 2012- even if you have to squeeze those last books in before the end of the year, or carry a few over with you- no one will tell!
Let us know what books are on your own personal “hurry and up read before the end of 2011” list, we will try and not be intimidated by it!
Happy Holidays!
~Kelly