April 2008

Spring, which seems finally to be on our sodden door-steps, is the season of renewal, rebirth, promises to ourselves, new beginnings, new projects dreamt of all winter.  It seems only logical to choose a group of new titles that reflect this rather magical time of the year in one way or another.

FICTION

Ah, mud season.  Here in our well-paved suburbs, we don’t know much about this annual phenomenon, but ask anyone in our northern neighbor states, and they’ll tell you to keep the tire chains handy ‘til June.  Hillary Jordan takes us to the Mississippi Delta in 1946, where her city-bred central character is dealing not only with a farm she knows nothing about, but also with war veterans and the racial tensions of that time and place.  This book received the Bellwether Prize, which was founded by Barbara Kingsolver to recognize literature of social responsibility. 

Although the dryness of winter air makes the sky so clear, it’s also so cold!  So most of us, rather than bundle up in coats and blankets to go out in January, wait until the weather is warmer to look up and see a small portion of what our ancestors saw before light pollution. And some of us don’t just look up at the stars, we long to be among them. So far, we must go there only on the words of the science fiction writers rather than on interstellar ships. Let Allen Steele take you as far as you can see on a clear night.

NONFICTION

It’s time, if not already too late, to give thought to that garden you’ve always meant to plant or improved.   If you are interested enough to read this little blurb, you have probably decided why you want a garden.  The what, how, when and where are all there for you in Darrell Trout’s book, specifically geared to our corner of the world. 

The season has already begun.  The Sox played in Japan, and now the Fenway Park opener is being played as this is being written [the score is Sox 2, Detroit O at the bottom of the third].  Michael Holley, who knows Boston sports, has written the story of the new Red Sox, as managed by Tony Francona. 

LARGE PRINT

“It was so warm today!  I was on cloud nine. I was in seventh heaven!”  James Patterson’s book isn’t  about the weather, any more than any of the other titles on this list is. But the idea of seventh heaven is an old one, appearing in ancient astronomy as the sun, the moon, and the five visible planets. It appears in both Jewish mysticism and Islam as the highest of 7 levels of heaven, although each defines them differently. It has entered the vernacular as I used it in the first line.  And I am. 

Compulsion is defined in Webster’s Unabridged as “an an act of compelling : a driving by force, power, pressure, or necessity …”  We find ourselves compelled not only to read Jonathan Kellerman’s new book, but also to be outside, to plant our gardens, to notice the crocus and daffodil shoots, to find new authors to add to our personal lists of favorites. 

AUDIOBOOKS

If spring is indeed nearly upon us, then the horror of killer heat is also close – closer than it used to be, when spring was a season of more than a few days.  Linda Fairstein’s protagonist is tough, smart Manhattan District Attorney Alex Cooper.   For her, each case is a new beginning.  It’s clear that a lot of Sharon readers like her books; maybe this is a new author for you?

 Recently chosen by Oprah Winfrey for her club, this audiobook is read by the author.  Among self-realization books, the options are legion.  From Esalen to  “I’m okay, you’re okay,” to Andrew Weil, and so on, nearly everyone who wants to get reacquainted with himself or build a new self to present to the world can find a set of strategies.  Mr. Tolle’s books are predicated on the not-unreasonable idea that ending conflict within ourselves can lead to ending conflict in the world.  That may be a simplistic statement, but all journeys begin with a single step.