FUTURE SNOW DAY READS

F H674s Hitchcock, Jane Stanton. Social Crimes .
A delicious and wicked brew of social satire and suspense about “New York Upper Crusters”, Social Crimes tells the tale of Jo Slater, a socialite who is abruptly unseated from her throne of money, power, and privilege when her husband dies and leaves his total estate to his mistress. Not to be undone, Jo taps all of her connections to establish a career as a decorator for nouveau riche New Yorkers. Her husband's mistress, however, is not quite finished with Jo until she has lost her new career and is forced to sell carpets on Lexington and 26 th street. Obsessed with recovering her fortune and more importantly her position as queen of “le tout New York”, Jo hatches an audacious scheme of fraud and murder. Does she pull it off? Check this one out or put it on your must-read list.

F T195l Tartt, Donna . The Little Friend.
A crime of enormous magnitude transforms a Mississippi family forever. On a lovely summer afternoon during the sixties, nine-year-old Robin Cleve Dufrenes is found hanging from a dark Tupelo tree in his own backyard. His four-year-old sister, Allison, and toddler sister, Harriett, were present. The crime has never been solved and it succeeds in destroying Robin's family. His mother becomes a lethargic recluse, his father leaves town and his remaining siblings are in the care of a Black maid and matriarchy of female relatives including a forceful grandmother and her three sisters. The book moves to the early seventies and is viewed through the eyes of willful and smart twelve-year-old Harriett who has decided to solve the murder of her brother. Without a shred of evidence, she decides that he is Danny Ratcliff, a member of a degenerate redneck family whose members are rotating residents of the local penitentiary. With the help of her “little friend” Heley, Harriett stalks the Ratcliffs and crosses the line of knowledge into what is truly evil. Tartt sprinkles her novel with wonderful comedic touches that counterbalance the suspense and foreboding that permeate the story like a swamp filled with water moccasins. I wouldn't be surprised if this title doesn't win a Pulitzer. It is a read-alike for those of you who liked To Kill a Mockingbird and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café

F S727f Southgate, Martha . The Fall of Rome .
To fulfill his parents' and dead brother's dream, Rashid Bryson agrees to attend Chelsea High School, an elite, predominantly white boarding school in upstate New York. But he is unprepared to deal with the changes in himself, the ignorance and bias of others, as well as the confusion about who is a friend and who is a foe. The only Black professor at Chelsea, Mr. Washington, is a “Clarence Thomas” like opponent of affirmative action and racial solidarity. Fed up with so many ambiguities of boarding school life, Rashid finally explodes and calls out Mr. Washington after receiving a blatantly unfair grade in Latin. Their meeting reminds Mr. Washington of something from his past that is the real source of their incompatibility. The tension builds in this carefully constructed novel toward a surprising, but believable ending.

810.9 B66 Osen, Diane. Editor. The Book That Changed My Life: Interviews with National Book Award Winners and Finalists .
Diane Osen has chosen wisely in this short compendium about writers, their early careers, and their favorite books. All of the authors have a strong body of work and were either NBA (not basketball folks) winners or finalists. Don De Lillo, author of White Noise (NBA 1985) didn't write at all as a child nor did he read much. Instead, he was a big radio fan. One day while in Mt. Desert Island, Maine, he saw a street filled with elms, and maples, and old homes and simply felt compelled to write about it. Cynthia Ozick, on the other hand, wrote and read from the earliest age. She always wanted to be writer and was influenced by E. M. Forester, Henry James, George, Eliot, and Anton Chekov. Each interview closes with a list of the author's work and the titles that the author has enjoyed. A wonderful treasure trove for book lovers.

F W651j Wiesel, Elie. The Judges .
Five strangers, from an Israeli airliner bound for Tel Aviv, are stranded during a snowstorm and are taken to a stranger's house to harbor the blizzard. Once inside, they are introduced to a man who calls himself the Judge and declares that one of them will die before morning. He supplies them with paper and asks that they take stock of their lives and discern what makes them want to live. At various times members of the group refuse to comply with the Judges demands, but eventually each member examines his or her life. An archivist has discovered a dangerous document and wishes to reveal it to someone in the Israeli government. Yoav, a dying Israeli commando, thinks that each man is his own executioner and victim. Razziel, has lost his memory to torturers and needs to meet a man who can unlock his past. Bruce, an unrepentant playboy, is the only member of the group who keeps defying the Judge while Claudia, a theatrical agent, keeps complying with the Judge to survive the night. As they talk about themselves and recall crucial turning points in their lives, Wiesel weaves in Jewish history and mysticism with their memories and raises essential questions about life and death, memory and guilt and forgiveness.

PB LEO Leon, Donna. Death at La Fenice and Aqua Alta.
Just in from London, these contemporary Agatha Christie-like Venetian mysteries will make you want to apply for a Katharine Lee Grant just to visit some of the spots that Detective Guido Brunetti frequents to solve the crimes. The first, Death at La Fenice , involves the murder of the Opera Conductor by coffee-laced cyanide during the intermission. Prime suspects are Flavia Petrelli (whose lesbian liaison with a wealthy American archaeologist Brett Lynch, the conductor was threatening to expose) and director Franco Santore (furious over the conductor's refusal to honor a bargain to find a job for Santore's protégé). Aqua Alta takes place during a dreary Venetian winter when the siren sounds regularly to warn the locals that they are about to be living only on the second floor of their residences as the Adriatic pours in to flood their houses. This time Brett is the victim of a terrible assault because some Palermo Mafioso are smuggling in stolen artifacts from her Chinese archaeological site. I've got several of these in stock, but since they are only published in Europe, your addiction to them will have to be fed by librarians or travelers who are willing stuff them in their suitcases like yours truly.

614.57 P939 Preston, Richard. The Demon in the Freezer: A True Story .
On December 9, 1979, smallpox, the most deadly human virus, ceased to exist in nature. After eradication, it was confined to freezers located in just two posts on earth: the CDC in Atlanta and the Maximum Containment Laboratory in Siberia. Because these final samples were not destroyed at that time, secret stockpiles of small pox surely exist. A sizeable amount of the former Soviet Union's stockpile is unaccounted for, leading to fears that the virus has fallen into the hands of terrorist groups who are willing to use it as a weapon. Scarier yet, some may even be to genetically develop a strain that is resistant to vaccines. Preston writes about this problem in a style that makes the book read like a Crichton thriller. Unfortunately, we can't console ourselves with the thought that it is fiction. The New York Times Book Review stated that the last chapter should probably not have been published because it is too instructional for potential terrorists. This book is a quick read and will help you decide whether or not to get a smallpox vaccination.

F G549t Glass, Julia. Three Junes . (Winner of the 2002 National Book award for Fiction)
Take your time with this multi-layered story and savor the passages that evoke smells, tastes and sounds. You'll be transported to Greece, rural Scotland, Greenwich Village and the Hamptons during three summers to experience the relationships among the McLeod family. Scotsman Paul McLeod, the father of three grown sons, is on a group tour of the Greek islands and reminisces about how he met his deceased wife and created their family. Then you'll experience the world through the eyes of his eldest son Fenno, a gay bookstore owner who thinks that he is free from any emotional entanglement. And finally you'll meet Fern, an artist and book designer who becomes captivated by Fenno just as much as she captivated his father while they were in Greece. Glass's debut novel consists of memorable characters who explore the labyrinth of the human heart and how people shape one another's fate.

F P996e Pym, Barbara. Excellent Women .
We've all known “excellent women” in our lives – you know, those kind, sensible ladies who oversee charitable functions and are always willing to offer a sympathetic ear. Thirty-year-old Mildred Lathbury is just such a woman, quietly living out her spinsterish existence in post- WWII London, until things are suddenly turned upside down when the flat below hers is let to a young anthropologist, Helena Napier, and her husband, Rocky. As Mildred finds herself drawn into the Napiers' irregular world, swept into all sorts of unfamiliar experiences, she begins to reevaluate her former position as one of life's onlookers. When the Napiers eventually move away, it seems as if life is destined to return to its old patterns…but Mildred may surprise even herself in the end. This novel is a charming, mannered work, but it's also one of sharp wittiness and surprising depth; Mildred's wry observations on life, love, and marriage will keep you absorbed until the last page.

Compiled by K. Craver
1/16/2003