New and Leisurely Reading @Your Library -- and a book review, too!

Great news -- more than two dozen new titles have been added to the Leisure Reading Collection since last we posted.


Here are but a few of the newest titles:

Farewell, My Subaru: An Epic Adventure in Local Living, by Doug Fine
The House at Riverton, by Kate Morton
Armageddon in Retrospect, by Kurt Vonnegut
Certain Girls, by Jennifer Weiner
Unlocked: A Journey from Prison to Proust, by Louis Ferrante
Quicksand, by Iris Johansen

And, if that is not enough, our own Edward Mandity (Information and Instructional Technology Librarian) has written a review of another Leisure Reading Collection offering, The Somnambulist, by Jonathan Barnes.

Give it up for Eddie's review...

The Somnambulist: A bizarre, not so modern mystery

Edward Moon is a "conjurer", an entertainer struggling to preserve what little reputation and income he has left. Among polite society he is now more likely considered a laughingstock than the once promising investigator propelled by his sharpened abilities of examination. Considered past his prime, his Las Vegas-styled evening show, set in Victorian era London, is now only attracting the fanatically faithful. So Moon, along with the Somnambulist, his giant, deathly pale, almost human-like partner in crime-solving and fright inducing sidekick, is bored. Yet that is about to change.

As far as crime solving duos go could this very well be the Victorian era predecessor to our modern day Starsky and Hutch? As far as mysteries go, probably not so much, as Sherlock and Watson might have proven a more apt comparison. At least Watson talked. The Somnambulist, on the other hand, doesn't; he would rather accompany Moon silently grasping his pints of milk.

If such a bizarre introduction to The Somnambulist intrigues you, then by all means delve deeper than the surface just scratched, as this book by Jonathan Barnes turns more curious by the page. But it is as entertaining as it is strange; Moon is as stubbornly cynical, full of snark as he is determined to solve what is the most important threat facing London. And the Somnambulist is, well, the Somnambulist. But will that threat be The Directorate, an assassin known only as The Mongoose, the fun-loving Prefects, or the very literary Chairman itself? Full of intrigue, murder, and curiosity, this story is all wrapped up into a very sharply-written novel. It's dark, creepy, and humorously suspenseful. And it's only the first novel written by Barnes.


Give yourself a break during the hectic, end-of-semester crush and stop by to check out the Leisure Reading Collection. You'll find it on the second floor of the library, on the north wall. We can't let Eddie have all the fun -- or all the books!

Read on...