All posts by Deanna Parsi
Read This Next…Notes from the Reader’s Advisory Team
With a whole library of titles to choose from, sometimes it is hard to decide what to read next. Everyone has a different method of searching out their next title, whether it be browsing the stacks, asking friends for recommendations, or reading the latest book reviews. But did you know that CPL’s Reader’s Advisory team can help? Jessica and Deanna have created some tools that might aid you in your search, both in the library and on the website.
In the Library:
Displays: Adjacent to the fiction stacks, you will find several themed displays. We like to mix newer books with older titles from the stacks. Currently we have themes like “Spy Thrillers”, “Solving Crime With Your (Furry) Best Friend”, “Nigerian Authors”, and “School Daze”. Check back often as we like to rotate themes every few weeks to keep things fresh and interesting. We have also just added a few of our personal favorites to the Reader’s Advisory desk – if you see one of us sitting there, please say hello!
Shelftalkers: We realize that sometimes you are browsing the shelves for new books by your favorite authors, but alas, they are checked out just when you want them. We have created “While You Are Waiting” shelf-talkers, to give you some read-alike suggestions in the meantime. Find them around such authors as Louise Penny (shown), Kristin Hannah, Michael Connolly, Lee Child, and many more.
Bookmarks: Along the same lines as the shelf-talkers, we have created bookmarks for the hottest new titles with suggestions for reading while you wait. We also have bookmarks for the latest titles in Oprah’s Book Club, Reese’s Book Club, and the Today Show Book Club with Jenna. For those that like a nonfiction title now and then, we have some suggestions there too – from reading on How To Be an Antiracist to the 100th Anniversary of the Women’s Vote. Feel free to take one with you, whether it is to explore our suggestions or just to mark your place!
On our website:
Reading Room Blog: Well, if you are reading this, I guess you already know about our blog! We have recently revamped it, however, with regular weekly posts and new topics. You can hear about our While You Are Waiting suggestions (can you sense a theme with this?), be introduced to the Real Librarians of Chelmsford, learn about the hottest new titles in Bookmarked or Friday Fiction, and discover what we have to say in our catchall Read This Next entry. You will even sometimes find enticing, recipe-filled entries from our Bibliobites Book Group.
Bookmarked: Check out this short show on CTM TV, in which your intrepid Reader’s Advisory librarians talk about some of the new books that they have read or are anticipating reading. In the latest edition, we talk about books of the gothic persuasion, just in time for Halloween.
Book Groups: CPL has a book group for almost everyone – fiction readers, cooks, and knitters. Currently, the groups are meeting monthly via Zoom, but we are all looking forward to the time when we can meet in person again. Each of these groups meets at a set day and time every month, which we realize does not suit everyone’s schedule, so keep reading to learn about our new Classics Online Book Group!
Our New Book Group: We had a few goals in mind when creating the Classics Online Book Group. One is to give people the opportunity to participate in spirited book discussion from the comfort and safety of their own homes. Another is an acknowledgement that we don’t all have schedules that can easily accommodate a book group at a set time, so we have created a book group you can attend on your time. Lastly, we were talking about the classics – the ones we have read and the ones that we should have read – and figured that we were not alone in wanting to expand our literary education. Our first selection will be To Kill a Mockingbird – watch our Facebook page and the website for details!
Bookwise: If all this sounds great, but you want something more personalized to you, then check out Bookwise. As librarians, we are all avid readers and love to help people find something to read. This page is a place where we tell you what we like to read and what we are currently reading. If you see that someone has similar taste, or if you want to explore something new, we invite you to contact any one of us for reading suggestions.
So, come on into the library or check out all of our online tools on the READ IT tab – either way, we are happy to find ways to match you with your next great read!
While You Are Waiting…Lee Child
This latest edition of “While You Are Waiting” has me thinking about why we, as readers, like certain characters. For instance, I know that some of you are waiting for the latest Jack Reacher novel, The Sentinel, by Lee Child. I am too! I don’t know about you, but I like Reacher for his innate sense of right and wrong, and for his willingness to stand by those beliefs no matter the cost. As a rule-follower myself, I confess that I also get a vicarious thrill out of his blatant rule-breaking adventures. Finally, I like that although he is a thoroughly modern character, his living off the grid means that he is solving crimes without the benefit of cell phones, technology, and Google.
As you may have noticed by the book cover, Lee Child is sharing author credits on The Sentinel with his brother Andrew Child (who also writes under the name Andrew Grant). He has stated that he is “passing the baton” to his younger brother, and will gradually, over the next few novels, turn the writing of Reacher stories over to him. While we wait for this first effort, let me tell you about a few other characters that remind me of Reacher, which might help you pass the time until your turn on the reservation list comes around.
The Charlie Parker series by John Connolly
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Charlie Parker is a retired police detective turned private investigator who shares Reacher’s willingness to administer justice outside the lines of the law. Early in the series, we learn that Parker’s wife and young daughter are brutally murdered. He is tortured by the fact that he could not prevent their deaths and that he has not been able to find their killer. This series has a supernatural element to it, which grows stronger as the series progresses, and explores the big question of good vs. evil. The first book in the series is Every Dead Thing. |
The Orphan X series by Gregg Hurwitz
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Evan Smoak was part of a clandestine government program called the “Orphan” program, in which young boys and girls were recruited (not always willingly) and trained to be assassins. Smoak escapes from that life, and in atonement becomes The Nowhere Man, an alias under which he solves unsolvable problems for ordinary people in desperate trouble. The government, however, does not want to let him go, and is searching for him. Like Reacher, Smoak is no rule-follower, but unlike Reacher, he does utilize technology to his advantage, including a secret room behind his shower with all the latest gadgets. The first book in the series is Orphan X. |
The Peter Ash series by Nick Petrie
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Peter Ash is a former soldier of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He suffers severe PTSD which manifests itself as claustrophobia so bad that he cannot remain indoors for any amount of time. Ash goes off the grid, camping in the wilderness in the summer and sleeping in his truck in the winter. He is pulled back from the edge by the widow of a former fellow soldier seeking his help. Like the Reacher series, being off the grid means that Ash has to rely on his wits and his brawn instead of the latest technology. The first book in the series is The Drifter. |
The Jane Hawk series by Dean Koontz
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I don’t want you to think that men are the only ones that can break the rules! Jane Hawk’s husband has died – the official ruling is suicide but she knows otherwise. Her investigation will lead her to a shady government project and cause her to go on the run, a fugitive seeking truth and justice, not just for her husband, but for all whose lives have been ruined by those in power. Jane is a female Reacher, but with more resources and technology. The first book in the series is The Silent Corner. |
I could go on with other suggestions, but I hope these characters will hold you until the new Jack Reacher finds its way into your hands. If you would like to talk more about mysteries and thrillers, feel free to email me at dparsi@chelmsfordlibrary.org.
The Real Librarians of Chelmsford
What is the best way to get to know a librarian? By getting them to dish about books, of course! Each month, we will introduce you to one of the librarians of Chelmsford Public Library. This month, we talked to Vickie Turcotte, Assistant Director of Support Services.
Vickie has been the Head of Technical Services at CPL since 2001 and was promoted to Assistant Director in 2016. She and her team are the ones responsible for ordering and getting books, music and movies onto our shelves, so we are always extra nice to her! Vickie enjoys reading, games, scrapbooking, watching the occasional baseball game, but not cooking.
We asked Vickie…
What was your first library?
The Lowell Library – my grandfather taught me to sign my name in cursive when I was six so I could get my own card.
What is on your nightstand right now?
The Unidentified by Colin Dickie.
What book do you love to suggest to patrons?
Soul of an Octopus by Sy Montgomery – it’s truly amazing how intelligent these creatures are!
What are your top three “desert island” books?
The Stand by Stephen King
Cotillion by Georgette Heyer
The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
What is your favorite place to read?
Curled up on my couch at home, kitty by my side.
What book should be adapted to film but hasn’t been yet?
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
What is the last book that made you laugh or cry (or both!)?
Highfire by Eoin Colfer
Why do you love being a librarian?
It’s book heaven! So many things I never even knew I wanted to read!
Click the items below to find Vickie’s faves in the library!
Read This Next…Banned Books Week
September 27th – October 3rd is Banned Books Week. This year’s theme is “Censorship Is a Dead End. Find Your Freedom To Read”, definitely a theme that we as librarians can get behind!
Banned Books Week began in the early 1980’s, after the landmark Supreme Court case Island Trees School District v. Pico in 1982, which ruled that school officials couldn’t ban books in libraries simply because of their content. That same year, the American Booksellers Association (ABA) placed a banned books display at the entrance of their annual bookseller’s convention, sparking the idea for an annual Banned Books Week. Today, the American Library Association (ALA) is part of a coalition 
that promotes and supports Banned Books Week. In fact, the Banned Books page is one of the top two most popular pages on the ALA website: http://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks
Unfortunately, books are still regularly challenged and banned. A challenge is an “attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group”. A banning is the “removal of those materials”. Why might a book be challenged? The reasons are endless, but range from simple things like language to more complex arguments over racial, religious, and sexual themes.
Many of the classics that we all remember reading in high school English class have been through the challenge process. This includes titles such as To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
More recent titles might surprise you – books like The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, and the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, have all been challenged at some point.
Banned Books Week celebrates that, although challenged, the majority of these books remain available across the country. It also promotes awareness of censorship issues and highlights the efforts of libraries, bookstores, teachers, and community members who speak out for readers everywhere.
So, when thinking about your next book, consider picking up a banned book and celebrate your freedom to read!
While You Are Waiting…Louise Penny
As the newest member of the Readers Advisory team here at Chelmsford Public Library, I was asked to write an introductory blog post about what I am currently reading. Which led me to think about reading in the time of COVID. I do not know about you, but one of the things I missed the most during our “stay at home” order this past spring was the library. I was so happy when my local library started up curbside pickup that I took a picture – there were four books in that first stack, all of them new books by favorite authors that had come out while everything was closed. While things are better now, we still have to wait just a little longer for those new and popular books, so that we can read those books safely.
It is a strange new world of reading out there, but it does have its advantages. One of them is finding new authors to read – and we in Readers Advisory are here to help! I know some of you are waiting for the latest Armand Gamache novel, All the Devils Are Here, by Louise Penny. I am too! While we wait, I would like to recommend two other series that you might also like, and might help you pass the time until your turn on the reservation list comes around.
The Unquiet Dead by Ausma Zehanat Khan is the first in a series, set in Toronto, featuring detectives Esa Khattak and Rachel Getty. They are part of a Community Policing unit that specializes in minority-sensitive cases. In The Unquiet Dead, Esa and Rachel look into the death of a man that, on the surface, appears accidental. The more they learn about the victim, however, the more they suspect that he might not be a quiet art-loving Canadian citizen, but a war criminal with ties to the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War. Suddenly, his death does not seem accidental, and there are many who might wish him dead. The main narrative is interspersed with haunting stories about survivors of the Bosnian War, which tie back into the ending in a very satisfying way. I liked this book so much that I have read the next two in the series already – The Language of Secrets and Among the Ruins.
I like many things about this series. As in the Gamache novels, the interplay between the main characters is as important as the mystery itself. Esa Khattak is a complicated man, a Muslim and minority, attempting to navigate a sensitive job in a world where he does not always feel comfortable. Rachel Getty has her own troubles, including a long-missing brother and disquieting home life. Together, they make a formidable team. The other thing I really like about these books is the humanity and compassion that the author grants all of her characters – the good, the bad, and the somewhere in-between. This is not surprising, as the author holds a PhD in international human rights law. It adds an extra layer to the story, and often to the ending, which has left me thinking about each book long after I have finished reading
The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths is also first in a series, this one set on the windswept beaches and marshes of Norfolk, England. The main character is Dr. Ruth Galloway, a forensic archaeologist, who teaches at the local university and lives on the secluded marshes. Bones are discovered on the beach and Detective Chief Inspector Harry Nelson asks Ruth for her help in dating the remains. Nelson hopes they belong to Lucy Downes, a young girl who went missing ten years ago. Instead, they discover that they are almost two-thousand years old. Ruth is intrigued by the ancient bones, by the Lucy Downes case, and by Harry Nelson. When another girl goes missing, Ruth joins Nelson and his team in trying to find her before it is too late.
As in the Gamache novels, where the village of Three Pines is almost a character itself, the Norfolk of the Ruth Galloway series plays a large part in the action. The characters often find themselves pitted against the natural world or drawn into Norfolk’s ancient history. I also like the relationship between Ruth and Harry Nelson, which has its origins in this first book. It develops in unexpected ways as the series progresses, which makes two reasons to look forward to the next book – the mystery and the characters. I discovered Ruth when the series was well along, so had that reader’s pleasure of knowing there was always the next book on the shelf. Alas, I am now caught up, but I am looking forward to the latest, The Lantern Men.
I could go on and on with other suggestions, but I hope these two series will hold you until the new Louise Penny is in your hands. If you would like to talk more mystery, feel free to email me at dparsi@chelmsfordlibrary.org.