In near future Washington, D.C., president Seth Jerrison is giving an anti-terror speech at the Lincoln memorial on the eve of a secret military operation. At a nearby hospital, researcher Ranjip Singh is conducting a memory modification experiment with a young Iraq War veteran. When a bomb goes off, no one dies, but a group of people, including the president and Secret Service agent Susan Dawson, are linked in a chain, each able to access the memories of another person. Dawson and Singh rush to find out who has access to the president’s highly classified memories. Parts of the books are thrilling; Sawyer is quite a storyteller. The reactions and interactions of the memory linked people are fascinating, but to me the ending was not quite as good.

While this is science fiction, I think thriller fans would enjoy this book. Find out more about Canadian writer Robert Sawyer here.

 Brenda

Thanks to everyone who participated in The Big Read 2012, featuring The Paris Wife, by Paula McLain. The wide variety of programs, discussions of The Paris Wife and two books by Ernest Hemingway were attended by over 2500 people, including the final event with author Paula McLain. The Big Read committee met this week to start the process of looking for the book we will select for The Big Read 2013. If you have any ideas, please comment here or pass along your suggestions at the reference desk. The Big Read is a cooperative project of ten public libraries: Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Indian Prairie, La Grange, La Grange Park, Lisle, Thomas Ford, Westmont, and, of course, Woodridge. For more information, see our website at www.thebigread.org.

The past selections have been an even mix of fiction and non-fiction, and have covered seven different decades. It’s anyone’s guess what will come next. If you’re looking for a thought-provoking book to read or listen to, these are the previous selections:

2005 The Devil in the White City, by Erik Larson

2006  Seabiscuit, by Laura Hillenbrand

2007  The March, by E. L. Doctorow

2008  Dream When You’re Feeling Blue, by Elizabeth Berg

2009  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver

2010  The Help, by Kathryn Stockett

2011  Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers

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A fascinating look at the birth of the Renaissance, particularly the rediscovery of a poem written around 50 B.C. In 1415, papal secretary and scribe Poggio Bracciolini is out of a job when Baldassare Cossa, Pope John XXIII, is deposed. Cossa was one of three men at the time claiming to be pope. Poggio was a humanist and bibliophile, as well as a scribe praised for his elegant and legible handwriting. Friends and patrons interested in items of antiquity such as sculpture and Latin manuscripts funded Poggio’s search for lost Latin texts. Monastic libraries were a likely source, as monks were required to read every day. In 1417, probably in the remote Abbey of Fulda in central Germany, Poggio discovered several lost works, including De Rerum Natura, or The Nature of Things, by Lucretius. Lucretius wrote about Epicureanism, the often misunderstood philosophy about avoiding pain and seeking tranquility and pleasure without overindulging. One central them was about atoms, the smallest particles of matter, which clash in an infinite void. I though atoms were discovered in modern times, not theorized over 2000 years ago. I was also surprised to learn how much is known today about one man’s life in the early 15th century, even that Poggio had 14 children with his mistress, and later married and had 6 more children. Poggio also became chancellor of Florence.

Poggio had the manuscript copied, and eventually copies began to circulate in and around Florence. When Lucretius published De Rarum Natura, Virgil and Cicero both admired it, but it had been lost for several centuries before Poggio found it. Its rediscovery influenced many people, including the painter Botticelli, the Jesuits, Machiavelli, Galileo, Isaac Newton, and the 16th century French essayist Michel de Montaigne. Sarah Bakewell’s recent book, How to Live–or–A Life of Montaigne, has led to renewed interest in Montaigne’s Essays, and the publication of Swerve has led to a reprinting of Lucretius’ work. By a strange coincidence, Lucy Hutchinson, a Puritan woman in 1675, translated Lucretius into English, all the while abhorring its non-Christian worldview. I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, who is fluent in English and Italian, and found it very absorbing.

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Alex Halprin, 15, is alone for the weekend in Cedar Falls, Iowa, while his parents and sister are visiting his uncle’s farm in Illinois. Suddenly, his world changes when a huge rock falls through the roof. Taking refuge with his neighbors, Alex learns that Yellowstone’s supervolcano is erupting, 900 miles away, showering them with ash, and days of sonic booms and darkness. Alex finds skis and travels east to find his family, scrounging for food and water along the way. Darla Edmunds and her mother take him in when Alex collapses after a fight. Darla has rigged up a bicycle to grind corn, so their farm is self-sufficient.

Later Darla and Alex search for a way across the Mississippi River while conditions (ash, snow, and anarchy) worsen. There is plenty of violence, so this gritty post-apocalyptic read is not for everyone. Alex and Darla are convincingly flawed, and we root for them as they fall in love and struggle to survive. For more about the author and a sequel, Ashen Winter, visit his website. This would be a good readalike for Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer. For more dystopian or post-apocalyptic books like Ashfall, check out Denise’s book display of readalikes for The Hunger Games. Another readalike is Shipbreaker, reviewed earlier.

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Irma Vitale is a plain young woman in Opi, a small mountain village in Italy. She has no good marriage prospects, and life is difficult at home since her mother died. Her aunt and priest encourage her to follow her brother Carlos to Cleveland, even though Carlos has never written to tell them he arrived safely. Irma sews and embroiders well, and hopes to be a dressmaker. With the help of friends made along the way, she gets to Cleveland. While she finds work and makes friends in Cleveland, she makes very little money and works long hours sewing collars. With great difficulty, she travels to Chicago and eventually finds work for a dressmaker, although few employers want to hire immigrants. After a tragedy, she is asked to assist Sophia in a free clinic, and eventually moves to San Francisco with her friend Molly, where Irma can see hills and ocean again. Set in the 1880s, Irma’s story makes for excellent reading. This is the first novel by Pamela Schoenewaldt, who lived for ten years in Italy.

 Brenda

It’s easy to find vampires, werewolves, and immortals fighting bad guys and winning the hearts of women but aliens have so far been underrepresented in Urban Fantasy. I love Urban Fantasy and aliens would be a hard sell to me. Luckily, some amazing covers got me to pick up the first Katherine “Kitty” Katt book Touched by an Alien and I quickly had a new favorite supernatural.

 Kitty was a regular—albeit geeky—marketing manager finishing up jury duty when she walked right into what she thought was a domestic dispute. Rather quickly things start getting weird and she ends up killing an alien with her pen. She’s swept away by gorgeous men in Armani suits and finds herself in a world her conspiracy-loving best friend has been insisting exists for years. Kitty finds out there are aliens, they are on Earth, and while some of them are good guys, some of them are horrible monsters.

 This is a really fun series. Kitty speaks her mind and has a great sense of humor. She adapts to the weirdness she finds herself in really well thanks to years spent reading superhero comics and realizing her best guy friend was right on the money with his conspiracy theories. Despite being surrounded by aliens with super speed, strength, and powers she holds her own in a fight and her quick-thinking often saves the day.

 If you’re in the mood for something fun with romance (it gets steamy) and a good dose of geekiness (and Aerosmith), try Touched by an Alien. This is one of those rare series where character relationships develop and there aren’t any love triangle hang-ups.  Through the five books a large blended family starts and gets stronger. The series reminds me a lot of J. D. Robb’s In Death books because of the strength of the relationships and the stable couple at the center. I’m hoping the Alien series is around for just as long as Robb’s.

 Alien Diplomacy puts the main characters in a new setting with new challenges. This time they don’t have to save the world and instead of being relieved, everyone is having trouble fitting in and dealing with feeling useless. But they’re ready for it when the action starts up. Kitty prefers getting kidnapped and fighting to sitting through classes on diplomacy but she makes some new friends and allies that help ease her transition. You’d think action hero main characters being taken off active duty would make a book boring and you’d be totally wrong. This crew doesn’t do boring. The changes in setting and career work out in the end because of the adaptability of Kitty and her family. By now, everyone knows that Kitty will never be far from trouble. But unlike other heroines she can handle it and learn from it. The enemies may be ruthless and the aliens and company don’t know how large the influence the not-so-lovable aliens have but they’re prepared to stop them and save the day and the world.

 Denise

The sheer variety of topics covered in this books is astounding. We learn about how riots can be avoided, how Starbucks gives its employees the tools to succeed, how the Montgomery bus boycott was sustained, why Alcoholics Anonymous works for many people, and how market researchers can predict our future shopping and buying habits. I listened to the audiobook, narrated skillfully by Mike Chamberlain, and really enjoyed most of the book. There are two sections toward the end that were very disturbing to listen to: how a woman became a compulsive gambler and the steps the casino took to entice her, and how a man committed a terrible crime while asleep. The story about how a brain-damaged man gets through his day by habit was very interesting.

Charles Duhigg gives readers the tools to create new habits, and to attempt the more difficult task of changing an existing habit. If you have a habit you want to break, it’s best to substitute a new habit. Identify what cues trigger your habit, such as location, time of day, or mood, and try to figure out what your true reward is. For the author a mid-afternoon craving for a cookie actually turned out to be a desire to chat with his coworkers. Then substitute a new routine for the current one, which will result in a similar reward. Find out more at charlesduhigg.com

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Maggie Hope has lived in New England with her aunt most of her life, but is back in London to sell her late grandmother’s house. When it won’t sell, she gets roommates, reluctantly puts off her plans to attend M.I.T., and takes a job as a typist in Prime Minister Churchill’s office. She had applied to be a private secretary, but even a math degree didn’t overcome the gender bias against women. The Battle of Britain begins, Maggie learns a secret about her father, and an IRA plot by someone close to her endangers Maggie and Churchill. The diaries of some of the prime minister’s secretaries inspired the author, and a sequel, Princess Elizabeth’s Spy, is planned. A fast-paced mystery, some of the plot twists are hard to believe, but Maggie and her friends are memorable characters. Recommended for fans of Maisie Dobbs.

 Brenda

First published in Germany in 2009, this is the first book in a time travel trilogy. Gwyneth, 16, is a bit of a klutz. But this time, her dizzy spells mean her world is about to change, and that she is the twelfth in a circle of time travelers, not her cousin and classmate Charlotte. Gwen meets an 18^th century Count, her great-great grandmother, and a missing cousin, all in the company of 18-year-old Gideon, a more experienced time traveler. Ugly school uniforms, a best friend who researches time travel and history while Gwen sleeps, a mother who’s too busy to listen or explain, gorgeous historical costumes, and a variety of London settings make for a book that’s easy to like. Suspense, humor, adventure, and some romance will have you looking forward to translations of Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green.

Brenda

The Spinoza Problem   by Irvin Yalom

So, what is the “Spinoza problem”?  Who was Spinoza?   When we look at the cover of this book we see two people sort of intertwined.   The One person whose picture is older looking obviously must be Spinoza.  The other picture is what looks like a Nazi officer.  When we read the book blurb we find out that this is Alfred Rosenberg, a high ranking official in the Reich’s inner circle.

Irwin D. Yalom is a practicing psychotherapist.  In this book he attempts to psycho-analyze  these two historical characters and rationalize their actions.

Barach Spinoza was a Dutch Jewish philosopher who lived in the mid 1600’s.  He came to be considered one of the great rationalists of 17^th century philosophy.  During his studies he became convinced that the Jewish traditions were no better than the Catholic Church which had persecuted him and his family in Portugal and forced them to relocate to Amsterdam.  He dreamed of a God that was pure nature, reflecting the natural world.  Man would have no influence over this God and would not be influenced by him.  For these heresies he was cast out of the Jewish faith.

Alfred Rosenberg, a virulent anti-Semite, was an early and intellectually influential member of the Nazi Party.  When he was sixteen he was called into his headmaster’s office for anti- Semitic remarks he made during a school speech.  He was forced, as punishment, to memorize passages about Spinoza from the autobiography of the German poet Goethe.  Rosenberg was stunned to discover that Goethe, his idol, was a great admirer of Spinoza.  In this book we discover that Rosenberg was as hateful of the Jews as Hitler himself.  In fact he longed to be the Fuhrer of the German people, but Hitler beat him to it. He was Salieri to Hitler’s Mozart.  Hitler mostly ignored him and did not see him as a threat to his supremacy of the Reich.  Rosenberg was obsessed with Spinoza.  How could a Jew espouse things that he as a representative of the master race could whole-heartedly agree with?  For his war crimes and anti-Semitism Rosenberg was executed after the Nuremburg trials.

The Spinoza problem has two elements.  How could a devote Jew who studied to be a rabbi come to renounce most of the tenets of his faith and suffer the fate of excommunication?   How could a man who suffered from Aryan derangement syndrome reconcile the fact that Goethe,  considered one of the supreme geniuses of Modern German literature, had been so greatly influenced by a Jew, whom many including Rosenberg considered an inferior race?

We learn a lot about Spinoza’s philosophy and the origins of Third Reich genocidal ideology in this book.

Joel