Patron Picks! Summer Reading 2016 - Week 6

Patron Picks! Summer Reading 2016 - Week 6

Posted by Anonymous

Wow! We have a bumper crop of new reviews for the last week of the 2016 Summer Reading Program! Thanks to everyone for sending in their reviews. We will contact the winner of the last $10 gift card later this week. 

Here are the last patron reviews of SRP 2016!

Reviewed By: Mary H.
What I Read: Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: Based in Seattle, about a mom dealing with a nervous breakdown. Very funny read.

Reviewed By: Jeanette W.
What I Read: The Sackett Brand by Louis L'Amour
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: What a great book! Tell Sackett is heading west with his new bride when he is attacked, his wife murdered, and his outfit burned. He is a hunted man as he sets out to find the man who killed his wife. I love that this is a clean book with no foul language or sex. I for sure want to read more about the Sacketts.

Reviewed By: Linda P.
What I Read: Finding Jake by Bryan Reardon
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: I enjoyed this book. It was a good mystery. I can't imagine what I would do if my child could not be found in the chaos of a shooting.

Reviewed By: Linda P.
What I Read: A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: At first you think Ove is just an old, cranky, man who complains about everything and everyone, but by the end of the book you will wish that you could be more like Ove.

Reviewed By: Linda P.
What I Read: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: I enjoyed this book but when I was nearing the end I couldn't help feel a sense of relief to have finished the book.

Reviewed By: Tom B.
What I Read: The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: This book was laugh out loud funny. By going on a journey through the main historical events of the 20th century, Allan Karlsson has certainly lived an eventful, out of the ordinary, crazy life.

Reviewed By: Tom B.
What I Read: The Smoke Is Rising by Mahesh Rao
What I Thought: I was disappointed with this. I didn't think this went together as a novel. The parts telling the story of a few main characters were fragmented, but well written. But the parts that were involved with the local 'politics' were tedious.

Reviewed By: Joann B.
What I Read: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: I think it's interesting that the main character, Rachel, challenges us to think about how much we assume about--and pre-judge--other people based on our limited knowledge of them. To feel pity, disgust, frustration, compassion, and so much more for one character is a rare thing.

Reviewed By: Joann B.
What I Read: The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought:  I found this book superficial and, at times, even boring.

Reviewed By: Joann B.
What I Read: All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: I found it to be jumpy and often disjointed. I am not a fan of the current trend of devoting one chapter to one character and the next to another and flipping back and forth.

Reviewed By: Joann B.
What I Read: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought:  It was a good book but, I found the orphan trains to be an interesting and horrifying time in our history.

Reviewed By: Sue H.
What I Read: Orphan Train by Christina Baker Kline
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: I loved this book! It gave me a lot of information that I did not know.

Reviewed By: Sue H.
What I Read: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: This is a great book. It is one of those that make a person ponder what they would do in such a situation.

Reviewed By: Deb D.
What I Read: Illegal: Life and Death in Arizona's Immigration War Zone by Terry Greene Stirling
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: This book was written in 2010. I found it interesting that the immigration debate is still going on now in Arizona. It clearly showed the struggles of the people on both sides of the story. It was a very personal book because the stories were about real people who were interviewed by the writer. It shared stories about the lives of people in Mexico, crossing the border, their stays in Phoenix and Arizona and the return home by some either by choice or deportation.

Reviewed By: Wendy P.
What I Read: Hidden Talent by Blanca D'Arc
What I Thought: In this Sci-fi romance life changes drastically for the main character when she is found hidden in a colony of alien horse trainers. Psychic abilities are unleashed and desires are unbelievable in this alien culture.

Reviewed By: Tammy T.
What I Read: 39 Clues: Nowhere to Run by Jude Watson
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: Just when Dan and Amy thought their life would return to normal, a new enemy has discovered the serum. He's trying to become the President while eliminating the kids. This was a great way to extend the series. It was a page turner and I had a hard time putting it down.

Reviewed By: Jenice H.
What I Read: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: I was surprise how different it was from the movie. It did have some same parts but in different places. I liked it, it was like picturing another movie in my head.

Reviewed By: Jenice H.
What I Read: Under Their Sky by Margaret Peterson Haddix
What I Thought: I liked so much that I can't wait for the second book to come out. It was mysterious, adventurous, surprised me every time, wouldn't expect what would come out next.

Reviewed By: Charlotte M.
What I Read: The Martian by Andy Weir
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: Very easy read. It was funny & kept me interested. There was a good amount of science to it, but it was written in a way that was easy to follow & understand.

Reviewed By: Sandra C.
What I Read: In Praise of Stay-at-Home Moms by Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Find It @ YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: Great literature! This book made me get my confidence back as a stay-at-home mom. Made me realize the importance of my presence for my family. My role as a stay-at-home mom is more valuable than any amount of money I can get at a job. I am my

Thanks again to everyone for sending in reviews this summer; having multiple perspectives on some of the same books this week was especially fun. Keep reading the Staff Picks blog all year round, and we'll open it up to patron submissions again next year!

Portrait of a Teacher by Ruth Leedy Gordon

Portrait of a Teacher by Ruth Leedy Gordon

Posted by Anonymous

Reviewed by: Jim Patrick

What I Read: Portrait of a Teacher: Mary Elizabeth Post 1841-1934 by Ruth Leedy Gordon

Find It @YCLD: Here!

Note: On June 17 at 11:00 a.m., the Main Library will host a celebration of Mary Elizabeth Post’s 175th birthday.  Local historian Carol Brooks will be the presenter.

What It's About:  Mary Elizabeth Post was a significant pioneer in Yuma’s history due to her forty-plus year teaching career and her lifelong community involvement in civic and church affairs.  When she died at the age of 93, she was still a member of the library board of trustees!

Author Ruth Gordon was a registered nurse who moved to Yuma in 1921.  She befriended Mary Elizabeth Post during the retired teacher’s final years.  Over the course of these 13 years, Gordon compiled notes from her countless conversations with Miss Post in preparation for writing a biography.  In 1938 the author presented her completed manuscript to the University of Arizona library.  However, the book was not published until 1990 when Ruth Gordon’s daughter Janet edited and published the version which is now held by the Yuma County Library District.

Portrait of a Teacher tracks Mary Elizabeth Post’s westward relocation from Vermont—first to Iowa for a few years, and then on to Arizona.  The account of Miss Post’s grueling trip by stage from San Diego to Ehrenberg is particularly colorful, as are the stories of the young Eastern teacher’s adjustments to her overwhelming culture shock.  For example, unlike most Yuma women at that time, Miss Post was a follower of the latest fashions and was particularly fond of fine hats.  She was a talented seamstress, and she eventually taught many local women to sew from patterns.

The book is not only a biography of Mary Elizabeth Post, but also an informal history of Yuma’s early growth—as remembered by an elderly, longtime resident.  Some of the topics addressed include the coming of the railroad, the building of roads and bridges, floods, newspaper rivalries, lively election campaigns, and, of course, the growth of Yuma’s schools.  Ruth Gordon recounts such events within the context of Mary Elizabeth Post’s life.  The author’s affection and admiration for her subject come through clearly, even when she pokes gentle fun at Miss Post’s “precise and sometimes obstinate manner.”

What I Thought:  Although Ruth Gordon was not a polished, professional author, she produced a biography of her friend Mary Elizabeth Post that is pleasantly readable and full of charming anecdotes about Miss Post and early Yuma.  Some of Gordon’s depictions of ethnic groups are not politically correct by today’s standards, but with that caveat, I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn more about Yuma’s early history.

Readalikes:  Early Yuma by Rosalie Crowe; Vanished Arizona by Martha Summerhayes

Or look this book up on NoveList!

The Winning of Barbara Worth by Harold Bell Wright

The Winning of Barbara Worth by Harold Bell Wright

Posted by Anonymous

Reviewed by: Jim Patrick

What I Read: The Winning of Barbara Worth by Harold Bell Wright

Find It @YCLD: Here!

What It's About: The Winning of Barbara Worth is a bestselling novel from 1911. Author Harold Bell Wright was living in the Imperial Valley when he researched and wrote the novel.  Its subject is the “taming of the West,” and its setting and plot were based on actual contemporary events surrounding the reclamation of the Imperial Valley desert via the damming of the Colorado River.  (Rubio City of Wright’s novel is based on Yuma, Arizona.)  The novel contains a love story in which Barbara Worth will be “won” by either Abe Lee, an uneducated but hard-working Western surveyor, or by Willard Holmes, an educated but soft Eastern engineer.  It also contains a showdown between Jefferson Worth, an honorable Western banker, and James Greenfield, an amoral Eastern speculator.

What I Thought: Wright’s novels were not critically acclaimed when they were released, and they have been largely forgotten today.  They have often been dismissed as being didactic and sentimental.  By containing characters meant to “represent” good and bad aspects of human nature, Wright’s writing is particularly open to complaints about wooden and unrealistic characters.  Wright was a former Disciples of Christ pastor whose vocation shifted from the pulpit to what he called “the ministry of print.”  He unapologetically aimed to provide his readers with moral lessons that upheld traditional (and rural) values in the face of an increasingly urban, modern society.  As America’s most popular writer in the decade between 1910 and 1920, Wright tapped into a widespread longing for the values and ideals espoused in his books.  I enjoyed reading this old fashioned, dated novel, not only because of the Yuma connection, but because the events of the novel unfold in an entertaining, dramatic fashion.  The Winning of Barbara Worth is not a literary classic, but primarily for historical interest, it is well worth reading.

The Winning of Barbara Worth was one of the Yuma Carnegie Library’s most popular titles when the library first opened 95 years ago.  For this reason, the Heritage Library will host a discussion program about the novel and its author on March 31 at 10:30 a.m. Please join us!

Readalikes: The Shepherd of the Hills by Harold Bell Wright; Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey

Or look this book up on NoveList!

Falling from Horses by Molly Gloss

Falling from Horses by Molly Gloss

Posted by Anonymous

Reviewed by: Becky Brendel

What I Read: Falling from Horses by Molly Gloss

Find It @YCLD: Here!

What It's About: 19-year-old Bud Frazer moves to California after a family tragedy to try his hand at stunt riding in the heyday of Western movies. But although he knows a lot about horses, he has no experience with the less glamorous world behind the cameras, where spurs are made of rubber but plenty of dangers await both horses and the men atop them. Falling from Horses is the One Book Yuma selection for 2016; author Molly Gloss will be visiting Yuma on March 3 & 4.

What I Thought: Falling from Horses is a novel that reads like a memoir. Most of the book is told from Bud's point of view, and his first-person narration feels very natural; as you read, you get the sense that you're sitting there alongside a much older Bud, listening to him telling his life's story. (Listen to the author read an excerpt of Bud's narration here!) Other portions of the book are told in third person and detail the lives of Bud's parents, to better provide context for some of the events Bud talks about in his story, but the switch between the two voices never seems jarring.

The story, entertaining in its own right as both a coming of age and a "fish out of water" story, also provides a look "behind the scenes" during an era before moviemakers had to guarantee that no animals were harmed in the making of their films. Bud's adventures and misadventures in the film industry are sometimes amusing and sometimes extremely difficult to read - directors and handlers alike could be hard on horses (and actors), with plenty of animals dying in pursuit of the perfect shot.

It's this cruelty (among other things) that drives Bud away from the movies, but during his time in California he also fosters a friendship with an aspiring screenwriter, Lily, who teaches him film theory and thinks critically about the pictures that Bud, until he came to work for them, had taken for granted. Falling from Horses is therefore both an expose of and love letter to the old-time film industry, for those interested in the history of movies, horrors and all.

It's also a lovely bildungsroman, so please don't hesitate: check out a copy of Falling from Horses at your local library and come see Molly Gloss when she visits Yuma next month!

Patron Picks! Summer Reading 2015 - Week 6, Part 1

Patron Picks! Summer Reading 2015 - Week 6, Part 1

Posted by Anonymous

Happy end of Summer Reading!! We had a record number of book reviews this week, so they've been broken up into two posts again. Look for the second installment on Thursday or Friday!

Reviewed by: Veronica
What I Read: The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: This books is about a young boy Eldon how live whit his family on a farm. Eldon describe whit details every day at the farm. In his narrative Eldon look back on smells, colors and activities that they need to do. This book talk about the family values, how the family is more important than the friend and all together obtain the best results. Another important success is in the winter room that is the living room in his farm

Reviewed by: Veronica
What I Read: The Tent by Gary Paulsen
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: This book is hilarious, about a men and his son, they want to make money spreading the word of god, but they have never read the bible before. I like it is a good life lesson.

Reviewed by: Veronica
What I Read: The Contender by Robert Lipsyte
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: I love it because in our life always we are a contenders. this book is about Alfred he is a teenager with a rough life. his best friend James going to jail for robbery and Alfred doesn't want do the same. Alfred decides he wants to be a boxer, and begins his training at Donatelli's Gym, after that Alfred went back to night school to finish his education.

Reviewed by: Mea F.
What I Read: The Blue Tattoo by Margot Mifflin
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: The Blue Tattoo was a wonderful read. The book expounds on the life of Olive Oatman. Her family was traveling from the midwest to California during the gold rush period. The journey for the Oatman family was treacherous; loosing friends along the way, depleating supplies. Just miles east of Fort Yuma the family is confronted by Yavapai Indians. The Indians massacre the family and take Olive and her sister, Mary Ann captive. The book discusses much historical events and history of the Native tribes in the area. Being new to the Yuma area, the historical value is as important as Olive's story. I appreciated the author discussing Olive's life after captivity, as well as, including writtings by Olive. I truly enjoyed this story, although at times the story has tragic lows. Thank you.

Reviewed by: Linda P.
What I Read: A Promise Kept by Robin Lee Hatcher
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: It was good she kept your emotions going thru out.

Reviewed by: Linda P.
What I Read: Until We Touch by Susan Mallery
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: She waits to long between series you forget characters until you're 1/2 way through

Reviewed by: Linda P.
What I Read: High-Risk Homecoming by Alison Stone
What I Thought: She kept you guessing right to the end who was really the drug dealer.

Reviewed by: Joann B. 
What I Read: Courage Stout by William MacLeod Raine
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: This was a good cowboy book by a new to me author

Reviewed by: Joann B.
What I Read: Tough Hand by Wayne D. Overholser
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: This was a different Western tale about a woman rancher, men working for her and driving cattle to market. There is a crooked banker and rowdey crooks, a hero that falls in love with the lady and helps her out. <3 Love

Reviewed by: Joann B.
What I Read: The Horse Creek Incident by Dusty Richards
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: A corupt town, big ranchers against settlers, killings and beatings, town being run by one big guy!! One guy (good) runs against current crooked sheriff, wins after hard work to have all good people working together. Lots of cold weather & snow.

Reviewed by: Tom B.
What I Read: Courage Stout by William MacLeod Raine
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: Neal MacGowen, a small rancher, has to take on a group of large ranchers, who are calling all small ranch, rustlers. Very good reading.

Reviewed by: Tom B.
What I Read: Tough Hand by Wayne D. Overholser
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: Good story
Jim Sullivan works for beautiful Troy Manders, helps her move her cattle, to land her father owns. Jim helps her fight the crookes, and crooked banker, who wants her land

Reviewed by: Tom B.
What I Read: The Horse Creek Incident by Dusty Richards
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: Herschel Baker, had a close friend shot in the back & killed, a crooked sherriff, controlled by a very large cattle empire, refuses to look into the killing. Baker, a small rancher, decides to run for sherriff. A very good, interesting story.

Reviewed by: Angela T.
What I Read: Father Knows Less by Wendell Jamieson
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: This was a funny book of anecdotes written by a reporter who wanted to answer the many random questions posed by his son. Instead of making up crazy answers, like his father did for him, the author takes time to contact various experts in the fields of study that the questions referred to. From astronauts (How far can a balloon go up until it pops?) to cultural anthropologists (Why can't I eat my sister?) these crazy questions and sometimes surprising answers will keep you entertained.

Reviewed by: Angela T.
What I Read: The Traitor's Wife by Allison Pataki
Find it at YCLD: Here!
What I Thought: A Historical fiction set during the Revolutionary War, this book uncovers the secrets held in Benedict Arnold's household. His young charming wife, Peggy, along with her maid, shape the results of the trecherous dealings of Arnold and his British co-conspirator Major John Andre. A fairly well written debut novel, still had some cliches but overall, an interesting take on a piece of American history.