THE MILLENNIUM TRILOGY
Six years ago, a Swedish journalist delivered three manuscripts to his publisher in Stockholm. These three supreme thrillers featuring an unlikely pair of sleuths – Mikael Blumkvist, an investigative journalist, and his sidecick Lisberth Salander, an Asperser's Syndrome antisocial hacker.
The journalist was Karl-Stieg Erland Larsson (1954-2004), and his first book went on to sell more than 3 million copies in Sweden alone. The Millennium Trilogy swept through Europe and North America with more than 22 million copies sold in 35 countries. In 2008, Larsson was the second best-selling author in the world, behind Afghan-American author Khaled Hosseini (please see Books of the Decade, part IV).
Tragically, a few months before volume 1 was published, Larsson died suddenly and never saw the worldwide phenomenon his work would become. He was 50 years old.
VOLUME ONE: THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO
People magazine called it "the biggest Swedish phenomenon since ABBA", and Washington Post "an intelligent, ingeniously plotted, utterly engrossing thriller that is variously a serial-killer saga, a search for a missing person and an informed glimpse into the worlds of journalism and business . . . Lisbeth is a punk Watson to Mikael's dapper Holmes, and she's the coolest crime-fighting sidekick to come along in many years.”
The reviews for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, with few exceptions, such as from Bookmarks Magazine ("...This is one for neo-noir fans - but it doesn't seem destined to rule this side of the Atlantic...") were ecstatic. "Larsson's debut thriller succeeds on so many levels it's hard to know where to begin. First off, it's an absolute page-turner. But the characters are so fascinating and the clear, understated writing so graceful, you are going to want to savor it...Electrifying", wrote Portsmouth Herald. Michael Connelly found The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a striking novel: "Just when I was thinking there wasn't anything new on the horizon, along comes Stieg Larsson whit this wonderfully unique story. I was completely absorbed". Lee Child described it "as vivid as bloodstains on snow".
Calgary Public Library owns 65 hard cover copies and 3 book on CDs. Although it's been almost two years since the book has been added to our collection, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remains very popular, with more than 220 holds.
VOLUME TWO: THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE
This time Bookmarks Magazine got it right: "By most accounts", reads their review, "the follow-up to The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is as successful a second installment in a crime series as we're likely to see. In The Girl Who Played with Fire, Larsson explored Lisbeth Salander, a swirl of contradiction and evasions, with a depth that eludes most crime writers. In fact, this is Lisbeth's book (Mikael Blomkvist is still around, of course, though he plays second fiddle here to his erstwhile love interest), and Larsson has readers eating out of his hand with a plot that simmers before coming to a full boil..."
In its starred review, Booklist prized the The Girl Who Played with Fire as "a suspenseful, remarkably moving novel...Salander is one of those characters who comes along only rarely in fiction: a complete original, larger than life yet firmly grounded in realistic details, utterly independent yet at her core a wounded and frightened child...One of the most compelling characters to strut the crime-fiction stage in years." Library Journal noted that the second part of the Trilogy is "a complex and compelling storytelling at its best, propelled by one of the most fascinating characters in the recent crime fiction."
Check our catalogue for The Girl Who Played with Fire. There are 99 hard cover copies with 163 holds and 6 of large print editions with 47 reserves. It's worth waiting, though.
VOLUME THREE: THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST
Current Status at the Library: On Order (spring or summer 2010)
Number of copies ordered: about 70
Number of holds 224 (as of January 17)
In its editorial review, Guardian noted: "Larsson has produced a a novel that is complex, satisfying, clever, moral...This is a gown-up novel for grown-up readers, who want something more than a quick fix and a car chase. And it's why the Millennium Trilogy is rightly a publishing phenomenon all over the world. "There are
two overriding reasons for the hold that this massive trilogy has attained on the public: machine-tooled plotting which juggled the various narrative elements with a master's touch and, above all, the vividly realized character of Lisberth Salander herself, writes Barry Forshaw from Amazon.co.uk. "She is something of a unique creation in the field of crime and thriller fiction: emotionally damaged, vulnerable and sociopathic (all of these concealed behind a forbidding Goth appearance), but she is also an ultimate survivor, somehow managing to stay alive despite the machinations of some deeply unpleasant villains, as well as hostility of often stupid establishment figures, who want her out of the picture quite as passionately as the bad guys. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest brings together all the elements that have made the previous books of the sequence so successful..."
Kite Runner (2003)
It's not that hard to understand why Khaled Hosseini's first novel, The Kite Runner, became such a huge best seller, based largely on word of mouth and its popularity among book clubs and reading groups. The novel reads like a kind of modern-day variation on Conrad’s “Lord Jim,” in which the hero spends his life atoning for an act of cowardice and betrayal committed in his youth. It not only gave readers an intimate look at Afghanistan and the difficulties of life there, but it also showed off its author’s accessible and very old-fashioned storytelling talents: his taste for melodramatic plotlines; sharply drawn, black-and-white characters; and elemental boldfaced emotions.
Source: Michiko Kakutani, New York Times, May 29, 2007
A Thousand Splendid Suns (2007)
A Thousand Splendid Suns takes its title from a poem by the 17th century Persian poet Saib-e-Tabrizi. The story follows two women, Mariam and Laila, both married to the same abusive man. Like its predecessor, A Thousand Splendid Suns became a massive international bestseller, topping the bestseller lists as soon as it was published. The paperback edition spent over two years on the New York Times bestseller list.
http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/hos0bio-1
Virginia Woolf and Social Networking
A few months ago we blogged about how Virginia Woolf was well ahead of her time in social networking when she remarked: “Wonderful is the force of pen and ink. I like finding a pencil twitter on my plate at breakfast…”
Written in April 1909, here is another of Virginia Woolf’s “previews” of web-facebook-email-mobile phone culture:
"The effect of this ghastly [...] holiday which leaves me alone in London, and shuts all the shops, and gives all the postmen a day off, is to make me turn to my friends. There should be threads floating in the air, which would merely have to be taken hold of, in order to talk. You would walk about the world like a spider in the middle of a web. In 100 years time, I daresay these psychical people will have made all this apparent - now seen only by the eye of genius. As it is - how I hate writing!"
What a prescient analyst of social life!
Fortunately, and just how Virginia Woolf predicted, we don't need the postmen so much these days to keep us posted. When you want to discover what’s happening right now at Calgary Public Library -
- Go to Twitter!
If you already have a Twitter account, find out more about Library news, great reads, and programs on Twitter.com. If you are a new user, sing up for an account and follow CPL Central. Check out what are we doing today and start receiving CPL Central tweets.
Have fun tweeting!
Twitter image courtesy of Matt Hamm & Flickr.com
Yoshihiro Tatsumi, father of GEKIGA
Early comics (or manga) in Japan were generally drawn and written for children. So, in the late 1950s and 60s, the early readers of the format were growning-up and getting ready for something new. What they found was a more serious, realistically drawn comic aimed at an adult audience. The father of this movement was Yoshihiro Tatsumi, who named these dramatic art-comics "gekiga".
Find out about the birth of gekiga and the early development of the manga market in "A Drifting Life" an autobiography by Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Filling in for Yoshihiro Tatsumi is Hiroshi who, burdened by family strife, struggles in the competitive manga market to pursue his dream of following in the footsteps of famed father-of-manga, Osamu Tezuka.
Not only did Yoshihiro Tatsumi follow in Tezuka's footsteps, but his work influence much of Tezuka's later work. You can see the darker story lines and more realistic artwork in Osamu Tezuka's "Ode to Kirihito". Thanks to Osamu Tezuka's interest in gekiga and the work of artists like Yoshihiro Tatsumi, there has become more acceptance for experimentation in mainstream Japanese comics. Compared to popular modern manga, gegika tends to be more "alternative", or "indie" -- and they have some of the most fascinating, surreal, and shocking stories I've ever read!
*Give Gekiga A Go!*
THE DA VINCI CODE (2003) 
There was an error even in the title: Leonardo’s surname was not Da Vinci. He was from Vinci, or of Vinci. As many critics have pointed out, calling it The Da Vinci Code is like saying Mr. Of Arabia or asking What Would Of Nazareth Do?
Dan Brown's famous book generated lots of criticism when it was first published, mostly because of its explanations of core aspects of Christianity, the history of the Catholic Church, and descriptions of European art, history, and architecture. Not surprisingly, the book has received mostly negative reviews from Catholic and other Christian communities.
Two lawsuits have been brought alleging plagiarism in The Da Vinci Code: by the authors of The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail, and Jack Dunn, the author of The Vatican Boys.
The Da Vinci Code has been a subject of infinite negative reviews concerning its literary value. Salman Rushdie called it "a novel so bad that it gives bad novels a bad name." In his 2005 the University of Maine Commencement Address, best-selling author Stephen King called Dan Brown's work the "intellectual equivalent of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese”.
Yet…the book was a worldwide bestseller that sold 80 million copies as of 2009 and has been translated into 44 languages. The best defense has come from the armies of Dan Brown’s readers, and it can be outlined in the simple statement of an anonymous fan, “Mind your own business, critics. Dan Brown rocks and his books are simply unputdownable. I read his books in one go.”
For further reading about this controversial book, check our catalogue (Power Search/subject "da vinci code").
THE LOST SYMBOL (2009)
The Lost Symbol had a first printing of 6.5 million, the largest in its publisher's history. On its first day the book sold one million in hardcover and e-book versions in the States, the United Kingdom and Canada, making it the fastest selling adult novel in history. It was number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardcover fiction for the first six weeks of its release, and has remained near the top since then.
At one point, there were more than 800 holds on this title at the Calgary Public Library.
Pilgrim in the Palace of Words
by Glenn Dixon
Attend this video presentation of a man’s world journey
and his studies on how languages mold societies.
Tuesday, January 19
6:00 - 7:00 P.M.
Central Library
4th Floor Meeting Room
616 Macleod Trail SE
Register online, by calling 403-260-2620,
or in person at your local branch.
TWILIGHT MANIA
TWILIGHT SAGA: Twilight; New Moon; Eclipse; Breaking Dawn 
The following article borrowed from: Children’s Literature Review. Ed. Tom Burns. Vol. 142. Detroit: Gale, Cengage Learning, 2009, p 1-2
Despite only starting her career as a published novelist in 2005, Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight series of young adult’s novels – which dramatically portray the teenaged love affair between a vampire boy and a human girl – have catapulted to the top of best seller lists. With over 17 million copies sold worldwide in the Twilight series, many critics compare her swift rise and sustained success to that of Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling. With translation rights sold to more than 30 nations and successful movie adaptations of the first two novels, Meyer remains poised to be a publishing phenomenon despite her announcement that 2008’s Breaking Down will be last book in the Twilight series.
ADOLESCENT METAPHORS
Meyer describes her books as being heavily influenced by Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights, with its gothic plotting and central romance serving as the core for all the other events in the series. Set in remote and dusky town of Forks, Washington, whose near-permanent twilight makes it a natural heaven for vampires, the four books of the series relate the slow developing and passionate romance between Edward and Bella amidst the uneasy relationship between vampiric Cullens and the Quileute werewolf tribe…In the first three books Bella’s and Edward’s love is mostly chaste, with only occasional physical contact and strong bouts of existential angst serving to indicate the mutual physical interest surrounding their relationship. Edward’s conflicting interests of wanting to protect Bella from the dangers of the world battles with his own strong instinctual and pseudo-sexual desire to bite her and drink from her body – a symbolic suggestion of normal teenage hormones. Popular primarily with young teens, the stories offer a paranormal version of their own desires, needs that are finally consummated and happily resolved with the complete contentment of Bella by series’ end.
MYTHS AND ADAPTADIONS
While the stories are in many ways a reflection of recognized vampire and werewolf lore, Stephenie Meyer does inject some fresh aspects into the myths. Perhaps most creatively among these adaptations, Meyer’s vampires have the traditional desire to avoid sunlight, albeit for entirely different reasons: the sun, rather than destroying them, instead shows their true aspects. Meyers also imbues each vampire with a unique power that is related in some way to the most distinct aspect of their human personalities before their respective conversions. Her werewolves, too, are distinctive. All members of the Quileute tribe of Native Americans, their initial transformation into supernatural beasts happens only in response to the presence of nearby vampires – their mortal enemies.
LOVE, DANGER, STRUGLE
Although the critical response to the Twilight saga has been mixed, the books have remained enormously popular, and not only among teenagers. Publishers Weekly equated the series’ appeal to its faithful presentations of adolescent angst, remarking of Twilight that the “main draw here is Bella’s infatuation with outsider Edward, the sense of danger inherent in their love, and Edward’s inner struggle – a perfect metaphor for the sexual tension that accompanies adolescence”. Or, as Michele Windship noted, "Meyer's description of the lovers' emotions are palpable, and the readers will be drawn into the couple's spiraling dance, feeling the intense longing that comes from being a hair's bredth away from the thing you want most in the world".
THE MAGICAL WORLD OF HARRY POTTER
Who could have predicted that one magical series could get kids around the world to put down their video games, shut off the TV and devour 800-page books? Books became cool again, with the birth of the midnight release party and kids and adults dressing like fictional characters. Fans of all ages read and re-read J. K Rowling’s Harry Potter books and anxiously awaited the next in the seven book series. "What the numbers leave out is the singular experience that so many young people had of actually growing up WITH a literary character, which had never been done before," said Arthur Levine, Publisher, Arthur A. Levine Books, VP Scholastic. "Kids who began reading Harry Potter when they were in elementary school, finished Harry's story as they finished major life milestones in this decade. And they took with them not only a deep experience of the pleasure a book can bring, but a validation of hopefulness that one's actions matter more than one's circumstances, and a message that truly love does conquer all."
While this decade has nurtured Harry Potter's first generation of fans -- people of all ages will continue to re-discover the love of reading a truly magical story as they come to experience the adventures of Harry and his friends for decades to come. (From CNN, Dec. 15, 2009)
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final instalment in J.K. Rowling's wizardly bildungsroman, is Globe Books' choice as Book of the Decade"
The Globe and Mail
"Rowling top-selling author of decade in Britain" 
CBC
“J. K. Rowling has been, hands down, the publishing phenomenon of the decade “
The Observer
"Harry Potter: Icons of the decade"
Guardian
"2000-2009 -- The Decade of Harry Potter Gives Kids and Adults a Reason to Love Reading"
CNN
“USA Today names Harry Potter books the decade’s best”
USA Today
You can find Harry Potter series and other J. K Rowlin's books at Calgary Public Library. Check our catalogue for:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix
Harry Potter and a Half-blood Prince
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
The 2009 Picks from *Passionate Readers*
(*Humanities Department Staff*)
Philip The Wild Things by Dave Eggers
Based very loosely on the storybook by Maurice Sendak, this is a story about Max, a boy making his way in a world he can’t control. Funny, dark, and alive, The Wild Things is a timeless and time-tested tale for all ages. (From Amazon.com)
Jasna The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
Cases rarely come much colder than the decades-old disappearance of teen heiress Harriet Vanger from her family's remote island retreat north of Stockholm, nor do fiction debuts hotter than this European bestseller by muckraking Swedish journalist Larsson. At once a strikingly original thriller and a vivisection of Sweden's dirty not-so-little secrets, this first book of the Millennium Trilogy* introduces a provocatively odd couple: disgraced financial journalist Mikael Blomkvist, freshly sentenced to jail for libeling a shady businessman, and the multipierced and tattooed Lisbeth Salander, a feral but vulnerable superhacker... (Publishers Weekly - Starred Review)
*Millennium Trilogy: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo; The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest
The book cover image courtesy of Flickr.com
Carol nad Ursula A Dog Named Christmas by Gregory Kincaide
When Todd McCray, a developmentally challenged young man still living on his parents’ Kansas farm, hears that a local animal shelter is seeking temporary homes for its dogs during the days leading to Christmas, he knows exactly what he wants for the holidays. His father objects, but Todd’s persistence quickly wins out. Soon the McCrays are the short-term foster family for a lovable pooch the young man names Christmas. (From Amazon.ca - Product Description)
Pat The Guernsey and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer
“I can’t remember the last time I discovered a novel as smart and delightful as this one, a world so vivid that I kept forgetting this was a work of fiction populated with characters so utterly wonderful that I kept forgetting they weren’t my actual friends and neighbors. Treat yourself to this book please - I can’t recommend it highly enough.” Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love
Carolyn Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
...a dystopic masterpiece and a testament to Margeret Atwood's visionary power...(Amazon.com Review)
Cellist of Sarajevo by Staven Galloway
In this elegiac novel inspired by an actual event during the siege of Sarajevo in 1992, Steven Galloway explores the brutality of war and the redemptive power of music. Crafted with unforgettable imagery and heartbreaking simplicity, his small book speaks forcefully to the triumph of the spirit in the face of overwhelming despair. (From Amazon.com - The Washington Post Review)
Anne Mesopotamia: Assyrians, Sumerians, Babilonians by Enrico Ascalone
This beautifully illustrated guide to the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, is the perfect companion for travelers and armchair travelers alike. It provides a concise survey of three ancient cultures that have often been misunderstood, both because of Biblical and neoclassical traditions, and because of twentieth- and twenty-first-century events. Lavishly illustrated in full color on every page, the book is arranged topically to cover the broad areas of life, such as people, politics, religion, the world of the dead, and important places and monuments. (From Amazon.com - Book Description)
Sarah Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott
Book cover illustration courtesy of Flickr.com
In a novel reminiscent of the work of Penelope Lively, Anne Tyler, and Alice Munro, acclaimed author Marina Endicott gives us one of the most profound and most memorable reads of the year.
Absorbed in her own failings, Clara Purdy crashes her life into a sharp left turn, taking the young family in the other car along with her. When bruises on the mother, Lorraine, prove to be late-stage cancer, Clara - against all habit and comfort - moves the three children and their terrible grandmother into her own house. (From the Publisher - Freehand Books Calgary)
Book cover illustration courtesy of Flickr.com
Patti The Sound of Language by Amulya Malladi
In this luminous story of bravery, tradition, and the power of language, an Afghan woman and Danish widower form an unexpected alliance. Escaping the turmoil and heartbreak of war-torn Kabul, Raihana settles with distant relatives in the strange, cold, damp country of Denmark. Homesick and heartbroken, Raihana bravely attempts to start a new life, trying hard not to ponder the fate of her husband, who was taken prisoner by the Taliban and never heard from again. (From Amazon.com - Product Description)
Donna Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
The first words of this exuberant and capacious novel take us right to the heart of its unique narrator: "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974. Middlesex is the story of Cal or Calliope Stephanides, an epic tale of a family's American life, and the expansive history of a gene travelling down through time … (From the Publisher - Knopf Canada)
Sonya Dog On It by Spencer Quinn
In this irresistible new detective series featuring a canine narrator, Quinn speaks two languages - suspense and dog - fluently. Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, and in a few places terrifying . . . 
one-of-a-kind novel. (Stephen King)
In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
In 16th-century Spain, everybody expects the Spanish Inquisition, as they have a well-known tendency to cart people off to their dungeons on trumped-up charges. What 5-year-old Mendoza, on the brink of being tortured as a Jew, is totally unprepared for is to be rescued by the Company - the ultimate bureaucracy of the 24th century - and made immortal. In return, all she has to do is travel through time on a series of assignments for the Company and collect endangered botanical specimens... (From Amazon.com Review)
Kayla Extreme Vinyl Cafe by Stuart McLean
If you ask them, Dave and Morley's friends will tell you that no matter how long you've known people, they can still surprise you.
After all, no one expects to see a grown man dive into the trunk of his car to chase a rat. And despite what they may claim, few people are actually prepared to have their backyard, never mind their twelve-year-old son, shoot to stardom on YouTube's Most Watched Videos. And yes the sight of an 87-year-old bungee-jumping off a cruise ship is...unusual. But well-wishers at the Vinyl Cafe will advise you to be philosophical about such things. (From Amazon.com - Product Description)
Mia Fever Chart by Bill Cotter
Having spent most of his life medicated, electroshocked, and institutionalized, Jerome Coe finds himself homeless on the coldest night of the century — and so, with nowhere else to go, he accepts a ride out of New England from an old love's ex-girlfriend. It doesn't quite work out, but he makes it to New Orleans, and a new life — work, friends, and only the occasional psychotic break. What follows involves his last two chances to find real happiness, the old vicious enemies that may prevent him from obtaining it, and a cast of Crescent City denizens that makes for one of the most vivid ensembles since Toole's A Confederacy of Dunces. (From Amazon.com - Product Description)
Christine Losing Mum and Pup: a memoir by Christopher Buckley
"Intense, beautifully written and often achingly personal . . . One suspects that somewhere, beyond all this, Bill and Pat Buckley are very proud of their son." (From Washington Times)
For this holiday season, curl up with a good book! We present you with a selection of Christmas titles - from family stories to murder mysteries - from our collection.
Happy Holidays!
The Gift by Cecelia Ahern
"The Gift is a magical, fable-like Christmas story from Cecelia Ahern. This is the story of Lou Suffern, a successful executive frustrated by the fact that he spends more time in the office than with his doting wife and two young children, The Gift is a tantalizing tale wrapped in a tale. . . . [the] perfect treat for the holidays..." (Sara Gruen)
This Year It Will Be Different by Maeve Binchy
"An anthology of Christmas stories reflecting on the various ways in which the holidays serve as a catalyst to promote change, growth, and new beginnings." (From Novelist). If you like Maeve Binchy, visit our catalogue or go to your nearest branch for more!
Merry, Merry Ghosts by Carolyn Hart
When a determined heir moves to block a wealthy woman's attempt to include her newly discovered grandson in her will, it is up to good-intentioned ghost Bailey Ruth Raeburn to protect a little boy, foil a murderer, and save Christmas. (From Novelist) For more Carolin Hart novels check our catalogue.
Holiday Grind by Bleo Coyle
"In this charming eighth coffeehouse mystery from Cleo Coyle, Clare Cosi, owner of the Village Blend, is preoccupied with creating flavorful and memorable drinks for the upcoming holiday season. Then one snowy December day, Clare discovers a beloved customer, Alf Glockner, shot to death in a nearby alley. Doubtful of the police conclusion that Alf, a part-time comedian who was working as a charity Santa, was the victim of a random murder, Clare sets out to find out what really happened..." (From Library Journel - Starred Review). For more "Coffeehouse series", visit our catalogue.
Frozen Tracks: an inspector Eric Winter novel by Ake Edwardson
Christmas is fast approaching, but life is anything but festive for Detective Chief Inspector Erik Winter. Days of dwindling daylight find the Swedish detective haunted by two puzzling—and seemingly unconnected—sets of crimes. Several university students have been viciously attacked at various points around the city. At the same time, children are being abducted from nurseries all around the city. Leads followed by Winter and his colleagues take them to the parched prairies of rural Sweden, whose inhabitants are every bit as bleak and desperate as the landscape... (From Booklist). Check our catalogue for "Frozen Tracks" and other Ake Edwardson's mysteries.
Voices: a Reykiavik murder mystery by Arnaldur Indridason
The Christmas rush is at its peak in a grand Reykjavík hotel when Inspector Erlendur is called in to investigate a murder. The hotel Santa has been stabbed to death, and Erlendur and his fellow detectives find no shortage of suspects between the hotel staff and the international travelers staying for the holidays. As Christmas Day approaches, Erlendur must deal with his difficult daughter, pursue a possible romantic interest, and untangle a long-buried web of malice and greed to find the murderer. Voices is a brutal, soulful noir from the chilly shores of Iceland. (From Amazon.ca). There are several other titles by Arnaldur Indridason in our collection, check them out!
The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
On a train ride to Los Angeles, cash-strapped journalist Tom Langdon encounters a ridiculous cast of characters, unexpected romance, and an avalanche that changes everyone's Christmas plans.
Illustration: Christmas Holly, courtesy of Todd Austin and Flickr.com
GREAT INSPIRATIONS
By Bridget
Have you ever read a book that literally changed your life? Maybe it was a novel that opened up your perspective to a differernt culture or lifestyle. Or maybe it was non-fiction - a "how-to", self help book or memoir - that opened up your world and literally changed the course of your life.
In The Book That Changed My Life,Edited by Roxanne J. Coady we learn which books have changed the lives of many of today's most well-known and well loved authors.
For example, in The Book That Changed My Life we learn that Elizabeth Berg was inspired by the J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.
SARKwas influenced by Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Ian Rankin found inpiration in Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange
And Wally Lamb was inspired by Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
Want more life-chaning books? Check our catalogue and our great selection of Book Club in a Bag titles (including "You've Got to Read This Book).
Time Out 1000 Books to Change Your Life
You've Got to Read This Book!
Native
Canadian Writers 
By Sue
Discover a new and valid perspective on the country we call home. Native and Metis Canadian writers bring their own aesthetic, philosophical and cultural viewpoints to works of fiction, poetry and playwriting. There are, of course, many native cultures of northern North America and they are widely represented in their literary works.
Sharron-Proulx Turner is a Calgary based Metis poet whose poems are saturated with wisdom and relevation. Check our catalogue for her poetry.
She walks for days inside a thousand eyes : a two spirit story
The award-winning playwright and novelist Tomson Highway’s
The Rez Sisters : a play in two acts became a smash hit across Canada
Enter into the world of magical realism with the acclaimed works of Thomas King and, of course, Joseph Boyden has given us two back- to-back treasures with “Three Day Road” and “Through Black Spruce”
CBC Canada Reads 2010
By Bridget
Jian Ghomeshi announced the five panelists who will each be defending a chosen book in the Canada Reads literary debates in March 2010. At the end of one week of debating and defending their selections, the panel will have whittled the list down to one book they think every Canadian should read.
The books are:
Good to a Fault by Marina Endicott (defended by Simi Sara)
Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture by Douglas Coupland
(defended by Roland Pemberton aka Cadence Weapon)
The Jade Peony by Wayson Choy (defended by Samantha Nutt
Fall on Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald (defended by Perdita Felicien)
Nikolski by Nicolas Dickner, translated by Lazer Lederhendler
(defended by Michel Vézina)
For more information check out the website at: http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadareads/
To reserve you copy, go to Calgary Public Library catalogue.
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