Why should librarians have all the fun? Below are book reviews by two Coquitlam Public Library Outreach patrons: 95-year-old Trudi Stephen, a resident of Madison Care Centre; and 88-year-old Denise Racine, a resident of RJ Kent Residence. (Reviews were transcribed by Teresa Rehman, community services librarian at CPL):
First, Ms. Stephen:
I really enjoy Diana Gabaldon's writing. Outlander is the first book in the Outlander series and it is sexy, romantic and full of adventure. Outlander is a time-travel story that goes backwards from 1945 to the 1740s. The main character, Claire Randall, is picked up by a bunch of Scots and taken to a castle. Because Claire is English, the Scots think she is a spy as this was a time when the Stuarts were thinking of retaking England and ruling again. They appoint Jamie Fraser, a relative of the people in the castle, to keep an eye on her. Then the romance begins. The Outlander series is featured on TV and while I have enjoyed watching it, I like the books better. I have read all seven in the series, sometimes twice, and now I am waiting to read the newest, Written in My Own Heart's Blood, published this year. I highly recommend the Outlander series to anyone interested in history, romance and adventure - all in one.
I thought Brian Freemantle had stopped writing the Charlie Muffin series a long time ago, when, lo and behold, Teresa brought me Red Star Burning. The series is about espionage between Britain and Russia. Charlie is, as spies are, two-faced, but he is intelligent. The agency he works for, MI5, plans to kill him in this book because they don't like the way he works. In an earlier novel, the agency killed Charlie's first wife. In this one, what MI5 does not know is that Charlie is now married to a Russian secret agent and she could face the firing squad if their marriage is found out. I enjoy stories that have suspense. They make you think and give you more to look forward to. I sure hope there are more books to come about Charlie Muffin.
And Ms. Racine, who is an avid audiobook reader:
I thoroughly enjoyed the audiobook One Season of Sunshine by Julia London, the story of a girl, Jane Aaron, who is adopted by a nice family. She has no problems growing up and, eventually, becomes a teacher. During one of her holidays, Jane decides to find her birth mother. Along the way, she finds out she was born in a certain little town and decides to spend the school holidays there. She applies for a job and the only opening she can find is as a nanny to a wealthy family. Jane takes the job and the children, a boy of five and a girl of 12, are hard to handle. Jane's employer is a widower, a businessman who is always away - in fact, she was offered the job over the phone.
It is hard to get along with the rebellious little girl of the family at first but the little boy is OK and Jane loves working there. Their mother was killed in a car crash, hitting another car head-on, also killing the driver of the other car. Only after Jane falls in love with her boss, and while she is researching her mother, does she find out it was her mother who had been killed in head-on car crash, hit by her employer's wife.
After finding out who her mother was and how she had died, Jane goes home, although she is still in love with her boss. Finally, she receives a letter from the kids, who miss her dearly. Jane returns to visit them and, this time, the father won't let her go. They then announce to the children that they are going to be a family.
And that's the kind of story that I like.
I got interested in Salen Falls (audiobook) by Jodi Picoult because there are two teachers in my family. This book is about a man named Jack St. Bride, who teaches a high school class of 15 year-old girls. He also teaches them soccer and four of them compete against one another for his affection. One of the girls' fathers is a minister and, one day, while searching his daughter's room, he finds condoms left in her diary. His daughter convinces him that they belonged to the teacher so he reports the teacher, who is then charged with sexual assault. The teacher's lawyer suggests he plead guilty because the girl's family is prominent and he would have a lesser sentence than if he was found guilty. Jack serves eight months in prison, then moves to another town further south.
There, Jack gets a job washing dishes in a restaurant frequented by a group of local high school girls. One night, Jack, having been drinking, stumbles upon them in the woods practising witchcraft. Once again, Jack is charged with sexual assault but, this time, Jack insists on his innocence. He also gets help from the restaurant owner, with whom he has begun a relationship. She knows he is a true gentleman. She testifies for him and, after Jack is exonerated, they get married and live happily ever after.
This is just the kind of ending I like.
Check for these books at your local library.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Teresa Rehman works at Coquitlam Public Library.
