During these tough economic times, when most libraries are faced with cutting costs, Coquitlam Public Library still chooses to maintain personal home service to shut-in patrons. One of the greatest pleasures of my job as community services librarian is to provide a readers' advisory service to shut-in patrons, visit them in their homes and care centres, and listen to their comments about the books they have enjoyed or not enjoyed.
Some of these reviews, in their revised form, have appeared on our blog, "I was told there'd be cake." For this column, I have chosen to keep their oral reviews as close to the original form as possible.
At 86, Denise Racine, a resident of Foyer Maillard, is an avid reader - listener, actually - of CD books. Recently, Denise's review on How Will I Know (CD book) by Sheila O'Flanagan appeared on our blog:
This is a story about an Irish couple (Claire and Bill Hudson) who had been married for 14 years. They went to Fiji for a holiday and he was killed in a boating accident. I got interested in Fiji because you (Teresa) come from Fiji. She returned to Ireland and her friends and family members wanted her to date but every date wanted sex so she was having a hard time dating.
Her husband had made a garden for her. Now, three years after his death, the garden needed some work. One day, she was walking her dog when the dog ran across the street and tripped a gentleman who was coming out of the florist shop with a bouquet of flowers. The man fell and the floral arrangement was destroyed. The owner of the florist shop was angry and the woman offered to pay for the damaged flowers. Not long afterwards, the gentleman came to the woman's house with some flowers to apologize about the incident. He looked at her garden and told her it needed work and that he could help her with it. Her dog tripped him again and this time, his ankle was sprained. She had never felt that she would love anyone again after her husband's death but she fell in love with him. Her 14-year-old daughter also liked him. The book is not mushy and does not have sex (not that I mind reading about sex in books). I enjoyed the story and hope others will so too. This is a good family story.
It is always a pleasure to visit Jean McRobbie at Madison Care Centre. At 91, Jean listens to both MP3 and CD books, enjoying stories set in her home country of Scotland. Last week, Jean gave an excellent review of The Last Innocent Man (CD book) by Phillip Margolin, which I recorded - soon to be on YouTube.
The Last Innocent Man is a story about a defence lawyer who is excellent at his job and seems to manage by hook or by crook to get people off. He is doing very well financially and all of a sudden, it gets to him that this is not right. He is allowing crooks back into the community and he is not sure what they are doing. His conscience bothers him so much, he is sleepless by night and makes him feel quite unsteady about the whole thing. He is nervous until he decides he has to stop. Then there is a sudden, unusual end to this story. I loved this story.
The Captive Queen (MP 3 format) by Alison Weir is another story Jean found most interesting.
I enjoyed the book very much. The story is about Eleanor of Aquitaine, in medieval France, and her husband Henry II of England. Eleanor had previously been married to Louis VI of France but she divorced him for a younger man, who eventually became the king of England.
I enjoyed learning about the history of Europe because I did not know much about that.
When I was growing up in Britain, we only learned British history. During the course of their marriage, Henry had Eleanor imprisoned, not a prison in the sense we know, but in the castle. She was under castle arrest and could not go anywhere freely. Henry did not trust Eleanor so that is why he had her imprisoned. Eleanor was very attached to her family and wanted to give them all the land, and along with that went titles and responsibilities. You know how women adore their children and want the best for them. Henry did not like his children and did not want them to inherit the land. He was a very selfish king. I did not like Henry. What aggravated me most was that Eleanor did not resent him at all for doing all that. In fact, she still loved him while she was in prison, and kept on loving him, and they remained friends. I think he released her when they became old.
Bus Gerow enjoys listening to biographies and adventure stories on CD books. At 91, he takes the bus to the library but leaves the readers' adversary work to me. Recently, Bus gave an oral review of Irish Country Doctor (CD book) by Patrick Taylor.
There is humour and some degree of pathos in this story. I found it entertaining and I recommend it for readers as well as listeners. The story is about a young graduating doctor who responds to an advertisement placed by a country doctor. He doesn't know whether he wants the job but decides to go and see the doctor. On the train, he meets an attractive young lady, who unfortunately has had infantile paralysis. That is the beginning of the love story. He meets the country doctor, who is considerably older but has a fine and interesting personality and they hit it off. If I say any more, I will ruin the story, or shall I say, take away from the story. While the book does not describe Ireland's landscape in any depth, the story allows you to meet numerous Irish rural families, which gives one a very good idea of Irish village life. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I was tempted to listen to it again.
Patrons who are unable to come to the library or who have problems with eyesight can register for Coquitlam Public Library's homebound services by phoning Teresa Rehman, community services librarian, at 604-937-4140 (Local 234).
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published every Wednesday.
