Thursday, September 6, 2007

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

- posted on behalf of Kim Scarboro

Outstanding book. The Kite Runner captured my attention from the start and held it to the last page. Hosseini did an outstanding job of bringing his story and characters to life. Much of the book is set in Afghanistan and focuses on two young boys - Amir and Hassan - who grow up together, but are worlds apart because of their social status. The book explores the complexity of friendships and relationships, shows both a beautiful and tragic glimpse into the Afghanistan culture/circumstances, and tells a touching story of family, friendship, betrayal and the price of loyalty. This story will touch you deeply and make you take a good look at who you are and who you want to be. "The Kite Runner" movie will be in theaters Nov. 2.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynn Truss

-posted on behalf of Kim Scarboro

As Truss says in the very beginning of Eats, Shoots & Leaves: you will either get this book or you won't. This is a book about commas, semicolons and the importance of using basic punctuation correctly, creatively and effectively. Truss throws in humor, history tid bits about punctuation and, of course, some rules on using punctuation. You may think a book on grammar would be extremely boring - as I was afraid it might be when I first opened the book - but Truss pulled off an interesting read for punctuation sticklers and, in my case, people who need a reminder about such things as when to use a semicolon instead of a comma.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

-posted on behalf of Erin Smith (NFCC student)

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote
One of the best books I’ve read recently was the original Breakfast at Tiffany’s novella by Truman Capote. Of course, everyone is familiar with the movie starring Audrey Hepburn as the sophisticated waif, Holiday Golightly. I am a huge fan of the movie and adore Ms. Hepburn in the leading role and so I dived eagerly into the book Nearly all book are, of course, better than their Hollywood counterparts, but with Breakfast at Tiffany’s I was surprised and just how much better Capote’s novella was. The movie was very different from the novella; they contained many of the same storylines and scenes, but the overlying feel was very different. Many of the subplots from the book were eliminated for the movie and the ending was changed entirely. I was a little surprised to find that on the very first page of the novella the movie ending was thrown completely out of the window, but by the time I had finished the novella, I was far more satisfied with it’s ending than the movie’s ending. I highly recommend it.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder

In the aftermath of the I-35 bridge failure in Minnesota, Kathy Sale recommended The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder, a novel about a bridge collapse in 18th century Peru. I just finished it and highly recommend it. The book traces the story of the five persons killed, and asks why these five--were they better persons than others? Worse? Were they needed by society less than others? They each had weathered a crisis in their lives and had come to a resolution, but died before being able to begin anew. Wilder's prose is lyrical and imaginative. It's a great short novel that still speaks to our times.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Nasty Bits

- Posted on behalf of Trish Hinton

"The Nasty Bits" by Anthony Bourdain was great fun. Irreverent, profane...and yes, profound. Anthony Bourdain - whom we can see in living color on the Travel Channel - is so suave, sexy, down right cool. Laugh out loud stories from his extensive travels. I recommend it to anyone.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Welcome to the NFCC Library Blog

Welcome. This our first library blog. If you have read a great book lately, please tell us a little bit about it and why you like it. Someone may take your suggestions and check it out. We welcome your contributions!