Barcelona-themed Books

Blustery winter weather has left me dreaming of exotic locales. To combat my wanderlust, I recently read two fiction novels set in a city I have always wanted to visit – Barcelona.

 Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a  20^th century tale of murder, mystery, madness, and doomed love.  Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones  is a captivatingly rich story again centered in Barcelona, but the time period is the 14^th century and the Inquisition is casting a dark shadow over Spain.  Friendship, revenge, love and war are the themes in this absorbing novel.

 If you too are suffering from cabin fever, try reading a novel set in a location you’d like to explore. Oh the places you’ll go…….

       

Click the images above to request it in catalog

January Art Blast in Port Angeles

On a frosty evening in January, a crowd of 300 enjoyed the warm tunes of The Cornstalks - at the Art Blast the heart of the Port Angeles Library.

Creating A Reading Map

As a reader my tastes are all over the spectrum. In fiction, I read mysteries, romance, westerns, graphic novels, Sci-Fi and fantasy, religious fiction, and historical fiction. I admit to being rusty in the areas of thrillers and horror. Often when reading fiction, I will want to know more about the actual time period or place depicted in the book and that leads to discoveries in nonfiction for all ages. Charting such reading is like making a map. I start where I am.

For instance, the Port Angeles Library Book Discussion group recently read the popular historical fiction novel Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. From there I can explore many routes to learn more about the era, setting, and characters in the book.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, set mostly in WW II era Seattle, recounts a love story between a Chinese boy and a Japanese girl before, during, and after the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps. The Panama Hotel featured in the book is a real place. Visit http://www.panamahotel.net/ for more information. Unfortunately, the camps were also real. To hear real life stories of actual northwest Japanese internees from Bainbridge Island visit the website of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community at http://www.bijac.org/. One can follow an actual road map and visit the places mentioned in the book including the memorial to those interned from Bainbridge.

A reading map is also beginning to emerge. To learn more about the setting of Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet, try Seattle’s International District: The Making of a Pan-Asian American Community by Doug Chin. The internment camp at Puyallup fairgrounds is the subject of Camp Harmony: Seattle’s Japanese Americans and the Puyallup Assembly Center by Louis Fiset.

Another element of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet is the early Seattle Jazz scene. The song Ally Cat Strut by Oscar Holden does not exist, but Holden was an early father of Seattle Jazz. His son has recorded some of his father’s music. You can check out and listen to: Roots to Roots and Beyond by Dave Holden. To learn more about the Seattle Jazz Scene check out: Jackson Street After Hours: The Roots of Jazz in Seattle by Paul De Barros which features biographical information about Oscar Holden and many other great musicians.

In addition to exploring nonfiction, a good novel will pique my interest in read-a-like novels. Read-a-likes are novels which share common factors such as time period, geographic setting, genre, tone or pace. Thinking about read-a-likes for Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet leads us to October’s PALS selection, The Samurai’s Garden by Gail Tsukiyama. Enter the Samurai’s Garden and watch as a young Chinese man comes of age in Japan during World War II. This book was universally popular with book club participants and comes highly recommended. The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka is a poetic novel about the lives of Japanese picture brides coming to America at the turn of the century.

Chinese Americans are also featured in Jaime Ford’s novel. Additional books to try include The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan or Thousand Pieces of Gold: A Biographical Novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn. A search in Novelist, an e-resource for readers available at http://www.nols.org/ (click on E-Resources > Language and Literature), turned up these read-a-like suggestions for books featuring Japanese Americans in World War II: When The Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka, Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata and Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki.

Now it’s your turn. Start from a novel or nonfiction book you enjoyed. Explore the library catalog for other books and materials related to your topic, peruse Novelist and see where you end up on your reading journey. Need recommendations? E-mail Collection Management Librarian Lorrie Kovell at lkovell@nols.org. All these titles and resources are available through your local branch of the North Olympic Library System or via the online catalog at http://www.nols.org.

Are you in a Book Club?

Are you in a book club, or do you want to start one? Frustrated because you don’t have enough copies of your book selection for everyone in your group? You can borrow a book discussion kit from the Library! Each kit includes 10-12 copies of a given title, plus discussion questions.

Book Recommendation: A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

A book recommendation from your e-services librarian in Port Angeles:

In Christopher Moore's A Dirty Job we meet Charlie Asher, a self-described beta male, who until now has embodied all things mild-mannered. This begins to change as he is saddled with new responsibilities as a Death Merchant. He navigates this thankless job with the help of his new friend Minty Fresh and his trusty “Big Book of Death.” Christopher Moore's black humor and likeable, three-dimensional characters will especially appeal to fans of Jasper Fforde, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Tom Robbins, and Carl Hiaasen.

Read about this book in Novelist or place a hold in our online catalog.

Ahoy, matey!

Landlubbers took to the water on Wednesday December 21 for the Port Angeles Library's Pirate Party at the William Shore Memorial Pool. There were cupcakes for strength and courage, oranges to prevent scurvy, and pirate stories told poolside by Youth Services Librarian (and Head Pirate) Jennifer Knight. A good time was had by all.

Children Picture Book Recommendation: New Socks

The Sequim Youth Services librarian says, “If you are looking to start a giggle fest in your home at bedtime, New Socks by Bob Shea is just the ticket.  The simple drawings of a chicken with socks on and the silly text will have you and your child giggling from the start!  Don’t be surprised if your child wants a brand new pair of orange socks by the end of this fun picture book!”

Read about this book in Novelist or place a hold in the online catalog.