Bluffton Branch Library book reviews

Posted: August 30, 2011 - 11:31pm

Reviewer: Elizabeth Belyeu, circulation assistant

Book: “The Hunger Games,” by Suzanne Collins

If “Survivor” and “Lord of the Flies” had an unholy encounter, their child would be a lot like “The Hunger Games.” In Katniss’s world, everyone from age 12 to 18 goes into the lottery for the Hunger Games. The “winners” compete on national television for the prize—an easy life for themselves, food and luxury for their district. Only one person can win. Everyone else dies. Katniss doesn’t want to die, but she doesn’t want to kill, either. Some of her competitors are her friends. But how can she trust them not to turn on her to save themselves? How can she survive a game that she doesn’t even want to win?

Reviewer: Ann Rosen, branch manager

Book: “Cézanne’s Quarry,” by Barbara Corrado Pope

This is the author’s first novel, and she has woven a suspenseful mystery around the well-known 19th century French painter, Paul Cézanne, and a novice magistrate, Bernard Martin. It is the month of August, the traditional month when the French go on vacation, and all the other magistrates are away. Martin has two suspects in the murder of a young Parisian woman who has recently moved to Aix-en-Provence, and one of them is Cézanne! Her body has been found near a quarry where the painter is known to paint occasionally. Pope provides both a mystery with some twists and turns and some insight into the artist and his influential family. As a bonus, she deftly describes the Provence landscape, including Mont Sainte-Victoire, which Cézanne depicted in several of his paintings.

Reviewer: Virginia Davis, circulation assistant

Book: “Nickel and Dimed: On (not) getting by in America,” By Barbara Ehrenreich

Ehrenreich sets out on a mission to prove that many Americans are extremely underpaid. She proves this by working as many low-paying jobs as possible to prove that it’s nearly impossible to save (let alone survive) on an average low-income job. The author partakes in being a waitress, a Walmart employee, a cleaner, and also lives in cheap motels and trailers. Ehrenreich’s sense of humor provides a nice contrast to the unfortunate realities she exposes.

Reviewer: Melinda Vest, children’s manager

Book: “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie” by Alan Bradley

Spunky Flavia de Luce has an insatiable curiosity and no sense of fear. Both come in handy when picking locks, eavesdropping private conversations, or plotting sisterly revenge. Flavia also has a fondness of chemistry, especially poison. These hobbies turn out to be tremendously valuable as 11-year-old Flavia proves to be a better sleuth than the local detectives. Readers will keep guessing with Flavia as she tries to figure out who left the dead bird on the doorstep and why is a postage stamp stuck on its beak? Was her father’s teacher’s death really a suicide so many years ago? Why are older sisters so annoying? And who is that dead man in the garden? Don’t miss the sequel, “The Weed That Strings the Hangman’s Bag,” and the latest installment due to be released this fall.

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