2012 has been a big year for the library, thanks to our wonderful patrons and supporters some big things have happened this year. First and foremost was becoming a joint City/County library, the voters of our county supported the library in a big way and we would like to say thank-you for that!

The community also came together to help raise money to get Overdrive Library2Go digital e-books and audiobooks we couldn’t have done this without all your generous donations and this service is now up and running. Check it out at our new library webpagewww.newrockfordndlibrary.com .

We look forward to even more new and exciting things in the coming year.

Top Recommended Library Books From 2012:

From the Library Bookclub our Favorites Were:

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by, Beth Hoffman

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet: A Novel by, Jamie Ford

In Adult Fiction:

The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel by, Jenny Wingfield

The Silence of Trees by, Valya Dudycz Lupescu

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by, Matthew Dicks

Yellow Crocus by, Laila Ibrahim

A Grown-up Kind of Pretty by, Joshilyn Jackson

Beyond the Bougainvillea by, Delores Durando

Catch Me by, Lisa Gardner

The Second Empress: A Novel of Napoleon’s Court by, Michelle Moran

The Secret Keeper by, Kate Morton

The Time Keeper by, Mitch Albom

Defending Jacob by, William Landay

The Dressmaker by, Kate Alcott

The Queen’s Vow & The Last Queen by, CW Gortner

The Woman at the Light: A Novel by, Joanna Brady

Stay Close by, Harlan Coben

The Cove by, Ron Rash

Gone Girl by, Gillian Flynn

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society: A Novel by, Amy Hill Hearth

A Place of Secrets by, Rachel Hore

A Dog Named Christmas & A Christmas Home by, Greg Kincaid

This One and Magic Life: A Novel of a Southern Family by, Anne C. George

The Dry Grass of August by, Anna Jean Mayhew

The Rose Garden by, Susanna Kearsley

The Unseen by, Katherine Webb

The House I Loved by, Tatiana de Rosnay

In Fantasy:

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by, Seth Grahame-Smith

Fair Game by, Patricia Briggs

Timeless by, Gail Carriger

Ready Player One by, Ernest Cline

In Young Adult & Middle grade:

Ashen Winter by, Mike Mullins

Winter Shadows by, Margaret Buffie

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by, Stephen Chbosky

Insurgent by, Veronica Roth

The Hero’s Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by, Christopher Healy

New Books This Week:

The Forgotten by, David Baldacci

The Black Box (Harry Bosch #18) by, Michael Connelly

Merry Christmas, Alex Cross by, James Patterson

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie by, Ayana Mathis

Cross Roads by, William P. Young

A Winter Dream by, Richard Paul Evans

Whispers in the Wind #2 by, Lauraine Snelling

A Dog Named Christmas & A Christmas Home by, Greg Kincaid

The Perfect Hope by, Nora Roberts

Hard Country by, Michael McGarrity

The Swan Thieves by, Elizabeth Kostova

Non-Fiction:

My Happy Days in Hollywood A Memoir by, Garry Marshall

Dream More: Celebrate the Dreamer in You by, Dolly Parton

A Gift of Hope: helping the Homeless by, Danielle Steel

The Sweet Potato Queens’ Book of Love & God Save the Sweet Potato Queens by, Jill Conner Browne

Lindt RSVP Chocolate Party Tues. Dec. 4^th, 2012 5-7 pm at the Library. Come in for samples and to buy some great chocolate part of the proceeds to go to the library. Stop by anytime from 5-7 or shop online at  www.mylindtchocolatersvp.com/tracysjoquist Click Shop Now and scroll down the page to find our event. Hope you can join us!

New books this Week are:

Notorious Nineteen by, Janet Evanovich

The Sins of the Mother by, Danielle Steel

The Round House by, Louise Erdrich

The Bridge by, Karen Kingsbury

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend by, Matthew Dicks

Miss Dreamsville and the Collier County Women’s Literary Society: A Novel by Amy Hill Hearth

Out of Darkness by, Delores Durando

Serena by, Ron Rash

Shadowy Horses by, Susanna Kearsley

Angels at the Table by, Debbie Macomber

The Racketeer by, John Grisham

The Secret Keeper by, Kate Morton

We have this book in both audio & hardcover

How do I write this review without complete gushing and no spoilers? I fell in love with Budo and Max and Oswald too. I did not want this story to end I wanted to stay with these characters, they were just so special. 

This story is written with such feeling but in that straight forward way children use to describe their world. I loved how the author had Budo describe Max’s aspergers and how his mind worked. Budo is an extraordinary imaginary friend because he has been around longer than most, he has seen many imaginary friends go *poof* and he doesn’t want that to happen to him although he knows one day it will, because no imaginary friend is needed forever. I enjoyed that there were other imaginary friends and they could talk to each other and the whole imaginary universe the author concocts is great, with all the different kinds of imaginary friends there were and how different each personality is based on what the child/imaginer needed at the time.

This may start slow for some but I enjoyed the daily life of Max to see who he was and how he handles life, then when the big story takes over you are already invested and for me a bit in love with these characters that your stomach is in knots and have some tissues ready towards the end! I so want Budo to be my imaginary friend!

When the events in the middle of this book happen (trying for no spoilers) I loved how strong Max becomes but at the same time I didn’t want him to because as we have seen throughout the book once an imaginary friend is no longer needed *poof* and I did not want to see Budo go that way! My favorite imaginary friend other than Budo has to be Oswald because he was so different than all the others yet was very childlike himself.

There are parts of this book that will make you giggle, parts that will make you cry and parts that will make you cheer. This book just had it all, a unique voice and unique storytelling for a very unique story that will tug at your heartstrings and not let go. When I finished this audiobook I thought about starting over at the beginning just because I didn’t want to leave these characters.

Audio Production review:Matthew Brown narrated this book so well, he brought the little boy quality to his voice that was so well done that I totally believed he was the voice of Budo not an adult trying for a child’s voice. I honestly don’t know if I would have had the same emotional connection to this book without Matthew’s narration he truly brought Budo and all the other characters to life for me. I would definitely listen to this new to me narrator again. 

This book will be in my top 5 of the year! It is a book and characters that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. Highly recommend this one especially on audio!

5 stars

Winter Shadows by Margaret Buffie

The Secret Keeper by, Kate Morton

 Synopsis:1960 England. Laurel Nicolson is sixteen years old, dreaming alone in her childhood tree house during a family celebration at their home, Green Acres Farm. She spies a stranger coming up the long road to the farm and then observes her mother, Dorothy, speaking to him. And then she witnesses a crime.

Fifty years later, Laurel is a successful and well-regarded actress, living in London. She returns to Green Acres for Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday and finds herself overwhelmed by memories and questions she has not thought about for decades. She decides to find out the truth about the events of that summer day and lay to rest her own feelings of guilt. One photograph, of her mother and a woman Laurel has never met, called Vivian, is her first clue.

The Secret Keeper explores longings and dreams, the lengths some people go to fulfill them, and the strange consequences they sometimes have. It is a story of lovers, friends, dreamers and schemers, play-acting and deception told against a backdrop of events that changed the world.

Our book club pick for the November 13th meeting is…

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Christopher is autistic. Everyday interactions and admonishments have little meaning for him. Routine, order and predictability shelter him from the messy, wider world. Then, at fifteen, Christopher’s carefully constructed world falls apart when he finds his neighbor’s dog, Wellington, impaled on a garden fork, and he is initially blamed for the killing.
Christopher decides that he will track down the real killer and turns to his favorite fictional character, the impeccably logical Sherlock Holmes, for inspiration.

You can stop in at the Library and pick up a book everyone welcome!

The Library will be closed Friday Oct. 19 for carpet cleaning. Sorry for any inconvenience. 

Library2Go is coming along Susie is taking classes and filling out paperwork. Keep checking the website or our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/NewRockfordPublicLibrary for patron classes and more announcements as the time gets closer for this to go live.

New books this week:

In Adult fiction:

The Time Keeper by, Mitch Albom

Dark Places & Sharp Objects by, Gillian Flynn

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by, Rachel Joyce

Zoo by, James Patterson & Micheal Ledwidge

Severe Clear Stone Barrington #24 by, Stuart Woods

Love Anthony by, Lisa Genova

The Cutting Season by, Attica Locke

Before I Go to Sleep by, S.J. Watson

Buried Prey by, John Sandford

Never Look Back by, Kathy Herman

The Postmistress by, Sarah Blake

The Dress Lodger by, Sheri Holman

Heartsick by, Chelsea Cain

The Fugitive Wife by, Peter Brown

The Fiddler by, Beverley Lewis

Stranger than Fiction by, Chuck Palahniuk

One Hundred Years of Solitude by, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Empire Falls by, Richard Russo

In Non-fiction:

Barefoot in the Rubble by, Elizabeth B. Walter

Obsessed with North Dakota A Collection of photography

The River of Doubt Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey by, Candace Millard

In Young Adult:

Feedback ( Variant #2) by, Robison Wells

The Raven boys by, Maggie Stiefvater

A Separate Peace by, John Knowles

In Juvenile Fiction:

The Fourth Stall Part II by, Chris Rylander