BETH'S PICK APRIL'S AUTHOR: COLIN COTTERILL

Colin Cotterill Colin Cotterill brings a welcome spin to mysteries featuring a sleuthing medical examiner in his Siri Paiboun novels. Rather than rely upon a familiar Western setting, Cotterill transplants the genre to 1970s Asia, mixing mystery with politics, mysticism, and themes such as international relations, government bureaucracy and racism. Cotterill’s witty and fast paced narratives are not only filled with cultural insight, but also feature compelling characters, particularly his clever protagonist, Laotian National Coroner Siri Paiboun. He is a reluctant communist and (even more reluctant) national coroner. The 72 year-old uses forensic deduction, spirit intuition, and old-fashioned sleuthing to figure out any suspicious deaths that come his way. Finding his charming characters and crisply plotted narratives in these mysteries with an educational undercurrent, readers will enjoy Cotterill’s works. (Novelist)

About the Author: Colin Cotterill was born in London in 1952 and taught and trained teachers around the world before settling in Thailand. He spent several years in Laos, initially with UNESCO, before he moved on to become involved in child protection in the region and set up a non-governmental organization in Phuket. He later moved on to ECPAT, an international organization combating child prostitution and pornography. Colin writes and illustrates full time, and lives in Chumphon on the Gulf of Thailand with his wife, Jessi, and a bunch of dogs. He is a Dilys Award winner.

Colin Cotterill’s home page: http://www.colincotterill.com/home.html

Listen to NPR audio interview: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=93590413

Wikipedia link on the author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Cotterill

There are seven so far in the series including:

The Coroner’s Lunch Seventy-two-year-old Dr. Siri Paiboun, a coroner in Laos, confronts shamans, dreams, conversations with the dead, and an international cover-up, in his attempts to solve a series of murders of Vietnamese soldiers and the wife of a party leader.

Reviews: "This series kickoff is an embarrassment of riches: Holmesian sleuthing, political satire, and [a] droll comic study of a prickly late bloomer."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"The sights, smells, and colors of Laos practically jump of the pages of this inspired, often wryly witty first novel."-"Denver Post

"A wonderfully fresh and exotic mystery. . . . If Cotterill . . . had done nothing more than treat us to Siri's views on the dramatic, even comic crises that mark periods of government upheaval, his debut mystery would still be fascinating. But the multiple cases spread out on Siri's examining table . . . are not cozy entertainments, but substantial crimes that take us into the thick of political intrigue."-"The New York Times Book Review”

"In Siri, Cotterill has created a detective as distinctive as Maigret or Poirot."-"Orlando Sentinel"

"The author gives us exotic locations; a world that few of us know well; crisp, intelligent, and often-witty writing; and, most of all, a hero unlike any other." -"The Philadelphia Inquirer"

Thirty-three Teeth Dr Siri Paiboun has rather enjoyed his first five months in office. Now, as hot-season nights close in, Siri is spirited away from Laos' steamy capital on a Matter of National Security. Arriving in Luang Prabang, he's a busy man, examining carbonized corpses, dining with the deposed king and being rescued by the ghost of an elephant.

Disco for the Departed Coroner Siri Paiboun must identify a corpse found near the mansion of the new Laotian president, an investigation which includes communication with the dead, sacrificial rituals, a marriage proposal, and strange disco music that only the doctor can hear.

Anarchy and Old Dogs When a blind, retired dentist is run down by a logging truck as he crosses the road to post a letter, Dr Siri Paiboun, official and only coroner of Laos, finds himself faced with his most explosive case yet. The dentist's mortal remains aren't nearly as intriguing as the letter in his pocket.

Curse of the Pogo Stick National Coroner Dr. Siri is kidnapped by Hmong villagers who want him to lift a curse from the headman's daughter.

The Merry Misogynist In peaceful Buddhist Laos, Dr. Siri confronts a deadly Casanova targeting lovely young women.

Love Songs from a Shallow Grave When a female security officer is discovered stabbed through the heart with a fencing sword, Dr. Siri's instincts tell him there is more to the mystery than anyone can imagine.

Best in Books April 2011

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

 Freedom, an epic family story, garnered several awards in 2010 including Library Journal's Top Ten and the New York Times Notable Books for Fiction and Poetry. The story revolves around Patty and Walter Berglund's family relationships, while Franzen weaves the ethical, theological and psychological cost of freedom into the book. See the links below for questions that will guide a robust discussion.

Library Journal Review "Use Well Thy Freedom": this motto, etched in stone on a college campus, hints at the moral of Franzen's sprawling, darkly comic new novel. The nature of personal freedom, the fluidity of good and evil, the moral relativism of nearly everything-Franzen takes on these thorny issues via the lives of Walter and Patty Berglund of St. Paul. With two kids, a Volvo in the garage, and a strong social conscience, the Berglunds allow their good deeds to be tinged with just a hint of smugness (which eventually comes back to haunt them). Weaving in and out of their lives is old college friend Richard Katz, low-level rock star and ultra-hip antihero. Time goes by, the kids grow up, betrayals occur, and the thin line between right and wrong blurs. Fully utilizing their freedom-to make mistakes, confuse love with lust, and mix up goodness and greed-the Berglunds give Franzen the opportunity to limn the absurdities of our modern culture. Granola moms, raging Republicans, war profiteers, crooked environmentalists, privileged offspring, and poverty-bred rednecks each enjoy the uniquely American freedom to make disastrous choices and continually reinvent themselves. Verdict As in his National Book Award winner, The Corrections, Franzen reveals a penchant for smart, deceptively simple, and culturally astute writing. Highly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/10.]-Susanne Wells, P.L. of Cincinnati & Hamilton Cty. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Discussion Questions
Jonathan Franzen Biographical information and Discussion Questions
Oprah Book Club Discussion Questions

Classic Suggestion April 2011

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Born into a poor family and raised by an oppressive aunt, young Jane Eyre becomes the governess at Thornfield Manor to escape the confines of her life. There her fiery independence clashes with the brooding and mysterious nature of her employer, Mr. Rochester. But what begins as outright loathing slowly evolves into a passionate romance. When a terrible secret from Rochester's past threatens to tear the two apart, Jane must make an impossible choice: Should she follow her heart or walk away and lose her love forever?

Unabashedly romantic and utterly enthralling, Jane Eyre endures as one of the greatest love stories of all time. -product description

Disucssion Questions, About the Author, Related Titles

Beth's Picks--March 2011

Little Princes by Conor Grennan

Summary:

One Person Can Make a Difference In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan traded his day job for a year-long trip around the globe, a journey that began with a three-month stint volunteering at the Little Princes Children's Home, an orphanage in war-torn Nepal. Conor was initially reluctant to volunteer, unsure whether he had the proper skill, or enough passion, to get involved in a developing country in the middle of a civil war. But he was soon overcome by the herd of rambunctious, resilient children who would challenge and reward him in a way that he had never imagined. When Conor learned the unthinkable truth about their situation, he was stunned: The children were not orphans at all. Child traffickers were promising families in remote villages to protect their children from the civil war-for a huge fee-by taking them to safety. They would then abandon the children far from home, in the chaos of Nepal's capital, Kathmandu. For Conor, what began as a footloose adventure becomes a commitment to reunite the children he had grown to love with their families, but this would be no small task. He would risk his life on a journey through the legendary mountains of Nepal, facing the dangers of a bloody civil war and a debilitating injury. Waiting for Conor back in Kathmandu, and hopeful he would make it out before being trapped in by snow, was the woman who would eventually become his wife and share his life's work. Little Princes is a true story of families and children, and what one person is capable of when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds. At turns tragic, joyful, and hilarious, Little Princes is a testament to the power of faith and the ability of love to carry us beyond our wildest expectations.

About the Author:

http://www.harpercollins.com/author/microsite/about.aspx?authorid=36296


Author discusses Little Princes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzS9v1TBsbM


Review:

New York Journal of Books:

When I received this book in the mail, having only a tiny blurb to read about it, I made the assumption it was a book about a man who had traveled to Nepal and adopted children internationally after working at the orphanage. I couldn’t have been more wrong. This is instead the story of a man who refused to turn a blind eye when hints surfaced that death certificates had been forged, that government corruption was rampant, and that child slavery was common in Nepal.
Little Princes is the story of what happens when you pursue the truth and passionately seek to solve a complicated social problem in a country with little or no infrastructure and few resources. It is a gorgeous story of love and passion and what happens when you choose to follow a path that you didn’t know existed.
Grennan, from time to time, returned home to the United States to visit family. During one of those visits in 2006, he set up a foundation to protect the children of Nepal. The foundation is a nonprofit called Next Generation Nepal. It has a website for more information or involvement.
While advocating for funding of the nonprofit and making connections, Grennan received an email from a fellow University of Virginia graduate named Liz looking for information about volunteering in an orphanage. Her email correspondence progressed and eventually became a plan to meet when she also comes to India and to work in an orphanage. Without giving the ending away, this story also contains a healthy dose of romance.
In light of the very real discovery of rampant child trafficking in Nepal, there should also be more thought given to the complex situations in many areas of the world where war, poverty, and natural disaster might have bred similar opportunities. There are tens of thousands of children still missing in Nepal.
Grennan’s foundation remains active and continues to reunite children with their families. http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/

Book Discussion Questions:

http://www.nextgenerationnepal.com/File/NGN__Little_Princes__Reading_Guide.pdf

Best in Books March 2011

Columbine by David Cullen

Columbine received the 2010 Reference and User Service Association's Notable Books for Adults Nonfiction Award and the 2010 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime.

On April 20, 1999, two boys left an indelible stamp on the American psyche. Their goal was simple: to blow up their school, Oklahoma-City style, and to leave "a lasting impression on the world." Their bombs failed, but the ensuing shooting defined a new era of school violence-irrevocably branding every subsequent shooting "another Columbine." When we think of Columbine, we think of the Trench Coat Mafia; we think of Cassie Bernall, the girl we thought professed her faith before she was shot; and we think of the boy pulling himself out of a school window -- the whole world was watching him. Now, in a riveting piece of journalism nearly ten years in the making, comes the story none of us knew. In this revelatory book, Dave Cullen has delivered a profile of teenage killers that goes to the heart of psychopathology. He lays bare the callous brutality of mastermind Eric Harris, and the quavering, suicidal Dylan Klebold, who went to prom three days earlier and obsessed about love in his journal. The result is an astonishing account of two good students with lots of friends, who came to stockpile a basement cache of weapons, to record their raging hatred, and to manipulate every adult who got in their way. They left signs everywhere, described by Cullen with a keen investigative eye and psychological acumen. Drawing on hundreds of interviews, thousands of pages of police files, FBI psychologists, and the boy's tapes and diaries, he gives the first complete account of the Columbine tragedy. In the tradition of HELTER SKELTER and IN COLD BLOOD, COLUMBINE is destined to be a classic. A close-up portrait of hatred, a community rendered helpless, and the police blunders and cover-ups, it is a compelling and utterly human portrait of two killers-an unforgettable cautionary tale for our times.

Reviews
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Although much has been written about the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School, little of it has helped to explain why two high-school students went on a rampage, killing 13 people and wounding scores of others. Cullen, acclaimed expert on Columbine, offers a penetrating look at the motivation and intent of the shooters, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold. Drawing on interviews, police records, media coverage, and diaries and videotapes left behind by the shooters, Cullen examines the killers' beliefs and psychological states of mind. Chilling journal entries show a progression from adolescent angst to psychopathic rage as they planned a multistage killing spree that included bombs that ultimately didn't detonate. Cullen goes beyond detailing the planning and execution of the shootings, delving into the early lives of the killers as well. He explores the aftermath for the town of Littleton, Colorado: survivors' stories, investigation into how the sheriff's department mishandled the crisis, several ongoing legal issues, exploitation of the shooting by some religious groups and sensationalists, and the school's battle to regain its identity. Cullen debunks several Columbine myths, including the goth angle and a martyrdom story of a girl who proclaimed her belief in God before she was killed. Graphic and emotionally vivid; spectacularly researched and analyzed.--Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2009 Booklist

Publishers Weekly Review
In this remarkable account of the April 20, 1999, Columbine High School shooting, journalist Cullen not only dispels several of the prevailing myths about the event but tackles the hardest question of all: why did it happen? Drawing on extensive interviews, police reports and his own reporting, Cullen meticulously pieces together what happened when 18-year-old Eric Harris and 17-year-old Dylan Klebold killed 13 people before turning their guns on themselves. The media spin was that specific students, namely jocks, were targeted and that Dylan and Eric were members of the Trench Coat Mafia. According to Cullen, they lived apparently normal lives, but under the surface lay "an angry, erratic depressive" (Klebold) and "a sadistic psychopath" (Harris), together forming a "combustible pair." They planned the massacre for a year, outlining their intentions for massive carnage in extensive journals and video diaries. Cullen expertly balances the psychological analysis-enhanced by several of the nation's leading experts on psychopathology-with an examination of the shooting's effects on survivors, victims' families and the Columbine community. Readers will come away from Cullen's unflinching account with a deeper understanding of what drove these boys to kill, even if the answers aren't easy to stomach. (Apr. 6) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

David Cullen web site

Classic Suggestion March 2011

Vanity Fair by William Thackeray

“I think I could be a good woman, if I had five thousand a year,” observes beautiful and clever Becky Sharp, one of the wickedest—and most appealing—women in all of literature. Becky is just one of the many fascinating figures that populate William Makepeace Thackeray’s novel Vanity Fair, a wonderfully satirical panorama of upper-middle-class life and manners in London at the beginning of the nineteenth century.


Scorned for her lack of money and breeding, Becky must use all her wit, charm and considerable sex appeal to escape her drab destiny as a governess. From London’s ballrooms to the battlefields of Waterloo, the bewitching Becky works her wiles on a gallery of memorable characters, including her lecherous employer, Sir Pitt, his rich sister, Miss Crawley, and Pitt’s dashing son, Rawdon, the first of Becky’s misguided sexual entanglements.

Filled with hilarious dialogue and superb characterizations, Vanity Fair is a richly entertaining comedy that asks the reader, “Which of us is happy in this world? Which of us has his desire? or, having it, is satisfied?”
-Product Description

Discussion Questions

William Thackeray Biography

Wikipedia Article

Classic Suggestion February 2011

The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot

Novel by George Eliot, published in three volumes in 1860. It sympathetically portrays the vain efforts of Maggie Tulliver to adapt to her provincial world. The tragedy of her plight is underlined by the actions of her brother Tom, whose sense of family honor leads him to forbid her to associate with the one friend who appreciates her intelligence and imagination. When she is caught in a compromising situation, Tom renounces her altogether, but brother and sister are finally reconciled in the end as they try in vain to survive a climactic flood. -- The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature

Discussion Questions

George Eliot Biography

Wikipedia Article