Danielle's Picks

Even a novice knitter like myself can't help but be awestruck by the beautiful designs in this book. Ranging from everyday wear like the insect laced "Metamorphosis" sweater to the die-hard-fan Galadriel hooded dress, Lohr's patterns pay homage to the literary works that inspired them. I can't wait to make the Scout To Kill a Mockingbird cardigan for my daughter!

Ismae has known nothing but hardship and brutality in her short seventeen years. With the help of a hedge priest, Ismae is rescued and brought to the nuns at the convent of St. Mortain. The convent serves the old gods and Ismae soon learns that she has been blessed with a gift from Death himself, the ability to see Death's dark mark upon those he has deemed treacherous. Along with the other initiates, Ismae is trained to be an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death, a journey which takes her into the heart of the royal court of Brittany. There she is charged with keeping the young Queen safe not only from the power hungry nobles of the court but from the treason lurking within her own royal family. Ismae's task leads her to not only to question the motives of those around her but also to challenge her own devotion St. Mortain and her place with the convent.

After postponing her academic career in advanced mathematics at MIT, Maggie Hope finds herself in London just before the Blitz, trying to sell the home she inherited from her deceased and relatively unknown grandmother. The transition from graduate student to Londoner is tough at first, but she soon finds herself enamored by the city and decides to stay and do her part for the war effort as a secretary in Churchill’s War Rooms. Once there, she discovers that even the most seemingly insignificant member of Churchill’s staff can find herself in the middle of IRA bombing schemes and Nazi assassination plots. My favorite historical novels always teach me something about the time period, and MacNeil did just that. Meticulously researched, the author presents a vivid and compelling picture of wartime London that never gets in the way of suspense or the flow of the story. Maggie and her friends’ modern attitudes towards the social politics and taboos of the day can seem a bit far-fetched, but MacNeil never allows her characters to become ridiculous. It has been a while since I read a book that I didn't want to put down, and I'm definitely looking forward to the next book in the series, Princess Elizabeth's Spy.

The Night Circus is the wondrous tale of the duel between Marco and Celia, two young illusionists chosen as children to be pawns in their teacher's battle for supremacy. The fantastical stage for the showdown is Night Circus, a traveling circus in which the pair have complete control to imagine and create the world they and the other performers live in. But no contest comes without a price and a winner can only be declared when one of them is left standing. Author Erin Morgenstern seamlessly weaves Marco and Celia's alternating points of view without losing the narrative or the readers connection to the characters. Descriptions of the different tents created by pair have a lyrical, poetic beauty that perfectly encompasses the atmospheric and almost tragically Greek feeling of the novel. A must read for fans of Carlos Ruiz Zafon and Kate Morton.

It was a dark and stormy night... okay, that infamous line is never used, but it might as well have been. Morton’s haunting tale is reminiscent of classic gothics novels like Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre while flawlessly interweaving two timelines: the contemporary story of Edie Burchill as she delves into her mother’s mysterious past, and the actual events that occurred when her mother was evacuated as a child from London to the country during WWII. For over a year, she lived with the sisters Blythe and their elderly father at gothic Castle Middlehurst. On a whim, Edie arranges a tour of the castle and discovers the three reclusive sisters are still in residence.  After having an unnerving encounter with the youngest daughter Juniper, Edie realizes that there are some dark family secrets which her mother may be a part of. Why have the sisters never left the castle?  Is Juniper’s madness purely because her fiancé jilted her 40 years previously? Why was Raymond Blythe so secretive about the origins of his book? What really happened that night in 1941?  The truth will shock and linger on with you long after the story has ended.    —Danielle

Tiffany Aching, now nearly 16 years old and official witch of The Chalk, is living the unglamorous life taking care of those in need. But when people she has known all her life start looking at her differently, becoming suspicious and scared of her, Tiffany knows something is up to no good. The Cunning Man is out there spreading malice wherever he goes and as the general public becomes more anti-witch, it is up to Tiffany and the Nac Mac Feegles to stop him—before the witch hunts begin again. Pratchett's characteristic tongue-in-cheek humor will leave both old fans and newcomers yearning for more. —Danielle

In One Day, David Nicholls takes what could have been a simplistic piece of 'chick-lit' and turns it into a engaging, witty, real, and at times heartbreaking story of friendship and love. It follows the lives of Emma Morley and Dexter Mayhew on July 15 every year for 20 years, starting with their first meeting on July 15, 1988, the night of their University graduation. Dex and Em retain a dynamic relationship through the years, growing up and growing apart, finding love and success while also learning about failure and the harshness of life's unpredictability. Fans of Nick Hornby will not be disappointed. —Danielle

In Blackout, Connie Willis returns to the time travel universe made popular in Doomsday Book, taking us to WWII England with three historians: one observing the evacuation of Dunkirk from Dover, one observing the children evacuated to rural England and one working as a shop girl during the Blitz. Willis's time-traveling historians have a lot to contend with, not only the hardships of living as 'contemps' in WWII England, but the fear that their mechanism of time-travel has gone disastrously awry, stranding them in WWII England forever, and potentially allowing them to change the course of history. Ending with a cliffhanger, I am eagerly awaiting All Clear, the sequel due out in October 2010. —Danielle

Most books about Henry VIII's court focus solely on the monarch or Anne Bolyen, but in this novel Mantel takes a different route, invoking the voice of royal adviser Thomas Cromwell. Born to humble beginnings, Cromwell's ambition, wit and uncanny ability to make money carry him to the Tudor court. There he is faced with the momentous tasks of annulling Henry's first marriage and reforming the Church of England. This book was not a quick read but at the end had me wishing it wasn't over! —Danielle

Arrested Devolopment is one of my favorite shows, so when I read that Tobias "never-nude" Funke (Cross's character) had a book out, I was psyched. There were multiple times while reading that I laughed out loud, "YouStar.com" being a particular favorite. While many find his humor irreverent, I love that he speaks his mind with no apologies. —Danielle