October Book Review Denison, Iowa by Dale Maharidge
Maharidge and his photographer Michael Williamson lived in Denison for one year interacting with the people of the town and observing events that transpired. The story Maharidge wrote demonstrates the strained relationships between the Anglo citizens and the growing Latino population. In addition, Denison was suffering the changes in farming and agriculture and from the loss of jobs to overseas businesses, thereby creating a real loss in local business. In the 1980’s the meat-processing plant froze wages and remained static. He wrote about alone Lutheran woman who taught English to Latino immigrants. The author continues to trace the lives of the citizens, their trials and tribulations that lie behind the picture of the ideal Midwest town.
Maharidge chose Denison because it was the perfect example of the changes that were occurring in the nation as small towns struggle to stay alive during some hard economic times. Denison, Iowa is an interesting, thought-provoking book that takes a detailed view of the demographics and in the culture that coincides in a troubled small community.
Other books by Dale Maharidge:
Bringing Mulligan Home: The Other Side of the Good War
Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass
New Books September 2013
| AV 333.72 CUL | Culture of Conservation | Iowa State University Extension | |
| AV 371.302 MEM | Memory Skills DVD | GPN | |
| AV 373.238 TES | Test Taking video | Educational Video Network | |
| FIC CAM | Grave Gourmet | Campion, Alexander | |
| FIC EVA | Four To Score | Evanovich, Janet | |
| FIC EVA | Hard Eight | Evanovich, Janet | |
| FIC EVA | High Five | Evanovich, Janet | |
| FIC EVA | Hot Six | Evanovich, Janet | |
| FIC EVA | Seven Up | Evanovich, Janet | |
| FIC GOL | Red Sky Blue Moon | Golden, Bruce | |
| FIC HAR | Eventide | Haruf, Kent | |
| FIC WAT | Vidalia in Paris | Watson, Sasha | |
| 025.50941 MAR | Evaluating the Impact of Your Library | Markless, Sharon | |
| 152.41 ILL | Why Love Hurts | Illouz, Eva | |
| 153.42 KAH | Thinking, Fast and Slow | Kahneman, Daniel | |
| 155.7 BOE | Moral Origins | Boehm, Christopher | |
| 155.7 STE | Evolved Apprentice | Sterelny, Kim | |
| 297.09 VAN | Puritan Islam | Vann, Barry | |
| 305.697 FIS | Are Muslims Distinctive? | Fish, M. | |
| 322.3 ROT | Power, Inc. | Rothkopf, David | |
| 324.25695 ROY | Hamas and Civil Society in Gaza | Roy, Sara | |
| 328.73 OXF | Oxford Handbook of the American Congress | Schickler, Eric | |
| 330.9 FRI | Engineering the Financial Crisis | Friedman, Jeffrey | |
| 331.25 SCH | Predictable Surprise | Schieber, Sylvester | |
| 333.792 FER | Nuclear Energy | Ferguson, Charles | |
| 339.4 EDE | So Rich, So Poor | Edelman, Peter | |
| 362.10973 HIL | U.S. Health Policy and Politics | Hillstrom, Kevin | |
| 365.975 DRU | Plague of Prisons | Drucker, Ernest | |
| 394.1 MIN | Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom | Mintz, Sidney | |
| 421.1 MER | Merriam Webster’s Guide to Punctuation and Style | Merriam Webster | |
| 423 MER | Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary | Merriam Webster | |
| 423.12 MER | Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus | Merriam Webster | |
| 511.326 STE | In Pursuit of the Unknown | Stewart, Ian | |
| 530.09 SIM | Cultural History of Physics | Simonyi, Karoly | |
| 599.938 TAT | Masters of the Planet: the Search for Our Human Origins | Tattersall, Ian | |
| 610.73 CR | Critical Care Nursing Clinics of North America: Summer Incidents and Accidents No. 6 | Krau, Stephen | |
| 612.8 DES | Brain | DeSalle, Rob | |
| 628.10977 COM | Water Quality Matters to Us All | Comito, Jacqueline | |
| 641.3 ALL | Primal Feast | Allport, Susan | |
| 709.45 NAG | Controversy of Renaissance Art | Nagel, Lexander | |
| 728.3 WRI | Passive Solar Architecure | Wright, David | |
| 728.92 PLO | David Plowden the American Barn | Plowden, David | |
| 729.29 SYM | Symphony: Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall | Gehry, Frank | |
| 730.9 CHE | Sculpture of the World | Cheney, Sheldon | |
| 730.92 ROW | Calder Sculpture | Rower, Alexander | |
| 730.924 DES | Auguste Rodin | Descharnes, Robert | |
| 731.832 FRA | Great American Carousel | Fraley, Tobin | |
| 736.4 FAU | Art of Whittling | Faurot, Walter | |
| 737.497309 FRA | Double Eagle | Frankel, Alison | |
| 738.1 DAV | Wheel Thrown Ceramics | Davis, Don | |
| 738.1 HAU | Complete Guide to Painting on Porcelain & Ceramic | Hauser, Priscilla | |
| 738.27 JAC | Haviland China 2 vols. | Jacobson, Gertrude | |
| 738.4 MCG | First Steps in Enameling | McGrath, Jinks | |
| 738.8 FER | Teapots Transformed | Ferrin, Leslie | |
| 739.2 ANC | Ancient Gold | Marazov, Ivan | |
| 739.27 YOU | Workbench Guide to Jewelry Techniques | Young, Anastasia | |
| 741.109 LEO | Cherished Objects | Leopold, Allison | |
| 741.2 MAR | Sketching School | Martin, Judy | |
| 741.24 MAR | Encyclopedia of Colored Pencil Techniques | Martin, Judy | |
| 741.5 GIA | Comics Crash Course | Giarrano, Vincent | |
| 741.5 HAR | Art of the Comic Book | Harvey, Robert | |
| 741.5 JON | Men of Tomorrow | Jones, Gerard | |
| 741.5 KAT | Julius Knipl | Katcher, Ben | |
| 741.5 RIC | Foundation Course Cartooning | Richardson, John | |
| 741.5973 NEW | New Yorker Book of Literary Cartoons | Mankoff, Bob | |
| 745 WAL | Folk Art | Walton, Stewart | |
| 745.0973 LAU | Craft in America | Lauria, Jo | |
| 745.4095 WEL | Chinese Art | Welch, Patricia | |
| 745.5 HAL | Color Printer Idea Book | Hall, Kay | |
| 745.592 SIM | Making Furniture & Dollhouses | Simmons, Dennis | |
| 746.43 EPS | Nicky Epstein’s Knitting for Your Home | Epstein, Nicky | |
| 746.43 ISA | Classic Knits | Isager, Marianne | |
| 746.43 NOB | Style at Large | Noble, Carol | |
| 746.43 PHE | Simply Beautiful Sweaters for Men | Phelps, Linden | |
| 746.432 ALB | Knitter’s Stash | Albright, Barbara | |
| 746.432 FOR | For the Love of Knitting | Falick, Melanie | |
| 746.432 FRO | Jean Frost Jackets | Frost, Jean | |
| 746.432 HAM | 25 Gorgeous Sweaters | Ham, Catherine | |
| 746.432 KNI | Modular Knitting Made Easy | Knight-Bowman, Andra | |
| 746.432 MEL | Book 1: the Knit Stitch: the Knitting Experience | Melville, Sally | |
| 746.432 PRI | Kids’ Knits | Price, Lesley | |
| 781.1 HIG | Music Between Us | Higgins, Kathleen | |
| 791.4334 CAV | World History of Animation | Cavalier, Stephen | |
| 810.8032 GRE | Greenwich Village Reader | Sawyers, June | |
| 823.7 CHW | Jane Austen, Game Theorist | Chwe, Michael Suk-Young | |
| 914.04 WES | Western Europe | Lezard, Sian | |
| 914.1104 SCO | Scotland | Wilson, Neil | |
| 914.3712 PRA | Top 10 Prague | Dorling Kindersley | |
| 915.9304 THA | Thailand | LeBas, Tom | |
| 915.9804 IND | Indonesia | Ver Berkmoes, Ryan | |
| 917.304 UNI | United States on the Road | Dar, Alyse | |
| 917.5904 FRO | Frommer’s Florida | Bassman, Stephen | |
| 918.504633 FOD | Fodor’s Peru | Kealy, Kelly | |
| 918.504633 PER | Peru | Miranda, Carolina | |
| 918.6604 ECU | Ecuador & Galapagos | Lawrence, Rachel | |
| 919.84 BOL | Bolivia | Mutic, Anja | |
| 955 OXF | Oxford Handbook of Iranian History | Daryaee, Touraj | |
| 970.004 WIT | Infinity of Nations | Witgen, Michael |
Banned Books Week 2013
ALA Seal (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Banned Books vs. Challenged Books
When a book is banned it is removed from a collection. A challenge is an objection raised by groups or a person to a book and is an attempt to remove the book from a collection or school curriculum. Banning restricts access of all citizens to those books that are banned.
“The American Library Association promotes the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinions even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular, and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those viewpoints to all who wish to read them. The following is a list of frequently asked questions on banned and challenged books:” Source: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/about
Banned Books week September 22-28, 2013 featured many events across the county. Of particular note Bill Moyers, the host of “Moyers & Company” a long-time supporter of Banned Books Week, has produced a video essay addressing the importance of our freedom to seek and express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular. “Censorship is the enemy of truth, even more than a lie,” said Bill Moyers. “A lie can be exposed; censorship can prevent us from knowing the difference.”
The Lawrence Public Library won the 2013 John Cotton Dana Award for its Banned Book Trading Cards. Their Facebook page contains the cards and a picture of the author.
2012
Out of 464 challenges as reported by the Office for Intellectual Freedom the following contains the titles and authors of the ten most frequently challenged books in 2012:
- Captain Underpants (series), by Dav Pilkey.
Reasons: Offensive language, unsuited for age group - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.
Reasons: Offensive language, racism, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group - Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher.
Reasons: Drugs/alcohol/smoking, sexually explicit, suicide, unsuited for age group - Fifty Shades of Grey, by E. L. James.
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit - And Tango Makes Three, by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson.
Reasons: Homosexuality, unsuited for age group - The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini.
Reasons: Homosexuality, offensive language, religious viewpoint, sexually explicit - Looking for Alaska, by John Green.
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit, unsuited for age group - Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Reasons: Unsuited for age group, violence - The Glass Castle, by Jeanette Walls
Reasons: Offensive language, sexually explicit - Beloved, by Toni Morrison
Reasons: Sexually explicit, religious viewpoint, violence
Source: http://www.ala.org/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10
How to Access the Databases
Here is a good illustration how to get access to our electronic resources from EICConnect. If you have questions library staff will be happy to help.
New at the SCC Library August 2013
|
AUTHOR |
TITLE |
CALL NUMBER |
| LaFleur, Myrna | Exploring Medical Language book+4CDs | AV 610.14 LAF |
| Hallinan, Olivia | Lark Rise the Candleford Season One 4 DVDs | AV 791.4575 LAR |
| Hallinan, Olivia | Lark Rise the Candleford Season Two4 DVDs | AV 791.4575 LAR |
| Hallinan, Olivia | Lark Rise the Candleford Season Three 4 DVDs | AV 791.4575 LAR |
| Hallinan, Olivia | Lark Rise the Candleford Season Four 2 DVDs | AV 791.4575 LAR |
| Shakespeare, William | Tempest DVD | AV 822.33 SHA |
| Burgess, Anthony | Clockwork Orange | FIC BUR |
| Butler, Octavia | Blood Child | FIC BUT |
| Dick, Philip | Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | FIC DIC |
| Kincaid, Jamaica | Talk Stories | FIC KIN |
| Leguin, Ursula | Unreal and the Real V. 2 | FIC LEG |
| Wallner, Michael | April in Paris | FIC WAL |
| Weiner, Jennifer | Fly Away Home | FIC WEI |
| Baum, L. | Wizard of Oz | J BAU |
| Leeper, Julia | Headquarters USA 2 vols. | REF 384.602 HEA |
| Giesecke, Joan | Fundamentals of Library Supervision | 023.9 GIE |
| Hill, Jacob | Excellence in the Stacks | 025.1977 EXC |
| McAdoo, Monty | Building Bridges | 027.7 MCA |
| Heath, Chip | Decisive | 153.83 HEA |
| Robinson, Ken | Element | 153.9 ROB |
| Roizen, Michael | You Stress Less | 155.9 ROI |
| Christensen, Clayton | How Will You Measure Your Life? | 158.1 CHR |
| Halvorson, Heidi | 9 Things Successful People Do Differently | 158.1 HAL |
| Thompson, Mark | Admired | 158.1 THO |
| Witham, Larry | City upon a Hill | 251.00973 WIT |
| Law, Cardinal | Betrayal | 253.2 BET |
| Sipe, A. | Celibacy in Crisis | 253.252 SIP |
| Ohlson, Kristin | Stalking the Divine | 255.973 OHL |
| Selmanovic, Samir | It’s Really All about God | 261.2 SEL |
| Neal, Connie | What’s Christianity To Do with Harry Potter? | 261.5 NEA |
| John Paul II | Memory and Identity | 261.7 JOH |
| Lacorne, Denis | Religion in America | 261.70973 LAC |
| Schlabach, Gerald | Unlearning Protestantism | 262.001 SCH |
| Greeley, Andrew | Priests | 262.142 GRE |
| Schoenherr, Richard | Goodbye Father | 262.142 SCH |
| Gould, Meredith | Catholic Home | 263.088 GOU |
| Geniesse, Jane | American Priestess | 266.0092 GEN |
| Stark, Rodney | Cities of God | 270.1 STA |
| Teresa, Mother | Mother Teresa | 271.97 TER |
| Goldstone, Lawrence | Out of the Flames | 273.6 GOL |
| Allen, Brooke | Moral Minority | 277.3 ALL |
| Reath, Mary | Rome & Canterbury | 280.042 REA |
| Reeves, Thomas | Empty Church | 280.4 REE |
| Sweeney, Jon | Almost Catholic | 282 SWE |
| Gibson, David | Rule of Benedict | 282.092 GIB |
| Gibson, David | Coming Catholic Church | 282.73 GIB |
| Henold, Mary | Catholic and Feminist | 282.73082 HEN |
| Harrington, Anne | Dalai Lama at MIT | 294.3 DAL |
| Grozni, Nikolai | Turtle Feet | 294.3 GRO |
| Love, Robert | Great Oom | 294.3 LOV |
| Thurman, Robert | Why the Dalai Lama Matters | 294.3 THU |
| Epstein, Mark | Going to Pieces without Falling Apart | 294.3444 EPS |
| Wiesel, Elie | Sages and Dreamers | 296.0922 WIE |
| Frymer-Kensky, Tikva | Christianity in Jewish Terms | 296.3 CHR |
| Kushner, Harold | Living a Life that Matters | 296.36 KUS |
| Chmara, Theresa | Privacy and Confidentiality Issues | 344.73 CHM |
| Aufderheide, Patricia | Reclaiming Fair Use | 346.7304 AUF |
| Lucas, Henry | Search for Survival | 338.064 LUC |
| Tropp, Laura | Womb with a View | 362.198200973 TRO |
| Anderman, Eric | Psychology of Classroom Learning 2 vols. | 370.15 PSY |
| Fuhrman, Joel | Eat To Live | 613.25 FUH |
| Fuhrman, Joel | End of Diabetes | 616.4 FUH |
| Notbohm, Ellen | Ten Things Every Child with Autism Wishes You Knew | 618.92 NOT |
| Doyle, David | Collector’s Guide to Prewar Lionel Trains | 625.19 DOY |
| Lerner, Brenda | Food in Context 2 vols. | 641.3 FOO |
| Harvard Business Review | HBR’s 10 Must Reads On Managing Yourself | 650.1 HBR |
| Kaplan, Robert | What You’re Really Meant To Do | 650.1 KAP |
| Samuel, Mark | Making Yourself Indispensable | 650.1 SAM |
| Pozen, Robert | Extreme Productivity | 650.11 POZ |
| Ghilani, Mary | Working in Your Major | 650.14 GHI |
| Meister, Jeanne | 2020 Workplace | 658.3 MEI |
| Drucker, Peter | Five Most Important Questions You Will Ever Ask about Your Organization | 658.4013 DRU |
| Andreas, Fred | Simple Path to Sustainability | 658.4083 SIM |
| Berson, Alan | Leadership Conversations | 658.4092 BER |
| Sharma, Robin | Leader Who Had No Title | 658.4092 SHA |
| Sinek, Simon | Start with Why | 658.4092 SIN |
| Smith, Paul | Lead with a Story | 658.45 SMI |
| Cagan, Marty | Inspired | 658.575 CAG |
| Wenzel, Anne | Entrepreneur’s Guide to Market Research | 658.83 WEN |
| Prose, Francine | Lives of the Muses | 700.922 PRO |
| Shibukawa, Ikuyoshi | Designer’s Guide to Color 4 | 701.85 SHI |
| Bernet, Peter | Cloisters | 709.02 CLO |
| Blair, Sheila | Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800 | 709.17 BLA |
| Chagall, Marc | Marc Chagall | 709.2 MAR |
| McKean, Hugh | Lost Treasures of Louis Comfort Tiffany | 709.24 MCK |
| Ho, Chuimei | Splendors of China’s Forbidden City | 709.5109033 HO |
| Davidson, Marshall | American Heritage History of the Artists’ America | 709.73 DAV |
| Haskell, Barbara | American Century | 709.73 HAS |
| Fell, Derek | Impressionist Garden | 712 FEL |
| Lloyd, Christopher | Christopher Lloyd’s Flower Garden | 712 LLO |
| Buchanan, Rita | Taylor’s Master Guide to Landscaping | 712.6 BUC |
| Martin, Edward | Home Landscapes | 712.6 MAR |
| Conran, Terence | Terence Conran’s Garden Style | 717 CON |
| Berkun, Scott | Confessions of a Public Speaker | 808.51 BER |
| Prufer, Kevin | New Young American Poets | 811.54 NEW |
| Shapiro, Alan | Song & Dance | 811.54 SHA |
| Stewart, Susan | Columbarium | 811.54 STE |
| Strand, Mark | Man and Camel | 811.54 STR |
| Stryk, Lucien | Collected Poems 1953-1983 | 811.54 STR |
| Szporluk, Larissa | Isolato | 811.54 SZP |
| Troupe, Quincy | Architecture of Language | 811.54 TRO |
| Bever, Lillias | Bellini in Istanbul | 811.6 BEV |
| Creech, Morri | Field Knowledge | 811.6 CRE |
| Davis, Christina | Forth a Raven | 811.6 DAV |
| Doyle, Ben | Radio, Radio | 811.6 DOY |
| Gordon, Noah | Novel Pictorial Noise | 811.6 GOR |
| Gregg, Linda | In the Middle Distance | 811.6 GRE |
| Mackowski, Joanie | Zoo | 811.6 MAC |
| James, Henry | Portrait of a Lady | 813.4 JAM |
| Fitzgerald, F. | Tales of the Jazz Age | 813.52 FIT |
| Herrin, Lamar | Romancing Spain | 813.54 HER |
| Kubica, Chris | Letters to J.D. Salinger | 813.54 LET |
| Oates, Joyce | Faith of a Writer | 813.54 OAT |
| Ephron, Nora | I Feel Bad about My Neck | 814.54 EPH |
| Rich, Adrienne | Human Eye | 814.54 RIC |
| Smith, Annick | In This We Are Native | 814.54 SMI |
| Ratzenberger, John | We’ve Got It Made in America | 814.6 RAT |
| Tarr, Rodger | Uncollected Writings of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings | 818.5209 RAW |
| Shakespeare, William | Complete Works of William Shakespeare | 822.33 SHA |
| Swift, Jonathan | Gulliver’s Travels | 823.5 SWI |
| Austin, Jane | Mansfield Park | 823.7 AUS |
| Dickens, Charles | Life & Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby | 823.8 DIC |
| Wilde, Oscar | Oscar Wilde the Complete Works | 828.809 WIL |
| Mallegg, Kristin | Almanac of Famous People 2 vols. | 920.02 ALM |
| Fowler, Loretta | Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Great Plains | 978.004 FOW |
| Lubet, Steven | Murder in Tombstone | 978.02 LUB |
| Kurzman, Dan | Disaster | 979.4 KUR |
| Welland, Sasha | Thousand Miles of Dreams | 979.4 WEL |
| Bahrampour, Tara | To See and See Again | 979.5 BAH |
October Book Review
In October, I will be reviewing Denison, Iowa by Dale Maharidge. Maharidge’s first book, Journey to Nowhere: The Saga of the New Underclass, moved Bruce Springsteen to write songs the songs “New Timer” and “Young’s Town.” In 1990, Maharidge won the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for And Their Children After Them. Maharidge is a professor at Columbia School of Journalism.
In this nonfiction book, Maharidge discusses the lives of people and their adaptation to a changing culture in a Midwest town during the era of Pax Americana. Pax Americana is a historical concept of liberal peace in the Western world due to the “power” of the United States around the turn of the 20th century.
Register Your Students for a Library Orientation Session
Information Literacy is the ability to find, evaluate, and use information and it is necessary to survive in today’s job market. Students need the skills to find information for all types of resources, evaluate the information they find for accuracy and relevancy and be able to use the information effectively for their specific need.
Many students face challenges when confronted with an assignment when they need information. The challenges they face include the following:
Skills to use current technology needed to find information
Knowing which source will offer the most relevant information
The skill to evaluate the information from all resources
Critical thinking skills
Knowing the definition of plagiarism and how to avoid it
Librarians and faculty can collaborate to teach our students to learn these skills. Faculty are trained to teach course content and analytical skills. Librarians can teach students how to find, use, and evaluate resources.
Please call Michelle Bailey today to set up orientation sessions for your classes at 563-441-4152 or email her at mmbailey@eicc.edu.
Life of Pi Book Review
The Life of Pi is the story of Pi a boy while growing s up in India who develops an enduring love for God and animals. His father who owns a zoo is forced to close it and sell all the animals. Some of the animals are sold to other zoos in Canada and America. The remaining animals travel to a new home with the family to Canada. During a raging storm, at sea, the ship sinks and Pi, a boy of sixteen, is the only human survivor a long with a Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. The rest of the story talks about Pi’s battles and thoughts while braving the challenges of a harsh, unforgiving environment and trying to convince Japanese officials his story is true. This is an adventurous, funny, and entertaining book. The Life of Pi was the winner of the 2002 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Find this book at RiverShare Libraries: http://rivershare.polarislibrary.com/search/searchresults.aspx?ctx=46.1033.0.0.1&type=Keyword&term=life%20of%20pi&by=TI&sort=RELEVANCE&limit=TOM=*&query=&page=0
| If you like The Life of Pi here are other books you may want to read: |
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
Find this book at SCC Library by clicking this link and then press the Find It button: http://rivershare.polarislibrary.com/search/searchresults.aspx?ctx=46.1033.0.0.1&type=Keyword&term=*gullivers%20travels&by=KW&sort=RELEVANCE&limit=ab=46&query=&page=0
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Find this book at SCC Library by clicking this link and then press the Find It button: http://rivershare.polarislibrary.com/search/searchresults.aspx?ctx=46.1033.0.0.1&type=Keyword&term=Hermann%20Hesse&by=AU&sort=RELEVANCE&limit=ab=46&query=&page=0
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley: Considered Science Fiction but has a religious theme:
Find this book at SCC Library by clicking this link and then press the Find It button: http://rivershare.polarislibrary.com/search/searchresults.aspx?ctx=46.1033.0.0.1&type=Keyword&term=brave%20new%20world&by=TI&sort=RELEVANCE&limit=ab=46&query=&page=0
July Book of the Month
I have selected Life of Pi by Yann Martel as July’s book of the month. The movie is breath-taking in its 3 D effects and includes a charming story of a boy and a Bengal Tiger. If you have not seen the movie, I highly recommend it. I have never read the book but I hope it is as good and humanely sensitive as the movie. 
This Bright River by Patrick Somerville
The novel is basically about the difficulties Ben and Laura have experienced in the past and the growth that takes place between the two characters.
Both grew up in St. Helens, Wisconsin. Ben has returned to St. Helens after serving a prison term to sell the home of his deceased uncle. Lauren, a doctor, has recently divorced her husband who was also a doctor. Ben struggles to keep his sanity while dealing with many troubles: primarily the betrayal by a friend who seized the contributions to a video game Ben and Lauren created. Most of all, Ben was troubled by the mysterious death of his cousin in Michigan where the novel’s river flows. Lauren struggles with the memories of her abusive father and a failed suicide attempt. Together they search for the meaning behind their past hardships.
I was bored at times and interested at others while reading this book. Ben was highly introspective person which was boring and confusing. However, I enjoyed reading about his return to his childhood hometown, where he became familiar with the people and the town again.
Usually, I do not like romance novels. When they first met Lauren had no interest in Ben. I was interested to see if anything developed between them. However “This Bright River” is more than a romance novel. It is a psychological thriller especially when Lauren’s ex-husband became involved. As their characters develop, I began to empathize with the two of them and cared for them as human beings.
Because of the attention to character, the suspense, and drama that keeps the reader turning the pages, I recommend this book as a fascinating novel, well worth the read.
Other psychological novels include The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh and The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult.
Scott Community College Library 
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