Community Corner

Library Looks Back on April and Forward to May

West Bloomfield librarian Dana Kratt shares the five most popular titles in April at the main library.

The had a busy month in April.

Japanese dignitaries including Yasuhiko Kado, the mayor of Awaji City, came to visit and support the library on its success in winning the 2010 National Medal. Librarian Dana Kratt took time out to discuss the five most popular reading choices among adults in April:

The Sixth Man by David Baldacci (Grand Central Publishing, 2011, 75 copies): After the No. 1 New York Times best-sellers Split Second, Hour Game, Simple Genius and First Family, David Baldacci returns with the fifth book in the Sean King and Michelle Maxwell series.

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"The two lead characters are former secret service agents, and now they team up as private investigators to solve crimes," Kratt said. "The newest they are looking into is an alleged serial murderer who is still in jail, and they decide to investigate his case. They're contacted by the lawyer who is representing the man in jail, and they find the lawyer turns up dead, so it really adds a notch to the case."

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Algonquin, 2007, 18 copies): This historical novel set during the Great Depression is about a Cornell University veterinary student who hops aboard a circus train. The book was adapted into a film released April 22, starring Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz.

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"I did read it and it was really good," Kratt said. "People love to read the books before they go to the movies, and it’s just such a great love story."

Bossypants by Tina Fey (Reagan Arthur Books, 2011, five copies): Tina Fey's rise to stardom from growing up in Pennsylvania to moving to Chicago to writing for Saturday Night Live to starring in 30 Rock is well-known and has gained her an international following.

"I think (30 Rock) is so funny, and I’m sure her new biography is going to be full of the witty humor you expect to find from Tina Fey, so that’s definitely been a popular title here," Kratt said.

Save Me by Lisa Scottoline (St. Martin's Press, 2011, 30 copies): Save Me has reverberated with a nation that seems to always be discussing the problem of school bullying, to the tune of positive reviews from the Washington Post Book World and The New York Times Book Review.

An explosion at the school of a student being bullied forces her mother, a volunteer at the school, into a moral dilemma. "(Scottoline) likes to write the legal suspense thrillers, but this is a little more of a family drama," Kratt said. "I haven’t read it personally, but another librarian here has read it, and she said it’s really a page turner. You’ll definitely want to find out what happens at the end."

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (Viking Adult, 2011, seven copies): Mystical creatures outnumber humans at Oxford's Bodleian Library in what Kratt describes as a "paranormal romance."

"The main character, she is a young historian. ... One day, she is at the library, and she is ordering up an old manuscript on alchemy. She finds that the text she has found in the archives is bewitched. The story goes that this text has been lost, missing for several years. As soon as she calls this text up, all these magical creatures, vampires, witches, descend upon Oxford, and that’s where the story leads," Kratt said.


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