For your reading pleasure, here are the recommended titles in the Coffman Library.
The shocking circumstances surrounding the murder are not revealed until the very end of the book. Meanwhile the reader is left to speculation, based partly on Dexter’s last words, that the motive has something to do with the close relationship that develops between Dexter and Pete’s wife after Pete is reported missing in action and presumed dead. This is proven false when an emaciated and injured Pete returns home four years later.
In a flashback, Grisham describes Pete’s experiences after the surrender of US armed forces in the Philippines in 1942. He provides a well-researched and compelling account of the brutality of the Bataan Death March, and what it was like to be held in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Eventually Pete escapes and joins resistance units that attack Japanese forces when the opportunity presents. This makes this novel part history book as well as a murder mystery and love story. The Reckoning is probably my favorite of all the Grisham books I have read, and I’m a big fan. The story’s slice of WWII history, interesting characters, and unexpected ending make it worth a read. Losing Music: A Memoir by John Cotter Reviewed by David and Faye Herold, originally published in the March 2024 issue of the 1666 Coffman Newsletter At age thirty the author, an editor of medical newsletters, realized he could no longer hear the ocean. Familiar music, even played more loudly, was missing much that he had formerly heard. His hearing loss progressed over the next ten years, accompanied by tinnitus and vertigo. His search to get to the bottom of things took him to visits with specialists of the ear— audiologists, otologists, neurologists, and each came to his condition from a different perspective based on their training. He tried the House Ear Clinic in Beverly Hills, and as a last resort the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. He writes of his experiences with coping—the limitations of even the best hearing aids, and the realization that he was among society’s little-regarded disabled. He mentions the very obvious ear horns of an earlier age (cupping a hand to the ear increases sound six decibels), and that today’s hearing aids are deliberately designed to hide a disability. Beethoven’s deafness is briefly considered, and from the letters of Jonathan Swift he extracts a life-ending suffering from what was almost certainly Meniere’s Disease before this condition of the ear was described by medical science. Helen Keller is attributed as saying “blindness separates people from things; deafness separates people from people.” This book, in the Biography section of the Library under Cotter, is sure to deepen a reader’s appreciation of hearing loss for the disability it really is. Also, in the 1666 Authors section on the upper level of the Library (and available on Kindle), you can find Sounding the Soul: The Art of Listening, a book about sound, music, the ear, and listening, by our Mary Lynn Kittelson.
BookFest introduced 15 nonfiction, 2 children/YA,19 fiction, 2 large print, 14 mystery/spy, and 3 poetry for a total of 55 volumes. And we gratefully receive donations from you throughout the year.
Coffman reading habits in 2023 mirrored prior years. General fiction made up 38% of the loans; mystery/spy made up 35%: biography/memoir, 7%; and general history, 4%. The remainder ranged from poetry to essays to travel to children/YA. At year end, some libraries publish their “Top 10 Checkouts.” A quick and quite unscientific review of our checkout sheets shows the 2023 Coffman Top 5:
Having Lessons in Chemistry as our top checkout puts us in good company. It was the top checkout at both the New York Public Library and the Hennepin County Public Library. The author with both the most books checked out and the most total checkouts was Saint Paul’s own William Kent Krueger (Cork O’Connor) with 22 books checked out a total of 56 times. Close behind was Louise Penny (Inspector Gamache) with 51 checkouts of 18 different books. Other popular mystery series were those by Donna Leon (Commissario Brunetti), Mick Herron (Slough House), Anthony Horowitz (Detective Hawthorne), and Richard Osman (The Thursday Murder Club). As for general fiction, Coffman readers generally followed bestsellers lists and read new titles by Barbara Kingsolver, Abraham Verghese, Ann Patchett, and Kate Atkinson. One of the most popular nonfiction books was The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder, by David Grann, author of the also-popular Killers of the Flower Moon. To keep up with Library news and see suggestions for what to read next, subscribe to “What’s New at 1666 Coffman Library” (sign up on the library webpage on the 1666 Coffman website), check the Recent and Relevant shelves (on your right as you enter the second floor Library), and review the gold BookFest list of books (copies in the Library and on the Library webpage). Thanks to you, the Coffman library had a great 2023. Help us have a great 2024–send suggestions for specific books or genres that you would like to see to the Library to library@1666coffman.com. Continue donating books. Browse the Library and keep reading! |
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