CARTHAGE, Mo. —
One of the things I like best about the Carthage Public Library is that you can go to its website and see all the books on order for the next several months. Then you can either email or call in to have your name placed on a waiting list to check out these new books when they arrive.
When I looked recently, I was happy to see that several of my favorite authors were on the list of new publications. Two books that I am really looking forward to are by masters of historical fiction, Bernard Cornwell and Ken Follett.
Follett’s “Winter of the World” is due in September and is the second in his “Century” trilogy, which follows five unrelated families (American, German, Russian, English and Welsh) whose lives are caught up in major events of the 20th century and who become intertwined for better or worse. I loved the first in the series, “Fall of Giants,” which covered the rise of feminism and labor, the Russian Revolution, World War I and the Roaring 20s.
This second one follows the descendants of those families through the rise of the Third Reich, the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the start of the atomic era. Follett is known for his meticulous and brilliant research, complexity of story line, and fast-moving action. If real history books were as exciting, we would be a nation of historians.
Cornwell’s “1356: Go With God, but Fight Like the Devil,” due in January, picks up one of his protagonists, Thomas of Hookton, as he prepares to lead a company of archers to fight the French with Edward, Prince of Wales. But first, he must go in quest of a sword with mythical power. The mix of mythology and early English history is a theme in Cornwell’s writings.
With the exception of the “Sharpe’s Rifles” series and his sea adventures, I have read all of Cornwell’s excellent books (gory though they be). My favorite character is Uhtred, the Saxon raised as a Dane who is conflicted between honoring his loyalty oath to King Alfred, who is trying to expel the Danish Vikings and unite England, and his longing to reclaim his ancestral lands and his Bebbanburg castle in Northumbria.
Cornwell has been described as “the reigning king of historic fiction.”
The genre of murder mystery, crime thriller, whatever you want to call it, is just exploding, with works by four of my favorite authors due out in October: John Sandford’s “Mad River,” Lee Child’s “A Wanted Man,” Dennis Lehane’s “Live by Night” and Jo Nesbo’s “Phantom.”
I was introduced to Nesbo’s chilling works by Carolyn Wyatt, leader of the Carthage Book Club, and I have read most of the books in his Harry Hole series that have been translated to English. Incidentally, one of Nesbo’s best, “The Snowman,” will be made into a movie by Martin Scorsese.
Another novel I’m eagerly awaiting is “Flight Behavior” by Barbara Kingsolver, arriving in November. She is not what I would call a prolific writer; she does not write the same story line over and over. As a person with a well-developed social-ecological conscience, her novels have substance in addition to being literary and entertaining.
Of her novels thus far, my favorite is a toss-up between “Prodigal Summer” and “The Lacuna.” Almost as good were “The Poisonwood Bible,” “The Bean Tree” and “Pigs in Heaven.” She also writes essays, poetry and short stories.
There are plenty of other authors with new novels under the “Books on Order” heading on the library’s website. Some of them are probably your favorites. Sign up now to get your name on the reserve list, and get ready for a lot of good reading this fall and winter.
Address correspondence to Jo Ellis, c/o The Joplin Globe, Box 7, Joplin, MO 64802 or email news@joplinglobe.com.
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Jo Ellis: Incoming titles at Carthage library get readers excited
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