Book of the Week (5/29/2017)

It's Always the Husband by Michele Campbell (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2017).

Summer is fast approaching, and if you are looking for a page-turning "whodunit" beach read, NH author Michele Campbell's first novel It's Always the Husband would be a perfect fit!

In college, Kate, Aubrey and Jenny are inseparable. Twenty years later, their friendship takes a deadly turn . . .
Three young women who could not be more different meet as college roommates and become fast friends.  Wealthy, privileged, blonde and gorgeous, Kate Eastman seems like she has it all.  But her Park Avenue upbringing conceals a tragic loneliness and a wild side powerful enough to drag down everyone around her. Aubrey Miller comes from a poor family and can’t believe her luck when she winds up at prestigious Carlisle College rooming with Kate and Jenny. Aubrey would follow Kate anywhere — to parties, to nightclubs, even to her death.  Jenny Vega — bright, pretty, ambitious — is the practical one, the striver, who’d rather study and get ahead than party. She adores her roommates, and she knows they’re bad for her. Will she save them from themselves, and each other, or will she become another victim of the chaos that follows in their wake?
A terrible tragedy at the end of freshman year leaves these three young women with a dangerous secret. Twenty years later, older but perhaps no wiser, they return to the scene of the crime. When one of them winds up dead, it could be suicide, or it could be murder. If it was murder, was it the husband – like the cops think – or was it the best friend? This book will keep you guessing until the very last page. -- Publisher's blurb

Another fun summer activity would be to head over to the Sea Dog Brewing Company in North Conway, NH where Michele Campbell will be discussing her novel on Wednesday, June 14, 2017 at 12 pm. Tickets are $20, which includes luncheon, author talk and donation to North Conway Library. Tickets can be purchased through the White Birch Books bookstore or North Conway Library by June 13th.

NH Governor Francis P. Murphy event

The Governor Francis P. Murphy Estate in Newport, NH has been researching & reacquiring artifacts and materials related to New Hampshire Governor Francis P. Murphy for the past 4 years.  Their goal is to launch a museum dedicated to the governor's life and contributions to the state, both in his political and private life. 

As well as being governor, Murphy was the founder of WMUR, and co-founder of Thom McAn Shoes. Although having a rich background in the Granite State, he has been essentially forgotten. 

A series of talks about Governor Murphy, sponsored by The Richards Free Library & The Library Arts Center in Newport, NH have started. The talks are enriched with family photos, as well as audio and video reels. 

The next event will be on Saturday, June 10th at 3:00 pm at the Library Arts Center in Newport, New Hampshire. If you're interested in attending this talk, you can read more about it here at The Governor Francis P. Murphy Estate facebook page.

There is also a short video to promote the event here

Book of the Week (5/22/2017)

Granite, Fire, and Fog: The Natural and Cultural History of Acadia by Tom Wessels (Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England, 2017).

NH author, professor of ecology and founding director of the master's degree program in conservation biology at Antioch University, Tom Wessels brings us an interesting study of one of New England's and the nation's most popular national parks.

The only book that offers both a natural and a cultural history of one of the nation’s favorite parks. Acadia National Park, on Maine's Mount Desert Island, is among the most popular national parks in the United States. From the road, visitors can experience magnificent vistas of summit and sea, but on a more intimate scale, equally compelling views abound along Acadia's hiking trails.
Tom Wessels, an ecologist, naturalist, and avid hiker, attributes the park's popularity--and its unusual beauty--to the unique way in which earth, air, fire, and water--in the form of glacially scoured granite, winter winds, fire, and ocean fog--have converged to create a landscape that can be found nowhere else.
In this beautifully illustrated book, Wessels invites readers to investigate the remarkable natural history of Mount Desert Island, along with the unique cultural story it gave rise to. This account of nature, terrain, and human interaction with the landscape will delight those who like to hike these bald summits, ride along the carriage roads, or explore the island's rugged shoreline. Wessels concludes with a guided tour of one of his favorite hikes, a ten-mile loop that will acquaint the reader with the diverse ecosystems described throughout his book. --Publisher's blurb

Join Tom at Toadstool Bookshop in Keene, NH Sunday, May 28, 2017 at 4:00 pm where he will be discussing his new book!

Book of the Week (5/15/2017)

Wishbones by Virginia Macgregor (New York: HQ, 2017).

Virginia Macgregor recently moved to Concord, NH from the UK less than a year ago and will be launching her new young adult novel Wishbones at Gibson's Bookstore on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at 7 pm.

Feather Tucker has two wishes:
1) To get her mum healthy again
2) To win the Junior UK swimming championships
When Feather comes home on New Year's Eve to find her mother - one of Britain's most obese women- in a diabetic coma, she realises something has to be done to save her mum's life. But when her Mum refuses to co-operate Feather realises that the problem run deeper than just her mum's unhealthy appetite.
Over time, Feather's mission to help her Mum becomes an investigation. With the help of friends old and new, and the hindrance of runaway pet goat Houdini, Feather's starting to uncover when her mum's life began to spiral out of control and why. But can Feather fix it in time for her mum to watch her swim to victory? And can she save her family for good? -- Publisher's blurb

Congratulations to the New Hampshire 2017 LAL Winners!

• Isabella Reichard, a sixth grade student at Captain Samuel Douglass Academy (Brookline), the letter that was selected as the 2017 Level I NH winning letter to Esther Earl.

• Megan McLaughlin, an eighth grader at Hollis Brookline Middle School, wrote the 2017 Level II NH winning letter to Jerry Spinelli.

• Kaiden Gilbert, an eleventh grader at Prospect Mountain High School (Alton), wrote the 2017 Level III NH winning letter to Gary Paulsen. 

Info about the 2018 Letters About Literature competition will be available later this summer.

Book of the Week (5/8/2017)

From Blue Ribbon to Code Blue: A Girl's Courage, Her Mother's Love, A Miracle Recovery by Jennifer Miller Field with Joanne Field (Peterborough, NH: Grove Street Books, 2016).

New Hampshire author Jennifer Miller Field tells her uplifting story of a tragic accident and inspirational outcome.

In 1992, as Jennifer Field lay in a coma after a near-fatal car accident, one doctor after another said she would never walk, or talk, or be able to take care of herself again. But Jennifer and her mother believed something different. They never gave up hope that Jennifer would regain a normal life. And she did. This memoir, told in interweaving stories by Jennifer and her mother, Joanne Field, follows Jennifer’s journey from world-class equestrian to trauma patient to world-class survivor.

“My opinion is that you can never think your injury and disease has won,” writes Jennifer, who was a high school student and Olympic hopeful before the car crash that nearly took her life. Her training in the riding ring, her discipline, and her competitive spirit kept her focused on her recovery, as did her mother, who was steadfast in seeking out the treatments and therapies that would help Jennifer regain her life. “Maybe I was living in false hope,” Joanne writes, “but it paid off.”

From Blue Ribbon to Code Blue is the story of a mother who refused to give up and a daughter who defied the odds through guts and determination. This is a compelling narrative threaded with memories from people who helped along the way—medical professionals, friends, and family. It’s a great tribute to the human spirit and the power of love. --Publisher's blurb

Join Jennifer at Gibson's Bookstore on Wednesday, May 24, 2017 at 5:30 pm where she presents From Blue Ribbon to Code Blue.

Book of the Week (5/1/2017)

Enduring Vietnam: An American Generation and Its War by James Wright (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2017).

Historian James Wright, President Emeritus and Eleazar Wheelock Professor of History Emeritus at Dartmouth College, has published a moving account of the Vietnam War and the experiences of the young Americans who fought in it and endured it.

The Vietnam War is largely recalled as a mistake, either in the decision to engage there or in the nature of the engagement. Or both. Veterans of the war remain largely anonymous figures, accomplices in the mistake. Critically recounting the steps that led to the war, this book does not excuse the mistakes, but it brings those who served out of the shadows.
Enduring Vietnam recounts the experiences of the young Americans who fought in Vietnam and of families who grieved those who did not return. By 1969 nearly half of the junior enlisted men who died in Vietnam were draftees. And their median age was 21 among the non-draftees it was only 20. The book describes the baby boomers growing up in the 1950s, why they went into the military, what they thought of the war, and what it was like to serve in Nam. And to come home. With a rich narrative of the Battle for Hamburger Hill, and through substantial interviews with those who served, the book depicts the cruelty of this war, and its quiet acts of courage.
James Wright's Enduring Vietnam provides an important dimension to the profile of an American generation and a rich account of an American War. -- Publisher's blurb

James Wright will be at Gibson's Bookstore in Concord, NH Thursday, May 4th, 2017, at 5:30 pm to present Enduring Vietnam.