​Introducing our first episode of "Book Babble" where Erin, Matthew, and Linda "babble on" about different genres! This episode is about our personal faves: Science Fiction & Fantasy! Join us for talks like this in the future for patrons (which will not be recorded). Please e-mail matthew@meredithlibrary.org if you are interested! We will be doing many different genres in the future.

Erin talks about her favorite book on PBS the Great American Read list: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.

"Hello, I am Erin Apostolos, director of the Meredith public library in New Hampshire and I hope that everyone has had a chance to check out the Great American Read on PBS.  America selected their top 100 novels and you can vote for your favorite now through October 17.  Go to PBS.org to learn more.

I was thrilled to see that my all-time favorite novel, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry is one of the top 100.  Published in 1985 it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1986.  Captains Woodrow Call and Gus McCrae were once famous Texas Rangers but have been retired for over a decade on a small and unsuccessful farm in Texas in the late 1870’s.  When an old friend returns with wild tales of the beautiful state of Montana, Call, tired of retirement, decides it’s time to have an adventure, pick up stakes and start over as a rancher in Montana.   Gus, content to sit on his porch, is less interested until he is enticed by the opportunity to see his long lost love on the way to Montana. 

The relationship between Gus and Call to me is the heart of the story.  Long time friends who have shared years of adventures together, they couldn’t be more opposite.  Call is hard, unlikeable and unbending while Gus is outgoing, friendly and reasonable.  But both are tough as nails and unshakable in their loyalty to each other.  Their love for each other shows in their verbal sparring throughout the story which can leave you laughing out loud at one moment then sobbing into your tissue at the next.  During their long trip to Montana they face hardship, troubles and loss that challenge their close friendship.  There are also many side-stories that drive the plot including murder, kidnap, betrayal, romance, and gossip about one young cowboy being Call’s son.  Once you start, you will not be able to put it down.  And once you finish it, be sure to take home the Golden Globe award winning mini-series starring Tommy Lee Jones as Call and Robert Duvall as Gus or read one of the exciting prequels or sequel.  Vote Lonesome Dove!"

I found this book on a best of 2015 SF & Fantasy reads list. What caught my attention about it first was the very unique and somewhat “crazy” premise:

“Wasp's job is simple. Hunt ghosts. And every year she has to fight to remain Archivist. Desperate and alone, she strikes a bargain with the ghost of a supersoldier. She will go with him on his underworld hunt for the long-long ghost of his partner and in exchange she will find out more about his pre-apocalyptic world than any Archivist before her. And there is much to know. After all, Archivists are marked from birth to do the holy work of a goddess. They're chosen. They're special. Or so they've been told for four hundred years.

Archivist Wasp fears she is not the chosen one, that she won't survive the trip to the underworld that the brutal life she has escaped might be better than where she is going. There is only one way to find out.” Plot overview from Amazon.com

A futuristic post-apocalyptic ghost hunting book? Sign me up!

Ross Poldark: a novel of Cornwall, 1783-1787 by Winston Graham

Captain Ross Poldark returns home to Cornwall after healing from injuries sustained while fighting in the American Revolutionary War only to find his home in ruins, his family fortune gone and the woman he loves betrothed to another.

I listened to this book on a recommendation from a library patron who was very enthusiastic about it. At first I had a hard time getting into it, but I'm glad I stuck with it because it is an excellent work of historical fiction. It's the first in a series of twelve books that follows the Poldark family in Cornwall, England from 1783 to 1820. The first was written in 1945, so there isn't a lot of action, plot twisting or bodice-ripping going on. But, it paints a vivid picture of life in that time period with strong character development.  For fans of generational family sagas.  If you like John Jakes or Jeffrey Archer, you will likely enjoy this series.


We have this novel in print and on CD and we also have the first season of the Poldark series on DVD.

-Erin Apostolos