Book Talk

The weather outside is frightful

Well, Escape from the Land of Snows may not be about Rochester, but is still a fascinating read! Tenzin Gyatso, the fourteenth Dalai Lama was plucked from peasant roots to be trained as a spiritual leader. Twenty-two years later he is forced to flee, over some of the most difficult terrain in the world, barely ahead of Mao-Zedong’s ruthless army. The message to the Tibetan rebels, “His Holiness must escape- at all costs.” Read Escape from the Land of the Snows: the Young Dalai Lama’s Harrowing Flight to Freedom and the Making of a Spiritual Hero by Stephan Talty.

A Who’s Who of political and environmental leaders waged a heroic fight which began in 1870 and ended in 1960, to save Alaska’s wilderness. Iconic places like Mount McKinley, Glacier Bay, and Denali National Park were saved from extraction industries. Douglas Brinkley discusses the continuing threat to Alaskan wildlife by overfishing and hunting, while celebrating the preservation of much natural beauty in The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom 1879-1960.

Most of us feel a little down during the long grey days of winter, but Harvard psychiatrist, John Sharp, finds that we all respond to our own inner calendar. Our moods respond, season by season, to environmental or cultural factors.  Anxious at the start of school? Cheerful when football season starts? The Emotional Calendar: Understanding Seasonal Influences and Milestones to Become Happier, More Fulfilled and in Control of your Life discusses how recognizing our reactions can help us deal with the unpleasant ones.

For you make-lemonade types, we have Snow Play: How to Make Forts & Slides & Winter Campfires plus the Coolest Loch Ness Monster and *23* Other Brrrilliant Projects in the Snow, by Birgitta Ralston. My favorite – the snowball lantern!

Fiction

In Frozen Assets, by Quentin Bates, an unidentified body is found floating in the harbor of a rural Icelandic fishing village. Accident or murder? The question is answered when a second body is found. Investigating Officer Gunnhildur uncovers a web or corruption in the banking and business communities. Yes, there too.

The second mystery set at Spruce Peak ski resort by Wendy Clinch, is Fade to White. When has-been actor Harper Stone arrives in town to do a mouthwash commercial, he is not happy.  A few days later he is found dead and Stacey Curtis’ ex-fiancé was the last to see him alive.

Rose, a working sheepdog, has many responsibilities on Sam’s farm, but her biggest is to keep and eye on Sam. One night when she and Sam are called out for lambing, Rose senses that a storm is coming. It’s not just an ordinary storm, it’s an epic blizzard! It takes all of Rose’s courage and resourcefulness to protect the creatures on the farm, especially Sam. Read Rose in a Storm, by Jon Katz.

Two strangers, both healing from the horrors of WWI, meet at an inn in the French Pyrenees where they have taken refuge from a blizzard. In Winter Ghosts by Kate Mosse, the two strangers share their stories and unearth a tragic mystery which touches both their lives.

Virginia Cooper
Adult Services Librarian