Staff Reviews

The Staff of the Quincy Public Library recommends...

In her 14th book featuring National Park Service Ranger Anna Pigeon, Nevada Barr sets the story in the remote wilderness of Isle Royale in Lake Superior. Anna reluctantly agrees to leave her warm Mississippi home to winter in the frigid northern temperatures and become part of the long-running wolf/moose study. As soon as the tiny plane lands on the ice, Anna knows this assignment could be trouble. With five other researchers and one Homeland Security agent sharing a primitive cabin, conditions are less than ideal. In addition to the tension that exists among the Winter Study people, something has stirred up the resident wolves to the point where their unusual actions could jeopardize the 50-year study. Anna’s original mission was to gather information about wolf activity for her regular post in the Rocky Mountains, but she quickly realizes that has to take a back seat to discovering what is corrupting the idyllic habitat of the Isle Royale wolves. Could this be Anna’s last stand in the eternal fight of man versus nature?  You won't want to miss Winter Study the latest from best-selling author Nevada Barr.

In February of 1990, Terri Schiavo collapsed in her home and went into a coma. Fifteen years later, her husband began a legal campaign to have her removed from the ventilator to end her life. At the same time as this drama was playing out in the media, journalist Eleanor Clift’s husband of 20 years lay dying of cancer in their Washington, D.C. home. During Tom’s two-week final fight, a fellow journalist asked Eleanor for her opinion on the Schiavo case. The book Two Weeks of Life is her answer. Using the diary she kept chronicling the final two weeks of her husband’s life, Clift also interviewed people on both sides of the Schiavo controversy to find the parallels in the two family’s lives. The result is a poignant memoir and a fitting tribute to two worthwhile individuals.

Jose Manuel Vigoa was born into an impoverished life in Cuba. After becoming a Soviet-trained killing machine, Vigoa moved to America where he filled his bank accounts by running drugs. Caught by the Las Vegas police, Vigoa vowed revenge like no others before him. And he was true to his word. For nearly 16 months, Vigoa master-minded a series of high-profile armed robberies both in the casinos and on the armed cars that serviced the Strip. All of Las Vegas was held hostage by this ruthless criminal. Only one man, LVPD Detective John Alamshaw, was willing to risk everything to bring Vigoa’s terror to an end. In the amazing new book that reads like a fictional story, Storming Las Vegas, author John Huddy tells the unbelievable tale of one man focused on revenge and one man determined to find justice.

For nearly as long as there has been meat and fire there has been a debate over domesticated animals as a food source. People raised on family farms and as part of the agriculture industry have a much different view of farm animals than those who have spent their entire lives in urban areas. Animal rights activist Gene Baur takes a look at the difference between family farms and the large-scale productions that produce the beef, pork, chicken, milk, and eggs for our family’s meals. His book Farm Sanctuary examines the food industry and highlights his efforts in establishing a safe place where farm animals who have been mistreated can live out their days.

In November of 1918, the Armistice was signed and the war to end all wars was over. However, world peace was not to be. In the years preceding World War I, an unrest was growing in Russia getting its major impetus from the Russian Revolution in 1917. Two short years later the Bohshevik Party was firmly entrenched in Russia and looking to sow their seeds of discontentment throughout the world. The World on Fire by Anthony Read is an enlightening and fascinating look at one of the most significant periods in history.

All of these books are available for checkout from the Quincy Public Library and the York Street Branch located in the Quincy Senior and Family Resource Center if you have a current Quincy or Tri-Quincy Area Public Library District card. Reciprocal borrowing cards from other Illinois area libraries will be honored as well. You may also place reserves on library materials and check your patron record online at www.quincylibrary.org.