Tag: Bookish News

On December 11, 2021, author Anne Rice passed away at the age of 80 years old.  You can read more about the passing, life, and work of Rice here through the New York Times. In honor of Anne Rice’s literary legacy, the Livingston Public Library has books in both print and digital formats by Rice available for you to check out. 

Vampire Chronicles Collection eBook

From the Publisher: The hypnotic, deeply seductive novels of Anne Rice have captivated millions of fans around the world. It all began a quarter of a century ago with Interview with the Vampire. Now, in one chilling volume, here are the first three classic novels of The Vampire Chronicles.

Ramses the Damned Returns: The Passion of Cleopatra Print

From the Publisher: Ramses the Great, former pharaoh of Egypt, is reawakened by the elixir of life in Edwardian England. Now immortal with his bride-to-be, he is swept up in a fierce and deadly battle of wills and psyches against the once-great Queen Cleopatra. Ramses has reawakened Cleopatra with the same perilous elixir whose unworldly force brings the dead back to life. But as these ancient rulers defy one another in their quest to understand the powers of the strange elixir, they are haunted by a mysterious presence even older and more powerful than they, a figure drawn forth from the mists of history who possesses spectacular magical potions and tonics eight millennia old.

Blood Communion Print | Audiobook

From the Publisher: In this spellbinding novel, Lestat, rebel outlaw, addresses the tribe of vampires, directly, intimately, passionately, and tells the mesmerizing story of the formation of the Blood Communion and how he became Prince of the vampire world, the true ruler of this vast realm, and how his vision for all the Children of the Universe to thrive as one, came to be. The tale spills from Lestat’s heart, as he speaks first of his new existence as reigning monarch–and then of his fierce battle of wits and words with the mysterious Rhoshamandes, proud Child of the Millennia, reviled outcast for his senseless slaughter of the legendary ancient vampire Maharet, avowed enemy of Queen Akasha; Rhoshamandes, a demon spirit who refuses to live in harmony at the Court of Prince Lestat and threatens all that Lestat has dreamt of. 

Prince Lestat Print | eBook

From the Publisher: Old vampires, roused from deep slumber in the earth, are doing the bidding of a Voice commanding that they indiscriminately burn their kin in cities across the globe, from Paris to Mumbai, Hong Kong to San Francisco. Left with little time to spare, a host of familiar characters including Louis de Pointe du Lac, Armand, and even the vampire Lestat, must embark on a journey to discover who—or what—is driving this mysterious being.

Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis Print | eBook

From the Publisher: At the novel’s center: the vampire Lestat de Lioncourt, hero, leader, inspirer, irresistible force, irrepressible spirit, battling (and ultimately reconciling with) a strange otherworldly form that has somehow taken possession of Lestat’s undead body and soul. This ancient and mysterious power and unearthly spirit of vampire lore has all the force, history, and insidious reach of the unknowable Universe. It is through this spirit, previously considered benign for thousands of vampire years and throughout the Vampire Chronicles, that we come to be told the hypnotic tale of a great sea power of ancient times; a mysterious heaven on earth situated on a boundless continent–and of how and why, and in what manner and with what far-reaching purpose, this force came to build and rule the great legendary empire of centuries ago that thrived in the Atlantic Ocean. And as we learn of the mighty, far-reaching powers and perfections of this lost kingdom of Atalantaya, the lost realms of Atlantis, we come to understand its secrets, and how and why the vampire Lestat, indeed all the vampires, must reckon so many millennia later with the terrifying force of this ageless, all-powerful Atalantaya spirit.

Angel Time Print | eBook

From the Publisher: It’s the present day. Toby O’Dare—aka Lucky the Fox—is a contract killer on assignment once again. He’s a soulless soul, a dead man walking. His nightmarish world of lone and lethal missions is disrupted when a mysterious stranger, a seraph, offers him a chance to save rather than destroy lives. O’Dare, who long ago dreamt of being a priest, seizes his chance. Now he is carried back through the ages to thirteenth-century England, to dark realms where children suddenly die or disappear, and accusations of ritual murder have been made against Jews. Here O’Dare begins his perilous quest for salvation, a journey of danger and flight, loyalty and betrayal, selflessness and love.

Blood Canticle Print 

From the Publisher: Surrounded by its brooding swampscape, Blackwood Farm is alive with the comings and goings of the bewitched and the bewitching. Among them is the ageless vampire Lestat, vainglorious enough to believe that he can become a saint, weak enough to fall impossibly in love.

Interview with the Vampire Print | eBook 

From the Publisher: Here are the confessions of a vampire. Hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly sensual, this is a novel of mesmerizing beauty and astonishing force—a story of danger and flight, of love and loss, of suspense and resolution, and of the extraordinary power of the senses. It is a novel only Anne Rice could write.

Queen of the Damned Print 

From the Publisher: In 1976, a uniquely seductive world of vampires was unveiled in the now-classic Interview with the Vampire . . . in 1985, a wild and voluptous voice spoke to us, telling the story of The Vampire Lestat.  In The Queen of the Damned, Anne Rice continues her extraordinary “Vampire Chronicles” in a feat of mesmeric storytelling, a chillingly hypnotic entertainment in which the oldest and most powerful forces of the night are unleashed on an unsuspecting world.

You can also visit the fiction collection of the Livingston Public Library to browse & borrow more of Anne Rice’s work.

-Jessica, Interim Head of Adult Services & Acquisitions

2020 marks 100 years since the publication of Agatha Christie’s first novel, The Mysterious Affair at Styles – the book that introduced Hercule Poirot to the world.

Dame Agatha Christie is best known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, as well as the world’s longest-running play – The Mousetrap. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and a billion in translation and she remains the best selling novelist of all time. No matter which part of the world you are in or where you are traveling, you are sure to come across an Agatha Christie mystery or two.

I started reading Christie at a young age and have been a loyal fan ever since. They were a staple of my summer vacation reading lists; I would eagerly borrow multiple titles from the library and feverishly devour them.  To this day she remains one of the few mystery writers whose works I find gripping and entertaining and which I can reread without finding them to be  boring. 

There are multiple reasons why Christie’s works are eternally appealing. Her meticulously plotted novels are so different from each other.  Though they are set in a different era, there is a universality and timelessness in her settings, characters and stories; the writing is simple and clear and, she displays a great understanding of human nature and  psychology.  Also the lack of goriness and the grimness found in modern crime fiction makes Christie’s suspense stories a refreshing and clean read. Escaping into the expertly crafted world of an Agatha Christie whodunit is especially diverting in these times of crisis and anxiety.

Her two main and most beloved fictional detectives include of course, Hercule Poirot, the world-renowned Belgian private detective, unsurpassed in his intelligence and understanding of the criminal mind, famous as much for his magnificent mustaches and fussiness as his little grey cells. And there is Miss Marple, the sweet little old lady from St Mary Mead with an uncanny knack for solving crimes that baffle the police.

Says writer Liz Scheier in this recent article from Publishers Weekly that looks at the life and legacy of Christie 

“In addition to being enthrallingly plotted, Christie’s books are just plain satisfying to read, especially in difficult, unpredictable times. She introduces a limited number of suspects in a limited space, ties up all her loose ends, and brings perpetrators to justice.”

Christie’s thrilling novels are popular with film and TV audiences around the globe and continue to be adapted for the big and small screens. The recent adaptation of The ABC Murders, starring John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot is on Amazon Prime Video. In  2017 Kenneth Branagh led an all-star cast in a film adaptation of Christie’s bestselling mystery Murder on the Orient Express.  In 2019, both 20th Century Fox’s Death on the Nile and The Pale Horse (Mammoth, ACL, BBC) went into production.

The Livingston Public Library’s collection does great justice to the Queen of Crime with its sizable collection of Christie mysteries in paper (regular, large print,) and a number of her film and TV adaptations on DVD.

Some of Christie’s ebooks/audiobooks are available  on Overdrive  and Hoopla has an even bigger collection of her ebooks and audiobooks. Hoopla also carries several of the TV adaptations featuring David Suchet as Poirot and Geraldine McEwan as Miss Marple.

Here are some works in the Library collection that help to shed light on her amazing life:

Agatha Christie: A Mysterious Life by Laura Thompson

Ebook Version

Thompson reveals the Edwardian world in which Christie grew up, explores her relationships, including those with her two husbands and daughter, and investigates the many mysteries still surrounding Christie’s life, most notably, her eleven-day disappearance in 1926. With unprecedented access to all of Christie’s letters, papers, and notebooks, as well as fresh and insightful interviews with her grandson, daughter, son-in-law and their living relations, Thompson is able to unravel not only the detailed workings of Christie’s detective fiction, but the truth behind this mysterious woman”-

Agatha Christie, an autobiography

Dame Agatha Christie sheds light on her secretive life and tells of her early years, her marriages and rise to success.

 

 

Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks: Fifty Years of Mysteries in the Making—Includes Two Unpublished Poirot Stories by John Curran

This is the fascinating exploration of the contents of Agatha Christie’s long hidden notebooks, including illustrations, analyses, and two previously unpublished Hercule Poirot short stories. It is also a must-read tutorial for writers who want to learn the intricacies of constructing crime novels.

The Mystery of Agatha Christie (DVD)

David Suchet, an English actor well-known for his portrayal of Hercule Poirot, travels throughout Great Britain and Turkey to provide a new perspective on the amazing life of bestselling British murder mystery writer 

Here seven mystery writers discuss the debt they owe the queen of sleuth fiction. Says Sophie Hannah, who writes the Christie-estate-sanctioned Poirot continuation novels 

“Her plotting is ingenious and unpredictable—you can never be one step ahead of her, because she’s always going to do something surprising.”

-Archana, Adult Services & Acquisitions Librarian