January is almost over, but there's still plenty of time to check out these new acquisitions at the Doylestown Library:
The New Countess by Fay Weldon
Already thoroughly engaged in the new season of Downton Abbey but in need something to carry you through the week until next Sunday? Try this new title. Weldon wrote the original episode of Upstairs Downstairs, so she knows what she’s talking about when it comes to British gentry, and this book is the concluding title in her Edwardian trilogy, Love and Inheritance. King Edward VII has just invited himself and his married mistress to the Dilberne estate for a weekend of hunting and partying. With her husband Robert now involved with the government, it falls to Lady Dilberne to get the house ready for the royal visit. While we ordinary people might just buy a few new throw pillows to spruce up the place, Lady Dilberne has to contend with installing new plumbing and heating and completely redecorating the large, antiquated house. Meanwhile, her daughter-in-law, Minnie, a wealthy American living on the estate, has to contend with her husband Arthur, who is far more interested in his budding automobile manufacturing business than he is in his wife and children. Minnie runs off to live with Arthur’s sister, recently widowed, who has returned from Australia and has become involved with the Fleet Street crowd. The servants speculate wildly about the affairs of their employers, including a possible liaison between Isobel and the policeman charged with arranging security for the King’s visit. And so it goes with the lives of the rich. If you haven’t read the first two books, you may want to start with Habits of the House and Long Live the King.
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The Ascendant by Drew Chapman
The action in the author’s debut book is suspenseful and fast paced, perhaps reflecting Chapman’s day job as a writer for TV and film. This high stakes thriller pits the online might of China against the United States. China is using a variety of internet techniques against the US to disrupt the economy. Bond analyst Garrett Reilly learns that US Treasury bonds are being sold off at an alarming rate and sees an opportunity for the acquisition of great wealth. But when the US military arrives at his office door, he learns that he has stumbled on the opening salvo in a war of almost unimaginable proportions. With his particular knack for spotting mathematical patterns, he reluctantly agrees to help the military. He gathers a band of cyber nerds, despite the grumblings of the old-guard generals, to out maneuver Beijing and perhaps even topple the entire Communist part. Reilly is an unlikely, off-beat hero who’s easy to root for.
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Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Here it is: a debut science fiction novel for people who think they don’t like science fiction. Set in the future, it is reminiscent of The Hunger Games, Game of Thrones and Lord of the Flies. 16 year old Darrow knows only that he mines for helium-3 deep within the earth and that he is a member of the Red class, the first people of Mars who toil daily to create a livable alternative for the inhabitants of a dying earth. When his young wife is hanged for singing a song of freedom, he follows her to the gallows only to be saved by members of a higher clan who want him to overthrow those in power. Their plans for him include surgically reimaging him to look like a God, the highest, most powerful clan on Mars and educating him so the he can be admitted to the institute from which all the leaders of Mars are chosen. It turns out that getting admitted to the institute is the easy part. The hard part is surviving the murderous hazing, the ruthless power struggles and the all too real war games. Determined to lead his people to a better future, Darrow will do anything to win. First of a planned trilogy, Red Rising is a fine book for those who like to immerse themselves in alternative worlds. Lots of advanced buzz about this one.
You Must Remember This: Life and Style in Hollywood’s Golden Age by Robert Wagner
Do you yearn for the Hollywood of old or wonder what it was like before the advent of Kim and J Lo and Brad and Justin? This is the book for you, written by one of Hollywood’s true insiders and one of its leading men, married to another star, Jill St. John. Between the covers is a wealth of stories of Hollywood’s golden age, the late 40s and early 50s when true glamor existed, and stars knew how to live. Wagner revisits houses, restaurants, night clubs and other hotspots of Hollywood’s elite, offering an insider’s observations about their lives, both public and private, about why some attained remarkable success and some failed. In addition, Wagner explores the very different business practices that built Hollywood before the advent of the ever-present paparazzi and high-powered agents, when a few moguls ruled the entire film industry. Engrossing and entertaining, You Must Remember This is a window into a bygone era by a Hollywood insider.
