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books

Mitchell's Book Corner 54 Main Street, 228-1080

"The Monsters of Templeton"

by Lauren Groff When James Fenimore Cooper wrote "The Pioneers" in 1823, he wrote of an imaginary town called Templeton, which was based on the town that became Cooperstown, New York. One hundred and fifty years later Lauren Groff was born in Cooperstown. When she ended up in Gainesville, Florida as an adult, she became sentimental about her homeland. Since she couldn't visit Cooperstown on a daily basis, she decided to create Templeton right where she was. The result of her creation is a debut novel set around Wilhemina "Willie" Upton, a doctoral archeology candidate who returns to Templeton after a rather tawdry and unfortunate incident in Alaska with one of her professors. Willie is a descendant of the founder of Templeton. Her return to the town coincides with the discovery of a lake monster in Glimmerlake. If that weren't enough, Vi, Willie's mom, comes clean about Willie's conception, confessing that it was not the result of a hippie love fest but the result of a tryst with a Templeton resident and very distant relation. (Willie has never met her father, nor does she know who he is). Ever the archaeologist, Willie begins to dig through her family history to find the answers to the family questions that keep her up at night. Groff introduces us to this cast of characters through chapters written by various descendants and pages of personal journals. What results is an engaging story full of memorable characters that will make you forget it's February on Nantucket.

- Lucretia Voigt,

Mitchell's Book Corner

Nantucket Bookworks 25 Broad Street, 228-4000

"Life Class" by Pat Barker This new novel by the Booker Prize winner revisits the period of her Regeneration Trilogy, World War I. Paul Tarrant and Elinor Brooke are art students at the ultra-modern Slade in 1914. Paul is from the working class north of England; Elinor and her boyfriend Kim Neville are both from a more privileged society in the south. The early part of the novel deals with their interactions, the politics of the art world they all wish to enter, and the growing cloud of war. It's beautifully written and captures the tensions in their relationships and raises questions about art and its significance in the face of real-world strife and disaster, questions which become magnified in the second half of the book. By then Elinor and Paul's relationship has changed, he is in an ambulance corps at the front, she is pursuing her art and almost viewing war as a distraction. Barker gives us in the stories of Elinor and Paul and the history of their relationship some profound insights about love and a compelling assessment of their differing views of art and its place in the suffering world around them.

- Dick Burns,

Nantucket Bookworks

Nantucket Atheneum 1 India Street, 228-1110

"Previously" by Allan Ahlberg illustrated by Bruce Ingman Ahlberg creates a delightful, backwards romp through several wellknown fairy tales, using the connecting word, "previously." Ingman's comical illustrations combine pen and ink drawing with colorful painting. We begin at home with Goldilocks, hot and bothered from her run through the woods. "Previously, she had been climbing out of somebody else's window." We follow Goldilocks back through her story to the point where she ran into JACK (of beanstalk fame). After hearing about Jack's capers (in reverse order), we find that low and behold, he did have a sister named Jill, and that they met the Frog Prince one morning, who was grieving not only over the witch's spell, but also over the loss of his love, Cinderella. And so on, and so on. The ending of the story, where all characters are babies, all bears are cubs, and all structures are trees in the forest, is of course, the beginning, "Once upon a time." Children ages 4-8 will enjoy recognizing familiar characters, while getting a mental workout in the area of chronological order and storytelling. And I know the kindergartners who heard this story at the library will be discussing their past activities with a big, new word, "previously."

- Maggie Head,

Nantucket Atheneum

videos

Camera Shop & Nantucket Video 32 Main Street, 228-0101

"We Own The Night"

(Rated R for strong violence, drug

material, language, some sexual content

and brief nudity)

This is a gritty crime drama set in New York City in the late 1980s. Joseph (Mark Walberg) and Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix) are brothers; one is a cop and the other runs an unseemly nightclub. When Joseph tries to get Bobby to cooperate in an investigation into a fellow nightclub owner, a rift grows between the brothers, culminating in some of the best action sequences of the year. Robert DuVall turns in a strong performance as the brothers' chief-of-police father, as does Eva Mendes as Bobby's girlfriend. Although sometimes treading on familiar territory, "We Own The Night" is carried by it's cast and characters. Directed by James Gray (The Yards).

- Russell Wieland, Camera Shop & Nantucket Video