From the Library

After years of study and research, statistics have proven that there are two methods of getting up and getting ready for work in the morning. This is method one: Set the alarm clock for 90 minutes prior to work time. Hit the snooze alarm 30 times, then pop out of bed at the last possible minute and get ready. April (children’s librarian) says she can rise 10 minutes before work starts and still be on time. I’m thinking that’s two minutes in the shower, one minute for "other" bathroom things, four minutes to apply styling products to the hair and one minute to style. That leaves one minute for makeup and one minute to drive to the library. I (library director) happen to be a follower of method two: I set my alarm to go off 90 minutes before work begins. I pop right out of bed, brush my teeth, wash my face, grab a cup of coffee, and sit down on the couch to relax. After the first cup of coffee I "get ready" — 15 minutes in the bathtub, 10 minutes for hair, 10 minutes for makeup (I obviously need more help than April) and 10 minutes to dress. Then I sit down and relax with another cup of coffee. Then I putz around the house, doing dishes or laundry, watering the plants, playing with the bird, checking the garden. By then I’m ready to face the workday. Some people may wonder why an individual would have to relax immediately after waking from a full night’s sleep. I admit, it is unusual. Barb (assistant librarian) is a method two person, but only after she gets the boys off to school. My niece, Michele, gets up two hours before work starts so she can relax and putz. The loving husband is a method one person. He can get up at 7:30, get ready and be to work in Sioux Falls by 8:00 … that’s a two-minute shower, one-minute "other" and one minute dressing. That leaves 26 minutes to get from our house to his bank in Sioux Falls. It’s do-able. More important than your getting-up schedule, is your going-to-bed schedule. Be sure to leave plenty of time for reading once you hit the sack. You might want to try "Ties That Bind" by Philip Margolin for your nighttime reading pleasure. Success is fleeting; nobody knows this better than lawyer Amanda Jaffe. She had been the undisputed rising star of Portland's legal community, but in a cruel twist of irony, the same case that put her on the map — the Cardoni trial, left her traumatized, doubting her instincts, and shunning the limelight. This reticence ends when Amanda agrees to handle the case no one else will touch. Jon Dupre, who runs an upscale escort service, is accused of murdering a U.S. Senator. Dupre claims to possess proof of the existence of a secret society of powerful men who have banded together for a commonly held political agenda. The rite of passage that binds them together — the initiation into this powerful brotherhood — is murder. To Amanda these seem the desperate claims of a man who will lie to save his own skin — until she is pressured to walk away from the case. But she refuses to abandon her investigation. It's a decision that will place her and those she loves directly in the path of a deadly juggernaut with ambitions that extend all the way to the presidency of the United States. (This book is also available as a Book on Cassette and a Book on CD. The Library will be closed on Sundays beginning this weekend and will be closed on Monday, Memorial Day.