From the library
In the 1960s and ‘70s we lived in the "Age of Aquarius." In the ‘90s everyone was buying a computer and we entered "The Computer Age." Last week I noticed that a new era was dawning, "The Age of the Chainsaw." Wednesday night after the storm, the loving husband and I were loading storm debris into the back of the pickup to haul to the tree dump. As we were slaving away I heard an unusual sound and said, "Honey, do you hear cows mooing?" He replied, "It’s the chainsaws." The following night I heard another louder unusual noise, and inquired, "Are they having another Enduro race at the fairgrounds?" He replied, "It’s the chainsaws." I never fully realized how many people own these massive power tools. I believe last week’s storm put the pressure on secret chainsaw-owners to finally come out of the closet and reveal themselves among us. As you may know, in days gone by, a woman could identify the most macho and vigorous males by their chainsaws. Now, even the loving husband has one. In the new millennium, chainsaws aren’t just for men anymore. I observed a woman in her mid-60s wielding one of these beefy power-units the day after the storm. I’m so happy that women have advanced to the intellectual level of their male counterparts. If your chainsaw is in need of some tender loving care after this past week of extensive use, stop by the library and we can order a chainsaw maintenance manual on interlibrary loan. If you are not a chainsaw owner, come in and check out the new book by Patricia McDonald, "The Girl Next Door." The affluent town of Hoffman, N.J. reeled in disbelief when highly esteemed physician Duncan Avery killed his wife, Marsha, one spring evening. The two Avery sons turned their backs on their father but his daughter Nina never stopped believing in his innocence. Now, 15 years later, Nina, a struggling actress in New York City, returns to Hoffman when her father is paroled and insists on re-settling there. Not only does Dr. Avery want to repair his relationships with his sons and meet his grandchildren, he claims he wants to find out who killed his wife. But neither Nina's brother Patrick, a successful investment banker with a wife and twin sons, nor Jimmy, a recovering drug addict who has adopted a new family, can bear to acknowledge their father's return. Then, as suddenly as before, another act of violence overturns the Averys' lives. No longer certain if she can trust her family, her neighbors, or her old friends, Nina finds she can rely only on herself and a surprising new ally in her life as she searches for the truth behind crimes past and present. If she digs deep down into the secrets of her family and her neighbors, she stands a chance of catching a killer before she becomes his next victim. Also new on the fiction shelf is, "Lost City," by Clive Cussler. Paul Schumann, a German American living in New York City in 1936, is a mobster hit man known equally for his brilliant tactics and for taking only "righteous" assignments. But when Paul gets caught, the arresting officer offers him a stark choice: prison or covert government service. Paul is asked to pose as a journalist covering the summer Olympics taking place in Berlin. He's to hunt down and kill Reinhardt Ernst — the ruthless architect of Hitler's clandestine rearmament. If successful, Paul will be pardoned and given the financial means to go legit; if he refuses the job, his fate will be Sing Sing and the electric chair. Paul travels to Germany, takes a room in a boarding house near the Tiergarten — the huge park in central Berlin and begins his hunt. The next 48 hours are a feverish cat-and-mouse chase, as Paul stalks Ernst through Berlin while a dogged Berlin police officer and the entire Third Reich apparatus search frantically for the American.
