Emil Larsson is a contented bachelor living the high life in 1791 Stockholm. He has risen up in the world, managing to purchase for himself the position of sekretaire in the government, and he spends his evenings drinking and gaming in Mrs. Sparrow’s parlor.  But when his superior tells Emil he must marry or lose his sekretaire position, Emil is at a loss. Mrs. Sparrow, by now a friend, does a special favor for Emil…a card-based fortune-telling she calls the Octavo.  This special layout is meant to define the eight people one must find in order to create the future one desires.  Emil is not certain he believes in it, but he goes along with the reading and begins attempting to put together his Eight.  In the process, he finds himself caught up, not in a quest for love, but in political manuevering that might end in his death if he is not careful, and King Gustav’s if he cannot prevent it.

Fast-paced, colorful, vibrant, and quite unique.  The mystical aspect of fortune-telling is subdued with the emphasis on the historical context.  Sure to be enjoyed by fans of well-written historical fiction.

Before there were Steve Jobs and Apple, there were Edwin Land and Polaroid. Land was a charismatic, inventive leader, holding over 500 patents.  Land didn’t set out to reinvent photography; his first project was perfecting a synthetic polarizer.  Land eventually succeeded; polarized sunglasses as we know them might not exist today without his efforts.  From this humble beginning, manufacturing polarizing film for car headlights and sunglasses, Land managed to build his company into the hugely influential multi-national it became. He did this in much the same way Jobs did many years later; that is, by hiring the best minds available to him in any and all specialities, and then turning them loose in well-stocked labs to see what they could come up with. This approach worked well for a long time, but the end was inevitable. Several bad decisions and some bad blood led to Land stepping away from the company he’d built. That was the beginning of the end; Land’s sucessors did not have the same passion and ingenuity and the company changed hands several times before declaring bankruptcy twice, the second time in 2009.

While the behind-the-scenes details of Polaroid’s rise to the top and rapid fall are fascinating, this is truly Land’s story.  Very few people today are aware of his contributions to technology and to business. A worthwhile read.

The Underwater Welder transports you to another world--the deep watery world of emotions and memories, past and present, birth and death.  The welder is Jack, a man who lost his father at a young age and is now expecting his first child.  As Jack dives deeper, he is pulled further away from his wife and their unborn son and back to his past and his despair over his father's tragic death.  This haunting and gripping story is about the relationships between parent and child, growing up, overcoming grief, and looking toward the future to start again.  

A patron of the Library recently shared this site with me, and I like it so much that I  thought I would share it with you.  If you're one of those people who never tire of reading about the humanities--particularly literary criticism and book reviews--you will adore the Arts & Letters Daily website.  The site features links to a diverse array of literary and cultural news stories and reviews.  

With teasers like:"Shakespeare endured syphilis, Jack London ulcers, the Brontës and Orwell tuberculosis. Only the cures were worse than the diseases...", how can you not be drawn in to read more?

If you now want to read the book about Shakespeare's syphilis and other famous authors' ailments, well, it's in the library, of course! You can reserve a copy below.