The Sisters Brothers. By Patrick deWitt.
New York: Ecco, 2011. 328 p.

Recommendation by:
Carolyn Petersen, CLRS Project Manager, Tumwater, WA.

In The  Sisters Brothers author Patrick deWitt has produced a darkly comic tour of the Old West. Brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters are hit men who work for an enigmatic boss.  The story begins in 1850’s Oregon City when the brothers receive orders from the “Commodore” to kill a man who is working a mining claim outside of Sacramento.

As they journey to find this man, they encounter a witch, a bear, a parlor full of drunken floozies, and a gang of murderous fur trappers.  These encounters allow deWitt to explore the human costs of the clichés of the Old West. This revisionist and subversive western tale received much critical acclaim.

ISBN-13: 978-0062041265

Available at WSL, NW 813.6 DEWITT 2011
Available in talking book or Digital Book editions.
Not available in a Braille edition.

Title contains adult themes.

Jeannie Remillard

When I started working in a library in a maximum-security prison about 11 years ago, I quickly picked up on the fact that having a sense of humor goes a long way when dealing with convicted felons.

It was a typical day.  The library was busy with activity.  I stepped away from my desk for a few minutes to answer the telephone.  Upon returning to my desk, I noticed that a couple of my pens were missing.  I blurted out so everyone could hear “Who stole the pens off my desk?” 

 Immediately the room grew very quiet.  A young man came up and stood by my desk.  He said, “Jeannie, I’m not a thief, I’m a murderer.”  I replied, “Thank you for sharing that information with me!”  The whole room exploded with laughter and the two pens were soon returned.

Miss Harper Can Do It.  By Jane Berentson. New York : Viking, 2009. 324 p.

Recommendation by:
Carolyn Petersen, CLRS Project Manager, Tumwater, WA.

Debut novelist and Pacific Lutheran University graduate Jane Berentson follows the dictum of “write about what you know” when she sites her story in Tacoma.  (I live in Tacoma and this is the first novel I have ever come across that described the middle class Tacoma with which I’m familiar.  There have been crime or detective novels set there, but I don’t hang out in seedy bars or back alleys!)

Annie Harper is a third grade teacher whose boyfriend is deployed to Iraq at the beginning of the novel.  To get through the year without her boyfriend Annie decides to write a memoir which she daydreams will become a blockbuster best seller.  The titles change as her life and mood progresses. The first title is: Wartime Alone Time: When Abstinence Fights for Freedom.

This book manages to be warm, funny and bittersweet.  Annie and her supporting characters are engaging.  Her class is spot on which is maybe why School Library Journal gave this title a starred review.  Fans of women’s fiction will hope that this new author writes another book.

ISBN-13: 978-0670020775

Available at the Washington State Library, NW 813.6 BERENTS 2009
Available as an eReader and as a Talking Book on cassette or in a digital book edition.
Not available in Braille.