Discover more with the Summer Sampler

New this summer! Discover library programs and highlights from all over the county with the adult Summer Sampler! The weekly Summer Sampler features booklists, recipes, area attractions to enjoy and lots of other fun activities for the summer. Additionally, the sampler highlights events specifically for adults happening at libraries throughout Allegheny County.

Find copies printed each week in the Reference Department at Sewickley Public Library.


The Summer Sampler is provided by the Allegheny County Library Association and participating libraries.

Summer Reading Returns June 6

Summer Reading Returns June 6

The Summer Reading Program at the Sewickley Public Library is for more than just kids! Adults can get in on this fun, summer reading challenge, too. Discover Oceans of Possibilities with us as we navigate a summer of fun for all-ages from June 6 – August 6.

The point of summer reading is to enjoy reading for pleasure. You can set your own reading goals for the summer or see what you can accomplish without limits. The summer reading program offers incentives and benchmarks to keep you motivated. Plus, when you log the minutes you read, you earn chances to win awesome prizes! Here’s a breakdown of the treasures we have up for grabs this year:

  • REGISTRATION PRIZE: Just for signing up for Summer Reading, you’ll be entered to win a $25 gift card to Mediterra Cafe. (Must be registered by Monday, June 6th to be eligible.)
  • WEEKLY PRIZES: Each week, we’ll draw the name of one person who has logged minutes during that week. The more minutes you log, the more chances you have to win prizes. Winner can select a $50 gift card to the local business of your choice.
  • COMPLETION PRIZENew this year! If you read for 50 hours this summer and unlock all 11 logging badges, you earn a special prize for being a dedicated reader and completing the challenge! You’ll have your choice of $5 gift card to one of the following businesses: Sewickley Confectionery, Crazy Mocha, OR Ultimate Pastry Shop
  • GRAND PRIZE: At the end of the program, we’ll choose a GRAND PRIZE winner from all participants. Even if you’ve won a weekly prize, you are still eligible to win the grand prize! The Grand Prize winner will receive a $150 gift card to any business of their choice.

How do you get started? Just sign up! Register for the Summer Reading Program here. If you register by June 6, you’ll be eligible for the early registration prize! Even if you sign up and forget to log daily, or even every week (we get it, life’s busy!) – you’ll still be eligible for the weeks you do log and for the grand prize drawing at the end of the summer.

PLUS – back by popular demand is the 2022 Summer Reading BINGO game! Step out of your comfort zone when you aim to read through the suggested categories to get a BINGO and win a prize. Everyone who earns a bingo will get to pick a free book from our prize cart! Pick up a BINGO card at the library or print one out here.

Questions? Try our Summer Reading FAQ or view our video tutorials!

Happy *summer* reading!

Summer In Review

Summer In Review

The 2021 Adult Summer Reading Program has finally come to a close. As we reflect on this past summer of logging, one thing is very clear: we have some seriously dedicated readers in this community! Give yourselves a round of applause ???

We had 176 adults participate in this year’s program and together they logged over 236,800 minutes! That’s just shy of 4,000 hours of reading. In that many hours, you could drive back and forth from Sewickley, PA to Los Angeles, CA 100 times and still have hundreds of hours to spare.  Our point is, that’s a lot of time spent reading and we think it should be commended! So we’re going to highlight the weekly winners and top readers from this year’s Adult Summer Reading Program.

Summer Reading Winners

Week 1 – Lori W
Week 2 – Marc F
Week 3 – Tess R
Week 4 – Jenny B
Week 5 – Nicole D
Week 6 – Ellie Z
Week 7 – Lara H
Week 8 – Michelle W

Grand Prize Winner – Tara C


Adult Summer Reading – Top Readers

Name                      Minutes Logged
Tess R                      18,475
Karen P                        8,975
Kimberly A                        8,612
Michelle W                        8,255
Mae R                        7,560
Tara C                        7,256
Lori W                        7,018
Miriam T                        7,001
Diane P                        6,288
Staci D                        6,260

 

Congratulations to all our winners & our readers! We hope you enjoyed participating in the Summer Reading Program. To learn more about what’s happening at Sewickley Public Library, check out our Event Calendar and/or sign up for our Weekly Emails!

Beach Reads

Relax in the sun–or transport yourself there in your imagination–with these engrossing beach reads.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

The story begins in 1962. On the sun-drenched Italian coastline, a young innkeeper looks out over the incandescent waters of the Ligurian Sea and spies a tall, thin woman approaching him on a boat. She is an actress, an American starlet, and she is dying. And the story begins again today when an elderly Italian man shows up on a movie studio’s back lote”searching for the mysterious woman he last saw at his hotel decades earlier.

What unfolds is a dazzling, yet deeply human, roller coaster of a novel, spanning fifty years and nearly as many lives. From the lavish set of Cleopatra to the shabby revelry of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Walter introduces us to the tangled lives of unforgettable characters. Gloriously inventive, constantly surprising, Beautiful Ruins is a story of flawed yet fascinating people, navigating the rocky shores of their lives while clinging to their improbable dreams.


Sex and Vanity by Kevin Kwan

On her very first morning on the jewel-like island of Capri, Lucie Churchill sets eyes on George Zao and she instantly can’t stand him. She can’t stand it when he gallantly offers to trade hotel rooms with her so that she can have a view of the Tyrrhenian Sea, she can’t stand that he knows more about Casa Malaparte than she does, and she really can’t stand it when he kisses her in the darkness of the ancient ruins of a Roman villa and they are caught by her snobbish, disapproving cousin Charlotte. “Your mother is Chinese so it’s no surprise you’d be attracted to someone like him,” Charlotte teases.

The daughter of an American-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father, Lucie has always sublimated the Asian side of herself in favor of the white side, and she adamantly denies having feelings for George. But several years later, when George unexpectedly appears in East Hampton, where Lucie is weekending with her new fiancé, Lucie finds herself drawn to George again. Soon, Lucie is spinning a web of deceit that involves her family, her fiancé, the co-op board of her Fifth Avenue apartment building, and ultimately herself as she tries mightily to deny George entry into her world–and her heart.


Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

An audacious, darkly glittering novel set in the eerie days of civilization’s collapse, Station Eleven tells the spellbinding story of a Hollywood star, his would-be savior, and a nomadic group of actors roaming the scattered outposts of the Great Lakes region, risking everything for art and humanity.

One snowy night Arthur Leander, a famous actor, has a heart attack onstage during a production of King Lear . Jeevan Chaudhary, a paparazzo-turned-EMT, is in the audience and leaps to his aid. A child actress named Kirsten Raymonde watches in horror as Jeevan performs CPR, pumping Arthur’s chest as the curtain drops, but Arthur is dead. That same night, as Jeevan walks home from the theater, a terrible flu begins to spread. Hospitals are flooded and Jeevan and his brother barricade themselves inside an apartment, watching out the window as cars clog the highways, gunshots ring out, and life disintegrates around them.

Fifteen years later, Kirsten is an actress with the Traveling Symphony. Together, this small troupe moves between the settlements of an altered world, performing Shakespeare and music for scattered communities of survivors. Written on their caravan, and tattooed on Kirsten’s arm is a line from Star Trek: “Because survival is insufficient.” But when they arrive in St. Deborah by the Water, they encounter a violent prophet who digs graves for anyone who dares to leave.

Spanning decades, moving back and forth in time, and vividly depicting life before and after the pandemic, this suspenseful, elegiac novel is rife with beauty. As Arthur falls in and out of love, as Jeevan watches the newscasters say their final good-byes, and as Kirsten finds herself caught in the crosshairs of the prophet, we see the strange twists of fate that connect them all. A novel of art, memory, and ambition, Station Eleven tells a story about the relationships that sustain us, the ephemeral nature of fame, and the beauty of the world as we know it.


Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

When Victoria Leonard answers the phone in her Manhattan office, Caitlin’s voice catches her by surprise.  Vix hasn’t talked to her oldest friend in months.  Caitlin’s news takes her breath away–and Vix is transported back in time, back to the moment she and Caitlin Somers first met, back to the casual betrayals and whispered confessions of their long, complicated friendship, back to the magical island where two friends became summer sisters. Caitlin dazzled Vix from the start, sweeping her into the heart of the unruly Somers family, into a world of privilege, adventure, and sexual daring.  Vix’s bond with her summer family forever reshapes her ties to her own, opening doors to opportunities she had never imagined–until the summer she falls passionately in love.  Then, in one shattering moment on a moonswept Vineyard beach, everything changes, exposing a dark undercurrent in her extraordinary friendship with Caitlin that will haunt them through the years.

As their story carries us from Santa Fe to Martha’s Vineyard, from New York to Venice, we come to know the men and women who shape their lives.  And as we follow the two women on the paths they each choose, we wait for the inevitable reckoning to be made in the fine spaces between friendship and betrayal, between love and freedom. Summer Sisters is a riveting exploration of the choices that define our lives, of friendship and love, of the families we are born into and those we struggle to create.  For every woman who has ever had a friend too dangerous to forgive and too essential to forget, Summer Sisters will glue you to every page, reading and remembering.


The Royal We by Heather Cocks & Jessica Morgan

American Bex Porter was never one for fairy tales. Her twin sister Lacey was always the romantic, the one who daydreamed of being a princess. But it’s adventure-seeking Bex who goes to Oxford and meets dreamy Nick across the hall – and Bex who finds herself accidentally in love with the heir to the British throne.

Nick is wonderful, but he comes with unimaginable baggage: a complicated family, hysterical tabloids tracking his every move, and a public that expected its future king to marry a Brit. On the eve of the most talked-about wedding of the century, Bex looks back on how much she’s had to give up for true love… and exactly whose heart she may yet have to break.


Swing Time by Zadie Smith

Two brown girls dream of being dancers–but only one, Tracey, has talent. The other has ideas: about rhythm and time, about black bodies and black music, what constitutes a tribe, or makes a person truly free. It’s a close but complicated childhood friendship that ends abruptly in their early twenties, never to be revisited, but never quite forgotten, either.

Tracey makes it to the chorus line but struggles with adult life, while her friend leaves the old neighborhood behind, traveling the world as an assistant to a famous singer, Aimee, observing close up how the one percent live.

But when Aimee develops grand philanthropic ambitions, the story moves from London to West Africa, where diaspora tourists travel back in time to find their roots, young men risk their lives to escape into a different future, the women dance just like Tracey–the same twists, the same shakes–and the origins of a profound inequality are not a matter of distant history, but a present dance to the music of time.


Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

Alix Chamberlain is a woman who gets what she wants and has made a living, with her confidence-driven brand, showing other women how to do the same. So she is shocked when her babysitter, Emira Tucker, is confronted while watching the Chamberlains’ toddler one night, walking the aisles of their local high-end supermarket. The store’s security guard, seeing a young black woman out late with a white child, accuses Emira of kidnapping two-year-old Briar. A small crowd gathers, a bystander films everything, and Emira is furious and humiliated. Alix resolves to make things right.

But Emira herself is aimless, broke, and wary of Alix’s desire to help. At twenty-five, she is about to lose her health insurance and has no idea what to do with her life. When the video of Emira unearths someone from Alix’s past, both women find themselves on a crash course that will upend everything they think they know about themselves, and each other.


Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey

Ivy Gamble was born without magic and never wanted it.
Ivy Gamble is perfectly happy with her life – or at least, she’s perfectly fine.
She doesn’t in any way wish she was like Tabitha, her estranged, gifted twin sister.
Ivy Gamble is a liar.

When a gruesome murder is discovered at The Osthorne Academy of Young Mages, where her estranged twin sister teaches Theoretical Magic, reluctant detective Ivy Gamble is pulled into the world of untold power and dangerous secrets. She will have to find a murderer and reclaim her sister–without losing herself.


The Weekenders by Mary Kay Andrews

Some people stay all summer long on the idyllic island of Belle Isle, North Carolina. Others come only for the weekends-and the mix between the regulars and “the weekenders” can sometimes make the sparks fly. Riley Griggs has a season of good times with friends and family ahead of her on Belle Isle when things take an unexpected turn. While waiting for her husband to arrive on the ferry one Friday afternoon, Riley is confronted by a process server who thrusts papers into her hand. And her husband is nowhere to be found.

So she turns to her island friends for help and support, but it turns out that each of them has their own secrets, and the clock is ticking as the mystery deepens…in a murderous way. Cocktail parties aside, Riley must find a way to investigate the secrets of Belle Island, the husband she might not really know, and the summer that could change everything.


A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

In this tale of passion and obsession, Diana Bishop, a young scholar and a descendant of witches, discovers a long-lost and enchanted alchemical manuscript, Ashmole 782 , deep in Oxford’s Bodleian Library. Its reappearance summons a fantastical underworld, which she navigates with her leading man, vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont.

Harkness has created a universe to rival those of Anne Rice, Diana Gabaldon, and Elizabeth Kostova, and she adds a scholar’s depth to this riveting tale of magic and suspense. The story continues in book two, Shadow of Night, book three, The Book of Life, and the fourth in the series, Time’s Convert.


Summer Darlings by Brooke Lea Foster

In 1962, coed Heddy Winsome leaves her hardscrabble Irish Brooklyn neighborhood behind and ferries to glamorous Martha’s Vineyard to nanny for one of the wealthiest families on the island. But as she grows enamored with the alluring and seemingly perfect young couple and chases after their two mischievous children, Heddy discovers that her academic scholarship at Wellesley has been revoked, putting her entire future at risk.

Determined to find her place in the couple’s wealthy social circles, Heddy nurtures a romance with the hip surfer down the beach while wondering if the better man for her might be a quiet, studious college boy instead. But no one she meets on the summer island–socialite, starlet, or housekeeper–is as picture-perfect as they seem, and she quickly learns that the right last name and a house in a tony zip-code may guarantee privilege, but that rarely equals happiness.


The Girl From Widow Hills by Megan Miranda

Arden Maynor was just a child when she was swept away while sleepwalking during a terrifying rainstorm and went missing for days. Strangers and friends, neighbors and rescue workers, set up search parties and held vigils, praying for her safe return. Against all odds, she was found, alive, clinging to a storm drain. The girl from Widow Hills was a living miracle. Arden’s mother wrote a book. Fame followed. Fans and fan letters, creeps, and stalkers. And every year, the anniversary. It all became too much. As soon as she was old enough, Arden changed her name and disappeared from the public eye.

Now a young woman living hundreds of miles away, Arden goes by Olivia. She’s managed to stay off the radar for the last few years. But with the twentieth anniversary of her rescue approaching, the media will inevitably renew its interest in Arden. Where is she now? Soon Olivia feels like she’s being watched and begins sleepwalking again, like she did long ago, even waking outside her home. Until late one night she jolts awake in her yard. At her feet is the corpse of a man she knows–from her previous life, as Arden Maynor. And now, the girl from Widow Hills is about to become the center of the story, once again…


The Islanders by Meg Mitchell Moore

The Anthony Puckett was a rising literary star. The son of an uber-famous thriller writer, Anthony’s debut novel spent two years on the bestseller list and won the adoration of critics. But something went very wrong with his second work. Now Anthony’s borrowing an old college’s friend’s crumbling beach house on Block Island in the hopes that solitude will help him get back to the person he used to be.

Joy Sousa owns and runs Block Island’s beloved whoopie pie café. She came to this quiet space eleven years ago, newly divorced and with a young daughter, and built a life for them here. To her customers and friends, Joy is a model of independence, hard-working and happy. And mostly she is. But this summer she’s thrown off balance. A food truck from a famous New York City brand is roving around the island, selling goodies–and threatening her business.

Lu Trusdale is spending the summer on her in-laws’ dime, living on Block Island with her two young sons while her surgeon husband commutes to the mainland hospital. When Lu’s second son was born, she and her husband made a deal: he’d work and she’d quit her corporate law job to stay home with the boys. But a few years ago, Lu quietly began working on a private project that has becoming increasingly demanding on her time. Torn between her work and home, she’s beginning to question that deal she made.

Over the twelve short weeks of summer, these three strangers will meet and grow close, will share secrets and bury lies. And as the promise of June turns into the chilly nights of August, the truth will come out, forcing each of them to decide what they value most, and what they are willing to give up to keep it.


Find these titles and more on display this month at Sewickley Public Library!

Beach Reads: Books to Take With You on Your Summer Vacation

Ah, summer. Whether you’re working on your tan or catching some Z’s, a good book is always a great addition to throw into your beach bag. If you’re looking for something to read as you lounge on the sand, here are some great choices! And if you’re stuck at home this summer, worry not! These books also do well on solid ground!

Make sure you sign up for our Summer Reading Program, which runs from June 10 to August 10, for a chance to win some amazing prizes!

 

Read more

5-Star Books from Summer Reading 2014

This Summer the Adults in the Sewickley area read a staggering 447 Books! GREAT JOB EVERYONE! Here are the books that you rated with 5 STARS! Keep scrolling to see them all and then click through to the catalog to check them out.

The 100-year-old man who climbed out the window and disappeared
– 
Jonasson, Jonas

101 quantum questions : what you need to know about the world you can’t see – Ford, Kenneth William

12th of never – Patterson, James

Abraham Lincoln; the prairie years and the war years. – Sandburg, Carl

All joy and no fun : the paradox of modern parenthood – Senior, Jennifer,

And the mountains echoed – Hosseini, Khaled

Anne of Green Gables : Anne of Avonlea – Montgomery, L. M.

At home in Mitford – Karon, Jan

At large and at small : familiar essays – Fadiman, Anne

Beautiful day : a novel – Hilderbrand, Elin

The Beekeeper’s Ball – Wiggs, Susan

Berlin at war – Moorhouse, Roger

The big burn : Teddy Roosevelt and the fire that saved America – Egan, Timothy

City of heavenly fire – Clare, Cassandra

Clockwork princess – Clare, Cassandra

Cloud atlas : a novel – Mitchell, David

The cooked seed : a memoir – Min, Anchee

Cross my heart – Patterson, James

Dark lover : a novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood – Ward, J. R.

Deathride : Hitler vs. Stalin : the Eastern Front, 1941-1945 – Mosier, John

Delancey : a man, a woman, a restaurant, a marriage – Wizenberg, Molly

The dinner : a novel – Koch, Herman

Drink : the intimate relationship between women and alcohol – Johnston, Ann Dowsett

The drowned cities – Bacigalupi, Paolo

Duma Key – King, Stephen

Dune – Herbert, Frank

The 8th confession – Patterson, James

Family pictures – Green, Jane

The fault in our stars – Green, John

Field of prey – Sandford, John

Flash boys : a Wall Street revolt – Lewis, Michael

Gone girl : a novel – Flynn, Gillian 

Grace-based parenting : set your family free – Kimmel, Tim

The great divorce – Lewis, C. S.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – Rowling, J. K.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Rowling, J. K.

Harry Potter and the goblet of fire – Rowling, J. K.

Harry Potter and the half-blood prince – Rowling, J. K.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – Rowling, J. K.

Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban – Rowling, J. K.

Harry Potter and the sorcerer’s stone – Rowling, J. K.

Heart : an American medical odyssey – Cheney, Richard B.

Heaven is for real : a little boy’s astounding story of his trip to heaven and back – Burpo, Todd.

Herbie’s game – Hallinan, Timothy

Home – Morrison, Toni

The husband’s secret – Moriarty, Liane

I, robot – Asimov, Isaac

In the garden of beasts : love, terror, and an American family in Hitler’s Berlin – Larson, Erik

Incident at Vichy – Miller, Arthur

Insurgent – Roth, Veronica

The invention of wings – Kidd, Sue Monk

Invisible – Patterson, James

The judge – Singer, Randy

Kisses from Katie : a story of relentless love and redemption – Davis, Katie

The kitchen house – Grissom, Kathleen

Letters to a young poet – Rilke, Rainer Maria

The line : a Witching Savannah novel – Horn, J. D.

Living with the Dead : twenty years on the bus with Garcia and the Grateful Dead – Scully, Rock

Looking for Alaska – Green, John

Loud awake and lost – Griffin, Adele

Love and treasure – Waldman, Ayelet

The magician’s nephew – Lewis, C. S.

Me before you – Moyes, Jojo

Midnight in Europe : a novel – Furst, Alan

Midwives : a novel – Bohjalian, Christopher A.

Mr. Mercedes : a novel – King, Stephen

Mustard seeds : thoughts on the nature of God and faith – Coulter, Lynn

My sisters the saints : a spiritual memoir – Campbell, Colleen Carroll

The night strangers : a novel – Bohjalian, Chris

No easy day : the autobiography of a Navy SEAL : the firsthand account of the mission that killed Osama bin Laden – Owen, Mark

Notorious nineteen – Evanovich, Janet

One summer : America, 1927 – Bryson, Bill

Otherwise engaged – Quick, Amanda

The panther – DeMille, Nelson

Paper towns – Green, John

The pearl that broke its shell – Hashimi, Nadia

The perfume collector : a novel – Tessaro, Kathleen

The perks of being a wallflower – Chbosky, Stephen

The princess bride : S. Morgenstern’s classic tale of true love and high adventure : the “good parts” version, abridged – Goldman, William

Prodigal summer : a novel – Kingsolver, Barbara

Ready player one – Cline, Ernest

The reason I jump : the inner voice of a thirteen-year-old boy with autism – Higashida, Naoki

Rise, let us be on our way – John Paul II, Pope

Rose under fire – Wein, Elizabeth

Rumpole and the age of miracles – Mortimer, John

Sally Ride : America’s first woman in space – Sherr, Lynn

Sense and sensibility – Austen, Jane

Sixkill – Parker, Robert B.

Something other than God : how I passionately sought happiness and accidently found it – Fulwiler, Jennifer

Son of a gun : a memoir – St. Germain, Justin

Spring fever – Andrews, Mary Kay

The Supremes at Earl’s all-you-can-eat – Moore, Edward Kelsey

Sworn to silence – Castillo, Linda

Think like a freak : the authors of Freakonomics offer to retrain your brain – Levitt, Steven D.

This house is haunted – Boyne, John

Uncommon marriage : learning about lasting love and overcoming life’s obstacles together – Dungy, Tony

Understanding your moods when you’re expecting : emotions, mental health, and happiness–before, during, and after pregnancy – Puryear, Lucy J.

Unlucky 13 – Patterson, James

Unseen arms. – Brooks, Amy

A week in winter – Binchy, Maeve

What W.H. Auden can do for you – McCall Smith, Alexander

When you reach me – Stead, Rebecca

Why we get fat and what to do about it – Taubes, Gary

The world according to Bob : the further adventures of one man and his streetwise cat – Bowen, James

A wrinkle in time – L’Engle, Madeleine

Adult Summer Reading 2012 Has Ended

Summer O’ Summer! Where did you go? There may still be a few weeks of this wonderful season left but the Adult Summer Reading Program is officially over. We had some great reviews from our participants. We also had some awesome prizes and winners. In the next few weeks, we’ll be posting booklists of the titles that were rated the highest and infographics about this year’s program. For now, we’ll leave you with this list of winners and links to the websites of the prizes they won:

1st Week Kelly K — China Palace

2nd Week Patricia F — Sidelines Beer House

3rd Week Denise F — Cafe des Amis

4th Week Michele M — Robinson’s Home & Garden

5th Week Nancy P — Penguin Bookshop

6th Week Julie U — Ultimate Pastry Shop

7th Week Sarah B — The Jewel Thief

8th Week Patricia W — Big Bang Comics

Grand Prize – Drawing on 8/10/12 Amy W & Katherine P — Two Amazon Kindle Fires!!!

2000s – Books for All Ages

Here you’ll find a list of books that are either set in the 2000s or were written during this time. This list is broken down by age but there are many books that can be enjoyed by some or all of the age groups. This list is just a sample of the thousands of books that we can access through the county-wide system. Some descriptions were taken from the catalog, others from our Literature database; Novelist (click to access from home.)

Click on Titles to be taken to the Catalog

ADULT FICTION AND NON-FICTION BOOKS (SOME MAY BE SUITABLE FOR TEENS OR EVEN CHILDREN. PLEASE ASK A LIBRARIAN FOR HELP WITH DETERMINING AGE SUITABILITY) 

2001: a Space Odyssey By: Clarke, Arthur C. – Two astronauts find their journey into space and their very lives jeopardized by the jealousy of an extraordinary computer named Hal.

Absolute Friends By: Le Carre, John – Follows friends and fellow ex-spies, Ted Mundy and Sasha, as they attempt to change their lives and the world in which they live, covering their new escapades in Germany and the ones from their past.

The Bone Garden By: Gerritsen, Tess – The discovery of the skeleton of a woman murdered two centuries earlier sends medical examiner Maura Isles on the trail of a long-dead serial killer who terrorized Boston with crimes in which Norris Marshall, a Harvard Medical School student, had become the prime suspect.

Combat By: Stephen Coonts – A series of short novels explore the art of warfare in the twenty-first century–on the land, in the sea, in the air, and in outer space.

The Da Vinci Code By: Brown, Dan – Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu work to solve the murder of an elderly curator of the Louvre, a case which leads to clues hidden in the works of Da Vinci and a centuries-old secret society.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close By: Foer, Jonathan Safran – Oskar Schell, the nine-year-old son of a man killed in the World Trade Center attacks, searches the five boroughs of New York City for a lock that fits a black key his father left behind.

The Handmaid’s Tale By: Atwood, Margaret – In a future world where the birth rate has declined, fertile women are rounded up, indoctrinated as “handmaids,” and forced to bear children to prominent men.

The Jane Austen Book Club By: Fowler, Karen Joy – Six Californians join to discuss Jane Austen’s novels. Over the six months they meet, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens.

Killing Time By: Howard, Linda – Twenty years after a time capsule is buried under the front lawn of a small-town courthouse, the capsule is dug up and its contents stolen, an event that coincides with the murders of the contributors to the time capsule.

The Kite Runner By: Hosseini, Khaled – Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant’s son, in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan’s monarchy through the atrocities of the present day.

Pattern Recognition By: Gibson, William – Hired to investigate a mysterious video collection that has been appearing on the Internet, market research consultant Cayce Pollard realizes that there is more to the assignment when her computer is hacked.

The Romanov Prophecy By: Berry, Steve – After the Russian people vote to bring back the Tsar, to be chosen from the distant relatives of Nicholas II, attorney Miles Lord heads for Moscow to perform a background check on one of the candidates, but his assignment turns unexpectedly dangerous.

Snow Crash By: Stephenson, Neal – In twenty-first-century America, a computer hacker finds himself fighting a computer virus that battles virtual reality technology and a deadly drug that turns humans into zombies.

State of Fear By: Crichton, Michael – An eco-thriller takes readers to such far-flung locales as Paris, Iceland, Antarctica, and the Solomon Islands.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell By: Michaels, David – Sam Fisher, a splinter cell, or top secret agent for the National Security Agency with the right to steal and kill to preserve the country’s freedom, goes after Middle Eastern terrorists who are building a highly destructive weapon and have kidnapped his daughter.

CHILDREN & TEEN FICTION AND NON-FICTION BOOKS (ADULTS CAN LIKE THESE TOO!)

Ask Me No Questions By: Budhos, Marina Tamar – Fourteen-year-old Nadira, her sister, and their parents leave Bangladesh for New York City, but the expiration of their visas and the events of September 11, 2001, bring frustration, sorrow, and terror for the whole family.

Beneath a Meth Moon By: Woodson, Jacqueline – Laurel Daneau has moved on to a new life, in a new town, but inside she’s still reeling from the loss of her beloved mother and grandmother after Hurricane Katrina washed away their home. Laurel’s new life is going well, with a new best friend, a place on the cheerleading squad and T-Boom, co-captain of the basketball team, for a boyfriend. Yet Laurel is haunted by voices and memories from her past.

Bullyville By: Prose, Francine – After the death of his estranged father in the World Trade Center on 9/11, thirteen-year-old Bart, still struggling with his feelings of guilt, sorrow and loss, wins a scholarship to the local preparatory school and there encounters a vicious bully whose cruelty compounds the aftermath of the tragedy.

Cinnamon Girl : letters found inside a cereal box By: Herrera, Juan Felipe – Yolanda, a Puerto Rican girl, tries to come to terms with her painful past as she waits to see if her uncle recovers from injuries he suffered when the towers collapsed on September 11, 2001.

Dear Zoe By: Beard, Philip – On the morning planes hit the World Trade Center towers, Tess DeNunzio’s three-year-old sister, Zoe, ran into the street and was killed by a car. Fifteen-year-old Tess, who was supposed to be watching Zoe, was consumed by guilt. This novel is written in the form of a letter from Tess to Zoe, chronicling the year after Zoe’s death.

How I Live Now By: Rosoff, Meg – To get away from her pregnant stepmother in New York City, fifteen-year-old Daisy goes to England to stay with her aunt and cousins, with whom she instantly bonds, but soon war breaks out and rips apart the family while devastating the land.

Hurricane Song By: Volponi, Paul – Twelve-year-old Miles Shaw has only been living with his father in New Orleans for two months when Hurricane Katrina hits.

Love is the Higher Law By: Levithan, David – The lives of three teens—Claire, Jasper, and Peter—are altered forever on September 11, 2001. Claire, a high school junior, has to get to her younger brother in his classroom. Jasper, a college sophomore from Brooklyn, wakes to his parents’ frantic calls from Korea, wondering if he’s okay. Peter, a classmate of Claire’s, has to make his way back to school as everything happens around him.

A Plague Year By: Bloor, Edward – It’s 2001 and zombies have taken over Tom’s town. Meth zombies. The drug rips through Blackwater, PA, with a ferocity and a velocity that overwhelms everyone.

Sunrise Over Fallujah By: Myers, Walter Dean – In the spring of 2003, Private Robin “Birdy” Perry of Harlem is sent to Iraq, an experience that will profoundly change him.

Twilight By: Meyer, Stephenie – When seventeen-year-old Bella leaves Phoenix to live with her father in Forks, Washington, she meets an exquisitely handsome boy at school for whom she feels an overwhelming attraction and who she comes to realize is not wholly human.

Under the Persimmon Tree By: Staples, Suzanne Fisher – During the 2001 Afghan War, the lives of Najmal, a young refugee from Kunduz, Afghanistan, and Nusrat, an American-Muslim teacher who is awaiting her husband’s return from Mazar-i-Sharif, intersect at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.

The Usual Rules By: Maynard, Joyce – It’s a Tuesday morning in Brooklyn–a perfect September day. Wendy is heading to school, eager to make plans with her best friend, worried about how she looks, mad at her mother for not letting her visit her father in California, impatient with her little brother and with the almost too-loving concern of her jazz musician stepfather. She’s out the door to catch the bus. An hour later comes the news: A plane has crashed into the World Trade Center.

Victory By: Cooper, Susan – Alternating chapters follow the mysterious connection between a homesick English girl living in present-day America and an eleven-year-old boy serving in the British Royal Navy in 1803, aboard the H.M.S. Victory, commanded by Admiral Horatio Nelson.

The Year my Life Went Down the Loo By: Maxwell, Katie – Told in a series of hilarious e-mails, a delightful novel follows sixteen-year-old Emily, who moves from Seattle to England with her family right before her junior year, as she deals with a new culture, new friends, gorgeous British boys, and a ghost who lurks in her underwear drawer.

2000s – History and SPL Programs

Check out our 2000s Board on Pinterest to be taken back in time!

 

A New Millennium

At midnight on January 1, 2000, the clock ticked over into not only a new decade but also a new millennium, and the world wondered what lay in store for this new age. During the 1990s, new trends in business and entertainment had emerged to feed America’s unprecedented prosperity. The first decade of the 2000s would see continual development of these trends to the point that they exerted a major—and in some cases, negative—influence on people’s lives. Though the end of the Cold War (1945–91) had left the United States as the world’s only superpower, the decade would also see a new threat—foreign terrorism—emerge in place of communism.

On September 11, 2001, the real bogeymen of the decade emerged, and they were all too human. A group of nineteen religious extremists, acting on plans masterminded by al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden (1957–2011), hijacked four domestic passenger planes and flew them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field. The events of 9/11, as that dark day came to be called, scarred America and its allies deeply. Within days of the attacks, President George W. Bush (1946–) had announced a new War on Terror, an international effort to wipe out terrorism.

Domestically, the trend towards globalizing business operations that had begun in the 1990s continued at a rapid pace. The Internet came into its own during the first decade of the 2000s, speeding the process of globalization as it no longer became necessary for employees to gather together in the same location in order to conduct business. China and India in particular benefited from the outsourcing of American business overseas, and it soon became commonplace to hear an Indian accent on the phone when calling a corporation’s technical support or customer service phone number—there was even a TV show, Outsourced (2010–11), based on the premise.

The rise of the Internet also heralded massive changes in the ways Americans sought their entertainment and even communicated with one another. E-retailers like Amazon.com and the Apple iTunes Store offered consumers the ability to shop from the comfort of their home. In the case of digital music, book, and movie downloads, consumers could even enjoy instant access to their purchases. Digital music, in particular, had a major impact on the music industry and how people listened to music. With the ability to download selected songs individually, the age of the album came to a close. MP3 players allowed people to carry around libraries of thousands of songs in their pockets. Up-and-coming artists case of digital music, book, and movie downloads, consumers could even enjoy instant access to their purchases. Digital music, in particular, had a major impact on the music industry and how people listened to music. With the ability to download selected songs individually, the age of the album came to a close. MP3 players allowed people to carry around libraries of thousands of songs in their pockets. Up-and-coming artists also no longer needed to resort to seeking out the support of major labels in order to get their music heard.

Similarly, the advent of blogging sites and micro-blogs like Twitter gave people the ability to quickly and easily post their thoughts to the Internet with little to no knowledge of computer code required. As with the music and book industries, the world of journalism was rocked by this new technology. Suddenly amateur bloggers were scooping veteran reporters and helping to drive the news cycle.

These new technological changes may have made life easier for the consumer, but they heralded difficult times for the businesses that found their models suddenly outdated. Newspapers, book and music stores, and even major publishers and record labels could see that they needed to adapt rapidly to the new ways or perish. By giving everyone a voice, it ironically became harder to get noticed among the other competing writers, artists, musicians, and bloggers. The rise of social networking sites like Facebook, which was founded in 2004, provided central meeting places online for people to interact and share bits of their personal lives. Social networking, blogging, and web shopping, though convenient, led some critics to wonder if Americans were becoming too disconnected and decadent.

Matters did not improve when the world slipped into its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression at the end of the decade. Costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, unregulated speculation in the housing market, and a variety of other factors combined to plunge the United States into economic crisis in 2008. Although Europe had been making strides towards a stronger economy, notably with the introduction of a continental currency called the Euro, the crisis hit certain countries like Greece and Iceland particularly hard. As if all the economic worries were not enough, the last years of the first decade of the 2000s also played host to intensified debate over the cause of and solution to the problem of climate change, popularly known as global warming. As the decade came to a close, many Americans began to question the impact their way of life was having on the world and started looking for ways to cut spending and living beyond their means.

Source Citation: “2000s.” Bowling, Beatniks, and Bell-Bottoms: Pop Culture of 20th- and 21st-Century America. Ed. Cynthia Johnson and Lawrence W. Baker. 2nd ed. Vol. 6: 2000-2009. Detroit: U*X*L, 2012. 1461-1467. Gale U.S. History In Context. Web. 7 Aug. 2012.

 Join us for our Last Decades Programs of the Summer!

Decades Documentaries – Hurricane Katrina: The Storm that Drowned a City (2000s) – Tuesday, August 7 @ 2PM – On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, killing at least 1,300, destroying over 600,000 houses, and turning downtown New Orleans into an uninhabitable swamp. In a compelling hour-by-hour reconstruction of the ferocious storm, NOVA exposes crucial failures in preparation and engineering that led to the worst disaster in U.S. history.

Decades Movies: Juno (2000s) – Friday, August 10 @ 2PM – Ellen Page, Michael Cera, J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney. An unplanned pregnancy propels a confident, charming teen into one of life’s many detours, where she sets her sights on her ideal adoptive parents: an affluent couple longing to adopt their first child. (2007, 96min, PG-13)

The 1990s – DVDs

Here you’ll find a list of “Nineties” Films. Most of them were filmed during this decade but some are either set then or about that time period. We’ve tried to include something for everyone.

CLICK ON THE TITLES TO BE TAKEN TO THE LIBRARY’S ONLINE CATALOG. THERE, YOU CAN REQUEST THE ITEM AND SEE MORE INFORMATION INCLUDING RATING INFORMATION.

10 Things I Hate About You – Cameron falls for the most beautiful girl in school. However, she is forbidden to date until the most hated girl in school, her ill-tempered older sister, goes out too.

Ace Ventura, Pet Detective – Ace Ventura, pet detective is on the case to find the Miami Dolphins’ missing mascot and quarterback Dan Marino, and whether he’s undercover, under fire or underwater, he always gets his man … or beast!

American Beauty  An emotionally & spiritually comatose suburban man decides “to hell with it all” and reverts to living as he did when he was happiest–as a carefree teenager. His desperately uptight wife and sullen daughter can only look on as he quits his corporate job to become a burger flipper, starts getting high with a strange new neighbor (whose parents are even stranger) and lusts after a pouty blonde teenager–his daughter’s best friend.

American History X – Derek Vinyard, the charismatic leader of a group of young white supremacists, lands in prison for a brutal, hate-driven murder. Upon his release, ashamed of his past and pledging to reform, Derek realizes he must save his younger brother, Danny, from a similar fate. A groundbreaking controversial drama about the tragic consequences of racism in a family.

American Pie Follows the hapless adventures of four high school friends as they gear up for the prom.

Analyze This – When mob boss Paul Vitti starts having panic attacks, he seeks out the unwilling help of suburban family therapist Ben Sombel who just wants to get married to his fiancée and get back to his practice.

Any Given Sunday Tony D’Amato, the embattled Sharks coach, faces a full-on blitz of team strife plus a new, marketing-savvy Sharks owner who’s sure Tony is way behind times.

Armageddon – The U.S. government calls upon an oil-well driller and his colorful crew to save the world by flying to an asteroid that’s on a collision course for earth and setting off a nuclear bomb to divert it.

As Good As it Gets – Chance encounters with the mother of a sick child and a homosexual artist inspire a cynical, obsessive-compulsive author to try to become a better person.

Austin Powers The Spy Who Shagged Me  Intent on world domination, diabolical genius Dr. Evil travels back to 1969 and steals Austin’s “mojo”. Now Austin must return to the swingin’ sixties, recover his mojo and stop his nemesis from liquidating the world.

Basic Instinct – A tough but vulnerable detective investigates a murder identical to one described in the latest novel of a cold, calculating and beautiful novelist with an insatiable sexual appetite.

Batman Returns – Gotham City faces two monstrous criminal menaces: the bizarre, sinister Penguin and the slinky, mysterious Catwoman. Can Batman battle two formidable foes at once?

Being John Malkovich A struggling street puppeteer takes a job to make some money. One day he accidentally discovers a door, a portal into the brain of John Malkovich (played by John Malkovich!) For 15 minutes he experiences the ultimate head trip – HE is being John Malkovich.

The Big Lebowski Jeff ‘The Dude’ Lebowski doesn’t want any drama in his life; he can’t even be bothered with a job. But, in a case of mistaken identity, a couple of thugs break into his place and steal his rug (you gotta understand, that rug really tied the room together). Now, the Dude must embark on a quest with his crazy friends to make things right and get that rug back! Includes an exclusive interview, behind-the-scenes photos, film timeline, and more.

Boondock Saints FBI agent Paul Smecker is on the trail of two vigilante brothers whose spiritual sense of right and wrong has turned Boston’s streets red with blood. The victims are the villains and mob bosses that the justice system has been powerless to stop. Now, Smecker finds himself torn between whether he should catch the killers…or join them.

Boyz ‘N The Hood – Three friends struggle to survive in South Central Los Angeles where friendship, pain, danger and love form a true picture of life in the ‘hood in this critically acclaimed, action-filled story.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – A popular California high school girl is selected by a mysterious old man to kill the vampires that are terrorizing Los Angeles. Although it could put a serious crimp in her shopping, Buffy takes on the ghouls with the help of a handsome drifter, and incurs the wrath of the chief vampire!

Can’t Hardly Wait – Multicharacter teenage comedy about high school graduates with different agenda of life on graduation night.

Chasing Amy – New Jersey comic-book artist Holden falls in love with fellow artist Alyssa, only to be thwarted by her sexuality, the disdain of his best friend Banky, and his own misgivings about himself.

Circle of Friends – When girlhood friends leave their rural home to attend college in Dublin, they face challenges in themselves and their relationships.

Clerks – It’s one wild day in the life of a pair of overworked counter jockeys who brave a nonstop parade of unpredictable shoppers, while managing to play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and straighten out their offbeat love lives.

The Craft – When a group of high school outsiders discover witchcraft, they intend on using it for their own gain.

Cruel Intentions – After ruining the reputation of an unsuspecting classmate, sparks fly when Kathryn poses the ultimate challenge to her insatiable stepbrother Sebastian–deflower the headmaster’s virgin daughter. If Kathryn wins, she gets Sebastian’s vintage Jaguar; if he wins, he gets Kathryn.

Dead Man Walking – Tells the story of convicted killer Matthew Poncelet and Sister Helen Prejean, his spiritual advisor, and the journey they undertake in search of the truth.

Devil’s Advocate – Hotshot attorney Kevin Lomax’s 64-0 case record has brought him a tempting offer from an elite New York firm. But the job Lomax accepts isn’t what it seems. The Devil is in the details.

Dogma – Two banished angels find a loophole that would get them back into heaven. The only snag? They’ll be destroying existence in the process. In an effort to stop them, the overworked voice of God taps cynical mortal Bethany to save the world by preventing the angels from reaching their unholy destination. Along the way he meets two unlikely prophets named Jay and Silent Bob, and the quick-witted thirteenth apostle.

Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead – When their mother takes a trip to Australia, five children are left with an elderly tyrant who keels over dead the first night, opening up the possibility of a carefree summer–as long as they can keep Mom from finding out the babysitter is dead.

Drop Dead Gorgeous – The Sarah Rose Princess America Pageant is a beauty contest to die for. And that’s exactly what the contestants in Mount Rose, Minnesota are doing. Ever since the vivacious but vicious former beauty queen, Gladys, has been pushing her charm-challenged daughter, Rebecca, to win at all costs, the competition has been dropping like flies.

Dumb and Dumber – Comedy about a pair of dim-witted friends on a cross-country trip to return a case full of money.

Empire Records – Centers on a music store in danger of being sold to a chain, its employees and the kids who patronize it.

Erin Brockovich – Based on a true story, Erin Brockovich is a feisty young mother who convinces attorney Ed Masry to hire her and promptly stumbles upon a momumental law case against a giant corporation. Erin’s determined to take on this powerful adversary even though no law firm has dared to do it before. The two begin an incredible and sometimes hilarious fight that will bring a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees.

Face/Off – FBI agent Sean Archer must go undercover to investigate the location of a lethal biological weapon planted by his arch rival, terrorist-for-hire Castor Troy. After undergoing a radical surgical procedure, Archer literally “borrows” Troy’s face and identity to carry out his mission. But things go awry when Troy, emerging from a coma, is transformed into Archer and wreaks havoc upon his life, both at work and at home.

Fargo – A midwestern policewoman investigates a series of brutal and interconnected crimes. Steadily, she tightens the net on the killers and their accomplices in a kidnapping scheme gone wildly wrong.

A Few Good Men – Story of a brash Navy lawyer who’s teamed with a gung-ho litigator in a politically-explosive murder case. Charged with defending two Marines accused of killing a fellow soldier, they are confronted with complex issues of loyalty and honor – including its most sacred code and its most formidable warrior.

Fight Club – When a ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a soap salesman channel their aggresion into therapeutic “fight clubs”, an eccentric woman gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

Fools Rush In – On a whim, Alex proposes to Isabel, who became pregnant as a result of a casual night of passion they shared.

Forrest Gump – Through three turbulent decades, Forrest rides a tide of events that whisks him from physical disability to football stardom, from Vietnam hero to shrimp tycoon, from White House honors to the arms of his one true love.

Four Weddings and a Funeral – Charlie is always the best man but never the groom. He meets the girl of his dreams at a wedding, but she marries someone else. He thinks that true love may always pass him by, until they meet again at a funeral.

Friday – Craig and Smokey have until the end of the day to pay back Big Worm. They’ve got to dodge Deebo, South Central’s meanest thug, and get the cash any way they can. As time ticks away, the chance this pair will ever see Saturday is fading fast!

The Fugitive – A Chicago surgeon falsely convicted of killing his wife is determined to prove his innocence by leading his pursuers to the one-armed man who actually committed the crime.

The Full Monty – Six unemployed men, inspired by a touring group of male strippers, decide they can make a small fortune by putting on a striptease show of their own with one small difference. They intend to go the “full monty” and strip completely naked. A hilarious, heartfelt comedy in which six friends discover the inner strength to overcome the problems in their personal lives.

General’s Daughter – When the daughter of a well-known and well-respected base commander is raped and murdered, an undercover detective is summoned to look into the matter and finds a slew of cover-ups at West Point.

Get Shorty – Loanshark Chili Palmer has done his time as a gangster, so when “business” takes him to Los Angeles to collect a debt from down and out filmmaker Harry Zimm, he talks tough and then pitches Harry a script idea. Everything would be smooth for this cool new producer, if it weren’t for the drug smugglers and gangsters who won’t leave him alone.

Ghost – A man killed during a robbery gone wrong remains on Earth as a ghost because of his love for his girlfriend. He teams up with a psychic to uncover the truth behind his murder, and to rescue his sweetheart from a similar fate.

Goldeneye – When a powerful satellite system falls into the hands of a former ally turned enemy, only 007 can save the world from an awesome space weapon.

Good Will Hunting – A young working-class genius is hauled back from the brink of self-destruction by a gifted counselor.

Groundhog Day – Teamed with a relentlessly cheerful producer and a smart-aleck cameraman, TV weatherman Phil Connors is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the annual Groundhog Day festivities. On his way out of town, Phil is caught in a giant blizzard, which he failed to predict, and finds himself stuck in the small town. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, they do. Phil wakes the next morning to find it’s Groundhog Day all over again– and again– and again.

Happy Gilmore Although Happy dreams of becoming a professional hockey player, he discovers that his hockey slap shot translates to an astonishing 400-yard tee shot. So when his grandmother loses her home to the IRS, Happy decides to earn the house back by joining the pro golf tour, bringing his ferocious temper and outlandish antics to the well-tended fairways. Before long, Happy is a media sensation, attracting crowds and news cameras wherever he goes. But Happy’s bitter rival has his own plans for the golf superstar.

The Haunting – A professor lures three subjects to a mysterious mansion for an experiment which turns into a nightmare as the secrets of Hill House are revealed in this supernatural thriller.

Hocus Pocus – When three outlandishly wild witches are accidentally conjured up by pranksters, they return from 17th century Salem and set out to cast a spell on the town, but first they must outwit three kids and a talking cat.

Home Alone – An eight-year-old boy is left home alone on Christmas, and has to defend his home against two bumbling burglars.

Homeward Bound, The Incredible Journey – A fun-loving bulldog, a wise old golden retriever, and a hilarious Siamese cat travel through the rugged Sierras in a search of their missing human family.

Hot Shots – A team of crack jet jockeys led by an incompetent commander spend their nights carousing and their days training for secret operation Sleepy Weasel–a lightning strike against a desert kingdom.

Independence Day – Massive spaceships appear in Earth’s skies and wonder turns to terror as the ships blast destructive beams of fire down on cities all over the planet. The world’s only hope lies with a determined band of survivors.

The Indian in the Cupboard – On his 9th birthday, Omri receives a cupboard that magically brings his toy Indian Little Bear to life. They bond, embarking on an amazing adventure, until Omri’s friend Patrick brings a 6-shooting cowboy to life and the secret of the cupboard is in danger of being revealed.

Jerry Maguire – A sports agent suddenly discovers his scruples and promptly loses his job. But with the help of one loyal colleague and one outrageous client, he learns that loving well is the best revenge.

Jurassic Park – Scientists develop a means of bringing dinosaurs to life using DNA taken from dino’ blood, which has been preserved inside insects encased in amber.

Kids – 24 hours in the life of a group of contemporary teenagers who believe they are invincible.

The Mask – Stanley Ipkiss, a nerdy bank clerk, discovers an ancient mask with supernatural powers. He then woos the woman he loves away from her hoodlum boyfriend.

Mighty Ducks – Slapped with a community service assignment, a tough trial lawyer must coach a ragtag team of pee wee hockey players who can’t skate, can’t score and can’t win.

Mission: Impossible – A secret agent framed for the deaths of his espionage team, tries to discover the truth.

Multiplicity – A comedy about a man who clones himself to save his marriage and then almost loses his wife to himself.

Never Been Kissed – Josie, a twenty-five-year-old Chicago copy editor, gets her first assignment as a reporter, going undercover at her old high school to learn about today’s teens. While working, she finds that memories of her own high-school years come back to haunt her.

Office Space – When white-collar peon Peter Gibbons decides he’s had enough and neglects his job, he is quickly promoted to upper management.

Philadelphia – Two lawyers join together to sue a prestigious Philadelphia law firm when the firm fires one of them because he has AIDS.

Practical Magic – The wry, comic romantic tale follows the Owens sisters as they struggle to use their hereditary gift for practical magic to overcome the obstacles in discovering true love.

Pretty Woman – A corporate raider pays a gorgeous hooker to be his escort for a business week in Beverly Hills … and then falls for her. Fifteenth anniversary special edition packed with all-new, never-before-seen bonus features.

Pulp Fiction – Clever, dark film that tells 4 separate stories that are gradually brought together. Involved are two low-rent hit men, their boss and his sexy wife, a prizefighter and a pair of desperate robbers.

Reality Bites – The irreverent portrayal of the harsh realities of life after college captures the misadventures of Lelaina, an ambitious TV production assistant, and her relationships with her sarcastic roommate, Vickie, friends Sammy and Troy, and an ambitious video executive, Michael.

Reservoir Dogs – They were strangers, together to pull off the perfect jewel heist. Their simple robbery turns into a bloody ambush when they realize one of them is a police informant.

Scary Movie – A parody of all the scary movies you’ve ever seen. The victims pile up and the laughs pile on as a group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by a recognizable masked killer!

Scent of a Woman – Hoping to earn extra money, an innocent and reserved scholarship student at an exclusive prep school agrees to look after a blind, retired Lieutenant Colonel, who takes him off for a wild weekend in New York City.

Scream – A series of mysterious murders committed by a masked killer transforms a seemingly peaceful community into a place where no one is safe and everyone is suspect.

Se7en – A psychological thriller about two detectives on the trail of a serial killer who chooses his victims according to the seven deadly sins.

She’s All That – An irresistible cast of Hollywood’s hottest young faces star in this fun, sexy comedy hit about the power of attraction and the pressures of popularity.

The Silence of the Lambs – When FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned a case involving a monstrous serial killer, she seeks counsel from an imprisoned cannibalistic psychiatrist Dr. Hannibal Lecter, whose fascination with the young woman is as great as his hunger for murder. As their relationship develops, Starling must confront her own demons, and an evil so powerful that she may not have the courage or strength to stop it.

Sister Act – A lounge singer, forced to hide out from the mob, moves into a quiet religious convent.

The Sixth Sense – A noted child psychologist attempts to help a frightened 8-year-old boy who is experiencing terrifying visions of the dead.

Sleepless in Seattle – After hearing a man confess his love for his dearly-departed wife on a call-in radio show, a woman falls inexplicably in love with him. Deciding that he is her destiny, she treks across the country on a romantic impulse to meet him.

So I Married an Axe Murderer – A wedlock-shy coffee house poet finally meets the perfect woman. There’s one little problem–he’s convinced she’s an axe murderer.

Speed – An L.A.P.D. SWAT team specialist is sent to diffuse a bomb that a revenge-driven extortionist has planted on a bus. Until he does, he and a female passenger must keep the bus speeding through the streets of Los Angeles at more than 50 miles per hour or the bomb will explode.

Stir of Echoes – After Tom is hypnotized at a neighborhood party, he changes. He sees things he can’t explain and hears voices he can’t ignore. As the visions intensify, he realizes they are echoes of a crime calling out to be solved.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles – After wading in a puddle of radioactive waste, these radical reptiles are transformed into New York City’s greatest crime-fighting quartet.

Terminator 2: Judgement Day – A lethal cyborg, the T-1000, has been sent back from 2029 A.D. to present day Los Angeles on a mission to kill the boy destined to lead the freedom fighters of the future. The original Terminator cyborg is reprogrammed and sent to save the boy, assisted by the boy’s mother, a woman warrior whose warnings of a world headed toward nuclear disaster go unheeded.

Thelma and Louise – Thelma is an abused and neglected wife, while her friend Louise is a bitter, hard-edged waitress. The two decide to take a brief vacation to escape the drudgery of their everyday lives. Immediately, they run into trouble, as Louise shoots and kills a man who tries to rape Thelma in the parking lot of a country bar.

Three Kings – Absurdly comic tale set after the end of the Gulf War, when three American soldiers looking to plunder stolen gold become involved in an uprising.

Tommy Boy – After seven years, party animal Tommy Callahan has finally earned his diploma — and a cushy job at Callahan Auto Parts. But when the family business starts tanking, Tommy hits the road with his dad’s right-hand man, a smug numbers cruncher.

Toy Story – An astonishing world where toys play while their owners are away. Woody is a pull-string cowboy doll and is the leader of the toys until the latest, greatest action figure, Buzz Lightyear, enters the picture. When the toy rivals are separated from their owner, they learn to put aside their differences and work as a team to get back home to the boy they love.

Tremors Two country handymen and a seismology student discover a desolate town infested with gigantic man-eating creatures that live underground.

True Lies – Harry Tasker is a top spy for the ultra-secret Omega Sector, but his wife thinks he’s just a boring computer salesman. When his two lives collide, he and his wife find themselves kidnapped by international terrorists.

Twister – Scientist Jo Harding and her crack team of tornado chasers are pursuing the most destructive weatherfront to sweep through mid-America’s Tornado Alley in 50 years. TV weatherman Bill Harding is trying to get his tornado-hunter wife, Jo, to sign divorce papers so he can marry his girlfriend Melissa. But Mother Nature, in the form of a series of intense storms, has other plans.

The Usual Suspects – Police investigating an exploded boat on a San Pedro pier discover 27 bodies and $91 million worth of drug money. The only survivors are a severely burned Hungarian terrorist and Roger Kint, a crippled con-man. Reluctantly, Kint is pressured into explaining what happened on the boat. His story begins six weeks earlier with five criminals being dragged in by New York police desperate for suspects in a truck highjacking, and ends with the possible identification of a criminal mastermind.

Varsity Blues – A backup quarterback for the high school football team must confront the pressures and temptations of being a sports star, including conflicts with his coach and his girlfriend, when the starting quarterback is injured.

Wag the Dog – When the President is caught in a sex scandal less than two weeks before the election, his White House spinmaster decides they need a war to distract the public’s attention and he calls on Hollywood’s top producer to create it.

Wayne’s World – Wayne and Garth have their own public access TV show. A local station decides to hire them to do their show professionally. Wayne meets and falls in love with Cassandra, a bass guitarist, who he helps by getting her career started by using his connections.

The Wedding Singer – Robbie Hart is a master of ceremonies, left at the altar at his own wedding. He becomes someone who can only destroy other people’s weddings until he meets a waitress named Julia. Julia, however, is about to have a wedding of her own and may be lost forever.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape – Gilbert Grape is devoted to taking care of his family, which includes an obese mother and a mentally impaired brother. He feels the hopelessness of his life in a rural community when a young woman breezes into town and changes everything.

Wonder Boys – During a single weekend, college professor Grady Tripp scrambles to gather together a life that has suddenly reeled out of control. An unfinished novel, a stolen car, a murdered pet and a failing marriage are just a few of the crises piling up.

You’ve Got Mail – A romance in which superstore book chain magnate Hanks and cozy children’s bookshop owner Ryan are anonymous e-mail cyberpals who fall head-over-laptops in love, unaware that they are combative business rivals.