January Staff Pick: The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman

Emily Miller

Our first staff pick in an ongoing series has been graciously provided by Sue. This debut novel by M.L. Stedman was a months-long New York Times bestseller and received a starred review from Booklist.

Light Between Oceans

THE LIGHT BETWEEN OCEANS by M.L. Stedman

After serving four years on the Western Front, Tom returns a decorated military hero. He takes a position as a lighthouse keeper on an isolated island, Janus Rock. Soon after, he meets his young bride, Isabel, and brings her to accompany him. They have dreams of raising their family happily, together on the island. After years of fertility trouble and two miscarriages, a boat washes up to the shore carrying a dead man and a living baby. And this is all on page one of the book!

Sue enjoyed The Light Between Oceans for a variety of reasons. Here are her comments on what appealed to her and why you should check it out:

The writing is beautiful, and yet fast-paced enough so that you don’t want to put it down. From page one, you are hooked. This is a good old-fashioned novel: plot driven with plenty of twists, poetic descriptions, emotional conflict, and well-drawn characters. In fact, it’s impossible to read this book and not become totally drawn in by the characters. The setting is also appealing, a remote island off the coast of Western Australia on which a lone couple lives and keeps the lighthouse. But, what an emotional quandary they face! And how they unknowingly affecting the lives of others with their choices!

Sue said she highly recommends The Light Between Oceans for book club discussions due to the deep moral dilemmas faced by many of the characters.

Click the title above to find this book in the online library catalog, where you can request a copy.

Health and Wellness Programs in January

Emily Miller

Interested in taking charge of your health in the new year? This week Sewickley Public Library is offering a variety of health and wellness events.

Tuesday, January 14:

HealthyWorks of Pennsylvania Winter Wellness Event, 10AM-1PM – Are you on the track to better health this winter? Find out with the following free interactive screenings: Blood Pressure Checks, Weight-Loss, Posture Checks, and Body Mass Index Readings. In the Community Room. No registration required.

Nutritional Healing, 7PM-8:30PM – Gain the knowledge you need to get off to a great start this year with Susie Weiss of Young Living Essential Oils. Susie will give a presentation on Nutritional Healing. In the Community Room. Please register – spots still available!

Wednesday, January 15:

Arthritis Foundation Classes – Tai Chi – Wednesdays @ 10AM starting January 15 – This ancient practice will help to reduce stress and fatigue. Meditation in Motion. Exercise – Wednesdays @ 11:15AM starting January 15 – This safe and simple exercise program will help to reduce pain and stiffness, increase muscle strength, maintain joint mobility, and improve balance. Please register at Reference Desk – space still available in Exercise, watch for the next session of Tai Chi.

Reiki Healing Exchange, 6:30PM-8:30PM – Learn more about Therapeutic Touch and experience a relaxing, peaceful evening. A $5.00 donation for the library is requested. No registration required.

Saturday, January 18:

Sahaja Meditation, 11AM-12:30PM – Every Saturday @ 11AM – Enjoy the silence, peace, and stress release that is always free. No registration required.

Remember to take a look at the Library’s Event Calendar to stay up to date with all of our programmatic offerings as well as register for the above events, and Do Something @ Sewickley Public Library!

Recently Added Films for January 2014

Emily Miller

Click the links to find and request new fiction and nonfiction films at Sewickley Public Library.

FICTION

BARBARA – As punishment for applying for an exit visa from 1980s East Germany, a doctor working at a prestigious post in a Berlin is banished to a small country hospital. In German with English subtitles.

THE CONJURING – The Conjuring tells the true story of Ed and Lorraine Warren, paranormal investigators, who were called to help a family terrorized by a dark presence in a secluded farmhouse. Forced to confront a powerful demonic entity, the Warrens find themselves caught in the most horrifying case of their lives. Also available as a Blue-Ray.

GETAWAY – Brent Magna is a burned-out race car driver who is thrust into a do-or-die mission behind the wheel when his wife is kidnapped. With Brent’s only ally being a young hacker, his one hope of saving his wife is to follow the orders of the mysterious voice who’s watching his every move through cameras mounted on the car Brent’s driving.

JOBS – This inspiring and entertaining film chronicles Jobs’ early days as a college dropout to his rise as the co-founder of Apple Computer, Inc. and forced retirement from the company. More than a decade later, Jobs returns and single-handedly sets a course that will turn the once-tiny startup into one of the world’s most valuable companies. His epic journey blazes a trail that changes technology–and the world–forever

MAN OF STEEL – A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind. Also available as a Blu-Ray.

RED 2 – Retired black-ops CIA agent Frank Moses rejoins his unlikely team of elite operatives for a global quest to track down a missing portable nuclear device. Also available as a Blu-Ray.

2 GUNS – DEA agent Bobby Trench and U.S. naval intelligence officer Marcus Stigman are working undercover for a narcotics business. After a distorted attempt to infiltrate the drug cartel, they soon learn the secret of their dubious affiliation.

THE UNINVITED – A pair of siblings from London purchases a surprisingly affordable, lonely cliff-top house in Cornwall, only to discover that it actually carries a ghostly price–and soon they’re caught up in a bizarre romantic triangle from beyond the grave.

WE’RE THE MILLERS – David is a pot dealer in need of a fake family to use as a cover story in order to smuggle drugs from Mexico into the U.S. He is in major debt with his supplier and is desperate for the money to pay him back. He hires a stripper to be his fake-wife; a runaway as his pretend daughter; and a goofy counterfeit son. Adventure ensues as this faux-family attempts to cross the border with the loot.

THE WOLVERINE – Summoned to Japan by an old acquaintance, Wolverine becomes embroiled in a conflict that forces him to confront his own demons.

THE WORLD’S END – Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from 20 years earlier unwittingly become humankind’s only hope for survival. Also available as a Blu-Ray.

 

NONFICTION

BLACKFISH – Examines the practice of keeping orca whales in captivity through the story of Tilikum, the notorious performing whale who, unlike any orca in the wild, has taken the lives of several people while in captivity.

THE BOOK OF MANNING – A father-and-son story written into the pages of football folklore, it can be argued that no family has had more influence on a sport than the Mannings.

 

Books Soon to be Movies in 2014

Emily Miller

“I’m glad I read the book first,” is a phrase I often hear people say after seeing a film based off a book. Books as inspiration for movies are more popular than ever, and 2014 is set to be a good one if you enjoy literary films.

BuzzFeed recently posted a list of “16 Books to Read Before They Hit Theaters This Year.” Here are a few that can be found at Sewickley Public Library. Click the titles to request them through the library catalog:

 

LABOR DAY by Joyce Maynard – Booklist Review: Stranger danger is a concept unfamiliar to 13-year-old Henry, who befriends an injured man during one of his and his agoraphobic mother’s rare shopping excursions in town with disastrous results for all. To be fair, neither mother nor son have much worldly experience, thanks to Adele’s emotional fragility following her divorce. Yet their willingness to assist a strange man has less to do with their collective lack of judgment than it does with Frank’s infectious charm, a quality that will escalate over the coming days as the escaped convict and murderer holds the pair hostage in their own home. With remarkable ease, Adele falls in love with Frank. As she helps him plan a second escape to Canada, Henry fears losing the little stability he has ever known. Told from Henry’s point of view, Maynard’s inventive coming-of-age tale indelibly captures the anxiety and confusion inherent in adolescence, while the addition of a menacing element of suspense makes this emotionally fraught journey that much more harrowing.–Haggas, Carol Copyright 2009 Booklist

 

THE MONUMENTS MEN: ALLIED HEROES, NAZI THIEVES, AND THE GREATEST TREASURE HUNT IN HISTORY by Robert M. Edsel and Bret Witter – Booklist Review: This is a chronicle of an unusual and largely unknown aspect of World War II. The heroes here aren’t flamboyant generals or grizzled GIs in combat. In civilian life these men and women had been architects, museum directors, sculptors, and patrons of the arts. They were drawn from thirteen nations, although most were American or British citizens. Beginning in 1943, they were recruited into a special unit formed to protect and recover cultural treasure that had been looted by top Nazis, especially Hitler and Goring. As Allied armies liberated areas of northern Europe after D-Day, these monuments men moved into the front lines. Since they had little advance knowledge of the location of the looted art, their efforts often resembled treasure hunts. In addition to recovering stolen art, they worked tirelessly, often at personal risk, to protect and restore art damaged by the ravages of war. Edsel describes the exploits of these men and women in a fast-moving narrative that effectively captures the excitement and dangers of their mission.–Freeman, Jay Copyright 2009 Booklist

 

A LONG WAY DOWN by Nick Hornby – Booklist Review: In his trademark warm and witty prose, Hornby follows four depressed people from their aborted suicide attempts on New Years Eve through the surprising developments that occur over the following three months. Middle-aged Maureen has been caring for her profoundly disabled son for decades; Martin is a celebrity-turned-has-been after sleeping with a 15-year-old girl; teenage Jess, trash-talker extraordinaire, is still haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her older sister years before; and JJ is upset by the collapse of his band and his breakup with his longtime girlfriend. The four meet while scoping out a tower rooftop looking for the best exit point. Inhibited by the idea of having an audience, they agree instead to form a support group of sorts. But rather than indulging in sappy therapy-speak, they frequently direct lacerating, bitingly funny comments at each other–and the bracing mix of complete candor and endless complaining seems to work as a kind of tonic. Hornby funnels the perceptive music and cultural references he is known for through the character of JJ, but he also expands far beyond his usual territory, exploring the changes in perspective that can suddenly make a life seem worth living and adroitly shifting the tone from sad to happy and back again. The true revelation of this funny and moving novel is its realistic, all-too-human characters, who stumble frequently, moving along their redemptive path only by increments. –Joanne Wilkinson Copyright 2005 Booklist

 

THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU by Jonathan Tropper – Booklist Review: Judd Foxman is in his late thirties when he finds himself living in a damp, moldy basement apartment, without a job and separated from his wife, who is having an affair with his now ex-boss. To make matters worse, Judd finds out his wife is pregnant with his child and that his father has just died, leaving a dying wish to have all four of his children sit shivah for seven days. What transpires over the course of that week is a Foxman family reunion like no other; filled with fistfights, arguments, sex, and a parade of characters offering their sympathies and copious amounts of food. This is a story that could be told by your best guy friend: laugh-out-loud funny, intimate, honest, raunchy, and thoroughly enjoyable. Tropper is spot-on with his observations of family relationships as each member deals with new grief, old resentments, and life’s funny twists of fate. Tropper’s characters are real, flawed, and very likable, making for a great summer read.–Kubisz, Carolyn Copyright 2009 Booklist

 

Happy New Year! We hope you enjoy reading and watching along with us here at Do Something @ Sewickley Public Library!

NPR Book Concierge 2013

Emily Miller

The folks over at NPR Books usually write a variety of end-of-year ‘Best Of’ lists to highlight the outstanding literary offerings of the past year. However due to the number of lists ballooning from 13 in 2008 to 20 in 2012, they decided to try a different format.

And so, NPR’s Book Concierge was born! It’s billed as ‘Our Guide to 2013’s Great Reads,’ and I encourage you to go check it out. The site allows you to choose what you’d like to read along the left-hand side (in categories such as ‘Eye Opening’ or ‘ It’s All Geek To Me’) and displays a collage of books recommended by NPR Staff that fit you chosen category or genre.

Of course, not all of the books will be available at Sewickley Public Library, but if one grabs your attention, it never hurts to give us a call or stop in to ask a librarian whether it can be requested from another library in Allegheny County.

Here are a few from the site you may not have heard a lot of buzz about that can be found at Sewickley Public Library, to get you started:

FICTION

LexiconLEXICON by Max Barry – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – Words have power to persuade, to coerce, even to kill. And so they have since the days when wordsmiths were called sorcerers. Streetwise teenager Emily knows nothing of this until she is recruited to join a clandestine international organization that seems bent on taking over the world through the power of language—the reason, perhaps, that its members call themselves poets. In the meantime, a young man, Wil, is kidnapped from an airport by two mysterious men determined to unlock a secret buried deep in his brain. Yes, Wil and Emily will be brought together in due course, but in the meantime, there is a great deal, some of it abstruse, about language in this fast-paced, cerebral thriller that borders on speculative fiction, but none of it slows the nonstop action that takes readers from Washington, D.C., to a small town in the Australian desert, a town whose 3,300 residents have all died mysteriously and violently. Could the cause have been the power of words at work? The poets sometimes seem a bit too omnipotent, and the book’s chronology is occasionally a bit confusing, but otherwise this is an absolutely first-rate, suspenseful thriller with convincing characters who invite readers’ empathy and keep them turning pages until the satisfying conclusion.–Cart, Michael Copyright 2010 Booklist

Night FilmNIGHT FILM by Marisha Pessl – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – When the daughter of a notorious film director is found dead in New York, an apparent suicide, investigative reporter Scott McGrath throws himself back into a story that almost ended his career. But now McGrath has his Rosebud, and like Jedediah Leland in Citizen Kane, who hoped to make sense of media mogul Charles Foster Kane by understanding his last word, so the reporter sets out to determine how Ashley Cordova died and, in so doing, penetrate the heart of darkness that engulfs her reclusive father, Stanislas. Like Pessl’s first novel, the acclaimed Special Topics in Calamity Physics (2006), this one expands from a seemingly straightforward mystery into a multifaceted, densely byzantine exploration of much larger issues, in this case, the nature of truth and illusion as reflected by the elusive Cordova, whose transcend-the-genre horror films are cult favorites and about whom rumors of black magic and child abuse continue to swirl. His daughter, piano prodigy Ashley (her notes weren’t played; they were poured from a Grecian urn ), is almost as mysterious as her father, her life and death equally clouded in secrecy and colored with possibly supernatural shadings. Into this mazelike world of dead ends and false leads, McGrath ventures with his two, much younger helpers, Nora and Hopper, brilliantly portrayed Holmesian irregulars who may finally understand more about Ashley than their mentor, whose linear approach to fact finding might miss the point entirely. Pessl’s first novel, while undeniably impressive, possessed some of the overindulgence one might expect from a talented and precocious young writer. All evidence of that is gone here; the book is every bit as complex as Calamity Physics, but the writing is always under control, and the characters never fail to draw us further into the maelstrom of the story.–Ott, Bill Copyright 2010 Booklist

NONFICTION

Lawrence in ArabiaLAWRENCE IN ARABIA: WAR, DECEIT, IMPERIAL FOLLY AND THE MAKING OF THE MODERN MIDDLE EAST by Scott Anderson – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – To historians, the real T. E. Lawrence is as fascinating as the cinematic version in Lawrence of Arabia is to movie fans. The many reasons interlock and tighten author Anderson’s narrative, yielding a work that can absorb scholarly and popular interest like. Start with Lawrence’s WWI memoir, Seven Pillars of Wisdom (1922). A rare-book collectible, it inspired many of the scenes in David Lean’s film and is also subject to cross-referencing interpretations of Lawrence’s veracity. For lyrical though Lawrence could be about Arab leaders and desert landscapes, he could also be enigmatically opaque about the truth of his role in events. Accordingly, Anderson embeds Lawrence and Seven Pillars in the wider context of the Arab revolt against Turkey, and that context is the British, French, German, and American diplomacy and espionage intended to influence the postwar disposition of the territories of the Ottoman Empire. Lawrence was Britain’s agent in this game, and the other powers’ agents, although none enjoy his historical celebrity, assume prominence in Anderson’s presentation. Its thorough research clothed in smoothly written prose, Anderson’s history strikes a perfect balance between scope and detail about a remarkable and mysterious character.–Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist

To the End of JuneTO THE END OF JUNE: THE INTIMATE LIFE OF AMERICAN FOSTER CARE by Cris Beam – Booklist Review *Starred Review* – Whenever newspaper headlines scream about the abuse of foster children, the public is outraged, child protection agencies radically change their policies, and poor children go on living in a hodgepodge of foster care and suffering myriad unintended consequences, according to Beam, whose background includes a fractured childhood and experience as a foster mother. Here she offers a very intimate look at a system little known to most people. Beam spent five years talking to foster children, parents and foster parents, and social workers, mostly in New York. Her profiles include Bruce and Allyson, with three children of their own, taking in as many as five foster children, and Steve and Erin, fostering a child they want to adopt, whose mother signed away her rights on a napkin. Beam also writes about teens who’ve been bounced from home to home, some longing for adoption, others sabotaging their chances out of fear, many hoping for promised aging-out bonuses. Beam offers historical background and keen analysis of the social, political, racial, and economic factors that drive foster-care policies, noting the recent swing from massive removals to support for keeping families together. A very moving, powerful look at a system charged with caring for nearly half a million children across the U.S.–Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2010 Booklist

Sources:

Best Books of 2013: NPR(http://apps.npr.org/best-books-2013/)

Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association (http://www.booklistonline.com/)

The 10 Best Books of 2013 from the New York Times

Richelle

The New York Times just released their top 10 Books of 2013. Check out the article here first, then come back and place them on hold in the catalog!

FICTION

AMERICANAH By Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – Booklist Review *Starred Review* To the women in the hair-braiding salon, Ifemelu seems to have everything a Nigerian immigrant in America could desire, but the culture shock, hardships, and racism she’s endured have left her feeling like she has cement in her soul. Smart, irreverent, and outspoken, she reluctantly left Nigeria on a college scholarship. Her aunty Uju, the pampered mistress of a general in Lagos, is now struggling on her own in the U.S., trying to secure her medical license. Ifemelu’s discouraging job search brings on desperation and depression until a babysitting gig leads to a cashmere-and-champagne romance with a wealthy white man. Astonished at the labyrinthine racial strictures she’s confronted with, Ifemelu, defining herself as a Non-American Black, launches an audacious, provocative, and instantly popular blog in which she explores what she calls Racial Disorder Syndrome. Meanwhile, her abandoned true love, Obinze, is suffering his own cold miseries as an unwanted African in London. MacArthur fellow Adichie (The Thing around Your Neck, 2009) is a word-by-word virtuoso with a sure grasp of social conundrums in Nigeria, East Coast America, and England; an omnivorous eye for resonant detail; a gift for authentic characters; pyrotechnic wit; and deep humanitarianism. Americanah is a courageous, world-class novel about independence, integrity, community, and love and what it takes to become a full human being. –Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

The flamethrowers : a novel Kushner, RachelTHE FLAMETHROWERS By Rachel Kushner – Booklist Review *Starred Review* In her smash-hit debut, Telex from Cuba (2008), Kushner took on corporate imperialism and revolution, themes that also stoke this knowing and imaginative saga of a gutsy yet naive artist from Nevada. Called Reno when she arrives in New York in 1977, she believes that her art has to involve risk, but she’s unprepared for just how treacherous her entanglements with other artists will be. Reno’s trial-by-fire story alternates provocatively with the gripping tale of Valera, an Italian who serves in a motorcycle battalion in WWI, manufactures motorcycles, including the coveted Moto Valera, and makes a fortune in the rubber industry by oppressing Indian tappers in Brazil. These worlds collide when Reno moves in with Sandro Valera, a sculptor estranged from his wealthy family, and tries to make art by racing a Moto Valera on the Bonneville Salt Flats. Ultimately, Reno ends up in Italy, where militant workers protest against the Valeras. As Reno navigates a minefield of perfidy, Kushner, with searing insights, contrasts the obliteration of the line between life and art in hothouse New York with life-or-death street battles in Rome. Adroitly balancing astringent social critique with deep soundings of the complex psyches of her intriguing, often appalling characters, Kushner has forged an incandescently detailed, cosmopolitan, and propulsively dramatic tale of creativity and destruction.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

The goldfinch Tartt, DonnaTHE GOLDFINCH By Donna Tartt – Booklist Review *Starred Review* Cataclysmic loss and rupture with criminal intent visited upon the young have been Tartt’s epic subjects as she creates one captivating and capacious novel a decade, from The Secret History (1992) to The Little Friend (2002) to this feverish saga. In the wake of his nefarious father’s abandonment, Theo, a smart, 13-year-old Manhattanite, is extremely close to his vivacious mother until an act of terrorism catapults him into a dizzying world bereft of gravity, certainty, or love. Tartt writes from Theo’s point of view with fierce exactitude and magnetic emotion as, stricken with grief and post-traumatic stress syndrome, he seeks sanctuary with a troubled Park Avenue family and, in Greenwich Village, with a kind and gifted restorer of antique furniture. Fate then delivers Theo to utterly alien Las Vegas, where he meets young outlaw Boris. As Theo becomes a complexly damaged adult, Tartt, in a boa constrictor-like plot, pulls him deeply into the shadow lands of art, lashed to seventeenth-century Dutch artist Carel Fabritius and his exquisite if sinister painting, The Goldfinch. Drenched in sensory detail, infused with Theo’s churning thoughts and feelings, sparked by nimble dialogue, and propelled by escalating cosmic angst and thriller action, Tartt’s trenchant, defiant, engrossing, and rocketing novel conducts a grand inquiry into the mystery and sorrow of survival, beauty and obsession, and the promise of art. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Word of best-selling Tartt’s eagerly awaited third novel will travel fast and far via an author tour, interviews, and intense print, media, and online publicity.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

Life after life : a novel Atkinson, KateLIFE AFTER LIFE By Kate Atkinson – Booklist Review *Starred Review* In a radical departure from her Jackson Brodie mystery series, Atkinson delivers a wildly inventive novel about Ursula Todd, born in 1910 and doomed to die and be reborn over and over again. She drowns, falls off a roof, and is beaten to death by an abusive husband but is always reborn back into the same loving family, sometimes with the knowledge that allows her to escape past poor decisions, sometimes not. As Atkinson subtly delineates all the pathways a life or a country might take, she also delivers a harrowing set piece on the Blitz as Ursula, working as a warden on a rescue team, encounters horrifying tableaux encompassing mangled bodies and whole families covered in ash, preserved just like the victims of Pompeii. Alternately mournful and celebratory, deeply empathic and scathingly funny, Atkinson shows what it is like to face the horrors of war and yet still find the determination to go on, with her wholly British characters often reducing the Third Reich to a fuss. From her deeply human characters to her comical dialogue to her meticulous plotting, Atkinson is working at the very top of her game. An audacious, thought-provoking novel from one of our most talented writers. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Atkinson’s publisher is pulling out all the stops in marketing her latest, which will no doubt draw in many new readers in addition to her Jackson Brodie fans.–Wilkinson, Joanne Copyright 2010 Booklist

Tenth of December : stories Saunders, GeorgeTENTH OF DECEMBER: Stories By George Saunders – Booklist Review *Starred Review* Saunders, a self-identified disciple of Twain and Vonnegut, is hailed for the topsy-turvy, gouging satire in his three previous, keenly inventive short story collections. In the fourth, he dials the bizarreness down a notch to tune into the fantasies of his beleaguered characters, ambushing readers with waves of intense, unforeseen emotion. Saunders drills down to secret aquifers of anger beneath ordinary family life as he portrays parents anxious to defang their children but also to be better, more loving parents than their own. The title story is an absolute heart-wringer, as a pudgy, misfit boy on an imaginary mission meets up with a dying man on a frozen pond. In Victory Lap, a young-teen ballerina is princess-happy until calamity strikes, an emergency that liberates her tyrannized neighbor, Kyle, the palest kid in all the land. In Home, family friction and financial crises combine with the trauma of a court-martialed Iraq War veteran, to whom foe and ally alike murmur inanely, Thank you for your service. Saunders doesn’t neglect his gift for surreal situations. There are the inmates subjected to sadistic neurological drug experiments in Escape from Spiderhead and the living lawn ornaments in The Semplica Girl Diaries. These are unpredictable, stealthily funny, and complexly affecting stories of ludicrousness, fear, and rescue.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

NONFICTION

After the music stopped : the financial crisis, the response, and the work ahead Blinder, Alan SAFTER THE MUSIC STOPPED: The Financial Crisis, the Response, and the Work Ahead By Alan S. Blinder – Booklist Review Blinder, a corporate executive and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, sets out to tell the American people what happened during the financial crisis of 2007-09. He explains the events that are still reverberating in the U.S. and globally and will challenge public policy for years. With public policy as his focus, he considers how we got into that mess and how we got out to the extent we have gotten out. The author considers the future what have we learned both economically and politically, and will we handle future crises better? What vulnerabilities do we still have? What future problems have we accidently created? Finally, Blinder offers a host of recommendations, which include his Ten Financial Commandments, including Thou Shalt Remember That People Forget (people forget when the good times roll) and Thou Shalt Not Rely on Self-Regulation (Self-regulation in financial markets is an oxymoron). This excellent book in understandable language offers valuable insight and important ideas for a wide range of library patrons.–Whaley, Mary Copyright 2010 Booklist

Days of fire : Bush and Cheney in the White House Baker, PeterDAYS OF FIRE: Bush and Cheney in the White House By Peter Baker – Booklist Review *Starred Review* Baker, the senior White House correspondent for the New York Times, has written an ambitious, engrossing, and often disturbing study of the inner workings, conflicts, and critical policy decisions made during the eight years of Bush and Cheney governance. It is no accident that Baker consistently refers to Bush-Cheney, since Cheney was undoubtedly the most influential and powerful vice president in recent years. Baker’s portrait of him is not flattering. Cheney prided himself as a hard-nosed tough guy, to the point of ruthlessness. He fought constantly with other cabinet members, showing little respect or tolerance for their views. He was a conservative true believer with a tendency to ignore facts that got in the way of his view of reality. By the end of their eight years together, even Bush stopped listening to him. Bush is a more sympathetic figure, and Baker sees him as a man trapped by events, whose hopes for a more modest foreign policy and a compassionate conservatism domestic affairs were frustrated by the vast shadows cast by 9/11. This is a superbly researched, masterful account of eight critical, history-changing years.–Freeman, Jay Copyright 2010 Booklist

Five days at Memorial : life and death in a storm-ravaged hospital Fink, SheriFIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital By Sheri Fink – Booklist Review *Starred Review* As the floodwaters rose after Hurricane Katrina, patients, staff, and families who sheltered in New Orleans’ Memorial Hospital faced a crisis far worse than the storm itself. Without power, an evacuation plan, or strong leadership, caregiving became chaotic, and exhausted doctors and nurses found it difficult to make even the simplest decisions. And, when it came to making the hardest decisions, some of them seem to have failed. A number of the patients deemed least likely to survive were injected with lethal combinations of drugs even as the evacuation finally began in earnest. Fink, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her reporting on Memorial in the New York Times Magazine, offers a stunning re-creation of the storm, its aftermath, and the investigation that followed (one doctor and two nurses were charged with second-degree murder but acquitted by a grand jury). She evenhandedly compels readers to consider larger questions, not just of ethics but race, resources, history, and what constitutes the greater good, while humanizing the countless smaller tragedies that make up the whole. And, crucially, she provides context, relating how other hospitals fared in similar situations. Both a breathtaking read and an essential book for understanding how people behave in times of crisis.–Graff, Keir Copyright 2010 Booklist

The sleepwalkers : how Europe went to war in 1914 Clark, Christopher MTHE SLEEPWALKERS: How Europe Went to War in 1914 By Christopher Clark – Booklist Review The immense documentation of the origin of WWI, remarks historian Clark, can be marshaled to support a range of theses, and it but weakly sustains, in the tenor of his intricate analysis, the temptation to assign exclusive blame for the cataclysm to a particular country. Dispensing with a thesis, Clark interprets evidence in terms of the character, internal political heft, and external geopolitical perception and intention of a political actor. In other words, Clark centralizes human agency and, especially, human foibles of misperception, illogic, and emotion in his narrative. Touching on every significant figure in European diplomacy in the decade leading to August 1914, Clark underscores an entanglement of an official’s fluctuating domestic power with a foreign interlocutor’s appreciation, accurate or not, of that official’s ability to make something stick in foreign policy. As narrative background, Clark choreographs the alliances and series of crises that preceded the one provoked by the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, but he focuses on the men whose risk-taking mistakes detonated WWI. Emphasizing the human element, Clark bestows a tragic sensibility on a magisterial work of scholarship.–Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2010 Booklist

Wave Deraniyagala, SonaliWAVE By Sonali Deraniyagala – Booklist Review It was a festive time. Economist Deraniyagala, her economist husband (they met at Cambridge), and their two young sons flew from London to Sri Lanka to spend the winter holidays with her parents. They were all staying in a hotel near their favorite national park on December 26, 2004, the day of the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami. Deraniyagala describes their bewilderment as they flee the hotel and her terror as they are swept up by the 30-foot-high, racing wave that brutally changed everything. Only Deraniyagal survived. In rinsed-clear language, she describes her ordeal, surreal rescue, and deep shock, attaining a Didionesque clarity and power. We hold tight to every exquisite sentence as, with astounding candor and precision, she tracks subsequent waves of grief, from suicidal despair to persistent fear, attempts to drown her pain in drink, helpless rage, guilt and shame, and paralyzing depression. But here, too, are sustaining tides of memories that enable her to vividly, even joyfully, portray her loved ones. An indelible and unique story of loss and resolution written with breathtaking refinement and courage.–Seaman, Donna Copyright 2010 Booklist

 

Sources:

The 10 Best Books of 2013: The year’s best books, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/books/review/the-10-best-books-of-2013.html?smid=pl-share)

Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association (http://www.booklistonline.com/)

New DVDs January & February 2013

Richelle

Alex Cross – A homicide detective is pushed to the brink of his moral and physical limits as he tangles with a ferociously skilled serial killer who specializes in torture and pain. Tyler Perry, Matthew Fox (PG-13, 101min) Release 2/5/13

Anna Karenina – Set in late-19th-century Russia high-society, the aristocrat Anna Karenina enters into a life-changing affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. Keira Knightley, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson (R, 129min) Release 2/19/13

Argo – A dramatization of the 1980 joint CIA-Canadian secret operation to extract six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran. Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, John Goodman (R, 120min) Release 2/19/13

The Awakening – Hoax exposer Florence Cathcart visits a boarding school to explain sightings of a child ghost. Everything she believes unravels as the ‘missing’ begin to show themselves. Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton (R, 107min) 1/29/13

Chasing Mavericks – When young Jay Moriarity discovers that the mythic Mavericks surf break, one of the biggest waves on Earth, exists just miles from his Santa Cruz home, he enlists the help of local legend Frosty Hesson to train him to survive it. Jonny Weston, Gerard Butler, Elisabeth Shue (PG, 116min) Release 2/26/13

Cosmopolis – Riding across Manhattan in a stretch limo in order to get a haircut, a 28-year-old billionaire asset manager’s day devolves into an odyssey with a cast of characters that start to tear his world apart. Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche (R, 109min) Release 1/1/13

Downton Abbey Season 3 – Beginning in the years leading up to World War I, the drama centers on the Crawley family and their servants. Hugh Bonneville, Phyllis Logan, Elizabeth McGovern Release 1/29/13

End of Watch – Shot documentary-style, this film follows the daily grind of two young police officers in LA who are partners and friends, and what happens when they meet criminal forces greater than themselves. Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña (R, 109min) Release 1/22/13

Flight – An airline pilot saves almost all his passengers on his malfunctioning airliner which eventually crashed, but an investigation into the accident reveals something troubling. Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle (R, 138min) Release 2/5/13

Game of Thrones Season 2 – Seven noble families fight for control of the mythical land of Westeros. Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, Maisie Williams (TVMA) Release 2/19/13

Here Comes the Boom – A high school biology teacher looks to become a successful mixed-martial arts fighter in an effort to raise money to prevent extra-curricular activities from being axed at his cash-strapped school. Kevin James, Salma Hayek, Henry Winkler (PG, 105min) Release 2/5/13

Hotel Transylvania – Dracula, who operates a high-end resort away from the human world, goes into overprotective mode when a boy discovers the resort and falls for the count’s teen-aged daughter. Adam Sandler, Andy Samberg (PG, 91min) Release 1/29/13

House at the End of the Street – A mother and daughter move to a new town and find themselves living next door to a house where a young girl murdered her parents. When the daughter befriends the surviving son, she learns the story is far from over. Jennifer Lawrence, Elisabeth Shue (PG-13, 101min) Release 1/8/13

The Master – A Naval veteran arrives home from war unsettled and uncertain of his future – until he is tantalized by The Cause and its charismatic leader. Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams (R, 144min) Release 2/26/13

The Paperboy – A reporter returns to his Florida hometown to investigate a case involving a death row inmate. Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, John Cusack (R, 107min) Release 1/22/13

Paranormal Activity 4 – It has been five years since the disappearance of Katie and Hunter, and a suburban family witness strange events in their neighborhood when a woman and a mysterious child move in. Stephen Dunham, Matt Shively (R, 88min) Release 1/29/13

The Perks of Being a Wallflower – An introvert freshman is taken under the wings of two seniors who welcome him to the real world. Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Ezra Miller (PG-13, 102min) Release 2/12/13

Robot & Frank – Set in the near future, an ex-jewel thief receives a gift from his son: a robot butler programmed to look after him. But soon the two companions try their luck as a heist team. Peter Sarsgaard, Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon (PG-13, 89min) Release 2/12/13

Searching for Sugar Man – Two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their unlikely musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock ‘n’ roller, Rodriguez. Rodriguez, Stephen ‘Sugar’ Segerman, Dennis Coffey (PG-13, 86min) Release 1/22/13

The Sessions – A man in an iron lung who wishes to lose his virginity contacts a professional sex surrogate with the help of his therapist and priest. John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy (R, 95min) Release 2/12/13

Seven Psychopaths – A struggling screenwriter inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends kidnap a gangster’s beloved Shih Tzu. Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell (R, 110min) Release 1/29/13

Skyfall – Bond’s loyalty to M is tested when her past comes back to haunt her. Whilst MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris (PG-13, 143min) Release 2/12/13

Taken 2 – In Istanbul, retired CIA operative Bryan Mills and his wife are taken hostage by the father of a kidnapper Mills killed while rescuing his daughter. Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace (PG-13, 92min) Release 1/15/13

Pi Day Pie Baking Contest (THIRD ANNUAL!!)

Richelle

The Third Annual Pi Day Pie Baking Contest is Thursday, March 14th @ 6PM!!

March 14th is Pi Day (3.14) and in celebration of this mathematical day, we will be holding a Pie Baking Contest. Bring in a pie that you’ve made and we’ll have an “expert” panel of guest judges pick the best one. Apple, blueberry, or bacon; all pie varieties are welcome! The winner will get bragging rights and a special pi(e) prize. This contest is open to All Ages. Please Register if you want to bake a pie as there are a limited number of spots available!

 

10 Books for Twentysomethings

Richelle

A List by Robin Marantz Henig and Samantha Henig, Appeared in Publisher’s Weekly on Dec 14, 2012. (article)

Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris1. Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris – One thing about the twenties is how much you want to be part of a group, even when the group consists of a random hodgepodge of the people you work with. This smart office tragicomedy is narrated in first person plural throughout, and yet Ferris manages not to make it feel like a gimmick. The result is a richer understanding of the culture of work.

The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe2. The Best of Everything by Rona Jaffe – If Ferris’s novel is the precursor to “The Office,” then Jaffe’s is the forerunner of “Mad Men” — with a hint of “Sex and the City” thrown in. Three young women (an Ivy Leaguer, a country beauty, and a troubled actress) try to make it in New York in 1958, struggling with the typical twentysomething woes of heartache and career laments as well as the oppressive glass ceiling of the era.

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath3. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – And speaking of work, this autobiographical novel about Plath’s summer as a magazine intern is almost a cliché to mention here — except that it perfectly captures the feeling of being young and at a crossroads. So perfectly, in fact, that we actually used an excerpt from The Bell Jar as the epigraph for our book Twentysomething. In that passage, Plath writes about imagining herself sitting in the crotch of a fig tree, surrounded by juicy figs that represent all her options as writer, traveler, wife, mother, athlete, lover, dozens of different paths her life could take. Leave it to Plath to capture the essential quandary: “choosing one meant losing all the rest.”

Free food for millionaires by Min Jin Lee4. Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee – Choices about work, school, and romance are at the heart of this juicy novel about a group of young people in Manhattan and their families, many of whom are Korean immigrants. Lee (who happens to be a close friend of ours) captures their struggles, uncertainty, and heartache in vivid detail; sometimes the characters feel so real you want to shake them to make them realize how badly they’re screwing up.

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen5. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen – This is a sprawling family novel, dealing with crises across the age range, but the turmoil of one character in particular, the younger sister Denise, are worth the price of admission. Franzen details Denise’s evolution from slacker to restaurateur, from straight to bi, in a way that captures all the struggles inherent in the “quarterlife crisis” of someone who worries that she’s made all the wrong choices and is living someone else’s life.

Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler6. Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler – And speaking of living someone else’s life, Delia Grinstead thinks that’s what she’s doing, and one day at the beach she simply walks away from it. Delia is well past her twenties, but in trying to recreate a new identity, she goes through the same turmoil that twentysomethings do. The most poignant moments, to us, are the evenings she spends in her room in a boardinghouse after coming home from a lackluster job and a solitary meal: she gets into bed, reads for a while, and then switches off the lamp to “sit weeping in the dark — the very last step in her daily routine.” Change is hard.

Wild by Cheryl Strayed7. Wild by Cheryl Strayed – OK, we have to admit here that we haven’t read this one, a memoir about Strayed’s decision to hike the Pacific Trail solo at the age of 26. But everyone says we should. They say it’s a guide for life, a “just do it” for young people who are struggling with fears and uncertainty the way Strayed was after her mother died and her marriage dissolved. It’s on our to-do list for 2013.

Alice in Bed by Cathleen Schine8. Alice in Bed by Cathleen Schine – Alice is a college student whose body fails her, landing her in a hospital for a year as doctors, nurses, and a bizarrely distracted mother swirl around her. Her feelings of helplessness and confusion, combined with some weird hallucinations and paranoid fantasies, are like youth writ large; Alice is literally paralyzed, a stand-in for young people who feel metaphorically so. And she gets through it the way so many people do — by improvising.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides9. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides – The genetically ambiguous character at the heart of this novel is Calliope, who grows up as girl but ends up, sort of, as a man. The situation a perfect analogy for the confusion of young people who see every path as equally alluring and can’t decide which is right for them. Many of the quandaries will feel familiar, as Callie-then-Cal struggles with choices that touch on matters of identity, sexuality, predestination, and free will. In addition, the book is hilarious.

Hateship, friendship, courtship, loveship, marriage : stories by Alice Munro.10. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro – Or any collection of Alice Munro stories, really. Her stories are generally about young women choosing between two extremes: independence versus domesticity, acquiescence versus rebellion, staying put versus setting out. Since so many of the stories also bounce back and forth in time, the decisions of youth are often revisited, and their consequences over the life course are revealed.

Click on the titles to visit the catalog and order or call the Reference Desk at 412-741-6920 x3

New DVDs – December 2012

Richelle

10 Years – The night before their high school reunion, a group of friends realize they still haven’t quite grown up in some ways. Channing Tatum, Rosario Dawson and Chris Pratt. (PG-13, 111 min) Release: 12/18/12

Arbitrage – A troubled hedge fund magnate desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help. Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon and Brit Marling. (R, 107 min) Release: 12/21/12

The Amazing Spiderman – Peter Parker finds a clue that might help him understand why his parents disappeared when he was young. His path puts him on a collision course with Dr. Curt Connors, his father’s former partner. Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone and Rhys Ifans. (PG-13, 136 min) Release: 11/9/12

Arthur Christmas – On Christmas night at the North Pole, Santa’s youngest son looks to use his father’s high-tech operation for an urgent mission. James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent, and Bill Nighy. (PG, 97 min) Release: 11/6/12

Brave – Determined to make her own path in life, Princess Merida defies a custom that brings chaos to her kingdom. Granted one wish, Merida must rely on her bravery and her archery skills to undo a beastly curse. Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly and Emma Thompson. (PG, 93 min) Release: 11/13/12

The Bourne Legacy – Centered on a new hero whose stakes have been triggered by the events of the previous three films. Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton. (PG-13, 135 min) Release: 12/11/12

The Dark Knight Rises – Eight years on, a new terrorist leader, Bane, overwhelms Gotham’s finest, and the Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy. Christian Bale, Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway. (PG-13, 165 min) Release: 12/4/12

The Expendables 2 – Mr. Church reunites the Expendables for what should be an easy paycheck, but when one of their men is murdered on the job, their quest for revenge puts them deep in enemy territory and up against an unexpected threat. Sylvester Stallone, Liam Hemsworth and Randy Couture. (R, 102 min) Release: 11/20/12

Hope Springs – After thirty years of marriage, a middle-aged couple attends an intense, week-long counseling session to work on their relationship. Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carell. (PG-13, 100 min) Release: 12/4/12

Ice Age: Continental Drift  – Manny, Diego, and Sid embark upon another adventure after their continent is set adrift. Using an iceberg as a ship, they encounter sea creatures and battle pirates as they explore a new world. Ray Romano, Denis Leary and John Leguizamo. (PG,  88 min) Release: 12/11/12

Lawless – Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by a new deputy and other authorities who want a cut of their profits. Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, and Guy Pearce. (R, 116 min) Release: 11/27/12

Looper – In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe, who one day learns the mob wants to ‘close the loop’ by transporting back Joe’s future self. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt. (R, 119 min) Release: 12/31/12

Men in Black 3 – Agent J travels in time to M.I.B.’s early days in 1969 to stop an alien from assassinating his friend Agent K and changing history. Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin. (PG-13, 106 min) Release: 11/30/12

The Odd Life of Timothy Green – A childless couple bury a box in their backyard, containing all of their wishes for an infant. Soon, a child is born, though Timothy Green is not all that he appears. Jennifer Garner, Joel Edgerton and CJ Adams. (PG, 105 min) Release: 12/4/12

Paranorman – A misunderstood boy takes on ghosts, zombies and grown-ups to save his town from a centuries-old curse. Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. (PG, 92 min) Release: 11/27/12

Savages – Pot growers Ben and Chon face off against the Mexican drug cartel who kidnapped their shared girlfriend. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Taylor Kitsch and Blake Lively. (R, 131 min) Release: 11/13/12

Sleepwalk with Me – A burgeoning stand-up comedian struggles with the stress of a stalled career, a stale relationship, and the wild spurts of severe sleepwalking he is desperate to ignore. Mike Birbiglia, Lauren Ambrose and James Rebhorn. (PG-13, 90 min) Release: 12/18/12

Sparkle – Set in the 1960s, three sisters form girl group and soon become local sensations with major label interest, but fame becomes a challenge as the close-knit family begins to fall apart.  Jordin Sparks, Carmen Ejogo, and Whitney Houston. (PG-13, 116 min) Release: 11/30/12

Step Up Revolution – Emily arrives in Miami with aspirations to become a professional dancer. She sparks with Sean, the leader of a dance crew whose neighborhood is threatened by Emily’s father’s development plans. Kathryn McCormick, Ryan Guzman and Cleopatra Coleman. (PG-13, 99 min) Release: 11/27/12

Ted – As the result of a childhood wish, John Bennett’s teddy bear, Ted, came to life and has been by John’s side ever since – a friendship that’s tested when Lori, John’s girlfriend of four years, wants more from their relationship. Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis and Seth MacFarlane. (R, 106 min) Release: 12/11/12

Total Recall – A factory worker, Douglas Quaid, begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting Rekall – a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led – goes wrong and he finds himself on the run. Colin Farrell, Bokeem Woodbine and Bryan Cranston. (PG-13, 118 min) Release: 12/18/12

The Watch – Four men who form a neighborhood watch group as a way to get out of their day-to-day family routines find themselves defending the Earth from an alien invasion. Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn and Jonah Hill. (R, 102 min) Release: 11/13/12

The Words – A writer at the peak of his literary success discovers the steep price he must pay for stealing another man’s work. Bradley Cooper, Dennis Quaid, and Olivia Wilde. (PG-13, 97 min) Release: 12/24/12

 

 

Click on the titles or contact the Reference Desk at 412-741-6920 ext. 3 to order any of the above.