Serenity: Those Left Behind

Serenity: Those Left Behind

story by Joss Whedon and Brett Matthews, art by Will Conrad [741.5 Whe]

Those Left Behind is a tie-in graphic novel to the late, lamented cult-favorite SF series Firefly, which aired in 2002 (and which was followed by a movie, Serenity, in 2005). This 3-part story, originally released as a monthly comic-book with art by Will Conrad, perfectly captures the appearance of the characters from the series. More importantly, since Firefly had created such a unique "world", this graphic novel very effectively captures the tone and style of Firefly, particularly in terms of the dialog and quirkiness of the characters. Although there is a bit of a cliff-hanger to the story at the end of this volume, Those Left Behind still serves as a fine introduction to the 'Verse of Joss Whedon's Firefly for those who've never been there before, while still adding to that universe for long-time fans. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ Those Left Behind page on Wikipedia ] [ Firefly page on Wikipedia ]

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Nebula Awards announced

This year's Nebula Awards, for science fiction and fantasy works published in 2008, were announced on April 25th, 2009 in Los Angeles. The Nebula Awards are administered, voted on and presented by the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) to acknowledge excellence in science fiction writing.

Best Novel: Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin

Best Novella: "The Spacetime Pool" by Catherine Asaro

Best Novelette: "Pride and Prometheus" by John Kessel Best

Short Story: "Trophy Wives" by Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Best Script: WALL-E Screenplay by Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Original story by Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter

Andre Norton Award: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, Confront a Bouncing Boy Terror, and Try to Save Califa from a Shaky Doom (Despite Being Confined to Her Room) by Ysabeau S. Wilce

'Tis Herself

'Tis Herself

by Maureen O'Hara [791.432 Oha]

First my daughter read it, and sent it to my mother. Then my mother read it and gave it to me. 'Tis Herself is the kind of autobiography that keeps you turning the pages. Don't skip any paragraphs or you'll miss the eavesdropped story about Mickey Rooney or the fight with Lucille Ball or the time the stunt crew trussed O'Hara up so her incision would not break open in a mudslide. O'Hara's seventy years in Hollywood stretches long past its Golden Age and she gives us all an entertaining view from the inside. So relish the book, then enjoy the movies she writes about: Miracle on 34th Street, The Quiet Man or How Green was My Valley. -- recommended by Kay V. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in Large Print format.][ official Maureen O'Hara online magazine ] [ Internet Movie Database page for Maureen O'Hara ] [ Maureen O'Hara page on Wikipedia ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Romantic Times Book Reviews

Romantic Times Book Reviews
edited by Kathryn Falk

Romantic Times is the ultimate magazine for fans of the romance fiction genre. Each monthly issue featues profiles of classic and up-and-coming authors, news about the romance publishing industry, columns about writing/editing/publishing romance fiction, interviews, forthcoming publication previews, gossip and discussion forums, where readers can trade bookstore news, "whatever happened to?" inquiries and praise/complaints about trends in the romance publishing industry. But...the most important and useful feature of each issue of Romantic Times is the reviews. Every issue has several hundred reviews of new romance novels, broken up into helpful categories -- Historical, Mainstream, Teen Scene, Inspirational, SF/Fantasy, Romance Suspense, Mystery, Contemporary, Paranormal/Urban Fantasy, Series Romances, and Erotica. Although the reviews are fairly short, and only books with relatively positive reviews are featured, this is still an incredible assist to the romance fan on a limited budget. Romantic Times also has an impressive web site (see link below), where you'll find thousands more reviews, as well as information about the RITA Awards for the best romance fiction published each year. The libraries maintain a collection of only the current two years of this title, located at the Bennett Martin Public Library downtown. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Note: We have a RITA Awards booklist here on BookGuide.][ official Romantic Times Book Reviews web site ]


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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Fireproof

Fireproof

directed by Alex Kendrick

This movie is very entertaining and well made. The DVD stars Kirk Cameron who plays a man who takes his job as a firefighter seriously, but has had alot of trouble lately in his marriage. When his wife serves divorce papers, his father shares an idea that may help save his son's marriage. Watch it and see what transpires during the next six weeks of their lives. Bring some tissues, because you many shed a few tears. Rated PG for thematic material and peril. Note: Heavily tied into the novel, The Love Dare, written by this film's screenwriter. -- recommended by Kathy H. - South Branch Library

[ Internet Movie Database page for this film ] [ official Fireproof: The Movie web site ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Terminal Freeze

Terminal Freeze

by Lincoln Child

A SF suspense novel for fans of the original movie The Thing From Another World and the TV show The X-Files. An unknown creature is found in a block of ice in the arctic. Of course the ice thaws, the creature escapes, and a snowstorm strands everyone at the arctic base. Toss in a government conspiracy of silence (this had also happened 50 years earlier), Natives with dire warnings, and an irritating cable network that is only concerned with ratings. A bit on the gory side at times, the final four chapters I found downright scary. Well told -- I couldn't put it down. -- recommended by Charlotte K. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in book-on-cd [abridged or unabridged], and Large Print formats.][ official Terminal Freeze page on the official Lincoln Child and Douglas Preston web site ]

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New Readerlist - Creature Comforts

Creature Comforts
Bethany Branch, April 10, 2009 and Gere Branch, April 27, 2009
Scott C.


Scott gave a presentation on books and videos that explore the relationships between animals and their humans.

• The Octopus and the Orangutan: More True Tales of Animal Intrigue, Intelligence and Ingenuity by Eugene Linden [591.5 Lin]
• When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Moussaief Masson [591.5 Mas]
• Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence -- and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process by Irene Pepperberg [591.513 Pep]
• Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams [591.529 Ada]
• Every Creeping Thing: True Tales of Faintly Repulsive Wildlife by Richard Conniff [596 Con]
• Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat [j598.98 M87o]
• Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien [598.97 Obr]
• To Touch a Wild Dolphin: A Journey of Discovery With the Sea's Most Intelligent Creatures by Rachel Smolker [599.53 Smo]
• A Buffalo in the House: The True Story of a Man, an Animal and the American West by R.D. Rosen [599.643 Ros]
• Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat [599.744 Mow]
• Wolf Wars by Hank Fischer [599.773 Fis]
• Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin [636.088 Gra]
• Dewey: The Small-Town Libray Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron
• Life in the Undergrowth[DVD 592 Life]
• Bees: Tales From the Hive[Video 595.799 Tal and DVD 595.799 Bee]
• The March of the Penguins [DVD 598.47 Mar]

Backup

Backup

by Jim Butcher

Fans of the other books in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher should enjoy this short novella, published in a limited-run printing by Subterranean Press. Set in the Dresden Files universe, Backup is a brief adventure of Harry's half-brother Thomas Raith, one of the White Court vampires of Harry's world. Thomas has always been one of the most interesting supporting characters in the Dresden universe, and that is only built upon by giving him his own story...complete with secrets that he's keeping from Harry. There's action and humor aplenty -- Butcher's trademark writing style. But the overall Dresden Files world is carried forward and expanded as a result of this short work. Highly enjoyable, but definitely light-weight in comparison to the larger novels in the series. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official Backup page on the official Jim Butcher web site ]

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Columbo: The Complete First Season

Columbo: The Complete First Season

I enjoyed watching Colombo on TV in the 1970s. When I checked out the DVD of the first season, I hoped that the series would still entertain me. To my delight, the series has held up well over the years. Colombo ambles around in his rumpled raincoat, holding a cigar in his hand collecting, what appear to be trivial clues, and pestering the person he thinks is the prime suspect. When the episodes open the audience sees the murder committed and watches the murderer cover up the crime. The question is not "who did it?" but "how will Colombo figure it out?" Colombo nags and nags his suspect. He starts to leave the suspect, then he stops and turns around with his trademark comment "Oh, there's just one more thing ...." and drives the suspect to distraction. -- recommended by Donna G. - Eiseley and Walt Branch Libraries


[The library system also owns numerous original books based on the Columbo series. ][ Episode Guide to Columbo ]


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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Snark

Snark: A Polemic in Seven Fits: [It's Mean, It's Personal, and It's Ruining Our Conversations]

by David Denby [809 Den]

I found Snark to be a very interesting read, but ultimately somewhat lacking. Denby tackles a topic that is incredibly huge -- the increasing use of uncivil, unpleasant, "attack"-oriented dialog, which has become the main modus operandi of columnists, political hacks, and discussion forum trolls. Throughout the course of his book-length essay, Denby offers an intriguing look at historical precedents to modern Snarkiness, all the way back to the early writer Juvenal. However, by the end of the book, although I had been disconcertedly entertained by some of his observations, I didn't really feel that Denby had succeeded in clearly enough identifying what distinguishes Snark (or snarkiness) from typical irony and/or vituperation or foaming-at-the-mouth ranting. If you're interested in the rapid degradation of common civility in public discourse, you'll probably appreciate Denby's examples and asides. If you're looking for a true academic exploration of the topic, Snark will probably fall a bit short of the mark for you. I'll definitely give Denby marks for being an entertaining writer, though -- he's a film critic for New Yorker magazine. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ David Denby on Wikipedia ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

New Readerlist: Top 10 Celebrity Memoirs

Top 10 Celebrity Memoirs (from People Magazine April 30 2009)
submitted in April by BookMan

In their April 30, 2009 issue, People Weekly magazine included a list of their Top 10 Celebrity Memoirs that have stood the test of time. I have others I'd recommend, too, but this is certainly a good list of celebrity bios to start with...

• Chronicles by Bob Dylan [Music 781.64 Dyl]
• Clapton: The Autobiography by Eric Clapton [Music 781.66 Cla]
• Knock Wood by Candice Bergen [791.43 Ber]
• Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields [618.76 Shi]
• Dean & Me by Jerry Lewis [791.092 Lew]
• Me by Katherine Hepburn [791.432 Hep]
• My Life So Far by Jane Fonda [791.432 Fon]
• Loitering With Intent: The Child by Peter O'Toole [791.432 Oto]
• American Prince by Tony Curtis
• My Life in France by Julie Child [B C4349]

Swimming Without a Net

Swimming Without a Net

by MaryJanice Davidson

Fans of Davidson's "Undead" series will find the same romantic humor in her "Fred the mermaid" series. This second book in the series finds Fred still torn between two men -- one human and one merman. She also for the first time meets thousands of other mer-people and the royal family who oversees them. Read to the final climatic end where the mer-people decide whether or not make their existence known to the world's human "bipeds." -- recommended by Jodene G. - Walt Branch Library

[ official Mermaid series page on the official MaryJanice Davidson web site ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

New Readerlist: Recent Street Lit

A new Readerlist was submitted by Sister Souljah Fan in early April, focusing on contemporary urban fiction -- otherwise known as "Street Lit":

I'm a fan of Sister Souljah and the other writers who do Street Lit, sometimes called Urban Fiction. The libraries don't have much of these, but here's a few I liked.

• Every Thug Needs a Lady by Wahida Clark
• Love Don't Live Here No More by Snoop Dogg
• Never Go Home Again by Shannon Holmes
• Hood Rat by K'wan
• Grindin': A Harlem Story by Danielle Santiago
• Midnight: A Gangster Love Story by Sister Souljah
• A Project Chick by Nikki Turner
• Is the Bitch Dead, or What? by Wendy Williams
• True to the Game by Teri Woods
• Love is Never Painless by Zane

Water

Water

written and directed by Deepha Mehta

A heartbreaking glimpse into the lives of a group of widows in India during the 1930s. A moving film that will make you stop and think about how women have been treated throughout the world. -- recommended by Tammy T. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official Internet Movie Database page for this film ] [ official Water web site ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Cut to the Quick

Cut to the Quick

by Dianne Emley

Pasadena police detectives Jim Kissick and Nan Vining are summoned to the mansion of Oliver Mercer in the Pasadena Hills in this page-turner. There they find the bodies of Oliver Mercer and his girlfriend Lauren Richards. Their attention focuses immediately on Mercer's business partner Mark Scoville because the two men had been arguing. Initially Scoville is cooperative when answering their questions. Suddenly, he clams up and asks for an attorney. Kissick and Vining wonder what brought about this sudden change of attitude. Adding to the tension but distracting Vining from the case is the reemergence of her nemesis, T.B. Mann. (T.B. Mann is the name that Nan Vining and her daughter Emily gave to the man who almost killed Vining in a vacant house. T.B. Mann stands for The Bad Man.) When T.B. Mann leaves the bloody polo shirt in Vining's garage that he wore the day he stabbed her, Vining realizes that she is again his target. -- recommended by Donna G. - Eiseley and Walt Branch Libraries

[ official Cut to the Quick page on the official Dianne Emley web site ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Book Clubs -- A Lantern in Her Hand now available in sets

Is your book group planning to read this year's One Book One Nebraska selection -- Bess Streeter Aldrich's A Lantern in Her Hand?

If so, you'll be pleased to know that the Lincoln City Libraries has added two sets of A Lantern in Her Hand to our Book Club in a Bag collection. You can find out more about Book Club in a Bag by clicking this link.

You can find out all about the state-wide One Book One Nebraska program (click that link) -- which is different than the Lincoln City Libraries-sponsored One Book -- One Lincoln.

90 Minute Quilts

90 Minute Quilts: 15+ Projects You Can Stitch in an Afternoon

by Meryl Ann Butler [746.46 But]

Good projects for beginners to tackle. Long-time quilters may have forgotten about some of these basic designs and can revisit them to use up your stash. The first 30 pages cover the basics, tools, techniques, templates, and the color wheel. Color illustrations accompany the concepts and the step-by-step project instructions. Just enough info is provided to get you going and successfully complete a few projects; not overly technical or detailed. A wonderful way to give quilting a try. -- recommended by Charlotte K. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official 90-Minute Quilts web site ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

New Booktalk Booklist: Polley Picks

Polley Picks: Some Recent Additions to the Polley Music Library
Bethany Branch BooksTalk, March 27, 2009
Carolyn D.

Carolyn, head of the Polley Music Library, within the downtown Bennett Martin Public Library, presented a booktalk highlighting several recent additions to the music library's holdings.

Classical Music

• Challenges: A Memoir of My Life in Opera by Sarah Caldwell [Music 782.109 Cal]
• Journey of a Thousand Miles: My Story by Lang Lang [Music 786.2 Lan]
• The Young Musician's Survival Guide: Tips From Teens and Pros by Amy Nathan [Music 780.7 Nat]
• The Voice: A Memoir by Thomas Quasthoff [Music 782.109 Qua]
• Music in the Post-9/11 World by Jonathan Ritter and J. Martin Daughtry [Music 780.905 Rit]
• 1001 Classical Recordings You Must Here Before You Die by Matthew Rye, ed. [Music 781.68 Rye]
• A History of American Classical Music by Barrymore Laurence Scherer [Music 780.983 Sch]
• Note by Note: A Celebration of the Piano Lesson by Tricia Tunstall [Music 786.2 Tun]
• Yo-Yo Ma: A Biography by Jim Whiting [Music 787.4 Ma]

Country & Folk Music

• The New Generation of Country Music Stars: Biographies of 50 Artists Born After 1940 by David Dicaire [Music 781.642 Dic]
• River of No Return: Tennessee Ernie Ford and the Woman He Loved by Jeffrey Buckner Ford [Music 781.642 For]
• Sing it Pretty: A Memoir by Bess Lomax Hawes [Music 781.62 Haw]
• Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death and Country Music by Dana Jennings [Music 781.642 Jen]
• Lonesome Cowgirls and Honky-Tonk Angels: The Women of Barn Dance Radio by Kristine M. McCusker [Music 781.642 McC]
• Behind the Grand Ole Opry Curtain: Tales of Romance and Tragedy by Robert K. Oermann [Music 781.542 Oer]
• Born Country: How Faith, Family and Music Brought Me Home by Randy Owen [Biography Owen]

Rock, Pop & Blues

• The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard by Peter Benjaminson [Music 781.644 Bal]
• Heaven and Hell: My Life in the Eagles (1974-2001) by Don Felder with Wendy Holden [Music 781.66 Fel]
• Tell the Truth Until They Bleed: Coming Clean in the Dirty World of Blues and Rock and Roll by Josh Alan Friedman [Music 781.66 Fri]
• Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia [Music 781.643 Gio]
• Bumping Into Geniuses: My Life Inside the Rock and Roll Business by Danny Goldberg [Music 781.66 Gol]
• Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson by Tom Graves [Music 781.643 Joh]
• When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Search of Rock and Roll, Friendship and Dreams by Bob Greene [Music 781.66 Gre]
• Ska'd for Life: A Personal Journey With The Specials by Horace Panter [Music 781.646 Spe]
• It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways and the Search for the Next American Music by Amanda Petrusich [Music 781.64 Pet]
• Wild Boy: My Life in Duran Duran by Andy Taylor [Music 781.66 Tay]
• Woodstock: A New Look by Greg Walter and Lisa Grant [Music 780.79 Wal]

Musicals

• Home: A Memoir of My Early Years by Julie Andrews
• Mary Martin: Broadway Legend by Ronald L. Davis [Music 782.14 Mar]

Me Talk Pretty One Day

Me Talk Pretty One Day
by David Sedaris [817 Sed]

This is a collection of essays by David Sedaris that had me in stitches the whole way through. David comments on particular moments in his life in a humorous, often sarcastic way, even though sometimes the memories aren't all pleasant. The book is split into two main sections, 'one' which takes place in America, and 'deux' which chronicles his time spent in France. Both are equally entertaining. David Sedaris' sense of humor easily kept me hooked the whole way through. -- recommended by Stephanie G. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in downloadable audio, unabridged book-on-cd, and abridged audiotape formats.][ official Bio and Appearance Schedule for Sedaris on his agent's web site ] [ David Sedaris page on Wikipedia ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Firefly: The Complete Series

Firefly

created and produced by Joss Whedon

Marvelously inventive but short-lived science fiction series from the mastermind behind Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel: The Series (not to mention the currently airing Dollhouse). Firefly is set in a future in which humanity has spread itself out through known space, and survived a major civil war in which the "bad guys" won. This Joss Whedon created universe, known to its inhabitants as "the 'verse", is peopled by corrupt bureaucrats, wily assassins, brutal thugs and heartless mercenaries. The heroes of Firefly are the captain and crew of a Firefly-class merchant ship that hire themselves out for cargo runs, passenger ferrying, strong protection and miscellaneous odd jobs. The look of the series is "gritty", with a strong western theme -- the characters frequently wear pistols and use "western slang". The stories run the gamut, from "holding up a supply train" to "breaking into a high-security government medical facility". The main character range from the honorable-yet-downtrodden Captain Mal, to the avaricious Jayne, to the idealistic doctor Simon and his mentally-damaged sister River. There's a certain amount of "suspension of disbelief" to accept a futuristic environment in which most of the characters look like they should be riding horses instead of spaceships, but the characters and stories really stand out in this series. I highly recommend Firefly, as well as the movie spin-off that came afterwards. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ The Library also owns the follow-up movie Serenity (2005), as well as two graphic novels based on the series and movie: Serenity: Those Left Behind and Serenity: Better Days.][ Official Firefly site on the Sci Fi Channel where the series airs in reruns ] [ Firefly series entry on Wikipedia ]

Have you seen this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Posed for Murder

Posed For Murder
by Meredith Cole

"I have never killed so many people in so many ways." Lydia McKenzie has this thought as she hangs the photographs in her first solo exhibit in New York. Her photos are black and white re-creations of death scenes from unsolved murders in New York. Lydia got the idea for this exhibit while reading the book Lost Lives, a novel about cold cases. Lydia re-created the murder scenes using her friends as models. During the opening party at the Bulan Gallery, the police tell Lydia that her friend Marie LaFarge was murdered. Marie's body was found dressed in the same clothes and posed the same way as she was in Lydia's photo. One evening Lydia comes home to her apartment to find that someone had vandalized it and left a photo of another friend, Jenny. In this photo Jenny is wearing the same clothes and is posed as she was in Lydia's photo. Lydia fears for her life and begins her own investigation. -- recommended by Donna G. - Eiseley and Walt Branch Libraries

[ official Posed for Murder and Meredith Cole web site ]

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Ten (or more) new reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog over the course of the entire month.

Read...Discuss...Repeat! - April - Appaloosa

Bestselling thriller/mystery writer Robert B. Parker ventured into new territory in 2005 with the publication of a new western novel entitled Appaloosa. Since then, he's come out with two follow-up volumes, and Appaloosa itself was turned into a feature film in 2008.

April 2009's Read...Discuss...Repeat! selection is Appaloosa, our first "western" in quite some time. If you enjoy gritty western fiction, then we encourage you to read this book and then stop back at the BookGuide link above (or here at this Blog entry) to comment on it.

You can also stop by this month's Read...Discuss...Repeat! page on BookGuide for background information about the book, a list of "readalike" suggestions, and links to web sites related to the book and author. Then (or now, if you've read the book), stop by and fill out our on-line comment form to share your thoughts and opinions about Appaloosa! Or...you can simply reply in a comment to this post on the BookGuide Blog.