Dead Before Dying

Dead Before Dying
by Deon Meyer

Mat Jourbert is an overweight, chain-smoking detective. He goes through the motions at his job in the Murder and Robbery Squad of the Cape Town police department in post-apartheid South Africa. Jourbert was a top-notch detective before his wife, Lara, was killed in the line of duty as an undercover agent. When she died Jourbert sunk into bog of despair in which he still wallows. Jourbert has a new boss, a political appointee named Bart de Wit. de Wit is on a tear, all the members of his department must be physically fit. All slackers must "shape up or ship out". Jourbert starts swimming and cooking low calorie meals and sees psychologist. On the job he works two cases. One is thief who robs banks. He is dubbed the "sweetheart bandit" because he calls all of the tellers sweetheart. The other is serial killer using a hundred-year old German handgun. This is a character driven novel. We follow Jourbert as he rouses from his pit of misery and realizes that the world still turns and he can make a place for himself in it. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Michael Stanley and Malla Nunn.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department


[ official Dead Before Dying page on the official Deon Meyer web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

Russian Imperial Style

Russian Imperial Style
by Laura Cerwinske [709.47 qCer]

This book documents Russian art from 1762 to 1917. The text points out the cultural life of the tsars and the noblity. But it is the lavish illustrations, almost all in color, of furs, Faberge eggs, gowns, jewels, tapestries, furniture, table settings, carriages, etc., all created for the aristocracy, that lure the reader. [If you enjoy this one, you may also wish to try In the Russian Style by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.] -- recommended by Rianne S. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official Laura Cerwinske web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

The Princess and the Frog

The Princess and the Frog

I've long been a fan of Disney animated features, both the "old school" style of 101 Dalmatians and Peter Pan, and the newer computer-enhanced one such as Beauty and the Beast. The Princess and the Frog was Disney's 2009 entry in that series, and featured a return to mostly hand-drawn art, featured Disney's first African-American heroine, and focused on a culture -- Cajun/Creole -- that had never been done by the studio before. I found this one to be only partially successful. The animation artwork seemed very uneven in quality, and although the instrumental score by Randy Newman was flavorful, his originals songs were surprisingly forgettable...a cardinal sin for a Disney film! The characters, on the other hand, were charmingly engaging, as always for a Disney film. The waitress heroine, Tiana, is spunky and driven, the "cute animal sidekicks" in the form of trumpet-playing alligator Louis and backwoods Cajun lightning bug Raymond were quite fun. The "hero", Prince Naveen, transformed into a frog by his enemies, was kind of bland. All in all, this is certainly a watchable film, but doesn't really stack up well to the classics in Disney's vaults. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in vocal selections sheet music, junior novelization formats.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ Disney's official Princess and the Frog web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

Broken Places

Broken Places
by Sandra Parshall

A man with something to hide, a newspaper editor desperate to save his paper and a forty-year-old secret are the key elements in Broken Places, the third book in the Rachael Goddard series. Rachel and her assistant Holly Turner overhear an argument between Ben Hern and Cam Taylor. Cam leaves. Later, Rachel and Holly find Cam's car on the road. They stop to help him and hear gunshots in the woods. Rachel investigates and finds Cam's body. A short time later Cam's house burns down. His wife's body is found in the house. Ben was the last person to see Cam alive but Rachel can't believe that her old friend murdered someone. Her loyalty to Ben drives a wedge between Rachel and her boyfriend, deputy Tom Bridger. Rachel thinks that Tom is focusing on Ben to the exclusion of other suspects so she starts asking questions. The characters are well drawn. The inter-play between Rachel, Tom and Tom's ex-girlfriend add to the suspense. [If you like this, you may also wish to try The Serpent Pool by Martin Edwards, Quieter Than Sleep by Joanne Dobson and Wild Penance by Sandi Ault.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department


[ official Broken Places and Sandra Parshall web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

Barber's Adagio

Barber's Adagio
by Samuel Barber [Compact Disc 781.68 Bar]

This is one of my all-time favorite classic music albums. My first exposure to Barber's "Adagio for Strings" was when I heard the piece being used as part of the soundtrack of Oliver Stone's 1986 Academy Award-winning movie, Platoon. Adagio for Strings is haunting, mournful and yet uplifting all at the same time. When I found this album, shortly after its 1997 release, I quickly added it to my collection and gave it as a gift to several friends and relatives. This album features eight different variations on the well-known "Adagio for Strings", emphasizing a number of different instrument types in place of the traditional "strings." James Galway performs flute for one track. The Canadian Brass take up the melody for another track. The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge do a vocal version. Richard Stoltzman achors a clarinet choir for track 5. David Pizarro performs on a pipe organ for track 7. And three of the tracks feature either a string quartet or a full orchestra. If "Adagio for Strings" has ever moved you, you can't miss trying this impressive musical anthology. It's a powerful album! -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

The Hollow

The Hollow
by Jessica Verday

A Young Adult Paranormal Romance novel about a high school girl, Abby, coming to terms with the mysterious death of her best and only close friend. The story is intertwined with the Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving and set in the town Sleepy Hollow as well, thus the title of the novel. Abby deals with rumors about her and her friend, being tormented by her peers and pitied, which she felt was the worst. The author wrote Abby as a very realistic teen and was able to describe her emotions so well that the reader can really feel the girls' emotional pain. Unfortunately, I was definitely disappointed in the ending of the story. The novel was marketed as a paranormal romance, but I feel those should have happy endings or at least some resolution between the two protagonists. This book had neither, and I believe the ending was definitely set up for a sequel. One theme in this book which I found interesting was the craft of perfume making, for which Abby had a wonderful talent. This creativity allowed time for Abby to take her mind off the tragic events of her best friends' death. I could tell the author had conducted some research or had some knowledge of making fragrances, and it was interesting to learn a bit about the process. I would give The Hollow a pass unless you are a die-hard paranormal romance reader. [If you enjoy this, I would recommend Fallen by Kate Lauren, and the Evernight Series by Claudia Gray, which is a story that becomes darker and action packed as you read through the series.] -- recommended by Jessica H. - Walt Branch Library


[ official The Hollow and Jessica Verday web site ]

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New Readerlist - Slate's Best Reads of 2009

A new Readerlist was submitted to the BookGuide site by reader BookMan, featuring the titles included in Slate.com's "top reads for 2009" column. Take a look, and if you've got a short thematic list of titles you'd like to recommend to other readers at BookGuide, please consider submitting it at our Readerlists page!

Slate's Best Reads for 2009
submitted May 2010 by BookMan

I enjoy the book reviews at Slate.com, and this was their compilation of their writers/editors' choices for the best titles of 2009. Although the libraries don't own a few of these, I figured readers can use Interlibrary Loan for the titles not available locally. Quite a few interesting reads here!

Endpoint and Other Poems
by John Updike [811 Upd]

A Short History of Women
by Kate Walbert

The Good Soldiers
by David Finkel [956.704 Fin]

Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi
by Geoff Dyer

The Liar's Club
by Mary Karr [Biography Karr]

Essays
by Wallace Shawn

What Are Intellectuals Good For?
by George Scialabba

Cheever: A Life
by Blake Bailey [Biography Cheever]

Too Much Happiness
by Alice Munro

Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned
by Wells Tower

The Least Worst Place
by Karen Greenberg

A Gate at the Stairs
by Lorrie Moore

The Complete Stories of J.G. Ballard
by J.G. Ballard

Substrate
by Jim Powell

Wolf Hall
by Hilary Mantel

Journalism's Roving Eye: A History of American Foreign Reporting
by John Maxwell Hamilton

The Anthologist
by Nicholson Baker

The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith
by Joan Schenkar

Soccernomics
by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski

Bank Notes
by Ken Habarta

The Age of Wonder
by Richard Holmes [509 Hol]

The Glass Room
by Simon Mawer

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives

The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives
by Leonard Mlodinow [Compact Disc 519.2 Mlo]

Our brains want to see patterns and order. That is not the way life works. Physicist Leonard Mlodinow explores the ways random events shape the world and how human intuition fights that fact. Mlodinow uses the Let's Make a Deal game show, Las Vegas roulette tables, Bruce Willis' career and the Warsaw ghetto after Hitler invaded Poland to illustrate his points. Mlodinow's entertaining and informative way of presenting the material makes this book-on-CD fun to listen to. His down-to-earth style makes it easy for the mathematically challenged such as myself to grasp his concepts. But his explanations are still sophisticated enough to keep the mathematically inclined, such as my husband, interested. [If you like this, you may also wish to try Simplexity: Why Simples Things Become Complex by Jeffrey Kluger, Sway: The Irresistable Pull of Irrational Behavior by Ori Brafman, and Coincidences, Chaos and all That Math Jazz by Edward Burger.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department

[Also available in print format.]

[ official Leonard Mlodinow at Caltech web page ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

Double Exposure Take Two

Double Exposure Take Two
by Roddy McDowall [SOS 779.12 McD2]

This coffee-table book is a marvelous collection of photographs (all taken by the late, beloved actor Roddy McDowall [1928-1998]) of 116 influential figures in the arts -- theater, film, ballet, literature and music. But, not only are these wistful, engaging and thought-provoking photos, but each photo is also accompanied by an essay written by a friend or associate of the photo's subject, especially chosen by McDowall. Some of these essays are laugh-out-loud funny, but many are also emotionally touching and provide insight into figures that are sometimes removed from the public eye. As a photography collection of celebrities, this book stands well on its own. But in combination with the essays, this should be a must-read for anyone interested in the royalty of the entertainment industry. [If you like this volume, you should track down the other volumes in the series -- there were four in all, but Lincoln City Libraries only owns this one.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library


[ official Roddy McDowall fan web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

Carolina Moon on DVD

Carolina Moon
by Nora Roberts

One of eight Nora Roberts novels that have been adapted as TV-movies/DVD-movies in the past few years. In this one, Claire Forlani plays Tory, a young woman returning to her childhood hometown to relaunch her life and mend some broken fences. Tory has a psychic ability to see flashes of a brutal killer's crimes...that date back to when Tory's best friend was killed when they were both pre-teens. As Tory reconnects with both friends and enemies from her past, she has to decide whether to use her special ability to help catch the killer before they strike again. Both Forlani and Oliver Hudson turn int fine performances as the leads, as does Josie Davis, as Tory's former antagonist Faith. This is definitely a "romantic suspense", but with more emphasis on the suspense than the romance. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in print, unabridged audiotape, unabridged book-on-cd, and Large Type formats.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ Lifetime TV Network's official Carolina Moon web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

Secrets of the Savanna

Secrets of the Savanna: Twenty-three Years in the Africa Wilderness Unraveling the Mysteries of Elephants and People
by Mark and Delia Owens [599.674 Owe]

This book describes the culmination of their twenty-three year odyssey in Africa. Mark and Delia's fascination with the Dark Continent started when they were graduate students at the University of Georgia. One evening they attended a lecture about Africa's vanishing wildlife. The lecture inspired them to sell all of their possessions for $6000 and move to Africa to help save the wildlife. They camped in the Kalahari Desert for seven years while they studied the habits of black-maned lions and brown hyenas. After seven in Botswana they moved to the North Luangwa National Park in Zambia where they worked to stop elephant poaching.. In the course of their work the Owens found themselves in a unique position. They were able to document the impact that longtime poaching had on elephant herds. They saw how the social structure was affected and what became of elephants that were left to make their way into adulthood without the benefit of the herd. It's a fascinating look at elephant society and the impact of poaching on human society. An equal portion of the book looks at the Owens' work to persuade former poachers to develop other economic opportunities in their villages and wean themselves off of poaching as a source of income. They established their own foundation to fund economic opportunities for the villages. They loaned the villagers money to start cottage industries. Some of the women became seamstresses when the Owens loaned them money to sewing machines. The Owens provided training for women who wanted to become midwives. Some of the men became millers, others became beekeepers. The Owens hired other men and women to help them with research and to run their project. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try My Heart is Africa by Scott Griffin, or A Wild Life by Dick Pitman.] -- recommended by Donna G. - Virtual Services Department


[ official Secrets of the Savanna page on the official Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

Grave Sight and Grave Surprise

Grave Sight and Grave Surprise
by Charlaine Harris [Compact Disc Harris]

These are the book-on-cd adaptations of the first two titles in Harris' increasingly popular Harper Connelly series. Although the first book has previously been reviewed in the Staff Recommendations, I thought it worth mentioning that the audio versions makes for compelling listening. These are both single-narrator version, featuring stage and vocal actress Alyssa Bresnahan. She does a very good job of engaging the listener's attention and pulling you into the story. She doesn't attempt to do too many "voices" (in other words, she doesn't try to give each unique character their own unique sound, but instead highlights a few of the more unusual characters with strong accents. The main characters of Harper and her brother Tolliver are done simply but well. If you haven't sampled this series yet, I encourage you to give these CD sets a listen. They're only 7 or 8 discs and are a great introduction to an interesting new mystery-solving character with an usual talent. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[These titles are also available in print format.]

[ official Harper Connelly page on the official Charlaine Harris web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

Once Upon a Town

Once Upon a Town
by Bob Greene [940.548 Gre]

During World War II, citizens of North Platte met every troop train that came through, offering the servicemen cakes, pies, eggs, bread, fruit, vegetables, etc. This is a just a great feel good book that the city of North Platte and the surrounding area could keep up such spirit for the duration of the war. Best of all, of course, is that North Platte is in our own Nebraska! -- recommended by Rianne S. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in unabridged audiotape, unabridged book-on-cd formats.]

[ official Once Upon a Town web site ] | [ Wikipedia page for Bob Greene ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

A Lantern in Her Hand

A Lantern in Her Hand
by Bess Streeter Aldrich

Bess Streeter Aldrich's best known work is loosely based on the life of her own mother, but incorporates material from other sources as well. The overall optimistic tone of the book contrasts with the fact that many of the events described are rather dark. The main character, Abbie Deal, faces both external hardships and internal struggles as the book follows her from childhood through old age. Much of the book reads not so much like a novel as a précis of a novel. Whole years are summarized in a page or two, reflecting in a way Abbie's sense of time slipping away throughout her life. But Aldrich's strongest writing comes when she looks at an event in more detail; it is in these scenes, such as Abbie giving birth during the infamous blizzard of 1888, that the characters become more fully developed. Abbie's dreams of achieving great things are doomed to be unrealized in her own life, but ultimately find fulfillment in the accomplishments of her children for whom she sacrificed those dreams. The book thus becomes a celebration of the ordinary lives of the countless settlers who struggled to make a home in what was to them a new land. Readers who enjoyed Laura Ingalls Wilder's books when they were younger will probably find much to like in this book; both authors used many of the same or similar historical incidents in telling their stories, such as the "long winter" of 1880-81, and the plagues of crop-devouring grasshoppers in the 1870's. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the works of Willa Cather and Laura Ingalls Wilder.] -- recommended by Peter J. - Virtual Services Department

[Click the title links above to see all available formats of this work.]

[ official Bess Streeter Aldrich Foundation web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

The Stupidest Angel

The Stupidest Angel: A Heartwarm Tale of Christmas Terror
by Christopher Moore

This Christmas tale is not Dickens! As the author warns: it contains cusswords and people in their forties having sex (in the graveyard). In Pine Cove, Dale Pearson quarrels with his ex-wife, Lena. Since this is a different kind of Christmas story, he is later dispatched with Lena's shovel. (He falls on it and impales himself.) Since Dale was dressed as Santa, Josh Barker, who witnesses the death, believes that Santa has died -- and expresses the wish that he could come back to life. Theo Crowe, the town constable, who also smokes pot, is called to the scene of the quarrel. Theo is married to Molly Michon, former movie queen, known for playing Kendra, Warrior Babe of the Outland. Now that her career is over, she is seriously medicated. Trim and tanned Tucker Case, a pilot for the DEA, rolls into town with his fruitbat Roberto, who wears Ray-Bans. Understand that it is Roberto who wears the Ray-Bans! Another visitor is a blond man wearing a long black coat: he is the archangel Raziel, who grants Josh's wish. Dale comes back to life as a zombie. This book is not for all tastes, since is totally off the wall and outrageously funny. Tucker shows up again in another book by Moore. -- recommended by Rianne S. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in book-on-cd format.]

[ official The Stupidest Angel web site ] | [ official Christopher Moore web site ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.

New Booktalk Booklist: Great Scot -- Scottish SciFi

On March 12th, 2010 at Bethany Branch, Dan D. presented a booktalk on the theme of Great Scot -- Scottish SciFi to the regular Books Talk group that meets weekly at those that library.

Click the link above to connect to the libraries BookGuide site to see a booklist of this booktalk, with detailed descriptions of the nearly-20 books he discussed, and with hotlinks into the libraries' online catalog for all those titles, which are available through the Lincoln City Libraries system.

The Thin Man

The Thin Man
by Dashiell Hammett

Nick and Nora Charles set out to solve a murder in this sophisticated film. One of the best aspects of the movie is the banter between William Powell (Nick) and Myrna Loy (Nora). At one point, Nora chides Nick for bringing her to New York, just to make a widow of her. He replies that she wouldn't be a widow for long. Without hestitating, Nora responds, "You bet I wouldn't." That's another reason for watching this film: Nora wants to help solve the murder. She is a very strong woman for the time (the film was made in 1934). Another great scene between Nick and Nora takes place on Christmas morning, as Nick uses an air rifle to demolish the ornaments on the tree. Nick's antics do not fluster Nora one bit. The movie is fun to watch and Powell and Loy are two of the best. -- recommended by Rianne S. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[Also available in print format.]

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ Wikipedia entry for the book/film The Thin Man ]

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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 individually over the course of the entire month.