Staff Recommendation - Lone Survivor

Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10

by Marcus Luttrell [958.104 Lut]

How many Taliban does it take to fight a four-man team of Navy SEALs? Just ask Marcus Luttrell. He and his 3 friends were on a recon mission in rural Afghanistan when they were discovered. The ensuing battle is heartwrenching and makes the reader want to stand up and fight alongside them. Lone Survivor starts out with a little background on the training that a Navy SEAL must endure to become a member of the team. These men are NOT quitters. As you read this book you feel proud to be an American, where our warriors don't give up; they would rather die defending our freedom. This amazing non-fiction title reads like a fictional account and -- not surprisingly -- Universal Pictures has optioned the rights to this fantastic action story for a movie to be released in 2009. Find out what happens to the four heroes out in the desert. Can they survive the wrath of the enemy forces? Will they take out the Taliban leader they were searching for? Are YOU tough enough to join their mission? (Please keep in mind that the language may be suitable for more mature readers. Marcus speaks like the sailor he is.) -- recommended by Julie H. - Walt Branch Library

[ Publisher's page for Lone Survivor web site ] [ Wikipedia page for Marcus Luttrell ]

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Ten 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.

Staff Recommendation - Elsewhere

Elsewhere

by Gabrielle Zevin

Elsewhere is an entertaining, poignant story about a teenager whose life on Earth is cut short. This is the story about her life after death. Liz wakes to find herself en route to the strangest place you can imagine. It is Elsewhere - where you go to live after you die. The unusual part: you get younger every day, and one day will be young enough to be reborn as an infant on Earth. Grow with Liz as she tries to handle the unfairness of her situation -- she will never become old enough to get her driver's license. She doesn't get to go the prom. Find out who did and didn't come to her funeral. And most importantly, as all teenagers will, she dreams of finding her first love -- but will anyone want to love her? Will Liz ever fit in here? And isn't it weird to live with a grandma who is no older than your mom?

[ official Elsewhere web site ] [ official Gabrielle Zevin web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think?

Ten 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.

Staff Recommendation - The Recruit

The Recruit (Cherub #1)

by Robert Muchamore

A new take on the ever-popular espionage genre. James is a recently-orphaned child who has problems controlling his temper. When he is sent to an orphanage, he gets caught up with some of the trouble-makers at the home. He wakes up one day to find himself in a mysterious campus, where he is presented with two choices: join our organization, or go back to the orphanage. He chooses the former, and enters into a super-secret training program. Recruits must undergo intensive training, and then they must pass the test of their lives to be accepted into the program. This program is a division of Britain's MI5 agency. All the agents are between 10 and 17. The beauty of the program is that no one expects children to be spies, so they can infiltrate places that no adult possibly could. Find out what happens to James - does he pass the test and get to go on missions? Is he booted out of the program as a failure? What about his sister Lauren? -- reviewed by Julie H. -- Walt Branch Library

[ cherubcampus.com -- the official web site of the cherub series ]

Have you read this one? What did you think?

Ten 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.

An October Staff Recommendation - The Shining

To see all October Staff Recommendations, visit the Staff Recommendations page on BookGuide.

The Shining
by Stephen King

A delightfully creepy tale of a family alone in a mountainside hotel. This is a story of a struggling writer who takes a job as a winter caretaker at a distant hotel. He brings his family along. What he doesn't know is that the hotel is haunted by some not-so-friendly ghosts. His son, who has a sort of psychic ability, has some frightening experiences with the local ghosts. The solitude of the snowed in mountain, along with the man's pent-up frustrations, causes him to lose his mind slowly. Horror ensues as the family fights to live. [Loosely adapted into a 1980 film directed by Stanley Kubrick, and a true-to-the-book TV mini-series adaptation in 1997 with a screenplay by King himself.] -- reviewed by Julie H. [Bess Dodson Walt Branch]

[ official Stephen King web site ]

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An October Staff Recommendation - Midnight Mass

Check out the 10 new reviews at BookGuide's Staff Recommendations page for October 2007.

We're going to post all ten as blog entries here over the course of the month, or you can visit the link above to see them all at once right now. Here's your first Oct selection...


A unique twist on the classic vampire story. Vampires are taking over the world, and are corralling people into 'ranches' to be 'cattle' for the vampires. Some humans are permitted to remain human, the 'cowboys', to guard the ranches during daylight hours and to help in catching more humans. This is a tale of an odd band of rebels (a fallen priest, a rabbi, a girl, and a nun) and their part in the horror of every day life. The priest has become disillusioned because his mentor invited the vampires in and helped them destroy the church, all to become a vampire himself. Can he fight the despair he feels? Can a priest work successfully with a rabbi? How on earth do they think they can destroy the vampires? Was also released as a motion picture in 2003. -- Reviewed by Julie H. [Bess Dodson Walt Branch Library]

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