Aftermath: Life Debt by Chuck Wendig

Aftermath: Life Debt
by Chuck Wendig

Aftermath: Life Debt is the sequel to Aftermath and it fulfills all the promise shown in its predecessor. Wendig’s first Star Wars novel suffered a bit from needing to set up characters and events to come later. His second novel delivers big-time as he builds upon the new characters he introduced. Existing Star Wars characters such as Han Solo, Chewbacca and Leia play prominent roles in the story as well. Wendig does a masterful job in bringing old and new characters together and making them all feel authentic. The plot centers around Han Solo and Chewbacca going missing and Leia recruiting the new characters (who have joined together as unit tasked with capturing Imperial fugitives) to find him. The plot rapidly expands as we see the beginning of events that form the backdrop in “The Force Awakens” as well as leading up to the Battle of Jakku; a pivotal event in the new Star Wars canon. Readers will need to have read “Aftermath” to fully enjoy “Aftermath: Life Debt”. I would rank it just a bit behind Claudia Gray’s “Bloodline” as the best novel of the new Star Wars canon. Star Wars fans looking to find out what happened between “Return of the Jedi” and “The Force Awakens” will get a lot of enjoyment from this novel.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Aftermath, by Chuck Wendig, Bloodline, by Claudia Gray or Lost Stars, also by Claudia Gray.]

[ publisher’s official Aftermath: Life Debt web page ] | [ official Chuck Wendig web site ]

Recommended by Corey G.
Gere Branch Library

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Planetfall by Emma Newman

Planetfall
by Emma Newman

I recently read this 2015 science fiction novel for my science fiction club’s monthly “book discussion” gathering, and have mixed feelings about it. Newman creates an intriguing near-future science fiction setting for her cast of characters, which is comprised of the surviving members of a deep-space colonization crew. The storyline takes place a few decades after their arrival on a distant planet, which their leader was “called to” because of a transcendental experience. The central character — Ren — is a troubled individual nearing a psychological snapping point — she is having to help maintain a secret from the rest of her colony, that eats away at her.

When a stranger arrives at the outside of their colony borders — an apparent descendant of a survivor from part of their original group, who had all been believed dead — Ren’s world begins to unravel. This novel is well written, and Ren is a fascinating, though flawed, narrator. My only complaint is about the ending, which feels rushed and seems deeply flawed. If it hadn’t been for that drawback, I’d have given this one a “9” rating, but the end of the book slides that down to a 7 for me. None-the-less, it is well written enough, and features intriguing enough characters, that I do still recommend it!

[ official Emma Newman web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Time of Departure by Douglas Schofield

Time of Departure
by Douglas Schofield

I can only describe this novel as a mystery with some romance and a Twilight Zone like atmosphere. Claire Talbot is an up-and-coming prosecutor who looks into a cold case with the help of a retired Gainesville police officer.

The story begins when two skeletons are unearthed by a road-building crew. The bodies have been in the ground for about 30 years and are part of string of unsolved murders. Thirty years ago, serial killer stalked Gainesville and seven women disappeared. Six were brunettes and in their 20’s and the other one was a blonde in her thirties. One day, while Claire reading the old case files, an old man walks into her. He introduces himself as Marc Hastings, a retired Gainesville police detective and he tells her that he is there to help her solve these crimes. Claire is a taken aback but she agrees to work with him. As they work together she begins to feel some weird vibes from Marc. He knows way too much about her and her personal likes and dislikes. She asks him how he knows her so well since they had never met. He refuses to tell her. As I kept reading this engrossing novel, I learned how he knew her.

I highly recommend this book that kept me reading well into the night..

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Fool Me Once, by Harlan Coben] [ official Time of Departure web site on the official Douglas Schofield web site ]

Recommended by Donna G.
Virtual Services Department

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Chef on DVD

 Chef [DVD Chef]

Jon Favreau stars as brillian chef Carl Casper, a man with visions of what his culinary skills can accomplish, but who finds himself hemmed in by the restrictions placed on him in his restaurant job. When his conflicts with the restaurant’s owner, and an altercation with a local critic cause his current restaurant career to implode, Casper finds himself taking his ex-wife’s advice and investing in a food truck, while traveling to Miami. The process of completely rehabbing the truck, and driving it cross-country back to Los Angeles, provides Casper with an opportunity to re-bond with his young son and explore their similarities. While loaded with language issues that gave this film an “R” rating, the personal journey that Casper and his son go on makes this an enjoyable film. The set design and cinematography are excellent. And the performances by Favreau, John Leguizamo as his friend and sou chef Martin, and Emjay Anthony as young Percy Casper, are all superb. A great supporting cast as well, including Sofia Vergara, Scarlett Johansson, Dustin Hoffman, Oliver Platt and Amy Sedaris. In the extras on this DVD, watch for several bizarre outtakes from Amy Sedaris!

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Chef – The Movie web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary by J.R.R. Tolkien

Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary
by J.R.R. Tolkien [829.3 BeoYt] 

While J.R.R. Tolkien is best remembered today as a fantasy author, most of his working life was spent in academia as one of the world’s leading authorities on Old and Middle English language and literature. Tolkien had very specific ideas on how the Old English poem “Beowulf” should be translated into modern English, as well as the difficult choices faced in the translation process, which he spelled out in his 1940 essay “On Translating Beowulf.” (This essay can be found in the 1983 anthology, The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays, which unfortunately is not currently held by Lincoln City Libraries; a good summary of the essay is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Translating_Beowulf) Among other things, he strongly believed that a modern translation should reflect the fact that the Old English language used in the poem would have already seemed archaic at the time of its composition. This recently published prose translation shows him putting these beliefs into practice. The result is a translation that is challenging to read. Readers who just want to know the general storyline might find a different translation more accessible, but this one has the advantage of giving something of the feel of the ancient text.

This volume, however, contains more than just the translation of the text. As an Oxford professor, Tolkien lectured regularly on Beowulf to students who were assigned to translate portions of the Old English text. The “Commentary” is based on those lectures. Far more than just an examination of what modern words might be used to translate particular Old English ones, the Commentary is a lively and fascinating examination of the historical and religious context of the poem.

Tolkien believed (along with some other scholars) that “Beowulf” as we know it is a blending of accounts of early Scandinavian historical figures with an ancient folktale. Included in the volume is “Sellic Spell,” which is Tolkien’s attempt to show what this hypothetical folktale on its own might have been like.

This volume is not a quick read, and it may not be for everyone – not even for all Tolkien fans – but it is a rewarding read for those interested in Tolkien’s scholarly side.
[ Wikipedia page for Tolkien’s Beowulf book ]

Recommended by Peter J.
Virtual Services Department

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The Last Roundup by Christie Golden

Star Trek: The Last Roundup
by Christie Golden (author), David Kaye (reader) [Hoopla digital service or Golden in adult fiction]
This Star Trek novel is about Kirk’s ‘retirement’. He is no longer a starship captain, but is simply teaching at Star Fleet Academy and is bored out of his skull. The rest of his crew have gone their separate ways and are brought back together once more in this story. Kirk’s two nephews come to him to ask if he’d join them on a new colony they are founding. He does not really want to go, but he does not want to stay behind either, so he goes and has Scotty and Chekov come along as well. The new colony is based on the idea of developing new technologies. The planet they selected is supposedly uninhabited, but there are in fact others beings there with their own outpost. Kirk’s nephews are convinced all is well, but when the communication channels become jammed, Kirk, Chekov and Scotty look into them a bit more and discover the peace is only a façade. I really liked this story and would recommend it to Trek fans. I only wish that some of the original crew had done the voice acting as they had done in other audiobooks I’ve listened to on Hoopla, which is a digital streaming service our library subscribes to. The library does have a paperback copy if you prefer that format.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Doctor’s Orders, by Diane Duane]

 

[ The Last Roundup page on Memory Alpha ] | [ official Christie Golden web site ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood by Terry Masear

The Fastest Things on Wings: Rescuing Hummingbirds in Hollywood
by Theresa “Terry” Masear [598.764 Mas]

When my family first visited Estes Park, CO in the early 1980s, I was astonished at the number of hummingbirds which could be seen both at feeders and in the wilderness of that Rocky Mountain area. Growing up in Lincoln, NE, I couldn’t remember ever having seen a hummingbird, live, before — not surprising since we’re on the westernmost fringes of the flight path of the ruby-throated hummingbird, which is the only hummingbird native to the eastern United States. But, from the Rockies to the west coast, you can see examples of as many as 14 other hummingbird species. I read and enjoyed Arnette Heidcamp’s A Hummingbird in My House and Hummingbirds: My Winter Guests, in which the author recounts her adventures in rescuing a very small number of these flying jewels. I thought her efforts were impressive and inspirational. And then I read The Fastest Things on Wings, Terry Masear’s recent autobiography about her experiences as a hummingbird rescuer/rehabilitator in Hollywood, CA. Masear has rescued literally thousands of these beautiful birds, who have fallen victim to collisions with windows, polluted food, nests blown from trees in storm, or carelessly cut out of trees by tree-trimmers. Masear makes every story shared into an emotional journey, sharing psychological insights into the personalities of the people who either bring her injured or orphaned hummers, or who call her, begging for instructions and assistance.
Masear’s tales are tied together by her relationship to two specific hummingbirds — Gabriel, the first bird she ever rescued, who ultimately becomes the catalyst for her investing more than three months of her life every year to the feeding, housing and then release of hundreds of birds. And Pepper, an injured hummer whom she trains to fly again, and whose resilient nature and willingness to help other birds reveals more about the range of differences between individual birds that any casual birdwatcher would see. And that is the emotional and heart-lifting crux of Masear’s book — although not every bird survives the circumstances that bring them to her care, so many of them have such distinct and unique personalities and behaviors that you find yourself emotionally invested in her stories. Highly recommended — one of my favorite reads this year!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try any of the hummingbird rescue books by Arnette Heidcamp.]

[ publisher’s official Fastest Things on Wings web page ] | [ Terry Masear’s official Hummingbird Rescue web site ]

See more heartwarming books about animal-human relationships in the booklist for Scott’s past booktalk, Creature Comforts

 Recommended by Scott C.

Bennett Martin Public Library

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A Promise on DVD

A Promise
[DVD Promise]

As a fan of the late Alan Rickman, I wanted to see this film to see one of Mr. Rickman’s last performances before his untimely death earlier this year. Alan plays a wealthy business owner in pre-war Germany who takes in a young man as his administrative assistant when his own health is rapidly failing. The young man becomes part of the family, living with them in their mansion. The story surrounds the relationship of the young man with both his employer and his young wife. The man falls in love with his employer’s wife then is sent to Mexico to follow through on a business venture that he had suggested. The man makes a promise to return to his love, but war breaks out in Europe preventing his return. The story is very interesting but seemed rather slow in pace. I recommend it just for Alan Rickman’s fine performance.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Sense and Sensibility, Howard’s End, or Enchanted April.] [ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ]

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Star Wars: Panel to Panel: From the Pages of Dark Horse Comies to a Galaxy, Far, Far Away by Randy Standley

Star Wars: Panel to Panel: From the Pages of Dark Horse Comics to a Galaxy, Far, Far Away
by Randy Standley [YA jPB Standley] 

 This is a marvelous look at the heroes, villains, alien races, exotic planets, intriguing spaceships and fascinating technology of the Star Wars universe, specifically as seen in the numerous Star Wars comic books published by Dark Horse Comics. Considered to be part of the “Expanded Universe” of Star Wars storytelling, whose continuity was jettisoned when the new Star Wars movies (beginning with The Force Awakens) started being produced by the Disney studio, Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars entries provided a vibrant and exciting “new” look at both established characters (Han, Luke, Leia, Darth, etc.) and all-new characters in the Star Wars universe. This book’s content features the artistic work of dozens of excellent artists, inkers and letterers. Even if the stories being referenced in this volume are no longer part of an established and approved continuity, if you are a fan of either Star Wars or comic books, this book is still highly recommended!

[ publisher’s official Star Wars: Panel to Panel web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Amazing Cows by Sandra Boynton

Amazing Cows
by Sandra Boynton [j741.5 Boy] 

Cats & Cows & Chickens – oh my!

Welcome to the world of Sandra Boynton, populated with cute and erudite critters that have been entertaining the funny bones of millions of children and adults since the late 1970s. Perhaps you’ve received a birthday card with the sentiment “Hippo Birdie Two Ewes” some time in your life? That’s essential Sandra Boynton, a cartoonist a lá Charles Schulz who can do a tremendous amount of emoting with just a few lines, circles, and squiggles. She has produced a plethora of greeting cards, buttons, calendars, mugs, etc. and BOOKS, lots of books. Her toddler-level board books have been a popular choice of parents for four decades now. Do titles like Moo Baa La-la-la or The Going to Bed Book or Your Personal Penguin sound familiar? She has also written some things for older children and adults, ranging from song-and-dance tomes like Grunt: Pigorian Chant to Chocolate: The Consuming Passion, originally released in 1982 and revised in 2015. [LCL does not currently own this book, gasp!]
Amazing Cows is an example of her lengthier books which take a theme and run far and wide with it. You will find out many things you did not know about cows, most of which are patently untrue, but very funny nonetheless! From ‘cowleidoscopes’ to the stages of insect ‘metamoophosis’, this will engage different ages of children, and also appeal to the child in many adults. Although it is cataloged as a young person’s book in LCL, a blurb on the cover states it is for “All ages up to a hundred and MOO.” What I have always LOVED about Boynton is her spot-on blend of appealing cartoon animals with her wild puns, cultural references, and gentle but clever absurdities. I always smile, and often laugh out loud, at a Boynton visual/verbal joke.

Like those great classic Warner Brothers cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny, et al, Boynton’s work has something for kids and grownups alike to enjoy. As evidence, she has over 250,000 followers on Facebook, and it is mostly adults who are regularly making comments and sharing her posts!
A world without Sandra Boynton’s merry menagerie would be dull indeed.

[ official Sandra Boynton web site ]

Recommended by Becky W. C.
Walt Branch Library

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The Soprano's Last Song by "Irene Adler"

The Soprano’s Last Song
by “Irene Adler” [j Adler] 

This is the second in an ongoing series of novels featuring pre-teen versions of Sherlock Holmes, Irene Adler and Arsene Lupin as friends, who solve mysteries together. Following the first volume, where they all met for the first time while each vacation on the coast of France, this volume finds all three meeting up again in London, where Arsene’s father has been arrested for the murder of the assistant of a famed opera composer — he was framed and they have to figure out what really happened. Attributed to “Irene Adler” as the author, these books are actually by Italians Pierdomenico Baccalario and Alessandro Gatti. I enjoy this series, although it plays total havoc with any kind of “continuity” with the Sherlock Holmes “canon” — the characters are well-defined, and it is fun to see the adventures told from the point of view of the young Irene Adler. This volume is a little less action-packed than the first, but features a well-described London and its environs, so we get to see the young Sherlock in what will eventually be familiar settings once he’s an adult. A fun read, but somewhat slow paced.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the other volumes in this ongoing series.] [ publisher’s official The Soprano’s Last Song web page]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country on DVD

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

[DVD Star]

 

Kirk and crew are assigned to help in the peace talks between the Federation and the Klingons after it become known that the due to an explosion, the Klingons have limited time before they die out. Not being too pleased at the situation he’s been put it, Kirk does as he’s told anyway, however a mysterious situation occurs and he and McCoy are convicted of murdering the Klingon High Chancellor. After being tried by the Klingons, the pair of them are sentenced to a labor prison camp on a snowy planet; escape and freeze to death. They’ll need the help of their friends to get out of this one. I really liked this movie; it was the last of the original crew movies for me to watch, so it was a bit sad that the series was over. My favorite is still ‘The Voyage Home’, but I liked this one a lot too. If you are interested in this movie and not very familiar with the ST movie series of the original crew, I recommend you start with the first movie (Star Trek the Motion Picture).

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Star Trek: The Original Series.] [ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Star Trek web site ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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Written in Dead Wax by Andrew Cartmel

Written in Dead Wax
by Andrew Cartmel

The cover to this mystery is what caught my eye, and a quick read of the back-cover blurb made it sound intriguing — the sleuth in question is The Vinyl Detective, a British loner who spends most of his days roaming the English countryside, visiting second-hand stores and charity shops, browsing their collections of old style vinyl LP recordings, looking for collectible titles that he can “flip” online into a handy profit. When a joke business card he had printed that claims he can find any record for anyone actually results in a client hiring him to find a rare jazz recording, he finds himself in a race with a femme fatale, brutal thugs and other mysterious figures to find this obscure album. Even finding the album doesn’t end the mystery, as he gets sucked into a much larger storyline, involving a legendary but tragic figure in jazz history, a beautiful singer from the 1950s, and a recording studio that went out of business under mysterious circumstances.

The world of vinyl LP collectors, and the recording industry of the 1950s and 1960s are fascinating topics to serve as the centerpiece for a mystery…which ultimately turns into a murder mystery. The settings of London and its suburbs, and then Southern California in the second half of the book, are well drawn. The supporting cast of friends and foes of The Vinyl Detective are all quirky all the ladies seem to fall for the charms of our hero a little two willingly, considering that he’s a bit of an odd duck. And the quirkiest bit of all is that our hero’s name is never revealed in the entire book…but, as a reader, you don’t mind. I enjoyed this one quite a bit, and am pleased to see in the endpages that there are at least two future volumes in this series forthcoming.

[ publisher’s official The Vinyl Detective: Written in Dead Wax web page ] | [ Andrew Cartmel page on Wikipedia ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Time for Yesterday by A.C. Crispin

Time for Yesterday
by A.C. Crispin [Crispin and/or Hoopla Digital Services]

In this short adventure, Kirk, Spock, and McCoy must set time in the universe back to normal by contacting the Guardian of Forever. The mission takes them into the past to a time and place where Spock’s son Zar is living. It’s explained in the story who Zar’s mother is and how he was born so far in the past. At the particular time they visit, Zar is in the middle of a battle – with swords and armor, not spaceships. He must rally his troops even though he knows that prophecy says he won’t survive. I’ll let you listen to the story if you’re interested in how it ends. The recording is only an hour and a half and is read by the actors who play Scotty and Spock. It’s not the best Star Trek novel I’ve read/listened to, but still is was good, especially if you like time travel stories. If you want to try this one you can check it out on Hoopla, which is a digital streaming service our library subscribes to. There is not much in the way of set up you simply go to www.hoopladigital.com (or follow a link from our online catalog) to create an account, and then stream the audio through your browser.
[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Doctor’s Orders, by Diane Duane] [ publisher’s official Time for Yesterday web page] | [ the late A.C. Crispin’s official web site ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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Batman: The Cat and the Bat by Fabian Nicieza

Batman: The Cat and the Bat
by Fabien Nicieza [YA (Graphic Novel) Nicieza] 

Barbara Gordon is the main character in the story even though the title suggests its Batman. She’s only been Batgirl for a few weeks and she is put through a test when Catwoman steels a notebook from her. During the recovery of the notebook we see her grow a lot as a character as she tries to prove to Catwoman, Batman and herself that she can do the job. Among other situations this does include following the thief into a nudist club and the doorman insists that the proper attire (nothing) must be worn to enter. I found these scenes rather funny and I will say that everyone’s bits are covered by flowers, fruit bowls, furniture and such so that the readers don’t see anything explicit. I have limited familiarity with the Batman universe, but it was easy to read as a standalone book, so don’t let that stop you if you’re the same. It was nice to read a story about a librarian becoming a hero who has her own personality, strengths and weakness.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Witchblade series and The Danger Girl series, both available on Hoopla.]

[ Batman: The Cat and the Bat page on the DC Wiki ] | [ Fabien Nicieza page on Wikipedia ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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The Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph Designs

The Star Fleet Technical Manual
by Franz Joseph Designs [791.458 qJos] 

Growing up as a Star Trek fan in 1970s, the tie-in books to meet the reading interests of Trekkies were few and far between — the earliest Star Trek conventions were in the early 1970s, and publishers started to slowly realize there was an audience of eager readers waiting for new titles about their favorite show. The Star Fleet Technical Manual was one of the earliest of the Trek non-fiction titles published. Put out by Franz Joseph Designs, this manual was quite literally that — it took the form of an instructional manual for Starfleet cadets on some of the engineering issues associated with the ships and planets of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets in the Star Trek universe. There are highly detailed blueprints of various ship designs, as well as for several of the pieces of equipment popularized by the show — tricorders, communicators. The Star Fleet Technical Manual exists in a weird sort of limbo regarding how “official” it is — throughout the 1970s and 1980s, fans and production designers considered the information in it “canon” for the world of Star Trek. However, starting with the production of Star Trek the Next Generation in 1987, the contents of this book were no longer considered “official” but rather “apocryphal”. None-the-less, information from this book made it into on-screen graphics in several scenes in 1990s-era Star Trek spin-off series episodes.
This book has gone through several different printings and editions. Personally, I still prefer the very earliest edition from 1976. This particular book is probably only for the ultimate in Star Trek fans…otherwise the information is a bit esoteric or lacks a context that the average reader can appreciate!

[ The Star Fleet Technical Manual page on Memory Alpha — the Star Trek wiki ] | [ Franz Joseph page on Wikipedia ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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The Peanuts Movie on DVD

The Peanuts Movie [j DVD Peanuts]

In a year (2015) filled with some tremendously popular films, I will have to admit that The Peanuts Movie was my favorite film that I saw in a theatre. Written by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz’s children, The Peanuts Movie manages to capture the emotional tone and sense of humor of the original comic strip, as well as the classic original animated specials from the 1960s and early 1970s, like A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown! The animation in this film is absolutely superb…giving an almost three dimensional quality to the characters, never previously accomplished on screen. The music by Christophe Beck pays appropriate tribute to the classic jazz riffs Vince Guaraldi created for the early Peanuts TV specials. I especially appreciated that the producers/director chose to use child actors as the voices of the dozens of classic Peanuts characters — just like all the original TV special did. The film is comprised of a number of separate short stories, encompassed by an overarching plot in which everyman Charlie Brown pines for the new kid in his class…the little red-haired girl. Hoping to impress her, his efforts over an entire year of school result in personal disasters and awkwardness. But in the end, the emotional payoff for these characters is sweet and intense. As always, fan-favorite character Snoopy gets a lot of screen time, as his many imaginative adventures come to life — Snoopy vs. The Red Baron, etc.

This film was an obvious labor of love — love for this huge family of beloved characters, and love for all the fans of Peanuts that have shared the stories over multiple generations. It is a marvelous little gem of a film, complete in and of itself. I hope they don’t try to make a sequel, because this film is perfect by itself! If you can’t tell…I love this movie!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to revisit all the classic old animated TV specials, as mentioned in the review above.] [ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official The Peanuts Movie web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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Witchblade: Volume I: Borne Again by Ron Marz and others

Witchblade: Volume 1: Borne Again
by Ron Marz

Before I read this I had only read the Witchblade/Lara Croft crossover. I am reading the current series Tomb Raider comics so I know about that character, but this introduction to Witchblade made me want to read more. This graphic novel collection is available on Hoopla, so I gave it a try and I really liked it. The Witchblade is a glove that bonds into the wearer with the power to transform the them into a strong armored version of herself and gives her other powers, including healing abilities. It has been worn by numerous women in the past; currently its wearer is Sara Pezzini, a sheriff in present day NY state. The crimes she solves on the job, sometimes also involve monsters which inhabit the world (unknown to most of the citizens), which she fights using the Witchblade.

In this book there are two overlapping stories; one in the present and one in the past. The story in the past shows how she tried to rid herself of the Witchblade and lock it away safely in the Vatican so no one else could yield it and in the present, a being of light obtains part of it. There is a lot of past and present character development in this story. It’s not clear when she merged with the Witchblade in the first place, but she says it’s been so much of her life she can’t seem to separate the two. The story in the past shows that she’s had enough of fighting monsters because of the toll it took on her and her family (lost her daughter and turned to drinking). However, the story in present shows her coming to terms with the fact that she and the Witchblade are inseparable. I really enjoyed this, but I ought to say that there is violence, blood, people with their heads cut off, and creepy monsters in the pages, so if you don’t want that kind of thing in what you read, then this is not for you, nor is it for children. I liked this one because of the mystery and fantasy elements and because of the deepness and complexity the character has, so I will definitely be reading more.

If you want to try this one you can check it out on Hoopla, which is a digital streaming service our library subscribes to. There is not much in the way of set up, you simply go to www.hoopladigital.com (or follow a link from our online catalog) to create an account, and then view the book through your browser. For graphic novels like this one it allows you to see the whole page at once and or you can be zoomed in on each box to read the text easier or check out the details in the art. If you like this item, you might like these too – There are other Witchblade graphic novels available on Hoopla; I didn’t look closely when checking this out but the four issues just before this are available (Rebirth Vol. 4) as is a Witchblade / Devi crossover.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Danger Girl series, available on Hoople. It’s a bit like James Bond, with a group of spy girls and less of the supernatural stuff.] [ publisher’s official Witchblade: Borne Again web page ] | [ official Ron Marz blog ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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The Story of Kullervo by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Story of Kullervo
by J.R.R. Tolkien

For someone not familiar with the writing of J.R.R. Tolkien, this book would probably be of little interest. The Story of Kullervo, one of Tolkien’s earliest works, is based on the Kalevala. Tolkien began translating this Finnish mythology while at college and it nearly consumed him. It has been said that this work laid the groundwork for his own creation, the Silmarillion; this can be seen in the similarity between the tragic heroes in both. If I had not read The Silmarillion before this, I most likely would not have been interested in this. The book includes essays by Tolkien presented to two different literary societies in his college days. I found the book to be very interesting, but it is difficult reading with all the additional notes and glossaries. Any fan of Tolkien’s mythologies or his work on Beowulf would enjoy this book.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Tolkien’s Silmarillion or his translation of Beowulf.] [ Wikipedia page for The Story of Kullervo ] | [ www.tolkiensociety.org/ ]

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

The Hidden Oracle
by Rick Riordan

 The Hidden Oracle is the first book in the new Trials of Apollo series from author Rick Riordan. Readers who are fans of the Percy Jackson series will definitely enjoy this book! There are several interactions with characters we know and love from that series, as well as several new characters that promise lots of interest and excitement.

Apollo has angered his father Zeus, and has been cast out of Olympus. He must learn to survive in our world as a mortal teenager until he can figure out a way to get back into Zeus’s good graces. He is not in a body he would have chosen, he is no longer immortal, he doesn’t know who to trust, and his memory is faulty because a mortal human mind doesn’t have the space for all his godly immortal knowledge. He is as full of himself as you’d expect the God of music, truth, prophecy, healing, plague, poetry, the sun and light to be, despite being cast into a gawky, acne-covered sixteen-year-old mortal named Lester. This book has the action, drama, and humor Rick Riordan fans are used to, along with appearances by Percy Jackson!
One of my favorite parts of this book was the chapter headings. Since Apollo is the god of poetyr, the chapter headings are haikus that offer the reader a small bit of insight into what’s coming without really reveling anything!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Sword of Summer, by Rick Riordan, The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan (first Percy Jackson book), Artemis Fowl, by Eion Colfer, and Gregor the Overlander, by Suzanne Collins] [ official Hidden Oracle page on the official Rick Riordan web site ]

Recommended by Kolette S.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

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The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane

The Wounded Sky
by Diane Duane

In the early years of professionally-published Star Trek fiction, I read every Trek novel published by Bantam in the 1970s, and most of the first 100 or more of the “classic Trek” novels put out by Pocket Books starting in the 1980s. Once the Star Trek spin-off series — Star Trek the Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise — came on the scene, the number of novels being published across the franchise by Pocket Books became far more than I could keep up with — check out our Star Trek: The Reading List booklist to see how many there were! None-the-less, over the 50-year history of Star Trek, I have read probably 250 to 300 of the Star Trek novels, and I will have to say this is one of my top ten favorites. In my opinion, Diane Duane is perhaps one of the two best Star Trek fiction writers (overall) around, alongside Peter David. This novel was written in an era when authors could take chances with the established principle characters, as well as create original “new” crew members who could share the limelight. Not too many years after this was published, the powers-that-be put much stricter guidelines on what could be written for officially published Star Trek. But The Wounded Sky benefitted from coming out during an era of greater freedom for authors. Duane nails the characterization of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the well-known crew perfectly, but it is her original characters, including K’t’lk, a crystalline spider-like scientist whose experimental new drive system the Enterprise is testing, that she creates something unforgettable. I can’t recommend this Star Trek novel highly enough!

Interesting note: The plot of this novel was modified dramatically, in order to adapt it into an early first-season episode of Star Trek the Next Generation — “Where No One Has Gone Before”.

[If you enjoy this, then I also strongly recommend that you try Diane Duane’s other Star Trek novels, including Doctor’s Orders, Spock’s World, Dark Mirror, and the novels in her Romulan series, including My Enemy, My Ally, The Romulan Way (which features a terrific inclusion of a Horta crewperson!), Swordhunt, Honor Blade and The Empty Chair.]

[ The Wounded Sky page on Memory Alpha — the Star Trek wiki ] | [ official Diane Duane web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

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A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman

A Man Called Ove
by Fredrik Backman [Backman or CD Backman] 

I identified very strongly with this story, even though the protagonist is a 59-year-old Swedish male and I am a 56-year-old American woman. Our age bracket is about the only similarity between us, on the surface, that is. This is a contemporary tale about love and loss – really it is, stick with it! — and how the past influences the future, and how the future can be brighter than one might think after having lived through various tragedies and injustices over a lifetime. Ove (oo-vuh) is someone you would most likely characterize as crabby and unhappy, much like the “You kids get off my lawn!” persona, until you get to know him much better. Which goal his new neighbor, a very pregnant Iranian woman with a tall blond husband and two young daughters, sets out to achieve. Along the way, I found myself agreeing with Ove on almost every subject about which he had an opinion, and that’s most everything. I also found myself engrossed in the story of Ove’s life and how he coped with and overcame many obstacles that would have crushed a lesser, less focused person. That’s not to say that Ove doesn’t want to give up at times, but I’ll let you discover more about that yourself. Without giving too much away, suffice it to say that Ove is more like an onion than a potato, which latter he eats on a regular basis, and his layers are revealed with humor and heartache in equal parts. I listened to the audio edition of the book which is narrated by American actor George Newbern, who does a wonderful job of giving each character a distinct voice and capturing the blend of bluster and benevolence of “a man called Ove.” (The novel contains occasional swearing and some adult subject matter.)

[ official A Man Called Ove page on the publisher’s official Fredrik Backman web site (author’s own official site is in Swedish) ]

Recommended by Becky W. C.
Walt Branch Library

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The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd
by Agatha Christie

 This is the fourth book in the Poirot series; the detective has recently retired and settled down in an English village, but does not tell anyone of his past profession. However someone figures it out after one of the villagers is murdered and come to him for help. This novel is narrated by his neighbor, the village doctor, who accompanies him throughout the case like Captain Hastings does from time to time. I do really like the stories that are narrated in this way, in the first person, because I feel reminded of the Sherlock stories that are narrated by Watson. Although I did guess correctly at the ending, it still was not a disappointing read. I would really recommend it if you want a good mystery.

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Mysterious Affair at Styles, by Agatha Christie] [ official Murder of Roger Ackroyd page on the official Agatha Christie web site ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

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The Sharknado series on DVD

Sharknado series [DVD Sharknado] 

 

For many years, the Syfy channel on cable, previously known as the SciFi Channel, has been known for two things — the production of fairly high quality science fiction drama series (Farscape, the various Stargate series, Warehouse 13, Eureka, The Dresden Files, Continuum, Battlestar Galactica, Sliders, Alpha, Tremors, etc.), and schlocky, horribly cheesy Saturday Night Movies (Dinocroc vs Supergator, Android Apocalypse, Ghostquake, Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep, and the legendary Mansquito!). In the summer of 2013, a new installment in this series of goofball horror films premiered on the network — Sharknado. as with many of Syfy’s original horror films, the cast was comprised of either former child stars, or B-list and C-list actors. In this case, the lead was Ian Ziering (previously a minor star on Beverly Hills 90210, and featured on an early season of Dancing With the Stars) as Fin Shepard, and Tara Reid as Fin’s ex-wife. A freak storm causes water spouts to suck up huge numbers of man-eating sharks off the coast of southern California and deposit them in flooded areas inland. The storyline is ridiculous, the acting is atrocious, and the special effects are beyond cheesy. And yet…this became one of the most popular of Syfy’s made-for-TV-movies, even earning a DVD release. Syfy has subsequently produced a second and a third film in the series, set in New York, and Washington D.C. respectively, which aired in 2014 (Sharknado 2: The Second One) and 2015 (Sharknado 3: Oh, Hell No!), and a fourth entry is scheduled to premiere July 31st, 2016 (Sharknado: The Fourth Awakens). Ziering continues to be the lead character as Fin, with Reid’s character becoming more prominent as the stories progress. The rest of the casts of each of the films has been comprised, again, by former stars or unknowns. Don’t watch any of these expecting high quality or you’ll be disappointed. Even the filmmakers realize this, going to further and further extremes for their zany “flying sharks” gimmicks. But, if you find yourself invested, even the tiniest bit, in these characters, it’s fun to watch them go through their exaggerated lives. I give the series a rating of “8” not for the quality, which is really more like a “4” or “5”, but instead for its silly entertainment value! Turn your common sense off and enjoy some Sharknado!

[ Internet Movie Database entries for these films ] | [ Syfy’s official Sharknado 4 web site ] 

 

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 website. 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. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!