Book Review: What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

What Moves the Dead
by T. Kingfisher (Kingfisher)

What Moves the Dead is a novella retelling of “The Fall of the House of Usher” that is a delight for readers every step of the way. You (likely) know how things are ultimately going to go, but both the characterization and the sense of place are brilliantly heightened. For me it felt like reading the actual book Dracula for the first time after seeing spin-offs that mimicked the supernatural lore but gave no hint of just how much fun it is to read that story the way it was written.

 

Three character stand out in particular. The unnamed narrator from the Poe story has a name — Lieutenant Alex Easton — and origin as a soldier from a small European nation that carves turnips over their windows and has over a dozen sets of pronouns in their language for cases like referring to children differently from adults and for “sworn soldiers.” Easton is one of these soldier who goes by ka/kan, whatever else might have been used outside of professional soldiering. Ka’s a practical person who has seen a lot in war and isn’t given to fancies, even in gloomy places like this. Ka horse, Hob, doesn’t say anything but is quite the expressive character, at least according to Easton’s inner monologue. (This really felt like Geralt and Roach from the Sapkowski books.) Finally for the stand-out characters, there’s Miss Potter. She’s a naturalist, here in this desolate patch of land to paint mushrooms. (Not Beatrix Potter, but her aunt.) Nothing like an unflappable Englishwoman along for uncanny events. Do yourself a favor and peek at the endpaper art if you see this book on a shelf. Really sets the tone.

 

Recommended for fans of Silvia Moreno-Garcia, or — of course — fans of Edgar Allen Poe.

 

( official What Moves the Dead page on the official T. Kingfisher web site — T. Kingfisher is the pseudonym used by Ursula Vernon for her works for YA and Adults )

 

Recommended by Garren H.
Public Service — Bennett Martin Public Library

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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 reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: The Nature of Middle Earth: Late Writings on the Lands, Inhabitants, and Metaphysics of Middle Earth by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Carl Hostetter

The Nature of Middle Earth: Late Writings on the Lands, Inhabitants, and Metaphysics of Middle Earth
by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Carl Hostetter (823 Tol)

In the years following the publication of The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien continued to explore and develop the concepts in his works, both published and unpublished. His son and literary executor, Christopher Tolkien, asked NASA programmer and amateur linguist Carl Hostetter to edit and prepare for publication a set of manuscripts that came out of these explorations. The result is this book that is alternately fascinating and difficult.

 

The difficulty partly comes from the nature of the material. Even though Tolkien’s texts presented here were mostly hand-written, many of them nonetheless had footnotes accompanying them. Hostetter also often uses footnotes of his own to mention details about the manuscripts, such as emendations Tolkien made on them. The result is that there are places where there are footnotes even within footnotes.

 

The content itself, though, will either be fascinating or unbearably abstruse, depending on the reader’s level of familiarity with Tolkien’s legendarium. Many of the manuscripts deal more with characters and themes in The Silmarillion than with those from The Lord of the Rings. In fact, an appreciation of this book will depend to a large extent on familiarity not only with those works, but also various posthumous books edited by Tolkien’s son Christopher: Unfinished Tales, the twelve-volume History of Middle-earth series, The Children of Hurin, Beren and Luthien, and The Fall of Gondolin.

 

About a third of the book is dedicated to Tolkien’s shifting conception of the relative rates of aging between humans and Elves. But some of the more intriguing texts are very brief (one or two pages). Here we see Tolkien’s thoughts on the Elves’ “mental communication,” whether or not Elves reincarnate, and which species have beards, and many other details. Many of these writings grew out of linguistic notes on the Elvish languages, and so this information is spread intermittently throughout the book as well.

 

Whether this book should be considered an essential read depends on what kind of approach you take to reading Tolkien. If you read Tolkien only for the adventure and your favorite characters, this book may not be for you. But if you are the kind of reader who analyzes the grammar of the Ring inscription, then yes, this book should be considered essential reading.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien: the Illustrated Encyclopaedia by David Day, The Atlas of Middle-Earth by Karen Wynn Fonstad or The History of The Hobbit (Parts 1 and 2) by John D. Rateliff.)

 

( Wikipedia entry on The Nature of Middle Earth )

 

Recommended by Peter J.
Virtual Services Department

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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 reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: Around the World in 80 Days (2021)

Around the World in 80 Days (2021)
(DVD Around)

Masterpiece Theatre has given us some of the best British drama productions through WGBH Boston on PBS. Around the World in 80 Days (2021) is another fine chapter in the Masterpiece book.  This eight-part adaptation stars David Tennent (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire), as Phileas Fogg.  Tennent is also listed as one of the Executive Producers.  In short, Phileas Fogg makes a bet with a fellow member of The Reform Club in London, that he can circumnavigate the globe in 80 days.  Each episode deals with a section of his trip that is either perilous or hindering his progress.

I love the 1956 David Niven film of “Around the World” but mostly because of all the star cameos. I haven’t read the book yet, so I can’t speak to how true this current production is to Jules Verne’s novel, but I can tell you I was involved and entertained in this show.  Even though I know the events and outcome this film did a fine job of providing tense action and apprehension for the characters.  I was very nervous at the end as Fogg, his French valet Passepartout, and Fix, his chronicler, are dashing to The Reform Club in a last minute, desperate attempt to meet the deadline.

Season One gives us the story of Around the World in 80 Days, while focusing on the personal growth of Fogg.  I really enjoyed this interpretation, and loved the opening graphics and soundtrack.  I highly recommend this series, and if you wish to binge the shows you need to set aside only one eight-hour day to do so.

It’s implied that Season Two will place the trio in the world of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea but no official word, trailers, nor release date have been provided yet.

(Also available in traditional print format.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Public Service — Bennett Martin Public Library

 

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

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 reviewer’s recommendations!

Music Book Review: Titans of Bass: The Tactics, Habits and Routines From Over 130 of the World's Best by K.J. Jensen

Titans of Bass: The Tactics, Habits and Routines From Over 130 of the World’s Best
by K.J. Jensen (Music 787.878 Jen)

 

Musical instruments sometimes get associated with certain personality types. This happens in both classical and pop music worlds to some extent, and I don’t know that there’s really that much truth to those stereotypes, but nevertheless they persist. Let’s look at a typical rock band’s instruments by personality, for example: we expect the singer to be charismatic and a leader, of course. Guitar players probably come next in terms of charisma, often expected to play impressive solos. Drummers may be in back, but they have such a full-body physical job that we often notice when they’re flashy. Keyboard players are maybe thought of as kind of nerdy or subdued traditionally, but that’s changing now that so much music is based on laptop electronics.

 

And then we have bass players: they seem to be associated with a pretty quiet personality, the calm in the center of the proverbial storm. And maybe they go unnoticed by a lot of folks. Again, this is a stereotype, and there are lots of bass players who have been prominent bandleaders, from Les Claypool, Sting and Meshell Ndegeocello in rock and pop, to Charles Mingus, Esperanza Spalding and Stanley Clarke in jazz, and many more. But it’s true that bass players have an all-important focus on keeping time and setting the pulse and feel for the whole bands they’re playing with. Where other instrumentalists get to play with time, pushing and pulling against it, bass players are the foundation making that possible.

 

Here at the Polley Music Library, we have lots of books on how to play bass, bass technique, approaches for different styles, and biographies of many bass players across lots of genres. But there’s a great book on our new arrivals shelf that I want to highlight today that takes a fresh approach to the instrument. It’s called Titans of Bass: The Tactics, Habits and Routines From Over 130 of the World’s Best by K.J. Jensen, and while it’s a great book for beginners or folks who have just been thinking about playing bass to get started with before they even find an instrument, there are also a lot of great ideas in here for more experienced players to consider.

 

The book’s structure is kind of unique, building on the system of printed books with online supplementary content that’s starting to become common with instructional books for music. There is a “How to Use This Book” instruction found just after a short foreword by bassist Tony Levin, and it’s pretty simple to follow: the author has created a website (bassguitarbeginner.com), a “Titans of Bass” Facebook group, and a “Titans of Bass” YouTube channel. The premise of the book is that you follow a series of daily prompts that will direct you to these other resources, and the book will take you through two weeks of thinking about and learning about the bass at an elementary level. In Chapter 1, author Jensen explains his intentions with this system: “This journey is not to make you a bass virtuoso like Victor Wooten overnight. I want to see if the bass is for you. I don’t want you to buy thousands of dollars of gear that collects dust and never gets used.”

 

Some of the supplementary material might not be quite ready, though. I went to the website and there doesn’t seem to be a live registration section yet like the book describes, nor is there a download of the bass part for “Midnight Special,” which would be an important part of following the two week goal laid out in the book. Looking at the Titans of Bass YouTube channel, as of this writing (August 16), several of those videos for the book appear to have been uploaded only yesterday, so maybe the supplementary material rollout is ongoing. The Facebook group referenced in the book exists, but has had no real activity yet, other than a couple of people asking if they’ve made it to the right place.

 

In general, though, even if all of the web-based material was ready, its focus is entirely on those new to playing bass. Over the course of the two weeks, the goal will be to learn how to play one tune, “Midnight Special,” record yourself playing it along with a backing track, and play a “mini-concert” for friends and family on the 14th day. The tune only requires three notes, so it’s mostly about getting comfortable handling the instrument and trying to groove, which of course are the key elements for being a solid bass player. From this perspective, this is a good book to read if you’ve been thinking about playing bass but haven’t made the commitment yet. A couple of weeks with this book should help you to decide if you’re ready to fully pursue the instrument.

 

While the structure of the physical book guides readers through this 2-week program, with 15 chapters that correspond to the 15 videos, I think the book has a wider range of appeal than just beginning bass players. If you ignore the online material, this isn’t an instructional book, but more of an inspirational book that celebrates bass playing and some of the greatest living bass players. Jensen’s strength as an interviewer is what makes the book interesting to me. He conducted interviews with 131 of his favorite bassists — organized in groups throughout the book as the “Titans of Bass” — and most of the book’s contents are made by Jensen asking questions in his own narrative, which are answered by a series of quotations from the many bassists interviewed for the book. The “Bass Titans” themselves are featured in blocks throughout the book, with photos and brief biographies for each player, and these sections alone are a great way to find out about some cool bassists you might have missed over the years. It’s a pretty good mix of artists from rock, jazz, blues, pop, folk, and metal genres, though the list is somewhat limited by those the author was able to conduct interviews with. One can find out a little about more bassists in Chapter/Day 11, though, which discusses the “bass heroes of the Titans,” where we can finally read a little bit about folks like Jaco and Bootsy.

 

While the questions that Jensen has posed to his many interview subjects all tend to be aimed at beginners, discussing things like choosing a first bass, whether or not to use a pick, and the basics of tone and groove, I think these also have an appeal for bass players at any level. And in particular, there’s many pages of quotes in the Day 12 section that address the question, “What’s the best advice anyone has given you regarding learning the bass?” The answers are generally looking at big-picture concepts, but it’s a lot of great advice that has helped many of the best players in the world with their own progress. There are some great ideas in here.

 

So even if you’re already a skilled bass player, there’s some useful inspiring material in here. It’s like getting to hang out with some of the best players in the world for an afternoon for some mutual support. And for those just thinking about picking up a bass, you’ll get a sense of what it will be like to get started for a two-week trial period. I wish more instruments came with some similar kind of 2-week immersion into the general fundamentals and culture around playing them!

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Beginning Bass for Adults: The Grown-up Approach to Playing Bass by David Overthrow, Bass 101: A Contemporary Approach to Playing Bass by Ron Manus or Play Bass Today! by Chris Kringel.)

 

( publisher’s official Titans of Bass web page )

 

Recommended by Scott S.
Polley Music Library

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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 reviewer’s recommendations!

Check out this, and all the other great music resources, at the Polley Music Library, located on the 2nd floor of the Bennett Martin Public Library at 14th & "N" St. in downtown Lincoln. You'll find biographies of musicians, books about music history, instructional books, sheet music, CDs, music-related magazines, and much more. Also check out Polley Music Library Picks, the Polley Music Library's e-mail newsletter, and follow them on Facebook!

Audiobook Review: Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth and the Trials of American Democracy by Jamie Raskin

Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth and the Trials of American Democracy
by Jamie Raskin (Compact Disc Biography Raskin)

Jamie Raskin is the Maryland Congressman whose son, Tommy, committed suicide December 31, 2020 after a lifelong battle with depression. Raskin was back in Congress on January 6, the day after burying his son, to certify the 2020 Presidential election results and was in the capitol building during the attack by the insurgents. Later, he was the lead impeachment manager for President Trump’s second impeachment trial.

 

This is the eloquent story of his son’s life and struggle with depression, Raskin’s personal experience during the January 6 attack, and the preparation for “Impeachment 2.0” – each of these being an “unthinkable” event on their own let alone all three at once.

 

I very much enjoyed listening to Raskin read his own book. It felt as if we were chatting over coffee as he told me everything that came about. The grief at his son’s death is palpable; the danger faced by members of congress on January 6 was stunning; and the planning, depth of information, and organization of the impeachment trial was riveting.

 

Unthinkable is a longer book at 12 discs (most books are 6-8 discs) but, regardless of the length, I was still disappointed when the story ended. This fascinating read stayed with me for several days.

 

( publisher’s official Unthinkable web page ) | ( official Congressman Jamie Raskin web site )

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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 reviewer’s recommendations!

New BookTalks Booklists: Once Upon a Crime - True Crime book discussion group

Are you aware of the Once Upon a Crime book group, which started at the Gere Branch Library in the Fall of 2021, and continues there on a monthly basis?

This group is all about True Crime books, DVDs and podcasts. Each month has a specific "theme". This group is designed to be partially "presentation" style, and partially "participation" style. A team of three Gere staff members are the hosts, and every month each of them will provide a detailed description of one or more books on the monthly focus theme, plus give out a prepared handout with even more recommended reads. Before the end of the meeting, attendees are all given an opportunity to make recommendations of additional True Crime books, audiobooks, and podcasts to the assembled group members.

 

Check out the complete lists of prepared handouts from past Once Upon a Crime (OUaC) meetings in 2021 and early 2022, in these bookstalk booklists on the Lincoln City Libraries' BookGuide reader resources pages at the following links:

OUaC: All in the (Manson) Family: Cult Crimes
OUaC: And You Thought Your Co-Pay Was Bad: Medical Crimes
OUaC: Blood Red Carpet: Hollywood Crimes
OUaC: Cornhusker Crimes: True Crime Cases in Nebraska
OUaC: Don't Be Yourself: Identity Crimes
OUaC: March Madness: Irish Crimes
OUaC: Satanic Panic
OUaC: To Err is Human, to Arr is Pirate: Pirate Crimes
OUaC: With Friends Like These: Friends Who Kill

Book Review: The Princess Bride by William Goldman

The Princess Bride (S. Morgenstern’s Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure…the “good parts” version)
the original novel by William Goldman (Goldman)

If you’ve only ever seen the 1987 movie version of this story, and not read this novel, you’re missing out on a lot. The Princess Bride originally came out in 1973, and author William Goldman, also the famed screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, All the President’s Men, and many more noteworthy films, almost immediately wrote his own screenplay adaptation for the movie. That screen then languished, unproduced, for over a dozen years.

There are definitely some distinct differences between the novel and the film versions of the story. And, it also depends on which edition of the book you get your hands on — there’s the original 1973, and then there are both a 25th Anniversary edition, with new content, and a 30th Anniversary edition, with still more new content. All of these feature one major structural difference from the film — author Goldman inserts himself in the story, in the form of extensive editorial “interruptions” and “explanations”. Goldman’s conceit is that he is doing a massive abridgement to a classic novel, published by the legendary Florinese author S. Morgenstern — Goldman claims to have enjoyed his own father reading the tale to him as a child, only to discover that Dad cut out all the boring, exposition bits and only read aloud the exciting plot-propelling bits. Goldman also pulls on our heartstrings with a sentimental story about his own son (which turns out all to be fictional). Goldman has proposed to his publisher that they reprint the original novel by Morgenstern, but he’ll do an abridgement to “just the fun parts”.

When adapted to the Rob Reiner film, this “framing device” is turned into Grandfather Peter Falk reading the original fairytale/novel to Grandson Fred Savage. But, while that ends up being a minor, humorous element of the film, Goldman’s editorial interruptions to the novel are constant, lengthy and continuous, making The Princess Bride almost a novel within a novel within a novel. Never-the-less, the humor is about the same in both novel and film, so if you’re looking for “true love”, adventure, pirates, villainous noblemen, mad magicians, swordplay, cliff-climbing, poison, rodents of unusual size, giants who like to rhyme, matters of honor and revenge, and the definition of what “As You Wish” really means, you’ll still love this book.

The 25th and 30th editions each have extended new author/edition introductions by Goldman, giving lengthy explanations for what has happened with the editing/printing of book in the years since the original 1973 version, including what Stephen King has to do with the story — and touching on the making of the movie. Some editions also include the first chapter of what was supposed to be a sequel to The Princess Bride, Buttercup’s Baby, with additional author/editor notes explaining why only the opening chapter has thus far been published. Author Goldman passed away in 2018, with plans to expanded Buttercup’s Baby into a full novel sadly unrealized.

While the film The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favorites, and gets an unabashed rating of “10” from me, I’m only giving this novel an “8”. While I enjoyed how much fun Goldman has in playing around with the structure of a parody of adventure/fantasy literature, his constant editorial interruptions to talk about how he’s cutting chunks of Morgenstern’s original story that would slow down the story…have the very effect of slowing down the story anyway! And, there’s a couple of casual ethnic slurs that seem uncomfortably inappropriate for contemporary readers. Still a great read anyway!

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the 1987 film The Princess Bride directed by Rob Reiner. Also, actor Cary Elwes’ autobiographical book As You Wish about the making of this film — I particularly enjoyed this as an audiobook, read by Elwes and many of the other cast members of the film!)

( Wikipedia entry for the novel The Princess Bride ) | ( Wikipedia entry for William Goldman )

See Kristen A.’s review of the movie The Princess Bride in the December 2012 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
See Scott C.’s review of Cary Elwes’ book As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales From the Making of the Princess Bride in the July 2015 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

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 reviewer’s recommendations!

New BookTalks Booklist: ALA Notables from 2021 with Library Director Pat Leach

 

Did you know that Library Director Pat Leach is retiring on August 31st?

It seems only appropriate to share the latest installment in her annual bookstalks about the American Library Association list of Notable Books, on this, the Sunday before Pat leaves us.

On March 24th, 2022 at the South Branch BooksTalks, and at the April 6, 2022 Lunch at the Library session at the downtown library, Library Director Pat Leach presented her annual "American Library Association Notable Books" talk, featuring titles from that annually-published list that were released in 2021.

You can see a list of the items Pat discussed at:

ALA Notable Books - published in 2021

Interested in being added to an e-mail list for notifications about future In-Person or Online Book Talks? Visit our E-mail Groups Sign-Up page to sign up!

DVD Review: Spider-Man: No Way Home

Spider-Man: No Way Home
(DVD Spider-Man)

It is not hyperbole when I say that this 2021 release may very well be the best film in the interconnected Marvel Cinematic Universe, which is filled with over 30 films already. It is also a film that could only have existed after a lengthy and complicated series of previous cinematic interpretations of the Spider-Man mythology. Tom Holland returns as teenager Peter Parker, our web-slinging superhero. But he’s got a problem – at the end of the previous film in his series, Spider-Man: Far From Home, he — *SPOILER ALERT* — managed to defeat the bad guy Mysterio, but Mysterio revealed to the world that Spider-Man’s secret identity was Parker. This has wreaked havoc on Peter’s life. So, as Spider-Man: No Way Home begins, Peter turns to fellow superhero, Stephen “Doctor” Strange, master of the mystic arts, to ask if Doctor Strange can do something mystically that will cause everyone to forget that Peter is Spider-Man. However, when Peter’s neuroses cause him to interrupt the complicated spell with caveats, the results turn chaotic.

 

Soon, Peter’s reality is visited by villains from other, parallel timelines – villains faced by other versions of Spider-Man (in previous films starring Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield) – Doctor Octopus, The Green Goblin, Sandman, Electro. Then the other two Spider-Men also show up. Strange’s interrupted spell has fractured reality – causing the “multiverse” of parallel universe/timelines to start crossing over or overlapping with each other.

 

This storytelling device allows the series Marvel Cinematic Universe films to absorb the continuity of the earlier Sony films that told varying different “origin” stories for Spider-Man. And for long-time fans, seeing Holland, Maguire and Andrews’ versions of Peter Parker all interacting and working to solve a major problem together is sheer nerdvana. But this film doesn’t simply pay fannish lip-service in crossing over these various iterations – Spider-Man: No Way Home tells a very serious life-and-death story, that in many ways reboots the entire Spider-Man cinematic storytelling universe from this point onwards.

 

The performances are all excellent, the effects work is superb (though I didn’t think the “Sandman” effects were as good as everything else). And the music and sound effects are incredible. Fans who have been following Spider-Man for decades (he first appeared in the comic books in 1962) will appreciate all the “Easter Eggs” and in-jokes, and those who’ve only started with this character in his latest film incarnation should find the dip into his history to be fascinating. My only big complaint is that one major version of Spider-Man was ignored – from 1978 to 1979 Nicholas Hammond starred as Peter Parker on CBS TV in 14 episodes of the live-action “The Amazing Spider-Man”. I really would have liked to have seen some acknowledgment of that series, the only live-action Spider-Man not acknowledged, in the appearance of multiple Spider-Mans in Spider-Man: No Way Home. But then I’m just a geek at heart. At least my favorite Spidey villain, Alfred Molina as “Doc Ock”, has a major role to play, and even gets a redemption arc following his earlier perfidy.

 

Highly recommended – and this film really kick-starts a series of Marvel Multiverse films and TV shows, including 2022’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try all the previous versions of Spider-Man in feature films and television, including those starring Tobey Maguire, Andrew Garfield or the 1970s TV series “The Amazing Spider-Man” starring Nicholas Hammond — which can be tracked down online.)

 

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official Spider-Man: No Way Home web site )

 

See where the Spider-Man: No Way Home film falls in the continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the If You Like…Superheroes in Film and TV booklist here on BookGuide!
See Kim J.’s review of the 2002 Tobey Maguire film Spider-Man in the October 2020 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!
See Kim J’s Review of the 2002 Tom Holland film Spider-Man: Far From Home in the September 2020 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

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

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 reviewer’s recommendations!

New Booklist on BookGuide: HerStory - Women Heroes of WWII

Are you interested in the real-life histories of the many women who were unsung heroes of the World War II era? Would you like to learn more about women like Noor Inayat Khan, Hannie Schaft, Mildred Harnack, Ola Mildred Rexroat, Elizebeth Smith, Dita Kraus, Nancy Love, Odette Sansom, Aline Griffith, Irene Sendler, Vera Atkins, and more?

If so, then you'll want to check out the recent HerStory: Women Heroes of WWII booklist addition to the libraries BookGuide readers advisory resources. Inspired by a new list on the A Mighty Girl website, we expanded on their titles, to offer up as many as 75 recommended reading suggestions for those who are fascinated by this historical topic!

Check out this new booklist on BookGuide at the following link:

HerStory: Books About Women Heroes of WWII