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Dec 28, 2015

Thumbprint - Friedrich Glauser

Summary: The death of a travelling salesman in the forest of Gerzenstein appears to be an open and shut case. Sergeant Studer is confronted with an obvious suspect and a confession to the murder. But nothing is what it seems. Envy, hated, sexual abuse and the corrosive power of money lie just beneath the surface. Studer's investigation soon splinters the glassy facade of Switzerland's tidy villages, manicured forests and seemingly placid citizens. - (Blackwell North Amer)

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Bitter Lemon Press launches a new crime series devoted to non-English-language writers with Friedrich Glausner's 1936 novel, Thumbprint, translated from the German by Mike Mitchell. What appears to be a routine case-the murder of a traveling salesman in a Swiss forest-proves anything but for cantonal policeman Studer. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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Dec 4, 2015

Infinite home - Kathleen Alcott

Infinite homeSummary: Edith is a widowed landlady who rents apartments in her Brooklyn brownstone to an unlikely collection of humans, all deeply in need of shelter. Crippled in various ways--in spirit, in mind, in body, in heart--the renters struggle to navigate daily existence, and soon come to realize that Edith's deteriorating mind, and the menacing presence of her estranged, unscrupulous son, Owen, is the greatest challenge they must confront together.

Booklist Reviews

In a funky Brooklyn apartment building, where each door is painted a different color, widowed landlord Edith mourns her long-dead husband, Declan; misses her long-gone daughter, Jenny; and cowers in fear during rare visits from her son, Owen. The misfit tenants living around her are aware of all this, as well as Edith's deteriorating mental and physical condition. Ex-comic Edward teams with erstwhile lodger Claudia, whose mentally challenged brother, Paulie, worships them both. Upstairs, recovering stroke victim Thomas gives up his art to draw the reclusive Adeline out of her agoraphobic shell, across the hall, and into his bed. When the tenants receive an eviction notice from Owen, each tries, in his or her own way, to save their home, Edith, and ultimately themselves. Alcott reveals stories of each character through staccato pacing that builds from whimsy to woe to redemption through the course of a delectably subtle yet sublimely fierce study of many forms of bravery and loyalty. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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Thirteen ways of looking: fict - Colum McCann


Thirteen ways of looking : fictionSummary: A story collection includes the title novella, in which an octogenarian retired judge's musings on his life are interrupted by police updates about his murder later that afternoon.

Kirkus Reviews

A superbly crafted and deeply moving collection of fiction, with a provocative back story. The Irish-born, New York-based McCann (who won the 2009 National Book Award for Let the Great World Spin) here offers four pieces of fiction that focus on the process of writing and the interplay between art and its inspiration. As he writes in a concluding Author's Note, "Every word we write is autobiographical, perhaps most especially when we attempt to avoid the autobiographical. For all its imagined moments, literature works in unimaginable ways." He provides literary framing with the title, evoking the oft-cited Wallace Stevens poem. As for autobiography: the title novella's multilayered narrative evokes an incident that—amazingly—happened to McCann after he wrote the story, in which he was cold-cocked on the sidewalk by a stranger in a seemingly senseless attack. The story's protagonist is an aged judge of failing body but nimble mind who has just had dinner with his b oorish son when he's assaulted on the street. The story is told in the third person, but most of it hews closely to the judge's point of view. As he ponders his mortality, he muses, "Give life long enough and it will solve all your problems, even the problem of being alive." Other perspectives come from a series of seemingly omnipresent security cameras—in the judge's apartment, in the public areas of his Upper East Side building, and in the restaurant where he has dinner with his son; their images are investigated after the attack by detectives whose work McCann compares with literary critics interpreting a poem. The three other stories are shorter, often involving a crime or a loss or a threat of some sort, with the writer's presence most evident in "What Time Is It Now, Where Are You?," which begins, "He had agreed in spring to write a short story for the New Year's Eve edition of a newspaper magazine," and then proceeds through possible variations of that story. "S h 'khol" explores similarities between a story the protagonist has translated and a possible tragedy she's facing. The closing "Treaty" has an activist nun of advanced years and unreliable memory disturbed by images of a man who brutalized her almost four decades earlier. The author's first collection of shorter fiction in more than a decade underscores his reputation as a contemporary master. Copyright Kirkus 2015 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved

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Swamplandia! - Karen Russell

Swamplandia!
Summary: This novel takes us to the swamps of the Florida Everglades, and introduces us to Ava Bigtree, an unforgettable young heroine. The Bigtree alligator wrestling dynasty is in decline, and Swamplandia!, their island home and gator wrestling theme park, formerly no. 1 in the region, is swiftly being encroached upon by a fearsome and sophisticated competitor called the World of Darkness. Ava's mother, the park's indomitable headliner, has just died; her sister, Ossie, has fallen in love with a spooky character known as the Dredgeman, who may or may not be an actual ghost; and her brilliant big brother, Kiwi, who dreams of becoming a scholar, has just defected to the World of Darkness in a last ditch effort to keep their family business from going under. Ava's father, affectionately known as Chief Bigtree, is AWOL; and that leaves Ava, a resourceful but terrified thirteen-year-old, to manage ninety eight gators as well as her own grief. Against a backdrop of hauntingly fecund plant life animated by ancient lizards and lawless hungers, the author has written a novel about a family's struggle to stay afloat in a world that is inexorably sinking.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Russell's lavishly imagined and spectacularly crafted first novel sprang from a story in her highly praised collection, St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves (2006). Swamplandia! is a shabby tourist attraction deep in the Everglades, owned by the Bigtree clan of alligator wrestlers. When Hilola, their star performer, dies, her husband and children lose their moorings, and Swamplandia! itself is endangered as audiences dwindle. The Chief leaves. Brother Kiwi, 17, sneaks off to work at the World of Darkness, a new mainland amusement park featuring the "rings of hell." Otherworldly sister Osceola, 16, vanishes after falling in love with the ghost of a young man who died while working for the ill-fated Dredge and Fill Campaign in the 1930s. It's up to Ava, 13, to find her sister, and her odyssey to the Underworld is mythic, spellbinding, and terrifying. Russell's powers reside in her profound knowledge of the great imperiled swamp, from its alligators and insects, floating orchids and invasive "strangler" melaleuca trees to the tragic history of its massacred indigenous people and wildlife. Ravishing, elegiac, funny, and brilliantly inquisitive, Russell's archetypal swamp saga tells a mystical yet rooted tale of three innocents who come of age through trials of water, fire, and air. Copyright 2010 Booklist Reviews.

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Dec 3, 2015

Modern Romance - Aziz Ansari

Modern Romance - Ansari, Aziz

Summary:The acclaimed comedian teams up with a New York University sociologist to explore the nature of modern relationships, evaluating how technology is shaping contemporary relationships and considering the differences between courtships of the past and present.

Booklist Reviews
Stand-up comedian Ansari has some interesting things to say about dating in our technology-saturated age. It is reasonable for readers to expect a narrative peppered with humorous snark and mock outrage (and his timing in this regard is quite good), but he has actually conducted considerable research and consulted with experts, pursuits that elevate his book above the typical lightweight comedic venture to an exceedingly relevant exploration of romance in our texting, online-dating, smartphone-driven society. Ansari's jokes, often drawn from real-life experiences, complement his in-depth look at the overload of information singles struggle through when seeking a soul mate. Texts are rife with overanalysis, a blind date means hours of Google searches, and dating web sites leave users wondering if there's someone better around the next virtual corner. Like so many other aspects of twenty-first-century life, dating has become a lot of work. Ansari's main takeaway: just go out on a date! The romantic landscape may have changed, but a good date still matters. An "investigation" full of valuable advice, and a lot of fun to boot. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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Goodnight mind : turn off your noisy thoughts and get a good night's sleep - Colleen Carney

Goodnight mind : turn off your noisy thoughts and get a good night's sleep

Summary: Presents a guide to restful sleep, offering evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy techniques to help readers overcome insomnia. - (Baker & Taylor)

Library Journal Reviews

Carney (director, Sleep & Depression Laboratory, Ryerson Univ., Toronto) and Manber (director, Insomnia & Behavioral Sleep Medicine Program, Stanford Univ.) have written a book for patrons with sleep issues such as insomnia. They outline ten steps for stopping one's thoughts from interfering with sleep. This book utilizes cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, a form of psychotherapy that developed from research on fatigue and sleep disorders. The ten chapters contain bulleted summaries for review. After the first chapter explains how to understand the sleep system, the majority of the book focuses on setting the stage for sleep, creating a "Buffer Zone" for dealing with your day, training on how to quiet your mind, and relaxation strategies. At the end of the book is a sleep diary. VERDICT Filled with practical, expert advice, this book will be of use to anyone suffering from insomnia or other sleep issues. An excellent fit for patrons vigilant about their health and well-being.—Rebecca Raszewski, Univ. of Illinois Lib., Chicago

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Dreamblood Series - N.K. Jemisin

The killing moon
Summary: In a city where Gatherers harvest the magic of the sleeping mind and use it to judge the corrupt, Ehiru, the most famous of the city's Gatherers, learns that he must protect the woman he was sent to kill or watch the city be devoured by forbidden magic. - (Baker & Taylor)
Publishers Weekly Reviews

Jemisin's gripping series launch immerses readers in an unfamiliar but enthralling world as well as a rousing political and supernatural adventure. In Gujaareh, a city-state reminiscent of ancient Egypt (though the differences far outnumber the similarities), dreams are the source of magic, and it is Gatherer Ehiru's job to collect the mystical life-giving dreamblood from the dying—and those deemed too "corrupt" to live. Devout and loyal, Ehiru is slow to accept that heretical evil lurks behind Gujaareh's unblemished facade; only after encountering Sunandi, a foreign spy who is far less naïve about Gujaareh's "mad bitch" goddess and her unscrupulous worshippers, does Ehiru begin to glimpse the rot that extends up to the pinnacle of Gujaareh's social pyramid. As a hideous monster preys on the innocent, Ehiru's faith is tested in a crisis of world-shaking proportions. Rather than merely appropriating various details from Earth's past and present, Jemisin (the Inheritance Trilogy) has created a fully developed secondary world that is an organic whole. Agent: Lucienne Diver, the Knight Agency. (May)

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A Dave Brubeck Christmas (CD)


Brubeck delivers a cool-jazz Christmas album that you'll have to break out year after year. It's just him at the piano on this 1996 recording, bringing class and joy to Santa Claus Is Coming to Town; Winter Wonderland; Away in a Manger; Joy to the World; The Christmas Song; Jingle Bells , and more. You're also treated to two Brubeck originals: To Us Is Given and Run, Run, Run to Bethlehem !

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Dec 1, 2015

How to watch a movie - David Thomson

Summary: "With customary candor and wit, Thomson delivers keen analyses of a range of films from classics such as Psycho and Citizen Kane to contemporary fare such as 12 Years a Slave and All Is Lost, revealing how to more deeply appreciate both the artistry and (yes) manipulation of film, and how watching movies approaches something like watching life itself."--Amazon.com.

Booklist Reviews

Per film-critic and author extraordinaire Thomson (Why Acting Matters, 2015), although movies may have simply been entertainment for the first 60 years, their intent and purpose have steadily grown, along with their technical capability, ensuring we leave many movies not just smiling but also thinking. Thomson backs his suppositions here with discussions of movies from such great filmmakers as Hitchcock, Sturges, Welles, and more; the advent of sound; the promises—broken or kept—of storytelling; and the true person behind a movie's success. All components are thoughtfully pondered and poetically covered. Filled with analysis and musings, the book's coverage is fascinating, wide ranging (from art to critics), and immensely knowledgeable, with no aspect of filmmaking, or contributors to same, slighted in analysis. Readers ranging from filmmakers to movie buffs will learn much here. As Thomson notes, "The movies did one potent thing: they broadcast the sight and sound of beautiful people in situations of exceptional and unsettling intimacy." No wonder we like to watch. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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The obstacle is the way - Ryan Holiday


Summary: "A guide not just for overcoming the obstacles that hold us back-but for using them for great benefit The great Athenian orator Demosthenes was born with a crippling speech impediment and was robbed of his inheritance by cruel guardians. Samuel Zemurraywas a poor roadside fruit peddler pitted against the behemoth United Fruit Company. Ulysses S. Grant found himself stuck across the Mississippi river, desperately trying to break into the impenetrable fortress of Vicksburg. These icons and many others throughout history-from John D. Rockefeller to Amelia Earhart to Richard Wright to Steve Jobs-were often placed in nearly impossible situations that turned out to be the platforms for astounding triumphs. They were not exceptionally brilliant, lucky, or gifted. Their success in overcoming extreme obstacles was the result of a timeless set of philosophical principles that great men and women have always followed. Now Ryan Holiday unpacks those lessons and reframes them for today's world, building on the wisdom of the ancient Stoics and a rich trove of examples. He shows us how to turn obstacles into advantages, through controlling our perceptions, swift and energetic action, and true force of will"-- Provided by publisher.


Publishers Weekly Reviews

Since Jiang Zemin's state visit to Africa in 1996 and his subsequent call to Chinese businesses to "go out" in search of opportunities abroad, China's trade with Africa has grown dramatically, today surpassing its trade with either Europe or the U.S. But China's investments, including massive building projects, are less significant for this rapidly evolving relationship, according to this 15-country survey by veteran African correspondent French (A Continent for the Taking), than the significant flow of new Chinese immigrants—often pushed out by the pressure and oppression back home as much as lured by opportunity. In vivid first-person reportage, French explores this momentous phenomenon, while challenging assumptions about China and Chinese immigrants. Lively interviews with Chinese entrepreneurs, African workers, politicians, and others reveal an already advanced socioeconomic and political landscape. Casual racism, strife between Chinese employers and native African workers, grassroots protests against Chinese inroads into markets, and political demagoguery exist side by side. Contrary to China's official disclaimers, this relationship—based on acquisition of resources but also the securing of new markets for Chinese goods—bears a striking resemblance to Western colonialism. The book will appeal to students of China and Africa, and anyone interested in the shifting contours of the global economy and its geopolitical consequences. (May)

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Emmy & Oliver - Robin Benway

Summary: "Sheltered seventeen-year-old Emmy's childhood best friend Oliver reappears after disappearing with his father ten years ago"-- Provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews

Emmy and Oliver, next-door neighbors born on the same day, had been best friends since birth. When they were seven, Oliver's dad kidnapped him from school, and the world changed immediately. Scarred lives and altered relationships are front and center while everyone tries to maintain a sense of normality. That uneasy status quo suddenly is tested by Oliver's return 10 years later. No one is certain how to handle what was always hoped for, but little by little, as Emmy makes her way into Oliver's life, the healing begins. This coming-of-age tale with a twist is filled with emotional wounds that are deep and painful and conversations that are awkward and revealing. Rather than focusing solely on Emmy and Oliver's relationship, Benway fearlessly examines the effects of loss and return from every perspective: Oliver, his friends, his mother and her new family, Emmy's parents. Hope, confusion, frustration, and love coexist without shame as teens and parents come to grips with the realization that nothing stays the same no matter how desperately we want it to. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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The stupidest angel - Christopher Moore


The stupidest angel: a heartwarming tale of Christmas terror - Moore, Christopher

Summary: When a boy witnesses the murder of a portly, Scrooge-like real-estate developer, he believes the victim is Santa Claus and wishes for the man's recovery, and when the haphazard angel, Raziel, grants the wish, unexpected occurrences result.


BookPage Reviews
A dose of holiday jeer
Most Christmas novels suffer from an overabundance of sweetness or a glut of requisite miracle making. Not Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel. In fact, Moore starts off with a tongue-in-cheek warning claiming it may not be the best gift for the grandmother or child on your list. Then again, if your intended isn't afraid of satiric one-liners, twisted small-town goings-on and zombies intent on Christmas cheer, then maybe Moore's latest is the best present out there. In fact, it's more of an anti-Christmas story than anything else, meaning he does a good job of sending up the genre, shaking up all that is normally accepted—heavenly angels, red-cheeked children, eggnog by the fire—yet still creating a place and a cast of characters that is entirely festive and spirit-filled. Not for the faint of heart, The Stupidest Angel is wild in its telling (stoner lawmen, Vicodin-drenched fruitcake) and fantastical in tone (the cemetery dead trade barbs) but most definitely original and likely to join Moore's other books on the list of cult favorites. Copyright 2004 BookPage Reviews.

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Little robot - Ben Hatke

Summary: "When a little girl finds an adorable robot in the woods, she presses a button and accidentally activates him for the first time. Now, she finally has a friend. But the big, bad robots are coming to collect the little guy for nefarious purposes, and it's all up to a five-year-old armed only with a wrench and a fierce loyalty to her mechanical friend to save the day!" -- provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* A small child sneaks out of her house, ready for another day of neighborhood adventures, but she finds an unexpected friend when she crosses paths with a lost robot. Together, they explore the forest, play games, and provide each other with much needed fun and companionship. All appears to be lost when a monstrous metal scout finds the missing robot and returns it to a nearby factory, but both learn that true friends don't give up so easily. This nearly wordless graphic novel delivers a classic friendship story in a nuanced yet lively package that will resonate with young readers. As with previous works, Hatke has created a perfectly balanced story of adventure, danger, and loyalty with charming illustrations that reward careful readers with small details conveying surprising depth. Bright colors and a variety of panel sizes provide extra visual appeal while reflecting the dynamic energy of the well-plotted story. While all these elements combine to make this a fully realized world, especially delightful is the range of emotions portrayed by the wee robot with each new experience. Subtly inventive in both vision and execution, this one begs to be read again and again. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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Need - Joelle Charbonneau

Summary: "In this exploration of the dark side of social media, and government control and manipulation, the teenagers in a small town are drawn deeper and deeper into a social networking site that promises to grant their every need--regardless of the consequences"-- Provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews

Best-selling Charbonneau's newest thriller examines the dark side of social media. When 16-year-old Kaylee's friend introduces her to NEED, a new social networking site that's giving teens exactly what they say they need in exchange for them completing a task, Kaylee is quick to participate. What she needs is a new kidney for her brother, who won't live long without one. But things quickly escalate to a fever pitch. Told in first-person chapters from Kaylee's point of view and third-person chapters focused on other teens in her community, this is a fast-paced read that teens antsy to untangle the mystery will devour. At times, the premise stretches plausibility, particularly when only Kaylee seems to grow suspicious as the body count ramps up. Some teens may be turned off by the portrayal of their generation as having so little conscience, while others may find it right on the mark. Hand to teens looking for a thought-provoking, timely thriller. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Charbonneau has an ample audience, and odds are good they will be eager for this one, which has all the excitement of a summer blockbuster. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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To have and to hold : an intimate history of collectors and collecting - Philipp Blom

A history of the human drive to collect things considers how various objects carry meanings of significance to their collectors, tracing popular items of pursuit during the Renaissance and other eras while discussing the themes underlying collecting behaviors. 10,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

Kirkus Reviews

Bezoars, crocodile teeth, sextants, first editions: if it can be collected, it figures in the pages of this entertaining debut, a history of passion-driven accumulation.Though only 32, European journalist and translator Blom writes with an old hand's appreciation for the deep-seated impulse to gather things and make them one's own. Much of his narrative consists of brief profiles of collectors possessed by that need, some quite uncontrollably. Among them are Spain's King Philip II, who "sent out agents to bring him every relic they could find," amassing 7,000 items connected with Christian saints including 4 whole bodies and 144 heads, as well as putative pieces of the True Cross and the Crown of Thorns; American newspaper baron William Randolph Hearst, who filled his California castle and apartments throughout the land with millions of dollars' worth of art, inspiring Orson Welles's movie Citizen Kane and pushing himself deep into debt in the bargain; English gardener John Tradescant, whose renowned collection of "Shining Stones or of Any Strange Shapes," animal skins, books, and drawings forms the basis of Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum (why it's not called the Tradescantian Museum is a tale in itself); and Hollywood-based artist Alex Shear, who hoards such things as African-American Barbie dolls and Jell-O boxes in an effort to chronicle the essential childishness of American culture. Blom also explores with a light hand what their obsessions mean; he observes, for instance, that the act of collecting and classifying things allows the amasser to impose order on a patently disorderly universe and remarks on the odd correlation between uselessness and value, such that goods with practical purposes are less prized than "a stamp that is no longer valid, an empty matchbox that missed the rubbish bin only because its last user had a poor aim."Learned but accessible, a pleasure for all readers bitten by the bug of impractical acquisition.

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The Book of Speculation - Erika Swyler


Summary:"Simon Watson, a young librarian on the verge of losing his job, lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home--a house, perched on the edge of a bluff, that is slowly crumbling toward the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, works for a traveling carnival reading tarot cards, and seldom calls. On a day in late June, Simon receives a mysterious package from an antiquarian bookseller. The book tells the story of Amos and Evangeline, doomed lovers who lived and worked in a traveling circus more than two hundred years ago. The paper crackles with age as Simon turns the yellowed pages filled with notes, sketches, and whimsical flourishes; and his best friend and fellow librarian, Alice, looks on in increasing alarm. Why does his grandmother's name, Verona Bonn, appear in this book? Why do so many women in his family drown on July 24? Could there possibly be some kind of curse on his family--and could Enola, who has suddenly turned up at home for the first time in six years, risk the same fate in just a few weeks? In order to save her--and perhaps himself--Simon must try urgently to decode his family history while moving on from the past. The Book of Speculation is Erika Swyler's gorgeous and moving debut, a wondrous novel about the power of books and family and magic"-- Provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews

Long Island librarian Simon Watson knows loss. His mother purposely drowned herself and his father died a few years later. The little sister he had to raise ran off and now contacts him only infrequently. One day Simon receives an unsolicited book in the mail, posted from a book dealer who invites Simon to contact him for more information. The mysterious volume documents some previous suicides by drowning dating back to the early nineteenth century. Amazingly, they all took place on July 24. More sleuthing turns up the startling information that these doomed women were, in fact, ancestors of his mother, and, like his mother, they were all employed as circus performers. Simon then has to figure out if this family curse will claim his sister's life as well, and the next July 24 is but weeks away. Illustrations by the author add even more atmosphere to her prose. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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The Emerald Mile: the epic story of the fastest ride in history through the heart of the Grand Canyon - Kevin Fedarko

Summary: The epic story of the fastest boat ride in history, on a hand-built dory named the "Emerald Mile," through the heart of the Grand Canyon on the Colorado river.

Kirkus Reviews

Man's indomitable need for adventure is the only thing more impressive than the awesome power of nature and the brilliance of technology described in this lovingly rendered retelling of one of the most remarkable events ever to occur inside the Grand Canyon. In 1983, at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, a confluence of unlikely events provided three unique characters with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to become the fastest to ever race through that singular marvel in a rowboat. How these quirky "dory men" were able to surmount every obstacle thrown in their way and actually attempt this remarkable undertaking is breathtaking enough. But theirs is not the only tale being told. This is the story of the Grand Canyon itself, harkening all the way back to the days when a band of befuddled Conquistadors first stumbled upon its rim and failed to grasp its magnitude. It is also the story of the Glen Canyon Dam, that Herculean feat of human ingenuity that was constructed with the staggering imperative to harness the power of the Colorado River. Former Time staff writer Fedarko's extensive knowledge of both, coupled with his powers of description, are almost as impressive. Powerful and poetic passages put readers inside the adventurers' boats, even if they have only ever imagined the Grand Canyon or seen it in pictures. "Every mile or so, the walls opened and gave way to yet another side canyon filled with secret springs and waterfalls," he writes. "The air was alive with pink-and-lavender dragonflies that paused, twitchingly, on the shafts of their suspended oars." Each piece of the extensive back story is assembled as lyrically as the epoch-spanning walls of the canyon itself and as assuredly as the soaring concrete face of its dams. An epic-sized true-life adventure tale that appeals to both the heart and the head. Copyright Kirkus 2013 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

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Far from the madding crowd (DVD)

Summary: In the Victorian English countryside, a headstrong young woman toys with the affections of three very different men with tragic consequences.

"Carey Mulligan stars as a headstrong Victorian beauty in this sweeping romantic drama, based on the literary classic by Thomas Hardy. Mulligan plays Bathsheba Everdene, an independent woman who attracts three different suitors: a sheep farmer (Matthias Schoenaerts); a dashing soldier (Tom Sturridge); and a prosperous, older bachelor (Michael Sheen). This timeless story of Bathsheba’s passions explores the nature of relationships, love and resilience." - (Alert)

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Gritos y susurros II : experiencias intempestivas de 39 mujeres

Summary: Compiled by one of the most controversial and critical analysts of our day, Gritos y susurros II is a fête in which we are invited to hear the most interesting passages of the lives of a diverse group of famous women: writers, actresses, artists, politicians, government employees, business women, chefs, and singers. The texts are educational and liberating. They help us recognize that we need each other to elaborate new forms of understanding and to light up the world as these women have done.
- (Perseus Publishing)

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After Alice - Gregory Maguire

Summary: "When Alice toppled down the rabbit-hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice's disappearance? In this brilliant work of fiction, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinningsand understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Carroll's enduring tale. Ada, a friend of Alice's mentioned briefly in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, is off to visit her friend, but arrives a moment too lateand tumbles down the rabbit-hole herself. Ada brings to Wonderland her own imperfect apprehension of cause and effect as she embarks on an odyssey to find Alice and see her safely home from this surreal world below the world. If Eurydice can ever be returned to the arms of Orpheus, or Lazarus can be raised from the tomb, perhaps Alice can be returned to life."


Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* When Alice first visited Wonderland over a century ago, Lewis Carroll introduced young readers to a world of imaginative characters and places such as had never been seen before. Now Maguire takes us on the journey again, this time in the company of Ada, who has fallen down the legendary rabbit hole after her friend. While Ada goes in search of Alice, always a few steps behind in the same vibrantly colorful land, Alice's sister, Lydia, remains in the ordinary world of Victorian England, searching the streets of Oxford for the missing girls, while her father visits with Charles Darwin to discuss the future of faith. Ada's adventure underground gives readers a new perspective on the oddities to be found there, but it's the search through Oxford that really turns this story on its head. Through Lydia and other new characters, Maguire firmly sets Wonderland in time and place and weaves an intricate web of symbolism and allegory, asking readers to consider issues of humanity that are as timeless as the original tale itself. The novel is full of the magic, wonder, and fresh twists that his fans have come to expect, and Maguire- and Wonderland-lovers alike will enjoy this fantastic return. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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Stella by starlight - Sharon M Draper

Summary: Growing up in the segregated South where they accept the disparities in how they are treated, Stella and her little brother witness a terrible event that compels them to fight back and trigger fundamental changes. By the Coretta Scott King Award-winning author of Out of My Mind. - (Baker & Taylor)

Horn Book Magazine Reviews
Eleven-year-old Stella Mills may have trouble getting words on paper for school, but she's a deep thinker, "a gemstone hiding inside a rock," her mother tells her. Even on the coldest of nights, she sneaks out of the house and writes under the starlight. Writing helps her makes sense of her world; the novel's third-person point of view provides readers with a perspective wider than young Stella's, as much of life in segregated 1932 Bumblebee, North Carolina, is beyond her understanding. There's plenty of action -- cross burnings, house burnings, a snakebite, a near-drowning, and a beating. But at its core this story is one of a supportive African American community facing tough times, a community acting as an "unseen river of communication that forever flows -- dark and powerful," keeping an eye on its children as they walk to school, knowing who is sneaking out at night, bringing cakes and pies when folks are ill, and attending the (unexpectedly hilarious) Christmas pageant at school. If times are bad, the community makes them better, and Stella grows in its warmth and love. Even her writing gets better as she writes about things that matter -- Mama, snakes, truth, hate, even the Klan. Readers will close the book knowing that Stella will turn out just fine: "Roosters never look beyond the fence. I doubt if they ever think about flying. But I do." dean schneide Copyright 2014 Horn Book Magazine.

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Canal bridge: a novel Ireland, love, and the First World War - Tom Phelan

Summary: After suffering the horrors of World War I, two friends return to a changed Ireland, as the effects of the war make them violent participants in the Irish struggle for freedom from Britain. - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* From Phelan's effectively constructed and emotionally honest novel about Irish participation in WWI, the reader gains a new perspective on how the Great War decimated lives throughout Europe. Told in a chorus of alternating but harmonious voices, the narrative relates the story of two boyhood chums in rural Ireland who, in a monumental gesture to broaden their horizons, together join the British army (this is 1913, when Ireland was still part of the UK) and are eventually deployed to India. But before their troop ship can arrive there, the vessel is required to turn back. War has been declared in Europe, and the two boys are plunged full-tilt into the carnage as stretcher bearers. Battle scenes are graphically drawn but appropriately so. Phelan's intention is to accurately show the staggering waste of human life that the two friends observe, the memories of which keep the one friend who returns to Ireland at war's end from being mentally quite at home for some time. As is observed, "There are more ways of getting killed in a war than by bullets." Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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