Showing posts with label keira's picks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label keira's picks. Show all posts
Dec 1, 2016
Apr 1, 2016
Sep 8, 2015
The bone clocks - David Mitchell
Summary: "A vast, intricate novel that weaves six narratives and spans from 1984 to the 2030s about a secret war between a cult of soul-decanters and a small group of vigilantes called the Night Shift who try to take them down. An up-all-night story that fluently mixes the super-natural, sci-fi, horror, social satire, and hearbreaking realism"-- Provided by publisher.
LJ Express Reviews
In his breathtaking, audacious, stampedingly beautiful latest, Mitchell (Cloud Atlas) uses the battle between evil soul decanters and good Horologists, who are masterminded by the wise, powerful, body-shifting Marinus, to tell a much larger story. It's a story that embraces the life of Holly Sykes, from a bad boyfriend moment in the Talking Heads era, discovering that her brother has gone missing, running from home, witnessing the first bloody clash between good and evil when people who take her in are murdered, then recognizing her psychic powers and continuing the run to a snowbound resort in the Alps. There, she encounters sly Hugo, an amoral lout aspiring to the upper crust who redeems himself somewhat by discovering that he loves her. Holly goes on to marry war reporter Ed, who refuses to acknowledge Holly's connection to the beyond; wins fame writing a book about her experiences, leading to some wonderfully rendered satire about the writer's world; and finally plays her part in the final battle between the ethereal forces that have been tracking her all along. (Then the narrative moves to war and ecological crash in the 2040s; bad stuff never stops.) This really isn't a book about Holly, though, but about the variety of fantastically rendered worlds we move through as her story unfolds—which is to say our world, past, present, and looming future, brought to us through a fantasy underpinning that juices up the narrative but isn't its heart. Mitchell's not doing genre but asking us ever-ticking bone clocks to stop being so comfortable with how we measure ourselves and our world: "Beware of asking people to question what's real and what isn't. They may reach conclusions you didn't see coming." Verdict Quite a lot of book and not for easy-reading fans, but it's brilliant. [See Prepub Alert, 5/19/14.]—Barbara Hoffert, Library Journal (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Dec 1, 2014
Breed - Chase Novak
Breed - Novak, ChaseSummary: A couple obsessed with their infertility travels to Slovenia to have an unusual and painful procedure that results in horrible consequences they manage to hide until their twins, Adam and Alice, turn ten years old and start asking questions.
Library Journal Reviews
The Twisden twins are a product of biochemistry, spawned by an experimental Slovenian fertility clinic (recounted in Breed). After the treatment turned their parents into cannibals, ten-year-old Adam and Alice disappeared into the foster care system. Two years later, they're back in their Upper East Side home with their aunt, who's determined to give them the love they never had. But the twins are at the threshold of puberty, a time when the clinic's offspring begin to change into something predatory and savage. A group of clinic alumni runs wild in Central Park, feral children selling vials of their supercharged blood, a veritable fountain of libidinous youth, to aging one percenters. But when a pharmaceutical giant catches on, the twins become the hunted ones. VERDICT Novak (the not-so-secret pseudonym of Scott Spencer, best known for 1979's lyrical Endless Love) has done a marvelous thing for the horror genre by turning his literary pen to monstrous matters. This hair-raising exercise in gothic horror, which reads like a crossbreed of Peter Straub and Whitley Streiber, is beastly, creepy, and altogether freaky. Delivered with a healthy dollop of sardonic humor, the thriller is sure to whet the appetites of Novak's many fans, leaving them ravenous for the next installment.
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Jul 1, 2014
The Other End of The Leash - Patricia B. McConnell
The Other End of the Leash: Why We Do What We Do Around Dogs - McConnell, Patricia B.Summary: Explores humans' relationships with their canine companions and the mysteries of human-canine communication, provides insights into human and dog interaction, and explains how dog owners can avoid sending conflicting messages to their pets.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
It matters greatly that people who love dogs understand enough about them to provide a good environment, writes McConnell (Feeling Outnumbered? How to Manage Your Multi-dog Household) in her thoughtful exposition on improving human-canine communication. An animal behaviorist and adjunct professor of zoology at the University of Wisconsin Madison, McConnell offers sound advice for dog owners: Pay attention to your own behavior. Believe me, your dog is. Drawing on anecdotes from her professional practice (she specializes in canine behavior problems), research into the work of other dog trainers and personal experiences with her beloved Border collies, the author explains how a dog might be misinterpreting signals from its owner. For example, although humans express affection through hugs, a dog may feel threatened by them. McConnell also provides tips on how to play safely with dogs (she recommends games of fetch rather than rough-and-tumble wrestling) and how to get them to do what you want (the best way to get a dog to stop demanding attention is simply to break off visual contact). She has harsh words for trainers who tell owners to establish dominance over dogs by behaving aggressively to them when they are young, and also for owners of puppy mills. These dog factories, she says, create damaged animals and unsuitable pets. This is a helpful guide for pet owners by a specialist who clearly loves her work.
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May 1, 2014
The last werewolf - Glen Duncan
Summary: Jacob Marlowe has lost the will to live. For two hundred years he has wandered the world, enslaved by his lunatic appetites and tormented by the memory of his first and most monstrous crime. Now, the last of his kind, he contemplates suicide --until a violent murder and an extraordinary meeting plunge him straight back into the desperate pursuit of life--and love.
Staff Comments: The book on CD has a great narrator/reader
AudioFile Reviews
Jake is thought to be the world's last werewolf. Chronicling his final months, narrator Robin Sachs expertly captures his introspection and fatalism, followed by his determination to live when he discovers he's no longer alone. Just as Jake is being hunted by anti-paranormal agents and stalked by vampires that want his help to walk in daylight, he finds her. Tallulah--a female werewolf. Sachs leads listeners through Jake's emotional journey to reclaim his life and protect the woman with whom he wants to build a future. Languidly, Sachs evokes Jake's reminiscing tones as he writes journal entries about his overwhelming hungers and insatiable lusts. Tight pacing secures listeners' attention to Duncan's paranormal thriller. J.M. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
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Mar 1, 2014
Zoobiquity - Barbara Natterson-Horowitz
Summary: In the tradition of Temple Grandin, Oliver Sacks, and Neil Shubin, cardiologist and psychiatrist Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Bowers look at the remarkable correspondences between the way human beings and animals live, die, get sick, and heal in their natural settings.
Booklist Reviews
*Starred Review* Our ancestors knew that animals suffer the same diseases as humans, but as modern medicine developed, a great schism grew between physicians and veterinarians. Cardiologist and psychiatrist Natterson-Horowitz now calls for a new species-spanning approach to medicine and health. She and science writer Bowers coined the term zoobiquity for this emerging field, and they present their case with winning enthusiasm and expertise. Natterson-Horowitz, astute and funny, recounts her mind-expanding zoobiquitous expeditions involving a remarkable array of mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, and insects and explicates the genetic and evolutionary roots of her revelatory discoveries. Not only do animals faint but fainting can be essential to survival, leading Natterson-Horowitz to modify a classic phrase to Fight, flight, or faint. Even more arresting are her revelations about animals, intoxication, and addiction (including a Texan cocker spaniel who loved to lick cane toads for the hallucinogenic toxin in their skin). Her investigation into animal sex redefines natural acts, and her coverage of animal adolescence and eating disorders is fascinating and instructive. Clearly, we have much to learn from animals and from this profoundly illuminating new fusion of veterinary, human, and evolutionary medicine. Zoobiquity is as clarion and perception-altering as works by Oliver Sacks, Michael Pollan, and E. O. Wilson. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.
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Feb 1, 2014
Upstream color (DVD)
Summary: Years after a thief slipped her a drug that gave him total control over her, Kris tries to put her life back together, but she discovers that her new boyfriend seems to have the same strange memory problems that she does.
Video Librarian Reviews
Shane Carruth's first film since his 2004 award-winning debut Primer is a somewhat freaky experimental feature. Kris (Amy Seimetz) is a young woman who is assaulted by a man identified only as Thief (Thiago Martins), who forces her to swallow a larva that somehow turns her into his brainwashed slave. Kris must do whatever Thief commands, culminating in the emptying of her bank account. After being abandoned by her captor, Kris realizes that the larva she ingested has grown into a living worm inside her. She is then picked up by someone identified as Sampler (Andrew Sensenig), who appears to be a combination of sound recording engineer, surgeon, and pig farmer. Sampler hypnotizes Kris via an electronic wave and surgically removes the worm for deposit into a pig. Carruth himself turns up as Jeff—a mysterious figure who may have survived a similar experience—seeking to bond with Kris in a series of weirdly elliptical conversations. Needless to say, Upstream Color will confuse and perhaps even irritate viewers with little or no patience for avant-garde work. But those eager to be challenged by provocative filmmaking will be amazed at Carruth's boldly idiosyncratic production design and his willingness to wrap multiple genres into a stylish and disturbing cinematic experience that looks and sounds like no other contemporary film. One of the year's most original works, this is highly recommended. (P. Hall)Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2011.
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Jun 1, 2013
St. Lucy's home for girls raised by wolves - Karen Russell
St. Lucy's home for girls raised by wolves - Russell, Karen
Summary: Presents ten short stories set in the Florida Everglades and starring children who must survive against incredible odds.
Booklist Reviews
/*Starred Review*/ Russell's short stories, some of which have been published in the New Yorker and other journals, have already generated widespread attention, as has her youth: at 24, she's been included in New York magazine's list of "25 under 25 to Watch." This unusual, haunting collection confirms that the hype is well deserved. Like the individuals in Gina Oschner's stories (People I Wanted to Be, 2005), Russell's characters are caught between overlapping worlds--living and dead, primal and civilized, animal and human--and the adolescent narrators are neither children nor adults. Even the settings, the murky swamps and coasts of the Florida Everglades, reinforce the sense of wild impermanence. In "Haunting Olivia," two brothers spend their nights diving in search of their drowned sister's ghost ("Then what? Do we Genie-in-the-bottle her?" one brother asks). The title story, about the daughters of werewolves who are sent to boarding school to learn human behavior, is unforgettable. Russell writes even the smallest details with audacious, witty precision: an acne-plagued kid's face is a "pituitary horror, a patchwork of runny sores and sebaceous dips." And her scenes deftly balance mythology and the gleeful absurdity of Monty Python with a darker urgency to acknowledge the ancient, the infinite, and the inadequacies of being human: "Marooned in a clumsy body . . . I'm an imposter, an imperfect monster," says a young diver among silvery, streamlined fish. Original and astonishing, joyful and unsettling, these are stories that will stay with readers. ((Reviewed September 15, 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews
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Mar 1, 2012
The shipping news - Annie Proulx
Summary: Surprising transformations take place when a newspaperman's elderly aunt and two daughters decide to move back to their family home on the coast of Newfoundland, in a Scribner's Classic release of Annie Proulx's award-winning novel. - (Baker & Taylor)
Publishers Weekly
Proulx has followed Postcards , her story of a family and their farm, with an extraordinary second novel of another family and the sea. The fulcrum is Quoyle, a patient, self-deprecating, oversized hack writer who, following the deaths of nasty parents and a succubus of a wife, moves with his two daughters and straight-thinking aunt back to the ancestral manse in Killick-Claw, a Newfoundland harbor town of no great distinction. There, Quoyle finds a job writing about car crashes and the shipping news for The Gammy Bird , a local paper kept afloat largely by reports of sexual abuse cases and comical typographical errors. Killick-Claw may not be perfect, but it is a stable enough community for Quoyle and Co. to recover from the terrors of their past lives. But the novel is much more than Quoyle's story: it is a moving evocation of a place and people buffeted by nature and change. Proulx routinely does without nouns and conjunctions--"Quoyle, grinning. Expected to hear they were having a kid. Already picked himself for godfather"--but her terse prose seems perfectly at home on the rocky Newfoundland coast. She is in her element both when creating haunting images (such as Quoyle's inbred, mad and mean forbears pulling their house across the ice after being ostracized by more God-fearing folk) and when lyrically rendering a routine of gray, cold days filled with cold cheeks, squidburgers, fried bologna and the sea.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Jul 1, 2011
Small island - Andrea Levy
A novel of the immigrant experience brings together the lives of four very different people--Hortense Joseph, a recent arrival in London from Jamaica; her husband Gilbert, a war veteran who finds himself as a black man in Britain to be a second-class citizen; Queenie, Gilbert's white landlady; and her husband, Bernard, a fellow veteran of World War II. Winner of the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction. Original. 25,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)
Kirkus Reviews
The winner of the 2004 Whitbread Book of the Year Award and the 2004 Orange Prize-the first writer to win both for the same novel-draws on her Jamaican background in the alluring story of two couples, one Jamaican and one English, whose paths cross in WWII-era England.The Jamaican Gilbert Joseph volunteers for the Royal Air Force, but life in England isn't what he expected, with its tasteless boiled food and insidious racism. After the war, he returns to Jamaica but still hopes to study law in England, and when Hortense, a Jamaican teacher, offers him the money to travel to England if he'll marry her, he agrees-only to discover, back in England, that he cannot study law and the best job he can find is as a postal-truck driver. When Hortense joins him six months later, she is not only shocked by his threadbare fifth-floor room but offended by the prejudice she encounters and discouraged when her Jamaican teacher's credential is rejected. In the story of the adjustments these bright, well-educated and dignified immigrants must make, Gilbert's earthiness offers a delicious counterpoint to Hortense's prideful ambition. Other voices include that of the Josephs' white landlady, Queenie Bligh, the daughter of a provincial butcher, and of her husband Bernard, an older bank clerk in India with the RAF. Queenie meets Gilbert during the war, when he once brings her wandering father-in-law back to her home. The father-in-law, shell-shocked in WWI, is killed by an MP during a brawl at the movies caused when Gilbert refuses to follow the "rules" that segregate the theater racially. When her husband Bernard doesn't come home to their big London house after the war, Queenie takes in lodgers, including Gilbert and Hortense. The growing tensions among the three-and the disruption when Bernard returns at last-bring a spellbinding story to a surprising, heart-rending climax.An enthralling tour de force that animates a chapter in the history of empire. This is Levy's fourth novel, but first U.S. publication. Copyright Kirkus 2005 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.
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Jun 1, 2011
Inside of a dog: What dogs see, smell, and know - Alexandra Horowitz
Inside of a dog: What dogs see, smell, and know - Horowitz, Alexandra
Summary: What do dogs know? How do they think? The answers will surprise and delight you as Alexandra Horowitz, a cognitive scientist, explains how dogs perceive their daily worlds, each other, and that other quirky animal, the human.
LJ Express Reviews
Dogs have no sense of time; don't see in color; don't learn by observation-or do they? Cognitive scientist Horowitz (psychology, Barnard Coll.) explains that to understand the dog, we must understand his umwelt, his perception of his surroundings based upon anatomy, physiology, experience, and evolution. Debunking long-held misconceptions about the dog's sensory and emotional life, Horowitz gives dog lovers who have always believed that dogs can learn through example or anticipate an owner's return a wealth of current scientific information to confirm their perceptions. Verdict An essential read for pet owners and students of animal behavior who have followed developments in the emerging field of comparative psychology in Stanley Coren's How Dogs Think, Temple Grandin's Animals Make Us Human, and Patricia B. McConnell's Tales of Two Species.-Florence Scarinci, Nassau Community Coll. Lib., Garden City, NY Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.
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At Freddie's - Penelope Fitzgerald
Summary: Freddie, the elderly proprietress of the Temple Stage School for children, attempts to outwit two successful businessmen who are interested in taking over the school - (Baker & Taylor)
Review
"A work of immense poise and dignity, but warmth and humor, too... This is definitely one of the most charming - but strongly textured - novels anyone will read in a long while." Booklist, ALA
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