After you - Jojo Moyes

Love medicine - Louise Erdrich

The portable Veblen - Elizabeth McKenzie

The grownup - Gillian Flynn

Girl at war - Sara Novic

Women in clothes

Pretty is - Maggie Mitchell

Maidentrip (DVD)

Ghostly- Audrey Niffenegger

My abandonment - Peter Rock

Summary: Living with her father in a nature preserve in Portland, Oregon, thirteen-year-old Caroline only merges with the civilized world once a week when they go into the city, but an encounter with a backcountry jogger derails their entire existence. - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews

Rock s previous novels and stories have been imbued with a sense of unease and uncertainty (The Unsettling, 2006). So it is with this deeply unsettling and finely wrought tale. It s narrated matter-of-factly by 13-year-old Caroline, who lives furtively in Forest Park, a large nature reserve on the edge of Portland, Oregon, with her father, who has turned his back on society. Their lives revolve around remaining invisible to the larger world. Homeschooled in the woods and at a public library, Caroline appears fully at home with minimal possessions and without much human contact. At first the lives of father and daughter seem nearly idyllic, but Rock deftly ratchets up the uncertainties, and the idyllic edges past the unusual toward the unthinkable and the tragic. Based on a true story (think Krakauer s Into the Wild), My Abandonment is a haunting novel, masterfully told. Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.

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Brave enough - Cheryl Strayed

Summary: "From the best-selling author of Wild, a collection of quotes--drawn from the wide range of her writings--that capture her wisdom, courage, and outspoken humor, presented in a gift-sized package that's as irresistible to give as it is to receive. Around the world, thousands of people have found inspiration in the words of Cheryl Strayed, who in her three prior books and in her "Dear Sugar" columns has shared the twists and trials of her remarkable life. Her honesty, spirit, and ample supply of tough love have enabled many of us, even in the darkest hours, to somehow put one foot in front of the other--and be brave enough. This book gathers, each on a single page, more than 100 of Strayed's indelible quotes and thoughts--"mini instruction manuals for the soul" that urge us toward the incredible capacity for love, compassion, forgiveness, and endurance that is within us all. Be brave enough to break your own heart. You can't ride to the fair unless you get on the pony. Keep walking. Acceptance is a small, quiet room. Romantic love is not a competitive sport. Forward is the direction of real life. Ask yourself: What is the best I can do? And then do that"-- Provided by publisher.
"A book of inspirational quotes culled from the author's writings"-- Provided by publisher.


Kirkus Reviews

A lightweight collection of self-help snippets from the bestselling author. What makes a quote a quote? Does it have to be quoted by someone other than the original author? Apparently not, if we take Strayed's collection of truisms as an example. The well-known memoirist (Wild), novelist (Torch), and radio-show host ("Dear Sugar") pulls lines from her previous pages and delivers them one at a time in this small, gift-sized book. No excerpt exceeds one page in length, and some are only one line long. Strayed doesn't reference the books she's drawing from, so the quotes stand without context and are strung together without apparent attention to structure or narrative flow. Thus, we move back and forth from first-person tales from the Pacific Crest Trail to conversational tidbits to meditations on grief. Some are astoundingly simple, such as Strayed's declaration that "Love is the feeling we have for those we care deeply about and hold in high regard." Others call on the author' s unique observations—people who regret what they haven't done, she writes, end up "mingy, addled, shrink-wrapped versions" of themselves—and offer a reward for wading through obvious advice like "Trust your gut." Other quotes sound familiar—not necessarily because you've read Strayed's other work, but likely due to the influence of other authors on her writing. When she writes about blooming into your own authenticity, for instance, one is immediately reminded of Anaïs Nin: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Strayed's true blossoming happens in her longer works; while this collection might brighten someone's day—and is sure to sell plenty of copies during the holidays—it's no substitute for the real thing. These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from. Copyright Kirkus 2015 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

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Last tango in Hallifax (DVD)

Summary: Childhood sweethearts Alan and Celia, both widowed and in their 70s, fall for each other all over again when they are reunited on the internet after nearly 60 years. Their relationship is a celebratory tale of the power of love at any age. But this is also a story about family, and with family comes baggage. Celia's respectable, head teacher daughter Caroline is juggling bringing up two boys and dealing with her husband's infidelity.

Video Librarian Reviews

The premise of this BBC series finds widowers Alan and Celia—childhood sweethearts who haven't seen each other for 50 years—reunited in their seventies via Facebook and quickly deciding to marry. Thanks to perceptive writing by Sally Wainwright and outstanding performances from a strong ensemble cast, Last Tango in Halifax proves to be a surprisingly affecting comedy-drama. Much of the credit goes to Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid as the septuagenarian lovers learning anew about one another and surrounded by families whose problems ring true. Alan's daughter, Gillian (Nicola Walker), is a widow struggling to keep the family farm afloat while caring for a teenage son troubled by rumors about his father's death, and Celia's daughter, Caroline (Sarah Lancashire), finds her philandering husband trying to worm his way back into her life after going off with a younger woman—a situation that unnerves their two boys. The initial disastrous meeting between Gillian and Caroline has a calculated feel, and the episode in which Alan and Celia are locked in a local museum for the night comes off as contrived, but for the most part the material that Wainwright has invented for the characters (such as Celia's reaction to news of Caroline's liaison with a fellow teacher) is genuinely moving, with twists that make emotional sense. Compiling all six episodes from the 2012 first season of this BAFTA-winning series, this is highly recommended. (F. Swietek)Copyright Video Librarian Reviews 2011.

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This is your life, Harriet Chance! - Jonathan Evison

Summary: Embarking on an ill-conceived Alaskan cruise, septuagenarian Harriet reunites with her estranged daughter and confronts pivotal events from her life surrounding the true character of her husband, who died two years earlier. - (Baker & Taylor)


Booklist Reviews

With a tip of the hat to the 1950s game show This Is Your Life, Evison's droll portrait of 78-year-old Harriet Chance homes in on key incidents in the widow's life. As Harriet sets off on an Alaskan cruise, she is visited by the ghost of her dead husband, Bernard (their conversations are a comedic highlight), who held some dark secrets that, once revealed, inspire Harriet to seriously reevaluate her life. It turns out that she has some secrets of her own, which seriously impacted her relationship with her children, especially her deeply depressed daughter, who is still struggling with addiction and who unexpectedly shows up on the boat midway through the cruise. Whether describing Harriet's epic battle with a crab-leg dinner after imbibing too much wine or her tentative attempts to reach rapprochement with her daughter, Evison always depicts her with a great deal of compassion and a keen eye for the humorous detail. Both uplifting and melancholy, funny and thought-provoking, this entertaining read speaks directly to the importance of acceptance and healing. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.


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Swamplandia! - Karen Russell

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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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

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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A little life - Hanya Yanagihara

A little life - Yanagihara, Hanya

Summary: Moving to New York to pursue creative ambitions, four former classmates share decades marked by love, loss, addiction and haunting elements from a brutal childhood. By the author of The People in the Trees. - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews
This long, claustrophobically written novel by the author of The People in the Trees (2013) follows the lives of four college men (and their many friends, nearly all male) from their early postgraduation days in New York through much of their accomplished adult lives, and backward to their childhoods. It opens with them helping Willem and the fragile Jude St. Francis move into an apartment on Lispenard Street and then delineates the course of their lives. They include Malcolm, a light-skinned African American architect from a wealthy background; JB, an occasional drug-using artist of Haitian ancestry (the author does a great job of describing his art—no easy task); Willem, the handsome actor who, as we first meet him, is, of course, waiting tables downtown; and, at center stage, Jude. Although Jude is a successful litigator, his full background is murky, though what we do learn about it is horrific. Jude is frail, vulnerable, private, and given to cutting himself. In his neediness, he is the focus of the others' existence. This profoundly disturbing book is about pain and compulsion, secrets and betrayals, sexuality and loss—but, finally, about friendship. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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Sharp objects - Gillian Flynn

Sharp objects - Flynn, Gillian

Summary: Returning to her hometown after an eight-year absence to investigate the murders of two girls, reporter Camille Preaker is reunited with her neurotic mother and enigmatic, thirteen-year-old half-sister as she works to uncover the truth about the killings.

Booklist Reviews
This impressive debut novel is fueled by stylish writing and compelling portraits of desperate housewives, southern style. Troubled newspaper reporter Camille Preaker is sent back to her Missouri hometown in a bid to get the inside scoop on the murders of two preteen girls--both were strangled and had their teeth removed. Almost as nasty as the brutal crimes are Camille's twisted family dynamics. She intends to stay with her zombielike mother, whom she has hardly spoken to in 8 years; her cipher of a stepfather; and her twisted, overly precocious 13-year-old half sister. Wading back into the insular social dynamics of the town proves to be a stressful experience for Camille, a reformed cutter whose body is riddled with the scars of words such as wicked and cupcake. In a particularly seductive narrative style, Flynn adopts the cynical, knowing patter of a weary reporter, but it is her portraits of the town's backstabbing, social-climbing, bored, and bitchy females that provoke her sharpest and most entertaining writing. A stylish turn on dark crimes and even darker psyches. ((Reviewed August 2006)) Copyright 2006 Booklist Reviews.

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Everything eyes - Bobbi Brown

Everything eyes - Brown, Bobbi

Summary: Starting with the essential tools and basic techniques, Bobbi simplifies eye makeup and helps women identify what works best for their eye shape and color. She offers step-by-step tutorials for ten go-to eye makeup looks, from sparkly to smokey to retro glam and more. Famous for her own signature specs, Bobbi also explains how to choose the perfect pair of frames based on face shape, personal style, and skin tone, and shares her favorite makeup tricks for those who wear glasses. --back cover.

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Dietland - Sarai Walker

Dietland - Walker, Sarai

Summary: "A fresh and provocative debut novel about a reclusive young woman saving up for weight loss surgery when she gets drawn into a shadowy feminist guerilla group called "Jennifer"--equal parts Bridget Jones's Diary and Fight Club"-- Provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews
Although she is the advice columnist for a worldwide glamour media conglomerate, Plum Kettle is an unlikely source of wisdom. Morbidly obese and routinely humiliated by the stares and taunts of an insensitive populace, Plum plies her trade from her lonely apartment or, at best, at the corner café, where she knows the calorie count of each scone and latte on the menu. Having failed at every diet plan imaginable, Plum is seriously contemplating weight-loss surgery when she is handed a manifesto that ultimately leads her to a secret society of women fighting the constant assault upon women's sexuality, self-esteem, and independence. When a series of gruesome kidnappings and killings targets an international cast of the worst sexist offenders, Plum finds herself at the center of a global witch hunt. Through her protagonist, debut novelist Walker gives a plaintive yet powerful voice to anyone who has struggled with body image, feelings of marginalization, and sexual manipulation. Her robust satire also vibrantly redefines what it means to be a woman in contemporary society. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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