Showing posts with label linda h's picks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label linda h's picks. Show all posts
Jan 7, 2017
Oct 1, 2016
Jun 1, 2016
Apr 1, 2016
Dec 3, 2015
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
Canal bridge: a novel Ireland, love, and the First World War - Tom Phelan
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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Oct 16, 2015
Five little pumpkins
Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate. The first one said, "Oh my, it's getting late." Get ready for some wicked fun as these five pumpkins run and roll! Toddlers will want to chant along with this popular rhyme again and again. Dan Yaccarino's vibrant and bold illustrations bring these pumpkins to life with personality and style. Toddlers are sure to laugh out loud as these pumpkins roll out of sight!
- (HARPERCOLL)
Booklist Reviews
Ages 1-4. The old song, "Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate" appears in board book form here, accompanied by large, vibrant illustrations featuring midnight blue and glowing orange. Simplified forms of jack-o'-lanterns and ghosts cavort through the lively double-page spreads, offering little ones plenty to look at while the rhyme is read or sung. A good storyhour choice for little ones. ((Reviewed December 15, 1998)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews
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Oct 1, 2015
The war (DVD)
Summary: Tells the story of ordinary people in four quintessentially American towns - Waterbury, Connecticut; Mobile, Alabama; Sacramento, California; and Luverne, Minnesota - and examines the ways in which the Second World War touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America.
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The Paris architect - Charles Belfoure
Summary: "In 1942 Paris, gifted architect Lucien Bernard accepts a commission that will bring him a great deal of money -- and maybe get him killed. But if he's clever enough, he'll avoid any trouble. All he has to do is design a secret hiding place for a wealthy Jewish man, a space so invisible that even the most determined German officer won't find it. He sorely needs the money, and outwitting the Nazis who have occupied his beloved city is a challenge he can't resist. But when one of his hiding spaces fails horribly, and the problem of where to hide a Jew becomes terribly personal, Lucien can no longer ignore what's at stake."--From Amazon.
Publishers Weekly Reviews
How far would you go to help a stranger? What would you risk? Would you trade your life for another's in the name of what is right? Belfoure explores these questions and others in this debut novel set in Paris during the Nazi occupation. Lucien Bernard—who, like the book's author, is an architect—is offered a large sum of money to outsmart the Gestapo by devising unique hiding places for Jews, though he knows that anyone caught helping them will be tortured and killed by the Germans. Danger is everywhere: Lucien's mistress, Adele, a successful fashion designer, has an affair with a Gestapo colonel. Lucien's new assistant will betray him in a heartbeat. Offered a juicy German factory commission that involves working with a Nazi officer who admires architecture and art, Lucien's web weaves more complexly. And when he falls in love with Adele's assistant, rescues a child, and contacts some of the individuals he's saved, the stakes grow higher and Lucien's thoughts turn from money to vengeance. Seamlessly integrated architectural details add to the excitement. Belfoure's characters are well-rounded and intricate. Heart, reluctant heroism, and art blend together in this spine-chilling page-turner. Agent: Susan Ginsburg, Writers House. (Oct.)
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Sep 8, 2015
The lost fleet of Guadalcanal (DVD)
Summary: Retracing the events at Guadalcanal that changed the course of World War II, Dr. Robert Ballard leads a joint National Geographic Society/U.S. Navy expedition to discover ships unseen for fifty years and to share the memories of those who fought and survived. - (Baker & Taylor)
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Inside Mecca (DVD)
Summary: One of the most intimate and three-dimensional documentations of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. "Inside Mecca" follows three Muslims from very different backgrounds as they embark on an epic five-day reaffirmation of faith and quest for salvation. Witness the personal stories of the pilgrims and the mental preparation, physical strain and spiritual ecstasy they encounter on their pilgrimage of faith.
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Aug 1, 2015
The tunnels of Cu Chi - Tom Mangold
Summary: Explains how the North Vietnamese used underground tunnels in conjunction with other guerrilla warfare tactics against American forces and looks at the specially trained U.S. soldiers who explored and destroyed these underground complexes. - (Baker & Taylor)
“A claustrophobic but fascinating tale.”
–The Wall Street Journal
“Chilling . . . what war really was and how it was fought.”
–The New York Times
“Gripping . . . highly recommended.”
–The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Remarkable.”
–The Washington Post
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Trial of Old Drum (DVD)
Summary: Charlie's best friend is a good old dog named Old Drum. But Old Drum faces the challenge of his life; being accused of attacking a local farmer's sheep. While his canine pal sits in jail awaiting his trial date, Charlie must gather evidence and witnesses to convince the community of Old Drum's innocence.
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Train to Crystal City- Jan Russell
Summary: "Focusing on a little-known event in American history that has long been kept quiet, a dramatic account exposes a secret FDR-approved American internment camp in Texas during World War II where hundreds of prisoners were exchanged for other Americans behind enemy lines in Japan and Germany."--Publisher's description.
Booklist Reviews
The internment of Japanese Americans in camps along the Pacific Coast during WWII is well known. With the benefit of hindsight, the action has been roundly condemned as a racially motivated overreaction and gross violation of constitutional and human rights. Less well-known but equally reprehensible was the roundup of thousands of Germans, Italians, and other so-called enemy aliens. These included entire families composed of both noncitizens and citizens and even some ethnic Germans and Italians deported from Latin American nations to the U.S. Most were sent to a camp in Crystal City, Texas, in a rather desolate area in the south of the state. Few, if any, could be considered as security threats. According to Russell, the Roosevelt administration viewed their internment as useful bargaining chips in efforts to negotiate the release of American citizens stuck in occupied Europe. Much of Russell's account is viewed through the experiences of two young American-born girls. Of course, the camp was nothing like the work camps and death camps of the Third Reich. Nevertheless, the barbed wire, armed guards, and watch towers made clear to the residents that they were held in prison-like conditions. This is an informative, disturbing, and necessary reminder of the dangers produced by wartime hysteria. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.
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