Notorious RBG: The life and times of Ruth Bader Ginsberg - Irin Camron

Summary: "Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg offers a visually rich, intimate, unprecedented look at the Justice and how she changed the world. From Ginsburg’s refusal to let the slammed doors of sexism stop her to her innovative legal work, from her before-its-time feminist marriage to her perch on the nation’s highest court--with the fierce dissents to match--get to know RBG as never before. As the country struggles with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, Ginsburg stands as a testament to how far we can come with a little chutzpah."--Amaozn.com.

Library Journal Reviews

Rejoice! This is the year to celebrate the remarkable accomplishments of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG), affectionately known as the "Notorious RBG." This eponymous—and humorous—book is the third recent publication providing biographical information and paying tribute to Ginsburg's Supreme Court opinions, with special attention to her famous—and influential—dissents. Coauthors Carmon, an MSNBC journalist who has interviewed RBG, and Knizhnik, recent alumna of New York University School of Law and creator of the Notorious R.B.G. Tumblr blog, bring a fresh, appropriately irreverent perspective to scholarship about the justice. In fact, this book is not at all scholarly—and this is a major asset. Rather, taking its chapter headings from the lyrics of late rapper Notorious B.I.G., it provides bare-bones biographical narrative and excerpts from a selection of Ginsburg's seminal opinions, while inserting cartoons, photos, poetry, and even opera lyrics. The brief, cogent excerpts from her court opinions are annotated in plain language by prominent legal academics. Moreover, the authors successfully situate RBG's work within a larger historical context, thereby illustrating her central role in advancing equal rights for all. VERDICT Perfect for general readers and academics who are fans of Scott Dodson's The Legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. [See "Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 9/1/15, p. 32.]—Lynne Maxwell, West Virginia Univ. Coll. of Law Lib., Morgantown

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Reasons to live - Amy Hempel

Summary: This first collection of fifteen stories deals with the strategies of emotional survival and offers sharp, brittle, and intelligent looks at staying alive, at how to manage a life truly one's own, and how to resist becoming a victim - (Baker & Taylor)

Kirkus Review

Fifteen tiny stories, some only a few paragraphs long--in a slight collection (less than 100 pages of text) that features, principally, the adolescent-angst sensibility of strung-out young women living in southern California. Hempel's narrators murmur about lost childhoods, rotten men, adored pets; they deliver routine one-liners--about TV commercials, award-shows, and other minor cultural manifestations. Sometimes, as in the similarly thin work of Lorrie Moore (Self-Help, p. 58), there are rueful little instructions on how to deal with all the anxiety: "Here is what you do. You ease yourself into a tub of water, you ease yourself down. You lie back and wait for the ripples to smooth away. Then you take a deep breath, and slide your head under, and listen for the playfulness of your heart." (Here, and elsewhere, Hempel--occasionally in bald, hollow imitation of Joan Didion--strains for a severe sort of lyricism.) But, though the recurring theme of grief (mourning a broken marriage, a death, the past, etc.) provides a hint of resonance, too often the approach is cheaply manipulative, an artsy equivalent to tabloid sensationalism--as in "When It's Human Instead of When It's Dog" (about the sad carpet stain in a fancy home that marks the spot where the lady-of-the-house died). And only two pieces really attempt to go beyond the studied juxtaposition of whimsical/portentous anecdotes, ironic observations, and refrigerated self-pity: "Beg, Sl Tog, Inc, Cont, Rep" presents the familiar setup of two friends, one about to give birth and one recovering from an abortion, with knitting as an over-obvious symbol of both pulling-oneself-together and rejected/frustrated maternal yearnings; "In the Cemetery Where Al Jolson Is Buried" is somewhat more successful--layering the plainly affecting story of a friend's death with dark jokes and self-deprecation. . . though here too the central sentiment is unnecessarily, moistly emphasized. ("Baby, come hug, Baby, come hug, fluent now in the language of grief.") Borrowed mannerisms for the most part, with only a few glimmers of emotional substance or fresh voicing. (Kirkus Reviews, March 15, 1985)

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Prospero's daughter - Elizabeth Nunez

Summary: Exiled from England for performing dangerous experiments on his patients, Peter Gardner flees to the Caribbean with his beautiful young daughter, Virginia, raising her in isolation except for the a few natives, including Carlos, a young boy of mixed race with whom Virginia develops a forbidden friendship that blooms into love. 12,000 first printing. - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews

Through one family's unique circumstances, the always-eloquent Nunez invokes larger themes of race, class, and colonialism. In the late 1950s, mad scientist Peter Gardner flees England to escape charges that he experimented on his patients. He and his young daughter, Virginia, settle on an isolated leper colony off the coast of Trinidad. They soon take over the house of a mixed-race orphan, Carlos, who was left in the care of a dying housekeeper. Gardner imposes a strict regimen on the household; trumpets the superiority of the white race; alternately treats Carlos as a slave and as an experiment by educating him about music, literature, and science; and devotes extraordinary amounts of time to cultivating hybrid flowers. His daughter, Virginia, responds to Carlos'great kindness and patience, and their abiding friendship, carried out in secret, blossoms into a love affair that threatens Gardner's worldview and puts the couple in danger. Although the enthralling story line loses some power in the final section, Nunez has crafted a beautiful, layered novel that echoes both The Tempest and Heart of Darkness. ((Reviewed November 15, 2005)) Copyright 2005 Booklist Reviews.

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The tiger - John Vaillant

Summary: It's December 1997, and a man-eating Siberian tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia's Far East. The tiger isn't just killing people, it's annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren't random. An absolutely gripping tale of man and nature that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the taiga.

Booklist Reviews

Set in Russia’s Maritime Territory, Vaillant’s story concerns a tiger of the endangered Amur subspecies that killed three hunters in 1997. Expanding from the incidents’ central facts, Vaillant’s narrative explores humans’ relationship with predatory animals in general, with the Amur tiger as the specific example. Literary, folkloric, and scientific sources combine into a deeply sensitive depiction of the tiger’s adaptation to its forested, mountainous, and wintry environment. As he recounts how Russians such as the hunters in question also attempt to extract a living from the taiga, possibly including illegal poaching of the tiger, Vaillant posits the tiger’s thoughts about the competition, inferring its intelligence from a conservation warden’s investigation into the cases of the unfortunate hunters, who were felled in ambush-style attacks. Interest in Vaillant’s work, which climaxes in the warden’s pursuit of the deadly tiger, will partake of humans’ instinctual fear of large carnivores, the modern imperative to preserve them from extinction, and readers of Vaillant’s The Golden Spruce (2005), a positively reviewed, deep-drilling work, also about the nexus between humans and the natural world. Copyright 2010 Booklist Reviews.

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Indian bride - Karin Fossum

Summary: Inspector Konrad Sejer heads up the investigation into a brutal murder after the battered body of a woman is found outside of the town of Elvestad on the same day that the townspeople are expecting to meet the new Indian bride of local bachelor Gunder Jomann, who unexpectedly has returned home married after a two-week trip to India. By the author of Don't Look Back. - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Over the course of a few days, Norwegian bachelor Gunder Jomann experiences both euphoria and utter despair. In India, he meets and marries Poona, the woman of his dreams. He returns to his tiny village of Elvestad, with his new bride scheduled to arrive in a matter of weeks. A family emergency delays Gunder on the day Poona arrives. Tragedy ensues before they can reconnect; she is found brutally murdered less than a mile from her new husband's house. Who in tranquil Elvestad could commit such a heinous act? Shy, contemplative Chief Inspector Konrad Sejer knows that evil lurks deep within even the most seemingly innocent souls. With his baby-faced partner, Jacob Skarre, he methodically follows but a handful of clues. As time passes, the list of suspicious characters grows. There's muscle-bound Goran, whose affable manner belies his might; local café owner Einar, who harbors a general dislike for humankind; and Linda, an attention-starved teenager who dispenses half-truths and lies. This fourth in the Inspector Sejer series showcases the crisp prose and unsettling scenarios that have made Fossum (When the Devil Holds the Candle, 2006) one of Europe's most successful crime novelists. Like a Scandinavian winter, this potent psychological thriller chills right to the bone.

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Life after life - Kate Atkinson

Summary: "What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can -- will she? Darkly comic, startlingly poignant, and utterly original -- this is Kate Atkinson at her absolute best"-- Provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* In a radical departure from her Jackson Brodie mystery series, Atkinson delivers a wildly inventive novel about Ursula Todd, born in 1910 and doomed to die and be reborn over and over again. She drowns, falls off a roof, and is beaten to death by an abusive husband but is always reborn back into the same loving family, sometimes with the knowledge that allows her to escape past poor decisions, sometimes not. As Atkinson subtly delineates all the pathways a life or a country might take, she also delivers a harrowing set piece on the Blitz as Ursula, working as a warden on a rescue team, encounters horrifying tableaux encompassing mangled bodies and whole families covered in ash, preserved just like the victims of Pompeii. Alternately mournful and celebratory, deeply empathic and scathingly funny, Atkinson shows what it is like to face the horrors of war and yet still find the determination to go on, with her wholly British characters often reducing the Third Reich to "a fuss." From her deeply human characters to her comical dialogue to her meticulous plotting, Atkinson is working at the very top of her game. An audacious, thought-provoking novel from one of our most talented writers. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Atkinson's publisher is pulling out all the stops in marketing her latest, which will no doubt draw in many new readers in addition to her Jackson Brodie fans. Copyright 2012 Booklist Reviews.

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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 hundred years trilogy - Jane Smiley

Summary: "An epic novel that spans thirty years in the lives of a farm family in Iowa, telling a parallel story of the changes taking place in America from 1920 through the early 1950s"--Provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* Smiley was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for A Thousand Acres (1991), a novel about a farming family in Iowa. In her fourteenth novel, she returns to that fertile ground to tell the stories of the Langdons, a clan deeply in accord with the land, wherever their quests lead them. A seductive writer in perfect command of every element of language, Smiley sets a ruminative pace embodying the tempo of farm work, season to season. Beginning in 1920 and reaching 1953, this saga of the vicissitudes of luck and our futile efforts to control it is also a richly meteorological novel, exploring how the high and low pressures of the mind can determine a farm's bounty and losses just as droughts and blizzards do. While steadfast Walter worries, his smart, industrious wife, Rosanna, runs the household and cares for their children, beginning with courageous Frankie, followed by animal-lover Joey, romantic Lillian, scholarly Henry, and good Claire. As barbed in her wit as ever, Smiley is also munificently tender. The Langdons endure the Depression, Walter agonizes over giving up his trusty horses for a tractor, and Joe tries the new synthetic fertilizers. Then, as Frank serves in WWII and, covertly, the Cold War, the novel's velocity, intensity, and wonder redouble. Smiley's grand, assured, quietly heroic, and affecting novel is a supremely nuanced portrait of a family spanning three pivotal American decades. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: With a major print run and extensive national author tour ramping up publicity, ever-popular Smiley's tremendous new novel will be on the top of countless to-read lists. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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Mad hungry cravings - Lucinda Scala Quinn

Summary: Presents over one hundred fifty recipes for popular "craveable" foods, including pulled pork, deep-dish pizza, chicken tikka masala, fried rice, and Boston cream pie.

Library Journal Reviews

Mad Hungry host Quinn (executive food editor, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia) here encourages busy families to make their favorite restaurant foods (e.g., Chicken Tikka Masala, Deep-Dish Pizza) at home, arguing that the home-cooked versions will be fresh, nutritious, and less expensive. After offering tips on how to simplify cooking routines and stock a multiethnic pantry, she shares recipes for breakfasts, mains, sides, snacks, drinks, and sweets. VERDICT This title will appeal to readers looking for indulgent home-cooked recipes to satisfy fast-food cravings. For a healthier take, try Devin Alexander's Fast Food Fix.

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Sharaz-de: tales from the Arabian nights - Sergio Toppi

Summary: Explores a barbaric society where the supernatural is the only remedy to injustice, as Sharaz-De, captive to a cruel and despotic king, must each night spin tales to entertain her master and save her head from the executioner.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

The late Toppi has been a longtime star of the European comics scene, yet English translations of his highly regarded works have been hard to come by for years. Sharaz-De, published in lavish hardcover, shows his exquisite illustrations at their best. The tale is familiar: faced with execution in the morning, Sharaz-De spins tale after tale for her barbaric king, with each story delaying her impending doom. Two chapters are given over to vibrant watercolors, adding a psychedelic undertone to the tightly woven ink work elsewhere, as jinn, devils, and selfish men do battle upon the pages. Toppi does not use conventional comic panels, but allows his illustrations to sprawl behind and around them, with a singular illustration depicting multiple aspects of the story depending on where your eye first lands. A foreword from Walter Simonson pays tribute to the artist, who died in August, 2012. The Tales from the Arabian Nights may be well enough known, but Toppi's unparalleled skill at twisting fine art, design, and comic book structure together render this a real treat. (Dec.)

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The improbability of love - Hannah Rothschild

Summary: "Annie McMorrow, 31 and not recovered from the end of her long-term relationship, is an assistant to film producer Carlo Spinetti and then to his chilling wife Rebecca Winkleman Spinetti whose father started Winkleman Fine Art in Curzon St. Annie has spent her meagre savings on a dusty painting from a junk shop to give to her new, unsuitable, boyfriend who never shows up for his birthday dinner. The painting now hers, talks, but only to us. Shrewd, spoiled, charming, world weary and cynical, he comments perceptively on Annie, and the modern world and tells tales about his previous owners: Louis XV, Voltaire, Catherine the Great among others. The story unfolds through this voice and many others--unexpected, entertaining, and strangely authentic. Annie will have her apartment ransacked and be pursued by dealers, buyers and an auctioneer in an attempt to get back the painting."-- Provided by publisher.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* After writing about her fascinating great-aunt in The Baroness: The Search for Nica, the Rebellious Rothschild (2013), Rothschild delivers her first novel, a capacious and fluently knowledgeable tale that excoriates with mischievously satirical intent the viciously competitive world of high-stakes art collecting. The fact that art, the embodiment of beauty and humankind's highest aspirations, arouses villainy of appalling dimensions is a paradox Rothschild roundly threshes, along with the persistent denigration of women and the moral morass cracked open in war. But these dark matters are wrapped within the captivating story of Annie McDee, a young woman of small means and boundless passion for history and food, trying to mend a blasted heart, cope with her alcoholic mother, and succeed in London as a chef. When she purchases a grimy yet seductive old painting in a junk shop, she innocently sets off an art-world and geopolitical cataclysm. Though the storytelling machinery creaks a bit, Rothschild, the first woman to chair London's National Gallery, is a dazzling omniscient narrator giving voice to an irresistible cast of reprobates and heroes, from a secret Nazi to campy and conniving art-world players, Annie's persistent suitor, and the 300-year-old, long-lost masterpiece itself. An opulently detailed, suspensefully plotted, shrewdly witty novel of decadence, crimes ordinary and genocidal, and improbable love. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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A supposedly fun thing I'll never do again: essays and arguments - David Foster Wallace

A supposedly fun thing I'll never do again: essays and arguments - Wallace, David Foster

Summary: A collection of keen observations, witty analysis, and essays on a wide range of subjects exposes the fault lines in today's society - (Baker & Taylor)


Booklist Reviews
Celebrated Illinoisan writer Wallace's meganovel, Infinite Jest (1996), was megasuccessful, and these intelligent, funny essays are outstanding. In "Derivative Sport in Tornado Alley," Wallace presents himself as a young Midwest tennis star with an unathletic, intuitive, yet winning style of play. But Wallace writes about far more than the sum of his self, widening his field of vision to embrace wind, earth, and mathematics, creating a virtual cyclone with his highly idiosyncratic perceptions, perfectly correct cadence, and casually hip lexicon. He applies this arsenal of literary power tools to even greater effect in one of the most original, comprehensive analyses yet of television and the pervasive "culture of watching," discussing such fine points as the tyranny of television's institutionalized, self-referential irony and its tremendous influence on American fiction. Wallace has also written in his edgy way about David Lynch, a state fair, and, in the masterful title piece, his addling experiences on a seven-night Caribbean cruise during which he endured hours of despair interrupted by moments of stunned amazement. ((Reviewed February 15, 1997)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews

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The edge of the horizon - Antonio Tabucchi

Summary: "Late on night, the body of a young man is delivered to the morgue of an Italian town. The next day's newspapers report that he was killed in a police raid, and that went by the obviously false name "Carlo Nobodi." Spino, the morgue attendant on duty at the time, becomes obsessed with tracing the identity of the corpse. "Why do you want to know about him?" asks a local priest. "Because he is dead and I'm alive," replies Spino. In this spare yet densely packed cautionary tale, Tabucchi reminds us that it is impossible to reach the edge of the horizon since it always recedes before us, but suggests that some people "carry the horizon with them in their eyes.""--Amazon.com.

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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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Calvin - Martine Leavitt

Summary: Born on the day the last Calvin and Hobbes comic strip was published, seventeen-year-old Calvin, a schizophrenic, sees and has conversations with the tiger, Hobbes, and believes that if he can persuade the strip's creator, Bill Watterson, to do one more strip, he will make Calvin well.

Booklist Reviews

*Starred Review* In this YA answer to Harvey, 17-year-old Calvin suffers from schizophrenia, causing him to see and hear a large, invisible tiger: Hobbes, of course. It's a quick hop from imaginary tiger to psych ward, where Calvin grows convinced his cure lies not in medication but in persuading cartoonist Bill Watterson to write one more Calvin and Hobbes strip—one where a healthy teenage Calvin exists without Hobbes. All hinges on making a dangerous pilgrimage across frozen Lake Erie to Watterson in Cleveland. Accompanied by his best friend Susie, the teens' icy trek is punctuated by philosophical discussions, random encounters, realizations of love, and Hobbes' humorous comments. Though he is highly intelligent, Calvin's sense of reality is blurred, casting the journey in a slightly surreal light. Allusions to Calvin and Hobbes and a lighthearted tone blanket cracks in the plan and mounting tensions resulting from Calvin's illness, as when he wastes limited supplies to feed Hobbes. Written as if addressed to Watterson himself, the novel has a fresh, funny voice that never diminishes the seriousness of schizophrenia. National Book Award finalist Leavitt (Keturah and Lord Death, 2006) delivers an imaginative exploration of mental illness, examining what's real and what's true in this magical world. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

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Brooklyn - Colm Toibin

Summary: Leaving her home in post-World War II Ireland to work as a bookkeeper in Brooklyn, Eilis Lacey discovers a new romance in America with a charming blond Italian man before devastating news threatens her happiness. - (Baker & Taylor)

Booklist Reviews

In his latest novel, following The Master (2004), a celebrated and highly imaginative re-creation of the life of American novelist Henry James, Toibin maintains his focus on the past. Keeping the pace relatively slow and stressing the wealth of authoritative detail, he contrasts small-town Ireland and big-city Brooklyn in the early 1950s, highlighting the vast differences between the two in customs and opportunity. Eilis Lacey, a smart young woman unafraid of hard work, must leave employment-poor Ireland to find a more lucrative existence in booming New York City. Under the auspices of an Irish priest, Eilis secures employment at a department store and residence in a rooming house for young women. She meets a handsome, charming Italian man, and their relationship quickly flowers into love. When her outgoing sister dies in Ireland, Eilis returns home and must face the decision to stay put or go back to the more exciting life she had begun to create in Brooklyn. Copyright 2009 Booklist Reviews.

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Gilliamesque - Terry Gilliam

Summary: A memoir from the screenwriter, animator, visionary film director, and founding member of Monty Python describes his life through recollections, anecdotes, and never-before-seen photographs and artwork.

Kirkus Reviews

The Monty Python member and controversial filmmaker pens his "Gilliamesque" autobiography. The only American-born member of Monty Python's Flying Circus, Gilliam tells his tale—a "high-speed car chase…with lots of skids and crashes, many of the best moments whizzing by in a blur"—in a breezy, comical style full of digressions that are mostly interesting but occasionally uneven and distracting. The book is lavishly packed with entertaining stories and visual asides, photos, drawings, and illustrations, most accompanied by the author's pithy commentary and reflections. Fans may be surprised to learn the Minnesotan was a Boy Scout and an exceptionally normal student. At Occidental College, he was a pole-vaulter, cheerleader, and class valedictorian. He did a stint in the National Guard and honed his exemplary drawing skills in New York City working at Help! Similar to Mad—Willy Elder's cartoons were "maybe the biggest single influence on how I'd make movi es"—it provided Gilliam important illustrating experience and friendships with George Crumb and John Cleese. The author then moved to London and secured a position at the TV show We Have Ways of Making You Laugh, where he worked with Eric Idle and perfected his collage technique of combining found pictures with his own illustrations. Soon, the "foreigner" with fresh cartoons was asked to join the nascent Circus, which premiered on BBC in 1969. It wasn't long before fellow member Terry Jones and Gilliam were directing Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Then came Gilliam's Jabberwocky, and he was off on his own. Thanks to George Harrison's money, The Life of Brian was made, as was Gilliam's reputation as a director. Brazil—"my Citizen Kane"—followed, as did Baron Munchausen—"my Magnificent Ambersons." Unfortunately, the author only discusses the rest of his films, right up to his last, The Zero Theorem, in the final 50 pages. Fans will certainly want more , but for now, this will do. Copyright Kirkus 2015 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved.

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Mr. Putter & Tabby take the train - Cynthia Rylant

Summary: After a small setback, Mr. Putter and his favorite companions enjoy the best train ride of their lives.

Horn Book Guide Reviews

Always one to appreciate the simple pleasures, Mr. Putter loves Mrs. Teaberry's idea of taking a train trip. Mrs. T. assures him that her dog Zeke and Mr. Putter's cat Tabby can come, too. When they're told at the station that pets aren't allowed on trains, Mr. Putter comes up with a plan, and the four friends have ""the train ride of their lives."" Cheery pencil and watercolor pictures add humor and expression to the easy-going text. Copyright 1999 Horn Book Guide Reviews

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Primates of Park Avenue - Wednesday Martin

Summary:"After marrying a man from the Upper East Side and moving to the neighborhood, Wednesday Martin struggled to fit in. Drawing on her background in anthropology and primatology, she tried looking at her new world through that lens, and suddenly things fell into place. She understood the other mothers snobbiness at school drop-off when she compared them to olive baboons. Her obsessional quest for a Hermes Birkin handbag made sense when she realized other females wielded them to establish dominance in their troop. And so she analyzed tribal migration patterns; display rituals; physical adornment, mutilation, and mating practices; extra-pair copulation; and more. Her conclusions are smart, thought-provoking, and hilariously unexpected."--Amazon.com.

Kirkus Reviews

A look at the social rites and rituals of downtown Manhattan through the eyes of former New York Post contributor Martin (Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do, 2009, etc.). Coming to a true understanding of any culture involves immersing oneself completely. While it may be uncommon to conduct anthropological research in a place like Manhattan's Upper East Side, the author did just that, moving to the neighborhood with little knowledge of the cultural mores but a hunger to learn more. After settling in to the UES with her husband and son, Martin found herself living the sort of pampered life millions of Americans yearn for. She had a husband at work making good money, a baby, a baby nurse, and time to spend getting mothering right. She also realized that she was very much a fish out of water, since she grew up in the slower, less image-obsessed Midwest. The author applied her educational training to finding her way in this unfamili ar environment (she opens with "Fieldnotes" on such elements as "geographic origins of islanders," "resource acquisition and distribution," and "quadrant affiliation and construction of social identity"). She explores the "social turbocharge" that women experience through owning a Birkin handbag, and she drops plenty of brand names, store names, street names, and other signposts of identification. When Martin allows the narrative to drift more toward science—e.g., her discussion of the juicing/fasting/detoxing fads and how they can shift estrogen levels—the book becomes a useful guide for UES (and other upwardly mobile) women looking inward to understand themselves better—or alternately, to learn the underpinnings of all the maneuverings so as to socially maneuver more efficiently. Sometimes funny but effective for the same reason a Birkin is: it's designed for a certain group of people, and likely them alone. Copyright Kirkus 2015 Kirkus/BPI Communications.All rights reserved

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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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Infinite home - Kathleen Alcott

Summary: 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

Summary: 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

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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Dreamblood Series - N.K. Jemisin

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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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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