Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Thanksgiving Break
Thursday, November 18, 2021
Holiday Reading Theme: Holidays
Yeah, we really stretched for this theme!
Do you prefer your holiday fiction hot and heavy or gory and grim? We have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s tales to suit every fancy. Grab a mug of something warm and curl up with a good book.
A Highlander for Christmas by Sandy Blair
Boston antiques dealer Claire MacGregor is not looking forward to another solo Christmas. However, when she is fooling around with an old puzzle box, it opens and a gorgeous Scottish nobleman from the 18th century magically appears. (Publisher’s summary)
Do you prefer your holiday fiction hot and heavy or gory and grim? We have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s tales to suit every fancy. Grab a mug of something warm and curl up with a good book.
Photo by Valentin Antonini on Unsplash
A Highlander for Christmas by Sandy Blair
Boston antiques dealer Claire MacGregor is not looking forward to another solo Christmas. However, when she is fooling around with an old puzzle box, it opens and a gorgeous Scottish nobleman from the 18th century magically appears. (Publisher’s summary)
Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie
Poirot is called to the family estate of Simeon Lee, after he is found lying in a pool of blood on Christmas Eve. (Publisher’s summary)
Poirot is called to the family estate of Simeon Lee, after he is found lying in a pool of blood on Christmas Eve. (Publisher’s summary)
Less than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college and re-enters a landscape of limitless privilege and absolute moral entropy, where everyone drives Porches, dines at Spago, and snorts mountains of cocaine. He tries to renew feelings for his girlfriend, Blair, and for his best friend from high school, Julian, who is careering into hustling and heroin. Clay's holiday turns into a dizzying spiral of desperation that takes him through the relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs and also into the seamy world of L.A. after dark. (Publisher’s summary)
A Different Kind of Christmas by Alex Haley
Haley has written a sentimental tale of and for Christmas. Set in 1855, the story features a student at Princeton whose father is a U.S. senator and one of the biggest slaveholders in North Carolina. Changing dormitories to escape the persecution of some nasty northern students, Fletcher Randall finds himself under a different style of peer pressure. After meeting three Quaker brothers who introduce him to the antislavery activism of their friends and family in Pennsylvania, Randall becomes involved in the Underground Railroad and in an escape attempt on Christmas Eve, 1855. (Booklist review)
Clay comes home for Christmas vacation from his Eastern college and re-enters a landscape of limitless privilege and absolute moral entropy, where everyone drives Porches, dines at Spago, and snorts mountains of cocaine. He tries to renew feelings for his girlfriend, Blair, and for his best friend from high school, Julian, who is careering into hustling and heroin. Clay's holiday turns into a dizzying spiral of desperation that takes him through the relentless parties in glitzy mansions, seedy bars, and underground rock clubs and also into the seamy world of L.A. after dark. (Publisher’s summary)
The Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico
The luxury liner "Poseidon" is hit by a massive tsunami on New Year's Eve, rocking the ship upside down, and a small band of trapped survivors must work their way through the labyrinth of the ship's underbelly to escape. (Publisher’s summary)
The luxury liner "Poseidon" is hit by a massive tsunami on New Year's Eve, rocking the ship upside down, and a small band of trapped survivors must work their way through the labyrinth of the ship's underbelly to escape. (Publisher’s summary)
Jerusalem Inn by Martha Grimes
Superintendent Richard Tury of Scotland Yard spends his Christmas holiday at a colorful country inn near a vast estate inhabited by the titled, the rich, the famous, and--suddenly--the deceased. (Publisher’s summary)
Superintendent Richard Tury of Scotland Yard spends his Christmas holiday at a colorful country inn near a vast estate inhabited by the titled, the rich, the famous, and--suddenly--the deceased. (Publisher’s summary)
Skipping Christmas by John Grisham
In this hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of our holiday tradition, a weary couple is about to discover skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences and isn't half as easy as they had imagined. (Publisher’s summary)
In this hilarious look at the chaos and frenzy that have become part of our holiday tradition, a weary couple is about to discover skipping Christmas brings enormous consequences and isn't half as easy as they had imagined. (Publisher’s summary)
Haley has written a sentimental tale of and for Christmas. Set in 1855, the story features a student at Princeton whose father is a U.S. senator and one of the biggest slaveholders in North Carolina. Changing dormitories to escape the persecution of some nasty northern students, Fletcher Randall finds himself under a different style of peer pressure. After meeting three Quaker brothers who introduce him to the antislavery activism of their friends and family in Pennsylvania, Randall becomes involved in the Underground Railroad and in an escape attempt on Christmas Eve, 1855. (Booklist review)
Christmas Holiday by W. Somerset Maugham
Charley Mason's trip to Paris is haunted by his meeting with Lydia, a wayward girl whose family was displaced by the Russian Revolution and who "pines for a man half a world away, a dope dealer and murderer whose sins Lydia seeks to absolve through her own self-destruction." (Publisher’s summary)
Charley Mason's trip to Paris is haunted by his meeting with Lydia, a wayward girl whose family was displaced by the Russian Revolution and who "pines for a man half a world away, a dope dealer and murderer whose sins Lydia seeks to absolve through her own self-destruction." (Publisher’s summary)
Turkey Day Murder by Leslie Meier
Amateur sleuth Lucy Stone investigates when Tinker's Cove's annual Thanksgiving festivities are interrupted by the murder of Metinnicut Indian activist Curt Nolan and uncovers a host of suspects while cooking up a holiday dinner for twelve. (Publisher’s summary)
Amateur sleuth Lucy Stone investigates when Tinker's Cove's annual Thanksgiving festivities are interrupted by the murder of Metinnicut Indian activist Curt Nolan and uncovers a host of suspects while cooking up a holiday dinner for twelve. (Publisher’s summary)
The Dons and Mr. Dickens: The Strange Case of the Oxford Christmas Plot: A Secret Victorian Journal, attributed to Wilkie Collins, discovered and edited by William J. Palmer
On a dank and dreary November evening, Inspector William Field summons Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens to a crime scene in London's notorious Chinese opium district. When the two arrive in the seedy neighborhood, they learn that a man has been murdered and the victim is none other than an Oxford Don.
On a dank and dreary November evening, Inspector William Field summons Wilkie Collins and Charles Dickens to a crime scene in London's notorious Chinese opium district. When the two arrive in the seedy neighborhood, they learn that a man has been murdered and the victim is none other than an Oxford Don.
The Raven in the Foregate: The Twelfth Chronicle of Brother Cadfael by Ellis Peters
Christmas, 1141. After refusing to baptize the illegitimate baby of a local prostitute, the new parish priest is found dead in the river. Brother Cadfael investigates. (Publisher’s summary)
Christmas, 1141. After refusing to baptize the illegitimate baby of a local prostitute, the new parish priest is found dead in the river. Brother Cadfael investigates. (Publisher’s summary)
Philly Stakes by Gillian Roberts
Amanda Pepper, an English teacher at school for Philadelphia's filthy rich, is determined to teach the kids a lesson about the true spirit of Christmas. She intends to have them cook and serve a meal to the homeless, but unfortunately a powerful parent takes over, and the simple meal turns into a catered affair--topped off by murder. Of course, Amanda wants to solve the crime with her sometime boyfriend and cop C.K. Mackenzie. She's equally determeind to teach the the elusive killer a lesson or two, as well. (Publisher’s summary)
Amanda Pepper, an English teacher at school for Philadelphia's filthy rich, is determined to teach the kids a lesson about the true spirit of Christmas. She intends to have them cook and serve a meal to the homeless, but unfortunately a powerful parent takes over, and the simple meal turns into a catered affair--topped off by murder. Of course, Amanda wants to solve the crime with her sometime boyfriend and cop C.K. Mackenzie. She's equally determeind to teach the the elusive killer a lesson or two, as well. (Publisher’s summary)
Friday, November 5, 2021
Friday Reads: Station Eleven
Have you had enough of pandemics yet? Sometimes the best way to process a real-life challenge is through fiction. In that spirit, Adam is reading Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel.
Station Eleven is at least the the third novel I've read during the COVID-19 pandemic that is about survival after a viral plague has wiped out most of humanity. Apparently, escapism is not really my thing.
After the heart-racing opening chapters set right at the start of a devastating flu outbreak in Toronto, the novel jumps back and forth between the years before the pandemic and a time twenty years later. The post-pandemic sections follow Kirsten Raymonde and her fellow actors and musicians as they travel between settlements as part of a small theatre troupe, the Traveling Symphony. The chapters set in the pre-pandemic years focus on various other characters, including an entertainment journalist-turned-paramedic, a famous actor, and the actor's artist ex-wife. With over 100 pages still to go, I already get the sense that these characters' lives are closely connected in a sort of Dickensian, fate-filled way that can be hard for some novelists to pull off without it seeming too convenient, but that Mandel seems clearly talented enough to pull off easily.
After the heart-racing opening chapters set right at the start of a devastating flu outbreak in Toronto, the novel jumps back and forth between the years before the pandemic and a time twenty years later. The post-pandemic sections follow Kirsten Raymonde and her fellow actors and musicians as they travel between settlements as part of a small theatre troupe, the Traveling Symphony. The chapters set in the pre-pandemic years focus on various other characters, including an entertainment journalist-turned-paramedic, a famous actor, and the actor's artist ex-wife. With over 100 pages still to go, I already get the sense that these characters' lives are closely connected in a sort of Dickensian, fate-filled way that can be hard for some novelists to pull off without it seeming too convenient, but that Mandel seems clearly talented enough to pull off easily.
Monday, November 1, 2021
November DVD Spotlight: Musicals and Music Films
This month, we're shining our spotlight on movies that celebrate song and dance in a variety of different ways. We've included traditional musicals like West Side Story (1961) and The Sound of Music (1965) alongside more recent genre staples like Rent (2005), but we've also featured movies that, while they are not musicals, focus on music as part of their central story. There's Christopher Guest's hilarious folk music-centric mockumentary A Mighty Wind (2003), and Jean Renoir's lush Technicolor masterpiece French Cancan (1955).
Other featured titles include:
Copying Beethoven (2006)
Ed Harris gives a commanding lead performance in this fictional account of the last years in the life of Ludwig van Beethoven, as he mentors a promising young composition student.
The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)
Notoriously twisted Japanese director Takashi Miike's darkly comic musical has been billed as "The Sound of Music meets Dawn of the Dead."
Sholay (1975)
This Bollywood classic has everything: it's a western, a love story, a buddy comedy, a revenge film, an action epic, and, of course, a musical.
Singin' in the Rain (1952)
One of the best films ever made, this love story set against the backdrop of Hollywood's transition from silent movies to "talkies" is so much more than just that iconic shot of Gene Kelly hanging off a lamppost.
Sita Sings the Blues (2008)
This animated reinterpretation of the Indian epic Ramayana is set to the 1920s jazz vocals of Annette Hanshaw.
The Smiling Lieutenant (1931)
An early sound-era Hollywood musical from the great director Ernst Lubitsch, this charming romantic comedy features Maurice Chevalier as a military officer caught up in a love triangle with a musician and a princess.
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
There's no place like home, as you'll learn from this perennial classic about Kansas farm girl Dorothy, who is magically transported to the land of Oz.
Stop by the library and check one out today!
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