Readers' Services
The Readers’ Services staff can help you find specific materials and can offer reading suggestions. Please phone (847) 448-8620 for assistance. Use Novelist, to find reviews, reading guides, and reading lists for fiction lovers.
Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
Fountain, Ben. Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk. 2012. (Fiction Fount.B)
In an onrushing caffeinated voice that's a mix of Joseph Heller, Don DeLillo, James Joyce and a play-by-play sportscaster, Fountain dissects the culture that gives us such diversions as the Iraq War and the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders. The connections? Phony imagery, commercialism, and something deeper, something like oblivious hubris. This isn't just pulse-raising fiction. It's a deft skewering, hilarious and poignant, of a society inured to its own televised outrages. The novel's "story" covers an afternoon in the life of William Lynn, a young war hero on leave to receive his nation's accolades at a Cowboys halftime show, and possibly sign off on a movie deal. The familiar insanities will make you laugh and squirm. (Jeff B., Reader's Services)
Waterloo Road
Waterloo Road. 2012. (DVD 791.4572 Waterlo)
Jack Rimmer is the headmaster of a troubled British comprehensive high school with a diverse student body. Racial tensions, bullying, burnt out teachers, idealistic reformers mixed in with the high drama of teen life, staff scandals, and the looming threat of closure make this drama from the BBC a compelling choice to watch. Currently available here in the U.S. is Series 1 with eight episodes, but there are seven more series to come (I hope). This award-winning drama features a top-notch cast, and treats the problems of educating today's young people realistically without flinching at difficult issues.
Barbara L., Reader's Services
Phantom
Nesbø, Jo. Phantom. 2012. (Mystery Nesbø.J)
I am a big fan of the Scandinavian mystery writers. Stieg Larsson of "The Girl Who..." fame got me started. I think Nesbø is my next favorite. His Harry Hole series offers gruesome murders, lots of action, and a main character who has many self-destructive habits, a brilliant investigative mind, and a deeply held belief in the law. Nesbø's latest finds Harry returning to Oslo from the relative serenity of his expat life in Hong Kong when Oleg, son of his former lover, is the prime suspect in the murder of his best friend Gusto. Both young men had fallen prey to the drug scene, and the downward spiral of both their lives is told through flashbacks. Harry knows Oleg, who had become like a son to him, cannot have done this, but, most important, Harry wants the truth. With many enemies on both sides of the law, Harry's self imposed task puts him and those he cares for at extreme risk.
(Barbara L., Reader's Services)
The Time Keeper
Albom, Mitch. The Time Keeper. 2012. (Fiction Albom.M)
Six thousand years ago, Dor was the first man to invent time. Dor ends up in an hourglass after some tragic events and is brought to the present time to help two people who are on the verge of dying. Dor provides assistance to Sarah, a young depressed girl, and Victor who is a terminally ill business mogul. Will Dor be able to encourage Sarah and Victor to live longer or not? The Time Keeper is a thought-provoking and an inspirational story. (Samantha B., Adult Services)
View with a Grain of Sand
Szymborska, Wislawa. View with a Grain of Sand. 1995. (891.8517 Szymb.W)
Szymborska published this 100-poem collection the year before she received the 1996 Nobel literature prize. Distilled from seven previous collections, it captures her mischievousness and curiosity, which she might say are sparked by a mischievous and curious world. Naturally some of the poems fade away but here and there are some real charmers, such as "A Tale Begun" and "Into the Ark." The translation from Polish (by Stanislaw Baranczak and Clare Cavanaugh) deserves a prize in its own right. Szymborska died last year in her native Krakow. (Jeff B., Reader's Services)
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