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.
The Jesus Mysteries
Freke, Timothy. The Jesus Mysteries : was the original Jesus a Pagan god? 2000. (232.9 Freke.T)
Have you: 1) Ever heard that not a single contemporary first-hand account of the Jesus of Nazareth exists? And wondered why? 2) Ever taken a shot at understanding the very strange 2nd-4th century Gnostic Gospels (discovered in an Egyptian cave in 1948), but found them too bizarre to wrap your arms around? 3) Ever heard of the Egyptian, Persian, and Pagan man-Gods, worshiped during the 1st-5th centuries B.C., who were born of a virgin, died on a cross/tree, buried in a cave, descended into hell, and rose again on the third day? In The Jesus Mysteries, Timothy Freke and Peter Gandy not only document the once-prevalent belief in these ancient Man-gods, but link them directly to the Gnostic Gospels and Jesus of Nazareth, who—according to the authors—was merely a mythical Jewish adaptation from the Pagan Man-god “Mysteries” religion of Rome. Although released in 2000, the recent surge of public interest in books by the likes of Christopher Hitchins and Richard Dawkins makes The Jesus Mysteries a fascinating read with a controversial thesis. (Russ K., Ref.)
Deerbrook
Martineau, Harriet. Deerbrook. 2004. (Fiction Marti.H)
After the death of their father, the Ibbotson sisters, Hester and Margaret, move to the village of Deerbrook to live with their cousin Mr Grey and his family. The village apothecary, Edmund Hope, falls in love with Margaret but is compelled to marry Hester. He and the two sisters then become the objects of malicious gossip that threatens to destroy Edmund's livelihood and the sisters' relationship. Originally published in 1839, Deerbrook presents a vivid picture of early Victorian village life, its comforts and conflicts, its generosity and meanness. (Mary B., Reader's Services)
White Egrets
Walcott, Derek. White Egrets: Poems. 2010. (811.54 Walco.D)
In Derek Walcott's latest collection of poems he explores the "quiet ravages of diabetes," loss, mortality, and his love of his native St. Lucia, all with a powerful evocation of place, light and the sea. "The perpetual idea is astonishment," he says, no modest ideal for the octogenarian, and he continues to be astonished - especially by the view, sound, and light of the sea. Of St. Lucia he writes, "this small place produces/ nothing but beauty." Simultaneously weaving together thoughts on coming home and letting go, he writes: "Breakers spread welcome./ Accept it. Watch how spray will burst/ like a cat scrambling up the side of a wall,/ gripping, sliding, surrendering; how, at first,/ its claws hook then slip with a quickening fall/ to the lace-rocked foam. That is the heart, coming home,/ trying to fasten on everything it moved from,/ how salted things only increase its thirst." Salty, visionary, and deeply personal. (Christie, Adult/YA Services)
Two films for the Francophile in all of us
Avoid the high cost of airfare and vacation in France in the comfort of your own home - and don't forget "le popcorn".
Summer Hours. 2010. (DVD 791.4372 Summer) begins with a family reunion at a beautiful country home filled with a valuable art collection. Helene, the matriarch of the family, wants to discuss how to handle all of it after her death. The various art objects evoke memories of the past for Helene’s three adult children (including Juliette Binoche in a somewhat unsympathetic role). But their busy lives mean that the house will be sold and the art donated to the Musee d’Orsay. Although on a basic level, this is a film about inheritance, it also touches on universal themes of loss, guilt, and the realization that life continues—themes to which we can all relate.
Girl on the Train. 2010. (DVD 791.4372 Girl) also delves into family and relationships. Structured into two sections, “Circumstances,” focuses on the beautiful and enigmatic Jeanne who spends much of her time riding the train and rollerblading while trying to find work. Her mother (played by Catherine Deneuve) hopes her daughter will find a good secretarial position. But she becomes embroiled in a troubled love affair which ends badly and becomes the set-up for the second half of the film (based on a real incident about a young woman who claimed she was the victim of an anti-Semitic attack) which deals with the lie she tells and its “Consequences”. Although the second part is an abrupt departure from the first and leaves many unanswered questions, it is still an intriguing and thought-provoking film.
(Laura, Reader's Services)
Crooked Little Heart
Lamott, Anne. Crooked Little Heart. 1997. (Fiction Lamot.A)
In the summer of her 13th year, Rosie Ferguson is occupied and preoccupied with tennis. She's a junior ranked player and is shuttled around along with her best friend and doubles partner, Simone, to all the tournaments in the San Francisco area. Both girls are caught in that moment at the end of childhood where hints of the women they are to become begin to show--physically, mentally, and emotionally. When Rosie was four, her dad was killed in a car accident. Elizabeth, Rosie's mom, spent a few years in a downward spiral of alcoholism and depression before marrying the loveable and accepting James. Both Rosie and her mom confront some large issues over the summer.
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