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 Casual Vacancy
Rowling, J.K. The Casual Vacancy. 2012 (Fiction Rowli.J)
I was one of the legions of Harry Potter fans, so I was somewhat skeptical about tackling the author's new adult novel. Despite some lukewarm reviews, the book is, of course, on everyone’s waitlist, and even won this year's Best Fiction Award from Goodreads. But even with the daunting task of reading 500 pages plus, I have to admit I was hooked. The story revolves around eight dysfunctional families in the small English town of Pagford all coping with the death of Barry Fairbrother, one of the leaders of their Parish council. The families are connected to each other not only through their relationship to him, but also through Krystal Weedon, the teenager Barry befriended.
Jetlag travel
Cilauro, Santo,Tom Gleisner, Rob Sitch. Molvania: A Land Untouched By Modern Dentistry. 2003. (817.54 Cilau.S)
Dreading your upcoming travel for the holidays? Pack along Molvania for when you're stuck in the security line, or hanging around the bus terminal as a sure cure for boredom. True, people will wonder why you're laughing loudly or snickering uncontrollably, but you will be enjoying yourself way too much to care!
Mistresses
Mistresses. 2009. (DVD 791.4572 Mistres v. 1)
Four women friends share their hopes and joys, sexual escapades, relationship disasters, and much more in this steamy, well-acted, very hip BBC production. Think "Sex in the City" but with that inimitable British depth of production and style, and a darker sensibility. Trudi, widowed when the Towers came down on 9/11, thinks she's being stalked by her dead husband. Siobahn, married lawyer trying to get pregnant, takes to having serial one-night stands when her husband's fertility test comes up negative. Katie, successful physician, becomes involved with the son of her former married lover who died from cancer under her care. Finally, Jessica, party girl and event planner, has casual flings whenever the fancy strikes her but discovers a strong attraction to another woman in the midst of planning the woman's lesbian wedding party. With 12 lush episodes for all these story lines to develop, you'll get to know the characters quite well, and whether you approve of their decisions (there are some real whoppers) or not, you'll be caught up in this close circle of friends. I'm eagerly awaiting season two. Watch the trailer here.
(Barbara L., Reader's Services)
First Position
First Position. 2012 (DVD 792.8 First)
As every aspiring ballet dancer knows there are five basic positions of the feet in classical ballet. The young dancers in this wonderful documentary have perfected them all. We follow seven talented and dedicated contestants (ages 10-16) from around the world as they compete in the prestigious Youth American Grand Prix finals in New York’s City Center. Coming from all walks of life, they show amazing technique and poise as they vie for prizes, scholarships, and contracts with major dance companies. Allowed only 2½ minutes of dancing before the judges, these young dancers hope to not only impress, but to change their lives in the process.
Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
Sloan, Robert. Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore. 2012. (Fiction Sloan.R)
How could you not love a novel that appeals both to literary snobs and to twenty-something hackers? Mystery, book history, love story, cryptography, and up-to-the- minute Google-speak starring San Francisco's odd denizens, young and old, this tale follows Clay Jannon, a clerk in a book store that doesn't sell books, as he tries to discover exactly why the store exists and who are its patrons and hidden owner. This is his funny and fast-moving quest, with real-life approximations of wizard, warrior and rogue. And the cover glows in the dark!
(Nancy E., North Branch)
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