March book & film club highlights...

Our film club discussion of Streetcar Named Desire was quite lively -- with our New Orleans-style blues in the background. :-) We all really wanted to hate Brando's Stanley, but there's just something about him... Several of us had read the play as well, so it was quite interesting to compare the original to the Hollywood portrayal: Williams' original play was much more controversial and to-the-point on issues that the Hollywood film glossed over or obscured in innuendo.

Book club discussion of Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott was also quite interesting - how couldn't it be, when the book was about a famous brothel and those fighting to close its doors in turn-of-the-century Chicago? :-) Quite timely, with the current Spitzer-prostitution ring scandal. The big question: what would you have done, had you been in the time/place that these Chicago girls and madams were in? Some interesting variations in response...

Check out the April book club and film club selections - hope you can join us!

NEW! Monthly Staff Picks!

Starting this March, the library will have monthly "staff picks" in a special display in the library - including brief reviews of the picks. Here are the picks for March, but check out the library display to see which staff member picked what and their review!

Fiction
Unleash the Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon (PBK FIC KEN)
Southern Sisters by Anne George (PBK FIC GEO)
Hissy Fit by Mary Kay Andrews (FIC ANDREWS)
Nonfiction
Way Off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small Town America by William Geist
One Drop: My Father’s Hidden Life by Bliss Broyard (813.54 BRO)
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
What Shamu Taught Me About Love and Marriage: Life Lessons for People from Animals and Their Trainers by Amy Sutherland (158.2 SUT)
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Dr. Stephen Covey (158 COV)
Teen Fiction
Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt (TEEN FIC LEAVITT)
The Arrival by Shaun Tan (TEEN FIC TAN)
Music
Sweet Warrior by Richard Thompson (CD POP/ROCK THO #1)
Children’s
Zen Ties by Jon J. Muth (E MUTH)

chicklet to chick lit

This fascinating and imaginative series is for middle school and high school students. It is an unusual story of a boy's coming of age. Leven Thumps is an orphan teen from Oklahoma with a powerful talent: he can glimpse and change the future. In the fantastical world of Foo, he meets many incredible beings: Geth, a lithen and displaced king of Foo; Sabine, the evil usurper ruler of Foo; Winter, a teen girl who can freeze things and people; and Clover, Lev's companion and comic relief. Kids and adults alike will enjoy this creative tale of good and evil.
Book One is the Gateway to Foo - an introduction to all the twists, turns, puns, irony and allegory. Book Two, Whispered Secret, delves more deeply into the plot to destroy Foo and allows the reader in immerse themselves into the eccentricities of Foo and its citizens. Book Three, Eyes of the Want, bogs down a bit into too many plot twists and details, but still gives one a thrill. I eagerly await the release of Book Four, Wrath of Ezra.

Lightning Tree

Irish Fact and Fiction

PJ Curtis’ Lightning Tree takes readers through the history of Ireland; from just after the famine to the early 1950’s through the eyes of a woman who lived through those years. It’s fictional, but weaves factual, historical events along its way. This woman, Mariah, lived close to PJ Curtis’ childhood home in the Burren region of County Clare, Ireland. The stories this amazing woman told him when he was a youngster form the essence of this book. She was a healer, a pub manager, and life long resident of the Burren area. PJ Curtis’ father and grandfather were blacksmiths in Ireland. Mr. Curtis, however, became a professional broadcaster, and record producer, living in Nashville, Memphis and Phoenix winning many awards for his work. However he returned to the Burren and wrote this absorbing book about his old friend, Mariah. Reading this book will transport you not only back in time, but clearly right into Ireland!