What: A graphic novel, American Vampire by Scott Snyder, Rafael Albuquerque & Stephen King
Why You Should Give It a Look: This is a dark story and violent, but it’s cracking good storytelling with vivid artwork and gives a fresh take on vampires – what if the traditional European form of vampirism mutated when it hit the American West?
Where to Find It: In the adult nonfiction section, specifically 741.5973 (graphic novels, American authors). Or place a hold via the online catalog.
Filed under Fiction
Just a quick head’s up to let readers know we’re going to be changing the format of our reviews a bit, making them a little simpler.
Filed under Uncategorized
In 2010, the BBC aired a series of three mini-films featuring a 21st century Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. He’s still a genius detective who uses observation, logic and science to solve mysteries; Watson is an injured army doctor recently returned from action in Afghanistan. They meet in a chemistry lab where they’re introduced as potential roommates (neither can afford to stay in London on his own) and shortly get caught up assisting Scotland Yard in solving a series of murders. But in the modern world, the good guys and bad guys use mobile phones and the Web. Smoking is banned in so many places that Holmes relies on nicotine patches. Watson keeps a blog, not a journal.
I should confess up front that I am not a diehard, purist Holmes fan. But Sherlock was created by two men who are fervant fans – Steven Moffet and Mark Gatiss. And this was one of my favorite programs I saw on television last year. (PBS aired all three in the fall. Did you catch any of them?)
The two leads, Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes and Martin Freeman as Watson, are fantastic in their roles and with each other. Holmes is brilliant, eccentric and generally uncaring of social norms – he’s ecstatic to be on the trail of a serial killer and his overwhelming desire to know the answers (and be right) lead him to risk his life on numerous occasions. John Watson, loyal and determined, is amazed at what Sherlock is able to deduce about people but not always impressed with his people skills or all the experiments he sets up at 221B Baker Street.
Random information for you: The series (or mini-series) received the TV Dagger and Cumberbatch the Best Actor Dagger at the ITV Crime Thriller Awards last fall. Also, Martin Freeman (Dr. Watson) portrayed Tim Canterbury on the BBC version of The Office (essentially Jim Halpert in the American version), was Arthur Dent in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and will play Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming film of The Hobbit.
Are you curious yet? See if Sherlock’s on the shelf at your local library or place a hold!
-Julie G., Summitview
Filed under Films
Steve Almond has been a candyfreak all his life, and he’s written the book to prove it. In Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America, Almond glories in the candies of his youth – he still mourns the Cavelle bar – reflects on the candy world today, and sets out on a tour of regional candies still made in America.
Almond’s writing dwells with delight on the descriptions of candy and candy-making and his love for the topic is unabashed. He paints such a picture of these regional treats that you want them to magically appear in front of you for eating. Almond has no problem sharing his opinion about candy, coconut or culture. The tone veers between hilarious and somber. At the four regional candy factories he tours, the people he meets all love what they do – making candy – but they are also, in varying ways, realistic about the candy market and what it takes to survive in the candy business of 2005 (when this book was published).
I love the funny parts. Some of them make me laugh out loud. But it’s also interesting to consider how the story of candy-makers reflects on the larger story of big, medium and small businesses. It is inevitable that the big get bigger until there’s no room for anyone else? What does it mean that where once the United States had hundreds of candy companies, and it now (or as of 2005) had far fewer? The story of local businesses and big nationwide (or international) businesses is a pertinent one, and one to consider when we think about what we want our world to be like.
Get a taste of Candyfreak today.
-Julie G., Summitview Library
Filed under Nonfiction
While grieving over the death of her best friend, Abbey meets a mysterious stranger in the cemetery. He is the only one she can relate to at this difficult time. She desperately wants to know what her friend, Kirsten, was doing at the bridge the night of the drowning.
This light romance has some intriguing resemblances to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
I am eagerly awaiting the second installment that is to be released soon. It promises to be a fascinating trilogy.
See if The Hollow, by Jessica Verday, is on the shelf or if you need to place a hold.
-Barbara T., Programming
Filed under Teen books
Meena Harper has her dream job, writing for the soap she’s loved for years. She also has the ability to see how people are going to die, which means 1) she spends a lot of time warning people about their health, behavior, travel plans and dangerous acquaintances; and 2) her relationships do not work out. And now, she’s about to have vampires invade her life – she’s been ordered to develop a vampire storyline, which she is not enthusiastic about, for the show. Meena’s also about to meet the man of her dreams: Lucien. He’s Romanian, compelling, tall, amazingly sexy, and as taken with her as much as she is with him. Best of all, she can’t see how he’s going to die.
Meena’s about to find out vampires are real, because a vampire war is getting started in New York City, and Lucien is here to end it. Of course, the vampire hunters, including the handsome, dangerous and obsessive Alaric Wulf, aren’t far behind.
Throw in a fantastic best friend and her husband, an unemployed brother who has the hots for the soap’s young star, classy (matchmaking) vampire neighbors, a cut-throat rival at work, and a vampire mobster with a big bad plan, and you have Insatiable.
This book had me giggling in delight. Cabot, best known for The Princess Diaries series, writes engaging heroines who can save themselves and other people. She takes the vampire romance and love triangle and all the tropes those stories traditionally entail, and in the way she plays with these elements, you can see how much she loves them but also sees their absurdity.
Find Meg Cabot’s Insatiable in our catalog.
-Julie G, Tech Services
Filed under Fiction
D.J. MacHale, author of the popular Pendragon series, has begun a new horror trilogy with Morpheus Road: The Light. It all begins when Marshall Seaver’s best friend, Cooper, mysteriously disappears. Then Marshall begins being haunted by his own cartoon creation, Grave Digger.
Readers who like fast action horror will love this book. It is loaded with chase scenes and bizarre happenings as Marshall and Cooper’s caustic sister try to make sense of the unexplainable.
Reader Nick Podehl does a superb job in the audio version. His distinctive “gravelly” voice for Grave Digger makes the once cartoon figure into a flesh-and-blood demon. This book unfolds like a Steven Spielberg thriller.
I highly recommend it. Check and see if it’s at your local library.
-Barbara T., Programming
Filed under Audiobooks, Fiction, Teen books
Are you curious about the kind of food Miguel de Cervantes and his characters, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, ate 400 years ago? What about knowing what types of traditional Castilian food famous people such as Antonio Banderas, actor, Pedro Almodovar, film director, Penelope Cruz, actress, or Alfredo Iniesta, the Spanish soccer player who scored the victory goal in the final of the 2010 Football Word Cup in South Africa, eat? The time to discover a new variety of healthy and tasty food has come.
One enjoyable way of learning more about Spanish food is to read one of the books author Janet Mendel, an American-born freelance journalist based in southern Spain, wrote about food, traveling, and the people of Spain; in this particular case, I am referring to her book “Cooking from the Heart of Spain: Food of La Mancha.” It gives you access to the best culinary recipes from Castilla-La Mancha, the delicious authentic food from the country’s heartland.
Mrs. Mendel divided the book into ten main sections, plus an interesting introduction to the people and culture of Castilla-La Mancha. You will discover wonderful cooking ideas such as tapas, tortillas, omelets, sandwiches, soups, fish and shellfish, poultry, meat, vegetables and other side dishes, desserts, and drinks, with an emphasis on wine.
I am sure you will discover amazing recipes, but I don’t want to lose this opportunity to offer you some recommendations: Thyme-marinated olives and Spanish Potato Tortilla are the most popular tapas; One-Pot Feast, perfect for those who are really hungry; and almond fritters, a wonderful dessert. Try them, and you won´t be disappointed.
Would you be interested in knowing more about Spanish stories and recipes? Enjoy these as well!
-Francisco G-O, Technical Services
Filed under Nonfiction
The year is 1934. With the country in the stranglehold of drought and economic depression, Ella Barron runs her Texas boardinghouse with an efficiency that ensures her life will be kept in balance. She also cares for her ten-year-old son, Solly, a sweet but challenging child whose misunderstood behavior finds Ella on the receiving end of pity, derision, and suspicion. David Rainwater arrives at the house looking for lodging but Ella senses that admitting him as a boarder will bring about unsettling changes. However, times are hard, so Mr. Rainwater moves in and impacts her life in ways Ella could never have foreseen.
The changes are echoed by the turbulence beyond the house walls. Friends and neighbors now face financial ruin and in an effort to save their families from homelessness and hunger, are forced to make heart rending choices. The climate of desperation creates a fertile atmosphere for racial tensions and social unrest. Conrad Ellis — privileged and spoiled and Ella’s nemesis since childhood — steps into this arena of teeming hostility to exact his vengeance and demonstrate the extent of his blind hatred and unlimited cruelty. He and his gang of hoodlums come to embody the rule of law, and no one in Gilead, Texas, is safe. Particularly Ella and Solly.
In this hotbed of uncertainty, Ella finds Mr. Rainwater a calming presence. Slowly, she begins to rely on his soft-spokenness, his restraint, and the steely resolve of his convictions. And on the hottest, most violent night of the summer, those principles will be put to the ultimate test.
Rainwater was very compelling! The characters came to life by design as the author intended. She breathed a spirit into each personality by molding their emotions by the events that occurred. You could feel their presence.
See if Rainwater is checked in or if you’ll need to put a hold on a copy.
-Terri R., Service Center
Filed under Fiction
In his book, “A Member of the Family,” Cesar Millan impresses upon his readers the importance of inviting a dog into a family beginning with determining where to find your prospective pet through coping with the death of a pet. He addresses the most common “problems” our canine friends exhibit and explains how most of these issues are direct results of failing to provide boundaries and rules. Cesar supplies his readers with many practical tips with success stories highlighting his techniques within the “pack,” a term which includes both the human members and canine members of a family.
After reading a portion of his book, I found myself implementing the rule of requiring a calm submissive state of mind prior to feeding as well as not allowing my own two dogs to leave or enter the house before me or other members of my family. I have noticed an immediate change in the newest member of our own pack, Peanut. Prior to my requesting a calm submissive state, Peanut would often bolt from his cage and proceed to jump all over my daughter when we returned home. However, since instructing my daughter to approach him calmly and not look, speak or touch him, another of the rules Cesar provides, Peanut now calmly exits the cage and approaches us in a submissive state that allows us to put him outside prior to feeding him. I am excited to try some of the other methods, such as two daily walks fueled by the “pack leader,” listed in the book to aid in creating a more balanced life for my other dog, Niña.
Look for A Member of the Family at your library – or place a hold!
-Amber V., Yakima Library
Filed under Nonfiction
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