Tuesday, September 29, 2009

This Week's New Releases

New Releases This Week:


Fiction

Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber

Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Generosity by Richard Powers
Rough Country by John Sandford

Non-Fiction

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom

The Clinton Tapes: Wrestling History with the President by Taylor Branch

Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife by Francine Prose



Saturday, September 26, 2009

OneBookAZ Voting Ends Soon

There are two days remaining to vote for the next OneBookAZ selection. This yearly event brings readers across Arizona together as we read the same book and discuss it in libraries, schools, community centers, and churches. This is a unique opportunity to learn about Arizona history and culture. This year's nominated books are:

Suitcase Sefton and the American Dream by Jay Feldman



Zero at the Bone: Rewriting Life after a Snakebite by Erec Toso


The Road to Mount Lemmon: A Father, A Family, and the Making of Summerhaven by Mary Ellen Barnes

Visit http://www.onebookaz.org/ to vote through September 30!




Monday, September 21, 2009

Book Review: What Makes You Tick? How Successful People Do It--and What You Can Learn from Them by Michael J. Berland and Douglas E.Schoen

Berland and Schoen have gathered short interviews from successful people involving a wide range of professions, such as business, entertainment, and government, to produce an insightful look into what makes someone a standout in their chosen field. The authors’ divide these natural achievers into four categories: Natural-Born Leaders, Independence Seekers, Visionaries and Do-Gooders, with each category detailing various passions and paths of achievement for the individuals. The epilogue consists of a personal “test” to determine what your own style and passion is, and how to capitalize on those strengths. Besides the juicy tidbits about famous celebrities, (for example, NBC Nightly News anchor, Brian Williams never went to journalism school.) What Makes you Tick will get the reader to think about what is truly important in their lives, and how to attain those goals despite obstacles or challenges they might face.
-Kathy (Sunset)

Friday, September 18, 2009

Oprah's New Pick

Today Oprah announced her next book club selection. Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan, a Nigerian Jesuit priest, is a book of short stories about the African experience. You can find a reading guide on Oprah's website.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

DVD Review: Knowing

With the recent DVD release of the science fiction-thriller Knowing, the audience will get to see Nicolas Cage in yet another action packed film full of spectacular visual effects. Cage plays physics professor, John Koestler, who happens to stumble upon a page of random numbers, which was buried at his son, Caleb’s, school. John determines these numbers aren’t random, but rather hold a significant meaning for the future. Despite a great build up and mysterious side plot involving Caleb’s frightening dreams and some creepy visitors, the plot doesn’t hold up. If you enjoy Cage’s work, and have the time to spare, check out Knowing for its action packed scenes, but don’t expect too much. The film is rated PG-13 for intense violence and horrific crash scenes.
-Kathy (Sunset)

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Audiobook Review: Rain Gods by James Lee Burke

Elegiac atmospherics interrupted by grotesque cruelty mark Rain Gods by
James Lee Burke, read by Will Patton, and reviewed by Star Lawrence.

Hackberry Holland is an old man, sheriff in a small South Texas town, but a former politician and womanizer. He lives on a little ranch with two frisky horses, overhung with sky, weather, and nature of every description. And you will get the descriptions, as any James Lee Burke fan knows. No tinted sunrise or bruised thunderhead leaping with lightning goes unnoticed.

But trouble has come to town and in the form of “Preacher” Jack Collins, a mercurial killer on a mission, and his mission at one point has involved machine-gunning nine Thai women brought to town for the purposes of prostitution. Hackberry dredges them up from their shallow rest behind an abandoned church and takes it personally.

The theme is “unlikely heroes,” which as the book unwinds, include a young Iraq vet, his singer girlfriend, a pudgy strip club owner, his wife, and of course, Holland himself. The irony is that even “Preacher” Collins does not behave as a depraved killer should.

Will Patton is the perfect reader for Burke books, with his sleepy, Southern voice and reassuring tone even in the midst of the most depraved scenes.

No country for old men? This is the perfect country for old men who have learned a thing or two and grown some principles. Young men, too.

Star Lawrence owns a recession coping website called Do the Hopey Copey (
http://hopeycopey.blogspot.com). She can be reached at jkellaw@aol.com.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Book Review: Godforsaken Sea: Racing the World's Most Dangerous Waters by Derek Lundy

In November 1996, sixteen boats set out from the French coast on the most dangerous race in the world. The Vendée Globe is a single-handed circumnavigation, sailors alone circling the globe around Antarctica, without stopping or going into port for assistance. Fourteen men and two women entered the race, testing not only their sailing skills but their fortitude as they battled dangerous weather, equipment failure, damaged and capsized boats, and the exhaustion of sailing alone for four months. Five boats would be damaged so badly they could not finish the race. Four would capsize, leaving their sailors to be rescued from icy waters in areas so distant aircraft can’t reach them. One sailor would be lost at sea, disappearing without a trace. Only six would finish the race.
Derek Lundy, himself an amateur sailor, tells the story of the race with a sense of excitement as he relates the death-defying events, and an eye for technical details that never become overwhelming. Even more, he writes with a sense of awe, evoking the personalities of the sailors who undergo this grueling race and attempting to explain what makes them test their limits, seek such danger, and find the strength to overcome incredible adversities.

-Michelle (Sunset)