AUGUST 31, 2012
A Book We Love: Final Crossing
Final Crossing: A Novel of Suspense by Colorado author Carter Wilson is definitely as advertised. Wilson’s first book, Final Crossing involves a deeply disturbed man named Rudiger, who becomes full-blown insane after a traumatic incident when he was a soldier in Mogadishu. Rudiger believes in the second coming of Christ, and thinks he can find the next messiah by crucifying people and waiting for them to come back to life. Now Rudiger’s old commanding officer, currently the senior aid to a powerful Senator, is his next target. This dark thriller is an awful lot of fun.
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posted by Sean, Standley Lake Library |
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AUGUST 29, 2012
Sister to a Star
Get to know Gesine Bullock-Prado, a talented pastry chef living in Vermont. She has written several books, including a delightful memoir. Her style is sassy and entertaining, making even the introductions to her recipes fun reading. Oh, and she’s also Sandra Bullock’s sister!
Confections of a Closet Master Baker
Learn how Gesine got from Hollywood to Vermont and created her dream life.
Pie it Forward: Pies, Tarts, Tortes, Galettes & Other Pastries Reinvented
Inventive and delicious-sounding recipes for all kinds of pastries.
Sugar Baby: Confections, Candies, Cakes & Other Delicious Recipes for Cooking with Sugar
A collection of classic and fun confections with easy to understand instructions and luscious photos.
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posted by Emily, Columbine Library |
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AUGUST 27, 2012
Teen Books Adults Will Love
If you’ve been hearing about The Hunger Games or loved the book, this might be a great time to try out some other teen literature. Even if this is your first taste of teen books, if you like adult fiction, chances are you’ll find some other young adult titles that also catch your interest. Here are some good choices to get you started:
If you are looking for another dystopian novel, you might try The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer.
Matt is the young clone of El Patron, a Mexican drug lord. As he grows up, he begins to realize who he is and the challenging role he has been born into. This tale of how Matt overcomes his fate and breaks free from the life he has been born into is a compelling story that allows the reader to rethink their own place in society.
If you like historical fiction, you might like Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys.
In 1941, Lina and her family are pulled from their home in Lithuania and sent to a prison camp in Siberia. This is a dark story of Lina’s time suffering under Soviet control during World War II, and how she chose to stand up to the cruelty around her.
If you like fantasy, you might enjoy The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede.
Eff has grown up knowing that as the thirteenth child in her family she brings bad luck wherever she goes. As she moves from her hometown to the magical frontier, she begins to overcome her fear of using magic, and uses it to protect the settlers from the magical creatures that threaten their homesteads.
Do you have any other favorite Young Adult books you’d like to share? Leave us a comment with your favorites!
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posted by Becky, Standley Lake Library |
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AUGUST 24, 2012
A Book We Love: The Eyre Affair
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Do you enjoy a little zany humor? Then Welsh author Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series might just be for you. The series is set in an ‘alternative’ Britain where people can literally get lost in literature and the main character is a literary detective. Her job is to stop the villains who enter great works of literature to steal the characters or just maliciously mess with the plot. How literary detectives do their job, all the time making sure readers don’t miss any of their favorite characters or stories in their books, is what makes the series so entertaining. Fforde has been compared to both Douglas Adams and Lewis Carroll for his witty and satiric voice and for his improbable and hilarious writing. The first title is the series is The Eyre Affair, where Jane Eyre is kidnapped and must be recovered before readers notice she is absent from the Bronte classic. Made up of equal parts mystery, time travel fiction, and fantasy, this series will have you imagining a completely different world.
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posted by Bonnie, Lakewood Library |
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AUGUST 22, 2012
Math and Finance For the Rest of Us
Moshe Milevsky has written yet another book for the math-challenged. You may ask yourself, “What possible connection is their between my money and Leonardo Fibonacci? For Pete’s sake, the man died 800 years ago!” Moshe Milevsky is more than happy to explain.
Milevsky is a well-respected author and speaker who is sometimes thought of as the expert consulted by other financial planning professionals. The Canadian economist is an Associate Professor in Finance at the Schulich School of Business at York University, Canada.
Milevsky’s sixth book, The 7 Most Important Equations for Your Retirement, published in May of this year, breaks difficult concepts down to their basics for the benefit of the average reader – and does it with a smile. In this book, concepts developed by Leonardo Fibonacci, Edmond Halley, Paul Samuelson and other mathematicians are used to lead the reader through basic theories of investment planning for individuals -- including the economics of retirement.
Some of Milevsky’s other books include Are You a Stock or a Bond? and Your Money Milestones: A Guide to Making the 9 Most Important Financial Decisions of Your Life. General readers and experts alike appreciate the clear explanations and back-ground information the author provides in his books. Readers will come away with a better understanding of their personal financial choices.
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posted by Jo, Golden Library |
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AUGUST 20, 2012
Calico Joe Readalikes
We know you are waiting patiently for your copy of John Grisham’s newest, Calico Joe. Try these readalikes in the meantime.
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
A baseball star at a small college near Lake Michigan launches a routine throw that goes disastrously off course and inadvertently changes the lives of five people, including the college president, a gay teammate, and the president's daughter. (From Novelist)
The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
A young girl, struggling with her parents divorce, becomes lost on the Appalachian Trail while hiking with her mother and brother. Her favorite Boston Red Sox player, Tom Gordon, becomes her constant companion and keeps her sane. The book is shaped around a 9 inning game.
Baseball’s Best Short Stories edited by Paul Staudohar
Your favorite authors, Ring Lardner, Tobias Wolff, Garrison Keillor, George Plimpton and more, come together in this collection of the best of the boys of summer. From oldies like Earnest Thayer’s Casey at the Bat to T C Boyle’s The Hector Quesadilla Story you will be getting your baseball fix.
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posted by Christina, Lakewood Library |
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AUGUST 18, 2012
While you’re waiting for Fifty Shades of Grey
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L.James presently has a hold list of 491. If you are one of those people patiently waiting in line, try one of these readalikes in the meantime:
The Edge of Impropriety by Pam Rosenthal
Riding on Instinct by Jaci Burton
Selfish is the Heart by Megan Hart
Tempt Me with Darkness by Shayla Black
Sweet Addiction by Maya Banks
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posted by Emily, Columbine Library |
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AUGUST 15, 2012
A Book We Love: Mistress of the Art of Death
Mistress of the Art of Death – Ariana Franklin
When children are being murdered in medieval Cambridge, a female doctor from Italy travels to England to help find the killer. Adelia is particularly skilled in determining what happened to victims through examining their corpses – an early coroner or forensic scientist. But since the English consider women doctors to be witches, she must hide her investigation lest she be thrown in the river or burned at the stake. This is the first book in a series, and is definitely a suspenseful read!
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posted by Veronica, Columbine Library |
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AUGUST 13, 2012
Beekeeping Program at Standley Lake – August 20, 6-7PM
The Standley Lake Public Library will host a free, one-hour program on the basics of beekeeping on August 20th from 6-7pm. The presenter will be Greg Rye, owner of Dakota Bees in Lakewood.
Few hobbies have the potential to impact the local ecology the way beekeeping can, and we hope to see you at what promises to be a great program. But if you are interested in beekeeping and cannot attend, please check out some of the library’s many books on this fascinating topic. Some recent titles include:
The Complete Guide to Beekeeping for Fun & Profit by Cindy Belknap
Beekeeping for Dummies by Howland Blackiston
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Beekeeping by Dean Stiglitz
Better Beekeeping by Kim Flottum
Get Started in Beekeeping by Adrian Waring
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posted by Sean, Standley Lake Library |
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AUGUST 10, 2012
Beach Reads Summer 2012
Whether you are in a hammock in the back yard or on a beach somewhere wonderful, don’t forget to take along one or all of these great beach reads. Time is running out! If an eReader is your preference, most are available from the library in that format.
Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Broken Harbor by Tana French
Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
The Uninvited Guests by Sadie Jones
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posted by Christina, Lakewood Library |
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AUGUST 8, 2012
A Play We Love: Art
The Blind Eye of Friendship: Art by Yasmina Reza
All friendships contain an element of denial, whereby each party ignores—some may prefer the term accepts—the shortcomings of the other in the interest of maintaining the relationship. Yasmina Reza’s Tony-award-winning play Art places its characters in situations where they are forced to confront aspects of the relationship they’ve chosen to suppress. The action begins with Serge, who has purchased a white painting for a considerable sum of money, and shows it to his friend Marc, who dismisses it as “sh&t.” This flippant response unlocks a series of other resentments, which bring the two friends into conflict. As with many of Reza’s other works, there is a moment in the play where the resentments fester to the point that there is the threat of imminent violence. Packed with snappy dialogue, this play uses the tension between traditional and modern art as a lens through which to view the human failings that comprise a part of every relationship. And as Reza so aptly describes, these conflicts are never far from the surface.
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posted by Chris, Belmar Library |
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AUGUST 6, 2012
Getting to Know the Authors: an interview with Nancy Atherton
Nancy Atherton is the New York Times bestselling author of the Aunt Dimity mysteries, and currently lives in Colorado Springs. Her books are filled with fun characters, recipes, and lively plots that keep you guessing as you read along.
We recently conducted an email with Nancy to get to know her better:
JCPL: What do you do when you aren't writing?
NA: When I'm not writing, I do the same things everyone else does: I do the laundry, shop for groceries, run errands, clean the house, mow the lawn, etc. etc. Not very glamorous, is it? Necessary, though, since I don't have an army of servants to cater to my every whim. When I'm not doing all of the above, I love to hike in the mountains, go to the theater (to see plays as well as films), attend figure skating competitions, explore small towns, wander through cemeteries, visit museums, play with my cats, spend time with my friends, travel, and many other things that have nothing (and everything) to do with writing, by which I mean that my non-writing activities refresh my brain and prepare me for the next writing vortex.
JCPL: What does your writing space look like? Are you clean or cluttered? Organized or disorganized?
NA: Prepare yourself for a total lack of glamor. My office is a very small former bedroom with two desks, one on each long wall. The desks are, in fact, two doors held up by four two-drawer filing cabinets. At the far end of the room (which isn't very far) is a tall, rustic wooden cupboard filled to the brim with office supplies. A Mac sits on each desk. I use one Mac exclusively for writing (the modem isn't even hooked up) and the other Mac for everything else. The rest of the desk space is extremely cluttered but fairly organized. The walls are covered with framed pictures, posters, and two bulletin boards that are in turn covered with just about anything that can be stuck into cork with a pin. My work space hasn't changed significantly since I began writing twenty years ago. I like having a clutter of familiar things around me when I write.
JCPL: Which of your books is your favorite? Why?
NA: My favorite book will always be my first book, Aunt Dimity's Death, because it introduced me to a world I love beyond reason.
JCPL: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know?
NA: If you would like to question me directly, you can always click on Contact Us on my website. I should warn you, however, that I'm about a hundred emails behind in my replies, so you may not receive an instant answer. But you will receive an answer . . . eventually!
Above all, I'd like you to know how grateful I am to all of you for reading (and enjoying) my stories. Thank you!
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posted by Becky, Standley Lake Library |
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AUGUST 5, 2012
A Book We Love: My Name is Mary Sutter
My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira
Mary Sutter is a midwife from a well-to-do Albany, New York family who dreams of being a real doctor one day. When the Civil War breaks out; Mary is determined to somehow be a surgeon for the war effort. Her life is not all work as she receives advice from two smitten doctors. Mary ignores her mother’s pleas to return home and tend to her pregnant sister. My Name is Mary Sutter is full of historic detail and has cameo appearances by several historical figures.
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posted by Marie, Columbine Library |
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AUGUST 4, 2012
A Book We Love: Savage Beauty
Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford
Savage Beauty chronicles the life of the poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. Millay was a pianist, poet, sister, eldest daughter of a single mother in the early 1900s, brutally honest, bisexual, and a Pulitzer Prize winner. Nancy Milford’s biography does not read like a tell-all account of Millay’s life. Instead, Milford’s biography is a well-researched literary account of a fascinating, if not tragic, life. Savage Beauty was chosen as one of the Best Books of 2001 by Library Journal. Nancy Milford is also the author of Zelda, a biography about Zelda Fitzgerald, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s wife.
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posted by Sunshine, Columbine Library |
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