February 28 -Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

Twin brothers born from a secret love affair between an Indian nun and a British surgeon in Addis Ababa, Marion and Shiva Stone come of age in Ethiopia, where their love for the same woman drives them apart.

Title:  Unbroken : a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption

Author:  Laura Hillenbrand

Collection:  Adult Biography

How could anyone survive the horrors and degradation of body and soul of World War ll POW camps? Although many men and women did just that, this book focuses on the true story of Louie Zamperini, a troubled youth, an Olympic contender, a bombardier on a B-24, and a survivor of both a plane crash in the Pacific and Japan’s POW camps. To top it off, Louie survived the after effects of war on return to the US – flashbacks and PTSD and goes on to create camps for other troubled youth.

I had actually seen an article in Guideposts on the power of the human will and forgiveness and it mentioned Zamperini’s experience and piqued my curiosity. Written by the same amazing author that penned Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand, Unbroken is a goldmine for information on World War ll – a time period in which I’ve always had an interest. I’m not sure how to put into words the effect this biography had on me. The power of the human spirit is phenomenal….

Title:  Lark Rise to Candleford. The complete season one [videorecording]

Starring:  Olivia Hallinan, Dawn French, Julia Sawalha, Liz Smith, Brendan Coyle, Claudie Blakley, Mark Heap, Ben Miles, Olivia Grant, Linda Bassett, Karl Johnson

Collection:  Movies

Knowing my love for British televisions series, a friend recommended this one a few months back, but I forgot about it until I saw it on the shelf at the South Cumberland Library.  I watched the first two episodes with the feeling that the series had potential, but I didn’t love it right off.  It is based on a book of the same name (also available from the Allegany County Library System) by Flora Thompson and contains her memories of Lark Rise, the Oxfordshire hamlet she grew up in, the neighboring market village of Candleford, and the people who inhabited both when she was a young women in the 1890s.  As I became more engrossed in the series, and perhaps as the series itself matured, I found myself thinking of the characters as real people that I had come to know and care about.  I quickly watched the second season and am anxiously awaiting the third.  With four seasons in all, I am sure to enjoy the company of my new friends for at least awhile yet.

Title: Stonehenge, 2000 B.C. : a novel

Author:  Bernard Cornwell

Collection:  Adult Fiction

In his published notebook from his 1856 tour of England, American author Nathaniel Hawthorne famously remarked, “Apart from the moral considerations suggested by it, Stonehenge is not very well worth seeing.” I don’t know what moral considerations Mr. Hawthorne had in mind, but I confess that I also felt the sight wasn’t much worth seeing when I visited it over a hundred and forty years later.  All the same, there is something about the great prehistoric monument that presses upon the imagination.  Perhaps it is the mystery of it more than anything else that drives our obsession with the site.  I’ve read other novels that included the construction of Stonehenge, but Cornwell’s is the first one that I felt accurately portrayed an idea of the circumstances under which Stonehenge might have been built.  Of course, we will never really know who shaped and raised the massive stones, nor why, but we do know that it had nothing to do with the Druids, who came much later.  Rather than erroneously depicting some sort of hokey New Age mysticism, Cornwell presents us with what life might have actually been like in a Neolithic village, brutal and brief.  Certainly, Stonehenge, 2000 B.C. contains its fair share of holy men of vision, but it also contains a healthy dose of humanities struggle merely to survive.

Title:  That’s Incredible!  : the world’s most unbelievable facts & records

Author:  Curtis Slepian

Collection:  Juvenile Non-Fiction

Kids and adults alike love to read this book! With sixteen chapters full of great stuff like Chapter 2: Incredible Animals and Plants (Creating a Stink – the corpse flower, yuck), Chapter 8: Incredible Collections (Collector’s Items – burnt offerings of food), and Chapter 13: Incredible Constructions (Check This Out – a library that looks like a wall of books). Don’t forget to check out the miniature Incredible Shrinking White House on pages 26-27.

Title:  The house by the fjord

Author:  Rosalind Laker

Collection:  Adult Fiction

The book opens with war-bride Anna Vartdal ready to visit her late husband’s family and beloved country of Norway, ravaged by World War II. It’s Midsummer’s Eve of 1946, the ship is docking, and Anna will soon join her friend Molly, who had married her late husband’s best friend and who also was a pilot for the Royal Air Force of Norway. On that same day Anna is met by the Harvik family lawyer who is rather insistent on Anna accepting the family home and property. Anna tarries in the town of Jessheim with her war-bride friends until Christmas when she finally meets with her father-in-law, who hands her the secret, family journal, in the town of Molde.

This work of historical fiction paints beautiful pictures of Norway’s fjords, mountains, and valleys and makes me eager to visit. It also filled me in on how Norway’s stalwart citizens coped with the war and resisted the Nazi regime. A lovely book….

Use BookFLIX on the library’s online Kids Page to hold an  Animals & Kids Cold Snowy Days Story Time at home!   WATCH a story, HEAR a story, READ Along with these books found under the “Animals + Nature” tab:

Antarctic Antics   &      Read About Geography: Antarctica

The Snowy Day   &   Snowy Weather Days

Bear Snores On   &     A Bear Cub Grows Up

just three of the pairs of the book & movie combinations available.

Title:  Cinder

Author:  Marissa Meyer

Collection:  Teen Books

As plague ravages the overcrowded Earth, observed by a ruthless lunar people, Cinder, a gifted mechanic and cyborg, becomes involved with handsome Prince Kai and must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect the world in this futuristic take on the Cinderella story.  Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

I may be wrong, but I think Cinder is the next big thing in terms of teen reads with the potential to be phenomenal along the lines of Twilight and Hunger Games.  It has been awhile since I finished a book by a first time author that I was so excited and energized by.   This has a little bit of everything:  sci-fi, fairy tale, romance, adventure.  Do not mistake this for a simple retelling of Cinderella.  Although there is some essence of the classic tale, it is far more.  Don’t let this book pass you by–pick up a copy of Cinder and comment here to let me know what you think about it!

How fantastic was the Grammy Awards broadcast last evening?  It has been many years since the show has had such an assortment of performers and performances that were appealing to a broad spectrum of music lovers.  For me, Bruno Mars’ performance of Runaway was the ultimate in vocals, dance, and downright excitement.  Jennifer Hudson’s powerful and emotional cover of I Will Always Love You in honor of Whitney Houston.   Adele’s return to the stage following surgery on her vocal chords was breathtaking.  And, LL Cool J was so impressive in his role of host with just the right mix of solemn tribute to the loss of Whitney Houston and celebration of music.  Unlike so many hosts of awards shows, he facilitated what happened without needing to push himself in the spotlight all the time.  I hope he returns to host again.

Did you know that the library has Grammy award-winning and nominated music, both in our music cd collections and online on Freegal, where you can download 3 titles per week for free with your library card?  Among the artists on Freegal are Adele, the big winner last night, Foster the People, and Mumford and Sons.  In the library, we have Bon Iver, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Foo Fighters, the Band Perry, Coldplay, and more tunes to choose from.

If you have not yet checked out the library’s extensive music collection, please visit us online at www.alleganycountylibrary.info and stop by a branch today.

Title:  A million suns:  An Across the Universe Novel

Author:  Beth Revis

Collection:  Teen Books

When Elder discovers shocking news about Godspeed, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on the space ship. They must work together to unlock a puzzle that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier, unable to fight the romance that’s growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart.  Godspeed was fueled by lies. Now it is ruled by chaos.  It’s been three months since Amy was unplugged. The life she always knew is over. And everywhere she looks, she sees the walls of the spaceship Godspeed. But there may just be hope: Elder has assumed leadership of the ship. He’s finally free to enact his vision – no more Phydus, no more lies.  But when Elder discovers shocking news about the ship, he and Amy race to discover the truth behind life on Godspeed. They must work together to unlock a puzzle that was set in motion hundreds of years earlier, unable to fight the romance that’s growing between them and the chaos that threatens to tear them apart.

This is book two of the Across the Universe trilogy.  As with the first, the book switches from one chapter to the next to present Amy and Elder’s stories, each full of their own thoughts, worries, and perspectives on events that happen.  Several bombshell revelations occur in the story, which serve to set the book up for an ending that is both surprising and certainly a cliffhanger.  I am anxious to see where the author takes us next and don’t want to say more than that to spoil the surprise for anyone.