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Attention Mystery Lovers!

Stop, You’re Killing Me! is a resource for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books. They list over 3,400 authors, with chronological lists of their books (over 38,000 titles), both series (3,800+) and non-series. Use the alphabetical author and character links or the special indexes.

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week......

Pyne, Stephen J. Voyager: Seeking Newer Worlds in the Third Great Age of Discovery.

Budget cutbacks have for the moment shelved the American manned spaced program. Ray Bradbury, who recently turned ninety, has denounced President Obama for turning away from the next goal of visiting Mars. Yet after the Apollo mission ended the U. S. was able despite money considerations to launch in 1977 the long planned-for Voyager probes. Profiting from an alignment of the planets only available every 176 years, Voyager 1 and 2 have bounced via gravity from one sphere to the next mapping the universe. Pyne, a professor at Arizona State University, compares this exploratory saga to previous eras where political, economic, military, and scientific climates lined up to make possible the great discoverers of Earth. The irony regarding the unmanned Voyagers is that unlike Columbus and Magellan there is no one who will come back to interpret the data gained from the galaxies and say how it will bear on the future.


Revieved by Bob.

New York Magazine's most anticipated fiction and nonfiction of fall.

1. Our Tragic Universe
by Scarlett Thomas (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)
2. Zero History
by William Gibson (Putnam)
3. The Hilliker Curse: My Pursuit of Women
by James Ellroy (Knopf)
4. Ape House
by Sara Gruen (Random House)
5. C
by Tom McCarthy (Knopf)
6. Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl
by Donald Sturrock (Simon & Schuster)
7. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self
by Danielle Evans (Riverhead)
8. Madame Bovary
by Gustave Flaubert, trans. Lydia Davis (Viking)
9. Untitled on the Obama Administration
by Bob Woodward (Simon & Schuster)
10. By Nightfall
by Michael Cunningham (FSG)

"The Help" by: Kathryn Stockett

The relationships between white middle-class women and their black maids in Jackson, Miss., circa 1962, reflect larger issues of racial upheaval in Mississippi-native Stockett's ambitious first novel.Still unmarried, to her mother's dismay, recent Ole Miss graduate Skeeter returns to Jackson longing to be a serious writer. While playing bridge with her friends Hilly and Elizabeth, she asks Elizabeth's seemingly docile maid Aibileen for housekeeping advice to fill the column she's been hired to pen for a local paper. The two women begin what Skeeter considers a semi-friendship, but Aibileen, mourning her son's recent death and devoted to Elizabeth's neglected young daughter, is careful what she shares. Aibileen's good friend Minnie, who works for Hilly's increasingly senile mother, is less adept at playing the subservient game than Aibileen. When Hilly, an aggressively racist social climber, fires and then blackballs her for speaking too freely, Minnie's audacious act of vengeance almost destroys her livelihood. Unlike oblivious Elizabeth and vicious Hilly, Skeeter is at the verge of enlightenment. Encouraged by a New York editor, she decides to write a book about the experience of black maids and enlists Aibileen's help. For Skeeter the book is primarily a chance to prove herself as a writer. The stakes are much higher for the black women who put their lives on the line by telling their true stories. Although the exposé is published anonymously, the town's social fabric is permanently torn. Stockett uses telling details to capture the era and does not shy from showing Skeeter's dangerous naïveté. Skeeter's narration is alive with complexity—her loyalty to her traditional Southern mother remains even after she learns why the beloved black maid who raised her has disappeared. In contrast, Stockett never truly gets inside Aibileen and Minnie's heads (a risk the author acknowledges in her postscript). The scenes written in their voices verge on patronizing.This genuine page-turner offers a whiff of white liberal self-congratulation that won't hurt its appeal and probably spells big success.Author events in the Southeast.

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week.....

McFadden, Bernice L. Glorious.

There may be a female equal to the main African-American character of Ralph Ellison’s classic “Invisible Man.” Her name is Easter Bartlett, and just like her male counterpart she is also “kept running.” What spurs Easter on is fleeing from racism beginning with that in her 1910 Georgia hometown that raped her sister and quickened her mother’s death. She joins a backwoods entertainment troupe and falls for the lead dancer who proves racially hostile. Easter eventually joins the Harlem Renaissance of Langston Hughes and Fats Waller becoming a noted poet. Yet she soon recognizes that African-American writers of that period needed wealthy white benefactors to champion their works. McFadden even includes empowerment leader Marcus Garvey and an attempt to assassinate him in the rich historical backdrop to Easter Bartlett’s continual flight.

Reviewed by Bob.

New Audiobooks!

At eighteen, Jillian Lauren was an NYU theater school dropout with a tip about an upcoming audition. The 'casting director' told her that a rich businessman in Singapore would pay pretty American girls $20,000 if they stayed for two weeks to spice up his parties. Soon, Jillian was on a plane to Borneo, where she would spend the next eighteen months in the harem of Prince Jefri Bolkiah, leaving behind her East Village apartment, and trading her friends for a coterie of backstabbing beauties




A lively and surprising story about a Japanese woman with a closely guarded secret, the American daughter who strives to live up to her mother's standards, and the rejuvenating power of forgiveness.










This myth-shattering book reveals the methods Roubini used to foretell the current crisis before other economists saw it coming and shows how those methods can help to make sense of the present and prepare for the future.





In London's Pimlico neighborhood lies a tenement described in architectural guides as "a building of no interest whatsoever." But the residents of Corduroy Mansions--including a literary agent, a wine merchant, a thoroughly unpleasant member of Parliament, and a vegetarian dog--are a rather fascinating lot.

New Non-Fiction DVD.

"America the Beautiful"

A FILM THAT MIGHT RESCUE THE LIVES OF SOME GIRLS" -Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times "One of the MOST IMPORTANT DOCUMENTARY FILMS of this decade" -The Daily Campus "ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL VIEWING" -Capone, Ain't It Cool News "GREAT MESSAGE" -The Today Show
The critically acclaimed campus phenomenon exposing AMERICA'S UGLY OBSESSION WITH BEAUTY Every year Americans spend an average of $12.4 billion (yes billion!) on cosmetic surgery procedures. Why are we being conditioned not to like the way we look? Award winning filmmaker Darryl Roberts goes on a five year journey to unearth the origins and deadly risks of our nation's quest for physical perfection.

New Book Club in a Bag Kits!

We have added more Book Club in a Bag kits for your convenience! Kits area available for a 6-week loan period and include: 10 copies of the book(+ large print and audio when available), and an informative binder for your group's meeting that may include a book summary, author interview, discussion questions, reviews, and suggested further reading and more!

The newly added books are:

The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery

Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

Click here to see a complete list of available titles


Call or stop by the Reference Desk for more info or to reserve a kit. 377-6112 x112

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week....

Morais, Richard C. The Hundred-Foot Journey.

This first novel was the result of a promise. Morais, a former editor/correspondent at Forbes magazine, was given an idea to fulfill by the late film producer Ismail Merchant. The result is a well-researched saga that may well become a motion picture of Merchant-Ivory quality. Hassan Haji, grandson and son of a lunchbox entrepreneur and restauranteur respectively, leaves India after his mother is killed and eventually settles with family in rural France. Hassan becomes chef of a Bollywood-themed eatery and the target of a local culinary icon gone bitter over the loss of a third Michelin rating star. Yet Hassan’s superb cuisine wins over his enemy who aids in writing his ticket to fame and fortune in Paris. This initial fiction is definitely for “foodies,” those who enjoy over-the-top characters and/or fans of “Slumdog Millionaire” and “Ratatouille.”

Reviewed by Librarian, Bob.

Lee Child is at it Again!

61 Hours is his latest addition to the Jack Reacher Mystery Series!

"JACK REACHER" MYSTERY SERIES


Killing Floor, Putnam (New York, NY), 1997.
Die Trying, Putnam (New York, NY), 1998.
Tripwire, Putnam (New York, NY), 1999.
Running Blind, Putnam (New York, NY), 2000.
Echo Burning, Putnam (New York, NY), 2001.
Without Fail, Putnam (New York, NY), 2002.
Persuader, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2003.
The Enemy, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2004.
One Shot, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2005.
The Hard Way, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2006.
Bad Luck and Trouble, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2007.
Nothing to Lose, Delacorte (New York, NY), 2008.
Gone Tomorrow, Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2009.
61 Hours, Delacorte Press (New York, NY), 2010.

The Red Queen

Power struggles, sex scandals, and plenty of backstabbing—English novelist Philippa Gregory specializes in timeless royal intrigue. Her popular novels canvass the fortunes of the 16th-century House of Tudor, zeroing in on women who may not have received first billing in the history books.

This month she launches the second installment of her new Cousin's War series, rewinding to the 15th century when the War of the Roses ripped apart the House of Plantagenet. After chronicling how commoner Elizabeth Woodville became a York power player in The White Queen, Gregory's new book switches sides, dropping the white rose of the House of York for the crimson petals of the House of Lancaster. The Red Queen details how Margaret Beaufort patiently plotted to transfer power to her son, Henry VII. Gregory chatted with Goodreads about her battle allegiances and her tendency to tread on Shakespeare's toes.

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week.....

Isaacs, Susan. As Husbands Go.

The amount of gossip bouncing around Shorehaven, Long Island about the Gersten family is enough to challenge the winds coming off the Sound! Dr. Jonah Gersten, an immensely successful Park Avenue plastic surgeon, has been found stabbed in a prostitute's apartment. It is an open-and-shut case to seemingly everybody except Jonah's wife Susie, mother of their triplet sons and financially able to run a floral design business as a hobby. To Susie, Jonah was so moral he would not pursue a back door out of jury duty nor would he pay for sex with a woman who "looked like a ewe with a blond wig." To her mother-in-law, Susie put too much pressure on Jonah to maintain a lavish lifestyle. In her defense comes Susie's estranged grandmother Ethel, the two pairing up to find the real killer. Thus you have a quirky suburban whodunit laced with Isaacs's gift of creating characters one finds delightful to encounter.

Also by Susan Isaacs at Merrick Library:

Any Place I Hang My Hat
Lily White
Long Time No See
Past Perfect
Red, White and Blue

Reviewed by librarian, Bob.

Nation Readers' Summer Books

Reading lists from coast to coast poured in to The Nations web page.
The results have created an invaluable summer reading list for the rest of this season and then for about the next fifty summers after that!

As you'll see, the choices range from progressive standards like Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn to obscure historical and philosophical tracts; from a strong Stieg Larsson faction to a raft of Christopher Hitchens readers; from numerous Tolstoy buffs to a passionate Issac Babel fan, the list is an eclectic litany of more intellectual currents then we can catalog.

For the full article vistit this link:
http://www.thenation.com/article/37945/nation-readers-summer-books

Books to Movies.

Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India
and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert


"In theatres August 13th, 2010."

Summary:

Liz Gilbert (Roberts) had everything a modern woman is supposed to dream of having - a husband, a house, a successful career - yet like so many others, she found herself lost, confused, and searching for what she really wanted in life. Newly divorced and at a crossroads, Gilbert steps out of her comfort zone, risking everything to change her life, embarking on a journey around the world that becomes a quest for self-discovery. In her travels, she discovers the true pleasure of nourishment by eating in Italy; the power of prayer in India, and, finally and unexpectedly, the inner peace and balance of true love in Bali.

NOTES ON A VOICE: GRAHAM GREENE.

In the second instalment of The Economist series on what makes distinctive writers distinctive, Nicholas Shakespeare tackles Graham Greene ...

Graham Greene has written a number of novels.

These are just a few of his novels.
"The Power and the Glory", "The Quiet American", "The Third Man", and "End of the Affair."

Visit this link for the full article.
http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/arts/nicholas-shakespeare/notes-a-voice-graham-greene

Book Signing

GABE ROTTER

Wednesday, August 25th, 7pm at the Book Revue
Novelist GABE ROTTER will speak about and sign his new novel,
The Human Bobby.

A new baby, a loving wife, a solid career, a dream house in Beverly Hills: Dr. Bobby Flopkowski has it all. Until a complicated series of events snowball into a disaster that changes the course of his life forever.

Now, with a tent on the beach as his only home and an addiction that has cut him off from everyone he once loved, Bobby has a revelation that could put him back on track: he believes he has solved the puzzling crime that led to his downfall. But as the reality he’s always known slips farther away, will he be able to convince someone—anyone—that his suspicions aren’t merely the pleas of a desperate man?

A native of Syosset and graduate of Syosset High School, Gabe Rotter now permanently resides in Los Angeles with his wife. He graduated from the film school at The University of Southern California in 2000, and since has worked in television, produced a feature film, penned the novel Duck Duck Wally, written a comic book, and is currently Director of Development for Ten Thirteen Productions. He has several
of his own projects in development for film and television adaptation.

New Non-Fiction DVD.

The Vaccine War - Controversy surrounds vaccines for many ordinary Americans. On one side sits scientific medicine and the public health establishment, on the other a populist coalition of parents, celebrities, politicians, and activists. It's a war that increasingly takes place on the Internet with both sides using the latest social media tools, including Facebook and Twitter, to win the hearts and minds of the public.

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week.....

Kashner, Sam and Schoenberger, Nancy. Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century. Harper/Collins.

Forget the Kardashians. Any of the so-called "Real Housewives" fades in comparison. "The Hills?" That's a laugh. Taylor and Burton's romantic and working relationship was the first media reality show coming at the dawn of the paparazzi. From their open affair on the set of "Cleopatra", through two marriages and divorces every up and down of the couple was considered "newsworthy". Merrick native Sam Kashner and his wife Nancy Schoenberger utilize interviews with Elizabeth Taylor plus diaries and correspondence of Richard Burton provided by his family. Through them we see an actress used to being indulged since childhood and a gifted actor who tried to drown with alcohol a lifetime of self-loathing. One comes to question whether the now (in)famous Taj Mahal diamond Burton gave to Taylor was presented as a love OR peace offering. And one wonders if the duo were coming to terms before Burtons' 1984 death.

Also by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger at Merrick Library:

A Talent for Genius: The Life and Times of Oscar Levant

Also by Sam Kashner:

The Bad and the Beautiful: Hollywood in the Fifties
When I Was Cool: My Life at the Jack Kerouac School

Reviewed by librarian, Bob.