DVDs out Tuesday, December 2nd...

Amy  (Documentary) - Directed by Asif Kapadia. With Amy Winehouse, Mitch Winehouse, Mark Ronson, Russell Brand. The story of Amy Winehouse in her own words, featuring unseen archival footage and unheard tracks. 





Grace of Monaco - The story of former Hollywood star Grace Kelly's crisis of marriage and identity, during a political dispute between Monaco's Prince Rainier III and France's Charles De Gaulle, and a looming French invasion of Monaco in the early 1960s.  Starring: Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth, Frank Langella, Andre Penvern. Directed by Olivier Dahan


Mississippi Grind - Down on his luck and facing financial hardship, Gerry teams up with younger charismatic poker player, Curtis, in an attempt to change his luck. The two set off on a road trip through the South with visions of winning back what's been lost.  Directors:  Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck  Stars: Ben Mendelsohn, Ryan Reynolds, Yvonne Landry




Self/Less -  A dying real estate mogul transfers his consciousness into a healthy young body, but soon finds that neither the procedure nor the company that performed it are quite what they seem.  Director: Tarsem Singh  Stars:  Ryan Reynolds, Natalie Martinez, Matthew Goode




Some Kind of Beautiful -  A drama about a Cambridge poetry professor who begins to re-evaluate his life of Byronic excess. Director: Tom Vaughan  Stars:   Pierce Brosnan, Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba |





Zero Motivation (Foreign) -  A smash hit in Israel! A unit of female Israeli soldiers at a remote desert base bide their time as they count down the minutes until they can return to civilian life. Director: Talya Lavie  Stars:  Dana Ivgy, Nelly Tagar, Shani Klein

It's he-e-e-e-ere...!

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2015!

See what they are right here. 

Click here to place your reserve.  

In case you missed it...

While selecting read-alikes for "Me Before You", I happened across a terrific little book by author Jonathan Evison called, "Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving".  
A sort-of road trip story featuring two tragicomic characters you won't soon forget: a disabled teenager and his caregiver.




It's a great read-alike for "Me Before You" but it's also a great read. I blew through it in three days and didn't want it to end. 


This little gem came out in 2012 and here it was 2015.  I did a little more investigating and discovered there will be a movie in 2016 with Paul Rudd, Selena Gomez, Craig Roberts and directed by Rob Burnett. 


 After I finished obsessing on RFoC, I started focusing on the author andI realized that this September Evison published, "This is Your Life Harriet Chance!" and they're now both Staff Picks. 

So please, read "Revised Fundamentals..." and then follow up with "This is Your Life Harriet Chance!"  
Both books and this author are very worth your time. 

 


 

The Merrick Library Family...

wishes all our patrons a very 

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

The Merrick Library wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving!

So we can all prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday, 
please make a note of our holiday hours: 

Wednesday, November 24th 
9:00am to 5:00pm

Thursday, November 25th Thanksgiving 

we will be closed.

Normal hours resume on

Friday, November 26th.

And now for something completely different...

We are thankful for so many things in the book world and we simply cannot forget the Independent Book Publishers.  
A stellar year was 2015 for the independent press. 
If you're looking for something that's off the beaten track, it is very worth your while to check out some of these titles. 
Flavorwire has generously provided a list of the Top 50 titles for the year and they are spot on. 
Step out of your comfort zone.

Click here to see this terrific link...


My faves:

       

DVDs available Tuesday, November 24th...

American Ultra - A stoner - who is in fact a government agent - is marked as a liability and targeted for extermination. But he's too well-trained and too high for them to handle. Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Kristen Stewart, Connie Britton




Bob Dylan: Don't Look Back (Documentary) - Dylan is captured on-screen as he never would be again in this groundbreaking film from D. A. Pennebaker (Monterey Pop, Company). The legendary documentarian finds Dylan in London during his 1965 tour, which would be his last as an acoustic artist and marked a turning point in his career. Features appearances by Joan Baez, Donovan and others.




No Escape - An intense international thriller centers on an American businessman (Owen Wilson) as he and his family settle into their new home in Southeast Asia. Suddenly finding themselves in the middle of a violent political uprising, they must frantically look for a safe escape as rebels mercilessly attack the city. Directed by John Erick Dowdle.  Stars: Pierce Brosnan and Lake Bell.




Ricki and the Flash - Meryl Streep stars as a hard-rocking singer/guitarist Ricki Rendazzo. Directed by Oscar Winner Jonathan Demme, and written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody.  Ricki is a guitar heroine who made a world of mistakes as she followed her dreams of rock-and-roll stardom. Returning home, Ricki gets a shot at redemption and a chance to make things right as she faces the music with her family. Starring:  Kevin Kline, Mamie Gummer, Ben Platt, Rick Springfield, Sebastian Stan, and Audra McDonald.





The Yellow Wallpaper - After a devastating fire, Charlotte and John rent a countryside house and attempt to start life over, though Charlotte, upon seeing visions of her deceased daughter, retreats to the house's attic and pulls away from her husband and sister. Stars Aric Cushing, Juliet Landau and Dale Dickey

And the 2015 National Book Award winners are...

The 2015 National Book Awards winners 

were announced last night and the recipients are:

FICTION

WINNER:

Adam Johnson, Fortune Smiles: Stories (Random House)

FINALISTS:

• Karen E. Bender, Refund: Stories 
• Angela Flournoy, The Turner House 
• Lauren Groff, Fates and Furies 
• Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life 

NONFICTION

WINNER:

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Between the World and Me 

FINALISTS:

• Sally Mann, Hold Still 
• Sy Montgomery, The Soul of an Octopus
• Carla Power, If the Oceans Were Ink: An Unlikely Friendship and a Journey to the Heart of the Quran 
• Tracy K. Smith, Ordinary Light 

(click here to see the YA and Poetry winners from the National Book Foundation)

DVDs available Tuesday, November 17th...

5 to 7 - An aspiring novelist enters into a relationship with a woman, though there's just one catch: She's married, and the couple can only meet between the hours of 5 and 7 each evening. Stars:  Glenn Close, Frank Langella, Anton Yelchin, Bérénice Marlohe, Olivia Thirlby.  Directed by Victor Levin




A Borrowed Identity - (Foreign) A Palestinian-Israeli boy named Eyad is sent to a prestigious boarding school in Jerusalem, where he struggles with issues of language, culture, and identity. Stars:  Tawfeek Barhom, Razi Gabareen, Yaël Abecassis.  
Directed by:  Eran Riklis



Jurassic World - new theme park is built on the original site of Jurassic Park. Everything is going well until the park's newest attraction--a genetically modified giant stealth killing machine--escapes containment and goes on a killing spree.  Director: Colin Trevorrow  Stars: Chris Pratt, Dallas Bryce Howard, Ty Simpkins

Leslie Sansone Just Walk: Burn to the Beat - This walk workout gives you the speed you need to get started on your goal of getting fit and boosting your calorie burn! You’ll learn the easy way to increase your speed and intensity simply by increasing the BEAT of the music. These walks are all designed around the beat of customized fitness music for a workout that can take you from a starter speed all the way to a SUPER WALKER speed.






Trash  - (Foreign) Set in Brazil, three kids who make a discovery in a garbage dump soon find themselves running from the cops and trying to right a terrible wrong.  Directors: Stephen Daldry,

Christian Duurvoort  

Stars: 

Rickson Tevez, Eduardo Luis, 

Gabriel Weinstein, Rooney Mara, Martin Sheen



Karena Virginia: The Power of Kundalini Yoga - 
Virginia leads viewers through a 90 minutes of asana practice, guided meditation, and serene reflection in order to release the subconscious and energetic blocks to the miracles of love, health, and abundance that are everyone’s birthright. For first-time practitioners: a 7-part, customizable series of exercises and teachings focused on aligning with the forces of love and gratitude, and freeing ourselves from self-sabotaging fear and negativity. Chapters include: Tuning In, Yoga for Flowing Energy, Yoga for Abundance, and Yoga for Miracles. Music by Snatam Kaur. 

CRAFT FAIR TOMORROW!

The Friends of the Merrick Library 

invite you to join them for their:

2nd Annual Craft and Vendor Fair! 

Get your holiday shopping done locally 

and support a great group!  

Shop and enjoy free admission 

and refreshments

Saturday, November 14th from 10am-4pm

Held at the Merrick Library

2279 Merrick Avenue

See you tomorrow!

DVDs available Tuesday, November 10th...

Better Call Saul Season One  (AMC) - created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, this series is a prequel/spin-off of Breaking Bad, which was also created by Gilligan. Set in 2002, Better Call Saul follows the story of small-time lawyer James Morgan "Jimmy" McGill (Bob Odenkirk), 6 years before his appearance on Breaking Bad as Saul Goodman. Also starring Jonathan Banks and Rhea Seehorn. 

Code Unknown (France) - On a bustling Paris streetcorner, four separate lives intersect, setting this film into motion. Carefully interweaving the stories of Anne, a promising actress (Juliette Binoche), her photojournalist boyfriend Georges (Thierry Neuvic), a young teacher of African descent (Ona Lu Yenke) and a Romanian illegal immigrant (Luminita Gheorghiu), Haneke crafts a compelling portrait of life in a fractured, lonely world. As these divergent stories gradually unfold, the seemingly unrelated lives prove to have very much in common, as they struggle for love and acceptance in society of locked doors and cold stares. 


Dope - Malcolm (Shameik Moore) is a geek into old-school rap who finds himself in the middle of an adventure involving shady drug dealers, offbeat weirdos and a backpack that can make or break his chance of getting into Harvard. Also starring rapper A$AP Rocky, Blake Anderson (TV's Workaholics) and Zoë Kravitz.

Mr. Holmes - An aged, retired Sherlock Holmes, deals with early dementia, as he tries to remember his final case and a woman, the memory of whom still haunts him. He also befriends a fan, the young son of his housekeeper, who wants him to work again.  Directed by Bill Condon  Starring:  Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Hiroyuki Sanada 





My Italian Secret: The Forgotten Heroes of the Holocaust  (Documentary) -  directed and written by Oren Jacoby, that tells the story of the rescue of thousands of Italian Jews during World War II by ordinary and prominent Italians, including the champion cyclist Gino Bartali.  


 Pay the Ghost - Oscar winner Nicolas Cage (Leaving Las Vegas) stars in this intense and chilling thriller about one man’s desperate search for his missing child. One year after his young son disappeared during a Halloween carnival, Mike Lawford (Cage) is haunted by eerie images and terrifying messages he can’t explain. Together with his estranged wife (Sarah Wayne Callies, The Walking Dead), he will stop at nothing to unravel the mystery and find their son—and, in doing so, he unearths a legend that refuses to remain buried in the past.


Terminator: Genisys - When John Connor, leader of the human  resistance, sends Sgt. Kyle Reese back to 1984 to protect Sarah Connor and safeguard the future, an unexpected turn of events creates a fractured timeline.  Director: Alan Taylor  Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke

DVDs available November 3rd...

Before We Go  - A chance encounter between two strangers (Chris Evans, Alice Eve) in Grand Central Terminal sparks a life-changing, nighttime sojourn through New York City.

Do I Sound Gay?  [Documentary]  - Journalist David Thorpe confronts his anxiety over sounding gay by talking to LGBT icons like Dan Savage and George Takei, and exploring the cultural history of the gay voice in film and television.

The End of the Tour - The story of the five-day interview between Rolling Stone reporter David Lipsky and acclaimed novelist David Foster Wallace, which took place right after the 1996 publication of Wallace's groundbreaking epic novel, 'Infinite Jest.'  Starring: Jason Segel, Jesse Eisenberg, Anna Chlumsky.

The Final Girls -  A young woman grieving the loss of her mother, a famous scream queen from the 1980s, finds herself pulled into the world of her mom's most famous movie. Reunited, the women must fight off the film's maniacal killer. Starring:  Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Adam DeVine. 

The Gift -  When married couple Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) unexpectedly encounter Gordo (Joel Edgerton), an acquaintance from Simon's past, little do they know that their perfect lives will be thrown into a terrifying tailspin. 

She's Funny That Way - The cast and crew of a Broadway play are thrown into a romantic roundelay when a lecherous director (Owen Wilson) hires a hooker-turned-actress (Imogen Poots) to star alongside his wife (Kathryn Hahn) and his wife's ex-lover (Rhys Ifans).