Have you noticed that....

Women are writing the best crime novels?

Terrence Rafferty in the 

June/July issue of The Atlantic 

discusses this very topic.

Read it right here...

In the meantime earlyword.com put together a great list of these ladies with their country of origin. 

America: Megan Abbott, Alison Gaylin and Laura Lippman






England: Alex Marwood, Paula Hawkins, Sophie Hannah



Scotland: Val McDermid, Denise Mina 




Ireland: Tana French




Norway: Karin Fossum 


 

Japan: Natsuo Karino

Two additional authors I love from England: 

Mo Hayder and Louise Doughty. 

DVDs available Tuesday, 6/28...

The Boy - An American nanny is shocked that her new English family's boy is actually a life-sized doll. After she violates a list of strict rules, disturbing events make her believe that the doll is really alive. Directed by William Brent Bell. Starring:  Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, James Russell




Eye in the Sky - Col. Katherine Powell, a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya, sees her mission escalate when a girl enters the kill zone triggering an international dispute over the implications of modern warfare. Directed by Gavin Hood. Starring Helen Mirren, Aaron Paul, Alan Rickman




London Has Fallen - In London for the Prime Minister's funeral, Mike Banning discovers a plot to assassinate all the attending world leaders. Directed by  Babak Najafi. Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman 



Precious Cargo - A crime boss tries to make off with loot that belongs to another thief. Directed by Max Adams. Starring  Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Bruce Willis, Claire Forlani 

Race - Jesse Owens' quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy. Directed by Stephen Hopkins. Starring Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis, Eli Goree 

 

Triple 9 - A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town. Directed by John Hillcoat. Starring:  Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie 

Vera Set 6 TV Series- With her caustic wit and singular charm, DCI Vera Stanhope and her trusted right-hand man DS Joe Ashworth face a series of captivating murder mysteries set against the breathtaking Northumberland landscape. Starring:  Brenda Blethyn, Jon Morrison, David Leon 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot - A journalist recounts her wartime coverage in Afghanistan. Directed by Glenn Ficarra, John Requa. Starring:Tina Fey, Margot Robbie, Martin Freeman  

It's happening....

Neal Stephenson's "Seveneves" to get the Ron Howard-Brian Grazer treatment!

This is an epic sci-fi book. 

And a BIG sci-fi book clocking in at 880 pages.

 But hold on!  

It's perfectly readable 

and you don't have to "like" sci-fi to understand what's happening.

How is all this book going to fit into a 2 1/2 - 3 hour movie?

 'Cause it's ALOT of space to cover (pun intended).
We'll have to watch and find out.

Read about the upcoming movie here.**

Place a reserve on the book here.

Place a reserve on the e-book here.

 

** - there are other articles out there, but they contain some spoilers, 

so I kept it to the linked piece above. 

Just try the book. It's good. 

Here's another reason to absolutely LOVE...

National Public Radio!

"Like These Movies? Here Are 100+ Things You Might Also Like ..."

(from NPR)

A must see compilation of books-movies-books
courtesy of NPR:
if you read this, you'll wanna see that and then you'll wanna read this and so on and so on.  
You get the idea.

My favorite is the Interstellar-Seveneves connection. 

You'll have fun with it, so pass it on!

DVDs available Tuesday, June 21st...

Brothers Grimsby - A new assignment forces a top spy to team up with his football hooligan brother. Directed by: Louis Leterrier. Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Rebel Wilson 




 Knight of Cups -  A writer indulging in all that Los Angeles and Las Vegas has to offer undertakes a search for love and self via a series of adventures with six different women. Directed by Terrence Malik. Starring: Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman.



The Wave -  (Foreign) - Even though awaited, no-one is really ready when the mountain pass of Åkneset above the scenic narrow Norwegian fjord Geiranger falls out and creates a 85-meter-high violent tsunami. A geologist is one of those caught in the middle of it. Directed by  Roar Uthaug. Starring:  Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, Jonas Hoff Oftebro 

Hot debut title, "The Girls" by Emma Cline...

If you haven't heard about this super summer title,  take a look at this NYT interview with Emma Cline. 

"Mesmerized by a band of girls in the park she perceives as enjoying a life of free and careless abandon, 1960s teen Evie Boyd becomes obsessed with gaining acceptance into their circle, only to find herself drawn into a cult and seduced by its charismatic leader. It's...an indelible portrait of girls, and of the women they become." 
- As reviewed in the ALIS catalog

Interested? 

Place your hard cover reserve right here!

Want an e-copy?

Sign in to Overdrive here!

Let's talk about Fredrik Backman because many readers are!

What's all the fuss?

Back in July of 2014, I read a laugh out loud funny book,              "A Man Called Ove", by Fredrick Backman and made it an instant Staff Pick.  I told anyone who would listen to just read it already. 

I try not to be bossy, but in this case I felt it necessary.   

Now, to be fair, what makes us laugh is different for everybody. 

So I introduced Ove to few people, including my slightly curmudgeonly father and I heard 5 out of 5 positive reviews. 

Flash forward to Backman's sophomore effort, 

"My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry", 

which was sweet and humorous and heartbreaking.

I recommend this one since our Ove copies are always circulating. 

Which brings us to Backman's third and newest, "Britt-Marie Was Here". 

This one is a combo of laugh out-louds, sweetness, heartbreak and did I say, sweet?

 It's nice to introduce a new author who is now "one of the regulars" on our shelves. 

Backman brings solid writing to each story and 

should definitely be added to your TBR pile.

  

Now, if you've read all these, what's a good set of titles that are similar?

Try these:

 

 

DVDs available Tuesday, June 14th...

10 Cloverfield Lane - After getting in a car accident, a woman is held in a shelter with two men, who claim the outside world is affected by a widespread chemical attack. Directed by  Dan Trachtenberg. Starring:  John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr.




45 Years -   A married couple preparing to celebrate their wedding anniversary receives shattering news that promises to forever change the course of their lives. Directed by: Andrew Haigh. Starring:  Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine James.

Eddie The Eagle -  The story of Eddie Edwards, the notoriously tenacious British underdog ski jumper who charmed the world at the 1988 Winter Olympics. Directed by Dexter Fletcher. Starring:   Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman, Tom Costello.

Get a Job -  Life after college graduation is not exactly going as planned for Will and Jillian who find themselves lost in a sea of increasingly strange jobs. But with help from their family, friends and coworkers they soon discover that the most important (and hilarious) adventures are the ones that we don't see coming. Directed by Dylan Kidd. Starring:   Anna Kendrick, Alison Brie, Bryan Cranston.

Granchester: The Complete Second Season [Television Series] - A Cambridgeshire clergyman finds himself investigating a series of mysterious wrongdoings in his small village of Grantchester. Starring:  James Norton, Robson Green, Morven Christie. 

Hello, My Name Is Doris - A self-help seminar inspires a sixty-something woman to romantically pursue her younger co-worker.  Directed by Michael Showalter. Starring: Sally Field, Max Greenfield, Tyne Daly.  




Jack of the Red Hearts -  A teenage con artist tricks a desperate mother into hiring her as a live-in companion for her autistic daughter. Directed by Janet Grillo. Starring:  AnnaSophia Robb, Israel Broussard, Sophia Anne Caruso.

Mr. Robot Season 2 is coming in July sooooo,

NOW would be the time to catch up 

on Golden Globe winner

Mr. Robot Season 1

if you need a refresher 

OR 

to see it if you haven't.

Get Mr. Robot Season 1 right here!

Not sure what the fuss is all about?

Read this synopsis from IMDB:

"Elliot Alderson is a young cyber-security engineer living in New York, who assumes the role of a vigilante hacker by night. Elliot meets a mysterious anarchist known as "Mr. Robot" who recruits Elliot to join his team of hackers, "fsociety". Elliot, who has a social anxiety disorder and connects to people by hacking them, is intrigued but uncertain if he wants to be part of the group. The show follows Mr. Robot's attempts to engage Elliot in his mission to destroy the corporation Elliot is paid to protect. Compelled by his personal beliefs, Elliot struggles to resist the chance to take down the multinational CEOs that are running (and ruining) the world."

- Written by Soumik Ghosh

That's some good stuff right there.

DVDs available Tuesday, June 7th...

Anomalisa - A man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary. Directed by Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Adaptation). Starring: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan



Casual Encounters - When Justin's girlfriend of 5 years leaves him heartbroken and embarrassed after a public breakup, his trying to be helpful but somewhat misguided friends talk him into the strange world of on-line dating. Directed by Zackary Adler. Starring:  Taran Killam, Brooklyn Decker, David Krumholtz



Confirmation - A quiet weekend turns into an adventure when a down-on-his-luck carpenter (Clive Owen) and his 8-year-old son (Jaeden Lieberher) search for the thieves that stole the man's toolbox. Directed by Bob Nelson. Also stars: Maria Bello


Other Side of the Door - After her young son is killed in a tragic accident, a woman learns of a ritual which will bring him back to say goodbye, but when she disobeys a sacred warning, she upsets the balance between life and death. Directed by Johannes Roberts. Starring:  Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Sofia Rosinsky




13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi - During an attack on a U.S. compound in Libya, a security team struggles to make sense out of the chaos. Directed by Michael Bay. Starring:  John Krasinski, Pablo Schreiber, James Badge Dale




Touched With Fire - Two bipolar patients meet in a psychiatric hospital and begin a romance that brings out all of the beauty and horror of their condition. Directed by Paul Dalio. Starring:  Katie Holmes, Luke Kirby, Christine Lahti 






Vinyl: The Complete First Season (HBO) - A New York music executive in the 1970s hustles to make a career out of the city's diverse music scene. Starring: Bobby Cannevale, Paul Ben-Victor, P.J. Byrne, Olivia Wilde 

100 Best Fiction Novels EVER...?

Here are 4 lists to help you sort it out...

Modern Library

A Reader's List

Radcliffe's List

Best Non-Fiction

There will be overlap, but that's okay!

 If you haven't read one of them before, 

maybe this summer is the time. 

Some of my "best fiction favorites ever" 

appear on at least one list:

   

Listen, I could go on, but these are just a taste.

 I mean you can't go wrong with

 any of the choices on these lists!