New Non-Fiction DVDs

Must See Places of the World - America's National Parks:

Award-winning cinematographers transport viewers on the ultimate escape, a thrilling visual journey to America's most breathtaking national treasures. The National Park System comprises 391 areas covering more than 84 million acres of amazing wildlife and America's most compelling natural landscapes. This set focuses on the grand jewels of the National Parks.

Must See Places of the World - Mystic Places:

With brilliant cinematography, Mystic Lands chronicles a diverse array of sacred sites around the world. The idyllic places where man communes with the sacred are as varied as they are fascinating. Viewers can explore the vibrant mystic traces from ancient cultures, from tantric meditation amidst the Shangri-La beauty of Bhutan, to the never photographed Zoroastrian eternal flame glowing bright for 2,500 years in Iran, and more.

Must See Places of the World:

Viewers can experience a cavalcade of stunning and awe-inspiring sights whenever they want. The Must-See itinerary includes unforgettable visits to Victoria Falls; the Taj Mahal; the Great Wall of China; the Galapagos Islands; the Great Barrier Reef; Serengeti National Park; Angkor Wat; and much More!

Furious Love

Life outdoes movie melodrama in this raucous, intimate, dual biography of Hollywood's ultimate It Couple. As told by journalist Kashner (Sinatraland) and biographer Schoenberger (Dangerous Muse: The Life of Caroline Blackwood), the romance between the glittering Tinseltown diva and the sonorous, self-loathing Shakespearean reprises their co-starring movie roles: it has the passion of Cleopatra (the Vatican condemned their on-set adultery as erotic vagrancy), the riotous merriment of The Taming of the Shrew, the poisonous marital fights of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and a cast of thousands of paparazzi and shrieking fans. The well-researched narrative—the authors make good use of Burton's engaging love letters and diary entries—offers juicy details of his epic alcoholism and her towering tantrums, and is fascinated with the jewelry pieces, like the Taj Mahal diamond that Taylor famously extracted from Burton as tribute or penance. But from the binges and bling emerges a revealing portrait of the magnetic qualities—her vulgar warmth, his soulful virility—that glued the couple together. Here is that rare love story that holds one's interest beyond the wedding—and a reminder, after the thin gruel of Brangelina, of what a feast celebrity can be.

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

Deaver, Jeffery. The Burning Wire.

“When sorrows come, they come not single spies but in battalions.” Compared to Claudius in Hamlet all that besets Lincoln Rhyme in this latest adventure may not be sorrowful, but they do occur all at once. First, the quadriplegic forensics genius must content with tamperers of New York City’s electrical grid who destroy a bus and create mayhem that could eventually bring the metropolis to a standstill. Second, Rhyme is aiding from afar Mexican police that might apprehend assassin Richard “The Watchmaker” Logan who escaped in Deaver’s Cold Moon. Last, a visit from a fellow wheelchair-bound party holds out hope that Rhyme may one day rise out of his apparatus and the chronic bad health that has accompanied it.

Other "Lincoln Rhyme" books by Jeffery Deaver at Merrick Library:

The Broken Window
The Cold Moon
The Twelfth Card
The Vanished Man
The Stone Monkey
The Empty Chair

reviewed by librarian, Bob.

Lauren Belfer

Saturday, June 19th, 7pm
Bestselling author of City of Light LAUREN BELFER will speak about and
sign her new novel, A Fierce Radiance, at Book Revenue in Huntington.

Lauren Belfer’s debut novel, City of Light, was a New York Times
bestseller, as well as a #1 Book Sense pick, a New York Times Notable
Book, a Library Journal Best Book, and a Main Selection of the
Book-of-the-Month Club. Now she returns with A Fierce Radiance, a
compelling, richly detailed tale of passion and intrigue set in New
York City during the tumultuous early days of World War II.

Uncharted TerriTORI

Tuesday, June 15th, 7pm

Actress and #1 New York Times Bestselling author TORI SPELLING will
sign her new book, uncharted terriTORI at Book Revue in Huntington.

Tori Spelling is an actress whose career spans theater, television,
and film. She's received critical praise for her work in such
independent films as Trick and The House of Yes. She both starred in
and executive produced the comedy series So NoTORIous on VH1 and the
popular reality series Tori & Dean: Inn Love on Oxygen. She lives with
her husband, Dean McDermott, son, Liam, and daughter, Stella, in Los
Angeles.

Shelf Awareness

Shelf Awareness:

Daily Enlightenment for the Book Trade, the free e-mail newsletter is dedicated to helping people in stores, in libraries and on the Web buy, sell and lend books most wisely.

http://www.shelf-awareness.com/index.html

New York Times Literary Treat of the Week...

Philbrick, Nathaniel. The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull and the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

The tragedy that occurred June 25, 1876 has long been the subject of historical reenactments, movies, television programs and even jokes and works of satire. However, they are not based on completely uncontested facts given aftermath evidence and the lack of survivors. Fortunately, Philbrick is both a storyteller and an historian and thus able to mix the true and possible together into a gripping story. Lt. Col. George A. Custer is portrayed as an eccentric social animal who once organized a cavalry regiment according to horse color and was not largely respected by his soldiers contrary to fictional depictions. Custer's discovery of gold in the Black Hills (now South Dakota) was among the chief factors leading to the Little Bighorn confrontation. Philbrick speculates that the drunkenness of one of Custer's officers and the lateness of another well may have contributed to the massacre. A possible irony is that Custer's widow Elizabeth campaigned to clear his name (aided by Buffalo Bill Cody) even though the Colonel probably cheated on her.

Also by Nathaniel Philbrick at Merrick Library:

In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War
Revenge of the Whale: The True Story of the Whaleship Essex (in Young Adult section)

Reviewed by Librarian, Bob.