- These 23 Days in September by David Blue
- Brighter Than Creation's Dark by The Drive-By Truckers
- Jukebox by Cat Power
- Detours by Sheryl Crow
- Must I Paint You a Picture? by Billy Bragg
- Reggae Gold 2007 by Various Artists
- Growing Pains by Mary J. Blige
- Duets: Friends & Legends by Anne Murray
- Sleep Through the Static by Jack Johnson
- Watershed by k.d. lang
Friday, February 29, 2008
And More Music
It just keeps on coming...
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Great New Express Book!
Can't wait to get your hands on the latest bestseller? Take a look at what's coming your way via the Express Collection...
Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult Picoult bangs out another ripped-from-the-zeitgeist winner, this time examining a condemned inmate's desire to be an organ donor. Freelance carpenter Shay Bourne was sentenced to death for killing a little girl, Elizabeth Nealon, and her cop stepfather. Eleven years after the murders, Elizabeth's sister, Claire, needs a heart transplant, and Shay volunteers, which complicates the state's execution plans. Meanwhile, death row has been the scene of some odd events since Shay's arrival—an AIDS victim goes into remission, an inmate's pet bird dies and is brought back to life, wine flows from the water faucets. The author brings other compelling elements to an already complex plot line: the priest who serves as Shay's spiritual adviser was on the jury that sentenced him; Shay's ACLU representative, Maggie Bloom, balances her professional moxie with her negative self-image and difficult relationship with her mother. Picoult moves the story along with lively debates about prisoner rights and religion, while plumbing the depths of mother-daughter relationships and examining the literal and metaphorical meanings of having heart. The point-of-view switches are abrupt, but this is a small flaw in an impressive book.
Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult Picoult bangs out another ripped-from-the-zeitgeist winner, this time examining a condemned inmate's desire to be an organ donor. Freelance carpenter Shay Bourne was sentenced to death for killing a little girl, Elizabeth Nealon, and her cop stepfather. Eleven years after the murders, Elizabeth's sister, Claire, needs a heart transplant, and Shay volunteers, which complicates the state's execution plans. Meanwhile, death row has been the scene of some odd events since Shay's arrival—an AIDS victim goes into remission, an inmate's pet bird dies and is brought back to life, wine flows from the water faucets. The author brings other compelling elements to an already complex plot line: the priest who serves as Shay's spiritual adviser was on the jury that sentenced him; Shay's ACLU representative, Maggie Bloom, balances her professional moxie with her negative self-image and difficult relationship with her mother. Picoult moves the story along with lively debates about prisoner rights and religion, while plumbing the depths of mother-daughter relationships and examining the literal and metaphorical meanings of having heart. The point-of-view switches are abrupt, but this is a small flaw in an impressive book.Our Ever-Expanding Music Collection
New CDs for your listening pleasure:
- These Streets by Paolo Nutini
- Waking Up Laughing by Martina McBride
- Liverpool 8 by Ringo Starr
- Standards & Ballads by Wynton Marsalis
- Godspell 2000 Off-Broadway Cast Recording
- The Calling by Mary Chapin Carpenter
- Little Voice by Sara Bareilles
- Freedom's Road by John Mellencamp
- Good Girl Gone Bad by Rihanna
- A New Journey by Celtic Woman
- One Cell in the Sea by A Fine Frenzy
- Moment of Forever by Willie Nelson
- Mighty High by Gov't Mule
- The Mix-Up by The Beastie Boys
- Kill To Get Crimson by Mark Knopfler
- Introducing...Joss Stone by Joss Stone
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Wallingford Library Teen Zone
The Library is really blogging it up these days. We have the adult blog you are currently reading, a kids' blog, and now....a teen blog: the Teen Zone! Jennifer Nash, our new Reference and Teen Librarian, has created a cool spot for teens to go to discover neat new stuff for them in the Library. There are lots of links to other sites of interest to teens as well; for example, popular author websites like Meg Cabot, Stephenie Meyer, Lisi Harrison, Sarah Dessen, etc. Click on Alex Rider, Pendragon, or Artemis Fowl to find out more about these favorite series. Watch the countdown to publication day for Breaking Dawn, Stephenie Meyers's much anticipated 4th volume and conclusion of the hugely popularTwilight series. And discover all kinds of lists of best books and award winners for teens.
The teen blog is a place parents can visit as well to get reading suggestions to recommend to their kids. The best part is that readers can respond to all the articles and give Jennifer and me feedback, suggest materials the Library should consider for purchase, and tell us what you think about Library programs for teens.
To get to the blog, click the link for Teen Library Blog under Library Links on the top right of this page or simply visit our website at http://www.wallingford.lioninc.org/, click on the Teen tab at the top of the screen, then click on teen blog on the menu at the left. Please tell us what you think!
Bobbie Borne
New Express Collection DVDs
...and here's a selection of new movies to feature on our jolly Express Collection shelves…
The Darjeeling Limited Family tension again provides dramatic comedy in Wes Anderson's new film, The Darjeeling Limited, about three American brothers traveling by train to find their reclusive mother in rural India. Like Royal Tenenbaums, this film succeeds because of its smart, funny script in addition to the visual beauty of India and its luxurious locomotive transportation. In Darjeeling, the oldest brother, Francis (Owen Wilson), blackmails his two younger siblings, Peter (Adrien Brody), and Jack (Jason Schwartzman), into traveling to a monastery where their mother, Patricia (Anjelica Huston), has been in hiding as a nun. Supposedly embarking on a spiritual quest, the three men reminisce about the recent death of their father, and the family's irreconcilable problems previous to their reunification. Though they do find Patricia, Francis, Peter, and Jack grow immensely from another brush with death, this time an Indian boy they try to rescue, giving the film an added conceptual depth that Anderson's previous films have been accused of lacking. Co-written by Roman Coppola (CQ), The Darjeeling Limited is a finely-tuned critique of American materialism, emotional vacuity, and our lack of spiritualism, presented in ironic twists and gorgeous cinematography and lighting recalling Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller. A lovely, poignant sequence occurs while the three brothers attend a traditional Indian funeral, and flash back to their father's one year prior. Moreover, the film's soundtrack culled from Satyajit Ray's films and vintage Kinks gives the film a timeless feel, removing it from the predictable indie rock scoring of independent releases. By far Anderson's best film thus far, The Darjeeling Limited offers a much-needed dose of cultural self-reflection, pillared against India's ever-evolving yet ancient religious backbone.
Beowulf Spectacular animated action scenes turn the ancient epic poem Beowulf into a modern fantasy movie, while motion-capture technology transforms plump actor Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) into a burly Nordic warrior. When a Danish kingdom is threatened by the monster Grendel (voiced and physicalized by Crispin Glover, River's Edge), Beowulf--lured by the promise of heroic glory--comes to rescue them. He succeeds, but falls prey to the seductive power of Grendel's mother, played by Angelina Jolie... and as Jolie's pneumatically animated form rises from an underground lagoon with demon-claw high heels, it becomes clear that we're leaving the original epic far, far behind.
American Gangster Ridley Scott puts on his "sweeping saga" gameface again, this time not for the sci-fi vistas of Blade Runner or the ancient world of Gladiator but for an urban epic. American Gangster gives the story of Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington), a real-life Harlem crime lord who built an empire on Southeast Asian heroin in the 1970s. Running parallel to Lucas's somewhat standard story is the investigation led by a persistent New Jersey cop, Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe). Roberts is a more interesting character than Lucas--too honest for his own good, unlucky in his personal life--and this kind of character, easily patronized by others, fits Crowe like a polyester shirt. Scott's tendency to hit his points square on the noggin is much in evidence here, including the typecasting of the supporting roles and the predictable Serpico atmosphere of the whole thing. (And speaking of supporting actors, the film needs more Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose role as a Lucas sidekick feels cut down.) It succeeds as a kind of chewy entertainment, fueled by the presence of two big stars working their muscles. Both Washington and Crowe look pretty brawny here.
New Express Collection Titles
The Express Collection just keeps getting better! These are the hot titles you'll find in the library catalog with holds lists as long as your arm. But come to the library and you can find them sitting right here on the shelf, waiting for you. Here are a few new books to get excited about:
The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller Bestselling author Miller (The Good Mother; When I Was Gone) returns with a rich, emotionally urgent novel of two women at opposite stages of life who face parallel dilemmas. Meri, the young, sexy wife of a charismatic professor, occupies one wing of a New England house with her husband. An unexpected pregnancy forces her to reassess her marriage and her childhood of neglect. Delia, her elegant neighbor in the opposite wing, is the long-suffering wife of a notoriously philandering retired senator. The couple have stayed together for his career and still share an occasional, deeply intense tryst. The women's routines continue on either side of the wall that divides their homes, and the two begin to flit back and forth across the porch and into each others physical and psychological spaces. A steady tension builds to a bruising denouement. The clash, predicated on Delia's husband's compulsive behavior and on Meri's lack of boundaries, feels too preordained. But Miller's incisive portrait of the complex inner lives of her characters and her sharp manner of taking them through conflicts make for an intense read.
Honor Thyself by Danielle Steel Carole Barber has come to Paris, with its rain-slick slate roofs and winding streets, to work on her novel—and to find herself after a lifetime in the spotlight. A legend of film and stage, Carole has set a standard of beauty and grace, devoting herself to her family and causes around the world. But on this cool November evening, as her taxi speeds into a tunnel just past the Louvre, a fiery instant of terror shatters hundreds of lives—and leaves Carole alone, unconscious and unidentified in a Paris emergency room.
At the Ritz, they wonder where their famous, incognito guest has gone. From California to London, Carole’s friends and family begin to make inquiries. Then comes a moment of shock as they all realize that Carole is far from home and fighting for her life.
In the days that follow, the paparazzi swarm. A mysterious stranger, a man famous in his own realm, quietly visits the hospital to see the woman he once loved and never forgot. Carole’s two grown children rush to her bedside, waiting and praying—until the miraculous begins to happen.…But as a woman who the whole world knows slowly awakens, she knows nothing of herself. Every detail must be pieced back together—from a childhood in rural Mississippi to the early days of her career, from the unintentional hurt inflicted on her daughter to a fifteen year-old secret love affair that went tragically wrong. But for Carole an extraordinary opportunity has arisen in a life-threatening crisis: a second chance to count her blessings, heal wounded hearts, recapture lost love… and to live a life that will truly honor others—beginning with herself.
A tale of survival and dignity, of small miracles and big surprises, Honor Thyself creates an unforgettable portrait of a public figure whose hopes, fears, and heartbreaks are as real as our own. Her courageous journey inspires us all.
The Appeal by John Grisham In a crowded courtroom in Mississipi, a jury returns a shocking verdict against a chemical company accused of dumping toxic waste into a small town’s water supply, causing the worst “cancer cluster” in history. The company appeals to the Mississippi Supreme Court, whose nine justices will one day either approve the verdict or reverse it.
Who are the nine? How will they vote? Can one be replaced before the case is ultimately decided?
The chemical company is owned by a Wall Street predator named Carl Trudeau, and Mr. Trudeau is convinced the Court is not friendly enough. With judicial elections looming, he decides to try to purchase himself a seat on the Court. The cost is a few million dollars, a drop in the bucket for a billionaire like Mr. Trudeau. Through an intricate web of conspiracy and deceit, his political operatives recruit a young, unsuspecting candidate. They finance him, manipulate him, market him, and mold him into a potential Supreme Court justice. Their Supreme Court justice.
The Appeal is a powerful, timely, and shocking story of political and legal intrigue, a story that will leave readers unable to think about our electoral process or judicial system in quite the same way ever again.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
New Borrowing Limits for DVDs and CDs
To ensure maximum access to our most popular materials for Library patrons, we have set the following limits to the total number of DVDs and CDs that can be checked out by an individual patron:
DVDs 20
CDs 50
We hope this helps everyone get the movies and music they want, when they want them.
Friday, February 15, 2008
The Music Keeps Coming
More musical additions to the collection:
- Bring Yer Wellies by Gaelic Storm
- Juno Original Soundtrack
- Oh, What a Mighty Time by New Riders of the Purple Sage
- Day Trip by Pat Metheny
- Something For You by Eliane Elias
- Ain't Necessarily So by Andy Bey
- It Is Time For a Love Revolution by Lenny Kravitz
- Just a Little Lovin' by Shelby Lynne
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
New Express Books
We'll be adding new books to the Express Collection regularly as hot new titles are published. Today, we popped a couple of copies of Lisa Scottoline's Lady Killer on the shelf for your reading delight. Mary DiNunzio is a trademark Lisa Scottoline heroine—she's strong, she's smart, and she's got plenty of attitude. In recent years, she's become a big-time business-getter at Rosato & Associates, but the last person she expects to walk into her office one morning—in mile-high stilettos—is super sexy Trish Gambone, her high school rival. Back then, while Mary was becoming the straight-A president of the Latin Club and Most Likely to Achieve Sainthood, Trish was the head Mean Girl, who flunked religion and excelled at smoking in the bathroom.
As it turns out, however, Trish's life has taken a horrifying turn. She's terrified of her live-in boyfriend, who's an abusive, gun-toting drug dealer for the South Philly mob. There's only one problem—Mary remembers the guy from high school too. Unbeknownst to Trish, Mary had a major crush on him.
Then Trish vanishes, a dead body turns up in an alley, and Mary is plunged into a nightmare, one that threatens her job, her family, and even her life. She goes on a one-woman crusade to unmask the killer, and on the way, finds new love in a very unexpected place.
But before the novel's shocking surprise ending, Mary is forced to confront some very uncomfortable truths about her own past, and the profound effects of lifelong love—and hate.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
New Express DVDs
Our new Express Collection has been proving wildly successful. Brand new books which go out for a week, and brand new DVDs which you take for two nights. It gives everyone a chance to get their hands on some great new material. Here are the DVDs we’ve added to the collection this week:
Gone Baby Gone For his initial offering as director, Ben Affleck returns to the site of his first Oscar: South Boston. (He and Matt Damon shared the award for Good Will Hunting.) Hot on the heels of his moving turn in Hollywoodland, Affleck's Dennis Lehane adaptation marks one of the more seamless actor-to-filmmaker transitions in recent years. Ostensibly, a procedural about the search for a missing child, class and corruption emerge as his primary concerns. First off, there's low-rent private eye Patrick Kenzie (Casey Affleck, equally adept in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). Then there's the girl's drug mule mother, Helene (Amy Ryan, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead). She and Patrick grew up in Dorchester, but he took a different path, setting up an agency with his girlfriend, Angie (Michelle Monaghan). Helene's aunt, Bea (Amy Madigan), hires the duo to augment the investigation, and they team up with Captain Doyle (Morgan Freeman) and Detective Bressant (Madigan's husband, Ed Harris). The authorities don't appreciate the interference, but Patrick knows how to get the local populace talking, and he soon finds there's more to the story than anyone could possibly imagine. Hard-hitting, but never soft-headed, the evocative end result proves Affleck has a flair for this directing thing and that his little brother can carry a major motion picture with aplomb. Gone Baby Gone belongs on the list of great Boston crime dramas, along with The Departed and Mystic River.
Why Did I Get Married? With his film adaptation of his play of the same name, Tyler Perry asks the question, "Why did I get married?" The answer is different for each of the four couples featured in this relationship comedy, which includes Janet Jackson as a psychologist whose own marriage is on shaky ground. Not known for subtlety, Perry hammers in the point that no marriage is perfect--just as no one is completely blameless. Even when he presents a thoughtless husband who cheats on his wife with her hot best friend, he doesn't present the wife as a helpless martyr. As portrayed by singer Jill Scott, Sheila is an overweight woman who is cowed by her bully of a husband. But the happily ever after that awaits her is almost worth all the verbal abuse she has taken from her philandering spouse. Scott is wonderful in her role and showcases a depth of real emotions. She also brings great humor to her role (After knocking someone out, she asks a police officer, "Did I kill him?... I should've killed him.") Delivered by anyone else, the line would've been callous, but Scott is believable. Jackson, who looks lovely on screen, has a smaller role and does what she can as a wife who is having a difficult time coming to terms with the death of her young son. As for Perry, who plays the cuckolded husband of a high-powered attorney, he tones down his act to succinctly convey hurt, anger, and resentment. Though he's best known for his broad, physical comedies, he shows a deft hand at tackling answers to a very complicated question--even if the answer may be a work in progress.
We Own the Night In We Own the Night, Joaquin Phoenix, whose eyes burn with sullen anger even when he's looking at the woman he loves, plays Bobby Green, a nightclub manager in the 1980s who gets caught between his blood family he tried to leave behind--a long line of police officers--and his chosen family of friends and business partners, who turn out to be drug dealers. His father (Robert Duvall) and brother (Mark Wahlberg) want Bobby to help their investigation, but Bobby resists--until the conflict takes a brutal turn. Writer/director James Gray wears his influences on his sleeve; he's clearly seen every movie that Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola ever made and aspires to follow in their footsteps. The familiarity of the movie's territory dilutes its impact, but the plot of We Own the Night remains unpredictable, the performances have a clean vitality, and Gray's moody visual style brings some life to the genre. Phoenix (Walk the Line) dives into his role, sifting through layers of guilt and familial resentment; Wahlberg and Duvall play parts they've essentially played a dozen times, but do so with commitment and integrity. Also featuring Eva Mendes (Ghost Rider) as Bobby's devoted girlfriend, who questions just how much she'll have to give up for him.
No Reservations Achieving balance in one's life can be a difficult process, but master chef Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones) leads a regimented, very ordered existence running the kitchen of an exclusive restaurant and revels in the sense of power and control her career affords. When Kate's sister is unexpectedly killed in an automobile accident and her 9-year old niece Zoe (Abigail Breslin) comes to live with Kate, Kate's life is turned completely upside down and she is suddenly forced to split her focus between work and family. Enter a newly hired, fun-loving, opera-singing sous chef Nick Palmer (Aaron Eckhart), whom Kate perceives as a serious rival, and thus begins an impassioned struggle on Kate's part to rein in Nick's exuberance and maintain control over her kitchen staff. Even as they clash, Kate is inexplicably drawn toward Nick, eventually coming to the realization that Nick offers something that she needs both in her restaurant kitchen and her new life with Zoe. Based on the screenplay for Mostly Martha, Catherine Zeta-Jones carries the lead well in this romantic comedy and there's a nice chemistry between herself and Aaron Eckhart as well as a poignant performance by Abigail Breslin. And, of course, and the food looks simply scrumptious.
Becoming Jane Like Molière, which was released in theaters around the same time, Becoming Jane isn't a conventional biopic. Instead, Julian Jarrold (White Teeth) expands on events from Jane Austen's life that may have shaped her fiction. To his credit, he doesn't stray too far from the facts. In 1795, 20-year-old Jane (Anne Hathaway with believable British accent) is an aspiring author. Her parents (Julie Walters and James Cromwell) married for love, and money is tight. They hope to see their youngest daughter make a more lucrative match, and there's a besotted local, Mr. Wisley (Laurence Fox, son of actor James Fox), who would be happy to oblige. Unfortunately, Jane isn't interested. Then, she meets brash law student Tom (The Last King of Scotland's James McAvoy), while he's staying with relatives in rural Hampshire. As in many Austen novels, it isn't love at first sight--but rather irritation. Just as affection begins to bloom, Tom has to return to London, and Wisley, whose financial prospects are superior, proposes. To complicate matters, Tom's uncle (Ian Richardson in his final performance) disapproves of the outspoken young lady just as much as Wisley's aunt (Maggie Smith, lending the proceedings some subtle humor). Had Austen penned the script, Tom and Wisley would be combined into one person, but life doesn't work that way--and nor does Becoming Jane.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Have You Seen the Tree?
...and the train? And the train station? And the pre-school area? And the story pit? And all the new books, DVDs, computers, and other fine thingummies? And all the happy Children's Librarians? Yup - the Children's Library has re-opened, and it's a smasher! Whatever it is you're doing, stop right now, and come and see us!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Broadway's Best on CD
Give these new CDs a spin:
- Legally Blonde: The Musical
- The Music Man Original Cast
- Billy Elliott: The Musical
- Little Shop of Horrors
- Xanadu on Broadway
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Yes! We're Open!!!!
The main Library has re-opened today, and we're having a splendid time! Our beautiful new space is delighting everyone who uses it. The new computers are all working superbly, the new materials are flying off the shelves. It's just marvelous to be here. We're back to our usual opening hours: please come and see us soon.
The amazing new Children's Library will open Monday February 11th. Ooh ... we can't wait!
The amazing new Children's Library will open Monday February 11th. Ooh ... we can't wait!
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
It's Your Lucky Day
Hooray! We re-open to the public again tomorrow! (Although the Children's Library doesn't open until next week.)You're going to love what we've been doing:lots of new computers, materials and spaces for you to enjoy.
We've put together a whole new Popular Materials area, housing our DVDs, videos, audio books, paperbacks, and new fiction and non-fiction. We've also put together a new Express Collection of the hottest new books and DVDs which have just been released.
Here's how it works:
- Check out a DVD from the Express Collection and return it within 48 hours. Overdue fines are $1.00 per day late.
- Check out a book from the Express Collection and return it within 7 days. Fines are 25 cents per day late.
- There's a limit of 1 DVD and 1 book per family.
- The Express Collection is non-reservable and non-renewable (the same titles are also available in our regular collection, where reserves and renewals are encouraged.)
We've put together a whole new Popular Materials area, housing our DVDs, videos, audio books, paperbacks, and new fiction and non-fiction. We've also put together a new Express Collection of the hottest new books and DVDs which have just been released.
Here's how it works:
- Check out a DVD from the Express Collection and return it within 48 hours. Overdue fines are $1.00 per day late.
- Check out a book from the Express Collection and return it within 7 days. Fines are 25 cents per day late.
- There's a limit of 1 DVD and 1 book per family.
- The Express Collection is non-reservable and non-renewable (the same titles are also available in our regular collection, where reserves and renewals are encouraged.)
Friday, February 1, 2008
Books to Movies
Almost as good as the book
The stellar movie adaptations of these books are true to the spirit of their source material and bring something new as well.
Stick to print
Sometimes the transition from page to screen just doesn't work. We recommend passing on the theater and enjoying these books as they were originally conceived.
Coming attractions
We can't wait to see how these adaptations turn out when they hit the big screen later this year. What about you? E-mail me and let me know which books you're eager to see in theaters.
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