Join a Computer Class

The Library will offer introductory computer classes in a small group setting. The first class, Computer Basics, will be held on Tuesday, June 17, from 2:00-3:30 pm in the Board Room. Designed for the computer novice, the class will explore both hardware and software and will include hands-on practice using the mouse and keyboard. Seating is limited to 6 students, so be sure to register early. Stop by or call the Reference Desk to sign up.

More Music To Brighten Your Day

Pick up one (or more) of these on your next trip to the Library:

• Songs in A & E by Spiritualized
• Home Before Dark by Neil Diamond
• Coal by Kathy Mattea
• Driftin' Blues by Charles Brown
• Volume 1 by She & Him
• Tooth of Crime by T-Bone Burnett
• Sunday at the Village Vanguard by Bill Evans
• History, Mystery by Bill Frisell
• Captain Beyond
• Magic Touch by The Platters
• We Sing. We Dance. We Steal Things. by Jason Mraz
• Blame It On Gravity by Old 97's
• Pink Panther by Henry Mancini
• Not a Pretty Girl by Ani DiFranco
• Hymn For My Soul by Joe Cocker
• Meat Puppets II by Meat Puppets
• Wild Gift by X
  

New Movie Wednesday

Somebody tell him to keep his shirt on, please...

Rambo If you've been wondering what ever happened to ex–Green Beret superwarrior John Rambo since he singlehandedly shot up a Pacific Northwest town (First Blood, 1982), returned to the jungles of 'Nam to free U.S. POWs held long after war's end (Rambo: First Blood Part II, 1985), and interrupted the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan long enough to blow lots of stuff up and rescue his old commandant from the Reds (Rambo III, 1988), then Rambo (2008) is for you. Without so much as a IV to dilute the brand name, Rambo--which is what most of us called the second, most iconic film in the series--may aspire to open a new era for a pop legend. But it's a thoroughly mechanical attempt to reanimate a franchise that, absent the anger, frustration, and self-loathing of the post-Vietnam years, has no meaning or purpose. For some time now Rambo (Sylvester Stallone) has been putt-putting along the Thai-Burmese border in a longboat, catching exotic snakes to sell. As for the 60-year civil war in Burma between the brutal government and the Karen independence movement, he ignores it. Enter a party of American missionaries whose dewy blond spokeswoman (Dexter's Julie Benz) asks Rambo to haul them upriver so that they can bring medical aid to the insurgents. After the requisite number of monosyllabic refusals, he does. Soon afterward the do-gooders are in a world of hurt, and he's summoned to lead a squad of mercenaries on a rescue mission. You can probably guess what happens next. Bang. Pow. Crash. Blah.

National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets Less engrossing than its 2004 predecessor National Treasure, Jon Turteltaub’s busy sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets is nevertheless a colorful and witty adventure, another race against overwhelming odds for the answer to a historical riddle. Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage), the treasure hunter who feverishly sought, in the first film, the whereabouts of a war chest hidden by America’s forefathers, is now charged with protecting family honor. When a rival (Ed Harris) offers alleged proof that Gates’ ancestor, Thomas Gates, was not a Civil War-era hero but a participant in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Ben and his father (Jon Voight) and crew (Justin Bartha, Diane Kruger) hopscotch through Paris, London, Washington DC, and South Dakota to gather evidence refuting the claim. The film is most fun when the hunt, as in National Treasure, squeezes Ben into such impossible situations as examining twin desks in the queen’s chambers in Buckingham Palace and the White House’s Oval Office, or kidnapping an American president (Bruce Greenwood) for a few minutes of frank talk. Helen Mirren, the previous year's Oscar winner for Best Actress, wisely joins the cast of a likely hit film as Ben’s archaeologist mother, long-estranged from Voight’s character but as feisty as the rest of the family. Returning director Turteltaub takes excellent advantage of his colorful backdrops in European capitals and the always-eerie Mount Rushmore, and oversees some wildly imaginative sets for this dramedy’s feverish third act in an audacious and completely unexpected, legendary setting. If National Treasure: Book of Secrets doesn’t feel quite as crisp and unique as its predecessor, it is still ingenious and wry enough to laugh a bit at itself.

Music To Start Your Summer

A few new additions to the music collection:

• Party Till the Cows Come Home by Elvin Bishop
• Made in Dakar by Orchestra Baobab
• Rockferry by Duffy
• The Rough Guide to Klemzer
• The Rough Guide to Klemzer Revival
• Sailing to Philadelphia by Mark Knopfler
• Lay It Down by Al Green
• WOW Gospel 2001
• WOW Gospel 2002
  

Best Album of 2008?

Third by Portishead Portishead's third album is initially more a record to admire than to love, its muscular synthesisers, drum breaks and abrupt endings keeping the tension high. But after several listens, Third's majesty unfurls. Propulsive Krautrock rhythms and German radio samples conjure up Eastern bloc minimalism in Silence, Small and the jaw-dropping We Carry On, while soft, organic textures add depth to the icy shallows elsewhere. When Deep Water appears, it is shocking: a minute and 33 seconds of sweet ukulele doo-wop that bring to mind a 78 discovered in a nuclear fallout. Elsewhere, the ominously titled Threads and Plastic show how strong Portishead have become.

New Feature: My Reading History

Want to be able to look back on what you've read in the past? You can choose to track your library reading history by maintaining an online reading list accessible only by you. To set up this feature, click on My Reading History in your library account, then click on Opt in. After you enable Reading History, the system will begin collecting a list of items as you check them out. Items already checked out at the time you subscribe are not added to your history. Only items borrowed AFTER opting in. You can discontinue your reading history at any time. To unsubscribe: 1. Clear all entries from your reading history 2. Click on Opt Out

Please Note: By subscribing to My Reading History, you are acknowledging that the Libraries Online system will retain my checkout activity for your personal use.You may unsubscribe from this service or remove any or all titles from your history at any time. Libraries Online will not divulge this information to outside parties unless required to do so by law.

Renew Renew Renew

Did you know there are a number of different ways to renew a library item as it approaches its due date? Obviously, you can come in to the library and have a member of staff do it for you, but there are alternatives. You can call us on 203-265-6754 and ask for the Circulation department. Alternatively, you can do it yourself by visiting My Account (from the Library website), entering your name and card number, and choosing the items you need to renew. If you've given us your e-mail, you will receive an e-mail the day before your items are due back, reminding you and providing a link to go directly to My Account, from where you can renew your items.

Please be aware that you can renew materials only if there are no holds on the item. Also, material can only be renewed one time. Finally, the new return date is calculated from the date of the renewal, not from the end of your current loan period. This has been causing some confusion, so it's always a good idea to note down the new due date on the due date card when you make a renewal.

New BookPage Coming Soon

Writer Rick Bragg knows plenty about the ups and downs of life. Though he grew up dirt poor in rural Alabama, he became a successful reporter, working for newspapers throughout the South. He won glory (and a Pulitzer Prize) as a feature writer at the New York Times, but his tenure there ended in 2003 with a controversial exit. Now older, presumably wiser and more settled in his personal life, Bragg has decided to take another look at the man whose ups and downs far exceeded his own: his hard-drinking father, Charles Bragg. In the June issue of BookPage, contributor Rebecca Bain talks to Rick Bragg about his new book, The Prince of Frogtown, the final volume in a trilogy of memoirs that began with the acclaimed All Over But the Shoutin'.

In this new book, Bragg tries to piece together a picture of the father who deserted his wife and three young children, a man so consumed by alcoholism that he "lost his looks, drank his paychecks [and] wrecked his old cars." Using alternating chapters, Bragg comes to terms with his dad's anguished life and his own first experiences as a father to his 10-year-old stepson. His exploration of the ties and conflicts between fathers and sons is a perfect meditation for Father's Day, and the launching point for our coverage. Also coming up for Father's Day is a roundup that offers a variety of gift choices for dad—from Bruce Camerson's 8 Simple Rules For Marrying My Daughter to Carl Hiaasen's ruminations on golf in The Downhill Lie.

Here's more of what you'll find in the next issue of BookPage:

JUNE FEATURES

• Like many of us, David Sedaris has a thing about flying. But only Sedaris can find hilarity in being seated next to a sobbing passenger on a transatlantic flight. In his sixth essay collection, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, Sedaris also applies his special brand of humor to such subjects as bow ties, lancing boils and his parents' peculiar taste in art. Since he has such varied interests, we figured Sedaris would be the perfect person to do one of our handwritten Meet the Author questionnaires, and the answers he provided were certainly surprising. Don't miss this Q&A.

• Andre Dubus III worked as a bartender, a carpenter and a teacher before he struck literary gold in 1999 with the publication of his novel, The House of Sand and Fog. He returns almost a decade later with The Garden of Last Days, a haunting look at three figures who intersect at a Florida strip club shortly before 9/11. In an interview with BookPage contributor Alden Mudge, the effusive, passionate Dubus talks about everything from building his own house in Massachusetts to taking risks as a writer. "I wrote the last part of the new book in the future master bathroom on a plywood floor near a hole in the floor where the toilet will go," says Dubus, who has a decidedly unique approach to his craft.

• On a recent visit to Concord, Massachusetts, I was thrilled to see the home where Thoreau lived when he wrote Walden, one of my personal literary favorites. If seeing the sights linked to your own favorite authors sounds like a great travel plan, you'll want to read the June Behind the Book column by Joni Rendon, co-author of Novel Destinations: Literary Landmarks from Jane Austen's Bath to Ernest Hemingway's Key West. Rendon and her friend Shannon McKenna Schmidt traveled to literary landscapes in Europe and America, visiting not only authors' homes, but also the places immortalized in their books. Monroeville, Alabama, the inspiration for the small-town setting of To Kill a Mockingbird, was one such location. Pack your bags and join us for an itinerary that would delight any avid reader.

The June issue also includes reviews of new books by Dean Koontz, Elizabeth Lowell, David Guterson and Jeffery Deaver. If you're compiling a summer reading list, make BookPage your first stop.

CELEBRATING AUDIOBOOK MONTH

We'll have expanded audio coverage in the June issue, including an essay by critically acclaimed author Lauren Groff on how she came to appreciate listening to books she had previously read.

Wii Bowling Tournament Results

The library held its first Wii Tournament on May 8th. We were "Bowling to Spare The Books" in honor of the Big Read and Fahrenheit 451. There were 24 participants ranging in age from 4 to 60+! The grand prize winner of the night was Ben Cerasoli with a huge score of 178. He won a $20 Best Buy gift card.

Second place went to Matt McBriarty with a score of 171.

Thank you to everyone who participated. What great fun!

Jennifer

A Freezing Vacation?

As you start to plan your summer vacations, we thought you might like to know about a feature in our catalog to ensure you don't loose precious holds while you're away. If you click on 'my account' from our web site, and enter your library card number and last name, you can freeze your holds for the period of your vacation. This means we will keep your place in the holds queue, so that nothing comes in while you're not around to pick it up. You just have to remember to unfreeze your holds once you've returned.

New Music for a Rainy Day

Break out your umbrellas and get down to the library for these new CDs:

• Mr. Love & Justice by Billy Bragg
• Complete Hit Singles by Three Dog Night
• Today by Galaxie 500
• Ocean Rain by Echo & The Bunnymen
• Turn It On Again by Genesis
• Seven Moons by Bruce Jack & Robin Trower
• The Specials
  
• Las Vegas Story by The Gun Club
• London Symphonies by Joseph Haydn
• Tristan und Isolde by Richard Wagner
  

Latest Movies

Recently added to the Express and DVD collections:

P.S. I Love You For those who believe true love lasts beyond this physical plane, P.S. I Love You is a jewel in the romantic-movie crown. With elements of Ghost, Heaven Can Wait, and My Life, the film is an unabashed valentine to the notion of lasting (everlasting?) love. Hilary Swank is Holly, a deeply happy lass married to the most impossibly adorable Irishman on the planet, Gerry (Gerard Butler). When an illness takes him from her, Holly spirals into depression. Then, as if from beyond the grave, communications, gifts, and remembrances from Gerry begin to appear--gestures he'd planned knowing his death was coming. The "communications" with her dead husband could threatened to keep Holly in past, yet they begin to pave a path into her future. Swank, not a traditional romantic actress, is quite moving as Holly, whose grief and confusion is palpable. Butler will win new continents of fans, largely female, as the yummiest honey one could wish for. Special kudos to the supporting cast, including Lisa Kudrow as a Holly pal, and James Marsters and Kathy Bates, always breaths of fresh air onscreen. Under the sure hand of director-writer Richard LaGravenese, P.S. I Love You is touching, sad (have tissues on hand), and heartbreakingly lovely.

27 Dresses Katherine Heigl is delightful as Jane, a self-effacing Gal Friday so addicted to organizing weddings in her off time, that 27 Dresses opens with her character juggling two nuptials on the same night. A perpetual bridesmaid, Jane’s hobby is discovered by a matrimony reporter named Kevin (James Marsden), who hides a romantic side behind his wall of cynicism. While Kevin gradually develops feelings for Jane, the latter’s superficial sister, Tess (Malin Akerman), pursues George (Edward Burns), Jane’s boss and the object of her love. This romantic circle could go on forever, except that Jane is unexpectedly moved by Kevin despite her general irritation with him and without knowing that he’s on the verge of sandbagging her with a ridiculing article in his newspaper. The situation is absurd, but the emotions are not. Heigl is very good, rooted in a long tradition of comely comediennes playing characters who fly under the radar of life. She makes Jane’s pain palpable and conveys her character’s inability to say no without making her look unappealing or weak. Marsden perfectly captures the part of a rumpled, underdressed writer with repressed passions, Akerman is as convincingly shrewish here as she was in The Heartbreak Kid, and Burns is fine as one of those guys so busy saving the world he barely pays attention to the people in his life. The script by Aline Brosh McKenna (The Devil Wears Prada) is fun if predictable, and Anne Fletcher’s direction is vibrant.

Juno Somewhere between the sharp satire of Election and the rich human comedy of You Can Count On Me lies Juno, a sardonic but ultimately compassionate story of a pregnant teenage girl who wants to give her baby up for adoption. Social misfit Juno (Ellen Page, Hard Candy, X-Men: The Last Stand) protects herself with a caustic wit, but when she gets pregnant by her friend Paulie (Michael Cera, Superbad), Juno finds herself unwilling to terminate the pregnancy. When she chooses a couple who place a classified ad looking to adopt, Juno gets drawn further into their lives than she anticipated. But Juno is much more than its plot; the stylized dialogue (by screenwriter Diablo Cody) seems forced at first, but soon creates a richly textured world, greatly aided by superb performances by Page, Cera, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman as the prospective parents, and J.K. Simmons (Spider-Man) and Allison Janney as Juno's father and stepmother. Director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking) deftly keeps the movie from slipping into easy, shallow sarcasm or foundering in sentimentality. The result is smarter and funnier than you might expect from the subject matter, and warmer and more touching than you might expect from the cocky attitude. Page's performance is deceptively simple; she never asks the audience to love her, yet she effortlessly carries a movie in which she's in almost every scene. That's star power.

I'm Not There Unapologetically audacious, I'm Not There is more post-modern puzzle than by-the-numbers biopic. A title card sets the scene: "Inspired by the music and many lives of Bob Dylan." Yet the film features no figure by that name. Instead, writer/director Todd Haynes presents six characters, each incarnating different stages in the artist's career. Perfume's Ben Whishaw, a black-clad poet, serves as a slippery sort of narrator. The action begins with the wanderings of an 11-year-old black runaway named "Woody Guthrie" (Marcus Carl Franklin)--his raucous duet with Richie Havens on "Tombstone Blues" is a highlight--and ends with a silver-haired Billy the Kid (Richard Gere) watching the Old West die before his eyes. In the interim, there's the folk singer-turned-preacher (Christian Bale), the actor (Heath Ledger), and the rock star (Cate Blanchett, who has Don't Look Back Dylan down to a science). The chronology is purposefully non-linear, and editor Jay Rabinowitz cuts rapidly, Jean-Luc Godard-style, between cinéma vérité black-and-white and saturated color, Richard Lester-like slapstick and Fellini-inspired surrealism (Ed Lachman served as cinematographer). What makes the picture fun for Dylan fans--and potentially frustrating for neophytes--is that every album and movie bears an alternate title. Ledger's Robbie, for instance, stars in "Grain of Sand," actually a reference to the Pete Seeger song. As in Haynes' glam rock reverie Velvet Goldmine, the trickery involves the entire cast. While Julianne Moore plays former lover Alice, a dead ringer for Joan Baez; Michelle Williams embodies elusive scenester Coco, i.e. Edie Sedgwick. If I'm Not There is less affecting than Control, the year's other big music film, it rewards repeat viewings like few biographical features. The soundtrack mixes originals with covers, like Jim James's heartfelt "Goin' to Acapulco."

More New Express Books

Something for everyone in the latest books to hit the Express Collection shelves:

The Host by Stephenie Meyer Stephenie Meyer, creator of the phenomenal teen vampire Twilight series takes paranormal romance into alien territory in her first adult novel. Those wary of sci-fi or teen angst will be pleasantly surprised by this mature and imaginative thriller, propelled by equal parts action and emotion. A species of altruistic parasites has peacefully assumed control of the minds and bodies of most humans, but feisty Melanie Stryder won't surrender her mind to the alien soul called Wanderer. Overwhelmed by Melanie's memories of fellow resistor Jared, Wanderer yields to her body's longing and sets off into the desert to find him. Likely the first love triangle involving just two bodies, it's unabashedly romantic, and the characters (human and alien) genuinely endearing. Readers intrigued by this familiar-yet-alien world will gleefully note that the story's end leaves the door open for a sequel--or another series.

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich Erdrich's 13th novel, a multigenerational tour de force of sin, redemption, murder and vengeance, finds its roots in the 1911 slaughter of a farming family near Pluto, N.Dak. The family's infant daughter is spared, and a posse forms, incorrectly blames three Indians and lynches them. One, Mooshum Milk, miraculously survives. Over the next century, descendants of both the hanged men and the lynch mob develop relationships that become deeply entangled, and their disparate stories are held together via principal narrator Evelina, Mooshum Milk's granddaughter, who comes of age on an Indian reservation near Pluto in the 1960s and '70s and forms two fateful adolescent crushes: one on bad-boy schoolmate Corwin Peace and one on a nun. Though Evelina doesn't know it, both are descendants of lynch mob members. The plot splinters as Evelina enrolls in college and finds work at a mental asylum; Corwin spirals into a life of crime; and a long-lost violin (its backstory is another beautiful piece of the mosaic) takes on massive significance. Erdrich plays individual narratives off one another, dropping apparently insignificant clues that build to head-slapping revelations as fates intertwine and the person responsible for the 1911 killing is identified.

Careless in Red by Elizabeth George After the senseless murder of his wife, Detective Superintendent Thomas Lynley retreated to Cornwall, where he has spent six solitary weeks hiking the bleak and rugged coastline. But no matter how far he walks, no matter how exhausting his days, the painful memories of Helen's death do not diminish. On the forty-third day of his walk, at the base of a cliff, Lynley discovers the body of a young man who appears to have fallen to his death. The closest town, better known for its tourists and its surfing than its intrigue, seems an unlikely place for murder. However, it soon becomes apparent that a clever killer is indeed at work, and this time Lynley is not a detective but a witness and possibly a suspect. The head of the vastly understaffed local police department needs Lynley's help, though, especially when it comes to the mysterious, secretive woman whose cottage lies not far from where the body was discovered. But can Lynley let go of the past long enough to solve a most devious and carefully planned crime?

Secrets in the Shadows by V.C. Andrews Up in the attic, that's where Alice's mother used to escape to...and it's where, so Alice has been told, she plotted the murder of her own stepfather. Now, years later, with her mother locked away for life, the attic is where Alice finds comfort in her aloneness, writing poetry and painting pictures. When Alice finally finds the courage to come out of her shell, exchanging her dowdy looks for flattering clothes and makeup, her life completely opens up -- she even attends the prom with a cute, popular boy. But it's a night that turns quickly tragic -- sending her newfound happiness crashing down around her, and hurtling Alice into a shattering new life, one that leads her to a shocking reunion with the shadows she had fled.

The Newest of the New

Just added to our music collection:

• The Con by Tegan and Sara
• Musik Von Harmonia by Harmonia
• Real Emotional Trash by Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks
  
• Psychotic Reaction by Count Five
• Superabundance by Young Knives
• Cansei de ser Sexy by CSS
• Waltzes by Sergey Prokofiev
• Get Awkward by Be Your Own Pet!
• Yeti by Amon Duul II
• Dookie by Green Day
• Ladder by Yes
• Duets & Duets II by Frank Sinatra
• Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me by The Cure
• Suites for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio by Claude Bolling
• Boxer by The National
• Days of Wine and Roses by Dream Syndicate
• It's a Shame About Ray by The Lemonheads
• Scott 4 by Scott Walker
• Take a Good Look! by The Fleshtones
• Third by Portishead
• The Very Best of Deep Purple
• When the Pawn by Fiona Apple
• Argus by Wishbone Ash
• Bells for Stokowski by The University of Texas Wind Ensemble