New Music To Start Your Week

Just added to the collection:

• Bubble & Scrape by Sebadoh
• The College Dropout by Kanye West
• The Slip by Nine Inch Nails
• Life Death Love and Freedom by John Mellencamp
• So Much More by Brett Dennen
• 1984 by Van Halen
• Pure Religion & Bad Company by Reverend Gary Davis
• Here Come the Warm Jets by Brian Eno
• Funeral by Arcade Fire
• Kooza by Cirque du Soleil
• Sex and the City Original Soundtrack
• Big Blue Ball
• Breakout by Miley Cyrus
• Britney by Britney Spears
• From the Reach by Sonny Landreth
• Thing of the Past by Vetiver
• The Hard Way by James Hunter
• Benefit by Jethro Tull
• You Are Free by Cat Power
• Undiscovered Few by Rodney Jones
• Here We Stand by The Fratellis
• Mamma Mia! Original Soundtrack
• Fleet Foxes
• Before and After Science by Brian Eno
• Taking Tiger Mountain by Brian Eno
• What's the Rumpus? by Gaelic Storm
• Modern Guilt by Beck
• With the Lights Out by Nirvana
  

New Computer Class

Learn the ins and outs of navigating the Internet at our August computer class. Topics covered include how to find information using search engines and how to evaluate the information once you have retrieved it. The class will be held on Tuesday, August 12 at 2:00 pm in the Board Room. Seating is limited to 6 students, so be sure to register early. Stop by the Information Desk or call (203)265-6754 to reserve your seat.

August BookPage is Here!

The new BookPage is here (Trumpets!)

BookPage is a publication offered free by the Wallingford Public Library to our patrons. BookPage recommends the best books for readers of all types, whether you're interested in literary fiction or romance, history or science fiction, cookbooks or children's books. It focuses on new releases and tailors reviews for the general reader -- the true booklover always on the lookout for recommendations on what to read next. BookPage serves as a broad-based selection guide to the best new books published every month. The tone is upbeat and literate, focusing on bestsellers as well as new discoveries.

Pop in and pick up a copy today.

Your Library Needs You

Do you have some spare time during the day or evening? Have you considered volunteering to help out at the library? We have a team of wonderful volunteers assisting us with various tasks right now. If you'd like to consider joining them, pop in and talk to us sometime soon.

Cinema Paradiso

We've been cooking up an extra treat for Wallingford cinema fans. On Tuesday August 19th at 6:30 p.m., you are invited to join us for a special screening of Giuseppe Tornatore’s Academy Award winning Cinema Paradiso.

A true motion picture masterpiece, Cinema Paradiso won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and captured the hearts of moviegoers around the world. For those who have never seen it – and those who have never forgotten it – this extraordinary celebration of youth, friendship and the everlasting magic of movies is sure to captivate your heart and send your spirit soaring.

Cinema Paradiso is rated R and is presented in its original Italian, with English subtitles. Please join us for an evening of true cinema magic. Light refreshments will be served.

New Bookpage Quick Peek

We think 2008 is shaping up as a very good year for debut novels, and in the next issue of BookPage we'll bring you our recommendations of the best in the bunch. You've probably already heard the buzz about David Wroblewski's The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, whose amazing journey through Wisconsin's north woods is cracking the bestseller lists. Also on our list of top debuts is The Gargoyle by Canadian writer Andrew Davidson, who spent seven years writing the gripping tale of a car crash victim reunited with his soul mate in a hospital burn ward. In an interview, Davidson tells us how it feels to be the beneficiary of a seven-figure bidding war among publishers eager to win the rights to his work. You'll also find reviews of The Lace Reader, Brunonia Barry's riveting first novel about women in modern-day Salem, Massachusetts, who can see the future in a piece of lace; Rachel Kushner's Telex from Cuba, which blends reality (Fidel Castro, United Fruit Company) and fiction to capture a unique view of 1950s Cuba; Undiscovered Country, the haunting debut by Lin Enger, brother of Leif (Peace Like a River); and many more. If you want to keep track of the rising stars in the literary world, it's a must-read issue.

Here's more of what's coming up in the next BookPage:

AUGUST FEATURES

• Even though her best-selling thrillers are dark and sometimes grisly, writer Karin Slaughter is a real Georgia peach with a lighter side and a keen sense of humor. Case in point: her answers to the Meet the Author Q&A in our August issue. My personal favorite is her brief but thorough explication of the Southern expressions "y'all" and "fixin' to." Though she's best known for her Grant County thrillers, Slaughter's latest novel, Fractured, is a sequel to the 2006 stand-alone, Triptych, featuring GBI agent Will Trent.

• When you're driving down a highway and encounter a sign warning that a lane is closed a mile ahead, do you immediately pull out of the closing lane? Or do you wait until the last minute to merge, earning the wrath of the "early mergers" beside you? I'm an early merger myself, but my approach is all wrong, according to Tom Vanderbilt, author of the endlessly fascinating new book, Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About Us). In a Q&A, Vanderbilt shares advice and insight about our lives behind the wheel, a subject that's become even more important with the recent leap in gas prices.

• For Southern comic novelist Clyde Edgerton, inspiration came in the form of a Flannery O'Connor tribute. Asked to write a short story for an O'Connor anthology, Edgerton plucked two of her favorite characters: a bible salesman and a misfit. His story grew into a novel, The Bible Salesman, which puts Edgerton's own unique spin on the ageless tale of an innocent challenged to take a new, harder look at the world. In an interview, Edgerton explains how he managed to conjure up Scripture-quoting cats and a car thief who resembles Clark Gable.

The August issue also features new craft books, an interview with children's author Dan Gutman, and several picture books to soothe the fears of little ones starting school this fall.

New Movie Tuesday

The Bank Job
A car dealer with a dodgy past and new family, Terry (Jason Statham) has always avoided major-league scams. But when Martine (Saffron Burrows), a beautiful model from his old neighborhood, offers him a lead on a foolproof bank hit on London's Baker Street, Terry recognizes the opportunity of a lifetime. Martine targets a roomful of safe deposit boxes worth millions in cash and jewelry. But Terry and his crew don't realize the boxes also contain a treasure trove of dirty secrets - secrets that will thrust them into a deadly web of corruption and illicit scandal that spans London's criminal underworld, the highest echelons of the British government, and the Royal Family itself...the true story of a heist gone wrong...in all the right ways.

Songs for a Friday Afternoon

New music just in time for the weekend...

• If You're Feeling Sinister by Belle and Sebastian
• New Perspective by Donald Byrd
• Black Byrd by Donald Byrd
• Surfer Rosa by The Pixies
• Transatlanticism by Death Cab for Cutie
• The Emancipation of Mimi by Mariah Carey
• Life's Rich Pageant by R.E.M.
• Dummy by Portishead
• The Score by The Fugees
• Homogenic by Bjork
• Madonna
• Grace by Jeff Buckley
• Live at the Fillmore East by Jimi Hendrix
• Sheryl Crow
• Give Up by The Postal Service
• I, Flathead by Ry Cooder
• Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain by Pavement
• Last Days at the Lodge by Amos Lee
• Moxie Bravo by The High Strung
• Get the Guests by The High Strung
• Pearl Jam
• Rain Dogs by Tom Waits
• In Utero by Nirvana
• Nevermind by Nirvana
  
• Unplugged in New York by Nirvana
• Stankonia by Outkast
• Paul's Boutique by The Beastie Boys
• Rhythm Nation 1814 by Janet Jackson
• Either/Or by Elliott Smith
• Faith by George Michael
• My Life by Mary J. Blige
• Live Through This by Hole
• Siamese Dream by The Smashing Pumpkins
• Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea by P.J. Harvey
• The Soft Bulletin by The Flaming Lips
• A Rush of Blood to the Head by Coldplay
  

Visit our new book shop

The Book Seller, a cozy new book shop located in the Library's lower level, will feature used books, cds, etc. in excellent condition. The shop will open for business on Monday, July 21 and regular hours will be Monday and Wednesday, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and 4:00 pm to 7:00 pm and Friday, 10:00 am to 1:00 pm. All proceeds benefit the Wallingford Public Library Association.

New Movie Tuesday (and the Tuesday before)

Charlie Bartlett
Charlie Bartlett (Anton Yelchin) has been kicked out of every private school he ever attended. And now that he’s moved on to public school, he’s simply getting pummeled. But when Charlie discovers that the kids who surround him are secretly in desperate need, his entrepreneurial spirit takes over. Charlie becomes an underground, not to mention under-aged, shrink who listens to the private confessions of his schoolmates, and makes the imprudent decision to hand out the pills he’s proffered from his own psychiatric sessions. Then, Charlie Bartlett makes his big mistake: falling in love with the beautiful and bold daughter (Kat Dennings) of the school’s increasingly disenchanted Principal (Robert Downey, Jr.), who is hot on his trail. As Charlie Bartlett’s world and fledgling psychiatric practice unravel, he begins to discover there’s a whole lot more to making a difference than handing out pills.

Vantage Point
Thomas Barnes and Kent Taylor are two Secret Service agents assigned to protect President Ashton at a landmark summit on the global war on terror. When President Ashton is shot moments after his arrival in Spain, chaos ensues and disparate lives collide. In the crowd is Howard Lewis, an American tourist videotaping the historic event to show his kids when he returns home. Also there is Rex, an American TV news producer who is reporting on the conference. It's only as we follow each person's perspective of the same 15 minutes to and immediately after the shooting that the terrifying truth behind the assassination attempt is revealed.

Meet the Browns
Single mother Brenda (Angela Bassett) suddenly loses her job, then she receives news that the father she never met is dead. With nothing to lose, she gathers her brood and heads to Georgia, where she meets her father's uproarious family for the first time and finds the tentative beginnings of a new romance.

Stop-Loss
Decorated Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty. Brandon tries to resume the life he left behind with the help and support of his family and his best friend, Steve Shriver , who served with him in Iraq. Alongside their war-time buddies, Brandon and Steve try to make peace with civilian life. Then, against Brandon's will, the Army orders him back to duty in Iraq. This upends Brandon's entire world. The conflict into which he is thrown tests everything he believes in: the bond of family, the loyalty of friendship, the limits of love, and the value of honor.

Bella
A chef (Eduardo Verastegui) leaves his post at a busy Manhattan restaurant to show a fired waitress (Tammy Blanchard) around town.

Funny Games
A vacationing family gets an unexpected visit from two deeply disturbed young men. Their idyllic holiday turns nightmarish as they are subjected to unimaginable terrors and struggle to stay alive.