In This Issue

Cynthia's Picks

Although summer vacation may be just a memory, September is a good month to continue your travels. Whether through time, space or ideas, my picks for this month take you on a strange, wondrous and even terrifying journey. Happy trails!

A sense of the world : how a blind man became history's greatest traveler - Jason Roberts

Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 6/1/2006
ISBN: 9780007161065
ISBN-10: 0007161069

No novel could be more wondrous, touching or stranger than this tale of James Holman, who lost his sight as a young man. He left the British Navy, not to end up a beggar or a burden to his family -- the most common fates for the blind in the early 1800's -- but to travel the world, some 250,000 miles worth, mostly alone and unaided. A simply amazing journey by a man who ends up truly seeing more than most of us can ever hope to. Not to be missed!

First Chapter Table of Contents

The white headhunter - Nigel Randell

Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 8/6/2003
ISBN: 9780786712564
ISBN-10: 0786712562

Stevenson and Defoe can't touch this rousing tale of shipwreck and cannibalism. Conrad tried when he based his Mistah Kurtz in 'Heart of Darkness' on little Jack Renton, a Scottish teenager who was captured by South Pacific natives in 1868. Rescued eight years later, Jack spent those years being completely assimilated and eventually accepted and revered by his captors, headhunters and all. Randell does an excellent job of bringing this culture to life and dares to ask a very politically incorrect question: Was colonialism really worse than an endless cycle of murder, cannibalism and revenge in a culture where life actually was nasty, brutish and short? Read this book and decide for yourself.

Table of Contents

At day's close : night in times past - A. Roger Ekirch

Publisher: Norton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 6/13/2005
ISBN: 9780393050899
ISBN-10: 0393050890

Enter a world we can only, and with great difficulty, imagine: night-time before electricity. This book is a fascinating and eclectic look at how night was experienced during the vast majority of human history: completely and unrelentingly dark as pitch. Read about the terrors and even joys of a night illuminated only by animal fat and very vivid imaginations.

Table of Contents

Kingdom coming : the rise of Christian nationalism - Michelle Goldberg

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 6/1/2006
ISBN: 9780393060942
ISBN-10: 0393060942

The author's premise is that it makes no sense to fight religious fundamentalism abroad while letting it run rampant at home. And if you think there is not a powerful, well-funded, politically well-connected movement in this country that will not rest until it controls every aspect of public and private life, then perhaps you should read this book.

Table of Contents

Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the - Stamp, Terence

Publisher: Usa
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 1/1/1994
UPC: 00780063371322

Road trip!!! Join the guys as they take off in their budget Barbie camper on a trip across the Australian outback. This film has something for everyone: laughs, fashion, music and the best family values message I've ever seen in a movie: family and friends are the sticky glue that hold us all together when life gets really nasty. When you put that all together with great production numbers, what more could you possibly want?

Nichole's Picks

Twilight - Stephenie Meyer

Publisher: Little, Brown
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 11/1/2008
ISBN: 9780316038379
ISBN-10: 0316038377

Just imagine what it must be like to be head over heels in love with a vampire. Well, that's what life is like for Bella. She is in love with Edward, a vampire...and he is in love with her. How can it possibly work between a vampire and a human? In Twilight they make it work, and the love story is really genuine and incredible. A great book for both teens and adults, I really loved how they didn't care about the obvious issues with their relationship, being together was more important, important enough to risk their lives. Keep an eye out for the sequel, New Moon.

I'd tell you I love you, but then I'd have to kill you - by Ally Carter

Publisher: Hyperion Books for Children
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 5/1/2006
ISBN: 9781423100034
ISBN-10: 1423100034

Cammie is a normal, average sophomore in high school, NOT! In reality, she is a spy in training at the Gallagher Academy. Everything is going according to plan, she is training to be a spy, just like her motherâ€¦but then, there is Josh. Josh is a normal guy, who hates Gallagher girls. Cammie's job is to be secretive and blend in; it should be easy to fool Josh, right? Wrong! I thought this book was very entertaining and quirky, I love the way Cammie and her friends manage to use their spy knowledge to get out of trouble, over and over again. Keep your eye out for a sequel.

Sing the Sorrow - A.F.I

Publisher: Universal Music & Video Distr
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 1/1/2003
UPC: 00600445038028

As you already know, I love punk music and this album is essential in any punk collection. I love it because of the anthems. You can totally feel all the emotions, whether it's anger or love, in the lyrics. I highly recommend this album and any other AFI album.

Megan Meade's guide to the McGowan boys - Kate Brian

Publisher: Simon Pulse
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 9/5/2006
ISBN: 9781416900313
ISBN-10: 1416900314

Megan is a military brat and just when she is getting settled in to a normal high school routine, her parents tell her it's time to move again, this time it's South Korea. Megan says "no way" and her parents give her an option to stay with some friends of the family instead, the McGowans. The catch is they have 7 sons. Megan deals with a ton of emotions in her new home, rejection, feeling like an intruder and even love.

First Chapter

Creating keepsakes 2006

Check Library Catalog

CK is such an inspiration. In every magazine you get a ton of layouts by very talented design team members, as well as readers. Also included are tips and tricks as well as quality articles. This magazine is great for both advanced and beginning scrapbookers. Look for the back issues as well, inspiration is never dated.

Sarah's Picks

13 little blue envelopes - Maureen Johnson

Publisher: HarperTempest
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 10/1/2006
ISBN: 9780060541439
ISBN-10: 0060541431

Ginny is 17 and shy, nothing like her artistic and unpredictable Aunt Peg. Now Aunt Peg is dead of a brain tumor, but Ginny receives a package from her, with some cryptic instructions and 13 blue envelopes. Ginny sets off on a solo trip across Europe, following the instructions of each successive letter. Along the way, she learns a little more about Aunt Peg, and quite a bit about herself.

First Chapter

75th Annual Academy Awards short films

Publisher: Questar Entertainment
Check Library Catalog

So when you watch the Academy Awards and they get to the awards for short films, do you get up and go make a snack because you haven't seen any of the films anyway? This DVD will let you know what you're missing. It includes all of the animated and live action shorts that were nominated for the Academy Award in 2003. It will give you a real appreciation for the wide variety of short films out there, in all kinds of styles, and from all over the world.

An invitation to poetry : a new Favorite Poem Project anthology - edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz with the editorial assistance of Rosemarie Ellis

Publisher: W.W. Norton
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 8/1/2004
ISBN: 9780393058765
ISBN-10: 039305876X

In the late 1990s, the then-Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky started the Favorite Poem Project, in which Americans were invited to share their favorite poems, along with some comments about why they liked the particular poems. The project was a huge success, showing, as Pinsky says, how "a poem can come to life in a reader's voice," and also demonstrating "the presence of poetry in people's lives." During the height of the project, "The News Hour with Jim Lehrer" showcased a number of the poems by presenting short (3-6 minute) documentaries of individuals reading or reciting their favorite poem and talking about themselves and about why the poem was important to them. This book reprints the poems and includes a DVD that contains 27 of the "News Hour" segments. The short films are mesmerizing, and the poems are a wonderfully eclectic mix.

Table of Contents

Rash - Pete Hautman

Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 5/23/2006
ISBN: 9780689868016
ISBN-10: 0689868014

Hautman takes a twisted and funny look at a possible future USA - now called the United Safer States of America - where the nation's obsession with safety and litigation has created a whole new kind of society, willing to trade some of its freedoms for safety. Bo is a teenager who is falsely accused of causing fellow students to break out in a rash, and he is arrested and sent to a pizza factory in the far north, where he becomes a member of the factory football team. Plenty of action and humor.

First Chapter

Digging to America : a novel - by Anne Tyler

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf
Check Library Catalog Pub Date: 5/2/2006
ISBN: 9780307263940
ISBN-10: 0307263940

Anne Tyler's latest novel is another finely-depicted story of families. In this case, there are two Baltimore-area families, each of whom adopts a daughter from Korea on the same day. They become friends, celebrating a yearly "arrival party," alternating between their homes. The Donaldson family is typical upper-middle class American; the Yazdans are Iranian-American. It is a book about culture, and America, and fitting in, told with the inimitable Tyler wit and incisive observation. The audio book is read by Blair Brown, who does a marvelous job.

First Chapter