Reviews

Staff Review

Has Been

By William Shatner
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Brian B.
Feb 5, 2015

This album is a fantastic treat, the true definition of a "hidden gem." I'm not entirely sure why I first purchased this album on its release. Maybe because I was so into Ben Folds at the time and this album is produced by Folds. I had heard William Shatner's previous attempts at "singing" so I was not expecting much besides something to laugh at and listen to every once in awhile.

Staff Review

The Last of Us

By Naughty Dog Inc.

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Feb 4, 2015

The Last of Us won well over 200 awards for very good reasons.  Both the original, and the PS4 remake, are stunning examples of the power of immersive storytelling.  The game is visually breathtaking, the atmospheric sound effects are perfectly suited, the acting is top-notch, the gameplay is reasonably responsive, and the world-building is fantastic.

Staff Review

Two Kinds of Decay

By Sarah Manguso
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Hannah Jane W.
Feb 3, 2015

Sarah battles a crazy disease, the kind of mysterious disease with no definitive end. It’s a disease that requires a central line (a catheter placed into a large vein in the neck), the kind of disease that attacks nerves and turns the body into a battleground.

Staff Review

Jodorowsky's Dune

By Frank Pavich
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Michelle H.
Feb 2, 2015

Alejandro Jodorowsky is a Chilean filmmaker known to take viewers on surrealist travels exploring the bizarre and bordering on the absurd (but never the senseless!).  A master of late night cult classic art films, here he is at 84, energetic, articulate, full of passion and wonderment for life and for art.

Staff Review

The Maid's Version

By Daniel Woodrell
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Brian B.
Jan 31, 2015

Woodrell does an admirable job painting realistic, detailed, and vibrant characters.  Alma Dunahew works as a maid in West Table, Missouri for a wealthy family.  After her sister, along with 42 members of the town, are killed in an explosion at the local dance hall, Alma spends her life campaigning for and championing the truth.

Staff Review

When Lunch Fights Back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses

By Rebecca L. Johnson
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Diane H.
Jan 29, 2015

Teeth, claws, horns. These are animal defenses we’re familiar with. What about slime? Toxic explosions? Blood shooting from an eye? Learn about these and other totally cool and utterly gross ways that animals protect themselves in Rebecca Johnson’s When Lunch Fights Back: Wickedly Clever Animal Defenses.

This is a short, intriguing book for older children and anyone interested in fun (and rather disgusting) facts about animals.

Staff Review

A Hundred Pieces of Me

By Lucy Dillon
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Colleen O.
Jan 28, 2015

A Hundred Pieces of Me is a bittersweet and inspiring story of loss, love, forgiveness, and finding what is important in life. Gina Bellamy has been through many struggles, and newly single, finds herself on her own. A divorcee and cancer survivor, Gina just wants to rebuild her life after her marriage falls apart. Starting from scratch in a tiny apartment, she decides to keep only one hundred things; one hundred pieces of herself.

Staff Review

The Voyager

By Jenny Lewis
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Heather B.
Jan 27, 2015

Despite its appearance on more than one best of 2014 list, you could be forgiven for thinking Jenny Lewis' new album, The Voyager, came straight out of the 1970s; just take one listen to "She's Not Me" and you'll be breaking out your bell-bottoms and platform shoes and searching for the nearest disco.

Staff Review

Amped

By Daniel H. Wilson
Star Rating
★★★

Rated by Helen H.
Jan 25, 2015

Remember that time your Dad told you the implant in your brain didn’t just control your seizures, but that it had “something extra”? Me neither. But it’s a day Owen Gray will never forget.