Reviews

Staff Review

Directors: Life Behind the Camera

By American Film Institute
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Megan C.
Oct 11, 2014

Taken from interviews with 33 well-known filmmakers, “Directors” is fascinating to watch for anyone interested in the behind-the-scenes of movie making. The directors discuss their journeys to becoming top directors, the complexities of the industry, stories of some of their best-known films, and their legacies. The result is an impressive collection of honest insight into the passion that underpins the business of Hollywood.

Staff Review

Dead Until Dark

By Charlaine Harris
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Diane H.
Oct 10, 2014

I’ve long enjoyed reading Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series. So long that I barely remembered what happened in the first book, Dead Until Dark. Instead of rereading it, I decided to listen to the audio. I’m glad I did.

The narrator, Johanna Parker, captures the essence of Sookie in all her different moods – perky, angry, scared, nervous, ecstatic, and so on. It was a treat to hear Sookie come alive.

Staff Review

Six Years

By Harlan Coben

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Oct 8, 2014

Jake Fisher notices an obituary online and is swept up in a maelstrom of events.  Six years before, Jake’s girlfriend Natalie married an “old boyfriend”, makes Jake promise to leave them alone and then disappears!  When Jake sees an obituary for Natalie’s husband, he thinks it’s a new ballgame. But Natalie is nowhere to be found. Everything Jake does to find his missing love seems believable, and the mystery of Natalie evolves. Once Harlan Coben sets the hook, I just keep turning the page, and so will you!

Staff Review

Shadow Catcher

By James R. Hannibal

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Oct 7, 2014

James R. Hannibal’s novel titled Shadow Catcher reads like a Clancy thriller.

Nick Baron is an Air Force Major in charge of a failed B-2 stealth bomber mission that lands the fighter jet at the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Nick leads his Triple Chase team to find and dispose of the lost bomber before the enemy can get their hands on it.

Staff Review

100 Sideways Miles

By Andrew Smith
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Kate M.
Oct 7, 2014

Finn Easton is like any other epileptic teenage boy with a famous author for a father who had a horse fall on him, break his back and kill his mother. Which is to say that Finn Easton is like no one you have ever met. The eerie resemblance between himself and the main character of his father’s best-selling book, has left Finn wondering if he is even real. Measuring time by the miles traveled by earth’s rotation, Finn has a different way of looking at things than anyone around him.

Staff Review

Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater

By Frank Bruni
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Hope H.
Oct 6, 2014

In Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater, journalist Frank Bruni reveals all the intimate details of his decades-long battle with overeating and how it so negatively interfered with his personal life. Fast-paced, high-stress work for the New York Times didn't help. His story eventually makes an unexpected turn-around during years in Italy that eventually led to his job as a food critic.

Teen Review

Little Fish

By Ramsey Beyer
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Kate M.
Oct 3, 2014

Ramsey Beyer grew up in small town Michigan, dreaming of going to art school in a big city. Although she loved growing up in a rural area, she longed for the diversity and challenge of an urban life. So when it came time to apply to schools she looked for art schools in her favorite big cities, eventually settling on a well-respected institution in Baltimore.

Staff Review

Willow Run

By Patricia Reilly Giff

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Oct 2, 2014

This historical fiction book is about Meggie Dillon's life.  To help improve the family's income, Meggie's family ups and moves to Willow Run, Michigan, during WWII. Her father has obtained a job working on war planes at night to help the war effort. Because they are moving into a small apartment they have to leave her German grandfather behind in New York.  Meggie soon realizes that she misses him but quickly meets other kids in the same circumstance as hers.

Staff Review

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating

By Elisabeth Tova Bailey
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Hannah Jane W.
Oct 1, 2014

Elisabeth Tova Bailey has a mysterious illness that lasts for many years.  At one point during this illness she is confined to her bed.  She can only sit up or hold a book for minutes at a time.  She has been removed from her beloved farmhouse to a condo in the city so that she can be cared for around the clock.  One day a friend brings Elisabeth a snail that is nestled in a pot of violets.  This is the story of how a snail ferries one woman through countless hours of suffering into a place of wonder-induced healing.

Staff Review

Aunt Dimity and the Wishing Well

By Nancy Atherton
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Octavia V.
Sep 30, 2014

Lori Shepherd knows everything about the town of Finch, the small English village where she lives. Recently, the big news is that recluse Hector Huggins has passed away, and everyone in the village attends the funeral. A stranger arrives at the funeral who, it happens, is Hector's nephew, Jack MacBride from Australia, who is in Finch to finish his uncle's affairs.