Reviews

Staff Review

Now You See Me

By Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Morgan Freeman, Mark Ruffalo, Melanie Laurent, Dave Franco

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Sep 16, 2014

Tagged as a magical crime thriller, the movie Now You See Me is about four magicians (illusionists) who call themselves the Four Horsemen who get together to pull off some of the greatest tricks the world has ever seen.  Unfortunately, most of the magic tricks happen to be of a criminal nature.

Staff Review

Callander Square

By Anne Perry

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Sep 15, 2014

Callander Square is the second book in the Thomas and Charlotte Pitt series by Anne Perry. Set in the late 1800s, this novel tells the story of multiple mysterious deaths in a posh area of London. Thomas, a police inspector, is called to the central garden of the high-society Callander Square after two baby corpses are found buried among the flowers.

Staff Review

Thank You For Your Service

By David Finkel
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Jed D.
Sep 14, 2014

Thank You For Your Service by David Finkel is a deeply moving look at the wounded bodies and scarred psyches of the men who return home after modern-day combat.  In the author’s previous book, The Good Soldiers, he was embedded with soldiers during the surge of deployments in 2007-08.  Now, he’s following them home to record their struggles with finding and keeping jobs, post-traumatic stress disorder, and rehabilitating their wounds.  Without inserting himself

Staff Review

Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today?

By Kate Bingaman-Burt
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Melody K.
Sep 11, 2014

Author Bingaman-Burt pays penance by drawing all the things she's charged on her credit cards - sunglasses, coffee filters, french fries, diet Coke, shoes and a swan applique. The list goes on as her credit card debt rises. She even draws her monthly statements complete with her payment and interest rates. I'm fascinated with my fascination for Kate's mundane purchases. Oh, what tangled webs we weave with our obsessive need to acquire.

Staff Review

Home to Harmony

By Philip Gulley

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Sep 10, 2014

Philip Gulley's Home to Harmony is the first book in the Harmony series in which Sam Gardner, Quaker Minister, has returned to his hometown of Harmony, Indiana to assume the pulpit. Gulley uses a folksy writing style to share the joys, frustrations, humor, and outrageous predicaments encountered in a small community church.

Staff Review

Half a King

By Joe Abercrombie
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Gregg W.
Sep 9, 2014

Half a King is a rollickingly fun read, about a prince in a Viking-like kingdom who was born with a deformed hand, so he can't hold sword and shield and be a proper warrior. He trains as a minister and adviser, but is thrust onto the throne when his father and older brother are assassinated. Not to give too much away, but thus begins his adventure that starts on a creaky merchant vessel and goes to a cross-country journey in a frozen tundra and ends in an abandoned keep with the odds stacked against the characters.

Teen Review

Far From You

By Tess Sharpe
Star Rating
★★★★

Rated by Angel T
Sep 8, 2014

Sophie awakes in utter fear. She is in the woods & blood is everywhere. Her best friend Mina is beside her -- bleeding, choking, gasping, dying. The flashback of a masked man stepping out of a car, pointing a gun, and shooting her dearest friend pounds in her head. In the hospital the shock is over powering & at home the reality is too much to bear. Who would kill Mina? Why had Mina driven down the wooded road? Why hadn't Sophie asked more questions? Did the masked man really say, "I warned you?Sophie tries to piece the details together.

Staff Review

Her

By Spike Jonze

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

This 2014 Academy Award Winning movie for Best Original Screenplay written and directed by Spike Jonze is your typical boy meets girl, boy falls in love, girl is an advanced computer operating system....wait, what? Actually, Her is anything but a typical love story. It is instead a very interesting exploration of the increasing role that technology plays in our everyday lives and where that might take human relationships in the future.

Staff Review

The Chocolate Thief

By Laura Florand
Star Rating
★★★★★

Rated by Rachel N.
Sep 6, 2014

Welcome to Paris! Cade Corey of America's favorite chocolate maker, Corey Chocolate, has just landed. Her dream is to transform the name of Corey (synonymous with comfortable) by including a new gourmet line of chocolates to be created by the top chocolatier in Paris, maybe even the world. The top chocolatier happens to be Sylvian Marquis and he (not so politely) says no. Cade does not give up. She tries a few other chocolatiers on her list but she really wants Sylvian Marquis to be her chocolatier. But Cade might have to break a few rules to make it happen.

Staff Review

Homemade with Love: Simple Scratch Cooking from In Jennie’s Kitchen

By Jennifer Perillo

Rated by Library Staff (not verified)
Sep 5, 2014

If you enjoy cooking from scratch with simple wholesome ingredients, then this is the right cookbook for you!  I love how the layout of the book takes you through the ingredients necessary for a “perfect pantry” and then straight into a chapter on Everyday Basics, including my two favorites, Perillo's All-Purpose Baking Mix and her Whole Grain Baking Mix.  With these two recipes alone you have a third of the work for so many other delicious homemade foods already complete.