Reviews

The Shining, Stephen King’s third book, is also one of his best. The plot centers around Jack Torrance and his family. Jack is an alcoholic mentally troubled father and after being fired from his teaching job he takes a job as a winter caretaker at the Overlook Hotel in Colorado. During the long, cold, desolate winter the only people in the hotel will be Jack, his wife Wendy and their son Danny.

Thanks for joining me on Helen's Hot Picks. Many JCL staff are now writing reviews, so I am moving Helen's Hot Picks to www.jocolibrary.org/staffpicks. I hope you'll catch up with me there!

Rusalka sadly suffers from a deceptively bad cover and worse descriptive blurb. There is nothing in either to indicate the exploration of the fantasy genre, the nature of humanity, or the price of having your wishes granted. What is presented as the cheesy love story of a man and a ghost is more accurately a chilling tale of murder, abuse of power, understanding of self, and learning how to live with people you can't possibly understand.

A sweeping historical novel that captures the readers' imagination and brings them to an intimate relationship with the characters is rare indeed, but this novel achieves just that level of mastery.  David Mitchell combines his meticulous research with his brilliant writing style to tell the story of

I have been a fan of Augusten's for quite some time. I have read all of his books and enjoyed almost all of those books. This latest memoir was a disappointment. I looked for the humor and the heartbreak that his previous memoirs had, but this one fell short. I found myself not wanting to continue, but I had to (because I am a librarian after all).

Grab your tissues, ‘cause this one’s a tear jerker. In place of his senior year of high school, Zach is in rehab. He doesn’t remember why he’s there, so we learn about his circumstances as he works through remembering in group sessions, talking with his roommates and his counselor. What makes this book so powerful is that Zach, despite his addiction, sadness, and loneliness still manages to be a neat kid. You really want to see him succeed.

Peony is a lovesick maiden in China during the 1600s. Meaning, she read a play called The Peony Pavilion and then, like the main character in the play, starved herself to death for want of love. The first half of the book details Peony’s life until her death. The second half details Peony’s journey to becoming an ancestor after her death.

Livability is a collection of nine short stories written by Jonathan Raymond. These stories all take place in Oregon. Many of the stories involve drifters, failed relationships, and missed opportunities in life. They are both touching and sad. Two of the stories Old Joy and Train Choir were adapted into indie films.

Unbeknownst to my colleagues, I am basically a sentimental sap and I absolutely loved this movie. Julie Powell is a food and recipe blogger and, of course, we all know who Julia Child is. In this fun movie, Julie decides that she will cook all of the recipes in Julia Child’s first book….one a day for 365 days….and she will post her results on her blog.

Back in the days when Led Zeppelin was still a going concern, my friends all seemed to worship guitarist Jimmy Page. And indeed, the man could play guitar; terrestrial radio (and now its satellite competitor, XM Sirius) still vibrates to the mighty riffs Page laid down for songs such as "Whole Lotta Love" and the notorious "Stairway To Heaven."