Reviews

Kate Morton is one of my favorite authors, and she does not disappoint with The Lake House. The story moves through several time periods beginning in the present when Detective Sadie Sparrow (who is on enforced leave from the department due to leaking a hunch to the media) goes to Cornwall to stay with her granddad. There she discovers the remains of a grand estate buried in the woods, and her curiosity is piqued.

In the trailer for Nocturnal Animals, Amy Adams's character (Susan Morrow) says, "my ex-husband use to call me a nocturnal animal . . . recently he sent me this book that he has written. It's violent and it's sad and he dedicated it to me . . . ." That line holds some creepy possibilities, but what plays out on screen is unexpected, with themes of loss, regret and revenge.

Léon: The Professional tells the story of a child-like hit man named Léon and his relationship with (and subsequent training of) a 12 year-old named Mathilda who is orphaned at the hands of insane, corrupt New York cop Norman Stansfield. It features that unique French mixture of absurdity and realism: In what world does a 12 year-old boldly shoot a handgun out of a window without consequence?

I admit that I watched this movie because of Essie Davis: our very own Miss Fisher. And I found her performance quite memorable in The Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Beginning when Gus and his twin brother were born and continuing to the present, Newman shares her sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and always insightful and upbeat recollections of their lives. She touches on many of the issues with autism, but To Siri With Love is not a "how to" book. It is a positive, yet honest look into one family's journey with autism, and among others, how technology, especially Siri, is helpful to Gus.

I was swept away by this miniseries. Not fully knowing what to expect, the first episode traps you in an engaging story of anxiety and murder. The set-up feels like the first half of The Stranger by Albert Camus. Every detail, small or otherwise, will be taken into account in later episodes that depict the trial of one of the protagonists.

Originally released in 1945, Ross Poldark is the first of a twelve-part series that explores the Cornwall of a couple hundred years earlier. The story follows Ross Poldark, a man recently returned home from America after the Revolutionary War to find the life he was expecting unrecognizable. Ross does what he can with his current options and begins laboring to bring his land and home back to their previous conditions.

There’s no denying that women have made great strides since the days when Joan Cleaver dominated our stereotype. Today’s women can have it all—a successful and demanding career, a passionate, healthy marriage, and a rewarding home life complete with 2.3 children and a white picket fence. We can be power CEO’s during the day and domestic queens by night. Or can we?

Have you read every book Laura Ingalls Wilder has ever written? Did you watch every season of Little House on the Prairie over and over again and can you hear Melissa Gilbert cry “Pa!” just as clear as can be?  Did you even read Roger Lea MacBride's 

The Readers Advisory committee is pleased to announce that Marcia Hurlow has won our Ain't It the Truth poetry contest for her poem Maps. We love how simply so much is conveyed and how well the poet utilizes maps to illustrate a shrinking world.