New Fiction Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in fiction. Click an image for availability.

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini Khaled Hosseini, the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, has written a new novel about how we love, how we take care of one another, and how the choices we make resonate through generations. In this tale revolving around not just parents and children but brothers and sisters, cousins and caretakers, Hosseini explores the many ways in which families nurture, wound, betray, honor, and sacrifice for one another; and how often we are surprised by the actions of those closest to us, at the times that matter most. Following its characters and the ramifications of their lives and choices and loves around the globe—from Kabul to Paris to San Francisco to the Greek island of Tinos—the story expands gradually outward, becoming more emotionally complex and powerful with each turning page.

A Chain of Thunder: A Novel of the Siege of Vickburg by Jeff Shaara In May 1863, after months of hard and bitter combat, Union troops under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant at long last successfully cross the Mississippi River. They force the remnants of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton’s army to retreat to Vicksburg, burning the bridges over the Big Black River in its path. But after sustaining heavy casualties in two failed assaults against the rebels, Union soldiers are losing confidence and morale is low. Grant reluctantly decides to lay siege to the city, trapping soldiers and civilians alike inside an iron ring of Federal entrenchments. Six weeks later, the starving and destitute Southerners finally surrender, yielding command of the Mississippi River to the Union forces on July 4—Independence Day—and marking a crucial turning point in the Civil War. Drawing on comprehensive research and his own intimate knowledge of the Vicksburg Campaign, Jeff Shaara once again weaves brilliant fiction out of the ragged cloth of historical fact. From the command tents where generals plot strategy to the ruined mansions where beleaguered citizens huddle for safety, this is a panoramic portrait of men and women whose lives are forever altered by the siege. On one side stand the emerging legend Grant, his irascible second William T. Sherman, and the youthful “grunt” Private Fritz Bauer; on the other, the Confederate commanders Pemberton and Joseph Johnston, as well as nineteen-year-old Lucy Spence, a civilian doing her best to survive in the besieged city. By giving voice to their experiences at Vicksburg, A Chain of Thunder vividly evokes a battle whose outcome still reverberates more than 150 years after the cannons fell silent.

Inferno by Dan Brown In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno. Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.

The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo Christmas shoppers stop to hear a Salvation Army concert on a crowded Oslo street. A gunshot cuts through the music and the bitter cold: one of the singers falls dead, shot in the head at point-blank range. Harry Hole—the Oslo Police Department’s best investigator and worst civil servant—has little to work with: no suspect, no weapon, and no motive. But Harry’s troubles will multiply. As the search closes in, the killer becomes increasingly desperate, and Harry’s chase takes him to the most forbidden corners of the former Yugoslavia. Yet it’s when he returns to Oslo that he encounters true darkness: among the homeless junkies and Salvationists, eagerly awaiting a savior to deliver them from misery—whether he brings new life or immediate death. With its shrewdly vertiginous narrative, acid-etched characters, and white-hot pace, The Redeemer is resounding proof of Jo Nesbø’s standing as one of the best crime writers of our time.

The Shanghai Factor by Charles McCarry Charles McCarry is widely considered one of the greatest espionage writers of the all-time, and in THE SHANGHAI FACTOR he returns to his roots with an absorbing tale of global skullduggery that leaves the reader guessing at every turn. A young, unnamed spy is living in Shanghai in order to observe and absorb the culture and language so as to aid a shadowy U.S. agency known only as ‘HQ’. However when he meets a sultry and mysterious woman named Mei, they begin a torrid affair that threatens to expose him to HQ’s enemies. Soon the head of HQ, Luther Burbank, gives the spy a task that will force him to risk everything: go undercover as the American ambassador for a massive Chinese multinational conglomerate, and learn the secrets of their powerful CEO Chen Qi, whom HQ believes to be a front man for the nearly uncrackable Chinese Intelligence, known as the Guoanbu. Soon the spy finds that HQ isn’t the only one tracking his every move, and the deadly Guoanbu may be aware of his true identity. Danger lies around every corner, as the enigmatic Mei flits in and ouf of his life, yet every time he thinks he’s closer to the truth, he finds himself drawn further into a deadly cat-and-mouse game between HQ and the Guoanbu that might not only end his life, but could upend the East/West balance of power.

Plot synopses from Amazon.

New DVD Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in DVD. Click an image for availability.

Broken City (Rated R) In this modern noir from director Allen Hughes, his first fiction feature-length film in over a decade, Mark Wahlberg stars as Billy Taggart, a New York City private eye struggling to get his deadbeat clients to pay when he gets a call from Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe). His honor remembers Billy from seven years ago when, as a cop, the young man shot a rapist who had been exonerated on a technicality. Back then, the Mayor told Billy he was a hero, but Billy was still forced off the job due to the public outcry and some incriminating evidence that never saw the light of day. Now the mayor needs someone he can trust to find out if his wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is having an affair – a fact that could cause him considerable trouble seeing as Election Day is just a week away. As Billy digs for the truth, he uncovers layers of political corruption, and discovers he himself is nothing more than a pawn in a much bigger game. The film co-stars Jeffrey Wright as a police commissioner, Kyle Chandler as a political consultant, and Barry Pepper as the mayor’s political rival.

The Guilt Trip (Rated PG-13) In Anne Fletcher’s family comedy, Barbra Streisand plays Joyce Brewster, a sixtysomething widow who has given up on men and seems to spend most of her free time phoning her son Andrew (Seth Rogen), a chemist who has created an all-natural cleaning solution that he’s bet his career on and is trying to sell to retailers (a wager that he’s losing thus far). As the movie opens, Andrew returns home to spend some time with his mom before going on a cross-country road trip to pitch his product in various cities, ending with a trip to Las Vegas where he’ll shoot a Home Shopping Network demo.

Jack Reacher (Rated PG-13) An itinerant ex-military investigator is tasked with solving a shooting spree that isn’t quite as cut-and-dry as it first seems as author Lee Child’s 2005 novel One Shot comes to the big screen courtesy of writer/director Christopher McQuarrie. When a crazed sniper guns down five seemingly random people on a crowded Pittsburgh riverfront, Det. Emerson (David Oyelowo) quickly amasses enough evidence at the scene to implicate an unstable ex-military sniper named James Barr (Joseph Sikora). Upon being questioned by Emerson and DA Alex Rodin (Richard Jenkins), however, Barr demands to speak with Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise). A former military investigator who fell off the grid following his service, Reacher soon shows up on the scene and begins gathering clues with the aid of talented defense attorney Helen Rodin (Rosamund Pike), the daughter of the DA. Meanwhile, when Reacher is assaulted in a local bar, he correctly surmises that someone is determined to impede his investigation. His theory plays out when he becomes the prime suspect in the murder of a young woman shortly thereafter. Now, with the police closing in from one side and a gang of ruthless killers gaining ground on the other, Reacher must use his formidable detective skills in order to catch the gunman and uncover his true motives.

Safe Haven (Rated PG-13) Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough star in this spellbinding romantic drama based on the novel by best-selling author Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook). When a mysterious, beautiful woman named Katie (Hough), moves to Southport, North Carolina, she sparks the interest of the locals, especially Alex (Duhamel), a handsome widower. Although she is attracted to Alex, Katie is reluctant to trust him – that is, until a new friend (Cobie Smulders) convinces her to give Alex a chance. But before long, a dark secret from Katie’s past threatens her happiness in this thrilling romance directed by Lasse Hallstrom (Dear John). *

Silver Linings Playbook (Rated R) David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook stars Bradley Cooper as Pat, a bipolar man from Philadelphia who has spent the last eight months in a mental hospital. He was ordered there after a violent incident involving his wife and another man. Pat moves in with his father (Robert De Niro), a lifelong Eagles fans who has low-level OCD issues. Pat wants to get back together with his wife, even though there is a restraining order keeping him from contacting her. He soon befriends Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), a depressed young woman who’s mourning the death of her husband by engaging in compulsive sex with almost everyone she meets; she also knows his wife and offers to deliver a letter of his to her if he acts as her partner in a local dance competition. Silver Linings Playbook screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

Plot synopses from All Movie. *Plot synopsis from Amazon.

New Nonfiction Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in nonfiction. Click an image for availability.

Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan In Dad is Fat, stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan, who’s best known for his legendary riffs on Hot Pockets, bacon, manatees, and McDonald’s, expresses all the joys and horrors of life with five young children—everything from cousins (“celebrities for little kids”) to toddlers’ communication skills (“they always sound like they have traveled by horseback for hours to deliver important news”), to the eating habits of four year olds (“there is no difference between a four year old eating a taco and throwing a taco on the floor”). Reminiscent of Bill Cosby’s Fatherhood, Dad is Fat is sharply observed, explosively funny, and a cry for help from a man who has realized he and his wife are outnumbered in their own home.

I Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford by Richard Snow Every century or so, our republic has been remade by a new technology: 170 years ago the railroad changed Americans’ conception of space and time; in our era, the microprocessor revolutionized how humans communicate. But in the early twentieth century the agent of creative destruction was the gasoline engine, as put to work by an unknown and relentlessly industrious young man named Henry Ford. Born the same year as the battle of Gettysburg, Ford died two years after the atomic bombs fell, and his life personified the tremendous technological changes achieved in that span. Growing up as a Michigan farm boy with a bone-deep loathing of farming, Ford intuitively saw the advantages of internal combustion. Resourceful and fearless, he built his first gasoline engine out of scavenged industrial scraps. It was the size of a sewing machine. From there, scene by scene, Richard Snow vividly shows Ford using his innate mechanical abilities, hard work, and radical imagination as he transformed American industry. In many ways, of course, Ford’s story is well known; in many more ways, it is not. Richard Snow masterfully weaves together a fascinating narrative of Ford’s rise to fame through his greatest invention, the Model T. When Ford first unveiled this car, it took twelve and a half hours to build one. A little more than a decade later, it took exactly one minute. In making his car so quickly and so cheaply that his own workers could easily afford it, Ford created the cycle of consumerism that we still inhabit. Our country changed in a mere decade, and Ford became a national hero. But then he soured, and the benevolent side of his character went into an ever-deepening eclipse, even as the America he had remade evolved beyond all imagining into a global power capable of producing on a vast scale not only cars, but airplanes, ships, machinery, and an infinity of household devices. A highly pleasurable read, filled with scenes and incidents from Ford’s life, particularly during the intense phase of his secretive competition with other early car manufacturers, I Invented the Modern Age shows Richard Snow at the height of his powers as a popular historian and reclaims from history Henry Ford, the remarkable man who, indeed, invented the modern world as we know it.

Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Rescue by SEAL Team Six by Jessica Buchanan and Erik Landemalm In 2006, twenty-seven-year-old Jessica Buchanan stepped off a plane in Nairobi, Kenya, with a teaching degree and long-held dreams of helping to educate African children. By 2009, she had met and married a native Swede named Erik Landemalm, who worked to coordinate humanitarian aid with authorities in Africa. Together the two moved from Nairobi to Somalia, and with hopes of starting a family, their future couldn’t have been brighter. . . . But on October 25, 2011, Jessica and a colleague were kidnapped at gunpoint and held for ransom by a band of Somali pirates. For the next three months, Jessica was terrorized by more than two dozen gangsters, held outdoors in filthy conditions, and kept on a starvation diet while her health steadily deteriorated. Negotiations for ransom dragged on, and as the ordeal stretched into its third month, the captors grew increasingly impatient. Every terrifying moment Jessica Buchanan spent suffering in captivity was matched by that of her adoring husband working behind the scenes to deal with her captors. After ninety-three days of fruitless negotiations, and with Jessica’s medical state becoming a life-or-death issue, President Barack Obama ordered Navy SEAL Team Six to attempt a rescue operation. On January 25, 2012, just before the president delivered his State of the Union speech, the team of twenty-four SEALs, under the cover of darkness, attacked the heavily armed hostiles. They killed all nine with no harm to the hostages, who were quickly airlifted out on a military rescue helicopter. In riveting detail, this book chronicles Jessica and Erik’s mutual journey during those torturous months. Together they relate the events prior to the kidnapping, the drama of Jessica’s fight to stay alive, and Erik’s efforts to bolster and support the hunt for her while he acted as liaison between their two families, the FBI, professional hostage negotiators, and the United States government. Both a testament to two people’s courage and a nail-biting look at a life-or-death struggle, this is a harrowing and deeply personal story about their triumph over impossible odds.

The Outsider: My Life in Tennis by Jimmy Connors The Outsider is a no-holds-barred memoir by the original bad boy of tennis, Jimmy Connors. Connors ignited the tennis boom in the 1970s with his aggressive style of play, turning his matches with John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, and Ivan Lendl into prizefights. But it was his prolonged dedication to his craft that won him the public’s adoration. He capped off one of the most remarkable runs in tennis history at the age of 39 when he reached the semifinals of the 1991 U.S. Open, competing against players half his age. More than just the story of a tennis champion, The Outsider is the uncensored account of Connors’ life, from his complicated relationship with his formidable mother and his storybook romance with tennis legend Chris Evert, to his battles with gambling and fidelity that threatened to derail his career and his long-lasting marriage to Playboy playmate Patti McGuire. When he retired from tennis twenty years ago, Connors all but disappeared from public view. In The Outsider, he is back at the top of his game, and as feisty, outspoken, and defiant as ever.

Waiting to Be Heard: A Memoir by Amanda Knox In the fall of 2007, the 20-year-old college coed left Seattle to study abroad in Italy, but her life was shattered when her roommate was murdered in their apartment. After a controversial trial, Amanda was convicted and imprisoned. But in 2011, an appeals court overturned the decision and vacated the murder charge. Free at last, she returned home to the U.S., where she has remained silent, until now. Filled with details first recorded in the journals Knox kept while in Italy, Waiting to Be Heard is a remarkable story of innocence, resilience, and courage, and of one young woman’s hard-fought battle to overcome injustice and win the freedom she deserved. With intelligence, grace, and candor, Amanda Knox tells the full story of her harrowing ordeal in Italy—a labyrinthine nightmare of crime and punishment, innocence and vindication—and of the unwavering support of family and friends who tirelessly worked to help her win her freedom.

Plot synopses from Amazon.

New Fiction Arrivals

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in fiction. Click an image for availability.

Dead Ever After: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel by Charlaine Harris There are secrets in the town of Bon Temps, ones that threaten those closest to Sookie—and could destroy her heart…. Sookie Stackhouse finds it easy to turn down the request of former barmaid Arlene when she wants her job back at Merlotte’s. After all, Arlene tried to have Sookie killed. But her relationship with Eric Northman is not so clearcut. He and his vampires are keeping their distance…and a cold silence. And when Sookie learns the reason why, she is devastated. Then a shocking murder rocks Bon Temps, and Sookie is arrested for the crime. But the evidence against Sookie is weak, and she makes bail. Investigating the killing, she’ll learn that what passes for truth in Bon Temps is only a convenient lie. What passes for justice is more spilled blood. And what passes for love is never enough…

A Delicate Truth by John le Carré A counter-terrorist operation, codenamed Wildlife, is being mounted on the British crown colony of Gibraltar.  Its purpose: to capture and abduct a high-value jihadist arms buyer. Its authors: an ambitious Foreign Office Minister, a private defense contractor who is also his bosom friend, and a shady American CIA operative of the evangelical far-right. So delicate is the operation that even the Minister’s personal private secretary, Toby Bell, is not cleared for it. Three years later, a disgraced Special Forces Soldier delivers a message from the dead. Was Operation Wildlife the success it was cracked up to be—or a human tragedy that was ruthlessly covered up? Summoned by Sir Christopher (“Kit”) Probyn, retired British diplomat, to his decaying Cornish manor house, and closely observed by Kit’s daughter, Emily, Toby must choose between his conscience and duty to his Service. If the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing, how can he keep silent?

Silken Prey by John Sandford Very early one morning, a Minnesota political fixer answers his doorbell. The next thing he knows, he’s waking up on the floor of a moving car, lying on a plastic sheet, his body wet with blood. When the car stops, a voice says, “Hey, I think he’s breathing,” and another voice says, “Yeah? Give me the bat.” And that’s the last thing he knows. Davenport is investigating another case when the trail leads to the man’s disappearance, then—very troublingly—to the Minneapolis police department, then—most troublingly of all—to a woman who could give Machiavelli lessons. She has very definite ideas about the way the world should work, and the money, ruthlessness, and sheer will to make it happen. No matter who gets in the way. Filled with John Sandford’s trademark razor-sharp plotting and some of the best characters in suspense fiction, Silken Prey  is further evidence for why the Cleveland Plain Dealer called the Davenport novels “a perfect series,” and Suspense Magazine wrote, “If you haven’t read any of the Prey series, you need to jump on board right this second.”

Someday, Someday Maybe by Lauren Graham From Lauren Graham, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, comes a witty, charming, and hilariously relatable debut novel about a struggling young actress trying to get ahead―and keep it together―in New York City. It’s January 1995, and Franny Banks has just six months left of the three-year deadline she set for herself when she came to New York, dreaming of Broadway and doing “important” work. But all she has to show for her efforts so far is a part in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters, and a gig waiting tables at a comedy club. Her roommates―her best friend Jane, and Dan, an aspiring sci-fi writer―are supportive, yet Franny knows a two-person fan club doesn’t exactly count as success. Everyone tells her she needs a backup plan, and though she can almost picture moving back home and settling down with her perfectly nice ex-boyfriend, she’s not ready to give up on her goal of having a career like her idols Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep. Not just yet. But while she dreams of filling their shoes, in the meantime, she’d happily settle for a speaking part in almost anything—and finding a hair product combination that works. Everything is riding on the upcoming showcase for her acting class, where she’ll finally have a chance to perform for people who could actually hire her. And she can’t let herself be distracted by James Franklin, a notorious flirt and the most successful actor in her class, even though he’s suddenly started paying attention. Meanwhile, her bank account is rapidly dwindling, her father wants her to come home, and her agent doesn’t return her calls. But for some reason, she keeps believing that she just might get what she came for. Someday, Someday, Maybe is a story about hopes and dreams, being young in a city, and wanting something deeply, madly, desperately. It’s about finding love, finding yourself, and perhaps most difficult of all in New York City, finding an acting job.

A Step of Faith: The Fourth Journal of the Walk Series by Richard Paul Evans “Life is not lived in the long, downhill stretches of expressways, but in the obscure, perilous trails and back roads where we stumble and feel our way through the fog of our unknowing. Life is not a run. It is just one step of faith after another.” Alan Christoffersen lost his heart when his wife was killed in an accident almost one year ago. He lost his trust when his business partner stole his advertising business. He lost his home when the bank took his house. So Alan decided to leave his painful memories behind and walk from Seattle to the farthest point on the map, Key West, but in St. Louis, he is forced to stop. Because his severe vertigo is diagnosed as the side effect of a brain tumor, Alan must go to Los Angeles for treatment. He is surrounded by those who care most for him: his father, who is happy to have Alan back in his childhood home; Falene, who has been by his side through his most difficult times; and Nicole, who helped him recover from a mugging in Spokane. One by one, Alan alienates them all, and he resumes his journey in angry loneliness. The people he meets as he walks the dusty southern back roads have lessons to teach Alan about accepting love. He just has to have faith that life can be worth living again—and that the woman he rejected will be willing to forgive him.

Plot synopses from Amazon.

iRead book for June: The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

Join the iRead Book Club Monday, June 3 to discuss Kim Edwards’ The Memory Keeper’s Daughter.

On a winter night in 1964, Dr. David Henry is forced by a blizzard to deliver his own twins. His son, born first, is perfectly healthy. Yet when his daughter is born, he sees immediately that she has Down’s syndrome. Rationalizing it as a need to protect Norah, his wife, he makes a split second decision that will alter all of their lives forever. He asks his nurse to take the baby away to an institution and never to reveal the secret. But Caroline, the nurse, cannot leave the infant. Instead, she disappears into another city to raise the child herself. So begins this beautifully told story that unfolds over a quarter of a century in which these two families, ignorant of each other, are yet bound by David Henry’s fateful decision that long-ago winter night.*

To borrow a copy of the book, ask at the Information Services desk.

We hope to see you there!

*Book summary from Amazon.com.

Self-Defense for Women at APL

There’s still time to sign up for this informative program! Click here to register – http://www.and.lib.in.us/event-calendar/

This free self-defense program will consist of strikes and countermeasures along with escape techniques to help one defend themselves against a would-be attacker. Safety information will also be provided.

The program will be instructed by a 6th degree black belt, Ed Leonard. Mr. Leonard has instructed women’s self-defense courses for over 28 years and has 35 years of law enforcement experience. The course will be a low physical impact course with numerous techniques for self-defense. The program is open to females over the age of 13.

 

New Nonfiction DVDs

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in nonfiction DVD. Click an image for availability.

Africa (Not Rated) Mike Gunton Executive Producer of Life brings his next landmark series to DVD and Blu-ray with Africa! This 6-part series will amaze and awe with stunning photography and truly moving stories of survival on the continent with the most diverse animal life anywhere on our planet. Premiering simultaneously in the UK U.S. and Australia it promises to be a worldwide phenomenon on a scale not seen since Planet Earth.

The Central Park Five (Not Rated) Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns teams with his daughter Sarah and her husband David McMahon to examine the facts in the case of five minority teens from Harlem who in 1989 were accused of committing a heinous rape in Central Park, and the failure of the authorities and the media to ensure that justice was served. Hastily tried and convicted as racial tensions in New York City spiked, the innocent teens all served time in prison before a serial rapist shocked authorities by admitting sole responsibility for the brutal sexual assault.*

Hitler’s Children (Not Rated) The descendants of such prominent Nazi officials as Hermann Göring, Hans Frank, and Heinrich Himmler reflect on their ongoing efforts to live with the dark legacies of their notorious ancestors, and to repent for their sins while struggling to accept their birthrights. For Niklas Frank (Godson of the Führer, himself), that means tirelessly researching his family legacy while traveling around Germany on a never-ending mission to discredit both his father Frank, and the Third Reich. Meanwhile, in addition to going into self-imposed exile in the Southwestern United States, Göring’s great-niece Bettina and her brother have agreed to self-sterilization in order to ensure that the family name dies with them. As with the others whose family names immediately send chills down the spines of even casual history buffs, Niklas Frank and Bettina Göring must constantly weight the natural love a child has for his or her parents against the intense loathing of knowing the very people who loved and raised them were responsible for some of the most heinous atrocities ever committed against man.*

Makers: Women Who Make America (Not Rated) Makers: Women Who Make America tells the remarkable story of the most sweeping social revolution in American history, as women have asserted their rights to a full and fair share of political power, economic opportunity, and personal autonomy in the last 50 years. It’s a revolution that has unfolded in public and private, in courts and Congress, in the boardroom and the bedroom, changing not only what the world expects from women, but what women expect from themselves. Makers brings this story to life with priceless archival treasures and poignant, often funny interviews with those who led the fight, those who opposed it, and those first generations to benefit from its success. Trailblazing women like Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ellen DeGeneres, Gloria Steinem, Eleanor Holmes Norton, and Linda Alvarado share their memories, as do countless women who challenged the status quo in industries from coal-mining to medicine. Makers captures with music, humor, and the voices of the women who lived through these turbulent times the dizzying joy, aching frustration, and ultimate triumph of a movement that turned America upside-down.

Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope (Not Rated) Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope is the untold, inspirational story of Colonel Ilan Ramon, a fighter pilot and son of Holocaust survivors who became the first astronaut from Israel. Inspired by his family and country, Ramon’s mission into space became a quest to tell the world a powerful story about the resilience of the human spirit. Although the seven astronauts of Columbia tragically perished on February 1, 2003, a remarkable story of hope, friendship across cultures, and an enduring faith emerged. Going behind the scenes, Space Shuttle Columbia: Mission of Hope details Ramon’s “mission within the mission” to carry into space a miniature Torah scroll that survived the horrors of the Holocaust and once belonged to Israel’s lead scientist for the mission, Joachim Joseph. The film follows the scroll’s path from the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen to the flight deck of Columbia. From the depths of hell to the heights of space, this Torah would serve to honor the hope of a nation and to fulfill a promise made to generations past and future.

Plot synopses from Amazon. *Plot synopses from All Movie.

“Us and Them”: Loneliness and Belonging in Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon

Anderson University music professor Dr. Christopher Holmes will discuss the themes of loneliness and belonging in this iconic album.  Throughout, the album’s narrator longs for relationships, but questions whether such intimacy is possible.  Dr. Holmes will discuss the musical traits Pink Floyd uses to explore loneliness and belonging, madness and sanity.  Join us for an in-depth look at this classic album and a reflection on the mental continuum of madness and sanity.

New Audiobooks

Here’s a sampling of what’s new in audiobooks. Click an image for availability.

Carry On, Warrior: Thoughts on Life Unarmed by Glennon Melton Read by the author Glennon Melton became a sensation when her personal essays started going viral. Giving language to our universal (yet often secret) experiences, her hilarious and poignant observations were read by millions, shared among friends, discussed at water coolers, quoted in The New York Times, and have inspired a social movement. Melton’s mistakes and triumphs, recounted with candor and humor, will encourage you to forgive yourself for your own imperfections and inspire you to make the most of life’s gifts. In Carry On, Warrior, Melton shares her journey from reckless college girl hooked on alcohol, drugs, bulimia, and toxic relationships to becoming a sober and devoted wife, mother, daughter, sister and teacher. Her stories embody her need to tell and hear the truth, to be sometimes brave and sometimes silent, to say I’m sorry, to trust in something more powerful than herself, and to stop making motherhood, marriage, and friendship harder by pretending they’re not hard. Melton believes that by shedding our weapons and armor, we can stop hiding, competing, striving for the mirage of perfection, and ultimately build a better life in our hearts, homes, and communities. In this one woman trying love herself and others, readers will find a wise and witty friend who will embolden them to cut themselves a break and commit to small acts of love that can have an extraordinary impact. Like Geneen Roth, Glennon reminds us that the journey is the reward and teaches us how to be our best selves. Like Ann Voskamp, she shows us that even doubt-filled faith changes everything. Carry On, Warrior is powerful, fresh, and life-changing.

The Flamethrowers: A Novel by Rachel Kushner Read by Christina Traister The year is 1975 and Reno – so-called because of the place of her birth – has come to New York intent on turning her fascination with motorcycles and speed into art. Her arrival coincides with an explosion of activity in the art world – artists have colonized a deserted and industrial SoHo, are staging actions in the East Village, and are blurring the line between life and art. Reno meets a group of dreamers and raconteurs who submit her to a sentimental education of sorts. Ardent, vulnerable, and bold, she begins an affair with an artist named Sandro Valera, the semi-estranged scion of an Italian tire and motorcycle empire. When they visit Sandro’s family home in Italy, Reno falls in with members of the radical movement that overtook Italy in the seventies. Betrayal sends her reeling into a clandestine undertow.

How Stella Saved the Farm: A Tale About Making Innovation Happen by Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble Read by Ari Fliakos How Stella Saved the Farm is a simple parable about making innovation happen. Written by the authors of the New York Times best-selling Reverse Innovation: Create Far from Home, Win Everywhere, Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble, the story resonates in organizations of all types – public sector, private sector, and social sector, from mammoth corporations to small organizations employing just a few dozen people. The parable is about a farm in trouble. Bankruptcy, or the grim prospect of being acquired by a hostile competitor, threaten. The farm succeeds only if the team pulls together and innovates.The main characters in the story – Stella, Deirdre, Bull, Mav, Einstein, Rambo, Maisie, and Andrea – are all like people you know, maybe even yourself. The tale includes an unexpected leadership challenge, an ambitious call to action, a bold idea, countless internal obstacles and conflicts, fears, joys, triumphs, and even a love interest. It’s a story that can be enjoyed by anyone. How Stella Saved the Farm delivers eight simple lessons to guide innovation initiatives to success. It prepares business leaders to avoid some of innovation’s most toxic myths, teaches how to build the right kind of team, and shows how to learn quickly from experience.

Milk Glass Moon: A Big Stone Gap Novel by Adriana Trigiani Read by the author Milk Glass Moon, the third book in Adriana Trigiani’s best-selling Big Stone Gap series, continues the life story of Ave Maria Mulligan MacChesney as she faces the challenges and changes of motherhood with her trademark humor and honesty. With twists as plentiful as those found on the holler roads of southwest Virginia, this story takes turns that will surprise and enthrall the reader. Transporting us from Ave Maria’s home in the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Italian Alps, from New York City to the Tuscan countryside, Milk Glass Moon is the story of a shifting mother-daughter relationship, of a daughter’s first love and a mother’s heartbreak, of an enduring marriage that contains its own ongoing challenges, and of a community faced with seismic change. All of Trigiani’s beloved characters are back: Jack Mac, Ave Maria’s true love, who is willing to gamble security for the unknown; her best friend and confidant, bandleader Theodore Tipton, who begins a new life in New York City; librarian and sexpert Iva Lou Wade Makin, who faces a life-or-death crisis. Meanwhile, surprises emerge in the blossoming of crusty cashier Fleeta Mullins, the maturing of mountain girl turned savvy businesswoman Pearl Grimes, and the return of Pete Rutledge, the handsome stranger who turned Ave Maria’s world upside down in Big Cherry Holler. In this rollicking hayride of upheaval and change, Ave Maria is led to places she never dreamed she would go, and to people who enter her life and rock its foundation. As Ave Maria reaches into the past to find answers to the present, listners will stay with her every step of the way, rooting for the onetime town spinster who embraced love and made a family. Milk Glass Moon is about the power of love and its abiding truth, and captures Trigiani at her most lyrical and heartfelt.

The Vatican Diaries: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Power, Personalities, and Politics at the Heart of the Catholic Church by John Thavis Read by Malcolm Hillgartner For more than 25 years John Thavis held one of the most fascinating journalistic jobs in the world: reporting on the inner workings of the Vatican. His daily exposure to the power, politics, and personalities in the seat of Roman Catholicism gave him a unique, behind-the-scenes perspective on an institution that is far less monolithic and unified than it first appears. Thavis reveals Vatican City as a place where Curia cardinals fight private wars, scandals threaten to undermine papal authority, and reverence for the past is continually upended by the practical considerations of modern life. Thavis takes listeners from a bell tower high above St. Peter’s to the depths of the basilica and the saint’s burial place, from the politicking surrounding the election of a new pope and the ever-growing sexual abuse scandals around the world to controversies about the Vatican’s stand on contraception and more. Perceptive, sharply written, and witty, The Vatican Diaries will appeal not only to Catholics – lapsed as well as devout – but to anyone interested in international diplomacy and the role of religion in an increasingly secularized world.

Plot synopses from Amazon.

iRead Book Club meets next week

The iRead Book Club will meet next Monday, May 6, to discuss Audrey Niffeneger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife.  Get caught up in the unconventional romance of time-traveling Henry DeTamble and Clare, whose life follows a more linear path.  Join us to discuss the couple’s chronological conundrums and how Niffeneger explores ideas of predestination and the transcendence of love over time in this award-winning novel.

To check out a copy of the book, stop by the Information Services desk.

Can’t make the meeting?  Share your thoughts here!