The Davenport Public Library will be closed on Monday September 7th in observance of the Labor Day holiday. All of our buildings will reopen on Tuesday, September 8 with their regular business hours: Main and Eastern Avenue will be open 9am to 5:30pm and Fairmount Street will be open noon to 8pm.
Have a safe and happy holiday!
The annual 67th Primetime Emmy Awards will air on September 20 on Fox network. This is an award show that honors evening television programs. In total there were 567 nominations, with the HBO network nabbing 126 of them! The rest of the 441 nominations were split between 47 other networks. Game of Thrones leads the pack of individual programs with a whopping 24 nominations. Other noteworthy leading programs include American Horror Story:Freak Show –19, Olive Kitteridge – 13, Bessie – 12, and House of Cards, Mad Men, and Transparent (Amazon Prime exclusive series-library does not carry) with 11 each.
Most fans are interested in the big awards like Outstanding Drama or Outstanding Actress/Actor. This blog is going to get down to the meat and potatoes of it all. Below is the list of nominees for some of the big Emmy categories, a few fun facts, and my Emmy predictions. The library carries nearly all these titles, just click the title to go to the catalog. The rest are not on DVD yet, but keep checking our catalog for the rest of these titles to appear.
Outstanding Drama Series: Better Call Saul, Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, Homeland, House of Cards, Mad Men, and Orange is the New Black. Traditionally, this category has been a love fest between Breaking Bad and Mad Men, with Homeland squeezing in the win in 2012. Does that mean that the new AMC series Better Call Saul will pick up where Breaking Bad left off? Better Cal Saul is a spin off prequel to Breaking Bad. Well I say let the new kid on the block pay some dues and make way for some of the other fantastic story lines in TV land. Mad Men hasn’t won an Emmy in years and apparently no one can decide if Orange is the New Black is a comedy or drama so I think those two are out. That leaves four solid competitors. Game of Thrones is hands down the best thing on television. It should get the win. The other three shows are great and have consistently been highly entertaining, but they just aren’t Game of Thrones.
Outstanding Comedy Series: Louie, Modern Family, Parks and Recreation, Silicon Valley, Transparent, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, and Veep. Modern Family has won this award every year since 2010. We get it! You’re the best, now can we please let someone else have a turn? At this point, it doesn’t matter to me who wins as long as it is not Modern Family. I’d like to see Transparent take the win even though they are a new show. Rarely do I root for the new guy, but this show is unique. It is tackling a tough topic while being streamed through to a very limited audience via Amazon Prime. A win will mean big things for Amazon and hopefully more great shows like this to come.
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series: Kyle Chandler in Bloodline, Jeff Daniels in The Newsroom, John Hamm in Mad Men, Bob Odenkirk in Better Call Saul, Liev Schreiber in Ray Donovan, and Kevin Spacey in House of Cards. Let it be Kevin Spacey, let it be Kevin Spacey, let it be Kevin Spacey. This is a great category full of amazing talent, its any man’s game. Kevin Spacey has won many awards in his career because he simply is fantastic. But he was, as they say, born to play Frank Underwood in the Netflix series House of Cards, and he has yet to win the Emmy. My fingers are triple crossed for you sir.
Outstanding lead Actress in a Drama Series: Claire Daines in Homeland, Viola Davis in How to Get Away With Murder, Taraji P. Henson in Empire, Elizabeth Moss in Mad Men, and Robin Wright in House of Cards. Viola Davis has been the Belle of the ball this award season for her outstanding work on the new show How to Get Away With Murder. Sorry ladies, I think she has this one wrapped up.
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series: Anthony Anderson in Black-ish, Louise C.K. in Louie, Don Cheadle in House of Lies, Will Forte in Last Man on Earth, Matt LeBlanc in Episodes, William H. Macy in Shameless, and Jeffrey Tambor in Transparent. Even if it doesn’t take home the win for Outstanding Comedy, I’m pretty sure Transparent will take home this award. Jeffrey Tambor is amazing in this role and has already won a Golden Globe for it. Tambor plays a 68 year old man with three grown children, who is finally living openly as a woman. As I watch this show, I believe every second of what I see. Tambor is so real in this role, which makes the acting all the more marvelous.
Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Edie Flaco in Nurse Jackie, Lisa Kudrow in The Comeback, Julia Louise-Dreyfus in Veep, Amy Poehler in Parks and Recreation, Amy Schumer in Inside Amy Schumer, and Lily Tomline in Grace and Frankie. I feel like I’m taking a shot in the dark here. Julia Louise-Dreyfus has won this award for the past three years, so I just can’t pick her. It would be interesting to see Amy Schumer or Lilly Tomline to pull out the win with their first nominations for these roles. However I am going to go out on a limb and give it to Lisa Kudrow although she was my least favorite “friend”. Her show The Comeback had it’s first season in 2005 and then went on a 9 year hiatus before returning to HBO in 2014. She’s out of the gate with an Emmy nomination, maybe even a win.
Outstanding Miniseries: American Crime, American Horror Story: Freak Show, The Honorable Woman, Olive Kitteridge, and Wolf Hall. What a great category. I highly recommend watching them all. I’ve narrowed this down to The Honorable Woman or Olive Kitteridge. It is a coin toss, but I’m going with The Honorable Women. I think Maggie Gyllenahl can be very powerful on screen and she hit her sweet spot with this.
Outstanding Television Movie: Agatha Christie’s Poirot: Curtain, Poirot’s Last Case, Bessie, Grace of Monaco, Hello Ladies: The Movie, Killing Jesus, and Nightingale. HBO and Queen Latifah can do no wrong. HBO’s Bessie will be the big winner here. This made for TV movie based on the life of blues singer Bessie Smith has been all the rage.
For a complete list of nominees visit 2015 complete list of Emmy nominations.
For more fun facts visit 2015 Emmy facts and figures.
For more 2015 Emmy predictions visit any of the sites listed below. I promise I didn’t look!
Hot or cold, savory or sweet–there’s nothing better than fresh, flavorful ingredients on a slice of perfectly toasted bread!
Toasts are the ideal meal, whether you need a handheld lunch, a creative buffet for hungry guests, or a craveable midnight snack. Better on Toast features more than seventy elegantly simple recipes for toasts to appeal to every taste–from Hot Miso Crab to Shaved Asparagus with Serrano-Basil Butter to Lavender Ricotta. Jill Donenfeld layers flavors and uses quality, wholesome ingredients to make each recipe stand out, while her magical toasting techniques bring out the best in every bread, from thick-cut brioche to hearty grain to her signature gluten-free Quinoa Millet Bread.
Let’s have a toast!
(description from publisher)
With millions of albums sold and thousands of successful concerts, Bon Jovi has earned their place among rock royalty. Now the band is back with their ninth studio album, their first new release since 2013’s What About Now.
KILL THE LIGHTS is the follow up to Luke s most successful album to date, Crash My Party, which contains six consecutive No. 1 singles, is certified Double Platinum and has currently sold over two million copies with eight million digital downloads.
Carly Rae Jepsen — Emotion
For her latest album, Carly Rae Jepsen collaborates with some of the biggest producers and songwriters, including Sia. The first single, I Really Like You, has already racked up millions of views online and extensive radio play.
Rend Collective — As Family We Go
Hailing from Ireland, Rend Collective is one of the Christian music’s most exciting new acts. Their latest studio record features engaging, upbeat worship that brings listeners closer to God. It also includes the radio hit You Will Never Run.
Rob Thomas — The Great Unknown
Multiple Grammy Award winner, and Matchbox Twenty frontman, Rob Thomas releases his first new solo album in more than six years. The highly anticipated album includes the new single Trust You.
The Weeknd — Beauty Behind the Madness
Two years after releasing Kiss Land, the Weeknd returns with his third full-length studio album, which includes the singles Can’t Feel My Face; The Hills; and Often..
Wilco follows up their Grammy-nominated 2012 album, The Whole Love, with their ninth studio effort. Among the tracks is the new single Random Name Generator.
Yo-Yo Ma & Kathryn Stott — Songs from the Arc of Life
Longtime friends, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Kathryn Stott, create a unique classical music experience with their new recording. It includes pieces they have frequently performed but never recorded, as well as a handful of discoveries.
“When the odds were against me, I was always at my best.” When she retired at age 19, Shannon Miller did so as one of the most recognizable gymnasts in the country. The winner of seven Olympic medals and the most decorated gymnast, male or female, in U.S. history, Shannon tells a story of surviving and thriving in It’s Not About Perfect.
A shy, rambunctious girl raised in Oklahoma, Shannon fell in love with gymnastics at a young age and fought her way to the top. In 1992 she won five Olympic medals after breaking her elbow in a training accident just months prior to the Games. Then, in 1996, a doctor advised her to retire immediately or face dire consequences if she chose to compete on her injured wrist. Undeterred, Shannon endured the pain and led her team, the “Magnificent Seven,” to the first Olympic team gold medal for the United States in gymnastics. She followed up as the first American to win gold on the balance beam.
Equally intense, heroic and gratifying is the story of her brutal but successful battle with ovarian cancer, a disease from which fewer than fifty percent survive. Relying on her faith and hard-learned perseverance, Shannon battled through surgery and major chemotherapy to emerge on the other side with a miracle baby girl. Her story of trial, triumph and life after cancer reminds us all that its life’s bumps and bruises that reveal our character. From early on in her career, Shannon knew that life wasn’t about perfection.
In this incredible and inspirational tale, Shannon speaks out so as to be seen and heard by thousands as a beacon of hope. (description from publisher)
Much of the impetus to move back to the land, raise our own food, and connect with our agricultural past is being driven by women. They raise sheep for wool, harvest honey from their beehives, grow food for their families and sell their goods at farmers’ markets. What does a woman who wants to work the land need to do to follow her dream? First, she needs this book.
It may seem strange to suggest that women farmers need a different guide than male farmers, but women often have different strengths and goals, and different ways of achieving those goals. In Woman-Powered Farm, Audrey Levatino shares her experiences of running a farm and offers invaluable advice on how to get started, whether you have hundreds of acres or a simple lot for an urban community garden.
Filled with personal anecdotes and stories from other women farmers, from old hands to brand new ones, from agricultural icons like Temple Grandin, to her own sister, this book is a reassuring and inspirational guide that discusses: should you do an internship or jump right in? how to find a farm or how to handle one that you’ve inherited, best practices for selling at the farmer’s market and how to sell your goods locally, farmhouse chores and how to get them done right, how to handle large power tools, including a chainsaw, planning and growing an organic farm garden, incorporating animals as part of a farm ecosystem, where to get started if you want to farm-school your kids, tips for keeping your mind, body and spirit healthy while undertaking the demanding nature of farm work – it’s all here. (description from publisher)
Earlier this week, the Hugo Awards for Science Fiction and Fantasy were announced. This year’s Hugo Ballot, and the year leading up to the event, were rife with controversy, leading some SF and Fantasy readers and prominent authors to declare the 2015 Hugo Awards invalid.
First, some background. The Hugo Awards are organized by the World Science Fiction Society and the awards are given each year at the annual World Science Fiction Convention. To be able to nominate and vote, all that needed is to be a supporting member of the World Science Fiction Convention. There are no written rules as to which works qualify as science fiction or fantasy, and the decision of eligibility in that regard is left up to the voters. For each category, the voter may rank “No Award” as one of their choices. Voters are instructed that they should do so if they feel that none of the nominees are worthy of the award, or if they feel the category should be abolished entirely.
Last year’s award winners (find them here), were to some, a sign that the genre was finally opening up to a more diverse perspective. Others felt that an agenda was being pushed and that the awards were sacrificing literary quality over popularity and fandoms. This year, a concerted effort on the part of the latter group (calling themselves “Sad Puppies”) was made to stuff the ballot box with votes and “No Awards” for books the Puppies thought were being ignored. Another group, calling themselves “Rabid Puppies” did the same. Two SF authors, Marko Kloos and Annie Bellet, withdrew their works from the ballot. George R.R. Martin held his own awards ceremony after the Hugo, handing out “Alfies” to authors who would have won at the Hugo Awards if not for the efforts of the Puppies.
For an thorough exploration of the issues, read io9’s “Eight Books You Need To Know About to Understand The Hugo Awards Snafu” by Charlie Jane Anders and Wired’s “Who Won Science Fiction’s Hugo Awards and Why It Matters” by Amy Wallace. There is also a good breakdown of the 2015 votes on the blog Chaos Horizon.
With all that in mind, here are the 2015 Hugo Award winners and nominees in seven major categories, winner in bold. Click on the title to find it in DPL’s catalog, if available. The complete list is here.
Featured new additions to DPL’s Science Fiction and Fantasy collections! Click on the title to place a hold. For more new books, visit our Upcoming Releases page
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The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher – Butcher’s new series “The Cinder Spires” beings when an airship’s crew become humanity’s lone defenders when an ancient enemy reawakens and threatens the world with monstrous creatures and perpetual darkness. |
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The World of Poo by Terry Pratchett – Putatively written by Miss Felicity Beedle, Discworld’s premier children’s author, but of course by the recently deceased Pratchett, this is a book for all ages that Discworld hero Vimes is given for young son Sam. And that really is Poo, not Pooh: “But interspersed with the scatology was actually quite interesting stuff about septic tanks and dunnakin divers and gongfermors and how dog muck helped make the very best leather.” |
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Finches of Mars by Brian Aldiss – It’s been 10 years since humans went to Mars, and in that time none of the children born on the Red Planet has survived. Desperate to figure out why, the colonists are forced to confront a disheartening reality: back on Earth, not many people seem to care what happens to the Mars colony. The survival of the colony could depend on the sacrifices the colonists are forced to make. |
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The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickenson – Baru Cormorant believes any price is worth paying to liberate her people–even her soul. When the Empire of Masks conquers her island home, overwrites her culture, criminalizes her customs, and murders one of her fathers, Baru vows to swallow her hate, join the Empire’s civil service, and claw her way high enough to set her people free. But the cost of winning the long game of saving her people may be far greater than Baru imagines. |
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Blood Call by Lilith Saintcrow – Anna Caldwell has spent the last few days in a blur. She’s seen her brother’s dead body, witnessed the shooting of innocent civilians, and been shot at herself. The story Anna’s stumbled into is far bigger than even she suspects. Anna wants to survive, her ex Josiah wants Anna back, and the powerful people chasing her want the only thing worth killing for — immortality. |
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The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu – The sequel to “The Three Body Problem” finds Earth reeling from the revelation of a coming alien invasion–in just four centuries’ time. The aliens’ human collaborators may have been defeated, but the presence of the sophons, the subatomic particles that allow Trisolaris instant access toall human information, means that Earth’s defense plans are totally exposed to the enemy. Only the human mind remains a secret. This is the motivation for the Wallfacer Project, a daring plan that grants four men enormous resources to design secret strategies, hidden through deceit and misdirection from Earth and Trisolaris alike. |
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The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin – After the empire Sanze collapses and the vast continent Stillness becomes ravaged by a red rift which darkens the sky, Essun, whose daughter has been kidnapped by her murderous husband, crosses Stillness in a desperate attempt to save her daughter. |
Kids in high school and even young adults in college think the problems they are going through are unique to just them and that the adults in their lives have no idea and can’t understand the problems that younger people are going through. As a result, kids seek solace in music, books, and movies where they find people going through the same problems that they face on a day-to-day basis. Funny story though: those books, movies, and music are written by adults, the very same people they thought were too different and didn’t understand them.
I found this same not-understanding,-but-understanding in The DUFF, a movie about Bianca and her two friends, Jess and Casey. One day when she’s talking to Wesley, a boy that she grew up with, who also just happens to be her hot neighbor AND the captain of the football team, Wes drops the knowledge bomb on her that of the three people in her friend group, she is considered the DUFF, aka the Designated Ugly Fat Friend. To say that Bianca freaks out would be a slight understatement. The distance between Bianca and her mother seems to grow strongest at this point, but ultimately Bianca realizes that her mom can actually help her navigate through life. Bianca soon finds herself going through an altered version of the five stages of grief, which lead her to make some drastic decisions in her life, some of which include ending her friendships with Jess and Casey and enlisting Wes’s help to not be the DUFF anymore while also tutoring him in chemistry because he is on the verge of losing his scholarship, has already been kicked off the football team, and a trade needs to exist for them to help each other out. Add in a jealous ex-girlfriend, Madison, and a dreamy, guitar-playing, potential boyfriend named Toby, and Bianca soon winds up trying to find out who she actually is and eventually comes to the realization that we are all somebody’s DUFF and that is completely and totally alright.
Sounds like the plot to almost every young adult novel/movie out there, doesn’t it? I thought so. (Psstt: this novel is also available as a book, if you’re curious how close the movie follows the book like I am.) I noticed a theme running between this book and the slew of other young adult books that I have been reading recently(see my blog about Girl Online); the theme of be careful what you put online and also be careful what you do because someone out there somewhere is watching you and what you do could end up online and could drastically impact your life. (The younger crowd may be rolling their eyes right now, but all of us older people know that this is true.) In case you can’t tell by that theme, some things that Bianca does in this movie end up getting splashed all over social media, but in the end, she ends up using the ability to go viral to her advantage.
The message in this movie isn’t to not have fun, but instead to be confident and comfortable with yourself in order to find your true self and your true potential. I found this movie to be a sort of Mean Girls and John Tucker Must Die mash-up, but with enough original content that it can stand alone. Watch this movie and let me know what you thought in the comments!
Featured new additions to DPL’s Religion & Spirituality collections! Click on the title to place a hold. For more new books, visit our Upcoming Releases page. As always, if you have a book that you would like to recommend, call or email the Reference Department.
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How’s Your Faith?: An Unlikely Spiritual Journey by David Gregory – While covering the White House as NBC newsman and Meet the Press moderator Gregory had the unusual experience of being asked by President George W. Bush “How’s your faith?” Gregory’s answer was just emerging. Gregory approaches his faith with the curiosity and dedication you would expect from a journalist accustomed to holding politicians and Presidents accountable. But he also comes as a seeker, one just discovering why spiritual journeys are always worthwhile. |
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Uncovered: How I Left Hasidic Life and Finally Came Home by Leah Lax – In Uncovered, Leah Lax tells her story–beginning as a young teen who left her liberal, secular home for life as a Hasidic Jew and ending as a forty-something woman who has to abandon the only world she’s known for thirty years in order to achieve personal freedom. In understated, crystalline prose, Lax details her experiences with arranged marriage, fundamentalist faith, and motherhood during her years with the Hasidim, and explores how her creative, sexual, and spiritual longings simmer beneath the surface throughout her time there. |
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Pope Francis and the New Vatican by Robert Draper and David Yoder – National Geographic goes behind-the-scenes of the new papacy with unprecedented, exclusive access to Pope Francis. Embedded with the Pope inside the Vatican for 6 months, award-winning photographer David Yoder captures intimate moments in never-before-seen photographs presented here for the first time. Complementary essays by acclaimed journalist and author Robert Draper–drawn from interviews around the world with many who had never spoken publicly before–insightfully cover Pope Francis’s personal story, his journey to the papacy, and the heart of his ministry. |
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The Battle Plan for Prayer by Stephen Kendrick & – Inspired by the Kendrick Brothers’ new movie, War Room, is designed to help anyone learn how to become a powerful person of prayer. The Battle Plan for Prayer begins with prayer’s core purpose, its biblical design, and its impact throughout history. Readers will be guided scripturally through the fundamentals of how effective prayer works, inspired towards a closer, more intimate relationship with God, and shown how to develop specific prayer strategies for each area of life. |
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How to Eat by Thich Nhat Hanh – Eating is a chance to return to the present moment. How to Eat clearly and succinctly explains how you can incorporate eating as a form of meditation. The book provides practical advice on how to become truly nourished through the mindful preparation, serving, eating, and cleaning up of food. How to Eat encourages moderation and taking time to truly savor what we eat. By doing so, you too can become healthier, more fully enjoy what you eat, and help reduce waste. |
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The Gratitude Diaries: How a Year Looking on the Bright Side Can Transform Your Life by Janice Kaplan – On New Year’s Eve, journalist and former Parade editor in chief Janice Kaplan makes a promise to be grateful and look on the bright side of whatever happens. She realizes that how she feels over the next months will have less to do with the events that occur than her own attitude and perspective. Getting advice at every turn from psychologists, academics, doctors, and philosophers she brings readers on a smart and witty journey to discover the value of appreciating what you have. |
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Bon Jovi — Burning Bridges
Luke Bryan — Kill the Lights
Wilco — Star Wars