June is Audiobook Month

Now that the school year is over, many people are going on vacation.  If you are going on a roadtrip soon, you might want to consider listening to an audiobook.  The miles can fly by while you enjoy listening to a fantastic book.  And if your family cannot agree on listening to one book, try Playaways.  Playaways are MP3 devices that have books loaded on them.  All you need to do is plug in your headphones and push play!  We even provide the batteries for them.

Need some ideas on an audiobook to check out?  Below are some suggestions or ask one of our friendly librarians for help.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
harry potter stone

Jim Dale narrates all seven of the Harry Potter books and he is THE BEST voice actor!  Somehow, Jim Dale is able to create a different voice for each and every character in the Harry Potter series which makes it so entertaining and easy to listen to in the car (and it is hard to shutoff the car when you reach your destination because the story is so good).  The Harry Potter series is full of fantasy, mystery and life lessons.  It will please everyone in the family.

 

bad beginningThe Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events Series) by Lemony Snicket

Lemony Snicket’s series of books about the forever unlucky Baudelaire children is deliciously narrated by Tim Curry, who does the readings for all 13 of the books in this series. The misadventures for the children start in this book when their parents die, and throughout the first novel “the three youngsters encounter a greedy and repulsive villain, itchy clothing, a disastrous fire, a plot to steal their fortune, and cold porridge for breakfast.” A great elementary school listen.

 

lion, witch, wardrobeThe Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia) by C.S. Lewis

Originally published in 1955, this classic story has delighted children for decades.  During a game of hide and seek, four children go through a wardrobe and find themselves in the magical realm of Narnia.  Only the Good King Aslan can defeat the dark magic of the White Witch.  An adventure story full of danger and thrills.

 

charlie chocolate factoryCharlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

If you are a parent of young children, there is a good chance that you read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when you were a child.  Introduce your children to Roald Dahl’s factory that is full of whimsy and full of perils to those children that are naughty.  Remember the Oompa Loompas?  The river of chocolate?  And who could forget the flying glass elevator? People of all ages love this story.

 

lightning thiefThe Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians) by Rick Riordan

I love the Percy Jackson books and you will understand why they are so popular.  Percy Jackson discovers that he is the son of the Greek god Poseidon, which makes him a demigod.  He learns that he is not the only one that has a Greek god or goddess for a parent when he goes to Camp Half-Blood.  But a prophecy foretold that a child of Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades would decide the fate of Olympus.  And now somehow has stolen Zeus’ lightning bolt and everyone suspects Percy.  A great series full of adventure that is interesting for the whole family.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Reads – Midway Point

online colorHow’s your summer going? And how’s your June Reading Challenge – Summer Reads – coming along? Find anything especially good, or are you still trying to decide what to read?

I’m working on Enchanted August by Brenda Bowen. It’s going well, in fact, I would have finished it by now except for other distractions (like the garden). So far it’s been charming, lighthearted and funny, perfect for summer. I’m looking forward to carving out some time to finish it soon!

If you’re still looking for a Summer Read, here are some more suggestions.

Mysteries by Nevada Barr. Each of Barr’s 18 mysteries is set in a National Park and, while they don’t all take place in the summertime, they do take place in favorite vacation sites as we follow Ranger Anna Pigeon on her various postings (Although, really – who would hire this woman? Someone is always getting killed when she’s around! Wouldn’t people get a little suspicious – or nervous – about having her come to their park?) The mysteries are engaging and suspenseful, the main character is gritty and real and very likable and the settings – various National Parks, Monuments and historic sites across the country – are vividly described. I haven’t read all of her books but my favorite Barr mystery is Firestorm. It takes place in Lassen Volcanic National Park in California and takes place during a terrible fire that Rangers and National Guard from across the country are fighting. I could barely set the book down the suspense was so great, as Anna uncovers a murderer in their midst.

Again, not always set in the summer, but often during hot and sunny weather – the mysteries of Tony Hillerman. These beautifully written, atmospheric mysteries set in the Four Corners area of the American Southwest follow the cases of Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, their uneasy partnership, the clash of old and new, of ancient rivalries and always, the unrelenting desert, both beautiful and terrible. I don’t have a favorite Hillerman mystery simply because I love all of them. Do yourself a treat and pick one up.

Still looking? All of these classics are set during the hot summer months including To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, A Midsummer’s Night Dream by William Shakespeare, and Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Or try some more recent summer scorchers such as Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walters which jumps between two summers, one on the Italian coast and one in Hollywood, or The Vacationers by Emma Straub where a beautiful beach rental in Spain does not magically fix a dysfunctional family.

Now, if only summer lasted a lot longer, just so I could get to all these books!

Untangled by Lisa Damour

untangledIf you are raising a teenage daughter, no doubt you could use some support. You will find it in Lisa Damour’s Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through The Seven Transitions Into Adulthood.

In this book Damour, who also directs Laurel School’s Center for Research on Girls in Shaker Heights, OH and writes a column for the New York Times’ Well Family Report, outlines seven transitions that adolescent girls must navigate on the way to adulthood. Identifying such transitions helps prepare us for their arrival so that we don’t feel so bewildered once they arrive. It helps prepare us for the reality that, just as we get used to a new “normal” everything can change all over again. It also helps us take care to experience each stage of development without getting stuck somewhere along the way.

If the idea of identifying stages of human psychological growth appeals to you, but you don’t have teenage daughters, you may be interested in Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World by Bill Plotkin, which identifies 8 stages spanning the entire human lifespan.

Reading such books helps us better know ourselves and our relationship to the world, to better understand where we’ve been and how it has shaped us. If the ancient Greek adage “know thyself” has any relevance, then I think it naturally follows that “know thy offspring” would, too. After all, whether we want to see it or not, they often provide a reflection of some aspect of ourselves.

 

New Religion and Spirituality in June

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 there’s a title you would like to read, please send us a purchase suggestion.

y450-293The Book of the People: How to Read the Bible by A.N. Wilson – In The Book of the People, A. N. Wilson explores how readers and thinkers have approached the Bible, and how it might be read today. Charting his own relationship with the Bible over a lifetime of writing, Wilson argues that it remains relevant even in a largely secular society, as a philosophical work, a work of literature, and a cultural touchstone that the western world has answered to for nearly two thousand years. Erudite, witty and accessible, The Book of the People seeks to reclaim the Good Book as our seminal work of literature, and a book for the imagination.

 


 

91PTTburk-LGiddy Up, Eunice: Because Women Need Each Other by Sophie Hudson – It’s easy for women to focus on what seems to separate us: differences in age, parenting styles, career goals, or maybe even core beliefs about whether leggings can adequately serve as pants. Sophie Hudson, in the delightfully quirky Southern style, sends out a rallying cry for women everywhere to open our eyes and see the people God has put in our lives whether they re behind us, beside us, or in front of us.

 

 


 

rsz_we_are_charlestonWe Are Charleston: Tragedy and Triumph at Mother Emanuel by Herb Frazer – On June 17, 2015, a young man with a handgun opened fire on a prayer meeting at the Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killing nine members of the congregation. The captured shooter, twenty-one-year-old Dylan Roof, a white supremacist, was charged with their murders. Two days after the shooting, while Roof’s court hearing was held on video conference, the families of his nine victims, one by one, appeared on the screen–forgiving the killer. The “Emanuel Nine” set a profound example for their families, their city, their nation, and indeed the world. We Are Charleston not only recounts the events of that terrible day but also offers a history lesson that reveals a deeper look at the suffering, triumph, and even the ongoing rage of the people who formed Mother Emanuel A.M.E. church and the wider denominational movement.


 

4129tuf842L__SX329_BO1,204,203,200_Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose and Belonging in a Secular Age by Katherine Ozment – Writer, journalist, and secular mother of three Katherine Ozment came face-to-face with the fundamental issue of “the Nones” when her son asked her the simplest of questions: “what are we?” Unsettled by her reply – “Nothing” – she set out on a journey to find a better answer. She traversed the frontier of American secular life, sought guidance in science and the humanities, talked with noted scholars, and wrestled with her own family’s attempts to find meaning and connection after religion. Grace Without God is both a personal and critical exploration of the many ways nonreligious Americans create their own meaning and purpose in an increasingly secular age.


 

1458309071GreetingsUtopiahccGreetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood by Claire Hoffman – When Claire Hoffman’s alcoholic father abandons his family, his desperate wife, Liz, tells five-year-old Claire and her seven-year-old brother, Stacey, that they are going to heaven – Iowa – to live in Maharishi’s national headquarters for Heaven on Earth. For Claire’s mother, Transcendental Meditation was a salve that promised world peace and enlightenment just as their family fell apart. Greetings from Utopia Park takes us deep into this complex, unusual world, illuminating its joys and comforts, and its disturbing problems. While there is no utopia on earth, Hoffman reveals, there are noble goals worth striving for: believing in belief, inner peace, and a firm understanding that there is a larger fabric of the universe to which we all belong.


 

51aNiPAfGaL__SX331_BO1,204,203,200_How God Became God: What Scholars Are Really Saying about God and the Bible by Richard M. Smoley – A thrilling journey through Bible scholarship and ancient religion shows how much of Scripture is historically false–yet the ancient writings also resound with theologies that crisscrossed the primeval world and that direct us today toward a deep, inner, authentic experience of the truly sacred. Smoley shows how our concepts of the Hebrew and Christian God, including Christ himself, are an assemblage of ideas that were altered, argued over, and edited–until their canonization. . Far from being “untrue,” the Bible is remarkably, extraordinarily true as it connects us to the sublime insights of our ancient ancestors and points to a unifying ethic behind many of the world’s faiths.

Audie Awards

audie awardsThe Audie Awards recognizes distinction in audiobooks and spoken word entertainment sponsored by the Audio Publishers Association (APA). 2016 is the 21st year of annual Audies Awards. The awards were announced in May 2016 in Chicago, Illinois.

The following audiobooks are available at the Rivershare libraries for checkout.

 

 

Audiobook of the Year: Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Best Male Narrator:  The English Spy by Daniel Silva

Fiction: The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah

Humor: Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

Inspirational: To Win Her Favor by Tamera Alexander

Literary Fiction & Classics: Little Big Man by Thomas Berger

Multi-Voice Performance: Illuminae by Amie Kaufman

Mystery: Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith

Narration by Author: Born With Teeth by Kate Mulgrew

Nonfiction: Ghettoside by Jill Leovy

Original Work: The Starling Project by Jeffrey Deaver

Romance: The Highwayman by Kerrigan Byrne

Thriller/Suspense: The Patriot Threat by Steve Berry

 

New CDs for June

Fitz & The Tantrums — Fitz and the Tantrums

The third album from Fitz & The Tantrums is brimming with imagination, energy, and genre-smashing scope. Includes the tracks Handclap; Complicated; Do What You Want; and more.

 

 

 


Nick Jonas — Last Year Was Complicated

Radiohead continues to do things their way with the release of their first new album since 2011. Their unique rock style comes through on tracks like Burn the Witch.

 


Radiohead — A Moon Shaped Pool

Fresh off of the success of his 2014 self-titled album, Nick Jonas returns with a release that has already generated a hit with the track Close featuring Tove Lo.
Red Hot Chili Peppers — The Getaway

Along with the single Dark Necessities, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ first new album in five years also includes new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer and production from Danger Mouse.

 

 


Tegan & Sara — Love You to Death

The follow-up to Tegan and Sara’s 2013 pop breakthrough album, Heartthrob, is their eighth studio album and features the single Boyfriend.

 


Train — Does Led Zeppelin II

Train, the band behind such hits as Hey Soul Sister, pays homage to one of their biggest musical inspirations with the release of the first cover album of their career.

 

 

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong

futuristic violence and fancy suitsScience fiction and fantasy are not genres that I normally read, but I decided that I needed to expand outside of my comfort zone and started to look for a book that I would enjoy. On a list of best adult books for young adult readers, I discovered Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits by David Wong. This book immediately intrigued me based on two parts: the machine gun/cat cover and the fact that the cat is named Stench Machine. (It’s a bit scary just how little it takes to get me interested in a book, isn’t it?) Cracking this book open, I was hooked.

Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits tells the story of Zoey Ashe, a young girl from a trailer park who lives with her very smelly cat, Stench Machine, and her mother, a waitress at a topless bar. Zoey is living her normal day-to-day life, unaware that a pack of villains from her nightmares that are armed with superhuman enhancements are gunning for her death. Finding herself in a life-and-death situation, Zoey has to decide quickly who she can trust and whether the stories being told to her by “the Suits” are actually the truth.

Traveling to a futuristic city where an all-seeing social network can track your every move, one where there are powerful players controlling everything behind the scenes, Zoey soon realizes that everything outside of her Midwestern trailer park may be more than she can handle. Forced to reconcile her low upbringing with her sudden encampment in her dead father’s mansion, Zoey realizes that she is one of the key players who will decide the future of mankind. Anyone in the world has the ability to get the powers of a god or become as famous as a pop star, thanks to the all-seeing social network and various fantastic and violent elements are popping up all over. Zoey’s fate is entangled in this futuristic city and it’s up to her to figure everything out.

New Science Fiction & Fantasy in June

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. As always, if there’s a title you would like to read, please send us a purchase suggestion.

914S4pdzRHLThe Wheel of Osheim by Mark Lawrence –  The epic fantasy Red Queen’s War series continues as a reluctant prince returns from the bowels of Hell to engage in his greatest battle yet–among the living and the dead. All the horrors of Hell stand between Snorri Ver Snagason and the rescue of his family, if indeed the dead can be rescued. For Jalan Kendeth, getting back out alive and with Loki’s key is all that matters. Loki’s creation can open any lock, any door, and it may also be the key to Jalan’s fortune back in the living world. The Wheel of Osheim is turning ever faster, and it will crack the world unless it’s stopped. When the end of all things looms, and there’s nowhere to run, even the worst coward must find new answers.


tumblr_nlsh93CT2s1snjweoo1_1280Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley – In this spirited sequel to the acclaimed The Rook, Myfanwy Thomas returns to clinch an alliance between deadly rivals and avert epic – and slimy – supernatural war. When secret organizations are forced to merge after years of enmity and bloodshed, only one person has the fearsome powers – and the bureaucratic finesse – to get the job done. Facing her greatest challenge yet, Rook Myfanwy Thomas must broker a deal between two bitter adversaries. But as bizarre attacks sweep London, threatening to sabotage negotiations, old hatreds flare. Surrounded by spies, only the Rook can seek out the culprits before they trigger a devastating otherworldly war.


A1X-Y8aFOILLeague of Dragons by Naomi Novik – In the final volume of the Temeraire series, Napoleon’s invasion of Russia has been roundly thwarted. But even as Capt. William Laurence and the dragon Temeraire pursue the retreating enemy through an unforgiving winter, Napoleon is raising a new force, and he’ll soon have enough men and dragons to resume the offensive. Aware of his weakened position, Napoleon has promised the dragons of every country – and the ferals, loyal only to themselves – vast new rights and powers if they fight under his banner. It is an offer eagerly embraced from Asia to Africa – and even by England, whose dragons have long rankled at their disrespectful treatment. But Laurence and his faithful dragon soon discover that the wily Napoleon has one more gambit at the ready – one that may win him the war, and the world.


genevievecogman-theinvisiblelibraryThe Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman – One thing any Librarian will tell you: the truth is much stranger than fiction. Irene is a professional spy for the mysterious Library, a shadowy organization that collects important works of fiction from all of the different realities. Most recently, she and her enigmatic assistant Kai have been sent to an alternative London. Their mission: Retrieve a particularly dangerous book. The problem: By the time they arrive, it’s already been stolen.  Now Irene is caught in a puzzling web of deadly danger, conflicting clues, and sinister secret societies. And failure is not an option–because it isn’t just Irene’s reputation at stake, it’s the nature of reality itself.


FalseHearts-USFalse Hearts by Laura Lam – Raised in the closed cult of Mana’s Hearth and denied access to modern technology, conjoined sisters Taema and Tila dream of a life beyond the walls of the compound. When the heart they share begins to fail, the twins escape to San Francisco, where they are surgically separated and given new artificial hearts. Ten years later, Tila returns one night to the twins’ home in the city, terrified and covered in blood, just before the police arrive and arrest her for murder–the first homicide by a civilian in decades. Taema is given a proposition: go undercover as her sister and perhaps save her twin’s life. But during her investigation Taema discovers disturbing links between the twins’ past and their present. Once unable to keep anything from each other, the sisters now discover the true cost of secrets.


51IyS2UrRsL__SX329_BO1,204,203,200_Spells of Blood and Kin by Claire Humphrey – Some families, whether they want to or not, hand down the secret burdens they carry and the dangerous debts they owe. Lissa Nevsky’s grandmother leaves her a big, empty house, and a legacy of magic: folk magic, old magic, brought with Baba when she fled the Gulag. In the wake of her passing, the Russian community of Toronto will depend on Lissa now, to give them their remedies and be their koldun’ia. But Lissa hasn’t had time to learn everything Baba wanted to teach her–let alone the things Baba kept hidden. Maksim Volkov’s birth family is long dead, anything they bestowed on him long turned to dust. What Maksim carries now is a legacy of violence, and he does not have to die to pass it on. When Maksim feels his protective spell fail, he returns to the witch he rescued from the Gulag, only to find his spell has died along with the one who cast it. Lissa’s legacy of magic might hold the key to Maksim’s salvation, if she can unravel it in time. But it’s a legacy that comes at a price. And Maksim might not want to be saved.


51VfTha7AvL__SX331_BO1,204,203,200_Mechanical Failure by Joseph Zieja – The two hundred years’ (and counting) peace is a time of tranquility that hasn’t been seen since … well, never. Mankind in the Galactic Age had finally conquered war, so what was left for the military to do but drink and barbecue? That’s the kind of military that Sergeant R. Wilson Rogers lived in before he left the fleet to become a smuggler. But it turns out that smuggling is hard. Like getting-arrested-for-dealing-with-pirates-and-forced-back-into-service kind of hard. It doesn’t seem so bad, but when Rogers returns after only a year away, something has changed. These are soldiers – actual soldiers doing actual soldier things like preparing for a war that Rogers is sure doesn’t exist. Rogers vows to put a stop to all this nonsense – even if it means doing actual work.

Shetland

shetlandCrime television shows are one of my favorite things to watch, but sometimes they can follow a predictable plot, so predictable in fact that it is easy to guess who the murderer is within the first ten minutes of the show’s beginning. When I stumbled upon Shetland, I was expecting the same predictable plot. Boy, was I wrong!

First of all, this dvd compilation of Shetland gives you the complete first and second seasons. (In case this seems daunting to you, let me ease your fears. Each season is only six episodes long, so in reality you are only watching twelve episodes total in this one case.) This show is the perfect length to get you hooked and invested in the characters without having to spend a lot of time getting through two full-length seasons of the show. Bonus: I wasn’t able to accurately guess who ANY of the murderers were in any of the episodes! Major score!

Shetland is a BBC Scottish crime drama that follows the life of Detective Inspector Jimmy Perez and his various staff members as they solve murders against the backdrop of the breathtaking Shetland Isles. Perez is a single dad raising an almost 16-year-old daughter. DI Perez and his team are responsible for keeping people safe within the community, a task that proves difficult as they are investigating crimes within such a close knit community that is spread across a number of islands within the Shetland Isles. This television show takes place against a gorgeous backdrop of sweeping cliffs, deep blue sea, and skies redolent with cloud cover. With such breathtaking scenery, the stories of crime, murder, mystery, and intrigue are pushed to a higher level, letting the writers, producers, and actors explore issues dealing with family and small communities in deep detail. I highly recommend this show as a way to cleanse your palette of the more traditional crime shows.


raven black

The first two seasons of Shetland are adapted from the book Raven Black by Ann Cleeves. Contact the library to find it today!

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katrina Bivald

readersofbrokenwheelI love reading books that take place in Iowa. I find it interesting to see what authors think of my home state.  The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is set in fictional town Broken Wheel, Iowa.  And this book is unique because the author, Katarina Bivald, lives in Sweden. So, if you are curious as to how someone from Europe views life in the state of Iowa, you should definitely pick up this book.

Sara has traveled all the way from Sweden to meet her pen pal Amy, who lives in Broken Wheel, Iowa.  The plan is that Sara will stay with Amy for two months.  But when Sara arrives in Iowa, she learns that Amy has died.  But the townspeople of Broken Wheel knew that she was coming and they all welcome her to the town.  They tell her to stay in Amy’s house because that is what Amy would have wanted. Sara understandably feels strange staying in the house alone and having people give her food and drinks for free.  She tries to pay her own way but everyone refuses her.

Since she no longer has a hostess, Sara needs to find something to do. And, the town council is trying to think of how they can keep Sara entertained.  Sara and Amy bonded over books.  Both women were avid readers and they even exchanged books in the mail. When Sara ventures into Amy’s bedroom, she finds a room filled with books. Shortly after, Sara learns that Amy owned one of the buildings downtown. Sara decides to clean up the unused store and make it into a new bookstore. Many of the townspeople help her clean and repaint the building. Others find bookshelves and furniture. Soon, the tiny town of Broken Wheel has its own bookstore.

Sara enjoys finding books for the townspeople to read. She is able to match up books with the right person to read it. Soon, people from the neighboring town of Hope come to Broken Wheel to check out the new bookstore. Sara is dismayed to learn that people from Hope look down on people from Broken Wheel. So Sara forms a plan to get the people of townspeople reading. This is when she creates the shelf, “The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend”.

The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend is a very fun book to read. Plus, it has the added bonus of discussing many different book titles throughout the story. Perhaps you will find your next read in the pages of The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend.

Note: If you listen to the audiobook version, you will find the Iowan accent to be very interesting.