The Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer

- Lynn Leave a comment

Guest CottageThe Guest Cottage by Nancy Thayer is a great companion to Enchanted August (see blog post of July 15th). Not only are both set in idyllic New England islands, both novels  are self-limiting in that the cottage rental is for the month of August. (Is this a east coast thing? It seems very exotic to this midwesterner).

The knowledge that this a short-term co-habitation allows for a pleasantly predictable dramatic arc (meet-cute, attraction, development of romance and friendship, sadness of the looming end of summer).

The characters in both books are suffering from unsatisfactory or dysfunctional family situations, and are looking for healing, as well as escape, however brief. They find all this, as well as transformation and joy.

This is the first Nancy Thayer book I’ve read, and I’m happy to find that she has many more in her backlist. She actually lives in Nantucket so her writing has the ring of authority.

What is therapeutic is the satisfaction she obviously takes in the quotidian tasks of cooking, grocery shopping,  cleaning up, and so on. Life on the island also consists of going to the beach, sailing, visiting quaint shops and getting ice cream. One could do a lot worse than spending time in these fictional worlds.

Where Valor Rests

- Ann Leave a comment

where valor restsBittersweet and breathtaking, this gorgeously illustrated edition celebrates the 150th anniversary of Arlington National Cemetery, guiding readers gently through the stories of its surprising origins, the people who tend the graves and mourn the fallen heroes, the tomb guards, the services, and more.

With nearly 200 exceptional photographs, poignant essays, and a detailed map of the historic points of interest and memorials, Where Valor Rests: Arlington National Cemetery is a treasure.

Touching new photographs of the 150th anniversary commemorations mark this historic milestone for the world-famous cemetery both a fitting tribute and a stirring reminder of the values Americans hold dear. (description from publisher)

The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Petersen and the Churchill Club

- Rachel Leave a comment

boys challenged hitlerOn April 9, 1940, German forces invaded Norway and Denmark.  Knud Pedersen and his family raced outside their house and looked at the sky.  Above them, German warplanes were flying low and pieces of green paper fluttered to the ground.  The German military alerted the citizens of Denmark that they arrived and were taking over the country in order to “protect them”.

King Christian X of Denmark, surrendered almost immediately, convinced that his country’s troops were unable to defeat the Nazi German forces.  Norway resisted with counterattacks with help from Allied Forces and with an underground resistance movement.

Knud Pedersen, his older brother Jens and their friends were ashamed of how their government had reacted.  Denmark had no army to stand up to the Nazis.  “One thing had become very clear: now any resistance in Denmark would have to come from ordinary citizens, not from trained soldiers” -Knud Pedersen.  After reading the newspapers and listening to radio reports from the BBC, Knud and his brother Jens decided that if the adults were not going to act, then they would.  So in the summer of 1940, the first resistance movement began in Denmark.

Knud Pedersen, Jens Pedersen and six of their friends made up the Churchill Club.  The club operated in Aalborg, Denmark for a little over a year.  But during that time, the boys managed to sabotage a lot of German operations.  The Churchill Club started small and with each success, their actions grew bolder.  They stole German weapons, destroyed train cars full of German artillery and machinery and left their mark wherever they went.  More people joined the Churchill Club.  Others assisted them as best as they could.  Of course the Nazis were angry about the attacks against them and sought to find the persons responsible.  The members of the Churchill Club were arrested in May, 1942.

The courage these young men had to defy the Nazi army amazes me.  Knud Pedersen recounts different acts of sabotage that he and his friends committed.  At times, the stories are tense and you fear for the boys safety.  And the book does not end at their arrest.  Pedersen and his friends were still defiant in jail.  Some of them were able to escape nightly and create havoc; sneaking into their jail cell early in the morning.  The Danish and German governments could not agree on what to do with the boys or how to punish them.  But the actions of the Churchill Club inspired more people to rise up and resist the Nazis.

This books is available in print and in audiobook.

Windows 10…are you upgrading?

- Bill Leave a comment

If you purchased a copy of Windows 7 or 8, you’ve noticed that icon pestering you to take advantage of a free upgrade to 10 over the course of the next year.    At some point they decided not everyone was using a tablet, and we wanted the Start button back.    Well, July 31st came and went.    What are you going to do?

Don’t rush into things.  Do your research.  Newer is not necessarily better.  Unless, of course, you’re using Windows 8.  Then a Campbell’s soup can and a piece of twine is better…

Put a hold on one of our new instructional books if you’re thinking of taking the plunge.

windows10

windows step by step

windows for dummies

windows10 for dummies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

teach yourself

windows for seniors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since Windows 10 doesn’t include Media Center, you’ll have to tell me all about it!

 

Better on Toast by Jill Donenfeld

- Ann Leave a comment

better on toastHot 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)

New CD’s for August

- Bill Leave a comment

Bon Jovi — Burning Bridges

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.

 

 

 

Luke Bryan — Kill the Lights

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 — Star Wars

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.

It’s Not About Perfect by Shannon Miller

- Ann Leave a comment

its not about perfect“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)

New Science Fiction & Fantasy in August

- Allison Leave a comment

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

jacketIZEC32YB
 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.
jacketLD5EKB9B 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.”
jacketFFI646XR
 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.
jacket9PWTG1W8
 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.
51AgV-KtEvL__SX326_BO1,204,203,200_
 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.
jacketBXKUK6UH
 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.
jacket
  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.

The DUFF

- Stephanie Leave a comment

duffKids 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!

Bad Behavior has blocked 3040 access attempts in the last 7 days.