2013 Edgar Award Winners Announced

The Mystery Writers of America announced the winners of the Edgar Award on May 2.  Three of the categories were Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Fact Crime.  You may also enjoy the nominees, so check out the list and place your requests.

The winners are:

Best Novel

Live by Night by Dennis Lehane
Prohibition has given rise to an endless network of underground distilleries, speakeasies, gangsters, and corrupt cops. Joe Coughlin, the youngest son of a prominent Boston police captain, has long since turned his back on his strict and proper upbringing. Now having graduated from a childhood of petty theft to a career in the pay of the city's most fearsome mobsters, Joe enjoys the spoils, thrills, and notoriety of being an outlaw.  

Best First Novel

The Expats by Chris Pavone
When expat Kate begins to travel around Europe, she finds herself buried in layers of deceit so thick they threaten her family, her marriage, and her life. Intricate, riveting, and surprising, this thriller is of the highest caliber. 
This was a title discussed at the Wellesley Free Library Monday Night Book Group in May.

Best Fact Crime

Midnight in Peking: how the murder of a young Englishwoman haunted the last days of old China
by Paul French
Peking in 1937 is a heady mix of privilege and scandal, opulence and opium dens, rumors and superstition. The Japanese are encircling the city, and the discovery of Pamela Werner's body sends a shiver through already nervous Peking.  Two detectives—one British and one Chinese—race against the clock to solve the crime before the Japanese invade and Peking as they know it is gone forever. Can they find the killer in time, before the Japanese invade?

SH

60th Anniversary of the Korean War

To enrich the observance of the 60th Anniversary of the Korean War, check out the 2^nd floor display table for a variety of Korean War nonfiction and fiction books, audiobooks, and DVDs.  The Reference Department also has booklists available for you take.

The official website for the anniversary, Korean War 60th Anniversary, offers (by clicking on History on the toolbar at the top of the page) the history, personal testimonials, photographs, biographies and more for this Forgotten War,

Some of the titles available on the display include:

Naval Aviation in the Korean War 




Bully Able Leader : the story of a fighter-bomber pilot in the Korean War

Home: A Novel by Toni Morrison

Mash: A Novel about 3 Army Doctors by Richard Hooker

War Trash: A Novel by Ha Jin

SH

NEW ONLINE RESOURCE : OPTIMAL RESUME

Looking to create a resume? Lost on how to get started? Check out the new tool available to Wellesley Free Library patrons – Optimal Resume

Create an Account –
From the Wellesley Free Library Online Resources, navigate down the list to OptimalResume https://wellesleyfreelibrary.optimalresume.com/
Click the link “Create New Account” and follow the account creation prompts.

Key Features

Home Tab
Once you have created an account you can view Resume and Cover letter samples particular to a wide variety of vocations under the Home tab. With over 100 sample resumes, you can explore different resume styles as well as see the difference in resumes between someone entering the field and a well established member of that field.

Document Center Tab 
Use this area to create Resumes, Cover Letters, Portfolios, Skills Assessments, Resume Websites, Video Resumes and Interviews.

Search Jobs Tab 
OptimalResume has a SimplyHired job search built within it. A best practice you should start to develop is catering your resume to a particular job. Search for some current openings in your field and see what keyword or industry specific jargon and use that as inspiration for your resume.

Help Tab
The help tab has pdf directions of each element of the OpitmalResume tool.

What to do when you finish?

OptimalResume’s strength lies in the possible customization. If you are not interested in all the web hosting features, you can always download your resume as a word document or pdf. (note: if you are emailing your resume, it is best to email a pdf, as all computers can recognize pdfs)

Where to go for next steps

Looking for more information? Stop by the Reference Desk or

Watch a video tutorial here: http://vimeo.com/9861255



What's New in Mystery and Fiction for May?

Wondering what's coming out in Fiction and Mystery this May?  Here are a few titles:

And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
How do we love and care for those around us?  A multi-generational saga from the author of The Kite Runner.

The Woman Upstairs by Claire Messud
A new work by the author of The Emperor's Children that explores life and art from the point of view of a forty-something teacher. 

A Delicate Truth by John LeCarre
Toby Bell is the foreign office minister's private secretary.  He's trying to determine whether a 2008 counterterrorist operation went awry.

maf

Pulitzer Prize Winners Announced!

The 2013 Pulitzer Prize Winners for Letters, Drama, and Music have been announced and we now
have more wonderful titles for our wish lists.  Be sure to place your requests today.

The 2013 winners are:

Fiction
The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson.

follows a young man's journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world's most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea. 
  

History


Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall
Tapping into newly accessible diplomatic archives in several nations, distinguished scholar Logevall traces the path that led two Western nations to lose their way in Vietnam. 

Biography
The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo by Tom Reiss

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Born to a black slave mother and a fugitive white French nobleman in present-day Haiti, Alex Dumas (father of the writer Alexander Dumas) was briefly sold into bondage but then made his way to Paris where he was schooled as a sword-fighting member of the French aristocracy. 

General Nonfiction

Devil in the Grove: Thurgood Marshall, the Groveland Boys by Gilbert King
Shines new light on this remarkable civil rights crusader, setting his rich and driving narrative against the heroic backdrop of a case that U.S. Supreme Court justice Robert Jackson decried as “one of the best examples of one of the worst menaces to American justice.”


Poetry
Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds.
Through verse, the author carries us through the seasons when her marriage was ending.  Sharon Olds opens her heart to the reader, sharing the feeling of invisibility that comes when we are no longer standing in love's sight; the surprising physical bond that still exists between a couple during parting

SH

Earth Day--April 22

Celebrate Earth Day 2013 (April 22) by stopping by the 2nd floor

display table and picking up a book, book on CD, or DVD.

The display is entitled Oh What a Beautiful World and features topics on geology, geography, gardening, early humans, animals, environment, energy, AND even some fiction focusing on these topics...or at least with related words in the title.

Some titles you might enjoy are:

Books
Adventures in Tornado Alley:  The Storm Chasers
The Neandertal Enigma
K2: Life and Death on the World's Most Dangerous Mountain
Trilobite!: Eyewitness to Evolution
Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet
Global Climate Change: The Book of Essential Knowledge
Dust:  A History of the Small & the Invisible
The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes

Book on CD
Silent Sea
World Without End
Global Warming:  Global Threat
Terminal Freeze
Journey to the Center of the Earth

DVD
HumanPlanet: The Complete Series
Ape to Man
Ascent of Man
The Jacques Cousteau Odyssey (6 vols)
Dirt: The Movie

Stop by the display and find what else is waiting for you....

SH

Featured Online Resource for April--Morningstar Investment Research Center

With the improving markets, take advantage of this well-respected resource provided for you at no cost to play the game of finance and make your investments grow!

Morningstar Investment Research Center provides fast and easy access to the latest mutual fund, stock, and ETF ratings and information.   

New to investing?  Try out the Help & Education feature.   

Take advantage of this trusted financial resource as you make knowledgeable decisions regarding your investments.  

SH

The State of Libraries

If you're a fan of libraries and are interested in the survival of libraries, the changes going on in library-world and the likely future of libraries, you'll be interested in a new report from the American Library Association aptly titled "The State of America's Libraries 2013." In the report you'll find
*ebook trends
*top 10 banned books
*the sorry state of school libraries
*library use of social media
*changing roles of libraries
*how teens use libraries
It's a tumultuous time for libraries economically and technologically. Take a look at this report to get a better grasp of how libraries are coping.
RL

The Voice

If you’re like most audio-listening fans, the quality of the narrator’s voice is one of the most important features in the enjoyment of the audio experience. A “bad” voice will cause even the most enthusiastic listener to press “stop.” As a particularly demanding listener myself around voice quality, especially woman’s voices, here are two stellar selections I recommend:

 Charlotte Bronte: Jane Eyre. Books on CD 2002 Read by Josephine Bailey

 

 You’ve read the book, you’ve seen the movie(s) but have you had the book read to you? Most likely your answer is no. So, delay not and borrow this audio version read by Josephine Bailey. Ms. Bailey’s voice is an unusually pleasurable voice to listen to for all the characters encountered in this well-loved novel. In a light, mellow English accent Ms. Bailey makes the world of Thornfield Hall, Lowood School, and Gateshead Hall come to life as well as some of the most vivid characters in all of literature.

To see this audio book in our catalog click: here

Second recommendation: 

Cheryl Stayed: Tiny Beautiful Things. Books on CD 2012 Read by the author

 Cheryl Stayed, who wowed the publishing industry with her memoir Wild, also writes an advice column in The Rumpus called “Dear Sugar.” In this audio presentation Ms. Stayed reads the letters from her advice column and her answers. The questions and answers are so riveting that if you’re listening in your car you’ll drive around a few extra minutes just to hear her read the full reply. Ms. Stayed has an appealing voice and a deep, warm heart. Don’t miss this experience. 

To see this audio book in our catalog click:here

-PM