Wellesley Reads Together Announcement

Stay tuned for the announcement of the
2011 Wellesley Reads Together selections
on Friday, April 29.

SH

Kindle Owners!!!

For those who haven't yet heard the news...
Amazon and Overdrive have reached an agreement whereby Overdrive users will be able to download books onto their Kindle e-book readers. Just to back up a little for those who may think overdrive is just past 4th gear and that kindle produces fires: Overdrive is the distributor many libraries use to circulate digital books and audio books. Books can be downloaded to your computer or to any number of mobile devices. Because there are many devices, each with their own software and licensing rights, it's been a little confusing to sort it all out. The biggest player in the mobile bookreader world has been Amazon Books with their Kindle. Unfortunately for Overdrive (and Kindle) users, no books in the Overdrive catalog could be downloaded to the Kindle. Hence the big announcement: "Sometime in 2011" Kindle books will be able to be downloaded from Overdrive. (Overdrive, a.k.a. Digital Media Catalog, is available from the list of Library databases or from the Wellesley Free Library home page).
--RL

Disunion

Disunion

"The flag that flew over Fort Sumter on April 12-13, 1861, had 33 stars representing each state in the Union. The star for Kansas, which had been admitted to the Union in January 1861, was not added until July. "

Fort Sumter flag from New York Times Disunion blog.

Disunion is a blog posted by the New York Times in remembrance of the 150th anniversary of our Civil War. The blog follows the daily events as they unfold, mixing modern multimedia and contemporary sources and images. Highlights so far include Lincolns handwritten proclamation of war, interactive Civil War timeline, pages from Walt Whitman's notebook, and interactive behind the scenes at Lincoln's inauguration. Of course lots of photos and articles from the Times archive. In addition, the Disunion blog will provide a reexamination of historical assessments as the Civil War unfolds.

TB

AtoZ the USA--Featured Online Resource

Whether you are a student with a report /paper or a person planning a vacation, AtoZ the USA offers you maps, photos, and in-depth information on the:

• history
• geography
• points of interest
• arts & culture
• symbols
• statistics
• and more
  

for the USA--the 50 states, 5 territories, and the District of Columbia.

Bookmark it today in preparation for your moment of need!

SH

The Hobbit Lives

The long-delayed movie version of The Hobbit, directed by Peter Jackson, is scheduled for release as two films, a year apart, beginning in December 2012. Though the production has suffered through numerous snafus, the movie is truly on course for its intended release. The officlal site for the film, TheHobbitBlog.com, helps negate any doubts that the cast and crew are in working mode.

-DB

New Books for May

What's new in fiction and mystery for May? Here are a few titles:

Brooks, Geraldine. Caleb’s Crossing.

In 1665, a young man from Martha's Vineyard became the first Native American to graduate from Harvard College. Upon this slender factual scaffold, Geraldine Brooks creates a luminous tale of love and faith, magic and adventure.

Haigh, Jennifer. Faith.

Estranged for years from her difficult and demanding relatives, Sheila McGann has remained close to her older brother Art, the popular, dynamic pastor of a large suburban parish. When Art finds himself at the center of the maelstrom, Sheila returns to Boston, ready to fight for him and his reputation. What she discovers is more complicated than she imagined.

O’Brien, Edna. Saints and Sinners: Stories.
With her inimitable gift for describing the workings of the heart and mind, Edna O'Brien introduces us to a vivid new cast of restless, searching people who-whether in the Irish countryside or London or New York-remind us of our own humanity. Included here are stories about family, class, the “Troubles,” and a librarian awaiting a great poet at a Dublin hotel.

Parker, Robert B. Sixkill.

Alas for fans, this is Spenser’s final outing, as Parker died last January. On location in Boston, bad-boy actor Jumbo Nelson is accused of the rape and murder of a young woman. From the start the case seems fishy, so the Boston PD calls on Spenser to investigate. The situation doesn't look good for Jumbo, whose appetites for food, booze, and sex are as outsized as his name. He was the studio's biggest star, but he's become their biggest liability.

Prose, Francine. My New American Life.

An Albanian living surreptitiously in New York City on an expiring tourist visa, twenty-six year old Lula hopes to make a better life for herself in America. When she lands a job as caretaker to Zach, a rebellious high school senior in suburban New Jersey, it seems that the security, comfort, and happiness of the American dream might finally be within reach.

maf

Pulitzer Prize for Fiction Announce 4/18

Keep your eyes peeled because the winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction (as well as the other finalists) will be announced this upcoming Monday, April 18th. Last year's winner, Tinkers by Paul Harding, was a huge success and saw scores of patrons placing it on their hold list which means you'll want to keep your eye on the Pulitzer website so you can be the first to place your hold when they announce it!

MW

World gone topsy-turvy?

Just as the Oxford English Dictionary is adding OMG, BFF LOL, and IMHO to its pages, Google is coming out with a print magazine, Think Quarterly (a trade publication.)
OMG.
--RL

New Books About World War II

The following are new books being published on World War II.


The Battle of Britain: Five Months That Changed History; May-October 1940
by James Holland

The Battle of Britain paints a stirring picture of an extraordinary summer when the fate of the world hung by a thread. Historian James Holland has now written the definitive account of those months based on extensive new research from around the world including thousands of new interviews with people on both sides of the battle.



Hitler's Savage Canary: A History of the Danish Resistance in World War II
by David Lampe

After Adolph Hitler made plans to create a model protectorate out of Denmark, Winston Churchill predicted the nation would become the Fuhrer's tame canary. Isolated from the Allies and fueled only by a sense of human decency and national pride, the Danes created an extraordinary resistance movement that proved a relentless thorn in the Nazis side.



The Storm of War: A New History of the Second World War
by Andrew Roberts

Roberts defines the war by Hitler's mistakes. Hitler started the war before Germany was ready, waged war without enough resources, and implemented counter productive domestic policies. Despite this the outcome could have been different without the skill and desperation showed by the Allies.




Turning the Tide: How a Small Band of Allied Sailors Defeated the U-boats and Won the Battle of the Atlantic
by Ed Offley

The United States experienced its most harrowing military disaster of World War II not in 1941 at Pearl Harbor but in the period from 1942 to 1943, in Atlantic coastal waters from Newfoundland to the Caribbean. Sinking merchant ships with impunity, German U-boats threatened the lifeline between the United States and Britain, very nearly denying the Allies their springboard onto the European Continent--a loss that would have effectively cost the Allies the war.



Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage
by Douglas C. Waller

He was one of America's most exciting and secretive generals the man Franklin Roosevelt made his top spy in World War II. Donovan introduced the nation to the dark arts of covert warfare on a scale it had never seen before. Now, veteran journalist Douglas Waller has mined government and private archives throughout the United States and England, drawn on thousands of pages of recently declassified documents, and interviewed scores of Donovan's relatives, friends, and associates to produce a riveting biography of one of the most powerful men in modern espionage.

TB

Edgar Awards Nominees

All mystery lovers know and respect the Edgar Awards sponsored by The Mystery Writers of America. This year the winners will be announced on April 28 in New York.

Who do you think will win the award this year in the following categories? Post a comment and let us and other know. If you would like to request one of the following titles, click on the title link and place the request right now.

The 2011 Edgar Allan Poe Award nominees were announced on the 202nd anniversary of his birth.

Best Fiction Nominees include:

• Caught by Harlan Coben

• Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin Faithful Place by Tana French

• The Queen of Patpong by Timothy Hallinan

• The Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton

• I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman

Best Fact Crime Nominees:

• Scoreboard, Baby: A Story of College Football, Crime and Complicity by Ken Armstrong and Nick Perry

• The Eyes of Willie McGee: A Tragedy of Race, Sex, and Secrets in Jim Crow South by Alex Heard

• Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz

• Hellhound on his Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr and the International Hunt for his Assassin by Hampton Sides

• The Killer of Little Shepherds: A True Crime Story and the Birth of Forensic Science by Douglas Starr

SH

Books into Movies for April

Soul Surfer, due out on April 8, is based on Bethany Hamilton's 2004 autobiographical tale. The professional surfer is played by AnnaSophia Robb and is directed by Sean McNamara.

Atlas Shrugged Part 1, due in theatres on April 15, is based on the 1957 final novel by Russian philosopher Ayn Rand. This is the first of a planned trilogy adaptation directed by Paul Johansson. Stars include Taylor Schilling, Matthew Marsden and Grant Bowler.

Water for Elephants, due out on April 22, is adapted from Sara Gruen's bestselling novel about life in the circus. Francis Lawrence directed and stars include Reese Witherspoon and Hal Holbrook.

-DB