Literature Resource Center is for everyone!

Whether you are a student, belong to book group, or just want to know more about a book or the author of a book you have just read, try out the Literature Resource Center, our Online Resource for October.

This database includes biographies of 130,000+ writers and full-text reviews and critical analyses of their works.

 

The Magill's Literary Annual is another literature online resource to visit for information on books written after 1976.  You may use both databases in the library or use your library card to search them remotely.  Try them out today!  SH

Perhaps you've heard of the Google?

Googling your time away
If you added up all the time you've spent wading through useless results from a Google search, you'd find it would add up to hours (days?, weeks?) you'd rather be doing other things. Think of all the beach time, reading time, golf time or loafing time you've given up! There's no magic wand here--experience does lead to efficiency. But so does a little effort to learn some Google tricks. (Try googling Google search tips, or at least use the Advanced Search regularly.)
One interesting tip that I think I will incorporate into my intermediate and advanced searching classes at the Library, is paying attention to the order of the search words. Google gives preference to web sites with your search words in the same order as you've typed them. I tried a few test cases and sure enough there was only about 60-70% overlap when I switched the order. Try a search of your own with four or more words...
--RL

Celebrate the Freadom to Read--Banned Books Week 2013

Tomorrow is the last day of the official Banned Books Week where we have an opportunity to reflect on all of the treasures we may have missed if individuals and groups had succeeded in suppressing the access to published works in libraries.

What are some of these titles that have been challenged or banned in the United States?

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare

Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini

1984 & Animal Farm by George Orwell

Color Purple by Alice Walker

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Harry Potter series by J.K Rowling

Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Parks

Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey

This is just a sampling of the many titles that requests have been made to remove or have been removed from library shelves due to political, sexual, religious, or social reasons..  For more lists see the ALA Banned Books website. 

Celebrate that you live in a country where you have access to the published word and that you have a public library that is the place to find what you need!  SH

What's New in Mystery and Fiction?

Wondering what's new in Mystery and Fiction for October?  Here are a few titles:

The Pure Gold Baby by Margaret Drabble
Jessica is a promising student who has an affair with her married professor and becomes a single mother.  

Dirty Love by Andrew Dubus III
Short stories that explore needs, weaknesses, and the search for gratification.

Sycamore Row by John Grisham
The hero of the novel A Time to Kill is back in a new novel. Jake Brigance returns to the courtroom.


Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy by Helen Fielding
She's back!   14 years later, Bridget Jones approaches middle age as a single mother.

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Some History Miscellanea

These interesting books which are overlooked possibly because they have unusual themes. Lucy's Bones uses historical artifacts to tell history stories. Unsolved Mysteries of American History examines mystifying events. Lost to Time looks at some of the stories left out of history books. Cleopatra's Nose  are essay's by historian Daniel J. Boorstin illustrating specific historical subjects. The Weather Factor look at how weather has shaped historic events.

Lucy's Bones, Sacred Stones and Einstein's Brain: The Remarkable Stories behind the

Great Objects and Artifacts of History, From Antiquity to the Modern Era
     by Harvey Rachlin
A series of historical vignettes which illuminate the story connected with some 50 relics dating from antiquity to the present. The relics range from the Shroud of Turin and Anne Frank's diary to George Washington's false teeth.



Unsolved Mysteries of American History: An Eye-Opening Journey through 500 Years of Discoveries, Disappearances, and Baffling Events 
     by Paul Aron

Unsolved Mysteries of American History re-creates the most mystifying events of our past, following some of our greatest historians as they search for the elusive answers. Spanning more than five centuries, from Leif Ericsson and Columbus through Watergate and Iran-Contra, Aron makes sense of all the latest discoveries and speculations. Here is everything you could ever want from a detective story: dramatic twists and turns, intellectual challenges, frustrating dead-ends, murderous mayhem, and thrilling espionage

Lost to Time: Unforgettable Stories That History Forgot
     by Martin W. Sandler
Were the Wright brothers the first to fly? Did Paul Revere perform the most important midnight ride of the American Revolution? Was the Titanic the greatest peacetime maritime disaster? The answers may surprise you. From the medieval world to the epic battles of World War II, Lost to Time highlights a number of history's most fascinating and consequential, but unjustly forgotten people and events.


Cleopatra's Nose: Essays on the Unexpected
     by Daniel J. Boorstin
The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Discoverers demonstrates the truth behind the aphorism that if Cleopatra's nose had been shorter, the face of the world would have been changed. Boorstin goes on to uncover the elements of accident, improvisation and contradiction at the core of American institutions and beliefs.


The Weather Factor: How Nature Has Changed History
     by Erik Durschmied

This absorbing & invigorating historical survey looks at the surprising & unexpected ways in which human history has been decisively altered at critical moments by the unaccountable whim of nature.  From the campaigns of the Roman legions in Central Europe to  U.S. forces in Vietnam the course of human events has often been decided by the elements.

Tyson

New Science Fiction and Fantasy September 2013

Two new steampunk novels this month Fiendish Schemes by the founder of the genre and Jack Cloudie by Hunt who excells at creating a Dickensian world. Also two new entries in long running series by Feist and Novik and the second in Tad Williams new fantasy series.


Happy Hour in Hell
     by Tad Williams
"Ive been told to go to Hell more times than I can count, but this time Im actually going. " My name is Bobby Dollar, sometimes known as Doloriel, and of course, Hell isnt a great place for someone like me, Im an angel. They don’t like my kind down there, not even the slightly fallen variety.  Not only do I have to sneak into Hell, make my way across thousands of miles of terror and suffering to reach Pan- demonium, capital of the fiery depths, but then I have to steal my girlfriend Caz right out from under the burning eyes of one of most powerful demons in all of the netherworld and smuggle her out again, past demon soldiers, hellhounds, and all the murderous creatures imprisoned there for eternity.
 



Fiendish Schemes
     by K. W. Jeter
 In 1986 K. W. Jeter coined the term "steampunk," applying it to his first Victorian-era science fiction alternate-history adventure Infernal Devices. At last he has returned with Fiendish Schemes, a tale of George Dower, son of the inventor of Infernal Devices. Dower is enticed by the prospect of financial gain into a web of intrigue with ominously mysterious players who have nefarious plans of which he can only guess.




Blood of Tyrants
     by Naomi Novik
His Majesty's Dragon, readers have been entranced by the globe-spanning adventures of the resolute Capt. William Laurence and his brave but impulsive dragon, Temeraire.  Shipwrecked and cast ashore in Japan with no memory of Temeraire or his own experiences as an English aviator, Laurence finds himself tangled in deadly political intrigues that threaten not only his own life but England's already precarious position in the Far East.







Magician's End
     by Raymond E. Feist
An uneasy quiet has settled upon Midkemia in the wake of a surprise invasion. But the land is far from peaceful. Leaderless, the Kingdom is on the brink of anarchy and civil war, unless Hal ConDoin, Duke of Crydee, and his brothers can rally their allies to crown a new king. They must move quickly, for war has left the land vulnerable to an agency of horrific destruction not of this world. No one is safe, not even the Star Elves whose city deep in the Grey Tower Mountains has come under attack by an ancient darkness that seeks to extinguish every living thing in Midkemia.


Jack Cloudie
     by Stephen Hunt
Jack Cloudie is a tale of high adventure and derring-do set in the same Victorian-style steampunk world as Stephen Hunt's acclaimed The Court of the Air.Thanks to his father's gambling debts, young Jack Keats finds himself on the streets and trying to survive as a pickpocket. Following a daring bank robbery gone badly awry, Jack narrowly escapes the scaffold, only to be pressed into the Royal Aerostatical Navy. Assigned to the most useless airship in the fleet, serving under a captain who is most probably mad, Jack seems to be bound for almost certain death.

Tyson

Try Nature Online--The King of the Research Journals

Online Resource for September--Nature Online

Nature is recognized as THE journal to find groundbreaking research in science and medicine.  Now WFL offers it in paper and online.  

Nature and it's sister journal, Scientific American, are available from our database page for students, researchers, and anyone interested in advances in the scientific world.

Use your library card from home to check out both of these fantastic resources.

SH

Ann Patchett Recommends....

Many of you may not know that Ann Patchett, author of State of Wonder and Bel Canto, owns a bookstore in Nashville named Parnassus.  At the American Library Association meeting in June, she offered attendees a list of books she recommends to her customers that I thought might be of interest to all of you.  The books she recommends are:

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
Coming of age in middle America, eighteen-year-old Rosemary evaluates how her entire youth was defined by the presence and forced removal of an endearing chimpanzee who was secretly regarded as a family member and who Rosemary loved as a sister.

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra
Marra has written a brilliant debut novel that brings to life an abandoned hospital where a tough-minded doctor decides to harbor a hunted young girl, with powerful consequences. 

Claire of the the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticat
From the best-selling author of "Brother, I'm Dying" and "The Dew Breaker: " a stunning new work of fiction that brings us deep into the intertwined lives of a small seaside town where a little girl, the daughter of a fisherman, has gone missing. 

A Day at the Beach: recollections by Geoffrey Wolff
In these autobiographical essays, Wolff shares with the reader the wisdom of an alert man learning through the unsettling collisions of time, place, and local custom, and through the force of hardship and hazard, to bring his many disparate selves together --
with astonishing high-stakes candor and dazzling literary agility.

Old Filth by Jane Gardam
Filth is a lawyer with a practice in the Far East. A few remember that his nickname stands for Failed In London Try Hong Kong. But Old Filth is not as pompous as people imagine, and his past contains many secrets and dark hiding places. 

The Casual Vacancy by J. K. Rowling
Pagford is a town at war.  Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity, and unexpected revelations? Rowling's first novel for adults is blackly comic, thought-provoking, and constantly surprising. 

The Patrice Melrose Novels: Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope and Mother's Milk by Edward St. Aubyn
This single volume brings together the first four Patrick Melrose novels by Booker Prize Finalist Aubyn. The collection includes "Never Mind, Bad News, Some Hope," and "Mother's Milk." The novels take the reader into the world of the English upper class as they
follow Patrick Melrose's story from child abuse to heroin addiction and recovery.  Beautifully written.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt
This is a story of a boy and his painting.  Theo lost his mother in an explosion and came into possession of a dutch painting entitled "The Goldfinch" that has the biggest impact on his life.  As an adult he is led into the dark world of art theft.  The novel has well-drawn characters, beautiful prose, and takes the reader through loss, love, and the world of art.

Take Ann Patchett's recommendations or check out our booklists here on the blog or our Pinterest site.  Enjoy!  SH

Third Thursdays Local Author Series 2013

2013 PROGRAM SCHEDULE

 Beginning Mid-August, the Wellesley Free Library will be hosting local author book talks the Third Thursday of every month. Come meet local authors in a small, casual group setting in the Main Library Arnold Room from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM.


THURSDAY, AUGUST 15, 2013

KEVIN WALSH
THE PERFECT CATCH
The Perfect Catch is for all men, about forming lasting bonds and some really good fly fishing.  Three adult brothers and their elderly father travel together for what could be their last time together to catch steel-head trout.  Like the fish returning to the river to spawn, the Walsh men are returning to their roots as a family.



THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

DREW YANNO
IN THE MATTER OF MICHAEL VOGEL
In the late summer of 1966, in a small town in upstate New York, the body of eight year old Michael Vogel is found at the bottom of the deep end of the municipal swimming pool.  This novel is told from the perspectives of three members of the community, whose stories all come together in a startling and thrilling conclusion.



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2013

MICHAEL J. STEDMAN
A FOR ARGONAUT
The story of former Special Operations officer Lt. Colonel Mack Maran, betrayed by the Pentagon and tossed out of the Army. To restore his honor, he must unravel a conspiracy which leads him from a high-tech private spy firm to the dangerous streets of Kinshasa.



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21

ROLLY WESTER
RHYMING AROUND
A collection of humorous rhymes including “Young Ladies With Red Cars on Highways” and “In a Dentist’s Chair, Impatiently”.







THURSDAY, DECEMBER 19

MICHAEL URBAN
IRONSIDE’S PERIL
The War if 1812 is long over, but the War of 2012 has just begun.  In this suspenseful thriller, Boston is under attack, and “Old Ironsides” must be recaptured using 21st Century weapons and tactics.


Questions? Contact Elise MacLennan
781-235-1610 x1107
emaclennan@minlib.net

~Jason

Emmy Nominees Announced--See what they are all about

Check out the Emmy nominations announced on July 18 and then get started viewing the

nominated series with a request in our catalog.

The nominees for best drama are:

• "Breaking Bad"
• "Downton Abbey"
• "Game of Thrones"
• "Homeland"
• "House of Cards"
• "Mad Men"

 Start from Season one and work your way up to the nominated season for free @your library!  SH

Time for a Party

 From "Big Night"

 

Who doesn't enjoy casual summer entertaining outdoors with friends and family? New ideas for uncomplicated, attractive and delicious party fare are available for you in our cookbook and style sections of the library.  Below are some of our newest additions to the collection:

Cupcakes and cashmere : a guide for defining your style, reinventing your space, and entertaining with ease by Emily Schuman

Gather : the art of paleo entertaining by Hayley Mason and Bill Staley

Celebrate : a year of festivities for families and friends by Pippa Middleton

Seriously simple parties : recipes, menus & advice for effortless entertaining by Diane Rossen Worthington

What's a hostess to do? by Susan Spungen   

 

 

More new summer fiction

A few more titles coming out this summer:

My Education by Susan Choi
What happens when a graduate student decides to have an affair with the wife of a professor known himself for his many liaisons with students?  Regina Gottlieb will soon find out. 

Blood and Beauty: The Borgias by Sarah Dunant
Another work of historical literary fiction from the author of The Birth of Venus.

Amy Falls Down by Jincy Willett
Writer Amy Gallup has isolated herself from the world for the past twenty years teaching and reviewing.  She hasn't done much writing.  What happens when Amy accidentally clobbers herself on the side of a birdbath changes her life. 

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New History Books 2013

The list below is of the most popular history books published in 2013 so far.  Popularity is based upon the number of circulations the book has had since January. Engineers of victory the problem solvers who turned the tide in the Second World War by Paul Kennedy New York Times Bestseller Paul Kennedy, the award winning author of The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers and one of today’s most renowned historians, now provides a new and unique look at how World War II was won." Engineers of Victory is a fascinating nuts-and-bolts account of the strategic factors that led to Allied victory. The Hopkins touch Harry Hopkins and the forging of the alliance to defeat Hitler by David L. Roll David Roll shows how Harry Hopkins, an Iowa-born social worker who had been an integral part of the New Deal's implementation, became the linchpin in FDR's, and America's, relationships with Churchill and Stalin.  Lacking an official title or a clear executive branch portfolio, Hopkins could take the political risks his boss could not, and proved crucial to maintaining personal relations among the Big Three. Big Week six days that changed the course of World War II by Bill Yenne The Allies knew if they wanted to invade Hitler’s Fortress Europe, they would have to wrest control of the skies from the Luftwaffe.  Big Week launched the largest bombing campaign of the war thus far, dropping roughly ten thousand tons of bombs in a rain of destruction that would take the skies back from the Nazis. A higher call an incredible true story of combat and chivalry in the war-torn skies of World War II by Adam Makos, Larry Alexander  This is the true story of the two pilots whose lives collided in the skies that day: the American Second Lieutenant Charlie Brown, a former farm boy from West Virginia who came to captain a B-17--and the German--Second Lieutenant Franz Stigler, a former airline pilot from Bavaria who sought to avoid fighting in World War II. What happened between them, the American 8th Air Force would later classify as 'top secret.' It was an act that Franz could never mention or else face a firing squad. The fall of the house of Dixie the Civil War and the social revolution that transformed the South by Bruce C. Levine In this major new history of the Civil War, Bruce Levine tells the riveting story of how that conflict upended the economic, political, and social life of the old South, utterly destroying the Confederacy and the society it represented and defended.  Kill anything that moves the real American war in Vietnam by Nick Turse Americans have long been taught that events such as the notorious My Lai massacre were isolated incidents in the Vietnam War, carried out by "a few bad apples." Nick Turse demonstrates in this groundbreaking investigation, violence against Vietnamese noncombatants was not at all exceptional during the conflict. Rather, it was pervasive and systematic, the predictable consequence of orders to "kill anything that moves."

What's new in Fiction and Mystery for July?

Wondering what's new in Fiction and Mystery for July?  Here are a few titles:

The Light in the Ruins  by Chris Bohjalian
A new novel from the best-selling author set in the hills of Tuscany during World War II.

Death Angel by Linda Fairstein
The latest mystery with ADA Alexandra Cooper concerns a murder in Central Park.

Fin and Lady by Cathleen Schine
It's 1964 in Greenwich Village and 11-year-old Finn moves in with his older sister.

Love, Dishonor, Marry by David Rakoff
A novel written in verse where each chapter introduces a distinct character living in a different era.
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