Girl in Progress

I was working the library's audiovisual desk this week and I stumbled across the cutest movie!  Girl in Progress stars Eva Mendes, a carefree waitress with a teenage girl named Ansiedad who desperately wants to grow up and be an adult.  Ani is very disappointed in her mom 's behavior, because her mom acts more like a teenager than she does.  Ani decides to create her own "coming-of-age story" by becoming a nerd, attracting the attention of her teachers, then having an abrupt spiral downwards into "bad girl mode" by partying, suddenly making bad grades, shirking her chores and other duties and getting involved with the popular girls in school and dating the "baddest" boy in school.  What follows is a hilarious romp through the life of a teen.  The story is set in Seattle and features some of the famous landmarks in the town.  The movie is rated PG-13 and is perfect to watch with your own teenage girl!

Beat the Heat with a Cool Summer Salad

In the steamy Mississippi summer time, I often do not feel like cooking a huge, hot meal for myself.  What better way to enjoy your supper, and celebrate the lovely abundance of summer gardens, than by making yourself a beautiful salad for dinner!  50 Spectacular Salads by Steven Wheeler is a Step-By-Step book that shows the reader how to make fifty wonderful salads, from main courses to special occasion dinners and sweet salads for dessert.  Each recipe is on the left side of the page with a full color picture of the finished product on the right-hand side.  Each recipe step is numbered and clearly marked and includes tips on how to arrange the salad prettily on a plate.  Especially handy is a small set of pictures on the left-hand side of the recipe page, that show what the recipe items look like, in case the reader does not know what arugula, etc. is.  The book opens with sections on salad leaves, dressings, equipment and how to grow a kitchen herb garden.  This is a great book for the beginning chef or an experienced one and it is great for helping you plan your next salad adventure!

Maleability of Memory

I just finished Neil Gaiman's newest work, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and I must say that I was blown away by this short, but lyrically beautiful tale for adults. Neil Gaiman is a wonderful writer and he excels in creating modern fairy tales. When our story opens, the narrator (who is never named) is visiting his boyhood home in Sussex, England after attending a funeral. Fiftyish and looking for something he cannot pinpoint, he travels down to the end of the lane where he used to live. There he visits the Hempstock farm he thinks he remembers from when he was seven years old. It was there that he met his friend Lettie Hempstock, who, along with her mother and grandmother, tend the farm and its animals. The boy and his father walk down their lane to look for the family car that seems to have gone missing. In so doing, they find the body of their lodger slumped in the seat; an apparent suicide. So, the boy is shuffled off to the Hempstock farm so that the police can do their duty. Lettie shows the boy her "ocean"; a small duck pond behind the house. The boy cannot understand why Lettie calls it this, nor can he understand why she talks in riddles and seems to be wise beyond her years. The reason is that Gaiman has interwoven magic into this seemingly innocuous story about a young boy finding more adventure than he wants. Lettie and her family are not really human; they are ancient beings who look out for the world and raise cows and chickens and help little boys who get into trouble with monsters. Although the boy has great adventures and survives darkness and death, thanks to his friend Lettie, he doesn't remember any of it until he returns to contemplate his life beside the "ocean". And that is what this book is really about; how we alter our own memory as we age to gloss over painful and tragic times and to punctuate those glowing victories. If this all sounds a little confusing, it is. To tell you more would give away the ending and I wouldn't want to deprive you of the joy of reading this short, sweet tome.

Deeply Odd

Deeply Odd is the newest book in the Odd Thomas series, written by Dean Koontz.  Odd Thomas has the ability to communicate with restless spirits and help them find their own peace.  In this novel, Odd meets a sadistic truck driver and receives a vision of three innocent children burning as the truck driver sets them on fire.  Odd must intervene and save them, by figuring out who the children are and where they are being held, before the truck driver acts out his crime. When the help of Alfred Hitchcock's ghost and a few kind strangers, Odd rushes down the Interstate, using his psychic abilities to pursue the truck driver and his innocent quarry.  What Odd eventually finds is a world running parallet to his own, and a place so sinister, he may not return.  Odd Thomas is a strong character, a hero who is a "regular joe," and has had his own share of troubles.  Odd is sincere and humorous and he is in touch with the darker side of humanity.  I thoroughly enjoy reading about Odd Thomas' character and his books are always entertaining to me.  These books must be read in order, as the sequence of actions in each book builds upon the last one.  The first one is Odd Thomas.

New British Mysteries

I've just spent my weekend watching two of our newest British mystery series. First was Set 22 of the Midsomer Murders series. I love this series, but, as loyal watchers know, two seasons ago, the beloved Tom Barnaby was replaced by his cousin John Barnaby. I enjoy the second Barnaby, but no one can replace the wonderful performance of John Nettles as Tom. This newest series was very good and like the others, features the plethora of quirky small town personalities that have made this series so popular. There is no guts and gore here, so die-hard CSI fans may not like what they see, but if you can stand just a little blood, then this show may be for you. If you have never seen this series before, I would suggest starting at or near the beginning of the show, so that you can get a feel of how the dynamic between the senior detective and his plodding side-kick works. The library has just about all of the show starting with the "Killing at Badger's Drift".
The second show I watched was Series 6 of Inspector Lewis. For those of you who aren't familiar, this series is a spin-off of the Inspector Morse series based on the books by Colin Dexter. Lewis also features the wise lead detective and his long suffering sergeant, but instead of the Midsomer counties, these two muddle around the area of Oxford University. Unlike the sergeant in Midsomer, Sergeant James Hathaway is well educated and a bit brooding, but extremely wise for someone so young. Detective Inspector Lewis, himself, is a streetwise old-school copper who favors common sense and opera. From the way this series ended, I think it may be the last, or next-to-last for Inspector Lewis; which is quite sad, because I love the dynamic of these two characters and the wonderful characterization of the supporting cast. (It also helps that the young man who plays DS Hathaway is a cutie!)
We have several more different British series that our regular patrons adore, so if you want a good old murder mystery without the guts and gore, pick up one of these and give them a try.

Sookie's Good-bye

It is with a bit of sadness that I write this blog and talk about the final Sookie Stackhouse novel.  Dead Ever After is the thirteenth novel in the series by Charlaine Harris and it ties up many loose ends.  I have enjoyed watching Sookie develop and grow into the strong woman character that she is now, and I will enjoy going back to the beginning and re-reading the first one, Dead Until Dark, in a few months.  Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress at Merlotte's, in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps.  She is a telepath, and has spent her life trying to deal with her special ability, until vampires start "coming out" and co-existing with humans and paving the way for other supernatural beings (such as shapeshifters, werepanthers, werewolves, demons and fairies) to share their existence too.  Sookie dates a vampire and is introduced into this interesting world where her ability is appreciated by most supernatural beings.  The events of Dead Ever After  begin a few weeks after Deadlocked, the previous book, ends.  Sookie and her boss, Sam Merlotte, are trying to cope after Sookie brought Sam back to life, and life is bumpily moving along until Sookie's old waitress friend (who tried to murder her) is suddenly released from jail.  When she turns up dead after asking Sookie for her old job back, Sookie becomes the prime suspect in the murder.  Her group of friends bands together to help clear her name, while encountering twists and turns along the way.  Does Sookie end up with her past vampire flame, Bill Compton, her current vampire lover Sheriff Eric, werewolf Alcide or shapeshifter Sam?  I encourage you to read the book and discover for yourself!  Although the HBO series TrueBlood is based on these books, the books are much different than the television show.  Visit Charlaine Harris at www.charlaineharris.com and on facebook.com/Charlaine Harris to learn more about her writings.  I had the privilege of meeting Mrs. Harris at a Mississippi Library Association Conference several years ago and enjoyed spending my evening talking to her and discussing what would happen if HBO decided to bring her characters to life.  I wish her good luck as we say goodbye to Sookie Stackhouse--you will be missed!

In the words of Charlaine Harris from the dedication page of Dead Ever After :

This book is dedicated to the loyalreaders who have followed this series from beginning to end.  Some of you were reading the books before True Blood, and some came after, but you were all amazingly generous with your ideas, speculations, and votes on Sookie's future.  There isn't a way I could make all of you happy with the ending of the series, so I've followed my own plan, the one I've had all along, and I hope you agree that it's fitting.

Yummy!

     Anyone who knows me also knows that I LOVE cookbooks. For the past couple of weeks, I've been thumbing through two of the newer cookbooks we have here at the library. The first one is Hors d'Oeuvres: New Edition by Victoria Blashford-Snell and Eric Treuille.

This gem has more than 200 recipes and a slew of step-by-step sequences to show you how to create each delectable little morsel. Asian pork balls, marinated Mediterranean olives, roast beef with horseradish cream finger sandwiches, mini sticky orange cakes, triple chocolate biscottini, and Thai chicken skewers are just a few of the delicious and simple recipes this book offers. There are also handy "Cook's Note" sections located throughout the book to help with preparation. Probably my favorite features are the seasonal menu planners for parties as well as the "how much will I need" sections at the beginning. This is a great book to pick up if you are planning a shower, cocktail party, or just some nibbles with friends!

     The second book I've been perusing is called PIES: Sweet and Savory by Caroline Bretherton. As the title says, this book contains both sweet and savory pies as well as how-to sections on different kinds of pie dough (although, many recipes can be made with purchased dough). The recipes in this book are quite a bit more complicated than the above tome, but they are still pretty easy if you have done a bit of baking in your lifetime. You'll find recipes for chicken and cheese empanadas, shephard's pie, pot pie, quiche, chicken pasties, apple strudel, plum crumble, Normandy peach tart, cherry lattice pie, chocolate tart ...you get the picture! (Boy, I'm making myself hungry!) Now, check out one of these, or any of our myriad of cookbooks, and go cook somethin'!

 

Re-reading Old Favorites

     Back in high school, I found a love for spy stories and read the James Bond series by Ian Fleming.   Having recently come across the set again, I've started to re-read them again and am finding that the older me is getting as much if not more enjoyment out of them as the teenaged me did.  I've already re-read Goldfinger, Casino Royale and You Only Live Twice and am now in the middle of Thunderball.

     Some of the technology and world situations are, of course, rather dated, but for a series of books that were written around fifty years ago, they hold up very well and are still highly entertaining.  Next year will mark the 50th anniversary of the release of You Only Live Twice, the last Bond book published while Ian Fleming was still alive (The Man with the Golden Gun, Octopussy and The Living Daylights were all published posthumously).  If you've ever enjoyed a Bond movie, why not give one of the books a try?  Our library collection includes nine of the Bond series.

Super Foods for Pregnancy

Many of my friends and family members are expecting new additions to their families, and better nutrition during pregnancy is a frequent topic of conversation for us.  I discovered a book that the library owns, that is a great find for expectant moms!  Nutritionist Fiona Wilcock's Super Easy Drinks, Soups, and Smoothies for a Healthy Pregnancy describes quick and delicious meals on-the-go, that are packed with the nutrition that moms to be and babies need.  The cover of this fabulous book is very attractive, and it is filled with full-color photographs of the recipes.  Why is good nutrition while pregnant and breastfeeding, so important?  It has been proven that what happens during the nine months

that a woman is pregnant, is a major determinant of her baby's long-term health and what she eats and doesn't eat will have enormous consequences throughout the baby's life.  Unfortunately, due to the major hormone changes during pregnancy, many expectant women do not enjoy the smell of cooking, do not crave food any longer or are nauseous.  The idea behind this book was to help pregnant women maintain a good pregnancy diet even when she can't eat as she'd like to, by having nutrient-packed food in liquid form.  The first part of the book discusses why hydration is important and focuses on ingredients, nutritional quality and drink-making equipment needed.  The second part of the book contains recipes, and even a section on how to make homemade stocks and non-alcoholic cocktails!  This book is a wonderful tool and the recipes can be used by any person who enjoys eating flavorful smoothies and soups.

Celebrate Summer with Gardening

Crops in Pots:  How to Plan, Plant and Grow Vegetables, Fuits and Herbs in Easy-Care Containers by Bob Purnell is a great book for the aspiring gardener!  It is perfect for the home gardener who wants to get his/her feet into growing fruits and vegetables for snacks or meal time.  The book begins with a great section on how to grow plants from seed

and how to take care of them, including figuring out what to plant and how to fertilize them, and even a section on pests and diseases.  The rest of the book is divided into sections as to the type of food you want to grow--starters, main courses, and desserts.  Each type of plant shown has a picture of the plant, a detailed method on how to grow it and a recipe using the items you've grown.  One of my favorites is the "Select Salad" on page 68.  It's a main course, and combines an assortment of edible leaves, blooms and other unusual salad ingredients in a large growing pot.  This is a very accessible and easy-to-read book, perfect for beginning and seasoned gardeners.  The 50 planter projects contained in the book will yield delicious rewards, even if your gardening space is minimal!