The 10 Most Romantic Movies EVER!

February 13, 2018February 8, 2018 / Louise / Leave a comment

A bold claim, I know. But if you’re in the mood for love, these movies are guaranteed to make your heart go pitty-pat. The best part is, you can check them out from the library and watch them at home with your own true love, snuggled up in front of the TV, (maybe throw a glass of wine in there – romance!). I stand by my ranking of these movies as the most romantic, but I’m willing to concede that romance is in the eyes of the beholder – share your favorites in the comments!

Casablanca (1942). Former lovers Rick and Ilsa are unexpectedly reunited in north Africa during WWII. The old feelings are still there, though Ilsa is now married to the gallant resistance hero Victor. Lots of yearning, lots of smoldering looks and “will they or won’t they get back together?” moments. A romantic classic for good reason.

Brokeback Mountain (2005). This film has a lot of the same elements that make Casablanca great, except it’s two cowboys in the 60’s. Stay with me here: Ennis and Jack are helplessly drawn to one another and remain so over decades of clandestine meetups. Lots of yearning, lots of smoldering looks, lots of and “will they or won’t they get back together?” moments. It’s an emotional roller coaster, and the last scenes of this movie completely gut me.

Say Anything (1989). He’s a slacker, she’s a brain. She’s way out of his league, but they fall in love anyway. And there’s Lloyd’s big gesture with the boombox to declare his undying love to Diane, despite the odds against them, (Peter Gabriel likely made a mint off of that song). Teenagers-in-love perfection, written and directed by Cameron Crowe.

When Harry Met Sally (1989). This movie was written by Nora Ephron, and stars Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan, so you know it’s not one of those angsty romantic dramas, it’s a witty romantic comedy. This friends-to-lovers romance navigates the many bumps in the road to love hilariously, and is a real feel-good movie.

WALL-E (2008). Yes, it’s an animated movie about a trash-collecting robot, set hundreds of years in the future, but Pixar has totally made an epic romance here. WALL-E is all alone collecting trash on the now-deserted Earth when another robot (“EVE”) crash lands nearby. So delighted to see another being of any kind, WALL-E “courts” her enthusiastically. Things go very wrong before they right themselves, and for a story about robots, it has a lot of heart.

Silver Linings Playbook (2012). A funny and touching look at romance through the eyes of two pretty mentally unstable people. Love has broken both of them, and love will eventually put them back together, but what a crazy ride it is from point A to point B. Five star performances from Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper (both pretty easy on the eyes – just saying) seal the deal on this one, and the dance scenes are the icing on the cake.

The Way We Were (1973). Meeeemoriesss … light the corners of my miiiiind. Sorry, I got distracted there. Speaking of easy on the eyes, Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford are looking pretty fetching in this one. A tale of opposites attracting, but will the friction pull them together of push them apart? Katie and Hubbell try to make it work, but it all turns to misty water-colored memories by the end…

Ghost (1998). No one knew pottery was sexy before this movie. But boy howdy, it is! Hot young wife Molly is mourning the loss of her hot young husband Sam, who was killed in a mugging. Demi Moore‘s tears should get separate billing, they’re on screen so much, but what could be a real downer of a movie is instead a sweet story of love and finding a way to move on. Whoopi Goldberg provides some welcome comic relief as the medium who helps Sam communicate with Molly from beyond.

An Affair to Remember (1957). Playboy Cary Grant meets nice girl Deborah Kerr on a transatlantic crossing. They are both engaged to others, but hopelessly drawn to one another. And then, well, it’s an affair to remember! At the end of the cruise, they agree to go back to their regular lives, and meet in six months at the Empire State Building if they truly can’t forget each other. The ending is totally tissue-worthy.

Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Beauty and the Beast (2017). Whether it’s the original animated film or the newer live action version, this love story is a tale as old as time. And a musical! She’s bookish, he’s brutish, yet somehow they connect. True love breaks an evil curse, and they live happily ever after. And ladies, any man that gives you a library is a keeper!

The Best Audiobooks of 2017 (a subjective list)

January 9, 2018December 7, 2017 / Louise / Leave a comment

The editors of AudioFile Magazine have released their selections for Best Audiobooks of 2017. AudioFile is a publication that reviews and recommends audiobooks, taking into account all the things that make an audiobook enjoyable: a great story, of course, but also the skillful pacing, structure, and narration that make them worth listening to. (Full disclosure: I am a reviewer for AudioFile, mainly for romance books, and I have received free audiobooks from them to provide honest reviews). I have perused the dozens of audiobooks selected as “best”, and winnowed them down to three favorites in six categories, click on the titles to read more about each one. Consider this a jumping off point, audiophiles!

GENERAL FICTION

Beartown by Frederik Backman, read by Marin Ireland.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, read by Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Rutina Wesley, Chris Chalk.
Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, read by Nick Offerman, David Sedaris and George Saunders, with a full cast that includes Carrie Brownstein, Don Cheadle, Kat Dennings, Lena Dunham, Bill Hader, Miranda July, Mary Karr, Keegan-Michael Key, Julianne Moore, Megan Mullally, Mike O’Brien, Susan Sarandon, Ben Stiller, Jeffrey Tambor, Jeff Tweedy, Bradley Whitford, Patrick Wilson, and Rainn Wilson.

MYSTERY & SUSPENSE

Glass Houses by Louise Penny, read by Robert Bathurst.
Don’t Let Go by Harlan Coben, read by Steven Weber
The Thirst by Jo Nesbø , read by John Lee

SCI-FI, FANTASY, HORROR

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman, read by the author.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, read by Kathleen Gati.
Strange Weather : four short novels by Joe Hill, read by Joe Hill, Wil Wheaton, Kate Mulgrew, Stephen Lang, Dennis Boutsikaris.

ROMANCE

Beauty Like the Night by Joanna Bourne, read by Kirsten Potter.
If Not For You by Debbie Macomber, read by Khristine Hvam.
Come Sundown by Nora Roberts, read by Elisabeth Rodgers.

YA FICTION

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green, read by Kate Rudd
Solo by Kwame Alexander, read by the author with Randy Preston.
The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman, read by Michael Sheen.

MEMOIR

Vacationland : true stories from painful beaches by John Hodgman, read by the author.
Theft by Finding : diaries (1977-2002) by David Sedaris, read by the author.
What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton, read by the author.

Our staff’s favorite books of 2017

December 20, 2017December 13, 2017 / Louise / Leave a comment

What was the best book you read in 2017? This is the question I posed to my fellow staff members at CPL. Interestingly, I got no duplicate answers! We have a wide variety of reading preferences among our staff, which means there’s something for everyone in this list. Maybe your next great read is below:

Our Library Director Ramona picked the audiobook edition of News of the World by Paulette Jiles, read by Grover Gardner. In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction.

Teen Librarian Kelley really liked Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire. In this urban fantasy, Jenna, who died too soon, works to regain the years that were lost to her. But something has come for the ghosts of New York, something beyond reason, beyond death, beyond hope; something that can bind ghosts to mirrors and make them do its bidding. Only Jenna stands in its way.

Bill is our Head of Adult Services, and he picked the Bruce Springsteen autobiography Born to Run as his favorite read of 2017. In 2009, Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed at the Super Bowl’s half-time show. The experience was so exhilarating that Bruce decided to write about it, which is how this extraordinary autobiography began. Springsteen traces his life from his childhood in a Catholic New Jersey family and the musical experiences that prompted his career to the rise of the E Street Band and the stories behind some of his most famous songs.

Children’s Librarian Lauren went with The Sun is Also a Star, a young adult novel by Nicola Yoon. In this story Natasha, whose family is hours away from being deported, and Daniel, a first generation Korean American on his way to a prestigious college admissions interview, cross paths in New York. They unexpectedly fall in love during an intense day in the city.

More books our staff loved last year:

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Winter of the Gods by Jordanna Max Brodsky, Evicted by Matthew Desmond, All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, Illusion Town by Jayne Castle, The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine by Mark Twain and Philip Stead, Border Child by Michael Stone, Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult, Letters from Skye by Jessica Brockmole, Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple, Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas, The Genius of Birds by Jennifer Ackerman, Glass Houses by Louise Penny

More Wine!

December 13, 2017December 7, 2017 / Louise / Leave a comment

I’m a wine novice. Or whatever comes below novice on the scale. I have no concept of what constitutes a good wine or a bad wine, as I rarely drink it myself. But with the holiday season zooming in, a bottle of wine is often a go-to for party contributions and gift-giving. Very challenging for a wine neophyte.

While I’ll never be an oenophile (vocabulary points!), I’ve decided that maybe it’s time to learn a little about the nectar of the gods, the venerable vintage, the glorious grape. With a literal library of information at my fingertips, heading over to 641.22 seemed like the smart way to begin. How pleasantly surprised I was to find that there were plenty of books (eBooks & audiobooks, too) for newbies like myself! Maybe the next time I’m in the wine aisle of my local liquor store, I’ll be able to do more than stare vaguely at the bottles and count off “eenie-meenie-minie-moe”.

Wine : an introduction by Joanna Simon

The Everything Wine Book by Barbara Nowak

Wine Isn’t Rocket Science : a quick & easy guide to understanding, buying, tasting, & pairing every type of wine by Ophélie Neiman

Winewise : your complete guide to understanding, selecting, and enjoying wine by Steven Kolpan, Brian Smith, and Michael Weiss, the Culinary Institute of America

Wine All the Time : the casual guide to confident drinking by Marissa A. Ross

10 Books for Kids Obsessed with “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”

November 27, 2017November 20, 2017 / Louise / Leave a comment

They’re the books that got many reluctant readers turning pages, but what to do once they’ve finished them all? It’s a question I hear often when I work in the Children’s Room. Parents want to keep the interest going, and are keen to know which other books will appeal to their DOAWK fans.

A couple of the attractions of this series for reluctant readers is that there are pictures, which provides a text break and makes reading feel more manageable, and humor, which makes them fun rather than work. Here are 10 suggestions for books that hit those sweet spots with middle grade readers.

Timmy Failure series by Stephan Pastis. Meet Timmy Failure, the founder, president, and CEO of the best detective agency in town, probably the nation. And his lazy sidekick, Total, a 1,500-pound polar bear.

Alvin Ho series by Lenore Look. Frightened by everything out in the world and completely quiet at school, Asian-American second-grader Alvin Ho becomes a force to be reckoned with at home when he transforms himself into the loud, talented, and fearless Firecracker Man!

How to Train Your Dragon series by Cressida Cowell. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan by catching and training a dragon.

Origami Yoda series by Tom Angleberger. Tommy and his friends interact with a paper finger puppet of Yoda, worn by their weird classmate Dwight, to try and figure out whether or not the puppet can really predict the future.

Tom Gates series by Liz Pinchon. Irritating his teachers with his lack of focus and creative excuses, Tom Gates spends his time drawing pictures and writing down observations about everything from his grumpy sister and annoying classmate to an unsatisfying camping trip.

The Odd Squad series by Michael Fry. When his school counselor insists that he needs better socialization skills after being stuffed into a locker by a bully, middle-schooler Nick finds himself, along with two other misfits, joining the school’s lamest club: Safety Patrol.

Clueless McGee series by Jeff Mack. Clueless McGee is just your average fifth-grader: snarky, awkward, and a magnet for trouble. The only difference: he’s also an amateur detective. Determined to make his absent father proud, he uses the skills he’s learned playing video games to solve mysteries.

The Terrible Two books by Mac Barnett and Jory John. Disgusted when he has to move from the oceanside community where he was infamous for his tricks to a sleepy, cow-filled town that already has a notable prankster, Miles plots mischief that culminates in a daring partnership.

Dear Dumb Diary series by Jim Benton. Take a peek inside the diaries of middle schoolerJamie Kelly – she’s cool (sometimes), nice (mostly), and funny (always). She’s the nerd, the cute girl, the jealous girl, and the brainiac all wrapped up in one.

The Dork Diaries series by Rachel Renée Russell. Through journal entries, sketches, and drawings, the complicated life of eighth grader Nikki Maxwell is presented – her relationship with her mother, secret crushes, dealings with her biggest rival at school, passion in pursuing art as a career, and overall views on the world in which she lives.