What is Zinio?

July 31, 2013July 25, 2013 / Louise / Leave a comment

If you’re a regular visitor to our website, you may have noticed a new service we started offering recently – digital magazines! Cheshire Library has partnered with Zinio to bring you digital versions of some of your favorite magazines, available free with your Cheshire Library card.

Flip through vivid, full-color magazine pages identical to the print version–only better. Unlike the library’s paper copies, digital magazines can be viewed by many people at the same time and include links, audio/video features, and a clickable index. Back issues of the same magazine will be available.

Zinio is the ultimate app for magazine lovers, with digital magazines that can be read on an iPad, iPhone, Android, Mac & PC. Anyone with a computer or mobile device can use Zinio as a paid service, but as a Cheshire Library card-holder, you receive the additional benefit of having free access to over 60 popular magazine titles. The interface was updated in June to make it easier than ever to use!

Give Zinio a try and let us know what you think!

10 Tasty Zombie Novels

July 28, 2013July 15, 2013 / Louise / Leave a comment

Developing a taste for zombies after World War Z? Here are 10 more zombie novels to whet your appetite.

1. Feed by Mira Grant. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives–the dark conspiracy behind the infected.

2. The End Games by T. Michael Martin. In the rural mountains of West Virginia, seventeen-year-old Michael Faris tries to protect his fragile younger brother from the horrors of the zombie apocalypse.

3. Z by Thomas Michael Ford. In the year 2032, after a virus that turned people into zombies has been eradicated, Josh is invited to join an underground gaming society, where the gamers hunt zombies and the action is more dangerous than it seems.

4. The Walking Dead : The Road to Woodbury by Robert Kirkman & Jay Bonansinga. The zombie plague unleashes its horrors on the suburbs of Atlanta without warning, pitting the living against the dead. At first, Woodbury seems like a perfect sanctuary. A mysterious self-proclaimed leader named Philip Blake keeps the citizens safe. But all is not as it seems. . . . Blake, who has recently begun to call himself The Governor, has disturbing ideas about law and order.

5. Zone One by Colson Whitehead. A plague has sorted humanity into two types: the uninfected and the infected, the living and the living dead. The novel unfolds over three surreal days, as it depicts the impossible job of coming to grips with the fallen world. And then things start to go wrong.

6. Zom-B by Darren Shan. When news reports start appearing of a zombie outbreak in Ireland, B’s racist father thinks it’s a joke– but even if it isn’t, he figures, it’s ok to lose a few Irish. That is, until zombies attack the school. B is forced on a mad dash through the serpentine corridors of high school, making allegiances with anyone with enough gall to fight off their pursuers.

7. Paul is Undead: the British Zombie Invasion by Alan Goldsher. Can the Beatles sublimate their hunger for gray matter, remain on top of the charts, and stay together for all eternity? After all, three of the Fab Four “are” zombies, and zombies live forever …

8. Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry. In a post-apocalyptic world where fences and border patrols guard the few people left from the zombies that have overtaken civilization, fifteen-year-old Benny Imura is finally convinced that he must follow in his older brother’s footsteps and become a bounty hunter.

9. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. Through twists and turns of fate, orphaned Mary seeks knowledge of life, love, and especially what lies beyond her walled village and the surrounding forest, where dwell the unconsecrated, aggressive flesh-eating people who were once dead.

10. The New Dead : a Zombie Anthology. 19 provocative, haunting, and genuinely unsettling original stories in this zombie anthology move the genre beyond its usual apocalyptic wastelands. Includes stories by Kelley Armstrong, Max Brooks, Joe Hill, and David Liss.

Six Picks : Summer Thrillers

July 13, 2013July 11, 2013 / Louise / 1 Comment

With the new crop of mystery and suspense novels coming out, your summer reading could be extra thrilling this year! A few top picks:

Inferno by Dan Brown. In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces–Dante’s Inferno. Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science.

The Kill Room by Jeffrey Deaver. Renowned investigator and forensics expert, Lincoln Rhyme, is drafted to investigate the sniper-killing of a U.S. citizen in the Bahamas. While his partner, Amelia Sachs, traces the victim’s steps in Manhattan, Rhyme leaves the city to pursue the sniper himself.

Joyland by Stephen King. Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

Deeply Odd by Dean Koontz. Odd Thomas journeys through California and Nevada after a vision about the murders of three children, an effort throughout which he befriends a series of eccentric helpers who become allies in a battle against a sociopath and a network of killers.

The Redeemer by Jo Nesbo. Christmas shoppers stop to hear a Salvation Army concert on a crowded Oslo street. A gunshot cuts through the music and the bitter cold: one of the singers falls dead, shot in the head at point-blank range. Harry Hole–the Oslo Police Department’s best investigator and worst civil servant–has little to work with: no suspect, no weapon, and no motive.

Choke Point by Ridley Pearson. Hired to investigate allegations of a sweat-shop operation in Amsterdam that is enslaving young girls, John Knox and tech information expert Grace Chu embark on a rescue mission that is challenged by a crime organization that has seduced local neighborhoods with showy goodwill practices.

James Gandolfini – Beyond Tony Soprano

June 29, 2013June 29, 2013 / Louise / Leave a comment

Most people know James Gandolfini from his iconic role as Tony Soprano on the critically acclaimed HBO drama “The Sopranos“. His untimely death on June 19 prompted me to check out some of his other roles, available on DVD at Cheshire Public Library. There are some real gems here.

Not Fade Away (2012) – This film is about a group of young kids who try to form a rock band in ’60s Jersey. Gandolfini is great as Pat, the strict father of the band’s lead singer, who wants his son to abandon his rock-star fantasies in favor of college, so that his son can have the education and opportunities he didn’t.

Killing Them Softly (2012) – Critics were divided on this film, in which Gandolfini plays a depressed alcoholic hitman. Dubbed a “super-cynical crime caper”, the many of characters in the film are pretty despicable, but Gandofini’s turn as the soprano-esque Mickey stands out.

Down the Shore

Down the Shore (2011) – In this indie drama, Gamdolfini plays the operator of a rundown kiddie amusement park on the Jersey shore. Variety said of his performance, “…Gandolfini’s most substantial feature role to date … reminding audiences why he’s a genuine American acting treasure”.

Welcome to the Rileys (2010) – Gandolfini is Doug Riley, a man dealing with the tragic death of his teenage daughter. On a business trip to New Orleans, he encounters Mallory(played by Kristen Stewart of “Twilight” fame), an angry runaway living a dangerous life as a stripper. Moved by emotions he barely understands, Riley abandons his old life to save hers.

In the Loop

In the Loop (2009) – Gandolfini showcases his comedy chops as Lieutenant General Miller, senior military assistant to the U.S. secretary of Defense, engaging in several hilarious rapid-fire verbal exchanges with various politicians in this film satire.

Lonely Hearts (2006) – In this period drama, Gandolfini teamed up with John Travolta as homicide detectives who bring a serial killer couple to justice. (Based on the true story of Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez, who became known as the notorious “Lonely Hearts Killers” in the 1940s.)

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (2009) – Gandolfini plays a supporting but pivotal role as the mayor of New York City in this suspense film about a hostage crisis on the subway. The all-star cast also includes John Travolta and Denzel Washington, and is a remake of the 1974 film of the same name.

The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001) – In the Coen brothers’ noir film, Gandolfini stars as a department store boss caught up in blackmail and adultery. The AV Club said of his performance, “James Gandolfini doesn’t even make it past the 30-minute mark in The Man Who Wasn’t There, yet in every respect, he looms large over Joel and Ethan Coen’s unsung masterpiece.”

Where the Wild Things Are (2009) – Gandolfini plays Carol, the “lead” Wild Thing, the gentle-giant mentor to 9-year-old Max. Even though the only thing evident was Gandolfini’s voice, (the film made use of motion-capture CGI as he acted the role) he still managed to make the character be both scary and lovable in equal measure.

2013 Edgar Award Winners

June 22, 2013June 14, 2013 / Louise / Leave a comment

Love a good mystery? The Edgar Awards, named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America. They honor the best of the best in the mystery genre, published or produced in the previous year. The 2013 winners were announced in May, and the winners are….