Natalie Portman To Slay Zombies Says Variety

Variety has announced that Natalie Portman will star in and produce “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” a film that is based on the bestselling book written by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen. Lionsgate will finance and distribute. Quirk Books published the tome.

Described as an expanded version of the Austen classic, the book tells the timeless story of a woman’s quest for love and independence amid the outbreak of a deadly virus that turns the undead into vicious killers. Portman will play feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet, who is distracted from her quest to eradicate the zombie menace by the arrival of the arrogant Mr. Darcy.

Mystery And Suspense Books You May Not Know About

For all our patrons who like mystery and suspense stories, we’ve put together a list of a few you may have missed and a couple that are new releases. Don’t forget to check out our New Release Alerts page to see what’s coming in new books and be first to place a hold on your favorites.

Ratking by Michael Dibdin In this masterpiece of psychological suspense, Italian Police Commissioner Aurelio Zen is dispatched to investigate the kidnapping of Ruggiero Miletti, a powerful Perugian industrialist. But nobody much wants Zen to succeed: not the local authorities, who view him as an interloper, and certainly not Miletti’s children, who seem content to let the head of the family languish in the hands of his abductors — if he’s still alive.

The Chatham School Affair by Thomas H. Cook Attorney Henry Griswald has a secret: the truth behind the tragic events the world knew as the Chatham School Affair, the controversial tragedy that destroyed five lives, shattered a quiet community, and forever scarred the young boy. Cook paints a stunning portrait of a woman, a school, and a town in which passionate violence seems impossible…and inevitable.

Motherless Brooklyn by by Jonathan Lethem St. Vincent’s Home for Boys, Brooklyn, early 1970s. For Lionel Essrog, a.k.a. The Human Freakshow, a victim of Tourette’s syndrome (an uncontrollable urge to shout out nonsense, touch every surface in reach, rearrange objects), Frank Minna is a savior. A local tough guy and fixer, Minna shows up to take Lionel and three of his fellow orphans on mysterious errands: they empty a store of stereos as the owner watches; destroy a small amusement park; visit old Italian men. The four grow up to be the Minna Men, a fly-by-night detective agency-cum-limo service, and their days and nights revolve around Frank, the prince of Brooklyn, who glides through life on street smarts, attitude, and secret knowledge. Then one dreadful night, Frank is knifed and thrown into a Dumpster, and Lionel must become a real detective.

The Rainaldi Quartet by Paul Adam Who would want to kill Tomaso Rainaldi, an elderly, unassuming violin-maker in the quiet Italian city of Cremona? For his friend and fellow violin-maker Gianni Castiglione, the murder is as mysterious as it is shocking. Rainaldi had few possessions, no enemies and little money. All he really had was an obsessive love of violins and an encyclopedic knowledge of them. But what if he knew more than anyone else – not just about famous violins, but about missing violins?

Dead Of The Day : an Annie Seymour Mystery by Karen E. Olson A soggy April has hit New Haven, Connecticut-along with an unidentified body in the harbor. The strange fact that there were bee stings on the floater gives New Haven Herald police reporter Annie Seymour an intriguing excuse to put off her profile of the new police chief-a piece that becomes a lot more interesting when the subject is gunned down.

The Fate Of Katherine Carr by Thomas H. Cook George Gates used to be a travel writer who specialized in places where people disappeared—Judge Crater, the Lost Colony. Then his eight-year-old son was murdered, the killer never found, and Gates gave up disappearance. Now he writes stories of redemptive triviality about flower festivals and local celebrities for the town paper, and spends his evenings haunted by the image of his son’s last day. Enter Arlo MacBride, a retired missing-persons detective still obsessed with the unsolved case of Katherine Carr. When he gives Gates the story she left behind—a story of a man stalking a woman named Katherine Carr—Gates too is drawn inexorably into a search for the missing author’s brief life and uncertain fate. And as he goes deeper, he begins to suspect that her tale holds the key not only to her fate, but to his own.

Death Wore White by Jim Kelly Rookie detective Peter Shaw, along with his chain-smoking, hard-as-nails, veteran partner, is confronted with a baffling crime that stretches him to the breaking point.

Suspect by Michael Robotham London psychiatrist Joseph O’Loughlin seems to have the perfect life. He has a beautiful wife, an adoring daughter, and a thriving practice to which he brings great skill and compassion. But he’s also facing a future dimmed by Parkinson’s disease. And when he’s called in on a gruesome murder investigation, he discovers that the victim is someone he once knew. Unable to tell the police what he knows, O’Loughlin tells one small lie which turns out to be the biggest mistake of his life. Suddenly, he’s caught in a web of his own making.

Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato Fear doesn’t come naturally to Mathilda Savitch. She prefers to look right at the things nobody else can bring themselves to mention: for example, the fact that her beloved older sister is dead, pushed in front of a train by a man still on the loose. Her grief-stricken parents have basically been sleepwalking ever since, and it is Mathilda’s sworn mission to shock them back to life. Her strategy? Being bad. Mathilda decides she’s going to figure out what lies behind the catastrophe. She starts sleuthing through her sister’s most secret possessions—e-mails, clothes, notebooks, whatever her determination and craftiness can ferret out.

The Echelon Vendetta by David Stone CIA agent Micah Dalton is a “cleaner.” He takes care of other agents’ mistakes. When a friend and mentor commits a grotesque suicide, Dalton’s investigation leads him into the snare of a madman, into the arms of a beautiful, mysterious stranger-and into a conspiracy within his own agency. Dalton knows only one thing for certain-this job is going to get very messy.

Bryant & May On The Loose : a Peculiar Crimes Unit mystery by Christopher Fowler The Peculiar Crimes Unit is no more. After years of defying the odds and infuriating their embarrassed superiors, detectives Arthur Bryant and John May have at last crossed the line. While Bryant takes to his bed, his bathrobe, and his esoteric books, the rest of the team take to the streets looking for new careers—leading one of them to stumble upon a gruesome murder. It isn’t so much the discovery of the headless corpse that’s potentially so politically explosive as where it’s found. Still it takes the bizarre sightings of a great horned creature—half man, half stag—carrying off young women to convince Bryant that this is a case worth getting dressed and leaving the house to solve.

The Ghosts Of Belfast by Stuart Neville Fegan has been a “hard man,” an IRA killer in northern Ireland. Now that peace has come, he is being haunted day and night by twelve ghosts: a mother and infant, a schoolboy, a butcher, an RUC constable, and seven other of his innocent victims. In order to appease them, he’s going to have to kill the men who gave him orders. As he’s working his way down the list he encounters a woman who may offer him redemption; she has borne a child to an RUC officer and is an outsider too. Now he has given Fate—and his quarry—a hostage. Is this Fegan’s ultimate mistake?

Too Many Murders : a Carmine Delmonico novel by Colleen McCullough The year is 1967, and the world teeters on the brink of nuclear holocaust as the Cold War goes relentlessly on. On a beautiful spring day in the little city of Holloman, Connecticut, home to prestigious Chubb University and armaments giant Cornucopia, chief of detectives Captain Carmine Delmonico has more pressing concerns than finding a name for his infant son: twelve murders have taken place in one day, and Delmonico is drawn into a gruesome web of secrets and lies. Supported by his detective sergeants Abe Goldberg and Corey Marshall and new team member the meticulous Delia Carstairs, Delmonico embarks on what looks like an unsolvable mystery. All the murders are different and they all seem unconnected. Are they dealing with one killer, or many?

Garnethill by Denise Mina Maureen O’Donnell wakes up one morning to find her therapist boyfriend murdered in the middle of her living room and herself a prime suspect in a murder case. Desperate to clear her name and to get at the truth, Maureen traces rumors about a similar murder at a local psychiatric hospital, uncovering a trail of deception and repressed scandal that could exonerate her – or make her the next victim.

An Expert In Murder: a new mystery featuring Josephine Tey by Nicola Upson Traveling to London in 1934 to celebrate the triumphant final week of her play Richard of Bordeaux, popular writer Josephine Tey is caught up by the murder of a fellow train passenger, in a case that raises the suspicions of Detective Inspector Archie Penrose.

The Silent Hour by Michael Koryta Twelve years after the failure of a Mafia daughter’s elaborate parole program at a luxurious estate, private investigator Lincoln Perry investigates the program founder’s disappearance and is alarmed to discover that an initial search was derailed by a murder.

The Crimson Rooms by Katharine McMahon Still haunted by the death of her only brother, James, in the Great War, Evelyn Gifford is completely unprepared when a young nurse and her six-year-old son appear on the Giffords’ doorstep one night. The child, the nurse claims, is James’s, conceived in a battlefield hospital. Evelyn, a struggling attorney, must now support her entire family-at a time when work for women lawyers is almost nonexistent. Suddenly a new case falls in Evelyn’s lap: The accused-a veteran charged with murdering his young wife- is almost certain to die on the gallows. And yet, Evelyn believes he is truly innocent, just as she suspects there may be more to the story of her “nephew” than meets the eye. This book is due out on February 10, 2010.

Paganini’s Ghost by Paul Adam Paganini – showman, womanizer, dazzling virtuoso – is one of the most charismatic characters in the history of classical music. His violin, il Cannone (the Cannon), is now kept in Genoa, Italy, where it is played only once every two years in a sold-out concert by the winner of an international competition. This year, though, a Parisian art dealer is found dead in his hotel room the day after the concert. In his wallet is a scrap of sheet music, torn from a page that belongs to the competition’s winner. But how did the dead man get hold of it? And why? Detective Antonio Guastafeste asks violin maker Gianni Castiglione to help him navigate the curious world of classical musicians, their priceless instruments, and the unsavory dealers who prey upon them.

The Red Door by Charles Todd Set in post–World War I Lancashire, England, June 1920. In a house with a red door lies the body of a woman who has been bludgeoned to death. Rumor has it that two years earlier, she’d painted that door to welcome her husband back from the Front. Only he never came home. Meanwhile, in London, a man suffering from a mysterious illness first goes missing and then just as suddenly reappears. He is unable to explain his recovery. His family, supposedly searching for him, give conflicting accounts of where they were and why. What is the secret that nearly drove one man mad and turned his brothers and sister against one another with such unexpected savagery?

Midnight Fugue by Reginald Hill It starts with a phone call to Superintendent Dalziel from an old friend asking for help. Gina Wolfe has come to mid Yorkshire in search of her missing husband, believed dead. Her fiance, Commander Mick Purdy of the Met, thinks Dalziel should be able to take care of the job. A Welsh tabloid journalist senses the story he’s been chasing for years may have finally landed in his lap. A Tory MP’s secretary suspects her boss’s father has an unsavory history that could taint his son’s prime ministerial ambitions. The ruthless entrepreneur in question sends two henchmen out to make sure the past stays in the past. And the lethal pair dispatched have some awkward secrets of their own.

The Cundill Prize Is Announced

The Cundill Prize is awarded to an individual whose book has had, or is likely to have, a profound literary, social and academic impact in the area of history. This is the second year for the prize which is sponsored by the Cundill Foundation and McGill University in Montreal. The Cundill Prize is the largest nonfiction historical literature award in the world and carries a prize of US$75,000.

Author Lisa Jardine, photo by Owen Egan

This year’s winner is Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory by Lisa Jardine , “the remarkable story of the relationship between the Dutch Republic and Britain, two of 17th Century Europe’s most important colonial powers. In this wide-ranging book, Jardine masterfully assembles new research in political and social history, together with the histories of art, music, gardening and science, to show how Dutch tolerance, resourcefulness and commercial acumen had effectively conquered Britain long before the Glorious Revolution of 1688 that overthrew King James II of England.”

Jardine, a CBE, (Commander of the British Empire) is the Centenary Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and an Honorary Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge and Jesus College, Cambridge. Jardine writes and reviews for the UK’s national newspapers and magazines and for the Washington Post. She is a regular writer and presenter of “A point of view,” on BBC Radio 4.  Jardine has published more than 50 scholarly articles and 17 full-length books, a number of them in co-authorship with others. She is the author of a number of best-selling general books, including Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance, Ingenious Pursuits: Building the Scientific Revolution, and biographies of Sir Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke.

Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series Continues

The first of this year’s Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series with Jim Childress outgrew its venue at the Essex Library last Friday and was moved to Centerbrook Architect’s office as the Town Hall was already reserved for a Red Cross blood drive. Unfortunately, even that was too small for our burgeoning crowd although it did allow us a rare and fascinating look inside the ‘factory’. We had to turn people away on the phone and at the door which we are absolutely loathe to do. To prevent this sort of disappointment from occurring again, we have reserved the auditorium of the Essex Town Hall for the future lectures in the series. To those of you who were turned away, please accept our deepest apologies and give us another try –you’ll be glad you did because we have an exceptional experience planned for Friday, January 8th at 7 p.m. with Art & Architecture Historian Chuck Benson.

“The Art and Architecture Of C.F.A. Voysey and Sir Edwin Lutyens” focuses on the works of two of the most beloved architects and designers from the turn of the 19^th to 20^th centuries—the end of the Arts and Crafts movement in Great Britain. This era was also known as the British Art Nouveau, or Edwardian Period. The holistic approach to residential design of these two extraordinary artists has in part defined our enchantment with the English Country Cottage. Come explore their genius.

Professor Chuck Benson has been teaching Art and Architectural History for over twenty five years at various universities and colleges across the United States, and has subsequently led groups to explore and visit a variety of sites to Italy, England, Scotland, France, Spain, Austria, Germany, Greece and Turkey. He has also led Art and Architecture trips to New York, Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. He has lectured at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, MOMA, The Whitney Museum, The Getty in Los Angeles, The Art Institute in Chicago, as well as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Dr. Benson currently serves as the Director of Colorado Operations, and Head of Design for a Group that specializes in the architecture and engineering of Satellite Operations Centers and Mission Control Stations.  He currently teaches as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and has taught part-time for both the Colorado College and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.

He studied the history of art and architecture at Yale as an undergraduate, and holds advanced degrees from Columbia University. He also has studied at both Cambridge and Oxford, as well as the University of Goettingen in Germany.

Jon Scieszka’s Picks For Kids Books

Author Jon Scieszka

Author Jon Scieszka, who is also the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, appeared on the CBS Early Show Saturday morning to present his recommendations for his favorite children’s books for holiday gift-giving. Scieszka is the author of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!,  Stinky Cheese Man,  Math Curse, the Time Warp Trio series, and many more terrific kids books. No doubt, these make great gifts but you can check them out for free at the Essex Library all year long.

Polar Express by Chris VanAllsburg – The beloved story of one boy’s magical Christmas Eve adventure to the North Pole.

Moon Shot by Brian Floca – tells the extraordinary story of Apollo 11.

Guess Again by Mac Barnett – The rhyming text in this debut picture book asks readers to fill in the obvious blank to guess what the obvious picture is, but when the page is turned, what’s revealed is anything but obvious!

Never Smile at the Monkey by Steve Jenkins – When it comes to wild animals, everyone knows there are certain things you just don’t do — tease a tiger, pull a python’s tail, or bother a black widow.  A fascinating look at creatures that are more dangerous than you would expect.

Little Oink by Amy Krouse Rosenthal - Little Oink is a neat little fellow. But Mama and Papa won’t have it! They say in order to be a proper pig, he has to learn to make a proper mess. Readers who hate clean up will love this humorous twist on a universal dilemma.

Additional holiday book picks from Jon Scieszka:
FOR YOUR EARLY READER (PICTURE BOOKS):

“Martina, the Beautiful Cockroach” by Carmen Agra Deedy – How does a beautiful cockroach pick the perfect husband? Try the Coffee Test. A lively retelling of a great Hispanic folktale.

“The Lion and the Mouse” by Jerry Pinkney — The classic Aesop tale in a glorious, beautiful, wordless re-telling.

“All the World” by Liz Garton Scanlon, illustrated by Marla Frazee — A lyrical celebration of the whole world that feels just right.

“The Elephant and Piggie” series by Mo Willems — A whole mess of funny true friendship tales about two best pals. Perfect for just beginning readers.

FOR YOUR MIDDLE GRADE READER:

“The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity” by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex — Very funny mystery adventure. And it’s a series!

“The Last Olympian” by Rick Riordan — Book 5 in the Percy Jackson series. Greek mythology in the modern world.

“The Magician’s Elephant” by Kate DiCamillo — No one can spin a tale like Kate DiCamillo. And this is a beauty.

“Max” by James Patterson — Book five in the fantasy/thriller Maximum Ride series. James Patterson knows the secret of how to get kids reading – write something exciting for them to read.

FOR YOUR YOUNG ADULT READER:

“Candle Man, Book One: The Society of Unrelenting Vigilance” by Glen Dakin — Murder, mystery, and steampunk adventure to get your favorite guy reading.

“Going Bovine” by Libba Bray — Crazy, fun, weird, sad, and weird. Also very good.

“Stitches: A Memoir” by David Small — A stunning mixture of art and text telling an amazing personal story.

What to Read Now That You’ve Finished all the “Wimpy Kid” books:
“Lunch Lady” series by Jarrett Krosoczka — Total fun superhero illustrated storytelling.

What to Read Now That You’ve Finished all the “Fancy Nancy” books:
“Fashion Kitty” by Charise Mericle Harper — A kitty with the super powers to help other kittens with their fashion and other personal problems. Exquisite good fun.

The New York Times’ Top 10 Books of 2009

The NYT has announced their Book Review editors’ picks for the 10 best books of 2009. As opposed to some other lists highlighted in previous posts with few or no women authors represented, 60% of the NYT’s list are by women. If you haven’t already read these, come in to the Library and pick one up.

Fiction:

Both Ways Is The Only Way I Want It by Maile Meloy
“In an exceptionally strong year for short fiction, Meloy’s concise yet fine-grained narratives, whether set in Montana, an East Coast boarding school or a 1970s nuclear power plant, shout out with quiet restraint and calm precision. Her flawed characters — ranch hands in love, fathers and daughters — rarely act in their own best interests and often betray those closest to them.”

Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem
“Lethem’s eighth novel unfolds in an alternative-reality Manhattan. The crowded canvas includes a wantonly destructive escaped tiger (or is it a subway excavator?) prowling the streets, a cruel gray fog engulfing Wall Street, a “war free” edition of The New York Times, a character stranded on the dying International Space Station, strange and valuable vaselike objects called chaldrons, colossal cheeseburgers and some extremely potent marijuana.”

A Gate At The Stairs by Lorrie Moore
“Moore’s captivating novel, her first in more than a decade, is set in 2001 and narrated by a Wisconsin college student who hungers for worldly experience and finds it when she takes a job baby-sitting for a bohemian couple who are trying to adopt a mixed-race child. Meanwhile, she drifts into a love affair with an enigmatic classmate and feels the pressing claims of her own family, above all her affectless younger brother, who enlists in the military after 9/11.”

Half-Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls
“In her luminous memoir, “The Glass Castle,” Walls told of being raised by eccentric and unfit parents. Now, in a novel based on family lore, she has adopted the voice of her maternal grandmother, Lily Casey Smith — mustang breaker, schoolteacher, ranch wife, bootlegger, poker player, racehorse rider and bush pilot. The result ­re­animates a chapter of America’s frontier past.”

A Short History Of Women by Kate Walbert
“The 15 lean, concentrated chapters in this exquisitely written novel alternate among the lives of a British suffragist and a handful of her Anglo-American descendants. The theme is feminism, but Walbert is keenly alert to male preoccupations and the impressions they leave on the lives of her female cast. Walbert’s prose, cool and intelligent, captures the many ways we silence and are silenced, the ways we see and hear as we struggle to grasp hold of meaning.”

Non-Fiction

The Age Of Wonder: How The Romantic Generation Discovered The Beauty And Terror Of Science by Richard Holmes
“Holmes harnesses the twin energies of scientific curiosity and poetic invention in this superb intellectual history, which recreates a glorious period, some 200 years ago, when figures like William Herschel, Humphry Davy and Joseph Banks brought “a new imaginative intensity and excitement to scientific work,” and literary giants like Coleridge and Keats responded giddily to these breakthroughs, finding in them an empirical basis for their own faith in human betterment.”

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel
“Finkel, a Pulitzer Prize-­winning writer and editor at The Washington Post, gives full voice to his subjects, infantry soldiers from Fort Riley, Kan. (average age 19), posted in the lethal reaches of Baghdad at the height of the “surge.” Finkel’s own perspective emerges through spare descriptions — of a roadside bombing or the tortured memories of a single soldier — that capture the harrowing realities of war.”

Lit: A Memoir by Mary Karr
“This sequel to “The Liars’ Club” and “Cherry” is also a master class on the art of the memoir. Mordantly funny, free of both self-pity and sentimentality, Karr describes her attempts to untether herself from her troubled family in rural Texas, her development as a poet and writer, and her struggles to navigate marriage and young motherhood even as she descends into alcoholism.”

Lords Of Finance: The bankers Who Broke The World by Liaquat Ahamed
“The parallels with our own moment are impossible to miss in Ahamed’s narrative about four members of “the most exclusive club in the world,” central bankers who dominated global finance in the post-World War I era. Ahamed, a longtime investment manager, evokes in glittering detail a volatile time of financial bubbles followed by busts, all of it guided by players wedded to economic orthodoxy.”

Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life by Carol Sklenicka
“Ten years in the making, this prodigiously researched and meticulous biography sympathetically and adroitly integrates its subject’s work with the turbulent life ­— marred by alcoholism, financial turmoil and family discord — that brought it into ­being. ­Sklenicka shrewdly deconstructs Carver’s fraught relationship with Gordon Lish, the editor who played an outsize role in the creation of Carver’s stories, the most influential of a generation.”

Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel, Jeannette Walls, Scribner, 10/6/09

A Gate at the Stairs, Lorrie Moore, Knopf, 9/1/09

The Good Soldiers, David Finkel, Sarah Crichton/FSG, 9/15/09

Lit, Mary Karr, Harper, 11/3/00

A Short History of Women, Kate Walbert, Scribner, 6/16/09

Chronic City, Jonathan Lethem, Doubleday, 10/13/09

The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science, Richard Holmes, Pantheon, 7/14/09

Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World, Liaquat Ahamed, Penguin Press, 1/22/09

Both Ways Is the Only Way I Want It, Maile Meloy, Riverhead/Penguin, 7/9/09

Raymond Carver: A Writer’s Life, Carol Sklenicka

December Programs At The Essex Library

As we write this, author Eugenia West is in our Program Room speaking about her new book Overkill to a full crowd. Tomorrow night, kicking off our 2nd annual Centerbrook Architects Lecture Series, partner Jim Childress will be presenting his talk: The Architecture Of Gardens: Man-made Nature. If you haven’t already reserved a seat, you’ll have to wait until January’s lecture because we are overbooked. The Series will continue with Art & Architecture historian Chuck Benson who will be coming in from Colorado to speak about Edwin Lutyens on January 8th at 7 p.m.

Here’s what we have for you for the rest of December:

The Italian Farmer’s Table With Chef/Authors Matthew Scialabba and Melissa Pellegrino
Sunday, December 6th at 3 p.m.
This sumptuously illustrated cookbook features authentic recipes from over thirty “agriturismi “(working family farms that provide room & board to travelers) in northern Italy, where the cuisine served epitomizes the farm-fresh movement underway in the United States, the UK, and beyond. Visitors to “agriturismi,” who come from all over Europe and North America, indulge in such delights as fresh ricotta cheese made the same morning, prosciutto from free-range pigs, and organic vegetables picked minutes before serving. Professional chefs who are fluent in Italian, Matteo and Melissa have transcribed more than 150 authentic northern Italian recipes from these family farms–few of which are found in cookbooks available outside of Italy.  Come and taste some of the delicious cuisine, and hear their stories. Books available for signing, and what a great holiday gift they’ll make.

Bargain Bottles: Fine Wines Under $15
Sunday, December 13th 4:30 p.m.
Love fine wine, but hate high prices? Join Shore Discount Liquors’ wine expert Steve Hargraves for an educational evening of wine tasting and sample wonderful wines from around the world, all at $15 or less a bottle. Reservations are required, as seats for this event are limited.

Opera at the Library presents: “The Magic Flute”
Sunday, December 13th at 1 p.m.
A delightful and family-friendly version of Mozart’s classic opera fantasy, abridged and performed in English. This is truly a treat for all ages, thanks to a glittering Met cast that includes Essex’s David Pittsinger, and a colorful production that includes enormous puppets, directed by The Lion King’s Julie Taymor. If you’ve been looking for an appealing introduction to opera for yourself or your children, this is the one.

Save January 7th at 7 p.m. in your calendar for Korky Vann – the Queen of Saving Green’s presentation. This popular columnist/blogger has the inside scoop on how to save $$$$ on everything you buy, from food to clothes to those big-ticket budget busters. We have programs aplenty scheduled in January for your entertainment and erudition. Watch our newsletter-Librar-E-Lations and our website for more information and a complete calendar of events.

Catching Up On 2008’s Best Books

We know it’s a busy time what with all the family and social events of the holidays upon us but there should always be a part of every day spent reading something you enjoy. This year has produced a plethora of books with long holds lists so we’d like to recommend some of last year’s best books that you may have missed or overlooked. What better way to pass the time while you wait for your turn to read The Help or The Last Symbol?

2008 was a great year for book lovers. Check out any of the long-lists for the major literary awards and they were full of viable contenders. Here are a few we’d like to recommend again:

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga ~~ “In this novel about India’s class struggles, an amoral chauffeur who has risen up from his poor village, relates to the Chinese premier how, with bloody entrepreneurship, he got ahead in life.” Adiga’s next book, Between The Assassinations, is on award short-lists this year and also comes highly recommended.

The Elegance Of The Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery ~~ “In this bestseller from France, a friendship develops between a disillusioned 12-year-old girl and the concierge at her family’s exclusive Paris apartment.” Packed with reflections on the wisdom that comes from disappointment and success and only with age contrasted with the wisdom and cynicism of youth. Too brief a treat so don’t miss out on her Gourmet Rhapsody.

The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry ~~  Barry is no stranger to award short lists and The Secret Scripture won last year’s Costa Award for good reason. This is one of the most beautifully written and memorable books we have enjoyed recently and it is hauntingly narrated in the audio version–also available on our Overdrive downloadable audiobook service. “Barry explores long-held secrets, love, corruption, and tragedy in this tale of a 100-year-old mental Irish patient, Roseanne McNulty, whose recollections of her life do not match the record.”

Sea Of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh ~~ “During China’s 19th-century Opium Wars, a crew on the Ibis–a motley cast of Indians, Americans and French–form bonds that are destined to last through generations. This is the first volume in the planned Ibis trilogy.”

Netherland by Joseph O’Neill ~~ “A Dutch banker living in London recalls his years in New York just after 9/11–and his life-altering friendship with a cricket-playing, idealistic Trinidadian entrepreneur.” Netherland won the 2009 Pen/Faulkner Award for fiction.

A Case Of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif ~~ “In 1988, Pakistani dictator Mohannad Zia ul-Haq was killed in an airplane crash. This satirical novel imagines what could have happened–from curses to conspiracies.”

Home by Marilynne Robinson ~~ “Her Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead looked at the life of John Ames; here she focuses on the family of hs best friend, the Reverend Robert Boughton. A National Book Award finalist, Home won the 2009 Orange Prize.

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith ~~ Short-listed for the Man-Booker Prize, this book won the CWA Ian Flemming Silver Dagger in 2008. “In the last days of Russia’s Stalinist era, a war hero discovers a series of brutal child murders–and sets out to challenge the state.” Don’t miss the sequel: The Secret Speech.

Best Books Of 2009 By Some Of Your Favorite Authors

We’re big fans of England’s The Guardian newspaper and their book reviews–literate, articulate and wry.  As a treat, they asked some well-known, best-selling authors what their favorite reads of 2009 were. You’ll recognize the authors here and the books they liked as well. Michael Chabon got a nod for his book Manhood For Amateurs as did his wife, Ayelet Waldman for hers, Bad Mother. There was one vote for The help and interestingly, a couple of votes for Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team Of Rivals (included here for some reason although published in 2005 in the U.S.) but it seems Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn got the most votes. Hilary Mantell’s Wolf Hall also came away with multiple votes. We love ‘best of the year’ book lists not only because we can confirm our own selections but they also provide additions to our ‘must read’  and holiday gift lists.

Check out The Guardian’s considerate gathering of some of this year’s best books.

National Book Award Winners Announced

The winners of the 2009 National Book Awards were announced yesterday. Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann won in the Fiction category and The First Tycoon: The Epic Life Of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T.J. Stiles won in the Non-Fiction category.

Philip Hoose’s Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice won in the Young people’s Literature category and Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy by Keith Waldrop won in the Poetry category.

Click here to see the finalists for fiction and non-fiction and click here to see the finalists for young people’s literature and poetry.