The Short List

Library patrons can celebrate over the new Overdrive service which will be available on the Essex Library catalog on Wednesday, August 1st. Overdrive provides popular down-loadable audiobooks for patrons to download to their personal computers for free in the comfort of their home. The audiobooks can then be loaded onto an MP3 player and some of them can also be burnt to CDs. Unfortunately, Overdrive does not allow for use on iPods. There is a list of compatible devices on the site along with easy download instructions. You don’t need to come in to the Library to create an account; all you’ll need is the barcode from your Essex Library card.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) wrote books that still enjoy tremendous popularity and have been made into sumptuous TV mini-series and movies. They have also inspired many other writers to spin-off her characters into their own books. The books remain, in our opinion, better than their video counterparts but the movies are highly entertaining nevertheless. With multiple renditions of movies such as Pride And Prejudice, it’s also fun to compare the various actors who have played the major roles. Laurence Olivier seems to have set the standard for Mr. Darcy, but who’s the best Elizabeth? Try out The Jane Austen Book Club for a more current take on the author. And, for a biographical portrait of the pre-fame Jane Austen, the movie Becoming Jane opens Friday, August 3rd.

Bestselling British author Sebastian Faulks has been tapped by the estate of Ian Fleming to write the next James Bond novel. According to the London Guardian, “The book, Devil May Care, will be published next May and is set in 1967, when ‘Bond is damaged, ageing and in a sense it is the return of the gunfighter for one last heroic mission.’ Faulks said. His own interpretation of the spy, he hinted, would show all the caddishness of Bond’s previous incarnations, tempered with just a shade of new-mannish sensitivity.’” Faulks’ other books include Charlotte Gray, Birdsong, and Engleby–due out in September.

Norwegian author Per Petterson’s book, Out Stealing Horses, has won the Norwegian Booksellers Prize, the Critics Award for best novel, the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, and now the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. From Publishers Weekly: “Norwegian novelist Petterson renders the meditations of Trond Sander, a man nearing 70, dwelling in self-imposed exile at the eastern edge of Norway in a primitive cabin. Trond’s peaceful existence is interrupted by a meeting with his only neighbor, who seems familiar. The meeting pries loose a memory from a summer day in 1948 when Trond’s friend Jon suggests they go out and steal horses. That distant summer is transformative for Trond as he reflects on the fragility of life while discovering secrets about his father’s wartime activities. The past also looms in the present: Trond realizes that his neighbor, Lars, is Jon’s younger brother, who “pulls aside the fifty years with a lightness that seems almost indecent.” Trond becomes immersed in his memory, recalling that summer that shaped the course of his life while, in the present, Trond and Lars prepare for the winter, allowing Petterson to dabble in parallels both bold and subtle. Petterson coaxes out of Trond’s reticent, deliberate narration a story as vast as the Norwegian tundra.”

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, released on Saturday, has broken all sales records. More than 1.2 million copies were sold in the first day at Borders and Waldenbooks stores around the world compared with 850,000 first-day sales in 2005 of the previous book in the series: Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince. Whether you’re a fan of the series or not, this is a reading phenomenon we are unlikely to see again in our lifetime.

Get A Clue! is the theme for the Library’s Summer Reading Program. There are more than 2,200 detective and mystery stories available through the Library for kids to enjoy and thousands more in the young adult and adult collections. Reading mysteries is a great way for kids to begin honing their observation and puzzle-solving skills. The ever-popular Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew series are just the tip of the iceberg. Don’t forget to include the Encyclopedia Brown, Sammy Keyes, Nate The Great, Miss Pickerell, Sebastian (super sleuth) and Cam Jansen series. Some of our favorites include Alvin’s Secret Code, The Long Secret, The Westing Game and The Eleventh Hour. Last, but in no way least, we highly recommend the Sherlock Holmes stories as well as those of the best-selling mystery author of all time–Agatha Christie.

Joseph Finder–winner of this year’s International Thriller Novel Of The Year thanked us in a comment to The Short List for posting about his award. We were “thrilled” to hear from Mr. Finder so we’d like to acknowledge his effort on our behalf by showcasing his esteemed works available through the Library. His first novel, “The Moscow Club” was published in 1991. Then came “Extraordinary Powers” in 1994 and “Zero Hour” in 1996. His book “High Crimes”, published in 1998, was made into a movie starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman. Finder turned next to the business world for inspiration and has published one book a year beginning with “Paranoia” in 2004, “Company Man” about a struggling furniture manufacturing company, “Killer Instinct” looks at high tech sales and “Power Play” to be released in August centers on characters in the aerospace industry.

If you’re looking for some new ideas on what to eat, try one of our new cookbooks. Right now, we’ve got “The Best Of The Best: the best recipes from the 25 best cookbooks of the year by the Editors at Food & Wine Magazine”, “Semi-Homemade Cooking” by Sandra Lee, and “The River Cottage Meat Book” by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall on our shelves. If you’ve had enough (or maybe too much) of all that delicious food you might want to check out “The Volumetrics Eating Plan: techniques and recipes for feeling full on fewer calories” by Barbara Rolls which is also on the shelf right now.

The International Thriller Writers announced the winners of its 2007 Thriller Awards over the weekend in New York City. The Best Novel Award went to Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder. The Best First Novel Award went to Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone. Best Screenplay Award went to The Good Shepherd by Eric Roth. The runners-up are listed below:

Best Novel finalists: False Impression by Jeffrey Archer , Cold Kill by Stephen Leather , The Messenger by Daniel Silva and Beautiful Lies by Lisa Unger.

Best First Novel finalists: Shadow of Death by Patricia Gussin , Switchback by Matthew Klein , A Thousand Suns by Alex Scarrow and 18 Seconds by George D. Shuman.

Best Screenplay finalists: Inside Man by Russell Gewirtz, The Departed by William Monahan, Children of Men by Alfonse Cuarón, Timothy J. Sexton, David Arata, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby; and Casino Royale by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis.

The Friends Of The Essex Library is putting together a “community cookbook” as a fundraiser for the Library. We are looking for people to contribute their favorite recipes to be published in the book. Please send all recipe contributions to:

Molly Lombardi 31 Book Hill Woods Essex, CT 06426 ; 767-2423 or, mslombardi@comcast.net

Molly will be hosting an informal coffee in September for those interested in helping out with the cookbook.