Movies

Five Reasons To Love Your Library!

April 27, 2023
Five Reasons To Love Your Library!

It's National Library Week-- time to think about all the things we love about the library. While some are obvious...B-O-O-K-S... there are plenty of other services, features and events that make the library the hub of our community. If you haven't been by in a while, stop into the Main Library on Harnish Drive, or the Branch Library on Eastgate Drive. You'll find friendly, helpful staff, comfy places to read, quiet rooms to get work done, crafts, programs, and more!

Read on to discover some library offerings you may not know about...

Library of Things

Our collection of tools, and gadgets can save you money and storage space. Need an extra video game controller for your child's next sleepover, or a laptop and wi-fi hotspot for a virtual job interview? How about a karaoke machine? We have all this and more! Preserve home movies and videotapes by transferring them to digital formats. Considering a new hobby, or learning to play a musical instrument? Visit the Library of Things, and try before you buy! Located near the Makerspace at the Main Library.

Device Advice

Here at the library, we're all about literacy-- including digital literacy! Our Adult Services Digital Literacy librarian is available for one-on-one appointments to help you learn to use your devices. Sign up for classes to learn the basics of popular software such as Microsoft Word, Excel, and the Google apps. Find advanced courses on LinkedIN Learning.

Community Services

Come to AAPLD for passport applications, license plate tags, and notary services, faxing, self-service copying and printing.  Find us out in the community, connecting with residents at area senior living facilities, dropping off donations and prizes at the Algonquin-Lake in the Hills Interfaith Food Pantry, or collecting prom finery for My Sister's Dress of McHenry County. We offer special events such as blood drives, Narcan training, and mobile office hours for local elected officials. During tax season, we partner with AARP to offer free tax preparation for seniors. This spring we'll launch a community garden to benefit area food pantries. Find the Services page at aapld.org, or check our bi-monthly print newsletter to see what's new!

Home Delivery

Can't make it to the library due to illness, disability or lack of transportation? Let us bring the library to you! The monthly Home Delivery service for AAPLD cardholders brings books, DVDs, audiobooks, and music CDs to your door, and picks them up when it's time for a new selection. Pick up a Home Delivery form at the Adult Services desk or fill out an application online.

Book Clubs

people sitting side by side with open booksAAPLD offers eight different book discussion groups each month, covering a variety of genres. From non-fiction to sci-fi, romance to horror, mysteries, thrillers, YA and more! Attend one group regularly, or select different groups based on each month's selection. We provide the books for pick-up at the Adult Services desk, simply register for the meeting, and share your thoughts with fellow book  lovers. If you can't find a group that suits your interests and schedule, try our DIY Book Club service, where we provide books for a group you organize.

Check out 2022 Oscar Nominated films!

February 17, 2022
Check out 2022 Oscar Nominated films!

Check out 2022 Oscar Nominated films!Oscar season is here, and it's time to catch up on nominated films you may have missed. Catch some of this year's best movies and performances at no cost at all-- thanks to the power of your library card!

We've profiled the films in our collection that have received Oscar nods, and also included the categories in which they've been nominated. Click here to place a hold, or call the Adult Services department. Get the popcorn ready, it's showtime!

Available Now

Dune- Feature adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction novel about the son of a noble family entrusted with the protection of the most valuable asset and most vital element in the galaxy. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, Editing, Makeup and Hairstyling, Sound, Visual Effects, and Score

King Richard - Richard Williams is determined to write his two daughters, Venus and Serena, into the history books. Training on tennis courts in Compton, Richard shapes the girls' adamant commitment and intense intuition. Together, the Williams family defies the odds. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor (Will Smith), Best Supporting Actress (Aunjanue Ellis), Original Screenplay, Editing, and Best Original Song ("Be Alive")

The Eyes of Tammy Faye - An intimate look at the extraordinary rise, fall and redemption of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Actress (Jessica Chastain), Makeup and Hairstyling.

Spencer - During her Christmas holidays with the royal family at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, England, Diana Spencer, struggling with mental health problems, decides to end her decade-long marriage to Prince Charles. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Actress (Kristen Stewart)

Encanto - A Colombian teenage girl has to face the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Animated Feature, Score, and Song (Dos Oruguitas)

Luca- Set in a beautiful seaside town on the Italian Riviera, the original animated feature is a coming-of-age story about one young boy experiencing an unforgettable summer filled with gelato, pasta and endless scooter rides. Luca shares these adventures with his newfound best friend, but all the fun is threatened by a deeply-held secret: he is a sea monster from another world just below the water's surface. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Animated Feature

The Mitchells vs. the Machines - A quirky, dysfunctional family's road trip is upended when they find themselves in the middle of the robot apocalypse and suddenly become humanity's unlikeliest last hope. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Animated Feature.

Raya and the Last Dragon - In a realm known as Kumandra, a re-imagined Earth inhabited by an ancient civilization, a warrior named Raya is determined to find the last dragon. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Animated Feature.

Cruella - Estella is a young and clever grifter who's determined to make a name for herself in the fashion world. She soon meets a pair of thieves who appreciate her appetite for mischief, and together they build a life for themselves on the streets of London. However, when Estella befriends fashion legend Baroness von Hellman, she embraces her wicked side to become the raucous and revenge-bent Cruella. (IMDB). Nominated for Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling.

Free Guy -In the extremely popular video game, Free City, a NPC named Guy learns the true nature of his existence when he meets the girl of his dreams, a human player. This player's interactions with Guy has massive affects on him, the game, and real world as they play it. (IMDB)  Nominated for Best Visual Effects

Four Good Days - A mother helps her daughter work through four crucial days of recovery from substance abuse. (IMDB). Nominated for Best Song (Somehow You Do).

No Time To Die - James Bond has left active service. His peace is short-lived when Felix Leiter, an old friend from the CIA, turns up asking for help, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain armed with dangerous new technology. (IMDB) Nominated for Sound, Visual Effects and Best Song (No Time to Die).

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings - Shang-Chi, the master of weaponry-based Kung Fu, is forced to confront his past after being drawn into the Ten Rings organization. (IMDB) Nominated for Visual Effects.

Coming Soon!

These Oscar-nominated films have not yet been released on DVD and Blu-Ray, but they are on order. Place your hold now!

Belfast - A young boy and his working-class Belfast family experience the tumultuous late 1960s. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Kenneth Branagh), Best Supporting Actor (Ciaran Hinds), Best Supporting Actress (Judy Dench), Original Screenplay, Sound and Song (Down To Joy).

Licorice Pizza - The story of Alana Kane and Gary Valentine growing up, running around and going through the treacherous navigation of first love in the San Fernando Valley, 1973. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Paul Thomas Anderson), and Original Screenplay.

Nightmare Alley - An ambitious carny with a talent for manipulating people with a few well-chosen words hooks up with a female psychiatrist who is even more dangerous than he is. (IMDB)  Nominated for Best Picture, Production Design, Costume Design, and Cinematography.

West Side Story -An adaptation of the 1957 musical, West Side Story explores forbidden love and the rivalry between the Jets and the Sharks, two teenage street gangs of different ethnic backgrounds.  (IMDB) Nominated for Best Picture, Best Director (Steven Spielberg), Best Supporting Actress (Ariana DeBose), Production Design, Costume Design, Cinematography, Sound

The Worst Person in the World -The chronicles of four years in the life of Julie, a young woman who navigates the troubled waters of her love life and struggles to find her career path, leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Original Screenplay, Best International Feature

Coming 2 America - The African monarch Akeem learns he has a long-lost son in the United States and must return to America to meet this unexpected heir and build a relationship with his son. (IMDB). Nominated for Makeup and Hairstyling.

House of Gucci - When Patrizia Reggiani, an outsider from humble beginnings, marries into the Gucci family, her unbridled ambition begins to unravel their legacy and triggers a reckless spiral of betrayal, decadence, revenge, and ultimately...murder. (IMDB) Nominated for Make-up and Hairstyling.

Spider-Man: No Way Home - With Spider-Man's identity now revealed, Peter asks Doctor Strange for help. When a spell goes wrong, dangerous foes from other worlds start to appear, forcing Peter to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man. (IMDB) Nominated for Visual Effects.

Flee - An animated documentary telling the true story about a man's need to confront his past in order to truly have a future. Amin arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Denmark from Afghanistan. Today, at 36, he is a successful academic and is getting married to his long-time boyfriend. A secret he has been hiding for over 20 years threatens to ruin the life he has built for himself. For the first time, he is sharing his story with his close friend. (IMDB). Nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary, Best International Feature

Summer of Soul - Part music film, part historical record created around an epic event that celebrated Black history, culture, and fashion. Over the course of six weeks in the summer of 1969, just 100 miles south of Woodstock, The Harlem Cultural Festival was filmed in Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park). The footage was never seen and largely forgotten--until now. The feature includes never-before-seen concert performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Sly and the Family Stone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Mahalia Jackson, B.B. King, The 5th Dimension, and more. (IMDB) Nominated for Best Documentary

Cyrano - A man ahead of his time, Cyrano de Bergerac dazzles whether with ferocious wordplay at a verbal joust or with brilliant swordplay in a duel. But, convinced that his appearance renders him unworthy of the love of a devoted friend, the luminous Roxanne, Cyrano has yet to declare his feelings for her and Roxanne has fallen in love, at first sight, with Christian. (IMDB) Nominated for Costume Design.

The Check-out Champs of 2021!

January 5, 2022
Our Most Popular Items for 2021

Our Most Popular Items for 2021Happy New Year, and welcome to our annual In Case You Missed It list of AAPLD's Top 50 most checked-out Adult Fiction, Young Adult Fiction and DVD/Blu-Ray titles for 2021!

Most of the items were released in 2021, but you'll also find perennial favorites, and a few surprises on our lists.

How many have you seen or read? We've profiled check-out champs in each category, and also included two special online catalogs, our Top 50 favorite movies, and a Best Books of 2021 catalog, which includes "Best of" picks from Kirkus, Booklist, Goodreads, The Atlantic, NYT, Time, Literary Hub, Vulture, Vogue, New Yorker, and NPR.

You can also browse in person in the Adult Services department, where we've set up ICYM displays. Pick up a handy list of our Top 50 check-outs, and mark off what you've seen or read. Then add one of our Top 50 reads to your Winter Reading selections, or settle in with one of 2021's most popular movies. We hope you discover a new favorite of your own!

Adult Fiction

With 396 check-outs, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah was AAPLD's most popular Adult Fiction selection of 2021.

Texas, 1934. Millions are out of work and a drought has broken the Great Plains. Farmers are fighting to keep their land and their livelihoods as the crops are failing, and dust threatens to bury them all. One of the darkest periods of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl era, has arrived with a vengeance. Elsa Martinelli must make an agonizing choice: fight for the land she loves or go west, to California, in search of a better life. The Four Winds is an indelible portrait of America and the American Dream, as seen through the eyes of one indomitable woman whose courage and sacrifice will come to define a generation.

With 289 check-outs, our second most popular Adult Fiction book is The Guest List by Lucy Foley.

On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes.  And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?

 

Young Adult Fiction

With 41 check-outs, our Young Adult check-out champ is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. When she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price. Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

With 38 check-outs, Midnight Sun by Stephanie Meyer is the Young Adult runner-up!

When Edward Cullen and Bella Swan met in Twilight, an iconic love story was born. But until now, fans have heard only Bella's side of the story. This unforgettable tale as told through Edward's eyes takes on a new and decidedly dark twist. Meeting Bella is both the most unnerving and intriguing event he has experienced in all his years as a vampire. As we learn more fascinating details about Edward's past and the complexity of his inner thoughts, we understand why this is the defining struggle of his life. How can he justify following his heart if it means leading Bella into danger?

 

Movies

Our most checked-out movie in 2021 was Godzilla vs. Kong, with 148 check-outs!

Legends collide as Godzilla and Kong, the two most powerful forces of nature, clash in a spectacular battle for the ages. As a squadron embarks on a perilous mission into fantastic uncharted terrain, unearthing clues to the Titans' very origins and mankind's survival, a conspiracy threatens to wipe the creatures, both good and bad, from the face of the earth forever.

Black Widow, with 132 check-outs, was the second most popular movie at AAPLD in 2021!

In Marvel Studios' action-packed spy thriller "Black Widow," Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow confronts the darker parts of her ledger when a dangerous conspiracy with ties to her past arises. Pursued by a force that will stop at nothing to bring her down, Natasha must deal with her history as a spy and the broken relationships left in her wake long before she became an Avenger.