Book Clubbers (06/04/2020): Southern Lady Code

Helen Ellis has a mantra: “If you don’t have something nice to say, say something not-so-nice in a nice way.” Say “weathered” instead of “she looks like a cake left out in the rain.” Say “early-developed” instead of “brace face and B cups.” And for the love of Coke Salad, always say “Sorry you saw something that offended you” instead of “Get that stick out of your butt, Miss Prissy Pants.” In these twenty-three raucous essays Ellis transforms herself into a dominatrix Donna Reed to save her marriage, inadvertently steals a $795 Burberry trench coat, witnesses a man fake his own death at a party, avoids a neck lift, and finds a black-tie gown that gives her the confidence of a drag queen. While she may have left her home in Alabama, married a New Yorker, forgotten how to drive, and abandoned the puffy headbands of her youth, Helen Ellis is clinging to her Southern accent like mayonnaise to white bread, and offering readers a hilarious, completely singular view on womanhood for both sides of the Mason-Dixon.

Next Meeting:
June 4th @ 7:00 PM at Virtual Library

Register for online meeting here

The Quintland Sisters by Shelley Wood

The story of the Dionne Quintuplets, the world’s first identical quintuplets to survive birth, told from the perspective of a midwife in training who helps bring them into the world…Reluctant midwife Emma Trimpany is just 17 when she assists at the harrowing birth of the Dionne quintuplets: five tiny miracles born to French farmers in hardscrabble Northern Ontario in 1934. Emma cares for them through their perilous first days and when the government decides to remove the babies from their francophone parents, making them wards of the British king, Emma signs on as their nurse…Over 6,000 daily visitors come to ogle the identical “Quints” playing in their custom-built playground; at the height of the Great Depression, the tourism and advertising dollars pour in. While the rest of the world delights in their sameness, Emma sees each girl as unique: Yvonne, Annette, Cécile, Marie, and Émilie. With her quirky eye for detail, Emma records every strange twist of events in her private journals.

Next Meeting:
May 21st @ 7:00 PM at Virtual Library

Register for online meeting here

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE CHECKOUT ON HOOPLA
AUDIOBOOK

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

Winner of the first Pulitzer Prize for literature ever awarded to a woman, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s elegant portrait of desire and betrayal in old New York. In the highest circle of New York social life during the 1870s, Newland Archer, a young lawyer, prepares to marry the docile May Welland. But before their engagement is announced, he meets the mysterious, nonconformist Countess Ellen Olenska, May’s cousin, who has returned to New York after a long absence. Ellen mirrors his own sense of disillusionment with society and the “good marriage” he is about to embark upon and provokes a moral struggle within him as he continues to go through the motions. A social commentary of surprising compassion and insight, The Age of Innocence toes the line between the comedy of manners and the tragedy of thwarted love.

Next Meeting:
May 20th @ 7:00 PM at Virtual Library

Register for online meeting here

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE CHECKOUT ON HOOPLA
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

MAY BE AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE/LIBBY
EBOOK OR AUDIOBOOK

Sad news everyone. The Library’s Geek Out event (May 2nd) has been canceled, Free Comic Book Day has been postponed, new comics aren’t being shipped. And Star Wars day, May the 4th? Well, I guess Star Wars day is OK, but you can’t celebrate it with everyone you’d probably like to. Luckily, the Library’s got a way to get you through this. We have lots of resources that allow you to celebrate the things you geek out about.

Now is a great time to catch up on some comics and graphic novels you’ve been meaning to read and you can do that digitally through Hoopla on your computer or laptop, your tablet, or even your smartphone. Hoopla has tons of graphic novels and comics from many different publishers including Marvel, DC, Image, Darkhorse, and Boom. Follow the links below to check them out!

Hoopla comics

Did you know that Marvel made audiobook versions of graphic novels? They are more like voice acted versions of the graphic novels with pretty awesome sound effects. You can check those out here:

Marvel Audiobooks on Hoopla

There are plenty of resources you can find through the Library to help you can celebrate Star Wars Day on Monday, May 4th. Below is a list of Star Wars related material that you can find through our online library.

Hoopla

Overdrive / Libby

RBdigital Magazine

Star Wars Insider

Kanopy

Did you know that several Star Wars languages were inspired from or just using different Earth languages? Below are a couple of examples and how you could also learn those languages. Maybe after learning a few languages you can create your own Star Wars universe language!!!

Mango Languages

Indonesian language inspired Kanjiklubber, a new language that appears in Star Wars, The Force Awakens
In The Phantom Menace’s pod-racing scene, Anakin’s owner Watto and competitor Sebulba inexplicably speak back and forth in Finnish, saying “Kiitos!” (Thank you!) and “Ole hyvä!” (You’re welcome!)

Here is a short list of some websites that you can also use to celebrate Star Wars not only on May 4th, but throughout the year.

I hope this list gives you a way to celebrate comics and Star Wars this weekend and in the future. The Library is looking forward to celebrating these awesome days with you in the future, but for now, you can Geek Out on your own.

Keep on reading – and – May the Force Be With You

Kenny D.

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Cozy Corner (05/06/2020): Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanna Fluke

Take one amateur sleuth. Mix in some eccentric Minnesota locals. Add a generous dollop of crackling suspense, and you’ve got the recipe for this delicious new mystery series featuring Hannah Swensen, the red-haired, cookie-baking heroine whose gingersnaps are almost as tart as her mouth and whose penchant for solving crime is definitely stirring things up. Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder Hannah already has her hands full trying to dodge her mother’s attempts to marry her off while running The Cookie Jar, Lake Eden’s most popular bakery. But once Ron LaSalle, the beloved delivery man from the Cozy Cow Dairy, is found murdered behind her bakery with Hannah’s famous Chocolate Chip Crunchies scattered around him, her life just can’t get any worse. Determined not to let her cookies get a bad reputation, she sets out to track down a killer. But if she doesn’t watch her back, Hannah’s sweet life may get burned to a crisp.

Next Meeting:
May 6th @ 7:00 PM at Virtual / Online Library

AVAILABLE ON OVERDRIVE & LIBBY
E-BOOK

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE CHECKOUT ON HOOPLA
E-BOOK

Liar, temptress, soldier, spy : four women undercover in the Civil War (cover)

Liar, temptress, soldier, spy : four women undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott

Karen Abbott illuminates one of the most fascinating yet little known aspects of the Civil War: the stories of four courageous women–a socialite, a farm girl, an abolitionist, and a widow–who were spies. After shooting a Union soldier in her front hall with a pocket pistol, Belle Boyd became a courier and spy for the Confederate army, using her charms to seduce men on both sides. Emma Edmonds cut off her hair and assumed the identity of a man to enlist as a Union private, witnessing the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. The beautiful widow, Rose O’Neale Greenhow, engaged in affairs with powerful Northern politicians to gather intelligence for the Confederacy, and used her young daughter to send information to Southern generals. Elizabeth Van Lew, a wealthy Richmond abolitionist, hid behind her proper Southern manners as she orchestrated a far-reaching espionage ring, right under the noses of suspicious rebel detectives. Using a wealth of primary source material and interviews with the spies’ descendants, Abbott seamlessly weaves the adventures of these four heroines throughout the tumultuous years of the war.

Next Meeting:
May 12th @ 6:30 PM at Virtual Library

AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE CHECKOUT ON HOOPLA
AUDIOBOOK

Algonquin Library Adult Services

Libby/Overdrive