Staff Picks
Check the blog every week for updates on what our staff is reading and watching and recommendations for our new and all-time favorite books and movies. What is your favorite book or movie? Post your answer in the comments section below. To see all previous Staff Picks posts, simply type "Staff Picks" in the search box at the top left of this blog and click the "search blog" button.

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - recommended by Nancy
Though he may not speak of them, the memories still dwell inside Jacob Jankowski's ninety-something-year-old mind. Memories of himself as a young man, tossed by fate onto a rickety train that was home to the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Memories of a world filled with freaks and clowns, with wonder and pain and anger and passion; a world with its own narrow, irrational rules, its own way of life, and its own way of death. The world of the circus: to Jacob it was both salvation and a living hell. Jacob was there because his luck had run out - orphaned and penniless, he had no direction until he landed on this locomotive "ship of fools." It was the early part of the Great Depression, and everyone in this third-rate circus was lucky to have any job at all. Marlena, the star of the equestrian act, was there because she fell in love with the wrong man, a handsome circus boss with a wide mean streak. And Rosie the elephant was there because she was the great gray hope, the new act that was going to be the salvation of the circus; the only problem was, Rosie didn't have an act - in fact, she couldn't even follow instructions. The bond that grew among this unlikely trio was one of love and trust, and ultimately, it was their only hope for survival. -BOOK JACKET.

The Long Tail by Chris Anderson - recommended by Andrew
This book was awesome. Based off an article written by an editor for WIRED magazine, he discusses the idea that the future of business is the niche markets. No longer is it necessary for things to be blockbusters to become profitable. Look at the effect of NetFlix and Amazon. With a brick and mortar store, there is small finite square footage in which to store goods. However, by being an online store, they can store and sell tons more products, things that most people wouldn’t even think about until they run across it - niche products.

MOVIE WATCH:
Idiocracy - recommended by Jeff
Meet Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson). He's not the sharpest tool in the shed. But when a government hibernation experiment goes awry Bowers awakens in the year 2505 to find a society so dumbed-down by mass commercialism and mindless TV programming that he's become the smartest guy on the planet. Now it's up to an average Joe to get human evolution back on track. Filled with razor-sharp sarcasm and outrageous sight gags Idiocracy will make you laugh out loud whether you're an absolute genius or a complete idiot!

Free SAT Practice Test at the Mission Viejo Library
The Mission Viejo Library is offering a free SAT Practice Test Day on Saturday, August 30, 2008 from 9:00 am-1:30 pm. High School Students will be able to take a full-length SAT exam under realistic testing conditions without affecting their college record. The test will be held in the Saddleback Room at the end of City Hall. Students need to bring is two #2 pencils and a calculator. Pre-registration is required. Teens may pre-register either in person at the Information/Reference desk at the Mission Viejo Library, or by turning in the registration form attached to the Practice SAT Test flyer, or by calling the adult reference desk at 949-830-7100 extension 5105. Participating teens and their parents are encouraged to come to the Saddleback room on Tuesday, September 4, 2008 from 6:00-7:00 pm for the SAT Score back and Parent Information Night. At this time students will receive a score report showing their strengths and weaknesses.

Staff Picks
Check the blog every week for updates on what our staff is reading and watching and recommendations for our new and all-time favorite books and movies. What is your favorite book or movie? Post your answer in the comments section below. To see all previous Staff Picks posts, simply type "Staff Picks" in the search box at the top left of this blog and click the "search blog" button.

Five Skies by Ron Carlson - recommended by Stephanie
The tale of three men gathered high in the Rocky Mountains for a construction project that is to last the summer. Having participated in a spectacular betrayal in Los Angeles, the giant, silent Arthur Key drifts into work as a carpenter in southern Idaho. Here he is hired, along with the shiftless and charming Ronnie Panelli, to build a stunt ramp beside a cavernous void. The two will be led by Darwin Gallegos, the foreman of the local ranch, who is filled with a primeval rage at God, at man, at life. - BOOK JACKET

Hardscrabble Road by Jane Haddam - recommended by Gayle

When local Philadelphia radio host Drew Harrigan, known for his incendiary right-wing tirades, is arrested for illegal possession of prescription drugs, he implicates a homeless man in the drug buys and disappears into a locked rehabilitation facility. While Harrigan is away, beyond the reach of the media and the court, the homeless man so implicated, Sherman Markey, first sues Harrigan for defamation and false accusation and then he himself disappears. With Markey's court date coming up, a member for a legal advocacy group representing him approaches Gregor Demarkian for help in locating him. Demarkian, a retired FBI agent, thinking it will be a simple matter of making a few phone calls, soon finds himself in the midst of a complex maze of motives and actors. Almost as many people have reason for wanting Markey to disappear as do those who want him found. Among those are the Reverend Mother of a local Benedictine monastery, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist and noted leftist academic, the lawyer representing Harrigan and an organization for the homeless, among others. When a body wearing clothes matching the description of those of the missing Sherman Markey is found, Demarkian realizes that someone is out to silence Markey - and may have already succeeded - and now he has to unravel a most complicated puzzle before the killer strikes again. -BOOK JACKET.

MOVIE WATCH:

The Wind that Shakes the Barley - recommended by Paul
Driven by a deep sense of duty and a love for his country, Damien abandons his burgeoning career as a doctor and joins his brother, Teddy in a dangerous and violent fight for freedom. As the Irish freedom fighters bold tactics bring the British to a breaking point, both sides finally agree to a treaty to end the bloodshed. But, despite the apparent victory, civil war erupts and families who fought side by side find themselves pitted against one another, putting their loyalties to the ultimate test.

Quote of the Week

Writing a novel is like making love, but it's also like having a tooth pulled. Pleasure and pain. Sometimes it's like making love while having a tooth pulled.
- Dean Koontz

Staff Picks
Check the blog every week for updates on what our staff is reading and watching and recommendations for our new and all-time favorite books and movies. What is your favorite book or movie? Post your answer in the comments section below. To see all previous Staff Picks posts, simply type "Staff Picks" in the search box at the top left of this blog and click the "search blog" button

The Third Angel by Alice Hoffman - recommended by Nancy

Headstrong Madeleine Heller finds herself hopelessly attracted to her sister's fiance. Frieda Lewis, a doctor's daughter and a runaway, becomes the muse of an ill-fated rock star. And beautiful Bryn Evans is set to marry an Englishman while secretly obsessed with her ex-husband. At the heart of the novel is Lucy Green, who blames herself for a tragic accident she witnessed at the age of twelve, and spends four decades searching for the Third Angel - the angel on earth who will renew her faith. -Book Jacket.

Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You by Peter Cameron - recommended by Andrew

In the tradition of "The Catcher in the Rye," this darkly comic story of a young mans very reluctant coming-of-age paints an indelible portrait of a teenage hero holding out for a better grownup world. - Library Catalog.

MOVIE WATCH

Once - recommended by Gayle

A Guy lives in Dublin. He is a guitarist/singer-songwriter who makes a living by fixing vacuum cleaners in his Dad's Hoover repair shop by day. By night, he sings and plays for money on the Dublin streets. A Girl from Czechoslovakia loves to play the piano when she gets a chance. During the day she does odd jobs. At night she takes care of her mom and her daughter. Guy meets Girl, and they get to know each other. Girl helps Guy put together a demo disc so he can take it to London in hope of landing a music contract. At the same time, the Guy and the Girl work through their past loves, and reveal their budding love for one another, through their songs. - Library Catalog

Quote of the Week
It seems to me that good novels celebrate the mystery in ordinary life, and summing it all up in psychological terms strips the mystery away.

-Anne Tyler