Staff Picks
Check the blog every Wednesday 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.

Rabbit, Run by John Updike - recommended By Cheryl
Harry Angstrom was a star basketball player in high school and that was the best time of his life. Now in his mid-20s, his work is unfulfilling, his marriage is moribund, and he tries to find happiness with another woman. But happiness is more elusive than a medal, and Harry must continue to run--from his wife, his life, and from himself, until he reaches the end of the road and has to turn back.... Library Catalog.

A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole- recommended by Stephanie
This anniversary edition of the classic novel that won the 1981 Pulitzer Prize for fiction features a Foreword by Walker Percy that looks back on the history of this humorous story set in New Orleans about a slob named Ignatius Reilly and his relationship with his mother. - Library Catalog. The weirdest character but very well written- you will feel very normal after reading this book. - Stephanie.

The Unlikely Spy by Daniel Silva - recommended by Diane
Catherine Blake is the beautiful widow of a war hero. She is also a London hospital volunteer and a Nazi spy. Her mission, under direct orders from Hitler, are to uncover the Allied plans for D-Day and seal the German victory. Fumbling history professor Alfred Vicary is Churchill's confidante and leader of Britain's counterintelligence operations. His mission is to stop the unknown traitor at any cost, including his life. - Library Catalog.

MOVIE WATCH: Life is Beautiful by Roberto Benigni
In 1930s Italy, a carefree Jewish book keeper named Guido starts a fairy tale life by courting and marrying a lovely woman from a nearby city. Guido and his wife have a son and live happily together until the occupation of Italy by German forces. In an attempt to hold his family together and help his son survive the horrors of a Jewish Concentration Camp, Guido imagines that the Holocaust is a game and that the grand prize for winning is a tank. - Anthony Hughes.