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.

Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer - recommended by Jeff

Brad Meltzer is a best selling author of action suspense novels like Book of Fate, Zero Game and The Millionaires. But in this book, Meltzer looks at the superhero genre and combines it with a locked room mystery. When the spouse of Elongated Man is murdered, the iconic characters of the Justice League go into action to solve the crime. With Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman, along with minor characters like The Atom, Firestorm, and Martian Manhunter, the path to the killer opens up many secrets the “World’s Greatest” superheroes would rather keep hidden.

Blink by Malcom Gladwell - recommended by Andrew
It’s a non-fiction account of the judgements we make in the "blink" of an eye. The author also wrote The Tipping Point, which was his take on what makes things popular. Basically, his books are about culture and the things that affect our perceptions of it.

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet - recommended by Robyn

A story of passion and idealism, which describes a group of men and women in the Middle Ages whosedestinies are fatefully linked with the building of a cathedral. - library catalog.

MOVIE WATCH

Closer - recommended by Cheryl
Dan, an aspiring novelist, cannot help but feel immensely attracted to Alice, a young American waitress and stripper who is in London after escaping from a failed relationship. The two meet after Alice is involved in a car accident. But nothing lasts forever, and after some time Dan meets Anna, a photographer, and he feels attracted to her. Nothing happens right away, but once it does, things go downhill for Alice and Dan. The two don't break up, but Dan is already mentally involved in the relationship. He is too much of a coward to leave Alice, even though he knows that Anna won't go out with him. Dan is so obessed with Anna that he even paves the way for the meeting between Anna and her future husband, Larry. Eventually Dan, Alice, Anna and Larry take part in a twisted dance of deceit, guilt and anger. -library Catalog.