In my last post, I talked about the movies that I like the most. But what are the most popular movies right now? I took a look at what movies have the longest waitlists right now to see. Surprisingly, it’s not all the absolute newest stuff!
And remember, since Mead copies go to Mead patrons first, even a long waitlist might not take quite as long as you think. Plus, you can always check the Lucky Day shelf in the library and see if a first-come, first-served copy is available!
At the height of the First World War, two young British soldiers, Schofield and Blake are given a seemingly impossible mission. In a race against time, they must cross enemy territory and deliver a message that will stop a deadly attack on hundreds of soldiers, Blake’s own brother among them.
With Comic-Con@Home starting today, I thought I would share some of my favorite movies based on comics. As with my other list posts, I’ve included the description from the catalog of each film under their listing.
“A wealthy industrialist is held captive in enemy territory and escapes by building a high-tech suit made of armor. When he returns home, he decides to use his money, talents, and suit to save the world.”
You are likely familiar with the phrase “the movie was good, but the book was better”. But is that always true? Many movies are based on books, and oftentimes readers prefer the book over the movie. Sometimes as readers we may even feel like a movie ruined the story we had read and loved. Nothing beats reading a well-written story, and reading can feel like an intimate experience for the reader. We allow the words on the pages to guide us into envisioning the settings and characters to the extent that our imaginations take us. Movies on the other hand, can really bring these stories to life in a way that we, as readers, may not have even been able to imagine. I love watching movies based on books I’ve read and comparing their portrayal to how I’d imagined the story. There are many movies based on children’s literature. Your family may enjoy reading a book together and then watching the movie version of the story with a movie night! Have fun sharing your opinions with each other on which one you liked better, or maybe you’ll decide they were both well done. Take a look below for some great books that also have movies based on their stories.
Twelve-year-old Heidi has a lot of questions about where she came from, but it hasn’t been easy finding the answers. She lives in an adjoined apartment with her mother who has an intellectual disability, and Bernadette – her unofficial guardian who has agoraphobia. She doesn’t know who her father is, or how she and her mother came to live in their apartment. Her mother doesn’t have the ability to give her the answers to her questions. Bernadette doesn’t know where Heidi and her mother came from, but cares for Heidi as if she were her own daughter. A box of old photos of her mother is eventually discovered that provides clues to a location she’d lived. A determined Heidi sets out on an emotional adventure to that location to find out who she is. This is a touching story, and the movie can be requested here.
There’s some debate and snobbery surrounding the consumption of audio versus print books. “Audiobooks are CHEATING” shrieks my Facebook friend with lots of opinions. “It’s not the SUPERIOR way to read books” barks the Reddit random. Being a librarian, I am thrilled to pieces when people are reading books no matter what the format. Not all of us can absorb information the same way. Audiobooks are a godsend for those of us with poor eyesight, dyslexia, or other barriers that make reading print a struggle. Personally, I just enjoy listening to someone read. Below, I listed four audiobooks I listened to and loved in 2020.
Someone we know by Shari Lapena (2019)
My favorite murder mysteries feature multiple points-of-view, unreliable narrators, and my complete inability to pinpoint the murderer in advance of the last chapter. The work of Shari Lapena fits those parameters to a T. Someone We Know is the fourth book of hers I’ve read. I borrowed it from Overdrive. There was a bit of a wait for the title because she is a fairly popular author and everyone plus their dog are looking for ways to beat COVID boredom. It doesn’t take a market analyst to guess that audiobook consumption skyrocketed over the past year, and that is sometimes reflected in Overdrive wait times. Not to fret, Mead also provides the community with access to Hoopla which offers audiobooks, ebooks, movies, TV, and NO wait time. Which leads me to the next book on my list…
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers, #1) by Becky Chambers (2014)
Are there any sweeter words than “space” and “opera” when paired together? The answer is: NO. By that token, Becky Chambers rules my heart. She is out here writing some of the best science fiction of the 21st century and y’all are missing out if you’re not on board the good ship Wayfarer. Chambers’ world-building is vivid and engaging. Her diverse cast of characters, human and otherwise, leap off the page, and I was sad to say goodbye at the end of the book. Fortunately, there are already three books in the Wayfarers series with another forthcoming in 2021. AND and and and the three already in print are all available on Hoopla in audio form. What’s so great about Hoopla? How is it different from Overdrive, for instance? Let me tell you the defining trait that makes Hoopla rad: no wait time. While you are limited to 10 check-outs per month, you will not spend a single second waiting for them to be available.
Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear (2015)
This is the steampunk California gold rush-era queer scifi/fantasy that you never knew you needed to read. Narrator Jennifer Grace imparts a soft, appealing twang to Karen’s voice as we watch her find and use her strength to save herself and her friends from the designs of evil men. I was pleased to find Karen Memory for check-out on RBDigital. This platform provides audiobooks in addition to a HUGE array of magazines. RBDigital is our least-utilized digital service behind Overdrive and Hoopla, but that means most titles will not have a wait-time and check-out periods are for 3 weeks! I have good luck finding genre fiction such as mysteries, scifi, and fantasy on RBDigital, so it’s really worth a look.
The Bad Seed by William March (1954)
I kept trying to get my colleagues to run this title for a book club, but to no avail. After listening to it recently, maybe that was for the best due to the less-than-hopeful ending and terrible acts within. Little Rhoda Penmark may only be in the 2nd grade but has gotten her criminal career well underway. The alternately tremulous and forceful narration provided by Elizabeth Wiley created a satisfying push/pull between the deeds of the sinister daughter and the hand-wringing of the hapless mother. Together with some fascinating ruminations on the nature of evil, The Bad Seed mostly stands up to the test of time. Available on Hoopla.
Which audiobooks have you been listening to lately? What do you do when you listen? I like to go for walks or listen while I cook dinner. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you are in need of assistance while you learn to use our digital services. We are also happy to provide reading recommendations, as well, if you’re in a rut. Happy listening!
…by the completely true and objective measure of me, a person who sometimes enjoys watching movies! More seriously, these really are my favorite movies ever – and I’ve noticed the theme seems to be that I like international/foreign films, that I enjoy comedy or dark comedy, and I don’t mind if a premise is a bit surreal (magical realism in film form, maybe?).
I hope you will give these movies a chance! I think they’re genuinely not just movies I enjoyed but movies that are very good and that more people should see.
I started off the introduction mentioning comedy, yet the first movie on my list is one set during the Holocaust? Yes, and not only that, it is also the greatest movie ever made about the Holocaust. It takes place in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, where childless couple Josef and Marie take in and hide a young Jewish man.
It is a comedy in two very particular senses: the darkest sense, that there is a terrifying absurdity to the Nazi occupation and bureaucracy that is made even worse by how deadly it is, and in the human sense, because the characters in this are beautifully realized and humor is a very human thing. It also has a truly remarkable ending that I could not have predicted in a million years.
My last blog post inspired me to write up a post about science books. I’ve tracked down a list of new or upcoming books on topics ranging from pandemics to mycology. I’ve included the publisher’s description of the book under each listing.
“Over the last 30 years of epidemics and pandemics, we learned nearly every lesson needed to stop this coronavirus outbreak in its tracks. We heeded almost none of them. The result is a pandemic on a scale never before seen in our lifetimes. In this captivating, authoritative, and eye-opening book, science journalist Debora MacKenzie lays out the full story of how and why it happened: the previous viruses that should have prepared us, the shocking public health failures that paved the way, the failure to contain the outbreak, and most importantly, what we must do to prevent future pandemics.
Debora MacKenzie has been reporting on emerging diseases for more than three decades, and she draws on that experience to explain how COVID-19 went from a potentially manageable outbreak to a global pandemic. Offering a compelling history of the most significant recent outbreaks, including SARS, MERS, H1N1, Zika, and Ebola, she gives a crash course in Epidemiology 101–how viruses spread and how pandemics end–and outlines the lessons we failed to learn from each past crisis. In vivid detail, she takes us through the arrival and spread of COVID-19, making clear the steps that governments knew they could have taken to prevent or at least prepare for this. Looking forward, MacKenzie makes a bold, optimistic argument: this pandemic might finally galvanize the world to take viruses seriously. Fighting this pandemic and preventing the next one will take political action of all kinds, globally, from governments, the scientific community, and individuals–but it is possible.”
It’s easy to keep your pulse on what’s popular here in the US. But have you ever wondered what the folks across the pond are reading? Here’s a peek at 4 of this week’s best selling books in Britain.
Beloved in Britain for his heartwarming illustrations, this collection of Mackesy’s ink drawings is full of hope and inspiration for an uncertain world.
The library is open again (with limited services, as you can see here); some people are comfortable coming in, while others still want to limit their time in public places. So I’ve put together a little list of some popular new books that are available either in print or as eBooks through Hoopla.
The advantage of Hoopla, of course, is that there’s no waitlist even on popular new titles like these (as long as you haven’t hit your borrowing limit for the month); on the other hand, some people think the feel of a physical book in your hand is worth waiting for.
Descriptions below are taken from either Hoopla or our catalog.
From bestselling and eight-time Christy Award-winning author Lynn Austin comes a remarkable novel of sisterhood and self-discovery set against the backdrop of WWII.
My social life has taken a pretty sharp decline since I’ve gone into quarantine. Being home more has given me a bit of a push to reevaluate my reading pile. I’ve sifted through the books that have piled up around my home to find some that I thought others might be interested in as well.
Carl Zimmer was one of the authors that I read for a few classes at university. He’s a writer that can take relatively dry science topics, like evolution, and make them engaging for every degree of reader. Near the end of my undergraduate education, I found an interest in virus-host coevolution and tried to find books on viruses. I stupidly didn’t take a microbiology class due to initially thinking microbes were boring. I need to note that this particular book has been in my pile for a few years, but it has taken on new relevance.
Sick of spaceships? Toured pseudo-medieval Europe too often? Try these 6 science fiction & fantasy stories from black authors. You’ll find yourself anywhere from a magical version of modern Nigeria to a post-apocalyptic Brazil. With expansive worlds and fresh perspectives, these books can freshen up any sci-fi or fantasy reader’s bookshelf.
If N.K. Jemisin’s deluge of accolades and unprecedented three consecutive Hugos aren’t enough to persuade you to pick up The Fifth Season, perhaps a violent world of regular nigh-apocalyptic cataclysms and a earth-shattering mage on a far-ranging quest of vengeance to save her kidnapped daughter will entice you.
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