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Available in ebook and eaudiobook on eMediaLibrary (Libby).
I enjoyed watching the PBS program American Oz about L. Frank Baum, the man who wrote The Wizard of Oz. There seems to be a common link between many successful people insomuch as they struggle with a lot of adversity in the beginning but they keep getting back up and working at it. I liked how Baum never lost that child-like adventure and wonderment and never gave up on his dream. This was a good biography to watch with a happy ending, much like Dorothy.
Available for checkout on DVD.
In a world where romantic and familial relationships are at the center of conversations about meaningful connections between people, Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman posit that friendships can be just as vital and enriching, if not moreso. Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close reveals the highs and lows of the "big friendship" shared by the two writers and offers strategies for how other friends can cultivate fulfilling long-term friendships. This book is conversational and reflective, and is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever participated in a big friendship of their own.
Also available as an eAudiobook and eBook on eMediaLibrary (Libby).
Another fine Ken Burns documentary provides a fascinating look at Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemens I thought it was amusing how he got his name from the men aboard those Mississippi river boats who would stick rods into the water marking the depth and yelling "mark twain" so the boat would not get stuck in the shallow. Unfortunately, his life had so many more turns for the worse. I never knew.
His Adventures of Huck Finn will stand forever as one of the true great stories in American literature. Like all of Ken Burns' documentaries, it's loaded with wonderful pictures and stories from historians and literary people, and I recommend Mark Twain (2001).
Watch Mark Twain on Hoopla today.
Laila Lalami, a Pulitzer Prize finalist, interweaves her personal experiences as a Muslim immigrant from Morocco with the realities that all migrants to this country must face. She argues that people who do not look the right way or do not practice the right religion have their citizenship called into doubt.
The library will have a book discussion on this nonfiction title on February 3, 2022.
Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America is also available as an ebook on eMediaLibrary.
I thought the PBS documentary, The Roosevelts: An Intimate History (2014, rated TV-14), was a fascinating look at this family and the personal struggles each had and how they triumphed despite great adversity.
I never knew how influential Theodore Roosevelt was regarding the national parks or how popular he was. It made me wonder how different world events and outcomes might have been had he had a third or fourth term like FDR? Would World War I have gone any differently and if so, how would the Treaty of Versailles have gone, or the subsequent rise of Hitler and the Nazi party? Look what happened after that.
Check out this miniseries from Ken Burns on Hoopla today.
Anyone who grew up during the race to the moon era can identify with the mystery and mystique of the astronauts. This nonfiction account from the perspective of their wives may disenchant some, but readers will have a whole new respect and admiration for these great American women. In The Astronaut Wives Club, Lily Koppel does a good job of presenting the facts and opinions through extensive research and interviews in a story-like format. The epilogue ties everything up in a neat package explaining what happened after the space race was won and life returned to normal.
1930 was the year of New York Justice Joseph Crater's infamous disappearance (his body was never found). This novel tells the story as seen through the eyes of the three women who knew him best: his wife Stella, his mistress Ritzi, and the maid Maria. Their story, expertly woven around these events, comes from the author’s imagination and she builds a fascinating tale of what may have happened.Author Ariel Lawhon saves the why of Judge Crater disappearance until a twist in the very last pages. The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress will transport readers to a bygone era of chorus girls, speakeasies, bootleggers, Tammany Hall corruption, gangsters, and irritating rich people.
The audio version of Seriously, I’m kidding is hilarious due to the fact that it is narrated by Ellen DeGeneres. Her comedic timing coupled with her funny stories make this audiobook of her reflections on life “laugh out loud.”
Eloisa James wrote this memoir based on her blog and Twitter posts during a sabbatical in Paris. The entries are filled with wit, wisdom, and insights into motherhood and life in general. Tidbits on daily life in Paris abound. The patient reader is rewarded with a sense of character development in each of her family members over the year. The author even throws in a few recipes, reminiscent of Lunch in Paris by Elizabeth Bard, but it is a very different type of memoir.After the last tear has been shed, the last laugh chuckled, and the family is safe and sound stateside, James adds "My Very Idiosyncratic Guide to a Few Places in Paris" for all of us who dream of visiting Paris someday. She recommends museums, galleries, boutiques, salons, eateries, chocolate shops, and the like that she frequented during her stay in the acclaimed city. Many include websites, just in case we can't wait for our next trip abroad.
Paris in Love is my first taste of the author's work and seems to be atypical. I may have to read one of Eloisa James's (also known as Mary Bly) essays on Shakespeare or romance novels to complete the picture.
Kati Marton is an award-winning author, a successful news correspondent, and a woman with a past worth writing about. In her memoir Paris: A Love Story, Paris symbolizes an environment of love, adventure, and finally of healing.Married twice to men, prominent on the world stage, Kati writes candidly of her glamorous life, magically without offending anyone. Now a widow, she looks over shoulder to a life, filled with passion, service, and possibly integrity.
At the beginning of The Queen of Versailles, a fascinating documentary, we meet the impossibly wealthy Seigel family: patriarch David is the founder of Westgate Resorts, a timeshare company; and the family is in the midst of the construction of their own version of Versailles, billed as the largest private home in the U.S. Before too long though, the economic crisis of 2008 leaves the company floundering, construction halted on Versailles, and the family making extreme cuts to their extravagant lifestyle.David’s wife Jackie is the “Queen of Versailles” and she is the quirky, stoic, and often over-the-top heart of the movie. Jackie married into money and has enjoyed it to the fullest, but in the face of an uncertain future she is resiliently planning how to cope if her life takes yet another dramatic turn.
