Dearest Creature

Dearest Creature
by Amy Gerstler
Sycamore Public Library call number: 811.54 GER
Objections to poetry are as varied as those who make them. It's too esoteric, or the poet tries too hard to make it accessible and the result is weak and meaningless to someone seeking deeper meaning. Every now and then, a poetry book comes along that is the perfect mix. Amy Gerstler's Dearest Creature is just that book. It combines humor, pathos, beauty, trauma, and an obvious love of language, builds upon itself, and creates a gorgeous reading experience.

The poet David Kirby wrote, in a review for The New York Times, that "Gerstler is skilled in every kind of comedy, from slapstick to whimsy. Yet there’s a deep seriousness in every one of these poems.... As grave as they are amusing and always bittersweet, these poems pay up again and again."

Very highly recommended.

REVIEWED BY: Amy
AGE GROUP: Adult
CLASS: Nonfiction (poetry)

Grade: A+

Spikes

Spikes
by Michael Griffith
Sycamore Public Library call number: FIC GRI
In Michael Griffith's Spikes, nothing is quite what it appears to be. Brian Schwan is a professional golfer, but maybe not for much longer. His colleague, Jim Soulsby, is an easygoing South African with an interest in birds - or perhaps he's a mystic with strange powers. Brian's best friend "Hatch" may really be spying for the benefit of Brian's fundamentalist Christian wife, Rosa. Even golf, the simple game of sticks and a ball, could stand for something much more meaningful. Not just to Brian, but to each reader willing to pick up this book.

Booklist's Bill Ott says, "this is that rarest of breeds, the literary golf novel." Publisher's Weekly adds: "Griffith concocts a truly Nabokovian entertainment, which probes the twinned nature of winners and losers, the lore of the game and the eccentric subculture it spawns--though one needn't have the slightest interest in golf to be won over."

Highly recommended to sports fans, philosophers, birders, and everyday folks.

REVIEWED BY: Amy
AGE GROUP: Adult
CLASS: Fiction

Grade: A-

The Natural Laws of Good Luck

The Natural Laws of Good Luck: A Memoir of an Unlikely Marriage
by Ellen Graf
Sycamore Public Library call number: 306.845 GRA

Ellen Graf was a 40-something divorcee with four kids (three out of the home). She complained to her Tai Chi instructor's wife about the difficulty she faced in finding a nice person to date. Her friend's brother was feeling the same thing, it seemed, and so they should meet. The complication? Ellen was in New York; Zhong-Hua lived in China.

That part turned out not to be so complicated at all. Ellen traveled to China, and after a few weeks of getting to know each other (despite neither knowing the other's language), the couple married. After eighteen months' wait, Zhong-Hua received a visa and was able to move to the United States. That was when the real getting to know each other began.

Booklist says: "Graf's memoir is a delightful account of East meets West in a loving relationship, complete with inevitable culture clashes resulting from wildly different ethnicities, customs, and background experiences. This appealing, true tale of adaptation (an ongoing process required in any marriage but taken here to extremes) is infused with an unforced sweetness and offers heartfelt and authentic proof of what we do for love."

The Natural Laws of Good Luck is a love story and cautionary tale rolled into one. Hopeless romantics will sigh and see stars; cynics may find some preconceived notions about long-distance and cross-cultural relationships reinforced, but will also be surprised by this couple's ability to adapt. Recommended.

REVIEWED BY: Amy
AGE GROUP: Adult
CLASS: Nonfiction (memoir)

Grade: B+

this just in: SPL staff is amused!

AMUSING
Pronunciation: \ə-ˈmyü-ziŋ\
Function: adjective
Date: 1681
: giving amusement : DIVERTING
Amusement is, perhaps even more than beauty, in the eye of the beholder. The following are the responses given by Sycamore Public Library staff to the prompt, "Name a movie and/or book that amuses you."

MOVIES

• Arrested Development ("yes, it's a TV show; no, I don't follow rules")


• Dodgeball ("soooo dumb, but so funny!")


• Ghost Town


• The Goonies


• I Love You, Man (3 votes!)


• Murder by Death


• The Proposal (with Sandra Bullock)


• Son-in-Law


• The Princess Bride


• Top Secret!

BOOKS

• The Big Elephant in the Room by Lane Smith


• Deep South Staples (or how to survive in a Southern kitchen without a can of cream of mushroom soup) by Robert St. John


• Dress Your Family in Corduroy & Denim by David Sedaris


• Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert


• The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie


• Hat Heads: 1 man + 2 knitting needles = 50 fun hat designs by Trond Anfinnsen


• Hooway for Wodney Wat by Helen Lester


• L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad


• Seven Spinning Spiders by Gregory Maguire


• Thanks for the Memories by Cecelia Ahern (2 votes)


• Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman


• Who's a Pest? by Crosby Bonsall

Find something that amuses you at the library!

"You mean, let me understand this 'cause, ya know maybe it's me, I'm a little [mucked] up maybe, but I'm funny how? I mean, funny like, I'm a clown, I amuse you? I make you laugh, I'm here to...amuse you? What do you mean funny? Funny how? How am I funny?"
Tommy DeVito in Goodfellas

Catching Fire

Catching Fire
by Suzanne Collins
Sycamore Public Library owns this title
call numbers ~ for the book: Y FIC COL
~ for the book on CD: Y CD FIC COL

The Hunger Games is a book about 12- to 17-year-olds who are placed in a lottery and then forced to fight to the death for the government’s viewing pleasure in a reality TV style game. To say that I eagerly awaited the release of book two (Catching Fire) in the Hunger Games trilogy would be an understatement. Katniss Everdeen is back for her victory tour, but President Snow will ensure she doesn’t let her win in the games go to her head.

Although I wasn’t certain what to expect from the second installment of this series, I hoped for a novel as spectacular as the first. Collins did not disappoint. Plot twist after plot twist will leave you hanging on until the last page when the unsatisfying realization hits that we have to wait yet another year for the third and final chapter. A must-read.

School Library Journal, in a *starred review*, says: "...enough action to please Hunger Games fans and leaves enough questions tantalizingly unanswered for readers to be desperate for the next installment."

REVIEWED BY: Evelyn
AGE GROUP: Young Adult
CLASS: Fiction

Grade: A+

read-alikes:

• for younger readers, the new book by Emma Clayton, Roar is highly recommended
• for those who enjoy the science fiction aspects of the Hunger Games series, try Orson Scott Card's classic novel about government intrusion, Ender's Game
• teens seeking action/fantasy books involving a romantic element will like Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore

New to Sycamore Public Library: Movies

The following DVDs were added to the collection at Sycamore Public Library, located on the second floor near the music CDs.

17 Again
Adventureland
Bart Got A Room
Bedtime Stories
Bolt
Breaking Away
Bride Wars
Cadillac Records
Confessions of a Shopaholic
Coraline
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Day the Earth Stood Still
Defiance
Doc Hollywood
Doubt
Duplicity
The Elizabeth Gaskell Collection: Cranford
The Elizabeth Gaskell Collection: North & South
The Elizabeth Gaskell Collection: Wives and Daughters
Ethan Frome
Fast & Furious
Fighting
Fired Up
Fireproof
Frost/Nixon
Garrison Keillor: The Man on the Radio in the Red Shoes
Gigantic
Gran Torino
Grease
Grumpy Old Men
The Haunting In Connecticut
He’s Just Not That Into You
Hello, Dolly!
Hitman
Hot Shots!; Hot Shots!, Part Deux
Hotel for Dogs
I Love You, Man
In the Good Old Summertime
The International
Jet Lag
King Baby [Jim Gaffigan]
Kinky Boots
Knowing
Last Chance Harvey
The Last House On The Left
The Last Picture Show
Lost Boys
Marley & Me
Michael Collins
New in town
Notorious
Obsessed
Paper Moon
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
The Pink Panther 2
Pleasantville
Push
Quantum of Solace
Race to Witch Mountain
Rails & Ties
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Riverdance: Live from New York City
Rob Roy
Romeo + Juliet
Sam Kinison: Unleashed
Seven Pounds
Slumdog Millionaire
The Soloist
The Spirit
Sunshine Cleaning
Taken
True Blood: Season 1
Tyson
The Unborn
The Uninvited
Valkyrie
The Visitor
Watchmen
The Wrestler
Yes Man

New to Sycamore Public Library: Music

The following CDs were added to the collection at Sycamore Public Library, located on the second floor at the top of the stairs. This list will be posted with each major addition to the collection.

Abnormally Attracted to Sin - Tori Amos
Are You Dead Yet? - Children of Bodom
Ashes of the Wake - Lamb of God
Beneath These Fireworks - Matt Nathanson
The Best of the Village People
Big Ones - Aerosmith
Blooddrunk - Children of Bodum
The Bridge - Ace of Base
Cage the Elephant - Cage the Elephant
Come On Get Happy! - The Partridge Family
Come Swing with Me! - Frank Sinatra
Cruel Summer - Ace of Base
The Curse of Blondie - Blondie
Duets - Frank Sinatra
The Essential Clash - The Clash
Far - Regina Spektor
Forever - Spice Girls
From Here to Infirmary - Alkaline Trio
Greatest Hits - Blondie
Greatest Hits - The Clancy Brothers
Greatest Hits - Huey Lewis
Greatest Hits - Tupac Shakur
Have a Nice Day - Bon Jovi
Hot Fuss - The Killers
Justus - The Monkees
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
A Kind of Magic - Queen
Lady Antebellum - Lady Antebellum
The Latest - Cheap Trick
Leave This Town - Daughtry
Loverly - Cassandra Wilson
Made of Bricks - Kate Nash
Meteora - Linkin Park
Mezmerize - System of a Down
Music for Cougars - Sugar Ray
Nine Lives - Aerosmith
Now That’s What I Call Music v. 12
Now That’s What I Call Music v. 22
Now That’s What I Call Motown
Number Ones - Bee Gees
One of the Boys - Katy Perry
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Paramour Sessions - Papa Roach
Release - Sister Hazel
Some Mad Hope - Matt Nathanson
Songs Around the World - Playing for Change
Sounds of the Universe - Depeche Mode
Startin’ Fires - Blake Shelton
Storm Front - Billy Joel
Totally Country Vol. 3
The Ugly Organ - Cursive
We Started Nothing - The Ting Tings
Whiskey in the Jar - Thin Lizzy
Wide Open - Jason Aldean
Working on a Dream - Bruce Springsteen