the NMH Library Reading Room Weblog

NEW DVD Into the Wild

Into the Wild  (check title for availability)
2007
148 Minutes

From Amazon.com
A superb cast and an even-handed treatment of a true story buoy Into the Wild, Sean Penn's screen adaptation of Jon Krakauer's bestselling book. Emile Hirsch stars as Christopher McCandless, scion of a prosperous but troubled family who, after graduating from Atlanta's Emory University in the early 1990s, decides to chuck it all and become a self-styled "aesthetic voyager" in search of "ultimate freedom." He certainly doesn't do it halfway: after donating his substantial savings account to charity and literally torching the rest of his cash, McCandless changes his name (to "Alexander Supertramp"), abandons his family (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden as his bickering, clueless parents and Jena Malone as his baffled but loving sister, who relates much of the backstory in voice-over), and hits the road, bound for the Alaskan bush and determined not to be found.

NEW DVD The 11th Hour

The 11th Hour  (check title for availability)
2007
92 Minutes

From Amazon.com
Comparisons to Al Gore's Oscar-winning slide show will be inevitable, but there's a key difference between the two documentaries. An Inconvenient Truth was aimed at the PBS set, while Leonardo DiCaprio's The 11th Hour combines a traditional structure with a more MTV-friendly pace. Of course, neither was made by these public figures. Davis Guggenheim directed the former, while Nadia Conners and Leila Conners Petersen are behind the latter. DiCaprio serves as producer, co-writer, and narrator (the three previously worked on the short films Global Warming and Water Planet). Their first feature combines a diverse array of interviews with a dizzying variety of images, both soothing and alarming (droughts and hurricanes vs. serene sunsets and playful polar bears).

Heavy Equipment: Upclose

If you have a boy/girl who is interested in bulldozers, backloaders, dump trucks, or any big, noisy heavy equipment this is the book for them.  This oversize photo book has some 2 page spreads of what some consider the coolest machines around.  Check it out for the summer!

Heavy Equipment: Upclose by Abramson   (J Pic Abramson.) 

May '08 Bookmark of the Month

Favorite Reads of 4-Year Seniors!

Eliza 
Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

I have never been so breathless while reading a book. Woolf swept me up into her words and thoughts and endless sentences, and i kept having these wondrous moments of comprehension and sadness and wit. It is glorious. - Eliza

Jacob
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain 

The man is a genius. He can capture the perspective of almost any character with incredible ease. Thum Thur book was right funny, yessir. - Jacob

Sarah
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Picoult takes the idea of school invasions and shootings and captures it perfectly.  The book deals with the social cliques and the parents involved when one teenager shows up to school with a gun.  As the readers, we are led to believe one side of the story and the end throws a quite surprising twist at us.  With witness testimonies and many hours of work under their belts, the families and lawyers work hard to get to the bottom of the case. - Sarah

Spencer
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

    Although I don’t not like any Harry Potter book, the second edition is especially enthralling because of the implications that rest in the realms of the Chamber’s existence, the dire consequences that Hogwarts faces in a year riddled with unforeseen triumphs and tragedies, and the turmoil and confusion that Harry, and his underdeveloped adolescent  prefrontal cortex, face. - Spencer

Tanner
Beloved by Toni Morrison

This book has been the most inspiring book that i have ever red. From everything from the point of view of the author to the distinct emotions and personalities of the characters, the book has intrigued me and changed the way that i think about my life. The book dragged me into the plot more than any other novel, and forced me to think of the meaning behind just the words or how the pages were set up in front of me. - Tanner

Lounge Lizard of the Week

She's *always* in the library.

How did she escape being Lounge Lizard of the Week until now?

"The library is my second home! True dat, I live here!" - Liz

Are You a Reader?

Are you a reader?  Do you have strong opinions about good books?  The American Library Association wants YOU....to get involved with recommending the best ten books for Young Adults (meaning teenagers, adolescents, high school students like you....).

Check out http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopten/teenstopten.cfm for more info!

NEW DVD No End in Sight

No End in Sight  (Check title for availability)
2007
102 Minutes

From Amazon.com
A staggering portrait of arrogance and incompetence, the documentary No End in Sight avoids the question of why the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, choosing instead to focus on the war's aftermath--and meticulously examine the chain of decisions that led Iraq into a grotesque state of lawlessness and civil war. Drawing from interviews with top generals, administration officials, journalists, and soldiers who were in the thick of the war itself, No End in Sight lays out a gripping story, as suspenseful as any Hollywood movie, accompanied by terrifying footage of firefights and explosions more vivid than any special effects.

NEW DVD Hallelujah

Hallelujah  (Check title for availability)
2006
100 Minutes

From Amazon.com
Made in 1929, Hallelujah is an artifact of no small historical significance: the first major studio movie with an all-black cast and a white director (the esteemed King Vidor), it was also one of the earliest "talkies" after the silent film era. But it also has considerable artistic merit; simply put, Hallelujah is damned entertaining. Sure, the story isn't exactly subtle, a morality tale chronicling the tribulations of Zeke (Daniel L. Haynes), a poor cotton farmer who, succumbing to the carnal charms of the sexy Chick (Nina Mae McKinney, who was sometimes known as "the black Garbo"), finds himself caught up in a soul-scarring cycle of sin and salvation.

See the movie! Do the bibliography! RefWorks!

Are you suffering from Facebook fatigue?

The number of people who visit Facebook has been leveling off over the past few months in the U.S., and even dipped by about 800,000 individuals in January. According to the latest stats from comScore, Facebook attracted 33.9 million unique visitors in January, 2008, down 2 percent from 34.7 million in December, 2007. Maybe all that friend spam has something to do with the decline.  Will the Facebook fatigue get worse, or is this just a temporary dip?

-- Tech Crunch, Feb.22, 2008

Read about Facebook fatigue.  Recognize yourself? What do you think?

• Suffering From Facebook Fatigue? By Anita Hamilton. Time,  Apr. 16, 2008.
• Facebbook - Back to the kids? By Rory Cellan-Jones. BBC News, Feb.22, 2008.

 ^|^  VOTE in the poll   HERE

^|^  VIEW poll results HERE