Crichton Post-Crichton

In happy news for Michael Crichton's many fans, HarperCollins announced today that MICRO, a novel left unfinished upon Crichton's unexpected death in 2008, has been completed by Richard Preston and will be released for sale on November 22 of this year.
According to the Michael Crichton website, MICRO is:
a high concept thriller . . . [that] follows a group of graduate students who are lured to Hawaii to work for a mysterious biotech company specializing in micro-robotics. Conflict with the head of the company leaves the group fighting for their lives when they find themselves physically transformed and cast out into the rain forest, with only their scientific expertise and wits to protect them.
And in case you just can't wait for the release date, and need to go back and reread all things Crichton, click here for his back list of titles!
PS--Mind the T-Rex.

What are you reading this summer?

Hey Everybody! Here comes Memorial Day!!!
Know what that means to us? The beginning of Beach Read Season!
And as much as I would love to read every new book on the market and give you a synopsis and honest review of all of them... Fortunately for me, the Los Angeles Times has done it for me.
Check out this awesome set of lists for almost every sort of book you can think of! Then give us a call and we'll be glad to help you get your hands on them--just in time for beach season!

Attention Book Groups - How Lincoln Learned to Read by Daniel J. Wolff

A nonfiction choice for book groups. How Lincoln Learned to Read is an engaging, provacative history of American ideas, told through the educations of 12 great figures, from Benjamin Franklin to Elvis Presley. Available in a Book Group To Go bag.

Teen Space Open House this Saturday

You're invited! In celebration of the new teen space upstairs, the library is hosting an open house this Saturday, May 21 from 2:00-5:00pm. The ribbon-cutting will take place at 2:30pm. We will have music, prizes, food & more! Stop by and check it out!

Attention Book Groups - Night Road by Kristin Hannah

Here's another title for your book group. When stay-at-home mom Jude Farraday takes in Lexi, a former foster child with a dark past, the girl becomes inseparable from Jude's teenage twins before a shattering accident rips the family apart and sets the stage for a sobering confrontation years later. Available in a Book Group To Go bag. Each bag contains 12 books, author information and discussion questions.

Do you Speak Pirate?

Okay so this isn't from page to screen, but in honor of the release of the 4th installment of everybody's favorite pirate adventure (May 20th) and upcoming International Talk like a Pirate Day (Sept 19) our friends at Mango Languages are offering us a rare opportunity to expand our language skills with a new super special language course, Pirate! Available until June 30.

Pirate is bold, brazen, chock full of eccentric insults, and incredibly fun to speak. So tell your friends, tell your family, tell your parrot. Everybody loves Pirate! So check out Mango Languages Pirate Course. After you're finished communing with Captain Jack. Check out the rest of the Mango Language offerings at Herrick.

Lost in the Stacks -- We Hear the Dead

Okay, I know what you're probably thinking: gee, another paranormal novel, intended for the teen set, likely laced with all sorts of improbable romance, am I right?

Hold your horses--this one is well worth noting because it's not so much paranormal fiction as it is historical fiction, but even more importantly, it's based on actual events.

The books tells the story of the Fox sisters who are credited with starting the Spiritualist movement in 19th century New York. Maggie, who is the primary narrator, tells us the story is a sham from the get-go--she knows about her sister Kate's ability to crack her ankles and toes loudly and without detection--those are the source of the "spirit knockings." Kate, on the other hand, seems to thoroughly believe that although she didn't actually "hear" anything from the dead, she was inspired to crack her joints at certain times.

It's a fascinating time in history, but the real star of this book is Dianne Salerni's storytelling--talk about your gripping narration! I was hooked from the get-go and ripped through this one at record speed! Click on the book cover to request a copy!

Newly Notable -- In the Garden of Beasts

Many of us met Erik Larson for the first time with his bestselling Devil in the White City, or his lesser known Thunderstruck. Larson's latest book, In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and American Family in Hitler's Berlin, is another nonfiction study of often forgotten figures in American history. This time, the focus is on William Dodd, the U.S. ambassador to Germany at the beginning of World War II, and, more specifically, his daughter Martha, who came of age and socialized in a world of soon to be infamous Nazi figures.
The advanced reviews of Garden are strong, and we're already getting calls about it. Though the book doesn't get released until Tuesday, call the reference desk at 355-3720 to put your name on the list!

Newly Notable - The Navy SEALs

Want to know more about the men who brought down Osama Bin Laden? What goes into to making a Navy SEAL? Here are a couple new titles with insight into these special forces.

The Heart and the Fist: the education of a humanitarian, the making of a Navy SEAL.
Eric Greitens is a Rhodes scholar and an Oxford Phd. He traveled the world working as a humanitarian. Seeking a way to act to prevent the carnage he has witnessed, he joins the Navy SEALs and finds a new way to live a life of service and fulfill his credo "The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature." (John Stuart Mill)

SEAL Team Six: Memoirs of a Elite Navy SEAL Sniper.
SEAL team six is the elite of the elite. The least spoken of of the secret. Howard Wadin relates his experiences trying out and training as a Navy SEAL. His experience of warfare and the selection process to become a member of the elite SEAL Team Six. He trained as a sniper. Then he relates the horrific combat experience that was the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia, memorialized in the book/movie Black Hawk Down.

Check out these and other titles about the Navy SEALs here.

Newly Notable - The Throne of Fire

Mourning the end of Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series? Did Red Pyramid whet your appetite for more about Egyptian mythology. Well, your wait is over. The latest installment of modern mythicalogical adventure is here. In Riordan's latest release, Throne of Fire, Carter and his sister Sophie race to stop the chaos snake Apophis from rising. Joined by some new recruits they undergo a worldwide search for the Book of Ra and try to save the world from chaos.

So brush up on your Egyptian mythology and check out this adventure.