Calling all history buffs!

The History channel, on November 15, premiered a five night special called WWII in HD. Many of the once black and white images were made into color, I would think to make the experience more real to the viewer. The beginning of the series starts off, of course, with the entrance of the United States into the war. Battle scenes are not, however, the only thing shown throughout the series. Life in both America and Europe are portrayed as well as narrative from characters are scattered throughout. The footage, at times graphic, is breathtaking. If you are interested in witnessing some pieces of this great war in our history, this is a documentary that should not be missed.

Make this your next Official Book Club Selection!

Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin

Reviewed by Suzanne M., Director

When I checked out Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin I assumed the book would be very much like her stand-up act, as in full of celebrity gossip and foul language. However, I was surprised to find an straightforward and revealing memoir. Griffin candidly discusses her upbringing and subsequent journey into the world of entertainment. Her no-holds-barred approach to comedy is applied to Official Book Club Selection--Griffin is not afraid to admit her mistakes, bad choices, and embarrassments. Readers will discover that there is more to Kathy Griffin then her irreverent stage persona--she is sensitive, thoughtful, and fiercely loyal. Griffin fans will love this book, but due to it's refreshing honesty, Official Book Club Selection may win her some new fans as well. Definitely a stand-out among the flood of celebrity memoirs being published right now.

Official Book Club Selection can be reserved through the Chester County Library System online catalog. To learn more about Kathy Griffin visit her website.

New Teen Read: Viola in Reel Life

Viola in Reel Life by Adriana Trigiani

Reviewed by Suzanne M., Director

Viola in Reel Life is the first teen novel by popular adult author Adriana Trigiani. In it, high school freshman Viola Chesterton is transplanted from Brooklyn, New York to an all-girl boarding school in the Midwest while her parents are filming a documentary in Afghanistan. An only child accustomed to a very small circle of friends, Viola is extremely uncomfortable living in a quad with four other girls. She resolves to get through this year as painless and as friendless as she can seeking solace in her video camera. However, life at The Prefect Academy for Young Women has other plans for Viola.

Due to the huge popularity of Trigiani's Big Stone Gap series, I had expected a little more from Viola in Reel Life. It was an adorable story, but very formulaic (girl faces adversity, girl is frustrated, girl has revelation, girl works hard, girl prevails). While a nice addition to the Young Adult collection, it is not a stand-out in this fast-growing genre. Girls in 6th - 10th grade will adore the trials, tribulations, and triumphs of Viola and her roommates, but lack of character development will make it difficult for Trigiani's adult fans to cross-over. Recommended to tween and teen girls looking for a sweet tale of friendship.

Reserve your copy of Viola in Reel Life through the Chester County Library System online catalog. To learn more about author Adriana Trigiani and her work, visit her website.

Library Hours for the Week of Thanksgiving

Monday 10:00 - 8:00

Tuesday 10:00 - 8:00

Wednesday 10:00 - 5:00

Thursday - Closed

Friday - Closed

Saturday 10:00 - 5:00

Don't forget our "Food for Films" Thanksgiving Food Drive. It ends this Saturday, November 21. Please donate non-perishable items. For every 2 items donated, receive 1 free DVD rental! Items collected will be given to the Spring City Food Pantry.

The library staff wishes everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

What are you reading?

Many readers have already discovered the wonderful world of online book logging. These sites allow you to keep track of the books you've read and books that you plan on reading. You can review and rate books and read what others have to say about the books you're interested in.

There are several different options for logging your books online:

aNobii

Goodreads

LibraryThing

Shelfari

These websites are free to use. You will need to create a user profile and provide a valid email address. These sites function as social networking sites so you can meet and chat with fellow book lovers if you choose. They also feature web 2.0 applications so you can link your online book log with other social networking sites you use such as Facebook.

Log on today and start building your virtual bookshelves!

Testing 1, 2, 3!

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs

Reviewed by Suzanne M., Director

My brother-in-law and I have a running joke as to who is the biggest know-it-all in the family (it's him, by the way). So a couple of Christmases ago, he gave me A.J. Jacobs' book The Know-It-All as a gag gift. In it, Jacobs decides to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica from cover to cover. This "gag" gift turned out to be funny, smart, and bursting with interesting factoids, and I immediately became a fan of Jacobs. Jacobs followed-up with The Year of Living Biblically in which he spent a year following The Ten Commandments complete with growing a beard and wearing a robe and sandals.

The Guinea Pig Diaries is Jacobs' third book and chronicles some of his smaller experiments. In it Jacobs outsources his life to a team in India, practices Radical Honesty, crashes the Academy Awards, follows George Washington's 110 rules for life, and dedicates one month to following his wife's every whim. A funny, light-hearted memoir, The Guinea Pig Diaries is also insightful and educational.

The smallest of Jacobs' three books, this one took me the longest to read. The middle drags slightly, and I wondered how much was filler to meet a publication deadline. Nevertheless, the beginning and end make this a worthwhile read. If you are a fan of Jacobs' previous works, then you will enjoy this one as well.

The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment can be reserved through the Chester County Library System. To learn more about New York Times bestselling author A.J. Jacobs visit his website.

You've Got Mail!

Do you love to read but are always stumped what to pick next? Subscribe to NextReads. NextReads offers free monthly or bi-monthly newsletters full of book recommendations in your favorite genres. These newsletters are sent directly to your email--an easy and convenient way to find books that interest you!

The newsletters available are:

• Armchair Travel
• Audio Books
• Biography and Memoir
• Business and Personal Finance
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• Fantasy
• Fiction A to Z
• Historical Fiction
• History and Current Events
• Home, Garden, and DIY
• Horror
• Kids' Books
• Mind and Body Fitness
• Mystery
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• New York Times Fiction Bestsellers
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• Romance
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• Teen Scene
• Thrillers and Suspense
• Tween Reads

You can select just 1 or 2 newsletters or all 25! Signing up is quick and simple--all you need is an email address. Click here to start receiving NextReads today!

Show your stuff!

Do you have an interesting or unique collection you'd like to share with the community? Use our display case! The case is located in the center of the library where all of our patrons can appreciate and admire your collection. Sign up for a 1-month block to showcase your stuff! Examples include artwork, photographs, toys, dolls, and collectibles. For more information contact Suzanne, Director, at 610-948-4130 or smacaulay@ccls.org.

New Historical Fiction Picks!

Harriet and Isabella by Patricia O'Brien and A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd

Reviewed by Cathy S., Librarian

Most of us know that Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin, an eye-opening novel exposing the horrors of slavery. But I wonder if many of us know that she was one of a large and largely close-knit family? Harriet and Isabella by Patricia O’Brien is the story of the relationship between two sisters of the famous Beecher family. Harriet Beecher Stowe, author, and her younger sister, Isabella Beecher Hooker, determined suffragist, grew up very close to each other as well as to their brother, famous preacher, Henry Ward Beecher.

In 1887, Henry Ward Beecher is on his deathbed. His family is gathering around him, but there is a deep rift within the family that prevents Isabella from joining them. Some years before, Henry was at the center of a sensational scandal involving his relationship with the wife of one of his parishioners. A long, painful trial only served to rend the family apart and weaken Henry’s solid reputation. Harriet remained steadfastly loyal to Henry, while Isabella exhorted him publicly to admit to his guilt.

The question rises from O’Brien’s novelization of the relationships within the Beecher family, including also their other brothers and sisters and Henry’s wife and children, of whether justice was served during the trial and its aftermath. While Henry lies dying, will the strength of family ties withstand the struggle to overcome differences?

In A Duty to the Dead by Charles Todd, Bess Crawford is serving in the British nursing corps during World War I. She has been raised by her Army officer father to be keenly aware of her responsibility, honor and duty. In 1916, she is traveling on the hospital ship, Britannic, when it is sunk by a mine. Escaping safely, but with a badly broken arm, she returns to her home in Kent to recuperate.

Bess has just lost one of her fondest patients, mortally wounded Lt. Arthur Graham, who as he dies, makes a request of her to deliver a message to his brother, Jonathan. Bess’ sense of duty compels her to follow through, and so is launched into a family mystery that is only resolved after even more people die.

I hope Todd writes further adventures for Bess Crawford, just as he has written eleven Ian Rutledge mysteries. She is a strong, independent woman of the early 20th-century, who has to rely on her wits and innate courage to make sense of the underlying intrigue she steps unwittingly into as she seeks to do her duty for a friend.

Learn more about Harriet and Isabelle by visiting the book's website. More about A Duty to the Dead can be found on author Charles Todd's website. To reserve a copy of these books, visit the Chester County Library System Catalog online.

Warm Up @ the Spring City Library!

On Monday, November 30 the Spring City Public Library will begin serving coffee! Come in from the cold and enjoy a hot cup while you use one of our computers with high-speed Internet or browse our updated book collection. Coffee will be sold for 50 cents a cup.

Thank you!

A sincere "Thank you!" to all of our patrons that donated to the Sock it to Us! program during the month of October. We collected 46 pairs of socks that RSVP of Chester County will distribute to homeless men, women, and children this winter. Your generosity means so much to so many!

Please don't forgot about our Thanksgiving Food for Films program! For every 2 non-perishable food items you donate, you will receive 1 free DVD rental. All items collected will be given to the Spring City Food Pantry. Start your holiday season by giving to those in need!

"Check Out" Sacred Hearts

Sacred Hearts by Sarah Dunant
Reviewed by Cathy S., Librarian

In 16th century Italy, there are only two respectable outcomes for a woman of means who reaches marriageable age: an arranged marriage or entrance into a convent, both of which involve a bridal dowry. Isabetta’s father arranged for her, as the elder sister of the family, to be engaged to a gentleman of some wealth and family name. But Isabetta, already in love with her music tutor—a young man with a glorious voice—will not acquiesce. Instead, her younger sister becomes the betrothed, and Isabetta is sent off against her will to Santa Caterina, the convent in Ferrara.

Desperate, Isabetta—now the novice Serafina—rails against her incarceration, setting off much discord in the usually tranquil convent. The Abbess Madonna Chiara, whose responsibility it is to maintain order and discipline among the many residents, assigns the dispensary mistress to oversee Serafina and to aid her transition into life as a novitiate. Suora Zuana, educated by her physician father, holds deep knowledge of the healing powers of herbs and plants, as well as the healing power of an unshakeable faith in the suffering and risen Lord. The convent relies on her abilities to calm and heal through her knowledge, as the Abbess also relies on Suora Zuana’s intelligence and discretion.

Music is an integral part of life at Santa Caterina and is a large part of its fame and reputation. The Choir nuns have heard that Serafina possesses the voice of an angel, but she refuses to share her gift, until an encounter with Sister Magdalena, an ancient mystic who possesses the gift of visions. Serafina seems to begin to settle into her new life—learning the medicinal arts under Suora Zuana’s tutelage and becoming one of the Choir’s featured singers as they prepare for their festal performance during Carnival time— but underneath still boils her determination to escape her confines and reunite with her lover. Could there possibly be a future for her and her true love?

Set against political upheaval, the purging of the Catholic Church during the Counter Reformation, Sacred Hearts is a beautifully drawn portrait of a woman’s life during this time. With clarity, Dunant shows us the conflicts and personalities of the convent’s residents against internal and external societal and religious mores. Serafina, Suora Zuana, the Abbess and Suora Umiliana, mistress of novices, are fully drawn women living fully their lives in the only way each understands their place to be.

Click here to reserve your copy of Sacred Hearts from the the Chester County Library System. To learn more about author Sarah Dunant visit her website.