At the Captiva Library
Reminder: the Captiva Memorial Library closes on Saturday, Oct. 19 at 5 p.m. for building renovations. The library reopening is scheduled for January of 2014. Details of this donor funded community project are at: ccacaptiva.org.
During renovation of the Captiva Memorial Library the outside book return will remain open for return of Lee County Library System materials. Lee County materials may be returned to any Lee County Library System location. While the Captiva branch is closed be sure to request to change the pick-up location for any holds you currently have active. Enjoy the many branches of the Lee County Library System and the wide array of online books, audios, music, magazines and popular databases on the Lee County Library System website. Visit the Lee County Library System website at leelibrary.net or call 479-4636.
Remember too, the City of Sanibel Public Library is always happy to serve newcomers and regulars alike. For information on their hours, services and requirements to be eligible for a Sanibel Public Library card call them at 472-2483 or visit the Sanibel Library website at www.sanlib.org.
Here are some suggested titles to read on your personal e-reader:
The Day My Brain Exploded by Ashok Rajamani
“After a full-throttle brain bleed at the age of twenty-five, Ashok Rajamani, a first-generation Indian American, had to relearn everything: how to eat, how to walk and to speak, even things as basic as his sexual orientation. With humor and insight, he describes the events of that day (his brain exploded just before his brother’s wedding!), as well as the long, difficult recovery period. In the process, he introduces readers to his family-his principal support group, as well as a constant source of frustration and amazement. Irreverent, coruscating, angry, at times shocking, but always revelatory, his memoir takes the reader into unfamiliar territory, much like the experience Alice had when she fell down the rabbit hole. That he lived to tell the story is miraculous; that he tells it with such aplomb is simply remarkable. More than a decade later he has finally reestablished a productive artistic life for himself, still dealing with the effects of his injury-life-long half-blindness and epilepsy- but forging ahead as a survivor dedicated to helping others who have suffered a similar catastrophe.” *
A Dog Named Boo: the Underdog with a Heart of Gold by Lisa Edwards (e-book only)
“The dunce of obedience class with poor eyesight and a clumsy gait, Boo was the least likely of heroes. Yet with his unflappable spirit and boundless love, Boo has changed countless lives through his work as a therapy dog: helping a mute six-year-old boy to speak, coaxing movement from a paralyzed girl and stirring life in a ninety-four-year-old nun with Alzheimer’s. But perhaps Boo’s greatest miracle is the way he transformed Lisa Edwards’s life, giving her the greatest gift of all: faith in herself. This is the inspiring true story of how one woman and one dog rescued each other, a moving tribute to hope, resilience and the transformative power of unconditional love. Lisa J. Edwards is a full-time professional dog trainer and behavioral consultant. She has been a registered Delta Society Pet Partner with three of her dogs and has made more than 400 visits with her pets to hospitals, schools, nursing homes and residential care facilities. In 2008 Boo was honored as one of five finalists for the Delta Society’s national Beyond Limits Award for his therapy work with Lisa.” *
The Secrets of Top Students: Tips, Tools, and Techniques for Acing High School and College by Stefani Weisman
“Straight talk and tips from top students to help make academic excellence a lifestyle. Getting a passing grade is one thing-cramming to memorize facts, knowing what’s on the test, finishing a paper just before the deadline-but being a top student is something else entirely. So what makes the difference between a good student and a top student? Being a top student is a lifestyle, not just an A on your transcript offers advice from lifelong top student, Stefanie Weisman, to help you learn the keys to studying smart, staying motivated, and making academic excellence a part of your life.” *
Barksdale’s Charge: The True High Tide of the Confederacy at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863 by Phillip Thomas Tucker (e-book only)
“On the third day of Gettysburg, Robert E. Lee launched a magnificent attack. For pure pageantry it was unsurpassed, and it also marked the centerpiece of the war, both time-wise and in terms of how the conflict had turned a corner-from persistent Confederate hopes to impending Rebel despair. But Pickett’s Charge was crushed by the Union defenders that day, having never had a chance in the first place. The Confederacy’s real “high tide” at Gettysburg had come the afternoon before, during the swirling conflagration when Longstreet’s corps first entered the battle, when the Federals just barely held on. The foremost Rebel spearhead on that second day of the battle was Barksdale’s Mississippi brigade, which launched what one (Union) observer called the ‘grandest charge that was ever seen by mortal man.’ Barksdale’s brigade was already renowned in the Army of Northern Virginia for its stand-alone fights at Fredericksburg. On the second day of Gettysburg it was just champing at the bit to go in. The Federal left was not as vulnerable as Lee had envisioned, but had cooperated with Rebel wishes by extending its Third Corps into a salient. Hood’s crack division was launched first, seizing Devil’s Den, climbing Little Round Top, and hammering in the wheatfield. Then Longstreet began to launch McLaws’ division, and finally gave Barksdale the go-ahead. The Mississippians, with their white-haired commander on horseback at their head, utterly crushed the peach orchard salient and continued marauding up to Cemetery Ridge. Hancock, Meade, and other Union generals desperately struggled to find units to stem the Rebel tide. One of Barksdale’s regiments, the 21st Mississippi, veered off from the brigade in the chaos, rampaging across the field, overrunning Union battery after battery. The collapsing Federals had to gather men from four different corps to try to stem the onslaught. Barksdale himself was killed at the apex of his advance. Darkness, as well as Confederate exhaustion, finally ended the day’s fight as the shaken, depleted Federal units on their heights took stock. They had barely held on against the full ferocity of the Rebels, on a day that decided the fate of the nation. Barksdale’s Charge describes the exact moment when the Confederacy reached its zenith, and the soldiers of the Northern states just barely succeeded in retaining their perfect Union. Author Phillip Thomas Tucker, Ph.D. has authored or edited over 20 books on various aspects of the American experience, especially in the fields of Civil War, Irish, African-American, Revolutionary, and Southern history. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, he has earned three degrees in American history, including a Ph.D. From St. Louis University in 1990. For over two decades, Dr. Tucker served as a military historian for the U.S. Air Force.” *
* Book jacket/publisher description
At the Captiva Library
The Captiva Memorial Library will close on Saturday Oct. 19 at 5 p.m. for building renovations. The library reopening is scheduled for sometime during January of 2014. This renovation will expand the library juvenile room, patron reading room and computer area. The project scope includes a new Captiva Island Historical Society sponsored museum exhibiting the rich history of Captiva and an enhanced Civic Association Community Hall. Details of this donor funded community project are at ccacaptiva.org.
During renovation of the Captiva Memorial Library the outside book return will remain open. Materials may also be returned to any Lee County Library System location. While the Captiva branch is closed, enjoy the many branches of the Lee County Library System and a wide array of online books, audios, music, magazines and popular databases on the Lee County Library System website. Visit the Lee County Library System website at leelibrary.net or call 479-4636.
The City of Sanibel Public Library is always happy to serve newcomers and regulars alike. For information on their hours, services and requirements to be eligible for a Sanibel Public Library card call them at 472-2483 or visit the Sanibel Library website at www.sanlib.org.
Come into the Captiva Memorial Library to stock up on some good reading before closing day:
The Perfect Ghost by Linda Barnes
“Mousy and shy to the point of agoraphobic, Em Moore is the writing half of a celebrity biography team. Her charismatic partner, Teddy, does the interviewing and the public schmoozing. But Em’s dependence on Teddy runs deeper than just the job – Teddy is her bridge to the world and the main source of love in her life. So when Teddy dies in a car accident, Em is devastated, alone in a world that she doesn’t understand. The only way that she can honor his memory and cope with his loss is to finish the interviews for their current book – an “autobiography” of renowned and reclusive film director Garrett Malcolm. Ensconced in a small cottage near Malcolm’s Cape Cod home, Em slowly builds the courage to interview Malcolm the way Teddy would have. She finds Malcolm at once friendlier, more intimidating, and much sexier than she had imagined. But Em soon starts hearing whispers of skeletons in the Malcolm family closet. And then the police begin looking into the accident that killed Teddy, and Em’s control on her life – tenuous at best – is threatened. In this stunning breakout novel from the beloved author of the Carlotta Carlyle mystery series, Linda Barnes slowly winds the strings tighter and tighter, leading the listener ever more deeply into the lives of her characters with pitch-perfect pacing and mesmerizing prose.” *
The Baker Street Translation: a Mystery by Michael Robertson
“In Michael Robertson’s The Baker Street Translation, Reggie and Nigel Heath-brothers who lease law offices at 221B Baker Street in London, England and answer mail addressed to the location’s most famous resident, Sherlock Holmes-find themselves pulled once again into a case straight out of Arthur Conan Doyle. An elderly American heiress wants to leave her entire fortune to Sherlock Holmes. A translator wants Sherlock Holmes to explain a nursery rhyme. And Robert Buxton-Reggie’s rival for the love of actress Laura Rankin-has gone missing. Reggie must suss all these things out before an upcoming British royal event. If he doesn’t, something very bad will happen to everyone at that event-and to Laura. Fast-paced, exciting, and clever, this is the perfect mystery for aficionados of the current craze for all things Sherlockian.” *
Heart of Palm by Laura Lee Smith
“Utina, Florida, is a small, down-at-heels southern town. Once enlivened by the trade in Palm Sunday palms and moonshine, Utina hasn’t seen economic growth in decades, and no family is more emblematic of the local reality than the Bravos. Deserted by the patriarch years ago, the Bravos are held together in equal measure by love, unspoken blame, and tenuously brokered truces. The story opens on a sweltering July day, as Frank Bravo, dutiful middle son, is awakened by a distress call. Frank dreams of escaping to cool mountain rivers, but he’s only made it ten minutes from the family restaurant he manages every day and the decrepit, Spanish-moss-draped house he was raised in, and where his strong-willed mother and spitfire sister-both towering redheads, equally matched in stubbornness-are fighting another battle royale. Little do any of them know that Utina is about to meet the tide of development that has already engulfed the rest of Northeast Florida. When opportunity knocks, tempers ignite, secrets are unearthed, and each of the Bravos is forced to confront the tragedies of their shared past. Reminiscent of Kaye Gibbons, Lee Smith, Anne Tyler, and Fannie Flagg, Heart of Palm introduces Laura Lee Smith as a captivating new voice in American fiction.” *
The Watch: a Novel by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya
“Following a desperate night-long battle, a group of beleaguered soldiers in an isolated base in Kandahar are faced with a lone woman demanding the return of her brother’s body. Is she a spy, a black widow, a lunatic? Or is she what she claims to be: a grieving young sister intent on burying her brother according to local rites? Single-minded in her mission, she refuses to move from her spot on the field in full view of every soldier in the stark outpost. Her presence quickly proves dangerous as the camp’s tense, claustrophobic atmosphere comes to a boil when the men begin arguing about what to do next. Told from various points of view, including those of the U.S. soldiers, Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya’s heartbreaking and haunting novel takes a timeless tragedy and hurls it into present-day Afghanistan. Taking its cues from the Antigone myth, Roy-Bhattacharya recreates the chaos, intensity, and immediacy of battle, and conveys the inevitable repercussions felt by the soldiers, and their families, and especially one sister. The result is the most powerful expression to date of the nature and futility of war.” *
Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers
“A richly imagined novel is about a young French woman sent to settle in the New World. Transporting readers from cosmopolitan seventeenth-century Paris to the Canadian frontier, this vibrant debut tells of the struggle to survive in a brutal time and place. Laure Beausejour has been taken from her destitute family and raised in an infamous orphanage to be trained as a lace maker. Striking and willful, she dreams of becoming a seamstress and catching the eye of a nobleman. But after complaining about her living conditions, she is sent to Canada as a fille du roi, expected to marry a French farmer there. Laure is shocked by the primitive state of the colony and the mingling of the settlers with the native tribes. When her ill-matched husband leaves her alone in their derelict hut for the winter, she must rely on her wits and her clandestine relationship with an Iroquois man for survival.”
* Book jacket/publisher description