Spring Glenviewings

Our spring Glenviewings film series continues this Friday and with the Academy Awards still fresh in our minds the library is showing plenty of films this season that we hope will be on your "TO SEE" list. 

Brooklyn (111min/PG-13/2015)

Friday, March 18, 2 & 6:30 PM

A young Irish immigrant lands in 1950s Brooklyn. Adjusting to her strange, new life, she quickly falls into a romance. When her past catches up with her, she must choose between two countries and the lives that exist within. Lushly filmed, meticulously acted. 



Pawn Sacrifice (115min/PG-13/2015)

Friday, April 15, 2 & 6:30 PM

American chess prodigy Bobby Fischer and Soviet Grandmaster Boris Spassky enthrall the world with their intense battle of wills and strategy during the 1972 World Chess Championship.

Bridge of Spies (141min/PG-13/2015)

Sunday, April 24, 1:30 PM

Based on the 1960 U-2 incident, this film tells the story of an American lawyer recruited to defend an arrested Soviet spy in court, and then to help the CIA facilitate an exchange of the spy for the Soviet captured American U-2 spy plane pilot, Francis Gary Powers.

Trumbo (124min/R/2015)

Friday, April 29, 2 & 6:30 PM

In 1947, Dalton Trumbo was one of Hollywood's top screenwriters, until he and other artists were jailed and blacklisted for their political beliefs. Trumbo, as portrayed by Bryan Cranston (Oscar-nominated for Best Actor), uses words and wit to expose the absurdity and injustice of the Hollywood blacklist.

Spotlight (128min/R/2015)

Sunday, May 15, 1:30 PM

The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of abuse and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

The Big Short (130min/R/2015)

Friday, May 20, 2 & 6:30 PM

Four outsiders in the world of high finance predicted the credit and housing collapse of the mid-2000s, taking on the big banks for their lack of foresight and greed. A serious, complicated subject approached with an impressive attention to detail. Delivered with a well-acted, scathingly funny indictment of its real-life villains.

Spring is the air and so is St. Paddy's Day!

On St. Patrick's Day everyone is Irish. And what better way to get your Irish on then with a few good movies from the Emerald Isle. The lush landscape, the friendly inhabitants, and the occasional leprechaun. Enjoy!

Waking Ned Devine
Once
Leap Year
Circle of Friends
Quiet Man
The Commitments
Angela's Ashes
Love Rosie
In Bruges

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - 2016

The 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performer inductees were chose by more than 500 voters of the rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation.  Artists are eligible for inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twenty-five years after their first recording is released.  The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction is April 8, 2016 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.


Cheap Trick is American rock band from Rockford, Illinois, formed in 1973.  Current members are Rick Nielsen, Tom Petersson, Robin Zander, Bun E. Carlos, and Daxx Nielsen.  Past members are Randy Hogan, Pete Comita, and Jon Brant.  Their biggest hits include "Surrender," "I Want You to want Me," "Dream Police," and "The Flame."  They have often been referred as the "American Beatles."  Their first albums were Cheap Trick, In Color, Heaven Tonight, Dream Police, and All Shook Up.


Chicago is an American rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois.  They are a rock and roll band with horns.  They have sold more than 100 million records and considered one of the longest-running and most successful rock groups.  Originally called the Chicago Transit Authority, they eventually shortened their name to Chicago in 1970.  They received critical acclaim with such songs as "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" and "Beginnings."


Deep Purple is an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968.  They are considered to be one of the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock.  They have sold over 100 million albums.  In 1975 Guiness Book of World Records listed them as "the globe's loudest band."  They ranks number 22 on VHI's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock and received the Legend Awards at the 2008 World Music Awards.

Steven Haworth "Steve" Miller (born October 5, 1943 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American guitarist and singer-songwriter.  He began his career in blues and blues rock.  He began playing in the San Francisco area with albums like Children of the Future, Sailor and Brave New World.  Other hits included "Take the Money and Run," "Rock'n Me," "Fly Like an Eagle," "Jet Airline" and "Jungle Love."  He eventually moved to Chicago, where he played with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Buddy Guy, and Paul Butterfield.


Niggaz Wit Attitudes (N.W.A.) are an American hip hop group from Comton, California (1986-1991, 1998-2002). They popularized gangsta rap and West Coast hip hop.  Despite been banned from many American radio stations because of their explicit lyrics, the group have sold over 10 million albums, including Straight Outta Compton and Niggaz4Life.

Forthcoming Nonfiction

Look for these anticipated spring releases, coming soon to your library:

Rightful Heritage by Douglas Brinkley
The New York Times best-selling author of The Wilderness Warrior examines the environmental legacy of FDR and the New Deal, evaluating the creation of the Civilian Conservation Corps and the dozens of State Park systems that were protected by his decisions.

The Lonely City by Olivia Laing
Following the success of 2014’s The Trip to Echo Spring, Laing returns with a trip to Manhattan to study the lives of six artists.

The Immortal Irishman by Timothy Egan
The epic story of Thomas Meagher, an Irish rebel turned American hero and shaped history on a global scale, including as a fighter for slaves' freedom in all the iconic battles of the American Civil War

All the Single Ladies: unmarried women and the rise of an independent nation by Rebecca Traister
In a provocative, groundbreaking work, Traister traces the history of unmarried women in America who, through social, political, and economic means, have radically shaped our nation.


Seven Brief Lessons on Physics by Carlo Rovelli
A introduction to modern physics by a founder of the loop quantum gravity theory shares seven succinct lessons on topics ranging from general relativity and quantum mechanics to elementary particles and black holes.

Charlotte Bronte: a fiery heart by Claire Harman
Harman seizes on a crucial moment in the 1840's when Charlotte worked at a girls' school in Brussels and fell hopelessly in love with the husband of the school's headmistress. Her torment spawned her first attempts at writing for publication, and he haunts the pages of every one of her novels--he is Rochester in Jane Eyre, Paul Emanuel in Villette. Another unrequited love--for her publisher--paved the way for Charlotte to enter a marriage that ultimately made her happier than she ever imagined. Drawing on correspondence unavailable to previous biographers, Claire Harman establishes Bronte the heroine of her own story.

The Legends Club: Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Valvano and the story of an epic college basketball rivalry by John Feinstein
Documents the fierce 1980s rivalry among the coaching legends behind the University of North Carolina, Duke and North Carolina State, detailing Krzyzewski's controversial hire, the covert recruiting wars that shaped each team and the national pressure that complicated their leadership methods.

The Vanishing Velazquez: a 19th century bookseller's obsession with a lost masterpiece by Laura Cumming
Describes the true story of a provincial bookseller who discovered an incredible portrait of King Charles I at a liquidation auction and his lifelong quest to prove it was painted by Diego Velazquez.

The Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction - the Previous Winners

My January blog showcased the finalists and winner of the 2015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. Just to refresh your memory, this prize is awarded annually to a published work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change. The University of Alabama School of Law is now accepting entries for works published originally in 2015, until March 31, 2016. The finalists will be announced in May 2016 and the winner in September 2016. So stay tuned for those announcements.

Having enjoyed a few of the 2015 finalist/winner titles has piqued my interest in the previous years winners. Here's a list of those titles along with a brief annotation:

2015 - Secret of Magic by Deborah Johnson
           Winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction"If you liked The Help, you'll love this one!"—EW.com In a novel that "brings authentic history to light,"* a young female attorney from New York City attempts the impossible in 1946: attaining justice for a black man in the Deep South. 

2014 - Sycamore Row by John Grisham
           John Grisham takes you back to where it all began. When wealthy Seth Hubbard hangs himself from a sycamore tree and leaves his fortune to his black maid, Jake Brigance once again finds himself embroiled in a fiercely controversial trial -- a trial that will expose old racial tensions and force Ford County to confront its tortured history. A sequel to A Time to Kill, one of the most popular novels of our time and which established John Grisham as the master of the legal thriller.

2013 - Havana Requiem by Paul Goldstein
           Losing his successful law firm and marriage to pride and alcohol, litigator Michael Seeley slowly recovers his reputation only to risk everything by accepting a case from an aging musician who with six other composers seeks to reclaim copyrights to culturally significant Cuban songs.

2012 - The Fifth Witness by Michael Connelly
           Mickey Haller has fallen on tough times. He expands his business into foreclosure defense, only to see one of his clients accused of killing the banker she blames for trying to take away her home. Despite the danger and uncertainty, Haller mounts the best defense of his career in a trial where the last surprise comes after the verdict is in. Connelly proves again why he "may very well be the best novelist working in the United States today" (San Francisco Chronicle).

2011 - The Confession by John Grisham
           When Travis Boyette is paroled because of inoperable brain tumor, for the first time in his life, he decides to do the right thing and tell police about a crime he committed and another man is about to be executed for.

Trapped! Books about Survival

On Monday, March 7th  the Monday afternoon book discussion group "Page Turners" discussed the book The 33: Deep Down Dark: the untold stories of 33 men buried in a Chilean mine, and the miracle that set them free by Hector Tobar. The book recounts the true story of 33 miners trapped in a northern Chile copper and gold mine in August 2010. Award winning journalist Hector Tobar describes the collapse, rescue, the men's relationships, their emotional and spiritual responses, and their post-rescue readjustments. An absorbing story of ordinary men in extraordinary circumstances. If you're intrigued by what it might take to survive in extreme conditions, check out one of these books on surviving the unthinkable.

Nonfiction Books
Our Story by Jeff Goodell
Miracle in the Andes by Nando Parrado
Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston
Buried Alive by Manuel Pino Toro
Lost in Shangri-la by Mitchell Zuckoff

Fiction Books
Room by Emma Donoghue
The Martian by Andy Weir
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan

Comic Relief

Looking for a little comic relief? While a sense of humor is a subjective thing, you might find that some of these titles help lighten your mood.

Mischief in Maggody by Joan Hess

Arly Hanks has returned to Maggody, Arkansas, population 852, after a failed marriage in New York City and takes the job of sheriff. Along with her mother, Ruby Bee and Ruby’s friend, Estelle, she now must solve the crimes perpetrated by the outrageous inhabitants of her tiny Ozark hometown.

The Funnies by J. Robert Lennon

Unwillingly immortalized in their father’s comic strip, “Family Funnies”, Tim Mix and family try to go on after his death. Will underachiever Tim take over the strip and continue his legacy?

The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz

Izzy Spellman, a 28-year-old private eye, would like to get out of the chaotic and wacky family business, Spellman Investigations, but first she has to solve one final case. A fast-paced and fresh combo of chick lit and mystery.

Nobody’s Fool by Richard Russo

Living in upstate New York, wise-cracking Sully is 60 years old, out of work and maybe out of luck. He has a host of problems and an unresolved past. Meet his interesting friends and relatives as he tries to come out on top.