If You Like Ben-Hur, Try These... (movie tie-in)

Want to peer into the minds of Bible characters?  Explore through the eyes of these famous friends and foes.




The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The story of Dinah, a tragic character from the Bible whose great love, a prince, is killed by her brother, leaving her alone and pregnant. The novel traces her life from childhood to death, in the process examining sexual and religious practices of the day, and what it meant to be a woman.




Sarah by Marek Halter

Born into a world of luxury in the ancient Sumerian city of Ur, Sarah flees the arranged marriage planned by her father, a decision that leads to an encounter with Abram, a member of a nomadic tribe of outsiders.



Sinners of the Sea: the Untold Story of Noah's Wife by Rebecca Kanner

Tells the classic tale of ark and flood from the perspective of Noah's wife, a virtuous woman who overcomes adversity.



Iscariot: A Novel by Tosca Lee

Believing he has found the Messiah, Judas enthusiastically becomes one of Jesus' disciples, but he is forced to confront difficult truths when Jesus refuses to cave to social conventions and act on Judas's vision of making the nation free from Roman rule.



Cain by Jose Saramago

Condemned to wander forever after he kills Abel, he is whisked around in time and space. He experiences the almost-sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham, the Tower of Babel, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Joshua at the battle of Jericho, Job's ordeal, and finally Noah's ark and the Flood. And over and over again Cain encounters an unjust, even cruel God.


The Testament of Mary by Colm Toibin

Years after her son's crucifixion, Mary lives alone and in fear, trying to piece together the events that led to her son's brutal death.

"Dog" days of Summer

August 26 is National Dog Day! Here are some titles to get you through these 'Dog Days' of Summer.

Live and Let Growl by Laurien Berenson
Embarking on a road trip when Aunt Peg is appointed a judge at a Kentucky dog show, Melanie is horrified when a family friend, a former poodle exhibitor, suffers a fatal accident after old rivalries resurface at the expo center.

Jonathan Unleashed by Meg Rosoff
Struggling with an unhinged boss, a girlfriend who wants someone better and an apartment that should be condemned, Jonathan agrees to look after his brother's dogs, who become his companions during perspective-changing daily walks to visit an alluring vet.

Lily and the Octopus by Steven Rowley

Rowley has lovingly captured what it is like to be totally invested in caring for another life, another heart. This book is a true gift for anyone who has experienced the loss of a dog, but especially for those of us who have nursed a beloved dog through an illness even though you both knew it was going to be a losing battle.

Just Life by Neil Abramson

A NYC veterinarian operating a no-kill rescue shelter must keep her wits about her after a deadly, sweeping virus is believed to be carried and spread by dogs.

The Dog Who Saved Me by Susan Wilson

A grief-stricken Boston K-9 unit policeman turned animal-control officer struggles to rescue a traumatized dog gone feral at the same time he is challenged to prove that his delinquent older brother has returned to the drug business.

Fall Glenviewings Film Series

With our summer film season now behind us, here's a LOOK ahead at what's coming this fall in our Glenviewings film series.

Sing Street (106min/PG-13/2016)

Sunday, September 11, 1:30 PM

An irresistible musical about a boy growing up in Dublin during the 1980s. Through the power of music, he escapes his strained family life and starts a band to impress and win the heart of a mysterious and beautiful girl.

Born to Be Blue (97min/R/2016)

Friday, September 16, 2 & 6:30 PM

 The tumultuous life of trumpeter Chet Baker, often called the “James Dean of Jazz,” is reimagined with wit, verve, and plenty of rhythm. In this weaving of fact and fiction, Ethan Hawke illuminates the screen with the improvisational genius of a great jazz riff. Come for the story, stay for the music.

Maggie’s Plan (98min/R/2016)

Sunday, October 16, 1:30 PM

In this terrifically fun, sophisticated urban drama, a young woman (Greta Gerwig) is longing to start a family. She falls in love with a married man (Ethan Hawke), then devises a strategy to reunite him with his former wife (Julianne Moore) three years later.

The Meddler (100min/PG-13/2016)

Friday, October 21, 2 & 6:30 PM

Lonely and heartbroken, an aging widow from New York City (Susan Sarandon) follows her daughter to Los Angeles in hopes of starting a new life after the death of her husband. She begins interfering with her daughter’s life, but soon meets other people who are more in need of her assistance, giving her a new purpose in life.

Theeb  (100min/2015)

Sunday, November 13, 1:30 PM

In the Ottoman province of Hijaz during World War I, a young Bedouin boy experiences a greatly hastened coming of age. He embarks on a perilous desert journey to guide a British officer to a secret destination. Oscar-nominated for Best Foreign Language Film.

Eye in the Sky (102min/R/2015)

Friday, November 18, 2 & 6:30 PM

Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren), a military officer in command of an operation to capture terrorists in Kenya, sees her mission escalate when a girl enters the kill zone. An international dispute is triggered over the moral implications of modern warfare.

Love + Bugs + Coyotes = Strong Women

When people come to the Reader's Services desk and give me carte blanche to pick out a good book for them, my go-to book is Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver.  Why?  Because the story is beautifully written and intertwined with the lives of four brave and strong females.  Taking place in Appalachia, Deanna is a forest ranger who hasn't had much human contact in the last two years.  She is surprised one day when she discovers a den of coyotes and a couple of days later encounters a man who comes knocking on her cabin door.  He's there to hunt the coyotes and in the process steals Deanna's heart.  Just down the mountain Lusa is desperately trying to acclimate to her new role as the widow of a farmer.  Having found herself in unfamiliar territory of all kinds, this New York entomologist is suddenly faced with having to defend her land claim for the farm against her sisters-in-law.  Just down the road a little further, elderly Nannie is feuding with the old man next door about everything from God, pesticides, and how complicated the world has become around them.


Prodigal Summer is rich in flora and fauna, placing us in the midst of these women who take on challenges, strive to mend their broken hearts, and stand for what they believe in.  The strength of the female characters is extraordinary as their stories unfold.  Even the insects remind us that without strong females, there is no existence.  Join Deanna, Lusa, and Nannie as their lives come together in an end that will not disappoint you.  Oh, and the fourth strong and persevering female that brings the story together?  That would be the female coyote -- who is the matriarch of her pack -- as she brings coyotes back to the region after they had been hunted out of existence.


Definitely a book to read when the heat of summer leaves with the need to read.  It'll also fulfill these Bingo squares: Good for a Book Discussion, Recommended By a Friend (me), or Romance.


For other outstanding Barbara Kingsolver books, check out The Bean Trees, The Poisonwood Bible, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.


-- KF

Check out what's new in Spanish

For those of us who like to read in a second language or maybe it is your first, here is a short list of some new titles in our Spanish collection.  Ask at the desk where they are and check one out today. Not sure what to read, we can recommend something.

En la toscana te espero by Olivia Ardey

El milagro probiótico: la guía definitiva para restaurar tu salud de adentro hacia afuera by Michelle Schoffro Cook

Mujeres fuertes y los hombres que las aman by Tom Lane

Mejora tu salud de poquito a poco by Juan Rivera

El tiempo entre suturas by Saturnina Gallardo

Gesell dome by Guillermo Saccomanno

Activa tu GPS : el alma, tu GPS interior, es la guía más sabia para mostrarte el camino by Julio Bevione

El tren de los huérfanos (Orphan Train) by Christina Baker Kline

Para morir siempre hay tiempo by Carmen Conde

El ruiseñor (The Nightingale) by Kristin Hannah

While You're Waiting for "The Nest" by Cynthia D'aprix Sweeney...

The Nest by Cynthia D'aprix Sweeney is currently one of the hottest titles at the library. Not only is it a New York Times bestseller, but many book clubs seem to be choosing this title for their discussions.

The Nest is the story of the spectacularly dysfunctional Plumb family. Suddenly faced with the dismantling of a long-awaited trust fund (“The Nest”), Leo, Melody, Jack, and Beatrice must grapple with years of old resentments and present-day truths as they come together to try and untangle the messes they have made in their lives.

For more books that deal with the interaction of families under pressure, you might try one of the following fiction titles:

Before You Know Kindness by Chris Bohjalian

After a decade of spending a delightful summer week at their country house in New Hampshire, the members of the extended Seton family are confronted by a terrible accident, testing the values and relationships that hold them together.

The Children’s Crusade by Ann Packer

When their younger sibling returns, the three oldest Blair children find their lives disrupted in ways they could have never imagined as they each tell their story that is interwoven with portraits of their family at crucial points in their history.

The Vacationers  by Emma Staub

Celebrating their thirty-fifth anniversary and their daughter's high-school graduation during a two-week vacation in Mallorca, Franny and Jim Post confront old secrets, hurts, and rivalries that reveal sides of themselves they try to conceal.

The Red House by Mark Haddon

Eight members of a family gather in the English countryside where fading dreams, rising hopes and tightly guarded secrets are all brought to light.

Go for the Gold!

With the Olympics now in full swing, there's plenty of fiction novels about the games (or Olympians in the games). Here's a list of some the latest ones available. Bonus: also stop in the library and look for our latest 'Timely Topics' display on Brazilian Fiction - books set in Brazil - just to get in your in the spirit of the Rio games!

The Games by James Patterson
Two years ago Jack Morgan--the head of the renowned worldwide investigation firm Private--was in charge of security for the World Cup. During the championship match, the action nearly spilled from the field into the stands. Fortunately, Jack and his Private team averted disaster on soccer's biggest stage. Now he has returned to Rio to secure the Olympics. But before the torch is lit, the threats come fast and furious when Jack discovers that someone in Brazil will stop at nothing to sabotage the games. As the opening ceremonies near, Jack must sprint to the finish line to defuse a lethal plot set in motion during the World Cup that could decimate Rio, and turn the Olympics from a worldwide celebration into a deadly spectacle.

Don't Tell Me You're Afraid by Giuseppe Catozzella

A U.S. release of a best-selling tale from Italy, based on a remarkable true story, follows the experiences of a heroic Somali girl who trains to become a world-class runner in her war-stricken country and risks her life on a migrant journey to Europe so that she can compete in the Olympic Games.

You Will Know Me by Megan E. Abbott

When a violent death rocks her close-knit gymnastics community weeks before an important competition, the mother of an Olympic hopeful works frantically to hold her family together in spite of being irresistibly drawn to the crime.

Last Chance Llama Ranch by Hilary Fields

When a close encounter with an eighty-foot spruce steals Merry Manning's dreams of Olympic gold, the former ski champ finds herself falling into a career she never expected -- the life of a travel writer. Picturing glamorous trips to exotic places, Merry is speechless when her boss assigns her to the blog, "Don't Do What I Did," and sends her to a middle-of-nowhere llama ranch with instructions to "fall on her fanny" as often as possible. Soon she's eyeball-deep in alpacas, llamas, goats, and all the mess that comes with them. But when the Last Chance Llama Ranch -- and a certain gruff cowboy-- start to grow on her, Merry finds that each life might actually be just what she's been missing.

The Peerless Four by Victoria Patterson
The Canadian women's track and field team meets many challenges at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics, the first games in which women were allowed to compete in track and field.

Gramophone Hall of Fame - 2016

The following artists have been chosen to join the Gramophone Hall of Fame for the year 2016 because of their influence on the classical music recording industry.

Friedrich Gulda (Pianist)
Born on May 16, 1930 in Vienna, Austria.
Died on January 27, 2000 Steinbach am Attersee, Austria.
Guilda worked in both classical and jazz music.

Gundula Janowitz (Soprano)
Born on August 2, 1937 in Berlin, Germany.
Grew up in Granz, Austria and became a naturalized Austrian.
She is a lyric soprano singer of opera, oratorios and concert recitals.

Dame Emma Kirkby (Soprano)
Born on February 26, 1949 in Camberley, Surry, England, UK.
She is an English soprano who specializes in early music.  She was appointed Dame in 2007.

Gustav Leonhardt (Harpsichordist and Conductor)
Born on May 30, 1928 in 's-Graveland, North Holland.
Died on January 16, 2012 in Amsterdam.
He was a renowned keyboard player, conductor, musicologist, teach and editor.  He was instrumental in the movement to perform music on period instruments.

Yevgeny Mravinsky (Conductor)
Born in 1903.
Died in 1988.
He conducted the Leningrad Philharmonic from 1938-88.

Eugene Ormandy (Conductor)
Born Jeno Blau on November 18, 1899 in Budapest, Austria-Hungry.
Died on March 12, 1985 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
He was a conductor and violinist who became the music director and conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years.  The Philadelphia Orchestra had three gold records and won two Grammy Awards during his time with them.

Anne Sofie von Otter (Mezzo-Soprano)
Born on May 9, 1955 in Stockholm, Sweden.
She made her professional operatic debut in 1983 at the Basel Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1985, La Scale in 1987 and Metropolitan Opera in December 1988.  Her recording of Grieg songs won the 1993 Gramophone Record of the Year.

Trevor Pinnock (Harpsichordist and Conductor)
Born on December 16, 1946 in England.
He was associated with The English Concert, former artistic director of Canada's National Arts Centre Orchestra and founded The Classical Band in New York.  He won a Gramophone Award for his recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos with the European Brandenburg Ensemble.

Grigory Sokolov (Pianist)
Born in 1950 in St. Petersburg, Russia.
He won the 1966 International Tchaikovsky Competition.

Jon Vickers (Tenor)
Born Jonathan Stewart Vickers on October 29, 1926 in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada.
Died on July 10, 2015 in Ontario, Canada.
In 1960 he joined the Metropolitan Opera.  In 1968 he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada and received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in 1998.

Liked Suicide Squad? Try These!

The recent blockbuster Suicide Squad has broken the August box office records, earning roughly $135 million (compared to the previous record holder, Guardians of the Galaxy, at 94 million). Did you see it? Looking for more like it? Look no further:

• Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice
• Another big blockbuster from this summer, this kickstarted the DC movie universe and shares Ben Affleck (or Batfleck) as Batman with Suicide Squad.
• Fury
• Directed by David Ayer, the director of Suicide Squad, this visceral World War II movie features Brad Pitt. 
• The Dirty Dozen
• An older World War II film, The Dirty Dozen shares a premise with Suicide Squad: the US army uses convicted soldiers for a desperate mission to disrupt the Nazi's chain of command. 

Why not try some music featured in the film as well:

• Skrillex
• Grimes
• Creedence Clearwater Revival 

And while you're at it, grab some graphic novels. After all, these characters started off in comics!

• Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on a Serious Earth 
• Hellboy

Audiobooks for Road Trips

Flying may be the fastest way to travel, but there's something fun and exciting about a road trip.  The flexibility to make unscheduled stops or the discovery of hidden gem along the way adds to the fun.  Along with your assortment of snacks, maps and travel books don't forget to pack an audiobook. Audiobooks are a wonderful way to pass the time on the open road.

I've selected five titles that I think are good choices for a road trip. If none of these appeal to you please stop by the AV desk and one of our wonderful reader advisers can help you find just the right one for you.  If you need a vacation loan (1 week extension) please inquire at the checkout desk.

Vacationers: A Novel by Emma Straub
Celebrating their thirty-fifth anniversary and their daughter's high-school graduation during a two-week vacation in Mallorca, Franny and Jim Post confront old secrets, hurts, and rivalries that reveal sides of themselves they try to hide. (6 discs, 6 hours and 40 minutes)

Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
When war is declared Mary North signs up at the War Office, where she is made a teacher. Tom Shaw and his roommate Alistair enlist. When Mary and Alistair meet love and war tests them in ways they could never imagine. (10 discs, 12 hours and 45 minutes)

Us by David Nicholls
Us the emotional story of a middle-of-the-road British family spiraling out of control, and one man's attempt to win back their love. Quirky, delightful and unpredictable, the novel delves into what makes a marriage, and what tears it apart. ( 12 discs, 14 hours)

Dead Wake: the last crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
In movie like terms, this dramatic page-turner is Das Boot meets Titanic. Larson has a wonderful way of creating a very readable, accessible story of a time, place, and event. We get three sides of the global story--the U boat commander, British Admiralty and President Wilson--but what really elevates this book are the moving stories of individual crew and passengers. (11 discs, 13 hours)

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson
Bryson shares his breath-taking adventures and the absorbing history of the 2,100 mile Appalachian Trail, as he hiked it. (5 discs, 6 hours)

The Amazing Nonfiction DVD Collection at the Glenview Public Library! Check Out What's Brand New!

GPL has a wonderful collection of nonfiction DVDs. They cover a wide range of topics, including how-tos, documentaries, biographies, parenting, travel and more. With so many subjects to choose from, there is always something new to discover. The older ones are located in the audio-visual room following the TV series DVDs and the brand new ones can be found on the wall facing the regular shelves. They are organized by subject and have a dewey decimal number. Both nonfiction DVDs and new nonfiction DVDs can be checked out for 14 days and can be renewed pending there are no holds. Reserves may be placed by Glenview and Consortium library card holders. There is a limit of ten checkouts. Best of all, there is no charge!

Here is a list of some current popular titles:
Chaplains: on the Front Lines of Faith 253 CHA
Oh My God: What is Islam 297 OH
The Mask You Live In 305.31 MAS
Netanyahu at War 327.56 NET
Hate Crimes in the Heartland 364.15 HAT
You Belong to Me 364.1523 YOU
Secrets of the Dead: The Alcatraz Escape 365.979 SEC
Tattoo Nation 391.65 TAT
Earth's Natural Wonders 508 EAR
The Real Jungle Book Animals 591.954 REA
Couple's Workouts for Health and Happiness 613.71 COU
Simplified Tai Chai for Beginners 613.71 SIM
Tracey Anderson Targeted Training Boot Camp 613.71 TRA
Supplements and Safety 615.1 SUP
Can Alzheimer's Be Stopped 616.831 CAN
All Things Must Pass 780.2 ALL
Fantasy Sports Gamble 795 FAN
Jackie Robinson 796.357 ROBINSON
Pearl S. Buck 813.52 BUCK
Travel Detective 910.4 TRA
Waikiki: In the Wake of Dreams 919.69 WAI
Secret Tunnel Warfare 940.4 SEC
1916, the Irish Rebellion 941.5 NIN
Saudi Arabia Uncovered 953.8 SAU
Red Lines 956.91 RED


So, broaden your nonfiction world and check a few out today for free!