Have you seen the film Michael Clayton, which received several recent Academy Award nominations? (Best actor–George Clooney, best supporting actor–Tom Wilkinson, and an Oscar win for Tilda Swinton for best supporting actress.)

I can "highly recommend" it–pun intended–and we have sixteen copies in our system.

Clooney as the title character, Michael Clayton, is a former criminal prosecutor who has switched to tidying up entanglements by clients and partners at a large corporate law firm in New York City, sometimes skirting the boundaries of the law.

There are some interesting performances as characters wrestle with issues of conscience versus corporate greed in this directorial debut of Tony Gilroy, who also wrote the screenplay. I researched Gilroy and discovered that he had previously written the screenplays for Dolores Claiborne and The Bourne Trilogy. Many of his family members also have ties to films, including his father, Frank D. Gilroy, who won a Pulitizer Prize for the play, The Subject Was Roses, and his brother John, who was film editor for Michael Clayton. His brother Dan was the screenwriter for Two for the Money and is married to the actress Rene Russo.

Jean Salkeld – Central Library

I can’t read. Not in an after-school special way (do they make those anymore?), but in a working, commuting, raising-good-citizens way. And when I’ve finished, tucked the future good citizens into bed, and given my husband ten seconds of scintillating conversation, I crawl into bed, read a sentence, and pass out. This is frustrating, but some good has come of it – audiobooks.

Oh, I resisted; it felt like cheating. But someone I greatly respect (*plug* check out her fabulous blog, Books to the Ceiling) disabused me. True–certain advantages come only through reading, but you still need to pay attention and absorb when listening. And, if you find a good “reader,” it can make the experience all the richer. Such was the case when I listened to Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott, read by the amazing Rosalyn Landor (first encountered listening to Mistress of the Art of Death). This reading of Ghostwalk is still haunting me.

How to describe, hmmm: Lydia Brook restarts her affair with Cameron Brown when she returns to Cambridge to finish writing Cameron’s dead mother’s book on Isaac Newton’s involvement in alchemy. Lydia is drawn into this passionate-though-painful affair, and into the blurred lines between the present and past, the normal and supernatural, and, perhaps, the real and imagined. Did I mention Newton makes appearances and there is a subplot involving neuroscience and animal rights activists?

I know, it sounds weird and convoluted and weird again, but somehow it works. The writing is beautiful, the history is fascinating and based on fact (seems the father of gravity dabbled in some strange stuff). And Lydia’s struggles with what is real in her research, as well as her relationships, ring very true. It is reminiscent of that uncertainty we encounter as we age when we are not sure if something was really said or if we’re remembering a portion of a dream.

I highly recommend you take a walk on the weird side and give Ghostwalk a try. And if you’re a little frightened, let the beautiful narration of Rosalyn Landor take you there; it will be like having a strange fairy tale (some adult content) read to you as you drift between waking and dreaming with Lydia.

Joanne Sobieck-Lingg – Central Library

P.S. If you like strange, join me May 3, Central Library, 11 a.m. for Classics with Coffee discussion of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Neil Gaiman tops my list of favorite authors. I started with Neverwhere and was hooked. Neverwhere tells the story of Richard Mayhew, a regular guy who makes a small decision that costs him his idea of reality as he knows it. He enters a reality known as the Neverwhere, and then must try to make sense of the strange new world he’s thrust into and to get back to what he knows. It’s a thrilling ride.

Gaiman has a way of taking what you know to be true and twisting it in a dark and weird way. His award-winning American Gods features Shadow, recently released from prison and soon hired by a mysterious Mr. Wednesday, who tells Shadow to prepare himself for the upcoming "war." Anyone who enjoys stories about myths and ancient gods and goddesses will definitely enjoy American Gods, as they all seem to be mentioned. It’s fun to see how Gaiman relates ancient tales to today’s society.

Not only does Neil Gaiman have a fantastic imagination, but his work is incredibly diverse. He has written fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, films, children’s books and young adult works. He made a name for himself with his "Sandman" comic series and the spin-off, Death: The High Cost of Living. Death is personified as a young goth girl who is surprisingly optimistic and cheery, considering what she does for a living. She tries to understand people and their lives to help better understand herself and her role in the world. I loved Death as a character here; Gaiman’s idea of Death as an eternal optimist is fresh and inviting. This is a quick read that is nonetheless fulfilling.

If you enjoy fantasy books or just drifting off to another world that is slightly weirder than our own, I would highly recommend Neil Gaiman. You may also want to check out his fantastic journal, which I read regularly.

Jen Johnson – Glenwood Branch

It’s hard to imagine an America where you couldn’t travel due to a lack of technology. However, two hundred years ago, absent airplanes and railroads and with few roads worthy of the name, all the country really had for transport was a wealth of rivers. Unfortunately, rivers are easy enough to travel down but not very easy to travel in the opposite direction.

The solution? The steamboat, which this book claims as the "first great American invention." The history of steam power is a bit confusing. The steam engine itself, for instance, was mainly a British invention, while experiments with various sorts of steam-powered vessels go way back. What was developed in America was the first commercially viable steamboat. In the 19th century, along with the later development of canals and railroads, the steamboat made it possible to knit a fragmented agricultural republic into an industrial giant that spanned a continent.

As recounted in Steam, the development of the steamboat took some twenty years . Much of the book focuses on James Rumsey and John Fitch, who began the process and moved it significantly towards its eventual success. Their story is not a happy one. For a start, they were bitter rivals. Had they been able to cooperate they might have had a (slight) chance to share success. Absent cooperation, crippled by primitive technology and a lack of resources, the actual result was failure, insolvency, and obscurity for both.

Then came Robert Fulton who had the benefit of his predecessors’ experience and also some serious financial backing. Fulton’s achievement came with relative ease and was followed by both fame and fortune.

Residents of Howard County will find a good deal of regional interest in this book. For example, James Rumsey was born on the Eastern Shore and spent much of his adult life just up the Potomac in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

Steam is both well-written and carefully researched. It tells the reader an important story about how the technological world we live in, which we often take very much for granted, came into existence.

Joe McHugh – Administration Office

Days before Christmas, in the grip of a punishing nor’easter, a failing Connecticut Red Lobster is hours away from closing its doors forever and flinging its small staff to their individual fates.

Yet committed and conscientious Manny DeLeon, the Lobster’s long-time manager, continues to believe in the hope that something good will happen to save his restaurant; a hope that may not be any brighter than the light in the old lobster tank by the bar. Still, this raison d’etre is precisely what makes Last Night At The Lobster so special.

There is after all, Ty and Roz and Jacquie; all of whom, on this last night of business, put on their aprons for a mere handful of oddball customers.

And there are Christmas presents to buy — the significance of which weighs heavily on Manny, as does his love for the waitress he can no longer call his.

Stuart O’Nan, (The Good Wife), once again has his ear tuned to the voices of our working poor. Wry, wistful and revealing, Last Night At The Lobster is a small read but a blue-plate special deserving of discussion!

Aimee Zuccarini – East Columbia Branch

Dreamers of the Day by Maria Doria Russell is a fascinating trip into the world at the time of the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference. Peopled with the luminaries of the day – Churchill, T. E. Lawrence and Lady Gertrude Bell – I expected the narrator would be a mere shadow illuminating these great players. Not so at all! Agnes, a plain, 40-year-old Midwestern spinster, and her faithful dachshund Rosie captured my imagination before leaving Ohio.

Russell’s description of the Great Influenza is bone-chilling and immediate: "In a single year, fifty million people died that way – millions more than died in combat on all sides, on all fronts, in four and a half years of the Great War, itself an orgy of killing". As the sole survivor of her family, Agnes is an heiress, fleeing to Egypt to escape "everything that was conventional and predictable and respectable" in her loveless life. Loveless except for Rosie. I am a dog enthusiast and completely empathized with Agnes’ decision to adopt this "unprepossessing specimen", rather than to see her drowned by Agnes’ mother. Rosie’s uncritical affection gives Agnes the strength to choose life and, when the time comes, to choose love.

Well-written historical fiction, and this novel is very well-written indeed, takes us deeply into a place and time and helps us see the sights and smell the smells. Even though we know how things turn out, we still find ourselves hoping that there wil be a lasting peace for the Middle East.

Often after reading historical fiction, I want to know more about this place or this time, like the final course of a wonderful meal. Sometimes I want something rich and dense (chocolate torte). Setting the desert on fire : T.E. Lawrence and Britain’s secret war in Arabia, 1916-1918 by James Barr is an "exhaustively researched and vividly narrated history" (Publishers Weekly). Sometimes, what I want is something lighter (chocolate mousse).

Voted Best Picture of 1962, Lawrence of Arabia, will engage your mind and your senses as you are swept away by the epic tale of T.E. Lawrence. Either are a fitting accompaniment to the banquet served to us by Maria Doria Russell in Dreamers of the Day.

Shirley ONeill – Central Library

Glenwood Branch’s new book club, Biography: People Past & Present, will meet Wednesday, May 7 at 7:00 pm to tackle the formidable Clare Booth Luce.

My friend and colleague, Amy DeGroff was fascinated by Rage for Fame: the Ascent of Clare Booth Luce and recommended it when she heard about our new book group:

Rage for Fame is a delicious glimpse into New York culture between and during the Wars, with a focus on a woman that, from many accounts, filled up a room like none other. Claire Booth Brokaw Luce was a formidable woman who lived several lives during the span of one life time. She was a wife, mother, writer, executive, socialite, and eventually (not covered in this book) a diplomat.

Much is left unanswered, however, in this biography. While Ms. Luce left behind many notes, and detailed correspondence, her soul, her feelings are tough to detect. Some messages slip out from her creative writings — evidence of trauma and sadness are found, but I left this book still wondering — "who was she and how did she do it and did she like it?" I am not sure if she was happy. I am not sure if her sarcasm and her tremendous wit was a delight to her or a burden.

You will read this book quickly and want more – more photos, more detail, more information. However, read it . You will think differently about the pre-feminist era and you will re examine your labels or feelings for mom, wife, executive, woman. – Amy Begg De Groff

I thank Amy for her input and invite you all to learn more about "People, Past & Present."

Barbara Cornell — Glenwood Branch

As an avid reader of thrillers, I was enthralled when I started reading Gone by Lisa Gardner. From the scene of Rainie’s car, left abandoned with the engine running and the driver’s door open, to the appearance of Pierce Quincy, a semi-retired FBI profiler and Rainie’s husband, I immediately wanted to know what happened and more importantly — where was Rainie now? As I read, I had more questions about Rainie and Quincy: how they met, why they were separated, and whether Quincy’s skills could make the difference in finding out the events that led to Rainie’s disappearance. Did Rainie, a recovering alcoholic, relapse and simply walk away? Is someone from Rainie’s past out to settle an old score or is there someone else who wants Rainie to disappear? Gardner steadily builds the suspense and keeps you turning the pages to find out the fate of Rainie and her relationship with Quincy.

In Gone, I met other characters who appeared in earlier titles by Gardner. So I backtracked and began reading the books in chronological order. In The Perfect Husband, Quincy is called in as a profiler to help catch perfect husband Jim Beckett. In The Third Victim, we meet Officer Rainie Conner after a school shooting and Quincy is again called to consult. The Next Accident provides backstory about Quincy and his family and reveals how Rainie and Quincy’s relationship continues to evolve. The Killing Hour focuses on Kimberly, Quincy’s daughter and how she sets out to trap a serial killer who takes two victims at a time. The Killing Hour also sets the scene for Gone.

Gardner’s next book, Say Goodbye, will be released this summer and again focuses on Kimberly.

Cindy Jones – Administration Office

Hello, all you new Highly Recommended devotees (at least we hope). We are glad you’re checking out our blog for ideas on what to read, watch, or listen, but one of our favorite things at the library is to see and hear you. So please consider attending one of our many upcoming programs. I am promoting two that I will facilitate:

On May 3 from 11:00 am-12:00 pm in the Central Branch meeting room, we have the next installment of our new Classics with Coffee discussion. This time the topic is Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. If you think only of the Hollywood bolt-head, chasing people while bellowing "arggh," then you could be in for a pleasant surprise. Technology’s negative ramifications, morality and our increasing "mastery" of science, human nature’s call to create and destroy, and the disillusionment every child faces when he or she discovers that a parent is fallible, are just a few nuggets that may be discussed. If you were forced to read this classic in school and would like to view it again through different eyes, or maybe it is one you missed or will have to read for a class soon, come discuss its significance today or even probe poor Shelley’s past to see where she got the inspiration for her monster.

If you aren’t completely up to the examination of the human condition that is Frankenstein or are looking for something a little lighter after that discussion, then please join me for the Noontime bookclub discussion of Hilma Wolitzer’s Summer Reading (Central Branch meeting room, May 15, 12:00 -1:00 pm). Lissy is having a hard time adjusting to life as a second wife (fearing her stepchildren and her husband’s still too-close-for-comfort relationship with the ex) in the ultra-chic Hamptons. So she does what most modern Americans do with their problems (forget the therapist’s couch, too time-consuming and expensive). She forms a a book club. This is, in part, a strategy to get in good with some of the local movers and shakers. But Lissy and some of her fellow members end up inspired by the books and each other, learning a bit more about themselves. Besides being a nice "summer read," what book nut could resist a book about learning life lessons from reading?

Hope to see you at either or both!

Joanne Sobieck-Lingg – Central Library

Newly single, 50-something, Gwyneth Berke and pals navigate the waters with the "aging but young-at-heart set" in Toby Deven’s debut novel My Favorite Midlife Crisis (Yet). They tackle issues including online dating, elderly parents,and the perils of dating younger men. This book is really a hoot and witty to boot. It’s urban fiction (street fiction) for the over-fifty crowd! Not for the faint-hearted.

Elaine Johnson – Central Library