There’s something vastly appealing about starting over from scratch and not having the past mess up your happiness. Maybe that’s why Samantha Who? is so darn likable. It’s about trying to stay in the present (with a few exceptions as seen in perfectly executed flashbacks) and being your true self.

The first season introduces us to Samantha, a single woman who once lived only to please herself no matter what the cost. Now, thanks to a nasty accident that’s left her with amnesia, Samantha is living more positively, surprising friends and family with her newfound warmth and innocent take on life.

Even when she makes mistakes (and she makes mistakes A LOT!) we love her all the more because Christina Applegate has excellent comedic timing and her character has a real zest for self-improvement. Whether it’s the pilot where Samantha wakes up from a coma to find she doesn’t recognize her own parents (well-played by Jean Smart and Kevin Dunn) or the hilarious "Wedding" episode when she attends her former friend’s nuptials without realizing she’s been uninvited, Samantha Who? always delivers laughs.

This is a delightful romp with lots of zany and sweet moments. And with the current season off to a wonderful start (a recent tear-inducing episode had Samantha entering a dance contest with her mom) it’ll be so hard to wait for the second season to arrive on DVD next year!

Angie Engles – Central Library

Meg Waite Clayton

I just love stories about friends, their relationships, and their struggles, so when I picked up The Wednesday Sisters from the new fiction shelf the other day, I knew I had to find out who these "Wednesday Sisters" were. The first two lines of the novel immediately pulled me into the story:

"The Wednesday Sisters look like the kind of women who might meet at those fancy coffee shops on University – we do look that way – but we’re not one bit fancy, and we’re not sisters, either. We don’t even meet on Wednesdays, although we did at the beginning."

It turns out that the friends, not sisters – Frankie, Ally, Brett, Linda, and Kath – meet in a park in Palo Alto, California, in September of 1967, and find themselves meeting every Wednesday after that with their kids in tow. The group has nothing in common, it seems at first glance, except that they are all defined by what their husbands do as they take care of their children and household duties. As the story unfolds, however, we find that the friends are all tied together through a love of great literature.

Over the years, the Wednesday Sisters form a writer’s circle to express their hopes and dreams, their fears, and struggles as they experience history in the making – the Vietnam War, the race to put a man on the moon, and a women’s movement that challenges everything they believe – while living through their own challenges like breast cancer, infidelity, and failure. At times moving and heartbreaking, the story is also humorous, illustrating the strong bond that forms between friends.

Michele Happel – Miller Branch

Whether you’re a budding Ansel Adams or someone who loves to document your family’s life with photos or videos, we invite you to attend the fifth session in the Web 2.0 series: Photo Sharing. In this class discussion, topics include how to connect, contribute, and participate on the web via photo/video sharing and the different venues available. We’ll demonstrate uploading and editing pictures/videos, joining groups, inviting old and new friends to view your album, giving and receiving constructive criticism on image uploads, tagging, and the creative commons license.

Join Fritzi Newton and Beth Tribe on Tuesday, November 4 at the Miller Branch. The class begins at 7:00 pm and you may register online or by calling any library branch.

Fritzi Newton – Miller Branch
Beth Tribe – Central Library

Please join us for a seminar where experts from the Maryland Health Care Commission and the Howard County Office on Aging will explore options in long-term care for elderly or disabled loved ones. As a caregiver for my aging father, I am learning the importance of becoming an advocate for his health and well-being. The National Family Caregiver’s Association is one of many organizations providing assistance to caregivers.

If you need help with evaluating and selecting a long-term care facility, the Maryland Health Care Commission has created some great guides for assisted living and nursing homes. By the way, November 2008 is National Family Caregiver’s Month. View this link to discover how you can participate.

Click here for a list of related resources available at the Library.

Managing Your Parent’s Care will take place at the Central Library on Wednesday, November 12 at 7:00 pm.

Register online or by calling 410.313.7860.

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

I am not an avid fan of war movies, but when I heard about Tae Guk Gi from a coworker, I watched it out of curiosity. Tae Guk Gi is an epic movie about the Korean War, whose effects still endure today. With subtitles in English and French, the film portrays the harsh realities of war and the damages suffered by the people. "Taegukki" is the Korean word for "flag."

This movie is shot in the style of Saving Private Ryan, although its story line is different. It depicts two brothers born into poverty: the older brother, Jin-Tae, shines shoes so that his younger brother, Jin-Soek, can get an education. With the outbreak of the Korean War, Jin-Soek gets drafted. In order to protect him, Jin-Tae volunteers to go to the frontline. Believing that the future of the family lies with his younger sibling, Jin-Tae works out a deal with his superior officer that if he wins the Medal of Honor, Jin-Soek will be sent home from the front. In his quest to win the medal, Jin-Tae starts volunteering for increasingly dangerous missions, much to the objections of Jin-Soek. Graphic scenes and bloodshed pervade the story, so if you have difficulty viewing violence, you may want to pass this one up.

The only weakness of the film is that numerous coincidences occur in the plot. Aside from this, the film succeeds in conveying a part of Korean history that many of us did not witness in our lifetimes. In the bonus disc, the director and main actor, Jang Dong-gun, says that they took on this movie with the hope of helping the younger generation become aware of their country’s history . But I would add that they have succeeded in telling their history to an international audience.

Those viewers who are critical of the violence, bloodshed and harsh ending of Tae Guk Gi should check out the bonus disc, where they can watch interviews of director Kang Je-Gyu, producers Hana Lee and Sung Hoon Lee, and also listen to Professor Park’s perspectives.

Mai-Leng Ong- Administration Office

Ken Silverstein’s The Radioactive Boy Scout is a slim volume that tells the remarkable story of a gifted but misdirected teen, and suggests that what may be going on in your neighbor’s garden shed could be hazardous to your health. The kid in question, David Hahn, was a bit of a prodigy. He was very interested in science and remarkably creative in following his scientific impulses despite everyday restrictions, such as the absence of purpose-built laboratories and the difficulty of obtaining materials.

At age twelve, Hahn began with The Golden Book of Chemistry Experiments and then quickly progressed through the Boy Scout’s Atomic Energy Merit Badge. Atomic energy remained his consuming interest. Hahn impersonated a high school science teacher in order to correspond with federal officials and begged, borrowed, and stole smoke detectors so that he could collect a substantial quantity of Americium 241. His advanced scientific research proceeded with few of the usual safeguards and little to no oversight until he was engaged in dangerous experiments that were hard to control.

Silverstein’s narrative is frightening in illustrating how a dangerous radioactive device can be constructed with little difficulty, and how readily available chemical elements are easily recovered from commercial products and engineered to maximize their radioactivity. This is a fascinating story of sophisticated science undertaken by a teen boy using antique clocks and lantern mantles, shoe boxes, soil, and silver foil. In a sense, it is also the story of misdirected promise and the dangerous yet scientifically-minded behavior of the socially isolated David Hahn. Take a look at The Radioactive Boy Scout by Ken Silverstein. There’s plenty to draw the reader in to this exploration of Hahn’s brilliant but flawed character.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Valen is not your average hero: in fact, he’s a drug addicted sorcerer in hiding from his aristocratic family. He’s also one of the most human and engaging characters I’ve encountered in a long time. Carol Berg’s Flesh and Spiri t  introduces Valen in all his sullen glory, as the bad boy who befriends the unlikeliest people almost against his own will. Berg gives tantalizing hints to Valen’s past and current problems, allowing the reader to put the puzzle together. I found it refreshing not to have an author club me over the head with motivations and overt "clues."

Valen, a scion of one his homeland’s most important families, is both more and less than he seems. At heart, he’s sickeningly afraid of his lot in life… namely his magic, his family, and his future. He’s addicted to a magical drug that, paradoxically, helps him deal with a physical illness. Valen continually fools himself that he’s acting only in his own interests whenever he’s out on a limb helping others. He also holds the key to saving himself and most of his world in a book of maps, gifted to him by his grandfather.

Valen’s world is being torn apart by war and dark magics as three princes fight for their deceased father’s throne. A veteran of one of the armies, Valen finds sanctuary with a group of monks who are dedicated to building a Lighthouse, a repository of all human knowledge and skill, against the coming destruction. He joins the order seeking safety and anonymity, but his past life ambushes him even at the remote monastery. Valen needs to figure out who he is and what he’s supposed to do before his illusory safety collapses completely.

The first book ends in a cliffhanger, so you might want to check out the sequel, Breath and Bone, too. After continuing the twists and turns set up in the first book and introducing several new, important characters, this one offers a surprising and satisfactory conclusion to Valen’s story.

Kristen Blount – Administration Office

Sites like iTunes or Napster require you to purchase music, but did you know you can share music without buying it? And it’s legal! Web 2.0 has ushered in a revolution in the world of music. Explore how to create, listen, and share music playlists for all tastes.

Brian Auger and Beth Tribe will demonstrate several music-sharing Web 2.0 sites. Then learn how your music from your computer can follow you into your living room with the Squeezebox. This class is a must-attend for any audiophile.

Please join us for the music-sharing class on Wednesday, October 27 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm at Miller Branch. Register online or by calling 410.313.1950.

Beth Tribe – Central Library

Cynical extension-course instructor Amy Gallup has once again sized up the same old wannabees and suck-ups in her current fiction-writing class. The feminist who only reads Kingsolver, but whose writing screams Danielle Steele. The groupie-poet in chartreuse velvet, a repeat offender. The jock. There’s always a jock. Sitting way in the back – hoping to hook up. And the physician, sure he’s the next Robin Cook as he smugly hands Amy a three-thousand word manuscript she already knows spells S.L.U.S.H.

Yes, misanthropic, though bitterly lonely, Amy may not herself have written a critical success in many years, but her instincts remain intact. She knows her craft and her students. Or . . . does she? Because this fall someone on Amy’s roster is a ‘sniper’. Revenge and murder is this unpublished writer’s inspiration and suddenly it is up to Amy and a surprisingly loyal class to decode in each other’s constructive dissections, not only who the killer is, but who will be the next ‘little Indian’.

A taut page-turner, The Writing Class by Jincy Willett takes a bead and opens fire on self-crowning intellectuals everywhere. Prepare yourself for involuntary fits of mirth.

Amy Zuccarini – East Columbia Branch

Edward Rutherford’s London is an epic tale, spanning the two millennia from 54 BC to 1997. Rutherford intertwines the lives and struggles of many generations of several families with the history of each period. Beginning in the ancient Roman era, readers experience the daily lives of these families and the major events that shape history, from the outbreak of the plague to the Great Fire of London.  Rutherford’s characters impact the times around them, interact with historical figures, and provide commentary on the turbulent, dynamic, and sometimes violent story of the great city of London.

Although at 829 pages, London is a lengthy tome, it’s a must read for all history buffs!

Elizabeth Furr – Central Library