Staff Recommendations
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Karen Memory
by Bear, Elizabeth,
Reviewed by: Andrea Borchert, Librarian, Koreatown Media LabApril 27, 2015
Karen Memory is a Steampunk novel set in the mythical frontier city of Rapid City. Rapid City is a bit like San Francisco would have been during the gold rush if San Francisco had been built with Zeppelins by mad scientists in 1849. Karen is an orphan trying to make her way in the city and save up money to open a stable someday, like her father.
But the way that Karen has found to make money isn’t... Read Full Review
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The house of silk : a Sherlock Holmes novel
by Horowitz, Anthony, 1955-
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryApril 13, 2015
Call Number: M
While Batman is often described as the world’s greatest detective, Sherlock Holmes must be the world’s best known. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s consulting detective has been thrilling readers for almost 130 years with his masterful uses of reasoning, disguise and deduction to solve almost any crime. Doyle’s original Holmes adventures can be found in four novels and 56 short stories. These have been adapted to stage, radio, television and film, and the characters have been used by many authors for additional adventures as well. The house of silk is one of the new adventures. ... Read Full Review
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In certain circles
by Harrower, Elizabeth, 1928-
Reviewed by: Robert Anderson, Librarian, Literature & Fiction DepartmentMarch 31, 2015
The revelation of a "rediscovered" Harper Lee novel is worldwide news. A similar case involving another octogenarian author, from Australia, has generated much less media buzz but is nevertheless a significant literary event. During the 1960s, Elizabeth Harrower was considered one of the most talented younger Australian novelists. Her four novels were praised in Britain and in Australia, which included acclaim and friendship from two stellar Australian novelists, Christina Stead and Patrick White. A couple of years ago, an Australian publisher decided to reissue the four... Read Full Review
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A darker shade of magic
by Schwab, V. E., 1987-
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 20, 2015
Call Number: Ed.a
What if there were multiple Londons? Four vastly different but parallel cities existing simultaneously in the same location? A Grey London, dark and dirty, ruled by a mad king and almost completely devoid of magic. A Red London, bright and beautiful, where a benevolent monarchy rules over a flourishing, magic-infused empire. A White London, where the throne is attained through treachery and dominance, and the populace struggles to control a form of magic that is as rebellious and untrustworthy as they are. And a Black London, source of the most powerful--and... Read Full Review
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It's what I do : a photographer's life of love and war
by Addario, Lynsey.
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMarch 16, 2015
Call Number: 770.9 A222
Lynsey Addario’s autobiography and photographs are clear, direct, candid, and not for the faint of heart, so this is a cautionary warning. Her calling is war photography and with a world rocking off its hinges with conflicts, revolts, and wars, mostly undeclared, she has been steadily employed.
Her obsession with photography began when her father casually handed over a Nikon FG to the thirteen-year-old Lynsey. At university she majored in international relations, but never imagined that photography could be a profession. A student year abroad in Italy provided... Read Full Review
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Among others
by Walton, Jo.
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryMarch 9, 2015
Morwenna Phelps has had an interesting--and challenging--childhood. She and her twin sister, Morganna, grew up in Wales searching for, and playing with, the fairies who live in the local industrial ruins. Their mother, Liz, is a witch and also quite mad. When Liz attempts to take control of the fairies, the twins attempt to stop her. Morganna is killed, and Morwenna is gravely injured. She is then sent to live with the father who abandoned them as babies, and he promptly packs her off to a girls’ boarding school in... Read Full Review
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Ada's algorithm : how Lord Byron's daughter Ada Lovelace launched the digital age
by Essinger, James, 1957-
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionMarch 3, 2015
Call Number: 92 L8978Es
Ada Lovelace was the only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the brilliant and disturbed poet who died at thirty-six after living a life of excessive debauchery. Her mother came from a wealthy, fairly open-minded family, and for a woman at that time she received a somewhat decent education. The marriage lasted a little over a year, when Lady Byron took the young baby, and ran away from her controlling husband. Because Lord Byron had led a most profligate life, rife with an abuse of drugs and sex, it was one of... Read Full Review
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All I Love and Know
by Frank, Judith, 1958-
Reviewed by: Janice Batzdorff, LibrarianFebruary 22, 2015
Lydia Rosen’s inane chatter about bourekas during the flight to Israel baffles Matt Greene. To his partner, Daniel Rosen, his mother’s preoccupation with the stuffed pastry makes total sense. “She’s trying not to have to imagine how much of her son’s body has been blown to bits,” he explains. But the grim reality intrudes when Daniel, his parents, and Matt land at the Tel Aviv airport and are transported directly to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Jerusalem. There, amidst indescribable, horrific odors and the sound of crying and wailing, the family is asked to identify Joel’s body... Read Full Review
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Moriarty
by Horowitz, Anthony, 1955-
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryFebruary 15, 2015
Call Number: M
In 1893, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, tiring of what is now considered one of the most enduring literary characters in history, killed off Sherlock Holmes and his nemesis, Professor James Moriarty, in a story called "The Final Problem." Doyle wanted to pursue the writing of historical novels and thought (and, one can presume, hoped) that "The Final Problem" was the end of the matter--but it wasn’t. The public wanted more stories of Holmes and Watson, and the outcry was immediate and sustained. Even Queen Victoria is rumored to... Read Full Review
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All the Truth is Out: The Week Politics Went Tabloid
by Bai, Matt.
Reviewed by: David B., Librarian, InfoNowFebruary 9, 2015
Call Number: 320.973 B1515
Colorado Senator Gary Hart was considered to be the frontrunner for the 1988 Democratic Presidential nomination in 1987. Bai, the national political columnist for Yahoo News, recounts how an alleged adulterous affair forced the potential Democratic nominee to drop out of the race. Hart, reeling from the intense media circus he and his family were subjected to, withdrew into seclusion. He reemerged in November to run a quixotic, scaled down campaign which failed to generate many votes. Bai places the blame for Gary Hart’s failed campaign squarely on the shoulders of the media.... Read Full Review
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The world in the curl : an unconventional history of surfing
by Westwick, Peter J,
Reviewed by: Sheryn Morris, Librarian, Literature & FictionFebruary 3, 2015
Call Number: 797.6 W538
While surfing on a warm day near Santa Barbara, two senior surfers, each having surfed over thirty years, and who were also scholars and historians, thought it would be fun and informative to teach a class on the history of surfing to students at U.C. Santa Barbara, known for its easy access to good surfing sites. The class was "inundated" with students and most of them were non-surfers. This book evolved from the class and covers the modern history of surfing as it originated in Hawaii. There are other parts of the world (Peru, West Africa, and Polynesia) where people surfed, but... Read Full Review
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Influx
by Suarez, Daniel, 1964-
Reviewed by: Daryl M., Librarian, West Valley Regional Branch LibraryJanuary 26, 2015
Where is the future that we were all promised in the 1950s and 1960s? Jet packs! Flying cars! Cures for terminal diseases! Artificial Intelligence! Extended lifespans, increased abilities and prolonged youth through genetic engineering! Clean, renewable and cheap energy sources! For decades, the popular view of the future included all of these things, and more. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, released in 1968, shows commercially run interplanetary travel and the self-defensive A.I. HAL 9000 (who has clearly never heard of Isaac Asimov’s "Three Laws of Robotics"). It’s... Read Full Review