What's New This Week at the Durham Library (Plus Staff Recommendations)

Books

11/22/63, by Stephen King

The Ultimate Turkey Fryer Cookbook, by Reece Williams

Mutt’s Life! Photographs, by Fabio Petroni

Kill Alex Cross, by James Patterson

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, by Robert Massie

DVDs

Pirates of the Caribbean, On Stranger Tides

Larry Crowe

Beginners

This Week's Staff Picks

Patti's pick: 

The Mischief of the Mistletoe, by Lauren Willig

Synopsis: Arabella Dempsey's dear friend Jane Austen warned her against teaching. But Miss Climpson's Select Seminary for Young Ladies seems the perfect place for Arabella to claim her independence while keeping an eye on her younger sisters nearby. Just before Christmas, she accepts a position at the quiet girls' school in Bath, expecting to face nothing more exciting than conducting the annual Christmas recital. She hardly imagines coming face to face with French aristocrats and international spies...
 
Reginald "Turnip" Fitzhugh, often mistaken for the elusive spy known as the Pink Carnation, has blundered into danger before. But when he blunders into Miss Arabella Dempsey, it never occurs to him that she might be trouble. When Turnip and Arabella stumble upon a beautifully wrapped Christmas pudding with a cryptic message written in French, "Meet me at Farley Castle," the unlikely vehicle for intrigue launches the pair on a Yuletide adventure that ranges from the Austen’s modest drawing room to the awe-inspiring estate of the Dukes of Dovedale, where the Dowager Duchess is hosting the most anticipated event of the year: an elaborate twelve-day Christmas celebration. Will they find poinsettias or peril, dancing or danger? Is it possible that the fate of the British Empire rests in Arabella's and Turnip's hands, in the form of a festive Christmas pudding?

Patti says:  I love the characters, especially Turnip!  I also enjoyed Lauren Willig's humor throughout the book.

Karyn's pick: 

Compulsion, by Heidi Ayarbe  (YA)

Synopsis:

Today has to be perfect.
Magic.
I look at the clock.
10:14 am.
Ten fourteen. One plus one is two plus four is six plus ten is sixteen minus one is fifteen minus two is thirteen. OK.
I turn from the clock and walk into the hallway. "Ready.”

Saturday will be the third state soccer champion­ship in a row for Jake Martin. Three. A good number. Prime. With Jake on the field, Carson City High can't lose because Jake has the magic: a self-created protection generated by his obsession with prime numbers. It's the magic that has every top soccer university recruiting Jake, the magic that keeps his family safe, and the magic that suppresses his anxiety attacks. But the magic is Jake's prison, because sustaining it means his compulsions take over nearly every aspect of his life.

Jake's convinced the magic will be permanent after Saturday, the perfect day, when every prime has converged. Once the game is over, he won't have to rely on his sister to concoct excuses for his odd rituals. His dad will stop treating him like he is some freak. Maybe he'll even make a friend other than Luc.

But what if the magic doesn't stay?

What if the numbers never leave?

Acclaimed author Heidi Ayarbe has created an honest and riveting portrait of a teen struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder in this breathtaking and courageous novel.

Karyn says:  Reading this book was almost (not really!) as frustrating as it would be to live with OCD. However, it is a very realistic look at this disorder that many people live with.