THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS

 

Our book for next month's book club meeting will be The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  This work tells the story of Henrietta Lacks and her cells.  These cells became an important part of scientific discovery and led to developments such as the polio vaccine and gene mapping.  Her cells have been used by many, and yet, she remains unknown.  This is her story.

If you are interested in more information on the author or Henrietta Lacks, you can visit http://rebeccaskloot.com/

If you liked The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, give one of these works a try:

Stiff by Mary Roach
The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family by Annette Gordon-Reed
Generation Rx by Gerg Critser
Abraham Lincoln's DNA and Other Adventures in Genetics by Philip Reilly
Blood Work by Holly Tucker
The Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

Fiction Readalikes:

The Second Time Around by Mary Higgins Clark
The Mystery of Breathing by Perri Klass
The Footprints of God by Greg Iles
Mr. and Miss Anonymous by Fern Michaels
Fifth Vial by Michael Palmer
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley


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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: DEBORAH HARKNESS

Deborah Harkness is the bestselling author of the All Souls Trilogy.  The final book, The Book of Life, was released last week, and fans of the series will finally learn what the witches had discovered centuries ago.  After traveling through time, Diana and Matthew return to the present to face new problems and old enemies.  The search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on more urgency as they face their biggest threat to their future.


When she isn't writing, Deborah teaches European history and the history of science at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

For more information on the author or the series, visit http://deborahharkness.com/





The All Souls Trilogy:
A Discovery of Witches
Shadow of Night
The Book of Life

Want more?  Try one of these titles listed below!

The Demon Lover by Juliet Dark
Overseas by Beatriz Williams
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Dark Curse by Christine Feehan
Faefever by Karen Marie Moning
The Diviners by Libba Bray
The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield


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AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ANN BRASHARES

You may know Ann Brashares from her bestselling Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, but she has also written stand alone novels.  Her most recent work, The Here and Now, was just released this year.

The Here and Now tells the story of Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was 12.  However, she did not come from another country, but from another time.  She is from a future where an illness has killed millions.  Prenna and the others who escaped must follow a strict set of rules: don't reveal where you are from, don't interfere with history, and don't be intimate with anyone outside of your community.  This is not a problem for Prenna until she falls for Ethan Jarves...

Works by Ann Brashares:
The Here and Now
3 Willows
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood
Girls in Pants
Forever in Blue
Sisterhood Everlasting
My Name Is Memory
The Last Summer (of You and Me)

Books similar to The Here and Now:
Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone
Things Hoped For by Andrew Clements
The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau
Until the End of Time by Danielle Steel
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

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SHOELESS JOE

Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella tells the story of reclusive author J. D. Salinger and an Iowa baseball fan who has built an authentic baseball field on his farm property for Shoeless Joe Jackson and other baseball players.

Growing up Field of Dreams was a family favorite, and I still love the movie today.  I have never read the book it is based on, so I am really looking forward to this month's Book to Movie discussion.  Pick up a copy today, and join us at Creekside Place on July 31st!

 

Looking for more baseball?  Give one of these books a try.

Calico Joe by John Grisham is set during the Cubs and Mets 1973 season.  It traces the paths of Joe Castle, a rookie hitter, and Warren Tracey, a hard-throwing pitcher.

The Great American Novel by Philip Roth follows the Ruppert Mundys of the Patriot League in this rearrangement of baseball's history.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach takes place at Westish College.  Baseball star Henry Skrimshander is destined for the big-leagues, but when a routine throw goes off course, the fates of five people are upended.

The Natural by Bernard Malamud tells the story of Roy Hobbs as he attempts to become the best there ever was.  It is a story of pride, second chances, and baseball.

Or, check out one of these baseball movies!

Field of Dreams
The Natural
42
Pride and Perseverance: The Story of the Negro Leagues
Moneyball
A Braves New World
Bad News Bears
Pitcher and the Pin-Up
Bull Durham


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Book Your Trip - Travel Reads from NPR

For this week’s blog post, I am borrowing from National Public Radio’s fun new summer book list, which is all about travel - not the destination, necessarily, but rather, they’re highlighting books that focus on and celebrate the journey to those destinations. I’ve picked out a few fun titles on that list that we have at Eager Free PL to highlight here. 

For the full lists from NPR, please visit NPR’s website. 

• The Ice Balloon: S. A. Andree and the heroic age of arctic exploration by Alec Wilkinson 

• Freddy and the Perilous Adventure by Walter R. Brooks (juvenile fiction)

• The Borrowers Aloft by Mary Norton (juvenile fiction)

• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

• The Skies Belong To Us: love and terror in the golden age of hijacking by Brendan I. Koerner

• Lost Horizon by James Hilton

• Flygirl by Sherri L. Smith (young adult fiction)

• The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary (juvenile fiction)

• Into Thick Air: biking to the bellybutton of six continents by Jim Malusa

 Stop by and pick up one of these travel-themed books today! 

Graphic Novels for Adults

This summer the library is offering a summer reading program for grown-ups! We have Sunny Summer Bingo Cards available at the upstairs checkout desk to inspire you to read, read, read this summer. The Bingo Card squares are all different book genres, so that you can try out a new genre or return to an old favorite. One of the genre squares is Graphic Novels. You may assume that graphic novels are only for kids or young adults but it turns out the library has a lot of graphic novels for adults, too!

Check out these grown-up graphic novels:

• The Exile, an Outlander Graphic Novel by Diana Galbadon, illustrations by Hoang Nguyen
• Johnny Cash: I See Darkness by Reinhardt Kleist
• King Lear: a Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds
• Artichoke Tales by Megan Kelso
• Koko Be Good by Jen Wang
• Mad Man's Drum: A Novel in Woodcuts by Lynd Ward
• God's Man: A Novel in Woodcuts by Lynd Ward

Of course, there are many additional graphic novel titles shelved in the young adult section, but if you're looking for more mature story lines, check out these graphic novels for adults! 

It's World Cup Time!

We know that soccer is a popular recreational sport here in Evansville. For those of you who follow professional soccer (or football, or futbol) on an international level, the World Cup kicked off this week in Brazil. Here are some books related to soccer for players and interested parties of all ages:

For younger readers:

Olivia Plays Soccer, adapted from TV by Tina Gallo (+ER Gallo 2)
Olivia is excited about playing soccer, and can’t wait to wear the red jersey. But it turns out that only the goalie can wear the red jersey – and Francine is already the team’s goalie.

For the Love of Soccer!, by Pele, illustrated by Frank Morrison (Picture Books, +P Pele gold)
A picture book autobiography written by soccer legend Pele.

Soccer!, by Dev Ross (+ER Ross 3)
Facts and information about soccer, including the history of the sport, famous players, and ways to improve your own game.

For middle readers:

• Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Soccer Scheme, by Donald J. Sobol (Eager Free Childrens Mystery, +M Sobol)
  A collection of ten stories set in Idaville, where boy detective Encyclopedia Brown is called upon to help solve local mysteries.
• Soccer, by Blaine Wiseman (Eager Free Childrens Non-Fiction, J796.334 Wiseman)
  The soccer installment of the Record Breakers non-fiction books.
• Pele, King of Soccer = Pele, el rey del futbol by Monica Brown, illustrated by Rudy Gutierrez, translated by Fernando Gayesky (Spanish Picture Books, +SP Brown)
  A pictorial biography of soccer legend Pele, with words in English and Spanish.
• Soccer Shootout, by Jake Maddox (First Chapter Books, +FC Maddox)
  When a new player joins the soccer team, he is put in at goalie, a position that Berk has always played.
• The Soccer Machine, by David Bedford (First Chapter Books, +FC Bedford)
  Harvey’s soccer team is on a losing streak until his neighbor, an inventor, introduces them to Mark 1, a robot programmed to play – and win – soccer.
• Soccer series by Barbara Bonney
  This non-fiction series about soccer by Barbara Bonney has lots of information about specific positions, equipment, and the rules of soccer.

Find these books and more books about soccer in the children’s room and get playing – and reading – today!

For more information about the World Cup and to follow all the games during the tournament, check out FIFA.com