Sue Recommends Boston Legal on DVD

There is something exhilarating about watching a film or tv show where you see beautiful shots of familiar landmarks. Not only is Boston Legal, a television series that ran from 2004-2008, a great legal drama-comedy but features the city of Boston in some exceptional photography.

The cast includes many big names--William Shatner as Denny Crane, a role quite the opposite of the serious Captain Kirk; James Spader (remembered as Daniel Jackson from Stargate Atlantis the Movie) as Alan Shore, the brilliant, articulate, rather arrogant but witty lawyer who becomes the cast member you most love to watch; and Candace Bergen (from the TV series Murphy Brown) as Shirley Schmidt, one of the senior partners of Crane, Poole & Schmidt. Many of the cases featured are based on controversial topics of the day.

You'll laugh, you'll cry, but you will finish one season and rush out to find the next season to keep up with the shenanigans of Denny Crane and Alan Shore in this winner of 5 emmy awards out of 25 nominations. Request it today! SH

Mike Suggests: The Haunting of Hill House

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

A must-read for fans of horror, The Haunting of Hill House is one of Shirley Jackson's greatest novels and one of the scariest stories I've read in a long time. Set in a house built with evil intents, the story follows four individuals who are investigating the claim that this is a haunted house. The explorers quickly find they've bitten off far more than they can chew, however, as the house begins to awaken each night and torment them. Best read with your back to a door during a dark evening, with the lights off and the wind lashing at your windows.

Megan suggests: The Senator's Wife

The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller

Lately I've been watching the new TV series The Good Wife, which is about a public official who is unfaithful to his wife. Watching the show made me remember how much I enjoyed reading The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller. There's a similar theme going on, the betrayed spouse of the politician, and also a little bit more. Two women -- Delia and Meri -- are portrayed at opposite ends of their lives. Delia is the 70ish wife of the philandering senator and Meri is the wife of a charismatic college professor. An excellent read.

Rob Recommends (sort of): Look at the Birdie

Kurt Vonnegut
THis is not Kurt Vonnegut at his best. I include it in Picks only because I suspect that I am not the only die-hard fan of Vonnegut's short stories, and we're not likely to see much more from the author (1922-2007). Look at the Birdie gives us 14 previously unpublished stories of the early Kurt Vonnegut--before Sirens of Titan, Welcome to the Monkey House, Slaughterhouse-Five, Cat's Cradle and the rest of the author's rightfully popular work.
The stories are fun, uncomplicated, easy to read and Vonnegut-ish with middle American characters finding temselves in slightly bizarre circumstances, and the humor alternating light and dark. And if you've never read Kurt Vonnegut, skip this one for now and read one of the above titles.

Arne Suggests: the Urban Fantasy Genre

Finished the Twilight saga? Done with the Dresden Files? Eagerly awaiting the next season of Trueblood? The Library is in possession of a large (and ever growing) collection of books, graphic novels, movies, and television series based around the new genre of Urban Fantasy.

Set in the modern world, but possessing elements of the fantastic, from vampires to werewolves, to the occasional dragon, Urban Fantasy works provide all the appeal of both traditional fiction coupled with the escapism of fantasy literature.

Don't be fooled into thinking it's all fangs and twilight though. The WFL has books featuring characters ranging from the ironically named Kitty, the werewolf DJ in Carrie Vaughn's Kitty Norville books, to the shape-shifting car mechanic Mercy Thompson in Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson novels.


If you are interested in more fangs and twilight, don't despair! There's plenty of that running around too, starting with Laurell K. Hamilton's best-selling Anita Blake series, up to Mary Janice Davidson's unlikely queen of the vampies, Betsy in the Undead series.

If it's other media you're looking for to pass the time, we've got that too. There's great graphic novels, from Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead series to Neil Gaiman's Sandman chronicles. As for movies look to 30 Days of Night, Let the Right One In, and Hellboy II: The Golden Army.

Mike Suggests: Skim

Skim by Mariko Tamaki, author & Jillian Tamaki, illustrator

Nominated for four Eisner awards, Skim is the story of Kimberly "Skim" Keiko Cameron, a Wiccan goth trapped in a private girls' school where nobody shares her sense of humor or outlook on life--with the exception of Lisa Soor, her best friend and fellow Wiccan practitioner. School life is quickly thrown into mourning overdrive when her classmate Katie Matthews is dumped by her boyfriend, who then kills himself. Cliques--competing to out-grieve each other and out-do each other in supporting Katie--quickly gel, and begin to give Skim unwanted attention as she goes through her own pain of falling in love.

Debra recommends : In Defense of Food

Michael Pollan's audio recording of In Defense of Food is narrated by Scott Brick with his enviable energy, pacing and articulation. Audiofile magazine says ....of all Pollan's work, this particular title requires the most force and assurance, and the pacing of a skilled reader. Pollan's denunciation of "the ideology of nutritionism," packed with studies, names, theories, and suppositions, is food for two or three listenings. Pollan's conviction and enthusiasm is contagious. Enjoy!