Securing The City by Christopher Dickey

In the three decades [Dickey's] been reporting on guerrilla wars and terrorist conspiracies, the fanatical hatred of countless groups has focused on New York City like a compass needle quivering toward magnetic north. from page 3

Securing the City: Inside America's Best Counterterror Force--The NYPD by Christopher Dickey is the last of my nonfiction reads and I am now (happily) back to fiction. Securing the City was a riveting and interesting read. Dickey has easily accessible writing and another positive for me was the short chapters (chapter length probably plays too large a role in my enjoyment of a book... the answer lies in my reading process, but that is another post for another time).

The book chronicles the sheer luck and later the sheer diligence of the work that the police put in to prevent many terrorist plots from successfully detonating on American soil. This page turner uses true accounts of countless terrorist attacks both on American soil, specifically New York City and environs, and foreign soil to show the vulnerability of a city and a nation. Some of the most interesting attacks are ones that occurred a hundred years ago that were perpetrated by anarchists and others that were/are not associated with the Islamist based terrorists that one always thinks of today when one hears the word terrorist. The book portrays the growing pains, shifts, and transformations the NYPD endured to become the organization it is today--one at the top of its game in crime fighting and counterterror operations.

Securing the City is a must read for any true crime account lover, police procedural fan, or mystery genre reader. I recommend you check it out the next time you visit the Matthews Public Library; it is located at 363.325 upstairs in adult nonfiction.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Wanted

Wanted stars Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman. It is loosely adapted from the limited graphic novel series, Wanted, and a sequel to the film is apparently in the works.

The film achieves a very similar tone and structure to the graphic novel, however, the film's story greatly differs from that portrayed in the graphic novels. The film features thrilling, intense action scenes and satisfying plot twists; ultimately, I liked the story as portrayed in the film better than I liked the story as portrayed in the novel.

About a thousand years ago a group of weavers formed a secret fraternity of assassins to ensure balance in the world by following the credo "kill one, save a thousand." The weaving on the loom of fate (reminiscent of the Fates of Greek mythology) once interpreted and decoded tells the fraternity the names of those that fate wants dead. Wesley is recruited into this secretive, elite organization to exact vengeance on the rogue assassin who murdered his estranged father, who also happened to be the fraternity's top assassin, in cold blood. First, Wesley must survive training to become the best assassin since his father if he hopes to live beyond his encounter with his father's murderer.

I recommend this film for action thriller enthusiasts as well as graphic novel fans. It is available upon request from Annville Free Library and Richland Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin

In the end, the end of a life only matters to friends, family, and other folks you used to know ... for everyone else, it's just another end. from page six of Elsewhere

In this young adult novel, fifteen year old Liz dies after being hit by a car on Earth; she awakens on a cruise ship bound for Elsewhere, and she slowly realizes that death is more of an afterlife lived in a place similar to Earth called Elsewhere. This is the story of a teen adjusting to the end of her life as she knows it and to the beginning of a new life without her friends and family. The end of the novel, though certainly not the end of Liz's story, is heartbreakingly poignant.

Zevin writes beautifully; however, this novel is definitely for the tween and young adult set. I could easily tell that this was targeted for the younger reader from the juvenile tone of some sections of the book. There are some authors who write for younger readers whose novels the older, more sophisticated reader can also appreciate for the deeper levels of symbolism and metaphor that the author effortlessly, seamlessly, and subtly weaves throughout the novel. Unfortunately, Zevin's novel is not one of these.

This novel is available upon request from Lebanon Community Library, Myerstown Community Library, and Palmyra Public Library. I recommend this novel for middle school to high school level readers.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

New Arrivals In DVD's!

The library is adding two new documentary series on DVD to its shelves. We hope you'll check out these series the next time you visit the library.

The History Channel Presents The Decades Collection. Made up of twenty DVD's, each decade of the twentieth century is covered in this series. DVD/577 -DVD/596

The History Channel Presents 10 Days That Unexpectedly Changed America. This three DVD series examines such events as Albert Einstein's letter to President Franklin Roosevelt urging him to develop a new weapon to the assassination of President McKinley to Shays' Rebellion to the gold rush and how they impacted the history of America and our lives as Americans today. DVD/574 - DVD/576

New Arrivals in Yound Adult Fiction!

The library has recently added new titles to the Young Adult fiction section located downstairs along the back wall of the library. We hope you'll check them out the next time you're visiting the library!

New titles

Sweetwater Gap by Denise Hunter

Shadows of Lancaster County by Mindy Starns Clark

Against All Odds by Irene Hannon

Love Starts With Elle by Rachel Hauck

Waiting for Daybreak by Kathryn Cushman

Where Do I Go? by Neta Jackson

Rape: A Love Story by Joyce Carol Oates

I've never read a book by Joyce Carol Oates though I did see her speak once at the National Book Festival On The Mall a few years ago. She is a very prolific writer--she writes scripts, novels, and poems, and as a person she struck me as slightly eccentric. She was a very good speaker. Recently I was reading the news on a movie website that I frequent, and I came across an article about an upcoming independent film production that was adapting Oates' novella, Rape. Samuel L. Jackson and Maria Bello are attached to star. You can easily read this book in a day, all told, I finished it in a few hours.

You were twelve at the time. Your thirteenth birthday would arrive abruptly, too soon in August, and depart mostly unheralded. For childhood belonged to before, now you had come to live in after. from page 37

Rape: A Love Story is seen through the eyes of Bethel Maguire. It is a narrative of before and after; it is the tale of the end of childhood for Bethel, and the story of lives forever altered in the aftermath of the violence of one summer night. The reader is witness to the direct victimization of two women: Bethel who is terrorized and beaten and witnesses the brutal rape and beating of her mother, Martine as well as the indirect victimization of Mrs. Kevecki, Martine's mother, with whom Martine and Bethel move in after the rape. The days immediately before and the days and months and years following the rape are recounted.

Ultimately the book is not only a portrait of the victims who eventually become survivors, but it is also a portrait of the rapists because the survivors' lives are not the only ones forever wrecked in the aftermath of this crime. The families of the perpetrators suffer also especially when the accused start mysteriously disappearing and dying after the justice system fails Martine and Bethel.

Oates' stream of consciousness writing is at once haunting and horrifying in its descriptions of the crime, its aftermath, the outrageous behavior of the perpetrators who see themselves as persecuted victims because they insist Martine was "asking for it." I highly recommend you read this book; it is available upon request from Lebanon Community Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes--And Why by Amanda Ripley

My streak of nonfiction reads continues--and ends with The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes--And Why by Amanda Ripley, a writer for Time magazine. I read a short article by Ripley in Time; it was about the survivors of the Hudson River passenger jet crash and their behavior in the immediate aftermath of the crash.

The Unthinkable is a fascinating read. Ripley examines the various stages one goes through in a disaster (for example, denial, deliberation, determination...) and the different reactions people have and why (for example, paralysis, panic, action, heroics...). It also examines who responds in what way and why they respond this way in a crisis or disaster and what we can do to improve our chances of survival in the midst of a disaster such as a fire or a tsunami or a plane crash (for example, rehearse evacuation, locate all the exits in an unfamiliar place...). Ultimately this book is an examination of human behavior as it is influenced by genetics and experience in the face of the worst circumstances humans face. And it is analyzed through the lens of accounts of various disasters throughout human history, such the terror attacks of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, crowd stampedes in Saudi Arabia, and the 2004 Asian tsunami. The behavior and experiences of survivors are shared by the survivors themselves and are explained, analyzed, and enlightened by experts in psychology, emergency management, and other fields.

I highly recommend this book; it is unlike any other you have read, and it just might help you out if you ever find yourself in a disaster. You can also check out the book's website by clicking here where you will find more resources for disaster preparation as well as related articles about current events.

New Arrivals in Children's Audio Books!

We are adding several new titles to the Children's Audio Book Section downstairs at the library. Some of these titles include ones by Kevin Henkes, Tomie DePaola, and Rosemary Wells as well as Giggle, Giggle, Quack; Officer Buckle and Gloria, and Harry the Dirty Dog!

Come in to the library to check out these new titles!

Generation Kill by Evan Wright and One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick

Non-fiction books aren't really my thing; generally, this is how my relationship goes with non-fiction books: I see a really interesting one, I borrow it, I start to read it, and then I ditch it a chapter or two later when the dry, boring writing and non-existent plot fail to hook me. However, this a review of two non-fiction books that I read back to back after a five year old three article series that I dug up on the internet; it was written by Evan Wright and preceded his book Generation Kill, which is basically a book version of the article series that he wrote and published in Rolling Stone Magazine.

Recently HBO adapted Generation Kill into a mini-series that ran sometime last year; I got the series on DVD and in the midst of watching it, I decided I wanted to get my hands on the book to read. In the meantime, I stumbled across One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick, the lieutenant of the platoon that Wright embedded with, and I read that book while I waited for Generation Kill to come in through ILL.

Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War came about as a result of the author's experience as an embedded reporter with First Reconnaissance Battalion of the U.S. Marine Corps. Wright rode shotgun with one of the team leaders in Lt. Nathaniel Fick's platoon; for much of the early operations in Iraq in 2003, First Recon was at the 'tip of the spear' of the invasion. This the Iraq war experience as seen through the eyes of the enlisted personnel with whom Wright spent much of his time. Wright gives vivid descriptions of individual personalities within the unit.
One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer by Nathaniel Fick instead focuses on Fick's experience in training and combat as a Marine officer. The book opens with his decision to accept a commission with the U.S.M.C. upon graduation from Dartmouth College and follows his experience in Officer Candidate School, his decision to pursue a position as an infantry officer, and his first fleet deployment. Fick recounts receiving the news of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the other side of the world while his ship was in port in Australia and then the ship's immediate deployment to the Middle East and his platoon's eventual mission as some of the first Marines to deploy into Afghanistan. Upon completion of his platoon's mission in Afghanistan, Fick is given the opportunity for a new post with First Reconnaissance Battalion. He completes Reconnaissance training and soon is deployed with his new platoon to Kuwait to begin staging the invasion of Iraq. The book does not end with this deployment but rather follows him to his next billet and his decision to leave the Marine Corps. After he is discharged from the military he applies to graduate schools, and this is where the book ends. One thing I must say about Fick's story is that despite the fact that you already know the outcome, for example, you know he doesn't wash out of the Infantry Officer Course or the Reconnaissance training and that he survives Iraq, even in early chapters, the story remains suspenseful.

Both books are well written, and one should really read both of them, if only, to see Iraq war through two seperate perspectives. I highly recommend these books if you enjoy reading true accounts of military experience and of combat.

One Bullet Away is available upon request from Annville Free Library and Myerstown Community Library. Generation Kill is available upon request from Interlibrary Loan (unfortunately, it is not available in county, so if you are interested in reading it, please ask someone at your library's circulation desk about requesting it).

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The Child had been here. It was here no longer. The man Jack followed his nose down the stairs through the middle of the tall, thin house ... The man Jack sniffed the air. Then, without hurrying he began to walk up the hill." from page 10

This Newbery Medal winning book by Neil Gaiman is a fantasy-supernatural-mystery-coming-of-age story told in long, vignette-style chapters interspersed with black ink illustrations.

When Nobody 'Bod' Owens is just a babe his family is killed by a Man, and Bod barely escapes with his life. Serendipity finds the toddler Bod wandering out of his home while the Man is killing his parents and his sister. Bod wanders up the hill and into the graveyard near his home where the graveyard folk take him in, give him the Freedom of the Graveyard, and teach him the ways of the dead. Since Bod is too young when his parents are killed to remember his own name, his adoptive parents, the Owens, give him a new one and their last name.

Each chapter shares an adventure in Bod's life--from discovering the oldest grave in the graveyard to being kidnapped by goblins to befriending a young witch buried in the potter's field attached to the graveyard--as he grows up. Bod's mysterious guardian, Silas, who is neither alive nor dead, watches over him. Eventually Bod wonders about who he really is, who the Man is who killed his family--and why his family was killed. It is a mystery whose solution threatens the very existence of Bod and the sanctity of his graveyard home.

Gaiman's fantastical novel is enhanced by wonderful writing and re-imagining of beings such as goblins and werewolves. This novel will appeal to younger readings--for whom it is targetted--as well as older readers who will quickly see and appreciate that there is clearly a subtext underneath it all. This is a haunting story of very unique and very smart boy.

Something else I liked about this book was the satisfying ending that resists tying up everything in a neat bow. It's left a little open ended, leaving the reader to wonder what will happen next in the journey.

I highly recommend this novel it is available here at Matthews Public Library in Juvenile fiction; it is also available upon request from Annville Free Library, Lebanon Community Library, Myerstown Community Library, and Palmyra Public Library.

--Reviewed by Ms. Angie