A Series Of (Un)Fortunate Reviews

We began the year with a new annual series called Staff Picks, and we are starting to gather up those picks around here.  The 2015 series will kick off in the new year with a brand new installment of Staff Picks each week.  If you want to catch up on what we read or watched and loved last year, you can click on the links below. Now for a scheduling note: in light of the holiday, the blog will likely take next week off.  We may be back between Christmas and New Year's with a final review to close out the new year.  We here at the Matthews Public Library wish you and your family a very merry holiday and good tidings for the new year! Staff Picks 2014: Part 1 (Miss Sheila's picks) Staff Picks 2014: Part 2 (Timothy's picks) Staff Picks: Part 3 (Ms. Angie's picks) Staff Picks: Part 4 (Miss Cherrie's picks) Staff Picks: Part 5 (Miss Shayne's picks)

I saw Celebrating Pride and Prejudice: 200 Years of Jane Austen's Masterpiece by Susannah Fullerton on the New Titles list in the online catalog.  And by now you all should know: I love all things British period drama and Jane Austen.  And Pride and Prejudice , above all others, warms my little British period drama loving heart.  So you really shouldn't be surprised that I had to read this book when I saw it on the New Titles list. Fullerton covers the writing of Austen's masterpiece and by far her most popular book as well as contemporary reactions to the novel in the first couple chapters.  Subsequent chapters offer analysis of the novel's famous first sentence and its characters.  Later chapters also offer notes on the myriad translations of Austen's novel as well as its many adaptations in English and other languages. Overall I enjoyed reading this book.  The parts I enjoyed most were the analyses of the characters that populate Pride and Prejudice...

Hello, readers!  This week's review is by guest reviewer, Miss Shayne; for Miss Shayne's previous review posted to this blog, please click here , and for Miss Shayne's Staff Picks 2014 post, please click here . I had been eyeing up this book since I saw we had it. I know I shouldn’t judge books by their covers, but I usually do. I was instantly drawn to this mysterious-looking book with the black-and-white forest on the cover. The Creeping looked so wonderfully creepy. This story takes place in a small town called Savage. We are immediately introduced to the main character, Stella, and her friends. We also get a bit of background information. Eleven years ago, Stella and her friend Jeanie disappeared, and only Stella returned chanting over and over, “If you hunt for monsters, you’ll find them.”  However, Stella doesn’t remember anything that happened that day. Eleven years later, a little girl’s body is discovered, and the story launches into a murder mystery as Stella ...