Tessa and Nick have the perfect life. Or so everyone around them thinks. Nick is a pediatric plastic surgeon and Tessa has recently become a stay at home mom. They live in nice house in the Boston suburbs and have two beautiful young children. Until the night of their anniversary, when Nick’s pager goes off and brings their night to an abrupt close. A six year old boy has suffered burns during an accident at a party and Nick is immediately taken with his young patient…and his (single) mother, Valerie. Before long, Nick finds himself fighting his attraction to Valerie and his frustrations with Tessa.  But where will the chips fall? Will Nick turn to his wife and work things out, or give in to attraction and risk the life he and Tessa have built together?

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• Author: Gregory William Mank
• ISBN: 9780786434800

The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration

Karloff and Lugosi or if you prefer Lugosi and Karloff, either way for much of the movie loving public these are the two major stars of the classic Hollywood horror film. Their names and definitive roles, Dracula and Frankenstein, are paramount and seemingly equal in stature from the time of their star making appearances in 1931. Yet, this equal standing is demonstrated to be only in the minds of the public and not in the reality of their lives in the incredibly detailed and exhaustive book Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff: The Expanded Story of a Haunting Collaboration, with a Complete Filmography of Their Films Together by Gregory William Mank a magnum opus examination of the films in which the horror icons appeared together as well as a dual biography of their very unequal Hollywood careers. Despite some profound differences the two men shared some remarkable similarities in the years prior to their star-making roles as the Count and the monster. Each left Europe to make their homes and careers in America; they loved the stage and performed for years in a variety of roles large and small; they appeared in silent films; they were married multiple times and both were in their 40s when they became stars in 1931 at Universal Pictures in the smash hit films Dracula and Frankenstein. Dracula came first and despite the fact that he had starred in the play to rave reviews and big business in both London and New York, Bela Lugosi was not the original choice to star in the film version. Universal had secured the rights to a film version of Dracula with the intention of featuring their big star Lon Chaney, the man of a thousand faces, a performer renowned for his ability to transform himself for any role, most famously in the silent classics Phantom of the Opera and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. When Chaney died suddenly in 1930 the role was eventually given to Lugosi, who of course became an immortal, yet a sad pattern was already established, Bela would be under-valued and under-paid. For a few fleeting months, when Dracula came out in early 1931 to rave reviews and record breaking box office, Bela Lugosi was the king of Hollywood horror. Yet, he almost immediately fumbled this unique opportunity by failing to secure a Universal Pictures studio contract and most significantly, passing up the opportunity to play the mute role of the monster in Frankenstein. This opened the way for Boris Karloff to be discovered eating lunch in the Universal commissary by director James Whale who cast him in the role of his lifetime as the monster. By the end of 1931 Bela Lugosi was already finding himself supplanted by the new king of horror Boris Karloff, who received rave notices as the mute central figure in Frankenstein which again shattered box office records. Unlike Lugosi, Karloff signed a multi-picture contract with Universal who paid and promoted him as a star, even billing him as Karloff the Uncanny for his next major picture The Mummy. Although each star continued to work inside and outside Universal, eventually it was determined that it would be good business to team them up

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• Author: Professor Raphael Shargel

One of the wonderful things about being a movie fan or a serious student of cinema today is the confluence of technologies that give us unprecedented access to all those films produced across the hundred plus years motion pictures have existed. If you are looking to go beyond the latest blockbuster where to start can be overwhelming, but The Modern Scholar audio course series of lectures “Understanding Movies: The Art and History of Films” by Professor Raphael Shargel is a great way to learn more, fill in gaps in your knowledge or to just have an authoritative recommendation for what to watch on a Saturday night. Across 14 lectures Prof. Shargel covers the history of cinema in chronological order with a pleasant conversational style that is informative, but never talks down to his audience. The first two lectures cover the origins of film and some of the technical & theoretical developments through the silent period. After that each lecture covers representative films or a genre of the period starting with John Ford’s

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• Author: Elizabeth Strout
• ISBN: 978-0812971835
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
• Release Date: September 3, 2008

This book contains 13 stories that all involve Olive Kitteridge. The technique is an interesting one since we get to meet Olive through various characters’ eyes. Each chapter sheds a different light on the facets that make up Olive Kitteridge. However, it was difficult for me to finish this book because I just did not like her. I liked her husband, Henry, but not Olive. There are themes of suicide, depression, lost love, and families who suffer because of bad communication habits. The book is ambitious in its attempt to cover many years of Olive’s life and, consequently, the lives of the townspeople.

I have friends who have read this book and were very touched by it, to the point where they have reread it because they enjoyed it so much. So, what can I say except this: You may like this book more than I did, you may not. One of my very favorite books is The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; next time maybe I will review that book, so stay tuned….

• Author: Ree Drummond
• Release Date: November 2009
• ISBN: 9780061658198
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher

I absolutely enjoy reading this cookbook. It covers an interesting mix of  food and family life. She starts out as a single, vegetarian food snob in Los Angeles. Decides to move to Chicago. But before leaving she meets the man of her dreams. Then ends up married and living on a
cattle ranch. Her husband is a meat eating cowboy she calls, the Marboro Man. She eventually gives up being a vegetarian. Her mission becomes to create delicious food that they both can enjoy.

Many of the recipes are hearty foods that I think of as comfort food.
From breakfast to supper you’ll find something to enjoy. Some of the

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• Author: Gillian Flynn
• ISBN: 978-0307341563
• Publisher: Shaye Areheart Books
• Release Date: May 5, 2009

Have you ever read a book that made you flinch as you were reading it? That was the case for me with Dark Places. Even though what I was reading made my stomach turn at times, I kept turning the pages—almost reading with just one eye opened and the other scrunched to the point of almost shut. I was motivated by some odd sense of curiosity…Who could perform such a horrible murder? This book certainly does take the reader and the main character to some “dark places.”

As the story unfolds, Libby Day was 7 years old when her mother and two older sisters were brutally murdered in their home. Only Libby and her brother,

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• Author: Jason S. Yadao
• ISBN: 978-1-85828-561-0

by Jason S. Yadao

Manga have exploded in popularity in the U.S. in the last twenty years; growing from a hard to find cult item to spilling across the shelves of major bookstore chains. A shorthand description might call Manga the Japanese equivalent to comic books in America, but that would be a disservice to the breadth and variety of subjects and genres as well as the cultural magnitude which is on a much higher level in Japan. It can be rather intimidating for a newbie, fortunately “The Rough Guide to Manga” by Jason S. Yadao offers a terrific overview on all things Manga. He starts with the early roots tracing back to woodblock prints of Buddhist tales of animals acting with human characteristics and foibles. Surprisingly the cross cultural pollination between east and west starts back in the 19th century with “Japan Punch” by Charles Wirgman which took its inspiration from the British magazine “Punch” to produce an illustrated satirical look at Japanese culture for a primarily western ex-pat audience. Early 20th century Manga where inspired by new American imports like “The Yellow Kid”. After World War II Manga truly took off in Japan with the work of Osamu Tezuka who created one of the most popular characters Tetsuwan Atomu who also was one the first to successfully crossover to the U.S. as Astro Boy. Manga has a very symbiotic relationship with Anime (Japanese animation) with many series going from the page to the screen. In the U.S. the successful launch of an Anime series can get the Manga translated and printed into English. The translation of titles is a major issue for Manga with frustrated fans (aka otaku) doing their own bootleg translations when a title they want has failed to be released in America. The author offers fifty essential Manga with summaries of their stories and comments on what makes them significant. Yadao’s book is a an appropriate addition to “The Rough Guide series” as learning about Manga is very much like entering another culture with a need to learn about the language and the landmarks and as such it is a great place to start on the road from newbie to otaku!

• Author: Alex Cox
• ISBN: 978-1-84243-304-1

A Director's take on the Spaghetti Western

Spaghetti Western is one of the most delicious terms ever coined to describe a film genre. It was invented in the pages of Variety, the entertainment industry bible, as a mocking way to describe a wave of new westerns washing up in America in the mid-1960s from that most unlikely of sources Italy! Today fans of the Spaghetti Western embrace the term as one of affection and as an easy way to identify this unique mash-up of Hollywood & European sensibilities in hundreds of films made over approximately 15 years from the early-60s to the mid-70s. Many casual film fans may not realize that the film that launched Clint Eastwood’s career as a movie star, also ignited the Spaghetti Western, “A Fistful of Dollars” directed by Sergio Leone who went on to make two more classics with Eastwood, “For a Few Dollars More” and “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly”.  In his book “10,000 Ways to Die” English film director Alex Cox reviews

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• Author: Victoria Shearer
• ISBN: 9781416207818
• Publisher: Sellers Publishing

Now that I am juggling a career and motherhood I find myself dreading the question - what’s for dinner?  I have no time and no energy to cook elaborate meals and found a cookbook that has helped me immensely in the kitchen. It contains over a hundred recipes, including slow cooker meals which i love since you throw everything together in the morning and come home to a cooked meal at night. One of the best inventions ever! Besides great recipes like Spinach and Tortellini soup, chicken pot pies, and cheddar bay biscuits, 

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It’s been great having an excuse to visit my library weekly and read constantly, but as I am leaving the company shortly I shall have to bid you all a fond farewell.  Thanks to everyone who legitimately commented (as opposed to the ridiculous and relentless spammers) or just quietly lurked; it’s been a pleasure and I will very much miss writing for my dear, sweet, largely invisible audience.  Take care!!   P.S.  These are my kitties, Jade & Oatmeal.