Prospect Heights Public Library Staff Picks

State of Wonder

by Ann Patchett

Researcher Marina Singh is sent by her boss at Vogel, a drug manufacturer, to the jungles of Brazil following the death of a co-worker. It is there that the company is looking into a miracle drug based on a tree bark used by a native tribe.  Upon her arrival, Marina must find out the circumstances of her colleague's death, as well as find out why work has slowed to a crawl on the drug. That means dealing with Annick Swenson, a determined researcher with whom Marina has a complicated relationship.

Olga Niemasz, Adult Services

The Money Class

By Suze Orman

Suze Orman is at her best with this book and tape, delivering a powerful message concerning the New American Dream as she views it.. What used to be the dream of having everything has to change to a new dream. Her view on allowances is an eye opener and makes a lot of sense. A DVD that will deliver an important message for all.

Rosalie Kendall - Adult Service/High School Liaison

Burnt Mountain

by Anne Rivers Siddons

Audiobook narrated by Kate Reading. Thayer Wentworth marries an Irish professor and moves into her deceased grandmother's house in Atlanta, a short distance away from the summer camp she attended as a child. Her husband is hired at the summer camp to tell stories and when she notices changes in his personality she begins to question whether he is the man she thought she knew.

Olga Niemasz, Adult Services

Red Summer

by Cameron McWhirter
 
This book tells the disturbing story of racial violence in America less than a century ago during the summer of 1919. As the country struggled toward normalcy after winning World War I, many returning veterans found that jobs were scarce, prices rising, and pressure growing for social change to undo Jim Crow laws. While President Wilson concentrated on his ultimately unsuccessful campaign for the League of Nations - a campaign which destroyed his own health -- domestic trouble spots exploded in an unprecedented season of racial violence -- almost entirely due to white Americans attacking blacks -- resulting in many deaths and extensive property damage. Riots occurred in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Omaha, Knoxville, and other cities as well as rural southern locales. Awakened to equality by their war experiences, black Americans joined the NAACP and other organizations in record numbers to demand their civil rights. This year showed that they would not tolerate lynchings and other outrages and discrimination indefinitely.

Bill McCully, Administration 

The Paris Wife

by Paula McLain

This book follows the life of Ernest Hemingway's first wife, Hadley, as she navigates 1920s Paris. After a brief courtship and small wedding in Chicago, they move to Paris where Hadley is transformed from an overprotected child to a brave young woman who puts up with impoverished living conditions and loneliness to prop up her husband's career.

Olga Niemasz, Adult Services

For Love of Liberty

Black Americans have served their country in every conflict from the Revolutionary War to Afghanistan. Often they did so despite societal and institutional racism that relegated them to inferior status. But as General Colin Powell says in his introduction to this excellent DVD survey, they served "for love of liberty." Their inspiring story has not been told enough. Now told in "Ken Burns style" in the words of African Americans themselves, these visual records should be viewed by every American who benefits today from the courage and sacrifices of these patriots.

Bill McCully - Administration

Seafaring Adventures

        

Fans of Patrick O'’Brian's seafaring novels should welcome the appearance of Seth Hunter's Captain Nathan Peake of the Royal Navy-- a hybrid of Jack Aubrey and The Scarlet Pimpernel. In a trilogy of maritime adventures (The Time of Terror (2010); The Tide of War (2010); The Price of Glory (2011)) set during the French Revolution, Peake experiences numerous adventures and manages to meet many of the era's outstanding personalities while searching for his beloved Sara, a fugitive from the guillotine’s blade. Whether roaming the streets of revolutionary Paris or sailing the seas of the Old World or the New, Captain Peake is a clever and resilient hero, whose missions are often covert, but always romantic.

Bill McCully, Administration   

Illinois: a History in Pictures

by Gerald A. Danzer

Using a variety of illustrations from many sources, author Danzer (Emeritus Professor of History @ UIC) provides an interesting history of Illinois from prehistoric times to the election of Barack Obama. Informative captions and introductory sections at the beginning of each of the twelve chapters magnify the value of the pictures chosen and give perspective to our state's history. This book is a pleasant way to learn more about our immediate surroundings.

Bill McCully, Administration

Musician's Daughter

by Susan Dunlap

Fifteen year old Theresa's life in 18th century Vienna changes drasticly when her father is found murdered on Christmas Day. She now has a goal to find her father's murderer, why he died and his very special violin.

Franz Joseph Haydn feels sorry for the family that has no one to provide for their needs and enlists Theresa as his copyist so there will be some income for the family.

As Theresa discovers more about her dad's secret life she realizes he was involved in things of which the family had no clue.

Rosalie Kendall-High School Liaison/Adult Services

Raven Stole the Moon

by Garth Stein

Two years after her son, Bobby, drowned in a boating accident, Jenna Rosen flies to Alaska to revisit the scene of the tragedy and learns his soul has been imprisoned by Indian spirits. Being part-Indian herself, she turns to a shaman to have Bobby's soul freed.

Olga Niemasz, Adult Services