With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful by Glenn Greenwald Call # 364.973 GRE

This excellent book is a discussion about how the Founding Fathers of our new country tried to create equality for all citizens in a situation that was inherently unequal: personal intelligence, natural talents and skills, wealth of family lines, education, etc. They knew that these conditions in themselves would always exist (and were even desirable), so they decided that LAWS would be the equalizers. Laws had to apply to EVERYONE — unlike in England at the time, where the king was above the law.

From this starting point, Mr. Greenwald then proceeds to show how this guiding principle has gradually been abandoned, giving us what we have today: a situation in which those with money and influence can act outside the law with no fear of retributions. He shows the revolving door between those wealthy corporations (such as Goldman-Sachs, Bechtel, General Electric, etc.) and the highly influential departments of our government.

I think With Liberty and Justice for Some is one of the most important books one can read as a reminder of our rights and duties as citizens, and to get an understanding of our current economic crisis and the inequality of justice.
Reviewed by Susan Beard

Here is a list of the library’s favorite holiday movies. Please add your own in the comments.

Elf

After inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity. (Find in the Comedy DVDs)

It’s a Wonderful Life

When Jimmy Stewart’s George Bailey contemplates suicide on Christmas Eve, his guardian angel, Clarence, appears to show him what his town of Bedford Falls would have been if he’d never been born—a sinful slum full of angry, depressed residents. After catching a glimpse of just how wonderful a life it really has been, George begs Clarence to let him live and return to his family. In the end, everybody wins—George returns to the love of his family and Clarence, an Angel Second Class, gets his wings. Director Frank Capra’s 1946 film was deemed a box office flop in its day, but has emerged as a Christmas staple of the stocking and ham variety. (Find in the Drama DVDs)

A Christmas Story

Ralphie, a young boy growing up in the ’40′s, dreams of owning a Red Rider BB gun. He sets out to convince the world this is the perfect gift. But along the way, he runs into opposition from his parents, his teacher, and even good ‘ol Santa Claus himself. (Find in JDVD)

Love Actually

The characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in the period of mourning; a capsule summary of reality. Love begins and love ends. They flirt a lot. They are all flirting with love. At all ages and social levels, love is the theme. The touching new classic is a mosaic of love stories in every form—familial, forbidden, brotherly and true—and is the perfect seasonal reminder that, “Love actually is all around.” (Find in Drama DVDs)

The Nightmare Before Christmas

For a more creepy holiday, this anti-Christmas movie is just for you. Jack Skellington is the king of Halloween Town. When he happens upon a portal to Christmas, he introduces the holiday to the ghosts and goblins in his residence. But Jack’s take on the holiday spirit is a bit twisted, and after convincing some children to abduct the real Santa, he takes to the sky in his coffin-sleigh and delivers the likes of shrunken heads to the world’s little boys and girls. Everything turns out okay—it’s Christmas, after all— (Find in JVid)

Home Alone

The McAllister family is preparing for a holiday vacation in Paris, France. But, the youngest in the family named Kevin got into a scuffle with his older brother Buzz and was sent to his room which is on the third floor of his house. Then, the next morning, while the rest of the family were in a rush to make it to the airport on time, they completely forgot about Kevin who now has the house all to himself. Being alone was fun for Kevin until discovers about 2 burglars, Harry and Marv about to rob his house on Christmas eve. Now it is up to this 10-year-old to bring the burglars to justice.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

The Muppets star in this retelling of the classic Dickens tale of Ebenezer Scrooge, miser extraordinaire. He is held accountable for his dastardly ways during night-time visitations by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and future.

If you are looking for other books that will remind you of John Grisham, check out these authors!

David Baldacci
Baldacci writes high energy Suspense Stories featuring corruption and conspiracies. Complex plots place characters in tense situations, which it is important to note, can sometimes lead to more graphic violence than found in Grisham’s writing.

Brad Meltzer
In their novels, both John Grisham and Brad Meltzer portray young, vulnerable lawyers caught in difficult situations, pitted against powerful but corrupt enemies. Fast pacing, provocative storylines, suspense and danger, along with sympathetic characters make Meltzer a good choice for Grisham fans.

John T. Lescroart
Lescroart and John Grisham both write fast-paced, suspenseful legal thrillers that have wide appeal. Their characters are engaging and committed to justice.

Justin Peacock
Both John Grisham and Justin Peacock portray young, vulnerable (even damaged) lawyers caught in difficult situations, pitted against powerful, corrupt enemies. Fast pacing, provocative storylines, and suspense make Peacock a good choice for Grisham fans.

Lisa Scottoline
Lisa Scottoline’s novels share the legal focus, sympathetic characters, fast pacing, and unexpected plot twists found in John Grisham’s work. There’s more humor and sarcasm in Scottoline’s stories, but they offer a similarly suspenseful tone.

Steve Martini
Steve Martini’s cinematic and page-turning Legal Thrillers may appeal to fans of John Grisham. Sympathetic protagonists people the stories – his novels often feature lawyers as underdogs, fighting for justice. Investigation plays an important role, with actual courtroom drama often taking second place.

Scott Turow
Although Scott Turow’s stories are more realistic, and do not move at the same rapid pace as John Grisham’s, readers who enjoy issue-oriented Legal Thrillers may appreciate each author’s different strengths.

Stuart Woods
Known for his provocative stories and relentless pacing, Stuart Woods has much to offer John Grisham fans. While there are suspense, action, and plot twists in his novels, there’s also more sex and violence than one finds in Grisham. Readers who can tolerate this might find Woods a good choice.

Nancy Grace
If you like Grisham, you may also like Grace. Both write fast-paced and suspenseful Legal thrillers and Suspense stories books for adults about Trials (Murder).

Here is a list of other authors to check out if you are waiting for the next James Patterson thriller!

Jeffery Deaver
This author writes gripping suspense novels. He, like Patterson, includes clever twisting plot lines, memorable characters, threatening atmospheres, psychological and nightmarish tones. RFL owns most of his books! His latest is called Carte Blanche.

Jonathan Kellerman
Kellerman and Patterson both write gritty suspenseful crime series. They both examine the psychological element in crime and criminal investigations. Vivid characters, fast paced page turners, and full story lines help set the stage for gripping and twisted, sometimes, violent crime novels.

Nicholas Sparks
If you like some of Patterson’s warmhearted stories rather than his crime novels, Sparks is a good fit. They both are great at writing heartwarming love stories.

Ridley Pearson
Patterson and Pearson both feature serial murders, series detective protagonists, bleak outlooks, graphic violence, and psychological implications, though Pearson’s novels are more detailed, complex and offer more insight to what is going on inside the character than Patterson.

Michael Connelly
Connelly’s cunningly-plotted mysteries blend realistic police procedurals with the forlorn heroism of classic hardboiled fiction. Full of shocking twists, climactic build-up, and often violent confrontations, ultimately allows characters to carve meaning out of darkness–if they live.

John Sanderford
Like Patterson, John Sandford writes hard-edged, suspenseful novels of detection. Sandford offers similarly fast-paced, bleak stories, pervaded by a menacing atmosphere. Psychological details are often the key to the case, and the story unfolds with strong language and graphically portrayed violence.

Greg Iles
Greg Iles writes more elegantly than Patterson, but tells equally complex stories of gritty suspense. Plot twists, contemporary settings (although he has also written suspenseful thrillers set in World War II), alternating points of view, and graphic violence feature prominently.

Linda Castillo
Readers who enjoy Patterson’s fast-paced and suspenseful Suspense stories and Mystery stories books for adults about murder investigation; revenge; and serial murderers may also enjoy Castillo.

The Ice Princess by Camilla Läckberg
The dark secrets of a small Swedish community are revealed as a woman returns to her hometown after the death of her parents and the suicide of a childhood friend.

Red Wolf by Liza Marklund
A spate of killings that began with the murder of a Swedish journalist prompts crime reporter Annika Bengtzon to look into the deaths, in an investigation that forces her to question her own husband’s honesty.

The Redbreast by Jo Nesbo
1942: Daniel, a soldier legendary among the Norwegians fighting at the Eastern front, is killed. Eighteen months later in a Vienna hospital, a wounded soldier becomes involved with a young nurse. The consequences will ripple forward to the end of the century. 1999: Having caused an embarrassment in the line of duty, Harry Hole is lumbered with monitoring neo-Nazi activity; a fairly mundane assignment, until reports of a rare weapon being fired attract his interest. Meanwhile, an ex-soldier has been found with his throat cut. Pursuing both his assignment and his hunches, Harry embarks on an investigation in which he has much to gain and everything to lose.

Lucifer’s Tears by James Thompson
Inspector Kari Vaara is pushed into investigating a 90-year-old national hero for war crimes committed during World War II. Finland’s Interior Minister demands a conclusion of innocence, but Germany wants extradition. Vaara is also drawn into a current murder-by-torture case that has the past and present colliding in ways no one could have anticipated.

Don’t Look Back by Karin Fossum
The tranquility of a small, idyllic town is shattered when the body of a teenage girl is found, prompting an investigation by Inspector Sejer that reveals the sinister truth behind the town’s quiet facade.

Sun and shadow : an Erik Winter novel by Åke Edwardson
Enjoying a satisfying family life and career as Sweden’s youngest chief inspector, Erik Winter faces a daunting case involving a double murder and a suspect with possible links to the gothic world and the local police force.

The last fix by Kjell Ola Dahl
After recovering drug addict Katrine Bratterud is found dead on the shore of a serene lake, detectives Fralich and Gunnarstranda delve into the case, which holds a web of secrets and lies that stretches back generations.

Smilla’s Sense of Snow by Peter Høeg
When her six-year-old neighbor falls to his death, and no one is willing to suspect foul play, fiercely strong Smilla Qaavigaaq Jasperson finds her own investigation taking her into the files of a Danish company.

Also by Stieg Larsson:

The Girl Who Played with Fire
Millennium, the magazine Blomkvist publishes, is about to do a story exposing the Swedish sex-trafficking trade when the authors of the story are both murdered, and Salander’s fingerprints are found on the gun. Larsson jumps between Blomkvist’s attempts to investigate the murder (and, he hopes, prove Salander’s innocence) and Salander’s own efforts to tie the killings to her past.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest
Blomkvist again sets out to prove Salander innocent of murder. To do so he must expose a decades-old conspiracy within the Swedish secret service that has resulted in, among other travesties, a lifetime of abuse for Salander, whose very life threatens to expose the deadly charade. Larsson amps up the suspense and adds great courtroom drama to the trilogy’s stunning conclusion.

About Stieg Larsson – A leading expert on right-wing extremist organizations, Stieg Larsson was the editor-in-chief of an anti-racist magazine called Expo. He died in 2004. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was made into a film in Sweden in 2009, and an American version is set to be released in 2012.

Reader’s Blog is choosing to honor National American Indian Heritage Month by featuring novels written by American Indian authors. For information about this important heritage month visit the National American Indian Heritage Month website. Also check out the display of items at the front of the library!


The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Winner of the National Book Award, this young adult novel will appeal to readers of all ages. Alexie bases this incredibly funny and heartbreaking story of Junior on his own upbringing on the Spokane Reservation in Washington State. “Fourteen-year-old Junior is a cartoonist and bookworm with a violent but protective best friend Rowdy. Soon after they start freshman year, Junior boldly transfers from a school on the Spokane reservation to one in a tiny white town 22 miles away. Despite his parents’ frequent lack of gas money (they’re a “poor-ass family”), racism at school and many crushing deaths at home, he manages the year. Rowdy rejects him, feeling betrayed, and their competing basketball teams take on mammoth symbolic proportions. The reservation’s poverty and desolate alcoholism offer early mortality and broken dreams, but Junior’s knowledge that he must leave is rooted in love and respect for his family and the Spokane tribe.” (From Kirkus).

Power by Linda Hogan


Hogan, who is absolutely magnificent in one radiantly dramatic scene after another, compels us to consider all the forms power takes and how foolishly we abuse it. When sixteen-year-old Omishto, a member of the Taiga Tribe, witnesses her Aunt Ama kill a panther-an animal considered to be a sacred ancestor of the Taiga people-she is suddenly torn between her loyalties to her Westernized mother, who wants her to reject the ways of the tribe, and to Ama and her traditional people, for whom the killing of the panther takes on grave importance.

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

Called a novel, Erdrich’s book of powerful stories interlocks the lives of two Chippewa families in North Dakota, the Kashpaws and the Lamartines (though some are Morrisseys too, and Nanapushes)–a tribal chronicle of defeat that ranges from 1934 to the present, Illegitimacy, alcoholism, prison, and aborted dreams of something better mark both clans. This web of stories keeps its theme vividly in focus: the magical haunting that reminds the various generations of the families of their basic identity. And, whether the haunting comes in the form of nightmares or supernatural powers, Erdrich convinces us that these people, sunk as low as imaginable, retain powers, the “love medicine” of the title. (From Novelist).

<Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle’s mother leaves home suddenly on a spiritual quest, vowing to return, but can’t keep her promise. The girl and her father leave their farm in Kentucky and move to Ohio, where Sal meets Phoebe Winterbottom, also 13. While Sal accompanies her eccentric grandparents on a six-day drive to Idaho to retrace her mother’s route, she entertains them with the tale of Phoebe, whose mother has also left home. In her own award-winning style, Sharon Creech intricately weaves together two tales, one funny, one bittersweet, to create a heartwarming, compelling, and utterly moving story of love, loss, and the complexity of human emotion. (From School Library Journal)

Check out some of these new titles in the new books section at the front of the library!

1493 by Charles C. Mann

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This is deeply engaging new history that explores the most momentous biological event since the death of the dinosaurs. More than 200 million years ago, geological forces split apart the continents. Isolated from each other, the two halves of the world developed totally different suites of plants and animals. Columbus’s voyages brought them back together–and marked the beginning of an extraordinary exchange of flora and fauna between Eurasia and the Americas. In 1493, Charles Mann gives us an eye-opening scientific interpretation of our past, unequaled in its authority and fascination (From Novelist).

Girls to the Front by Sarah Marcus

A Brooklyn-based journalist gives a brash, gutsy chronicle of the empowering music and feminist movement of the early 1990s led by young women rock groups like Bikini Kill and Bratmobile. Marcus enthusiastically tracks the “scattered cartographies of rebellion” and captures the combustible excitement of this significant if short-lived moment. (From Publisher’s Weekly.)

Unbroken: a World War II story of survival, resilience, and redemption by Laura Hillenbrand

On a May afternoon in 1943, an Army Air Forces bomber crashed into the Pacific Ocean and disappeared, leaving only a spray of debris and a slick of oil, gasoline, and blood. Then, on the ocean surface, a face appeared–Lt. Louis Zamperini. Captured by the Japanese and driven to the limits of endurance, Zamperini would answer desperation with ingenuity; suffering with hope, resolve, and humor. (From Novelist.)

Well Offed in Vermont by Amy Meade

In Meade’s new Vermont cozy mystery series, Stella Thornton Buckley feels out of her element in small-town Vermont, and not just because she’s fresh from Manhattan. Hours after moving to maple country, she and husband Nick find a body in their well. The investigation pushes the couple into a less than luxurious deer camp. They drive their Smart Car all over the hamlet to question the quirky locals about the dead man, a businessman that rubbed a lot of folks the wrong way.

Tag Man by Archer Mayor

“Across Brattleboro, Vermont, rich people (some with dark secrets) are waking up in their high security, alarm-equipped homes to find a Post-it note stuck to their bedside tables reading, “You’re it.” There is little sign of disturbance anywhere, nothing stolen (that anyone admits,) and only a bit of expensive food eaten as a signature. The Press loves the story and dubs the burglar the Tag Man. But who is he? And what’s he actually doing? In fact, he’s quickly running for his life, for what he discovers in one of these houses appears to be proof of a heinous string of murders. But is it? Joe Gunther, struggling to recover from a devastating personal loss, leads his VBI team to untangle the many conflicting pieces of evidence, while the burglar himself struggles for survival in the no-man’s-land between the police and the villains.” (From Novelist).

Unnatural issue: an Elemental Masters novel by Mercedes Lackey

Elemental Earth Master Richard Whitestone, devastated by the death of his beloved wife during childbirth, has ignored his daughter for years, until he conceives of a twisted plan to use her body to bring back the spirit of his wife. (From Novelist).

October is the month of the year when we celebrate the mysterious, the unexplained, and the eerie, hackle raising potential of things that go bump in the night. Here are some books and movies to invoke the spooky feelings of the season!

A Graveyard for Lunatics: Another Tale of Two Cities by Ray Bradbury

Hollywood in the 1950s. A stone wall separates a graveyard from a movies studio. It is Halloween, and a science fiction screenwriter is invited to the graveyard at midnight. Curious, he accepts, finds a corpse, and is plunged into a twenty-year-old mystery. A satirical account of his adventures follows, amid the world of studio characters and through the backlots to a fantastic climax. LR

FIC Bradbury or try the library catalog

Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West by Gregory Maguire

Witches are a powerful part of Halloween. This book offers us a different perspective on the most famous Witch of them all. Based on L. Frank Baum’s classic Oz books, Wicked tells the story of the Elphaba, the green-skinned girl who grows up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West. LR

try the library catalog

The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

In this sequel to her famous book Interview with the Vampires, Rice continues her fascinating vampire chronicle. As Library Journals writes: “Don’t expect the usual stake-in-the-heart story; Rice creates a new vampire mythos, mixing ancient Egyptian legends into her narrative, and weaving a rich and unforgettable tale of dazzling scenes and vivid personalities. This extraordinary book outclasses most contemporary horror fiction and is a novel to be savored.” LR

FIC Rice or try the library catalog

The Shining by Stephen King
Danny is only five years old, but he is a ‘shiner’, aglow with psychic voltage. When his father becomes caretaker of an old hotel, his visions grow out of control. Cut off by blizzards, the hotel seems to develop an evil force, and who are the mysterious guests in the supposedly empty hotel? LR
FIC King, also available as a sound recording or try the library catalog

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

A timeless classic, written nearly 200 years ago, Frankenstein provides ample doses of horror, while also asking important questions about the ethics of science and technology. With genetic engineering and cloning looming on the horizon, this novel is as relevant today as it was when it was first published in 1818. LR

FIC Shelley or try the library catalog

Stop into the library to check out the display of Spooky Stories for Adults next to the Circulation Desk for more Halloween books, and movies!

The Town that Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food, by Ben Hewitt (2010) – In 2009, amid the double dip economic recession, the small town of Hardwick, Vermont was adding jobs in a handful of businesses practicing sustainable agriculture and promoting local foods. This much I already knew from following Hardwick in the media during that time. What I liked about this book is that it gave a voice to some of the folks that the media reporting left out: operators of a mobile slaughtering unit, back to the land anarchists, and aging farmers from another era. A lot has been written about Hardwick’s successes since then, but this book serves as an introduction and playbook to community economic development in the region. (EG)

338.1974 HEW or try the library catalog

Just as I Thought, by Grace Paley (1998) – A sampler collection of autobiographical essays and articles by a longtime poet and activist who died in Thetford, Vermont in 2007. While the pieces themselves do not form a linear biography, together they chronicle Grace’s life placed in the context of the larger social movements. “The Illegal Days” describes abortion before Roe v. Wade, “Report from North Vietnam” brings us to a war zone and inspires courage, and further essays in the book describe acts of organized resistance to the Gulf War and for womens’ rights. An inspiring read from an articulate woman who never wavered from the politics of speaking truth to power. (EG)

Call Number is B Paley or try the library catalog