New Year's Resolutions: 2015 Edition

This Thanksgiving, your faithful MPL bloggers had a lot of fun coming up with a list of the pop culture properties that we are most thankful for. But as the holiday season progressed, and we began looking towards 2015, it got us thinking: what other books, films, shows, and music are out there waiting for us to discover?

So we've decided to make a few resolutions. That book we always meant to read?  The films we never got around to watching?  The song Ms. B has always meant to learn to play on the piano?  (More about that in a bit.) This year, we've decided, is the year we tackle such projects.

We now present our official list of New Year's Pop Culture Resolutions for 2015. Wish us luck!

(We'll be back, as the year progresses, to let you know how we do ...)

TRACY'S RESOLUTIONS: 

- Continue watching Classic Doctor Who

Doctor Who is one of the most popular shows in the world. Its very first episode broadcast over 50 years ago. After a brief hiatus in the 90s, the show returned to television in 2005, and became even stronger and more popular than it had ever been. I have only been watching the rebooted Doctor Who for a few years, but I am a genuine Whovian!

Although I am all caught up on the current show, I have much to catch up on with the classic Doctor Who. If you are not familiar with Doctor Who, it is a show about a time-traveling alien who uses an old English police phone box, known as the TARDIS, as his space ship. Oh, and he's really, really old -- but doesn't always look like it! He regenerates into a different body when his current one is too damaged. So there have been 12 Doctors (or 13, depending on how you count them), each played by a different actor.

Classic Doctor Who covers the adventures of the Doctor through his first eight incarnations. I have watched as many as possible of the first two Doctors, but I've been stuck on the Third Doctor for awhile now. I resolve to continue watching Classic Doctor Who episodes until I am caught up!

Request Doctor Who titles from the Catalog.



- Read a gothic novel

One of my favorite Jane Austen novels is Northanger Abbey. It is a story of Catherine, a young woman who is fascinated by the gothic novels that were so popular in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This fascination gets her in a bit of a misunderstanding with her new friends.

Jane Austen was a reader of these gothic novels herself and, in Northanger Abbey, she parodies them. Now I want to be able to understand that type of novel better. Several novels were mentioned in Northanger Abbey (known as the "horrid novels"), most notably The Mysteries of Udolpho by Anne Radcliffe. The others are The Italian, also by Radcliffe, and The Castle of Wolfenbach by Eliza Parson.

 I resolve to read at least one, if not all, of these novels!

Request The Mysteries of Udolpho from the Catalog.

Request The Italian from the Catalog.



- Make more geek-related crafts

I love to make crafts for myself and as gifts for my friends and family. Unfortunately, I have not been making as many as I would like. My crafting ability lies mostly in counted cross-stitch, but I am also a decent crocheter. 

Last year I discovered the book Star Trek Cross-Stitch: Explore Strange New Worlds of Crafting. I've already made a few things from it, but I want to make more! And the internet is full of patterns for all kinds of geek-related shows, movies and books. What I really want to make is this Death Star pillow that you see above. It would look great sitting on my couch! So, I resolve to crochet the Death Star pillow in 2015!

Request Star Trek Cross-Stitch: Explore Strange New Worlds of Crafting from the Catalog.

Request Knits for Nerds: 30 Projects: Science Fiction, Comic Books, Fantasy from the Catalog.

Online craft sites to check out:

Geekcrafts and Pinterest are great places to look for geeky craft ideas too.

MS. B'S RESOLUTIONS:


- Read Victor Hugo's Les Miserables

I was a junior in high school when our English Lit class studied the much-beloved musical Les Miserables. Based on the book by Victor Hugo, the musical tells the story of Jean Valjean, a convict imprisoned for nearly twenty years after stealing a loaf of bread for his starving sister and her family. Pursued by the unrelenting police inspector Javert (after Valjean breaks the conditions of his parole), Valjean is soon swept into the events of France's June Rebellion of 1832 (more on that historical event here and here).

I've been a fan of the musical ever since 11th grade, but I've never read the original Victor Hugo novel. Coming in at between 1,200 to 1,400 pages (depending on the edition), and chock-full of historical and political detail, it always seemed like a daunting task -- perhaps too daunting.

But this year, that changes!  I resolve to read Victor Hugo's Les Miserables -- from cover to cover. 

Request Victor Hugo's Les Miserables from the Catalog



- See the '80s Classics

Though I am, technically, a child of the '80s, I was young enough that I missed out almost entirely on the pop culture of the era. And that means I've never watched a number of classic films that came out in that decade.

What films, specifically?  I've had a number of classics on my list for quite some time, including The Goonies, Gremlins, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Labyrinth, Footloose, Ghostbusters, Superman II, The Untouchables, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Fly, and Beverly Hills Cop.

A list that long seems just a little bit intimidating, though (especially since I've got twelve hundred pages of Les Miserables waiting for me). So I hereby resolve to watch at least five '80s films throughout 2015.

Request The Goonies from the Catalog

Request Pretty in Pink from the Catalog

Request Ghostbusters from the Catalog



- Watch Star Trek: Voyager

I've been a Trekkie since before I can remember. And, happily for me, there's been plenty of different flavors of Star Trek for me to enjoy. As a kid, I loved Star Trek: The Next Generation; while in grad school, I became a huge fan of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Over the past few years, director J.J. Abrams's rebooted Star Trek movies have earned a place among my all-time favorite films. I've even started watching the original '60s series.

But for all that, there's one particular Trek that I have no experience with -- and that is Star Trek: Voyager. I've been interested in watching Voyager for years, especially since it remains the only Trek show to have a woman (Captain Kathryn Janeway) in the command chair. But despite hearing about its intriguing premise and great characters, I've never quite gotten around to giving the show a try.

The time has come to remedy this, and so I resolve to watch all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager by the end of the year.

(There's still Star Trek: Enterprise to get through, but we'll worry about that in 2016.)

Request Season One of Star Trek: Voyager from the Catalog



- Play the music of Hans Zimmer

Maybe not in quite this fashion.

As I've mentioned, I'm a huge fan of film scores and soundtracks. I'm also a particular fan of the scores of Hans Zimmer, the composer behind such film soundtracks as Interstellar, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Dark Knight trilogy, and Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes. Considering that list more or less comprises my favorite films, it's been a delight to have Zimmer's fantastic and memorable music show up in these movies to help tell their stories.

It also just so happens that I've been playing the piano (to varying degrees of success) nearly all my life. While I haven't been playing much in recent years, I've decided that this is the time to change that.

So, inspired by the works of Hans Zimmer, I resolve to learn to play at least two Zimmer-penned songs on the piano by this time next year. And if I'm successful, I'll upload a video of my performance.

Fingers (and tentacles) crossed!

Request the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest soundtrack from the Catalog

Request the Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows soundtrack from the Catalog

-- Post by Tracy and Ms. B

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa -- it's the time of year for many joyful celebrations.

But of all the wonderful winter holidays, there is one that clearly stands out.

Yum.

Yes, December 30th is Bacon Day, one of two days of the year when all bacon aficionados can come together to celebrate that most tasty of foodstuffs. (The other day is International Bacon Day, held the Saturday before Labor Day. I think we can all agree, however, that bacon is special enough to deserve two holidays.)

As much as I agree with the idea on principle, it's true that I'm not exactly sure when, or why, bacon became singled out as the food most worthy of special attention. (It's more or less become a genuine internet phenomenon.) Cookbooks are devoted solely to bacon dishes, restaurants are adopting an all-bacon theme -- and bacon-based products abound, from bacon perfume and bacon soap to bacon jewelry and bacon band-aids.

As a bacon fan myself, however, I say: bring it on. And so we've compiled a list of bacon resources, from around the web and from our own Library Catalog, to help you celebrate the fast-approaching bacon holiday.

From all of us at MPL, we wish you and yours a very happy and peaceful holiday season.

With lots of bacon.

Getting hungry now.

Links

- Bacon Day -- More about this all-important holiday, including information on the day's history, tips on how to celebrate, and the great minds behind such a noble celebration.

- Bacon Today -- For all your bacon news needs.

- 50 Things to Make With Bacon -- Courtesy of the Food Network. Includes recipes for bacon and bacon-flavored guacamole, popcorn, meatballs, croque-monsieur, pancakes, and brittle.

- BaconFreak.com -- Your one-stop bacon shop. Includes t-shirts, jewelry, and a bacon-of-the-month club.

- Bacon Restaurant Grand Opening Expected Early 2015 -- Plan your trip to  Louisville, Kentucky now; they've got an all-bacon restaurant in the works!

- Stove Ownership -- Webcomic XKCD weighs in on bacon.

From the Catalog 

(Click to request!)

- Bacon Nation: 125 Irresistible Recipes -- by Peter Kaminsky and Marie Rama.

- The Bacon Cookbook: More Than 150 recipes From Around the World for Everyone's Favorite Food by James Villas.

- Seduced by Bacon: Recipes and Lore About America's Favorite Indulgence by Joanna Pruess with Bob Lape.

- Everything Tastes Better With Bacon: 70 Fabulous Recipes for Every Meal of the Day by Sara Perry.

Click here to watch Parks and Recreation's Ron Swanson request "all the bacon you have"

Even a super-villain like Loki appreciates the value of bacon

-- Post by Ms. B 

Staff Recommendation #38 -- "The Grand Budapest Hotel"

Films from director Wes Anderson are not to everyone's liking. Until recently, they weren't completely mine either. They've slowly been growing on me and his latest, The Grand Budapest Hotel has made me a convert!

Wes Anderson is a darling of the indie film world with his unique storytelling style. Since his days as a student at the University of Texas, he's been making films; many with his good pal Owen Wilson. Their first collaboration was on a short film called Bottle Rocket (1994) which did well enough at the Sundance Film Festival that they turned it into a full length film which was released in 1996.

Minor successes followed with Rushmore (1998), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) and The Darjeeling Limited (2007). He started getting even more critical and audience attention with the animated Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) and Moonrise Kingdom (2012).

His latest film, The Grand Budapest Hotel, stars Ralph Fiennes in one of his finest performances. He plays M. Gustave, the concierge of the Grand Budapest Hotel, the finest and grandest hotel in Eastern Europe just before the start of the Second World War. He is well loved and respected by the guest and co-workers alike. Young Zero, the new lobby boy, comes to Gustave's attention and he takes the young man under his wing. Gustave plans on grooming Zero to be his successor some day.

Before that can happen, Gustave ends up in jail for the murder of a rich and titled widow who was quite found of Gustave. He must rely on Zero and Zero's girlfriend Agatha, the town baker's assistant, to free him. What follows is a mad cap and zany adventure of jail breaks, shoot outs and a wild race down a ski slope in a sleigh.

Family is a recurring theme in any Wes Anderson film, and this film is no exception. Gustave and Zero form a tight family unit, although more like brothers than father and son. This bond will help them through a few tight spots.

I don't claim to understand the technical aspects of making a film, but I know a unique vision when I see one and Wes Anderson sure has it. An Anderson film has a visual style all its own. He intertwines many different film making techniques into almost everyone of his films, such as stop motion animation, which is used frequently in The Grand Budapest Hotel.

I have to admit I'm not very familiar with Anderson's early films. I started to become a fan with Fantastic Mr. Fox and my admiration for his uncommon way of telling a story has continued to grow. The Grand Budapest Hotel, has made me a firm fan of Wes Anderson.

Request The Grand Budapest Hotel [DVD] from the Catalog.

Request Bottle Rocket [DVD] from the Catalog.

Request Rushmore [DVD] from the Catalog.

Request The Royal Tenenbaums [DVD] from the Catalog.

Request The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou [DVD] from the Catalog.

Request The Darjeeling Limited [DVD] from the Catalog.

Request Fantastic Mr. Fox [DVD] from the Catalog.

Request Moonrise Kingdom [DVD] from the Catalog.


--Post by Tracy

Sounds of the Season: Part III

Part Three of our "Sounds of the Season" music recommendations comes from Mark Hudson, Adult Services Librarian and today's guest poster:


I usually wait until December to start listening to holiday music, and the music I like tends to be fairly traditional -- old hymns and spirituals, jazz and rhythm and blues from the 1950s and 1960s. Even the newer music I listen to is strongly roots-based, as you can see from my list of favorites:



-- Oy Chanukah! (Klezmer Conservatory Band)

I'll start with Hanukkah, because it always comes before Christmas. Oy Chanukah!  includes lively klezmer versions of traditional Hanukkah songs, interspersed with reminiscences and explanations of Hanukkah traditions from immigrant elders and other sources. If you're looking for just one CD to celebrate Hanukkah, this is probably the one.

Request Oy Chanukah! from the Catalog



-- Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah (Klezmatics)

In 1942, the renowned singer-songwriter and folk musician Woody Guthrie moved to Brooklyn. Through his mother-in-law, the influential Yiddish poet Aliza Greenblatt, he became involved with the Jewish community, and wrote songs about Hanukkah and other aspects of Jewish history and spiritual life. Woody's Hanukkah lyrics sat forgotten in archives for decades until they were rediscovered in 1998 by his daughter, Nora Guthrie, who asked the Klezmatics to write new music for them. Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah deftly mixes klezmer with country, bluegrass, funk and jazz in a collection of songs that's almost certainly destined to become a perennial holiday classic.

Request Woody Guthrie's Happy Joyous Hanukkah from the Catalog



-- A Christmas Celtic Sojourn (Various Artists)

This album and its sequel, Comfort and Joy, have become two of my favorite Christmas music compilations. Musicians from all parts of the Celtic world perform an idiosyncratic mix of ancient and modern songs on traditional and modern instruments. Some of these songs are ethereal and contemplative, some are more raucous, but they're all beautiful and quite unusual -- definitely "off the beaten path," musically speaking. Even the few better-known melodies in the collection (e.g., "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear") are given unique interpretations and sound nothing like the more commonly-heard versions.

Request A Christmas Celtic Sojourn from the Catalog



-- Christmas in Bethlehem (Bach Choir of Bethlehem)

The Bach Choir of Bethlehem, PA was organized in 1898 and is the oldest Bach choir in the United States. This collection includes some well-known Christmas hymns, along with many others you may have not heard before!

Request Christmas in Bethlehem from the Catalog



-- Soul Christmas (Various Artists)

This absolutely must-have collection is a 1991 reissue, which includes eight of the eleven tracks on the original 1968 release, plus eleven newer songs from the vaults of Atlantic Records. The artist list comprises some of the most illustrious names in soul/R&B history: Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, Carla Thomas, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, The Impressions, Otis Redding, Joe Tex, Solomon Burke, King Curtis and more.

Request Soul Christmas from the Catalog



-- Christmas Spirituals and Beautiful Star (Odetta)

Odetta, who Martin Luther King, Jr. once called "the queen of American folk music," recorded Christmas Spirituals at Carnegie Hall in 1960. In 1987, she re-recorded the same set of thirteen traditional and original spirituals in Burlington, Vermont, and the resulting CD was issued under the title Beautiful Star. The earlier recording is rougher, the later one more heavily produced. Both are magnificent.

Request Christmas Spirituals from the Catalog

Request Beautiful Star from the Catalog



-- Verve Presents: The Very Best of Christmas Jazz (Various Artists)

This is a collection of classic Christmas songs from the catalog of Verve Records. If you love jazz, this is the Christmas record for you! Artists presented include Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Eckstine, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Dinah Washington and Oscar Peterson. Fitzgerald's version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" leads off the CD and is, without a doubt, my favorite version of that song ever recorded. Coltrane's version of "Greensleeves" is likewise not to be missed.

Request Verve Presents: The Very Best of Christmas Jazz from the Catalog

Staff Recommendation #37: "Becker"

I like sit-coms, as you've probably gathered. I've mentioned several of my favorites in previous posts: The Big Bang Theory, Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond. 

But I've never actually mentioned my favorite of all sit-coms, and that is the 1998-2004 CBS series Becker.

Becker and friends. 

(It's an unusual picture of Becker: he's smiling.)

Before Dr. Gregory House, there was Becker. A brilliant Harvard Med School graduate who was a rising star in the world of medical research, John Becker gave it all up to open a small family practice in the Bronx. His office is run by Margaret, a good-humored and no-nonsense registered nurse, and Linda, an office assistant whose airhead nature is, fortunately, offset by her big heart.

Aside from the doctor's office, Becker spends plenty of time at a nearby diner. There, we meet Jake, Becker's best buddy, who lost his sight in a car accident when he was a teenager, and Reggie, who serves as both the diner's owner and staff. There's other supporting cast members, too: the patients, the customers, and the people of the neighborhood -- all who, as often as not, end up on the receiving end of one of Becker's tirades.

Because oh, are there tirades. While we're never exactly certain what made Becker turn his back on his rising career in the big leagues for the smaller prospects of an obscure family practice, we can at least be sure his fellow researchers weren't sorry to see him go. If there's one thing you can say about Becker, it's that he is, to put it kindly, an opinionated soul:


"The world is full of idiots, and someone needs to point it out to them or they will never know."

"The [New York City] Marathon just gets my hopes up. At first it seems like 20,000 idiots are leaving the city, but then they just make a big loop and come right back."


"What is the matter with you people?!  This is a movie!  You're here to listen to the actors talk!  That's why the seats face the screen, and not each other!"

"Romance is like the cheese in the mousetrap -- it baits you into position so the cold, metal bar of reality can come down and snap your neck."


"I never told you to shut up."
"You hung up on me once!"
"So I didn't have to tell you to shut up."

"I have this friend -- well, we aren't really friends. We just share custody of an ex-wife."

"If you and I were the only people on the face of the Earth, that would be the only thing we'd have in common."


"That's the problem with the world!  Everybody says, 'Everybody does it,' so everybody does it!"

"Someday you'll look back on this and laugh!"
"Maybe I will. But before then, I will kill you. And then I'll use my powers as a physician to bring you back to life. And then, I will kill you again."


Like Dr. House, it's an almost cathartic experience to watch Becker rant and rave about life's little indignities, which are unfailingly hilarious and utterly relatable. But if there was no more to Becker than frustrated outbursts and angry tirades, I doubt the show would've hooked me. What really made Becker special to me is that our title character has a far bigger heart than his gruff exterior would lead one to believe.

For all his anger, Becker is a guy who genuinely cares -- not just for his patients, but for the friends he's managed to find who can tolerate his rather abrasive personality. (Reggie and Company are all pretty adept at simply ignoring him, which is generally the best tactic for dealing with Becker when he's in full-rant mode.) Many episodes give us an example of Becker acting out of genuine compassion: baby-sitting a neighbor's kids for the evening when she's got nowhere else to turn, quietly paying for a patient's specialist care out of his own pocket, lending a gruff but sympathetic ear to his friends as they navigate through their own struggles. Becker may be an opinionated soul -- but his friends find him worth the rough edges.

Becker himself was not the only engaging character. My personal favorite was Reggie, a former model who's back in New York after inheriting her dad's diner -- and, with it, her dad's most faithful customer: Becker himself. Reggie is a smart, independent thirtysomething who is also confronting the reality of her life not quite turning out the way she had expected it to, and we see her struggle to decide what she really wants for herself and her future.

Real depth of character extended to the rest of the cast and storylines, and such real-world issues as poverty, the AIDs epidemic, race, ableism, and political correctness were tackled throughout the show's six-season run. With its ability to balance the serious with the satirical, the weightiest of issues with the simplest of day-to-day routine, the result was a unique blend of philosophy and fun that I've rarely encountered in other sit-coms.

Besides, we've all got a little bit of Becker in us.

"Just when I think God couldn't screw me any further, He gets out the old Black & Decker and twists a little harder!"

"Interesting. You're being persecuted by a God you don't believe in."

"That's why He's after me, Margaret."

Request the first season of Becker from the Catalog

-- Post by Ms. B 

Honorable Mentions

Charles Dickens is rightly remembered for such beloved classics as Great Expectations and Oliver Twist -- but his most famous work remains A Christmas Carol. First published on December 17, 1843, the story tells the tale of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, and the three Christmas ghosts who appear throughout Christmas Eve night to warm his heart -- and save his soul. It's been adapted dozens of time for stage and screen, and has become an undeniable staple of the holiday season.

But did you know that A Christmas Carol wasn't Dickens's only ghost story?  Dickens actually wrote a variety of stories featuring ghosts -- some of which, like The Signal-Man, could be considered outright horror thrillers. (The title character of The Signal-Man works on the railway, and is haunted by a specter who appears before him every time a terrible event is to occur.)

Dickens is not the only author whose own wild success actually overshadowed some of his lesser-known efforts. Here are five more authors whose littler-known works are still undeniably worthwhile:



~ Louisa May Alcott's Thrillers

She's best remembered for writing titles that might now be considered part of the "young adult" genre -- classics like Little Women and Eight Cousins. But Louisa May Alcott wrote several stories for older audiences, usually under the pen name "A. M. Barnard" -- and many of those works were not only thrillers, but stories that dealt with radical issues of nineteenth-century sexism and the constraints of society and culture.

Her most critically-acclaimed work is, arguably, the thriller novella Behind a Mask. The story details the life of Jean Muir, a character with a shady past (she was formerly an actress, a considerably more scandalous profession in the nineteenth century) who has reached her thirtieth birthday still a spinster. And then she finds one last chance to fulfill society's expectations of her: she takes the job of governess in a house with two unmarried sons and one unmarried uncle. She means to adopt the mask of a "little woman" herself -- appearing the perfect example of a polite, respectable young lady (she wins her place as governess with a feigned fainting spell in front of the family) until she ensnares a husband. But Jean's motives are far more clever, and downright manipulative, than what you'd see from the March sisters -- though this may not stop you from rooting for her!

Request Behind a Mask from the Catalog



~ Edgar Allan Poe's Detective Stories

Sherlock Holmes is the name we remember, but C. Ausguste Dupin got there first. While Conan Doyle drew on several inspirations for his Sherlock Holmes character (including his med-school professor Dr. Joseph Bell), he was always quick to praise Edgar Allan Poe for his detective stories that paved the way for Sherlock Holmes. ("Where was the detective story," Conan Doyle once asked, "until Poe breathed the breath of life into it?")

Poe is remembered as the master of horror, but he actually wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction and detective stories. In the latter category, he produced three short stories: Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget, and my personal favorite, The Purloined Letter. The stories star Dupin, an amateur detective (although the word "detective" had not yet been invented) who assisted the police in a trio of bizarre investigations. He's accompanied in his adventures by our unnamed narrator, who serves as Dupin's closest friend and our window into Dupin's world.

Request the Dupin stories from the Catalog



~ Conan Doyle's Historical Fiction

Most Sherlock Holmes fans already know about Arthur Conan Doyle's love-hate relationship with his most famous fictional creation. While Conan Doyle ultimately seemed to be fond enough of his consulting detective (and also loved writing about the adventures of Professor Challenger in such tales as The Lost World), he always considered his best and most important works to be his historical fiction.

Such historical works include extensively-researched novels like The White Company and Sir Nigel, both set during the Hundred Years' War between the royal houses of England and France. There was also Micah Clarke, a coming-of-age story set in seventeenth-century England that details the religious and political tension of the time; and a series of comical short stories about Brigadier Gerard, a soldier in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars, who Conan Doyle used to comment on the stereotypes and prejudices that the British and French had for one another.

Request The White Company from the Catalog

Request Sir Nigel from the Catalog

Request Micah Clarke from the Catalog

Request the Brigadier Gerard stories from the Catalog



~ Agatha Christie's Love Stories

Agatha Christie remains the best-selling novelist of all time, beloved for her classic mysteries like And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express, as well as such characters as Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. But while she has come to be affectionately known as "the Queen of Crime" due to her incredible skills in the mystery genre, she also wrote half a dozen novels of a different sort entirely.

Using the pen name "Mary Westmacott," Christie wrote a series of romance and family stories, referring to them as "bitter-sweet stories about love." The books enjoyed modest success -- much to Christie's delight, as the novels succeeded under their own merits and not due to her name being on the cover (her identity as Westmacott would remain hidden for nearly two decades). She wrote the Westmacott books throughout her life, telling stories that focused not only on romance, but on family relationships between parents and children or between siblings. The results were among the works she was most proud of.

Read an essay about "Mary Westmacott" written by Rosalind Hicks, Christie's daughter

Request Westmacott books from the Catalog



~ Michael Crichton's Medical Thrillers

Before he was a best-selling author of such novels as The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton was a med student. But while he was earning his MD from Harvard Medical School, Crichton had his first publishing success, writing under the pen names "Jeffery Hudson" and "John Lange."

He published ten mystery thrillers that sold well enough to help pay his way through med school -- no mean feat, as any pressed-for-time med student could tell you. While Crichton viewed them mostly as pulpy entertainment ("I write them fast and the reader reads them fast and I get things off my back," he explained in a 1969 interview), they showcased his skill at engaging characters and tightly-plotted storylines, not to mention a love of research and accuracy. Though Crichton successfully graduated with his MD, it's not surprising to know he turned to writing full-time -- always incorporating his love of science into his stories.

Read more about Michael Crichton's "med school" thrillers

Request A Case of Need from the Catalog



-- Post by Ms. B 

Sounds of the Season: Part II

When it comes to Christmas music, I am a traditionalist. I like the standards from the 40s and 50s and many of the stars who sang them. There have been some new songs along the way that haven't been bad, but not enough to make me stray from my old standbys.  As you will see with my list of holiday favorites, there may be a few "newer" singers and musicians, but they are still singing the oldies but goodies!

-- Johnny Mathis

Of all the Christmas albums I have listened to in my lifetime, there is none better than Merry Christmas by Johnny Mathis. Mathis, known for such hits as Chances Are and It's Not For Me To Say, has released several Christmas albums throughout his long career, but none could top that first album released in 1958. Merry Christmas combines traditional Christmas songs with more modern tunes. If you listen to the album on vinyl, as I did growing up, you'll hear the modern songs on the first side with the traditional songs on the second side.

This is one of the first albums I can every remember listening to and was well worn from the numerous times it was played.

Request Merry Christmas from the Catalog

Request Sending You A Little Christmas from the Catalog

Request The Christmas Album from the Catalog

-- Harry Connick, Jr.

I have been a fan of Harry Connick Jr. for a very long time and I own most of his albums. But my favorite album of his just might be When My Heart Finds Christmas, the first of three Christmas albums from Connick. While the other two are fine recordings, this one has a wonderful combination of traditional and original songs. 

My favorites are (It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus, What Are You Doing New Year's Eve? and the title track, When My Heart Finds Christmas. 

Request When My Heart Finds Christmas from the Catalog.

Request Harry For The Holidays from the Catalog.

Request What A Night: A Christmas Album from the Catalog.

-- A Charlie Brown Christmas

If there is someone not aware of this very special 1965 Christmas special, they must be living under a rock. As a kid I couldn't wait for this to be on television. And now as an adult I still feel the same! Besides being a Peanuts fan, I've grown to love the music as much as the show. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first of many collaborations between Vince Guaraldi and the producers of the Peanuts specials. They wanted a different sound than the usual cartoon music and boy, did they ever get that! The jazz trio created a very atmospheric and beautiful accompaniment to Charlie Brown's quest to find the true meaning of Christmas.

Request A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack from the Catalog.

Request A Charlie Brown Christmas [DVD] from the Catalog.

-- Barenaked Ladies

This wonderful eclectic collection of Christmas and Hanukkah songs comes from one of my favorite bands. The band includes several very traditional songs, like Jingle Bells and God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman/We Three Kings (with Sarah McLachlan). There are also quite a few covers of more contemporary Christmas favorites like Do They Know It's Christmas? and Wonderful Christmastime. 

But for me the highlight are the original songs such as Elf's Lament (with Michael Buble), Hanukkah Blessings and Green Christmas. If you are looking for something just a little bit different, but still somewhat traditional, this is the album for you!

Request Barenaked for the Holidays from the Catalog.

--Post by Tracy

Sounds of the Season: Part I

I love Christmas music. I rarely make it until after Thanksgiving before I break out the Christmas albums, and I've been known to listen to Carol of the Bells or Star of Bethlehem during the middle of the summer.

But as much as I love The Little Drummer Boy and Merry Christmas, Darling -- there are quite a few Christmas albums I cherish that don't fit the conventional mold. Read on for my holiday music recommendations:


-- Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The 2000 soundtrack

Though I'm a big Jim Carrey fan, I confess that his live-action How the Grinch Stole Christmas is not my personal cup of tea. That doesn't stop me from loving the soundtrack, however, which features original Christmas-themed songs from the Barenaked Ladies, Ben Folds, Smash Mouth, Faith Hill, and the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

The songs are mostly not featured in the film, yet still retain a very Grinch-y flavor; if Christmas is not your favorite time of year, you may be able to relate!  But there's plenty for Christmas-lovers here, too -- including an updated version of You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, sung by Jim Carrey himself. (And, whatever your feelings on Jim Carrey, the truth remains: the guy can sing.)

Perfect for Scrooges and Tiny Tims alike, this album is the first one I reach for come Christmastime.

Request the Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas soundtrack from the Catalog

-- A Colbert Christmas

In 2008, Stephen Colbert (of The Colbert Report) did a Comedy Central Christmas special entitled A Colbert Christmas, complete with original Christmas songs and a plethora of musical guest stars that included Willie Nelson, John Legend, Feist, and Elvis Costello. The songs are both utterly hilarious -- the album won a Grammy for Best Comedy Album -- but also ridiculously catchy. The satire flies strong, with Colbert's "Another Christmas Song" poking gentle fun at Christmas commercialism and Feist's "Please Be Patient" using a Christmas carol standard as telemarketing muzak. (It's funnier than it sounds.)

My favorite tunes feature Colbert in duets with his guest stars. There's "Can I Interest You In Hannukah?" as performed with fellow comedy show host Jon Stewart. And then there's Colbert's duet with Elvis Costello, in the funny and surprisingly philosophical "There Are Much Worse Things to Believe In." If you're looking for some humor this holiday, give A Colbert Christmas a try.

Request A Colbert Christmas [DVD] from the Catalog

-- A Christmas Story: The Musical

Based on the holiday classic A Christmas Story, the adapted musical was first performed over 25 years after the film was first released. I've not seen the musical itself, but as a big fan of show tunes, I've checked out the soundtrack. And I'm pleased to report that, while not every song is instantly memorable, there are a whole host of selections that are: "Genius of Cleveland Street," "Up on Santa's Lap," and "When You're a Wimp," among others.

You don't have to be familiar with the original film to appreciate the tunes on the album -- particularly the opening number, "Counting Down to Christmas." If parents are frantic to get ready for the season in time, our protagonist, Ralphie, is equally frantic: he's running out of time to make his Christmas gift wishes known to his parents. After all, what's a boy who just wants an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Range Model Air Rifle BB gun (with a compass and a stock and this thing that tells time) to do??  It's Christmas from a kid's point of view, and, for the most part, the music captures that world beautifully.

Request the Christmas Story soundtrack from the Catalog



-- Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics

I recently mentioned my affection for the rude, crude, classic animated series South Park. The show runners have done a number of holiday-themed episodes, but my favorite is their musical installment, Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics. Styled like a (rather unconventional) variety show, the episode features ten holidays standards with a decided South Park twist, including O Tannenbaum, Carol of the Bells, O Holy Night, and a version of Dreidel Dreidel Dreidel sung in rounds. (The album version of the episode features an additional eight songs.)

This being South Park, most of the songs are warped to humorous effect, making for holiday music filled with the show's typical irreverent humor. For those familiar with South Park, however, it's all part of the fun, making this an ideal holiday treat for fans.

Request Christmas Time in South Park [DVD] from the Catalog



-- Straight No Chaser

A professional a cappella group, SNC first came to prominence with their holiday-themed music, performed with only vocal back-up. Though they have since released other albums, they remain best-known for their holiday offerings.

Rather than detract from the sound, the a cappella approach offers a wholly unique performance, with singers in the place of instruments creating the songs' back-up. With a handful of delightfully fun unique pieces, Straight No Chaser is an unconventional take on classic carols. Not to be missed!

Request Holiday Spirits from the Catalog

Request Christmas Cheers from the Catalog

Request Under the Influence from the Catalog

Click here to hear Straight No Chaser perform "The Christmas Can-Can"

-- Post by Ms. B