This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 6

The Vow by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter
This weekend I read the book The Vow by Kim and Krickitt Carpenter.  It is a true story about love, pain, determination, healing, perseverance, and falling in love all over again.  The story makes one think about keeping one's marriage vow, no matter what. It makes one think about how much we take life for granted and how we can appreciate each moment and each memory with a loved one.  That inspiration might be something to keep in mind especially this Christmas season.  I recommend this quick read.

Acorn also owns the DVD The Vow based on the #1 best selling book (although I haven't seen it, I can tell from the case Hollywood has made quite a few changes from the book's storyline.  Just be prepared to accept that.) Both the book and the film are available through SWAN.

-Janice, Youth Services

Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon
This book explores the challenges and rewards of parenting a child with an ostensibly different orientation--be it deaf, schizophrenic, autistic, prodigy, or criminal. Solomon is an extraordinary thinker, researcher, and empath, so the sensitive subject matter is handled with the utmost grace and skill. This is simply one of those books that leads the reader to a deeper and wiser understanding of the human condition. My highest recommendation.

-Megan, Reference

Death in Breslau by Mark Krajewski
This is the first of a quartet of historical murder mysteries from Polish author Mark Krajewski. The setting is the German city of Breslau (current-day Wrocław, Poland) in the summer of 1933. The murder of a local Baron’s daughter sparks an investigation by Criminal Director Eberhard Mock, a typical anti-hero familiar to fans of hardboiled crime novels. The tense setting, dark characters, and surprising conclusion made it a great read. Death in Breslau is available through SWAN.

-Mike, Reference

Downton Abbey Gingerbread House
This is a quick but detailed video by cookie artist Curtis Jensen. Every year he apparently constructs a famous building and this Christmas he made a gingerbread replica of Highclere Castle, the castle that is featured on Downton Abbey. This is definitely worth a watch, even if you haven't gotten sucked into the popular series!

-Judy, Reference