How to Choose the Best eReader for YOU

eReaders are wildly popular. According to a poll by Harris Interactive, 28% of adults in the US use an eReader or tablet to read. That’s an impressive increase of 13% since a similar poll was taken in July 2011! (Previously, a total 15% of adults reported doing their reading on an eReader.)¹ So what does this mean for you? You might be in a position to buy an eReader for yourself or as a gift. If so, how do you make that choice?

The answer is unsatisfying, but true : you need to understand the different models available and then buy the eReader that is the best fit for YOU or the recipient of the gift. Just like there are many different genres, there are many different brands and models of eReaders. Readers must understand their own reading habits and budget, and then explore the different options in the eReader market. And the market changes constantly and rapidly.

If You Like Downton Abbey …

The Masterpiece Theater tv series, Downton Abbey, is a runaway success. Maybe you are one of the thousands of people who watched and loved it. Season Two recently concluded. What are you going to do while you wait for Season Three of Downton Abbey? I suggest catching up with the first two seasons of the show (click on the links below to get the library’s copy) or spend some time with a good book that takes you to times and places similar to Downton Abbey!

Downton Abbey
Masterpiece Theater
Lord Crawley sees his family heritage, especially the grand country home Downton Abbey, as his mission in life. The death of his heir aboard the Titanic means distant cousin Matthew Crawley, a Manchester lawyer, suddenly is next in line and accepts moving onto the vast estate with his even more modernist, socially engaged mother, who clashes with his lordship’s domineering, conservative ma the dowager. Marrying off the daughters is another concern. Meanwile the butler presides over a staff which serves the family but also lead most of their entire lives in the servants quarters, intriguing amongst themselves.

Season 1

Season 2

If You Liked Downton Abbey, Read This!

Howard’s End
by E.M. Forster
The book is about three families in England at the beginning of the 20th century: the Wilcoxes, rich capitalists with a fortune made in the Colonies; the half-German Schlegel siblings (Margaret, Tibby, and Helen), and the Basts, a struggling couple in the lower-middle class. The Schlegel sisters try to help the poor Basts and try to make the Wilcoxes less prejudiced.

The American Heiress
by Daisy Goodwin
Be careful what you wish for. Traveling abroad with her mother at the turn of the twentieth century to seek a titled husband, beautiful, vivacious Cora Cash, whose family mansion in Newport dwarfs the Vanderbilts’, suddenly finds herself Duchess of Wareham, married to Ivo, the most eligible bachelor in England. Nothing is quite as it seems, however: Ivo is withdrawn and secretive, and the English social scene is full of traps and betrayals. Money, Cora soon learns, cannot buy everything, as she must decide what is truly worth the price in her life and her marriage.

The House at Riverton
by Kate Morton
Told in flashback, this is the story of Grace Bradley’s youth during the last days of Edwardian aristocratic privilege shattered by war, of the vibrant twenties and the changes she witnessed as an entire way of life vanished forever. Grace went to work at Riverton House as a servant when she was just a girl, before the First World War. For years her life was inextricably tied up with the Hartford family, most particularly the two daughters, Hannah and Emmeline. In the summer of 1924, at a glittering society party held at the house, a young poet shot himself. The only witnesses were Hannah and Emmeline and only they — and Grace — know the truth. In 1999, when Grace is ninety-eight years old and living out her last days in a nursing home, she is visited by a young director who is making a film about the events of that summer.

Earth Day Films 2012

Erin Brockovich (1999) Rated R

Erin Brockovich is a feisty young mother who convinces attorney Ed Masry to hire her and promptly stumbles upon a momumental law case against a giant corporation. Erin’s determined to take on this powerful adversary even though no law firm has dared to do it before. The two begin an incredible and sometimes hilarious fight that will bring a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees. Based on a true story.

FernGully (1992) Rated G

Magic and adventure await in FernGully, a spectacular rainforest where a bat named Batty, whose radar has gone haywire, joins together with Crysta, Pips, and the Beetle Boys to save their marvelous world from the evil Hexxus.

An Inconvenient Truth (2006) Rated PG

A passionate and inspiring look at former Vice President Al Gore’s campaign to expose the myths and misconceptions of global warming, and to create public awareness on the subject.

March of the Penguins (2005) Rated G

In the Antarctic, every March since the beginning of time, the quest begins to find the perfect mate and start a family. This courtship will begin with a long journey–a journey that will take them hundreds of miles across the continent by foot, one by one in a single file. They will endure freezing temperatures, in brittle, icy winds and through deep, treacherous waters. They will risk starvation and attack by dangerous predators, under the harshest conditions on earth, all to find true love.

Wall-E (2008) Rated G

After hundreds of lonely years, a waste management robot finds a new purpose in life. With only a cockroach for a friend, he finds true love in another robot sent on a mission to Earth to see if it is safe for human life.

Films to watch on St. Patrick’s Day 2012

 

Darby O’Gill and the Little People (1959) Rated G

An old Irishman tries to steal the gold of the leprechaun’s.

The Departed (2006) Rated R

In South Boston, the state police force are waging a war on Irish-American organized crime. Undercover cop Billy Costigan is assigned to infiltrate the mob syndicate, which is run by gangland chief Frank Costello. Billy quickly gains Costello’s confidence. Colin Sullivan is a hardened young criminal who has infiltrated the police department as an informer for the syndicate. Colin is rising to a position of power within the Special Investigation Unit. Each man becomes deeply consumed by his double life, gathering information about the plans and counter-plans of the operations he has penetrated. But when it becomes clear to both the mob and the police that there’s a mole in their midst, Billy and Colin are suddenly thrust into danger. Afraid of being caught and exposed to the enemy, they each must race to uncover the identity of the other man in time to save himself.

Far and Away (1992) Rated PG-13

A poor but proud Irish tenant farmer accompanies the spoiled and headstrong daughter of a wealthy landlord to America in a quest for land.

Finian’s Rainbow (1968) Rated G

An Irish rogue journeys to America with a stolen crock of leprechaun gold, his spirited daughter in tow.

The Quiet Man (1952) Rated NR

Sean Thornton is an American who swears off boxing after accidentally killing an opponent. Returning to the Irish town of his birth, he finds happiness when he falls in love with the fiery Mary Kate. Though he is sorely tempted to pick up the gloves against her brother, the town bully, Sean is determined not to use his fists. Mary Kate and Sean wed but her brother refuses to pay the dowry. Sean would rather walk away than accept this challenge. Even when his new wife accuses him of cowardice, Sean stands firm. But when she boards a train to leave, he is finally ready to take matters into his own hands.

New Books of March 2012

The O’Briens
Peter Behrens
In a family saga that begins in 1887, we follow Joe O’Brien through a harsh childhood in the Canadian bush, then into the wider world where three siblings enter the religious life, another dabbles in real estate, and Joe builds railroads. On a business trip to Venice, CA, he meets and marries Iseult and brings her back to Canada to live. Over their years together, Joe becomes the wealthy owner of a construction company, occasionally escaping to New York for alcoholic benders, while Iseult dedicates herself to their three children, her photography, and helping the less fortunate. Through births and deaths, love and wars, they struggle to make sense of themselves and their marriage.

The Good Father
Noah Hawley
Paul Allen, a successful Manhattan rheumatologist is completely stunned when two Secret Service agents inform him that his son by his first marriage, 20-year-old Daniel Allen, aka Carter Allen Cash, has killed a rising political star and presidential candidate. Resistant to the idea that his son is the actual assassin, he is taken aback when Daniel pleads guilty. He then becomes obsessed with finding out how his son could commit such a barbaric act. Combing Daniel’s childhood for clues to the one parental misstep that sent him down the path to becoming a killer and poring over documentation of Daniel’s every move in the 18 months prior to the assassination, Paul becomes a haunted figure.

The Dog Who Danced
Susan Wilson
Justine Meade has spent most of her 43 years on the move. She left home young, got in and out of an early marriage, and had a son who, unhappy with her restless life, went to live with his father. When Justine learns that her father is dying, she hitches a cross-country ride with a long-haul trucker from Seattle to Massachusetts, hoping for a resolution to their relationship. Her companion on the journey is Mack, a sheepdog trained to dance. But at a rest stop, her ride drives off, unknowingly taking Mack with him. Later abandoned, Mack is found by an older couple still grieving after their teenager daughter’s suicide years earlier. Meanwhile, Justine reaches her father in time to revisit the fight that sent her away from home. She gets a new perspective on the past while Mack, nearer to Justine than she realizes, helps the old couple heal. When chance reunites Justine and Mack, she decides to get back in touch with her son.

Carry the One –a Novel
Carol Anshaw
The one that must be carried when the Kenney siblings add themselves up is the girl who was hit and killed when two siblings, Nick and Alice, were driving home, stoned and stupid, from their sister Carmen’s wedding. That’s the first chapter: the rest of the novel and the rest of their lives-sex and drugs and prison visits, family parties and divorce, raising teenagers, painting, politics, and addiction-play out with that guilt and loss forever in the background.

Another Piece of My Heart
Jane Green
Andi has spent much of her adult life looking for the perfect man, and at thirty-seven, she’s finally found him. Ethan – divorced with two daughters, Emily and Sophia – is a devoted father and even better husband. Always hoping one day she would be a mother, Andi embraces the girls like they were her own. But in Emily’s eyes, Andi is an obstacle to her father’s love, and Emily will do whatever it takes to break her down. When the dynamics between the two escalate, they threaten everything Andi believes about love, family, and motherhood – leaving both women standing at a crossroad in their lives and in their hearts.

PageTurners Read “Passing Strange”

Passing Strange : a Gilded Age Tale of love and Deception Across the Color Line
by Martha A. Sandweiss
Clarence King is a hero of nineteenth-century western history. Brilliant scientist and witty conversationalist, bestselling author and architect of the great surveys that mapped the West after the Civil War, King hid a secret from his Gilded Age cohorts and prominent Newport family: for thirteen years he lived a double life–as the celebrated white Clarence King and as a black Pullman porter and steelworker. Unable to marry the black woman he loved, the fair-haired, blue-eyed King passed as a Negro, revealing his secret to his wife Ada only on his deathbed. Historian Martha Sandweiss is the first writer to uncover the life that King tried so hard to conceal. She reveals the complexity of a man who, while publicly espousing a personal dream of a uniquely American amalgam of white and black, hid his love for his wife and their five biracial children.

The PageTurners Book Club met on Thursday, March 1, at 6 pm in the Bottom Shelf Room at the Rice Lake Public Library. Seven people attended the discussion. The general consensus about the book was that the author spent too much time on describing Clarence King’s career, and not enough time on his marriage. The average score awarded to this book was 3.25 out of 5 books; the lowest score was a 3 / 5 and the highest score 4 / 5.

Click on the book graphic below to see a full recap of book club members’ opinions.

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Passing Strange by Martha A. Sandweiss is available at the Rice Lake Public Library. There are several copies of this book in the MORE System. Please visit the card catalog website or call us at 234-4861 to reserve a copy today.

The PageTurners Book Club is sponsored by the Friends of the Rice Lake Public Library. It usually meets on the first Thursday of each month at 6 pm at the Rice Lake Public Library. Discussion lasts an hour; everyone is welcome.

Multiple Personalities on Film

A Beautiful Mind (2001) Rated PG-13

Dramatic biography of John Nash, a mathematical genius, who made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a painful and harrowing journey of self-discovery. After many years of struggle, he eventually triumphed over his schizophrenia, and finally, late in life, received the Nobel Prize.

Fight Club (1999) Rated R

When a ticking-time-bomb insomniac and a soap salesman channel their aggression into therapeutic “fight clubs”, an eccentric woman gets in the way and ignites an out-of-control spiral toward oblivion.

Hide and Seek (2005) Rated R

After his wife is found dead, David decides to take his child, Emily, to live in a house upstate. She finds a weird imaginary friend named Charlie. He likes to play games, and is jealous of anyone who tries to come between Emily and her dad.

Me, Myself, and Irene (2000) Rated R

Rhode Island state trooper Charlie Baileygates proves that nice guys finish first after marrying the prettiest gal in town. But when she leaves him for another man, Charlie develops a split personality, and his outrageous opposite, Hank, is born!

Sybil (1977) Rated NR

A landmark, classic drama depicting the extraordinary real life of a young woman suffering from multiple personality disorder.