PageTurners Read “The Fates Will Find Their Way”

The Fates Will Find Their Way
by Hannah Pittard

Sixteen-year-old Nora Lindell is missing. And the neighborhood boys she’s left behind are caught forever in the heady current of her absence. As the days and years pile up, the mystery of her disappearance grows kaleidoscopically. A collection of rumors, divergent suspicions, and tantalizing what-ifs, Nora Lindell’s story is a shadowy projection of teenage lust, friendship, reverence, and regret, captured magically in the disembodied plural voice of the boys who still long for her. Pittard’s  novel tracks the emotional progress of the sister Nora left behind, the other families in their leafy suburban enclave, and the individual fates of the boys in her thrall. Far more eager to imagine Nora’s fate than to scrutinize their own, the boys sleepwalk into an adulthood of jobs, marriages, families, homes, and daughters of their own, all the while pining for a girl–and a life–that no longer exists, except in the imagination.

The PageTurners Book Club met on Thursday, September 6 at 6 pm in the Bottom Shelf Room at the Rice Lake Public Library. Twelve people attended the discussion. The general consensus was that the situation described in the book was contrived and insipid. Nobody was enthused about this novel. The average score awarded to this book was  1.625 out of 5 books; the lowest score was a 1 / 5 and the highest score 2 / 5.

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

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The Fates Will Find Their Way by Hannah Pittard is available at the Rice Lake Public Library. There are over ten 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.

Top Books to Film

August 9th is Book Lover’s Day and here are some books to film movies.

Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring/ The Two Towers/The Return of the King (2001,2002, 2003) Rated PG-13

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-Earth still it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell, by chance, into the hands of the Hobbit, Bilbo Baggins. On his eleventy-first birthday, Bilbo disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin, Frodo, the Ruling Ring, and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-Earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom. Based on the book: Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring 

Join Frodo, Gandalf, Aragorn, and brave members of the Fellowship as they continue their quest to destroy the Ring of Power. As darkness descends on Middle-earth, a strange creature named Gollum leads the heroes to the Black Gates of Mordor. The rest of Middle-earth prepares for a battle that will decide the fate of all. Based on the book : The Two Towers

Frodo makes his way through the darkness to Mount Doom to destroy the One Ring. Aragon learns of his destiny as the true King and the others prepare for a massive battle that will determine the fate of Middle-Earth. Based on the Book: Return of the King

The Godfather (1972) Rated R

Focuses on the Corleone family’s rise and near fall from power, shifting between the Sicilian Americans’ family life and their criminal enterprises. Based on the book: The Godfather

Schindler’s List (1993) Rated R

The story of a Catholic war profiteer, Oskar Schindler, who risked his life and went bankrupt in order to save more than 1,000 Jews from certain death in concentration camps. He employed Jews in his crockery factory manufacturing goods for the German army. At the same time he tries to stay solvent with the help of a Jewish accountant and negotiates business with a vicious Nazi commandant who enjoys shooting Jews as target practice from the balcony of his villa that overlooks the prison camp he commands. Based on the Book: Schindler’s list 

Hunt for Red October (1990) Rated PG

A new Soviet sub, the Red October, is heading for the U.S. coast. Government experts think it is planning to attack–that is, all the experts but one. He thinks the sub’s commander is planning to defect, but he has only a few hours to find the sub and prove his theory. Based on the book:  Hunt for Red October

Doctor Zhivago (1965) Rated PG-13

A poet and surgeon, husband and lover, finds his life disrupted by war. It alters the lives of many, including Tonya, the gentle woman he marries and Lara, the woman he cannot forget. Based on the book: Doctor Zhivago

New Books of August

Bride of New France
Suzanne Desrochers
Laure Beausejour has been taken from her destitute family and raised in an infamous orphanage to be trained as a lace maker. Striking and willful, she dreams of becoming a seamstress and catching the eye of a nobleman. But after complaining about her living conditions, she is sent to Canada as a fille du roi, expected to marry a French farmer there. Laure is shocked by the primitive state of the colony and the mingling of the settlers with the native tribes. When her ill-matched husband leaves her alone in their derelict hut for the winter, she must rely on her wits and her clandestine relationship with an Iroquois man for survival.

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend
Matthew Dicks
Budo is lucky as imaginary friends go. He’s been alive for more than five years, which is positively ancient in the world of imaginary friends. But Budo feels his age, and thinks constantly of the day when eight-year-old Max Delaney will stop believing in him. When that happens, Budo will disappear. Budo, who loves Max and is charged with protecting him from the class bully, from awkward situations in the cafeteria, and even in the bathroom stalls. But he can’t protect Max from Mrs. Patterson, the woman who works with Max in the Learning Center and who believes that she alone is qualified to care for this young boy. When Mrs. Patterson does the unthinkable and kidnaps Max, it is up to Budo and a team of imaginary friends to save him – and Budo must ultimately decide which is more important: Max’s happiness or Budo’s very existence.

By Starlight
Dorothy Garlock
In early 1930s Montana, in the small town of Colton, Maddy Aldridge struggles to make ends meet during the Great Depression. Jeffers Grimm comes to her with a proposition too great for her to turn down: open an illegal speakeasy in the mercantile’s basement, defy Prohibition, and make enough money to make her worries disappear. But, unbeknownst to Maddy, Jeffers has also made a deal with the mob to bring huge quantities of alcohol across the Canadian border and store it in the mercantile. He wants to get rich, regardless of who stands in his way. Jack Rucker used to live in Colton and had been in love with Maddy before he moved away to become an agent for the Bureau of Prohibition. Now, after hearing rumors of a bootleg operation, the Bureau wants him to go back and hide in plain sight. What will Jack do when he finds out what Maddy is up to? Can he and Maddy rekindle the love they once knew? If Jeffers discovers Jack is a federal agent, to what ends will he go to silence him forever?

Goodbye for Now
Laurie Frankel
Sam Elling is a brilliant software engineer, so brilliant that he develops an algorithm to allow grieving people to communicate with their dead loved ones. Initially created to help his soul mate, Meredith, when her beloved grandmother, Livvie, dies; and using previous electronic communication between Meredith and Livvie, he sets up “dead mail” between them. Soon Sam, Meredith, and her cousin establish RePose. Ethical and religious issues arise (as when parents of terminally ill children spend time videotaping rather than living in the moment), and Sam has qualms about how helpful his service really is until he needs it himself.

City of Women
David R Gillham
Berlin 1943, in the midst of war, offers little comfort for the women left behind. Sigrid, a seemingly dutiful wife to a husband serving on the Russian front, copes with a tedious job, a hostile mother-in-law, rationed food, air raids, and the fear of stepping out of line. There is always someone eager to denounce a neighbor for an unguarded moment or outburst. Sigrid has her secrets but holds them close: a Jewish lover from the recent past, and a random event that draws her into a chain of people hiding and protecting Jews. Even though her naïveté takes her to dangerous places, she is wise enough to be cautious. Life becomes more fraught when Sigrid’s wounded husband returns.

Trickster’s Point
William Kent Krueger
Cork O’Connor and Jubal Little are deep in the Minnesota wilderness bowhunting, a long-standing tradition among these two friends, when the unthinkable happens. Little is killed by a stray arrow that turns out to have been O’Connor’s, and he becomes the primary suspect in the murder. He understands full well that he’s been set up. As he works to clear his name and track the real killer, he remembers his long, complex relationship with the tough kid who would grow up to become a professional football player, a populist politician, and the lover of the first woman to whom Cork ever gave his heart. Jubal was known by many for his passion, his loyalty, and his ambition. Only Cork knows that he was capable of murder.

Australian Films

Lantana (2001) Rated R

A woman disappears and four marriages are drawn into a tangled web of love, deceit, sex and death.

Moulin Rouge (2001) Rated PG-13

Christian is an idealistic and impoverished young writer who, newly arrived in Montmartre, is haphazardly inducted into a circle of young Bohemians led by Toulouse-Lautrec. A comedy of mistaken identities ensues, quickly enmeshing the young poet in a love triangle involving the unobtainable and consumptive Satine, queen courtesan of the Moulin Rouge, and the foppish Duke of Roxbury, his villainous rival for her affections.

Muriel’s Wedding (1994) Rated R

No one ever paid much attention to Muriel and her humdrum small town life, so she and her best friend Rhonda decide to leave it behind and head for the big city… where they end up having the exciting adventure of their lives! What’s more, soon everyone takes notice when Muriel becomes engaged to a handsome and popular sports hero!

The Piano (1992) Rated R

A young mute woman and her child travel to New Zealand in the 1800s for an arranged marriage to a farmer. After the marriage she meets another man, and the competition for her love begins. Just one of the men realizes that her affections can only be won through her beloved piano.

Shine (1996) Rated PG-13

The story of Australian pianist David Helfgott. He suffers as a child under his father’s ambitions and as a young man defies his father’s wishes in order to pursue his dreams. At the beginning of a great concert career, he experiences a nervous breakdown and is hospitalized, but later returns to the concert hall. Tells the story of rebellion and of individuality through the eyes of a pianist whose major form of self-expression is found in the keys of his instrument.

Easter Films 2012

Easter Parade (1948) Rated NR

Astaire is trying to forget ex-dance partner Miller while rising to stardom with Garland.

Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) Rated G

Drama of the life of Christ, the teacher and saviour, healer of the hopeless and champion of the poor, from Galilee to Golgotha.

Jesus of Nazareth (1977) Rated NR

Maintaining the perfect balance between religious fervor and realism, this film depicts the life of Christ from His birth through His resurrection. It is acclaimed exceptional for its thorough Biblical and historical research written in consultation with leading Anglican, Catholic and Jewish religious authorities.

King of Kings (1927) Rated NR

The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with the biggest budget in the history of Hollywood, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

Passion of the Christ (2004) Rated R

Concerns the last twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In the Garden of Gethsemane near the Mount of Olives, Jesus is betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Jesus is condemned to death for blasphemy and brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea, for sentencing. The roaring crowd demands his death, so Pilate orders his crucifixion. Jesus is severely beaten and made to carry his cross up to Golgotha, the hill outside Jerusalem, where he is nailed to the cross. With his mother looking on, he dies.

February is President’s Month

Here is a list of films that feature president’s:

Air Force One (1997) Rated R

The U.S. President has just told the world he will not negotiate with terrorists. But when Kazhakstani nationalists hijack Air Force One, the world’s most secure and extraordinary aircraft, the President is faced with a nearly impossible decision–give in to terrorist demands or sacrifice not only the country’s dignity, but the lives of his wife and daughter.

Frost/Nixon (2008) Rated R

Richard Nixon is the disgraced president with a legacy to save. David Frost is a jet-setting television personality with a name to make. This is the legendary battle between the two men and the historic encounter that changed both their lives. For three years after resigning from office, Nixon remained silent. But in the summer of 1977, the steely, cunning former commander-in-chief agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the Watergate scandal that ended his presidency. Everyone is surprised that Nixon would select Frost as his televised confessor, intending to easily outfox the breezy British showman and secure a place in the hearts and minds of Americans (as well as a $600,000 fee). Likewise, Frost’s team harbors doubts that their boss with be able to hold his own. But as cameras roll, a charged battle of wits results.

In the Line of Fire (1993) Rated R

Frank Horrigan, a veteran Secret Service agent haunted by his failure to protect JFK from assassination gets a chance to redeem himself when a brilliant psychopath threatens to kill the current president and take Horrigan with him.

JFK (1991) Rated R

Director Oliver Stone seamlessly blends archival film with acted sequences in his version of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which alleges that there was a massive plot and cover-up surrounding JFK’s death.

W. (2008) Rated PG-13

A look at the life of the 43rd president of the United States. Rising from a privileged alcoholic to a born-again Christian whose belief in religious destiny helped move him to the top ranks of political power. How he used Christianity to turn his life around, met and married his wife, and the days before his decision to declare war on Iraq are featured.

Gilbert Cates (1934-2011)

Gilbert Cates was a renowned Producer and Director of films and tv shows. He was most notable as the producer of some of the Academy awards shows. He, also, was a professor at UCLA where he founded their department of Theater, Film and Television. He passed away a couple of days ago on October 31st. His death is under an investigation. Here is a list of  his  films that the library owns:

Death in the Family (2002) Rated NR

A television adaptation of James Agee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the effect a freak accident has upon a little boy and his mother.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears  (1983) Rated UR

It’s hard to find porridge, a chair and a bed that’s “just right” nowadays, as a little girl is about to find out. Goldilocks, a little girl with a big imagination, has her life changed forever when she wanders into the home of some furry, but friendly, bears.

The Promise (1979) Rated PG

Two college students find their love changed forever when a dangerous accident forces them to choose between their love and their futures.

Rapunzel (1982) Rated NR

A childless witch steals a baby girl and whisks her away to a tall tower to raise as her own and calls her Rapunzel. Rapunzel turns into a lovely but lonely young woman with the longest golden hair in the land. When a handsome Prince sees her, it’s love at first sight. He begs her to let down her hair so he can use it as a ladder and come face to face with the woman of his dreams. Will it be curtains for Rapunzel when the Witch finds out about the Prince?

To All My Friends on Shore (1972) Rated NR

Bill Cosby stars as Blue, an inner-city father struggling to save enough money to buy a house for his family. His obsession with money causes him to neglect his family. When his son (Dennis Hines) is diagnosed with fatal sickle-cell anemia, Blue realizes his priorities need to change.

Peter Falk

Peter Falk passed away this thursday, June 23rd, at his home. It is known that he was suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s. Here’s a list of films in tribute to his work:

Columbo (1971-2003) Rated NR

Columbo, a disheveled, cigar-chomping, trench coat-wearing police lieutenant, who appears to be an incompetent bumbler. Despite his appearance, Columbo is the shrewdest, most resourceful detective in the LAPD.

Princess Bride (1987) Rated PG

Heartbroken over the death of her beloved Westley, beautiful Buttercup finally succumbs to the advances of the wicked Prince Humperdinck. Yet, when she’s suddenly kidnapped by a motley band of deviants, what gallant hero comes to the rescue? None other than Westley– alive, well and as wonderful as ever. But before these two can live happily ever after, they must first overcome formidable odds. Will these star-crossed lovers ever fulfill their destiny? Or, this time, will Buttercup lose Westley forever?

Shark Tale (2004) Rated PG

Oscar is a lowly tongue-scrubber at the local Whale Wash, who becomes an improbable hero when he tells a great white lie. To keep his secret, Oscar teams up with an outcast vegetarian Great White shark, Lenny, and the two become the most unlikely of friends. When his lie begins to unravel, it’s up to Oscar’s loyal friend Angie and Lenny to help him stand up to the most feared shark in the water and find his true place in the reef.

Wings of Desire (1987) Rated PG-13

 A romantic fantasy about an angel who wishes he were mortal and is willing to fall from the sky if it means a chance to fall in love. Set in modern-day Berlin, the film follows angel Damiel’s path from heavenly flight to earthly delight.

A Woman Under the Influence (1974) Rated R

A drama detailing the emotional breakdown of a suburban housewife and how her family struggles to save her from herself.

 

Lilian Jackson Braun

Lilian Jackson Braun Bettinger (1913-2011)

Lilian Jackson Braun Bettinger passed away at the age of 97 on June 4, 2011. She was the prolific, best-selling author, more commonly known simply as Lilian Jackson Braun, of the “Cat Who…” series that featured Jim Qwilleran and his two crime-solving siamese cats, Koko and Yum-Yum. She received fame for her first three “Cat Who…” books in the mid 1960s. Then she took a break; twenty years passed before she wrote any more books. She wrote 29 “Cat Who…” books in total. She wrote all of her stories out in longhand before giving them to a professional to be typed.

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Here are some of Lilian Jackson Braun’s books that you can request from the Rice Lake Public Library :

Oscar Films

It’s that time of year when Hollywood is a buzz about what they do best—films. To honor that in some insignificant way is our list of oscar films; that you may have or have not watched. So, without  further ado-The Oscar goes to…

Broadway Melody (1929) Rated NR

This is the first musical to win a Best Picture Oscar. Anita Page and Bessie Love star as two sisters in love with the same man.

Ordinary People (1980) Rated R

The “ordinary” existence of an upper middle class family is shattered with the death of the older son in a boating accident and the struggle of the younger son against guilt and suicide.

Rebecca (1940) Rated NR

A young bride is brought by her new husband to his manor house in England. There she finds that the memory of her husband’s first wife haunts her, and she tries to discover the secret of that mysterious woman’s death.

Silence of the Lambs (1990) Rated R

FBI agent Clarice Starling is assigned to help find a missing woman to save her from a psychopathic serial killer who skins his victims. Clarice attempts to gain a better insight into the twisted mind of the killer by talking to another psychopath, Hannibal Lecter, who used to be a respected psychiatrist.

Unforgiven (1992) Rated R

Two retired, down-on-their luck outlaws pick up their guns one last time to collect a bounty offered by the vengeful prostitutes of the remote Wyoming town of Big Whiskey.

Honorable mentions:

Casablanca (1942) Rated PG

Gigi (1958) Rated G

Great Ziegfeld (1936) Rated NR

Hurt Locker (2008) Rated R

Midnight Cowboy (1969) Rated R