We decided to do something special with the review of 11/22/63 because two of the VC/UHV Librarians read the book. As a result, we are sharing both of their opinions of the book with you.

Summary of 11/22/63: Jake Epping is a high school teacher who befriends the owner of a diner in town, Al. Jake learns the owner of the diner is dying and Al’s dying request is for Jake to go back in time and stop the assassination of President Kennedy. Confused at first, Jake is reluctant but agrees to the task when he learns there is a wormhole in Al’s diner that will take him back to 1958. Jake leaves his life in 2011 behind, takes on a new identity and develops a life for himself as he attempts to stop one of the most famous assassinations in history.

Amanda’s Thoughts: I must confess 11/22/63 is the first book by Stephen King I’ve read. His previous books never appealed to me because most he writes horror stories and I’ve never enjoyed reading that genre. When I read reviews about 11/22/63, however, I learned that this book was unlike anything he wrote so I decided to give it a chance – I’m glad I did.

Now, I will admit the book is 842 pages but do not let that scare you. I also have to admit the first 200 pages are a little slow but do not let that scare you either. The author used beginning 200 pages to describe how time travel worked and Jake’s adjustment to life in 1958. I found it very repetitive and thought King was dragging the story out more than necessary.

Putting the slow start aside, 11/22/63 is a fantastic book and I highly recommend you read it. I loved the way King mixed factual history with fiction, fantasy and science fiction. There are references to the conspiracy theories surrounding the assassination, but King makes no attempt to solve them. The book does center around Lee Harvey Oswald as the lone gunman.

Lori’s Thoughts: I enjoyed the book just as much as Amanda did, but with the opposite take! I have read all of Stephen King’s books. Although I don’t like horror either, I do like his writing style very much so I read them all anyway. He has several books—Dead Zone, Lisey’s Story, The Green Mile, and The Stand to name a few—that aren’t horror stories.

Unlike Amanda, I enjoyed the beginning of the book and found the end a little weak. But I do agree it didn’t feel like 842 pages at all. For avid King readers, he makes reference to some of his former works by having Jake travel through Derry, Maine and refers to a bad time there involving clowns and a turtle (anyone read It?). He even has a nod to our brewery up the road when Jake describes his landlord in Dallas: ”He was stocky, with a huge gut he called the house that Shiner built.”

11/22/63 is well worth the read in both our opinions. Have a go at it at tell us what you thought about it!

The VC/UHV Library is offering several free workshops to current students, faculty and staff at Victoria College and the University of Houston-Victoria to teach you about using the library website and conducting research. The workshops will be held at the VC/UHV Library in Room 304 as well as online.

Finding Articles Like a Pro – This workshop will teach you about search tricks that will help you find information fast. It will teach you to use advanced search functions to narrow your search and limit your results to the most relevant information.

• Wednesday, February 29 from 6-7 PM, VC/UHV Library Room 304
• Thursday, March 1 from 6-7 PM, Online meeting room http://breeze.uhv.edu/findingarticles
• Tuesday, March 20 from 6-7 PM, Online meeting room http://breeze.uhv.edu/findingarticles

Google Like a Librarian - After this online workshop, you will know how to use Google Web, Google Books and Google Scholar. These are powerful research tools and you will learn how to make them work for you.

• Monday, March 5 from 6-7 PM, Online meeting room http://breeze.uhv.edu/googlelibrarian
• Thursday, March 29 from 6-7 PM, VC/UHV Library Room 304

Refworks: The Bibliography Creator - Want to create a bibliography in seconds? Let us teach you how to save time and make writing easier by organizing your resources.

• Wednesday, March 7 from 6-7 PM, Online meeting room http://breeze.uhv.edu/refworks
• Tuesday, April 3 from 6-7 PM, VC/UHV Library Room 304

Evaluate Your Resources - Are you unsure of what counts as “scholarly” or “academic” material? Do you know what type of resources to use for you class paper or project? We will teach you how to evaluate your resources by giving you questions to ask about each resource. Questioning the purpose, content, authority, currency, objectivity and relevancy will help you determine whether to use the resource or find something else.

• Monday, March 19 from 6-7 PM, VC/UHV Library Room 304

For individual assistance, you can ask for research assistance bystopping at the reference desk on the 1st floor during normal library hours, using the online chat service, emailing askalibrarian@uhv.edu or askalibrarian@victoriacollege.edu, or calling 361-570-4166 or 800-687-5006.

The book Into the Wild tells the amazing story of Christopher Johnson McCandless. It is a story with a tragic end but the travels of McCandless are inspiring.

After his college graduation, Christopher McCandless left Atlanta, Georgia in his yellow Datsun and set out for an adventure where he would live off the land and the generosity of the people he met along the way. McCandless emptied his savings account, totaling almost $25,000, and donated it to charity. He changed his name to Alex Supertramp and began to travel by hitchhiking and illegally riding the rails all over the southern and western United States before heading to Alaska.

While in Alaska, McCandless made camp at the Fairbanks bus 142 on the Stampede Trail. While in the wilderness, he lived off wild berries and wild game. Hunters discovered McCandless’ decomposing body in Fairbanks bus 142 but the exact cause of death is unknown. Starvation is the suspected killer but McCandless’ journal hints at potato seeds being at fault for the quick deterioration of his health.

In fact, there are a lot of unanswered questions about McCandless. Why didn’t he take a map and better gear? Why didn’t he try to signal for help? Did he realize he was a couple of hours walk from Denali National Park and probably would have been discovered by a patrol?

Jon Krakauer pieces together McCandless’ journey from Atlanta to the Alaska wilderness through Chris’ letters, journals and photographs. Krakauer also interviewed many of the people McCandless befriended on his journey which gives incredible insight into a man who left the world behind. Into the Wild is an incredible book. Krakauer does an excellent job of tracing Christopher McCandless’ steps and presents the information in a factual manner.

The festivities began with a parade from the Patti Welder Magnet Middle School to the Victoria Community Center. The Black History Month Festival featuring food, jewelry, arts & crafts, clothing, and home decor began immediately following the parade.

VC/UHV Library Photographer, Bob Allen, took photos of the event. Mr. Allen’s photos can be viewed here.

The Titan’s Curse is book three in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series by Rick Riordan. This book is phenomenal and definitely sets the stage for the remaining two books in the series.

The book begins with Percy, Annabeth and Thalia meeting Grover at Westover Hall because Grover found two half-bloods and sent a distress call. The half-bloods are brother and sister but their parentage is unknown. Although Percy, Annabeth and Thalia are prepared for battle, getting the newly discovered half-bloods out of Westover Hall does not go as planned and soon the demigods find themselves on a quest to rescue one of their friends and a kidnapped goddess. Along the way, Percy and his friends face more mythical creatures while figuring out how to save Olympus.

This book had the most action thus far. There was always something happening and I paid extra attention because I suspect this book set up the big events I expect to happen in books four and five. The reader learns more about the prophecy Chiron previously mentioned and the reader is one step closer to learning which hero’s fate is described in the prophecy.

The Titan’s Curse is available for checkout at the VC/UHV Library. I am so glad one of the librarians recommended this series to me because I truly enjoy reading these Rick Riordan books.

President Obama issued a Presidential Proclamation declaring February 2012 as National African American History Month. The proclamation designates this year’s theme as “Black Women in American Culture and History” so that Americans can pay special attention to the role African American women have played in shaping this nation.

We honor women like Rosa Parks (pictured right) whose refusal to surrender her seat to a white man on a Montgomery, Alabama bus made her known as the “mother of the modern-day civil rights movement” in the US. We honor women like Harriet Tubman who worked as a “conductor” of the Underground Railroad during the 1850s and helped over 300 slaves to freedom. We honor women like August Savage who was a sculptor that worked for the equal rights of African Americans in the arts during the Harlem Renaissance. We honor women like Aretha Franklin who became known as the “Queen of Soul” for her musical contributions to jazz, blues, R&B, and gospel. This is, of course, only a small list of African American women who paved the way for the women of today.

For more information about African American History Month, you can visit the US government website http://www.africanamericanhistorymonth.gov for pictures, videos, exhibits on baseball, civil rights, music, slavery, art and more, as well as teacher resources.

The VC/UHV Library also has a wealth of information available on the history of African Americans. Try reading My American Journey by Colin Powell or The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou by Maya Angelou. Perhaps you want to read Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery in America by Allen Guelzo or Freedom by Any Means: Con Games, Voodoo Schemes, True Love and Lawsuits on the Underground Railroad by Betty DeRamus.

This was the second time I read Night by Elie Wiesel. The first time I read it, I was a junior high student and I can say I got more out of reading it the second time. Night tells a sad story, but it is unforgettable.

Night tells the true story of Elie Wiesel and his life in Sight, Transylvania in 1941 until his liberation from the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945. In the beginning of the book, Wiesel recalls life with his family in Sight and wanting to find a master to guide him in studying of Kabbalah. Soon after, the Germans moved into Sight and Elie’s life changed forever. His family had to live in both ghettos in Sight before they were deported to a concentration camp. Men were separated from women – and that was the last time he saw his mother or youngest sister.

The author goes on to describe life in the concentration camp in detail.  He describes life at Auschwitz, one of the most famous and terrifying concentration camps, the forced march through the snow to Gleiwitz and the deportation by cattle car to Buchenwald concentration camp. Wiesel describes starvation, survival, fear, love, and death in a way that you will not forget.

I read the book in a few hours. It is just over 100 pages and the reading level is not challenging (many 7th and 8th graders read the book in school). And even though it is not one of the happiest books I’ve read, the message of the book is important – that death and destruction like this should never be allowed to happen again. As the number of survivors of the Holocaust becomes fewer, we must do what we can to keep their memories and stories alive.

I have been fortunate enough to travel extensively through Germany and Austria and I have visited many places associated with WWII. For me, reading Night brings me back to my visit to Buchenwald concentration camp. I went to the camp in summer of 2000, and just like the author, I can close my eyes and be back at the front gate. I can see the chimney stacks and Appelplatz described by Wiesel. The barracks are no longer standing but bricks and colored rocks outline where they once housed the prisoners.

Buchenwald is the first concentration camp I visited and I have since visited two other concentration camps. I visited Mauthausen in Austria in 2004 and Dachau near Munich, Germany in 2006. I will never forget the sadness I felt at each time I visited a camp.

Night is available for checkout in print and audio book at the VC/UHV Library.

Today, January 18, thousands of Internet websites are taking part in a “blackout” to protest two anti-piracy bills that are currenly being discussed in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. By removing content from their website or brandishing their website with a black box, companies and organizations such as Google, WordPress, American Library Association, Firefox and Flickr, are demonstrating the potential impact of the bills.

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is up for debate in the House of Representatives and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) is being considered by the Senate. The proposed legislation is designed to tackle online piracy but many opponets say it threatens free speech and would give the government sweeping censorship abilities, similar to those used in China, Iran and Syria. According to Mozilla, “Your favorite websites, both inside and outside the US, could be blocked based on a single infringement claim, without any due process of law.”

The White House issued a statement earlier this week saying they “will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”

If you feel strongly about this issue (pro or con), you may wish to contact your Representative or Senator to voice your opinion.

With the Spring Term upon us, we know there are some basic questions you might have about the library. Hopefully we will answer them here.

What are the library hours? We are open Monday – Thursday 7:45 AM – 10:00 PM; Friday 7:45 AM – 5:00 PM and Saturday & Sunday 1:00 PM – 6:00 PM.

Does the library have my textbook? Probably not. We do not purchase textbooks for all the courses. We can’t keep up and our budget can’t either. If your professor is not using an actual textbook there is a possibility we have a single copy, or even an older edition – but the chance is small. If the bookstore is out of your textbook, mention it to your instructor.

What do I need to use the computers? And where are they? To use the computers in the library, you need to bring your library card. For VC students, your library card is your student ID (and we issue them in the library). For UHV students, your library card is your JAG card. Before you start using the computers, you have to stop by the check out desk on the first floor to establish your library account or have it updated. The library has 36 computers on the first floor for anyone to use and 8 computers on the second floor only for students. You can use the computers anytime the library is open.

Does the library have wireless internet? Yes, you can bring your laptop or other portable device and access the wireless internet. You will need to access it using your VC or UHV computer account.

How much time do I get on the computers? Students have unlimited use of the computers. Every time you login, you will have 2 hours. You can self-extend your session for another hour. Students can have as many sessions in a day as they need.

Can I access by student drive? No. You will not be able to access your Victoria College student drive. UHV does not have individual student network drives. You need to bring a flash drive (aka thumb drive, USB stick, etc) to save your work or you save your work to the desktop and email it to yourself. Our computers are “hard locked” so when you log off, the computer returns to its original state. Any document you saved to the desktop will be erased.

Am I able to print in the library? If so, how much does it cost? Yes, you can print in the library. The cost is 5 cents per page for students for black and white printouts. Color printouts cost 25 cents per page for students. You can pick up your printouts at the check out desk on the first or second floor. We also have a photocopy machine that charges 10 cents per page.  You do not need to bring paper.

Do you have study rooms available? We have 6 study rooms available for students to use. Reservations can be made up to 48 hours in advance by calling 361-570-4199. More information about each study room is available through the library website. See http://vcuhvlibrary.uhv.edu/libraryinfo/groupstudy.htm.

Can the librarians help me with my research assignments? YES! The librarians are here to help you be a successful student. If you need help with your research assignment, you can always Ask A Librarian. We can help you via email, over the phone, using online chat or in person. We will teach you how to use the library resources so you find the information you need. You can also check out our library workshop schedule to learn about free workshops offered during the semester.

If you have any additional questions please email askalibrarian@uhv.edu or askalibrarian@victoriacollege.edu. Otherwise, you can call 361-570-4166, use our online chat or stop by the library during our hours of operation.

The Sea of Monsters is the second book in the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series. I absolutely loved it. I loved it so much that I read it in a day. Yes, the book is written at a reading level for 10-year-olds, but it is a book that can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

In The Sea of Monsters, Rick Riordan takes the reader along with Percy as he tries to save Camp Half-Blood before it is destroyed by monsters. When Percy’s request for a quest is given to another Camp Half-Blood resident, he sets out on his own. With the help of an old friend, and a new one, Percy takes on more dangerous creatures to save his friends. In the process, Percy learns more about his own fate, his family and how is actions will affect the human and immortal world.

This is the second book in the series and I am completely hooked. The books are easy to read but enjoyable. I want to keep reading to find out what happens next. Although The Sea of Monsters is a children’s book, I was still surprised by some of the events that happened. Just like the Harry Potter series, I know this series has a definite ending and I only have three more books to discover Percy’s fate.

Maybe it is my natural curiosity…maybe it is my love of learning…maybe it is my inner nerd…but the Percy Jackson & the Olympians series makes me want to learn more about Greek mythology. Riordan only scratches the surface of Greek mythology in the books but they have sparked my interest. Hopefully it will do the same for you.

The Sea of Monsters is available for checkout at the VC/UHV Library. You can find it in our Leisure Reading area.

Review written by Amanda Breu

For many people, the year will start out well  but they will quickly fall back into their old habits and give up on positive life changes. Change, however, requires hard work and determination and the VC/UHV Library has some resources that can help.

If your New Year’s resolution is to lose weight or exercise more, check out one of these books:

• The No Sweat Exercise Plan: Lose Weight, Get Healthy and Live Longer by Harvey Simon
• Mayo Clinic Fitness for Everybody
• Leslie Sansone’s Eat Smart, Walk Strong: The Secrets to Effortless Weight Loss by Leslie Sansone
• Mayo Clinic on Healthy Weight
• Super Fitness for Sports, Conditioning and Health by Thomas Fahey
• The Abs Diet Get Fit, Stay Fit Plan: The Exercise Program to Flatten Your Belly, Reshape Your Body and Give you Abs for Life by David Zinczenko

If your New Year’s resolution is to eat healthy, try one of these books:

• Low-Calorie Cookbook: More than 200 Delicious Recipes for Healthy Eating
• The New American Heart Association Cookbook
• Healthy Heart Cookbook
• American Heart Association Low-Fat, Low-Cholesterol Cookbook: Heart-Healthy, Easy-To-Make Recipes that Taste Great
• The Healthy College Cookbook: Quick, Cheap, Easy by Alexandra Nimetz (e-book)

If your New Year’s resolution is to follow a budget, try one of these books:

• Be Thrifty: How to Live Better with Less
• 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget
• Suddenly Frugal: How to Live Happier & Healthier for Less by Leah Ingram
• Don’t Spend Your Raise: And 59 Other Money Rules You Can’t Afford to Break by Dara Duguay (e-book)

If your New Year’s Resolution involves living simple, check out one of these books:

• Voluntary Simplicity: Toward a Way of Life That is Outwardly Simple, Inwardly Rich by Duane Elgin
• Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-Free Approach to Intentional Living by Tsh Oxenreider
• The Simple Living Guide: A Sourcebook for Less Stressful, More Joyful Living by Janet Luhrs
• The Lilypad List: 7 Steps to the Simple Life by Marian Van Eyk McCain

If your New Year’s resolution is to have more “me” time, try reading one of these books:

• Bossypants by Tina Fey
• The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
• 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
• The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

This is just a small selection of the books we have available on these topics, and many more, to help you achieve your New Year’s resolution. Just Ask A Librarian and we’ll help you find the book you want.

If you are looking for a quick read mixed with a little Greek mythology, then The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is the perfect book for you. This book is the first of five in the series, Percy Jackson & the Olympians, and I cannot wait to read the next book.

The book tells the story of Percy Jackson, a twelve-year-old who cannot manage to stay in the same school for more than a year because he is always getting into trouble. Percy thinks he has ADHD because he is always misinterpreting things or mixing up letters but after an encounter with a mythological creature at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Percy learns there is a lot about his history he does not know. More importantly, there is a lot Percy needs to learn…if he is going to survive.

I will be the first to admit I was hesitant to read this book. There was nothing particular about the book that made me want to not read it – I just have a personal animosity towards reading young adult (YA) books. Although when I think about it, I am not sure why I still have an animosity towards YA books because I read the Harry Potter series, the Twilight series and the Blue Bloods series (this is a less well-known series by Melissa de la Cruz), the Hunger Games trilogy and I loved them all.

I picked The Lightning Thief up on a recommendation from one of the VC/UHV Librarians when I said I wanted a “quick, easy read”. I read it in three days and am excited to start the second book in the series, The Sea of Monsters. I enjoy the story because the author is able to incorporate Greek mythology into a story set in modern America. You do not need to be an expert on Greek mythology either – you can learn it along with Percy.

The Lightning Thief is available for checkout at the VC/UHV Library in our Leisure Reading area. The call number is PZ 7 .R485 Li 2005.

The VC/UHV Library will be open the following hours for the remainder of December and beginning of January:

December 12-14  –  7:45 am-10:00 pm

December 15   -  7:45 am-6:00 pm

December 16  -  7:45am-11:00 am and 1:00pm-5:00pm (The Library will be closed from 11am-1pm for an employee holiday luncheon)

December 17-18  -  Closed

December 19-20  -  8:00am-5:00pm

December 21-January 1 – Closed

January 2-6  -  8:00am-5:00pm

January 7-8  -  Closed

January 9-13  -  8:00am-5:00pm

January 14-16  -  Closed

Now that class is over and you have plenty of time to ready for fun, check out one of these great new books:

•  Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
•  The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
•  The Wee Free Men: The Beginning by Terry Pratchet
• 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
• Sanctus by Simon Toyne
• Bossypants by Tina Fey
• A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

Don’t forget about our audio books on CD in the Media Center for those long drives to visit family and friends. We want to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season.

I didn’t get a vacation this year, so I have been vicariously traveling with Bill Bryson.

Bryson is a well-known and well-loved travel writer.   This summer I read A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering American on the Appalachian Trail, which is a very entertaining account of Bryson’s attempt to walk the entire 2,100 miles of that trail ranging from Georgia to Maine.

With In a Sunburned Country, Bill takes off to Australia with the goal to visit every corner of that huge country.  He makes it clear from the beginning that he loves Australia.  He finds the people charming and obliging and the cities clean and safe (and incredibly far apart).

He also has a fascination with things that will kill you, and in Australia there’s a lot of that.  From spiders and plants to jellyfish and riptides, not to mention unrelenting heat, Australia is a dangerous country.  Several very entertaining parts of the book concern his efforts to see these things from the safety of a museum exhibit.

There is also apparently a lot of beautiful scenery there which not many people know about and visit. An especially intriguing site is the Tree Top Walk in the Walpole-Nomalup National Park in Western Australia.  The Tree Top Walk is a bridge constructed through the canopy of 400 year old red tingle trees (a cousin of eucalyptus).  The walk is 600 meters long and 40 meters high and built to allow visitors to experience the forest without damaging the delicate root system of the trees.  Very cool.

The book is full of information about Australian history from big things like World War II and native aboriginal populations to small things like a telephone operator in a remote location that conveyed messages from space during the space missions.  I have never thought about Australia much, but after reading In a Sunburned Country, I am putting it on my Bucket list.

The VC/UHV Library has In a Sunburned Country in audiobook  -  DU105.2.B83 2002c

You can view a short film on Pearl Harbor on YouTube as part of the U.S. Navy Heritage Mini-Series. The Naval History & Heritage Command, the official history program of the Department of the Navy, has photographs, a digital artifact gallery, oral histories from survivors of the attack and official action reports available on the Pearl Harbor Raid 7 December 1941 website.

Before dawn on December 7, 1941, the Japanese fleet approached undetected to a point slightly more than 200 miles north of Oahu. At 6:00 am, the six Japanese carriers launched a first wave of 181 planes composed of torpedo bombers, dive bombers, horizontal bombers and fighters. At 7:00 am, an operator of an Army radar station at Opana spotted the approaching first wave of the attack. Unfortunately, the officers who received the reports did not consider them significant enough to take action. As a result, the Japanese achieved complete surprise when they hit the ships and military installations at Pearl Harbor shortly before 8:00 am. They attacked Navy air bases, Marine airfields and Army Air Corps fields at the same time they hit the fleet anchored in Pearl Harbor to destroy American planes before they could take off and stop the Japanese.

The second wave of the attack began shortly after 8:30 am when 170 Japanese planes appeared in the harbor. The second wave continued to attack ships and airfields.

When the attack ended just before 10:00 am, the American forces station at Pearl Harbor suffered devastating losses. Twenty-one ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet were sunk or damaged, 188 aircraft were lost and 159 aircraft damaged. In comparison, the Japanese lost twenty-nine planes. A fact sheet with detailed information on American losses is available from the U.S. Navy Museum.

On December 8, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered a Presidential Address to a Joint Session of Congress. President Roosevelt opened the speech with the famous words, “Yesterday, December 7th, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.” To end the speech, President Roosevelt asked Congress to declare war on Japan and it passed within an hour. You can view a video of the speech by clicking here.

Every year on December 7, we remember the attack on Pearl Harbor. America honors the sacrifices of our service men and women who lost their lives on that fateful day.

Monday, December 19 from 12:00 noon to 1:00 pm

The free online session will be led by Amanda Breu, Foundation Center Cooperating Collection Supervisor at the Victoria College/University of Houston-Victoria Library. Ms. Breu will provide an overview of finding funders, such as foundations, corporations and grantmaking public charities, for your non-profit organization with the Foundation Center’s comprehensive funding research tool, the Foundation Directory Online Professional. This top-tier searchable database provides information on more than 100,000 grantmakers and more than 2 million grant records.

The free workshop will be held in an online meeting room at http://breeze.uhv.edu/findingfunders/. Simply click on the link and request to “Enter as a Guest” to access the workshop from any computer with Internet access. The meeting room will open 15 minutes prior to the workshop start time.

Inquiries regarding the free workshop should be directed to Amanda Breu at 361-570-4169 or breua@uhv.edu.

Don’t nip this novel in the bud before the third chapter. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is gripping with intense, sadistic action and enthralling, complex characters. Once the dull introductory chapters have passed, the plot thickens and spreads into a web of question marks and intrigue. The book tells the story of Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander and their attempt to solve the mysterious disappearance of Harriet Vanger.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is contrived of grisly murders, dynamic characters and a maddening, pestilential obsession of a wizened uncle. To encounter the climax literally resembled and simulated the experience of climbing a rugged hill and gliding all the way down.

By the time I reached Chapter 22, my head was spinning from all the details and split ends of every preceding question mark being meticulously, satisfyingly tied up. Upon the completion of the mystery itself and the recurrence of the initial conflict within the first few chapters, the ending began to ebb with deliberate graduation, relatively tedious as the beginning. Yet, the latter half of the novel was greatly rewarding. Not to mention the last sentence ended on a comical note on behalf of one of the protagonists, Lisbeth Salander. Needless to say, I will be reading The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is available for checkout at the VC/UHV Library. We have the title available in print and audio book. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is also available on DVD. The DVD is in Swedish with English subtitles. Please Ask A Librarian for assistance in finding the items in the library.

What is Food for Fines? The Library will waive overdue fines and fees. Simply return the overdue library materials and make a donation of nonperishable food items (one item=$1).* We will donate all collected food to the Food Bank.

Where can I take advantage of this offer? You can drop off your overdue item(s) and nonperishable food donation(s) at the 1st Floor Service Desk or the 2nd Floor Service Desk.

*Library item(s) must be returned or replacement cost paid. Waiver is for late fines and/or lost fines only. Preferred donation is one item per dollar owed. Contact Greg Garcia, Circulation Supervisor, at 361-570-4162 for more information.

Looking for a few laughs and even a couple of outright guffaws? Look no further than SNL alumni Tina Fey’s book, Bossypants. In a hop and skip biographical style, Tina talks about her childhood and college days, giving you a glimpse of what went into creating one of today’s top comedians. She devotes a chapter to her days on SNL and another to the behind the scenes creation of her stunning portrayal of Sarah Palin. Fey doesn’t spend much time on her personal life (her husband and daughter), but she does devote a chapter to the travails of sharing holidays with the in-laws.

Her quirky sense of humor comes through clearly and I enjoyed the entire book. She does include a few moments to take a stance on some issues that she has faced, but overall the tone is light and humorous.

Not a Tina Fey fan? Then I don’t know if you would enjoy this book since it is very much in her style. But if you are, then it’s well worth your time to pass a few hours for some insight into her and just a few good laughs.

Bossypants is available for checkout at the VC/UHV Library. You can find it in our Leisure Reading area.

Nicholas Foxton had to quit horse racing after a riding injury, but he still goes to the races—it’s part of his job as an independent financial advisor.  He’s been out of racing for eight years, settled into a new, if boring, life with an artist girlfriend when he and a co-worker go to the races.  His friend is executed before the first race; Nicholas discovers that HE is executor and beneficiary—but his friend has run up impossible balances on 22 credit cards gambling on the internet.  Then someone almost succeeds in shooting Nicholas….and his life is NOT boring for the next two weeks as he unravels several mysteries.

Felix Francis is the younger of Dick Francis’s two sons.  Dick Francis (with his wife’s and son’s assistance) was the author of MANY bestselling books—all involving British racing.  The main characters were not always jockeys—there was an architect, glass blower, caterer, to name just a few, but they were always memorable. Felix is doing an excellent job of carrying on the family tradition.

I only buy “keepers” and Dick Francis’s Gamble is definitely one!

Review written by Clyde Ruth Beyer.