Newly arrived at the library:



Super Size Me (Rotten Tomatoes rating 93%)








Iron Man 2 (Rotten Tomatoes rating 74%)







The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Rotten Tomatoes rating 87%)




Glee, the complete season 1

Spooktacular Story Time!

The Red Wing Public Library is offering a "Spooktacular Story Time" on Saturday, October 30 at 2:00 p.m. It's geared toward preschoolers through second graders with interactive stories, songs and rhymes. Wear your costumes if you like and then continue on to the Downtown Main Street Trunk or Treat costume parade at 2:45.

Steampunk

Wikipedia defines steampunk as involving "an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain—that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy." It's a very hot sub-genre now and one of its most popular authors for children and young adults is Philip Reeve. His latest, Fever Crumb, is set in a post-apocalyptic London. Critics call it "beautifully written, grippingly paced, and filled with eccentric characters and bizarre inventions." Check it out!

New from Seth Grahame-Smith!

Following up on his bestseller Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Seth Grahame-Smith has written the hitherto untold story of president Abraham Lincoln and his battle against the undead:

Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his dying mother's bedside. Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire. Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House. Check it out!

The future of libraries

A very interesting article from the Wall Street Journal on the future of libraries - with an interview of our very own library director, James Lund. Give it a read!

The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival

It’s December 1997, and a man-eating tiger is on the prowl outside a remote village in Russia’s Far East. The tiger isn’t just killing people, it’s annihilating them, and a team of men and their dogs must hunt it on foot through the forest in the brutal cold. As the trackers sift through the gruesome remains of the victims, they discover that these attacks aren’t random: the tiger is apparently engaged in a vendetta. Injured, starving, and extremely dangerous, the tiger must be found before it strikes again. It is an absolutely gripping tale of man and nature that leads inexorably to a final showdown in a clearing deep in the taiga.

The new Jack Reacher novel is here!

There's deadly trouble in the corn country of Nebraska ... and Jack Reacher walks right into it. First he falls foul of a local clan that has terrified an entire county into submission. But it's the unsolved case of a missing child, already decades-old, that Reacher can't let go. The Duncans want Reacher gone-and it's not just past secrets they're trying to hide. They're awaiting a secret shipment that's already late - and they have the kind of customers no one can afford to annoy. For as dangerous as the Duncans are, they're right at the bottom of a criminal food chain stretching halfway around the world. For Reacher, it would have made much more sense to keep on going, to put some distance between himself and the hardcore trouble that's bearing down on him. For Reacher, that was also impossible.

From Publishers Weekly: "This stunning work showcases Krauss's consistent talent. The novel consists of four stories divided among eight chapters, all touching on themes of loss and recovery, and anchored to a massive writing desk that resurfaces among numerous households, much to the bewilderment and existential tension of those in its orbit, among them a lonely American novelist clinging to the memory of a poet who has mysteriously vanished in Chile, an old man in Israel facing the imminent death of his wife of 51 years, and an esteemed antiques dealer tracking down the things stolen from his father by the Nazis. Much like in Krauss's The History of Love, the sharply etched characters seem at first arbitrarily linked across time and space, but Krauss pulls together the disparate elements, settings, characters, and fragile connective tissue to form a formidable and haunting mosaic of loss and profound sorrow."

Longtime defense attorney Mickey Haller is recruited to change stripes and prosecute the high-profile retrial of a brutal child murder. After 24 years in prison, convicted killer Jason Jessup has been exonerated by new DNA evidence. Haller is convinced Jessup is guilty, and he takes the case on the condition that he gets to choose his investigator, LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. Together, Bosch and Haller set off on a case fraught with political and personal danger. Opposing them is Jessup, now out on bail, a defense attorney who excels at manipulating the media, and a runaway eyewitness reluctant to testify after so many years. With the odds and the evidence against them, Bosch and Haller must nail a sadistic killer once and for all. If Bosch is sure of anything, it is that Jason Jessup plans to kill again.

The unrivaled master of spy fiction returns with a taut and suspenseful of dirty money and dirtier politics. Perry and Gail are idealistic and very much in love when they splurge on a tennis vacation at a posh beach resort in Antigua. But the charm begins to pall when a big-time Russian money launderer enlists their help to defect. In exchange for amnesty, Dima is ready to rat out his vory(Russian criminal brotherhood) compatriots and expose corruption throughout the so-called legitimate financial and political worlds. Soon, the guileless couple find themselves pawns in a deadly endgame whose outcome will be determined by the victor of the British Secret Service's ruthless internecine battles.

For centuries, mariners have spun tales of gargantuan waves, 100-feet high or taller. Until recently scientists dis­missed these stories—waves that high would seem to violate the laws of physics. But in the past few decades, as a startling number of ships vanished and new evidence has emerged, oceanographers realized something scary was brewing in the planet’s waters. They found their proof in February 2000, when a British research vessel was trapped in a vortex of impossibly mammoth waves in the North Sea—including several that approached 100 feet.

As scientists scramble to understand this phenomenon, others view the giant waves as the ultimate challenge. These are extreme surfers who fly around the world trying to ride the ocean’s most destructive monsters. The pioneer of extreme surfing is the legendary Laird Hamilton, who, with a group of friends in Hawaii, figured out how to board suicidally large waves of 70 and 80 feet. Casey follows this unique tribe of peo­ple as they seek to conquer the holy grail of their sport, a 100­foot wave.

In this mesmerizing account, the exploits of Hamilton and his fellow surfers are juxtaposed against scientists’ urgent efforts to understand the destructive powers of waves—from the tsunami that wiped out 250,000 people in the Pacific in 2004 to the 1,740-foot-wave that recently leveled part of the Alaskan coast.

From Publishers Weekly: "In this heart-stopping account of his work recovering stolen (or otherwise illegally-seized) ships from "hellhole" ports, commercial captain Hardberger proves himself tough as a tank and articulate as a poet. An airplane pilot, teacher, and lawyer besides, Hardberger never turns down an assignment, no matter how perilous-from surreptitiously repossessing huge ships at midnight to transporting a fleet of old airplanes across East Germany in a perilous airborne convoy. Full of the suspense that comes from ripping off the bad guys and making a daring escape, often aboard less-than-reliable craft ("the ship could only make a desperate run for Belize. before the hold filled with water and she took a nosedive into the sea") Hardberger's escapades make undeniably fun reading."

New from Dave Barry - what else is there to say? How about this from Publishers Weekly: "In hilarious, brand-new pieces, Dave tackles everything from fatherhood, new fatherhood ("Over the next five years, you will spend roughly 45 minutes, total, listening to songs you like, and roughly 127,000 hours to songs exploring topics such as how the horn on the bus goes* [*It goes: 'Beep! Beep! Beep!']"), self-image, the battle of the sexes, celebrityhood, technology, parenting styles, certain unmentionable medical procedures, and much more."

Take control of your finances!

From Publishers Weekly: "The authors begin by guiding readers through an emotional audit of their history with money, ridding their work spaces of clutter, and organizing key financial documents. January is "time to take control," and the authors provide step-by-step instructions on preparing for tax season and retooling spending habits while laying the groundwork for protecting long-term assets. Savings and retirement vehicles are discussed at an extremely macro level-but the extensive resource section compensates for the oversight. By devoting the entire month of November to getting ready for end-of-year holidays, the authors drive home how planning ahead can alleviate the pain of unforeseen expenses. This is an excellent start to creating a solid financial foundation and future. "

New from Ken Follett!

Ken Follett's World Without End was a global phenomenon, a work of grand historical sweep, beloved by millions of readers and acclaimed by critics as "well-researched, beautifully detailed [with] a terrifically compelling plot" (The Washington Post) and "wonderful history wrapped around a gripping story" (St. Louis Post- Dispatch)

Fall of Giants is his magnificent new historical epic. The first novel in The Century Trilogy, it follows the fates of five interrelated families-American, German, Russian, English, and Welsh-as they move through the world-shaking dramas of the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the struggle for women's suffrage.

Nobel Prize for Literature

This year's Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa.

Even Silence Has an End: My Six Years of Captivity in the Colombian Jungle

Born in Bogotá, raised in France, Ingrid Betancourt at the age of thirty-two gave up a life of comfort and safety to return to Colombia to become a political leader in a country that was being slowly destroyed by terrorism, violence, fear, and a pervasive sense of hopelessness. In 2002, while campaigning as a candidate in the Colombian presidential elections, she was abducted by the FARC. Nothing could have prepared her for what came next. She would spend the next six and a half years in the depths of the jungle as a prisoner of the FARC. The facts of her story are astounding, but it is Betancourt's indomitable spirit that drives this very special account, bringing life, nuance, and profundity to the narrative. Betancourt [shares] how in the routines she established for herself-listening to her mother and two children broadcast to her over the radio, daily prayer-she was able to do the unthinkable: to move through the pain of the moment and find a place of serenity.

How are your manners?

Here are hundreds and hundreds of real people's most common complaints and the proper responses to them. Written by an eminent etiquette expert, it is a guide to how to behave well and, more importantly, how to respond to bad behavior.