New from Jodi Picoult!

Fresh off the presses and available soon is the latest from Jodi Picoult, Sing You Home. From the Barnes & Noble Review; "One miscarriage too many spelled the end of Max and Zoe Baxter's marriage. Though the former couple went quite separate ways, their fates remained entangled: After veering into alcoholism, Max is saved in multiple senses by his fundamentalist conversion; Zoe, for her part, finds healing relief in music therapy and the friendship, then romantic love with Vanessa, her counselor. After Zoe and Vanessa, now married, decide to have a baby, they realize that they must join battle with Max, who objects on both religious and financial grounds. Like her House Rules and several other previous Jodi Picoult novels, Sing You Home grapples with hot button issues. The novel also includes a CD of songs, each matched with a chapter in the book. Perfect for book clubs."

From hand tools to holidays to weapons to washing machines, An Uncommon History of Common Things features hundreds of colorful illustrations, timelines, sidebars, and more as it explores just about every subject under the sun. Who knew that indoor plumbing has been around for 4,600 years, but punctuation, capital letters, and the handy spaces between written words only date back to the Dark Ages? Or that ancient soldiers baked a kind of pizza on their shields—when they weren’t busy flying kites to frighten their foes? Every page of this quirky compendium catalogs something fascinating, surprising, or serendipitous. A lively, incomparably browseable read for history buffs, pop culture lovers, and anyone who relishes the odd and extraordinary details hidden in the everyday, it will inform, amuse, astonish—and alter the way you think about the clever creatures we call humans.

From Publishers Weekly: "The disinformation campaigns with which health insurance companies hide misdeeds and manipulate public policy are laid bare in this searing j'accuse by one of their own. Potter, a former CIGNA public relations "spin-meister" whose whistle-blowing congressional testimony made a splash, takes us into the war rooms where he and his fellow flacks battled bad publicity and fought to stymie health-care legislation. (He helped formulate the rhetoric of socialism and death panels that thundered from Republican podiums.) He exposes the PR pros' propaganda tricks-fake grass-roots organizations, bogus scientific studies-and recounts his shame-faced repentance. But he also trenchantly critiques the failure of America's for-profit health-insurance system: the underhanded methods insurers use to "dump the sick"; the skyrocketing premiums and deductibles that put health care beyond the reach of millions; the obscene salaries executives rake in while denying benefits to patients. These criticisms aren't new, but Potter's street cred and deep knowledge of the industry make his indictment unusually vivid and compelling."

Arlen Wagner has an awful gift: he can see death in the eyes of men before it strikes. He's never wrong. So when Arlen awakens on a train one hot Florida night and sees death's telltale sign in the eyes of his fellow passengers, he tries to warn them. Only 19-year-old Paul Brickhill believes him, and the two abandon the train, hoping to escape certain death. They continue south, but soon are stranded at The Cypress House—an isolated Gulf Coast boarding house run by the beautiful Rebecca Cady—directly in the path of an approaching hurricane. It doesn't take Arlen and Paul long to realize that the storm isn't the only approaching danger—a much deadlier force controls the county and everyone living in it. But Paul refuses to abandon Rebecca to face the threat alone, and Arlen's eerie gift warns him that they'll never leave. From its chilling beginning to terrifying end, The Cypress House is a story of relentless suspense.

eReaders and Privacy

eBooks are wildly popular, both among the general public and among library users - the sales/checkout figures prove it. Yet there is some concern about the way certain eReaders may compromise users' privacy. For instance, did you know that Amazon retains information about the books, magazine subscriptions, newspapers and other digital content on the Kindle and the reader’s interaction with that content? This includes an automatic bookmark of the last page read, the content deleted from the device, and any annotations, bookmarks, notes, highlights, or similar markups made by the reader. Did you know that Amazon has in the past deleted books from Kindles without the owner's knowledge or consent? Other companies also engage in the retention of such information (But not the library! Your privacy is extraordinarily important to us and we don't collect any of this type of information!) To learn more, check out this report from the ACLU and a handy eReader comparison page from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

The latest in great Scandinavian crime fiction! Piet Hoffman, a top secret operative for the Swedish police, is about to embark on his most dangerous assignment yet: after years spent infiltrating the Polish mafia, he's become a key player in their attempt to take over amphetamine distribution inside Sweden's prisons. To stop them from succeeding, he will have to go deep cover, posing as a prisoner inside the country's most notorious jail. But when a botched drug deal involving Hoffman results in a murder, the investigation is assigned to the brilliant but haunted Detective Inspector Ewert Grens--a man who never gives up until he's cracked the case. Grens's determination to find the killer not only threatens to expose Hoffman's true identity-it may reveal even bigger crimes involving the highest levels of power. And there are people who will do anything to stop him from discovering the truth.

The book nobody can read

Lots of people loved the intricate puzzles and ciphers of The Da Vinci Code - but there's a real life mystery book that's far more puzzling than anything found in such fiction. Scientists have dated it to the 15th century but despite their best efforts have not been able to crack the code. Check out the latest on the Voynich Manuscript!

Great book you may have missed

The enthralling international bestseller. We are in the center of Paris, in an elegant apartment building inhabited by bourgeois families. Renée, the concierge, is witness to the lavish but vacuous lives of her numerous employers. Outwardly she conforms to every stereotype of the concierge: fat, cantankerous, addicted to television. Yet, unbeknownst to her employers, Renée is a cultured autodidact who adores art, philosophy, music, and Japanese culture. With humor and intelligence she scrutinizes the lives of the building's tenants, who for their part are barely aware of her existence. Then there's Paloma, a twelve-year-old genius. She is the daughter of a tedious parliamentarian, a talented and startlingly lucid child who has decided to end her life on the sixteenth of June, her thirteenth birthday. Until then she will continue behaving as everyone expects her to behave: a mediocre pre-teen high on adolescent subculture, a good but not an outstanding student, an obedient if obstinate daughter. Paloma and Renée hide both their true talents and their finest qualities from a world they suspect cannot or will not appreciate them. They discover their kindred souls when a wealthy Japanese man named Ozu arrives in the building. Only he is able to gain Paloma's trust and to see through Renée's timeworn disguise to the secret that haunts her. This is a moving, funny, triumphant novel that exalts the quiet victories of the inconspicuous among us.

Coming soon!

Get your request in now for A Discovery of Witches, a book that has drawn enormous interest and critical praise! A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together. Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell."

Attention iPad, iPod and iPhone users!

Those of you who have been (or are considering) checking out eBooks and/or eAudiobooks from the library should know that OverDrive has released OverDrive Media Console for iPhone/iPad v2.2, which optimizes the experience on the Apple tablet. Additionally, the app for iOS devices—including iPhone and iPod touch—now supports landscape and portrait orientation, and a new calendar icon displays the number of days left until the title expires. The free app is available in the App Store, and can be installed on Apple devices running iOS v4.0 (or newer). Give us a call if you have any questions!

Newly arrived at the library:



Secretariat (Rotten Tomatoes rating 64%)








O Brother Where Art Thou? (Rotten Tomatoes rating 74%)







No Country for Old Men (Rotten Tomatoes rating 95%)






The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (Rotten Tomatoes rating 685%)

Happy Valentine's Day!

And in honor of the day, check out this list of the top 100 romance novels of all time, courtesy of the website All About Romance. Check it out!

Beyond Nancy Drew

For those who have enjoyed the Nancy Drew books and are looking for more (and more modern) stories of girl detectives, check out this article from the Florida Times-Union. You'll find some great suggestions, including Peter Abrahams' Echo Falls mysteries. Check it out!

Free eBook class!

This Thursday (Feb. 10) from 6pm-7pm, find out how to check out, download and transfer free eBooks and eAudiobooks from the library's collection. If possible, please bring your device (e.g., Nook, Sony Reader, etc). Registration is required as space is limited. Please call 651-385-3645 to register or send an email to rwpl@selco.info. We will offer other classes if there is demand. So give us a call if you want to attend but can't make it this Thursday!

The Great Movies III is Roger Ebert’s third collection of essays on the crème de la crème of the silver screen, each one a model of critical appreciation and a blend of love and analysis that will send readers back to the films with a fresh set of eyes and renewed enthusiasm—or maybe even lead to a first-time viewing. From The Godfather: Part II to Groundhog Day, from The Last Picture Show to Last Tango in Paris, the hundred pieces gathered here display a welcome balance between the familiar and the esoteric, spanning Hollywood blockbusters and hidden gems, independent works and foreign language films alike. Each essay draws on Ebert’s vast knowledge of the cinema, its fascinating history, and its breadth of techniques, introducing newcomers to some of the most exceptional movies ever made, while revealing new insights to connoisseurs as well. And if you like this, check out his earlier books, The Great Movies and The Great Movies II!

Don't forget that there's a special mayoral election in Red Wing tomorrow! You can find all the details, including where to vote, on the City's website.

The Autobiography of Mark Twain

Mark Twain finished his autobiography in 1904 but commanded that it not be released until 100 years after his death. 2010 marked that anniversary and now available at the library is Vol. 1 of the Autobiography of Mark Twain. Reviewers have called it "fascinating", "hilarious" and "a masterpiece". Check it out!

Room, by Emma Donoghue, is one of the most talked about and critically acclaimed books of 2010. To five-year-old Jack, Room is the entire world. It is where he was born and grew up; it's where he lives with his Ma as they learn and read and eat and sleep and play. At night, his Ma shuts him safely in the wardrobe, where he is meant to be asleep when Old Nick visits. Room is home to Jack, but to Ma, it is the prison where Old Nick has held her captive for seven years. Through determination, ingenuity, and fierce motherly love, Ma has created a life for Jack. But she knows it's not enough...not for her or for him. She devises a bold escape plan, one that relies on her young son's bravery and a lot of luck. What she does not realize is just how unprepared she is for the plan to actually work. Told entirely in the language of the energetic, pragmatic five-year-old Jack, ROOM is a celebration of resilience and the limitless bond between parent and child, a brilliantly executed novel about what it means to journey from one world to another.

Please come join us this Saturday, February 5, at 9:30am for the second of our special Winter Saturday Family Story Times. Library staff will present a special themed story time including stories, songs, rhymes and a take home craft. This week's theme is Good Morning, Good Night. Dress up if you like! Older siblings welcome and no registration required.