It’s the time of year in which radiant fall foliage drops to the ground, and we’re left with stark and moody branches that can close in on the unsuspecting. Take a peek at the titles below that use creeping wood on their covers to inspire delicious tension.
Check It Out Category: Lists
List: Optimistic Television
Too often the most praised programs in the exciting eras of Television’s Golden Age and Peak TV are gritty and cynical, while happy or hopeful shows can be dismissed as fluff. Not true. We’re here to tell you that excellence in television narratives doesn’t need to be a downer. Here are six critically acclaimed series that combine innovative storytelling with a rosy outlook.
Jane the Virgin
The gold standard. An intentionally ridiculous premise serves as comic springboard for real-life issues of family, religion, immigration, identity, and integrity. Earnest and charming without being naïve, Jane regularly brings both tears and laughter (sometimes simultaneously) and inspires real hope for the world.
Parks and Recreation
Mid-level bureaucracy may be an unlikely place to find idealism, but you won’t find anyone who embodies optimism better than Leslie Knope. She and her motley band of coworkers have genuine affection for each other and sincere belief in the work they do, no matter how absurd it may seem.
Pushing Daisies
Narrated by the magical Jim Dale (voice of the Harry Potter audiobooks), this candy-colored procedural is as much comfort food for the soul as the mouth-watering pies on display would be for the belly. Unabashedly romantic in outlook and buoyant in spirit, star-crossed lovers and artful murders have never before brought such joy.
Black-ish
Deftly juggling broad comedy with sensitive topics, Black-ish shows that issues of race don’t need to be isolated as “very special episodes”. Parents and children alike are allowed to make mistakes, tough questions are faced head on, and family is ultimately celebrated, all without forgetting that it’s a show designed to entertain.
Gilmore Girls
Life is hard, people we love make poor choices, and we can’t all live in Stars Hollow. All of these may be difficult to accept, but somehow time spent with Lorelai, Rory, and the quirky denizens of their hometown makes us believe that given enough coffee, pop culture fast-talking, and wacky festivals, happiness and home are within reach. Where they lead, we will follow.
The West Wing
Politics and optimism may seem quite a stretch these days, but if any show can restore even a little hope in Washington, it’s this one. Here we can escape into a world where the President and his advisors actually succeed in channeling passion into action, illustrating our longing for government to overcome the odds.
Looking for more suggestions to watch, hear, or read? Ask online or stop by the Fiction/AV/Teen desk on the second floor. We’d love to connect you with something to fit your mood!
List: Funny Horror Books
Horror books don’t only have to be eerie, they can be funny too! Books shown below take familiar horror story premises and add a little laugh to the boo.
Apocalypse Cowby Michael Logan
It starts with one cow that won’t die… and spreads… and spreads… until the world has a problem they never imagined they would have to deal with: zombie animals.
Carpe Demonby Julie Kenner
Between taking care of her kids and supporting her husband’s political career, Kate doesn’t have time to hunt demons too, but there’s only one woman for the job and that’s her!
Gil’s All Fright Dinerby A. Lee Martinez
Duke, a werewolf, and Earl, a vampire, stop at diner and are enlisted to help the owner’s zombie problem, however, zombies aren’t the only problems the owner has.
John Dies at the Endby David Wong
A concoction called Soy Sauce opens a can of worms, but thanks to David’s and John’s video game knowledge they may have a chance of protecting their loved ones.
Paul is Undeadby Alan Goldsher
The Beatles are gearing up to take over the world like no other rock stars have ever done before!
Blood Lite III: Aftertasteby various authors
All-star authors such as Jim Butcher and Kelley Armstrong unite to bring forth a collection of some hilarious good short horror stories.
List: Most Frequently Challenged Authors of Color
We celebrate our own freedom to read during Banned Books Week, but it is also right to champion those who bravely compose those very stories. Non-white authors receive more than half of book challenges each year — even though they are allowed much less of the publishing market! The reasons vary, and we can become distracted by the complaints, but what shouldn’t be lost are the vibrant creations of writers who deepen our understanding of the world.
The Bluest Eyeby Toni Morrison
Eleven-year-old Pecola Breedlove, an African-American girl, prays for her eyes to turn blue, so that she will be beautiful, people will notice her, and her world will be different.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indianby Sherman Alexie
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
The Color Purpleby Alice Walker
Two African American sisters, one a missionary in Africa and the other a child-wife living in the South, support each other through their correspondence, beginning in the 1920s.
The Kite Runnerby Khaled Hosseini
Traces the unlikely friendship of a wealthy Afghan youth and a servant’s son in a tale that spans the final days of Afghanistan’s monarchy through the atrocities of the present day.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Singsby Maya Angelou
A black woman recalls the anguish of her childhood in Arkansas and her adolescence in northern slums in the 1930s and 1940s.
Bless Me, Ultimaby Rudolfo Anaya
A coming-of-age story set in post-World War II New Mexico, in which an old woman with healing powers comes to live with a boy’s family the summer before he turns seven.
Fiction: Books with Airplane Trouble
Air travel requires a great deal of faith in both the plane and its crew. The odds are in our favor, but sometimes things go wrong. Opening in theaters today is the story of Sully, the heroic pilot who executed an emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in January 2009. Not all crises in the skies have the assurance of a happy ending, and in fiction it is that very tension which keeps those pages turning. If you’re looking for excitement and drama, try one of these stories of airplane trouble — some accidental, some intentional — and find out if a hero emerges.
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley
In one of the standout releases of 2016, the stories of ten wealthy victims of a plane crash intertwine with those of a down-on-his-luck painter and a four-year-old boy, the tragedy’s only survivors, as odd coincidences surrounding the crash point to a possible conspiracy.
In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume
In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life — when a succession of airplanes fell from the sky, leaving her community reeling.
Blackout by John J. Nance
On a routine flight to Hong Kong, a Boeing jet is rocked by an explosion that leaves one pilot dead and the other blinded. An investigation is called and as it proceeds, FBI agent and terrorism specialist Kat Bronsky is assigned to hunt down the crew of a Global Express business jet spotted nearby just before the explosion.
The Seat Beside Me by Nancy Moser
That strange, snoring, legroom-invading person next to you on the airplane — have you ever imagined owing your life to him? This is the gripping story of five passengers and their seatmates who get casually acquainted — then plunge headlong into an icy river in a sudden plane crash.
Mayday by Thomas Block
When a jumbo jet is struck by a missile twelve miles above the Pacific Ocean, three brave passengers attempt to land the plane.
Skid by Rene Gutteridge
Hank Hazard, a homeschooled mime for his family’s troupe, takes a new job as an airline company spy on Atlantica Flight 1945 and encounters a cast of quirky crew members and passengers, plus some unexpected turbulence.
Human Error by Tom Casey
When a plane bound for Paris crashes, killing forty-five of the people on board, the personal and professional life of the pilot, Captain Hugo Price, comes under intense official strutiny, as both the government and Price himself try to determine if he is at fault for the fatal accident.