GREAT READS

Meet Darwen Arkwright, an unusual name that suits the unlikely hero of A.J. Hartley's new series for younger teens. In "Darwen Arkwright and the Peregrine Pact," Darwen finds himself transplanted from England to his aunt's home in Georgia after his p...

Watching "Red Tails" is like watching one of those World War II movies that used to be on Saturday afternoon TV. This one, however, has much better special effects than "Battle of the Bulge" or "The Guns of Navarone." There are a lot of really, reall...

Any Marylander will be intrigued by this collection of "true" sightings of strange creatures across the Old Line State in this new book by Ed Okonowicz. I remember some of the excitement about the "Snallygaster" or bigfoot sightings around Sykesville...

History documentaries come in all shapes and sizes, but one of the best I've seen in a while is "Battle of Britain," a BBC production hosted by actor Ewan McGregor and his brother, Colin--a veteran British jet fight pilot. While trading brotherly bar...

The legend of Achilles, greatest of the ancient Greek warriors, comes down through the ages once more in this new novel by Madeline Miller. The story narrated by Patroclus presents a very different Achilles from the brooding one portrayed by Brad Pit...

I'm always roaming the shelves hoping to discover a good new book, and the other day I picked one out just because it had a great cover. It turned out to be one of the best books I've read in years. Icefall by Matthew Kirby is set in a time and place...

If you want to get the feel of big city life without leaving your armchair, just pop "Bill Cunningham New York" into your DVD player. Cunningham is a longtime photographer for the New York Times, known for his "On the Street" feature in which he phot...

This book was a bit like reading one long, continuous column by Mr. Friedman in The New York Times. The authors map out a challenging future for Americans--work harder, learn more, earn less--in a highly competitive world. There's also an emphasis on...

I'm a sucker for all things Civil War, so this film directed by Robert Redford was a natural choice for a Saturday night. Historical movies can sometimes be a slog when they try to portray real events, but "Conspirator" was entertaining and far more ...

"War Horse" is a story about human kindness and cruelty, told from the horse's point of view. There is currently a popular Broadway play based on the book and a Steven Spielberg movie due out for the holiday season. The movie will likely be very good...

Duels, storms and battles at sea are all described vividly in "Mr. Midshipman Hornblower" by C.S. Forester. I checked out this book because I'm a fan of the "Hornblower" movies and wanted to read the stories on which the A&E productions are based...

Before he became the famous Sherlock Holmes, he was ... the teenage Sherlock Holmes. Death Cloud by Andrew Lane launches a new "origins" series about the sleuth, in which Sherlock is a 14-year-old boy who finds himself on summer break from his Englis...

This is one of the strangest and saddest novels I've read in a long time. Set mostly in the Florida swamps, this literary novel is sort of like William Faulkner meets Carl Hiaasen meets John Irving meets "The Beans of Egypt, Maine." The novel tells t...

"The Wire" on DVD has a very loyal following here at the library. Set in Baltimore, the series from writer/producer David Simon follows the drug trade from the perspective of police, dealers, journalists and politicians. Those who can't get enough of...

Maryland during the Civil War had much in common with Tennessee, where loyalties were divided between North and South. Set in the Tennessee mountains, The Perilous Road by William O. Steele is a novel that brings this Civil War dilemma to life. Chris...

Squashed by Newberry Honor winner Joan Bauer tells the story of a tomboyish teenager named Ellie Morgan and her pumpkin, Max. Max isn't just any ordinary pumpkin, but a (hopefully) prizewinning entry in the annual Rock River Pumpkin Weigh-In. Along ...

When I was a kid, my grandmother played card games with us on rainy days at the beach. She dealt a mean game of Old Maid and Crazy Eights, but Bridge was her real passion. That's why I was drawn to Louis Sachar's new novel, The Cardturner, which is a...

It's the eve of World War I in an alternative steampunk world in which some surroundings and events are familiar, while others (diesel-powered robo walkers and genetically engineered war beasts) are not. This YA novel is the first in a planned series...

You might think by the title that this is going to be an offbeat documentary about zany Bigfoot hunters. Instead, it's a heartbreaking story about two down-and-out middle-aged Ohio men who have dedicated their unemployed and underemployed time to see...

 High school senior Leo Caraway might be somebody we'd have trouble being friends with: he's a clean-cut Young Republican who tinkers with a mock stock portfolio and brags about his early admission to Harvard. Then his world comes crashing down ...

Imagine living within sight and sound of the sea in a fishing village on the English coast but being terrified of the ocean. That's exactly the situation for 11-year-old Digory Beale, the hero of "Fearless." Worse yet, when his aunt can no longer fee...