NPR's Top SciFi Reads: Now in Flowchart Form!

Are you a sci-fi or fantasy fan on the lookout for something new to read?  Never fear - NPR and SFSignal are here to help!

Back in 2011, NPR asked its readers to vote on the greatest science fiction and fantasy novels of all time.  The resulting list hit a wide range of books, from graphic novels like The Watchmen to classics like Frankenstein. 

Don't feel like weeding through a list of 100 books to find your next read?  Use this handy flowchart from SFSignal to find what you need!

Happy 200th Birthday to Pride and Prejudice!

Pride and Prejudice turns 200 today!  First published on January 29, 1813, Jane Austen's novel of money and marriage has endured over the years to become a modern classic.  Though Pride and Prejudice describes a very 19th century courtship, its themes of love, independence and family bonds still resonate today.  In fact, the novel has become so much a part of our times that nowadays you can catch heroine Elizabeth Bennet doing anything from killing zombies to dancing with a gospel choir on the beach. 

Want to learn more about Jane Austen and her most famous novel?  Check out these links from the British Library and  GALILEO, the library's online academic article resource!

Jane Austen: Author Page

Database: Literary Reference Center

What's on it: Biography, analysis, plot summaries, reviews, links to full novels.

Pride and Prejudice Book Discussion

Database: NoveList

What's on it: Discussion questions, analysis, similar books

Jane Austen Manuscripts

Database: British Library

What's on it: Scans of Jane Austen's writing in her original handwriting.

Review of "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan

God is Love. Crazy, relentless, all-powerful love. This is the theme from Francis Chan's most famous book, Crazy Love. I really like this book because Francis Chan points out the flaws in the modern day church and how to fully live out God's true purpose in your life. He digs deep into Christian theology and helps us figure out the amazing love God has for us; to help understand that God, Himself, is the embodiment of love. Francis writes on how the storms that are allowed to swell in our lives are there so that we will turn our eyes to our Heavenly Father, but we are so focused on the problem that we don't notice. God is relentless and He will never give up on you, and all of this is backed up by research and Scripture. I recommend this book to everyone.

Randy Smith

A Review of Ted Dekker's "Thr3e"

This book was incredibly captivating; it had many twists and turns in it and I never saw the ending coming. There’s a young man, named Kevin, who is becoming a preacher at a Christian school; on his way home one evening, he gets a strange phone call where a man tells him a riddle and then informs him that if he cannot solve the riddle in 3 minutes his car will be blown up. The man also states that Kevin needs to confess his sins to the world by solving the riddle. Confused, but not taking any chances, he manages to cause mass chaos trying to get his car off of the road before it explodes. The caller calls again and tells him that this was only the first of a series of test. Before he knows it, he’s wrapped in a life surrounded by agents of different companies around the country who all want to catch a well known serial killer known as the “Riddle Killer”; one of the agents is a female CBI agent who is also Kevin’s best friend, Sam, and one other is an agent from the FBI who is the sister of the Riddle Killer’s last victim, Jennifer. They must dive into Kevin’s past where they discover his family’s abuse, his friendship with Sam, the young Riddle Killer and most all his sin. Together the three of them get wrapped in a world full of confusion, bombs, riddles and the killer’s obsession with the number three all in order to obtain one goal: to keep Kevin alive. The book was constantly keeping me guessing and changing my mind about who the riddle killer was. I would definitely recommend this book.

Lisa Smith
PALASA President

Book Review: Now You See Her and Tick Tock by James Patterson

by Michelle Silver

Now You See Her is a fast-paced moving mystery about how the mistakes we make in our youth can come back to bite us.  An innocent young girl on spring break makes a foolish mistake - now she is running for her life.  An up-and-coming attorney in the big city enjoys a respectable life with her daughter.  She has worked hard to provide a good life for her child and a promising career for herself.  How can trying to save an innocent man from death row change everything you have worked so hard to accomplish?  Will the past not only ruin your career but cost you your daughter and possibly your life?  Love, lies, and murder - or was it?

Tick Tock is a part of one of James Patterson's most popular series, relating the stories of Detective Mike Bennett, a single parent of ten adopted children from different backgrounds.  He is a devoted father and hardworking officer who, with the help of a nanny and an old priest, effectively fights some of the hardest cases New York has ever experienced.  In Tick Tock, a bomb in the library, an explosion at Grand Central Station and a homicide in an industrial area bring Detective Mike Bennett to the scene of crimes that resemble past serial killers.  Taunting messages directed at the detective make it almost seem personal.  Are these cases the work of one man or a cult?

James Patterson is a great author who introduces characters we can relate to.  In his novels, the main characters are well-respected people that you get to know personally.  I have read just about everything he has written and have never been disappointed.  The books are a fast read and move swiftly along so as not to allow boredom or loss of interest.  I would highly recommend any James Patterson novel.

January Book Club Meeting: The Hunger Games

Imagine you're trapped in a country that randomly chooses two people from your town every year to fight to the death in a no-holds-barred battle called the Hunger Games.  Imagine that this battle is nationally televised, and all of your friends and family are forced to watch.

This is the world of Suzanne Collin's book series The Hunger Games, a future America destroyed by war and flooding, and rebuilt into a cruel dictatorship that uses the Games to keep the country in line.  The books follow heroine Katniss Everdeen as she takes her sister's place in the Games.  Will she survive?  What will she have to sacrifice to win?





Join the book club in tackling The Hunger Games, just in time for the movie to come out in March 2012!  We'll meet in the Flint River Library at 4.00 PM, January 26th.  See you there!

Winter Reads: SCTC Suggestions

Looking to earn your pizza party by reading a book over winter break?  Here are some recommendations from your library's bookshelf - perfect books to keep you going during the cold winter months.

Griffin Campus Library

61 Hours
by Lee Child

Summary:  A tour bus crashes in a savage snowstorm and lands Jack Reacher in the middle of a deadly confrontation. In nearby Bolton, South Dakota, one brave woman is standing up for justice in a small town threatened by sinister forces--and Reacher will risk his own to save her from a coldly proficient assassin who never misses.

Call Number:  PS 3553 .H4838 A614 2010



The Devil in the White City
by Erik Larson

Summary: Erik Larson intertwines the true tale of the 1893 World’s Fair and the cunning serial killer who used the fair to lure his victims to their death. Combining meticulous research with nail-biting storytelling, Erik Larson has crafted a narrative with all the wonder of newly discovered history and the thrills of the best fiction.

Call Number: HV 6248 .ML37 2004

A Game of Thrones
by George R.R. Martin

Summary: A tale of court intrigues in the land of Seven Kingdoms, a country "blessed by golden summers that go on for years, and cursed by cruel winters that can last a generation." The story that inspired the HBO series.

Call Number: PS 3563 .A7239 G36 1996




The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
by Stieg Larsson

Summary:  The disappearance forty years ago of Harriet Vanger gnaws at her octogenarian uncle, Henrik Vanger. He is determined to know the truth about what he believes was her murder. He hires crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist to get to the bottom of Harriet’s disappearance. Lisbeth Salander, a twenty-four-year-old, pierced, tattooed genius hacker assists Blomkvist with the investigation.

Call Number:  PT 9876.22 .A6933 M3613 2008


Flint River Campus Library



Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking
by Malcolm Gladwell

Why do some people follow their instincts and win, while others end up stumbling into error? And why are the best decisions often those that are impossible to explain to others? Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, the author reveals that great decision makers aren’t necessarily those who process the most information or spend the most time thinking.

Call Number: BF 448 .G53 2007


The Secret Life of Bees
by Sue Monk Kidd

Summary: Fourteen-year-old Lily and her companion, Rosaleen, an African-American woman who has cared from Lily since her mother’s death, flee their home after Rosaleen is victimized by racist police officers. The story takes place in 1964 when racial unrest and civil rights were in high mode in the South.

Call Number: FIC KIDD



Middlesex
by Jeffrey Eugenides

Summary: "I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver’s license...records my first name simply as Cal."

Call Number: FIC EUGE


The Yiddish Policemen's Union
by Michael Chabon

Summary: Imagine if Franklin Roosevelt had opened Alaska to unlimited Jewish immigration during and immediately after World War II. In Chabon's alternate history, millions of Jews emigrated to Sitka, establishing a vibrant Yiddish-speaking culture. Now, sixty years after the creation of this independent Jewish settlement, Alaska is about to revert to U.S. control. What will happen to the population?

Call Number: FIC CHAB

Winter Break Reading Challenge

Tired of those boring textbooks? Want to snuggle up with some mind candy during Winter Break?

We do too, and that's why we (the libraries) are allowing currently enrolled students to check out library materials over the Winter Break.

Your challenge, should you accept it, is to read any book over the break and write a short (100-200 words) review of the book. Select entries will be published on the library blog PLUS everyone who participates will be able to attend a Pizza Party in the library.

Entries are due January 19th to the library circulation desk or by emailing tnesbitt@sctech.edu.

Oprah's Best Fiction of 2011

As 2011 draws to an end, Oprah's O Magazine takes the chance to step back and review this year's crop of new fiction.  Visit her website here to learn more about the books and why they won.

Most Ambitious Book of 2011
The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

Remembering childhood stories her grandfather once told her, young physician Natalia becomes convinced that he spent his last days searching for "the deathless man," a vagabond who claimed to be immortal. As Natalia struggles to understand why her grandfather, a deeply rational man would go on such a farfetched journey, she stumbles across a clue that leads her to the extraordinary story of the tiger’s wife.

Find it at the Griffin Library: PS 3615 .B73 T54 2011

Most Of-The-Moment Book of 2011
The Leftovers by Tom Perrotta

What if the Rapture happened and you got left behind? Or what if it wasn't the Rapture at all, but something murkier, a burst of mysterious, apparently random disappearances that shattered the world in a single moment, dividing history into Before and After, leaving no one unscathed? How would you rebuild your life in the wake of such a devastating event?

Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form

Most Layered Book of 2011
Ten Thousand Saints by Eleanor Henderson

A sweeping, multigenerational drama, set against the backdrop of the raw, roaring New York City during the late 1980s. Adoption, teen pregnancy, drugs, hardcore punk rock, the unbridled optimism and reckless stupidity of the young - and old - are all major elements in this heart-aching tale of the son of diehard hippies and his strange odyssey through the extremes of late 20th century youth culture.

Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form

Most Cinematic Book of 2011
Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

Set in New York City in 1938, Rules of Civility tells the story of a watershed year in the life of an uncompromising twenty-five-year-old named Katey Kontent. Armed with little more than a formidable intellect, a bracing wit, and her own brand of cool nerve, Katey embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York society in search of a brighter future.

Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form

Most Deceptively Deep Book of 2011
Blueprints for Building Better Girls by Elissa Schappell

From a reader review on LibraryThing: "It is a series of short stories that center around women and the relationships we have with one another, with our lovers, with our spouses, our children, our parents. Most of the stories intersect with another story in some way. There was laughing, there was crying. There was one particular 8 page section that I had to read out of the corner of my eye because I just couldn't face it head on."

Request this book through Interlibrary Loan: Online form

December 1: World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day, a day to remember the victims of HIV and to encourage education on this virus.

To learn more, check out the World AIDS Day display at the Griffin Campus Library for a great selection of DVDs and both fiction and non-fiction books.

You can also learn more through some of the fantastic AIDS education resources online.  Here's a list to get you started:

A Timeline of AIDS
This timeline does a great job of showing the development of the AIDS epidemic, year by year.  Starting with 1981, each year has its own blurb and series of relevant links to news and issues of that time.

Southern AIDS Living Quilt
This site focuses on the stories of women in the South living with AIDS.  Watch these video testimonials, or consider contributing one of your own.

NAM AIDS Map
Find resources in your area supporting those with HIV/AIDS.

Kaiser State Health Facts
The Kaiser Foundation’s State Health Facts site allows users to begin their information search either through searching by category or by state.  The ‘state’ search is incredibly helpful for educators looking for grassroots-based initiatives in their local community to provide guest speakers or resources for students living with AIDS.  If searching by the ‘HIV/AIDS’ category, users will be taken to an incredibly comprehensive page of fact sheets, prevention programs and resources, funding sites, and drug assistance programs.

Peer Corps - Teen AIDS
As its title suggests, this site is primarily directed toward educating teens, as well as providing youths with HIV/AIDS with a creative and social outlet.  The site also encourages HIV+ teens to tell their own stories by submitting art, videos, written stories and surveys.

Book Review: Mercy by Julie Garwood

Reviewed by Jennifer Turner


Plot: Theo and Michelle (Mike), the lovers and main characters of the story, have an interesting meeting which involves him regurgitating his food upon her expensive dress.  She ends up performing surgery on him, not knowing that they will meet up again soon.

The Sowing Club - a group of twisted people who started off committing white collar crimes just to gain money, but end up being some hard-edged, murderous and dangerous people - seek to kill Michelle because one member killed his wife with his greed.  The wife was smarter than anyone gave her credit for; she had information that endangered the club as a whole and could send them to prison.

Review: An eye-catching, action-packed, heart throbbing, lovesick romance... sounds like a cheesy advertisement for a movie.  Mercy is a mystery-romance that leads you by the nose, giving the appearance that this is going to be an average romance story - nothing new or captivating about it.  Well, not quite true - the book does start with a slow pace for a few chapters, but once the storyline progresses the romance and action blossom.  The story will hold you in captivation for many hours without being able to stop once the first page has been turned.  With all the murdering, twists, turns, and shocks, the story ends like a dream; everyone got what each earned, whether death, love, marriage or jail.

Check it Out: You can find this book on the Flint Campus, listed under FIC GAR.  If you're a student on another SCTC campus and still want to check this book out, you can fill out an Interlibrary Loan request form to have it sent to you!

Interested in writing a book review for the library blog?  Contact Teresa Nesbitt at tnesbitt@sctech.edu for more information!

Book Review: The Blessing by Jude Deveraux

Reviewed by Jennifer Turner
Score: 3.5/5

Background information:  Amy is a poor but proud widow and single mother living in a small town in Kentucky.  Jason Wilding is a millionaire who lived in the town as a child.  Jason's brother, David, tricks him into returning to the town.  David is in love with Amy, but Amy is so busy with her infant son, Max, that she will not date.  David cons Jason into being a short term live-in nanny for Max.

Review: From a rating of five stars, this book would be 3.5 out of 5.  The book was good reading material.  The story captures you right in the beginning; the humor and romance captivate your attention.  Jason pretending to be gay while being attracted to Amy is too amusing.  Amy may live in poverty and with the pride of ten men, but her character is someone you can relate to with her simple pleasure of receiving simple things and working hard to earn what she wants.  Jason may have worked to gain what he earned, but with time he became too comfortable in his money, assuming everything can be bought to make someone happy.  The story is simple, sweet, and bittersweet in ways.  If you are a hopeless romantic thinking a woman will meet her knight in armor, I'm sorry to say it does not quite go that way.  The book has its own modern twist of two lovers separated between lies, pride and love.  But happily, it finally comes to a Cinderella-meets-prince ending.

Check it out: You can find this book at the Flint Campus, listed under FIC DEVE.
Are you a student at another campus, but still want to check it out?  Fill out an Interlibrary Loan Form to have the book sent to you!


Interested in writing a book review for the library blog?  Contact Teresa Nesbitt at tnesbitt@sctech.edu for more information!