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Mister Monday by Garth Nix

Adriana Puckett, LibraryPoint Blog, CRRL Books Blog, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Kid Books Blog, Kids Blog

07/29/2010 - 9:07am

Arthur Penhaligon, star of Garth Nix's Mister Monday, thinks he's a normal 7th grader who has enough problems to deal with, like starting a brand new school and controlling his asthma. After the first day of school, though, his life gets a lot weirder. During a serious asthma attack, while he's gasping for breath on the ground, he sees a strange man in a wheelchair appear in blinding light with an attendant. He thrusts a "blade" into Arthur's hands and mutters some strange things about a Will, the Key, and suitable Heir. Although it makes no sense to him at the time, Arthur has just been given an instrument of power called the Key and named the Heir to the Will by Mister Monday. Arthur's life will never be the same.

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Books for Boy Scouts

Caroline Parr, Children's Book Columns, LibraryPoint Blog, Fantasy

07/29/2010 - 7:02am

As we welcome the Boy Scouts to Fredericksburg this week, I have to give a shout-out to the Eagle Scouts in my life. To my late father, my brother-in-law and, in just a few weeks, my nephew, congratulations on your achievements!

The Scouts enjoying the Jamboree will not only be climbing, fishing, rappelling and shooting off air rifles. They’ll also enjoy a visit from popular author Michael Scott, creator of the “Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel” series. Scott will also be appearing downtown at Jabberwocky on Thursday afternoon, July 29; call 371-56984 for details.

The first book in his bestselling series, “The Alchemyst,” introduces fifteen-year-old twins Sophie and Josh. Within just a few pages, their lives are turned upside down when two black-clad bad guys with “dead-looking eyes” storm the bookshop where Josh is working, take the owner hostage, and disappear with a rare book. But not before Josh, thinking fast, has torn out the last two pages.

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The Unnamed by Joshua Ferris

Caroline Parr, Diseases, LibraryPoint Blog, CRRL Books Blog, Reading Room Blog, Literary Fiction

07/28/2010 - 4:03pm

Tim Farnsworth is a successful lawyer, middle-aged but still good-looking, enjoying his beautiful house, his teenaged daughter and frequent trips abroad with his lovely wife Jane, when he discovers that while he has taken his easy life for granted, everything has changed. "The Unnamed" opens with the second recurrence of his puzzling disease, an unbearable compulsion to start walking and not stop for hours.

The first time this happened, he and his wife consulted doctors around the world in search of “The One Guy” who understood his unique condition. Though they tried everything, even strapping Tim to a hospital bed for weeks at a time, nothing worked. Then one day, for no reason he could discern, he just stopped walking, and life seemed to be back to normal. Now, years later, it’s started again.

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Johannes Cabal the Necromancer

Carnivals, Chuck Gray, Dark Humor, Faustian Tale, LibraryPoint Blog, Magic, CRRL Books Blog, Fantasy, Reading Room Blog

07/27/2010 - 7:17am

If you enjoy dark humor, dry wit, tales of the occult and rooting for the bad guy, then you need to start reading Johannes Cabal the Necromancer by Jonathan L. Howard right away. Cabal is a "scientist" obsessed with destroying death. Toward this end, he has traded his soul with the Devil for knowledge of necromancy. Unfortunately, it turns out that Cabal actually needs his soul to perform his experiments and so returns to the Devil, this time agreeing to collect 100 souls within a year or forfeit his own life for good. To aid Cabal in his quest is a demonic carnival, his vampire brother Horst (one of Johannes' early experimental whoopsies) and an insane asylum’s-worth of escaped psychotics. Johannes Cabal has one year in which to trick, bribe, extort, charm, bedazzle, bully, bludgeon or otherwise convince 100 people to sign their souls over to the Devil or he is dead and Hell-bound to boot.

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New eAudiobooks: July 2010

Audiobook, Digital Downloads, downloadable, LibraryPoint Blog, Samantha Thomason

07/26/2010 - 4:15pm

In July we added 30 adult titles, 23 of which are are available in MP3 format (suitable for iPods, iPhones, iPads, etc.). We also received 7 new children's/young adult titles (1 available in MP3). Check out our most recent additions!

Browse our newest downloadable audiobooks in the library catalog, or go directly to the NetLibrary web site (free account needed) or Media Center (install required) to download. If you don't have a NetLibrary account, follow these simple instructions to create one.