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Compass and Blade

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 Book Review: I dove into “Compass and Blade” with some anticipation. I do love a rollicking swashbuckler-fantasy, and quite a few people were saying great things about it. Initially, I found the story quite captivating; an island culture of wreckers who lure unsuspecting ships onto the rocks so they can pillage the cargo, and a female protagonist who seems strangely more at home in the waves than on land. Then the lately deceased mother who has left deeply mysterious secrets behind. Ratchet up the tension with the arrest and imminent execution of our heroine’s father, giving an urgent and consequential problem to solve. Finally, add in the steamy shipwrecked love interest and pirates, and – hey presto – instant popcorn flick fun. The story spun out in a very enjoyable fashion until about mid-way through the book. Then, for some inexplicable reason, the whole narrative seemed to devolve into an endless series of excuses for our protagonist to have mixed simmering sexual feelings...
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Manufacturing Consent

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  Book Review:    This time around, I highlight the classic work by Herman & Chomsky, “Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media”, new to the SSS Library collection. Being published in 1988 (with updates in 2002), one might imagine this work on use of the propaganda model of communication in western media to massage and manipulate the masses, to be outdated. On the contrary, while the medium of media has changed dramatically in the almost four decades since publication, the methods remain virtually the same. Herman and Chomsky assert that mass media companies… "are effective and powerful ideological institutions that carry out a system-supportive   propaganda  function, by reliance on market forces, internalized assumptions, and  self-censorship , and without overt coercion", by means of the  propaganda model  of communication. ”   Today’s volume and rush of internet content from independent creators comment...
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Jonathan Haidt: smart phones vs. smart kids

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 News: Here is a lecture from Jonathan Haidt, author of "The Anxious Generation" . Well worth a listen to if you are an educator or concerned parent (particularly if you haven't got time to read the book).
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The Anxious Generation

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  Book Review: Jonathan Haidt’s “The Anxious Generation” is one of the important books of our time. It has garnered a spot on the New York Times best seller list for over a year and was a Wall Street Journal Top Ten Book of 2024. A copy of it was sent by Arkansas Governor S.H. Sanders to the governors of every US state and territory to try and rally them around the issues the book discusses. High level endorsements and academic criticism abound. It is one of those rare nonfiction titles that people know about, even if they haven’t read it (yet). So, why all the fuss? In a nutshell, “The Anxious Generation” attempts to explain why kids raised with an ever-increasing dependance on smartphones are experiencing an alarming rise of mental health disorders (depression, anxiety, sleep deprivation, self-harming, suicide, etc.), and what we can and should do about it.           “An urgent and provocative read on why so many kids ar...
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A Great and Terrible Beauty

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 Book Review: This is a hard review for me to write. Libba Bray’s “A Great and Terrible Beauty” (first book in the three-part “ Gemma Doyle” series) gets decent reviews and was picked by the American Library Association as one of the best young adult books of 2004. Students I have talked to about it seem to like it too, so why am I so underwhelmed by this modern Gothic novel? The story begins in India where teen protagonist Gemma Doyle witnesses strange paranormal terrors culminating in the murder of her mother. She is subsequently sent to a girl’s boarding school in London for a fresh start. Here she discovers friendship, belonging, and mysterious connections to her mother’s past which lead to otherworldly experiences of her own. Enough teenage angst, sexual yearning, and petty rivalry here to fill the river Thames. The opening sequence of the book in India was pleasurably tense, featuring a heart pounding chase scene, some shadowy violence with supernatural undertones, a sp...
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The Reader

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 Book Review: “This is a must have for all those who value a good read with genuine character growth, mystery, unique world building, adventure, unyielding bonds of loyalty, and pirates… A fresh, diverse fantasy.” -          SLJ starred review   I just finished “The Reader” , a debut novel from American author Traci Chee. What a start to her writing career! The book has adventure, mystery, magic, and romance. Most of all though, it swirls . Times, places, and characters flow in and out of the narrative like waves, leaving one perplexed and curious. As I worked my way through the story, I kept asking myself, “where are we headed and what is happening?”. Then in the last few chapters, the currents and back-eddies flow together, and the water runs clear and quick. After some four-hundred pages of exciting confusion, the resolution is a satisfying relief. Garnering eight Best Book of the Year awards upon its release, “ The Reader ...
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Most Anticipated Books to Movies of 2026

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 News: From page to screen - who doesn't love a really good adaptation. Here is  BuzzFeed's list of the 24 most anticipated releases in 2026. Get out the popcorn! https://www.buzzfeed.com/noradominick/book-adaptations-movies-tv-shows-2026
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