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Staff Recommendations – May 2020

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INDEXES TO PAST STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS: BY TITLE | BY REVIEWER
TV SERIES/SPECIALS ON DVD | AGATHA CHRISTIE | LGBTQ+ | STAR TREK | STAR WARS

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May 2020 Recommendations

A New Leash on Love
by Debbie Burns (Burns)

I actually read the fourth volume in this series previously, and enjoyed that enough to want to read the stories of the characters who populated the background of that tale. A New Leash on Love is the first in the series, centered on the High Grove Animal Shelter, a no-kill animal shelter in St. Louis, Missouri.

In this first volume, the central character is Megan Anderson, a young woman filling in as the temporary head of the shelter. Her match is Craig Williams, a marketing exec going through a divorce and hiding some baggage he’s carrying. When Craig shows up at the shelter to surrender a chocolate lab puppy, which has proven to be more than his 13-year-old daughter can handle, he and Megan have a very antagonistic first meeting. However, as his daughter Sophie becomes a young volunteer at the shelter, he and Megan have to see more of each other, and they realize they both made incorrect assumptions.

The chemistry of the characters is very nice, and there are a handle of memorable supporting cast. The descriptions of how a no-kill animal shelter operates, and how the staff of a shelter try to rehabilitate abandoned or surrendered animals so that they can find new “forever homes” really added a nice layer to the storytelling.

I wouldn’t call it one of the best romance novels ever, but it is a pleasantly charming start to a series, and makes me want to read more.

(This is only the first in what has become a five-volume series (so far), as of 2020. If you like this, you’ll enjoy the rest of Debbie Burns‘ books.)

( official Debbie Burns web site )

See Scott C.’s review of Love at First Bark, the 4th volume in this series, on BookGuide in December 2019

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Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library


On What Grounds
by Cleo Coyle (Compact Disc Coyle), audiobook narration by Rebecca Gibel

After several friends, with diverse reading interests, all recommended this series, I thought I’d give it a shot — especially since the libraries have them all as books-on-cd, which I can easily listen to via my car’s CD-player going to-and-from work every day.

First of all, I had avoided the Coffeehouse Mystery series mainly because I’m not a coffee drinker and I didn’t think I’d appreciate the setting and background of the characters. As it turns out, I really like the setting of The Village Blend coffeehouse — almost makes me want to try one of the Blend’s manager Clare Cosi’s elaborate coffee concoctions. In On What Grounds, the first entry in the series, Clare has returned to being the Village Blend’s manager after several years away, after being asked to by its colorful and intriguing owner, Madame — who also happens to be her ex-mother-in-law. Clare had divorced from Madame’s son, Matteo Allegro, and moved from Greenwich Village to the suburbs of New Jersey, to raise her daughter, Joy, as a single mother. Now, Joy’s in college, and Madame has lured Clare back to manage the Blend with a promise of part ownership. When one of the coffeehouse’s baristas is found at the bottom of a staircase after closing one night, Clare can’t accept that the fall was an accident. Detective Mike Quinn can’t officially condone her independent investigating, but at the same time, he can’t officially dig around into what has officially been tabled as an accident. So…Clare starts snooping — aided and abetted by her ex-husband, Matteo, a globe-trotting coffee buyer, whom Madame is also trying to reunite Clare with as someone else with an ownership stake in the Blend.

The characters are interesting and relatable, and the setting is rich with details. I now know more about how various coffee drinks are made than I’d ever heard before. Clare is a fun character, and her relationships with Madame, Matteo and Joy are all interesting, though I know (from reading jacket blurbs on future volumes in the series) that she and Detective Quinn are to become an item in later books. This audiobook’s narrator, Rebecca Gibel, does a marvelous job with this first volume, and I look forward to listening to more in this series, especially if she’s the reader.

( official Coffeehouse Mystery web site ) | ( Cleo Coyle is actually the pseudonym for married co-authors Alice Alfonsi and Marc Cerasini )

See Donna G’s review of Through the Grinder, 2nd in this series, on BookGuide in December 2009
See Marcy G.’s review of Brewed Awakening, 18th in this series, on BookGuide in March 2020

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Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library


Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing
by Kay Haring (j Biography Haring)

With its graphics and book design, this nonfiction children’s book suggests an excellent way to educate kids about the work of historically significant visual artists; Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing integrates Keith Haring Foundation-approved reproductions of the artist’s own work into the affable illustrations by Robert Neubecker. Through a blend of picture book, biography, and fine art, the young reader can trace Haring’s artistic development from a very young child to the heights of international art world stardom. Haring’s mission during his lifetime to make art accessible to all is well-served by this publication.

The author is Haring’s sister, Kay, who provides a rare glimpse of the artist growing up in Kutztown, PA and a personal perspective that only a family member can provide. It is a fine supplement to the art historical literature about Haring and supports the idea that he was voluntarily possessed by and eventually in command of a lyrical graphomania throughout his life; budding artists who have surprised their parents with an unplanned scribble-mural on a bare wall might well be inspired by this “boy who just kept drawing.” Haring’s interest in semiotics, or the study of signs and symbols, is also illustrated to have been a lifelong preoccupation.

The book is listed at the 5 – 8 age range, but four pages at the end that contain an Author’s Note and a brief biography are at a higher reading level, and will satisfy kids and adults who want to know more.

( publisher’s official Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing web page ) | ( official Kay Haring Twitter feed )

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Recommended by Eric S.
Walt Branch Library


Mrs. Kennedy and Me
by Clint Hill (Compact Disc 973.922 Hil)

Clint Hill was a Secret Service agent on the protection team of President Eisenhower and fully expected to be assigned to that of the newly-elected President, John F. Kennedy. Instead, he was assigned to the First Lady, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. He initially considered this a come-down from the prestige of being on the presidential team, but after several weeks he came to enjoy his time with her.

If you’re seeking a gossipy, tell-all book this is not it. This story begins after JFK wins the election and continues in a chronological format of their travels together, including Hill’s background as an orphan in North Dakota. You learn a bit about the life of a secret service agent, and the guilt he carried with him after JFK was assassinated.

I listened to the CD version, and the reader (Jeremy Bobb) did a wonderful job. This felt more like a sit-down with Hill while he casually chatted about his experiences. At the same time, I also had the book and browsed through it for the photos. To my mind, a good biography will have a photo section and this one had photos every few pages throughout the book.

This is best read by someone familiar with JFK and Jackie. For example, JFK and Bobby Kennedy warning Hill, before her trip to Greece, that Aristotle Onassis was not to have any association with Mrs. Kennedy would be lost on a first-time reader beginning their study of her.

I found this to be very interesting, with stories I had not heard before.

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship, and Love by Carole Radziwill, widow of Anthony Radziwill, cousin to JFK, Jr.)

( official Mrs. Kennedy and Me page on the official Clint Hill web site )

See Charlotte M.’s review of What Remains: A Memoir of Fate, Friendship and Love, here on BookGuide in February 2006

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Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library


The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer
by Anne Marie O’Connor (759.36 Kli)

As an art lover, I was familiar with the works of artist Gustav Klimt, but did not know the story behind the recovery of one of his most famous works, “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.” After seeing the film Woman in Gold about the efforts of Maria Altmann and her lawyer, Randy Schoenberg, to get Austria to return famous paintings that had been stolen from her Jewish family by the Nazis, I decided I wanted to learn more about the events that led up to this famous trial. This book is a fascinating story of everything that was going on in Vienna before the Nazis took over and the events that have happened since the end of World War II. Although I was aware of the Holocaust and efforts to regain property taken away from Jewish families, I was not aware of the extreme difficulties survivors encountered in reclaiming what rightfully belonged to them. O’Connor’s book does an excellent job of showing the subject from all points of view — from the victims, the art museums, the legal scholars and the politicians. This was a story that I could not put down. I highly recommend it.

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the DVDs Woman in Gold, and World on Fire.)

( official Anne Marie O’Connor web site )

See Rianne S.’s review of The Lady in Gold, here on BookGuide in November 2012

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Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library


The Memory Police
by Yoko Ogawa (Ogawa)

This dystopian book uses magical realism to turn metaphorical examples into actual physical changes the characters must endure. The Memory Police periodically announce something that is to disappear and be forgotten: birds, flowers, photographs, ribbons, stamps, green beans, etc. After an item has been “disappeared” the general population immediately forgets about its use and its characteristics. The few people who are able to remember things are considered dangerous, forced into hiding before the Memory Police can capture and murder them. The disappearance of things and people then losing awareness about what they were forgetting was a powerful symbol of how we need to stay aware of things happening in our world that need to be addressed, rather than passively accepting injustices and dangerous changes.

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, or The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead.)

( publisher’s official The Memory Police web page ) | ( Wikipedia page for Yoko Ogawa )

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Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries


The Risk Agent
by Ridley Pearson (Pearson)

The four volumes in the Risk Agent series by Ridley Pearson were the assigned reading for the March 2020 meeting of the Just Desserts mystery book discussion group here at the Lincoln City Libraries. As usual with any new series, I prefer to start at the beginning, so I read the first volume in the series, the eponymous The Risk Agent (2012).

The Risk Agent is set in Shanghai, and deals with corporate espionage, conspiracies, corruption, delicate international relations, and violence among Chinese mobsters. When a Chinese national, working for an American-owned construction company is abducted, along with an American intelligence asset who tried to help prevent the abduction, Rutherford Risk, an international security company, hires ex-military man and antiquities dealer John Knox to come in-country and attempt to either locate the two kidnapped men or facilitate a ransom payment to free them. He is teamed up with Grace Chu, a forensic accountant (with her own military training), who is also tasked with looking into the money trail of corruption and bribery payments that ultimately led to the kidnappings. Each of our central characters has a personal reason for wanting to recover the kidnapped men, adding extra urgency to their efforts.

Most of the book features non-stop action, as John and Grace learn to work together (awkwardly) or separately (not completely trusting each other). Everything they discover makes the situation more and more complex. They quickly figure out that multiple parties, with multiple motivations, are all after concealed information the kidnapped Chinese man had gathered, and most of them don’t care whether the kidnapping victims actually survive or not. Both John and Grace quickly find themselves on the run and not sure who they can trust. This is a very fast-paced political crime thriller, with a complex, multi-layered plot. Unfortunately, I found most of the characters to be rather one-dimensional and somewhat stereotyped — which kept me from fully investing myself in the plotline. The setting — with multiple locations in China — as one of the book’s strong points.

I enjoyed this one and find myself mildly recommending it for anyone interested in fast-paced international thrillers, though I doubt that I’ll read the remaining three volumes in the series, myself!

( official The Risk Agent page on the official Ridley Pearson web site )

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Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library


The Collapsing Empire
by John Scalzi (Scalzi)

The Collapsing Empire is the beginning of a science fiction trilogy called The Interdependency, which was completed in April 2020. It’s a story about environmental change that’s about to kill all of human society across dozens of star systems and the politics of doing something about it. This is unabashedly an analogy to our planet’s climate change situation.

The setup is that humanity is inhabiting all of these star systems due to a series of one-way wormholes called the Flow. Most of the action takes place in the ruling system which has the most wormhole entrances and exits “Hub,” and the system that’s the hardest to reach “End.” The political body that stretches across all of these systems is called “The Interdependency” because no system is self-sustaining due to all noble families having monopolies on essential goods and services. This was set up on purpose millennia ago by one woman who wanted to force everyone to get along.

That’s all well and good until a few Flow physicists start realizing that the wormholes are about to change…and then one winks out of existence. The physicist for a major noble family believes the end result is that End is going to become the new Hub, so the family plots to take over the planet — and rule of the Interdependency — before everyone else notices. A father-son team of Flow physicists on End come to a different conclusion: the Flows are all going away, not shifting.

This means a scientist who’s great with data and not great with politics needs to tell everyone that they’re all about to die and they need to act before it’s too late, and it might already be too late. Meanwhile, the noble family who wants to take advantage of the situation doesn’t want anyone to suspect something unusual is going on, and they have no qualms about murdering their way to the top. Caught in the middle of this is a young woman who wasn’t supposed to be heir to the Interdependency, but now she’s newly in charge and low in everyone’s estimation.

But they have no idea how hard she’s willing to go to save humanity. She has something no one else does: access to every leader’s mind stretching back to the beginning.

As with all Scalzi books, this is action-packed and filled with verbal badassery. The villains are a delight. One reluctant hero uses curse words as her punctuation marks of choice. There’s more than a little connection with Herbert’s Dune books, but this is both more light-hearted for much of its tone and more hard-hitting to read because it’s so relatable to our real life.

Most major characters are not white. One major character is pansexual.

Unfortunately, the noble house of Amazon has a monopoly on the audiobooks for this series, so you can’t listen to Will Wheaton joyfully cussing his way through this series via library checkout.

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the Dune series by Frank Herbert, or the Expanse series by James S.A. Corey.)

( publisher’s official Collapsing Empire web page ) | ( official John Scalzi blog )

See Scott C.’s review of John Scalzi’s Hugo-winning novel Redshirts, here on BookGuide in January 2013
See Scott C.’s review of John Scalzi’s essay collection Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, here on BookGuide in January 2013

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Recommended by Garren H.
Bennett Martin Public Library


Thin Ice
by Paige Shelton (Shelton)

Elizabeth Fairchild, a bestselling author, is kidnapped. Injured in her escape, she decides to recover as Beth Rivers in a small Alaskan town. Staying at a halfway house for convicted women, she takes on the job of running the local newspaper. When a local woman is found dead and the authorities find the dead woman is using a false name, Beth starts to poke around. Struggling with her own flashbacks, Beth is afraid her kidnapper has followed her. Is she in danger of being next?

This is a great first book in a new series. I can’t wait to read the next book. The characters need a little more developing, but hopefully that will happen with time. I like small town mysteries and this certainly fits the bill. There’s great tension and it will be interesting to see if the kidnapper finds Beth or will he be caught by the authorities (or Beth’s mother) in Missouri?

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try A Cold Day for Murder by Dana Stabenow, A Borrowing of Bones by Paula Munier, or Slipknot by Linda Greenlaw.)

( official Alaska Mystery Series page on the official Paige Shelton web site )

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Recommended by Marcy G.
South Branch Library


Everything I Need to Know I Learned From Watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
written by Melissa Wagner with art by Max Dalton (158.1 Wag)

This compact little hardback book gathers together quotes by Fred Rogers and memories of his iconic Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood children’s series, under a variety of thematic chapters, including “You Are Special”, “Be a Helper”, “All Kinds of Feelings Are Okay”, “Don’t Forget the Fun”, “We Are All Neighbors” and more. Much like previous “All I Need to Know I Learned…” books by other authors, the main lessons are distilled into their most simplistic aphorisms, but the heart of how Mister Rogers addressed sensitive issues is still effectively captured.

I enjoyed revisiting the memories of growing up with Mister Rogers Neighborhood, which this book brought up for me, a child of the late 1960s/early 1970s. For anyone who didn’t grow up with Mister Rogers, this book may not hit its mark. My only real complaint was that I wasn’t a particular fan of the art throughout the book. Other readers may not have an issue with that, so if you’re looking for some good life lessons as doled out by Mister Rogers, give this one a try.

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the films Won’t You Be My Neighbor? and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood on DVD, or The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King or I’m Proud of You: My Friendship With Fred Rogers by Tim Madigan, and the various DVDs in the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood series owned by the libraries.)

( publisher’s page for Melissa Wagner )

See Scott C’s review of the movie A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, here on BookGuide in April 2020
See Scott C’s review of the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, here on BookGuide in November 2018
See Scott C’s review of The World According to Mister Rogers, here on BookGuide in June 2017

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Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library


Wyuka Cemetery: A Driving and Walking Tour
by Ed Zimmer (978.229 Zim)

This handy little booklet was produced by Lincoln’s de facto city historian, Ed Zimmer (of the Planning Department), in 2009, as a guide to some of the more unusual, distinctive and historically noteworthy features inside Lincoln’s Wyuka Cemetery (located between “O” St. and Vine St., from approximately 36th St. to 42nd St.

As Zimmer says in his introduction, “Wyuka Cemetery was established was established by an act of the Nebraska Legislature in 1869, to provide a ‘Lincoln State Cemetery’ for the new state’s capital city, founded just two years before.” The cemetery has been expanded over the years, and this driving and walking tour booklet gives historical nuggets of information for more than 52 different “marked” stops within the grounds. You’ll learn about some of the interesting buildings and/or structures, including Rudge Memorial Chapel, mausoleums and receiving vaults, memorials to firefighters and 9/11, the funeral home, chapel and office, and the stables (now home to live Shakespearean performances). But the majority of this guide is information about significant gravestones and monuments scattered around the 140 acres of Wyuka’s grounds.

As we all employ “socially distancing” measures (this review is appearing during the COVID-19 pandemic), and you’re looking for something interesting to do that doesn’t involve gathering in large groups, perhaps you’ll consider checking out a copy of this handy guidebook and going on a drive or stroll through Wyuka’s tree-shaded landscaping, exploring some of Lincoln and Nebraska’s history through the marble and granite markers. You’ll find everyone from mass murderer Charles Starkweather (and some of his victims), to singer and movie star Gordon Macrae to former Governors like J.J. Exon. You can even do as visitors did over a hundred years ago — Wyuka followed the design ethics of other park-like cemeteries in the United States, encouraging families to bring picnic lunches and spend an afternoon surrounded by history. And if you’d rather not check out a library copy of this guidebook, it’s available as a free download in PDF format — load it onto your smartphone or tablet for convenience!

There’s a master map of the entire Wyuka layout at the back of the book, including an index to the location of 21 additional significant historical figures who are buried in Wyuka. Which, added to the 52 tour stops, gives you 73 identified landmarks to look for. Wyuka’s website has a grave locator, so if you’re searching for the location of any additional graves in the cemetery, and you have a name to search for, you may have even more luck.

( official Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln web site ) | ( official PDF reproduction of this booklet web site – no longer available, though booklet can be purchased in the Wyuka Cemetery offices )

See Scott C’s review of Hallowed Grounds: America’s Overseas Military Cemeteries on DVD, here on BookGuide in April 2018
See Scott C’s review of A Cemetery Special on DVD, here on BookGuide in April 2018

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Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library


Screening Room

formatdvdFast Color
(DVD Fast)

I really had no idea what to expect from this quirky little film, and found myself pleasantly surprised.

Fast Color tells the story of Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), a young African-American woman on the run and being pursued by both the government and scientists who apparently want to study her. Within the first 15 minutes of the film, we are shown that she has special meta-human abilities, which she doesn’t seem to be able to control, but which can be catastrophically dangerous to those around her.

Ruth is traveling by herself to the midwest, in a dystopian near-future which is suffering from a massive drought. When she finally reaches the remote farmstead where her surviving family live, the reunion isn’t entirely amenable. Ruth’s mother Bo (Lorraine Toussaint) is raising Ruth’s own daughter Lila (Saniyya Sidney), after Ruth lost control of her powers, succumbed to addictions, and ran away years ago.

Though this film has science fiction or paranormal elements, at its heart it is a character study, of flawed but emotional people trying to survive and not hurt anyone else. The three main women of the cast do a phenomenal job, and there are excellent supporting performances by David Strathairn as the local sheriff and Christopher Denham as an overly enthusiastic scientist. But, Raw as Ruth and Toussaint as Bo really hold the whole film together.

Don’t go into this one expecting an action-filled SF drama — this one’s a little more quiet, but it’s worth the viewing!

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

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Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library


formatdvdLes Miserables
(DVD Les)

I consider Les Miserables to be one of the greatest books ever written. Set in France after Napoleon has been exiled, this is the story of ex-convict Jean Valjean who had been imprisoned for 19 years and sentenced to hard labor for a minor theft. When released, Jean Valjean is met with distrust and hatred wherever he goes until he happens to meet the good Bishop Monseigneur Bienvenu. The Bishop treats Jean Valjean with kindness and mercy, showing him the path to redemption through love and forgiveness. Even after Jean Valjean repays the good Bishop by stealing from him, the bishop shows him mercy when brought back by the police, then gives him his costly silver candlesticks, telling Jean Valjean “You belong no longer to evil, but to good. It is your soul that I am buying for you. I withdraw it from the spirit of perdition and I give it to God!” From that moment on, Jean Valjean is a changed man. He learns to repent, to show mercy to others and to love his fellow man. The story follows Jean Valjean through his life as he is pursued by one of the police (Javert) who knew him when he was a prisoner. This 2018 BBC production of Les Miserables was shown on Masterpiece Theatre in 2019. It is one of the best productions I have ever seen of this book with a fine cast and stunning visuals. I have seen many productions of this over the years, but this one is by far the best and truest to Hugo’s classic story of love, repentance and redemption. This deserves to be seen.

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the novel Les Miserables (I previously reviewed it for BookGuide), the soundtrack to the Les Miserables musical, or The Hunchback of Notre Dame (also by Victor Hugo).)

(Also available in traditional print format.)

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official BBC 2018 Les Miserables web site )

See Kim J.’s review of the novel Les Miserables, here on BookGuide in November 2005

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Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library


hooplaSmall Island
(Hoopla)

Gritty and rosy at once, Small Island follows the lives of Hortense, an ambitious teacher from Jamaica, who dreams of an English house with a doorbell and a picket fence, and Queenie, a farm girl from Yorkshire, who dreams of travel and adventure, as they come of age and seek their happy-ever-after. The parallel and interconnected lives of the two women are told in scenes and flashbacks stitched together by a gentle narrator.

In the end, Queenie does the bravest thing, and so does Hortense, and their difficult choice — a sacrifice for both of them — leads to a moving happy-ever-after. Their hearts are strong and between them, they forge a way ahead…

This movie is about dreams and ambition and love and disappointment and…happiness. About stepping up to do brave things for those we love. The two women and the cast of friends, lovers, husbands share a moment in history when worlds converged, and from the bombed out rubble of Post War England dreams emerge.

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try the British series Call the Midwife, and Foyle’s War.)

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film ) | ( official BBC Small Island web site )

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Recommended by Carrie K.
Bennett Martin Public Library


formatdvdStan & Ollie
(DVD Stan)

Growing up as a kid in the 1960s and early 1970s, I watched a lot of classic older comedy films that would air on Saturday and Sunday afternoons on the small handful of television stations that were available at that time. Among the classic film comedy teams, I tended to gravitate towards Abbot & Costello or Martin & Lewis — I never did care for the Marx Brothers, and to my youthful eyes, Laurel & Hardy just seemed a little…”old fashioned”.

Fast-forward a few decades, and having now seen quite a few of the classic Laurel & Hardy films, I’ve grown to have a much deeper appreciation for their contributions to American cinema — and to the influence they had on so many film comedians who followed them.

It was therefore with some trepidation that I went into viewing Stan & Ollie, a biographical drama that looks at the relationship between Stan Laurel and Oliver “Babe” Hardy in their final few years. My first concern was whether they’d have actors who could do those real-life performers justice. My second concern was that the film would be a depressing look at a relationship that had fractured or disintegrated. On both of these counts, I was very pleasantly surprised. Steve Coogan as Stan and John C. Reilly as Ollie are absolutely mesmerizing in this film. And, considering that the film covers a period of time in which their careers were waning and Ollie was facing major health issues, Stan & Ollie still manages to be an uplifting and emotionally satisfying film.

I can’t recommend this one highly enough — the writing, acting, directing, set design, make-up, costuming, music — it’s all spot on. For anyone who appreciates the artistry of Laurel & Hardy, and enjoys historical biopics — this one is superb!

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try tracking down any of the classic old Laurel & Hardy films or shorts, some of which are available via the libraries, either on DVD or in our Hoopla digital service.)

( Internet Movie Database entry for this film )

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Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library


last updated November 2022
* Please Note: The presence of a link on this site does not constitute an endorsement by Lincoln City Libraries.

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