American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer/Oppenheimer

Written by Kai Bird & Martin Sherwin/Directed by Christopher Nolan


This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "American Prometheus is the first full-scale biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer, "father of the atomic bomb," the brilliant, charismatic physicist who led the effort to capture the awesome fire of the sun for his country in time of war. Immediately after Hiroshima, he became the most famous scientist of his generation-one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, the embodiment of modern man confronting the consequences of scientific progress. He was the author of a radical proposal to place international controls over atomic materials-an idea that is still relevant today. He opposed the development of the hydrogen bomb and criticized the Air Force's plans to fight an infinitely dangerous nuclear war. In the now almost-forgotten hysteria of the early 1950s, his ideas were anathema to powerful advocates of a massive nuclear buildup, and, in response, Atomic Energy Commission chairman Lewis Strauss, Superbomb advocate Edward Teller and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover worked behind the scenes to have a hearing board find that Oppenheimer could not be trusted with America's nuclear secrets."

 


This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "The story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and his role in the development of the atomic bomb."

 

 

 

 

Spare Parts: Four Undocumented Teenagers, One Ugly Robot, and the Battle for the.../Spare Parts

Written by Joshua Davis/Directed by Sean McNamara

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Four undocumented Mexican American students, two great teachers, one robot-building contest...and a major motion picture. In 2004, four Latino teenagers arrived at the Marine Advanced Technology Education Robotics Competition at the University of California, Santa Barbara. They were born in Mexico but raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where they attended an underfunded public high school. No one had ever suggested to Oscar, Cristian, Luis, or Lorenzo that they might amount to much - but two inspiring science teachers had convinced these impoverished, undocumented kids from the desert who had never even seen the ocean that they should try to build an underwater robot. And build a robot they did. Their robot wasn't pretty, especially compared to those of the competition. They were going up against some of the best collegiate engineers in the country, including a team from MIT backed by a $10,000 grant from ExxonMobil. The Phoenix teenagers had scraped together less than $1,000 and built their robot out of scavenged parts. This was never a level competition—and yet, against all odds... they won! But this is just the beginning for these four, whose story—which became a key inspiration to the DREAMers movement—will go on to include first-generation college graduations, deportation, bean-picking in Mexico, and service in Afghanistan. Joshua Davis' Spare Parts is a story about overcoming insurmountable odds and four young men who proved they were among the most patriotic and talented Americans in this country—even as the country tried to kick them out." -Goodreads

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Four Hispanic high school students organize a robotics club. With no experience, 800 bucks, used car parts and big dreams, this rag tag team goes up against the country's reigning robotics champion, MIT."

 

 

 

 

Room: A Novel/Room

Written by Emma Donoghue/Directed by Lenny Abrahamson

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Narrator Jack and his mother, who was kidnapped seven years earlier when she was a 19-year-old college student, celebrate his fifth birthday. They live in a tiny, 11-foot-square soundproofed cell in a converted shed in the kidnapper's yard. The sociopath, whom Jack has dubbed Old Nick, visits at night, grudgingly doling out food and supplies. But Ma, as Jack calls her, proves to be resilient and resourceful--and attempts a nail-biting escape."

 

 

 

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title
"After five-year old Jack and his Mom escape from the enclosed environment that Jack has known his entire life, the boy makes a miraculous discovery: the outside world."

 

 

 

 

Rebecca/Rebecca

Written by Daphne Du Maurier/Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again... The novel begins in Monte Carlo, where our heroine is swept off her feet by the dashing widower Maxim de Winter and his sudden proposal of marriage. Orphaned and working as a lady's maid, she can barely believe her luck. It is only when they arrive at his massive country estate that she realizes how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their lives--presenting her with a lingering evil that threatens to destroy their marriage from beyond the grave. First published in 1938, this classic gothic novel is such a compelling read that it won the Anthony Award for Best Novel of the Century." -Goodreads

 

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "A vacationing young lady meets, falls in love with, and marries handsome and wealthy widower Maxim de Winter. He takes his new bride home to his estate, Manderley. But the new Mrs. de Winter finds her married life dominated by the sinister, almost spectral influence of Maxim's late wife, Rebecca, who still rules from beyond the grave."

 

 

 

 

Dune/Dune

Written by Frank Herbert/Directed by Dennis Villeneuve

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Follows the adventures of Paul Atreides, the son of a betrayed duke given up for dead on a treacherous desert planet and adopted by its fierce, nomadic people, who help him unravel his most unexpected destiny."

 

Dune #1

 

 

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Paul Atreides, a brilliant, gifted young man born into a destiny beyond his understanding, must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet's exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence, only those who can conquer their fear will survive."

 

 

 

 

Misery/Misery

Written by Stephen King/Directed by Rob Reiner

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Paul Sheldon, author of a series of historical romances, wakes up in a secluded farmhouse in Colorado with broken legs and Annie Wilkes, a disappointed and deranged fan, hovering over him with drugs, ax, and blowtorch and demanding he bring his fictional heroine back to life."

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "After an almost fatal car crash, novelist Paul Sheldon finds himself being nursed by a deranged fan who holds him captive."

 

 

 

 

 

The Secret Life of Bees/The Secret Life of Bees

Written by Sue Monk Kidd/Directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Fourteen-year-old Lily and her companion, Rosaleen, an African-American woman who has cared from Lily since her mother's death ten years earlier, flee their home after Rosaleen is victimized by racist police officers, and find a safe haven in Tiburon, South Carolina at the home of three beekeeping sisters, May, June, and August."

 

 

 

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Lily Owens is a young girl who lives on the peach farm that her abusive father owns. Rosaleen is a black woman hired by Lily's father to be a stand-in mother for Lily. When Rosaleen and Lily walk into town they are approached by some white men. Rosaleen insults these racists by standing up for her rights. The angry men give her a beating and she ends up in the hospital. Lily's father rescues Lily but not Rosaleen so Lily talks Rosaleen into running away. They end up in a town that Lily believes her mother once lived in. They go to live with the three Boatwright sisters on their honey farm, and there Lily finds solace in the mesmerizing world of beekeeping."

 

 

Crazy Rich Asians/Crazy Rich Asians

Written by Kevin Kwan/Directed by Jon M. Chu

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Envisioning a summer vacation in the humble Singapore home of a boy she hopes to marry, Chinese American Rachel Chu is unexpectedly introduced to a rich and scheming clan that strongly opposes their son's relationship with an American girl."

 

Crazy Rich Asians #1

 

 

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "A native New Yorker Rachel Chu accompanies her longtime boyfriend, Nick Young, to his best friend's wedding in Singapore. Excited about visiting Asia for the first time but nervous about meeting Nick's family, Rachel is unprepared to learn that Nick has neglected to mention a few key details about his life. It turns out that he is not only the scion of one of the country's wealthiest families but also one of its most sought-after bachelors."

 

 

 

Persepolis/Persepolis

Written by Marjane Satrapi/Directed by Marjane Satrapi & Vincent Paronnaud

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "A memoir in graphic novel form about growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "In 1970s Iran, Marjane 'Marji' Statrapi watches events through her young eyes and her idealistic family. Their long dream is realized when the hated Shah is defeated in the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Now ruled by Islamic fundamentalists, Marji grows up to witnesses first hand how the new Iran has become a repressive tyranny on its own. With Marji dangerously refusing to remain silent at this injustice, her parents send her abroad to Vienna to study. This change proves an equally difficult trial for Marji and finds herself in a different culture loaded with abrasive characters and profound disappointments that deeply trouble her. Even when she returns home, Marji finds that both she and her homeland have changed too much and the young woman and her loving family must decide where she truly belongs."

 

Hidden Figures: The American Dream and the Untold Story of the Black Women.../Hidden Figures

Written by Margot Lee Shetterly/Directed by Theodore Melfi

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as "human computers" used pencils, slide rules and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets, and astronauts, into space. Among these problem-solvers were a group of exceptionally talented African American women, some of the brightest minds of their generation. Originally relegated to teaching math in the South's segregated public schools, they were called into service during the labor shortages of World War II, when America's aeronautics industry was in dire need of anyone who had the right stuff. Suddenly, these overlooked math whizzes had a shot at jobs worthy of their skills, and they answered Uncle Sam's call, moving to Hampton Virginia and the fascinating, high-energy world of the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory. Even as Virginia's Jim Crow laws required them to be segregated from their white counterparts, the women of Langley's all-black "West Computing" group helped America achieve one of the things it desired most: a decisive victory over the Soviet Union in the Cold War, and complete domination of the heavens." -- Adapted from Publisher Website

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "As the United States raced against Russia to put a man in space, NASA found untapped talent in a group of African-American female mathematicians that served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson crossed all gender, race, and professional lines while their brilliance and desire to dream big, beyond anything ever accomplished before by the human race, firmly cemented them in U.S. history as true American heroes."

 

 

 

The Invention of Hugo Cabret : A Novel in Words and Pictures/Hugo

Written by Brian Selznick/Directed by Martin Scorsese

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized."

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Tells the tale of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. When Hugo encounters a broken machine, an eccentric girl, and the cold, reserved man who runs the toy shop, he is caught up in a magical, mysterious adventure that could put all of his secrets in jeopardy."

 

 

 

 

Slumdog Millionaire/Slumdog Millionaire

Written by Vikas Swarup/Directed by Danny Boyle

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Originally published as Q&A, Vikas Swarup's Slumdog Millionaire unfolds the story of Ram Thomas, an uneducated orphan from the slums of Mumbai, India. The story opens with authorities, unconvinced that a slumdog could answer all twelve questions correctly on India's biggest game show, Who Will Win a Billion?, holding Ram on suspicions of cheating. Enter Smita Shah, a lawyer bent on rescuing Ram. With Smita as his listener, Ram reveals how his life experiences gave him the needed answers to win."

 

 

 

 

 

This is a book cover image that links to the library's catalog page for this title "Jamal Malik is an 18 year-old orphan from the slums of Mumbai. With the whole nation watching, he is just one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' When the show breaks for the night, police arrest him on suspicion of cheating. Desperate to prove his innocence, Jamal tells the story of his life in the slum where he and his brother grew up. He describes their adventures together on the road, of vicious encounters with local gangs, and of Latika, the girl he loved and lost. Every chapter of his story reveals the key to the answer to one of the game show's questions. Jamal's increasingly layered story reveals where he learned the answers to the show's seemingly impossible questions. When the new day dawns and Jamal returns to answer the final question, the Inspector and sixty million viewers watch to find out if he can answer the question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love."