Check out these reviews written by the staff of the Marathon County Public Library, featuring books DVDs for adults! (For reviews of books for all ages, visit our main Staff Reviews webpage.) Staff book reviews are also published at Goodreads.com; follow us for the latest updates. The book reviews on this website represent the personal opinions of the individuals who created them and do not represent any official views of the Marathon County Public Library.
Revisit your childhood with this charming, full-color chronicle of toys from decades past. Among the toys described and illustrated are Play-Doh, Barbie, Gumby, Uno, Rubik's Cube, Etch-a-Sketch, Teddy Ruxpin, Silly Putty, G.I. Joe, the Star Wars Action Figures, Care Bears, Dungeons and Dragons, Tonka Toy Trucks, NERF Ball, View-Master and the Frisbee....
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, history, collectibles
Author John Ross' book takes a unique view of the lives of 12 American and British literary notables, examining their medical histories to see what impact various maladies had on their personal life and literary output. Along with Orwell and Shakespeare, Ross looks at Hawthorne, Melville, London, Yeats, Swift, Joyce, Milton and the Bronte family, describing...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction
If it weren't for characters like Sherlock Holmes, Santa Claus, Robin Hood, Lucy Ricardo, Falstaff, Norman Bates, King Lear, Jekyll & Hyde, Nancy Drew, Dracula and Wonder Woman, our lives would be immeasurably duller. This fascinating Time Home Entertainment release provides brief biographies/tributes to 100 characters from TV, films,...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, history
Cox's book claims to "represent the very best of nature photography," a claim supported by the gorgeous photographs found in this 2013 release. Made up of portfolios from ten renowned nature photographers, the book is overflowing with touchingly beautiful images and perceptive text. All of the photographers whose work are featured in Cox's book have won...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, photography, nature
One of the most fascinating cities in the world, London has had its share of 'oddball history' as revealed in Gilly Pickup's charming, informative book. Here can be found details on the dentist who kept his dead wife on view in a shop window, London's oldest restaurant, the ghosts of Ham House, Sweeney Todd's evil doings, the smallest police station in the...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, history, travel
A treasure trove of information and over 1,000 full-color pix of ocean life around the world, "Reef Life" is eye candy for nature lovers and divers alike. Topping off at 616 pages, Cole's book is brimming with gorgeous pix of dartfish, razorfish, sharks, rays, angelfish, corals, hawkfish, dolphins, grunts, eels, seahorses and so on. Some 800 species of...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, nature
Take a Magical Mystery Tour back to the heady days of Beatlemania when John, Paul, George and Ringo were front-page news around the world. Brian Southall's appealing book traces the Fab Four's history by describing and illustrating 100 objects - guitars, drum kits, suits, lyric sheets, audition tapes, film scripts, show posters, gold records, cars, etc. -...
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, celebrities, history
Wounded, hungry and full of fleas, a stray ginger-colored tom cat catches the eye of James Bowen, a street musician struggling to free his life from drug addiction. The two lost souls instantly form a bond. Even though James can barely get by himself on the money he earns performing on the streets of London, he knows that he has to take care of this cat....
Audience: adults | Genre: nonfiction, animals, memoir
"The Illusion of Separateness" by Simon Van Booy is a novel that weaves together six characters from all over the world, spans from the years 1930-2010, and shows that no matter how separate these characters appear to be from one another they have more in common than it seems. The novel tells the stories of Martin -- a retirement home employee who never...
Being a library assistant, I initially picked up "Curiosity Thrilled the Cat" because the main character, Kathleen, is a librarian that moves to a small Minnesotan town after her life in Boston throws her a curveball. Add in two adorable cats that remind me of my own, and I was hooked. This cozy mystery is packed with characters you instantly love,...
