Ann Rohrbaugh Recommends

Books

Looking for Lincoln: Kunhardt, Philip; "In honor of the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth, an extensively researched, lavishly illustrated consideration of the myths, memories, and questions that gathered around our most beloved - and most enigmatic - president in the years between his assassination and the dedication of the Lincoln Memorial in 1922. A sequel to the enormously successful Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography, Looking for Lincoln picks up where the previous book left off, examining how our sixteenth president's legend came into being." "Availing themselves of a vast collection of both published and never-before-seen materials, the authors bring into focus the posthumous portrait of Lincoln that took hold in the American imagination, becoming synonymous with the nation's very understanding of itself." "Looking for Lincoln will deeply enhance our understanding of the statesman and his legacy, at a moment when the timeless example of his leadership is more crucial than ever."--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
Hemingses of Monticello: Gordon-Reed, Annette; "The Hemingses of Monticello is Annette Gordon-Reed's "riveting history" of the Hemings family, whose story comes to life in this researched and moving work. Gordon-Reed unearths startling new information about the Hemingses, Jefferson, and his white family. Although the book presents a detailed portrait of Sarah Hemings, who bore seven children by Jefferson over the course of their thirty-eight-year liaison, The Hemingses of Monticello tells more than the story of her life with Jefferson and their children. The Hemingses as a whole take their rightful place in the narrative of the family's extraordinary engagement with one of history's most important figures."--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
Piano Teacher: Lee, Janice; Starred Review. Former Elle editor Lee delivers a standout debut dealing with the rigors of love and survival during a time of war, and the consequences of choices made under duress. Claire Pendleton, newly married and arrived in Hong Kong in 1952, finds work giving piano lessons to the daughter of Melody and Victor Chen, a wealthy Chinese couple. While the girl is less than interested in music, the Chens' flinty British expat driver, Will Truesdale, is certainly interested in Claire, and vice versa. Their fast-blossoming affair is juxtaposed against a plot line beginning in 1941 when Will gets swept up by the beautiful and tempestuous Trudy Liang, and then follows through his life during the Japanese occupation. As Claire and Will's affair becomes common knowledge, so do the specifics of Will's murky past, Trudy's motivations and Victor's role in past events. The rippling of past actions through to the present lends the narrative layers of intrigue and more than a few unexpected twists. Lee covers a little-known time in Chinese history without melodrama, and deconstructs without judgment the choices people make in order to live one more day under torturous circumstances. (Jan.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information
Five Skies: Carlson, Ron; "Ron Carlson's first novel in thirty years is the tale of three men gathered high in the Rock Mountains for a construction project that is to last the summer. Having participated in a spectacular betrayal in Los Angeles, the giant, silent Arthur Key drifts into work as a carpenter in southern Idaho. Here he is hired, along with the shiftless and charming Ronnie Panelli, to build a stunt ramp beside a cavernous void. The two will be led by Darwin Gallegos, the foreman of the local ranch, who is filled with a primeval rage at God, at man, at life." "As they endeavor upon this simple, grand project, the three reveal themselves in cautiously resonant and deeply profound ways. One man will triumph over his dark nature, another will fall beneath the weight of his own."--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
Lace Reader: Barry, Brunonia; Towner Whitney, the self-confessed unreliable narrator of The Lace Reader, hails from a family of Salem women who can read the future in the patterns in lace, and who have guarded a history of secrets going back generations, but the disappearance of two women brings Towner home to Salem and the truth about the death of her twin sister to light." "The Lace Reader is a tale that spirals into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths in which the reader quickly finds it's nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction, but as Towner Whitney points out early on in the novel, "There are no accidents.""--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.
Tenderness of Wolves: Penney, Stef; The year is 1867. Winter has just tightened its grip on Dove River, a tiny isolated settlement in the Northern Territory, when a man is brutally murdered. Laurent Jammett had been a voyageur for the Hudson Bay Company before an accident lamed him four years earlier. The same accident afforded him the little parcel of land in Dove River, land that the locals called unlucky due to the untimely death of the previous owner." "A local woman, Mrs. Ross, stumbles upon the crime scene and sees the tracks leading from the dead man's cabin north toward the forest and the tundra beyond. It is Mrs. Ross's knock on the door of the largest house in Caulfield that launches the investigation. Within hours she will regret that knock with a mother's love - for soon she makes another discovery: her seventeen-year-old son Francis has disappeared and is now considered a prime suspect." "In the wake of such violence, people are drawn to the crime and to the township - Andrew Knox, Dove River's elder statesman; Thomas Sturrock, a wily American itinerant trader; Donald Moody, the clumsy young Company representative: William Parker, a half-breed Native American and trapper who was briefly detained for Jammett's murder before becoming Mrs. Ross's guide. But the question remains: do these men want to solve the crime or exploit it?" "One by one, the searchers set out from Dove River following the tracks across a desolate landscape - home to only wild animals, madmen, and fugitives - variously seeking a murderer, a son, two sisters missing for seventeen years, and a forgotten Native American culture before the snows settle and cover the tracks of the past for good."--BOOK JACKET. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

Movies

The Painted Veil: Set in the 1920s. A young English couple, Walter a middle class doctor and Kitty, an upper-class woman, get married for all the wrong reasons and relocate to Shanghai. Kitty falls in love with someone else. When Walter discovers her infidelity, in an act of vengeance, he accepts a job in a remote village in China that is being ravaged by a deadly epidemic. He takes his wife along and their journey brings meaning to their relationship and gives them purpose in one of the most remote and beautiful places on earth.
Black Book: In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance.
Away From Her: Fiona and Grant are an Ontario couple who have been married for over 40 years. During the twilight of their years, Grant is forced to face the fact that Fiona's 'forgetfulness' actually is Alzheimer's. After Fiona wanders away and is found, the decision is made for her to go into a nursing home. For the first time in their relationship, they are forced to undergo a separation during a 'no-vistors,' 30 day period. When Grant visits Fiona after the orientation period, he is devastated to find out that not only has she seemingly forgotten him, but she has transferred her affections to another man. As the distance between husband and wife grows, Grant must draw upon his love for Fiona to perform an act of self-sacrifice in order to ensure her happiness.

Music

Greatest Hits: Journey
Crystal Visions - The Very Best of Stevie Nicks: Stevie Nicks
Rumors: Fleetwood Mac
Forty Licks: Rolling Stones
Bruce Springsteen: Bruce Springsteen

Websites

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Ann Rohrbaugh Recommends

Books

Movies

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