Usurper of the sun

Usurper of the sun / Housuke Nojiri ; translated by John Wunderley.-- San Francisco : Haikasoru/VIZ Media, 2009.
276 p. ; 21 cm.
"Originally published in Japan by Hayakawa Publishing, Inc., c2002"
ISBN: 9781421527710

1. Earth – Effect of solar activity on—Fiction. 2. Human-alien encounters—Fiction. 3. Science fiction. 4. Space flight to Mercury—Fiction. 5. Sun—Fiction.

895.636

Peering through the astronomy club’s telescope, a Japanese schoolgirl is the first to observe a giant tower on the planet Mercury. When other observatories confirm its existence Aki Shiraishi becomes the most interviewed person on Earth. It propels her into a career in astronomy. When the tower begins to construct a ring around Mercury that blocks sunlight from reaching earth, climactic disaster shakes the planet and civilization is in chaos. Eight years after her initial discovery and as the most prominent scientist in the new field of ringology, Aki arrives at Johnson Space Center in Houston to train for the Vulcan Mission, a mission to send a spacecraft to Mercury to destroy the ring.

Life sucks

Life sucks / Jessica Abel, Gabe Soria, Warren Pleece ; coloring by Hilary Sycamore.-- New York : First Second, 2008.
186 p. : col. ill. ; 22 cm.
ISBN: 9781596431072

1. Clerks (Retail trade) – Comic books, strips, etc. 2. Graphic novels. 3. Vampires– Comic books, strips, etc.

741.5973

Dave’s life is boring and miserable. He’s the permanent night clerk at the Last Stop convenience store in a small strip mall in Los Angeles. All he does is work, sleep, and eat. The boss is on his case all the time. Most of the customers are obnoxious. The only thing that brightens up his life is when Rosa comes in with some of her Goth friends. She’s friendly, polite and she’s a vegetarian. Dave’s friends encourage him to ask her out. He may feel insecure and afraid, but after all, he is a vampire. It’s possible that she might find that appealing.

And here's another take on the book:
Tripping Toward Lucidity: Estella's Revenge: Life Sucks, by Jessica Abel

The guns of August

The guns of August / by Barbara W. Tuchman ; read by Nadia May.— Ashland : Blackstone Audiobooks, 2008.
1 WMA sound file (275541 KB) (19 hr., 10 min.)
ISBN: 9781433247439 (sound recording : OverDrive Audio Book)
Originally published: New York, Macmillan, 1962.
Unabridged
Downloadable audio file.
Requires OverDrive Media Console
Mode of access: World Wide Web

1. World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns 2. World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns -- Western Front.

940.4144

Germany came close to winning the First World War in the first month of fighting. German commanders confidently expected to march their exhausted troops into Paris in the first week of September. The French Government has already fled the capital. It was to be the crowning glory of a month of victories. Germany had a forty-day plan for winning the war and their armies were right on schedule. In four days they expected to be in Paris. What they did not expect was for the retreating French forces to turn and attack.

Tuchman’s Pulitzer Prize winning history stops on the eve of the first Battle of the Marne. It critiques the persistence of generals on both sides for their unwavering adherence to their war plan even in the face of contrary evidence that the enemy was not behaving as expected. Her portraits of officers and heads of state are vivid and witty, and her narrative style is superb. May skillfully reads the quotations in the narration in a subtly British, American, French, or German accented English.

Lunch lady and the cyborg substitute

Lunch lady and the cyborg substitute / Jarrett J. Krosoczka.-- New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2009.
[96] p. : ill. ; 18 cm.
ISBN: 9780375846830 (trade)

1. Graphic novels. 2. Robots – Comic books, strips, etc. 3. School lunchrooms, cafeterias, etc. – Employees – Comic books, strips, etc. 4. Schools – Comic books, strips, etc.

741.5973

What does the lunch lady in the school cafeteria do when she’s not spooning out sloppy Joes or urging you to put gravy on everything? The Breakfast Lunch starts to speculate. Terrence thinks she has a family to care for. Dee thinks she lives with a hundred cats, Hector wonders, “Maybe she’s some sort of super secret-agent spy or something.” Hector is right. And when she discovers an evil plot by the mad science teacher, she whirls into action with her spatu-copter, chicken nugget bombs and fish-stick nunchucks. With the help of her faithful sidekick Betty and her lunch tray laptop, she serves justice and lunch.

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre / Charlotte Brontë ; read by Susan Ericksen.— Grand Haven: Brilliance Audio, 1997.
16 sound discs (20 hrs.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
Unabridged
Compact discs
Directed by J. C. Howe
ISBN: 1596009403

1. Bildungsromans. 2. England – Fiction. 3. Governesses – Fiction. 4. Love stories. 5. Young women – Fiction.

823.8

Plain but spunky Jane remembers growing up unhappily orphaned among three rude cousins and a tyrannical aunt until she is sent away to a Charity School where she finds friends and a kind headmistress, but also some stern teachers and a penny-pinching administration. At age eighteen she sets out to seek, if not her fortune at least a living, as a governess. She’s hired to teach the ward of an eccentric landowner. Mr. Rochester has come into an inheritance of property and land in England that he had not hoped for as a youth. His manners are brusque and his looks are gruff. But he is unexpectedly charmed by the frankness of the new governess, although he does not express that to her immediately. For her part, Jane falls hopelessly in love with her new master, and must wrestle with the insurmountable difference in their social positions. In Jane’s breast passion, ambition, and honesty strive with reason, duty, obedience, and a desire to be accepted.

White Darkness

The white darkness : a novel / Geraldine McCaughrean. – 1st U.S. ed. – New York : HarperTempest, 2007, c2005.
373 p. ; 19 cm.
ISBN: 9780060890353 (trade)
Originally published: [Oxford] : Oxford University Press, 2005

1. Adventure fiction. 2. Antarctica --Fiction. 3. Deception --Fiction. 4. Oates, Lawrence Edward Grace, 1880-1912 -- Fiction. 5. Survival after airplane accidents, shipwrecks, etc. -- Fiction. 6. Swindlers and swindling -- Fiction.

823.914

Fourteen-year-old Symone struggles to survive in the coldest desert on earth, Antarctica. Adding to her trials are her traveling companions: a fanatic “uncle” obsessed with finding an entrance to the hollow earth and two confidence men. With friends like these, it’s no wonder that she relies on the companion of her imagination, Captain Lawrence Oates, who died on Scott’s expedition to the South Pole in 1912, for sound guidance.

This is a ripping good adventure and survival story that spooks the reader with enough spooky chills to simulate the Antarctic cold. It well deserves The Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature that it received in 2008 from the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association

What to do about Alice?

What to do about Alice? : how Alice Roosevelt broke the rules, charmed the world, and drove her father Teddy crazy! / by Barbara Kerley ; illustrated by Edwin Fotheringham. – New York : Scholastic Press, 2008.
[48] p. : col. ill. ; 32 cm.
ISBN: 9780439922319

1. Children of presidents -- United States -- Biography. 2. Legislators' spouses -- United States -- Biography. 3. Longworth, Alice Roosevelt, 1884-1980. 4. Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919 -- Family.

973.9092

Theodore Roosevelt, famously said, “I can be president of the United States, or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both.” While his oldest daughter loved reading the books in her father’s library, she also loved to run through the parks in Washington pretending to be a horse. She roamed over the capital city at all hours of the day and night. She welcomed visitors to the White House draped by her pet snake, Emily Spinach, “named for its color and its resemblance to a very thin aunt.” She played cards, bet on the horses, and danced the hula on a visit to Hawaii. The newspapers loved her.