April -- Annell's Pick

Les Miserables

by Victor Hugo

Synopsis

Trying to forget his past and live an honest life, escaped convict Jean Valjean risks his freedom to take care of a motherless young girl during a period of political unrest in Paris.

Victor Hugo (1802-1885), novelist, poet, and dramatist, is one of the most important of French Romantic writers. Among his best-known works are The Hunchback of Notre Dame(1831) and Les Misérables(1862).

January's Pick - by Linda

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

by

Jane Austen

and

Seth Grahame-Smith

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in posession of brains must be in want of more brains."

So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, an expanded edition of the beloved Jane Austen novel featuring all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie mayhem. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton — and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers — and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield. Can Elizabeth vanquish the spawn of Satan? And overcome the social prejudices of the class-conscious landed gentry? Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms a masterpiece of world literature into something you’d actually want to listen to.
-synopsis from Barnes & Noble.com

December's Pick by Annell

A Christmas Carol

by Charles Dickens

Synopsis

Beloved in Christmases past, and sure to remain a favorite into Christmases of the future, Dickens' popular holiday tale is the perfect Christmas present. The uplifting tale follows the mysterious and magical events that transform the miserly, miserable Ebenezer Scrooge into "as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man" as ever lived.

Name:

Charles Dickens

Also Known As:

Charles John Huffam Dickens (full name) "Boz" (pen name)

Date of Birth:

February 07, 1812

Place of Birth:

Portsmouth, England

Date of Death

June 18, 1870

Place of Death

Gad's Hill, Kent, England

Education:

Home-schooling; attended Dame School at Chatham briefly and Wellington

Patricia's November Pick

The Princess Bride

by William Goldman

Synopsis:

The Princess Bride is a timeless tale that pits country against country, good against evil, love against hate. This incredible journey and artfully rendered love story is peppered with strange beasties monstrous and gentle, memorable surprises both terrible and sublime, and such unforgettable character as...

Westley, the handsome farm boy who risks death (and much worse) for the woman he loves; Inigo, the Spanish swordsman who lives only to avenge his father's death; Fezzik, the gentlest giant ever to have uprooted a tree with his bare hands; Vizzini, the evil Sicilian, with a mind so keen he's foiled by his own perfect logic; Prince Humperdinck, the eviler ruler of Guilder, who has an equally insatiable thirst for war and the beauteous Buttercup; Count Rugen, the evilest man of all, who thrives on the excruciating pain of others; Miracle Max, the King's ex-Miracle Man, who can raise the dead (kind of); and of course, Buttercup...the princess bride, the most perfect, beautiful woman in the history of the world!