Catherine Coles
Coles’ Notes
This time of year, gift guides are a dime a dozen, compounding the pressure to spend spend spend. Here is a guide put together by our Readers’ Services Coordinator, Julie – and this guide is easy on your wallet, since everything can be borrowed (for free!) from the library.
For the spy fan:
DVD: Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan – John Krasinksi stars as CIA Analyst Jack Ryan in this action-packed television series that takes place in the world of intelligence and international relations.
Book: Agent Sonya: Moscow’s Most Wanted Spy by Ben Macintyre – Spymaster, saboteur, bomb-maker and secret agent are just some of the descriptors for Ursula Kuczynski Burton, one of the Cold War’s most successful Soviet Intelligence agents.
E-format: Hour of the Assassin by Matthew Quirk (Overdrive e-book) – Nick Averose becomes the pawn in a deadly political conspiracy when he is framed for the murder of a former CIA director in the fast paced political thriller by Quirk.
For the games lover:
DVD: Jumanji: The Next Level – The gang from Welcome to the Jungle is back but the game has changed with new twists and turns.
Book: Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline – The sequel to Ready Player One starts out just after Wade Watts wins James Halladay’s contest when he makes a discovery that changes everything.
E-format: The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Tevis (Overdrive e-book) – Delve into the world of competitive chess and addiction as young loner Beth takes the chess world by storm.
For the music lover:
DVD: Fisherman’s Friends – Ten fishermen, famous in their hometown for singing sea shanties, hit it big when they get signed to a recording contract. I dare you not to tap your feet and clap your hands along to this heartwarming movie.
Book: Dolly Parton: Songteller, My Life in Lyrics – Dolly reveals the stories behind 175 of her songs with personal stories and memories.
E-format: Ken Burns: Jazz (Hoopla Documentary) – Follow the story of jazz from its beginning in 19th century New Orleans until the 2000s in this documentary by Ken Burns.
For the scam artist:
DVD: Good Liar – Helen Mirren and Ian MacKellan play a dangerous game of cat and mouse between a con-man and a widow.
Book: The Forger’s Daughter by Bradford Morrow – Will has been living the clean life but gets trapped into a plot to forge one of America’s rarest books, Edgar Allan Poe’s Tamerlane.
E-format: The Professor and the Parson by Adam Sismann (Hoopla e-book) – The truth is stranger than fiction in this book about the true life of a fraudulent priest in the 20th century.
For the history buff:
DVD: The Current War – Benedict Cumberbatch stars in the dramatic retelling of the rivalry between Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse and their desire to see whose electrical system will power the world.
Book: The Wright Sister by Patty Dann – We don’t often hear about Katharine Wright when it comes to the Wright Brothers but this epistolary historical fiction tells of her sisterly support to her famous brothers to her own journey as an early feminist and suffragette.
E-format: The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson (Overdrive e-book) – Drawing from archives, personal diaries and declassified intelligence paints a portrait of Winston Churchill and his family during World War II and the Blitz.
For the sports buff:
DVD: Ford v Ferrari– The story of Carroll Shelby and Ken Miles and the race car they design to defeat Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the 1960s.
Book: The Role I Played: Canada’s Greatest Olympic Hockey Team by Sami Jo Small – This is a behind the scenes look at Canada’s successful National Women’s Hockey Team.
E-format: Burke’s Law: A Life in Hockey by Brian Burke – Brian Burke’s attitude may seem tough as nails but in this book he opens up to the feuds, tragedies and challenges he has faced in his life.
For the foodie:
DVD: The Trip to Greece – Travel with Rob Bryden and Steve Coogan from Ithaca to Troy while they debate various topics including the meaning of life. The food in the restaurants they stop at has been described as mouthwatering.
Book: Eat a Peach by David Chang – Founder of the Momofuku restaurant group Chang’s memoir dives into his own self-doubt and mental health struggles.
E-format: How to Eat by Mark Bittman (Overdrive e-book) – This book co-written with Dr. David Katz promises to give the reader easy to understand rules for eating right by answering food and diet questions.
For the know it all:
DVD: Quiz – This mini-series is based on the true story of Charles Ingram, a retired British army major who cheated his way to winning 1 million pounds on the British game show “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?”
Book: Stuff You Should Know: An Incomplete Compendium of Mostly Interesting Things – This book is based on the popular “Stuff You Should Know” podcast and is the perfect read for curious readers wanting to know the back story behind the way certain things fit into the world.
E-format: The Answer Is… Reflections on My Life by Alex Trebek (Overdrive e-book) – Category: Game Show Hosts Answer: Alex Trebek Question: Who is a host that will be greatly missed? Enough said.
All of the items mentioned here can be reserved from your branch of the County of Lennox & Addington or online at CountyLibrary.ca.