More great offerings found @ your library

Goodnight iPad: A Parody for the Next Generation by Ann Droyd

From the Publisher

In a bright buzzing room, in the glow of the moon-and iPhones and Androids and Blackberries too-it is time to say goodnight...

Modern life is abuzz. There are huge LCD WiFi HD TVs and Facebook requests and thumbs tapping texts and new viral clips of cats doing flips. Wouldn't it be nice to say goodnight to all that? Like the rest of us who cannot resist just a few more scrolls and clicks, you may find yourself ready for bed while still clinging to your electronics long after dark. This book, which is made of paper, is a reminder for the child in all of us to power down at the end of the day. This hilarious parody not only pokes loving fun at the bygone quiet of the original classic, but also at our modern plugged-in lives. It will make you laugh, and it will also help you put yourself and your machines to sleep. Don't worry, though. Your gadgets will be waiting for you, fully charged, in the morning.

Greedy Bastards: How We Can Stop Corporate Communists, Banksters, and Other Vampires from Sucking America Dry by Dylan Ratigan

Publishers Weekly

Former financial news anchor and host of CNBC's "Fast Money," Ratigan delivers an energetic, powerful, and at times unsettling portrait of America in crisis, dramatically rendered with the chiaroscuro of sobering statistics: infant mortality rates are double that of France, Japan, and Australia, and more than 40 million Americans are currently living in poverty. Ratigan's suggestions for overhaul seem interesting, though more so in terms of concept than in actual execution. To fix the fraught educational system, he benignly suggests we "Find the Teachers Who Create Effective Learning Environments" and implement performance-based positions. Later, Ratigan describes efficiency as the "silver bullet that will kill the vampire of the incumbent energy industry," with a nod to Germany's so-far-so-good push to becoming independent of oil and nuclear power by 2050. Given the book's fast-paced and dramatic delivery, it's easy to see why Ratigan was a popular TV personality. He outlines his simple, concise arguments with memorable subheads like the provocative "Thought for Sale," and even though his portrait of the U.S. is bleak, he believes we have options. The "Ratigan Hypothesis"-that "we are the first generation to be able to use modern communications tools to fix our debt problem without resorting to war"-is compelling enough to warrant serious consideration.

Hidden Summit by Robyn Carr

Publishers Weekly

The 17th in Carr’s Virgin River series (after Bring Me Home for Christmas) is sweet but lacks dramatic tension despite what should be a compelling premise. Leslie Petruso arrives in Virgin River, Colo., to escape an unpleasant ex-husband determined to be her best friend. Danson Conner witnesses a murder, enters a witness protection program, and is implausibly renamed Conner Danson before being sent to hide in the small town. Despite personal reasons to avoid intimacy, they nevertheless fall for each other. Rural life, the protagonists’ troubled backgrounds, and well-drawn secondary characters enhance the refreshingly realistic romance, but the denouement is too pat, as are the loose secondary elements of drug addiction, murder, and spousal abuse. Overall, this addition to the series offers a generally pleasant yet unexciting dip into a familiar setting.