Library's Books & Videos

Here are ten of our most popular recent videos:

• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
• Batman and Robin
• Breakdown
• Face/Off
• Grosse Pointe Blank
• Liar Liar
• The Lost World
• Jurassic Park
• Men in Black
• Romy and Michele's High School Reunion
• The Van

Here are 10 fascinating titles added recently to our collection.

• Bluebeard's Castle . a gorgeous production of Bela Bartok's suspenseful opera.

• Comics: The 9th Art . From the Katzenjammer Kids to today's graphic novels.

• Gray's Anatomy . Comic monologist Spalding Gray on his mysterious eye ailment.

• Meantime . Tim Roth and Gary Oldman in an early film from Mike Leigh, director of Secrets and Lies.

• Samurai Rebellion . Warrior Toshiro Mifune defies his lord to retrieve his kidnapped daughter-in-law.

• Sister Wendy's Story of Painting . Reniassance art, Impressionaism and Modernism.

• The Spike Jones Story : A salute to the wacky musical humorist.

• 2 Friends . Jane Campion chronicles the friendship between two Australian schoolgirls - in reverse chronological order!

• W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films . This compilation includes the hilarious The Fatal Glass of Beer.

• The Whole Wide World . Renee Zellweger and Vincent D'Onofrio recreate the romance between schoolteacher Novalyn Price and pulp novelist Robert E. Howard.

Compiled by Jonathan Guildroy, Media Services, PWPL.

What's Port Washington Reading?

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt. Rich in its Savannah setting, this true-life tale of murder has been a best seller for three years and is now a movie.

The Defense by D.W. Buffa. This debut novel is a gripping, original legal thriller featuring a criminal attorney who finds his defense of a child rapist leads to life-changing experiences. Depth of characterization sets this work apart from other works in the genre.

Underworld by Don DeLillo. Runner up for the National Book Award, this 800 plus page epic of contemporary America begins with "the shot heard around the world," the playoff-winning home run hit by N.Y. Giant Bobby Thomson in 1951.

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, This year's National Book Award winner, an elegantly written first novel of Civil War soldier's harrowing journey home. The book is based on family stories handed down by Frazier's great-great-grandfather.

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. This is an utterly engrossing first novel about a celebrated geisha in 1930s Kyoto.

The Case Has Altered by Martha Grimes. Skillfully plotted and strong in characterization, this is a subtle tale of murder by one of the best contemporary writers.

The Matarase Countdown by Robert Ludlum. Reviews are mixed for this latest international super thriller from Ludlum.

Cat and Mouse by James Patterson. Suspense reigns supreme in this genuinely scary adventure by the ever-popular Patterson.

The God of Small Things by Roy Arundhati . Roy is the first Indian to win the coveted Booker Prize, Britain's top literary award. In this lyrical story, a family is devastated by an accusation of murder.

Compiled by Cathleen A. Towey Director of Adult Services/PWPL.