Paul

Starter villain

by John Scalzi

SCIENCE FICTION Scalzi John
Fantasy, Adventure, Suspense, Humor

"Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits. Jake had enemies, and now they're coming after Charlie. His uncle might have been a stand-up, old-fashioned kind of villain, but these are the real thing: rich, soulless predators backed by multinational corporations and venture capital. It's up to Charlie to win the war his uncle started against a league of supervillains. But with unionized dolphins, hyper-intelligent talking spy cats, and a terrifying henchperson at his side, going bad is starting to look pretty good. In a dog-eat-dog world...be a cat"--

More red meat for Scalzi fans, with snappy dialog, constant forward moving action, interesting characters, even more interesting (incredible?) situations, and of course heavy doses of humor. Another one of his that's hard to set down. -Paul

My brother's keeper

by Tim Powers

SCIENCE FICTION Powers Tim
Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Adventure, Horror

"This is a ghost story. It is a story about werewolves, and things that go bump in the night. It is a story of an ill-fated land, the pathless moors of Northern England so well chronicled in Wuthering Heights. And it is the story of a real family whose destiny it is to deal with this darkly glamorous and dangerous world. When young Emily Brontë helps a wounded man she finds at the foot of an ancient pagan shrine in the remote Yorkshire moors, her life becomes contentiously entwined with his. He is Alcuin Curzon, embittered member of a sect working to eradicate the resurgent plague of lycanthropy in Europe and northern England. But Emily's father, curate of the Haworth village church, is responsible for having unwittingly brought a demonic werewolf god to Yorkshire forty years ago-and it is taking possession of Emily's beloved but foolish and dissolute brother. Curzon must regard Emily's family as a dire threat. In spite of being at deadly odds, Emily and Curzon find themselves thrown together in fighting werewolves, confronting pagan gods, even saving each other from the lures of moorland demons. And in a final battle that sweeps from the haunted village of Haworth to a monstrous shrine far out on the moors, the two of them must be reluctant allies against an ancient power that seems likely to take their souls as well as their lives" --

Once again, Powers crafts an engaging, supernatural tale involving well known literary figures, in this case the Bronte sisters. Also thrown into the mix are their father and brother, and the consequences of missteps, misdirection and misdeeds with worldly and other worldly implications. -Paul

After many a summer

by Tim Powers

SCIENCE FICTION Powers Tim
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure

A down-and-out screenwriter is hired to deliver a mummified head as the ransom for a kidnapped Belgian heiress, but his encounters with the supersitious kidnappers and the heiress lead him to question his actions. --from Amazon.

Novella in length and easily a one sitting read, Powers once again engrosses the reader in a quickly moving tale with lots of interesting main and side characters, all bound to a peculiar supernatural situation. I hope he will continue the story of Conrad and Arielle in the future, two of the newest players in his expansive, off-reality Los Angeles land-, or is that hell-, scape. -Paul

The PARA method : simplify, organize, and master your digital life

by Tiago Forte

658.4038/ Forte
Business, Technology, Self Help

Living a modern life requires juggling a ton of information. But we were never taught how to manage this information effectively so that we can find what we need when we need it. In The PARA Method, Tiago Forte outlines a simple and intuitive four-step system that will help us sort all the information flooding our brains into four major categories—Projects, Areas, Resources, and Archives—allowing us to manage our commitments while achieving our goals and dreams. -Projects are specific, short-term efforts that you are actively working on with a certain goal in mind, such as completing a website or renovating your bathroom. -Areas are the larger, ongoing areas of responsibility (health, finances, etc.) that encompass those specific projects. -Resources include content on a range of topics you’re interested in or that could be useful for your projects and areas. -Archives include anything from the previous three categories that is now inactive, but you want to save for future reference. With his easy-to-understand and engaging voice, Forte outlines his best practices and tips on how to successfully implement PARA, along with deep dives on everything from how to adopt habits to stay organized to how to use this system to enhance your focus. The PARA Method can be implemented in just seconds but has the power to transform the trajectory of your work and life using the power of digital organization ~Amazon.

A vey quick, informative read. Although a bit wordy in my opinion, it is packed with good approaches, guidance and mental framing for taming and easily managing all the files, documents, and other saved bits floating around on your computer and other digital devices. The information found here can also be applied to the workplace and any sized group or organization. -Paul

Awaken your genius : escape conformity, ignite creativity, and become extraordinary

by Ozan O. Varol

153.42 /Varol
Self Help, Philosophy

"From the critically acclaimed author of Think Like a Rocket Scientist comes a simple process for discarding obsolete beliefs and cultivating independent thought. A rare handful of leaders, artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs seem to have Teflon in their heads. They think and act with genuine independence, offering up ideas and insights direct from the subtle workings of their own minds. No matter how far that might take them from their social or political group. We sometimes call these people geniuses, as if they're another breed. But genius doesn't have to belong to just a few people--it can be cultivated. Great thinkers operate unconstrained by the opinions of others--or their own past opinions. They can act on new information regardless of the beliefs they once held, or identities they once adopted. They distinguish fact from manipulation. And just as importantly, they act first instead of reacting--creating new ideas and opportunities for themselves and others. This is a book for aspiring universe-denters: executives and entrepreneurs, activists and artists, individuals who want to escape groupthink, discard obsolete and harmful beliefs, generate breakthrough ideas, spot hidden opportunities, and flourish in a world of ever-increasing manipulation, change, and challenge. In short, it's a book for geniuses"--

Having been a reader of his blog posts for quite some time there was lot that was familiar in this book but also a lot that is new. My main takeaways relate to reframing the way I think and approach problems and other things that tend to pop up. Pretty inspiring, I've already been applying some of the strategies noted, and I would further recommend following up the supplement "homework" web-link he provides to keep the reframing effort moving forward. -Paul

The London Séance Society

by Sarah Penner

FICTION Penner Sarah
Mystery, Historical Fiction, Suspense

"1873. At an abandoned château on the outskirts of Paris, a dark šance is about to take place, led by acclaimed spiritualist Vaudeline D'Allaire. Known worldwide for her talent in conjuring the spirits of murder victims to ascertain the identities of the people who killed them, she is highly sought after by widows and investigators alike. Lenna Wickes has come to Paris to find answers about her sister's death, but to do so, she must embrace the unknown and overcome her own logic-driven bias against the occult. When Vaudeline is beckoned to England to solve a high-profile murder, Lenna accompanies her as an understudy. But as the women team up with the powerful men of London's exclusive Šance Society to solve the mystery, they begin to suspect that they are not merely out to solve a crime, but perhaps entangled in one themselves..."--

Penner offers up another mystery tale involving murder and desperate circumstances for the protagonists. Although not as engaging a tale as her The Lost Apothecary was (a little too much revisiting of things already established for my tastes and a sense of it being rushed) she really develops a pretty detailed slice of Victorian England life, featuring good twists, turns and revelations, and a collection of interesting characters, both major and minor. -Paul

Infinity gate

by M. R. Carey

SCIENCE FICTION Carey, M. R.
Science Fiction, Adventure

"The Pandominion: a political and trading alliance of a million worlds. Except that they're really just one world, Earth, in many different realities. And when an A.I. threat arises that could destroy everything the Pandominion has built, they'll eradicate it by whatever means necessary. Scientist Hadiz Tambuwal is looking for a solution to her own Earth's environmental collapse when she stumbles across the secret of inter-dimensional travel, a secret that could save everyone on her dying planet. It leads her into the middle of a war on a scale she never dreamed of. And she needs to choose a side before every reality pays the price."--Provided by publisher.

Truly a sweeping epic, Infinity Gate is a face paced read, packed with lots of action and many memorable characters. Taking a different approach to how the multiverse works, there is no effective space travel and movement between realities, using what's termed Step technology, takes travelers to the exact same spot on a variant Earth to where they departed from on there own version Earth. Thrown into the mix are different cultural, historical, and evolutionary paths on each world, some fairly similar, others wildly different. To keep everything from getting out of hand, there is a very larger and extensive government/control structure in place, the Pandominion, which calls all the shots and has a well developed enforcement army. Unfortunately, there is also another force out in the multiverse that has a very different approach to things, especially the idea of sentience. -Paul

The mountain in the sea

by Ray Nayler

SCIENCE FICTION Nayler Ray
Science Fiction

"Following a mysterious murder on an island off the coast of Vietnam, a research team convenes to study an octopus community that seems to be developing its own language and culture. Humans, AIs, and animals are swept up in the machinations of governments and corporations in this near-future thriller about the nature of intelligence"--

An engaging, well crafted tale set in a future where the geopolitical landscape is completely different in wholly unexpected ways, AI driven machines are ubiquitous and sometimes beautifully crafted and at others coldly indifferent, human life is cheap and expendable when no longer useful, and talented hackers are in high demand for very specific clandestine activities. Throw into this mix an unusual set of conditions and circumstances on a protected chain of islands off the Vietnamese coast, and the nature of perception, observation, intelligence and communication and you get a book I personally found hard to put down. -Paul

Nope

by

DVD MOVIE SF/HORROR Nope

Two siblings who run a California horse ranch discover something wonderful and sinister in the skies above, and the owner of an adjacent theme park tries to profit from the mysterious, otherworldly phenomenon.

A very well crafted horror and science fiction film, filled with memorable characters, many unpredictable bone chilling and hilarious moments, and plenty of post viewing discussion fodder and pondering points. A Jordan Peele must see! -Paul

The book eaters

by Sunyi Dean

SCIENCE FICTION Dean Sunyi
Science Fiction, Fantasy

"Sunyi Dean's The Book Eaters is a contemporary fantasy debut. It's a story of motherhood, sacrifice, and hope; of queer identity and learning to accept who you are; of gilded lies and the danger of believing the narratives others create for you. Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries. Devon is part of The Family, an old and reclusive clan of book eaters. Her brothers grow up feasting on stories of valor and adventure, and Devon--like all other book eater women--is raised on a carefully curated diet of fairytales and cautionary stories. But real life doesn't always come with happy endings, as Devon learns when her son is born with a rare and darker kind of hunger-not for books, but for human minds"--

Ultimately, this is a tale exploring the limits and burdens of motherly love, delving into the joy, sacrifice, and unspeakable horror that such can entail. Set in modern day England we learn about all the major characters through current events balanced with past moments that come closer to the same point in time as this decently paced story progresses. -Paul

The Kaiju Preservation Society

by John Scalzi

SCIENCE FICTION Scalzi John
Science Fiction

"The Kaiju Preservation Society is John Scalzi's first standalone adventure since the conclusion of his New York Times bestselling Interdependency trilogy. When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls "an animal rights organization." Tom's team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on. What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They're the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they're in trouble. It's not just the Kaiju Preservation Society whose found their way to the alternate world. Others have, too. And their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die"--

Yet another engaging and fast paced Scalzi effort, filled with frequently snarky yet interesting and enjoyable characters, and, of course, a number of unusual and quite perilous situations that just get better and better. -Paul

Stolen skies

by Tim Powers

SCIENCE FICTION Powers, Tim
Science Fiction

"Sebastian Vickery has learned something about UFOs that he shouldn't have-and Naval Intelligence, desperate to silence him, orders his old partner, Agent Ingrid Castine, to trap him. But Castine risks career, liberty, and maybe even life to warn Vickery-and now they're both fugitives, on the run from both the U.S. government and agents of the Russian GRU Directorate, which has its own uses for the UFO intelligence. With the unlikely aid of a renegade Russian agent, a homeless Hispanic boy, and an eccentric old Flat-Earther, Vickery and Castine must find an ancient relic that spells banishment to the alien species, and then summon the things and use it against them-in a Samson-like confrontation that looks likely to kill them as well. Sweeping from the Giant Rock monolith in the Mojave Desert to a cultist temple in the Hollywood Hills, from a monstrous apparition in the Los Angeles River to a harrowing midnight visitation on a boat off Long Beach Harbor, Stolen Skies is an alien-encounter novel like no other"--

More non-stop insanity involving 2 of my favorite Tim Power's characters, Vickery and Castine, who once again find themselves having enough adventures and things happen to them in three days than most people would experience in three lifetimes. Can Los Angeles and its surroundings get any more weird or dangerous? -Paul

The employees : a workplace novel of the 22nd century

by Olga Ravn

FICTION Ravn Olga
Science Fiction

"Funny and doom-drenched, The Employees chronicles the fate of the Six-Thousand Ship. The human and humanoid crew members complain about their daily tasks in a series of staff reports and memos. When the ship takes on a number of strange objects from the planet New Discovery, the crew becomes strangely and deeply attached to them, even as tensions boil toward mutiny, especially among the humanoids. Olga Ravn's prose is chilling, crackling, exhilarating, and foreboding. The Employees probes into what makes us human, while delivering a hilariously stinging critique of life governed by the logic of productivity"--

The way this book is laid out is like a collection of puzzle pieces of various sizes and depths that gradually bring the bigger picture of the tale into focus. Overall though, the individual entries noting the individual employee responses and reactions are quite relatable to anyone who works for a living. -Paul

Courage is calling : fortune favors the brave

by Ryan Holiday

179.6 /Holiday
Classics, Self Help

"From Ryan Holiday, the New York Times bestselling author of Stillness Is the Key, The Obstacle Is the Way, and Ego Is the Enemy, comes the first book in a four-book series about Stoic virtues: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. As Ryan Holiday wrote in his previous books, Stoicism is a philosophy for the people. Stoicism isn't fraught with complexities, contradictions, or circular arguments about the meaning of life. Rather, Stoicism offers practical, rich guidance about how to achieve imperturbability, strength, perspective, and goodness. At the heart of Stoicism are four simple virtues: courage, temperance, justice, and wisdom. The whole philosophy can be condensed into those four bullet points. Everything else, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Epictetus, and countless other Stoics believed, flows from these virtues. In Courage Is Calling, Ryan Holiday breaks down the most foundational virtue of all -- courage. Through engaging stories about historic and contemporary leaders, including Winston Churchill, Barack Obama, and Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as some lesser known but equally as remarkable people, Holiday shows you how to practice courage in your daily life."

A very accessible and quick read that really covers the subject of courage from the Stoic viewpoint quite well. A good prescription to help navigate and conduct one's self in these more than "interesting times." -Paul

Twilight hauntings : Enchanter's Child Series

by Angie Sage

eBOOK
Kids

Alex has a set of Enchanted cards. When she flutters her fingers above them, something magical happens: the cards come alive and create moving pictures of what is now and what is yet to come. But Enchantment is illegal in the city of Luma, and those who practice it are imprisoned forever in the Vaults—dark dungeons deep below the city. When Alex is betrayed by her foster sister Zerra, she knows she is in great danger. With the help of her little foster brother, Louie, she makes a daring escape. But Alex discovers she is not safe outside Luma either. Here lurk deadly Hauntings that seek out those who practice magic: Enchanters and their children. The Hauntings take many forms and Alex is hunted by a giant bird of prey, the Hawke, a murderous Night Wraith called the Grey Walker, and the eerie Xin. But why do the Hauntings haunt Alex? Alex doesn’t believe she’s an Enchanter’s Child, but she has no idea who her parents are. Her precious Enchanted cards are her only clue to her true identity, and she becomes determined to find out who she is. And, while she is at it, to get rid of the deadly Twilight Hauntings forever.

A richly developed world packed with engaging detail and a multitude of well developed characters I can hardly wait until the next volume is published to see where the often unpredictable action leads. -Paul

To Night Owl from Dogfish

by Holly Goldberg Sloan

eBOOK
Kids

Unhappy about being sent to the same summer camp after their fathers start dating, Bett and Avery, eleven, eventually begin scheming to get the couple back together after a break-up. Told entirely through emails.

Rich with a wide cast of characters who populate the story as it progresses, with each getting enough individual development to spark even more interest, there are also plenty of ups and downs and twist and turns, some fairly predictable, some not at all, to engage the reader in following along with how these two grow as they share experiences while apart and together. -Paul

A ceiling made of eggshells

by Gail Carson Levine

eBOOK
Kids

From age seven, Loma relishes traveling with her beloved grandfather across fifteenth-century Spain, working to keep the Jews safe, but soon realizes she must also make sacrifices to help her people. Includes historical notes, recipe, glossary, and a link to a bibliography.

Loaded with all kinds of historical details this story provides a window into the Jewish experience leading up to the expulsion from their homes after 1000 years of faithful service to their beloved country. -Paul

Stepping stones

by Lucy Knisley

eBOOK
Kids

Jen did not want to leave the city. She did not want to move to a farm with her mom and her mom’s new boyfriend, Walter. She did not want to leave her friends and her dad. Most of all, Jen did not want to get new “sisters,” Andy and Reese. As if learning new chores on Peapod Farm wasn’t hard enough, having to deal with perfect-at-everything Andy might be the last straw for Jen. Besides cleaning the chicken coop, trying to keep up with the customers at the local farmers’ market, and missing her old life, Jen has to deal with her own insecurities about this new family . . . and where she fits in.

This humorous and all too true graphic novel follows Jen (not Jennifer!) as she deals with her parents divorce and moving with her mom from the city to the country. To cope, Jen works on her cartoons, but eventually as all three get to know each other better and have a few adventures together, things mostly get better. -Paul

Tight

by Torrey Maldonado

eBOOK
Kids

After his quick-tempered father gets in a fight and is sent back to jail, sixth-grader Bryan, known for being quiet and thoughtful, snaps and follows new friend Mike into trouble.

Written in a voice true to the story’s setting and local culture, this engaging and multi-leveled tale captures quite well how difficult it can be to survive and more or less successfully navigate through life and stay true to yourself and those you respect most. I often found myself reflecting on my own not so dissimilar experiences as a sixth grader as I followed Bryan through his triumphs and travails. A very highly recommended read. -Paul

Nat enough : Nat Enough Series, Book 1

by Maria Scrivan

eBOOK
Kids

Natalie has never felt that she's enough -- athletic enough, stylish enough, or talented enough. And on the first day of middle school, Natalie discovers that things are worse than she thought -- now she's not even cool enough for her best friend, Lily! As Natalie tries to get her best friend back, she learns more about her true self and natural talents. If Natalie can focus on who she is rather than who she isn't, then she might realize she's more than enough, just the way she is.

The story of Natalie, as told in pictures, and how she navigates entering middle school along with a bunch of kids from other grade schools, the loss of her best friend (who’s turned into a really “mean girl”), the making of new, truly good friends, and finding out what she’s good at doing. Of course there’s a lot of anxiety, self doubt, and missteps along the way but Nat survives, spectacularly, in this sweet and humorous tale. -Paul

The screaming staircase

by Jonathan Stroud

eBOOK
Kids

Follows three young operatives of a Psychic Detection Agency as they battle an epidemic of ghosts in London.

I have become totally hooked on this series and very much recommend it for older tweens. I plan to continue enjoying my way through each volume even after the current quarantine/shut down is lifted! -Paul

From the desk of Zoe Washington

by Janae Marks

eBOOK
Kids

"Avid baker Zoe Washington receives a letter on her twelfth birthday from her biological father, who is in prison for a terrible crime"--

The author, Janae Marks, deftly weaves the all too common experiences of African-Americans with the U.S. justice system and its fallout into an engaging tale of a young girl on the cusp of adulthood, juggling several things at one time while balancing what she feels is the right thing to do and the fear of suffering the consequences, both if she does or does not follow through in her quest. -Paul

The inquisitor's tale, or, the three magical children and their holy dog

by Adam Gidwitz

eBOOK
Kids

"A peasant girl and her holy greyhound, an oblate on a mission from his monastery, and a young Jewish boy travel across medieval France to escape persecution and save holy texts from being burned"--

Recommended for upper elementary and above, for some content and word complexity. -Paul

The screaming staircase

by Jonathan Stroud

eBOOK
Kids

Follows three young operatives of a Psychic Detection Agency as they battle an epidemic of ghosts in London.

Recommended for tweens and older this is an action and adventure tale with humor and grisley demises sprinkled throughout. -Paul

The worst class trip ever

by Dave Barry

eBOOK
Kids

When the eighth grade civics class of Miami's Culver Middle School goes on a trip to Washington, D.C., Wyatt Palmer finds himself in deep trouble before the plane even lands because his best friend, Matt, has decided the men sitting behind them are terrorists and it is up to the boys to stop them.

A funny and quite well paced action and misadventure tale of a group of eight graders during a class trip to Washington DC. Centered on Wyatt Palmer and his various personal anxieties, the tale follows him, his nerd buddies, and assorted other classmates as they deal with teacher chaperones, a pair of menacing and creepy strangers they meet during their plane ride, and a series of mostly bad and ill-informed choices made not only by Wyatt but others as well. Make no mistake, things get quite dangerous and potentially quite fatal for several of the characters along the way. -Paul

The cool bean

by Jory John

eBOOK
Kids, Picture Books

Everyone knows the cool beans. They're sooooo cool. And then there's the uncool has-bean ... Always on the sidelines, one bean unsuccessfully tries everything he can to fit in with the crowd--until one day the cool beans show him how it's done.

Another in the series of picture books that includes The Good Egg and The Bad Seed. Looking at what it means to be cool from very superficial aspects to truly meaningful ones. Well told with a very good message. -Paul

The secret garden

by Frances Hodgson Burnett

eAUDIO

The magical friendship between a young girl, her lonely, bed-ridden cousin and a country boy who can talk to the birds is played out with all the freshness and warmth of the original novel in this full-cast dramatization starring Beryl Reid, Robin Bailey and Harriet Walter.

A classic tale that relates the experiences of a very spoiled and selfish young girl, Mary Lennox, who is sent to the Yorkshire country estate of an Uncle after her parents die of a cholera epidemic in India. After a bit of culture shock and getting used to her new home she learns of an abandoned garden on the estate that has been locked since her Uncle’s wife died 10 years earlier. After finding a key she is able to finally enter the garden which is dormant and choked with weeds. Mary starts to tend the garden and undergoes a bit of a transformation into a better person. Soon she meets a local boy, Dickon, who has a way with animals, and he helps her with the garden. Eventually she meets her cousin, Colin, who’s kept isolated in a room inside the manor and is presumed to have a spinal deformation that keeps him under constant care. As the three become thick as thieves and the garden blooms, several things change among the individual characters and their relationships. -Paul

The magic of Christmas

by Celtic Woman

COMPACT DISC CR Celtic Magic M78

As with their previous Christmas CD releases, this 14th album by Celtic Woman once again offers up an enjoyable collection of their "best of" traditional songs of the season.

Celtic Woman once again provide a very enjoyable listening experience with their special treatment of traditional songs of the season. Just a heads up, this group will be appearing at the Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center on the UNI campus on December 22nd. -Paul

A legendary Christmas

by John Legend

COMPACT DISC CR Legend Legendary C92

Grammy-winning superstar John Legend releases his first ever holiday album. There are both classic songs and new tracks, including Bring me love.

You knew it was only a matter of time before John Legend would release a Holiday album and here it is. Featuring both classic songs and new, original tracks guest artist include Stevie Wonder and Esperanza Spalding (one of my favorite bassists of all time!) -Paul

Christmas : a season of love

by Idina Menze

COMPACT DISC CR Menzel Christmas D59

This is the second Christmas album from Menzel, again featuring a strong selection of duets with a featured guest vocalists covering a number of traditonal seasonal songs.

Menzel's amazing voice is once again worth the price of admission, as with her previous Christmas release she teams up for a number of duets with an A-list of currently popular vocalists. Very centered on recognizable favorites this release does include one not so traditional Hanukkah song, Ocho Kandelikas, which is sung in Ladino. -Paul

Christmas is here!

by Pentatonix

COMPACT DISC CR Pentatonix Christmas R43

Three-time Grammy Award winners Pentatonix release their fourth holiday album, which features brand new arrangements of modern and classical seasonal favorites. The first song featured is their cover of Making Christmas from the film The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Pentatonix have once again released an enjoyable a capella collection of Christmas music, featuring brand new arrangements of familiar favorites. I'm always amazed at what this group comes up with. -Paul

Sugar & booze

by Ana Gasteyer

COMPACT DISC CR Gasteyer Sugar H02

"The new album from the former “Saturday Night Live” cast member features a modern take on the swing and jazz sounds of the '50s and '60s. Gasteyer's performance is a pleasurable treat as she smoothly navigates a delightful assortment of original tracks with a number of holiday classics sprinkled in for good measure."--Herald-Standard.

Features catchy rhythms evocative of the jazz and pop music of the 50's and early 60's with clever and often humorous lyrics that do push some boundaries, being just naughty enough to add spice to seasonal cocktail listening cocktail mix with out being too strong. -Paul

Christmas in the city

by Lea Michele

COMPACT DISC CR Michele Christmas M42

The "city" in this case is of course New York City, the setting of ever so many holiday song snapshots. Lea Michele of Glee fame, through familiar mid-20th century holiday song traditions, attempts to capture some of that spirit on her first Christmas album, delivering each song and their arrangement with sincere gusto --Based on article from allmusic.com.

Residing very comfortably in the tried and true traditional seasonal "tropesphere", this release certainly adds well to the Christmas music canon populated by crooners of the 50's and 60's. What sets it apart is Lea Michelle's way of infusing each song with an inner wonder and infectious, sincere joyousness. -Paul

Celestial

by Rob Halford

COMPACT DISC CR Halford Celestial L52

"Forty-some years into his life as a verified metal god, it probably seemed like as good a time as any for Rob Halford to make a Christmas album... There's an hefty dose of self-awareness and irony in Celestial, a collection of metalized Christmas carols and traditional holiday tunes, and a few Halford originals in the holiday vein."--allmusic.com.

Features some pretty interesting metal interpretations of classic Christmas songs and, as one one expect, certainly with some ear catching guitar hooks and power chords. Sure to make the tinsel on your tannenbaum gleam a little brighter and louder. -Paul

Moonlight, mistletoe & you

by Keb' Mo'

COMPACT DISC CR Keb' Moonlight C77

"The inherent friendliness of Moonlight, Mistletoe and You buoys the first holiday album from veteran blues singer Keb' Mo' through its periodic shifts in tone and style. Keb' Mo' has long been known for dabbling in a variety of different American roots music, so the intermingling of blues, jazz, and Tin Pan Alley pop comes as no surprise."--allmusic.com.

Keb' Mo's distinctive voice really shines through with a proper amount of Christmas warmth and cheer on an album filled with very smooth, but not horribly over-produced, tracks while staying true to the various musical genre types he explores. -Paul

Loner

by Caroline Rose

COMPACT DISC PO Rose Loner

Amazingly fresh and engaging sound with picture painting lyrics, suitable for listening while sipping vodka martinis. -Paul