New DVDs

• Adventures with Purpose. World Traveler   G149.B364 R534 2009
• Aftermath: An Inspector Banks Mystery   DVD PN1992.7 .D35 2013
• A.I. Artificial Intelligence (Blu-ray)   DVD PN1997.2 .A3 2011
• All Creatures Great & Small: the Specials   DVD PN 1992.77 .A553 2010
• Bird Song   DVD PN1992.77 .B54 2012
• Beau Geste   DVD PN1997 .B42 B439 1988
• Blackmail   DVD PN1995.9 .D4 B533 2004
• The Blue Dahlia   DVD PN1997 .B594 B594 2012
• Border Wars. Season 1  DVD  JV6483.B67 2010
• Breaking Bad  Season 5   DVD PN1992.77 .B74 2013 v.5
• Chilling True Crime              DVD PN1992.77.A1C458 2010
• The Civilization of Maxwell Bright   DVD PN1997.2 .C586 C586 2007
• Conversation Piece:  Gruppo Di Famiglia in Un Inerno   DVD PN1997 .G78 2011
• The Damned   DVD PN1997 .V573 D235 2004
• The Dutch Masters Bosch   DVD ND653 .B67 D983 2006
• The Dutch Masters Bruegel   DVD ND673 .B73 D983 2006
• The Dutch Masters Rembrandt   DVD ND653 .R4 D983 2006
• The Dutch Masters Rubens   DVD ND673 .R93 D983 2006
• The Dutch Masters Van Dyck   DVD ND653 .D984 D983 2006
• The Dutch Masters Vermeer      DVD ND653 .V5 D983 2006
• Emergency and Survival Preparedness. Awareness DVD HV551.2 .E4645 2012
• The Essential John Ford    DVD PN1997 .A1 E874 2007
• Eyes to See   DVD PN1997.2 .E94 2012
• Farmageddon   DVD HD1476 .A3 F37 2012
• The Four Minute Mile   DVD GV1061 .F697 2009
• From Up On Poppy Hill   DVD PN1997.2 .F76 2013
• The Future of Food   DVD TP248.65 .F66 F89 2005
• Gatekeepers. Intelligence Services (Blu-ray)   DVD DS113.7.G384 2013
• Genetic Roulette: The Gamble of Our Lives   DVD TP248.65 .F66 G46 2012
• The GMO Trilogy   DVD TP248.65 .F66 G66 2006
• Day of the Fight   DVD GV1133 .D39 2008
• Eastern Philosophy   DVD B121 .E278 2006
• Emergency Preparedness: Awareness & Survival   DVD HV551.2 .E4645 2012
• The Golden Coach   DVD PN1997 .G653 G6 2004
• Haunted Histories Collection   DVD BF1461.H386 2007
• Hitting the Cycle   DVD PN1997.2 .H58 2013
• House of Sand and Fog   DVD PN1997.2 .H68 H68 2004
• The Human Family Tree: Tracing the Human Journey DVD GN743 .H86 2009
•  Iceman: the True Story of a Serial Killer   DVD PN1997 .I24636 2004
• The Iceman Interviews  DVD HV6441.I24I24 2002
• The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Hit Man             DVD HV6441.I24 2002
• Inside Job   DVD HB3722 .I575 2011
• Last Detective. Series 1   DVD PN1992.77.L37 L37 2011 v.1
• Last Detective. Series 2   DVD PN1992.77.L37 L37 2011 v.2
• Last Detective. Series 3   DVD PN1992.77.L37 L37 2011 v.3
• Last Detective. Series 4   DVD PN1992.77.L37 L37 2011 v.4
• Let’s Make It Legal   DVD PN 1997 .L47 L478 1992
• Mouth Care without a Battle: Individualized Mouth Care for Persons with      Cognitive & Physical Impairment   DVD RK60.8 .M698 2013
• Most Evil: the Serial Killer Matrix   DVD HV6529 .M678 2010
• My Name is Bill W.   DVD PN1997 .M96 M96 2006
• North America   DVD QH102 .N67 2013
• Number 17   DVD PN1997 .H583 N963 2009
• Nurses: If Florence Could See Us Now   DVD RT42.N87 2013
• One-Eyed Jacks   DVD PN1995.9.W4O64 2011
• Open City   DVD D743.23 .R66 1997
• The Painting               DVD PN1997.2 .P35 2013
• PAL 3.0: Practice Anatomy Lab   DVD QM25 .P35 2011
• The Paradise  Season 1   DVD PN1997 .G78 2011
• Philip Roth Unmasked   DVD PS3568 .0855 Z46 2013
• A Place at the Table   DVD HD9005 .P53 2013
• Primeval.  Season 1  DVD PN1992.77 .P75 2008
• Program About Unusual Buildings & Other Roadside Stuff   DVD E 159 .P76 2004
• Red Rock West  DVD PN1997.R43 1993
• Revenge. Season 2   DVD PN1997.77 .R48 2013
• Rosemary & Thyme   DVD PN1992.77 .R67 2011 
• Secondhand Lions (Blu-ray)   DVD PN1997 .S43 2009
• The Secret of Kells   DVD PN1997.2 .S43735 2010
• The Secret of Crickley Hall   DVD PN1992.77.S43 2013
• Scientists Under Attack   DVD TP248.65 .F66 S35 2010
• The Silk Road   DVD DS327.8.S55 2012
• Sons of Anarchy. Season 5   DVD PN1992.77 .S66 2013
• Suspicion   DVD PN1997 .S976 2004
• Sweet Misery   DVD QP801 .A84 S944
• Taber’s Cyclopedic 21 Medical Dictionary   DVD R121 .T18 2009
• Tales of the Night   DVD PN1997.2 .C66 2013
• True Crime Series. vol. 2   DVD PN1992.77 .A1 T78 2011
• Vietnam, 1995-1975  DVD DS557.73 .V525 2012
• Volver   DVD PN1997.2 .V65 V65 2007
• Waiting Room   DVD RA975.5 .E5 W3 2012
• Western Philosophy   DVD B75 .W478 2006

What's this?

What in the world is this thing? Do some research and give us your guess. You could win a prize!

Tablets in the Library

Visit the NHTI Library to try out our newest technology, Microsoft Surface RT tablets. Similar to an iPad, the Surface RTs are wireless and have Microsoft Office 2013 - Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Notepad installed.

These thin, light- weight computers in bright orange cases will travel to study areas and the library living room. The tile-based Windows RT with its colorful 10.6-inch display and built-in kickstand make it easy to work at a table. The Surface RTs have a touch screen and you may add a keyboard. The screen is very readable and students use them for homework and Internet browsing. If you have no need to submit a printed copy of an assignment, grab a tablet. 

When a student wants to use a tablet, he/she shows a current NHTI photo ID and signs up for a library account. Because these units cost over $300.00, the library asks for collateral, such as a current driver’s license, military ID card or passport. We’ll hold one of these until you bring it back.

Try one out soon.

New DVDs

• Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans   PN1997.2 .B33 2010
• Bletchley Circle: Cracking a Killer’s Code   PN1992.77 .B54 2013
• Breaking Bad. The Fifth Season   DVD PN1992.77 .B74 2013
• Bully  DVD BF 723 .A35 B955 2011
• Celtic Legends   BL900 .C458 1999
• The Central Park Five  DVD HV6568 .N5 C457 2013
• China: In the Shadow of Mr. Kong    DVD DS735 .C45 2012
• Cimarron City: Complete Series   DVD PN 1992.7 .C562 2011
• Celtic Legends   BL900 .C458 1999
• Declassified: Radical America, Left & Right   DVD HN 90 .R3 D435 2006
• Dexter. 2^nd Season   DVD PN1992.77 .D49847 2008
• Georgia’s Civil War   DVD E 559 .G46 2011
• Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women   DVD HQ1236.5 .D44 H35 2012
• Happy People.  A Year In The Taiga   DVD DK 758 .H37 2013
• High Ground   DVD GV 199.44 .H55 H54 2012
• Homeland. Season One   DVD PN1997.77 .H664 H664 2012
• Hopalong Cassidy: Complete Television Series   PN1997.2 .B33 2010 2011
• How To Survive A Plague   DVD RA 643.8 .H697 2013
• Into the Cold: a Journey of the Soul   DVD G606 .I58 2011
• Killing Lincoln   PN1997.2 .K55 2013
• Kind Hearted Woman   E98 .W8 K56 2009
• Midsomer Murders: Beyond the Grave  DVD PN1997 .M4359 B496 2003
• Midsomer Murders: Blood Will Out   DVD PN1997 .M4359 B566 2003
• Midsomer Murders: Death’s Shadow   DVD PN1997 .M4359 D438 2003
• Midsomer Murders. Season 7   DVD PN1992.77 .M53 M53 2003 v.7
• Secrets of Highclere Castle   DVD DA 660 .S43 2013
• Tales of Wells Fargo. Seasons 1 & 2   DVD PN1992.77 .T35 2011
• Undefeated   DVD GV 959.5 .U53 2013
• Understanding Art:  Hidden Lives of Masterpieces   DVD NX 67 .U5347 2013
• Vision: From the Life of Hildegard Von Bingen   DVD PN1997.2 .V57 2010
• Women in Love   DVD PN1992.77 .W66 2013
• Your American Teen   HQ798 .Y68 2012

Summer: Time to Grill and Barbecue

There’s a new backyard survival guide, Grill This Not That!, by Zinczenko and Goulding that is dedicated “To all the men and women who have ever set fire to something intentionally or not”. If cooking outside over charcoal or in a cast iron skillet over a fire is part of your summer, the library offers some recent books to inspire anyone. Call the Library at 230-4028 and we’ll hold the title for you.

Bobby Flay’s Burgers, Fries & Steaks TX749.5 .B43 F53 2009

In his 9^th cookbook, Bobby offers more than 25 recipes for burgers made of beef, turkey, salmon or tuna plus assorted side dishes. A chapter on condiments and seasonings along with assorted milkshakes completes the volume.

Camp Cooking in the Wild TX823 .S375 2012

Three Canadian canoeing and wilderness travel guides have compiled a collection of meals that are delicious, varied and easy to prepare. If you are organizing a canoe trip for 3-4 days, this volume will outline essential cooking equipment, give you tips on selecting a cooking site in the wilderness and show techniques to prepare fresh fish.

Grill This Not That!: the Backyard Survival Guide TX840 .B3 Z57 2012

Everything, from pizza to dessert can be done on the grill, according to this cookbook/recipe and gear guide written by the writers of the Eat This Not That titles. Try low-calorie versions of Ruby Tuesday’s Rib-Eye or Applebee’s Sizzling Steak Fajitas and other look-alike recipes for restaurant favorites. The authors claim that their low-calorie meals will let you lose weight over the summer

The Lodge Cast Iron Cookbook TX840 .S55 L63 2012

Cast iron devotees will recognize the Lodge name as the first maker of American cast iron cookware and delight in the variety of recipes within this cookbook. If you love cornbread, try Vidalia Cornbread or Amish Chicken Cornbread Bake, prize winning recipes from the National Cornbread Cook-off.  New Hampshire’s own Mary Ann Esposito and other cookbook authors, chefs and Lodge descendants contributed recipes for breakfast, lunch and supper dishes to this collection.

• Africa: Eye to Eye with the Unknown   DVD DT14 .A47 A475 2013
• Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry   DVD N7349 .A5 A4 2012
• Argo  DVD PN1997.2 .A74 2013
• Black Tights  DVD PN1997 .B533 B335 1962
• The Black Stallion   DVD PN1997 .B533 B5335 1979
• Blue Murder (The Complete Collection)   DVD PN1997.2 .B594 B59 2011
• Call the Midwife (Season One)  DVD PN1992.77 .C35 2012 v.1
• Chocolat   DVD PN1997 .C463 C463 1988
• Confidentially Yours   DVD PN1997 .C6543 C654 1986
• Cracker (The Complete Collection)   DVD PN1992.77 .C733 2009
• Doc Martin: The Movies   DVD PN1992.77 .D62 2001
• Edouard Manet   DVD ND 553 .M3 E36 2010
• Empire of the Eye: The Magic of Illusion   DVD NC748 .E47 M345 2003
• The Endless Summer   DVD GV839.5 .E53 2010
• Hetty Wainthropp Investigates (1^st – 4th Seasons)  DVD PN1992.77 .H48 H48 2004 v. 1-4
• Hetty Wainthropp: Missing Persons   DVD PN1992.77 .H48 H486 2005
• I Wake Up Screaming   DVD PN1997 .I93 I93 1989
• The Impressionists: Manet   DVD ND547.5 .I4 M36 2006 c.2
• The Informer   DVD PN1997 .I535 I5 1986
• Inspector Morse: The Infernal Serpent (Set 4)   DVD PN1992.77 .I576 I54 2011 v.4 c.2
• Landmarks of Western Art: A Journey of Art History Across the Ages DVD NX 643 .L36363757 2006
• A League of Their Own   DVD PN1997 .L434 1997
• The Lost World Double Feature   DVD PN1997 .L678 L67 2012
• The Master (also in Blue Ray)  DVD PN1997.2 .M37 M378 2013
• The Plow that Broke the Plains   DVD HC107 .A17 P58 2007
• Riding the Bus with My Sister   DVD PS3569 .I4845 Z46 2005
• Searching for Sugar Man   DVD ML420 .R666 S43 2013
• Sherlock (Season Two)   DVD PN1992.77 .S5468 2012 v.2
• Till the End of Time   DVD PN1997 .T5 T5 1989
• The Times of Harvey Milk    DVD HQ76.2 .C25 T56 2011
• Thomas Eakins: Scenes from Modern Life   DVD N6537 .E3 T49 2002
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin   DVD PN1997 .U52 1999

Book Review: Ballad of the Whiskey Robber

Ballad of the Whiskey Robber: A True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives, and Broken Hearts    

Julian Rubinstein (2004)

 

HV6653.A7 R83 2004

 

All the trappings of a picaresque novel: an episodic work of fiction dealing with the adventures of a rough and dishonest but appealing hero.  And, Attila Ambrus – the focus of the tale - is all that and more…only it’s not fiction, despite how improbable and fantastic it reads:  it’s the true story of the emergence of post-communist Hungary into modern Europe through the tumultuous 1990’s as seen through Ambrus’ story. But, that’s not the half of it - or perhaps a little more accurately - the 80% of it. The history of modern Hungary starts with the end of the First World War and the extremely harsh Treaty of Trianon when a leading cultural and major world power was stripped of nearly 70% of its native lands (including access to the sea) leaving almost one-third of its ethnic population to the vagaries and whims, at best,  of countries not entirely sympathetic to the plight of Hungary or the Hungarians who, by the few strokes of a pen, found themselves outside the borders (and protection) of their homeland. “Hungary has always been unlucky…” is how the first sentence of the first chapter of the Ballad of the Whiskey Robber opens - which gives new meaning to the old saw…but for bad luck Hungary wouldn’t have any luck at all.

Even knowing that the Ballad of the Whiskey Robber is a true story doesn’t make it any easier to believe that it’s true: author Julian Rubinstein could be mistaken for a fabulist or Thomas Pynchon’s cousin given to the pleasures of absurdism and imagination with the stunning ability to entertain and to turn a phrase. From a person who has not yet had the pleasure visiting Budapest and Hungary, how much more the person who has lived there must appreciate and knowingly catch the subtleties of the descriptions of the boulevards, districts, train stations, parks and locales – such as Margit Island – as the almost too unbelievable tale of Attila Ambrus unfolds, set against the backdrop of Hungary moving by fits and starts into the 21^st century. And, what a passage it is!

For all of the romp, pace, personalities and deadpan descriptions (where else would a police force watch reruns of Columbo as part of their “training”?), Rubenstein has fashioned a unique look at the history of a culture and country in dramatic – sometimes simultaneously hilariously and tragically so - transition from communism to capitalism with attendant problems in between. To tell the story, Rubenstein uses the up-dated form of the literary ballad which retains an elaborate and drole narrative told in prose rather than in verse. If the Ballad of the Whiskey Robber just told the story of Attila Ambrus, it would still be a highly entertaining read, perhaps like Jimmy Breslin’s The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight, only set in a more exotic locale. However, Rubenstein’s work is a dynamic and fully integrated horizontal and vertical history of the progeny of the failure of Trianon told through the life and exploits of Attila Ambrus that perfectly catches the ethos and pathos of lost homelands; displaced countrymen; promises of success; and the gulf between class, wealth and ethnic divisions.

Rubenstein adroitly gives Attila his full voice – understanding that Attila, who captured the imagination of his countrymen – is the glue that holds and propels the narrative and, in so doing, elevates the Ballad of the Whiskey Robber to the stuff of legend.

 

 

What's a fan to do?

The third season of Downton Abbey finished up a short while ago and it will be months until another season of this PBS Masterpiece Classic presentation appears on American television. Set during the reign of King Edward VII, the series depicts the intrigue and interconnectedness of English country life within the Abbey as lived by both the moneyed (gilded) Cawley family and the downstairs house staff (overseen) by Carson and Mrs. Hughes.

The series is filmed at Highclere Castle, the residence of the Earl of Carnovan, and there is more information about the house and grounds at the estate website.

Read this article in our EbscoHost database, Downton Abbey, the cover story of British Heritage magazine.

The NHTI Library owns DVDs and recent books, one by Jessica Fellowes, the niece of the series creator and other titles related to the Downton series:

DVDs

• Downton Abbey, Seasons One & Two   DVD PN1992.77 .D69 2012 v. 1-2
• Downton Abbey, Season 2   DVD PN1992.77 .D695 2011 v.2
• Downton Abbey, Season 3   DVD PN1992.77 .D69 2013

BOOKS

• Below Stairs: the Classic Kitchen Maid’s Memoir that Inspired “Upstairs, Downstairs” and “Downton Abbey” by Margaret Powell   TX649 .P68 A3 2012
• Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey: the Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle by the Countess of Carnarvon   DA570 .C37 2011
• The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook by Emily Baines   TX714 .B33354 2012
• Upstairs & Downstairs: the Illustrated Guide to the Real World of Downton Abbey   DA566.4 .W343 2012
• World of Downton Abbey by Jessica Fellows   PN1992.77 .D695 F45 2011

Book Review: The Family Fang

The Family Fang: A Novel    

Kevin Wilson (2011)

PS3623.I58546 F36 2011  

Meta-fiction posing convincingly as a colorful family story populated by quirky performance artist parents who incorporate their children into their art. Coming out of the hotbed of creative writing at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and the University of the South with heady stops along the way including the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo, author Kevin Wilson has crafted a mind-bending discussion of art, aesthetics, cinema, writing and reading based, a bit, on asynchronous memories which mutate as each reader brings his/her own memories and experiences to bear on the story. To read The Family Fang as entertainment is to miss the real genius of the book: it’s clearly entertaining (if not disturbing) and works as a story about a strange family; but Wilson is interested in engaging the reader at a much different level. If a reader doesn’t feel vulnerable with one’s inner emotions and thoughts laid bare for all to see and doesn’t feel that The Family Fang is alive, potent and waiting – much like the board game Jumanji pulsed and waited for players – then enjoy (thank-you-very-much) a masterful story of a quirky family tinged with strange behavior shrouded in mystery.

The Family Fang is, among other things, a direct challenge on how a work is read (the book as object is changed because it is read), what is Art and what passes for art, the relevance of certain types of art – is performance art in bellbottoms an anachronism, retro hip or is it a passing fad posing as art  – how films such as Carol Reed’s The Third Man and Andrey Tarkovskiy’s Mirror - inform and shape the novel, what sacrifices – including the lives of children used as props in performance art – must be made for Art to endure; where does creative art intersect with destructive behavior and what happens when the parent-child relationship is blurred in the name of art?

If art challenges us in how we view ourselves in relation to the world and leads to truths, then performance art hangs on a slender thread; as Cobb says in Christopher Nolan’s film Following, “You take it away... to show them what they had…” “it” being an object, a feeling, etc. But, is breaking the law in performance art a crime, an art form or both? Early Film Surrealists believed that movies were being wasted on entertainment and, in a film such as Luis Bunuel’s Un Chien Andalou, wanted to shake moviegoers out of complacency, to make them react, think and feel through discomfort or shock – even if only for a fleeting second – what it feels like to be alive. Performance art by its nature catches people in their everyday lives and forces them to deal with some discomforting act or behavior and then, in hindsight, begin to understand that they were participants in the creation of an event. But, is this art?  Clearly not John Keats’ Grecian Urn; does performance art provide meaning to the artist as well the unaware observer/reluctant participant and will it rise to the Keats’ level of truth that “Beauty is truth, truth beauty”?

Temporal displacement informs The Family Fang and the novel is a work of misdirection: it masterfully appears to be about one thing but is really about another.  Propelled by a story of a brother and sister, the children of performance artists and parents Caleb and Camille, Buster and Annie have left home becoming a writer and film actress, respectively, trying to come to grips with the effects on their psyches caused by their parents’ use of them as props in their parents’ performance pieces. The “now” of Buster and Annie is intercut with a recounting of earlier performance pieces where their parents are revealed to us – and along the way Buster and Annie - and why the children left home and did what they did. There are many excellent set pieces, such as Buster and Annie in the school play of Romeo and Juliet, which brilliantly capture the nature of performance art – will brother and sister passionately kiss - and the interior lives of Buster, Annie, Caleb and Camille in making it. Two significant events – Annie appearing topless in a film and subsequently all over the internet and elsewhere and Buster being shot in the face by a potato – return them to their parents home where, in the course of a couple of weeks, Caleb and Camille disappear while on a road trip. Are they dead? Or, is this one more piece of Grand Guignol performance art? In trying to solve the mystery Buster and Annie find art of a different sort, paintings by their mother hidden – almost - in a closet, the sublimation of her artistic expression for her and Caleb’s performance art. And, what are the chances that The Family Fang is really the book that Buster is writing about himself, Annie and their parents as brother and sister try to solve the mystery of the disappearance of their parents? But wait, there’s more! While geography and places are vividly rendered (Nebraska does feel like that but the sacrifices in the name of art an author must make…”Honey, gotta go to Nebraska in winter for source material…”), The Family Fang is a love story (or more accurately, stories) observed through the lens of family, art and meaning. It’s love of siblings for one another and of their parents; and, of parents for each other and for their children. And, also, love of one’s self. But, its love in the context of hard choices and decisions made, self-deception, meaning of life, family, obsession, art, media and, perhaps, self-respect and the respect for others. The Family Fang is about the maturity of learning to love; working at love and the degrees of success and failure in lives lived: it is a brilliant work of Art.

Films on Demand

The NHTI Library just acquired a new database, Films on Demand and you will find it listed on the library home page.

These short films, news clips and educational videos bring state-of-art streaming video to our campus. Explore this resource because the Films on Demand videos may be added to the BlackBoard page for your class. With these clips, it’s possible to travel abroad, examine other cultures and view speeches given at important times in U.S. history. In a flipped classroom, an instructor may incorporate relevant videos that students view before a class and arrive ready to discuss the topic.

Take a peek at these examples:

• Facing the Fiscal Cliff (04:01) explains how the Democrats could win the election by reaching out to groups that have pulled away such as seniors and the working class.
• Smart Phone Guides and Recap of Tips for Healthy Eating on the Go (01:47) offers pointers on nutritious meals-on-the-go and using a smart phone to find information about it.
• Inside the Box (3:07) a homicide detective talks about interrogation techniques.