With Central Library closed for a two-year renovation, the popular Books Sandwiched In review series moves to a new location to keep the pages turning.
You can still bring your lunch and enjoy the humorous and insightful reviews at the Oklahoma Methodist Manor, 4134 E. 31st St., Fleming Center. Each review, led by local book aficionados, is from 12:10-12:50 p.m.
The series begins Oct. 7 with “Lady Almina and the Real Downtown Abbey: The Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle” by Fiona, Countess of Carnarvon. Reviewer Glenda Silvey, Director of Communications for OU-Tulsa, shares insight into the real-life inspiration and setting for the popular PBS show “Downtown Abbey.” This rich tale contrasts the splendor of Edwardian life against the backdrop of World War I and offers an inspiring and revealing picture of the decline of the great English estates and the remarkable woman at the center of the history of Highclere Castle.
Oct. 14 features “Big Data: A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work and Think,” by Viktor Mayer-Schonberger and Kenneth Cukier. John Henshaw, Department Chair and Harry H. Rogers Chair of Mechanical Engineering, University of Tulsa, reviews this startling look at the future of how information is utilized. The authors explain what big data is, how it will change our lives and what we can do to protect ourselves from its hazards.
Timothy Egan’s “Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher” is the featured book for Oct. 21. Brian Hosmer, H.G. Barnard Chair of Western American History, University of Tulsa, discusses this new biography on how a lone man’s epic obsession led to one of America’s greatest cultural treasures. In 1900, when Edward S. Curtis was 32 years old, he decided to pursue his great idea of photographing the continent’s original inhabitants before the old ways disappeared. Eventually Curtis took more than 40,000 photographs, preserved 10,000 audio recordings and is credited with making the first narrative documentary film.
Jane Wiseman, judge, Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals, reviews Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl” on Oct. 28. On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Mo., a wife disappears, leaving her husband and town golden boy as the prime suspect. Flynn delivers a fast-paced, devilishly dark and ingeniously plotted thriller.
Steve Cortright, Federal Security Director of Tulsa, reviews “A Higher Call” by Adam Makos on Nov. 4. This true story follows the path of two World War II pilots and how their lives collided. Their encounter would haunt both for the next 40 years until, as old men, they would search for one another, a last mission that could change their lives forever.
There is no review on Nov. 11, as the series pauses to recognize Veterans Day.
The series concludes Nov. 18 with “A Kazuo Ishiguro Sampler” led by Bill Kellough, district judge, 14th Judicial District, State of Oklahoma. Kellough will introduce us to the works of Kazuo Ishiguro, winner of the Tulsa Library Trust’s 2013 Peggy V. Helmerich Distinguished Author Award. Ishiguro will receive the award on Dec. 6 at Southern Hills Country Club. He is considered one of the most celebrated contemporary fiction authors in the English-speaking world.
For more information on Books Sandwiched In, call 918-549-7408, or visit the library web site, www.tulsalibrary.org.
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