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Athena College is playing host to the Southern Academic Libraries Association convention and Charlie Harris’s old grad school classmate Gavin Fong is giving the keynote address. Charlie doesn’t have fond memories of Gavin, and an encounter opening night proves that Gavin is still as arrogant as ever. But when Gavin collapses and dies in the middle of his speech, Charlie is surprised. Yes, Gavin was a jerk, but who hated him enough to kill him?

As always, this is a strong mystery, with conflict and tension set up from the very first chapter. We have several strong motives and suspects before Gavin dies, and we get some nice twists before the logical solution. The suspects are all believable, and the returning characters continue to be strong. Charlie’s cat Diesel charms like always as well.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2017/02/book-review-twelve-angry-librarians-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
SS
Spy Ski School (Spy School #4)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ben Ripley is thrilled to be officially called for his first field assignment. He’s going to Colorado to learn to ski. While there, he needs to befriend a girl so he can get close to her father and figure out his evil plans. However, Ben soon realizes getting close to his target isn’t going to be as easy as he thought. With the clock ticking, can he save the day again?

While the target audience might be middle graders, this is a delightful read for anyone. The story is strong, the pace never lags, and we get some fantastic complications and nail biting action scenes along the way. The characters are fun as always, and we get some good growth in a couple of them. There’s plenty of humor as well.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2016/10/book-review-spy-ski-school-by-stuart.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
<a href="https://awindowintobooks.wordpress.com">Full Review</a>
Kid Artist: True Tales of Childhood from Creative Legends by David Stabler is a fun nonfiction book! It's perfect for middle school age, but can be enjoyable to older readers. The book shares childhood stories of famous artists.

The book is divided into three sections and within each section the artists have similarities. I loved the illustrations by Doogie Horner, it really brought the stories to life. I knew about most of the featured artists, but I was not aware of all. I enjoyed learning about the artists childhood. The facts are all very intriguing This is a great book to learn about these amazing artists. It shows how other people went about learning to paint, draw, sculpt, and more and it could really inspire kids to try their hand at what they are interested in!

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
The 400 Blows (1959)
The 400 Blows (1959)
1959 | Drama
(0 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"Here’s one where the music is so important. And the decision where the camera movement is. There’s one moment in particular in 400 Blows, where the two boys skip school and they go into this centrifuge, and the kids are spinning around and you’re watching the movie and then all of a sudden you realize you’re watching something on the screen — you’re seeing this pole in the middle and these bodies flying by. I guess they’re just epiphanies of humanness that resonate, and I guess all that comes out of really physical human decisions — whether it’s about where you point your camera, what and how you’re editing, or how people are acting. But in all of these movies I can’t think of one that is depending on special effects. So I would say that what drives me is something that has to do with things that seem much more fundamental to storytelling, that are simple things… but maybe that’s because I’m a primitive kind of person."

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Wild Strawberries (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
1957 | Drama
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Favorite

"The first one is Wild Strawberries by Ingmar Bergman. It’s what I saw when I was 15, and it showed me that films could be something more than just entertainment or going and staring at girls in the cinema or whatever, but film could have the kind of weight of a book or something like that. I used to be a big reader, and I loved going to the movies, but I had no sense of taste in the movies. You know, I grew up in a suburb of London, and I went to school in the middle of London, and that’s when I found myself, one wet afternoon, in an arthouse, and there was Wild Strawberries, and that, for me, was the beginning of it all. It had so many ideas, and it played with dreams, and I thought, “Oh my God. This is quite something.” So it really was a kind of major event in my life."

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