Quirky Movie List

In the need for a non-mainstream movie? Want something crazy and different? Tired of a boring romantic comedy? Check out this list...

1) Safety Not Guaranteed
Darius is a young intern at a Seattle-based magazine and jumps at the chance to investigate the author of a classified ad seeking someone to travel back in time with. Along with Jeff, the staff writer, and Arnau, a fellow intern, the three go on a road trip to a coastal town. While Jeff just wants to chase after his high school crush and Arnau wants some kind of life experience, Darius spends her time with Kenneth, a man who believes that he has built a time machine. The closer they become and the more they understand about each other, the less clear it becomes if Kenneth is just crazy or if he actually is going to successfully travel back in time.

Director: Colin Trevorrow
Writer: Derek Connolly
Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2012



2) Winter Passing
Actress Reese Holden has been offered a small fortune by a book editor if she can secure for publication the love letters that her father, a reclusive novelist, wrote to her mother, who has since passed away. Returning to Michigan, Reese finds that an ex-grad student and a would-be musician have moved in with her father, who cares more about his new friends than he does about his own health and well-being.

Director: Adam Rapp
Writer: Adam Rapp
Stars: Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel, Will Ferrell |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2005



3) Ghost World
This is the story of Enid and Rebecca after they finish the high school. Both have problems to be related with people and they spend their time hanging around and bothering creeps. When they met Seymour who is a social outsider who loves to collect old vinyl records, the life of Enid will change forever.

Director: Terry Zwigoff
Writers: Daniel Clowes (comic book), Daniel Clowes, 1 more credit »
Stars: Steve Buscemi, Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2001



4) (500) Days of Summer
After it looks as if she's left his life for good this time, Tom Hansen reflects back on the just over one year that he knew Summer Finn. Despite being physically average in almost every respect, Summer had always attracted the attention of men, Tom included. For Tom, it was love at first sight when she walked into the greeting card company where he worked, she the new administrative assistant. Soon, Tom knew that Summer was the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life. Although Summer did not believe in relationships or boyfriends - in her assertion, real life will always ultimately get in the way - Tom and Summer became more than just friends. Through the trials and tribulations of Tom and Summer's so-called relationship, Tom could always count on the advice of his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul. However, it is Tom's adolescent sister, Rachel, who is his voice of reason. After all is said and done, Tom is the one who ultimately has to make the choice to listen or...

Director: Marc Webb
Writers: Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber
Stars: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Geoffrey Arend | See full cast and crew »
Released: 2009



5) Frances Ha
Frances lives in New York, but she doesn't really have an apartment. Frances is an apprentice for a dance company, but she's not really a dancer. Frances has a best friend named Sophie, but they aren't really speaking anymore. Frances throws herself headlong into her dreams, even as their possible reality dwindles. Frances wants so much more than she has but lives her life with unaccountable joy and lightness.

Director: Noah Baumbach
Writers: Noah Baumbach, Greta Gerwig
Stars: Greta Gerwig, Mickey Sumner, Adam Driver |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2012



6) Live Free or Die
It's not the crime, it's the cover-up. In small-town, hard-scrabble New Hampshire, foul-mouthed all-talk slacker John "Rugged" Rudgate fancies himself a criminal. When a local plumber stares him down at a pub, Rugged vows revenge, pouring brake fluid in the man's water supply. When the man dies from unrelated causes, Rugged and his side-kick, the even dimmer Jeff, try to cover up what they think is murder. One bad decision begets another.

Directors: Gregg Kavet, Andy Robin
Writers: Gregg Kavet, Andy Robin
Stars: Aaron Stanford, Paul Schneider, Judah Friedlander |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2006



7) Submarine
Precocious Oliver struggles with being popular in school but when a dark-haired beauty takes interest in him, he's determined to become the best boyfriend in the world. Meanwhile, his parents' already rocky relationship is threatened when his mother's ex-boyfriend moves in next door. Oliver makes some unorthodox plans to ensure that his parents stay together and that Jordana still likes him.

Director: Richard Ayoade
Writers: Richard Ayoade, Joe Dunthorne (novel)
Stars: Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2010



8) Seven Psychopaths
A struggling screenwriter (Colin Farrell) inadvertently becomes entangled in the Los Angeles criminal underworld after his oddball friends (Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell) kidnap a gangster's (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu.

Director: Martin McDonagh
Writer: Martin McDonagh
Stars: Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2012

Tuesday Movie Fest

Want to See

A

New Movie?

Come to the Library!

on 

Tuesday, September 2nd

at

6 p.m.

for

Angel In Love

In this sequel to the popular comedy, An Angel in Krakaw, Giordano the Angel is bound by his earthly responsibilities and cannot return to heaven. He contemplates becoming human, but he is reluctant to be completely on his own. When all ties are severed with heaven, Giordano has a nervous breakdown. The Powers-that-Be then arrange for him to meet the one person who will bring him heaven on earth--the woman he will fall in love with.

Almost Unknown Book List

Looking for something different...unusual...not the same boring author all the time(oh, I'm sure they are really, really great but variety is the spice of life). Check out this list!


1) "What Hides Within" by Jason Parent
Inside all of us, there is darkness. Inside Clive, it's tangible, and it's aching to get out.
What Hides Within tells the story of a man held captive by an unknown evil. Clive Menard is a spineless slacker leading an ordinary existence. But when Chester enters his life, it becomes far from ordinary.
A disheveled Clive stands alone in a hospital waiting room. A series of incidences have led him to undergo unnecessary neurosurgery. A voice inside Clive's head nags him to kill the doctor.
Weeks prior, a murder investigation and an unrelated kayaking excursion set the story's interlocking events in motion. When a remorseful killer, a bomb-happy psychopath and a mysterious widow spider converge upon Clive, they bring with them destruction and death. Clive must discover who or what is steering his very existence before he, too, is consumed by the carnage around him.
With a driven detective following his every step and a vicious killer hiding within his circle of friends, Clive must walk a narrow and dangerous path, teetering between salvation and damnation. He must confront Chester and his own demons. But is he powerless to overcome them?



2) "Devil Inside" by Brandy Isaacs
"For every light there is a dark." Harley Finn had never had an easy life. Despite having a difficult childhood, she has worked hard to create a safe and comfortable life for herself. Harley does her best to enjoy her simple, mundane life. But after a random hook-up her life will never be the same At first Levi Bonham seems like the ideal, no-strings-attached kind of guy, but Harley soon realizes that he is as dangerous as he is enticing. Harley’s connection to Levi leads to disastrous consequences. Suddenly, Harley finds herself plunged into a world plagued by creatures that prey on human suffering and misery. Reeling from tragedy, Harley must confront her own demons to save herself and those she loves the most. Her desire for revenge collides with a centuries old war waged at humanity’s expense. Harley must decide if she is willing to put aside her vendetta and risk her own humanity for the sake of mankind.



3) "The Island Keeper" by Harry Mazer
Tired of being fat, rich, and miserable, Cleo Murphy runs away, desperate to prove herself.
Her destination is a deserted island her father owns in Canada. She is determined to stay and survive, through her supplies are scanty and she knows nothing about living out of doors.
As the summer months pass, Cleo does fend for herself, and finally she feels ready to face her family on the mainland. But by a cruel twist of fate her canoe is destroyed, and instead she must prove herself again and face the brutal Canadian winter.



4) "I Should Be Extremely Happy In Your Company" by Brian Hall
Brian Hall’s compulsively readable novel vividly re-creates Lewis and Clark’s extraordinary journey into the unknown western frontier. Focusing on the emblematic moments of the participants’ lives, the story unfolds through the perspectives of four competing voices—from the troubled and mercurial figure of Meriwether Lewis, the expedition leader who found that it was impossible to enter paradise without having it crumble around him, to Sacagawea, the Shoshone girl-captive and interpreter for the expedition, whose short life mirrored the disruptive times in which she lived. Bringing the day-to-day life of the expedition alive as no work of history ever could, Hall’s magnificent novel fills in the gaps and provides a new perspective on the most famous journey in American history.



5) "The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks" by Robertson Davies
The Papers of Samuel Marchbanks, published by Irwin in 1985, constitutes a collection of the writings of Samuel Marchbanks, a character created in 1944 by Canadian novelist and journalist Robertson Davies when he was editor of the Peterborough Examiner newspaper in the small city of Peterborough, Ontario, northeast of Toronto.

Action Movie List

Want to see something explode? Want to see car cashes without being in danger? Check out these movies!

1) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
The year is 1936. A professor who studies archeology named Indiana Jones is venturing in the jungles in South America searching for a golden statue. Unfortunately, he sets off a deadly trap doing so, miraculously, he escapes. Then, Jones hears from a museum curator named Marcus Brody about a biblical artifact called The Ark of the Covenant, which can hold the key to humanly existence. Jones has to venture to vast places such as Nepal and Egypt to find this artifact. However, he will have to fight his enemy Renee Belloq and a band of Nazis in order to reach it.

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Lawrence Kasdan (screenplay), George Lucas(story), 1 more credit »
Stars: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1981

First of many.

2) Batman Begins
When his parents were killed, millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne relocates to Asia when he is mentored by Henri Ducard and Ra's Al Ghul in how to fight evil. When learning about the plan to wipe out evil in Gotham City by Ducard, Bruce prevents this plan from getting any further and heads back to his home. Back in his original surroundings, Bruce adopts the image of a bat to strike fear into the criminals and the corrupt as the icon known as 'Batman'. But it doesn't stay quiet for long.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Writers: Bob Kane (characters), David S. Goyer (story), 2 more credits »
Stars: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2005



First movie of a trilogy.

3) Die Hard
New York City Detective John McClane has just arrived in Los Angeles to spend Christmas with his wife. Unfortunatly, it is not going to be a Merry Christmas for everyone. A group of terrorists, led by Hans Gruber is holding everyone in the Nakatomi Plaza building hostage. With no way of anyone getting in or out, it's up to McClane to stop them all. All 12!

Director: John McTiernan
Writers: Roderick Thorp (novel), Jeb Stuart (screenplay), 1 more credit »
Stars: Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Bonnie Bedelia |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1988



First of four and still going.

4) Gladiator
Maximus is a powerful Roman general, loved by the people and the aging Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Before his death, the Emperor chooses Maximus to be his heir over his own son, Commodus, and a power struggle leaves Maximus and his family condemned to death. The powerful general is unable to save his family, and his loss of will allows him to get captured and put into the Gladiator games until he dies. The only desire that fuels him now is the chance to rise to the top so that he will be able to look into the eyes of the man who will feel his revenge.

Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: David Franzoni (story), David Franzoni(screenplay), 2 more credits »
Stars: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2000



5) Platoon
Chris Taylor is a young, naive American who gives up college and volunteers for combat in Vietnam. Upon arrival, he quickly discovers that his presence is quite nonessential, and is considered insignificant to the other soldiers, as he has not fought for as long as the rest of them and felt the effects of combat. Chris has two non-commissioned officers, the ill-tempered and indestructible Staff Sergeant Robert Barnes and the more pleasant and cooperative Sergeant Elias Grodin. A line is drawn between the two NCOs and a number of men in the platoon when an illegal killing occurs during a village raid. As the war continues, Chris himself draws towards psychological meltdown. And as he struggles for survival, he soon realizes he is fighting two battles, the conflict with the enemy and the conflict between the men within his platoon.

Director: Oliver Stone
Writer: Oliver Stone
Stars: Charlie Sheen, Tom Berenger, Willem Dafoe |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1986



6) Max 2: The Road Warrior
A former Australian policeman now living in the post-apocalyptic Australian outback as a warrior agrees to help a community of survivors living in a gasoline refinery to defend them and their gasoline supplies from evil barbarian warriors.

Director: George Miller
Writers: Terry Hayes (screenplay), George Miller(screenplay), 1 more credit »
Stars: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1981



7) Skyfall
When Bond's latest assignment goes gravely wrong and agents around the world are exposed, MI6 is attacked forcing M to relocate the agency. These events cause her authority and position to be challenged by Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee. With MI6 now compromised from both inside and out, M is left with one ally she can trust: Bond. 007 takes to the shadows - aided only by field agent, Eve (Naomie Harris) - following a trail to the mysterious Silva (Javier Bardem), whose lethal and hidden motives have yet to reveal themselves.

Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, 2 more credits »
Stars: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2012
The latest of many movies.

Best Spy Novel Book List

Want to read about someone sneaking secrets out of a foreign land? Get an adrenaline rush from a car chase without having to be in the car? Check out these spies and their amazing adventures...

1) "The Bourne Identity: Jason Bourne #1" by Robert Ludlum
His memory is a blank. His bullet-ridden body was fished from the Mediterranean Sea. His face has been altered by plastic surgery. A frame of microfilm has been surgically implanted in his hip. Even his name is a mystery. Marked for death, he is racing for survival through a bizarre world of murderous conspirators—led by Carlos, the world’s most dangerous assassin. Who is Jason Bourne? The answer may kill him.



2) "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold" by John le Carre
In the shadow of the newly erected Berlin Wall, Alec Leamas watches as his last agent is shot dead by East German sentries. For Leamas, the head of Berlin Station, the Cold War is over. As he faces the prospect of retirement or worse—a desk job—Control offers him a unique opportunity for revenge. Assuming the guise of an embittered and dissolute ex-agent, Leamas is set up to trap Mundt, the deputy director of the East German Intelligence Service—with himself as the bait. In the background is George Smiley, ready to make the game play out just as Control wants.
Setting a standard that has never been surpassed, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold is a devastating tale of duplicity and espionage.



3) "The Day of the Jackal" by Frederick Forsyth
He is known only as “The Jackal”—a cold, calculating assassin without emotion, or loyalty, or equal. He’s just received a contract from an enigmatic employer to eliminate one of the most heavily guarded men in the world—Charles De Gaulle, president of France.
It is only a twist of fate that allows the authorities to discover the plot. They know next to nothing—only that the assassin is on the move. To track him, they dispatch their finest detective, Claude Lebel, on a manhunt that will push him to his limit, in a race to stop an assassin’s bullet from reaching its target.



4) "The Ninth Orphan" by James Morcan
How do you catch a man who is never the same man twice?
That is the question posed in The Ninth Orphan, a top-rated international thriller novel and the first book in The Orphan Trilogy.
An orphan grows up to become an assassin for a highly secretive organization. When he tries to break free and live a normal life, he is hunted by his mentor and father figure, and by a female orphan he spent his childhood with. On the run, the mysterious man's life becomes entwined with his beautiful French-African hostage and a shocking past riddled with the darkest of conspiracies is revealed.
But can the ninth-born orphan ever get off the grid? To find out you'll need to go on a tumultuous journey around the globe to such far-flung locations as China, France, the Philippines, Andorra, America, England, Germany and French Polynesia. The frenetic cat-and-mouse chase moves from airports to train stations and hidden torture prisons, taking the reader on a shocking, nail-biting ride into the world's closet of skeletons that goes beyond conspiracy theories to painful reality.
Fast-paced, totally fresh and original, filled with deep and complex characters, The Ninth Orphan is a controversial, high-octane thriller with an edge. Merging fact with fiction, it illuminates shadow organizations rumored to actually exist in our world. The novel explores a plethora of conspiracies involving real organizations like the CIA, MI6, and the UN, and public figures such as President Obama as well as the Clinton, Marcos and Bush families.
Tackling genetic selection, mind control and secret societies, The Ninth Orphanexposes a global agenda designed to keep the power in the hands of a select few. The novel's antagonists are members of a shadow government acting above and beyond the likes of the White House, the FBI, the Pentagon and the NSA. Could something like this ever take place? Or, is it already taking place right now?
This unique and unpredictable thriller also has a poignant, romantic sub-plot. The story contains the kind of intimate character portraits usually associated with psychological novels. Buckle up for a wild trip full of death-defying action, cloak and dagger intrigue, unexpected role reversals and surprise endings.



5) "Nonofficial Asset" by William Sewell
Peyton Stone never quit his day job. But it's his other profession that might just get him killed.
Islamabad. Baghdad. Shanghai. Kazakhstan, Kabul. Langley. For Peyton Stone, that's a work commute. But his is no normal job. On the surface he's a world-renowned security expert. But his real occupation is serving as a "nonofficial asset," a contractor working for the CIA when the government needs complete deniability. While advancing American interests globally, Stone discovers that those interests can exact a steep personal price. And when his business partner is murdered in a Shanghai hotel, ominous ghosts from his past return and he's drawn deeper into the covert maze, on the hunt for a stolen nuclear weapon and the rogue Iranian admiral hell-bent on using it. In Nonofficial Asset his skills, training, tactics, mettle, and allegiance to family and country are all pushed to the limit as he races to prevent nuclear catastrophe.
A captivating international espionage cliffhanger, William Sewell's new spy thriller is not some fake fantasy conjured by an uninformed novice writer working from his safe, local Starbucks. This is an adroitly told tale of very real and likely scenarios by someone who has been in some, if not most, of these dark bunkers--and lived to tell about it. A 30-year veteran of the clandestine services, William Sewell is a communications security expert by day. But like Peyton Stone, he has another profession. Exploiting his behind-enemy-lines intelligence experience, Sewell infuses Nonofficial Asset with an authenticity that can only be gained from real-world experience in the trenches.



6) "American Assassin" by Vince Flynn
Before he was considered a CIA superagent, before he was thought of as a terrorist’s worst nightmare, and before he was both loathed and admired by the politicians on Capitol Hill, Mitch Rapp was a gifted college athlete without a care in the world . . . and then tragedy struck.
Two decades of cutthroat, partisan politics has left the CIA and the country in an increasingly vulnerable position. Cold War veteran and CIA Operations Director Thomas Stansfield knows he must prepare his people for the next war. The rise of Islamic terrorism is coming, and it needs to be met abroad before it reaches America’s shores. Stansfield directs his protégée, Irene Kennedy, and his old Cold War colleague, Stan Hurley, to form a new group of clandestine operatives who will work outside the normal chain of command—men who do not exist.
What type of man is willing to kill for his country without putting on a uniform? Kennedy finds him in the wake of the Pan Am Lockerbie terrorist attack. Two-hundred and seventy souls perished that cold December night, and thousands of family and friends were left searching for comfort. Mitch Rapp was one of them, but he was not interested in comfort. He wanted retribution.
Six months of intense training has prepared him to bring the war to the enemy’s doorstep, and he does so with brutal efficiency. Rapp starts in Istanbul, where he assassinates the Turkish arms dealer who sold the explosives used in the Pan Am attack. Rapp then moves onto Hamburg with his team and across Europe, leaving a trail of bodies. All roads lead to Beirut, though, and what Rapp doesn’t know is that the enemy is aware of his existence and has prepared a trap. The hunter is about to become the hunted, and Rapp will need every ounce of skill and cunning if he is to survive the war-ravaged city and its various terrorist factions.



7) "Agency Rules-Never an Easy Day at the Office" by Khalid Muhammad
Celebrated as a ragtag force that defeated and broke the Soviet Union, no one predicted the Mujahideen would bring with them a plague that would spread like wildfire through Pakistan in the years to follow. When the battle-worn fighters returned with no enemy or war to fight, they turned their sights on the country that had been their creator and benefactor.
From the same battlegrounds that birthed the Mujahideen, a young Kamal Khan emerges as a different breed of warrior. Discarding his wealthy family comforts, Kamal becomes a precision sniper, an invincible commando and a clandestine operative bringing intimidation, dominance and death with him to the battlefield. Ending the plague is his prime directive.
Shrouded in political expediency, hampered by internal power struggles, international espionage and doublespeak that makes Washington's spin doctors proud, Kamal's mission is a nightmare of rampant militant fundamentalism that threatens to choke and take Pakistan hostage. For him, the fight is not just for freedom, but the survival of a nation.



8) "Our Man in Havanna" by Graham Greene
MI6’s man in Havana is Wormold, a former vacuum-cleaner salesman turned reluctant secret agent out of economic necessity. To keep his job, he files bogus reports based on Charles Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare and dreams up military installations from vacuum-cleaner designs. Then his stories start coming disturbingly true…
First published in 1959 against the backdrop of the Cold War, Our Man in Havana remains one of Graham Greene’s most widely read novels. It is an espionage thriller, a penetrating character study, and a political satire of government intelligence that still resonates today. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Christopher Hitchens.

Trippy Book List

Want something unusual? A little different...a little kookie? Check out these books....

1) "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll
In 1862 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a shy Oxford mathematician with a stammer, created a story about a little girl tumbling down a rabbit hole. Thus began the immortal adventures of Alice, perhaps the most popular heroine in English literature. Countless scholars have tried to define the charm of the Alice books–with those wonderfully eccentric characters the Queen of Hearts, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee, the Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, the Mad Hatter et al.–by proclaiming that they really comprise a satire on language, a political allegory, a parody of Victorian children’s literature, even a reflection of contemporary ecclesiastical history. Perhaps, as Dodgson might have said, Alice is no more than a dream, a fairy tale about the trials and tribulations of growing up–or down, or all turned round–as seen through the expert eyes of a child.



2) "Fear and Loathing in Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream" by Hunter S. Thompson
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the best chronicle of drug-soaked, addle-brained, rollicking good times ever committed to the printed page. It is also the tale of a long weekend road trip that has gone down in the annals of American pop culture as one of the strangest journeys ever undertaken.
Now this cult classic of gonzo journalism is a major motion picture from Universal, directed by Terry Gilliam and starring Johnny Depp and Benicio del Toro.



3) "Coraline" by Neil Gaiman
"Coraline discovered the door a little while after they moved into the house. . . ."
When Coraline steps through a door to find another house strangely similar to her own (only better), things seem marvelous.
But there's another mother there, and another father, and they want her to stay and be their little girl. They want to change her and never let her go.
Coraline will have to fight with all her wit and courage if she is to save herself and return to her ordinary life.



4) "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski
Years ago, when House of Leaves was first being passed around, it was nothing more than a badly bundled heap of paper, parts of which would occasionally surface on the Internet. No one could have anticipated the small but devoted following this terrifying story would soon command. Starting with an odd assortment of marginalized youth -- musicians, tattoo artists, programmers, strippers, environmentalists, and adrenaline junkies -- the book eventually made its way into the hands of older generations, who not only found themselves in those strangely arranged pages but also discovered a way back into the lives of their estranged children.
Now, for the first time, this astonishing novel is made available in book form, complete with the original colored words, vertical footnotes, and newly added second and third appendices.
The story remains unchanged, focusing on a young family that moves into a small home on Ash Tree Lane where they discover something is terribly wrong: their house is bigger on the inside than it is on the outside.



5) "A Wrinkle in Time" by Madeleine L'Engle
It was a dark and stormy night; Meg Murry, her small brother Charles Wallace, and her mother had come down to the kitchen for a midnight snack when they were upset by the arrival of a most disturbing stranger.
"Wild nights are my glory," the unearthly stranger told them. "I just got caught in a downdraft and blown off course. Let me sit down for a moment, and then I'll be on my way. Speaking of ways, by the way, there is such a thing as a tesseract."
A tesseract (in case the reader doesn't know) is a wrinkle in time. To tell more would rob the reader of the enjoyment of Miss L'Engle's unusual book. A Wrinkle in Time, winner of the Newbery Medal in 1963, is the story of the adventures in space and time of Meg, Charles Wallace, and Calvin O'Keefe (athlete, student, and one of the most popular boys in high school). They are in search of Meg's father, a scientist who disappeared while engaged in secret work for the government on the tesseract problem.
A Wrinkle in Time is the winner of the 1963 Newbery Medal.



6) "Animal Farm" George Orwell
As ferociously fresh as it was more than a half century ago, this remarkable allegory of a downtrodden society of overworked, mistreated animals and their quest to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality is one of the most scathing satires ever published. As readers witness the rise and bloody fall of the revolutionary animals, they begin to recognize the seeds of totalitarianism in the most idealistic organization—and in the most charismatic leaders, the souls of the cruelest oppressors.



7) "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
Before The Hunger Games there was Lord of the Flies
Lord of the Flies remains as provocative today as when it was first published in 1954, igniting passionate debate with its startling, brutal portrait of human nature. Though critically acclaimed, it was largely ignored upon its initial publication. Yet soon it became a cult favorite among both students and literary critics who compared it to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye in its influence on modern thought and literature.
Labeled a parable, an allegory, a myth, a morality tale, a parody, a political treatise, even a vision of the apocalypse, Lord of the Flies has established itself as a true classic.



8) "Life is a Circus Run by a Platypus" by Allison Hawn
Has being late to work due to dancing clowns ever been a problem for you? Have you ever had to defend yourself against a giant iguana? Does the overture to The Music Man make you violently twitch? In Life is a Circus Run by a Platypusreaders are immersed into what it would be like to live every day as if a herd of ballerinas were chasing you, without the inconvenience of actually having to run. This collection of truly bizarre short stories taken from the author, Allison Hawn’s, life takes one across the world and into the strangest crevices of civilization. The lessons learned through her adventures might very well save the reader if they too ever have to face birthing a cow, calming distraught technical support or death by furniture.



9) "Trainspotting" by Irvine Welsh
It accomplished for its own time and place what Hubert Selby, Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn did for his. Rents, Sick Boy, Mother Superior, Swanney, Spuds, and Seeker are as unforgettable a clutch of junkies, rude boys, and psychos as readers will ever encounter. Trainspotting was made into the 1996 cult film starring Ewan MacGregor and directed by Danny Boyle (Shallow Grave).



10) "The Electric Kool-Aide Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe
The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test is a nonfiction book by Tom Wolfe that was published in 1968. The book is remembered today as an early – and arguably the most popular – example of the growing literary style called New Journalism. Wolfe presents an as-if-firsthand account of the experiences of Ken Kesey and his band of Merry Pranksters, who traveled across the country in a colorfully painted school bus named "Furthur". Kesey and the Pranksters became famous for their use of LSD and other psychedelic drugs in hopes of achieving intersubjectivity. The book chronicles the Acid Tests (parties in which LSD-laced Kool-Aid was used to obtain a communal trip), the group's encounters with (in)famous figures of the time, including famous authors, Hells Angels, and The Grateful Dead, and it also describes Kesey's exile to Mexico and his arrests.

Princess Movie List

In a serious need for a princess movie? Check out this list....


1) Frozen
Anna, a fearless optimist, sets off on an epic journey - teaming up with rugged mountain man Kristoff and his loyal reindeer Sven - to find her sister Elsa, whose icy powers have trapped the kingdom of Arendelle in eternal winter. Encountering Everest-like conditions, mystical trolls and a hilarious snowman named Olaf, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom. From the outside Anna's sister, Elsa looks poised, regal and reserved, but in reality, she lives in fear as she wrestles with a mighty secret-she was born with the power to create ice and snow. It's a beautiful ability, but also extremely dangerous. Haunted by the moment her magic nearly killed her younger sister Anna, Elsa has isolated herself, spending every waking minute trying to suppress her growing powers. Her mounting emotions trigger the magic, accidentally setting off an eternal winter that she can't stop. She fears she's becoming a monster and that no one, not even her sister, can help her.

Directors: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Writers: Jennifer Lee (screenplay), Hans Christian Andersen(inspired by the story "The Snow Queen" by), 4 more credits
Stars: Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff |See full cast and crew
Released: 2013



2) The Princess and the Frog
A modern day retelling of the classic story The Frog Prince. The Princess and the Frog finds the lives of arrogant, carefree Prince Naveen and hardworking waitress Tiana crossing paths. Prince Naveen is transformed into a frog by a conniving voodoo magician and Tiana, following suit, upon kissing the amphibian royalty. With the help of a trumpet-playing alligator, a Cajun firefly, and an old blind lady who lives in a boat in a tree, Naveen and Tiana must race to break the spell and fulfill their dreams.

Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker
Writers: Ron Clements (screenplay), John Musker(screenplay), 12 more credits
Stars: Anika Noni Rose, Keith David, Oprah Winfrey |See full cast and crew
Released: 2009



3) Cinderella
In a far away, long ago kingdom, Cinderella is living happily with her mother and father until her mother dies. Cinderella's father remarries a cold, cruel woman who has two daughters, Drizella and Anastasia. When the father dies, Cinderella's wicked stepmother turns her into a virtual servant in her own house. Meanwhile, across town in the castle, the King determines that his son the Prince should find a suitable bride and provide him with a required number of grandchildren. So the King invites every eligible maiden in the kingdom to a fancy dress ball, where his son will be able to choose his bride. Cinderella has no suitable party dress for a ball, but her friends the mice, led by Jaques and Gus, and the birds lend a hand in making her one, a dress the evil stepsisters immediately tear apart on the evening of the ball. At this point, enter the Fairy Godmother, the pumpkin carriage, the royal ball, the stroke of midnight, the glass slipper, and the rest, as they say, is fairy tale ...

Directors: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, 1 more credit »
Writers: Charles Perrault (from the original classic by), Bill Peet (story), 7 more credits
Stars: Ilene Woods, James MacDonald, Eleanor Audley |See full cast and crew
Released: 1950



4) Sleeping Beauty
Adaptation of the fairy tale of the same name. Princess Aurora is cursed by the evil witch Maleficent - who declares that before Aurora reaches her 16th birthday she will die by pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning-wheel. To try to prevent this, the king places her into hiding, in the care of three good-natured - but not too bright - fairies.

Director: Clyde Geronimi
Writers: Erdman Penner (story), Charles Perrault (story), 6 more credits
Stars: Mary Costa, Bill Shirley, Eleanor Audley |See full cast and crew
Released: 1959



5) Beauty and the Beast
Belle is a girl who is dissatisfied with life in a small provincial French town, constantly trying to fend off the misplaced "affections" of conceited Gaston. The Beast is a prince who was placed under a spell because he could not love. A wrong turn taken by Maurice, Belle's father, causes the two to meet.

Directors: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
Writers: Linda Woolverton (animation screenplay), Roger Allers (story), 10 more credits »
Stars: Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Richard White |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1991



6) Enchanted
The beautiful princess Giselle is banished by an evil queen from her magical, musical animated land and finds herself in the gritty reality of the streets of modern-day Manhattan. Shocked by this strange new environment that doesn't operate on a "happily ever after" basis, Giselle is now adrift in a chaotic world badly in need of enchantment. But when Giselle begins to fall in love with a charmingly flawed divorce lawyer who has come to her aid - even though she is already promised to a perfect fairy tale prince back home - she has to wonder: Can a storybook view of romance survive in the real world?

Director: Kevin Lima
Writer: Bill Kelly
Stars: Amy Adams, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2007



7) Brave
Set in Scotland in a rugged and mythical time, "Brave" features Merida, an aspiring archer and impetuous daughter of royalty. Merida makes a reckless choice that unleashes unintended peril and forces her to spring into action to set things right.

Directors: Mark Andrews, Brenda Chapman, 1 more credit »
Writers: Brenda Chapman (story), Mark Andrews(screenplay), 4 more credits »
Stars: Kelly Macdonald, Billy Connolly, Emma Thompson |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2012



8) Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
The first, and by far most memorable full-length animated feature from the Disney Studios, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" may have been superseded technically by many of the films that followed it. But its simple story of a charming little princess saved from the evil deeds of her wicked step-mother, the queen, by a group of seven adorable dwarfs made history when it was first released in December, 1937 and has since become an incomparable screen classic.

Directors: William Cottrell, David Hand, 4 more credits »
Writers: Jacob Grimm (fairy tales), Wilhelm Grimm (fairy tales), 8 more credits »
Stars: Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell, Lucille La Verne |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1937



9) Aladdin
Aladdin is a street-urchin who lives in a large and busy town long ago with his faithful monkey friend Abu. When Princess Jasmine gets tired of being forced to remain in the palace that overlooks the city, she sneaks out to the marketplace, where she accidentally meets Aladdin. Under the orders of the evil Jafar (the sultan's advisor), Aladdin is thrown in jail and becomes caught up in Jafar's plot to rule the land with the aid of a mysterious lamp. Legend has it that only a person who is a "diamond in the rough" can retrieve the lamp from the Cave of Wonders. Aladdin might fit that description, but that's not enough to marry the princess, who must (by law) marry a prince.

Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker
Writers: Ron Clements (screenplay), John Musker(screenplay), 18 more credits »
Stars: Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Linda Larkin |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1992



10) The Little Mermaid
Loosely based upon the story by Hans Christian Andersen. Ariel, youngest daughter of King Triton, is dissatisfied with life in the sea. She longs to be with the humans above the surface, and is often caught in arguments with her father over those "barbaric fish-eaters". She goes to meet Ursula, the Sea Witch, to strike a deal, but Ursula has bigger plans for this mermaid and her father.

Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker
Writers: John Musker, Ron Clements, 5 more credits »
Stars: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Rene Auberjonois |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1989



11) Tangled
After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace in the middle of the night by Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel knows that the flower's magical powers are now growing within the golden hair of Rapunzel, and to stay young, she must lock Rapunzel in her hidden tower. Rapunzel is now a teenager and her hair has grown to a length of 70-feet. The beautiful Rapunzel has been in the tower her entire life, and she is curious of the outside world. One day, the bandit Flynn Ryder scales the tower and is taken captive by Rapunzel. Rapunzel strikes a deal with the charming thief to act as her guide to travel to the place where the floating lights come from that she has seen every year on her birthday. Rapunzel is about to have the most exciting and magnificent journey of her life.

Directors: Nathan Greno, Byron Howard
Writers: Dan Fogelman (screenplay), Jacob Grimm (fairy tale), 2 more credits »
Stars: Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy |See full cast and crew »
Released: 2010



12) Mulan
This retelling of the old Chinese folktale is about the story of a young Chinese maiden who learns that her weakened and lame father is to be called up into the army in order to fight the invading Huns. Knowing that he would never survive the rigours of war in his state, she decides to disguise herself and join in his place. Unknown to her, her ancestors are aware of this and to prevent it, they order a tiny disgraced dragon, Mushu to join her in order to force her to abandon her plan. He agrees, but when he meets Mulan, he learns that she cannot be dissuaded and so decides to help her in the perilous times ahead.

Directors: Tony Bancroft, Barry Cook
Writers: Robert D. San Souci (story), Rita Hsiao(screenplay), 30 more credits »
Stars: Ming-Na Wen, Eddie Murphy, BD Wong |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1998

13) Anastasia
The daughter of last Russian Tsar, Anastasia, is found by two Russian con men, Dimitri and Vladimir, who seek the reward that her grandmother, Marie, promised to the ones who'll find her. But the evil mystic of the Tsar family, Rasputin, still wants the Romanov family to be destroyed forever.

Directors: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman
Writers: Susan Gauthier (screenplay), Bruce Graham(screenplay), 3 more credits »
Stars: Meg Ryan, John Cusack, Christopher Lloyd |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1997



14) Princess Mononoke
While protecting his village from rampaging boar-god/demon, a confident young warrior, Ashitaka, is stricken by a deadly curse. To save his life, he must journey to the forests of the west. Once there, he's embroiled in a fierce campaign that humans were waging on the forest. The ambitious Lady Eboshi and her loyal clan use their guns against the gods of the forest and a brave young woman, Princess Mononoke, who was raised by a wolf-god. Ashitaka sees the good in both sides and tries to stem the flood of blood. This is met be animosity by both sides as they each see him as supporting the enemy.

Director: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Stars: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1997



15) Happily Everafter
The Evil Queen is dead and Snow White is on her way to see the 7 dwarves when Lord Maliss, the Queen's brother, sees her in the looking glass. He attacks her in the form of a dragon, taking Snow White's prince to the Realm of Doom. Enlisting the aid of the dwarves' cousins, Snow White must embark on a quest to save her true love.

Director: John Howley
Writers: Martha Moran (screenplay), Robby London(screenplay)
Stars: Edward Asner, Irene Cara, Carol Channing |See full cast and crew »
Released: 1990