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Popular Culture November 2018
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| Fashion Climbing: A Memoir With Photographs by Bill CunninghamA charming posthumous memoir from New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham that captures his idiosyncratic, uncompromising style. Don't miss irreverent anecdotes of Cunningham's antics, including the time he sneaked into the Waldorf Astoria Hotel to see Queen Elizabeth. |
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| The Beatles Yellow Submarine by Bill MorrisonA fully authorized graphic novel adaptation of The Beatles' animated film Yellow Submarine, released to celebrate its 50th anniversary. Bill Morrison's bright illustrations pay homage to the source material's psychedelic style, while offering some welcome depth and shading to complement the trippy narrative. |
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| 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die: A Life-Changing List by James MustichAn enthusiastic, genre-hopping tome of must-read books that includes concise annotations and insightful commentary for each selected title. Featuring recommended reading lists such as "Books to Read in a Sitting," "Offbeat Escapes," and "A Long Climb, but What a View." The additions (and omissions!) are sure to spark bibliophile debates. |
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| The Greatest Love Story Ever Told: An Oral History by Megan Mullally and Nick OffermanIn this frank and bawdy transcript, "mismatched" couple Megan Mullally (Will and Grace) and Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) chat about their lives and love. The couple's tips for domestic bliss (like investing in a good mattress and enforcing a "two-week rule" for spending time apart) are sure to offer an entertaining read. |
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Smoketown : The Untold Story of the Other Great Black Renaissance by Mark WhitakerSome of the most glittering figures of the era were changed forever by the time they spent in the city, from Joe Louis and Satchel Paige to Duke Ellington and Lena Horne. Mark Whitaker's Smoketown is a captivating portrait of this unsung community and a vital addition to the story of black America. It depicts how ambitious Southern migrants were drawn to a steel-making city on a strategic river junction; how they were shaped by its schools and a spirit of commerce with roots in the Gilded Age; and how their world was eventually destroyed by industrial decline and urban renewal. Whitaker takes readers on a rousing, revelatory journey--and offers a timely reminder that Black History is not all bleak
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Fantasy freaks and gaming geeks: an epic quest for reality among role players, online gamers, and other dwellers of imaginary realms by Ethan GilsdorfAfter an aneurysm drastically changed his mother's personality when he was in his teens, Gilsdorf found refuge in the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. Eventually he left the RPG (role-playing games) world behind, and became a successful writer. Then at age 41, he rediscovers his old gaming paraphernalia and decides to take a trip deep into the world of fantasy, hoping to get to the heart of its allure. Gilsdorf's quest takes him to gaming conventions, medieval reenactments, fantasy-inspired concerts, and even to Middle Earth itself the New Zealand setting that served as the backdrop for Peter Jackson's enormously popular Lord of the Rings films. Along the way, he meets a wide variety of people of all ages and social backgrounds who, like him, in some form or another seek an escape from the mundane reality of the modern world. Gilsdorf is an engaging and personable guide. Like many who will pick up his book, he's got one foot squarely in the real world, the other in the fantasy one. This is a journey well worth taking.
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Extra lives : why video games matter
by Tom Bissell
A personal assessment of the author's addiction to video games explores his favorites, their roles as modern forms of popular art, and their habit-forming appeal while considering how he has neglected his professional and social responsibilities in favorof gaming activities
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| Swedish video game developer Markus Persson, who overcame a childhood rife with family dysfunction to fulfill his lifelong dream of creating his own games.
Video game programmers, fans of Minecraft, and readers who enjoy inspirational success stories will want to give this moving biography a try. |
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| Death by Video Game: Danger, Pleasure, and Obsession on the Virtual Frontline by Simon ParkinA thought-provoking, evenhanded examination of gaming culture and its effect on players. Simon Parkin presents examples both sobering (a 23-year-old gamer's death after 23 hours of play) and hopeful (a man who developed a game to cope with his son's cancer diagnosis), offering nuance to ongoing debates about video games' impact. |
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Significant zero : heroes, villains, and the fight for art and soul in video games
by Walt Williams
"From the award-winning videogame writer behind Spec Ops: The Line comes an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how today's blockbuster video games are made. When his satirical musings in a college newspaper got him discharged from the Air Force, it became clear to Walt Williams that his destiny in life was to be a writer--he just never thought he'd end up writing video games, let alone working on some of the most successful franchises in the industry--Bioshock, Civilization, Borderlands, and Mafia among others. Williams pulls back the curtain on an astonishingly profitable industry that has put its stamp on pop culture and yet is little known to those outside its walls. In his reflective yet comically-observant voice, Williams walks you through his unlikely and at times inglorious rise within one of the world's top gaming companies, exposing an industry abundant in brain power and out-sized egos, but struggling to stay innovative. Significant Zero also provides clear-eyed criticism of the industry's addiction to violence and explains how the role of the narrative designer--the poor soul responsible for harmonizing gameplay with storylines--is crucial for expanding the scope of video games into more immersive and emotional experiences. Significant Zero offers a rare look inside this fascinating, billion-dollar industry and a path forward for its talented men and women--gamers and nongamers alike--that imagines how video games might inspire the best in all of us"
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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