Hot This Week: April 30

We're closing out April with a bang. The Liam Neeson thriller The Commuter leads three new movies on the list. Country star Jason Aldean and rockers Breaking Benjamin land new albums at the top of the music chart. In fiction, David Baldacci and Christopher Moore debut their new novels, and in non-fiction, former FBI director James Comey's new book tops the list.

Movies

1. The Commuter (Blu-ray | 4K)
2. The Greatest Showman (Blu-ray | 4K)
3. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Blu-ray | 4K)
4. The Post (Blu-ray | 4K)
5. Father Figures (Blu-ray)
6. Proud Mary (Blu-ray)
7. Ferdinand (Blu-ray | 4K)
8. Justice League (Blu-ray)
9. Thor: Ragnarok (Blu-ray | 4K)
10. All the Money in the World (Blu-ray)

CD

1. Jason Aldean, Rearview Town
2. Breaking Benjamin, Ember
3. The Greatest Showman Soundtrack
4. John Prince, The Tree of Forgiveness
5. The Weeknd, My Dear Melancholy
6. Migos, Culture II
7. Black Panther: The Album
8. Pentatonix, PTX Presents: Top Pop, Vol. I
9. Rich the Kid, The World Is Yours
10. Post Malone, Stoney

Fiction

1. The Fallen, David Baldacci
2. After Anna, Lisa Scottoline
3. Noir, Christopher Moore
4. I've Got My Eyes on You, Mary Higgins Clark
5. The Female Persuasion, Meg Wolitzer
6. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
7. Circe, Madeline Miller
8. The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn
9. The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah
10. Shoot First, Stuart Woods

Non-Fiction 

1. A Higher Loyalty, James Comey
2. Fascism: A Warning, Madeleine Albright and Bill Woodward
3. Russian Roulette, Michael Isikoff and David Corn
4. Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff
5. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson
6. Educated, Tara Westover
7. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara
8. Make Trouble, Cecile Richards and Lauren Peterson
9. Secret Empires, Peter Schweitzer
10. This Is Me, Chrissy Metz

Remembering Those We’ve Lost

Written by Jon Williams

The past several weeks have seen a number of notable figures pass away. As April draws to a close, we want to pause to remember their lives and careers.

Most prominent, of course, was former First Lady Barbara Bush, who passed on April 17 at age 92. She served as Second Lady from 1981 through 1989 as her husband George Bush was vice president to Ronald Reagan, and then became first lady from 1989 through 1993 as Mr. Bush served one term as president. Their son George W. Bush also served as president from 2001 through 2009, while another son, Jeb Bush, served as governor of Florida. As part of this lengthy political career, she was a fierce advocate for the ability to read, starting the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy and stressing the importance of reading to children as an essential part of their development. Her foundation has raised millions of dollars toward this goal since its inception in 1989, and libraries were particularly near and dear to her heart.

Last weekend the entertainment world lost a very recognizable figure in Verne Troyer, who passed away on April 21. Born with cartilage-hair hypoplasia, Troyer grew to a height of less than three feet. After a number of minor film roles throughout the mid to late 1990s, he finally found fame as the character of Mini-Me in 1999’s Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, a role he would return to in 2002 with Austin Powers in Goldmember. His stature lent itself to roles in fantasy films like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and his most recent role was in the 2015 horror film Gnome Alone.

Also last weekend, on April 20, we lost Avicii, the stage name of Tim Bergling, a Swedish DJ and producer of electronic dance music. He was just 28 years old. Getting into the music scene as a teenager, Avicii released his breakout single “Levels” in 2011, leading up to his debut album True in 2013. He followed that up with Stories in 2015. His single “Sunshine” with David Guetta was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2012, and over the course of his career he also collaborated with such artists as Coldplay, Lenny Kravitz, and Madonna, among many others.

Harry Anderson was immediately recognizable from his iconic portrayal of Judge Harry Stone on the sitcom Night Court, which ran for nine seasons from 1984 through 1992. He followed that up with four seasons of Dave’s World, based on the writings of Dave Barry. Prior to both of those shows, he had a recurring role on Cheers, one of the most popular sitcoms of all time, which helped propel him to fame. He also starred as part of the ensemble cast of the 1990 miniseries It, based on the novel by Stephen King, which has seen a resurgence of popularity lately due to the highly successful new big-screen adaptation. He passed away on April 16 at the age of 65.

The day before, on April 15, beloved actor R. Lee Ermey passed away at 74. His voice and bearing led to him being cast often in roles of authority, which followed from his first career as a drill instructor and staff sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. It’s appropriate, then, that his most famous role was as a drill instructor in Stanley Kubrick’s 1987 Vietman War film Full Metal Jacket. He played the ghost of a drill instructor in The Frighteners, and voiced the leader of the army men in Disney-Pixar’s Toy Story trilogy. Over the course of a career that spanned four decades, he also appeared in such films as Seven, Dead Man Walking, Mississippi Burning, and two Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies of the 2000s.

Despite the fact that filmmaker Milos Forman worked primarily in Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, he made a number of acclaimed American films. Starting out by acting and then writing and directing Czech films in the 1950s and 1960s, he made a splash not long after beginning to work in the U.S. He won the Academy Award for Best Director for 1975’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which also won Best Picture. He won the award again in 1985 for Amadeus, and was nominated in 1997 for The People vs. Larry Flint. He passed away on April 13 at age 86.

Finally, and most recently, musician Bob Dorough passed away earlier this week, on April 23, at 94. His name may not ring a bell, but chances are decent that you’ve heard some of his work. His most famous creation is the music of Schoolhouse Rock!, a, educational Saturday morning cartoon series that helped a generation of children learn about a wide variety of topics. The show and its music are still beloved by those who grew up with it.

These influential people have created and advocated for a wealth of incredible work that will be enjoyed for years to come, and their losses are keenly felt. Click the links above order titles to share with patrons, or SmartBrowse their names on our website for more.

Hot This Week: April 23

New week, new hot titles! Last week's top two movies hold their positions, with three new ones coming in behind them. Four new CDs make the chart, led by a new album from rockers Thirty Seconds to Mars and also featuring an album of Elton John covers by some of today's most popular artists. In fiction, a new novel by Madeline Miller set in the mythology of ancient Greece headlines five new additions, while in non-fiction an exploration of fascism from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright leads the way.

Movies

1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Blu-ray | 4K)
2. Father Figures (Blu-ray)
3. Proud Mary (Blu-ray)
4. All the Money in the World (Blu-ray)
5. Molly's Game (Blu-ray)
6. Justice League (Blu-ray)
7. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Blu-ray | 4K)
8. Insidious: The Last Key (Blu-ray)
9. Ferdinand (Blu-ray | 4K)
10. Thor: Ragnarok (Blu-ray | 4K)

CD

1. Thirty Seconds to Mars, America
2. The Weeknd, My Dear Melancholy
3. The Greatest Showman Soundtrack
4. Migos, Culture II
5. Black Panther: The Album
6. Rich the Kid, The World Is Yours
7. Post Malone, Stoney
8. Lil Xan, Total Xanarchy
9. Flatbush Zombies, Vacation in Hell
10. Revamp: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin

Fiction

1. Circe, Madeline Miller
2. After Anna, Lisa Scottoline
3. I've Got My Eyes on You, Mary Higgins Clark
4. The Thief, J.R. Ward
5. Shoot First, Stuart Woods
6. The Female Persuasion, Meg Wolitzer
7. The Sixth Day, Catherine Coulter and J.T. Ellison
8. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
9. Red Alert, James Patterson and Marshall Karp
10. The Disappeared, C.J. Box

Non-Fiction 

1. Fascism: A Warning, Madeleine Albright and Bill Woodward
2. Russian Roulette, Michael Isikoff and David Corn
3. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson
4. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara
5. Educated, Tara Westover
6. Natural Causes, Barbara Ehrenreich
7. Secret Empires, Peter Schweitzer
8. Tiger Woods, Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian
9. Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff
10. This Is Me, Chrissy Metz

Hot This Week: April 16

The comedy Father Figures leads this week's two movie newcomers, but can't quite overtake Jumanji for the top spot. The Weeknd's surprise six-song EP tops the music chart. The fiction list sees four new titles make the list, the top two and bottom two, headlined by the latest from the always-popular Mary Higgins Clark, while two new titles make the list in non-fiction as well.

Movies

1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Blu-ray | 4K)
2. Father Figures (Blu-ray)
3. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Blu-ray | 4K)
4. Justice League (Blu-ray)
5. Insidious: The Last Key (Blu-ray)
6. Ferdinand (Blu-ray | 4K)
7. Pitch Perfect 3 (Blu-ray | 4K)
8. Thor: Ragnarok (Blu-ray | 4K)
9. Downsizing (Blu-ray | 4K)
10. Coco (Blu-ray | 4K)

CD

1. The Weeknd, My Dear Melancholy
2. Rich the Kid, The World Is Yours
3. Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour
4. The Greatest Showman Soundtrack
5. Black Panther: The Album
6. Migos, Culture II
7. Post Malone, Stoney
8. Ed Sheeran, Divide
9. Imagine Dragons, Evolve
10. Hayley Kiyoko, Expectations

Fiction

1. I've Got My Eyes on You, Mary Higgins Clark
2. The Female Persuasion, Meg Wolitzer
3. The Disappeared, C.J. Box
4. Red Alert, James Patterson and Marshall Karp
5. The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah
6. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
7. Accidental Heroes, Danielle Steel
8. The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn
9. Varina, Charles Frazier
10. Cave of Bones, Anne Hillerman

Non-Fiction 

1. Dear Madam President, Jennifer Palmieri
2. Russian Roulette, Michael Isikoff and David Corn
3. Tiger Woods, Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian
4. Make Trouble, Cecile Richards and Lauren Peterson
5. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara
6. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson
7. Our 50-State Border Crisis, Howard Buffett
8. This Is Me, Chrissy Metz
9. Educated, Tara Westover
10. Faith, Jimmy Carter

Hot This Week: April 9

The top newcomer in movies this week is the latest installment in the long-awaited Star Wars sequel trilogy. In music, Jack White's new album tops the chart. A new thriller from C.J. Box tops three new novels on the fiction list, while four new non-fiction titles include a biography of Tiger Woods and a rumination on faith from former President Jimmy Carter.

Movies

1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Blu-ray | 4K)
2. Justice League (Blu-ray)
3. Ferdinand (Blu-ray | 4K)
4. Star Wars: The Last Jedi (Blu-ray | 4K)
5. Pitch Perfect 3 (Blu-ray | 4K)
6. Thor: Ragnarok (Blu-ray | 4K)
7. Downsizing (Blu-ray | 4K)
8. The Shape of Water (Blu-ray | 4K)
9. Coco (Blu-ray | 4K)
10. Acts of Violence (Blu-ray)

CD

1. Jack White, Boarding House Reach
2. Black Panther: The Album
3. The Greatest Showman Soundtrack
4. Migos, Culture II
5. Post Malone, Stoney
6. Ed Sheeran, Divide
7. Imagine Dragons, Evolve
8. Camila Cabello, Camila
9. Bruno Mars, 24K Magic
10. Kendrick Lamar, DAMN.

Fiction

1. The Disappeared, C.J. Box
2. Red Alert, James Patterson and Marshall Karp
3. Accidental Heroes, Danielle Steel
4. The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah
5. To Die But Once, Jacqueline Winspear
6. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
7. The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn
8. The Punishment She Deserves, Elizabeth George
9. The Escape Artist, Brad Meltzer
10. The Rising Sea, Clive Cussler and Graham Brown

Non-Fiction

1. Russian Roulette, Michael Isikoff and David Corn
2. This Is Me, Chrissy Metz
3. Dear Madam President, Jennifer Palmieri
4. Tiger Woods, Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian
5. Educated, Tara Westover
6. Faith, Jimmy Carter
7. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson
8. Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff
9. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara
10. Enlightenment Now, Steven Pinker

April Is National Poetry Month

Written by Jon Williams

Each year since 1996, April has been designated as National Poetry Month in the United States. The Academy of American Poets was inspired by such successful and inspirational celebrations like Black History Month and Women’s History Month, and set up their own month-long event to encourage poetry appreciation. In one sense, poetry is something of a universal art form—who hasn’t tried their hand at writing a few lines of verse, or even just appreciated the lyrics of a good song? And yet, somehow, it has grown neglected: a 2012 survey indicated that less than 7% of Americans had read a poem in the past year, down from 17% in 1992.

National Poetry Month aims to change that, and while the next survey from the National Endowment for the Arts is still a few years away, there’s some hope that the trend is turning the opposite direction. One of the drivers has been social media, where the popular poet Rupi Kaur began working before publishing her debut collection, milk and honey, in 2014. It’s a similar story for Amanda Lovelace, who debuted with 2016’s The Princess Saves Herself in This One and followed it up earlier this year with The Witch Doesn’t Burn in This One. These women have placed their books on national bestseller lists and amassed millions of followers, following a trail blazed in part by Lang Leav, who published Love & Misadventure in 2013 and has followed it up with several more collections and a novel.

There are plenty of other contemporary poets your patrons might like to sample. Why not start with the U.S. Poet Laureate? Tracy K. Smith took over that post in September of 2017, and her latest collection, Wade in the Water, was published this week. She took over for Juan Felipe Herrera, who had held the post since 2015. Other current poets of note include Claudia Rankine, Eileen Myles, and Kwame Alexander, to name just a very few.

For those patrons who prefer the classics, well, where do we begin? Possibly with Homer, and The Iliad and The Odyssey. Beowulf. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Shakespeare’s sonnets. Milton’s Paradise Lost. The works of Edgar Allan Poe, Walt Whitman, Sylvia Plath, Emily Dickinson, and T.S. Eliot. Jack Kerouac and the Beat poets. Maya Angelou and Nikki Giovanni. How’s that for running the gamut? This mere handful of names should illustrate just how fine and varied poetry is as an art form, the legacy that the contemporary poets named above are carrying on.

We know there are a ton of wonderful poets and poems that we had to leave out, so please, let us know some of your favorites and what’s popular at your library. In the meantime, be sure to stock up on plenty of poetry audiobooks for your patrons to enjoy this month and all year long. Also, if your library is a hoopla partner, make sure your patrons know about the collections our team has put together to celebrate National Poetry Month, in both audiobook and eBook formats. Those titles, like all titles on hoopla, are available to library cardholders 24/7, with no holds and no late fees.

Hot This Week: April 2

Welcome to April! The new month brings with it a slew of new movies to the hot list, led by the blockbuster Jumanji follow-up and including the Academy Award-winning The Shape of Water. New albums from the Decemberists and Scotty McCreery break onto the music chart, while Metallica's tour brings their most recent album back into the spotlight. Bestselling author Danielle Steel's new novel wins the week in fiction alongside three other new titles, while a new title from religious scholar Bart D. Ehrman joins the non-fiction list.

Movies

1. Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (Blu-ray | 4K)
2. Justice League (Blu-ray)
3. Pitch Perfect 3 (Blu-ray | 4K)
4. Ferdinand (Blu-ray | 4K)
5. Thor: Ragnarok (Blu-ray | 4K)
6. Downsizing (Blu-ray | 4K)
7. The Shape of Water (Blu-ray | 4K)
8. Coco (Blu-ray | 4K)
9. Daddy's Home 2 (Blu-ray | 4K)
10. I, Tonya (Blu-ray)

CD

1. Metallica, Hardwired...To Self-Destruct
2. Black Panther: The Album
3. Migos, Culture II
4. The Greatest Showman Soundtrack
5. Scotty McCreery, Seasons Change
6. Ed Sheeran, Divide
7. The Decemberists, I'll Be Your Girl
8. Post Malone, Stoney
9. Imagine Dragons, Evolve
10. Camila Cabello, Camila

Fiction

1. Accidental Heroes, Danielle Steel
2. The Punishment She Deserves, Elizabeth George
3. The Great Alone, Kristin Hannah
4. The Rising Sea, Clive Cussler and Graham Brown
5. The Bishop's Pawn, Steve Berry
6. Little Fires Everywhere, Celeste Ng
7. The Woman in the Window, A.J. Finn
8. The Escape Artist, Brad Meltzer
9. An American Marriage, Tayari Jones
10. Covert Game, Christine Feehan

Non-Fiction

1. Russian Roulette, Michael Isikoff and David Corn
2. Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff
3. Educated, Tara Westover
4. Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, Neil deGrasse Tyson
5. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, Michelle McNamara
6. Enlightenment Now, Steven Pinker
7. The Last Black Unicorn, Tiffany Haddish
8. The Triumph of Christianity, Bart D. Ehrman
9. Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann
10. Leonardo da Vinci, Walter Isaacson