John Grisham fans will be pleased to learn he has returned to the court room with THE CONFESSION. Four days before an innocent man is about to be executed for the crimes of rape and murder, the actual guilty party confesses to the crimes, having a change of heart when diagnosed with a brain tumor. Unfortunately, no one believes him. Can he stop the innocent man's execution?

How much space junk is floating in orbit? How high can you jump on the moon? Can spiders spin webs in space? These questions and more are answered in Mike Goldsmith's SPACE; the first of a new series from Ripley's Believe It or Not.

If you ever needed a robot, now is the opportunity to build your own. The November meeting of BOOK BITES will be a robot-themed one. Robot books and robot snacks will be featured, along with supplies to build your very own. ROBOT BOOK BITES takes place Wednesday, November 17th, at 3:45 pm. While all kids (ages 9 to 12) are welcome to attend, you must sign up by November 12th. For more information, please contact Deanne at the Library.

Just a reminder that the Library will be closed for Remembrance Day, Thursday, November 11th.

ADULT NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:

The Comprehensive Guide to Skin Care – Rebecca B. Campen (646.726)

Skinny Dips – Diane Morgan (641.812)

Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook – Kim Barnouin (641.563)

Play Better Hockey – Ron Davidson (796.96207)

Hunting the Antlered Big Game – F. J. Hurtak (799.2765)

Homeopathic Care for Cats & Dogs – Don Hamilton (636.8089)

Real Sex for Real Women – Laura Berman (613.96)

Children's Law Handbook – Marvin Z. Zuker (346.710135)

Great Food At Home – Mark McEwan (641.5)

The Cat Owner's Veterinary Handbook (636.808955)

Killing Willis – Todd Bridges (bio)

An Amish Christmas – Cynthia Keller (fic)

Warlord – Ted Bell (fic)

Sourland – Joyce Carol Oates (fic)

The Brave – Nicholas Evans (fic)

The Confession – John Grisham (fic)

The Elephant's Journey – Jose Saramago (fic)

Shades of Grace – Barbara Delinsky (fic)

Flame and Feather – Richard L. Rose (fic)

In A Perfect World – Laura Kasischke (fic)

Player One – Douglas Coupland (fic)

The Deserter – Paul Almond (fic)

A Christmas Odyssey – Anne Perry (fic)

Royal Blood – Rhys Bowen (mys)

Fever of the Bone – Val McDermid (mys)

The Charming Quirks of Others – Alexander McCall Smith (mys)

The Prostitutes' Ball – Stephen J. Cannell (mys)

The Templar Salvation – Raymond Khoury (mys)

Crossfire – Dick Francis (mys)

Worth Dying For – Lee Child (mys)

Chasing the Night – Iris Johansen (mys)

The Mistaken Wife – Rose Melikan (mys)

Upstairs Downstairs: Complete Series (DVD)

Logan's Run (DVD)

The Queen and I (DVD)

Georgia O'Keeffe (DVD)

Freud: BBC Miniseries (DVD)

The Celts (DVD)

National Geographic: American Serengeti (DVD)

The Women (DVD)

YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN'S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:

21st Century Science: Energy and Matter (ya 530)

21st Century Science: Genetics (ya 576.5)

Blended Families – Stefan Kiesbye (ya 306.6747)

Scumble – Ingrid Law (ya fic)

Invisible City – M. G. Harris (ya fic)

Wired – Robin Wasserman (ya fic)

Crashed – Robin Wasserman (ya fic)

Side Effects – Amy Goldman Koss (ya fic)

The Bat Scientists – Mary Kay Carson (j599.4)

Ripley's Space Believe It Or Not – Mike Goldsmith (j 523)

I Dreamed Of Flying Like A Bird – Robert B. Haas (j 779.32)

Judy Moody Girl Detective – Megan McDonald (j fic)

The Clone Wars: Curse of the Black Hole Pirates – Ryder Windham (j fic)

Jake Reynolds: Chicken or Eagle – Sara Leach (j pic)

Razor's Edge – Nikki Tate (j fic)

A Porcupine in a Pine Tree – Helaine Becker (j pic)

Animal House – Candace Ryan (j pic)

ABC Animal Jamboree – Giles Andreae (j pic)

Tree Song – H.E. Stewart (j pic)

All Aboard Elijah McCoy's Steam Engine – Monica Kulling (j pic)

Tell the Truth B.B. Wolf – Judy Sierra (j pic)

It's Christmas David – David Shannon (j pic)

Hockey Opposites – Per-Henrick Gurth (j pic)

Thomas Comes to Breakfast (j DVD)

Thomas & His Friends Get Along (j DVD)

MIKE'S BOOKNOTES:

At the 1958 Academy Awards ceremony, David Lean's film THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI won seven Oscars, including best picture and best director. When it won for best screenplay, the writer-French novelist Pierre Boulle-appeared quite shocked, and it took a bit for him to get to the stage. He gave the shortest speech in Oscar history, merely saying "Merci" into the microphone. While many viewers chalked it up to either modesty or language difficulties, the truth was not so cut and dry. While Boulle did write the novel, he had absolutely no involvement with the film at all, and he didn't write one word of the screenplay. This had been written by two veteran screenwriters, Carl Foreman and Michael Wilson. Yet neither were invited to the Academy Awards, and the studio had erased their names from the film's credits.

Both Foreman and Wilson were suspected communists, and McCarthy had blacklisted them. The record for this gets a bit odd as David Lean told reporters what a delight it was to have Boulle work so closely with him on the film (even though Boulle did not speak English, or have any experience in screenwriting), while newspapers in Europe reported Boulle refused to attend the award ceremony. Either way, it took the Academy up to 1984 to correct the problem, finally awarding the Oscar to Wilson and Foreman. Sadly, Wilson had died in 1978, while Foreman passed away the day after the award was announced.

The son of highly respected lawyer, Pierre Boulle was born in Avignon, France in 1912. He disliked school immensely, but stuck with it, and was soon attending the prestigious Sorbonne. Trained in electrical engineering, he found work for a British company in Malaya. When the Second World War broke out, he used his knowledge of South Eastern Asia to spy for the Allies. Unfortunately he was found out, and was given a life sentence of hard labor by the Japanese. In 1944 Boulle managed to escape, and was highly decorated by France for his courage during the war.

Returning to Paris, Boulle used his experience as P.O.W. to write THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI. Not wanting to readers to identify the book with real people, he changed the prisoners from French to British. Published in 1952, Boulle's description of the brutality inflicted by the Japanese was seen by many to be a complete exaggeration by the author. History has vindicated Boulle, discovering the crimes against the P.O.W.s were in reality far worse than his book had portrayed.

A literary sensation in France, it was the release of the film which made the book a multi-million international bestseller. Boulle went on to write over two dozen more novels, most of them dealing with his wartime experiences. As much fame and esteem THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI had brought him, his succeeding books failed to grab the public's notice, and Boulle's name and work began to fade from the public's view.

A trip to the zoo was about to change all that.

While relaxing at a French zoo in the 1961, Boulle became fascinated with the gorillas. Deeply impressed with their human-like expressions, he began to imagine complex relationships between apes and humans. MONKEY PLANET was published in 1963, and became his second worldwide bestseller. Hollywood bought the rights to it in 1964, and a visually stunning film adaptation was released in 1968, with the new title PLANET OF THE APES. With four sequels, a remake, live and animated TV series, and a host of other inspired media, Boulle name will not soon be forgotten. The novel is quite a bit different than the movie, although each of them has completely separate shocking twist endings.

(In an act credited to Boulle but strongly denied by him, previously blacklisted screenwriter Michael Wilson was hired to write the screenplay.)

Boulle kept writing until he died in the early 90s, at age 81. He was unmarried with no descendants. While overshadowed by the film adaptations in North America, he remains one of France's best read authors.