Thursday, April 30, 2009

About City of Thieves


The Featured Book of the Month for May is City of Thieves by David Benioff.

Set during the Siege of Leningrad in the winter of 1941, City of Thieves follows the story of Lev Beniov, a seventeen-year old Russian boy whose life changes forever when, driven by desperation, he was caught looting the body of a German paratrooper in the street. Lev is arrested and thrown in a jail cell with Kolya, a young army deserter, and together they wait to face certain death in front of the firing squad.

However, Lev and Kolya are granted a reprieve when an NKVD colonel needs a favor. The colonel’s daughter is getting married in a week and his wife has her heart set on having a wedding cake. The colonel is sure that the young thief and deserter will be able to find the missing ingredient - a dozen eggs. If they succeed, they will win their freedom. If they fail, they will be left to die.

Lev and Kolya set out on the journey to find eggs in a city where the citizens have resorted to cannibalism and eating “library candy”, made of melted glue from book bindings. City of Thieves is the story of their desperate quest, where they are in constant danger from the Germans, their own countrymen and the harsh Russian winter, and it’s also the story of the friendship that Lev and Kolya form along the way. Do they find the eggs and make it back in time for the wedding? Check City of Thieves out at your local branch to find out!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

About Marcus Luttrell


Marcus Luttrell always wanted to be a Navy SEAL. He and his twin brother Morgan were born in Huntsville, Texas in 1975, and his parents were hard workers with high expectations of their sons. At the age of 14 Marcus began training for the SEALs with former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier Billy Shelton, who often trained young men aspiring to join the military.

In 1999 Luttrell joined the U.S Navy and began Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training with Class 226 in Coronado, California. In his first round of training he fractured his femur, but returned as soon as his injury healed. After serving in Iraq for two years, he was deployed to Afghanistan, where he and Seal Team 10 would begin Operation Redwing in 2005.

Read this article to learn more about Marcus Luttrell's story, or better yet, see him in person at the Main Library. He will discuss the experiences detailed in his book on Tuesday, May 12th at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Library Reading Garden Lounge. Afterwards Mr. Luttrell will be available for book signings and Lone Survivor will be available for purchase. We hope to see you there!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

About Lone Survivor


The Featured Book of the Month for April is Lone Survivor: The Eyewitness Account of Operation Redwing and the Lost Heroes of Seal Team 10 by Marcus Luttrell.

In late June 2005 four U.S. Navy SEALs embark on a reconnaissance mission to gather intelligence on a brutal al Qaeda leader garrisoned by Taliban fighters. Within 24 hours, after navigating the rugged terrain from their base in northern Afghanistan to the Pakistani border, only one of them would remain alive.

This is the story of U.S. Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell, the fire team leader and lone survivor of Operation Redwing, and the impossible decision he and his teammates were forced make that ended in a battle which cost the greatest number of lives in Navy SEAL history. For four days, Luttrell, badly wounded and presumed dead, courageously fought off six more al Qaeda assassins and crawled for seven miles through the mountains until he was rescued by a Pashtun tribe.

Luttrell's description of the merciless training he endured to become a SEAL, followed by the harrowing account of the battle in Afghanistan that almost cost him his life, make Lone Survivor an excellent read. Check it out at your local branch, and be on the lookout for more information about Marcus Luttrell's upcoming visit to the Library.