Wife 22 * * is "smart, fresh, entertianing, moving and incredibly funny" (I can't say it any better) and perhaps, one of the best Women's Fiction title this year.

Let's see how YOU would answer the following questions:

#10 Do you believe love can last?
#44 What do you believe should NOT be done in public?
#50 If your spouse give you one free pass to have sex with another perosn, who would you choose?
#80 Define passion in one sentence
#88 Has your life turned out the way you would hoped it would?

Like these? Thankfully, debut novelist Melanie Gideon (author of The Slippery Year: A meditation on happily ever after: a memoir, and 2 YA novels: Pucker and The Map That Breathed) provides in an appendix these 110 questions - some survey-generic, some philosophical & probing, some downright invasive but all seriously provocative.

Alice Buckle: spouse of William, mother to Zoe and Peter, part-time drama teacher and Facebook chatter, downloader of memories and Googler of solutions is also "Wife 22". Reader will be privy to her honest and witty response to an anonymous survey on marital happiness. Over time, her correspondence with Researcher 101 has taken an unexpectedly personal turn, and soon, she comes dangerously close to making a decision that will affect more than her happiness.

Rights sold to 19 countries and optioned for film. Perfect escapism and a breezy, deligthful summer read.

* * = starred reviews

Robin Gibb, one of the Bee Gees who skyrocketed to fame with the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever, THE hot disco movie of 1977, lost his long battle with liver and colon cancer on Sunday, May 20.

The Bee Gees -- Robin's twin, Maurice, died in 2003, and Barry, who survives at 65 -- were born in England and moved to Australia for several years before returning to England in the 1960s. Known for their high-pitched infectious harmonies, they had written several hits (including the #1 tune in the U.S. in 1971,"How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?"before skittering toward a financial precipice in the mid 70s. Just in time, they which caught the attention of filmmakers looking for music for Saturday Night Fever.

Robin said one of the key secrets to their success was to have "the tape running all the time" to catch moments of brilliance. This method seems to have worked in their favor as they had a one-week deadline for Saturday Night Fever to write the soundtrack, including How Deep Is Your Love, Night Fever, and Stayin' Alive.

Gibb, who was 62, died in London.

Fun, new, crafty ideas for kids are always waiting for you at the AADL. Check out the Library's diverse range of youth magazines for your next in-home project, be it a dynamic science experiment, a creative craft, or a racing vehicle.

Let's start with Muse: the magazine of life, the universe, and pie throwing. Yes, "pie throwing" really is in the magazine title, for this publication is all about maximizing the fun while learning about the natural world. Several of their science experiments are on their website, including the relevant Cell Phone Slip Up experiment that tests whether talking on a cell phone affects your concentration.

You may have seen Family Fun kids: fun stuff to make and do on the magazine shelf and wondered what kinds of projects were hiding inside. From Candle Making 101 to Cozy Bird Cottages to French Toast Casserole recipes (YUM!), this magazine -- as well as its website -- is a well so deep with ideas that if Tikki Tikki Tembo fell in, he might never come back out.

The AADL owns 68 youth magazine titles covering topics such as crafts, science, homeschooling, gaming, music, sports, nature, and everything in between. You can now request magazines for pickup at your local branch library.

movie night2

Nearly every week a newly released feature film that is described for people with visual impairments is shown at Rave Motion Pictures in Ypsilanti. This week they are NOT showing a film with described narration. But here's an idea: Did you know that AADL has a very robust and ever-growing collection of Described Video Recordings in DVD format for L Card users to borrow? More and more films are being produced with this feature. Some are now available by mail to our WLBPD patrons.

The hilarious British sitcom The IT Crowd is set at the fictional Reynholm Industries. The show revolves around three IT department staff members who dwell in the dank basement of the office. The department consists of a geeky genius named Moss, the lazy, girl-chasing Roy, and their boss Jen, who knows absolutely nothing about computers. Together they get the job done while not getting the job done, as they get themselves into and out of one wacky situation after the other. This is the kind of team who emails the fire department when a fire breaks out, then makes the small fire look like a screen saver in order to disguise the outbreak from the big boss.

You might like The IT Crowd if you’re into offbeat British comedies like The Office or Absolutely Fabulous. The show spanned four seasons, and seasons one and two are currently available at AADL.

Donna Summer, known as the Queen of Disco during the 1970s, died today in Florida.

Ms. Summer's gorgeous voice and beautiful presence kept her at the top of the charts and front and center in the public eye year after year. She began as a young girl singing gospel in her Boston church. At 18, she auditioned for a role in the touring company of Hair and went to Europe. In 1973, while recording with Blood, Sweat, and Tears in Munich, she was discovered by a couple of music producers.

Back in the U.S. Ms. Sommer's hit, I Feel Love, was the first to be recorded with the "galloping bass line", an infectious thumping drumbeat that sent music-loving clubbers racing to the dance floor.

Ms. Summer, in addition to winning an Oscar and a Golden Globe in 1979 (for her standout performance of Last Dance in Thank God It's Friday (on order), she snagged five Grammys during her lifetime.

Her last big hit was was the 1980s release of She Works Hard for the Money.

Ms. Summer, who was 63, died of lung cancer which, she confided to friends, she felt she contracted from breathing in the air on 9/11.

The American Library Association and the Carnegie Corporation of New York have collaborated to establish a brand new literary award for authors of books for adults. The finalists for the first Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence, all published in 2011, were announced today.

This new award is unique for two reasons: It's the first award for adults sponsored by the American Library Association, which has a long prestigious list of youth literature prizes. And, unlike most literary awards which are judged by writers and critics, the Carnegie judges are library professionals.

The finalists for this year are:

Robert K. Massie for Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman, Empress of Russia. Pulitzer Prize winner Massie's massive tome was named on the Best Books Lists of more than a dozen major publications.

The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood, by James Gleick. Gleick, author of two previous popular science studies, Chaos: Making a New Science (1992( and Genius: the Life and Science of Richard Feynman (1992), studies the transformative relationship between information and human consciousness.

Manning Marable was tapped for Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention, in which he reveals new information and re-examines conventional wisdom assumptions about this late civil rights figure.

In the fiction category, Russell Banks was selected for Lost Memory of Skin, is the disturbing story of the Kid, a 22-year-old vet convicted of being a sex offender for an online chat with an underage girl. Forced by law to live under a Florida causeway with other sex offenders, the Kid catches the attention of a community college professor who alleges to study/rehab the Kid. However, this is a Russell Banks novel, so get ready to be deeply challenged.

In the The Forgotten Waltz, Anne Enright, Man Booker Prize winner, takes a done-to-death theme -- two people not married to each other have a torrid affair -- and re-invents it with gorgeous language that moves back and forth in time with a stunning Ireland backdrop

Rounding out the fiction finalists is Karen Russell's Swamplandia!. Also set in Florida, a tween female gator wrestler, Ava Bigtree, struggles to keep her family together as they face the loss of the alligator theme park they own. A fantastical, magical first novel.

Winners will be announced at the annual American Library Association conference on June 24 in Anaheim, CA.

For the second time in a week, children's literature has lost a beloved author. Jean Craighead George died yesterday in Valhalla, NY.

Ms. George, who published her first book, Vulpes, the Red Fox, in 1949, won the Newbery Medal for her classic story, Julie of the Wolves, 1972. In this perennial favorite, young Julie runs away from her Alaskan home and becomes lost on the North Slope where she is rescued and raised by a pack of wolves.

Thirteen years earlier, Ms. George was a Newbery Honor winner for My Side of the Mountain. In this adventure tale, 12-year-old Gribley, another runaway, escapes to the Catskills where he befriends a weasel and a peregrine falcon.

She began her writing career as a journalist, working as a reporter for the Washington Post and as one of the first women White House Press Corps reporters.

Ms. George, who was 92, died of complications from a stroke.