Four books with a nautical theme in the AADL Catalog are calling out for attention.

4th of July is "Independence Day".
Celebrate "Independence" by learning personal stories of people who have stretched the definition of civil liberty in US history.
Our Children Can Soar
Madame President
Elizabeth Leads The Way
American Heroes: Robert Smalls
River Of Words: Story Of William Carlos Williams
Boy Named Beckoning:True Story of Dr. Carlos Montezuma

The story of Shi Pei Pu and Bernard Boursicot is more proof truth is stranger than fiction.

Bouriscot, was a worker at the French Embassy in Beijing when he fell in love with Shi Pei Pu, an opera singer who was a man masquerading as a woman. Read the obituary for the incredibly strange story of love, espionage and music.

The Old Gray Lady has covered all these events and more:

Lincoln’s assassination, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic, WW I, the Normandy Invasion, the Titanic disaster, Watergate, and 9/11.

If you give this book to a history buff you may never see him or her again. About 300 of the most momentous front pages are printed in this mammoth book. Also included are 3 very user friendly DVDs that cover every single front page through 2008.

If you don't ever hear from me again you'll know what happened.

The Frightened Man* launches a historical mystery series set in Jack-the-Ripper era London. Author Kenneth Cameron also writes military thrillers with his son under the name Gordon Kent.

Infamous American ex-lawman Denton now lives a solitary life in London, (we will discover his tragic past) sporadically turning out sensational novels of questionable quality. He is smitten with a two-timing mistress, well-served by his Jeeves-like Sergeant Atkins, and gets himself tangled up in the gruesome murder of a young prostitute. It all started with the visit of a frightened stranger who claims to have witnessed Jack the Ripper at work.

“A gripping page-turner, Cameron's novel combines a devilishly clever plot, enigmatic characters, a foreboding atmosphere, and a shocking finale. A top pick for all crime collections.” ~ Booklist

Fans of atmospheric historical mysteries set in London might also like C.S. Harris’s Where Serpents Sleep (2008), 4th in the Sebastian St. Cyr series featuring a Regency-era gentleman sleuth. Dust and Shadow: An account of the Ripper killings by Dr. John H. Watson (2009) by Lyndsay Faye is a fictionalized documentary of the most famous serial killer in history.

* = Starred review

Although it's unreasonable to judge every book-to-film adaptation against the first iteration of a title, when it comes to Wuthering Heights it's nearly impossible to cast out of mind William Wyler's 1939 version, especially Laurence Olivier's stormy yet affable portrayal of Heathcliff, and the Hollywood-ization of the novel's morose ending. In these two regards does PBS' 2009 rendition of Wuthering Heights most severely contrast Wyler's version.

Tom Hardy's Heathcliff is one of the darkest and most menacing screen incarnations of the character, with outstanding scenes when he's intimidating young Catherine in front of the hapless Hareton and exacting his revenge against Cathy, Edgar, and Hindley in the latter half of the film.

Running nearly 2.5 hours in length, few scenes from the novel are entirely absent, though the plot sequence has been changed, and Lockwood's character has been cut.

Thankfully, the harrowing ending of the novel is kept intact, catharsis and all. Decidedly a PBS Masterpiece presentation in its staginess, the acting is nevertheless sharp, carrying the story and its characters gracefully over the moors once again.

C.E. Morgan's first novel, All the Living, told in luminous prose, is the story of Aloma, a mission school girl, who falls for Orren, a tobacco farmer who is still greiving the loss of his family in a car crash. They live a hard scrabble life with Orren retreating further into himself through work and Aloma regretting her decision to desert her dreams of becoming a pianist. When Aloma gets a job playing piano at a nearby church, she develops a deep friendship with the preacher which confuses her intentions even more. Morgan grapples with some elemental questions: the power of work to instill love and the meaning of the "real world" Aloma longs for in what looks like isolation.

On July 1, 1731, Benjamin Franklin founded the first circulating library which was a model for the many public libraries in the U.S. He began it as a way to settle intellectual arguments with a group of friends called the Junto who discussed civil matters and eventually morphed into the present American Philosophical Society. Each of the charter members bought a share which provided funds to buy books. In exchange, they could borrow books. They called their library the Library Company of Philadelphia. The books were moved to the Pennsylvania State House which is now known as Independence Hall.