Welcome back for another edition of the Weekly Wow List, featuring picks across all kinds of media from the staff here at the Avalon Free Public Library! Whatever you need, we have something to keep you entertained!
Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett
For fans of cozy magical stories like The Spellshop and Legends & Lattes. This book follows Agnes Aubert, a recent widow and street cat rescuer, as she tries to pick up the pieces of her life after a mysterious magician accidentally explodes part of her house in a duel. She stumbles upon the perfect new sanctuary for her cat shelter, but the secretive landlord may be more than she bargained for. A cast of cats, with big personalities, feature prominently in this whimsical story. – Kara Buono
Scrubs
16 years after it went off the air, Scrubs is back and just as entertaining as ever. Creator Bill Lawrence returns as executive producer and stars Zach Braff, Donald Faison, and Sarah Chalke all reprise their roles, with others like John C. McGinley and Judy Reyes returning as guest stars. The show’s signature mix of rapid-fire jokes, silly fantasy cut scenes, and genuine heart remains firmly intact and should delight longtime fans and probably earn a few new ones. We need shows like this right now, so it’s a treat to get to spend time with the crew at Sacred Heart Hospital again. – Sean Farrell
Paul McCartney: Man on the Run
When popular Beatles lyricist/composer Paul McCartney wrote the song “The Long and Winding Road” in 1968, he told his biographer Barry Miles that the song was, “All about the unattainable; the door you never quite reach… the road that you never get to the end of.” After recording 213 songs with his bandmates John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Star from the period 1962-1969, McCartney was left to watch the slow fade of a star that truly lit the “musical” skies worldwide for almost an entire decade. Disillusioned by differences with his bandmates, Paul retreated to a farm in Scotland with his wife Linda to raise their young family and to figure out what was next.
The documentary Paul McCartney: Man on the Run, is a play on words from one of his post-Beatles/Wings albums called Band on the Run and follows Paul as he works through the emotional ending of his career as a Beatles frontman (and metaphorically, his youth). Throughout this warm, emotional film, Paul exposes his humanity in ways that are honest and relatable to the everyman and opens a window in time for us to view his family, his challenges and the grit/hard work it takes to create a lasting musical legacy that will end up spanning generations. Highly recommended by this want-to-be “Apple Scruff”. – Lynne Florio
The Fiddle Club presents Irish Folk Music
The Fiddle Club of Linwood returns to the library to help celebrate St. Patrick’s Day! Featuring violinists, violists, cellists, bassists, guitarists, and of course fiddlers, both professional and students and across all age groups, this dynamic group always delights audiences! Come enjoy an afternoon of Irish jigs, reels, ballads, and even a little classical! The concert will be held here at the Avalon Free Public Library on Saturday the 7th at 2pm.
Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker
This chilling horror story is set during the early days of the pandemic when fear was high and prejudice was rampant. This book is not for the faint of heart – Cora is a crime scene cleaner, and there are detailed descriptions of murder scenes – but the creepiest parts are the ghosts! After forgoing traditional rituals around the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival, Cora gets too close to the truth about the crime scenes she cleans and becomes haunted, in more ways than one. Be prepared to feel a little bit haunted yourself by the end. – KB
The Bride!
For her second feature, writer / director Maggie Gyllenhaal takes on The Bride of Frankenstein, stamping her own modern sensibilities all over it. Early reviews show it to be divisive, mixing glowing praise and scathing pans, which only makes me want to see it even more. Starring Academy Award nominee (and likely winner) Jessie Buckley in the title role, Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s Monster, as well as Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Penélope Cruz, and Maggie’s brother Jake, this is the sort of bold, ambitious swing that major studios rarely give the kind of budget they need. That Warner Bros. did so deserves to be commended, and even if it isn’t a masterpiece (or even all that good), it promises to still be a sight to behold. – SF
Neither the Avalon Free Public Library nor its staff receive any compensation for inclusion on this list or for links to external websites.
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