October 2009

  • Happy Hallowe’en: A Spooky Story for you.

    After years of sharing thrilling tales with a lunch hour crowd in the Central library, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to share a short and spooky tale for Hallowe’en, on NPR’s All Things Considered. Enjoy! For more such tales, join us at the library for Thrilling Tales: the story time for grownups. Continue reading

  • Revolutionary Women

    I often judge a book by its cover, and usually it serves me well.  Case in point:  I was immediately drawn to Barbara Hamilton’s The Ninth Daughter because the quill pen and portrait of Abigail Adams on the cover quickly clued me in to the historical setting.  Also, there was a prominent blurb praising the… Continue reading

  • Battling Blindness: New and emerging treatments covered in Medical Lecture Series

    The idea of being able to see with one’s tongue may be too far-fetched even for the world of science fiction, but through recent developments in science, the tongue has become an important nerve center. Modifying a damaged optical nerve to the tongue, or instructing a robotic cell to embed itself into the location of… Continue reading

  • Halloween Reads to Share with Children

    In just a few days, there will be goblins, ghosts, superheroes, villains, and flying broomsticks knocking at your door and demanding your attention with shouts of “Trick-or-Treat!”  Stretch out the excitement and rev up the anticipation with nightly bedtime stories featuring the highlights of fall routines, cool weather changes, and a little spookiness, just for fun!  Here are several new titles… Continue reading

  • A Feast of Words

    Next month, you may have trouble finding Gourmet magazine on the library shelves. This time, though, it’s not just that somebody else is already flipping through page after deliciously glossy page.  After nearly 70 years of publication, Gourmet will release its final issue this November.  It’s collateral damage in publisher Condé Nast’s desperate bid to turn a… Continue reading

  • ¡Celebre el Día de los Muertos! Celebrate Day of the Dead!

    So, what is Día de los muertos and why would anyone want to celebrate death? México and other Latin American countries have an intimate and playful attitude towards the life/death relationship. Unlike the sober Memorial Day celebrated in the United States, the dead are invited to return and enjoy costumed parades and personalized altars festooned… Continue reading

  • Learn about your ancestors at the Library

    Wondering about the roots of your family tree? The library has a wealth of resources, classes and expert staff to help you find out more. You can get started today with the Ancestry database, Library Edition. This video will show you how.                             ~David C. Central Library Continue reading

  • Halloween for Grown Ups

    I am one of those people who just loves to decorate my home with each new holiday and season.  Because of this, Autumn has become my favorite season of all –the changing leaves, colorful pumpkins, and plethora of holidays throughout is just too much for me to resist.  In order to get myself properly decorated… Continue reading

  • More Staff Favorites for Children: Chapter Books II

    George’s Secret Key to the Universe, by Lucy and Stephen Hawking J HAWKING George’s parents do not approve of computers – or any other technological amenities.  So, when George stumbles into the lives of his neighbors, he discovers a brave new world.  Annie and her scientist father, Eric, have a computer which produces a portal… Continue reading

  • Reading Challenge: Scare your pants off

    Are you up for a challenge? Because we’ve got one for you. How about reading a horror story in honor of Halloween? Classic horror, gory horror, audio horror, downloaded horror (as in downloaded books) — you name it, and if it’s scary, it counts for this month’s Reading Challenge. But which scary story to read?… Continue reading

  • New Horror to keep you awake at night

    Old-fashioned creepy Victorian horror sneaks up on you in the night, haunts your dreams and harasses you the next day. Recent novels guaranteed to do all three are John Harwood’s The Séance, Sarah Waters’s Little Stranger and John Langan’s Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters.  In Harwood’s tale, a young woman inherits the seedy mansion,… Continue reading

  • Early American Eating

    Back before eating locally was trendy, it was a necessity.  In Depression-era America, one of the WPA projects for out-of-work writers – including Eudora Welty, Saul Bellow and Zora Neale Hurston – was the documentation of regional food traditions.  The bombing of Pearl Harbor cut the project short, and the unedited manuscripts were sent to… Continue reading

  • Columbia City Bookfest, let’s go!

    For sure, the rain and wind have arrived to the Emerald City. For many of us, that means we need to add to our list of authors and books that we want to read before the snow falls and the ice does you know what. Have I got an event to tell you about! The… Continue reading

  • More Fall Staff Favorites for Children: Chapter Books

    1,001 Cranes, by Naomi Hirahara J HIRAHAR Folding 1,001 origami cranes was not Angie’s idea.  Her parents, on the verge of divorce, have sent her to her grandparents outside of L.A., where displays of good luck cranes are part of their floral business.  Angie is not a happy camper.  At first, she is all thumbs… Continue reading

  • All Your Bass Are Belong To Us, Part II

    To continue our electronic odyssey began in Part I here are some artists you might find at SPL to plug in to and up the amperage of your playlist. Bombay Dub Orchestra – Take a fully orchestrated Bollywood soundtrack, chop it up, chill it down and this is what you get: a 2-disc set, the second… Continue reading

  • Get Lost (Part 3)

    (Third in a series) You look to the sky…                                 Set your course on into the night… You say good-bye…                                                             You hold your head high…     Wherever you’re goin it’s alright… Second stop was Cannon Beach and Salem: 1 day, 1 night We headed out early morning on a sunny Sunday from Portland to… Continue reading

  • New borrowing limits start Oct. 15

    Just a reminder that new limits on check-outs and holds, overdue fines on all borrowed items, and a fee for loans from other library systems begin Thursday, Oct. 15. The changes help address the high demand for limited items during tough economic times. We’ve cut our budget by $1 million this year and are preparing… Continue reading

  • Further down The Road: Dystopian Fiction

    If Cormac McCarthy’s book The Road – or the movie adaptation hitting theaters October 16 – piques your interest in fictional visions of a dystopian, post-apocalyptic world, here are some other books to check out. There’s been a massive flood and only one family, on an ark, has been saved.  Sound familiar?  The Island at the… Continue reading