December 2011

  • Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure

    Imagine you are a highway patrolman in 1953, somewhere back east. You see a slow moving Chrysler ahead, older people at the helm, blocking traffic in the left lane of the highway. You pull the car over and inside—why, there’s former President Harry Truman and his wife, Bess. No security. No motorcade. No Press. Just… Continue reading

  • The Scarlet Letter Revisited

    “The scarlet letter was her passport into regions where other women dared not tread. Shame, Despair, Solitude! These had been her teachers,—stern and wild ones,—and they had made her strong, but taught her much amiss.”  -The Scarlet Letter What I love most about The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne is it’s timelessness. It is just… Continue reading

  • A Thrilling Tale’s Best for Winter

    Actually, the quote – from Shakespeare – is “A sad tale’s best for Winter,” but I tend to disagree; I think we have plenty of S(easonal) A(ffective) D(isorder) around these parts already during the too-short days of Winter. So the stories I select for Thrilling Tales: the Storytime for Grown-Ups, our regular lunch hour story readings at the Central Library,… Continue reading

  • Wordless Stories for Adults

    As a librarian, I read daily, whether it’s emails, tweets, blog posts, magazines, a variety of news sources (hard to call them papers anymore), and naturally, books. These words add up. I figured out once that I read about 200 words a minute on average, and when I count the minutes and hours I read… Continue reading

  • A Different Beauty: Sharing Film with Children

    I vividly remember the first time I saw The Red Balloon as a child. I’ve never forgotten the haunting, stark beauty of 1950s Paris, the unapologetic taking of the child’s perspective, and the power of images with minimal dialogue. As much as I loved, and love, the work of Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, Mel Blanc,… Continue reading

  • Book review: I Am Not a Serial Killer

    I’m not a big reader. I like books, but I simply don’t have the attention span to sit down for hours at a time, plowing through hundreds of pages, when I could be baking, sewing, or casually surfing the internet. However, I recently read a book so exciting and suspenseful that I not only read… Continue reading

  • Downloading for Dinner – Part II

    Yesterday’s post took a look at the library’s growing collection of electronic cookbooks. After browsing the collection, a curious librarian might wonder how using a print copy differs from using an ebook? With the help of a willing participant and a few pieces of technology, an experiment was conducted comparing use of the same title in… Continue reading

  • Downloading for Dinner – Part I

    When looking for a good cookbook, many people do not realize the library has a growing and diverse ebook collection. Using the term “cookery” as a subject keyword and limiting to ebooks reveals the library’s current holdings of 399 titles about food preparation, as well as food culture and history. A quick perusal shows the… Continue reading

  • Question of the Month: What’s the difference between ‘medieval’ and ‘middle ages’?

    Could you clarify the difference between the “medieval” and “middle ages”? Are they related or do they represent two different time periods? I am writing a paper and I am not sure what to use. I was under the impression that medieval is earlier than middle ages, the year 1000 maybe, and middle ages is closer… Continue reading

  • Rest in Peace, Russell Hoban: What you meant to us.

    Russell Hoban has died. Without hesitation I can say he was a major influence on me as a young reader. He authored the first series I ever followed with Frances the badger as the main character. Lillian Hoban’s kinetic illustrations made the stories even more real to me. My mother got me a tea set… Continue reading

  • Occupy Yourself!

    Last month, on a trip to New York City, I found myself marching from Washington Square to Times Square with thousands of other people chanting “we are the 99 percent…you are the percent.” The themes varied, but all called for social justice. I listened to the General Assemblies, talked as we walked, and came away… Continue reading

  • Winter Wonderland in March? You bet!

    Okay, I admit it. I’m a bit of a holiday music freak. I just love it! I often lament the fact that there’s such a small window of time each year where I can wholeheartedly indulge in my passion. But, I’ve come to the realization that many songs get undeservedly stuck with the dreaded “Christmas… Continue reading

  • Books for Giving 2011: Picture Books

    There have been so many wonderful picture books published in 2011 it is hard to make a list shorter than 20! I have compromised and made a list of 8 and also added links to two sites that have done an excellent job of reviewing their best picture book choices for 2011. Enjoy reading with… Continue reading

  • Rae’s Manga Blitz – Library Wars

    Title: Library Wars Manga Author: Kiiro Yumi Original Story Author: Hiro Arikawa Audience: T+ (Older Teen) Genre: Action, Comedy, Romance, Drama, Political, SF (future) Summary: “In the near future, the federal government creates a committee to rid society of books it deems unsuitable. The libraries vow to protect their collections, and with the help of… Continue reading

  • Five terrific campus novels

    I’ve spent a fair amount of time recently thinking about college. Specifically these two questions: Why did Beverly Hills, 90210 (the original, people) get so dreadfully dull when the gang went to college? And why are there so many novels about academics but so few about college students?  While I’m still contemplating the 90210 question, I’m happy… Continue reading

  • Let’s have a feast for 10!

    Enjoy picture books with your children — and each of the books below has a recipe that goes along with the story: It’s breakfast time. Enjoy classics like the wordless picture book Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomi DePaola and Pancakes, Pancakes! by Eric Carle with your child. Then head to the kitchen to cook up… Continue reading

  • Fear and Loathing in Seattle

    It was forty years ago that Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas came forth blinking and convulsing with manic, paranoid brilliance into the light, and what a long strange trip it’s been! Long acknowledged as a cult classic, as the decades pass by without lessening the immediacy and scathing volatility of Thompson’s drug-fuelled picaresque in quest… Continue reading

  • Books for Giving 2011: Teen Books

    We know how it is: you want to give those teens on your list something to readthis Holiday Season, but don’t want your gift to be tossed aside amongst the socks and sweaters. Librarians Hayden and Jennifer offer some recent favorites that are as captivating as the lastest gadgets, and way more interesting than mere… Continue reading