EVPL Communities

Ancient Gonzo Widsom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson

Bufkinite@evpl — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:56:00 GMT

I've been a Hunter S. Thompson fan since I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas back in college in 1973. The completely drug-soaked, high speed narration of a trip to Las Vega in search of "the American Dream," was a breakthrough, a new style of writing that I found entertaining and entralling.

Thompson's fame grew as he began applying his unique style to his correspondant reportage, beoming in the process the "Father of Gonzo Journalism," a style of journalism which is written subjectively, often including the reporter as part of the story via a manic first-person narrative. His first book of such reportage was Feath and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 1972, his take on the Nixon/McGovern race for the White House.

He kept at it for years, as political and sports correspondent to Rolling Stone magazine, and published a raft of books compiling these articles periodically, usually to coincide with a particular presidential term in office. He must of sensed at a very early age that his writings would be sought-after, for he kept most of his correspondence, and began, with Pround Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-67, to put most of these early letters between hard covers.

In the same vein Ancient Gozo Wisdom, compiled and edited by his widow, Anita Thompson, is a compilation of interviews, arranged chronologically from 1967 through May of 2005. The interviews range widely from the obscure (a 1972 interview on WBZ 1030 AM Radio in Boston) to the very well-known (an All Things Considered interview on NPR in 1997), and a host of magazine, radio, and television interviews in between. Topics covered include the publication of most of his books, correspondence he had with everyone from presidents to pop stars, his failed bid for sheriff of Woody Creek, Colorado, and his ruthlessly iconoclastic tendancies.

Anyone familiar with Thompson's life and writing will enjoy the reviews compiled here. Onward!

"The original guide to living wisely"

googler@evpl — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:38:00 GMT

At least, that's how Mother Earth News describes itself, and they might not be too far off the mark. The magazine got its start in 1970, and you may think of it as something the hippies used to read. But these days, their focus on green living, sustainability, and saving money seems pretty much relevent to everyone. At least, I think there's something for everyone here, with a website packed full of free content.

Recent articles include "Cough into Your Sleeve! .. and Other Strategies to Fight the Flu"; "How to Make Your Fireplace More Efficient" ("an open masonry fireplace seems cozy, but it's not efficient for home heating," they say, and give cost estimates for various ways to keep more of the heat in your house instead of up the chimney); "Making Jerky," with recipes and procedures that they say are efficient and almost effortless; and a link to the Department of Energy's 2010 fuel economy guide for new cars.

They have a section for shopping, where you can order books, garden products, housewares, and much more (Christmas gift ideas, maybe?). They have a weekly radio show you can listen to. There are blogs and free newsletters. And currently they're still publishing the magazine in paper, if you it that way.

And, of course, the Library subscribes to the magazine, too. It's held at Central and three branches.

The Maze Runner

bookchick@evpl — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:47:00 GMT

Imagine waking up in pitch blackness in a moving box with no memory of how you got there. In fact you have no memory of anything at all before the box. Just your name and a few impressions of memory that you can't quite hold onto long enought to decipher their meaning.

This is exactly what happened to all of the boys living in the Glade. The Glade that happens to be located in the center of a massive Maze. The only hope is to somehow, gather enough information to solve the puzzle of the maze and be rewarded with going home. Easier said than done when the walls rearrange every night. And then there are the Grievers. Especially nasty creatures who kill when they can and inject venom when they can't. Every day the same, run the Maze looking for exits and avoiding Grievers, until one day the box arrives with a very disturbing cargo. The first and only female ever to be introduced into the Glade. Her arrival triggers a series of events that make solving the Maze more crucial than ever before. Time is running out. But the Maze seems unsolvable.

Who built the Maze and for what purpose? How do you solve the seemingly unsolvable and, if you do, what then?

If you liked Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Susanne Collins I think you will like this new trilogy of books by James Dashner starting with The Maze Runner.

You can Check out the authors blog at: http://jamesdashner.blogspot.com

Homer and Langley by E. L. Doctorow

HRevvdon@evpl — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:36:00 GMT

Homer and Langley Collyer were brothers that were infamous for being reclusive and being hoarders. They lived in New York City in the decades after WWI. E.L. Doctorow’s new novel picks up the story and gives it new life as a sort of memoir written by Homer Collyer. Homer and Langley: A Novel (2009) is well-written and hard to put down, both because of the story and the writing.

In the novel the Collyer brothers were born to privilege and the 'manse' in which they are raised and subsequently live their lives is on Fifth Avenue facing Central Park. Homer is the younger and an accomplished pianist; however as a young man he loses his eyesight and gradually becomes blind. Langley goes to war, WWI, and comes back home shortly after the parents are struck down by the influenza epidemic in 1912. Langley has respiratory damage from being gassed in the trenches, but is also more or less emotionally damaged. The two men resume their lives in society throughout the 1920’s but beginning with the Depression start to become reclusive.

Unlike most stories about the true-life brothers, Doctorow concentrates on the brother’s relationship with each other and their slow withdrawal from the world as opposed to the hoarding. The emotional troubles of Langley are told in the manner that a loving brother would see them; the physical limitations of Homer are minimized until the end but are told more in respect to how Langley cares for Homer and protects him.

Interesting events in history are told from the point of view of the brothers and how the events affect them and make them want to further withdraw from the world. This is a good read because the insight of what the brothers may have really been like, instead of what the media sensationalists portrayed them as, it is fascinating and touching. I wanted to reach out to Homer and just pull him out of that house! But, make no mistake, Homer is no whiner!

Google "Homer and Langley Collyer" and you will find information and great pictures of these brothers that were both reclusive and eccentric.

A Separate Country by Robert Hicks

HRevvdon@evpl — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 19:18:00 GMT

A Separate Country (2009) by Robert Hicks is another of his Civil War epics. Well written in a narrative form, through three main characters, the novel unfolds a complicated story. The novel revolves around John Bell Hood; it is a fictional account of the Confederate general’s life after the Civil War. Hood was famous to some for his aggressive battle style and infamous to others for his reckless decision in battle that cost thousands of men their lives.

A Separate Country is about his life in New Orleans after the war. On his death bed he asks Eli Griffin, a man who once tried to kill Hood for what he did to Griffin’s family during the war, to publish his secret memoir and to seek out and destroy a war memoir that another Confederate general is holding for publication. Hood wants his true memoir, in which he comes to terms with his life and finds love and God, published instead of what he now considers his false war memoir. Eli also finds Mrs. Hood’s diaries and memoirs in the house.

So begins a saga told in the voices of Eli Griffin, John Hood, and Anna Marie Hood. The stories trace John and Anna Marie’s tumultuous relationship, their family of eleven children, their dwindling fortune, growing love, social consciousness, and deaths. Mixed in are the intricacies of New Orleans mixed Creole and American society, a black marketeer dwarf, a fop’s murder, a giant of a priest, and a man whose only talent is for killing.

Hick’s book is complicated but very good and the style of writing, using the voice of three different protagonists, makes the plot easier to follow and more interesting.

Website Unavailability on November 12 & 13

professor.knowsitall@evpl — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:05:00 GMT

Encore, an online catalog we introduced in December 2008, is currently being upgraded! There may be brief outages this afternoon while the upgrade is completed.

Shortly after closing on Friday, November 13, additional upgrades will be performed. During that time, approximately 6:00pm to 10:00pm, the following sections of our website will be unavailable:

New versions of our library software are released periodically. These upgrades add new functionality to our website & fix issues our users have encountered.

We appreciate your patience during the downtime and apologize for any inconvenience it may cause.

If you have questions or comments, please submit them below!

Reasons why the world won't end in 2012

googler@evpl — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:22:00 GMT

There's a lot of hype right now about the Mayan calendar, but it's interesting to note that none of it is coming from experts in Mesoamerican studies. In fact, it all seems to be coming from people trying to sell something, from books to movie tickets to emergency supplies. A couple of sites out there might help you rest assured there's nothing to be worried about.

An article in USA Today explains that "Part of the 2012 mystique stems from the stars. On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that 'whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time,' journalist Lawrence Joseph writes. But scholars doubt the ancient Maya extrapolated great meaning from anticipating the alignment — if they were even aware of what the configuration would be. Astronomers generally agree that 'it would be impossible the Maya themselves would have known that,' says Susan Milbrath, a Maya archaeoastronomer and a curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History. What's more, she says, 'we have no record or knowledge that they would think the world would come to an end at that point.'"

The news site of the Discovery Channel has an article titled "Top Ten Reasons Why the World Won't End in 2012" with a nice summary of arguments against the most frequently proposed doomsday scenarios.

NASA has a FAQ about 2012, in which they explain, "Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar."

I'm fond of The Skeptic's Dictionary, and they've come through with a nice entry that explains the complexities of the Mayan calendar in some detail (and which many doomsayers seem to be ignorant of). They also fail to find any reason to think that the Mayans were making a prediction at all, and ask the question, "what is the likelihood that a civilization that couldn't use its vast knowledge to save itself from self-destruction was concerned with predicting what would happen in a future millennium? The Mayan leaders couldn't see far enough into the future to plan for and solve the human problems they faced: too many people on too little land, destruction of their own environment, farming techniques and deforestation that depleted soil nutrients, droughts (partly brought on by their deforestation programs), and so on."

You have to give Hollywood credit -- they've timed the release of the big-budget disaster film 2012 just about perfectly. If nothing else, it certainly looks like an impressive bunch of special effects. I love how Roger Ebert calls it "the mother of all disaster movies (and the father, and the extended family)."

New CD round-up

googler@evpl — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:36:00 GMT

Looking for something new to listen to? This is a very small selection of new CDs, but it might give some idea of the diversity and currency of the Library's collection. Comment to let us know if you’ve listened to any of them and what you think, or make your own recommendations.

1. In the pop/rock category, try "Bomb in a Birdcage," from A Fine Frenzy. With varied textures, big sounds, diverse instrumentation, it's "lush, bewitching and atmospheric," says A.L. Harper at Blogcritics.

2. In the classical category, try Beethoven’s "Complete works for piano and cello" performed by cellist Zuill Bailey and pianist Simone Dinnerstein. Bailey is a "deeply committed, serious player with a big tone, generous resonance, interpretive sensitivity, and a natural manner of playing that's as easy as breathing….. Dinnerstein is an excellent choice as accompanist given her fundamental understanding of classical tempi, keen touch, and her general abilities in Beethoven…. The two make for a great team, and there's no question that this is a great recording; beautifully engineered, played with a sense of artistic purpose and professionalism," says Dave Lewis.

3. If you'd like to try some jazz, check out "Emergence" by Roy Hargrove’s Big Band. "There are no jarring surprises herein, but Hargrove has sculpted a deliberately mainline repertoire that jumps from hearty swing to roseate sentimentality. It's a slick, well-balanced sound that may well find the trumpeter a fresh audience of more mainstream-inclined jazz fans," says Martin Longley.

4. For some alternative country, you might like "Happiness and all the other things" by Cross Canadian Ragweed. "For their seventh full-length album, Cross Canadian Ragweed tread familiar yet firm ground, crafting earthy, sepia-toned road songs that are as good, if not better, than anything they've released in the past. It's a well-traveled highway, and the ghosts of the acts that came before them -- like the Eagles, Marshall Tucker Band, Neil Young, and Gram Parsons -- are always in the rear-view mirror, but Happiness and All the Other Things ultimately keeps its eyes on the horizon" says Lee Power.

The staff at your local branch and in the Popular Materials Center at Central will help you find music to match all your tastes, or dip into a genre you're not familiar with! And use this page to explore our collection from home.

Sir Laurence Olivier on DVD

googler@evpl — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:16:00 GMT

I used to have a bit of a weakness for Sir Larry in his prime, and I still watch Rebecca whenever I see it's on TV. I noticed we have a fairly recent release of an old Olivier film from that period, and it made me wonder what others we may have acquired recently. Here are the three latest DVDs in the Library that feature, frankly, one of the best-looking actors ever:

1. That Hamilton Woman (1941) is an account of a famous love affair, that between the great British admiral Lord Nelson, and Lady Hamilton, the wife of a British ambassador. Says Amanda Mae Meynacke, the film is a "robust affair, brimming with vitality and nuance, the kind of film that is too deliciously layered to be taken at face value. Real life couple Vivien Leigh and Laurence Olivier starred in the 1941 film, with Alexander Korda directing the epic historical war romance. Leigh and Olivier were a newly minted couple who came together while still married to other people, much like Hamilton and Nelson, apparently magnetically drawn together as if their love was always meant to be."

2. My own favorite Olivier movie was re-released on DVD in 2008, Rebecca (1940), based on the Daphne du Maurier novel and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The movie is a wonderfully atmospheric suspense film, although you may find yourself frustrated by Joan Fontaine's exaggerated mousiness (and wonder, like I did, why Olivier's character ever wanted to marry her at all). I tend to watch Olivier movies just to hear the way he delivers lines, and the way he says "I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool" is an all-time favorite.

3. Pride and Prejudice (1940) has seen a number of film and television adaptations, of course, and if you love the book, you may well dislike this movie. "The script is so light in tone, and so light on its resemblance to the novel’s storyline and characters, that purists will find it wholly insufferable. Those with a sense of humor or affection for this era of Hollywood, however, will very quickly fall in love with it," says one blogger at the "My Pride and Prejudice" website.

Do you have a favorite Olivier film, or do you prefer Cary Grant? Tell us in the comments!

Evansville's small claim to fame in the 1918 Great Pandemic & a tip for 2009 flu clinics in Evansville

SuDocQueen@evpl — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:07:00 GMT

Thanks to a very interesting question today, I discovered a surprising fact. Evansville was involved in Indiana's first official report on the Spanish influenza. According to http://1918.pandemicflu.gov/your_state/indiana.htm, in the "first official report from the state...officials reported that an epidemic had developed in Evansville beginning in the last week of September." By October, "state officials were forced to admit that 'the disease has been reported from a number of places' in the state," but Evansville carries the distinction of being the first city in Indiana to be officially stricken with the epidemic. I don't know whether you consider that good or bad, but I certainly found it surprising to learn that our city had a specific place in the history of the Great Pandemic.

I also found the website fascinating. Coming from The Office of the Public Health Service Historian, the site offers a good overview of the Pandemic in the United States -- be sure to always click on "more"; each general topic only shows the tip of information being offered. One can get a snapshot picture of average life in the US in 1918 as well as detailed information on the Pandemic's effects in each state; for example Indiana officially reported 154,600 cases while historians and epidemiologists now believe the count was closer to 350,000 cases. Along with bibliographies for books and websites, biographies on people central to the Pandemic, and examples of media resources from the time it's a very comprehensive picture of the 1918 Pandemic.

If you're more interested in the current flu situation, the site's main page also includes a link to www.pandemicflu.gov. That site helpfully pops up in a new window so you can continue browsing the historical information as well. One last discovery I have to mention, while browsing the current flu site, I discovered that the Vanderburgh County Health Department offers email notification for H1N1 Vaccination clinics! The notification comes through a catch-all category called "special events," so who knows what kind of notices a person may receive later on, but it could be worth not having to constantly check the department website or listen to the news all the time.

Fall YA reads

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:57:00 GMT

Being a teenager means having to deal with a lot of changes. Whether it is at home, in school, with friends, or a boyfriend/girlfriend, sometimes it is nice to come across a book that you can relate to and makes you feel like you're not alone in your problems. Recently, I have read three YA novels that would appeal to teens in that their main character is easy to relate to and you feel like you have talked to a best friend after finishing it.

Catherine Murdock published the conclusion to her trilogy focusing on DJ Schwenk in October. Front and Center was a satisfying ending to a character I have grown to love. We were first introduced to DJ in Dairy Queen, published in 2007. A high school sophomore, DJ is a phenomenal basketball player that does a lot of work on her family's farm. Over the summer, a family friend sends rival high school quarterback, Brian, over to work at the Schwenk farm. DJ begins to help Brian train for football season, and she finds herself liking the sport by the end of summer. When DJ decides to try-out for the team, the town is divided in support and resistance. DJ's story continues in The Off Season focusing on DJ adjusting to life after her brother is paralyzed in a football game. The story concludes in Front and Center, and I highly recommend your read the entire series.

Viola in Reel Life was published in September by adult author, Adriana Trigiani. Viola has grown up in Brooklyn with documentary filmmaker parents until sophomore year when her parents ship her off to boarding school...in South Bend, Indiana. Instead of adjusting to life with roommates and away from her family and friends, Viola hides behind her video camera. An opportunity to make a movie for a contest pushes Viola out from behind the camera and into the real world. Recommended.

Lastly, one of my favorite teen authors, Sara Zarr, was back last month with Once was Lost. Zarr did not let me down as she dove into Sam's life as a preacher's daughter. Sam's mom has been placed in rehab for alcoholism because she could not handle being a preacher's wife, but Sam is left to pick up the pieces. When a local girl goes missing, Sam's faith is tested even more as her tragedy and the kidnapped girl's begin to overlap. Highly recommended.

Happy Reading!

The Clash's "London Calling" Still Rocks!

Bufkinite@evpl — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:17:00 GMT

I have been listening to London Calling - the Clash's 1979 breakout album - on my morning drive recently, and wanted to blog about how fresh it still seems after 30 years. In fact, it's hard to believe that it was 30 years ago that I was first entranced by the hypnotic sounds of the title track.

It's aged really well, and seems almost playful now - at least tracks like "Jimmy Jazz" and "Lost in the Supermarket." Other tracks maintain their effrontery and anger as fresh as the first time I heard them. I'm thinking especially of "The Guns of Brixton," the lyrics of which predate the race riots that took place there in the 1980s, but are almost prescient in terms of depicting the tensions that were building at the time that bassist Paul Simonon penned the song in 1978, largely due to the heavy-handedness of the police.

Other songs that still resonate are "Working for the Clampdown" and "The Card Cheat."

One thing you never had to be afraid of with the Clash was being shortchanged. The 19 tracks on this album contain over an hour of listening. Their other recordings are similarly generous.

An interesting note about the album cover: it was a parody of/reflection on Elvis Presley's debut album, "Elvis Presley," which came out in 1957. Considered a "bad boy" in his day, by the time the Clash debuted with "London Calling," Elvis seemed positively wholesome, and the image of bassist Paul Simonon smashing his bass on the stage of the Palladium in New York City reinforces the new level to which being a "bad boy" had risen by that time.

Give the Clash a listen! If you've never heard them, it's high time; if you have, you'll enjoy the return trip.

Word Clouds as Works of Art

Bufkinite@evpl — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 16:51:00 GMT

Noodling around on the web is great fun because in doing so, I sometimes find things that I end up being amazed by, but would otherwise never have thought interesting. The web site wordle.net is one such example. You can enter any text into it - love letters, web pages, emails, anything! - and it will create a word cloud which gives greater prominence to words appearing more frequently in the source text.

You can play around with the results, changing fonts, color schemes, the direction of the type (e.g. horizontal or vertical), and the overall layout. The results are surprising, and very often stunning.

I'm a word person - I not only love to use words, I enjoy finding just the right word, and am frequently peeved (friends say more than I should be) by the unnecessary use of words, or the incorrect use of words. (Don't even get me started on words like "digitalization" or "irregardless"!) So finding a web site that does nothing but render words into things of striking beauty is a real pleasure for me!

Just to give you an example, here is a word cloud - courtesy of http://www.wordle.net - using the text of this blog post!

Check it out!

November is National Diabetes Month

SuDocQueen@evpl — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:07:00 GMT

Considering the prevalance of diabetes in America today, I suspect the disease has touched many, many families in the Evansville and tri-state area. It is certainly a topic near and dear to my heart since I have had family members and friends afflicted with both Type 1 and Type II. For those who have never encountered diabetes, or those newly diagnosed, it can be a frightening disease. So what better time to learn more about the disease than during the month dedicated to it?

To be honest, it had slipped my mind that November was National Diabetes Month until I got an email update from www.usa.gov talking about it -- check out www.usa.gov's website to find out about all the great email updates and RSS feeds people can sign-up for. The email included a great link to their FAQ section on diabetes. That section in turn offers several ways to get information on diabetes. They include phone, address, and email for the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse as well as several links for different websites like National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, National Diabetes Education Program, and the American Diabetes Association.

You can find even more online information from www.usa.gov by browsing or keyword searching from the website's main page. To browse, scroll down the main page until you see "Health and Nutrition." Clicking will take you to a further breakdown of the subject. Scroll down to "Health Topics A-Z" and click. Then click on "D" and scroll down until you get to "Diabetes." You'll see about twelve different topics on diabetes from diabetes and pregnancy to diabetic diet, kidney problems or even nerve problems. Each topic leads to great information from Medline Plus that includes additional links on things like prevention, related issues, and research as well as links to videos, tutorials, and pictures where available.

You can also do a keyword search on diabetes by typing the term into the search box at the top of www.usa.gov's main screen. You'll get a results page reminiscent of Google but without all the extraneous hits from questionable websites. The neatest part of the results page is the topic breakdown on the left-hand side of the page. The topic list is a breakdown of the search results into individual topics. The numbers in parenthesis indicate how many hits your search had under that topic, and the plus button to the right indicates that the topic can be broken down even farther. Clicking on the plus button will show that further breakdown while clicking on the topic itself will change the results list to the hits for just that topic. Also, take a look at the Agencies breakdown. If you didn't know, www.usa.gov searches state as well as federal websites. Looking at "Agencies" will give you a concise picture of the places your results are coming from. For example my "diabetes" search showed that the majority of my results came from the National Institutes of Health, but if you click to see "All" results for Agencies, you can scroll down and discover that Indiana has a page on diabetes coming from the IHS Division of Diabetes Treatment and Prevention.

If you're not on information overload yet, or if you prefer your information in a more tangible format, EVPL has an amazing collection of print material on diabetes ranging from books on the disease, complications, and diet to cookbooks for the diabetic. My simple keyword search using the term diabetes then limiting to books turned up over 400 books. Or, if you'd like to see magazine articles you can go back to the computer, go to our databases, and select a general database like Masterfile Premier, (see it under our list of "Popular Databases" or find it through our "Alphabetical Sequence") and do a keyword search for articles on diabetes. You can also choose "Category Sequence" and click on Health and Medicine to see a list of databases that will narrow your search to just medical journals.

What are the odds?

googler@evpl — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:15:00 GMT

Ever wonder what the odds are that an adult planning a Halloween costume will be a cat? How about the odds of being killed by a shark? There's a new website, The Book of Odds, that does just that — it gives you odds.

You can do a simple keyword search, an odds search (finding anything that has a 1 in 100 chance of occurring by entering the number 100), or click on "advanced search" to look for additional content (articles and blog posts). Searching all content can be pretty interesting, particularly if you're looking to spice up a speech or a research paper, but there's not a huge amount of that kind of content.

The data comes from a lot of demographic studies, much of it market-based or governmental, and because of that, you tend to see age, gender, income, and location breakdowns that many people won't find that useful and tend to pad the result list.. (They're not consistent breakdowns though, so no comparison of shark attack odds between Indiana and Florida.)

If you see something in the result list that you want to know more about or want to use in some way, click on the odds for an item and you’ll get a visual representing those odds and a list of unrelated odds that are close or exactly the same as the one you’re looking at. The detail page also has a button marked "Sources & Definitions." Click it and you’ll get information on the source, rounding information, and even an appropriate way to cite the data presented. If you don't find odds for something you think should be there, click on "suggest odds" at the bottom of the page, and they may be able to research it and add it.

If you register and create an account (it’s free) you can start your own book of odds, which allows you to track odds, send odds information to a friend, mark those that you like or those that apply to you, etc. Worth a visit! Oh, and before you leave the Book of Odds site be sure to visit the "About Us" page. I got a chuckle out of this : "Book of Odds is not a search-engine, decision-engine, knowledge-engine, or any other kind of engine…so please don’t compare us to Google(tm). We did consider the term 'probability engine' for about 25 seconds, before coming to our senses."

Zany Wooden Toys

mrsweasley@evpl — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 19:04:00 GMT

I'm not a woodworker myself, but if I were, I would want to work my way through all the projects in Zany Wooden Toys the Whiz, Spin, Pop and Fly. It's a delightfully colorful book filled with excellent illustrative photos, clear and precise how-to drawings, and really fun-looking projects. There's an appendix that provides a tutorial on woodworking basics, too.

Author Bob Gilsdorf brings a sense of fun and exuberance to this book that will enchant and inspire kids who love to create and invent. If I were a kid, I'd make sure that this book found its way into the hands of some Grandpa, parent, or friend with a woodshop.

The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

HRevvdon@evpl — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:59:00 GMT

I have been trying to go back and read a literature classic once a month, for October I chose to read The Age of Innocence (1920) by Edith Wharton. I have watched the Scorcese film with Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder several times, but I have never read the book. I also did not know that it won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. Wharton’s writing is of the time and so is a little old fashioned but it is a well-written novel and entertaining.

The story is set in upper class New York City in the 1870’s where all the actions of the characters are bound by the rules of society. The main character, Newland Archer, is newly engaged to the beautiful and young May Welland, when her cousin the Countess Ellen Olenska arrives. The Countess is estranged from her dastardly husband and has come home to start her life anew; her family wants her to return to her husband for appearance sake. Archer falls in love with Ellen, but both are restricted by society norms and their desire not to hurt anyone.

Wharton was a feminist and critical of rigid society norms so I am sure at the time it was written as a critique of the rigid society of the time, but for me it was refreshing to read about characters that resisted the temptation of their desires in order to do the right thing. I think I may read Ethan Frome (1911) by Wharton next.

South of Broad by Pat Conroy

HRevvdon@evpl — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 01:24:00 GMT

Recently while I was on a vacation trip I started reading Pat Conroy’s latest novel, South of Broad (2009). I was staying with friends and they had both just finished reading it. They were both disappointed because it was “just so unbelievable.” I love Conroy’s writing; I think that he could write the text on the back of a cereal box and it would be homage to the grains and sugars inside the box.

I had high hopes because the opening lines are so reminiscent of Prince of Tides (1986). However, my friends are right. South of Broad is just too unbelievable. Its characters are over the top, the story is too complicated with too many storylines and characters, and it is simply not believable at all. There are 18 year olds that talk with the wit and maturity of 30 year olds.

But…his writing is so poetic I still read the entire book and had a hard time putting it down.

The setting is Charleston in the 1960’s and the late 1980’s. The main character is mature beyond his years after living through hell. His brother has killed himself and he was arrested for having a huge amount of cocaine in his possession at age 15 or 16. He befriends a group of other teenagers – all high school seniors and all new to the high school where his ex-nun mother is the principal. There are the three orphans, one black and two are “mountain trash” from North Carolina. There is the son of the new black coach that none of the white students will play for. There is the rich, Charleston elite kid, his sister, and his girlfriend all of whom transfer to the public school after being booted from private school for possession of drugs. Lastly there are the twins – both beautiful – one a talented effeminate gay man and the other a Hollywood starlet in the making. The twins’ mother is a drunk running from their father – who happens to be a homicidal maniac. There is a ton of angst in this book!

The novel gently goes between the fabled senior year of legendary football games, infamous racial tension, and interaction with the high society of Charleston – south of Broad Street; and, the friends as adults searching for their missing gay friend in AIDS ravaged San Francisco in the late 1980’s so they can bring him home to care for him. Some of the best writing is about this search, it is heartbreaking. Oh, and then there is Hurricane Hugo as well.

If you are not a Pat Conroy fan, don’t read this book. Go back and read Prince of Tides or Beach Music or Lords of Discipline or The Water is Wide…any Conroy but this Conroy. Well I would skip My Losing Season as well, but that’s me.

It's time for a ghost story...

bookchick@evpl — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 22:18:00 GMT

Do you remember reading ghost stories as a kid? That shivery feeling you got up and down your spine, the hair standing up on the back of your next and the feeling of being watched? Douglas Clegg brings back the traditional ghost story in a small volume entitled Isis.

Iris and her brother Henry are as close as two siblings can be. They entertain and protect each other, and call each other Isis and Osiris while their Father is off fighting a foreign war and their Mother deals, rather unsuccessfully, with his absence. There is also a twin to Henry named Spencer, who is as cruel as Henry is kind. While living in their Grandfather's bleak house Iris discovers a secret hidden among her Grandfather's books. This secret leads Iris and Henry down the path of the Occult with some unexpected and terrifying results.

You'll read it in one sitting and probably want to leave the lights on.

Books for Boys and Ghouls

mrsweasley@evpl — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:50:00 GMT

With just about a week left until Halloween, most of the Halloween books in our Holiday collections have been snapped up and won't reappear until at least the Day of the Dead (Nov. 1). But here's a monstrous secret: many spooky stories are not found in the Holiday collection. Here are some books that will put a shiver up your spine or a coax a cackle from you, all found in our Picture Book, Easy Reader, Fiction, or Non-fiction collections.

Picture Books Frankenstein Makes a Sandwich and Frankenstein Takes the Cake by Adam Rex consist of humorous verse about the trials of being a monster, with illustrations reminiscent of classic monster flix by the author. Michael Rex (no relation, as far as I can tell) gives us Goodnight Goon and The Runaway Mummy, good-natured monster's-eye parodies of Margaret Wise Brown's beloved bedtime stories.

Another parody favorite is Judy Sierra's gruesome reworkings of familiar nursery rhymes, Monster Goose, found on our shelves at 811.54 SIERR.

For little ones who need to be reassured that monsters can be conquered, try Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley. The scary Big Green Monster is disassembled piece by piece as you turn the die-cut pages in an empowering lapsit experience. Pair that with Sesame Street "monster"Lovable Furry Old Grover in The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone.

Other gentle ghost stories for the younger set are Ghosts in the House and Hush, Baby Ghostling. Get kids involved in the story with the very slightly scary (but mostly fun) Can YOU Make a Scary Face?

Beginning readers will enjoy Alice Low's The Witch Who Was Afraid of Witches or In a Dark, Dark Room, and Other Scary Stories by Alvin Schwartz in our Easy Reader collection.

Alvin Schwartz also authored the ever-popular Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Series, which you'll find at 398.25 SCHWA. While you're in the 398s, pick up Cinderella Skeleton (398.2 SAN ) by Robert D. San Souci, a rhymed retelling of Cinderella with artwork by David Catrow that may remind you of the movie Corpse Bride.

Lurking in the juvenile fiction collection (and currently on the NEW shelf) is The Book of Ghosts. Selected and illustrated by father-son artists Michael and Devon Hague, The Book of Ghosts is a collection of classic ghost stories from masters such as Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft and other well-known writers. It includes that standard for creepy suspense, "The Monkey's Paw," by W. W. Jacobs.

Contemporary author Neil Gaiman follows neatly in the footsteps of classic horror/suspense writers. He was recognized with a Newbery Medal earlier this year for his creepy fantasy The Graveyard Book. If you missed some of his earlier children's fare, check out Coraline (also available as a graphic novel) and The Wolves in the Walls to give yourself a Halloween treat.

Great Scot! (aka, Grateful American)

myzticrhythmz@evpl — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:11:00 GMT

Many celebrity biographies possess certain similarities: ambition, failed relationships, struggle, and frequently, addictions and/or abuse. So much of the success of the book depends not only on how the author has dealt with these situations in real life, but also on how they are able to share the details with their readers.

For me, American on Purpose: the Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot by late-night talk show host Craig Ferguson is a success.

Born into a middle-class family in Glasgow, Scotland, Ferguson was pudgy boy who was beaten up pretty frequently. A lifelong passion for the United States was kindled by a letter exchange with NASA and a visit to the U.S. as a teen. Along the way, he discovered music (with a brief career as a punk rock drummer), alcohol and drugs, and eventually stand-up comedy and acting. Following a failed suicide attempt (he was diverted by a friend's offer of a drink) he eventually entered rehabilitation, and has been sober since 1992.

Throughout it all, Ferguson remains refreshingly gracious and unpretentious. He recounts the events and people in his life without malice, but instead with candor, equanimity, and a large dose of humor.

A bit of a warning here: the language may be offensive to some readers. Listening to the audiobook, which Ferguson narrates with that lovely brogue of his, probably made things a bit easier on the ears.

Okay; I'll admit it. I don't think I've ever stayed up to watch The Late Late Show. School nights, household duties--the usual reasons. But after reading American on Purpose, I just might.

The Open Book Alliance, an Alternative to the Google Library Book Project.

Bufkinite@evpl — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:52:00 GMT

You've probably heard of the Google Library Books Project, a massive project wherein search giant Google teamed up with a number of large research libraries worldwide to scan their holdings in order to make digitized copies of those books available worldwide. Cooperating libraries included Oxford's Bodleian library - the oldest public library in the world - Harvard University Libraries, and the University of Michigan Libraries, giving Google a database which now numbers over 10 million books, many of which are not in the public domain, but still fall under copyright protection. As a result, it wasn't long before a lawsuit was brought against Google by the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers, concerned that people would access their books via Google without paying the authors or publishers of protected works the royalties they would normally be due.

The result of this lawsuit was a settlement that has become known as the Google Book Settlement, a settlement that many authors, agents, libraries, and lawyers claim gives Google a tremendously unfair advantage over any other digitizing enterprise, gives Google perpetual and exclusive rights to "orphaned works" - books that are still under copyright protection, but for which a copyright claimant has not come forward or been found - if no claim has been filed for them by June 5, 2010. Google maintains that these concerns are overblown. Co-founder Sergey Brin wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times recently essentially calling the Google Books Project the digital equivalent of the Great Library of Alexandria, but UC Berkley law professor Pamela Samuelson responded with a rebuttal, pointing out that:

Unlike any library, Google is a profit-motivated company, out to sell you a product
Libraries and library associations are lining up in opposition to the proposed settlement, something they wouldn't do if Google Books operated like a library
The settlement would put the fair use of copyright materials in jeopardy, and libraries are great believers in fair use
Rights to reader privacy are also at risk (would you like some Adsense advertisements with your book search?)

Enter the Open Book Alliance (OBA), an organization whose mission recognizes that "the mass digitization of books promises to bring tremendous value to consumers, libraries, scholars, and students. The Open Book Alliance will work to advance and protect this promise. And, by protecting it, ... will assert that any mass book digitization and publishing effort be open and competitive." The OBA was co-founded by Peter Brantley, Director of the Bookserver Project at the Internet Archive and previously Director of the Digital Library Federation, and Gary Reback, an intellectual property and trade regulation lawyer generally credited with spearheading the efforts leading to the U.S. Government’s prosecution of Microsoft.

The last sentence of OBA's Mission Statement makes it very clear: "The Open Book Alliance will counter Google, the Association of American Publishers and the Authors’ Guild’s scheme to monopolize the access, distribution and pricing of the largest digital database of books in the world. To this end, we will promote fair and flexible solutions aimed at achieving a more robust and open system."

One of the ways that OBA is striving to "oppose" the Google Book Settlement is through recruiting organizational members to give weight to their mission. Current members include Microsoft and Amazon.com, groups of authors such as the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the Sceince Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, groups of publishers like the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses, and Small Press Distribution, library associations like the New York Library Association and the Special Libraries Association, and many others.

Another way OBA hopes to secure opposition to the Google Book Settlement is to educate the public about its dangers. They have published a quick guide to the proposed book settlement, "Fact vs. Fiction" in pdf format. Their web site features a news center with links to all their press releases and any stories from the mainstream media regarding the proposed settlement. And they have a resources page featuring links to video and transcripts of congressional testimony about the settlement.

Follow OBA on Twitter
Subscribe to the OBA Channel on YouTube
Subscriber to the OBA website's RSS Feed

Animals and ABCs

mrsweasley@evpl — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:51:00 GMT

Kids love animals, so Creature ABC will fascinate them with its range of familiar and not-so-familiar beasts.Photographs from Andrew Zuckerman's 2007 work Creature are arranged alphabet-book style, with a letter and photograph on facing pages, then another photograph and a word on the next 2-page spread.

The photographs have to be seen to appreciate their detail, clarity and expressiveness. Some of the smaller animals (fish, bird, frog) are about life size and all are reproduced in brilliant color. Kids and adults will enjoy looking at this book together. I predict that the kids will not want to put it down, and adults will sneak back for another peek.

One Book Leads to Another

kiya@evpl — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:23:00 GMT

I was intrigued by the story of Gregory William's life in Life on the Color Line, and decided to look for other books about folks who cross racial lines.

In fiction, I found 3 titles:

Nothing but the Truth (and a few white lies) by Justina Chen Headley

Patty Ho (yes, she's heard all the jokes about her name) is finishing up her freshman year of high school, wondering how she will get through the summer with her demanding mother. Patty's mother was a Taiwanese student when she fell in love with an American man studying in Taiwan. They married, and had two kids, moving to the United States. And then things fell apart. Patty's dad left when she was two, and she is finding it hard to live up to her mother's expectations. Math camp at Stanford wasn't her first choice, but when she realizes it will get her 900 miles away from her mom, she thinks it may work out after all. And it does, though not the way she had imagined.

Face Relations: 11 stories about seeing beyond color edited by Marilyn Singer

Eleven stories by well-known authors, all about exploring the possibility of tearing down the walls between us. Some funny, some sad, but all are hopeful.

Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet by Sherri L. Smith

Ana Shen is about to graduate from eighth grade, which would be a good thing if it didn't mean that both sides of her family were there to celebrate. Ana loves her parents, and her grandparents, but there is discomfort and competition between her Chinese grandparents and her African-American grandparents. Not to mention the Japanese-American parents of the guy she's crushing on. There is much to think about, as well as lots to laugh at, in this tale of Ana's graduation day.

In non-fiction, I found One drop : my father's hidden life--a story of race and family secrets, written by Bliss Broyard after her father disclosed to her and her brother, that both his parents were mixed race, and that he had been "passing" for white most of his adult life. Bliss began her own search to understand her father, meeting relatives she had never known, visiting New Orleans, where her father was born, and coming to grips with what race does and doesn't mean to her.

Previously, I had read Shirley Taylor Haizlip's memoir: The Sweeter the Juice: a family memoir in black and white and Loving Across the Color Line: a white adoptive mother learns about race by Sharon E. Rush.

What have you read on the subject? Anything you recommend?

Cursed

HipChick@evpl — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 16:19:00 GMT

The Pire family was perfectly happy living on Nostfer Avenue. But, when the new neighbors move in, things change quickly. The Wolfson's stay up all night, they lock their windows, and they love sunshine! What's a happy vampire family to do? They are too different in too many ways to get along. Little Pire Bram writes to his Grandfather in Transylvania, "Dear Vampa...mom asks if you can get the guest crypt ready for us." This story is a funny book for Halloween, but also could be used to talk about differences, acceptance and finding common ground. Much to the dismay of the Wolfson's, who are not who they seem, the vampire family moves out. It is so hard to find good neighbors. Check this one out, you'll love it!