Newest "potential" Notable list

Albert, Elisa - The Book Of Dahlia
Aly, Götz - Into The Tunnel: The Brief Life Of Marion Samuel, 1931-1945
Anam, Tahmima - A Golden Age
Ariely, Dan - Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
Attenberg, Jami - The Kept Man
Atwood, Margaret - The Door
Axelrod, Alan - Bradley
Bacon, Charlotte - Split Estate
Bainbridge, David - Beyond The Zonules Of Zinn
Baker, Nicholson - Human Smoke: The Beginnings Of World War II, The End Of Civilization
Barker, Nicola - Darkmans
Barker, Pat - Life Class
Baur, Gene - Farm Sanctuary
Baxter, Charles - The Soul Thief
Bhutto, Benazir - Reconciliation
Bickerton, Derek - Bastard Tongues: A Trailblazing Linguist Finds Clues To Our Common Humanity In The World's Lowliest Languages
Bock, Charles - Beautiful Children
Bowen, Mark - Censoring Science: Inside The Political Attack On Dr. James Hansen And The Truth About Global Warming
Boylan, Jennifer Finney - I'm Looking Through You
Breytenbach, Breyten - Windcatcher: New And Selected Poems, 1964-2006
Bridges, Andrew - Hope's Boy
Brock, Pope - Charlatan
Brooks, Geraldine - People Of The Book
Budiansky, Stephen - Bloody Shirt
Burleigh, Nina - Mirage: Napolean's Scientists And The Unveiling Of Egypt
Carey, Peter - His Illegal Self
Carr, Nicholas - The Big Switch
Carson Ciaran - The Tain
Castaneda, Jorge G. - Ex Mex: From Migrants To Immigrants
Chandhok, Lynn Arati - The View From Zero Bridge
Chang, Ha-Joon - Bad Samaritans: The Myth Of Free Trade And The Secret History Of Capitalism
Charyn, Jerome - Johnny One-Eye: A Tale Of The American Revolution
Childs, Craig - The Animal Dialogues: Uncommon Encounters In The Wild
Choi, Susan - A Person Of Interest
Chupack, Edward - Silver: My Own Tale As Written By Me With A Goodly Amount Of Murder
Clift, Eleanor - Two Weeks Of Life: A Memoir Of Love, Death And Politics
Connelly, Matthew - Fatal Misconception: The Struggle To Control World Population
Depastino, Todd - Bill Mauldin: A Life Up Front
Divakaruni, Chitra Banerjee - The Palace Of Illusions
Donovan, James - Terrible Glory:Custer &The Little Bighorn-The Last Great Battle Of The Amwest
Dovey, Ceridwen - Blood Kin
D'Souza, Tony - The Konkans
Dubucheron, Bernard - The Voyage Of The Short Serpent
Epstein, Jennifer Cody - The Painter From Shanghai
Faust, Drew Gilpin - This Republic Of Suffering: Death And The American Civil War
Fradkin, Philip - Wallace Stegner & The American West
Frost, Robert. Edited By Mark Richardson - The Collective Prose Of Robert Frost
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr.
In Search Of Identity: African American Lives
Giddings, Paula J. - Ida: A Sword Among Lions; Ida B. Wells And The Campaign Against Lynching
Gilmore, Glenda Elizabeth - Defying Dixie: The Radical Roots Of Civil Rights, 1919-1950
Goldberg, Jonah - Liberal Fascism: The Totalitarian Temptation From Hegel To Whole Foods
Gordimer, Nadine - Beethoven Was One-Sixteenth Black And Other Stories
Gottlieb, Eli - Now You See Him
Grant, Colin - Negro With A Hat: The Rise And Fall Of Marcus Garvey And His Dream Of Mother Africa
Groff, Lauren - The Monsters Of Templeton
Grossman, Allen - Descartes' Loneliness
Guelzo, Allen C - Lincoln And Douglas: The Debates That Defined America
Haig, Matt - The Labrador Pact
Hall, Amy Laura - Conceiving Parenthood: American Protestantism And The Spirit Of Reproduction
Harrington, Anne - The Cure: A History Of Mind-Body Medicine
Harris, Mark - Pictures At A Revolution: Five Movies And The Birth Of A New Hollywood
Hayes, Bill - Anatomist: A True Story Of Gray's Anatomy
Herrin, Judith - Byzantium: The Surprising Life Of A Medieval Empire
Hill, Geoffrey - A Treatise Of Civil Power
Hill, Lawrence - Someone Knows My Name
Hirsch, Edward - Special Orders
Holm, Bill - The Window Of Brimnes: An American In Iceland
Horsley, Sebastian - Dandy In The Underworld
Howe, Marie - The Kingdom Of Ordinary Time
Iagnemma, Karl - The Expeditions
Irvine, Amy - Trespass: Living At The Edge Of The Promoised Land
Itani, Frances - Remembering The Bones
Jacoby, Susan - The Age Of American Unreason
Jauhar, Sandeep - Intern:A Doctor's Initiation
Johnson, Deborah - The Air Between Us
Jordan, Hillary - Mudbound
Kennedy, A.L. - Day
Kenney, Richard - One-Strand River
Kertesz, Imre - Detective Story
Kertzer, David - Amalia's Tale
Khanna, Parag - Second World: Empires And Influence In The New Global Order
Khoury, Elias - Yalo
Kunzru, Hari - My Revolutions
Lee, Jennifer - The Fortune Cookie Chronicle
Lee, Li-Young - Behind My Eyes
Lesham, Ron - Beaufort
Lewis, Anthony - Freedom For The Thought We Hate
Lewis, David Levering - God's Crucible: Islam And The Making Of Europe, 570-1215
Li, Charles - The Bitter Sea: Coming Of Age In A China Before Mao
Lianke, Yan - Serve The People!
Logsdon, Gene - Last Of The Husbandmen
Lycett, Andrew - The Man Who Created Sherlock Holmes
Mackey, Sandra - Mirror Of The Arab World
Marcom, Micheline Aharonian - Draining The Sea
Marks, John - Reasons To Believe
Marrow, James - The Philosopher's Apprentice
Mccall, Nathan - Them: A Novel
Mcmillen, Sally - Seneca Falls And The Origins Of The Woman's Movement
Melnyczuk, Askold - The House Of Widows
Milbank, Dana - Homo Politicus
Millet, Lydia - How The Dead Dream
Millhauser, Stephen - Dangerous Laughter: Thirteen Stories
Mizukami, Tsutomo - The Temple Of The Wild Geese And Bamboo Dolls Of Echizen
Morrison, Rusy - The True Keeps Calm Biding Its Story
Morrow, James - The Philosopher's Apprentice
Nakazawa, Donna Jackson - The Autoimmune Epidemic
Novacek, Michael - Terra: Our 100-Million-Year-Old Ecosystem - And The Treats That Now Put It At Risk
Novak,Sheldon - Henry James
Nussbaum, Martha C. - Liberty Of Conscience: In Defense Of Religious Equality
Ogawa, Yoko - The Diving Pool:Three Novellas
Paley, Grace - Fidelity: Poems
Park, David - The Truth Commissioner
Parks, Tim - Cleaver
Pegg, Mark Gregory - A Most Holy War: The Albigensian Crusade And The Battle For Christendom
Percoco, James - Summers With Lincoln: Looking For The Man In The Monuments
Petersen, Melody - Our Daily Meds
Phillips, Patrick - Boy
Picoult, Jodi - Change Of Heart
Pollan,Michael - In Defense Of Food
Poster, Jem - Courting Shadows
Power, Samatha - Chasing The Flame
Rabinowitz, Alan - Life In The Valley Of Death
Reiff, David - Swimming In A Sea Of Death: A Son's Memoir
Reséndez, Andrés - A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey Of Cabeza De Vaca
Richardson, John - A Life Of Picasso: The Triumphant Years, 1917-1932
Rong, Jiang - Wolf Totem
Russell, Mary Doria - Dreamers Of The Day
Saenz, Benjamin Alire - Names On A Map
Schlink, Bernhard - Homecoming
Schwartz, John Burnham - The Commoner
Sheers, Owen - Resistance
Shnayerson, Michael - Coal River
Shroff, Murzban F. - Breathless In Bombay
Shubin, Neil -Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into The 3.5-Billion-Year History Of The Human Body
Shukman, Henry - The Lost City
Sinha, Indra - Animal's People
Skarmeta, Antonio - Dancer And The Thief
Sonnenberg, Susanna - Her Last Death: A Memoir
Spencer, Scott - Willing
Strafford, David - Endgame, 1945
Stringer, C. Vivian (With Laura Tucker) - Standing Tall: A Memoir Of Tragedy And Triumph
Sullivan, Felicia - Sky Isn't Visible From Here: Scenes From A Life
Suri, Manil - The Age Of Shiva
Taylor, Nick - American Made: The Enduring Legacy Of The WPA
Teicher, Craig Morgan - Brenda Is In The Room & Other Poems
Toltz, Steve - A Fraction Of The Whole
Venkatesh, Sudhir - Gang Leader For A Day
Visotsky, Burton - A Delightful Compendium Of Consolation
Vollman, William - Riding Toward Everywhere
Weinberg, Steve - Taking On The Trust: The Epic Battle Of Ida Tarbell And John D. Rockefeller
Weis, Rene - Shakespeare Unbound: Decoding A Hidden Life
Wicklund, Susan - This Common Secret: My Journey As An Abortion Doctor
Wideman, John Edgar - Fanon
Woiwode, Larry - A Step From Death
Wolff, Tobias - Our Story Begins: New And Selected Stories
Wright, Robin - Dreams And Shadows: The Future Of The Middle East
Young, Sara - My Enemy's Cradle
Zinn, Howard - A People's History Of American Empire

Muxtape

Muxtape
Originally uploaded by Laughing Squid.

Last night I played around with a new site that many of my music bloggers are all a twitter about called Muxtape. If you want to go listen to my first tape it is located at http://princessofworld.muxtape.com/

Last minute free book offer

Audible.com: The Big Listen :: Get a free audiobook until 12 p.m. (ET) tomorrow

Rehashing the Blogger Meet Up

I went to a blogger meet-up last night and as always, was fascinated by the group dynamics of these events. In my normal life I pretty much hang out with librarians. I like librarians. I understand librarians (unless they are men and then there is that dumb as a post thing that happens to me when trying to communicate with them). We think alike, we talk alike and that is a very comfortable place for me to be.

Anyway, what is interesting and challenging about going to the blogger meet-ups is how diverse the group is. You have everything from political to general rants about life bloggers and everything in between. I liked some of the bloggers immediately, others will take a while to get to know and there may be one or two out there that I never warm to. That is what is so interesting about this particular group. I also love how much it changes from meet-up to meet-up depending on who attends.

So in the little group of potential new friends that I got to bond with, we spent time talking about freaky porn (as opposed to regular porn) and yes, trust me, there is a big difference!, trips, books and music. We also talked about all of you who weren’t there and pondered why “you” weren’t at the meet-up. FYI: We miss you guys!

Most of the bloggers seemed just like their blog (maybe a little quieter or louder in person) but overall, just like I pictured them. One blogger, however, who I didn’t have a chance to meet but glimpsed down the table from me, was not how I pictured her at all. I have to say, I admire (and am a little jealous) of her ability to jump into activities in a new town with both feet. Welcome to KC, Keri Oke.

Visit My Spyderweb for the complete list….

Neil Gaiman Readalikes

I pulled this off a library listserv to share with you since Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite authors. These are books that other librarians thought were similar in tone, subject or style to his work.

If you haven't read his work try American Gods for free...

Browse Inside this book Get this for your site

Attanasio, A. A. - Twice Dead Things; Beastmarks
Barker, Clive - Great and Secret Show; Mister B. Gone; Abarat series
Black, Holly - Tithe; Ironside; Valiant (YA titles)
Blaylock, James - Land of Dreams; Last Coin; Night Relics; Winter Tides
Borges, Jorge Luis - The Aleph and other stories; Book of Sand
Brooks, Terry - Running with the Demon; Angel Fire East; A Knight of the Word
Brust, Steven
Bull, Emma - War for the Oaks
Card, Orson Scott - Enchanted
Carey, Mike - The Devil You Know; Lucifer graphic novel series
Carroll, Jonathan - The Land of Laughs; Bones of the Moon
Chabon, Michael - Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
Chesterton, G.K. - The Man who was Thursday
Clarke, Susanna - Joanthan Strange and Mr. Norrell
Clarke, Susanna - The Ladies of Grace Adieu and other stories
Connolly, John - The Book of Lost Things
David, Peter Knight - Life; One Knight Only
Davidson, Avram - The Enquiries of Doctor Esterhazy; Marco Polo and the Sleeping Woman
De Lint, Charles
Dedman, Stephen - Art of Arrow Cutting; Shadows Bite
Dunsany, Lord - The Kind of Elfland's Daughter; The Charwoman's Shadow
Ellis, Warren - Crooked Little Vein
Ellison, Harlan - Deathbird Stories, Shatterday
Goldstein, Lisa - Dark Cities Underground; Walking the Labyrinth; Alchemist's Door
Gory, Edward - Gashlycrumb Tinies
Green, Simon R. - The Man with the Golden Torc
Gruber, Michael - The Witch's Boy Hamill, Pete Forever
Hand, Elizabeth - Black Light; Waking the Moon
Hubbard, Susan - Society of S
Hynes, James - The Lecturer's Tale
Jones , Diana Wynne - Howl's Moving Castle
Kiernan, Caitlin R.
Klages, Ellen - Portable Childhoods
Knight, Damon - Babel II; You're Another
Kotzwinkle, William - The Exile; The Hot Jazz Trio; Doctor Rat
Lafferty, R. A.
Lansdale, Joe R.
Lebbon, Tim
Leiber, Fritz - You're All Alone (aka The Sinful Ones)
Link, Kelly - Magic for Beginners; Stranger Things Happen
Maguire, Gregory - Wicked; Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister; Mirror, Mirror; Lost
McKinley, Robin - Sunshine Mieville, China King Rat; Un Lun Dun
Mignola, Mike and Christopher Golden - Baltimore, or the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire Millar, Martin - The Good Fairies of New York
Monette, Sarah - The Bone Key
Moore, Alan - Promethea
Moore, Christopher Lamb - Fluke; Practical Demon Keeping; Coyote Blue; A Dirty Job Morrison, Grant - Doom Patrol
Nelson, Ray/R. - Faraday Nelson
Newman, Kim Anno - Dracula
Oates, Joyce Carol - Zombie
O'Leary, Patrick - The Impossible Bird
Pollock, Rachel
Powers, Tim - The Anubis Gates; On Stranger Tides; Declare
Pratchett, Terry - Good Omens
Pratt, Tim - The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl; Hart & Boot and other stories
Rankin, Robert - The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse
Redd, David
Russ, Joanna - The Adventures of Alyx
Sedia, Ekaterina - The Secret History of Moscow
Shepard, Lucius
Stross, Charles - The Atrocity Archives
Vance, Jack - The Dying Earth; The Eyes of the Overworld
Vaughn, Brian - K. Y: The Last Man
Wilhelm, Kate - Death Qualified
Willingham, Bill - Fables graphic novel series
Wrede, Patricia - Sorcery and Cecilia: or, the Enchanted Chocolate Pot
Zelazny, Roger

From the Fiction_L listserv

Blogger Meet Up

It is spring break at the university so no part time job this week!!!! It also means that I can actually attend the blogger meet-up this month. Hope to see you all there.

Wednesday, March 26th
From 5:00 p.m. to ?
Jaywalkers Sports Bar & Grill
3916 Rainbow Blvd. Kansas City, KS

Another little procrastination technique

I saw this on Bea's Weblog and felt the need to take because well, I am a sucker for personality test and because I am supposed to be working on a couple of employee evaluations right now.


My Personality

Neuroticism	14
Extraversion	38
Openness to Experience	82
Agreeableness	89
Conscientiousness	76

You rarely get angry and it takes a lot to make you angry, however you are not generally self conscious about yourself. You tend not to talk much and prefer to let others control the activities of groups. You prefer facts over fantasy and are more interested in what is happening in the real word. You find helping other people genuinely rewarding and are generally willing to assist those who are in need. You find that doing things for others is a form of self-fulfillment rather than self-sacrifice, however you are willing to take credit for good things that you do but you don't often talk yourself up much. You take your time when making decisions and will deliberate on all the possible consequences and alternatives.

Take a Personality Test now or view the full Personality Report. PureAwakening Jewelry.

Arthur C. Clarke's farewell message

YouTube and the Election

Since I have been lecturing you about getting informed about candidates, I thought I would highlight a source or two for you. Here is YouTube's answer to getting informed about the election.

Barack Obama's YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/BarackObamadotcom

Hillary Clinton's YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/hillaryclintondotcom

John McCain's YouTube page: http://www.youtube.com/user/JohnMcCaindotcom

And finally, another link that posts political commentary, speeches, debates, etc... http://www.youtube.com/youchoose

Pondering

For those of you who like thinking about this kind of thing.....

Things I will do if I ever become a Vampire.

Celebrity Book Fight Club

This is kind of fun especially if you have read most of the books because you are on a committee. The "2008 Tournament of Books" sponsored by Powell Books. Oddly enough, I did like both of today's contenders quite a bit but would have never thought of pitting them against each other.

The Remainder - Freaky, weird
On Chesil Beach - Lyrical, poetic

My Friday night happy hour

I grew up in Western Kansas and there were two things that were (and still are) very important to my father. The first is supporting local business even if it is slightly more expensive (a major concession since he is also a depression baby and a bit of a skinflint) and second, supporting public schools.

So last Friday was a particularly interesting day for me. After work, I headed down to 18th & Vine to attend the 1st anniversary of Viable Third, hosted by local bloggers, Gone Mild and KC Sponge and was intrigued and impressed with the grassroots philosophy of the Viable Third in trying to get people in that district to commit to spend their money in their community. I love this idea which also flows nicely into my "buy locally produced food" philosophy.

The other agenda for the evening was to introduce the blogging community to Airick West who is currently running for a seat on the Kansas City School Board. I don't talk about politics much on this blog although I have very strong opinions about the issues but, what I do talk about and care about (which involves doing some work) is the need for everyone to find out about and research the issues, discover what the candidates stand for and then actually getting off the couch to vote your conscience.

I also care very much about supporting our public school system. Yes, the KCMO public schools are a disaster and yes, I have a great deal of sympathy for parents who pull their children out to attend private schools because they want the best for their children but nothing will get better if everyone in the community doesn't get involved in helping to facilitate change at the neighborhood level. If all of the involved, energetic parents work only with their child's private school, where does that leave the children who are left behind. These are the kids who need to see positive parenting skills and successful adult role models. These are the kids who need room mothers and community members involved in their school. These are the kids that need mentors and friends and fans cheering them on.

Small towns have some really annoying aspects but on the positive side, the entire community revolves around the schools. Everyone in town attends the football games and cheers on the team (no matter how bad they are). Likewise when the drama club puts on a play, everyone attends, even the people who don't have children. So, take a page from those small towns, find out what your neighborhood public school is doing and start supporting one or two of those activities with your time. Go to the art exhibits, attend the basketball games, the bake sales or the community readalongs. If you don't, who will?

Huh....

I am 64% Evil Genius.

Evil courses through my blood. Lies and deceit motivate my evil deeds. Crushing the weaklings and idiots that do nothing but interfere in my doings.

Take the
Evil Genius Test
@ FualiDotCom

Since I am a librarian and we all know that librarians are all about world domination, I thought my score would be higher.

Bloggers and blogging

Today was super busy at work so it wasn't until about 8 p.m. tonight that I had a chance to check my Google Reader account, which I love almost as much as my phone. And not to go off on a tangent but...For those of you who use Blogger, PLEASE change your feed settings to full so that the whole blog post feeds into my reader. 99% of the time I don't go to your blog to see the rest of the post, I just skip it.

Anyway, after a whole day of getting a lot of email from some very odd people (not naming any names here) I look at my reader account and have 412 blog posts to read. May I just say...Damn, you people talk a lot!

Free Books: Part 235 and a Plea for Help

Free digital books for you SF fans.

By the way, I am planning the teen programming for this summer at the library and the hot trend in libraries is gaming nights. Since the only game I have played that I actually liked was Rock Band I need help. I do have a Playstation and can borrow a Wii (I think). Any relevant suggestions are welcome. In fact, you can consider this begging....

Emergency Book Stash

Today I downloaded a couple of e-books to my Trio in the (highly unlikely) event that I get trapped in an elevator/warehouse/fall down a mine shaft, without anything to read. Today I visited the Project Gutenberg site and picked The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins and Notes From The Underground by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I really wanted something by Rainer Maria Rilke or Saul Bellows but they didn't seem to have anything by those authors.

So, to answer your question, yes...I really am this big of a dork.

A Free Life and Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality

Before I started reading for my book award committee, I pretty consistently would read one book at a time. Now I always seem to have three or four books going at once. Right now, I am reading two. One is A Free Life by Ha Jin and the other is Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality by Martha Nussbaum.

A Free Life has been an interesting book by Ha Jin. This is the story about a Chinese couple who come to the United States in search of a better life for themselves and their child. I have been enjoying it very much in spite of the fact that I have spent most of the book wanting to smack the main character for his utter determination to be as unhappy as possible. The moments in the book that I find myself still thinking about are the interactions with others, and most particularly with a white couple adopting a Chinese baby. As with several couples I know personally, this couple is determined to make sure that their child grows up knowing all about her cultural heritage. What I found funny in this book was the way the Chinese couple reacted to this. They were politely baffled. Why, they ask, would the couple do this when their child would be growing up as an American. I still think Waiting is Ha Jin's best book but I do recommend this one as well.

The author of Liberty of Conscience is one of those books that (so far) has been a joy to read because it so closely echoes my own beliefs and ideas about what the separation of church and state (not to mention religious freedom) is all about. The author has presented her thoughts and ideas in a clear, scholarly way that argues for the founding fathers intention to build a country that "respects the preciousness and dignity of the individual human conscience and the equality of all religions (or lack of religion)". In other words, the right of every individual to follow his own path, to pursue spirituality (or lack thereof) it his own way. The author revisits every major defining moment of our country and shows that it was founded with very clear protections and ideas about the separation of church and state for the protection of BOTH entities and also makes an excellent case for why protecting those boundaries is so important to the health of each entity.

I really believe in these principles but of course, I still struggle with some of the more day-to-day practical issues. For example, a friend was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and it did an enormous amount of damage with regard to her ability to follow her own path and discover her own religious truths. How does governmental non-intervention respond to these kinds of issues and where do we draw the line?

Who knows, I haven't quite finished the book yet so maybe the author will manage to address these issues as well and answer my questions in a satisfactory way.

Call for Youth Activitists

The Summit on Immigration & Racism needs youth voices!

Saturday, March 8th, 2008
Youth Activism Workshop from 11:30a.m.—12:30p.m.
Cristo Rey High School
211 W. Linwood KC MO 64111
Youth can attend this workshop for FREE

We need young people who are willing to sit on a panel and discuss their activist work and we need folks (young & old) to participate in the workshop!!!

If you . . .
Are a younger activist (13 - 35 years old) fighting racism
Know a younger activist who is fighting racism
Want to become a young person fighting racism
Are an older activist interested in want young folks are doing
Want more info about this workshop

Contact Ellen ASAP at 510-331-0370 or ellenritch@yahoo.com

More e-books to "try before you buy"

U.K. novelist Richard Herley, whose book The Stone Arrow won a regional novel award called the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize, is offering initially free downloads of Arrow, The Flint Lord, The Earth Goddess, The Penal Colony, The Tide Mill and a collection of all the books.

You can also catch up with his "free to copy" works—in .epub, Mobipocket/Kindle, PDF and Sony formats—via Feedbooks. There’s no hitch other than his reasonable request to happy readers to pay him as if the books were shareware. The charge for these CC-licensed titles is "between $1.70 and $2.50, according to length."

From TeleRead: Bringing the E-Book Home

Hmmmm...

Powered By Adult Toy Store


I thought I would have been worth more:)

Candle Salad

candle salad
Originally uploaded by Ellbeecee.

I found this on another librarians blog because apparently we are all a little bent.

Oh come on, like you didn't think it too.

Not that I am goofing off at work or anything....

You Belong in London

You belong in London, but you belong in many cities... Hong Kong, San Francisco, Sidney. You fit in almost anywhere. And London is diverse and international enough to satisfy many of your tastes. From curry to Shakespeare, London (almost) has it all!

What European City Do You Belong In?

The Human Body

With all of the interest/debate about the Bodies Revealed exhibit, I thought I would provide yet another way to learn about the human body. The website, Visible Body, is an interactive web animation tool that lets users explore the human anatomy and all its various systems. (FYI: It works best with Internet Explorer/Windows)

Warren Ellis

I have been on a graphic novel reading kick and yes, I know it isn't on my first round of award potentials reading list. A current favorite of mine is Warren Ellis who wrote the incredible
Transmetropolitan series. Anyway, over the weekend I finished up his new novel (no pictures, just words in this one) Crooked Little Vein. The book is a noir detective novel in which the main character, in search of a rare book, meets many strange and perverted characters. Because I read this book I now know several words I did not know before. Unfortunately, because I am a librarian and I just have know things, I made the mistake of looking them up and I now know more about the kinky porn industry that I really wanted to know. (FYI: apparently the drinking of urine is considered erotic in some circles.)

If you can handle the kink and like noir detective novels it was kind of a fun book.

Free Book

Random House is giving away free PDFs of Beautiful Children, the much-talked-about bestseller by Charles Brock, at least through midnight on Friday and here is the download address or An Amazon page works fine—scroll down for the download link.

The Oscars - Repost from myspace blog

This weekend was movie weekend...well, except for Friday night when I won free tickets to the Mystery Train Dinner Theater. Fun, free and tasty...All that and Janet for company! How much better can an evening get?

On Saturday, bunches of people flocked to AMC theaters to watch all of the Oscar Best Picture nominees. And yes, that is a whopping 12 hours of movie watching. My least favorite movie was a tie between Michael Clayton and If There Be Blood. They were "egh" movies, not horrible, but not fabulous. I liked Atonement, especially the cinematography. There were some incredibly beautiful shots and a truly great sex scene, oddly enough with no nudity.

Juno was my happy movie and boy, did I need it after those three movies. I loved it and would sit through it again. The last was No Country For Old Men. Wow! It really had one of the best psycho hit-men I can remember seeing in a while. When I was driving home from the theater I kept looking at the people in other cars to see if there were any psycho hit-men/killers driving by. The ending was a tad weak but I really liked this move and NEVER want to see it again. It creeped me out big time! If it weren't for the fact that I was then traumatized by reading gonemild's blog entry when I got home that night, it would have been a perfect day.

Sunday was tiara day...ok, it was actually my Oscar/Kaite's Birthday month party but much tiara wearing occurred. See...

I even had a few brave boys venture out with their ladies to attend. Well, it may not have just been the thrill of being with Ms Spyder but the lure of free books that got Kanga to a tiara wearing party. We trashed gowns, kept my friend Sheryl (from the librarian friend pool) busy making every flavor of martini known to man AND we had birthday cake. I didn't do very well guessing which movies would win but I had to many martinis to care. Ahhh, martinis and movies...does life get any better than this?

Another bookstore

I am not buying too many books these days but for those of you that are here is a interesting new online vendor to try that doesn’t charge shipping for US addresses.

BetterWorld.com (http://www.BetterWorld.com/). They seem to have a good selection of books—used and new and both youth and adult. Their proceeds apparently go to fund literacy efforts.

Almost Back to the Reading

We have just compiled our first list of Notable Books Council suggestions for the upcoming year. Because I am the vice-chair of the committee this year I have the added responsibility of trying to make sure that "significant" titles do not get overlooked. Therefore, my suggestion list for February had 18 titles on it. I sincerely hope every month doesn't look like that or I will have no life this year (as opposed to the last two years when I would have brief glimpses of life from time-to-time).

Instead of starting on my self-imposed reading assignments I have instead been working my way through the Jim Butcher Dresden series. The Dresden series is set in Chicago and features wizard Harry Dresden and has been turned into a TV series on the Sci-Fi Channel. For once, I am not merely procrastinating but instead have a valid, work-related reason for reading his books. We (and by that I mean the Public Affairs department) are talking with him about visiting Kansas City and appearing at my branch to kick off our Mystery Author series, not to mention his newest novel. Of course, with a publicist and agent involved, negotiations are still in progress but I am optimistic enough that I have ordered his complete set of mysteries for the branch and am now working my way through them.

Seven Things About Me meme

Average Jane has tagged me for a Seven Things About You meme and I'm finally well enough to lift my laptop out of the case and turn it on.

1. Wine or beer - Wine - actually I like both but today feels like a wine day.
2. Dog or cat - Cat
3. Mountains or ocean - Ocean
4. Coffee or tea - Tea
5. NYC or LA - NOLA - Yes I am aware that is not one of the choices but I don't care.
6. Summer or Winter - Summer
7. PJs or nothing - nothing

Average Jane tagged me today

Average Jane tagged me today but it will have to wait. I have now caught the plague (because I have to do what all the other bloggers are doing)

Phyllis A. Whitney Dies At Age 104

Phyllis A. Whitney, one of the queens of romance and mystery fiction, passed away this week at the age of 104—perhaps confirming that doing what one loves can lead to a long life. Whitney herself said that she stayed young by writing, and published her last book in 1997 when she was in her early 90s! In her early years, she worked at the Chicago Public Library and several different Chicago bookstores while writing on the side. She divorced her first husband in part because he was not supportive of her writing. She said that she was successful in writing because of persistence and faith in her own abilities—even in the face of ridicule. (Take heart, all you romance writers.) For more, click here for the New York Times story.

She and Victoria Holt were two of my favorites when I was a teen.

Friday Fun

Which Discworld Character are you like (with pics) created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Carrot Ironfounderson You are Captain Carrot Ironfounderson of the City Watch in the greatest city on the Disc – Ankh-Morprok! A truly good natured, honest guy, who knows everyone, and is liked by all. Technically a dwarf, but only by adoption. You’d rather not be reminded that you are the true heir to the throne, but that does explain why people naturally follow your orders… Carrot Ironfounderson 81% Gytha (Nanny) Ogg 75% Commander Samuel Vimes 56% The Librarian 50% Lord Havelock Vetinari 44% Death 44% Cohen The Barbarian 38% Rincewind 31% Greebo 25% Esmerelda (Granny) Weatherwax 13%

Librarians

Asylum's Top 10 Occupations Inaccurately Associated With Sexiness

What to guess who appears on the list? My question is, how did they collect this data. Did they approach each and every librarian with a suitably hot guy and see how they reacted or are they just guessing? Just wondering because I cannot ever recall choosing a date based on his understanding of the Dewey Decimal system.

Calling all book group members!

Librarians know you like to talk about books, but we want you to talk to us about your book group. Please help us get a picture of book groups across the country by participating in a short informal survey from the Readers’ Advisory Committee of the American Library Association.

To visit the survey, go to http://www.readersadvisory.org
Click on the link on the left that says “Book Group Survey”

Preliminary data will be presented at the ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, CA at the program "Reading Group Therapy: How to Repair, Revamp and Revitalize Your Book Group". This program will be presented by book group expert Nancy Peal, and is being held Sunday, June 29th, 2008, from 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.

As librarians are trying to get as broad a picture as possible of the book groups in America, please pass the link to the survey along to other book group members and book group support organizations in your community.

McSweeneys

If you like "literary" cutting edge new literature you may want to check out McSweeneys to find out about new authors. I purchased the periodical for the library so you can stop by and read a couple of issues anytime.

You can also subscribe to the feed to get literature delivered to electronically. http://feeds.feedburner.com/mcsweeneys Don't you just love technology?

Added 2/6 @ 4:23 pm - http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2008/2/6klee.html - my favorite so far (at least for today)

More cool stuff that kinda, sorta has to do with books.

Philosophers and Theorists: Videos and video clips of lectures, sessions, and interviews at European Graduate School EGS, Media and Communication Studies Department, Saas-Fee, Switzerland, Europe. This includes talks by some very important theorists/philosophers of the past generation.

FORA.tv: FORA.tv is a web service that hosts videos featuring important thinkers grappling with contemporary cultural, social and political questions. And they have author presentations as well so that ties in to my book theme nicely!

Voting

Alright everyone, I got up at 4 am this morning to come and open up the library for the elections. The least you can do is stop in and vote.

Book Meme

Rules:

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pgs.)
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the next three sentences
5. Tag five people


As luck would have it, the nearest book to me is The Book of Dave by Will Self which has the longest sentences I have seen in a while. In the interest of keeping this readable I grabbed the book that was 2nd closest to me, Black Swan Green by David Mitchell. Sentences six, seven, and eight on page 123 are as follows:

Collette Turbot went and found it was just her and Dunwoody.
He told her to pose topless in his darkroom so he could photograph her.
Collette Turbot said, I don't think so , sir.

If others want to do it, it always fun to see what people are reading.

New committee members appointed

Next year's list of book award committee members has been announced and Nancy Pearl (the closest thing librarians have to a celebrity) is one of the newly appointed committee members. Until I was cautioned that I "shouldn't feel intimidated by her" it hadn't occurred to me to be intimidated. Anyway, for those of you non-librarian readers (which would be most of you), Nancy Pearl has written several books and more importantly, is the model for the librarian action figure. Yes, there is a librarian action figure and yes, I own one.

I just wish that the shushing action didn't make the action figure look quite so much like she was picking her nose.

Saying No

I am working at my part-time university reference librarian job tonight and am finding it very depressing everytime an international student comes up to the desk. Every one of them asks me the same question "Do you have _____(fill in the blank) textbook."

In India and China (from what I have been told), academic libraries carry enough copies of textbooks so the entire class can check them out to use for the semester, unlike the U.S., where we make everyone buy copies of textbooks that cost hundreds of dollars and then can't be sold back at the end of the semester because a newer version is coming out.

So every time someone comes up to the information desk my heart sinks because I get to say to each of them, "No, the library doesn't usually carry textbooks." Oh, I do a search to make sure that one lone copy hasn't been donated by the professor but usually I have to say no. Believe it or not, I didn't become a librarian so that I could NOT help people find the information/book they need.

I hate this time of year:(

pangram

pangram
Originally uploaded by A Librarian.

I was tagged by Bea, so I've quickly thrown together a photograph taken with my cell phone. I can't seem to find my real camera anywhere so you will all just have to suffer.

1. Choose a pangram of your liking.
2. Write it on a piece of paper and sign it with your blog name or online handle.
3. Take a picture and post it to the flickr group, your blog, myspace, facebook or all of them.
4. Link back or trackback to Logtar’s post.
5. Tag five people.
You will notice that no one is tagged. That is because I procrastinated and everyone picked their teams before I could. Anyone reading this who has not been tagged...you're it.

Chapter-A-Day Book Club

My uncle's funeral was this weekend so I didn't get a chance to get any reading done but there are two almost finished books on the stack that I will be talking about soon. Since I didn't have a book review for you today I thought I would share a fun book link with you.

Chapter-A-Day Book Club - "Sign up for any of the email book clubs and every day you will be sent a 5-minute sample from a book. By the end of the week, you'll have read 2-3 chapters." Then, if you loved it, visit your local library to check out the book. This has everything from Classics to Romance so there is a little something for everyone.

Author Visit - M.T. Anderson

Author M.T. Anderson discusses his latest book for young adults, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, on Monday, January 28, at 7 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

Set against the disquiet of Revolutionary Boston, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing takes place at a time when American patriots rioted and battled to win liberty while African slaves were entreated to risk their lives for a freedom they never would claim.

Anderson says the idea for the book came while he was watching a Revolutionary War reenactment at the Battle of Old North Bridge, near his childhood home. He began to wonder what it would have been like to be forced to choose a side without knowing which side would be victorious.

Octavian Nothing won the 2006 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. Anderson’s first young adult novel, Feed, won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize.

Anderson’s appearance is cosponsored by Reading Reptile and the Kansas City Public Library. Copies of Anderson’s books will be available courtesy of Reading Reptile, and the author will sign copies purchased during the event.

A 6:30 p.m. reception precedes the event. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended. Call 816.701.3407 or RSVP online.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

I have been reading lots of "fun" books during my little break from the ALA Notable Book Council book award committee. Next on the list is a book that a friend of mine has been raving about.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is a Young Adult novel based on the author's own experiences and according to the reviews, is a heart-breaking, funny and beautifully written novel. It was also on the Best Books for Young Adults award list this year. (If you aren't a librarian, you might not know this but this award is a VERY big deal in Young Adult book award circles). I attended a dinner last year in which he was a guest author. He was absolutely charming and his newest novel is sitting on my shelf at home, nicely signed and even decorated with some author artwork.

If you haven't read any Young Adult literature in a while, ask your friendly librarian for a recommendation. There are some wonderful YA novels out there.

More book awards....

The Edgar Award Nominees - were announced by the Mystery Writers of America. And the nominees are:

Best Novel
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (Henry Holt and Company)
Priest by Ken Bruen (St. Martin’s Minotaur)
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon (HarperCollins)
Soul Patch by Reed Farrel Coleman (Bleak House Books)
Down River by John Hart (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

Best First Novel By An American Author
Missing Witness by Gordon Campbell (HarperCollins - William Morrow)
In the Woods by Tana French (Penguin Group - Viking)
Snitch Jacket by Christopher Goffard (The Rookery Press)
Head Games by Craig McDonald (Bleak House Books)
Pyres by Derek Nikitas (St. Martin’s Minotaur)

Best Paperback Original
Queenpin by Megan Abbott (Simon & Schuster)
Blood of Paradise by David Corbett (Random House - Mortalis)
Cruel Poetry by Vicki Hendricks (Serpent’s Tail)
Robbie’s Wife by Russell Hill (Hard Case Crime)
Who is Conrad Hirst? by Kevin Wignall (Simon & Schuster)

Best Critical/Biographical
The Triumph of the Thriller: How Cops, Crooks and Cannibals Captured Popular Fiction by Patrick Anderson (Random House)
A Counter-History of Crime Fiction: Supernatural, Gothic, Sensational by Maurizio Ascari (Palgrave Macmillan)
Deviance in Contemporary Crime Fiction by Christiana Gregoriou (Palgrave Macmillan)
Arthur Conan Doyle: A Life in Letters by Jon Lellenberg, Daniel Stashower and Charles Foley (The Penguin Press)
Chester Gould: A Daughter’s Biography of the Creator of Dick Tracy by Jean Gould O’Connell (McFarland & Company)

Librarian fun

Just for fun...

http://librariandressup.com/index.htm

Poetry

From the Notable book, In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus: New and Selected Poems, 1955 - 2007

Silent Cell Phones

In airport waiting rooms, owners of cell phones
Look wisful when their phones lie silent, millstones
That no stream turns. Mindful of their high stations,
They squirm and fidget their exasperations,
Prisoners....

To find out the end of the poem, you have to read the book...

Don't you hate it when people do that?

To find out more about the author, visit http://xjanddorothymkennedy.com/

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

If I hadn't come down with the plague here is what I would have been doing this evening.

The Blue Room

Tonight’s traditional jam session will be led by local legendary B-3 Hammond organist Everette Devan. Aside from opening for acts like B.B. King and Count Basie to sharing the bill with Herbie Hancock, he has been a staple in the Kansas City music community for over 25 years. Come down, sign up, and jam with some of Kansas City’s finest musicians – or just sit back and take in the sounds of some classic Kansas City jazz.

Monday January 21st, 2008
7:00pm to 11:00pm
In the Blue Room
Admission is Free

Meme

It's been a couple of days since Spyder tagged me but I finally have time to work on it so here is my quirk list...

The Rules:
a. list seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself
b. tag seven people to do the same
c. do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag "whoever wants to do it"

My Quirks:
1. I owned and showed American Quarter Horses when I was younger. I have been bucked off, kicked, stepped on and bitten by horses and I still unconditionally love them, which I guess is proof that love is not rational.
2. I haven't watched TV in over two years although I still watch movies.
3. Every year when the Oscar nominees are announced I try to watch them all, even the documentary shorts. Some of my friends have pointed out that I am a wee bit obsessive about this.
4. I own two tiara's and I wear them at least once a year.
5. I have been to more than one shoe museum in my lifetime. What can I say, I really like shoes.
6. I keep my top friend list on myspace alphabetized and it makes me a little crazy when they change their name.
7. I like all kinds of music but I will love hard rock and metal forever.

And my tags are: Expat-Experience, Average Jane, Bea and her charming husband, Logtar, Kansas City Daily Photo, Well Hell Michelle and Keith (since Janet didn't post her's fast enough.)

Friday Fun

You Are An INFJ

The Protector You live your life with integrity, originality, vision, and creativity. Independent and stubborn, you rarely stray from your vision - no matter what it is. You are an excellent listener, with almost infinite patience. You have complex, deep feelings, and you take great care to express them. In love, you truly see relationships as an opportunity to connect and grow. You enjoy relationships as long as they are improving and changing. You can't stand stagnation. At work, you stay motivated and happy... as long as you are working toward a dream you support. You would make a great photographer, alternative medicine guru, or teacher. How you see yourself: Hardworking, ethical, and helpful When other people don't get you, they see you as: Manipulative, weak, and unstable

What's Your Personality Type?

How I spent my non-Librarian time in Philadelphia - Reposted from my other Blog

This weekend I went to Philadelphia. Most of my time was spent in meeting with my book award committee but I thought I would entertain you with my touristy pictures. Most of them were taken on my phone at night but I got a couple good ones for ya.

No trip to Philadephia would be complete without a picture of the Liberty Bell. Apparently this is considered a very big terrorist target because there were security guards everywhere (at 11 at night) and when my friend stood on the wall I thought they were going to drag her away in chains.

This was the last stop after a wine and cheese reception at the Mutter Museum of College Physicians of Philadelphia. I loved this place.

The sign says "Why would you want a dried hand?"

If I remember right this was a "cutaway of the human body". Cool, huh? Sadly my syphilitic head and the wall of skulls would not download tonight but if asked nicely I might put them up in a future blog.

Interesting note: Before I went to the museum I was telling my book award committee members about my plans for the evening and three of them had gone the night before. They said that the museum had reminded them of me.

The Winners of the American Library Association Notable Book Council Award List

Fiction

Bloom, Amy - Away, Random House
Carlson, Ron - Five Skies, Penguin-Viking
Chabon.Michael -The Yiddish Policemen's Union, HarperCollins
Clarke, Brock - An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England, Algonquin
Clinch, John - Finn: a novel, Random House
Crace, Jim - The Pesthouse, Doubleday/Nan A. Talese
*Englander, Nathan - The Ministry of Special Cases, Knopf
Holthe, Tess Uriza - The Five-Forty-Five to Cannes, Crown
Jones, Lloyd - Mister Pip, Dell
*McEwan, Ian - On Chesil Beach, Doubleday/Nan A. Talese
Malouf, David - The Complete Stories, Pantheon
Pettersen, Per - Out Stealing Horses, Graywolf
Trevor, William - Cheating at Canasta, Penguin/Viking

Non-Fiction

Ackerman, Diane - The Zookeeper's Wife: a war story, W.W. Norton
Angier, Natalie - The Canon, Houghton Mifflin
Ayres, Ian - Super Crunchers, Bantam Books
Godwin, Peter - When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, Little Brown
Groopman, Jerome - How Doctors Think, Houghton Mifflin Company
*Howell, Georgina - Gertrude Bell: Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations, Farrar, Straus & Giroux
Isaacson, Walter - Einstein: His Life and Universe, Simon & Schuster
Kingsolver, Barbara - Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, HarperCollins
Margonelli, Lisa - Oil on the Brain, Doubleday-Nan Talese
Weisman, Alan - The World Without Us, St. Martins

Poetry

*Bosselaar, Laure-Anne - A New Hunger, Ausable Press
Kennedy, X.J. - In a Prominent Bar in Seacaucus, Johns Hopkins University Press

*my favorite from each list

Back from ALA

I am back from ALA and the part-time job will be starting soon. Therefore, I will have a full report for you tomorrow night on the book award, the committee, Philly, the wine....

I am on my way

I am on my way to Philadelphia to meet with my book award committee. Not quite finished with the books yet but getting closer.

Today's Count

Book Countdown: 36 ½

My favorite thing to do every morning is to get out my list of books and check another one off the list. Next Friday and Saturday, the Notable Award committee will meet all day to decide the best books (in our opinion) of the past year. I think I can get them all finished...don't you?

My Birthday

For all my friends, old and new, please join me for my birthday.

Saturday Night - Jan 5th - 9 pm - Bar Natasha - $5 cover starting at 8 pm
Sunday Night - Jan 6th - 6:30 pm - Lidia's Italian (please let me know if you are coming so I can make reservations for a big enough table)

No presents: The pleasure of your company is enough to make it a great birthday!

My Birthday Cake

From my staff:

complete with Jane Austen action figure doll.

My Birthday

I am attempting to plan my birthday a little further ahead than my New Year's this year but need some help. If anyone has a good suggestion for Saturday night festivities, please let me know.

Saturday night, Jan. 5th – 9 pm – undetermined location (so far suggestions include The Levee and Missy B’s)

Sunday night, Jan. 6th – 6:30 pm – Dinner at Lidia’s

I will be making the mandatory appearance at our work "Winterfest" Saturday night but will make sure all interested parties know where we will be later on that night.

The Book Club

For your enjoyment, the comic stylings of Variety Shac

My New Year's Goals

I had a whole different post planned for today but, as I was reading a book a question came up that has been circling around in my brain for years. My book is about the Holocaust and of course, I always wonder how people can come up with such horrific ways to brutalize each other.

But the real question I ask myself is, "What would I do if presented with the same situation?" Would I be the one featured in a book as a heroine that hid, smuggled, rescued...my friends and neighbors? Would I freeze in fear and do nothing? Would I pretend not to see what was going on around me in order to protect my comfortable life? Would I actively participate in the persecution? Of course we all like to think we would do the just thing, the kind thing, the right thing but without being in that situation, will we ever know?

I bring this up because I think about this a lot and also because there are atrocities around the world that I can impact (even from my comfy house). So my question for the new year is: Am I doing enough? If I am honest with myself the answer would be no, I am not.

So, this year for my international effort I am going to more actively support efforts to end the violence in Darfur - http://www.savedarfur.org/ and, at home, spend my money and my donations on The Bridge Home For Children - http://www.bhfc.org/ They always need money, groceries and books (my biggest contributions). FYI: If you ever want to donate, I will be happy to provide delivery services. And last but not least, I am going to become much more vocal with my opinion on this "war on terror" and our shameful treatment of our "detainees".

In case you were wondering

From Craigslist: Seeking the heart of Librarian.

Jane-uary at the Library

For more info: Jane-uary at the Kansas City Public Library

Waldo Community Library Young Professionals Book Club

This group will meet January 5, 2008 at 11 am @ The Roasterie Cafe located at 6223 Brookside Blvd. We will be discussing The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu. RSVP's requested but not required.

Seventeen years ago, Sepha Stephanos fled the Ethiopian Revolution for a new start in the United States. Now he finds himself running a failing grocery store in a poor African-American section of Washington, D.C., his only companions two fellow African immigrants who share his bitter nostalgia and longing for his home continent. Years ago and worlds away Sepha could never have imagined a life of such isolation. As his environment begins to change, hope comes in the form of a friendship with new neighbors Judith and Naomi, a white woman and her biracial daughter. But when a series of racial incidents disturbs the community, Sepha may lose everything all over again.

Judging a book by it's cover

I really am reading a lot and after the awards are given next month I will have tons of books to recommend but for now, some more book humor to tide you over.

The Best (Worst) Fantasy & Science Fiction Book Covers

Judge a Book By It's Cover Blog

and from one of my favorite book blogs...Smart Bitches Who Love Trashy Books

Jaw-Dropping Covers

Environment

In the past two years of serving on this book award committee I have read enough environmental nonfiction to convince me that we are bad, bad people who are killing the planet.

So, I have been making a conscious effort to start taking baby steps toward living in a more environmentally responsible way. To help me with this I have been reading several environmental blogs and have signed up for several newsletters. The Sierra Club http://sierraclub.typepad.com/ puts out a newsletter/blog that you can either subscribe to or do as an RSS feed. Yesterday, the tip was something I can do on my cell phone (now permanently attached to me) and since I thought it was interesting I decided to share.


Be an informed eater: If you're torn between the trout and the halibut, text 30644 with the message "FISH" and the type you're considering to learn which is the more sustainable choice (fishphone.org).

Missouri Library News

News from Joplin, MO - Staff have been called terrorists, murderers and anit-Americans and to top things off one patron actually gave the circ staff the Nazi salute.

Newspaper link:
http://www.joplinglobe.com/archivesearch/local_story_353195708.html

To see pictures of the display:
http://www.joplinpubliclibrary.org/on_display_large.shtml

This is so cool..

Or it is if you are a geek like me. Who knew about this and didn't tell me????

"Stanford on iTunes U provides access to a wide range of Stanford-related digital audio content via the iTunes Store, Apple’s popular online music, video, and podcast service.

The project includes two sites:
a public site which includes Stanford courses, faculty lectures, event highlights, music, sports, and more.

an access-restricted site for the Stanford community which includes:
CourseWork-linked iTunes U sites for course-based materials
Stanford Community iTunes U for the entire campus community."

I am downloading Patrick Hunt's Hannibal lectures for free as an after-award committee treat.

Book Count for today: 45 1/2

Save the easily offended: ban everything.

Cartoons for librarians and KC Blogger fun

I've been reading like crazy but since I can't talk about anything I am reading now (all nominees for a national book award) I decided to do another day of fun stuff.



A cartoon just for librarians...Unshelved



And because all the other KC Bloggers are doing it....

The tagline for the Sony Reader is that it's "sexier than a librarian". Hmmmm.....

Just for fun....

Discover Your Inner Librarian



Do some good...

FreeRice

A Case Of Denial

I must have been in denial the other day when I told a friend that I only had 40 more books left to read before January 11th.. I counted last night and there are 48 sitting on my shelf, waiting for me to pick them up. Granted, I did finish up two 750+ pagers but still...

Something tells me I should have taken more than three days off in January to finish up my reading.

A Hipper Crowd of Shushers

A customer just brought this in for me because he said it sounded like me (without the tattoo's). Not sure I am the demographic they are really talking about but it was sweet anyway.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/fashion/08librarian.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Terry Pratchett

In my non-Notable reading years I am a bit of an SF geek. I particularly like Space Opera, cyber-punk and anything that has humor. One of my favorites is Terry Pratchett. For those of us who are fans, this is very sad news....taken from http://www.paulkidby.com/news/index.html If you haven't read anything by him, I strongly encourage you to try one of his Discworld books.

Folks,

I would have liked to keep this one quiet for a little while, but because of upcoming conventions and of course the need to keep my publishers informed, it seems to me unfair to withhold the news. I have been diagnosed with a very rare form of early onset Alzheimer's, which lay behind this year's phantom "stroke".

We are taking it fairly philosophically down here and possibly with a mild optimism. For now work is continuing on the completion of Nation and the basic notes are already being laid down for Unseen Academicals. All other things being equal, I expect to meet most current and, as far as possible, future commitments but will discuss things with the various organisers. Frankly, I would prefer it if people kept things cheerful, because I think there's time for at least a few more books yet :o)

Terry Pratchett

PS I would just like to draw attention to everyone reading the above that this should be interpreted as 'I am not dead'. I will, of course, be dead at some future point, as will everybody else. For me, this maybe further off than you think - it's too soon to tell.I know it's a very human thing to say "Is there anything I can do", but in this case I would only entertain offers from very high-end experts in brain chemistry.

I wondered how long it would take for this to start....

Golden Compass needles Oshkosh

At least one school in the Oshkosh, Wisconsin, area has temporarily pulled the novel The Golden Compass from its library shelves over concerns about what critics call its “anti-Christian message.” Mary Miller, media specialist at St. John Neumann Middle School and Lourdes High School, said she has taken the series off the shelf at the shared school library because she wants to have a chance to read them and decide for herself if they are appropriate for students....

Oshkosh (Wis.) Northwestern, Dec. 7

Some favorite titles as I have been ordering books...

Get Stuffed: 24 Projects for the Bereaved Pet Owner by Chuck Iglesias

The Virgin Bride said “Wow” by Cathy Gillen Thacker - (this may be my all-time favorite)

How to Be Pope: What to Do and Where to Go Once You're in the Vatican by Piers Marchant

People Who Don't Know They're Dead: How They Attach Themselves To Unsuspecting bystanders and what to do about it by Gary Leon Hill

The Beginner's Guide to Sex in the Afterlife by David Staume

Knitting With Dog Hair: Better A Sweater From A Dog You Know and Love Than From A Sheep You'll Never Meet by Kendall Crolius

Fun videos

Killer Librarians of the Third Kind:



A 1960's video of what someone thought 1999 would look like: http://www.snopes.com/photos/technology/year1999.asp

What religion are you?

This isn't goofing off at work, this is called "researching" useful websites.

The top score on the list below represents the faith that Belief-O-Matic, in its less than infinite wisdom, thinks most closely matches your beliefs. However, even a score of 100% does not mean that your views are all shared by this faith, or vice versa.

Belief-O-Matic then lists another 26 faiths in order of how much they have in common with your professed beliefs. The higher a faith appears on this list, the more closely it aligns with your thinking. Take the test - http://www.beliefnet.com/story/76/story_7665_1.html

1. Liberal Quakers (100%)
2. Unitarian Universalism (100%)
3. Neo-Pagan (98%)
4. New Age (94%)
5. Mainline to Liberal Christian Protestants (87%)
6. Secular Humanism (84%)
7. Mahayana Buddhism (79%)
8. Reform Judaism (76%)
9. Taoism (69%)
10. Bahá'í Faith (67%)
11. Theravada Buddhism (67%)
12. New Thought (66%)
13. Scientology (60%)
14. Christian Science (Church of Christ, Scientist) (52%)
15. Orthodox Quaker (52%)
16. Nontheist (51%)
17. Sikhism (50%)
18. Jainism (44%)
19. Orthodox Judaism (41%)
20. Hinduism (36%)
21. Islam (31%)
22. Mainline to Conservative Christian/Protestant (31%)
23. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) (30%)
24. Eastern Orthodox (22%)
25. Roman Catholic (22%)
26. Seventh Day Adventist (22%)
27. Jehovah's Witness (9%)

Venice

I may have mentioned this already but I LOVE Venice. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would marry Venice. In other words, I really, really liked it there. It may have helped that I went prepared to love it there but it had the vibe that all of my favorite cities have. A laid back energy, not pushy, just doing it's thing, waiting for you to fall in love with it.

View of the tiny island where we stayed (from inside the boat)

A picture of Venice from another boat. Yes, much to my friend's dismay there was a whole lot of boat riding in this city.

The buses are boats, the taxis are boats...well, you get the idea. This city might not be the best destination for someone like my friend who gets motion sick when just walking along. She was a good sport however.

The first day was the most fun.

We visited the small museum, wandered around aimlessly, bought our Venetian masks (mine is very pretty) and eventually ate Italian food (not Venetian food) and headed back to the hotel.

The countdown begins!

55 1/2 more books to go before January 10th. No panic here:)

The next month or so...

For the next month I will be reading frantically and cannot talk about what I am reading...which tends to cut down on my blog post options. I will probably not be posting much about books (although I have saved back a few book reviews because I knew this was coming). Anyway there will be a few more book posts, a couple more vacation blogs and on January 14th I will put up a list of the winners of the ALA Notable Book Council selections.

In the meantime, have a safe and happy holiday season.

Paris: The Final Chapter

I really liked the Musée d'Orsay but I LOVED the Musee Rodin, which makes sense because he is one of my favorite sculptors. It was also one of the most well designed and focused museums I have ever seen, housed in Rodin's house. Oh, and one of my favorite authors was his secretary for a while.

As an aside, in the book of essays I just read it talked about distinguishing the literature from the man (or woman) author. I believe it is the same with art. I don't have to like the sculptor to recognize the genius of his work. (He wasn't the kindest man around.)

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite pieces...

For some reason, I can't find this on the museum website so I can't tell you the name of the piece.

The Thinker

And what could be more charming than a whole group of art students sketching The Thinker?

Blogging and the Law

I found this handy dandy little list of US Laws that affect blogs and bloggers and thought I would share it.

http://www.avivadirectory.com/blogger-law/

Versailles

It was a dark and gloomy day when we journeyed out to Versailles. By the end of the day, we agreed on two things.

1) We were darn cold and needed a hot toddy

2) Based on how sparkly everything at Versailles was if we had been peasants we would have been pretty pissed at the royals too.

The entrance to Versailles

The hall of mirrors. Apparently mirrors were wildly expensive so this room was built to show off how insanely rich the King was.

Marie Antoinette's bedchamber. Fun fact...when Marie was in labor and giving birth to the heir, her entire court was present. Doesn't that sound fun?

I have no idea what this has to do with Versailles but I liked the picture

At Large And At Small: Familiar Essays by Anne Fadiman

I just finished At Large And At Small: Familiar Essays by Anne Fadiman. Familiar essays were made popular by British gentlemen as they expounded on widely divergent areas of interest but have largely fallen out of favor in recent years. Since I have tended to favor essays by authors writing on a "theme" I was a bit unsure of how much I would like this book. The first essay did not give me much hope. The author talked about her early childhood obsession with butterfly collecting. In spite of a favorite uncle being an enthusiast, this has never been a topic near and dear to my heart so I finished this essay with a bit of dismay since I was really hoping for something a bit less grisly. Three essays in, my patience was rewarded. Yes, she talked about a subject that is an ongoing obsession in my life....ICE CREAM! What could be better? After that, her essays became much more relevant to my life, subjects such as being a night owl in a world of early birds, etc...

I highly enjoyed most of the essays in this small book and would recommend it for others who like to ponder...well, everything.

Anyone want to go to New York?

I got this email today. Anyone want to go?

Dear Poetry Lovers,

If you're in New York City on Thursday, November 29th, 2007, don't miss a special 80th birthday tribute and reading featuring Philip Levine with Kate Daniels, E.L. Doctorow, Edward Hirsch, Galway Kinnell, Yusuf Komunyakaa, Malena Mörling, Sharon Olds, Tom Sleigh, Gerald Stern, Jean Valentine and Charles Wright.

Philip Levine was born in Detroit and is the author of 16 collections of poetry, most recently Breath. His other books include The Simple Truth, which won the Pulitzer Prize; What Work Is, which won the National Book Award; The Names of the Lost; Ashes: Poems New and Old and 7 Years From Somewhere, both of which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. He is the distinguished Poet-in-Residence in the Creative Writing Program at NYU.

Co-sponsored with the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center, The New York University Creative Writing Program, the Academy of American Poets, Cave Canem Foundation, Cooper Union, Alfred A. Knopf, Poets House, Poetry Society of America, and Poets & Writers.

Hope to see you there!

Philip Levine 80th Birthday Tribute
Thursday, November 29th, 7:00pm
Great Hall, Cooper Union, East 7th Street

Free and Open to the Public http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/poetry/levine_tribute/

Varieties Of Disturbance: Stories by Lydia Davis

Last night I fell in love...with a new author. Lydia Davis is unlike anyone I have read before so I can't say "if you like this author (or that author) you will like Lydia". Her short story collection breaks all the rules, there is not an action packed plot in the bunch and yet, it all works together. I am completely blown away by her work and I plan to read the rest of her work in the very near future.

In the past year I have really come to appreciate the skill it takes to pull together a well done short story collection and some of my "favorite" work has been this type of literature.

Loving Frank: A Novel by Nancy Horan

This is a fictionalized account of the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney. I was unaware that Frank Lloyd Wright and Mamah had an affair and left their respective families to live together during a time when that was just "not done" so this was a very novel interesting from that perspective. I have to admit that I did find Frank a bit overbearing and personally not very appealing but in spite of (or maybe because of this) the book was extremely interesting and engaging.

The name of the novel it is not so much a romance as Mamah's struggle to try to live an authentic life as an independent educated woman. Of course, the facts get in the way of a satisfying conclusion to this quest but that is often the way real life is. Interesting and highly recommended for historical fiction fans.

An evening in Paris

After the art museums we trekked over to the Eiffel Tower.

One look at the long line convinced us that perhaps it was not worth the trip to the top so we called my friend's husband (who had made it up there) and he said not to bother. We decided instead to make our way to the "best view of the Eiffel Tower" according to the guidebook.

Here I am at the esplanade du Trocadero (AKA: the best view of the Eiffel Tower in Paris).

After all that walking we went in search of food again and then just walked around enjoying Paris at night. We eventually ended up at the Arc de Triomphe. We got additional exercise by climb to the top so that we could see the whole city at night.

It is a really long climb to the top but the view was worth it.

The Red Parts: A Memoir by Maggie Nelson

In 1969, Maggie Nelson's aunt was murdered. Her death was linked to the infamous "Michigan Murders" and her killer was never found...until recently. As Maggie, a poet, was just releasing a book of poetry about her aunt and the murder, new DNA evidence was found link a retired nurse to the killing. Maggie and her mother attend the trial each day in order to bear witness.

In the end, however, there was little sense of release and closure since questions are left unanswered and ambiguity remains. In fact, Maggie's family remains unconvinced that justice has been served. In reality this book is less about the crime than how it has shaped an entire family's world.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

Oscar, a first-generation Dominican-American, has bad luck. In fact, he has become the heir to 500 years of fuku (bad luck). This smart, lovable, unattractive and doomed protagonist is seen through the eyes of his sister, his mother and a family friend. This cutting edge (can you tell I like that phrase) novel is a sad, funny, rich portrait of a complex boy and a complex culture.



Warning: there is quite a bit of profanity in this novel so it is not for everyone but I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it for anyone looking for something a little different.

Cool website of the day

A couple of days ago I found this fun website called A Very Short List.

If you subscribe to their email service, you can receive "the very short, very free daily e-mail that uncovers excellent, under-hyped things to see, read, and hear five days a week."

The Guardians by Ana Castillo

The Guardians is a story of life on the border. Regina, a legal US citizen, is caring for her nephew, who is not legal. When the story opens her brother has been missing, presumed lost somewhere in "coyote" country. Coyotes referring to the people who prey on illegal immigrants selling them safe (sometimes) passage into the US. As she and another teacher confront the coyotes, they also fight to protect their families. Adding to the ever present threat of violence is Rafe, an intensely religious teen, who has befriended and is trying to help several gang members with mixed results.

No matter what you think about the immigration issue, this is a well written tale that shows how difficult it is to be an illegal in today's world. Heartbreaking and effective.

Science vs. Pseudoscience

Source:

*Phillips, Gary W., PhD. “Chance Favors the Prepared Mind: Mathematics and Science Indicators from Comparing States and Nations.” American Institutes for Research. 14 Nov 2007. American Institutes for Research. 18 Nov 2007 http://www.air.org/publications/documents/phillips.chance.favors.the.prepared.mind.pdf.

From David Warlick's blog 2¢ Worth:

According to the National Science Foundation (NSF, http://www.nsf.gov/statistics), the average U.S. citizen understands very little science. For example:

- 66% do not understand DNA, “margin of error,” the scientific process, and do not believe in evolution.
- 50% do not know how long it takes the earth to go around the sun, and a quarter does not even know that the earth goes around the sun.
- 50% think humans coexisted with dinosaurs and believe antibiotics kill viruses.

On the other hand, according to the NSF, the general public believes in a lot of pseudoscience.

- 88% believe in alternative medicine.
- 50% believe in extrasensory perception and faith healing.
- 40% believe in haunted houses and demonic possession.
- 33% believes in lucky numbers, ghosts, telepathy, clairvoyance, astrology, and that UFOs are aliens from space.
- 25% believes in witches and that we can communicate with the dead. *

Paris - Day 2, Part 1

Welcome to Museum Day in Paris. We started our day at the Louvre (I really think it should be spelled Louve but for accuracy sake I will do the "real" spelling.) This museum was "opened to all since 1793" and according to the website http://www.louvre.fr/ has over 6 million visitors per year most of which were there the day we visited. Because we got up bright and early (a major problem when traveling with a morning person) we didn't have to wait in line to enter the museum but we didn't plan as well once we got inside.

We made the mistake of going to the Napoleon III Apartments first. It was interesting and ornate and very sparkly and I because I follow the rules and obeyed the signs I didn't take any pictures. (By the way, there was a tiny painting of a woman reading in his apartments that I fell in love with, so if someone else is going to be there soon, could you stop by and pick that up for me?)

We then decided to headed over to see the Mona Lisa because you cannot go to the Louvre and not see the Mona Lisa. Someone (not mentioning any names) did take a picture although she was just trying to get the crowds, not the painting and heck, every other person in the place had their camera out snapping away. For someone who is short and midwestern, it was very difficult to bulldoze my way to the front so I politely stood in line to see Miss Mona. We really should have made a beeline for her the second we hit the door, before the other 5 million people got there, but who knew?

There she is...that little picture in the middle of the frame. (Photo courtesy of Gretchen)

Believe it or not, this is not actually my favorite way to view art so we did a quick run through of a few more galleries and then headed to my favorite cafe (much more enjoyable now that my friend wasn't feeling puny) and then on to the Musée d'Orsay

which I viewed in a very orderly fashion. I visited each and every room and saw every single thing in the place. May I just say that I loved this museum.

Here is one of my favorite sculptures in the museum. It represents Balzac and was done by Rodin. When it came out the critics rejected it so Rodin repaid the Société his commission and moved the figure to his garden. Stupid critics.

Of course, no visit would be complete without stopping by to see Whistler's Mother. I found some new artists to love. One new favorite was Sisley. I just can't get enough of those Impressionists. Next blog - Part 2: Or Visiting the Eiffel Tower.

Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine

We didn't have very many graphic novels on the list to consider this year. Here is my favorite of the bunch mainly because the artwork fit the text perfectly. It added layers to the story BUT (and this is the important part)...if the artwork or the text went away, the other could function independently. This is the mark of a great graphic novel. The whole is more than the sum of the parts but each part is complete.

This is the story of a Chinese American 20-something who is struggling with his desire to be the same as "other Americans" vs pressure from his community to retain his identity and heritage. Very well done and complete.