Halloween Meme

You Should Be a Geisha for Halloween

According to our quiz, you'd make an ideal geisha. Your runner up costume: Fairy

The Halloween Costume Generator

Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration Into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku

In Physics of the Impossible, author Michio Kaku explores the fantastical world of science fiction and tells us exactly which of these “impossible” inventions are actually possible, at least according to our understanding of the current laws of physics. While most of these will not be seen in our lifetime, this intensely readable text makes it fun to imagine the possibilities that await future generations. Kaku does an outstanding job of making physics understandable and enjoyable, a remarkable feat for a science writer.

Free e-book Friday

Ok, not actually e-books, but if you like classical music the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is offering 10 symphonies as free downloads. This will be available through November 24th.

Books & Books Meme

What was the last book you bought? Bought? I don't buy books, they just appear in the mail...day after day after day. Help! I'm drowning in books.

Name a book you have read MORE than once: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Has a book ever fundamentally changed the way you see life? If yes, what was it? Every book changes the way I see life. I don't reacognize the effects but they all do.

How do you choose a book? By the pretty cover, the review, because I like the author, because a friend who has similar taste in books liked it, because it is assigned reading, because I am on a book award committee and must read or die...Take your pick.

Do you prefer Fiction or Non-Fiction? Depends on the subject. I tend to gravitate toward fiction but love anything to do with Victorian woman explorers, archeology, brain research....

What’s more important in a novel - beautiful writing or a gripping plot? The books that stay with me are the ones with "beautiful" writing or at least the most memorable descriptions.

Most loved/memorable character (character/book) I have always been fond of Amelia Peabody from the mystery series by Elizabeth Peters. The author has her PhD in Egyptology and has patterned her character after Amelia Edwards, Victorian Archeologist.

Which book or books can be found on your nightstand at the moment? Life and Death are Wearing Me Out: A Novel by Mo Yan

What was the last book you’ve read, and when was it? Physics of the Impossible: A Scientific Exploration into the World of Phasers, Force Fields, Teleportation, and Time Travel by Michio Kaku

Have you ever given up on a book half way in? Sure. Many. Reading is not a test or an endurance activity. Reading should be a joy.

from Bea's Weblog by Bea

Free E-Book Friday

For a limited time, read all of Wicked, the book that started it all, including the smash Broadway musical that is celebrating its 5th anniversary this month, online, for free!

Kathleen Sibelius

Instead of watching the Vice-Presidential debates last Thursday, I went to Knuckleheads to listen to Tab Benoit. While we were there, one of my friends spotted Kathleen Sibelius in the crowd and shanghaied her for a picture.

The Door by Margaret Atwood

I love Margaret Atwood. Two of her fiction novels are on my Favorite Books of All Time list. In fact, I have met her and stammered like an idiot while she signed my books. What a joy to discover that her poetry hits me the same way.

From "Owl and Pussycat, Some Years Later", a witty retelling of the well-known nursery rhyme, to the darker poem "The Hurt Child", Margaret Atwood revisits familiar themes and explores new territory in The Door. In this collection, she highlights the dark side of personal, environmental and political landscapes in taut, spare verse proving once again her virtuosity with words.


Variation on the Word Sleep
by Margaret Atwood

I would like to watch you sleeping,
which may not happen.
I would like to watch you,
sleeping. I would like to sleep
with you, to enter
your sleep as its smooth dark wave
slides over my head

and walk with you through that lucent
wavering forest of bluegreen leaves
with its watery sun & three moons
towards the cave where you must descend,
towards your worst fear

I would like to give you the silver
branch, the small white flower, the one
word that will protect you
from the grief at the center
of your dream, from the grief
at the center. I would like to follow
you up the long stairway
again & become
the boat that would row you back
carefully, a flame
in two cupped hands
to where your body lies
beside me, and you enter
it as easily as breathing in

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

From poets.org

Biannual Mowing Blog

I just thought I would share the fact that this is a very happy time of year for me. Why, you ask?

Because there is no more mowing! Now some of you might be thinking "mowing isn't so bad". In fact, I kinda like it. Yeah, well, you would be crazy people. I know the rest of you are doing the happy dance with me. No more dragging out the heavy mower every weekend (I am a delicate flower after all), no more environmental damage that is killing the planet causing me to be a bad, bad person (next year, I'm going electric) and best of all, no more no more mowing over dead animals causing me to being traumatized for weeks.

Now, it's time to rake! Ummm....Whoo Hooo?

Happy Banned Book Week!

Video produced in recognition of Banned Books Week, September 27-October 4, 2008, and in cooperation with ALA's Office for Intellectual Freedom.

Free E-Book Friday

Download a freebie of A Season for the Dead, the first in David Hewson’s series featuring his detective Nic Costa.

Go to the Scribd site. Formats are PDF and TXT.

This free gift is to promote the seventh book in the series, Dante’s Numbers.

Alien captured on CCTV

I found this on the Laughing Squid blog and knowing how many SF geeks read this, couldn't resist.

Slacker Uprising

Michael Moore’s new documentary, “Slacker Uprising,” is available for viewing (and download) for free as of today at slackeruprising.com.

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Today is Talk Like A Pirate Day, second only to my birthday and tied with National Pie day.

Arrrrrrrrrrrrr.

My pirate name is:

Captain Bess Flint

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

And for more pirate fun...http://www.talklikeapirateday.com/wordpress/

Alaskan Librarian

One of my fellow librarians has come up with something so brilliant that only, well, a librarian could have thought of it. He has taken all of the results from people doing Google searches and has started to put together posts answering the question that had somehow led them to his site. I have been endlessly entertained and impressed with his ability to take bizarre sets of search terms and provide clear, well thought out answers (in case that person ever comes back). He is a librarian in Alaska so I have a feeling his stats have gone through the roof lately which hopefully means that people's odd searches will provide endless blog posts for him and endless information for his readers (or at least for his geeky librarian readers).

I would do this too but 90% of the stats on my site come from authors looking for reviews of their books or people looking for reviews of those same books. Imagine that.

Charlie Rose interviewing David Foster Wallace

Writer David Foster Wallace was

Writer David Foster Wallace was found dead at 46 of apparent suicide.

Watchmen Meme

YOU ARE SILK SPECTRE...

You're law enforcement material! Whether it's working vice or for the CIA, you have all the tools. You're brash, tough, and resilient. You could go far!

You'd do well on the "other side" of the law too. Consider organized crime, pornography, politics, or the tobacco industry.

WATCHMEN Profile Inventory (WPI)

A Librarian's Plea

Before discussing candidates or issues, please double check to make sure facts can be verified by reputable sources. The rumors getting thrown around about Sarah Palin (or any candidate) don't end up hurting her, they hurt the Obama campaign (even if he didn't start the rumor) and makes Democrats look unreasonable and vindictive. Check out the rumor on http://www.snopes.com/politics/politics.asp or, if not covered there, look at the reputable new sources for confirmation.

Also, I would like to make a case for researching the candidates and voting based on the issues, not the personality of the candidate. Voting because we like them hasn't done us much good in the past, now has it?

Your public library is an excellent place to go to find out more. Each website has a list of REPUTABLE web resources for you to access. Please take advantage of all of the hard work your library has done to help you stay informed. http://www.kclibrary.org/elections-politics

Elections

It is going to be tough getting my reading done for my book award committee with the election going on. I am now indulging in behavior similar to Under The Ginko. Maybe sleep isn't as necessarily as everyone seems to believe?

The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine

The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine is a Scheherazade of a story layering stories within stories within stories in a complex pattern that blends fantasy and reality together in one brilliant package. Osama, now an engineer in Los Angeles, travels home to Lebanon to be with his father during his final days. During his visit with his family, he remembers stories of his grandfather, a hakawati, or storyteller. Weaving in and out of his family story are the fantastical stories of Fatima, a slave girl and Baybars, a slave prince which pull together the threads of past and present reflect the modern day Beirut.

This is one of the best novels I have read this year.