Join us Tuesday November 10th at 7 pm in the Carnegie Room for a discussion of the book Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman. It’s a fascinating, quick read- just right for the rainy weekend coming up!
from the book cover:
Twenty years ago, Jane Hudson fled the Heart Lake School for Girls in the Adirondacks after a terrible tragedy. The week before her graduation, in that sheltered wonderland, three lives were taken, all victims of suicide. Only Jane was left to carry the burden of a mystery that has stayed hidden in the depths of Heart Lake for more than two decades. Now Jane has returned to the school as a Latin teacher, recently separated and hoping to make a fresh start with her young daughter. But ominous messages from the past dredge up forgotten memories. And young, troubled girls are beginning to die again?as piece by piece the shattering truth slowly floats to the surface. . . .
reviews:
“Like Donna Tartt’s The Secret History or a good film noir . . . Jane’s low-key narration has just the right tone to keep readers hooked.”
–People (Page-turner of the week)
“The strength of The Lake of Dead Languages is a silken prose that lures the reader into Goodman’s . . . story of murder, suicide . . . revenge, and madness.”
–The Washington Post Book World
“PART SUSPENSE, PART COMING-OF-AGE, AND ALL-ENTHRALLING . . . A book that needs the roar of a fire to ward off its psychic chill.”
–The Denver Post
~ Diane
Categories: Adult Book Club · News
Tagged: book group, carol goodman, lake of dead languages, latin, suicide
(image from Harmful Algal Bloom Programme of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO)
How’s this for a scary story? A mysterious killer foam ravages the coasts of Oregon and Washington, killing thousands of seabirds. Actually, the foam is not so mysterious; it is a single-cell phytoplankton, or algae. Toxic algae blooms- when the algae reproduces like made and as a by-product produces a detergent-like substance that strips water birds of their waterproofing oils- have occurred in many parts of the world, but not, until last week, in the Pacific Northwest. So the big question is why did it occur? Was it a freak event or something that will occur again? Are the waters off the Pacific Northwest warming and what will that mean for the future? Anyone who likes to eat shellfish will be effected as the shellfish eat the algae and the toxins are concentrated in them.
Some scary stories are fun because we can relish the scare without the consequences. Not this one.
Further information:
Oregonian article Killer Foam:was it a freak event or a warning?
Oregonlive article
~Diane
NOAA’s National Ocean Service: Harmful Algal Blooms
Categories: Event · News · Uncategorized
Tagged: algae, oregon, seabirds, shellfish, toxic
As the nights start to get chilly and the leaves begin to fall, I always think of one of my favorite books Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Maybe I first read it in the autumn or maybe the tone of the book just fits so nicely with the fading light or maybe the morning fog reminds me of the man with the thistle-down hair. Similarly, I associate Pride and Prejudice with summer and Wuthering Heights with winter. But, I have read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell at least three times, so I must search for another book to suit the season.
The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields . “ Bittersweet, beautifully written . . . deliciously unclassifiable, blatantly intelligent and subtly subversive . . . The Stone Diaries chips away at our most cherished, comforting beliefs about the immutability of facts and fate.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
&; "clay")
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. “A page turner in the most expansive sense of the word: its gripping plot pushes readers forward…Chabon is a reader’s writer; with sentences so cozy they’ll wrap you up and kiss you goodnight.”—Chicago Tribune
The Seance by John Harwood. “Harwood’s spellbinding second novel…pays homage to such nineteenth-century suspense masters as Wilkie Collins and Sheridan Le Fanu…Harwood invokes the hoariest cliches of supernatural suspense, from stormy nights to haunted houses, and effortlessly makes them his own.” (Publishers Weekly, starred review )
&; "h")
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. “A compelling modern-day ghost story set in and around London’s atmospheric Highgate cemetery…An engrossing love story that crosses to the ‘other side,’ Symmetry offers an inventive take on sibling rivalry, personal identity and what it’s like to be dead.”– People (3 1/2 stars)
Poe’s Children: the new horror: an anthology edited by Peter Straub. “Revelatory. . . . A remarkably consistent, frequently unsettling book.” —The Washington Post
Happy autumnal reading!
~ Diane
Categories: Fiction · New Fiction · favorites
These DVDs are ready for holds to be placed in the catalog.
Popular Titles
- 17 Again
- Seven Pounds
- Duplicity
- The Soloist
- Last House on the Left
- State of Play
- Fighting
- Monsters, Inc.
- Friday Night Lights
- No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
- Botswana: In the Footsteps of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency
- Harry Potter Years 1-5
- I Love You, Man
- Watchmen
- Sunshine Cleaning
- Adventureland
- Race to Witch Mountain
- Woody Allen Collection, Sets 1-3
- Agatha Christie’s Poirot: The Movie Collection – Set 4
- The Godzilla Collection
Halloween Titles
- The Witches
- Halloween H2O – Twenty Years Later
- Halloween 4 – The Return of Mike Myers
Christmas Titles
- Little Women (1933)
- Mixed Nuts
- Babes in Toyland
- The Ref
- The Christmas Wife
- Little Women
- The Christmas That Almost Wasn’t
- How the Toys Saved Christmas
- Christmas Comes to Willow Creek
- The Winter Stallion (The Christmas Stallion): A Story of Love and Hope
- The Bells of St. Mary’s
- The Christmas Star
- Beyond Tomorrow
- Sonny and Cher – The Christmas Collection
- Eve’s Christmas
- Unlikely Angel
- Black Christmas
- 3 Godfathers
- The Bishop’s Wife
- Little Women (Collector’s Series)
- March of the Wooden Soldiers
- Holiday in Handcuffs
- All Mine to Give
- Holiday Affair
- It Happened on 5th Avenue
- Blossoms in the Dust
- Warner Brothers Holiday Collection, Volume 1
- An American Christmas Carol
- Pocketful of Miracles
- A Christmas Visitor
- Angel in the Family
- Bush Christmas
- All I Want for Christmas
- A Christmas Carol
Other Holidays
- Home for the Holidays
- A Taste of Chanukah
- The Gift of Chanukah
- There’s No Such Thing as a Chanukah Bush, Sandy Goldstein
Television Shows
- Friday Night Lights – The First Season
- Friday Night Lights – The Complete Second Season
- Friday Night Lights – The Complete Third Season
- The Big Bang Theory – The Complete First Season
- The Big Bang Theory – The Complete Second Season
- True Blood – The Complete first Season
- Dexter – The Complete Third Season
- House, M.D. – Season Five
- Project Runway – Season Five
- 30 Rock – Season Three
- Big Love – The Complete Third Season
- How I Met Your Mother – Season Four
~Jenny
Categories: DVDs
Twitter is all the rage these days (so much so one wonders if it can be on the verge of being passe?) and libraries are not immune to the draw of fun, new technology. There are many libraries using Twitter these days, but the question is how can it be a fun, useful tool for us and for you? Comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
In honor of the return to school, here are some free stuff that can make your life easier (or at least more organized):
Evernote Evernote says it can help you remember all the stuff you need to. Type a text note- take a picture- capture a webpage- then Evernote makes it all searchable!
Notely keep track of it all: schedule, calendar, note-taking, homework planner and more.
GradeMate free online organizer to keep track of what is due, when it’s due and what grade you got on it.
Diigo Add highlights and sticky notes to web documents/sites- also share your research with others.
EtherPad Collaborate with others in real time on online documents.
~Diane
Categories: Online resource
Here are some audio books that will soon be on our shelves:
A Little Bit Wicked: life, love and faith in stages by Kristin Chenoweth.
&; "truth")
The Truth: with jokes by Al Franken.
Healthy Living from the Inside Out by Mariel Hemingway.
&; "kitchen")
Hidden Kitchens: stories and more from NPR’s The Kitchen Sisters.
Closing Time: a memoir by Joe Queenan.
Economics in One Lesson: the shortest and easiest way to understand basic economics by Henry Hazlitt.
English Majors: a comedy collection for the highly literate by Garrison Keillor.
The Tender Bar: a memoir by J. R. Moehringer.
The Pleasures and Sorrow of Work by Alain de Botton.
Liberty and Tyranny: a Conservative manifesto by Mark R. Levin.
Perfectly Imperfect: a life in progress by Lee Woodruff.
Madness: a bipolar life by Marya Hornbacher.
My Remarkable Journey by Larry King.
~Diane
Categories: Audio Books
We are purchasing more graphic novels for adults. Look for the bright green GN sticker at the top of the spine in the fiction and nonfiction sections. Here are few to look for soon.
- As the World Burns; 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Stay in Denial by Derrick Jensen & Stephanie McMillan
A review on the back of the book reads “…not a book for doomsday pacifists or nihilists. Jensen and McMillan, like their characters-animal, vegetable, and mineral- are warriors for LIFE. -Counterpunch”
- A.D. New Orleans; After the Deluge by Josh Neufeld
This is an excellent example where a graphic novel is the best format for delivery. Just flipping through the pages, it is obvious that the drawings in this book tell the story of the horror of Hurricane Katrina in a way that words and even photographs do not.
- The Photographer; Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders by Guibert, Lefevre, & Lemercier
A mix of black and white photographs and simple color drawings tell the harrowing experiences of a Doctors Without Borders mission to Afghanistan.
~Jenny
Categories: Graphic Novels
Let the world know!
“Librarians in our nation’s 123,000 libraries make a difference in the lives of millions of people every day. If a librarian has made a difference in your life, now is the chance to tell your story.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York/New York Times I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of librarians in public, school, college, community college and university libraries for their efforts to improve the lives of people in their community.
Nominations will be open from August 17 to October 9.
Up to 10 librarians in public, school and college, community college and university libraries will be selected to win $5,000 and will be honored at a ceremony and reception in New York at TheTimesCenter, hosted by The New York Times. In addition, a plaque will be given to each award winner’s library. Winners will be announced in November 2009.
Each nominee must be a librarian with a master’s degree from a program accredited by the ALA in library and information studies or a master’s degree with a specialty in school library media from an educational unit accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Nominees must be currently working in the United States in a public library, a library at an accredited two- or four-year college or university or at an accredited K-12 school.
For more information and to nominate a librarian, visit www.ilovelibraries.org/ilovemylibrarian.
The award is supported by Carnegie Corporation of New York and The New York Times.”
For more information visit the award’s homepage.
~Diane
Categories: Uncategorized
Now is the time of abundance in the garden and farmer’s market. Take advantage of this abundance by doing some canning or other kind of preservation. You’ll be thankful when mid-winter comes around. Here are some resources to help and inspire: