For over a year now, we have all be enjoying flowering orchids next to the reference desk on the second floor. A patron and good friend to the library has been bringing them in when they are in bloom and taking good care of them. Modest man that he is, he always says it’s easy to get them to bloom, but we are not so sure about that. We are very grateful to him and know that many other patrons of the library have enjoyed them as well.
Currently, we have two orchids blooming, a giant purple orchid (a Cattleya) and a lovely white Bucket orchid or Coryanthes (similar to the one in the picture above). The both have a lovely smell (although their fragrance is different from each other. Bucket orchids have an amazing relationship with orchid bees that involves perfume, sex and glue (from more information visit this site).
Next time you are in the library, make sure you stop by the reference desk and check out the orchids!
Library Orchids resources:
The New Encyclopedia of Orchids by Isobyl la Croix.
All About Orchids by Elvin McDonald.
The Cloud Garden: a true story of adventure, survival and extreme horticulture by Tom Hart Dyke and Paul Winder.
~Diane
Categories: Event · favorites · nonfiction
Tagged: orchids
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
September 24, 2009 · 1 Comment
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
