National Salad Week

I can't believe I almost forgot to mention National Salad Week, July 25 - 31.  Don't worry, there are a few days left  to enjoy a crisp, healthy salad. 
Some PCL resources:
Chicken salads:  60 scrumptious recipes for an American classic
Quick toss salad meals
Soup makes the meal : 150 soul-satisfying recipes for soups, salads, and breads
Veggie meals: Rachael Ray's 30-minute meals
Cold pasta
Salad people and more real recipes : a new cookbook for preschoolers and up

For online recipes see:
Allrecipes.com
Salad recipe
Fruit salad recipes

Also check out Food Network Magazine.  This title was recently added to PCL's magazines.  All the recipes in the issue are indexed with color pictures of the dishes!
Enjoy a healthy salad!

How did you get this #?

Sloane Crosley, author of I was told there'd be cake, has a new book that had me snickering in quite a few instances (and  those who know me know I'd don't laugh lightly).  How did you get this number (which depicts a guilty faced brown bear on the cover, see below) is a collection of 9 essays in which Crosley critically examines certain episodes of her life with witty humor and some catch phrases that I wish I was smart enough to think of first. 

A few examples the insight in Crosley's essays:
On language barriers "...with the conviction that the longer one speaks Portuguese, the more apt your foreign subject is to understand it.  It's the Portuguese version of screaming English in order to better communicate.  Everyone knows that works." ...p. 24.
On an anorexic kleptomaniac roommate "None of my clothes would fit her without the aid of a staple gun."... p. 50.
On the safety of a night-light "...if they worked for me, would they not also work for the eight-eyed monster hiding in the closet?...She can see a night-light." ...p. 70.
See...Aren't these clever concepts? Don't you wish you had thought of some of these yourself?

'Light Pollution', her essay about the differences between the lower 48 & Alaska made me want to schedule my flight and check it out with my own eyes.

How did you get this number is a quick, light read that will leave you wishing there was more.  PCL also has I was told there'd be cake in the collection if you want to explore Crosley's 2008 works.

And the heart says whatever...

Emily Gould's latest literary work, And the heart says whatever, is comprised of 11 short stories about a single woman and finding direction in life.  Set in New York City, the moods of the stories range amongst depression, irony, sarcasm, and humor.  She entertainingly tells tales of boyfriends (many), jobs (also many), pet ownership, decorating minuscule apartments, and seeking the fitting persona to adopt upon her graduation from the New School.  I thought the stories read like an extension of a creative writing class with carefully chosen descriptive wording although they were casual enough to convey that the writer is grounded in reality.  I loved the thoughtful way these stories ended; not leaving the reader hanging, rather understanding how deeply the author analyzed the topic and story line and created writing that would convey strong sentiment while giving the reader a voyeuristic fishbowl view of her life.  This slim book makes a great take-along beach read and the stories are short enough to read between naps in the sun.  Emily Gould's blog site is http://www.emilymagazine.com/.

Book Sale starts soon!!

The Friends of the Parkland Library is doing a wonderful job of organizing and pricing the thousands of items available at this year’s annual Book Sale. I got a sneak preview today of the mass of tables of books categorized into sections and priced with color coded stickers. There are some great finds and multiples of many popular fiction novels.  Lots of these books are in such good condition, they could be put away as gifts (did I mention I always start my holiday shopping in July??) The reuse and recycling of these materials is great for our environment as well as our pocketbooks.  There are even .50 cent superbargains! 
Many Friends members are working to get everything ready for Friday’s Preview from 4 – 7 PM. As a reminder the sale this year is at the air-conditioned LCTI, only 5 miles north of the library (directions here). There are plenty of large signs marking the way to ample parking and the building entrance. Friends will still be accepting sale material donations until 7PM today and on Friday from 10AM – 7PM. They are also in need of plastic grocery bags if you have any to donate. Mark your calendar to support PCL by shopping the book sale and getting some great bargains. Book Sale Dates and Hours

July 24 - 31, 2010

Saturdays (July 24 & 31) 9am - 3pm

Sunday July 25 11am - 4pm

Monday - Friday 10am - 8pm

Further sale details can also be found on the PCL website.

Inside Gitmo

President Obama has spoken since his inaguaration about closing the controversial detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba .  Although it has been in the news lately, closing of Gitmo does not seem imminent by the end of the year even though the Supermax facility in Thompson, Illinois seems to be moving forward on planned changes being made to hold prisoners from Gitmo.  Several library resources can shed light on this facility:

• Inside Gitmo [DVD] – The prison on the Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has received media attention for its practices, especially since 9/11. This National Geographic documentary shows the lives of guards, prisoners, and civilian visitors to the prison.

Many works have been written on the same subject, some exposes, some biographical, and others mainly political. For a different view see

• Poems from Guantanamo: the detainees speak 
• Enemy combatant: my imprisonment at Guantánamo, Bagram, and Kandahar by Moazzam Begg

The Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Ill. is being considered as "a leading option" to house suspected terrorists currently held at Guantanamo Bay.  See photos from the chicagotribune.com below:

The merits of Dewey...

As a follow up to my musings on the pleasures of browsing, it seems a brief review of the Dewey Decimal system is in order. Most of us learned the Dewey decimal system back in elementary school during the most important class, library (this is what I tell my second grader). The Dewey system has been around since 1876, the invention of Melvil Dewey (quite a ladies’ man, I’ve heard!). The number ranges include a certain topic and tell you where to find the non-fiction books. At PCL the Dewey system only applies to non-fiction, reference, and juvenile non-fiction. PCL’s fiction books are grouped by author’s last name. Some libraries have their fiction works in the 800’s (literature). Sometimes a librarian can rattle off a specific number like 940.3515 for Holocaust or 709.32 for Egyptian art, but if you know these 10 basic groupings, you can enhance your browsing experience.

• 000 – Computer science, information & general works


• 100 – Philosophy and psychology


• 200 – Religion


• 300 – Social sciences


• 400 – Language


• 500 – Science (including mathematics)


• 600 – Technology


• 700 – Arts and recreation


• 800 – Literature


• 900 – History and geography

One of the best things about being a librarian is having the ability to locate the answer to a question even if you don’t know it off the top of your head. So many librarians pay tribute to the genius of Melvil Dewey by naming their cats after him. See Dewey: the small-town library cat who touched the world.

For happy library materials...

I have spoken with a number of patrons in the past few weeks that were looking for an item they could not find. In a positive case In cold blood was found hanging out beside Capote’s fiction rather than in its home in the 364‘s of true crime.
Some less than favorable results:
*David Sedaris’ Naked has been added to the missing list…both library employees and volunteers who specifically search for items have not had any luck…I suppose I will be replacing this one at a cost of $15.00
*A reference book that has gone AWOL – Warning Symptoms. This was well used by reference staff to answer patron questions. Reference books are non circulating, so this one must have leaped off the shelf and walked right out the door! Since it is gone, I have replaced it with the Professional Guide to Signs & Symptoms at a cost of $54.95.
*McBrien’s Lives of the Saints came back so heavily water damaged it was in no condition to circulate…this useful book has been replaced with The Illustrated World Encyclopedia of Saints (on order) at a cost of $35.00. (Lives of the saints was no longer available in hardcover, so an exact replacement would have been impossible.)
*Because there are many other Rachael Ray cookbooks, her Guy Food recipes book will not be replaced. It had to be removed from the collection after someone tore out pages 39 & 40.
*Two non-fiction books on jewelry making were discovered to be missing – Jewelry: Fundamentals of metalsmithing and New directions in metal clay. Replacements for these items have not been selected yet. Of course I discovered them missing when a patron was interested in books on just that topic.
*A New England travel guide just landed on my desk. Some creature snacked on this, but the bite marks are not quite moose size. Now this was a 2008 edition, so it will not be replaced. I hope the older (2007) edition is available until the 2010 edition is published in this August.

So what is the moral of the story here? This is a public library operated on state revenues, local taxes, and donations. Why would anyone want to abuse the privilege of borrowing materials at no cost? Even though PCL’s shelves are packed with books, don’t think staff aren’t going to miss a couple. And don’t think 'no one else would want to read this book anyway'; just as I claimed in a previous post - the library isn’t going to waste the tight book budgets we have on items no one uses – we just can’t afford to do that. Why is there no respect for library materials?

Here are a couple quick tips to keep your library materials happy and safe:

• Don’t leave any AV materials in hot cars! Cases warp and cassette and videotapes (yes we still have materials in this format) can melt.
• Protect your library materials from hungry or jealous pets.
• Don’t let library books get wet.
• Library books have stamps and markings. They know where they belong. If you have overdue materials in your possession please return them. Another borrower is waiting.
• If materials are damaged, report it when you return. It can be easier to repair materials sooner than later.
• The library will give you a pass should your library materials be skunked – it has happened. Do not use tomato juice on library materials.

See you and happy library books at the library!

Read my pins...

In the June 2010 issue of Smithsonian magazine (one of PCL's recent additions), there is a brief Q&A with former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright about her book release Read my pins:  Stories from a diplomat's toolbox.  She used her growing collection of costume pins to express her opinions and attitudes toward global events.  An exhibit of the jewelery opened last month at the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, DC.  The June 2010 issue of Smithsonian is available for circulation at PCL.  More of the interview can be found at Smithsonian.com/Albright.  This book has been very popular since the library acquired it...you can be placed on hold for the book here.

Some benefits of browsing

• Judge a book by its cover – Check out the cover art
• Discover one-hit wonder authors (Did you know To kill a mockingbird is the only novel Harper Lee every published?)
• Find the right size book to fit in your summer purse
• No hold lists

If you search only the recent book shelves at PCL or normally search the library catalog with only a specific item in mind, you might want to venture a bit further into the stacks. Surprises and treasures await! It seems a lot of patrons come in and want a bestseller which may have a long hold list. How about browsing to see what is here and available at the moment? Some items that caught my eye while quickly browsing the stacks:

 

Oxford book of sonnets (purse size)

East fifth bliss (interesting cover art)

In the tenth house (this highly decorative spine can’t be missed)

The lord of the rings: The art of the fellowship of the rings (beautiful artwork throughout)

The American circus (a catchy title on a subject anyone can relate to)

The unicorn hunt (eye catching book with an alluring title)

Mirabilis (again, I was drawn by the spinal artwork)

Every book is a treasure, but not every one may suit your literary tastes. The great thing about the library is you can return the book and it didn’t cost you anything! Take a chance and pick up a book out of your normal reading genre. Choose something strictly for the cover art. Better your chances of finding something you will enjoy reading by coming in and searching PCL’s stacks. When you find something you’ve liked, share it! Send an email to info@parklandlibrary.org or comment on the library blogs.

From page to film...

For those of us who are both readers and movie lovers, there is often debate as to which format is better: book or movie and which of the two should be first if both are available. I have differing opinions based on the story in question. I would love to see some books I have read made into films. For other topics, sometimes I would rather see the film and skip the book. For me this is especially true of novels, simply because I don’t read that much fiction. I recently saw the Lovely Bones which was (I am told) fairly representative of Alice Sebold’s novel. The movie was well done; far too sad, but thought provoking and deep. I could have done without the fantasy depictions of the ‘in-between’ and I think I probably would have been impatient when reading those sections in the book. I would want to get back to the reality of solving the crime.

Another recent film, Shutter Island, was based on the book by Dennis Lehane. In this case I read the novel first and it was a riveting, suspenseful page turner. The movie was also suspenseful, but since I knew the conclusion beforehand, it was not as mysterious as it could have been to someone unaware of the story. It followed the book’s action very closely. However, when you read the book first, you have a chance to imagine how the setting and characters will appear. I pictured Shutter Island as a more rocky, barren piece of land and anticipated the hospital being more massive, like some abandoned state asylum. Viewing what another envisioned means you have to adjust the mental image developed while reading the novel. Both the book and the film Shutter Island were entertaining with a well-developed plot. Page or film first is really a matter of personal preference.

It’s always disappointing when you loved the book and the movie is not true to the novel’s events. I felt this way with Confessions of a Shopaholic. I loved the books (I would recommend Sophie Kinsella’s books for funny, girly fiction), but hated that the movie followed the story only in principle. On the other end of the spectrum, Bridget Jones’s Diary was a hilariously funny movie which could only have been better if Bridget’s daily tally of cigarettes, alcohol units, and weigh-in figures were included as in the book.  Any comments on your favorites?

Some recent novels to movies:
Dan Brown – Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code

Stephenie Meyer – Twilight Series (you must have some opinions on these books to movies)
Harry Potter
Jodi Piccoult - My sister’s keeper (Another fiction writer I really enjoy reading. I certainly hope more of her books are made into films.)
Ian McEwan – Atonement
Richard Matheson – I am legend
Stephen King – The Mist (from a short novella; great film)
Khaled Hosseini – The kite runner (I hope to see A thousand splendid suns in movie format.)


For a list of movies made from books see http://movie-o.com/books/movie-books.php

Oppression and Possessions

Love in a torn land: Joanna of Kurdistan: the true story of a freedom fighter's escape from Iraqi vengeance – This latest work by Jean Sasson (author of the Princess series) is a biography of a Kurdish freedom fighter within Iraq. Like Princess, the heroine is an a Middle Eastern woman who makes sacrifices for her ethical values. This Sasson work is more politically slanted than her prior works on oppressed women. The reader gleans a base understanding of Kurdish Iraqi history, politics, warfare, and geography. After description and detail of many years of Joanna’s life the ending seems anticlimactic with many issues still unresolved, like the ever evolving region of the Middle East.  In all, an interesting book, but not quite on the riveting, page-turner levels of Sasson's other works.  PCL also has: 
Princess : a true story of life behind the veil in Saudi Arabia
Growing up Bin Laden : Osama's wife and son take us inside their secret world (with Najwa bin Laden & Omar bin Laden)

Snoop – Sam Gosling, PhD

Subtitled What your stuff says about you, this book was not what I expected. Instead of straight evaluations of what certain behaviors, preferences, and personal possessions might say about the individual, this book examines these issues critically. It has a strong psychology slant with detailed analysis backing the reasons why stuff conveys what it does to observers looking into the fishbowl. Bias, judgment, and preconceptions are both proved and disproved depending on the stuff being examined. A lot of scholarly thought went into this manuscript, although the delivery of the message was not quite on the entertainment or reader interest level of a Malcolm Gladwell book.
I would suggest these two Gladwell books instead:
Outliers : the story of success
The tipping point : how little things can make a big difference

The dirt on Eclipse

The WSJ said ticket sales for yesterday's opening of The Twilight Saga: Eclipse were $68.5 million.  Adam was there at midnight where he said there was a huge crowd and 4 sold out screens, but there wasn't much of a crowd at the 5pm show that he (yes, for the second time) and I (first time) attended.  So my overall conclusion for Eclipse is, in one word, anticlimactic.  There did not seem to be any main conflict in Eclipse, but then I thought the third book of the Twilight series was also the least interesting. Our favorites are true to character - Bella is torn, puzzled, and despairing, Jacob is ripped, sans shirt in many scenes, and the eternally tortured Edward is protective…. For those who may have read the novella The short second life of Bree Tanner which was released just prior to Eclipse, it definitely provided more background on the lives of the newborns ( I was sorry we did not get a glimpse of the repellent Fred!) which is a point the movie really did not expound upon. The newborns played only a small part and Bree made a very short appearance; I don’t even think hers was a speaking part. I enjoyed the flashbacks of the previous lives of Rosalie and Jasper and the sarcasm and quick retorts were a spicy touch. For those fans who have read the books and seen the previous films, Breaking Dawn (in two parts; the first to be released November 2011) will be much anticipated, and Eclipse just a bridge between the second and fourth films.