The Wrecking Crew: How Conservatives Rule (2008)

I just had the most disturbing experience at Goodreads, which I have linked to Facebook.

Every time I load the page to write my review, an ad attacking the Democratic candidate for Congress in my district pops up on the page. It opens if you "rollover" it and when you close it, it doesn't stay closed. Very disturbing. I can't even 'save' my review because it covers that area of the page.

I thought robo calls were annoying but this beats anything I have seen. Scary.

Sarah Paretsky Coming to Jackson!

Mystery writer Sara Paretsky will keynote the Jackson District Library's Word Wise 2011 on May 13 & 14. I'm marking that on my calendar NOW!

I've told this story before.

Many, many years ago, I first heard Sarah Paretsky talk at a session of the Michigan Library Association. My friends and I got there late and were forced to take a seat in the front row right in front of Ms. Paretsky. It was wonderful and I totally fell in love with her as much as I had learned to love her stories about V.I Warshawski!

Not too many months later I was at the American Library Association Conference in Chicago, Illinois and saw that Ms. Paretsky was speaking again. I got there early and this time found myself a seat in the front on purpose! I think she must have recognized several people in the audience because the first thing she said was something to the effect, "If you heard my talk in Michigan, this is going to be basically the same talk." Nobody left.

Haven't you always wanted to do this?

Play dominoes with your books!

Libraries without Librarians?

(Maybe the graphic above will no longer indicate no ssh-ing in the library. Maybe it will mean no librarians.)

The Wall Street Journal has published an article about libraries that are trying to solve their budget and funding problems by finding ways to provide service without staff. The world continues to change in ways we could not have predicted. Read about it HERE.

Deliberately uninformed, relentlessly so [a rant] from Seth Godin's Blog

"Many people in the United States purchase one or fewer books every year."

"Many of those people have seen every single episode of American Idol. There is clearly a correlation here."

And so begins Seth Godin's Blog entry. Click HERE to read the whole thing.

Not Particularly About Books

My friend Jennifer said, "Come to Chelsea, Michigan and have coffee with me." So I did. And then she took me to two stores and introduced me to several people.

The first was Jeremy Montange (and later owner Bill Harris) who run a new bookstore called JUST IMAGINE, filled with children's games and toys and books for all ages. They also have music CDs, guitar strings, reeds for musical instruments, and much more! Since the store only opened in May of this year, the selection is still limited but is planned to grow in response to community interests. That being said, there is plenty to keep one happily browsing.

Up the stairs towards the back of the store on the second floor is THE MIDDLE BEAD, a small business that specializes in making and selling glass beads. I have never been in a bead store but Jennifer insisted we climb just for the beauty of the displays. I found myself drawn to the incredible variety and artwork of Marc Rafferty's beads, finally selecting a long strand of freshwater pearls in the colors above.

It turned out in both instances that the proprietors were as much fun to talk to as looking at their treasures was. You can read more about these stores by clicking HERE. I highly recommend a trip to Chelsea to shop in a friendly and slower paced atmosphere. It makes searching for the perfect gift fun again. I look forward to my next visit with Jennifer!

The Media and Librarians

Every Secret Thing (2003)

Every Secret Thing by Laura Lippman

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Laura Lippman does something that not every author achieves. She gets just enough inside the minds of her characters to let us know that other people think differently than we do. Minette Walters and Ruth Rendell have done that for me as well. So what we are left with is maybe not evil intent but something that is even more insidious.

Although I automatically will pick up a title by Laura Lippman, the plot of this tale was fascinating. Two eleven year old girls have been incarcerated for kidnapping and killing a child. Seven years later, shortly after being released, a similar kidnapping occurs. Coincidence or connection?



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Translations and Packages in the Mail

Some books just cannot be obtained in a timely manner from your local public library. I'm pretty sure I read about this title in The New Yorker recently. I jotted down the author and title and did a search. When the only way it showed up was in the statewide database (and only three libraries had ordered it), I impatiently decided it was Amazon time. So now I can hold in my hand a hardcover copy of Villain: A Novel by Shuichi Yoshida.

According to the cover this is the English language debut of Yoshida, "one of Japan's most acclaimed and accomplished writers". Described as a "stunningly dark thriller" with a touch of noir, I am wondering if translator Philip Gabriel will do it justice.

I am anxiously awaiting turning the first page later today!

No Time for Goodbye (2007)

No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Once again a second reading of an author has not engaged me in the same way. Maybe it's because the plot line seems so similar. In Never Look Away a man's wife goes missing. In No Time for Goodbye a teen age girl's family goes missing. She goes to bed and wakes up to an empty house. It is twenty-five years later and Cynthia's husband recounts his wife's strange behavior as she begins to believe THEY are coming back for her.

This is 'snack reading' that keeps you up late, but I found myself skimming more to find out what was going to happen, much of which requires a suspension of belief, than reading a well written story. Still. Linwood Barclay writes a good scary thriller. His characters seem like real people and you wish them well. If you want to give this author a try, start with Never Look Away. Oh, and don't be surprised when the movie versions of these two titles hit the screen!


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The Angel's Game (2009)

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Like many of the other reviewers noted on goodreads, I started reading with great enthusiasm and became confused and uncertain towards the end. The Angel's Game is not the tale that The Shadow of the Wind was although Lucia Graves' translation has the same lyrical quality.

The Gothic feel and the description of Barcelona are enough to draw a reader in. Those who love books and find them valuable will find much to consider. Even though I was disappointed on some level, I won't hesitate to read another book by this author. He is a master of storytelling.

"This place is a mystery. A sanctuary. Every book, every volume you see, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and the soul of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it."


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And Now For Something Completely Different. . .

I need to go to this sideways coffee shop the next time I'm in NYC. D'Espresso is only one block from the New York Public Library. Disconcerted? You can check out more pictures and information HERE. Thanks again to Boing Boing for finding this fabulousness.

Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian (2010)

Ever wonder what prisoners read while they are locked up? I was amazed when I worked in the prison as a librarian that inmates were shown "The Texas Chain Saw Murders" for their movie night. But here is an article that confirms that twenty years later the trend is still the same - true crime is number one. Read about it HERE.

So I was interested in a new title called Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian, excerpted in this week‘s NYT Magazine. While I never was robbed by someone I knew, I did spot one of the inmates in my place of employment after he was let out and that was a shock. And I developed pneumonia from the stress of working inside the largest walled prison in the world even though I only lasted for eleven months. Author Avi Steinberg made it to two years.

Portable Michigan Lighthouse Keeper Libraries

I found this absolutely fascinating. "These libraries were contained in a portable wooden case, each with a printed listing of the contents posted inside the door." Read more HERE.

USLHE Traveling Library (via Neatorama via Boing Boing)

Weird Reference Questions

Actual reference queries reported by American and Canadian library reference desk workers of various levels.  (This has been circulating around the Internet for a while but I thought it might be worth a giggle, laugh, smile and maybe even a groan.)

"Do you have books here?"

"Do you have a list of all the books written in the English language?"

"Do you have a list of all the books I've ever read?"

"I'm looking for Robert James Waller's book, 'Waltzing through Grand Rapids'." (Actual title wanted: "Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend.")

"Do you have that book by Rushdie: 'Satanic Nurses'?" (Actual title: "Satanic Verses")

"Where is the reference desk?" This was asked of a person sitting at a desk who had, hanging above her head, a sign saying "REFERENCE DESK"!

"I was here about three weeks ago looking at a cookbook that cost $39.95. Do you know which one it is?"

"Which outlets in the library are appropriate for my hairdryer?"

"Can you tell me why so many famous Civil War battles were fought on National Park sites?"

"Do you have any books with photographs of dinosaurs?"

"I need a color photograph of George Washington [Christopher Columbus, King Arthur, Moses, Socrates, etc.]"

"I need a photocopy of Booker T. Washington's birth certificate."

"I need to find out Ibid's first name for my bibliography."

"Why don't you have any books by Ibid? He's written a lot of important stuff."

"I'm looking for information on carpal tunnel syndrome. I think I'm having trouble with it in my neck."

"Is the basement upstairs?" (Asked at First Floor Reference Desk)

"I am looking for a list of laws that I can break that would send me back to jail for a couple of months."