Austin Public Library Blog

Martha

2011-12-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

Are you like me? Does your heart melt looking at all those warmly lit, slightly overexposed (so they glow) photos of holiday celebrations in the Martha Stewart books, and do you hate her for reminding you that you never enjoyed a holiday so perfectly arranged and never will? The woman did time for obstructing justice! Why do I long to spend Christmas with her??

Martha’s daughter didn’t profit (emotionally, anyway) from her mother’s homemaking (take a look at Alexis Stewart’s recent book, Whateverland; APL doesn't have it), so it should be obvious that it’s healthy to keep Martha at a distance—she directing teams of crafters in her snow-kissed Connecticut manse; I with my glue gun in Texas—yet I want just once to find myself sitting on a spindly Early American chair in a meticulously restored, candle-lit, antebellum New England home, Martha bending to offer me a perfectly made eggnog and a work-of-art sugar cookie painted flawlessly with royal icing.

I can’t explain it. I bet you can’t either.

There’s still time to create Martha’s fantasyland, if you can:

Martha Stewart’s Cookies
Martha Stewart’s New Pies and Tarts
Martha’s Entertaining
Martha’s Holiday Celebrations (DVD)
Martha’s Favorite Cookies (DVD)
Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
Martha’s Homemade Holidays (DVD)

Authors' names:

The Elephant in the Room

2011-12-16T13:34:00.002-06:00

As a Midwesterner and a graduate of an Iowa College, I think about Iowa more than the average Texas resident. Some of my favorite facts about Iowa:

It is the home of Marion Morrison (later known as John Wayne)
Iowa is the origin of the Red Delicious apple (you can read more about this factoid in Michael Pollan’s book Botany of Desire)
The Des Moines Register sponsors an annual bike ride across the state (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa a.k.a. RAGBRAI)
It is hilly and beautiful (not technically a fact)
Iowa is also important (to me alone) because it is the first state in which I cast my vote for President of the United States of America.

This last fact, which continues to bring me a warm fuzzy feeling, is also relevant because we are now a mere 18 days from an important event. The Iowa Caucus, partly because it is the first presidential caucus of the year, has taken on a huge amount of significance over the years. Stephen Bloom recently wrote an article for The Atlantic in which he claims, “whoever wins the Iowa Caucuses in January will very likely have a 50 percent chance of being elected president 11 months later.” Probably explains why the GOP candidates came out with their figurative guns blazing during last night’s debate in Sioux City.

Maybe, like many of us, you’re confused about why and how Iowa has become so important in elections. Guess what! Your local library can help you out. In addition to providing access to many newspapers in print and through our databases, we also have quite a few books on this topic precisely!

A few suggestions:
Primary politics : how presidential candidates have shaped the modern nominating system
by Kamarck, Elaine Ciulla.

Grassroots rules : how the Iowa Caucus helps elect American presidents
by Hull, Christopher C.

We will be heard : women's struggles for political power in the United States
by Freeman, Jo

Postville : a clash of cultures in heartland America
by Bloom, Stephen G. (Also the author of the Atlantic article reference above)

An Electronic Resource:
Iowa precinct caucuses [electronic resource] : the making of a media event 2nd ed.
by Winebrenner, Hugh, 1937-

Jung's Red Book

2011-12-14T08:00:00.003-06:00

The new movie, A Dangerous Method, examines the intense relationship between Carl Jung and Sigmund Freud who began as friends, but then over time fought bitterly over the fundamentals of psychology, psychiatry and role of the psychotherapist. Freud generally viewed the unconscious mind as a warehouse for repressed desires, and Jung viewed the psyche as an inherently more spiritual and fluid place. His central tenets — the existence of a collective unconscious and the power of archetypes — have seeped into New Age thinking while remaining more at the fringes of mainstream psychology. When Carl Jung embarked on an extended self-exploration , where he said he "switched off consciousness", the result was a large, illuminated volume called the The Red Book. The book tells the story of Jung trying to face down his own demons, as he loses his soul and then finds it again. In Jung's view a successful life was all about balance. If our lives erred too much in one direction, our unconscious would compensate for the inequality. The book was never published during Jung's lifetime, though a few friends and disciples were allowed to examine it in a Swiss bank vault. Apparently Jung felt it was too personal for publication and he did use some of the text in other published works. In 2009 Jung's heirs decided to publish a complete facsimile and translation and we have three copies at the library. It's a huge book, resembling a medieval manuscript, with Jung's handwritten text and drawings.

If you just need a beginner's introduction to Jung, check out The Essential Jung, introduced and compiled by Anthony Storr.

Opposed to movie remakes!

2011-12-12T15:05:00.001-06:00

I love foreign films. To me it's wonderful to watch movies in their original language, and I don’t mind subtitles. Over the years, I’ve seen how there are so many new versions of foreign movies that were excellent but somebody thought that we needed to remake them. Ughhh! The only good reason for a remake I see is that you won’t have to deal with subtitles, which are a downer for some, but other than that I still wonder why they need to spend money on something already well done.

When writing this blog I forgot that there were also remakes of movies that are amazing classics in English. Same feeling here: don’t touch those classics!! Are directors wondering: how can I make an awesome movie better? Have you ever seen a remake that is better than the original? I will be waiting for the remake of “Lord of the Rings.” I know this is going to happen!

Something I learned about myself when writing this blog: I refused to watch remakes of foreign films (because of that I’ve been called a movieist!). But, I am a bit more relaxed when it comes to watching remakes of American films. How about you?

Want some ideas of original titles and remakes? Here you go:

Remakes of foreign films:

· The cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Original silent film released in 1920)

· The cabinet of Dr. Caligari (remake released in 2005)

· Infernal Affairs (original in Chinese)

· The Departed (by Martin Scorsese )

· Let the right one in (original film in Swedish)

· Let me in (remake by Cloë Moretz)

· Dîner de Cons (original film in French)

· Dinner for schmucks (remake by Jay Roach)

· Three men and a cradle (original in French)

· 3 men and a baby (Coming soon to APL)

· Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (original in Swedish)

· Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (remake on the movie theatre soon)

Remakes of movies originally in English:

· Straw Dogs (original movie from 1971)

· Straw Dogs (remake coming soon to APL)

· The women: it’s all about men! (Original film from 1939)

· The women (Remake directed by Diane English coming soon)

· The Rear Window (original movie from 1954)

· Disturbia (remake directed by Joe Medjuck)

· Nightmare on Elm Street (original movie from 1984)

· Nightmare on Elm Street (remake by Samuel Bayer)

· Last man on earth (original movie from 1959)

· Omega Man (Remake by Boris Sagal)

· I am Legend (Remake by Francis Lawrence)

· Clash of the Titans (original movie from 1981)

· Clash of the Titans (remake by Louis Leterrier)

Driving through the fog...

2011-12-09T12:54:00.002-06:00

When I drove into work this morning I could not help but think of the movie The Mist. Have you seen it? It's about a thick fog that rolls into town and a bloodbath ensues. It's about 10:30 and I can still see the fog outside. I usually can see the river from our building, but not right now. This is creepy.

And of course, all this creepiness is making me think of creepy movies and books. You know the kind. Not the ones with zombies and Frankensteins, but the ones with a silent monster...your imagination.

A sampling of some creepiness:
Alfred Hitchcock - television series

Amityville Horror - book & movie

Blair Witch Project

Jacob's Ladder

Misery - book & movie

The Night Strangers

The Others

Paranormal Activity - 1 & 2

The Shining - book & movie

Take a load off this weekend and relax with an intellectually stimulating thriller. Then get back to decorating the tree with the kids. Oooh, or perhaps do both at the same time...start a new holiday tradition.

George Plimpton. Athlete.

2011-12-07T16:56:00.004-06:00

George Plimpton fit much living into his life. The celebrated bon-vivant melded many professional and social lives, seemingly involved in everything and always conveying an air of cool nonchalance. He never seemed to be trying.

In 1953 he joined The Paris Review as its first editor and remained in that position until his passing in 2003. He fashioned the journal’s offices as the de facto literary salon of America, hosting memorable parties in between constructing some of the best literary journal issues of the twentieth century. He was a fireworks aficionado and held the ceremonial title of Fireworks Commissioner of New York City. He was a Harvard buddy and close friend of Robert Kennedy and wrestled Sirhan Sirhan to the ground after Robert Kennedy’s assassination. He made numerous film cameos, including a turn as an urbane psychologist in Good Will Hunting.

Outside of literary circles, George Plimpton was most known for his participatory journalistic exploits. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he challenged numerous professional athletes and wrote about his humblings.

Out of My League is his account of pitching a pre-inning in the 1960 All Star game. He faced the National League lineup and intended to face the American League lineup as well but was replaced due to fatigue.

Paper Lion is probably Plimpton’s most famous book. He attended the Detroit Lions 1963 preseason training as a backup quarterback.

The Bogey Man is Plimpton’s tale of attempting to qualify for the PGA tour in the era of Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

In Open Net Plimption recounts his time as a goalie with the Boston Bruins. He played briefly in a preseason game.

Among other exploits he fought three rounds with light heavyweight champion Archie Moore and lost a tennis match to Pancho Gonzales. Plimpton was most dismayed by his loss to Gonzales, since he considered himself an accomplished tennis player.

And he was friends with Truman Capote.

Nelson Aldrich wrote a great book about Plimpton: George, Being George

The Swerve

2011-12-05T09:52:00.001-06:00

I'm reading one of those books that changes your life. It's called The Swerve, and it's the story of the re-discovery of Lucretius' On the Nature of Things (a book that changed all our lives). The Swerve is about a secretary to the Pope, who, when he finds himself suddenly unemployed when his corrupt boss is sent to jail, goes on the hunt for lost works of ancient philosophers, and in 1417 finds a copy of On the Nature of Things in a remote German monestary. Within a few years hand-made copies (the only kind there were at the time) are circulating in Europe, inspiring the thoughtful and riling the church.

On the Nature of Things describes Epicurean philosophy, which posits that the universe is made of atoms (yep--first century BCE) that join at random to create matter; that there is no overarching intelligence and no afterlife, so don't fear death, but enjoy what you have while you can. (Lest you find Epicureanism a rationale for selfishness, know that Epicures believed it wasn't possible to enjoy an immoderate life without relationships and charity).

Christianity, especially early Christians' desire to emulate the suffering of Christ, overwhelmed hedonistic Epicureanism--what could be more opposite?--and Lucretius' book disappeared for a thousand years, until it was discovered in that German monastery. (Ironic that monasteries were the first places scholars looked for subversive works. Monks took librarianship seriously.) When On the Nature of Things reappeared in the 1400s, riling the church meant risking being burned at the stake. Even so, people read it, talked about it, and the renaissance followed.

There's a little of the history of book making and of libraries in The Swerve, there's a little of the history of philosophy and art, and as enjoyable as I find that amalgam under any circumstances, it is made even better by the book's beautifully legible font, and when a book is easy to read, the ideas in it are more likely to endure, and The Swerve's author, Stephen Greenblatt, will explain that to you, too.

Authors' names:

It was a Dark and Stormy Night

2011-12-02T09:21:00.003-06:00

Well, it’s morning and it’s not exactly stormy but it is super gloomy which is perhaps why I woke up thinking about Gothic novels.

Today I would like to encourage you to add a Gothic novel or two to your reading list. Now, I understand you may be wary of diving into a genre that took off in the late 18th Century, but let me remind you that the 1790s were a cRaZy time (lots of French Revolution-related beheadings). Today, you may have noticed an intense fascination in monsters. Zombies are everywhere, even inserted in Jane Austen novels. The Twilight Series, featuring both a werewolf and a vampire is hugely successful. The Sookie Stackhouse series has become a hit television program. But I say none of these hold a candle (candles are kind of ominous) to some of the classic Gothic novels.

Check this out. Matthew Lewis’ The Monk was published in 1796 and caused quite a stir. So much so that Lewis and his publisher were indicted and the novel was essentially banned. No, there are no vampires. But you know what the novel does have? Evil Monks, wicked nuns, cross-dressers, hidden identities, black magic, magic mirrors, romance, duels, secret tombs in secret tunnels, seduction, lasciviousness, murder, ghost stories, the Inquisition, and the Devil himself! This is neither irony or hyperbole on my part. This novel is dark, creepy, and gripping. It has the added benefit of sometimes being so over the top that it is comical which can be a nice break. And here’s a bonus: it’s at the library!

The Monk by Matthew Lewis
FIC LEW

Some other titles that are full of their own dark twists and turns:

Three Gothic Novels (Wieland, or The Transformation, Arthur Mervyn or, Memoris of the Year 1793, and Edgar Huntly, or Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker) by Charles Brockeden Brown
The Mysteries of Udolpho by Ann Radcliffe
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's Frankenstein, or, The modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley

As you’re reading, keep in mind that the library also has a great set of Literary Databases that can provide extra context and intrigue!

Humor for the Holidays

2011-11-30T16:00:00.010-06:00

Four new books of humor can lift your spirits during the holiday season:

The 50 Funniest American Writers: an Anthology of Humor from Mark Twain to the Onion by Andy Borowtiz is a hand-picked collection of the best funny writing in America: David Sedaris, John Hughes, Nora Ephron, George Carlin and dozens of others guaranteed to make you laugh out loud. You can find Andy's humor on his blog.

I Found This Funny: My Favorite Pieces of Humor, and, Some That May Not be Funny at All by Judd Apatow

Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me (and other concerns) by Mindy Kaling

Thank You Notes
by Jimmy Fallon

El Eternauta

2011-11-27T13:44:00.020-06:00

There once existed a comic strip that sought to speak truth to power in Argentina during a time in which the country was rapidly devolving into dictatorship. The story uses elements of science fiction as metaphors for the paranoia, fear, destruction, and brutality perpetrated by the military junta that came to displace a more democratic form of government. As the years wore on, the author of El Eternauta became less and less subtle in his critiques of the authoritarian rule that plagued his country. So much so that he was eventually forced into hiding only to be captured and executed as the price for his opposition.

Below are some titles available in the library's collection chronicling perhaps Argentina's darkest historical period that came to be know as the Dirty War.

The Disappeared
Departing at Dawn: A Novel of Argentina's Dirty War
Cautiva

You can also request copies of El Eternauta via Interlibrary Loan if you are curious.

Holiday Stress

2011-11-25T23:30:00.000-06:00

from healthyrevelations.com

So, are you just as stressed out as I am about the holidays? I have come to dislike the November-December holiday blitz. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy very much eating turkey on Thanksgiving and I enjoy very much opening presents on Christmas day, but I do not like the hustle and bustle of getting everything ready for those few hours of enjoyment on those two days. I wish that we can have Christmas after Thanksgiving. Have you noticed that almost every store or home had their Christmas decorations up at least a week before Thanksgiving. What is that about? I don't understand that logic. I can understand wanting to spread the holiday out as long as possible, but can we at least get the current holiday over with before we get to the next one?

Okay, enough of my ranting. I have a plan to de-stress. I like to craft. It makes me happy, and this is the perfect time of year to do so. I like to make presents for my family and friends. This year I am making felt toys for the little ones. I bought some fabulous fabric in New York City this fall and am making some scarves for the ladies in my life. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to make for the men, have any ideas? If I can't think of anything, I'll go local and shop for something perfect. Maybe, I'll tuck in a massage or pedicure for myself among all that crafting. How's that for de-stressing? What do you do to relax this time of year?

Here's a very short sampling of some great craft books available at the library, search "handicrafts", "crafts", "holiday craft", and any other good combination of keywords in our catalog to come up with more.

Sewing in a Straight Line by Brett Bara

Martha Stewart's Handmade Holiday Crafts by the fabulous Martha Stewart
Complete Book of Home Crafts: Projects for Adventurous Beginners by Carine Tracanelli
Teeny-Tiny Mochimochi by Anna Hrachovec
Rediscovered Treasures by Ellen Dyrop

Want to do a little shopping, but want to avoid the big boxes? Check our directory databases, AtoZ and ReferenceUSA. Do a custom business search in either one, then do the following:

select Keyword... under Business Type,
select City under Geography,
select Number of Employees (or Employee Size) under Business Size
type "knitting" (or whatever else!) in the lookup box under Keyword
choose Austin under Texas in the city section
choose 1-4, 5-9, and 10-19 (the fewer the number, the smaller the business)
then click update count and view results (or search)

Voila! Chances are the list you get will be the smaller, locally owned businesses in town as opposed to those big box stores you're trying to avoid. Pretty cool, huh? Now, you can show all your friends what you've learned and perhaps earn a nice thank you/holiday gift in return.

Relax and enjoy the season.

Clouds.

2011-11-23T16:19:00.006-06:00

In September I wrote about the virtues of doing nothing. I am still enamored with doing nothing (or striving to do nothing), but sometimes something has to be done: like admiring clouds. Cloud-watching is the perfect non-activity and provides ample layers of engagement. You can wrestle with determining when a cloud crosses classification from an altocumulus to a cirrocumulus. You can catalogue the animals you see in the clouds. Or you can simply admire. Try it. Take a moment to look up. The world will soften. You will lighten.

Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of The Cloud Appreciation Society and devout cloud enthusiast, claims clouds can help us regain our youthful exuberance and wonder. He points out that children, full of wonder and exuberance, are constantly cloud-watching as the world is built for adults thus children are always looking up. As we grow our sightline evens out and often in adulthood our eyes tend to focus on the ground. So, take a look at these books and then look up.

The Cloudspotter’s Guide: the Science, History and Culture of Clouds (Gavin Pretor-Pinney)

The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies

Peterson First Guide to Clouds and Weather

In Pursuit of Clouds: Images and Metaphors

The Book of Clouds

If your interest in clouds grows beyond admiration, the nitty gritty can be found in numerous articles accessible through our databases. Academic Search Complete provides great articles for the cloud scholar. Apparently the water vapor in an average-sized cumulus cloud weighs the amount of eighty elephants. Thunder makes sense to me now.

Thanksgivingasaurus

2011-11-21T10:05:00.007-06:00

You know that birds are the descendants of dinosaurs, right? That paleontologists have found fossils of dinosaurs with feathers, or protofeathers? A few scientists argue that birds and dinosaurs diverged early and developed separately, and so birds are not dino descendants, but that's not the consensus, and I'm glad of that. I prefer to think that I eat dinosaur a couple of times a week.

Birdology
Glorified Dinosaurs
Feathered Dragons

So how are you going to cook your Thanksgiving dinosaur?

Thanksgiving 101
Home for the Holidays Cookbook
A Southern Thanksgiving

Or not:

Vegetarian Times Complete Thanksgiving Cookbook

Authors' names:

Where did you learn to drive? I took a correspondence course.

2011-11-18T16:20:00.002-06:00

I’ve had Muppets on the brain recently. This recent brain activity is not due solely to the upcoming Muppet movie starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams (but really starring Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy), but also because of a recent reference question I received. In short, I was tasked with finding some materials that would entertain a seven-year old and two adults simultaneously. I can think of anyone that does this better than Jim Henson’s Muppets. As a kid, you see bright, silly characters bouncing around doing dances and it’s great. As an adult, you can appreciate lines like this:

Bernie: You, you with the banjo, can you help me? I seem to have lost my sense of direction!
Kermit: Have you tried Hare Krishna?

Awesome! But most likely a bit over your tot's head. Plus, Dom DeLuise is Bernie and it just doesn’t get much better than that.

The Muppets comes to theaters starting November 23rd which feels like a long time to wait. You could take the Fozzie Bear approach and try hibernating until then OR you could come down to your local library and experience some Muppet awesomeness.

A sampling of what we have to offer:

Movies:

Music:

A Christmas Together (featuring John Denver)

Some surprises:

They do it all!

For fun:
Gizmodo’s interview in which the cast of the new movie discusses the importance of the puppets all being real instead of computer generated!

eBooks are here!

2011-11-16T11:00:00.001-06:00

If you haven't already noticed, there's a big banner on our website announcing the new downloadables. These "downloadables" are our eBook and eAudiobook collection. We signed a contract with Overdrive and now have several thousand items in the e-collection. Do you have a Kindle, iPad, Nook, or Sony eReader? You're in luck, you can download to all these devices and many more! To figure compatibility, look here and see what format you should download.

Need help in exploring this ebook adventure? Go to the help page first, if nothing there works, give us a call and we'll do our best to walk you through whatever you need. I find that reading through the FAQs is very helpful, myself.

Looking for books that are available? (Don't you hate it when you find a title only to discover that it's checked out?) Tick the "only available copies" in the quick search box on the downloadables homepage, near the top left corner.

Want to read public domain or Disney books? These do not count toward your three book limit. Read something while you wait for that hot, new bestseller to come back in. By the way, you can put that bestseller on hold; you have a limit of five.

eBooks and eAudiobooks can be checked out for seven or fourteen days. At the end of the checkout period the item will automatically be returned. You can return eBooks early, but not eAudiobooks. If you need instructions for returning items early, read this before you call us.

Don't see what you're looking for? Suggest a title be purchased using our "suggest a purchase" form. Chances are very high that we'll buy it.

Hope you enjoy our new service, it'll only get better.

Peeking into Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz’s world

2011-11-14T11:43:00.003-06:00

Every once in a while, you are presented with a gift so big that it takes a while for your mind to compute its magnitude. You experience so many feelings at once that your spirit floats up to limbo, numb for a while. Well, that was me last week, and I am still day dreaming about what happened. The Benson Latin American Collection invited a small crowd (including yours truly) to a conversation about Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, known also as Mexico’s Tenth Muse. In the invitation they said that they were showing a selection of her rare books and manuscripts. I was so excited!

Before I continue with my story, let me tell you about Sor Juana. She was born in Mexico in 1648. From an early age she displayed signs of an amazing intelligence. She learned to read at age three and started writing at age eight. She taught herself Latin, and Nahuatl, and read voraciously everything she could get her hands on. The Marquis of Mancera, viceroy in Mexico at that time, took her under his wing. Wanting to know how much the young Juana knew, she was fifteen at that time, the Marquis asked 40 scholars to test her orally on various topics ranging from theology to science. To their surprise, she responded correctly to all the questions and her reputation grew in the vice-royal court.

But let’s remember, we are talking about a woman in the seventeenth century with many things against her: she was illegitimate, her family wasn’t rich, she was very pretty (yes, this could be bad in those days) and finally, she was female. Because the only other option left to her was to get married and stop studying, Juana joined the convent of the Discalced Carmelite as a nun. Later she transferred to the Convent of the Order of St. Jerome. She wrote poems, essays, plays and papers, both secular and religious, which were mostly published in Spain. But Sor Juana's writings were dangerous. She criticized the hypocrisy of society, its double values and sexism. Many admired her, but also many hated her, and in 1694 she was forced to give up her desire for learning in a document which she signed in her own blood: I, the Worst of All.

And last week, there I was, in a small room in the Benson Latin American Collection, standing in front of that very same document, the one she signed with her blood more than three hundred years ago. I could only imagine what was going through her mind and soul while signing that document. A document that curators only let you peak at for a couple of minutes every 50 years or so, and a manuscript that made me feel grateful for my freedom and the opportunity I have had to learn what I want, whenever I want. What an inspiration Sor Juana is still for us today! I now have a good story for my grandkids to tell.

At Austin Public Library you can find:

I, the worst of all (DVD)
The divine Narcissus poems by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Treasury of Mexican love poems, quotations & proverbs : in Spanish and English
A reader in Latina feminist theology: religion and justice

Fascination with Steve Jobs

2011-11-11T21:55:00.010-06:00

I have watched all the interviews, read all the articles, and listened to most of the NPR reports on Steve Jobs. Why I am I so fascinated by him? Partly, it's trying to figure out how he became such a genius, a master at putting together ideas, art and technology. It's also seeing in him the usual human foibles, one example is the one I am experiencing, fascination with celebrities. I read that Jobs had a relationship with Joan Baez because she had been romantically involved with Bob Dylan, and Steve was a huge fan of Dylan's. His quest for perfection contributed to his success, but that is another human trait that can often wreak havoc.

But I am not yet ready to read the biography. There is something unsettling about reading intimate details of this immensely private man so soon after his death, especially about his last few months of illness. Friends who have read the book say it does not disappoint. It presents a man who has so many contradictions that your jaw drops, his charm and aggression, his eating disorders, his lack of hygiene, his abandonment of his first child just as he was placed for adoption. The library has lots of copies, but you will need to place a hold. Our new downloadable service doesn't have it yet, but you can download I, Steve, a 160-page collection of quotations by him.

Resources for Writers

2011-11-09T13:37:00.007-06:00

La Princesse de Cleves presented a new information guide last month: Resources for Visual Artists. The visual artists guide provides all kinds of helpful information for painters, sculptors, and photographers. I'd like to introduce a companion guide: Resources for Writers. This guide provides resources to develop your writing craft, information to aid in connecting with the publishing industry, and opportunities to secure funding for your writing. There is also information about local writing groups as well as vital writers' advocacy organizations. The physical and digital resources featured within the guide are all free to check out or access digitally with your Austin Public Library card.

While writing has the floor, I'd like to suggest three great books about writing.

Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel

James Wood's How Fiction Works

Annie Dillard's The Writing Life

Civil Disobedience

2011-11-07T10:38:00.000-06:00

Occupy Wall Street is facing winter, and the weather in the northeast has been as extreme in its way as ours has been in Texas. It's a good bet winter will be deep at Zuccotti Park--it's already been early. Will the protesters persevere? Do they need to? Have they already changed the conversation? Because of them, are we talking about meeting the needs of the undercapitalized in a capitalist country?

Twenty years from now, will historians write about OWS in the same vein as the great civil uprisings of the 20th century--Vietnam war protests, civil rights marches, women's- and gays'-rights demonstrations? Remind yourself how powerful the OWS method has been:

Challenging Authority: How Ordinary People Change America
Why Not Every Man?: African Americans and Civil Disobedience
Confronting the War Machine
Civil Disobedience in Focus
The Power of Nonviolence
Walden and Civil Disobedience

Keep up with Occupy Austin

And here are puzzles! Author's names:

Goodbyes

2011-11-03T13:43:00.011-05:00

Well, this is my last post for the Austin Public Library's blog. After almost 4 years as a librarian here at Austin Public Library, I am moving to Corvallis, Oregon to accept a librarian position I was recently offered. This is a huge move for me. Virtually all of my family lives in Texas and many of them are right here in Austin and have been for years. We moved to Austin when I was 10 years old and I've watched it grow from a small, quiet city to a big, bustling urban center (not without a bit of bitterness, though - I liked my small city). I grew up thinking Willie Nelson was the best country singer on the planet and didn't realize until I moved to North Carolina briefly for graduate school that not everyone felt that way. I'm going to pack up a moving van in about 2 weeks and drive 2200 miles to a new home in a strange new land. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't crazy nervous about how it will all work out, but I'm also giddy with the excitement. A new adventure and a new life are ahead!

I've loved writing for the blog and being a part of Austin Public Library. My colleagues, in particular, will be dearly missed. I may be biased, but I think Austin Public has some of the best reference librarians in the country and, if you don't believe me, you should utilize our Ask a Librarian service and find out.

I leave you all with a list of movies and TV shows that have some of my favorite goodbye scenes. Do you have a favorite I haven't listed here? (Please note that the YouTube clips provided may contain spoilers!)

Almost Famous
There's more than one good goodbye scene in this movie and here's a link to one of them.

Battlestar Galactica
Truth be told, I did not find the ending of this show to be all that satisfying. Overall, though, this television series is awesome. (YouTube clip)

Casablanca
"We'll always have Paris." or "Here's looking at you, kid." (YouTube clip)

Gone With the Wind
"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn." (YouTube clip)

Good Will Hunting
"Sorry, I had to go see about a girl." (YouTube clip)

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
"So long and thanks for all the fish!" (YouTube clip)

Lost in Translation
(YouTube clip)

The Muppets Take Manhattan
(YouTube clip)

The Office, Season 7
The episode "Goodbye, Michael" really choked me up. Come back, Steve Carell!

Rushmore
This one doesn't really have a goodbye scene, but I just love the way the last scene wraps up the movie and the song is just perfect. Please note that some of the material is explicit. (YouTube clip)

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
"Live long and prosper"

V For Vendetta
"He was Edmond Dantés... and he was my father. And my mother... my brother... my friend. He was you... and me. He was all of us." (YouTube clip)

Who Am I?

2011-11-02T12:20:00.019-05:00

Austin must be full of philosophers. Most of the 2011 philosophy books at APL are checked out. One just added to the Best 2011 Nonfiction list is Who Am I? And If So, How Many? A Philosophical Journey by Richard David Precht. The book is an entertaining tour of the biggest philosophical questions and their relevance to our daily life. The author draws on neuroscience, psychology, and history to elucidate the questions at the heart of human existence, such as, what is truth? does life have meaning? why should I be good? Another title on the entertaining side is Philosophy on Tap which examines 48 of the greatest philosophical conundrums and pairs each with an exceptional beer. If God exists, why are there bad beers?

All Things Shining: Reading the Western Classics to Find Meaning in a Secular Age
Driving with Plato
The Four Purposes of Life
How Plato and Pythagoras Can Save Your Life: The Ancient Greek Prescription for Health and Happiness
I Watch, Therefore I Am: from Socrates to Sartre, the Great Mysteries of Life as Explained through Howdy Doody, Marcia Brady, Homer Simpson, Don Draper, and Other TV Icons
The Magic of Reality: How We Know What's Really True
The Philosophy Book
Philosophy on Tap: Pint-Sized Puzzles for the Pub Philosopher
The Soul of the Greeks: An Inquiry
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

We also have created a Philosophy Information Guide to answer more of you philosophical musings.

Health Care - OMG!!!

2011-10-31T12:52:00.039-05:00

Until recently, my thoughts regarding Health Care in the United States were relatively abstract. I knew the cost of receiving medical care was high because I kept being told it was so. I know the cost of insurance is high because I see the monthly premiums charged by health insurance companies. Not until I became intimately involved with the healthcare system in this country did I become truly alarmed.

A short time ago my daughter fractured her elbow. She was simply running along and fell awkwardly on her arm. It was as simple and undramatic as that. However, the redundancy and costs associated with such a relatively minor injury were shocking. I went to an emergency care clinic hoping to avoid the exhorbitant cost of a trip to a hospital's Emergency Room. A pediatrician and nurse examined my daughter's arm, an x-ray technician took five or six images of her elbow, and a pediatric radiologist examined the images. All of these costly professionals agreed that I should take her to a hospital's Emergency Room to essentially start the process over again, which I dutifully did, only this time in a more costly facility involving yet more costly medical professionals.

Now, my daughter's arm is healed. The cast she wore is a charming momento in my closet. I am grateful. However, the total cost associated with this incident has really woken me up to the profound dangers of leaving such a societally crucial service open to market forces. I recently heard a story where a sales associate working at a big box retailer and making minimum wage, was facing a $5000 deductible. This means that she will be personally responsible to pay for the first $5000 of medical care she receives before her insurance company will even begin to consider paying for the remainder. The speed with which one can rack up a $5000 medical bill is dizzying. Suffice it to say, I am giving serious thought to my daughter not participating in organized sports of any kind and will double my efforts to remain healthy just to keep away from the untenable morass and quagmire we currently have in place.

Books:
You Can't Afford to Get Sick: Your Guide to Optimum Health and Health Care
Sick and Tired: How America's Health Care System Fails its Patients
Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans
Fresh Medicine: How to Fix Reform and Build a Sustainable Health Care System
Health Care Reform and American Politics: What Everyone Needs to Know
Flatlined: Resusitating American Medicine

Film:
Sicko

Who's Afraid of Zombies?

2011-10-28T09:29:00.020-05:00

The word "zombie" never appears in Colson Whitehead's post-apocalyptic story of a world decimated by a plague that turns humans into flesh-eaters. But the staggering, ravenous creatures that haunt the novel are unmistakably zombies, and Zone One (coming soon to APL) is an unmistakable contribution to an increasingly popular horror sub genre. When I search for zombies as a subject in the catalog, I get 276 titles.

Unlike vampires, werewolves, demons, witches, goblins and shapes-shifters, zombies can't be endowed with rich, complex personalities. But they can be used to point out the flaws, foibles and quirks in our society as in the TV show, The Walking Dead. You may find a certain monotony built into the genre: the flesh eaters advance, are repelled, advance again and are repelled again. Many zombie novels often read like plague narratives. You have to wonder whether our fascination with these hungry hordes has something to do with a general anxiety about the earth's dwindling resources: a sense that there are too many people out there, with too many urgent needs. Or perhaps they are tapping into our fear of weird, out of control viruses. Whatever it is, don't let the books make you as paranoid as the characters in the books.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

Recommended Zombie Novels

Autumn by David Moody
Day by Day Armageddon by J L Bourne
Flesh Eaters by Joe McKinney
Flip This Zombie by Jesse Peterson
The Living Dead 2 by John Adams
Monster Island by David Wellington
The New Dead: A Zombie Anthology by Christopher Golden
The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell
Walking Dead: the Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman
World War Z by Max Brooks
Zombie, Ohio, a Tale of the Undead by Scott Kennemore

The World Series

2011-10-26T09:00:00.000-05:00

I went to game five of the World Series Monday night. Attending the World Series fulfilled a lifelong dream. Seeing my team play in the Fall Classic made it even better. Growing up in Dallas, we called the Rangers the Strangers; their perennial mediocrity ensured they did not make the playoffs. Throughout most of the Rangers' history a day at the ballpark was just that: a day at the ballpark, many fans attending to see the parade of big stars on other teams. The past two seasons have been different with two trips to the World Series.

The best sports writing is about baseball. I’m not sure why. Perhaps the cadence of the game lends itself to a thoughtfulness absent from other sports. Or, perhaps one man’s thoughtfulness is another man’s boredom. There certainly is plenty of down time in baseball, providing the sportswriter time to begin constructing stories. I don’t write at baseball games, but I tend to carry a book along. Not much beats an afternoon game with some reading snuck into the slow, steady cadence of the game.

As for the World Series, I did not take a book. I relished every pitch, swing, hit, pop fly, double play, cheer, high-five, laugh, and smile.

Below are some excellent books about the World Series.

Glory in the Fall: the Greatest Moments in World Series History

The First Fall Classic: the Red Sox, the Giants, and the Cast of Players, Pugs, and Politicos Who Reinvented the World Series in 1912

Game Six: Cincinnati, Boston, and the 1975 World Series: the Triumph of America's Pastime

The Gashouse Gang

When Chicago Ruled Baseball: the Cubs-White Sox World Series of 1906

Praying for Gil Hodges: a Memoir of the 1955 World Series and One Family's Love of the Brooklyn Dodgers

100 Years of the World Series 1903-2003

The Traveling Librarian Cruises

2011-10-24T08:00:00.004-05:00

My husband and I went on a cruise out of Galveston a few weeks ago. I'm not sure I liked it. The ship was very Las Vegas, only tackier, if that's possible, the food was just so-so, and everywhere we turned we were exhorted to buy something. The cabin was nice (stay out of the mini-bar); friends advised us to spring for a balcony and they were right.

I sought out the ship's library intending to blog about it, but there isn't much to say. It's a small room where passengers meet to play board games and start tours. The room's most notable quality is its fabulous swirling crown moulding and the three or four small bookcases that match it. People are on vacation, after all, so I guess it shouldn't have surprised me that all the books are "beach reads"; but really surprising is that the bookcases are locked! Things for sale: bad paintings, cheap watches, and semi-precious jewelry, lie about the ship unattended, but you can't lay your hands on a free paperback without a key! Good thing I'd brought plenty of APL books with me.

To find your next book at APL, peruse the lists on APL Recommends.

Back by popular demand, REBUSES (authors' names)!

Y: The Last Man is So Awesome

2011-10-21T11:12:00.008-05:00

I read a lot of graphic novels, but I still haven't come across a series that sucked me in as fully and completely as Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan (well, maybe Locke & Key by Joe Hill). I read the series a few years ago. I started by checking out the first volume, brought it home, and was desperate for another volume after devouring the first in about 45 minutes. The next day I checked out every volume in the series, brought them home, and read as many as I could until sleep just couldn't be avoided. It went on like this for a few days until I finished reading the entire series and I had absolutely no idea what to do with myself.

Y: The Last Man begins with a "plague" that has wiped out all males from the face of the planet. Every mammal with a Y chromosome is dead. Turns out only one man managed to live, Yorick Brown. The series goes on to follow Yorick (or, Y) through this world Vaughan has created and Pia Guerra has expertly drawn. What does happen when all of the men are dead? How does life continue? Why did Y live through all of this, but no other male? Is there a cure? All of these questions and more are pursued as we follow Y through an intense adventure to find his girlfriend and, in the meantime, save humanity. Vaughan was a writer on the TV show "Lost", so he knows how to hook you and keep you coming back for more.

I write about Y today because I'm going to re-read it. The deluxe editions have all come out and I checked them out from the library and hope to get lost in it again. I love the feeling I describe at the beginning of this post. Becoming obsessed with a book or series so completely that you just can't think of anything else until you've finished reading is one of the reasons I read. Of course, not every book or series gives me that feeling, but it's definitely something I seek out. Recently I went through a number of books I just couldn't really get into, so maybe that's why I've turned to this series again. What books out there give you that Y feeling??

BOOKS

1,000 Comic Books You Must Read

Best Books For Children: Preschool Through Grade 6

Book Lust: Recommended Reading For Every Mood, Moment, and Reason
Nancy Pearl, librarian extraordinairre, is the woman to turn to if you're looking for a great book.

Locke & Key: Welcome to Lovecraft (this is volume 1)
Joe Hill, Stephen King's son, writes this series and it is super-addicting! About a family that experiences a horrible tragedy and is forced to relocate to a family home that has many secrets. All of the best horror elements in one series and much of it a spin on the classic tales by H.P. Lovecraft. The Graphic Novels Book Club is meeting to discuss it on November 16th!

Now Read This III: A Guide to Mainstream Fiction
Also, from Nancy Pearl

Read This Next: 500 of the Best Books You'll Ever Read

Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads

Y: The Last Man, Book One (deluxe edition)
You can either opt for the trade paperbacks (10 volumes) or the deluxe edtions (5 volumes). Type "y last man" into the FindIt search box, select title, and you'll pull up all of the Y titles.

LIBRARY SERVICES

Facebook RA (Readers' Advisory)
On the Austin Public Library Facebook page each month we provide recommendations to anyone that comments back to us listing three titles they've read and enjoyed. Look for our comment on the 2nd Tuesday of each month and reply back to us for a quick reply with a few titles you might like.

Personal Picks
We've advertised the service before here, but it doesn't hurt to remind everyone that, if you answer a few questions for us, we can provide you with tailored recommendations based on your reading interests. We just may be able to connect you with a book you just can't put down...

A Studio of One's Own

2011-10-19T09:49:00.016-05:00

In the new book, Doc: a Novel , Doc Holliday, recovering from a TB lung hemorrhage, weakly asks his visitors to list their happiest moments. My answer to such a question would include the time I spent painting in a large sunlit classroom in the UT art building, surrounded by other students quietly working. Now when I paint it's either the kitchen table or an easel in the bedroom. Last week the journal Science reported that the oldest known art studio has been discovered in South Africa. A coating of bright red powder on the insides of a pair of abalone shells date back to 100,000 years ago. So we humans have been creating studios for a long time. The library has a nice assortment of books describing art studios and a new information guide on how to develop and promote your art career.

Art Making and Studio Spaces: Unleash Your Inner Artist
Artists at Work: Inside the Studios of Today's Most Celebrated Artists
Artists' Homemade Houses
Artists in Their Studios
Inside the Painter's Studio
New Mexico Artists at Work
Open Studios with Lotta Jansdotter: Twenty-four Artists' Spaces
Setting Up Your Ceramic Studio
Studio Space: the World's Greatest Comic Illustrators at Work
Where Women Create: Inspiring Work Spaces of Extraordinary Women

You will have a chance to see working studios, November 12 - 20, when the East Austin Studio Tour opens the doors to artist studios. Library locations will have the catalog beginning October 24.

Horror… in Other Lands

2011-10-17T10:30:00.001-05:00

I know this is a busy month for you, trying to come up with the perfect Halloween costume, planning the best Halloween party, or carving the most amazing jack-o-lantern. Oh yes, this is a month with lots of fun things to do!! But if you have the time, and want to get in the Halloween mood , why not pause for an hour or two and watch a scary movie?

I suggested in previous years some horror B-movies but this time I am inviting you to watch foreign horror films. It is fascinating to think about cultural differences when it comes to horror pictures. Have you ever thought that what makes you jump in your seat might not work in other cultures and vice versa? A good example is the film “Blair Witch Project” . It was designed to push the buttons of the American audience, but when it was shown in my country, people literally stood in the middle of the movie theatre and threw their shoes at the screen as a sign of disapproval. They were so disappointed; it was not scary for them at all.

But, enough talk!! Below are my foreign horror movie suggestions. Be aware that some films are new and some are old. Check them out and don’t be afraid of subtitles!

Eyes without a face (France)

Let the right one in (Sweden)

The orphanage (Spain)

Kilómetro 31 (Mexico)

Bollywood horror collection Vol 1. (India)

Ring (Japan)

The ordeal (Belgium)

A tale of two sisters (Korea)

Benny’s Video (Germany)

Day Watch (Russia)

Suspiria (Italy)

Nosferatu (Germany)

House (Japan)

Santa Sangre (Mexico)

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Germany)

Soundtrack in Your Head

2011-10-13T17:46:00.048-05:00

Today, some co-workers and I were discussing our favorite soundtracks. I discovered we each liked a wide variety of songs and soundtracks. And to my delight, I discovered that the Austin Public Library has just about every one we discussed. What's your favorite soundtrack? Is it available at the Austin Public Library? If not, let us know, we'll try to get it!

Amelie
Garden State
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Phantom of the Paradise
Pretty in Pink
Trainspotting

This is an interesting CD, The Hollywood sound: John Williams conducts the Academy Awards' best scores. It's a little old but has some great classic themes from winning soundtracks: Star Wars, Wizard of Oz, Jaws, and Lawrence of Arabia to name a few. Here's the list of all the winning (and nominated) original music scores from the Academy Awards. How many of your favorites won?

One of my favorite and "go-to" websites for music is allmusic.com. If I need to know where an artist is from, the discography of a band or similar genres, I hit up allmusic first. They've got a nice little list of soundtrack albums, songs, and artists.

I, for one, have always wished that I could have an accompanying soundtrack with whatever I do. Wouldn't that be neat? Do you have a soundtrack in your head accompanying your day? May this weekend be filled with your favorites.

2011 Nobel Prize in Literature

2011-10-12T14:41:00.012-05:00

They went with a poet. Last week the Swedish Academy announced that the 2011 Nobel Laureate in literature is Tomas Transtromer. The Swedish poet is little known outside of his country, but that does not diminish the quality of his work. After working as a juvenile psychologist, Mr. Transtromer shifted his full attention to poetry and spent six decades publishing gems that address modern man's interactions with nature, spirituality, and each other. The Swedish Academy's announcement stated he won "because through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality."

Despite Mr. Transtromer's popularity in Sweden, the announcement came as somewhat of a surprise in the English-speaking world. Much of his work has been translated into English, but little of it remains in print. His American publishers are rushing to rerelease his work. The Austin Public Library will acquire more of his work as it becomes available.

The Great Enigma: New Selected Poems

Selected Poems

In the meantime, we have numerous poetic works by Transtromer's longtime friend and translator Robert Bly. Bly is a Minnesota poet I first heard in high school and have enjoyed since.

Meditations on the Insatiable Soul

My Sentence was a Thousand Years of Joy

Talking into the Ear of a Donkey

The Night Abraham Called to the Stars

The Literate Pooch

2011-10-10T10:05:00.013-05:00

I weed the dog-training books and you would not believe how many of them have tooth marks on them! I'm sure the cookbooks have food on them, the art books probably have paint on them, the car-repair books have oil all over them, and tears streak the pages of the poetry books... I'll leave it there; you get the idea.

If you use a library book to train your dog, between sessions, won't you please store it on a high shelf or counter (the book, not the dog), so that if your dog harbors any resentment toward the author, he'll have to sublimate it by eating your slippers instead of the book?

Thank you.

New dog-training books at APL:

The Dog-Friendly Home
Follow My Lead
Top Tips from Top Trainers
30 Days to a Well-Mannered Dog

Gluten-Free

2011-10-07T10:00:00.001-05:00

Going gluten-free seems to be all the rage these days. I end up learning a lot about diet trends when ordering the cookbooks for the Faulk Central Library and gluten-free cookbooks have just exploded over recent years. While it is a trend right now, those with celiac disease have a real need to avoid all gluten for the sake of their health. However, there have also been a number of articles I've read recently about gluten sensitivities. It has been argued that many people may be sensitive to gluten and by avoiding it they will feel much better. Others have argued that avoiding gluten can help cure or relieve various diseases. The research behind avoding gluten for the relief of various diseases isn't really there, but it's absolutely true that many report giving up gluten and, as a result, feel great.

I have struggled with stomach sensitivities my entire life and as I've gotten older they have become much worse. This is one of the only things I haven't tried and I think I'm going to take the plunge next week and go gluten-free! Everything I've read suggests that simply trying to go gluten-free for an entire week should let you know whether or not your sensitive to gluten and could benefit by avoiding it. Of course, I'm relying on Austin Public Library for my information needs during this difficult time. Here's a list of websites and books you can use to research what it takes to go gluten-free and read up on the potential benefits:

BOOKS

Complete Gluten-free Diet & Nutrition Guide: With a 30-day Meal Plan & Over 100 Recipes

Gluten-free Baking Classics

Gluten-free Girl and the Chef: A Love Story With 100 Tempting Recipes

Living Gluten-free For Dummies

Paleo Comfort Foods: Homestyle Cooking For a Gluten-free Kitchen
The Paleo diet is much more than just a gluten-free diet, but any recipes for a Paleo diet work for those who are gluten-free as well.

What Nurses Know-- Gluten-free Lifestyle

Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight, and Find Your Path Back To Health

WEBSITES

Celiac Disease, Medline Plus

Gluten-free Diet, MayoClinic.com
The Mayo Clinic's website is a well-respected health resource and this is an excellent brief, but to-the-point article on what a gluten-free diet entails.

Gluten-free Diet Guide for Families, Children's Digestive Health and Nutrition Foundation

Gluten Sensitivity, Gluten Intolerance Group
A brief, informative article on gluten sensitivity. There isn't really a test for gluten sensitivity - the only way to know if you're sensitive is to avoid gluten and see how you feel.

Restaurant Dining: Seven Tips for Staying Gluten-free, Gluten Intolerance Group

Should You Go On a Gluten-free Diet?, Oprah.com
Oprah has certainly fueled the going gluten-free craze.

Traveling With Celiac Disease, NIDDK

Doorstops or Masterpieces?

2011-10-05T18:46:00.013-05:00

A long novel must be very captivating for you to stick with it until the thousandth page. Books that long describe more than just an event or a life, there is enough language to describe existence. Everyone uses War and Peace or Atlas Shrugged as an example of a really long book, but long novels are still being written. Below are titles published in the last few years that rival those two classics in length. And watch for Parallel Stories by Peter Nadas, clocking in at 1152 pages, which will be published in November. When you check one of the books out of the library you may keep it for 9 weeks by renewing it twice if no other customer has placed a hold.

The Instructions by Adam Levin (1030 pages)
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (1079 pp)
The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Little (992 pp)
A Moment in the Sun : a Novel by John Sayles (955 pp)
Reamde (1056 pp)
Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (1349 pp)
2666 by Roberto Bolano (898 pp)
Under the Dome by Stephen King (1088 pp)

Belanova

2011-10-03T18:38:00.009-05:00

I never thought in a million years I would get to see Belanova live without having to travel to a major Mexican city such as the Distrito Federal, Guadalajara, or Monterrey. The minute my wife mentioned they were coming to town, my mind was made up to go and see them. Their music is very Pop and is heavily driven by keyboards, bass, and drums. The guitar has been pushed way to the back with the very attractive and charismatic Denisse Guererro front and center. At the show, they announced there would be a return leg. I know where I'll be that night.

Sueno Electrico I

Dulce Beat

Songs in My Head and at APL

2011-09-30T11:58:00.016-05:00

APL has 4 new cds with songs that are stuck in my head, otherwise know as "ear worms." The list has the APL holdings and a link to listen to the song.

Black Dub cd
Black Dub website - Click video, then I Believe in You

Circuital cd
My Morning Jacket website - Find the videos, then click Holdin' on to Black Metal

Rome cd
Danger Mouse's Rose with a Broken Neck on the Rolling Stone website.

Torches cd
Foster the People website - Find the videos, click Pumped Up Kicks

2011 Nobel Prize

2011-09-28T17:11:00.004-05:00

The end of September finds us within days of the Swedish Academy’s announcement of its Nobel Prize winners. The announcement schedule is:

Monday, October 3rd: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Tuesday, October 4th: Nobel Prize in Physics
Wednesday, October 5th: Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Friday, October 7th: Nobel Peace Prize
Monday, October 10th: Nobel Prize in Economics

The announcements can be viewed live. Traditionally the Nobel Prize in Literature does not receive a designated announcement. Instead, the Swedish Academy announces the prize sometime in the first half of October. I am unsure of the reason, but do enjoy the Christmas-morning-feel of waiting for the literature winner.

The following four American writers have been favorites the past few years:

Philip Roth
American Pastoral
Portnoy’s Complaint

Joyce Carol Oates
them
Blonde

Cormac McCarthy
Blood Meridian
Child of God

Don DeLillo
Underworld
White Noise

These three writers, coupled with the four American writers, comprise a general list of favorites:

Adonis
The Pages of Day and Night
Transformations of the Lover

Ngugi wa Thiong’o
Wizard of the Crow
A Grain of Wheat

Haruki Murakami
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Norwegian Wood

The Syrian poet Adonis is a perennial favorite and with the Arab Spring gripping Syria, he seems professionally and politically positioned to win this year’s prize. If I were betting (and I am not, however, numerous betting houses throughout Europe offer odds) I would take Adonis. I’d like to see Cormac McCarthy win, but American writers have not fared well since Toni Morrison won in 1993. Here's to a week of Christmas-morning-anticipation.

Enjoy Your Freedom - Read a Banned Book!

2011-09-26T12:44:00.014-05:00

The list looks like it's for a reading group with interesting, eclectic taste: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.

Actually these are some of the books that were challenged, restricted, removed, or banned during the past year. In early September, a school board in Republic, Missouri voted 6-0 to place Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler in a restricted part of the high school library and allow only parents access to the books. The challenge was brought by a college professor who said the books were among titles that "teach principles contrary to Biblical morality and truth."

In past years, many of what we consider to be classic American novels have been banned - - The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, The Call of the Wild by Jack London, The Jungle by Upton Sinclair, and The Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

In the early part of the 20th century, books were censored from being bought or published. Today, it more often means a book has been challenged in a library setting, usually a school library. We have had books challenged at the Austin Public Library and we have a committee to respond to such challenges. According to the American Library Association, most challenges to books are motivated by a desire to protect children from "inappropriate" sexual content or "offensive" language, but some books are said to be "unsuited to any age group."

This week, we honor our freedom of choice, speech and the press with Banned Books Week. This annual event celebrates the freedom to read and the importance of the First Amendment. It shows support for not only intellectual freedom, but also honors human beings' basic right to choose, to make individual decisions regarding what they read, which is not the case in many places. Iran's culture minister creates lists of harmful books to be banned. Titles ranging from the uncensored version of Plato's Symposium to Louis-Ferdinand Celine's Journey to the End of the Night, and works by James Joyce, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kurt Vonnegut and Paulo Coelho have been banned in recent years.

The 30th annual Banned Books Week, sponsored by the ALA, booksellers, and publishers is Sept. 24th to Oct. 1st. Many of APL's locations will have displays of banned books. The Harry Ransom Center's exhibit, Banned, Burned, Seized, and Censored, which opened September 6 and goes through January 22, 2012, reveals how censorshop worked in America between WWI and WWII, letting writers, reformers, attorneys, and publishers speak for themselves, and illuminating the complex negotiations that occurred at the intersection of literature and "obscenity."

180° South

2011-09-23T10:00:00.008-05:00

I've watched a beautiful documentary several times now called 180° South. It features a man named Jeff Johnson narrating a trip he takes to Patagonia, a region of Argentina and Chile. Johnson was inspired by two men, Yvon Chouinard and Douglas Tompkins, who took a similar trip to Patagonia in the late '60s. Following Johnson's travels you get to see some of the most gorgeous, untouched open country in existence. Johnson's narration reveals a person passionate about the environment and travel coupled with a wonderful fearlessness and sense of freedom. His passions are surfing and rock climbing, so the documentary is full of footage of some amazing surf and seemingly completely vertical, totally smooth mountains. Over the course of the documentary, you are introduced to Chouinard and Tompkins, two really amazing men. Chouinard is a famous outdoorsman who began the well-known clothing and outdoor supply company, Patagonia. Tompkins, also a famous outdoorsman, began The North Face and ESPRIT Clothing Company, but now he devotes his time and resources to buying up land in Patagonia in an effort to preserve the area. Tompkins and his wife Kris have conserved nearly 2 million acres of mostly grasslands in Patagonia.

What I love about this documentary is that it does not have a blatant envioronmental message. It's really about one man's travels and his thoughts along the way. The beauty he sees is in real danger largely because of increasing development and he definitely addresses it, but I never felt there was any kind of agenda in mind. The reason I've watched it so many times is really for the scenery - I often put it on in the background as I make dinner and allow myself to be transported to the gorgeous country I hope to see with my own eyes someday. Also, it has an excellent soundtrack including songs by Andrew Bird and Modest Mouse.

Read more about Patagonia (the place as well as the company) here at the library!

Dusk on the Campo: A Journey in Patagonia

Enduring Patagonia

In Patagonia

Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman
Written by Yvon Chouinard

Patagonia: Nature's Last Frontier

Solitude: Seeking Wisdom in Extremes: A Year Alone in the Patagonia Wilderness

Under the Sun: The Letters of Bruce Chatwin
Famous for his book In Patagonia in which he documents his travels, this is a collection of Chatwin's letters.

Looking for a Job?

2011-09-22T14:27:00.000-05:00

As reference librarians here at the Central location of the Austin Public Library, we help countless people every week find a job. We help people write their resumes. We help people decipher the maze of applying online. We help people learn new skills for this very competitive job market. We help guide people to the many available resources on job searching. And finally, we love it when people come back to us and tell us that the help we gave them helped them land a new job.

If you're out there in blog land, scouring the Internet for job resources, search no more. The reference librarians have created four very lenghthy information guides to help you fetter out the mountains of career paths you can choose, uncover the hidden job market, find those job listings, write an excellent resume, and excel at the interviews you're going to land.

We know getting a job should be as easy as filling out a job application, going in for an interview and getting the job. But, it's not. You need to read everything you can, learn the ins and outs of your choosen career path, and shine among often hundreds of job applicants. Read through the following information guides, I would be surprised if they didn't help.

Jobs Information Guides
: Career Guidance
: Hidden Job Market
: Job Searching
: Resumes, Cover Letters, Interviews

If all of this reading is overwhelming to you and all you have is a simple question, come to one of our job labs here at the Central Library. We have them every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 3:00-4:00 on the 2nd floor. Friendly librarians and volunteers will help you with such details as traversing those online applications all the way to learning how to insert formulas in MS Excel. You have a question? We'll have an answer. If we can't find the answer, we'll find someone who can.

Good luck and don't forget to write a thank you note after your interview!

The Filter Bubble

2011-09-19T14:44:00.005-05:00

I recently read Eli Pariser's new book, The Filter Bubble: What the Internet is Hiding From You. This was an informative read regarding privacy on the Internet and the types of information companies are actively collecting about your behavior online. Basically, major Internet companies, such as Google and Facebook, are looking very closely at your every click and diligently recording the info in an effort to personalize their site specifically to you. For example, when you do a Google search and start clicking away at the results, Google installs a cookie in your browser so that it may track what you're clicking on and what you're doing online. If you seemed more inclined to click on a right-leaning political website, for example, Google takes note and the next time you run a search the results displayed will include more right-leaning websites similar to the one you clicked on. If you have an account with them and are regularly logged in during your searches and activities, Google learns even more about you.

Pariser points out many problems with Internet companies using this practice and two in particular really stood out to me. First of all, you regularly have Internet companies looking over your shoulder as you browse, collecting (sometimes intimate) information about you. As a librarian, I find this assault on individual privacy alarming, particularly as a clear way to opt out of this level of data collection is not readily apparent to those that do not have an account with the Internet site or search engine they are using. When I discuss issues with Internet privacy with others I often hear back, "Oh well, if you're not doing anything illegal, what's to worry about?" Plenty, in my opinion. Information on how you behave, legally or otherwise, can always be manipulated or edited to reflect poorly on you. We see this everyday in the news. Though most of us are not newsworthy figures, I still feel that we are not immune from the manipulation of private information by various entities and/or individuals for their own professional or personal gain as most terms of agreement are vague on how the information they collect may be used. Further still, there are virtually no laws that pertain to Internet privacy, so, as of now, the information we give to Internet companies so freely could be used in a wide variety of ways that are potentially detrimental or inflammatory.

But, for me, this is not the worst of it. The reason the info is being collected on you in the first place is so Internet companies can improve and personalize their services. This sounds like a good thing, but, as mentioned above, Google is filtering your search results. Rather than a search engine that shows you a wide variety of websites from a wide variety of perspectives, you're seeing websites based on what you've already demonstrated to Google that you like through your previous clicks. With the rise in popularity of the Internet, many people, myself included, touted what a great tool it would be to bring democracy, change, and exposure to fresh perspectives to people around the world. Instead, the major Internet companies that are major players in the future development of the Internet are bringing you exactly what they believe you want to see. Eli Pariser argues that this allows for people to get caught in feedback loops that continually validate their own perspectives and sense of the world without any chance of exposure to something new or something in conflict with what you already believe.

This is a smartly argued book that raises some great questions on the future of the Internet. Will we allow major corporations to make the rules, or are we going to stand up for our own rights online and our vision of the Internet as tool for democracy? This is only one of many great books on the topic, so read up and speak out!

Access Controlled: The Shaping of Power, Rights, and Rule in Cyberspace

Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other

The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry)

The Net Delusion: The Dark Side of Internet Freedom

The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing To Our Brains

Virtually You: The Dangerous Powers of the E-Personality

The Crying of Lot 49

2011-09-16T09:00:00.003-05:00

For years I have wondered what the title Crying of Lot 49 written by Thomas Pynchon in 1966 referred to. So I finally checked the book out from Faulk Central to discover that the phrase is also the last line of the novel. The story is about a conspiracy to subvert the US postal system, and the main protagonist, Oedipa Mass, is a suburban housewife who becomes aware that there may be more to life than her sterile mode of existence. The novel is full of absurdist names, metaphors, freaky characters, allusions, cultural symbols, and terms overloaded with confusing meanings. The crying refers to the auctioneer's voice and lot 49 is the collection of stamps being auctioned. But the stamps may also be crying a message, but I am not re-reading the book to figure it out.

Below is an example of Pychon's writing, and the passage still resonates today since the government reported this week that more than 46 million Americans are living under the government’s official poverty line, which is the highest number in the 52 years the Census Bureau has recorded such data.

Yet at least he had believed in the cars, maybe to excess: how could he not, seeing people poorer than him come in...bring with them the most godawful of trade-ins: motorized, metal extensions of themselves, of their families and what their whole lives must be like, out there so naked for anybody, a stranger like himself, to look at...inside smelling hopeless of children, of supermarket booze, or two, sometimes three generations of cigarette smokers, or only of dust--and when the cars were swept out you had to look at the actual residue of these lives, and there was no way of telling what things had been truly refused ...or had simply (perhaps tragically) been lost: clipped coupons promising savings of 5 or 10¢, trading stamps, pink flyers advertising specials at the market, butts, tooth-shy combs, help-wanted ads, Yellow Pages torn from the phone book, rags of old underwear or dresses that already were period costumes, for wiping your own breath off the inside of a windshield with so you could see whatever it was, a movie, a woman or car you coveted, a cop who might pull you over just for drill, all the bits and pieces coated uniformly, like a salad of despair, in a grey dressing of ash, condensed exhaust, dust, body wastes--it nauseated him to look, but he had to look.

My favorite passage in the book is a conversation between Oedipa Maas and her psychiatrist, Dr. Hilarius.

“I came," she said, "hoping you could talk me out of a fantasy."
Cherish it!" cried Hilarious, fiercely. "What else do any of you have? Hold it tightly by it's little tentacle, don't let the Freudians coax it away or the pharmacists poison it out of you. Whatever it is, hold it dear, for when you lose it you go over by that much to the others. You begin to cease to be".

The Crying of Lot 49 is one of the titles on APL Recommends Cult Classics list.

Trying hard to do...

2011-09-14T17:06:00.003-05:00

"The tree on the mountain height is its own enemy.
The grease that feeds the light devours itself.
The cinnamon tree is edible: so it is cut down!
The lacquer tree is profitable: they maim it.
Every man knows how useful it is to be useful.

No one seems to know
How useful it is to be useless."

-Chuang Tzu

In January I resolved to read less. My intention being that if I read less I would have more time for other activities. Realizing I already had plenty of time for other activities and that what I truly lacked was time for idleness, I further resolved to do nothing. Good and proper nothingness: Sitting on my porch, walking, thinking, trying not to think. Being an inveterate reader, I couldn’t possibly just begin this new course. I had to read about doing nothing first. Below are a few books that provided further encouragement to do nothing:

The Way of Chuang Tzu (beautiful meditations on simplicity, humor, and contentment)
How to be Idle (Tom Hodgkinson's goal: convince folks of the merits of idleness)
Seven Pleasures: Essays on Ordinary Happiness (great essays on simple pleasures)
Candide (Candide does everything before reaching a place and state where he can do nothing).

Months later I still love a good book about nothing, but I've also become more comfortable with nothingness. The fall seems a fitting time to really hone the craft of doing nothing.

Happy Belated Labor Day

2011-09-12T09:00:00.014-05:00

For those of you still laboring, and those who wish you were, and those who’ve quit looking, books and movies about labor unions, which are still legal as I write:

Cesar Chavez and the United Farm Workers Movement
The forgotten workers of the fields -- The education of Cesar Chavez -- The community organizers -- Creating a union for farm workers -- The Delano grape strike and the great march to Sacramento

Dark Harbor: The War for the New York Waterfront
Case studies of New York stevedores and organized crime.

There is Power in a Union
The epic story of labor in America, beginning with the Pullman train strike.

Taylor Chain: A Decade of Union Democracy and Collective Bargaining
A movie about a strike in a small factory in Indiana and how both the workers and management want things to get better.

Why Unions Matter
Engaging examples of unions improving democracy.

State of the Unions
How labor can strengthen the middle class, improve our economy, and regain political influence.

Femininity in Flight: A History of Flight Attendants
A 2007 book about unions and stewardesses that should circulate more frequently after that new TV show, Pan Am, starts airing this fall.

Mobsters, Unions, and Feds
The title says it all: labor racketeering in New York City, and organized labor's response to organized crime.

Pride!!

2011-09-09T06:26:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, the GLBT community in Austin will be celebrating Gay Pride.

Recently, I learned by serendipity about the death of Rudolf Brazda, one of the few survivors of Nazi concentration camps where he and other gay men had to wear a pink triangle attached to their uniforms denoting their sexual orientation. That pink triangle made them a target for brutality, abuse and object of “scientific” experimentation.

When I read about Brazda, I felt that I was the only person in the world who didn’t know about these atrocities. Then I jumped ahead in time to 1969 and started reading more in depth about the Stonewall riots in New York City. I learned about the before and after and how the protests changed the vision and rights of the GLTB community in this country.

Maybe because I have all this information fresh in my mind right now or maybe because of the love I have for my amazing friends in the GLBT community, that I am more excited than usual about this celebration in Austin. If you want to get in the mood for this important event, here’s a list of movies in the Austin Public Library collection that might help you:

Tomorrow, go out, celebrate and be proud! Ah!! Don’t forget to read our two previous blog posts: From the Closet to the Courtroom and Gay Pride Month Book Lists.

*Thanks to JB for helping with the selection of titles for this post.

Not Your Normal Kitchen

2011-09-07T09:00:00.011-05:00

I just finished Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly and I must say, I enjoyed it thoroughly. I've been watching Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations for a couple of years and I am very jealous of his travels and eating. However, he'll eat anything and everything. He's admitted so in his book and in his blog. I, for one, would not even dare go where he has gone, food-wise. I do not like liver. I would never eat an eyeball, no matter how much sauce you put on it. And I do not like a lot of fish. But that's why I don't have a wildly, popular tv show and he does. His happy-to-eat-everything additude all began with oysters when he was a young boy on a family trip to France. I wish I could be this open to trying new foods, I suppose it could be my squeamish American mind that prevents me from doing so.

Anthony Bourdain has written many books, but I think the next one I want to read is:
No Reservations: Around the World on an Empty Stomach
Have you read any of Bourdain's works? You know he's written some fiction too.

Another chef, Andrew Zimmern, takes it just a bit farther. He has a show called Bizarre Foods where he samples food from all over the world. Not just everyday, run-of-the-mill food, he eats everything from bugs and rodents to eyeballs and guts. And there's a lot in between. Reviewing Bizarre Foods for the New York Times, Susan Stewart commented, "By taking an anthropological approach to food, Mr. Zimmern broadens his subject, conveying a vivid sense of place and serious appreciation for social and culinary diversity." Serious appreciation indeed.

If you have a strong stomach and want to check out Zimmern's show, get it from the library:
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Collection 1
Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Collection 2

Zimmern just came out with a new book too, you should take a look:
Andrew Zimmern's Bizarre World of Food: Brains, Bugs, & Blood Sausage

Diego Rivera: The Complete Murals

2011-09-05T10:51:00.021-05:00

There is a magical book that the library recently acquired. I am tempted to not blog about it for fear of the physical damage that may occur. I haven't actually weighed it, but I would venture to guess it must weigh upwards of forty pounds. I carry it around hoisted on my shoulder like a basket filled with a heavy load. Diego Rivera: The Complete Murals is a tome in the truest sense of the word. Inside it are lush, fold-out color plates of the super-human murals designed and executed by the Mexican artist. The book also serves as an encyclopedic catalog detailing the artist's life, world travels, and paintings and drawings completed prior to the development of his mature, most well known style.

More titles featuring Diego Rivera's work and life:

Diego Rivera, 1886-1957: A Revolutionary Spirit in Modern Art

Diego Rivera

Diego Rivera: El Agua, Origen de la Vida

Sonar con los Ojos Abiertos: Una Vida de Diego Rivera

Dreaming with his Eyes Open: A Life of Diego Rivera

Taking Advantage

2011-09-02T12:04:00.006-05:00

Without intending to, I have recently read four novels where teachers or bosses have had a "consensual" sexual relationship with a teenage girl. The stories go beyond the specific relationship to illuminate the fraught relationships among friends, families, and entire communities. All four books are cleverly constructed and very well written.

The Adults by Alison Espach
Covert affair, while inappropriate, not to say illegal, seems to be mutual, but Emily is 15 and the English teacher is 25. This secret life reinforces Emily's separation from the adults who most disappoint her.

Amy and Isabelle by Elizabeth Strout
A single mother and her teenage daughter, Amy, live an isolated life in New England until the intrusion into the life of Amy by her math teacher.

Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
One of the three storylines in this identity thriller concerns Lucy Lattimore who runs off after her high school graduation with her history teacher.

The Good Parents by Joan London
Maya has moved from Western Australia to Melbourne where she finds a job in an office, and before she knows what is happening she begins an affair with her much older boss. When her parents travel to Melobourne to visit, she has disapperared.

Rio Hamza

2011-08-31T13:44:00.008-05:00

A river up to one hundred times wider than the Amazon has recently been discovered. How had no one stumbled upon it yet? How had astronauts not reported a massive serpentine river flowing across the earth?

Easy. The river is underground. It is two and a half miles beneath the Amazon and runs a similar course across South America. The research team, led by Valiya Hamza who lent his name to the river, used thermal analysis in 241 vacated Petrobras oil wells to discover the river. The results are preliminary and the discovery has not been truly authenticated, but all signs (at least the geothermal signs) point to a giant subterranean river flowing through South America.

After reading about Rio Hamza, I immediately thought about H. Rider Haggard’s King Solomon’s Mines. I remember some subterranean action in this classic adventure tale. My mind then jumped to a novel I read after seeing my dad reading it: Clive Cussler’s The Mediterranean Caper. I don’t remember much of the Caper, but I remember the intrepid hero Dirk Pitt traveling well beneath the water.

King Solomon’s Mines launched a genre dubbed Lost World fiction. Prominent works within the genre include: Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The Land That Time Forgot, and Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island.

Inevitably, exploration will intensify. Science clarifies, but in its wake removes mystery and wonder. For now, we relish one of those rare moments where mystery trumps proof and we can simply imagine what it must be like on the Rio Hamza 14,000 feet below the Amazon.

Nothing New Under the Sun

2011-08-29T08:00:00.047-05:00

I picked up John Kenneth Galbraith's The Great Crash the other day. I hoped it would convince me that we can recover from economic collapse, but after reading the book, I wasn't so much heartened that we've been through this and survived as I was disheartened that we've been through this and learned nothing.

We're repeating history. The economy collapsed in 2008 for the same reason it collapsed in 1929: people invested money they had borrowed on the strength of profits they had yet to earn. There are some differences in strategy--a credit default swap, for instance, is a recent invention; in the 20s there was no fake insurance against losses (aside from optimism)--but it's the same house of cards, and it toppled for the same reason: debtors were called to pay back loans they took out to buy into, but that were also "secured" by, the house of cards.

Incredibly, some of 1929's money changers recovered from the crash and lived on to wreak the current chaos. Galbraith, writing in 1954, faults companies whose names you'll recognize: Goldman Sachs, Lehman, Chase.

More books by Galbraith:

John Kenneth Galbraith: The Affluent Society and Other Writings
The Economics of Innocent Fraud
A Short History of Financial Euphoria
A Journey Through Economic Time

Conquistadora

2011-08-26T10:00:00.005-05:00

I just finished a great new novel by Esmeralda Santiago, titled Conquistadora. It is an epic that follows a young girl, Ana, through adulthood in which she pursues her ambitions from Spain to Puerto Rico in the mid-19th century. As a girl Ana dreams of Puerto Rico in which many of her ancestors lived and died including a distant male relative that traveled with Ponce de Leon, the famous conquistador. Her dreams finally become reality after she meets twin brothers Ramon and Inocente. She marries Ramon and convinces the brothers that in Puerto Rico lies their destiny. Once in Puerto Rico Ana deals with constant hardship and a bitter love triangle. Slavery and relations with slaves factor in heavily as the sugar plantation the twins and Ana become responsible for require signficant labor. Puerto Rico is almost it's own character in the book - the landscape is described in detail and the historical context is well-considered. While Ana is not the most likable main character, she is well-developed and complex. I highly recommend it; especially if you liked books such as The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende or One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

On Monday there's a free teleconference book club sponsored by the organization Las Comadres in which Esmeralda Santiago will be present! (See the links below.) Even if you haven't read the book, you might still want to tune in if you enjoyed her other work.

BOOKS

Almost a Woman
This is the first memoir I read by Santiago, though it is actually a follow-up to her first published memoir, and I just fell in love with Esmeralda, her family, and her writing style. Santiago recounts her young adulthood as a poor Puerto Rican immigrant living in New York City.

America's Dream
This is Santiago's first novel about a Puerto Rican woman and her many struggles.

The Turkish Lover
An account of Santiago's affair as a young woman with a Turkish filmmaker.

When I Was Puerto Rican
This is Santiago's first memoir which received much critical acclaim. It recounts Santiago's early years in Puerto Rico and her experiences after immigrating to New York.

WEBSITES

PBS NewsHour Interview with Esmeralda Santiago on Conquistadora
A great interview with Santiago about her new novel. She thanks librarians at both the end of her book and in this interview for their help finding the research she needed to complete her book; a nice reminder that if you have questions regarding research, information, or most anything you should Ask a Librarian!

Reading With Las Comadres: Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago
I have already reigstered and I hope some of you will too and listen in during the teleconference. I love book clubs - I always get so much more out of a book by discussing it with others. Plus, I'm yet to attend a book club that includes a discussion with the author, so I'm really psyched about this!

Bento!

2011-08-24T11:30:00.001-05:00

If you're like me, you're trying to be wise with your money and its spending power. Since there's not much of it flowing my way, I'm trying to be especially wise when it comes to lunch. I use to grab lunch at the deli across the street, but I've realized that the $7 it costs to buy lunch every day is adding up to be quite a bill. So, a co-worker and I are doing a little trade. I bring her eggs from my neighbor's chickens and she brings me a fabulous packed lunch. After a few weeks, we've gone back and forth about the cuteness of her packed lunches and have discovered the oh-so-lovely world of bento boxes!

According to the OED, bento means "a Japanese or Japanese-style packed lunch traditionally consisting of rice, vegetables, and Japanese specialities such as sashimi and teriyaki, and served in a lacquered or decorated wooden box." The Encyclopedia of Food and Culture offers a really nice history of the bento; saying that the bento goes back as far as 1600 in Japan. Obviously, you do not have to include the aforementioned rice and vegetables. Sandwiches cut into cute shapes, fruit flowers, and awe-worthy and adorable bottles of sauce are part of today's bento boxes. If you do a simple Google search for "bento" you'll come across hundreds of sites on the topic and retail sites for bento accessories.

Bentos are extremely popular with the stay-at-home-mom set these days. Especially moms with school-aged kids. If you have an extra twenty minutes in the morning, packing a bento for your kids is a cute option. Your kid may just be the most popular one come lunchtime. Or, if you don't have kids, there are all sorts of adults who bento it to work too. You could be the most popular one at work!

Check out these books and sites for help in getting started. It's not hard, it just looks intimidating.
Bento Love by Kentaro Kobayashi
Face Food by Christopher Salyers
Simple Menus for the Bento Box by Ellen Greaves
Yum-Yum Bento Box by Watanabe and Ogawa

Just Bento and Hapa Bento are some very nice websites dedicated to all things Bento.

(pictures from the Going-On Grownup blog)

Two Songs Two Singers

2011-08-22T10:00:00.003-05:00

There are two songs that I only recently discovered. Both of these songs have been around for quite some time. Nonetheless, in my opinion, their power to enchant has not diminished with the passage of time. The title of one of the songs is, El Desierto (The Desert), which was written and is performed by an extremely charasmatic artist named Lhasa de Sela who is of Mexican and Lebanese descent . The other song is entitled, L'Appuntamento (The Appointment), which is performed by the equally mesmerizing Italian singer Ornella Vanoni. Neither of the two songs is sung in English. However, if you have ever suffered a romantic loss you will immediately understand the sentiment and pain both are trying to convey.

Lhasa de Sela:
La Llorona
The Living Road
Lhasa

West Memphis Three

2011-08-19T16:48:00.006-05:00

The West Memphis Three have been released.

You may or may not be familiar with this story, if not, you should read up on them in our newspaper databases. If you go to Factiva for instance, and type in "West Memphis Three", you will get over 700 articles alone. I know that Memphis is a long drive from here, but this town of almost a quarter million people has been the focus of worldwide attention over the last seventeen years.

The West Memphis Three are three young men who were, wrongly in most opinion, imprisoned for the murder of three young boys in Memphis, Tennessee in 1993. There are books and movies on the WM3 (as they are known). Celebrities (including Henry Rollins, Natalie Manes, Johnny Depp, and Eddie Vedder), high powered attorneys, and regular people across the globe have offered their support, pledged donations and help, and voiced their concern for the seemingly corrupt judicial system in Tennessee.

I'm currently reading a book, not on this topic, but eerily similar, In the Woods by Tana French. It's a great book and supports my feeling that even though you think you know the whole story, you may not know the facts. You need to do the research. You need to read. You need to ask questions, and listen to the answers. In this day and age of media onslaught, we are led to believe that everything we see and hear is true. And most times, this cannot be further from the truth. I encourage you to investigate. I encourage you to question everything you hear. The library is a great place to start. We have many resources, including our fabulous databases, that can help you vet out the truth.

I know that we may go on and on about our databases. But I cannot express to you how much I love them. There is so much information out there that is available to you by just the click of a couple of buttons. And it's all FREE with your library card! How can you not use them? Call us and we'll help you.

In the meantime read up on the WM3, make up your opinion of the young men and talk to someone else about it.

Devil's knot : the true story of the West Memphis three
Leveritt, Mara.

Paradise lost: the child murders at Robin Hood Hills
Berlinger, Joe.

West Memphis Three website

The Hyperbolic Apocalyptic Post

2011-08-17T17:10:00.003-05:00

We are in the midst of dozens of 100 degree days and plenty more ahead. Clouds have forgotten how to rain. Trees are drying out. Pipes are cracking. Someone showed me a video of a thirsty armadillo drinking from a water hose. That can't be normal.

Rain will come. Temperatures will fall. We will recover. For this post though, I'm fanning the hyperbole flame. Our fiery conditions brought to mind several great post-apocalyptic novels. Nothing like settling into a comfortable seat and reading about worlds falling apart.

David Moody's Autumn. The City

John Barnes' Daybreak Zero

Max Brooks' World War Z

Cormac McCarthy's The Road

Margaret Atwood's The Year of the Flood

Oom

2011-08-15T14:56:00.015-05:00

The Great Oom: The Impropable Birth of Yoga in America is a history of yoga's early days in America. The spiritual discipline that is practiced now by more than 20 million Americans was once a fringe practice, its advocates treated as charlatans and, occasionally, criminals. Today the business of yoga has broadened to include novels, memoirs, hundreds of how-to-books, and magazines.

Fiction
Enlightenment for Idiots: a Novel
In this fun introduction to yoga philosophy, 2008 debut novel follows a 29-year-old yoga teacher on a tumultuous journey to India and back again as she researches a guidebook on finding inner peace.

Tales from the Yoga Studio
Light, easy read about about an independent L.A. yoga studio and its core community of faithful clients.

Memoir
Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses
Memoir about a young mother told through a variety of yoga poses.

Basics
Asanas: 608 Yoga Poses
Anatomy of Hatha Yoga
Light on Yoga
30 Essential Yoga Poes
Yoga Anatomy
The Yoga Bible
Yoga: the Iyengar Way
Yoga: the Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness

Full-text Yoga Magzines in Databases
Search for these in ejournal finder.
Yoga International
Yoga Journal
Yoga + Joyful Living
Yoga Studies
Yoga Therapy in Practice
Yoga World

Occupation: Revolutionary

2011-08-12T14:17:00.016-05:00

"People get used to anything. The less you think about your oppression, the more your tolerance for it grows. After a while, people just think oppression is the normal state of things. But to become free, you have to be acutely aware of being a slave.”

When I was an undergradate at UT, I read a book that had a major influence on me, titled Assata: An Autobiography, from which the above quote is from. Shakur is a pretty controversial figure as she is on the FBI's Most Wanted list with a $1 million dollar reward for any information that leads to her arrest and capture. She joined the Black Panther Party (BPP) in 1970, but quickly became frustrated with what she perceived as a lack of a cohesive philosophy and turned to the more radical Black Liberation Army (BLA). Shakur was charged and acquitted of many crimes including burglary and murder in the early '70s. She was eventually convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper in 1977. Shakur was in a car with two other male BLA members at the time. It's unclear precisely what happened, but the state trooper and one of Shakur's companions was shot dead, the other male passenger fled the scene, and Shakur was shot twice wounding her in both arms and a shoulder. She was arrested on the scene, convicted and sentenced to life + 33 years in prison, and labeled a cop-killer by authorities. She served part of her sentence, but escaped from prison in 1979 and within a few years was granted political asylum in Cuba where she still resides.

While the BLA was a violent group and Shakur is unapologetic about their violent stance, Shakur felt violence was the only answer in the face of an FBI initiative, COINTELPRO, to "neutralize" political activists. She believed the progress made on African-American rights was insufficient and her numerous experiences with the justice system reinforced this attitude. In terms of the NJ state trooper case, she maintains her innocence. Shakur has stated that she and her two companions were cooperating and surrendering when the state trooper opened fire, and in court it was presented that the shots fired on Shakur could only have hit the way they did if she were holding her arms in the air. As to the supposed wrongful conviction, Shakur points to the racism of her prosecutors and an all-white jury that could not have sympathy for a black revolutionary. Further, by being labeled a "cop-killer", she claims to have been the target of horrific abuses by the authorities she came into contact with during her imprisonment.

It isn't just Assata Shakur's story that compelled me when I first read her book, but also her philosophy and stance on a number of issues. She, of course, discusses racism in great depth and often focuses on the self-hatred and negative perceptions African-Americans had of themselves during this time. Popular white attitudes pointed to African-Americans as being lazy, unattractive or even beast-like, and unintelligent; attitudes that were internalized by the African-American community. She also takes aim at the politicans of the day and calls out the institutionalization of racism and oppression. She writes beautifully and passionately about freedom and equality. She speaks to anyone who has ever felt oppressed, though she is clear that her fight is for the African-American people.

Though I read her autobiography years ago, it is a book I will never forget. I keep one of her poems on my wall and I often look to passages in her book for inspiration. I cannot say that my personal struggle is anywhere even close to hers or that of the African-American community, but I have been personally inspired by her and continue to share her messages with those that will listen. I am awed that in most of the biographical essays I have read about her it states her occupation as a "revolutionary". She certainly is.

BOOKS and CD

Assata : An Autobiography

Autobiography as Activism: Three Black Women of the Sixties

Inadmissible Evidence: The Story of the African-American Trial Lawyer Who Defended the Black Liberation Army

Live Interview in Havana, Cuba (CD)

WEBSITES

AssataShakur.org
Assata's personal website

Assata Shakur and My Train of Thought
An interesting piece in which the author relates quotes from Assata Shakur's autobiography to the struggles of women today.

Biography in Context
This is a great database provided by Austin Public Library (you need your library card number to log on from home) for biographical information. The biographical details in this post are from articles I found in this database.

Common: A Song for Assata
Common wrote and performed this song, which became controversial when the rapper was invited to the White House in May of this year. Common did not perform this song at the White House, but NJ police and a number of Republicans expresssed outrage that the White House would invite someone that wrote a song glorifying a "cop-killer". Here's an article that discusses the reaction and here's an opinion piece regarding that reaction.

The Eyes of the Rainbow: An Assata Shakur Documentary
You can watch this for free online.

Prisoner in Paradise: An Interview With Assata Shakur

The Oxford Comma

2011-08-10T16:37:00.015-05:00

Earlier this summer, a rumor erupted on Twitter that the Oxford comma had been dropped by none other than the Oxford University Press. The story took off and became so big that it had its own Associated Press story. But it wasn't exactly true. The instruction to do away with the comma, which follows the last word in a series, appeared not in the Oxford University Press style guide, but rather the guide issued for the University of Oxford Public Affairs office, and the guide had been online for several years.

The problem people have with the Oxford comma is that it puts a pause where some think one doesn't belong. The idea is that "I went to the market to get triple sec, limes and tequila" is better than "I went to the market to get triple sec, limes, and tequila." I, myself, like the Oxford comma.

The Oxford comma can come in really handy when you have a long list. An example of why it's needed was circulated on Twitter, and here's an amended version of its loss gone wrong: "Among those interviewed were Mr. Smith's two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall" -- turning Kristofferson and Duvall into the ex-wives of Mr. Smith.

The Chicago Manual of Style, which the Library has as an ebook, chooses the serial comma over the Oxford Comma. The CMS, as it's called, is a great resource for looking up grammar and usage rules. In addition to the complete full text of both the 16th and 15th editions of the Chicago Manual of Style, the site includes:

* tools, such as sample correspondence, proofreaders' marks, and manuscript preparation instructions
* Chicago-Style Citation Quick Guide for students, researchers, and writers
* Chicago Style Q&A, entertaining and informative answers to readers' questions

The Library has other databases that will help you find the right word and punctuate correctly.

Note: Vampire Weekend has a fun song titled "Oxford (Comma)" on their 2008 self-titled album.

27 Club

2011-08-08T07:19:00.019-05:00

Unfortunately, the British singer Amy Winehouse (1983-2011) joined this club a few days ago. The 27 Club is the name used for those influential musicians that have died at the age of 27 years old. The list of artists that are part of the “club” has about 50 names but the most influential ones are:

Robert Johnson (1911-1938) – Blues Singer
Brian Jones (1942-1969) – Founder of Rolling Stones band
Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) – guitarist
Janis Joplin (1943-1970) – singer
Jim Morrison (1943-1971) – lead singer of “The Doors”
Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) – founder and lead singer of “Nirvana”

Their music continues inspiring others and entertaining generations even when, in most of the cases, they have been gone for decades.

If you want to learn more about them, here are some ways to do it:

Robert Johnson

Martin Scorsese presents The best of the blues (CD)
Bill Wyman's blues odyssey (CD)
American roots music (CD)
You can also listen to him singing “Sweet Home Chicago” by clicking here
Delta blues : the life and times of the Mississippi Masters who revolutionized American music (Book)

Brian Jones

England's newest hit makers (CD)
Stoned (Movie about the life of Brian Jones)
Video of the Rolling Stones performing Lady Jane with Brian Jones playing dulcimer

Jimi Hendrix

West Coast Seattle: the Jimi Hendrix anthology (CD)
Jimi Hendrix: Live at Woodstock (DVD)
Jimi Hendrix : the stories behind every song (Book)
Video of Jimi Hendrix Live at Monterey

Janis Joplin

Pearl (CD)
Final 24. Janis Joplin: her final hours (DVD)
Live at Winterland '68 (CD)
Video of Janis Joplin singing a “Piece of my Heart”

Jim Morrison

Stoned immaculate (CD)
The Doors (DVD)
The American night writings by Jim Morrison
Jim Morrison singing “People are Strange”

Kurt Cobain

Bleach (CD)
With the lights out (CD)
Cobain Unseen (Book with unseen pictures and artifacts that belonged to Cobain)
Smells like Teen Spirit video by Nirvana

Amy Winehouse

Back to Black (CD)
Frank (CD)
Amy Winehouse: the biography (Book)
Watch Amy Winehouse singing “Rehab” live

Books about the 27 Club and others

Neuro-mysteries

2011-08-05T11:54:00.020-05:00

On the Library's Best Fiction of 2011 is an out-of-nowhere literary sensation. Before I Go to Sleep by British author S.J. Watson is about a woman struggling to reconstruct her identity after a mysterious accident leaves her with a memory that is erased every night. Back in 2008, S. J. Watson was a 30-something London audiologist and had just won a place in the inaugural class of a six-month novel-writing course at the Faber Academy, a mini-M.F.A. program run by the distinguished publishing house Faber & Faber. Three years later, he's an international sensation with a 37-country deal and a film project with Ridley Scott. Janet Maslin of the New York Times credits Watson with "the summer's single most suspenseful plot".

The second neuro-mystery on APL's list is Turn of Mind by Alice LaPlante. Turn of Mind is the first novel from Alice LaPlante, an award-winning nonfiction writer. It's about a retired orthopedic surgeon with Alzheimer's who is implicated in the murder of her best friend. Told in the surgeon's own voice, fractured and eloquent, a picture emerges of the surprisingly intimate, complex alliance between the two life-long friends who were at times each other’s most formidable adversaries.

The Chicago Black Sox

2011-08-03T17:19:00.006-05:00

Cheating in sports is nothing new. I’d imagine Athenian heroes took payoffs to throw competitions. I hope those noble athletes competed purely for the pleasure of sport, but as plaudits and winnings grow so too does the willingness to take the fall, lose the race, or throw the match in exchange for big money.

Today marks the anniversary of one of America’s most memorable cheating sports moments: the Black Sox Scandal. The Chicago White Sox faced the Cincinnati Reds in the 1919 World Series. Due to the gambling payoff significantly outstripping their paychecks and the players’ resentment of team owner Charles Comiskey, eight White Sox players conspired to throw the World Series. The White Sox lost the series with the eight conspirators playing significantly worse than their talent suggested.

The conspirators were acquitted of all charges on August 2, 1921. Their baseball careers, however, remained ruined. On August 3, 1921 baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis banned all eight players from baseball for life and they have been remembered since as the Black Sox. Below are a few books recounting the Black Sox scandal.

Crooked: a History of Cheating in Sports

Burying the Black Sox: How Baseball's Cover-Up of the 1919 World Series Fix Almost Succeeded

Eight Men Out: the Black Sox and the 1919 World Series

Bernard Malamud’s The Natural draws heavily from the Black Sox Scandal.

Our Trees

2011-08-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

Austin Energy cut down an old hackberry that was blocking access to a telephone pole on my back fence and gave me a Mexican Plum for my trouble (a nice five-gallon size, too). I planted it last fall, the time to plant trees, but without rain this spring and summer, it's struggling, and leaving the hose dripping at its base isn't doing the trick.

Trees are stressed in the parks, too, where the city's parks staff is grateful for all the help it can get doing maintenance work. If you'd like to volunteer, here are links:

Austin Heritage Tree Foundation

The Austin Parks Foundation

Friends of Deep Eddy

TreeFolks

Trail Foundation

A fellow librarian says her neighbors have poked holes in big plastic tubs, placed them at the bases of their trees, and filled them with water to get an economical continuous drip, and their trees are thriving. I'm going to try that, and I'm going to read some of the books on tree care that we have here at the library. Here's a list:

The Sibley Guide to Trees

The Urban Tree Book

Forests

Without our trees, and without cool spring water bubbling up from the aquifers, Austin is a bit too weird.

Time Travel

2011-07-29T10:00:00.001-05:00

You may have noted the news item this week regarding time travel. A group of researchers in Hong Kong recently conducted a study in which they believe they have demonstrated that a photon cannot travel faster than the speed of light. This finding indicates that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light meaning that traveling back in time would be impossible. For a long time, traveling faster than the speed of light was considered a possibility and, by extension, it was also possible that one could travel in time.

This discovery was a real bummer for me. I didn't have any big plans for traveling through time, but, like any sci-fi fan, I've always been enthused that this was a theoretical possibility. Despite the news, time travel cannot be ruled out completely. There's the possibility of wormholes, using black holes, and time dilation. No matter, I'm certain it will remain fodder for book, movie, and TV plotlines for years to come. Below are some time travel-related links for your inner-scientist and just for kicks:

BOOKS:

Breaking the Time Barrier: The Race to Build the First Time Machine

How to Build a Time Machine

The New Time Travelers: A Journey to the Frontiers of Physics

Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time

Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality

DVDS

Back to the Future: The Complete Trilogy

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Doctor Who: The Complete First Series

Land of the Lost: The Complete First Season

Quantum Leap: The Complete First Season

Through the Wormhole: With Morgan Freeman

Bugs Bunny

2011-07-27T13:00:00.000-05:00

71 years ago today, Bugs Bunny burst onto screens across America in an animated short called A Wild Hare. Mr. Bunny has delighted audiences young and old ever since. Did you know that Bugs Bunny is named for his animator, Ben "Bugs" Hardaway? He originally went by "Bugs's Bunny". And I bet you didn't know that Bugs won an Academy Award in 1959 for Best Animated Short Film Knighty Knight Bugs. You can find this and all sorts of useful (and useless!) information in one of our most popular databases, Encyclopedia Britannica.

While you're at it, check out some books and video on Bugs and the other characters of Looney Tunes too.

Bugs Bunny: 50 Years and Only One Grey Hare
Reading the rabbit : explorations in Warner Bros
The looney, looney, looney Bugs Bunny movie
Looney tunes golden collection. Vol. 2
Looney tunes golden collection. Vol. 3

But, in the meantime, watch an animated clip from the cartoon Fresh Hare, also downloaded from EB!

Latin Music U.S.A.

2011-07-25T17:34:00.020-05:00

This past week I was watching the PBS Documentary series, Latin Music USA. The series attempts to chronicle the various periods of Latin music recorded by artists in the United States throughout the decades beginning in the 1930s. It also seeks to illuminate the influence this music has had on U.S. popular culture and other forms of music in this country. Represented are the beginnings of the introduction of Afro-Cuban rhythms into Jazz and bee-bop, the socially and sexually liberating Latin dance crazes of the Mambo and Cha Cha Cha, Chicano inspired rock n' roll, the explosive combination of conga drums and electric guitar blasted out over an audience of half a million people at Woodstock, the birth of Salsa in New York City heralded by Puerto Rican immigrants or Nuyoricans during the early 1970s, on through to more recent Latin dance styles such as Reggaeton. Below I've listed some artists that currently fascinate me. All are readily available via the Austin Public Library.

Fania All Stars:

Campeones

Cross Over

Fania Recording:

El Barrio

Hector Lavoe:

El Cantante: The Originals (includes Che Che Cole; one of my all-time favorite songs)

El Cantante (movie based on Hector Lavoe's life starring Marc Anthony and Jennifer Lopez)

Ruben Blades:

Happy Birthday, Raymond Chandler

2011-07-22T08:43:00.001-05:00

Raymond Chandler (July 23, 1888-1959) was an an oil executive who lost his job for drinking and carrying on with a secretary, then cleaned up to become one of the most enduring writers of detective fiction. When he published his first book he was 50. He had been writing pulp stories for detetective magazines when he got a book deal with Knopf. His first four novels were not bestsellers, but then a cheaper paperback printing of The Big Sleep was allowed, which sold a whopping 300,000 copies.

The hard-boiled detective Philip Marlowe and Chandler's take on Los Angeles have influenced generations of writers. His fans enjoy the complicated plots, but for the most part it's that first-person voice that hooks them. The witty, tough but tender voice of Chandler, disguised as Marlowe, is cadenced, surprisingly musical, and sets up a tension between a literary sensibility and the novel’s general air of depravity. Each page is riddled with quotable bits, lines you want to memorize and repeat to your friends.

From The Big Sleep - "What did it matter where you lay once you were dead?...You were dead, you were sleeping the big sleep, you were not bothered by things like that".

From Farewell My Lovely - "I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country. What I had was a coat, a hat and a gun."

From The Long Goodbye, when a beautiful woman walks into a bar and all the men stop to look at her: "It was like just after the conductor taps on his music stand and raises his arms and holds them poised."

From Red Wind - "There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."

Epic Poetry

2011-07-20T17:15:00.004-05:00

If three-hundred page poems are not your cup of tea, this post might not be either. However, if you are not intimidated (or bored) by verse I would like to recommend a few of the world’s poetic treasures. An epic poem contains the plot, characters, and crises synonymous with a novel, but each element is presented in a cadence rarely found in a novel. Initially the cadence seems a distraction, but once internalized it lends itself to a distinct reading unique to long poetry.

These are three of my favorite epics:

Dante’s Divine Comedy
An imaginative depiction of a soul’s journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven

Beowulf
A heroic poem telling of Beowulf’s battles against three dragons and his fidelity to people in need

The Nibelungenlied
An adventurous tale of a warrior’s murder and his wife’s journey for revenge.

These are three epics I plan to read soon:

Derek Walcott’s Omeros
A reimagining of Greek epics set on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia coupled with the aftermath of British colonization

The Tale of Kieu
A young woman sacrifices herself to save her family. She suffers degradation after degradation, but continues to seek love.

Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass
A transcendental poem championing nature and man. Whitman allegedly wrote the poem after Emerson called for a poet to address the American spirit.

Dick Cavett

2011-07-18T08:00:00.013-05:00

Dick Cavett recently collected some of his New York Times columns and published them in a book called Talk Show. I read as far as Cavett's ill-informed essay about fat Americans ("Is Bigger Really Better?, " page 57) which, because I am a fat American, piqued my ire. So I put the book down to finally face my feelings about Dick.

I never liked him much, not even when I was skinny. Oh he was the hippest of the interviewers and he's chatted with some of the most fabulous people: John and Yoko, Katherine Hepburn, Groucho; and sometimes I would watch him when the show was new, but I have a dim memory of preferring Mannix, and until I read the first quarter of Talk Show, I had never stopped to wonder why.

Here's why: Cavett is so busy trying to be clever that he frequently doesn't respond to the person he's interviewing, which makes for halting conversation and maladroit replies that create tension, and that tension has been misconstrued (and I realize I'm the only one who thinks so) as scintillation. Watch the Hollywood Greats DVD and count the times that Groucho or Katherine Hepburn doesn't get the point Cavett is trying to make because it doesn't follow smoothly from what his guest just said; and count the times Cavett changes a subject instead of continuing with his guest's idea. Say whatever you like about Oprah; she's a conversationalist. She follows the thread and asks the next logical question.

So finally, after all these years, I own my discomfort with Dick Cavett, and my new understanding will save me hours because now I can skip the rest of his book and not watch his DVDs.

For those who like Cavett:

Talk Show
The Dick Cavett Show: Hollywood greats
The Dick Cavett Show: Rock icons
The Dick Cavett Show: Ray Charles collection
The Dick Cavett Show: John and Yoko collection

For those who prefer Mannix:

Mannix: the first season
Mannix: the second season
Mannix: the soundtrack

Jump On the Potter Bandwagon!

2011-07-15T10:00:00.004-05:00

Well, many of the reviews are out and have spoiled the fun for me a bit, but I encourage you to ignore them completely and bask in the delight that is the final Harry Potter movie! I sometimes have the attitude of an old, crotchety lady and actively seek to ignore most pop culture phenomenon, but I was sucked into the Harry franchise a few years back and am long past the point of no return. Others disagree, but I've loved the movies and think they are, mostly, a fine representation of the books. The second Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 flicked off the screen, I have been twiddling my thumbs waiting for Part 2 and, clearly, so has the rest of America as it has already shattered records at the box offices. Now that the day has arrived I might actually try and wait for the crowds to dissipate before going to see it just to savor the last-time-I'll-be-anxious-waiting-for-a-HP-movie moment.

While it looks like a lot of our copies of the movies have been checked out (but, not all, so be sure to check FindIt), no doubt in anticipation of this day, we still have plenty of copies of the books available to relive your favorite Potter moments and lots of other books on all things Potter. Plus, check out some of the links I found that are pure fun:

BOOKS

Charmed Knits: Projects For Fans of Harry Potter

Harry, a History: The True Story of a Boy Wizard, His Fans, and Life Inside the Harry Potter Phenomenon
A story of Harry Potter fandom

Harry Potter's Bookshelf: The Great Books Behind the Hogwarts Adventures
The books that inspired Rowling and the HP novels are discussed in this book

KDL What's Next Database
This is a database of series fiction. You can search by author, series name, or book title.

One Fine Potion: The Literary Magic of Harry Potter
Author Greg Garrett argues that Christians need not be alarmed by Harry Potter and insists that the values present in HP are many of the same values upheld by the Christian faith.

The Science of Harry Potter: How Magic Really Works

WEBSITES

Harry Potter (Scholastic)
Tons of games here for kids or the kid in you

Harry Potter: A Look Back
Get a 5 minute recap of all of the Harry Potter movies

Harry Potter Spells
You can get this app on your iPhone (or iPad). You get to pick your wand, try on the sorting hat, and practice spells

Parseltongue Translator
Get any 150 character message translated into parseltongue

Pottermore
Most have probably heard of this by now, but J.K. Rowling has created Pottermore, which will be a sort of digital enhancement of the Harry Potter stories. You can watch a video of the announcement by Rowling from here.

What's Your Patronus?
Find out what your patronus is. Mine is a cat, just like Dolores Umbridge. You see? I truly am a crotchety old lady!

Blackout

2011-07-13T16:21:00.000-05:00

Lightning struck many times on the night of July 13, 1977 and the city of New York went dark. Where were you on that night? Thankfully, I wasn't anywhere near New York City; I was a wee child at home in Austin with my parents, my sister was not even a month old. I read "for the 25 hours it lasted, it stopped commerce, stymied transportation, blackened the night, sheltered the lawless, turned high rises into prisons, made water a luxury and air conditioning a nostalgic memory" (Newsweek, July 25, 1977). Can you imagine what that must have been like? It must have been exhilarating exciting and frightening. This would be a spot in history that many people remember just what they were doing when it happened...like when the towers fell or when JFK was shot. In fact, if you read the comments in the New York Times 30th anniversary article about it, you'll see that many people do.

Very similar to the weather we're having in Austin now, New York City was living in just as sweltering heat. The thermostat hit 93 in the city that day, add in the over 1000 arson fires, and you can say it was mighty hot. In addition to the looting, fires, and general debauchery, the city was reeling in fear of the Son of Sam murderer. David Berkowitz was arrested in August, just after the blackout occurred. Now imagine that, it's pitch black out, there are fires all over the city, thousands of people are in chaotic disarray and there's a murderer on the loose. Yikes.

Here's a few items to get your imagination running on these conditions.

Heat: Juliane Fry's The Encyclopedia of Weather and Climate Change: a Complete Visual Guide
Blackouts: David Nye's When the Lights Went Out: a History of Blackouts in America
Son of Sam: Spike Lee's Summer of Sam

Je ne regrette rien!

2011-07-11T08:27:00.005-05:00

Bastille Day is now just 4 days away which got me thinking about one of the most amazing French artists of all time: Edith Piaf.

Like any other famous artist, her life is full of mystery and myth. The place where she was born is still not clear, and when she died some people say that her last husband took her dead body to Paris to make people believe she died in the city that witnessed her transformation into an icon of French culture .

You probably know her work from two songs: “Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" (gosh, no one sings this song like her!) and “La Vie en Rose”, which is included in the list of Grammy Hall of Fame Awards. Her repertoire, however, is immense and there are many, many beautiful songs that are not so popular. One of her famous quotes is: “I want to make people cry even when they don't understand my words”, and she definitively achieved that.

If you want to learn more about Edith Piaf, the library has lots of material to offer:

Music

Movies

La Vie en Rose (Amazing performance my Marion Cotillard!)

Books

Armchair Travel to France

2011-07-08T12:18:00.008-05:00

France also has a national holiday with fireworks and parades in July. Bastille Day, celebrated on July 14th, commemorates the storming of the Bastille in 1789. By the late 18th century Bastille was little used as a prison and was scheduled to be demolished. The fortress had come to be associated in the minds of the people with the harsh rule of the Bourbon monarchy. During the unrest of 1789, a mob approached the Bastille to demand the arms and ammunition stored there, and, when the force guarding the structure resisted, the attackers captured the prison, releasing the seven prisoners held there. The taking of the Bastille signaled the beginning of the French Revolution.

This summer there are so many books published about the French - French living, French charm, French cinema, French history, walks in Paris, train rides in France, Americans in France, and of course, the language.

La Seduction: How the French Play the Game of Life by Elaine Sciolino: Sciolino attempts to demystify the art.
French Cinema by Charles Dazin: Key personalities and episodes in the history of French cinema.
Paris to the Past: Traveling Through French History by Train by Ina Caro: Twenty-five one-day train trips from central Paris.
The Most Beautiful Walk in the World: A Pedestrian in Paris by John Baxter: The Paris of Hemingway, Stein and Fitzgerald.
When the World Spoke French by Marc Fumaroli: Portraits of foreigners (from Catherine the Great to Benjamin Franklin) who conversed and corresponded in French.
To Burgundy and Back Again: A Tale of Wine, France, and Brotherhood by Roy Cloud: Two brothers get a true taste of the wine import market.
The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, 1830-1900 by David McCullough: The lives and experiences of Americans drawn to Paris a century before Hemingway & Co. called it their home.

And new novels about France:

Beneath a Starlet Sky by Amanda Goldberg
Enough About Love by Herve Le Tellier
French Leave by Anna Gavalda
Hector and the Secrets of Love by Francois Lelord
Never Any End to Paris by Enrique Vila Matas
The Last Time I Saw Paris by Lynn Sheene
Madame Tussaud: a Novel of the French Revolution by Michele Moran
The Paris Wife by Paula Mclain
The Philosopher's Kiss by Peter Prange
The Provence Cure for the Broken-hearted by Bridget Asher

July 6th, 1946: an odd trinity

2011-07-06T18:42:00.011-05:00

July 6th, 1946 saw the birth of a disparate trinity: George W. Bush, Peter Singer, and Sylvester Stallone. I cannot think of an odder group of men. Imagine that dinner table: an American president, an ethics philosopher noted for his advocacy of animal liberation, and Rocky. Opposites sometimes do attract, so perhaps that dinner would be a rollicking good time. My money is on an awkward meal followed quickly by departures.

Below are books and DVDs starring our dinner quests.

George W. Bush
Decision Points

Peter Singer
The Life You Can Save: Acting Now to End World Poverty
The President of Good & Evil: the Ethics of George W. Bush
Animal Liberation

Sylvester Stallone
Rocky
Rocky II
First Blood

Until today I did not know that Peter Singer wrote a book about George W. Bush. Maybe a more lively dinner party than I expected.

Swimmin' Holes

2011-07-03T17:00:00.000-05:00

I was going to write about the fireworks ban this year, but that's depressing. Then, because at my house we're switching to hardwood charcoal from pressed briquettes (better environmentally and recipe-wise, too), I was going to discuss grilling cookbooks and techniques, but that's still all about fire, and this 4th Texas has too much fire.

What we don't have enough of is water. Cool, clear water. The kind you find in Barton Springs and Deep Eddy and Krause Springs and Hamilton Pool (clockwise from upper left), although there's more of it when it rains. (Remember when it used to rain?) So pay attention to the fire marshall this 4th: let the birds make a nest in your barbecue, pack a basket with fried chicken cooked safely in your kitchen, and head for a puddle of water, if you can find one and get close to it. Here's the city's list of neighborhood pools: COA Parks and Rec, and here's Splash Across Texas, a book about Texas swimming holes (a bit out of date: 1999).

My New York Diary

2011-07-01T10:00:00.008-05:00

I'm a fan of Julie Doucet, a French-Canadian underground comix artist, whose My New York Diary I picked up on a whim one day and promptly came home and devoured. It's a short graphic novel in which she recounts a brief period when she was living in New York City. She depicts her time in art school, deals with two kind of crazy boyfriends, and suffers from seizures at one point to name just a few of the personal moments in her life she chronicles with a wonderful humor and frankness.

I'm also a fan of Michel Gondry's. I loved Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in particular, but I'll watch anything he does. So I was delighted to find that Doucet and Gondry collaborated recently on a sort of mini-movie and book titled My New New York Diary. Gondry apparently contacted Doucet and asked if she wanted to collaborate on making a movie and the process of them working together essentially becomes the (20 minute) movie. The DVD is in the back of the book which is a collection of sketches Doucet did for the movie. The result? A magic little film that is funny and sweet and a really cool merge of two distinct artistic styles. If you're a fan of either Doucet or Gondry, you just like autobiographical comics/graphic novels, and/or you finally want to see a bit of Gondry's famed style, I think you'll want to check it out.

Austin Public Library has a bunch of Doucet's other books and, of course, many of Gondry's films:

BOOKS (Doucet):

365 Days

This is a collection of collage, diary, and comic drawings from a year in the life of Doucet.

Elle-humour
A visual book filled with drawings, collages, and paintings. A sort of work of art infused with Doucet's humor.

My Most Secret Desire
This is a highly entertaining book in which Doucet recounts some of what I would assume are her more bizarre dreams. Some are a bit grizzly, so consider yourself forewarned.

MOVIES (Gondry)

Be Kind Rewind

Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (Blu-ray!)
Did you know that APL has a small, but excellent collection of Blu-ray movies? Search FindIt, the library catalog, by typing "blu-ray" into the search box and you can browse the collection.

The Green Hornet

I haven't felt very motivated to see this movie, but I did not know until writing this post that Gondry directed it, so my mind has changed...

Tokyo!
This is a sort of 3-in-1 movie with three different directors each directing their own segment all set in Tokyo.

The Work of Director Michel Gondry: A Collection of Music Videos, Short Films, Documentaries, and Stories

Gondry does some amazing music videos and here's an excellent collection of them and a few other gems.

Home Retreat

2011-06-29T10:22:00.002-05:00

My workmate recently wrote about it being hot out and retreating to a different place written about in a book. I couldn't agree more, but I despise closing that book and returning to the heat of my current surroundings. So, what my family does in this absolutely despicable heat is a little indoor home renovation. Last year we remodeled our bathroom, adding a much needed bathtub to our shower-only house. This year, we're adding a closet underneath our staircase to free up space in the coat closet and bedroom closet.

I checked out some books from the library before we tore anything up just to get some ideas of what we wanted everything to look like. Sometimes that's just the impetus to get you going...just look at pictures, make note of things you like and, more importantly, things you don't like. The library has a lot of books and magazines for you to look at; maybe by the end of the summer you'll have a fabulous retreat to enjoy all year long.

Here are a couple of new books:

Bathrooms: the Smart Approach to Design by Robitz

Kitchens: the Smart Approach to Design by Robitz

Look around on the shelves in this call number area for more and while you're at it, check out some magazines too:

Family Handyman

The Old-House Journal

El Chopo

2011-06-27T10:00:00.006-05:00

There is a place in Mexico City that becomes the epicenter of alternative youth culture every Saturday. It is a paradise for followers of the Goth, Punk, Ska, Emo, Reggae, Metal Head, and Skater subcultures. It is a market place where all the necessary costuming and paraphernalia associated with each genre is bought and sold. It is also a place where people can come together with shared interests and points of view. This place is called the Tianguis Cultural del Chopo or simply El Chopo. You can read a more detailed description of this place as well as other culturally rich venues and experiences in the recently published book, Down and Delirious in Mexico City. A similar book that also gives a studied personal insight into the dense variety to be found in perhaps the world's largest megalopolis is, First Stop in the New World: Mexico City the Capital of the 21st. Century. Both of these books have made me want to become less of a consumer of the culture of Mexico and Mexico City and more of a participant.

How El Chopo was made possible:
Refried Elvis: The Rise of the Mexican Counterculture

From the Closet to the Courtroom

2011-06-24T10:03:00.009-05:00

Gay and Lesbian Pride Month is celebrated each year the month of June. The last Sunday in June is celebrated as Gay Pride Day and here in Austin there will be a fundraiser for Austin Pride at Esther’s Follies June 26.

A few days ago, the county’s largest bankruptcy court declared the law banning federal recognition of gay marriages unconstitutional. The decision issued by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Donovan was prompted by a joint bankruptcy protection filing by a Los Angeles gay couple legally married in 2008. US Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Donovan ruled that the law violated the Constitution's equal protection guarantee. The U.S. Trustee’s Office, an arm of Department of Justice that oversees bankruptcy cases, asked Donovan to dismiss the case on the grounds that DOMA (Defense of Marraige Act) barred the court from recognizing the couple’s marriage. Donovan declined to dismiss the case, saying the couple demonstrated that there is no valid governmental basis for DOMA. The ruling Monday was also signed by 19 other judges on the 24-member court in an unusually emphatic display of consensus.

The Library has some new books on the legal history of gay rights that will bring you up to date.

From the Closet to the Courtroom: Five LGBT Rights Lawsuits That Have Changed Our Nation

From Disgust to Humanity

Queer (in) Justice: the Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States

Making it Legal: A Guide to Same-Sex Marriage, Domestic Partnership & Civil Unions

See last year's posting for gay fiction titles.

Hot. I need a break.

2011-06-22T15:38:00.004-05:00

Austin is hot. I have no imminent vacation plans, thus little possibility of cooling off other than frequent trips to Barton Springs. I choose to live here so am hesitant to complain about the heat, but I certainly would like to escape it for awhile. Below are a few books that transported me somewhere pleasant upon first read and I plan to reread a few of them over the summer.

Eric Newby's A Small Place in Italy
details the renovation of his home and integration into his local village in 1960s Italy.

Anthony Doerr's Four Seasons in Rome
an insightful account of life in Rome with infant twins.

Peter Mayle's A Year in Provence
Mayle left advertising for a slower life in Provence

Chris Yates' How to Fish
Yates is the consummate idler: fishing, gardening, drinking tea, and enjoying life

Ernest Hemingway's A Moveable Feast
Wondering Paris' avenues and side streets poor and content

The Wayback Machine

2011-06-20T08:00:00.001-05:00

The results of the second bi-annual weeding contest, in which we award a prize for finding the most outdated library book, are in. The winning entry is The Official Guide to Outdoor Skating by Frank Simcoe, and yes, that is Mr. Simcoe on the cover.

As silly as he looks doing air splits in his polyester pants and sneaker skates, the book did not win for the photo. No, it won because Frank is not wearing a helmet. Since those carefree disco days, helmets have become standard equipment for wheeled sports, and we at APL endorse the advance of safety.

Second place went to Parenting in the '90s: A Comprehensive Guide for Greater Austin, which is full of helpful information... from 20 years ago. This is as close as we can get you to a ride in Mr. Peabody's Wayback Machine. (See also this post on time travel.)

Here are more entries from the June 2011 contest.

Click the pictures to enlarge, and take another look at the 2010 contest. Our next contest wraps in December. Keep an eye on the blog!

I'm With the Band

2011-06-17T10:10:00.000-05:00

I just read a gossipy page-turner of a book that I think makes it the perfect beach read: I'm With the Band: Confessions of a Groupie by Pamela Des Barres. Des Barres was a teenager when Brit bands like The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones were in their prime (late 60s-early 70s) and she was a huge fan. It started as a school girl crush on Paul McCartney that eventually morphed into a propensity to hang out outside of her fave rockers' houses and strutting up and down the Sunset Strip. Des Barres certainly epitomized the term "groupie", but she went from just being a young, pretty girl trying to get close to rock stars to one that had (often dramatic) relationships with the likes of Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger, and Keith Moon, just to name a few. Her bed-hopping with some of my all-time favorite rock artists really got going when Frank Zappa helped to form an all girl rock/performance art group that consisted of Des Barres and other avid groupies called the GTOs (Girls Together Outrageously). Zappa helped them put together an album and, while their career never really took off, it further enmeshed these ladies into the whole scene and helped set the stage for a number of Des Barres' future relationships.

As Des Barres and others would argue, though, the GTOs weren't just a bunch of groupies looking for fame. They truly loved the music and wanted to be a part of the lives of the (mostly) men that created it. Des Barres was some of the inspiration for the character Penny Lane from "Almost Famous" and, while they never referred to themselves as "Band-Aides", her and her friends definitely believed that they contributed to the music and were venerated and treated with a level of respect that I don't think you really find among the super fans and artists of today.

When I was in high school I was totally obsessed with the rock bands of the British invasion, Led Zeppelin in particular, and I always felt it a shame I wasn't born in a different era. This may be the full explanation of why I enjoyed this book despite some complaints regarding the writing style (it does read a bit like a 16 year-old's diary), but I feel pretty confident that if you enjoyed "Almost Famous", have an interest in this time period musically or otherwise, and/or just love celebrity gossip, you'll really dig this one.

Here are some additional books written by Des Barres and others that you may enjoy, if I'm With the Band piques your interest:

Dandelion: Memoir of a Free Spirit
Here's a memoir by Catherine James, another very famous groupie that appears in Des Barres' memoir and partied with all the big name musicians of the time

"Former Stones, Dylan Superfan Pamela Des Barres on 'Greatest Groupies'"
This is a link to an interview with Pamela Des Barres regarding her VH1 documentary that aired in December 2010 and includes a bit of info on the upcoming movie based on I'm With the Band

Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock-and-Roll's Legendary Neighborhood
Laurel Canyon is the famed LA neighborhood where a number of legendary musicians hung out and resided, including Pamela Des Barres at Frank Zappa's house

Let's Spend the Night Together: Backstage Secrets of Rock Muses and Supergroupies
In this title by Des Barres, she interviews famous groupies, so they can tell their stories

Rebel Heart: An American Rock 'n' Roll Journey
This is a memoir from another very famous groupie, Bebe Buell, mother of Liv Tyler, whose famous conquests include Steven Tyler, Elvis Costello, and Rod Stewart.

Take Another Little Piece of My Heart: A Groupie Grows Up
This is Des Barres' follow-up to I'm With the Band that picks up where the other left off

Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me
Not exactly a groupie, Pattie Boyd, the author of this memoir, was married to George Harrison and, later, Eric Clapton. The infamous songs "Something", "Layla", and "Wonderful Tonight" were all written for her.

Bloomsday!

2011-06-15T15:09:00.002-05:00

When I was a kid my family had a pretty meager VHS collection. We did, however, own a copy of Groundhog Day which I watched over and over again, sometimes trying to count the number of times Bill Murray has to experience the same day. (It’s impossible by the way).

For the most part, it’s easy to ignore the passage of time in movies and novels. Some take place over the course of months, years, decades or generations. But tomorrow we celebrate Bloomsday, a day set aside to honor James Joyce’s novel Ulysses and the novel's hero Leopold Bloom. Joyce's quintessential text journeys all over Dublin on June 16th as Bloom experiences a Homer-like odyssey. Ulysses doesn't make for the greatest beach read ever but here are other one-day novels which might interest you:

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
Seize the Day by Saul Bellow
A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep? By Philip K. Dick
Also available as a graphic novel
The Hours by Michael Cunningham
Cosmopolis by Don DeLillo
After Dark by Haruki Murakami
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Alexander Solzhenitsyn

A book trailer???

2011-06-13T08:15:00.000-05:00

It’s amazing, isn’t it?? We now have not only movie trailers but also book trailers as well. Since I buy books in other languages for the Library, I’ve noticed that book trailers are more popular in European countries than in America. Amazon France and Amazon Germany (especially) has had them for a quite a while. There are trailers for almost every book they sell, and that’s how I got hooked on book trailers.

The first one I remember enjoying was for Leopard by Jo Nesbø . The composition, the colors, the simple way the author delivers the message and yet, the promise of a complex thriller made me really want to read this book. I had to wait though because it was not released in English until early this year but if you read German we have a copy available. My second favorite trailer was for Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I am not a big fan of Jane Austen (sorry!) and I had no intention to read any of the Quirk Books with similar plots, but after seeing this trailer, gosh!! I really want to read this book now!

I was curious to see if others were into book trailers like me and started asking around. A friend of mine said: Nope, I don’t want to see a book trailer because I want to create my own image of the characters, environment and so on. I don’t what anyone doing that for me. Another friend said that he doesn’t fall under the spell of book trailers, they don’t make him want to read a book. It seems that whether we like them or not, book trailers are here to stay!

If you want to learn a bit more about this “new” trend, you can read or listen to the NPR story “Honoring and Poking fun at Book Trailers.”

If you want to know what happened at the Mobie Awards 2011, (yes, there are awards for the best and worst book trailers!), view the list of winners here.

Have fun!

Movies to Check Out at APL this Summer

2011-06-10T14:32:00.021-05:00

If your neighborhood Blockbuster store has closed, and you've watched all the good Netflix films, then click on one of these titles and place a hold, so that you can enjoy a recent, well-reviewed film.

Action/Thrillers
I Am Number 4
Inception
Iron Man 2
The Next Three Days
Robin Hood

Comedy

Dinner for Schmucks
Four Lions
Just Go With It
Knight and Day
Morning Glory

Drama
Animal Kingdom
Biutiful
Black Swan
Blue Valentine
The Company Men
Fair Game
The Fighter
For Colored Girls
The Ghost Writer
I Love You Philip Morris
It's Kind of a Funny Story
Jack Goes Boating
The Joneses
King's Speech
Never Let Me Go
127 Hours
Rabbit Hole
Social Network
Winter's Bone

Phan Thi Kim Phuc

2011-06-08T16:58:00.005-05:00

So it goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. I often dismiss this maxim. A thousand words written by a talented writer may easily surpass an image. A thousand words rumbling around in my brain, disambiguating, can reveal a depth of truth deeper than any image. For me, word trumps image. I’ve stubbornly dug my heels into the dirt: words win.

Then an image dilates my pupils and I stand corrected, awestruck by the indescribable emotion of an image. One particular image that trumps any mountain of words, is the 1972 Pulitzer winning photograph of nine-year-old Phan Thi Kim Phuc. That photograph was taken June 8, 1972 shortly after Kim’s village was bombed and napalm burned her clothing from her body. This photograph made Kim a vivid victim of war to the international community and a propaganda symbol for the Vietnamese government. She now resides in Ontario and leads a remarkable life. Denise Chong’s The Girl in the Picture: the Story of Kim Phuc, the Photograph, and the Vietnam War tells Kim’s story.

Other books that discuss children and war:

The Life We Were Given: Operation Babylift, International Adoption, and the Children of War in Vietnam

And Still Peace Did Not Come: a Memoir of Reconciliation

Clara’s War: One Girl’s Story of Survival

Hidden Children of the Holocaust

Courageous Journey: Walking the Lost Boys’ Path from Sudan to America

Meet the Author

2011-06-06T08:00:00.004-05:00

Psst! Want to hear some juicy Hollywood gossip? Meet the screenwriter and author, Michael B. Druxman, on Saturday, June 18, from 2 to 4 p.m., on the second floor of the downtown library, and join us for a discussion of his memoir, My Forty-Five Years in Hollywood ... and How I Escaped Alive. A book signing will follow.

Druxman chased his dreams to Hollywood and made most of them come true. Starting out with no show-business contacts, he created a successful career as a publicist, playwright, screenwriter, director, and Hollywood historian. His memoir is filled with stories of his encounters with Jimmy Durante and Elvis Presley, Jack Lemmon and Cary Grant, the cast of the hit television series Dallas, legendary producer Roger Corman, and with lessons learned from Hollywood's rich and famous.

Druxman retired to Austin a couple of years ago, but still works on screenplays and other writing projects occasionally. His screenwriting credits include such notable films as Cheyenne Warrior with Kelly Preston, Dillinger and Capone starring Martin Sheen and F. Murray Abraham, and The Doorway with Roy Scheider, which he also directed. Druxman has published 13 books since 1974, including

My Forty-Five Years in Hollywood ... and How I Escaped Alive

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Cheyenne Warrior

How to Write a Story...Any Story

The Musical: From Broadway to Hollywood

One Good Film Deserves Another

Charlton Heston

Make It Again Sam

This event is free and open to the public. For more information please call 512-974-7400 or visit http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/library/.

Art for the Digital Public

2011-06-03T12:17:00.007-05:00

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) recently opened its doors to the digital public, providing free access to high-resolution images of the museum’s rich encyclopedic collection. Visitors to the library (lacma.org/imagelibrary) can download the images free of charge and without any restrictions on use. The Image Library opens with 2,000 public domain images (out of a collection of 100.000 artworks), representing a broad range of LACMA’s collections, including Egyptian, Decorative Arts and Design, Latin American, Chinese and Korean, European Painting and Sculpture, and many more.

You can view and donwload a Pissarro landscape; a 1704 still life of wild strawberries by the Dutch painter Adriaen Coorte; and gold earrings from the fifth to the seventh century. But the current selection is only a start, and the digital collection will grow. The fact that users could potentially take the images and make t-shirts or potholders adorned with a work does not bother the director. "It's negligible in the long run," Mr. Govan said. "My view is that it's better to get the images out there so people will want to come and see the real thing." Each work in the library comes with identifying information and a link to its listing on the museum's online collections, where further information can be found.

You can find this resource for free images along with others using APL's Image Locator Information Guide.

The Spelling Buzz

2011-06-01T12:50:00.005-05:00

The thrill of victory! The agony of defeat! The pressure is on while countless pairs of eyes watch. Surprisingly, this is not another basketball blog from me. This is the Scripps National Spelling Bee which starts in (from this moment) 1 day and 5 hours.

Chances are you had the opportunity (or misfortune) to compete in a spelling bee at some point in your life. You may or may not want to relive those potentially painful memories. For me, I just could not get the “i before e” rule down when I was asked to spell ‘field.’ Luckily, my spelling has improved slightly since second grade.

As NPR's Morning Edition pointed out this morning, English, coming as it does from so many different language sources, keeps you guessing when it comes to spelling. The good news is that the library is here to help!

Tools to help improve your spelling

Vocabulary & spelling success in 20 minutes a day from Learning Express
Spell it right dictionary by Christine Maxwell

Interesting reads on the spelling challenges presented by the English language.

The great typo hunt : two friends changing the world one correction at a time by Jeff Deck
Righting the mother tongue : from Olde English to email, the tangled story of English spelling by David Wolman
Spellbound : the surprising origins and astonishing secrets of English spelling by James Essinger

Or, sit back and let other people do the spelling for you in these movies.

Jaco Pastorius

2011-05-30T16:47:00.000-05:00

A good friend of mine sent me some music by Jaco Pastorius a while back. I hadn't thought about him in quite some time. I immediately flashed-back to reading his 1987 obituary in Rolling Stone magazine. His is a familiar tale of great musical genius shadowed by mental illness and substance abuse. Mine is a tale of being too young and ignorant to appreciate his music. It was only after his death did I learn of his South Florida roots. He was living in a downtown Hollywood, FL apartment while I was maybe 10 miles away at Pasadena Lakes Elementary School. We frequented the same landmark Ft. Lauderdale, FL music store; Peaches Music and Video. Perhaps we passed eachother making our way in and out of the store...

Solo Work:

Jaco Pastorius

Word of Mouth
Pastorius Live in New York City
The Essential Jaco Pastorius

Weather Report Years:

Biography:

Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius

Fire Season

2011-05-27T12:13:00.013-05:00

The Texas Forest Service reports wildfires have scorched more than 2.2 million acres and more than 400 homes this year, and extremely critical fire conditions persist in Northwest and West Texas. Fires are also watched very closely in the national forests by the US Forest Service, but if a blaze is sparked by lightning, doesn't threaten communities, and isn't too intense, public lands managers can opt simply to monitor it. A new book, Fire Season: Field Notes from a Wilderness Lookout, listed on APL REcommends- Nonfiction, captures Phillip connor's eighth summer as a fire lookout in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico.

A decade ago Philip Connors left work as an editor at the Wall Street Journal when he could not edit a 9/11 editorial that he objected to, and began working as one of the last fire lookouts in America. The U.S. Forest Service has decommissioned some 90 percent of its fire towers, but finds it less costly to staff a few hundred of its most remote towers than to put up drone aircraft. Spending nearly half the year in a 7' x 7' tower, 10,000 feet above sea level in the forest, Connors kept watch over one of the most fire-prone forests in the country. The landscape is rugged and roadless—it was the first region in the world to be officially placed off limits to industrial machines—and it gets hit by lightning more than 30,000 times per year.

During the fire season, April through August, Connors' schedule is 10 days on, four days off. A 5-mile hike and 80-mile drive separate him from a soft bed, a pool table and a cold beer. The monotony of the job is broken by the company of his dog, the occasional hiker, and visits from his wife.

A passage from the book:
I’m not about to tell two guys in leather chaps and cowboy hats about my very real and near-mystical hours of longing and nostalgia, alone in my little glass box, brooding over and exulting in my own mortality amid mountains silently magisterial in the late-day sun. Nor the hours of sitting and staring into the inscrutable heart of the desert, not thinking anything, not feeling anything.

Other books at APL that have been written by fire lookouts:
Desert Solitaire: A Season in the Wilderness by Edward Abbey
Danger on the Peaks: Poems by Gary Snyder
Young Men and Fire by Norman MacLean
The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac

Writing about Grief

2011-05-25T16:44:00.004-05:00

Grief possesses an incredible ability to sharpen and obfuscate thought. One moment the world is seen with perfect clarity while the following moment the griever can feel untethered and rapidly losing any mooring in this world. Writing about grief becomes paradoxically easy and difficult. The ease stems from the manner in which words effortlessly fill the page. The difficulty arises with the realization that no amount of words will ever draw close enough to an adequate description. I am grateful for writers who have attempted to make sense of their unique grief. Grief is individually unique, yet one person’s experiences can reveal so much about us.

A good grief memoir tells us: This path has been walked before. Yes, you have yet to walk it and your footprints might not fit the prints already present, but a path does not become a path until many many people have trudged the same swatch of land.

These five memoirs capture the confusion, heartache, fear, and nascent hope of grief.

Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking (loss of her husband)

Philip Roth's Patrimony (loss of his father)

Meghan O'Rourke's The Long Goodbye (loss of her mother)

Joyce Carol Oates' A Widow's Story (loss of her husband)

C.S Lewis' A Grief Observed (loss of his wife)

Jon Ronson

2011-05-23T11:46:00.000-05:00

Jon Ronson was on The Daily Show last week plugging his new book The Psychopath Test. He's the guy who wrote the book from which they made the movie The Men Who Stare at Goats. (Not a great movie, but you can't go far wrong gazing at George Clooney for 90 minutes over an Alamo Drafthouse pizza.) He and Jon Stewart were very funny together, so I checked out Them: Adventures with Extremists, in which Ronson describes hanging out with Klansmen, zealots, and conspiracy theorists, including Austin's own public-access celeb Alex Jones. Here's one of the funniest bits:

Thom hunched his shoulders as he told his self-deprecating jokes. He is a friendly and cheerful man, with an amiable demeanor. Had he not been the Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, I'd have described him as having the humourous demeanor of a Manhattan nebbish. The door was open for me, many times, to say to him, "Oh, Thom! You're such a nebbish!" But that would have been a mistake. Still, it was surprising to find myself in a situation where I was toning down my Jewish character traits so as not to alienate a Ku Klux Klan leader who reminded me of Woody Allen.

We own the book The Men Who Stare at Goats (DVD link is above), but it's checked out, and you'll have to get behind me on the holds list. You can get Them, though; it's so funny and reads so fast that I finished it overnight and brought it right back. The Psychopath Test is on the way.

Jon Ronson (author's web site)

names of authors:

Maybe We Can Work It Out

2011-05-20T10:40:00.014-05:00

As I eat this delicious, gooey brownie made by one of my fellow librarians, I am writing to you today about workout videos. A year or so ago I made a commitment to myself to get in better physical shape. My upper body strength was a joke and my ability to keep up on my bike was pitiful, so I knew it was time to start some strength training and build up my endurance. I've never been an athletic person and, generally speaking, sports don't really interest me. I also hate gyms. I feel like my workouts always start to get too repetitive and dull (running on the treadmill five days a week is a bore, in my opinion) and I resent having to pay someone for exercise. Lucky for me then that the library has a bunch of workout DVDs. What I usually do is check one out and test it at home; if I like it, I buy it and add it to my collection. My favorites are the Jillian Michaels workouts - they are really challenging, the exercises can be modified for different fitness levels, and a number of them can be done in 30 minutes (which I would normally think too short, but it's an intense 30 minutes).

There's really no beating being able to workout at home. I never have to leave my house to get a good workout and buying DVDs (and a few pieces of equipment: hand weights, exercise mat, resistance band, kettlebell) is quite a bit cheaper than paying for a gym membership. The convenience of it can't be beat and I haven't had more energy or looked this good since high school! I'm actually looking forward to wearing a swimsuit this summer and, I mean, how often do you get to say that?

6 Week Six-Pack
This is my current favorite. While it does focus on abs, really this is a whole body cardio workout.

30 Day Shred
This DVD turned me into a devoted Jillian Michaels fan. I don't really use it as much anymore because the workouts are so short (each one is a little over 20 minutes), but that does not mean they are not super intense. There are 3 workouts on 3 different levels and I definitely had to progress through it to finally build up to level 3. Great for when you're in a time crunch.

Denise Austin's 3 Week Boot Camp
Denise Austin is a bit too chipper for me most of the time. It also can be a challenge to follow her as her instructions are not always clear and the segway to the next move is often abrupt and not well prompted. With that said, though, this is the best Austin workout video I've ever done. Since Michaels arrived on the scene, Austin's workouts have gained in quality and challenge.

Personal Training with Jackie: Power Circuit Training
I don't know a thing about the show this lady is or was on, but this is a great workout. This is the most comparable to Michaels in terms of intensity.

Yoga Meltdown
This is Jillian's yoga workout and I really like it because she adds a carido element that makes it a bit more challenging (read: heart pounding) than your typical yoga workout.

*** There are tons more of these DVDs available for check out. A good way to pull up all of the DVDs we have is to go to FindIt, the online catalog, click on Advanced Search (2nd link from left), type "workout$" in the first box, and select "Videorecording on DVD" in the material format box. (Using the $ symbol is an example of truncation. It gets the catalog to search for both the word "workout" and "workouts"; this is a particularly effective strategy when searching for info on nursing, for example - type in "nurs$" and you'll receive results with the words "nurse", "nurses", and "nursing".)