And the prize goes to....

As we know, the Nobel Price for Literature went to Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio. He is one of the most translated French authors or our time, whose work is hard to categorize. His revolutionary writing style and the freedom to pick the topics for his works gave him the title of one of the most important avant-garde writers.

The topics of his books are varied: ecology, philosophy, the clash of cultures, insanity, immigration, traveling, memory, and exile among others. His work consists of more than 40 books published in French, a dozen in English, as well as some publications in Swedish and German. The Nobel Prize Academy considers him, “an author of new departures, poetic adventure and sensual ecstasy,” and his work as, "the best and most imaginative prose work of the year."

When looking as his biography, it is easy to understand the richness of his work. Le Clezio was born in France but spent his childhood in Nigeria. As a young adult he studied in England and France. He moved to the United States where he worked as a teacher but was then sent to Thailand and Mexico for his military service. Later he lived with the Embera-Wounaan Indians in Panamá. He has taught at numerous universities in countries around the world: México, South Korea, Bangkok, Boston, Austin, and Albuquerque.

If you haven’t read any books by this author, here are some of the titles available at our libraries:

The prospector

Onitsha

The round & other cold hard facts


In case you want to read his works in French here are some ideas:
Ourania : roman.

Peuple du ciel ; suivi de Les bergers

Hasard ; suivi de, Angoli Mala

Go to Harvard for Free

I love to learn. This may be obvious if one considers that I chose Librarian as a profession. I also love the internet. I think lolcats are hilarious, I use a feed reader to read more blogs than reasonable, and my delicious links are precious to me. When learning and the internet are combined, I, and librarians the world over, salivate and take note. Lately, I’ve been salivating over and exploring the many free college courses, offered by some of the best universities in the country, anyone can take via the internet. You do not have to be enrolled or affiliated in any way with the university. In fact, none of these websites even require you to sign up for some sort of free account. Merely click the link to the course and let the learning commence. Right now I’m taking an introductory computer science course at Harvard and next semester I’m considering taking “Ingmar Bergman, Cinematic Philosopher” at MIT, and all I had to do was point and click.

100 Free Podcasts from the Best Colleges in the World

Austin Public Library’s Education and Training Research Guide
Scroll down to Online Education and Training: Free Classes and Tutorials to see a more comprehensive list of free classes on the internet.

Big Think
These are not necessarily courses, but it is a large collection of lectures and videos by "intellectuals".

Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative

Harvard*
* You have to utilize Google to find Harvard classes – they are not all in one place. Often instructors establish their own course websites. For example, I googled “harvard computer science courses”, browsed the results, and then found a class I was interested in.

Internet Archive’s Open Educational Resources
Links to many free university-level lectures and courses.

Lecturefox: Free University Lectures

MIT OpenCourseWare

Open Yale Courses

Tufts OpenCourseWare

Scopes Trial Photos

Boing Boing reports that the Smithsonian Institution Archives recently added 39 photographs from the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes trial to Flickr. According to the Archives, the negatives were discovered eighty years after the trial and then restored in 2005.

In 1925, a Tennessee law passed prohibiting the teaching of evolution in public schools. John Scopes accepted the ACLU's offer to defend him if he challenged the law. Scopes was arrested, and the "Monkey Trial" quickly became a media circus. William Jennings Bryan prosecuted and Clarence Darrow defended Scopes. The fierce exchanges became legendary and inspired the play Inherit the Wind, which later became a movie starring Spencer Tracy. Scopes was convicted and fined $100, however the fine was overturned by a higher court. The law was repealed in 1967.

For more information, check out one of the many books on the subject or find more primary sources using the library's research databases:

• "The Scopes Trial: Aftermath." Editorial By H.L. Mencken, September 14, 1925 available in Gale Virtual Reference Library
  


• "Two Perspectives on the Scopes Trial." Testimony By Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan, July 9, 1925 in Gale Virtual Reference Library
  


• "The Annual Register for 1925: The Scopes 'Monkey Trial' and the Debate over Evolution." Chadwyck-Healey Historical Documents. History Study Center.

Also visit PBS's American Experience Online to see the film Monkey Trial, hear monkey themed music, and much more!

American Writers and the Nobel Prize

*UPDATE*: Well, the Nobel folks have a tendency to announce that they'll be awarding a prize in a couple of weeks, then go ahead and do it the next morning. Jean-Marie Gustave le Clezio is the 2008 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Horace Engdahl, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy and keeper of the Nobel Prize, recently said that American writers do not engage themselves with the greater world and therefore are not worthy of wining the Nobel Prize. Yikes! That’s a serious condemnation. With the Nobel Prize in literature expected to be awarded within a couple of weeks, deserving American writers such as Philip Roth and Joyce Carol Oates look like their Nobel exile will continue.

Whether or not Roth or Oates claims the world’s richest literary prize ($1.3million), they remain highly productive and constantly acclaimed writers. I can’t think of a better way to honor a writer than to read her work. The Austin Public Library owns dozens and dozens of their books. Below are just a few highlights:

Philip Roth:
American Pastoral
Sabbath’s Theater
Portnoy’s Complaint
Indignation

Indignation is the November selection for the Contemporary Fiction Book Club.

Joyce Carol Oates:
The Gravedigger’s Daughter
Blonde
What I Lived For
them

Scott McLemee asked American scholars, critics, and writers to respond to Engdahl’s pointed criticism. Their responses can be found here.

Bracing

Do you feel overwhelmed in trying to understand the most significant economic blunder in American history since the Great Depression? Would you like to have more of a sense of how this continually unfolding man-made disaster affects you personally? Have we reached bottom? Will the $700 billion bailout by the Federal Government instill confidence in the banking system? Was it a good idea? Were there alternatives? Do you catch yourself staring off into space at the mention of mortgage backed securities, commercial paper, or credit default swaps? Fortunately for us, the producers of "This American Life" have put together a very well organized, concise, and easily understandable explanation of this crisis entitled, 365: Another Frightening Show About the Economy. Also fortunately for us, the Austin Public Library subscribes to a variety of publications and databases to help keep the public informed about an event that will impact generations of individuals globally for years to come, and will influence the public policy of many governments, as well as serve as a case study for future economists and business people. I've listed some avenues of exploration below.

Serial Publications:
Barron's
Business Week
The Economist
Harvard Business Review
Investor's Business Daily Inc.

Databases:
Business and Investment
Newspapers and Current Events

James Thurber and Humor

James Thurber was quoted as saying, “I write humor the way a surgeon operates, because it is a livelihood, because I have a great urge to do it, because many interesting challenges are set up, and because I have the hope it may do some good.” A few months ago the esteemed Thurber House announced their finalists for the Thurber Prize, the nation’s highest honor to writers of humor. The prize includes $5,000 cash and a commemorative crystal plaque. The finalists are Larry Doyle for I Love You, Beth Cooper, Patricia Marx for Him, Her, Him Again, the End of Him, and Simon Rich for Ant Farm. The winner will be announced this Monday, October 6^th, keep an eye on the Thurber House website. I'm sure Thurber would consider the winner as a writer who has great urgency, meets today's interesting challenges, and certainly does good.

James Thurber, born in Colombus, Ohio in 1894, is known for his writings and drawings. His familiar cartoons were a large part of the New Yorker magazine. My Life and Hard Times, Thurber’s autobiography is considered his greatest work. Check out the Biography Resource Center database for a lot more on Thurber. Take a look at the book Cartoon America : comic art in the Library of Congress for an insight to Thurber's cartoons. Finally, check out our Good Reads page for more humorous writing!

It's the top ten!

Do you know what the top 10 sleepiest animals are? How about the top 10 longest-running programs on National Public Radio or 10 longest words in the Oxford English Dictionary?

You can find all of these and the answers to other interesting questions on the Top 10 of Everything book. The first edition of this book was published in 1989. Since then, this book has been printed annually and special editions dedicated to specific topics have been also released. For example: Top 10 of Sport, Top 10 of Music and Top 10 of Film, among others.

Russell Ash, the author of this book, is a British author that has also published other similar books for children and adults. So, if you want to have a fun light read at the library, feel free to browse our 2009 edition or to take home one of the previous ones.

Patron Saints of Librarians

St. Jerome is one of the patron saints of librarians. His feast day is tomorrow, September 30. He is known for his Latin translation of the Bible, the Vulgate. Jerome is noted with this familiar quote, “Be ever engaged, so that whenever the devil calls he may find you occupied.” We have another patron saint as well, Lawrence. His story is a little more interesting. It is said that Lawrence was martyred on a gridiron, while tortured he cried out “Assum est, inquit, versa et manduca.” Latin for “this side’s done, turn me over and have a bite.” Every Friday since his death (in 257), it is said that he leads a suffering soul out of Pergatory and into heaven, as a reward for his own heroic martyrdom.

Who’s your patron saint? There are many ways to find out, I used the Encyclopaedia Britannica Online (one of our wonderful databases), a book called Saints Preserve Us! Everything You Need to Know About Every Saint You’ll Ever Need, and Wikipedia online.

We’ve got a couple new saint books that are on the first floor of the Faulk Central Library, A Feast of Holy Cards Patron Saints and Ancient & Modern Saints, both by Barbara Calamari and Sandra DiPasqua. Even though our patron saints are not featured in either book, they are beautiful, full color texts on saints that you should check out nonetheless.

Reading Music

It's that time again. Thousands descend upon Zilker Park to hear the tunes, fight for shade, and purchase that all-important t-shirt. I just barely survived the ACL Fest of 2005 with the 108° heat and dust aplenty, so I've been a little leery about going back. Missing Gogol Bordello is my punishment for being a wimp though; check out those gypsy punks if you have a chance!

Once the party's over, amble over to your local library to pick up a recent "musical" novel:

In Hoboken: A Novel by Christian Bauman - Amidst tenements and dive bars and all-night diners, Thatcher and his friends struggle to make meaningful music in a culture turning away from it.

Bass cathedral by Nathaniel Mackey – Mackey, winner of the 2006 National Book Award, presents his fourth volume in his ongoing great American jazz novel with no beginning or end.

Slumberland: A Novel by Paul Beatty - The breakout novel from a literary virtuoso about a disaffected Los Angeles DJ who travels to post-Wall Berlin in search of his transatlantic doppelganger.

Dmitri Esterhaats: A Novel by Russell Hardin - This enlightening story of musical passion documents the coming-of-age of pianist Dmitri Esterhaats as he develops from precocious adolescent to professional virtuoso.

Vivaldi's Virgins: A Novel by Barbara Quick - A fascinating glimpse inside the source of Vivaldi's musical legacy, interwoven with the gripping story of a remarkable young woman's coming-of-age in a deliciously evocative time and place.

Black Will Shoot: A Novel by Jesse John Washington - A fearless page-turner set amid the glories and evils of the rap world.

David Foster Wallace, R.I.P.

David Foster Wallace died earlier this month. Wallace suffered from depression for twenty years, according to his father, and committed suicide in his home September 12.

His writing is a fine balance between quirk, erudition, and humor. Weighing in at a mind-boggling 1,000+ pages, Infinite Jest is a tour de force of late twentieth century American life. Part cultural criticism and part zeitgeist, Infinite Jest has already wiggled its way into the realm of modern classics and will only grow in stature as we reflect upon life at the end of the millennium. Wallace could write short too. His essays run the gamut, from the lobster industry to sports to politics to pornography. No matter to what attention he turned his pen (or keyboard) Wallace wrote with immense intelligence, style, and bravado. Many great writers were notoriously curmudgeons, but Wallace remains well-respected by his students, colleagues, and interviewers. Joshua Ferris wrote kindly of his first meeting with David Foster Wallace.

David Foster Wallace might be gone, but he leaves an impressive and diverse body of work. Funny, witty, and sad, Wallace is worth the read and will continue to be so for generations.

Infinite Jest

Consider the Lobster and Other Essays

Oblivion

Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

A Supposedly Funny Thing I’ll Never Do Again

The Broom of the System

Girl with Curious Hair

Adi vs. Rudolf

I’m a soccer fanatic. In addition to devoting an embarrassingly high percentage of my free time to watching matches, I have a collection of jerseys of which I am very proud and deeply ashamed. Having collected so many jerseys and watched so many matches, I have become very familiar with the makers of these items and their logos. Two of the largest and most popular of these manufacturers are Adidas and Puma. How ironic that these giants of the sports apparel industry were founded by two brothers who originally collaborated and cooperated with each other in a shared quest for business success that ended in each achieving this goal in spite of the other. You can read in great detail about the very bitter rivalry of the Dassler brothers in a newly acquired book by the Austin Public Library entitled, Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sports.

New Magazines

Faulk Central has lots of new magazine titles. The annual price of the new subscriptions that are listed below ranges between $50 and $2000 (Nature), very expensive for an individual to pay, but at the Library we can all read the latest issue for free. Click the title to see what the magazine is like, but please visit us to read the printed magazine with the full articles. To search for other periodical tiles held at Faulk or at the branches, use the catalog and select periodical title in the drop down menu. You can also use ejournal finder to see what’s available online.

BBC Music Magazine

Believer

Childhood Education

Chronicle of Philanthropy

Environment

eWeek

folk art

Green Builder

Kiplinger Letter

National Law Journal

Nature

New African

Rocks and Minerals

USA Today Sports Weekly

Walrus

Weatherwise

Books from around the world!

If you have been studying a foreign language for a long time, you know that after you reach an advanced level of fluency in the language there are only two things left for you to do: polish little mistakes and constantly refresh all you have learned so you do not loose it. Yes, it is sad, but, foreign languages are like a garden: they need constant care and attention, otherwise, all those verbs, nouns and prepositions that took you so long to master will slowly be erased from your memory. Not to mention how fast languages can change; a word you used five years ago might have a different meaning now or could have disappeared completely from the popular jargon.

At this point you might be thinking: how can I keep up with changes in language and avoid getting rusty? The answer is READING!!!!

This is one of the reasons why the Austin Public Library has a World Languages Collection at the Central Library (800 Guadalupe). This library has books in 29 different languages, including: Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Italian, French, Urdu, Croatian, Russian, German, Polish, and Portuguese among others. Some collections are bigger than others, but they all are constantly growing. We also have foreign language magazines and different branches also have books in foreign languages.

A week ago we received a shipment of new books, so, come to the library, check them out, and if you have any reading cravings, even in another language, let us know! We will get them for you.

This "Will Rock You in the Head"

Last Wednesday, the largest scientific experiment ever was begun. A particle accelerator, called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), straddling the French-Swiss border sent two streams of protons hurling at each other at light speed from either side of a 17 mile circular tunnel about 333 feet below the ground. In just a matter of time, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (known by its historic acronym CERN) may change the science of particle physics forever by facilitating the discovery of what our universe is really made up of.

What could be gleaned from crazy fast beams of subatomic particles racing toward each other? Well, the beams will crash and converge at four different places within the tunnel creating debris that may reveal a number of our universe’s mysteries. Particle physicists believe the debris may be composed of dark matter (or antimatter) – something we know little about that may be a crucial part of the universe. Many are also hoping to find the Higgs boson, referred to in the media as the God particle; a particle that could be accountable for the mass of all other subatomic particles. Additionally, some physicists believe LHC could reveal new forces of nature and extra dimensions not visible to the human eye.

A minority of physicists are concerned the LHC will cause a black hole or several small black holes that would eventually consume the entire planet. Two physicists, Luis Sancho and Walter L. Wagner, have brought forward a lawsuit in Hawaii to stop the LHC. The men claim the LHC is a “dark matter factory” that will destroy Earth. Despite their protests, the LHC was not stopped, and the majority of physicists do not believe it can cause harm as it will not generate anywhere near the level of energy necessary to create black holes.

So perhaps we are only a few years away from uncovering the secrets of the universe. Or, maybe we’re just a few years closer to being consumed by a black hole. Either way, there’s ample to read about particle accelerators, dark matter, and the Higgs all at the Austin Public Library. And, please don’t miss the rap created by a physics student helping out with the LHC on YouTube. If all of this doesn’t “rock you in the head”, the video hopefully will.

Before the Big Bang: The Origins of the Universe

Bright Galaxies, Dark Matters

Facts and Mysteries in Elementary Particle Physics

The Hunting of the Quark: A True Story of Modern Physics

Quintessence: The Mystery of Missing Mass in the Universe

The Particle Century

The Shadows of Creation: Dark Matter and the Structure of the Universe

And don't miss these great articles on National Geographic's website:

The God Particle
Comprehensive article about the LHC and all of the science behind it.

Large Hadron Collider Rap Video Is a Hit

Read Orwell, Save the World

The recent hurricanes have reminded us once again how fragile our earthly existence can be. This past summer, SciFi channel's Visions for Tomorrow initiative asked fans to pick the "Top Things You Must Read, Watch and Do to Save the World." The survey's results have the top three planet-saving activities as reading, recycling and registering to vote. The library can help you accomplish all three - check out the listed books, pick up a voter registration card (deadline for the November election is October 6 ), and recycle your print cartridges at Faulk Central Library.

And what should you read?

1984 by George Orwell
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Dune by Frank Herbert
The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
The Stand by Stephen King
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton

The survey also asked fans what we should watch, and the Library has most of the top titles.

TV

Firefly
Battlestar Gallactica
The X-Files
Heroes

Films

Blade Runner
The Matrix
The Terminator
Day after Tomorrow
Children of Men

Things I don't want on my wall

NPR reports that an art collector recently paid $215,000 for a Swiss man's tattooed back. The walking work of art, Tim Steiner, will appear at certain events to show off the tattoo by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye. Even stranger, Steiner has also agreed that the art collector may preserve the tattoo after Steiner's death! That is one piece of artwork you should make a point to see sooner than later.


Other tattoos have been preserved for posterity, although not as artwork. In fact, evidence of tattooing exists on a mummified human body known as the Iceman from 3300 BC. And, to come full circle, the image of the Iceman now graces the arm of Brad Pitt and others. For more on the fascinating world of tattoos check out these titles:

Tattoo Art

Decorated Skin: A World Survey of Body Art

Here's Looking At You: A Celebration of Body Art

The Body Art Book: A Complete, Illustrated Guide to Tattoos, Piercings, and Other Body Modifications

Vanishing Beauty: Indigenous Body Art and Decoration

The Tattoo Encyclopedia: A Guide to Choosing Your Tattoo

Bodies Of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community

Tattoo History: A Source Book: An Anthology of Historical Records of Tattooing Throughout the World

Check mate. Basque style

What do you get when you put six of the world’s top chess players in an air-conditioned, soundproof, glass box? I know. It sounds like the beginning of a terribly unfunny joke. In actuality, you get the Grand Slam Chess Final, currently being contested in the central plaza of Bilbao, Spain. This two week double round-robin tournament pits six incredible players, from seventeen-year-old Norwegian prodigy (Magnus Carlsen) to the veteran Ukrainian (Vassily Ivanchuk). While the world title is not on the line, serious money is: $212,000 to the winner and $42,000 to each just for playing. Carlsen leads, but there are three days of play remaining. You can follow the rest of the tournament over at ChessBase.

I bet Carlsen wins the tourney, but I’m pulling for Ivanchuk.

Whether you play in the park, occasionally play friends, or have been trying to beat your grandfather since he taught you the game, the following guides will improve your chess.

The Amateur’s Mind: Turning Chess Misconceptions into Chess Mastery

The Reassess Your Chess Workbook

Play Winning Chess

Chess Strategy in Action

Winning Chess Strategies

“You will walk into a room and tap your phone on the wall…and the room will know who you are.”

I have been looking into the future of reference services lately. I came across an article that mentioned providing instant messaging as yet another tool available to librarians in trying to meet the informational needs of our clientele. As soon as I read this passage I very quickly realized that the provision of services through cell phones would become increasingly ubiquitous as time passes. In fact, the idea of networked computers integrating themselves seamlessly into our daily lives is exactly what Takeshi Natsuno of Japan’s NTT DoCoMo envisions. As part of the promised Third Wave, Takeshi Natsuno and the company he works for, is trying very hard to develop an all-in-one phone that would take the place of cash, keys, credit cards, business cards, and personal identification just to name a few. Imagine a time when you will be able to simply tap your phone against a pad and pay for groceries or movie tickets or program your DVR and air conditioner so that once you arrive home from work, your living space will be at a comfortable temperature with your favorite T.V. shows or movies ready to go.

The Austin Public Library has several resources available to help you uncover yet more technological possibilities slated to become reality regarding cell phones in the not too distant future. I’ve included a brief list of articles I found using the Science and Technology Collection below.

Articles:

A Remote Control for Your Life

Mobile Communication and the Transformation of Daily Life: The Next Phase of Research on Mobiles

The Cell Phone, Now That's Entertainment

People, Mobiles and Society: Concluding Insights from an International Expert Survey

Legal Music Downloads

Downloading free music legally has been called a "swirling cesspool" because there are many murky areas that have not yet been decided by court rulings. The Recording Industry of America and the record companies seem to go after people who download hundreds of copyrighted songs. But you can get free music without being sued. Sources for free, legal downloads are listed below:




Apple's iTunes Free Single of the Week (under iTunes store)
Amazon's MP3 page
Rolling Stone's Rock & Roll page
Artist direct.com - 200 free downloads
MP3.com
KUT's Texas Music Matters Song of the Day

A new free music website is more like an internet jukebox. Songza.com streams the audio of millions of songs found on Youtube. Next month the site will include the video.

Many public libraries are offering music download services to their customers. We hope that sometime in the near future Austin Public Library's budget will allow us to offer that service too.

Academic Novels

The Fall 2008 semester has started, and perhaps new plots for an academic novel are beginning to percolate in the minds of the students and professors. Academic novels, or fiction set in colleges and universities, often make satire out of an eminently susceptible institution. Below are some of the best academic novels written, arranged chronologically.

Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis
1954
Good-humored satire of postwar British academic life

Pnin
Vladimir Nabokov
1957
Russian-born professor

The War Between the Tates
1974
Alison Lurie
Breakup of the marriage of a prim professor and his wife in the 60s

Small World
David Lodge
1984
Literary conferences

Wonder Boys: A Novel

Michael Chabon
1995
Parody of the American fame factory and a piercing portrait of a wrtier/professor

Moo: a Novel
Jane Smiley
1995
Setting is a large midwestern agricultural college, whose faculty and students are depicted with sophisticated humor

Straight Man
Richard Russo
1997
Lampoon of academia set in a dysfunctional English department

Human Stain
Philip Roth
2000
A college professor is forced to resign for alleged racism.

Joe College
Tom Perrotta
2000
Great novel about college mores in the early 80s

I am Charlotte Simmons
Tom Wolfe
2004
Chronicle of college sports, fraternities, drinking, coeds, and sex

My Latest Grievance
Elinor Lipman
2006
Radical professor parents raise their daughter in a unique and open manner

Publish and Perish
James Hynes
2006

Characters' quests for academic credibility puts him or her in peril

Politics in the movies

With the conventions under way, the campaign season is ready to begin in earnest. If the real campaigns aren't enough for you, there are several movies devoted to the subject. M. Keith Booker discusses several of these films in From Box Office to Ballot Box: the American Political Film:

State of the Union (1948, Directed by Frank Capra): Spencer Tracy stars as an idealistic industrialist who runs for the Presidency.

The Candidate (1972, Directed by Michael Ritchie): While Richard Nixon is on his way to re-election by a landslide, a young, honest, idealistic lawyer (Robert Redford) begins to learn the truth about running for office in the U.S. Senate.

Primary Colors (1998, Directed by Mike Nichols) Jack Stanton (John Travolta) is a virtually unknown Southern governor on a quest for the White House with his strong, savvy and equally ambitious wife, Susan. Running against the odds, the Stantons need all the help they can get from their extremely colorful political team. Based on the book by the same name.

Bulworth (1998, Directed by Warren Beatty) Believing his career is over, Senator Jay Bulworth (Warren Beatty) takes out an enormous insurance policy and a contract on his own life on the campaign trail. His impending death fills him with an outrageous desire to break the rules and tell it like it is.

Blue 42. Blue 42. Hut. Hut!

You’ve had all summer to practice grilling. You might have bought a bigger TV since last season. You prepared your couch with ample Olympics watching. It’s time. You’re ready. The college football season starts this week, and it starts with a bang. Alabama v. Clemson, Illinois v. Missouri, Florida v. Miami, Arkansas v. Texas, and Ohio State v. USC are all within the first three weeks of the season. For the unlucky, national title aspirations could be crushed by mid-September. The rest will continue battling until the field is whittled to a national champion, crowned January 8, 2009.

Even if football leaves you with little weekend time for reading, try one of these recent college football books during the week. Clay Travis’ Dixieland Delight depicts a hilarious season-long voyage to see a home game at every Southeastern Conference stadium. For any football historians out there, Football Rankings offers historical rankings beginning in 1936. If you’d like to know what university was ranked fourth in 1952, Football Rankings is your source.


Dixieland Delight: A Football Season On the Road in the Southeastern Conference

Fifty Years of College Football: A Modern History of America's Most Colorful Sport

Every Week a Season : A Journey Inside Big-Time College Football

Texas Longhorns Football History A to Z

Runnin' with the Big Dogs: The True, Unvarnished Story of the Texas-Oklahoma Football Wars

Football Rankings: College Teams in the Associated Press Poll, 1936-1984

That's Hot

This past Sunday at Waterloo Park The Austin Chronicle’s 18th annual Hot Sauce Festival took place where hundreds of folks gathered together in the sweltering heat to sample sauces even hotter. Contestants included individuals, restaurants, and commercial bottlers with each group judged separately. Entries were tasted by a panel of judges including Austin restaurateurs and executive chefs Tyson Cole (Uchi), Jack Gilmore (Z’Tejas), and Alan Lazarus (Vespaio). The winners of the contest have been announced and can be found here. Congratulations to them all!

If foods help to define a region, hot sauce (salsa in particular) could easily define Texas. However, in 1992, salsa overtook ketchup as the highest selling condiment in the United States, so it may in fact more accurately define America (J. Andrews; “Chili Peppers”, Encyclopedia of Food and Culture). Either way, I think you’ll find few hot sauce festivals outside of Texas, and the Austin Public Library has a number of excellent salsa cookbooks for you to prepare your own award-winning sauce. Check them out:

The Great Hot Sauce Book

The Hot Sauce Bible

Nueva Salsa: Recipes to Spice it Up

Secrets of Salsa: A Bilingual Cookbook by the Mexican Women of Anderson Valley (or, Secretos de la Salsa)

Don’t miss the Chronicle’s coverage of this year’s Festival:

“Let Commercial Bottler Winners Add Some Spice to Your Cooking”
Article about some of the best commercial bottles of hot sauce out there

”Saucy Proposals"
Recipes using commercial bottle sauces

”Who’s a Pepper?”
Interesting look at the history of Pace Picante sauce

And for fun:

Hot Sauce Blog
Dedicated to all sauces and foods that are hot and spicy

Beijing Fiction

In anticipation of the Olympic Games, the Guardian's book blog showcased top 10 books on Beijing. The books were chosen by Catherine Sampson, a crime novelist who has lived in Beijing for 15 years. Now that the games are almost over, we can all admit that we have been dazzled, impressed, and blown away by the city’s presentation. The books listed below are the seven titles from the list that the Library owns. The book summaries reveal once again how writers can show their country's contradictions.

Beijing Coma by Ma Jian
At once a powerful allegory of a rising China, racked by contradictions, and a seminal examination of the Tiananmen Square protests, Beijing Coma is Ma Jian’s masterpiece.

Please Don't Call Me Human by Wang Shuo
Author imagines an Olympics where nations compete not on the basis of athletic prowess, but on their citizens' capacity for humiliation--and China is determined to win at any cost.

A Thousand Years of Good Prayers by Yiyun Li
Ten breathtaking stories set in China and among Chinese Americans in the United States explore the ravages of the Cultural Revolution.

The Crazed by Ha Jin
Powerful novel is at once an unblinking look into the bell jar of communist Chinese society and a portrait of the eternal compromises and deceptions of the human state.

The Last Empress by Anchee Min
Story of Empress Orchid's dramatic transition from a strong-willed, instinctive young woman to a wise and politically savvy leader who ruled China for more than four decades.

Serve the People by Yan Lianke
Set in 1967, at the peak of the Mao cult, Serve the People! is a beautifully told, wickedly daring story about the forbidden love affair between Liu Lian, the young, pretty wife of a powerful Division Commander in Communist China, and her household’s lowly servant, Wu Dawang.

I Love Dollars by Zhu Wen
An immediate sensation upon publication in China, I Love Dollars is a hilarious send-up of China’s love affair with capitalism by one of its most gifted new writers.

“The art of enchanting the soul…”

… defines rhetoric for Socrates. According to Webster’s dictionary, rhetoric is the art of speaking or writing effectively but also the skill in the effective use of speech. We experience this art in speeches and in writing, and even though we might think of rhetoric as a relatively new discipline, it has been around for quite some time. Rhetoric was developed in the year 600 BC by the philosophers called Sophists. Since then, rhetoric has been present in fields like politics, law, public relations, and lobbying.

We are now in the middle of the national elections campaign and the use of rhetoric in speeches is fundamental. These speeches will show us down the road, where we were, what was happening in this country at a certain period of time, and also how much things had changed. One of our recent books here at the Faulk Central Library talks about this particular type of speeches: Live from the campaign trail: the greatest presidential campaign speeches of the twentieth century and how they shaped modern America.

But, as you know, speeches can be about pretty much everything, not only politics. This is the case of other two recent books titled: Mistress of herself: speeches and letters of Ernestine Rose, early women's rights leader and Charge! : history's greatest military speeches.

If you would like to listen or view videos of different speeches in the history of America, I recommended the web site American Rhetoric, which has hundreds of original recordings of speeches important in American history.

The Stanley Hotel

the Maude Jellison Library at the YMCA at Estes Park, CO (closed for dinner)

I went on vacation last week and was hoping to see a Library on my trip so I could write about it for you. I did, but it was closed! We drove up to Estes Park, Colorado and stayed at the YMCA; it had a lovely Library and when I went up to it and yanked on the door, I discovered it was locked. I scanned their open hours and found they were closed for dinner. I took a picture of the outside and view. I so wished to take a look around inside, but I guess I'll keep in mind their hours for next time.

Estes Park, Colorado is a little tourist town in upper Colorado (about an hour north of Denver). There are lots of things to do in Estes Park, such as the obligatory shopping, rafting, hiking, biking, horseback riding, discovering the Rocky Mountain National Park, among other things. One such stop may not be on the top of everyone's list, however. I didn't even know it was in Estes Park until someone said so. The Stanley Hotel. You know, the hotel Stephen King based his book, The Shining, on. It's a huge, beautiful, white building that stands up on a hill overlooking the town. (In fact, that's the name of the hotel in the book, The Overlook Hotel.) Apparently, Stephen King started writing the book while he stayed there. If you have read the book or seen the movie, you know the hotel is kind of spooky. The hotel banks on this and even has ghost tours. Next time you're in the area, stay at the Stanley and request the most haunted room! (That's room 418, just in case you were wondering!) However, next year they'll be celebrating 100 years, so book in advance!

Remembering Julia

The joy of cooking has always eluded me. I find it to be a chore, which is why cooking shows are so fascinating to me. The ingenuity, patience, and care that the chefs exhibit amaze me. I love the quiet professionalism of Lidia Bastianich, the sensationalism of Top Chef, and the goofiness of Alton Brown. However, none can top the grand dame of all cooking shows: Julia Child, who would have been 96 today.

Her birthday anniversary this year has brought confirmation that she did work for the OSS as a spy during World War II.

Child's first series, The French Chef, began as a simple guest appearance on a local educational television station to promote her first book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her warm personality resonated with the audience and soon she had her own show. In The French Chef Cookbook, Child describes how the bare-bones production led to taping the show in one long take.

The nonstop taping we have always continued, and in only a few instances….have we had to break off, erase, and pick up again. I can remember only half a dozen occasions, some of which were due to electrical failures, others due to me. Once, doing the 'Lobster a l'Americaine,' every time I touched the cooktop I got a short-circuit in the microphone against my chest, and kept clutching my breast in a very odd fashion. It felt like a bee sting. We wiped out back to the worst clutch, and were able to continue in midstream.

Lucky for us, her talent and her occasional gaffes were captured on film. Take the time to savor a show or two or recreate her recipes at home.

Traveling Librarian in New York

The traveling librarian went to New York. I spent last week amidst the mindboggling human sea that is Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx (never made it to Staten Island). Trying my hardest not to look like a rube yet with a Manhattan map ready in my back pocket, I hit the pavement, hunting New York’s great libraries. First stop was the New York Public Library’s Humanities and Social Sciences Library. Yup, that one. After saying hello to Patience and Fortitude, I headed into the library. The reading room is incredible. I could have spent the day reading there bolstered by the long list of luminaries who have done such throughout the building’s existence. However, with limited days and Yankees tickets in my other back pocket, I reluctantly left.

My trip to NYU’s Bobst Library paled in comparison. While the library is impressive, due to its private affiliation access remains limited to faculty and students. Even sincere pleas of “but I’m a librarian visiting from Texas” failed to get me past the security guard.

Sore feet prohibited me from visiting Columbia’s Low Library. In retrospect, this was a mixed blessing as I look forward to visiting next time. Other significant libraries in the city include the Mercantile Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and a whole host of others I look forward to discovering while ambling along avenues and side streets of this ridiculous yet incredible city.

The New York Public Library: Its Architecture and Decoration

The New York Public Library: A Universe of Knowledge

Into Thin Air and Back Again

I recently read a story about a man from Switzerland who was circumnavigating the globe in search of the most exquisite dishes prepared in all of the world’s top rated restaurants. After having dined in 40 of the 68 restaurants, Mr. Henry simply vanished.
His disappearance set off an international firestorm. Newspapers and television stations from countries such as New Zealand, Uruguay, Argentina, the United States, Romania, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Britain, Ireland, France, Spain, and Switzerland all ran stories publicizing the enigma surrounding his disappearance as well as his reasons for having undertaken such a curiously single-minded crusade.

What makes this story most fascinating to me centers around the discipline and determination he exhibited in not only saving the money demanded by this transcontinental pilgrimage but also the careful research and planning necessary to see it through. Mr. Henry is by no means a wealthy man. The $60,000 he raised for his trip was done at considerable sacrifice. He works as a motorbike courier. His very modest and working class background makes his vision even more compelling. Mr. Henry’s love and appreciation for very fine food and the sacrifice necessary to obtain it speak to a purity and earnestness bordering on that which is deeply spiritual, even religious. This quality is made even more sublime by Mr. Henry’s recent resurfacing after two months. His only surviving relative is quoted as saying that all of the publicity garnered by his quest must have been highly irritating to him and that he imagined that his nephew likely preferred that the world forget about him and simply leave him to his culinary pursuits.

The Austin Public Library has an assortment of tasty guides so that you too might sample some of the best dishes the world has to offer. I've listed two below just to whet your appetite.

Newspaper:

The last supper: mystery of the Swiss motorbike courier

The Michelin Man turns up - but a tasty riddle remains


Books:

Main cities of Europe. 2008 : hotels & restaurants

New York City : selection of restaurants and hotels

The Biggest Book in the Library?

The Austin Public Library has a wonderful collection of oversized books - books that are over 31 cm. in length, and which are full of photographs and art reproductions. I was browsing the recent oversized books on the 1st floor of the Faulk Library, when I picked up Ralph Lauren, which weighs in at a whopping 14.5 pounds. The book has its own heavy cardboard case which should help to preserve it. Mr. Lauren is celebrating his 40-years and growing designing career in this coffee-table tome. The photographs – there are over 700 – are grand and elegant. The text, written by Mr. Lauren, is minimal, but it does chronicle his rise from the baseball diamond in his immigrant Bronx neighborhood to the Manhattan headquarters of a multibillion-dollar clothing franchise.

A quotation from the book helps to explain his fashion style: "I've always loved the girl in the convertible with her hair blowing in the wind. When I started to design clothes for women they were for that natural girl. I liked the girl in jeans and while shirt with rolled-up sleeves, wearing her boyfriend’s jacket". In fact, when he first met his wife (who looks like a Ralph Lauren model), he took her to a men's clothing store and bought her a tweed jacket.

The book is expensive - $135.00. This is where your Library comes in. You, and many others, may check the book out without spending a penny. If you are truly a Ralph Lauren fan, you can then decide to buy it or not.

Other oversized books on the recent shelf today:

Arts in Latin America 1492-1820
Book of Plants: the Complete Plates
Breach of Peace: Portraits of the 1961 Mississippi Freedom Riders
Every Town Needs a Trail
Knockout: the Art of Boxing
One Thousand Buildings of Paris
Portraits: a History
Tracey Emin: Works 1963-2006
Water is Key: a Better Future for Africa


.

We’re not in Kansas anymore!

“Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas prairies, with Uncle Henry, who was a farmer, and Aunt Em, who was the farmer's wife.”

Who doesn’t remember the introduction to the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, one of the most famous and influential books in America? Written by L. Frank Baum, an American author, actor and independent filmmaker, its first edition came out in 1900 becoming almost immediately a bestseller of children’s literature.

In August 12th, 1939, Metro Goldwyn-Meyer (MGM) released the world premier of the movie based on this book starring Judy Garland as Dorothy and spending $2,777,000.00 in its production. The movie wasn’t as successful as the book in the beginning. It took quite some time for people to become fans of it, being now one of most popular and acclaimed versions of the book. This was also the first movie in video cassette released by MGM in 1980.

But, the story doesn’t stop here: there are more than a hundred books, songs, essays, plays and musicals inspired by this book. An example is the book Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, by Gregory Maguire which was also used for the musical titled Wicked.

This month we have an exhibit in our display case about the Wizard of Oz in celebration of the release of the movie. So, if you are passing by the Faulk Central Library (800 Guadalupe), please walk in and enjoy it. If, after visiting the exhibit you feel like reading the book, watching the movie, or reading other related books, here are some ideas:

L. Frank Baum's The wonderful Wizard of Oz

Memories of a Munchkin : an illustrated walk down the yellow brick road

Wizard of Oz [DVD]

L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz : the graphic novel

The wizardry of Oz : the artistry and magic of the 1939 M-G-M classic

The annotated Wizard of Oz : the wonderful Wizard of Oz

Forty Whacks in 1892

Lizzie Borden took an axe
And gave her mother forty whacks.
And when she saw what she had done
She gave her father forty-one.

On this day in 1892, Lizzie Borden was suspected of killing her father and stepmother by hacking them to death with a hatchet.

Apparently, life at the Borden house was uncomfortable. The sisters, Lizzie and Emma Borden, were upset with their father as he wanted to make a decision on what to do with his property before he died, and it didn't include them. This was the reason many believed she killed her parents. She even tried to buy some cyanide (called prussic acid at the time) the day before the murders, but was denied it by the local pharmacy. She and the housekeeper were the only ones in the house at the time of the murders; the housekeeper, Bridget Sullivan, had washed the windows outside in the sweltering heat of the summer and was resting afterward when Lizzie called out to her that her father had been murdered.

Even with the circumstantial evidence against Lizzie, there was no blood, no blood on her clothes, and no fingerprint evidence taken. She was aquitted. The all-male jury was suspected of not wanting to convict Lizzie, as they felt a young girl couldn't have done such a dastardly act.

Discover more about Lizzie Borden...

Encyclopedia Britannica Online

The Lizzie Borden "Axe Murder" Trial: a Headline Court Case

The Borden Tragedy: a Memoir of the Infamous Double Murder at Fall River, Mass., 1892

Spirituals; Fall River Legend: Ballet Suite

Lizzie Borden: the Legend, the Truth, the Final Chapter

Tango Therapy

My parents are not from this country. When I was a kid, they would often relay the experiences they had growing up in Argentina to me. Like many children whose parents came from another country, the influence of the homeland looms large. Argentinean culture is as familiar to me as is the culture of the United States. An aspect of Argentinean culture that has always interested me is tango. There is nothing more readily associated internationally with Argentina, well perhaps football, than tango. The thought of learning to dance tango has always been personally daunting. The movements involved are very complicated. Participants are required to execute many intricate steps while maintaining a fluidity and cohesiveness. When done well the end result is sublime. Now, however, there is another benefit to learning the dance apart from the pursuit of radiant artistry. Empirical evidence actually demonstrates that dancing tango can improve one’s memory and alleviate depression. Individuals suffering from Parkinson’s disease have also shown an improvement in their functionality as a result of consistent practice. If you have it in mind to be able to dance tango well you had better get started sooner rather than later. Those who have devoted their lives in trying to master tango are fond of saying that it takes a lifetime and a half to dance it well. The Austin Public Library has several resources available to get you started.

Web:

PRI’s The World

Shall We Dance?

Tango Therapy May Aid Parkinson's

Tango in Austin:

Austin Tango Calendar

Esquina Tango

Books:

Tango : creation of a cultural icon

Long after midnight at the Niño Bien : a Yanqui's missteps in Argentina

Tango : the art history of love

Tango : discusión y clave

Tango

Tango! : the dance, the song, the story

Video Instruction:

The tango fundamentals. volume 1 [videorecording] : basic elements

The tango fundamentals. volume 2 [videorecording] : basic caminadas

Tango fundamentals. volume 3 [videorecording] : basic giros