February 7 marks the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens. Dickens had an enormous impact on English literature and language. One of my more pleasant memories from my high school years is when we read Great Expectations as a class. Our teacher was an Anglophile and made the story interesting. Do you have a favorite Dickens novel?
The website Visual Thesaurus has a good article on how Dickens helped shape our lexicon.
Beth, Reader’s Services
Last night, I watched the first episode of the second season of Downton Abbey on Masterpiece. I enjoy this story so much! Like a good book that you don’t want to put down, I wanted to show to continue. But I have to wait until next Sunday! The first season begins in 1912 and portrays the lives of an Edwardian family and their servants who live and work in a magnificent country estate, shot on location at Highclere Castle. There is a companion book, The World of Downton Abbey, written by Jessica Fellowes, the niece of writer and creator Julian Fellowes. Season two begins two years into the Great War, World War I. The men and women, above and below, do their parts on the front line and the home front. Lives change as does society. A good story, well done by all.
Beth, Reader’s Services
Over the Christmas weekend, I watched two very good and entertaining movies on dvd. My brother brought home The Help and Midnight in Paris. The Help is based on Kathryn Stockett’s immensely popular novel from 2009. The story takes place in Jackson, Mississippi, during the civil rights movement in the early sixties. Skeeter has returned from college and wants a career in journalism. Unhappy with her assignment as the writer of a housekeeping advice column, she decides to interview the black women who have spent their lives taking care of the society families in town.
Although I’m not a huge Woody Allen fan, I really enjoyed Midnight in Paris. Allen wrote and directed this gorgeously shot movie. Gil and Inez (played by Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams) are engaged and have come to Paris with her parents. Gil is a successful Hollywood writer but is working on his first novel. Gil falls in love with the city. As he and Inez move further apart, Gil wanders the streets of Paris at night and meets — F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel, among others from the golden age of Paris in the 1920s. Finding his inspiration to write his novel, he also finds that he and Inez are not right for each other.
Beth, Reader’s Services
I treasure the Little House books that my grandmothers gave me. I have books that my mom has passed on to me, such as a boxed edition of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. I seldom go anywhere without carrying a book to read. The library started offering ebooks last year but I never had a desire to read using this new format.
For my birthday this year, my family bought me an ereader. Oh my goodness, do I love reading this way! Right after I got it, I had a two week vacation and traveled to Wisconsin by train and to LA by airplane. I checked out a great selection of books from eMediaLibrary and downloaded them to my ereader-and it fit in my purse! I especially like being able to adjust the font size and change the formatting. I think I have read more books in
the last few months because of this new format than I would have read sticking with the physical book format.
Beth, Reader’s Services
Our male staffers may not speak much, but they’re alert and made some discoveries this year!
With the advent of the new “British Series” dvd racks, I have discovered many old favorites and several new and fascinating dramas. Jim, Computer Aide, 2nd floor help desk
I was pleased to discover that the library now subscribes to Mango, “a language learning program that teaches practical conversation and cultural awareness for the world’s most popular languages.” I used the lessons to brush up on my Spanish. Dave, Maintenance guy
I thought of another book I discovered this year: The Eagle of the Ninth, by Rosemary Sutcliff. A 50-year old book shelved in young adult fiction – but great for any lover of historical novels. Reminded me of Mary Renault, but rather than ancient Greece the setting is Britain under Roman rule. Young Centurion Marcus Flavius Aquila accepts an assignment to this northernmost corner of the empire, hoping to find out what happened to his father and the legendary lost cohort of the Ninth Legion he had commanded. The search takes him into hostile territory far beyond the Roman Wall. A ripping good adventure with a dose of fascinating history.
Bev
Earlier this year, I came across The Wreck of the River of Stars, by Michael Flynn. Decades ago the River of Stars was once an opulent space liner plying the inner planets of our solar system. Now stripped of luxuries, she delivers cargo and the odd passenger to Jupiter or Mars. When the charismatic captain dies suddenly and the ship is seriously damaged by a stray chunk of asteroid, the motley crew must learn to work together or perish in space. The technology is believable, but the interaction of the characters (including the ship’s artificial intelligence) was what really drew me in.
Bev, Periodicals Department Supervisor and Great Books Discussion Coordinator
Last year at this time, the library staff wrote about their favorite holiday book, music or movie. This year we are sharing discoveries we made in 2011, be it a book, an author, movies, or a new way of reading! First up is Lisa, who works in our Business Office.
The best book I read this year was a long-awaited sequel to Kingkiller Chronicle, Day 1, The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, called Wise Man’s Fear. It’s about Kvothe, a magician and a musician, among other things, who has a life filled with odysseys while trying to find the secret group of beings who killed his parents. The first book came out in 2007 and it took the author 4 years to “finish” the sequel. Well, he didn’t exactly finish, there was so much to include that he decided to make it a trilogy. It was absolutely worth the wait! These are deeply descriptive and detailed books, the first is 660 pages and Wise Man’s Fear is 990 pages long! It was so good and it took no time for me and my son to read it. Anyone who likes fantasy along the lines of Lord of the Rings will love these books. Also, Patrick Rothfuss has a blog (that’s how we kept up with his progress on this second novel) and he’s quite an interesting guy.
On another note, the weirdest book I’ve EVER read was There but for the by Ali Smith. It is really hard to describe, but, basically, it’s about a dinner guest that ends up locking himself in his hosts’ extra bedroom and doesn’t communicate with them for months. They provide him with food under the door (the reason they didn’t force him out?? The door to the room is an antique…). Crowds start camping out in the back of the house and people who hardly knew him are asked to help. The writing style is unusual. That said, I did finish it, just to find out why the guy locked himself in. Well, just weird…
Lisa, Business Office
December 21 is the theater release date for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, the runaway bestseller by Stieg Larsson. Check here for trailers of David Fincher’s movie starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. This isn’t the first film of the novel. A Swedish version, which the library owns, came out last year, starring Michael Nyqvist and Noomi Rapace.
Stieg Larsson finished three books in this series, called the Millennium Trilogy, before he died. The library owns 18 copies of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and they are all checked out and there is a waiting list. This amazes me as I could not get through it! But not every book is enjoyed by every reader and this includes the librarian! There are many fans, however. Several of the ladies who work at the Audio Visual desk and the check out desk are very enthusiastic about the series!
Beth, Reader’s Services
October is National Reading Group Month. It is sponsored by the Women’s National Book Association. Are you looking for a book club to join? The library has two adult book discussion groups. Great Books has been meeting for over 20 years. It is led by Bev Jirsa. Carolyn DeAre and I have been facilitating the Contemporary Book Group since 1995. Check our website for times and titles.
Would you and your friends like to start your own book discussion group? We can assist you. Check out our brochure about starting a group. The library often has 8-10 copies of titles we have done in the last few years that your group could use. We can suggest titles for discussion, also
Beth, Reader’s Services