Cats, Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

I have always had a soft spot for animals.  It doesn't matter what kind of animal. I have cared for baby  skunks and baby raccoons. Fed snakes and owls, (please know this was not my favorite job) but.. it had to be done.  I truly enjoyed working at the nature center and caring for the animals.  Although, I no longer work at the nature center, I still love animals. So naturally I enjoy reading books that involve animals.  A few of my favorites are  Dewey the Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, Last Dog on the Hill, Scent of the Missing, Dogtown : tales of rescue, rehabilitation, and redemption, The God of Animals and  Seabiscuit. If you'd like to read some more wonderful animal stories you can go to our GBGL Tall Tails site. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did.

This book is coming soon to a movie theater near you

It's time for summer reads (and Summer Reading -- don't forget to sign up starting Monday!), but it's also time for a few summer blockbusters.  There are a lot of books, both classics and newer, that will be showing up on a big screen this year.  From Jane Eyre and Snow Flower and the Secret Fan to One Day and The Help.  Oh, yeah, and the final installment of a small, relatively unknown series.  There's also the already-popular Water for Elephants and The Lincoln Lawyer.

Of course, having books translated into movies isn't limited to adult audiences there are also a lot of great books for kids and teens that have become great movies.  Check out a more complete list here.  If you've seen the movie but not read the book, check one out and see what you think.  Doesn't everyone say that the book is always better than the movie?  I suppose our friends over at Now Playing might disagree.  What do you think -- book or movie?  What's been your favorite movie based on a book?

The Top 100 Books according to...somebody

For the last couple of years, every so often I get a note from friends on Facebook asking which of the BBC's Top 100 books I've read, plan to read, liked, loved, and so on.  It purports to be the classics, as defined by the BBC, and notes that the BBC estimates suggest that most people have read only six of the titles.  I've shared this note myself, and tallied up how many I've read (52, in case you're curious).  It turns out that the list that's been circulating isn't really from the BBC at all, nor has the BBC ever estimated how many of these books most people have read.  What they did do was commission a survey of the British public in 2003 to find what their favorite novels are.  That list totalled 200 titles and can be found here.  They had no estimate of how many of these most people had read. 

Whether it's the list circulating on Facebook or the original BBC list, or a different one altogether, like the Radcliffe Publishing Course's 100 Best Novels, I think the idea of using a list like this is fascinating.  I so often get caught up in what's new that I lose sight of the old classics, especially those I wouldn't normally even consider reading.  Added to this, I recently re-read Nick Hornby's complete Polysyllabic Spree collection (which also includes Housekeeping vs. The Dirt and Shakespeare Wrote for Money) in which he writes about the books he reads.  His apparent love of Charles Dickens and other classic authors has inspired me to delve into the past a bit more.

In the spirit of the new year, I resolve to read at least ten books from one of these lists.  In the meantime, I welcome your suggestions of how I should do this: Which list should I use?  Should I work my way through the list in order (1 - 100) or should I start with the books that sound most interesting to me?  However I end up choosing titles, it's likely to be the only resolution I keep this year, so I'll let you know how it goes. 

Stories to warm your heart

It's the time of year when, after the rush of holiday cooking, shopping, and traveling, it's nice to relax and curl up by the fireplace with a book. Action-adventure, thrillers, horror, and mystery all have their place but, sometimes, we all need a story with a happy ending. A feel-good love story, whether or not it's a "romance," can be the perfect kind of book for this time of year. From the importance of family and the relationships that separate them and tie them together, as in Rosamunde Pilcher's classic, The Shell Seekers, to the modern tale of Eleanor and Abel about love found late in life, the range of love stories is vast. You might be familiar with some, like Kazuro Ishiguro's Remains of the Day, from the movie version, and this is a perfect time of year to read the stories that came first.  If these sound good, or you're interested in what other titles we think will warm your heart, check out the last of our Great Books Great Libraries booklists for the year: Loved Ones : Stories to Warm the Heart.  As with all of the featured genres this year, a paper booklist is available at the Readers' Advisory table at each library, in addition to the expanded list available online.


What's your favorite story about loved ones?  What books touch your heart?  We'd love to hear -- leave a comment below!

Going Hollywood

"The book was so much better than the movie!" "No, no, the movie was better." How many times have you heard this conversation? We hear it all the time and, often, are joining right in on the conversation. If you'd like to join in on the conversation and check out some books that have been made into movies, we have you covered! This month's Great Books Great Libraries featured list is "Going Hollywood."

Check out such timeless classics as the Godfather by Mario Puzo, The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Or try a contemporary title such as Forrest Gump by Winston Groom, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman, and The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje.

Leave us a comment comparing your favorite book/movie combination!

Be a rebel -- read a book!

Quick, without thinking, what's your gut-reaction stereotype of a librarian?  Did it involve cardigans, half-moon glasses, cats, and practical shoes?  Was there "shush"ing involved?  Or, did you think of a rebellious crusader for intellectual freedom?  Don't worry, I know which one you probably chose . 

Every year, during the last week of September, the American Library Association likes to remind you that, while we might wear practical shoes (hey, cut us some slack -- there's a lot of walking involved), there's a fierce independent streak in librarians -- and I'm not just talking about the field trips to the tattoo parlor during the ALA convention (yes, really). 

The last week of September is Banned Books Week, in which the cardigan-wearing, cat-owning librarians of stereotypes of yore encourage you to read a book specifically because someone else doesn't want you to.  Banned Books Week celebrates books that have been banned or challenged (i.e., someone unsuccessfully tried to ban it).  It's not just the librarians who support this week, either.  Banned Books Week is sponsored by the American Booksellers Association; American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression; the American Library Association; American Society of Journalists and Authors; Association of American Publishers; and the National Association of College Stores. It is endorsed by the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.

The celebration of banned books wasn't created to encourage people to read naughty bits in books, but to celebrate our ability to read what we want.  The First Amendment and its promise of freedom to access information and share ideas is key to Banned Books Week.  If you want to read a steamy novel, go for it.  But, it's not just about heaving bosoms and stirred loins -- it's about political ideas on both ends of the spectrum that you have access to read because somebody has protected your right to do so.  It's about you getting to decide what is appropriate for you and your family to read, rather than having someone else choose for you.

Many books that are considered highly influential classics were once banned or challenged.  In fact, of the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century, at least 46 were challenged or banned, including nine of the top 10.   Books like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Catch-22, The Kite Runner, Slaughterhouse Five, and To Kill a Mockingbird, each considered to be important American classics, have all been subjects of challenges or been banned. 

To celebrate Banned Books Week, and our ability to read what we want, our Great Books Great Libraries selections for the last week of September and all of October are Banned Books.  For more information on Banned Books Week, check out the ALA website. 

Happy Birthday Agatha Christie!

September 15th would have been Agatha Christie's 120th birthday!  This beloved author was born in England in 1890, was the youngest of three children, and a nurse during WWI.  She wrote romance novels under the name Mary Westmacott , but is best remembered for her 80 detective novels and her successful theatre plays.  Her novels, particularly those featuring Hercule Poirot and Miss Jane Marple, have given her the title the 'Queen of Crime' and made her one of the most important writers in the development of the mystery genre.
The Guinness Book of World Records referred to Christie as "the best-selling writer of any kind along, with William Shakespeare"--and only the Bible is known to have outsold her novels.  Christie's books have been translated into at least 56 languages and many have been adapted for movies, television, radio, video games and comics.
Her first novel to feature Hercule Poirot was The Mysterious Affair at Styles and Miss Marple's debut book was The Murder at the Vicarage.

Here are some of her most well-known titles (and one of my favorites*):

4:50 from Paddington--book and movie.
Death on the Nile--book and movie.
Mousetrap--play.
Murder on the Orient Express--book and movie.
*10 Little Indians or And Then They Were None--book, movie, and videogame.

For more Dame Agatha go to the library's website and for more great mysteries try our Super Sleuths booklist from our Great Books, Great Libraries collection.

The British are coming! The British are coming!

Alright, perhaps the reference is a few hundred years old, but it's an exciting day for me.  Every year, I wait for the Man Booker prize short list to be announced, and today is that day. The excitement started back in July, when the long list (aka the Man Booker Dozen) was announced.  I promptly put on hold every title we own, prepared to read the books considered to be the best for the year in the British Commonwealth.   I am regularly wowed by the writing that these awards highlight.  More than other awards, the Man Bookers seem, to me, to focus on outstanding literary writing, regardless of what (or who) the media darling of the day might be.

The prize winner for the year will be announced on Tuesday, October 12. But for now, I'm working through my list of Man Booker longlist titles, a practice I started several years ago.  While I might not love every book on the list, I often find great books I otherwise wouldn't have heard of, and I can almost always count on excellent writing. I am desperate to read Room by Emma Donoghue, one of the short-listed titles.  I know I'm going to end up regretting it, because it's a "disturbing, suspenseful" book about kidnapping and I don't do particularly well with either disturbing or suspenseful.  Still, the concept of writing about a child who has never been outside of an 11x11 room at the age of five, and his subsequent introduction to the world, is fascinating to me. 

Other titles on the short list include:

Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey

The Long Song by Andrea Levy

C by Tom McCarthy

If you can't get enough prize winners from this list, check out these long-listed titles that didn't quite make today's cut:

The Thousand Autumns of Jacob DeZoet by David Mitchell
Skippy Dies by Paul Murray

Trespass by Rose Tremain

The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas

and don't forget to check out our Great Books Great Libraries list of Prize Winners!

Get an "Adrenaline Rush" in July!

The Great Books theme for July is Adrenaline Rush!

Adventure books typically have fast-moving plots, exotic settings, and larger-than-life heroes. The hero (usually male) is involved in death-defying activities and the stories can be set at any time during the last several centuries.

Read one these adrenaline pumping titles and put it on your reading entry for both Summer Reading Program and The Great Books Challenge!  Two for the price of one!

Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Cloned dinosaurs on an island preserve escape and wreak havoc when a thief causes a power outage.

Cathedral by Nelson DeMille
St. Paddy’s Day in New York City turns deadly when IRA terrorists take hostages and lay siege to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
This storm of Oct 1991 created waves 10 stories high & winds of 120 mph. It was witnessed by only a few including the six-man crew of the fishing boat the Andrea Gail tragically heading into the storm’s center.

Some classic adventure authors to try are Max Brand, Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, Jack London, Alistair MacLean, and Patrick O'Brian.

Try more great adventure books on the library website.

Great Books: More Lasting Legacies

The focus on Lasting Legacies (great books that changed the world) continues this month.  If you're still looking for a book that changed the world, try one of these:

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

The account of a fictional immigrant family and their experiences working in a meat packing factory in Chicago is seen as a vital part of the Progressive Movement of the early 20th century and led to the Meat Inspection Act and the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.

Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
The story of poor farmers fleeing the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma became a rallying cry to improve the conditions of the poor during the Great Depression.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly by Harriet Beecher Stowe
The story of a slave who is a better man than his three successive owners, this novel is famous for generating support for the Abolitionist Movement in the run-up to the Civil War.

Great Books: Lasting Legacies

The Great Books Great Libraries celebration reaches the halfway point this month with a new featured list. June's focus is Lasting Legacies, highlighting great books by first-time authors. As with all of the featured genres this year, a paper booklist is available at the Readers' Advisory table at each library, and an expanded list is available online.


Books entertain, enlighten, and educate us each individually. Sometimes, though, a book can change the world. The books chosen for the Lasting Legacies list have all, in some way, had an impact that went far beyond the individual readers. Some introduced groundbreaking stylistic choices that shaped the way fiction is written, such as Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Others, including Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover and Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, stretched the boundaries and made society question what it we are willing to accept. Still others shaped the way we consider politics (Machiavelli’s The Prince), gender roles (de Beauvier’s The Second Sex) or ourselves (Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams).

On the Road by Jack Kerouac
Considered by many to be the heart of the Beat Movement, this autobiographical novel follows Sal Paradise as he travels from New York to the West Coast, Mexico, and back again.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
A dystopian novel widely seen to warn against the socialist movement and promoting Rand’s philosophy of Objectivism, or rational selfishness.

Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
Holden Caufield, the original cynical teenager, recounts his exploits at prep school and around Manhattan in the classic story that redefined the portrayal of teenagers in popular fiction.

So, grab one of these books with a lasting legacy and see if it changes your world.

Great Books- The Immigrant Experience

The Great Books, Great Libraries theme for May is the Immigrant Experience.

The American Dream leads many people from all walks of life to immigrate to the United States. These books highlight the journey that these souls have taken in their quest for a better life. While most involve groups coming to these United States, a few involve people moving to other countries. The idea is the same; these immigrants are seeking better lives. Some of these titles show that the pursuit is not always easy. Many of these stories show that with perseverance and hard work, the dream of a better life can be achieved. Allow the people who have made the journey, or have created a story based on others' experiences, tell you what such a journey is like.

Which groups are represented?
The books in this list represent people from all walks of life. Many popular titles deal with the lives of Irish, African, Indian, Carribean, Japanese, and Chinese immigrants, but are certainly not limited to only these groups.

The experiences in these book vary by age group, too. Adult immigrants arrive with the expectation of more work opportunities and a better life for their families. Some arrive hoping to work so they can later send for their families to join them. Children experience immigration in many unique ways from learning a new language to starting at a new school in a strange land.

Here are a few terrific titles:

Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
A girl from the West Indies immigrates to a city in the United States to work as an au pair for an American family.  She quickly finds that this "happy" family is falling apart at the seams.

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat
After moving from Haiti to New York to be with her mother, Sophie longs to return to her native land.

The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
Iranian immigrant Behrani has moved to California with his family and finds little luck finding work while his money is quickly running out.

Great Books About Extraordinary People

If you're the type of reader who loves a good memoir, boy do we have a treat for you! April's Great Books, Great Libraries Featured Booklist is Life Lines: Great Books about Extraordinary People. Everyone has a story to tell, and sometimes that story makes a great page-turner. Take, for example, Carolyn Jourdan's Heart in the Right Place. After her mother suffers a heart attack, Jourdan ultimately leaves behind a high-powered career as a U.S. Senate counsel to help her father run his medical practice in rural Tennessee. Laugh-out-loud funny and heartwarming, this book is a definitely a keeper. Think your family is eccentric? Perhaps you should read The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. Actually, eccentric is putting it mildly. Walls's father, a brilliant dreamer, is an alcoholic and a gambler, and her mother a scattered artist who often couldn't be bothered to feed her own children. Walls and her siblings learn to fend for themselves and use their tenacity and wits to survive--and eventually escape--their hard-scrabble upbringing. Now if you have a soft spot for musicians, try The Soloist by Steve Lopez and The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman, both soul-stirring examples of lives turned upside down by unfathomable tragedy. Rounding out our selections is the modern classic Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, and the harrowing A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah. 

Still want more? You'll find additional selections--including books for teens and kids--right here. Enjoy!

More Great Midwestern Authors

The Great Books theme for March is Midwestern Authors.


The authors chosen for this list were either born in or reside in one of the following states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, or Ohio. Their stories and books open our eyes to the uniqueness of each of these states, but also help us realize that we are all part of that larger, special place called the Midwest.

Try some more authors from the "heartland":

Mama Dearest by E. Lynn Harris
Diva supreme Yancey Barrington Braxton is back after suffering a few setbacks in her acting career. Born in Flint, Michigan, the author was considered one of the most successful African-American or gay authors of his era.  Sadly he died in March of 2009 at the age of 54.

Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler
As a young woman searches for the truth about her dead father, she is drawn into a mystery. Fowler was born in Bloomington, Indiana and is an author of science fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction.

Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell
A plain-spoken Ohio school teacher finds herself in the company of historic luminaries during the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference.  This is the Big Read selection! Russell is a multiple award winning writer and she lives outside of Cleveland, Ohio.

Try more great Midwestern Authors!

Great Midwestern Authors March 2010

The Great Books theme for March is Midwestern Authors. 

The authors chosen for this list were either born in or reside in one of the following states: North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, or Ohio. Their stories and books open our eyes to the uniqueness of each of these states, but also help us realize that we are all part of that larger, special place called the Midwest. Try one of the following authors from the "heartland": 

The River Wife by Jonis Agee

This is an enthralling family saga set in the remote "boot heel" of Missouri spanning a century between the early 1800s and the early 1900s.  The author was born in Omaha and is a professor at the University of Nebraska.

The New Woman by Jon Hassler

This novel follows the exploits of the quirky residents of Sunset Senior Apartments and retired teacher Agatha McGee.  Hassler was born and raised in Minnesota and is known for his novels about small-town life. He passed away in 2008.

I Sailed with Magellan by Stuart Dybek
Eleven interlocking stories set in the stark urban landscape of Chicago's southside during the 1950s and 1960s. A Chicago native himself, Dybek is famous for his award winning short stories and poetry.

Try more Great Books on the library website.

Still Alice

I've been accused once or twice of becoming too engrossed in and empathizing too much with characters in books.  Not long ago, as my husband walked into the room, I promptly gave him specific instructions about what to do in the event that I ever don't recognize him or our children.  He looked at me, sighed, and asked, "What are you reading now?"  The answer was Still Alice, by Lisa Genova.  I had heard about this novel when it was chosen for the Strong Starts Great Books list and was intrigued. 

Still Alice tells the story of Alice Howland, a 49-year-old cognitive psychology professor at Harvard who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer's disease.  The book chronicles her descent from a mentally acute, highly intelligent professor of cognitive psychology through the rapid progression of the disease.  The author has a PhD in neuroscience and is a columnist for the National Alzheimer's Association. She uses her knowledge to craft a complete, compelling story told from Alice's perspective.  I felt a bit devastated as Alice learned that she had potentially passed on the gene for the disease to her children, as her marriage began to show the effects of her disease, and as she began to fail to recognize the things and people she valued most.  It wasn't an emotionally easy read, but it was informative, compelling, and one I highly recommend.

Great Books - Strong Starts February 2010

The Great Books Great Libraries celebration continues this month with a new featured list.  February's focus is Strong Starts, highlighting great books by first-time authors.  As with all of the featured genres this year, a paper booklist is available at the Readers' Advisory table at each library, and an expanded list is available online.

Occasionally, an author bursts onto the scene with a book that makes people take notice, whether it's because they become overnight success stories or because the books is high-quality writing that brings with it the promise of many great books to follow. Several of the books selected for this month are considered classics and have been read for decades. Others are more recent but are modern-day classics sure to be read for decades to come. Finally, we've included some that slipped under the radar, but we think are great books by first-time authors that we encourage you to give a chance.

Three of the headliner books this month are:

The Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dreams by Paulo Coelho

When a Spanish shepherd boy dreams of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids, he decides he must follow the trail to his dream and learns many lessons along the way.

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

When the unnamed narrator’s world goes up in flames and he must spend months recovering in a burn unit, he meets Marianne Engel, a sculptor who claims they first met in medieval Germany.  (This is the book that will be discussed at the Page Turners book discussion group on February 10 at 1:00 at Woodbourne Library.) 

When the Elephants Dance by Tess Uriza Holthe
“When the elephants dance, the chickens must be careful” explains the father of a Filipino family hiding with neighbors in a basement as they attempt to ride out the final days of World War II.

Super Sleuths--Part 2

Welcome to part two of our Super Sleuths booklist headliners!
The authors on this list were chosen because they are award-winning pioneers in their field and because of their ability to entertain and enlighten.

Patricia Highsmith--This American novelist is most widely known for her psychological thrillers, especially her series featuring Tom Ripley. Her books have been adapted to film more than two dozen times--including Strangers on a Train which was done by Alfred Hitchcock himself!  She died in 1995.
Tony Hillerman--This award-winning American is best known for his mystery series featuring the Navajo Tribal Police.  His writing shows his appreciation for the culture, people, and beauty of the American Southwest.  He died in 2008.
Sara Paretsky--This American mystery pioneer revolutionized the genre in 1982 when she introduced a tough, smart, female private-eye known as V. I. Warshawski. Her books are about social justice, have wonderful supporting characters, and highlight in detail the great city of Chicago.

Find more Great Books!

Great Books--Super Sleuths January 2010

Washington-Centerville Public Library is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year--2010!  We will have great programs, author visits, and monthly lists highlighting Great Books.  January is Great Mystery month and our booklist is called Super Sleuths.  Here are three of the adult headliners:

Agatha Christie--This Brit is the world's best known mystery writer and the most widely published author of all time--outsold only by the Bible and Shakespeare.
Michael McGarrity--This New Mexico native has been nominated for multiple awards including the Anthony, Dilys, and Spur. His series is full of great characters, lots of action, and immerses you in the culture and history of The Land of Enchantment.
Virginia Lanier--This Agatha Award nominee didn't publish her first book until she was 65. Her Bloodhound series features a strong female character and introduces us to the world of Search and Rescue. A must for any action buff and/or dog lover. Unfortunately the author died in 2003. A fantastic series!

Stay tuned for more great mystery writers and their super sleuths!

Check out more Great Books!