Showing posts with label FY12. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FY12. Show all posts

Friday, June 29, 2012

Spotlight: Science Fiction

Several months ago a patron posed a difficult question to the staff of the Recommendations Desk: What are the best books in the Science Fiction section by contemporary authors? (I paraphrase)

There's two elements that make this a tricky question:
1) Best is a very subjective quality
2) The Science Fiction collection at Carnegie-Stout includes all types of speculative fiction (from space ships to witches), save for those books and authors that are shelved in Fiction

So where do you start when trying to answer a very large question? When speaking with a patron we try to narrow your interests down to what you do and don't like to read. Maybe you prefer a series, or can't stomach books with graphic violence. Maybe you'd like a little romance with your ray guns, or a wizard who solves mysteries.

These are the sorts of questions that we had in mind when we launched our Personal Recommendations program. It's a way to help pinpoint what you like and don't like about books (of any genre).

Of course, if you're simply wondering what contemporary books and authors are highly regarded by fans, critics, or the staff of Carnegie-Stout, we can make some suggestions there too!

One place to look are posts tagged as Science Fiction, right here on our blog. This will call up staff reviews, read alike lists, and other posts on books shelved in the Science Fiction section at Carnegie-Stout.

Another good place to look are lists of award winners and nominees. Notable awards include the Hugo Award, the Nebula Award, the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and the James Tiptree, Jr. Award.

And finally, below you'll find cover images for books and authors you might want to check out if you're curious about speculative fiction. All images link directly to our catalog.


Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Best Seller Read-Alikes for the Week of June 25th

Can’t wait to get your hands on the latest best-seller, but the hold list is too long? To tide you over, every week we’ll offer similar titles and authors to the week’s fiction and nonfiction best sellers.

Fiction

Returning the the #1 spot on the fiction bestsellers list is Calico Joe by John Grisham. Check out our Best Seller Read-Alike post from April for similar books. At #2 is Mission to Paris by Alan Furst. Against the tension-filled backdrop of the beginning of WWII in France, Hollywood star Frederic Stahl is unwittingly entangled in the region's shifting political currents when he discovers that his latest film is linked to the destinies of fascists, German Nazis and Hollywood publicists. Mission to Paris is the twelfth in his Night Soldiers spy novel series set prior to and during World War II.

Authors with similar styles to Furst include:

Graham Greene - One of Furst's inspirations, historical espionage author Greene's tightly-plotted stories range in setting from set in the post-colonial tropics to World War II England . Greene writes with a more personal focus on his characters, as they wrestle with questions of morality and free will. Try The Confidential Agent (1993).

John Altman - A relative newcomer to WWII espionage, Altman has an affinity for the period, swift action, and a lean, cinematic style. His plots are often complex, with plenty of reversals and double-crossings, evoking a smoky decadence and tarnished romance of a bygone age.

Click here for more fiction bestsellers...

Nonfiction 

This week's #1 nonfiction book is again The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House by Edward Klein and you can find read-likes for that book here. The #2 book on the list this week is Cowards: What Politicians, Radicals, and the Media Refuse to Say by Glenn Beck. Aside from his nationally syndicated talk radio show, Beck has written several other political books, and a few fiction novels as well. In Cowards, Beck addresses political, social and economic issues that he feels the mainstream media have ignored.

Other books similar to Cowards include:

What the (Bleep) Just Happened?: The Happy Warrior's Guide to the Great American Comeback by Monica Crowley: Political and foreign affairs analyst for the Fox News Channel and host of her own talk radio program, Crowley argues against the Obama Administration's agenda and calls for a return to the spirit of the Reaganesque "Happy Warrior.” 

Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America (2012) by Mark Levin (320.973 LEV): The nationally syndicated conservative radio host explores the philosophical basis of America's foundations as well as the crises facing government today.

Click here for more nonfiction bestsellers ...

If you'd like more recommendations, stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Monday, June 25, 2012

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach


I don’t generally enjoy reading literary fiction.  Give me a mass market bestselling romance any day.  No vampires please, but time travel and dragons are okay.  Even though Chad Harbach grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, he is a founder and editor for n+1, an East Coast literary magazine that holds little fascination for me.  So why am I writing a review of his debut novel, The Art of Fielding?
 
Baseball.  I like baseball.  Baseball stories.  Baseball movies.  Baseball songs.  You gotta have heart ... Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks ... I don’t watch major league baseball on TV since free agency changed the game I grew up loving, but I still read baseball books, mostly fiction but also biographies like Jim Bouton’s Ball Four,  Jimmy Piersall’s Fear Strikes Out, and Dubuquer Brian Cooper’s baseball biogs of Red Faber and Ray Schalk.  I’ve been to the Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter, not far from where I grew up.  When we visited the Amanas, Bill Zuber’s Dugout was the only place my dad wanted to eat.  Who can deny the magic of “Is this heaven?  It’s Iowa”?
 
Anyway, just how literary can a baseball book be?  More literary than you might think when the novel’s setting is Westish College in northeastern Wisconsin.  The Westish teams are the Harpooners.  Harpooners on Lake Michigan?   Yes, well, Herman Melville spoke at the fictional Westish in the 1880s and current college president discovered the Melville papers and the Melville statue on the campus quad is a landmark ... I am well and thoroughly hooked listening to the audio version.

The Art of Fielding is an ensemble masterpiece, plus Holter Graham is a great narrator.  Listening to Holter use his voice to characterize Henry, the shortstop; Mike, the catcher; Owen, self-described as Henry’s “gay mulatto roommate”; Pella, running from an unhappy marriage; and her father Guert, Westish president and Melville scholar; kept me sitting in my car at lunch to hear just another chapter.  I was sad when the story ended.

Reviewers call The Art of Fielding a coming-of-age story.  Each of the five main characters develops as the book progresses.  While Henry may be the main character, the supporting roles are equally important to the story’s outcome.  Henry takes inspiration from a book by his hero, Cardinals shortstop Aparicio Rodriguez, also titled The Art of Fielding, which has mediation-like mantras:  “The shortstop is a source of stillness at the center of the defense.  He projects this stillness and his teammates respond.”  Owen, Henry’s roommate nicknamed Buddha, tries out and makes the baseball team, but sits in the dugout reading philosophy.  When an errant throw from Henry hits Owen in the cheek causing a concussion, both their lives are changed, as is the team chemistry and Westish history.

Another thread in the novel is the pressure to perform, both individually and as a team and commitments to oneself and others.  Mike is completing his senior thesis and trying to get in to a prestigious law school.  Henry, a junior is being scouted for the major league draft.  A fellowship in Tokyo will take Owen away from his friends at Westish.  The Harpooners baseball team is battling for their first ever berth in the national college playoffs.  Tired of the strictures of playing wife to her much older husband’s professor, Pella leaves San Francisco to be with her father in Wisconsin.  She finds satisfaction in working in the school cafeteria and regaining her mental balance and self-esteem.

Chad Harbach took almost ten years to find a publisher.  It was worth the wait.  Play ball!

~ Michelle, Adult Services

Friday, June 22, 2012

Read Alike: Gillian Flynn

Chicago author Gillian Flynn earned a loyal following for her novels of psychological suspense. Her first novel, Sharp Objects, was published in 2006, and was inspired, in part, by Ms. Flynn's desire to write about women's dark sides. She has an interesting essay on this topic available on her website: gillian-flynn.com/for-readers

Disturbing at the mildest, Ms. Flynn is not for readers bothered by violence, but readers who enjoy a suspenseful read with great characters and plot twists are in for a treat.

Her most recent novel, Gone Girl, has received some great reviews and already has a waiting list here at Carnegie-Stout. Amy disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary, and her husband is left to piece together the story from her diary, even as he is under suspicion for her murder.

If you're looking for more authors of darker psychological suspense, you might like these authors as well:

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson
Mr. Watson's debut novel, Before I Go to Sleep, also features a marriage that isn't as happy as it appears on the surface, with secrets revealed by the wife's journal. Christine's memory is damaged, and the past 22 years of her life, including her marriage to Ben, are missing. The first person narration of Christine's attempt to understand who she really is and what really happened to her is fast-paced and suspenseful.

Heartsick by Chelsea Cain
Chelsea Cain's popular mystery series focuses on the twisted relationship between the damaged detective, Archie Sheridan, and the twisted serial killer, Gretchen Lowell. The plots are thrilling, the crimes are gruesome, and the humor is darkest black. The series starts with Heartsick, Archie is haunted and broken by his time as Gretchen Lowell's prisoner, but he returns to the force to catch a killer targeting young girls.

In the Woods by Tana French
Irish author Tana French’s grim and compelling mysteries have won her an international success. The character-driven stories follow the suspenseful cases of the Dublin Murder Squad. Start with In the Woods, a young girl is found murdered in the woods near Dublin, the same woods where one of the detective’s two friends disappeared twenty years ago. Detective Ryan struggles to catch the killer as his long-suppressed memories resurface.

End of Story by Peter Abrahams
In addition to psychological suspense novels, Mr. Abrahams writes for teens and younger readers, as well as a mystery series narrated by a dog named Chet (published as Spencer Quinn). In End of Story, struggling writer Ivy takes a job teaching at Dannemora Prison. Ivy becomes fascinated by Vance Harrow, a charming convict, and unconvinced of his guilt, Ivy slips deeper into a dangerous world. 

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis
Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis are the co-authors of the Nina Borg suspenseful mystery series. The first book in the series (and only with an English translation so far), The Boy in the Suitcase, is fast-paced with a twisted plot, and was the topic of an earlier staff review. Nina is a deeply flawed character, a nurse who works tirelessly to protect strangers in dangerous situations, a mother who can't remember to pick her son up from daycare.

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
Kate Atkinson suspenseful mystery series follows private investigator Jackson Brodie as he investigates crimes with offbeat characters and dark secrets. The series starts with Case Histories, Jackson takes on three seemingly unrelated cases, all involving the death or disappearance of a young girl from the Cambridge region over the course of 30 years.

The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith
Patricia Highsmith remains a favorite for fans of psychological suspense. Her dark, creepy stories of charming evil, like The Talented Mr. Ripley, make for compelling reads. Expect ambiguous morals and exciting plot twists.

You may also want to take a look at Becky Spratford of the Berwyn Public Library write ups on Ms. Flynn's books for some more reading suggestions!

Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Beat the Heat, 2012

Bondi - Sculptures by the Sea '06 by MLHS
Today is the summer solstice, the longest day of the year and official start of summer, and we're definitely enjoying summer weather here in Dubuque!

Be sure to remind yourself of how to stay safe and healthy as the temperatures rise by taking a look at the CDC's Extreme Heat guide, as well as these tips from NOAA. And if you've ever wondered how meteorologists determine the Heat Index ("It's 89 today, but feels like 98!"), NOAA explains how they use a formula that accounts for humidity to determine the Heat Index.You can also try your hand at their Heat Index Calculator.

If you're struggling with the costs of keeping your home cool, you might qualify for assistance through Operation: New View or one of these programs.

Swimming is a popular way to beat the heat, and you can take a look at the schedules and fees for the Dubuque Community Pools on the city's website. The Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce has some information on swimming as well. Safety is also important with swimming, both the Y and the city have information on swimming lessons available in Dubuque.

And finally, don't forget you can come into the library to relax with a good book, check your email, browse our movie and music collections, or just chat with a friend! We've put together a display of books that will help you forget the weather (including books on making ice cream), and don't forget all the fun events and speakers we have scheduled for Adult Summer Reading.

Monday, June 18, 2012

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver

You may scoff at the idea, but there are some really great perks that come with a career in public librarianship. One of the greatest is the chance to read a favorite author’s new novel a full five months before it comes out. I recently got my hands on a copy of Barbara Kingsolver’s upcoming novel Flight Behavior and it is a spectacular book that more than makes up for the long hours I’ve spent slaving away in the book mines.

In an opening reminiscent of The Bean Trees (Kingsolver’s first novel), Flight Behavior starts with a young woman running away from her established life in rural Appalachia. Taylor Greer of The Bean Trees had diligently avoided teen pregnancy, saved up some money, and left Kentucky in her early twenties. Dellarobia Turnbow, the main character of Flight Behavior, wasn’t as careful with her high school boyfriend and, at the start of the novel, she’s a twenty-eight year old mother of two with an unfulfilling marriage and a constrained future on her in-laws’ sheep farm in Tennessee. She’s prepared to throw all that away for the quick thrill of an adulterous tryst with a telephone lineman she arranged to meet in a hunting shack on the mountain behind her house. She trudges up the mountain, bemoaning the vanity that led her to wear impractical boots and leave behind her glasses, only to be stopped in her tracks by an inexplicable sight. The valley before her erupts in a swirling orange maelstrom she can only interpret as a silent, heatless inferno. Awestruck and somehow changed, she forgets the lineman and returns to her family. Some time later she returns to the mountain with her husband, her in-laws, and her glasses. The inferno turns out to be a lost horde of monarch butterflies, a reality only slightly less disruptive than Dellarobia’s imagined forest fire.

The novel is rife with such mistaken assumptions tumultuously overturned. Even Dellarobia’s name confounds understanding. Dellarobia’s mother chose it thinking it had a biblical pedigree but eventually disappoints her daughter by remembering that “Dellarobia” is a type of wreath characterized by gaudy fake fruit. Neither woman realizes that the wreath was named for a well-respected Renaissance artist.

Meatier misunderstandings arise between Dellarobia and Ovid Byron, the biologist who comes to study the wayward butterflies. She’s as perplexed by his intellectualism as he is by her poverty-induced despair. Both academics and Appalachians have a history as hollow caricatures, but if any author can be trusted to present both groups with sympathetic honesty it’s Kingsolver. She grew up in Kentucky and now lives in rural Virgina, but she’s traveled the world and written a fair amount of ecologically-themed nonfiction in addition to her novels.

I was particularly intrigued by the paradoxes of Dellarobia, a woman who chafes under the constraints of her impoverished hometown, yearning for something more, but nonetheless finds herself siding with her Tennessean neighbors when confronted by outsiders. True to form, Kingsolver presents these internal struggles in clear and accessible language with a deceptive emotional depth. Several plot lines weave in and out of the narrative, influencing and informing each other but resisting any sort of false tidiness or tying-up of loose ends.

Ultimately, I must apologize for offering such strong praise for a novel you won’t be able to read until November. It’s in the library’s catalog now, ready for you to place a hold on it. Please do so and I’ll join you in counting down the days until it’s available. The large downside of reading it early is that I don’t have anyone talk to about the ending.


A photo from the University of Arkansas gives a sense of
what Kingsolver's characters are dealing with.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Read Alike: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Oprah's famous book club has returned (now with webisodes) and her first selection is Wild: from lost to found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. Ms. Strayed's memoir has been receiving positive reviews and numerous holds here at Carnegie-Stout since its publication earlier this year. Prior to Wild, Ms. Strayed worked as a columnist and wrote a novel, Torch. You can read more about her background and writing on her website: cherylstrayed.com

Wild is an inspirational, lyrically descriptive story of grief, hiking, and personal growth. After her mother's sudden death from cancer, Ms. Strayed's life fell apart. On impulse, she decides to challenge herself by hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, which runs 2,650 miles from the Mexican border of California to the Canadian border of Washington.

You can read more about the Pacific Crest Trail by following these links:
www.fs.usda.gov/pct/
www.pcta.org

We've also gathered together some read alike suggestions for Wild available at Carnegie-Stout:

Tales of a Female Nomad by Rita Golden Gelman
When children's author Rita Golden Gelman is confronted by a divorce and an empty nest, she impulsively sets out for Mexico, starting her decades long journey from home to home around the world. I included this book in a list of some of my favorite female travel narratives in a blog post last summer.

The Cactus Eaters by Dan White
Dan White and his girlfriend Melissa leave their jobs at a Connecticut newspaper to tackle the Pacific Crest Trail. Mr. White writes with humor and honesty about their misadventures, neither was an experienced hiker, though his transformation is somewhat less inspiring than Ms. Strayed's.

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson (917.40443 BRY)
Mr. Bryson is known his witty travel writing. In A Walk in the Woods, he tells of his journey along the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine, along with local trivia, natural history, and more. Mr. Bryson is a more experienced hiker than some of the others he meets along the trail, but this is also a less difficult trail.

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair by Nina Sankovitch (028.8 SAN)
After Ms. Sankovitch's sister is killed by cancer, she works through her grief by reading, an activity the sisters had shared. This is a moving story about family, reading, and the strength of relationships and memory. This book was also the topic of an earlier staff review.

Library Journal has also created a list of reading suggestions for readers who loved Wild, which you can check out by clicking here.

Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Bestseller Read-Alikes for the Week of June 11th


Can’t wait to get your hands on the latest best-seller, but the hold list is too long? To tide you over, every week we’ll offer similar titles and authors to the week’s fiction and nonfiction best sellers.

Fiction

This week's #1 book on the fiction bestsellers list is The Storm by Clive Cussler and Graham Brown. The tenth novel in the NUMA (National Underwater and Marine Agency) exploration team series, Kurt Austin and Joe Zavala investigate the deaths of an entire NUMA research vessel in the Indian Ocean. A black substance is found at the scene - originally mistaken as an oil spill - but Austin and Zavala uncover a more sinister plan - one that could have devastating effects on the entire world.

Other authors with similar writing styles and themes include:

Jack Du Brul, - A frequent co-author of Cussler, Du Brul also writes his own action-packed series featuring geologist Philip Mercer. Havoc, the most recent of the series, has Philip Mercer following the trail of a secret from the Hindenburg to a remote African village.

James Rollins - Rollins writes thrilling, suspenseful adventure novels set in dangerous far-flung corners of the globe. The first book of his Sigma Force series, Sandstorm, has his independent heroes tracking the location of a lost city and the scientific wonder it contains.

Click here for more fiction bestsellers...


Nonfiction 

This week's #1 nonfiction book is The Amateur: Barack Obama in the White House by Edward Klein. Klein, former editor of The New York Times Magazine, argues in his book that President Obama he President Obama is arrogant and incompetent and discusses how his wife wields immense control over him, the real reason Rahm Emmanuel left the White House, and how Obama has forgotten and ignored those who helped put him in power.

Klein has previously written about the Kennedy family: Just Jackie: Her Private Years (1998), The Kennedy Curse: Why America's First Family Has Been Haunted by Tragedy for 150 Years (2003), Farewell, Jackie: A Portrait of Her Final Days (2004) and Ted Kennedy: The Dream That Never Died (2009), as well as a biography of Katie Couric (2007).

Other books similar to The Amateur include:

Ameritopia: The Unmaking of America (2012) by Mark Levin (320.973 LEV): The nationally syndicated conservative radio host explores the philosophical basis of America's foundations as well as the crises facing government today.

Throw Them All Out (2011) by Peter Schweitzer (364.1323 SCH) - Schweizer, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, discusses the state of government as he see it and the perceived depths of its political corruption.

Click here for more nonfiction bestsellers ...

If you'd like more recommendations, stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Monday, June 11, 2012

"Zoo City" by Lauren Beukes

Lauren Beukes' Zoo City has wormed its way into my imagination. Months after reading it, I'm still thinking about the strange, yet familiar world Ms. Beukes created. It's possible that my life experience and tastes* have made me unusually prepared to love this book, but Zoo City did receive the 2011 Arthur C. Clarke Award so I am by no means alone in my enthusiasm.

The Zoo City of the title is a slum region of Johannesburg, South Africa inhabited primarily by the animalled. The plot is a hard-boiled mystery with twists, betrayals, muti, and a flawed, reluctant detective.

You're probably wondering who the animalled are, and how they came to be outcasts on the fringe of society. Short answer: they are responsible for the death of at least one person, and marked for their crime by the presence of, well, an animal.

Zinzi December, recovering addict and former journalist, is partnered by a sloth**; her lover Benoît, a refuge from the Congo, carries a mongoose. The animal phenomenon is relatively recent (the first recorded cases appeared in the '80s) and poorly understood. Theories abound, but to add to the mystery, those who have an animal are also given a supernatural talent. Zinzi has the ability to find lost objects, which is how she gets caught up in a missing person investigation.

Part of my enjoyment of this book came from the chapters that hint at how different parts of the world have reacted to the appearance of animals.Bits of academic articles, an IMDB entry for a documentary, along with character discussions of celebrity gossip, it's all recognizable, but viewed through a fun house mirror. To add to the fun, there's an official soundtrack for the book. I highly recommend checking it out because the South African music scene plays a big part in the novel. Take a listen here: soundcloud.com/africandope/sets/zoo-city-soundtrack

And Ms. Beukes has a highly entertaining blog on her website: laurenbeukes.com


*Was anyone else picturing the actor who plays creepy David Genaro from Rhythm City as SPOILER? 

**I can't resist the chance to link Kristen Bell's sloth meltdown

~Sarah, Adult Services 

Friday, June 8, 2012

Staff Picks: Audiobooks

Audio Book Concept by dalydose
Whether embarking on a summer road trip, making the daily commute, or just doing chores around the house, the right audiobook can make the hours fly by! Not to mention, June is Audiobook Month. For today's blog post we've gathered together some suggestions from Carnegie-Stout's audiobook collection, including some staff favorites.

You can always stop in to browse or ask at the Recommendations Desk for suggestions, and don't forget our collection of Downloadable Audiobooks (and eBooks too). If you're planning a big road trip for this summer, you might want to submit a Personal Recommendations request!

Janet Evanovich's mystery series featuring bounty hunter Stephanie Plum are a favorite of many staff members. One for the Money, the first book in the series, is narrated by C.J. Critt. Set in New Jersey, the books have a colorful cast of characters and some hot love interests. Amanda says this series "will have you laughing so hard its difficult to see the road."

If you're looking for a laugh, Sharon recommends The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson or anything by Ellen Degeneres. Mr. Bryson's hilarious memoir of growing up in 1950s Iowa would be a good choice for a family with older kids on a long trip, and is available on CD and as a downloadable file. At this time, Carnegie-Stout only owns Ms. Degeneres' latest, Seriously- I'm Kidding, as an audiobook, but we do have a number of other witty comediennes you might want to check out too!

Suzanne Collins' The Hunger Games trilogy is narrated by Carolyn McCormick (Dr. Elizabeth Olivet on Law and Order), and Sharon and Angie say it's worth the wait for these popular books! Ms. McCormick is also the narrator for James Patterson's popular Women's Murder Club series, and Chelsea Cain's series featuring serial killer Gretchen Lowell. You can search for a favorite narrator in our catalog under Author as Last Name, First Name. Then select CD Audio Book under Item Types on the left.

But of course, sometimes the best narrator is someone you know. Maybe your favorite book hasn't been released as an audiobook, or maybe you enjoy taking turns reading aloud as a family activity. Michelle has fond memories of reading The Tale of Despereaux and The Summer of the Monkeys on family road trips. We invite you to share your favorites in the comments section!


Other Favorite Audiobooks include:
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (Biog)
Blood Red Road by Moira Young (YA)
By Myself and Then Some by Lauren Bacall (Biog)
Echo Park by Michael Connelly (Fiction)
Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith (Biog)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (Fiction)
Incarceron by Catherine Fisher (YA)
I Feel Bad About My Neck by Nora Ephron (814.54 EPH)
Life by Keith Richards (Biog)
The Magicians by Lev Grossman (Fiction)
Marley and Me by John Grogan (636.752 GRO)
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Fiction)
A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (Fiction)
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (YA)
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen (Fiction
Will Grayson, Will Grayson byJohn Green (YA)

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Natasha Trethewey, Emory University Writing Professor, Named 19th U.S. Poet Laureate


Natasha Trethewey is a Pulitzer-prize winning poet, who began writing poetry in her teens after the murder of her mother by her step-father. Librarian of Congress James Billington chose Trethewey after hearing her read at the National Book Festival. Her work explores forgotten history and the many human tragedies of the Civil War. She is among the youngest laureates, and will reside in Washington and work in the Poetry Room at Library of Congress.

Carnegie-Stout Public Library has one of her books, Native Guard (2006)--winner of the Pulitzer prize in poetry in 2007. The collection follows the “Native Guard,” one of the first black regiments mustered into service in the Civil War. 

Other books and essays by the Trethewey will soon be on the shelves: Beyond Katrina: A Meditation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (2012); Domestic Work (2000); and Bellocq’s Ophelia: Poems (2012). Her term begins this September.

Past poet laureates have included W. S. Merwin, Kay Ryan, Stanley Kunitz, Robert Pinsky, Rita Dove, and Robert Penn Warren. The library has books by these poets in the second-floor nonfiction collection, many found under the Dewey classification of 811.
  
Below is one poem to read by the new Laureate, from the website Poets.org.
~Mirdza Erika Berzins, librarian


Kitchen Maid with Supper at Emmaus, or The Mulata
By Natasha Trethewey
              —after the painting by Diego Velazquez, ca. 1619

She is the vessels on the table before her:
the copper pot tipped toward us, the white pitcher
clutched in her hand, the black one edged in red
and upside down. Bent over, she is the mortar
and the pestle at rest in the mortar—still angled
in its posture of use. She is the stack of bowls
and the bulb of garlic beside it, the basket hung
by a nail on the wall and the white cloth bundled
in it, the rag in the foreground recalling her hand.
She's the stain on the wall the size of her shadow—
the color of blood, the shape of a thumb. She is echo
of Jesus at table, framed in the scene behind her:
his white corona, her white cap. Listening, she leans
into what she knows. Light falls on half her face.

La Mulata by Diego Velazquez

115 years ago....

While searching for an obituary in The Dubuque Herald from October 28, 1897, I came across this very important piece of news:

Old newspapers can be so much fun!

~ Amy, Adult Services

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Bestseller Read-Alikes for the Week of June 4th

Can’t wait to get your hands on the latest best-seller, but the hold list is too long? To tide you over, every week we’ll offer similar titles and authors to the week’s fiction and nonfiction best sellers.

Fiction

This week's #1 book on the fiction bestsellers list is again 11th Hour by James Patterson & Maxine Paetro (you can find read-alikes for that book here) At number 2 is John Sanford's Stolen Prey. Sandford's latest is the 22nd installment in his Prey series, featuring  Lucas Davenport (now an agent with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension.) In this entry, Davenport investigates a particularly gruesome crime - the torture and murder of an entire family in an small, upscale neighborhood. The killings have all the markers of a drug cartel, and investigators soon uncover a cross-border money laundering scheme. As Davenport unravels the mystery, he's pulled deeper, leading him to dark places and putting his own life at risk.

Other series with similar writing styles and themes include:

James Patterson's Alex Cross series - Serial murder; bank robbery; kidnapping -- all of these crimes and more are investigated by Washington, D.C. police detective/psychologist Alex Cross. Told from the points of view of both Cross and the killer, these roller-coaster cases have plenty of twists and grisly details. Start with the first book in the series, Along Came a Spider, as Cross becomes caught up in a kidnapping case that may involve a teacher at an elite private school who is also a schizophrenic psychopath and serial murderer.

James Lee Burke's Dave Robicheaux series -  Burke's first-person mystery novels featuring hardboiled P.I. Dave Robicheaux are action-filled stories that focus on cases of corruption, political abuse, and similar moral and social issues. In the first book of the series, The Neon Rain, someone in New Orleans wants Robicheaux dead, and there is no shortage of suspects.

Click here for more fiction bestsellers...

Nonfiction 

This week's #1 nonfiction book is Colin Powell's It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership. More of a meditation on leadership than a memoir, the book collects lessons and personal anecdotes that have shaped the four-star general and former Secretary of State's career in public service, and offers advice for succeeding in the workplace and life.

Other books similar to It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership include:

A Reason To Believe: Lessons from an Improbable Life by Deval Patrick - The first African-American governor of Massachusetts draws on lessons from his own life and career to counsel readers on how to build a meaningful community and country, sharing stories from his disadvantaged youth while describing his views on the transcendent power of friendship and faith.

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson - Drawing on more than forty interviews with Steve Jobs, as well as interviews with family members, friends, competitors, and colleagues, biographer Isaacson offers a look at the co-founder and leading creative force behind the Apple computer company.

Click here for more nonfiction bestselllers ...

If you'd like more recommendations, stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Monday, June 4, 2012

The Repurposed Library: 33 Craft Projects That Give Old Books New Life by Lisa Occhipinti


Don’t get rid of your print books just yet! After reading The Repurposed Library, you may find yourself compelled to visit area thrift shops to buy older cloth-bound books—not to read— but to decorate your home. Try doing this with your e-reader! Oops, I take that back; page 85 shows a “Kindle Keeper” made out of a colorful illustrated Western history book repurposed to hold a pad of paper and a Kindle.

Lisa Occhipinti rescues orphaned and outdated books from flea markets and library sales, and turns them into art objects and practical items for the home. The book shows delightful photographs of white doves perched in trees (made from book pages) and mirrors inserted into hanging book covers (one project’s selection is entitled Five Minute Biographies by Dale Carnegie). Directions are clear and project suggestions are simple enough to be both doable and beautiful, especially if you appreciate Shabby Chic design.

One project cleverly converts a Tuscan-colored cover of And Tell of Time by Laura Krey into a clock! My own favorite is the “Book Ledge” on page 43: Three cloth-bound books are stacked as a “bookshelf” for your wall. The wonderful colors used in dyeing these older book covers would make Martha Stewart jealous.

Similar titles in our Library’s collection with inventive ideas for repurposing books include Eco Books: Inventive Projects from the Recycling Bin by Terry Taylor (2009); and Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms by Alisa Golden (2010). Check out these Dewey subject ranges in the second floor stacks: 686.3 and 745.5.

A final note of caution: These creative suggestions are not recommended for turning our Library books—which are for reading—into Book Burst decorations for your wall. Anyone attempting to do so will be punished! But you might think twice before tossing those Reader’s Digest condensed books.

~ Mirdza Erika Berzins, Adult Services

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Urban Farm is June's Magazine of the Month

Urban Farm is a new addition to Carnegie-Stout's magazine collection! Created in a response to the growing popularity of sustainability, green living, and people who keep chickens in city limits, we added Urban Farm after we received a patron request.
This magazine comes from the same publishers of Hobby Farms and Hobby Farm Home (http://www.hobbyfarms.com), but is designed for those of us who have far less than even a single acre at our disposal. Come in and check out the latest issue, or take a tour of the tips and tricks on their website: www.urbanfarmonline.com
You might also enjoy checking out our Spotlight on Gardening post, which includes more reading suggestions for the hobby farmer enthusiast!

Friday, June 1, 2012

Spotlight: Summer Reading

School's out, the pools are open, and the weather is seasonably warm. That means it's time for summer reading! We hope you'll be joining us for our Adult Summer Reading Program events and contests this year.

You can check out the schedule and register for the fun on our website, or stop in in person. (Note: Registration begins on June 4th). The Youth Services department will be offering fun and activities for kids and teens as well.

Whether you prefer a steamy beach read, the comfort of an old favorite, or are planning to tackle some classic literature, Carnegie-Stout has a book for you! If you're not sure what to pick up first, stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll help you find the right book.

Right here on the blog we have reading suggestions for Mysteries, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Romance, True Crime, and more.

In addition, everyone from the big publishing houses to Anderson Cooper is putting out a list of must-read titles for the summer. We've put together a short list of links below, but we'd love to know what Dubuquers will be reading this summer. Leave us a comment here, or on our Facebook page.

Photo: Beach Book by Steve & Jemma Copley

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Researching a Library Postcard


During the recent library haiku contest, I tried to write a poem about how Carnegie-Stout Public Library was here before any of us were born and would likely still be around after all of us have passed away, but I couldn't figure out how to say that within the required number of syllables.

Since then I found an item on eBay which reflects this idea about the permanence of libraries--and the impermanence of library users--as well as any haiku: a 100-year-old Carnegie-Stout postcard.

Postcard, Carnegie-Stout Public Library, Dubuque
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I won the auction for the postcard with a bid of 70 cents, not a bad deal for a beautiful color image of Dubuque's public library from the turn of the century, close to the time when the Carnegie building first opened 1902.

The handwritten note on the back of the postcard is especially interesting. Arthur in Dubuque wrote to Miss Zoe Smith in Webster City, Iowa to say he was a free man now and working for the government and he'd like to come see her.

Postcard Back
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I wondered about Arthur's newfound freedom. Did he just get out of jail? Or maybe he had divorced his wife? Would Zoe Smith be eager to see Arthur? Or would she be surprised, or maybe even frightened?

The card is postmarked December 27, 1912, and Arthur's address of 110 Center Place in Dubuque is legible, so I started my research with those bits of information in hopes of learning more about Arthur and Zoe.

Arthur

The 1910-1911 city directory at Carnegie-Stout Public Library shows that Arthur Kline lived at 110 Center Place with Joseph H. Kline, a postal clerk with the Railway Mail Service. Arthur worked at S. P. Wadley Company, a butter and egg wholesaler at 200 South Locust Street.

Joseph H. Kline was Arthur's father, according to the 1910 U.S. Federal Census. Arthur was 17 years old at that time, having been born around 1893. Before moving to Center Place, Arthur lived on Chestnut Street in Dubuque with his mother and father and younger brother and sister.

Google News ArchiveThe Kline's address on the postcard, 110 Center Place, is probably 1132 Center Place today. Some Dubuque streets were renamed and renumbered during the 1920s. The Klines are listed at 110 Center Place before those changes and at 1132 Center Place afterwards.

When Arthur's father Joseph died in 1926, his funeral services were held at home at 1132 Center Place. Arthur's mother Addie lived at the same address until she passed away in 1940, and Arthur's brother Russell Kline and his family lived in that house for many more years.

With a tip from Kris Gallagher, Teacher Librarian at Dubuque Senior High School, I found Arthur's senior portrait in the 1910 yearbook, The Echo. Arthur attended Central High School at 15th and Locust Streets. Arthur's full name was Joseph Arthur Kline. He appears to have gone by 'Arthur' until after his father Joseph died in the mid 1920s.

click to enlarge image
According to city directories and census records, Arthur's father Joseph was a railway postal clerk. This helped me figure out the handwriting on the front of Arthur's postcard: "Forgot to tell you I am a railway mail clerk."

So at the end of 1912, Arthur Kline, age 19, had an exciting new job with the government, in the same line of work as his father, which regularly took him at least as far away as Webster City, 167 miles from Dubuque. This must have seemed liberating to Arthur after attending high school, working for a butter and egg wholesaler, and living at home with his younger brother and sister.

I do not know if Arthur ever visited Zoe Smith, but less than two years after he mailed the postcard, Arthur married Mabel Irene Benedict in Fort Dodge, Iowa, about 20 miles west of Webster City. According to Iowa marriage records, Arthur was 22 and Mabel was 20 when they married in 1914.

When Arthur registered for the draft in 1917, he lived in Chicago and was employed by the "U.S. Gov." as a "R.R. Postal Clerk" at the LaSalle Street Station. At 25, Arthur was tall and medium build, with blue eyes and black hair. Although World War I lasted through 1918, later census records show that Arthur was not a military veteran.

Arthur and Mabel were still in Chicago in 1920. They were both employed as "terminal mail" clerks, and they lived with Mabel's mother Ida Benedict and Mabel's younger brother and sister in a rented house.

By 1930, Arthur and Mabel owned a home worth $8,500 at 21 Poplar Place in La Grange, Illinois near Chicago. Joseph was still a railroad mail clerk. They lived alone with their 9-year-old son, Robert.

Unfortunately, Arthur passed away a short time later. According to the Chicago Daily Tribune, Arthur died suddenly on December 2, 1936. He was 44 and was still working as a railroad postal clerk.

Arthur's funeral was held at home at 21 Poplar Place, and he was buried in the La Grange cemetery. He left behind two sons with Mabel, Robert and Joseph.

Zoe

Zoe Smith of Webster City was harder to track down. Zoe, about age 5, appears with her family in the 1900 U.S. Federal Census at 1100 1st Street in Webster City. Zoe's father Nathaniel Smith was a day laborer.

By 1910, Zoe and her family had moved to 1162 10th Street in Des Moines, about 70 miles south of Webster City. At that time, Zoe was 14 years old.

One of Zoe's older sisters, Merle Smith, still lived in Webster City in 1910. Merle owned a  millinery shop there until the 1940s. An announcement in the Webster City Tribune on July 25, 1913 seems to indicate that Zoe Smith spent time there, too: "Misses Merle and Zoe Smith went to Des Moines this morning, where the former goes to buy part of her fall millinery stock."

Webster City Tribune
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I couldn't find much about Zoe Smith after 1913, around the time she was 17 and Arthur sent the postcard to her. Zoe Smith's name does not appear on a list of Webster City school graduates, so either Zoe did not graduate at all or she attended school somewhere else, maybe in Des Moines where she lived in 1910.

Oddly, a 'Zoe Smith' is mentioned in Bert Leston Taylor's humor column "A Line-O'-Type or Two" in the Chicago Daily Tribune on October 18, 1912: "LYLE BLACK and Zoe Smith were married in Liscomb, Ia., the other day, and no one thought to play the anvil chorus."

A Line-O'-Type or Two
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Iowa marriage records show that a 'Lyle J. Black' was born in Webster City in 1895, but he went on to marry Ruth Casler in 1920. I couldn't find any other records to verify that Zoe Smith married Lyle Black, so perhaps the blurb in the Chicago column was a joke or just a strange coincidence.

Since I was stuck, I sent an email asking for help to Reference Librarian Ketta Lubberstedt-Arjes at Kendall Young Library in Webster City. Ketta replied with a copy of pages from a Webster City funeral home index which show that Merle E. Kellogg (nee Smith) died in 1967, and that Merle's sister Mrs. Zoe Herbel lived at 188 East 19th Street in Costa Mesa, California.

With Zoe's married name, I found her in the 1930 census in Los Angeles living with her husband, Earl L. Herbel. Zoe G. Herbel, 31 years old, was a saleswoman at a drygoods store. Earl, age 25, was a repairman at an auto repair garage. Like Zoe, Earl was originally from Iowa. They were married in Los Angeles around March 1926, according to an announcement in the Adams County Free Press of Corning, Iowa.

Zoe Gladys Herbel died on February 6, 1972 in Huntington Beach, California, and she was buried in Glendale, California, almost 60 years after Arthur sent the postcard to her.

Resources

Most of the information above came from Ancestry Library Edition, a genealogy database accessible at Carnegie-Stout Public Library. I looked at other library databases, too, including HeritageQuest Online, NewsBank, and ProQuest Historical Newspapers. And I checked old city directories and the card index of obituaries at Carnegie-Stout.

Some online sites were useful, like Encyclopedia Dubuque, FamilySearch.org, IAGenWeb, Google News Archive, NewspaperARCHIVE.com, and THOnline.com's Obituary Archive.

Ketta Lubberstedt-Arjes, Reference Librarian at Kendall Young Library in Webster City, Iowa, and Kris Gallagher, Teacher Librarian at Dubuque Senior High School, were both very helpful.

These resources can't tell us how Arthur knew Zoe, why Arthur chose a Carnegie-Stout Public Library postcard to send, or if Zoe ever received the card and responded. But they can provide a little context to help us better understand people, like Arthur and Zoe, who lived before us.


Michael May
Adult Services Librarian
Carnegie-Stout Public Library