Boating and NASCAR Illustrated are our June Magazines of the Month

June is a perfect time of year for outdoor activities, which has inspired our selection for the magazines of the month: Boating and NASCAR Illustrated. That Father's Day is June 15th, and many fathers (including mine) enjoy both boats and NASCAR is an additional bonus.

Boating is a magazine for powerboat enthusiasts and publishes ten issues every year, as well as a yearly boat buying guide. Each issue covers industry developments, reviews of boating gear and accessories, boating safety guides, fishing information, and DIY projects.

You can check out a copy from the library, or learn more on their website: www.boatingmag.com

NASCAR Illustrated is, as the title suggests, packed with full color photographs from NASCAR races. In addition to the pictures, there are profiles, interviews, and features to appeal to any NASCAR fan.

There are additional photos and videos available through their website: www.nascar-illustrated.com

Staff Review: Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert

Last Night at the Blue Angel by Rebecca Rotert
This book will be published on July 1, 2014.

I had trouble putting this one down, perhaps in part because I struggled to know who the protagonist is - the best kind of story! The two alternating narrators manage to be simultaneously devastating, encouraging and inspiring. Rotert beautifully explores love, passion, desire and responsibility through relationships between complex (mostly female!) characters. Most of the book is set in 1960's Chicago and includes struggles with sexuality, sexism, coming of age and civil rights. The story has a fascinating historical aspect, but is so urgent and heart-wrenching, it is timeless. Read if you love music, US history or asking lots of questions.

~Rachel, Technical Services

Spotlight on Audiobooks

As the end of the school year quickly approaches, and warm weather shuffles its way here, we're quickly reaching prime audiobook season. Whether you're listening to a book you downloaded from our OverDrive or One Click Digital collections as you do yard work, or a CD or MP3 audiobook is keeping you company on a cross country drive, Carnegie-Stout is hear to help you find something good to read!

Our Adult audiobook collections are located on the second floor (YA titles are in the Teen Zone, and kids' titles are in the Children's Room), and library staff would be happy to help you find a great read any time you stop in. If you aren't able to stop by for a chat, you can always use the Personal Recommendations form to tell us what sort of books you're looking for, and we'll create a list of suggestions just for you!

To get you started, I've put together a list of suggestions for you to check out:

Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy; narrated by Sile Bermingham

Irish author Maeve Binchy is a Dubuque favorite. The pace in her stories is often relaxed and the tone is typically heartwarming and homespun. Start with Heart and Soul, set in an underfunded Dublin heart clinic, this story features a colorful cast of characters that range beyond the shores of Ireland. Audiobook narrator Sile Bermingham’s accent warmly evokes the setting and characters.

The Professional by Robert B. Parker; narrated by Joe Mantegna

Parker was known for his fast-paced mysteries, especially his Spenser series which gave a fresh take on the hardboiled detective. Witty humor and a complex plot are paired with compelling characters. Try The Professional, a thrilling mix wealth, power, affairs, blackmail, and murder. Joe Mantegna (of Criminal Minds) narrates, which provides a crisp and distinctive voice throughout the series.

The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert; narrated by Juliet Stevenson

Though you probably recognize Elizabeth Gilbert from her famous memoir (Eat, Pray, Love), she’s also an accomplished novelist. The Signature of All Things is the story of Alma Whittaker, born to a life of privilege in 19th century Pennsylvania, science is her true passion. Juliet Stevenson provides a masterful narration of Alma’s journey through life and love that captures the setting.

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi; narrated by Wil Wheaton

Scalzi, known for his engaging and offbeat science fiction, updates a science fiction classic, Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper, for modern readers. Snarky, unreliable Jack Halloway works as a prospector on a distant planet owned by the wealthy ZaraCorp, but the find of Jack's career quickly turns out to be worth more than his life. Wil Wheaton's (yes, that Wil Wheaton) wry narration is a great match for Jack.

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter; narrated by Edoardo Ballerini

In 1962, an Italian innkeeper falls for an American starlet, an affair that is rekindled 50 years later. An upbeat and engaging novel for fans of character-driven literary romances. Narrator Edoardo Ballerini’s Italian accent and crisp delivery clearly captures the magic of this story.

Society’s Child by Janis Ian; narrated by Janis Ian

(Biog Ian) Grammy winner Janis Ian narrates her autobiography, which borrows its title from her famous song, “Society’s Child.” A fascinating behind the scenes look at the music world from the 1960s to today that incorporates Ian’s music, bringing an additional depth to the recording. Some of Ian's music is available for download through our Freegal collection as well (though not "Society's Child").

The Son by Philipp Meyer; narrated by: Will Patton, Scott Shepherd, and Kate Mulgrew

An epic family saga tracing the sometimes violent fortunes of a Texas family from the 19th century through to the modern age. The multiple perspectives of this 150+ year history each receive own narrator: Will Patton, Scott Shepherd, and Dubuque native Kate Mulgrew. The narrators add to the novel’s strong sense of place.

The Chaperone by Laura Moriarty; narrated by Elizabeth McGovern

An engaging historical novel, The Chaperone tells the story of Cora, small town wife and mother, who accompanies ingénue Louise Brooks to New York City in her quest for stardom. Elizabeth McGovern’s (Downton Abbey) skilled narration creates distinct voices for the characters, bringing the Roaring Twenties to life for listeners.

Six Years by Harlan Coben; narrated by Scott Brick

A compelling and intricately plotted stand-alone from a master of suspense thrillers, Six Years is a story of lost love and shattered expectations. Jake is devastated when the woman he loves marries another man, but when her husband dies six years later, Jake is forced to realize he never really knew Natalie. Narrator Scott Brick’s gravelly voice is a perfect match for the sarcastic Jake.

Staff Review: Z by Therese Anne Fowler & A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert

Z: an novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler gives a Lost Generation view from Zelda’s eyes rather than from her more famous spouse, F. Scott Fitzgerald.

A Wilder Rose by Susan Wittig Albert relates the story of Rose Wilder Lane, who should have shared credit for the authorship of the Little House series along with her better known mother, Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The books have a number of similarities. Both are fictionalized accounts of actual people facing similar hardships and share the same basic time-frame from the 1920s through the 1940s. Both are well reviewed, irresistible reads with a common underlying theme: Zelda never escapes Scott’s shadow, just as Rose Wilder Lane is overshadowed by her mother, full well knowing the Little House books would not have been successful but for her editing.  

Alabama belle Zelda Sayre, daughter of a well-to-do judge, meets and marries Lt. Scott Fitzgerald post World War I. Zelda is a free spirit, ready to escape the strictures of Southern womanhood. The couple moves from Alabama to New York to Paris to Italy, encountering Dorothy Parker, Pablo Picasso, Ernest Hemingway and many more luminaries of the era.  Despite Scott’s success as an author and the couple’s glittering social life, the Fitzgeralds live on a financial roller coaster. Zelda serves as a sounding board for Scott’s writing and finds some success on her own, but some of her articles are sold under Scott’s name because he could command a better price.

Rose Wilder Lane has a Midwest upbringing in South Dakota and Missouri. Her parents are Almanzo Wilder, the central character in Farmer Boy, and Laura Ingalls Wilder. The family suffers the loss of an infant son, Almanzo’s ill health and financial hardships. Rose escapes by becoming a telegraph operator than an author of increasing repute. The stock market crash forces Rose back to Missouri, and she begins helping her mother market her pioneer stories to provide some income to support her parents.

These two biographical fiction books have led me to consider how fact and fiction can come together to create great reads. My curiosity will point me towards Zelda’s letters and Rose’s work under her own name. The best reads to me are ones that make me want to read more.

 - Michelle, Adult Services

Staff Review: Orphan Black

Whether I'm reading a book or watching TV, the most important element to me are the characters. I like a clever plot, I appreciate beautiful language, and if a story's set in outer space, I'll at least check it out, but more than anything else, I need interesting characters.

Orphan Black, I'm happy to say, is absolutely a character-driven story. Not that there isn't a fascinatingly twisted plot, but the real treat, for me at least, was watching how the different characters reacted to the story. The fact that many of those characters are played by the same actress (Tatiana Maslany) is what really sets this show apart.

If you don't want to risk any spoilers, this is where you should stop reading, and instead check out the first season on DVD. Not that I'd risk ruining this for anyone with major spoilers! As someone without cable TV, I've been trying my best to avoid spoilers for the second season before the DVD release on June 24th.

Sarah Manning (Tatiana Maslany) has decided to make a clean break with her troubled past (drugs, abusive ex, petty crime, etc.) to regain custody of her daughter. Unfortunately, a clean break requires funds and Sarah is broke, but then, on an otherwise deserted train platform, a woman who could be her wealthier doppelganger commits suicide. Sarah sees an opportunity and takes it, and of course, by it, I mean the dead woman's purse. Sarah plans to clean out Beth's (the dead woman, also played by Tatiana Maslany) bank account, fake her own death, and live  happily ever after.

Of course, this is not at all how things go, and Beth, we quickly learn, is not the only woman who looks disturbingly similar to Sarah. Conspiracy, murder, dark humor, and did I mention how amazing Tatiana Maslany is? Because she (and the rest of the cast and crew) take what could've been another somewhat goofy science fiction conspiracy show (not that I don't love goofy science fiction conspiracy shows) and create something obsessively watchable.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Popular Photography and The Artist's Magazine are our May Magazines of the Month

Get inspired and explore your artistic side this spring! Carnegie-Stout has a broad collection of books dedicated to painting, woodworking, and any number of other crafts. To fit with this theme, our May magazines of the month have a creative bent.

 
Popular Photography began publication in 1937, and is today the most popular photography periodical on the market. They cover information for beginners and experts, traditional film photography and modern digital methods. You can check out the latest print issue or borrow a digital issue through Zinio 

More monthly features and tips are available on their website: www.popphoto.com

The Artist’s Magazine is celebrating their 30th anniversary of publication in 2014. Each issue is devoted to the work of visual artists, primarily those interested in painting. In addition to advice and interviews, they offer competitions and contests.

More features, including videos, can be found on their website: www.artistsnetwork.com/the-artists-magazine

The Varsity Was the Smallest

One of the laundromats near Loras College used to be a movie theater. Rich and Kay Manternach managed that theater, the Varsity at 1111 Loras Boulevard, during the 1950s.

The Varsity movie theater circa 1954. Photo contributed by Rich and Kay Manternach.

Rich says, “Ray Duttle was the guy who originally put up the buildings on Loras, a theater and a grocery store.”

“My father, Gus Manternach, had a grocery store on Locust Street. He bought the new building on Loras from Ray Duttle, and opened Manternach’s Market.”

“Paul Weitz bought the theater. Weitz ran it for a while, but then sold it to my dad for about $14,000.”

“A man named O’Rourke, I can’t remember his first name, leased the theater from my dad. O’Rourke had a fire in the late 1940s, and he decided to get out of the movie business, so he subleased the Varsity to me.”

“That sublease from O’Rourke was kind of a thorn in my side,” Rich says. “I could have gotten a better deal from my dad. The Varsity had been completely renovated after the fire, though. It had a new screen, new drapes, and fresh paint.”

“I was at Loras College on the G.I. Bill around that time, from ‘48 to ‘52. I majored in economics with a minor in accounting. Since I was getting into the movie business, my thesis at Loras was The Monopolistic Practices of the Movie Industry.”

“You see, all the big movie theaters in Dubuque, like the Strand, Avon, and Grand, were owned by one person,” Rich says. “The smaller theaters, like the State, RKO Orpheum, and the Capitol on the north end, were owned individually.”

Kay says, “The Varsity was the smallest.”

"Well, wasn’t the Capitol about the same size as the Varsity, Kay?” asks Rich. “Up by your neighborhood by 22nd and Central, on the corner where Hartig's is?”

Kay says, "I thought the Capitol was a little bigger, but I could be wrong."

Rich says, “The Varsity had 205 seats. When you first walked into the theater, we had a box office up front, a popcorn machine, and there were steps up to the projection room. Inside, the seats sloped down toward the screen, which was all the way in the back.”

“Tickets were 14 cents for a child and 40 cents for an adult," Rich says.

Kay says, "The Varsity only ran evening movies. The only matinees were Saturdays and Sundays. We were closed on Wednesday nights."

"We had two changes of movies each week,” Rich explains. “Movies would run for three days, usually one main feature and a cartoon, maybe short subjects and previews of coming attractions.”

“They were all second-run films, sometimes the third and fourth run, because there were so many theaters in Dubuque,” Rich says.

“We had From Here to Eternity, with Ernest Borgnine and Frank Sinatra and . . . who was that guy who died, Montgomery Clift?” asks Rich.

Kay says, “Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful, I think that was the first movie we ran. That was a big hit.”

"And Frankenstein was a big movie, a big draw.” Kay says. “One Halloween we paid someone to dress up as Frankenstein, but we hadn't advertised it. When the time came, Rich lowered the lights, and Frankenstein came down the middle aisle, and the people shrank toward the walls. I remember that."

Rich laughs, "Since Kay is younger than me, she remembers quite a bit!"

Rich and Kay Manternach. Photo by Michael May.

Kay says, “Gregory Peck and To Kill a Mockingbird. James Cagney was popular, and we had a couple of his movies. There were a lot of musicals, which they don't have today."

Rich says, "I liked The Three Stooges. Kay didn't like them, but they were so crazy!"

Kay says, "Oh, you know what else was popular? The cowboy movies. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. I remember those."

Rich says, "I know one thing that kept people coming back. The Strand was noted for serials. They'd show The Lone Ranger for 15 minutes, and then the following week they’d have the next episode.”

“They'd get all the kids in there on Saturday afternoons. Their mothers would give them 15 or 20 cents to go away, to go to the movies down at the Strand. Kids from all over wanted to go.”

“The cartoons were good back then, too. Bugs Bunny and, uh . . . ." Rich looks at Kay.

Kay says, "Road Runner."

Rich says, "Popeye, you know. They were good back then. I loved 'em.”

"Cartoons and features were separate,” Rich continues. “Our distributor was out of Des Moines. They'd have a salesman who'd come around, and he'd want to sell you the films.”

“If it was The Lone Ranger or something, it'd be $12.50, or maybe $15 for a three-day showing. Higher-grossing movies would be around $17.”

“If it was something like Gone with the Wind or From Here to Eternity, they put it in on a percentage basis, like 20% or 35% of the gross,” Rich says.

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

“To keep you honest on that, they'd take the number off of your ticket stock. They had a key to the theater, and they'd come in and drop off the reels in steel cases with handles.”

“Long films would have four or five reels, in 35 mm. We had two projection booths. The projectors were Simplex. You had to switch reels over with a pedal on the floor,” Rich says.

“As the film would progress near the end, there'd be a dot on the right hand corner, and that was when you'd start the other reel going. When the second dot came, you'd hit the pedal, and that switched you over to the other machine.”

“If the film broke, you'd pull the reel out and restart it on another reel. When you got through, you'd take that over and splice it with glue. They had a splicing machine, and you'd just glue it up there and put it back in, and it didn't delay the movie.”

“Simplex projectors were popular,” Rich says. “They had carbon-arc lamps. You had to put the carbons into them and they were self-fed. I don't think they use those, anymore.”

"I did everything upstairs.” Rich says. “I was in the projection room most of the time. They had a buzzer downstairs in case of trouble. Once in a while Kay would say I dozed off."

Kay says, "He'd fall asleep and the screen would go dark, and the buzzer wouldn't wake him up. We had a broom downstairs, and I’d take the broom handle and bang on the ceiling.”

"I worked full-time in an office after I graduated in ‘52,” Kay says, “but I'd go up to the Varsity at night and sell tickets for Rich, because I was free help."

Rich says, “I'd give her popcorn, but no money.”

Kay says, “Yeah, he didn't pay me.”

“Before the Varsity, Kay worked at the RKO Orpheum, where Five Flags is now.” Rich says, laughing. “She used to get me in free!"

“I worked at the Orpheum for about a year and a half when I was a kid,” Kay explains. "I was 15. I lied about my age to get the job. We wore uniforms. I was an usher.”

“It was fun,” Kay says. “A big deal. 40 cents an hour. We got two free passes a week and all the popcorn you could eat, if you saved the original box.”

“My sister Phyllis helped me at the Varsity, too,” Rich says. “Phyllis was held up at gunpoint one night when she was working as cashier.”

Rich pulls out an old newspaper clipping about the robbery. “They got away with $65. The police never caught them.”

Kay says, "The Varsity was a good family theater. We had a good clientele. A lot of youngsters."

"We never had any controversial films,” Rich says. “Dubuque was a very Catholic town at that time."

"I can remember a lot of the guys,” Rich says, “guys I went to high school with. There was one guy, I won't mention his name, he used to come down . . ."

Kay says, "Don't say his name. He’s very well known, today."

Rich continues, "He would sneak in after they closed the box office. I'd go down and politely ask him to leave, because, you know, he had money. I'd see him up at Timmerman's. He'd come up and pat me on the back, and we were still good friends."

“Another thing,” Rich says, "we never had central air. Back then that was not uncommon. When I grew up my folks just had a window unit on Alta Vista, and Kay's house never had it.”

“When we finally put air conditioning in at the Varsity, that was a big plus on hot summer nights. Everything is changed, now,” Rich says.

Kay says, “Yeah, we had a lot of traffic, but it got to the point where TV just killed the neighborhood theaters.”

“A franchise called Jerrold’s brought cable TV to Dubuque in the late ‘50s, and they started robbing the picture attendance,” Kay says. “We had to close the Varsity soon after, because we really couldn't make ends meet.”

“A lot of people started going to Cinema Center on the west end. Oh my God, that was a beautiful theater!” Rich says. “Both of my kids worked there."

"I went to work for Rainbo Oil Company. I worked in the office for them for a couple or three years, and then I managed a Super Station up there on 20th and Elm,” Rich says.

“Then Rainbo sold that property and it became a Pizza Hut, so I worked for a company out of Des Moines. I was in sales for most of my time.”

The Varsity laundromat at 1111 Loras Boulevard in Dubuque.

“My father’s market stayed open into the ‘60s, and he turned the Varsity into the laundromat,” Rich says.

"When they put the laundromat in, they had to raise the floor, you see, because it was sloped. They put in some side windows. The upstairs stuff was taken out, the Simplex projectors, and somebody must have bought them, but I don't know.”

“I don't know,” Rich says again. “Where were we when they did that, honey?”

Kay shrugs.

“We were probably cryin’ the blues,” Rich says, laughing.

Michael May is a librarian at Carnegie-Stout Public Library where he shows free movies and selects titles for the Blu-ray and DVD collections. His email address is mmay@dubuque.lib.ia.us.

Thanks to Bryce Parks at Dubuque365.com for including this article in the April 24--May 7, 2014 issue of 365ink.

ComicsPlus Library Edition

Carnegie-Stout has digital books, audio books, music, and magazines. These services have proven to be a popular option that lets folks get library materials without worrying about hours or parking. Now, thanks to funding from the Friends of the Library, we're pleased to start offering digital comics.

ComicsPlus Library Edition offers thousands of comics, readable on any device with an internet connection and a full-featured web browser. The comics look great and work smoothly on desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. To get started, click the link above or go to our homepage, mouse over E-Branch Library to select Digital Collections, and then click the link for ComicsPlus Library Edition.

To start reading comics you'll need both a library card and a ComicsPlus account. If you're new to ComicsPlus, you'll want to start by clicking Register Now to make an account. Just type in your email address and make up a password (the password must contain numbers, lowercase and uppercase characters -- minimum 5 characters).

Once you've created your account and return to the login page, click on the Library box to switch it to
Carnegie-Stout. Then enter your email address, the password you just made, your library card number, and your PIN (the boxes for your card number and PIN are labeled Patron Username and Patron Password). If you get an error saying that your patron username or password are considered invalid, it's probably a simple issue with your card. Give the library a call at (563) 589-4225 and we'll probably be able to clear it up over the phone.

Once you've logged in, you can browse the available comics by publisher or search by title and author. When you find something you want, just click Borrow to start reading. Titles check out for one week. You don't need to do anything once the week is up. Your expired comic will just disappear. Every comic can be read by any number of patrons at a time, so you'll never see something that isn't available. Because you read the comic online rather than downloading it, you do need to have an Internet connection while reading.

Staff Review: Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James

It’s 1919 and there are plenty of men that have survived The Great War, but are now struggling in living their day-to-day lives in England.  Enter Kitty Weekes, a young woman on the run and hiding from her own past, who will now try to help these mentally unstable patients at Portis House.

Kitty is trying to get away from her abusive family and therefore creates false identities to go anywhere she can.  She is now a nurse, an unqualified one, but still a nurse to be hired at Portis House.  It was once a grand estate in the middle of nowhere, but the previous occupants left very abruptly.

It now houses former soldiers that are trying to recover from their atrocities of war.  There are nightmares, headaches, nosebleeds, and the occasional sedation for every patient.  They all truly do suffer because of their past, but why do all of them experience the same nightmare?

Each patient brings their own unique set of challenges for Nurse Weekes and her coworkers, but it’s Patient Sixteen that intrigues Kitty.  Why doesn’t he leave his room and why does she not have clearance to help him?  Kitty has always been a rule breaker, so a few simple rules don’t stop her.  Then the house starts to change and things are seen by everyone, including the mentally insane and the workers.  The west wing is crumbling and locked tightly, but why is everyone drawn to a certain spot there?  Patient Sixteen becomes a friend to Kitty to help her uncover the truth and what’s really going on in this supposedly rundown house.

Silence for the Dead by Simone St. James took me back to when soldiers were “healed” by drugs and isolation and a very small support staff that tried not to upset the men with loud noises or disruptions to their routines.  The setting and the great attention to detail hooked me immediately.  The unique situations, the budding romance, and the mysterious forces were all present and I would highly recommend this book to anyone willing to discover more about the unknown.

~Andrea, Circulation

Staff Review: 50 Children by Steven Pressman

We are all aware of what happened during World War II and how Hitler wanted to eradicate the entire Jewish population from the world, or at least from Europe.  However, did you know that before things got really serious that the Nazi party were allowing the Jewish people to leave Germany?  To find out more, pick up and read 50 Children written by Steven Pressman.  His wife is the grandchild of Gil and Eleanor Kraus, the focus of this book and the 2013 HBO documentary 50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr. and Mrs. Kraus.

Gil Kraus has discovered that Jewish parents in Germany and Austria can legally send their children to America if there are relatives or sponsors that will care for the children until their parents arrive.  Mr. Kraus enlists his Jewish friends and political connections that will make this happen.  He wants to bring 50 unaccompanied children to America.  If he is successful, it will be the largest set of Jewish children to be brought over together at the same time. It is a long, legal process that Mrs. Kraus works through to ensure all of the proper procedures are occurring, although nothing is official.

Deemed too dangerous for Mrs. Kraus to travel to Germany, Mr. Kraus and his associate cross the ocean by boat to meet with all of the individuals to approve the travel of these children.  Mr. Kraus works very diligently to make sure that everything is completed legally, and so the visas that will be used by the children fit the requirements of America’s very rigid immigration laws.  There are hoops to jump through, interviews to be conducted, and dealing with government officials in every phase, so Mrs. Kraus joins her husband in Europe and leaves their own children behind.

It is extremely difficult to pick just 50 Jewish children out of the 1.5 million that are trying to save their lives.  Once the 50 are decided, still nothing is official that they can leave.  The children are strong in that they will be able to survive and be successful in America away from their parents, but it is the parents that are the strongest.  They are willingly sending their children to a new country while their own future remains unknown.

If you enjoy history, especially from this time period, 50 Children is the perfect choice.  It provides a personal tale of a Jewish couple from Philadelphia and their willingness to help others when so many would not.  This was a difficult time for all, and there are difficult parts to read, but the happy times make it all worthwhile.  Drawn from Mrs. Kraus’ unpublished memoir, rare documents, family photos, and interviews tell the story of “One ordinary American couple’s extraordinary journey into the heart of Nazi Germany.”  It will be published on April 28th to coincide with the Holocaust Remembrance Day. 

~Andrea, Circulation

Staff Review: The Raven Prince by Elizabeth Hoyt

I hesitated before writing this review. The Raven Prince, Elizabeth Hoyt's first novel, was originally published in 2006, so I feel like I'm a little late to the party. Plus, it's a romance novel. A very steamy romance novel. No really, I'm blushing a little bit as I type this. The chemistry between the main characters is intense, and things do eventually get rather graphic, after quite a lot of longing glances.

There's also some delightful banter, and some creative profanity, as the two misfits stumble their way towards Happily Ever After. Mrs. Anna Wren is an incredibly proper and respectable widow, whose finances are becoming increasingly desperate. Edward de Raaf, the Earl of Swartingham, is the explosive, pockmarked, long absent lord of Ravenhill Abbey. His unexpected return has the Little Battleford gossips whispering, and they only get louder when Anna takes a position as Swartingham's secretary, an unheard of career for a woman in 1760.

Add in a vividly drawn cast of supporting characters, a fast-paced plot that manages to be clever instead of contrived, and fun nods to other favorites, and it's easy to see how I found myself up until 3 a.m. so that I could finish this book in one sitting. A book that opens with a variation on the meeting of the scene where Jane meets Rochester in Jane Eyre was bound to be one I either loved or hated. I'm happy to say that The Raven Prince charmed me completely, and it's taking all my will power not to go on an immediate Elizabeth Hoyt reading binge.


~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer

I don't read a lot of speculative fiction, I usually go for more urban fiction or fantasy.  I saw a plug for Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer on some review site I was reading (I honestly can't tell you which one at this point) and thought "hey, that looks interesting".  When I checked out the book I was excited to see that it is only 195 pages long.  From what I could tell this book takes place is some sort of dystopian future.  As with most dystopian stories, something happened that isn't really explained, causing weird things to occur. In this book, the weird thing is actually an area.

Area X has been cut off from the rest of the continent for decades. Nature has reclaimed the land and human civilization in Area X has disappeared. Expeditions have been sent to try and figure out what happened, and is continuing to happen. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Eden like landscape; all the members of the second expedition committed suicide; the third expedition members turned on one another and died in a hail of gunfire; the members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within months of their return, all had died of aggressive cancer.

Annihilation is the story of the twelfth expedition.  This group is made up of four women, a psychologist, a surveyor, an anthropologist, and our narrator, a biologist.  Their mission is to the map the terrain, collect samples, and record all of their observations in journals. They are dispatched with what amounts to primitive tools, a camera, and a few guns for protection.  They have no way of communicating with anyone outside of Area X.  Even though they arrive expecting the unexpected, nothing could prepare them for the reality of Area X. 

This novel is based on the biologist first person account of the expedition.  Vandermeer never gives you the names of the expedition members. They are just referred to by their job titles.  Initially that was a little disconcerting,  I really wanted to know names.   By the end of the book, I didn't care.  Names weren't important.  The writing style is vivid with descriptions of colors and sounds.  But everything that happens seems so other-worldly, almost dream-like.  I couldn't put this book down!  I wanted to know what was going on.  What happened to to create Area X?  What happened to the other expeditions?  Why would people still volunteer to go on these expeditions when they all seem to end badly?  What is Southern Reach?  Some of these questions were answered, many more were not.  Be warned, this book is creepy.  Not bump-in-the-night creepy, but unsettling creepy. 

Annihilation is the first in the Southern Reach trilogy.  The second book, Authority, is due out in May, the third, Acceptance, in September.  I can't wait to read them both. If you want to dip your toe into speculative fiction give Annihilation a shot.  It is short, suspenseful, intriguing, and leaves you wanting more. 

~ Amy, Adult Services

Little Wolves - 2014 All Iowa Reads selection

Founded in 2002, the Iowa Center for the Book established  the All Iowa Reads Program in 2003.  The purpose is to foster a sense of unity through reading.  Each year Iowans statewide are encouraged to come together in their communities to read and talk about a single book title.

The titles are chosen by a committee and are based on the following criteria:

• Raise universal social issues relevant to Iowans
• Lend itself to sustained, spirited, and in-depth discussion
• Be accessible to adults and high school aged youth
• Be available by January 1st of the selection year in paperback, unabridged audio, large print and/or downloadable eBook

The 2014 All Iowa Reads Selection is Little Wolves by Thomas Maltman.

Set on the Minnesota prairie in the late 1980s during a drought season that's pushing family farms to the brink, Little Wolves features the intertwining stories of of a father searching for answers after his son commits a heinous murder, and a pastor's wife (and washed-out scholar of early Anglo-Saxon literature) who has returned to the town for mysterious reasons of her own. A penetrating look at small-town America, Little Wolves weaves together elements of folklore and Norse mythology while being driven by a powerful murder mystery; a page-turning literary triumph. (from the publishers description)

Little Wolves is available for check-out at the Circulation desk. The Let's Talk Books: Book Discussion for Adults, will be held on May 13 at 7:00 p.m. in the 3rd floor Aigler Auditorium.

For more information on All Iowa Reads, including past titles, please click here. 

Carnegie-Stout Public Library has Books-In-A-Bag discussion sets for all the past All Iowa Reads selections.  If you are interested in using one for your book club, please contact the library at 563-589-4225 and ask for Inter-Library Loan. 

April Magazines of the Month: Kiplinger's and Consumer Reports Money Adviser

April is not just tax season, it's also Money Smart Week! An annual opportunity to take a look at your personal finances and budget to see if there's anything you could be doing better.

If you need a tax form, we have some of the federal forms available in the library, and can help you print others from the state and federal websites for 10 cents a page. We're also partnering with other local organizations for Money Smart Week. Don't miss Community Shred Day from 9-11 a.m. on Saturday April 12th or the Money Smart Kids READ event from 4-5 p.m. on Thursday, April 10th.

In honor of fiscal responsibility, we've selected Consumer Reports Money Adviser and Kinglinger's Personal Finance Magazine as our April magazines of the month! Be sure to check them out, along with the other titles on our Money Smart display on the second floor.

You can also check out Kiplinger's Personal Finance on your tablet or computer through our Zinio app.

Architecture Days Scavenger Hunt: The Librarian Way

I love the Architecture Days Scavenger Hunt. And I am terrible at it.

If you're not familiar, Architecture Days takes place every April. If you've got any interest in architecture or local history, there are a lot of things to look forward to. You can see the whole list on the Architecture Days page I linked above (and I'll give a special plug to the movie we're showing here at C-SPL).

I always get particularly excited about the scavenger hunt. Dubuque Main Street publishes a set of close-up photos of local buildings and all you have to do is identify them. Simple, right? I grew up here. I've been around these building all my life. They even provide a map showing the area from which they selected buildings. But every year I pull up the sheet of photos and realize that I don't recognize any of them. Apparently, I don't really pay attention to the buildings around me.

Luckily, I'm a librarian. I may not know the answers on this scavenger hunt, but I know how to find them!
(A small interjection: I realize I could just drive/bike/walk around looking for the buildings in the pictures. This seemed like more fun to me. That's why I'm a librarian.)

The theme of Architecture Days this year is Sacred Spaces. Looking at the photos, it seems that all the buildings are churches. So a good first step would be a list of all the churches in the given area. Simple!

The library subscribes to a database called ReferenceUSA. It's basically the fanciest phone book you've ever seen. You can get to it off of our website. Anyone can use it inside the library, and Dubuque residents can use it from home. To start looking for churches in ReferenceUSA, I want to look under U.S. Businesses. I'm trying to do something a little more complicated than just looking for a business by name, so I'll click Custom Search.

A custom search lets me build a search combining several different factors. In this case, I want to look for a specific business type in a specific area. For the type of business, I'll use Keyword SIC/NAICS. SIC and NAICS codes are business classifications defined by the government. We don't have to worry about the specifics, I'm just going to find the code for churches (866107 -- memorize it and impress people at dinner parties!).


Next I need to narrow things down geographically. I've got a lot of options for  a geographic search. It would be simple to just set the city to Dubuque, but that's not quite specific enough. Did you notice the box on the left side of the screen that gives a number for Record Count? As I add new facets to my search, that number changes to show how many businesses match my search. It shows 68 churches in the city of Dubuque, which is a lot more than I want to look at. Besides, if I just searched by city I wouldn't get to use my favorite part of ReferenceUSA:



Map Based Search! In the map interface, I can just draw a shape on the map and search inside it. We've got a few options here. We could select a point and search within a given radius from it. We could map out a driving route and search the businesses along those roads. But for this we want to draw a custom shape. I tried not to get too carried away trying to mark exactly the boundaries from Dubuque Main Street's map. When I was done, ReferenceUSA told me there were 19 churches in the area I selected and gave me a list of their names and addresses.

With a short list and all their addresses, I could certainly go look at all these buildings in person. But the Internet and I have come so far already, why give up on a good thing? Besides, it looks like it might rain. So how can I see all these churches without going outside?

Have you played with Google Street View? Google takes hundreds of photos, up and down all the streets in a town, and then stitches them together into virtual streets. You can essentially walk around town looking at buildings from several angles. Perfect!

I could go to Google Maps and search for each item on my list in order to Street View them, but I've got an idea save myself from jumping back and forth from list to map. I can download my list from ReferenceUSA as either a text file or an Excel spreadsheet. Once I've downloaded the spreadsheet and deleted everything but the addresses, I can paste them to BatchGeo.com.  BatchGeo takes lists of addresses and makes custom Google maps, with all the addresses marked with pins.

On my custom map, I can drag the little orange peg-man to each pin to have a look at the building and compare it to the scavenger hunt photos.

First up, I'll have a look at the pin way at the south of the group, St. Raphael's Cathedral. Some of those windows look awfully familiar . . . .

Architecture Days runs April 7-12. Scavenger hunt entries are due to the Dubuque Main Street office at 1069 Main Street by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, April 16.

Good hunting!

Final Results of the Dubuque Tournament of Books

Last week, our esteemed judges deadlocked on the final choice between  And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. We love both these books, so a tie is an appealing outcome, but we can only have one winner. So we put the final decision in your hands through an online poll and the winner is:

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell!

Many thanks to all of our judges and to the authors who gave us such a find group of competitors!

Marie's Pick: Final Round of the Dubuque Tournament of Books

It's the final round of the 2014 Dubuque Tournament of Books, and the judges are weighing in on the final match-up. Will it be And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell? 

Judge: Marie
River Lights Bookstore

Like Sue, I have been spending an inordinate amount of time vacillating between Eleanor & Park and And the Mountains Echoed.  While I admit to not being the biggest fan of YA Fiction, Eleanor & Park engaged me.  I felt an emotional connection to the two teenagers and really did enjoy all the references to 80s literary culture, like Dicey Tillerman and everything Alan Moore.  And don't even get me started on The Smiths and Joy Division.  Eleanor & Park was heart-breaking and, at times, difficult to read, not because of the writing style, but because of the hurt and embarrassment felt by one of the titular characters.  It felt like a teen book that adults, especially those who came of age during the mid-80s, would thoroughly enjoy.

I have listened to some of the criticism over And the Mountains Echoed and, frankly, am having trouble relating to it.  I didn't find the vignettes difficult to weave into the larger story and, similarly, did not encounter difficulties keeping track of each character.  That being said, I do have a rather deep fondness for Russian literature and cut my teeth on Gabriel Garcia Marquez, so that may have had an impact.  I maintain that And the Mountains Echoed is one of the better stories I have read in some time, the effect of which is only beginning now to wear off.  While Eleanor & Park is an easier book to read, And the Mountains Echoed seemed to me to be worth the investment.

My vote is for And the Mountains Echoed, but, it should be noted, that it I favor it over Eleanor & Park by a very thin margin.

Bethany's Pick: Final Round of the Dubuque Tournament of Books

It's the final round of the 2014 Dubuque Tournament of Books, and the judges are weighing in on the final match-up. Will it be And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell?

Judge: Bethany
Finding Pins and Needles

Excerpt from Bethany's review of And the Mountains Echoed on Goodreads.
I have to give Hosseini props for orchestrating an intricate book; the number of characters, over many generations made the story very complex and a mystery of sorts. I respect a story teller that can devise a novel of this depth. Here comes the BUT... but in my eyes his talent is a double edged sword, or at least this particular execution of it. Half the time I was playing a "Guess Who" game. Who is this character? How do they relate to the story? By keeping so many of the character's relationship to the story obscure for such a lengthy amount of time, I found myself asking, "Why do I care about you?". Once I'd get comfortable with Who/What/When/Where, never-mind Why, Hosseini would move on to a new character and/or a different decade with no direction. My least favorite part of reading, is having to establish those basics at the start of a book, I want to be comfortable so I can delve into the meat of the story. I want to be entertained by a story (so sue me), and I didn't like being yanked around, having to restart without a compass. Less work, more play please.

Most importantly, with such a complexly orchestrated story, I expected a strong culmination, a crescendo to sum up the story. I wanted an "Aha!" moment, to make all the confusion worth while... or at minimum, a twist. Sadly, all I gleaned was a meandering of details that slowly and loosely tied together the characters by the end.

Bethany's review of Eleanor & Park on Goodreads.

Raw.
This story is raw. I felt like I was catapulted back to my teen years and the author exposed every insecurity, every thought process and every tiny wonder that is discovering love.

I haven’t read any reviews on this book, but I can’t be the only one who picked up on the Romeo & Juliet foreshadowing. In the story, the characters making such a deal of the ridiculousness and artificialness of Romeo and Juliet's love affair. There was such a parallel, not the death, but the tragedy of it all. This story is REAL tragedy. Sadly this tragedy is far more common than anyone wants to believe and far more authentic than the two star crossed lovers.

Besides being honest, I thought it was funny. A quote that made me laugh out loud, "He put his pen in his pocket, then took her hand and held it to his chest for a minute. It was the nicest thing she could imagine. It made her want to have his babies and give him both her kidneys." Stinkin' adorable.

The dialogue was poignant and gritty, I feel privileged to be let in on this secret love affair of Eleanor and Park.

My vote is for Eleanor & Park. 

Charleen's Pick: Final Round of the Dubuque Tournament of Books

It's the final round of the 2014 Dubuque Tournament of Books, and the judges are weighing in on the final match-up. Will it be And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini or Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell?

Judge: Charleen
Cheap Thrills 

When I finished Eleanor & Park, I just sat there, wondering...

Did I read the same book everyone else did?

Am I broken?

In the interest of full disclosure, I don't typically read contemporary YA; it's just not my thing. But I did really enjoy both Attachments and Fangirl, so I was expecting Rainbow Rowell to pull me in and make me love her characters yet again. Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Everyone else is saying how the book will make you think of your first love, and I guess it did that for me. I was a misfit. I know what it's like not to have friends. I know what it's like to suddenly have a boyfriend and wonder how it happened. I know what it's like to be so caught up in those new emotions. I remember all that. But the thing is, I felt like I was substituting my feelings and my memories of first love for theirs. I couldn't seem to care about Eleanor or Park, separately or together. I was moving through their story, but I couldn't get caught up in it.

I should have been a lot more invested in this book. It was so much closer to my own experience, and yet it didn't make me feel the way And the Mountains Echoed did. Hosseini's novel, as complex and challenging as it was, grabbed hold of me and didn't let go. And as much as I hate to say it, Eleanor & Park just fell flat for me.

My vote for the final round is for And the Mountains Echoed.