Notable Books of 2007

The New York Times Sunday Book Review has posted their list of 100 Notable Books of 2007, fiction and non-fiction, from Harry Potter and Ian McEwan, to Princess Diana and the Supreme Court. Any favorites to recommend (or dis-recommend) from their list?

Thanksgiving tips

Looking for something to read or watch over Thanksgiving? Check out our lists of new books and dvds at the Gleason here, or search for themes or read-alike authors with Novelist (requires library card number). Any suggestions for holiday reading(/viewing/listening)? Leave a comment here.

Also, we're launching a monthly e-newsletter - click here to sign up, or let us know if you have any suggestions!

Congratulations, Doris Lessing!

Doris Lessing has won the Nobel Prize in literature - check out some of her books at the library (on display across from the circulation desk, or in the stacks), or, online, read her biography from the BBC, a Q&A with the Boston Globe from this past summer, or an opinion piece she wrote for the New York Times in 1992: Questions You Should Never Ask a Writer.

In other award news, the finalists for the National Book Award have been announced:

FICTION
Mischa Berlinski, Fieldwork
Lydia Davis, Varieties of Disturbance
Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to the End
Denis Johnson, Tree of Smoke
Jim Shepard, Like You’d Understand, Anyway

NONFICTION
Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I’m Dying
Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Woody Holton, Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution
Arnold Rampersad, Ralph Ellison: A Biography
Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA

Click through to see finalists for poetry and young adult literature.

Read Chinese-Language Magazines Online

Qikan Library (also called Dragon Source) is a Chinese Language Magazine database that is purchased by Boston Public Library and made available for all users statewide.

Read articles from over 100 popular magazines from mainland China, from 2005 to the present. Subjects include the arts, current events, business, health, children's literature and much more. Most titles are viewable in both simplified and classical viewing styles.

You can access Qikan remotely with your Carlisle library card at:

http://mblc.state.ma.us/books/magazine/index.php

Ask at the reference desk or email us at mca@mvlc.org if you have any questions.

Book Talk: an online book discussion group

This just in from Andover's Memorial Hall Library:

Do you like to read? Do you like to discuss books? Are you looking for a book group that fits into your schedule? If you or your patrons are interesting in book groups, try Book Talk, MHL's new online book discussion group!

Book Talk is an online community of readers who discuss one selected book each month. We welcome readers who are members of book groups, who can’t attend a face-to-face book group, or anyone who enjoys reading and talking about books! This message board allows you to share ideas, ask questions, and learn about more great books!

You can access Book Talk at the following URL: www.mhl.org/booktalk

Some tips for getting started:

• Visit General Information for an overview of Book Talk.


• Read the Forum Rules.


• To join, click Register, and select a username and password.


• View the 2007 Reading List


• Visit Introductions to learn about Book Talk's members and to share some information about yourself.


• Start talking about books under Other Books or join in on the monthly book discussion.


• Recommend books for future Book Talk discussions.

Our next discussion, Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks, begins on Tuesday, September 25.

Happy reading!

Overlooked favorites?

There's an interesting discussion over on Chasing Ray of books (recent or older) that have been overlooked, with contributions from several bloggers - see the explanation of "Recommendations from under the Radar" here, the introductory post of schedule and recommendations here, and an index of all posts here. What are some of your favorites that you think have been overlooked or underrated? Share suggestions in the comments.

Booker Prize nominees

The long list of 13 nominees for the Man Booker Prize (for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of either the Commonwealth of Nations or the Republic of Ireland) has been announced.

Check out the nominees here. Some of the nominated titles have not yet been released in the U.S.; our library has:

• The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (F Hamid)


• The Welsh Girl by Peter Ho Davies (F Davies)


• On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (F McEwan)

and other MVLC libraries have:

• Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones


• Gifted by Nikita Lalwani


• Consolation by Michael Redhill

Or, browse past winners (last year was Kiran Desai's The Inheritance of Loss, call number F Desai/pb at the Gleason Library) here - most are available here or through other MVLC libraries.

Looking for more Harry Potter?

J.K. Rowling's already announced her next plans, a Potter encyclopedia (warning: plot points from Book 7 mentioned in linked article). While you're waiting, share your reactions to Deathly Hallows in the comments here or check out some video of Harry and the Potters playing the release party in Harvard Square. Whether or not you're a fan of the books, how cool is it to see Harvard Yard, packed with thousands of people of all ages screaming at the top of their lungs about the power of reading?

Fodor's Travel Guides Online

Hundreds of Fodor's guides, published in 2006 and 2007, are now available online as part of our Infotrac database (provided to all state residents by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners). Thanks to Libraries For My Friends for the tip. Check out what's available:

1. Log in through this site (enter your library card number, with no spaces) and click on "PowerSearch."
2. Then, click on "InfoTrac OneFile".
3. You'll see a search box - type in the name of your destination.
4. Click on the "Reference" tab at the top of the list of search results, and travel books from Fodor's and Hunter will be included in the results - here's an example of the first few results if you search for Venice (click to enlarge):


Click on a title for full text from the current book.

Or, to browse all Fodor's publications, click on "Publication Search" and enter Fodor's, or the name of the specific book you're looking for.

Summer reading has begun!

Share your book suggestions and reviews in the comments here.

Summer reading instructions

• Register for summer reading at the library or online at http://www.readsinma.org/


• Count pages of books and magazines, minutes of audiobooks, and approximate pages of material read; keep track with a log (available at the library) or online at http://www.readsinma.org/


• Add your pages to our total weekly (or whenever you like) by submitting recording slips at the library, or online at http://www.readsinma.org/


• Share your opinions with others here on our blog or by filling out review slips at the library


• The more participants we have and the more pages read, the more our Read to Feed challenge will succeed. For each milestone reached (40,000, 80,000, 120,000, and 160,000 pages), the Friends and Trustees of the Gleason Public Library will provide more animals to needy families through Heifer International.


• All participants can win prizes through random drawings, with additional prizes for the top readers.


• Questions? Suggestions? Post your comments here, email us at mca@mvlc.org, or talk to Martha or Angela at the library.

Summer reads

Today's the first day of summer; here are a few cookbooks for the season:

S'mores : gourmet treats for every occasion, by Lisa Adams; photographs by Joyce Oudkerk Pool.
641.86 Ada (in new nonfiction)

The barbecue queens' big book of barbecue, by Karen Adler and Judith M. Fertig.
641.5784 Adl

The summer house cookbook : easy recipes for when you have better things to do with your time, by Debra Ponzek and Geralyn Delaney Graham.
641.5 Pon

Best summer weekends cookbook, by Jane Rodmell.
641.564 Rod

Stay tuned for news on our summer reading program, for all ages this year.

LGBT Pride Month

Here are a few nonfiction books and resources available at the Gleason Library:

Current issues:

Gay marriage : why it is good for gays, good for straights, and good for America, by Jonathan Rauch.
306.848

Families like mine : children of gay parents tell it like it is, by Abigail Garner
306.874 Gar

Normal : transsexual CEOs, cross-dressing cops, hermaphrodites with attitude, by Amy Bloom.
30.677 Blo

History:

Before stonewall : activists for gay and lesbian rights in historical context, ed. by Vern L. Bullough
305.9 Bul

Becoming visible: an illustrated history of lesbian and gay life in twentieth-century America, by Molly McGarry and Fred Wasserman.
306.766 McG

Girl reel : a lesbian remembers growing up at the movies : memoir, by Bonnie J. Morris.
791.4365 Mor

You're not from around here, are you? : a lesbian in small-town America, by Louise A. Blum.

Up from invisibility : lesbians, gay men, and the media in America, by Larry Gross.
305.9066 Gro

Practical resources:

Gay and lesbian issues : a reference handbook, by Chuck Stewart.
305.9 Ste

Everyday activism : a handbook for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people and their allies, edited by Michael R. Stevenson & Jeanine C. Cogan.
305.9 Eve

A legal guide for lesbian and gay couples, by Hayden Curry, Denis Clifford, and Frederick Hertz.
346.7301 Cur

Online Language Learning

Interested in learning a new language, for travel, business, or fun? Check out Rosetta Stone, MVLC's newest database. Rosetta Stone includes introductory courses in:

English (US)
English (UK)
French
German
Greek
Italian
Russian
Spanish (Latin America)
Spanish (Spain)

You can log in any time, from home or the library. On your first visit, register a username and password to save your progress for future lessons. If you have any questions or would like a demonstration, stop by the reference desk.

Fun at the Internet Archive

For a change of pace, explore the Internet Archive, an online library of movies, music, texts, and more - all available for free to the public, with materials either in the public domain or archived with the permission of their creators. Here's just a small sample of what's available - we keep finding more as we browse. Most of the contents can be viewed/read/listened to online or downloaded to your hard drive. Everything's free, no registration or special software required.

The Wayback Machine archives versions of web pages that are no longer available.

The Moving Images section includes old newsreels and educational films, and newer footage uploaded by its makers, from experimental films to amateur camcorder footage of the 2004 tsunami's devastation in action.

The text collection includes classic and out-of-copyright publications and historical documents, scanned page-by-page, including illustrations. Check out illustrated French fairy tales or some eighteenth-century medical advice.

I've spent the most time at the Live Music Archive, with almost 40,000 concert recordings by over 2400 bands, in mp3 and other digital formats. Not surprisingly, there are a lot of jam bands like the Grateful Dead, but there are also newer acts like the Decemberists; it's also a great opportunity to check out new and smaller bands that you might not have heard before.

Martha's concert recs:
Harry and the Potters Live at Haskett Library, "wizard rock" inspired by the books.

Eddie from Ohio, 1998-07-21, catchy folk.

Josh Ritter, Live at Double Door on 2006-04-21, an amazing singer-songwriter from Idaho.

Hem, Live at Mr. Smalls Funhouse on 2006-02-23, lovely, sweet country-rock for a rainy day.

Recent arrivals

Check out a few recent additions at the Gleason Library!

Fiction:
The Yiddish policemen's union, by Michael Chabon

Shopaholic & baby, by Sophie Kinsella

The naming of the dead, by Ian Rankin

Nonfiction:
Infidel, by Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Call number B Hirsi Ali

My so-called punk : Green Day, Fall Out Boy, the Distillers, Yellowcard : how neo-punk stage-dived into the mainstream, by Matt Diehl
Call number 781.66 Die

The Pushcart book of poetry : the best poems from three decades of the Pushcart Prize
811.008 Pus

DVDs:
The Queen

Little Children

Dreamgirls

Edward Hopper

The Edward Hopper exhibit opens Sunday at the MFA. Read reviews in the Boston Globe here or the New York Times here (may require login; can also be accessed through our Newsbank database with your library card number). Thumb through a scrapbook of photos, sketches and memorabilia from Hopper's life at the Smithsonian American Art Museum web site here. Listen to an NPR report on Nighthawks and its painter here. And at the Gleason Library, check out these books:

Edward Hopper, the complete prints, compiled by Gail Levin
Call number 769 Hopper

Edward Hopper's New England, by Carl Little
Call number 759.13 Hopper(L)

R.I.P. David Halberstam

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author David Halberstam has died in a car crash at 73. Several of his books are available at the Gleason Library in print and audiobook formats, including the recent Bill Belichick biography The Education of a Coach (Call numbers: B Belichick, CD B Belichick), The Teammates (796.357 Hal, LT 796.357 Hal), and of course The Best and the Brightest (973.922 Hal).

Pulitzer Prize

The Pulitzer Prize winners were announced on Tuesday; view the full list here (scroll down for links to the long list of nominees.) Here's where to find the winners at the Gleason Library:

Fiction: The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
F McCarthy
CD SPOKEN McC [Unabridged Audiobook]

Drama: Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire
812.6 Lin

History: The Race Beat, by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff
May be requested from other MVLC libraries.

Biography: The Most Famous Man in America, by Debby Applegate
May be requested from other MVLC libraries.

Poetry: Native Guard, by Natasha Trethewey
May be requested from other MVLC libraries.

Nonfiction: The Looming Tower, by Lawrence Wright
973.931 Wri

Music: Sound Grammar, by Ornette Coleman
May be requested from other MVLC libraries.

Special citations:
Ray Bradbury - look for:

• Fiction under "Bradbury" in our fiction and short-story sections
• Audiobooks under the call number AC SPOKEN BRA
• A graphic novel adaptation in our young adult section, call number JH Graphic/Bradbury
• And a collection of personal essays, Bradbury Speaks, in nonfiction, call number 813.54 Bra

John Coltrane:

• Look in our popular music collection for his recordings under Coltrane
• Listen to collaborations with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk, filed under D, G, and M in popular music
• Or check out Chris Raschka's picture book interpretation of one of Coltrane's works, John Coltrane's Giant Steps, under JJ Raschka.

LibraryThing

When we're not cataloging books for the Gleason Library, we've been playing with LibraryThing, a website where users can catalog their own books (or books they've read) and browse other people's collections. Enter a title into the Suggester and see what books are popular with fans of that book (click on a title for more information and user reviews).

You can tag your books with labels (browse a cloud of the most popular tags on the site here) and search by labels to see what books are popular with other users. Getting ready for the National Day of Climate Action on Saturday? Books that users have tagged with "climate change" are found here, from nonfiction to science fiction. With over 11 million books cataloged, there are thousands of books with tags from time travel to botany to pirates.

For a final bit of fun, you can also play with the UnSuggester, to find out what books are least popular with people who share your taste.

The cruelest month?

April is National Poetry Month - the Academy of American Poets is celebrating all-out with a Poem-a-Day email list, a national search for the biggest poetry fans, and guides to poetry events nationwide - here's their info for Massachusetts.

Look for poetry under call number 811 at the Gleason Library.

What are some of your favorite poems?

Spring books

What are your favorite reads for spring? You can post your recommendations in the comments.

Here are a few new and old books at the library featuring baseball, gardens, and other things that remind us of spring:

Fiction:
The Constant Gardener, by John le Carre
Call number: F le Carre

Shoeless Joe, by W. P. Kinsella
Call number: F Kinsella/pb

The Garden of Reading: An Anthology of 20th Century Short Fiction About Gardens and Gardeners, edited by Michelle Slung
Call number: SC Garden

Nonfiction:
Beatrix Potter: A Life in Nature, by Linda Lear
Call number: B Potter (New Biography)

Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season, by Jonathan Eig
Call number: 796.357 Eig (New Nonfiction)

The Artful Cupcake: Baking & Decorating Delicious Indulgences, by Marcianne Miller
Call number: 641.8653 Mil

For younger readers:
The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Call number: J Burnett

Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce
Call number: J/pb Pearce

Summerland, by Michael Chabon
Call number: JH Chabon

What are your suggestions?