Cover to Cover: Community Read

Throughout the month of January, readers in Carlisle will buzz about a single book. The first community read in Carlisle, Cover to Cover, begins January 2009. The book selected by Carlisleans is The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria. All you need to do to participate is pick up a copy of the book, thumb through it, devour it, skim it, or listen to it, whatever it takes to form an opinion about the book and the subjects within. Then consider what your vision of the future is for Carlisle and the global community and talk about it with friends, neighbors, at the library or transfer station, or online at www.gleasonlibrary.org. Click here to request The Post-American World now.

For more information on Fareed Zakaria online, including articles, online interviews, and downloadable audio, click here. For more books by Fareed Zakaria available from the Gleason Library, click here.

The Gleason Public Library is holding some special events, focusing on the global themes of the book, including:

• Tuesday Jan. 6, 7p.m. - Middle Eastern Cuisine: Demonstration with Ahmad Yasin


• Wednesday, January 14th from 1:30- 3:00 - Southeast Asian Cuisine: Demonstration with E. Sok Woodward


• Wednesday Jan 14, 7 p.m. - Open Book Group: Join guest leader Ann Rosas for an informal gathering and discussion of Post American World.


• Friday Jan 16, 10:30 a.m. - Open Book Group: Join guest leader Marilyn Harte for an informal gathering and discussion of Post American World.


• Thursday Jan 22, 7 p.m. - Community Panel Conversation, facilitated by Glen Urban


• Friday Jan 23, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Music in the Library: Folk instrumentals with Michael Kerry.


• Fri Jan 30, 3:30-4:30 p.m. Music in the Library: Indian instrumentals with Girija Ramapriya.


• Sat Jan 31- Community Potluck: Friends of the Gleason Public Library Annual Potluck.

All of the events are sponsored by the Friends of the Gleason Public Library. Unless otherwise noted, they will be held at the Gleason Public Library. Check back soon for more information. Questions or suggestions? Let us know here in the comments here, email Ann Rosas at anngrosas@hotmail.com, or stop by the library!

Best of 2008

Year-end "best of" lists are already hitting blogs and newsstands, from the New York Times Book Review to USA Today, NPR, and Publisher's Weekly. Browse their lists for holiday gift ideas, or comment here with your favorite books of the year!

National Book Award

The finalists for the National Book Award have been announced:

Fiction
Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project - Call number F Hemon
Rachel Kushner, Telex from Cuba
Peter Matthiessen, Shadow Country
Marilynne Robinson, Home - Call number is F Robinson
Salvatore Scibona, The End

Nonfiction
Drew Gilpin Faust, This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War - Call number LT 973.71 Fau
Annette Gordon-Reed, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family - Call number Bc Hemingses
Jane Mayer, The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals - Call number 973.931 May
Jim Sheeler, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives
Joan Wickersham, The Suicide Index: Putting My Father’s Death in Order

Click here to see more finalists in young people's literature and poetry.

October is National Book Group Month

Did you know about these resources for book groups (at the library and beyond)?

• Through the Merrimack Valley Library Consortium (MVLC), of which GPL is a member, more than 200 book club kits for adults, young adults and children are available. Each kit includes 15 copies of one title, a discussion guide to assist book club leaders, and when available, a large print copy of the same title, and a DVD or video relating to the book. These kits can be reserved up to three years in advance in order to facilitate long-term planning.


• Looking for discussion questions and guides for your next title? Try Reading Group Guides and Book Browse, or go straight to the author or publisher's website - most publishers have discussion questions available for their recent titles.


• Picking your next book? Find out what's coming soon at Early Word (targeted at booksellers and librarians, but great for finding out what's getting the latest buzz) and Overbooked (lists of books by topic and the latest releases).


• Or check out books at the library like Nancy Pearl's Book Lust or Read it and eat : a month-by-month guide to scintillating book club selections and mouthwatering menus.


• The Gleason Public Library (GPL) maintains an information file on the various book discussion groups that abound in Carlisle. This file contains information on each group: their book selections for the current year, their meeting dates and times, whether or not they are accepting new members and the names of contact people. This information is used by the library staff for obtaining books through interlibrary loan, by book group members as a convenient reminder, and by other book groups and patrons as a good source of reading selections and a means of avoiding scheduling conflicts.
  
  To maintain this valuable resource, the library staff is collecting information from each of Carlisle’s book groups. Contact Martha Patten (mpatten@mvlc.org) or Kay Edelberg (kedelberg@mvlc.org) or call the library (1-978-369-4898) to update your group’s information.

Community Read: Vote Now

Vote and let your choice be read! The Gleason Public Library's 1st annual Carlisle Community Read, Cover to Cover, is coming in January 2009, but we need your help NOW to choose the book. The ballot will be available from September 12th to September 26th. When you cast your vote you will have the opportunity to nominate a book for the 2nd annual Carlisle Community Read. Vote now, or scroll down for more information on the nominees.

For more information about Cover to Cover, or to volunteer to help with Carlisle's 1st annual Community Read, please email Ann Rosas at anngrosas@hotmail.com.

A committee of readers has been meeting and suggesting book titles for Cover to Cover, but we want the Carlisle community to vote and help make the final book selection. Here are your book candidates:

• Click: What Millions of People are Doing Online and Why it Matters by Bill Tancer
  
  
  
  As online directories replace the yellow pages, search engines replace traditional research, and news sites replace newsprint, we are in an age in which we've come to rely tremendously on the Internet--leaving behind a trail of information about ourselves as a culture and the direction in which we are headed. With surprising and practical insight, Tancer demonstrates how the Internet is changing the way we absorb information and how understanding that change can be used to our advantage in business and in life. Click analyzes the new generation of consumerism in a way no other book has before, showing how we use the Internet, and how those trends provide a wealth of market research nearly as vast as the Internet itself. Understanding how we change is integral to our success. After all, we are what we click.



• The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel by David Wroblewski
  
  
  
  Born mute, speaking only in sign, Edgar Sawtelle leads an idyllic life with his parents on their farm in remote northern Wisconsin. For generations, the Sawtelles have raised and trained a fictional breed of dog whose thoughtful companionship is epitomized by Almondine, Edgar's lifelong friend and ally. But with the unexpected return of Claude, Edgar's paternal uncle, turmoil consumes the Sawtelles' once peaceful home. When Edgar's father dies suddenly, Claude insinuates himself into the life of the farm--and into Edgar's mother's affections.




• Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
  
  
  
  Eight short stories examining the gulf that separates expatriate Bengali parents from their American-raised children—and that separates the children from India—remains Lahiri's subject for this follow-up to Interpreter of Maladies and The Namesake.




• The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria
  
  
  
  Following on the success of his best-selling The Future of Freedom, Zakaria describes with equal prescience a world in which the United States will no longer dominate the global economy, orchestrate geopolitics, or overwhelm cultures



• People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks
  
  
  
  One of the earliest Jewish religious volumes to be illuminated with images, the Sarajevo Haggadah survived centuries of purges and wars thanks to people of all faiths who risked their lives to safeguard it. Geraldine Brooks, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of March, has turned the intriguing but sparely detailed history of this precious volume into an emotionally rich, thrilling fictionalization that retraces its turbulent journey.

Call Number of the Week

Noticed today: in the Dewey Decimal system, the art of making snuffboxes has its own call number: 745.5934 (tucked between candles and hunting decoys). We don't currently have any books on this topic at the Gleason, but we'd be happy to request some through interlibrary loan if there's an interest!

New materials

Check out our latest additions online here; a few of the latest are:

Fiction books
The Soul Thief, by Charles Baxter
Johnny One-Eye: a tale of the American Revolution, by Jerome Charyn
The Palace of Illusions, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Remember Me?, by Sophie Kinsella
Betrayal, by John Lescroart
Change of Heart, by Jodi Picoult
Lady Killer, by Lisa Scottoline
Dead Time, by Stephen White

DVDs
American Gangster
Becoming Jane
The Bourne Ultimatum
Gone Baby Gone
Michael Clayton

Read anything you particularly enjoyed lately, new or old? Leave your recommendations in the comments here.

Primary season

Ready for primary season? Check out books by and about the candidates, or browse our latest display of political reading under the window by the magazines.

Hillary Rodham Clinton
John Edwards
Mike Gravel
Dennis Kucinich
Barack Obama
Bill Richardson

Rudy Giuliani
Mike Huckabee
Alan Keyes
John McCain
Ron Paul
Mitt Romney
Fred Thompson