Books on My iPod

A couple of the librarians are giving themselves a Christmas gift of the latest iPod Touch so there has been a lot of excited chatter at the desk lately about the cool things this new toy can do. In addition to the obvious ability to play music, the Touch has wi-fi capability so you can connect to the Library catalog and look library materials up while you are browsing the stacks! I plan on downloading audio books through the library on to mine. I found out you can download Kindle e-books onto the iPod Touch, even more exciting was hearing that there is a website that allows you to download free e-books. Manybooks.Net allows you to choose from over 25,000 public domain titles. I can't wait to start reading and listening to books on my iPod!

Our Very Own Best of 2009 List

Each year we compile the Librarians' Choice; a list of the Dover Public Library staff's favorite books and DVDs. We had so many favorites this year that we could barely squeeze them onto one bookmark. We hope you will enjoy them as much as we did!

Librarians’ Choice 2009

Figures in Silk by Vanora Bennett
Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan C. Bradley
Honolulu by Alan Brennert
Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Lovers by John Connelly
Scarecrow by Michael Connelly
South of Broad by Pat Conroy
Bodies Left Behind by Jeffrey Deaver
Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron
One Second After by William Forstchen
The Burying Place by Brian Freeman
The Neighbor by Lisa Gardner
The Night Villa by Carol Goodman
East of the Sun by Julia Gregson
The Wrong Mother by Sophie Hannah
The Séance by John Harwood
The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill
Trust No One by Gregg Hurwitz
Garlands of Gold by Rosalind Laker
The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson
Revenge of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
A Proper Education for Girls by Elaine di Rollo
Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg
That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo
Rough Country by John Sandford
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Cooking Dirty by Jason Sheehan
Grace Hammer by Sara Stockbridge
The Leper by Steve Thayer
Stopover in Venice by Kathryn Walker
Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The House on Tradd Street by Karen White
The Second Time around by Marcia Willett

My Life in Ruins DVD
Changeling DVD
Michael Clayton DVD
Appaloosa DVD
State of Play DVD

Children’s Books
Escape Under the Forever Sky by Eve Yohalem
The Blue Shoe: a tale of thievery, villainy, sorcery and shoes by Rod Townley
My Life in Pink and Green by Lisa Greenwald
The Roar by Emma Clayton
Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise
Family Reminders by Julie Danneberg
Flight of the Phoenix by R.L. LaFevers
Ghosts in the House! by Kazuno Kohara

Did You Spend Too Much Money Over the Holidays?

Do you want to make a New Year's resolution to budget better for next holiday season, and throughout the year? If so, join us on Monday, January 4th at 6:00pm in the Library Lecture Hall for the first in a series of lectures titled Money Matters. The first lecture will cover Budgeting After the Holidays, and will be presented by Ellen Rondina, Extension Educator with UNH Cooperative Extension. This series is brought to you by the UNH Cooperative Extension, the Cash Campaign of Southeast NH, and the Dover Public Library. This is a great way to start the new year off right!

Carpeting Again! And New Storytime Sessions!

Please bear with us once more as our library carpeting project starts up again after a holiday respite! Due to some adjustments that need to be made to the carpeting tiles installed in the Children's Room, the Children's Room will need to be closed on January 4 & 5 while the re-work is done. We will still have Story Hour Sign-Ups as scheduled on Monday, Janaury 4 at 9am for preschool story times and at 6pm for toddler story times. If you're a Dover resident and would like to register your 2-5 year old child, here's the scoop:

Six story time sessions (3 for preschoolers and 3 for toddlers) will begin the week of January 11 and run through through February 12. Enrollment is limited to Dover children.
Sign-up begins at 9am for the Monday (1:30pm), Monday Bedtime (7pm), and Tuesday (9:30am) groups for 3-6 year olds. Phone call registration (516-6052) begins at 9:15am. These 45-minute preschool programs (attended by the children only) include stories, finger plays, songs and puppets. A themed craft or film is also offered during each weekly session. Sign-up begins at 6pm on January 4 for the Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Toddler groups (9:30am) for 2 year-olds. Phone call registration (516-6052) begins at 6:15pm. Toddler programs (attended by the child plus their parent or care-giver) include stories, finger plays and songs specially selected for the developmental level of 2 year-olds. Although the Children’s Room will be closed on January 4th & 5th for carpeting adjustments, Story Time sign-ups will still take place in person and by phone. For more information, please call the Children’s Room.

Back to the carpet...the rest of the library (stacks, mezzanine, staircase and addition) will be completed during the week of January 11, 2010. We're really looking forward to having it all done!

Happy Holidays to All

Our holidays hours are as follows:

Thursday, Dec. 24: 9am - 12pm
Friday & Saturday, Dec. 25 & 26: Closed
Thursday, Dec. 31: 9am - 4pm
Friday, Jan. 1: Closed

We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season!

The Cliquetionary is Here, The Cliquetionary is Here!

The Clique series by Lisi Harrison is a teen book series that is similar to Gossip Girl by Cecily Von Ziegesar (yes the one that the TV show is based on). Well, we just received the book Cliquetionary: the Wit and Wisdom of the Clique, and let me tell you it is amusing. It actually has one of those word wheels on the cover and helps you understand what sayings like EW (eternal wannabe) and GLU (girls like us) mean. The word that always comes to mind when I see this series is SNARKY. I can understand why the series is so popular because it is pretty funny and clever, but I do hope most things in the books are fiction and there aren't really girls in the world who say things like "No ones loves inner beauty more than unattractive wannabes"--one can only hope.

Ladybug Picture Book Award Results

During the month of November, 20,441 New Hampshire children from preschoolers to those in third grade voted for their favorite book from the 2009 list of Ladybug Picture Book Award nominees.

And the winner is...Waking Beauty by Leah Wilcox (receiving 3,467votes!).

This award, designed to promote early literacy and honor the best in recent children's picture books, is a project of the Center for the Book at the New Hampshire State Library. Click here to see the complete voting results.

Nearly Half a Century at the Top of Her Game

Driving into work this morning I heard P.D. James being interviewed on NPR--I couldn't believe that her first detective novel, Cover Her Face, came out in 1962! I am a big fan of her Adam Dalgliesh series, and so it was interesting to hear her talk about the character, her take on what makes a good mystery novel, and authors who have influenced her. She believes the the "golden age" of detective fiction was in the time between the World Wars. She mentions four authors, who wrote during this "golden age", who she believes helped to "[lift] a rather despised genre into a form which could be taken seriously": Dorothy L. Sayers, Agatha Christie, Margery Allingham and Ngaio Marsh. She has just released a book Talking About Detective Fiction that examines the craft of the genre from top to bottom. If you have any interest in writing detective fiction this book would definitely be worth a look.

City Hall Burns Down

Actually, I should be more specific since three of Dover's City Halls have burned down. I am referring to the City Hall Opera House which burned in 1933. The Opera House was a grand structure which could seat 1800 people. It had a floor capable of raising and lowering, three tiered balconies with brass and velvet trim, and a chandelier with 95 electric light bulbs.

One of the exciting finds in the photo album that was donated to us this month was several never before seen photos of the 1933 fire. Take a look.

New Use for Your iPhone

My niece told me she scanned her library card barcode into her iPhone and presents her iPhone at the Library to check out books. She doesn't always have her library card with her but she always has that phone on her! I thought that was a pretty creative use of an iPhone, and pretty cool that her Library's barcode scanners could read the image on her iPhone.
Has anyone else heard of this being done?

An Author Does Good

Stephen King, more famous for terrifying readers, has also become known for his willingness to donate the money he earned through writing horror to good works. This Christmas he and his wife, writer Tabitha King, are making sure their local National Guardsmen can spend the holidays with their families.

As the Bangor Daily News reports,

"Stephen and Tabitha King had no problem donating money to ensure that the 150 members of Bravo Company of the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry Unit could come home for the holidays.

They did have a slight problem with the requested amount, though.

“Steve is such a numbers person,” said Julie Eugley, one of the author’s personal assistants. “When we were approached for $13,000, he thought that number was a little unlucky. He didn’t want any bad whammies associated with these troops.”

Way to go, Mr. and Mrs. King.

Books Into Movies

Lately, there have been a slew of new movies that are based on books. Here are some recent or upcoming releases and the books from which they’ve been adapted:

Ø Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin is now the film "Invictus" with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon.
Ø The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis is the Sandra Bullock dramatization of right tackle Michael Oher’s football career and upbringing.
Ø Up in the Air is a 2001 novel by Walter Kirn and opening soon is the highly-touted film of the same name starring George Clooney.
Ø Alice Seybold’s haunting novel, The Lovely Bones, is due out mid-January and will star Saoirse Ronan as the 14-year old murder victim.
Ø Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s picture book, Where the Wild Things Are, was released in theatres to critical acclaim in October.
Ø Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs is a hilarious and popular children’s book by Judi Barrett and now an entertaining new animated film.
Ø The Fantastic Mr. Fox, also featuring George Clooney (as a voice), is getting rave reviews as an animated movie based on the Roald Dahl children’s favorite.
Ø Push by Sapphire has been reinvented as the movie "Precious", a 4-star film starring talented newcomer Gabourey Sidibe and Mariah Carey as you’ve never seen her.
Ø And watch for Dennis Lehane’s Boston-based Shutter Island, debuting mid-February starring Leo DiCaprio.

But most important, NEVER judge a book by its movie! (The book is always better!!)

Last Minute Holiday Shopping

In my frantic bid to finish my holiday shopping, I was browsing online for bookplates. You know those things that you can put on the inside front cover of books that say "This book belongs to___". You know, the things that the librarian in your life would get you as a gift. Well, as a kid I thought they were pretty cool so there are several little kids I know getting these as a gift. However, I didn't like any of the ones I saw available, but I did happen upon a very, very cool web site called My Home Library. I am so excited about this because they give you free use of their bookplates (except for commercial use), and they have lots and lots of them to choose from. Some are from top children's illustrators like Helen Oxenbury! I think this is such a great present because it will only cost the price of some stickers and your time, but you can choose different ones for each person depending on their taste--pretty special. Take a look; you won't be sorry.

You Learn Something New Every Day

Today I was ask if we had a braille collection of books for kids. Unfortunately we don't, but I said I would look into what the State of New Hampshire library has. The State Library has a lot of resources that are available to New Hampshire residents such as their Talking Books Program, and yes their braille collection. Follow the link to the Talking Books Program and click on the Kids Catalog to search for braille or audio titles just for kids! I was very excited to learn about this service (nerdy librarian) and just wanted to pass it on.

Kill A Watt Energy Detectors

The Dover Public Library now has 6 Kill A Watt Energy Detectors available for check out. It is very easy to use--just plug it in at your home or office, and find out exactly how much electricity all your appliances and electronic devices are using. It's the first step to lower electric bills (who could complain about that) and to a smaller carbon footprint! The Detectors were made available by nhsaves, and you can visit their web site at http://www.nhsaves.com/.

Funny NYT Article: 10 Strangest Book Titles

Follow this link http://timesonline.typepad.com/comment/2009/12/the-10-stangest-books-in-the-english-language.html to read Daniel Finkelstein's "Comment Central" column in the New York Times about ABE Books and their weekly choice of the "Weird Book of the Week." Finkelstein adds his own suggestions for the top 10 strangest book titles including:

• The Bible Cure for Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Jewish Chess Masters on Stamps
• How You Can Bowl Better Using Self-Hypnosis

The book covers pictured on the site are also hilarious. Be sure to look at the cover of "Dead Pet": this has to be a joke!

Judging A Book

We all know that you aren't supposed to judge a book by its cover. However, the cover does play an important role in catching your attention. The cover of this book annoys me every time I see it because it is so unappealing. Is this a cover that would make you want to pick it up and see what it is about? I think not. I was pleased to see the paperback version is a little more inspired. I have to give kudos to the designer of the book cover below. It catches my eye consistently. Can you figure out what is so odd about this face? I felt compelled to analyze the image until I did.

That Silly Tiger

I brought home yet another bagful of picture books for my son last night--thank goodness for the library! When we read The Tiger Who Came for Tea by Judith Kerr I was shocked at his reaction--uncontrollable falling down gasping for air giggling. It is rather cute when the tiger drinks directly from the teapot, but I didn't expect that kind of reaction. It was extremely satisfying to see him enjoying a book so much, but I was a bit jealous because I couldn't remember when I've had that kind of strong reaction to a book. David Sedaris does make me laugh out loud (though I have never fallen over), and on the flip-side Book Thief by Markus Zusak made me cry like a baby, but it just doesn't seem the same. Am I in a book rut? What books have you reacted strongly to? I'd love to hear from you.

Hidden Talents

I bet you didn't know that the Circulation Librarians are break-dancing fools. If you haven't caught one of their impromptu performances at the Circulation Desk, take a look here for some Christmas cheer.

Damned by Faint Praise

One of my co-workers made me laugh with her latest book review. We were talking about The Magicians by Lev Grossman, which was a huge literary hit this summer but met with mixed reviews here at the DPL. Her assessment was brief, "I didn't hate it."

Don't you just want to run out and read it now?

You Could Win a Twilight Basket

Enter the raffle to win this lovely gold gift basket with all four books in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Just fill out a slip at the Circulation Desk and drop it in the box by the basket. Its free and you could make someone very happy with this gift!

Ho, Ho, Ho

Join us this Saturday, Dec. 5 at 2:00pm for a showing of the movie Four Christmases. The movie stars Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn as an upscale, happily unmarried San Francisco couple who find themselves socked in by fog on Christmas morning, their exotic vacation plans morph into the family-centric holiday they had, until now, gleefully avoided. Out of obligation--and unable to escape--they trudge to not one, not two, but four relative-choked festivities, increasingly mortified to find childhood fears raised, adolescent wounds reopened... and their very future together uncertain.

All of our movies are free and open to the public. Click here to view a complete list of movies we will be showing.

Friends of the Library Christmas Booksale!

The Friends of the Dover Public Library will be holding a one-week Christmas Book and Gift Sale from December 14-18 adjacent to the library’s Main Desk.
A large selection of holiday-themed books will be available, priced from $1.00 to $3.00, and includes Christmas stories, decorating ideas and cookbooks. A varied assortment of Christmas music and carols on CD will also be for sale at just $1.00 each.
In addition, sturdy canvas “Dover Public Library” bookbags, Dover notecards, and 1888 reprint Dover maps are available and would make great gifts or stocking stuffers.
The Friends of the Dover Public Library always welcome new members to join their organization ($10 annually; or $7 for seniors). The group’s next meeting is Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 1pm in the Library Lecture Hall.

Cormac McCarthy's Typewriter Up for Auction

I just read in a New York Times article that Cormac McCarthy's Olivetti Lettera typewriter, the one that he wrote all of his writings to date on, is being auctioned off. "I HAVE TYPED ON THIS TYPEWRITER EVERY BOOK I HAVE WRITTEN INCLUDING THREE NOT YET PUBLISHED" Apparently after 46 years of use it is "showing signs of age." Cheap thing! So if you are still looking for that perfect holiday present for the literary type on your list look no further. The Christie's auction will take place this Friday, and they believe it will fetch between $15,000 and $20,000. Have no fear though Mr. McCarthy has a practically brand new Olivetti Lettera typewriter, and so the writing will continue.