Vive la France

Monday, July 14 is Bastille Day, the French national holiday commemorating the 1789 storming of the Bastille prison during the French Revolution. In honor of nous amis a travers l'ocean, we offer cette liste de nouveaux livres tres scintillants sur France.

• Chocolate and Zucchini: daily adventures in a Parisian kitchen. Clotilde Dusolier. (cookbook avec commentary)


• Discovery of France: a geographical history from the Revolution to the First World War. Graham Robb. (as explored on his bicycle!)


• Extremely Pale Rosé: a very French adventure. Jamie Ivey. (wine journey through southern France)


• French by Heart: an American family’s adventures in La Belle France. Rebecca S. Ramsey. (Mom, Dad and 3 kids relocate to Michelin-land)


• The French Century: an illustrated history of modern France. Brian Moynahan. (from 1900 to the present)


• The Girl With No Shadow. Joanne Harris. (sequel to the novel Chocolat)


• I’ll Drink to That: Beaujolais and the French peasant who made it the world’s most popular wine. Rudolph Chelminski. (stylish history of wine-making)


• La Vie en Rosé: a very French adventure continues. Jamie Ivey. (full-bodied romp through southern France)


• Mediterranean Summer: a season on France’s Cote d’Azur and Italy’s Costa Bella. David Shalleck. (American chef cooks on board a luxury yacht)


• Metro Stop Paris: an underground history of the City of Light. Gregor Dallas. (told through 12 subway stops)


• My French Life. Vicki Archer. (beautifully photographed life in Provence)


• Narrow Dog to Carcassonne. Terry Darlington. (down French canals in an English narrowboat)


• Nobody Does It Better: why French home cooking is still the best in the world. Trish Deseine. (irreverent guide by best-selling French cookbook author)


• Pardon My French: unleash your inner Gaul. Charles Timoney. (insider’s language tips for dining, shopping and slang)


• Petite Anglaise: a true story. Catherine Sanderson. (digital age Paris blogging fairytale!)


• A Piano in the Pyrenees: the ups and downs of an Englishman in the French mountains. Tony Hawks. (how not to buy a house abroad---hilarious!)


• Pork & Sons. Stephane Reynaud. (homage to the pig from slaughterhouse to table, plus 150 recipes)


• Talk to the Snail: ten commandments for understanding the French. Stephen Clarke. (customs, romance---it’s all here!)


• A Town Like Paris: falling in love in the City of Light. Bruce Corbett. (searching for a new love in Le Marais)


• We’ve Always Had Paris---and Provence: a scrapbook of our life in France. Patricia and Walter Wells. (one couple’s 25-year foray into going native)


• Words in a French Life: lessons in love and language from the south of France. Kristin Espinasse. (short chapters, each inspired by a French word)
  
  Apprecier et avez-un verre de vin pour moi!

Prehistoric Fiction

An avid reader was in this week looking for recommendations for novels that take place in prehistoric times like Jean Auel’s Clan of the Cave Bear. I have read many of books in that genre; I was just having a difficult time remembering all of them. Using the Library catalog and the Novelist database to jog my memory, I was able to come up with some suggestions for her. I had so much fun sharing those titles with her, I made up a bookmark for all you fans of prehistoric fiction. You can pick one up at the library, or just use this list.

Stonehenge, 2000 B.C. by Bernard Cornwell

The Gift of Stones by Jim Crace

People of the Wolf by W. Michael Gear

Mother Earth, Father Sky by Sue Harrison

Pillar of the Sky by Cecelia Holland

Circles of Stone by Joan Dahr Lambert

The Horse Goddess by Morgan Llywelyn

The White Mare’s Daughter by Judith Tarr

Reindeer Moon by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Daughter of the Red Deer by Joan Wolf

Sobering but not surprising...

The Scholastic/Yankelovich 2008 Kids & Family Reading Report was released in June and here are some statistics:

• 82% of parents wish their child engaged in more pleasure reading


• 80% of 5-8 year olds believe reading is "extremely important


• 56% of 15-17 year olds feel reading is "extremely important"


• After age 8, children are more likely to go online daily than to read for fun daily


• After age 15, children are more likely to have read a magazine than a book in last 7 days


• After age 11, friends surpass mothers as the top source of ideas about books to read for fun


• 62% of children prefer books printed on paper rather than digitally on handheld devices


• "Trouble finding books they like" is the key reason kids say they don't read more


• Parents who read are 6 times more likely to have kids that read frequently for fun


• More than 6 in 10 kids age 9 and older have read Harry Potter


• 29% of children who are "high frequency" Internet users are also "high frequency" pleasure readers.

To read the full report go to: www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/news/readingreport.htm

As of today, July 9, we have over 450 children and teens registered for our summer reading programs: kids who read for fun (and well, yes, for prizes too!). Although 450 is a fabulous number, I do sometimes think of all the kids in Dover who don't sign up, who aren't frequent readers and who, perhaps, won't do as well in school come September. There's still time to sign up...and we have plenty of wonderful reading suggestions for all ages. We promise we'll find you a book you'll absolutely love!

The Hardscrabble Hollers of New Hampshire

I ran across a review of the book Sing Me Back Home: Love, Death, and Country Music by Dana Jennings, and though this is not my type of read, it caught my attention because he is a native of New Hampshire. I read a couple of reviews and found myself fascinated by the way New Hampshire was portrayed in the reviews. Here a couple of my favorite snippets:

• From Publisher's Weekly: "Jennings tells of his upbringing in the hardscrabble hollers of New Hampshire."


• From the Washington Post's Book World: "Jennings was born in rural New Hampshire and grew up in Kingston, a town of fewer than 1,000 residents. The local accent was Yankee cracker, but it was cracker all the same..."
  
• From the book: In his "particular chicken-scratched swatch of New Hampshire, postwar prosperity was a rumor."

I have never read so many colorful phrases to describe a book, and the home state of its author. But seriously the book has been well-reviewed, and in its essence the book is the story of rural America in the 20th century through the lens of country music. Come to the library to check it out, but please ask for it in your best Yankee cracker.

New Words from Merriam-Webster!

The new 11th edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary is adding over 100 new words! Some of them are very familiar and you may wonder why it took that long for them to get in the dictionary. Others are brand new, at least to me. Apparently, the editors monitor "possible-inclusion" words over time and only the "keepers" actually make it into the newest edition. Here's some of their choices. A prize to the first person who can use all of these words in a sentence!!!

Wing nut---Webinar---Avatar---Barista---Frankenfood---Identity theft---Goth---NIMBY---Phat---Racino---Peloton---Comb-over---Shopaholic---Edamame---Air quotes---Infinity pool---Kiteboarding---Norovirus---Texas Hold 'em---Pescatarian---Prosecco

The word that tickled me was Mondegreen (origin 1964). A Mondegreen is a term for mistaken lyrics, e.g. thinking that the CCR song says "there's a bathroom on the right" instead of "there's a bad moon on the rise."! It comes from a mistaken interpretation of the lyrics of a Scottish ballad with the words "they had slain the Earl of Moray and laid him on the green." Someone heard instead: "they had slain the Earl of Moray and Lady Mondegreen" !!! I love it!

Library Hours for the Holiday Weekend

O Canada

July 1 is Canada Day, our northern neighbors' version of July 4th. I was in Halifax a few years ago for the Canada Day parade and my heart still beats for those Royal Canadian Mounted Police on their tall horses, in their red jackets---so dashing. And the streets were lined with the very-unique-among-nations Canadian flag: no stripes, stars or shields for them, just a big red Maple Leaf! I also love the Canadian national anthem (in French or English, I've learned both versions) even more than our own---please don't call me unpatriotic, it's just more stirring to me and lots easier to sing.

So in honor of Canada Day, I wanted to mention a few items in the library's collections authored or performed by some of my favorite Canadians:

• Barenaked Ladies new children's music CD called Snacktime!


• Quebecois folk music by the group Le Vent du Nord called Dans Les Airs


• George Fisher's new travel book, Unforgettable Canada: 100 destinations


• the new Frommer's 2008 travel guide to Canada


• Kathy Reichs' new Temperance Brennan mystery novel, Devil Bones, debuts in August (Reichs isn't Canadian but Tempe is a forensic pathologist in Montreal)

So take a listen or do some reading, eh?

Whew! Too busy and we love it!

Yesterday, June 30, was the first day to sign-up for the library's two summer reading programs (for children and teens). 51 young adults registered for "Game On @ Your Library" and 171 kids ages 5-12 signed on for "Get a Clue @ Your Library". The checkout lines were long all day long and by day's end we had circulated 2,032 items (950 in the adult area and 1,082 in the Children's Room).

Our staff was simultaneously exhausted and totally energized! It's so rewarding to see Dover's youth (and their parents) choosing to put reading on their list of summer activities. Let's keep it going throughout the school vacation months!

Remember, we have lauded children's entertainer Judy Pancoast in a performance on our lawn next Wednesday, July 9 at 10:30am and free family-friendly movies every Monday afternoon at 3pm. (Please call for a list of films. Due to the terms of our movie licensing agreement, we can't publish the actual titles on the web.)

Enjoy the summer @ your library!

Listen to This!

If you have the money for gas, we have the audio books to make that road trip enjoyable. These are just a few of the 35 new titles that arrived in June:

Up Till Now: [the autobiography] by William Shatner

Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber.

Resolution by Robert B. Parker.

The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich.

Phantom Prey by John Sandford.

Odd Hours by Dean Koontz.

Me of Little Faith by Lewis Black.

The Front by Patricia Cornwell.

Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich.

Executive Privilege by Phillip Margolin.

New Fees

A few changes will be coming to the Library with the start of the new fiscal year.

A non- resident card will be $150 per year; $80 half-year.
A senior non- resident card will be $100 per year; $55 half-year.
A student card will be $40.

Overdue fines are remaining $.25 a day but maximum fine you can accrue is increasing to $10.00 per item.
Overdue fines for DVDs will be $1.00 per day, up to the cost of the item.

Public printing will be $.15 per page.

Exam Proctoring will incur a $15 fee.

Meeting room charges (per use, not per hour)
Trustees Room: $10 for non-profits; $20 for profits.
Lecture Hall: $30 for non-profits; $60 for profits.

One Stung, Twice Shy?

James Frey became notorious when it was revealed his memoir, A Million Little Pieces, contained many fraudulent passages. The backlash was significant enough for his latest book Bright Shiny Morning to open with this disclaimer, “Nothing in this book should be considered accurate or reliable”. Does that really need to be stated when the book is marketed as fiction?

Jazz Age Summer

One summer I decided to read everything I could get my hands on by F. Scott Fitzgerald. As his lyrical stories percolated through my thoughts, I found myself longing for a Gin Rickey and Jazz tunes. Images of frivolous young flappers and intense young men danced through my head in those hot summer months. Some people expressed their feeling that Fitzgerald was much too depressing to read in massive quantities. I enjoyed the feeling of being immersed in another time. I can’t claim to have read all of F. Scott’s stories; maybe some other long, lazy summer I will attempt it.

Have you ever tried to read the entire body of an author's work? Did you enjoy it?

Cover Art

My vote for the most beautiful book jacket of the month goes to Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs. It is so appealing you have to pick it up to find out what the story will be about.

From the Publisher:

Shortly before turning the big 5-0, boisterous party planner and Cooking with Gusto!
personality Augusta "Gus" Simpson finds herself planning a birthday party she'd rather not—her own. She's getting tired of being the hostess, the mother hen, the woman who has to plan her own birthday party. What she needs is time on her own with enough distance to give her loved ones the ingredients to put together successful lives without her.

Assisted by a handsome up-and-coming chef, Oliver, Gus invites a select group to take an on-air cooking class. But instead of just preaching to the foodie masses, she will teach regular people how to make rich, sensuous meals—real people making real food. Gus decides to bring a vibrant cast of friends and family on the program: Sabrina, her fickle daughter; Troy, Sabrina's ex-husband; Anna, Gus's timid neighbor; and Carmen, Gus's pompous and beautiful competitor at the Cooking Channel. And when she begins to have more than collegial feelings for her sous-chef, Gus realizes that she might be able to rejuvenate not just her professional life, but her personal life as well. . . .

What's Cooking

Fans of Anthony Bourdain, rejoice! The bad boy of celebrity chefs has signed a deal to write three more books. The first book, Cooks, is a sequel to Kitchen Confidential. The second book is unexpectedly a crime novel, and the third book will relate his experiences living with his family in a Vietnamese village for a year. The bad news? Cooks isn’t due out until October 2009.

Books Beget Books

The Friends of the Library's booksale area, previously tucked into one tiny corner near the Adult Circulation Desk, was expanded greatly in late January. Like-new hardcovers and paperbacks are now selling briskly in their new spot near the public Internet computers for $1 to $3 apiece.
What's been especially interesting about alloting a bigger selling area for donated books is the correspondingly large increase in book donations from the public! Not only are the Friends selling more, they're getting a much larger supply of stock to display. Books for sale, it seems, beget more books for sale! We're very grateful for the public's donation of their unwanted books, videos, DVDs, tapes, etc. and we wanted you to know that the Friends' profits from the sale are being directed into new carpeting for the library! Along with a most generous gift of $10,000 from Dover resident E.J. Bleiler, the Friends have committed $5,000 (mostly from the sale of books) to this project as well.

Back on December 5, 2006, I blogged about a company called GotBooks who was making money by offering free pick-up of your unwanted books. I cautioned against it and urged you to donate your items to the library instead. On May 17, Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam wrote about GotBooks as well, clearly identifying the company as a profit-maker not a charity.

Thank you all for your continued donations and your purchases. I guess it really is true that one man's junk is another's treasure! Stealing from the "swords into ploughshares" analogy, let's keep turning "Books into Broadloom"!

Sincerely Yours

In all the years I’ve worked at the library, I’ve seen probably hundreds of self help books. Like the ever-present dieting/nutritional books, there are many that seem to me to offer some good advice and techniques. There are some I found rather strange or even objectionable (The Total Woman by Marabel Morgan being the most memorable title). Recently I took a look at The Church of 80% Sincerity by David Roche and I was positively tickled with it!

There is, of course, no real church involved here. When Mr. Roche began to talk about his facial disfigurement as a speaker/performer, he began to stop pretending he was normal. But being raised a Roman Catholic in the 50’s, he felt he “needed an institution with rules to tell me how to behave and dogma to tell me what to believe.” So he made it up – the church of choice for recovering perfectionists.

The principle, as explained by “the beloved founder” of the church, is that 80% Sincerity is “as good as it gets (Especially in an election year). You can be 80 percent sincere 100 percent of the time, or 100 percent sincere 80 percent of the time.”

This book is funny… This book is short… I won’t call this book inspiring…because that would imply that the author wants you to go out and do something different/better/whatever. He doesn’t.

JM

If I had the time...

Brand-new non-fiction I'd read...if I had the time:

Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You by Sam Gosling.
How we use our personal, home and work spaces to project, or protect, our identities through "psychological footprints" and "behavioral residue" found in our cars, our tattoos, our living rooms, our MP3 playlists, our blogs (!) and even in the books we read! Your possessions and their ambiance say a lot about you...find out what!

The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes---and Why by Amanda Ripley.
Examines how humans function under duress and identifies common traits among survivors of shipwrecks, fires, tsunamis and other natural disasters. Your "stage of emotional response"---denial, delay, risk, fear, panic, paralysis, or heroism---denotes how you'll fare. The author also gives several tips on how to boost your own odds. Be ready!

Second Banana Books

We have noticed a trend lately of secondary characters so intriguing that they deserve a book of their own. The book that started our discussion was John Sandford’s Dark of the Moon which showcases Virgil Flowers. Frankly, I had gotten a little tired of Sandford’s main character, Lucas Davenport, who has gotten a little too full of himself. It’s nice to see Sandford take a risk with a different character and the result is a tightly plotted action packed mystery with interesting characters. I hope we will be reading a lot more of Virgil Flowers.

Another author who shares characters between some novels is Mary Kay Andrews. I can’t get enough of her quirky and funny southern women so it’s a delight to see them popping up in books sometimes as a main character, or a supporting character. Who could resist names like BeBe Loudermilk and Weezie Foley?

In an interesting twist on this idea, two authors have teamed up together and have their series characters working together. Philip R. Craig’s J.W. Jackson and William Tappley’s Brady Coyne costar in three novels, the last being Third Strike.

Do you have a favorite author who has done this? Tell us about it!

Free Summer Movie Series

The Dover Public Library will be hosting a Monday Afternoon Movie Series beginning this Mon., June 9 at 3:00. The movies are all suitable for families, and are either rated G or PG. We hope you take advantage of this free entertainment, and feel free to BYOP (bring your own popcorn). Call the library at 603-516-6050 to find out what movies are scheduled. Hope to see you there!

Game On @ Your Library

This year's grand prize for the Dover Public Library's Teen Summer Reading Program is a wii game console. We (no pun intended) are very excited about this and hope it draws in lots of local teens to the library. Of course, before the planning for the program I had heard of the wii system--who hadn't with the coverage it has received in the media. Anyhow, I still needed help in figuring out what I needed to buy and where (they are still not easy to get your hands on). After figuring out what I needed and tracking one down, I went shopping. Let me tell you, I felt every one of my 15,218 days when I walked into that store--you could say I was like a fish out of water. So for my pain and suffering I want this to be an extremely successful year for the Teen Summer Reading Program. If you are a Dover Public Library teen (going into grades 6 through 12) come in and sign up starting on June 30th, or if you know an eligible teen please let them know. There will also be lots of prizes to be had throughout the program. Call the library for more information 603-516-6082.

Tuttle’s Red Barn Beautifies the Library

We would like to thank Tuttle’s Red Barn for their generous gift of three large barrels of flowering plants. They really brighten up the Children’s Room entry way!

Library Life

Darn! If only I'd thought to write down all the stories---memorable, comic, sometimes absurd and unsavory---that have happened in our public library over my 30 year career here! Well, two people, with more forethought and direction than I, have done just that. Take a look at:
Free For All: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas in the Public Library by Don Borchert; and
Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian by Scott Douglas, two new irreverent, no-holds-barred books which delve into the daily life of a public librarian. I highly recommend them both to anyone contemplating a career in librarianship. And, if you've ever worked in a library, or even if you are just a frequent patron, you will recognize some of the incidents, anecdotes and mayhem. Library customers run the gamut of human society including the quirky and the criminal: anyone who thinks that only silver-haired, Harlequin-reading ladies visit our stacks is woefully mistaken! To be a librarian these days, you also need to be a part-time counselor, social worker, computer guru, mental health professional and babysitter and Borchert and Douglas capture "our world" with wit, warmth, humor and some occasional profanity!

Titles so intriguing that I want to read the book

Clotilde’s Edible Adventure in Paris by Clotilde Dusolier

Edward Trencom’s Nose: a novel of history, dark intrigue, and cheese by Giles Milton
The Life and Times of the Last Kid Picked by David Benjamin

Are You in Good Spirits?

Good Spirits: recipes, revelations, refreshments, and romance shaken and served with a twist by A.J. Rathbun.

Is there anything more decadent and yet quaintly old fashioned than sipping an ice cold martini on a hot summer night? This is THE book for the aspiring mix-ologist who doesn’t want to just throw some gin in a glass and be done with it but who wants to learn to mix the perfectly elegant cocktail and then recount its illustrious, scandalous, or just plain odd history to her (or his) enraptured guests. Filled to the brim (no pun intended) with “imbibement” trivia, your friends will be as impressed with your mixing skills as they are with your knowledge all things liquor related. On the downside, be prepared to spend, spend, spend as these gorgeous, frosty libations require the best and usually most expensive ingredients (like that lovely blue gin…ahhh …but I digress). They also require the perfect glasses, the perfect swizzle sticks, the perfect coasters, and quite possibly, the perfect little black dress and shoes.
BP-W

The Shadow Year

I just finished Shadow Year by Jeffrey Ford. It takes place in the mid sixties and follows the adventures of a nameless boy and his brother who are trying to cope with an alcoholic mom, a father who has to work too much to support his family, and all the usual school age traumas. Throw into the mix a mysterious prowler, a school mate who has vanished, neighbors who suddenly die, an insane librarian, some supernatural events, and you have an involving, nostalgic novel that is hard to put down. Enjoy a little taste of Ford’s atmospheric story telling.

The lingering twilight finally breathed its last, and that first moment of night was like a gunshot at the start of a race. Instantly, frantic kids in costumes streamed from lit houses, beginning their rounds, not to return until they had reached the farthest place they could and still remember how to get home.

We traveled door-to door around the block, joining with other groups of kids, splitting away and later being joined by others. Franky Conrad, dressed like a swami, with a bath towel around his head, eyeliner darkening his eyes, and a long purple robe, walked with us for a dozen houses. The Farley girls were angels or princesses, I couldn’t tell which, but their costumes, made from flowing white material, glowed in the dark. President Henry Mason was dresses in his Communion suit, a button on the lapel that said VOTE FOR HENRY, and his sisters were ghosts with sheets over their heads. Reggie Bishop was a robot, wrapped in silver foil, wearing a hat with a lightbulb sticking out the top that went on and off without a switch, and Chris Hackett wore his father’s army helmet and told us how his dad had gotten hand-grenade shrapnel in his ass and lost three fingers in Korea.

We worked the trick-or-treat with dedication that rivaled our father’s for his three jobs, systematically moving up one side of the street and then down the other. Our pillowcases filled with candy. Old Lady Restuccio gave out Chinese hand-cuffs, a kind of tube woven from colored paper strips. You stuck a finger in each side and then couldn’t pull them out. That’s how we lost Franky Conrad. He was left behind, standing on Mrs. Restuccio’s lawn, unable to figure out that you just had to twist your fingers to free them. The slow, the hobbled, the weak—were all left in our wake as we blitzkrieged Willow Avenue and moved on to Cuthbert.

If I had the time...

New non-fiction titles in the library's Children's Room collection that I would read if I had more time:

• King George: What was his Problem? : Everything your schoolbooks didn't tell you about the American Revolution by Steve Sheinkin
  After years of writing American history textbooks, Steve Sheinkin uses all the amazing stories and quotes that he collected in his research (that textbook editors would never let him use) to write this funny but entirely true account of the American Revolution that kids (and adults) will actually want to read!
  



• Encyclopedia Horrifica: The Terrifying Truth! About Vampires, Ghosts, Monsters, and More by Joshua Gee
  This quote on the back cover had me wishing for the time to read every frightening page: "Bursting with evidence--special investigations, exclusive interviews, rare images, and chilling eyewitness accounts--ENCYCLOPEDIA HORRIFICA proves that the truth is not only stranger than fiction...it's also a lot scarier!".
  



• The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming by Laurie David and Cambria Gordon
  Why global warming happens, the ways it affects our planet, and how we can work together to stop it are topics dicussed in easy to understand language and catchy chapter titles such as "It's getting hot in here, Weird wacky weather, and Extinction stinks".

Do you ChaCha?

I recently read about a new free service for cellphone users who need quick answers to simple questions. It's called ChaCha (800-2chacha or 800-224-2242). Supposedly you just state your question and in a few minutes you'll get your answer via a text message. All for free! An article in the Wall Street Journal (April 24) said that their test of the service correctly answered queries such as: the name of the winning pitcher in last night's Red Sox game...the weekend forecast for Boston...the date of death of Abigail Adams...the cast members of "Brothers & Sisters"...Peyton Manning's salary...the sodium content of a McDonald's quarter pounder...and a Revolutionary War date. Your question is routed to one of 10,000 hired "guides" who look up the answer on the Web (they're paid $.20 per answer) and reply back. Speed and accuracy can vary but you can always text back for clarification or more information. ChaCha requires no registration and claims to work with most cellphone carriers. The only fee may come from your carrier if you're paying for minutes or text messages.
Has anyone out there tried this?
Of course, it's only natural that I also remind you that your library also supplies a free question-answering service (603-516-6082) and you can talk to a real, live human being and a professional librarian at that! You can even ask complex, multipart questions and we won't blink an eye! But I also believe that ChaCha has a place in our "search world", perhaps when the library is closed and you have that nagging question at 3am that's keeping you from going back to sleep!

An Evening of Poetry

These are the second category readers.

The Curse Reversed

This is an absolutely amazing poem: a history of the Red Sox in verse. It’s long but a must hear for any loyal Red Sox Fan.

An Evening of Poetry

Tuesday night the Library held its annual Evening of poetry, the culmination of the 2008 Poetry Contest. We are delighted that this year we can share video with you of some very talented students reading their poems. The evening started with the youngest group.
The video takes a while to download, please be patient.

It’s an Odd Day

The latest installment in Dean Koontz’s wildly popular Odd Thomas series, titled Odd Hours, is being released today. Have you reserved a copy yet?

Dean Koontz says: "The legend began in the obscure little town of Pico Mundo. A fry cook named Odd was rumored to have the extraordinary ability to communicate with the dead. Through tragedy and triumph, exhilaration and heartbreak, word of Odd Thomas’s gifts filtered far beyond Pico Mundo, attracting unforgettable new friends—and enemies of implacable evil. With great gifts comes the responsibility to meet great challenges. But no mere human being was ever meant to face the darkness that now stalks the world--not even one as oddly special as Odd Thomas."

Great Stone Face Award Announced

The Great Stone Face Book Award is sponsored by the Children's Librarians of New Hampshire and is given each year to an author whose book receives the most votes from fourth through sixth graders throughout the state. Each year a committee chooses 25 recently published titles, which children then use as a guide for voting. The vote takes place every April during National Library Week, and the winner is announced in May. The purpose of the award is to promote reading enjoyment, to increase awareness of contemporary writing, and to allow children to honor their favorite author.

And the winner for 2007-08 is ...

Rules by Cynthia Lord

The new Great Stone Face nominees list for 2008-09 is now available in the Children's Room and on our website (click here to view).

If I had the time...

Here's more brand new non-fiction in the library that I'd read if I had the time...

Nextville: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life by Barbara Corcoran and Warren Berger
Corcoran is a frequent real-estate commentator/guest on The Today Show and here she predicts where 77 million baby-boomers will settle into retirement. Interesting stuff and she knows the market!

Vermeer's Hat: the 17th Century and the Dawn of the Global World by Timothy Brook
Examines the myriad details of such items as tobacco, furniture, carpets, silver and beaver pelts in Vermeer's paintings to explain the 17th century's growth in commerce, transport, trade and the exchange of cultures. Brook's studies of Vermeer's works enlighten us on military power and even the status of women. Fascinating!

The Devil's Gentleman: Privilege, Poison, and the Trial that Ushered in the 20th Century
by Harold Schechter
This true story of a 1900 Manhattan murder reminds me of the novels of Caleb Carr. This high-profile case became a NYC media circus, complete with yellow journalism, vice, money, romance, and the liberal use of poison!

Dover Middle School Art

Take a moment to enjoy the new slideshow on the right side of the blog. The art was created by students at the Dover Middle School and illustrates the 2008 Poetry Contest booklet. We have such talented students in Dover!

Poetry Winners Announced!!!

The following is a list of winners in the Dover Public Library's 6th annual Poetry Contest for kids in grades K-12. Congratulations to all!

K-2 Category:

1st Place: Aiyana G. Brough, Grade 2, Garrison School (tie)
Adrianne Page, Grade 2, Garrison School (tie)
2nd Place: Shawn DeKorne, Grade 1, Saint Mary Academy

3rd Place : Emma Goodridge, Grade 2, Woodman Park

Honorable Mention: Ailia Rochefort, Grade 2, Woodman Park

3 & 4 Grade Category:

1st Place: Asia Merrill, Grade 4, Belmont Elementary
2nd Place: Kaylee Burke, Grade 4, Woodman Park
3rd Place : Megan Whitten, Grade 4, North Hampton School
Honorable Mention: Niko Alexandropoulos, Grade 4, North Hampton School (tie) Danny Provencal-Fogarty, Garrison School (tie)

5 & 6 Grade Category:

1st Place: Merranda Donnelly, Grade 6, Saint Mary Academy
2nd Place: Lydia Carlson, Grade 5, Marshwood School
3rd Place: Kevin Gould, Grade 5, Saint Mary Academy
Honorable Mention: Olivia Furino, Grade 6, Saint Mary Academy

7 & 8 Grade Category:

1st Place: Sean Lombard, Grade 7, Dover Middle School
2nd Place: Grant Flewelling, Grade 7, Dover Middle School
3rd Place: Clayton Stanley, Grade 7, Dover Middle School
Honorable Mention: Riley Gowen, Grade 7, Dover Middle School

9 & 10 Category:
1st Place: Leah Guercio, Grade 9, St. Thomas
2nd Place: Sofia Kouninis, Grade 10, St. Thomas
3rd Place: Faithlynn Robinson, Grade 9, Dover High School
Honorable Mention: Kelly Voltz, Grade 9, Dover High School

11 & 12 Category:

1st Place: Katy Sternberger, Grade 11, Portsmouth Christian Academy
2nd Place: Kyle Lanzit, Grade 11, Berwick Academy
3rd Place: Molly Hearn, Grade 12, Dover High School
Honorable Mention: Stephen Guptill, Grade 11, Portsmouth Christian Academy Kile Townsend, Grade 11, Portsmouth Christian Academy

The Follett Fitness Program

I have been lugging Ken Follett’s World Without End around the past few days. Literally. It is 1024 pages. It is so darn heavy that I actually weighed it this morning. It's three pounds! No wonder I am having such a difficult time finding a comfortable position to read. I either have to lay it out flat on a desk or table, or lie on my back and balance it on my stomach. Needless to say I have not been reading late into the night. So far the extra workout for my arms has been well worth it to enter the medieval world of Kingsbridge Priory and its scheming, intriguing characters.

By the end of this book I am going to look like Popeye.

The Sound of Summer Running

Ray Bradbury is renowned as an author of Science Fiction, a label he disputes, and rightfully so. Many of his finest works are not Science Fiction at all. He wrote a series of stories about a young boy named Douglas growing up in Illinois. They are masterpieces of nostalgia, vividly evoking the experience of childhood. Can you remember the delight, the wild freedom of the first few days of summer? While all of his stories are memorable, one had a particular resonance for me and I often think of it this time of year.

“Dad!” He blurted it out. “Back there in that window, those Cream-Sponge Para Litefoot Shoes…”

His father didn’t even turn. “Suppose you tell me why you need a new pair of sneakers. Can you do that?”

“Well…”

It was because they felt the way it feels every summer when you take off your shoes for the first time and run in the grass. They felt like it feels sticking your feet out of the hot covers in wintertime to let the cold wind from the open window blow on them suddenly and you let them stay out a long time until you pull them back in under the covers again to feel them, like packed snow. The tennis shoes felt like it always feels the first time every year wading in the slow waters of the creek and seeing your feet below, half an inch further downstream, with refraction, than the real part of you above water.

“Dad,” said Douglas, “it’s hard to explain.”

Somehow the people who made tennis shoes knew what boys needed and wanted. They put marshmallows and coiled springs in the soles and they wove the rest out of grasses bleached and fired in the wilderness. Somewhere deep in the soft loam of the shoes the thin hard sinews of the buck deer were hidden. The people that made the shoes must have watched a lot of winds blow the trees and a lot of rivers going down to the lakes. Whatever it was, it was in the shoes, and it was summer.

Rediscover the magic of summer; pick up a copy of Dandelion Wine.

Infected

Infected by Scott Sigler

This Book on CD is not for the squeamish. I cringed a lot while listening but never thought of giving up. I’m not sure how I would classify this novel; science fiction, techno thriller, saving the world, they came from outer space? There was a great deal of dark humor, a fast moving plot, and well defined characters. The author does a fantastic job reading the book which is not surprising if you know that he already has a large fan base from the podcasts he does. Look for the sequel and movie to come! J.M.

IF I HAD THE TIME...

New NON-FICTION titles in our library's collection that look so intriguing I would read them IF I HAD THE TIME:

• A Wolf at the Table: a Memoir of My Father by Augusten Burroughs who wrote "Running with Scissors"
• Perfumes: the Guide by Luca Turin and Tania Sanchez – an essential guide to shopping for fragrance; nearly 1500 fragrances are separated into the "divine and the good from the monumentally awful"
• Erased by Marilee Strong – about missing women and murdered wives who have essentially been "erased". Some have vanished never to be seen again and others found dead under mysterious circumstances, most murdered by a husband or boyfriend and then made to disappear.
• 1 Dead in Attic by Chris rose –a collection of stories recounting the first harrowing year and a half of life in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Mystery Authors Revealed

I recently attended a conference that featured a panel of well known mystery authors, and since I recognized a couple of my favorites like Laura Lippman and T. Jefferson Parker, thought it would be great fun to see them and find out who was accompanying them.

Much to my surprise one of the other authors was C. J. Box, whose newest book "Blue Heaven" I had just read and loved. I was enthralled by the pictures these three authors painted as to how they came to write, get published, and even become famous. They are now real personalities to me, and I will pursue their books with greater interest and curiosity.

An even bigger treat for me was the introduction of another author I had never encountered in my quest for new mystery authors: Linwood Barclay. Barclay is a popular newspaper columnist in Canada who broke on to the mystery scene with a humorous mystery "Bad Move" several years ago. Since I'm more in to the suspense/thriller type of mystery, I didn't follow up on his later books until he spoke about "No Time for Goodbye" which was published a year ago. I promptly checked out the book when I came back from the conference and am now convinced his forthcoming books will be at the top of my favorite mysteries list. He drew me right in when he said, "Imagine being a 14 year old and waking up one morning to find your whole family had disappeared during the night". The 14 year old grows up never knowing what happened.

Barclay went on to describe the plot of another book he is working on in which "the family next door is murdered" and you discover that it was your family that was supposed to be murdered. Barclay is right up there with John Hart and Greg Iles if you're looking for some different mystery authors, and don't forget C. J. Box.

Holy Moley!

I have had unwanted visitors in my neighborhood this spring. I love the return of the peepers and the song birds, and resignedly accept that spring in New Hampshire also means the return of the Black fly. However, this year spring also brought mysterious tunnels and piles of dirt all over my pristine lawn. Well, it’s as pristine as you can hope for with two large dogs frolicking on it. The dogs were not the culprits of lawn destruction this time. I was whining to one of the neighbors about it when they mentioned that they were having troubles with moles too. Another neighbor farther down said he had tunnels all over his yard and he had never had problems before. I established an informal poll and found every neighbor I talked to was having mole problems. I was duly appointed to find a solution since I work in the library. Sure enough, the Library collections came up with some helpful books.

Bugs, Slugs & Other Thugs by Rhonda Hart recommended:
Whirligigs and whistling soda bottles
Placing used kitty litter in the tunnel
Planting Castor oil plants (these are poisonous, children should be kept away from them)
Drenching the soil with a solution of 2 parts Castor oil, 1 part liquid detergent. Dilute in one gallon of water and saturate the soil inside and around the mound
Trapping them with a mole trap

Tiny Game Hunting by Hilary Klein had further suggestions:
Flood the tunnels with a garden hose
Get rid of the grubs the moles are eating by applying milky spore disease and beneficial nematodes
Digging a trench at least 2 feet deep all around and filling it with stones and clay
Put peeled garlic cloves, hot peppers, Juicy Fruit gum, or pet droppings in the tunnel

So far the Castor oil solution has been the most successful, Juicy Fruit gum was a total bust. Let me know if you have some clever solution to the attack of the moles!

If I had the time...

There's never enough time to read everything you want. I pretty much stick to reading fiction as its "escapism" has a special lure for me. But there's many extremely interesting non-fiction titles being published every week. I thought I'd start a recurring post, listing new NON-FICTION titles in our library's collection that look so intriguing that, even though I probably won't get to them, I would read them IF I HAD THE TIME! Maybe you'll find the time to read them and report back!!!

Arnie & Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus and Golf's Greatest Rivalry by Ian O'Connor ---Explores their complex, at-times contentious, rivalrous relationship over many decades. One reviewer said Arnie had the crowds but not the trophies; Jack had the championships but wanted the love.

The Man Who Made Lists: Love, Death Madness and the Creation of Roget's Thesaurus by Joshua Kendall --- Biography of Peter Mark Roget (1779--1869) who anxiously and obsessively classified words to fend of the cycle of madness in his family. Sounds fascinating!

The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America is Tearing Us Apart by Bill Bishop
--- Americans are choosing homogenous places to live, compatible with our lifestyles and beliefs. Think red states versus blue ones, but on an even smaller scale. Alarming social research!

(Can you tell by this abbreviated list that I like golf, words, and statistics? )

The Crime Scene is Cleared

We have been living with crime scene tape across one of the entrances into the addition for months. Falling ice had damaged two of the sky lights, making it unsafe to walk under them.

We are delighted to announce that the tape has come down and we have lovely, new sky lights. You can look through them and actually see the sky now!