This pair of drifters was seen taking a break in their day and patiently waiting for the story to start.
“Puppy Dog Tales”, is on its way to becoming permanent in Green River. A collaborative fundraising campaign between the Arts Council and the Library in Green River has been working together for the past year. $3,400 in donations has come in but another $2,000 is needed to keep “Puppy Dog Tales” at the library. A jar to collect donations is in the library lobby. Many admirers stop to check on the story and seem concerned over the outdoor temperatures. Maxine Davies, spent some time making a cape for the bronzed girl, putting socks on her cold toes and even placing a coat on her puppy.
I am truly excited to have been chosen to be a book reviewer for LibraryThing.
LibraryThing is a cataloguing and networking site based around books with claims to be the largest library in the world with 350,000 members cataloguing twenty-three million books at this date. LibraryThing has an agreement with publishers to have members read pre-publication books and post a review online at LibraryThing which the publisher may use.For each offering from publishers, ten books, give or take, are available and the membership can request titles they would like to read. LT matches books to readers through a computer formula and lucky readers get a pre-publication copy to read and review.The publisher of Kristen Hannah’s newest book, Firefly Lane sent out extra copies to members.I was lucky enough to get one.I was additionally notified that I had been chosen to review The Translator: a Tribesman’s Memoir of Darfurby Daoud Hari. I hope to receive it soon. I am excited to be involved and thank LibraryThing, Abby and Tim.
For Kristen Hannah fans, a pre-publication review of Firefly Lane follows.
I wasn’t initially thrilled with the title Firefly Lane as I thought it might be a take-off of Desperate Housewives which takes place on Wisteria Lane, and I thought it might have similarities. I was wrong. For a book of 496 pages it was a fast read, and I finished it the day after I began. The setting is appealing, taking place for the most part in the Pacific Northwest during the 1970’s. The author pulls in music that was popular during that time, television shows that were commonly watched and celebrities that anyone living then would remember. The walk down memory lane was enjoyable and helped me to relate to the story.
The main characters; Tully and Kate are a bit too formulaic. While the story is appealing, two girls finding friendship, having fun and growing up together, the author takes leaps between the formation of a near perfect marriage and one lustful evening, a family who, without hesitation or repercussion taking in a troubled young girl, and unproblematic or missing peripheral relationships. Similar themed stories are found in the Stepmom and Beaches. Readers who like Barbara Delinsky, Deborah Smith or Luanne Rice may also like Kristen Hannah.
Kate comes from an all American family but suffers from shyness, low self esteem and adolescent rejection. Tully covers for her addict mother and bounces between her and the home of her grandmother where she does know she is loved. One girl has rules and security while the other is cool and gets plenty of peer attention. I thought the author did a great job of showing readers each girl’s viewpoint. One chooses marriage and children after college, the other a career. Predictable judgments of whose grass is greener follow and a crack in their relationship, after much perceived tolerance for each other’s choices, forms.
Without a doubt Firefly Lane will sell and be cherished by many so would be a good choice for most public libraries. It is a fast easy read and enjoyable if the reader is seeking a light and emotional book.
NextReads is an easy way to get excited about a new author or a specific reading area. Are you looking for something interesting but can’t think of a title? The Sweetwater County Library System offers a reading suggestion service. Located on the front page of our website. (http://www.sweetwaterlibraries.com/index.php) point and click on the Next Reads icon and chose the areas of reading that you might be interested in. Put your email in the text box and monthly or bimonthly you will receive a newsletter in your email with suggested titles.
“History in general is a collection of crimes, follies, and misfortunes among which we have now and then met with a few virtues, and some happy times. “
~ Voltaire (1694-1778), French writer, L’Ingénu
In this call to the political left, economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman surveys decades of American history to illuminate how efforts to correct economic inequality have been set back since the 1970s. His analysis cites the chasm between the prosperous and the poor and the challenges faced by the vulnerable middle class, and calls for new perspectives on American social policy, especially in regard to universal health care. The result is a “compelling historical defense of liberalism” (Publishers Weekly) that is sure to provoke debate.
In 1816, the flagship of a French expedition to Senegal ran aground due to the incompetence of the ship’s captain. With too few lifeboats, nearly 150 passengers and crew were placed on a makeshift raft to be towed to safety. However, the raft was cut loose and abandoned, and over the next two weeks the survivors dwindled to 15 through suicide, murder, and cannibalism. The disaster ignited heated criticism of the Bourbon monarchy and inspired painter Théodore Géricault’s masterpiece, The Raft of the Medusa, now hanging in the Louvre. With captivating insight both into the painting and the actual events surrounding the wreck of the Medusa, this book is a sure bet for fans of art, naval, or French history.
One hundred years ago, America was enjoying a period of peace and prosperity, marked as it was by the first flight, the quest for the North Pole, and the introduction of the Model T Ford. Based on the newspapers of the day, the accounts in America, 1908 showcase the day-to-day events of the times, like the heated rivalry for baseball’s National Pennant, as well as more disturbing incidents, such as the Springfield, Illinois, race riot. Weaving all these (and many more) disparate episodes together, author Jim Rasenberger creates “a cohesive body of events all linked to make something bigger, something grander” (Booklist).
A Land So Strange: The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca: The Extraordinary Tale of a Shipwrecked Spaniard Who Walked Across America in the Sixteenth Century - by Andrés Reséndez
It took more than eight years–including several spent in slavery–but eventually the four remaining survivors of a 1528 Spanish shipwreck off the coast of Florida managed to make their way across Florida, around the Gulf coast, and on to the Pacific Ocean, where they were picked up by Spanish ships. Though author Andrés Reséndez describes the preparations leading up to the Spanish conquistadores’ voyage to Florida, he focuses mainly on what happened after their ships went off course. The harrowing trek across uncharted wildnerness makes for excellent reading for those interested in pre-colonial America or true stories of survival.
Criminals and Their Crimes
Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34 - by Bryan Burrough
Though there are doubts as to the extent of the crime wave, Depression-era newspapers often reported on the bank robberies carried out by notorious figures from John Dillinger to Baby Face Nelson to Bonnie and Clyde. The era also brought about the transformation of the FBI into the U.S.’s top police agency, thanks to federal bureaucrat J. Edgar Hoover. In Public Enemies, journalist Bryan Burrough (best known for Barbarians at the Gate: The Fall of RJR Nabisco) discusses the factors that influenced the period’s crime rates and explores the formation and early work of the FBI–including the errors and downright fiascos along the way to success. It’s a “wild and amazing story,” says The Washington Post.
By using multiple different identities and visiting various rare-books and research libraries in the U.S. and Canada, map thief Gilbert Bland, Jr., was able to steal dozens of valuable antique maps–to the tune of half a million dollars over several years. In tracing this illicit career, author Miles Harvey uncovers not only the multiple wives and children abandoned by Bland, but the network of dealers and collectors–complicit to varying degrees–who purchased Bland’s stolen maps. Enhanced by the history of cartography, Harvey’s map of Bland’s larceny is “an all-consuming read that is impossible to put down” (Booklist).
In Thunderstruck, acclaimed author Erik Larson recounts two parallel stories: that of Dr. Hawley Crippen, who murdered his wife and fled England, accompanied by his mistress; and Guglielmo Marconi, the Italian inventor of wireless communication technology, which aided in Crippen’s apprehension as he attempted to cross the Atlantic. As Larson brings together their disparate stories, he brilliantly captures Edwardian society at the dawn of new technologies. The Washington Post describes Thunderstruck as “an irresistible tale” that will keep you turning the pages.
In 1913, a 13-year-old Atlanta factory worker named Mary Phagan was murdered. Her Jewish supervisor, Leo Frank, was arrested, hastily convicted, and two years after Mary’s death, abducted and lynched. The crime and its aftermath–including a trial rife with anti-Semitism and racism–divided the community and destroyed political careers and was the basis for a 1937 movie (They Won’t Forget) and a 1998 Broadway musical (Parade). This riveting account is a must-read for those interested in race relations, miscarriages of justice, or Southern history.
With overflowing jails in England and failing colonies in Australia, the British criminal justice system sought to alleviate both of these problems by sending more than 200 female convicts to Australia’s Sydney Cove to serve as mates–and eventually provide children–to the colonists there. Using court records, memoirs, and other first-hand accounts, British historian Sian Rees depicts not only the conditions onboard the prison ship but also the women’s crimes and the limited options available to them in the Australian colonies. This engaging work will appeal to readers who enjoy nautical history, women’s history, descriptions of late 18th-century life, or tales from the early days of Australia’s colonization.
This fascinating account of the escape of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin, John Wilkes Booth, takes readers on the intense 12-day search for Booth, which began on the streets of Washington, D.C., careened through the swamps of Maryland, and continued on into the forests of Virginia. Thanks to rare archival materials, the dramatic hunt comes into focus, as do the federal agents and Union cavalry who pursued Booth. Lincoln fans, assassination buffs, and anyone who likes a good chase story will enjoy this taut, suspenseful work. Keep a lookout for Manhunt‘s eventual appearance in theaters, as Hollywood has already optioned this story.
It’s the National Year of Reading. Just as well, as one in four adults say they haven’t read a book in at least a year. With so many other ways to get information these days, do we still need books? When did you last pick up a book to hunt out a nugget of information instead of Googling it? Or read a novel instead of powering up the PlayStation or the telly?
Some time ago, quite possibly, especially if you’re a man and aged 16 to 24 – half haven’t read a single book in the past 12 months, making this group the least likely to read books, according to government statistics.
The rest of us aren’t much better. And some, including Victoria Beckham, claim never to have read a book at all.
WHERE AND WHEN WE READ
In bed
On holiday
On way to work
In the bath
On the toilet
Source: Bedtime Reading Week
Yet books are hyped as life changing and a way out of crime, poverty and deprivation by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who launched the National Year of Reading on Wednesday. Quite simply, they have the potential to open up new worlds for the reader.
The Bible remains the best-selling book of all time, believed to be divinely inspired by nearly two billion people (Christians and Jews). In this hard-hitting new book, the author argues that it is actually more than previously thought. The ideas in the Bible, he ways, triggered a revolution in human thought and established the moral and philosphical foundation for Western civilization, from the recognition of basic humna rights and belief in limited government to authentic feminism and the development of empiral science.
Tall, striking, and adventurous to a fault, young British relief worker Emma McCune came to Sudan determined to make a difference. She became a seglen in the bullet-scarred, famine-ridden country, but her marriage to a rebel warlord spelled disadtrous consequences for her ideals.
Howar Behar is one of the three top executives who have helped shape one of the most recognized companies in the world: Starbucks. A widely accalimaed leader, Behar, with his signature energy, smarts high expectations, and belief in people, has become a symbol of the soul and candor of the Starbucks curlture.
How can we stay engaged with life day after day? How can we continue to love what we do year after year? These are the questions best-selling author and beloved teacher Sylica Boorstein asked herself. The result is her best work to date, a warm wise and instructive book on how we can cultivate happiness even when the odds are against us.
In this enlightening and entertaining work, Paul Johnson continues his engaging history series. As he has done in previous books, he approches the subject of heroism by example. Here are men and women from every age, walk of life, and corner of the world who have inspired and transformed their cultures and the world itself.
This is the personal side of battle, where emotion, courage, and strength are stretched to the limits. In one of the compelling combat narratives ever written, Staff Sergeant David Ballavia Army infantry platoon leader, gives a teeth-rattling, firt-hand account of eleven straight days of heavy house-to-house fighting during the climactic second battle of Fallujah. His actions in the firefight, which included killing five insurgents in hadn-to-hand combat, earned him the Bronze star, the silver Star, and New York’s highest honor, the Conspicious Service Cross. He has been nominated for the Medal of Honor and for the Army’s second highest combat medal the Distinguished Service Cross.
Classrooms were never sufficient of Jared Cohen; he wanted to learn about global affairs by witnessing them firsthand. while studying on a Rhodes scholarship at Oxford, he took a crsh course in Arabic, read voraciously on the history and culture of the Middle East, and in 2004 he embarked on the first of a series of incredible journeys to the Middle East.
“The life of a good dog is like the life of a good person, only shorter and more compressed.” So writes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anna Quindlen about her beloved black Labrador retriever, Beau. With her trademark wisdome and humor, Quindlen reflects on how her life has unfolded in tandem with Beau’s and one the lessons she’s learned by watching him; to roll with the punches, to take things as they come, to measure herself not in terms of the past or the future but of the present, to raise her nose in the air from time to time and, at least metaphorically, to holler, “I smell bacon!”
Before arriving at Oberlin in 1973, Clare Mann had never met anyone like Sally Rose. Rich and beautiful, Sally is uttelry foreign to a middle-class, Midwestern Protestant like Clare-and utterly fascinating. The fascination only grows when Sally brings her home to Los Angelos.
This beautifully written, intsnely intimate collection explores a subject of nearly iniveral experience: the psychological push and pull between a mother and a son. Each story is centered on a trasformative moment that alters the delicate blance of power in that relationship and changes the way mother and son perceive one another.
Do you wish you could fully engage your employees? Ore reduce turnover by 25% or more? Do you need to quickly assign staff around the organization’s long-term strategy? Or achieve double-digit growth? the this groundbreaking audio book is for you.
How do we find the courage to always be true to ourselves-even if we are unsure of who we are? The Witch of Portobello is the story of a mysterious woman named Athena, told by the many who knew her well-or hardly at all.
I have read reviews that loved C.J. Box’s newest novel -Blue Heaven- and reviews that hated it. Knowing my opinion sometimes differs, I had to read the newest in this Wyoming writer’s endeavors. With tough likeable kids and characters that you might find on small town streets in the West, I think Box succeeded with a page-turning triumph. He doesn’t follow his previous character, Joe Pickett’s travels, but starts anew with a likely and known scenario in the west; the influx of people from the big cities. Added to that the new people are mostly retired LAPD, toss in a single mother, gossip-mongering locals, a inept sheriff, a solid old rancher and missing children and he turns out a gripping tour of northern Idaho. This story will grab you on the first page and won’t let you go until the last.
FRONTLINE examines a generation of children “Growing Up Online” coming January 22, 2008 http://www.pbs.org/frontlin…
MySpace. YouTube. Facebook. Nearly every teen in America is on the Internet every day, socializing with friends and strangers alike, “trying on” identities, and building a virtual profile of themselves–one that many kids insist is a more honest depiction of who they really are than the person they portray at home or in school.
In “Growing Up Online,” FRONTLINE peers inside the world of this cyber-savvy generation through the eyes of teens and their parents, who often find themselves on opposite sides of a new digital divide. From cyber bullying to instant “Internet fame,” to the specter of online sexual predators, FRONTLINE producer Rachel Dretzin investigates the risks, realities and misconceptions of teenage self-expression on the World Wide Web.
There is an ongoing controversy about using a source like Wikipedia. Teachers have to decide if they will accept citations from ‘Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit‘. Therein lies the controversy; Wikipedia can be updated by anyone, and this form of collaboration can potentially have mistakes or may include an entry that could be entirely bogus. All forms of information may contain mistakes, whether they are inherent in the subject, out of date or whether they may have printing errors. Read the following for more information:
There is more than an echo of that arch patrician, Lady Ludlow, in the scathing criticism being directed against the internet and its unlimited diet of free information. She it was, in the BBC’s delectable serialisation of Mrs Gaskell’s Cranford, who dismissed the notion that the lower classes should be given access to education. Teaching them to read, she said, would simply distract them from saying their prayers and serving the landed gentry.
Today it is the University of Google that stands accused of purveying the new socialism by offering equality of information to everyone. Modern students, say the critics, are being handed unlimited supplies of dubious facts from online sources such as Wikipedia, without the means of distinguishing between the good and the bad. Because they no longer have to sift through books and carry out their own research, the students’ sense of curiosity has been blunted. The internet provides “white bread for the mind” and it is breeding a generation of dullards.
Let them read books, commands the impressively named Professor Tara Brabazon, of the University of Brighton where she is Professor of Media Studies. She says that she has banned her own students from using Wikipedia or Google as research sources, and insists they read printed texts only. In a lecture, she argues that only thus will we produce the critical thinkers that the nation needs.
I fear the professor is blaming the messenger rather than the message. It is not the uneven quality of facts found on the internet that is to blame for uninquiring minds, it is the way they have been taught to think – and the way their written work is marked.
I doubt if there is any difference between the undergraduates of my generation, who crammed for exams by creaming off selected quotes from recommended texts and then learning them by rote, and those of today who download convenient passages from Wikipedia. The difference lies in the use they make of the material. If they are encouraged to believe that predigested information is an end in itself, and if they are then given high marks for the result, they will simply conclude that that is the outcome that society requires of them. Read on….
I don’t believe that the problem lies with using Wikipedia but rather that a student might only use Wikipedia. It may also be important to consider the nature of the assignment and the age of the student. For students it is important to follow the expectations of their instructor. If the instructor believes Wikipedia is an inadequate source, the problem is solved, use other sources. If Wikipedia is allowed, remember that it is a good place to start. Take a look at the citations used for that article and check them out. If conflicting information is found other places, consider the author and his/her credentials in that subject. By searching for an individual you may find that there are no references to be found, or you may find they are a professor at a prestigious college. Who would you quote as an expert?
Part of the job of being a student is to find the information (and never plagiarize). Online sources and search engines are not wrong, but they need to be supplemented. Use your library to find print sources (ask for help in the reference and nonfiction areas) and use the library databases to find additional, more current authorized information.
The second job of the student is to evaluate information. This requires checking into the author’s credentials and also thinking about what you know about the subject. It requires judgement and some research to determine if the information you find is reliable and if the author is truly “known in the field”.
The student then needs to synthesize the information. Consider conflicting information. Unless you are researching in that field, how do you know who is correct? Include the conflicting information in your paper. Evaluate what you know, does your information supplement or extinguish what you have studied? Think about all the information you have found; consider the currency, authority, integrity and timeliness of the piece. Do other experts cite your source?
The indisputable horrible truth behind research is that it does take time. Considering only one source or cutting and pasting from one online encyclopedia, does not make a good student, or a good paper.
In 1994, Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson were brutally murdered at her home in Brentwood, California. O. J. Simpson was tried for the crime in a case that captured the attention of the American people, but was ultimately found not guilty of criminal charges. The victims’ families brought a civil case against Simpson, and he was found liable for willfully and wrongfully causing the deaths of Ron and Nicole by committing battery with malice and oppression.
In 2006, HarperCollins announced the publication of a book in which O. J. Simpson told how he hypothetically would have committed the murders. In response to public outrage that Simpson stood to profit from these crimes, HarperCollins canceled the book. A Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the Goldmans in August 2007 to partially satisfy the unpaid civil judgment, which has risen to over $38 million with interest.
The Goldman family views this book as his confession, and has worked hard to ensure that the public will read this book and learn the truth. This is the original manuscript approved by O. J. Simpson, with up to 14,000 words of key additional commentary. The cover was changed, the original had a picture of O.J. and the current cover is an ominous black.
A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Ron Goldman Foundation for Justice.
The title of the book was expanded to If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer and comments were added to the original manuscript by the Goldman family, the book’s ghostwriter Pablo Fenjves, and journalist Dominick Dunne. In this new form, the book was published in September 2007. (From the publisher)
I originally found the publication of this book to be distasteful but am not surprised at the soul’s need for a voice or at this desperate grab for attention. The audio version of the book includes the voice of Kim Goldman in the commentary section along with the ghost writer and journalist crime author Dominick Dunne. Many reviews felt that Simpson may be more transparent than he believes he is. Whatever your feelings on the crime, this adds another voice to the story. The public reconciliation between the successful charismatic star and the actual life of a man may reach a conclusion. Despite some remaining objection from Nicole Brown’s family, the book is available and the profits will go to the victim’s family. Feel free to add your comments.
Knopf Books for Young Readers has revealed the name and cover of the third title in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance series. The book, Brisingr, will have a first printing of 2.5 million, which is the largest initial print run to date for the Random House Children’s Books division. Brisingr had been scheduled for release on September 23, 2008, but will now go on sale at 12:01 a.m. on September 20.
Read more.
Puppy Dog Tales at Sweetwater County Library
takes place on 
