Blog Post
Solzhenitsyn is dead
by sernabad
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, author of several explosive books exposing the Soviet system of repression, died in Moscow on Sunday, August 3.
Solzhenitsyn went from being an unknown high school science teacher to winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1972) in eight short years, beginning with the 1962 publication of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. In 1974, the USSR had enough when The Gulag Archipelago was published and they expelled Solzhenitsyn from his native land. The author and his family lived in relative seclusion in Cavendish, Vermont until 1994 when he returned to Russia.
Solzehnitsyn would have been 90 in December.
Blog Post
Fabulous Fiction Firsts #120
by muffy
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society*, a winning debut from the aunt-niece writing team of Mary Ann Shaffer & children's author Annie Barrows is at once "a warm, funny, tender, and thoroughly entertaining celebration of the power of the written word." ~ Library Journal
This novel is presented as an exchange of letters between Juliet Ashten, a Times columnist turned novelist, and the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society during the waning days of WWII. Guernsey, a small fishing British island, was occupied by the Germans during the war. Amid privation, war atrocities, Juliet saw the possibility of her next book - an incredible story of a little pig, a missing prisoner of war, the intriguing man who found her name on the flyleaf of a book by Charles Lamb, and a community with secrets and a big heart.
"Reminiscent of 84 Charing Cross Road", readers might also seek out Peter Ho Davies' The Welsh Girl for readalikes. Highly recommended, and a sure bet for book groups. (Also available as an audiobook download)
* = Starred Review
Muffy's note: Mary Ann Shaffer was born in 1934 in Martinsburg, West Virginia. She became interested in Guernsey while visiting London in 1976. She died in February 2008, just before the publication of her book.
Blog Post
Four Feet Two Sandals by Karen Lynn Williams
by Tahira
Karen Lynn Williams tells a touching story of two refugee girls who learn that sharing is a way to remember.
Blog Post
Suburban Wildlife with a South American Twist
by annevm
When school ended, the 10-year-old classroom degu (South American rat) came home with us. The teacher told us that Cedar, named for her reddish fur, might not survive the summer, given her advanced age, in which case we should freeze her (near the cool-pops?) until fall, when she would get a proper school funeral. I did not fall immediately in love with this creature, despite her being cute, caged, fairly clean, and friendly. Instead, I clicked into the Oxford English Dictionary, to learn that a degu is “a rat-like animal, rather smaller than the Water Vole, the head and body measuring from seven and a half to eight inches in length.” A definition often makes me fonder. Now I like Cedar, sort of, and having her around has made me curious about the new book Central Park in the Dark: More mysteries of urban wildlife. Who knows, maybe Cedar has dozens of cousins in New York City.
Blog Post
Finally! It IS easy to be green!
by darla
If you are like me, you are interested in being more socially responsible, like going beyond simple recycling and doing your part to help save our planet for future generations, but you don't have lots of money and time to devote to "going green". Sound familiar? If so, then you need to get yourself a copy of Renee Loux's Easy green living. This lifestyle guide is PACKED with information about the simple, affordable choices we can make to avoid toxins, conserve natural resources and generally be more eco-smart. Whether you choose to take tiny baby steps or completely overhaul your wasteful self, you will find the answers you need. One of my favorite easy eco-tips is the following: "About 100 million trees and 28 billion gallons of water are used annually to produce the 5.8 million tons of catalogs and unsolicited wads of preapproved credit card offers and other junk that arrive at our homes - 44 percent of which are thrown away unopened....Stop credit card offers. Go to www.optoutprescreen.com, where the consumer credit report industry lets you opt out of receiving preapproved and prescreened credit card offers." Now imagine if we all did that!
Blog Post
4th Grade Reading UNDER CONSTRUCTION
by ryanikoglu
If you are going into 4th or 5th grades this fall, You may enjoy some of the following books:
Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices From A Medieval Village won the 2008 Newbery Award!
Nic Bishop Spiders with fabulous photography, incredible factoids!
Hachiko Waits based on a true story of dog loyalty.
A Crooked Kind Of Perfect a story of how dreams of perfection evolve into reality.
No Talking or Report Card by Andrew Clements.
Blog Post
Meet the Author of Moscow Rules
by anonymous
Do art restorers/spies make your heart go aflutter? If the answer is yes, chances are you are a fan of the Gabriel Allon series. You can meet the author, Daniel Silva, this Friday, August 1st at 7:00 p.m. at Nicola’s Books. He will be on hand to discuss his latest book Moscow Rules. In it, Gabriel is restoring a painting for the Vatican when he is called upon to track down why a Russian journalist was killed and to stop a potential terrorist attack.
Not familiar with the series? Readers first meet Gabriel Allon in The Kill Artist. He is a former Israeli spy who was recruited to avenge the deaths of athletes assassinated at the Munich Olympics. At the start of The Kill Artist, Allon lives a quiet life restoring priceless works of art after retiring from espionage. His life is disrupted when Ari Shamron comes to lure him back to face Tariq, the man who killed his son and severely injured is wife. Moscow Rules is the eighth book in the series. Since the start, Allon has done everything from meet the president of the United States to the Pope and attract worldwide media attention.
Blog Post
Spiral-Bound (top secret summer)
by anned
It's summer vacation and time for an adventure. The whole town is abuzz with the secret of the monster in the local pond. Turnip Elephant is attending sculpture camp run by a whale in a glass bubble. Ana Rabbit is becoming an investigative reporter for the town's truly underground newspaper. Stucky Dog is building a submarine. Their stories eventually become one in the final "showdown" with the pond monster. Spiral Bound features an all animal cast. Aaron Renier has done a fantastic job filling the pages full of imaginative visual information that drives the action packed plot. Quite possibly with a nod to Richard Scarry.
Blog Post
Ann Arbor, with a Twisp
by amy
West Liberty turned into a California street Tuesday as a Hollywood film crew shot scenes for Youth in Revolt, a comedy scheduled for release in December. According to the Internet Movie Database, the film stars Michael Cera (Juno) as Nick Twisp, a 14-year old who sets his sights on a dream girl, hoping she'll be the one to take away his virginity. The film, based on the work of author C. D. Payne also stars Justin Long, Steve Buscemi, and Fred Willard. The shoot will include a car chase that crashes into a building, which explains that weird facade going up on the corner of First and Liberty. Read more in the Ann Arbor News.
Blog Post
"....Old heroes have never died."
by Maxine
These are the words of poet Stanley Kunitz that could easily apply to himself. He became the Poet Laureate of the United States at the age of 95 and lived to be 100. Kunitz was born in 1905 in Worcester, Mass. Kunitz's early work was intellectual and formal but later became more personal, often dealing with the themes of a lost father (His own committed suicide before Kunitz was born) or the tension of simultaneously living and dying. On this latter theme, Kunitz also found great satisfaction in gardening of which he was a master. Following is the first stanza of his poem, "Fathers and Sons:"
Now in the suburbs and the falling light
I followed him, and now down sandy road
Whitter than bone-dust, through the sweet
Curdle of fields, where the plums
Dropped with their load of ripeness, one by one.
Mile after mile I followed, with skimming feet,
After the secret master of my blood,
Him, steeped in the odor of ponds, whose indomitable love
Kept me in chains. Strode years; stretched into bird;
Raced through the sleeping country where I was young,
The silence unrolling before me as I came,
The night nailed like an orange to my brow.