Wish you could experience the magic produced by Thelonius Monk and John Coltrane? Now you can with the newly discovered Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall!

“Every year sees a crop of newly found jazz gems, but rarely are listeners treated to anything as special as this 1957 concert recording of Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane, which was accidentally discovered in an unmarked box by a Library of Congress engineer early in 2005. Until now, fans could only dream of hearing these two immortals play together beyond the three studio tracks they left behind. But here they are, hitting their stride at an all-star benefit concert, basking in the chemistry they had developed in Monk's quartet during the preceding weeks at New York's Five Spot.” (Amazon.com)

If you enjoyed the film Secretary, adapted from a story by Mary Gaitskill of the same title, you will find much to like in her latest novel – Veronica, which has been short-listed for the National Book Award.

New York Times book review describes Veronica as ‘...a rumination on the relationship between beauty and cruelty”. Megan O’Rourke said it best – “Gaitskill's brand of brainy lyricism, of acid shot through with grace, is unlike anyone else's. And it constitutes some of the most incisive fiction writing around.”. Watch the NBA announcement on November 16th. I am betting on this one.

Rosa Parks, known as the mother of the civil rights movement in America, died last night in Detroit's East Side. She was 92 years old. Parks is best known for her refusal to give up her seat on a public bus to a white man in Montgomery, Alabama, and was kicked off the bus. Her refusal started a boycott of the bus system in Montgomery, which eventually ended in a Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation. Mrs. Parks moved to Detroit after the boycott, and has lived there until her death. Mrs. Parks received the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, which is the highest award given to a civilian.

A number of books have been written about this amazing woman, and her even more amazing life.

Rosa Parks: 1913-2005

L'incoronazione di Poppea by Claudio Monteverdi. The Coronation of Poppea is an opera of beauty, greed, seduction-yes, a woman must use all her resources when usurping a throne! Poppea relates the historical account of a beautiful courtesan who schemes to become empress of Rome during Nero's reign. Sung in Italian with projected English translations. University Symphony Orchestra conducted by Timothy Cheek. November 10-13 at the Power Center. League Ticket Office.

For those of you who are tired of the films Hollywood is cranking out these days, you might want to look back to the films of the 70s for something refreshing. A good place to start would be watching A Decade Under the Influence, a recent documentary about these ground-breaking films and the people who created them. Even for those of you who already know your film history, it should be fun to watch interviews with legends like Scorsese, Coppola, Hopper, and Bogdanovich. Also coming soon to the library is the documentary based on Peter Biskind's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: how the sex-drugs-and-rock 'n' roll generation saved Hollywood. So, what's your favorite film from the 70s?

Andrew Bird once played the violin for swing-revival band Squirrel Nut Zippers, but his newest solo album, Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs, has an eclectic sound that leans more toward folk/rock than toward jazz. Bird puts on a great live show, so be sure to catch him when he performs at the Ark on November 9.

10 is a portrait of contemporary Iran as seen through the eyes of one woman as she drives through the streets of Tehran over a period of several days. Her journey is comprised of ten conversations with various female passengers, and sheds light on the lives of women whose voices are seldom heard. In Mystic Iran: The Unseen World, Aryana Farshad explores the religious rituals and traditions of her native Iran that have fascinated the Western world for centuries.

You've seen the capital A inscribed in a circle, but what does anarchism really stand for? Check out some of these books and CDs in the library's collection to learn more about anarchism. For a historical perspective, try something about Emma Goldman or Peter Kropotkin, or most anything written by historian Paul Avrich. If you're interested in more contemporary anarchist thought and activism, try Abbie Hoffman's Steal This Book or Corrinne Jacker's The Black Flag of Anarchy: Antistatism in the U.S. And if you'd like to listen to anarchist or other left-wing music, check out the following:

John T. Edge travels the country and food byways in these conflations of recipes, travelogue, social history, and food lore. Issued so far in this charming new series are Hamburgers and Fries : an American Story, Apple Pie : an American Story, and Fried Chicken : an American Story. Still to come is the volume on Donuts.

The award winning illustrator, E.B. Lewis brings this old negro spiritual to life with illustrations of a boy who spreads his own light by helping others.