Blog Post
2007 Mitten Award Winner is Announced!
by kidlit
The Children's Services Division of the Michigan Library Association has announced that A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban is the winner of the 2007 Mitten Award.
The Mitten Award honors the best children's book of a calendar year as chosen by a committee of librarians from all over Michigan.
This charming chapter book is about a ten-year-old girl who learns that the perfection she yearns for comes in all different forms. The story takes place in Michigan.
Four titles were chosen as honor books. They are No Talking by Andrew Clements, Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers, The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt and The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. All of these titles are available at the Library. Place those holds and enjoy some great summer reading.
Blog Post
Walt Whitman's Birthday May 31st
by Caser
Beat poet Allen Ginsberg called him "dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher", and Ralph Waldo Emerson found "incomparable things said incomparably well" in his magnum opus, Leaves of Grass. For the last 150 years, Walt Whitman has been embraced as America's Poet, and Saturday, May 31st, poetry enthusiasts and scholars throughout the world celebrate his birthday.
A former teacher and newspaper editor, Walt Whitman (1819-1892) developed a poetic style most succinctly (and perhaps paradoxically) described as lyrical free verse. His themes of the common experience of mankind, and the tragedy of love and death resonated with soldiers and veterans of the Civil War, and they continue to speak to modern readers. Be sure to check out the poems "O Captain! My Captain!", "Song of Myself," and "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd." Note: poetry best when read aloud with friends and family.
Blog Post
Sam Spade will never die.
by Maxine
Today, May 27 is the birthday of two great mystery novelists, Tony Hillerman who was born in 1925 and Dashiell Hammett who was born in 1894. Hillerman, a former journalist and past president of Mystery Writers of America is best known for his mysteries about the Navajo in which Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn chase down culprits in the often brutal sun of the Southwest.
Hammett was best known for his hard-boiled detective novels that featured cynical, fast talking characters who got things done. Hammett based some of his stories on work he had done with the Pinkerton Detective Agency. The movie, The Maltese Falcon was based on his book and starred Hunphrey Bogart as Sam Spade.
Blog Post
Jhumpa Lahiri is simply elegant
by darla
I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of Jhumpa Lahiri's latest book Unaccustomed Earth and, once again, was spellbound by her gorgeous prose. Hopefully you are familiar with her previous works Interpreter of Maladies (she won a Pulitzer Prize for this one in 2000!) and The Namesake. This latest work, a collection of short stories, follows Lahiri's previous path of exploring life through the eyes of Indian immigrants and their children raised in America. Not only does she make everyday life seem extraordinary, she also dives deep into intimate, haunting story-telling of love, identity, grief, tradition, and attachment. While her writing nods to tales of immigration, it ultimately finds a place in any culture where characters confront the secrets of the human heart. Her rich, emotional stories will unsettle you, get under your skin and leave you wanting more.
Blog Post
Recently Discovered Networking Website Gets Kudos From Oldster!
by cecile
I hope I’m the last to know about the coolest website I found last night!
Shelfari is like facebook for the literary crowd. You create a bookshelf of the books you’ve read, want to read, love, hate, etc. The graphics of your books are beautiful and easy to read. Shelfari’s networking capability allows joining discussion groups, creating groups and inviting your friends to share their libraries. You can look at the books they have read, read reviews, write reviews and get great ideas for what to read next. I’m old now and have eccentric tastes but I found a group that was interested in Flashman by George McDonald Fraser and
The Great Swim by Gavin Mortimer!!
Blog Post
"Off with her head!"
by Maxine
Today, May 19, is the anniversary of the execution of Anne Boleyn who was beheaded by sword at the Tower of London in 1536. When Boleyn demanded that Henry VIII make her his wife, not his mistress, years of religious turmoil in the Catholic Church ensued because of their prohibition against divorce. Henry did have his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled and wed Boleyn in 1533. But because she couldn't produce any male heirs, she was accused of adultery and executed. (Sometimes you just can't win).
There's a treasure trove of books on Anne and now, even her sister, Mary, whose story was told in the recently released film, The Other Boleyn Girl based on the book by Philippa Gregory.
Blog Post
Come out to the Book Festival's Street Fair this weekend
by amy
Ann Arbor's annual Book Festival culminates this weekend with Saturday's day-long Street Fair. AADL is proud to host Friday night's opening reception at 6:00 p.m. in the Downtown Multi-Purpose Room, where you'll have the chance to meet many distinguished authors. Also tonight, the Michigan Theater will be showing "The Life Before her Eyes" based on the book by local author Laura Kasischke. On Saturday, at 2:00 p.m. Deb Caletti, author of Fortunes of Indigo Skye, will be at the State Street Association Stage on Ingalls Mall to announce winners of AADL's annual "It's All Write!" teen short story writing contest. Check out the complete schedule for all the many fun-filled festival events this weekend.
Blog Post
"A story of quiet humanity..."
by Maxine
Jeff Talarigo, author of the acclaimed novel, The Pearl Diver, has given us another haunting story, The Ginseng Hunter. An unnamed narrator follows his family's tradition of finding and harvesting one ginseng root a day in the mountains of China near the border of North Korea. On a monthly trip to the nearest city to visit a bordello, he meets a young woman who is a refugee from this oppressive regime. Interwoven with his developing relationship with her is the story of a North Korean mother who is separated from her daughter and who travels miles, always in fear of being discovered, in the hopes of finding her. The author evokes the harsh climate and rugged beauty of this country as well as the suffering and compassion of people just struggling to survive.
Blog Post
In praise of mothers
by Maxine
In honor of Mother's Day, following are two books and one film that tell the stories of three remarkable mothers:
From Harvey River: A Memoir of My Mother and Her Island by Lorna Goodison describes this local poet's mother, Doris who grew up in a privileged family in Jamaica but then married a chauffeur, moved to urban Kingston and raised nine children.
A Remarkable Mother by former President Jimmy Carter is his loving tribute to Lillian Carter, a nurse serving troops in World War I and in her later years a Peace Corps volunteer in India.
My Flesh and Blood is a documentary about Susan Tom, a single mother, who adopted eleven special needs children.
Blog Post
Young writer expands territory
by Maxine
Adam Mansbach's third novel, The End of the Jews shows the writer's growth in his ability to expand his universe, i.e., from hip-hop culture which still plays a part in this story, into other expressions of the American experience. His last novel, Angry Black White Boy brilliantly conveyed both the excitement and anger of that sub-culture.
Tristan Brodsky, one of the featured characters, is the son of Jewish immigrants and a writer who is influenced by jazz and African-American culture. His grandson, Tris, is a suburban teenager who loves hip-hop and is also a writer although not as successful. The third main character is Nina, a young and beautiful Czech photographer who has been hired by a black jazz combo to travel the U.S. with them as they perform. Mansbach adeptly moves back and forth in time to tell their stories and to articulate, often with great touches of humor, the odd dislocation of people caught at different moments in the soupy mix caused by the diaspora.