First-ever Lulu Blooker (blogs-to-books) Prize winners announced

Tue, 04/04/2006 - 6:51pm by sernabad

Julie Powell, author of the wildly popular Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen, was named overall winner of the Lulu Blooker Prizes for 2006. In her blog, Ms. Powell wrote of her determination to prepare every single recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a single year.

The 2006 Blookers, sponsored by Lulu, "...the world's fastest-growing provider of print-on-demand books...", coincide with the 450th anniversary of Gutenberg's moveable type, this putting lie to the predicted demise of the printed word.

The Blooker has three categories -- Fiction (Cherie Priest for Four and Twenty Blackbirds), Comics (Zach Miller for Totally Boned), and non-fiction (Ms. Powell).

Cory Doctorow, author of Essential Blogging, chaired the judges' panel.

Visions 2006: Low-Vision Vendor Fair

Tue, 04/04/2006 - 3:14pm by iralax

If your vision is diminished in any way, then come visit the fifty vendors at this wide ranging display and demonstration of products at the Morris Lawrence Bldg. on the campus of Washtenaw Community College, Wednesday, May 10, 10:00 am-4:00 pm. You will learn about services, supports and technologies to help individuals facing sight loss. Sighted assistants will be available, snacks, and Dr. David Zacks of the Kellogg Eye Center, will give a special talk on "New Frontiers in Vision Research: From the Lab to the Clinic." Sponsored by Washtenaw County Library for the Blind and Michigan Commission for the Blind.

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #14 - The 2006 Edgar Nominees for Best First Novel

Tue, 04/04/2006 - 1:43pm by muffy

Mystery Writers of America 2006 Edgar (Allan Poe) Nominees for Best First Novel by an American author are:

Die A Little by Megan Abbott
Immoral by Brian Freeman (see blog)
Run the Risk by Scott Frost
Hide Your Eyes, by Alison Gaylin
Officer Down by Theresa Schwegel

The winner will be announced on April 27th, in New York City.

Women In Science

Thu, 03/30/2006 - 4:56pm by ryanikoglu

4000 Women In Science is a site compiled by two astronomers. It features short biographies on some 125 women researchers along with active links to notable 20th Century women in sciences.

from "Website Reviews by John Peters", March 2006 School Library Journal, pg 89

Women + Math = More History

Thu, 03/30/2006 - 3:48pm by ryanikoglu

Did you know?
The actress Danica McKellar (better known as Winnie from The Wonder Years television show), graduated with highest honors from UCLA with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, and is the co-author of a mathematical research paper published in the Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and General. Her accomplishments in mathematics have been profiled in the New York Times.

Wanna know some more about women in math? The website Biographies of Women Mathematicians features some 200 entries with information on women mathematicians who are not mentioned in standard histories of science. The articles are backed up with links to scholarly research.

from "Website Reviews by John Peters", March 2006 School Library Journal, pg 89

New Fiction Titles on the New York Times Best Sellers List (3/26/06)

Thu, 03/30/2006 - 1:29pm by Mazie

Five new titles on the List this week featuring popular writers and introducing a new bestselling author from Great Britain.

At #2 is The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult: this author's popularity continues to grow with each new book about a family coping with one of today's hot-button issues; this time it is teens and date-rape.

At #8 is False Impression by Jeffrey Archer: a prison sentence has not hurt sales of his latest book about chicanery in the art world.

At #10 is Nightlife by Thomas Perry: this latest mystery involving the hunt for a woman serial killer has given the author some of the best reviews of his career.

At #12 is Labyrinth by Kate Mosse: another search for the Holy Grail, this British bestseller is latest contender for Dan Brown's place.

At #14 is Kill Me by Stephen White: what happens when you sign a contract to end your own life?

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #13 - Season of the Madonnas, Part 2

Thu, 03/30/2006 - 11:08am by muffy

Not straightly a debut novel (though first in our collection)...
The Priest's Madonna is of the flesh-and-blood variety. It refers to Marie Dernanaud who is the housekeeper and secret lover to a charismatic village priest in Rennes-le-Chateau, France.
A set of curious artifacts unearthed during church renovations link this 19th century romance to Mary Magdalene and the Knights Templar.

Loosely based on a hazy historical event, Amy Hassinger's second novel is not just another Holy Grail want-to-be. It's "marvelously written, ...a rich fabric of love, mystery, anguish and faith". Starred review in Library Journal. Amy will be reading and signing April 6th and April 8th at these Michigan locations.
For fans of The Birth of Venus and Girl with a Pearl Earring.

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #13 -Season of the Madonnas, Part 1

Thu, 03/30/2006 - 10:54am by muffy

Starred reviews in Booklist and Library Journal, Debra Dean’s debut novel The Madonnas of Leningrad, moves back and forth between the two worlds of Marina – an elderly woman on the eve of her granddaughter’s wedding and the young docent at the Hermitage Museum during the Siege of Leningrad, 1941. As the grasp of the present becomes elusive, the lovely paintings in Marina’s “memory palace” remain just as lush and vivid as when she made her daily walk through the abandoned galleries of empty picture frames.

“Dean eloquently depicts the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease and convincingly described the inner world of the afflicted”. A lovely journey, almost as good as a real tour of the Hermitage.

Fabulous Fiction Firsts #12

Thu, 03/30/2006 - 10:24am by muffy

This gripping legal thriller by real-life lawyer Dugoni, features golden-tongued, never-lost-a-case, legal ace David Sloane who is the The Jury Master. Now baddies are after him. Could they be after the package that came in the mail?
Two other converging storylines (suicide of a presidential confidant and the murder of a rookie cop), bring together a rumpled police detective and a shadowy ex-CIA operative who happens to share Sloane’s mysterious nightmares.
Fresh and fast paced, this conspiracy theory debut mystery compares well to vintage Grisham, and Martini. Readers who enjoyed Baldacci’s Absolute Power and fans of Enemy of the State will find much to like here. Surely, movie deals can’t be far behind.

Worries: Ending Global Poverty

Wed, 03/29/2006 - 4:10pm by Van

These books offer guides to what might work:

Ending Global Poverty: a Guide to What Works by Stephen C. Smith
The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey Sachs

Other books explain why foreign aid has not been more successful and how to improve the delivery of aid:

The White Man's Burden: Why the West's Efforts to Aid the Rest Have Done So Much Ill and So Little Good by William Easterly
The Samaritan's Dilemma: The Political Economy of Development Aid by Clark C. Gibson, Krister Andersson, Elinor Ostrom, and Sujai Shikumar

Or suggest that the failure of aid is due to “kleptocratic governments, rampant corruption,…and cultural fatalism” (Publisher’s Weekly, March 9, 2006):

The Trouble with Africa: Why Foreign Aid Isn't Working by Robert Calderisi

Or suggest that multinational corporations can ease or eliminate poverty by creating markets:

A Corporate Solution to Global Poverty: How Multinationals Can Help the Poor and Invigorate Their Own Legitimacy by George Lodge and Craig Wilson

Or explain how ending poverty can be done profitably by selling to those at the bottom of the pyramid: “the world's billions of poor people have immense entrepreneurial capabilities and buying power. You can learn how to serve them and help millions of the world's poorest people escape poverty”:

The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid by C. K. Prahalad