Ages 18+.
Blog Post
If you like Hip Hop...
by jillean
...then you might already know what's cracking this weekend. Common will perform at theMichigan Theater this Friday March 3rd at 7:30pm . From classic albums like Resurrection to the more recent success of his Grammy-nominated album Be, Common’s socially conscious lyrics have long been a staple for Hip Hop “heads” across the globe.
If you like Common you might also enjoy these artists and albums:
Mos Def – The New Danger
Little Brother - The Minstrel Show
Talib Kweli - Right About Now
Digable Planets - Beyond the Spectrum
Jean Grae - This Week
The Roots - The Tipping Point
If you are interested in learning more about hip hop, the Library has plenty on the subject. For a history of hip hop, check out Yes, Yes Y'all : The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop's First Decade and Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of Hip Hop Culture. If you want to know specifically about women emcees you might like Check it While I Wreck It: Black Womanhood, Hip Hop Culture and the Public Sphere. For a look at hip hop journalism check out And it don't stop?:The Best American Hip Hop Journalism of the Last 25 Years. And for information on lyrics and criticism, Classic Material: The Hip-Hop Album Guide might be a good resource.
Blog Post
Frederick Busch, 1941 - 2006
by sernabad
Frederick Busch, an elegant, prolific writer of brilliant fiction and non-fiction A Memory of War and Letters to a Fiction Writer, died Thursday, February 23, in Manhattan, a place he loved and immortalized in his books.
A professor of writing and literature at Colgate University in Hamilton, NY, for 37 years, Busch shaped and inspired dozens of bright young writers who went on to successful careers of their own.
Busch, who richly deserved the accolades and awards he garnered over the years (National Jewish Book Award; American Academy of Arts and Letters Fiction Award; PEN/Malamud Prize), was 64.
Blog Post
A debut novel on South Africa
by Maxine
Lisa Fugard, daughter of acclaimed South African playwright, Athol Fugard, in her debut novel, Skinner's Drift evokes a vivid sense of place as Eva van Rensburg returns to Johannesburg from the U.S.after a ten year absence. Her father Martin is dying and Eva returns to care for him. Interspersed with the present are excerpts from her mother's diaries and flashbacks to Eva's childhood. Her Africaner parents try to maintain the farm. Barricades are erected on the border with Botswana as uprisings grow more frequent. Her father becomes increasingly violent and Eva finds solace in her friendship with Lefu, one of the farm laborers. It is also the time of unstable politics and the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission where perpetrators confessed their crimes. Dark family secrets are revealed that Eva can no longer hide. In addition to the gripping plot, Fugard's descriptions of the African veld and its wildlife are exquisite.
Blog Post
History Bits - Flint, MI.
by ryanikoglu
LUTHER T. FARRELL has got to get out of Flint, Michigan. He would rather be known as a Philosopher, rather than "The Sarge's Son". Michigan author Christopher Paul Curtis (website) tells another great story in Bucking The Sarge.
Blog Post
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists!
by sstonez
There once was a guitarist named Ted
Who turned to a Pharmacist and said
“I shall come to the Pig
And dance such a jig
That they’ll cheer ‘til we all go to bed.”
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists. Live at the Blind Pig on Wednesday, March 8. All ages show, $10 cover, with special guests The Duke Spirit and Les Aus. Jigs not guaranteed... but if we can get him to play “Me and Mia” or “The High Party” he usually does. (Incidentally, that’s the same night as the Pioneer High School career fair. Professionals such as yours truly will be there to talk about what we do. Hope to see you there! )
Blog Post
Octavia E. Butler, 6/22/1947 - 2/25/2006
by carbonear
Author Elizabeth Bear reports in her journal that Octavia Butler passed away this weekend as the result of a stroke.
In 1995, Butler became the first science fiction writer ever to receive a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant." Her novel Parable of the Talents won the Nebula Award for best novel in 2000. She also received both a Nebula and a Hugo award for her novelette "Bloodchild," collected in Bloodchild, and Other Stories, and won a Hugo in 1984 for her story "Speech Sounds."
In a 2000 interview with Locus Magazine, Butler said, "There are a number of myths we live by. For instance, the myth of 'away,' as in 'I'll throw it away.' Where's that? There's no such place. It's going somewhere."
Octavia Butler may have left us, gone "away," but she has left a strong body of work behind, and she will be missed.
Blog Post
Third book in trilogy is a good weekend read
by Eartoground
Frank McCourt is the best-selling author and former teacher who skyrocketed to fame with "Angela's Ashes," followed by "'Tis." His third book, Teacher Man, is about his days teaching English in New York City, when he did creative things in the classroom such as urging young people to write down excuses for not having done their homework. The book, which I found witty and entertaining, ends with the author's decision to write "Angela's Ashes."
Blog Post
New Fiction Titles on the New York Times Bestseller List (2/19/06)
by Mazie
Four new titles jump on board. And for the first time Jay McInerney becomes a "Best Sellers" author. Hard to believe that Bright Lights, Big City, his debut novel and the one that made him famous, never made it.
At #4 is Gone by Lisa Gardner: an FBI agent searches for his ex-wife's kidnapper.
At #7 is Outbound Flight by Timothy Zahn: a new Star Wars novel.
At #14 is Changing Faces by Kimberla Lawson Roby: the intertwining story of three women who have been friends since high school.
At #16* is The Good Life by Jay McInerney: his characters are older but still glamorous and decadent in this post-9/11 novel.
Blog Post
Webster's dictionary turns 200. What's next?
by amy
200 years ago this month Noah Webster published "A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language" to the horror of English language purists who were shocked by the Americanized spellings (such as "honor" instead of "honour"), the inclusion of new words American words, and the elimination of ancient British words such as "fishefy." But Webster's aim--to promote homegrown culture and reflect the language America was actually speaking--proved highly successful and today there are hundreds of dictionaries and books devoted to American English usage such as last year's Right, Wrong and Risky: A Dictionary of Today's American English Usage and Contemporary American Slang. There's also every manner of online dictionary, notably the collaborative wiki dictionary Wiktionary, an offshoot of Wikipedia. And that's just a start, since collabulary--a new word worth looking up, by the way--may alter the digital dictionary in ways Noah Webster could never have imagined.
Blog Post
E.L. Doctorow wins the 2006 PEN/Faulkner award
by sernabad
E. L. Doctorow has just been named the recipient of the 2006 PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel The March.
In his novel, Doctorow brings to savage life General William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating sweep through Georgia and the Carolinas in toward the end of the Civil War.
The PEN/Faulkner, founded in 1980, is the largest peer-juried prize for fiction writers. It has gone to such esteemed authors as Ann Patchett, Ha Jin, John Updike, and Michael Cunningham.
Finalists for the 2006 award are:
Karen Fisher for A Sudden Country
William Henry Lewis for I Got Somebody in Staunton
James Salter for Last Night
Bruce Wagner for The Chrysanthemum Palace
This is Mr. Doctorow's second PEN/Faulkner award. He won in 1990 for Billy Bathgate.