The Bad, the Bad, and the Ugly

Entertainment Weekly has published one of the more interesting book-related lists:  the Worst 5 Books of 2008.

Their opinion?

5. A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs

4. Bright Shiny Morning by James Frey

3. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

2. The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

1. Chasing Harry Winston by Lauren Weisberger

The only one on the list I’ve read is The Lace Reader, but I didn’t think it was all that bad.  Not fantastic, mind you, but not bad.  And I’ll probably still read A Wolf at the Table because I’ve found Augusten Burroughs’s other memoirs to be enrapturing.

The worst books I read this year?

The Book Goddess will kill me, but I just couldn’t stomach Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach.  It made me confused, and then bored, and then apathetic.  Not my cup of tea.

Crisis by Robin Cook was another rotten egg.  I found the female and minority characters to be painted with very unattractive stereotypes, and even though the plot was interesting, I had to stop reading less than halfway through because I was so disgusted.

Last but not least, Downtown Owl by Chuck Klosterman is a novel that just couldn’t get up and going.  The narrative started, then promptly went nowhere and stayed there.  It needed something like a good alien abduction or mystery killer virus to get things moving.

Luckily, this year I read way more good books than poor ones.  I’m looking forward to getting started on my first book of 2009!

**Britta**

Happy Holidays to all!

Since I am virtually out of time until after the New Year here is a holiday parody written by a creative librarian in Avondale, Arizona.  Happy holidays and may everyone have a joyous season!

 Theresa

‘Twas the night before Christmas, not a book to be found

Not a textbook, a paperback or tome, spiral bound.

The stockings were hung from the chimney with care

In hopes that the Librarian soon would be there.

The children were gathered, bored silly in their beds

For no books could be found out loud to be read!

There were toys and games and puzzles and maps

But nothing to read – might as well take a nap!

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter!

We sprang from our beds to see what was the matter

Then, what we saw – what was that? Rats?

No! A miniature bookcart led by eight tiny cats.

With a gorgeous driver, by the name of Marian,
I knew in a moment it must be the Librarian!
Faster than speed reading, the cats flew with perfect aim
And Marian whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

Now Gatsby! Now Holden! Now Lorax & Grinch!

On Rhett! On Scarlett! On Atticus & Finch!

The cats echoed their names to one and to all.

They flew to the roof and they flew to the wall!

And then, from the roof I heard tiny paws
The prancing and preening of kitty cat claws
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney Marian came with a bound.

She was dressed in her work clothes, from her head to her foot

The bundle of books she carried was covered in soot,
She had come straight from the library where books are free.

To patrons with cards it’s a book potpourri!

A wink of her eye and a twist of her head,
She distributed books and left nothing unread!

She spoke not a word, but went straight to her work,
And filled all the stockings; She was more than a clerk!

Then she sprang to her bookcart, to her team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard her exclaim, as she drove out of sight,
“Season’s Readings to all, and to all a good-night.”

 Parody by Lisë Chlebanowski

 

What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up?

What’s one of the best careers for 2009, according to U.S. News & World Report?

Librarian!  (Click here for full story.)

Overview.  Forget about that image of librarians as a mousy bookworms. More and more of today’s librarians must be clever interrogators, helping the patron to reframe their question more usefully. Librarians then become high-tech information sleuths, helping patrons plumb the oceans of information available in books and digital records, often starting with a clever Google search but frequently going well beyond.
 
Librarianship is an underrated career. Most librarians love helping patrons solve their problems and, in the process, learning new things. Librarians may also go on shopping sprees, deciding which books and online resources to buy. They may even get to put on performances, like children’s puppet shows, and run other programs, like book discussion groups for elders. On top of it all, librarians’ work environment is usually pleasant and the work hours reasonable, although you may have to work nights and/or weekends

The job market for special librarians (see below) is good but is sluggish for public and school librarians. Nevertheless, persistent sleuthing—that key attribute of librarians—should enable good candidates to prevail.

That effort to land a job will be well worth it if you’re well suited to the profession: love the idea of helping people dig up information, are committed to being objective—helping people gain multiple perspectives on issues—and will remain inspired by the awareness that librarians are among our society’s most empowering people.

We certainly do have a lot of fun here at the library.  It’s a lot of work, but we love what we do, and it nice to see that others realize how great of a career librarianship can be.

**Britta**

It’s Been A Good Year!

Can you believe it’s December already?  The big pine tree was put up in front of the library yesterday, and I can’t wait for it to be lit on the 11th!

As the year starts to wrap up, we’re busy as bees here at the library, trying to prepare for our Spring move to 411 Clematis Street, while maintaining business as usual at the reference desk.  We’re up to our necks in projects and reports and surveys, but we’re still carving out time to read and watch movies and listen to music and find new websites we think our patrons will like.

Here’s my own personal list of favorites for 2008.  Maybe you’ll find a few that sound good to you!

Favorite Books Read in 2008:

• The Masque of the Black Tulip by Lauren Willig – I got sucked into this book and didn’t realize until I was almost done that it was the second one in a series.  I’m not usually one for romance, but there wasn’t much “bodice-ripping” going on, so the short, tasteful love scenes were a nice compliment to the main tale of espionage in the Napoleonic Wars.
• Duma Key by Stephen King – I like almost everything Stephen King has written, but I believe this is his masterpiece.  It’s the tale of a man in crisis who leaves everything he knows to start over again, only to find that you can’t escape the things that haunt you.  Listening to the audiobook version makes a tragic, creepy story seem all the more realistic.
• Dry by Augusten Burroughs – I’d seen the movie “Running With Scissors,” but I’d never read any of Mr. Burroughs’s books.  This one was so intriguing that I checked out the book Running With Scissors as soon as I finished because I wanted to know more about this man who conquered his addiction to alcohol and bad relationships, and decided that being happy was more important that being rich (although being happy AND rich is preferable).
• The Big Over Easy: a Nursery Crime by Jasper Fforde – Nursery rhymes have never been so dangerous.  D.I. Jack Spratt and his assistant, Detective Mary Mary, are on the hunt for Humpty Dumpty’s killer.  In an alternative England (Reading, naturally) where fictional characters have taken on a life of their own, you never know whose story will take a turn for the worse.
• Runaways, Vol 1: Pride & Joy by Brian K. Vaughan – This graphic novel series is aimed at teens, but I was captured by the story of five teenagers who discover that their parents are supervillains and plan on destroying the world.  As the kids learn how to use their own powers, they find that the line between good and evil is not always clear.
• On Writing by Stephen King – I started this book intending to just browse through it, but I read it cover to cover in record time.  King intersperses stories from his childhood and  young adulthood with the basic rules of writing.  He makes writing sound less like a high school assignment and more like anarchaeological expedition.
• Half-Assed by Jennette Fulda – The inspiring memoir of a young woman who lost 186 pounds without drugs, surgery, or starvation.  She details her gradual realization that she’s dying, her discovery of finding a plan that would work without making her miserable, and how she sees healthas an infinite process.
• Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs – The Temperance Brennan novels are the only mystery series I can stomach.  This is the latest installment, and one of the best in the series.  When Tempe is called to the scene of what appears to be ritualistic human sacrifice, she doesn’t draw conclusions, but rather deconstructs the evidence bit-by-bit to find the truth.  The television series “Bones” is based on this series (Kathy Reichs serves as executive producer), but the books (which feature an older, more laid-back Tempe) are superior.

• Moon Handbook’s Atlantic Canada: Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and Labrador -I’d heard of Fodor’s and Lonely Planet Guides, but this was the first Moon Handbook I’d come across.  As my husband and I plan our (delayed) honeymoon for this summer, we’ve been trying to get as much information about Atlantic Canada as possible.  This was a great guide for basic information for the average, not-filthy-rich traveller.  These are the guides I’ll seek out whenever I want tourist information for somewhere new.
• The Baroque World of Fernando Boteroby John Sillevis – Fernanado Botero is my favorite artist and I literally squealled with joy (quietly) when I saw this gigantic coffee table book in the stacks.  This includes hundreds of Botero’s pastel drawings, sketches, and sculptures, along with commentary and comparison withthe works that inspired him.  I’ll be honest, I didn’t read much of it.  It was enough for me just to page through the book over and over, appreciating the joyful excess of Botero’s work.

Favorite DVDs Seen in 2008:

• Citizen Kane – The classic Orson Welles tale of a man’s slow decent into misery caused by his own greed.
  
• Lawrence of Arabia - The true epic tale of a young British soldier’s internal conflict during the Arab Revolt of 1916-1918.
• Battlestar Galactica: Season One -A sci-fi television series about an alternate world in which Earth is merely a myth.  A group of humans decide that finding Earth is their only option when their home planet, Caprica, is attacked by cylons, a machine-human hybrids that want to rule the universe themselves.
• Zodiac – The true story of the hunt for San Francisco’s Zodiac Killer, and the newspaper cartoonist who became so obsessed with the killer’s identity that he lost everything in pursuit of the truth.
  
• John Adams -The acclaimed HBO mini-series about the life of John Adams and the birth of America.  Starring Paul Giamatti, Laura Linney, and David Morse.
• The West Wing: Season One – When President-Elect Obama began picking his advisorsand cabinet members, I became slightly obsessed with understanding what each person in the new administration would be responsible.  By revisiting this amazing, multi-Emmy-winning series, I got a much better picture of how our new White House staff will be working together.
  
• Clerks (Director’s Cut) – I saw this movie years ago and hated it.  I saw it a couple of years later, and liked it.  This year I watched the director’s cut and absolutely fell in love with it.  The director’s cut has a completely different ending, and it changes the entire movie.  I’ve you’ve never seen it, see it.  If you have seen it, go watch the director’s cut.
• 3:10 to Yuma – I don’t like westerns.  I was forced against my will to watch this DVD.  I should have known that Christian Bale can make any movie hypnotically good.  This is the story of a father willing to put himself in imminent danger in order to deliver a deadly criminal to the train station if it means that his family will be able to keep their livelihood.  It’s not only a good story, but a testimony to the beauty of the Western landscape.
  
• Juno – By now nearly everyone knows the story of teenaged, knocked-up Juno and her journey to find her baby a good family.  It’s hysterical, heart-warming fun.  I’ll admit it…I cried when I wasn’t laughing so hard I was afraid I’d have popcorn coming out of my nose.
  
• Singin’ in the Rain – I’m usually not a big one for musicals, but I enjoyed every minute of the Gene Kelly/Debbie Reynolds lark.  The lip-synch scene near the end is absolutely priceless.
  

Favorite Websites of 2008: -

• Facebook – I use Facebook on a daily basis to keep in touch with friends and coworkers.  The library has a Facebook account you can follow by logging into the site and searching for “West Palm Beach Public Library.”  I’m the Facebook Librarian, and will be updating it soon.
  
• Twitter - Twitter is one of the best ways I’ve found to communicate with local people.  You can follow West Palm Beach’s Twitter account for news, announcements, and resources.
  
• LisNews – Only library staff may find this site interesting, but I think it’s worth a mention.  Library staff and library lovers alike submit library-related news stories from all over the world and they’re aggregated here.
  
• Down for Everyone or Just Me – Have you ever tried to bring up a website you use all the time just to get some weird error message?  It’s so annoying!  You can use this website to determine of the site you’re trying to access is having problems that have nothing to do with you, or if the problem is your computer.  I use it at least once a week.
  
• The Pioneer Woman Cooks - I don’t do a lot of cooking at my house (my husband is the greatest), but Ree makes me WANT to want to cook.  She gives step-by-step instructions (with pictures!) on how to make some of the most decadent dishes I’ve ever seen.  I also enjoy reading this sushi-loving rancher’s wife’s everyday blog.  She makes me want to run off and live on the Texas plains.
  
• Watch with Kristin -I’m a television addict and I don’t care who knows it!  Kristin is the television goddess from e!Online and she keeps me informed on who’s in, who’s out, and who’s being sued by their production company.
  
• Dispatches from the Island – The blog of Jorge Garcia who plays Hurley on the ABC tv show “Lost.” Not only do we get to learn about life in Hawaii and what fun he has on the set, but he blogs about his home live and rather extensive travels with lots of pictures.  He’s a hoot.
  
• Upside-Down Dogs -  Exactly as the title suggests, this is a website full of pictures of dogs laying upside-down.  As a dog-lover, I could spend hours giggling at their funny faces.
• Real Simple – The blog for the popular magazine is filled with tips and tricks for making everyday life more, well, simple.
• Lifehacker -Everything from what to look for in your next computer to reducing clutter in your home.  Lifehacker has a technological slant, but covers nearly everything under the sun.

I’d love to know YOUR favorite stuff of 2008!  What have you loved this year?

**Britta**