Did you know you can check out a Book Group in a Bag at TSCPL?

These bags include ten paperback copies of great books that you can read with your friends, and a notebook with tips that will help you guide your discussion.  These bags have an extended checkout time so you can make plans to meet and discuss the book with your friends. 

So, what's the best book your group has read?

For more information and to see a complete list of available titles click here.

Jasper Fforde has written four books about Literary Detective Thursday Next, beginning with The Eyre Affair. Previously, I wrote an author spotlight on Fforde and made a book-video movie-type trailer for The Eyre Affair.

Fforde's new book, Thursday Next: First Among Sequels is set 14 years in the future from the last four books (so, roughly, 1999). Thursday's department at Spec-Ops has been disbanded, she works with her former detective pals in a struggling retail carpet installation business, the Goliath Corporation is less dominating, her Uncle Mycroft is deceased, and her old life seems distant and obscure...at least for the first few pages.

Continue reading "Thursday Next: First Among Sequels" »

Continue reading "New This Week @ your library, August 28th 2007" »

This new novel by author Laurie Viera Rigler takes a heartbroken thirty year old Los Angeles woman and sends her back in time to the early 1800's, specifically to the world inhabited by her beloved Jane Austen characters. A fun chick-lit read for those who enjoy escaping - literally - into a good Regency-era novel.

Your feedback is very important to us.  It will help us to identify areas where we can improve services and better understand the needs in our community.

Take our Customer Satisfaction Survey NOW!.

Take the survey online or ask any librarian for the print version.

Available in English or Español.

Once an author has created a trademark style, vivid fantasy world, or enduring character, you can see why some fans would not want that creation to end with the author's death.  For example, the estate of Ian Fleming recently commissioned Sebastian Faulks to write a new Bond adventure--this after already having author Raymond Benson write several Bond adventures.  Bond is of course not the only series character to live on after his creator's death, other examples include Robert Ludlum's Bourne novels, which have been continued by Eric Van Lustblader, or the new Godfather novel by Mike Winegardner, or the novels by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson that revisit the world of Dune. 
As a reader, what do you think of a different author continuing a book series after the author is dead?  Does the very idea make you cringe, or do you rejoice that your favorite characters or setting won't be lost forever?
As for myself, I tend to stay clear of these type of continuations (though I remember reading every OZ book I could get a hold of when I was young, whether it  was written by L. Frank Baum or not).  Most often, no other author can duplicate the characteristics of the original well enough, though sometimes they can do a masterful adaptation using their own style.  If I do read enough good press and reviews I might give it a try, but otherwise I'd move on to something else.

 I just received this in an e-mail from amazon.com...

"As 2007 reached its halfway point, we pulled our heads up from our reading long enough to choose four lists of our favorite books of the hundreds we've seen in the first six months of the year. See Amazon.com's top 10s of 2007 (so far) in fiction , nonfiction , books for children and teens , and some hidden gems . "

I love this idea, because by the time the actual "Best of 2007" lists are being published at the end of the year, I am busy thinking about the holidays and my family and don't have as much time to read.

Have you read any of the picks from Amazon?
Do you agree with their lists?
What is the best book you have read in 2007 (so far)?

PC Magazine has compiled a "definitive list of the best that the Internet has to offer in 2007." Familiar heavyweights like Google, Wikipedia, and Amazon are represented, but you'll discover some that may be new to you like The Consumerist, The Straight Dope, and TechCrunch. Read all about it here.

From CNN.com:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Poet and short story writer Grace Paley, a literary eminence and old-fashioned rebel who described herself as a "combative pacifist," has died. She was 84.

Paley, who had battled breast cancer, died Wednesday at her home in Thetford Hill, Vermont, according to her husband, playwright Robert Nichols.

A published writer since the 1950s, Paley released only a handful of books over the next half century, mostly short stories and poems. Writing was a passion, but not a compulsion: She never felt the need to put every experience into words. Her fiction, although highly praised, competed for time with work, activism, family and friends.

"None of it happened, and yet every word of it is true," she once said of her fiction. "It's truth embedded in the lie."
Continue reading this article here.

All public computers will be unavailable on Tuesday, August 28 and Wednesday, August 29 while we upgrade our systems.

Beginning Thursday, August 30, you will use your library card to access the public computers.

Library staff will be available at service desks to help customers locate books, movies and other materials using the library's online catalog.

Wireless access on personal laptops will still be available.

Come take a look upstairs in the Special Collections area of the library which houses local history and genealogy resources.  Two of our newest materials are:

Roots for Kids: A Genealogy Guide for Young People by Susan Provost Beller.  This updated 2^nd edition is a good bet for anyone interested in getting started with their family history project.  Written especially for (older) kids it takes genealogy seriously and contains valuable advice on how to get started.  It includes forms, information about where to obtain records, internet resources and encourages the reader to move forward with 'homework assignments'.

Who Do You Think You Are? Trace Your Family History Back to the Tudors by Anton Gil and Dr. Nick Barratt.  This is part history lesson, part celebrity anecdote, and part genealogy resources, with stories designed to inspire you and put your European ancestry into historical perspective.   It contains a directory of physical and web addresses in Europe to help get you started, a booklist, and a list of popular Surnames and their meanings.

Where you fall in poll of U.S. reading habits – from cnn.com August 21, 2007
 

"One in four adults say they read no books at all in the past year, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll released Tuesday. Of those who did read, women and seniors were most avid, and religious works and popular fiction were the top choices.

Since you are reading a library blog, I'm guessing you might be an above-average reader. What is your best idea for encouraging more people to read? For attracting new readers to the library? For encouraging people to read more?
Share your comments, and maybe your idea will start a reading revolution!!

Successful horror writer Martin Burgess has been fascinated by an article he read many years ago about vampires, and he has hired Karen Moffett and Gavin Keoph to investigate. Without realizing it, Burgess has opened up a very dangerous can of worms. Davey Owen, who has been hiding from the vampires after battling them many years before, could be exposed by the investigation. Now everyone could be a target, and it may be too late to back out. Night Life by Ray Garton continues the story from his earlier novel Live Girls. There's a rising body count, vampires fond of torture, and graphic descriptions that leave little to the imagination. This horror novel is not for the faint of heart.

*Beginning the week of August 27, 2007*
To access a computer at the library, you need both a library card (or a guest pass) and pin number. To obtain one, go to the check out desk.

How does it work? When you login to a computer with your library card and pin, the computer keeps track of time for you. You may use up to 2 hours per day (all at once, or in several sessions). An on-screen timer will help you keep track of your available time.

Why do this? How will it benefit me? This ensures everyone has fair and equal access to library computers. You will also be able to make advance reservations for a computer (just like putting a book on hold).

Do I need this just to look something up? Catalog computers need no login and can be found throughout the library stacks.

For more information, call the library at 580-4400 or ask at the Circulation Desk.
TIP: Did you know you can apply for your library card ONLINE?