Coming Soon to a Library Near You!

Still waiting for your copy of "Double Cross" to come in? Why not try one of these popular authors' upcoming books while you wait?

These books, guaranteed to make a splash when they release in late spring and summer, are on order now, and available for you to put on hold now!

Archer, Jeffrey – A Prisoner of Birth (3/2008)
Brown, Sandra – Smoke Screen (8/2008)
Burke, James Lee – Swan Peak (7/2008)
Child, Lee – Nothing to Lose (6/2008)
Clark, Mary Higgins – Where are You Now (3/2008)
Cook, Robin – Foreign Body (8/2008)
Cornwell, Patricia – Front (5/2008)
Deaver, Jeffrey – The Broken Window (6/2008)
Fielding, Joy – Charley’s Web (3/2008)
Gardner, Lisa – Say Goodbye (7/2008)
Green, Jane – Beach House (6/2008)
Kane, Andrea – Twisted (3/2008)
Lowell, Elizabeth – Blue Smoke and Murder (5/2008)
Meyer, Stephenie - Breaking Dawn (Twilight, Book 4) (8/2008)
Noble, Elizabeth – Things I Want My Daughter to Know (4/2008)
Paolini, Christopher - Brisingr (Inheritance, Book 3) (9/2008)
Patterson, James – Sail (6/2008)
Perry, Anne – Buckingham Palace Gardens (3/2008)
Rice, Christopher – Blind Fall (3/2008)
Rice, Luanne – Last Kiss (7/2008)
Siddons, Anne Rivers – Off Season (8/2008)

April is National Poetry Month! (#3)

One Perfect Rose
by Dorothy Parker

A single flow'r he sent me, since we met.

All tenderly his messenger he chose;

Deep-hearted, pure, with scented dew still wet --

One perfect rose.

I knew the language of the floweret;

"My fragile leaves," it said, "his heart enclose."

Love long has taken for his amulet

One perfect rose.

Why is it no one ever sent me yet

One perfect limousine, do you suppose?

Ah no, it's always just my luck to get

One perfect rose.

Enough Rope: Poems by Dorothy Parker (New York: Boni and Liveright, 1926): 73

Libraries are Reading! #8

What book do you recommend to everybody?

Stacey R: American Gods or Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman, Storm Front by Jim Butcher (I guarantee you will be hooked on Harry Dresden), and Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction, by Kurt Vonnegut. (FIC GAIMAN – WCV, FIC BUTCHER – FRA, VONNEGUT – ARM)

Tricia GW: The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (F SAL – LEN)

Pat G: I haven’t read it yet.

Nathan: When the Wind Blows, James Patterson (FIC PATTERSON – WCV)

Kathy F: The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak (Y FIC ZUSA – SBL)

Sharon L: The Number One Ladies’ Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith (MYS MCCALL SMITH - WAM)

Wanda: Not Without My Daughter, by Betty Mahmoody (BIO MAHMOODY - WMB), and House of Sand and Fog, by Andre Dubus (FIC DUBUS - ROG)

Stephanie L: The Song of the Lark, Willa Cather (FIC CATHER – WCV)

Margaret H: The Shelter of Each Other, by Mary Pipher (AC 306.85 P – SHL), Book Lust: Recommended reading for every mood, moment, and reason, by Nancy Pearl (011.73 P – WCV),
The Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold (F SEBOLD – TPL)

National Poetry Month - Poem in Your Pocket Day

Today, poets.org suggests you put a poem in your pocket to share with your friends and family. This is one of Stacey R's favorites:

Preludes, T.S. Eliot

I

The winter evening settles down

With smell of steaks in passageways.

Six o'clock.

The burnt-out ends of smoky days.

And now a gusty shower wraps

The grimy scraps

Of withered leaves about your feet

And newspapers from vacant lots;

The showers beat

On broken blinds and chimney-pots,

And at the corner of the street

A lonely cab-horse steams and stamps.

And then the lighting of the lamps.

II

The morning comes to consciousness

Of faint stale smells of beer

From the sawdust-trampled street

With all its muddy feet that press

To early coffee-stands.

With the other masquerades

That time resumes,

One thinks of all the hands

That are raising dingy shades

In a thousand furnished rooms.

III

You tossed a blanket from the bed,

You lay upon your back, and waited;

You dozed, and watched the night revealing

The thousand sordid images

Of which your soul was constituted;

They flickered against the ceiling.

And when all the world came back

And the light crept up between the shutters

And you heard the sparrows in the gutters,

You had such a vision of the street

As the street hardly understands;

Sitting along the bed's edge, where

You curled the papers from your hair,

Or clasped the yellow soles of feet

In the palms of both soiled hands.

IV

His soul stretched tight across the skies

That fade behind a city block,

Or trampled by insistent feet

At four and five and six o'clock;

And short square fingers stuffing pipes,

And evening newspapers, and eyes

Assured of certain certainties,

The conscience of a blackened street

Impatient to assume the world.

I am moved by fancies that are curled

Around these images, and cling:

The notion of some infinitely gentle

Infinitely suffering thing.

Wipe your hand across your mouth, and laugh;

The worlds revolve like ancient women

Gathering fuel in vacant lots.

Original text: T. S. Eliot, Prufrock and Other Observations (London: The Egoist, 1917): 24-26.

Outside of a Dog, #7

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx.

In a Presidential election year politics is often on our mind. If “real life” politicians and campaigns seem a little overwhelming at times, why not take a fictional look at the political process? Here are a few suggestions to get you started.


The First Among Equals by Jeffrey Archer
Fic Archer WCV
Four very different and competitive men spend decades vying for power until one of them is elected Prime Minister of England.

The Candidate’s Wife by Patricia O’Brien
Fic O’Brien WAM
How a grueling presidential campaign changes a wife and mother.

Murder in the White House by Margaret Truman
Mys Truman WMB WDB
The Secretary of State is found murdered in the White House and even the President is a suspect.

Murder in the West Wing: An Eleanor Roosevelt Mystery by Elliott Roosevelt
Mys Elliott WCV
Eleanor begins an investigation into the murder of one of FDR’s assistants leading her into a very dangerous area of Washington D.C.

Grass Roots by Stuart Woods
Fic Woods Fic TPL
A close senate election and a controversial murder trial blend together with some surprising results.

Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics by Joe Klein
Fic Klein WAM
The behind the scenes look at the presidential campaign of a small southern governor.

Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller

Fic Miller ROK
A long term political marriage comes under scrutiny when a young married couple rents the apartment next door.

Libraries are Reading! #7

Who is your favorite author?

Stacey R: Neil Gaiman

Tricia GW: Stephen King

Pat G: Thomas Hardy, probably.

Sharon L: Barbara Wood and Nicholas Sparks

Theresa Z: John Grisham

Kathy F: It’s very hard to pick only one! Charlotte Bronte, Geraldine Brooks, Cheryl Mendelson, Jane Austen, & Alice McDermott are some.

Stephanie L: Willa Cather, but I love all of the classics by ladies: George Eliot, Jane Austen, The Bronte Sisters…

Margaret H: I’m going to run out of room, but: Jodi Picoult, Chris Bohjalian, Jonathan Kellerman, Elizabeth Berg, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Judith Guest…

LINKS:

http://www.neilgaiman.com/

http://www.stephenking.com/

http://www.yale.edu/hardysoc/Welcome/welcomet.htm

http://www.barbarawood.com/

http://www.nicholassparks.com/

http://www.randomhouse.com/features/grisham/

http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/bronte/cbronte/bronteov.html

http://www.geraldinebrooks.com/

http://www.simonsays.com/content/destination.cfm%3fsid=33%26pid=334691

http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janeinfo.html

http://www.powells.com/authors/mcdermott.html

http://cather.unl.edu/

http://www.lang.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~matsuoka/Eliot.html

http://www.jodipicoult.com/

http://www.chrisbohjalian.com/

http://www.jonathankellerman.com/

http://www.elizabeth-berg.net/

http://www.susanephillips.com/

http://www.judithguest.com/

April is National Poetry Month!

"It Couldn't Be Done"

Somebody said that it couldn't be done
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it!

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one has ever done it;"
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure,
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start in to sing as you tackle the thing
That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.

This poem was written by Edgar Albert Guest (1881-1959),
and appeared in a volume called "Breakfast Table Chat", 1914.

[Submitted by Sharon @ WAM]

Libraries are Reading! #6

What is your favorite series?

Stacey R: The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher [http://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/] (SCI BUTCHER – WCV)

Tricia GW: Harry Potter, by J.K. Rowling [http://www.jkrowling.com/en/] (JFIC ROWLING - WAM)

In manga, Trigun, by Yasuhiro Nightow [http://www.darkhorse.com/profile/profile.php?sku=13-031] (GN TRIGUN – CHE)

Pat G: Stephanie Plum, by Janet Evanovich [http://www.evanovich.com] (MYS EVA - CLL)

Kathy F: The Outlander Series, by Diana Gabaldon [http://www.dianagabaldon.com/] (BKD FIC GABALDON - RSV)

Stephanie L: The only one I really read is the Big Stone Gap series, by Adriana Trigiani [http://www.adrianatrigiani.com/books.htm ] (FIC TRIGIANI - WCV)

Margaret H: Robert Parker’s “Spenser” series [http://www.robertbparker.net/spenser_series.asp] (PB MYS P – SHL) and Sue Grafton’s Alphabet books [http://www.suegrafton.com/bookshelf.asp?ISBN=0399152970]. (NEW MYS GRAFTON – HPW)

Outside of a Dog, #6

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read." - Groucho Marx.

Nice Books

Every once in awhile a library users will come to desk asking for a recommendation for a “nice” book. By that they usually mean a good story but without serial killers, gory forensic evidence discoveries, swear words, sexual descriptions they could do without, and unhappy endings.

Below are listed some fiction suggestions that fit the above criteria. Quite a few were published many years ago but that doesn’t make them any less enjoyable.

Lilies of the Field by William Barrett
FIC - WAM
A black handyman helps a group of nuns build a church.

Mrs. Mike by Nancy Freeman
FIC - SHL TPL SBL
A young woman marries a Mountie and begins a new life in the Canadian wilderness.

The Chosen – Chaim Potok
FIC - SCS TPL
In 1940’s Brooklyn, two young boys form a deep and unlikely friendship that carries them into adulthood.

At Home in Mitford by Jan Karon
FIC PBK Kar - WCV
The first book in the series featuring Father Tim, a beloved rector to his small town community is a delightful read.

Jane’s House by Robert Kimmel Smith
FIC - WMB
The touching story of a man whose wife has died very unexpectedly. He and his children valiantly struggle to cope with their loss.

Two from Galilee: The Story of Mary and Joseph by Marjorie Holmes
FIC Holmes - TPL SHL
Fictional account of the birth of Christ as told through the young couples eyes.

Memory of Running by Ron McLarty
FIC McLarty - WCV
A man takes a bicycle trip across to US to claim his deceased sister’s remains.

Peace Like a River by Leif Enger
FIC Enger - WCV
The story of the unusual Land family set in rural Minnesota during the 1960’s.

Rosie Dunne by Cecelia Ahern

FIC AHERN - WCV

The story of Rosie and her best friend and all of the curveballs that get thrown at her.