Outside of a Dog, #66

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

Following up our recent post on suggested website gems, we couldn’t resist offering some book-specific websites that offer a variety of support to avid readers everywhere. Selected are websites that librarians love and we hope you, too, will find very useful.

Readers Read – Devoted more to book and publishing news than title suggestions, it’s a worthwhile spot to "check out" if you’re interested in book trends and insider publishing news. An exhaustive list of book blogging links is offered.

Shelf Awareness – A free e-mail newsletter dedicated to helping the people in bookstores, public libraries and those working on the Internet buy, sell, and lend books most wisely. If you want to know what authors will be on NPR, Oprah, Larry King, and many other media outlets, this site will tell you. Also, a fun part of being on their e-mail list is the contests that publishing companies and authors often run.

Generous Books – A growing community for those who love books and love sharing their thoughts with other readers.

Book Muse – Commentary, author biographies and interviews, and loads of reading suggestions make this a useful site for the more literary minded reader.

Last but not least, don’t forget publishing company websites. They often offer free newsletter links that can keep you up to date on favorite titles and authors. A few of the larger publishers include –

Avon Books (an imprint of Harper Collins, specializing in women's literature and romance)

Simon and Schuster (They currently publish Vince Flynn, Sandra Brown, and more!)

Random House(Publishers of the new Dan Brown book "The Lost Symbol" and a host of entertainment biographies, like Kathy Griffin and Tracy Morgan)

Harper Collins (Publishing the PostSecret books and one of our favorites - Neil Gaiman; they also have e-mail lists for children's books and teens)

Penguin (Home of Patricia Cornwell, Charlaine Harris, and John Sandford; they have podcasts every week about new and exciting book selections)

Kensington Books (A great place to find your favorite mystery series writers, like Joanne Fluke and G.A. McKevett, as well as urban lit up-and-comers Kimberla Lawson Roby and Wahida Clark)

Outside of a Dog, #65

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

It’s always a treat to discover a new and useful website. The internet offers so much and so many, it is often easier just to rely on old standbys, but you’d be missing some real gems. Here are a few that you might just want to consider bookmarking the next time you're surfing.

Discover America
As the “official” travel and tourism website of the United States, I honestly can’t think of any place, topic, or travel information it doesn’t offer, including allowing you to search by destination, state, attraction, and find other travel organizations and links. A definite first stop when planning any journey that takes you farther than your own backyard.

Book Club Girl
Not strictly for girls, this is a great site to browse for a variety of reading suggestions, even if you’re not in a book club. Including author information, links to book clubs, book blogs, and author websites, you’ll never again wonder what to read next.

USA.gov
The tag is “government made easy” and it does do a pretty decent job of leading you through whatever government agency, department, or question you might need to research. Everything from financial aid, passport information, addresses of elected officials, currency exchange rates, zip code lookup, and much much more is offered. It also has links to state and local governments.

Ravelry
Ravelry is a knit and crochet community that is rivaled by no other. You do have to register, but don’t worry - it's free! Afterwards you can check out an endless list of free patterns, projects, and needlecraft links. But beware - you might find yourself so addicted to this site that you’ll have less time to actually pick up that crochet hook or knitting needle.

What They Play
If you're a parent of a tech-savvy kid today, you'll notice that video games are one of the biggest "I want that!" items on wish lists. What They Play gives you parent reviews and screenshots (photos of in-game activity) and sometimes videos of the most popular games, so you know what your kids are asking for.

Spread the Sign
The sign language dictionary of the world is live and is it ever a great resource! You can type in any word, number, or even a full sentence, and this search site will help you learn how to sign it - in ASL (American Sign Language), and sign language in Czech, German, Lithuanian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, and Turkish!

Flag Identifier
This is the place to go when you see a flag and you don't know what country it symbolizes. Flag Identifier lets you search by the style of flag, what colors it is, or just what symbols were on it. It includes world flags, state flags, and more.

November is Native American Heritage Month!

Find out more about Native American heritage by reading some of these books, or checking out the websites listed below.

Nonfiction
Storyteller by Leslie Marmon Silko
Silko is another well-known author, who delves into the past with both fiction and nonfiction (See her work Ceremony for a winding tale of modern-day tribe members.) This is more of an autobiographical offering, with stories, personal history, poems, and photographs of her life.
Fic (Storage) MTC

Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit: Essays on Native American Life Today by Leslie Marmon Silko
Written in 1997, but still relevant (and used in college curricula today), is this book containing nonfiction pieces on "America's Debt to the Indian Nations" and "Interior and Exterior Landscapes: The Pueblo Migration Stories."
970.00497 S CHE

American Indian Trickster Tales by Richard Erdoes
Coyote is the best known trickster of the Native American stories, but he's not the only one. Included here are also Iktomi, a shapeshifting Lakota spider-man, and Veeho, the Cheyenne daredevil, in one hundred illustrated stories.
398.2089 E EPL
398.2 A SHL TPL


Fiction
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
Alexie is regarded as one of the best writers about modern Native Americans, mixing history and traditions of the tribes (usually the Coeur D'Alene tribe, of which he is one) with current topics, characters, and events.
YA Fic Alexie WCV

The Business of Fancydancing: Poems and Stories by Sherman Alexie
Alexie's first book, which follows his usual format of short stories with humorous titles, as well as poems.
811 Alexie WAM
811.54 A WMB

The Blessing Way, by Tony Hillerman
Known and rewarded as a top mystery author and Special Friend of the Navajo Tribe, Hillerman made his name in fiction for his Navajo Tribal Police/ Joe Leaphorn mysteries. Unfortunately, he also passed on recently, so there will be no more after the most recent, 2006's "The Shape Shifter. Start with this first book in the series, or with "The Joe Leaphorn Mysteries" collection, which features the first three novels.
MYS PBK Hil WMB
Fic Hillerman CHE

The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
Coyote is one of the most famous (and beloved) of the Native American spirits - always in trouble for making deals and promises he doesn't exactly keep. Edited by Datlow and Windling, well-known for being a part of "The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror," this is a collection sure to show many different sides of the Trickster.
YA Fic Coyote SHL

Websites
Native American Heritage Month (homepage): put together by the Library of Congress, this is a great jumping-off point for anyone interested in the subject.

Oyate: A Native organization devoted to making sure Native Americans are portrayed honestly in books and other media.

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian: Three sites that make up the National Museum include artwork, history, archives, and more.