I’ve reached the point in my life where I just can’t sit through dramas, thrillers or a movie with a message.  I have a  Movies I Will Always Be Glad I Saw list.  It contains titles like The Great Escape.  Amazing film because for one thing, the cast is cool.  It also puts Chicken Run into context and raises it from just a crazy claymation piece to something hilarious—watching a chicken do her best Cooler King impression, well, that’s worth quite a bit.  However, that last scene, in the field?  Did me in and broke my heart.  I’ll never watch Amadeus again—brilliant but also heartbreaking, which is the same reason I’ll never again sit through Ran, Thelma and Louise, The Seven Samurai or  Sophie’s Choice.

Naturally, there are movies I will always watch, no matter when they are on or where I am—Star Wars, because c’mon, Han Solo in the cantina?  You better believe it.  The Incredible Mr. Limpet, The Great Race, When Harry Met Sally, Wilby Wonderful, Rush Hour, Strictly Ballroom—all on the Pleasant Ways to Fritter Away Time list.

Now, for the Other List.  I’m going to share this without shame or fear of condemnation because I believe everyone has a list like this.  It’s the Stupid Movies I’m Almost Ashamed to Admit I Watch list.  On a really tough day at the office I need some Dodge Ball.  It tickles me so much but there is no chance ever that someone will put it on a list of great movies.  Sometimes I also need Talladega Nights—for heaven’s sake, Will Farrell chews the scenery worse than a bored Labrador Retriever but I can’t  stop laughing.  There’s also The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension, Miss Congeniality, Shanghai Noon, Wedding Crashers, Lethal Weapon (because sometimes I like watching stuff blow up) and The Last Boy Scout (for the same reason, plus even after all these years I still have a soft spot for Bruce Willis).

‘Fess up here, folks.  Stand up straight and tall and join me with your own  list—don’t be ashamed to admit you’ll watch Bring it On anytime you find it while flipping channels—I’m not.

With the global economy still reeling from the sub-prime housing crisis and its various aftershocks, governments everywhere are feeling the pinch, particularly at the local levels.  Budgets have been slashed and when the hard decisions must be made as to how to balance them, departments considered to be “non-essential” are usually first on the chopping block.  Sadly, this category often includes the local library.  The Dekalb County Public Library system has been very fortunate and hasn’t been forced to make any service reductions or branch closures, however others have not been so lucky. In this environment of reduced and discontinued services, a few communities have decided to take matters into their own hands.

In Hannover, Germany, some neighborhoods are served by a community bookshelf. The shelves are placed in various areas around the city and completely free and accessible to all. Borrowers don’t need library cards, nor must they worry about overdue fines. In return, all that is asked of borrowers is that they donate a couple of books of their own in order to ensure that a healthy supply is available.

In Westbury-sub-Mendip, a small village in southwest England, residents raised an outcry when they learned they were to lose their “beloved” red phone booth, fresh on the heels of the discontinuation of their mobile library service. So when one creative resident suggested transforming the phone booth into a miniature library, the idea was accepted immediately. The parish council purchased the red phone booth, outfitted it with four wooden shelves, residents donated books (and a notice reading “Silence please”), and the mini-library began operation. It quickly became a hit. The library is open 24/7 (it is lit at night), and the inventory is checked regularly in order to identify titles which are not circulating (which are then donated to charity), in order to keep the selection fresh. And the residents of Westbury-sub-Mendip are not the only ones who have had the bright idea to re-purpose a phone booth. British Telecom has received 770 applications from communities to “adopt a kiosk”, and thus far 350 booths have been distributed to parish councils throughout England.

I’d love to have something like this in my neighborhood, how about you?

Chinese New Year, that is. Chinese New Year is a centuries-old celebration that is based on the Chinese lunar calendar. The New Year celebrations begin on the first full moon of the year and last for about a week to 15 days.  This year marks the year of the Tiger and will begin on February 14. Festivities take place all over the world and many images that characterize the New Year include dragons, lanterns, fireworks and parades. Check out some wonderful images from last year’s celebrations at The Big Picture.

If you would like your child to learn more about Chinese New Year, the Library is an excellent resource! Check out the following books:

Celebrate Chinese New Year by Carolyn Otto

Paper Crafts for Chinese New Year by Randel McGee

D is for Dragon Dance by Ying Chang Compestine

The Chamblee Library will be hosting fun and festive programs in honor of the New Year and the Year of the Tiger. Children can drop by the Library by February 13 to pick up a tiger to decorate and enter in their Chinese New Year Art Contest and they can attend the Chinese New Year Craft on February 6. And don’t miss out on Chamblee Library’s Chinese New Year Celebration kickoff on February 13. There will be traditional drumming, dancing, and more! For more information call the Chamblee Library at (770) 936-1380 or check their online event schedule.

The library isn’t just for checking out books.  If you haven’t checked out a class at your library, I urge you to do so soon. Not only are they interesting — they’re free! I recently took a class on the art of memoir writing presented by Wayne South Smith. (www.thewritersprocess.com).

First, he explained the difference between an autobiography (usually written by someone famous and covers the person’s entire life span) vs. a memoir which covers a certain finite period or event in a person’s life.

Then, he gave the packed class exercises in writing, a list of memory prompts and a reading list of books available for checkout at DCPL. For example, there’s On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King (813.54 KIN), Old Friend from Far Away, the Practice of Writing Memoir by Natalie Goldberg (808.66 GOL) or Living to Tell the Tale: a Guide to Writing Memoir by Jane Taylor McDonnell (808.0669 McD).

I walked away from the two and a half hour class having learned a little about myself and the other participants and ready to crank up the computer (also free for using at the library). I figured if I lived through it, I could tell the tale.

This has been a sad month for the world of books and readers. We lost Robert Parker, mystery writer, on January 19. Howard Zinn, the people’s historian, died January 27 and yesterday came the news that  J.D. Salinger, reclusive author of The Catcher in the Rye, has died at the age of 91. According to their obituaries, Parker and Zinn were writing up to the very end. Parker was especially prolific and at least two finished books will appear after his death; but Salinger famously stopped publishing 45 years ago, although he continued to write fiction.  The author fought all the way to the Supreme Court to keep his unpublished letters private. If Salinger had novels and stories locked away, will his family decide to publish them? If they do, will you read them? I’m not sure I will. It seems disrespectful to read work the author so definitely did not want me to see. When unfinished works are published after an author dies,  I always wonder if the writer was really ready for me to see his work. We readers can be greedy and we want more of the characters and stories that we love, but I feel like I’ve arrived too early at a party. My company was requested—but not just yet, please.

My blog posts tend to be fairly random–just whatever’s on my mind at the moment. Right now that happens to be Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquakes that have ravaged the country.

For the past week or so I, like so many others, have been glued to the television and to the internet for any updates on the aftermath, relief efforts and ways to donate to the cause.  As heartbreaking as images and accounts of the tragedy have been, the outpouring of love and support has also been uplifting, encouraging and heartwarming.  Still, there’s always more that can be done, more that can be given.

I vividly remember my maternal grandmother being horrified the day she caught me drinking the milk from my cereal bowl.  According to her I was obviously being raised by wolves and not her child since she hadn’t raised a hooligan.  I was five.   Please understand that this is the woman who insisted I learn how to curtsy (knowledge, much like working quadratic equations, I have never needed) and wear white gloves to church.  Even well into adult hood she was correcting my manners, scolding me for greeting her neighbors on our evening stroll with a nice “hey.”  “Hey,” she explained in no uncertain terms, was not a proper greeting in western Kentucky.  I will spare you my response but I tell you all this to explain, in some small way, my fascination with etiquette books.

I think one of the things I loved the most about the character Elle Woods, portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in the movie Legally Blonde is the fact that her manners are impeccable.  Even when she has been publicly humiliated she manages to keep her dignity AND find kind things to say to the woman who humiliated her.  By movie’s end she is much beloved, not because she can teach an entire salon full of women the “Bend and Snap” but because she never fails to be kind or stoops to the level of those around her.   She rises to every awkward and painful situation because  her manners are deeply ingrained and being able to react gracefully gives her the confidence to go on.   To paraphrase Miss Manners, also known as Judith Martin, manners are not meant to be used as blunt instruments on others but to put the other person at ease.  Of course, Judith Martin is the same woman who, as a young reporter for the Washington Post, was banned from Tricia Nixon’s wedding because she made the Nixon women “uncomfortable.”  No doubt Elle Woods would have been a more welcome guest.

If you just want some snappy reading try any of Miss Manner’s books.  Her detailed chart on weddings is a scream.  Categories include: Excruciatingly Correct, Less Formal and Over Miss Manners’ Dead Body.  If you just want to make certain you don’t bring up any little hooligans of your own, we have an app, er, book for that too.

Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior by Judith Martin

What Do you Say when–Talking to People with Confidence on any Social or Business Occasion by Florence Isaacs

Civility Solution: What to Say When People are Rude by P.M. Forni

Teen Manners: From Malls to Meal to Messaging and Beyond by Cindy Post Senning

Being a Pig is Nice by Sally Lloyd-Jones

How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? by Jane Yolen

Mind Your Manners, B.B. Wolf by Judy Sierra

Smart Girl’s Guide to Manners: Secrets to Grace, Confidence and Being Your Best by Nancy Holyoke

Please is a Good Word to Say by Barbara Joose

In this week’s post, I will discuss one of the most interesting and variable of genres, time travel fiction. For our purposes, time travel simply means either going forward or backward in time (for a more detailed explanation of time travel, go here). Time travel fiction can generally be divided into two distinct catagories, time travel fantasy vs. time travel science fiction. Generally, the categorization is made based upon the method of time travel; stories involving time travel devices and technologies are considered part of the science fiction genre, whereas stories that involve time travel through supernatural, magical, or unexplained means are considered part of the fantasy genre. Additionally, time travel science fiction is more likely to concern itself with the possible consequences of time travel, such as the Grandfather Paradox.

While time travel fiction has been around for centuries (many different cultures possess ancient myths and folktales in which the characters engage in something akin to forward time travel; examples include the Hindu account of King Kakudmi and the Japanese tale of Urashima Taro), it was in the 1800s that the genre came into its own. One of the earliest examples of time travel in fiction takes place in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol (the ghosts of Christmas past and future serve as the medium by which the travel occurs, putting this into the time travel fantasy category). The latter part of the century saw the publication of the seminal time travel novel, H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine, in which the protagonist builds a device which carries him to the far future, and eventually back again. The book marked the first appearance of a “time machine”, a term coined by Wells, and as such can be considered the first time travel science fiction novel (this is not entirely accurate, actually The Time Machine was his second published work involving the concept of time travel, the first being a short story titled The Chronic Argonauts, however The Time Machine was more successful and is responsible for popularizing the genre). Other novels published in the 1800s involving time travel include A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (which is an excellent example of time travel fantasy, as no explanation for the time travel is ever provided, and despite the protagonist’s introduction of ideas and technology well in advance of the time period, there is no examination of the potential consequences of this) by Mark Twain, and Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy, the third largest best-seller of its time, which features a young American male who falls into a hypnotic sleep and wakes over 100 years in the future.

Read the rest of this entry »

This past Monday the American Library Association announced the year’s best in children’s books and media. This much anticipated event includes a couple of the most well-known and prestigious awards- The Newbery and Caldecott Medals. The Newbery Medal is awarded to the author with the most outstanding contribution to American literature for children and has been awarded since 1922. The Caldecott Medal, awarded since 1937, is given to the artist with the most distinguished American children’s picture book.

And so, without further ado, the winner of this year’s Newbery Medal is:

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

And the winner of the Caldecott Medal is:

The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney

For a complete list of youth awards given this year, check out the American Library Association’s website.

Old Tucker library

I have had the honor over the last few weeks to help move the Tucker library from the old location to its new location. I say honor for several reasons. I grew up in the Tucker area and used the library since I was around four years old. I also worked at the branch from 1996-2001.

I worked the last day at the old location and it was truly a mix of emotions for many community members who came in and for myself. Did you know that the old location was built in 1965 and the entire library was contained in what we currently know as the Children’s area? The office in the Children’s area was the staff workroom and circulation area. The library opened with air conditioning which was uncommon for the time period. ( I remember on a hot summer day jumping for joy at a visit to the library to stand in front of the unit to cool off.)  The meeting room in the old location was the recreation center. Many of us that grew up in the 1970’s took ballet and other classes in that space. The space was renovated in the mid-1980’s.

Removing the materials from the building was physical work for the entire staff. We had movers to get the materials from the old location to the new. The staff however had to physically remove the material from the shelves and either box or place them in rolling containers. I can say now with experience that you don’t need a gym if you are moving a library.

The dedication of the new library will be on Saturday, January 23 at 11:00 a.m. The library will be reopen for business on Monday, January 25, 2010.  It has been exciting to see all the new areas the Tucker library will hold. A few of my favorites are the fireplace, the teen area, the study carrels with their built-in electrical plugs and the wireless network.  The Library has posted many pictures of the new location on our Flickr page.  If you come by the new location, let me know what you like best about the new library. Post your best here, we would love to know what you think.