May 2007

New Fiction

• People of the Nightland - W. Michael Gear
  
• Momzillas - Jill Kargman
• Three Novels of Ancient Egypt - Naguib Mahfouz
  
• The Gypsy Madonna - Santa Montefiore
• The Moments Lost: a Midwest Pilgrim's Progress - Bruce Olds
• The Sun over Breda: the Adventures of Captain Alatriste - Arturo Perez-Reverte
• Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir

New Non-Fiction

• The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together - Ty Burr
• The Secret - Rhonda Byrne
  
• The Seven Principles of Golf - Darrin Gee
  
• Gertrude Bell Queen of the Desert, Shaper of Nations - Georgina Howell
• Waterlight: Selected Poems - Kathleen Jamie
• The Produce Bible - Leanne Kitchen
  
• Jerusalem 1913 The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict - Amy Dockser Marcus
• A Twist of the Wrist - Nancy Silverton
• Where The Blind Horse Sings: Love and Healing at an Animal Sanctuary - Kathy Stevens

New Audios

All CDs unless noted

• You Don't Love Me Yet - Jonathan Lethem
  
• The Catalans - Patrick O'Brian
  
• Diamond Solitaire - Peter Lovesey
  
• Life Before Man - Margaret Atwood
• Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid
• Whats so Funny - Donald Westlake

New DVD's

• Charlote's Web
  
• Children of Men
  
• Dreamgirls
  
• The Good Shepherd
  
• History Boys
  
• The Last King of Scotland
  
• Little Children
• Mississippi Masala
• Mrs. Soffel
• Notes on a Scandal
  
• The Queen
• Straight from the Heart
• Thieves Like Us
• Volver

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BOOKLISTS

Every month in this spot we feature reading suggestions. These include historic fiction, science fiction, mysteries, and more. Many of these titles can be found in the Mid Hudson Library System.

Books on Books and Reading

• Hanff, Helene - 84 Charing Cross Road
  
• Alcott, Louisa May - Little Women (J)
  
• Bradbury, Ray - Fahrenheit 451
  
• Brandeis, Gayle - Self-Storage: A Novel
  
• Clarke, Susanna - Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
  
• Connolly, John - The Book of Lost Things
  
• Donnelly, Jennifer A - Northern Light (YA)
  
• Dunning, John - Bookman mystery series
  
• Eco, Umberto - The Name of the Rose
  
• Ende, Michael - The Neverending Story (YA)
  
• Fforde, Jasper - Thursday Next series
  
• Fowler, Karen Joy - The Jane Austen Book Club
  
• Funke, Cornelia - Inkheart; Inkspell (J)
  
• Gaarder, Jostein - Sophie's World
  
• Goldman, William - The Princess Bride (J)
  
• Green, Jane - Bookends
  
• Hay, Sheridan - The Secret of Lost Things
  
• Hegi, Ursula - Stones from the River
  
• Kaewert, Julie - Wallin Unbound series
  
• Kaufman, Jennifer - Literacy and Longing in L.A.
  
• Kilworth, Garry - House of Tribes
  
• Kleypas, Lisa - Scandal in Spring
  
• Krauss, Allison - The History of Love
  
• Kushner, Don - A Book Dragon (J)
  
• Landvik, Lorna - Angry Housewives Eating Bon-Bons
  
• McCracken, Elizabeth - The Giant's House
  
• McKinley, Robin - Beauty
  
• Monfredo, Miriam Grace - Seneca Falls series
  
• Monroe, Alice - The Book Club
  
• Morley, Christopher - Parnassus on Wheels; The Haunted Bookshop
  
• Noble, Elizabeth - The Book Club
  
• Odom, Mel - Rover fantasy series
  
• Pessi, Marisha - Special Topics in Calamity Physics
  
• Ruiz Zafron, Carlos - The Shadow of the Wind
  
• Sansom, Ian - The Old Man Who Read Love Stories
  
• Setterfield, Diane - The Thirteenth Tale
  
• various authors - Shelf Life: Fantastic Stories Celebrating Bookstores
  
• Sijie, Dai - Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
  
• Snicket, Lemony - A Series of Unfortunate Events (J)
  
• Stephenson, Neal - Diamond Age
  
• Tarkington, Booth - Penrod
  
• Zusak, Markus - The Book Thief (YA)
  
  

Compiled by the subscribers of the Fiction_L mailing list.

The Library Fair

Saturday, June 9
10am to 3pm on the Library Lawn

The 61st Annual Stone Ridge Library Fair!
more

Expect the usual frenzy and the Giant Book Sale, and try to get an early start at the Plant Tent, famous for interesting perennials and tender annuals, and newly known for garden accessories. Don’t forget to stock up on autographed books by local authors or to check out the wonderful wares crafted by our fiber artists, who will be demonstrating their techniques in the shade nearby.

Enjoy traditional picnic delicacies and desserts while visiting with friends and neighbors and enjoying an afternoon of music, with Kurt Henry serving as MC. Don’t forget the home made Strawberry Shortcake, and for the kids—cotton candy and popcorn.

New this year—is the Tea Time Tent. Place settings of tea pots, cups, napkins, tea towels.

Volunteers are KEY to the Fair’s success. We will meet on Saturday, May 19, from 10am to Noon at the Library. Sign up is ongoing at the library or sign up here.

More information and lots of photos: more




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Tea Time Book Group

Wednesday, May 9th,
4pm in the
Reference Room

The selection for May is A House for Mr. Biswas, by V. S. Naipaul.

Join us in the Reference Room for lively Discussion and light refreshments. Save the second Wednesday each month for the 4pm Tea Time Book Group.

Books are available at the library.

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HOLMES & CO.
Mystery Lovers Book Group

Thursday, May 31,
4pm in the Reference Room

The selections for this meeting include:

A Case of Identity by sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon

Cat of Many Tails by Ellery Queen

SS

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Scrabble

Mondays, May 7, 14,
21, 28

6-8pm in the
Reference Room

Scrabble players meet every Monday in the Library's Reference room. Newcomers are welcome!

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Knitting Group

Saturdays, May 5, 12, 19, 26
10am-noon at the Library

Our knitting group meets every Saturday in the Library's Reference room. We welcome newcomers at any level.

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ON THE SHELVES

Poughkeepsie Journal 4.1.07
On the Shelves with Gregory Callahan

Discover New Voices in Poetry Anthologies

On the Shelves is a monthly column by a rotating list of mid-Hudson Valley library directors who comment on notable books coming to your local public library.

April is National Poetry Month, and there are those who maintain that our "poetry phobic" nation needs all the encouragement it can get to sample serious verse. Too many of us never got over ninth-grade précis-writing trauma, I fear.

One way to overcome those qualms is to sample poetry anthologies for simple pleasure. Don't worry so much about uncovering the deeper meaning of the poems, and simply appreciate the mastery - and beauty - of the language.

Plain-spoken and always engaging, former Poet Laureate Billy Collins serves as guest-editor for the 2006 edition of The Best American Poetry. Unlike many editors of such volumes, he is not at all apologetic about personally selecting the year's "best."

"Who would reach for a book called 'Some Pretty Good Poems'?" he asks in his introduction.

Actually, Collins himself has been published in Garrison Keillor's earlier, "Good Poems," but his point is nonetheless well taken. He admits "the best" included here are really the "best of the ones that happened to come my way." But what did come his way includes some pretty outstanding, innovative work.

What makes this particular volume so appealing is Collins' unerring feel for poetry with a true "human voice." It doesn't matter that he had previously been unfamiliar with 75 percent of the selected writers.

I could not even make that claim. Most of the selections were from small presses, and only a few names (John Ashbery, Stephen Dobyns) were familiar to me. But poetry is all about discovery. And it's hard to imagine most readers won't make several delightful discoveries in this volume.

Pushcart brings attention

The Best of the Small Presses is honored annually in the form of the Pushcart Prize. Founded in 1976 by literary maverick Bill Henderson, the Pushcart has been singling out superlative short stories, essays and poetry published in small literary journals.

The recent Pushcart Book of Poetry celebrates 30 years of prize-winning verse. Edited by Joan Murray, the book contains the works of some of our most celebrated poets (and she is quick to cite numerous Pulitzer, Nobel, and National Book Award winners) as well as several "only a few have heard of yet." This "best of the best" volume is a remarkable feat and a fine introduction to some of the best poetry available.

Also highly recommended among recent offerings is Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times, edited by Neil Astley and published by Miramax Books. This volume is a comprehensive collection of "life-affirming poems" from the early 20th century to the present day. The poems for the original British edition were collected well before the events of Sept. 11, 2001, but nearly all speak to "anxieties felt by people at that time and since."

Oxford University Press can be counted on for offering definitive editions of literary genres and sub-genres. Their 2006 Anthology of African-American Poetry is certainly that. Editor Arnold Rampersad has organized the volume according to numerous important themes found in African-American verse.

Sections are devoted to the family (man, woman and child), religion, music, death and justice. Unlike many anthologies, the works of several representative writers appear in each section, giving the reader a genuine feeling for their writing.

Gregory Callahan is the director of the Hyde Park Free Library.

Can't decide on what to read? Visit
Mid Hudson for links to lists of titles that might attract your interest.

GREAT WEBSITES!

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In Search of Shakespeare

Companion to a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) four-part series "exploring the life of the world's greatest and most famous writer." The site features a timeline of events during Shakespeare's time, a description of the places and people Shakespeare knew, an overview of the documentary evidence used as the basis for the series, and brief synopses of Shakespeare plays, Also includes lesson plans and other materials for educators, a multimedia database, a game, and more. more

Night Sky Network

Website
for "a nationwide coalition of amateur astronomy clubs bringing the science, technology, and inspiration of NASA's missions to the general public." Includes a directory of U.S. astronomy clubs, a planner for astronomy events, and links to resources for amateur astronomers. From the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. more

Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers

Visitors to this website may "search and read newspaper pages from 1900-1910 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present." The Newspaper Directory allows users to "search or browse the directory of newspapers published in a particular place and time." This site is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP). more

New-York Historical Society to Shine
"A New Light on Tiffany"

Press release about a 2007 exhibit "exploring the turn-of-the-century New York women who created many of Tiffany Studios' celebrated decorative objects." The exhibit "celebrates the contributions of the Ohio-born designer Clara Driscoll (1861-1944), head of Tiffany Studios' Women's Glass Cutting Department. Driscoll's correspondence reveals that she was responsible for many of the firm's most iconic lampshades, including the Wisteria, Dragonfly, and Peony." Includes images. From the New-York Historical Society. more

The Trade Card Place

This site is designed "for all who are interested in Victorian Trade Cards used to advertise American goods and services during the late 1800s." Features images of dozens of these illustrated trade cards (in categories such as beverages, fairs, and medical and dental), illustrated articles about different types of trade cards, and links to related sites. This site also conducts online auctions. From an enthusiast. more

Gallery of Book Trade Labels

"Anyone who handles old books will have come across these small and sometimes beautiful labels pasted more or less discreetly into the endpapers. Publishers, printers, binders, importers, distributors and sellers of books -- new, second-hand and antiquarian -- used to advertise in this way." This site features images of hundreds of these labels from around the world. Browsable by name or location (such as California, Japan, and South America). From an enthusiast. more

Central Intelligence Agency: Electronic Reading Room

This site provides "an overview of access to CIA information, including electronic access to previously released documents. Because of CIA's need to comply with the national security laws of the United States, some documents or parts of documents cannot be released to the public." Includes collections in areas such as Vietnam and China, and specific documents such as a report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD). From the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). more

GeoData.gov: U.S. Maps & Data

This site "is a geographic information system (GIS) portal, also known as the Geospatial One-Stop," "designed to facilitate communication and sharing of geographic data and resources to enhance government efficiency and improve citizen services." Search for federal, state, and local geographic data, maps (such as of transportation and natural hazards), and statistics. Also includes discussions of key resources for topics such as atmosphere and climate, business, and human health. Part of USA.gov. more

U.S. Nuclear Plants in the 21st Century: The Risk of a Lifetime

Executive summary and full text of a 2004 report that discusses the safety of nuclear power plants "during the three stages of plant lifetime: the break-in phase, middle life phase, and wear-out phase." The report notes that several nuclear plant disasters, including Three Mile Island and Chernobyl, have occurred during the "break-in" phase when there have been "unexpected safety problems." Also considers the need for continued regulation. From the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). more

KITES: The Drachen Foundation

This organization is "devoted to the increase and diffusion of knowledge of kites worldwide." The "About Kites" section of the website features kite basics (types of kites and how and in what winds they fly), discussion of kite building materials, and kite history resources that describe "the Eastern and Western origins of kites, and highlight significant events during kiting's long history." Also includes reports from research projects, description of archive collections, and related material. more

Charlie Chaplin

Official website for the works of this Hollywood film star who was born in England in 1889 and died in Switzerland in 1977. Features a biography, background and stills from famous movies (such as "The Gold Rush," "City Lights," and "Monsieur Verdoux"), a calendar of live movie performance dates around the world, and news. Includes items available for purchase. In English and French. more

Rube Goldberg Contest at Purdue

Details about this competition inspired by cartoonist Rube Goldberg, in which "college students nationwide compete to design a machine that uses the most complex process to complete a simple task," such as screwing in a light bulb, in 20 or more steps. Provides a FAQ, results of past competitions (back to 1999), photos of some of the machines, and background about Rube Goldberg and the contest. From Purdue University. more

From Verne to Vonnegut: A Century of Science Fiction

Companion to 2006 exhibit exploring the development of science fiction literature. Includes annotations and selected images of early works (18th century and earlier), magazines (such as Amazing Stories), materials about aliens and other creatures, works by black and women authors, and dystopias (such as Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" and Kurt Vonnegut's "Player Piano"). Curated by librarian Iris Snyder of Special Collections, University of Delaware Library. more

The American Presidency Project

This website contains a searchable database of tens of thousands of documents from U.S. presidents from 1789 to the present. Includes inaugural addresses, press briefings, signing statements, and debates. Also features data on topics such as popularity and number of public appearances, election results back to 1828, and an archive of audio and video clips. A collaboration between John Woolley and Gerhard Peters at the University of California, Santa Barbara. more

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