Teen Romance

This week's post brought to us by Sabine @ Vacaville Public Library - Cultural Center

In her comment to a blog entry about Twilight from a couple of weeks ago, teen commenter, Sarah, asked if we knew of any good romance books.  Here is a list of suggestions I’ve found online, from other librarians around the country:

Kansas City Public Library:  Teen Romance Books

West Warwick [RI] Public Library:  Teen Love Stories

San Francisco Public Library Recommended:  Love is in the Air

I’m a fan of Jane Austen’s books.  If you want to tackle a classic romance novel, my favorites are Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion. 

If you have a favorite that you’d like to recommend, post a comment here.  We’d love to hear what you like.

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Lighten up!

I just had the most amazing experience and I know everyone reading this will be so jealous…  I got to spend 4 days with 22,000 librarians and more books than anyone could count! Yep, I’m a lucky girl.

The occasion was the American Library Association’s annual conference, held in Mickey Mouse’s home town this year. I got to go to lots of workshops and author programs, but what I want to share with you today is the message I took away from a program on energizing instruction. The speaker basically told us to get out of our doldrums and live life to the fullest. Find some joy. This is great advice that I’ve heard before, but for some reason it never sticks and I need to hear it again. So, in the interest of living life to the fullest, I offer you…   MATT!!!

Now here’s a guy who doesn’t take life too seriously and has a way of making the rest of us want to play, too. He traveled for 14 months and visited 42 countries, and this video is the result. Check it out and I’ll bet you’ll be dancing yourself by the end of the 4 minutes 29 seconds!

Smiling Shellie @ Springstowne

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July 4, 1776

July 4, 1776

by Gayle of JFK

I watched a movie the other night, made in the 1970s and based on a Broadway play, it is titled 1776. I enjoyed it immensely

because I like history that is more likely to be closer to the truth than what is the usual fare. I mean think about it, who really

knows what was actually said and done in one room over 200 years ago? “Well people recorded it,” you say.

How do we know that the recorder didn’t embellish or just leave stuff out the he didn’t like?

Maybe he was a slow writer and missed getting it all down or maybe he was on a binge the night before and just wasn’t 100% that day.

The truth is that you had to have been there to know exactly what transpired in the room where our future was decided.

And, even then, people tend to see and hear what they want or expect to see and hear. The work there produced the

Declaration of Independence and a declaration of war on Great Britain.  Basically, these guys got together and decided

that we wouldn’t be British anymore and that was that!

Well, not exactly. There were some real disagreements and personality clashes in that room, as there are anytime

a room full of humans get together. According to the movie, John Adams was obnoxious and no one liked him,

Thomas Jefferson was only interested in getting back to his wife and the delegate from New York abstained from

voting on all proposals because he was given no instructions from the New York Assembly!  Oh, and George Washington,

who kept sending messages to the Congress from the “front,” was just a pest. Isn’t it funny how you never hear these

things in your history class. Even this is all speculation but I think is probably closer to the truth than what we are usually told.

In the end there were many compromises that disappointed most of the guys-and they were only white guys-in that room.

The lesson here is to never believe that great things are only done by people who are somehow special or different.

It's much more interesting to know that something special can be done by ordinary people like you and me.

When do other countries celebrate their independence?

Almost everyone had to gain "independence" from someone!

Remember, the more you search for the truth, the closer you will be to actually getting it.

Enjoy the fireworks.

Vallejo

Six Flags, Vallejo

Benicia  

Berkeley

Oakland

San Francisco

Suisun

Vacaville

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Summer: Time for Pages and Popcorn

It’s always a gamble for me to watch a movie made from a book I’ve already read. Hollywood either gets it just right or they totally blow it, and it’s usually the latter case, imho. When it’s right, I feel like I’ve been transported right back inside the book with all the characters I came to know while I was reading, only it’s even better because of the Dolby Digital Surround Sound and amazing cinematography. Lord of the Rings is a shining example of the movie folks getting it right on. Even the Ents looked just like I imagined them.

But when they get it wrong, it really makes me mad. Not only have I spent hard-earned money on a bad movie, it also gives a bad rap to the book that nobody will want to read now. So, I’m looking for some good adaptations. There are loads of book-and-DVD titles in the library collection, so I guess I don’t need to worry about wasting money on a bad movie, just my precious free time.

Here are some titles I’m curious about. Let me know if you’ve read the book and seen the movie – what did you think?

            Beowulf

            The Golden Compass

            Kite Runner

            Ella Enchanted

            Jumper

            The Seeker: the Dark is Rising

            Eragon

I’m really looking forward to the Dark Knight, which opens July 17, and of course Twilight, although I suspect that’s one that won’t translate well to the silver screen.

What are your favorite book to movie stories?

Shellie @ Springstowne

p.s. Don't forget to visit your local library to register for the Teen Summer Reading Program! Win free books for accomplishing your summer goals!

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Russia With Love

This week's post brought to us by Gayle at JFK.

I grew up during the “cold war,” which was only “cold” because we were told by others that that was the case. So then the “Reds” were supposed to be our enemies, even though they were our friends during WWII. Now, Al-Qaeda is supposed to be our worst enemy and we seem to be just wishy-washy on the Russians. Anyway, this is about my total fascination with Russia-no make that the Russian people. I cannot imagine a braver and more persistent people.

What used to be the USSR lost, depending on who is reporting, approximately 23,000,000 people during WWII! Compare that to the United States which lost approximately 420,000. These weren’t the only deaths for Russia; she experienced famine in the 1920s killing millions and the government had a habit of killing off people as well. But the people just kept going. Russia has produced some of the greatest mucisians -Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky -and artists-Chagall, Balanchine, Baryshinikov -in the history of man. They persevere.

I mention all this because I am currently reading The magical chorus: a history of Russian culture from Tolstoy to Solzhenitsyn by Solomon Volkov. The discussion is about the connection between the culture and those who contribute to it, and the prevailing political conditions. As I read, I remember how we were taught as children to fear the Russians because they were “bad” and surely coming to get us.  I remember how we had to dive under our school desks during “Bomb Drill” as if that piece of wood would protect us from the radiation. All of this just made me more and more curious about these people. The one thing that I knew was that people were rarely who someone else said they were. I knew that, usually, when you get to know someone they just aren’t that much different than you.

When I graduated from high school I went to Europe and lived for about 3 years. First I lived in Holland in a small village on the North Sea. Once, I heard that there was a weekly train arriving from Russia. The next week I rushed to the train depot, sat down and waited for the train from Russia. In spite of all that I knew to be true about other human beings, the brainwashing that I got as a kid was so overwhelming that I half expected people in red with horns growing from there heads! The people and the railroad workers strolled off the train, just like all the other trains, and walked down the street. The workers had on uniforms, but they weren’t red and they certainly didn’t have horns. As I walked home, I wondered why I had rushed up there in the first place. What had I expected to see? Why had I expected something different? Is it because I was bombarded with negative images of Russia and Russians most of my life? Did I want to see someone different than me, because, if they were the same then what I had been taught would have to be wrong? Or, if they were the same, then could I also be awful?

I just wish that I had been told that our government and theirs simply didn’t agree on stuff and left it at that!

Hey, thanks for the book recommendation-Notes from a Liar and her Dog-loved it!

"As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century, free flow of information is the only safeguard against tyranny. The once-chained people whose leaders at last lose their grip on information flow will soon burst with freedom and vitality, but the free nation gradually constricting its grip on public discourse has begun its rapid slide into despotism. Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master." -- Pravin Lal, Alpha Centauri

Make it a good day for someone else for a change! Gayle

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