h20boro lib blog

New Readers' Blog

2007-08-16T09:55:00.000-04:00

Check out The Reader’s Advisor Online Blog. Looks like it was launched in June, and already there are lots of interesting stories for readers (Nonfiction Reading . . . Without All That Pesky Nonfiction Reading), writers (Where Has the Mystery Mid-List Gone?), and librarians (Under the Radar: How Do You Find Out What People Are Reading?) alike.

Besides the feature articles, there's also a Bestseller Mashup of Fiction and Narrative Non-Fiction (the kind of non-fiction that feels more like fiction), and a list of books coming out this week. Diana Tixier Herald, of the well-known readers' advisory tool Genreflecting, is one of the contributors.

Library Items Stolen and Sold Online

2007-08-06T15:47:00.000-04:00

The Rocky Mountain News reports that a man took out seven library cards from the Denver Public Library, as well as cards from Arapahoe, Aurora and and Douglas County libraries; borrowed 300 books, tapes, and dvds per card (?!?); then sold many of them online; "library losses are estimated in the tens of thousands of dollars."

Ludlum: 12 New Bestsellers Since His Death

2007-08-02T12:10:00.000-04:00

How has thriller writer Robert Ludlum published "no fewer than 12 new bestsellers in the six years since his death? ... Ludlum practically cornered the market in dense, paranoid, meticulously researched thrillers for 30 years. By the time of his death in 2001, he had sold 210 million books. ... This summer, the hottest property at the cinema box office is likely to be The Bourne Ultimatum, the third instalment of a $500m-grossing movie franchise based on Ludlum's best-known character, ... starring Matt Damon as an amnesiac spy.

"Yet for all the sales figures and superlatives, it is somehow fitting that a novelist who specialised in complex conspiracy theories and international espionage should have left behind a conundrum to baffle even Bourne himself. In the years since his death, 12 new works bearing his name have hit the bookshelves and beach-towels of the world. None was penned by Ludlum himself –- and at least three have not been credited to any other writer. These include The Bancroft Strategy, published last year, which sold 102,000 copies in hardback alone."

The Independent explores the mystery.

Cozy Chairs Unseated

2007-07-25T16:55:00.000-04:00

An article in the Baltimore Sun today says that some bookstores, like some Barnes & Noble and Borders locations, are ousting comfy sofas, cozy chairs, and other seating designed for browsing books at leisure. Apparently "homeless squatters, overly enthusiastic young lovers, food trash left behind," and perhaps primarily, "people staying for hours and hours and not necessarily buying books," has done them in.

You'd think public libraries would be the place for cozy browsing, but apparently they face the same issues: "Libraries are designed to be inviting -- but again, the challenge is not to get people too comfortable.

"'It's a topic we wrestle with in every project,' says David Michaels, an Arizona-based interior designer who most recently worked on Enoch Pratt's Southeast Anchor Library in Highlandtown. Unlike the sparse soft seating at the main library, the new city branch on Eastern Avenue is furnished with habitable chairs."

Michaels then comments, rather mystifyingly, that "a public library should be every man's country club."

Portland and Camden, Maine: Made for Book Shopping

2007-07-25T10:03:00.000-04:00

An article in the South Mississippi Sun Herald extols the plethora of good bookshops in Portland and Camden. The writer browsed Books Etc. and Emerson Books in Portland, then Stone Soup Books, ABCD Books, Meetingbrook Bookshop & Bakery, Sherman's Books & Stationery and the Owl & Turtle Bookshop in Camden (missing one of my favourites, Rock City Books & Coffee, previously called Second Read Books, in Rockland). He had 36 books shipped back home. via Shelf Awareness

Harry Potter Mania Roundup

2007-07-23T09:17:00.000-04:00

The Wall Street Journal does a nice job of summarising the Harry Potter events, sales, and reading experience in the U.S. and the UK.

Lose the Blurbs, Add Some Stars?

2007-07-16T12:34:00.000-04:00

CA Barron in the Guardian blog suggests that book publishers dispense with uniformly hyperbolic blurbs on their books and instead move to a rating system like that of Rotten Tomatoes for films or Robert Parker for wines: "To have 2005's 206,000 books published in the UK, and 172,000 in the US, all shrieking superlatives at us seems counter-productive. Let us first savour and judge books -- like films and wine -- with our own brains, hearts and palates."

Commenter BillyMills likes the idea, and also suggests more honest blurbs, such as: "This is XXX's second novel. Due to contractual stipulations, it's much like his/her first novel" and "This is our entry in the great 9/11 novel sweepstakes." He also finds refreshing the candidness of some historical reviews, as "'One would imagine this piece to be the work of a drunken savage'. -- Voltaire, 1768 (of Hamlet)."

Maine Writers Index

2007-07-15T21:24:00.000-04:00

New on the Maine Writers Index:

Joanne Clarey (pictured), mystery and thriller writer, former Portland resident and now Maine summer resident.

Portland native and resident, Down East columnist, journalist Elizabeth Peavey

Maine Poet Philip Booth Dead (1925-2007)

2007-07-09T18:32:00.000-04:00

Poet Philip Booth was born and died in Hanover, NH, but was also a long-time resident of Castine. He died on 2 July 2007 of complications from Alzheimer's disease at age 81. He published twelve books and won Guggenheim, Rockefeller and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships. The NYT has an obituary, as does the Bangor Daily News, which includes this quote from his wife, Margaret: "Castine was the only home that I think he ever felt was his natural place. ... He always wanted to be there. He loved the straightforwardness of the people and their affection toward him."

Reading: In Case of Emergency

2007-07-09T16:04:00.000-04:00

An article at OregonLive names emergency reading material that people apparently keep in their vehicles, including: a scuba diving manual, books about railroads and circuses, 40 pounds of string quartet music, dictionaries in various languages, a manual for presiding over last rites and a book on growing camellias (both carried by priests), books about tractors and sake, comic books, a book on the history of zero, and Backpacking With Mule or Burro, for its chapter on persuading one's wife to do so. Bibles, books by Dr. Seuss, and overdue library books were the most common books stashed in cars and trucks.

via Free Library Blog

Recommended Summer-Reading Thrillers

2007-07-09T15:13:00.000-04:00

Four thrillers are recommended, some with reservations, in New York magazine's book section: The Dark River by John Twelve Hawks, the second in the dystopian 'Fourth Realm Trilogy'("like The Da Vinci Code without the shameful aftertaste"); The Red Dahlia by Lynda La Plante (of the Prime Suspect TV series); Chain of Evidence by Garry Disher, set in Australia; and The Tenderness of Wolves by debut author Stef Penney.

Amnesia Fiction

2007-07-09T15:04:00.000-04:00

Writer Joyce Carol Oates reviews four fiction titles featuring amnesia and amnesiacs, in The New York Review of Books.

RIP Kathleen Woodiwiss, 1939-2007

2007-07-09T14:48:00.000-04:00

Bestselling historical romance author Kathleen Woodiwiss died on 6 July at age 68 of cancer. She is considered by many to have created the 600-plus-page historical romance fiction novel. More here and here.

Teaching Computer Class

2007-07-09T12:26:00.001-04:00

Librarian Jessamyn made a YouTube video of her senior students learning how to use computers (Macs, in this case) to save a document and send email. Great idea!

Author Obit: Fred T. Saberhagen 1930-2007

2007-07-06T14:35:00.000-04:00

The AP reports the death on 29 June of science fiction writer and fantasy writer Fred T. Saberhagen, "best known for his 'Berserker' series about intelligent machines out to destroy the human race."

New Skete Monk Dies

2007-07-03T17:54:00.000-04:00

Father Laurence Mancuso, founding abbot of the Eastern Orthodox order of the Monks of New Skete (NY), well-known for breeding and training German shepherds, died on 10 June of injuries received in a fall. The monks have published two books on dog raising, How to Be Your Dog’s Best Friend (1978) and The Art of Raising a Puppy (1991). Among suggested training 'techniques' are to cuddle, massage, and sleep with the dog.

Obituaries in the Boston Globe, the NYT, the New York Sun, and the Albany Times Union.

Current Crime Novel Reviews

2007-07-01T12:36:00.000-04:00

New crime novels by Edna Buchanan, Marcia Muller, David Ellis, PJ Parrish, and Ridley Pearson are reviewed by Sarah Weinman in the Baltimore Sun; Peter Guttridge in The Observer reviews mysteries and thrillers by Philip Kerr, Paul Johnston, Jack Henderson, and debuts by Caro Ramsey and Elena Forbes; The Times Online offers a list of best summer crime reads -- including books by Mayra Montero, Peter Temple, Peter Robinson, John Harvey, Donna Leon, Brian McGilloway -- and best summer thriller reads, with titles by Martin Cruz Smith, Philip Kerr, Deon Meyer, Scott Smith, John le Carré, Simon Kernick, and Andrew Wilson (debut).

via Confessions

What Thriving Libraries Do Right

2007-06-20T17:58:00.000-04:00

Check out the notes from Marylaine Block's latest presentation, titled What Thriving Libraries Do Right: Help Their Communities Achieve Their Aspirations. She says that public libraries need to address the issues the public cares most about -- public safety/crime, employment, housing, and education -- and they need to help the community articulate its values and tell its story, promote citizenship, and be a connector. Lotsa links.

Forthcoming Books

2007-06-20T17:47:00.000-04:00

Some of the books due out next Tuesday, June 26, per Shelf Awareness:

Bungalow 2 by Danielle Steel: A suburban wife and mother makes it big as a Hollywood screenwriter.
The Double Agents by W.E.B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV: Sixth installment of the Men at War series.
New England White by Stephen L. Carter: New novel from the author of The Emperor of Ocean Park
Dog Days: Dispatches from Bedlam Farm by Jon Katz: Memoir about the adventures of farm life from the host of the Northeast Public Radio show 'Dog Talk.'

Top 12 Books For Kids Under 12

2007-06-19T16:11:00.000-04:00

UK School Librarian of the Year Ingrid Hopson selects twelve books that she thinks all kids should read by the time they are 12 years old. Among them are Freak the Mighty by Rodman Philbrick; Dream On by Bali Rai (particularly good for struggling or reluctant readers); I, Coriander by Sally Gardner Coriander (set in 1650s London and in a fairy world); Journey to the River Sea by Eva Ibbotson; and Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay.

Readers Love Misery Lit

2007-06-19T16:07:00.000-04:00

The Guardian on the popularity of misery lit, aka 'Inspirational Memoirs' or 'Painful Lives,' those books filled with 'neglect, violence, and sexual abuse. ... These are not, one might say, tales to be read with pleasure. And yet a quite astonishing number of people want to read them all the same. ... Reproducing like bacteria, a new literary genre has wholly infected the bestseller charts. As much as 30% of the non-fiction paperback chart on any given week is made up of accounts of similarly grinding childhood misery.' Most of the readers (85%) are estimated to be women.

Books mentioned are Please, Daddy, No by Stuart Howarth; Damaged and (forthcoming) Hidden: Betrayed, Forgotten and Abandoned, both by Cathy Glass; Kathy O'Beirne's autobiography Don't Ever Tell; Abandoned by Anya Peters; Wasted by Mark Johnson; Dave Pelzer's memoir, A Child Called It (2000), the forerunner of the genre.

Interview with Linda Greenlaw

2007-06-12T13:27:00.000-04:00

Maine writer and fishing boat captain Linda Greenlaw (The Hungry Ocean and The Lobster Chronicles) has published a crime novel, in stores now, titled Slipknot, the first in a mystery series featuring marine investigator Jane Bunker. Ray Routhier at Maine Today interviews her.

Stephen King Novella in ESQUIRE

2007-06-12T13:04:00.000-04:00

Stephen King's novella THE GINGERBREAD GIRL appears in the current (July) issue of Esquire magazine, on newsstands today. His forthcoming (January) book Duma Key apparently grew out of the novella. More at examiner.com.

Forthcoming Books

2007-06-12T10:18:00.000-04:00

Some of the books due out next Tuesday, June 19, per Shelf Awareness:

Innocent as Sin by Elizabeth Lowell. Romantic suspense.
The Lady in Blue by Javier Sierra. Story set in U.S. and Spain about centuries-old enigma.
Lean Mean Thirteen by Janet Evanovich, in the Stephanie Plum mystery series; she's the prime suspect in her ex-husband's alleged murder.
Secret Asset by Stella Rimington, follow-up to her debut thriller, with MI5 intelligence officer Liz Carlyle.
The Green Book: The Everyday Guide to Saving the Planet One Simple Step at a Time by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen.

h20boro lib blog

New Readers' Blog

Library Items Stolen and Sold Online

Ludlum: 12 New Bestsellers Since His Death

Cozy Chairs Unseated

Portland and Camden, Maine: Made for Book Shopping

Harry Potter Mania Roundup

More Summer Reading Lists

Lose the Blurbs, Add Some Stars?

Maine Writers Index

Maine Poet Philip Booth Dead (1925-2007)

Reading: In Case of Emergency

Recommended Summer-Reading Thrillers

Amnesia Fiction

RIP Kathleen Woodiwiss, 1939-2007

Teaching Computer Class

Author Obit: Fred T. Saberhagen 1930-2007

New Skete Monk Dies

Current Crime Novel Reviews

What Thriving Libraries Do Right

Forthcoming Books

Top 12 Books For Kids Under 12

Readers Love Misery Lit

Interview with Linda Greenlaw

Stephen King Novella in ESQUIRE

Forthcoming Books