Recently the National Book Foundation announced the winners of the 2009 National Book Awards:
Fiction: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann
Non-Fiction: The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt by T. J. Stiles
Poetry: Transcendental Studies: A Trilogy by Keith Waldrop
Young People's Literature: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Phillip Hoose
In celebration of its 60th anniversary, the National Book Foundation is honoring its past winners by nominating six titles for the Best of the National Book Awards. Voting was open to the public. Over 10,000 people voted and Flannery O'Connor's Complete Stories, which originally won the NBA in 1972, was chosen as the Best of the Best for 2009.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Book News From USA Today
Keep up on this season's releases with USA Today's interactive Fall Books calendar.
USA Today says: "O no!"
Last week's news that Oprah is closing shop on September 9, 2011 has the publishing world wondering: What now? All 63 Oprah book club picks since 1996 have made USA Today's Top 50 list of bestsellers and 19 hit No. 1. Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth was No. 1 longest at 11 consecutive weeks.
Oprah's influence goes beyond book club picks: recent appearances on Oprah by Mackenzie Phillips and Sarah Palin helped make them best sellers.
USA Today says: "O no!"
Last week's news that Oprah is closing shop on September 9, 2011 has the publishing world wondering: What now? All 63 Oprah book club picks since 1996 have made USA Today's Top 50 list of bestsellers and 19 hit No. 1. Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth was No. 1 longest at 11 consecutive weeks.
Oprah's influence goes beyond book club picks: recent appearances on Oprah by Mackenzie Phillips and Sarah Palin helped make them best sellers.
Friday, November 20, 2009
The Word of the Year is "Unfriend"
The New Oxford American Dictionary has chosen "unfriend" as the 2009 Word of the Year. It means to remove someone from your friend list on a social network like Facebook. Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford's US dictionary program, said the word was chosen because of its "currency and potential longevity" .... plus it has "real lex-appeal."
Some of the other words under consideration were: "birther", "death panels", and "sexting." The important attributes considered in selecting a Word of the Year (WOTY) are both its popularity and its cultural importance over the course of the past 12 months. It was the first time in recent years that the WOTY did not spring fairly directly from the lexicon of environmentalists.
Over the course of the past three years, ("hypermiling" in 2008, "locavore" in 2007, and "carbon neutral" in 2006), the WOTY selections had been starting to look pretty green
Some of the other words under consideration were: "birther", "death panels", and "sexting." The important attributes considered in selecting a Word of the Year (WOTY) are both its popularity and its cultural importance over the course of the past 12 months. It was the first time in recent years that the WOTY did not spring fairly directly from the lexicon of environmentalists.
Over the course of the past three years, ("hypermiling" in 2008, "locavore" in 2007, and "carbon neutral" in 2006), the WOTY selections had been starting to look pretty green
Friday, August 21, 2009
Want to read like a president?
The online site, The Daily Beast, pulled together every book that the Reader in Chief has been spotted with since the campaign. So, if you are looking for your next book to read -- perhaps you will want to borrow an idea from the First Reader Barack Obama.
The Barack Obama Book Club Reading List:
The Barack Obama Book Club Reading List:
- What is the What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng by Dave Eggers
- Netherland by Joseph O'Neill
- Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet by Jeffrey D. Sachs
- Lincoln: The Biography of a Writer by Fred Kaplan
- Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope by Jonathan Alter
- FDR by Jean Edward Smith
- Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll
- Collected Poems, 1948 to 1984 by Derek Walcott
- Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America by Thomas L. Friedman
- Unequal Democracy: The Political Economy of the New Gilded Age by Larry Bartels
- Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Book Discussion Groups for Adults
The afternoon book discussion group for adults will be meeting on Thursday, August 27 at 1:00 to discuss Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes.
Description of Under the Tuscan Sun from Amazon.com: In this memoir of her buying, renovating, and living in an abandoned villa in Tuscany, Frances Mayes reveals the sensual pleasure she found living in rural Italy, and the generous spirit she brought with her. She revels in the sunlight and the color, the long view of her valley, the warm homey architecture, the languor of the slow paced days, the vigor of working her garden, and the intimacy of her dealings with the locals. Cooking, gardening, tiling and painting are never chores, but skills to be learned, arts to be practiced, and above all to be enjoyed. At the same time Mayes brings a literary and intellectual mind to bear on the experience, adding depth to this account of her enticing rural idyll.
The evening book discussion group for adults will be meeting on Thursday, August 27 at 6:30 pm to discuss Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier.
Description of Thirteen Moons from Amazon.com: This is the story of one man’s remarkable life, spanning a century of relentless change. At the age of twelve, an orphan named Will Cooper is given a horse, a key, and a map and is sent on a journey through the wilderness to the edge of the Cherokee Nation, the uncharted white space on the map. Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his people, developing relationships that ultimately forge Will’s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, will forever rule Will’s heart.
New members are always welcome.
Description of Under the Tuscan Sun from Amazon.com: In this memoir of her buying, renovating, and living in an abandoned villa in Tuscany, Frances Mayes reveals the sensual pleasure she found living in rural Italy, and the generous spirit she brought with her. She revels in the sunlight and the color, the long view of her valley, the warm homey architecture, the languor of the slow paced days, the vigor of working her garden, and the intimacy of her dealings with the locals. Cooking, gardening, tiling and painting are never chores, but skills to be learned, arts to be practiced, and above all to be enjoyed. At the same time Mayes brings a literary and intellectual mind to bear on the experience, adding depth to this account of her enticing rural idyll.
The evening book discussion group for adults will be meeting on Thursday, August 27 at 6:30 pm to discuss Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier.
Description of Thirteen Moons from Amazon.com: This is the story of one man’s remarkable life, spanning a century of relentless change. At the age of twelve, an orphan named Will Cooper is given a horse, a key, and a map and is sent on a journey through the wilderness to the edge of the Cherokee Nation, the uncharted white space on the map. Will is a bound boy, obliged to run a remote Indian trading post. As he fulfills his lonesome duty, Will finds a father in Bear, a Cherokee chief, and is adopted by him and his people, developing relationships that ultimately forge Will’s character. All the while, his love of Claire, the enigmatic and captivating charge of volatile and powerful Featherstone, will forever rule Will’s heart.
New members are always welcome.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
SAVE A MAGAZINE Campaign
Due to the current economy, the Buena Park Library District has experienced several budget cuts. Beginning, January 2010, we will have to drop our subscription to approx. 50 titles.
If you would like to SAVE A MAGAZINE we would gladly accept the donated price of an annual subscription. (Please do not subscribe on your own -- so we can avoid receiving duplicate copies.) For more information, please call the Library at 714-826-4100 x125 and ask for Patricia Rivera or Kathy Billings. Or email us at referencedesk@buenapark.lib.ca.us.
We already have several titles that have been SAVED by our generous donors: American Heritage, Christianity Today, Dog Fancy, Gourmet, National Geographic Traveler, New Yorker, Organic Gardening, and Trains.
The following titles (with their annual subscription price) are still waiting to be SAVED:
American Journal of Nursing $270
Antiques $40
Architectural Digest $42
Art News $40
Bicycling $20
Bottom Line $39
Cat Fancy $28
Conde Nast's Traveler $20
Doll Reader $30
Downbeat $35
E Magazine $30
Field and Stream $20
Flying $26
Forbes $60
Golf Digest $28
GQ $20
Guitar World $12
Harper's Magazine $21
Homeschooling Today $22
House Beautiful $20
InStyle $30
Knit Simple $20
Macworld $35
McCall Quilting $22
Men's Journal $20
Men's Health $25
Mental Floss $22
More $20
Motorcyclist $10
Muscle Fitness $40
Nation $90
New Scientist $149
Newsweek $41
Orange County Business Journal $90
Parents $16
Popular Mechanics $24
Popular Photo & Imaging $24
Prevention $22
Readymade $20
Runner's World $24
Scientific American $40
Self $18
Shooting Times $24
Smart Computing $29
Sound and Vision $29
Spin $10
Threads $33
Weight Watchers $15
Thank you!!
If you would like to SAVE A MAGAZINE we would gladly accept the donated price of an annual subscription. (Please do not subscribe on your own -- so we can avoid receiving duplicate copies.) For more information, please call the Library at 714-826-4100 x125 and ask for Patricia Rivera or Kathy Billings. Or email us at referencedesk@buenapark.lib.ca.us.
We already have several titles that have been SAVED by our generous donors: American Heritage, Christianity Today, Dog Fancy, Gourmet, National Geographic Traveler, New Yorker, Organic Gardening, and Trains.
The following titles (with their annual subscription price) are still waiting to be SAVED:
American Journal of Nursing $270
Antiques $40
Architectural Digest $42
Art News $40
Bicycling $20
Bottom Line $39
Cat Fancy $28
Conde Nast's Traveler $20
Doll Reader $30
Downbeat $35
E Magazine $30
Field and Stream $20
Flying $26
Forbes $60
Golf Digest $28
GQ $20
Guitar World $12
Harper's Magazine $21
Homeschooling Today $22
House Beautiful $20
InStyle $30
Knit Simple $20
Macworld $35
McCall Quilting $22
Men's Journal $20
Men's Health $25
Mental Floss $22
More $20
Motorcyclist $10
Muscle Fitness $40
Nation $90
New Scientist $149
Newsweek $41
Orange County Business Journal $90
Parents $16
Popular Mechanics $24
Popular Photo & Imaging $24
Prevention $22
Readymade $20
Runner's World $24
Scientific American $40
Self $18
Shooting Times $24
Smart Computing $29
Sound and Vision $29
Spin $10
Threads $33
Weight Watchers $15
Thank you!!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Book Discussion Groups for Adults
The next meeting of the Book Discussion Groups for Adults will be on Thursday, July 23rd, 2009.
The afternoon group will be meeting at 1:00 in the small downstairs meeting room.
The choice for this month's discussion is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.
The evening group will be meeting at 6:30 pm in the 2nd floor Board Room.
The choice for this month's discussion is The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman he Loved by Judith Freeman
New members are always welcome. For more information on these titles please visit our Library Thing page.
The afternoon group will be meeting at 1:00 in the small downstairs meeting room.
The choice for this month's discussion is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer.
The evening group will be meeting at 6:30 pm in the 2nd floor Board Room.
The choice for this month's discussion is The Long Embrace: Raymond Chandler and the Woman he Loved by Judith Freeman
New members are always welcome. For more information on these titles please visit our Library Thing page.
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