Blog Post
Monthly Book Discussions at Crazy Wisdom
by manz
Looking to read a book and join a discussion on it? Check out Crazy Wisdom’s monthly book discussions, which take place at 7 p.m. at the Crazy Wisdom Community Room. Titles to be discussed in the near future are:
September 10: Pandora’s Seed: The Unforeseen Cost of Civilization by Spencer Wells
October 15: The Idle Parent: Why Laid-Back Parents Raise Happier and Healthier Kids by Tom Hodgkinson, hosted by Bill Zirinksy
November 12: The Death of Religion and the Rebirth of Spirit: A Return to the Intelligence of the Heart by Joseph Chilton Pearce
December 10: The Power of Rest: Why Sleep Alone Isn’t Enough - A 30-Day Plan to Reset Your Body by Matthew Edlund
There is no registration, just show up! Check here for full details, and for more information on each title. AADL owns all four titles! Any spark your interest?
Blog Post
Author Birthdays: Burroughs, Cherryh
by marshd
September 1st marks the birthday of authors Edgar Rice Burroughs and C. J. Cherryh.
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American writer best known for his characters Tarzan (of the series by the same name) and John Carter (of the Barsoom series).
Burroughs also wrote the famous novel The Land that Time Forgot (first in the Caspak trilogy), which was originally published as a serial. The story is much like other famous "lost world" stories, like Journey to the Center of the Earth. The novel has been made into two films.
C. J. Cherryh is an American author of science-fiction and fantasy. Out of her impressive bibliography, two novels have won Hugo Awards for best novel: Downbelow Station and Cyteen. A department of NASA named an asteroid after her (77185 Cherryh), and said, in reference to it, "She has challenged us to be worthy of the stars by imagining how mankind might grow to live among them."
Among Cherryh's works are at least 15 series and a few solo novels. One of the series, called The Gene Wars, starts out with the book Hammerfall, which Publisher's Weekly summed up as "two women with superhuman powers wage psychic and genetic war for control of a civilization."
Blog Post
Good Listening: Speaking of Faith
by annevm
One of my favorite podcasts is Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett from American Public Media. Next month the show's name becomes "Krista Tippett on Being" -- and it sounds like Krista has more good shows planned. This summer, my favorite was her interview with Shane Claiborne, a 30-something social activist you can read about in Esquire magazine accessible in General Reference Center Gold.
Blog Post
Orion Book Award Winner: Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing by Charles Bowden
by ballybeg
The 2010 Orion Book Awards have been announced. Orion is one of the best magazines you will find, whose byline – nature/culture/place – reveals its focus. The editorial board reads like a who’s who of contemporary luminaries in the environmental movement, such as: Wendell Berry, Bill McKibben, Edward O. Wilson, Barry Lopez, Jane Goodall. Orion manages to be artistic, literary, probing and provocative, with cutting-edge articles on the politics, ethics and practice of environmentalism, farming and forestry and featuring the work of artists, poets, and storytellers. It inspires personal commitment to change the world, one short shower, cloth bag, bike ride and community garden at a time.
Every year the editors acknowledge books that, “deepen our connection to the natural world, present new ideas about our relationship with nature and achieve excellence in writing”. We own a few of the winners and Mel owns the rest. Below are this year’s winners with links to the catalog where you can reserve them.
The 2010 winner:Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing: Living in the Future Charles Bowden
The 2010 finalists:The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World Wade Davis
Rewilding the West: Restoration in a Prairie Landscape Richard Manning
Reasons for and Advantages of Breathing: Stories Lydia Peelle
The Barbaric Heart: Faith, Money, and the Crisis of Nature Curtis White
Blog Post
Treasure beyond yer wildest dreams…
by StoryLaura
Cap'n Sam and her dastardly first mate will share scurvy tales on International Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19th at the Downtown Library.
Learn about the A2 Treasure Hunt and discover there be treasure at the library!
Blog Post
Fifth Avenue Fun!
by StoryLaura
Storytimes are beginning all over town! We’ll be celebrating grandparents at the Downtown Tuesday and Wednesday storytimes, with Beautiful Bananas and the silly folktale, The Squeaky Door. Can’t wait to see all our favorite listeners again!
Blog Post
The Art Book Today
by annevm
Anyone with interest in books and art should consider going to the upcoming History of Art 2010 Fall Symposium The Art Book Today: Print Projects in the Digital Age. This fascinating sounding event is coming up Sept. 11 from 1-5 p.m. at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Knowledgeable panelists will talk about designing, publishing, and distributing art books and books on art when the publishing industry seems to be changing daily. Ways to move forward in this exciting field also will be on the table.
Blog Post
Author Birthdays: Buchan, Isherwood
by marshd
August 26th marks the birthday of authors John Buchan and Christopher Isherwood.
John Buchan was a Scottish novelist and Governor General of Canada. He wrote mainly adventure fiction, five books of which contain the manly and MacGyver-like character Richard Hannay. Three other stories by Buchan feature the middle-aged reluctant hero Dickson McCunn, whose adventures start in the book Huntingtower.
Baron Buchan also wrote historical fiction, like the mystery Witch Wood, which features romance and religion in 17th century Scotland, and even a novel about a terminally ill man, his death and redemption, called Sick Heart River.
Christopher Isherwood was an English-born American author. One of his novels, Mr. Norris Changes Trains, was inspired by his life as an expatriate in Berlin in the 1930s. The main characters include the narrator, William Bradshaw, and the masochistic Arthur Norris.
Another of Isherwood's novels is A Single Man, which centers on a middle-aged gay Englishman and his recent partner's loss, which he must learn to cope with. It was recently made into a film by Tom Ford, and it stars Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.
Blog Post
A Beach Tail by Karen Lynn Williams
by Tahira
A boy and his father go to the beach. The boy is told not to go into the water or past the lion’s tale that he drew in the sand. As the boy draws the lions tail longer he sees many wonders on the beach but loses sight of his father and has to decide what to do. Karen Lynn Williams rhythmic words are like the waves of an ocean. Floyd Cooper’s sandy illustrations reveal the beauty of the beach seen through the eyes of a child.
Blog Post
Today is National Youth Literacy Day!
by manz
826National is dubbing August 26 (8/26) National Youth Literacy Day. That’s today!! “826 writing centers provide totally free literacy instruction to 22,000 students every year.” There are eight nonprofit chapters across the country, including 826Michigan right here in Ann Arbor.
Did you know that there is a writing/tutoring lab in the back of that wacky Robot Shop on Liberty Street? Behind that red curtain is totally FREE tutoring, drop-in writing, workshops, fieldtrips, and other goodness going on for kids age 6-18. Need help with math? Drop in afterschool, as tutoring starts Sept. 20. Want to drop the kids off for an amazing writing workshop one evening while you grab coffee next door? Stay tuned here for the fall schedule, which gets posted on Sept. 6! Register fast, as spaces fill up quickly. (There are even workshops for adults!) I know for a fact that the kids and adults around there have oodles of fun while teaching/learning.
Some of the works the children write get published in anthologies, and the beautiful books are sold at the Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair Shop, and some are available for check out right here at AADL. Neat, right?