Hello baseball fans out there! Mr. Ron Darling came by the office a few weeks ago and signed a copy of his new book, THE COMPLETE GAME: Reflections on Baseball, Pitching, and Life on the Mound.

“Baseball generates dozens of books every year . . . This is easily the best of the year so far . . . It’s hard to recall a baseball book that offers as much information about the game–from a player’s perspective–as this one.”
–Booklist

Now we’re giving it away! Tell us what your favorite baseball team is in the comments, and I’ll pick one lucky library employee to send the autographed book to. (Don’t worry, I’m not a huge baseball fan, so I don’t have any real bias.)

-Dave

I was shocked to turn on the news this morning and see Edward Kennedy had passed away. In May of this year, Crown released a biography on the “Lion of the Senate” by Edward Klein. Be sure to check your lists for this one as your patrons may be asking.

Hello friends!

It has been a while. I was away on business and vacation in my home state: sunny California. And sunny it was. I’m surprised I got any reading done but with a 5-6 hour flight both ways there is plenty of time for that. While I did cheat on Random House a bit, I also finished a few of our own titles:

THE DEAD-TOSSED WAVES: The second in a new “paranormal” series from Carrie Ryan, this book is published by our kids group and was even better than the first. It picks up in the years following The Forest of Hands and Teeth (read my previous post about that one to get a synopsis) and follows Gabry as as she goes from living a quiet life to confronting the undead, the blossomings of love, and family secrets that change everything. If you haven’t read Forest yet, start there, as Dead-Tossed won’t be available until March 2010.

FACTORY GIRLS: FROM VILLAGE TO CITY IN A CHANGING CHINA: Wall Street Journal reporter Leslie T. Chang effectively drops her reader into the life of the “factory girls,” young  Chinese women who leave their villages and families for the province of Dongguan – a city of factories where everything from Coach to Nike is made. Focusing on dating practices, job hunts, English classes, and other ways of life, this book gives readers a glimpse into the culture surrounding the world that has been created all in the name of our sneakers and electronics. As a young woman who “migrated” from the suburbs to the city myself, I was intrigued by the stories of the women Chang interviewed and befriended and our shared similarites. This book was named a New York Times Book Review “Notable Book” and it is easy to see why – approachable and illuminating, this is not one to miss.

THE TRIPLE BIND: SAVING OUR TEENAGE GIRLS FROM TODAY’S PRESSURES: Ever wonder why more adolescents suffer from troubling emotional problems today than in decades past? Dr. Stephen Hinshaw (chair of the Psychology Department at my alma mater!) points to what he calls “The Triple Bind.” Today’s young girls are feeling more and more pressure to “Be pretty, sweet, and nice” and at the same time “be athletic, competitive, and get straight A’s” and the clicher… “be impossibly perfect”. This is an interesting read for anyone who has a teen girl in his or her life – or ever was one.

To welcome myself back to the blog after my absense, I’ve procured a copy of The Triple Bind that I’d love to send to one lucky reader. Please comment for your chance to win!

- Marie

We all do it. We might be quiet about it. We may slip another jacket around the binding in the subway, but we do it. My favorite book of all time (Infinite Jest) is published by Hachette. The one I’ve been reading most recently (Ernest Hemingway, The First Forty-Nine Stories) is from Simon and Schuster. And one of the best books I read last year was from Penguin (Drown, Junot Diaz).

Well, what do you think goes on at all these library conferences? Bartering. Hoarding. Hiding. That’s what. Otherwise, we probably wouldn’t take the time to get to know each other, because God knows their employees are just insufferably gruff. Draconian, even. I mean look at them.* And we’re very mean as well.

That said, they still put out some good stuff. Here are some recommendations from a few of us, of a few of them:

David: Then We Came to the End (Back Bay Books)
Marie: Anne Frank: The Book, the Life, the Afterlife (HarperCollins)
Marci: Stitches: A Memoir (W.W. Norton)
Erica: What Happens in London (HarperCollins)

*Just kidding: We love you.

-David

There’s a great article up on the New York Magazine website about Jonathan Lethem’s forthcoming book, Chronic City. For those who may not know, his most famous book is probably Motherless Brooklyn, and the man is very Brooklyn-centric. He usually writes about Brooklyn. He lives in Brooklyn. I’ve seen him at the Brooklyn Book Festival. And now he is crossing the bridge…to the “weirder” side.

In his interview, he suggests that his inspiration for the derailment came from Woody Allen.

Lethem is encroaching upon Allen’s territory: Chronic City, whose working title was Manhattan, and which Lethem describes as a cross between the famous borough-centric New Yorker cartoon and “the darkest Seinfeld episode ever,” takes place entirely on the Upper East Side. 

Sounds good to me. I also have read an excerpt from this book and can tell you myself that the language he uses is on par with the greatest writers of out time. Check out the article when you get a chance!

-David

Random House is running a fun contest that is centered around E.L. Doctorow’s new novel, Homer & Langley.  The book is based on the story of New York’s fabled Collyer brothers, two recluses who hoarded items in their mansion and attempted to shut out modern civilization.

They thought it would be fun to have readers show off their literary clutter, so they created a group on Facebook group called “I have more books than Facebook friends” and we are inviting readers to join and post pics of their bulging bookshelves for the chance to win a first edition signed copy of Homer & Langley and copies of Doctorow’s previous books.

You are librarians, so it’s likely that your books are plentiful. However, they’re probably ridiculously organized. So you might have to invite a sugar-high nephew over to throw your books around a bit before you take the picture. As long as he throws them gently.

-Jen

Just left the office to get a coffee (Iced, of course) and was struck by how exiting the building felt like entering a sauna.  If I were at a spa, that would be cool, but since I had to return to work, not good.  It got me to thinking about some books that would transport me to a cooler place.  It was a fun exercise, feel free to add your suggestions!

How about a book set on an Ice-drilling submarine? ICE SONG, by Kirsten Imani Kasai was just reviewed by School Library Journal.  They said, “…Told in a quiet, sometimes almost dreamlike style reminiscent of fairy tales (though at times disturbing ones), Ice Song will appeal to teens interested in questions of identity and difference.”

TERMINAL FREEZE: an enormous ancient animal, encased in solid ice…even that sounds good right now.

THE PERFECT SCOOP  What’s better in the summer than ice cream? Ripe seasonal fruits. Fragrant vanilla, toasted nuts, and spices. Heavy cream and bright liqueurs. Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Every luscious flavor imaginable is grist for the chill in The Perfect Scoop, pastry chef David Lebovitz’s gorgeous guide to the pleasures of homemade ice creams, sorbets, granitas, and more.  Yum.

EXTREME ICE NOW.  Need I say more?  OK, it is technically about melting ice, but that is still pretty cold. 

–Jen

After watching the movie trailer for The Informant, I am elevating Matt Damon to Tom Hanks status.  You are all my witnesses, I will now officially go see any movie starring Matt Damon.  His choices have been spot on for a while now and The Informant looks to deliver another fantastic performance.  Love him!

-Erica

 Egmont USA organized a bus tour of Manhattan with author Walter Dean Myers, in support of his new novel Riot (Sept.), set in 1863 during the New York City draft riots. Beginning at the New-York Historical Society, the tour visited numerous sites of historical interest, including the Irish Hunger Memorial, Castle Clinton, the South Street Seaport, the site of the former Five Points slum and the African Burial Ground, with Myers and historian/author Barnet Schecter (The Devil’s Own Work: The Civil War Draft Riots and the Fight to Reconstruct America) serving as guides. Here, Myers speaks in front of the statue of Horace Greeley at City Hall Park.

-Erica

The Dayton Metro Library blog, Dayton’s Best Bets, recently reviewed The Night Counter by Alia Yunis.  Our many thanks to Kristen @ the Main Library for giving kudos to this in-house favorite!

-Erica