Earlier today Erica shared with me a link from a Publisher’s Weekly post by Shelftalker’s Alison Morris. In it  Morris points us in the direction of what she calls “The Best Blog You (Probably) Haven’t Been Reading.” She is talking about Baby Name Wizard author Laura Wattenberg’s blog. An extension of her awesome book and website, this blog is for more than expectant parents and baby-friendly folks (of which, I’m neither. Really. OK, well maybe that last one.) Termed “The Art and Science of Baby Names” is an armchair linguist’s dream. And Wattenberg, a software developer and mother, designed the software that backs her approach, making it all the more interesting!

Recent posts have included her projections for the most popular names in the year 2019 (and Laura, I noticed that Marie is NOT on that list), an analysis of the names chosen for the characters in the popular American Girl historical book series, and the “Oprah Name Club,”  a list of folks who, shortly following their birth, have had their intended names changed by typos and misspellings. If you have ever asked yourself the question, “What’s in a name?” or you want to ponder just how popular your own name is, this site won’t let you down. Enjoy!

Also, be sure you have a copy of The Baby Name Wizard on your shelves. First published in 2005, it has been recently updated and will help your patrons get past Jason and Jennifer and Madison and Mason.

-Marie

This is George. You might recognize him as Jen's son. According to BabyNameWizard.com, the name George reached its peak in the 1880's. Marie reached its peak in the 1900's. I say keep rockin' that classic name, George!

Poetry + Libraries = Transformation

by Kathy Welton, author of Poetry for Beginners (Steerforth, coming Jan. 2010)

In a recent New York Times article, Harold Bloom, professor of English at Yale advocates getting lost in books:

“More than ever in this time of economic troubles and societal change, entering upon an undergraduate education should be a voyage away from visual overstimulation into deep, sustained reading of what is most worth absorbing and understanding: the books that survive all ideological fashions.

There is general agreement on the indispensable canon: Homer, Plato, the Bible, Virgil, Dante, Chaucer, Cervantes, Shakespeare, Montaigne, Milton. From the 19th century until now, keeping only to English and American authors, a slightly more arbitrary selection might include Blake, Wordsworth, Austen, Dickens, George Eliot, Hardy, Yeats and Joyce in England and Ireland. Among the Americans would certainly be Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Hawthorne; and in the 20th century, Faulkner and the major poets: Robert Frost, Wallace Stevens, T. S. Eliot, Hart Crane.”

One doesn’t necessarily need to be in school to get lost in books–or in poetry.
My fondest memories are of holding a book in my hands at a very early age. We were very lucky as a family to have both a prized library set of the Harvard Classics and an entire encyclopedia set in our house. Books that I could treasure, look at, and read while I was growing up.

Lucky indeed.

In addition, I was greatly influenced by my English teachers. I remember having to recite “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe in the fifth grade. And I am especially grateful to Diane Middlebrook, a poet and English teacher at Stanford University who showed her students how to transform and transcend destiny. I will always remember her poetry classes—and a special class when she read a favorite poem with Debussy’s “Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun” playing in the background.

So this was poetry!

These experiences with books and poetry greatly shaped my career, life, and who I am today.

I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to work with words and the world of books and be a part of the book publishing community for over 30 years. Working with authors, bookstores, and librarians has always been an essential way for me to get by and to get lost in books.

Working on a book in the For Beginners® series has been another enjoyable opportunity and experience for me. I liked the documentary, graphic, straightforward, and accessible (more…)

Times are tough for us all, libraries included.  And when the going gets tough, we depend on our friends.  You may know that Paula Poundstone is now a spokesperson for Friends of Libraries USA (FOLUSA) but did you know this?  She has done a couple of Public Service Announcements that are readily available for you to use to promote your library’s friends group as well as your library.  For more information from FOLUSA, click here.

Paula Poundstone is the author of  There’s Nothing in this Book That I Meant to Say, so we’ve had the pleasure of attending several of FOLUSA’s The Laugh’s on Us programs at ALA, featuring the hysterical stand-up comedienne.  We enjoyed ourselves immensely because we somehow managed to stay under the radar and escaped becoming the focus of one of Ms. Poundstone’s routines. (We have friends that weren’t so lucky–Virginia Stanley of HarperCollins, for one!  But she was a good sport about it.)

Paula’s short youtube message is sweet and amusing.  Please use it to help spread the word about your library.  After all, we can never have too many friends!

Most of the time I’m a one book kind of girl. Even though I sometimes contemplate my next read only pages into my current read, I go cover to cover before I pick up another. It’s just my style.

Lately, however, I’ve been double-fisting it when it comes to my literary pursuits. Just a couple of weeks ago I was triple teamed as I read a YA title, one set in rural Appalachia and A.S. Byatt’s new one, The Children’s Book, all at once. I finished the first two intent to settle on the third but then The Lost Symbol came out and… well, you know. This weekend I just wasn’t in the mood to read on my e-reader (where the Byatt manuscript currently resides) and instead I picked up Nefertiti by Michelle Moran now I am hooked. So the tale of two reads continues… For the most part, if I read two or three books at once they have to be completely different from one another but I find more than one book at a time distracting – yet here I am bouncing between Egypt and England. Regardless, both are great books and I recommend them highly.

Tell me about your reading habits. Are you a one-at-a-timer or do you double fist?

As the resident quasi-Latino, this reminder falls to me. I’ve been trying to get back to my Latin roots lately. I’ve been taking salsa classes since February and chasing after Latin ladies (related? probably.), but I haven’t picked up a good Latin American book in awhile. This seems like the appropriate time. And luckily, I’ve a lot to choose from. Here are some of the books we’re coming out with that could fall under the Latino Heritage category.

Red April by Santiago Roncagliolo - This is one I should really read after taking that trip to Peru last fall. It’s a political thriller set mostly in Lima about terrorist organizations and oppressive government during the turn of the 21st century.

When a Heart Turns Rock Solid by Timothy Black – An associate professor of sociology writes the story of three Puerto Rican brothers he has befriended over the last 18 years, whose lives take very different paths. Rarely would one find a better exploration of how economic, social and cultural forces shape individual lives and choices.

How to Raise the Perfect Dog by Cesar Millan – Television’s “Dog Whisperer” shows us, in his trademark friendly voice, the best way to build a great foundation for your puppy in the early years.

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros – Recently refurbished, this modern classic still resonates clearly with the innumerable families who’ve gone through something similar.

And if you’re looking for books in Spanish language, we’ve got you covered there as well. Recently, we’ve released Roberto Bolano’s 2666 and Isabel Allende’s La isla bajo el mar, and just over the horizon is Gabriel Garcia Marquez: Una Vida, Nabakov’s Lolita, and Sebold’s Desde mi cielo (which is the Spanish title for “The Lovely Bones’).

For more titles en espanol, click here!

-David

I admit it. I’m a wimp. I don’t like scary movies and I DON’T like scary books. While I did read the likes of R.L. Stine when I was little, I’ve never gone near Stephen King or anything that really spooks. Still, I’m drawn to Sophie Laguna’s One Foot Wrong and might decide to challenge myself. Take a look at the trailer below and tell me what you think.

-Marie

Yesterday I had a thrill. DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY was in to sign!! Authors come in often, but rarely is there a line–yesterday there was. I shouldn’t have been surprised because I used my two minutes to remind him of the rock-star signing he did for us in San Francisco during ALA when his SIBLEY GUIDE TO BIRDS came out. It was a riot, literally. We totally lost control of the line and he was blinded by the flash bulbs!

His SIBLEY GUIDE TO TREES is just magnificent! I come from a family of tree-lovers. My Dad had a small nursery at one point and a low point of my childhood was when I didn’t speak to my family for two weeks when I was about 12, because they had to cut down the giant oak at the end of my grandmother’s walk that had been killed by mistletoe. I surprise myself all these years later by how many trees I can identify.

Sibley’s talents are amazing! Every tree, every leaf, every seed pod, what the bark looks like, where they grow…more than 4,100 illustrations! This is for EVERY library collection, both reference and circulating. For anyone considering landscaping their yard. For anyone taking a trip to a National Park. For anyone taking a walk down their street. For all tree lovers. OK, enough already.

Just to end, in addition to getting a personally signed copy–I have one precious signed copy to give away. Write in with a comment and I’ll pick someone to get this classic.

And now I have to go and water my 6 ft. tall corn plant (the closest thing to a tree in our office).

-Marcia

Would I rather be Jessica or Elizabeth?  Truly, this is a question I remember asking myself.  Repeatedly.  Jessica was totally popular and utterly confident, but a little mean.  Elizabeth was the quintessential nice girl–smart, pretty, steady boyfriend–but let’s face it, a little boring.  Depending on which volume I was reading, my answer changed.  Regardless, Sweet Valley High was a beloved part of my pre-teen years and Jessica and Liz offered wonderful escapism. (Remember when Todd got his Motorcycle in Dangerous Love??  Or when Jessica stays out All Night Long and Liz has to pretend to be her twin??)

Now I hear that Diablo Cody (of Juno Fame) is set to adapt and produce Sweet Valley High for the big screen.  Be still my heart.  Not since I got the news about the new 90210 have I been this excited. 

OK, so maybe I’m well past my pre-teen years, but I still can’t decide if I’d rather be Jessica or Liz.  Maybe the movie will help me decide for good.  And it should help bring Sweet Valley High to the attention of a whole new generation of readers, so be sure to stock up.  Double Love, Secrets, Playing With Fire (one of my personal favorites)–they are all available in cheerily re-packaged mass markets. 

-Jen

Since we have neglected our audience for the past couple days, I thought I’d start today off with something fun. There’s a new online T-Shirt shop called Novel-T, where you can buy baseball-jersey tees with literary names and numbers on the back and clever representations of their characters on the front! The “Finn” shirt, for example, features a small rendering of a raft. “Whitman” gets a patch of grass.

As of now, they have only a roster of nine, which is just enough to take the field. But once they realize the profit involved in exploiting bibliophiliacs, I’m sure they’ll bring a few more up from the farm team. I heard this guy Caulfield’s a pretty good catcher.

We were thrilled to hear that Persepolis was selected as Philadelphia’s new One City Read.  Earlyword posted the story, pointing out that this is “Further evidence that the graphic novel format is gaining acceptance…”   Read the full story HERE. 

Not sure Persepolis is right for your community?  Check out our new ONE BOOK catalog for more suggested titles.  Looking for more graphic novels?  Check out our new GRAPHIC NOVELS & MANGA catalog.  We never sleep.  We have a catalog for just about anything you can think of.  Any suggestions?  We’ll get right on it…