January 22, 2006

Ireland

FIC DELANEY Ireland : a novel by Frank Delaney.
The person who last returned this book to the library asked us to recommend it to everyone as an engrossing "story about a storyteller." And novel or not, full of intriguing Irish history.

Interesting - Scott Simon on NPR refered to it as a "story about a story." It begins ...

Wonderfully, it was the boy who saw him first. He glanced out of his bedroom window, then looked again and harder -- and dared to hope. No, it was not a trick of the light; a tall figure in a ragged black coat and a ruined old hat was walking down the darkening hillside; and he was heading toward the house ...
Posted by library at 07:06 PM | Comments (0)

January 18, 2006

Tortilla Curtain

February 1st, 7:30-9 PM, Friends Reading Group, Atrium Room, Takoma Park Community Center. Everyone welcome.

The book is Tortilla Curtain by T. Coraghessan Boyle, a novel of conflict between well-to-do US citizens and illegal Mexican immigrants.

Posted by library at 11:00 AM | Comments (0)

January 11, 2006

Andy Warhol

Saturday Jan 21st is Andy Warhol and the Sixties Day at the Corcoran. Free! All sorts of activities including art workshops, story telling, live performances (including the Fabulettes). And you can read:
779 W275 America / Andy Warhol.
B W275 Holy terror : Andy Warhol close up / Bob Colacello.
709 WARHOL POPism : the Warhol '60s / by Andy Warhol & Pat Hackett.
791.4302 WORONOV Swimming underground : my years in the Warhol factory / by Mary Woronov.
and in the J room -
J PIC WARHOLA Uncle Andy's / James Warhola.

Posted by library at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2006

Million Little Pieces

Check The Smoking Gun for an extensive report of their research regarding this "non-fiction" book.
362.29 FREY A million little pieces / James Frey

We also have one of the J.T. Leroy books, at least we classified it as fiction.
FIC LEROY The heart is deceitful above all things / by J.T. Leroy

February update:
We also have three books in the "non-fiction" section by Nasdijj
- who is not really native American, not really the father of any adoptive children, but Timothy P. Barrus, a middle aged white man from Lansing Michigan.

Sherman Alexie, a genuine Native American writer, had been trying to warn the publishing world that Nasdijj was a fraud for years. The indigenous communities and The National Congress of American Indians have always had a very difficult time getting anyone to listen when they try to point out the imposters.

Other fake "non-fiction" books in our collection include several works by Carlos Castaneda and The Education of Little Tree by "Forrest" (actually Asa) Carter.

Posted by library at 06:18 PM | Comments (0)

January 07, 2006

Coffee

In an earlier post we talked about our great reference books on the culture of food. Here are some treats from the circulating collection.

394.1 NABHAN Why some like it hot : food, genes, and cultural diversity by ethnobiologist Gary Paul Nabhan (MacArthur Fellow and Pew Scholar). How human populations evolve, culturally and biologically, in synchrony with their available foodstuffs. And yes, hot stuff does help kill microbes in meat.

394.1 MINTZ Tasting food, tasting freedom : excursions into eating, culture, and the past by Sidney Mintz, a Johns Hopkins anthropologist. Essays include "Food and its relationship to power" and "Sugar and Morality" - don't skip the footnotes.

And for after dinner (or before, during and after if you are Midwestern)
394.12 PENDERG Uncommon grounds : the history of coffee and how it transformed our world by Mark Pendergrast, a reporter. Coffee debates involve not just matters of flavor (robusta vs. arabica) but also morality - from health concerns to current questions about the economics and methods of culture.

Sample? p.101 "The fact that Post himself continued to drink the evil brew did not soften his attacks on coffee. According to his daughter, Marjorie, Post would drink coffee 'for a few days and be sick, and he'd drink Postum for a few days and be well, and then he'd go back to coffee."

see also: The fair trade movement; National Geographic on coffee; more coffee geography; list of migratory birds that frequent shade coffee farms (includes the Baltimore Oriole, our own state bird).

Posted by library at 05:07 PM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2006

More Graphic Novel musings

Anyone interested in Graphic Novels and other comic book format books may want to check out our Graphnolog web pages and our graphic novel book reviews.

Graphnolog
Graphic Novel reviews etc.

Posted by at 04:36 PM | Comments (0)
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