October 31, 2006

Willie Stark

Friends Reading Group
Wednesday December 6, 2006
7:30-9:00
Takoma Park Community Center

Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men.

Published in 1946, winner of the Pulitzer Prize in '47, classic American novel, Important Book.

So famous, and required reading for so many students, that you can get lots of information from Sparknotes and Gradesaver. However summaries miss the point - it isn't just plot, it is the language of this novel that is significant.

The original movie was also quite good, and won best picture and best actor Oscars in '49. (The 2006 remake? Not so good.)

Carlisle Floyd wrote an Opera, Willie Stark, based on the novel.

But read the book. If you had to read it as a high school student, reread it with adult experience and adult sensibilities. We have several copies.


Posted by library at 01:39 PM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2006

Mixes

library kidThe census bureau projected that by 2050 about 50% of the US population will be white, and about 50% "other" (Not only African American and Asian, but every imaginable sort of mix). In Takoma Park we have already many, many families with all sorts of combinations.

fiction
FIC SMITH On beauty. Zadie Smith. (England and New England)
FIC PA Ursula Under. Ingrid Hill. (What is a life worth? Great first novel.)
FIC COAKLEY What you won't do for love. Wendy Coakley-Thompson. (Romance)
FIC RANDALL The wind done gone : a novel. Alice Randall. (Set in Atlanta)

parenting
305.8 NAKAZAW Does anybody else look like me? : a parent's guide to raising multiracial children. Donna Jackson Nakazawa.
155.82 WRIGHT I'm chocolate, you're vanilla : raising healthy Black and biracial children in a race-conscious world. Marguerite A. Wright.

biographies
973.049 WALKER Black, white, and Jewish : autobiography of a shifting self. Rebecca Walker.
973.04 OBAMA Dreams from my father : a story of race and inheritance. Barack Obama. (We also have a paperback edition)
973.049 MCCRAY Freedom's child : the life of a Confederate general's Black daughter. Carrie Allen McCray.
973.049 KIM Ten thousand sorrows : the extraordinary journey of a Korean War orphan. Elizabeth Kim.`
974.71 MCBRIDE The color of water : a Black man's tribute to his white mother. James McBride. (Also in paperback.)
305.896 WILLIAM Life on the color line : the true story of a white boy who discovered he was black. Gregory Howard Williams.


Posted by library at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)

October 19, 2006

Book Donations

After rejecting them for months because of our storage problems, we now seek donations of clean used books of general interest. The Friends of the Takoma Park Maryland Library plan to have a book sale December 9th and the book sales are very important to use because they fund our special programs. Example: our once/month, Saturday, Spanish story hour for children.

We really want your books. Thanks.

Posted by library at 10:06 AM | Comments (0)

October 07, 2006

Book Groups

A number of local book groups have been reading and discussing books together for years. And years. The book list from one such group follows, and we would welcome others as we would like to post them here.

And a reminder - the library itself sponsors a book group which meets approximately once a month. Everyone is welcome and there is no fixed membership.

Books read by one local book group: (and it is an impressive list)

The Road From Corain Jill Kerr Conway
What Fresh Hell is This Marion Meade
Palace Walk Naguib Mahfouz
Palace of Dreams Naguib Mahfouz
Dreams of Sleep Josephine Humphreys
Saint Maybe Anne Tyler
The Music Room Dennis McFarland
Remains of the Day Kazuo Ishiguro
A Secret History Donna Tarret
The Grass Harp Truman Capote
What’s Bred in the Bone Robertson Davies
Orlando Virginia Woolf
Clear Light of Day Anita Desai
Death Comes for the Archbishop Willa Cather
Fried Green Tomatoes Fannie Flagg
How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Julia Alvarez
The Shipping News Annie Proulx
Angle of Repose Wallace Stegner
Oscar & Lucinda Peter Carey
Age of Innocence Edith Wharton
Cowboys Are My Weakness Pam Houston
Leader of the Band Fay Weldon
House of the Spirits Isabelle Allende
Saints & Strangers Angela Carter
(title forgotten) Ellen Gilchrist
Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil John Berendt
A Good Scent From a Strange Mountain Robert Olen Butler
Homeland Barbara Kingsolver
The Bean Trees Barbara Kingsolver
Antoinietta John Hersey
Barbarians At The Gate John Helyar
A Year in Provence Peter Mayle
Trouping in America Bonnie Holt
Ordinary Love & Good Will Jane Smiley
Stone Diaries Carol Shields
Friends of My Youth Alice Munro
A River Sutra Gita Mehta
Weddings & Wakes Alice Mcdermott
The Comedians Graham Greene
Small World David Lodge
Storming Heaven Denise Gardener
Brazzaville Beach William Boyd
All the Pretty Horses Cormac McCarthy
American Appetites Joyce Carol Oates
The Kitchen Gods Wife Amy Tan
An American Childhood Annie Dillard
Stones For Ibarra Harriet Doerr
Your Blues Ain’t Like Mine Bebe Moore Campbell
Henry James’ Midnight Song Carol De Chellis Hill
The Long Engagement Sebastian Japisrot
The House On Mango Street Sandra Cisneros
The Dork From Cork Chet Raymo
The Treasure of Sierra Madre B. Traven
Snow Falling On Cedars David Guterson
Swimming In The Congo Margeret Meyers
Rob Roy Sir Walter Scott
Emma Jane Austin
Stone Virgin Barry Unsworth
Aunt Julia and The Scriptwriter Mario Vargo Llohsa
Liars Club Mary Karr
The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch
Life Estates Shelby Hearon
Love Again Doris Lessing
The House On The Lagoon Rosario Ferre
The Optimists Daughter Eudora Welty
Reviving Ophelia Mary Pipher
Rasero Francisco Rebolledo
The Assault Harry Mulisch
The Blue Flower Penelope Fitzgerald
Mason’s Retreat Christopher Tilgham
Angela’s Ashes Frank McCourt
Snow In August Pete Hamill
Martin Dressler Steven Millhauser
Regeneration Pat Barker
Lesson Before Dying Ernest Gaines
Morality Play Barry Unsworth
Do The Windows Open Julie Hecht
The Famished Road Ben Okri
Memoirs of a Geisha Arthur Golden
Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood Lisa Altar
Miss Gomez & the Brethren William Trevor
The Bird Artist Howard Norman
Talking to the Dead Helen Dunmore
Their Eyes Were Watching God Zora Neale Hurston
Appointment in Samarra John O’Hara
Last Orders Graham Swift
The Reader Bernard Schlink
Wise Blood Flannery O’connor
Enduring Love Ian McEwan
Roxana Slade Reynolds Price
Movable Feast Ernest Hemingway
Dreams of My Russian Summers Andre Makine
Woman of the Inner Sea Thomas Keneally
The Museum Guard Howard Norman
The Hours Michael Cunningham
The End of the Affair Graham Greene
Angel of Galilea Laura Restrepo
Chocolat Joanne Harris
Feasting, Fasting Anita Desai
The Bookshop Penelope Fitzgerald
Akhenaten Naguib Mahfouz
The Sparrow Mary Doria Russell
Voyage of the Narwhal Andrea Barrett
Heart of Darkness Joseph Conrad
Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver
The Thin Man Dashiell Hammett
The Dress Lodger Sheri Holman
Anil’s Ghost Michael Ondaatje
Timbuktu Paul Auster
Disgrace J.M. Coetze
Legacy of the Dead Charles Todd
White Teeth Zadie Smith
Death of the Heart Elisabeth Bowen
Mendel’s Dwarf Simon Mawer
Master Georgie Beryl Bainbridge
Border Crossing Pat Barker
Crossing To Safety Wallace Stegner
Lying Awake Mark Salzman
Human Stain Phillip Roth
Atonement Ian McEwan
Bel Canto Ann Patchett
Embers Sandor Marai
Year of Wonders Geraldine Brookes
My Name is Red Orhan Pamuk
The Human Factor Graham Greene
Glory Vladimir Nabokov
The Sweetest Dream Doris Lessing
The Book of Salt Monique Truong
Servants of the Map Andrea Barrett
Being Dead Jim Crace
Alias Grace Margaret Atwood
Unless Carol Shields
Crossing the River Caryl Philips
The Pickup Nadine Gordimer
Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami
The Namesake Jhumpa Lahiri
Ignorance Milan Kundera
All Soul’s Day Cees Nooteboon
Answered Prayers Truman Capote
Tepper Won’t Go Out Calvin Trillin
Half a Life V.S. Naipul
Clear Light of Day Graham Swift
Behind the Scenes at the Museum Kate Atkinson
The Spider’s House Paul Bowles
The Kite Runner Kaled Hosseni
Mandelbaum Gate Muriel Spark
Lost in the City Edward P. Jones
The Liberated Bride A.B. Yehoshua
So Big Edna Ferber
Unfinished Season Ward Just
Small Island Andrea Levy
The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O’Brien Oscar Hijuelos
Elizabeth Costello J.M. Coetzee
Breaking the Tongue Vyvyane Loh
Cup of Light Nicole Mones
Things Fall Apart Chinua Achebe
What I Loved Siri Hustvedt
The Ash Garden Dennis Bock
History of Love Nicole Krauss
The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls
Year of Magical Thinking Joan Didion
Brick Lane Monica Ali
A Thread of Grace Mary Doria Russell
Dirt Music Tim Winton
March Geraldine Brooks

Posted by library at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)
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