The brilliant young writer Dave Eggers (What is the What, Away We Go, A Heart Breaking Work of Staggering Genius) is coming to Walnut Creek as part of the CCC Library's Summer Reading Festival.
Tickets to see him and for the book signing are free (though with processing fees etc. its $1.50 per ticket).
You can get them here: http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?orgid=23939&event_val=LBRY
More info on the Summer Reading Festival:
http://guides.ccclib.org/SRF
Friday, April 30, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
April Book of the Month: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith
Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."
"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.
Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire. When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.
While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.
Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.
Take Action!
Contact your "mayor", your council people, and your governor! Demand more money for our libraries!
"History is a race between education and catastrophe."
-H.G. Wells
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
California Libraries Need Your Help!!!
Libraries across California need your support this week!
This week is National Library Week, a perfect time for you to send a quick e-mail to your state legislators and governor to let them know how important libraries are to you!
Libraries are in a perfect storm. They are busier than ever helping families survive during these tough economic times, yet public, school, and academic libraries are facing closures and elimination of librarians and library workers—the people who help those with a job application, teach 21st century skills, and nurture the love of reading in kids that will serve them the rest of their lives.
State governments provide much needed funding for libraries to provide public access to the Internet for everyone, databases for individuals and small businesses, homework help, and much more. Without this funding, libraries are in peril, and residents in California are denied critical resources when they need them most.
Please send an e-mail to your governor and your representatives today, and pass this message on to your friends and colleagues. Go to this website: http://capwiz.com/ala/ca/home/
Thank you for advocating for libraries and library staff in California.
This week is National Library Week, a perfect time for you to send a quick e-mail to your state legislators and governor to let them know how important libraries are to you!
Libraries are in a perfect storm. They are busier than ever helping families survive during these tough economic times, yet public, school, and academic libraries are facing closures and elimination of librarians and library workers—the people who help those with a job application, teach 21st century skills, and nurture the love of reading in kids that will serve them the rest of their lives.
State governments provide much needed funding for libraries to provide public access to the Internet for everyone, databases for individuals and small businesses, homework help, and much more. Without this funding, libraries are in peril, and residents in California are denied critical resources when they need them most.
Please send an e-mail to your governor and your representatives today, and pass this message on to your friends and colleagues. Go to this website: http://capwiz.com/ala/ca/home/
Thank you for advocating for libraries and library staff in California.
Never Judge A Book By Its Cover
But at least remember what they look like!
Try this one: http://www.sporcle.com/games/bookcovers.php
Try this one: http://www.sporcle.com/games/bookcovers.php
More Quiz Fun!
http://www.sporcle.com/games/algernon/time_novels
I scored a 16 out of a 100! Is that an F?
I scored a 16 out of a 100! Is that an F?
1959 Trailer: Anatomy of a Murder
To get us ramped up for our meeting tomorrow, here is the trailer from the 1959 movie "Anatomy of a Murder" based closely on the book for last month. It is very different from the trailers we see today.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
It's Not Just Libraries
Apparently for profit book sources are in trouble too.
From a story on Yahoo News
Borders Group
Associated Press
The printed book market just doesn't seem large enough for Borders anymore. Borders is the second-largest bookstore chain in the U.S. behind Barnes & Noble. Unfortunately for these companies, bookstore chains are going the way of the dinosaur with Amazon digitizing books and becoming the largest online seller of books in the United States. Borders is developing a Kobo e-reader to try and compete, but with e-book readers from Amazon, Apple and Barnes & Noble, Borders may be living on borrowed time.
How troubled is Borders? The company's stock currently sells for under $2 dollars a share. Borders has to repay a $42.5 million dollar loan due on April 1. If Borders can raise this money, the bookstore chain still faces a $360 million dollar note payment due July 2011.
Perhaps the most damning sign was that the company's CEO left to take a job at a supermarket chain. The company's short-term hopes lie in getting creditors to refinance debts. The best hope for long-term survival is an acquisition by a larger bookstore chain like Barnes & Noble.
Link: http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109251/businesses-on-the-brink-change-or-fail??mod=career-leadership
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