Anna Karenina

My book club will be discussing Anna Karenina by Tolstoy next month.

Since this is a complex book written in a different century, I thought it would be helpful to provide study guides and other relevant information to the novel.

Until February, there will be links to helpful websites and articles on Anna Karenina on the right hand sidebar of this blog.

For anyone else interested in reading this classic, I have also provided links to free copies of the book online. Enjoy!

Children's Picture Books

I spent a delightful afternoon yesterday picking pictures books for my young nieces' Christmas gifts. I thought I'd share some of the fun books I had a hard time deciding between.

Miss Spider's Tea Party
by David Kirk

This book has both a great story about not judging people based on their appearance and beautiful illustrations. It also is a counting book.

I bought the board book with the abbreviated story (Miss Spider's Tea Party: The Counting Book) since my 2 year old niece likes to rip pages. The shorter story in the board book is better for really young (0-3) children's attention span, but I'd recommend the longer rhyming story in the picture book for the 4-7 age range.

Good Night Gorilla
by Peggy Rathmann

This cute picture book has the zookeeper saying goodnight to the animals in the zoo (which teaches children animal names). It also is a funny book, because the gorilla steals the zookeeper's keys and proceeds to let all the animals out of the cages. The animals follow the zookeeper home, and his wife has to take them back to their cages when she finds them in her bedroom.

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy !
by Mo Willems

This is a new book that I fell in love with. The pigeon begs, cajoles, and demands that he get a puppy. He really wants one. Towards the end of the book, a life size puppy shows up and his size scares the pigeon. The pigeon realizes he doesn't really want a puppy - he wants a walrus. :-)

Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type
by Doreen Cronin, Illustrated by Betsy Lewin

This hilarious children's book tells the story of cows who use a typewriter to ask the farmer for electric blankets (the barn is cold at night). When the farmer says no, they go on strike. Then the chickens join the cows on strike, and the farmer no longer receives any milk and eggs. Eventually the farmer negotiates a deal with them using the ducks as mediators. The repetetive click, clack, moo of the typewriter keeps children engaged in the story line, and the illustrations are fabulous. Unfortunately, the board book isn't available until March 2009.

This Little Piggy: A Hand-Puppet Board Book
by Scholastic, Illustrated by Michelle Berg

This cute little board book is implanted in the palm of the glove whose fingers are piggy puppets. I couldn't resist getting this for my youngest niece (who is still a baby). The finger puppets are fantastic, and the illustrations are nice. They changed the rhyme so that instead of roast beef the third piggy had cookies, and the fourth piggy had fun instead of none. Otherwise, this is truly a cute baby book.

Audio Books

This time of the year is really busy for me. To save time, I have been listening to books instead of reading them. That's right - audio books. My public library has a great selection of audio books that I have been thoroughly enjoying.

There are many places to listen to audio books. Besides listening to books on my long commute, I also listen to audio books while cleaning my house. I plan to listen to an audio book while decorating this weekend. Have you ever considered listening to books while you cook? I love listening to audio books while baking cookies. I also listen to audio books while working on craft projects.

Besides books on CD and cassette, public libraries have been investing in both downloadable audio books for your computer and MP3 player and Playaway digital audio books - audio books that do not require an external device to play them.

So, this fall, try something different - audio books!

Here are a few titles I've loved listening to:


The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
(Abridged read by Joanne Whalley, Dennis Boutsikaris, Rosalyn Landor, Robin Atkin Downes, and Jim Ward)

This gripping modern interpretation of the Dracula legend tells the story of a scholar who mysteriously disappears while researching the history of Vlad Dracula. The story goes back and forth between the scholar's search for Dracula and his friends and family's search for him. The audio performance of this book by six talented voice actors truly brings this story to life.


Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns
(Abridged read by Richard Thomas)

If you haven't read Cold Sassy Tree, I highly recommend it. This book, set during the early 1900's in a small Georgian town, is told from the perspective of 14-year-old Will Tweedy. The story revolves around Will's grandpa who takes a new young wife weeks after his previous wife dies, the town's disconcerted reaction to this unexpected and controversial marriage, and Will's own life growing up in a town on the cusp of change. This story both touched me and made me laugh out loud. Having the man who played John Boy on the Waltons tell the tale for the audio version of this book is just icing on the cake.

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
(Unabridged read by Neil Gaiman)

The description of this book can be found in my last post. The author is the reader in this audio book, and the characters come alive through his evocative telling of this imaginative tale. Even if you've read this book, I still recommend listening to this engrossing version.


Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson
(Unabridged read by George Guidall)

This book tells the story of life for Japanese Americans before, during, and after World War II on a small island in Puget Sound. A Japanese American fisherman is accused of murder, and the story of his life is intertwined with the trial of his case. The audio performance is well done, and I appreciated not having to guess the pronunciation of certain Japanese words in the story. A truly touching tale.

Great Books I'm Reading

Here are two books that I am reading that I had to share.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
by Vicki Myron with Bret Witter

This is a heart-warming tale of the famous library cat Dewey Readmore Books. Dewey was found in Spencer Public Library's metal book drop on the coldest night of the year in Iowa. His little paws were frostbitten, but his spirit was not broken. His impact on the this small town in Iowa and its inhabitants was tremendous.

What people may not realize is that this story is also about a small farming community struggling to survive and the single mother librarian who saves Dewey and who Dewey saves in return.

I am loving this book, and I don't want it to end.

excerpt


Neverwhere
by Neil Gaiman
(audio book: read by Neil Gaiman)

Scottish Richard Mayhew moves to London, England to start a new job. Within a few years he has made a comfortable, slightly boring life for himself and become engaged to a beautiful woman well above his station who controls his life.

Door is on the run, hiding from her family's killers. When they close in on her location, she desperately opens a door to somewhere - to somebody safe. She falls bleeding, near unconscious in front of Richard and his fiancee on their way to an important dinner.

When Jessica sees the bedraggled woman who looks homeless, she merely steps over her and continues her conversation. But Richard stops. He is always giving money to the homeless, offering his umbrella, etc. They are not the unseen to him. He cannot leave her hurt on the street. When Door pleads not to be taken to a hospital because it isn't safe, Richard picks her up to take her to his flat and help her. Jessica demands he put her down and come with her or she will leave him.

He walks away with Door in his arms.

Richard life is forever altered by this one choice. By associating with Door he loses his identity, becoming one of the unseen - the unwanted. Richard falls into a world of danger and magic in the undercity of London. His life becomes crazy, scary, surprising...

and definitely not boring.

excerpt

Haunting tales for Halloween

Here are some books to get you into the mood for Halloween.

Frankenstein
by Mary Shelley

If you've never read Frankenstein, you need to. This book is nothing like the movies. The story is told in layers. First is the tale of Victor Frankenstein, who is on the run from the creature he created. The next layer tells the story of young Victor and his experiments into finding what creates the spark of life. The inner story tells of the monster Victor creates. Yet the book makes you wonder who the true monster is - the man or the creation. This is a fabulous classic that I feel everyone should read at least once.



I, Strahd: The Memoirs of a Vampire
by P.N. Elrod

This book is written like a memoir. It tells the story of Baron Strahd Von Zarovich, his forbidden love, and the hard choices he makes that eventually lead to his being transformed into a vampire. This book is actually part of a series, but I feel it works well as a stand alone book very reminiscent of Dracula. I've also listened to the abridged audio, and I can definitely recommend it.


Kitty and the Midnight Hour
by Carrie Vaughn

This is the first in a series about Kitty the werewolf (she was Kitty before she was bit by a werewolf, so the name is not her fault). Kitty is a DJ for a nighttime talk show called The Midnight Hour. None of her listeners know she is a werewolf. One night she decides to ask her listeners if they believe
in paranormal beings. Then a vampire calls the show to say he does exist, and ends up asking for advise. The next thing you know, Kitty is running a radio program focused on issues in the supernatural community, and her ratings are skyrocketing.

Some people think what she is discussing is fake; others believe it is real. Unfortunately, not all of the paranormal community is happy to have their secret discussed on the radio, and they try to get her to stop - permanently.


World War Z: An Oral History Of the Zombie War
by Max Brooks

This is an amazing book that follows the global spread of a zombie virus and the eventual fight for the survival of mankind. The book is written like a non-fiction: the author's forward tells why he compiled these stories from survivors, each story is told in a different voice, terms have footnotes, etc. It is extremely gritty, eerily true to life (minus the zombies, of course), and extremely well written.

The Dresden Files

I'm a big fan of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series. These urban fantasy books are set in Chicago and follow the investigations of one Harry Dresden. Think of Harry as a spell casting Sam Spade whose street informants are pixies and whose bad attitude and sarcasm gets him into lots of trouble. Harry's ad in the yellow pages reads as follows:

HARRY DRESDEN — WIZARD

Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations.

Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.

No Love Potions, Endless Purses, Parties or Other Entertainment

(excerpt from chapter 1 of Storm Front at Jim-Butcher.com)

Harry is always struggling to make enough money to pay his rent. Not enough people take his ad seriously. Luckily, His steadiest form of income comes from being hired as a paid consultant for the Chicago PD. Most cops think he's a scam artist, but Karin Murphy in Special Investigations has seen enough weird stuff to realize that the world isn't as pretty as we'd like it to be, and some of the creatures from nightmares actually exist.

This series is fantastic. It's dark, gritty, and humorous. The stories are inventive and gripping, the cast of characters are diverse and well fleshed out, and the fantastical elements are set in a very realistic Chicago (this coming from someone whose lived in and around Chicago for the past 17 years).

The thing that truly amazes me is that the books just keep getting better. Normally when a fantasy series reaches book 8, I'm starting to get disappointed. Either the plot gets formulaic, the character's power has grown to deity status, or the storyline has become so convoluted that I need a road map to find my way.

I can happily say the Mr. Butcher has succeeded in avoiding all these pitfalls. Each book is unique and gripping. Throughout the series Harry has grown as a person (and boy, are there some growing pains), but his powers haven't grown out of hand as a result. He merely starts using his brain a little more after realizing that brute force won't always succeed, and he starts building a power base. It's not what you know; it's who you know. Finally, the storyline has branched out through the aforementioned connections, but each branch leads directly back to the main character. It isn't a friend of a friend of a friend of Harry's whose uncle's sister's child suddenly plays an important role in the plot.

So far The Dresden Files consists of 10 books, 6 short stories, 1 graphic novel, and 1 TV spinoff series that unfortunately got canceled.


If you like either hard boiled detectives or gritty urban fantasy, you've got to give The Dresden Files a try. Start with Storm Front, and be prepared to be spellbound.

YouTube Playlist

I added a cool new widget on the blog's sidebar that shows my YouTube playlist. You should check it out. :-)

Included in my playlist are:
Colbert Report - Communist Library Threat
Disney Copyright Law
Simon's Cat 'TV Dinner'
Banned Book Week: I'd Like To Find

and much, much more!

One Book, One Oakton

I'm excited to announce this new program happening at Oakton Community College in February.

Nonfiction that reads like fiction

Here's a great reading list I found in The Book Club Companion: A Comprehensive Guide to the Reading Group Experience by Diana Loevy called "non-fiction that reads like fiction."

Devil in the White City: murder, magic, and madness at the fair that changed America
by Erik Larson














Foreign Babes in Beijing: Behind the Scenes of the New China
by Rachel DeWoskin












In Cold Blood
by Truman Capote













Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster
by Jon Krakauer












Midnight in the Garden of Good & Evil
by John Berendt














Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages
by Phyllis Rose








The Planets
by Dava Sobel














A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail
by Bill Bryson

Free Alexander McCall Smith Book Online

Alexander McCall Smith, the author of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, is writing his first online novel, and he is letting people read it for free!

The book is called Corduroy Mansion. Mr. Smith is issuing a chapter a month in both audio (ITunes) and print (electronic format). They currently have published up to Chapter 14.

The homepage is here.

Chapter 1 (in print) starts here.

Enjoy!

You can even have the chapters sent by email or feed!

Yellow Raft in Blue Water

Yellow Raft in Blue Water
by Michael Dorris

This entrancing novel follows the lives of three generations of Native American women. It starts from the point of view of Rayona, a 15 year old half Native American, half African American girl who's mother escapes a hospital, packs their belongings, and abandons Rayona at her Grandmother Ida's house on the reservation. Rayona's reaction to this change of events unfolds from there. Next we learn the life story of Christine, the free spirited, energetic, and somewhat selfish mother of Rayona. Her story unfolds, explaining some of her eccentricities and the reason behind her abandonment of the daughter she truly loves. The final story covers Ida's life and how she came to be Christine's mother. Each story adds a new layer of depth to the story, twining the lives of these three women to tell a story of love, loss, suffering, and endurance.

I recommended this book for my book club. The book starts a little slow, but picks up speed by the time you are a third of the way through Christine's story. By the end, I was so amazed at how their stories tied together that I kept flipping back and forth between the three women's story to compare their different viewpoints. I wish that Ida's story was a little longer, but I am satisfied with the ending otherwise. There are so many nuances to this book to enjoy that our book club ended up getting kicked out of our meeting room before we could finish discussing it. If you are looking for a well crafted novel told from a Native American perspective, I recommend that you try Yellow Raft in Blue Water.

Non-fiction favorites

I admit, I read more fiction than non-fiction in my spare time. I sometimes find some non-fiction books so dense that I am only able to swallow them in small bites. Fortunately, some truly talented non-fiction authors write books that read like fiction - the story flows without getting bogged down by technicalities. I gobble such books down with greedy relish. Here are two non-fiction books I devoured in big, yummy bites.

Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother
by James McBride

This touching book tells the story of two lives. In alternating chapters James tells both the story of his life growing up half African American and half Jew with eleven brothers and sisters in the Brooklyn projects and the story of his mother, the daughter of a rabbi, who runs away from home, marries a African American minister, raises 12 amazing children, and helps found a church. His mother's views on color and life are an inspiration to all. James is an amazing writer whose book is both heart-warming and inspiring. I recommend it to everyone.

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls

You can tell Jeannette wrote for a newspaper, because she knows how to grab your attention right from the beginning. In the first two pages, she's on her way to attend a Park Avenue party. Her cab stops at a red light, and she looks out the window and spies her mother digging through a dumpster in a nearby alley. You then find that her mother lives the life of a vagrant by choice.

Jeannette goes on to tell the story of her life growing up in an eccentric family who live a nomadic existence, doing the "skidaddle" whenever either bill collectors get too close or her parents feel too hemmed in. Her parents are smart and unconventional. They are also selfish and abusive in their neglect. Yet, Walls writes her memoir with love in every sentence. Her life growing up may not have been traditional, but it did make her the strong, intelligent, and creative person she is today. This story is at times funny, unnerving, touching, and poignant. Truly an addictive read.

My Favorite Female Fantasy Characters

Ever since I borrowed The Sword of Shannara from my brother in middle school, I've been a fan of fantasy books. Since then, I’ve noticed that my favorite female fantasy characters have some things in common. They all have a troubling childhood in some way shape or form, they all leave home to avoid the fate chosen for them to follow their dreams, and they all end up becoming better people as a result. Each one of them suffers in order to achieve her dreams, and that suffering ends up making each one a stronger person - heroic in fact. Here are a few of my favorite female fantasy characters.

Paksenarrion from The Deed of Paksenarrion series

Sheep Farmer's Daughter, Divided Allegiance, and Oath of Gold

Author: Elizabeth Moon

Since Paksenarrion was young, she dreamed of becoming a mercenary like her cousin. When her father tries arranging a marriage for her, Paksenarrion instead runs away from home and joins a mercenary company. The trilogy follows her development from mercenary, to knight, to Paladin (a holy knight in service to a god). Paksenarrion is the best representation of a Paladin I have ever read, and a truly heroic female character.

Talia from the Heralds of Valdemar Trilogy
Arrows of the Queen, Arrow's Flight, and Arrow's Fall

Author: Mercedes Lackey

Talia is Holderfolk. Hold communities are male dominated and puritanical. Men are allowed to have multiple wives, and it is common practice that girls are married off at the age of 14. Talia runs from her home and spends the night in her favorite hiding spot after being told that her marriage has been arranged. Before she can go back to the Hold to accept her fate, Talia is chosen by the Companion Roland to be a Herald (people who act as arbitrators, soldiers, messengers and, at times, spies for the queen). By being chosen by Roland, though, she also becomes the Queen’s Own Herald. Basically, the Queen’s Own becomes the close companion and advisor to the queen. The three highest ranking people in the kingdom are the queen, the heir, and the Queen’s Own. Of course, Talia needs to complete Herald training first. Unfortunately, the last Queen’s Own was murdered, and unknown people are plotting to get rid of Talia as well

Menolly from The Harper Hall Trilogy

Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and Dragondrums

Author: Anne McCaffrey

Menolly loves music. As the youngest of many siblings to the Lord Holder of Half Circle Sea Hold, she was mostly ignored. She became fast friends with the Harper of the Hold who recognized a kindred spirit who loved music as much as he did. The Harper teaches Menolly everything he knows, and she becomes a talented musician and composer of songs. But tradition says that females cannot become Harpers. When her beloved friend dies, her father lets Menolly temporarily fill the position of Harper until a new Harper can be sent. When the new Harper arrives, Menolly not only has to turn over her classes, she is not allowed to tell the new Harper what she did. In fact, she is forbidden to sing or play instruments again so that the new Harper could not guess who had so ably instructed the students until his arrival. Menolly ends up choosing to live Holdless (on the planet Pern on which she lives, this is considered deadly) in order to keep her music, and manages to Impress 9 dragon lizards (creatures native to the planet, but so rarely seen that some people think them myth). Meanwhile, the Master Harper of Pern continues his frantic search for the missing male apprentice whose music was sent to him by the late Harper of Half Circle Sea Hold.

Online Tools and Applications

The last assignment for my Library 2.0 program involved checking out various online tools and applications. Here is a list of what sites I checked out and what I thought of them:

Google Docs: This is a handy tool to share documents with your co-workers. You can create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and forms to share on this site. You can also convert similar Microsoft Office files to share. One of my Excel spreadsheets converted with no problem, but some of my signs made in Word didn't fair so well. The converted sign had no graphics. Also, as a result, the line spacing was thrown off. To my disappointment, Publisher documents can't be uploaded unless they are made into a html or pdf documents. Hopefully this will be added as a feature in the future.

Zoho: This one seems to be a major competitor of Google Docs and seems to have similar features. I like the look of Zoho Projects. I'm going to be trying this one out in the near future.

Basecamp: Basecamp looks very exciting. It is a way to collaborate online with your co-workers on a project. After touring it's options, I can see how useful a tool this can be. I was extremely disappointed, though, to learn that it isn't free. When you click on "Sign up for Free" it takes you to a payment page with an option of a 30-day trial. The minimum monthly cost is $24 a month for a basic subscription. Sigh. Zoho Projects looks very similar, and it really does have a "free" project subscription. I will be trying them instead.

Rollyo: Rollyo is a customizable search engine. Very cool. I've added it to my del.icio.us account.

Snipshot: This is a handy picture editor. I am definitely going to be using it at home. It has also been added to my del.icio.us account. This picture I took of Lake Point Tower to your left was edited using Snipshot. I was able to tilt the image and crop it. I love that it shows you the last picture you worked on and lets you re-open it in case you realize you missed something.



fd's Flickr Toys: I enjoyed playing with the Jigsaw puzzle creator. I wish you could make an online puzzle to play with, though. I love the Flickr Uploader. This tool makes uploading to your Flickr account a breeze. It also lets you add descriptions and tags as you upload. Definitely a time saver.

RedKid.net: This is a fun site that lets you make fun banners, signs, etc. for free. The smiley face sign on the top of this blog comes from RedKid.

Shelfari and LibraryThing: Both of these websites let you create and organize a list of your books online. LibraryThing has a little more flexibility, but they charge when you have more than 200 books. I use Shelfari. They don't charge (which is a good thing, since I've already listed 177 books in about 2 months), and they have a cool looking shelf widget that you can add to your blog. I used both the shelf widget and the list widget on the right sidebar of my blog. Clicking on either will get you to my Shelfari bookshelf (if you're interested). :-)

Zotero: This site helps you organize, collect, and site research resources. I plan on trying this one out with my next research project.

Library video on YouTube

Thought I'd share this video my friend Ann made with some teens for a summer program at Park Ridge Public Library. The musketeers at the end are SCA fighter folk Ann and I both know. I love their garb!

Garden Spells

Garden Spells
by Sarah Addison Allen

Last night I finished reading Garden Spells, and I have to say I truly loved it. This is a light, fast read that was truly touching.

Click on the title of this blog for a summary of this book.

I loved the rebuilding of a relationship that takes place between Claire and Sydney. The reality of the pressures of being labeled as different in a small community rang true to me even though, in this case, some of those differences were paranormal in nature. The uniqueness of the budding relationship between Claire and her neighbor amused and delighted me. While this book isn't for people who only like serious, dense reading, this book is great for someone looking for a poignant and unique story with a touch of romance.

My IM life

I always tell people that the reason I type 60 words a minute is because of chatting online. When I was in college, my friends introduced me to muds. Muds are online text-based adventure games. At first, I was interested in the game, but too soon, I was more interested in the other players. I made friends online from all over the world. On average, I was usually conversing with 2-5 people at a time while playing the game. The only problem was, I couldn't keep up with them. I would comment on something someone said, but it would show up ten comments and three topics later. I was left in their conversational dust. This wouldn't do. So, I kept pushing myself to type faster until I was finally able to keep up with the conversation. When I got out of college, though, I stopped playing in the mud and moved on to other hobbies.

10 years later, my friend Serena introduced me to IM, Instant Messenger. She was always online. We used to talk on the phone, but we found IM was easier. You see, she has 2 young children. With IM, our conversation wasn't interrupted every few minutes by "don't put that in your mouth," don't hit your brother," "yes, I'm talking to Gretchen," "put that down!" etc. It's amazing how much easier it was to understand each other without all the interruptions.

With IM, you know when your friends are online at the same time you are (though they can change their settings so that you can't see this). Occasionally, my friends will send a brief hello, a conversation will follow, and then we say our goodbyes. If I see something I think they'll like while I am websurfing, I can copy and paste the URL into the IM chat window to share it. The IM programs instantly make it a link they can use. It's faster than logging into my email, pasting the link, making it a link, and sending it. IMing is a nice way to keep in touch, and you don't have to drop everything for a chat online like you do for a phone. By IMing instead of talking on the phone, I don't have to ignore my husband or miss the best part of my favorite TV show.

Similar good things can be said for using IM while working at the library. If you are helping a patron, you don't have to drop everything to answer the phone. Once you get back to your desk, the IM window will be flashing so that you know someone wishes to ask you something. You can also pause your conversation without the other person having to be tied to a phone until you come back. If I need to go step away from my desk, I simply type brb (be right back). The other person can continue working until I am back. Plus, I find that patrons are less willing to interrupt a phone conversation to ask a question than they are about interrupting typing.

My favorite part of IMing at work, though, is the quiet. I don't have to raise my voice to be heard by the librarian nearby. My phone conversations aren't bothering the students studying nearby. Plus, I can sometimes say more without being worried about being overheard. Of course, this only works when my co-workers are using the same IM program that I am. :-)

This leads me to meebo. Meebo combines multiple IM programs so that they are all in one place. Logging into meebo logs you in to all the IM programs you belong to that they support. So far, they support aim, yahoo, google talk, msn, icq, and jabber. This is a handy tool that I like. My only problem with it is that it isn't kept on my bottom right toolbar like other IM programs. I have to keep their webpage open to use it. I've accidentally closed it a few times.

One other IM that I've started using that isn't supported by meebo is facebook. When you are logged in to facebook, on the bottom toolbar of the webpage, it shows you which of your friends are also logged into facebook. You can click on "online friends" and then click on your friends name. This will open a IM window in which you can converse. It works the same as other instant messengers.

Occasionally, I've used online chat session help desks. I find them more useful than email. You can get immediate help and immediate answers to your questions. You can discuss the problem without sending multiple emails back and forth. I also like online help better than a help desk person on the phone; accents aren't an issue online. Plus, I tend to get to a real person online faster than I do on the phone. This is probably because they can help multiple people at once.

Using chat sessions for reference help at our library would be neat. During library hours, a student could "chat with a librarian" from home. Other employees of the college could also use this feature without leaving their offices or being tied up on the phone. The librarian could paste links into the chat session to share their finds. It would have to be advertised well in order to be used effectively, though.

Future books wish list

Since I'm such a book addict, I'm always keeping a list of books I want that aren't available yet. On this list I keep the title, author, and street date (the day the book is available for sale). This way, I can run to the store the day the book is available, snap it up, and greedily devour it as quickly as possible.

I'm constantly revising the way I keep this list. At first, I would keep it in a little notebook. This had a lot of limitations. It was hard to keep the list in date order, and I would sometimes misplace the notebook.

Next, I started putting it in my PDA's calendar. Since it wasn't a list, though, it didn't work as well. Plus, I would occasionally leave my PDA at home, thus making the list inaccessible. So, I switched to the internet.

For a long time, I kept my list on Amazon in my wish list. The problem with this method is that you can't sort your wish list by release date. Also, in order to see a future street date, you have to be in the specific book record. It doesn't show in the list view. Bummer.

I considered using my "I plan to read" section on Shelfari, but immediately discarded this idea. There are times I have the street day for a book a year in advance because I stalk, em...visit, the author's websites and blogs. The books wouldn't be found in the import book search, and I'm just too lazy to add it.

Finally, I have found a decent tool to keep track of my book list. I have an iGoogle page. On it, I added the gadget Google Notebook. This handy dandy gadget is great for jotting down lists of stuff you want to remember. You can insert new items in between current entries. To delete, you simply click the little drop down arrow on the right side of the entry and select delete.

This picture is the small view of my list. In the small view, you can click the + sign to view the full entry. You can also "Open in full page" in order so see the full list. The little side bar to the left with the arrow will get you to the list of notebooks you've made (you can make more than one list!!!). Oh, and the words in green are tags. Yep, tagging your entries is an option. Whoever created this tool, thanks! I haven't missed a street date since I've found this gadget.

Social Networks

This week I learned about Social Networks. We worked primarily with Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn. I was extremely nervous, at first, about putting my personal information out on the web. Who would be able to see it? What could they do with it? So, I looked around a bit before I leaped into setting up an account.

I started with facebook. I soon realized that I couldn't see everyone's profile. Sure enough, I found out that you can set different levels of privacy. You can decide what data you are comfortable sharing and set the limits accordingly. I decided to only share things on my page that I would share with a total stranger. I was also careful not to add anything I wouldn't want my parents to see. :-)

I like all of the applications available that seemed geared towards libraries. I was able to add my shelfari, del.icio.us, flickr, and rss feeds to the page. I was also able to add a WorldCat search engine to my page. Another cool feature I figured out only today was the IM feature. You can chat with any friends that are on their Facebook page at the same time as you are. It is the button on the bottom of the web browser marked "Online Friends." The number indicates how many people are available for chatting.

The best part was that my social networking actually worked! In one week, I have made 8 friends. 1 was a friend I told about the project, 3 are co-workers, 1 is my husband's co-workers wife who found my profile on her own, one is a friend of a friend who knows we read similar stuff (we've only met once for about 15 minutes), and the last 2 are student employees. Social network indeed. This is pretty great for 1 week. I'm curious to see how many more friends I make next week.

I next set up an account in LinkedIn. This one is geared toward professionals, so I was excited. Well, I set it up today, and I felt like I should have had my resume in front of me. Actually, I still feel like I should double check my data to make sure I am right. I feel it's primarily set up as a way to search and be searched in the job market. This is great for those job hunters and for their perspective employers. It also has a question feature that asks questions of other professionals. I haven't tried this feature yet, so I can't say how well it works. If it does, then it succeed in being a professional network. The artistic side of me wished I could play with the layout and add other features, though. Adding my del.icio.us bookmarks to share with other professionals makes sense to me if LinkedIn is intended for more than job searching. I turned off my public profile because I'm not looking for a job.

I also set up a MySpace account today. I have to say that people seem to be able to play around with their backgrounds more in MySpace. People can also add music clips to play when you open their page. Privacy settings, though, are not as streamlined. You can either make your page public, over 18, or friends only. You can't pick which parts are visible and which aren't. It's pretty much all or nothing. I'm not sure I like that. I also wasn't able to find as many applications that I liked, either. The only application I found in common with the ones I've used in Facebook was Shelfari. On the plus side, I was able to find one of my friends with which I've been trying to get in touch.

Finally, I looked at some of the libraries out there using various social networks, and I was impressed. It seems many libraries use social networks to target their teen audience. That makes sense as they are probably the highest amount of users. I've discussed this with various co-workers, and we all think this is a great way to introduce programs to that age group as they are used to instant gratification when looking for information. Denver Public had a great teen page called "eVolver - Denver Public Library Teens" which is geared to teens, has lots of current information, and seems really popular based on the amount of friends connected to the page. Some libraries gear their information to all audiences with a slight focus to younger generations. Skokie Public Library's facebook account was great in this way. It wasn't too busy and it had lots of up-to-date information.

I am starting to see how these social networks can help people connect. I also realize how addictive it can be to look for new applications to add to your pages. If our library sets up some social network pages, I think they would be a great way of both advertising our library to new people and getting information out to our current patrons.

Paranormal Fiction

I can't say when I started reading paranormal fiction, but I can honestly say that it is my favorite genre of books to read right now. In the last 8-10 years this genre has generated a huge following. Now there are tons of books to choose from and new combinations to try.

So, what is paranormal? Well, it is something that is beyond normal, scientific explanation. Usually this can involve psychic abilities, ghosts, UFOs, vampires, telekinetics, werewolves, fairy, time travel, and any other things that aren't "normal." To make things stand out as abnormal, books tend to have normal settings as a contrast. Paranormal books need that balance of the normal in order to make the book believable.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge best described the use of the supernatural to its best effect in his Biographia Literaria: "...my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural or at least romantic yet so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment which constitutes poetic faith." (English Prose (1137-1890) By John Matthews Manly)

"The willing suspension of disbelief" is the key. People need to find the unbelievable close enough to human nature that they can identify with it and willingly go along with it. Yet that supernatural aspect can add a level of interest, humor, suspense, danger, intrigue, and/or passion to the story. This is why I find supernatural stories so appealing.

So what kind of supernatural stories can be found out there?

Urban fantasy: this is a fantasy book set in a modern, urban setting. The world stays normal with paranormal characters. Sometimes the paranormal characters are in hiding; sometimes they are not. Books such as Storm Front by Jim Butcher, Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K. Hamilton, and Moon Called by Patricia Briggs are good examples of urban fantasy.

Paranormal romance: this is a romance book with paranormal aspects. You can either have a paranormal character or characters in the normal world or you can have a normal character put in a paranormal situation. Either way, there is a romance subplot to a paranormal story. A few of my favorite paranormal romances are Eternity by Maggie Shayne, Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, and Stealing Shadows by Kay Hooper.

There are a few rare romance authors who have successfully combined both paranormal characters and situations without losing enough of the human element to lose that "suspension of disbelief." In those cases, sometimes the romance itself becomes the human element. Nalini Singh's Slave to Sensation is the best example of this rare skill.

Paranormal mystery: These are mystery books with paranormal characters in a normal setting. Good examples are: Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris, The Trouble with Magic by Madelyn Alt, and Bloodlist by P.N. Elrod.

Paranormal chick lit: If you haven't guessed, these are chick lit books with paranormal characteristics to the story. Think Sex in the City with vampires, magic, etc. Good examples are: The Girl's Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky, Charmed and Dangerous by Candace Havens, and Undead and Unwed by Mary Janice Davidson.

There are probably more sub-genre to paranormal fiction, but I will end my list here. As a side note, every book I gave as an example is the first in a series. I'm a big fan of series, so I couldn't resist!

My experience with del.icio.us

Well, I kind of did things backwards. I did read the explanation of this week's activity for Library 2.Oakton and the related articles. I even started working on Activity #1. Then... well I jumped to Activity #3.

Activity #3 is an optional activity to set up your own del.icio.us account. I figured I could better understand how this tool works and how it can be implemented elsewhere if I actually tried it for myself.

So, Monday I started adding my bookmarks (I didn't realize until I was done that I could import them...sigh). While adding, I started tagging like a mad woman. Tags are social subject headings you give to a link in del.icio.us. I figured more tags would be better. Well, for me, that was wrong. I quickly got overwhelmed by the amount of tags listed on the right. There were so many search terms that my eyes started skipping lines.

Tuesday I edited my tags so that I only used the bare minimum. I also made sure I didn't use multiple variations on the same idea or word. Ex. book and books, research and reference, library and libraries, etc. This made things much more manageable.

At this point I start seeing the benefits of having a del.icio.us account.

• I can access my bookmarks from any computer. If I am helping a student, I can access reference bookmarks I use at the public computers. If a teacher asks me something as I pass their office, I can show them on their computer. Whether I'm at home or work, all my bookmarks are available.
• I can share my links with others. People can peruse my links and see if any are useful for them as well. I can also send them to other people's del.icio.us accounts. Talk about networking!
  
• I can subscribe to other people's del.icio.us accounts. This could really help us help each other. I can access others bookmarks. I can also be notified when new ones are added.
  

Wednesday, I looked at the settings available on del.icio.us. My organizational heart went pitter-pat.

• I was able to "bundle" my tags into smaller categories. You can even put a tag in multiple categories if need be. Now I only have 4 categories in my account with lovely tags under each for easy use.
  
• No longer will I add a bookmark and forget it. If I tag it, it will stay in a subject heading, and I can find it when I actually go looking for something in that vein. Talk about better work flow.
• I can still add links I don't want others to see. I can mark certain links "private." That way I can store them in my del.icio.us bookmarks without having to share them with the world. Who wants a link to the webcam at my husband's work anyway? I really can keep ALL my bookmarks in one place.
  

Finally, I figured out with the help menu (which I found extremely easy to use) what a Subscription was. You can actually subscribe to a tag. If anyone using del.icio.us uses the same tag, that link is added to your subscription page. You'd better believe I'm adding InterlibraryLoan to that page. :-)

My thoughts on A Thousand Splendid Suns

Well, I finished A Thousand Splendid Suns last night, and slightly upset my husband in the process. Why, you ask? Well, because I was weeping during the last 1/8th of the book. I had to put the book down for a short time before continuing on. He didn't understand why I would want to read a book that made me cry. Maybe it is a girl thing. I like movies that make me cry, too. Beaches was one of my favorite movies when I was a teen.

This book was amazing. It is a tale of the enduring strength of love, the hardships of living in a war zone, and the tribulations suffered by women in Afghanistan. It follows the life of two women growing up in Afghanistan since the 1980's. The book tells the story of the Soviet occupation, the wars that broke out between Islamic factions after they left, and the ruling of the Taliban.

What made the book so moving for me was that I knew that the saddest parts of the story were actually based on true stories. I attended a lecture during Women's Day in 2001 on the plight of women in Afghanistan. Women from RAWA told stories of their work in both the Afghani refugee camps in Pakistan and their secret schools in Afghanistan. One woman told us how she teaches women to read, even though she would be executed for doing so if found out.

The public could not take pictures at the event because it would actually endanger the lives of some of the presenters. We were told that women in Afghanistan are forbidden to work. Women cannot be seen outside the home without being accompanied by a man. We saw what a burka looked like and were encouraged to try it on. I saw pictures of the punishments and executions held in arenas for various crimes. One that still sticks in my mind was of a young boy holding up a string of decapitated hands from thieves.

Needless to say, this book is not an easy read. But, it is still a worthwhile read. I am looking forward to my book club discussing it this afternoon.

Books and Video

Book of the day that kept me up 3 hours last night (yawn...):
A Thousand Splendid Suns
by Khaled Hosseini
Borrowed from: Oakton Community College :-)

Audio book in the car:
The Historian
by Elizabeth Kostova
Borrowed from: my friend Ann

Both are great so far.

Since I'm a little sleepy this morning, I will end my blog with a new installment of Simon's Cat from YouTube entitled "Let Me In!":

YouTube

First off, I have been working on the YouTube part of this week's activity today. I visited YouTube in the past, but I never set up an account. I really recommend doing this. You can mark your favorite video clips, subscribe to other users channels, and create a playlist of videos to share with others.

On searching in YouTube for useful information for work, I looked up "The Common Craft Show" that is featured each week in our Library 2.Oakton weekly activity explanations. They provide great explanations of various online technology in "plain english." What I didn't know is that they had a Halloween spoof called "Zombies in Plain English." I about died laughing. Here it is for your enjoyment.

Flickr

Well, I spent part of my day today uploading, tagging, etc. photos on Flickr. This is my first photo account online, and I can see how it can become addictive. Flickr seemed very easy to use. I uploaded my favorite pictures of my cats and my Chicago Botanical Garden visit. I quickly reached my maximum upload for the month (I usually use the highest resolution when I take pictures). I know I could get unlimited uploads with a paid subscription, but I am going to resist for now.

I can see some of the personal benefits I can derive from Flickr. First, it is an extra place to store photos so that you don't lose them from either natural causes or computer failure. Second, it is a great way to share pictures with friends. I like the fact that you can request an rss feed of an account on Flickr that you like.

On a professional note, I can see Flickr coming in handy.

• Since Oakton has two campuses, we could post pictures to share between libraries of physical changes made in the library or innovative ideas to share.
  
• Scanning forms and other objects could be used with the libraries website to instruct the public.
  
• We have had many events and open houses at the library, and I can see the benefit of posting them online to share. It would be a great way of promoting the library. My only worry is in posting pictures from previous events. People knew we took their picture, but we never declared we would post them online for the world to see. Could we still post them?
• This article Richard gave us for our Library 2.Oakton project lists many other uses of Flickr that libraries have employed.

The only trouble I had was making a slideshow I liked for my blog. I started with the slideshow feature of blogger (which is currently displayed on the sidebar), but I was disappointed that it didn't show all the pictures in my photostream. One article I read recommended slideflickr.com. I checked it out, and tried making a slideshow this way. I liked the idea of creating a slideshow of specific sets I had created. After filling out the form, the preview looked great. But when I used the slideflickr html for a widget on my sidebar, the pictures got cut. I played with the html measurements, but it still seemed a little off. *shrug* I'll ask Richard to take a look at it on Wednesday.

All in all, I'm a big fan of flickr. I just need to be careful of my upload limit next month. :-)

The Wiki World

Now that I know more about how wikis work, I think that they can be a wonderful tool in the right hands when used for the right reasons. Wikis can be used on a small scale to coordinate and share information between small groups. They can also be used to share information to the world at large. On the larger scale, it is up to the contributors and the moderators to make sure that it stays current, relevant, and reliable.

Wikis are fairly easy to use. The edit features are similar to many email, blogging, and word processing softwares. If you log in, you can save a draft of what you are working on so that you don't have to work on a document from start to finish (something I didn't realize right away). I wish there was a back or undo button. Maybe I am missing it.

On a side note, I'd like to know copyright procedures for pictures found on the web. If you add an image to your wiki by linking to the originating page, do you have to ask permission?

I think the 24/7 page could use a little more graphics and color. I think people are used to scanning for images more than words. Think about how easily you can find a brand name item in a grocery store. You are scanning for the label you identify for that item. Too many words on a page can be intimidating and overwhelming. The idea is to make the page user friendly for those seeking information.

Today's society are great at scanning. But the eyes sometimes miss what they are searching for in word lists when they are longer than 7 lines. Breaking up the long lists by grouping them into smaller subtopics would make sense to me. If you make sure every subfolder has a back button, then you're good to go. People love to click that mouse button. Maybe it gives them a sense of control over their web environment.

I find that younger people expect immediacy for information. That is what makes Wikipedia so appealing to them. If it takes longer than five minutes to figure out where to navigate on a page, many give up and move on to a more appealing and user friendly medium, even if the new source isn't as reliable. Sigh.

As for Wikipedia, I find it an excellent place to start looking for information. It provides a general overview on a topic, a basic vocabulary to use for key words, and links to further sources.

For academic research, I treat Wikipedia like a tertiary source. Because anyone can add to and edit Wikipedia, it can't always be reliable. Sometime when people put things in their own words, they get their facts a little bit wrong. You need to trace the resources used to make an entry to their primary source. If no information is provided to do this, you need to look elsewhere fast. That's why I see it as a starting point for research and not an end point. An end point would be a primary source when possible or a reliable secondary source.

Of course, if you aren't doing academic research, Wikipedia is a free and easy way to get a quick answer. I've rarely had a wrong answer when using Wikipedia this way. Also, if you are looking for cutting edge new information and popular media information, Wikipedia sometimes beats traditional sources.

For instance, look up Joss Whedon in Wikipedia. It provides tons of information on Joss Whedon, including the new TV show Dollhouse he's currently filming that will air in 2009. Josh isn't listed in the Encyclopedia Britannica or CultureGrams. He is in Literature Resource Center, but the most recent update on that entry was 09/12/2006 . Wikipedia was last modified 6/19/2008 - today.

Should college students be encouraged to use Wikipedia as a research tool?
As the only tool, no. As one of many tools, yes. Let's use my example from before. If a student was doing a paper on Joss Whedon, I would suggest using the Literature Resource Center for the main data. For information more current, I would tell the student to follow the links on Wikipedia about his most recent work to their primary sources. For instance, the source for the tip on Dollhouse on the Joss Whedon page was from USA Today. The wiki page on Dollhouse has 25 References. Wow.

For general use of Wikipedia, I would tell the students to check the References listed for a Wikipedia entry. If no or few references are provided, they shouldn't trust it.

Schools are starting to teach students how to evaluate a source found online. This education should include training on how to evaluate an entry in Wikipedia. "Just say no" doesn't work. Students may feel that a teacher or librarian either doesn't understand or is afraid of this new resource. In my mind, explaining how to weed the bad from the good is what people need to use modern technological resources effectively.