Friday, March 9, 2012

Wildwood has a Great Month Considering.....

Abby is there all alone.  However, don't feel bad for her, we've all expressed great interest in adopting her, so I guess we'll all have to share.  :)

Abby has reported that she has read 11 books with a total of 3432 pages!!
The woman is a reading machine!  Amazing!  Want to know what she read?  Look no further.....

Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas
The Rope by Nevada Barr
Nightwoods by Charles Frazier
The Outlaw Album  by Daniel Woodrell
The Invisible Ones by Stef Penney
Hanging Hill by Mo Hader
Edgar Huntley by Stephen Shapiro
One of Ours by Willa Cather
Twelve Twenty-Two
The Calligrapher's Daughter by Eugenia Kim
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller

Abby, you astonish me.  Keep up the good work!

Flo-Valley's Feb. Totals

Month number 2 of our Book Challenge has seen a slight slip in totals, but don't you dare count us out!
This month we had:
     11 participants
     49 books (7 were magazines)
     8571 pages

Yet again, our beloved Karen Sprong schooled us all in the number of pages read, but Sharon Fox, Kathleen Buesher-Milligan, and myself all read over 1.000 pages this month.  Looking for something to read for this next month?  Maybe there will be something of interest to you in our listing of titles we read.  Here they are for your perusal.

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick
The Mercy Seat (a play) by Neil LaBute
Red (a play) by John Logan
The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson
The Secret Man: The Story of Watergate's Deep Throat by Bob Woodward
Unquestioned Integrity by Mame Hunt
London Labour and the London Poor by Henry Mayhew
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
A Grown Up Kind of Pretty by Joshilynn Jackson
Bunnicula and Friends #1: Vampire Bunny by James House
Heavy Equipment: Diggers by David and Patricia Armentrout
Ant Hill Book 1: More Snacks! A Thanksgiving Play by Joan Holub
Nate the Dinosaur by Christianne Jones
Missouri Conservationist: Vol 75, Issue 2, February
Entertainment Weekly #1193, Feb. 3/10
Growing Up in Heaven by James Van Praugh
Minding Ben by Victoria Brown
The Berenstain Bears: Trouble at School by Jan and Stan Berenstain
Away Went the Farmer's Hat by Jane Belk Moncure
Thomas and Friends Lost at Sea! by Hit Entertainment
The Bears Upstairs by Jane Belk Moncure
Disney's the Prince and the Pauper by Teddy Slater and Mark Twain
The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson
"Smile" says Little Crocodile by Jane Belk Moncure
Disney's Wall-E Lots of Bots by Kiki Thorpe
Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr Seuss
Entertainment Weekly #1194, Feb 17
Entertainment Weekly #1195, Feb. 24
Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr Seuss
Cool Hockey Facts by Kathryn Clay
Starry Safari by Linda Ashman
Newsweek Issues 2/6, 2/13, 2/20, 2/27
How the States Got Their Shapes Too by MarkStein
Guilty by Karen Robards
The Meditative Mind: The Varieties of Meditative Experience by Daniel Goldman
The Fatal Shore by Robert Hughes
Sins of the Seventh Sister by Huston Curtis
A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
Appreciative Inquiry Handbook: For Leaders of Change by David L Cooperrider and Diana Whitney
Leaders Talk Leadership edited by Meredith D Ashby and Stephen A Miles
In the Garden of the Beasts by Erik Larson

And, just because I love a good graphic...


Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Spring Break Reading Ideas

Looking for some good books to read over Spring Break?  Look no further than the "New Books & More" listings on our Library homepage  http://www.stlcc.edu/Libraries/Whats_New/New_Books.html
Perhaps a good murder mystery in the form of V is for Vengeance  bySue Grafton; a biography in the form of Man in the Music:  the Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson by Joseph Vogel;  a fascinating non-fiction read, A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor; or a sure-to-be-fun autobiography by Ellen DeGeneres, Seriously, I'm KiddingOr maybe you're in the mood to tackle a timeless classic, contemporary or traditional.  How about a little Toni Morrison or Charles Dickens (it's his 200th birthday, don't forget!)  Still need more ideas?  Visit the Library Guide "Find a Good Book" and have at it.  Happy Spring Reading, everyone!

Friday, March 2, 2012

Highland Park, with just 7 participants, read 46 titles containing 11,652 pages in February.

Our champion reader once again was Marian with 2926. The three runners-up were Sheila with 2678, Jim with 1464, and Kirsten with 1428.

Here's what we read:

The Accusers by Lindsey Davis
The Plains We Cross by Landon Houle
Girl who played with fire by Stieg Larsson
A Darkness More Than Night by Michael Connelly
What You Owe Me by Bebe Moore Campbell
The Outlook (Feb. 8, 2012)
The Shirt on His Back by Barbara Hambly
The Outlook (Feb. 1, 2012)
Headhunters by Jo Nesbo
The Narrative Art of Charles Dickens: The Rhetoric of Sympathy and Irony in His Novels by Sucksmith, Harvey Peter
Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson
Three Seconds by Anders Roslund & Borge Hellstrom
Private #1 Suspect by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson
Kill Me if You Can by James Patterson and Marshall Karp
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Taken by Robert Crais
We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People by Peter Van Buren
The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
Rent-a-Groom by Jennifer Blacke
Defending Jacob by William Landay
Kill Shot by Vince Flynn
The Eighth Day by Thornton Wilder
At Home: a short history of private life by Bill Bryson
The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje
Socialism: A very Short Introduction by Michael Newman
Beautiful Unbroken by Mary Jane Nealon
Cat Telling Tales: a Joe Grey Mystery by Shirley Rousseau
The Sibling Effect: What the Bonds Among Brothers & Sisters Reveal About Us by Jeffrey Kluger
Jane & Prudence by Barbara Pym
The Daughter of Time: a Mystery by Josephine Tey
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller
Deadline Poet by Calvin Trillin
Minding the Body: Women Writers on Body & Soul
The Wellspring: Poems by Sharon Olds
The Compassionate Carnivore by Catherine Friend
In the Next Galaxy: Poems by Ruth Stone
The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Still Alice by Lisa Genova
Trader of secrets by Steve Martini
On Campus (May/June 2011)
Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
Beauties by Mary Troy
Feng Shui for modern living by Stephen Skinner

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Meramec's February 2012 results are in!


Total-- 15 participants-- 70 books--  14,742 pages   [32 hours 15 minutes listened]

Ponder
·         The Battle of Mogadishu - 65 pages
·         Coming of Age in Mississippi - 163 pages

Schmitt
·         Meier.  English Tea Murder; a Lucy Stone mystery.  265pp.  Good grief, the bodies start to fall almost before they can get off the tarmac on the way to England.
·         Friend.  Sheepish; Two Women, Fifty Sheep and Enough Wool to Save the World 263 pp.
·         Dodson. Uglier than a Monkey’s Armpit; Untranslatable Insults, Put-Downs and Curses from around the World  122pp. Picked up a handy dandy German put-down
·         Bates. Darling Buds of May. 158pp.  A best seller from England, from the forties… droll – but I guess you really had to be there to “get” all the social caste jokes- at least I hope they were jokes?
·         Brett.  Blotto, Twinks, and the Ex-King’s Daughter 211pp.  Another period murder mystery, simply the lark’s larynx, don’t you know? 
·         Lutz. Head’s You Lose. 301pp.  An snippy epistolary exchange and enough red herrings to feed Sweden for a decade.
·         Daheim. All the Pretty Hearses. 299pp. part of the B&B series, set in Seattle.
·         Evanovich. Explosive Eighteen. 305pp.
·         Kilmer-Purcell.  Bucolic Plague. 304pp. Nice companion piece to Sheepish; more city folks hit upside the head by the realities (and charms) of farming
·         Beaton. Death of a Kingfisher. 245pp. Hamish figures it out, as usual.
·         (10 books 2473 pp.)

Smith, C
·         The Enormous Crocodile, by   Roald Dahl,  22 pages
·         Dewey... There's a Cat in the Library, by Vicki Myron and Bret Witten, 20 pages
·         There are Cats in This Book, by Vivane Schwartz, 12 pages
·         The Boy Who Was Raised by Librarians, by Carla Morris, 20 pages

Sciuto
·         The Giver by Lois Lowry - 180 pages
·         Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins  - 390pp.

Tohtz
·         The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion, and Rock 'n' Roll by Simon Reynolds and Joy Press, 388 pages
·         Steele. Japan Fashion Now. 251pp.
Hovis
·         Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson, 258 pages
·         The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith, 213 pages.
·         The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock, 347 pages.

Sanguinet
·         Room : a novel / Emma Donoghue. 321 pages. A simply gripping story of a young mother, who was kidnapped as a 19-year-old college student and her 5-year-old son (the narrator) who have been imprisoned in a locked, sound proof shack and plan an escape. Highly recommended.
·         The table comes first [sound recording] : family, France, and the meaning of food / Adam Gopnik.11 hours.(293pp.) An interesting, maybe too detailed (it drags in places) history of food and eating centered on the French experience. Only if you’re a devote foodie.

Fitzwater
·         Believe the Lie by Elizabeth George   608 pages
·         Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John LeCarre    381 pages
·         Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese   657 pages
·         No Mark on Her by Deborah Crombie     369 pages
·         Buddah in the Attic by Julie Otsuka    144 pages
·         Gossip by Joseph Epstein    219 pages

Sciuto
·         Little Bee  266 pages
·         Steve Jobs  571 pages

Ohmer
·         ITALIAN SHOES by Henning Mankell        audio—9 discs, 10 hours   (247 pages)
·         CHILDREN AND FIRE by Ursula Hegi          (272 pages)
·         OUTLAW ALBUM: STORIES by Daniel Woodrell   (167 pages)  This is the author of WINTER’S BONE which was made into the Academy Award nominated movie.  These stories have the same stark Missouri Ozark setting and themes as did the novel.
·         YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING by Joan Didion,  audio—4 discs, 5hours 15 minutes  (227 pages)
·         BLUE NIGHTS by Joan Didion,  audio—4discs, 6 hours   (188 pages)  Candid reflections on the year after the unexpected death of her husband followed by the loss of her only child a year or two later.  Compelling back to back reads.
·         SWEETNESS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE PIE by Alan C. Bradley  (373 pages).

Brazeal
·         The Letters of John Hus: translated from the Latin and the Czech by Spinka, Matthew. 1972.  25 pages
·         Redrawing Nations: ethnic cleansing in east-central Europe, 1944-1948. Ther, Philipp and Ana Siljak eds. pp.121-130, 197-215, 307-325.
·         Living by Faith: justification and sanctification by Bayer, Oswald.  2003  86 pages
·         The Last Flowers of the Middle Ages: from Gothic to the Renaissance in Moravia and Silesia  Ivo Hlobil, ed. 2000.  pp.25-64, 70-74, 144-146, 158-159, 239-243, 263-274, 302-304.
·         The Long Road Home: the aftermath of the second world war by Shephard, Ben. pp.1-179

Helbling
·           Wonderstruck : a novel in words and pictures / Brian Selznick. 637 pages.

Freeman
·         Burkert. Mouse’s Lion. 26pp.
·         Carle. The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse.  22pp.
·         Jane. Little Goblin Ten. 32pp.
·         Murray. Gingerbread Man Loose in the School. 30pp.
·         Ray. Stars. 32pp.
·         Child. Over the River and Through the Wood. 26pp.
·         Sidman. Swirl by Swirl; spirals in nature. 32pp.
·         Delillo. Falling Man. 246pp.
·         Smith. Grandpa Green. 28pp.
·         Moses. Mary and Her Little Lamb.  19pp.
·         Jeffries. Lady Never Surrenders. 397pp.
·         Sociologist’s Book of Cartoons. 86pp.
·         Moundlic. Scar.  33pp.
·         Lindbergh. Homer the Library Cat. 26pp.
·         Dewdney. Llama, Llama, Home with Mama.  31pp.
·         Daly.  Prudence Wants a Pot. 27pp.
·         Bently. King Jack and the Dragon.  29pp.
·         Measner. Over and Under the Snow. 34pp.
·         Alexander. My Wicked Little Lies 374pp.
·         Laurens. Capture of the Earl of Glencrae.  660pp.
·         (2190pp. 20 books)

Carmody
·         Debt: The First 5,000 Years (David Graeber) 534pp.
·         Behind the Beautiful Forevers (Katherine Boo) 256pp.
·         Time for Outrage (Indignez-vous!) (Stéphane Hessel) 41pp.
·         Dance the Eagle to Sleep (Marge Piercy) 232 pp.
·         How to Brew (John Palmer) 347 pp.

Henderson
·         Lost Gold of the Dark Ages, War, Treasure, and the Mystery of the Saxons by Caroline Alexander, 2011, 239 pages