Books and beyond from Jefferson County Public Library

New Library Blog location

Sean, Standley Lake Library — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 10:45:55 GMT

Starting today, we'll be blogging from the new jeffcolibrary.org. You can keep following this blog here:

http://jeffcolibrary.org/books-movies-music/books-and-beyond-blog

We hope to see you there. Thanks for reading!

A Book We Love: The Hobbit

Jill, Arvada Library — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 09:14:28 GMT

The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien

How to keep the Greatest Adventure Going!

The U.S. theatrical release in December 2012 of the first of Peter Jackson’s three-part film adaptation of The Hobbit makes this a good time to celebrate this wonderful book. Since it was first published in 1937, a variety of adaptations and interpretations have come about. Here are a few notable titles to check out!

Books:

Exploring J. R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit By Corey Olsen (also known as the Tolkien Professor)
The Complete Guide to Middle-earth: From the Hobbit through the Lord of the Rings and Beyond By Robert Foster.
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Movie Storybook By Kempshall, Paddy

CDs, DVDs and More!

The Hobbit. An Unexpected Journey: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (CD) by Howard Shore
The hobbit (DVD) animated 1977 film by Jules Bass
Or check out various sound recordings of the book: Book on Disc, Playaway or downloadable audiobook

Books into Movies/Television: Nordic Crime Fiction

Jill, Arvada Library — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:08:28 GMT

If you are a fan of Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, try some of these Nordic Crime novels that have been made into movies:

Jo Nesbo
Headhunters - Book
Headhunters - Movie

Peter Hoeg
Smilla’s Sense of Snow - Book
Smilla's Sense of Snow - Movie

Henning Mankell
Kurt Wallander - Books
Wallander - television series
Henning Mankell’s fictional detective character Kurt Wallander is the main character in the BBC drama Wallander starring Kenneth Branagh. Plus, I just discovered Henning Mankell is Ingmar Bergman’s son-in-law, wow!

A Book We Love: Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Ros, Evergreen Library — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 11:27:30 GMT

A Book We Love: Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Barbara Pym, who wrote mostly in the 1950s, has been described as the most underrated author in the English language. Her books fell into obscurity before being resurrected in 1977. Today there is a Barbara Pym Society that holds international conferences about her works and her life; books and articles have been published as well—and yet she is still not well known.

Excellent Women is a good introduction to Barbara Pym’s works. Mildred Lansbury is in her 30s, unmarried (in 1950s London that makes her a veritable spinster), and has a tendency to get involved in other people’s affairs. Mildred is also an excellent observer, offering witty, perceptive comments about herself and about the people she meets. Like Jane Austen before her, Barbara Pym creates a character-driven world with Mildred as entertaining tour guide. There are deeper themes here too, as Mildred ponders gender roles, societal expectations, and her own place.

Getting to know the author: An interview with Sean Eads

Susannah, Standley Lake Library — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:59:39 GMT

The Survivors by Sean Eads has just been short-listed in the Science Fiction/Fantasy/Horror category by Lambda Literary! Why are we so excited? Sean is also a librarian at Standley Lake Library. His novel, narrated by journalist Craig Mencken, tells the story of an invasion by rude aliens.

The Survivors is laugh-out-loud funny at the start but quickly becomes very dark. Did you always know that the story would go in that direction?
Yes, I knew the story would take a dark turn as it attempted to imagine how the peculiar alien invasion might go. I wanted the story throughout to constantly move between uneasy humor and violence as a way to keep readers interested and guessing.

How did you find Craig Mencken’s voice?
His voice is, in part, a parody of the voice David Sedaris uses when narrating many of his essays. I’d been re-reading Me Talk Pretty One Day at around the time I got the idea for The Survivors, and started thinking what a Sedaris-esque “character” might be like as a war correspondent in an alien invasion. While the story ended up being a bit different from that initial intention, I think some of that origin still comes through in how my narrator speaks.

This is your first novel to be published in print. What else have you had published?
My latest short story, “To Bie or Not to Bie,” came out in Shock Totem. It involves zombies and a young troupe of Shakespearian actors. I have two more stories coming out in separate anthologies this year. One is called “The Oven,” and examines how the Ginger Bread Man would react in a world overrun by the living dead. The other involves Oscar Wilde battling zombies during the 1900 Paris Olympics. I have a science fiction/mystery story called “The Seer” coming out soon. I’ve also tried my hand at a thriller novel called Trigger Point, which was released in 2012 in e-book format.

Describe your writing space.
My writing space is wherever I happen to be when I have a moment to write. At home, it’s pretty much in front of a computer with a lot of dirty dishes stacked up around my keyboard. But I can write anywhere—a park, a laundromat; it doesn’t matter. I have actually written in the bathtub before, but that was messy. I don’t need a room with a view, complete silence, or anything like that.

You work full time at JCPL. When do find time to write?
Having no social life helps. I’m usually up in the early morning staffing AskColorado, the state’s live virtual reference service, and I’ll be working on a story in-between helping patrons. I generally write a couple of hours after work as well. I used to be very disciplined about writing for three hours every day, but in the past couple of years I’ve found myself becoming more of a “burst” writer, pumping out large amounts of words in a short time, then going at a more relaxed pace for a week or two. I love writing and it really never comes down to finding time. I just do it.

What We’re Reading this Month

Bonnie, Lakewood Library — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 08:25:42 GMT

The World to Come by Dara Horn

Attending a singles gathering at a New York art museum leads to trouble for television quiz-show writer Benjamin Ziskind. Not romantic trouble, at least not at first, but legal trouble: when Benjamin sees a Marc Chagall painting he’s convinced once belonged to his family, he picks it off the wall and takes it home. In a deftly woven story, author Dara Horn delves into the painting’s history, starting with a Russian Orphanage in the 1920s to the Vietnam War to see how the painting changed hands over generations. If you enjoy charming literary fiction that explores questions of moral responsibility and love, then don’t miss this title.

A Book We Love: Excellent Women by Barbara Pym

Ros, Evergreen Library — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 11:45:04 GMT

Read ?em in order!

Joanna, Standley Lake Library — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 09:29:44 GMT

“What number is this in the series?”

That’s a question we get quite often at the information desks. Information about books in a series can be found in many places – our catalog is great – but I have my favorite place to look. Another library system, the Kent (Michigan) Library District, keeps a database of all things series. In the past, they published a book every year called “What’s Next” but now it is only online. You can search by author, series title, or book title, and there are lots of ways to limit. I love being able to type in “Patterson” and then pick James Patterson and then quickly see a list of every series he has written. So easy!