Reading material for 07/23/12:

Some reading material from around the internet:

RIP Sally Ride.

The evolution of the Batman symbol over seven decades.

It’s always interesting to read about the Emperor Norton, the first Emperor of America.

What do the Olympic rings mean?

The origin of Nickelodeon’s green slime.

Picture above from here.

9 intriguing excerpts from old FBI files.

This video game company has a very weird employee handbook.

from here.

A library with no new books?

Check out these very stylized Game Of Thrones maps.

The books that make guys swoon.

Ray Bradbury and pogo.

The reading lists of your favorite fictional characters.

Be amazed by the maze of books, seen below:

10 must see episodes of The X-Files?

A new web series featuring Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld.

A grown up’s guide to teen celebrities.

Four things you need to remember about the first two Batman movies before seeing The Dark Knight Rises.

The movies that people need to stop quoting.

Shirley MacLaine on Downton Abbey, and 8 teases for the next season.

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Previous online reading material:

07/17/12.

07/09/12.

07/02/12.

06/25/12.

06/18/12.

Reading material for 06/18/12:

Some reading material from around the internet:

New domain names are coming!

15 dad facts for Father’s Day.

How to make science fun.

The 50 year battle to entomb our toxic waste.

Revealed: the dirtiest things in a hotel room.

Betty White and Sarah Michelle Gellar handle a giant snake.

Twitter’s new office has skee ball.

The pictures in this post are by Guy Laramee. As you can see, he carves gorgeous landscape sculptures into old books, turning them from one form of art into another. His work is currently on display at the Expression museum in Saint-Hyacinthe, Canada, from now until August 12.

Pictures from here and here.

The many, many things that Ray Bradbury predicted.

Sadly, we missed Bloomsday, but here’s 25 writers, artists, and critics talking about James Joyce.

10 facts about James Joyce.

Neal Stephenson’s Snow Crash to be adapted into a film by the writer/director of Attack Of The Block.

10 books that were taboo for their time.

5 favorite fictional fathers.

Famous novelists talk about symbolism in their work.

The color palettes of Wes Anderson films.

20 set photos that will change the way you see these films.

An interview with Emma Stone.

Steven Spielberg was all set to direct an episode of Twin Peaks, but David Lynch wanted it for himself.

David Foster Wallace talks about David Lynch’s Dune.

Is Lionsgate already planning to remake/reboot the Twilight movies?

The best grins, grimaces, and reaction shots from this past season of Mad Men.

Take a look at this: a Bill Murray coloring book.

The Necronomicon made in pizza.

Why are traffic lights red and green?

How to tempt China’s shoppers.

June is an important month for the North American bird breeding survey.

5 misconceptions about extraterrestrial life.

The nerd weddings of Facebook’s big shots.

Seven decades of San Quentin state prison in photos.

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Previous online reading material:

06/11/12.

06/04/12.

04/30/12.

04/23/12.

04/16/12.

04/09/12.

Reading material for 06/11/12:

from here.

Some reading material from around the internet:

“You are not special” graduation speech sparks buzz.

27 bits of wisdom from 2012 commencement addresses.

Fortunately NPR’s Car Talk will be going away soon.

Nose jobs are on the decline.

Mr. Rogers gets autotuned.

We are creating the culture of distraction.

RIP Ray Bradbury.

A video interview with Kurt Vonnegut from 1991.

Five things that Joe Hill has never done as a writer but would like to try.

10 famous authors whose lives would have made awesome books.

Natasha Trethewey is the next U.S. Poet Laureate.

A survival guide for book tours.

30 books everyone should read before turning 30.

Censoring Ray Bradbury.

500 free movies online: Great movies, classic movies, indies, noir, westerns, etc.

27 popular network shows that premiered in the summer.

25 things you didn’t know about Mad Men.

The trailer for Christopher Nolan’s Inception recreated with legos and stop motion camerawork.

Bill Murray explains his legendary fight with Chevy Chase.

Listen to a rare 1960s interview with Stanley Kubrick for The New Yorker.

The brainstorming myth.

Here are 12 bookstore cats.

Disneyworld hikes up its prices.

Neutrinos can’t beat the speed of light.

The Librarian and the Hot Rod Shop.

This Smart Bed makes itself after you get up.

The virtues of daydreaming.

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Previous online reading material:

06/04/12.

04/30/12.

04/23/12.

04/16/12.

04/09/12.

RIP Ray Bradbury.

“My stories run up and bite me in the leg — I respond by writing down everything that goes on during the bite. When I finish, the idea lets go and runs off.”

-Ray Bradbury

We’re sad to learn that one of our favorite authors, Ray Bradbury, has passed away today. He was 91 years old, a literary classic, and an influence and inspiration to many.

We have several of his books, including his acclaimed classic, Fahrenheit 451, about a future in which they burn the printed word. No books! It’s a dark place indeed.

We hope you’ll come and check it and some of his other works out, and we’ll leave you with one last quote from the master…

“People ask me to predict the future, when all I want to do is prevent it. Better yet, build it. Predicting the future is much too easy, anyway. You look at the people around you, the street you stand on, the visible air you breathe, and predict more of the same. To hell with more. I want better.”

New and Featured Audiobooks for 04/05/12:

Come and check out these and some of the other new audiobooks (or at least new to us) added to our library collection, which come in several different formats…

Audiobooks on CD…

FICTION:

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, and read by Hugh Fraser

The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith, and read by Lisette Lecat

Mistress Of The Art Of Death by Ariana Franklin, and read by Rosalyn Landor

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison, and read by Lynne Thigpen

The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, and read by Joanne Whalley, Martin Jarvis, Dennis Boutsikaris, Jim Ward, Rosalyn Landor, and Robin Atkin Downes

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova, and read by Treat Williams, Anne Heche, Sarah Zimmerman, Erin Cottrell, and John Rafter Lee

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and read by Sissy Spacek

Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods, and read by Tony Roberts

Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers, and read by J. D. Jackson

Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk, and read by Paul Michael Garcia

World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie War by Max Brooks, and performed by a full cast featuring the author, Carl Reiner, Henry Rollins, Jurgen Prochnow, Alan Alda, Ron Reiner, John Turturro, Becky Ann Baker, and many others

Velocity by Dean Koontz, and read by Michael Hayden

NON-FICTION:

Sea Of Glory: America’s Voyage Of Discovery – The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838 – 1842 by Nathaniel Philbrick, and read by Dennis Boutsikaris

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, and read by the author

Getting Things Done: The Art Of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen, and read by the author

Confessions Of An Alien Hunter: A Scientist’s Search For Extraterristrial Intelligence  by Seth Shostak, and read by Patrick Lawler

Team Of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, and read by Richard Thomas

Not only is this a very interesting book, but it’s also the basis for Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film about Lincoln, which stars Daniel Day Lewis as our 16th president. Check out a picture below of the actor’s look in the film:

Michelangelo And The Pope’s Ceiling by Ross King, and read by Alan Sklar

Black Boy by Richard Wright, and read by Peter Francis James

The Professor And The Madman: A Tale Of Murder, Insanity, And The Making Of The Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester, and read by the author

City Of The Soul: A Walk In Rome by William Murray, and read by the author

The Black Swan: The Impact Of The Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, and read by David Chandler

The War That Made America: A Short History Of The French And Indian War by Fred Anderson, and read by Simon Vance

Game Change: Obama And The Clintons, McCain And Palin, And The Race Of A Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, and read by Dennis Boutsikaris

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And we also have Audiobooks in the Playaway format…

If you don’t know much about the Playaway format, then we’d suggest that you come and check them out.

A Playaway is basically a single book loaded onto an MP3 player. All you have to do is plug in some headphones and press play and you’re off to the races. The Playway is small enough to fit into your pocket, and it’s great for working out or running/jogging, or even just doing something like cleaning the house. But where the CD format is really nice for listening to an audiobook in the car, you’d have to have something to transfer the sound from the Playaway to your car stereo. Perhaps if you do something like that with an iPod or a similar MP3 device then maybe that could work as well.

FICTION:

To The Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, and read by Juliet Stevenson

The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler, and read by Kimberly Schraf

Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman, and read by Mia Barron

Double Cross by James Patterson, and ready by Peter J. Fernandez and Michael Stuhlbarg

The Enemy by Lee Child

The Hard Way by Lee Child

One Shot by Lee Child

All read by Dick Hill

To Die For by Linda Howard, and read by Franette Liebow

The Trial by Franz Kafka, and read by Rupert Degas

The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett, dramatized for audio by Yuri Rasovsky, and performed by Michael Madsen, Sandra Oh, and Edward Herrman, amongst others

A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole, and read by Barrett Whitener

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, and read by Christopher Hurt

Atonement by Ian McEwan, and read by Josephine Baily

Deadlock by Iris Johansen, and read by Jennifer Van Dyck

NON-FICTION:

The Art Of War by Sun Tzu, translated by Thomas Cleary, and read by David Warrilow

You Had Me At Woof: How Dogs Taught Me The Secrets Of Happiness by Julie Klam, and read by Karen White

Marley: A Dog Like No Other by John Grogan, and performed by Neil Patrick Harris

When Janey Comes Marching Home by Laura Browder, with photographs by Sascha Pflaeging, and read by Claudia Aleck, Cassandra Campbell, Bernadette Dunne, Tavia Gilbert, Vanessa Hart, Carrington MacDuffie, Lisa Renee Pitts, Kirsten Potter, Robynn Rodriguez, Kimberly Scott, Bahni Turpin, and Pam Ward

Chinese For Dummies by Mengjun Liu and Mike Packevicz

Living Well In A Down Economy For Dummies by Tracy L. Barr, and read by Brett Barry

The War That Killed Achilles: The Story Of Homer’s Iliad And The Trojan War by Caroline Alexander, and read by Michael Page

Most Evil: Avenger, Zodiac, And The Further Serial Murders Of Dr. George Hill Hodel by Steve Hodel and Ralph Pezzullo, and read by Malcolm Hillgartner

When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris

The History Of The Classical Music by Richard Fawkes, and read by Robert Powell

How To Stop Smoking And Stay Stopped For Good – Fully Revised And Updated by Gillian Riley, and read by Jerome Pride

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We’re looking to get into MP3 CDs, so stay tuned for that, but until then…

…can you believe that we still have audiobooks on tape/cassette available for checkout? Perfect for anyone whose car has a tape player in it.

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Please note that audiobooks mentioned here could be checked out between the time they end up on the blog and when you come to check them out. If you don’t see the items you’re looking for then please come up to the front desk OR send us an email at robinsbaselibrary@gmail.com and we’ll put your name on the reserve list for when the item returns.

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Previous New/Featured books for Adults:

04/04/12.

03/29/12.

03/01/12.

02/02/11.

01/27/12.

Author quotes: Burning books.

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. once said, “We must be careful what we pretend to be,”  which is one of my favorite quotes of all time, but Vonnegut was a highly opinionated and prolific author and essayist, and he was always a good source for a good quote or a witty turn of phrase.

The other day I got into a conversation with a few patrons not just about the need for intellectual curiosity in people, especially in this day and age, but the need for constant access to the tools that could inspire and grow that curiosity in these modern times, and it reminded me of something Vonnegut had said a few years before his death (in 2007):

“While on the subject of burning books, I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and destroyed records rather than have to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House, the Supreme Court, the Senate, the House of Representatives, or the media. The America I loved still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.

And still on the subject of books: our daily news sources, newspapers and TV, are now so craven, so unvigilant on behalf of the American people, so uninformative, that only in books do we learn what’s really going on.”

-from A Man Without A Country, his 2005 memoir/essay collection.

You can find an excerpt from the book over at The Guardian, which includes the portion the above text comes from. Much of this book, and in particular this excerpt, are very political with Vonnegut discussing his disappointment in the then-current political climate of the country. Whether you agree with Vonnegut’s politics there or not, you have to admire that there are some nuggets of common sense true for all people, and that he always maintained a strong humanistic outlook on life.

Also, on a side note, in the paragraph preceding the above quote Vonnegut references Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, his documentary about the September 11 attacks and everything after, and reminds us that the title of the documentary is a reference/parody of Ray Bradbury’s great, classic science fiction novel, Fahrenheit 451. That novel refers to the fact that 451 degrees Fahrenheit is the combustion point, at which paper and the information on it will burn.

The gist of it is this: Not to toot our own horn (too much) but libraries curate and cultivate information, and with information comes intelligence, which is never a bad thing and always in short supply. The library is a resource that you should never let go to waste.

by Eddie Campbell, from here.

Elsewhere on the internet:

Vonnegut’s obituary in The New York Times.

15 things Vonnegut said better than anyone else ever has or will.

Venus On The Half-Shell by Philip José Farmer under the name “Kilgore Trout.”

Vonnegut’s advice for writers.

Vonnegut’s story diagrams.

“Harrison Bergeron,” Vonnegut’s classic short story.

An interview with Vonnegut in The Paris Review.

“2BR02B,” a 1962 short story that appeared in Vonnegut’s third collection, Bagombo Snuff Box.

“The Big Trip Up Yonder,” a short story that appeared in Vonnegut’s first two collections under different names.

The Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library in Indianapolis.

Dave Eggers reviews Vonnegut’s first collection of unpublished fiction.

At the library we have quite a few books both by Vonnegut and about his life and work, including When Mortals Sleep, a posthumous release of previously unpublished short fiction by the author, as well as And So It Goes – Kurt Vonnegut: A Life, a new biography of the author by Charles J. Shields, and…

Vonnegut And Hemingway: Writers At War by Lawrence Broer, which draws interesting parallels between these two literary artists, who previously might have been only been coupled together by how vastly different they were. Both were born under the spectre of hereditary insanity, forged in wartime experiences, and used their writing as a means of therapy and survival. And how much more fitting to see them linked, since Hemingway was our quoted author last week? I hope you’ll come and check them out.