The Buzz...About Books

Books for the Stanley Cup Finals

When the temperature outside reaches the mid-30s, it may be time to hang up those skates.  On May 30, the final round of the 2011/2012 NHL playoffs will begin.  If you're interested in reading material to pass the time between games, Toronto Public Library has hundreds of books about hockey.  History, biography, coaching manuals are widely available but I wanted to highlight some of the more unusual hockey-themed books that the library has to offer.

Although I was looking for unique hockey books, I wasn't really expecting to find poetry:

Going Top Shelf: an Anthology of Canadian Hockey Poetry edited by Michael P.J. Kennedy

Hockey Haiku: the Essential Collection by John Poch and Chad Davidson

Night Work: the Sawchuk Poems by Randall Maggs

Or romantic fiction:

Any Man of Mine by Rachel Gibson

Summer Light by Luanne Rice
    Audiobook
    Large Print
    Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

Taking a Shot by Jaci Burton

Please consult with library staff for other suggestions.

National Business Book Award Winner

The 2012 National Business Book Award winner was announced on May 28.  The award celebrates non-fiction business-related books and is sponsored by PricewaterhouseCooper and BMO Financial Group.

This year's winner is former advertising executive Bruce Philp for his book Consumer Republic: Using Brands to Get What You Want, Make Corporations Behave, and Maybe Even Save the World.  Roger Martin, Dean of the Rotman School of Management and jury chairman called the book "a balanced, intelligent, sophisticated and timely message for a world addicted to constant consumption".  The book is also available as an eBook.

Also nominated this year were Chris Turner for The Leap: How to Survive and Thrive in the Sustainable Economy and Conrad Black for his autobiography A Matter of Principle.  Black expressed surprise at his nomination saying, "I was astounded that I was nominated...I didn't expect to win.  I don't win an awful lot of Canlit awards, you know."

eBook	eBook

Three Books to Celebrate Aboriginal Awareness week

Aboriginal Awareness Week, celebrated annually on the four days that follow the Victoria Day weekend, honours the contribution and achievements of aboriginal peoples in Canada including Metis, Inuit and First Nations. Aboriginal Awareness Week has been celebrated by the Canadian Federal Government since 1992.

In recognition of Aboriginal Awareness Week, here are three of my favourite novels written by Aboriginal Canadians.

Kiss of the Fur Queen - by Tomson Highway

This is a poignant and moving novel that explores the relationship between two brothers whose idyllic and joyful childhood abruptly ends when they are sent to the hostile and unfriendly world of a residential school. The euphoria and happiness of their early years growing up within the Cree community is contrasted starkly with the darkness and misery of residential school life. Tomson Highway is the celebrated playwright of the Rez Sisters.

Green Grass, Running Water by Thomas King

Humorous, captivating and complex, this mulit-dimensional book explores the lives of individuals whose diverse lives all come together at the annual Sun Dance Festival. As members of the Blackfoot First Nation, they struggle to maintain their traditional identities within contemporary Canadian society. Interwoven throughout the novel is the story of the trickster Coyote who converses with the creator, as well as the story of the four elders who have escaped from a mental hospital. This magnificent novel combines myth, humour and satire while drawing from both written and oral traditions.  

Motorcycles and Sweetgrass by Drew Hayden Taylor

Sleepy Otter Lake is forever changed when a mysterious man pulls up on his motorcycle and sweeps the Reserve’s Chief Maggie off her feet. Her teenage son is understandably suspicious and protective of his recently widowed mother. While interweaving traditional Ojibway mythology throughout, Taylor provides a poignant look into the social, economic and political issues facing contemporary Aboriginal Canadians.

 

Get Out Your Towels

May 25 is Towel Day, created as a tribute to author Douglas Adams.  On this day, fans celebrate Adams' brief but influential life by carrying a towel with them wherever they go. 

A towel, in Adams' series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, is considered the "most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have". As the book explains "any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with".  

The importance of towels is said to have been inspired by the author's inability to keep track of his own towel at the beach.

If you haven't read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy you should do so immediately.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series:

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    eAudiobook
   Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
    Audiobook    
    eAudiobook    
   Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

Life, the Universe and Everything
    Audiobook
    eAudiobook    
   Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish
    Audiobook
    eAudiobook
   Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

Mostly Harmless
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   Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

A sixth book in the series, And Another Thing...,was completed after Adams' death by Eoin Colfer with the support of Adams' widow Jane Belson.

Other Books by Douglas Adams

The Dirk Gently series:
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency
    Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul
    Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine
One of my favourite books by Douglas Adams, it documents journeys Adams took with zoologist Mark Carwardine to see endangered animals.
    Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

The Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams and John Lloyd

The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking the Galaxy One Last Time
    Audiobook

Orange Prize Loses Sponsorship

UK mobile services company Orange has announced today it is withdrawing its sponsorship of the Orange Prize for Fiction, a prestigous literary prize celebrating the contribution of women writers.  Orange has supported the prize for 17 years but the company has decided to concentrate its sponsorship activities on film rather than literature.  Organizers of the prize plan to continue with a new sponsor.

The Orange Prize is open to all women writers regardless of nationality, country of residence, age or subject matter.  Each year the winner receives £30,000 and a bronze statue called The Bessie.  Past winners have included Canadian writers Anne Michaels for her novel Fugitive Pieces and Carol Shields for Larry's Party. 

This year's finalists are:

Foreign Bodies by Cynthia Ozick

        Large Print

        eBook

        eAudiobook

The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright
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Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan

        Audiobook

        eBook       

Painter of Silence by Georgina Harding

        (to be published in Canada in August 2012)

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

        eBook

State of Wonder by Ann Patchett

        Audiobook

        Large Print

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The 2012 winner will be announced on May 30.

Related Page:

Orange Prize Award Page--winners and finalists since 2007

Fiction for Victoria Day

Queen Victoria inherited the throne on June 20 1837 when she was 18 years old and remained monarch until her death in 1901. It was the longest reign in the history of the British monarchy and the longest reign by a female monarch in history.  The years of her reign coincided with a period of great cultural, political, industrial and scientific change. 

As if her actual life wasn't busy enough, Queen Victoria lives on as a fictional character in a wide range of novels which include standard historical fiction, crime and fanciful speculative fiction novels.

The Affinity Bridge by George Mann
Queen Victoria asks her agents Sir Maurice Newbury and Veronica Hobbes to investigate after an airship mysteriously crashes in this Steampunk mystery.

The Captive of Kensington Palace by Jean Plaidy
The novel concentrates on Victoria's early years, particularly her sheltered environment.  This is the first book in Plaidy's Queen Victoria series followed by The Queen and Lord M, The Queen's Husband and the Widow of Windsor.

• Large Print
• Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

A Flaw in the Blood by Stephanie Barron
Irish barrister Patrick Fitzgerald is summoned to Windsor Castle by Queen Victoria where Prince Albert is near death.  She is a woman uncertain of the future and obsessed with the past.  Threats to his own life complicate Patrick's search for the truth about the Queen's history.

• Large Print

India Black and the Widow of Windsor by Carol K. Carr
After an assassination threat, Queen Victoria's favourite spy India Black disguises herself as a palace servant to investigate.

• eBook

Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter by A.E. Moorat
When Queen Victoria ascends to the throne she must not only contend with traditional affairs of state, but also with a secret war between her subjects and the undead.

Related Posts

• Life as Queen Victoria

Turning Garbage Into Gold (black gold that is)

So I’m hoping that everyone enjoyed International Compost Awareness Week and now understands more fully the importance of composting and its environmental benefits. No? You didn’t know that we recently celebrated the largest and most comprehensive educational initiative related to composting? Yes, composting is about dealing with one’s garbage responsibly, but it’s also about taking what you would ordinarily send to a landfill and turning it into black gold for your garden – so logically Compost Awareness Week is celebrated each year at the start of the gardening season, the first full week of May.

When you take out your trash every week, likely about a quarter of what you’re sending to the landfill could be turned into a valuable resource instead. Kitchen waste – everything from onion skins and tomato cores to mouldy bread and leftovers – can be placed in your green bin for the city to compost or in your backyard compost for you to reap the benefits after a season or two. Free nutrients for your garden, less garbage to haul to the curb and less waste going to the landfill site – it’s a win-win situation. Not sure how to compost or don’t have a backyard? Naturally the library is here to help.

We did NOT come up with this title (and once you start composting, you’ll marvel at how easy it really is) but The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Composting might just be a good place to start if you’re brand new to composting.

Once you learn the basics, you’ll find that there are ‘levels’ of composting, ranging from throwing your organic waste into a pile of leaves to coordinating a complicated system involving layers of various types of organic materials. Liz Ball’s book, aptly named Composting, takes you through the layers and helps you ensure that you’re balancing the nitrogen, carbon and moisture levels.

No backyard? No need to abandon your dreams of lush gardens and next to empty landfill sites -- try worms! Not at all icky, a handful of worms in a covered bucket under your sink will take care of your organic wastes indefinitely. The practice is easier than you’d think -- vermicomposting (as it’s known) can be done by just about anyone, even people living in an apartment. Try Organic Growing with Worms: A Handbook for a Better Environment for a few hints. You don’t have to live on a farm to benefit from the book, Compost, Vermicompost, and Compost Tea: Feeding the Soil on the Organic Farm, you just have to want to grow beautiful, luscious plants using organic materials that otherwise would fill up our landfills.

Composting is only one part of creating a gorgeous, sustainable garden. Learn more about composting, but learn also about conserving water and attracting native wildlife to your garden through ‘naturescaping’. It doesn’t have to be crazy-making. Beth O’Donnell’s book, The Naturescaping Workbook: A Step-by-Step Guide for Bringing Nature to your Backyard also offers photographs, checklists and projects for your home and garden.

 Enjoy the beautiful long weekend coming up by contemplating the beauty you can add to it by greening your garden, reducing your trash and turning your garbage into gold.

Andrew Carnegie Medal Finalists Selected

The American Library Association and the Carnegie Corporation of New York today announced the finalists for the inaugural Andrew Carnegie Medal honouring excellence in fiction and nonfiction for adult readers.  Althought the American Library Association has long sponsored awards for children's literature like the Caldecott and Newberry Medals, this is the first award that focuses on adult readers.

The winners will be selected by a panel of library professionals and announced on June 24 at the ALA's annual conference.

Fiction

The Forgotten Waltz by Anne Enright

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Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks

Swamplandia by Karen Russell

• Audiobook
• eBook
• eAudiobook

Nonfiction

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

• eBook
• eAudiobook

The Information: a History, a Theory and a Flood by James Gleick

• Audiobook
• eBook
• eAudiobook

Malcolm X: a Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

• Audiobook
• eBook
• eAudiobook
• Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

May 16 is Biographers Day

Today is the anniversary of the first meeting between Samuel Johnson and James Boswell.  The men met in 1763 in a London bookstore.  The meeting and friendship led to the publication of Boswell's landmark biography, The Life of Samuel Johnson (also available as an eBook). 

May 16 has been designated as Biographers Day in honour of this meeting.  Why not celebrate by reading a biography?

These are books about extraordinary and sometimes unlikely friendships.

Boswell's Presumptuous Task: the Making of the Life of Dr. Johnson by Adam Sisman
Sisman documents Boswell and Johnson's friendship, detailing Boswell's struggle to complete the legendary biography.

The Love Queen of Malabar: Memoir of a Friendship with Kamala Das by Merrily Weisbrod
Canadian writer Weisbrod was nominated for the 2011 Charles Taylor prize for this memoir about her friendship with controversial Indian writer Kamala Das.

Mrs Lincoln and Mrs Keckly: the Remarkable Story of the Friendship between a First Lady and a Former Slave by Jennifer Fleischner
Mary Todd Lincoln and Elizabeth Keckly were both born in 1818 but their early lives were radically different. The Todd family were well-respected and upwardly mobile; Keckly was the product of a relationship between her slave mother and her white master. Keckly's skill as a seamstress brought her to the attention of Mrs Lincoln and she soon became one of the First Lady's most trusted confidantes.

Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship by Dave Kindred
Although outwardly different, sportscaster Howard Cosell and boxer Mohammad Ali formed a complex relationship during the turbulent 1960s.

White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson by Brenda Wineapple
Although they only met twice, Dickinson and Higginson forged a complex and long-lasting friendship through letters. This account of their relationship is based upon 25 years of letters set to Higginson by Dickinson.

This is merely a small selection of the biographies available at Toronto Public Library.  Please consult with staff at your local branch for more suggestions.

The eh List Author Series: May 16-17

Meet the authors everyone's reading at this week's eh List programs.

Wednesday May 16

Anakana Schofield will be discussing her latest work of fiction Malarky, a sad and funny book about motherhood and middle age.

12:30-2:00 p.m.    Northern District
7:00-8:15 p.m.     North York Central Library  

 

 

Russell Smith will discuss his work and will share his experiences as his novel Girl Crazy is adapted into a screenplay.

7:00-8:15 p.m.    S. Walter Stewart

 

 

Thursday May 17

Lynn Coady, author of the Scotiabank Giller Prize nominated novel The Antagonist, will discuss her work and experiences as a young Canadian writer. 

7:00-8:15 p.m.    Barbara Frum

 

 

Columnist and author Joey Slinger will read from and discuss his new comic novel Nina, the Bandit Queen.

7:00-8:15 p.m.    Toronto Reference Library