The Buzz...About Books

Read on, riders.

Ever since April's Keep Toronto Reading month and the One Book Girls Fall Down ,I can't seem to escape books, reading and public transportation.

I stumbled across a fun website that documents readers on the New York subway. The Underground New York Public Library is a simple concept: take a whole slew of (usually) candid photos of engrossed readers passing the time on public transit. There are links to the books they're reading, and even a section for unidentified books that online visitors can try and solve based on blurry book covers.

There's something kind of fun about seeing other readers on the train - especially if they're reading a book you loved (or hated!). If I'm sitting across someone on the bus reading, I tend to try and sneak a peek at what they've got; as a reader, it's second nature, right? (Catching what ebook readers are into can be a little bit more of a challenge, however...I'll let you know when I find a smooth way to do this.)

Julie Wilson's book, Seen Reading, collects more than a hundred fictions inspired by sightings of people reading on Toronto transit, each reader re-invented in a poetic piece of short fiction. You can check out the website for Seen Reading as well.

Exact Fare Only is another collection of transit stories that brings together all the wonderful, memorable and downright wierd experiences we have on public transportation. You can also check out the second installment if you can't get enough commuter literature.

So, are you a transit reader? Have you spotted anyone reading a book you loved on the bus or train?

Let's hope it's a fellow rider and not the driver or conductor, like this bus driver in Oregon who was caught reading his Kindle on the highway...!

Best Book of 2011?

2011 is winding down and Toronto Public Library would like to know:

What was your best/favourite book of 2011?

Comment here, and follow the discussion on Facebook.

Some of the responses so far:

Stuffed and Starved: Markets, Power and the Hidden Battle for the World Food System by Raj Patel
Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan
The Eyes of a Child by Richard North Patterson
The Measure of a Man by J.J. Lee
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell

Would you like a library mascot?

When I began reading Dewey: a Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron, I expected to read a book with a collection of cute tales about a library cat. Not only were my expectations fulfilled, but I was pleasantly surprised to find a lot more. Dewey’s story is told, along with a biography of the author and a history of the small town of Spencer, Iowa.
 
One cold, mid-winter morning, while opening the Spencer Public Library, Head Librarian, Vicki Myron discovers a tiny, half-frozen kitten abandoned in the library’s drop box. Vicki, a single mother, decides to keep the kitten, which grows into a loveable library cat. Through this book we learn of Vicki’s life, her divorce from an abusive alcoholic and the many obstacles she faced.
 

Dewey arrives at Spencer during the 1980s as the farming town is facing financial crisis, with many losing family farms and businesses. Dewey’s antics keep customers smiling despite these hard times. As his fame grew, people from all over suddenly begin to visit the Spencer Library just to get a glimpse of the library cat. A television crew from Japan even visits to film the famous Dewey.

Learn more about Dewey.

Sherlock Holmes? Elementary, of course!

If you are like me, you are looking forward to the latest screen incarnation of Sherlock Holmes. Guy Ritchie directs and Robert Downey Jr. stars in the new film, Holmes, which opens in Canada on Christmas Day.

But if you are not able to wait quite so long for your Holmes fix, why not borrow one of the Holmes story collections?

I picked up Hound of the Baskervilles again, and it proved as chilling and enjoyable as it did on my first read twenty years ago. Place your hold on any of Conan Dolye's books, or pull our Victorian detective into the 21st century by downloading one of his stories from our eCollections.

For a real treat, why not visit the Toronto Reference Library's Arthur Conan Dolye Room.

The Toronto Reference Library has one of the world's foremost collections of library materials devoted to the life and work of Arthur Conan Doyle. Much of the collection, of course, is devoted to Doyle's most famous character, Sherlock Holmes.

The room is open from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and by appointment.

In the words of our hero, "Education never ends Watson. It is a series of lessons with the greatest for the last."

10 Surprising Former "Librarians"

Check out this surprising list from blogger Sara Newton of ten people who once worked amongst the bookshelves.

Amongst the ten:

  1. Mao Zedong

  7. J. Edgar Hoover

  10. Batgirl

'Schindler's List' found in Australian Library

A list of Jews saved by Oskar Schindler that inspired the novel and Oscar-winning film "Schindler's List" has been found in a Sydney library, the AFP reported this week.

Workers at the New South Wales State Library found the list, containing the names of 801 Jews saved from the Holocaust by the businessman, as they sifted through boxes of Australian author Thomas Keneally's manuscript material.

"This list was hurriedly typed on April 18, 1945, in the closing days of WWII, and it saved 801 men from the gas chambers," library co-curator Olwen Pryke said.

 

Author Thomas Keneally holds the original list of the names of 801 Jews saved by Oskar Schindler