Lincoln City Libraries in Lincoln, Nebraska http://www.lincolnlibraries.org en-us Sat, 7 Nov 2009 5:02:27 Central Standard Time Sat, 7 Nov 2009 5:02:27 Central Standard Time Copyright 2009, All rights reserved. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. QCRSS In my reading life, I'm in the blissfully open season after I've read the current year's American Library Association Notable Books list, and before the next list is announced in January. I've got a pretty substantial mental list of titles, but found myself foundering for a title. So I took a look at a list from Amazon of the Best... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/I_Loved_In_the_Woods_6.htm Wed, 4 Nov 2009 14:57:00 Central Standard Time Last week I spent an intense four-and-a-half days in Seattle at a Public Library Association Strategic Planning Boot Camp.More on that later--for now I'll tell about the reading that I took along for my flights there and back, My Life in France by Julia Child. I haven't seen the movie, Julie and Julia yet,... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Julia_Childs_My_Life_in_France.htm Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:19:00 Central Daylight Time A few weeks ago I actually had some time at home to read! I had picked up two books (from Lincoln City Libraries, of course) to keep me in good reading, Seeking Peace: Chronicles of the Worst Buddhist in the World by Mary Pipher, and DV by Diana Vreeland. I don't think that I could have chosen two more different memoirs by... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/A_Tale_of_Two_Memoirs.htm Fri, 9 Oct 2009 16:04:00 Central Daylight Time I'm coming to the end of my annual exercise to read most of the books on the American Library Association Notable Books list (for adults). I'm disappointed in The Dark Side: the Inside Story of how the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals by Jane Mayer. I knew that this book was about torture, U.S. participation in tortur... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Not_sure_this_ones_NotableThe_Dark_Side_by_Jane_Mayer.htm Tue, 6 Oct 2009 17:05:00 Central Daylight Time Now THIS was the kind of book I'd been seeking, one that had me scheming about how to get back to it, even when I really should have been doing other stuff. Unaccustomed Earth is on this year's American Library Association Notable Books list.It's a collection of short stories, setin contemporary America, about young people... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/What_a_Notable_Unaccustomed_Earth_by_Jhumpa_Lahiri.htm Tue, 8 Sep 2009 17:43:00 Central Daylight Time I'm continuing with my reading of this year's Notable Books List from the American Library Association. This morning, I finished The Hakawati by Rabih Alameddine. It's fiction, set in contemporary Lebanon as well as the ancient Middle East of storytellers. Alameddine stirs up a stew of story here, moving between two ancient stories an... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Another_Notable_BookThe_Hakawati.htm Sun, 16 Aug 2009 14:54:00 Central Daylight Time Over the weekend, I finished Atmospheric Disturbances a first novel by Rivka Galchen, one of theselections on this year's American Library Association Notable Books List. This onetypifies many Notable Books fiction choices. Unusual characters. Fabulous prose. Unlikely plot. Suspension of disbelief. Lack of a tidy ending. Le... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Another_NotableAtmospheric_Disturbances.htm Mon, 3 Aug 2009 8:53:00 Central Daylight Time I'm completing apersonal project of reading all--or at least some of all--of the One Book One Lincoln nominees. As I've stated before, I'm enjoying the reading immensely. These are excellent books. They tell fascinating stories. I find it very interesting that all five of the titles, fiction as well as nonfiction, are based on actual ev... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Why_Write.htm Thu, 30 Jul 2009 9:23:00 Central Daylight Time A few months ago, I read In Defense of Food: an Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan, one of the titles on this year's American Library Association Notable Books list. Pollan explains how decades of nutrition science, as covered in the media especially, have confused us about how to eat healthfully.Pollan wants people to eat food,... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Another_NotableIn_Defense_of_Food.htm Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:08:00 Central Daylight Time A library promotional campaign is underway--Geek the Library. It celebrates that streak of nerdiness-curiousity-obsession in who-knows-what that many of us harbor.Of course, your public library is the place to indulge this inner Geek. I had a Geek spell just the other night when I was researching some authors.For a talk I'm preparing,... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/I_Geek_Books_and_Authors.htm Tue, 21 Jul 2009 16:40:00 Central Daylight Time My Facebook status today states that I don't feel compelled to finish books that I don't find compelling. Many people seem to agree with me on that. The book that inspired my status is American Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work by Nick Taylor. I was reading it because it's on this y... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Do_I_HAVE_to_finish_it.htm Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:10:00 Central Daylight Time I've been out of state, celebrating my father's 80th birthday at a family reunion. I was away when the Mayor's office announced that the budget he's presenting to the City Council includes both Bethany and South Branch Libraries. I'm tickled that it looks as if we'll continue to provide the distinct services that make neighborhood libraries so pop... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Good_Budget_News.htm Tue, 7 Jul 2009 8:38:00 Central Daylight Time I'm just returning a copy of The River of Doubt by Candice Millard, subtitled, Theodore Roosevel's Darkest Journey. It's one of the nominees for this year's One Book One Lincoln (OBOL) program. Theodore Roosevelt lived this adventure down a river of the Amazon Basin in 1913 and 1914, shortly after his defeat as a third-part... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Great_OBOL_nomineeThe_River_of_Doubt.htm Wed, 1 Jul 2009 16:54:00 Central Daylight Time Lynda Anderson will complete her seven-year Library Board term at the end of August. Lynda's been a remarkable asset to the Board, using her financial and organizational expertise to help the Library run well. We'll miss her sense of humor, too. The Library Board is now accepting applicationsto fillher vacant position, with a July 22 d... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Library_Board_Position_Open.htm Mon, 29 Jun 2009 8:36:00 Central Daylight Time I've heard a few comments from readers who are SO EXCITED that our list of One Book One Lincoln nominees includes nonfiction titles, The Color of Water by James McBride, and River of Doubt by Candice Millard. My annual reading of the Notable Books list over the years has shifted my preference toward nonfiction. Every year t... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Love_that_nonfiction.htm Wed, 24 Jun 2009 8:52:00 Central Daylight Time Several months ago, I read City of Thieves by David Benioff, one of this year's Notable Books.And I LOVED it. Briefly, it's a novel set during the siege of Leningrad, of two men who meet when they share a jail cell one night.Instead of being executed the next morning as they expect, theyreceive a chance to live, IF th... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/What_a_Notable_Book_City_of_Thieves.htm Fri, 19 Jun 2009 16:04:00 Central Daylight Time I just finished another book from the American Library Association Notable Books list, The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century by Steve Coll. I enjoyed reading it (which surprised me a little), and learned a lot about the recent history of Saudi Arabia. Coll describes Osama Bin Laden's story, buttakes pains t... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Another_Notable_BookThe_Bin_Ladens.htm Wed, 17 Jun 2009 8:14:00 Central Daylight Time The five finalists for this year's One Book One Lincoln program will be announced Monday. We owe a huge debt of gratitudeto the selection committee, this year chaired by Donna Marvin and Mary Jane Humphreys. In addition to reading many nominated titles, the committee discusses whether particular books offer enough in meat for di... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Discuss_this.htm Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:19:00 Central Daylight Time So far, Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout may be my favorite from this year's Notable Books List. It also won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Olive Kitteridge is a character in each of these short stories, set in a small town in Maine during the late twentieth century. Olive stars in some of the stories, but barely walks t... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Another_NotableOlive_Kitteridge.htm Mon, 8 Jun 2009 8:55:00 Central Daylight Time At a recent management team meeting, we began by sharing stories about something that had inspired us at the library. I wasstruck by the number of times that people mentioned internal interactons. Being treated well by a colleague made a difference. In many cases,not only did it provide great service to a customer, it... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Inspired_by_Each_Other_1.htm Thu, 4 Jun 2009 8:47:00 Central Daylight Time A Voyage Long and Strange by Tony Horwitz was one of the first books I chose from this year's Notable Books List. Horwitz takes a personal journey through the parts of North America where Europeans made contact between the landing of Columbus in 1492 and the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620. His inspiration was a trip to Plymouth... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Its_NotableA_Voyage_Long_and_Strange.htm Mon, 1 Jun 2009 8:50:00 Central Daylight Time Beginning in the early 1990s, I began an annual project of reading most of the books on the American Library Association Notable Books List. It all started when I was the supervisor of South Branch Library. Lois, a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, bopped in to return some books. As we chatted, she mentioned that she organized a "... http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/Firefly/Reading_Notable_Books.htm Fri, 29 May 2009 10:04:00 Central Daylight Time