The Worst Hard Time is this year's One Book One Lincoln selection

The Worst Hard Time

The Lincoln City Libraries and the Lincoln Journal Star announced this morning, via today's paper and the library web site, that Timothy Egan's National Book Award-winning non-fiction title The Worst Hard Time has been selected for this year's One Book -- One Lincoln community-wide reading project.

Copies of this book are available in both print and book-on-CD editions. Special programs and events, based on the themes of The Worst Hard Time, are scheduled at various library branches and other locations throughout the city in September, October and November. And various opportunities for group discussions of the book will also be available throughout Lincoln.

All the information about this year's events and discussions, as well as background information about the book, the author and the themes and subjects of The Worst Hard Time, are available on the official 2007 One Book -- One Lincoln web site.

The library also now has a One Book -- One Lincoln blog site as well, for readers to leave comments about this year's book in response to posted questions and/or topics.

CNN reading poll results

CNN posted an article a few days ago which synopsized the results of a poll they had conducted of reading statistics in America. Take a look!

Where do you fall in comparison to their figures? How important is leisure reading to you?

Fall schedule for Bethany Books Talk!

Bethany Books Talk welcomes everyone for a morning of good books. For the past seven years, speakers have presented a group of books, sometimes with a theme and sometimes not. These informal presentations allow for good conversation as well. The Bethany Books Talk group meets every Friday morning, at the Bethany Branch Library -- 1810 N. Cotner Blvd., beginning at 10:30 A.M., unless otherwise noted. Come join us! Call 402-441-8550 for more information.

September 7
Books to Keep You Up at Night!* -- Marcy will bring books that you won't want to put down, even to go to bed! (*not scary)

September 14
Recent and Re-readable -- Erin will share some of her recent favorites and some titles that were so nice, she had to read them twice.

September 21
'Tis a Tale Too Sweet -- Layne explores the world of Medieval Romances. It's more than just chastity belts.

September 28
Solve it at the Library -- Come listen to Julee share titles of mystery and suspense set in the library. [Note: This booktalk went by the title "Booked to Die" when presented at the Courtyard Book Chats previously.]

October 5
One Book One Lincoln -- Join Lisa for a discussion of the hot title everyone in Lincoln is reading!

October 12
Brush Up on a Good Book -- Shannon will take us on a tour through the fascinating world of art.

October 19
Cruel and Unusual: Some Twists on Genre Fiction -- Julie and Rebecca make a joint presentation, including both thrillers and some unique twits on standard genre fiction.

October 26
A Bushel of Books -- A booksharing day -- Bring a book you enjoyed, to share with the group.

November 2
Susan's Selections -- Come hear Susan talk about some of her recent recommended reads.

November 9
ALA Notables -- Pat will discuss titles selected by the American Library Association as notable.

November 16
Westward Ho! -- Hold onto your hat! Rayma will take us back in time into the wild and untamed West.

November 23
Library closed for the Thanksgiving holiday

November 30
Mostly the Truth - Sometimes Not -- Carol will bring some interesting non-fiction titles, with a few fiction thrown in.

December 7
Give the Gift of Reading -- Just in time for the holidays, Vicki will share some titles that make good gifts.

December 14
An Assortment of Authors -- Come hear Sean talk about some of the books he's read lately.

December 21
My Favorite Things: Bookshare! -- Another booksharing opportunity -- Bring a favorite title to share with the group!

Booklists for some of these talks, given previously, are already available for your perusal at BookGuide's Book Talk Booklists page.

An August BookGuide Staff Recommendation - The Canteen Spirit

Check out the 10 new reviews at BookGuide's Staff Recommendations page for August 2007. Here's a taste of what you'll find:


The Canteen Spirit
by Annie Mummgaard [DVD 940.548 Mum]

Produced by Nebraska's very own Public Television, "The Canteen Spirit" provides an in depth look at the internationally famous, World War II North Platte Canteen. In this award receiving documentary, soldiers revisit North Platte and reminisce with great emotion and appreciation about their stop at the Canteen. They meet with people who worked the canteen and use this time to express their heart felt admiration to them. Rare and historic pictures are used through out the film to show the canteen's creation, up all the way through the demolition of the depot that housed the canteen. I was excited to finally view a Nebraska produced film about this incredible act of unity and generosity towards strangers, a generosity which has been the subject of bestselling books and national recognition since the North Platte Canteen's inception in 1941. For its production of "The Canteen Spirit" NET television received a Silver Telly in the Film/Documentary category at the 26th Annual Telly Awards national competition in 2005. In January of 2006, the documentary premiered nationally on PBS. This is a movie that is sure to educate, amaze and inspire anyone who watches it. -- Reviewed by Patty L. [Walt Branch Library]
Have you seen this one? What did you think?

What's in the future for the downtown library?

from:

A front page article in this morning's Lincoln Journal Star talked about the future of a downtown public library, and where it fits into downtown redevelopment and revitalization.

Feel free to read the article, then leave your comments, here on the library's BookGuide blog. There's also a comment thread attached to the article on the Lincoln Journal Star's website as well! What's your opinion on the subject?

Check Out LibraryThing!

For the amateur librarians among us, we encourage you all to take a look at the LibraryThing website, where participants can create and customize an online "catalog" of the books they own and/or have read. Readers wishing to sign up for a free account can then add up to 200 books (or lots more for a relatively small fee), including information about authors, titles and ISBNs. So far, it sounds like just a simple list, right?

The best part of LibraryThing is that your annotated catalog can then be shared with other LibraryThing users, via keyword and other types of searching. Add subject "tags" to your books and reviews, that will help you and other users track information about the books you've cataloged. Want to rate or review the items on your virtual "bookshelf"? Go for it! Then go read other users's reviews or comments. Join in shared book communities and swap literary stories with other LibraryThing afficionados. A quarter of a million users have joined up already, with over 17+ million books "cataloged". Go find out which books have shown up in the largest number of users' collections. See which books have had the most reviews submitted, both positive and negative. Swap reading suggestions with other voracious readers -- we entered "Centennial" by James Michener, and received back several dozen recommendations of similar titles, both from the LibraryThing database, but also from Amazon.

Visit the Zeitgeist page, and see what the most popular authors in LibraryThing are, and also what authors themselves have joined LibraryThing! LibraryThing is one of the premier examples of the cross-over between libraries, book-lovers and online social networking. So...check it out!

And if you sign up to participate, drop us a note here to let us know who you are and point us toward your bookshelf!

How does Robert Ludlum do it...especially since he died in 2001?

Fan of the dense, detailed writing style in the 20 novels Robert Ludlum had published before his death in 2001? Curious as to how he's managed to have another 12 bestsellers published since he died?

Check out this article at The Independent to see how an author whose no longer living can still be producing so many thrillers!

What's your favorite Robert Ludlum novel, and why?

Sideways Awards announced

The latest winners of the Sideways Awards, for alternate history fiction writing, were announced at TuckerCon/NASFic this past weekend. The award for novel-length writing went to the first three volumes of Charles Stross' "Clan Corporate" series: The Family Trade, The Hidden Family, and The Clan Corporate. The winner in the short-form category was Gardner Dozois, for the story "Counterfactual" in the June 2006 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

[Book links take you into the library's catalog.]

Mythopoeic Awards announced

The winners of the Mythopoeic Awards for works published in 2006 were announced this past weekend at Mythcon in California. Winners included: Patricia A. McKillip's Solstice Wood, Catherine Fisher's Corbenic, Christina Scull & Wayne G. Hammond's The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide, and G. Roland Murphy's Gemstone of Paradise: The Holy Grail in Wolfram’s Parzival.

[Book links connect to this title in the library's catalog.]