New BookTalk Booklist on BookGuide: Women in the West...and Some More Nebraska Books, with Meredith M.

Meredith M., the retired curator of the Heritage Room of Nebraska Authors, and also a long-time member of the Bethany BookTalks group, presented a booktalk to that Bethany BookTalks group on February 10, 2023, which featured not only a focus on “Women in the West” but also a selection of additional books by Nebraska authors.

Check out the list of titles Meredith shared at the following link: 

 

Women in the West…and Some More Nebraska Books

Audiobook Review: Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments, and Assorted Hijinks by Dick Cavett

Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic Moments, and Assorted Hijinks
by Dick Cavett (Compact disc Biography Cavett)

Based on his columns in the New York Times, Cavett reads his own essays about his life growing up in Lincoln, behind the scenes in movies, TV, and Broadway, college life at Yale, and general comments on current events. Probably only interesting to those who remember his TV talk show or appreciate the classic stars and celebrities. His stories, over eight hours on seven discs, were humorous, interesting, and poignant, and ended far too quickly.

 

This recording was a 2015 Grammy nominee for Best Spoken Word Album (losing out to Jimmy Carter reading his own biography). For more Cavett entertainment, the library owns other Cavett books as physical copies and on Hoopla, four various sets of The Dick Cavett Show on DVD, and his interview with John G. Neihardt is on DVD in the Heritage Room.

 

( official Dick Cavett index on the New York Times web site )

 

See Scott C.’s earlier review of Brief Encounters in the July 2015 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Charlotte M.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Fangirl - The Manga, Vol. 1 by Sam Maggs and Gabi Nan, from the novel by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl: The Manga, Vol. 1
adapted from the novel by Rainbow Rowell by Sam Maggs, with art by Gabi Nan (YA PB Maggs)

Twin sisters from Omaha begin freshman year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Cath is a writer of fan fiction, but when she turns in a fanfic story for her creative writing class, her professor accuses her of plagiarism.

 

( official Sam Maggs web site ) | ( official Fangirl Manga page on the official Rainbow Rowell web site )

 

This was one of dozens of Graphic Novel reviews submitted by library staff during our 2022 In-Service Training day on 9/23, all collected on A Day Full of Graphic Novels

 

Recommended by Paul B.
Eiseley and Williams Branch Libraries

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: Poems: 1947-1954 by Weldon Kees

Poems, 1947-1954
by Weldon Kees (811 K25p)

Weldon Kees is one of Nebraska’s best-known poets, but he is remembered mostly for his disappearance in July of 1955 in San Francisco. His new car was left at the Golden Gate Bridge and his body was never found — one of the great mysteries of that time. Born in Beatrice, Nebraska, Weldon graduated from Beatrice High School and attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln as well as several other colleges. Poet, artist, film maker, musician and lyricist, Kees was well-known in the literary circles in New York and as an artist with a flair for abstract expressionism. Lincoln City Libraries was gifted with the Kees collection of letters and photographs from his mother, Sarah Kees, in the 1960s. As I have been working on the Kees Project this summer, I have been fascinated by the letters Weldon wrote to his friend Norris Getty, asking for critical advice for his poetry as he prepared it for publication. I decided to check out this collection of Kees’ poetry because it was discussed at some length between Kees and Getty. The first poem I read was “The Hourglass,” one of the finest poems I have ever read. Although not all of the poems in this collection are as well done as this one, they are definitely worth reading. Kees struggled with his poetry, bringing emotion and angst to his writing as he sought just the right words to express his feelings. Many of his poems hint at his depression and thoughts of suicide, while other poems are light or flippant in nature. I recommend this collection to anyone who is interested in the work of Weldon Kees or in poetry by Nebraska poets.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Weldon Kees and the Midcentury Generation: Letters 1935-1955 by Robert Knoll, Selected Short Stories of Weldon Kees by Weldon Kees or The Fall of the Magicians by Weldon Kees.)

 

( Wikipedia entry for Weldon Kees )

 

Recommended by Kim J.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book Review: You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar + online book discussion of this book tonight 1/12/2022!!

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy StoriesAbout Racism

by Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar (305.8 AfrYr)

 

Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar are two sisters who grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. Amber has moved to New York City, where she is a writer and performer on Late Night with Seth Meyers and host of The Amber Ruffin Show. Lacey is still living in Omaha. The book documents racist things said to Lacey. There is a back-and-forth humor between the co-author sisters that makes it impossible to not laugh, although the reality of current racism experienced by the authors is horrifying.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo or Mixed: My Life in Black and White by Angela Nissel.)

 

( publisher’s official You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey web page ) | ( official Amber Ruffin Twitter feed ) | ( official Lacey Lamar Twitter feed )

 

Recommended by Jodi R.
Anderson and Bethany Branch Libraries

 

***** Join a virtual book discussion of You'll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey: Crazy Stories About Racism, co-sponsored by Nebraska Appleseed, tonight from 6:30 to 7:30 on Zoom!

To join the discussion, go to https://lincolnne.zoom.us/j/8465964290. *****

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!