December Events for Adults and Teens at the Glendale Public Library

Gallery events at the Brand, free movies at the Central Library Auditorium, a teen gaming tournament at Central and a discussion of Kathryn Stockett's The Help at the Montrose Adult Book Club meeting! There's plenty going on in December at the Glendale Public Library, so come join in the fun!

Click on the images below to view a larger version of the December Events taking place throughout the Glendale Public Library system.

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Glendale History: Thanksgiving Friday Shopping on Brand Boulevard?

While the picture on the postcard above probably wasn't taken the day after Thanksgiving, it's certainly a good representation of how the scene might have looked on Brand Boulevard at the kickoff of the holiday shopping season, circa 1958.

In observance of this year's Thanksgiving holiday, the Glendale Public Library will be closed from 5 pm on Wednesday, November 24 through Sunday, November 28. Regular hours for the Central Library, the Brand Library & Arts Center, and all of the neighborhood branch libraries will resume next week.

This postcard is one of the thousands of images available to library patrons and researchers at the Special Collections Room in the Glendale Central Library.

The Special Collections Room is currently open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m and 1 to 3 p.m. and by appointment. Please call (818) 548-2037 for additional information.

TWO MEATY TITLES

Both of these titles share a common subject, meat. Cleaving by Julie Powell, author of the inspiration for a blockbuster movie Julia & Julie, is a memoir of a cook who becomes fascinated with butchery and her path to become a butcher. My Year of Meats, while a work of fiction, chronicles a year in the life of a young filmmaker who has been hired by beef lobbyists to create a series of television documentaries to be shown in Japan.

As a long-time dedicated vegetarian, meat is not a topic on which I am particularly fluent or even interested. My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki came my way a few years back when it was recommended by a local bookseller. At the time she thought it was one of the best things she had read in a long while and she was right. The author is telling several stories here, the American filmmaker's, the Japanese wife's and that of the beef industry. While the later might now sound enticing, the author manages to craft an entertaining and unique story. One reviewer said that this is a book that even a vegetarian could enjoy...and they were right.

Cleaving: A story of marriage, meat and obsession by Julie Powell is a much different story. Why it was intriguing I am still at a loss to articulate. Parts are a bit gross and descriptions of separating meat from sinew and bone were not enthralling and often difficult but for some yet to be discovered reason, I liked this one and am glad that I don't read the reviews, even though they were in part correct, until after I finish. See what you think.

A TREAT FOR HALLOWEEN

A dark look at a possible future for mankind is presented in this engrossing novel by Justin Cronin. The entire world has been infected by a lab created virus. Originally developed to create super soldiers out of condemned criminals the experiment made them into monsters with the capability to infect and spread their disease throughout the population. These "virals" have reduced the world's population to a few small scattered enclaves of healthy humans who struggle to live off the land but with resources are running out have to seek other solutions. This must be done while avoiding the the virals who are very similar to vampires in that they are sensitive to light, infect humans by biting them on the neck and are capable of a degree of mind control. Ultimately the survival of mankind rests on the shoulders a six-year-old girl who will have to face the enemy in a battle of wills to determine the fate of the humans.

An unusual take on vampires is a perfect read for Halloween weekend--spooky enough to make you want to keep the lights on and suspenseful enough to keep you reading. Since the current weather forecast is for rain, this one is also a good reason to stay inside curled up with a good story.

LA as Subject Archives Bazaar Follow-Up

(Photo courtesy USC Libraries/ Marius Constantin)

The (new and improved!) LA as Subject website has posted a slideshow and feature article from last Sunday's Archives Bazaar, held at the beautiful Doheny Library on the USC campus.

Roughly 80 exhibitors, including the Glendale Public Library's Special Collections, filled the library's two first-floor reading rooms, while panel discussions and film screenings took place throughout the day a floor above.

It was our second year in a row taking part in the Bazaar, and once again we had a great time sharing our collection with researchers, students, and local history buffs (with their own Glendale stories to share in return). Plus, we visited with plenty of wonderful museum, archive, and library folk with great Los Angeles-themed collections of their own.

We're already looking forward to the 6th Annual Bazaar next year--see you there!

LA as Subject's 5th Annual Archives Bazaar, Saturday, October 23rd

The Glendale Public Library will be participating in the 5th Annual Los Angeles Archives Bazaar, presented by LA as Subject and hosted by the USC Libraries on Saturday, October 23rd.

The free event will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Doheny Memorial Library on USC’s University Park Campus.

LA as Subject is an alliance of libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions dedicated to preserving and celebrating Los Angeles's rich history and culture.

The complete Archives Bazaar program, with parking information, a list of participating institutions, and a schedule of panels, film screenings, and author events is available here.

One Book/One Glendale 2010: Los Angeles Noir

The Glendale Public Library is proud to present its 2010 Citywide Reading Event: Los Angeles Noir.

The book, edited by Denise Hamilton, takes Noir into the 21st century with an anthology of short stories, written by well-known local authors, and set in different Los Angeles neighborhoods. Each story reaches into the hardboiled roots of Noir, but with a modern twist and a diverse locale.

Visit the Library's One Book page for complete information on the book, the authors, and the events taking place throughout the month, and become a fan of One Book/One Glendale on Facebook to receive updates and reminders.

The One Book/One Glendale...for younger readers title for 2010 is the graphic novel Amulet: The Stone Keeper, by Kazu Kibuishi. Visit the Glendale Public Library's Children's Room Special Programs page for complete information on events taking place in October and November.

ANOTHER CHALLENGED TREASURE

Written in 1985 by relative of an assassinated Chilean president, Isabel Allende's The House of The Spirits continues to weather challenges against it because of the inclusion of certain language and sex. Fortunately this work of magical realism endures and we get to peek into the lives of the very unusual Trueba family as their story unfolds against the backdrop of a politically turbulent, yet unnamed country.

The original review: Starred Review */ A strong, absorbing Chilean family chronicle, plushly upholstered--with mystical undercurrents (psychic phenomena) and a measure of leftward political commitment. (The author is a cousin of ex-Pres. Salvador Allende, an ill-fated socialist.) The Truebas are estate-owners of independent wealth, of whom only one--the eventual patriarch, Esteban--fully plays his class role. Headstrong and conservative, Esteban is a piggish youth, mistreating his peons and casually raping his girl servants . . . until he falls under the spell of young Clara DelValle: mute for nine years after witnessing the gruesome autopsy of her equally delicate sister, Clara is capable of telekinesis and soothsaying; she's a pure creature of the upper realms who has somehow dropped into crude daily life. So, with opposites attracting, the marriage of Esteban and Clara is inevitable--as is the succession of Clara-influenced children and grandchildren. Daughter Blanca ignores Class barriers to fall in love with--and bear a child by--the foreman's son, who will later become a famous left wing troubadour (on the model of Victor Jara). Twin boys Jaime and Nicholas head off in different directions--one growing up to become a committed physician, the other a mystic/entrepreneur. And Alba, the last clairvoyant female of the lineage, will end the novel in a concentration camp of the Pinochet regime. Allende handles the theosophical elements here matter-of-factly: the paranormal powers of the Trueba women have to be taken more or less on faith. (Veteran readers of Latin American fiction have come to expect mysticism as part of the territory.) And the political sweep sometimes seems excessively insistent or obtrusive: even old Esteban recants from his reactionary ways at the end, when they seem to destroy his family. ("Thus the months went by, and it became clear to everyone, even Senator Trueba, that the military had seized power to keep it for themselves and not hand the country over to the politicians of the right who made the coup possible.") But there's a comfortable, appealing professionalism to Allende's narration, slowly turning the years through the Truebas' passions and secrets and fidelities. She doesn't rush; the characters are clear and sharp; there's style here but nothing self-conscious or pretentious. So, even if this saga isn't really much deeper than the Belva Plain variety, it's uncommonly satisfying--with sturdy, old-fashioned storytelling and a fine array of exotic, historical shadings. (Kirkus Reviews, April 15, 1985)

AND THE OSCAR GOES TO....

The American Library Association publishes a list every year that references those titles that were challenged during the last calendar year. After 21 years in publication, John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany still has the dubious honor of making the list. The enduring story of the friendship between two boys and its ability to survive even the ultimate tragedy is one of this prolific American authors treasures. While not without it's flaws, it does meander a bit, the reader is rewarded with a multi-faceted story that contains elements of mystery, pathos and humor. It's also one of those that Hollywood made into a movie several years ago starring Jim Carey. It was an entertaining but the book was so much better, check it out and see for yourself. (Click on the cover art for current availability.)

One of the original reviews: /* Starred Review */ Irving's novels, which often begin in autobiographical commonplace, get transformed along the way: sometimes into fairy tale (The Hotel New Hampshire), sometimes into modern-day ironic fable (The World According to Garp). This one--set in New Hampshire in the 50's and 60's--is a little of both, but not enough of either: its tone is finally too self-righteous to be fully convincing as fiction. In 1953, Owen Meany--a physically tiny man with a big voice who believes he's God's instrument--kills his best friend's mother with a foul ball. His best friend, Johnny Wheelwright, is the book's narrator: from Toronto, where he has lived for some 20 odd years, he tells the story of Owen Meany, who has a voice that "comes from God," of his own "Father Hunt"--Wheelwright is the product of his mother's "little fling"--and of growing up in the Sixties, when some people believed in destiny, others in coincidence. Sweetly moralistic, Wheelwright, who became "a Christian because of Owen Meany," sometimes launches into tirades about Reagan and the Iran/contra fiasco, but mostly he tells Owen's story: Meany, who always writes and speaks in the uppercase, is the real mouthpiece here, though Wheelwright is his Nick Carraway. Meany, after hitting "that fated baseball," no longer believes in accidents: his parents, in the granite business, convince him that he's the product of a virgin birth (we learn late in the book). His sense of destiny serves him well: not only does he play the Christ child in a Christmas pageant and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, but his pontificating "Voice" becomes a great power at the prep school he attends with Johnny (there are some marvelous sent-ups of prep school), and he "sees" the circumstances and the date of his own death. After much inventive detail (as well as much slapstick and whimsy dealing with Meany's tiny size and strange voice) and the working-out of a three-way relationship involving Meany, Johnny, and his cousin Hester, Meany saws off Johnny's finger in order to keep him out of Vietnam, dies as he foresaw, and reveals to Johnny from beyond the grave that the local Congregationalist minister is his real father. Vintage Irving--though here Dickensian coincidence, an Irving staple, becomes the subject of the book rather than a technique. The result is a novel that seems sincere but turns too bombastic and insistent in its opinions about literature, religion, and politics. (Kirkus Reviews, February 15, 1989)

CELEBRATE READING

Banned Book Week, a time to recognize and celebrate our freedom to read and create an awareness of the importance of our First Amendment rights, is celebrated yearly and this year the week of September 25-October 2 has been designated for this event. It is an important week for those who care about reading and the Libraries and a good time to read or reread one of the titles that has been placed on the list.

Every year I am surprised to find that many of the books which are regulars on the most challenged list are also on my list of personal favorites and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee certainly tops that list. Targeted regularly for racial bias, inappropriate language and containing themes that are not suitable for younger readers it fortunately is still on most Library shelves.

Told in the voice of an eight-year-old girl this work deals with a variety of themes that range from coming of age to prejudice and injustice, Lee’s book creates a vivid picture of an unusual family, the small town atmosphere of the South in the 30’s and issues that still haunt our country. If you have not read this one, add it to your list. If you have then it may be time to revisit an old friend. To check availability of this in the Glendale Public Library collection, please click on the cover art.

One of the original reviews for To Kill a Mockingbird:

/* Starred Review */ A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy -- and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference -- but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends. (Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 1960)

Glendale Noir Films at Brand Park!

Sunday, June 27th marks the beginning of Glendale Noir Films series in Brand Park, presented by The Glendale Historical Society and the Community Services and Parks Department.

As the series title suggests, each film in the series features scenes shot in Glendale, so keep a lookout for Jewel City landmarks!

The first film in the series, Mildred Pierce, starring Joan Crawford, will begin at 7:30. As all screenings will take place under the stars, attendees are encouraged to bring a blanket, a picnic, and a flashlight.

The series continues with Double Indemnity (July 25th) and concludes with Gun Crazy (August 22nd). Additional information is available on the Society's calendar of events page. Or click here for the flyer.

All three showings are free admission (and free parking) and will begin at 7:30 pm.

New Self-Help Books at the Library

The Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart: An Emotional and Spiritual Handbook
by Kingma, Daphne Rose
Kingma writes for readers whose lives are being wrenched apart by sudden job loss, the death of a loved one, financial ruin, or a dire medical diagnosis. When any of these things happens, either separately or simultaneously, Kingma offers a list of ten ways whereby readers can eventually learn that their difficulties have meaning and purpose. A particularly helpful lesson urges letting go of coping strategies that no longer work. For those lost in the turbulence of life, Kingma offers a genuine hand through. (LJ)


Happy: Simple Steps to Get the Most Out of Life
by Smith, Ian K., M.D.

Smith's fat-smash diet has helped millions loss weight. But he soon realized that it's not the momentary thrill of getting something you want but the long-term sense of being someone you want that really delivers the goods.






The Undervalued Self: Restore Your Love/Power Balance, Transform the Inner Voice that Holds You Back, and Find Your True Self-Worth
by Aron, Elaine N.

Psychotherapist and "social psychologist" Aron (The Highly Sensitive Person) presents a "rich, complex and deeply layered" approach to building self-esteem, suitable for studious readers ready to work for understanding and change. … dedicated rereading will give readers a sophisticated understanding of low self-esteem, and concrete steps to improve it.

New History Books at the Library!

America and The Pill: A History of Promise, Peril, and Liberation
by May, Elaine Tyler
To mark the fiftieth anniversary of FDA approval of an oral contraceptive for women (the pill) historian May, whose professional focus has been on marriage, divorce, and the family in America, offers a notably uncontentious précis of the pill's half-century in American life. (Booklist)



Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace
by Lieven, Dominic
For this groundbreaking contribution to the study of Napoléon's demise, historian Lieven researched once-forbidden Russian archives to tell the story from Emperor Alexander I's point of view, and from the perspectives of his officers and soldiers. On the ever-popular topic of the Napoleonic Wars, Lieven's distinctive achievement is a must-have. (Booklist)

Hoboes: Bindlestiffs, Fruit Tramps, and the Harvesting of the West
by Wyman, Mark
Wyman details how the railroads were the means by which workers as well as crops were moved from place to place and how such "hoboes and tramps" came to occupy the lowest rung of the social order. With broader historic sweep than recent sugar-beet industry and migrant-labor studies, Wyman's book is highly recommended for both academics and the general public as a scholarly yet accessible history of a rather neglected topic of the American West. (LJ)

New Titles at Central Library Job Center

Looking for a new job? Looking for a way to re-market yourself? Times are tough, perhaps these titles can help:

Career Comeback: Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want by Lisa Johnson Mandell

"...offers the ultimate makeover to-do list: From 'botoxing' your resume by deleting dates and early jobs, tech-savvy tricks for starting and improving your website or blog and online networking, to updating your wardrobe, Mandell shares the secrets that will get mid-career job seekers noticed and on the payroll." (amazon.com)

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Recession-Proof Careers by Jeff Cohen

"Keeping your job is job one. In these uncertain economic times, secure employment is more important than ever. [This book] presents all of the information needed to make an informed decision about choosing a career that ensures your continued employability." (amazon.com)

Over 40 & You're Hired!: Secrets to Landing a Great Job by Robin Ryan

"Recent U.S. Labor Department reports have shown that those with the longest period of unemployment—an average of eight months—are age 45 and older. Ryan’s tips are specifically geared to the more experienced over-40 audience, and her advice is relevant regardless of whether you’ve been laid off, want to change careers or are looking for a promotion." (BookPage Reviews)

The 10 Laws of Career Reinvention: Essential Survival Skills for Any Economy by Pamela Mitchell

"Mitchell (founder, Reinvention Inst.) lays out the ten 'laws' of career reinvention, from creating a vision and forming a network of resources to speaking the language of your new career. " (Library Journal)

Unlock the Hidden Job Market: 6 Steps to a Successful Job Search When Times Are Tough by Duncan Mathison

"...focuses on high-level careers, reflecting the authors' experience with executive placement and leadership communications." (Library Journal)

Fired to Hired: Bouncing Back from Job Loss to Get to Work Right Now by Tory Johnson

"Tory Johnson's New York Times bestseller, Will Work from Home, was comprehensive and inspiring. Now, the Women For Hire CEO and Good Morning America workplace contributor returns with advice and real-life stories for finding the right job after being let go." (amazon.com)

April is Poetry Month! Got one in your pocket?

April, poetry and libraries go together, and the Glendale Central Library is celebrating National Library Week (April 11-17) along with National Poetry Month.

This year’s Poetry Month theme is “Put a poem in your pocket,” creating the image of making a favorite poem as familiar and personal as the things we keep in our pockets – things that form part of our everyday lives. The Central Library’s display case develops the dual themes of favorite poem collections and pockets full of poetry.

In addition, library users are encouraged to submit copies of their favorite poems, many of which will be displayed in the display’s fanciful poetry pockets. Drop one in the basket next to the display in the Central Library. -- John, Reference Librarian

For further information, call the Central Library reference desk at 818-548-2027.

Glendale History: March Madness, 1909 Style

(click on the photograph to view a larger version in a new window)

With men's and women's NCAA Tournaments beginning this week, it seems apropos to share this picture of the 1909 Glendale High School girls basketball team. (Unfortunately, no information on how far they advanced in their bracket is provided on the back of the photo.)

This photograph is one of the thousands available to library patrons and researchers at the Special Collections Room in the Glendale Central Library.

The Special Collections Room also contains news clippings, books, maps, and other materials that cover the history of Glendale, neighboring cities, and California in general. The collection is particularly useful for local history and genealogy research projects. Special Collections also houses the Cat Collection, one of the largest collections of feline-related materials in the world.

The Special Collections Room is currently open Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m and 1 to 3 p.m. and by appointment. Please call (818) 548-2037 for additional information.

New History Books at the Library!

Here are some new books hitting the shelves soon at GPL:


Holy Warriors: A Modern History of the Crusades
by Phillips, Jonathan

A fresh, no-nonsense take on the causes, human cost and continued relevance of the medieval Crusades. A straightforward, pertinent study replete with passionate personages both Christian and Muslim. (Kirkus)







Rebel Land: Unraveling the Riddle of History in a Turkish Town
by de Bellaigue, Christopher

A brave investigation into the buried history of Armenian massacre and Kurdish violence in a small Turkish village. Conversant in Turkish and charmed by the cosmopolitan nature of the people, foreign correspondent de Bellaigue was posted to Istanbul for some years before he began to question the official Turkish story that the forced deportation and massacre of Armenians during World War I had been provoked by their rebelliousness and collusion with Russia. (Kirkus)



Strange Days Indeed: The 1970s: The Golden Days of Paranoia
by Wheen, Francis

The meat of Wheen's lucid discussion is what can be considered a golden age of the paranoid style of politics, as the historian Richard Hofstadter put it, and of widespread paranoia in general. Literate, authentic to period detail and often entertaining . . . (Kirkus)

New Books at the Library!

Here are some of the books that are coming soon to GPL:

Ideas That Matter: The Concepts That Shape the 21st Century
by Grayling, A. C.

Grayling, a well-known British philosopher, has attempted a task worthy of Voltaire and Pierre Bayle. He has given us a philosophical dictionary of important ideas. All readers interested in the issues discussed (and who isn't?) will gain much from this book. (LJ)






See What I'm Saying: The Extraordinary Powers of Our Five Senses
by Rosenblum, Lawrence D.

An eye-opening look at the mechanics of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Rosenblum's enthusiasm is contagious and his prose accessible, and he is mostly successful in explaining massive amounts of information about sensory abilities we take for granted. (Kirkus)






The Genius in All of Us: Why Everything You've Been Told About Genetics, Talent, and IQ Is Wrong
by Shenk, David

Journalist Shenk, who has a flair for explaining scientific subjects in everyday language, challenges the simple notion that genes determine whether or not a person is gifted. [H]ighly readable. Upbeat and entertaining. (Kirkus)

Reader's Notes for February

The 2009 finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes have been announced. Winners will be awarded before the Los Angeles Time Festivals of Books on April 23, 2010. In addition to ten book categories, author, editor, and publisher Dave Eggers will be given a new Innovator’s Award, and novelist, short story author Evan S. Connell will receive Robert Kirsch Lifetime Achievement award. The finalists are:

Biography
Kirstin Downey, The Woman Behind the New Deal: The Life of Frances Perkins, FDR’s Secretary of Labor and His Moral Conscience
Linda Gordon, Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits
Michael Scammell, Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth Century Skeptic
Melvin Urofsky, Louis D. Brandeis: A Life
Kenneth Whyte, The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst

Current Interest
Dave Cullen, Columbine
Dave Eggers, Zeitoun
Tracy Kidder, The Strength in What Remains
Nicholas D. Kristof & Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide
T.R. Reid, The Healing of America: The Global Quest for Better, Cheaper, and Fairer Healthcare

Fiction
Jill Ciment, Heroic Measures
Jane Gardam, The Man in the Wooden Hat
Michelle Huneven, Blame
Kate Walbert, A Short History of Women
Rafael Yglesias, A Happy Marriage

Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction
Petina Gappah, An Elegy for Easterly
Paul Harding, Tinkers
Philipp Meyer, American Rust
Daniyal Mueenuddin, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders
Wells Tower, Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned

Graphic Novel
Gilbert Hernandez, Luba (A Love and Rockets Book)
Taiyo Matsumoto, GoGo Monster
David Mazzucchelli, Asterios Polyp
Bryan Lee O’Malley, Scott Pilgrim, Vol. 5: Scott Pilgrim vs. the Universe
Joe Sacco, Footnotes in Gaza

History
Richard Holmes, Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
Martha A. Sandweiss, Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line
Kevin Starr, Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance 1950 – 1963
Amy Louise Wood, Lynching and Spectacle: Witnessing Racial Violence in America, 1890-1940
Gordon S. Wood, Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic 1789 – 1815

Mystery / Thriller
Megan Abbott, Bury Me Deep
David Ellis, The Hidden Man
Attica Locke, Black Water Rising
Val McDermid, A Darker Domain
Stuart Neville, The Ghosts of Belfast

Poetry
Gabrielle Calvocoressi, Apocalyptic Swing
Amy Gerstler, Dearest Creature
Tom Healy, What the Right Hand Knows
Brenda Hillman, Practical Water
Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon, Open Interval

Science & Technology
Marcia Bartusiak, The Day We Found the Universe
Graham Farmelo, The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac, Mystic of the Atom
Bill Streever, Cold: Adventures in the Worlds’ Frozen Places
Richard Wrangham, Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
Carol Kaesuk Yoon, Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science

Young Adult Literature
James Cross Giblin, The Rise and Fall of Senator Joe McCarthy
Frances Hardinge, The Lost Conspiracy
Deborah Heiligman, Charles and Emma: The Darwin’s Leap of Faith
Elizabeth Partridge, Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don’t You Grow Weary
Shaun Tan, Tales from Outer Suburbia

Authors Lost in February

Poet and children's writer, Lucille Clifton, 73

Horse racing mystery novelist Dick Francis, 89

"Mystery writing powerhouse Dick Francis first came to the public eye as a victim in one of the most unusual sports mishaps of the century. The incident happened just after Francis, then a jockey, and his horse headed towards the finish post, after having just cleared the last jump at the Grand National. The Grand National is a British steeplechase race considered by many to be the world's most prestigious horse racing event, and Francis was riding Devon Loch, the Queen Mother's horse. Suddenly and inexplicably, the horse that had seemed destined to win collapsed, and would not complete the race. Francis never figured out what startled his horse that day, but that singular occurrence turned into a triumph than the seasoned jockey could never have imagined the morning of the race. The accident actually marked the beginning of his writing career." "Dick Francis." Authors and Artists for Young Adults. Vol. 21. Gale Research, 1997. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center through Glendale Public Library Online Resources.

New Craft Books at the Glendale Public Library!

Looking for inspiration for a new craft project, or a little help in designing your own clothes?

Here's a sample of new craft books for design-it-yourself types that have recently been added to the Glendale Public Library's collection! Click on the title or the book cover to place a hold, or go to the GPL Catalog to search for more titles.

Make!: Over 40 Fantastic Projects With 16 Exclusive Designs
by Cath Kidston

"Inspired by retro vintage prints found at garage and yard sales, and reinvented in cool modern colors, Cath Kidston’s instantly recognizable designs have garnered fans all over the world. Now you can create your own projects using Cath’s original motifs. Make! includes over 40 projects, all with complete step by step instructions, and for the first time, pattern templates for many of her best loved motifs." (Publisher's description)


One-Yard Wonders: Look How Much You Can Make With Just One Yard of Fabric!
by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins

"For both novice and accomplished sewers, this spiral-bound guide offers directions that are precisely, clearly, and buoyantly written as the authors share 101 sewing projects requiring only a yard of fabric, including apparel, toys, accessories (human and pet), dresser organizers, and stuffed animals. For each "recipe," the authors, in well-ordered fashion, list necessary materials and then take the reader-crafter through clearly numbered, carefully explained directions to create a successful final product. For each project, too, a pattern schematic is matched on the opposite page with a full-color photograph of the finished project. This is a fundamental crafts book appropriate for most crafts collections." (Booklist Reviews, December 2009)


Sew What! Bags: You Can Customize to Fit Your Needs, 18 Pattern-free Projects
by Lexie Barnes

"By now, thanks to increased eco-awareness, most of us have purchased a few canvas totes—and maybe even remember to use them at the grocery store. With Sew What! Bags: 18 Pattern-Free Projects You Can Customize to Fit Your Needs, crafting veterans and amateurs alike can go a step further by designing and making their own totes, plus 17 other bag-esque projects. Author Lexie Barnes puts her experience as a handbags and accessories designer to work in this great guide, which includes detailed instructions, inspiring photos and plenty of you-can-do-it encouragement. Spot-on tips for hemming, choosing fabric and breaking out of the pattern mold help ensure this book is a crafter’s delight".(BookPage Reviews, August 2009)


Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified
by Cal Patch

"A former Urban Outfitters designer provides five key projects (with four variations each)--including a perfect-fitting dress, T-shirt, button-down shirt, A-line skirt, and pants--and explains how to take measurements, draft the patterns, choose fabrics, and add darts, waistbands, pockets, and ruffles." (Baker & Taylor)