What We're Reading: A Wild Sheep Chase

A Wild Sheep Chase is a fantasy, mystery, adventure, and detective story by the most popular and widely read Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami. It is the story of the first-person, easy going narrator, "I", owner of an advertising business, who is compelled by the secretary of a powerful right-wing figure to go in search of a sheep with a star-shaped birthmark on its back. The sheep appears in a photograph taken by an old friend of the narrator - "Rat" - who has disappeared several years earlier. In the pursuit, the narrator learns about the incredible tale of the spirit of the sheep entering the bodies of certain characters. If the person has a strong character, then he can accomplish important feats in life, but if he's weak, he'll be crushed by the spirit. As Friedrich Nietzsche said: "Only strong personalities can endure history, the weak ones are extinguished by it." This novel could be a response to humanity's addiction to the concepts of power and money.

Brown Bag Book Club

Next month we will be reading House of Dies Drear by Virginia Hamilton. Our next meeting is on Tuesday May 19th, 2009 in the Central library at noon. It is open to anybody who would like to join us.

See you there!

Breaking News - A new Dan Brown book...FINALLY!

Remember The Da Vinci Code? How it dominated the bestseller lists for two years upon publication? How everybody read it and the other Dan Brown books? How everyone couldn't wait for his next book? How we've now waited six years [yes it has been that long] for Dan Brown's next thriller featuring Robert Langdon?

Well, the wait is now nearly over--five more months and on September 15, The Lost Symbol (all 5 million copies of it) will be released, and here at the Library waiting for you to read. Get your holds in now...before I do!

http://www.danbrown.com/the-lost-symbol.html

What We're Reading - The Book of Lists Horror and Coffee & Conversation.

I will admit to a love of books or articles that list things from greatest baseball players or greatest Presidents ever to best of lists to being able to enjoy The World Almanac and Book of Facts for its endless amount of longest rivers in the world to cities with the highest population.

So when you make a compilation of various lists and mix in the horror genre, to me, you get a frighteningly enjoyable book, The Book of Lists Horror. It's a book chock-full of creepy information from the world of movies, TV, literature,& comics. Amy Wallace, Del Howison, and Scott Bradley have produced a spine-tingling compendium of all things macabre, mysterious, and gory. The various lists compiled by many people associated with horror range from the serious ["Ten Books that Changed the Horror Genre," pg. 225] to the amusing ["Five Common Tactical Errors in Horror Films," pg. 23] to many that fall into various areas of taste [bad, good, questionable, lacking any...]; but anyone interested in horror, even a casual reader like myself, will be sure to find a list that will lead to movies or books that you'll want to read, watch...or avoid!

If your blood-thirsty appetite for fright has been whetted, do consider stopping by on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at 7:00 PM at the Buena Vista Branch Library for

Coffee and Conversation

and meet the creators of THE BOOK OF LISTS: HORROR, Amy Wallace, Del Howison, and Scott Bradley. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing!

The Book of Lists: Horror has been nominated for the Black Quill Award, the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award and the Bram Stoker Award and, based upon past experience with our horror book panels, I know you'll have a terrifyingly good time!

A pair of "did you know"s...

• Del Howison, co-owner of Burbank's own Dark Delicacies bookstore [if you or someone you know love horror, you have to visit the store!], now is 3 for 3 in nabbing Bram Stoker Award nominations for books he's helped edit.

• And, this year's Horror Writer's Association conference will be held from June 12-14 here at the Burbank Airport Marriott Hotel! Maybe Del can win an award on his home turf! How cool would that be? or should that be how scary?

Burbank's Circulation - Biggest Month Ever !

Library Director Sharon Cohen announced that the circulation statistics at Burbank Public Library for March were truly impressive—it was the biggest month ever !

129,168 items were checked out @ BPL
55,567 @ Central
60,756 @ Buena Vista
12,845 @ Northwest

This is a 5% increase for the 9 months of this fiscal year – 2008/09

Children’s materials have also shown a steady increase
10% increase at Central = 29% of the Central’s total circulation
8% @ Buena Vista = 36% of BV’s total circulation
5% @ Northwest = 35% of NW’s total circulation

Audio Visual materials
3% overall
25% @ Northwest

Internet
18% increase @ all three libraries = 247,000 users
Central - 20%
BV - 17%
NW - 21%

Website use is also up 11% = 4,585 hits in March

Cohen added that as the economy gets worse, the public uses the library more. This is proving true nationwide. But as usage goes up, budgets are going down !

1 person in Burbank using the services below is a $366.00 value.

For every tax dollar spent, you receive $ 366.00 of value in return !

Books borrowed @ $25
Paperbacks borrowed @ $10
Magazines borrowed @ $5
Rental movies @ $4
Audio books borrowed @ $20
CDs borrowed @ $15
Link + Interlibrary Loan requests@ $25
Materials used in library @ $20
Adult programs attended @ $10
Children’s programs attended @ $6
Information questions answered @ $10
Technical assistance @ $3
Computer training @ $75
One-on-one Literacy tutoring @ $28
Live Homework Help @ $12
Hours of public computer used @ $12
Electronic resources used @ $20
Meeting rooms use in hours @ $50

What is the value of BPL to you ?
Use the BPL Library Value Use Calculator and find out.

Poetry Month, continued

There are two different websites at which you can subscribe to receive a poem in your email each day during National Poetry Month. One is:

http://www.poets.org/

Go there and click on "Poem A Day."

Or, you can go to Knopf's Borzoi Reader at: http://poem-a-day.knopfdoubleday.com/ and sign up. This is a great way to discover a new poet or a new poem by an old favorite.

Also, look for exhibits of poetry books for teens, at Central library in the teen section, and at Buena Vista library on a book cart in the main aisle. There are several teen fiction writers who write their novels in verse, including Sonya Sones (What My Mother Doesn't Know, What My Girlfriend Doesn't Know, Stop Pretending: What Happened When My Big Sister Went Crazy) and Ellen Hopkins (Crank, Impulse, Burned, Glass, Identical). There are popular teen novelists who also write poetry, including Francesca Lia Block's How to (Un)cage A Girl and Gary Soto's A Fire In My Hands and Who Will Know Us? Explore autobiographical poets such as Antwone Fisher (Who Will Cry for the Little Boy?) or Jimmy Santiago Baca (Healing Earthquakes). Or enjoy a collection, such as Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States. Let National Poetry Month introduce you to what you've been missing--a world of verse.

Lĭt / uh / ruh / sē Äw / fĭs

April – National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month was established in 1996 to promote and celebrate the reading of poetry throughout the United States. It was established by the Academy of American Poets as a month-long, national celebration of poetry.

Who is the current U.S. Poet Laureate ?
Who is the California Poet Laureate ?
What state appointed the 1st State Poet Laureate ?
Who is the current Children’s Poet Laureate ?

Join the ‘ Free Verse Competition ' @ Poets.org

Capture and share your own ephemeral bits of verse. Write lines from a favorite poem on a sandy beach, assemble twigs on a hillside, or chalk the sidewalk. Take a photo before it disappears and post it on:

Flickr – Free Verse Group page
Facebook - Acadamy’s Fan Page
email your photo to freeverse@poets.org

Include the source of your lines in the photo caption. All photos posted by April 15 will be automatically entered in the contest.

Check out the National Poetry Map. Find California poets, poems, events, literary journals, writing programs, poetry organizations, and more.