I'm moving!

This blog is being moved to a new name. From now on, I will be blogging about books at librarytwitt.blogspot.com Why the move? I'm trying to be consistent and make it easier for readers to find me. I am known as librarytwitt on Twitter. My tweets are mostly about websites and books I find interesting or helpful. You can also send a direct message to me if you need help with a research project or a book suggestion. So Twitter is completely mobile...if you have a smartphone you can Twitter. Join up and follow me at LibraryTwitt. I moved my blog and named it to match my Twitter name. In my blog, I will only share books and websites I have read or used.

Also, I encourage you to comment both on Twitter and Blogspot...talking about this stuff is twice as much fun! Share what you are reading and looking at on the Internet.

Summer Reading Suggestions

Every year, people ask for a summer reading list. This year I actually had time to compile one. Somehow the Boston Globe saw it (the Internet is an amazing thing) and interviewed me for an article. Haven't seen it yet so it may never get published. You might like the list anyhow. It features links to author websites as well as to Amazon. Let me know here if you like it. Click here to go to the list.

Hunger by Michael Grant

Sequels are often disappointing, especially in a projected series. So I started Hunger hoping for the best but expecting the worst. This is a true sequel...no annoying recaps of the first book taking up a lot of room. The children of Perdido Beach are now facing an enemy worse than Caine and his scary pack of murderous preppies: hunger. All the junk food is gone and the good food has rotted (of course! little kids would always choose cookies over chicken!). Sam is desperately trying to hold it all together by harvesting farmers' fields. The problem is that they are all being guarded by worms with deadly teeth (another mutation). As hunger weakens the children, Caine makes his move to conquer his brother and serve the dark being in the mine. And Sam ends up fighting a war for survival on multiple fronts.

Jodi Picoult's New Book

Check out this video which will tell you all about Handle With Care in Jodi's own words and voice.

Happy 25th, House on Mango Street!

And here's an interview with the author:


And here's an interview with the author:

Can You Summarize In Six Words?

Ernest Hemingway famously wrote a six word memoir: "For Sale. Baby Shoes. Never Used." That tells quite a story, doesn't it? In Not Quite What I Planned (SC Str), the editors of Smith Magazine solicited "famous and not so famous" writers to submit their own six word memoirs. Here's one of my favorites: "Followed rules, not dreams. Never again." I could think about that one all day. So here's your chance...submit a six word memoir to our Comments section. We'll put them all on a page in the library website for semi-immortality. The only restriction...keep it clean! Oh wait, you want mine? Here it is: Some dreams deferred, but never forgotten. Your turn....

Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson

'“Dead girl walking,” the boys say in the halls.
"Tell us your secret,” the girls whisper, one toilet to another.
I am that girl.
I am the space between my thighs, daylight shining through.
I am the bones they want, wired on a porcelain frame.

Lia and Cassie were the "wintergirls," forever frozen in their obsession to be thin. They need to be in control by not eating, by purging, by exercising, by cutting. But when Cassie goes too far and dies, Lia is haunted by her former best friend, by her own guilt, and by the fear that she might be next. Can a wintergirl bloom in the spring?

Is it duct tape or duck tape?

We all use that amazing silver, supersticky tape to hold together practically everything. Is it "duck tape" or "duct tape?" That's one of the interesting questions answered in Discover’s 20 Things You Didn’t Know About Everything. You'll find out about germs, airport security, bees, meteors, birth, death, milk, mosquitoes, and much, much more.

Or, if you're still interested in duck/duct tape...how about making this nifty tool belt? One of the many projects in Ductigami by Joe Wilson. [745.5 Wil]