Read, Listen, Watch

Staff Picks and Suggestions

Meet the Author Spring Lineup

The Library’s popular “Meet the Author” series continues this spring with an exciting and varied lineup of writers. Here’s a sneak peek at some of the authors we’ve booked to come to Snell Library this spring: Losing Graceland Micah Nathan opens the spring series on January 27, reading from Losing Graceland, a picaresque novel about a down-on-his-luck college student’s road trip to Memphis with an elderly man — who may or may not be Elvis! Your Creative Brain On March 9, psychologist Shelley Carson talks about Your Creative Brain, a book about how to strengthen your brain to develop your creative side, with an emphasis on understanding what kind of brain you have and what techniques work best for you. On March 16, Patrick Rothfuss brings us The Wise Man’s Fear, a fantasy novel that tells the story of the growth and development of a hero. It’s the eagerly-anticipated second in a projected trilogy (the Kingkiller Chronicles), following the immensely popular Name of the Wind. Hot Stuff If you’re young enough to have just missed the baby boom you probably have fond (or not so fond!) memories of the disco era. In which case, you’ll enjoy hearing Alice Echols discuss Hot Stuff: Disco and the Remaking of American Culture on March 30. If nothing else, she rehabilitates the great Saturday Night Fever to its rightful place in the American film pantheon. We’ll be making more announcements as we move closer to the dates. And we hope you’ll join us for this exciting series of authors!

Final Paper Writers Block? Read These

Some Friday afternoon journal-publishing humor: The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis has published two research studies, about 30 years apart, on writer’s block. ⇒ From 1974, D. Upper, “The Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of a Case of ‘Writer’s Block’ “ (PDF) ⇒ From 2007, R. Didden et al., “A Multisite Cross-Cultural Replication of Upper’s (1974) Unsuccessful Self-Treatment of Writer’s Block” (PDF) You have to see these to believe them, but they were honest-to-goodness published in a peer-reviewed scholarly journal. Those wacky psychologists…

Keith Richards, Aspiring…Librarian?

In his just-released autobiography, Life, Keith Richards apparently confesses that he has always had a passion for collecting books and secretly wanted to be a librarian. In addition to the incongruity, I loved that he went so far as trying to learn to organize his personal collection according to the Dewey Decimal system but gave it up as too much of a hassle.  I suppose it’s a good thing for all concerned that he never came over to the dark side, and stayed in the world of music where he clearly belongs! Even as a child he loved books — here’s a quote via the (London) Times: When you are growing up there are two institutional places that affect you most powerfully: the church, which belongs to God, and the public library, which belongs to you. The public library is a great equaliser. If this makes you want to watch/listen to some Stones, Martin Scorsese’s concert film Shine a Light (2008) is on DVD at Snell, along with Gimme Shelter, the film of the Altamont concert in 1969 on VHS for the hard-core fan. The reissue of Exile on Main Street (Rolling Stones: Stones in Exile) is on order, and should be at Snell in a few days. So Keith, how about coming to a “Meet the Author” talk at the library?

Musical Talents of Snell’s Own David Jachimiak

David Jachimiak, a staff member of Snell Library, is also an extremely talented and experienced musician. Jachimiak studied music education and received his bachelor’s degree from SUNY Fredonia in 2006, and later went on to receive his master’s degree in jazz performance from the University of Miami in 2009. Additionally, he is an alumnus of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ jazz residency program, Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead. He specializes in saxophone, and has played with a plethora of musical acts over the years, including The Drifters, Steve and Lindley Band, Michael Thomas, Troy Roberts, Michael Feinberg, Gary Keller and Adonis Rose. He also volunteered a jazz performance with his group, the Dave Jachimiak Quartet, at afterHOURS for Northeastern’s Music & Entertainment Industry Student Association’s (MEISA) Jazz Night.  Most recently, Jachimiak has spent his time writing songs and playing bass with Opal Puckett, a new upstart rock band.  Visit YouTube to watch some of Jachimiak’s performances.

Parents Weekend Author Talk Coming Up

To some, Parents’ Weekend is a drag… back to that restricted “my-parents-are-watching” mentality. To others, it’s a relief to have some quality family time again, to take away some of the homesickness. Regardless of if you’re happy about it or not, parents are coming in force this weekend and Northeastern has set up some awesome events, like Howie Mandel, to keep you entertained. If your folks can’t make it, you are in luck because you can still enjoy everything Northeastern has to offer this weekend! Snell Library will continue a Parents’ Weekend tradition on Saturday at 11am with another talk from our Meet The Author series. Northeastern Professor Roger Abrams talks about his book Sports Justice and how the law interacts with the business of professional sports. I for sure will not be missing this one, it should be a pretty active discussion. Check out the Facebook page for more info. You can check the full schedule of Parents’ Weekend events in PDF format here.