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Chat While Reading

We’ve often discussed the future of books and reading on Snell Snippets, so I thought that some might be interested in this “Chat While Reading: The Future of Books?” article from NPR.  Their article focuses on BookGlutton.com but a number of commenters mentioned other communal reading sites like LibraryThing.com.  How do you think a site like this would function differently for classes than a Blackboard chat or discussion page?  Currently, if I have a friend who lives too far away, we’ll just email back and forth about books we’re reading: quoting passages, etc.  Just this past week, a friend who lives in New Zealand and I were emailing back and forth as she finished up Anna Karenina. I think for now I’m going to stick with that more private way of communication and dialogue.  But I also often like to check out Amazon, IMDB, metacritic  or Wikipedia after I read or watch something, to get a sense of its reception and other people’s reactions.  Any thoughts?

MLA PR Awards

The Massachusetts Library Association (MLA) presented the 19th Biennial Public Relations Awards to the winning applicants at the Association’s Annual Conference at the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.  Winners were chosen by a panel of independent judges from the public relations, press, and library fields.  Evaluation criteria included graphic design, originality, and presentation.  Over 100 entries were submitted. 

Northeastern University Libraries  received First Prize for two entries, the Libraries’ 2008 Annual Report and a poster for the Meet the Author program, “My African Horse Problem,” featuring Northeastern University Professor William Miles.  Maria Carpenter, Director of Advancement and Marketing, and Emily Sabo, Advancement and Marketing Assistant, were presented with a certificate by MLA Public Relations Committee Co-Chairs at the Public Relations Awards Ceremony.  Carpenter said “It is an honor to receive recognition for the collective efforts by many,” upon learning about the award.

The annual report was created by Heather Stirling, Rebecca Merz, Emily Sabo, Michael Silva, Maria Carpenter, with assistance from Bruce Ployer and Denis Skarep.  Photos were by Tom Kates, Craig Bailey, and members of the Libraries’ Programming and Communications Committee.  The poster was designed by Heather Stirling, who is a undergraduate student at Northeastern and was a recent graphic design co-op at Northeastern University Libraries.

 

50 Books for Our Times

Debbie Pennino directed me towards another book list, by Newsweek on “50 Books for Our Times.”  It certainly gave me a few more ideas for books to pick up.  I was a bit disappointed by how few female authors they included; it looked like less than 15%.  But on the list was Snell Library favorite Geraldine Brooks and Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy, which I’m currently finishing up, and would strongly suggest.  You can pick up all three volumes at Snell!

Book Burning

I saw this article on book burning that I thought might be of interest (“A teen book burns at the stake”).  A group of citizens in West Bend, Wisconsin has been trying to remove Baby Be-Bop from the shelves of their public library.  When the Library Board decided not to comply with their request, it looks like several members of the board were ousted.  Another group, the Christian Civil Liberties Union, has filed a lawsuit against the town and library, and have called for the book to be publically burned. The author in question, Francesca Lia Block, is actually one Natalie had mentioned earlier.

Moon Musings

I’ve always been really interested in stars and planets, space exploration, and astronauts, ever since first grade when we studied the solar system and I decided I wanted to be the next Sally Ride (the first American woman in space—hey, I was in first grade in 1982-83, right when she was doing her thing). I was surprised to realize recently that the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin’s moon landing is coming up in a little over a month. How incredible it must have been to watch that happen on July 20, 1969—the live TV broadcast of man’s first steps onto the surface of the moon! In honor of the upcoming anniversary, here are some good moon-related things to read:

Cover image of Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, by Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger. This is the book upon which the hit 1995 film “Apollo 13” is based, and co-author Jim Lovell of course was the commander of that ill-fated moon mission. I’ve just finished this, and it offers a very interesting insider’s perspective of the events of that week in April 1970. The authors obviously did a ton of research and interviews, because there’s more than just Lovell’s perspective from aboard the spacecraft—you get an impressive behind-the-scenes view of life at Mission Control during the crisis as well. I also have enjoyed reading more about Lovell’s earlier career in the Navy and as a test pilot, and how he entered the space program, pieces of the story that were left out of the movie version. This book is available at Snell Library and is a great insider account of a (failed) moon mission.

For more on the original Apollo moon landing, you can look for Buzz Aldrin’s books. I haven’t read these (yet), but he’s written both adult and children’s books on the subject. He published an autobiography in the 1970s called Return to Earth, as well as the children’s books Reaching for the Moon and Look to the Stars. Unfortunately, none of these are available at Snell Library, but you could use Interlibrary Loan to request them from other libraries. Aldrin also has a new autobiography coming out this summer, to coincide with the anniversary of his historic mission. It’s called Magnificent Desolation: The Long Journey Home from the Moon. Keep an eye out for it!

If fiction is more your style, try The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert A. Heinlein. This is a Hugo Award–winning science fiction novel written in the mid-1960s. (The Hugo Award is science fiction’s most prestigious award.) The novel is set in 2075 in the Lunar Colonies, whose inhabitants are descended from the criminals and political prisoners who were originally (and involuntarily) transported there. The novel is primarily about a revolution that takes place there against Earth rule (my thanks to Wikipedia for the quick synopsis). It’s been ages since I read this, but I’m thinking of picking it up again. It also happens to be my mom’s favorite sci-fi book, which frankly is as good a recommendation as you should need! 🙂

And what list of moon-related reading would be complete without Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown (illustrated by Clement Hurd)? A classic of the children’s literature canon, this is one of the first books pretty much every American parent reads to his or her child, and was certainly a staple of my early reading life.

Enjoy your lunar travels, and Happy Moon-iversary!