100 Years of Roald Dahl

This year marks the centenary of one of our favorite authors - Roald Dahl! How will you be celebrating Roald Dahl Day today? It's not too late to download a party pack if you want to get in on the festivities.

We discovered the magic of Roald Dahl's books for children in third grade, when our teacher read James and the Giant Peach aloud to us on Friday afternoons while we sat at our desks. In these days of binge-watching, it's hard to imagine waiting a week to find out would happen in the next chapter, not to mention creating the world in our imaginations with no help from the movie based on the book, all the while quietly sitting and listening.

Another childhood favorite was Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. No less than author J. K. Rowling named this a top ten book that every child should read. To this day, every time we eat a bar of chocolate, we try to eat it Charlie-style, in little bites to make it last. Unfortunately, we don't have Charlie's willpower!

But Roald Dahl didn't only write for children - he wrote short stories for adults, memoirs, and two screenplays, for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and You Only Live Twice. Among his other accomplishments, he flew for the RAF in WWII; helped develop the Wade-Dahl-Till shunt when his son was in an accident that caused secondary hydrocephalus, which required fluid drainage; the treatment he helped devise to coach his wife Patricia Neal to regain speech after a stroke is still advocated by some today, though it's also been called "a grueling (some said cruel) rehabilitation regimen."

Roald Dahl the writer created some of the world's most beloved books; as a person, he had issues. Noel Coward said of Dahl: "The stories are brilliant and the imagination is fabulous. Unfortunately, there is, in all of them, an underlying streak of cruelty and macabre unpleasantness, and a curiously adolescent emphasis on sex." Other accounts of him include "world-historically unpleasant" and "mendacious, controlling, thin-skinned, self-righteous, bullying, boastful and vile to colleagues and family alike" though he could "at times, be thoughtful and charming...he responded to family crises with almost incredible courage and ingenuity." But, as Dahl himself was the first to admit, "Grown ups are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets."

You are probably familiar with Dahl's works for children (maybe you have your own memories of being introduced to his oeuvre? Let us know in the comments!), but here's a list of some of his titles for mature readers which are available in the library catalog, and some links that might interest Dahl fans.

By Roald Dahl 

The Best of Roald Dahl 

Boy: Tales of Childhood [eAudio] 

Going Solo [eAudio]  

Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life: Stories 

Skin and Other Stories  

Switch Bitch  

Roald Dahl's Tales of the Unexpected  

Kiss, Kiss [Large Print] 

My Uncle Oswald

Beware of the Dog [eAudio] 

Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat [eAudio] 

The Great Switcheroo [eAudio]  

Collected Stories  

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang [collaborated on the screenplay] 

About Roald Dahl 

The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington by Jennet Conant 

Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl by Donald Sturrock 

Links

Writers' Rooms: Roald Dahl [Guardian]

The Fantastic Mr. Dahl [Smithsonian]

Roald Dahl's Twisted, Overlooked Stories For Adults [New Yorker]

In Honor of Roald Dahl's 100th Birthday, Dinner With The Twits [Vogue]

The Wonderful, Terrible Power of Food in Roald Dahl [Slate]

Sam Mendes set to direct live-action James and the Giant Peach [Guardian]

Beer to be made from yeast swabbed from Roald Dahl's writing chair [Independent]

We're Still Fighting Over This Ranking of Roald Dahl Movies [Wired]

Nineteen of Roald Dahl's Most Important Food Inventions [Lucky Peach]

Shakespeare at 400

There are events all over the world to celebrate Shakespeare on the 400th anniversary of his death on April 23rd. (As American foodies, we're particularly interested in the "complete culinary works" celebration in Chicago - "Join 38 of Chicago’s most talented chefs for an unprecedented exploration of food and theatrical storytelling in their restaurants across Chicago and throughout 2016. Each chef artfully translates one of Shakespeare’s plays into a featured dish, menu or event at their restaurant, showcasing Chicago’s vibrant restaurant scene." Yum!) Closer to home, the Folger Shakespeare Library's First Folio Tour came through New Mexico recently, and you can find more local Shakespearean events on the Albuquerque Convention & Visitors Bureau's Visit Albuquerque site.

Maybe you are not looking to eat like an Elizabethan or attend any events, but still are interested in the life and work of Shakespeare. The library is here to help! Here's a sampling of some items from the library catalog to slake your thirst for the works of the Bard...whoever you think wrote them, because that dispute is alive and well.

New & Novel Books

Vinegar Girl: The Taming of the Shrew Retold by Anne Tyler

How To Be a Tudor: A Dawn to Dusk Guide to Tudor Life by Ruth Goodman

Women of Will: Following the Feminine in Shakespeare's Plays by Tina Packer

The Millionaire and the Bard: Henry Folger's Obsessive Hunt for Shakespeare's First Folio by Andrea E. Mays

Pop Sonnets: Shakespearean Spins On Your Favorite Songs by Erik Didriksen

Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 by James Shapiro

Selling Shakespeare to Hollywood: The Marketing of Filmed Shakespeare Adaptations From 1989 into the New Millennium by Emma French [eBook]

The Shakespeare Wars: Clashing Scholars, Public Fiascoes, Palace Coups by Ron Rosenbaum

Shakespeare in the Garden : A Selection of Gardens and an Illustrated Alphabet of Plants by Mick Hales

Shakespeare and Co.: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher, and the Other Players in His Story by Stanley Wells

"Shakespeare" by Another Name: The Life of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, the Man Who Was Shakespeare by Mark Anderson

The Shakespeare Book edited by Stanley Wells

DVD

Shakespeare Uncovered, Seasons 1 and 2
Episodes combine history, biography, iconic performances, new analysis, and the personal passion of their celebrated hosts to tell the story behind the stories of Shakespeare's greatest plays. 

Playing Shakespeare
Collection of acting workshops conducted by the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

Slings & Arrows
Based in a fictional Canadian town where legendary theatrical madman Geoffrey Tennant returns to the New Burbage Theatre Festival, the site of his greatest triumph and most humiliating failure, to assume the Artistic Directorship after the sudden death of his mentor, Oliver Welles.

Shakespeare: The Animated Tales 
Animated story telling of twelve of Shakespeare's most popular plays, featuring the voices of actors from the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Shakespeare Retold
Macbeth is the chef in a 3-star restaurant; Beatrice and Benedict are rival co-anchors; Titania and Bottom carouse in a tawdry theme resort; and Petruchio sets out to tame the conservative Kate in a politically incorrect marriage of convenience.

Cymbeline   
2015, modern retelling

Much Ado About Nothing 
2012, contemporary spin  
2003, Kenneth Branagh

Macbeth 
2016, Michael Fassbender 
Throne of Blood, 1957 Japanese adaptation

Romeo & Juliet   
West Side Story, 1961 musical adaptation  
1968, Franco Zeffirelli  
William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet, 1996 modern adaptation  
Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, 2013 Indian adaptation  
2014, modern retelling

Coriolanus 
2011, Ralph Fiennes

The Tempest
2011, Julie Taymor

Hamlet
Gamlet, 1964 Russian adaptation
1990 Franco Zeffirelli
1996 Kenneth Branagh

2009 television production

A Midsummer Night's Dream
1935, James Cagney

Othello
1965, Laurence Olivier
Otello, 1996 opera

Julius Caesar
1953, Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Links

Shakespeare 400 [Poets.org]

Shakespeare 400
Shakespeare400 is a consortium of leading cultural, creative and educational organisations, coordinated by King’s College London, which will mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death in 2016. Through a connected series of public performances, programmes, exhibitions and creative activities in the capital and beyond, partners will celebrate the legacy of Shakespeare during the quatercentenary year.

Shakespeare 400 [Shakespeare's Globe]

Shakespeare's England

100th Anniversary of the Sinking of the Titanic

Today is the anniversary of the Titanic disaster.  I am fascinated, as many are, by tales of this tragic voyage.  To commemorate the anniversary, there are several new books being released.  Check the catalog for:

Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyages: The Titanic's First-Class Passengers and Their World by Hugh Brewster

Voyagers of the Titanic: Passengers, Sailors, Shipbuilders, Aristocrats, and the Worlds They Came From by Richard Davenport-Hines

And the Band Played On: The Enthralling Account of What Happened After the Titanic Sank by Christopher Ward

Shadow of the Titanic: The Extraordinary Stories of Those who Survived by Andrew Wilson

Wreck and Sinking of the Titanic: The Ocean's Greatest Disaster edited by Marshall Everett

Additionally, there is a new novel coming out with a character who is a Titanic survivor: The Dressmaker by Kate Alcott.

For other items about the Titanic in the library catalog, try a subject search by "Titanic (Steamship)".


Around the internet, you can find a variety of Titanic-related resources, including:
National Geographic has released new photos of the Titanic.

Julian Fellowes, author of Gosford Park & Downton Abbey, has written a Titanic mini-series for British TV, & James Cameron's 1997 film is being re-released in 3D.

The Titanic Collection is to be auctioned. "A 2007 US court decision made it possible for the items to be sold, but that the collection must be kept together, it must be properly taken care of, and at least a portion of the collection must be available for public viewing. A court-ordered appraisal at the time valued the collection at $189 million," says 24/7 Wall Street.

Did you know you can take a Titanic Memorial Cruise? (Although it was fully booked by January 2012.)

The town of Cobh, in County Cork, Ireland, the Titanic's last port of call, is having a year-long commemoration & tribute to the Titanic - visit their website!

The Detroit area has a dinner & a musical planned.

Locally, the St. James Tearoom is offering a Titanic Tea (already sold out).

The anniversary will be marked on the internet in a variety of weird ways, including on Twitter (@TitanicRealTime) & currently an expedition to visit the wreck is available at a discount on Groupon.

Other websites of interest include the Titanic Heritage Trust & the Titanic Universe.

Day of Remembrance

Star Trek actor George Takei posted this weekend about the Day of Remembrance on Sunday, February 19th. This day is the 70th anniversary of the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which permitted the military to circumvent the constitutional safeguards of American citizens in the name of national defense. According to Wikipedia, "Somewhere between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were subject to this mass exclusion program, of whom approximately two-thirds were U.S. citizens. The remaining one-third were non-citizens subject to internment under the Alien Enemies Act; many of these 'resident aliens' had long been inhabitants of the United States, but had been deprived the opportunity to attain citizenship by laws that blocked Asian-born nationals from ever achieving citizenship."  George Takei, at 5 years old, was one of the Japanese-Americans sent to the internment camps with his family.

But Japanese-American internment is not just a West Coast story.  It is also part of New Mexico history. Two of the internment camps were in New Mexico, in Santa Fe & Lordsburg.  You can read more about Japanese Americans in New Mexico at the City of Albuquerque website & PBS also features an internment timeline as part of their Children of the Camps documentary.

Take advantage of the materials available at the library to learn more about this dark period in U.S. history.

For children & teens:

Silver Like Dust: One Family's Story of America's Japanese Internment by Kimi Cunningham Grant

I Am An American: A True Story of Japanese Internment by Jerry Stanley

The Journal of Ben Uchida, Citizen #13559, Mirror Lake Internment Camp by Barry Denenberg

Behind Barbed Wire: The Story of Japanese-American Internment During World War II by Lila Perl

Korematsu v. United States: Japanese-American Internment Camps by Karen Alonso

For adults:

Impounded : Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment by Dorothea Lange

By Order of the President: FDR and the Internment of Japanese Americans by Greg Robinson

Toyo's Camera: Japanese American History During WWII (DVD)


The titles listed are just a sample - a subject search of  "Japanese Americans - Evacuation and Relocation" lists more.

Watch Remembering the Santa Fe Japanese Internment Camp on PBS. See more from Moments in Time.

Unhappy Hour

Here at abcreads, occasionally we hit a dry patch thinking of subjects to blog about. Then we start looking at History.com's "What Happened Today in History" or the New York Times' "On This Day" or other such sources for inspiration-which led us to Edgar Allan Poe. We thought October 7th was his birthday. Unfortunately, it's the anniversary of the day he died, which is not something we tend to blog about.

However, it's almost Halloween, it's Poe, & the Poe Museum in Richmond, Virginia, has some interesting celebrations this month! On October 7th, they're celebrating a Poe Memorial Service, which they claim puts "the 'fun' back in 'funeral'." The memorial service will be an "evening with Poe's last fiancée, Elmira Royster Shelton", with live music, a coffin race, & a chance to learn about Victorian mourning customs. On the 28th, the Poe Museum will have their "Unhappy Hour". This month's theme is The Fall of the House of Usher, & there will be live music, games, activities, & something called "The Madeline Usher Experience". Costumes are encouraged.

This would be a good time to mention Poe's grave & the "Poe Toaster". The Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore has the full scoop on the Toaster, who "since 1949, on the night of the anniversary of Poe’s birth, ...has entered this cemetery and left as tribute a partial bottle of cognac and three roses on Poe’s grave." Also, his month the Poe Society sponsors an annual commemorative lecture on the life and/or works of Edgar Allan Poe, presented by a noted Poe scholar. This lecture has been held since 1923 on the first Sunday in October, more-or-less coinciding with the anniversary of Poe’s death. "Prior to this event, it is traditional for members of the Poe Society to gather at Poe’s grave, placing flowers on the monument in a brief and informal ceremony to honor Poe’s memory." On Halloween night, there will be a tour of the cemetery & catacombs!

I had no idea there was so much fun stuff to do to celebrate Edgar AllanPoe. Even just online-visit Poets.org for a selection of Poe's poetry online; you can also read his story "Murders in the Rue Morgue". How about a list of Poe-related songs from the fansite House of Usher? Take a tour of the Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site! Or, make a selection from our library catalog!

Happy Anniversary, abcreads!

abcreads turns one today (not counting its brief tenure as the Magical Summer reading group blog)! We are celebrating with not one but 3 prize drawings!

The rules are simple: we ask a question, you post an answer. The first person to post a response wins a fabulous prize (a mug or a bag). Only one prize per reader, but you are welcome to respond all three questions.

The third question:

What would you like to see written about on abcreads?

Thanks for taking part in abcreads' anniversary celebration! Keep reading & recommend us to your friends!

Happy Anniversary, abcreads!

abcreads turns one today (not counting its brief tenure as the Magical Summer reading group blog)! We are celebrating with not one but 3 prize drawings!

The rules are simple: we ask a question, you post an answer. The first person to post a response wins a fabulous prize (a mug or a bag). Only one prize per reader, but you are welcome to respond all three questions.

The second question:

What is the last book you read?

Happy Anniversary, abcreads!

abcreads turns one today (not counting its brief tenure as the Magical Summer reading group blog)! We are celebrating with not one but 3 prize drawings!

The rules are simple: we ask a question, you post an answer. The first person to post a response wins a fabulous prize (a mug or a bag). Only one prize per reader, but you are welcome to respond all three questions.

The first question:

Who is your favorite author?

The Gastronomical Me: Remembering M.F.K. Fisher

“People ask me: Why do you write about food, and eating and drinking? Why don't you write about the struggle for power and security, and about love, the way others do. They ask it accusingly, as if I were somehow gross, unfaithful to the honor of my craft. The easiest answer is to say that, like most humans, I am hungry. But there is more than that. It seems to me that our three basic needs, for food and security and love are so mixed and mingled and entwined that we cannot straightly think of one without the others. So it happens that when I write of hunger, I am really writing about love and the hunger for it, and warmth and the love of it and the hunger for it."
~ M.F. K. Fisher

In the past couple of years, Julia Child has been a name on everyone's lips-her cookbooks, her TV show, her unabashed love of butter. Today is the birthday of another light of the culinary world-M.F.K. Fisher.

M.F.K. (Mary Frances Kennedy) Fisher (July 3, 1908 – June 22, 1992) was a writer & gourmet, a contemporary of Julia Child who also lived in France with her husband as a young married-in her case in Dijon, then "the gastronomical capital of the world". Fisher wrote more than twenty books, beginning with Serve It Forth (included in the collection The Art of Eating) in 1937. "Serve It Forth was was so unlike other 'women' writers on the subject of cooking that many critics thought it was written by a man," according to Lori Gama's Gastronomic Memoirs. "Fisher believed that eating well was just one of the 'arts of life' and explored the art of living as a secondary theme in her writing," according to Wikipedia. For more books by & about M.F.K. Fisher, check the library catalog.

Pearl Buck in China

We recently read an article in the New York times about a new book by Hilary Spurling about author Pearl S. Buck's early years called Pearl Buck in China: Journey to 'The Good Earth'. The anniversary of Pearl Buck's birth is coming up on June 26th, so we thought, though we don't have a copy of the Spurling biography in the system at this time, we would suggest other readings by & about this award-winning American author who spent most of her life in China. Buck was, of course, most famous for writing The Good Earth, but she did write several other books for adults & children.

ABC Libraries does own copies of the complete biography of Pearl Buck mentioned in the New York Times article, Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography by Peter Conn.

For books about other expatriates, try searching the library catalog or consider this list from The Guardian.

Check out these links to find out more!

National Veterans Day Ceremony

History of Veterans Day

Veterans History Project

Look for Veterans Day events & deals in Albuquerque, including:

• Veterans Day Parade

• 30% off clothes at Thrift Town, today only

• Free meals for vets & active duty soldiers at Applebees, today only

• Military Appreciation Monday@ Golden Corral: Free "Thank You" DinnerMonday, Nov. 16, 2009,5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Happy Birthday, Ursula K. LeGuin!

It is above all by the imagination that we achieve

perception and compassion and hope.

--Ursula K. LeGuin

Ursula LeGuin (born October 21, 1929) is a renowned American science fiction and fantasy author. She has won 5 Hugo Awards and 6 Nebula Awards for her work. In 2003 she was awarded the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Award. Her books The Lathe of Heaven and the Earthsea trilogy have been adapted for television.

Ursula LeGuin writes for adults, young adults, and children--her Hainish Cycle, beginning with Rocannon's World, is for adults, and the award-winning Annals of the Western Shore series, which starts with 2004's Gifts, is for young adults.

Interview: Ursula LeGuin on The Left Hand of Darkness (celebrating its 40th anniversary this year)

Happy Birthday, John Le Carré!

Enjoy a good spy novel? So do we! In honor of John Le Carré's birthday, please consider this list of espionage novels you might have missed! (John Le Carré is the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell, born 19 October 1931.)

Bloodwood by Gillian Bradshaw
Assassination Day by Clive Egleton
Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder
The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean
Witch Hunt by Ian Rankin
Visibility by Boris Starling

Happy Birthday, Ntozake Shange!

Where there is woman there is magic.

--Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange is an African-American poet, playwright & author, most famous for her choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. I also recommend her children's book about jazz, Ellington was Not a Street, and her adult novel Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo, about 3 artistic sisters from North Carolina. Ms. Shange is also a Poet Hero! Among her many awards are an Obie, a Los Angeles Time Book Prize for Poetry, and a Pushcart Prize.

Happy Birthday, P.G. Wodehouse!

Boyhood, like measles, is one of those complaints which a man

should catch young and have done with, for

when it comes in middle life it is apt to be serious.
--P. G. Wodehouse

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) is the author of several series of comic novels. I've been reading his Jeeves & Wooster series since my teenage years--great light comedy for when you need a break! Now you can also watch episodes from this series on DVD, starring the inimitable Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.

30th Anniversary of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Wow! Have I been living under a rock? Today is the 30th anniversary of Douglas Adams' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and, in England, Eoin Colfer's continuation of Adams' series And Another Thing was just published (our library system does have it on order!). To hear Eoin Colfer talk about his sequel, check here. Read about the enduring appeal of the series here. & finally, I recommend the audiobook version, read by Stephen Fry.

Happy 95th Birthday, Thor Heyerdahl!

Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914– April 18, 2002) was a Norwegian scientist & adventurer, perhaps most well known for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 4,300 miles by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands.

BBC obituary

If you are ever in Norway, visit the Kon-Tiki Museum, just outside Oslo. This is a wonderful museum my parents used to take me to when I was a child. If you don't believe me, take the virtual tour!

Hispanic Heritage Month: September 15-October 15, 2009

Hispanic Heritage Month begins on September 15, the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries—Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on September 16, and Chile on September 18.

Why not celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with a new book or by learning some fun facts? Take a Virtual Heritage Tour with the Smithsonian! Find out about local cultural events!