Top Circulating Non-Fiction

The Yellow Books, 1887 . Fine Art. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 18 May 2016.
http://quest.eb.com/search/108_303306/1/108_303306/cite

“Knowledge is like money: To be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value.”
― Louis L'Amour, Education of a Wandering Man  

In the library, "circulation" means a lot of things.  What's sometimes called the "library card desk" is also known as "circulation."  When we look at a book's record, we count how many times it has checked out as its "circs." The library's collection floats (items checked out at one branch and returned at another stay at the branch at which they are returned), but its items circulate.

We've done a couple of posts this year about the top circulating fiction by genre, how about non-fiction for a change? We've got a list of the top 30 most popular checkouts system-wide and we've also done the top 5 checkouts for a couple of random branches. The top 30 is slightly skewed by manga and graphic novel series books (noted in the list below as "series") - apparently all books in the series count as one title for the purpose of our collection performance methodology - but that makes Marie Kondo's dominance of this list even more impressive, we think.

Top Circulating Non-Fiction for Adults

1.  Attack on Titan [series] by Hajime Isayama

2. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

3. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

4. Best Plants for New Mexico Gardens and Landscapes by Baker H. Morrow

5. The Rainbow Comes and Goes by Anderson Cooper

6. Guinness World Records [various editions]

7. Moon Handbooks [travel guides]

8. Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates

9. The Walking Dead [series] by Robert Kirkman

10. Spark Joy by Marie Kondo

11. Cracking the ACT by the Princeton Review

12.  The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

13. The Sandman [series] by Neil Gaiman

14. Being Mortal by Atul Gawande

15. Hiking to History by Robert Julyan

16. The Flash [series] by Francis Manapul

17. Saga [series] by Brian K. Vaughan

18. Transformers [series] by John Barber

19. Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue [various editions]

20. The Boys in the Boat by Daniel Brown

21.  Justice League [series] by Geoff Johns

22. The Maxx [series] by Sam Kieth

23. Deep Down Dark by Héctor Tobar

24. Frank Miller’s Sin City [series] by Frank Miller

25. Injustice [series] by Tom Taylor

26. A Chick in the Cockpit by Erika Armstrong

27. Preacher [series] by Garth Ennis

28. Chew [series] by John Layman

29.  Fairy Tail by Hiro Mashima

30. Growing the Southwest Garden by Judith Phillips

 

What was surprising was how different the lists were at individual branches!

Top Circulating Non-Fiction for Adults Cherry Hills

1.  How to Be Alive by Colin Beavan

2. Make it Easy by Stacie Billis

3. Historic Ranches of Northeastern New Mexico by Baldwin G. Burr

4. Military Response to UFO Activity by Dr. Stephen Cox

5. Brazillionaires by Alex Cuadros

Local travel certainly makes a strong showing in two of the lists by branch. North Valley loves their pets!

Top Circulating Non-Fiction for Adults North Valley

1.  How to Retire With Enough Money by Teresa Ghilarducci

2. True Tails of Baker & Taylor by Jan Louch and Lisa Rogak

3. Bandelier National Monument by Paul R. Secord

4. The Dog Walker by Joshua Stephens

5. The Old Man and the Cat by Nils Uddenberg

 

Cookbooks also seems popular at the branch level. Only one of our three chosen branches echoes the dominance of graphic novels from the top 30 list, though!

Top Circulating Non-Fiction for Adults Erna Fergusson

1.  The Killing of Osama Bin Laden by Seymour M. Hersh

2. Batman [series] by Scott Snyder

3. Paleo Cooking from Elana’s Pantry by Elana Amsterdam

4. Adulthood is a Myth by Sarah Andersen

5. Look Into My Eyes by Kevin Bubriski

 

What is TEDxABQ?

A guest post written by Jennifer Stubbs, librarian at the Cherry Hills Library.

What is TEDxABQ?  It is independent of the big TED; completely non-profit, volunteer-based, and locally cultivated.  The organizers of the main event on September17th announced ABQ's as one of the biggest of all the TEDxEvents - whether that is attendance, revenue, volunteer contributions, quantity of speakers, or longevity, we were not entirely clear. Like the TED talks found online, there are passionate speakers and highly attentive audiences.  The speeches at the main event were about 5 minutes long.  Each speaker spoke with emotion and from a strong personal background with the topic.  Every speaker was great, as well as better than the one before, creating a crescendo of performance and excitement.  Audience participation was a frequent element, including the performance art presentations that opened each session. 

TEDxABQ spreads awareness.  Social networking is viral, and each speaker presented a message attendees can relay to kith and kin, coworkers, and neighbors.  Awareness builds the will to change, and social pressure becomes the lever to counter special interests.

The speeches were all recorded, to be hosted on their website for viewing (not yet available, but check the TEDxABQ website for updates, and older videos).  The topics ranged from 

1. Advocating for diversity in and of our participatory democracy to ensure real viewpoints are represented in legislatures, but also in political party organizations.

2. Participatory art and community involvement bridge uncertainty and alleviate social fears, in order to save young lives from violence, suicide, or overdose.

3.  Knowing your farmer's purpose in growing: is it money or sustainability?

4.  If you can't learn to love yourself, at least stop hating yourself.

5. Practice handwriting; don't become dependent on a machine to know what you are trying to type.  Respect the value of hand-eye coordination as a foundation for architects and doctors.  Give kids a paper and crayon rather than a smartphone.

6. "Fear can paralyze or prompt, but it doesn't decide, you do."

7.  Match our military strength and tools with our democratic morals.  Scientists have already developed bloodless technology to restrict explosive manufacturing or deter people en masse.  We need to create the political will to bring these tools out of the labs.

8. Unplug vaccinations from refrigeration.  Boxes are available to permanently store Pertussis (whooping cough) live vaccinations to reach unelectrified communities, because preventative vaccination is more effective and efficient than post-hoc volunteering and triage.

9.  Hug a beehive and it hugs the world back: like bringing wolves back to Yellowstone, reintroducing bees to strip-mined areas provides rural economic stimulation and entry-level job growth while restoring ecology.

10.  Advocate for cross-generational mentoring, specifically for "Sheroes." Fight inequity by acknowledging differences, identify and fill the leadership gap, share stories, and interrupt negative messages.

11.  Build small and cultivate neighborhoods to remove the fear of apartments in order to solve the affordable housing problem.

12.   Be a friend to refugees.  See each as a complex, dynamic individual, worth respecting and receiving gifts from, social invitations, both given and graciously accepted.  These actions build and reinforce humanity more than charity.

Finally, an All Women's TEDxABQ is next, on October 28th, as part of a worldwide 24-hour window of Women TEDx Events. Intrigued? Perhaps you'd like to check out some TED-related items from the library catalog, such as:

Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds by Carmine Gallo

TED Talks by Chris Anderson [eBook]

The Terrorist's Son: A Story of Choice by Zak Ebrahim with Jeff Giles [TED talk]

We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie [TED talk]

Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown [TED talk]

The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good For You, And How To Get Good At It by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. [TED talk]

The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night At a Time by Arianna Huffington [TED talk]

SuperBetter: A Revolutionary Approach to Getting Stronger, Happier, Braver, and More Resilient* by Jane McGonigal [TED talk]

My Stroke of Insight: A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor [TED talk]

Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain [TED talk] 

You can find more TED books listed on their website. If you would like to hear Kelly or Jane McGonigal speak, their TED talks will both be shown at upcoming events at the Cherry Hills Library in November!

Book Cover Love: Amusement Parks

I'm always interested in book cover trends, and a trend I've been seeing since about 2013, that I absolutely love, is amusement parks. I've seen a lot of young adult novels that have Ferris wheels, roller coasters, or other amusement park rides on the covers, but it's also showing up in middle grade fiction and adult fiction. Here are my favorite covers that are part of this trend.

Undertow and Raging Sea by Michael Buckley 

Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen 

Our Brothers at the Bottom of the Bottom of the Sea by Jonathan David Kranz 

Whisper to Me by Nick Lake 

All the Missing Girls by Megan Miranda

The Beginning of Everything by Robyn Schneider

Welcome to the Dark House by Laurie Faria Stolarz

I think what I really love about amusement parks being on the covers of books is that the books aren't always happy stories. Usually when I think about amusement parks, I think of laughter and cotton candy and all other sorts of good things. But, Saint Anything, Whisper to me, and All the Missing Girls are anything but happy stories, and honestly, that's a big reason why they're some of my favorite books on this list.


Have you noticed this trend? What are you favorite books with amusement parks on the covers? Let us know in the comments!

Literary Links: Book & Music Pairings

Fairy wren song, wavelet graph. Photography. Britannica ImageQuest. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 25 May 2016.
http://quest.eb.com/search/132_1322646/1/132_1322646/cite. Accessed 10 Sep 2016.

The art of pairing seems to be on everyone's mind recently. We keep going into restaurants and finding our menu suggesting a particular beer or wine to go with our entrée. A cursory search of pairing in the library catalog brings up books about wine and cheese, tea, plants,  Bobby Brown (because, until recently, "pairing" was more often used to describe an interpersonal relationship), and musical rivalries. Which brings us to the point of our post - in honor of our favorite local music festival, ¡Globalquerque! (itself a music and film festival including a global fiesta, September 23-24), we're considering how does music intersect with with other cultural activities? For instance, what books do people like to pair with music? How about Sigur Rós with The Martian? High Fidelity with LCD Soundsystem? The Shining with Béla Bartók? Marissa Nadler with Flannery O'Connor's short stories? Have you ever read a book while listening to a movie score? It's been said that "listening to music while reading can enhance the literary experience, adding another dimension to our beloved words on the printed or digital page." Author Steve Almond might have put it best, though: "What songs do — and what great books do — is bring us to unbearable feelings. They access our emotional life in a way nothing else can."

We've scoured the internet to find some articles about book and music pairings for your perusal. Do you like to listen to music while reading? Have you heard some really successful pairings? Let us know in the comments!

The best books-and-music pairings [Guardian]

For Your Pleasure: 10 Inspired Book and Album Pairings [Flavorwire]

The soundtrack to your favorite book: Pairing novels and music [MPR]

Scoring Your Reading: Pairing Books with Music [Book Riot]

10 Cold Weather Book and Music Pairings for Deep Thinkers [Flavorwire]


Related Links

Ten Musicians Who Could Be Novelists [Literary Hub]

Read 'Em and Steep: Tea and Book Pairing Recommendations [Book Riot]

Is music a miracle drug? [Headspace]

Featured Author: Pat Barker

"I think the whole British psyche is suffering from the contradiction you see in [Siegfried] Sassoon and Wilfred Owen, where the war is both terrible and never to be repeated and at the same time experiences derived from it are given enormous value... No one watches war films in quite the way the British do."
~Pat Barker, quoted in "Warring Fictions" by John Ezard

Pat Barker is a Man Booker Prize-winning British author.  Her two trilogies are both set in and around WWI - she turned to this topic after writing her first three novels, which, though well-received, have not had the popularity of her later books, particularly the Regeneration Trilogy, the first book of which was turned into a movie in 1997. Brought up primarily by her grandparents, her reasons for choosing WWI as a subject include both rebellion and acceptance: 

I think in this country, in particular, I felt I had got myself into a box where I was strongly typecast as a northern, regional, working-class, feminist—label, label, label—novelist. It's not a matter so much of objecting to the labels, but you do get to a point where people are reading the labels instead of the book. And I felt I'd got to that point. And also, I'd always wanted to write about the First World War. One of my earliest memories was of my grandfather's bayonet wound and his stories of the First World War.

Pat Barker describes her voice as having an "earthiness and bawdiness." Her writing has also been described as "no metaphorical flourishes, but..highly wrought" with a "perfect pitch for dialogue." Michael Gorra, in a New York Times review, rhapsodizes over the Regeneration Trilogy:

Those novels stand among the greatest achievements of contemporary fiction, demonstrating an unrivaled understanding of the psychology of physical trauma and a mastery of historical detail, whether of hospital life, London’s homosexual demimonde or the trenches themselves. They are demonic and inspired. 

 If you enjoy character-driven historical fiction, "resonant fiction that will stay with readers long after they're done," why not give Pat Barker a try? Here's a list of her books available in the library catalog:

Regeneration Trilogy

Regeneration

The Eye in the Door

The Ghost Road

Regeneration [DVD]

Life Class Trilogy

Life Class [eAudiobook] 

Toby's Room [eBook]

Noonday [eBook]

Other Titles

Another World

Double Vision

Introverts' Guide to Fiction

If they cannot offer me the solace that my shyness might be overcome, have these shy writers taught me anything more useful? Perhaps this: by taking shyness as a subject, they have made it real. All my life I have thought of shyness as a debility, an inadequacy, an absence. But for these writers it is a definite, if painful, quality – something you are, not something that stops you being who you are. It is less a shrinking away from the world than a redirection of our energies. Rather than smother our sociable impulses, it just makes us social in convoluted ways. Shyness is simply part of being a human, this more or less communal species which happens to be lumbered with a strange gift for turning in and reflecting on itself.
~Joe Moran, "What lies beneath: an introvert's guide to fiction - and life"

You don't have to be an introvert to love reading or to choose writing as a profession. But, as Claire Fallon from Huffington Post asserts,

For the solitary dreamers who tend to live inside their own heads, books have always been cherished companions. In reading, introverts can indulge their need for a respite from socializing; even better, they can live vicariously through the characters on the pages, sharpening their powers of observation in a forum where they won’t be called upon to get involved. 

This might serve to draw introverts to the written word, as readers or writers or both. Whether or not you are an introvert - if you fall somewhere in between on the extrovert-introvert spectrum (we've recently been reading a lot about ambiverts) or just know an introvert - reading fiction with introverted characters might hone your own sense of empathy.

An article by Hilary White suggests that introverted bibliophiles might enjoy books that feature solo journeys, social awkwardness, hopeless romanticism, and characters who use creative ways to cope with their introversion, among other aspects of the introverted lifestyle, so we've compiled a list of books by authors known to be introverted and featuring introverted characters which we hope reflects the many different lifestyles brought together under this umbrella.

By introverted writers

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

A View of the Harbour by Elizabeth Taylor

Towards Another Summer by Janet Frame

The Summer Book by Tove Jansson

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett
 

For introverted readers

Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx [eAudio]

Us by David Nicholls

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon

Maurice by E. M. Forster

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky [YA]

Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell [YA]

Where'd You go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart

 

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

 

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz