Tuesday, August 9, 2016

America Reads

In 2012, a group of curators and subject experts in the Library of Congress developed the institution's popular exhibition, Books That Shaped America. The books chosen were not intended to be a list of the "best" books published in the United States. Rather, the group chose eighty-eight core books by American authors that had, for a wide variety of reasons, a profound effect on American life. Knowing that opinions can be as varied as the number of people you ask, we urged the public to name "other books that shaped America" and to tell us which of the eighty-eight core books on our list were most important to them. That survey forms the basis of this exhibition, America Reads.
~from the America Reads exhibition overview

We're far away from the Library of Congress, so most likely you missed their Books That Shaped America exhibition (and its follow-up, America Reads), as we did. But it's a fascinating idea, isn't it? What books have "shaped America" - have been influential, or have had a "profound effect on American life"? There are probably as many answers to that question as there are American readers, and while we applaud the Library of Congress for taking on such a project, we don't envy them the work of sifting, compiling, deciding, and then sorting through the inevitable backlash as people weigh in their own opinions. But the folks at the Library of Congress didn't just accept criticism of their list - they embraced it, creating "possibly the first sequel exhibition at the Library of Congress".

The list of the Books That Shaped America is quite lengthy and and the America Reads list runs to 65 items, so we have opted not to reproduce them here. However, we will share with you the top America Reads titles, chosen by public survey, and the top titles from the Books That Shaped America list, chosen by "[c]urators and experts from throughout the Library of Congress".  These lists were both created by the Library of Congress. What do you think of these lists? Are there other books you think have shaped America more, or books you think don't belong on these lists? Do you think it's impossible to come up with an all-inclusive list in the first place? Let us know in the comments!

America Reads - New Titles Chosen by the Public
America Reads - The Public’s Top Choices from the Original 2012 List


Photo Credit:
Books. Photography. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 29 Jul 2016.
http://quest.eb.com/search/132_1258202/1/132_1258202/cite
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Saturday, August 6, 2016

Books for Your End-of-Summer Staycation Adventure!

There's still time to wring some more fun adventures out of the summer, without even leaving the state! We are still hoping to check out Tinkertown and Meow Wolf. The Santa Fe Opera's season continues until the end of August. Gallup's Inter-Tribal Indian Ceremonial is just around the corner, as is Santa Fe's Indian Market. All fun things, but maybe you have a more strenuous adventure in mind, or closer to nature? Camping, birding, hiking - there's a lot of scope for outdoor adventures here in the Land of Enchantment! We hope you'll take advantage of some of the resources the library catalog has to offer when planning your summer fun, whether it's outdoorsy or not so much! Here are some books you might helpful:

Camping

Camping in America's Western County and City Parks by Don Wright


Camping New Mexico: A Comprehensive Guide to Public Tent and RV Campgrounds by Melinda Crow 

Birding

Birding Hot Spots of Santa Fe, Taos, and Northern New Mexico by Judy Liddell and Barbara Hussey

Winging It: A Beginner's Guide to Birds of the Southwest by Catherine Coulter ... [et al.]

Hiking

Hiking Four Corners: A Guide to the Areas' Greatest Hiking Adventures by J. D. Tanner and Emily Ressler-Tanner 

Hiking to History: A Guide to Off-Road New Mexico Historic Sites by Robert Julyan 

Best Hikes Near Albuquerque by JD Tanner and Emily Ressler-Tanner 

 New Mexico Wilderness Alliance Wild Guide, 2014 edited by Tina Deines

Miscellaneous Adventure


Picture credit:
New Mexico.. Photography. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 26 Jul 2016.
http://quest.eb.com/search/137_3080670/1/137_3080670/cite
 
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Thursday, August 4, 2016

Hammer Down Reads: Motorcycling

Classic Indian Motorcycles, Anthony Butera, (b.20th C.), Watercolor . Fine Art. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 23 Jul 2016.
http://quest.eb.com/search/107_3352538/1/107_3352538/cite

Motorcycles! They have long captured the American imagination, since the first motorcycle appeared in the 1800s to the days of Easy Rider and beyond. Are you a follower of motorcycle trends? Were you an avid watcher of Sons of Anarchy? Do you own your own chopper or would you consider renting one for a motorcycle tour? Do you belong to a motorcycle riding group, like the Rarebreed Chapter of the Iron Order MC or the Duke City Motorcyclists? Do you like to watch motorcycle road racing? Did you catch the Motor Maids convention in Santa Fe last month? We confess that we're no experts, but we have compiled a list of books from the library catalog motorcycle enthusiasts might enjoy - some history, a couple of guides, and some travelogues.







Hottest Motorcycles by Bob Woods [eAudiobook]


American Outlaw by Jesse James with Sam Benjamin



Ridin' High, Livin' Free: Hell-Raising Motorcycle Stories by Ralph "Sonny" Barger with Keith and Kent Zimmerman [eBook] 

Long Way Down: An Epic Journey By Motorcycle From Scotland to South Africa by Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman 
American Biker [videorecording (DVD)] 

If you are going to start riding a motorcycle, don't forget safety! Visit MVD Express or the New Mexico Motorcycle Safety Program for tips about learning to ride, improving your skills, and information about getting your license. Or, is a scooter more your speed? Because you can rent one of those too.
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Tuesday, August 2, 2016

New & Novel: Graphic Novels for Kids

While many people think of graphic novels as "just comic books", the truth is that a good graphic novel doesn't simplify a story: instead, it amplifies it, drawing out details and adding emotional weight. For young or reluctant readers, in particular, a graphic novel format makes it easier to understand more complex stories. In fact, we'd argue that high-quality graphic novels are a key part of any library!
~Katherine Handcock, "Life in Pictures: Mighty Girl Graphic Novels for Young Readers About Real Life"

We've seen it time and time again - the child is looking at comic books, and the parent is trying to interest them in a "real" book or otherwise limit their consumption of that genre. It's true, comics can be inappropriate for the age group (check the ratings, T is for teen!) and there are a lot of superheroes and manga out there when you are looking to have your child read about real life. But! Françoise Mouly, art editor at the New Yorker, has been "dismayed to find not only a dearth of comics on American newsstands, but also a prevailing cultural attitude that comics were lowbrow filth, dangerous to children, and a fundamentally unserious medium,"  having grown up reading  Asterix and other comics in her native France, where comics are called "the ninth art, they stand alongside music and literature." Hannah Berry, blogging for The Book Trust, asserts:

Symbols and images can be interpreted from a very young age and are the bedrock of visual understanding before the written language, so it makes sense that they can be trusted. When you learn to read, you lose your reliance on image, and I've found that the longer it's been since a person read a picture book - ANY picture book - the harder they will find it to move some of that reliance from the text to the image. This is why people find the idea comics so childish: because it feels like regressing. In fact, it's just dusting off an old skill.

Some sites even recommend using comics as a tool to learn a foreign language. We understand that you want your child to read the classics and other literature, to not just limit their literacy to comics, but we also want you to know there are more comics out there in the 741.5s than might meet the eye. Here's a listing of some children's graphic novels - biographies, stories about overcoming diversity, and some just for fun - that you might suggest to your comic-loving child.

 Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust by Loïc Dauvillier

Amelia Rules: The Whole World's Crazy by Jimmy Gownley

The Only Child by Guojing

Smile by Raina Telgemeier (also Sisters and Kristy's Great Idea by the same author)

Fowl Play by Travis Nichols

Alia's Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq - Inspired By a True Story by Mark Alan Stamaty

Drawing From Memory by Allen Say

Lily Renée, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer by Trina Robbins

Fishfishfish by Lee Nordling

Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spires
 
To Dance: A Ballerina's Graphic Novel by Siena Cherson Siegel 

El Deafo by Cece Bell 

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Pablo & Jane and the Hot Air Contraption by José Domingo

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm

Jane, the Fox & Me by Fanny Britt 
Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova  

Phoebe and Her Unicorn: A Heavenly Nostrils Chronicle by Dana Simpson


Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

Lumberjanes: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson & Grace Ellis

Paths & Portals by Gene Luen Yang

The Nameless City by Faith Erin Hicks



Wake Up, Spring by Katherine Ferrier [eBook]

The Prison Island: A Graphic Memoir by Colleen Frakes  [eBook]

For more titles, check out "10 Great Kids Comics for Early Readers." 
 
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Saturday, July 30, 2016

Mini-Reviews: My Favorite Summer Reads


Since it's summer, and I'm currently obsessed with all things beach/ocean-related, I thought I'd do a post about my favorite young adult fiction summer reads. To clarify: These books don't necessarily take place during the summer, although some of them do. As long as they take place in the summer or are set at the beach/on the ocean, I'm including them on this list.

The Siren by Kiera Cass

I am obsessed with all things mermaids right now. This book is just beautiful, from the cover to the writing.

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

I can't have a summer reads list without including Sarah Dessen. A lot of her books are set in the summer and/or at the beach, and while this isn't my favorite Sarah Dessen novel, it's my favorite Sarah Dessen novel that takes place both during the summer and at the beach.

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

I surprised myself with this one. I don't usually read fantasy, but I loved the cover and thought the story sounded good, so I decided to give it a try. The Girl From Everywhere will probably end up on my list of favorite books from this year. What I really love about it is that it can easily be a standalone, but it actually is the first book in a series. Initially, I wasn't too excited about that, but now that the cover of the second book, The Ship Beyond Time, has been revealed, I can't wait to get my hands on it. Just look at these covers (note: both images are from Goodreads)!


Moonglass by Jessi Kirby

I also can't have a summer reads list without including something by Jessi Kirby. Moonglass is her first novel, and it is so, so wonderful. Crystal Cove is a beautiful setting, both in the book and in real life (confession: I went there just because it's the setting of this book). I've read it three times, and I fall more in love with Crystal Cove each time I read Moonglass. 

The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler

Reason number one why I love this book: diversity! The narrator is from the Caribbean. Reason number two why I love this book: It's set in a beach town. I love books set in beach towns. Reason number three why I love it: The story is wonderful. It's hard to go wrong with Sarah Ockler, and this is probably my favorite book by her.

What are you favorite books that are set during the summer or that have a beach setting? Let me know in the comments!
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Thursday, July 28, 2016

The Brilliant Brontes: Shirley: An Industrial Strength Novel

Anne Bronte (1820-1849), Emily Bronte (Thornton, 1818 - Haworth, 1848) and Charlotte Bronte (Thornton, 1816 - Haworth, 1855), English writers, Oil on canvas by Patrick Branwell Bronte (1817-1848), ca 1834. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 19 Dec 2015. 

Charlotte Bronte wrote Shirley (1849) during the harrowing illnesses and deaths of her siblings Branwell, Emily, and Anne. Shirley is an industrial strength feminist novel set in Yorkshire during the turbulent year of 1811. Bronte's second novel confronts class divisions during England's Industrial Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. The Luddite revolts in 19th-century Yorkshire consisted of English textile workers and weavers who feared that stocking and spinning frames and power looms threatened their livelihoods. Destroying threshing machines was a tactic Luddite's utilized in order to bargain with their employers. Some more peaceful textile workers organized structured societies to meet technological progress with provisions for unemployment, paid sick leave, and foreign influences against English interests. 

Charlotte Bronte's novel views this turbulence through the perspective of her main character Caroline Helstone, the mild-mannered orphaned niece of a terminally cranky pastor. Caroline was based on Bronte's sister Anne and Caroline's friend, the female landowner Shirley Keeldar was Charlotte's imaginative concept of  what her sister Emily could have been if she had been "placed in good health and prosperity".

Caroline's love interest Robert Moore is a harsh mill owner known for his coldness towards his employees. Robert lays the majority of his employees off, because his mill is in debt due to his late father's inefficiency and mortgages. Robert's older brother Louis becomes a private tutor, leaving Robert alone to turn their family's business around with the aid of new machinery which enables him to lay off even more employees. Angry, impoverished mill workers destroy his machinery in retaliation.

Shirley Keeldar is an independently wealthy heiress who lives with her devoted governess Mrs. Pryor. Caroline and Shirley's friendship is cemented in their desire to live meaningfully and help their destitute neighbors, who deteriorate into alcoholism and violence. Shirley becomes motivated to extend financial help the poorest of the poor and discourage attacks on Robert. Caroline is dismayed to witness Robert and Shirley's burgeoning friendship, which could become an advantageous marriage for both of them. In befitting Victorian fashion, Caroline becomes dangerously sick and is cared for by Mrs. Pryor, who reveals that she is Caroline's mother, who had escaped Caroline's abusive father. With the support of her mother, lovesick Caroline begins to recovery.

Deeply sensitive to her limited prospects, Caroline fears old maidenhood. Bronte's depictions of Victorian Spinsterhood are maddening and bleak. Despite Shirley's wealth and independence, she must also answer to her extended family, who wants her to marry well, despite her growing love for Louis Moore, the family tutor. Shirley's motives for helping Robert are also misconstrued by Robert, who proposes to Shirley in order to secure his dwindling fortunes. Shirley rebuffs him so harshly that Robert realizes that in order to regain his own dignity, he must be receptive to the idea of relinquishing his beleaguered mill and start over again, possibly in Canada, since the political climate makes it impossible for his mill to establish trade with America.
Ultimately, Robert is shot by his own laid off workers and has to recover at a friend's house. Gradually, Caroline and Robert re-establish their fractured friendship. The novel neatly ends with the respective marriages of Caroline with Robert and Shirley with Louis. However, by Shirley marrying Louis, she has to submit to her husband in all matters, even her own property, since women in that era were not allowed to own property.
The plight of women striving for meaning in a patriarchal society is captured in Bronte's depictions of disrespect incurred by spinsters, the emotional claustrophobia of young women waiting for their lives to begin through marriage and motherhood, and the disqualification of love as a deciding factor in most matches. 

Shirley was not as well-received as Jane Eyre, due to the sheer volume of this tome and the overblown, treacly prose. However, Bronte doesn't spare the clergy some judicious barbs in Shirley for their ineffectual ministering of mill workers struggling to survive a ruthless, changing world that threatens leave them. Social justice and romance make for an incongruous reading experience, but Charlotte's love and appreciation for her sister Emily shines through the complex and forthright character of Shirley Keeldar.

For further reading on the Bronte's world, The Public Library recommends:
How To Be a Victorian: A Dawn-to-Dusk Guide to Victorian Life by Ruth Goodman
The English and Their History by Robert Tombs
Napoleon On War edited by Bruno Colson; translated by Gregory Elliott
Wild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons, and Completely Corsetless Ladies In the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era by Autumn Stephens
Waterloo: Wellington, Napoleon, and the Battle That Saved Europe by Gordon Corrigan
Reading the Bronte Body [eBook] Disease, Desire, and the Constraints of Culture by Beth Torgerson                                    
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Tuesday, July 26, 2016

The Siren Song of Life Beneath the Sea: Mermaids for All Ages

Sometimes, it must be said, mermaids are men. But most often they are women, and they are almost culturally universal: known as sirens, water spirits, selkies, ceags, they exist in the ubiquitous waters of our imaginations, and within our imaginations, under the churning sea. Complicated, fishy, witchy women, both lucky and unlucky. They save men and they destroy them; they make wonderful lovers and terrible wives.
~Lyz Lenz, "The Eternal Allure of the Mermaid"

Water is necessary, urgent, everywhere; it gives rise to life. It is also perilous, subject to its own laws, and contains dark and hidden depths... The myth of mermaids both explains and distances woman, that great and confounding mystery. And the appeal isn’t just for men; girls are drawn to mermaids’ wildness and beauty and power. After all, the sea creatures are the ones who get to decide if people who fall overboard will swim or sink.
~Lauren Groff, "Daughters of the Springs"

There are certainly a lot of people out there fascinated by the idea of mermaids. There are mermaid legends from around the world! Even in modern days, author Carolyn Turgeon has a blog called "I am a mermaid", and you can read her article "Neither Fish Nor Flesh" over at The New Inquiry. Entertainment Weekly called 2011 "The year mermaids swim into movies, books, fashion, and maybe your local swimming pool." You can read about "Becoming Mermaids" at the American Museum of Natural History website or as part of the Mariners' Museum's "Women & the Sea". You can have mermaids entertain you at your next party, or just go to visit the Mystic Mermaids in Denver, Canada's Halifax Mermaids, Aquarena Springs in Texas, the Austin Aquarium (Saturdays and Sundays only!), and "The Only City of Live Mermaids" in Florida - or take part in Coney Island's Mermaid Parade. (We also found a whole article devoted to "making your living as a mermaid".) There's even a Mermaid School, we've heard, and Mermaid Exercise, sometimes called "mermaiding." The National Ocean Service has a webpage called "Are mermaids real?"; Animal Planet's faux-documentary, Mermaids: The Body Found, was "Animal Planet’s most watched program until the sequel trumped it." There's a mermaid environmental movement. You can knit yourself a mermaid-tail blanket or adopt "mermaid style" for the times you need to spend outside the water - preferably while reading Mermaids and Mythology magazine.

Our own interest in mermaids began with reading Andersen's "The Little Mermaid" (though not fans of the Disney film) and seeing Copenhagen's famous statue, so we'd like to point out that the trend continues in literature. We've put together a list of mermaid fiction for all ages for those intrigued by the sirens of the seas. Sometimes the heroines of the tail (we couldn't resist!), sometimes a character in a larger story, we hope that these stories of mermaids don't send you off the deep end.

For Kids

The Sea Tiger by Victoria Turnbull

The Mermaid's Shoes by Sanne Te Loo 

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly

Trouble at Trident Academy by Debbie Dadey [eBook] 

Kira's Quest by Orysia Dawydiak 

The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler 

Above World by Jenn Reese 

The Mermaid and the Shoe by K. G. Campbell 

Oliver and the Seawigs by Philip Reeve and Sarah McIntyre

Jasmine and the Treasure Chest: Mermaid Mysteries Series, Book 1 by Katy Kit [eBook]
  

Young Adult

Girl at the Bottom of the Sea by Michelle Tea

The Mermaid's Sister by Carrie Ann Noble

Captivate by Vanessa Garden [eBook]

Cry of the Sea by D. G. Driver [eBook] 

Oceanborn by Amalie Howard [eBook]

Descending by Holly Kelly [eBook]

Lies Beneath by Anne Greenwood Brown 

The Vicious Deep by Zoraida Cordova
 
 Water by Natasha Hardy [eBook]

Into the Deep by Missy Fleming [eBook]

Lost Voices by Sarah Porter [eBook]

Just For Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

Emerge by Tobie Easton

Between the Sea and Sky by Jaclyn Dolamore 

Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs 

Adult

The Mermaid's Secret by Katie Schickel

Case of the Fickle Mermaid by P.J. Brackston

Menagerie by Rachel Vincent 

The Sea House by Elisabeth Gifford

The Mermaid of Brooklyn by Amy Shearn [eAudiobook]

Bay of Sighs by Nora Roberts 



Lagoon by Nnedi Okorafor 
 

For more mermaid tales, try a subject search of "Mermaids - Fiction". Read more articles about mermaids on Huffington Post! Also, check out this Cochiti potter's clay mermaid, for a bit of local flavor!

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