Author: Lynn

The Frugal Armchair Traveler

- Lynn 1 Comment

dollarsFive Ways for the Traveler to Save Money

1. Buy magazines (10 cents) and paperbacks (10-25 cents) at the library sales. You can read them on the plane, in the airport, at the hotel. (This has the added advantage of reducing your travel imprint as you go  – tear out the pages and discard them as you go). It’s really cool if you buy travel magazines about your destination!

2. Reserve a copy of the most recent Fodor’s/Lonely Planet/Frommer’s guide and make notes about sites you want to see. You will be more focused and proactive (instead of waking up each morning and deciding what in the heck you want to do today).

3. Go to the travel and tourism website  for your destination to find  free museums, parks, festivals,  author visits to bookstores,  and, of course, libraries.

4. Staycations/Be-a-Tourist-in-Your-Own-Backyard/Whatever You Want to Call It (Sit  in your  backyard, sipping your favorite beverage and read the latest John Grisham or Dan Brown. In the evening, invite your best buddy over for  the latest James Bond or Judd Apatow dvd that you’ve gotten from the Davenport Public Library).

5. Save bucket loads of cash on audiobooks by checking out books-on-cd, playways or downloading our ebooks the next time you head out on the highway.

Elizabeth Berg Comes to the Quad-Cities

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elizabeth-bergMeet the author  at a Moline Public Library on June 3rd at 1:00, where she will be signing copies of her new book, Home Safe.

My favorite Berg novel is The Year of Pleasures. If you like books in which the protagonist has faced tragedy and must rebuild her life, this is a classic starting-over story.

You’ll enjoy reading how Betta moves to a new town, buys a house, and reconnects with old college friends. Immersing herself in her new surroundsings, she also makes new friends, finds romance and opens a store called “What a Woman Wants.” It sounds a little incredible, but Berg writes so lyrically, the journey seems completely logical and enjoyable. One of Berg’s strengthes is her depiction of the small joys of daily life; you’ll not want to leave the world she has created.

Are You a Public Radio Groupie?

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nprHave you ever been in the car and bored by what’s currently on the radio? Pop in one of these best-of-the-best NPR audiobooks and transport yourself to a laugh-out-loud Scott Simon interview with Dame Edna to a story about misunderstood song lyrics.

If you’re a fan of NPR, you’ll love books-on-cd that public radio staff have produced. Compilations such as Driveway Moments, Road Trips and Holiday Favorites are hodge-podges of previous stories.

If you like Baxter Black, Rob Gifford, Bill Harley or Susan Stamberg, you’ll be glad to have them handy on a long trip or if you’re stuck on one of the bridges for hours on end. (David Sedaris got his start at NPR and is in a class by himself).

Some, like This I Believe, can be downloaded to your MP3 player. If you’re a Davenport Public Library cardholder you can access our WILBOR audiobooks via our website.

The library’s mission – you will never be bored again.

The Armchair Traveler – Great Travel DVDs

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travel-dvdsIn between trips, there’s nothing better than kicking back with a good DVD.

Some of the AT’s favorites are travel series such as Michael Palin’s Around the World in 80 Days and Samantha Brown’s Passport to Europe – all the fun and cultural education without the hassle.  Though theoretically designed for the prospective traveler, Rick Steve’s Europe Through the Back Door DVDs are great entertainment whether you have any intention of going to a particular destination or not.

A rainy weekend can always be salvaged by Enchanted April or  Under the Tuscan Sun. In both movies, those seeking a different and richer life are  seduced by the beauty and romance of Italy.

For some travelers it’s all about the journey and not the destination. They love everything about  airplanes and airports; for this person Tom Hank’s The Terminal is  a quick fix of airport culture. Other fun flicks in the air-trip-as-disaster mode are Red Eye or Snakes on a Plane.

Do the Right Thing for Your Pet

- Lynn 1 Comment

animals-make-us-human“Creating the Best Life for Animals” is the subtitle to Animals Make Us Human. Temple Grandin, the author of Animals Make Us Human, is autistic and she feels it has given her a special gift in relating to animals.

She emphasizes the importance of play and seeking activities for all animals. To have a rich life, pets need to use their brains – and they do this by trying to satisfy their intense curiosity and by playing. Owners are responsible for ensuring that they get these opportunities. Especially fascinating is her description of the evolution of the domestic dog from the wolf.

Beware Cesar Millan fans; she has fundamental philosophical differences regarding owner dominance and pack behavior. (She doesn’t think the pack leader theory is useful in most households).

Grandin also cites evidence that cats can be trained – by using rewards, rather than negative reinforcement. (This is true with all pets, but especially cats). Cats are still more on the “wild” end of the continuum of wildness to domesticity. Wild animals just run when punished; they don’t learn anything from being punished, other than to fear the punisher.

Grandin’s theories resonant with all species  (including our own).

Good Books in Hard Times

- Lynn 2 Comments

dust-bowl_photoWhen times are tough, it helps to read about those who have gone through even more desperate times – with grace and courage.

Early settlers and homesteaders lived near the margin; they felt fortunate if they had the very basics of life (in the face of drought, pestilence, and economic collapse). Books like Nothing to Do But Stay by Carrie Young and the Laura Ingalls Wilder books immerse the reader in the hard life of the pioneer on the plains.

Books with a  documentary slant are Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America by Barbara Ehrenreich and Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression by Studs Terkel. Both made an important societal  impact and yet are highly  readable.

Poverty was a fact of life at the turn of the century; poor families lived without any kind of safety net.  This was a common theme in early American childrens’ literature. Two tight-knit families who lived in “ramshackle cottages” and faced eviction, illness and other disasters with humor are the Five Little Peppers series by Margaret Sidney and Mrs. Wiggs and the Cabbage Patch by Alice Rice.

All these books provide context and role models for today’s tough times.

Also recommended:

Books:

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Curtis

David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

DVDs (adapted from books):

Grapes of Wrath

Kit Kittredge: An American Girl

Sounder

F5 – Tornadoes in the Heartland

- Lynn 1 Comment

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If you are a weather buff (and who isn’t in Iowa), you’ll find this book a suspenseful read. Mark Levine, a University of Iowa poetry professor, tells the story of April 3rd, 1974, an infamous date in weather history. The term Super Outbreak was coined to try to describe the unprecedented 148 tornados that pounded the U.S. from Alabama to Canada for 18 hours. The author focuses on rural northern Alabama and we get to know the victims and survivors as well-rounded individuals, so their fates become even more meaningful.

Many survive multiple tornados – actually being in the tornado itself and being bypassed by multiple funnel clouds. A particularly nightmarish scene is in the small Athens, Alabama hospial as it is flooded with victims and is threatened by tornados itself and finally loses power.

Levine’s skill is both in dramatizing each person’s experience and explaining the technical, meteorological reasons for the storms. The book will appeal to those who want to learn their science or history in a dramatic way.

Our New and Improved Catalog is Here!

- Lynn 1 Comment

Try the new version of the PrairieCat catalog! Some neat things about itprairiecat:

  • Have you ever thought you’d like to write your own review of a book you loved (or hated) and have it appear in the catalog? Well, now you can (Look at the Community Reviews for  The Thing About Jane Spring). That Minniemutt has such good taste in literature.
  • You can also rate an item (1 star = I Hate It and 5 stars = I Love it)
  • You can add the tag “travel book” to make it easier for other users unfamiliar with official library subject headings. You can add adjectives, such as “grunge” for a Pearl Jam CD or physically descriptive, such as “yellow cover!”
  • You can register for a My Discoveries account; this is a great way to keep track of your reading lists or things you want to put on hold. (I have a list of dvds I don’t have time to watch right now, but don’t want to forget about them!)
  • The new catalog is more intuitive, faster, with more relevant search results, but the old or Classic Catalog is still available as a tab.

Edited: We’ve had to postpone our launch of the new catalog until tomorrow, March 31. It’ll be worth the wait, I promise!

    The Armchair Traveler – Travel Writing Part I: Great Travel Writers

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    travel-writerThe Armchair Traveler is starting a travel writing series; Part I focuses on writers who excel in describing both the place and the process of travel.

    The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton

    de Botton excels in capturing the alternate reality and mindset that occurs when you leave home, especially when you are a solitary traveler. He describes the sensation of pleasant isolation and anonymity you experience on a train; or the phenomenon of marveling at the smallest differences in a foreign city.

    As the Romans Do by Alan Epstein

    This is Rome from the American point of view; the author moves his family to the city to experience the daily life of a Roman (getting an apartment, enrolling his kids in school, grocery shopping, etc.) as well as absorbing the cafe culture, soccer obsession, the Italian sense of fashion, and the passion for evenings spent in the piazza.

    Best American Travel Writing

    These pieces from newspapers, magazines and websites are edited by a Who’s Who of travel writing (Bill Bryson, Frances Mayes, Anthony Bourdain, Ian Frazier) and range from the lighthearted (David Sedaris on an ariport layover and Bill Buford sleeping in Central Park) to New York post 9-11, and extreme adventures in Uganda and the Australian Outback.

    Italian Journey by Jean Giono

    This small book is both an appreciation of post-war Venice and philosophical reflections of why we travel. A Frenchman, Giono finds an oasis of beauty and quiet after experiencing the more obvious attractions of Naples and Capri.

    Dilbert Meets the Recession

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    then-we-came-to-the-end1Seems like there is a novel for every situation. We can take some comfort from the fact that people have gone through layoffs and recession before.

    Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris is the devastating tale of an ad agency, where, one by one, workers carry their box of belongings out of their office during the dot-com bust of the late ’90’s. Ferris captures exactly the love/hate relationship we have with our cubicles and our co-workers. He depicts how painful it is to lose the community, the gossip , the petty resentments, and the infantile behavior that make up our work lives.

    Described  as “The Office meets Kafka,” (Nick Hornby) the characters are written with compassion and depth by Ferris,  a University of Iowa graduate.