Category: Reference

Jig! Does it get any more fun than dancing, wigs and accents?!

- Ann Leave a comment

Sign me up for Irish Dancing lessons because after watching the documentary, Jig, I am pretty sure that kicking up one’s heels must be the funnest thing EVER.

Jig, a film by Sue Bourne, follows several dancers and dancing teams from all over the world as they prepare for and compete in the 2010 Irish Dancing World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Every one of the featured competitors’ stories is fascinating, but I was especially charmed by the young girl from Ireland who lovingly displayed the dress that her grandmother bought her to compete in right before she passed away. I knew she was my favorite when the camera zoomed in on the calendar in her bedroom and you could see where she had written in the birthday of Disney channel star, Emily Osment, write next to her goal to win the world championships. She may be a highly focused performer, but she apparently still finds time to watch Hannah Montana!

What I liked most about this film was how HAPPY I felt while watching it. Yes, there are emotional moments such as when a young dancer clutches his stuffed animal and discusses being bullied or when members of the underdog Russian women’s team are refused visas into Scotland. But overall, Jig absolutely sparkles with passion and joy and left me feeling that skipping may just be the best way to travel.

RiverShare Catalog – Map it!

- Lynn Leave a comment

Another cool feature of our new catalog is ….wait for it…

Map It!

It’s Friday night and you see that a dvd you want for the weekend is in at the East Moline Public Library.

You click on the title of the dvd, then choose Map It and you’ll get a Google Map of the greater Quad-City area. Hover over the yellow balloon (yellow balloons mean that the item is on the shelf). You’ll see the library’s hours, phone number and directions to the library.

How cool is that?

Reading History in the New RiverShare Catalog

- Lynn Leave a comment

Have you ever read a book that was so good, you were sure you’d  have no trouble remembering the title or author? Weeks later you want another book by that author; it turns out that the jumble of words you’re able to recollect don’t add up to anything that’ll retrieve the book.

Our brand new catalog has many exciting new features including “Reading History”. If you choose to “opt in” – from that point on, a list of what you’ve checked out will be saved.

If you decide that you don’t want the information saved any longer, all the data will be deleted.

So say goodbye to keeping lists – in notebooks, on pieces of scrap paper or in any of dozens of websites. We’ll do the work for you!

Phryne, Rhymes with Briney

- Ann 1 Comment

I had long been attracted to the fun and stylish covers of Kerry Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher series, and finally decided to give them a try when the Davenport Public Library’s new Youth Services Librarian, Liza Gilbert, told me they were some of her all-time favorite books. There was just one thing I needed to know before I curled up with the mystery series: how oh how do I pronounce the heroine’s first name?! A quick search online and I learned that “Phryne, rhymes with Briney” which is now stored safely in the corner of my brain right next to “Rowling, rhymes with Bowling.”

Phryne Fisher is the classic 1920’s saucy heroine; she has style, confidence, cleverness and unlimited funds to do with as she pleases, and apparently what she pleases to do is fly planes, outwit lovers, and investigate crimes. In Cocaine Blues, the first in her series, Phryne arrives in Melbourne, Australia to check on the condition of an English aristocrat’s daughter who had been writing worrisome letters home to her parents. Although she assumed her Melbourne visit would mostly involve watching a neglectful husband and testing the girl’s food for poison, Phryne quickly finds herself searching out heavyweight cocaine dealers and criminal abortionists (who are assaulting their patients and depositing them in taxicabs to die).

Despite the gritty, heavy subjects of these investigations, Miss Fisher still manages to wear fabulous gowns, make snarky conversation and have a sexy romp or two. Hurrah! My absolute favorite part about Kerry Greenwood’s writing was the fascinating setting of the growing city of Melbourne, Australia during the 1920’s. Since most of my favorite Twenties novels seem to take place in New York, Chicago or London, it hadn’t even occurred to me that other exciting locales were also having a roaring good time. I highly recommend the Phryne Fisher series to those readers who can’t get enough of bobbed haircuts, silk stockings and smart female characters.

Frugal Librarian #41: Vitaminimalist

- Bill Leave a comment

The most expensive multivitamin is the better one, because the price reflects a company with more stringent quality controls, right?  Not at all.  But the cheaper ones aren’t any good either, right?  Wrong again.  Some of them are stellar.  Some.

It turns out there is pretty much no correlation between cost and quality, from a few cents per dose to some over fifty cents a pill.  Some don’t have the the advertised  RDA of certain vitamins.  Some have unhealthful contaminates.  Some are of such low quality they don’t disintegrate properly, rendering them ineffective.

So, just don’t take vitamins then?  Also, a bad idea.  Read the results of this experiment and buy the cheapest with a passing score.

Curling Up With a Good Book

- Ann Leave a comment

Rainy days, hot cider, and brisk temperatures mean that autumn is here, and with it, my favorite time of year: curl-up-with-a-good-book season (a long season that includes just about everything outside of Beach Reading season)! Here are two long, luscious books that beg to be read under a blanket with a mug of something hot.

The Thirteenth Tale, first and only novel of Diane Setterfield, has been continuously popular since its 2006 release. The rich atmospheric tone of this novel is perfectly matched to brisk fall weather and the thrilling plot will keep you turning the pages late into the night. Reclusive author Vida Winter has shrouded her identity and her history in lies and deceptions; her deathbed wish to set the record straight leads her to Margaret Lea, timid bookseller and sometime-biographer. Margaret is drawn into Vida’s story, a convoluted and compelling tale of crumbling Victorian houses, madwomen in the attic, tragedy, heartbreak, mystery, secrets, and love. When I read this book I could NOT put it down! DPL has recently acquired a brand-new “book club in a box” kit for this book; book club kits include 10+ copies of the book, tips for starting a book club, and a list of discussion questions. They check out for 6 weeks. The Thirteenth Tale book club kit is coming soon!

Sarah Waters’ Fingersmith is spectacularly Victorian, bursting with madhouses, ladies’ maids, and enough absurd coincidences and precocious orphans to make Charles Dickens blush. It’s the story of aristocratic Maud Lilly and orphaned Sue Trinder, who goes to work for the Lilly family intending to rob Maud blind. The twists and turns that ensue, along with Waters’ sharp wit and snappy pacing, make this novel truly unforgettable. If you’re hooked on this historical, atmospheric vibe, try Waters’ other novels: Affinity, The Little Stranger, and Tipping the Velvet.

 

 

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

- Ann Leave a comment

Like many of our patrons and staff members, I was very excited when library books became available for download on my Kindle. The best of all worlds – books that are free, digital, and recent! As a test run, I downloaded (and immediately loved) The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.

This fantasy novel follows the stunning exploits of the Gentlemen Bastards, a brazen group of expert con artists led by the singularly brilliant Locke Lamora, an orphan who’s been stealing, lying, and outwitting his betters since he was old enough to walk. His scheming is matched only by the mysterious Gray King, an infamous man who can kill with a touch and has an uncanny way of knowing things he shouldn’t know – much like Locke Lamora himself.

The setting of the novel is quite spectacular and fans of world-building prowess will not be disappointed by the invention of Camorr, a great city built on the ruins of an ancient alien settlement made of the beautiful, unbreakable, eerily glowing, and often deadly substance called Elderglass. It’s like Renaissance Venice through a looking glass: people travel via canal and drink plenty of fine wine in between practicing alchemy and dodging attacks from scorpion hawks. Women and men alike work in dangerous and deadly positions, whether in the criminal underworld, lofty upper classes, or the watery ring of female gladiators who use short javelins to fight 10-foot-long leaping sharks. The action is frequent but unsteadily paced; exciting scenes that would be the climax of any other novel are merely a bump on the road of this thrilling narrative. Lots of adult language and a high body count give this book a gritty, real-life flavor.

This book is great for fantasy fans who are sick of elves and prophecies as well as fiction readers who want to try fantasy for the first time!

Chelsea Handler Read-Alikes

- Ann Leave a comment

Did you stop by the library to pick up one of Chelsea Handler’s hilarious books only to discover that they’re all checked out?  While you’re on the waiting list for a copy of Lies That Chelsea Handler Told Me, My Horizontal Life, Chelsea Chelsea Bang Bang, or Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea, check out some other books that you might enjoy:

Pretty In Plaid, My Fair Lazy, and Such a Pretty Fat by Jen Lancaster:  Humorous memoirs about the author’s life with stories about dieting and food, sororities, lots of clothes, drinking, and reality TV.

You Can’t Drink All Day If You Don’t Start In The Morning by Celia Rivenbark:  A collection of humorous essays written by a brash Southern woman.  The title alone tells me that this book is something Chelsea Handler would approve of.

Official Book Club Selection by Kathy Griffin:  Stories of the comedienne’s life  peppered with Kathy’s trademark humor concerning all things celebrity.

The Bedwetter by Sarah Silverman:  The famously crude comedienne tells the story of her life, managing to bring her signature humor into even the most serious stories about depression and late-in-life bedwetting.

I Was Told There’d Be Cake by Sloane Crosley:  A collection of witty essays about a 20-something trying to make it in Manhattan.  I particularly enjoyed her evil boss stories and her explanation of her bizzare collection of plastic ponies.

A book I can read inside out and back again

- Ann Leave a comment

Two things I usually do not like to read about: war and hot places. And yet I found myself picking up Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai everytime I walked past the New J Fiction shelf. I could tell by the description on the back of the book that the story was about a young girl living in South Vietnam right before the fall of Saigon, thus, it was about war in a hot place. Yet, the praise on the back cover also demanded that I “read it slowly to savor the delicious language” and cheer on “a protagonist so strong, so loving, and vivid [that fellow author] longed to hand her a wedge of freshly cut papaya.” I asked myself one question: Have I ever eaten a papaya? I don’t think so, but after reading this book I am convinced that papaya is now my favorite fruit, and that Inside Out & Back Again has my vote for the Newbery Award this year.

This story, told in verse, spends one year with ten-year-old Hà as her family undergoes the transition from their war-torn, unsettled home in South Vietnam to the the unknown and sometimes cruel world of being refugees in the United States. Ha’s environment is something I have never experienced, but her spirit and humor remind me of many of my kindred fictional friends from Ramona Quimby to Allie Finkle. Thus, she enabled me to live a piece of our world’s history that, until now, had really only been presented to me through dry history books or masculine, heated war literature.

Hà’s story in heartbreaking, but not without hope and smiles. An excerpt from Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai:

Quiet Decision

Dinnertime
I help Mother
peel sweet potatoes
to stretch the rice.

I start to chop off
a potato’s end
as wide as
a thumbnail,
then decide
to slice off
only a sliver.

I am proud
of my ability
to save
until I see
tears
in Mother’s
deep eyes.

You deserve to grow up
where you don’t worry about
saving half a bite
of sweet potato.

April 19

Frugal Librarian #40: 12oz of wi-fi

- Bill Leave a comment

There are a number of variables that can screw up the wi-fi transmission in your house: overall distance, changes between levels, idiosyncrasies between hardware manufacturers, or maddening and unpredictable interference in the walls.  If your supposedly “plug-and-play” router is more like hours of “trial and-error” maybe this DIY extender from Discovery Channel is just the ticket.  What else are you going to do, use the internet in one set location like it was 2001?

We can only assume the parabolic setup is the same as the increased strength sound is given by the folks on the NFL sidelines holding parabolic dishes.

I’d add onto the list of ingredients a little masking tape to blunt the edge of the razor sharp aluminum, because, well, you’ve got enough problems with wireless without an emergency room trip, right?

NOTE: We don’t know if this works, it just looked interesting.  Please consider these tips, which include a tinfoil parabola.