An Audiobook for The Mom Taxi: The Knights’ Tales by Gerald Morris

- Ann Leave a comment

TaxiI’ve been driving the Mom Taxi at least twice a day for the past ten years and getting my fares—I mean, kids—into the car on time has been something of a struggle, especially on school mornings.

But one day, I forgot to stop the audiobook I’d been playing on my way to pick them up and we listened to it on the way home. The next morning, both kids were up and ready as quickly as I could have wished, asking if I was going to let them listen to more.

How could I say no?

I did say no to portions of it; I’d checked out Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie, which is fantastically funny and has a manic-depressive beagle in it, but is still an adult romance.  I occasional had to lunge at the fast-forward button in the effort to avoid questions  for which I wanted more preparation time (say, ten to twelve years) to answer.

The kids still enjoyed it—partly because of the lunging, I suspect—and after the book was done, they asked if I could get another audiobook.

This time, tired of fast-forwarding (and rewinding after I’d dropped them off), I headed for the children’s section. All the branches of the Davenport Public library have audiobooks that appeal to my second-grader and others that appeal to my pre-teen.

It was trickier to find ones that would appeal to all of us.

Knights Tales Collection - MorrisEnter The Knights‘ Tales collection, written by Gerald Morris and read by award-winning voice artist Steve West.

The four tales included on the five CDs are about the adventures of Sir Lancelot the Great (“He’s sooooo handsome!”), Sir Givret the Short (and his friend, Sir Eric the Not Too Bright), Sir Gawain the True (and his frenemy, the Green Knight), and Sir Balin the Ill-fated (whose mother just wants him to marry a “nice Nothern girl.”).

The main characters spend a lot of time getting into impossible situations that are unraveled by a piece of astoundingly simple logic. They’re funny and clever and twisty and very well-written.

Mr. Morris doesn’t talk down to his target audience (3rd to 6th grade) and his plots and intelligent, witty style won’t bore adults.   Mr. West uses an assortment of voices and accents that make even the minor characters—like the herald Harold, the argumentative Lady Elaine, and the Old Woman of Some Nonspecific Mountain—come to life.

These stories ensure that my kids are eager to get up and get going for the next installment—even on Mondays—and that our morning commutes are full of intent listening, predictions about what might happen next, and a lot of laughter.

For this Taxi Mom, that almost makes up for the dismal lack of tips.

Almost.

 

New CD’s for April

- Bill Leave a comment

Mumford & Sons — Wilder Mind

Features twelve new tracks, written collaboratively by the band in London, Brooklyn, and Texas. This release marks a significant departure for the young British band from their previous two records. There is a minimalist yet panoramic feel to this new album.

 

The Plain White T’s — American Nights

After five years Plain White T’s, the band behind the hit Hey There Delilah, return with a brand new studio album. The first single, Pause, made its debut on Alternative Press’s website.

 

darius ruckerDarius Rucker — Southern Style

CMA and three-time Grammy Award winner Darius Rucker returns with his sixth solo studio album, which is the anticipated follow-up to 2013’s True Believers. Among the tracks is the new hit single Homegrown Honey.

 

Three Days Grace — Human

Ontario rockers Three Days Grace release their fifth studio album, which is the first to feature new lead singer Matt Walst. The album also includes the single I Am Machine, which has already become a hit on the rock charts.

 

Van Morrison — Duets: Re-Working the Catalogue

Van Morrison releases the 35th album of his storied career. Here he has re-recorded some of his favorite songs with the help of fellow artists including Michael Buble, Mavis Staples, and his own daughter Shana Morrison.

 

Brian Wilson — No Pier Pressure

One of popular music’s most deeply revered figures returns with his eleventh solo studio album. Joining him here are some of his former Beach Boys bandmates as well as Kacey Musgraves, fun.’s Nate Ruess, and more.

 

Zac Brown Band — Jekyll + Hyde

The fifth studio album from Zac Brown band features sixteen songs, including Heavy Is the Head with Soundgarden’s Chris Cornell and a collaboration with Sara Bareilles.

New Mad Men Landmark

- Rachel Leave a comment
mad-men-statue
Actor Jon Hamm sits on the Don Draper Bench in front of the Time-Life Building in New York City. The silhouette of Hamm is used in the opening credits of the show Mad Men.

Are you a fan of the TV show Mad Men?  Are you travelling to New York City this summer?  Then you will want to head to 1271 Avenue of the Americas in Rockefeller Center, home of the Time-Life Building which houses the fictional Sterling Cooper & Partners office.  Outside of the building is a new Mad Men fixture called, The Draper Bench and a street sign that says Mad Men Ave and Don Draper Way.  The second half of season 7 premieres on Sunday, April 5th on AMC.  If you have not watched Mad Men, the library owns seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and part one of the last season of the show.

If you need other ideas on things to do and see while you are in New York City, the library has different travel guides available for checkout.  Frommer’s Easy Guide to New York City, Explore New York and Lonely Planet’s New York City are a few examples of travel guides you may be interested in.

 

 

 

Breaking News: Library Collections Threatened by Insect Invasion

- Ann 1 Comment

A newly discovered insect genus, liber vermis, is threatening library collections across the globe. This pest, which comes in various shapes and sizes, voraciously consumes books in large quantities, devastating carefully managed collections within a matter of days. Difficult to identify and nearly impossible to stop once it has begun attacking, the library world has been forced to take drastic action, beginning immediately.

Interim Library Director Amy Groskopf assures the public that Davenport Library will not give up without a fight. “Libraries have long been the repository of human thought. The potential loss could change the course of history. We must remain calm and united”.

Sadly, liber vermis has been detected near the Davenport Public Library and we are asking you, our loyal patrons, for your support during this difficult and potentially catastrophic crisis. Everyone will now be required to walk through a bleach spray bath (fairly low health risk) before entering the library. All patrons will be required to wear a face mask and disposable gloves (available for a small fee at the Customer Service desk)

Books and magazines can no longer leave the facility. Glass viewing boxes have been installed at all three Davenport libraries; the 12 most popular titles (as determined by our librarians) will be shown each month, with the pages turned once every hour. There will be no “turn backs” for slow readers or missed pages – you will need to wait for the next time the book is shown.

If you think that ebooks will save you, think again. Although it is still not clear exactly how the liber vermis destroys books, scientists believe they attack the actual word, not the material of the book. In fact, ebook words are far more vulnerable, and one infected book can wipe out an entire ebook collection within minutes!

The best way for you to fight this invasion is to memorize your favorite books. Then you can read and review them in the privacy of your own head as frequently as you wish, safe from invading liber vermis. Good luck.

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APRIL FOOL! Haha! There is no such insect called liber vermis (very badly translated Latin for book worm!) and, at least at this writing, there is no need for bleach baths or disposable gloves. Also, you are still free to touch and choose any book you would like to take home (provided you have a valid library card of course!).

This fake story was beginning to sound a little bit of a cross between George Orwell’s 1984 and Jasper Ford’s Thursday Next series wasn’t it?! It does help make you appreciate the great freedom we enjoy, to read what we want, when we want and to maintain free thought. That’s what libraries have always done best – open doors for everyone, no matter your education, interests or beliefs, there is a place for you at the library (again, so long as you are polite to all and bring back your library books!)

Happy April Fool’s Day!

Spring Has Sprung!

- Ann Leave a comment

It was a little touch-and-go there for awhile, but it looks like spring really will be back. That means it’s time for getting outside again and getting into the garden. In other words, it’s the best time of the year! Here are some new garden books to inspire you:

small space vegetable gardensSmall Space Vegetable Gardens by Andrea Bellamy – Here are the basics of growing a bounty of edibles in a minimal amount of space: how to find and assess a space, and how to plan and build a garden. Bellamy also highlights the top sixty edible plants and offers complete information on how to sow, grow, and harvest them.

 

 

 

 

designing and planting a woodland gardenDesigning and Planting a Woodland Garden by Keith Wiley – Woodlands are magical places and even small gardens can capture the atmosphere with a carefully chosen tree and some shade-loving plants. Selecting the right plant for the right place is essential and expert plantsman Keith Wiley explains how to combine plants that will thrive together and even how to create shade if you don’t already have it.

 

 

 

 

flower farmers yearFlower Farmer’s Year: How to Grow Cut Flowers for Pleasure and Profit by Georgie Newbery –  how to plant, maintain, and keep evolving a productive cut-flower garden. Whether you want to devote a corner of your garden to a stand of sweet peas and some cosmos, take up flower production for gate sales, or make a livelihood from cut flowers, Georgie Newbery will take you through everything from planning your garden to budgeting and marketing.

 

 

 

 

right size flower gardenRight Size Flower Garden by Kerry Ann Mendez –  We’re busy, we’re aging, and the demands of the garden can feel overwhelming. What to do? Make smarter use of the space we have and the plants we select, says garden expert Kerry Ann Mendez. She shares her successful recipe for having a garden we can manage and love again…the right-size, low maintenance, drought tolerant garden. The goal is ditching 50% of the work by choosing high-value plants and making simple design changes.

 

 

 

tao of vegetable gardeningThe Tao of Vegetable Gardening by Carol Deppe – explores the practical methods as well as the deeper essence of gardening. In her latest book Carol Deppe focuses on some of the most popular home garden vegetables – tomatoes, green beans, peas, and leafy greens – and through them illustrates the key principles and practices that gardeners need to know to successfully plant and grow just about any food crop.

Save Me by Kristyn Lewis

- Lynn Leave a comment

saveme2Save Me by Kristyn Lewis is compulsively readable. I’m trying to pin down in my own mind what it is  that makes it impossible to put down once you start reading. Maybe it’s the contrast of the confessional style and the sudden vulnerability of the main character with her previously almost perfect life. Daphne is someone who’s always been very controlled and successful at everything she did.

A high achieving doctor, with a perfect Martha Stewartesque home, garden and career, she, on the surface, doesn’t seem like someone you’d warm up to right away. After her husband and childhood sweetheart confesses that he’d had an affair, her predictable life and all her assumptions are blown apart. A car accident changes the trajectory of the story and the usual expectations of this type of novel. Family and friends are quick to give Daphne advice about whether or not she should leave her husband, and Lewis shows the complexity of any decision Daphne may make.

As a second time novelist, Lewis is very accomplished and assured. I can’t think of any passages or sentences that seemed false or clunky. Part of the appeal is the setting. You get a feeling of  Durham and Chapel Hill, North Carolina in a natural, unforced way.

This was marketed to book groups, and I would predict spirited discussions about the choices Daphne struggles with.

This is My FAVORITE Book

- Lynn Leave a comment

I Remember NothingA key to good readers advisory is to be able to remember titles and authors.  One of my favorite audiobooks is I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron. The problem is that I can never remember this title. Not only do I keep checking it out, thinking I haven’t listened to it before,  I also fail to remember the title when I’m telling staff and patrons what a great Book-on-CD it is.

And it really is. Ephron read the book herself and she has a marvelous voice and impeccable timing.  Particularly interesting, I thought, were the stories about her early career in newspaper and magazine journalism. She isn’t shy about dishing about the legendary writers and publishers she worked with, whose names I can’t recall (except for Katie and Phil Graham of the Washington Post).

She also has some handy tricks for social situations in which names (or whether you, in fact, really know a person) escape you.

Recommendation:  check the box marked “Reading History” in your library account, and you’ll always have a record of what you’ve checked out.

 

Beware the Ides of March

- Rachel Leave a comment

deathofceasarBeware the Ides of March.  Do you know what this famous phrase means?

If you are a fan of William Shakespeare you will know that this phrase is from the play, Julius Caesar.  The soothsayer warns Julius Caesar that he will die on March 15.  While the phrase sounds ominous to us, it would not have sounded strange to Julius Caesar.  The Romans had different names for different days of the month.  If Caesar had received this warning, he would have just thought, “March 15h might be a bad day.”

The assassination of Julius Caesar is arguably the most famous assassination in world history.  On March 15, 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was murdered at the Theatre of Pompey.  The members of the Senate plotted to murder Caesar.  They surrounded him and stabbed Caesar to death.

But there is more to the story.  Author Barry Strauss just released his new book, The Death of Caesar: the Story of History’s Most Famous Assassination.  This new audiobook promises to shed new light on one of the most famous days in history.  Strauss details the key players and events that led to the assassination of Julius Caesar and he reveals a person that few people know about.  Decimus, one of Caesar’s generals and a lifelong friend, was a mole.  His betrayal was worse than the betrayal of Brutus.

The Davenport Public Library has a lot of information on Julius Caesar as well as William Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar.  If you would like to learn more, talk to one of our reference librarians today.

 

New CDs for March

- Bill Leave a comment

MARCH 2015

Luke Bryan — Spring Break…Checkin’ Out

Luke Bryan’s string of EP releases has become a spring break tradition for many. Now he combines new songs along with six tracks from his 2014 digital EP, Spring Break 6…Like We Ain’t Ever.

 

 
Madonna — Rebel Heart

The Material Girl is back with her highly anticipated thirteenth studio album. Along with production from Diplo and Kanye West, the album includes a collaboration featuring Nicki Minaj. The first single is Living for Love.

 


Modest Mouse — Strangers to Ourselves

Eight years after the release of their last album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, Modest Mouse is back with a brand new CD. It includes the single Lampshades on Fire.

 

 

Kelly Clarkson — Piece by Piece

Kelly Clarkson releases her seventh album, which follows up her holiday album Wrapped in Red and 2011’s Stronger. Features the single Heartbeat Song and John Legend joins her on Run, Run, Run.

 

 

The Prodigy — The Day is My Enemy

The electronic trio releases their sixth studio album that features collaborations with Flux Pavilion on Rhythm Bomb and Sleaford Mods on Ibiza.

 

 

Third Day — Lead Us Back: Songs of Worship

Third Day draws listeners in to worship through big melodies and layers of intricate instrumentals, and pulls them closer to Jesus through beautiful and honest moments of true worship.

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