Task #10 - Book Talk

LOL! Okay....here is our Youtube Book Talk. A great big thanks to our able assistants Maddie, Kathy, and Sarah S. for helping us. We had quite a few laughs...and more than a few do-overs, but it was great fun. Also, a great big shout-out to my co-host Meredith for doing all of the editing and also for using her own camera, without her...eesh, you don't want to know what mine would have looked like.

**Meredith and I did have one big problem with this assignment...we couldn't decide on which books to talk about...or how many! I literally changed my choices just minutes before leaving for work that day!:)

Podcasts: Great for Libraries and for...Family Historians?

This week for KFPL's Web 2.0 Training, we were focusing on Podcasts - what they are and how they can be of use to libraries and library staff. First of all, a Podcast is a series of media files, usually audio, which are used to share news reports, reviews etc to the general public. You can listen to them directly from your web browser or download them to your personal computer. Thanks to our wonderful Training team, I was introduced to a podcast which I did not know about before - the Western Counties Regional Library (or WCRL) Teen book review podcast.

As many of my co-workers know already, I am an avid reader of Young Adult or Teen books, so I was quite pleased to hear about this particular podcast as I am always on the lookout for a new Teen book to read! I quickly tried the first book mentioned, the podcast of "City of Bones" by Cassandra Clare. I confess that I have already read this book (I actually own it), but I was interested in hearing another Adult's(!) point of view. While I did agree with most of what the woman (Librarian?) said, I'm not quite sure if I agree that "City of Bones" was better than "Twilight", although I do find that the character of Clary is not quite as irritating at times as Bella can be.

I think this particular podcast is a great example of how KFPL could use podcasts on their (our!) website. Right now we have the blog on our website but it would be nice to not only have Books of the Week but also Book Reviews of the week linked in somehow. Also, KFPL could have podcasts reviewing our new Game collection, as well as our DVD's, and maybe seasonal or thematic book reviews during the school year. We could have a podcast on the best Science Fair books in our collection as well as the newest Adult Mysteries that have arrived at the branches. We could also have DVD reviews of a movie that was based on a book that we have in our collection to encourage patrons to read the book as well as see the movie, which would tie in nicely with our monthly "Read the Book, See the Movie" film festival at the Calvin Park Branch Library.

While I did try out the lovely podcasts that the Training team suggested, I did venture out on my own and found a podcast which suits my tastes quite nicely. "The Genealogy Guys" have a podcast on their website - http://genealogyguys.com/. They just finished their 200th podcast, which sounds pretty amazing to me. As the title of the podcast (and website) suggests, the theme of these podcasts is Genealogy - simply put, genealogy means the study of your family history.

As my family members, friends, and those "lucky" co-workers who have been so fortunate as to mention the words "Genealogy", "Ancestry", "Great-Grandpa" etc in my presence can attest too, I am VERY interested in Genealogy, not just my own but other peoples as well. In fact, I spend quite a bit of time on this hobby of mine and I like to think that I am an "expert" on using Ancestry.com - although I believe that I am alone in this thought.

Basically, the Genealogy Guys every few weeks or so, create a podcast which updates the Genealogy world at large on anything big or exciting (to us anyways) that has happened in our field. The 200th podcast discussed (among other things) the new tv series "Who Do You Think You Are?" which airs on Friday nights. The show follows 7/8 Television or Movie Stars as they trace their family histories (with the help of intrepid genealogists) as far back as they can. So far we've had ties to European Royalty, the Salem Witch Trials, and Gettysburg. I too watch this great tv show every Friday night since it first aired. I was very excited to learn, via the podcast, that it has been renewed for another season! YEA!

So in conclusion, I think that podcasts would be of great use to library users who visit our KFPL website. I also have found that podcasts can be of great use as well to library staff who have an interest in Genealogy:)

"Heist Society" by Ally Carter

I just finished an enjoyable read called "Heist Society" by Ally Carter. The book is about a 15yr old girl who was raised by her father and his friends who are thieves. She too is a thief and ends up having to pull a heist of her own by the end of the book. The book moves back and forth between New York, Paris, England and Italy and is full of twists and turns. The book is about family, friends, colleagues, and includes a mysterious villain and a mobster. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a quick paced, entertaining, and well thought out caper.

Rating - 4/5 stars

"Into the Wild Nerd Yonder" by Julie Halpern

I just finished reading the YA book titled "Into the Wild Nerd Yonder" by Julie Halpern. The book is about a 15yr old girl (Jessie) and her relationships with her best friends, her brother (a punk), and other "new" friends (who play D&D) that she meets in high school.

SPOILER ALERT....

I quite enjoyed the book. One of my favourite parts about the book is the relationship Jessie has with her older brother, who will be leaving for College soon. It was nice to read a book where the siblings actually get along 99% of the time, and don't mind spending time (but not all of the time!) together. Throughout the book the reader finds that Jessie really looks up to her big brother and admires how he "marches to his own tune". She strives to do the same thing when her best friends do a 180 in order to fit in with the "cool" crowd at school. She ends up finding a true group of friends who might be considered "nerdy" in the high school hierarchy, but in reality are just who she was looking for.

Rating - 4/5

"Nightlight: a Parody" by The National Lampoon

So being a fan of the "Twilight" series by Stephenie Meyer - but not a rabid fan like some people, I figured I could handle reading "Nightlight: a Parody" by The National Lampoon. I knew that the book would be making fun of Twilight, and I was hoping for a laugh.

**Warning - Spoilers ahead...**

The book started out okay. I laughed a few times. The book takes place in Switchblade, Oregon (not Forks, Washington). Bella Swan is now Belle Goose. Her father is a Window-Wiper, not Sheriff. Her step-father plays street-hockey, not baseball. Belle drives a U-Haul (yes...) and falls for Edwart Mullen (yes...Edwart with a "t"). But after the first few chapters I kinda lost interest. The book was not funny to me anymore and while I've always thought the original Bella was annoying at times, nothing compared to the new "Belle".

I would only recommend this book to people who really hated "Twilight". If you are any sort of fan, don't bother reading it. Rating 2(maybe)/5.

"Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief"

Over the weekend I went to the movie theatre and saw the children's movie "Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief". The movie is based on the children's book of the same name by author Rick Riordan. It is book one in the series.

The movie (and book) is about a boy named Percy Jackson who discovers that he is a demi-god (half human, half god) and the son of Poseidon, God of the Sea. Percy has been accused of stealing Zeus's Lightning Bolt. As a result, Percy and his two friends Annabeth and Grover set out on a quest to find the Lightning Bolt (i.e. think of Hercules and his quest, but for children).

**Warning - possible spoilers ahead**

Having finished reading the book just last month, I was pleased with how closely the movie followed the book, considering some book-to-movie adaptations that I've seen over the years. There were only a couple of things that were different that I noticed while watching the film. First, the 3 main characters were made about 5 years older than they were in the books - in the film they were teenagers while in the book they were about 11yrs old. Secondly, there was one major character left out of the film - Ares, God of War. Ares played a minor but significant role in the book, however, since his character was left out of the film, the ending was changed slightly - but it still worked. I confess that I was disappointed when Ares didn't appear, I was looking forward to seeing which actor they would have cast as a "biker God".

Rating - 3.5/5 (movie) and 3.5/5 (book)

What I'm currently reading at...Home

I am almost finished reading "Need" by Carrie Jones. It's a YA book (of course!) about Pixies. I have never read a book about Pixies before. They are, apparently, not cute and cuddly. The book is a little bit more interesting then the last book I read - more action which is nice. Although I am finding the female lead annoying at times. She's too whiny and sometimes does stupid things, such as going into the woods at night because someone's calling her name (in a voice she doesn't recognise)...duhhh. There are Pixies and Weres (shapeshifters) around - personal safety is a priority. It kind of reminds me of when the teenage girl in a horror film runs upstairs instead of out the front door when someones chasing her. The book takes place in Maine which is cool. You can tell that the author is from Maine and has some sort of hangup about Stephen King - I can't tell whether or not the author is a fan of King or she only mentions him several times because he's the most interesting person to come out of that particular State. Who knows?

**Update** All done! And the ending was gooood - can't wait until the next book comes out. Rating 4/5 stars:)

What I'm reading this week...at Home

I tend to go through books at home fairly quickly for several reasons: one, I have more time to read, two, I have more options at my fingertips, and three, if I get bored with a book I stop reading it immediately and grab another, unlike when I'm reading at work and it's the only book I have with me.

The book I am reading at home right now is called "Shiver" by Maggie Stiefvater. It's a young adult book (you will find that I read a lot of them). I'm currently about half-way through the book and I've been reading some online comments about it. I can't remember where exactly, but someone mentioned that it is kinda like "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. When I first read the comparison my immediate reaction was - NO WAY!!! Nothing can compare to Twilight! But then I started thinking about it...(*WARNING* possible spoilers ahead)

The book is about a young woman called Grace (17yrs old) who is obsessed with this pack of wolves in the woods behind her house - in particular one wolf called Sam (i.e. Bella's obsession with the Cullens). She wishes that she could be one of them (i.e. Bella wanting to be a Vampire). These wolves turn out to be shapeshifters - they can change into a human when the weather is warm, but as soon as it gets cold they turn back to being a wolf. As the years go by, the wolves spend less and less time as a human until eventually they stop shifting and stay a wolf permanently. Sam is fighting to stop becoming a wolf so that he can be a human with Grace forever (i.e. Edward missing being a human). Grace starts hanging out with Sam exclusively and ignoring her friends (i.e. Bella). One of Sam's packmates is Shelby (a female wolf) who disapproves of Sam and Grace's relationship (i.e. Rosalie). And for the romance lovers out there, Grace is trying (but unsuccessfully) to get Sam. Sam is, of course, resisting (very much like Edward).

So I take back my first thoughts about this book. I can now say that "Shiver" is similar to "Twilight", but not in the same class. I haven't finished the book yet, but I shall soon see if there are any more similarities between the two books.

**UPDATE** - I finished the book. It was alright. I will read the next book in the series to see if the story gets better. Rating - 3/5.

What I'm reading this week...at work

I usually have two books on the go (at least!), one for at work and one for at home. The book I'm reading at work right now is book 4 in the Outlander Series - "Drums of Autumn" by Diana Gabaldon. The edition that I'm reading has 1070 pages. And since I am only reading this book at work, you can understand why I've been working on it for over 3 months now. I am currently on page 330.

I decided about a year ago that I would re-read the Outlander series in anticpation of book 7 "An Echo in the Bone" coming out in the Fall of 2009. As you can tell, it's been taking me awhile. I read through books 1 and 2 fairly quickly ("Outlander" and "Dragonfly in Amber"), but I started seriously slowing down when I hit book 3 - "Voyager". While I enjoy the series as a whole, "Outlander" is by far my favourite. I imagine by the Spring (I hope!) I will be done book 4 and onto book 5 "The Fiery Cross". I have only read book 5 once before and I've never read book 6 ("A Breath of Snow and Ashes"), even though I have an autographed copy from about 3 years ago when the author was in town.

I think one of the main reasons why I haven't been into this book as much is because the setting of the book has moved from Scotland to Colonial America. There is nothing wrong with reading books about Colonial America, but I prefer to read about "my" Highlanders and their kilts:)

"Persuasion" - not so much...

I have finished reading "Persuasion" by Jane Austen. And yes, I did eventually skip to the interesting parts. Why? Because the book was boring (yes...I said it!). And the paragraphs were far too long - it was like reading a really long run-on sentence. And I found that I kept going back and reading the previous paragraph over and over until finally I couldn't handle it anymore! Now don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the story. It is just the writing style that I am objecting too. I just didn't...like it.

So, the tally so far is:

"Persuasion" - watch the Movie (forget the book)

Next on my list is "Pride and Prejudice", which I have been assured by one of my colleagues is far more enjoyable than "Persuasion". We shall see. Until next time...

"Next Time" is here! Task#2: I added a picture of the book that I am currently reading (and enjoying!), "The Iron King" by Julie Kagawa. Hopefully this will encourage someone else out there to read it too. I will continue to change/add pictures of the book(s) that I am currently reading in the hopes that one of my colleagues will find one of them interesting and read it themselves:)

Jane Austen - read the book or watch the movie?

I confess that I love to watch movies. Pretty much all movies, especially movies based on Jane Austen's books. Now it's time for a confession, a pretty big one since I work in a public Library - I have never read (well...finished) any book by Jane Austen! Eeesh....I know, I know. But! On the bright side, I have seen just about every television/film version of her books! Does that count? I even have my favourites: Persuasion (2007) - the one with Sally Hawkins and Rupert Penry-Jones (sigh..) and Pride and Prejudice (2005) - the one with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen.

So, in an attempt to fix this, I have signed out "Persuasion" by Jane Austen....again...for the 3rd time. It is now sitting on my bedside table...looking at me. I am going to do it. I will do it. I will finish a book by Jane Austen.....and not just skip to the interesting parts. I swear.