Another year of Summer Library Club has come to an end at the Beloit Public Library. This year 618 kids read 3590 books and over 90 teens participated in the Teen Reading Program. Adults read books throughout the month of July and one lucky reader won an Amazon Kindle. Not to be left out of all the fun, the staff at the library had their own Reading Program as well. Ever wonder what librarians like to read? Well, here’s just a small sampling of the books that piqued our interest this summer:
Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater - A classic of American humor, adventures of a house painter and his high-stepping penguins have delighted children for generations.
Unnatural Selection: Choosing Boys Over Girls, and the Consequences of a World Full of Men by Mara Hvistendahl - China has an extreme gender imbalance. It reaches beyond Asia. Historically, eras with an excess of men have produced periods of violent conflict and instability.
Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky – a haunting coming-of-age story about the dilemma of passivity vs. passion is told through Charlie's letters.
Brute: the Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine by Robert Coram – A 34-year military career of applying creative ways of fighting. Krulak's almost single-handed accomplishment is stopping the U.S. government from abolishing the Marine Corps.
The Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd – In the 1981 height of Ireland's "Troubles," Fergus, 18, is distracted from his upcoming exams by his imprisoned brother's hunger strike, the stress of being courier for Sinn Fein, and dreams of a murdered girl he discovered in a bog.
Quinn by Iris Johansen - explores the darkest corners of human hearts as forensic sculptor Eve Duncan and former Navy SEAL turned cop, Joe Quinn fall in love while closing in on the killer who stole her daughter many years ago. Emotionally charged, with one shock after another.
Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri - Gogol Ganguli, named after his fathers’ favorite author, is born to Indian immigrants after their arranged marriage. American Gogol grows up resenting both his strange name and the yoke of Bengali culture imposed by his parents.
Buttercream Bump Off by Jenn Mckinlay - Melanie and Angie’s Fairy Tale Cupcakes bakery is gearing up for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately someone has iced Baxter Malloy on his first date with Mel's mother. Now Mom's a suspect, and they need to find time around frosting to dig into the man's shady past and discover who served him his just desserts.
Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict by Laurie Vera Rigler - Jane Mansfield inexplicably awakens in Courtney's overly wired and morally confused L.A. life. For Jane, the modern world is not wholly disagreeable except memories that are not her and wondering if returning is an option.
Latehomecomer: a Hmong Family Memoir by Kao Kalia Yang - Hmong families made the escape from Laos where they were massacred for their collaboration with the United States during the Vietnam War, then to the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand and onward to America. (Join us for a discussion of this book on Wednesday November 30th at noon.)
To find these books and many, many more, be sure to visit the Beloit Public Library or check us out on Facebook and at www.beloitlibrary.info.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
July 2011
After nearly 17 years of marriage (to the same guy!) I have discovered one very important thing about myself. I can’t cook my way out of a tin can to save my life. Sure, I can throw stuff into a crockpot, but actual cooking just isn’t in my repertoire. Case in point: the Cornish Hen Incident of ‘98.
I had decided I was going to cook two small Cornish Hens with a side of stuffing for dinner. The recipe said to “split each game hen in half”. Deep breath. I can do this. I grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors and started cutting the hens along the breast bone. Not such an easy task, especially considering that my highly sensitive gag reflex kicked in as soon as I heard the bones cracking and saw what the inside of a Cornish Hen actually looks like. There were guts in there. Gross, disgusting, slimy hen guts. And the guts were attached to the breast meat. Okay, another deep breath. I figured if I could just cut away the guts so I didn’t have to look at them, I might be able to stop the dry heaves. Cut, snip, heave, cut, gag, snip. Done.
Wait a minute. Where did my Cornish Hens go? By the time I was done cutting away all the slimy stuff, I didn’t have much meat left to cook. No problem. I figured I would just serve extra stuffing to make up for the lack of actual food. I opened the cupboard. Wait a minute. Where did the stuffing go? Keep breathing. Not to be deterred, I seasoned what was left of the Cornish Hens, put them in the oven and hoped for the best.
My husband thought I was serving him a chicken wing appetizer. I thought he would be comfortable sleeping on the couch. We both thought McDonalds would hit the spot.
Now, just because I can’t cook doesn’t mean that you can’t either. In fact, the Beloit Public Library has a dizzying array of cookbooks to whet your culinary appetite. Check out some of the newest ones coming soon to the library:
Authentic Norwegian Cooking by Astrid Karlsen Scott. With more than 300 recipes gathered from throughout Norway, this comprehensive cookbook is easy to use, boasts recipes for every occasion, provides the history of the dishes, and includes a complete index and recipe titles in English and Norwegian. (Product Description)
Essential Pepin: More than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food by Jacques Pepin. Essential Pépin spans the many styles of Jacques’s cooking: homey country French, haute cuisine, fast food Jacques-style, and fresh contemporary American dishes. Many of the recipes are globally inspired, from Mexico, across Europe, or the Far East. (Product Description)
The Food Allergy Cookbook: A Guide to Living with Allergies and Entertaining with Healthy, Delicious Meals by Amra Ibrisimovic and Carmel Nelson. In addition to tasty, every-day recipes--from white bean artichoke dip, cinnamon rolls, and cream of mushroom soup to chicken pot pie, cranberry apple sauce, and fudge brownies--Carmel Nelson and Amra Ibrisimovic provide full-course meal plans for family holidays and social gatherings, including the perfect allergy-free turkey dinner! (Product Description)
And be sure to look for us on the web at www.beloitlibrary.info and on Facebook.
I had decided I was going to cook two small Cornish Hens with a side of stuffing for dinner. The recipe said to “split each game hen in half”. Deep breath. I can do this. I grabbed a pair of kitchen scissors and started cutting the hens along the breast bone. Not such an easy task, especially considering that my highly sensitive gag reflex kicked in as soon as I heard the bones cracking and saw what the inside of a Cornish Hen actually looks like. There were guts in there. Gross, disgusting, slimy hen guts. And the guts were attached to the breast meat. Okay, another deep breath. I figured if I could just cut away the guts so I didn’t have to look at them, I might be able to stop the dry heaves. Cut, snip, heave, cut, gag, snip. Done.
Wait a minute. Where did my Cornish Hens go? By the time I was done cutting away all the slimy stuff, I didn’t have much meat left to cook. No problem. I figured I would just serve extra stuffing to make up for the lack of actual food. I opened the cupboard. Wait a minute. Where did the stuffing go? Keep breathing. Not to be deterred, I seasoned what was left of the Cornish Hens, put them in the oven and hoped for the best.
My husband thought I was serving him a chicken wing appetizer. I thought he would be comfortable sleeping on the couch. We both thought McDonalds would hit the spot.
Now, just because I can’t cook doesn’t mean that you can’t either. In fact, the Beloit Public Library has a dizzying array of cookbooks to whet your culinary appetite. Check out some of the newest ones coming soon to the library:
Authentic Norwegian Cooking by Astrid Karlsen Scott. With more than 300 recipes gathered from throughout Norway, this comprehensive cookbook is easy to use, boasts recipes for every occasion, provides the history of the dishes, and includes a complete index and recipe titles in English and Norwegian. (Product Description)
Essential Pepin: More than 700 All-Time Favorites from My Life in Food by Jacques Pepin. Essential Pépin spans the many styles of Jacques’s cooking: homey country French, haute cuisine, fast food Jacques-style, and fresh contemporary American dishes. Many of the recipes are globally inspired, from Mexico, across Europe, or the Far East. (Product Description)
The Food Allergy Cookbook: A Guide to Living with Allergies and Entertaining with Healthy, Delicious Meals by Amra Ibrisimovic and Carmel Nelson. In addition to tasty, every-day recipes--from white bean artichoke dip, cinnamon rolls, and cream of mushroom soup to chicken pot pie, cranberry apple sauce, and fudge brownies--Carmel Nelson and Amra Ibrisimovic provide full-course meal plans for family holidays and social gatherings, including the perfect allergy-free turkey dinner! (Product Description)
And be sure to look for us on the web at www.beloitlibrary.info and on Facebook.
June 2011
People collect strange things. There is a man named Graham Barker who has been collecting “navel fluff” since 1984. He’s got jars and jars of the stuff. I just hope it’s all his own. Bob Hiemenz has over 61,000 8-Tracks in his collection. Go ahead kids. I’ll wait for you to go ask your parents to tell you what an 8-Track is. And there is woman who has over 6000 Santa Claus dolls. It takes her almost three weeks to display them all at Christmas time.
So what do I collect? I started collecting angels when I was about 4 or 5 years old, and then I moved on to collecting Hard Rock Café t-shirts as a teenager. As an adult my OCD tendencies kicked in to high gear and I started getting rid of clutter in the house. I don’t really collect anything anymore. Well, I take that back. I do have one small collecting quirk. I have a collection of pictures of myself standing in front of libraries. I have pictures from Scottsdale (AZ), Fox Chapel (PA), Patna, Bihar (India), Spring Green (WI), Plymouth (MA) and Mackinac Island (MI), just to name a few.
What I love about these pictures is that no matter what the outsides of the buildings look like, the insides of the buildings are the same around the country and around the world. This year’s Summer Library Club theme is “One World, Many Stories”. I love that because libraries are the best places in the world to read many different stories. You have plenty of time left in the summer to stop by your Beloit Public Library today and pick up a story or two.
Visit us on the web at www.beloitlibrary.info and be sure to check out these great new books coming soon to the library:
The 100 Best Affordable Vacations by Jane Woolridge. Even in a weakened economy, research shows interest in travel is still strong and this book provides 100 great ways to satisfy your wanderlust without breaking the bank. This book also offers profiles of inspirational travelers, as well as fun, lively sidebars about off-season travel, how to be a traveler and not a tourist, and more. (Product Description)
Dog Days: A Year in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile by Dave Ihlenfeld. It was the ultimate post-college road trip: a year-long journey in a 27-foot-long fiberglass hotdog across the US and Europe. Rife with breakdowns, meaty puns, the burdens of instant celebrity and more Wiener Whistles than anyone could ever hope for, Ihlenfeld's uproarious recounting of his time behind the wheel is a coming-of-age story-as irreverent as it is touching-of learning about life, love, and (sausage) links, ultimately arriving at the realization that that the future is anything but a straight road. (Product Description)
Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want by Jenny Blake. In Life After College Twitter meets What Color is Your Parachute for 20-somethings. Written by popular blogger and life coach Jenny Blake, Life After College provides tips, inspirational quotes and coaching exercises for every area of life including: Work, Money, Home, Organization, Friends & Family, Dating & Relationships, Health, Fun & Relaxation, and Personal Growth. Life After College is a powerful life-planning tool that no twenty-something will want to be without! (Product Description)
So what do I collect? I started collecting angels when I was about 4 or 5 years old, and then I moved on to collecting Hard Rock Café t-shirts as a teenager. As an adult my OCD tendencies kicked in to high gear and I started getting rid of clutter in the house. I don’t really collect anything anymore. Well, I take that back. I do have one small collecting quirk. I have a collection of pictures of myself standing in front of libraries. I have pictures from Scottsdale (AZ), Fox Chapel (PA), Patna, Bihar (India), Spring Green (WI), Plymouth (MA) and Mackinac Island (MI), just to name a few.
What I love about these pictures is that no matter what the outsides of the buildings look like, the insides of the buildings are the same around the country and around the world. This year’s Summer Library Club theme is “One World, Many Stories”. I love that because libraries are the best places in the world to read many different stories. You have plenty of time left in the summer to stop by your Beloit Public Library today and pick up a story or two.
Visit us on the web at www.beloitlibrary.info and be sure to check out these great new books coming soon to the library:
The 100 Best Affordable Vacations by Jane Woolridge. Even in a weakened economy, research shows interest in travel is still strong and this book provides 100 great ways to satisfy your wanderlust without breaking the bank. This book also offers profiles of inspirational travelers, as well as fun, lively sidebars about off-season travel, how to be a traveler and not a tourist, and more. (Product Description)
Dog Days: A Year in the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile by Dave Ihlenfeld. It was the ultimate post-college road trip: a year-long journey in a 27-foot-long fiberglass hotdog across the US and Europe. Rife with breakdowns, meaty puns, the burdens of instant celebrity and more Wiener Whistles than anyone could ever hope for, Ihlenfeld's uproarious recounting of his time behind the wheel is a coming-of-age story-as irreverent as it is touching-of learning about life, love, and (sausage) links, ultimately arriving at the realization that that the future is anything but a straight road. (Product Description)
Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want by Jenny Blake. In Life After College Twitter meets What Color is Your Parachute for 20-somethings. Written by popular blogger and life coach Jenny Blake, Life After College provides tips, inspirational quotes and coaching exercises for every area of life including: Work, Money, Home, Organization, Friends & Family, Dating & Relationships, Health, Fun & Relaxation, and Personal Growth. Life After College is a powerful life-planning tool that no twenty-something will want to be without! (Product Description)
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