Library Closed Saturday, May 25, through Monday, May 27.

Austin Public Library facilities and the Austin History Center will be CLOSED Saturday, May 25, through Monday, May 27. Recycled Reads, the Austin Public Library’s used bookstore, will be open Saturday and Sunday, but will be closed on Memorial Day.

carolyn.rogers's blog

My Morning Jacket Likes the Library

The group My Morning Jacket's latest CD has the very tuneful song "Librarian". Not many songs have the word periodical in the lyrics, so I have copied and pasted the beginning of the song for library fans:

Australian Fiction

Most readers in the US know very few Australian writers, but there are lots worth searching out. Peter Carey is probably the most well-known. I really enjoy reading Carey because both the language and plot in his books are amazing. I have recommended Peter Temple’s mystery The Broken Shore to friends, and they have all liked it.

Peter Carey
His Illegal Self
A mother-son relationship is set against the protest movements of the 1960s and 1970s and offers a realistic portrait of the era. Don’t you want to know what Australian hippies in the Australian Outback were like?

Where You Lead, I Will Follow...

A new study at Cambridge University, reported that followers are just as important as are the leaders themselves, at least among stickleback fish. The study showed that followers bring out the best in their leaders, and leaders elicit better following skills in their followers. When timid fish were paired with a very bold fish, the bolder fish "inspired" the timid fish into becoming a very faithful follower. “Our study shows that the process by which leaders and followers emerge is a dynamic one,” said Andrea Manica of the University of Cambridge. “Individuals aren't simply born leaders or followers, but their role in a pair - and we could speculate, in a larger group - is the result of social feedback where everyone plays a role.”

The Forever War

 
Because titles cannot be copyrighted, you often see books with the same title. For example, the title Book of the Dead has been used by several contemporary authors. The Forever War (2008) by Dexter Filikins, a raw and riveting account of the conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, shares its title with a science fiction novel written 23 years ago by Joe Haldeman. Both books are about a seemingly endless war. Upon reading reviews of the two books, I found that both are also considered war literature classics.
 
Dexter Filkins was a correspondent for the Baghdad bureau of The New York Times from 2003 to 2006. Joe Haldeman is a Vietnam veteran who teaches creative writing at MIT.
 

 

Read Orwell, Save the World

The recent hurricanes have reminded us once again how fragile our earthly existence can be. This past summer, SciFi channel's Visions for Tomorrow initiative asked fans to pick the "Top Things You Must Read, Watch and Do to Save the World." The survey's results have the top three planet-saving activities as reading, recycling and registering to vote. The
   
And what should you read?

1984 by George Orwell
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

American Trilogies

 
You know that forlorn feeling you get when you read the last paragraph of a book that you really enjoyed? When the characters have grown as close to you as family members, or maybe even closer? To keep the story going a little longer, next time read a trilogy, and even better, a trilogy that not only captures a character, but also the American experience.
  

Don't Wing It - Public Speaking

I recently spoke to a group of UT employees during their lunch hour about library services. After working for the Austin Public Library for many years, I have no trouble describing all that the Library has to offer with lots of enthusiasm. It's easy to talk about oversized art books, business databases, Academy Award DVDs, and talking children’s books - all available for free with a Library card. Yet, I still prepared for the presentation, and looking back I realize that I should have prepared even more.
 

Who Was Noel Coward?

 
Noel Coward, the archetype of urbane elegance, began his long and successful career in the theater as a child actor. By the time he died in 1973, Coward was world-famous, not only as an actor, but also as a playwright, director, producer, composer, lyricist, screenwriter, nightclub entertainer, novelist, memoirist, and poet.
He traveled extensively, including battlefields during World War II. His favorite place to visit was Jamaica, where he died and was buried.

Academic Novels

The Fall 2008 semester has started, and perhaps new plots for an academic novel are beginning to percolate in the minds of the students and professors. Academic novels, or fiction set in colleges and universities, often make satire out of an eminently susceptible institution. Below are some of the best academic novels written, arranged chronologically.

Lucky Jim
Kingsley Amis
1954
Good-humored satire of postwar British academic life

Pnin
Vladimir Nabokov
1957
Russian-born professor

President's Day and Their EI

The Library is closed for President's Day. As the presidential election draws closer, you may want to start reading about past presidents and current candidates to help you decide which candidate to vote for. You can search the catalog or the online databases for information.

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