Women Writers & Publishers Weekly

A good deal of heat has been generated among book aficianados by the Publisher’s Weekly Best Books of 2009 list.   This list is the editors’ choice of the major publishing trade magazine which has significant influence over what books get stocked in book stores, reviewed,  purchased and read.  Not one of the top 10 books in their list was written by a woman, not this year’s contributions by such literary luminaries as A.S. Byatt, Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro or Rita Dove.  None of those from popular writers Diana Gabaldon, Barbara Kingsolver,  Sara Paretsky or Kathyrn Stockett.  None of the important nonfiction of Gail Collins,  Sheryl WuDunn, Rebecca Solnit or Sara Maitland.

The 2009 Man Booker International Prize, the Booker Prize and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction all went to women writers (Munro, Hilary Mantel and Elizabeth Strout), so it’s not like women aren’t writing great books.

Publisher’s Weekly acknowledged that their (subjective) choices didn’t produce “the most politically correct” list (Huffington Post, 10.29.09).   Does politically incorrect mean male bias?

Fortunately, Women in Literature and Literary Arts (WILLA) is taking up the gauntlet.  They’ve created The WILLA List Wiki (sort of like a small version of Wikipedia, the public can contribute directly to it) to list books written by women authors in 2009.  There are some great books listed though the list is quite long, and I certainly don’t recognize all of the authors or titles.  I have found a good source of reading ideas for 2010.

What are your favorite authors, female or male, of 2009?  Leave a comment and let us know.

Local poet Phil Metres

Poet and teacher Phil Metres will present a Master Poets’ Class at the Library on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 7 p.m. Adults and high school students interested in listening to, writing and reading poetry are welcome to participate.

Phil is a much-published poet and associate professor of English at John Carroll University.  His teaching interests include creative writing, poetry, American poetry and the poetry of war and peace.

Phil writes poetry about poetry:

If you are sitting in an exit row & you cannot understand
this poem, or cannot see well enough to follow
these instructions, please tell a literary critic. Poems are
heavy, awkward to lift, push, pull, and maneuver.
Because of this, and for the safety of all
Harold Bloom requires that we seat qualified readers
next to poems. If a poem loses pressure, an idea
will be released from the overhead compartment.
Make sure to write down the idea before
you attempt to assist others with their ideas. Once again,
thank you for reading this poem. I know you have
many choices and appreciate your choosing this one.

(used by permission of the poet)

More of Phil’s poetry can be enjoyed at http://www.philipmetres.com/content/view/16/44/ or by coming to the Nov. 4  Master Class.

It’s Monk Time

New at our library:

The Monks:  The Transatlantic Feedback

Back in the mid-60s, five American GIs stationed in Germany start a band after their hitch is up.  Two German ad execs/art students turn this band into something new and terrifying — the anti-Beatles, THE MONKS.

Dressed in dark uniforms, with tonsure-cuts and nooses as ties, they strove to make the most minimal, primitive, repetitive, noisy rock yet in existence — rhythm-heavy howlers and stompers with electrified banjo and feedback.  Their audiences were often perplexed or angry, but their musical legacy (one album on Polydor and hundreds of German live and TV appearances) lives on in the punk, heavy metal, techno and art rock that followed to the present.

Surprised to find they had a following (they came back to the USA penniless), all five Monks are interviewed (just in time, two have passed on since) about their experiences.

Even if you don’t like their music very much, anyone would like their story. My wife did!

Official site for movie

Back to School: Bibliographies

When I was in school, the part about writing papers I hated the most was writing the bibliography.  Just getting the page formatted correctly was always a burden.  Finally dumping my typewriter for the word processing program on a computer made that easier.  But there was still the problem of being sure I had all the right information for each citation and got everything in the right order with the right abbreviations and punctuation.

Well, the internet is making that easier too.  There are several citation “machines” online that make building a bibliography a snap.  One of the best is WorksCited4U.com.

The page is a bit busy, mostly with the ads that are ubiquitous on free sites like this one.  Look for the Bib Builder headline on the left side of the page and choose your format from the drop down box below it.  On the next page, choose your source type from the next drop down box.  In most cases, you will need to use the Manual Entry tab.  It will tell you exactly what information you need to type in. When you click the Add This Source button, the website will correctly format your source.  If you register for a free account (with a minimum of personal information), it will actually prepare your bibliography for you as a Word document!  The “machine” will also show you exactly how to cite a source within your paper and create footnotes or endnotes if you need those.

This makes one of the most dreaded parts of paper writing a breeze.  With a tool like this, I’m almost (sort of, not really) ready to go back to school myself!

Next entry in the Back to School series: Test Preparation Online.

Dan Brown Readalikes

Dan Brown’s newest book,  The Lost Symbol, was released on September 15, 2009.  If you are looking for a good book to read while you wait for his new book, or you are just looking for other books similar to Dan Brown’s, try some of these readlikes.

The Last Cato  Matilde Asensi

The Templar Legacy  Steve Berry

The Rule of Four  Ian Caldwell

The Genesis Code  John Case

A Finer End  Deborah Crombie

Foucault’s Pendulum  Umberto Eco

Codex  Lev Grossman

The Historian  Elizabeth Kostova

The Last Templar  Raymond Khoury

Labyrinth  Kate Mosse

The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud  Julia Navarro

Daughter of God  Lewis Perdue

Seven Deadly Wonders  Matthew Reilly

Map of Bones  James Rollins

The Secret Supper  Javier Sierra

The Confessor  Daniel Silva

These are just a few of the books that are similar to those of Dan Brown.  Feel free to add a comment with your own suggestions!

Around The Library in September — a photo essay

Click on the photo to see it up close and get the details.

Back to School: Help With Writing Papers

In my last Back to School post,  I described some electronic databases useful for research.  After the research comes the writing.  Need some help with the writing process?  Can’t remember what is supposed to be part of the outline? Trying to create a good thesis statement or do you not remember whether it should be to, too or two in that sentence?

Purdue University has a top-notch online website called the Online Writing Lab (OWL) with writing resources and instruction available to everyone.  There’s a significant, and really useful, section devoted to grades 7 through 12 and another substantial section on professional writing (job-related) as well as the college-level materials one would expect.  It’s almost like having a writing tutor on your desktop!

Next in the series: Writing the Bibliography.

Financial Planning Series at Library

Thursday, October 1 at 7 p.m. Michael Murray of Ameriprise Financial Services will kick off his Financial Planning series with a program on “What to Do After a Job Loss.”  Michael will show you how to take control of your retirement assets and how to work through the difficult decisions you will face as you work to get back on your feet.  Please call the Reference desk at 440.933.7710 or come by to register for this program.

Future topics include:

Understanding Today’s Financial Markets:  Thursday, Oct. 22

Planning for Retirement: Thursday, Nov. 19

Financing College: Thursday, Dec. 17.

We are taking registration for all programs at this time.

Back to School: Help with Research

Earlier this week, I wrote about an online tool for student assignment management.  Today, I’m continuing the theme of online back to school resources with a description of the electronic databases available to library patrons throughout state.   These databases are incredibly useful for research.

They hold a mother lode of magazine and newspaper articles, online encyclopedia and other reference articles, photographs, primary sources and lots more.  Almost every kind of source your teacher demands, all available to you from your home, school or  library internet connection.  Start at OhioWebLibrary.org. Unless you’re using a library computer, you’ll need to use your library card (from any public library in Ohio) to make use of these databases.

While the first page looks a lot like Google, I’d suggest skipping that search box and picking out one or more specific databases to search in order to get more accurate and useful results.  Just click on the word “Resources” next to the search box.

For junior high students doing general research,  I’d suggest Kids Search or Student Research Center.  Searchasaurus looks a bit juvenile but returns very useful results for this age group.

For high school students, Student Research Center and Masterfile Premier are useful.  College students will find Academic Search Premier useful though their college or university library website will offer them a lot more options.

In addition, Ohio Web Library includes online encyclopedias and other reference works.  World Book Online and Oxford Reference Online are rich resources.  Check out the list for subject- specific databases too.

Most of the databases give you an option of searching Full-text articles only.  In most cases, you’ll want to check that box which you’ll find under “Limit your results”.  (You probably don’t want just a citation, you want the article itself).  Then just click “Search” and you’ll find a list of articles from lots of sources on your topic.  You may need to refine your search to locate exactly what you need.

If you have any questions about using any of these databases, don’t hesitate to give us a call at 440.933.7710.  We’ll be glad to help you find what you need.

Starting a Business Program: Tuesday, Sept.22

Ron Okicki, retired Senior Vice President of Oglebay Norton Company, will be here at 7 p.m. on September 22 to talk about starting a business, specifically Exploring Entreprenuership.  Ron is a member of Business Advisors of Cleveland, an incredible resource to the new business owner.  Ron will discuss the steps in successfully starting a business.  Topics will include the business plan, financing, hiring, managing and record keeping.  Participants will have lots of opportunity for questions and BAC will provide opportunties for follow-up, all for free.

Please call the Reference desk at 440.933.7710 or stop by to register anytime before 7 on Tuesday.