New Online Catalog coming May 20th May 5, 2010
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The library is excited to announce the unveiling of a new Integrated Library System (the software that handles circulation and cataloging) on Thursday May 20th! This will unfortunately involve the library being closed to the public the day before (May 19th) but I believe you will be happy with the results. The main difference to the patrons will be how our online catalog looks and functions. It should be more flexible and user friendly! Any learning curve will hopefully be minimal and we will all learn together.
The library received a grant for this new system which was needed to replace the existing Athena system which is no longer updated by its new parent company Follet. The new system will be called “Atrium” and its parent company is Book Systems out of Huntsville, Alabama.
Something New January 26, 2010
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The library now has a page on Facebook! Search for Wetumpka Public Library and become a fan. There you will see notices of upcoming events and other news-y things about your library. I will still post book reviews here from time to time. If you are interested in writing a book review you may send it to wetumlib@bellsouth.net.
Book Review: The Hunted by Brian Haig August 24, 2009
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As I was looking forward to another visit with this author’s character Sean Drummond I was initially disappointed to see that The Hunted is a stand alone novel. I had gotten used to JAG attorney Drummond’s wit, ingenuity, and so forth and wanted to see what he was up to next. However, my disappointment did not last long.
The Hunted is a page-turning thriller based on a true story. In his author’s note Haig says he was approached on his Web site from “…a Russian expat who generously suggested that his adventure might inspire a captivating book.” This man was right to suggest that, and Haig was right to take him up on his offer.
If you like a good political thriller, give The Hunted a try. I truly enjoyed it. Haig fans can join me in hoping he gets back to Sean Drummond eventually while those new to Haig can check out his older novels in the meantime.
Alabama Related Books April 20, 2009
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I have had the pleasure of attending two great book-related events in as many weeks this month, and have many new books to add to the library as a result. First was the Alabama Library Convention during which I had the chance to listen to more than a few Alabama authors. Last Saturday was the Festival of the Book held in nearby Montgomery at Landmarks Foundation near downtown which featured nearly fifty authors. Come by the library and look for our “Alabama Authors” display near the new releases to check out these items out for yourself.
Poetry:
I Don’t Want to be Rich, Just Able by Carol Prejean Zippert
The Highwayman’s Wife by Lynnell Edwards (from Kentucky, not Alabama, but we won’t quibble).
Fiction:
Little Lamb Lost by Margaret Fenton ( Birmingham resident and Murder on the Menu/Murder in the Magic City co-organizer)
Blood Brothers by H. A. Harazin (2009 Alabama Library Association Award Winner for Young Adult Literature).
The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips (2009 Alabama Library Association Award Winner for Adult Fiction).
The Chicken-chasing Queen of Lamar County by Janice Harrington (2009 Alabama Library Association Award Winner for Children’s Literature).
Non-fiction:
State of Laughter by Don Noble (comic fiction from Alabama)
Family Bible by Melissa J. Delbridge (memoir of a Tuscaloosa resident)
Spit, Scarey Ann, & Sweat Bees by Kathryn Tucker Windham (newest book by this Alabama favorite)
Headwaters: A Journey on Alabama Rivers by Beth Young Maynor and John C. Hall (breath-taking collection of photographs highlighting some of Alabama’s most beautiful locations).
Authors you might not know…yet. March 19, 2009
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Occassionally I try a new author based on a review I read or by recommendation from a reader. Since you cannot tell about a book just from its title on our new book list, I will from time to time post reviews about them on this blog.
If any of you have read a book lately that you enjoyed, feel free to send me a comment about it to add to this blog. It doesn’t have to be from the library, but if it is not be sure to mention that in your review.
The Knitting Circle by Ann Hood: From Bookmarks Magazine
Ann Hood lost her own young daughter to a rare form of strep, and in this semiautobiographical novel, she reveals the searing pain, the upheaval, and the loss of self that accompany such a heartbreaking event. Critics applauded Hood’s intense, unbearably sincere portrayal of grief. However, some felt that the cast of characters was so large and unwieldy that many were caricatures serving merely as vehicles for different steps in the healing process. Those who appreciate the comforting click of knitting needles will find kindred spirits in The Knitting Circle, but it’s not necessary to know the difference between casting on and casting off to enjoy this poignant novel.
Copyright © 2004 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar: From the Back Cover
“Millar writes like Kurt Vonnegut might have written, if he’d been born fifty years later in a different country and hung around with entirely the wrong sort of people… The Good Fairies of New York is a story that starts when Morag and Heather, two eighteen-inch fairies (that’s 45 centimeters tall to you) with swords and green kilts and badly-dyed hair fly through the window of the worst violinist in New York, an overweight and antisocial type named Dinnie, and vomit on his carpet…It has a war in it, and a most unusual production of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Johnny Thunders’ New York Dolls guitar solos. What more could anyone desire from a book?… Read it now, and then make your friends buy their own copies. You’ll thank me one day.”–Neil Gaiman, from the introduction
Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco Stork (YA novel): Marcelo Sandoval hears music no one else can hear–part of the autism-like impairment no doctor has been able to identify–and he’s always attended a special school where his differences have been protected. But the summer after his junior year, his father demands that Marcelo work in his law firm’s mailroom in order to experience “the real world.” There Marcelo meets Jasmine, his beautiful and surprising coworker, and Wendell, the son of another partner in the firm. He learns about competition and jealousy, anger and desire. But it’s a picture he finds in a file — a picture of a girl with half a face — that truly connects him with the real world: its suffering, its injustice, and what he can do to fight. Reminiscent of “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” in the intensity and purity of its voice, this extraordinary novel is a love story, a legal drama, and a celebration of the music each of us hears inside.
If you’d like to go on reserve for any of these books email me at wetumlib@bellsouth.net.
Book Bites book review by Debbie Herbert February 17, 2009
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Bastard Out of Carolina
Although it’s been several years since I’ve read “Bastard Out of Carolina” it’s the kind of story that sticks with you. Probably because Bone is a character you will come to care about.
Ruth Anne “Bone” Boatwright is coming of age in a family that is poor and wild but decent people in their love for each other. Her uncles have been in and out of prison, her Mom isn’t particular about things like marriage before children, and the women can cuss and hold their own with the men. The novel reminds me of “Little Altars Everywhere” by Rebecca Wells in that it starts out humorous with eventually touches of foreshadowing that there is something darker to emerge.
For reasons no one can understand, Bone’s mother falls for a drifter who lies and has trouble holding a job. And so it is that “Daddy Glenn” comes into Bone’s life. She doesn’t like him one bit from the very beginning and is struck by the disproportionally large hands on his small body.
Those hands will soon be a torment to her as the book goes hurtling to the inevitable conclusion. What is even more gripping, however, is the relationship between Bone and her mother. That ending is a surprise best left for the reader to discover.
Published in 1992, this first novel by Dorothy Allison was a National Book Award finalist. She is also the author of Trash, The Women Who Hate Me, Skin: Talking About Sex, Class, and Literature, and Two or Three Things I Know for Sure.
A quick look at amazon.com shows over 300 customer reviews of five stars (the highest possible rating) and a list of over 100 nonfiction books that have cited Bastard Out of Carolina.
From her own web site is information on the author: “Dorothy Allison grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, the first child of a fifteen-year-old unwed mother who worked as a waitress. Now living in Northern California with her partner Alix and her teenage son, Wolf Michael, she describes herself as a feminist, a working class story teller, a Southern expatriate, a sometime poet and a happily born-again Californian.”
Allison will soon publish her newest work, She, Who Is.
Murder on the Menu 2009 February 11, 2009
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For the fifth year in a row a group of nationally published mystery authors visited our town and were greeted by a sell -out crowd of mystery fans. Over lunch every year the authors not only talk about what they write, but often tell how they got started writing in the first place. I enjoy hearing these various stories every year.
The library has purchased at least one book by each of the authors from Sunday’s event. These books are available for checkout; just look for the Murder on the Menu display near the circulation desk.
For those of you that attended the event, we would like to hear from you. Tell us what you liked, what you didn’t like, what could have gone better, etc. We try to make adjustments every year based on what we learned the year before.
On behalf of the Wetumpka Public library I would like to thank the Friends of the Wetumpka Library; especially Murder on the Menu committee members Betsy and Craig Sheldon, Becki and Richard Cumbie, Tammy and Neil Lynn, Tonia Ayers, and Phoenix Martin for all they do to make this event possible. Thanks also to Margaret Fenton from Birmingham and our own Tammy Lynn for the year-round work they do getting these authors lined up and excited about their trip to the deep south! I would also like to thank the City of Wetumpka for their support in providing the venue for this event.
Book Review by Book Bites book club member Sue Barnet January 15, 2009
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“Pillars of the Earth”
Book Group Choice for January
Ken Follett’s “World without End” was one of the best historical novels of 2008. It’s a thousand page, traditional historical novel with a great storyline backed by meticulous research. The book is the story of the rebuilding of a fabulous gothic cathedral in Kingsbridge, England.
“World without End” is the sequel to “The Pillars of the Earth,” and our book group decided to read these blockbusters in order. “The Pillars of the Earth” tells the story of the Kingsbridge cathedral from 1135-1174, from its first conception to completion. It’s the story of how a huge stone cathedral is constructed from the foundations to the topmost spire. It’s the story of Tom, the master builder and Philip, the Prior of Kingsbridge, and their intertwined lives. It’s the story of the expansion of commerce in a medieval town. And it’s full of intriguing details of town’s daily life, military life, and monastic life, all set against the backdrop of civil war.
First published in 1989, “The Pillars of the Earth” was an international bestseller. Master storyteller Follett surprised everyone by writing something different than his usual excellent thriller. Follett’s Edgar award winning “The Eye of the Needle” is the book most people know. Yet “The Pillars of the Earth” is now my favorite Follett novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the medieval soap opera that intertwined with detailed information on the building of a gothic cathedral and medieval life. If you want to find out what ordinary people ate and wore and how they made a living, what the monks in a monastery did other than pray, and the political maneuverings of the time, this is a book you’ll enjoy.
Inspired to do a little background research on the Middle Ages, I reread “Cathedral” by David Macaulay. This is a “picture book” for all ages with highly detailed pen and ink drawings showing every step of cathedral construction with a straightforward narrative to accompany the drawings. It’s an award winning book itself and will clear up any mystery about how the keystone is positioned in a vaulted ceiling without crashing to the ground. I’d be willing to bet Ken Follett, cathedral enthusiastic that he is, owns a first edition.
Ken Follett’s “The Pillars of the Earth” and “World Without End,” and David Macaulay’s “Cathedral” are available from Wetumpka Public Library.
The book group meets on the third Tuesday of every month at noon at the Wetumpka Library. Our book list for the next six months is available at http://tinyurl.com/8zp579. Please join us for lively, book-centered discussion.
Food for Fines December 17, 2008
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We have been running our food for fines drive since the begining of November are are proud to say that it has been quite a success. We have very generous patrons that have been donating food whether or not they have fines. The “People That Care” folks have made about 6 pick-ups already; they say that the food is given away as soon as it is in place.
Thanks again to all for making this such a success. The food drive is scheduled to end this Friday.
Susan
Music @ Your Library November 22, 2008
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For those that haven’t noticed, we have music CDs available for checkout at the library located in the media corner with the movies and the audio books. This collection (note: collection here means a group of one type of item in a library) is unique among our others in that it is amost entirely donated. We started the collection a few years ago when libraries across the country were given CDs as a settlement in a price-fixing lawsuit against five distributors and three retailers in the music industry. We had wanted to offer music at the library but didn’t have the funds needed to start such a collection from scratch. This settlement gave us the start we needed.
Since then the collection has grown due to donations from patrons. A special thanks goes to Dr. Jeff Langham who has donated CDs more than once to the library.
You may not find the newest hits here, but you will find new seasonal music just in time for the holidays. There are also great compilations of jazz, big band, dance tunes, R & B, reggae, blues, contemporary Christian, broadway and show tunes.
My favorate (right now) is a CD titled A Song for my Father. This project features the sons and daughters of famous musicians each performing one of their fathers’ songs. Although you can “hear” their father in their performance, their individuality nonetheless shines through. These apples have not rolled far from their trees.
So whether you want something new to listen to in the car, at home or for your next party don’t forget to check at the library. Music CDs check out for one week, and as with all media may not be put in the book drop.
Susan
New for teens! October 6, 2008
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As a result of our recent library renovation, we now have a Young Adult room for our expanded Young Adult collection which will include magazines (starting in January), manga and more books for teens. In addition, we are looking to offer more programs for this age group, such as our upcoming “Twilight Ball” (details below). Let us know what else you would like to see just for teens @ your library!
The Friends of the Wetumpka Public Library cordially invites you to:
The “Twilight” Ball
Based on the Stephenie Meyer “Twilight” Series.
Come and join us for a night of food, games, and a live DJ!!!
Dress up or dress down but wear a mask!
Place: The Wetumpka Depot
(Across the street from the Library)
Date: October 25th
Time: 7-10 pm
Age: 7th to 12th Grades
Cost: $ 5.00 per ticket.
Tickets are available at the Wetumpka Public Library.
Phone: (334) 567-1308
YA book review by Marsha October 15, 2008
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Blue Bloods or Yes, Another Teen Vamp Novel!
I am completely addicted to the Vampire genre. Tales of bloodsucking and teen angst are my not so secret vice. When I go by the YA section of a bookstore, I look around quickly, hoping that no other adults see me, and search for the familiar fang bites and black cover. Finally though, the genre is acceptable. Even in my really late 20’s, I no longer feel the need to hide my love for the vampire novel. A new one, at least for me, is Blue Bloods by Melissa De La Cruz. It is the story of Schulyer Van Allen, an outsider at her super rich and super exclusive private school. Wearing all black and hanging out with her other not so cool friends, Schulyer has no clue that the popular kids, the blue bloods, are a part of her heritage. After a classmate suddenly dies, she finds that the Blue Bloods have more secrets than just money and popularity. In fact, they are vampires. Something or someone is hunting the Blue Bloods and somehow Schulyer gets caught up in the hunt for a murderer. Join her and the other perfect people, to find out the truth of the lost civilization and the secrets of a race of beings that Schulyer is unexplainably drawn too. I loved this book, really loved it! There’s one more in the series out there that I am impatiently waiting for. It wasn’t just that it was about vampires, but overall, it’s a really fun and good story.
@ Your Library 10/17/08 October 17, 2008
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New Books:
Hounded to Death by Rita Mae Brown
Vi Agra Falls by Mary Daheim
Dead Days of Summer by Carolyn Hart
Sunset by Karen Kingsbury
The Longing by Beverly Lewis
Where the Heart Leads by Kim Vogel Sawyer
Rebecca’s Reward by Lauraine Snelling
New Non-fiction:
Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
Somewhere in Heaven by Christopher Anderson
Lost at School by Ross Greene
The Missing Ring by Keith Dunnavant
New Young Adult:
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
Blue Bloods by Melissa De la Cruz
The Luxe by Anna Godbersen
How to Ditch Your Fairy by Justine Larbalestier
New Audio Books (on CD):
The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly
Fresh Air with Terry Gross: Faith, Reason & Doubt
Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Calendar:
Preschool Story Hour every Tues and Fri morning at 10am.
“Twilight Ball” for grades 7-12 Sat Oct 25th 7-10pm. Call the library for more details.
Food for Fines runs Nov 2nd -Dec 19th
Western Expansion November 3, 2008
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As a result of our recent rennovation and expansion we will be trying to enhance some of our smaller collections. Our tattered Westerns have been given more room and we are in the process of adding over 200 new books. You may have noticed if you are one of our readers of Western Fiction that we have already added a few more books to that section. It will take a little while to get them all added and on the shelf, so keep checking back!
“Book Index with Reviews” coming soon. November 4, 2008
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Wetumpka, Alabama: Wetumpka Public Library recently received recognition for participating in the Alabama Virtual Library BACK TO SCHOOL QUIZ. The AVL Back to School Quiz was cosponsored by the AVL Council and the Alabama Center for the Book to encourage students of all ages to explore the online library resources available through the Alabama Virtual Library. Visitors to the library during our open house may recall being encouraged to take an online quiz while they were here. As a result the library won a one-year subscription to Book Index With Reviews donated by EBSCO Publishing.
About Book Index With Reviews
Book Index With Reviews is a comprehensive database that provides information for over 3.8 million books in a wide range of formats, including large print, books on tape, etc. Book Index With Reviews helps readers learn about the titles that meet their professional and personal information needs and locate books to read for fun. The database contains over 800,000 full text searchable reviews from professional reviewing sources such as: Library Journal, School Library Journal, Publishers Weeklyand others.
So look for a link to this database on our website coming soon, and thanks to all who took the quiz!
