Get Ready to Garden

Willaim Golden, Fields and Flowers, 1930

Posted by Alana T.
Ok, technically it's still winter, but as soon as the weather warms a touch, I'm ready to garden!  And, it doesn't hurt to be prepared with the latest information.  If you are looking for good resources and topical books, we have both.  You can download a list of online resources or come see our program in April about veggie gardening (see the newsletter for more info).  The following list of titles includes some of the most popular gardening books selling on Amazon, and all can be requested through the system.

All New Square Foot Gardening by M. Bartholomew. A recent edition of a favorite book describing small, high yield, low work garden plots.

Free Range Chicken Gardens: How to Create a Beautiful Chicken Friendly Yard by J. Bloom.  Having a few chickens at home for eggs, entertainment, and bug control is the latest gardening trend.  This books details what you need to know.  Please be aware that chickens are not legal within the Edwardsville city limits.

Western Garden Book of Edibles  Sunset magazine publishes the best (I think) all around garden book out there, but it is geared to the Western states.  This book focuses on fruits and veggies, is a fantastic source of info, and useful for IL gardens too.

Seed to Seed: Seed Saving and Growing Techniques for Vegetable Gardeners by S. Ashworth.  Free yourself from seed catalogs!  This classic book discusses growing open pollinated varieties of vegetables and the special techniques needs for harvesting and proper storage of seeds. 

Vertical Gardening: Grow Up Not Out for More Vegetables and Flowers in Much Less Space by D. Fell.  If you don't have a big yard, but have a big list of plants you want to grow, this book will help you find a way to fit them all in.  

The Vegetable Gardeners Bible by E. Smith.  A new edition of an old favorite.

Root Cellaring: Natural Cold Storage of Fruits and Vegetables by M. Bubel.  Now that you've grown and harvested all those veggies, what on earth do you do with them?  The author describes traditional root cellars, how they work, and what you need to construct one of your own.

The Backyard Homestead by C. Madigan  No matter if you are interested in lowering bills, living green, being more independent, or maximizing the useful output of your yard, this book provides advice.

Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Succesfull Gardening by Louise Riotte.  The author presents all you need to know about positive and negative interactions between different families of plants.  A good resource to maximize yields, increase beneficial insects, and use fewer pesticides.

Happy gardening!

Celebrate Fairytales

Winslow Homer, A Girl Reading Under An Oak Tree, 1879

Posted by Staff

Yesterday, February 26, was Tell a Fairy Tale Day.  Certainly there are a lot of tried and true favorites from our younger days, but why not try something a little different?  Generally, fairy tales have supernatural creatures, a moral issue and a happy ending.  The following titles feature most of those characteristics, but have a bit of a modern twist.  Try one and celebrate the classic fairy tale in style.

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly  The young hero travels to a land where books speak to him and fairy tales come alive.  While there and trying to return home, he must learn who he is, the meaning of bravery, loyalty and honor.

My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me edited by Kate Bernheimer  A collection of classic tales (some quite disturbing, others hilarious) retold by well known fiction authors.  Each story has an intro by the author describing his or her inspiration.  Most of the tales are only a few pages long, so this is a good bedtime read.

The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue.  A young boy wakes in the woods and, over a long period of time, realizes that he has become a changeling.  He wants to go back home, but things never work out the way hewants them to.  In the end, he does find his way back, but it is a bittersweet homecoming.

The Arrival by Shaun Tan.
A beautifully illustrated graphic novel (with no text at all) that tells the tale of a flight from home, living in a strange land, finding friends and the discovery of a new life.  Highly recommended.

Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart.  The author originally intended to publish seven books, but because of a dispute with his publisher, vowed never to publish again.  A great loss, because the trilogy we do have is fantastic.  The stories feature a crotchety elder Chinese scholar, his strong, young (but not too bright) student, and a multitude of problems from which they must extract themselves.  The themes are based on Chinese philosophy and feature an astounding variety of supernatural creatures from the pantheon, but these books are pure satire. You will laugh out loud.

Summer jams for Winter Weather

Paul Gauguin, Arearea ou Joyessetes, 1892

Posted by Jacob D.

Waiting for warmer weather!  Here are some musical selections from the library that will transport you to summer days.

Gaslight Anthem - American Slang  Sounds like Springsteen.
Bruce Springsteen - Born to Run.   Sounds roughly like Springsteen.
Polyphonic Spree - The Fragile Army  Sounds like choir of hippies
Pavement - Brighten the Corners Great songs to pass a summer day
Dr. Dre - The Chronic  Outdoor bbq soundtrack
She & Him - Volume 2 Light and upbeat
Free Energy -Stuck on Nothing   Rockin out with the windows rolled down.
The Beach Boys The classics.
Vampire Weekend - Contra Stealing sounds from warm-weather cultures, e.g., Mali
The Drums  Running on a beach and/or surfing
Everclear - Sparkle and Fade  Featuring 90's hit Santa Monica
Best Coast - Crazy For You  Summer crushes via psych pop/rock

Presidential Press

Portrait of Washington by Gilbert Stuart, 1797

Posted by Alana T.

Today is Presidents Day, origianlly in honor of George Washington's birthday, a federal holiday that celebrates our past presidents.  When it comes to books and literature, we can't ignore the influence many of our former leaders have had on the thought of their times.  These days, it is assumed that political figures will publish their memoirs at some point, but very few of these are actually written by the presidents themselves.  All of the following were written by the men themselves, contain some amazing prose, and continue to be an inspiration today.  Try one and celebrate the day in style.

Lincoln: Speeches and Writings 1859 -1865
Theodore Roosevelt: An Autobiography
The Portable Thomas Jefferson
The Federalist Papers (essays by John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison)

Non-Fiction Knit Lit

Gustave Caillebotte, Portraits a la Campagne, 1876

Posted by Staff

Many of us on staff are avid knitters or crocheters.  As much as we like to work with yarn, we also appreciate great books about working with yarn.  Following are some of our favorites:

Amanda E.:
Knitting Without Tears by E. Zimmerman.  Very laidback comforting approach to knitting.
Treasury of Knitting Patterns by B. Walker.  Classic stitch dictionary and great ideas for when you're in a rut or want to tap into traditional aspects of knitting.

Mary M.:
Stich 'n Bitch : The Knitter's Handbook by D. Stoller  Incredibly helpful book with great tips and clear instructions.
Weekend Hats: 25 Knitted Caps, Berets, Cloches and More by C. G. MacDonald.  Great variety of different hats with easy to follow patterns.

Susan C.:
Hip Knit Hats: 40 Fabulous Designs by C. Carron.  I used the basic watchcap pattern; so classic!  There are a lot of others I'd like to try.

Dani G.: 
The Happy Hooker: Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet by D. Stoller.  Puts a great spin on crochet with easy to follow instructions.
Knitting Without Tears (see link above).  I will have to second this one.  You just gotta love this woman!
Knitting Rules! by S. Pearl-McPhee.  If you want a good laugh (and I mean out loud) along with some good tips, direct yourself to the yarn harlot.
The Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook by C. Ekarius.  If you are geeked out about this book, you might be in a little too deep.  No worries!  I never tiere of looking at this one.

Mason S.:
Hat Heads by T. Anfinnsen.  50 sock hat patterns.  I'm certain you'll find one to love.
KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects by Knitting's New Wave by S. Gschwandtner.  Interviews with knitting's avanat-garde.  If you would like to knit a 10 foot teddy bear out of fiberglass insulation, the pattern is here.
Simple Kniting by E. Knight.  It can be difficult to find good men's knitting patterns.  Ive found more useable patterns in this book than in any 'for guys' book.

Alana T.:
Loop-d-Loop Crochet by T. Durham.  A great re-evaluation of crochet for modern designs; nothing 70's-esque.  The catherine wheel wedding dress is a stunner!  (The knitting book is great, too).
300 Crochet Stitches and 220 More Crochet Stitches.  Good stitch dictionaries to help the design process.  The only downside is these books don't use international stitch diagrams (darn!).
More Sensational Knitted Socks by S. Schurch. I am an avid sock knitter.  This book (and the original) are the best about the topic I've found.  No matter if you want to knit toe-up, cuff-down, multi-stranded or one color, lace, with short row heels or someother, you will find out how to knit the socks you want to make.

And the Oscar goes to...

Posted by Staff

The 84th annual Academy Awards Ceremony will honor the best films of 2011. Six out of the nine best picture nominations are based on books. Eleven literary adaptations received recognition in major award categories.  Don't just see the movies, read the books!

Moneyball: the Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis. (This author also wrote the source for the movie Blind Side).  "Explains how Billy Beene, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics, is using a new kind of thinking to build a successful and winning baseball team without spending enormous sums of money."

My Week with Marilyn by Colin Clark."Presents the author's diary accounts of the week he, an assistant on the set of the movie "The Prince and the Showgirl," bonded with Marilyn Monroe after she escaped the high-pressure set and toured the English countryside with him."

War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. "Joey the horse recalls his experiences growing up on an English farm, his struggle for survival as a cavalry horse during World War I, and his reunion with his beloved master."

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carré.  "Who is the mole buried within British intelligence, planted by Karla in Moscow years ago? George Smiley is back, in the first novel of The quest for Karla trilogy."

Albert Nobbs: A Novella by George Moore. "Long out of print, George Moore's classic novella returns just in time for the major motion picture starring Glenn Close as a woman disguised as a man in nineteenth-century Ireland."

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. "Oskar Schell, the nine-year-old son of a man killed in the World Trade Center attacks, searches the five boroughs of New York City for a lock that fits a black key his father left behind."

The Iron Lady: Margaret Thatcher by John Campbell.  "Traces the life of Britain's only female Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, from her upbringing in Grantham to her unexpected challenge to Edward Heath for leadership of the Conservative party and her eventual removal from power."

The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings. "A descendant of royalty and one of the largest landowners in Hawaii, Matthew King struggles to deal with his out-of-control daughters--ten-year-old Scottie and seventeen-year-old Alex--as well as his comatose wife, whom they are about to remove from life

support."

The Invention of Hugo Cabaret: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick. "When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized."

The Help by Kathryn Stockett. "In Jackson, Mississippi, in 1962, there are lines that are not crossed. With the civil rights movement exploding all around them, three women start a movement of their own, forever changing a town and the way women--black and white, mothers and daughters--view one another."

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. "Forty years after the disappearance of Harriet Vanger from the secluded island owned and inhabited by the powerful Vanger family, her octogenarian uncle hires journalist Mikael Blomqvist and Lisbeth Salander, an unconventional young hacker, to investigate.

Lending Out Books

Lending Out Books
by Hal Sirowitz

You're always giving, my therapist said.
You have to learn how to take.  Whenever
you meet a woman, the first thing you do
is lend her your books.  You think she'll
have to see you again in order to return them.
But what happens is, she doesn't have the time
to read them, & she's afraid if she sees you again
you'll expect her to talk about them, & will
want to lend her even more.  So she
cancels the date.  You end up losing
a lot of books.  You should borrow hers.

More about Hal Sirowitz
This poem is chosen from those in Good Poems, edited and selected by Garrison Keillor

Bookclub on the Blog: November, December and January Selections

Posted by the EPL Bookclub

A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan.  This is the first fiction book we've read with a PowerPoint chapter!  It is a very inventive, challenging read and has a log to say about relationships in the modern world. Selected as one of the New York Times best books of 2010.

The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama.  This debut novel is set around a thriving arranged-marriage bureau in contemporary India.  A very light, quick read, but fun.

Any title by Daniel Woodrell.  The author, Ozark born and bred, is true to his roots fictionalizing the characters, tragedies and comedies his has witnessed.  The reader feels as though he has truly experienced a hair-raising visit to the Ozarks.







Join us for our next meeting (7-8 PM, light snacks provided). Upcoming selections for our bookclub:
February 13  Lock Artist by Steve Hamilton
March 12  An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
April 9  Turn of Mind by Alice Laplante
May 14  Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks

More Learning at the Library!

IL WPA art project poster, 1940

Posted by Staff

The library has two new online services availabe through our website (look for the icons at the bottom of the main page). Both databases require an Edwardsville library card. You then create an account to track your class progress. They are both really amazing databases!

Mango offers 34 languages courses online.  Each utilizes intuitive interactive tools for practical conversational skills. Lessons include memory-building exercises to help you remember what you are learning and intuitively understand the language. You have the option to start learning right away as an anonymous user or to create a profile, which will allow you to track your progress and time spent learning each language. You can also download an app for iPhones

Universal Class offers 500 continuing education non-credit classes, from math and digital photography to event planning, meditation, and knitting.  You are welcome to enroll in up to 5 courses and you have 6 months to finish each.  Attend class and do assignments on your schedule. Each course has a real instructor with whom you may communicate using email.

It was the best of birthdays...

Charles Dickens, age 49; George Watkins, photographer

Posted by Alana T. and staff

He had but one eye, and the popular prejudice runs in favor of two. From Nicholas Nickleby, ch. 4.

Nearly everyone has read at least some portion of a Dickens novel and most readers have some memory associated with the writer.  Three things stand out for me: 1) the best character names ever (Wackford Squeers? Luke Honeythunder?, wow), 2) the idea that what goes around comes around, and 3) an amazing facility with the English language. 

This year, on February 7th, Charles Dickens would be 200 years old. Celebrations are planned around the world (for more info visit the official Dickens 2012 site).  You may not be able to travel to London and visit a real Victorian workhouse, but you can revisit the authors works.  Don't forget the abundance of excellent film adaptations!

Following is a list of Dickens' titles, along with staff votes for favorite novel and best film adaptation:

A Christmas Carol (3 votes for favorite novel, A Muppet Christmas Carol 3 votes, A Christmas Carol [w/ George C. Scott 1 vote]; A Christmas Carol [w/ Patrick Stewart 2 votes])
A Tale of Two Cities (3 votes)
Barnaby Rudge
Bleak House (3 votes best film adaptation [2005]) 
David Copperfield (2 votes)
Dombey and Son
Great Expectations (8 votes)
Hard Times (1 vote)
Little Dorrit
Our Mutual Friend
Oliver Twist (2 votes)
Martin Chuzzlewit 
Nicholas Nickleby (1 vote)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Old Curiosity Shop

Reference Question of the Month

Posted by Judy T.

Black History Month, which is celebrated every February, owes its origin to Dr. Carter G. Woodson.  Carter was born in Virginia in 1975, the son of former slaves.  He obtained a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1907 and then earned a Ph. D. from Harvard University in 1912. Dr. Woodson was concerned that history books largely ignored the black population.  To help remedy this, he established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History in 1915 and also founded the respected Journal of Negro History.  In 1926 Dr. Woodson initiated Negro History Week.  He wrote “We should emphasize not Negro History, but the Negro in history. What we need is not a history of selected races or nations, but the history of the world void of national bias, race hate, and religious prejudice.”  It is believed that he chose the second week in February because it marks the birthdays of two men who greatly influenced the black population of the United States—Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.  In 1976, Negro History Week expanded into Black History of Month. 

Try this quiz to see how much you know about the role of African-Americans in our country’s history.

1.  Who was the first African-American Nobel Peace Prize winner?

2.  A Montgomery, Alabama seamstress refused to give up her seat on a bus in 1955.  What is the name of this woman who changed the course of history?

3.  Who was the first African- American to serve on the United States Supreme Court?

4.  For what life-saving work is Dr. Charles R. Drew best known?

5.  In 1957 this group of students integrated Central High School in a southern city with the assistance of President Eisenhower and federal troops.  What was the name given to this group?

6.  This East St. Louis native won a total of 6 Olympic medals, three of them gold, between 1984 and 1996. Who is she?

1. Ralph Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his work mediating a series of armistice agreements between Israel, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan.

2. Rosa Parks

3. Thurgood Marshall

4. Dr. Drew’s research into the storage and shipment of blood plasma revolutionized medicine. He established the American Red Cross blood bank, and he organized “Blood for Britain” during World War II, which was the world’s first blood bank drive.

5. The Little Rock Nine 6. Jackie Joyner-Kersee Source: http://www.gale.cengage.com/free_resources/bhm/

Steampunk: Part 3, Graphic Novels

Alphonse de Neuville, Captain Nemo from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1863

Posted by Alana T.

Perhaps some of the most interesting Steampunk inspired works have been created as graphic novels.  Not only do you get the basic ideas behind the genre (view post #1 and #2), but you get fantastic illustrations as well.  Many titles are geared (pun intended) toward the young adult audience, but the themes are often quite serious.  Try any of the following for a visual and intellectual feast.

Flight (The Amulet Series) by Kazu Kibuishi.  Two children move to an ancestral house that has a door to another dimension; beautifully illustrated.

Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua.  Originating as a Web comic (and still available as such ) this series takes an irreverent look at the lives of Ada Lovelace (Lord Byron's daughter & a mathematician) and Charles Babbage (mathematician/inventor).

The Amazing Screw on Head and Hellboy by Mike Mignola.  The author describes his work as "Crazy people...involving some crazy thing, working themselves into a frenzy over it."

League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore and Kevin O'Neill.  If you hated the movie, try the originals - much better!

Grandville by Bryan Talbot.  Imagine Sherlock Holmes with animal characters and robots everywhere... dark and fun!