Posts by Jenny Baum

Library patrons might be interested to know that Jack London, as well as Agatha Christie and her husband, frequented Waikiki Beach:

"The focal point of that surfline and the wave riding connected to it was the Outrigger Canoe Club. There, Agatha Christie and her husband extended their stay in Hawaii so he could surf longer, and Jack London and the Prince of Wales who abdicated his throne, and the King of Persia, as well as Rudolf Friml, Doris Duke, Otis Chandler and Jim Arness — all suited up in the locker rooms to 'go surfin' at Waikiki." (http://files.legendarysurfers.com/surf/legends/ls12.shtml)

Michael Scott Moore's debut novel, Too Much of Nothing, is very different from Sweetness and Blood, but it is similar in that they are both odes, at least in part, to his hometown of Redondo Beach, CA. Moore is a reporter and chief stage critic for SF Weekly in San Francisco. He has also written for salon.com, San Francisco magazine, Bostonia magazine, and the New York Times, and runs a website at radiofreemike.com. He lives in San Francisco. Too Much of Nothing is the story of a teenage love triangle. The protagonist dies at the hands of his friend and narrates the story as a nefesh, a 

Welcome to the September Reader’s Den! This month, we’ll be discussing Sweetness and Blood: How Surfing Spread from Hawaii and California to the Rest of the World, with Some Unexpected Results by Michael Scott Moore. This nonfiction book begins with the author’s apology that it is far from a complete history of surfing. Rather, it is a pop culture view of surfing’s global popularity from Californian influences.

With the English-language version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo film due to come out in December of this year, fans of Stieg Larsson who have already seen the Swedish films and read the trilogy may be searching for more. Here is a loosely inspired reading list. For a more comprehensive list of Swedish crime writers, see this blog post on Nordic Whodunits.

Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse has been a London stage play for four years running and has now come to Broadway. The Spielberg film version is slated to be released December 28, 2011.

The story takes place during World War I and describes the horrific conditions and loss of life, both human and animal, that took place.

With the recent NYT article about clothing stores being the newest places to purchase books highlighting what fashionable items books can be, I thought I’d take a look at some of the books that celebrities have been seen reading. I’ll let you decide if they are actual reads, solely being used as fashion accessories or merely shielding one’s eyes from the sun at some tropical retreat.

"The definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing over and over, and then expecting different results."

This quotation has been everywhere lately, and is often attributed to Einstein, although there’s no evidence that he ever said it. It does, however, illustrate the importance of change. If you find yourself on the cusp of a change in your life, sometimes books are a good way to explore different careers, lifestyles, whatever, without necessarily committing to a permanent change. Libraries are a great way to explore the "what ifs" in your life or to ponder "what ifs" in history.

These days, readers no longer need to parade their Fabio-graced romance novels in front of all the other passengers on their train or bus. Instead, they can read them discreetly on their e-readers, but why the concern? I once saw a woman on a bus in Chicago, years ago, with a cannily embroidered book jacket cover that read “Dirty Novel” to anyone who cared to look. Most everyone is familiar with “bodice rippers” and likely associates them with the publisher Harlequin, but romances range from chaste kisses and courtship to, ahem, the more modern novels of today and remain one of the most popular forms of women’s literature.

Researching ghosts at the library is nothing new. Finding media tie-in books about ghostly television shows is a more recent pursuit. Both can be accomplished at NYPL. On occasion, ghostbusters have even been known to roam the stacks of NYPL’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.

Welcome to the wrap-up of our discussion of Kitchen Confidential. We hope that we have inspired you to be adventurous in the kitchen this Thanksgiving holiday [if you happen to be reading this blog from a country that doesn't celebrate Thanksgiving now, then we hope that it has inspired you to be adventurous in the kitchen in general], or at least inspired you to find some tasty reading.

Welcome back to this month’s Reader’s Den, co-led by Jenny Baum and Ursula Murphy, about Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.

Last year I blogged about Halloween movies that were inspired by books. This year, as I ponder what costume I would like to wear, in a season that promises to be rife with Lady Gagas and “The Situation”s, I thought I’d mention a few books that could be (very loosely) interpreted to inspire your own costume selections.

“The reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more.”  —Jonas Salk

"If you can do something but decide not to, it’s the same thing as saying you can't" —attributed to Richard Feynman

Jonas Salk, born in New York, created a polio vaccine for the common good, rather than personal gain. A very different personage, physicist Richard Feynman, born and raised in the Far Rockaways, chose teaching over salary several times during his lifetime. Many physicists who worked on the Manhattan project both directly and indirectly believed that they were working for the common good, and The New York Public Library owns many fascinating 

Thank you for participating in this month’s Reader’s Den! If you enjoyed Amberville, try:

Tim Davys writes:

“Amberville might have a bit of Chelsea in London, Lanceheim maybe slightly Berlin. If I say Tourquai has a touch of New York and Yok a bit of Rome, I’m not lying. But I’m not telling the whole truth either. The landscape you have in mind most certainly forms the plot. But I’m not sure if that’s important for the reading experience; it’s more of an author’s tool. Every reader then forms their own opinions.”

Compare and contrast the use of setting throughout Amberville. What role do you think setting plays in your reading experience?

Is the plot more effective through the use of 

“I loved Emma Rabbit. You shouldn’t be ashamed of your beloved.

Love had come stealthily. Love had waited, lain in wait and attacked when I least expected it.

I’d been defenseless.

Welcome to the June 2010 edition of the Reader's Den!

A while ago, babble.com created a list of the 26 Most Disturbing Kids Movies of all time. Watership Down made the list, and if you’ve never read the book by Richard Adams, get yourself a copy, it’s a great book. At any rate, it made me think about disturbing anthropomorphized characters in literature and that, in turn, led me to think about books about animals doing people things, and that in turn led me to Amberville (in this case, stuffed animals doing people things) and finally, to Scandinavian crime fiction and cinema. I know, it’s a convoluted path, but stick with me and I’m 

It always bugs me when characters in novels don’t consume any food or drink. Not that the whole novel has to be about that, mind you, but the occasional mention can do so much to create setting.

“When you write, you give your version of reality.” —Maryse Condé

Many, many people have been motivated by the catastrophe in Haiti to donate, including one librarian who donated $10,000 of his personal savings and whose fundraising efforts were picked up by several blogs. Librarians can contribute in a different way, as well, by highlighting the wealth of literature that Haiti and the Caribbean offer.