Danbury Library Blog

Every week the magazine Entertainment Weekly has a very small item called "The Shaw Report." In it, writer Jessica Shaw lists three items in columns labeled "In," "Five Minutes Ago" and "Out." The topics are entirely random, ranging from family events (baby showers -- birthday parties -- weddings, respectively) to clothing accessories (bowler hats -- suspenders -- skinny ties). In the November 30, 2007 issue, one of Shaw's topics is reading books. In reverse order, to save the best for last, here are the items in each category: "Out" is "buying books online," "Five Minutes Ago" is "reading in the bookstore," but the "In" column is (ta-da!) "Getting a library card." A card is available free to all Danbury residents, and with it you're eligible to check out books, movies and magazines, to use the Internet and more. There's even an application form available online. So, with that blessing from Entertainment Weekly, we certainly hope that if you don't already have a Danbury Library card, you'll get one at your earliest convenience. It's probably one of the easiest ways ever to be "in."

Posted by Mark at 04:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Updike, at the age of 75, has just published his sixth collection of essays and criticism entitled Due Considerations. He is truly a well-rounded man of letters. He is a novelist, short story writer and a poet of some note. He has won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award and has been considered for the Nobel Prize in Literature. In addition to all of these talents he is a masterful essayist & critic. He is a true wunderkind in so many areas that one wonders at his ability to keep up what is already an astonishing output. I have read all of his previous critical works and I think his work as a critic stands comparison with anyone writing today. He is sage, judicious and generous in his criticism as well as omnivorous.

For Updike information go to Updikiana.

Posted by John O'Donnell at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Trying to find government information can be frustrating and time consuming. If you’re searching for State of Connecticut info, start at the state’s website. The text of state statutes is also available online. The federal government has a portal for searching all of its branch and agency websites: www.usa.gov . Both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate have websites, as does the White House. You can track current and past legislation through the Thomas section of the Library of Congress website. And GPO Access offers a wealth of information, providing online access to printed material originating in all branches of government. Looking for historical information? Try the websites of the National Archives or the Library of Congress.

Posted by Andrea at 04:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In "Annie Hall" Woody Allen's character tells Diane Keaton's character not to take any course where you have to read Beowulf and, no doubt, legions of students probably agree. I liked Beowulf, although I will admit reading the epic poem written somewhere between the 8th and 11th centuries is not easy--if you read the Old English version. The 1999 award-winning translation by Seamus Heaney is considered the best. Of course, now you can see the new movie rendition of Beowulf--I don't recall anyone like Angelina Jolie in the poem.

For a completely different experience try John Gardner's Grendel. This is the Beowulf tale turned upside down--told from the monster's point of view. Described as 'heartbreaking" and "beautiful"--Grendel is a great book.

Posted by Mary at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Don't miss a wonderful article entitled Future Reading in the New Yorker Magazine of November 5, 2007. The article is by the noted Princeton historian, Anthony Grafton, who has written outstanding books on Renaissance history and the history of books & reading. He has authored a witty, erudite book on the history of the footnote logically entitled The Footnote.

The New Yorker article examines the current drive by Google and Microsoft to build a universal archive and " a comprehensive index of all the books in the world." Grafton tells us that this endeavor will take a longer time frame to complete than anticipated and it is really premature to speak of a universal archive. He is a champion of libraries and concludes that the path to knowlege will still lead you to the library.

Posted by John O'Donnell at 12:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The largest (and loudest) literary lion of the second half of the 20th century has finally roared his last. With the passing of Norman Mailer, the self-conscious pursuit of the spotlight is now left to mere mortals, to second-rate celebrities famous only for being famous. Mailer was famous (and infamous) for something of substance, for the finely-wrought manifestation of his genius as a writer, and for the all-too-public failings of a very flawed human being. He won the Pulitzer Prize twice (for “The Armies of the Night” and “The Executioner’s Song”), dabbled in politics and film, co-founded The Village Voice, and was working on a sequel to his last novel, “The Castle in the Forest,” at the time of his death.

Posted by Andrea at 07:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since you're reading the Danbury Library Blog at this very moment, we'll assume that you're at least moderately familiar and comfortable with electronic communications of this sort. If that's true, dear reader, we want to make certain that you're familiar with the fact that the Danbury Library can now communicate with you via email to let you know that an item you've put on hold is now available. As of Tuesday, November 13, customers who've given their email addresses to our Lending Services Department will start receiving email notification of items they've requested rather than phone calls. Our hope is that in the not-too-distant future, we'll be able to communicate lots of other types of information about the library to you via email. So if you haven't already given us your email address, please do so at your earliest convenience. It's a new way that the library can communicate with you in an easy and extremely fast way.

Posted by Mark at 04:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Author Kinky Friedman"s "all politics is loco" memoir You Can Lead a Politician to Water, But You Can't Make Him Think--about his unsuccessful 2006 Texas gubernatorial bid is full of trademark quips from the master--"he suspects voter fraud because everyone he meets claims to have voted for him". Still, he did receive 12% of the vote owing to his common sense observations on a variety of subjects including school testing.

A famous election of long ago is chronicled in A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800 in which Adams and Jefferson opposed each other for the presidency. It was aggressive, heated and, at times, a vicious campaign. Sound familiar?

Posted by Mary at 01:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Prize Winner for Literature in 2006, has a new title in the library which is an outstanding collection. Other Colors is a wide-ranging group of essays plus one story. If you are interested in understanding the writer's vocation and why Pamuk became a writer there are several essays about this topic. There are also several essays of a personal nature which are quite moving. My Father is a very beautiful tribute to his father and an estimate of what his father meant to his life. If you want to understand the trials of modern Turkey he again has several essays which will open your eyes to these problems. Remember that his discussion of the Armenian genocide by the Turks almost drew him a trial and a long prison term. He is indeed a brave writer deserving of the Nobel Prize.

Posted by John O'Donnell at 02:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)