More NYCPL Pictures

This was a neat quote inscribed in the ornate woodwork. There were lots of unique features throughout the library, including the painting on the right. It was on the ceiling of the second floor gallery. I couldn't imagine working in such a beautiful place!

The stonework was breath-taking as well. There were lots of arches and columns carved throughout the library with beautiful chandeliers. Although I've never been to Europe (hopefully next year!), the library reminded me of the pictures I've seen of cathederals there.

Over fall break, my good friend Sue (a librarian, too!) and I went to New York to visit my best friend Jessa who lives in Manhattan. We did all the usual NYC stuff....Chinatown, Times Square, WTC, shopping, etc. However, we also went to the Mecca for all librarians...yes, we went to the New York City Public Library on Fifth Avenue. We were in awe of the atmosphere, the architecture, and....the quiet (we had forgotten what this is!). Anyhow, I'm sharing some of the pictures of that trip. Enjoy!



The librarian version of "flashing" in the subway station! We wore these shirts and braved the rain in hopes of getting on The Today Show. You'd be surprised how many New Yorkers stopped to talk to us or made a passing comment about reading as we were out and about that day. The response was totally awesome, and we didn't feel like nerdy librarians at all!








We ARE the Library Guardians...at least at our own schools!





(more pics to come soon!)

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield - By far the best book I've read since Secret Life of Bees, this book was exquisitely written and thought-provoking at the same time. I do not know that I have ever been so enthralled with an author's crafting of sentences and phrases in any other book I've read. Its effect goes beyond enthralling and approaches a sort of mesmerizing of the reader. Honestly, this book could have had no plot and I still would have continued on to the end simply for the pure beauty of the language. However, that is not the case, and, if it were up to me this book would be a classic! Now, for the story....

Margaret Lea, the story's protagonist, is an educated, single woman, still living with her parents in London...a spinster if you will. As a novice biographer, she is dumbfounded when one day she receives a letter from Vida Winter, an extremely popular English author. Ms. Winter has given many reporters different accounts of her life story, however not one of them has ever been true. She is, after all , the consummate storyteller. She has never been willing to divulge her true life story, not even her name. However, now she wishes to tell Margaret the true story of her life as she is quite ill and doesn't want to die with her secrets she's worked so hard to protect.

Although Margaret has always preferred to read authors posthumously, she decides to read Ms. Winter's work to see what she's about. Margaret comes to one book entitled Thirteen Tales of Change and Desperation which she reads with great intrigue. But when Margaret reaches the end of the book, she finds that it contains only twelve tales...leaving her to wonder: what happened to the thirteenth tale?

Margaret is so intriuged by the book that she decides to accept the invitation and travels to Ms. Winter's home to hear her story. Having reservations as to the veracity of the story she's about to hear, she asks three questions she first verifies with credible sources. Feeling assured that Ms. Winter is, this time, ready to tell the truth, Margaret takes on the task of becoming her biographer. However, Ms. Winter insists that she gets to tell her tale her own way...starting with the beginning, continuing to the middle, and ending with the end. No questions asked and no skipping ahead. Once the ground rules are set, Miss Winter begins the tale of a pair of twins, Emmeline and Adeline Angelfield, growing up in a family of complete madness.

And from there you must read for yourself. This is a modern day ghost story wrapped up in a fairy tale, and served with a big dose of reality that you'll be able to relate to. Whether you're a serious reader or a novice looking for a book to help you escape, this is the one!

Reading Update: Life is busy so I'm trudging along 5 minutes here, 5 minutes there. I'm skipping lunches and trying to get lost in the book I'm currently reading...The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. This book is, hands down, the best piece of writing I have read since The Secret Life of Bees. It's the type of book that you get lost in, one in which the story that's being woven and the combination of words with which it's being done soothes the soul in the most satisfying way. Although I'm upset at the lack of reading time I have right now, I am almost appreciative of it, too, because it's making this wonderful book last and forcing me to appreciate it piece by piece!


New books I want to read....if only I had the time!

• A Tale of Two Sisters by Anna Maxted
• A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon
• The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
• The Kindness of Strangersby Katrina Kittle
• The Overachievers: The Secret Life of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins

Holy War Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama Bin Laden by Peter L. Bergen - I became really interested in learning more about the Islamic fundamentalist movement, its origins and its modern-day implications, after reading The Kite Runner (set it Afghanistan...I'll write about it later). There were so many books published in the wake of 9/11 that tried to make sense of the tension between America and the Islamic world that it was hard to choose one to read. However, Bergen, who spent 10 years reporting on the Islamic world as a producer for CNN, has written a wonderful book examining Bin Laden's network from the top down.

This book takes a critical look at al-Qaeda, which Bergen compares to a multinational corporation with Osama bin Laden as its CEO. He also does an outstanding job of explaining the radical Islamist movements and their tangled histories. The book includes extensive reporting of previous al-Qaeda plots, from the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole to bin Laden's possible role in the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and the U.S. Embassy bombings in 1998. Bergen discusses the September 11 attacks at length, but what makes this a superior book in my view is the history it provides of al-Qaeda, a story most people haven't read in newspapers or magazines. Although it may be impossible to ever fully understand bin Laden, Bergen does a wonderful job of portraying him and his deep-seated beliefs in his cause. I gleaned much from this book, most importantly an understanding of why bin Laden has been successful and how difficult it will be to ever fully dismantle his well-organized and dedicated network of followers.

Quote for the Day: I think of life as a good book. The further you get into it, the more it begins to make sense.— Harold S. Kushner

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - This book is Alice Sebold's debut novel, a remarkable story about love and family and letting go. Susie Salmon is 14 when she is raped and murdered by a neighbor, a serial killer of women who moves from town to town after each of his crimes. Susie's death sends her family into total chaos as they each try to deal with the tragedy in their own way. Susie narrates the story from a never-before-seen verison of heaven, watching her friends, family, and the murderer move on with their lives, while trying to subtlely break through and communicate the identity of the killer to members of her family. Alice Sebold does a wonderful job relating the interactions of a family and a community, and I was rather surprised at the strength of her writing in a story about such loss. I highly recommend this book to both my students and friends alike. Also, students who really connect with this story also seem to love Lucky which is the real-life account of the abuse Sebold suffered as a child.

Twilightby Stephanie Meyer - Although I tried to avoid reading this book as long as I could, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I really enjoyed it in the end. I haven't been able to keep it on the shelves this year, so I decided I needed to find out just what made this book so popular with my students. Did I ever!

In Twilight readers discover a pair of lovers who are just as star-crossed as Romeo and Juliet. On Bella's first day at a new school in Forks, Oregon, Bella falls head over heals in love with beautiful Edward Cullen. But, Edward seems to detest Bella from the start. However, Bella comes to realize that Edward has a secret and that instead of hate, he is madly in love with her as well. When Edward saves Bella from being run-over by an out-of-control van, she realizes that there is more to the story than Edward wants to tell. With a little help from an old friend, Bella start to suspect that Edward's secret is much larger than she ever thought. Eventually she presses Edward and he admits her worst fears...Edward and his entire family are vampires. To Edward's surprise, Bella does not run away, and instead embraces his terrible secret as her own. As the book unfolds we see the intensity of true love complicated by the fact that at any moment Edward could turn on Bella. Every moment they are together is an exercise of resistance for Edward, and in the end he must not only protect her from himself, but from another vampire who feels the same.