What Are You Reading?

Winter is a great season for reading.  It's hard to stay outside for too long with the cold blasts of arctic air and the thick snow and ice, so staying inside by a warm fire with a book can be a great experience.

So what have the library staff been reading lately?

I (Dan) have been reading The Best American Short Stories, 2007.  Yes, I know I'm a little behind, but I'm almost finished with it.  It's an excellent collection of short stories and I attribute part of that to the guest editor, Stephen King.  He picked out a few real gems for this edition.  I thoroughly enjoy having a collection of short stories or essays around at all times.  They give you a variety of ideas and narratives to think about, but they are also helpful for when you only have 30 minutes to read something.  Collections of stories and essays are also a great way to discover new authors too.  I've picked up many new books by fresh authors after finishing a short story.

Megan, our Access and Instruction Librarian, has been reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini.  She has this to say about it:

"I picked it up because I enjoyed his other novel, The Kite Runner, and my friends and family have been bugging me to read this one too so we can talk about it. So far, I’m liking it even more than The Kite Runner because it focuses on a female perspective of life in Afghanistan. The novel made me curious about the state of women’s rights in Afghanistan, so I learned more here. So far in my reading, nothing too terrible has happened yet, but there’s a definite sense of impending doom…"

So now that we've shared something with you, what can you share with us?  What have you been reading lately?  Leave us a comment to let us know.

Student Book Club

Are you interested in reading a book or two outside of class?  Would you like to meet once a month and discuss books with fellow students?

If so, plan on coming to the March 24^th meeting of the Student Book Club.  We’ll be meeting at Holy Grounds in the library to discuss the popular book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

At that time, we can discuss a possible book to read for April as well.

I hope to see you on March 24^th at 3:00 in Holy Grounds.  Contact the library if you have any questions.

Tracking Information: Our National Stimulus

Have you been following the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act?  Well, you probably are but you know it by a different name: the stimulus.

Yes, we are in rough economic times, and that means colleges and universities all across the nation will feel the pinch as well.  

How will the new stimulus affect colleges and universities?  Well, you could read a news article about it from our database Access World News.

Or you could follow the money by visiting the government's new website, Recovery.gov.

You can also find out how the stimulus package is going to directly affect Iowa.  The Democratic Policy Committee has put together fact sheets for each state in the Union, showing how the money will impact our state.  Check it out.

So test out your research skills and follow that money!  Find out how it will impact you, your friends, your family, your school, and your community.

Darwin & Lincoln

Today we celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and Abraham Lincoln.  

These two men impacted history in unique ways.  Without their efforts, we would certainly be living in a very different world with different perceptions of the people around us.

Lincoln and Darwin helped us to see ourselves in a new way.  Darwin's theory of evolution gave us a glimpse of ourselves as being part of nature and the product of millions of years of evolution.  No one human being is genetically superior or inferior to another.  We are all alike.

Lincoln changed the United States like no one before or after him.  His efforts as the 16th president of our republic helped secure the freedom that American slaves had wished for.  He was a man of his time with faults and failings, but he was also ahead of his time, especially in his writing ability.  His ultimate goal was to preserve the union, but in the process he helped lay the foundation for a multicultural America in which people are treated equally.

Lincoln and Darwin helped us to see that we are all equal.  Let's remember that on this day in history.

For more information about Darwin and Lincoln, check out some of the many books we have here at the Grand View library.  Also, take a look at some of these excellent websites devoted to the lives of these men:

The Learning Page @ the Library of Congress: Abraham Lincoln

The Abraham Lincoln Papers @ the Library of Congress

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Springfield, Illinois

The Complete Works of Charles Darwin, Online

The Darwin Correspondence Project

Almost Time!

Remember, tomorrow is the last day to participate in the trivia contest.  Submit your answers, even if you don't have all of them.

Also, stay tuned for our upcoming post on February 12th in honor of Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin.

"Lost" Books

Are you a fan of the television show Lost on ABC?  Have you ever noticed that some of the characters show up from time to time reading different books?

Have you ever wondered, "Hmmm, why are they reading that book?  Could it have something to do with the overall story of the show?"

Well, there's one way to find out.  Read those books and make the connections!  We have a number of the books here in our library that have appeared on the show.

Come over to the library, take a look, and see what you can learn.  Plus, there are some excellent books on this list.  

Here are a few of them that we have:

Dune by Frank Herbert

The Epic of Gilgamesh by author unknown

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

Island by Aldous Huxley

The Odyssey by Homer

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

Happy Groundhog Day!

Happy Groundhog Day! Why do we rely on a little mammal like this to tell us what our weather is going to be like? Well, that's a story that's about 110-years old.

There is an old tradition from Europe, called Candlemas, which some historians believe is the root of Groundhog Day. Candlemas falls roughly halfway between the Winter Solstice and the Vernal Equinox. In other words, it's the mid-point of winter. According to ancient German stories, this was the day that animals like badgers, bears, and, oh yes, groundhogs, came out of their little dens to see if it was warm enough to come out permanently.

In the United States, the tradition has been going on for about 110 years. Punxsutawney Phil, the modern groundhog who we celebrate, saw his shadow today, which means another 6 weeks of winter. In the past 110 years, the ancestors of Phil have seen their shadows 96 times and not seen it 14 times.

If you're interested in an article from one of our databases on the history of it, check out this link.