Will be back on track soon

Missed a few days due to the Sept 11 events, but will get my girdle in gear and get the reviews back on track starting tomorrow...

The Annoyed LIbrarian (arts and entertainment, literature)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: N/A

WEB ADDRESS: http://blog.libraryjournal.com/annoyedlibrarian/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: The Annoyed Librarian is possibly the most successful, respected, and desirable librarian of her generation. She has no other interest than to bring her wit and wisdom to the huddled librarian masses yearning to breathe free. The Annoyed Librarian is a free spirit and you are lucky to have her.

MY REVIEW:
I love the sense of humor that the Annoyed Librarian displays, and I love her writing. I also love the insight she gives into reading and public libraries, for all that sometimes her news is pretty damn depressing. (The percentage of folk who read is dropping every year....)

Highly recommended.

Sample post:

Reading is Hip
The AL often depends on the kindness of strangers, whether it’s obsessive stalkers who drive up blog traffic or kind readers who send great stories.

From one kind reader comes this delightful story from Chicago: Chicago Public Library’s ‘Library Lounge’ Nights Aim To Make Libraries Cool Again. Chicago, as you might know, is a toddlin’ town, the kind that Billy Sunday couldn’t shut down, and the Chicago Public Library wants to take advantage of that.

As part of a “Not What You Think” campaign (and by god you had better not think of books!), the CPL is heading to local bars to hand out library cards and tell “young, professional urbanites” all about the library. I think it would be better to host parties in the library itself, but maybe there’s a rule against that.

Having been a young, professional urbanite myself once upon a time – at least if you count librarianship as a profession – I can only applaud and approve. It’s a great idea to associate libraries with alcohol and good times.

I myself frequently sit on my balcony sipping wine and reading an improving book. Not today, of course, since the weather where I am is much too wet, but frequently.

However, while Lounge Nights might be a great idea, this story promoting them is pretty bad from beginning to end.

The title is just weird. When were libraries ever cool? If they were never cool, they certainly can’t be cool “again.” Isn’t the writer familiar with library stereotypes?

Sadly, I don’t think the writer is familiar with library anything, and as usual we have a news story promoting libraries written by someone who hasn’t set foot in one for decades.

For example, it begins, “If the last time you saw your library card was senior year of high school, then there’s a good chance it’s still tucked away in your “East of Eden” paperback.”

Huh? Maybe if the “young, professional urbanites” went to high school in the fifties or sixties, but which of them is likely to have read “East of Eden”?

We also find out that “In addition to having the opportunity to sign up for a library card, Chicago residents can also learn about the valuable resources available to them at CPL. Hint: it’s much more than the microfilm we all sifted through for term papers in the ‘90s.”

Again, huh? Did we all sift through microfilm for term papers in the ‘90s? Something tells me the writer’s experience with libraries is very limited.

To be fair, she’s most likely prompted by the CPL’s Director of Marketing, who tells us about the public library collection: “We get to show off the fact that we have popular music; you know, our music is not all classical, our movies aren’t all black and white from 1945.”

That’s pretty much been the case in libraries for decades, so this is hardly news to anyone who has used one. It also seems to imply that classical music and classic movies are somehow bad, or maybe just stuffy. Classical music is great, and classic films are way hipper than any library.

The marketing director naturally enough has to give out the standard promotional line for libraries these days: “we are kind of not what people originally thought; we are very relevant, we are hip.” We wouldn’t want people to think that libraries weren’t hip. That would be a tragedy.

Librarians have been saying that for decades, and nobody seems to be listening. Millions of people use public libraries, and even they probably don’t think libraries are hip.

The problem with a lot of library marketing (if marketing is really the word for it) is that it’s hard to market an incoherent brand, and librarians are doing all they can to confuse what used to be the most coherent brand of all.

What are libraries for? Reading. That’s why the ALA has those goofy posters with celebrities that say READ. The posters don’t say, WATCH, or LISTEN. Reading. Literacy. Books. Magazines. More books and magazines than you could ever afford, and a wider selection than you would likely see elsewhere. Everything else libraries do is secondary.

And reading is hip. Think about the huge public discussion of books everywhere from Amazon reviews to Library Thing to book blogs. Books are hip. Reading is hip.

You won’t hear that from librarians very often these days, though. Libraries are apparently relevant and hip because of all the stuff they do that has nothing to do with books or reading. Unfortunately, “a whole bunch of stuff that isn’t about reading” isn’t a very catchy slogan.

I suggest instead a new slogan. Instead of “libraries are hip because they have a mishmash of things unrelated to reading,” libraries could market the one thing they do very well and that everyone already knows about.

RECENT POSTS:
--How Does Your Library Promote Fake Celebrations?
--Death of the Author
--Reading is Hip
--Books, No Books
--The Last Perk of Librarianship
--Libraries and Class
--Libraries and Riots
--Outsourcing and the ALA
--Busy Isn’t Enough
--Celebrate Banned Sites Day!


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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

BloominThyme (Gardening and relationships)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: N/A

WEB ADDRESS: http://bloominthyme.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: A mother of two young children in Central Florida, gardening is one of the LAST things I have time to do, but what started as a “victory garden” has become a favorite pastime. No longer working outside the home, I spend my days driving through school drop-off and pick-up lanes, running errands, washing clothes, volunteering in the community and managing a household – visits to the garden have become my personal reprieve!

Unless of course, it’s summertime. Heat and humidity don’t do any favors for the vegetables, let alone my appearance, but then again, summers are for vacations. Fall through late spring… Now these are wonderful times to be outdoors, and the harvest from a productive garden is simply a bonus. Not to mention it makes a great addition to the dinner plate. While my kids may change their appetites on a daily basis, the two agree: a bean never tasted so good as the one they grew themselves!

MY REVIEW: This is a fun blog, all about gardening, and family relationships. The author illustrates her posts with copious photos.

If you're a gardener, and/or someone with children, small or otherwise, I think you'll enjoy this blog.

Sample post:

Want to extend a BIG thank you to Ashley for signing on to volunteer in the school garden! So inspired was she by her own adventure this spring, she has eagerly joined the school garden and the kids love her. The more the merrier, right?

And what’s more merry than these garden boots? I mean, these are fashion and function all rolled up into one flirty package!

I love creative gardeners who can manage to not only grow some mean veggies but look good while doing it! Remember: when you have a garden, expect visitors. They will come in droves. They will watch with wonder and amazement. They will talk your ear off (if given the chance) and they will run home and want to start their very own garden. But they won’t give you notice so be prepared and look great — like our volunteer-extraordinaire, Miss Ashley!

Thanks for showing up with a smile. The kids appreciate it

RECENT POSTS:
--Flirty and Fun Volunteer
--Building Our Bean Fort
--Fiddling with Floating Row Covers
--Weeds, Seeds, Sunflowers and Wildlife
--If kids were vegetables/fruits, mine would be a…


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Reviews published every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
___________________________
Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth

Retro Review: Eyes for Lies: The Blog of the Human Lie Detector

REVIEWED BY: Ann Currie

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION PAGE: Eyes for Lies: The Blog of the Human Lie Detector.

WEB ADDRESS: www.eyesforlies.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Scientists have identified 50 individuals who are able to spot deception with great accuracy after testing. More than 15,000 people. Eyes for Lies is one of the 50 people.

MY REVIEW: This one caught my eye. In one post she reviews the video of Josh Powell concerning the disappearance of his wife. She uses her special "skills" to determine if he is guilty by watching his video. Then she dissects the interview piece by piece and describes what she sees and how she interprets it. Each post deals with a prominent criminal case in the news.

Some of the posts can get almost a little sensational, but that is the nature of the beast. The blog is interesting (I have always loved mysteries). She posts everyday.

RECENT ARTICLES:

• Sam Thompson
• Diena Thompson talks to Chris Cuomo
• Alex Martin is Nick Francisco
• LA Times: Edwards is Engaged
• Perhaps its not Jarred Harrell

Men Reading Books (arts and entertainment)

REVIEWED BY: Marguerite Zelle

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: N/A

WEB ADDRESS: http://menreadingbooks.blogspot.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Book summaries and opinions written by guys about books that other guys might consider reading.

MY REVIEW: An excellent blog for anyone who likes techno or action adventure thrillers - not just for guys! However, it is aimed toward guys alone who like that type of literature.

Highly recommended.

Sample post

Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
Imagine if HAL (from 2001) and SkyNet (from Terminator) had a love child and called it Archos.

Or, ever thought about all those computer geeks trying to develop artificial intelligence? Ever wanted to ask them, "What happens if you are successful?"

It's an unknown number of years in our future, but close enough for the military to still be in Afghanistan where robotic devices search out IEDs, enemy combatants, and make friends with the locals. Domestic and factory robots do the mundane. Cars have avoidance sensors that minimize MVAs. And there is that one geek working in a backroom lab at a university who actually manages to achieve what was thought impossible - actual artificial intelligence. The device, Archos, is not only intelligent, but also becomes self aware and reaches out to all levels of robotic 'life'. And he starts to plot the elimination of those unpredictable and emotional humans.

All those little seemingly insignificant gadgets have some form of networked chip and that's how Archos gets to them. Then they realize they need to adapt and manage to manufacture even more lethal robots that have one goal: to do what Archos asks - eliminate humans.

The story is told by a Cormac Wallace, a soldier in the Gray Horse Army that serves Gray Horse Nation in Oklahoma. It is 2 years into the New War and he has come across some form of a storage robot (a Rob) where much of the archives of the New War are stored. With the information in its memory, he manages to trace early isolated incidents, zero hour when the Robs make their worldwide move on humans, how the surviving humans form smalls bands to fight in spite of no ability to communicate and coordinate attacks, the awakening of small groups of self aware Robs that realize Archos must be defeated, and the final retaliation of the humans.

Cormac tells all this as individual short stories by introducing us to that geek, a Japanese robot repairman who manages to sort of disconnect his Robs from Archos, internal fights within Gray Horse Nation, the destruction of New York, Boston and more, Robs in the Afghan mountains, an English hacker whose change of heart helps break into the Archos network, and the daughter of a Congresswoman who is subjected to a robot version of Joseph Mengele whose surgery actually ends up being able to help, not destroy, the humans. The story jumps across vignettes neatly tying the stories up to the point of the final confrontation with Archos.

Science fiction is not high on the list of MRB, but I wouldn't label this that way, more like Twilight Zone on steroids. Reviewers have compared Wilson to Michael Crichton for his ability to weave obscure scientific subjects with human frailties (BTW, I never liked Crichton all that much. The bulk of his books ended with the stars just leaving the scene. Remember the end of Jurassic Park? Most ended like that). Thank goodness Wilson is far better at bringing his story to a satisfying close.

Looking for a diversion from the usual crime mystery or international thriller? You should seriously consider this one. Seriously.
by East Coast Don

P.S. Dreamworks SKG has optioned this book for the screen with none other than the boss, Spielberg, slated to direct. 2013 is the anticipated release year. Think of it as War of the Worlds with a far better plot and a few million dollars of CGI.

RECENT POSTS:
--Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson
--Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins
--Savage Run by C. J. Box
--Open Season by C. J. Box
--The Glass Rainbow by James Lee Burke
--Access to Power by Robert Ellis
--Sixkill by Robert B Parker
--The Guards by Ken Bruen
--The Lost Witness by Robert Ellis
--The Delta Solution by Patrick Robinson
--Down River by John Hart
--One Rough Man by Brad Taylor
--City of Fire by Robert Ellis
--Dirty White Boys by Stephen Hunter
--The King of Lies by John Hart

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Check out my kindle BOOKS!:
Whose Body, by Dorothy Sayers (the Annotated Edition)
The Coldest Equations (science fiction)
Volcano Seven: Treasure and Treasure Hunters
The Lady and the Tiger...Moth