Thursday, December 17, 2009

Society6

What Etsy is to crafts, Society6 is to fine art. Artists can use the site to sell their prints online, collaborate with other artists, and even find grant opportunities. Anyone can join, and artists can choose the selling prices of their own works.

Even if you aren't an artist, you can join the site as a curators. Select your favorite pieces and help promote them. The pieces that receive the most promotions both from artists and curators are displayed on the Society6 homepage.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Best Books of the Decade 2000-2009



Can it be that we are ten years into the 2000's already? It can, which mean it's time for magazines, newspapers, and journals to start compiling their "Best of the Decade" lists.

Salon.com has posted their list already. Are your favorites included?

FICTION
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead
The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem
Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Veronica by Mary Gaitskill
On Beauty by Zadie Smith
A Person of Interest by Susan Choi

NONFICTION
The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

A couple of my personal favorites were The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz for fiction, and Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed in nonfiction.

Tell us some of your best-loved books of the past decade!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Best Books of 2009








Publisher's Weekly recently published their list of best books of 2009. We have put together a display of some of their top 100 nonfiction books.
Among the top 10 books (fiction and nonfiction) are:
Cheever: A Life by Blake Bailey, A Fiery Peace in a Cold War by Neil Sheehan, In Other Rooms, Other Wonders by Daniyal Mueenuddin, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes, Stitches by David Small, Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford, Lost City of Z: A Tale of Deadly Obsession in the Amazon by David Grann.







Here is the selection of 10 best books of 2009 from the New York Times Book Review: Both Ways is the only Way I Want it by Maile Meloy, Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem, A Gate At The Stairs by Lorrie Moore, Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls, A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert, The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science by Richard Holmes, The Good Soldiers by David Finkel, Lit: a memoir by Mary Karr, Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World by Liaquat Ahamed, Raymond Carver: A writer's life by Carol Sklericka. The New York Times also has a list of 100 most notable books of 2009. Click here to access.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Connecticut Science Center


The Connecticut Science Center in Hartford has scheduled a half-price Community Day on Saturday, December 5, from 10 am to 5 pm. Half price applies to general admission tickets only. The Connecticut Science Center opened in June 2009. It offers 150 hands-on exhibits, 3D movies, live science, a gift shop, a cafe and more. For more information on the Connecticut Science Center click here or call 860-724-3623.

For a listing of our new Science and Nature books click here.

Thursday, December 3, 2009

Holiday Gift Books

Youth services librarians from across Connecticut have compiled listings of more than 200 recommended holiday gift books for children of all ages.




Best Books for Teens (ages 12 and up)

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

December Literary Birthdays

Literary Birthdays for December include novelists Jane Austen and Gustave Flaubert, and poets John Milton and Emily Dickinson.
December 1 - Rex Stout (1886 - 1975)
December 2 - T.C. Boyle (1948 - )
December 2 - Ann Patchett (1963 - )
December 3 - Joseph Conrad (1857 - 1924)
December 4 - Rainer Maria Rilke (1875 -1926)
December 5 - Calvin Trillin (1935 - )
December 5 - Joan Didion (1934 - )
December 8 - James Thurber (1894 - 1961)
December 9 - John Milton (1608 - 1674)
December 10 - Emily Dickinson (1830 - 1886)
December 11 - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (1918 -2008 )
December 11 - Naguib Mahfouz (1911 - 2006)
December 11 - Grace Paley (1922 - 2007)
December 12 - Gustave Flaubert (1821 - 1880)
December 14 - Shirley Jackson (1916 - 1965)
December 16 - Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)
December 16 - Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - 2008)
December 16 - Philip K. Dick (1928 -1982)
December 17 - Ford Madox Ford (1873 - 1939)
December 17 - John Kennedy Toole (1937 - 1969)
December 21 - Heinrich Böll (1917 - 1985)
December 21 - Rebecca West (1892 - 1983)
December 22 - Edwin Arlington Robinson (1869 - 1935)
December 24 - Juan Ramón Jiménez (1881 - 1958)
December 24 - Mary Higgins Clark (1929 - )
December 26 - Henry Miller (1891 - 1980)
December 29 - William Gaddis (1922 - 1998)
December 30 - Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)
December 30 - Paul Bowles (1910 - 1999)