Carlos Fuentes dies at 83

Catalog Link

Mexican author Carlos Fuentes died at age 83, May 15, 2012 in Mexico City. Come to the library and check out our display, or look up our holdings on Carlos Fuentes online:

Books by Carlos Fuentes in the Hamden Public Library collection

Book about Carlos Fuentes in the Hamden Public Library collection

Obituary by Anthony DePalma, published in the print edition of the New York Times, May 16, 2012

Charles Higham dies at 81

Charles Higham, a  celebrity biographer, died on April 21 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 81. Mr. Higham wrote about two dozen biographies, on Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Bette Davis, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy, Cary Grant, Orson Welles and others. Charles Higham was born in London on Feb. 18, 1931.

Mr. Higham's biographies in the Hamden Library Collection 

New York Times obituary by Margalit Fox, published May 3, 2012

Privacy Week May 1-7, 2012

Choose Privacy Week  (May 1-7, 2012) "is a national public awareness campaign that aims to educate the public on how to protect their privacy and understand their rights. The American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) established Choose Privacy Week in 2010 to deepen public awareness about the serious issue of government surveillance, and offers individuals the resources to think critically and make more informed choices about their privacy." The theme for Choose Privacy Week 2012 is "Freedom from Surveillance." Check out our display in the library, or browse our holdings in our online catalog: 

Books on Privacy issues in our collection

Books on Privacy and Internet/Technology 

May is Gifts from the Garden Month

Come to the library this month and check out our multi-media display GIFTS FROM THE GARDEN MONTH.
I am especially intrigued by our beautiful books on the history of gardens in art and painting. Below are just a few.

You can check out a natural sound collection on CD
titled THE GARDEN or the DVD Gardens of the World with Audrey Hepburn. There are books on garden design, garden history, botanical drawing, edible landscaping, etc.

New York's Botanical Garden has a special exhibit devoted
to Monet's Garden until Oct. 21.(article in New York Times, published May 18, 2012) Last year, the Botanical Garden
featured Emily Dickinson's Garden.

The New York Botonical Garden (website)


 
   The History of Gardens in Painting by Nils Büttner.
"The creation of gardens was among the first achievements of early civilizations, and garden design was already highly developed in antiquity. Pictures of gardens are a reflection of the social, historical, and aesthetic context in which gardens were conceived. The focus of this captivating book is not the gardens themselves or the different concepts of the garden, but rather the representation of gardens in paintings. The author examines why artists paint gardens by covering the varied and lively 2,000-year history of the garden picture using 180 masterpieces of gardens as examples. The text begins with a look at ancient Rome, when paintings of gardens, as found in villas in Pompeii, were already valued as works of art. The wide-ranging coverage also includes pictures of charming medieval gardens in books of hours; Botticelli's masterwork La Primavera, set in a grove of orange trees; views of well-known historic gardens, such as those at Versailles; painter's gardens, as for example, Monet's Giverny; and modern gardens depicted by Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, and David Hockney, among others. For collectors of art history books and garden books, this lovely volume should appeal to a broad audience."


Secrets of Monet's Garden: bringing the beauty of Monet's style to your own garden by Derek Fell

"Derek Fell examines Monet's planting philosophies, shedding light on his use of color, sense of structure, extravagant combinations of form and texture, and favorite flowers.




Vincent's Garden: paintings and drawings by Van Gogh by Ralph Skea.

"A book for gardeners and art lovers everywhere: a selection of Vincent van Gogh's garden and flower paintings and drawings. Presents Van Goghs lifelong love affair with the garden. This title illustrates a range of works, from iconic oils such as Irises to exquisite etchings and intimate sketches."

March is Women's History Month

catalog link

In celebration of Women's History Month, iCONN has assembled a web page with links to free resources from database vendors EBSCO, Cengage Gale, and ProQuest, as well as resources available on the open Web.

iCONN is part of the Connecticut Education Network. It provides all students, faculty and residents with online access to essential library and information resources. It is administered by the Connecticut State Library in conjunction with local libraries in Connecticut. Through iCONN, a core level of information resources including secured access to licensed databases is available to every citizen in Connecticut. You can also visit the CONNECTICUT WOMEN'S HALL OF FAME.

When you come visit the library this month, make sure to check out our display with books on Women's History in front of the main staircase. 

catalog link

catalog link

catalog link

February - Black History Month

Celebrating Black History began in 1926, when Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard Ph.D., initiated "Negro History Week." Dr. Woodson, a historian, chose the second week in February because it included the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. In 1976, the Bicentennial (200th birthday) of the United States of America, the week-long observance was extended to the entire month of February in order to have enough time for celebratory programs and activities. Please see our book display in honor of Black History Month in front of the main staircase.

Books on African-American History in our collection

Statistical data for Black History Month

Profile America - Black History Month (a person for each day of the month)

Resource links from iconn.org (provided by Connecticut State Library)

Charles Dickens - 200th Birthday!

Charles Dickens was born 200 years ago, on Feb. 7, 1812.
When you come to the library this week, check out our display, or
click on these links to our online catalog to see what we have to offer on Charles Dickens.

Charles Dickens - materials in our collection for children

Charles Dickens - materials in our collection for adults

Charles Dickens on DVD

Charles Dickens (talking books)

Charles Dickens on Videocassettes (VHS)

Books about Charles Dickens

Dickens 2012 (international events)

Charles Dickens Exhibit at the Morgan Library and Museum in Manhattan


The Museum of London has created a free ipad and iphone app which takes users on a journey through the darker side of Charles Dickens' London.

Banned Books Week

Check out our display during

BANNED BOOKS WEEK,
Sept. 24, 2011 to Oct. 1, 2011

Banned and challenged classics

Top ten most frequently challenged books in 2010

Most frequently challenged authors by year

Come to a special meeting of our book discussion group on Monday, September 26, 2011, at 7 pm. We will discuss a banned book: "Uncle Tom's Cabin" by Harriet Beecher Stowe. This discussion will be led by Joan Hedrick, a history professor at Trinity College. Prof. Hedrick received a Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for her biography of Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life.

Top Ten Science Fiction/Fantasy books

Booklist recently compiled a listing of "particularly tantalizing" Science Fiction and Fantasy Fiction books which were published during the last twelve months. "The ninth Rachel Morgan novel finds our tough and feisty witch on a mission to get her shunning rescinded; this is an excellent series entry that is guaranteed to satisfy the author’s following." The Spirit Thief. By Rachel Aaron. "Aaron’s outstanding fantasy debut is the first in a trilogy about unrepentant thief Eli Monpress, whose goal is to amass $1 million in gold." Thirteen Years Later. By Jasper Kent. "Kent has magically blended history, folklore, and storytelling to produce a superb account of the Dekabrist revolt in 1825 Russia." What the Night Knows. By Dean Koontz. "This novel is deliberate, highly supernatural, somber throughout, and motivated by religious dread—one of Koontz’s weightiest performances." All the Lives He Led. By Frederick Pohl. "It’s 2079 and Pompeii has become a theme park. Pohl is a master of everything that goes into a cracking good novel, and for this one, he has clearly boned up on vulcanology to boot." The Best of Larry Niven. By Larry Niven. Ed. by Jonathan Strahan. "Niven excels at creating possible futures that are the outcome of current ideas stretched to the extreme. This is a collection to love." A Discovery of Witches. By Deborah Harkness. "Diana Bishop is the last of the Bishops, a powerful family of witches, but she has refused her magic ever since her parents died. Essential reading across literary mystery and epic and fantastic romance genres." Dragon Haven. By Robin Hobb. "The second volume of the Rain Wilds Chronicles shows Hobb again working at the highest level of contemporary fantasy, to which her creativity with dragons adds majesty." Hellhole. By Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson."This is a militaristic sf story of galactic proportions that also offers characters easy for the reader to believe in." Midsummer Night. By Freda Warrington. "Set after the end of the Great War, this novel should please classic- and urban-fantasy fans, romance readers, and anyone looking for a good, fey story." Pale Demon. By Kim Harrison.

Philip Roth wins Man Booker International Prize

Philip Roth is the winner of the fourth Man Booker International Prize. He was chosen from a list of 13 eminent contenders.

"The Man Booker International Prize, worth £60,000, is awarded for an achievement in fiction on the world stage. It is presented once every two years to a living author for a body of work published either originally in English or widely available in translation in the English language. It has previously been awarded to Ismail Kadaré in 2005, Chinua Achebe in 2007 and Alice Munro in 2009."

Books by Philip Roth in our library
Movie based on a novel by Philip Roth
Information on Philip Roth and his novels in NoveList Plus database

2011 James Beard Foundation Book Awards

The following cookbook authors received awards from The James Beard Foundation:

American Cooking
James Villas
Pig: King of the Southern Table


Cookbook Hall of Fame

Harold McGee

On Food and Cooking: The Science & Lore of the Kitchen


Cookbook of the Year
Diana Kennedy
Oaxaca al Gusto: An Infinite Gastronomy

Reference and Scholarship
Mark Bitterman
Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral with Recipes

Single Subject
James Peterson
Meat: A Kitchen Education

Healthy Focus
Jessie Price
The Simple Art of Eatingwell


Baking and Dessert
Kim Boyce
Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours

General Cooking
Amanda Hesser
The Essential New York Times Cook Book: Classic Recipes for a New Century

International
Grace Young
Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge: The Ultimate Guide to Mastery with Authentic Recipes and Stories

Writing and Literature
Paul Greenberg
Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food

Best Chef: New York City
Gabrielle Hamilton
Blood, Bones and Butter

Best Chef: Southeast
Andrea Reusing
Cooking in the Moment

Cooking from a Professional Point of View +
Photography
Redzepi, René
Noma: Time and Place in Nordic Cuisine

Beverage
Jordan Mackay and Rajat Parr
Secrets of the Sommeliers: How to Think and Drink like the Worlds' Top Wine Professionals

Holocaust Remembrance Day Observance May 6

"Mayor Scott D. Jackson has proclaimed the week of May 1st through May 8th 2011 as Days of Remembrance of the Victims of the Holocaust. The Town will host a Holocaust Remembrance Day observance on Friday, May 6th at noon in Thornton Wilder Hall, Miller Library Complex. The ceremony is open to all members of the public. This year’s theme is Justice and Accountability in the Face of Genocide. 2011 marks the 65th anniversary of the verdicts at the first Nuremberg trial and the 50th anniversary of the trial of Adolf Eichmann."

Library materials on the Holocaust by subject headings

Library materials on Adolf Eichmann and his trial

Library materials on the Nuremberg Trial

150th Anniversary of the Civil War

April 12 marks the 150th Anniversary of the Civil War:

"The War started on April 12, 1861, when Confederate Troops fired on Fort Sumter, a U.S. military post in Charleston, South Carolina. It ended four years later. On April 9, 1865, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattax Court house, a small Virginia settlement." (quotation from World Book Encyclopedia)

Events in CT

Library materials on the Civil War divided by specific subject headings

DVDs on the Civil War in our library

Talking books on the Civil War in our library

Music CDs on the Civil War in our library

VHS cassettes on the Civil War in our library

To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War, iCONN has prepared a web page with links to rich resources.

A closer look at art

A painting can depict so much and tell us a lot about the time period it was painted in. Take a closer look at art with the following books, and you might be able to see so much more.

Discovering the Great Masters: The Art Lover's Guide to Understanding Symbols in Paintings. By Paul Crenshaw. Universe, 2009. This book presents a unique design: It pairs each of the 62 featured paintings with a page of die-cut windows that help the reader focus on specific objects or viewpoints.

Food and Feasting in Art. By Silvia Malaguzzi. J.Paul Getty Museum, 2008. What role does food and drink play in art? There is also a chapter on the dining table and its furnishings.




Master Pieces: Making Furniture from Paintings. By Richard Ball and Peter Campbell. Hearst, 1983. Go ahead - design and build furniture as seen in works of art. This book is a visual treat in itself.

Flowers in the Louvre. By Michel Lis and Beatrice Vingtrinier. Flammarion, 2009. This book focuses on floral inspired works in the Louvre's world famous art collection.

Elizabeth Taylor dies at 79

Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London on Feb. 27, 1932 to American parents. Her father was a successful art dealer and her mother was an actress. In 1939 the family moved to Los Angeles, where Elizabeth, coached and encouraged by her mother, found work in the motion picture industry. Elizabeth Taylor starred in more than 50 films and became a Hollywood legend. She died at age 79 on March 23, 2011 in Los Angeles.

Books and films about Elizabeth Taylor

Movies and films with Elizabeth Taylor and a book written by her

Deborah Eisenberg wins 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

Deborah Eisenberg won the 2011 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for her work THE COLLECTED STORIES OF DEBORAH EISENBERG (Picador). The honored book combines four volumes of Eisenberg's work: Transactions in a Foreign Currency, Under the 82nd Airborne, All Around Atlantis, and Twilight of the Superheroes. Twilight of the Superheroes was a PEN/Faulkner finalist in 2007.

Deborah Eisenberg was born in 1945, and grew up in the Chicago suburb of Winnetka. She went to boarding school and to college in Vermont, and in the 1960s moved to New York City where she received her B.A. at the New School. She now teaches at the University of Virginia.

The PEN/Faulkner Award is the largest peer juried-prize for fiction in the United States. Three judges considered about 320 novels and short story collections by American authors published in the US during the 2010 calendar year. As winner, Eisenberg receives $15,000. One of the judges, Laura Furman says, "From the first to the last of her collected stories, Deborah Eisenberg demonstrates her sharp intelligence, literary inventiveness, and her clear understanding of human interconnectedness as it exists in isolation." Each of the four finalists, Jennifer Egan for A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD (Knopf), Jaimy Gordon for LORD OF MISRULE (McPherson & Co.), Eric Puchner for MODEL HOME (Scribner), and Brad Watson for ALIENS IN THE PRIME OF THEIR LIVES (W.W. Norton) receives $5,000.

Top 10 Books on the Environment

Booklist recently compiled a list of Top 10 Books on the Environment which were published during the last 12 months.

American Eden: From Monticello to Central Park; What Our Gardens Tell Us about Who We Are. By Wade Graham. 2011. Harper.

"Graham offers a fresh, ecologically astute history of American gardens grand and humble, designed by such diverse innovators as Thomas Jefferson and Martha Stewart."

Animal Factory: The Looming Threat of Industrial Pig, Dairy, and Poultry Farms to Humans and the Environment. By David Kirby. 2010. St. Martin’s.

"Kirby profiles people who have suffered the gravely deleterious effects of industrial animal farming in the most relatable, thorough, and irrefutable testimony yet to the hazards of factory farms."

Bird Cloud. By Annie Proulx. 2011. Scribner.

"Renowned novelist Proulx turns to nonfiction to chronicle the building of her dream home in Wyoming, combining construction misadventures with tales of wildlife and crimes against humanity and nature."

Green Gone Wrong: How Our Economy Is Undermining the Environmental Revolution. By Heather Rogers. 2010. Scribner.

"Rogers (Gone Tomorrow, 2005) exposes the “green” movement’s failure to advance sustainability and protect the environment as initiatives are hijacked by economic and political interests."

Growing a Garden City. By Jeremy N. Smith. 2010. Skyhorse.

"Smith reports on how Missoula, Montana, embraced the local food movement to create a model for healthful and environmentally sound community-supported agriculture."

The Quiet World: Saving Alaska’s Wilderness Kingdom, 1879–1960. By Douglas Brinkley. 2011. Harper.

"Historian Brinkley continues his magnificent multivolume history of conservation in America with an original and enthralling portrait gallery of colorful environmental visionaries intent on preserving Alaska’s glorious wilderness and wildlife."

Running Dry: A Journey from Source to Sea down the Colorado River. By Jonathan Waterman. 2010. National Geographic.

"Waterman chronicles his simultaneously personal and investigative journey down the Colorado River, profiling diverse individuals who have worked hard to keep the river alive and flowing."

The Story of Stuff: How Our Obsession with Stuff Is Trashing the Planet, Our Communities, and Our Health—and a Vision for Change. By Annie Leonard and Ariane Conrad. 2010. Free Press.

"A Time magazine Hero of the Environment, Leonard calculates the full ecological and social cost of our “stuff” and calls for an end to overconsumption and the valuing of quantities of consumer goods over quality of life."

The Turquoise Ledge. By Leslie Marmon Silko. 2010. Viking.

"Silko draws on her Laguna Pueblo, Cherokee, Mexican, and European ancestry and extended family in this richly veined eco-memoir of desert life, spiritual forces, close bonds with animals, and environmental destruction."

The View from Lazy Point: A Natural Year in an Unnatural World. By Carl Safina. 2011. Holt.

"Acclaimed ecologist and ocean advocate Safina reports on places around the world where the impact of climate change and environmental destruction is starkly evident."