the fall of the library

I'm browsing through a book called Library: The Drama Within by Diane Asseo Griliches and Daniel J. Boorstin. It has made me think of the struggle that libraries here in Alberta, especially the smaller ones, face every year. The funding is always being cut and without the federal grants and fundraising societies, there would be a pretty dismal library system. The book is made up of an essay and photographs with short descriptions/explanations of the photo. There are a few quotes that I like. NYPD Officer Dombranski talks about some of the library closures in the US due to lack of funding: "Some kids go to the library...Others go to the street. But they can't go to the libraries if the libraries are closed." Malcolm X talked about learning to read in the library of a correctional institute. He said "My alma mater was books and a good library. I don't think anybody ever got more out of going to prison than I did. Ten guards and the warden couldn't have torn me out of those books. Months passed without even thinking about being imprisoned...I had never been so truly free in my life."
There was a picture of a tiny library that used to be a post office somewhere in Virginia that could only hold about 5 people. It inspired me even more to create a library when I live where there isn't one.
Some lady named Sheila Bourbeau says it so simply: "A library is books and somewhere to put them and some people to want them there..."
And here is one last quote from someone who's work I don't entirely enjoy, but I loved this:
"Come, take choice of all my library, and so beguile thy sorrow." - William Shakespeare
The picture on the cover of the book is of "The Grand Reading Room" of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France. The picture below I thought was kind of cool because it is of an old jail turned into a library and it still has the barred cells, and a rope hook and trap door for the gallows were left on the third floor.

chocolat

I just received this magazine, chocolat, as a promotional first issue and i want everyone to know how sick it made me. i hope none of you ever buy it. it is catered towards woman who marry rich and have lots of money to waste on them selves from pampering your pooch by buying your dog a $400 kennel, to spiffing up your house by buying $200 flower pots and $300 pillows, to the latest in cosmetic surgery. After sean's last post i am disgusted that people can waste so much money on pointless frivolity that help no one. I am even more ashamed to know that this magazine is a canadian publication when i thought canadians were more unselfish and globally aware than that. Sean was right; cant the media focus on anything that really matters? ever?

help me

I need some fiction recommendations. I've got tons of nonfiction on the go right now but I need a good pretend story. Sorry Erika, I tried reading the Seventh Son, but I couldn't get into it. I have some books that I own that I want to read but I'm saving those for when I'm going to a country that has an inferior library system for six months. So if anyone has any good fiction to tell me about, bring it on. I'm gonna milk the library for all it's worth in the next two months.

scuba-diving

A recent outing to the hot springs in Fairmont, BC made me want to scuba-dive. We had on our goggles exploring the bottoms of the hot springs and my husband and I both think we have developed an appetite for underwater exploration. Our six year old got pretty into it too. I am proud to say that after years of being afraid, I have recently come to feel comfortable in the water. That peaceful weightless feeling of being underwater would only be cooler surrounded by multi-coloured fish and coral reefs. A large supply of oxygen sounds nice too.

Ender's Game

I just read Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card, mostly out of curiosity of the popularity of this author, and this one was recommended. I had fun with it. Although it's not the best book I've ever read, it was different than what I'm use to reading. I don't normally read Sci-fi. I found myself getting really into this one though, even dreaming about interspace battle strategies and maneuvering in zero-gavity, which this book is especially good at descibing. After looking for it on Amazon, I noticed that it is the beginning of a whole series of books about Ender.

the hybrid jackpot

Ligers and such...
Scroll down a little past halfway to the audio with images "When Mammals Mix"(with this picture). It's a little long, but worth it.
Here's another link to some interesting info.

continuing with my hybrid fascination...

here's a zorse.

another hybrid in nature...

There was the pizzlar (polar grizzly). Now there is a... morse?...hoose?...horsemoose...
I heard about it on CBC radio. There is some info on the web now. It's name is Bambi. It is undergoing some dna tests, so it hasn't been confirmed whether it is from a horse and moose cross-breeding or whether it is just a deformation. Here's a link. Who wants to bet that it's a moose-horse?

The Science of Sleep

Here's a preview to a movie that I can't wait to see. It looks so good it makes me drool.

wonderful ad

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ_mlwnAmr0

Watch this it´s marvelous

New series

I just started reading what looks like a wonderful fantasy series. In the first book "His Majesty´s dragon" you get to meet the incredible dragon Temeraire and his accidental handler/friend Will Laurence Captain of his Majesty´s navy. They are the main character and extremely well crafted. You get a good idea of Will´s character as early as page 2 and as soon as Temeraire cracks the shell of his egg soon after you love him. I´m only 1/3 into the book but I could hardly put it down to post this go to the loo and get a drink of water. I have a sinus infection and staying home from work so I have alot of time to read. More later. I think this could be the best book I have read in years.

a million little pieces

Well, sadly (or maybe gladly...?) I only made it to the third chapter or so of the second book in Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series. I just couldn't do it. I was bored already. Dagga, you are a better woman than I.
The gladly part is, a book that I have had on hold at the library for months finally came in for me: A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. I've only started it but so far it is the best book I have read since The Alchemist. It's written in a unique style; the dialogue is very simple with no quotation marks or he said, she said stuff. It contributes to the very introspective mood. It is the author's own addiction rehab story. I think I'm drawn to it because of the way my own life has turned around and although my life was definitely not as extreme, there are moments that are very familiar. I have a book by Elizabeth Hudson called The Carrion Flower (another chapter was added later and it was renamed Snow Bodies: One Woman's Life on the Streets)that is based on the author's younger years as a prostitute and heroine addict. It was kind of neat too, because it all happened in Alberta and B.C., so I recognized some of the places. I was drawn to this one as well for the same reason. No, I was never a prostitute or heroin addict! I think I just need the reminder that things could have been a lot worse.

Regina Spektor

here's a captivating video

book club update

I missed the last book club meeting (it was last wednesday) and I will probably keep missing them for awhile. It was fun while it lasted. But you know how it is, when you add something to your schedule, you need to take something else away just to keep the balance. I added something so I had to take something away, and that something was the book club. I am still, however, going to try to keep reading whatever their genre is every month, I am just not going to take it seriously or go to the meetings. July's is mystery. I once read a mystery novel by Janet Evanovich called Metro Girl. It was pretty fluffy, humorous, pure entertainment. I am reading An Ordinary Man right now, by Paul Rusesabagina. It's his account of how he saved some lives by sheltering them in the hotel he managed during the Rwandan massacres of 1994. (the movie "Hotel Rwanda" was based on his life) No fluff in this one. So when I'm done that I think I'd like some fluff to cool myself off a bit. And a mystery by Evanovich will do just that. One For the Money is the first in a series of twelve (so far). I am not intending to read all twelve, as I usually get bored of a series by book one or two, but who knows. Maybe I will fall in love with them.

cool prefab homes

This house is built by a company called BlueSky MOD. Their motto is "Retreat without a footprint." They are meant to be vacation homes but I think they work just fine as a small year-round home. Who needs a big freaking mansion anyway?@$%? Anyway, there are a lot of good eco-friendly things about these homes; they can come with composting toilets, solar panels, cedar siding (never needs painting/staining), low voltage halogen lights, straw-composite interior walls, etc. They do not need huge machinery to be assembled so they cause less damage to the land. I've seen somewhere, i don't remember where; some houses built on some kind of high stilts, so that the only damage to the land other than footprints from everyday walking would be the four stilts in each corner.

Then there's these homes, called weeHouses, that start with a basic model, prefabricated and delivered, then if you need a second floor or a guest room later on, you can order another prefabricated modular unit. They're cheap but not as friendly.

lego ring

When Rus and I were married we were thinking of alternative ideas for rings. The best idea we came up with was one made out of lego. It was really impractical and uncomfortable though. I just came across this one today and fell in love with it. I would prefer it without the stone though. Another alternative we looked into was tattooed rings but we were told that tattooes wear off easily on the finger and the pain wasn't quite worth it.

pizzlars


here's a picture
this is the news source it is from

Fanfiction

I am about half-way through Pride and Prejudice and am looking forward to being done so I can watch the movie, already! It has been a slow, difficult read so far. First of all, I had to "learn" the language before I could start enjoying it. Second, I just keep expecting it to be amazing, but it's not. I know I'm only half-way through it so maybe my amazement will come when I've completed it. I admit it's well-written, and there are times that I am completely absorbed in it and find myself smiling at the social commentary, but it has yet to live up to its reputation for me.

So, I was at the local library today and I noticed one of their new purchases was a book called An Assembly Such as This (Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman: Book 1). It's book one in a trilogy of books taking the point of view of Mr. Darcy. When I was looking for it on Amazon, I noticed a lot of books derived from Pride and Prejudice; sequels,etc. I didn't realize that fanfiction was such a common thing. I hadn't actually heard the term until Dagga gave me The Night of the Triffids.

A Circle of Cats

Charles de Lint is fast becoming my favorite author, check out this beautiful children´s book illustated by Charles Vess. It´s a charming tale of a little girl bitten by a snake and saved by cats, tree spirit and a spirit panther. It´s loosely connected to Medicine Road that I talked about a few posts back.

poetry!

"True Love Leaves No Traces"
As the mist leaves no scar
On the dark green hill
So my body leaves no scar
On you and never will
Through windows in the dark
The children come, the children go
Like arrows with no targets
Like shackles made of snow
True love leaves no traces
If you and I are one
It's lost in our embraces
Like stars against the sun
As a falling leaf may rest
A moment on the air
So your head upon my breast
So my hand upon your hair
And many nights endure
Without a moon or star
So we will endure
When one is gone and far
True love leaves no traces
If you and I are one
It's lost in our embraces
Like stars against the sun
All this talk about poetry, especially Cohen's makes me think of this one. Rus e-mailed it to me when we were dating and it made me all mushy inside. Feel free to barf, but I thought it was another good indication that he was the man I wanted to marry!