LOGO!

New This Week

May 4, 2009

Column: At the Library
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby



DEAR HUSBAND�"Joyce Carol Oates’ latest collection of short stories�"provides the reader with a troubling yet fascinating look at American family life. “Dear Husband, I just shot the kids” is indicative of the 14 intimate stories collected here.
Steven Salerno’s HUNGRY HARRY should delight younger readers. Harry�"a baby who can’t stop eating�"chomps on everything from blueberries to the neighbor’s house! A high-spirited tale simply bursting with color.
Preschool Story Time this Wednesday at 11:00 am, 1:15 pm, & 6:30 pm, and Toddler Story this Friday at 10:30 am will be all about oceans!

Now is the time to spring clean and donate those unneeded books, videos, CDs and DVDs to the Friends of the Library for their book sales. Items in good condition are appreciated. Any encyclopedia sets, Readers Digest Condensed Books and textbooks must be published within the last ten years. Please bring items to the circulation desk of the library. For further info please call Marilyn at 250-489-6254.

The Friends of the Library will be showing their latest travelogue on Monday, May 11, in the Lecture Theatre (room 250) at the College of the Rockies. Roberta Rodgers is presenting \"Greece �" A dream come true �" 10th Wedding Anniversary & Honeymoon trip that started in Olympic History class\". Seating is limited, and Admission is by donation. For more information, please call April at 250-489-2038.
Don’t forget to come and see Darlene Chatten’s beautiful and award-winning artwork.

ADULT NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:

The Canadian Atlas : Our Nation, Environment, and People (912.71)
Lonely Planet Russia (914.7)
Italy : Insight Guide (914.5)
Labours of Love : Canadians Talk About Adoption �" Deborah A. Brennan (362.734)
Hope in Shadows : Stories and Photographs of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside �" Brad Cran (971.133)
Beginner’s Guide to Bobbin Lace �" Gilian Dyre (746.222)
The Well-Dressed Ape : Natural History of Myself �" Hannah Holmes (612)
Ivory’s Ghosts �" John Frederick Walker (59.674)
Murder in Mayberry �" Mary Kinney & Jack Branson (364.1523)
The Indigo Children : Ten Years Later �" Lee Caroll (155.45)
Enough Already �" Peter Walsh (646.7)
Positivity �" Barbara L. Fredrickson (158.1)
An Army at Dawn : The War in North Africa �" Rick Atkinson (940.542)
Good Dog. Stay �" Anna Quindlen (bio)
Dear Husband �" Joyce Carol Oates (fic)
The Lost Quilter �" Jennifer Chiaverini (fic)
The Winter Vault �" Anne Michaels (fic)
The Color of Lightning �" Paulette Jiles (fic)
Trust Me �" Peter Leonard (mys)
Borderline �" Nevada Barr (mys)
I Am Legend �" Richard Matheson (pb)
The Italian Job (DVD)
The Dark Knight (DVD)
City of Ember (DVD)
The World at War : Complete Series (DVD)


YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:

The Vampire Diaries : The Return, Nightfall �" L.J. Smith (ya fic)
Bloodhound �" Tamora Pierce (ya fic)
Anything But Typical �" Nora Raleigh Baskin (ya fic)
The Crossing of Ingo �" Helen Dunmore (ya fic)
Waiting for Normal �" Leslie Connor (ya fic)
A Thousand Shades of Blue �" Robin Stevenson (ya fic)
Gravity �" Leanne Lieberman (ya fic)
150 Science Experiments �" Barbara Taylor (j 507.8)
Dazzling Dragonflies -- Linda Glaser (j 595.733)
Family Members �" Debbie Gallager (j 306.85)
Respect �" Kimberley Jane Pryor (j 179.9)
Tolerance �" Kimberley Jane Pryor (j 179.9)
It’s Not My Fault I Know Everything �" Jim Benton (j fic)
The Immortals �" Paul Steward & Chris Riddell (j fic)
Pokemon Diamond & Pearl Adventures (j fic)
Watch Me Throw the Ball �" Mo Willems (j pic)
Hello, Good-bye �" Arlene Alda (j pic)
Harry Hungry �" Steven Salerno (j pic)
Bradley McGogg the Very Fine Frog �" Tim Beiser (j pic)
Robots (j DVD)


MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:

His family called him “the cooch”, which roughly translated means donkey; the type of idiot everyone in the family agrees will never be able to make a living so has to be helped without resentment or reproach. Mario Gianluigi Puzo was born in Hell’s Kitchen, to a large family of poverty stricken Italian immigrants. His poor eyesight kept him out of the family business (railway trackmen), the army, and a host of civil service jobs, much to the consternation of his entire family.
Despite his eyes, Puzo was able to read, and soon discovered the public library and an amazing world of literature. He found employment in public relations, and began writing for various seedy men’s magazines, and the even seedier pulps.
Soon, Puzo had 5 children of his own, and found himself unable to pay for an emergency gallbladder operation. What he needed was to write something which would be a massive commercial success.
While he worked for the pulp magazines, he remembered listening to unbelievable anecdotes about organized crime. He clearly remembers one writer telling him “a (mob) lawyer with his briefcase can steal more than a hundred men with guns.” Puzo took all these anecdotes, combined them with the immigrant experience of his parents, and typed out his first novel.
THE GODFATHER was published in 1969, spent 67 weeks as a bestseller, and sold 21 million copies. It formed the basis for the 1972 and 1974 films, which are widely considered to be two of the greatest films ever made.
Puzo wrote 11 more novels and the first two Superman movies before his death in 1999. THE GODFATHER made a deep impact on American culture, with “I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse” a common idiom.
He wasn’t “the cooch” after all.