New This Week
November 2, 2009
Column: At the Library
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby
112 years after its first publication, DRACULAâ€"easily one of the most influential novels of all timeâ€"has a sequel. DRACULA THE UNDEAD is written by Bram Stoker’s great-grand nephew, Canadian Dacre Stoker. This is a wonderfully entertaining novel, filled with all the plot twists and horror fans of the original have come to love.
Younger readers should enjoy THE HIGHER POWER OF LUCKY, Susan Patron’s award winning story of 10-year-old Lucky, her misfit friends, and how each of them cope with loss.
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 Music!
The Friends of the Cranbrook Public Library and the College of the Rockies will be showing their latest Travelogue on Monday, November 16, 2009 in the Lecture Theatre (Room 250) at the College. Sylvia Reed will be presenting “Trekking across South America â€" from Quito to Brazil\". Presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. Doors open 6:30 p.m. Admission is by donation, and please remember seating is limited. For more information, please call April at 489-2038.
Any and all kids ages 9 to 11 (grades 4 to 7) are invited to attend BOOK BITES, a new book club meeting every third Thursday from September to May, beginning at 4 pm. Come out and talk about books, do fun activities, and enjoy some snacks.
And any and all teens are invited to CHATTERZ, their own book club which meets every second Thursday from September to May, beginning at 4 pm. For more information on either of these book clubs, please contact Deanne at 426-4063.
Please come and check out Lynda Schollen’s impressive Remembrance Day display.
ADULT NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:
Wishes : Fall in Love with Cardmarking â€" Jeanette R. Lynton (745.5941)
Originals : Fall in Love with Cardmarking â€" Jeanette R. Lynton (745.5941)
Floating Schools and Frozen Inkwells â€" Joan Adams (370.9711)
The Best Chef at Home â€" Michael Smith (641.5)
Complete Guide to Garages â€"Black & Decker (690.898)
Eat This Not That 2010 â€" David Zinczenko (613.25)
Pregnancy : Your Ultimate Week-By-Week Guide â€" Laura Riley (618.2)
Pirates and Emperors Old and New â€" Noam Chomsky (327.16)
Independence Days â€" Sharon Astyk (641.4)
Snowflakes : Creative Paper Cutouts â€" Cindy Higham (736.98)
Oprah Magazine’s Dream Big (158.1)
Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It â€" Karen Solomon (641.4)
Now or Never â€" Time Flannery (304.25)
Have a Little Faith â€" Mitch Albom (296.7)
Black is the New Green â€" Arthur Black (819.8)
The Greatest Show on Earth â€" Richard Dawkins (576.8)
The Boy in the Moon â€" Ian Brown (bio)
Animal Magnetism â€" Rita Mae Brown (bio)
The Time of My Life â€" Patrick Swayze & Lisa Niemi (bio)
One Last Dance Patrick Swayze â€" Wendy Leigh (bio)
Amphibian â€" Carla Gunn (fic)
Pursuit of Honor â€" Vince Flynn (fic)
Chronicles of a Mid-Life Crisis â€" Robyn Harding (fic)
Dracula The Un-Dead â€" Dacre Stoker (fic)
The Red Hat Club Rides Again â€" Haywood Smith (fic)
Ladies of the Lake â€" Haywood Smith (fic)
Dirty South â€" Ace Atkins (mys)
Peter James â€" Dead Tomorrow (mys)
Between the Plumbs â€" Janet Evanovich (mys)
Imager’s Challenge â€" L. E. Modesitt (mys)
Storm of Shadows â€" Christina Dodd (pb)
Seduced By His Touch â€" Tracy Anne Warren (pb)
Ritual â€" Mo Hayder (pb)
Makeovers Can Be Murder â€" Kathryn Lilley (pb)
Blood Brother â€" J. A. Kerley (pb)
Waking Brigid â€" Francis Clark (pb)
Burn Out â€" Marcia Muller (pb)
YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:
The Tear Collector â€" Patrick Jones (ya pb)
The Gryphon Project â€" Carrie Mac (ya pb)
How Soccer Works â€" Keltie Thomas (j 796.334)
How Figure Skating Works â€" Keltie Thomas (j 796.912)
Star Wars The Batlle for Ryloth â€" Zachary Rau (j pb)
Lunchbox and the Aliens â€" Bryan W. Fields (j pb)
How to Steal a Dog â€" Barbara O’Connor (j pb)
The Higher Power of Lucky â€" Susan Patron (j pb)
When Snowflakes Fall â€" Carl R. Sams (j baby)
MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:
History records a real Count Dracula. Vlad Tepes III was a 15th century voivod (prince or count) of war torn Wallachia (Romania). However Tepes was only a moniker; his family name was Dracul, Romanian for dragon or devil. Vlad went by Draculea, indicating he was the son of Dracul. Now Vlad wasn’t a vampire, but he may as well have been. He committed unimaginable war-time atrocities, skinning and impaling tens of thousands of invading Turks, as well as fellow countrymen and members of his own family. After using slave labour to build Castle Dracul, he hacked off their limbs for sport. He continued to soak his country in blood before his beheading in 1476.
There could not have been a more terrifying character in history for Bram Stoker to use for his 1897 novel DRACULA. Except Bram Stoker had never heard of Vlad Tepes.
THE DEAD UNDEAD was the original title for DRACULA. Abraham Stoker was an Irish novelist, short story writer, and manager of Sir Henry Irving Lyceum Theatre. Stoker based DRACULA on Henry Irving, a Victorian actor known for his sense of style, peculiar mannerisms, hypnotic speech patterns, and two odd-looking canine teeth. Irving was a tyrant to work for, often driving Stoker to exhaustion.
Just as Vlad Tepes was of no influence, neither were any of Eastern Europe’s vampires. Stoker’s bloodsuckers all stem from Irish folklore. Born in the middle of the potato blight, Stoker was bedridden until age 7. It was here he learned about the Celtic Deargdue, the Gaelic Leanan Sidhe, as well as the all too real practice of draining blood from live cattle to ward of starvation. When the famine ended, Stoker heard adults whispering about certain people who had become addicted to this practice.
Although it has never been out of print since it first appeared, and was and still is a literary masterpiece, Stoker made very little money from DRACULA. Sales took off only after Hollywood began to adapt his tale, long after his death.
