New This Week
November 30, 2009
Column: At the Library
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby
A lazy 20-year-old self-proclaimed poet begrudgingly takes a job at coffee house in Anthony Capella’s latest novel, THE VARIOUS FLAVOURS OF COFFEE. Rich in historical detail"the novel takes place in 19th century London"the real story begins when the poet falls in love with his boss’s daughter.
Younger readers should enjoy YOU CAN’T READ THIS by Val Johnson. The author takes an amazing tour of historic censorship. Secret codes, banned books, writers being hunted, destroyed libraries, and mistranslated books that began wars are all found in this brightly illustrated book.
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 Snow!
A classic Christmas…an elegant evening of Chocolate, Dessert, Drama, Carols and Classic flute duo “Champagne Flutes”. December 4th from 7 to 10 pm. Tickets at the Library or Lotus Books…$7 each. The evening will feature Sweet Gestures Chocolate, a variety of desserts and beverages, Drama by Bard in Your own Backyard, Kootenay Christian Academy Drama, and Members of the Mount Baker Choir. An affordable cultural event to kick off the month of December.
Are you cleaning up your house for Xmas? Ready to discard those unneeded books? The Friends of the Library would love your book donations at any time of the year. Please phone Marilyn 250-489-6254 for further details.
10 of the Kootenay’s best authors will be hosting a Book Fair and Sale on Saturday December 12th, from Noon to 5 pm, in the Manual Training School at the Cranbrook Public Library. This is going to be a fantastic even with author readings and signings, presentations, and a chance to meet a few of the award winning writers. Admission is free. Scheduled to attend are Angie Abdou, Keith Liggett, Keith G. Powell, Brendan Gillen, Janice Strong, Don Davies, Joel Robinson, Colin Cartwright, Marc Archambault, and Dave Cassidy.
Come and check out our new Christmas display, courtesy of Gordon Jackson.
Please note that the Library will close at 5 pm on Thursday, December 10th for a Library Board function. Regular hours will resume on Friday and we apologize for any inconvenience this may cause
ADULT NEWLY AQUIRED SHELF:
Eating Animals " Jonathan Saran Foer (641.303)
Internet Systems and Applications " Alec Fehl (004.678)
Internet & World Wide Web How to Program (005.2768)
Cheap : The High Cost of Discount Culture " Ellen Ruppel Shell (381.149)
Africa : Altered States, Ordinary Miracles " Richard Dowden (960.32)
Knockout " Suzanne Somers (362.196)
The Lost Art of Listening " Michael P. Nichols (153.68)
Tug of War " Harvey Brownstone (346.71)
Pacify Me " Chris Mancini (649.10851)
Design for Water " Heather Kinkade-Levario (628.13)
Eating Well, Living Well " Richard Beliveau (615.854)
Curves, Twists and Bends : A Practical Guide to Pilates for Scoliosis (616.73)
Re-bound " Jeannine Stein (686.3)
The Golden Retriever Handbook " Caroline Coile (636.75)
The Canadian Type 2 Diabetes Sourcebook " M. Sara Rosenthal (616.462)
The Five Love Languages of Your Family " Gary Chapman (649)
Internet Law " Michael Rustad (343.730)
Honey for Health & Beauty (641.68)
House of Suds " William A. Hagelund (338.476)
Engineering the Pyramids " Dick Parry (722.2)
Canada and Other Matters of Opinion " Rex Murphy (081)
A Soldier First " Rick Hillier (bio)
Under the Dome " Stephen King (fic)
The Wrecker " Clive Cussler (fic)
The Various Flavours of Coffee " Anthony Capella (fic)
No Time to Wave Goodbye " Jacquelyn Mitchard (fic)
The wish for Christmas " Thomas Kinkade (fic)
After You " Julie Buxbaum (fic)
Evil at Heart " Chelsea Cain (mys)
The Night Monster " James Swain (mys)
I, Alex Cross " James Patterson (mys)
Ice " Linda Howard (mys)
A Cure for All Diseases " Reginald Hill (pb)
Your Heart Belongs to Me " Dean Koontz (pb)
While My Sister Sleeps " Barbara Delinsky (pb)
Once in a Lifetime " Cathy Kelly (pb)
Baby Sign Language Basics (DVD)
Understanding Cats (DVD)
Roots : The Next Generation (DVD)
YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:
Band of Acadians " John Skelton (ya fic)
Sunset Boulevard " Zoey Dean (ya fic)
The Awakening " L. J. Smith (ya fic)
The Struggle " L. J. Smith (ya fic)
Going Bovine " Libba Bray (ya fic)
Hannah " Kathryn Lasky (ya fic)
You Can’t Read This " Val Ross (j 028.9)
The Christmas Story (j 232.92)
The Twelve Prayers of Christmas " Candy Chand (j 242.82)
The Wyrm King " Tony DiTerlizzi (j fic)
Christmas in Camelot " Mary Pope Osborne (j pb)
The New Girl " Meg Cabot (j pb)
Star Wars Breakout Squad " Ryder Windham (j pb)
Star Wars Firefight " Alex Wheeler (j pb)
When I Grow Up " Sean Covey (j pic)
Just the Way I Am " Sean Covey (j pic)
Go Dog Go " P.D. Eastman (j easy)
MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:
One of the most misunderstood books in modern times is the English dictionary. The confusion stems from the belief that the dictionaries we use are prescriptive; their contents are somehow officially sanctioned by some all powerful governing language institute; and these are the ‘proper’ words one can use in writing and in speaking. Yet just the opposite is true. Our dictionaries are descriptive; they only reflect the words English speakers chose to use and write with. This is why words such as ‘irregardless’, ‘do’h’, and ‘cabbaged’ have all found their way into the dictionary. Now ‘irregardless’ is a terrible word, a double negative, and the absolute bane of school teachers. Yet the frequent lament of ‘irregardless is not a word’ is incorrect. It has been the dictionary since 1912, is categorized as part of the American dialect, and is seen as proper English in the state of Indiana.
Modern editors today typically use the ‘rule of five’ when adding new words to the dictionary. For a new word to be considered, it has to have appeared five times, in five different media sources (novels, screenplays, song lyrics, newspapers, etc), for a period of five years. This is why the word ‘unfriend’ (to remove someone from a social network such as Facebook) was added to the Oxford English Dictionary just this year.
It should be noted that all this is strictly for English dictionaries. Those all powerful governing language institutes are real. In languages such as French or German, the vocabulary is monitored by the state; their dictionaries dictate the only way to make use of the language; and on the rare occasion a new word is needed to be added, government commissions are formed. If a new word is accepted, all new publications must reflect their decisions. Thankfully English dictionaries reflect the English language, which continues to grow and evolve with us.
