New This Week
December 7, 2009
Column: At the Library
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby
Every single day for 50 years a deceptively simple cartoon by Charles M. Schultz appeared in the daily newspaper (over 2,600 of them in 75 countries). THE COMPLTE PEANUTS 1973-74 is the latest volume in this definitive collection of his work, which began with the 1950-52 edition.
Younger readers should enjoy Trenton Lee Stewart’s THE MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY. A small group of gifted children attempt to use their talents to derail their teacher’s plot to take over the world.
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 Stars!
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 Aubdou, 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:
The Love Revolution â€" Joyce Meyer (241.677)
Japanese Cooking â€" Shunsuke Fukushima (641.595)
Honouring Tradition : Reframing Native Art (704.0397)
Return to Beauty â€" Narine Nikogosian (646.72)
The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics : Vancouver Edition (796.98)
I’m Dreaming of a Green Christmas â€" Anna Getty (745.59)
We Know What You’re Thinking â€" Darrell Bricker (971.002)
Cooking With Coconut Flour â€" Bruce Fife (641.5)
Enough Bull â€" David Trahair (335.024)
The Mess They Made â€" Gwynne Dyer (956.054)
Kit Winemaking â€" Daniel Pambianchi (641.872)
The Wayfinders â€" Wade Davis (303.48)
Super Freakonomics â€" Steven D. Levitt (330)
It’s Your Time â€" Joel Osteen (248)
The Conscious Cook â€" Tal Ronnen (641.563)
The Complete Peanuts 1973-74 â€" Charles M. Schultz (741.59)
The Scalpel and the Soul â€" Allan J. Hamilton (bio)
No Limits : The Will to Succeed â€" Michael Phelps (bio)
Home in Time for Christmas â€" Heather Graham (fic)
Coming Home â€" Lois Cloarec Hart (fic)
Kicker’s Journey â€" Louis Cloarec Hart (fic)
Sounding Line â€" Anne DeGrace (fic)
A Quilter’s Holiday â€" Jennifer Chiaverini (fic)
Drawn In Blood â€" Andrea Kane (mys)
Death Spiral â€" James W. Nichol (mys)
Little Bird of Heaven â€" Joyce Carol Oates (mys)
Witches Incorporated â€" K.E. Mills (pb)
The Summer Palace â€" Lawrence Watt Evans (pb)
Scarlet â€" Jordan Summers (pb)
Beverly Hills Cop 2 (DVD)
Trading Places (DVD)
YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:
The Human Brain Book â€" Rita Carter (ya 612.82)
Prehistoric Life : The Definitive Visual Guide (ya 560.9)
Science : The Definitive Visual Guide (ya 500)
Blood Promise â€" Richelle Mead (ya fic)
Frostbite â€" Richelle Mead (ya fic)
Ring of Fire -- Pierdomenico Baccalario (ya fic)
Chicken Soup for the Kid’s Soul (j 158.1)
Horse Crazy â€" Jessie Haas (j 636.1)
The Hockey Goalie’s Complete Guide â€" Francois Allaire (j 796.96)
The Mysterious Benedict Society â€" Trenton Lee Stewart (j fic)
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey â€" Trenton Lee Stewart (j fic)
Little Red Riding Hood â€" Mireille Levert (j pic)
MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:
While there were many English language handbooks, grammars, and ‘wordbooks’ no true dictionary appeared until 1755, when Samuel Johnson published his A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. Johnson had done something no other dictionary in any language had done before; he included quotations which demonstrated how a word was used. This was so unprecedented that it completely overshadows the fact Johnson compiled over 40,000 wordsâ€"including their definitions and usageâ€"singlehandedly.
Johnson’s dictionary was authoritative for the next 150 years, until 1857, when England’s Philological Society teamed up with the Oxford University Press to try to improve on Johnson’s work. In what must of seemed (and still seems) a moment of delusional madness, it was decided this new dictionary would include ‘every single word’ in the English language; when and where the word was introduced into English (going back as far 1066); how and if the meaning of the word has changed; as well as its standard definition, usage and quotes, etc. Now all they needed was another Johnson to lead this ambitious project. Fortunately, they found him.
James Murray was Scottish bank clerk whoâ€"although he possessed no formal educationâ€"could speak and write 24 different languages before he was 20. Appointed as editor of the project, Murray set up shop in his garden shed, and quickly appealed to the reading public to send in any quotations they found of specific words. Murray soon received 1000 quotes per day, and began to compile the dictionary which was estimated to take 10 years to complete.
After 9 years, Murray and his ever growing staff and volunteer base finally finished...the letter ‘A’. The dictionary took another 40 years to complete, and sadly Murray didn’t live to see it finished. THE OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY was finally published in 10 massive volumes in 1928. It boasts 300,000 main entries and 2.5 million word usage quotations. A typical example is the word ‘set’; there are 60,000 words describing the 430 definitions of this common everyday word.
The current OXFORD ENGLISH DICTIONARY has an electronic edition, which is available (for free) here at the Library.
