Saturday, May 29, 2010

The Perks of Being a Librarian



Last Tuesday and Wednesday I had the opportunity to attend BookExpo America (BEA) in the city. Basically the two days consisted of hearing about upcoming books, getting a TON of free books (and I mean a suitcase full!) and getting to have the authors autograph books. It's heaven!

Here are a few books that I got my hands on that I'm excited to read:
For the Win by Doctorow--The author's last book Little Brother is a favorite of mine.
I Am Number Four by Lore--A new sci fi series. The film version is already optioned with some involvement by Steven Spielberg.
Monsters of Men by Ness--The 3rd and final book in the Chaos Walking trilogy!
The Agency: A Spy in the House by Lee--A female detective in Victorian England.
Revolution by Donnelly--The author of A Northern Light returns with a tale of two girls living two centuries apart.

I also had the chance to attend a party at Scholastic for Mockingjay the 3rd and final book of the Hunger Games Trilogy. Hearing Suzanne Collins read from the final book was definitely the highlight of my week. (see picture above--taken by Jen Marino)



Saturday, May 22, 2010

The Perks of Being A Wallflower


According to Variety magazine Emma Watson (Hermione in Harry Potter) and Logan Lerman (Percy in Percy Jackson and the Olympians) are in talks to star in the film adaptation of The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chobsky. It'll be interesting to see if this ever actually makes it to the big screen.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Set In Stone




I recently read Set In Stone by Linda Newbery. It was published in 2006, but I only came across it recently and something about it caught my eye. It's historical fiction, set in late 19th Century Sussex, England at an English country home. The narrative alternates between Samuel Godwin, a young artist who has come to the home to tutor the teen daughters of Mr. Farrow, the homeowner, and Charlotte Agnew, the governess of the girls. Samuel reminded me of Nick Carraway (The Great Gatsby) in his honesty, honor, curiosity and overall congeniality. He was also very sentimental in a similar manner to Carraway. What I liked about the story is that it started off like a Jane Austen novel, then it became mysterious (ah hah!) and then scandalous (yay!). The writing is beautiful and the setting is haunting. Well done!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

"Who Ya Gonna Call?"

To bring attention to the importance of keeping the New York Public Library around, an improv group recently reenacted a scene from Ghostbusters that takes place in the main branch of NYPL. It's really funny--I love how people just move their bags out of the way so the ghosts can sit down! It's too bad NYPL can't really call the Ghostbuster to help them with their impending budget cuts.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Popular Names



How would you feel if you were named after a vampire? Ask a ton of babies that were born last year. The number one ranked boys' name was Jacob and the number one girls name? You guessed it, Isabella. And to top it off, the name Cullen was also very popular for boys as well. It just shows how popular the Twilight series is.