Archive | December, 2014

My Favorite Things: Meet the Newest HPL Librarian

29 Dec

Hello Hoboken patrons. I’m excited to join the community and this blog as a new librarian on the block. For my first post I thought I’d share some of my favorite books, television shows and movies as a way of introducing myself. I enjoy a huge range of genres and topics, everything from The Wizard of Oz to Harry Potter to The Walking Dead, but I’ll focus on a few titles that may not be as popular or may have been forgotten.

Some of my favorites for children are:

Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little-house-on-the-prairie

The Little House series (and the TV show loosely based on the books) made a lasting impression on me. As a child I wanted to be Laura Ingalls and often pretended that I was her. Although the books are fiction, not autobiographies, they paint an incredible picture of being a pioneer family and growing up in the 1870s. Laura wrote about the excitement of discovering new places, the heartbreak of losing a huge wheat crop and the fear of living through blizzards in a clear, matter-of-fact style. I recommend these books to any kid who is interested in history or just wants to read a good story. And if you haven’t read the books since you were a child, I’d recommend you pick them up again. I recently re-read them, and found new things I missed the first ten times.

Amelia Bedelia, by Peggy Parrish

play-ball-amelia-bedelia

Amelia Bedelia is a character who takes everything she is told literally. In my favorite story, Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia, Amelia learns how to play baseball. When she hits the ball and is told to “run home” she runs to her house. When I read these books as a child I thought I was so smart for knowing why Amelia was wrong. These books are silly and fun, and I recommend them to every kid I know.

The Three Pigs, by David Wiesner

three-pigs

This picture book starts out like every other version of The Three Pigs that you’ve ever read or heard. The pigs build houses out of different materials, the wolf huffs and puffs and blows the house down, but then something unexpected happens: the pigs are blown right out of their story and into others. Wiesner illustrates the story in different styles that match where the Pigs are exploring. This is a great book to read with your favorite kids, and offers an opportunity to use your imaginations to take the pigs on your own made-up adventures. If you enjoy this book, look for additional Wiesner.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial – Directed by Steven Spielberg

et

E.T. is the story of a boy and his alien. A young visitor from outer space is stranded on Earth when his spaceship leaves without him. Elliot, his brother, sister and their friends work to reunite E.T. with his family. I could watch this movie every day and not get bored. It has adventure, frightening encounters, and real emotion. The friendship that Elliot and E.T. develop is deep and real and can resonate with anyone who has ever had a friend.

A few of my favorites for adults are:

Fringe – TV series

fringe

If you liked The X-Files and Lost, check out Fringe starring Anna Torv, Joshua Jackson, Jasika Nicole and John Noble. This series had all of the mythology and mystery of both of those series, but with a much less convoluted story. The monster of the week, the relationships between the characters and the overall arc of the show were beautifully intertwined to create something I haven’t seen much of: a series with continuity that (mostly) made sense. The series flew under the radar, and was constantly at risk of cancellation but if you like science fiction with complex characters I’d recommend watching the series.

Hannibal – TV series

hannibal

Hannibal starring Hugh Dancy as profiler Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lector isn’t for everyone. It’s violent and gruesome, yet it is also completely fascinating. It’s based on the novels by Thomas Harris, especially Red Dragon, and takes place before the events of Silence of the Lambs. The cinematography on this series is unparalleled. It’s stylish and haunting, as is the show itself. I often have to watch during the day because it’s very scary, but I still look forward each new episode. Season 3 is filming now, and this X-Files fan is very excited that Gillian Anderson has been promoted to series regular.

Wicked, by Gregory Maguire

wicked

My colleague Lois has already written about Wicked in her blog post about The Wizard of Oz, but I have to second the recommendation for this novel. I tend to re-read only books from my childhood, but this one (and my next entry on this list) are the exceptions. Maguire makes the politics and the people of Oz so real that you almost expect to read about Munchkinland in an actual newspaper. The book took me a little while to get into, but within a few chapters I was hooked.

Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte

jane-eyre

Jane Eyre is such a typical, old-fashioned, high-school English class book that I was surprised that I loved it. Even though I enjoy reading, and English was my favorite class, I didn’t always like the books we were forced to read. Jane Eyre is different and right from the first paragraph I was enthralled. Some of my opinions about the characters have changed over time, but the perfect language and sympathetic characters keep me coming back over and over. If you haven’t read Jane Eyre since your own high school English class, I recommend that you give it another chance.

All of these titles can be borrowed from the library.

-Written by Kim Iacucci, Children’s Librarian

Tags: , , ,

Selections from the Hoboken Public Library’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club Part 3: Ringworld, Ghost Story, Frankenstein, and Hogfather

22 Dec

The HPL’s Science Fiction and Fantasy Book Club started in January of this year.  We have had great discussions each month of a different science fiction or fantasy book picked by the group.  Along with the selected works, group members discuss other favorite science fiction/fantasy books, TV shows, and movies.    We would love to have you join us in the New Year!  We will be reading Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers for January’s discussion, the first three L. Frank Baum books for February, and David Weber’s On Basilisk Station for March.  You can also check out my previous two blog posts (Part 1 and Part 2) to see other books the group read this past year.

Ringworld, by Larry Niven

Ringworld
Ringworld resulted in a lively discussion amongst the group members and had the biggest turnout of any book discussion this year.  Several of the members of the book discussion group were huge fans of Larry Niven’s work and as a new reader to Ringworld it was nice to get their perspectives.  Niven’s work appeals to those who like hard science fiction and it is driven by ideas and science with characters and plot there to highlight these concepts.  Ringworld is a manmade ring shaped world which was abandoned by its creators who those left behind now worship as gods.  Four explorers: two humans and two aliens, make the journey to Ringworld.  I enjoyed the aliens that Niven created: the cat-like Kzin, and a Pierson’s Puppeteer who has two heads that it also uses as hands and whose brain is located at the top of its spinal column.  The group remarked Niven’s human characters also felt alien since they were living so far into the future and with the help of booster spice had the opportunity to live a long life of leisure.  It is a great adventure story.  The group did note though that the depiction of women was dated and would probably need to be updated if Ringworld was adapted in movie form for a modern audience.  The book has not yet been adapted to television or movies, but the video game Halo’s world was inspired by Ringworld.  If you enjoy Ringworld there are several sequels focusing on Ringworld, and Niven set several other works of his in the known space universe as well.

Ghost Story, by Peter Straub

ghost-story
The book club decided to read a classic work of horror for October’s book of the month, Peter Straub’s Ghost Story.  I’ve been known to have nightmares just from the commercials from horror movies so I decided this book would not be one I would be reading right before bed.  Ghost Story is the tale of “Chowder Society,” a group of friends that gather together to tell spooky tales, but the scariest tale of all is the one they are living through as a supernatural entity is out to seek revenge for an incident that occurred years earlier.  As well as his own works, Straub has also collaborated with friend and fellow horror great, Stephen King.  King has praised Ghost Story.  As is frequent in King’s works, one of the characters in the novel is an author whose own work informs what is going on in the small but not so idyllic town of Milburn, NY.  This book was not amongst the favorites overall of books we have read for the group.  Much of the group felt the pace was too slow and would have benefited from paring down the story significantly.  However, there were portions that were still riveting and the story holds up well even 35 years after initial publication.  Ghost Story seemed to the group to focus on the potential for evil to secretly lurk in those around us.  It also provides a meditation on the nature of long term friendships. The library showed the 1981 film that the book was based on for further discussion.

Frankenstein, by Mary Shelley

frankenstein
Frankenstein has become a part of modern pop culture with numerous reinterpretations like TV’s Herman Munster and even FrankenBerry, a cartoon character hawking sugary cereal.  The visuals of the iconic look of the character comes from Boris Karloff’s portrayal in the 1931, but the tragic story of man who sought create a life and instead created a monster came from the imagination of a young Mary Shelley. I read Frankenstein for a literature class taught by one of my favorite professors at Montclair State University.  The class centered on understanding the different types of literary criticism such as new criticism, feminist criticism, Marxist criticism, reader response and more using the text of Frankenstein to see how the book could be interpreted differently by each of these methods.  Having spent a whole semester so closely reading the book 15 years ago, I was looking forward to seeing how the members of the book discussion would react to Mary Shelley’s classic work.  And sure enough the insightful members of the group still had further interpretations of the novel including one unique perspective about the mystery elements of the work.  The wonderful part about book clubs is that they let you see books from not only your perspective, but also gives you the insights from other readers.  If you only are familiar with the films, you should definitely check out Shelley’s Frankenstein, which is often considered the first science fiction novel.

Hogfather, by Terry Pratchett

hogfather
Terry Pratchett is my father’s favorite fantasy author.  I can remember him passing along several of his favorites to me when I was a teenager.  Pratchett’s novels are hilarious and we thought his novel Hogfather (a Discworld version of Santa) would be the perfect way to celebrate the holiday season.  The Discworld is a magical realm filled with wizards, witches, and some magical creatures from Pratchett’s own imagination.  His work often pokes fun at other Science Fiction and Fantasy authors such as Tolkien and Lovecraft as well as satirizing modern daily life.  Hogfather takes a humorous look at the commercialism of our holidays.  As a fan of Nightmare Before Christmas, Death’s attempt to take over the part of the m.i.a. Hogfather reminded me and some of the other group members, of Jack Skellington’s similar efforts to replace Santa Claus in Tim Burton’s movie.  You can find many of Pratchett’s Discworld novels at BCCLS libraries and as eBooks for download for Hoboken Library cardholders from eLibraryNJ.  Group members noted that the novel has a more cohesive plot than much of Pratchett’s work and that although it features characters from other Pratchett novels, it is not necessary to have read the other books to enjoy this one.  The movie was adapted as a television movie in the UK and is available on DVD.  Although the movie’s special effects are not always the best, the acting is enjoyable.  Group members especially mentioned liking the portrayal of the villainous Teatime.

Hope to see you for our discussion of Robert A. Heinlein’s Starship Troopers in January!

-Written by Aimee Harris, Head of Reference

Tags: , ,

← Older Entries