I was going to mention this in my Thanksgiving post, but then decided that it deserved a post all of its own. On Black Friday I took my mom to see Alexander because I am that fantabulous of a daughter. I've never liked Oliver Stone films (with the exception of Natural Born Killers), so I wasn't really looking forward to seeing it. But I sucked it up and went to see it anyway. See. I'm not as mean as you think. I can be nice sometimes.

After the movie we went out to dinner. As I'm sitting in the family friendly confines of Happy Joe's, my mother leans over the table and says to me in her super secret I don't want to shock you voice, "You know, I think Alexander might have been a little, you know, gay." I don't think I have ever wanted to laugh so hard in my entire life, but I restrained myself. She was so serious about it. Kind of like she might have been the only person in the movie theater to pick up on it and she didn't want me to make fun of her. Oliver Stone practically beats you over the head with the sexual tension between Alexander and Hephaistion, so I don't see how anyone could leave that film thinking differently. But my mom was hesitant about it, so I told her I thought her hunch was correct.

Moms. Gotta love them.

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The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios by Yann Martel
This collection of one novella and three short stories was originally published in 1993, nearly a decade before the author won the Booker Prize for Life of Pi. A slightly revamped version of his original work, it will be interesting to see how well this collection does given the success of Life of Pi. If you liked Life of Pi, definitely check out The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios. And for those of you who live in the Chicago area, Yann Martel will be at North Central College on January 13, 2005. Check the Anderson's Bookshop website for more details as we get closer to the date.

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The biggest concern for me during break wasn't getting all of my Christmas shopping done (FYI, my list has been pared down to only 19 people this year -- woo hoo!), but was instead accessing the internet. My ISP went down Wednesday and still has not come back up. It has been horrible! I normally don't mind being trapped in Iowa for five days straight as long as I have my connection to the outside world. By Thursday night I was going stir crazy. To make matters worse, my mother was jonesing for the internet as well. She had a whole list of stuff she wanted me to look up, but naturally I couldn't. It got so bad I actually got an AOL trial CD from a friend and loaded it to my laptop. Sad I know, but I was pretty happy none the less when it was loaded and I was actually connected. My mother was ecstatic. You would have thought what I did was along the lines of Jesus turning water to wine.

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I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving break. Mine was certainly interesting. Since my father is no longer with us it seemed really silly to cook a huge Thanksgiving meal for just the two of us, so I offered to take my mom to the fanciest Thanksgiving buffet in town: the Bucks Barn buffet. Okay, so it's not really fancy, but it is pretty ding dong tasty and that's what matters. Anyway, through a series of unfortunate events my mom's neighbor (the widower) ended up going to dinner with us. Very strange. Over the past year and a half my mom and I have developed a rapport we didn't have before. Having an outsider with us was awkward. And despite what one friend tried to tell me, it wasn't a date. And even if Allen thought it was, I gave him the ol' hairy eyeball over dessert. You know, just in case he was getting any ideas.

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Only one book today, and this book was actually sent to me by Cookie so I can't take credit for it. It's not really a new book, but I still wanted to mention it since a student did send it to me. See! I do pay attention to what you guys email me.


The Librarian by Larry Beinhart
How did nebbish university librarian David Goldberg end up hunted by Homeland Security and on Virginia's Ten Most Wanted list for bestiality? It begins so innocently, when Goldberg starts moonlighting for an eccentric, aging conservative billionaire whose final wish is to leave behind a memorial library about himself. But the most memorable thing about him is a secret that must never be revealed -- he is part of a plot to steal the presidential election. It's one of those moments when knowledge is a dangerous thing and a little knowledge is even more dangerous, and the men with the guns want to kill the fellow indexing the archives.

I knew it! Librarianship can be fraught with danger!

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That's the tagline for Google's newest search engine, Google Scholar. With Google Scholar you search only scholarly literature such as technical reports, theses and abstracts. Although it is still in its beta version, it looks promising. I've been having fun looking up people I know -- I know, I'm a dork. What I think is really cool though is that if you come up with a book you can click on the link next to it that says Library Search and that will take you to WorldCat results for that book. Cool, right? I know, I know. I'm a big dork.

Google says this "is one of the ways in which we are giving back to the research community." Check it out when you have the chance.

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I saw this on Lara's blog first, but I'm going to shamelessly steal it anyway. Godless by Pete Hautman won the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. Other finalists for the award were:

Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti
Harlem Stomp!: A Cultural History of the Harlem Renaissance by Laban Carrick Hill
The Legend of Buddy Bush by Shelia P. Moses
Luna by Julie Anne Peters

I was hoping for Godless or Luna to win, so I'm pretty happy. :-)

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Last week I was contacted by one of the local schools and asked if I would be willing to be one of their celebrity readers this week. What does it say about the state of celebrity status today if the are contacting me of all people? I kind of feel bad for the kids who are expecting someone really cool but instead get me. I selected some great picture books to read though:

Click Clack Moo: Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin
Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
Alice the Fairy by David Shannon

I'm suppose to read for twenty minutes, but I tend to talk fast so I'm taking Froggy's Baby Sister by Jonathan London as my contingency plan. Here's hoping Ms. Turso's first grade class isn't disappointed in my utter lack of celebrity. :-)

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Before I do New Book Tuesday, I want to share with you some book news that I read yesterday that made me squeal with delight. MaryJanice Davidson (an author I only started reading this year but love, love, love) and her husband have sold a young adult fantasy series. The series is about a teenage girl who faces all the normal problems of adolescence: fitting in at high school, making the soccer team, turning into a dragon twice a month. Okay, some problems are bigger than others. Jennifer Scales and the Ancient Hearth, the first book in the series, will be out August 2005. A long, long time from now, but I have a feeling it will be well worth the wait.

Now on to New Book Tuesday.

For Adult Readers...

Citizen Girl by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus
Working in a world where a college degree qualifies her to make photocopies and color-coordinate file folders, twenty four-year-old Girl is struggling to keep up with the essential trinity of food, shelter, and student loans. So when she finally lands the job of her dreams she ignores her misgivings and concentrates on getting the job done... whatever that may be. The Nannies are back, and just as bitter as before. This book has already generated a lot of press (jumping from publisher to publisher will do that), so I expect that we will have many requests for it. I read The Nanny Diaries and enjoyed them, so I was willing to give this book a shot despite the bad press. Unfortunately, I couldn't even make it through the first chapter. Normally I wouldn't post about a book unless I am planning on reading it or have already read it, but I'm very interested to hear what other people think of this book. If you make it through Citizen Girl, let me know your thoughts.

For Young Adult Readers...

Playing in Traffic by Gail Giles
Once again put this under the heading of how did I miss this? The author of Dead Girls Don't Write Letters and Shattering Glass (the only book I have ever started yelling at because it was over and I wanted it to continue) is back with another tension packed thriller. Skye Colby is the multi-pierced, multi-tattooed girl hanging around the cybercafes; always out at odd hours in marginal places. The testosterone-fueled jocks call her slut puppy, the bland blondes in the plaid skirts wrinkle their snub noses in distaste, the teachers call her brilliant, and the counselors call her unstable. She is all that. So why has she singled out Matt Lathrop, an almost invisible nobody, for special attention? Clearly, she has a dangerous agenda, but how can Matt resist the mystery and drama Skye trails in her Goth wake? She promises a way out of his dreary existence -- but at what price?

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This weekend two of my friends spoke to my Saturday class. The topic was suppose to be providing reference service for kids and teens, but as always it veered off topic from time to time. This normally happens and it is usually interesting to see where the conversation goes. This time (however) one topic of conversation seemed to strike a sour note.

I don't know how it came up, but the class started discussing the extra mile. The extra mile is what I would consider to be all the little things I do for my job that are not necessarily part of my job description (or my expectations when I took the position). That can be anything from helping out with youth programs to working extra hours to baking cookies for our holiday open house. To put it nicely, I'm 99.9% sure that my guest speakers and the class did not agree on what should and should not be expected of them as librarians. One group was clearly on the side of I will be asked to do certain things that I will not expect, but I will do them anyway (graciously, without complaint). The other group was just as clearly on the side of I'm not doing anything without being compensated for it in some way, shape, or form.

And this has me thinking (scary, I know). When it comes to time, money, energy, or whatever, where do we draw the line as far as what we will do and what we won't do for our chosen profession? Do you ever find yourself working crazy hours or working for free just to get the job done? Should you be asked or expected to go the extra mile? Do these situations pop up in all professions or just a few?

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I don't know why I do it to myself. I've mentioned here before a certain message board that does nothing but trash the town I live in and the people who run it. Even though I know I shouldn't read it, and even though I know I will be nothing but completely enraged after reading it, I can't help myself. Every morning I check it. And if the people on the board are talking smack about my workplace I check for updates obsessively.

I'm not blogging until I have something positive to say. It's just not fair to you nice blog readers to have to listen to my nonsensical rants.

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This morning The Krafty Librarian sent me this article from the New York Times: Library Science, Home Depot Style. As I was reading through it I noticed that the librarians that work at these libraries face the same difficult reference questions as I do, just with a different spin:

One librarian, Adam Broner, remembers another challenge, when someone carried in a toilet blocked by a plastic medicine bottle. "We got a torch and reached it down in there and melted it — carefully," he recalled.

I don't think I will complain about people who bring in live bugs for me to identify ever again.

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A day late, but you'll forgive me! :-)

For Adult Readers...

Metro Girl by Janet Evanovich
A new series from the creator of one of my all time favorite characters, Stephanie Plum. Alexandra "Barney" Barnaby got the brains in her family, unlike her younger brother, Wild Bill. When Bill goes missing, Barney finds herself in Florida with the bugs and the heat and the bad-hair-day humidity. Barney’s thinking things can’t get too much worse as she makes the rounds of South Beach looking for Bill. Enter Sam Hooker (aka NASCAR Guy). Somebody’s stolen his boat and the trail leads to -- you guessed it -- Wild Bill. Since Bill is missing, Hooker decides to follow Barney and see if she can lead him to his boat.

I was lucky enough to get my hands on this book several days before its street date, and I can say it was a fun read. Better than the Stephanie Plum books? Too tough for me to call. I am curious to hear what other people think of Barney and the gang. I couldn't help but make comparisons between Metro Girl and the Stephanie Plum books. I don't think I will be alone in doing that either. Please let me know your thoughts on Metro Girl once you've had a chance to read it.

For Young Adult Readers...

The Purple Emperor: Faerie Wars II by Herbie Brennan
File this under the category of How did I miss this? Oh yeah. I went to Egypt. Anyway, the sequel to Faerie Wars promises to be just as exciting and action packed as its predecessor. Henry Atherton, his faerie prince friend Pyrgus, and Pyrgus's fearless sister, Holly Blue, return in this fantastic adventure to save the Faerie Realm from the evil Hairstreak and his henchmen, Chalkhill and Brimstone. With the help of forest faeries, some silk mistresses, a sewer-dwelling creature of unknown dimensions, and additional creatures magical and otherwise, the three intrepid young friends find their way from exile back to the home they all would die to preserve and protect.

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In all the election angst I forgot to do New Book Tuesday. I will post that later today, but in the meantime check out some of the latest news in the world of publishing (taken from the latest BWI newsletter):

Louis Sachar Pens Sequel to Holes
Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers, an imprint of Random House Children's Books, has acquired hardcover and paperback publication rights to a new novel by Louis Sachar titled Small Steps, a sequel to the multi-million copy bestseller, Holes. Note from the Diva: Holes won the Caudill award several years ago by a landslide. The sequel will be eagerly anticipated by kids everywhere. Should be good!

New Book by Shel Silverstein
Before he died in 1999, Shel Silverstein had written a new book called Runny Babbit: A Billy Sook: Poems and Drawings. The book, which celebrates spoonerisms (a transposition of consonant sounds from two or more words named for the Rev. W. A. Spooner, a British cleric and scholar, who was especially guilty of this verbal mix-up), will be available March 15, 2005. Note from the Diva: Shel Silverstein was the first author I could identify as a child. Where the Sidewalk Ends was a staple in my reading diet. I can't wait to see this new book.

Coraline to Be Made into a Movie
According to Neil Gaiman's weblog, "the film option for Coraline has been exercised." Rumor has it that stop-motion animator Henry Selick (James and the Giant Peach, The Nightmare Before Christmas) will be making a film of Neil Gaiman's popular YA book, Coraline. Note from the Diva: I had the distinct pleasure a few years ago of seeing Neil Gaiman read Coraline outloud. It was amazing. I can think of no better narrator for this adaptation, and I hope he has a hand in it.

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Bush won
Referendum failed
Hate everyone
Moving to Egypt

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It's my favorite time of year. Time for the Scholastic Customer Appreciation Warehouse Sale. Fifty percent off everything in the warehouse. Woo hoo!

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Every day I have a morning ritual of places I visit on the web before I begin my day. I read a few blogs, I scan the headlines on some news sites, and I always check out what is being discussed on a certain message board. I should tell you that this message board is a blight on my community, and has been since its inception. It amazes me every time I go on it the inaccuracies that are posted there (and there are many). Some of my friends (as well as my boss) have been discussed in very unflattering terms on this board, so I knew that the issue of my library's referendum was bound to come up. Last night (a mere two days before the election) it finally did. To paraphrase my friend Melina, oh the pain! Take a look at what Dew E. Decimal wrote that inspired me to bang my head against my monitor this morning.

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Unless it's to find out how the Girlie Men Express are doing, I don't normally read sports news. But this article had me intrigued:

Redskins lose; does that mean Kerry will win?

I guess that's one way to predict a winner.

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