Beaverton City Library Staff Suggestions

Three Simple Rules That Will Change the World

2012-01-20T14:20:00.000-08:00

Three Simple Rules That Will Change the World is a book written by Rueben P. Job and is based on the teachings of John Wesley. This little book speaks volumes in that if each of us followed its three basic tenets, the world would be a very different place. As the back cover of the book states: "There is no one secret to life. But there are three simple rules that have the power to change your life and your world. John Wesley first taught and practiced these rules many years ago. Now it is up to us to practice this way of living. Not only can these rules change your life, they can change the world. This insightful work calls us to mutual respect, unity, and a deeper daily relationship with God." A very worthwhile read.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

2012-01-13T13:48:00.000-08:00

Excited to see the new movie, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy? Or have you already seen the movie and are confused? Want some background? Then you should definitely visit www.wccls.org and check out our Literary Online Resources.

Novelist Plus provides a synopsis and a book discussion guide to help you understanding.

Another database to consider is: Contemporary Literary Criticism Select.

Enjoy you adventure untangling the nuances of the movie.

If your new year's resolution was to get organized...

2012-01-10T11:52:00.000-08:00

here are a few titles at the Beaverton Library that might appeal to you:

New this year, Brette Sember's The Organized Kitchen will help you start your mission to get organized with the heart of the home.

Learn how to reclaim your space and your time with some advice from author Tsh Oxenreider in her book, Organized Simplicity: The Clutter-free Approach to Intentional Living.

And Organizing for the Creative Person by Dorothy Lehmkuhl shows creative people how to arrange their desks, their time, and their lives "in a style consistent with their unique way of perceiving the world."

New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge

2011-12-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

This is an ideal gift for anyone wanting a desk reference of their own. The latest edition of this guide features updated and expanded entries in nearly 50 categories. The annotation from our library catalog states, "Whether you are researching the history of Western art, investigating an obscure medical test, following current environmental trends, studying Shakespeare, brushing up on your crossword and Sudoku skills, or simply looking for a deeper understanding of the world, this book is for you. An indispensable resource for every home, office, dorm room and library, this new edition of the New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge offers in-depth explorations of art, astronomy, biology, business, economics, the environment, film, geography, history, the Internet, literature, mathematics, music, mythology, philosophy, sports, theater, film, and many other subjects." Definitely a worthwhile purchase for anyone with a curious mind.

Holiday Reading

2011-11-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

For our patrons who celebrate things other than Christmas this time of year, here are a few titles that might be of interest to you:

Eight Tales for Eight Nights: stories for Chanukah by Peninnah Schram offers eight traditional tales from around the world that introduce the customs and meanings of Chanukah.

Andrea Carneiro's Jewish Cooking Boot Camp: the modern girl's guide to cooking like a Jewish grandmother, includes over 50 easy-to-follow recipes for such classic dishes as Honey Cake, Rugelach, and Matzo Balls, background on Jewish holidays putting food and tradition into context, interviews with rabbis about creating modern traditions, and tips from Jewish bartenders and party planners.

Inviting God: celebrating the soul meaning of the Jewish holidays, by David Aaron, provides insight into the reasons why we celebrate.

Kwanzaa from holiday to everyday: a complete guide for making Kwanzaa a part of your life, by Maitefa Angaza is a guide to how Kwanzaa, a winter celebration of family, friends, and the African American community, can be part of life all year round. It provides information on the seven principles and offers ideas for planning Kwanzaa gatherings.

Eric Copage's, Kwanzaa: An African-American Celebration of Culture and Cooking, is a complete guide to the history and foods of Kwanzaa. In addition to 125 recipes, it also includes folktales that illustrate each of the seven principles of the celebration.

Happy holidays, and happy reading!

Are you a Cartophiliac?

2011-11-22T10:00:00.000-08:00

Do you love everything having to do with maps or atlases? Then this is the book for you!

Maphead, by Ken Jennings
From Jeopardy! legend and trivia master Ken Jennings comes a fun, informative and entertaining book that covers just about everything you ever wanted to know about maps, and then some. How much do you know about geocaching, highpointing, road atlas rallying, or "unreal estate"? Ken will fill in the blanks on these and many other related topics. Even if you're not a map lover, you will likely enjoy this book, as it's written in a very humorous and casual style. Chosen as an Amazon Best Book of the Month for September 2011.

Unlimited

2011-11-08T11:27:00.000-08:00

Celebrated fitness instructor Jillian Michaels gives readers tips on building a successful, fulfilling life. Included in her book are chapters on finding your passion, forgiving and accepting responsibility, getting an attitude adjustment, getting organized, strengthening your willpower and managing emotions, and learning the art of conscious choice making. The audio version of this title is very entertaining because it is read by the author, and if you're familiar with Jillian, she doesn't pull any punches!

Fellow Food Geeks, Rejoice

2011-10-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

Alton Brown, food network star and author, has left the building... well, network but not before writing the final installation in his Good Eats series. Entitled, Good Eats 3: The Later Years, Mr. Brown again offers his recipes in a format that is part graphic novel, part encyclopedia, feeding both body and mind.

Chanterelle Foraging Season

2011-10-15T13:41:00.000-07:00

The fall rains have begun and that means chanterelle foraging!

To help get you started check out these books:

Mushrooms, wild and edible : a seasonal guide to the most easily recognized mushrooms by Vincent J. Marteka

All that the rain promises and more : a hip pocket guide to western mushrooms by David Arora

The complete book of mushrooms by Augusto Rinaldi

Edible wild mushrooms of North America : a field-to-kitchen guide by David W. Fischer

Mushrooms of Northwest North America by Helen M.E. Schalkwyk

Steve Jobs 1955-2011

2011-10-05T18:21:00.000-07:00

For many people the passing of Steve Jobs will mean many things. Reading about Jobs and the genius of Macintosh and Apple can teach us many things about leadership and marketing.

Here are some books that I would recommend:

The Macintosh way/ Guy Kawasaki
An out of print classic, one of the best business books.
Steve Jobs / Walter Isaacson
New-supposed to come out in November--but will they postpone it's release?
The Little Kingdom / Michael Moritz
(first published in 1984, then revised) Readable book about the history of Apple and Macintosh.

Looking for your next great read?

2011-09-30T13:35:00.000-07:00

NoveList Plus is a wonderful database of fiction and nonfiction titles. With an advance search you have the ability to locate titles based on author's nationality and/or cultural identity (i.e. Native American).

NoveList Plus can recommend books based on your favorite author. Author Read-alikes.

NoveList Plus is so much more than a database of books.

You can access NoveList Plus from www.wccls.org under online resources/ literature.

Check it out today!

FREE eBooks!

2011-09-23T16:46:00.000-07:00

Would you like to add to your eBook library without depleting your bank account? Check out these websites for FREE eBooks.

Baen Books: Science Fiction and Fantasy books from the publisher, Baen.

Book Lending: Not really free but this site matches lenders and borrowers of Kindle e-books.

Digital Book Index: provides links to full-text digital books.

E-Discover the Classics: 500 classics. This site was created by The Colorado Library Consortium and Douglas County Libraries.

Munseys: At this site you are able to find books based on your device type. 20,000 titles.

These are a few of the lesser known free e-Book sites. Google free eBooks to discover more, such as the original: Project Gutenberg.

Dreams of hitting the jackpot...

2011-09-19T12:31:00.001-07:00

Sometimes I indulge myself and wonder what would I do if I won it big in Vegas? But, then more importantly I start to wonder is it even possible?

21, bringing down the house: the inside story of six M.I.T. students who took Vegas for millions by Ben Mezrich might just answer that question.

An intriguing read about gambling and what is legal and/or ethical and is it worth the risk.

How many hours would you survive?

2011-08-30T15:49:00.000-07:00

In this unbelievable yet true story, adventurer Aron Ralston is injured in a rock climbing accident. This gripping tale is told in both flashbacks and real time, and there's rarely a dull moment. Even knowing the outcoming- all you have to do is look at the cover!- the reader is still drawn into the story, eager for every detail of his unique experience.

A movie based on this autobiography, starring James Franco, was released in theaters in 2010 under the title "127 Hours".

Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Aron Ralston

And, Don't Hold the Anchovies, Please!

2011-08-21T16:20:00.000-07:00

My third grade teacher introduced me to the words and art of Shel Silverstein and I have been a fan of his children's books since that time.

Every Thing on It, scheduled to be released in a few weeks, introduces a collection of previously unpublished poems and drawings by Mr. Silverstein. Thanks again, Mr. Dorsey.

Magical Realism Fiction

2011-07-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

Growing up my Mom had tons of herbal and non traditional remedies. If you had a wart, my mom would have you rub an apple peel on the wart on a full moon and bury it in a secret spot. On the next full moon you would dig up the apple peel and your wart would be gone. Funny that I do not remember if it worked but as kids we loved the thought and mystery behind it and searched for friends that had warts!

If you like the hopefulness of magic and mystery without the other worldliness of science fiction/fantasy check out the milder genre of magical realism fiction.

Sarah Addison Allen is a wonderful, New York Times bestselling author that writes realistic fiction but infuses the characters with special gifts and magical touches.

If you enjoy books about friendship, family, relationships set in a charming southern town you should definitely check out Sarah Addison Allen.

Classic who-dun-its

2011-07-17T23:11:00.000-07:00

There are so many subgenres in mystery: paranormal, crime fiction, historical mysteries, contemporary cozies, police procedures and the list goes on.

If it is to overwhelming here is a quick and dirty list of classic mystery authors to check out:

Dorothy Sayers

Robert B. Parker

P.D. James

Walter Mosley

Anne Perry

I scream, you scream, we all scream...

2011-07-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

Today is National Ice Cream Day and, if you are like me, a little mid-summer inclement weather is not going to deter you from enjoying this frozen delight. If you are are inclined to make your own, here are a couple of titles to help you get started:

Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream written by Jeni Britton Bauer is a collection of over 100 recipes including Salty Caramel, Lavender, and Queen City Cayenne.

And who can forget our old friends Ben and Jerry who serve up the recipes for their classics like Cherry Garcia as well as a simple but delicious French Vanilla in their book Ben and Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream Book by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

2011-07-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

I enjoy listening to books on CD since I have a lengthy commute and this was one of the most fascinating books that I have read. As the jacket says:

"Henrietta Lacks died from cervical cancer at the age of 31. Before her death, doctors culled cells from Henrietta, cultivating the first set of 'immortal' cells ever, and used them to engineer breakthrough cancer treatments, the polio vaccine, and other crucial medical and scientific advancements. Henrietta's family, though, never knew any of this until twenty years after her death and never received any of the profits from the use of her cells. Here, Skloot unfolds this story of bioethics." A mixture of science, ethics, and family drama, this book will captivate you from beginning to end.

2011-07-13T12:22:00.000-07:00

Moonwalking With Einstein, by Joshua Foer

This is the captivating (and true) story of how Joshua Foer went from covering the U.S. Memory Championships as a scientific journalist to a competitor at them in just one year. Along the way, he learned a great deal about how memory works- and sometimes, dramatically, doesn't. Though it does have tips on how to improve your memory, it is less a how-to book and more a fascinating look at the human mind and one man's journey of discovery. An Amazon Best Book of the Month.

All in the name of love...

2011-07-07T16:13:00.000-07:00

Sex on the Moon: The Amazing Story Behind the Most Audacious Heist in History

Thad Roberts was known as a thrill seeker while at NASA's Cooperative Education Program at Johnson Space Center in Houston but a thief? Roberts gives up his promising career in science when he meets a girl and decides to give her the moon...stealing moon rocks that NASA considered worthless.

"Movie-worthy treatment to the guy who stole moon rocks from NASA"--The New York Daily News

Adapt!

2011-06-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

"From a spaceport in the Mojave Desert, to the street battles of Iraq, to a blazing offshore drilling rig, to everyday decisions in our business and personal lives, this is a handbook for surviving—and prospering—in our complex and ever-shifting world.

"...When faced with complex problems, we have all become accustomed to looking to our leaders to set out a grand vision, experts to draw up a detailed plan of action, or gurus who can provide us with some infallible solution.

In this groundbreaking book, Tim Harford shows us a new and inspiring approach to solving the most pressing problems in our lives."
(quoted from author website: http://timharford.com/books/adapt/ )

Check availability

Kickin' it old school

2011-06-07T11:45:00.000-07:00

Okay, I admit it. I am a proud product of the 70's and 80's. I came of age during the John Hughes era. So when I saw this little tome and read the description, my heart sang a bit and I quickly added my name to the waiting list. Now I'm craving a Marathon bar.

Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes, and Trends of the 70s and 80s by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

Summer (finally!) Reads

2011-06-03T16:34:00.000-07:00

Now that temperatures have reached a summertime-ish level, your thoughts may be turning to beach reads. The New York Times has an interesting list of books to get you started.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/27/books/summers-beach-books-get-a-makeover.html?pagewanted=1&ref=books

Happy summer reading!

Is It Just Me? Or is it nuts out there?

2011-05-31T12:06:00.000-07:00

The title sets the stage for Whoopi Goldberg's observations on how society just isn't as civil as it once was. Everyone will recognize and nod their head in agreement when Whoopie discusses drunk driving, texting while driving, blogging, manners (or lack thereof), cell phones, bullying and the myriad of occasions when respect for fellow humans is nonexistent. After reading this book, I thought that an outline of it could be used in school situations to teach students on how not to behave!

Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma!

2011-05-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

I needed an escape. An escape from reality shows, bad news, and the tacky banter of today's sitcoms. I went and picked up Oklahoma! What a relief. Great dancing, absurdly funny lyrics, lifestyle situations that make you cringe in that way that old movies do, but still... worth seeing, if you haven't seen it. I love the songs--heard them all my life but I never bothered to see the musical.

Oklahoma!

I was very impressed by the dance numbers, and laughed audibly at the song "Can't say No"

Go ahead, put it on hold.

So You Got a New Puppy!

2011-05-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

All of these books come highly recommended for raising and training a puppy.

How to Raise a Puppy You Can Live With

by Clarice Rutherford

The Puppy Whisperer: a Compassionate, Nonviolent Guide to Early Training and Care

by Paul Owens

My Smart Puppy: Fun, Effective and Easy Puppy Training

by Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson

Puppy Preschool: Raising Your Puppy Right-- Right from the Start

by John Ross and Barbara McKinney

Foodies and Reading

2011-05-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

Memiors and biographies of chefs and cooking are so popular these days! Blood, Bones and Butter; the inadvertent education of a relucantant chef by Gabrielle Hamilton and Life, on the Line: a chef's story of chasing greatness, facing death, and redefining the way we eat by Grant Achatz are two recent and popular titles. Here are a couple of older titles that may also be of interest.

Never Eat Your Heart Out by Judith Moore

Nobody Know the Truffles I've Seen by George Lang

Stand Facing the Stove: the story of the women who gave America the Joy of Cooking by Anne Mendelson

Oregon Book Award Winners Announced

2011-04-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the winners of the 24th Annual Oregon Book Awards!

Ken Kesey Award For Fiction

Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin of Portland

Stafford/Hall Award For Poetry

The Book of Men and Women by David Biespel of Portland

Francis Fuller Victor Award For General Nonfiction

Savages & Scoundrels by Paul Vandevelder of Corvallis

Sarah Winnemucca Award For Creative Nonfiction

The Far Corner by John Daniel

Eloise Jarvis McGraw Award For Children's Literature

Calvin Coconut: The Zippy Fix by Graham Salisbury of Lake Oswego

Leslie Bradshaw Award For Young Adult Literature

The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys by Scott Carter of Salem

Among the Truthers - a new book shedding light on the mind of the Birthers

2011-04-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

Kay, the managing editor and columnist at Canada's National Post newspaper, delivers an insightful (and slightly scary) exploration of America's conspiracy movements. Focusing primarily on the Truthers (who believe the U.S. government engineered the September 11 attacks)—and to a lesser extent, the Birthers (those who claim President Obama is a foreign-born Muslim), Holocaust deniers, and JKF assassination theorists—he argues that we must take these movements seriously, however outré they may seem, for the disturbing anti-intellectual trend they epitomize: a "nihilistic distrust of government" and a "rejection of logic and rational discourse." Kay, who spent three years immersing himself in conspiracy culture, traces America's flourishing conspiracism back to Greco-Roman times and explores the technological developments that allow conspiracy theories to flourish: Web sites and message boards where Truthers and Birthers can get news "tailored to their pre-existing obsessions." Kay, although generally a fair-minded conservative, reveals that he isn't immune to conspiracy theories himself: he excoriates the rise of multiculturalism and feminism in the academy for prompting a "reconstruction (and in some cases wholesale invention) of history according to the viewpoint of women, blacks, gays... a project that replaced the historian's once unquestioned goal of objective truth with an explicitly political, Marxist-leaning agenda aimed at empowerment and solidarity-building.
-Publisher's Weekly Review (May)
Other reviews: http://amongthetruthers.com/

New Non-Fiction DVDs

2011-04-22T13:19:00.000-07:00

Lucky: If money can't buy happiness, can winning the lottery come close?
DVD 795.3809 LUC

Sniper: Inside the Crosshairs
DVD 356.162 SNI

The President's Book of Secrets
DVD 323.448 PRE

Walkability is the New Black

2011-04-19T11:44:00.000-07:00

The simplicity of living in a compact, easily maintainable, well-designed home with quick access by foot, to goods and services has long been a dream of mine.

If you share that dream, consider adding Ross Chapin's book
Pocket Neighborhoods: Creating Small Scale Community in a Large Scale World,
to your reading list.

Love to travel but...

2011-04-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

Love to travel but always stumped by what to pack? Imagine having to prepare and pack for a trip to Mars. Mary Roach tells us all about what it takes to pack for Mars in her book, Packing for Mars, the curious science of life in the void.

Check the catalog for availability.

Quirky Westerns

2011-04-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Are you looking for a good western, but want something a little different, a little off the beaten path? Check out these DVDs!

A hardened American gunslinger is repeatedly thwarted in his attempts to mount a showdown in a friendly town in Canada where no one seems to understand or appreciate the brutal code of the American Wild West. An action-comedy-drama.

Five hundred years in the future, a renegrade crew aboard a small spacecraft tries to survive as they travel the galaxy. Horses, cattle, rifles, and desert landscapes all make an appearance in this short-lived but immensely popular "space western" science fiction series. Action drama with a lot of humor.

A Polish rabbi wanders through the Old West on his way to lead a synogogue in San Francisco. On his way, he meets up with a bank robber and hijinks ensue. Comedy.

Crafters Rejoice!

2011-04-08T14:00:00.000-07:00

Check out our new crafting and jewelry magazines.

Cloth Paper Scissors

Jewelry Artist

Step by Step Wire Jewelry

Learn to Play!

2011-04-06T18:20:00.000-07:00

Have you always wanted to know how to play an instrument or sing a tune? Don't wait any longer! The library has great books, cds, and dvds to get you playing and singing in no time.

Just ask a librarian to help you find the information that's right for you!

New DVDs in Blu-Ray too!

2011-04-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

2011-03-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

Grief is the price we pay for love

Elizabeth II

Title: About Grief: Insights, Setbacks, Grace Notes, Taboos (2010)

Author: Marasco, Ron

Call Number: 155.937 MAR

Title: At Deaths Door: Facing the Terminal Illness of a Loved One (2004)

Call Number: DVD 362.175 ATD

Title: Comfort: a Journey Through Grief (2008)

Author: Hood, Ann

Call Number: 155.937 HOO

Title: Don't Despair on Thursdays! : The Childrens Grief Management Book (1996)

Author: Moser, Adolph

Call Number: J 155.9 MOS

Title: Footprints on Our Hearts: How to Cope After a Miscarriage, Stillbirth or Newborn Death

Call Number: DVD 155.937 FOO (1997)

All of these materials are owned by the Beaverton City Library

War and combat

2011-03-12T13:35:00.000-08:00

War

Junger, Sebastian

Sebastian Junger spent a total of 15 months in the Korengal Valley in Afghanistan with platoon infantry. This is one of the most dangerous places in the Afghan war. Filming and living with the soldiers Junger explores the psychology of combat and how men react in battle and how they can become addicted to it.

Restrepo

Filmmakers: Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington

Based on Junger's book War, this Oscar nominated documentary focuses on the deployment of a platoon of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. the movie follows a 15 man outpost considered one of the most dangerous postings in the U.S. military. An entirely experiential film the cameras never leave the valley and no interviews are conducted with generals or diplomats.

Doctor Who?

2011-03-07T06:55:00.000-08:00

Doctor Who is a British science-fiction television show that orignially ran from 1963-1989, and was successfully re-started in 2005. The show is hugely popular world-wide, and it's in the Guiness Book of World Records as the longest running science-fiction tv show in the world. If you want to check out the most recent Doctors, here they are:

Doctor Who: The Complete First Series

The ninth incarnation of the Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston, meets Rose Tyler (Billie Piper).

Doctor Who: The Complete Second Series

The tenth doctor (David Tennant) continues the series with Rose Tyler,

and is joined by other companions as well.

Doctor Who: The Complete Fifth Series

Matt Smith takes over the role of the Doctor, playing the eleventh incarnation. He's joined in his adventures by Amy Pond (Karen Gillan).

Handmade history

2011-03-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

The Peabody Award winning PBS documentary series Craft In America offers us the opportunity to reflect on two centuries in which Americans have created beautiful, utilitarian objects by hand. Season 1 explores the history and significance of craft in the United States, focusing on the artist's relationship with the natural world, and the social, emotional connection. And, season 2 continues the journey focusing on those who have discovered craft later in life.

The companion book to the series is entitled, Craft in America: Celebrating Two Centuries of Artists and Objects

Oregon Book Award Finalists Announced

2011-02-28T19:36:00.001-08:00

Oregon has so many great writers and the Oregon Book Awards are a great way to discover new writers and new works. The Oregon Book Awards are presented annually for the finest accomplishments by Oregon writers who work in genres of poetry, fiction, literary nonfiction, drama and young readers literature. The 2011 list of finalists has been announced and you can click http://www.literary-arts.org/index.php?article=963 to see the full list for each genre. The library owns most of these titles and you can click http://wccls.org to search the catalog.

Fill in the Blanks

2011-02-06T14:00:00.000-08:00

It's Black history month and, if you are like me, your African-American history education is far from complete. Here are a few titles that will shed some light, and help fill in a few of the missing pieces.

Pulitzer prize winning journalist, Isabel Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns, chronicles the "great migration" of African-Americans out of the Jim Crow South into the unknown Northern states, only to find that they have not left racism behind.

Waiting in Line at the Drugstore and Other Writings of James Thomas Jackson is a beautiful collection of essays and reflections by Jackson, that give insight into his struggles as a black man in America from the 1930s through the 1970s. Despite his difficulties, Mr. Jackson manages to retain his joie de vivre.

"You cannot successfully navigate the future unless you keep always framed beside it a small, clear image of the past." Jan Struther

Wicked Plants

2011-02-04T13:45:00.000-08:00

Did a character in your book die from a poisonous plant? Wonder if that hyacinth blossom really is that toxic? Amy Stewart's book Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities is a "fact-filled, A–Z compendium of nature’s worst offenders offers practical and tantalizing composite views of toxic, irritating, prickly, and all-around ill-mannered plants." (Carol Haggas, Booklist)

Call number: 581.65 STE (adult non-fiction)

New DVDs (on Blu-Ray too!)

2011-01-26T15:51:00.000-08:00

Secretariat
Behind every legend lies an impossible dream. Witness the spectacular journey of an incredible horse named Secretariat and the moving story of his unlikely owner, a housewife who risked everything to make him a champion.

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest

The final installment of Steig Larsson's 'Millennium' triology. Lisbeth Salander is fighting for her life in more ways than one.

Red

Frank is a former black-ops CIA agent living a quiet life alone, until the day a hit squad shows up to kill him.

Tell Me Where It Hurts

2011-01-25T09:00:00.000-08:00

If only they could talk! Tell Me Where It Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon takes us through 24 hours in the life of Nick Trout, a staff surgeon at Boston's Angell Animal Medical Center. Veterinary medicine in the 21st century is a blend of cutting-edge science and old-fashioned instincts. We meet Trout's furry patients and their sometimes zany owners but through it all we see the undeniable bond that humans have with their pets and the lengths that they will go to ensure the health of their companions. This is a very readable account of what it is like to be in veterinary medicine today.

Neil Gaiman writes children's books, too!

2011-01-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

You may be familiar with the author Neil Gaiman through his fabulous work on graphic novels like "The Sandman" series or "Death: The High Cost of Living". Maybe you're familiar with his novels for adults & teens, like "Good Omens" or "Coraline". Or maybe you've read his short stories, collected in such books as "Fragile Things" and "M is for Magic". But did you know that he's also an acclaimed children's author? It's true! Here are some of his wonderful books:

Blueberry Girl- illustrated by Charles Vess; a magical blessing for unconventional girls including those not yet born.

Crazy Hair- illustrated by Dave McKean; "Prides of lions make their lair, somewhere in my Crazy Hair."

Instructions- illustrated by Charles Vess; a lovely picture book to guide young and old alike on their journeys through other worlds.

Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things

2011-01-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is one of the most disturbing, yet fascinating books that I have ever read. Stuff is the first comprehensive book about compulsive hoarding, a disorder that affects more than six million people. Dr. Randy Frost and Dr. Gail Steketee were the first scientists to study hoarding and the case studies discussed in this book give us a sense of what the victims and their families endure. As the bookjacket reads "With vivid portraits that show us the particular traits of the hoarder - piles on sofas and beds that make the furniture useless, homes that have to be navigated by narrow "goat trails", stacks of paper that are "churned" but never discarded, even collections of animals and garbage - Frost and Steketee expose the causes and previously ineffective treatments of the disorder. They also illuminate the pull that possessions exert on all of us: whether we're savers, collectors, or compulsive cleaners, none of us are free of the impulses that drive hoarders to extremes." After reading this book, you'll never look at your possessions in the same way.

Your Garden In Winter

2011-01-13T19:48:00.000-08:00

Missing your garden in all this Winter weather? Here are some gardening books that will help you stay inspired until Spring arrives.

The Garden in Winter: Plant For Beauty and Interest in the Quiet Season

by Suzanne Bales

The Winter Garden

by Jane Sterndale-Bennett

The Winter Garden: Create a Garden That Shines Through the Forgotten Season

by Val Bourne

Best Books of 2010 Lists!

2011-01-06T19:25:00.000-08:00

Looking for a good read to start the new year with? Want to make sure you don't miss out on the great books of 2010 before the great books of 2011 start coming out? Here's a helpful way to find out about the best of the best writing in 2010--"best books of 2010" lists! Listed below is just a sample of what can be found by searching for "best books of 2010" on the internet. Happy reading in 2011!

Publisher's Weekly--Best Books of 2010
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/book-news/awards-and-prizes/article/45070-best-books-of-2010.html

The Oregonian Newspaper--Best Books of 2010
http://www.oregonlive.com/books/index.ssf/2010/12/best_books_of_2010.html

The New York Times--100 Notable Books of 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/100-notable-books-2010.html?_r=1&ref=review

NPR--Best Books of 2010
http://www.npr.org/series/131336530/best-books-of-2010

A fresh start for the new year

2011-01-04T13:27:00.000-08:00

Taking down, and putting away all of the garnishes of the holiday season always inspires me to take a fresh look at my surroundings. Quite often, that leads to reorganizing or rearranging projects that provide a new look and feel for the year. Here are a few titles from our collection to help inspire you to do the same. Happy 2011!

In his insightful book, Clutter Busting: Letting Go of What's Holding You Back author Brooks Palmer teaches the reader how to lighten their load by getting rid of things that no longer serve as useful. Chapter titles include: "Clutter as punishment", and "You are sacred not your things"

The Art of Organizing Anything, by bestselling author Rosalie Maggio (author of How To Say Anything, and How To Say I) introduces an accessible organizing system that can be tailored to meet the needs of the reader. This book covers the organization of home and office, as well as time management .

In his book 1000 Home Ideas, author Stafford Cliff compiles beautiful and inspiring photographs covering every aspect of home design. It may just inspire you to tackle an area that you've been meaning to rework.

Continue your journey to clutter-free living here at the Beaverton City library on February 1, 2011 when Jane Green, founder of A Clear Place will present a free workshop entitled "Learn the Top 3 cures for Stuffication and Go from Choas to Clear." No registration required.

New Craft Magazines

2010-12-20T09:00:00.000-08:00

We have added three new craft magazines to our collection. The subscriptions will start in 2011 and we're hoping that they will be popular with all of our crafters.

Cloth Paper Scissors covers all types of fiber arts and collage work, including mixed media, assemblage, altered books, art dolls, visual art journals, rubber stamping, creative embroidery, and book arts.

6 issues per year.

Step By Step Wire Jewelry includes detailed and illustrated how-to projects for every skill level. Each issue covers the newest wire trends and teaches creative techniques to make your own designer jewelry. Tips on using tools, wire and other jewelry items are also included.

6 issues per year.

Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist is a guide to the fine art of jewelry making using gemstones, metal sheet and wire and more. The latest trends in jewelry and gems are included in each issue as are spotlights on individual jewelry artists. Projects feature clear, concise, illustrated directions and many tips are included.

9 issues per year.

Netherland

2010-12-17T16:30:00.000-08:00

Netherland
O'neill, Joseph

Check our catalog for availablity

Impressive fiction work about an expatriate family living in New York after 9/11 and how it catalyzes changes in thier lives. This is a story of a relationship in trouble but also a larger commentary on life in america and the concept of the "american dream". Comparisons have been made to the Great Gatsby and O'neill's prose has a wonderful sense of nostalgia and profound reflection that will give the reader cause to do some of their own deep thinking about life.

Lists!

2010-12-12T13:02:00.000-08:00

We have lots of booklists organized by subject, genre, mood and more. We are gradually adding these lists to our web page. Check it out!

while visions of sugar plums dance in your heads...

2010-12-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

Just in time for the holidays, Chuck Williams, founder of Williams-Sonoma, and former Bon Appetit food editor, Kristin Kidd have released Williams-Sonoma Cooking at Home. This wonderful, encyclopedic cookbook features over 1000 timeless recipes with simple, straight-forward techniques for the home cook.

Also new this season, Amanda Hesser's The Essential New York Times Cook Book offers a compilation of recipes published by the paper since it started covering food in the 1850s. The book is a stellar collection more than 1400 recipes.

Season's Greetings and happy eating!

Have you tried a Playaway yet?

2010-12-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

Playaway audiobooks are self-contained players about half the size of a deck of cards. They don't require downloading, transfer fees, or even an internet connection. All you need is a AAA battery and a set of headphones, and you're ready to go. Books range in length from an hour up to 60 hours, all in the same small player. The digital audio quality is as good as cds, but doesn't require a stack of discs or even a separate player. You can choose from a wide selection of fiction and non-fiction books, and even listen in your car with a standard cassette adapter or fm receiver. Or use your own portable speakers so that more than one person can listen at a time.

Try one out today!

One Remarkable Cat

2010-12-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

As a cat lover, I knew that I would enjoy this book about an extraordinary cat adopted by staff members at Steere House, a nursing home in Rhode Island. Making Rounds with Oscar, is the story of this remarkable cat that has the uncanny ability to sense when people are about to die. He stays with these patients until they have passed, giving comfort to both the nursing home resident and the families of these patients. What I wasn't expecting from the book was a real world view of what it is like for patients with dementia and the families and nursing home staff who care for these people. The book is heartfelt, sad, funny and truly inspiring.

New Christmas DVDs

2010-11-23T15:43:00.000-08:00

The 12 Dogs of Christmas

J DVD 12

Upon being sent to live with her aunt in the small town of Doverville, 12-year-old Emma finds herself in the middle of a 'dog-fight' with the Mayor and the town dogcatcher. In order to strike down their 'no-dogs' law, Emma must bring together a group of schoolmates, grown-ups and adorable dogs of all shapes and sizes in a spectacular holiday pageant.

A Golden Christmas: A Tail of Puppy Love

J DVD Golden

After a magical summer together, a nine-year-old boy whispers his heart's desire into the ear of his best friend. With a loyal, Golden Retriever by their side, the boy and girl bury a time capsule of keepsakes -- then go their seperate ways. Years later, looking for a fresh start, a man and woman each return to the place they felt most at home as a child. Can a certain dog lead them home again?

Visual feast

2010-11-22T19:28:00.000-08:00

During this season of holiday feasting, here is one meal that doesn't pack any calories. Author, photographer, and multimedia artist Douglas Gayeton presents a visual journey through Tuscany highlighting it's people and their food traditions in his book, Slow: Life in a Tuscan town. Beautiful, sepia-toned photography coupled with a handwritten narrative of the journey are indeed a feast for the eyes.

Comfort Cooking

2010-11-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

This is the time of year when I love to pull out my recipe books and find that perfect dish for a cold fall meal. As the buyer of all the cookbooks for the Beaverton City Library, I have the fun job of selecting titles that I think will be popular with our customers. One of my favorites this year is Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers by Pam Anderson. The recipes are not intimating and she covers a variety of dishes including stews, casseroles, roasting-pan dinners, summer salads and grilled platters. Last night I made the Salsa Verde Chicken with Herbed Cornmeal Dumplings. It was definitely a keeper!!

Economic Disaster titles--2010 some popular ones

2010-11-18T17:18:00.000-08:00

I've been compiling a list of "popular" (as if economic disaster titles can be considered this) books since 2007 that analyze the unfolding economic disaster. This is the ensuing selected 2010 list, of course it will be complete on Dec 31 but.. just thought I could share it. It's probably too long for this blog but maybe it will be ok this time because it's a special list.

Money and Economics 2010

13 Bankers : the Wall Street Takeover and the Next financial Meltdown by Simon Johnson c2010 332.1 JOH
In a stinging indictment of the reckless "new American oligarchy" that led the nation to an economic precipice—and which, because of the government bailout, the authors say, threaten to put U.S. taxpayers on the hook again.
The authors trace suspicion of concentrated banking systems to the beginning of the republic. Jefferson suggested that supporting a federally chartered bank was tantamount to treason. Subsequent tectonic shocks—especially the Panic of 1907 and the Great Depression—led to the financial apparatus of the mid-century—the Federal Reserve, designed to backstop Wall Street in a crisis, and the New Deal, which, by separating commercial and investment banking, protected the ordinary investor from the perils of the system.

All the Devils Are Here: the Hidden History of the Financial Crisis by Bethany McLean c2010 330.973 MCL
The origins of the meltdown and the subsequent Great Recession largely lie in the speculator's dream called the mortgage-backed security, which "allowed Wall Street to scoop up loans made to people who were buying homes, bundle them together by the thousands, and then resell the bundle, in bits and pieces, to investors." This innovation netted fortunes for the players at the top, undoing the former bond between buyer and seller and leading directly to the rise of the subprime industry and its toxic holdings. Ironically, write the authors, the securitizing of mortgages was not an invention of Wall Street but of government, with the federal agencies Ginnie Mae and then Freddie Mac selling securities 40 years ago. -Kirkus

Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future by Robert Reich 332.64524 DIA
Former Secretary of Labor Reich argues that America will not have a sustained economic recovery until the middle class has more buying power. In this call for reform, the author writes that the increasing concentration of wealth among a small percentage of Americans was the main culprit in the destabilization of the U.S. economy in 2008. For three decades, the wealthy reaped inordinate benefits from a growing economy while middle-class wages stopped climbing. As the rich spent only a fraction of their fortunes ("The sheer magnitude of the task of spending obscene amounts of money can be surprisingly challenging"), they deprived the economy of the multiplier effect of many millions of dollars. Instead of trying to rebalance the distribution of income, the federal government deregulated, privatized and celebrated the idea of free markets. -Kirkus

The Battle: How the Fight Between Free enterprise and big government will shape America's future by Arthur C Brooks c2010 322.3 BRO
America faces a new culture war. It is not a war about guns, abortions, or gays--rather it is a war against the creeping changes to our entrepreneurial culture, the true bedrock of who we are as a people. The new culture war is a battle between free enterprise and social democracy. Many Americans have forgotten the evils of socialism and the predations of the American Great Society's welfare state programs. But, as American Enterprise Institute's president Arthur C. Brooks reveals in "The Battle," the forces for social democracy have returned with a vengeance, expanding the power of the state to a breathtaking degree. "The Battle" offers a plan of action for the defense of free enterprise.

Crash of the Titans: Greed, Hubris, the Fall of Merrill Lynch, and the Near-Collapse of Bank of America by Greg Farrell
c2010 332.1 FAR In this authoritative account, "Financial Times" reporter Farrell delivers the riveting story of how the decline and fall of Merrill Lynch crippled Bank of America and nearly destroyed America's financial system. Crash of the Titans" is a financial thriller that puts you in the theater as the historic events of the financial crisis unfold and people responsible for billions of dollars of other people's money gamble recklessly to enhance their power and their paychecks or to save their own skins. Its wealth of never-before-revealed information and focus on two icons of corporate America make it the book that puts together all the pieces of the Wall Street disaster.

Crisis Economics: A Crash Course by Nouriel Roubini c2010 338.542 ROU
Two professors explain how we got into the current economic mess and offer a prescription for the way out.
From the writers of A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States. 2007. They define crisis economics as the study of how and why markets fail. The origins of the current upheaval, they contend, are deeply structural—far more severe than simply a housing bubble and the securitization of bad loans—and the storms will persist. They preface their proposed remedies with a whirlwind tour of past crises, a survey of economic thinkers who offer insights into why markets collapse, an analysis of how today’s unstable moment compares with past market traumas and a look at the special dangers posed by our integrated global economy. Critiquing the unprecedented emergency measures taken recently to right the economic ship, they warn of the unintended consequences likely to flow from hasty decisions made under extreme pressure. We should use this moment of relative calm, they argue, to institute necessary changes. -Kirkus

Diary of a Very Bad Year (not at Beaverton but at Tigard) c2010
The HFM (hedge fund manager) offers a brilliant financial professionals view of the economic situation in real time, from September 2007, when problems in financial markets began to surface, until late summer 2009, when the financial meltdown generally subsided and the financial community went back, in HFMs view, to business as usual. With definitions of financial terms and products, and explanations of domestic and global issues as they occur, HFM draws from his decade of nonstop work as a hedge-fund manager to educate the interviewer and us as the financial crisis unfolds. This is a great read.

End of the Free Market: Who Wins the War by Ian Bremmer 330.122 BRE c2010
The power of the state is back, announces Bremmer ("The Fat Tail"), president of the Eurasia Group, in this sobering examination of the threat the emerging powers of China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia pose to the free market. The book presents a whirlwind history of capitalism from mercantilism through the end of the cold war to the ascendancy of state capitalism, a political and economic arrangement in which states exert their influence over markets and big business to serve their own interests. Bremmer provides informative case studies of economies with varying degrees of state control. He weighs how free market economies can compete and concludes on a hopeful note, laying out a powerful case for the superiority of regulated free markets above state capitalism and a clear prescription for how the U.S. can defend its competitive advantage in the future.

Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America by Matt Taibbi c2010 973.932 TAI
Taibbi eviscerates Wall Street for what he considers frauds perpetrated on the American people over the last ten years. Deftly delving deeply into complicated financial history and lingo, Taibbi deftly lays the subject bare, rendering heretofore-dense subject matter simple without being simplistic. Blame for the recent mortgage collapse, commodities bubble, and tech bubble are laid at the feet of a relatively small number of bankers and traders who, in the author's opinion, act without fear of reciprocity from a U.S. government no longer representative of the American people.

King of Capital: The Remarkable Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone by David Carey c2010 338.83 CAR
Carey and Morris reveal the untold story of Steve Schwarzman and Blackstone, the financier and his financial powerhouse that avoided the self-destructive tendencies of Wall Street. Analyzes the controversies surrounding Blackstone and whether it and other private equity firms suck the lifeblood out of companies to enrich themselves--or whether they are a force that helps make the companies they own stronger and thereby better competitors. The story by two insiders with access: Insightful and hard-hitting, filled with never-before-revealed details about the workings of a heretofore secretive company that was the personal fiefdom of Schwarzman and Peter Peterson.

The monster : how a gang of predatory lenders and Wall Street bankers fleeced America--and spawned a global crisis c2010 by Michael W Hudson 332.6324 HUD
In this stunning narrative, award-winning reporter Michael W. Hudson reveals the story of the rise and fall of the subprime mortgage business by chronicling the rise and fall of two corporate empires: Ameriquest and Lehman Brothers. As the biggest subprime lender and Wall Street's biggest patron of subprime, Ameriquest and Lehman did more than any other institutions to create the feeding frenzy that emboldened mortgage pros to flood the nation with high-risk, high-profit home loans.

Peak Everything: Waking Up to the Century of Declines by Richard Heinberg c2010 304.2 HEI
The twentieth century saw unprecedented growth in population, energy consumption, and food production. As the population shifted from rural to urban, human impacts on the environment increased dramatically. The twenty-first century ushered in an era of declines, including: Oil, natural gas, and coal extraction. Yearly grain harvests Climate stability Economic growth Fresh water Minerals and ores such as copper and platinum. To adapt to this profoundly different world, we must begin now to make radical changes to our attitudes, behaviors, and expectations.

The Trillion-Dollar Conspiracy: How the New World Order, Man-Made Diseases, and Zombie Banks Are Destroying America by Jim Marrs c2010 330.973 MAR
A mix of both right-wing conspiracy theories, such as New World Order domination by the Illuminati, and left-wing conspiracy theories, like the planned failure of deregulation, along with charges we can all agree on, such as the bank bailout as a financial coup d'tat for the privileged ultrawealthy. From Reagan to Obama to Congress, he leaves no president or party out of the conspiracy blame game, outlining a plan for world domination that goes back to 1913.

The Zeroes: My Misadventures in the Decade Wall Street Went Insane by Randall Lane
c2010 330.973 LAN
What "Liar's Poker" was to the 1980s, "The Zeroes" is to the first decade of the new century: an insider's memoir of a gilded era when Wall Street went insane-and took the rest of us down with it.
Randall Lane never set out to become a Wall Street power broker. But during the decade he calls the Zeroes, he started a small magazine company that put him near the white-hot center of the biggest boom in history. Almost by accident, a man who drove a beat-up Subaru and lived in a rented walk-up became the go-to guy for big shots with nine-figure incomes. Lane's saga began with a simple idea: a glossy magazine exclusively for and about traders, which would treat them like rock stars and entice them to splurge on luxury goods. "Trader Monthly" was an instant hit around the world.

College Bound Reading List

2010-11-03T16:21:00.000-07:00

Arrowhead Library System has pulled together a wonderful college bound reading list. It's a long list, but check it out for some great choices. Good for those interested in broadening their reading interests as well.

Pass the salt, please

2010-11-03T12:56:00.000-07:00

Much more than just a table seasoning, salt has a rich and fascinating history. Author Mark Kurlanskey unfolds the history of this important mineral that has provoked wars, secured empires, and inspired revolutions in his book Salt: A World History.

Continue your education on this vital nutrient with the help of author and local selmelier, Mark Bitterman. In Salted: A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, with Recipes, Bitterman profiles 80 varieties of artisinal salt in addition to providing reference information on 150 salts. The book also includes a chapter on cooking with salt.

Here If You Need Me

2010-11-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

After the tragic death of her husband, Kate Braestrup decides to follow in the steps of her husband's dream, that of becoming a minister. Working as a chaplain for the Maine Warden Service, she begins to rebuild her life while caring for her four children. This isn't a maudlin memoir but one that is inspiring, funny, and definitely an enjoyable read. Kate is one of those people you would love to have in your life as a friend and confidant.

Seasonal Cookbooks

2010-10-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

Winter can sometime seem like the most challenging time to cook healthy and interesting meals. Farmer's markets close for the season and there are less choices of local fruits and vegetables in the grocery stores. Here are two cookbooks that offer winter recipes that are healthy and simple. Each one is divided into sections for each season for easy reference.

Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express-404 Inspired Seasonal Dishes You Can Make In 20 Minutes or Less has simple recipes with few ingredients but plenty of flavor. The author writes a food column for the New York Times.

Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source by Terry Walters is a great resource for easy, delicious seasonal eating.

Paranormal Romance

2010-10-28T14:23:00.000-07:00

You might favor books filled with dangerous women, usually young, often lethal and invariably underdressed, or you might prefer prefer ominous men, usually young, often dark and invariably naked to the waist. Neither of these characters is precisely what they appear to be, the woman turns lupine under the full moon, the young man's actually incredibly old and has long sharp canine teeth. They are compulsively drawn to each other and, in the end, will be very happy together. If this is you; if this is your ideal read; you were born at just the right time. Paranormal Romance is one of the hottest crazes in publishing right now, and this bubble shows no sign of bursting. Here are a few bestselling authors:

Jeaniene Frost
R.J. Ward
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Gena Showalter
Karen Moning

Let's Felt!

2010-10-26T13:45:00.000-07:00

Needle felting is a fun and easy way to add color and texture to wool or knitted fabrics, or to create your own 3-dimensional sculptures. Here are some books to help you get started.

Fast, Fun & Easy Needle Felting
by Lynne Farris

A great beginner's guide to needle felting, with everything you need to know about tools, materials, and techniques.

Designer Needle Felting: Contemporary Styles, Easy Techniques
by Terry Taylor

This colorful guide shows just how easy it can be to get eye-catching results on everything from home accessories to your favorite clothing.

What do Paris, London & NYC have in common?

2010-10-22T16:44:00.000-07:00

PARIS 2011

LONDON 2011

NYC 2011

They are all part of the Fodor's Gold Guides that have just arrived at the Beaverton City Library.

Are you a visual person?

2010-10-21T17:46:00.000-07:00

If you are a visual person you might like exploring Gnooks. With Gnooks you travel the visual map and locate other books, movies, even music that are similar to your favorites. It is a self learning community so responses might seem crazy, but it is a fun way to discover other titles.

You type in the name of an author, or music or artist and a visual map is prepared. The closer an item is to your author the more likely you will like that author.

But remember, the results are based on other users so the results might seem crazy. Here is a search for Maya Angelou. Would you have thought Dante or Mark Twain would appear? If nothing else it will make you smile!

Man Booker Prize awarded

2010-10-15T09:08:00.000-07:00

Since 1969, the Man Booker Prize has been awarded to an author for the book that the prize committee considers the best novel of the year. This year's winner is Howard Jacobson for The Finkler Question. Click on the link below to read more about the author and to see a list of other books considered for this year's award.

http://themanbookerprize.com

Pulitzer Prize in Biography or Autobiography

2010-10-12T16:58:00.000-07:00

The Pulitzer prizes have honored excellence in journalism and the arts since 1917. Biography or Autobiography is one of the categories and the Washington County libraries have many of these recent titles.

Oregon Book Awards

2010-10-11T17:37:00.000-07:00

The Oregon Book Award is presented annually to highlight the achievement of one Oregon writer. To date, almost 500 Oregon writers have been recognized. You can find a list of all the books on their website, Literary Arts - Oregon Book Awards.

The Beaverton Library has many of the titles available. Click here to check our catalog for a partial list of award winning titles from 2000-2009. The 2010 winner will be announced in January 2011.

Happy Reading!

Current Biography

2010-10-01T09:00:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite biographical sources is Current Biography. This H.W. Wilson publication draws information from newspaper and magazine articles, books, the World Wide Web and other sources like personal interviews. Covering a wide range of personalities, Current Biography gives an informative and very entertaining view on people who are currently in the news. Athletes, politicians, entertainers, scientists and historians are all covered in this monthly publication that cumulates into a yearly volume. We have this resource going back to 1940 and it has proven invaluable for biographical searching. So the next time someone asks you what Lady Gaga's real name is, you can answer Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta and smile!

So Many Green Tomatoes...

2010-09-30T19:17:00.000-07:00

If you grow tomatoes, your garden is probably full of green tomatoes right now. What to do with all that unripened bounty and for that matter, the ripened bounty, too? One answer is preserving. It may sound intimidating but it is worth conquering your fears to eat yummy, local foods throughout the winter. Here are a couple of books to help you get started.

Canning and Preserving for Dummies is a quick and simple guide to the basics of canning and preserving. It uses clear language to explain these easy processes which will preserve this year's harvest. It also includes numerous recipes for jams, jellies, pickles, etc. A great beginner's guide!

Once you've gotten the hang of preserving, check out The Art of Preserving: Sweet and Savory Recipes To Enjoy Seasonal Produce Year Round. This is a mouth watering collection of preserving recipes from Williams Sonoma. It includes a delicious recipe for pickled green tomatoes. Happy preserving!

Hey Muffy!

2010-09-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

If you've been wondering what happened to Bif and Kitty after the 1980's fame of Lisa Birnbach's The Official Preppy Handbook, wonder no more. Birnbach is back with another view into preppy culture in her latest book True Prep: It's a Whole New World.

Fast and Easy Quilting

2010-09-23T19:45:00.000-07:00

Want to try quilting, but you don't have a lot of time? Try these fast & easy quilting books.

Fast, Fun & Easy Scrapbook Quilts: Create a Keepsake for Every Memory
by Sue Astroth.

Turn vacations, family events, or favorite activities into one-of-a-kind keepsakes.

Fast, Flirty and Fun: Easy Quilts from Fabulous Fabrics
by Sarah Bisel

Novice and experienced quilters alike will find plenty of inspiration in the contemporary colors and fresh designs of these 11 exciting projects.

Quilting in No Time: 50 Step-by-Step Weekend Projects Made Easy
by Emma Hardy.

Packed with quick and clever ideas for using up scraps of fabric, this is the must-have guide for quilting items for the home.

Are you going to San Francisco...

2010-09-23T11:47:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO & NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

This guide includes new full-color photos, illustrations and enhanced maps. Extensive information on local customs, currency, medical services and transportation. New "Discovering" feature helps decide which regions are best suited to the trip.

Fantastic True Stories...

2010-09-22T16:36:00.000-07:00

These non-fiction books read like fiction! But it's all true...

It's easy to forget that as humans, we are all primates. In "A Primate's Memoir," neuroendocrinologist and MacArthur Fellowship grant recipient Robert Sapolsky describes his post-graduate years in Kenya researching baboons in this immensely readable, hilarious, and impassioned book.

How would you survive for 76 days lost at sea alone in a life raft? Steve Callahan's book "Adrift" will give you some ideas. Steve was lost at sea after something rammed into his sailboat causing it to sink in stormy seas. He had just enough time to gather some food, a few flares, a spear gun, a solar still for desalinating sea water, and his nautical charts. His story is a heroic tale of ingenuity, perseverance, discipline, and survival.

Imagine an oil spill larger than the Exxon Valdez spill. Now imagine this oil spill is on land, spans 15 years, and is in your neighborhood. This is what Joe Kane sets out to capture in his book "Savages." "Savages" describes the plight and the fight of the Huaorani tribe in Ecuador's Amazonian rain forest as they learn to live with the crushing demands of civilization on their land, their heritage, and their way of life. It is an unforgettable story.

Your Fall Garden

2010-09-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

Fallscaping: extending your garden season into autumn. By Nancy J. Ondra and Stephanie Cohen. North Adams, Ma. :Storey Pub, 2007.
635.953 OND

Check our catalog for this title

Don't let anyone tell you that your Fall garden can't be as dazzling as your Spring and Summer gardens. Pennsylvania gardeners Ondra and Cohen bring imaginative ideas, practical techniques and new inspiration to autumn, that often-neglected time of the gardening year.
According to the authors, the main characters in your Fall garden include some of the following: the multicolored foliage of trees, grasses and other plants; flashy seedheads and berries;and so much more.
The authors also offer a number of fall-friendly garden plans, complete with shopping lists, that will cover all kinds of gardens.
Throughout the book you will find Fall Techniques, with practical, down-to-earth information on how to divide perennials and design suggestions on planning paths
The book ends with a Fall Garden Care Primer, sharing ways to evaluate your garden, improve your soil, build new beds, take cuttings, prepare plants for winter, store your tools and care for your lawn.
Ondra and Cohen's vibrant and authoritative guide is a must-have resource for those wishing to maximize their Fall garden's potential.

Get ready for the Holidays

2010-09-08T12:45:00.000-07:00

Rick Steves' European Christmas

394.2663 STE

From England to Norway, Burgandy to Bavaria, and Rome to the top of the Swiss Alps, Rick Steves' European Christmas gets you a seat at the family feast, up in the loft with the finest choirs, and into the kitchen with grandma and her best-kept holiday secrets. With enchanting photos and more than a dozen recipes, this book captures the spirit of the season perfectly.

Foreign Affairs

2010-09-07T09:00:00.000-07:00

No, I'm not talking about "that" type of affair but those that deal with foreign policy. Sorry if I disappointed you! But if you are interested in what is going on in the world of international relations and foreign policy in general, the Library subscribes to three journals that will inform and entertain you regarding the ever-changing world of foreign affairs. Check out Current History, Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy in our Periodicals Department.

Discovery of ancient Biblical texts

2010-08-24T15:03:00.000-07:00

The Sisters of Sinai: how two lady adventurers discovered the hidden Gospels

By Janet Martin Soskice

Found in the library at call number 225.0922 SOS

This is the remarkable account of two Scottish sisters (Agnes Smith Lewis and Margaret Dunlop Gibson) who discovered a biblical text, called a palimpsest, that contained some of the most important scriptural discoveries of modern times. The author, Soskice, does a good job of setting up the background about the identical twin sisters amazing ability to learn foreign (and ancient) languages as they travelled in the middle east during a time when archaeology and science were turning some old and hallowed beliefs about the Bible upside-down. This is a fun and interesting read, as well as an important contribution to history about the role played by Agnes and Margaret in the amazing discovery of this palimpsest.

Hardback Books / Qualitiy Reprints

2010-08-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

There's something important about the lasting quality of a hardback book to libraries. I'm fascinated by how many decent quality hardback reproductions of out of print books have popped onto the market.

We like way it holds up if tossed in a bag or pack, and stands up well on a shelf. It's cover is able to be covered with a slip cover and cleaned off if it gets dirt on it. But you may have noticed that new books bookstores often sell paperbacks of classics rather than the more expensive hardbacks. A copy of Moby Dick must be strong enough to circulate many times and hold up in all kinds of weather, and paperbacks usually spell trouble in that realm.

Hundreds of thousands of classics are in the public domain and can be read on screens, bought widely in paperback, but if you want a new hardback title like that, note that several publishers are doing a good job reissuing good looking hardbacks.

These are imprints of printing publishers that are that are bringing back out of print or public domain

*** (hint on how to make the following links work, flip the search by index to Publisher once you click thru on them, and then limit them by book on the left limiter)

Nabu Press

Bibliolife

Wildside

Wilder

1st World Library

These can be paperbacks and hardbacks

Kessenger

These companies redo the book rather than reprint it, and they are very high quality

Modern Library

Everyman's Library

Library of America

Unconventional Wisdom

2010-08-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Do you like to think outside the box? If so, here is a list of titles compiled by librarians across the country on "Unconventional Wisdom"

Unconventional Wisdom booklist

These 2010 travel books just in...

2010-08-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

Eyewitness Travel: San Francisco & Northern California

Eyewitness Travel: Switzerland

Eyewitness Travel: New England

Once in Golconda

2010-08-05T10:39:00.000-07:00

Occasionally a deep vein will appear in history, out of which bright personalities and their drives are reflected and magnified in the gaze of historians and journalists. One such place was New York's business society in the 1920's. Award-winning writer John Brooks writes of a time not unlike the present; doubtless few readers of Once in Golconda will fail to miss the similarities. The vast wealth inside the New York Stock exchange was territory for insiders whose missteps led them into speculative darkness, ever fewer options awaiting at each turn. His writing is succinct and colorful--masterful. He keeps one mesmerized by the descriptions of such men, specifically Richard Whitney, on track to a convergence of ambition and panic we all know as the great crash of 1929. This book appeals to anyone eager to refract recent readings on the recession, willing to examine a loss of inheritance at several angles, and inclined to see that everything connects.

Tough Cookies

2010-07-27T16:13:00.000-07:00

The next book display on the first floor of the Beaverton City Library will be "Tough Cookies" This display will feature the exploits of women detectives such as Stephanie Plum, Ann Pigeon, Jane Marple, Kate Scarpetta, Emma Lord, Daisy Dalrymple, Emily Pollifax, Kinsy Millhone, Phryne Fisher, Sookie Stackhouse, Arly Hanks, Rina Lazarus, Joanna Brady, Agatha Raisin and many others.
Can you name the Authors? An extensive, slightly annotated, reading list will be available.

Other Cultures...Other Points of View

2010-07-19T10:00:00.001-07:00

Interested in other cultures? Here is a short list of Fiction titles that is sure to interest you.

Other Cultures, Other Points of View

New Biographies--here are just a few recently ordered.

2010-07-16T13:25:00.001-07:00

The Genius and the Goddess: Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe

by Jeffrey Meyers

The Sugar King of Havana: The Rise and Fall of Julio Lobo, Cuba's Last Tycoon

by John Paul Rathbone

A Full Cup: Sir Thomas Liptons Extraordinary Life and His Quest for the America's Cup

by Michael D'Antonio

GLBTQ Authors

2010-07-15T08:44:00.000-07:00

Marc Acito

Peter Ackroyd

Dorothy Allison

Carol Anshaw

Reinaldo Arenas

John Ashbery (Poetry)

W.H. Auden (Poetry)

James Baldwin

Roland Barthes (Literary Theory)

Elizabeth Bishop (Poetry)

Lucy Ann Bledsoe

Jane Bowles
Paul Bowles

Rebecca Brown

Augusten Burroughs
William Burroughs

Truman Capote

Willa Cather

Michael Chabon

John Cheever

Alfred Chester

Colette

Dennis Cooper

Douglas Coupland

Michael Cunningham

Emma Donoghue

Mary Dorcey

Mark Doty (Poetry)

Fannie Flagg

E.M. Forster

Stephen Fry

Ellen Galford

Federico Garcia Lorca

Jean Genet

Allen Ginsberg (Poetry)

Jewelle Gomez

Ariel Gore

Radclyffe Hall

E. Lynn Harris

Andrew Holleran

Alan Hollinghurst

Helen Humphreys

Christopher Isherwood

Henry James

Judith Katz

D.H. Lawrence

Ann-Marie MacDonald

Gregory Maguire

Thomas Mann

Armistead Maupin

James Merrill (Poetry)

Anais Nin

Frank O’Hara (Poetry)

Chuck Palahniuk

Marcel Proust

James Purdy

John Rechy

Mary Renault

Christopher Rice

Adrienne Rich (Poetry)

Arthur Rimbaud

Vita Sackville-West

Oscar Wilde

Marquis de Sade

Sappho (Classics-Greek)

May Sarton

David Sedaris

Pierre Seel

Shyam Selvaduraij

Vikram Seth

Ali Smith

Susan Sontag

Tom Spanbauer

Jack Spicer (Poetry)

Gertrude Stein

Alice B Toklas

Violet Trefusis

Gore Vidal

Barbara Vine

Sarah Waters

Evelyn Waugh

Edmund White

Walt Whitman (Poetry)

Oscar Wilde

Jeanette Winterson

Virginia Woolf

Fortune and Fate

2010-06-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

Title: Money for Nothing

Author: Ugel, Edward

Check our catalog for this title

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to win the lottery? Edward Ugel learned about winning the lottery from a different angle. For seven years he was part of the industry that buys out winners with a lump sum payment. He explores his own gambling and addiction demons in his description of this manipulative cutthroat industry and how they take advantage of people who find that winning the lottery is not all it is cracked up to be. In the process he finds that he has a lot in common with the winners he manipulates.

Title: Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of How Six Students took Vegas for Millions

Author: Mezrich Ben

Check our catalog for this title

Did you see the movie 21? It is based on a true story of a group of mathematic whizzes from MIT who work as a team counting cards while playing blackjack in the casinos. Although it can be done,it comes at some risk as the casinos keep a close eye out for this type of activity. Ben Mezerich lives this double life as a student during the week and a high roller gambler on the weekends. He becomes addicted to the adrenaline rush of gaming the system and the glamorous lifestyle the casinos offer to their customers who spend a lot of money in their establishments.

Title: The Black Swan: the impact of the highly improbable

Author: Taleb, Nassim

Check our catalog for this title

A Black Swan is characterized by three principal traits: 1) it is a highly improbable event. 2)it is unpredictable and 3) after it occurs we devise an explanation that makes it appear less random and more predictable than it in fact was. In his book Nassim Taleb cites the success of Google and the 9/11 tragedy as examples of black swans. He postulates that black swans are responsible for many occurences in our world from the rise of major religions, to events in our daily lives. Taleb examines our methods of learning and how we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. As someone who has spent his life considering problems of luck, uncertainty, probability, and knowledge, he will challenge you to change how you look at the world.

Prophets and Princes: Saudi Arabia from Muhammad to the Present

2010-06-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

For once someone has written a deeply thoughtful book about Saudi Arabia. Mark Weston's conviction in Prophets and Princes is that we need to learn the full, complex history of this region to understand our ally in the context of foreign relations, including oil supply and demand, international terrorism, and Islam. If you know nothing about Saudi Arabia and want to learn, you won't be disappointed by this groundbreaking and thorough book. Author Mark Weston offers an objective and balanced history of the only nation on earth named after its ruling family. Drawing on interviews with many Saudi men and women, Weston portrays a complex society in which sixty percent of Saudi Arabia's university students are women, and citizens who seek a constitutional monarchy can petition the king without fear of reprisal.

Pacific Northwest High-Technology (Folder of Companies on 2nd Floor)

2010-05-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

Rich's Data Search - Pacific Northwest High Technology Directory* is a premium listing of businesses, in a white folder in the Reference collection. It is a white binder on the second Index Table. It used to be in a book called Advanced Technology in the Pacific Northwest. Here is the location of yearly updated Electronics, Monitoring, Military, Computer Accessories, Chemicals, Industrial, Materials, Software and much more! It contains email addresses as well as data about the firms that is more specific than the familiar websites and free sources such as chamber, yellow pages, or other all inclusive databases. The focus allows the firm responsible for the data to manage a deeper scope of information than normally found elsewhere.

(*YOU HAVE TO SPELL OUT THE WORD TECHNOLOGY IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR IT ON OUR CATALOG)

Oil on the Brain

2010-05-02T12:49:00.000-07:00

Oil on the Brain is a smart, surprisingly funny account of the oil industry: the people, economies, and pipelines that bring us petroleum, brilliantly illuminating a world we encounter every day.
Americans buy ten thousand gallons of gasoline a second, without giving it much of a thought. Where does all this gas come from? Lisa Margonelli’s desire to learn took her on a one-hundred thousand mile journey from her local gas station to oil fields half a world away. In search of the truth behind the myths, she wriggled her way into some of the most off-limits places on earth: the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the New York Mercantile Exchange’s crude oil market, oil fields from Venezuela, to Texas, to Chad, and even an Iranian oil platform where the United States fought a forgotten one-day battle.
In a story by turns surreal and alarming, Margonelli meets lonely workers on a Texas drilling rig, an oil analyst who almost gave birth on the NYMEX trading floor, Chadian villagers who are said to wander the oil fields in the guise of lions, a Nigerian warlord who changed the world price of oil with a single cell phone call, and Shanghai bureaucrats who dream of creating a new Detroit.
Deftly piecing together the mammoth economy of oil, Margonelli finds a series of stark warning signs for American drivers. (Publisher Marketing)

New books about science and religion

2010-04-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

Decoding the Language of God: can a scientist really be a believer?: a geneticist responds to Francis Collins by George C. Cunningham. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 2010. (Library location is 215 CUN.)

Written by a scientist but easily read by nonscientists, this title is a response to another geneticist's book, The Language of God by Francis Collins (2007). In Cunningham's book, the author refutes the findings Collins made in his book about science and religion. In Decoding the Language of God Cunningham argues that there is no scientific evidence to argue the belief in a personal God, and he argues that much scientific evidence debunks this belief.

Belief: readings on the reason for faith by Francis Collins. New York: HarperOne, 2010. (Library call number is 202.2 COL.)

Here Collins brings together a collection of writings about faith and God from numerous faiths and religious thinkers, scholars and believers around the world. Collins is defending the basis for a belief in God that he states is the most profound question humankind continually asks. This is a good collection of some of the world's profound thinkers and spiritual leaders, such as Augustine and C.S. Lewis to Annie Dillard and Elie Wiesel.

The Language God Talks: on science and religion by Herman Wouk. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 2010. (Library call number is 201.65 WOU.)

In this book, Wouk frequently looks back on his friendship with physicist and atomic bomb scientist, Richard Feynman. Feynman was a humanist, and he and Wouk had many discussions about faith and science. Wouk writes about his life of belief as an Orthodox Jew while also relating his scientific discussions and research for many of his great works of fiction. This is an interesting read about one man's journey through a life of faith.

Memoir

2010-04-03T15:15:00.000-07:00

This Boy's Life
Author Tobias Wolf

Check our catalog for this title

This is a deeply personal account of Wolf's life as a young boy growing up with a single mother and the close emotional bond between them. This bond becomes threatened when, out of fiscal necessity, she gets remarried to an abusive man. Rather than wallow in self-pity in his narrative, Wolf draws the reader into his storied childhood full of honest confessions of all the bad things he did as a mischievious youth and how these, along with other experiences, shaped who he became and the decisons he made. The backdrop for this story is the beautiful North Cascades.

Liar's Club
Author: Mary Karr

Check our catalog for this title

In this the first of Karr's three memoirs she describes her childhood growing up in a dysfunctional family in Texas. There are a number of pivotal events in her young life, some of them difficult to read, but she has a way of drawing the reader into what seems like an unbelievable existence with colorful metaphor and lyrical composition that reflect her abilities as a poet as well as prose writer.

New Travel books just in!

2010-03-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

Rick Steve's Scandinavia

With this guide, travelers set sail to Europe's most prosperous corner - a smorgasbord of Viking ships, deep green fjords, stave churches, brooding castles, and colorful farmhouses. Rick explores the sleek, modern cities of Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn.

Frommer's Moscow & St. Petersburg

Savvy insider tips on exploring the treasures of the Hermitage Museum and the Kremlin. Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not. Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget. Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.

Frommer's Greece

With authors ranging from renowned Classicists to young Athenians, this updated edition bring readers an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the best both ancient and modern Greece have to offer.

DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Paris

Annually revisited and updated. Beautiful new full-color photos, illustrations, and maps. Includes information on local customs, currency, medical services, and transportation.

Fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa

2010-03-05T11:32:00.000-08:00

The African continent is still struggling with the spread of HIV/AIDS. If you would like to read more about this tragic disease and some of the things being done to educate and empower people to fight its spread, then please read on. While the subject can be a bit overwhelming, and even depressing, there are books that offer hope and show us ways we too can get involved or be inspired to help stop this disease.

Warrior princess: fighting for life with courage and hope by Princess Kasune Zulu. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Books, 2009. Library shelf location: 921 Zulu

This is more than just a biography about the spiritual journey of an HIV-positive woman from Zambia. While her life story is both heartbreaking and triumphant, this book is a passionate plea for understanding and a call to the people of the world to take a stand against poverty, which the author believes is the main force behind the spread of the disease.

28: stories of AIDS in Africa by Stephanie Nolen. New York: Walker & Co., 2007. Library shelf location: 614.5993 NOL

The author traveled across the African continent and here tells the stories of 28 people affected by the virus. Each of the 28 people stands for 1 million people in Africa, since the AIDS organization, UNAIDS, estimates that 28 million people in Africa are infected with the HIV virus. This book puts human faces and stories to the enormity of the virus on the African continent.

The invisible cure: why we are losing the fight against AIDS in Africa by Helen Epstein. New York: Picador, 2008. Library shelf location: 616.9792 EPS

The author is a molecular biologist and health expert who has worked on a vaccine for AIDS. She has conducted much of her research in Uganda. This is a well-written account of what she learned about HIV/AIDS, both medically and socially, as it pertains to the people of Uganda. She shares what we could have done differently in our fight of the disease and how we might be able to slow its spread.

Take your best shot: do something bigger than yourself by Austin Gutwein. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2009. Library shelf location: 261.8321 GUT

This is a Christian-themed young adult book about how a nine year old boy felt inspired to reach out and make a difference in the lives of Africa's AIDS orphans. With a strong faith in God and some help from his parents, he started a program named "Hoops for Hope" to support AIDS orphans, and this is the story.

How to get your kids to eat healthy!

2010-03-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

With the statistics for childhood obesity indicating that the percentage of overweight children in the United States is growing at an alarming rate, any help that parents can get in setting up healthy eating habits for their children could not come too soon.

According to a report released in 2009 that was based on 2007 data from the National Survey of Children's Health, from the Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1 out of very 3 children in the United States is either obese or overweight, and that figure increases for African-American and Hispanic children.

Many kids are spending less time exercising and more time in front of the TV, computer, or video-game console. And today's busy families have fewer free moments to prepare nutritious, home-cooked meals. From fast food to electronics, quick and easy is the reality for many people in the new millennium.

Preventing kids from becoming overweight means adapting the way your family eats and exercises, and how you spend time together. Helping kids lead healthy lifestyles begins with parents who lead by example.

Hopefully the books listed below will offer some suggestions to those who may be having trouble getting your kids to eat healthy.

Food fights: winning the nutritional challenges of parenthood armed with insight, humor, and a bottle of ketchup.

By Jana, Laura A. (Washington, D.C.: American Academy of Pediatrics, 2007.) 649.3 Jan

To find this book, just click here.

Just two more bites! : helping picky eaters say "yes" to food.

By Piette, Linda D. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2006.) 649.3 Pie

To find this book, just click here

What should I feed my kids? : how to keep your children healthy by teaching them to eat right.

By Julien, Ronnie Litz. (New Jersey: New Page Books, 2006.) 613.2083 Jul

To find this book, just click here.

Winning the food fight : how to introduce variety into your child's diet.

By Rigal, Natalie. (Rochester, VT.": Healing Arts Press, 2006.) 649.3 Rig

To find this book, click here.

Heart-warming tales for a cold winter day

2010-02-10T14:53:00.000-08:00