The Librarian's Lounge

Web Roundup

What do you get when you mash together a book and Google Maps?

Learn how to make your own invisible bookshelf.

In Finland, a novel comprised entirely of text messages is published.

A list of the top 100 alternative search engines.

I'm infatuated with The Monster Librarian. Check out his page for all your horror readers advisory information for all ages! One of the greatest features of this website is the "coming soon" information. I love the Genre Reader's Bill of Rights!

Longing to go back to school but don't have the dough? Check out this huge list of free classes available online - here's your chance to attend MIT, Berkeley, and Notre Dame simultaneously, if desired!

Something about author John Green's Brotherhood 2.0 just tickles me. I'm hooked. I especially like the bookfights.

Book Trailers Galore

Through a MySpace friend request, I've discovered ExpandedBooks.com, a site that is comprised of various types of book trailers. Included are the Teen Book Video Award winners mentioned in a previous entry, interviews with authors, and some that just look like commercials. The best are those that actually look like previews to a movie, such as the one for A Great and Terrible Beauty (That one in particular makes me wonder if any movie studios have discovered potential film material from book trailers yet.)

The videos can be browsed by genre, author, and title, and there are some for every age. There are quite a few non-fiction selections, to my delight. One of the best non-fiction trailers is for The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer. I like how it weaves together both an author interview with flashback scenes into the author's life to illustrate the story.

These would be great to incorporate into a library's website or blog and are an example of how libraries can use technology to promote materials.

A Clue

Recently I picked up As Simple As Snow by Gregory Galloway. I very much enjoyed the book and Galloway's writing style but was frustrated and unsatisfied by the ending. But then I stumbled upon this a few days ago - a very nicely-done tie-in site for the novel. Apparently at one time, clues were  offered her to help solve the mystery of Anna's disappearance. Now they ask for your name and email address to get further information. I signed up for it today - I can't wait to find out what happened to her.

What's so cool about this site?

• There's a hyperlinked excerpt from the novel leading to information about authors, musical artists, and other famous people
• All 3 of Anna's mix cds are provided in terms of their lineup, lyrics, and covers
• It includes a list of related links to some of the themes in the book

I like how Galloway uses the website to make reading his novel an interactive experience. Clearly, my time with this book is not yet over and I'll need to evaluate my original conclusion.

Must Reads

What books should everyone read and why? The AskMetafilter team responds.

What Teen Angst Novel Are You?

Go take the quiz and find out. Strangely, I am the last teen angst novel I read - Looking for Alaska! No wonder I loved it so much!

A warm fuzzy

I had a patron call to renew some books just now and we got to talking. She must be in her 70s (she's got 3 sons in their 50s). She was telling me how much she enjoyed this book that was up front near our checkout desk in one of the "Librarian's picks" bins, how she couldn't put it down. It was the perfect moment for me to do a little further reader's advisory, and she had her pen and paper at hand. She said she and her husband had only recently started using the library again, after coming back from a trip to England that her kids bought for them, but that doing so had unexpectedly come at a price. Her husband found a coffee-table type book in our collection that he just loved - a timeline of the ancient world. But it was something that would take him a very long time to read. She decided she wanted to buy it for him but found out that it was out of print and the only copy available through a local bookstore was $65. So what did she do? She saved up some money from her grocery allowance to buy her husband this book for Father's Day. He was so excited but protested that they couldn't afford it. She didn't reveal how she managed to pay for the book but told him it was a gift and he had to keep it. She said she hopes to read it someday, but at the moment, he takes it with him every night to his job as a security guard to read. I was so touched. I found myself thinking, once again, about how much I love this field.

Jon Scieszka's website

Check out Guys Read, a "web-based literacy program" aimed at helping guys find good books. "Young," "Middle," and "Older" guy categories refer respectively to those who are beginning readers, middle readers, and teens. At this point, there's not a whole lot of original content, but the premise for this site, that boys need more models for reading, is true. I hope this takes off - it could be quite useful.