It's A Cold Time For Watching Good DVDs

It seems like all I've wanted to do lately is stay home, curl up under my snuggly blanket and watch a good movie on my own little TV, with the biggest bowl of popcorn I can have and a cup of hot cocoa.
There are some really great DVDs right here at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library that you can check out with just the show of your library card. No money
required.
Today, the bad weather made me think of DVDs we have about the weather and the world, in general, that I could watch; ones like:
* How the Earth Was Made,
*A Global Warning,
*The Whole Wide World, and
*Life After People (I saw part of that on TV; it was
scary!).
But I think I've had enough weather. Maybe I need some DVDs more exciting, such as:
*Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,
*The Scarlet Letter, and
*The World's Most Famous Detectives.
Or these frivolous ones:
*Mona Lisa Smile,
*Miss Congeniality,
*Stepford Wives, and even
*Seabiscuit.
If I want to learn more serious things, I could watch:
*Banned from the Bible,
*Ancient Secrets of the Bible,
*Exodus Decoded,
*Scientology: An Overview,
*Left Behind, and
*Secrets of the Koran.
Of course, I can't leave out the funny ones that kids like, even me! Like:
*Popeye the Sailor Man,
*Bee Movie,
*Jungle Book,
*The Little Princess,
*Thumbelina: A Magical Story, and
*Bridge to Terabithia.
Now, I know that you think there are a lot of old DVDs I've mentioned here, but you know what? Sometimes those are the best movies of all.
Bring your library card and come see us while the weather is cold. You might as well stay inside, stay warm, and watch a whole bunch of movies. Now is the time to do it, because Spring is just around the corner and then you'll be outside all the time.
Well, until you have to stay inside because it's too hot outside.

Some Of Us Are Hung Up On Series

I just love a good series and, as we all stood around the other day talking about books, it's obvious that many of us
do.
For the second time in two years, I'm reading (or should I say re-reading?) Alexander McCall Smith's series The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. At the same time, I'm reading the Lumby series by Gail Fraser. I had already worked my way through the Monica Ferris needlework mysteries and the Laura Childs tea shop mysteries, and even Patricia Sprinkle's genealogy series. And, just today, our director told me about the Harmony books by Phil Gulley...so I put that on my list to read.
Some of my friends have read Jan Karon's Mitford series, and one of the ladies in our "Happy Bookers" reading group is reading about Mrs. Jeffries and the Inspector in Emily Brightwell's Victorian mysteries.
There are so many series to read and often a large number of books in each series.
M.C. Beaton has two series: one about Hamish Macbeth (all titles beginning with Death of a ...) and another about Agatha Raisin (which all begin with Agatha Raisin and ...). There are 26 books in the Macbeth series and 20 in the Raisin series.
In fact, people are often encouraged to check out more than one book in order to read them in chronological order. As they begin reading the last one they have, they order the next few in the series. Keeps the reading going and makes for a happy reader.
I suppose the next series I'm going to read will be all the Elm Creek Quilts books (there are 16 of them) by Jennifer Chiaverini.
Now, don't think we are leaving the guys out of reading series, because we aren't.
James Patterson has the Alex Cross books (and there are 16), while James Rollins has the Sigma Force (only 6 books, but I bet there'll be more). And Vince Flynn writes about Mitch Rapp (10 books) and the Wheel of Time (12 of them) series is written by Robert Jordan.
With the weather as lousy as it's been lately in many parts of the States, including here, it seems like this is a very good time to read a series. Pick one, there are so many to chose from, and sit back with a good cup of hot tea and read, read, read.

Looking For Red Books

I did a bad thing this morning. I got hung up in the Children's Library while I was looking for red books...well, red-cover books. This being the month for Valentine's Day and Library Lovers' Month, we have a lot of red out and about. So, I went looking for red books in the Children's Library. And I want to tell you what I found.
The first book I picked up was Dear Willie Rudd, (comma needed) by Libba Moore Gray with wonderful pictures by Peter M. Fiore. It is about a woman who remembers her childhood relationship with a Black woman and wishes she could thank her and apologize for any wrongs committed due to race. The pictures are beautiful, but the story is more so.
Then I found John Grogran's book Bad Dog, Marley! The book is by the same author who wrote Marley & Me. Of course, Marley is a rambunctious puppy and he makes himself at home while causing lots of trouble. But then he proves in a very dramatic way that he is a valuable member of the household. And the pictures by Richard Cowdrey are just fantastic of a big drooling puppy!
Next, the name of this book caught my eye, as well as the great watercolor pictures. Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge is about a small boy who tries to discover the meaning of "memory" so he can restore that of an elderly friend. He lives next door to an old people's home, and his favorite person is Miss Nancy Alison Delacourt Cooper because she has four names just as he does. With a basketful of small gifts he's found, he helps her regain her memory. The story of friendship is written by Mem Fox and illustrated by Julie Vivas.
The Look Book by Tana Hoban is just that...a look book. The full-color nature photographs are first viewed through a cut-out hole and then in their entirety. This is one well-worn book in our library. The pictures of flowers, vegetables, birds, animals, and fish give you a stunning book of imaginative photography without words.
The last book I picked up is Ordinary Mary's Extraordinary Deed and it brought to mind what our library staff is doing. We've been recording random acts of kindness that we do throughout the month and posting them on our break-room door. It'll be fun to see our list grow throughout the year. The story of Ordinary Mary is about a young girl's good deed that is multiplied as it is passed on by those who have been touched by the kindness of others. It was fun to see how Mary's deed of giving a big brown bowl of blueberries came full circle, and on its way changed the lives of every person living. The book is written by Emily Pearson and illustrations are by Fumi Kosaka.
If you get a chance, stop by the library and pick up an armful of red books from the Children's Library. There are amazing stories being told....

We're Celebrating Black History Month

When Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week in 1926, he realized the importance of a theme to focus the public's attention on the lives of African Americans.

This year the National Black History Theme for 2010 is "The History of Black Economic Empowerment."

Our display for Black History Month shows wonderful drawings of important African Americans, such as Mary McLeod Bethune, Educator; Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Leader; Edmonia Lewis, Artist; and Charles Richard Drew, Medical Researcher - just to name a few.

We also have a display titled "Remember When?" showing newspaper articles about some of our local famous people, such as Debora Boyd, Willie F. Ryce, Joseph H. Brevard, John Whitaker, and Brad Bailey - just to name a few.

You can find these displays in the long white hallway between the Ellen Payne Odom Genealogical Library and the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library.

This is also the birthday month for Toni Morrison, Roberta Flack, Sidney Poitier, Hank Aaron, and Michael Jordan - just to name a few. But especially for one of the most famous African Americans, Rosa Parks, a great pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement, whose birthday was February 4th.

Why not take some time and visit your library to find that special book you want to read about some of our great African Americans? We have Black authors such as Maya Angelou, Richard Wright, Henry J. Young, Nikki Giovanni, and Walter Mosley - just to name a few. And we have them here, waiting for you.

Whatever Happened To Just Plain Old Reading?

Do I talk too much about books?
I mean, after all, we are a library full of those bound pieces of paper. And we do have stacks and stacks of them all over this building.
Last night while listening to TV, I read a short piece in an old magazine I'd kept for two years about electronic readers.
An electronic reader is supposed to do for books what the iPod did for music. (Yes? And that was?) You can purchase downloadable books for an average of $10. Now, that doesn't sound too bad.
With the Amazon Kindle, material is transmitted wirelessly in just a few seconds. You can access about 300,000 titles of not only books, but magazines, newspapers, and blogs. And the Kindle 2 only costs you $300. Now, that sounds
bad!
A Sony Reader requires a computer with a USB cable to download books from the Sony eBook Store. The Pocket costs only $200 and the Touch is $300. Wow! For me, that's not good either.
Even Barnes and Noble has an e-reader available for your iPhone, Blackberry, PC, or Mac. Their titles cost as little as 99 cents. However, if you're using these little devices, you need to be wary of sites where you can obtain books for free, because there could be copyright issues.
And now...now we have the iPad. Just came out.
Whatever happened to just plain old reading? That means picking up a bound stack of paper, still called a book, a plain old book, and reading it?
Someday we're going to miss sitting someplace, like the coffeehouse or park or in the sunshine on our front porch, and holding a great book, feeling the weight of its bound solidness, touching the smoothness of each page, and smelling that undeniable smell of a good paper
book.
It just doesn't feel the same when we hug an iPhone or iPad. There's something special about hugging a book and enjoying just plain old reading.

Janisse Ray Filled The Room!!!

I dreamed of Janisse Ray last night. No matter which way I turned in bed, I dreamed of her all night and the fantastic event we had right here in the Moultrie-Colquitt County Library. If you weren't able to attend, you missed a great evening with a highly popular Georgia writer.
In fact, if you weren't able to attend, you didn't see that Janisse Ray filled the room. We had people wall to wall and standing in the hallway, crowded up close to the double doors leading to the auditorium, straining their ears to not miss a single word she said.
And she said lots of words...
She quoted from her books Ecology of a Cracker Childhood and Wildcard Quilt. She talked about growing up in a junkyard, finding old lipsticks in junked cars to try on with her sister, and learning about trees and flowers from her favorite school teacher.
Of course, with her husband, Raven, close by, she admitted that he gave her permission to read about the 'gator guys she knew when she was still single. And we all laughed at her description of the guys. We even felt the fear she had felt as they roped a 'gater late one night, while she sat in the middle of the aluminum boat and saw the water splash high from the thrashing 'gater.
Oh, she knows how to tell a story!
Janisse Ray has won a Southeastern Booksellers Award in 1999, an American Book Award in 2000, the Southern Environmental Law Center 2000 Award for Outstanding Writing, and a Southern Book Critics Circle Award in 2000. Ecology of a Cracker Childhood was a New York Times Notable Book and was chosen as the Book All Georgians Should Read. Anne Raver of The New York Times said of Janisse Ray, "The forests of the South find their Rachel Carson."
Her essays have appeared in dozens of anthologies. She's been a radio commentator for Vermont and Georgia public radio. She's been a visiting professor at Coastal Carolina University, scholar-in-residence at Florida Gulf Coast University, and writer-in-residence at Keene State College and Green Mountain College. She was the John and Renee Grisham writer-in-residence for 2003-04 at the University of Mississippi.
I listened with the over 125 attendees last night to a tall, slender, dark-haired, dark-eyed young woman as she passionately talked about the longleaf pines, the rivers and mountains of Georgia, and how we as individuals should be working to save our world.
Now you know why I dreamed about Janisse Ray last night.

Tax Forms Are Here!

Finally! The new tax forms are here!
You have no idea how we've been waiting for them to arrive. Well...I guess some of you have been waiting just as much as we have. This is undoubtedly the busiest place in town for the public to pick up their much-needed tax forms every year.
In fact, this morning at 9:30 we had a gentleman come in and ask where the AARP Tax Aide volunteers are. He was ready to have his taxes done! And it's not even time for the volunteers to be here.
Made me wonder how many other people out there already have their paperwork all together to have their taxes done. I'm almost there, but not quite.
Anyhow, we now have reproducible copies of Federal Tax Forms and Instructions.
We have the 1040, 1040A, 1040EZ, and Tax Instruction booklets, as well as most other forms, including the Georgia forms.
You have to remember now, these forms are for the public only. People who prepare taxes for others must obtain their own forms, but not through the library.
If you have any questions, you can call the library at 229-985-6540. Other forms needed can be pulled up on the magical Web. We'll be glad to help you in any way we can.