World Book Night gives you the opportunity to give 20 copies of a book to 20 people you do not know at community gathering places of your choosing.  It can be a coffee shop, hospital, shopping center, shelter, but you may NOT give them out at the library!  The aim is to promote reading to people who might not otherwise buy or borrow a book.  We want you to share your love of books and your enthusiasm for reading.  Here is the list of books.

There is no cost involved.  Publishers, printers, and paper companies are picking up the tab.  And the authors are waiving their rights to royalties.  You can find all the information about WBN, as well as the sign-up form, at the website.

The idea for this book giveaway began last year in the United Kingdom as a way to bring books to light readers, not dedicated readers like yourself.  It has spread to the U.S. and Germany this year.   So join other readers in Benton County in signing up today to participate.  And ignore the “Night” part of the title, you may give your books away anytime during April 23, 2012.  But first, you must sign up by February 1.

Want more information?  Click here for a list of FAQs about World Book Night.

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

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The paintings have been dated back between 30,000 and 32,000 years using radiocarbon dating. The discovery and documentation of the paintings is a remarkable enough subject for a documentary, but what makes the film even more fascinating is knowing that very few people have been allowed access to the cave.  Only top scientists and researchers have been allowed inside as it is believed that even something as simple as human breath may damage the paintings.  Herzog and his crew were allowed in with special lights that wouldn’t harm the paintings and they were forced to walk and film in single file so they did not veer off the narrow metal grates where people are allowed to step.

The paintings themselves are stunning.  In many cases, the artists actually utilized the curves of the cave walls to produce 3-D paintings that appear to be in motion.  A combination of a bison and the lower half of a woman can be found, an exceptional and significant painting for the time period.  A series of red dots in one section of the cave was discovered to be created from the palm prints of a 6 foot tall man with a crooked pinky finger.  There are also the breathtaking horses  in the picture attached to this blog post.  Additionally, tons of fossils can be found, mostly of the now extinct cave bears that used to hibernate there, along with scratch marks and footprints.

It’s obvious by the wait list that Cave of Forgotten Dreams is quite popular, but you don’t have to wait to see the paintings for yourself.  A quick search for “chauvet cave” in the catalog will bring up many excellent pictorial titles currently in stock, or you can explore the cave online:

Books

The Cave and the Cathedral: How a Real-Life Indiana Jones and a Renegade Scholar Decoded the Ancient Art of Man

Chauvet Cave: The Art of Earliest Times

Dawn of Art: The Chauvet Cave: The Oldest Known Paintings in the World

Painters of the Caves
This one’s for the young ones; if you want to get your kids excited about Chauvet Cave, this would be an excellent book to pick up.

Websites and Articles

The Cave Art Paintings of Chauvet Cave
Links to a gallery of the paintings, information about the film, articles from folks that have actually been there, and much more.

The Cave of Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc
The cave’s official website with an interactive map of the large cave and tons of background info.

Chauvet Cave
Background on the cave from an art history perspective.

“Entering Darkness” by Sam Anderson
A great article from the June 12, 2011 New York Times Magazine about seeing Herzog’s documentary for the first time.  This article (and many more!) are available from your home with your library card number via our online databases.  I found this one in General OneFile.  Unsure about how to use the databases?  Ask a Librarian!

Werner Herzog: Cave of Forgotten Dreams
This is a link to Herzog’s own website where the documentary is discussed at length.

Posted by Bonnie, a second floor librarian

Here are four historical novels to try.  Three are new this year and one is an old favorite:

	The time in between by Maria Duenas
	A month in the country by J.L. Carr
	Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
	Madame Tussaud by Michelle Moran

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Image credit: Stark by Steve-h on Flickr

Buddha dog by SuperFantastic on Flickr

Are you curious about meditation?  One of my co-workers is taking a meditation class, and since it is something I’ve always wanted to try,  I decided to take a look at what the library has on the subject.

It turns out the library has a lot of material in print, on CD, on DVD, in audiobook and ebook format.    The examples I’ve listed here are resources appropriate for folks new to meditation.  Most of the titles are recent and I’ve included a variety of formats.

	Real Happiness by Sharon Salzberg
	Meditation the Buddhist Way by Jinananda.  Available as a CD/book.
	Mediatation for Beginners by Jack Kornfield.  Available as a DVD
	Art of Mindful Living by Thich Nhaat Hanh.  Available as a CD/Book, preloaded audiobook, and downloadable audiobook.
	Peace of Mind by Amy Dean. Available in both Kindle and EPUB format
	Creative Visualization Meditations by Shakti Gawain.  Available in both MP3 and WMA format.

Want more material?  We’ve got it! In addition to these more general titles, we also have resources on specific types of meditation, such as meditation for healing, or to to stop smoking.  Use “meditation” as a subject search in the library catalog to find more resources in the library. Or, call us at the reference desk at 541-766-6793.

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

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This week I read critic Michael Dirda’s column Dirda’s Reading Room : Come talk about books  in The Washington Post.  His topic, “My most challenging book,” got my gray cells going about the work we undertake when we read books that are over our heads.

I thought of Virgil’s Aeneid and how I sweated over Books One through Six in third year Latin. (I did not sign up for fourth year.)   Required books often mean heavy lifting.  Any of you make it through Rudyard Kipling’s Captains Courageous? Jack London’s Call of the wild?  My eyes beamed over the pages but I struggled to say what happened in Chapter four.

Of books I have required myself to read?  I soldiered my way through that library of books, The Bible, in a bible literacy course that took me into biblical criticism.  What a piece of work to put those books in their historical context! It was a two-year course so the job was paced.  Still, undoubtedly, My Most Challenging Read.

Now to crib from Dirda’s column to close because, when he has framed it so well and I can give him credit, why reframe it? “What is the most challenging book you’ve ever read? Why did you read it? And when? What made it hard? How long did it take to read? Have you gone back to it? How did you feel when you’d finished? Share some of your stories with the rest of us.”

Posted by Amy, a second floor librarian

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	The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough.  This book is a Random Review pick for September 2011. Listen to a podcast of the interview with McCullough
	Lost Memory of Skin by Russell Banks. Listen to a podcast of the interview with Banks
_	A Visit From the Good Squad by Jennifer Egan. Listen to a podcast of the interview with Egan.

The National Book Festival on the Washington, DC mall is free and open to the public.  I’d love to attend, but since it’s the same weekend as our own Corvallis Fall Festival, I’ll listen to the author interviews instead.

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

We’ll get started with Wolf Hall on Wednesday September 14.  This historical drama by Hilary Mantel will be reviewed by Rebecca Olson.

	November 9 Lean on Pete by Willy Vlautin Reviewer: Gary Whitehouse
	December 14 Cascadia’s Fault: The Earthquake and Tsunami that Could Devastate North America by Jerry Thompson Reviewer: Chris Goldfinger
	January 11 A Sand County Almanac, and Sketches Here and There by Aldo Leopold Reviewer: Cristina Eisenberg
	February 8 Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future by Robert Reich Reviewer: Charles Vars
	March 14 The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson Reviewer: Marisa Chappell
	April 11 Country Driving: A Journey from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler Reviewer: Staci Simonich
	May 9 Mink River by Brian Doyle Reviewer: John Larison
	June 13 The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear by Seth Mnookin Reviewer: Michael Wong

Random Reviews is sponsored by the Friends of the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library and is free and open to the public.  Please contact 541-766-6793 for more information.

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Check out the EarlyWord book blog to find more upcoming films based on books.  Here are five opening in August and September.

One Day Opening August 19 Based on the book  One Day by David Nicholls.  Also available from the library as a downloadable ebook and a CD/book. A romance story that follows a couple through two decades and starring Anne Hathaway, Jim Sturgess, Patrica Clarkson, Ken Stott, Romola Garai; directed by Lone Scherfig
Drive Opening September 16 Based on the book Drive by James Sallis.  Also available from the library as a downloadable ebook. An adventure story about a Hollywood stunt driver starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Ron Perlman, Christina Hendricks and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy Opening September 16 Based on the book Tinker, Taylor, Solidier, Spy by John Le Carre.  Also available as a downloadable audiobook.  The book was previously made into a tv miniseries by the BBC and is available on DVD (staring Alec Guinness). A classic spy adventure starring Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy and directed by Tomas Alfredson
I Don’t Know How She Does It Opening September 16 Based on the book I Don’t Know How She Does It by Allison Pearson.  Also on cassette. A romantic comedy about the dilemmas of being a working mother starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Pierce Brosnan, Kelsey Grammer and directed by Doug McGrath
Moneyball Opening September 23 Based on the book Moneyball by Michael Lewis A movie about a manager discovering the secret of success in baseball, starring Brad Pitt, Robin Wright, Jonah Hill, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and directed by Bennett Miller

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Image credit:  “The Del Mar at Santa Cruz” by amineshaker on Flickr

By far, my favorite memory of my father is the love of reading that he shared with us kids.  Every two weeks he would drive us down to a local branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Baltimore and help us each pick out a pile of books.  On this Father’s Day, I thought I’d share some of my father’s favorite books.

	The Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L’Amour
	Of Men and Mountains by William O. Douglas
	The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
	Short stories by O. Henry
	A Walk Across America by Peter Jenkins
	Alaska by James Michener (or anything by Michener)

And, one final memory: I would hear my father chuckling and I’d look over to find him smiling over a Calvin and Hobbes book.

Happy Father’s Day.

Posted by Mary, a second floor librarian

Image credit: Sweet Flour Father’s Day Cookiegram by Sweet Flour Bake Shop on Flickr

Most of us recognize the influence music has on our mood.  Why else do we listen to music at the gym, if not to harness its potency to make us exercise harder while enjoying  it more?

	Music, the brain, and ecstasy: how music captures out imagination.  By Robert Jourdain
	How music works.  The science and psychology of beautiful sounds, from Beethover to the Beatles and beyond. By John Powell

	The music instinct (DVD): science and song. written and directed by Elena Mannes
	Musicophilia: tales of music and the brain.  By Oliver Sacks

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian