One Sunday during the move, the Parade magazine caught my eye and I read Anna Quindlen’s  “Is Your Stuff Weighing You Down?”. This essay is adapted from her new book, Lot of Candles, Plenty of Cake.  Quindlen says “There is now so much stuff in my head. Memories and lessons learned have taken the place of possessions.” We still kept plenty of our stuff, but donated many boxes of unneeded items to local thrift shops.

To help you sort through your stuff and make a successful move, the Library has some resources:

	Moving 1-2-3: Expert Advice from the Home Depot
	Moving with Kids: 25 Ways to East Your Family’s Transition to a New Home by Lori Burgan
	Moving on : a practical guide to downsizing the family home by Linda Hetzer & Janet Hulstrand
	Moving in the Right Direction: The Senior’s Guide to Moving and Downsizing by Bruce Nemovitz

We still have a few boxes to  unpack and are still figuring out where everything goes.  Moving is a lot of work, yet a change such as this can be refreshing and invigorating.  If you have a move in your future, I wish you well.  And, remember, packing up takes twice as long as you would expect, so give yourself lots of time.

Posted by Mary, a Second Floor Librarian

Image credit:  “Movers” by mtsofan on Flickr

I like to learn a new craft by jumping right in and trying to make something I like, then, when I make a bunch of mistakes, going back to the books to figure out how to do it better.  I’m not sure that’s the most efficient or smartest way to learn, but since it is my preferred style, the books I checked out were a mix of books I call inspirational, with lots of gorgeous color photographs of unique designs, as well as several nitty gritty how-to books with titles like Complete guide to embroidery stitches, and Embroidery basics: all you need to know to start stitching.

Here are a few of my favorites so far.

	Colorful stitchery : 65 hot embroidery projects to personalize your home / Kristin Nicholas.  This book has excellent instructions for the basic embroidery stitches.  The simple, bold, and colorful designs are good choices if you’re new to embroidery and want to make something unfussy that has impact.
	Doodle-Stitching: Fresh and Fun Embroidery for Beginners by Aimee Ray is a good book for beginners.  The designs are fresh and whimsical without being overly cutesy.  I’m looking forward to trying the project for embroidering Converse shoes.  Ask me later how it went!
	Stumpwork dragonflies / Jane Nicholas.  This is one of the books that inspired me to start stitching.  Stumpwork is a form of raised embroidery that originated in England in the second half of the seventeenth century.  You can use metallic thread and beads to really make the dragonflies shimmer.
	The new crewel : exquisite designs in contemporary embroidery / Katherine Shaughnessy.  Crewel is a type of embroidery that uses two-ply worsted wool threads on linen fabric.  I love the dimensional nature and luscious texture of crewel, and the contemporary designs in this book are gorgeous.
	Hoopla : the art of unexpected embroidery / Leanne Prain ; photography by Jeff Christenson.  For people who like to break the rules, this book will provide visual inspiration with great photography and profiles of artists.  This is a beautiful, fun book.

If you are interested in the history of embroidery as well as the larger discussion of women and art, you might like The subversive stitch : embroidery and the making of the feminine/ Rozsika Parker.  Want more ideas?  Broaden your definition of embroidery with  Creative recycling in embroidery;  Twisted stitches: 30 corrupt cross stitch and embroidery designs; or The Techniques of Japanese embroidery.  There are many classic embroidery books in the Library and new ones are on order right now.  Let us know if we can help you find them!

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

2011's most circulated book @CBCPL

Understandably, it’s a bit late to be doing a reflective post about 2011, but better late than never, I say!

What was popular at the CBCPL in 2011? Amongst the favorites: Stieg Larsson’s posthumously published trilogy of gritty crime novels; books related to food, be it a manual or a memoir;  historical fiction set in other countries; fast-paced and suspenseful legal thrillers; biographies about an Egyptian queen and an American football and war hero; Malcolm Gladwell’s compilation of essays and research into the common factors to success; a breakdown of events behind the recent financial crisis; and an annual favorite, detailing the hiking trails in Corvallis.

Based on circulation statistics, the following were the top ten, most circulated, books at the library.

Top Ten Fiction

• The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson
• The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
• Freedom by Jonathan Franzen
• The Lacuna: A Novel by Barbara Kingsolver
• The Reversal by Michael Connelly
• The Confession by John Grisham
• Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel by Jeannette Walls
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Schaffer

Top Ten Nonfiction

• Corvallis Trails: Exploring the Heart of the Valley by Margie Powell
• What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures by Malcolm Gladwell
• Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff
• Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
• Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan
• Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary by David Sedaris
• Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen by Christopher McDougall
• Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman by Jon Krakauer
• Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for everything Across Italy, India, and Indonesia
• The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis

As we move forward with 2012,  we look forward to discovering new and exciting stories that will capture our attention.

Posted by Lindy, a second floor librarian

	Take the cannoli : stories from the New World / Sarah Vowell.  Take the Cannoli is a moving and wickedly funny collection of personal stories stretching across the immense landscape of the American scene.  Vowell has an irresistible voice — caustic and sympathetic, insightful and double-edged — that has attracted a loyal following for her magazine writing and radio monologues on This American Life.
	The pursuit of Alice Thrift : a novel / Elinor Lipman.  This witty, fast paced, and unusual romance novel is the first Lipman book I read, and along with Inn at Lake Devine, remains one of my favorites.  The novel’s ridiculousness and quirky characters will lift your spirits.
	Beginner’s Greek : a novel / James Collins.  Part modern-day Jane Austen, part Tom Wolfe, Beginner’s Greek is a romantic comedy of the highest order, with characters who are perfectly, charmingly real as they swerve and stumble from fairy tale to social satire and back again.
	Some tame gazelle / by Barbara Pym.  “[T]urns a shrewd, mocking, but always affectionate eye on English country life 30 years ago. Pym’s fans will feel completely at home when they step into the Jane Austen-like lives of Harriet and Belinda Bede.”- Christian Science Monitor
	The Thurber carnival / written and illustrated by James Thurber.  James Thurber’s unique ability to convey the vagaries of life in a funny, witty, and often satirical way earned him accolades as one of the finest humorists of the twentieth century. A bestseller upon its initial publication in 1945. The Thurber Carnival captures the depth and breadth of his talent.
	Dog on it / Spencer Quinn.  In this irresistible new detective series featuring a canine narrator, Quinn speaks two languages–suspense and dog–fluently. Sometimes funny, sometimes touching, and in a few places terrifying . . . [a] one-of-a-kind novel (Stephen King).
	Bossypants / Tina Fey.  From her youthful days as a vicious nerd to her tour of duty on Saturday Night Live; from her passionately halfhearted pursuit of physical beauty to her life as a mother eating things off the floor; from her one-sided college romance to her nearly fatal honeymoon, comedian Tina Fey reveals all, and proves that you’re no one until someone calls you bossy.
	Is everyone hanging out without me? (and other concerns) / Mindy Kaling.  Comedy writer and actress Mindy Kaling invites readers on a tour of her life and her unscientific observations on romance, friendship, and Hollywood, with several conveniently placed stopping points for you to run errands and make phone calls.
	Garden spells / Sarah Addison Allen.This charming combination of chick lit, magical realism, and gardening will have you dreaming of spring.
	Me talk pretty one day / David Sedaris.  This collection of essays in which Sedaris spins embarassing moments in his life into sharp humor is laugh- out-loud funny.  His essay recounting his move to France and his humiliating struggles to learn French is one of my favorites.

Posted by Alex, a second floor librarian

Image credit: Beach rules by iko on Flickr

Here are my top three picks for those of you either considering the plunge or already swimming in an endless sea of seemingly exotic flours and grains:

Louise Blair’s Great Gluten-Free Baking: Over 80 Delicious Cakes and Bakes is not only enticing because of the engaging photography, but also due to Blair’s inclusion of flour blends to achieve better results. It is further strengthened by the diverse range of sweet and savory recipes, as well as a chapter on gluten-free baking with kids!

The work of Cake Doctor Anne Byrn is second on my list for the most obvious of reasons – how many of us really have the time to bake from scratch these days?

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The Cake Mix Doctor Bakes Gluten-Free is a compendium of effortless recipes interspersed with quick tips and suggestions to make your creations a success. Now that gluten-free living has entered the mainstream, many gluten-free baking mixes are available at a variety of groceries and markets. Looking for something a little on the decadent side? Try the Bacardi Cake with Buttered Rum Glaze (p. 146-149) for a grown-up treat that is guaranteed to wow.

My third pick keeps in mind those baking for large audiences or cooking for households of hungry kids.

Enjoy Life’s Cookies for Everyone!: 150 Delicious Gluten-free Treats that are Safe for Most Anyone with Food Allergies, Intolerances, and Sensitivities by Leslie Hammond and Betsy Laakso devotes the first four chapters to a thorough discussion of preparing for allergen free cooking adventures. The latter half delves into cookies . Anyone hungry for some Marvelous Maple Bars or a handful of Banana Bunch Drops?

Posted by Ashley, Extensions Librarian

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

Image credit

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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