Food and Drink Reads: Hibernation Instinct Edition

I know it is still hot as blazes but leaves are falling all over town and you know Fall is in the air when the pumpkin ales start taking over local taps.
Speaking of taps, and ales, and fall produce...

The Complete Beer Course: Boot Camp for Beer Geeks

This book was sitting on my desk the other day and I can't tell you how stoked I was to see that the book fairy knows what I like. If you have been meaning to develop your palate to keep up with Richmond's habit of opening a new brewery every 10 days or so and be able to hobnob with the hopsnobs you'll want to crack open this text book and get to studying, er, tasting. The book is broken into 12 "classes" in which you will learn to appreciate all varieties of beer, from ales to pils to sours. This is a crash course in knowing what you are drinking and why. Bonus points for coverage, depth, and readability, but I have to take away points for repeated use of the word "mouthfeel". That is a gross word, food nerds.

Apples of Uncommon Character:123 heirlooms, modern classics & little-known wonders
Behold, the humble apple, red or green, oft-forgotten and unwanted brown bag lunch staple. But oh my there is so much more to know and love about this curious experiment in fruit, far beyond Johnny Appleseed, more than cider even! Have you ever been to an apple tasting? Me either, but I desperately want to now. I am a long time apple devotee but I had no idea there were so many varieties. Expect lively apple history, appetizing photographs with details about individual varieties, and even pairing and cooking tips in this book.
Pro-tip from this apple fan: Try making a grilled cheese sandwich with plenty of Gouda, caramelized onions, and slices of Honeycrisp apple on Billy Bread sometime. Add a little bacon if you need it. Then read this book while eating that sandwich. You'll thank me.

The B.T.C: Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Revival

Truthfully, I like reading about Southern cooking and the idea of Southern food more than I actually enjoy cooking or eating it. If you feel the same way, or if you really like making biscuits and gravy and need a new recipe, then this is for us! The writing and the pictures are great and the recipes are actually interesting; some are twists on traditional Southern dishes and others less traditional. I'm totally sold on the curried cauliflower soup, southern yellow squash casserole, and tomato caper cream cheese!

I also might have hunker down with a series this fall. I tend to avoid books in a series because I hate waiting (flash back to the AGONIZING wait for the final book in the Maddaddam trilogy and the way I totally lost interest in the Strain trilogy by the time the second book came out) but the Southern Reach trilogy is about all published now so I can safely go ahead. My favorite quote from the mostly super positive reviews so far: "If the guys who wrote 'Lost' had brought H.P. Lovecraft into the room as a script doctor in the first season, the Southern Reach trilogy is what they would've come up with." Totally perfect because I also waited until Lost was over and done with before watching the whole series.  And how better to spend a blustery fall weekend than huddled under a blanket with a savory snack and an unsavory trilogy, and some apples? Lots and lots of apples. Or should I finally read Lev Grossman's Magician trilogy? If you've read either or both trilogies, what would you recommend? What series have let you down, left you hanging, or made you beg for a prequel?

Gotta love Fall!

Falling into Fall: Upcoming books to pair with pumpkin and spice

The days may be getting shorter but my to-read list seems to stretch on forever*. I’m looking forward to mulled cider and wine, all things pumpkin-derived, and cool evenings on the balcony spent immersing myself in these soon to be new releases.  Being a book lover and working in a library means it kind of  feels like my birthday whenever the new books come in, so here is a list of my most anticipated new books of Fall 2014:

[*For those of you who don't know, which I would imagine is all of you, I am attempting to read 100 books this year. Why? Because goals. With 46 left to read and this late in the year it isn't looking good for me, but I've really enjoyed the challenge so far. I'll let you know in January how it ends.]

Wolf in White Van
John Darnielle
Isolated and disfigured game designer Sean Phillips orchestrates an elaborate text-based role-playing game known as "Trace Italian" with terrible consequences as the game plays out in real life. John Darnielle's mysterious and cosmically twisty debut novel, due out mid-September, should appeal to fans of Haruki Murakami and Alif the Unseen.

Station Eleven
Emily ST. John Mandel
Fans of Margaret Atwood, and those disappointed by California, should keep an eye out for the fourth novel from Emily St. John Mandel, also due out in September. Hours after an actor dies onstage during a production of King Lear the world begins to dissolve. Moving back and forth in time, Station Eleven is the suspenseful story of Hollywood actors at the end of the world.

The Bone Clocks
David Mitchell
If you were one of the many people celebrating the release of Haruki Murakami's latest (yeah guys, me too) then you probably already have your calendars marked for this one. Cloud Atlas author David Mitchell's upcoming metaphysical thriller is already long-listed for the Booker prize and you can expect to see it on the new books shelf in September.

Mermaids in Paradise
Lydia Millet
Lydia Millet's latest sounds like quite a ride.  Honeymooners Deb and Chip meet a marine biologist in the Caribbean who claims to have found mermaids. The couple teams up with others to save the mermaids from being turned into an amusement park attraction. Swamplandia! fans and readers of Jeffery Eugenides and Tom Rachman be on the lookout for this darkly funny new release in November.

Wittgenstein Jr
Lars Iyers
Lars Iyers returns with a "hilarious coming-of-age love story" set among a group of Cambridge undergrads determined to impress their existentially anguished professor dubbed "Wittgenstein, Jr." Fans of Muriel Barbery and Saul Bellow will be excited to get back to school with this in September.

Not That Kind of Girl
Lena Dunham
I'm sure you know of outspoken and witty Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture, Girls) by now so you probably already know that her book is coming out at the end of September. Honest, smart, and funny, "these are stories about getting your butt touched by your boss, about friendship and dieting (kind of) and having two existential crises before the age of 20 [...]" and more. If you love Kelly Oxford's Everything is Perfect If You're a Liar you'll probably be into this.

10:04: A Novel
Ben Lerner
Fans of Jonathan Franzen will be happy to get their hands on this novel due out in September. (September is going to be a busy month for me.) In 10:04 a man is asked to help a friend conceive a child in a New York that is teetering on the brink of collapse, socially and environmentally.

Love Me Back
Merritt Tierce
I suppose I should label this post "Hotly Anticipated end-of-Summer Bummers." If you like to read cheerful books, my recommendations are probably not for you.This gritty debut novel by Merritt Tierce about a struggling and self-destructive single mother should interest fans of Chuck Palahniuk in September.

And now, for lovers of all things Fall, "my"** Apple Chai-der recipe:

[**I actually use store bought prepared Chai tea concentrate and mix it with Bold Rock Cider in a 1 to 1 ratio because I am efficient.***]

[***Lazy.]

1 1/2 cups water
1 cup apple cider ("hard" or "soft". Virginia has a fine selection of both to choose from)
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon crystallized ginger
5 whole black peppercorns
2 green cardamom pods, crushed
2 English breakfast black tea bags

In a medium saucepan combine water, apple cider, cinnamon stick, ginger, peppercorns and cardamom. Heat over medium heat until just beginning to boil. Reduce heat; simmer gently for 5 minutes. Remove cider mixture from heat. Add tea bags; steep for 3 minutes then remove tea bags. Strain cider mixture; discard spices. Serve in mugs.

Makes 2 servings (2 cups total)

Packing Light: 9 lightweight novels that pack a punch

All weighing in at under 300 pages, these slender novels are no less powerful for their diminutive size and they fit perfectly in your carry-on luggage while keeping you pinned to the very edge of your airplane seat. Put up your tray table and put down Capital, Summer's "least read" monster, then grab a handful of these little guys hot off the new books shelf. 

Your Fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? by Dave Eggers

Mr. Eggers brought us the pretty darn long The Circle last year (which was great and you should read it too). This year I guess he just decided to go with a pretty darn long title.  Your Fathers, [etc.], written entirely in dialogue, is the humorous and suspenseful story of a man kidnapping people and holding them hostage on a decommissioned Naval base because he just wants to ask them some questions.  I read it on a weekend hiking trip so I can confidently recommend it as vacation-friendly.

The Scent of Pine by Lara Vapnyar


A Russian woman now living in the United States remembers  the Soviet summer camp of her youth as she embarks on a sudden and unexpected affair, and discovers how unreliable memory can be.

The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland


I had to read this in one sitting, pausing only to recommend it to a friend 2/3 of the way through. Lena, a lone transcriptionist with a large and reputable New York City newspaper, becomes obsessed with a story of a blind woman who apparently committed suicide by climbing into a lion's cage at the zoo. In her quest for the truth about this peculiar story she uncovers much more.   

Chop Chop by Simon Wroe


Sharp, mordantly funny, and sometimes horrifying and gross, this witty story of one man's brief career in restaurants might make you think twice about going out to eat while on vacation.

The Snow Queen by Michael Cunningham


I am going to get around to reading you, Snow Queen, I swear! Michael Cunningham, who brought us The Hours,
now brings us this gorgeous story that follows the divergent paths of the Meeks brothers as they each seek their own meaning in life. Highly recommended by a trusted source, and Goodreads, who seldom steers me wrong, described it as "beautiful and heartbreaking, comic and tragic". Sounds pretty good to me.

Next Life Might be Kinder by Howard Norman


In Next Life Might be Kinder, Sam Lattimore is a widower recalling his brief marriage to his wife, and her tragic murder and its aftermath, as he visits with her spirit on the beach in Halifax, Nova Scotia. You might want to grab the tissues for this tender and melancholy little romance.

Sleep Donation by Karen Russell


Karen Russell, author of Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove, is out with a new novella that promises to be every bit as unsettling and entertaining as those were. Sleep Donation is another novel about sleep deprivation--the other being the terrific Black Moon by Kenneth Calhoun--so maybe this is a trend forming. There are about a billion zombie stories out there so the literary market can probably handle a few more insomnia themed tales. This one is on my "to read soon" list, which never seems to get any shorter.

Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole


This one is also on my "to read soon" list. Cole's unnamed narrator returns to visit Lagos after 15 years abroad and rediscovers his hometown, and himself. Originally published in Nigeria in 2007, this novella is now available in the United States and just sounds really lovely.

All the Birds, Singing by Evie Wyld


For once I beat the New York Times review of books and read this before they reviewed it. All the Birds, Singing was originally published in the UK in 2013 and finally released in the US in 2014. Told in reverse, this book is riveting and eerie with a complicated central character. Jake Whyte lives an isolated life as a sheep herder and grapples daily with scars from her difficult past while a threatening predator attacks her flock at night.

Make your own website for free (or really cheap)!

"But how?  I didn't go to one of your fancy internet schools!  I don't know my elbow from my html!"  
Fear not, blog reader--that is why there's WordPress.com! (And other similar dotcoms but for the sake of space I'll just talk about WordPress.)

Read about it here or come to my class!

DIY Websites with WordPress at the Ginter Park Branch Library

Wednesday, December 18th @ 5:30

Can't make it today but wish you could?

Give us a call and I'll try to schedule another class in the future: 646-1236.

Creating your own website to promote a small brick-and-mortar business or a web store in an online marketplace, or to share your art, music, or words with the world is well within your reach.  You don't need to know any code or shell out a ton of money to have a professional, attractive, functional website that can grow with your needs, skill level, and your business.  WordPress, simply put, is a blog (sort of like the one you are reading now).  Blogs are basically just websites designed to display the most recent content first in the form of "posts". Static "pages" can be added and set as the homepage, moving the blog off the the side.  Pages can even be nested creating sub-menus if your template allows it. Go to any website you can think of and navigate the menus.  You can do that on your own site.  Here is an  example of a well done WordPress.com website for a small business:

The Pink Rose Bakery

These blogazines (I may have just made that word up) definitely weren't free but are worth showing here as an example of what is possible:

The Holborn

Flavorwire

So, how to get started?  Go to Wordpress.com.  Click "get started".  Do this:

Create your account log-in, and don't worry about the blog address because you can change it later. You're almost there! Once you're in you can pick out a theme.  There are 120 free themes to choose from. The theme is the pretty part; it determines the look and feel of your site. Consider your audience and your content.  If you feature a lot of photos and very little text, look for a theme that emphasizes photos like this one.

If you are promoting an auto repair shop you will probably want a static homepage that prominently displays your phone number, a list of services, and a map of your location. Think about what information your customer is looking for and make it easy to find. The above theme might confuse someone in search of a reliable mechanic.

So, what's next? Get to know your dashboard. That's the control room for your whole website. There you'll be able to create pages, add content, change your theme, write and edit blog posts (basically just do all of the things) there. I set up a "sandbox" to demo changes for the purposes of the class so it will look different all the time: http://nataliedlibrarian.wordpress.com/

The theme I have chosen is pretty well suited to my content, what little of it there is, but I'm not wild about the background color so I think I'll change it.  It's nice to know that the theme can be changed easily at any time without sacrificing my content.

When creating a page or a post you may notice a tab labeled "visual" and next to it a tab labeled "text".
The text tab is where you can edit (some of) the HTML--that's the language that tells a browser how to display content.  The great thing about WordPress?  You don't have to know it at all. You can learn just a little and make some changes in there if you like or you can leave it alone and trust WP's code.

WordPress can be ALL free, "pretty cheap", or "reasonably priced" depending on how much space you need and how much control you want. You can purchase upgrades à la carte or as part of a plan. 60$/year gets you video—the free version does not support video. 99$/year gets you a custom domain, more space for photos and video (about 13 GB), and more control over site appearance. Even more money will get you even more, if you can imagine that.  Want a custom theme?  It'll cost you but it's an option.

Want even more control? Teach yourself a new language! The folks at codeacademy.com and W3Schools.com have just about all you need to learn code like CSS or HTML in your spare time. It might even be fun.

Final advice: Put a cat on it. (People love cats.) (The internet has lots of funny cats.)

Summer Reading...Dig In!

Summer is almost here and the Library is ready.  Don't waste a summer day...READ!  Sign up to join the Summer Reading program at the Richmond Public Library, log books online and earn a free bookbag and book.  This year the sign up is online, so you may use a Library computer or sign up from home.  Look for the Dig Into Reading button on the Library homepage at http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/.
After you sign up, start reading!  Logging begins on Saturday, June 15, 2013, the official "kick-off" of Summer Reading. Check your local branch for special kick-off happenings. http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/eventSearch.asp

When you log books online you will also be entered to win tickets to "uncover" some of Richmond's treasures with a different drawing each week:

·   June 26: Summer ArtVenture Camp at Visual Arts Center of Richmond, ages 5-16

·   July 1: Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens Admission Tickets

·   July 6: Family Pack of 4 Tickets to a Richmond Flying Squirrels Game

·   July 13: Family Membership to the Children's Museum of Richmond

·   July 20: A pair of tickets for a Valentine Richmond History Center Tour

·   July 27: Free Family Admission for 4 to the Science Museum of Virginia

·   August 3: Tickets to the Redskins Training Camp on August 12 -

                     special 50 yard line viewing area for children and teens!

Continue reading and keep logging books for more chances to win. 

Richmond Public Library locations will be presenting story times for toddlers and preschoolers during the summer months.  There will also be exciting programs for older children and teens happening at each branch.  Pick up a Check-It-Out at your local library or view the calendar online at http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/eventSearch.asp.

52 Ways to Use Your Library Card: Week Fourteen

Week Fourteen: Celebrating the Holidays with RPL 

There's so much to do at the Richmond Public Library in the month of December. We have an assortment of programs for all ages, as well as children's story times with special holiday themes. Pick up a copy of our holiday-inspired flyer for information about programs at our branches. All programs are free and open to the public. Spaces for most programs are limited, so call to register.

Here are some highlighted holiday programs

December 6 - Thursday-Main Library - 2-6 pm - Foraged with Tara Morand - join Tara Morand as she collects things from our natural urban environment and then turns her foraged objects into beauty for your home. As part of our "Out of the Box" series at Main, we will make ornaments, wreaths, and garlands for all the December holidays from Tara's urban natural finds. Join us!

December 6 - Thursday - Ginter Park Library - 7-9 pm - Holiday Fete - take a break from the holiday rush to attend Ginter Park Library’s annual fundraiser with food provided by local restaurants, door prizes provided by local merchants, and live music!

December 7 - Friday - Main Library - 7-9 pm - First Friday - join us for our artists' opening night reception.

December 8 - Saturday - Main Library - 11 am - Spend the Morning with Charles Dickens! Dr. Eric Douglass will present a dramatic reading of A Christmas Carol, dressed in period costume and using stage notes from Dickens's actual performance.

December 8 - Saturday - West End Library- 4:30 pm - The Magical Gingerbread Man Special Story Time
 - join us for Gingerbread Day fun! We will have a magical gingerbread story, craft, gingerbread manhunt and cookies! The program is best for ages 3-5 with an adult.

December 11 and 13 - Tuesday & Thursday - Westover Hills Library - Holiday Story time & Craft - join us for holiday stories, songs, and make an ornament to keep! 

December 15 - Saturday - North Avenue Library - 11 am - 4 pm- Festivals of Lights-come discover a new tradition and make a craft to take along.

December 15 - Saturday - Main Library - 2 pm - Gellman Room Concert: Richmond Boys Choir- become festive with the Richmond Boys Choir  at their 16th annual performance at RPL.

December 17- Monday - Hull Street Library-11 am-1 pm- Kwanzaa Ceremony and African Food Tasting - Dr. Aminah Waajid, Professor at Virginia State University will facilitate the culturally significant Kwanzaa Ceremony and Libations as she explains the meaning and significance of Kwanzaa to all Americans.  Following the ceremony we will have a chance to taste authentic African dishes prepared by MaMusu's West African Restaurant. All are welcome to join in. 

December 18 - Tuesday - East End Library -11 am-2 pm - East End Annual Christmas Celebration
 - join the East End Library Wednesday, December 18th at 11 am for the sounds and smells of Christmas, meet old friends and say good-bye as we prepare to close for renovations. Refreshments are provided.

December 19 - Wednesday - Belmont Library- 3 pm - Make Cut Out Snowflakes Day- help decorate the library with snowflakes as we enjoy Snowflake Day.

December 20 - Thursday - Broad Rock Library - 10 am - Special Christmas Craft Program - for preschool and up– you are invited to create a Christmas ornament. 

Teen Craft Sale!!

Also in this month, the Main Library Teen Advisory Group is having its first annual Craft and Bake Sale. Most of the materials are made resourcefully from recyclable materials. The purpose of the recyclable craft programs at Main is to show teens the importance of reusing materials while also encouraging creativity by making new and interesting stuff. We have had teens and volunteers helping us with several programs throughout the year in order to get ready for this sale. The money from the sale will be used to fund programs and services for teens at the Main Library.

Summer Tech Sessions at Main

We've got some great Tech Sessions coming up this summer at the Main Library. If you're an intermediate-level technology user, somewhere between a beginner and a computer expert, then these workshops will be right up your alley.

E-Book Madness! Lunch Hour Edition 

Want to learn more about e-books and e-readers? Stop by any time between 12 and 1:30 with your questions. Learn about downloadable books and play with some gadgets.

Main Library - Entrance Lobby 

Wednesday, June 13th, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm

E-Book Madness!
Want to learn more about e-books and e-readers? Stop by any time between 5 and 6:30 with your questions. Learn about downloadable books and play with some gadgets.
Main Library - Entrance Lobby
Monday, July 9th, 5:00-6:30 pm

The Professional’s Google Docs Workshop 

Learn to use the Google Docs (now part of Google Drive) productivity suite to create, share, collaborate, and store documents for your business or organization. Please sign up for a Google account before attending this class. 

Main Library - Conference Room G, Lower Level 

Friday, July 27th, 2:30 - 5:00 pm
Click here to sign up for this workshop. Space is limited.

Marketing Research with Reference USA 

Reference USA is a powerful research database made available for free to our library users. Learn how you can use this database to research business markets or your competitors.
Main Library - Conference Room G, Lower Level
Friday, August 3rd, 10:30 am - 12:00 pm

SCI-FI DOUBLE FEATURE

As part of the 19th James River Festival,  Mike Jones, a filmographer, will be bringing double feature films to the Main Library on Friday, April 13 at 12 pm.
The first film, Futuropolis is an outer space adventure that uses the animation process known as pixilation.

                                                            
The second film, Mark of the Damned is a sci-fi/horror film directed by Eric Miller.

This will be the opportunity for you to meet the actor of Futuropolis, Tom Campagnoli and the director of Mark of the Damned, Eric Miller. They will be available to answer questions.

If you like sci-fi films, this is for you!

The program is FREE and open to teens and adults. It will be held in basement auditorium at the Main Library.