Good Reads Blog

I’d like to take this chance to remind our patrons that you can borrow downloadable Audio Books (as well as popular eBooks) from the library, free of charge. You can listen to them on your computer, or burn them to disk and use them in your car or on your MP3 player.

We have great titles: New audio books from John Lescroart, Fern Michaels, and Dean Koontz, non-fiction like the “For Dummies” series or business titles. Even children’s books.

This service has expanded, now offering movies that you can view on your computer or a portable device.

You can get to the MLC Overdrive collection by going to http://ebooks.mlcnet.org/ or clicking the "Audio Book Downloads" link on our Good Reads page. Browse until you find something you like, download and install the software to play or read it, then the file.

Overdrive books are not currently compatible with iPods. Some of the books can be downloaded any time, others need to be reserved. Check your email frequently if you reserve one -- you have 48 hours to pick it up once the book is reserved in your name.

Also: This article, Download and Listen to Audiobooks, in PC world, mentions the audio book download service that we use as a great place to get free books. It's a good overview of how the author listens to audio books, and contains a couple of links to other sources of free audio books in the public domain.

Over the weekend, I took out of town visitors to the Air Zoo. Not only did they have a great time, but we went to their annex in back, where they have a great aerospace exhibit, and displays of early twentieth century stuff, which includes a plane you can walk aboard.

They're still running their promotion where you get half off when you show your Portage District Library Card.

Also, Joe Schrieber, an author who's read for the library, is publishing a serialized novel titled The Triggerman on his website. He has posted four chapters as of today. If you like Stephen King, or thrillers, go take a look at his free novel being published one chapter a weekday.

Now available in the New Book section of the Atrium are New Talking Books on CD and New Large Print. We are putting the newest arrivals on CD and in Large Print on the last section of shelving in the New Book Section. New Items will remain in the new section for 6 months and then will be removed and placed in the regular collection.

Also available are a print list of Talking Books on CD and Large Print books. These will be updated quarterly. They are located on the end columns by their collections.

Attention Book Groups! Need titles for lively book discussions? Try the library’s newly stocked Book Discussion in a Bag collection of sixteen bags. Each bag holds ten copies of a single title, plus the author’s bio and discussion questions and author interviews when available. Those titles include novels, memoirs, poetry, and nonfiction by local, bestselling, classic and award winning authors. Each bag holds ten copies of a single title, plus the author’s bio and discussion questions and author interviews when available. All you need is wine and cheese and you have all the fixings for a rousing discussion. Each bag checks out for a month. Here is the new list of titles:

Book Discussion in Bag Titles 2008

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (nonfiction) by Barbara Kingsolver
This book chronicles the year that Barbara Kingsolver, along with her husband and two daughters, made a commitment to become locavores–those who eat only locally grown foods. This first entailed a move away from their home in non-food-producing Tucson to a family farm in Virginia, where they got right down to the business of growing and raising their own food and supporting local farmers. The book's bulk, written and read by Kingsolver in a lightly twangy voice filled with wonder and enthusiasm, proceeds through the seasons via delightful stories about the history of their farmhouse, the exhausting bounty of the zucchini harvest, turkey chicks hatching and so on.

The Crows (mystery) by Maris Soule (local fiction writer)
Described by some as a psycho9logical cozy, The Crows is part mystery, part suspense. Wry humor is combined with fast paced events giving the reader a view of life in a rural Michigan farming community. Follow P.J., a C.P.A who discovers a man dying in her dining room after coming home from an afternoon walk in the woods, as she learns that what appears to be true could be deceiving.

Eat, Pray, Love (memoir) by Elizabeth Gilbert
At the age of thirty-one, Gilbert moved with her husband to the suburbs of New York and began trying to get pregnant, only to realize that she wanted neither a child nor a husband. Three years later, after a protracted divorce, she embarked on a yearlong trip of recovery, with three main stops: Rome, for pleasure (mostly gustatory, with a special emphasis on gelato); an ashram outside of Mumbai, for spiritual searching; and Bali, for "balancing." These destinations are all on the beaten track, but Gilbert's exuberance and her self-deprecating humor enliven the proceedings


Great Gatsby (fiction) by F. Scott Fitzgerald
In 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald announced his decision to write "something new--something extraordinary and beautiful and simple + intricately patterned." novel became The Great Gatsby. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captures the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies some of Fitzgerald's--and his country's--most abiding obsessions: money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning--" Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream.


Inheritance of Loss (fiction) by Kiran Desai
Desai's second novel is set in the nineteen-eighties in the northeast corner of India, where the borders of several Himalayan states—Bhutan and Sikkim, Nepal and Tibet—meet. At the head of the novel's teeming cast is Jemubhai Patel, a Cambridge-educated judge who has retired from serving a country he finds "too messy for justice." The tranquility of his existence is contrasted with the life of the cook's son, working in grimy Manhattan restaurants, and with his granddaughter's affair with a Nepali tutor involved in an insurgency that irrevocably alters Jemubhai's life. Briskly paced and sumptuously written, the novel ponders questions of nationhood, modernity, and class, in ways both moving and revelatory.

The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (nonfiction) by Bill Bryson
Few childhoods are interesting to anyone other than the individuals that lived them. Even a mundane childhood, though, can be made interesting through good writing, and Bill Bryson’s memoir fits this category. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is Bryson’s nostalgia-soaked story of his childhood in 1950s Iowa. Bryson describes his family, friends, and the city of Des Moines with reverence for the profound effect they had on his life.


One Oar (poetry) by Marie Bahlke (local poet)
Marie Bahlke has created a powerfully graceful collection of reminiscence as she describes caring for her husband as he slips deeper into Alzheimer’s disease. Marie shares with us her moving journey into the heart of grief, loss and unrelenting love.


Out of the Dust (fiction-poetry) by Karen Hesse (Newbery Award Book)
Karen Hesse has taken the Dust Bowl and narrowed her focus to a single family living in Oklahoma in 1934. Through the eyes of fourteen-year-old Billie Jo, the reader is treated to a series of poems describing the catastrophic events that come from living in a world of dust. Each poem is a small masterpiece, slowly expanding to give the inhabitants of Billie Jo's small Okalahoma town depth and purpose. You meet families migrating west to California, bums on railroad tracks. There are abandoned babies and musicians with names like Mad Dog Craddock and the Black Mesa Boys. To read this book is to find yourself completely immersed in the Depression.


Pomegranate Soup: A Novel (fiction) by Marsha Mehran
The Irish hamlet of Ballinacroagh is the unlikely new home for three Iranian sisters and their new Babylon Cafe. Twenty-seven-year-old Marjan, the most skilled in the kitchen; Bahar, the tentative middle sister; and Layla, the charming teenager, fled the Iranian revolution and, after some years in London, have arrived determined to succeed. Initially wary natives soon fall under the spell of the cafe's cardamom- and rosewater-scented wonders, But town bully Thomas McGuire, who loathes "feckin' foreigners," and gossip Dervla Quigley, who thinks "they're all sluts," will do anything to drive the sisters away.


Q Road (fiction) by Bonnie Jo Campbell (instructor Kalamazoo College)
A farm in rural Kalamazoo County, Mich., provides the backdrop for this May-December love story. Rachel Crane, a homely, motherless, foul-mouthed teenager, lives on a houseboat with her reclusive mother, Margo. They are tenants of George Harland, whose wife abandoned him to maintain his declining farm alone. George becomes irresistibly drawn to Rachel and asks her to marry him; she accepts, but just so she can inherit "his damned land." Only when her young friend David's life is imperiled, does Rachel begin to allow herself to feel genuine love for anything but the land.


Solace of Leaving Early (fiction) by Haven Kimmel
A romance evolves in the wake of a domestic shooting in Kimmel's intelligent and compassionate debut novel, which brings two friends of one of the victims together in a small Indiana town. Amos Townsend is the male protagonist, a 40-ish preacher who counseled the late Alice Baker-Maloney as her frayed marriage degenerated into a fatal confrontation with her controlling husband, Jack.


A Thousand Splendid Suns (fiction) by Khaled Hosseini
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss and by fate. With heart-wrenching power and suspense, Hosseini shows how a woman's love for her family can move her to shocking and heroic acts of self-sacrifice, and that in the end it is love, or even the memory of love, that is often the key to survival.


Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations...One School at a Time (non fiction) by Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.


Water for Elephants (fiction) by Sara Gruen
Jacob Jankowski is living out his days in a nursing home, hating every second of it. He is reminiscing about his life in the circus. After his parents were killed in an automotive accident, Jacob ran away and joined the circus when he was twenty-one. As a veterinarian student he is put in charge of caring for the animals. The animals are mangy, underfed or fed rotten food, and abused. Uncle Al, the circus impresario, is a self-serving, venal creep who slaps people. August, the animal trainer, is a certified and cruel paranoid schizophrenic Jacob is the only person in the book who has a handle on a moral compass. According in Publishers Weekly, the ending is absolutely ludicrous and really quite lovely.


The Women were Leaving the Men (fiction – short stories) by Andy Mozina (English Department, Kalamazoo College)
Andy Mozina draws readers into the everyday lives of characters that are instantly relatable but intriguingly flawed. Knocked beyond the brink by departed family members, curious obsessions, and unruly physical attributes, Mozina‘s characters climb and scrape their way toward intimacy, sanity and redemption against the often-absurd odds of their lives in this quirky, humorous and poetic collection.


Year of Wonders (fiction) by Geraldine Brooks
Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders describes the 17th-century plague that is carried from London to a small Derbyshire village by an itinerant tailor. As villagers begin, one by one, to die, the rest face a choice: do they flee their village in hope of outrunning the plague or do they stay? The rector, Michael Mompellion, argues forcefully that the villagers should stay put, isolate themselves from neighboring towns and villages, and prevent the contagion from spreading. His oratory wins the day and the village turns in on itself. Cocooned from the outside world and ravaged by the disease, its inhabitants struggle to retain their humanity in the face of the disaster.



You might want to invite local authors to your book groups. Most authors visit groups for food and the opportunity to join into a discussion about their work.

Enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and listen or dance to the WMU Jazz Trio featuring Ryan Andrews: A jazz ensemble in the classic piano trio format of piano, acoustic bass and drums, featuring students from Western Michigan University's internationally acclaimed jazz program.

Drawing from a repertoire of old and new standards from the Great American Songbook as well as classic jazz compositions by the great jazz legends, this ensemble will have you tapping your toes to the rhythm of America's own classical music: jazz!

For adults, please register at the Adult Information desk at the Portage District Library, 329-4542 X 600.

Friday, May 16, 2008 6:30 to 8:30 PM
Registration starts May 1, 2008
Location: Senior Citizen Center located next to the Portage District Library.

Portage District Library is conducting a number of surveys this year because we want to be sure that what we are doing is worthwhile to you and that you are feeling satisfied (or better) with your library. We have just received the results of a recent mail survey in which we asked some general and specific questions about the library and offered an opportunity for respondents to give feedback in open-ended questions. Since our goal was to obtain opinions and preferences about the library from a representative cross-section sampling of our library patron population, this survey was mailed to 2,000 randomly selected registered borrowers. Out of those, we received 397 responses - a sufficient number to get a good assessment. Once again, the library was assisted with our survey by Dr. David Hartman (Director) and his staff at the Kercher Center for Social Research at Western Michigan University who administered the survey tool and compiled, organized and analyzed the responses. Here are some interesting statistics from that survey:

> When asked HOW OFTEN they used the library, 48.2% answered "once a month" and 24.7% said at least once a week.
> When questioned about their primary use of the library, 73.1% said for personal enjoyment and 14.4% said for children's use.
> When asked "WHY do you usually visit the library?" 89.6% responded it was to borrow materials; 35.2% said it was for reference/research; 21.5% said it was to use the Youth Services area; and the balance of respondents indicated a variety of other reasons including: to attend programs, to study/work, to use the Internet, to read magazines & newspapers, to get homework help, to use the Business Room, or to meet and relax with friends.
> When questioned about what services they used when visiting the library's website, 45.8% said they searched the library catalog, 32.7% said they checked their account or reserved books, 21.9% said they found out about events and classes and 13% said it was to find out about open hours or location.
> When asked: "How easy is it to find what you are looking for?" 51% of respondents said it was extremely easy and 48.5% said moderately easy, which indicates to us that we have done a good job of making our collections, resources and public spaces user friendly.
> The very BEST outcome of this survey was responses to the questions: "Are the library facilities welcoming, clean and comfortable?" (99.5% said Yes!) and "Is the library staff responding quickly to your inquiries and requests?" (94.1% said Yes!)

These responses indicate to us that patrons are using the library and our website in ways that we anticipated they would and that we are allocating our budgetary resources in appropriate areas. The high ratings confirm that we are hitting the mark in our goals of making the library a desirable destination and optimizing patron access to library services and resources… and this is GREAT NEWS for our community! Thanks to everyone who participated in this survey and I encourage all of you to continue to share your opinions.

Have you worried lately about where you are as far as investing for retirement is concerned?

Maybe you think you are on track but would welcome more information or a knowledgeable second opinion.

On Monday, April 7 at 6:00 p.m. at the Portage District Library you have the opportunity to learn more about the world of investing and have your personal financial situation evaluated by a seasoned counselor—for free! We are proud to provide a program developed by The Investor Protection Trust and the American Library Association, and provided by the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Services.

The 90- minute seminar will offer participants a chance to learn about common investment terms, where wealth comes from, the fundamentals of stocks, bonds and mutual funds, diversification, and how to select a financial services provider. Then, afterward, you have the opportunity to meet one-on-one with a financial expert from the state of Michigan, who will review your finances with you—at no charge. Space is limited for this event, and only people who respond by March 30 will be eligible for the free personal financial evaluation. On registration, we will let you know what financial information the counselors will need. This is a rarely available, wonderful opportunity!

Speaker: Mark Robinson, Executive VP of Ferris, Baker, and Watts, Host, Investing Fundamentals on WWJ Radio

Monday, April 7, 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Registration Begins February 21, 9:00 AM

Location: Lower Level Meeting Room

Cost: Free

Effective Teen Job Searching

Looking for your first job (summer or now)? Maybe an internship? Want to start earning a paycheck but aren’t sure how to begin?

Come to this hands-on workshop, led by Cecilia Phillips, Case Manager and Trainer for Youth Opportunities, Unlimited, a career counseling agency geared to youth. Learn to put together a resume and cover letter, successfully fill out an application (not to mention what to wear to that interview), and be on your way to your first career! If you have a resume, bring it--we will look it over for you. Munchies will be served.

Monday, April 7 2:00 -3:30 p.m.
Location: Portage District Library

a photojournalism exhibit

This photography show features winners of a scholarship grant from the Alexia Tsairis Foundation for World Peace and Cultural Understanding. Parents of Alexia Tsairis, who was killed by a terrorist’s bomb aboard the Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie Scotland, established this student competition to give voice to social injustice, history, cultural

differences and to promote global understanding through photojournalism. This exhibet runs March 10th to April 15th.

On Sunday, April 6, at 3:00 pm, there will be a reception featuring a presentation by Peter and Aphrodite Tsairis, founders of the Alexia Tsairis Foundation for World Peace and Cultural Understanding.

The Portage District Library would like to introduce you to TumbleBooks. TumbleBooks are animated picture books online. Their collection includes storybooks like Dinosailors and Diary of a Worm. They also have classics like Aesop’s Fables, Alice in Wonderland, and the Wizard of Oz in audiobook format. Play a game or read a story in another language. All of the TumbleBooks play on your computer, without the need to download special software.

To reach TumbleBooks, visit the Portage District Library’s website, click on Kids Connect and then Good Books. The TumbleBooks link is at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!

Sponsored by the Friends of the Portage District Library

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008
Portage Celery Flats Historical Area
10:00 am- 12pm

The park will open at 10:00 am for hot chocolate and fun! The Red Robin and the Old Country Buffet Bee will be visiting, as well as the Easter Bunny. Photo opportunities with the Easter Bunny will be from 10:30-11:30 am. Please bring your own camera; there will not be photographers available at this year’s event.

Egg Hunt Events by Age Group*

11:00 am 2-5 yrs old
11:15 am 6-9 yrs old
11:30 am 10-12 yrs old

On site parking is limited; additional parking is available at Portage District Library, First Reformed Church of Portage, and Portage City Hall. You can walk the trail approximately 3 blocks from the library.

If weather conditions seem unfavorable, please visit the Event Calendar at www.portagelibary.info for cancellation information. If you are interested in volunteering to help with this event, please contact Fran Cooper at 353-8419.

*Events start promptly and are over very quickly. To assure that all children have an enjoyable time, some emergency eggs are held back for late arrivals. See any volunteer at the event for more information.

For more information about Portage District Library Programs, you may go here.

Art Exhibits

March 10-April 15

Meet the Artist Reception/Presentation
Brian Tilbury
Oil Acrylic

Eyes on the World: a photojournalism exhibit (Reading Together Program)
Black and white photography
Sunday, April 6 3:00 -4:00 pm

Meet the Artist Reception /Presentation

Peter and Aphrodite Tsairis, founders of the Alexia Tsairis Foundation for World Peace and Cultural Understanding, will explain why they established their foundation and what it has a student competition to give voice, through photojournalism, to social injustice, history, and cultural differences and to promote global understanding

Genealogy

Genealogy: Why America Hunter shafted my great, great, great, great grandfather, Cortice Hunter, her brother-in-law. How happiness was found on a summer's day in a room full of Public Records.

By traveling to a county court house and digging into the public records with your own hands, you may find very informative bits of knowledge beyond the mundane standard data. This information will fill in the genealogical skeleton that you are building of your ancestors. Metaphorically, you are going from a black and white to a color photograph. This knowledge will help you understand your forefathers' life experiences.

Wednesday, March 12
6:30- 8:00 pm

Environmental Programs

Sustainable Exterior Scapes for a Green Environment

Join us for a panel discussion on the use of affordable, sustainable, attractive resources in residential yards and gardens including planting native plants, rain gardens, and building to suit the land. The discussion will also address exterior building materials including roofing, windows, and siding. Panelists will include a landscape designer, an architect, a specialist in rain gardens, a master gardener and founders of the Wild Ones. Area conservation organizations and residential exterior building and garden retailers will host informational tables from 6:00 -6:30 pm.

Thursday, March 20
6:00 -8:30 pm

Literary Programs

Open for Discussion 2008

Come join us for this monthly drop-in book discussion series.

Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

On December 30, 2003, Joan and her husband, John Gregory Dunne, were just sitting down to dinner about 9:00 pm. They had returned from visiting their daughter, Quintana, who was comatose in an ICU in New York City. They were having a conversation as Joan put dinner on the table. She looked up; it was very quiet. John was not responding.

She realized all was not well, and in that instant her life changed. This book is a memoir of Dunne’s death, Quintana’s illness, and Didion’s efforts to make sense of a time when nothing made sense.

One Oar: A Journey With Alzheimers by Marie Bahlke (local poet)

Winner of the annual Writer’s Digest contest for “International Self- Published Book Awards,” One Oar is a compilation of candid, deeply moving poetry and verse by Marie Bahlke. This collection springs from caring for her husband as he slipped into Alzheimer’s disease expressing how they both dealt with finding threads of joy and connection in the midst of day to day survival.

Discussion Leaders: Lindy Rose, Hospice Volunteer and Andrea Heerdt, Executive Director of Covenant Senior Day Program with special guest Marie Bahlke

Tuesday, March 18
10:30-11:30 am

Wednesday, March 19
7:00-8:00 pm

John Rybicki and Bill Olsen: a reading, book signing and reception

John Rybicki currently teaches creative writing at Alma College. He has taught inner-city children in his hometown of Detroit and serves as a guest lecturer at schools across the country. His first book of poems, Traveling at High Speeds (New Issues Poetry Press), appeared in 1996, followed by Fire Psalm; Yellow-Haired Girl with Spider and his latest collection, We Bed down into Water.

Bill Olsen is the author of five collections of poetry, The Hand of God and a Few Bright Flowers (Illinois, 1988), Vision of a Storm Cloud (Triquagrterly, 1996), Trouble Lights (Triquarterly, 2002) and most recently Avenue of Vanishing. He is co-editor, with Sharon Bryan, of Planet on the Table: Poets on the Reading Life (Sarabande, 2003).He teaches at Western Michigan University and the MFA Program at Vermont College.

Monday, March 10
6:30-8:00 pm

Fiction Writers Group

The Fiction Writers Group is a monthly group created to help writers meet fellow writers, workshop each other’s work, discuss and encourage writing and have fun in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere.

Group leader: Kate Rizor. Kate’s first novel is The Governor’s Wife. She is a former newspaper reporter, editor and trainer. She teaches “Elements of Fiction Writing” at the Portage Community Education Center.

For more information, please call Kate Rizor at 271-2948 or contact her website: http://www.katerizor.com/ .
Third Wednesday evening of the month, January-May
6:00 - 8:00 pm

Our Lives Through the Seasons: Writing Spiritual Autobiography

These monthly gatherings are open ended and on-going, serving as a supplement or introduction to writing spiritual autobiography. Both newcomers to the process of writing spiritual autobiography and individuals who have begun the process are welcome. Poetry, prose and writing exercises will be used to share experiences and delve deeper into the seasonal patterns of our lives.

Group leader: Kim Sanwald is owner/facilitator of Full Circle Workshops. Her writing workshops are created as a tool for growth, intimacy and healing. Kim has been published in Messages from the Heart, a journal dedicated to the art of letter writing. and Voices of Michigan: An Anthology of Michigan Writers Volume I & II.

Last Monday of the month, February-May
6:30-8:00 pm

Computer Classes and Workshops

Portage Computer Users Group

Join the Portage Computer Users Group on Thursday mornings, from10 am-12 pm, in the meeting rooms at the Portage District Library. Share information about computers and learn new things about your PC with live demonstrations.

Every Thursday morning, January-May
10:00 am – 12:00 pm

No registration necessary.

Computer Classes For Seniors and Other Beginners

Join us once a month on a Monday afternoon as we take you through a number of topics to help you get comfortable using your computer. Please register in advance. If there are fewer than 3 reservations, classes will be cancelled.

The first 13 patrons to show get a laptop with which to work along. You may bring your own laptop and work along with some classes.

Once a month on Monday afternoons
2:00-3:30 pm

How to use a word processing program

Some experience necessary

Learn how to create and save a document, and some simple formatting techniques, in a hands-on computer class.

Monday, March 17
2:00 – 3:30 pm

Web 2.0: New Ways To Use The Web

What is web 2.0? Web 2.0 is a catch phrase that incorporates all the new ways people are finding to use the web. Web 2.0 is about internet users giving feedback, providing content, and using interactive tools. Youtube, Myspace, and Google maps are all about web 2.0.

Web 2.0 classes are lecture style classes with participation. The presenters will talk, but give you a chance to follow along on a laptop or create stuff if you are so inclined. All of our resources should be available through the internet or are standard on many home computers.

Join us on select Wednesday evenings, 7:00-8:30 p.m.

You should be fairly comfortable using a computer if you want to follow along.

Ways to Share Photos on Flickr

Some experience necessary

You have a digital camera, a load of old photos, and a scanner. How do you share them quickly and easily? Many services will allow you to upload and share pictures with the whole world or just a few friends. Come and learn how to use Flickr, and some other sites like it.

Wednesday, March 5
7:00-8:30 pm

Labels: programs

Meet the Chef Series

Food Dance Cafe (at the newly remodeled Food Dance Café, 401 East Michigan)
Foods in Season: Matt Overdevest
Executive Chef Matt Overdevest
Pre-registration begins on Wednesday, September 5
$10.00 fee required at the door
Wednesday, September 12
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

Fandango’s Tapas Bistro (at the Portage District Library)
Tapas from Around the World: Will Canter, Executive Chef
Pre-registration begins on Tuesday, October 9
$5.00 fee required at the door
Tuesday, October 16
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

R. Stanley’s Diner and Gourmet Desserts (at the Portage District Library)
Soul Food: R. Stanley, Owner & Executive Chef / Howie Peak, Chef de Cuisine
Pre-registration begins on Tuesday, November 6
$5 fee required at the door
Tuesday, November 13
6:30 - 8:00 p.m.

Hey, this if for the science fiction readers. One of those little librarian finds.

The Magazine Fantasy and Science Fiction is online, short stories, reviews and all, in the Masterfile Premier index and General Reference Center Gold.

So, how do you get to them? Go to your library's website. The link is to Portage's article search page. If you're doing this from home, you'll need your library card. You can also go to Mel.org, and you will need a Michigan library card or driver's license to sign in.

If you're using our Masterfile, click on the title of the database. Under Masterfile Premier, there should be a link that says Title List. Click that, and in the search bar titled Browse Publications, type Fantasy & Science Fiction. Click the browse button. Click the title of the magazine. See the column of dates on the right? Click any one, and it will give you a list of that year's issues. Click the issue to get a list of articles and stories. Click the pdf link under a article or story to download a pdf file of the article. They index 1994 to the present, full text.

If its General Reference Center Gold (via Mel.org in Michigan), then get into the database. On the basic search screen type Brin into the Find search bar, and Fantasy & Science Fiction into the Publication search bar. Click the search button. Under the title of an article, it should say About this publication. Click that. Use the drop down menu of years, and the column of dates at the bottom of the page, to navigate between issues.

Happy Reading!

Local author Jacqueline Carey publishes a new book in her Kushiel saga.

and

Acclaimed Children's Writer Sarah Stewart Wins 2007 Michigan Author Award

and...

I updated the science fiction awards post.

Check out Portage District Library’s new Book Discussion in a Bag kits. In each bag you will find ten copies of a book title, an author bio, book reviews, discussion questions, and further reading all ready for you to sign them out to book group members and dig into a rousing discussion. Book Discussion in a Bag kits may be checked out at the Adult Information Desk for two months. Book selections include: Poisonwood Bible (fiction) by Barbara Kingsolver When Barbara Kingsolver sends missionary Nathan Price along with his wife and four daughters off to Africa in The Poisonwood Bible, you can be sure that salvation is the one thing they're not likely to find. The year is 1959 and the place is the Belgian Congo. Nathan, a Baptist preacher, has come to spread the Word in a remote village reachable only by airplane. In addition to poisonous snakes, dangerous animals, and the hostility of the villagers to Nathan's fiery take-no-prisoners brand of Christianity, there are also rebels in the jungle and the threat of war in the air. Could things get any worse? Devil in the White City (nonfiction) Larson Author Erik Larson imbues the incredible events surrounding the 1893 Chicago World's Fair with such drama that readers may find themselves checking the book's categorization to be sure that The Devil in the White City is not, in fact, a highly imaginative novel. Larson tells the stories of two men: Daniel H. Burnham, the architect responsible for the fair's construction, and H.H. Holmes, a serial killer masquerading as a charming doctor. The Sparrow (science fiction) by Russell In 2019, humanity finally finds proof of extraterrestrial life when a listening post in Puerto Rico picks up exquisite singing from a planet which will come to be known as Rakhat. While United Nations diplomats endlessly debate a possible first contact mission, the Society of Jesus quietly organizes an eight-person scientific expedition of its own. What the Jesuits find is a world so beyond comprehension that it will lead them to question the meaning of being "human." The Faith Club (nonfiction) (by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, & Priscilla Warner) After September 11th, Ranya Idliby, an American Muslim of Palestinian descent, faced constant questions about Islam, God, and death from her children, the only Muslims in their classrooms. Inspired by a story about Muhammad, Ranya reached out to two other mothers -- a Christian and a Jew -- to try to understand and answer these questions for her children. The Faith Club is memoirs of spiritual reflections in three voices that will make readers feel as if they are eavesdropping on the authors' private conversations, provocative discussions, and often controversial opinions and conclusions. One Oar (poetry) Marie Bahlke (local poet) Marie Bahlke has created a powerfully graceful collection of reminiscence as she describes caring for her husband as he slips deeper into Alzheimer’s disease. Marie shares with us her moving journey into the heart of grief, loss and unrelenting love. Shadow in the Wind (mystery) by Carlos Zafon Ruiz Ruiz Zafón's novel, a bestseller in his native Spain, takes the satanic touches from Angel Heart and stirs them into a bookish intrigue a la Foucault's Pendulum. The time is the 1950s; the place, Barcelona. Daniel Sempere, the son of a widowed bookstore owner, is 10 when he discovers a novel, The Shadow of the Wind, by Julián Carax. The novel is rare, the author obscure, and rumors tell of a horribly disfigured man who has been burning every copy he can find of Carax's novels. Solace of Leaving Early (fiction) by Haven Kimmel A romance evolves in the wake of a domestic shooting in Kimmel's intelligent and compassionate debut novel, which brings two friends of one of the victims together in a small Indiana town. Amos Townsend is the male protagonist, a 40-ish preacher who counseled the late Alice Baker-Maloney as her frayed marriage degenerated into a fatal confrontation with her controlling husband, Jack. The Transit of Venus (fiction) by Shirley Hazzard National Book Critics Circle Award-winner Hazzard here tells of two sisters, Grace and Caroline Bell. Born in Australia and orphaned at an early age, the two make their way to England. There Grace opts for marriage and its securities; Caroline reaches for more and loves not always wisely but well. A strong, deep, poetic, vibrant novel. All But My Life (memoir) by Gerta Weissman Klein This book is a remarkable slice of time and life, written by a spirited young Jewish woman's survival of the Holocaust including her imprisonment in slave labor camps and a three month forced march from Germany to Czechoslovakia. As she wades through the atrocities of a Nazi occupation, concentration camps, and a death march amidst freezing temperatures, to be liberated by her one true love, she is true to her mother's request to be strong. This is an amazing story of courage, endurance and faith. Personal History(biography) by Katherine Meyer Graham Katharine Meyer Graham was a woman born into a world of wealth and privilege that raised four children, was an active volunteer, and ended as the head of a powerful newspaper. Graham's father, a wealthy entrepreneur, bought the struggling Washington Post in 1933. This is the story of a newspaper's rise to power, the rise and fall of a marriage and of Graham’s rise as a powerful woman in her own right. Graham writes about her personal life and the lives of others, ranging from presidents to household help, with insight and grace. Founding Mothers (history) by Cokie Roberts Drawing on personal correspondence, diary entries and even recipes, Roberts wrote a collection of stories of some of the women who had significant but often unrecorded roles in Revolutionary War America. While the men went off to war or politics, the women ran the family farms, managed businesses, wrote political pamphlets, and defended their families and homes making it all possible for the men to muster the armies and political clout to defeat the English. Quite a Year for Plums (fiction) by Bailey White Bailey White introduces us to the peculiar yet lovable people who inhabit a small town in South Georgia. Serious, studious Roger is a peanut pathologist and unlikely love object of half the town's women. Roger's ex-mother-in-law, Louise, who teams up with an ardent typographer in an attempt to attract outer-space invaders with specific combinations of letters and number. Della, the bird artist captivates Roger with the sensible but enigmatic notes she leaves on things she throws away at the Dumpster. A regular commentator on National Public Radio, White is also the author of Mama Makes Up Her Mind and Sleeping at the Starlite Motel

2007 Adult Summer Reading Programs

Get a Clue at the Library 2007 Summer Events For Adults & Families Taste of Portage District Library A Kickoff to Summer Fun in Portage Saturday, June 9th 1:00 -9:00 pm At the Donald Overlander Bandshell behind the Portage City Fire Station Gate fee: $2 per person, children 12 and under free when accompanied by an adult. Food tickets $1.00. Great Food, Great Art, and Great Entertainment are what community members can expect at the 2nd annual Taste of Portage. Sample some of the best flavors in Portage while enjoying local musical entertainment. Discover the art lover in you as Artisans from Southwest Michigan display their work for your enjoyment and purchase. Then plan to kick up your heels and dance under the stars as local favorite band Endless Summer takes the stage to close out the festivities. 1:00-9:00 pm Local food vendors 1:00-9:00 pm Artisan fair 1:30-9:00 pm Musical entertainment Adult Summer Reading Program 2007 June 12th –August 15th Read your favorite books all summer long and participate in a drawing every week. Register in person, over the phone or online beginning June 12th. Check out the library’s website at: www.summerfun.portagelibrary.info Co-sponsored by Kazoo Books Clue Trail June 16th – August 2nd X Hits the Spot Ice Cream Social Thursday, August 2nd 6:30 – 7:30 pm Portage District Library and the City of Portage are hosting a type of letterboxing program from June 16th through August 2nd. Letterboxing is an intriguing mix of treasure hunting, art, navigation, and exploring interesting, scenic, and often familiar places in a more detailed way. Here's the basic idea. Waterproof boxes will be hidden in Portage parks and cultural centers like Celery Flats and the Portage District Library. Clues to find these boxes will be available at the Portage District Library and City of Portage and on their websites. Each box will contain a logbook and a carved rubber stamp. Once the clues are written, hunters in possession of the clues attempt to find the boxes. In addition to the clue and any maps or tools needed to solve the puzzle, the hunter should carry at least a pencil, his personal rubber stamp, an inkpad, and his personal logbook. When the hunter successfully deciphers the clue and finds the box, he stamps the logbook in the box with his personal stamp, and stamps his personal logbook with the box's stamp. The box's logbook keeps a record of all its visitors, and the hunters keep a record of all the boxes they have found, stamping their personal logbook with the stamp in the box. The program will culminate in an X Hits the Spot Ice Cream Social on August 2nd from 6:30-7:30 pm. There will be a raffle and opportunity to compare notes and adventures. Please pre-register by July 26th by calling 329-4542 ext 600. What Do I Need to Participate in the Clue Trail? Blank book (passport) Stamp & dye-based acid free ink pads (you can use several colors of ink. Be creative!) Compass Map of city parks and cultural areas