July 2009 - Posts
What a novel idea!
This section’s options are all about reading something to expand your mind and try something new. You could: read a classic you’ve always wanted to read, learn something new at the Library with a how-to book on any subject, or discover a new magazine or newspaper through the library’s collections or online databases.
A) Be Novel:
Classical Twist
Finding Classic books is easy thanks to the Classic paperback racks located at every library branch. Give the racks a spin and find something that you’ve always been meaning to read. Perhaps you’ve read one of a particular author’s books but haven’t had the chance to read anything else? Do it now! I’ve recently re-read a few of my grade-school required reading books (which I didn’t like at the time, probably because they were “required reading”) and found that I loved them. If you haven’t read any Canadian classics, now is the time to do so! Or if you’re looking for a classic that won’t take up too much of your free time, John Steinbeck has a number of pocket-book sized titles, or you can try Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull for a quick read.
B) Get Real:
Stretch Your Brain
The Library has how-to books on many subjects. Take some time this summer to learn to do something that you’ve always wanted to do! You could learn how to make some of your favorite store-bought or restaurant foods, or get the most out of neglected appliances (do you have a bread maker, toaster oven or slow cooker? Start using it again!) Learn how to fix your own car or small appliances using databases on the library’s E-Library, or learn a language for an upcoming holiday by using the Library’s learning languages collections or on “Tell Me More” on the E-Library.
C) Try Something New:
Periodical Push.
Working at the Public Library gives me the opportunity to browse our magazine racks on a regular basis. If you’ve never looked through them thoroughly, now’s the time to do so! Each Library branch has a different selection. You could flip through a new-to-you cooking magazine with a friend and make a new recipe together or read a local magazine that you haven’t read before. The Library also has fantastic databases with newspapers and magazines. Newspaper Direct Press Display has hundreds of current newspapers from all around the world. Think of all the Sports sections that you could read! If you are a transplant to Calgary, see if there’s a newspaper from where you lived before – it’s a nice way to stay on top of their local news.
A) Be Novel:
Time After Time
How many of you are like me – hanging out in Calgary while it seems everyone else is on holidays?? Call me cheesy, but a great way to staycation
is to sit on the deck (or in the tub) with a great book! Try escaping into another world through historical fiction – I’ll take mine salacious, thank you – or Science Fiction/Fantasy (Twilight counts!). Need a title suggestion? Ask us!
Know a great title? Comment!
B) Get Real:
Read Green
Another thing you might be thinking about while you hang around Calgary on your staycation is how lucky we are to live in a city with parks, pathways, and rivers. We probably want to keep those things in good shape for future generations – right? You would be surprised at all the ways you can green your life- and maybe save yourself some cash in addition to feeling excellent about how eco-friendly you are (who said our motivation had to be altruistic?). Ask Library staff for titles to get you reading green.
Have a great ‘green’ tip? Tell us!
C) Try Something New:
Now Hear This!
Maybe you’re not staycationing at all; perhaps you’re doing the work commute. Every day. While everyone else is in the sunshine. Ergg…
Want to make it more tolerable? Download an audiobook from Overdrive or Net Library. Listening to a little Nora Roberts or Charlaine Harris might make you look forward to getting into your car or onto the bus every morning. Nervous about downloading an audiobook? We can explain it, in plain English (we promise).
Did it work? What title got you motivated to hit the am pavement? Let us know!
Staycation- No, I didn’t just make it up - I do work at the Library after all! It hasn’t made the Oxford dictionary yet, but the Urban Dictionary (urbandictionary.com) defines staycation as: “A vacation that is spent at one's home enjoying all that home and one's home environs have to offer”. I couldn’t have said it better myself!
I Have the
Travel Bug!
A) Be Novel:
A Sense of Place
If you’re like me and would love to travel the world over but it doesn’t fit into your budget, try reading novels set in other countries. Get carried away to the Congo in the The poisonwood Bible : a novel by Kingsolver, Barbara.. Or head over to Luxor and become embroiled in a web of intrigue in Tomb of the golden bird : [an Amelia Peabody mystery] by Peters, Elizabeth. 1927-. 
Visit your local Calgary Public Library to pick up great booklists or find novels set in other countries by using our online catalogue. Type in the country you are interested in and fiction. E.g. in a Subject search type: Afghanistan fiction to find titles such as The kite runner : a novel by Hosseini, Khaled..
B) Get Real:
Where in the World?
If you’ve loved a novel set in a certain country and you want to explore it a little more, try nonfiction. Travel writing and memoir will take you to foreign places and exotic locales where you will experience the writer’s journeys of being and belonging (or not belonging). In Honeymoon in Tehran : two years of love and danger in Iran by Moaveni, Azadeh, 1976-, Moaveni, an Iranian-American author, returns to Iran as a reporter and marries an Iranian man, describing the repressive society and her family’s decision to finally leave.
C) Try Something New:
Read the Movie!
Have you seen or heard about a great movie? Many great films are born from an even greater novel. Slumdog Millionaire was based on the novel Q & A by Vikas Swarup: Q & A [or, Slumdog millionaire] by Swarup, Vikas. In Cold Blood, the classic “true crime novel” by Truman Capote, was made into a movie in 1967. Check out Capote, released in 2005, about how Capote researched and wrote this landmark book: Capote [videorecording (DVD)].