BookTalk at BSC 2010 opens with a discussion of Caspian Rain by Gina B. Nahai on Sunday, January 10, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the BSC Library.  “Strange Times, My Dear,” the theme of the series was inspired by Ahmad Shamlu’s poem, “In This Blind Alley,” which was written in response to the Islamic Revolution.   

Caspian Rain received rave reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly.  Publishers Weekly said, “… Nahai explores the struggles of an Iranian family in the tenuous decade before the Islamic revolution … a poignant tale of a ‘damaged family.’”

Arlene Gray, adjunct music instructor at BSC, will lead the discussion.  Arlene worked as a Peace Corps volunteer for two years in the early ’70s in the town of Babol, Iran, near the Caspian Sea. 

BookTalk discussions are free and open to all.  The books can be borrowed from local libraries or purchased from local booksellers. 

BookTalk will continue on Sunday, February 7, 2010, with a discussion of The Bathhouse by Farnoosh Moshiri, and end on Sunday, March 7, 2010, with a discussion of Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi.

As for John Calvin biographies go, I heard through a  ”facebook”  conversation between a Reformed pastor and professor that this right here  is a good book combination.  I’m sure it paints over those high school history textbook John Calvin caricatures.

T.H.L. Parker’s John Calvin: A Biography and W. Robert Godfrey’s John Calvin: Pilgrim and Pastor.

There’s a little analogy there.  I miss Inn & Out.  I’m blogging a lot tonight, I gotta stop.  Enough.

I love this trailer, seldom are they so good that they make me want to read a book more than I already do.

Book: Fallen

Author: Lauren Kate

Released: TODAY!!

From Amazon:

There’s something achingly familiar about Daniel Grigori.

Dangerously exciting and darkly romantic, Fallen is a page turning thriller and the ultimate love story.

i learned of this book at this year’s fay b. kaigler children’s book festival and the booktalk had haunted me ever since. i was intrigued by the book’s thinness, which seemed fitting with the title, but after reading columbine and some of anne frank i wasn’t quite sure if now was the time to zip through it.

and zip through it you do – i finished the book in about 75 minutes, the length of one lunch and afternoon break. it’s hard to put the tale down, but it was even harder to get into it – i mean, really into it. i grew up on lurlene mcdaniel books, so i get the appeal of a teen in a dramatic situation, but found this book lacking… something.

it’s not plot, which is terse, or internal dialogue, which is well plotted out. and it’s not an unsatisfactory ending, although i did feel as if i had just finished a meal and was still hungry.

i’ve passed it off to our voracious teen readers so that i can talk it out properly. i made sure to use the last line of the booktalk i had overheard and watched the girls’ eyes pop with the hook, just as i’m sure mine had this spring. that’s the beauty of a good booktalk – sometimes it’s better than the actual thing.

Here is my first attempt at booktalking.

Some computers seem to be having difficulty with the sound in the middle (the actual booktalk) so if you turn it up to hear, note that the music might come back out really loud towards the end.

My review for Speak is found here.

Tally Youngblood continues her story in the second part of  Scott Westerfelds trilogy about a futuristic world. Tally is now a pretty and lives for having fun. While attending a party at which she is to be voted into the Crims clique, she is followed by someone appearing to be a member of the Special Circumstances team. Tally can only remember her time in the Smoke in bits and pieces and is shocked to discover that the person that is stalking her is her old friend, Croy. He has something to give to her that is important, but she must first find out where it is hidden. Tally dismisses him as an ugly who just wants to disrupt her pretty life. 

Tally forgets about what he has said and returns to her party ways until  Zane, the leader of the Crims, begins to ask her questions about her life in the Smoke and about David, the leader of the Smoke. Zane was once a friend of Croy’s but had not gone into the wilderness with him, and was now regretting it. Tally tells Zane about her encounter with Croy, and about the mysterious item that she was supposed to find. Zane helps her to find it, and it turns out to be a letter that Tally has written to herself when she was an Ugly and living in the Smoke. The letter explains her motives for undergoing the operation that turned her into a Pretty, and her offer to take the “Cure” to see if it really would do all that David’s mother, Maddy, said it would do. 

Zane and Tally decide to share the two pills and find that their lives and minds are becoming much clearer. Tally’s friend Shay, notices the difference in her and Zane, and becomes angry with Tally for not sharing the pills with her. She starts to cut herself to stay bubbly, and forms a new group called “the Cutters.”  

Zane starts to experience extreme headaches and Tally decides that she must take him to the Smoke to see if Maddy can find out what is wrong with him. They escape from the city and David leads Tally back to the smoke. Maddy tells Tally that the pills that they took were supposed to be taken together by one person. The nanos ate away the lesions, but they also ate Zane’s brain tissue because they needed the pill that Tally took to stop them. 

The Specials come to attack the Smoke, because of a tracking device implanted in Zane’s tooth. The rest of the Smoke escapes, but Tally stays with Zane in the hopes of getting him to a hospital to be cured. She discovers that Shay has been turned into a Special, and she knocks Tally out and when she wakes up, she too has undergone the operation that turns her into a Special.

 Characters 

Tally Youngblood – is the protagonist of the story. She has been transformed into a Pretty and has fallen in love with Zane. When they return to the Smoke and she realizes that the pill that she took has done nothing for her brain, she realizes that she has thought her way out of the “Pretty state.” 

Zane – is Tally’s love. He wants to escape to the Smoke and shares the pills that Tally has in order to obtain the cure. He becomes very sick from the pills and visits the Smoke in the hopes that Zane can be cured. He cannot be cured and when the Specials arrive, Tally allows herself to be caught in the hopes that the doctors back in the New Pretty Town can cure him. 

Shay – is Tally’s best friend until she finds out that Tally shared her pills with Zane and not her. She is angry and allows Tally to be turned into a Special in the hopes that they can remain friends. 

David – is the leader of the renegade group of people living in the New Smoke. He fell in love with Tally when she was an ugly and continues to hope that she will see him in the same way. 

Dr. Cable -  is the head of the Special Circumstances, which is an elite group of special pretties who have been surgically altered to be stronger, smarter and faster than anybody else. They are only seen in New Pretty Town when they have to deal with someone who is threatening the town like Tally. 

Maddy – is David’s mother. She is a surgeon and invented the Cure. She doesn’t like Tally much after Tally inadvertently led the Specials to attack the New Smoke and they killed David’s father. 

Setting 

The setting of the story is in “New Pretty Town” where the young uglies go to live after having the operation that turns them into a Pretty. The New Smoke is the setting in the wilderness where a small group of rebels is trying to live without the operation. 

This is the 2^nd book in the trilogy written by Scott Westerfeld. The first book, titled the “Uglies” introduces us to Tally as an Ugly. The final book in the trilogy, the “Specials” leads us into the life of Tally as a Special and concludes the series.

…and here’s a video booktalk for the same title, The Magician’s Elephant.

DiCamillo, Kate. 2009. The Magician’s Elephant. Illustrated by Yoko Tanaka. Somerville, MA: Candlewick.

A podcast booktalk for one of my new favorites!

Oh my – I think I’ve got the “fun” and “tough” part completed.  Here it is…  enjoy!

Rebeck, Theresa. (2008).  Three Girls and Their Brother. Toronto, ON: Harper Collins Publishers.

To view my booktalk for the novel The Blue Castle by Lucy Maud Montgomery click here

BookTalk at BSC 2010 will focus on Iran.  With Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi as the Campus Read selection, Roxana Saberi visiting campus on April 20, 2010, and Iran being so much in the news, it seems appropriate to learn more about this country.

“Strange Times, My Dear”

The theme, “Strange Times, My Dear,” is inspired by Ahmad Shamlu’s poem, ”In This Blind Alley,” which was written in response to the Islamic revolution.  Each stanza ends with the line, “Strange times, my dear.”

The Books & the Discussions

BookTalk discussions will be held at the BSC Library from 1 to 3 p.m. and are free and open to all.  The books can be borrowed from libraries or purchased from local booksellers.

Caspian Rain: a Novel by Gina B. Nahai                                                       

Sunday, January 10, 2010 – Discussion leader: Arlene Gray

Caspian Rain received rave reviews from Booklist, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly.  Publishers Weekly said, “… Nahai explores the struggles of an Iranian family in the tenuous decade before the Islamic revolution … a poignant tale of a ‘damaged family.’”

The Bathhouse by Farnoosh Moshiri                                                               

Sunday, February 7, 2010 — Discussion leader: Suzanne Kramer-Brenna

The Bathhouse won the Black Heron Press Award for Social Fiction and is based on interviews with Iranian women who were imprisoned in the early days of the Islamic revolution.  The story’s central character is a 17-year-old girl, arrested and imprisoned because of her brother’s involvement with leftist politics.  In a starred review, Booklist said, “Written with the simple authority of an oral deposition, packing the punch of All Quiet on the Western Front, this is a gripping, harrowing story of personal courage and endurance.”

Iran Awakening: One Woman’s Journey to Reclaim Her Life and Country by Shirin Ebadi       

Sunday, March 7, 2010 — Discussion leader: Dr. Daphne Ghorbani

This book is a memoir by Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.  Ebadi was a judge in Iran until the Islamic Revolution forced her demotion.  Unlike many of her contemporaries, Ebadi chose to stay in Iran and work from within for human rights in fundamentalist Iran.   

BookTalk is funded by the BSC Library and a grant from the BSC Foundation.

Come visit with me at http://lnk.ms/408wq

I would like to thank the librarians at Rocky River Middle School for inviting me to talk about Science Fiction and Fantasy books yesterday. I case I missed your class, here are the books that I brought with me:

Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld

Some people wish they had more time in the day. Some people do have an extra hour, but the secret hour is a dangerous time. 

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel

Matt Cruise, cabin boy on the airship Aurora, rescues a dying balloonist who claims to have discovered a new species of creatures that live in the sky. Is the old man crazy or do these creatures really exist?

Everlost, by Neal Shusterman

Nick and Allie did not survive the crash, but their souls did not get to where they should be either. Instead they are trapped in the limbo world of Everlost, full of lost children and discarded things. Ruled by Mary and haunted by the McGill, Everlost is not a place you want to stay for very long.

Interstellar Pig by William Sleator

While on vacation, Barney meets three new friends who introduce him to a role-playing game called Intersellar Pig. The more involved he becomes in this intergalactic game, the more he worries it’s not a game at all.

                                       So You Want to be a Wizard by Diane Duane

Kit and Nita become friends when they learn they both discovered the same book on becoming a wizard. They thought it was a joke, but when the spells begin to work the girls have trouble on their hands.

Sorcery and Cecelia or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia Wrede

Cousins Kate and Cecelia write a series of letters to each other in 1817 England. Magic is commonplace and the girls find themselves  caught up in mysteries, adventures, and even a bit of danger.

 Monsterology by Arthur Slade

Monsterology introduces readers to the “fabulous lives of the creepy, the revolting, and the undead. Find fun facts and hilarious interviews with your favorite monsters. The perfect book for Halloween lovers everywhere.            

Some of the books the other librarians discussed include: Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix, The Wish by Gail Levine, The Wish List by Eoin Colfer, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer, and more.

If you are still looking for a Sci-Fi/Fantasy book feel free to come in a browse or collection.

˜Megan

For assignment each of us has to do a booktalk, so I thought I would post this little gem for inspiration.

For the new book  Girl in the Arena by Lise Haines.  Book bloggers are loving it, and this booktalk is simply amazing!!!!!!

A wonderful interview from Christy’s home and studio in Palo Alto, California. Christy shares the motivation and process behind making her book, The East-West House: Noguchi’s Childhood in Japan. The interview captures the excitement of Christy’s mixed media approach to the book and is chock full of art in progress, finished pages, and read passages from the book. Although Christy has illustrated many books, The East-West House marks her debut as a children’s book author.

Ted and Betsy Lewin

A visit to the Caldecott honor winning couple’s art studio and home reveals a lifetime of travel, art, books, and adventure. Located in Brooklyn, Ted and Betsy’s brownstone is a testament to how world travel can inspire great stories. They also talk about their picture book Balarama: A Royal Elephant which is based on two trips Ted and Betsy made to India. This was a real treat to see the body of work amassed from a true creative partnership.

I love my Google reader. More specifically, I love how my friends share things that make me think. Honestly, I could do a whole post about how having good people sharing with you on your Google Reader is almost like having a do-it-yourself reference section. Maybe another day.

TODAY, what I want to talk about, on this lovely holiday, is this post from the io9 blog about Hayao Miyazaki’s films and the genres they inhabit, sort of. If you don’t recognize Miyazaki’s name right away, you’ve almost certainly heard of his films, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and the latest, Ponyo, are some of his better known titles here in the States. Let me just say, I love most of the movies Miyazaki makes (I say most because there’s a couple I still haven’t seen). He does seem to inhabit a genre all his own though, which is what the io9 post is getting at.

I really enjoy the way they try to fit the movies into specific genres, noting at the same time the places the movie breaks out of the genre norms and expectations.

Now, though, the real reason this post piqued my interest so quickly: most of Miyazaki’s movies are also books. I love being able to tie popular movies into the books that inspired them. I also love the quick synopses of the stories in the movies given by the blog post. I’m not saying copy them for book/movie talks, but I am saying they’d be a great place to start writing a talk about Miyazaki movies and books. Not all of the movies started as books, but many of them are published as manga after the movie is released. Thing is though, they’re usually really, really good. In the case of Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind, Miyazaki actually did an entire manga series himself, then based the movie off the first few books in the series. Howl’s Moving Castle, on the other hand, was based on the Diana Wynne Jones novel of the same name. Both book and movie are excellent, but must be enjoyed on their own terms, as they are quite different. Still, I think a booktalk that begins with a movie and then moves into the book the movie is based on could be a lot of fun. Double bonus if they’ve already seen the movie, because then you don’t have to worry about spoilers, and can still let them be surprised by some of the turns the book takes.

And obviously, this is not a new idea to me, but more of a reminder that displays of books that correspond to popular movies are always a good idea, as well as book/movie clubs. Watch the movie, read the book, have discussion, ??? profit? Ok maybe not that last part, but the book and movie discussion club seems like it could be a lot of fun.

After all, as XKCD reminds us, Hollywood will never stop making movies from books, so we’ll have plenty to choose from for the displays and discussion groups. But some people still think books are dead. Oh well!

“I love the freedom of writing fiction. Still, to be believable, fiction has to be grounded in some reality.”

Head over to the main site for a brand-new interview with author/illustrator Lynne Barasch. Her newest book, First Come the Zebra, is a fictional story based on tribal disputes in Kenya. In the interview, Barasch discusses her trip to Kenya and the other research she did to write First Come the Zebra.

Palatini, Margie. 2008. Geek Chic: The Zoey Zone. New York: Harper Collins.

Illustrator Bill Farnsworth shares a wonderful oil painting demonstration, using Louis Sockalexis: Native American Baseball Pioneer as his subject. This painting demonstration shows the skill and attention to detail that goes into illustrating our picture books.

Some of our authors and illustrators share their memories of summer reading to inspire kids to cool down with a good book on hot summer days.

"The Castle in the Pyrenees" in Serbian

Few weeks ago Mr. Jostein Gaarder, famous Norwegian writer was a guest of Belgrade. He was promoting his latest novel “The Castle in the Pyrenees” published last year in Norway and whose first translation in any foreign language appeared precisely in Serbian by my favourite publishing house Geopoetika. Somehow I think that’s quite fair, that we translated this novel first and to have him here among us. Namely Mr. Gaarder is one of the most popular authors here in Serbia, certainly one of the most popular foreign authors.

My experience with Gaarder’s books is of course related with “Sophie’s World”, novel which completely changed (or should I say “created”) the way I see philosophy. That book has taught me more about philosophy than entire course in my high school. Therefore that certainly was one of the most important books I’ve read during my education. After that I’ve read “The Solitaire Mystery” and I must say I wasn’t thrilled that much (although many of my friends were). And I believe that’s all I’ve read from him but nevertheless I’m sort of looking at him as if there’s no need to write anything else after “Sophie’s World”.

Anyway when I saw that his coming in Belgrade, of course I just couldn’t miss that.

That was the day when Joseph (“for friends Joe”) Biden, US vice president was in Belgrade as well and that meant trouble. Namely we didn’t want that anything unpredictable happens to Mr. Joseph Biden so entire town was blocked. The route I would drive for 10 minutes I had to walk for more than hour. I had to circulate around the city center and if you happened to live there and weren’t at home police wouldn’t let you in forbidden zone. The fact that you live there was irrelevant. No when I think folks who stayed in their homes have been whole day in quarantine, they couldn’t get outside and the blinds had to be closed (I’d prefer be outside the “zone”).

I reached Pavilion Cvijeta where I’ve found zillion people who managed to come in spite collapse in the city.

It was really lovely evening. Mr. Gaarder was in the very cheerful mood; he never expected how many Serbs are learning Norwegian (he talked the same day at the Department for Scandinavian Languages at the Faculty of Philology) and indeed it’s one of the most popular foreign language at the University. (Surprisingly) I DON’T speak Norwegian

Me with Mr. Gaarder (sadly someone called him in the last moment so he turned his head from the camera). May 20th 2009. Belgrade

He talked about his new novel of course (hopefully he didn’t say too much spoilers although I believe I’ve heard some things that I’d prefer not to know prior reading) but also about his other novels, process of writing, some things from his personal life, his views about current geopolitical situation in the world, Norwegian society … etc. It was very interesting indeed. Sadly I was at the balcony and out of his attention’ reach. Namely I was constantly raising my hand to ask a question but he never raised his head so he didn’t noticed me. When signing my book I told him that indeed he is such a rationalist (he said that when answering question about religion) but I never expected that he never raise his head towards the sky, otherwise he would see me there frenetically waving to as a question. Speaking about rationalism I liked how he described process of creating one of the characters in his latest book. Namely there is a clash of two ways of understanding the world: one of the characters is rationalist and explains everything thru the science which is close to his [Mr. Gaarder’s] way of thinking so there were no problems with that character. But in order to create persuasive, real character who represent the other way of understanding the world and existence in spiritual way he had to give her strong arguments. And since that wasn’t the way he represents he had to read books to try to understand better that ‘other side’. So the final result is that now, in comparison with the moment before he started to write this book, he is much more close to those spiritual, big secrets. But still he is more rationalists type. In one interview he said that recently he spoke with one famous neurologist who told him “We know nothing! It’s completely a mystery! And not only that we don’t understand the world, but we never will!”. And those were the words of one neurologist! (here is that interview. It’s in Serbian)

As I said he spoke about his fears and problems and he reminded me on something I used to say years ago: “If I could be born again I would SO love to be Norwegian!” I mean his preoccupation and fears are world poverty, global warming etc. Wouldn’t you love to be a Norwegian as well? At least for a day? Or two? Or few months? Maybe years?

Personally my favourite moment of the evening was one anecdote he said when answering about the question whether the children more intelligent than elders because kids are often very important characters in his books (or something like that, I don’t remember well). He said of course there are kids who are more intelligent than other kids. There’s no generalization and then he said what he heard from one American reader few years ago. He wasn’t sure was it during Clinton’s or Bush’ administration (but you’ll see it doesn’t matter. It could easily be Obama’s as well):

After listening President’s speech on the TV her daughter asked her:
- Mom why President always say in the end “God bless America”? and mother was confused so the girl explained:
- Why doesn’t he say “God bless the world?”

This is one very intelligent kid indeed!

Guy next to me on the balcony was recording the evening so for those who are interested here it is. (Gaarder spoke in English)

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