Moving Ahead
December 27, 2009
Already Christmas is past, the New Year is looming, and we are nearly at the beginning of the second decade of the twenty-first century. Does it seem auspicious to anyone else? I wonder because I have a feeling that 2010 is going to be different for me in a large sense of the word. What that might be is as yet unknown, but I want to be ready for it so I am opening myself up to embrace whatever change it might be. Luck might be part of it, but I think of luck not as something residing outside myself (a winning lottery number, someone else giving me something) but as a daily part of my life I have the power to create. I’m not alone in that thought either. Many sayings and affirmations have been created around the idea that luck has little to do with lucky.
If I were to complete a list of goals to accomplish in 2010, I fear the list might become an albatross as each day passes. I’d be aware that each day I was not able to cross off an accomplishment like it was a To-Do chore would increase the sense that I had somehow failed. The golden ring of accomplishment might tarnish until it turned black as the night and perhaps disappear from my sight. But if I choose to be ready for the coming change I will be more likely to make choices that enhance my “luck.” How about you?
Upcoming Book Festivals:
Unfortunately, there are none coming up this week.
The Pub House:
Academy Chicago Press is a mid-size press with interest in a large number of subjects: Art, Architecture, Design & Music; Authurian & Celtic; Biography & History; Botany; Children’s Literature & Parenting; Fantasy & Parapsychology; Fiction, Literature, & Humor (North American or British); Fiction & Nonfiction in Translation; Film & Video; Food & Cooking; Gay & Lesbian; Ghost Stories & Supernatural; Judaica & Holocaust; Law & Politics; Medicine & Health; Mystery, Suspense & True Crime; Ornithology; Poetry; Sports; Travel; and Women’s Interest.
I own several of their books, and have been happy with all of them. So in looking over the website for their new releases I found, among others, The Man Who Once Played Catch with Nellie Fox, a comic novel that tells the story of Hank who decides to give up the one thing that has always had meaning for his life, baseball. There’s also a memoir, A Ship in the Harbor: Mother & Me, Part II, the second volume of a true story about an eight-year-old Jewish boy in World War II who, with his socialite mother, flees the Nazis into Hungary. But his mother makes a bad choice and the two must return to where the Nazis still await them. Mystery lovers take note: coming in May 2010 is a new edition of Lady Molly of Scotland Yard, by the well-known British novelist and playwright, Baroness Orczy (1865-1947). In this collection of twelve stories, Lady Molly,head of the Female Department, in 1910becomes the “Police Chief’s secret weapon and method-of-last-resort when confronted with seemingly unsolvable crimes.”
Of Interest:
As sometimes happens, people will comment on the BiblioBuffet blog. When that happens I like to see who is behind the comment. In this case, a blogger, Wilhem Spihntingle, who has a rather startling image for his blog but who, in this post, won my heart. If that town he lives in has any common sense it won’t attempt to use the public library in the manner he is describing. I know the economy in the public sector in many states is scary, but [insert personal rant] to throw literary and education out in a misguided attempt to balance city budgets is like using an eyedropper to quench the thirst of a severely dehydrated person. Libraries are not where the “fat” of any budget resides. Plus, the short-term decision is also damned dangerous. What is going to happen to our country and our culture without these foundations of democracy? [end personal rant]
This library is fortunate to have Wilhem as its advocate. Now . . . will your town’s library have you for one?
This Week . . .
Lisa Roe is an online book publicist, that is, she specializes in getting reviews from online site for books. She is also a warm, kind, caring person who alerted me to a special project of which she is part: The Dewey Tree.
This project was developed by a number of book bloggers who were devastated at the early death of a popular book blogger who went by the name of Dewey. It was a sad death, and many people, including her family left behind, rallied behind this project, which brings books into the hands of those who need them. Here’s how to particpate, and if you do, Lisa has some special handmade gifts for you to win: Gather up the books you can live without. It can be 4 books, 10 books, or 20 books! Find a worthy group you would like to donate your overflow books to. It can be your local library, a literacy campaign (mine will go to the literacy center I volunteer for), or overseas. There's a great list of book donation sites here on the ALA. Find a charity that speaks to you! [Editor’s note: BiblioBuffet also has a page of book donation sites.] Then take a picture of your donation and email it to me (onlinepublicist [AT] gmail [DOT] com). It can be a pic of the mailing label on your package, one of your kids giving a box of books to a librarian, or you handing books over to your literacy center. Be creative and have fun! This might make a good after-Christmas project because I know there is not one of us who doesn’t have at least two books on our shelves that we bought but now don’t really want to keep. Until next week, read well, read often and read on! Lauren
|