New Book Tuesday!

We just got a whole bunch of fabulous new story time books in to the library, so I decided it was once again time for New Book Tuesday!! Here are the books we are going to read today!!





And, as always, it is FMRNS!! WHOOOOOT!!! Have I ever told you how much I love Tuesdays?!?! This week's feature is Amityville Horror, the original from 1979 with James Brolin and Margot Kidder.

As backups, we have Somewhere in Time, a romantic drama from 1980 with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour, or Meet Me in St. Louis, a family musical from 1945 with Judy Garland and Margaret O'Brien.

I have to admit, I'm kinda crossing my fingers for one of the backups...I am NOT a horror fan... :::shudder::: (don't you love the tag line on the Amityville Horror poster?!)

Reading a whole book?! *gasp*

Love this article from The Onion.

Thanks to The Librarienne from Closed Stacks for posting!!!

In other news, I finally finished Memory Keeper's Daughter!!! WHOOOOT!!!

I've now moved on to Born Standing Up: a comic's life by Steve Martin. Here is a review posted on Amazon.

At age 10, Steve Martin got a job selling guidebooks at the newly opened Disneyland. In the decade that followed, he worked in Disney's magic shop, print shop, and theater, and developed his own magic/comedy act. By age 20, studying poetry and philosophy on the side, he was performing a dozen times a week, most often at the Disney rival, Knott's Berry Farm. Obsession is a substitute for talent, he has said, and Steve Martin's focus and daring--his sheer tenacity--are truly stunning. He writes about making the very tough decision to sacrifice everything not original in his act, and about lucking into a job writing for The Smothers Brothers Show. He writes about mentors, girlfriends, his complex relationship with his parents and sister, and about some of his great peers in comedy--Dan Ackroyd, Lorne Michaels, Carl Reiner, Johnny Carson. He writes about fear, anxiety and loneliness. And he writes about how he figured out what worked on stage.

This book is a memoir, but it is also an illuminating guidebook to stand-up from one of our two or three greatest comedians. Though Martin is reticent about his personal life, he is also stunningly deft, and manages to give readers a feeling of intimacy and candor. Illustrated throughout with black and white photographs collected by Martin, this book is instantly compelling visually and a spectacularly good read.

Another update to my 2008 Book List!!

Click to Give

The Literacy Site is doing amazing things!! Sponsors will give a book to a deserving child - and all you have to do is click a button!! Please take the time to visit Click to Give @ the Literacy Site - you can make a difference in a child's life!!!

This site also provides links to other organizations where you can click to fund things such as cups of food, mammograms for breast cancer awareness, child health care, to protect an endangered habitat, and to provide free food and care for animals.

Thanks to Kimbooktu for bringing this to my attention!!

Bonus Night!

I know you are all impatiently waiting to hear what A and I watched on Tuesday for FMRNS. We had started to watch The Canterville Ghost, but the VHS copy we had didn't even work to get to the opening credits. So, we decided Terminator 2: Judgment Day would be the backup! It didn't disappoint!!!

Tonight, A and I are having FMRNS Bonus Night! WHOOOOOT!!!! We've decided that tonight is going to be a double feature, because two of the movies we have are both only 1.5 hours long!!! The first feature of the night is going to be Seven Year Itch from 1955 with Marilyn Monroe. The second feature is Lair of the White Worm from 1988. This movie is a comedy/horror (Com-orror? Hor-edy?) with Amanda Donohoe and Hugh Grant.

Remember, A and I are trying to get through the list before I move to Minnesota. The list has quite a few more movies on it that we have weeks left before I leave, so we're needing to squeeze in as many movies as we can!! The list is getting smaller and smaller, and I have to tell you, it's totally depressing. *sniff*

Anyway, I am looking forward to tonight's double feature!! WHOOOOT!!!

Germy Tuesday!

It's that time of year when lots of people are getting sick. So, I decided to do a story time about germs and feeling icky! I found some really cute books to go with this theme, too!! Here they are!




As for FMRNS, we have several choices for tonight's feature. They are The Seven Year Itch, Canterville Ghost, Somewhere in Time, Meet Me in St. Louis, Terminator 2 and Amityville Horror. Both A and I put a bunch of stuff on hold, and they all came in at once!!!

Seven Year Itch is a romantic comedy from 1955 with Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell.
Canterville Ghost is a comedy/fantasy movie from 1944 with Charles Laughton, Robert Young and Margaret O'Brien.
Somewhere in Time is a romantic drama from 1980 with Christoper Reeve, Jane Seymour, and Christopher Plummer.
Meet Me in St. Louis is a family musical from 1944 with Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien and Mary Astor.
Terminator 2 is an action/adventure/sci-fi/thriller movie from 1991 with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton.
And finally, Amityville Horror is a history/horror film from 1979 with James Brolin, Margot Kidder and Rod Steiger.

As I've said before, it's always good to have a backup, but this is a bit ridiculous!!

So, it's time for audience participation!! Vote for your top two choices!! I'll let you know tomorrow which one we decide to watch! =)

American Gods

This weekend, I found myself with four days off, and plenty of time to read!! I was so excited to finish Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards - until I realized that I had left it at work. Go figure.

So, I looked through my TBR pile and came up with American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This one has actually been on my pile for a long time. I keep meaning to pick up a Neil Gaiman book because I've heard he is the man, and I heard American Gods was one of his best works. He did not disappoint. This book was AMAZING. I read it - all 592 pages of it - in two sittings. Here is a review from Amazon, where American Gods made Amazon's Best of 2001 list:

American Gods is Neil Gaiman's best and most ambitious novel yet, a scary, strange, and hallucinogenic road-trip story wrapped around a deep examination of the American spirit. Gaiman tackles everything from the onslaught of the information age to the meaning of death, but he doesn't sacrifice the razor-sharp plotting and narrative style he's been delivering since his Sandman days.

Shadow gets out of prison early when his wife is killed in a car crash. At a loss, he takes up with a mysterious character called Wednesday, who is much more than he appears. In fact, Wednesday is an old god, once known as Odin the All-father, who is roaming America rounding up his forgotten fellows in preparation for an epic battle against the upstart deities of the Internet, credit cards, television, and all that is wired. Shadow agrees to help Wednesday, and they whirl through a psycho-spiritual storm that becomes all too real in its manifestations. For instance, Shadow's dead wife Laura keeps showing up, and not just as a ghost--the difficulty of their continuing relationship is by turns grim and darkly funny, just like the rest of the book.

Armed only with some coin tricks and a sense of purpose, Shadow travels through, around, and underneath the visible surface of things, digging up all the powerful myths Americans brought with them in their journeys to this land as well as the ones that were already here. Shadow's road story is the heart of the novel, and it's here that Gaiman offers up the details that make this such a cinematic book--the distinctly American foods and diversions, the bizarre roadside attractions, the decrepit gods reduced to shell games and prostitution. "This is a bad land for Gods," says Shadow.

More than a tourist in America, but not a native, Neil Gaiman offers an outside-in and inside-out perspective on the soul and spirituality of the country--our obsessions with money and power, our jumbled religious heritage and its societal outcomes, and the millennial decisions we face about what's real and what's not. --Therese Littleton

YAY! Now I have 2 books on my 2008 Book List!!

Dress a librarian!!

LibrarianDressup is a fun site where you can dress up a librarian!! Get rid of her boring clothes, and dress her up in fun Super Hero costumes or more trendy outfits!

Thanks to Kimbooktu and The Hedgehog Librarian for posting about this link!!

In other news, I just sent out my first job application for a librarian position in Minnesota. It is due on Monday, but I sent it overnight, and they received it yesterday. The application itself was the Application from Hell!! But it's sent and received - too late to turn back now. Wish me luck - the job sounds pretty perfect!!!

2008 Book List

1. Double Cross by James Patterson (finished 1.4.08)
2. American Gods by Neil Gaiman (finished 1.20.08)
3. The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (finished 1.24.08) The 2008 Caldecott Award winner.
4. Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (finished 1.27.08)
5. Born Standing Up: a comic's life by Steve Martin (finished 1.31.08)
6. Plum Lucky by Janet Evanovich (finished 2.2.08)
7. The Wild Girls by Pat Murphy (finished 2.8.08)
8. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (finished 2.11.08)
9. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (finished 2.15.08)
10. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosi (finished 2.24.08)
11. The Quickie by James Patterson (finished 2.29.08)
12. Pretty Little Mistakes: A Do-Over Novel by Heather McElhatton (finished 3.5.08)
13. Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella (finished 3.7.08)
14. New Moon by Stephenie Meyer (finished 3.15.08)
15. Autobiography of a Face by Lucy Grealy (finished 4.04.08)
16. 7th Heaven by James Patterson (finished 4.06.08)
17. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney (finished 4.10.08)
18. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson (finished 4.11.08)
19. Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer (finished 4.19.08)
20. Love the One You're With by Emily Giffin (finished 4.26.08) - Advanced Readers Copy
21. P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern (finished 5.4.08)
22. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski (finished 5.12.08) - Advanced Readers Copy
23. Don't Tell a Soul by David Rosenfelt (finished 5.17.08) - Advanced Readers Copy
24. The Writing Class by Jincy Willett (finished 05.25.08) - Advanced Readers Copy
25. Turning Tables by Heather MacDowell and Rose MacDowell (finished 06.05.08)
26. The Host by Stephenie Meyer (finished 6.14.08)
27. Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich (finished 06.27.08)
28. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (finished 06.29.08)
29. Beautiful Boy by David Sheff (finished 07.07.08)
30. Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner (finished 07.13.08)
31. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris (finished 07.21.08)
32. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery (finished 07.23.08)
33. Girls in Trucks by Katie Crouch (finished 07.31.08)
34. The Last Summer (of you and me) by Ann Brashares (finished 08.07.08)
35. Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer (finished 08.08.08)
36. Seneca Falls Inheritance by Miriam Grace Monfredo (finished 08.15.08)
37. Stardust by Neil Gaiman (finished 08.17.08)
38. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg (finished 08.23.08)
39. Moose: a memoir of fat camp by Stephanie Klein (finished 09.04.08)
40. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (finished 09.11.08)
41. Exposed: Confessions of a Wedding Photographer: a memior by Claire Lewis (finished 09.28.08)
42. Hannah's Dream by Diane Hammond (finished 09.28.08)
43. Matrimony by Joshua Henkin (finished 10.24.08)
44. Are you there Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler (finished 10.28.08)
45. Such a Pretty Fat: One Narcissist's Qest to Discover if Her Life Makes Her Ass Look Big, or Why Pie is Not the Answer by Jen Lancaster (finished 11.04.08)
46. Two Brothers: One North, One South by David H. Jones (finished 11.11.08)
47. Rose Hill by Pamela Grandstaff (finished 11.21.08)
48. Hollywood Crows by Joseph Wambaugh (finished 11.23.08)
49. Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips (finished 11.28.08)
50. Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Librarian by Scott Douglas (finished 12.13.08)
51. The Sinner's Guide to Confession by Phyllis Schieber (finished 12.31.o8)

Purr-fect Tuesday!

I've decided that today's story time will be filled with cute and cuddly kittens!!! Here are the super cute books I found for story time today:





And, as always, it's FMRNS Night!! WHOOOOOT!!!! A and I are psyched about the return of American Idol!!! Personally, I love the audition part of AI - seeing the best and the worst, and of course seeing the reactions of all the judges and contestants. Do you enjoy the auditions, or do you wait to tune in until the top 24 or even top 12? Or do you not get into AI at all?

Our feature of the evening is The Quiet Man from 1952 with John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. I hear it is THE Irish movie!! They say that the color of Ireland, Green, can be seen in every shot of the film - but not in any of the actor's costumes. Internet Movie Database has lots more Quiet Man Trivia - if you are interested!!

Country studies?

I have a feeling there is a country study project due for a fourth or fifth grade class tomorrow. In the first 20 minutes of work today I was asked about these countries:

Belarus
Latvia
Sweden
India
Estonia

What's interesting is that only one of these questions came from the actual student. The rest were mom's saying "my child has a project."

Oh great, a little boy has pulled the fire alarm... Where was his mom? Not paying any attention. Nice.

And when the fire alarm went off, the heater broke.

Did I mention that patrons are already complaining about their long wait times to get on the computer? *sigh* It's going to be a great day - and we're only 45 minutes into it.

FMRNS Triple Feature!!!

My friend A and I both happened to have the day off yesterday, so we decided to have a full Friday FMRNS Bonus Day Triple Feature!!! It was discovered that we have almost double the number of movies left on the list than we have weeks before the Big Move. We've started incorporating Bonus Night in order to help us make it through the list before I leave. *sniff*

So, we had a full day and packed in three fabulous movies! We went from comedy to major drama to musical - it was a full day of up and down emotions!

Our first feature was Amelie from 2001 with Audrey Tautou and Mathieu Kassovitz. It was a very cute little French comedy!

The second feature was Sister My Sister from 1994. This was a very dark drama with Julie Walters, Joely Richardson, and Jodhi May.

The third feature was Camelot, a musical from 1967 with Richard Harris, Vanessa Redgrave, and Franco Nero.

In a random and totally unplanned coincidence, we discovered while flipping through the extras of Sister My Sister that Joely Richardson is the daughter of Vanessa Redgrave. We thought that was the perfect tie in for our randomly chosen third feature.

The range of emotions related to these three movies was crazy!! We did, however, decide that three movies was probably a little much. All in all, it was the perfect movie day!!!

Library question of the day

I'm walking through the library, on my way back from lunch. I had taken a walk with a couple of coworkers before we ate, so I had a bunch of stuff in my hands - including my jacket, tennis shoes, my purse and a water bottle.

A young man walks up to me and asks:

Young Man: Do you work here?
Real Librarian: (Trying to be polite, but to the point) Yes, actually, I do, but I'm at lunch right now. If you go to one of the reference desks, they will be happy to help you.

This actually happens pretty often. I'll be walking out with my coat on and all my stuff gathered and someone will ask me a library related question. Most of the time, I will stop to help them - cuz' I'm nice like that. But it can be a bit irritating.

Not quite as irritating as *this* story, though. I told some friends about this, and my friend Erin offered her own library encounter:

She was working at a library and stepped into the restroom to...go. The next thing she knows, a woman is saying "Excuse me...excuse me?" Then proceeded to ask her how much printing cost at the computer station. Um, HELLO!! I'm a little busy in here!!

Anyone have any other similar patron/customer stories they would like to share?

On a completely different note, FMRNS night last night was awesome!! Our feature of the evening was April Fool's Day (which is a great horror/thriller/mystery with a fabulous twist at the end!! Very entertaining - even though I am not a huge horror fan!!).

Now usually, we have something additional to watch. While America's Next Top Model was on, I taped the show on Wednesday, and we would watch it before the movie. When American Idol is on (it starts NEXT TUESDAY!!! OMG, I CAN'T WAIT!!!), we watch that before we start the feature. Last night, we started the movie pretty early and were excited to find that when it was over it was only 9:00!! So, we jumped in the car and headed to Hollywood Video, where we picked up The Simpson's Movie - which is also on the list. It was our very first DOUBLE FEATURE!!! So, I got to watch two fabulous movies in one night!!!

It's finally story time day again!!

It has been weeks since my last story time, and I miss it!!! The library has been closed the last two Tuesdays (Christmas Day and New Years Day), and I am so ready to get back to story time!!

My last three story time themes were Christmas, Winter, and Colors. This week, I chose...babies!!! Here are the books I chose for this week:




Also very exciting is the return of FMRNS!! My friend A was out of town from before Christmas until New Years Day, so we missed a couple of Tuesdays!! Which is SO.NOT.COOL. Since his return to NashVegas, we have been able to meet a couple times for a movie. This past week, we watched Splash from 1984 with Tom Hanks and Daryl Hannah. We also watched Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the 1978 version) with Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams and Jeff Goldblum. Splash was hilarious!!! Invasion of the Body Snatchers was incredibly chilling - it freaked me the f*ck out!!!

This week, we are watching April Fool's Day from 1986 with Jay Baker and Deborah Foreman.




Now that I've let the cat out of the bag about my moving, I just have to add that I am terribly sad to see the end of FMRNS. A and I have been faithfully watching movies for the past 5 years. A has been my best friend and my rock since I moved here, and leaving him is probably going to be the hardest thing about moving away. We were sad when we had to stop adding movies to the list, and now, the list keeps getting smaller and smaller. We are trying to watch the rest of the movies on the list before I go, which is why we have started having Bonus Night.

Anyway, enough of that - it's too sad to think about. I'm just going to go and enjoy tonight's feature!!!

Well, maybe - it looks a little scary... Um, yeah - Plot Keywords: Castration, Decapitation, Slasher...great...

New year, new degree, new job...new state

Welcome to 2008. I can't believe I haven't updated in 4 days!! I did, however, have a great weekend filled with relaxing, lunch with a friend, football (Titans lost to the Chargers...it was a bummer, but I can't say I was surprised), and the new American Gladiators - and I have to admit, I was pretty excited about this premier!!

But now, it's time to get serious. It's officially the new year, and I officially have my new degree. It's time for me to start looking for a new job.

Now it's time to let you all in on a little secret. I just started telling people at work a couple of weeks ago. I didn't tell you before because I didn't want it getting out at work. I have at least one co-worker who reads my blog (Hi, C!!), and I just wasn't ready for my news to spread.

In April, my DH and I will be leaving the wonderful city of Nashville and heading up to the great state of Minnesota. We will be moving to the Twin Cities area - though we are not 100% sure where exactly yet...it all depends on the job search! I have to admit, I am not yet excited about this move. But, that might be a story for another time.

Anyway, in preparation for my major relocation and new job search. I've decided it's time to start updating and revising my resume. So, earlier this morning, I shot my resume off to The Resume Bee to see what she can do to help me out!! (**Disclaimer - The Resume Bee is officially on 'hiatus' as she is beginning a new career as a Travel Agent with Beach Bum Vacations. She is a dear friend of mine, and is SO awesome for taking a look at my resume, even though she is concentrating on her new career. That being said - if you are looking for a travel agent, contact Marcie, Certified Travel Concierge!!! Marcie, you ROCK my FACE off!!!)

Along with getting my resume together, I have been receiving job opportunity updates from all of the counties in and around the Twin Cities, as well as RSS feeds any job that comes up in Minnesota with the word librar* in it. Which means I get a lot of crap, but there are some good job postings there, too.

Oh, and I stalk all the county library websites...

I also got some tips from The Well Dressed Librarian in this post, as well as some links to job hunting sites and feeds from the Hedgehog Librarian. Thanks to both of you!!

I think I am doing all I can for right now. Anyone have any tips or tricks in job hunting, resume/cover letter writing, salary negotiation, or anything else related to the searching process?? If so, leave me a comment or shoot me an email @ areallibrarian@gmail.com.

Let me take you back...

Let me take you back to a time, a long time ago, way back on the last day of 2007.

The library was scheduled to close at 6:00 pm in honor of the holiday. We usually close at 8:00 pm, so this was a treat for those of us who usually work Monday nights until 8.

Our computers in the library stop making reservations 25 minutes before the library closes, and they automatically shut down 15 minutes before the library closes. However, the IT people forgot to set the computers to shut down early due to the holiday.

At 5:45, there was still one man sitting on the computer, so I asked him to log out due to the library closing. He was very upset because the computer had just asked him if he wanted to extend his time, and why would it do that if we were closing. I explained the reasoning behind what happened, but he just wasn't interested. Since he pretty much refused to log out, I told him that I was going to have to log him out myself. That still didn't get him moving, so I went to my computer, and logged him out.

On the way out the door, he complained to another staff member, which I kind of expected. I happened to walk up when he was complaining, and the other staff member asked me to help. So I explained what happened once again. He finally left, but was still obviously upset.

A couple minutes after he left, I realized I still needed to go outside and bring in the American Flag that we fly outside the branch. As I was bringing the flag down, the disgruntled library patron who had just left came zooming out of his parking spot - and straight towards me. Now, he was 'getting around the speed bumps' that were right next to where the flag pole is, but he was going pretty fast - and I was nervous that he wasn't going to turn away. Lucky for me, he did turn away before he got TOO close (I'm talking 3 feet...)

Happy New Year, buddy!! Sorry you didn't get to send that last message on MySpace.