In the shameless self-promotion department

The new ALA (American Library Association) Editions catalog came today. The blurb about my book is on page 28, but is now adorned with an oval-shaped yellow icon that says "ALA Bestseller!" How cool is that? If you squint, you can almost see it:



ALA has also signed an agreement with Google Book Search. An extremely patient person can now read chunks of my book there. Or, hopefully, new people will find it and buy it. New York Times bestseller list, here I come.

Of dungeons and dragons and howlers

When I first started working here (yes, it's true, 1987), we couldn't keep Dragon Magazine on the shelves. But for the past several years, there hasn't been much interest. I figured that with the rise of so many video game options, the face-to-face nature of Dungeons & Dragons had spelled its demise. Boy, was I wrong. This year we've got a new crop of subfreshman boys who are ardent players. They've pored through every issue of Dragon in our collection and lobbied heavily to have the three volume Core Rulebooks in the library. I finally caved (well, it wasn't a hard decision to make). Book III arrived first. It contains entries for "hundreds of creatures, both hostile and benign, for use in Dungeons & Dragons adventures." Here's a picture of the howler, who lives on "planes where chaos and evil hold sway." Although they are intelligent, they do not speak--they only howl. I think I prefer the kind of howlers found in Harry Potter's world.

Special visitor

Today Ms. Suslick's and Mr. Rayburn's Shakespeare classes were very pleased to welcome Valerie Hotchkiss, Head of the Rare Book and Manuscript Library. She brought with her an early pocket Bible that was written in shorthand as a way of demonstrating a method spies might have used to capture Shakespeare's complex lines during performances. Pirated plays were transcribed and printed as small "quartos," with varying degrees of accuracy. Valerie brought one of these quartos with her, as well as a facsimile of the First Folio. She wisely chose not to bring the real thing across campus, seeing as how another copy recently sold for a giant pile of money. I think we were all quite happy to get a look at the facsimile.

Looking for an alternative to turkey on Thanksgiving?

Here's an idea from one of the books that came in for a student who is working on his Nineteenth Century Novel research project. All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present, by Stephen Mennell, features a recipe from the Book of Household Management, edited by Isabella Beeton and published in 1861. The recipe...drum roll...is for boiled calf's head (without the skin). I shall quote liberally.

Ingredients.--Calf's head, water, a little salt, 4 tablespoonfuls of melted butter, 1 tablespoonful of minced parsley, pepper and salt to taste, 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice.

Mode.--After the head has been thoroughly cleaned, and the brains removed, soak it in warm water to blanch it. Lay the brains also into warm water to soak, and let them remain for about an hour. Put the head into a stewpan, with sufficient cold water to cover it, and when it boils, add a little salt; take off every particle of scum as it rises, and boil the head until perfectly tender. Boil the brains, chop them, and mix with them melted butter, minced parsley, pepper, salt, and lemon-juice in the above proportion. Take up the head, skin the tongue, and put it on a small dish with the brains round it. Have ready some parsley and butter, smother the head with it, and the remainder send to table in a tureen.

I especially like the bit about the placement of the brains. Very elegant. I suppose this entry could just as easily been titled I'm glad I live now, part 2.

Books NOT to read

LibraryThing is a great piece of social software for 1) creating a personal catalog of books you own or have read, and 2) for figuring out what to read next. By linking from titles on your list to the lists of others who have selected the same titles, you are reasonably sure to hit on folks who have similar reading tastes. If you don't want to catalog your own books, you can still find books to read by using LibraryThing's new BookSuggester. You enter the title of a book you like, and LibraryThing searches for commonalities on the lists of members who have entered your title. But what about books you should avoid? LibraryThing is now experimenting with the UnSuggester, which sort of reverses the polarity (Dr. Who joke there). "It analyzes the seven million books LibraryThing members have recorded as owned or read, and comes back with books least likely to share a library with the book you suggest." Find a complete description of this phenomenon on the LibraryThing blog.

The sexiest man alive

There is always great excitement in the library when this particular issue of People Magazine arrives.

Well, that didn't take long

The two new workstations were installed this morning. Now it's like they've been here forever. Let's see, from left to right... e-mail, word processing, Noodlebib, Book Chat, and just getting started.



Now for something to keep everyone busy this weekend (you know who you are...). Try the Wikipedia game using the following:

Start with James Spedding and end up at Common Purse Agreement (hey, both are Brit-related)
Start with Kuon (video game) and end up at List of World War II firearms (ooh, evil)

Who's in charge?

It looks like Ms. Majerus should think twice about asking Mr. Sutton to sub for her. But isn't he cute?

(In the spirit of full disclosure, this pose is actually a reenactment of an earlier event).

Jeremy's new game

Sort of on the order of Six Degrees of Separation, which is the idea that every person on the planet is separated from everyone else by a chain of about six people. Only this game is played by trying to connect the articles on Wikipedia. Players select two articles using the Random Article link, then see who can connect the two articles the fastest and in the shortest number of links.

Some ideas from Robert:
Start with Michigan Central railroad and end up at Nellie Bly
Start with Pyotr Potemkin and end up at Minor Shoulder-knot

On your marks, get set...

I'm glad I live now

I realize I've been quiet here lately. Note to self: do not ever schedule four talks in one week, especially when the second draft for the MacArthur project is due immediately afterwards. But our students have been working hard as well. The shipping box doth overflow each day, filled with goodies for various research projects. I've especially enjoyed browsing through some of the books that have come in for the 19th Century Literature students. Someone just returned A Day in the Life of a Victorian Domestic Servant by Leonore Davidoff and Ruth Hawthorn. I think the book turned out to be unsuitable for a research paper because it's essentially a children's book which tells the story of (presumably fictional) 15-year-old Ellen Hunt, a servant in a large house in Kensington in the 1880s. One of Ellen's tasks for the day is to help "Miss Frances" dress for a grand dinner party. Miss Frances needs help dressing because she can't tie up the laces at the back of her hour-glass shaped corset. All I can say is OUCH.

Back to books

It's been awhile since I've blogged about books. We've got some new arrivals that are calling my name. What Einstein Told His Cook: Kitchen Science Explained, by Robert L. Wolke (641.5 W834w) and its sequel, What Einstein Told His Cook 2 (641.5 W834w 2005) explains why Dairy Queen gets just as hard as regular ice cream if you put it in the freezer. And why ground beef is yucky brown on the inside and red on the outside. Intriguing in a different way is The Radioactive Boy Scout: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor, by Ken Silverstein (621.483092 H124s). While working on his Atomic Energy badge for Boy Scouts, David Hahn built a model nuclear reactor in his backyard garden shed and created an environmental emergency. But the book I think I'll take with me to the Illinois School Library Media Association conference tomorrow is Gil's All Fright Diner, by A. Lee Martinez (Fiction M36622g). "Gory, sexy, and flat-out hilarious..." Doesn't get any better than that.

I blew it

Big time. Here's the story. I have a MySpace account. A couple of days ago, I got a friend invite from the [fillinnameofschool] Administration. I accepted the invitation, then quickly realized (after looking at the profile) that this MySpace page was certainly not created by the nameofschool Administration. It was, I will say, pretty darned clever and hardly offensive (though certainly not guaranteed to stay that way). But, it rang every bell on my Never-Never-EVER-Impersonate-Anyone meter. So without thinking too terribly deeply (bad, Franceylibrarian, bad!), I filed an impersonation complaint with MySpace. Apparently this is such a big problem that MySpace has a special complaint form just for reporting impersonations of teachers and school people.

Some time later it dawned on me that I should just do the mature thing and leave a comment on the page itself, expressing my objections. After all, I had been friended. This morning when I logged on I found that the name of the page had been changed to "Not really the...fillinnameofschool Administration." And the author(s) had sent a personal message to my own page. I immediately sat down and shot off a new message to the MySpace complaint department, asking that my previous complaint be withdrawn. Sadly, a few hours later, I got a message from the MySpace bot telling me that the false profile was scheduled to be deleted. And then it was. I sent another e-mail. But I fear it is too late.

Anyway, I have betrayed a trust and I feel rather rotten about it. Maybe I'll have to turn myself into a scenario. It would serve me right.

Saving space to music

There was a short discussion on the Book Chat about Spacesaver, or compact shelving. People did not know what it was. Fortunately, a budding filmmaker named Kim has posted a lovely demonstration on YouTube. Wow, it's also a stunning display of stop-action-editing-finesse.

I'll be gone for a few days to attend the National Association for Gifted Children convention. Hope there's some Halloween candy left when I get back.