EOL Receives Blue Ribbon Award!

We are proud to announce that YOUR Emmet O'Neal Library was the only library this year to receive the Alabama Library Association's Blue Ribbon Award for excellence in library service! The award committee evaluates libraries on a series of standards ranging from per capita library support to educational levels of library staff. In order to be considered a library must score at the Blue Ribbon level for all categories rating library excellence.

The Emmet O'Neal Library is part of a great cooperative as the Hoover, Homewood and Birmingham Public Libraries are all past Blue Ribbon Award winners as well!

Visit the Emmet O'Neal Library today and see what we can do for you!

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Debuting!

Here are a couple of debut novels getting good press right now!

Aravind Adiga's The White Tiger takes an angry look at the economic inequality between the poor and the wealthy elite in India.

Stefan Merrill Block's The Story of Forgetting explores the mysteries of Alzheimer's.

Katie Crouch's Girls in Trucks hones in on the disastrous turns a woman's life can take when she's addicted to men, alcohol and illegal substances.

Joe Dunthorne's Submarine follows 15 year old Oliver, who is twisted in the throes of his parents' marital woes, his emerging sexuality and penchant for social science.

Happy Reading!

htw

Hollywood News!

Sea Wolf by Jack London (movie news)

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë (movie news)
Hick by Andrea Portes (movie news)
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand (movie news)
Ghost in the Shell (graphic novel) by Shirow Masamune (movie news)
Money for Nothing: One Man's Journey Through the Dark Side of Lottery Millions by Edward Ugel (movie news)
The Surrogate by Kathryn Mackel (movie news)
The Kind One by Tom Epperson (movie news)
The Heart Has Its Reasons (Wall Street Journal article) by Kevin Helliker (movie news)
Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (movie news)
Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (movie news)
Black Comedians on Black Comedy: How African Americans Taught Us To Laugh by Darryl Littleton (movie news)
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown (movie news) (more movie news)
The Fury by John Farris (movie news)
Eloise in Paris by Kay Thompson (movie news)
Dolan’s Cadillac by Stephen King (movie news)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling (movie news)

Happy Reading (and viewing)!

htw

Upcoming Adult Programming @ EOL!

We have a couple of exciting events coming up next week!

On Tuesday, April 22nd the library will kickoff our first Evening Book Group (to be continued monthly on the last Tuesday of the month 6:30-8pm)! Come join me in the library's conference room for a great discussion about our Big Read book selection, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. We have plenty of copies so come check out one today and join us for the discussion on Tuesday night from 6:30pm-8pm. Light refreshments provided. Contact Holley Wesley (205/445-1117 or hwesley@bham.lib.al.us) for more information.

Join us Wednesday, April 23rd for an exciting Brown Bag program at 12:30pm in the library's meeting room. The program will be a Big Read Scholar's Panel consisting of several scholars from area colleges and universities giving us their unique insight into themes and issues surrounding Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Published over 40 years ago, Lee's novel about justice and humanity is still poignantly relevant today.

The most exciting event yet takes place on Thursday April 24th!

Our first On the Trail of Justice: A Tour of the Old South, Montgomery, Monroeville, Selma overnight bus trip leaves town!

If you've missed the deadline for the first trip, never fear! You have 3 additional opportunities to get on the bus: Thursday and Friday, May 1 & 2, May 8 & 9, or May 15 & 16! Come into the library TODAY for a brochure and registration form! The cost of the trip is $105 and this price includes private bus fare, venue entrance fees, two fabulous lunches at historic restaurants in Montgomery and Selma, and a ticket for the world famous play based on To Kill a Mockinbird that we will see in Monroeville. The overnight stay and dinner in Monroeville are additional fees. For more information call Holley at 205/445-1117 or Katie at 205/445-1118.

Happy Reading!

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Don't Forget.....!

April is
National Poetry Month!

Come to the library today and check out our William W. McTyeire, Jr. poetry collection!

On the Shelf Poetry Cheat Sheet

811 - American

821 - British

831 - German

841 - French

851 - Italian

861 - Spanish/Latin American

871 - Latin

881 - Greek/Roman

891 - Russian

Other poetry events of note include (via USAToday):

• The Poem I Turn To, edited by Jason Shinder (Sourcebooks, $24.95), is a collection of poems that have inspired 43 actors and directors. Among the selections: Kenneth Koch's To You (Mary-Louise Parker), Meghan O'Rourke's Inventing a Horse (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and Shel Silverstein's Thumbs (Kyra Sedgwick.)
• The Academy of American Poets is sponsoring two projects: the first national Poem in Your Pocket Day, scheduled for April 17, and the first mobile poetry site, an archive of 2,500 poems accessible by most mobile devices. (Talk about poetry in motion.) Details: poets.org.
• PBS is airing an American Experience biography of Walt Whitman on April 14 (check local listings) and launching a website April 1, Poetry Everywhere, which includes short films of readings by Robert Frost, Poet Laureate Charles Simic and an animated version of Emily Dickinson's I Started Early, read by Blair Brown.
• HBO, with help from the Poetry Foundation, is showing Classical Baby (I'm Grown Up Now): The Poetry Show for families and kids. Featuring Gwyneth Paltrow reading Elizabeth Barrett Browning's How Do I Love Thee? and Susan Sarandon reading Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, it premieres April 12 at 6 p.m. ET/PT. Details: poetryfoundation.org.
• 100 Poems to Lift Your Spirits, edited by Leslie Pockell with Celia Johnson (Grand Central paperback, $12.99), is touted as a cheaper and longer-lasting alternative to alcohol or drugs for those with the blues.

Happy Reading (and viewing)!

htw

Oh Dear, What Do I Read Next?!

Having a hard time finding your next good book?

Try out this new website from Thoughtplay Ltd. based on Amazon.com's sales records. Most everyone is familiar with the portion of Amazon's website were you can see what other books people were interested in who also liked/purchased the book you are looking at and this website takes advantage of that user-centered information. Registered users have access to more personalized lists.

Try it out!

What Do I Read Next?

Happy Reading!

htw

Free Database for All Things Green!

If you are interested in more information on topics of environmental management, conservation and sustainability, check out EBSCO's newest database, GreenFILE! EBSCO has led the industry in corporate conservation efforts and this database is their contribution to the global community to foster efforts worldwide to become more knowledgable about environment issues. The database consists of over 800 full-text periodicals from Alternative Sources of Energy to Marketing for Sustainablity to World Deforestation in the Twentieth Century.

Take advantage of this great FREE resource today!

Happy Reading!

htw

Fun Book Trivia List

American Book Review released their list of the Top 100 Best Last Lines From Novels! Here is but a taste of the wondrous list, but you may click here to be further amazed!

#99.
"So much of life in its meshes! She called in her soul to come and see."
–Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937)

#77.
"Tomorrow, I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day."
–Margaret Mitchell, Gone with the Wind (1936)

#57.
"All that is very well," answered Candide, "but let us cultivate our garden."
–Voltaire, Candide (1759; trans. Robert M. Adams)

#41.
"I lingered round them, under that benign sky; watched the moths fluttering among the heath, and hare-bells; listened to the soft wind breathing through the grass; and wondered how any one could ever imagine unquiet slumbers for the sleepers in that quiet earth."
–Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (1847)

#23.
"In your rocking-chair, by your window dreaming, shall you long, alone. In your rocking-chair, by your window, shall you dream such happiness as you may never feel."
–Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1900)

#11.
"His soul swooned slowly as he heard the snow falling faintly through the universe and faintly falling, like the descent of their last end, upon all the living and the dead."
–James Joyce, "The Dead" in Dubliners (1914)

#2.
"Who knows but that, on the lower frequencies, I speak for you?"
–Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)

Happy Reading!

htw

Tax Time Draws Nigh

As we are not-so-gently ushered into a nearly paperless tax reporting year, the IRS reminds us to be on the lookout for email scammers.

• IRS Alert about phishing emails and other tax scams
• Information on reporting fraudulent IRS email messages
• Tips for income tax owers

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In other government news, did you know that landscaping with plants native to your area can potentially cut down on the time and resources needed to care for your yard? The state Natural Resources Department should be able to help you find ideal native species. In the over the mountain area of Birmingham, the Birmingham Botanical Gardens would also be a good place to start as well as contacting the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

htw

Pulitzer Prizes Announced

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday, and the winners were:

•Fiction: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (Riverhead Books)
•Drama: August: Osage County by Tracy Letts (Theatre Communications Group)
•History: What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 by Daniel Walker Howe (Oxford University Press)
•Biography: Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson (Norton)
•Poetry: Time and Materials by Robert Hass (Ecco) and Failure by Philip Schultz (Harcourt)
•General Nonfiction: The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 by Saul Friedlander (HarperCollins)

The New Hollywood Trend

Wow! Hollywood is apparently racking up some serious shelf-browsing time! Here is the latest and greatest news from the book-to-movie front:

Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels (movie news)

Midnight Meat Train (short story) by Clive Barker (movie news)

Children of Men by P.D. James (tv show news)

World War Z by Max Brooks (updated movie news)

Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy B. Tyson (movie news)

Maynard & Jennica by Rudolph Delson (movie news)

Thing on the Doorstep (short story) by H.P. Lovecraft (movie news)

Lost City of Z (to be published February 2009) by David Grann (movie news)

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (movie news) (more movie news)

The Last Station: a Novel of Tolstoy's Last Year by Jay Parini (movie news)

Towelhead by Alicia Erian (movie news)

Larklight (juvenile novel) by Phillip Reeve (movie news)

Bag of Bones by Stephen King (movie news)

Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List (young adult novel) by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (movie news)

First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong (biography) by James R. Hansen (movie news)

Anything, Anywhere, Anytime (March 2008 Men's Vogue article) by Michael Walker (movie news)

London Boulevard by Ken Bruen (movie news)

The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason (movie news)

The Matarese Circle by Robert Ludlum (movie news)

Blindness by Jose Saramago (movie news)

Kit Kittredge (juvenile novels in the American Girl series) by Valerie Tripp (movie news)

Happy Reading!

htw