Facebook Twitter Pinterest Flickr Google+ YouTube Instagram
Written on: June 8th, 2009 in News, Reviews
This week’s installment of one of our regular features: Click on the links below to get lists of new items available from the DLC in various formats:
All New Items
New Audio Books
New Books
New DVDs
Written on: June 6th, 2009 in Reviews
President Obama spoke in commemoration of the 1944 D-Day landings this weekend:
There’s much more about D-Day, one of the most significant military accomplishments in history at the U.S. Army’s official historical page. The Encyclopedia Britannica has resources available (usually subscription, but free here) at this site.
D-Day has been a favorite topic for military historians, as well as a few daring fiction authors who have tackled the event. Notable books about D-Day include The Steel Wave, a new novel by Jeff Shaara (better known for his Civil War fiction) and Stephen Ambrose’s D-Day, 6th June, 1944 which combines Ambrose’s signature dependence on oral histories and first-person accounts with exhaustive and accurate historical research from U.S., English and German sources. Max Hasting’s Overlord is an example of the sort of sweeping, battle focused narrative history written typically by English and European historians.
As astonishing as the sacrifice and accomplishments of the Allies on the Normandy beaches was, there were also many brave souls in Germany who faced impossible odds to fight the Nazi regime at home. A brand new book recently available from the Delaware Library Catalog was reviewed recently in the New York Times, Red Orchestra, recounts one particular opposition campaign. You can read the review as well as the first chapter online.
(* the first line of the 4th stanza of “for the fallen“, Laurence Binyon’s epitaph for the dead of the Great War, recited annually at London’s Cenotaph during Remembrance Day services.
Written on: June 4th, 2009 in Reviews
I’ve written before about the tremendous Inspector Shan mystery series by Eliot Pattison. Set in Tibet, they are a combination of political thriller, procedural, anthropological/theological studies, and cries of outrage against the Chinese occupation of Tibet, its continuing persecution of political and religious dissent, and their attempts to extinguish traditional Buddhist culture in the region.
Recently I arranged by email and blog an interview with the Edgar-award winning author. Read the interview and check out the Inspector Shan novels- you won’t be disappointed.
Q: Can you summarize about your background with China and the Tibetan struggle? How did you first become aware of the situation in Tibet?
Have you written non-fiction about the issue- and why did you decide on a fiction approach?
I have long been a globetrotter, in both my professional and personal lives. Fortunate enough to have been able to visit China at the early stages of its “opening,” I experienced much of the country from many different perspectives. Given my long-standing interest in Asian history and Buddhism, it wasn’t long before I started exploring surviving Tibetan Buddhist temples. From the first moment I entered the first of these temples and saw the heavy police presence I knew something was wrong. The more I saw the nervousness, even fear, in the eyes of the monks, the more I wanted to understand the experience of Tibet and Tibetans at the hands of the Chinese. It soon became clear that the Chinese have been systematically dismantling a very intellectual, virtuous, enlightened culture and I wanted to find a way to cast a spotlight on that wrenching destruction. While I speak about Tibet in various forums, I confine my writing on Tibet to my Shan novels. I have long believed that when done well, fiction can be far more compelling, even more truthful in its own way, than nonfiction.
Q: What kind of sources do you use for the historical and cultural details? Most people have only heard of the Uighur people because of the resistance fighters who are held in Guantanamo Bay- what are some of the best books or other resources you have used, or would recommend to people interested in learning more about the Tibetan exile, minority cultures in China, and other related topics?
My books are informed by my own eyewitness experiences, dialogue with Chinese and Tibetans all over the world, close monitoring of current events in Tibet, and decades of avid reading. There are many compelling first hand accounts of, sometimes by, the Tibetans and other minority peoples of central Asia, written both before and after the rise of modern China. I have a large collection of these books, many of which I delight in picking up and rediscovering years after my first read. There are dozens of books I could recommend to someone interested in starting a similar journey, some of which I mention in the Notes following each of my novels. Some of the best would be John Avedon’s In Exile from the Land of Snows, Peter Fleming’s Bayonets to Lhasa, Blake Kerr’s Sky Burial, Harry Wu’s Bitter Winds, Tsering Shakya’s The Dragon in the Land of the Snows, and Dundul Tsarong’s In the Service of his Country.
Q: I find the books hard-boiled in the sense that terrible things happen all the time- both in the situation as a whole, and to individuals in particular- the end of Water Touching Stone was a great example. Is the purpose of the dramatic arc theological or purely editorial?
As a mystery writer, I have certain obligations to keep my readers engaged with plot twists and turns, including “terrible things.” But I set off not just to write mysteries but to capture the realities of life in modern Tibet, which include many terrible events. I believe one of the greatest tragedies of the past century is the Chinese destruction of Tibet. That tragedy is still unfolding. Wrenching, inhuman actions are endured by Tibetans everyday, usually with great compassion and bravery. I work hard to show both these sides in my books.
Q: It seems absurd to expect that “justice be done” given the realities of the occupation, but that’s always been held to be the key to a satisfying mystery- how do you navigate the expectations inherent to the genre and still provide the dharma teaching that is present in these books?
All my books, not just the Shan mysteries, explore the meaning of justice, which is a stark question for people who have been abandoned by their governments. I don’t really seek to deliberately navigate between genre and theology, I just try to highlight the cultural and religious underpinnings of justice and let the reader decide from there. In the end justice finds it way despite, and even in defiance of, the institutions of justice imposed by the government.
Q: How long can the Inspector avoid permanent exile? He’s narrowly avoided it in the past- could he survive absence from Tibet either emotionally or professionally? It’s hard to see him sleuthing in an English vicarage or a U.S. Chinatown
Although I have had readers and editors suggest that Shan should emigrate to America, I expect he will stay close to his spiritual roots, and to his son, who is imprisoned in the Tibetan gulag. Tibet and the surrounding regions, of course, provide a rich tapestry of settings and themes, more than enough to keep Shan and, hopefully, readers, engaged
.
Q: Two or three years have elapsed between each book in the series? Can we expect another Inspector Shan book soon?
The sixth Shan book has just been released. Shan’s journey has not concluded.
If you have questions for the author, or want to comment on the books, post a comment below and I will pass it on and post Eliot’s responses!
Written on: June 2nd, 2009 in News
Books? Check. DVDs? Check. Newspapers? Check. Computer games? Check.
Everyone expects that libraries will of course collect all manner of physical media- it’s how we began and still at the core of the practical expression of the library mission. Up until the last decade or so, almost the entirety of human-created and human-collected information was committed through some type of physically encoded and tangible object. These objects can be collected, categorized, cataloged and preserved for access in all the ways that library users are familiar with.
How many webpages are there? The total number is pushing or may have already exceeded 200 million, and may be doubling every year! There are no publication schedules for the web, and few clearing houses announcing new publications on the web- publishing news is ad-hoc, second-hand, and almost immediately outdated! What’s a librarian to do!
Most library websites do publish a list of internet resources- usually ones that are very reliable, persistent links to reference resources of one kind or another- and there are a few librarian-managed websites that try to evaluate and categorize websites (here and here). One of the things we’ve done for the last year or so at the Division of Libraries is “collect” current and new websites through an online bookmarking service called Delicious.com. Librarians who have access to the DDL account can bookmark informative and useful websites while they are searching for information, and add them to a list accessible to all of the other librarians in the state, as well as users. Based on the index terms assigned by the recording librarian, these sites are then added to a continuously updated “librarians links of the day” list on the main Delaware Library Catalog portal site (it’s “below the fold” a little bit, so you have to scroll down to see it!).
Most of these internet resources are keyed to current events or notable dates and anniversaries- they may not be here in ten years but they are useful right now- and the most recent topics for resources include the 40th anniversary of the Apollo Mission, various resources related to the Memorial Day commemorations, and the H1N1 flu virus.
Written on: June 2nd, 2009 in Learning Journeys
Honoré here: Frederick by Leo Lionni is one of my all-time favorite children's picture books. In one of my first Twitter posts , I tweeted: " A pleasant break : Frederick by Leo Lionni on YouTube http://bit.ly/weIw6 ." You can see – the You Tube video, that is. Since I don't have copy of the book (note to self: correct that!) in my personal library, I was delighted to find the 6:25 minutes video: an animated rendering of the picture book, true to the book, with music. And the narrator/storyteller was excellent. Everything I liked about Frederick was right there/here ; thus, I could refresh my memory and enjoy, again for the "first time", this delightful story.
As I basked in my memories, I started thinking about how great it is that there is an Internet and practically anything/everything that is the sum total of human -kind's experience and knowledge was pretty much available and globally accessible. And then, I started thinking about sharing Frederick with a young child and I shuddered. I just couldn't imagine a young child, sitting on an adult's lap, hearing and sharing the story via a computer screen. There's something about that personal, tactile interaction of holding the book, turning pages, discussing the pictures, that's just lost in the digital format [and you know, I'm a big supporter of most things digital]. I first read Frederick as an adult and have shared it many times with young children. Somehow, I just can't bring myself to making that first intro to this absolutely wonderful story via YouTube…loses the poetry.
What are your thoughts? I'll be interested in reading your comments.
Cheers~
Written on: June 1st, 2009 in News, Reviews
This week’s installment of one of our regular features: Click on the links below to get lists of new items available from the DLC in various formats:
All New Items
New Audio Books
New Books
New DVDs
Also coming to the blog this week- an online interview with Edgar Award winning author Eliot Pattison. Check back often!
Written on: May 31st, 2009 in News
A posting on this blog from last week sent me on a curious reading jag, which is something, I think, that often happens with all readers! Something someone mentions on the news, a casual comment overheard in line at the bank, a gauzy recollection of some pleasant childhood moment- any of these and more can create the urge to discover and explore more, and what better place than the library: we’re no slaves to fashion, and we are required to honor the written word for more than its current market value, so the wisdom of ages scratches at our doors at night, waiting for some patron to come along to release it.
In my case, a light-hearted quiz about “what kind of book are you” gave the answer Watership Down, which was, as I noted, a long-time favorite of mine. Checking the catalog for more work by Richard Adams pointed me to a biography that I was unaware of, which I quickly checked out- so far it has proved to be a fun read- a rambling, disjointed kaleidoscope of childhood memories from deepest rural England with no particular narrative direction or cohesion: much like childhood itself.
I don’t know if this kind of biography is a particular genre in itself, but I read a bunch of ’em in high school with differing degrees of enthusiasm, and am planning to go back to look at some of those to see how I feel about them now- another great thing about books is that something you hate at 18 you can love at 40 (that’s for you, Philip Larkin)- I always liked them to some extent for the strangeness and timelessness that is present in the best of them- the details of ancient customs still preserved and alive, the indifference to modernity or the shock at its arrival, and always, the sense of culture and landscape as indistinguishable.
Works about the rural life also typically deal with the British class system- since a great many of the books are written by or about the lives of the privileged, and are almost always haunted by the specter of the World Wars which created a domestic revolution in cultural attitudes, and decimated the privileged and underprivileged alike- in fact the classic model of rural aristocracy didn’t long survive the First World War, and many of these books are a document of a lifestyle at its high point or in its final decline.
Anyway, here’s a list of some of the best of these. Feel free to add your own:
Written on: May 28th, 2009 in News
We get to see more and more of these recently- it’s nice to see that publishers value readers sufficiently to make such an effort with their marketing ploys- this short video combines haunting and beautiful images from Kerala with approving words from Ann Packer and Junot Diaz to promote Tania James debut novel “Atlas of Unknowns“.
Take a look:
Written on: May 27th, 2009 in News
We’ve had a lengthy discussion over the last couple of months about extending the loan period for library material in the Delaware Library Catalog. Taking into account feedback from patrons, statistics on item renewals, and concerns over access to high-demand items, the Delaware Library Catalog is VERY pleased to announce that from June 1st there will be a number of changes to loan periods for various items.
Hopefully this additional reading/listening/watching time will make your library use more relaxing, and you won’t have to rush through a book or keep it overdue in order to finish it! For the most popular books and video, there won’t be any change in terms- so you can still read James Patterson at a somewhat leisurely pace!
Written on: May 27th, 2009 in News
They’ve been called “bonnet books” (although the term isn’t popular amongst the genre’s writers) and in the Delaware Library Catalog they’ve been a hot property for a long time- particularly in the Georgetown and Greenwood libraries, where they routinely top the lists of most-popular subjects and authors. The media have just started to catch up with the popularity of Amish-themed romance novels, as seen in this story and it’s accompanying feature on “Nightline”.
The ABC News piece focused on Cindy Woodsmall, author of the Sisters of the Quilt trilogy, but at least in Delaware, Wanda Brunstetter is more popular, along with Beverley Lewis. You can see a list of most of our Amish-themed fiction here.
Most of these works fall under the Romance category, but the central conflicts are often between the opposing cultural values and expectations of the Amish and “English” communities, with the protagonists often challenged with finding ways to follow their hearts while remaining true to their beliefs.
For those with an interest in learning more about non-fictional aspects of Amish and Mennonite culture and belief, Donald Kraybill and John Hostetler have each produced many authoritative but accessible books on these subjects- Kraybill’s most recent book on the Nickel Mines School shooting of 2006 is particularly impressive, in its challenge to our mainstream notions about retribution and forgiveness.
Delaware's Governor
State Agencies
Elected Officials
General Assembly
Delaware Courts
State Employees
Cities & Towns
Delaware State Code
State Regulations
Business First Steps
Phone Directory
Locations Directory
Public Meetings
Voting & Elections
Transparency
Delaware Marketplace
Tax Center
Personal Income Tax
Privacy Policy
Weather & Travel
Contact Us
Corporations
Franchise Tax
Gross Receipts Tax
Withholding Tax
Delaware Topics
Help Center
Mobile Apps
E-mail / Text Alerts
Social Media
Built by the Government Information Center
©MMXVIII Delaware.gov
