saturday april 26
If you like to dance, or like to laugh at people who dance, then you'll want to check out The Best Dance Moves in the World--Ever! 100 new and classic moves and how to bust them by Matt Pagett. Granted, a book may not be the most effective way to learn to dance, but the illustrations in this one are too great to pass up. From standards like the Twist and the Swim, to a breakdown of Michael Jackson's Thriller choregoraphy, to Cincinnati's own Ickey Shuffle, this book has it all.
And if you're looking for a DVD to give you some tips, try Breakdance: Completely Street, Series 1 or try out the library's new digital video collection and download D's Hip Hop Aerobics, Fitness on Demand.
thursday november 08
A suburban teen skater is haunted by the gruesome death of a security guard in Blake Nelson's tense little novel, Paranoid Park. Marketed to teen readers, the book has just as much appeal for adults, and has recently been made into a film by director Gus Van Sant. The film debuted at Cannes film festival in 2007, and is scheduled for limited release in the United States in March 2008.
The story takes place in a downtown skate park in Portland. The narrator hesitates to get involved with a street kid who tries to befriend him, and when a dare goes wrong, the narrator's life changes forever. You can't help but be drawn in by the guilt-ridden complexity of this teen's situation. Recommended for skaters and non-skaters alike.
monday march 19
A few weeks ago, I spent an afternoon absorbed by the life story of a musician I knew nothing about. And now I find out that musician is coming to Cincinnati in May. Director Jeff Feuerzeig won a 2005 Sundance award for The Devil and Daniel Johnston, his documentary about the innovative and talented artist Daniel Johnston. Intertwined with Johnston's remarkable songwriting and visual art is his personal struggle with manic depression. Interviews with friends, colleagues, and his devoted parents as well as Daniel's recordings dating back to childhood, make for a gut-wrenching, complex portrayal of love, survival, and art.
Daniel Johnston performs live at The Southgate House in Newport on Friday, May 11.
tuesday february 27
Cincinnati's citywide reading program, On the Same Page, is in full swing. Family and friends, neighbors, and co-workers are reading The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan. For teens, The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is this year's action-packed selection.
You can participate any number of ways. Pick up a copy of the book at any Library location or contact a branch to get multiple copies for a book club or class. Host your own discussion or attend a Library book discussion group. Post your comments about the book on the On the Same Page web site.
Continue Reading…
tuesday february 06
Frank Warren, who conceived the Postsecret Project where people anonymously write their secrets on postcards and mail them to him to be published, will be at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati on Wednesday, February 7th at 7:00 pm. Warren is promoting his new book, The Secret Lives of Men and Women. This is his third collection of whimsical, heart-wrenching, chilling postcards, arranged in collage with original illustrations. For those interested in art, human psychology, and the secrets we all keep.
Other PostSecret books:
PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
My Secret: a PostSecret book
thursday january 25
Oscar-nominated films now in theaters began as books. The satirical tone of Tom Perrotta’s Little Children gets a bit lost in the film, but the disturbing performance by Jackie Earle Haley has caught everyone’s attention. A desperate Judi Dench knows Cate Blanchett’s secrets in Zoe Heller’s What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal. Will Smith and son bring Chris Gardner’s astounding and inspiring memoir The Pursuit of Happyness to a wider audience.
Fans of The O.C. saw the writing on the wall when Mischa Barton left the cast at the end of last season. With only a few episodes left in the series, you might be wondering how to cherish the memories. What better way to relive the drama than by listening to the Music of the O.C. – the indie pop sounds that became a staple of the show.
Music of the O.C. - Mix 2
Music of the O.C. - Mix 4
monday january 08
Ever wished you had a good comeback when the moment required it? For inspiration, check out It's a Bitter Little World: The Smartest, Toughest, Nastiest Quotes from Film Noir, published by Cincinnati's own Writer's Digest Books. They just don't write 'em like this anymore. It takes guts and brains to pull off lines like "You going legitimate is like a vulture turning vegetarian."
Stupid Movie Lines: the 776 dumbest things ever uttered on the silver screen makes you wish you could have written something that bad - that takes talent too, you know.
For more movie mayhem, try The Official Movie Plot Generator: 27,000 Hiliarious Movie Plot Combinations. Flip the tabs, mix and match characters and situations to develop a winning premise for a movie. For those who love movies, great stories, and Mad Libs.
tuesday december 26
James Brown's passing on December 25 begs lovers of all things funky to Get up Offa That Thing and celebrate the career of a true original. Brown's ties to Cincinnati via King Records and Bootsy Collins are local interest items in a large, thrilling, tumultuous life.
His 1963 recording James Brown Live at the Apollo is considered one of the best albums of all time. His music has been feautured in over 100 films. If the only James Brown songs you know are I Got You (I Feel Good) and Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, then you better get listening!
And if listening to him isn't enough, check out his most recent autobiography I Feel Good: a memoir of a life of soul.
thursday december 21
Looking for the best teen books of 2006? Maybe you're searching for last minute gift ideas, or you're looking for a good read over holiday break. Whatever your reason and whatever your age, check out the following lists for some excellent recommendations.
Teenreads.com Best Books of 2006
2006 Teens' Top 10 - American Library Association
2007 Nominations Best Books for Young Adults - American Library Association
monday december 11
Looking for something unique to give this holiday season? Check out the Images of America series that features books about the history of Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. Histories of specific communities, such as Delhi: Cincinnati's West Side, College Hill, or Fort Thomas, in addition to subject specific studies such as Cincinnati Cemeteries: Queen City Underground or Stepping Out in Cincinnati: Queen City Entertainment 1900 - 1960 mean there's something for everyone. Take a look at the extensive list of titles that covers a wide range of local interest topics.
Continue Reading…
saturday october 21
I'm a little cuckoo for this show. If Larry David met me, he'd be put off by my enthusiasm. But no show has made me laugh this hard since Seinfeld, so what am I supposed to do? Since I don't have HBO, I've had to catch the episodes on DVD, and after watching all five seasons, I've got nowhere to turn except network TV, and that's just not a place I want to be. You can imagine my delight when I discovered Curb Your Enthusiasm, the Book was coming out.
Continue Reading…
wednesday october 04
If ever there's a time to read about zombies, it's now. Max Brooks (son of the brilliant Mel Brooks) became the nation's foremost expert on zombie culture with 2003's The Zombie Survival Guide: complete protection from the living dead. With so many threats to our safety looming, it's reassuring that someone's keeping an eye on the zombie front. As you can imagine, you'll find out more than you'll ever need to know (hopefully) about surviving a zombie attack. And a nice follow-up to the guide is World War Z: an oral history of the Zombie war where Brooks travels the planet gathering the stories of those who have witnessed a zombie attack and lived to tell the tale.
friday september 08
If you're reading this, you may have already missed him. Chuck Klosterman, acclaimed music / pop culture critic, is speaking at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati at 7 pm TONIGHT. Mr. Klosterman will be promoting his newest book Chuck Klosterman IV: a decade of curious people and dangerous ideas.
Klosterman writes for such notable publications as SPIN, Esquire, GQ, The New York Times, and the The Washington Post. I discovered him through his book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: a low culture manifesto where he won me over with chapters like "What Happens When People Stop Being Polite", a sort-of deconstruction / character analysis of MTV's The Real World. And I don't even watch The Real World, anymore. At least not after the London cast. Anyway...
Continue Reading…
wednesday august 23
Annie Proulx, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Brokeback Mountain, will visit Cincinnati on October 28, 2006, as she delivers this year’s Mercantile Library Niehoff Lecture. If ticket prices are too steep for you, check out these interviews with Proulx regarding the adaptation of her 1998 short story into the feature film that had everyone talking.
Audio interview with KCRW of Santa Monica, California
Interview with book blogger John Detrixhe
Annie Proulx's colorful and scathing account of the 2006 Academy Awards published by the U.K.'s Guardian.
friday august 11
My Bad: 25 years of public apologies and the apalling behavior that inspired them is an entertaining collection of actual apologies by people in the public eye. Samples include high profile faux pas like Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction to lesser known transgressions. The absurdity of these "earnest" statements when read one after the next is striking. Is saying "sorry" really enough? And why does our culture demand that people apologize for some of these things? Breathe a sigh of relief after this one - at least you don't have to explain your questionable behavior to the American public (but you might want to prepare something just in case)!
monday july 31
Recently, while sorting though dusty bookshelves at home, I started paging through Letters From a Nut by Ted L. Nancy (rumored pen name of Jerry Seinfeld). Nancy writes bogus letters to corporations, and then publishes the letters alongside the corporate responses. ABC even had a sitcom in the works based on the books, but the project was cancelled. If you start reading and can't get enough, try More Letters from a Nut where Ted questions not the validity, but the grammatical correctness of the slogan "Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee."
wednesday july 05
Omigod - 80's pop culture is in full swing again. I stumbled across this little story in the Village Voice about Maripolarama, a book of Polaroids that features some of the coolest figures in the early 80's New York scene. I must admit that I don't recognize some of the subjects - but maybe you will (you're either cooler or older than me or both). OK - there are a few photos of a young Madonna, happy?
For those of you looking for some candid photos of celebrities I know you'll know, check out Starstruck by Gary Boas. Gary is one devoted fan who made it his business to photograph every celebrity he could while living in New York in the 1970s. Far from the obnoxious paparazzi presence we know today, Gary's love of all things Hollywood (and Broadway) will warm your heart.
And for something with a local twist, check out Guess Who's Coming to Cincinnati: Candid Photos of Visiting Celebrities. Nearly missed snapshots of big stars (I'm talking the King and the Boss) exiting limos and hotels make this a campy favorite of mine.
friday june 02
With Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling on the front page of every newspaper in America, Enron is once again on everyone's mind. If you haven't seen the documentary Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room, check it out. I know, it sounds like a real snooze, but is actually a hair-raising analysis of personalities and corporate culture. And if you're really feeling motivated, read the book by Bethany McLean, the twenty-something Fortune writer who broke the story in 2001.
Family and Other Accidents is the critically acclaimed debut novel by Blue Ash native Shari Goldhagen. Her story about the changing relationship of two brothers over thirty years has won her praise from The New York Times, Publisher's Weekly, and Entertainment Weekly. If you didn't catch her appearance at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in April, check out her interviews with The Cincinnati Enquirer and CityBeat.
Interesting tidbit - Goldhagen got her start covering the celebrity beat for The National Enquirer. She now lives in New York City and is engaged to be married to fellow writer and sports blogger Will Leitch.
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan is the latest in a string of eye opening books about food. Pollan discusses the presence of corn - (ever heard of high fructose corn syrup?) in almost everything we eat. His interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air piqued my curiosity.
More food for thought:
Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser
Salt by Mark Kurlansky
Don't Eat This Book by Morgan Spurlock (director of the popular documentary Super Size Me)
