Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Arroyo Book Club Pick for April….

Book Jacket for: My beloved world
The Arroyo Book Club book for April is Sonia Sotomayor’s memoir My Beloved World.  To quote from the jacket:
An instant American icon--the first Hispanic on the U.S. Supreme Court--tells the story of her life before becoming a judge in an inspiring, surprisingly personal memoir. With startling candor and intimacy, Sonia Sotomayor recounts her life from a Bronx housing project to the federal bench, a progress that is testament to her extraordinary determination and the power of believing in oneself. She writes of her precarious childhood and the refuge she took with her passionately spirited paternal grandmother. She describes her resolve as a young girl to become a lawyer, and how she made this dream become reality: valedictorian of her high school class, summa cum laude at Princeton, Yale Law, prosecutor in the Manhattan D.A.'s office, private practice, federal district judge before the age of forty. She writes about her deeply valued mentors, about her failed marriage, about her cherished family of friends. Through her still-astonished eyes, America's infinite possibilities are envisioned anew in this warm and honest book.

It ought to be interesting.  Stop by the library for a copy and plan to join us for discussion on April 25 at 3:00.

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Events for the Week of March 30…

The library will be closed on Monday (3/30) for Cesar Chavez Day and on Sunday (4/5) for Easter.  The events going on at the library during the remainder of the week include…
  • Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (4/1) --- sessions at 10:30 & 11:30
  • STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
  • STAR Reader on Thursday (4/2) at 3:00
  • Fun with Tablets program also on Thursday at 4:00
  • Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (4/3) at 3:30
  • STAR Reader on Saturday (4/4) at 2:00
  • Movie showing also on Saturday at 2:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Library Events in April…

(Mark your calendars accordingly)

The library has a number of interesting events planned in March.  I thought I’d take a minute and give you a run down so you could plan ahead.  Let’s start with the non-repeating events:

- - - - - - - - - - 
4/4 @ 2:00
Movie
Join us for movie showing. Call branch for details.

4/9 from 1:00-3:00
Covered California Information Table
Questions about health care? Bring them and talk to an expert.

4/9 @ 6:00
All About Spreadsheets
Come learn the basics about spreadsheets… from functions & formulas to formatting & charts.

4/14 @ 4:00
Teen Council Meeting
Teens come put your own personal stamp on the library.

4/18 from 9:30-2:00
Friends’ Used Book Sale
Support the library and supplement your personal library.  There will be a ton of bargains at this used book sale.

4/18 @ 2:00
HTML Basics
Learn basic HTML vocabulary & structure.

4/25 @ 3:00
Arroyo Book Club
Join us for a lively discussion of the book My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor.


- - - - - - - - - -

Each month the library also has a number of ongoing classes & events.  They are:

Make it Mondays - - - Mondays at 4:00
Join us each Monday for a hands on activity.  In April we will be meeting a construction block challenge, doing something with poetry, and constructing cardboard castles

Little Ones’ Storytime - - - Wednesdays at 10:30 & 11:30
Little Ones’ 3 and under & their grownups are invited to join us for stories, music, & games.  We offer two sessions, pick the one that is convenient for you.

STAR Volunteer Readers - - - Available on Wednesdays at 3:00, on Thursdays at 3:00 & on Saturdays at 2:00
STAR readers present the fun of storytelling and reading to children one-on-one or in small groups. Kids earn a free book to keep after 3 visits.

Fun With Tablets - - - Thursdays at 4:00
People of all ages are invited to join us as we explore tablet computers by accomplishing an interesting task.  If you have a project in mind suggest it & we might give it a try.

Drop in Computer Lab - - - Fridays at 3:30
Bring your questions about computers, tablets, eReaders, or other electronic devices.  We will do our best to help you figure out answers. 

- - - - - - - - - -

Please do not hesitate to call the library at 323-255-0537 if you have any questions or would like more information.  Remember that you can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

TOW (& Answer)...

Book Jacket for: The encyclopedia of censorshipThe week’s question was what was a messenger of the press? To quote directly from the source:
Under the licensing act (1662) British government agents, called messengers of the press, were made responsible for tracing any form of unauthorized or undesirable printing and reporting its existence, as a prelude to subsequent legal censorship, to a secretary of state.  Although the act lapsed officially in 1679, the messengers continued to be used by secretaries of state who required a convenient means of checking on publishers and printers they suspected of sedition.

The question (and answer) were taken from p. 188 of The Encyclopedia of Censorship by Jonathon Green.  The book was published by Facts on File in 1990.

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

History of Highland Park….

This newspaper article (http://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/10/520338.pdf), penned by Roger Swanson, discusses the Heritage Square Museum shortly before its full time opening.  Included are in depth descriptions of the buildings and photographs.  The article was published on 10/26/75.

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Events for the Week of March 23…

The events going on at the library this week include…
  • Make it Monday: Giant Bubbles (3/23) at 4:00
  • Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (3/25) --- sessions at 10:30 & 11:30
  • STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
  • Introduction to Genealogy Workshop also on Wednesday at 6:00
  • Covered California Information Table on Thursday (3/26) from 1:00 to 3:00
  • Fun with Tablets program also on Thursday at 4:00
  • Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (3/27) at 3:30
  • STAR Reader on Saturday (3/28) at 2:00
  • Arroyo Book Club meets to discuss Into the Beautiful North by Urrea on Saturday at 3:00
  • Showing of documentary Life on the Line on Saturday at 4:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

Friday, March 20, 2015

Noggin

Book Jacket for: NogginIf you’re craving a light weight, lightly SF, YA novel you need look no further then Noggin  by John Corey Whaley.  The premise is simple… Travis Coates is dying of leukemia so he makes the decision to have his head frozen in the hopes that at some future time he can somehow be restored to life.  Fast forward five years and Travis awakes to find that his head has been surgically transplanted onto another person’s body.  He must adjust to a life where everyone is 5 years ahead of him.  His girlfriend has moved on, his best friend seems to have regressed, there’s something about his family.  The story is readable and fairly interesting though it suffers from a “the scenario is implausible in the time frame allotted” problem.  Not to mention no inclusion of the technology that would have had to have been around for the operation to even be possible as part of the overall story line.  The hero is seriously self-involved and not very likable though as the story develops the author makes a good behind the scenes case for it being reasonable that he is like this.

All in all a book I would recommend to someone who likes a teen’s point of view and doesn’t mind improbable SF. 

Thursday, March 19, 2015

A Slip of the Keyboard

Book Jacket for: A slip of the keyboard : collected nonfictionIf you’re a fan of Terry Pratchett (and really who isn’t) you’ll want to pick up A Slip of the Keyboard.  Here you will find collected a number of his short, non-fiction pieces.  Here he writes about writing, about author tours, some things about his life, Alzheimer’s, and more.  You get a full measure of the wonderful Pratchett voice while taking a gander behind the curtain.  

Highly recommended.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Websites I Like….

If you like to read folk and/or fairy tales you’ll enjoy browsing around this site (http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html).  Here you will find full text many, many different folk and fairy tales, interestingly arranged by overall theme, e.g. you’ll find a list of Bald Stories (Folktales about hairless men).  The website itself is very plain and lacks the bells and whistles you may have grown accustomed to but the stories themselves are worth the visit.

Tuesday, March 17, 2015

Monday, March 16, 2015

The Rosie Effect

Book Jacket for: The Rosie effectGraeme Simsion continues the tale he began in The Rosie Project (blog entry 11/20/14) with The Rosie Effect.  In this book Don Tillman, now married to Rosie Jarman is living with her in New York and the pair are expecting a baby.  Don Tillman, as readers of the first book will know, is not neurally typical so the impending birth leads to a lot of drama that he must sort through.  If you enjoyed the first book you will like this one as well.  If you haven’t read the first book you will still like this. 

I would recommend the book to anyone who likes stories of nonconventional people trying their best to make a success out of life. 

Sunday, March 15, 2015

Events for the Week of March 16…

The events going on at the library this week include…
  • Make it Monday: Toothbrush Painting (3/16) at 4:00
  • Teen Council Meeting on Tuesday (3/17) at 4:00
  • Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (3/18) --- sessions at 10:30 & 11:30
  • STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
  • Fun with Tablets program on Thursday (3/19) at 4:00
  • Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (3/20) at 3:30
  • STAR Reader on Saturday (3/21) at 2:00
  • Blue Submarine: Sea Creatures Show also on Saturday at 2:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

Saturday, March 14, 2015

TOW (& Answer)...

Book Jacket for: The American Heritage Roget's thesaurus.The week’s question was how many words can you think of that mean the same thing as produce (consider it as a verb)?  How about the following:  bear, bring forth, create, develop, engender, generate, give, give forth, make, originate, provide, spawn, yield,  generate, clear, gain, yield, write, build, compose, shape, adduce, present, dramatize, enact, perform.  

The question (and answer) were taken from p. 617 of Roget’s Thesaurus.  The edition in question was published by Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt in 2013. 

Thursday, March 12, 2015

The Amazing Harvey

Book Jacket for: The amazing HarveyIn the Amazing Harvey by Don Passman Harvey Kendall, an aspiring magician, is accused of a rape and murder he did not commit.  The police have DNA evidence though so things look very, very bad for our hero.  Harvey finds a lawyer in an old classmate who agrees to help him and begins poking around in the mystery.  The solution to the crime is rather obvious and the author does a really awkward job of laying clues so that our hero can figure it out as well.  However, the book on the whole is very sweet and has interesting characters and perhaps the solution is not obvious if you haven’t a biology/medicine background.

Recommended for those who like a character driven mystery. 

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

History of Highland Park…

Here (http://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/10/520225.pdf) we have a reprint of an advertisement that appeared on 12/26/1909 in the Los Angeles Examiner.  It is a map of Mt. Washington and is visually a stunning piece of work.  Take a look at it.

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

The Old Deep and Dark

Book Jacket for: The old deep and darkThe Old Deep and Dark by Ellen Hart is another entry in the Jane Lawless mystery series.  In this volume Jane is helping her father investigate the mystery surrounding the death of a well-known country music star with some long standing secrets.  Simultaneously she is helping her good friend Cordelia whose recently purchased theater seems to have been a sort of mecca for murder (3 skeletons are turned up in various hidden nooks and crannies in the theater).  Hart always switches viewpoints between her characters in her books --- something I found a bit annoying here as all of the characters came across as seriously self-centered and annoying.  I even found myself rooting for characters I knew to be innocent to be suspected of the crime because I kind of wanted them to suffer.

All in all a good solid mystery albeit peopled with some characters who don’t exactly make you want to care what happens to them.  I would recommend it to someone who was already a fan of the series.

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Events for the Week of March 9…

The events going on at the library this week include…
  • Make it Monday: Take a building block challenge (3/9) at 4:00
  • Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (3/11) --- sessions at 10:30 & 11:30
  • STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
  • Fun with Tablets program on Thursday (3/12) at 4:00
  • Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (3/13) at 3:30
  • STAR Reader on Saturday (3/14) at 2:00
  • Come see what eMedia options are available to you with your library card, Saturday at 3:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.

Friday, March 6, 2015

Trivia of the Week...

This week’s question asks you to plumb your vocabulary… how many words can you think of that mean the same thing as produce (consider it as a verb)?

Thursday, March 5, 2015

March’s Electronic Resource of the Month…

The eResource of the month for March is one of my favorites --- the Oxford English Dictionary or OED.  This dictionary is marvelous fun to use even if you’re not in the market for a word definition.  I’ll admit that anytime I have a few moments to kill and nothing specific to do I’ll log on to the dictionary and just do random searches on words that catch my eye.  I particularly like to read the etymology sections about the words to find out where they came from.  I also enjoy reading the articles the dictionary puts out periodically on various aspects of the English language.  All in all this a reference I recommend for fun as well as for those who need to know what a particular word means.

You can access the OED from the library’s Research & Homework page (http://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/research-and-homework#O).  You will need to have your library card if you are not using a library computer.  

So… go to the database and look up the most interesting word you can think of and then look up the least interesting word and see how interesting the plain little words we use really are.

Wednesday, March 4, 2015

TOW (& Answer)...

Book Jacket for: State names, seals, flags, and symbols : a historical guideThis week’s question was when did the state of California begin issuing license plates with bonus points for describing what the first plates looked like.  The state of California began issuing license plates on March 22, 1905.  The plates for the years 1905-1913 were known as prestate plates since the state only assigned numbers leaving the vehicle owner to make their own plates.  In 1914 the state actually began to manufacture plates.  They were basic blue on white plates.


The question (& answer) were taken from p. 271 of State Names, Seals, Flags, and Symbols by Bejnamin F. Shearer and Barbara S. Shearer.  The book was published in 1994 by Greenwood Press.

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Arroyo Book Club Pick for March….

Book Jacket for: Into the beautiful North : a novel
In March the Arroyo Book Club will be participating in the Big Read Program (find information about that program here: http://www.neabigread.org/) and reading Luis Alberto Urrea’s Into the Beautiful North.  The book is described in our catalog with:
Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the US to find work. Recently, it has dawned on her that he isn't the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village--they've all gone north. While watching The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men--her own "Siete Magníficos"--to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over.
Filled with unforgettable characters and prose as radiant as the Sinaloan sun, INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH is the story of an irresistible young woman's quest to find herself on both sides of the fence.

It certainly sounds interesting.  Stop by the library for a copy of the book (yours to keep while supplies last) and plan to join us for discussion on March 28 at 3:00.

Finally... Find the Big Read’s information about the book and a reading guide here: http://www.neabigread.org/books/intothebeautifulnorth/ 

Sunday, March 1, 2015

Events for the Week of March 2…

The events going on at the library this week include…
  • Make it Monday: Celebrate Dr Seuss’ Birthday (3/2) at 4:00
  • Little Ones’ Storytime on Wednesday (3/4) --- sessions at 10:30 & 11:30
  • STAR Reader on Wednesday at 3:00
  • Fun with Tablets program on Thursday (3/5) at 4:00
  • Drop in Computer Lab on Friday (3/6) at 3:30
  • STAR Reader on Saturday (3/7) at 2:00
  • UCLA Gluck Percussion Ensemble performs on Saturday at 3:00

You can always check the Branch Page (http://www.lapl.org/branches/arroyo-seco) on the LAPL website for upcoming events or check out the Master Calendar (http://www.lapl.org/whats-on/calendar) where you can search for something specific across multiple branches.