Three Cups of Tea

Three cups of tea: one man's mission to fight terrorism and build nations-- one school at a time / Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin; read by Patrick Lawlor.— [Old Saybrook] : Tantor Media, 2006.

11 sound discs (ca. 13.5 hr.) ; digital ; 4 3/4 in.

ISBN: 1400102510

Compact discs

Unabridged edition

1. Girls' schools -- Pakistan. 2. Girls' schools -- Afghanistan. 3. Humanitarian assistance, American -- Pakistan. 4. Humanitarian assistance, American -- Afghanistan.

371.822

Following an unsuccessful attempt to scale K2, the world’s second highest peak, a dispirited and disoriented mountaineer got lost during his decent. After a night alone in the Karakoram of northern Pakistan Greg Mortenson was found by a local guide and put on the right path down towards human habitation, but he lost his way again and arrived exhausted in the small village of Korphe in Baltistan the remote and beautiful area of north-east Pakistan where he was taken in by the inhabitants and nursed back to health.

Shocked when he found the village children scratching arithmetic problems in the ground, because they could not afford a school or a teacher he vowed to return and build them a school. Back in the United States he worked a nurse and hand typed hundreds of fundraising requests, before the local copy shop owner, a Pakistani, offered to teach him word processing. Eventually he caught the attention of irascible silicon chip developer Jean Hoerni, who funded the Korphe school on the condition that Mortenson send him a picture when it was done. So successful was the school that Hoerni started the Central Asia Institute to carry on the work of school building, and appointed Mortenson its director.

In addition to its hopeful message of education, especially educating girls, in this remote part of the world, it’s an exciting tale of mountaineering, political maneuvering to squelch a fatwa, kidnapping and blazing machinegun battles between rival opium smugglers. Lawlor does an admirable job of giving voice to the excitement. Tantor Media is also to be commended for adding end of the disc announcements in another voice—a great help to listeners who are simultaneously maneuvering motor vehicles.

Paradise

Paradise / by Toni Morrison; performed by Lynne Thigpen.— Prince Frederick: Recorded Books, p1999.

12 sound discs (14 hrs.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

ISBN: 0788737287

1. African Americans -- Oklahoma -- Fiction. 2. City and town life – Fiction. 3. Oklahoma – Fiction.

After the end of the Second World War, the returning veterans of Hope, Oklahoma decide to take their families and move together. They plan to start a new town, and leave behind the failures of the dustbowl, just as their forefathers had trekked from Mississippi and Louisiana to leave behind slavery and start a new life as freedmen. Burned deep in their memory and the memory of their children is the bitter rejection that they faced along the way. Rejection because of the darkness of their skin, all the more bitter because it came from other newly liberated African Americans of a lighter complexion.

In the new town of Ruby the veterans and their families built a prosperous, if isolated, town on the bedrock of family, church and community. So why three decades later were their children questioning and rejecting these values? Where had this contagion entered their peaceful utopia?

A few miles up the road was the Convent. It wasn’t really a convent, it was a former school for American Indian children run by nuns, but the last nun had died their years ago, and the Indian children had left years before that. Now there was only an odd assortment of women living in the old building, women who had drifted there because they didn’t fit in. They were fleeing unhappy and abusive relationships, and they ending up just a few miles outside of Ruby.

Sometimes a resident of Ruby, needing to escape the strictures of small town life, would end up coming to the Convent. Could the Convent be the source of the contagion? A few men from Ruby think so, and they plan to do something about it.

Morrison’s probes the tensions between men and women, order and freedom, personal reputation and reality, between races, and between generations. Her fluid prose—matched by Thigpen’s smooth mellow narration—does not shy away from harsh scenes of physical and emotional brutality, nor does it fail to portray the redemptive love of friendship and compassion. This is a rich and brilliant book; it is a literary masterpiece.

Science fiction classics

Science fiction classics / Radio Spirits.— Cedar Knolls, NJ : Radio Spirits, 2004.

10 sound discs (10 hrs.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 booklet (32 p. : ill. ports. ; 12 cm.)

(Legends of Radio)

Contents: Dimension X (6-24-50): Destination Moon / Robert A. Heinlein -- Dimension X (6-17-51): Pebble In The Sky / Isaac Asimov -- Lux Radio Theatre (1-4-54): The Day The Earth Stood Still / Harry Bates -- Shadow (2-29-48): The Man Who Was Death / Alfred Bester -- Dimension X (05-13-50): Almost Human / Robert Bloch -- X-Minus One (2-5-56): There Will Come Soft Rains ; Zero Hour / Ray Bradbury -- Quiet Please (11-07-48): Adam And The Darkest Day / Wyllis Cooper -- X-Minus One (3-7-56): Gun For Dinosaur / L. Sprague De Camp -- X-Minus One (10-10-56): Colony / Philip K. Dick -- Exploring tomorrow (1958): Speak no more / Gordon R. Dickson -- CBS Radio Workshop (7-21-57): Green hills of earth / Robert A. Heinlein -- X-Minus One (3-28-56): Pail of air / Fritz Leiber -- Lights Out (2-16-43): Oxychloride X / Arch Oboler -- X-Minus One (3-6-57): Seventh victim / Robert Sheckley -- Exploring Tomorrow (3-58): No way out / Robert Silverberg -- X-Minus One (2-22-56): Junkyard / Clifford D. Simak -- X-Minus One (7-3-56): Mr. Costello, Hero / Theodore Sturgeon -- Lux Radio Theatre (2-8-55): War of the worlds / H.G. Wells – Science fiction classics (booklet) / by Anthony Tollin.

ISBN: 1570196966

1. Science fiction radio programs—United States.

791.4475

This is an impressive compilation of American science fiction radio programs from the 1950s. Three of them, “Destination Moon,” “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” and The War of the Worlds,” are adaptations of the motion pictures of the same title and vintage, but of most of them are adaptations of the stories of prominent authors of the time: Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Alfred Bester, Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, L. Sprague De Camp, Philip K. Dick, Gordon R. Dickson, Fritz Leiber, Clifford D. Simak, Robert Silverberg, and Theodore Sturgeon. There are also a few written originally for radio. An excellent accompanying booklet explains the emergence of the genre and then a program-by-program profile of the authors, with their portraits and a cast list.

Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow murders

Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow murders / by John Mortimer; read by Bill Wallis.— Auburn : Audio Partners ; p2005, c2004.

5 sound discs (5 hr., 57 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Unabridged

Compact discs

ISBN: 1572704748

1. Attorney and client – Fiction. 2. Legal stories. 3. London (England) – Fiction. 4. Mystery fiction. 5. Rumpole, Horace (Fictitious character) -- Fiction. 6. Trials (Murder) – Fiction.

823.914

When Horace Rumpole discovers that no one in his firm knows of his most famous case, the Penge Bungalow murders, he decides that it’s time to write his memoirs, before the world forgets one of the most shocking criminal cases to be tried in the Old Bailey in the 1950s. Two R.A.F. veterans shot dead at point blank range with a captured German pistol in their homes in the London suburb of Penge and the chief suspect is the young son of one of pilots. Although a very junior member of the firm, Rumpole rises for the defense, aided, behind the scenes, by the very determined and clever daughter of his boss. He also has a chance to defend a member of the Timpson clan for the first time.

Loyal followers of the series will be delight that after decades of allusions to this case, the cornerstone of Rumpole’s reputation is finally revealed. Mortimer’s wit and balanced plot construction are as delightful as ever and, delightfully performed by reader Bill Wallis.

T is for terrible

T is for terrible / book by Peter McCarty; narrated by David de Vries.— [Westport, CT] : Weston Woods ; Scholastic, p2005.

1 sound disc (4 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. + 1 book ([32]p. : col. ill. ; 24 cm.)

Music composed by Scotty Huff and Robert Reynolds.

Compact disc.

"Weston Woods read-along CD."

Accompanying book published: New York : H. Holt, c2004.

ISBN: 0439804760 (CD) : 080507404X (hbk.)

1. Dinosaurs --Fiction. 2. Identity --Fiction. 3. Tyrannosaurus rex --Fiction.

813.54

T. Rex tries to put a bright-eyed and positive spin on his reputation. It’s not his fault he can’t eat trees. He had a mother too and was once small and cute. He didn’t necessarily plan to grow up to be big and scary.

David de Vries does a good job of voicing the apologetic enormous carnivore, and the music by Scotty Huff and Robert Reynolds is an excellent match for McCarty's soft, shaded, color pencil illustrations in the book it accompanies.

My one hundred adventures

My one hundred adventures / Polly Horvath; read by Tai Alexandra Ricci.— New York : Listening Library, p2008.

5 sound discs (5 hr., 29 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Unabridged.

Compact disc

ISBN: 9780739371626

1. Babysitters – Fiction. 2. Beaches – Fiction. 3. Massachusetts – Fiction. 4. Prayer – Fiction. 5. Single-parent families – Fiction. 6. Summer – Fiction.

813.54

After hearing Nellie Phipps extol the power of prayer at church, twelve-year-old Jane prays for adventures, at least a hundred of them. She also wants a sign that her prayers have been heard: a purple circle in the sky. The next Sunday she gets her sign and her first adventure. While distributing Bibles Nellie tells her to jump in the basket of an untended hot air balloon with the Bibles. Then she’s set loose to drop Bibles on anyone along her path of flight. As she ascends she looks up at the circle of the purple balloon against the blue of the sky. Jane starts to realize that adventures and adults can booth be very unpredictable and full of surprises.

Jane and her younger brothers and sisters live on the seashore with her mother an unmarried poet. She’s blackmailed into babysitting an unruly pack of children by her ne’er do well neighbor who accuses Jane of beaning her baby with a Bible. While doing this unwelcome chore she encounters three men who she has reason to think might be her father. Nellie Phipps, her preacher, continually drags her along on her New Age spiritual quests. All the adults in her life are eccentric, and making sense out of it all is a challenge for Jane, which Ricci’s somewhat raspy and exasperated vocal narration characterizes well. Horvath’s playfully imaginative story is the equal of Newbery honor winning Everything on a Waffle.

Infinity and the mind

Infinity and the mind : the science and philosophy of the infinite / Rudy Rucker.—Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2005.

xx, 342 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.

(Princeton Science Library)

“Originally published by Birkhäuserin 1982”

“Expanded Princeton Science Library edition with a new preface by the author, 2005”

ISBN: 9780691121277

1. Infinite. 2. Logic, Symbolic and mathematical. 3. Set theory.

511.3

In the 1981 preface Rucker writes, “This book discusses every kind of infinity: potential and actual, mathematical and physical, the ontological and the mundane.” The main line of argument is mathematical. Rucker uses physics, philosophy and theology as illustrations and examples of mathematical concepts. He also uses mathematical formulas, diagrams and cartoon to illustrate concepts in other disciplines. The five chapters all conclude with a collection of puzzles and paradoxes. This assumes that if the reader has followed and understood the concepts so far you have another chance to exhaust your reasoning powers on these, because with infinities there are things that cannot be logically, mathematically or scientifically described fully. Rucker argues that many of the ideas about infinity are not rationally and deductive, but mystical an intuitive. This makes a book that is an active and entertaining mental wrestling match. It also makes it a stimulating, thought provoking, and potentially mind expanding read.

Inkheart

Inkheart / Cornelia Funke; read by Lynn Redgrave.— New York : Listening Library, 2003.

14 sound discs (14 hr., 36 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Unabridged.

Compact discs.

English translation by Anthea Bell

ISBN: 0307282279

1. Characters and characteristics – Fiction. 2. Fantasy fiction. 3. Books and reading -- Fiction.

833.914

Meggie loves books. Her father, Mo, has made her a box, painted bright red as a poppy, to take with her whenever they go on a trip. It’s a decorated wooden chest to hold her favorite books. The lid proclaims it as Meggie’s Treasure Chest. They do a lot of traveling; Mo says that as a bookbinder he’s often called to libraries, the shops of antique dealers, and the homes of wealthy collectors across Europe to repair old and valuable books. Meggie takes her books along because they are, “familiar voices, friends that never [quarrel] with her, clever, powerful friends—daring and knowledgeable, tried and tested adventurers who had traveled far and wide.” They were her home.

One rainy night when Meggie is twelve a strange man with a strange name, Dustfinger, appears at their door in the middle of the night. He calls her father by a strange name, “Silvertongue.” Meggie wonders who would call on the services of a bookbinder in the middle of the night, and why? Who is this stranger; where does he come from, and what does he want with her father? She eavesdrops. Dustfinger warns her father that Capricorn and his men are coming soon, and that they will do anything to obtain it. As soon as he leaves, Mo orders Meggie to pack her clothes and treasure chest. They have to leave immediately. As they are packing she sees her father wrapping a book in plain brown paper. When he sees her, he hides it behind his back. He doesn’t want her to know about this book at all.

It turns out to be not an old book with an expensive binding, but a modern sword and sorcery novel titled Inkheart. It’s set in an enchanted world full of fairies, knights, heroes, and some very evil villains, including one called Capricorn. As Meggie learns what this book is, she also learns where Dustfinger came from and where her long-lost mother disappeared. Her mother went into the book when Mo accidentally read Dustfinger and the evil Capricorn out of Inkheart and into Meggie’s world.

Funke has a talent for bringing the fantastic plausibly into the contemporary world. She displays it brilliantly as literary characters and treasure are brought out of books and into a criminal gang’s hideout in modern Italy. And what more cold-hearted capo could lead such a gang than Capricorn, the man whose heart is as black as ink. Redgrave’s eerie reading brings a spine tingle to life in this capture and escape tale to as skillfully and Meggie’s father can bring a character out of the Arabian Nights to life.

Inkspell

Inkspell / Cornelia Funke; read by Brendan Fraser.— New York : Listening Library, 2005.

16 sound discs (18 hr., 46 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Unabridged edition

Compact discs

English translation of Tintenblut by Anthea Bell

Sequel to: Inkheart

ISBN: 9780307281623

1. Fantasy fiction. 2. Books and reading -- Fiction.

833.914

Desperate to return to his own world, Dustfinger finds a reader, a pale, flabby oaf with a magnificent voice, who’s willing to send him and his apprentice fire-eater Farid there—for a price. But when Farid is left behind, he goes to Meggie in the hopes that she has inherited her father’s gift and can send him after Dustfinger. Because she so wants to see for herself the exotic world that her mother has described to her, she takes them both there and immediately regrets her decision.

In Inkheart characters from the book sprang to life in this world. In its sequel people from this world are transported to the richly imaginative fantasy world of the book. Funke’s characters are vivid and distinctive in both worlds and Fraser’s superb acting ability makes this an excellent realization of her work.

Inkdeath

Inkdeath / Cornelia Funke ; English translation by Anthea Bell ; read by Allan Corduner. -- New York : Listening Library, p2008.

16 sound discs (19 hr., 46 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

Sequel to: Inkspell

"Final tale in the Inkheart trilogy"--Container.

Unabridged.

Compact discs.

ISBN: 9780739363003

1. Books and reading – Fiction. 2. Death – Fiction. 3. Fantasy fiction.

833.914

In the aftermath of the disastrous attack on the Castle of Night, in a city occupied by hostile forces, Orpheus is struggling to find a way to bring his hero Dustfinger back to life. He hopes that the bookbinder, Silvertongue who was mortally wounded, and so close to death that the White Women, the daughters of death, came to take him, will be able to bring them close to Orpheus. He wants to bargain with them. But Death sets its own conditions for Silvertongue, and they are quite different from the ones that Orpheus so desperately wants.

Allan Corduner’s narration meets the high standard set by Lynn Redgrave’s reading of Inkheart and Brendan Fraser’s reading of Inkspell. Funke’s well-drawn characters give verisimilitude to her fantasy novel set in a fantasy novel. One that can be reached and changed by the most skillful of oral readers. In addition to a marvelous adventure yarn she gives a thoughtful portrait of death and the prods the reader to wonder about the nature of reality.

tttyl

ttyl / Lauren Myracle. -- New York : Amulet Books, 2005, c2004.

209 p. ; 18 cm.

Sequel: ttfn

ISBN: 0810987880 (pbk.)

1. Epistolary fiction. 2. Female friendship – Fiction. 3. Friendship – Fiction. 4. High schools – Fiction. 5. Instant messaging -- Fiction. 6. Interpersonal relations – Fiction. 7. Schools – Fiction.

813.6

Zoe, Maddie, and Angela have been bff since the seventh grade, now as they enter the tenth grade they vow to keep it that way no matter what happens. But a lot does happen in their sophomore year of high school. There are new friends, male and female, that strain and test their friendship. There are also extreme social faux pas that test their individual resiliency and loyalty to one another.

The emotionally exciting and harrowing adventures of adolescent relationships are presented in a series of IM messages between the three girls. There’s plenty of girl talk about clothes, parents, the opposite sex, what someone said. There’re also intimate confidences that are only shared with trusted friends about sex, bodily emissions, confessions of self-doubt and mistakes made. Myracle has very successfully captured this in a well crafted and dramatic story.

Acronyms decoded for IM as a second language speakers:

bff best friends forever

IM Instant Messaging

ttfn ta-ta for now, good-bye

ttyl talk to you later

And here are some other opinions about the book from Round Rock, Texas:

Round Rock chief removes contested book from middle schools
Author defends book pulled from middle schools in Round Rock district

The Invasion of the Body Snatchers

The Invasion of the body snatchers / Jack Finney; read by Kristoffer Tabori.-- [Ashland, Or.] : Blackstone Audio ; [Boulder, Colo. : Made available electronically by] NetLibrary, 2007

1 sound file : digital, wma file (95808 KB) : (6 hr., 40 min.)

ISBN: 9781433283901 (electronic audio bk.)

1. Extraterrestrial beings -- Fiction. 2. Horror fiction. 3. Human-alien encounters -- Fiction. 4. Mill Valley (Calif.) -- Fiction. 5. Science fiction.

813.54

There’s something rotten in Mill Valley and Dr. Miles Bennell and his girlfriend Becky are going to find out what it is. People are convinced that their relatives and friends are not really their relatives and friends, even though they speak, act, and look exactly like them. At first it’s just a few, and then more and more, and then suddenly everyone decides that they were wrong and everything is all right now. But the clever reader knows (because he or she has read the title of the book) that it’s really not all right; it’s really all wrong and Miles and Becky are in big trouble unless they get out of town fast.

This is a pretty good thriller. Reader Kristoffer Tabori gives Miles a tired and tense voice that helps convey the character’s sudden and vacillating alterations from skeptical disbelief to horrified realization that everyone’s about to be replaced by a pod person from outer space. Although set in 1976, the book has more of the atmosphere of small-town America in 1955, the year of its publication, than the year of the bicentennial. The 1956 film version of the book is justifiably famous, but be prepared for a different ending in the original. Interestingly, reader Tabori is the son of that film’s director Don Siegel.

Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 / Ray Bradbury ; read by Christopher Hurt.— [Ashland] : Blackstone Audiobooks, 2005.

1 audio file (73998 KB) : (5 hr., 9 min.)

Unabridged

Downloadable audio file

Title from title screen

Requires OverDrive Media Console

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

ISBN: 9780786153107 (sound recording : OverDrive Audio Book)

1. Book burning -- Fiction. 2. Censorship -- Fiction. 3. Political fiction. 4. Science fiction.

813.54

Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, and he enjoys his job. But he has a secret dread hidden in the ventilation ducts above his ceiling. Lately he thinks that his hands are betraying him. They keep snatching and hiding the things he’s supposed to burn. One day he encounters an eccentric teenaged girl on the way home from work. What she says begins to worry him. He’s not sure why. But things are not right. His wife has attempted suicide several times, but she doesn’t want to talk to him about it. She does not want to believe that it happened. She just wants to watch “The Family” on the wall-sized television. She just wants to be happy and normal.

Listening to this books decades after first reading it, I was surprised by how good the writing is and how well Bradbury’s 1953 vision of the future has stood the test of time. What he had to say then is as relevant now as it was in the midst of the McCarthy era and the beginning of television. Montag’s turbulent and painful transformation from book burner to truth seeker is well wrought by both author and reader.

This edition includes an afterword by the author in which he describes the alternative versions of the book including Francois Truffaut’s 1966 film and his own stage adaptation, and his emphatic reasons why he has not altered the novel to fit current sensibilities.

The Texas City Disaster

The Texas City disaster / by Linda Scher; consultant, Archie P. McDonald.— New York : Bearport Pub. Co., c2007.

32 p. : ill. (some col.), col. maps ; 26 cm.

(Code red)

Includes bibliography, index and glossary

Audience: Grades 4-6.

ISBN: 9781597163637 (lib. bdg.)

1. Disasters -- Texas -- Texas City -- History -- 20th century. 2. Explosions -- Texas -- Texas City -- History -- 20th century. 3. Fires -- Texas -- Texas City -- History -- 20th century. 4. Grandcamp (Ship) -- Explosion, 1947. 5. High Flyer (Ship) -- Explosion, 1947. 6. Texas City (Tex.) -- History -- 20th century.

976.4139063

This is an excellent short book about the explosions and fire that devastated the port of Texas City, Texas on April 16-17, 1947, “the worst industrial accident in United States history.” Smoldering fertilizer being loaded for export caught one ship on fire. While firefighters were attempting to extinguish the flame, it exploded. The shock wave downed two overhead aircraft and triggering a fifteen-foot tidal wave. Flaming debris set a chemical plant ablaze. The following afternoon another freighter caught fire and exploded. By the time it was over 550 people were dead and 3,500 injured.

While written in a simple and direct style for beginning readers the book vividly covers the facts. The illustrations are well selected, and the book’s layout is superb.

Doctor Who : The Faceless Ones

Doctor Who : The Faceless Ones.— [Bath:] BBC Audiobooks, 2005, ©2002.—

1 audio file (34791 KB) : (2 hr., 25 min.)
(Doctor Who (Television program : 1963-1989))
Downloadable audio file.
Title from title screen
Cast: Patrick Troughton (the Doctor), Frazer Hines (narrator, Jamie), Michael Craze (Ben Jackson), Anneke Wills (Polly), Pauline Collins (Samantha Briggs)
Originally published as a set of Compact Discs by the BBC in 2002, this edition is an audio version based on the television serial “The Faceless Ones,” first broadcast as part of the BBC television series “Doctor Who” between April 8 and May 13, 1967. The script for the serial is by David Ellis and Malcolm Hulke. This audio version incorporates parts of the television soundtrack with additional narration.
Requires OverDrive Media Console
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
ISBN: 9781405696593

1. Alien abduction--Drama. 2. Doctor Who (Fictitious character) -- Drama. 3. Science fiction radio programs. 4. Science fiction television programs.

791.447

The Doctor and his three human companions land in the middle of a Gatwick Airport runway in 1966. After dodging an incoming flight they run off to the terminal only to discover that, "Inspector Gascoigne was murdered with a ray gun. A weapon that has not yet been developed on this Earth!" And that’s not all, there are some nefarious aliens skulking about the airport, and running a body-snatching scam in the guise of a charter airline (cleverly called Chameleon Tours) offering bargain priced tours to young people. Tours from which they never return.

The narration helps fill in for the loss of visual images in this adaptation of a television series to an audio only drama. Since most of the original TV version is now lost, this makes this version a vital one for obsessive fans, and a pleasant science fiction radio drama for others.

Doctor Who : Genesis of the Daleks - Exploration Earth

Doctor Who : Genesis of the Daleks -- Exploration Earth. – [Bath :] BBC, 2005.

1 sound file (18791 KB) : (1 hr., 18 min.)

ISBN: 9781405696517

Downloadable audiofile

Requires OverDrive Media Console 1.0 or later

Cast:

Tom Baker The Doctor

Elizabeth Sladen Sarah Jane Smith

Ian Marter Harry Sullivan

Michael Wisher Davros

Bernard Venables Megron

Tom Baker provides the narration for this audio abridgement of the BBC television serial by the Daleks’ creator Terry Nation. The narration is minimal compared with other radio adaptations of the science fiction TV show. Interestingly enough, this allows the dialog to flow smoothly, and the result is an above average radio drama. This audio edition of Genesis of the Daleks was first published in 1980.

“’Exploration Earth: The Time Machine’ was recorded and broadcast in 1976” as an educational audio program to dramatize earth science for school children. It may be enjoyed by only the hardest of hard-core Doctor Who fans.

Aristotle and the Gun

Aristotle and the gun : and other stories / L. Sprangue de Camp; with an introduction by Harry Turtledove.—

Waterville : Five Star, 2002.

240 p. ; xx cm.

ISBN: 0786243112

Contents: Aristotle and the gun – The gnarly man – A gun for dinosaur – The honeymoon dragon – The mislaid mastodon – Nothing in the rules – Two yards of dragon.

1. Fantasy fiction. 2. Science fiction. 3. Short stories. 4. Time travel – Fiction.

813.52

This is an excellent sampling of de Camp’s work. The original copyrights on these stories range from 1939 to 1993. There’s humorous fantasy about a knight with an entrepreneurial knight who’d much rather get ahead in the world by maximizing profits rather than slaying dragons, and a story of the havoc caused by entering a mermaid in a swim meet. There are also science fiction stories: a Neanderthal living in New York in 1946, a cautionary tale about going back in time to enlighten the ancient Greeks about the advantages of the scientific method, and – my favorites – three stories told by Reginald Rivers, de Camp’s time traveling Australian dinosaur hunting guide.

The only out of place thing in the whole package is the odd cover illustration, a flying charioteer with a lightning whip breaking through plate glass, which has no connection with any of the stories in the book.

Dinosaurs in fantastic fiction

Dinosaurs in fantastic fiction : a thematic survey / Allen A. Debus ; with forewords by Donald F. Glut and Mark F. Berry. – Jefferson : McFarland & Co., c2006.

ix, 220 p. : ill. ; 27 cm.
ISBN: 9780786426720
Includes bibliographical references (p. 211-216) and index.
Contents: Verne's subterranean "museum" -- Lost and found: the mystique of lost worlds -- At war with dinosaurs -- Shadow of Gojira -- Time-relativistic dinosaurs: Bradbury's legacy -- Dino-trek -- Rise of the raptor -- Infiltration: living with dinosaurs.


1. Fantasy fiction – History and criticism. 2. Science fiction – History and criticism. 3. Dinosaurs in literature.

809.38762

Starting with the illustrated 1867 edition Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth dinosaur sculptor and affectionato Debus traces the fictional and pictorial human imaginings of the earth’s former dominant species up to 2005. He starts with the intrigue of the discovery of lost worlds. Then continues with imaginary journeys back through time to visit the giant lizards in their own era. He looks at dinosaurs from their mid-twentieth image as a stand-in for an attacking enemy power to the tales later in the century of their assimilation into human society or vise versa. He also describes their appearance as extra-terrestrials. Characteristic of McFarland publications this is a well footnoted and documented work with bibliography and index, and an excellent literature guide, an annotated list of “Dinosaur Stories and Other Noteworthy Paleo-fiction."

I am not Joey Pigza

I am not Joey Pigza / Jack Gantos.— New York : Random House; Listening Library, 2007.

4 sound discs (4 hrs., 47 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

ISBN: 9780739356289

Read by the author.

Sequel to: What would Joey Do?

1. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder – Fiction. 2. Diners (Restaurants) -- Fiction. 3. Fathers – Fiction. 4. Forgiveness – Fiction. 5. Identity (Philosophical concept) – Fiction. 6. Pigza, Joey (Fictitious character) – Fiction.

813.54

Joey’s good-for-nothing father shows up unexpectedly one day, and says that he’s a new man, and even more surprising Joey’s mother welcomes him back. And they’re planning a “re-marriage.” Not only has dad quit drinking, he’s also won the lottery, and to signify his new life he’s changed his name from Carter Pigza to Charles Heinz. He thinks that Joey and his mom should change their names too. He’s bought an old dinner that he plans to paint black and yellow and open as the Beehive Dinner, maybe he’ll put big wings on it. Joey is going to be home schooled to learn the restaurant business. Joey’s not so sure about all this. He doesn’t want to leave his school. It’s the first time that he’s enjoyed being at school, and he’s not ready to forgive his dad for having abandoned him as a young child just because he shows up sober in a new suit with a wad of cash.

This is the fourth in his series about the hyperactive Joey and his loving but dysfunctional family and Gantos reads it with feeling and vigor. He can capture character in dialog and authentically portrays the story’s Pennsylvania setting.

Curse of the blue tattoo

Curse of the blue tattoo : being an account of the misadventures of Jacky Faber, midshipman and fine lady / L.A. Meyer; Read by Katherine Kellgren.— Roseland, N.J. : Listen & Live Audio, Inc., p2008.

11 sound discs (14 hrs.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.

ISBN: 9781593161347

(Bloody Jack adventure)

Unabridged

Compact discs.

Subtitle from container.

Sequel to: Bloody Jack.

1. Adventure fiction. 2. Boston (Mass.) -- History -- 19th century – Fiction. 3. Friendship – Fiction. 4. Orphans – Fiction. 5. Schools – Fiction. 6. Sex role – Fiction.

One day in 1803 Jacky Faber, a.k.a. Bloody Jack, a.k.a. Mary Faber is separated from service in the Royal Navy when she’s discovered to be a girl. H.M.S. Dolphin puts into port in the former Massachusetts colony, and Jacky, now Miss Faber is enrolled in an exclusive school for young ladies. Try as she might it’s hard for this scrappy orphan from the streets of London to learn to be a proper Bostonian.

Katherine Kellgren's portrayal of Meyer’s feisty, impetuous heroine is extraordinary, as is her ability to capture the essence and accents of the other characters. An added treat in this set of discs is her singing. The listener gets to hear the tunes as well as the lyrics of the sea chanties and songs sung by Jacky and her friends.

Doctor Who and the Space War

Doctor Who and the Space War / Malcolm Hulke. – [Bath] : BBC Audiobooks Ltd., 2008.

1 audio file (60140 KB) (4 hrs., 11 min.)

ISBN: 9781405666695

(Doctor Who)

OverDrive eAudio Book

Cast

Narrator: Geoffrey Beevers

The Doctor : Jon Pertwee

Jo Grant : Katy Manning

General Williams - Michael Hawkins

President of Earth - Vera Fusek

Draconian Prince - Peter Birrell

The Master - Roger Delgado

Draconian Emperor - John Woodnutt

Using parts of the original dialog from the original BBC television show, Geoffrey Beevers narrates this audio adaptation of the "Doctor Who and the frontier in space" by Malcolm Hulke. The television serial was first broadcast between February 2 and March 31, 1973.

In order to avoid a head on collision in hyperspace, the Doctor materializes his time and space traveling machine, the TARDIS, inside the hold of an earth space cargo ship. When he and his companion Jo Grant step out to look around the crew of the cargo ship locks them up and accuses them of being Draconian pirates. Since the Draconians are reptiles and the Doctor and Jo are humanoids they are puzzled by their captors strange misperception.

Doctor Who (Fictitious character) – Drama. 2. Doctor Who (Television program : 1963-1989) 3. Science fiction. 4. Science fiction television programs – Great Britain.

Doctor Who : The Dalek Conquests

Doctor Who : The Dalek Conquests [electronic resource] / presented by Nicholas Briggs.— [Bath, England] : BBC Audiobooks LTD, 2006.

1 sound file (37368 KB) : (2 hr., 36 min.)

ISBN: 9781405629058

Downloadable audio file

Requires OverDrive Media Console

1. Doctor Who (Fictitious character). 2. Interplanetary voyages. 3. Science fiction television programs. 4. Television soundtracks.

Imagine mutant green menaces encased in traveling machines that look like an overturned trash can sprouting an eye stalk, vacuum cleaner attachments, and a protruding plumber’s plunger. These are the dreaded Daleks. With their manic mechanical shrieks of “Ex-term-in-ate! Ex-term-in-ate! Exterminate!” they have been spreading terror and occasional silliness throughout the television cosmos since their first appearance in 1963. Starting with the sixth episode of the 2005 season, and using audio clips from past shows Nicholas Briggs narrates a retrospective of past episodes of the BBC science fiction series Doctor Who featuring the fans favorite villains.

Bloody Jack

Bloody Jack [sound recording] : [being an account of the curious adventures of Mary "Jacky" Faber, Ship's Boy] / by L.A. Meyer ; read by Katherine Kellgren. – Roseland : Listen & Live Audio, p2007.

6 compact discs (8 hrs.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in.
ISBN: 9781593160944
Unabridged
Subtitle from container

1. Orphans --Fiction. 2. Pirates --Fiction. 3. Sea stories. 4. Seafaring life --Fiction. 5. Sex role --Fiction.

813.54

After the death of her parents and little sister, Mary Faber is turned out on the streets of London where she bands together with other orphans to beg and steal to stay alive. When the gang’s leader is bludgeoned to death in an alley, she decides it’s time to change her living conditions. Removing his knife and clothes from his dead body she cuts off most of her hair; changes her outfit, and heads for the docks. There H.M.S. Dolphin is taking on cabin boys. She tells the recruiters that she can read, and she’s signed with the Royal Navy as cabin boy Jack Faber. Life aboard the Dolphin, while rough, is a good deal better than life on the streets – as long as no one discovers she’s a girl.

Meyer, a former naval officer himself, has written a whopping good adventure tale with an eager young heroine who gets herself into multitudes of scrapes and escapes as fast as the fascinated reader can turn the pages. An added treat in the audio edition is Kellgren’s ability to give convincing voices to all of the characters, whether they’re Jacky’s Cockney accents, the English and Irish seamen, French pirates, Jamaicans, or Americans, all are vibrant and convincing. The sure pace of her narration adds another touch of excitement to an already thrilling tale.

iHCPL Games and Gaming #36: The Wide World of Online Role Playing Games

Exercises:

1) Spend 15 minutes (not including the time it takes to set up an account) exploring Runescape by going through the tutorial. Did you find it easy to learn how to get around?

I worked through about 45 minutes of the Runescape tutorial, but as a non-gamer, I found it disorienting to move about and as a result, my character is rather clumsy. It was also weird walking through other characters to talk to someone.

2) Write a blog post describing the Runescape character you created. Alternatively, if you are already a gamer and play an MMORPG, describe the character you play with and relate a fun experience you had playing the game.

How do I describe my character? He’s a cataloger from this world trying to learn how to fish, chop, walk, and toss spells in the Runescape world. It’s a tedious process, and frankly, he’d rather be reading.

iHCPL Games and Gaming #35: Games? In the Library?

1) Spend 15 minutes trying out one of the web-based games mentioned: FreeRice, WordSplay, online Sudoku, or try one of the games meant for kids.

I worked away at FreeRice for 45 minutes until I got up to level 49 of 60. This was certainly a brain-stretching exercise. I’m glad the game is multiple-choice instead of fill-in-the-blank. It introduced me to scads of new words. It’s as much fun as the OED.

2) Make a blog post about your thoughts on the benefits of gaming and the game you played. Did you find it easy to learn the rules and get started? Can you think of any skills the game might help you build?

It was very easy to learn the rules and get started. Besides the obvious vocabulary-building skill, I was delighted to see that it can also be used to drill on these subjects:

• Chemical Symbols

• English Grammar

• Famous Paintings

• French

• German

• Italian

• Multiplication Table

• Spanish

• World Capitals

Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair / by William Makepeace Thackeray; read by Frederick Davidson. — Ashland : Blackstone Audio, 2006.

1 sound file (29 hrs, 25 min.)

Software version: OverDrive Media Console 1.0

File size: 423020 KB

ISBN: 0786142200

1. British -- Europe -- Fiction. 2. England -- Fiction. 4. Humorous stories. 5. Satire. 6. Social classes -- Fiction.

823.8

A biting and witty satire on English social life and customs during the first part of the nineteenth century, its subtitle is “a novel without a hero,” and it could also be added without heroines. Yet the book’s two central characters, the virtuous but dim and naive Amelia Sedley and the amoral, clever, congenial Becky Sharp both display admirable and distressing qualities as they rise, fall, and rise again in society. One of the great virtues of Vanity Fair is that while it is told in hilarious prose, with short burst of genuine pathos, it was praised by its contemporaries as a thoroughly realistic account of the society that it portrays.

Davidson’s dry and somewhat snooty tone as a narrator is a perfect match for Thakeray’s prose. His choice of voices for the characters and his skill as an actor are excellent. It is hard to imagine a better match of reader and text. This edition is twenty-nine and a half hours of pure delight for the listener.

The last universe

The last universe / William Sleator.— New York : Amulet Books, 2005.

215 p. ; 21 cm.

ISBN: 0810958589

1. Brothers and sisters – Fiction. 2. Maze gardens – Fiction. 3. Quantum theory – Fiction. 4. Science fiction. 5. Space and time – Fiction.

813.54

Susan hates pushing her brother around the garden in a wheelchair. It’s not her brother she minds, although they never were very close before he got so sick. It’s the garden that creeps her out. It’s so big and there’s the long dark passageway between overgrown trees before you come to the dark pond where her great-aunt drowned as a girl. Strange exotic flowers grow there. And when you look out the second story bathroom window you can see an overgrown maze in the center of it; but when you walk through the garden you can never find it. Until one day they do. It’s the day after they come back from the pond and the path moves and comes out at a different place than it has ever come out before.

An appropriately chilling story that entertainingly illustrates some of the strange concepts of quantum physics, including an appearance by Shrödinger’s famous cat that’s both alive and dead at the same time. In this garden the physics of the atomic and subatomic world became the physical laws of the larger world, and people, plants, animals, and universes become only clouds of possibilities before their own eyes.

Rainbows End

Rainbows End / Vernor Vinge. — 1st ed. — New York : Tor, 2006.

364 p. ; 25 cm.

ISBN: 9780312856847

"A Tom Doherty Associates book."

1. Alzheimer's disease—Fiction. 2. Libraries – Fiction. 3. San Diego – Fiction. 4. Science fiction. 5. Spy stories. 6. Virtual reality—Fiction.

813.54

Step a few decades forward in the 21^st century and view a world on the brink of dystopia or destruction. The intelligence services of Europe, Japan and India make a horrifying discovery, someone has successfully developed weapon for mind control that can be broadcast electronically. They soon know, or seriously suspect the source for the weapon is a huge biotech complex in San Diego, California. What they don’t know is that one of their own is the man who plans to enforce peace on the world using the weapon.

Meanwhile in San Diego, aged poet Robert Gu gets the latest treatment for Alzheimer's and his failed eyesight. As a poet he wrote great works of art, as a person he’s obnoxious and insulting. Having him once again conscious of his surroundings and able to interact with others is a source of mixed emotions for his family. There’s a lot he doesn’t like about this new world to which he’s been awakened. The automobiles all drive themselves, computers are built into your clothes, and most people walk about in a cross between California and their personal choice of virtual reality. But most of all he misses books printed on paper. He goes over to the University of California at San Diego to visit the library. He discovers that all the paper books are about to be digitized and shredded. But when he joins the protest movement against the book destruction, he unwittingly crosses paths with the foreign intelligence services and the rogue agent they’ve hired to be the cutout man.

This near-future thriller keeps the pace moving as the reader tries to find out what’s real and what isn’t, what’s going on, and will the author need to call in the Marines to save the world before it’s all over? It also throws up a lot of ideas about the interaction between technology and society, ideas that are both morally and politically stimulating. Rainbows End is the winner of the 2007 Hugo Award for best novel.

The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby

The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby : the first graphic novel by George Beard and Harold Hutchins / [Dav Pinkley].— New York : Scholastic, 2002.

125 p. : ill. ; 20 cm.

(Captain Underpants)

ISBN: 0-439-37606-8

1. Infants Comic books, strips, etc. 2. Superhero Comic books, strips, etc.

741.5973

The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby is a book overflowing with potty humor befitting the sensibilities of its supposedly nine-and-a-half and ten-year-old authors and its real target audience. It’s also laugh out loud fun for those of us who can measure our age in multiples of decades – if you’re not offended by the potty humor. If you are, the penultimate page has an offer to send the publisher a self-addressed stamped envelope, “And We’LL send you more offensive stuff.” The Flip-O-Rama animation pages delightfully fulfill the cover’s promise of “Action” and “Laffs.” All in all this a delightfully silly book.

However, the reader should be aware that there are other judgments on this title. According to Pam Santi, the Riverside, California grandmother whose request to ban the book was rejected by Riverside Unified School District in 2003, “There’s just no moral value to that poop character.”

David Copperfield

David Copperfield / by Charles Dickens; read by Frederick Davidson.— Ashland : Blackstone Audiobooks, 2004.

Downloadable audio file (36 hrs., 17 min.)

ISBN: 0786131063

Title from: Title details screen.

Requires OverDrive Media Console (file size: 521563 KB).

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

1. Autobiographical fiction. 2. Bildungsromans. 3. England – Fiction. 4. Young men – Fiction.

In this semi-autobiographical novel, a successful writer reminisces about his early life and education. What starts as episodic memories soon becomes a vast witty narrative delight of over eight hundred pages with multiple intertwining plots and over thirty distinctly memorable characters from every level of nineteenth century English society. The false humility of the repulsive Uriah Heep and the grandiloquent optimism of the ever impoverished Wilkins Micawber, a character Dickens based on his own father, have become characters that have grown to be cultural touchstones beyond the novel.

Frederick Davidson narration is somewhat dry and detached, but his voicing of characters is brilliant. The whining unctuousness he brings to the voice of Uriah Heep made my skin crawl. His curt way of giving voice to Betsy Trotwood produced an instant mental picture of David’s eccentric and opinionated aunt. The gruff magnanimity of Daniel Peggotty and the self-righteous cruelty of Edward Murdstone and his sister are wonderfully voiced.

Exit wounds

Exit wounds / Rutu Modan.— Montréal : Drawn & Quarterly, 2007.

172 p. : col. ill. ; 24 cm.

ISBN: 1897299060

Text in English

1. Adult children of dysfunctional families – Comic books, strips, etc. 2. Fathers and sons – Comic books, strips, etc. 3. Graphic novels. 4. Israel – Comic books, strips, etc. 5. Separation (Psychology) – Comic books, strips, etc. 6. Suicide bombings – Israel – Comic books, strips, etc. 7. Taxicab drivers – Comic books, strips, etc.

741.595694

Tel Aviv cab driver Koby Franco receives a call from an Israeli soldier. She’s not looking for a ride. She wants him to take a blood test to determine if an unidentified victim of a suicide bombing is his father. Since he is estranged from his father, who he hasn’t spoken with in two years, Koby is at first repelled, but becomes intrigued when the tall young soldier reveals that she was his father’s girlfriend.

This subtly crafted graphic novel explores themes of deception and abandonment as it reveals the identity of the bomb victim. It’s a mystery for those who enjoyed Graham Greene's The third man or Dashiell Hammett's The thin man.

Laika

Laika / by Nick Abadzis ; color by Hilary Sycamore.— New York : First Second,2007.

205p. : col. Ill, ; 22 cm.

ISBN: 978-1-569643-101-0

1. Animal experimentation – Comic books, strips, etc. 2. Dogs – Comic books, strips, etc. 3. Edícia Sputnik – Comic books, strips, etc. 4. Graphic novels. 5. Historical fiction. 6. Laika (dog) – Comic books, strips, etc. 7. Russia – History – 20th century – Comic books, strips, etc. 8.Space race – Comic books, strips, etc.

741.5942

A dog story set in the early days of the cold war space race, ending sadly, as many dog stories do with the demise of the main character and the grief of his human companions. Pressured for another spectacular launch to add to the propaganda success of Sputnik I, soviet scientists launch a dog into orbit with no plan for her return.

In this well researched piece of historical fiction author and illustrator Abadzis adds an imagined early life for the dog Laika. This deepens the emotional impact of his graphic novel and forces the reader to consider the ethics of such animal experimentation.

The fabric of the cosmos

The fabric of the cosmos : space, time, and the texture of reality / Brian Greene.— New York : A.A. Knopf, 2004.

xii, 569 p. : ill. ; 25 cm.

ISBN: 0375412883

Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [543]-544) and index.

1. Cosmology. 2. Space. 3. Time.

523.1

Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, and a superstring theorist explains the stuff of reality. By skillful use of diagrams and analogies he succeeds even for non-mathematicians like me. He also goes on to explain of what the world might be made. In other words, what science knows by experimental proof and what has yet to be proved by experiment. And most puzzling is the experimental fact that the rules of movement for the big things in the universe, people, planets, stars and galaxies are quite different from the laws of the very small things in the universe, atoms and sub-atomic particles, which follow the rules of quantum mechanics.

Humans experience three dimensions of space and one of time, and while we can go up or down, forward or backwards, left or right in space we can only travel forward in time. But are these dimensions the real stuff of the universe as Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein insisted or just a linguistic expressions of relationships as Gottfried von Leibniz argued? Following time’s single direction Greene leads the reader back to the beginning of the universe, the Big Bang and then forward to a cosmos that may have as many as eleven dimensions. It’s quite a trip.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein / Mary Shelley ; read by Tom Casaletto.— Library ed.— [Grand Haven] : Brilliance Audio, c2004.

Downloadable audio file (8 hrs., 23 min.)

(Classic collection)

Title from: Title details screen.

Unabridged.

Requires OverDrive Media Console (file size: 120584 KB).

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

1. Frankenstein (Fictitious character) – Fiction. 2. Gothic fiction (Literary genre). 3. Monsters – Fiction. 4. Romanticism. 5. Scientists – Fiction.

823.7

It could be called a Tale of Two Wretches for wretch is the term that Victor Frankenstein and his Creature most frequently use to describe themselves or each other. Applied to oneself, it’s a term of pathetic sorrow and isolation, but when aimed at the other, it’s a term of abuse and scorn. Full of romantic Sturm und Drang and wild inspiring landscapes as the characters trek across Europe into the Arctic, this Gothic revival tale and classic of horror fiction has very few scares in it, but it overflows with tortured reflections on the human condition in general and the isolation of the outcast in particular.