ADULT
fiction
London Boulevard / Ken Bruen
The Children's Book / A.S. Byatt
The Red Velvet Turnshoe / Cassandra Clark
Tell Me Something True / Leila Cobo
The Disciple / Stephen Coonts
Too Much Money / Dominick Dunne
U is for Undertow / Sue Grafton
Where Armadillos Go to Die / James Hime
Breathless / Dean Koontz
The Sweet In-Between / Sheri Reynolds
non-fiction
Bitter Roots, Tender Shoots : the Uncertain Fate of Afghanistan's Women / Sally Armstrong
Death Ship of Halifax Harbour / Steven Laffoley
The Rocket : a Cultural History of Maurice Richard / Benoît Melançon
Stones into Schools : Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan / Greg Mortenson
Test of Our Times : America Under Siege and How We Can Be Safe Again / Tom Ridge
large print
audio
The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society / Mary Shaffer and Annie Barrows
video
(500) Days of Summer
All About Steve
The Cove
Familiar Strangers
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Imagine That
Laws of Motion
My Life in Ruins
Julie & Julia
Public Enemies
YOUNG ADULT
Juggling Fire / Joanne Bell
Dragons of Darkness / Antonia Michaelis
Bran Hambric : the Farfield Curse / Kaleb Nation
CHILDREN
Pierre le Poof / Andrea Beck
When I Visit the Farm / Crystal Beshara
Rainbow Fish Discovers the Deep Sea / Marcus Pfister
Where the Wild Things Are / Maurice Sendak
Secret of the Dance / Andrea Spalding
Thursday, 3 December, 2009
December 2009 Newspaper Columns
Bracebridge Examiner December 23, 2009
The modern Christmas is a melding of widely different traditions originating from religious and social customs with a sprinkling of folklore and magic.
Feasts held in celebrate the winter solstice or the shortest day (December 21 at precisely 5:47 p.m. this year), were common long before Christianity and can be traced across Europe to ancient Babylon and Egypt. The Christian church chose various dates for Christ’s birthday before finally settling on December 25, a deliberate substitution for the pagan festival celebrating the rebirth of the light in the winter gloom. The practice of greening of public buildings and houses with branches was also quickly absorbed by the Christian church. Green boughs, mistletoe, and holly were all used in pagan celebrations long before the advent of Christianity though. The Celtic Druids, and other cultures, believed that mistletoe warded off evil and promoted fertility while in Norse mythology it represented peace. Holly, with its red berries symbolizing Christ’s blood, was adopted by the Christian church, but mistletoe with its powerful pagan symbolism was banned in churches.
Why do we bring a tree inside and decorate it during this season? Tree worship dates back to prehistoric times, and the Christmas tree probably has pagan origins, being an evergreen and thus the one tree in the forest with the promise of survival until spring. In the early 19th century German immigrants introduced the custom of decorating fir trees. Half a century later in 1856, the first Christmas tree adorned the White House after being popularized in Britain by Prince Albert, the German-born husband of Queen Victoria. By the end of the 19th century commercially produced decorations were the norm as was the adoption of present-giving. Cards are yet another Victorian addition to the Christmas celebrations.
Santa Claus, Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas….call him what you will. The big guy in the red suit descended from the Roman King of the Saturnalia. The original St. Nicholas was a fourth-century saint becoming popular in the Middle Ages. The reindeer probably came from stories of the Norse god Woden who rode through the sky with reindeer and 42 ghostly huntsmen. Clement Moore’s famous poem A Visit from St. Nicholas or more commonly known as Twas the Night Before Christmas, sealed the image of Santa Claus, his reindeer, and the magical flying sleigh laden with gifts.
Whatever your traditions during this festive time of year, the staff at the Muskoka Lakes Libraries wish you and yours a joyous celebration of family and friends.
The Norma and Miller Alloway Library in Port Carling will close at 1:00 pm on Christmas Eve and re-open at 10:00 am on Monday, December 28.
Bracebridge Examiner December 16, 2009
Keying “Christmas” into the Muskoka Lakes Library catalogue (www.muskoka.com/library) results in close to 500 hits. This result does not include the multitude of magazines that feature holiday ideas so don’t forget to check out what’s available in that department on your next trip to Port Carling.
Wishin' and Hopin' : a Christmas Story is a change from Wally Lamb’s usual fare (She's Come Undone ; I Know This Much Is True ; The Hour I First Believed). The novella has feisty fifth grader Felix Funicello (distant cousin to Annette) anticipating Christmas in 1964, blue-collar America. It's full of pop-culture references of the day (the Beatles, the Queen Mouseketeer), and will by enjoyed by all who would like a little light-hearted levity at this busy time of year.
Andrew Greeley, who has penned more than 50 best-selling novels and 100 works of non-fiction, and despite a life-threatening horrific accident, gives his readers a Christmas present in his latest creation: Home for Christmas. Petey and Mariana have been in love with each other their whole lives but a tragic prom night accident sends Kane running. He ends up a grunt in Iraq, where he's killed—briefly—by a suicide bomber. While dead, he goes on a spiritual journey, meets God and learns that he is destined to be Mariana's lover and protector. With Christmas approaching, time is running out for Peter to complete the most important mission of his life.
Dickens fare crossed with Sherlock Holmes would be an apt description of mystery author Anne Perry’s newest Victorian holiday offering, A Christmas Promise. As the 1883 holiday season draws closer in London's east end, 13-year-old Gracie encounters a wretched younger child, Minnie Maude Mudway, on the mean streets of her neighbourhood. Minnie is looking for a missing donkey, Charlie, which belonged to her Uncle Alf. The animal disappeared the day before, around the same time Alf, a bone-and-rag dealer, was killed. The two girls team up in an effort to find the donkey and the truth about how Minnie’s beloved uncle died.
A Christmas to Remember: Tales of Comfort and Joy is the second seasonal anthology for Dear Canada readers following the previously published A Season for Miracles. Eleven original stories that each re-visit a favourite character from books in the Dear Canada series are included in this newest holiday collection, each tale standing alone as a heart warming Christmas story, but also serving as a lovely "next chapter" to their original books. Each story is written by one of Canada’s top award-winning writers for children, including Jean Little, Sarah Ellis, Maxine Trottier, Carol Matas and more.
The seasonal shelves for young children’s picture books are overflowing with Christmas selections including new books: On This Special Night exquisitely illustrated by Simon Mendez and written by Claire Freedman (When We’re Together and Good Night, Sleep Tight) and The Spirit of Christmas written and illustrated by Nancy Tillman (It’s Time to Sleep, My Love and On the Night You Were Born).
Here it is: a great opportunity to meet other library lovers and to fulfill that New Year’s resolution to volunteer more in your community! The Friends of Muskoka Lakes Library is looking to re-vamp itself with new ideas brought forth by new people of all ages from all corners of the Township. If you have a love for libraries and would like to help support it with your ideas and a little of your time, then the Friends would love to hear from you. A meeting date has been set for January. Please contact Linda McAuley at 765-1117 or by email at themanse@vianet.ca or the library at 765-5650 for exact date, time, and location.
Muskoka Lakes Library Book Discussion Meet on the last Tuesday of each month for lively discussions of the selection of the month. Meetings are open to all and take place in the activity room of the Norma and Miller Alloway Library in Port Carling at 1:00 p.m. For more information contact Linda McAuley at 765-1117 or by email at themanse@vianet.ca January: Karen Aiken will lead the discussion of Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce both written by Joseph Boyden. The group is also collecting new or gently-used current books to assemble into baskets to donate to the Port Carling Winterfest’s silent auction table.
Bracebridge Examiner December 9, 2009
As we in Muskoka are all well aware, Huntsville will host the three-day G8 Summit next June. The G8 is an informal group of eight of the world's leading economic powers: Canada, France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, and Italy. The annual summit is a chance for the leaders of the G8 countries to meet face-to-face and develop common approaches to urgent challenges facing the world. Notably, during the Muskoka G8 Summit, the leaders are slated to discuss climate change, national security, democracy, and human rights.
The Summit was originally started as the G6, at the invitation of the then French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing who invited the heads of state and government from West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States to a summit in his country to discuss the oil crisis and the subsequent worldwide recession. The nations wanted an informal forum to coordinate their economic policies during the downturn, in addition to formulating a common strategy in dealing with the developing world, which had become less and less dependent on them. Canada was invited to join in 1975 and Russia, officially, in 1996.
With world summits as the setting, the Muskoka Lakes Library offers The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin. In July 2005 with the G8 leaders gathered in Edinburgh, Inspector Rebus is sidelined for fear of embarrassing his superiors, until the apparent suicide of an MP coincides with clues that a serial killer may be on the loose.
The Girl in the Café DVD, originally aired on HBO television in 2005. A high-ranking politician meets a young outspoken woman in a cafe and they begin to fall in love despite their political ideals. Problems occur when he takes her to a G8 conference in Iceland.
From Neville Chamberlain’s disastrous appeasement of Hitler in Munich to Reagan’s pivotal encounter with Gorbachev in Geneva, Summits: Six Meetings that Shaped the Twentieth Century is the history of the 20th century as told through its most fateful summit meetings. By revealing both the promise and the pitfalls of international diplomacy, author David Reynolds offers valuable lessons.
The Friends of Muskoka Lakes Library is looking to re-vamp itself with new ideas brought forth by new people of all ages from all corners of the Township. If you have a love for libraries and would like to help support it with your ideas and a little of your time, then the Friends would love to hear from you. Contact Linda McAuley at 765-1117 or by email at themanse@vianet.ca or the library at 765-5650.
A weekly story time is in the works for Wednesday mornings in Port Carling with more details to follow shortly. In the meantime, don’t miss a visit from dynamo Sandy Inkster, Muskoka’s Early Literacy Specialist. Sandy’s sessions are always a fun and active time for the little ones and the big people that accompany them. Sandy will be at the library in Port Carling for a special story time on Monday, December 14 at 10:30. Everyone is welcome
Bracebridge Examiner December 2, 2009
If you are reading this library column then chances are you are a fan of the library and all it has to offer. You are just the kind of person the library is looking for. Before the Norma and Miller Alloway Muskoka Lakes Library came into existence a group of dedicated library users formed a support group for the Muskoka Lakes Libraries and named itself The Friends of the Library. The focus of the group, at that time, was to help secure donations and other funding for a new, and much needed central library to service the communities within the Township of Muskoka Lakes.
Through a very successful letter-writing campaign, many donations were given to the Friends from many businesses and people of all ages and economic brackets. This allowed the newly formed Friends group to make a substantial donation toward the new library building and to purchase supplementary items, contribute to the collections, and to promote the library within the community with special programming for all ages.
The Friends of Muskoka Lakes Library is looking to re-vamp itself with new ideas brought forth by new people of all ages from all corners of the Township. If you have a love for libraries and would like to help support it with your ideas and a little of your time, then the Friends would love to hear from you. Contact Linda McAuley at 765-1117 or by email at themanse@vianet.ca or the library at 765-5650.
A weekly story time is in the works for Wednesday mornings in Port Carling with more details to follow shortly. In the meantime, don’t miss a visit from dynamo Sandy Inkster, Muskoka’s Early Literacy Specialist. Sandy’s sessions are always a fun and active time for the little ones and the big people that accompany them. Sandy will be at the library in Port Carling for a special story time on Monday, December 14 at 10:30. Everyone is welcome.
The modern Christmas is a melding of widely different traditions originating from religious and social customs with a sprinkling of folklore and magic.
Feasts held in celebrate the winter solstice or the shortest day (December 21 at precisely 5:47 p.m. this year), were common long before Christianity and can be traced across Europe to ancient Babylon and Egypt. The Christian church chose various dates for Christ’s birthday before finally settling on December 25, a deliberate substitution for the pagan festival celebrating the rebirth of the light in the winter gloom. The practice of greening of public buildings and houses with branches was also quickly absorbed by the Christian church. Green boughs, mistletoe, and holly were all used in pagan celebrations long before the advent of Christianity though. The Celtic Druids, and other cultures, believed that mistletoe warded off evil and promoted fertility while in Norse mythology it represented peace. Holly, with its red berries symbolizing Christ’s blood, was adopted by the Christian church, but mistletoe with its powerful pagan symbolism was banned in churches.
Why do we bring a tree inside and decorate it during this season? Tree worship dates back to prehistoric times, and the Christmas tree probably has pagan origins, being an evergreen and thus the one tree in the forest with the promise of survival until spring. In the early 19th century German immigrants introduced the custom of decorating fir trees. Half a century later in 1856, the first Christmas tree adorned the White House after being popularized in Britain by Prince Albert, the German-born husband of Queen Victoria. By the end of the 19th century commercially produced decorations were the norm as was the adoption of present-giving. Cards are yet another Victorian addition to the Christmas celebrations.
Santa Claus, Father Christmas, St. Nicholas, Sinterklaas….call him what you will. The big guy in the red suit descended from the Roman King of the Saturnalia. The original St. Nicholas was a fourth-century saint becoming popular in the Middle Ages. The reindeer probably came from stories of the Norse god Woden who rode through the sky with reindeer and 42 ghostly huntsmen. Clement Moore’s famous poem A Visit from St. Nicholas or more commonly known as Twas the Night Before Christmas, sealed the image of Santa Claus, his reindeer, and the magical flying sleigh laden with gifts.
Whatever your traditions during this festive time of year, the staff at the Muskoka Lakes Libraries wish you and yours a joyous celebration of family and friends.
The Norma and Miller Alloway Library in Port Carling will close at 1:00 pm on Christmas Eve and re-open at 10:00 am on Monday, December 28.
Bracebridge Examiner December 16, 2009
Keying “Christmas” into the Muskoka Lakes Library catalogue (www.muskoka.com/library) results in close to 500 hits. This result does not include the multitude of magazines that feature holiday ideas so don’t forget to check out what’s available in that department on your next trip to Port Carling.
Wishin' and Hopin' : a Christmas Story is a change from Wally Lamb’s usual fare (She's Come Undone ; I Know This Much Is True ; The Hour I First Believed). The novella has feisty fifth grader Felix Funicello (distant cousin to Annette) anticipating Christmas in 1964, blue-collar America. It's full of pop-culture references of the day (the Beatles, the Queen Mouseketeer), and will by enjoyed by all who would like a little light-hearted levity at this busy time of year.
Andrew Greeley, who has penned more than 50 best-selling novels and 100 works of non-fiction, and despite a life-threatening horrific accident, gives his readers a Christmas present in his latest creation: Home for Christmas. Petey and Mariana have been in love with each other their whole lives but a tragic prom night accident sends Kane running. He ends up a grunt in Iraq, where he's killed—briefly—by a suicide bomber. While dead, he goes on a spiritual journey, meets God and learns that he is destined to be Mariana's lover and protector. With Christmas approaching, time is running out for Peter to complete the most important mission of his life.
Dickens fare crossed with Sherlock Holmes would be an apt description of mystery author Anne Perry’s newest Victorian holiday offering, A Christmas Promise. As the 1883 holiday season draws closer in London's east end, 13-year-old Gracie encounters a wretched younger child, Minnie Maude Mudway, on the mean streets of her neighbourhood. Minnie is looking for a missing donkey, Charlie, which belonged to her Uncle Alf. The animal disappeared the day before, around the same time Alf, a bone-and-rag dealer, was killed. The two girls team up in an effort to find the donkey and the truth about how Minnie’s beloved uncle died.
A Christmas to Remember: Tales of Comfort and Joy is the second seasonal anthology for Dear Canada readers following the previously published A Season for Miracles. Eleven original stories that each re-visit a favourite character from books in the Dear Canada series are included in this newest holiday collection, each tale standing alone as a heart warming Christmas story, but also serving as a lovely "next chapter" to their original books. Each story is written by one of Canada’s top award-winning writers for children, including Jean Little, Sarah Ellis, Maxine Trottier, Carol Matas and more.
The seasonal shelves for young children’s picture books are overflowing with Christmas selections including new books: On This Special Night exquisitely illustrated by Simon Mendez and written by Claire Freedman (When We’re Together and Good Night, Sleep Tight) and The Spirit of Christmas written and illustrated by Nancy Tillman (It’s Time to Sleep, My Love and On the Night You Were Born).
Here it is: a great opportunity to meet other library lovers and to fulfill that New Year’s resolution to volunteer more in your community! The Friends of Muskoka Lakes Library is looking to re-vamp itself with new ideas brought forth by new people of all ages from all corners of the Township. If you have a love for libraries and would like to help support it with your ideas and a little of your time, then the Friends would love to hear from you. A meeting date has been set for January. Please contact Linda McAuley at 765-1117 or by email at themanse@vianet.ca or the library at 765-5650 for exact date, time, and location.
Muskoka Lakes Library Book Discussion Meet on the last Tuesday of each month for lively discussions of the selection of the month. Meetings are open to all and take place in the activity room of the Norma and Miller Alloway Library in Port Carling at 1:00 p.m. For more information contact Linda McAuley at 765-1117 or by email at themanse@vianet.ca January: Karen Aiken will lead the discussion of Three Day Road and Through Black Spruce both written by Joseph Boyden. The group is also collecting new or gently-used current books to assemble into baskets to donate to the Port Carling Winterfest’s silent auction table.
Bracebridge Examiner December 9, 2009
As we in Muskoka are all well aware, Huntsville will host the three-day G8 Summit next June. The G8 is an informal group of eight of the world's leading economic powers: Canada, France, United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, Japan, and Italy. The annual summit is a chance for the leaders of the G8 countries to meet face-to-face and develop common approaches to urgent challenges facing the world. Notably, during the Muskoka G8 Summit, the leaders are slated to discuss climate change, national security, democracy, and human rights.
The Summit was originally started as the G6, at the invitation of the then French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing who invited the heads of state and government from West Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States to a summit in his country to discuss the oil crisis and the subsequent worldwide recession. The nations wanted an informal forum to coordinate their economic policies during the downturn, in addition to formulating a common strategy in dealing with the developing world, which had become less and less dependent on them. Canada was invited to join in 1975 and Russia, officially, in 1996.
With world summits as the setting, the Muskoka Lakes Library offers The Naming of the Dead by Ian Rankin. In July 2005 with the G8 leaders gathered in Edinburgh, Inspector Rebus is sidelined for fear of embarrassing his superiors, until the apparent suicide of an MP coincides with clues that a serial killer may be on the loose.
The Girl in the Café DVD, originally aired on HBO television in 2005. A high-ranking politician meets a young outspoken woman in a cafe and they begin to fall in love despite their political ideals. Problems occur when he takes her to a G8 conference in Iceland.
From Neville Chamberlain’s disastrous appeasement of Hitler in Munich to Reagan’s pivotal encounter with Gorbachev in Geneva, Summits: Six Meetings that Shaped the Twentieth Century is the history of the 20th century as told through its most fateful summit meetings. By revealing both the promise and the pitfalls of international diplomacy, author David Reynolds offers valuable lessons.
The Friends of Muskoka Lakes Library is looking to re-vamp itself with new ideas brought forth by new people of all ages from all corners of the Township. If you have a love for libraries and would like to help support it with your ideas and a little of your time, then the Friends would love to hear from you. Contact Linda McAuley at 765-1117 or by email at themanse@vianet.ca or the library at 765-5650.
A weekly story time is in the works for Wednesday mornings in Port Carling with more details to follow shortly. In the meantime, don’t miss a visit from dynamo Sandy Inkster, Muskoka’s Early Literacy Specialist. Sandy’s sessions are always a fun and active time for the little ones and the big people that accompany them. Sandy will be at the library in Port Carling for a special story time on Monday, December 14 at 10:30. Everyone is welcome
Bracebridge Examiner December 2, 2009
If you are reading this library column then chances are you are a fan of the library and all it has to offer. You are just the kind of person the library is looking for. Before the Norma and Miller Alloway Muskoka Lakes Library came into existence a group of dedicated library users formed a support group for the Muskoka Lakes Libraries and named itself The Friends of the Library. The focus of the group, at that time, was to help secure donations and other funding for a new, and much needed central library to service the communities within the Township of Muskoka Lakes.
Through a very successful letter-writing campaign, many donations were given to the Friends from many businesses and people of all ages and economic brackets. This allowed the newly formed Friends group to make a substantial donation toward the new library building and to purchase supplementary items, contribute to the collections, and to promote the library within the community with special programming for all ages.
The Friends of Muskoka Lakes Library is looking to re-vamp itself with new ideas brought forth by new people of all ages from all corners of the Township. If you have a love for libraries and would like to help support it with your ideas and a little of your time, then the Friends would love to hear from you. Contact Linda McAuley at 765-1117 or by email at themanse@vianet.ca or the library at 765-5650.
A weekly story time is in the works for Wednesday mornings in Port Carling with more details to follow shortly. In the meantime, don’t miss a visit from dynamo Sandy Inkster, Muskoka’s Early Literacy Specialist. Sandy’s sessions are always a fun and active time for the little ones and the big people that accompany them. Sandy will be at the library in Port Carling for a special story time on Monday, December 14 at 10:30. Everyone is welcome.
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