Recently in books Category

New highlights on the Family Reads page on InfoSoup include Fall booklists, the October selections from the Read On Wisconsin book club, and a plug for the Meet the Illustrator offerings from Bookletters.  A new Meet the Illustrator feature is posted on the 26th of each month. These are clever graphical interviews with talented children's book Illustrators/Authors.  I find them a lot of fun and a great way to learn about new (and old) picture books.

> contributed by Evan

The next Books R Us meeting will be Tuesday, August 12, 2008 in The Nest (room formerly known as the OWLS lab) from 11 AM - 12:30 PM.

Our genre for August is fantasy. We will be reading one adult and one YA fantasy book. The following are some fantasy lists that may aid in your selection:

• Modern epic fantasy
• Fantastic fiction
• World fantasy award nominees

Bring your lunch, your reviews, and your clever minds for stimulating conversation and readers' advisory tidbits!

> contributed by Holly

The teen booklist factory at the Appleton Public Library has published two new lists - Leap of Faith: Believers and Doubters and Twilight Read-Alikes.  Also updated and expanded is A Perfect World: Utopia & Dystopia Teen Fiction.  Check out the Teen Reads page for all the lists.

Not to be outdone, the APL children's staff has also published new lists including more bug related fun in Insects & Creepy Crawlers (fiction) and Insects & Creepy Crawlers (nonfiction). Other new lists include Community and Community Helpers and Summer Books & Media. Visit the Family page for more booklists, award winners, and BookLetters features.

> contributed by Evan

NPR has a fantastic collection of books for you and your patrons to explore this summer! Take a look at Summer Books 2008, and you'll be sure to find some titles to keep you busy. Headings for the lists include "Better than Sliced Bread: Summer's Best Nonfiction," "Nine First Books that Make a Lasting Impression," "Three Books with Blood... and Brains," "The 10 Best Cookbooks for Summer," and lots more.

What's your favorite read so far for this summer? Add your titles in the comments.

> Found on Sites and Soundbytes, contributed by Beth

Get ready to celebrate the first annual Fox Cities Book Festival, April 16th-20th! The Festival will feature many national, state and local authors. Among the national writers coming to the Fox Cities: Billy Collins, Naomi Shihab Nye, Charles Baxter, Mark Nepo, Alice Hoffman, Alex Flinn, Michael Perry, and Minnesota Crime Wave.

On April 19th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., there will be a Book Fair at the City Center Plaza in downtown Appleton. Check out the full list of events for other great sessions available throughout the 5 days of the Festival.

You can find more information about the Fox Cities Book Festival at http://www.foxcitiesbookfestival.org. Don't miss the wonderful opportunities available - show your support and help make this event a huge success!

> contributed by Beth

Did you know that sales of Encyclopaedia Britannica peaked in 1990? Current sales are 10% of what they were in 1990. Other encyclopedias are dropping their print versions, as well. Check out the New York Times article to see how internet access has changed the print encyclopedia market.

>> contributed by Holly

You may be happy to hear that book lovers aren't ready to give up the paper editions of their books any time soon. Of course, we knew that all along, didn't we?! Check out this post on ars technica entitled Book lovers have emotional bond with paper.

According to the research, sponsored by UK media lawyers Wiggin, survey data shows books have the highest "attachment" rating of any leisure media activity. People are more attached to their books than they are to their satellite television, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, social networks, video games, blogs, DVDs, and P2P file-swapping. And it's not like this high rate of affection for the book occurs only among a small group; books came in second only to "listen to the radio" in terms of the number of people who engage in those activities.

What's your opinion? Eager to try out ebooks or will you be hanging onto your books until they have to pry them away?

>> contributed by Beth

Two new booklists have been published, Easter Books, Music, and DVDs and Young Love: Teen romances that won't make you blush. Take a look!

We are also in the process of changing how we do our InfoSoup staff picks. The Readers' Advisory Group will be posting their Recommended Reads to InfoSoup, along with genre specific reading lists for adults and young adults.  The last meeting featured gentle reads and the next meeting in April will review historical fiction.  Please contact Holly or Ann Hunt at NLP if you would like to participate in the reading group. 

The Recommended Reads page is still a Work in Progress, but should go live on InfoSoup next week. Feel free to take a sneak peak while we develop the page.  If you would like to add a review to the list please contact Ann. We will be discontinuing the staff picks that we posted through BookLetters. Many thanks to everyone who sent suggestions!

>> contributed by Evan

The Literary Awards Committee of the Wisconsin Library Association has chosen New Auburn author Michael Perry's "Truck: A Love Story" as the Banta Award winner for 2007. The award is the highest literary achievement by a Wisconsin author for a work written in 2006. On the surface, Perry's tale of restoring his 1951 pickup truck is both hilarious and heartfelt as we encounter the quirky yet endearing folks of New Auburn, Wisconsin. With wry, self-deprecating humor and rich use of metaphor, Perry lovingly portrays the people and places of his daily life, paying homage to small town America and to love found unexpectedly and all that it brings. The Banta Award is made possible by the Banta Corporation Foundation through a grant to the WLA Foundation.

>> reprinted from Channel Weekly, Vol.9, No. 38 with permission