respublica

KMOX Book of the Month Club

Last night Charlie Brennan brought his Book of the Month Club program to the seminary and approximately 150 people were in attendance to hear his talk with author Curtis Sittenfeld. The event was held in Koburg Hall.

The sponsors for the evening were Schlafly's and Old Town Donuts of Florissant and Cottleville. At first it seemed a odd combination of refreshments for those in attendance-donuts and beer! But it was soon proven that these things were very well received!

By the end of the night...

I got a big kick out of this and it has to be said that Old Town Donuts sent over so many boxes of donuts that even though many many were eaten and even taken home, there were still many more left over. Charlie was kind enough to give them to me for our students. And, lots of beer was also taken. No one had the coffee that I saw. 

Ok. Back to Curtis Sittenfeld and her book, Sisterhood. 

Charlie asked her questions about the book. It turns out she now lives right here in the neighborhood next to the seminary and this book has many local and St. Louis references. 

Afterward she signed copies of the book and the line was long.

And then back to the donuts and beer. :)

Fun night. Charlie is always so complimentary about the seminary and so congenial with everyone he meets it was a pleasure to have them here last night.

 

Charlie Brennan on campus tonight

KMOX's Charlie Brennan will be in Concordia Seminary's Koburg Hall tonight taping his Book of the Month Club program. This live event is very popular with St. Louisans who enjoy being able to see authors in person. Tonight at 7 he will be interviewing Curtis Sittenfeld, a female fiction writer who (surprise!) has a new book out, Sisterhood.

Sittenfeld grew up in Cincinnati, but spent her high school years at the private Groton School in Massachusetts and her college years at Vassar and Stanford. With no connection to St. Louis I can find, her latest novel, Sisterhood, is set in St. Louis which is probably why she's here tonight.  I haven't read the book, but reviewers' synopsis's hint that earthquakes and innate psychic abilities concerning future events are involved.

Charlie held one other Book of the Month Club show here at Concordia and it was fun to see all the technical people at work throughout and more especially to see Charlie because he is one very nice man and has been glowing in his public mentions of the seminary.  

Amazon's Best Selling books of 2013

This is an annual Amazon list of books that sold well; books I confess to not owning or reading. And here's a very smarmy response to each of these books written by someone who has an obvious political agenda.

We love libraries, we just don't use them as much anymore

A new PEW Research study finds library use is down this year, but a vast majority of Americans still say public libraries are important for their communities.

I'd have to agree with both points in this conclusion. I was a library trustee of the Collinsville Memorial Public Library for 12 years and loved that place. Libraries are remarkable places and thankfully they stay the course and are still part of most communities. Successful libraries have made use of technology and digital material to go along with hard cover books so that they remain a go to place. However, the ease of personal technology to get books and do research has made extra trips to the library unnecessary theses days. 

Jed Robbins works at the Collinsville library and took a picture this week that has become one of my favorite photographs of the historic building. 

This parking garage speaks volumns

The Kansas City Library has a parking garage facade which looks like this

When the garage was built in 2006 people in the community and library card holders were asked to vote on the titles to be displayed and the ones chosen reflect a wide range of famous literature.

How cool is this? Nothing ugly about a parking lot here.

Pointed out by my sister, thanks Kathy.

Hemingway's fears

A surprising description of Ernest Hemingway's last couple of years, years in which he was thought to be paranoid and depressed, so much so that he was given shock treatments and eventually committed suicide. He told friends he was constantly being monitored by the FBI.

“It’s the worst hell. The goddamnedest hell. They’ve bugged everything. That’s why we’re using Duke’s car. Mine’s bugged. Everything’s bugged. Can’t use the phone. Mail intercepted.” These stories and worries went on until he died, stories most of his friends discounted...until...

"Decades later, in response to a Freedom of Information petition, the F.B.I. released its Hemingway file. It revealed that beginning in the 1940s J. Edgar Hoover had placed Ernest under surveillance because he was suspicious of Ernest’s activities in Cuba. Over the following years, agents filed reports on him and tapped his phones. The surveillance continued all through his confinement at St. Mary’s Hospital. It is likely that the phone outside his room was tapped after all."

A surprise ending. Maybe food for thought for these days.

Drew knows my voice

Katie sent me a video of Drew looking at a recordable book Dale and recorded last Christmas. These books are such fun because the text can be read by anyone through a recorder built into the book. Then your child or grandchild or niece or nephew or friend can listen to you read him/her the story. But the fun part was Drew knew my voice and actually said, "Oma"  Oma. This post is probably a family thing, but it's also cute to see Riley laying next to Drew.

 

 

The Best 100 Opening Lines from Books

This is very cool. click on the image of any of the books and you'll get the first lines. So many well known they've become part of the vernacular. Makes me want to reread some of them and maybe try some others for the first time.

Hey, the law's the law no matter your age

File under over reaction.

A Charlton Massachusetts police officer was sent to the home of a five year old to collect money for the child's overdue library book.

Nothing like scaring the enjoyment of reading right out of the kid.

Why choose the Kindle over other e readers

An excellent discussion on why the Kindle is the e reader you should choose by Paul McCain.  

If you still aren't convinced, take a look at the new Kindle Fire.