Category Archives: ~ In the Library

“A room without a book is like a body without a soul.”
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~ In the Library

On this Day … & in the Library “The Great Gatsby”


The Great Gatsby Is Published
1925 | 88 years ago
F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s novel The Great Gatsby is published.

Best Known For

American short-story writer and novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for his turbulent personal life and his famous novel The Great Gatsby.

For more information about F.Scott Fitzgerald  www.bio.com

 

~ In the Library

In the Library : Journey to Virginland by Armen Melikian


Journey to Virginland by … Armen Melikian

At turns heartbreaking and diabolically funny, Journey to Virginland is a tour de force, delivered by a master storyteller.

The protagonist, a loutish and uber-cerebral antihero known simply as Dog, takes on the challenge to navigate the perilous paradigm shifts of our age, determined to find his proper place under the sun. Is he doomed to failure? Or will he pull it off by heeding his own irreducible voice, given the ebb of the old certainties?

Dog pursues the answer unrelentingly, through an impassioned quest for identity and meaning. He revisits his relationships with women, family, literature, and homeland, in the process illuminating his journey with commentaries on history, religion, politics, and culture that unravel our very fabric.

Marked by biting satire and tappings into lushest scholarship, Dog’s naked critique touches on some of the most pressing issues facing humanity: the arrogance of empire and organized religion; the persistence of bigotry, xenophobia, and social Darwinism; the double standards of sexual politics; the bankrupt rationale behind patriotism and state propaganda; and hypercapitalism and consumerism, among others.

An ocean of struggles and epiphanies takes Dog to a spiritual ground zero called Virginland, where the story unfolds. It is also in Virginland that Dog unearths an ancient calendar based on a cosmic worldview.

What emerges from the protagonist’s odyssey is not only a cogent depiction of what makes us tick, but, as day follows night, a dazzling new vista for social and spiritual transformation.

With its vibrant style, thematic breadth, and, ultimately, unfettered sense of humanity, Journey to Virginland establishes itself as a groundbreaking literary enterprise and a true original.

for more information about the writer and ordering, click on the link below

the info above is from the website …

http://www.journeytovirginland.com/order.htm

~ In the Library, ~ politics petitions pollution and pop culture

Don’t mess with an angry librarian … Change.org


By day, Andy Woodworth is a mild-mannered librarian. By night, he’s still a librarian, just less mild-mannered.

Andy is kind of famous in the librarian community, mostly for getting the Old Spice guy to do a video about how great libraries are, and unsuccessfully campaigning to get Ben & Jerry’s to create a flavor called the “Gooey Decimal System.” (If you don’t get the pun, just ask someone ten years older.)

Oh, and now he’s using Change.org to help lead the charge in a fight against NewsCorp, one of the world’s most powerful companies.

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-harpercollins-limited-checkouts-on-ebooks-is-wrong-for-libraries

See, more and more libraries are beginning to buy e-books, like those read on a Kindle or similar device. They’re programmed to be like normal books — lent out to one reader at a time, returned, and downloaded by another reader. It’s simple, and especially great for working parents or the disabled who have a hard time making it to a library.

But publishing giant HarperCollins (owned by NewsCorp) is trying to force libraries to only buy e-books that literally self-destruct after the 26th reader in an attempt to maximize profits.

Having to repeatedly buy the same book will be a financial and logistical disaster for libraries, one that could force a few to close their doors.

Even worse, there are signs that other publishing companies may soon follow the lead of HarperCollins, which could devastate libraries all around the world.

Some amazing librarians have launched a full boycott of HarperCollins until the decision is reversed, but they urgently need widespread support to force NewsCorp to back down.

Andy’s petition demanding an end to self-destructing e-books has a goal of 100,000 signatures — click here to add your name now:

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-harpercollins-limited-checkouts-on-ebooks-is-wrong-for-libraries

Andy declares on his blog that “The world needs more badass librarians.” It’s true, though right now the world also needs more readers who will stand alongside them.

Thanks for doing your part,

Patrick and the Change.org team