Throwback Thursday: Like a Brick to the Head?
Scott Brick is a super-prolific audiobook narrator and a favorite among Main library staff. He’s narrated books by just about everyone – people like Steve Berry, Terry Brooks, Harlan Coben, Philip K. Dick, John Grisham, Frank Herbert, Jon Krakauer, Erik Larson, and Brad Meltzer, to name a few (really, that’s the short list).
Examining Life Through Bots and Bodies: Jorie Graham’s Newest Poetry Collection
As far as American poets go, Jorie Graham is a superstar. With over thirteen collections of poetry to her name, she steadily remains well-loved and revered. She has served as Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets, has received a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship and took over Seamus Heaney’s role as the Boylston Professor of Oratory and Rhetoric at Harvard. To say she is a heavy hitter in the poetry world would be a gross understatement.
Preservation Highlight: Thinking Outside the Pamphlet
There are many people working at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh who go unseen. We are the ones behind Staff Only doors, the ones who process and repair books and so much more. Here in the Conservation, Preservation and Access Department (CP&A) we are trying to share more of what we do with the general public. We are a small staff working primarily with the Library’s older and more fragile collection.
Fight the Stigma: Books That Raise Awareness About Mental Health
Mental health includes our emotional, psychological and social well-being. We all experience various forms of mental health, and it’s only when you add terms such as “illness”, “problem” or “disorder” to the end of that phrase, that your awareness is shifted from well-being to something that needs to be fixed (or is beyond fixing).
Spine to Spoon: The Aleppo Cookbook by Marlene Matar
Marlene Matar’s The Aleppo Cookbook: Celebrating the Legendary Cuisine of Syria, is a delicious dedication to a city and its food. If I could, I would eat only olives, beans and bread for the rest of my life, and I just might be able to with this book in hand. Matar presents us with a plethora of dishes, from a simple lentil stew to more complex creations like stuffed lamb dumplings. Still, each recipe is easy to follow and most include adaptations for the more adventurous cook.
Coming Soon to Pittsburgh: Theremania!!!
The Theremin was one of the very first electronic instruments. It is the only musical instrument that is played without being physically touched. Stop by the CLP – Main International Poetry Room on Thursday, May 18th, 12 – 1 pm for a free lunchtime lecture and performance by world-class thereminist Pamelia Stickney as part of a day long Theremania!!! celebration.
A Basic Gal’s Guide to Jane Austen: Persuasion
I am doing my own version of The Jane Austen Book Club. Yes – I took my inspiration from a romantic comedy (it was a book first). Just chalk it up to another symptom of my basic status. One Austen book a month for six months so I can read all of her major novels. In random order, the first book is…Persuasion. So let’s dive in, basic girl style.
Stories Alive: Annual Spring Puppet Show, “The Magic Tree”
As May approaches, the librarians at Main-Children’s are busy preparing for the Annual Spring Puppet Show! This year we present a story based on the African folktale, “The Magic Tree”.
Le Guin’s Poetry Urges Us Towards Awareness
Many know Ursula K. Le Guin through her hefty body of science fiction and fantasy work, perhaps The Lathe of Heaven or the well-loved Earthsea series. Others might be familiar with her books on writing, like the beautifully titled Steering the Craft: A Twenty-first Century Guide to Sailing the Sea of Story, published in 2015. Still others devote themselves to her poetry, and its gently lilting verse. For those unfamiliar with the latter part of her repertoire, Le Guin’s newest collection, Late in the Day, provides a lovely introduction.
Discover Historic Bookbinding: Book Bling
Like any well-loved tool or object, books have been decorated and embellished from their infancy. You know that feeling you get when you pick up a book that is such a joy to be holding? The distinguished spine catches your eye as your hand wraps around the boards perfectly, and as you crack open the front cover you are hit by a symphony of color and marks. You haven’t even gotten to the information yet, and you’re already under the book’s spell. We know that feeling, too.