Bloomsday!

Today is Bloomsday, the day in 1904 when James Joyce's novel Ulysses takes place. The day is celebrated everywhere there are Joyce fans. I was pleased to see that someone has checked out a copy of Ulysses from the Everett Public Library. The book has a reputation for being challenging, and if you look in our catalog you will see several guides to help readers find their way through the mind of Leopold Bloom and Joyce's writing style.

If you're not up to reading the entire book, you might check out Twitterature: The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less. Or perhaps you prefer a more graphic approach to literature. In that case you might enjoy the beginnings of an online graphic novel at www.ulyssesseen.com. Happy Bloomsday.

My new favorite thing...

That would be my Sansa Clip MP3 player. When we first started offering Overdrive downloadable audiobooks, I spent a lot of time researching the best device and talking to friends about what worked well for them. I wanted something with a display screen and I wanted to be able to easily bookmark the point where I stopped listening. Nothing seemed right, but I ended up purchasing a fairly expensive Sansa product that was supposed to allow you to mark your place. I could never figure out how to make it actually do that, and ended up abandoning it.

But now I have a Sansa Clip, and I think it is perfect. It costs 1/4 of what my first MP3 player cost, it has a small (but adequate) display, it is easy to bookmark, it's tiny--maybe only one inch square, and right now I have five books on it and it still has lots of room. This weekend I had it going about six hours each day as I worked out in my garden and listened to Ian Rankin's The Complaints, and it was still holding a pretty good charge.

Now I'm hoping the weather will improve so I can spend more time outdoors listening to books.

May 2, 1611

I'm a little ahead of schedule, but I didn't want the 400th anniversary of the publication of the King James version of the Bible to go unremarked. As a librarian, I'm interested in the Bible because it is one of the most widely read books in the English language. It is also one of the most often translated books, whether into other languages or colloquial English. I started to try counting how many versions we have here, but eventually gave up. We have The Jewish Study Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Learning Bible, New American Standard Version, Positive Bible, and on and on--to the tune of about 131 items under the title heading Bible. And more if you count DVD and audiobook versions. Granted some are study versions or concordances, but still--that's a lot of Bibles.

I think most people would agree that the King James version has set a high mark for poetic language. Phrases from the Bible find their way into book titles, and these books find their way into our collections. The web site Goodreads has a list of book titles that come from the Bible with over 170 entries. Here are just a few: East of Eden by John Steinbeck, Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises, Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, Rembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust, Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter, and Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl.

You don't often think that something put together by a committee, even when assigned the job by a king, will prove to be so enduring. Happy 400th to the King James Version of the Bible.

National Library Week at EPL

This is National Library Week, and we've been celebrating all week--in a low key sort of way. If you visited either branch on Tuesday, April 12, you had an opportunity to have your photo taken with your favorite book as part of Library Snapshot Day. On Library Snapshot Day libraries all over the country took photos of what's going on in their buildings to document all the different things that go on in libraries. We are in the process of posting the photos we took on our new Facebook page. You'll find us there at facebook.com/everettlibrary. You can friend us or like us. The page will be another way to keep up with what's going on at your library, and we also hope to use it to gather some feedback--so look for the occasional survey there.

Have a great National Library Week. Check out a book--it's on us!

Rain, rain, go away

I have to admit that a trip to someplace warm and sunny right about now sounds appealing. But since that's not happening, I have decided to just look forward to things I know are going to happen around here. And there is actually quite a lot.

We are finally getting ready for our teen space project by getting rid of most of our old magazine archive, rearranging collections on the first floor, and lowering our shelves to make access more convenient. You're probably wondering why you should even believe me, since I've been talking about this project for so long. However, it really is going to happen. While the construction contract is being signed, we're picking out paint, carpet, and furnishings. I'm looking forward to seeing all our work pay off with a great place for teens and a story room large enought to hold everyone who would like to attend.

You may have noticed the street in front of the Main Library is almost finished. And just in time for our next door neighbor, Library Place, to begin building the last part of their project. This time next year we should have almost 200 new neighbors--more if you count those who live in the Schack Arts Center.

The last thing on my list to look forward to is National Library Week, which is April 10-16. Come help us celebrate Library Snapshot Day on April 12 (and get your photo taken with your favorite book), or National Bookmobile Day on April 13. There will be activities going on at both locations, so stop by and check it out.

Eat your vegetables

Yesterday I attended the Everett Public Schools Foundation annual fund raising breakfast. The speaker was Graham Kerr,the former Galloping Gourmet. Mr. Kerr is now growing (and eating)vegetables, and working with the school district to develop school meals that are both healthy and appealing to children. It's a worthy project, and I wish him well.

My own parents once made me eat two servings of lima beans in one sitting. It was my own fault--I had steathily transferred my limas to my brother's plate while we were watching the World of Disney one Sunday night. He was outraged when he realized what I'd done, and I had to eat them all. It was years before I could even contemplate cooking, much less eating, a lima bean.

My grandson loves to help his parents cook, but wouldn't dream of putting something green in his mouth. Perhaps I'll check out one of Mr. Kerr's healthy cookbooks and look into some child-friendly vegetable dishes.

Everett Reads! swings out on Saturday

February has been the month of Jamie Ford's Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. We celebrated a month of reading and community, kicking it off with an evening with Jamie Ford, and now winding down with a Saturday, February 26 performance by Bob Strickland's Swing Masters at 2 p.m. at the Main Library.

This is a free, family-oriented event, and even if you haven't read the book, you can enjoy the hits of the early 1940s that are part of the background music of Ford's book.

Everett Reads! may be coming to an end, but we've noticed that Everett keeps reading no matter what. Good for you, and good for us.