How long will it take you to finish the books in your TBR pile?

Read It Forward has a calculator on their site that can tell you how long it will take you to finish the books in your TBR (To Be Read) pile. It's available here. All you need is the total number of books in your pile (or saved on your e-reader, or included in a Goodreads TBR list, or wherever else you keep lists of books you plan on reading) and the total number of books you finished last year. You don't have to add your age if you don't want to. The calculator then figures out how long it will take you to finish them all, assuming your TBR doesn't grow.

I added up the number of books I've marked as being ones I'd like to read, plus the number of e-books I own. According to the calculator, it would take me 6 years and 4 months to finish them all.

What about the rest of you? How many months, years, or decades (!) does the calculator think it will take you?

Free public domain books

If you can't find a public domain book in the library or would just prefer something downloadable, there are lots of good sites out there. A couple I like are Project Gutenberg and LibriVox.

Project Gutenberg has over 49,000 free e-books - you can download them as Kindle e-books, EPUB files, or read them online in your browser. If you don't have a particular book or author in mind, it can be fun to browse the categories and subcategories on their Bookshelf page.

LibriVox is great if you prefer audiobooks. Everything on the site is read by volunteers, so the performance quality varies, but some works have multiple versions available, so you can choose which readers you prefer. You can download a whole book as a zip file, stream individual tracks, or subscribe in iTunes.

Some of my favorites from these sites include Jill the Reckless by P.G. Wodehouse (LibriVox) and The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar by Maurice Leblanc (Project Gutenberg). Feel free to recommend your favorites in the comments!

Fun for the summer!

If you're ready to sit back and relax, you can find something for just about everyone at the library - we have books, graphic novels, DVDs, and more. The above picture shows just a few of the things in our collection. From left to right:

Airborn by Kenneth Oppel - A steampunk YA novel.

The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, performed by Stephen Briggs - A fantasy audiobook featuring magically intelligent rats and a cat, set in the Discworld.

Angel by Erica Sakurazawa - A standalone Japanese manga.

Cadfael: The Complete Collection - A historical mystery series on DVD.

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn - A historical mystery novel.

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling - J.K. Rowling's first novel written for adults.

Cowboy Bebop - A Japanese anime TV series. It's a space western centered on a bunch of bounty hunters.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy - A humorous Middle Grade fantasy starring a bunch of princes from various fairy tales.

Takedown Twenty by Janet Evanovich - Another installment in Evanovich's popular Stephanie Plum series.

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn - A popular thriller.

Avengers Forever - One of several Marvel graphic novels in the library's collection.

Spirited Away - An anime movie both kids and adults can enjoy. A girl works at a bathhouse for spirits in order to rescue her parents, who've been turned into pigs.

Do you have interests beside school? We have databases for you!

This semester we have several new databases for you to use! Most of them are academic databases that will be great for your school work, and you can check them all out on the Guide to Databases Page.  But, we know that you have interests outside of school as well, so today I’m highlighting three new databases that contain information on hobbies, home improvement and engine repair. Hopefully you will find something that will get your creative juices flowing, inspire you to try something new, or maybe even save some money!

Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center has how-to videos, instructions, and project ideas for many different hobbies and crafts, including knitting, outdoor activities, crafting, and scrapbooking. It also includes full-text from many different hobby magazines including American Craft, Scuba Diving, and Horse & Rider.

Home Improvement Reference Center includes information on a variety of home improvement tasks, including decorating, plumbing, electrical and woodworking. The Toolbox includes how-to videos, conversion charts, glossaries, and a guide to working with contractors. It also includes step-by-step maintenance guides for projects like maintaining a grill.

Small Engine Repair Reference Center gives detailed instructions on how to repair and maintain small engines, such as those in boats, lawnmowers, motorcycles and tractors. It includes engine diagrams and full service manuals.

It's the Summer of Zombies

If you're not taking classes this summer or if you're looking for something to give you a break from your summer school work, why not read a book and/or watch a movie based on a book?

Here are a couple of fun summer reading ideas (or their movie versions for movie-watchers) to fight off summer zombie-mode:

*You can get access to all these books through the Dick Smith Library.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Prequel Audio Book: PS3608 .O29 P75 2010B (located on lower level)
Deluxe heirloom ed.(1st ed): PS3607 .R348 P75 2009 (located in the stacks)
Movie version: "In development" according to IMBD. 

The Blood King
Book: PS3613 .A77865 B56 2009 (located in the stacks)
No movie version available. 

World War Z
Book: Request through InterLibrary Loan
Movie: In theaters now; check here for Cinemark 6 movie times.

Warm Bodies
Book: Request through InterLibrary Loan
Movie: In stores now; check here for Amazon listing.

If you need assistance, please call (254)968-9249 or email reference@tarleton.edu for more information.

Twitter poetry

Here's something cool I stumbled across recently: Pentametron. It's a Twitter bot that crawls Twitter, finds tweets in iambic pentameter, and then arranges them into sonnets. The results can be strange, but it's amazing how well some lines work together.

Oh, and if you check and see one of the library's tweets in a sonnet, be sure and let us know - that would be awesome news!

Top Ten Tuesday - Ready for Halloween?

Tomorrow is the big day!  I have my candy, and my jack-o-laterns are made.  I thought I would give you a list of fun movies you might watch as you wait for the trick-or-treaters. (Sorry I don't do scarey.)

• Beetle Juice - 1988
• Hocus Pocus - 1993
• The Goonies -  1985
• The Nightmare Before Christmas - 1993
• Corpse Bride - 2005
• Casper - 1995
• Monsters, Inc. - 2001
• Ghost Busters - 1984
• Young Frankenstein -1974
• Germlins - 1984

Hope you all have a GREAT Halloween!

What Should I Read Next?

Even though I already know of more books I want to read than I have any chance of ever finishing, I'm always looking for more books to add to the list. What Should I Read Next? is another site helping me do that, and I thought I'd share.

How it works: You type in a title or author you like, click something from the results that best matches what you're looking for, and it spits out a list of recommendations based on registered users' favorites lists (a more detailed explanation can be found here). I haven't registered yet, but I tried searching a few authors and books I like, and the results usually seemed decent. I only wish the recommendations included annotations.

Play around with it, and remember that if we don't have whatever books it recommends, you can always request them via Interlibrary loan.

Some Fun for Your Wednesday - Judging Books By Their Covers

In this blog post, Strollerderby's Sunny Chanel asked her 6-year-old daughter to look at the covers of several well-known books and guess what they're about. The results are hilarious and very creative. Jane Eyre, for example, is a miner who mines for gold, and Fahrenheit 451 stars a robot. Go check it out!

Romance Novels at the Library

If you've been by the library lately, you may have noticed our Valentine's Day display, which has tons of romantic items...and romance novels! Romance is one of my favorite genres, so I thought I'd list a few that the library has in its collection. Some of the books I've listed below have been used in the display, so be sure to ask for help if you have trouble finding one you'd like to read.

• Romancing Mister Bridgerton by Julia Quinn - A Regency romance novel. Penelope Featherington is resigned to the idea of becoming an old maid, even though she has been in love with Colin Bridgerton, her best friend’s brother, for years. What she doesn't realize at first is that Colin has finally started noticing her as more than just a family friend.
• Sizzle and Burn by Jayne Ann Krentz - This romantic suspense novel features a psychic heroine and a private investigator hero.
• The Host by Stephanie Meyer - I'm sure just about everyone has at least heard of Meyer's Twilight series, but did you know that Meyer has also written about aliens? Although not technically a romance novel, this book features strong romantic subplots. It stars an alien who has taken over the body of a human girl.
• The Big Bad Wolf Tells All by Donna Kauffman - This book mixes suspense with romantic comedy. The heroine, Tanzy, is a columnist with a stalker. She's unaware that her great-aunt's seemingly boring and dependable personal assistant is actually a private investigator her great-aunt hired to keep an eye on her.
• A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux - Douglass is abandoned by her boyfriend while vacationing with him and his spoiled daughter in England. Heartbroken, she wishes she had a knight in shining armor, and Nicholas, a knight from the 16th century, magically appears. This book is much-loved by many fans of time travel romances.
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - Speaking of time travel romances, if you'd like something where the heroine travels into the past, this book (and the others in the series) might be for you. In 1945, Claire, an English nurse on her honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands, is transported to 1743. She becomes torn between the husband she left in her present and the young Highland warrior she eventually falls for in the past.
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - A classic romance novel. If you've already read it, this might be the perfect month for a reread.
• The Secret by Julie Garwood - In this historical romance, the heroine, Judith, is determined to attend the birth of her best friend's first child and to find her father. Her escort from her home in England to her friend's Highland home is Iain, a Scottish laird. One of the things about this book that hooked me when I first read it was the strong bond between Judith and her friend.

You can find more romance novels, books about romance novels, and books with strong romantic elements in the library's catalog by doing a subject search for "love stories."

Top Ten (+) Online Photo Ideas

With the holiday season rapidly approaching, it may be prime time to think about photos -- what to do with them and ways to share them.

If you have photos and are stuck for ideas, check out the iLibrarian blog post "Top 17+ Things to do with Online Photos" by Ellyssa Kroski to learn ways you can create

--- music videos,
--- blog and social networking slideshows,
--- business cards, stickers, and postcards,
--- trading cards, badges, and posters,
--- online scrapbooks and coffee table books,
--- newsletters and brochures,
--- photo collages,
--- online portfolios,
--- comic strips, and
--- photo widgets.

You'll also find links to tools that will help you
--- edit and caption photos,
--- turn photos into cartoons, and
--- frame photos.

Check it out!

Chills and thrills for your Halloween

It's finally time for one of my favorite days of the year! The library has lots of things to help you get in the mood for Halloween - I've listed some suggestions below.

Books:

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith - For those of you who prefer your classics to be filled with blood and gore. Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy make a great zombie-killing team.
• The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 2007 edited by Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin J. Grant - If you can't decide what you want to read, try an anthology.
• Late Victorian Gothic Tales edited by Roger Luckhurst - Another anthology.
• Three Vampire Tales edited by Anne Williams - Polidori's The Vampyre, Le Fanu's Carmilla, and Stoker's Dracula - lots of fun for those who prefer their vampires not to sparkle.
• Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King - We have lots of other books by King, too.
• The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman - An occasionally creepy and unsettling graphic novel series.

DVDs:

• Poltergeist - Ghosts!
• Perfect Blue - Not quite ready for checkout yet, but this one might be a good fit for those who find themselves missing Halloween after it's over. It's an animated psychological thriller about a Japanese pop star who's being terrorized by an overzealous fan.
• Lost, The Complete First Season - Not horror, but this one might be a good choice for those who'd like a few strange and creepy moments without the risk of nightmares.

Fun Halloween Facts

Have you ever wondered why we celebrate Halloween? Where did the idea come from? Why do we carve pumpkins? Since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought a fun Friday post would be about the origins and facts surrounding our common day celebration of Halloween.

According to the website, holidayinsights.com, “Halloween's roots can be traced back to Celtic culture in Ireland. According to their "Druid" religion, November 1st was New Years' on their calendar. The celebration would begin on October 31st and last into the following day. The spirits of all who died in the prior year would rise up and roam the earth on this night…The Irish carved Turnips and put coals or small candles inside. They were placed outside their homes on All Hallow's Eve to ward off evil spirits. They were also known to use potatoes and Rutabagas. When Irish Immigrants came to America, they quickly discovered that Jack O'Lanterns were much easier to carve out and began using them. This truly neat tradition quickly spread to the general population in America and elsewhere”.

If you would like to learn more about Halloween and the traditions surrounding it, you can check out the following books that we have here at the Dick Smith Library:

Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night
GT4965.R634

A Little Book of Halloween
GT4965.S45

Death Makes a Holiday: A Cultural History of Halloween
GT4965.S58 2002

Timewasters

I know everybody's busy right now, but sometimes a (short!) break is just the thing. If you're tired of Facebook games, add some variety with these:

• Knoword - A game that tests your vocabulary and spelling abilities. The default seems to be Canadian/British spellings, so be sure to click on the dropdown menu on the top right of the screen and select "English (U.S.)" for your language, unless you'd like an extra level of difficulty.
• Ancient Lives - The best thing about this one is that you'll actually be doing something useful. The Ancient Lives project allows people with no knowledge of Greek to help decipher Greek text on bits of papyrus. There are lots of similar projects, like Galaxy Zoo, Planet Hunters, Foldit, and EteRNA, but this is the only one I've tried very often. Ancient Lives doesn't require you to sign up for an account or install anything, but some of the others do.

Top Ten Tuesday: My Top 10 from NPR's Top 100 Science-Fiction/Fantasy Books List

NPR's list of the top 100 science-fiction and fantasy books is up, and here are my top 10 from that list. I've linked to the ones the library owns, so you can see if they're currently available for check out.

1. The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman
2. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey
3. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
4. American Gods by Neil Gaiman
5. Going Postal by Terry Pratchett (we only have this as an audiobook, but at least Stephen Briggs is a fantastic reader)
6. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
7. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov
8. Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb (the only book in the Farseer Trilogy I've read)
9. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (available both in print and audio formats!)
10. Sunshine by Robin McKinley

There were quite a few books on the top 100 list I haven't read yet, although I have a feeling that, even if I had read them all, Gaiman still would have nabbed several spots on my top 10 list. He's one of my favorite authors.

So, which books would you have chosen?

Science fiction at the library

Since I enjoyed doing the post I did on DVDs at the library, I thought I'd do something similar for science fiction. Below are just a few of the science fiction books you can find at the library. If you've got a chance, you should also check out the science fiction display that Thomas put up on the main floor, near the new books area.

• Bellwether by Connie Willis - The unabridged audiobook version of this will be on the library's shelves soon. The main character is part of a company that predicts and tries to create fads.
• Crime Prevention in the 30th Century edited by Hans Stefan Santesson - Includes stories by Harry Harrison, Anne McCaffrey, and others.
• The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester - A science fiction police procedural set in a future in which telepathy has made murder almost impossible.
• Dr. Bloodmoney, or How We Got Along After the Bomb by Philip K. Dick - Set in a post-apocalyptic future.
• Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card - Ender is sent to Battle School at the age of six, in order to train to fight the aliens coming to destroy humanity.
• The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer - YA dystopian fiction about a young clone being raised by a drug lord as a future source of organs.
• I, Robot by Isaac Asimov - A collection of short stories dealing with the interaction between robots and humans.
• Neuromancer by William Gibson - If you've ever thought about trying cyberpunk, this is probably a good book to start with. If you like cyberpunk but somehow haven't read this yet, you really need to check this out.
• Seven Science Fiction Novels of H.G. Wells - Includes The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon, The Food of the Gods, and In the Days of the Comet.
• A Treasury of Great Science Fiction edited by Anthony Boucher - If you can't settle on a single author, an anthology may be the way to go. This includes stories by Ray Bradbury, Robert A. Heinlein, Philip K. Dick, Poul Anderson, Arthur C. Clarke, Henry Kuttner, Alfred Bester, and more.
• Uglies, Pretties, Specials, and Extras by Scott Westerfeld - Fast-paced YA dystopian fiction.

Great DVDs at the library

Lately, I’ve been adding a lot of new DVDs to the library’s collection, so I thought a post about DVDs might be a good idea.

The library has DVDs on topics that apply to courses, DVDs that can help you with activities you do in your daily life, and DVDs you might want to watch just for fun. Here are just a few:

• Secrets of body language [BF637 .N66 S43 2008] - This documentary shows how politicians and celebrities use their body language to persuade people, establish their power, and advance their careers. If you ever watched and enjoyed the show Lie to Me, you might enjoy this.
• The eye of the storm [LC212.22 .I8 E94 2007] - This documentary follows third grade teacher Jane Elliott's experiment to teach her all-white class about racism by dividing them into "blue-eyes" and "brown-eyes," making one group superior or inferior on successive days.
• Rosemary & Thyme (1st and 2nd series) [PN1992.8.D48 R67 2005 and PN1992.8.D48 R671 2005] - Murder and gardening!
• Lost (Season 1) [PN1992.8.S35 L678 2005] - I have to admit, the only season I watched all the way through was this one. This show starts off great: a plane crash, a mysterious island, and lots of characters with secrets.
• Flatland [QA699 .A132 2007] - This DVD features oppressed geometrical shapes. It's based on a book that you can also check out.
• Project Runway (Season 1) [TT502 .P76 2004] - Yes, we have the first season of Project Runway.
• Jane Eyre [PR4167 .J3 W45 2007] - The BBC miniseries adaptation of the book.
• Shopping behind the seams : judging quality in clothes [TX340 .S56 2009] - This educational DVD shows you the things to look for when you're clothes shopping, to make sure that the clothes you're buying are worth what you're paying for them. Expensive clothes aren't necessarily well-made, and cheap clothes won't necessarily fall apart after the first few washes.
• First impressions : etiquette and work habits for new employees [HF5389 .F57 2005] - A bit cheesy, but useful.

And here are a few more you can expect to see on the library’s shelves soon:

• Freakonomics [HB74 .P8 F695 2007] - If you like the book or haven't read the book yet but want to, you might want to watch this. And, by the way, the library has the book, too.
• Pride and prejudice [PR4034 .P7 L36 2010] - The one with Colin Firth!
• I'm normal, you're weird [HM101 .I538 1998] - An educational program wrapped in a bit of sci-fi. The story: a trio of aliens is coming to our planet and wants to blend in, so they spend some time looking at all kinds of aspects of human behavior that are culturally determined.
• One red paperclip [HF1019 .O54 2008] - A documentary about a guy who bartered his way up from a single red paperclip to a house in only one year.

Cookbooks at the library

With Spring Break coming up, I thought I might write about the library's collection of cookbooks - you might have a little extra time to make some good food or snacks. A general search in the library's catalog for things about "cooking" brings up a lot, but you might want to try searching for more specific subjects like "low budget cooking" (for those who'd like good food on the cheap) or "quick and easy cooking."

A couple books I've tried and enjoyed:

• Campbell's creative cooking with soup (General Stacks, TX715 .C1894 1985) - This is an awesome book that allows you to mix and match ingredients for lots and lots of different meals and desserts. I love the recipes for mini meatloaves and broccoli and noodle casserole. There's even a cheesecake recipe!
• Mrs. Rowe's little book of Southern pies (General Stacks, TX773 .B8835 2009) - This may be a little book, but it has lots of good recipes packed inside of it. The book tells you everything you need to do to make pies completely from scratch. I have to admit, though, that I always used frozen pie crusts instead of making my own. I really like the Brown Sugar Pie, Lemon Meringue Pie, and Tar Heel Pie recipes.

If you'd rather not seach the catalog, try browsing the TX642-840 area in the General Stacks (3rd floor of the library) and see what you can find. Feel free to comment about any books you particularly like. I love learning about good cookbooks I haven't tried yet, and I'm sure others do, too!

Wil Wheaton likes library!!!

Or for all the Star Trek fans out there Wesley Crusher! This is making the rounds on the internet. Very nice post about librarians. They don't get told thanks enough!

librarians are awesome - WWdN: In Exile

Thanks are especially nice when they come from a celebrity and are going viral on the net.

Altered books

"2010 Altered Books / TSCPL display"
by Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library

I know donating books isn't always an option or even a good idea (think about things like outdated medical textbooks - would you be comfortable with your doctor using information from one of them on you?). I think altered book art can be really interesting, and I love that these books are being given a life beyond what they were originally created for instead of just being thrown away.

You can see some examples of works by altered book artists on the International Society of Altered Book Artists website, but you'd better check the site out quickly: it looks like it may no longer be available after the end of this month. My favorite artists in their gallery are Ber Lazarus, Karen J. Hatzigeorgian, and Pat Sherrill. The picture on the left shows other examples of altered book art from a display done by the Topeka & Shawnee County Public Library. Check out Flickr (after you finish writing your paper or studying for your finals) for even more pictures of altered book art.

Do you have any favorite altered book artists? Do you like altered book art, or is it just sacrilege? Is it ok under certain circumstances, but not others? Leave a comment and let us know what you think!