eBranch Blog

January 30, 2008

New Oprah Book Club Pick: A New Earth

Oprah Winfrey's new book club selection was annouced today. The new pick is Eckhart Tolle's A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose.

"Tolle presents readers with an honest look at the current state of humanity: he implores us to see and accept that this state, which is based on an erroneous identification with the egoic mind, is one of dangerous insanity. However, there is an alternative to this potentially dire situation. Humanity now, perhaps more than in any previous time, has an opportunity to create a new, saner, more loving world. This will involve a radical inner leap from the current egoic consciousness to an entirely new one. In illuminating the nature of this shift, Tolle describes in detail how our current ego-based state of consciousness operates. Then gently, and in very practical terms, he leads us into this new consciousness. We will come to experience who we truly are--which is something infinitely greater than anything we currently think we are."

Writers Strike [Still] Got You Down? The Library Has You Covered

As the writers strike in Hollywood continues, television is filling up with more repeats and reality shows. If that doesn't appeal to you, did you know the library has tons of TV shows on video and DVD? As a guide to viewing through the week, here are just some of the TV shows we have available in a handy program guide. TV shows below are shown in one of their original viewing times, when possible. If you don't see the show you want listed below, try a search of the catalog.

Previous Writer Strike Post

January 24, 2008

January Teen Newsletter

The January/February 2008 issue of the Teen Newsletter is now available!

The Teen Newsletter is produced every other month and features news about Harris County Public Library young adult programming. It also contains interviews with our Young Adult Staff and new young adult materials that we have just added to our collection.

This issue features the 2008 winners of the American Library Association Literary Awards...including the Printz Award and Edwards Award.

The staff interview in this issue is with Rebecca Denham. She is the Young Adult Library at the Barbara Bush Branch Library.

2007 Razzie Nominations

We've seen the best picture nominees for the 80th Annual Academy Awards. How about the worst movies of the year? That would be the 28th Annual Rzzie Award nominations - a humorous alternative to the Oscars.

Worst Picture Nominees
Bratz
Daddy Day Camp
I Know Who Killed Me
I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry
Norbit

January 22, 2008

80th Annual Academy Award Nominations Announced

The Academy Award nominations were announced yesterday. The awards will be presented on Sunday, February 24. Check out previous winners for Motion Picture, Documentary Feature, Foreign Language Film, and Animated Feature.

Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Nominees
George Clooney in Michael Clayton (In Theaters)
Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood (In Theaters) - Read the Book
Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (In Theaters)
Tommy Lee Jones in In the Valley of Elah (In Theaters)
Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises (In Theaters)

Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role Nominees
Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (In Theaters) - See the First Movie
Julie Christie in Away from Her - Read the Story (The Bear Came Over the Mountain)
Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose
Laura Linney in The Savages (In Theaters)
Ellen Page in Juno (In Theaters)

Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role Nominees
Casey Affleck in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - Read the Book
Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men (In Theaters) - Read the Book
Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson?s War (In Theaters) - Read the Book
Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild (In Theaters) - Read the Book
Tom Wilkinson in Michael Clayton (In Theaters)

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Nominees
Cate Blanchett in I?m Not There (In Theaters)
Ruby Dee in American Gangster - (In Theaters) Read the Book
Saoirse Ronan in Atonement (In Theaters) - Read the Book
Amy Ryan in Gone Baby Gone - (In Theaters) Read the Book
Tilda Swinton in Michael Clayton (In Theaters)

Achievement in Directing Nominees
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly - Julian Schnabel
Juno - Jason Reitman (In Theaters)
Michael Clayton - Tony Gilroy (In Theaters)
No Country for Old Men - Joel Coen and Ethan Coen (In Theaters) - Read the Book
There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson (In Theaters) - Read the Book

Best Motion Picture of the Year Nominees
Atonement (In Theaters) - Read the Book
Juno (In Theaters)
Michael Clayton (In Theaters)
No Country for Old Men (In Theaters) - Read the Book
There Will Be Blood (In Theaters) - Read the Book

Best Animated Feature of the Year Nominees
Persepolis (In Theaters) - Read the Graphic Novel
Ratatouille
Surf's Up

Best Documentary Feature Nominees
No End in Sight
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Sicko
Taxi to the Dark Side
War/Dance

Best Foreign Language Film of the Year Nominees
Beaufort (Israel)
The Counterfeiters [Die F?lscher] (Austria)
Katyń (Poland)
Mongol (Kazakhstan)
12 (Russia)

January 18, 2008

Newbery, Caldecott and other book awards announced

The American Library Association announced the winners of top literary awards for children and young adults. The Childrens Book Awards include the Caldecott, Newbery and Coretta Scott King. The Young Adult Book Awards includes the Printz and Edwards Awards.

2008 John Newbery Medal

Laura Amy Schlitz. Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village
A collection of short one-person plays featuring characters, between ten and fifteen years old, who live in or near a thirteenth-century English manor.

2008 Randolph Caldecott Medal

Brian Selznick. The Invention of Hugo Cabret
When twelve-year-old Hugo, an orphan living and repairing clocks within the walls of a Paris train station in 1931, meets a mysterious toyseller and his goddaughter, his undercover life and his biggest secret are jeopardized.

2008 Coretta Scott King Award
Illustrator

Ashley Bryan. Let it Shine
Illustrated versions of three well-known hymns.

Author

Christopher Paul Curtis. Elijah of Buxton
In 1859, eleven-year-old Elijah Freeman, the first free-born child in Buxton, Canada, which is a haven for slaves fleeing the American south, uses his wits and skills to try to bring to justice the lying preacher who has stolen money that was to be used to buy a family's freedom.


2008 Michael L. Printz Award

Geraldine McCaughrean. The White Darkness
Taken to Antarctica by the man she thinks of as her uncle for what she believes to be a vacation, Symone--a troubled fourteen year old--discovers that he is dangerously obsessed with seeking Symme's Hole, an opening that supposedly leads into the center of a hollow Earth.

2008 Margaret A. Edwards Award

Orson Scott Card. Ender's Game and others
Child hero Ender Wiggin must fight a desperate battle against a deadly alien race if mankind is to survive.

January 08, 2008

New Titles Cataloged Lists Are Back!

The New Titles Cataloged in the Past 30 Days have been updated for December 2007.

The lists are in PDF file format and require the free Adobe Reader to view. We hope you enjoy the new format. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions about this change please use our Feedback Form.