Shh....Quiet Please!

You’ve heard the proverb “Speech is silver, Silence is golden”. In the film industry, the golden age or Silent Film era was approximately between 1894 -1929. Silent films are films that have no spoken dialogues, rather, the actors communicate through muted gestures, mime and title cards. It was rumored that some of the actors at that time did not have pleasant voices, so perhaps it was just as well that they couldn’t be heard. 

Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy are the more recognizable silent movie actors who have appeared in mostly comedic films such as Our Hospitality, Modern Times, Gold Rush and The Buster KeatonCollection. Some of the more notable films are The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,originally produced in German in 1919; The Lodger, from 1927, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, set in London about a serial killer murdering blonde women;

The Birth of a Nation (1915), starring Lilian Gish in a drama about life in the South during and after the Civil War.

Don’t forget the Phantom of the Opera (1925), starring Lon Chaney.

These movies are available for you to checkout from the Library to enjoy at home, but wouldn't it also be nice to be able to watch them as they were originally intended, with live music. I can hear it now.

Browsing the Music Collection

Have you checked out our music collection lately? In case you hadn't noticed we've been working on a longer-than-we-expected project to change the way our CDs are classified and shelved. And we're almost DONE. Almost. There are NO more Dewey Decimal numbers in the music collection (ok, there's a still a handful of oversize materials -- but we're working on them!). Now you can browse the collection by genre in both the popular and classical collections. You can look for artists in POP ROCK, or maybe some new tunes from the COUNTRY, BLUES, JAZZ, REGGAE, or INTERNATIONAL genres. If you're interested in our classical music collection, you can browse for your favorite composers in CHAMBER, ORCHESTRAL, VOCAL, SYMPHONY,  or PIANO categories (for a complete list of music genre categories please ask staff at the AV Desk). Our goal is to make things more intuitive and easier to find AND also make the collection more friendly for browsing and discovery. Did I mention we we're almost done? The library catalog will still point you in the direction of that specific item you're looking for (by genre, then artist/composer) and we're always happy to help you locate it on the shelf at the AV desk, so consider stopping by today and checking out some new music! 

Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction

The shortlist for the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (formerly the Orange Prize) announced on April 7th includes the following titles:

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichiel (a previous Orange Prize Winner in 2007, and National Book Critics Circle Award winner this year for Americanah)  - A young woman from Nigeria leaves behind her home and her first love to start a new life in America, only to find her dreams are not all she expected.

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt (won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for fiction for this book) - A young boy in New York City, Theo Decker, miraculously survives an accident that takes the life of his mother. Alone and abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by a friend's family and struggles to make sense of his new life.

The Lowland by Jhumpa Lahiri (also shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2013) - Growing up in Calcutta, born just fifteen months apart, Subhash and Udayan Mitra are inseparable brothers, one often mistaken for the other. But they are also opposites, with gravely different futures ahead of them.

Burial Rites by Hanna Kent - Set against Iceland's stark landscape, Hannah Kent brings to vivid life the story of Agnes, who, charged with the brutal murder of her former master, is sent to an isolated farm to await execution.

The Undertaking by Audrey Magee (U.S. edition due out in September) - “A bold, honest novel about Nazi greed and moral blankness…Magee is haunted by the everyday and the small people who are inseparably part of a great ravagement.”—Helen Dunmore, The Guardian (UK)

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride (U.S. edition due out in September) -  "Eimear McBride's novel...is formally groundbreaking, and has been declared a work of "genius" by Man Booker winner Anne Enright. [The book] was awarded the inaugural Goldsmiths Prize, set up to reward iconoclastic fiction. Since then, the book has been shortlisted for the Folio Prize and [also] for the Baileys: the establishment, in other words, is remaking itself in the image of the revolutionary." -The Telegraph

 A few titles from the longlist are: The Luminaries (Eleanor Catton), The Signature of All Things (Elizabeth Gilbert), The Flamethrowers (Rachel Kushner), Still Life with Bread Crumbs (Anna Quindlen), and The Burgess Boys (Elizabeth Strout).

Past winners of the award are Marilynne Robinson for Home, Ann Patchett for Bel Canto, Barbara Kingsolver for The Lacuna, and A.M.Homes for May We Be Forgiven.

This year’s winner will be announced on June 4, 2014.

For more information, check the Baileys’ Website.

Sixto Rodriguez coming to Chicago Theater

If you watched the documentary Searching For Sugar Man, you may be interested to know that Sixto Rodriguez is coming to the Chicago Theater next month. The documentary won an Academy Award for best documentary in 2013 and some parts of the documentary were shot on a $1.99 iPhone App called 8mm Vintage Camera after the producers ran out of film for an expensive real 8mm camera.  After I saw the documentary, I was interested to find out all I could about the artist Sixto Rodriguez.  I checked out the CD and I loved it.  If you haven't seen the film, you may want to check it out, if you have seen it you may want to see him live.

And the winners are...

The 2014 Pulitzer Prize winners have been announced. Here are the winners for Books, Drama and Music:

Fiction:
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

A young boy in New York City, Theo Decker, miraculously survives an accident that takes the life of his mother. Aloneand abandoned by his father, Theo is taken in by a friend's family and struggles to make sense of his new life. In the years that follow, he becomes entranced by one of the few things that reminds him of his mother: a small, mysteriously captivating painting that ultimately draws Theo into the art underworld. Composed with the skills of a master, The Goldfinch is a haunted odyssey through present-day America, and a drama of almost unbearable acuity and power. It is a story of loss and obsession, survival and self-invention, and the enormous power of art.

History:

The Internal Enemy: Slavery and War in Virginia, 1772-1832 by Alan Taylor

Recreates the events that inspired hundreds of slaves to pressure British admirals into becoming liberators by using their intimate knowledge of the countryside to transform the war.

Biography:

Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall

Provides a portrait of Thoreau's editor and Emerson's friend, who was also a daring war correspondent and a crusader for women's rights who had a passion for her life's work, which was eclipsed by tragedy and scandal after her death at the age of forty.

General Nonfiction:

Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation by Dan FaginRecounts the decades-long saga of the New Jersey seaside town plagued by childhood cancers caused by air and water pollution due to the indiscriminate dumping of toxic chemicals.

Drama:
The Flick by Annie Baker

Poetry:
3 Sections by Vijay Seshadri

Music:
Become Ocean by John Luther Adams 

For a list of other winners and the other finalists, visit the Pulitzer Website.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame - 2014

Peter Brian Gabriel (February 13, 1950) Chobham, Surrey, England
     (Progressive rock, art rock, experimental rock, worldbeat)

Peter Gabriel is a singer-songwriter, musician and humanitarian activist.  He was the lead vocalist and flautist of the rock band Genesis which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.  His solo career includes his 1986 album, So. It sold five million copies in America with the biggest hit being "Sledgehammer," which won nine MTV Awards at the 1987 MTV Video Music Awards.

Gabriel has won numerous music awards, including three Brit Awards, six Grammy Awards, thirteen MTV Video Music Awards, and in 2007 he was honored as a BMI Icon.  He has received the Man of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in 2006, and in 2008, TIME magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people on the world.

Daryl Hall & John Oates - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
     (Pop rock, new wave, blue-eyed soul, soft rock, blues rock)

Daryl Hall and John Oates created a mix of soul and rock. Hall is the lead vocalist and plays a wide range of musical instruments.  Oates plays electric guitar and is the backup singer.  They also write most of the songs they perform.  In 2003, Hall and Oates were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. They have influenced the work of Bruno Mars and Justin Timberlake.

 They are best known for their six No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Rich Girl," "Kiss on My List," "Private Eyes," "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)," "Maneater" and "Out of Touch".

KISS - New York City, New York
     (Hard rock, Heavy metal)

KISS is an American rock band well known for their black and white face paint and flamboyant costumes.  They took on comic book-style characters: Starchild (Stanley), The Demon (Simmons), Spaceman or Space Ace (Frehley) and Catman (Criss).

During their heyday, mid to late 1970s, their live performances feature fire breathing, blood spitting, smoking guitars, shooting rockets, levitating drum kits and pyrotechnics.  Kiss has been awarded 28 gold albums and has sold more than 40 million albums in the United States.

Nirvana - Aberdeen, Washington
     (Alternative rock, grunge)

Nirvana was an American rock band formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in 1987. 

In the late 1980s Nirvana was part of the grunge scene.  It released its first album Bleach in 1989.  The band's sound relied on dynamic contrasts, between soft and loud.  Their album, Nevermind, which included "Smells Like Teen Spirit," popularized alternative rock.  The band has sold over 25 million records in the United States and over 75 million records worlwide.

Linda Maria Ronstadt (July 15, 1946) - Tucson, Arizona
     (Rock, rock and roll, folk, country rock, soft rock, jazz, big band, art rock)

Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music singer who has earned 11 Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award and an ALMA Award.  She has also earned nominations for a Tony Award and a Golden Globe award.  She is the only artist to win a Grammy Award in the categories of pop, country, Mexican American and Tropical Latin.

Ronstadt regularly crrossed over to the country chars in the 1970s, which was rare for rock singers.  She had four consecutive platinum albums in the mid 1970s: Heart Like A Wheel (1974), Prisoner In Disguise (1975), Hasten Down The Wind (1976) and Simple Dreams (1977).  She has released over 30 studio albums and 15 compilation or greatest hits albums.  She has since retired from singing when she was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in December 2012.

Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam (July 21, 1948) - Marylebone, London, England
     (Folk rock, psychedelic rock, soft rock, pop rock, synthpop, electro, nasheed, hamd)

Cat Stevens (born Steven Dametre Georgiou) is a British singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, humanitarian and education philanthropist.  Stevens' albums Tea for the Tillerman (1970) and Teaser and the Firecat (1971) were triple platinum in the US.  His 1972 album Catch the Bull at Four sold half a million copies in the first two weeks.  He also earned two ASCAP songwriting awards for "The First cut Is the Deepest."  Some of his other hit songs include, "Father and Son," "Wild World," "Peace Train," "Moonshadow" and "Morning Has Broken."

He converted to Islam in 1977, changed his name to Yusuf and left his music career to devote himself to educational and philanthropic causes in the Muslim community.  Yusuf won several peace awards including the 2003 World Award, the 2004 Man for Peace Award and the 2007 Mediterranean Prize for Peace.  In 2006 he returned to pop music.

Hooked on "Game of Thrones"?

Season 4 of the critically acclaimed and wildly popular Game of Thrones HBO series began Sunday, April 6^th. Not only is the television series popular, but it has generated a whole new readership for the "Song of Ice and Fire" series by George R.R. Martin (pictured below), the epic fantasy books on which the television show is based. 

If you are a fan of the television show and interested in reading Martin's series, here is a list of the books in the proper order: 

A Game of Thrones (1996)  

A Clash of Kings (1999)  

A Storm of Swords (2000)  

A Feast for Crows (2004)  

A Dance with Dragons (2011)  

Season 4 of the television series is based on the second half of the third book in this projected seven book series. Book 6 will be titled The Winds of Winter, though this book has no official release date yet. 

If you have read all the books in Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series and are now hooked on epic fantasy (and you have already read The Lord of the Rings!), here are a few more epic fantasy series suggestions.

The Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss (2007-2011)

First book: The Name of the Wind

Malazan Book of the Fallen by Steven Erikson (1999-2011)

First book: Gardens of the Moon

First Law trilogy by Joe Abercrombie (2006-2008)

First book: The Blade Itself

The Acacia trilogy by David Anthony Durham (2007-2011)

First book: Acacia

Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson (2010-2014)

First book: The Way of Kings

For more fantasy reading suggestions, don’t hesitate to ask at the Reader Services desk.

The Museum of Extraordinary Things

Alice Hoffman, long known for incorporating magical realism into her novels has once again proved a master by combining the best elements of historical fiction, magical realism, mystery and now romance in her latest novel The Museum of Extraordinary Things. Coralie Sardie is the daughter of  promoter "professor" Sardie behind the Museum of Extraordinary Things, a Coney Island boardwalk curiosities show. An excellent swimmer, Coralie appears as the Mermaid in her father's museum. One night after a long swim in the cold Hudson River Coralie stumbles upon a dashing young photographer taking pictures of the trees in the moonlight. The handsome young man is Eddie (Ezekiel) Cohen, a Russian immigrant who has run away from his father's Lower East Side Orthodox community and his job as a tailor's apprentice. After Eddie photographs the devastation on the streets of  New York following the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, he becomes entwined in the suspicious mystery behind a young woman's disappearance and ignites the heart of Coralie. Novelist Alice Hoffman delights once again with her powerful and captivating storytelling.

Honor the Best Books Published in the Past Year in the U.S. - Check Out the 2014 National Book Critics Circle Awards

The National Book Critics Circle honors outstanding writing and fosters a national conversation about reading, criticism and literature. It was founded in April 1974 at the Algonquin Hotel in New York City. The NBCC awards are given each March and honor the best literature published in the United States in six categories - autobiography, biography, criticism, fiction, nonfiction and poetry. What I find exciting is that these are the only national literary awards chosen by critics themselves. The NBCC awards finalists' reading and the NBCC awards ceremony bring together authors, reviewers, publishing people, and passionate readers celebrating the best literary offerings of the year.

The results for 2014 are in and the recipients are:

Fiction
Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
This is a dazzling new novel from the award-winning author of Half of a Yellow Sun. It's the story of love and race centered around a young man and woman from Nigeria who face difficult choices and challenges in the countries they come to call home.

Nonfiction
Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink
This is Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Fink's landmark investigation of patient deaths at a New Orleans hospital ravaged by Hurricane Katrina - and her suspenseful portrayal of the quest for truth and justice.

Biography
Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World by Leo Damrosch
In this deeply researched biography, Leo Damrosch draws on discoveries made over the past thirty years to tell the story of Swift's life anew.

Autobiography
Farewell, Fred Voodoo: A Letter From Haiti by Amy Wilentz
A foreign correspondent on a simple story becomes, over time and in the pages of this book, a lover of Haiti, pursuing the essence of this beautiful and confounding land into its darkest and brightest corners. It's a spiritual journey into the heart of the human soul.

Poetry
"Metaphysical Dog" by Frank Bidart

Criticism
"Distant Reading" by Franco Moretti

Give one or more categories a read and see if  you support the choices of some of the most influential critics and editors of the day.