Columbia University’s Graphic Novels Page is an essential "what to know" and "where go" guide for fans, collection development specialists, and anyone just wanting to learn more about the medium. Columbia University librarian Karen Green’s well-organized subject guide links to awards, publishers, journals, academic collections, exhibits, conventions, guides, blogs, general interest sites, and organizations. A great site for anyone just beginning to work with sequential art or interested in broadening their knowledge and collection. 

Last week, came across a fantastic posting on one of our previous Web Crushes, and really wanted to share it with you.  

Becky Spratford of the blog RA for All lets us know that an important part of library work is getting out there and working on your shelves.

"Now, many librarians would say that using a professional librarian to shelve books over other more "worthy" duties is a poor use of the librarian’s skills and expertise. I am here to tell you today that those people are flat out wrong."

http://raforall.blogspot.com/2010/03/keeping-shelves-in-order.html

I whole-heartedly believe this.  Anyone who knows me knows I love to weed.  It’s important, vital library work.  I’ve even presented workshops on the topic to rally the troops to join me in loving the task. (contact me for more information!)  Becky puts this so eloquently that I can’t even say anything further on the matter, just to urge you to read her statement.

I have to thank my sister (and fellow librarian) Meredith Wittmann for pointing out  the bizarre story behind this one.  Back in the early 90s, I had given her a copy of Jay McInerney’s Story of My Life, as I had really enjoyed it. Recently, she pointed out to me that the main character in the book was inspired by Rielle Hunter, she of the current media blitz surrounding her scandalous affair with John Edwards.  For real.  Huh.  Um, interesting life.

Anyway, weird true-story connections aside, if you can stomach the drugs, drinking, swearing, tons and tons of meaningless sex, and general sadness surrounding this young woman, Story of My Life is actually a really good read.  (It’s kind of a raunchy, depressing, uber-trashy precursor to Chick Lit.)  Allison is the ultimate New York City party girl of the late 80s, fueled by cocaine and sex and surrounded by people who only want to use and discard her.  But underneath all that, it’s easy to see she’s lonely, confused, and frightened and really, just looking for someone to take care of her – because no one ever has.  An honest character portrait and a wry look at the end of an era.

I can move it AND shake it!!

“Now in its ninth year, LJ‘s Movers & Shakers spotlights librarians from all corners of the library world and several nations. Each year brings numerous nominations of those who work in the library field from colleagues, friends, bosses, and just plain admirers.”

http://www.libraryjournal.com/MS2010Inductee/2140493348.html

And, lest we forget, I’m really only following in Karen’s footsteps, as she was named one of last year’s Movers and Shakers:

http://www.libraryjournal.com/MS2009Inductee/2140335972.html

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures by Anne Fadiman

This compelling nonfiction account of how treating Hmong refugee Lia Lee’s epilepsy divided her doctors and her family was a 1997 National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner, New York Times Notable Book, and YALSA Outstanding Book for the College Bound.

Fadiman does an outstanding job explaining the Hmong culture, history, and presence in the United States. She shows sympathy for both 4-year-old Lia’s shamanistic parents and the doctors and nurses who lose patience with having their medical directives ignored. The discussion of the complex relationship between spirit and science is reminiscent of Dr. Paul Farmer’s work in Haiti, as described in Tracy Kidder’s powerful Mountains Beyond Mountains.

So, it turns out that Sweden’s more than just affordable, modern furniture. It’s a hotbed of tightly-plotted, atmospheric suspense novels. Who knew? Witness the international success of Stieg Larsson’s Millennium trilogy, beginning with The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. The Swedish film adaptation, Män som hatar kvinnor, is set to be released in U.S. theaters this weekend. According to the Los Angeles Times, "…American rights to the Millennium trilogy have been snapped up by producer Scott Rudin ("No Country for Old Men"), with Oscar-winning screenwriter Steven Zaillian ( "Schindler’s List") set to work on the adaptation…"

For more mysteries set in the land of Pippi Longstocking, try:

Sun and Shadow by Ake Edwardson
Sweden’s youngest chief inspector, Erik Winter, copes with a dying father and pregnant girlfriend while trying to solve a grisly double murder in Gothenburg.

Blackwater by Kerstin Ekman
Eighteen years after she and her daughter stumble upon two gruesome corpses in the remote northern village of Blackwater, Annie Raft recognizes the man she saw fleeing the murder scene–dating her daughter.

The Princess of Burundi by Kjell Eriksson
The rich and unique personalities of the Uppsala police force reveal themselves as the team searches for the murderer of a well-liked local welder.

Unseen by Mari Jungstedt
Gotland Police Inspector Anders Knutas races to stop an ax-wielding serial killer who is making a serious dent in the island’s tourist trade.

Sun Storm by Asa Larsson
Stockholm tax attorney Rebecka Martinsson returns to northern Kirun when her childhood friend Sanna is accused of killing her brother, the leader of the fundamentalist church to which she and Rebecka belonged.

The Man from Beijing by Henning Mankell
Mankell takes a break from his popular Kurt Wallander mysteries with this stand-alone thriller. Judge Birgitta Roslin’s connection to one of the 19 victims of a massare in rural Sweden leads her on an international hunt for answers.

Mind’s Eye by Hakan Nesser
When convicted killer Janek Mitteris is murdered, Detective Chief Inspector Van Veeteren reopens the original case to see if Mitteris’s claims of innocence might have been true all along.

Roseanna by Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö
In this 1967 series opener, police inspector Martin Beck searchers for the identities of young woman pulled form Lake Vattern and of her killer.

Echoes from the Dead by Johan Theorin
Twenty years after 5-year-old Jens Davidsson disappeared on the island of Oland, his grandfather receives on of Jens’ sandals in the mail and calls his alcoholic daughter home to resume the search for her son.

Detective Inspector Huss by Helene Tursten
Goteborg’s Violent Crimes Inspector Irene Huss takes on drug dealers and motorcycle gangs in her attempts to prove that a local tycoon’s apparent suicide was really murder.

Once again, we’d like to report on what we’ve been up to!  (While we’re hoping many of you followed us over to Library Journal last fall, we suspect some folks might be coming across our site for the first time, or, didn’t make the switch.  Take a look at what we’ve been getting up to over there…)

We crushed on “White Readers, Meet Black Authors”; Smart Bitches, Trashy Books; and KCRW’s Bookworm.

Karen told you why you should appreciate Straight Man; and found readalikes for the Stephanie Plum series, memoirs, and blogged about some recent African-American books.

While Rebecca urged you to read Lonely Places and The Storyteller; and gave you some Italian Valentines and readalikes for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

Come on over and keep track of us over at Library Journal! You can easily subscribe to the feed at: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ShelfRenewalBlog

We’re also keeping very busy this month with non-blog stuff as well:
We’re teaming up on a program for northern Illinois’ ARRT, (come see us if you’re local!  You’ll love us!),  and Rebecca will be presenting her awesome Feel the Need… to Weed! program for at the Illinois State Library’s On the Front Lines conference (this would be a great one for your library’s next staff development day!) , and “Books: The Top 5 of the Top 5″ program at PLA 2010 in Portland (chosen for the Virtual Conference, as well!).

So, keep track of us here, but don’t forget about the blog at LJ… see you there!

Karen and Rebecca

So, I can confirm that there are at least fabulous women named Rebecca who blog about books–our Rebecca Vunk who writes ShelfRenewal with me, and Book Lady Rebecca, the creator of The Book Lady’s Blog. The Book Lady is a twenty-something marketer who spent 2 1/2 years as a bookseller and bookstore event planner. She describes her literary reading tastes as having "a major thing for John Irving, the opposite of a thing for Nicholas Sparks, a deep appreciation for well-placed snark…" The blog features lengthy reviews (including audiobooks), plugs for her favorite indie bookstore, and the occassional "but let’s talk about me" personal. A kindred spirit kind of site.

I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a big romance reader.  Sure, I enjoy them when I come across them, but they aren’t the first thing I pick to read, and I tend towards contemporary romance if at all.  So if I was weepy over Kate Hawks’ Watch By Moonlight, I think anyone would enjoy it.  It’s a very well written take on the narrative poem "The Highwayman".  A short little love story with a lot of drama and adventure thrown in the mix.  Honestly, I didn’t want it to come to the heartbreaking end.  She hasn’t written anything since, so I fear this one is lost on your shelves.  Grab it and send it off with someone!

Here’s one of those reasons to not weed a book simply because it’s the only thing the author has written, and they don’t appear to be writing further.  Dark Fields, Glynn’s debut, was published in 2002.  His second book just came out last month.  Not only that, but the movie version of Dark Fields is in production right now, with Robert DeNiro in a supporting role.

In Alan Glynn’s Dark Fields, an NYC slacker named Eddie becomes involved with a drug that makes people smarter, and enhances personality like you wouldn’t believe.  Unfortunately, there are some pretty dangerous (and deadly) side effects, and Eddie is finding his supply dwindling quickly. A tightly woven plot, mind-blowing pace, and very interesting concept makes me plead with you to get this out of hiding and put it on display somewhere.