Having spent two weeks in front of the television transfixed by the Olympic games, I am now ready for a good book. And since I am currently in a "Canadian state of mind", it is only appropriate that I read or re-read some authors from our northern neighbor.

One genre to consider is the short story. Take Alice Munro, a superb short story writer. Even if you are not a short story enthusiast, consider that Alice Munro’s short stories, some of which are linked by recurring characters, have richness and depth seldom found in a short story. Munro explores friendship, love and loss in women’s lives

For another leading Canadian short story writer, try Mavis Gallant. She is the author of elegant stories about expatriates coming to terms with unfamiliar locales and situations. New Yorker magazine readers will find her name quite familiar.

Then, of course, I must include one of my favorite authors Margaret Atwood, whose writings include such genres as literary fiction, short stories, essays, poetry, science fiction and historical fiction. I was first mesmerized by her book (and later movie) The Handmaid's Tale. Atwood includes just the telling details that connect the futuristic nightmares and our own world only too well. I also loved Cat’s Eye, a somewhat traditional (for Atwood) work that depicts an arist who returns to her home town of Toronto for a retrospective showing of her work. Being home again, she is forced to deal with disturbing memories of childhood friendships and betrayals. A recent best-seller of hers is The Year of the Flood: A Novel, Library Journal's "verdict" of which reads "Another win for Atwood, this dystopian fantasy belongs in the hands of every highbrow sf aficionado and anyone else who claims to possess a social conscience".

Robertson Davies, somewhat lesser-known, pens thoughtful novels that are slower-paced. His best known, and my favorite, is Fifth Business, the first of the Deptford Trilogy. It is narrated by a retired rural schoolteacher looking back at his life and a pivotal moment involving a boy throwing a snowball. This novel's appeal should be to readers who prefer quiet wit and philosophical thoughts rather than fast-paced action. As a LibraryThing reviewer raved, “Five stars and a maple leaf!” Please contact our Reference Desk (589-4611) if you are interested in borrowing either of the last two books of the series.

Another of my favorite books by a Canadian author is The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields, in which an aging widow contemplates her life spanning the 20th century. This novel won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

So congratulations to Canada, for both your Olympic medals AND your authors.

Nashua Public Library recently purchased the book The Last Train from Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back by Charles Pellegrino. The book received fantastic reviews, and the subject matter--World War II--is popular with many of our patrons. I didn't hesitate in ordering it.

Last week, news broke that the book's publisher, Henry Holt, would cease printing and shipping the book. According to a New York Times article, one of the book's sources, Joseph Fuoco, did not actually participate in the mission. Initially, the author planned to make corrections in future editions. Holt later decided to stop production and issue refunds to retailers and wholesalers, as the publisher had additional misgivings about the sources used.

This controversy has caused quite a stir in the library world. Many have posed questions to the public library listserv asking what others plan to do with the book--move it to fiction, add a disclaimer, return it? Others have criticized the publisher for not diligently fact-checking. We have decided to keep the book in the non-fiction section, attach the New York Times article to the book, and put a note about it in the online catalog. Because the book was not written as a novel, we did not want to place it in the fiction section.

If you would like to read more about this controversy, take a look at the following articles:

Associated Press. "Publisher's concerns halt Hiroshima book." Boston.com (March 2, 2010).

Levingston, Steven. "Henry Holt drops publication of 'Last Train From Hiroshima.'" washingtonpost.com (March 2, 2010).

"Holt to Correct 'Last Train from Hiroshima.'" publishersweekly.com (February 22, 2010).

Rich, Motoko. "Publisher to Halt Printing of Disputed Hiroshima Book." nytimes.com (March 2, 2010).

You can learn more about the author at his website, http://www.charlespellegrino.com/index.htm.

Let us know your opinion about the controversy by leaving a comment.

Source: Rich, Motoko. "Publisher to Halt Printing of Disputed Hiroshima Book." nytimes.com (March 2, 2010).

March 4th is National Grammar day. The Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar believes that the clear communication fostered by good grammar is a critical component of peaceful human relations. Visit their website for at nationalgrammarday.com for more information about this celebration, which shows how the quest for better grammar can be fun!

The host for National Grammar Day is Mignon Fogarty, the author of Grammar Girls's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing.

Two other amusing grammar books are Kitty Burns Florey's Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: the Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences and Eats, Shoots, & Leaves: the Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation by Lynne Truss.

For more serious books about grammar, try Webster's New World English Grammar Handbook or The Brief Penguin Handbook, which addresses writing for the web. Don't forget Strunk and White's The Elements of Style, the granddaddy of all grammar books.

The philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein said it best: “Like everything metaphysical the harmony between thought and reality is to be found in the grammar of the language.”

For those of you that enjoy a good laugh or two and are wondering what happened to our Humor Cart collection located in front of the teen room, we haven't forgotten about you (or how important a chuckle a day is). We are currently in the process of relocating these books to two new collections. In the near future, these books will be located in either the teen room graphic novel collection or the Music/Art/Media's adult graphic novel collection. If you have a favorite title or series you can search our catalog for the new location of a humor book. If you prefer to browse the collections you will want to peruse the graphic novel collection in the teen room and the MAM 741.5 shelving area in the Music/Art/Media department. If you don't find what you are looking for we are happy to receive purchase recommendations.

The above title really is an actual book from 1983 - an American bestseller by Irwin Schiff (the IRS shortly afterwards issued him with a bill for $200,000) (Ward). No, sorry, we don’t have that book here. Although the following run along the same theme:

Lower your taxes-big time! : wealth-building, tax reduction secrets from an IRS insider by Sandy Botkin and The FairTax book : saying goodbye to the income tax and the IRS by Neal Boortz & John Linder.

If you are ready to bite the bullet and just get the whole thing over and done – no matter what you might owe – we can help you with that too. You can stop in for some forms (although the IRS sends us fewer and fewer each year!). We can also print off any that you need (unfortunately we have to charge for this :( ). Alternatively, you can file for free through the IRS’s website using FreeFile. The FreeFile program provides free tax preparation and e-filing if your adjusted gross income is $57,000 or less in 2009. You can go to the IRS's website to find out more.

The Nashua Public Library also has AARP volunteers who are here to help with tax preparation. They are here on a first-come first-serve basis. This free service is available to people who made under $49,000 last year. Their hours follow:

Monday 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Wednesday 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Friday 10:00 AM - 2:00 PM

There is even a volunteer who speaks Spanish and is available most Fridays. (Although there aren’t too many Fridays left!) There are a few other locations around Nashua where you can find assistance too:

Triangle Credit Union
33 Franklin Street
Nashua, NH 03064
Saturdays 9:00 AM – 3 PM

YMCA – Merrimack
6 Henry Clay Dr.
Merrimack, NH 030654
Mondays 9:30 AM - noon

If you utilize any of these free tax prep sites, be sure to bring:
• Social security number(s) for self and dependents
• W-2’s & 1099’s
• Copy of your 2008 Tax Return
• Driver’s license or photo identification card
• For child and dependent care credits, bring the Tax Identification Number of the child care provider
• For Direct Deposit, bring a checking or savings account number with the routing number
• Any statements received from a mortgage company during 2009

24 days left before April 15!

Sources:
Ward, L. Foolish Words: The most stupid words ever spoken. New York. Sterling Publishing. (2003)

A film worth being made is worth being made again, or so it seems. There are of course great stories by Dickens and Shakespeare and others that just ask to be redone, and audiences enjoy watching actors like Kenneth Branagh updating roles previously made famous by greats such as Sir Laurence Olivier. But most remakes are newer takes on well-known films that have a proven track record at the box office. Or not.

With almost 10,000 DVD titles, we have quite a few remakes in our collection. When a remake is released, we like to have the original(s) in the collection for borrowers to compare versions. This sometimes creates confusion. For example, when Daniel Craig debuted as 007 in Casino Royale in 2006, we saw an uptick in requests for Peter Sellers’ 1967 film of the same name. Some borrowers were no doubt disappointed, since the 1967 film was a spoof of the Bond genre, and not considered by purists as a Bond film. Reserves for Michael Rennie’s The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) surged with the release of the remake in 2008, as did the 1953 film War of the Worlds when Tom Cruise’s remake hit our shelves. Again, borrowers reserving this from home may have inadvertently grabbed the wrong title, a black and white film which I hope they enjoyed nonetheless.

Recently we’ve added two original films to complement remakes that just came out. The first is The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3. The 2009 remake pits NYC cop Denzel Washington against hostage taker John Travolta. The original 1974 release stars Walter Matthau struggling to outwit a depraved criminal deftly played by Robert Shaw. Conventional wisdom says the original is better, but you be the judge.

The other new release, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, is not technically a remake, but rather a film inspired from Italian director Enzo Castellari’s 1978 film Inglorious Bastards. Castellari’s film starred lesser known American leads (Bo Svenson, Fred Williamson, Ian Bannen) in a sensational, over-the-top, Dirty Dozen-like adventure film produced for European audiences. Tarantino so loved the film, which he first saw on late night TV many years after its release, that he took the title (slightly altered) for his Oscar-nominated film. Bo Svenson is no Brad Pitt and the plots of these films are quite different, but you can see elements in the 1978 "Bastards" film that influenced Tarantino. The original also has a interview with both directors that is worth seeing for fans of either film.

Here are a few more originals and remakes that you might enjoy:

Cheaper by the dozen (1950 and 2003)
Hairspray (1988 and 2007)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962 and 2004)
The Producers (1968 and 2005)

But remember: when you reserve from home, make sure you pick the right film!

A recent series of unfortunate events (three is a series, right?) has spurred my sister and me to start thinking about taking care of our aging parents. There's no rush, really, as the Aged P's are in reasonably good health and with any luck will remain so for years to come. But it's become clear that we need a plan for "when the time comes."

The sister and I get along pretty well, so I’m hoping we won’t need this book:

• They're your parents, too! : how siblings can survive their parents' aging without driving each other crazy / by Francine Russo. (New Arrivals, 646.78 R)

But for those of you who, like us, are starting to think about this topic, here are a few tools to consider:

• Taking care of mom & dad : the money, politics and emotions that come with supporting your parents / Mike Rust. Call Number: 362.6 R
• My mother, your mother : embracing "slow medicine" - the compassionate approach to caring for your aging loved ones / Dennis McCullough. Call Number: 306.874 M
• When it's your turn : grown children caring for aging parents / Susan Shelly. Call Number: 362.6 S
• The baby boomer's guide to caring for your aging parent / Gene B. Williams, Patie Kay, and David William. Call Number: 306.874 W
• Caring for your parents : the complete AARP guide / Hugh Delehanty & Elinor Ginzler. Call Number: 646.78 D

You may also be interested in the WGBH video on this topic. Its companion web site includes a variety of tools as well: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/caringforyourparents/.

If you've found any other resources that are particularly helpful, please do share--leave us a comment!