April 2011 RETURN TO HOME PAGE FEEDBACK

This month we’re featuring the Noe ­Valley Library’s literature collection. You may be accustomed to browsing the fiction section, but to find specific books and authors in the classics, you may want to explore the library catalog. Plays, poetry, essays, and literary criticism are located in the 800s section along the east wall of the building. You’ll find literature from American writers such as Walt Whitman, Mark Twain, and Emily Dickinson; the works of Shakespeare, Milton, Yeats, and Chaucer; and English translations of gems by European, Latin American, Asian, and other authors from around the world. If you’d like help in getting started with the online catalog or need tips for searching, just ask the librarian.

 

On Literature’s Top Shelf

- 501 Great Writers: A Comprehensive Guide to the Giants of Literature, edited by Julian Patrick, provides entertaining reading for lovers of literature. The book also can be used as a guide to great writers whose works you haven’t yet read. Each entry contains a picture of the author, a summary of the author’s style and genre, a brief biography, and a list of signature titles.

- Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays, edited by Karen Brazell, offers translations of 30 plays, plus essays explaining theater traditions such as Noh and Kabuki.

- British author Susan Hill writes about the process of rediscovering and reading the books in her personal library, in Howards End Is on the Landing: A Year of Reading from Home.

- The Road of Excess: A History of Writers on Drugs, by Marcus Boon, studies the connection between literature and narcotics, anesthetics, stimulants, and other drugs.

- Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself: A Road Trip with David Foster Wallace, by David Lipsky, provides insight into the mind of the celebrated late author.

- Not Much Fun: The Lost Poems of Dorothy Parker, compiled and with an introduction by Stuart Y. Silverstein, is a collection of more than 100 poems that Parker did not include in her previous books.

 

New Books for Young Children

-  Madeline travels to Washington, D.C., and visits the president’s daughter, in Madeline at the White House, story and pictures by John Bemelmans Marciano.

- Four girls search for the perfect party shoes in Shoe-La-La! by Karen Beaumont, illustrated by local artist LeUyen Pham.

-  Pinkalicious loses her sweet tooth and writes to the tooth fairy in Silverlicious, written and illustrated by Victoria Kann.

 

Books for Older Children

- The magic tree house takes Jack and Annie to Mogul Empire India in A Crazy Day with Cobras by Mary Pope Osborne.

- A 13-year-old is dragged into the middle of a murder trial in bestselling author John Grisham’s first book for young readers, Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer.

- Guys Read: Funny Business, edited and with an introduction by Jon Scieszka, is a collection of 10 funny short stories designed to appeal to reluctant readers.

 

New Books for Teens

- A high school athlete tries to get her life back after she loses her leg in a car accident, in The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen.

- The Things a Brother Knows by Dana Reinhardt is the story of two brothers, one recently returned from war.

- A girl decides she is not suited for training as a suicide bomber, in the futuristic novel Grace by Elizabeth Scott.

 

New Magazines

If you haven’t looked at the library’s magazine area in a while, be sure to check it out the next time you visit. We’ve added some great new titles including:

The Atlantic

Cooks Illustrated

Elle Décor

Fine Homebuilding

New York Review of Books

Utne Reader

Remember that you can borrow back issues of magazines for three weeks. Because we have limited space for them, we evaluate our subscriptions each year to make sure that the ones in our collection are popular with our user community. We replace little-used ­magazines with others that cover similar themes or subjects. Look in the magazine area for a short survey next month. We’d like your suggestions for magazines to ­consider for 2012.

 

LIBRARY EVENTS

 

Shakespeare Brings a Tempest

The San Francisco Shakespeare Festival is returning to the Noe Valley Library this month on Saturday, April 9, at 2 p.m., with a 55-minute performance from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, followed by a question-and-answer session with the cast. Don’t miss this opportunity to see some of Shakespeare’s most delightful characters, including Prospero, Ariel, Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo.

 

Gathering of the Group

All are invited to attend the next meeting of the Noe Valley Library’s Book Discussion Group on Wednesday, April 20, at 7 p.m.

 

Great Books Coming in May

The Great Books Council of San Francisco will sponsor monthly discussions of famous short stories, essays, and speeches starting on Wednesday, May 11, from 6:15 to 8:15 p.m. The topic of the first meeting will be the Declaration of Independence, available online at http: //www.earlyamerica.com/early america/freedom/doi/text.html. For more information contact Clifford Louie at clifford.louie@sbcglobal.net.

 

All events take place at the Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Library, 451 Jersey St. between Castro and Diamond streets. For information, call 355-5707 or go to www.sfpl.org.

 

 

BRANCH HOURS

Noe Valley/Sally Brunn Branch Library

451 Jersey St., 355-5707

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Eureka Valley–Harvey Milk Branch Library

1 José Sarria Ct. (3555 16th St.), 355-5616

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Glen Park Branch Library

2825 Diamond St., 355-2858

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Mission Branch Library

300 Bartlett St., 355-2800

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