After all manner of professors have done their best for us, the place we are to get knowledge is in books. The true university of these days is a collection of books. Albert Camus, 1913 - 1960 http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_books.html Camus won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1957.
Nobel Prize.org
Speaking of theNobel Prize for Literature, I have put a link on this page to the Nobel prizes for Literature. How might this link be useful for discovering books to read?
Here's how. For example, this year the Nobel in Literature went to Doris Lessing. Doris Lessing at Nobel Prize.org Then go to the Carlsbad Public Library linkon the right and search for Ms. Lessing just like I did a few minutes ago. I found 15 records, including:
- The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels (2004)Fiction
- The Sweetest Dream (2001) Non-Fiction
- Mara and Dann: An Adventure (1999) Sci-Fi
- The Good Terriorist (1985) Fiction
- The marriages between zones three, four, and five (as narrated by the chroniclers of zone three) (1980) Sci-Fi
- Briefing for a Descent into Hell (1971) Fiction
- African Stories (1965) Fiction
- The Golden Notebook (1962) Fiction
The Golden Notebook is probably her most famous book. From The Golden Notebook at GoHastings.com
'The Golden Notebook' is Doris Lessing's most important work, and has left its mark upon the ideas and feelings of a whole generation of women. -- Elizabeth Hardwick, New York Times Book Review
The most absorbing and exciting piece of new fiction I have read in a decade: it moves with the beat of our time, and it is true. -- Irving Howe, New Republic
This novel is widely considered to be Lessing's masterpiece. Anna Wulf, a writer living in London, attempts to conquer the chaos of her life by using five notebooks as journals: the black one deals with her life in colonial Africa, the red is her Communist experiences, the yellow is a more or less fictionalized chronicle of Anna's alter ego Ella, and the blue is a diary of Anna's day to day life. The golden notebook involves Anna's integration of herself through analysis. The novel also contains Anna's own novel, called "Free Women." Complex, layered, psychological, "The Golden Notebook" was hailed as a feminist work when it was originally published--yet its appeal goes beyond sexual politics to consider the construction, disintegration, and rebuilding of a personality in a way that has reached readers, both male and female, for many years since.
Timed to coincide with Women's History Month, a new edition of the powerful and liberating feminist novel that raised the consciousness of an entire generation.
Anna is a writer, author of one very successful novel, who now keeps four notebooks. In one, with a black cover, she reviews the African experience of her earlier years. In a red one she records her political life, her disillusionment with communism. In a yellow one she writes a novel in which the heroine relives part of her own experience. And in a blue one she keeps a personal diary. Finally, in love with an American writer and threatened with insanity, Anna tries to bring the threads of all four books together in a golden notebook.
If you are like me, perhaps you have heard about the book If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer and you are wondering about all the allegations and controversies surrounding O.J. Simpson and this book. Our library has ths book and the library catalog entry explains:
In 1994, Ron Goldman and Nicole Brown Simpson were brutally murdered at her home in Brentwood, California. O.J. Simpson was tried for the crime in a case that captured the attention of the American people, but was ultimately found not guilty of criminal charges. The victims' families brought civil cases against Simpson, and he was found liable for willfully and wrongfully causing the deaths of Ron and Nicole by committing battery with malice and oppression. In 2006, HarperCollins announced the publication of a book in which O.J. Simpson told how he hypothetically would have committed the murders. In response to public outrage that Simpson stood to profit from these crimes, HarperCollins canceled the book. A Florida bankruptcy court awarded the rights to the Goldmans in August 2007 to partially satisfy the unpaid civil judgment, which has risen, with interest, to over $38 million. The Goldman family views this book as his confession, and has worked hard to ensure that the public will read this book and learn the truth. This is the original manuscript approved by O.J. Simpson, with up to 14,000 words of key additional commentary.--From publisher's description.
While some readers probably welcome the opportunity to learn more about the terrible events at the center of this 1990s double murder, other readers probably don't wish for any such opportunities and won't accept any more that exist, including this one. I won't.
But if you care to, please read on.
Please note that I have added another link to the right; it is for Children's Book Awards. Click on the link for Newbery Medal. At the site, you will find:
American Library Association, Association for Library Service to Children. Established 1922. A medal presented annually to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children published in the United States in the preceding year. The recipient must be a citizen or resident of the United States. The winner is announced at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting (January/February), and the award is presented at the ALA summer conference .
How the Newbery Medal Came to Be
The Newbery Medal is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's book published the previous year. On June 22, 1921, Frederic G. Melcher proposed the award to the American Library Association meeting of the Children's Librarians' Section and suggested that it be named for the eighteenth-century English bookseller John Newbery. The idea was enthusiastically accepted by the children's librarians, and Melcher's official proposal was approved by the ALA Executive Board in 1922. In Melcher's formal agreement with the board, the purpose of the Newbery Medal was stated as follows: "To encourage original creative work in the field of books for children. To emphasize to the public that contributions to the literature for children deserve similar recognition to poetry, plays, or novels. To give those librarians, who make it their life work to serve children's reading interests, an opportunity to encourage good writing in this field."
The Newbery Award thus became the first children's book award in the world. Its terms, as well as its long history, continue to make it the best known and most discussed children's book award in this country
From the beginning of the awarding of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, committees could, and usually did, cite other books as worthy of attention. Such books were referred to as Newbery or Caldecott "runners-up." In 1971 the term "runners-up" was changed to "honor books." The new terminology was made retroactive so that all former runners-up are now referred to as Newbery or Caldecott Honor Books.
About Newbery Medal Awards
Newbery Medal Winners Since 1922 to Present
Also on the link, click on Caldecott Medal.. At this site you will find:
Established 1938. A medal presented annually to the illustrator of the most distinguished American picture book for children published in the United States in the preceding year. The recipient must be a citizen or resident of the United States. The winner is announced at the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting (January/February), and the award is presented at the ALA summer conference.
How the Caldecott Medal Came to Be
Each year the Newbery Medal is awarded by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children's books published the previous year. However, as many persons became concerned that the artists creating picture books for children were as deserving of honor and encouragement as were the authors of children's books, Frederic G. Melcher suggested in 1937 the establishment of a second annual medal. This medal is to be given to the artist who had created the most distinguished picture book of the year and named in honor of the nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph J. Caldecott. The idea for this medal was also accepted enthusiastically by the Section for Library Work with Children of ALA and was approved by the ALA Executive Board.
The Caldecott Medal "shall be awarded to the artist of the most distinguished American Picture Book for Children published in the United States during the preceding year. The award shall go to the artist, who must be a citizen or resident of the United States, whether or not he be the author of the text. Members of the Newbery Medal Committee will serve as judges. If a book of the year is nominated for both the Newbery and Caldecott Awards the committee shall decide under which heading it shall be voted upon, so that the same title shall not be considered on both ballots." In 1977 the Board of Directors of the Association for Library Service to Children rescinded the final part of the 1937 action and approved that "any book published in the preceding year shall be eligible to be considered for either award or both awards." Separate committees to choose the Newbery and Caldecott Awards were established in 1978 and began with the 1980 selection committees.
From the beginning of the awarding of the Newbery and Caldecott Medals, committees could, and usually did, cite other books as worthy of attention. Such books were referred to as Newbery or Caldecott "runners-up." In 1971 the term "runners-up" was changed to "honor books." The new terminology was made retroactive so that all former runners-up are now referred to as Newbery or Caldecott Honor Books.
Caldecott Winners Since 1938
No entertainment is so cheap as reading, nor any pleasure so lasting. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_books.html
© Bob Hoff, 2007
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