WCLS

Book lovers who are also avid Facebook users might want to "like" Book Keeping, a new reader's community page created by publishers Farrar, Straus and Giroux and Sarah Crichton Books.  Containing lots of trivia about books and links out to interesting book-related content, you'll also find author essays and q&as, polls, quizzes, sweepstakes, sneak peeks at covers, event announcements and more.  While you're at it, make sure you've also "liked" the library Facebook page!

The winners of the National Outdoor Book Awards, sponsored by the National Outdoor Book Awards Foundation, Idaho State University and the Association of Outdoor Recreation and Education, were announced this week.  Winners in the Outdoor Literature category are Almost Somewhere: Twenty-Eight Days on the John Muir Trail by Suzanne Roberts and The Ledge: An Adventure Story of Friendship and Survival on Mount Rainier by Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughan.  Roberts' account of a backpacking trip taken with two other women would be a good readalike if you enjoyed Cheryl Strayed's Wild.  Davidson's The Ledge is a gripping page-turner (similar to Touching the Void) describing how Davidson finds the will to survive after he and his climbing partner suffer a fall into a crevasse on Mt. Rainier.

The website io9 recently posted a list of science fiction and fantasy novels that can cheer you up when you're feeling blue.  As the dark season settles on us here in the Pacific NW, you might want to keep this list handy!  Based on suggestions by io9 readers, it includes some oldies but goodies as well as titles representing different reading levels.  Read on! 
 

(Note that the list provides links to the print formats; please be aware that multiple formats may be available.)

The National Book Awards ceremony went on as scheduled the evening of November 14th, even though the National Book Foundation office has been closed as their building suffered extensive damage as a result of Hurricane Sandy.  By all accounts, the awards ceremony last night was a great party, described by one attendee as being like "the Oscars for American authors."  After two previous nominations, I'm thrilled to see Louise Erdrich win the fiction award for her novel The Round House, which brings to light ongoing injustice on reservations, especially in the treatment of women.  Erdrich, who is of Ojibwe descent, dedicated her award to "the grace and endurance of native women."  The nonfiction award went to Katherine Boo for Behind the Beautiful Forevers, the story of life in a slum in Mumbai, India in the shadow of luxury hotels.  See my previous blog post on the National Book Awards for other winners and a catalog-linked list of all finalists.