Mystery Novels of the Award-Winning Kind

Ah, The Edgar Awards.   Named for Edgar Allen Poe and presented in Spring by the Mystery Writers of America, these awards are considered the most prestigious in the field.  And I, not known as a high-class reader of literature, have actually picked some up. And opened them!  Here they are and I highly recommend these.

Best First Novel by an American Author: In the Woods by Tana French  2008
Three kids disappear in the Irish woods, only one is found.  Twenty years later he's a law officer working on a similar case.  At the end some questions remain unanswered, but overall it's satisfying.   Nice and weird.

Best Novel: Bones by Jan Burke (Simon & Schuster)   2000
My friend stopped reading it as soon as she got to the boot with the foot still in it.  Sign me up!  Lots of good characters offset the gore. Part of the Irene series - read them all!  The rest aren't as bloody.

Best Paperback Original: Fade Away by Harlan Coben (Dell)  1997
Third in the Myron Bolitar series, this deals with his painful past as a former athlete and the person who put him in the 'former' category.  Lots of snappy dialogue.

Best Novel: The Sculptress by Minette Walters (St. Martin's Press)    1994
Minette Walters!  She is the Queen of twisty mysteries.  In this case Olive is in prison for the ax murders of her mother and sister.  Rosalind is assigned to write a book about her and starts to doubt Olive's guilt.  But who's playing whom? Mwwa ha ha ha ha.

Best First Novel: The Black Echo by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown) 1993  In the first Harry Bosch novel, Harry investigates the death of a former fellow 'tunnel rat', a soldier sent to kill Viet Cong living and working underground.  Literally underground.  Starts simple, gets hairy.  Just the way I like it.

List of all The Edgar Award Winners

Collectors and Collecting - Are You a Fan?

What do you collect?  Besides dust, I mean.  Har! Oh, the comedy.  Isn't it great when people you know collect things?  You never have to worry about what presents to get for them!  My mother was having nothing of it.   At one point she liked a particular style of gnome figurine but when she got three the edict was issued.  No more gnomes!  Stop it!   So I get a kick out of people who can't get enough snow globes, thimbles from foreign countries, novelty spoons. I leave you with a tale of a collection that caused considerable confusion.  A friend collected fans.  Cool, you say!  (Ha! Ha!)  One could buy her paper, lace,  folding fans, fans made for weddings that have the bride and groom's faces on it... except that she collected old electric fans.  They're ugly and they don't work.  Doesn't keep them from being collectible!
More scintillating objet d'art/tchocke posts to come.

Guide for a beginner's collection : Coin Collecting for Dummies

Ebooks - Bring 'em Back Alive!

You can return you ebooks before they are due! Is that not amazing? OK, it might not sound amazing but since you can't return downloadable audio books before they are due, this is a shiny new feature for us. And a bonus for you because you are limited in how many books can  be checked out and if one's returned you can get another book! Keep 'em coming. Returning takes a few steps, but it's worth it!

Step 1. Open the Adobe Digital Editions software on your computer. Make sure your device is connected, too.
Step 2. If necessary, navigate to the Library View, All Items. You want to see the book you are returning in the right-hand panel. Once it is there, click on it to make it active. You will see a small right-facing arrow next to your book.
Step 3. Drop down the menu and click.
Step 4. Click Return Borrowed Item.

For more information on ebooks, click on our Step-by-Step Guide

Closed Presidents' Day

All six locations of the Des Moines Pubic Library are closed today.  The staff's not being paid; it's a furlough day due to budget cuts.  Speaking of pay, George Washington made $25,000 per year as president.  Bill Clinton received $200,000.  George W. Bush made $400,000 per year as does President Obama today.  Of course these numbers do not include inflation.  Here is a sample from a few years ago:  President Henry Hoover's salary of $75,000 equaled approximately $1,000,000 in 2007 dollars.  Yowsah.

Sources:  National Park Service
Principles of Macroeconomics

Hey Lally Lally (Plus Closed Monday for Presidents' Day)

They use fun words in the construction biz.  I was describing a problem in our house to a friend and he said, "Yeah, I imagine they'll just put up your lally".  OK.  Turns out your lally would be: "a concrete-filled cylindrical steel structural column".  Huh.  At least there's no gagging.  Other entertaining construction terms:
Astragal- Not a Superhero.  "A molding, attached to one of a pair of swinging double doors, against which the other door strikes."  Astragal would never allow herself to be struck in the manner!
Corbel- Not a misspelled alcoholic beverage.  "The triangular, decorative and supporting member that holds a mantel or horizontal shelf."  Both decorative and supporting.  That's a keeper.
Muntin- Not a resident of Oz.  "A small member which divides the glass or openings of sash or doors."  Actually a Munchkin could be a small member - of the Lollypop Guild!

Our books on Architectural Terms

Reba Whittle Tobiason Was the Only One

Reba Whittle Tobiason, a flight nurse, was the only military person of female persuasion to be held as a POW by the Germans in WWII after her evacuation flight was shot down in 1944. The imprisonment apparently flummoxed the U. S. government, as it did not acknowledge her status as a POW.  You'd think it would have been fairly straightforward since everyone agreed she had been held captive.  Whittle Tobiason was awarded the Air Medal and the Purple Heart in 1945 soooo.... it's not like no one knew she existed. They even had an inkling of her heroism Finally in 1992 she was  recognized as a POW.  Unfortunately 2nd Lt. Reba WhittleTobiason died in January 1981.  Here's to you, Reba Whittle Tobiason.  You spent 4 months in Stalag Luft 9 and even managed to administer to the sick and wounded while detained.  And in 1992 you took your rightful place in history.

Military.com
Des Moines Tribune 1/30/1981 p. 15

More to Love

Have you declared your Love for Your Library yet?  Here's what you do: Tell us in twenty-five words or less why you love your library and you can be entered in a drawing for a dozen free cookies from Gateway Market! The first 1,000 entries will receive a free LOVE My DMPL decal to proudly display on your car, on your desk, or anywhere else you wish. Within reason. You can enter online or in print just click I Love DMPL for more information.
What is there to love?  Let's look at a total from all 6 locations. On February 7 if you added up all the books, magazine titles, movies, music, special collections, you arrive at the sizeable number of 559,688.  Of which 419,033 are books.  Printed. On paper.  And they check out like crazy!  Because you love us!  Never stop.

Who Was That Guy?

Did you watch the Grammy show Sunday?  The performances were sizzlin'!   Who knew Cee Lo Green would literally take up Elton John's mantle?  For those of you wondering about the old dude who shuffled onstage, croaked out some unintelligible phrases and then played the harmonica a bit, it was Bob Dylan! Dylan was once so influential that the music scene went nuts when he switched from acoustic to electric guitar.  Nuts. Could you believe Mick Jagger!  The energy! The man jerked around the stage just like he did 40 years ago.  Quite the contrast between the two legends.  And not unlike Dylan, Jagger never really sang, well, melodiously.  So the change in vocal quality from their earlier performances wasn't unbearable. Quite the night.  We have many CD's of these two gentlemen's work.  Help yourself.

Bob Dylan
Jagger/Rolling Stones

Happy Valentine's Day to Everybody!

When I was a sprout in grade school, here's what happened.  You brought a shoebox to class, decorated it and put a slit in the top.  Then every child put a Valentine in every box.  Even if somebody cheated you still got lots of Valentines.  That was nice.  This is my Valentine To Everybody.

How lame is that?  Just like most Valentines!  Now you can have a great day not worrying about whether you get a card.  Because you just got one!  Yippee!