My Reading Right Now - How and What

This week's bus book has been The End of the Line by Stephen Lagault. This is a mystery set in western Canada in the 1880s right on the Canadian Pacific Railway construction line and featuring Durrant Wallace, a North West Mounted Police Sergeant who's usually on lighter duties due to his past injuries. This is apparently the first in a future series.

The author, Stephen Legault's, website: http://stephenlegault.com

For Christmas though I was given a Kobo e-reader so I've been reading e-books on the bus too. (My Kobo's name is now Flo.) Most won't be surprised that the first book I bought was by Minda Powers-Douglas, the cemetery enthusiast extraordinaire behind The Cemetery Club website and Epitaphs Magazine. (This is just recently available as an e-book; I do already have a 'paper' copy.)

Next I bought another of her books to add to the Kobo, Translating Tombstones. I have this at home, but why not an e-book too? It could prove useful someday when Flo and I are in a cemetery and I'm peering at a new-to-me symbol.

Next, since Kobo Flo will let me read .pdf files, I loaded a number of other useful genealogy e-books already on my computer into her. Many of these are on Minnie, my netbook, too, so I can easily refer to them when teaching or answering questions.

My more recent purchase though was not to do with cemeteries at all and showed me how helpful Flo could be. Sometimes I really, really want to read a book - right quick! That was the case with Baking as Biography: A Life Story in Recipes by Diane Tye. Here's a review by Kerry Clare.

But when I checked local stores, no one had a copy available. But yes, I could download it right away and start reading. Excellent! (And yes, I ordered myself a real copy too.)

Funny though - when I eagerly opened up the book on the Kobo, I realized that the book is - backwards! Funny, and still readable, but could be very annoying.

So I did write Kobo customer service who told me to delete the book and reload it. Had to look up to find out how to delete and guess what? The 'help' section in my Kobo is also backwards.

I replied to Kobo customer service but - no reply yet.

I'm not too discouraged with the e-book idea, however the Kobo customer service thing is: Sad :-(

A New Year - New Books

Although I certainly haven't been writing much, I have been reading, believe me. And since it's a snowy day here today in Vancouver, BC, Canada, I'm hoping to read this day away.

What's on my side table for this weekend?

The Archivist's Story by Travis Holland (London: Bloomsbury, 2007). This is a novel set in 1939 Russia. Author Isaac Babel is in Lubyanka prison; a young archivist is assigned to incinerate Babel's last stories... Found at my favourite place for new books, and an independent book business, Black Bond Books in Surrey, BC. To be truthful, I picked this one up only because of the title; not many novels about archivists.

Click here for one brief biography of Isaac Babel at the Author's Calendar (written by Petri Liukkonen) and here for Babel's wife, Antonina Pirozhkova's, obituary (written by William Grimes; published in the New York Times, September 22, 2010). She spent much of her later life retrieving and ensuring his literary legacy.

The Nightmare: A Mystery with Mary Wollstonecraft by Nancy Means Wright (McKinleyville, California, USA: Perseverance Press, 2011).
Noticed this at Vancouver Public Library. Now how could I pass a mystery featuring Wollstonecraft up?

And for something quite different,

Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline by Daniel Rosenberg and Anthony Grafton (New York, USA: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010). According to the New York Times, this is an "eye popping" book. Certainly looks so! See a few of the book's images here as selected by the NY Times. Found on holidays in Kelowna at Mosaic Books, another great independent book shop. Look for it if you are travelling in the Okanagan this year.

LibraryThing - ReadaThing - November 2011

This weekend I'm reading and reading...surprise!

But, I'm doing this as part of LibraryThing's November 100 hour ReadaThing.

My weekend books, both from my TBR shelf:

Built of Books: How Reading Defined the Life of Oscar Wilde by Thomas Wright (this seemed an appropriate choice),
and
Water Ghosts by Shawn Yang Ryan.

Dreaming of Library Tours and Books, Books, Books...

Great idea!

Joan Wickersham describes a public tour of private libraries in Concord, Massachusetts, USA, in her article, On The Shelves, October 7, 2011, Boston.com

This tour featured six libraries, apparently personal ones, and was sponsored by the Friends of the Concord Free Public Library This is an idea that could be developed in Vancouver, British Columbia, for sure, and I'd sign up quickly. I'd also love to see a tour developed for local specialized libraries. There's a number of those here.

A tip of my hat to the New England Historic Genealogical Society's The Weekly Genealogist (Vol. 14, No. 42) which mentioned this article.

The author, Joan Wickersham, blogs about books and more at: www.joanwickersham.com

Canada Reads - True Stories - Top 40

The CBC's Canada Reads - True Stories Top 40 books have been chosen. This year, it's non-fiction only.

I can agree handily with some of these - And No Birds Sang by Farley Mowat, The Last Spike by Pierre Berton, Paper Shadows by Wayson Choy, Mordecai by Charles Foran (notice a pattern here?) but if Louis Riel: A Comic-Strip Biography by Chester Brown doesn't win, I likely will be very unhappy (again). Some may be surprised I'd say that.

Chester Brown's graphic biography of Louis Riel isn't perfect - he missed one of the 'best moments' in Canadian history, I think - and overall the academic and political emphasis on Riel has sometimes obscured the aspirations, actions and fate of his contemporaries, but Riel's is a story that resonated all across Canada during his lifetime and certainly at the time of his death, and has found expression ever since.

I've found in talking about this book that many younger-than-me Canadians know little if anything about him, or about the Northwest Rebellions. Shame! The appeal of a graphic historical biography to those who won't pick up a weightier looking book can't be underestimated in my opinion - Canadians will read this, if it's widely promoted!

One of my copies of Louis Riel is circulating throughout Canada as a BookCrossing book. Keep an eye out for it or, better yet, get yourself to an independent book shop and pick up your own copy.

Pocket protest - notankers.ca

Pocket protest - found in Burnaby, 21 August 2011. The Loonie Project, notankers.ca

Cameron Library - My Burnaby Library Project

Cameron Library & Recreation Centre, opened in 1980, Burnaby, BC. The Cameron Library is the area on your right.

Cameron Library, the closest library to us, was the first stop in My Burnaby Library Project. This is Burnaby's smallest library, and is the oldest physically. It's surrounded now by high rises and multiple family dwellings, and is across the street from Lougheed Mall, Burnaby's second largest mall. It's about a 2 block walk from the Skytrain station but is on a bus route and there are stops right in front or across the street. (Call transit information, don't go by the Translink website directions.) Yes, there is parking, if you must drive there.

The Library is part of the Cameron Recreation Complex as seen above. The building opened in 1980 and is set in or next to Cameron Park. Anniversary celebrations were held earlier this month.

The Cameron Library entrance is inside the lobby of the Recreation Centre, an attractive, well lit facility with a wide variety of spaces for indoor recreation and fitness. The Centre seems to host a large number of seniors' activities. The Park is a welcome green space here with a childrens' play area and a new seniors' fitness machine area (suitable for anyone 13+ according to the signs), although some of the past plans for the park have never been realized.

Cameron Park's 'Reading Circle', just beyond one of the parking lots, Burnaby, BC.
There were several people reading in the park this day, but all were sitting in folding chairs!

Yes, there is a picnic bench there. Cameron Park, Burnaby, BC.

I was looking forward to seeing what's new in Burnaby libraries. I still am, but in some ways, I'm sorry I went to Cameron first. It's been some months since I was there, and I hoped to see some physical changes, as well as good books!

Lobby display window, Burnaby history display, Cameron Library, Burnaby, BC.

Right now, seen from the Cameron Recreation Centre's lobby, there's a nice display of Burnaby photographs in an electronic frame and books celebrating the City of Burnaby Archives' own 10th anniversary. This I liked, although as an area resident, I feel it would be nice to see something that related more closely to this area. (Although it doesn't seem to be labelled, the large photograph is of the Tea Rooms built c. 1910 by Walter Holdom for his real estate prospects in North Burnaby. For more about this, see the Burnaby Heritage website.) This area is often neglected in Burnaby history. Historically its ties are close to New Westminster and Coquitlam and Port Moody, and this site itself has a sad history known to long time Burnaby residents. The land for one of the parking lots was once the home of Lillian Mann. Her land was expropriated, despite her long resistance.

Whisky, with BookCrossing releases, Cameron Recreation Complex lobby, Burnaby, BC. Whisky was shocked to realize 'recycling' could be a punishment, as the sign on one of the free periodical racks in the lobby promised for any unauthorized contributions. We didn't leave any books in the racks.

Unfortunately, the actual entrance to the Library is cramped, with a couple of portable boards advertising a few upcoming activities and an older photograph of the Queen on the wall. All Burnaby libraries are supposed to be accessible though, so I think the entrance and aisles are likely wide enough for a wheelchair.

Despite the windows on two sides, the low ceiling seems to make the Library look dim on first glance. From the building entrance photo, you can see there are bushes and a tree in front of the main window wall which cut down the light. (Not that I'd cut down that tree!) This is in contrast to the rest of the Cameron Recreation multilevel complex which has lots of light, with clerestory windows and even some attractive frosted glass partitions.

The now very old fashioned looking, but pleasingly horseshoe shaped book return/checkout counter is on the left as you enter the Library, and a large sitting area is on the right (just visible in the window display photo) with a wall of magazines and a stand of newspapers on the one side and shelves with new and featured books on the other - the other day, a collection of science books for non-fiction and of women writers for fiction. (Someone in a wheelchair would have difficulty navigating here, I suspect.)

There was a reasonable selection of magazines, from BC Outdoors to Backbone, Vancouver and Wired. I didn't see any of the more practical and expensive computer magazines I look for at a library (like .Net), or any genealogy magazines either.

On the left wall of the Library are offices, a printer and computers for library catalogue lookups and a children's area towards the back. On the right wall, there are public computers with Internet and MS Office access (why not Open Office?) and a few carrels for private study. The computers were all in use and someone was waiting while I was there. (There is a 'reservation' computer on the far side of the Library.) Some patrons were using their own computers; all Burnaby libraries have wireless access for BPL card holders. There are no 'dedicated database' computers here, but those with BPL cards can access Library databases on the www.BPL.bc.ca website using any Internet accessible computer.

On the other side of the featured books were shelves full of held books - a good sign, I think, in several ways, as it shows many people are requesting the books they want or need.

And on the fiction shelves, I was pleased to see there are many more mysteries than there used to be. If most were the predictable 'best seller' ones, still I also noticed several Canadian mystery authors. And there seemed to be a fair selection of fantasy/science fiction books as well - and a good number of people browsing both these sections.

In non-fiction, there was a good basic section of Canadian and British Columbia and local history with some of my BC favourites, Mainstays, Cougar Annie's Garden and Vancouver's Shoeshine Boys. The travel section, however, seemed padded with older travel guides. These age quickly.

And in non-fiction, there is only one sign for each row giving the 'Dewey' call numbers for the books shelved. Few people, I find, are comfortable remembering these by heart. Each shelf needs a sign, I think, and for each side of the shelf too (and perhaps not only in English).

On the back wall, there's a fair size teen bookcase and one of Chinese books. And in the right corner, there's a small sitting area.

The only recent change I noticed at Cameron was the newer shelving for the CDs and DVDs (installed in April, I believe). There seemed a wide selection of these, including choices for children, although I'm probably not the best judge, at least for movies.

The only activities I've noticed advertised for Cameron over the summer are for Storytime for Babies and Toddlers. A good proportion of the Library space is for children and there's an open area there just big enough for a sit down storytime, with one small child's table and two benches and some colourful handmade wall displays. But frankly, this area is shabby looking. It must be years since anything's been done with the floor or equipment. I hope some of the summer Storytimes are held outdoors as the Park is really a much more interesting space than the Library.

Dragon Eco-sculpture, Cameron Park, Burnaby, BC. (Burnaby 2011 Eco-sculpture guide)

Someone has a sense of humour, Cameron Park, Burnaby, BC. Made me smile!