Sunday, April 15, 2007

KURT VONNEGUT, 1922-2007

Noted author Kurt Vonnegut died earlier this week at the age of 84. His most famous novels include Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat's Cradle.

The Elk Grove Village Public Library has copies of these books and more by Mr. Vonnegut. We also have several about him, including the autobiography Fates Worse than Death: An Autobiographical Collage (1991). We also have A Man without a Country (2005). There is a display in Adult Services.

Friday, April 06, 2007

2007 ADULT WINTER READING PROGRAM STATS

This year the Adult Winter Reading Program--which ended March 11--was Fishing for Fiction. Participants had to read 3 mysteries from 9 different categories to earn a raffle ticket for various prizes. 63 patrons signed up. 38 finished by reading at least 3 books (a few read more). 1 patron reported 2 books; 8 patrons read 1 book. 16 patrons never went beyond signing up. 11 raffle winners were chosen, 10 of them receiving certificates for these "fish" related restaurants:
Red Lobster
Joe's Crab Shack
Bonefish Grill
One winner received a fish-shaped glass platter.

155 different titles were reported. The most popular title (3) was Rita Mae Brown's The Hounds and the Fury. Five titles were each reported by 2 readers:
Under Orders by Dick Francis
Twelve Sharp by Janet Evanovich
This Pen for Hire by Laura Levine
Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too by Nancy Martin
Fear of Frying by Jill Churchill

The most different titles read were by:
Janet Evanovich (4 titles--5 readers)
Patricia Cornwell (4 titles)
James Patterson (4 titles)
Jill Churchill (3 titles--4 readers)
Kate Charles (3 titles)
M.C. Beaton (3 titles)
Lindsay Davis (3 titles)
Julia Spencer-Fleming (3 titles)
Ben Rehder (3 titles)

The categories with the most books reported were:
Groupers (teams) and Clownfish (humorous), each with 23 reported titles
Goldfish (senior sleuths) with 21 titles reported

The next most popular categories were:
Barracudas (lawyers) with 18 titles reported
Angelfish (clerical) with 17 titles reported
Doctorfish (medical) with 16 titles reported
Pufferfish (journalists) with 15 titles reported

The fewest reported titles were in these categories:
Whahoofish (set in the West) with 12 titles reported
Swordfish (historical) with 11 titles reported

Some titles were put in two different categories:
Under Orders was in Angelfish and in Groupers
Fear of Frying was in both Clown and Grouper