QUILL AWARD BOOK OF THE YEAR

Nora Roberts' Angels Fall has been named the Quill Awards' Book of the Year (voted on by the general public). The list of other winners plus some more extensive synopses can be found at WNBC. All of the awards presentations will be telecast on Saturday, October 27, on NBC (Channel 5 here), from 6-7 p.m. [see earlier entry (September 30) for more information on the award.]

DEBORAH KERR, 1921-2007

British actress Deborah Kerr died Tuesday in England following an ongoing struggle with Parkinson's Disease. She appeared in more than 50 movies, earning 6 Oscar nominations for Best Actress, but never winning one.

The Elk Grove Village Library has these films:
Beloved Infidel (1959) (VHS BELO)
From Here to Eternity (1953) (VHS & DVD FROM)
The Night of the Iguana (1964) (VHS & DVD NIGH)
The Chalk Garden (1964) (VHS CHAL)
The Innocents (1961) (VHS INNO)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I (1956) (VHS & DVD KING) & (J DVD KING)
An Affair to Remember (1957) (VHS & DVD ANAF)
King Solomon's Mines (1950) (VHS KING)
The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1945) (DVD LIFE)
Quo Vadis (1951) (VHS QUOV)
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957) (VHS HEAV)

NOBEL PRIZE FOR LITERATURE 2007

The 2007 Nobel Prize for Literature has been awarded to Doris Lessing, British author.

"that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny"

The Elk Grove Village Library has these works of fiction written by Miss Lessing:
Love, Again (1996)
The Fifth Child (1988)
Prisons We Choose to Live Inside (1987)
The Real Thing: Stories and Sketches (1992)
The Doris Lessing Reader (1988)
Mara and Dann: An Adventure (1999)
Ben, in the World: The Sequel to The Fifth Child (2000)
The Sweetest Dream (2002)
The Golden Notebook (1999)
The Grandmothers: Four Short Novels (2003)

The Library also has these biographical works:
Particularly Cats--and Rufus (1991) (BIO LES)
African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe (1992) (828.9 LES)

Critical writings about Doris Lessing include:
The Novelistic Vision of Doris Lessing: Breaking the Forms of Consciousness (1979) by Roberta Rubenstein (823.9 RUB)
Doris Lessing (1986) edited by Harold Bloom (823.914 DOR)
Doris Lessing (2003) edited by Harold Bloom (823.914 LES)
Critical Essays on Doris Lessing (1986) [edited by] Claire Sprague and Virginia Tiger (823 CRI)

More information can be found on her work (plus interviews and links) on this PBS site, Contemporary Writers, and the Nobel Prize site.

2007 ASRP SUMMER READING STATISTICS

The Adult Summer Reading Program ended just after Labor Day. 332 patrons signed up and 220 of them completed the program--they read at least 5 books--to earn the coveted Library High t-shirt (modeled here by Miss Karen in Youth Services):



67 patrons never did more than sign up (0 books reported). 265 read at least 1 book. 50 participants read between 10 and 19 books. 18 participants read 20 or more books. The top reader read 70 books. The next highest read 57 books. The numbers read by the next 8 highest readers were: 40, 37, 29 (2), 28, 27, 25, and 23. 46 raffle prizes were awarded plus 2 chosen at the Finale Party among those who wore their t-shirts.

BANNED BOOKS WEEK 2007

Banned Books Week has been going on this past week and ends on Saturday, October 6. This year, there are several related webpages on various networking sites, including MySpace and Flickr. The 10 most challenged books of 2006 lists And Tango Makes Three (PC 306.8742 RIC) as the most challenged.

2007 MACAVITY AWARDS

The Macavity Awards for 2007 were recently announced by Mystery Readers International,

the largest mystery fan/reader organization in the world...open to all readers, fans, critics, editors, publishers, and writers.

Named for T.S. Eliot's "Mystery Cat", the award is given to books published the previous year (in this case, 2006) and chosen by the members of MRI.

Best Mystery Novel:
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard (MYS PIC)

Best First Novel:
Mr. Clarinet by Nick Stone

Best Nonfiction:
Mystery Muses: 100 Classics That Inspire Today's Mystery Writers edited by Jim Huang and Austin Lugar

Best Short Story:
"Til Death Do Us Part" by Tim Maleeny (MWA Presents Death Do Us Part: New Stories about Love, Lust, and Murder, edited by Harlan Coben

Sue Feder Historical Mystery:
Oh Danny Boy by Rhys Bowen (MYS BOW)

2007 ANTHONY AWARDS

The winners of the 2007 Anthony Awards were recently announced at this year's Bouchercon World Mystery Convention. The awards honor writers in several mystery genres:

BEST MYSTERY NOVEL
Laura Lippman, NO GOOD DEEDS (MYS LIPPMAN, L.)

BEST FIRST NOVEL
Louise Penny, STILL LIFE (MYS PENNY, L.)

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Dana Cameron, ASHES AND BONES (PB MYS CAMERON, D.)

BEST SHORT STORY
Simon Wood, “My Father’s Secret,” Crimespree Magazine, Bouchercon Special Issue 2006

BEST CRITICAL NONFICTION
Jim Huang and Austin Lugar, Editors, MYSTERY MUSES

SPECIAL SERVICES AWARD
Jim Huang, Crum Creek Press and The Mystery Company