Heads up to our iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod, etc.) Overdrive users.  On May 29 Overdrive will release an update for the Overdrive app but before you hit that update button you'll want to review the instructions I've pasted below.  

The short story is that this update of the Overdrive app will require you to re-authorize your Adobe ID after the app has updated. 

How are you enjoying Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed? For me, the jarring part was adapting to the different assumptions of fantasy worldview outside pseudo-medieval west Europe or east Asia. Even when we read Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny, the frame of reference was still Western even if the setting was pseudo-Indian.

We've had a lot of people blindly trying new books this week! Today will be the last day to check out a wrapped book, but everyone will have until May 31 to get the "Rate Your Date" forms turned in.

We checked on what you thought of your blind dates and so far -

11 were Amazing
14 were Total Disasters
18 were OK, and
29 were Better Than Expected!

So get those forms turned in by May 31 and you may be the winner of 12 wonderful noodle entrees from Noodles and Co., one each month for a year!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this program! We hope you enjoyed the new reading experiences as much as we enjoyed setting up these dates for you!

Join us June 11 at 6:30pm when we will discuss Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer. Books On Tap meets at Jimmy's Pub on the 2nd Tuesday of the month.

When Jon Krakauer reached the summit of Mt. Everest in the early afternoon of May 10, 1996, he hadn't slept in fifty-seven hours and was reeling from the brain-altering effects of oxygen depletion. As he turned to begin his long, dangerous descent from 29,028 feet, twenty other climbers were still pushing doggedly toward the top. No one had noticed that the sky had begun to fill with clouds. Six hours later and 3,000 feet lower, in 70-knot winds and blinding snow, Krakauer collapsed in his tent, freezing, hallucinating from exhaustion and hypoxia, but safe. The following morning he learned that six of his fellow climbers hadn't made it back to their camp and were in a desperate struggle for their lives. When the storm finally passed, five of them would be dead, and the sixth so horribly frostbitten that his right hand would have to be amputated.

Krakauer examines what it is about Everest that has compelled so many people - including himself - to throw caution to the wind, ignore the concerns of loved ones, and willingly subject themselves to such risk, hardship, and expense. Written with emotional clarity and supported by his unimpeachable reporting, Krakauer's eye-witness account of what happened on the roof of the world is a singular achievement.

Tuesday night 17 people showed up at Jimmy's Pub for a lively discussion of Dog Stars by Peter Heller. While not everyone enjoyed the book as much as I did, people pointed out and discussed the parts of the book that spoke to them.

For more information about the book or the author visit www.peterheller.net.

Enjoy apocalytic fiction? Try some of these titles!

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller
I Am Legend by Richard Matheson
The Passage by Justin Cronin
The Postman by David Brin
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Stand by Stephen King
World War Z by Max Brooks
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood

Feel free to post any of your own favorites!

Now in its 15th year, the award-winning Stories in the Garden has been a favorite collaborative program between the East Lansing Public Library and the Michigan 4-H Children's Garden at MSU.

The formula is simple, the results are fabulous: teens reading picture books to children + a beautiful and fun garden setting = a fun and rewarding experience for all.

Teen readers must attend special planning sessions held at the East Lansing Public Library where they will learn about reading to children, find reading partners, choose appropriate books and practice reading out loud.

If you are a teen entering grades 7-12 and are interested in volunteering for Stories in the Garden you can download the application here.

On May 11, the Books & Bagels group discussed Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead.

Did you know that the East Lansing Public Library is a prized example of mid-century modern architecture? Visit the MSU Museum to see ELPL and many more examples of East Lansing buildings that highlight this very popular form of architecture.  

Exhibit:

East Lansing Modern, 1940 - 1970
MSU Museum Ground Floor,  April 28 - August 18, 2013

Upcoming programs:

Tuesday, May 14, 5 p.m.

Film screening: “East Lansing: The City We Know,” 30-minute documentary on the history of the city; followed by exhibition tour

Saturday, June 9, 2:00 - 3:30 p.m.

Workshop: “How to Research Your Home,” led by Whitney Miller, University Archivist at MSU and author of “East Lansing, Collegeville Revisited.”

Check out MSU Museum's website and Michigan Modern for more information about modern architecture in East Lansing and beyond.

Our book for April was The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. It is about a girl who can taste emotions and history in food. When she eats cake, she can tell how the baker felt and where the eggs came from and whether the cows were milked by hand. Our protagonist spends her life avoiding her potential and what makes her special. This is also a metaphor for the book, which carefully avoids its potential or making anything of its premise. This is a book about hiding from emotions and escaping from life. The writing is good but the story is poor.

As the school year ends, Baby Time and Story Time will shift from their regular weekly schedule to a special summer schedule!  We are excited to offer a fantastic programming line-up this summer which will be announced soon! Next week will be the last week of our regularly scheduled Baby Times and Story Times. 

Baby Time will take place on Monday, May 13th, 10:30-11 am.
The last date for Baby Time is Wednesday, May 15th, 10:30-11 am.

The last day for Story Time is Friday, May 17th, 10:30-11:15 am.

Last month we read The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, by Aimee Bender. It was a change of pace for us, being neither sci-fi nor fantasy, but rather magical realism. In this case, as one group member put it, “the book is light on magic and heavy on realism”. The characters are all believable, and their lives a recognizable collection of letdowns and achievements. The language itself is graceful and pleasant, drawing the reader into the protagonists mood. The consensus criticism from the group is that other than being moody, the protagonist, and indeed the other characters, don’t really do much. They spend all their time avoiding the various oddities and conflicts in their lives, and by the end of the book, while they have aged, they haven’t really grown.

This month we return to our roots with the 2013 Nebula and Hugo Award Nominee
The Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed, a fantasy novel inspired by the tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights. Join us on the fouth Wednesday of every month (this time it's the 22nd.)

 We are very happy to announce that eBook selection will soon expand rapidly for ELPL patrons.  In the last few weeks two major publishers, Simon & Schuster and Hachette, have agreed to allow libraries access to their catalog of eBooks.  This means that all six of the Big Six publishers (Hachette, Macmillan, Penguin, HarperCollins, Random House and Simon & Schuster) now allow libraries fair

 access to purchase their titles.  Previously libraries were limited to a very small number of titles from a small number of publishers.  This severely limited the selection of eBooks that we were able to provide to patrons.

The rules and practices of eBooks for libraries are byzantine and confusing. This article by Anthony W. Marx which appeared in the NY Times on May 1 does a wonderful job of explaining the confusion of the last few years. And while he applauds the publishers recent decisions for more fairness and equity he also, rightly so, calls them to task for their part in creating a very confusing landscape for libraries, library users and the publishers themselves.  

When should you, as an eBook user, see an expanded selection?  Very soon, with selection continuing to expand over the next year.  ELPL patrons have access to eBooks from two catalogs - Overdrive and 3M Cloud Library.  Having access to two eContent collections is important because only 3M has deals with all six of the Big Six.  All of our eBooks from both collections, as well as all our print books, DVDs, audiobooks and music are all listed in our online catalog.  It remains your best bet for browsing all that the library has to offer.  

Here are some easy links to get you started:

New 3M Cloud eBooks for May 

New Overdrive eBooks for May

New Overdrive eAudiobooks for May

This year's Edgars, awarded by the Mystery Writers of America for the best mysteries of the year, were announced Thursday night.

This year's winners are:

Best Novel - Live by Night by Dennis Lehane
Best First Novel - The Expats by Chris Pavone
Best Paperback Original - The Last Policeman: A Novel by Ben H. Winters
Best Fact Crime - Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China by Paul French
Young Adult - Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

For a complete list of winners visit www.theedgars.com