Friday, March 30, 2007

Friday Book Lover's Trivia

Questions (card #34):

CH (Children's Literature) - What was the best-selling hardcover children's book ever, by 2001- Green Eggs and Ham, Pat the Bunny or the Poky Little Puppy?
CL (Classic Literature) - What novel spins the tale of the four March sisters?
NF (Non-fiction) - What rocker's famous excesses did Sandy Troy detail in his 1994 autobiography Captain Trips?
BC (Book Club) - What Margaret Drabble novel centers on a feminist author who turns up missing from her British seaside town?
AU (Author) - What Nobel Prize-winner no doubt pleased typesetters by abbreviating his first two names, Vidiadhar Surajprasad?
BB (BookBag) - What hard-boiled private investigator dates a feminist therapist named Susan Silverman?

Wow, a relatively easy card this week. I got 5 of the 6 right! How did you do? See Comments for answers.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Friday Book Lover's Trivia

Questions (card #93):

CH (Children's Literature) - What kind of creature is the grouchy Templeton, in Charlotte's Web?
CL (Classic Literature) - What was Jane Austen's novel Susan retitled when it was first printed, decades after she'd written it?
NF (Non-fiction) - What corporation's 2001 downfall does Fortune reporter Bethany McLean expose, in The Smartest Guys in the Room?
BC (Book Club) - What author of The Transit of Venus forced fans to wait 23 years for her next novel, The Great Fire?
AU (Author) - What Nobel-winning U.S. novelist wrote in the 1950s about raising a mentally handicapped daughter, in The Child Who Never Grew?
BB (BookBag) - What mystery author's stable of sleuths includes museum curator Elena Oliverez and art investigator Joanna Stark?

How did you do? See Comments for answers.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Friday, erm... Wednesday Book Lover's Trivia!

My sincerest apologies to readers who missed the promised trivia last Friday. Hope this helps to ease the pain a little!

Questions (card #142):

CH (Children's Literature) - What book by Robert K. Smith finds Henry Green chomping so much chocolate that his skin breaks out in sweet-smelling bumps?

CL (Classic Literature) - What James Baldwin novel describes the spiritual awakening of 14-year-old John Grimes?

NF (Non-fiction) - What Bruce Porter book bore the subtitle How a Small-Town Boy Made $100 Million with the Medellin Cocaine Cartel and Lost It All?

BC (Book Club) - What best-selling western finds Lt. John Dunbar ordered to command a deserted army outpost?

AU (Author) - What Londoner, born Richard Patrick Russ, ditched his first wife and kids to reinvent himself as an "Irish" nautical novelist?

BB (BookBag) - What John Jakes trilogy concludes in Reconstruction times with Heaven and Hell?

How did you do? I got three this time (yay me)! See Comments for answers.

Monday, March 19, 2007

Local Woman Tells her Story and Wins!

Janette Mann of Keswick entered TVO's Telling our Stories competition, and won $250 for Georgina Public Libraries!






Pictured here is Janette [right] and Head Librarian Mary Baxter, holding a copy of Janette's winning story.

To read Janette's heart-warming story, click here.

Friday, March 09, 2007

Book Lovers Trivia

Every Friday I will post questions taken from Trivial Pursuit's Book Lover's Edition.



This isn't a game for the literary faint of heart- it's really hard! On this first card, I only got 2 questions right. How did you do? Click on Comments for the answers.

Questions (card #21):

CH (Children's Literature) - What fictional character did author Barbara Park finally allow to graduate from kindergarten, after nine years and 17 books?

CL (Classic Literature) - Who wrote The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas?

NF (Non-fiction) - What 19th-century inventory did Kenneth Silverman profile in his biography Lightning Man?

BC (Book Club) - What Robert Stone novel, set during the last days of the Vietnam War, features a journalist whose drug deal goes horribly awry?

AU (Author) - Who retaliated for being dumped by Eddie Cantor by basing a pathetic character on him in her novel The Love Machine?

BB (BookBag) - Whose novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? was adapted into the film Blade Runner?

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

And the Winner Is...



Lullabies for Little Criminals


Published in 2006 by HarperCollins


The narrator of Heather O'Neill's evocative novel is a 12-year-old named Baby, who is hovering between childhood and the temptations of the adult world. Her father, Jules, takes better care of his heroin habit than he does of her, and Baby learns not to depend on him. Though they live in poverty, she collects and covets the small crumbs of happiness she finds as she navigates the streets of Montreal's red-light district.
On the outside, Baby is whipsmart, wickedly funny and has a genius for survival; on the inside, she's as needy and as fragile as any girl entering puberty. She experiences highs and lows during stints in foster care and in a juvenile detention centre, all the while craving an injection of love and stability in her life.
Baby grows to depend on the charismatic predator Alphonse, a local pimp who is riveted by her blossoming beauty. At the same time, she nurtures a tender and naively passionate friendship with Xavier, a classmate who is clueless about his girlfriend's double life.
Lullabies for Little Criminals is a powerful debut novel, the coming-of-age story of a young woman who learns to adapt to heartbreaking circumstances, and about the young man who became her parent too early.

Defended by John K. Samson


To learn more, check out the Readers Guide (1332kb)

Thursday, March 01, 2007

Canada Reads

Canada Reads is at it again. The "All-Star" edition features panelists whose books have won previous Canada Reads contests.

Here are the books. Which one are you rooting for?