BINGO! I finally completed a "black out" on my Library Bingo card. Library Bingo is similar to regular Bingo, except the numbers are replaced by book categories. The contest began November 1st and runs through March 31st. If you would like information on hosting your own book bingo, or copies of the bingo cards and instructions I created, leave a comment or send me an e-mail. Here's what I read:
Audio Book: The Cat Who Went into the Closet by Lilian Jackson Braun
Teen Book: Witch and Wizard by James Patterson
Western: Flint by Louis L'Amour
Biography: Gunn's Golden Rules by Tim Gunn
Historical Fiction: Soaring Eagle by Stephanie Grace Whitson
Staff Pick: Still Life with Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
Mystery: Christmas at the Mysterious Bookshop, edited by Otto Penzler
Non-Fiction: Trauma Junkie: Memoirs of an Emergency Flight Nurse by Janice Hudson
Fiction P-T: A Christmas Snow by Jim Stovall
Foreign Setting: In the Company of Others by Jan Karon
Kansas Author/Setting: Mad Dog and Englishman by J. M. Hayes
Romance:Chesapeake Shore's Christmas by Sherryl Woods
Free Pick: Is it Just Me? or Is It Nuts Out There? by Whoopi Goldberg
2010 NYT Bestseller: Painted Ladies by Robert B. Parker
New (to You) Author: Snow Day by Billy Coffey
Classic: Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie
Fiction U-Z: The Seventeen Second Miracle by Jason F. Wright
Male Author: The Confession by James Grisham
5 or More Words in the Title: The Burgler on the Prowl by Lawrence Block
Fiction F-J: I Still Dream About You by Fannie Flagg
Female Author: The Snow Globe by Sheila Roberts
Science Fiction: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
New Book: Prostitutes' Ball by Stephen J. Cannell
Fiction K-O: Murder by the Book by Frances and Richard Lockridge
Fiction A-E: Make Out With Murder by Lawrence Block
I have not ceased to exist, nor have I ceased to read. My internet service has not been disconnected and we haven't gone on an extended vacation to Bali. I have simply been overwhelmed with projects that need to be completed at the library, and projects that need to be completed at home and...well, just generally overwhelmed. Several things have been abandoned, as sad and lonely as a daughter with a malfunctioning car, along the highway of life. Fortunately, most of those things are optional stuff like laundry and toilet cleaning, but blog posts seem to have gotten stranded also.
I even have half-a-dozen ideas saved as drafts, and a couple of completed books that could be reviewed, but rather than writing, I find myself spending free time pondering the meaning of life while staring at a sudoku puzzle or watching House Hunters and tellingthe prospective homeowners what self-indulgent, gluttonous brats they are. (Honestly, has anyone ever died from lack of duel sinks in their bathroom? We've been married for over twenty-eight years and having one bathroom sink has never been an issue. And how large does a master bedroom really need to be? Are you planning to hold a hoedown in there?)
Anyway, things are moving rapidly at our house. All three children, plus both grandsons will be here for the weekend - weather on Raton Pass willing - then we'll be going on a short trip, so we'll be a bit scarce for a while longer but never fear - or should I say, be afraid, be very afraid - cause we shall return. We've got loads of exciting things coming up we can't wait to share.
Sometimes the questions are strange, and sometimes the questions are incomprehensible, and sometimes the questions are vague - but when I can come up with the correct solution, I feel like Super Librarian!
In larger libraries, they have specially trained staff for reference work, but in a small library like ours, you take your chances. As it works out, we each have areas where we are most familiar - Marilyn knows children's literature, Joyce knows non-fiction titles, and most of the fiction questions come to me. Here are a couple reference mysteries I've solved lately:
Patron: I want a new book I saw in the bookstore the other day, but I can't remember the title.
Me: Do you know the author's name? Patron: No. Me: Ok, can you tell me what the story is about? Patron: No Me: Do you remember what the cover looked like? Patron: No, but the author's picture was on the back and he was wearing a cowboy hat. Me: Oh, that would be James Lee Burke. Patron: That's it!
Patron2: I want a certain book, but I can't remember the title. Me: Do you know the author's name? Patron2: It's Ely something. Me: Could it be "Night" by Elie Weisel? Patron2: That's it! Patron2's Husband: I told you someone here would know!
Matching someone up with just the book they're looking for is one of the best parts of being a librarian. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Faster than a card catalog... More powerful than a speeding computer.... Able to leap to conclusions with a single clue...
Below are some of TVLand's Top 100 Greatest TV Catchphrases. How many of them can you identify? Title of show and character, if applicable.
"Nip It"
"Resistance is futile"
"Oh, my nose!"
"I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV."
"Now cut that out."
"Good Grief"
"Mom always liked you best."
"Marcia, Marcia, Marcia"
"Good Night, John Boy"
"Up your nose with a rubber hose."
"We've got a really big show."
"What you see is what you get."
"Danger, Will Robinson"
"Is that your final answer?"
"Jane, you ignorant slut."
"Norm!"
"Live long and prosper."
"Yabba Dabba Doo"
"Here's Johnny"
"And that's the way it is."
Bonus Phrase: "Just one more thing..."
If you score less than 10 - Put down the book and turn on a re-run. If you score 11-15 -Top-notch TV Fan: Either a trivia buff, or you're older than you look. If you score 15+ - World Class Watcher - Sorry, there's no hiding your vintage, but you would do well on Jeopardy.
If you answered the Bonus Phrase correctly: You are the TV Catchphrase Champion with all the rights and privileges that carries....basically, the right to call yourself the TV Catchphrase Champion and yell, "I won! I won! I won!"
2. pointless; unimportant; trifling 3. inane or foolish
Any woman who has tried to keep a tidy house and raise children at the same time is familiar with this word. As a matter of fact, any woman who has ever tried to keep a tidy house - period - is familiar with this word.
“Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.” - George Carlin
Google the word and you find stories on sports, airport security, the current situation in Egypt, medical ethics, and something called "futility pruning", which involves "adding a futility margin to the evaluation of the current position". Wouldn't it be handy if life had a "futility margin"? A formula into which you could plug any situation in your life and receive a numeric value representing the futility of this particular effort. If the futiltiy margin is < X, keep plugging; > X, give it up already.
The limitation of riots, moral questions aside, is that they cannot win and their participants know it. Hence, rioting is not revolutionary but reactionary because it invites defeat. It involves an emotional catharsis, but it must be followed by a sense of futility. - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Your search would also reveal a poem by Wilfred Owen, which I read twice, but my attempts at understanding were futile; a book by Morgan Robertson, published fourteen years before the sinking of the Titanic, yet mirroring the fatal story in nearly every detail; and a couple movies I've never heard of, starring people I've never heard of.
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was "a king punished by being compelled to roll an immense boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, and to repeat this throughout eternity."1
[The Gods] had thought, with some reason, that there is no more dreadful punishment than futile and hopeless labor.- Albert Camus
Even Captain Kirk met with futility in the form of The Borg, who announced "You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile." But The Borg didn't know who they were dealing with. Of course, they were no match for the wits, saavy and ingenuity of James T. Kirk, so perhaps futility is not totally......well, futile.
