Spotlight on Animal Stories

Enjoy these engaging and often amusing books about animals in our lives:

• Enslaved by Ducks by Bob Tarte
• Fowl Weather by Bob Tarte
• Fifty Acres and a Poodle: A Story of Love, Livestock, and Finding Myself on a Farm by Jeanne Marie Laskas
• Marley & Me by John Grogan
• The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: A Love Story--With Wings by Mark Bittner
  

Good Reads

The Pasco County Library System now offers you Good Reads--a collection of e-newsletters highlighting titles in specific categories. Simply subscribe to the categories of interest and you will receive an email notification of new titles in those categories. In addition to the listing of titles, you'll be given a brief description of the book and a direct link from the e-newsletter to the library catalog to place a hold on items of interest.

Here's a sample of what is available from Good Reads:

• Meet the Author
• Audio Books
• Books on the Air
• Fiction Preview
• Non-Fiction Preview
• Romance
• Science Fiction & Fantasy
  

If you don't have an email account or aren't sure you want to sign up for the e-newsletters, you can preview the newsletters here.

And the Winner Is...

Anne Enright was awarded the Man Booker prize for her bleak family drama The Gathering. In addition to the monetary reward, Anne Enright is guaranteed a boost in sales and worldwide recognition.


If you're in the mood for lighter fare, try National Book Award Finalist Joshua Ferris's Then We Came to the End. From the book jacket:

"No one knows us quite the same way as the men and women who sit beside us in department meetings and crowd the office refrigerator with their labeled yogurts. Every office is a family of sorts, and the ad agency Joshua Ferris depicts in his debut novel is family at its strangest and best, coping with a business downturn in the time-honored way: through gossip, pranks, and increasingly frequent coffee breaks."

National Book Awards

The finalists for the 2007 National Book Awards have been announced.

"The mission of the National Book Foundation and the National Book Awards is to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America."


An independent panel of five writers will select the winners in four categories: Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature.

For more information on the awards and the National Book Foundation visit their website.

The winners will be announced November 14.

Baseball Fever

It's time for the playoffs! Check out the official site of Major League Baseball for team info and schedules and check out the library for great books on baseball.

Baseball Fiction:

• The Natural by Bernard Malamud

• Double Play by Robert B. Parker

• Hanging Curve by Troy Soos

• The Great American Novel by Philip Roth

Baseball Nonfiction:

• Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth by Leigh Montville

• Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's Guide for Beginners, Semi-Experts, and Deeply Serious Geeks by Zack Hample

• Opening Day: The Story of Jackie Robinson's First Season by Jonathan Eig

• Wrigleyworld: A Season in Baseball's Best Neighborhood by Kevin Kaduk