Sailing Southeast

We have a new 'must-read' book about Southeast Alaska:  Glaciers, Bears and Totems: sailing in search of the real Southeast Alaska by Elsie Hulsizer.  Photographer and writer Hulsizer spent three summers (2006-2008) sailing throughout the Inside Passage with her husband on their sloop Osprey.  They spent a lot of time exploring all the hidden nooks and beaches of Southeast, as well as walking around the many small towns and settlements that make up so much of our population:  Hoonah, Kake, Meyers Chuck, Yes Bay, Angoon, Hydaburg, etc.
It's this 'off-the-beaten-path' aspect of Hulsizer's book that makes this such an invaluable resource for local residents as well as the more adventuresome tourists.  Speaking as a librarian who fields many, many questions about the local area, we just don't have a lot of information - let alone photographs - about places like Meyers Chuck and Hydaburg.  Hulsizer spends pages and pages on these little communities, recounting her interactions with the locals and how daily life proceeds out in the big woods.  She even has a section on Old Kasaan.
Ketchikan residents will of course want to read the chapter on our fair city...it's not entirely flattering, and you will  find the conversation she has with one of the summer workers down on Creek Street (pg. 52 - "Is Ketchikan real?") quite enlightening.

Snow, snow, snow

It may be a little slushy right now, but it's supposed to get cold again, and we might get a teeny bit more snow.   So - before it's too late - grab our latest book on outdoor fun: Snow Play: how to make forts & slides & winter campfires plus the coolest Loch Ness monster and 23 other brrriliant projects in the snow by Birgitta Ralston.
Glow cones, snow caves, sculptures, mazes and icy decorations are all here in this fun book that will give you and your kids plenty of ideas for playing outside.  (You don't have to play with kids....there's no reason why adults can't have fun outside in the snow by themselves).  We have another book - Make it wild! : 101 things to make and do outdoors, by Jo Schofield - that also has ideas for chilly outdoor activities and art projects.
If the sun's out, it's a good time for you to be out.

Inventory is over

The library finished conducting it's annual inventory of the collection....thank you so much for bearing with us while we closed our doors for 3 days.  We put computers on carts, stretched network cables and extension cords hither and yon around the library, and scanned the barcode of every single book, audiobook, CD, video, read-along, and reference item in the building.  That's over 45,000 barcodes!
This was also our opportunity to put the books in perfect order, straighten the shelves, and refresh some of the displays.   In fact, it looked so lovely and tidy this morning when I came to work that my little librarian heart just glowed with happiness and I filmed the entire Adult collection to save the memory for posterity.
That might seem a bit odd, but it's the simple pleasures in life that keep us all going....

New Alaska fiction

We have two new novels from Southeast Alaska authors David Vann (Caribou Island) and Lynn D'Urso (Heartbroke Bay).
OK, so technically, David Vann is not a Southeast Alaska author - he's a professor at the University of San Francisco.  But he was born in Alaska, he did spend part of his childhood living in Ketchikan, and many of the stories in his acclaimed 2010 collection Legend of a Suicide are set in the local area.  So we'll just go ahead and claim him as one of our own.  His new novel is set on the Kenai Penisula and tells a story that will resonate strongly with many Alaskans: a couple bucking the elements trying to build a cabin in the middle of nowhere as their marriage slowly disintegrates, their dreams and wants slowly diverging.   Expect the same sort of bleak, compelling, emotionally charged atmosphere that Vann created so well in his previous work.
Lynn D'Urso is a Juneau-based writer (who has written some very interesting Alaskana books under his real name, Lynn Schooler).  His first novel, Heartbroke Bay, is based on a fascinating incident from Alaska's gold rush history.  An English maid working off her father's debts is bored with her life, and elopes with a prospector on his way to the gold fields in Alaska.  Overwhelmed by the reality of Alaska (always a tough location for newbies), they team up with three other prospectors with interesting stories of their own and end up in Lituya Bay.  From there, things go rapidly downhill.  This is a page-turning story that has gotten good reviews from Publishers Weekly and Booklist. 

It's art that you wear!

The 25th Annual Wearable Art show is coming up next week, and we have a new book that showcases decades of textile-based art.  Artwear: fashion and anti-fashion, by Melissa Leventon, features pieces from a 2005 exhibit at the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.  Leventon - who curated the exhibit - begins with an historical look at the merging of fashion and craft.  From the Arts & Crafts movement of the late 1800's to the renewed emphasis on nature during the 1970's and on into the recent experimentation with digital techniques and industrial fibers, textile artists have pushed the boundaries of fashion and perception.  Truly elegant painted silks, delicately beaded dresses, intricate smocking and elaborate construction techniques come together in amazingly creative ways.  Pages and pages of color photos will inspire budding textile artists, and get you fired up for the show next weekend.  (You might even think about getting a jump-start on Wearble XXVI)

New music

We have some wonderful new CDs if you're looking for something creative and unusual:
AfroCubism is a collaboration between musicians from Mali and Cuba.  In fact, this album was supposed to be created back in 1996, but when the musicians from Mali couldn't make it, the Cubans got together anyway and produced Buena Vista Social Club.  Expect great things from this blend of African and Cuban rhythms.
African sounds prevail on Bela Fleck's new album Throw Down Your Heart: tales from the acoustic planet.  Vol. 3, the Africa sessions.  Fleck brings his banjo back to it's homeland, jamming with musicians from Uganda, Mali, Tanzania and Gambia. 
Harlem River Blues is the latest album from Justin Townes Earle (son of musician Steve Earle).  Part country, part indie rock, part folk, this CD features some haunting songwriting by Earle.  Despite the hillbilly feel of the music, the songs themselves deal with life in New York City.  It's an interesting juxtaposition.
Clarinetwork: Live at the Village Vanguard has a sound you might associate more readily with NYC.  Anat Cohen, who has a nice light touch on the clarinet, pays tribute to the centennial of Benny Goodman's birth with a selection of his standards.  She gives them a little harder, jazzier sound, but she maintains that same swinging, lilting sound.
Buddy Guy: Living Proof is the latest from a blues legend.  At 74, Buddy Guy is still going strong.  He has a couple of tracks with guest artists B.B. King and Carlos Santana, but the rest of the album is all Buddy's gravelly voice and smoking guitar.

Go on, take a bite

If you're one of a handful of people in this country that aren't concerned about shedding a few post-holiday pounds, then we've got the cookbooks for you!
Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax is a reprint of an award-winning bible for bakers.  Two decades after it first came out, it is still a treasure trove of traditional (Raspberry Flummery), unique (Grape-Nuts Pudding) and contemporary (Cappucino Semifreddo) desserts.  Although there aren't as many photos as I would like, the recipes are simple enough for the average home cook.  My personal favorite:  Grape-nuts pudding.
Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum is full of beautiful pictures, presents measurements in volume and weight (both metric and imperial), and instructs the cook on what special equipment might be needed for each recipe and what ingredients might need to be prepared ahead.  Recipes range from the homey (English Gingerbread) to the elegant (Grand Marnier Wedding Cake).
Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy melt-in-your-mouth cookies by Alice Medrich is an amazing collection of unusual and decadent cookies.  Sorted by texture, the recipes include such interesting suggestions as Masala Macaroons, Spiced Fig Meneinas, Honey Hemp Bars and Pecan Polvorones with Muscovado Filling.  There's also Snickerdoodles, Fudgy Brownies, Meringues and Lemon Bars, if you like your sweet nibbles a bit more familiar.
Meat: a kitchen education by James Peterson is a wonderful book for anyone who is daunted by the ever-changing names in the meat display at the local grocery store.  The photographs show you what the cut actually looks like, how to prepare it for cooking (trimming, boning, butterflying, etc.) and what cooking techniques to use with that particular cut (braising, roasting, sauteing, grilling, etc.).  Peterson even includes sections on game and sausages.
Heart of the Artichoke and other kitchen journeys by David Tanis is my personal favorite of the new crop of cookbooks.  Chef at the renowned Chez Panisse restaurant, Tanis presents recipes grouped by season:  both in the weight and tenor of their flavor, and in the accessibility of the ingredients.  No strawberries in December for Tanis.  His recipes are truly global, incorporating flavors from the Mediterranean, Latin America, the Far East and Europe.  He presents 5 menus per season, with a varying degree of complexity.  The Panfried Steak with Steak Sauce is easily done, the Terrine of Pork and Duck Liver....less so.  Generally speaking, however, the recipes are simple and easy to make, with just a few ingredients and a pure flavor.