Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction discussion
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Your Local Libraries
Our library has e-book access for free. I don't use it because i don't like reading off my computer.
Anne wrote: "Our library has e-book access for free. I don't use it because i don't like reading off my computer."Anne, I'd like to join your library!!! ;-)
Anne wrote: "Our library has e-book access for free. I don't use it because i don't like reading off my computer."Anne, l can highly recommend a Kindle for reading, my wife got me one for Christmas and l thought l would hate it, turns out l love the thing, not to mention getting instant books : )
Terri wrote: "On a different topic....(not that there is anything wrong with the current one, only I have something else to post about).My hubby is in the running for a new job and if he gets this new job then ..."
Methinks TBD is anxiously awaiting news of your hubby's impending job change.
Haha. And rightfully so. I can definitely see me buying more books from them if he changes jobs. :-)
I have a kindle. That is why I don't like reading on my computer-LOL.
I found these wonderful pictures of the Cincinnati library and had to share:http://www.retronaut.com/2013/04/inte...
Dawn wrote: "I found these wonderful pictures of the Cincinnati library and had to share:http://www.retronaut.com/2013/04/inte..."
I was born and spent the first 25 years of my life in Cincinnati-I spent many good times at that library. It was huge back in the 50's. I can't imagin how it has grown now.
I would love to go see it in real life. It looks beautiful in the pictures. :)
Wow. That is an insane library. I hope it looks like that to this day.
What really impressed me back in the 50' and 60's when I was using it was that there was a florr for each subject-sometimes a couple of subjects. I remember records for rent was on the 8th floor.
Terri wrote: "I have just moved over from one 'local' library to a different local library. All part of the same family of libraries.This one is brand new and, take a breath, there is a coffee shop inside!!!! L..."
Daaaaaaaaaaaang!!!
my library is so small and drab next to that.
Here's my local library: http://www.sno-isle.org/?ID=1204 Great staff though and a county wide lending program. I'm forever charmed by the stained glass windows though http://www.sno-isle.org/?ID=5769 There's a Kipling, a swahili folk tale and two Wagner operas featured.But then as staff I also have access to this library http://www.lib.washington.edu/suzzall... just across the street from my office. This one has the most gorgeous reading room http://www.lib.washington.edu/suzzall... I always feel like I've stepped into a Harry Potter story when I go in. (But it is oh.so.quiet. in there)
Leslie wrote: "Here's my local library: http://www.sno-isle.org/?ID=1204 Great staff though and a county wide lending program. I'm forever charmed by the stained glass windows though http://www.sno-isle.org/?I..."Beautiful stained glass. I can se why it ensnares you. :-)
..but that Washington library and its reading room!! My turn....daaaaaaaaannng!!!
This is only a bookstore and not a library but it is beautiful http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/...
Dawn wrote: "This is only a bookstore and not a library but it is beautiful http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/......"Oh....my....gosh. *mouth drops open*
Dawn wrote: "This is only a bookstore and not a library but it is beautiful http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/......"Holy ...
That is something else!
I posted these links in the Random thoughts thread, but thinking about it (dangerous I know)it seems they should be here also.here are some photos of the Salt Lake City main library
http://www.utah3d.net/panoramas/Libra...
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/salt-l...
It reminds me a bit of the inside of the Vancouver (Canada) Public Libraryhttp://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking...
And the outside (why I never thought to post this, maybe Dawn has...) is meant to look like the Coliseum in Rome
http://www.freevancity.com/wp-content...
To be honest, the Coliseum effect works much better from the ground than from photos. But I was impressed at the time.
It does, I wonder if they had the same architect
The central branch of the Seattle Public Library is pretty spectacular. I couldn't find any one photo that felt more representative than others so here's the Wikipedia article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_... It was designed by Kem Koolhaas...which I think is just an awesome name! (I guess he's pretty famous too...but what do I know?)
Anyway, besides the architecture one feature that I love is that the non-fiction section spirals up over several floors. You can walk the dewey-decimal system continuously from beginning to end without ever taking the stairs or interrupting your journey. It's cool. :)
These libraries are just crazy cool. I love architecture and I love libraries and I love books. Put them together and I am in heaven.
Darcy wrote: "It reminds me a bit of the inside of the Vancouver (Canada) Public Libraryhttp://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking...
And the outside (why I never thought to p..."
I do remember Dawn posting pics of that one. I didn't remember until I saw that second image.
Another incredible library.
Yep, posted pictures of the Vancouver library somewhere. Love it, have ever since they built it. And the Seattle library is awesome. I love that they have a red floor and an observation walkway up at the very top so you can take beautiful pictures and look down to the main floor .
Saw this article today, I thought it was curious:What's a Library? Michael Rosenblum
I live across the street from a library... or at least what used to be a library. The Donnell Library on West 53rd Street.
Today, it is a big hole in the ground.
There is going to be a 50-story condominium and Baccarat Hotel where the Donnell Library used to be.
Frankly, I will not miss the library.
Even though I lived right across the street from it for many years, I never went inside. I never sat in its reading room. I never checked out a book. I never explored its stacks to go through old volumes of bound periodicals in some research project.
Why would I do that?
Why, when I can order up pretty much anything I want online, any time I want. Admittedly, the library is free (thank you Benjamin Franklin for that concept), but the web is also free (at least so far), and instant and much much easier to reference and find stuff than in the stacks (though less romantic, in a literary sense).
I am old enough to remember wandering through the stacks at Sawyer Library at Williams when I was a student. I even had an assigned carrel - a small desk wedged in the stacks where I worked.
Those were the days.
I have a copy of the Oxford English Dictionary on my bookshelf, but when I went to see if carrel was spelled with one 'L' or two, I didn't pull out the OED. I just went to Dictionary.com.
My niece, upon seeing the first Harry Potter movie asked why Harry and Hermione and Ron always went to the 'library' at Hogwarts to look stuff up. "Why don't they just google it?"
A reasonable question.
At any rate, like the OED, the notion of a physical library still has some emotional pull for those of us who grew up with library cards and card catalogues and such. But we are old.
This morning, the NY Times announced that the design of the 'new' Donnell Library (they're putting it in the basement of the Baccarat Hotel and Condo Complex) is going to be unveiled today. It isn't exactly a library anymore. Says Enrique Norton, architect of the plan:
It has become more like a cultural space, which is about gathering people, giving people the opportunity to encounter each other," Mr. Norten said. "It's not really about just being a repository of books.
Library: a place for gathering people, giving people the opportunity to encounter each other....
Well, there you have it. Another 3,000 year old institution killed by the web.
Library of Alexandria? Oh yeah, that's where all those ancient Egyptians and Romans got to encounter one another.
Is this the future of all brick and mortar institutions? Will the New York Times building one day be seen as a place for 'gathering people' so that they can 'encounter one another?'
In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's novel of the dystopian future, (and also an excellent film by Francois Truffaut (1966)), Oskar Werner plays Montag, a 'fireman' whose job is to burn books.
We seem to have bypassed all that nasty burning stuff.
But the result is pretty much the same.
Okay..I am going to say that this gentleman has missed the point of books, libraries and libraries as cultural spaces.They always have been, it is just that now they promote that element more and you can be a little noisier in modern libraries.
He's not going to get it, because he doesn't get it.
I'm also not aware of being able to get any reading material I want online for free without the library. Certainly not legally.
If I want an answer quickly, I go online for it, but if I want to 'learn about something' properly, I need a book for that. I don't think this chappy wants to learn about subjects in an immersive way.
As for fiction...I am thinking he is not much of a reader. :) Which, you know, is okay if that's his thing. My husband isn't a reader either. Surprisingly, non readers can be nice people too. haha. :D
Those are the three things I thought of right away when I read the article too. He has definitely missed the point and if he's relying on Wikipedia for his history lessons he might not be getting the right info. :)
Dawn wrote: "He has definitely missed the point and if he's relying on Wikipedia for his history lessons he might not be getting..."
Precisely. Lol, :-)
Terri wrote: "Surprisingly, non readers can be nice people too. haha. :D "HAHAHA yes. Surprisingly. :)
And what about people that can't afford to have internet and/or devices by which to access that internet. I know that lots of people who may or may not be readers use the library internet resources for job hunting. In my own home, I usually go to the library if I need to print something. (I can't seem to keep a viable ink cartridge at home, so I've given up.) Just because the library isn't useful for him, doesn't mean that the library isn't useful.
I don't know Mr Rosenblum but I suspect he aimed to write in a provocative way...and if I am right, I'd say he succeded.
This was posted on my library FB page and library fans were not impressed.I know lots of people who don't understand the charm of libraries though and I could see them having the same opinion.
I spend a lot of money on books but with the amount that I read....I might be extremely poor if it weren't for the lovely library. :)
Yes, it may be a troll piece, but like Dawn, i know people who would agree with him. I have had the same discussion with some people who didn't see the point of the library system when there is 'internet' ooooo.....internet.I generally don't discuss back too much. When you are dealing with someone who doesn't see the point of a library or how important they are to communities, there really is no point in trying to enlighten them. Being enlightened was clearly not a priority of theirs in the first place....their opinion on libraries is proof of that.
I don't know what I would do without my local library. If they don't have the books I want, they always try to get them for me. I certainly can't afford to buy everything that I want to read online. I love libraries.
I was just checking out audiobook prices and they are staggering. So thank goodness for the library and their free digital books.
True That Dawn. I've found some good value using audible for audiobooks, but you only get one a month for $16.something. Free beats that everytime. :)I'm even planning to buy a DVD player exclusively for library CD audiobooks. (Imagine!!! Not everything is available digitally Harumpf! Hahaha) I haven't played an actual CD in years. LOL
When I run out at the library I'll have to go Audible but it will seriously cut down on my audiobook listening. I go through 4 or 5 a month right now and I just won't be able to afford that. I have a CD player in the car so that's where I listen when I find actual discs. But I have to switch to the MP3 player for the work car because it's so old all I have is an adapter for the tape deck. :)
Ever have the kids say "What's a cassette tape?" I have. LOL
Not yet but I don't hang with any kids on a usual basis. It's just like when I found my grandparents 8 track machine and asked the same question. :)
Leslie wrote: "Ever have the kids say "What's a cassette tape?" I have. LOL"I asked my daughter yesterday (after she had been relentlessly droning on and on) to "change the record" and just got a blank, confused look.
Tim wrote: "Leslie wrote: "Ever have the kids say "What's a cassette tape?" I have. LOL"I asked my daughter yesterday (after she had been relentlessly droning on and on) to "change the record" and just got..."
Oh no. I just realised that saying has well and truly reached its used by date. A shame.
I'll bet it won't be long before they have no idea what a dial phone is.
Anne wrote: "I'll bet it won't be long before they have no idea what a dial phone is."I have one of those, it's hardwired right into the wall of my house. I love it. :)
I love dial phones too. Love the sound and that great tactile feel. :)
The weird setup near me entails the nearest library is actually inside the local high school making it... 'fun'... trying to browse in there. The next nearest one is called the Great Boughton (suburb where I live) library even though it's not in Great Boughton...So long story short, I tend to use what I think of as the 'main' (publically funded) library in the city centre - the county town - only to sometimes find some of the books I@m looking for are only available in the county at one of the tiny provincial libraries which is a bit of a pain.
Though they're pretty good for getting new release books - especially historical fiction - within a few weeks of the release usually.
As for the muscle talk, I think the motivation is probably down to the fact they're being paid a few hundred thousand to get a body like that. Afterwards they have little motivation to keep up the hard work to keep the body shape.Plus not all movie characters are going to be intended to have that muscular body shape. For example Christian Bale bulking up for Batman Begins only to lose it all and more for The Machinist, then put it all back on again for The Dark Knight.
Ancient & Medieval Historical Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
The Fellowship of the Ring (other topics)Raiders of the Nile (other topics)
Hannibal: Enemy of Rome (other topics)
The Fellowship of the Ring (other topics)
The Fellowship of the Ring (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
John Grisham (other topics)James Patterson (other topics)
Sad that you won't get your library run...but great news if hubby gets the job he wants!
Wouldn't it be wonderful if libraries had access to all ebooks, and we could "borrow" (for free, none of this $5 fee stuff) by downloading from home onto our various ereaders?? (Amazon Prime has some, but I'm not a member.)