I Just Read… "Wishful Drinking"

I Just Read… Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking

by Hanje Richards

A very funny memoir about some very serious subjects. A quick read, a short book, but packed with humor and bittersweet reflections. I thoroughly enjoyed it! It is upstairs in our Biography section.

Since Carrie Fisher, who is probably best known for her role as Princess Leia in Star Wars, is a good non-fiction writer, it made me very curious about her fiction.

I am still curious, because my bedside table is overloaded at the moment, so you will probably beat me to some of Fisher's novels -- but I do plan to read them soon! And I am looking forward to some more witty and wise writing by Carrie Fisher.

The Copper Queen Library has The Best of Awful: A Novel Based on a Truant’s Story, Delusions of Grandma, and Surrender the Pink. They are all available in the adult fiction section upstairs under Fisher.

If the book you are looking for is not available, we are happy to put a hold on it, so we can contact you when it does become available.

Getting to Know the Dewey Decimal Classification System

Getting to Know the Dewey Decimal Classification System, Part 2: 000 – 099

By Hanje Richards

At the Copper Queen Library, we organize our nonfiction according to the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system. This applies not only to the adult non-fiction section, but also to the Reference & Southwest Reference, Young Adult, and Juvenile collections, as well as to DVDs and Audiobooks.

In a previous post, I listed the ten general categories of the DDC from 000 – 999. In this post, I’ll look more specifically at the first category, 000 – 099: Computer science, Information, and General Works.

000 Computer science, knowledge & systems
010 Bibliographies
020 Library & information sciences
030 Encyclopedias & books of facts
040 [Unassigned]
050 Magazines, journals & serials
060 Associations, organizations & museums
070 News media, journalism & publishing
080 Quotations
090 Manuscripts & rare books

I won’t bore you with a lot of details, but if you’re interested in further exploring how DDC works, there are various places you can check online, including here.

One reason that being familiar with the system is important is that if you are interested in a particular topic, then you may well be interested in the topics that are shelved near it.

Understanding that can make for a better browsing experience!

At the Copper Queen Library, the sections between 000 and 099 include a lot of interesting titles…

In the circulating collection, books about UFOs and visitors from other planets are shelved here – for example, books by Whitley Strieber and several titles by Erich Von Daniken, including Gods from Outer Space, Signs of the Gods, and Gold of the Gods (001.9 Daniken).

Self-help and how-to computer books are also shelved in this section, as are books about books and libraries. The Book of Lost Books: An Incomplete List of All the Books You Will Never Read (002.09 Kelly) is here, as is Book Lust (011.73 Pea) by Nancy Pearl.

Books about journalism and magazine writing can be found at 070, including The Best American Magazine Writing series from 2000 to 2008 (070 Best [Year])

In the general reference collection, 000 – 099 includes the Encyclopedia Americana, Encyclopaedia Britannica, World Almanac and Book of Facts, Robert's Rules of Order, and Literary Market Place, while Southwest reference includes such titles as the Classified Bibliography of Native Plants of Arizona.

Quite a bit of variety… and that’s only the first section of shelving! If you can’t find what you’re looking for, please stop at the front desk and ask for assistance.

I Just Watched...

..Milk, starring Sean Penn as Harvey Milk, directed by Gus Van Sant. This moving portrayal of Harvey Milk, the nation's first openly gay male city supervisor, had me in tears by the end, and I assure you, I don’t cry at just any movie! Brilliant!

Harvey Milk was an amazing person, who saw and experienced injustice and learned how to fight it in the political arena. Sean Penn did such an incredible job of portraying him, that at this point it is virtually impossible for me to separate the person of Harvey Milk and the actor who portrayed him in this film.

The entire cast was excellent and believable in their roles, but I especially want to mention Emile Hirsch in the role of Cleve Jones. Young, angry, and disaffected, Cleve Jones became a real political force in his own right, and he is played beautifully by Emile Hirsch.

If you like Milk, you may also be interested in the two documentaries that we showed at the library on Bisbee Pride Weekend: Before Stonewall and After Stonewall. The movies were well attended and really appreciated by the audience at the library.

If you didn’t get a chance to see them yet, they are excellent and available on DVD at the Copper Queen Library.

--By Hanje Richards

If you like Janet Evanovich...

--By Hanje Richards

If you like Janet Evanovich, you will be happy to know that her latest book is available in new adult fiction. (And, who’s counting (?), but it is number 15 in the Stephanie Plum series.) The title is Finger Lickin’ Fifteen.

We have a plethora of Janet Evanovich titles in mystery and fiction. If you like your mysteries on the light and humorous side, you will enjoy her!

But, my point here was to tell you about another author you will like, if you like Janet Evanovich. Her name is Lisa Lutz, and her series of three (so far) books about the Spellmans, a family of private investigators, is so funny that the mysteries are beside the point.

If you are like me and like to read series in chronological order, then you will want to read them in this order: The Spellman Files, The Curse of the Spellmans (both of which are to be found in the fiction section) and The Revenge of the Spellmans in new adult fiction.

Without giving too much away (because meeting the members of the family and the supporting cast is half the fun), the eldest daughter, Isabel, is the main character, along with her siblings David and Rae, her parents – who run Spellman Investigations (the family business) – and Uncle Ray, who is prone to “lost weekends.”

If you want some totally light, totally escapist, totally fun reading this summer (or any time)…check out the Spellmans!

If the title you are looking for is not currently available, we are happy to put a hold on it, so we can contact you when it does become available.

Family DVD Night (Part 1)

Family DVD Night (Part 1)..

--By Hanje Richards

One of the challenges of purchasing materials for a public library is to make sure there is a little something for everybody. The challenge for today’s blog entry was to find DVDs that are both appropriate for children and enjoyable for adults. We have some great selections which might make for a perfect Family DVD Night or a Rainy Afternoon DVD Marathon.

Some of the DVDs I selected for family viewing have been around so long that I used to watch them with my son, who is now an adult. Others are newer, and I must confess I have not seen them myself but am relying on the recommendations of others.

So…. What do we have that will please across the generations? Big, Neverending Story, and Honey I Shrunk the Kids are DVDs that were watched repeatedly in our house, and I think they will continue to delight children of all ages.

We also watched October Sky and Cast Away when my son was a little older.

Some of the DVDs in our collection that are more recent are Golden Compass, Madeline, Akeelah and the Bee, Shrek, Shrek 2, and Willow.




If the DVD you are looking for is not available, we are happy to put a hold on it, so we can contact you when it does become available.

A Treat for the Eyes

--By Hanje Richards

If you love color, Mexican design, and/or are working on a decorating project, you will love this series published by Chronicle Books, all photography by Melba Levick.

These books are a treat for the eye and an inspiration for the decorator in you. For some, they might just be the perfect armchair travel books. These books can currently be found in the New Non-Fiction shelf at the library and will eventually be located on the third floor in Adult Non-Fiction.

In A Mexican Garden: Courtyards, Pools, and Open-Air Living Rooms This title features Mexico's patios, courtyards, and walled gardens. From private homes to luxurious resorts, the dazzling array of featured properties includes rustic coastal hideaways, elegant Spanish Colonial mansions, rural haciendas, and Modernist architectural masterpieces.

Mexicocina: The Spirit and Style of the Mexican Kitchen Melba Levick captures the

bright colors and bold shapes of the kitchens of Mexico, this time touring private historic homes, resorts, and cooking schools. San Pasqual Bailón, the patron saint of cooks and kitchens, blesses every last handmade copper kettle, Talavera tile, and neon sign.

Mexicolor: The Spirit of Mexican Design Showcases the profusion of multihued walls, tiles, ceramics, textiles, and folk art that fill the home; the riotous juxtapositions of vivid foods, flowers, supplies, and accessories that comprise the spectacle of the marketplace; the vibrant details that define everything.

Mexicasa: The Enchanting Inns and Haciendas of Mexico Highlights 21 small hotels, inns, and haciendas-- some ancient, some modern-- in several areas of Mexico. Some are historic sites, such as the Hacienda de Cortes, another offers cultural studies programs, while yet another features open-air structures adjacent to a nature preserve.

If the book you are looking for is not available, we are happy to put a hold on it, so we can contact you when it does become available.

I Just Read ...

... Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult.

In Handle With Care, which is currently available on our new adult fiction shelf, a family struggles with medical, legal, and ethical issues surrounding their youngest daughter’s OI (osteogenesis imperfecta) also known as "Brittle Bone Disease."

The author looks at how this serious medical problem affects everyone in and around the family from the 13 year-old sister, to the mother, father, the mother’s best friend and even the mother’s attorney.

The Copper Queen Library carries several of Picoult’s novels in the fiction section. Our holdings include Change of Heart, Picture Perfect and My Sister’s Keeper (soon to be a major motion picture).

Be sure to check us out!

......................................................................................-- by Hanje Richards

What In the Heck Is the Dewey Decimal System?

...and How Can It Help Me Find a Book?

By Hanje Richards

The Copper Queen Library uses the Dewey Decimal Classification system. This helps us arrange our collections and helps you find the materials you are looking for. This system was devised by Melvil Dewey in 1876. Mr. Dewey, with friend and fellow librarian Charles Ammi Cutter, founded the American Library Association. He also was an advocate of the metric system and reforms to English Language Spelling.

With thanks and apologies to Wikipedia:

The DDC system is made up of ten main classes or categories:

...000 – Computer science, information, and general works
...100 – Philosophy and psychology
...200 – Religion
...300 – Social sciences
...400 – Languages
...500 – Science and mathematics
...600 – Technology and applied science
...700 – Arts and recreation
...800 – Literature
...900 – History and geography and biography

Beyond the original ten classes, each class is further subdivided into ten divisions, and each division into ten sections, giving ten main classes, 100 divisions, and 1000 sections. In future blog entries, I will be highlighting each of the ten classes and some of the books that you find in them.

In the meantime, let me just say that at the Copper Queen Library (and many others) the Fiction and Genre Fiction (Mystery, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Western) sections, as well as audiovisual fiction, have been removed from the Dewey Decimal Classification System and are shelved separately -- alphabetically by the author's last name. We have also provided a distinct section for the Biography category.

The Dewey Decimal Classification system is used in our adult, juvenile, and young adult non-fiction sections and to organize our audiovisual (DVD, VHS, and recorded books) collections.

Of course, if you have trouble finding what you need, please ask at the Circulation Desk.

Happy Searching!