A Book as a Friend?

By Janelle Yahne
Library Circulation Associate

When you think of a favorite book, what are its likable characteristics? The author probably writers well enough if he has been published, though a critic might argue otherwise. The book is about an intriguing topic and weaves a story that keeps you flipping pages when you should be sleeping. Personally, I like the narrator’s voice that pops in my head as I read. In the end, a favorite book is one that gets under your skin, and stakes a claim upon a piece of your life as a friend.

An article in The Guardian by Rick Gekoski called “Some of My Worst Friends Are Books,” has me thinking about my own personal experiences with books. I remember being shocked by the end of Brave New World¹ and the choice made by the main character. I felt encouragement and warmth after following a young woman’s passage through grief in P.S. I Love You. Devil in the White City had me dreaming of the 1893 World’s Fair and I devoured books about the architects for months. The empathy I felt with the woman in The Yellow Wallpaper as she descended into madness. For the reader Mr. Gekoski writes, “we suspend the everyday, ignore the telephone and doorbell, eat with our eyes fixed to the page, overcome, ravaged by the demands of the text.” I feel the same way about friends and family.

Though we are busy with living our lives we make time for friends and family whether living or in letters. Sometimes we may not see each other or have enough quality time, but the bookcase in my house reminds me that we will find a way to meet.

There are books about books in the library, to help one find new friends and others can be found through MeLCat.

Check out these titles:

• Bloomsbury good reading guide [electronic resource] by Nick Rennsion
• Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason by Nancy Pearl
• How to Read and Why by Harold Bloom
• How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines by Thomas C. Foster
• Read This Next: 500 of the Best Books You Will Ever Read by Sandra Newman and Howard Mittelmark

1. Yes, I often recommend this book.

Spring Break Hours

Spring break is coming! Here are the library’s hours during that time:

March 3: 10AM – 2PM
March 4: 1PM – 5PM
March 5 – 11: Closed
March 12: Reopen at 7:30AM

I don’t know about you, but I am totally looking forward to spring break! Fun, sun, and a week without classes – how awesome is that?

The Three Little Pigs meet Loki on Mt. Olympus

By Janelle Yahne
Library Circulation Associate

With the Grand River Winds Community Ensemble having a mythology based performance tonight at St. Cecilia Music Center, it may be a great time to introduce the collection of mythology materials found in the library and online. Robert Graves, Joseph Campbell, and Edith Hamilton are all excellent writers on mythology with numerous books found in our library.

In addition, check out the books below on fables, fairy tales, and myths to find your new favorite. Enjoy!

• Aesop’s Fables [electronic resource] by Aesop
  Here is a collection of short fables to teach children morality and are still used today.
• Brewer’s dictionary of Irish phrase & fable by Sean McMahon and Jo O’Donoghue; foreword by Maeve Binchy
  Get to know the stories and language of Ireland in this book found in the Reference Area. The collection can also be searched through in Credo Reference.
• Bulfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch
  Used as an instructional guide to mythology, this book is actually an anthology of three books separately published.
• The complete fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm [electronic resource] translated and with an introduction by Jack Zipes; illustrations by John B. Gruelle
  The Brothers Grimm have influenced numerous authors and moviemakers. More on the Brothers Grimm at the library can be found here and here.
• Handbook of Inca mythology by Paul R. Steele, with the assistance of Catherine J. Allen
  Some of the music the Ensemble will be performing is based upon Machu Picchu, so this will be an excellent resource to understand the background of the lost city.
• The Library of Greek Mythology by Apollodorus, translated by Robin Hard
  This is not an introduction to Greek Mythology, but a primary source of Greek Mythology that has been referenced by numerous writers, including Robert Graves.
• Literature and film as modern mythology [electronic resource] by William K. Ferrell
  This book analyzes a few movies, like The Shawshank Redemption and Field of Dreams that used myth to tell an amazing story.
• The Oxford companion to world mythology by David Leeming
  This is a book broken down into an online resource found in Oxford Reference. The entries include hyperlinks to the details of each article allowing the reader to create comparisons between the myths.

February is about more than St. Valentine’s Day

Big Heart of Art - 1000 Visual Mashups by Qthomas Bower

By Janelle Yahne
Library Circulation Associate

February 14th has been the traditional date for St. Valentine’s Day. It is a day to express love to your partner through food, trinkets, and personal favors. Information on the history of St. Valentine’s Day can be found on Wikipedia, of course, and on History.com which includes fun videos about different aspects of the day. The library carries books about relationships and chocolate.

• Chocolate chocolate by Lisa Yockelson
• Lean on me : the power of positive dependency in intimate relationships by Marion F. Solomon
• Maintaining relationships through communication : relational, contextual, and cultural variations edited by Daniel J. Canary and Marianne Dainton
• Perfect love, imperfect relationships : healing the wound of the heart by John Welwood

February is also an important month for healthy heart awareness. The Center for Disease Control and American Heart Association are celebrating American Heart Month. To begin the awareness, people wore red to show support against Heart Disease on February 3rd. The Center for Disease Control is co-leading the Million Hearts program to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes. To be there for those who may need it, Valentine’s Day share February 14th with National Organ Donor Day to promote the organ donor registry. Below are items about taking care of your heart:

• The healthy heart cookbook for dummies by by James M. Rippe, with Amy G. Myrdal, Angela Harley Kirkpatrick, and Mary Abbott Waite
• Eat your way to a healthy heart : features chocolate and 99 other foods that help your heart by Liz Applegate

The woman’s heart : an owner’s guide by John A. Elefteriades and Teresa Caulin-Glaser

If St. Valentine’s Day and organ donation are not interesting, today is also Ferris Wheel Day. It might be too cold to ride one, but look here to see the world’s tallest Ferris wheels. If you would like to start a journey around the world instead, look here for information about the first Ferris wheel. We also have two titles in the catalog on George Ferris and the Ferris wheel to check out:

• Circles in the sky : the life and times of George Ferris by Richard G. Weingardt
• Engineering legend : great American civil engineers : 32 profiles of inspiration and achievement [eBook] by Richard G. Weingardt

Enjoy the day!

Library Journal’s top rated databases

By Marcia Lee
Serials Specialist

In recent months, a group of choice librarians and Library Journal reviewers were selected to evaluate databases which exist today for library use. In the end, the finalists were placed in specific categories, highlighting numerous resources of which several can be found right here at your GRCC Library. Below are the databases that made the “Top Database List” in their respective categories and they are available for access right now (requires RaiderLogin off campus):

Best Overall
Credo Reference

Most Ambitious in Scope or Content
Gale Virtual Library
Runner-up: Ebscohost eBooks (Formally NetLibrary.)

Most Elegant Runner-up: Oxford Art Online
Best Original Content Runner-up: CQ Researcher
Patron’s Favorites Runners-up: JSTOR and Naxos Music Library

To view a full list of the databases we offer alphabetically, click here. (We also offer the option of searching for databases by subject area.) We do our best to provide you with the most up-to-date & quality resources we possibly can, so although many of our databases did not “make the cut,” don’t doubt for a second that they aren’t just as useful for your research. Check them out today!

To view the rest of the finalists & runner-ups, click here.