If the second season of the hit PBS series Downton Abbey has you thinking of what Oscar Wilde said about there being only two types of tragedies: “One is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it”, we may have just the thing.  Our newest reading list, Can’t Get Enough Downton Abbey, will have Downton fans reading happily, regardless of their opinion of season two.

You’ll find beloved favorites like Oscar Wilde, Evelyn Waugh, and E.M. Forster, but you will also find less familiar reads.  Don’t miss The Go-Between, L.P. Hartley’s nearly perfect coming-of-age novel set on an English country estate in the summer of 1900. Also, take a look at our choices for young adults, such as The American Heiress and The Luxe. For a taste for what life was really like on an English estate in the years before and during the first World War, check out our selected memoirs and nonfiction, like Below Stairs and of course, Lady Almina and the Real Downton Abbey : the Lost Legacy of Highclere Castle.   

Tags: Recommendations

The world of children’s literature lost an icon recently with the passing of Philadelphia native and longtime Bucks County resident Jan Berenstain, co-creator with her husband Stan of the hugely successful Berenstain Bears picture book series. Stan Berenstain passed away in 2005.

Jan and Stan met in art school in Philadelphia at age 18 and quickly became collaborators in their work and in life. Over the next 50 years, they published more than 300 Berenstain Bears books in more than 23 languages. The first book in the series, The Big Honey Hunt, was released in 1962 with the help of Theodor Geisel, then a children’s book editor at Random House (and also known as Dr. Seuss). The cheerfully illustrated stories tell the everyday tales of Mama, Papa, Sister, Brother, and Honey Bear, who live at the end of a sunny dirt road deep in Bear Country—a setting inspired by the rolling hills of southeastern PA.

With a series of books beloved by generations of readers, Jan and Stan Berenstain left an indelible mark on the world of children’s literature.

Tags: Children's books

With all the glitz and glamour that Hollywood is known for, it is easy to imagine that the Oscars have always looked like they do now with red carpets and galas and tear-soaked speeches.  Yet, if you are watching the 84th Annual Academy Awards presentation live this Sunday, take a moment to compare this year’s proceedings with the first, which was held May 16, 1929.  As the event was more banquet than ceremony, it was held in the Blossom Room of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, and rather than sitting in rows of plush seats like those at the Kodak Theatre, the current home of the Awards, the 270 guests, who had paid $5.00 per ticket to attend, sat around tables for dinner and those called up to receive statuettes or honorary scrolls were seated at the head table. Dancing followed, and it was only after this that host Douglas Fairbanks began the formal presentation. With a typical running time of three and a half to four hours, it would be a surprise to modern audiences if the ceremony were scaled back to the 1929 time of five minutes, which was the case in part because there was only one formal speech and one musical performance. We would also have to get used to not seeing the iconic envelope, as the winners in every category had been announced to the industry and the public a full three months prior to the Awards.

However, as many differences as there are, it seems that history has a way of repeating itself.  The first film to ever win Best Picture was a silent film in black and white. Wings, produced by Adolph Zukor at Paramount Studios and directed by William Wellman in 1927, was a spectacle about aerial battles in WWI and starred Clara Bow and Charles “Buddy” Rogers.  So far it is the only silent film in Oscar history to win Best Picture, but with the French film The Artist up for the award, maybe this year will see another such film added to that list.

The Wings images below are scans of items in the Free Library's Theatre Collection.  If you want to view the movie, Paramount recently released a restored and remastered verson on DVD and Blu-ray.

Note that "Oscar ©" and "Academy Award ©" are trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
 

Tags: Awards

Morningstar is a trusted name in financial analysis. While its flagship product, Morningstar.com, has been available in our Business, Science, and Industry Department at the Parkway Central Library for some time, we are pleased to announce that this resource is now available at all Free Library locations. Use Morningstar for in-depth analysis of stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and more. Their interactive portfolio tools and articles will also help ensure you are investing wisely. Visit any FLP location with your laptop or use one of our public PCs and visit our database page to get started.

Can’t make it to an FLP branch? No worries - we have financial resources you can access from anywhere when you login with your library card number and PIN. Take a look at ValueLine, another trusted name in finance. ValueLine’s in-depth analysis of company stocks is second-to-none and their selections and opinions are legendary. For detailed company histories, research, and evaluation, give Mergent a try. Find information on corporate and municipal bonds in the Mergent/Moody’s Digital Manuals.  All of these resources are available via the web from your location. Access begins at our database page with your library card number and PIN.

However, if it is genuine research expertise you need, our Business, Science, and Industry Department at the Parkway Central Library is the place to start. Here you will find many excellent resources, both in print and via online subscription, that are simply not available at any other public institution in Philadelphia, not to mention a staff of dedicated librarians well versed in business and financial research. Take a look at their website and Facebook page to learn more. 
 

Tags: databases

As I’m sure many of my fellow readers do, too, I have an extensive and ever-rotating list of favorite authors. I look forward to reading their new works and enjoy exploring their back lists of novels and stories. Frequently, I’ll discover a new writer I enjoy and immediately want to read everything he or she has ever written. (Bonus: The Library feeds my addiction, for free!)

At the same time, I have a very finite, fixed list of my “hardback favorites”—authors for whom I will rush out and buy the hardback copy of their newest work as soon as it is published, sometimes counting down the days until its pub date on my desk calendar. Their books live in a special bookcase at my house, and I re-read them not infrequently, always noticing something about the story or the writing that I did not notice before (a mark, I think, of a great book).

One of my “hardback favorites” is the Scottish-born writer, Margot Livesey. I’m just about finished with her newest novel, The Flight of Gemma Hardy, and I already want to heartily recommend it! Inspired by Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, The Flight of Gemma Hardy follows its namesake character as she struggles to make her own way and find her place in the world in late-1950s and early-1960s Scotland, as second-wave feminism is just starting to influence an increasingly modern, post-WWII society. You don’t have to take my word for how great this novel is: Check out these reviews from the New York Times Book Review and the Seattle Times.

What I appreciate so much about Livesey’s writing is its thoughtfulness—you get the sense that each word is deliberately and carefully chosen. Her descriptions are rich and evocative without being effusive, flowery, or overwrought. Her characters are strong-willed and complex, her plots carefully crafted. What I appreciate most about Livesey’s writing is its quietness. She’s not a flashy writer, but each sentence is important, each detail holds meaning, each character--however minor--is memorable. As a reader, finishing a paragraph, a chapter, a whole book of hers is incredibly satisfying. As much as I admire linguistic acrobatics and inventive toying with structure, a classically well-told story with emotionally resonant and honestly drawn characters will get me every time.

The Free Library has copies of nearly all of Livesey’s back list, and I encourage you to check her out, if you’re looking for a good novel to read! (The House on Fortune Street is a particular favorite of mine.) You can also check out her Q&A with this very blog from 2008 when she visited the Free Library for the Philadelphia Book Festival. And, of course, chime in in the comments with your thoughts on Margot Livesey’s writing or with your own recommendations and “hardback favorites!”

Tags: Reviews