Newly Notable: The Casual Vacancy

Speaking of people who are baaaaaaaack: you can now put a hold on J.K. Rowling's new book The Casual Vacancy.

According to her publisher, Little, Brown, the book is "blackly comic" and Rowling is now aiming for a more adult audience.  The publisher has offered the following description of the book:
When Barry Fairweather dies unexpectedly in his early forties, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty fa?ade is a town at war. Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils…Pagford is not what it first seems. And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?
The worldwide release date is September 27--sadly, just in time to not make it onto your beach reading list.

Newly Notable: Dr. Sleep

He's baaaaaaack--and by "he," I mean little Danny Torrance, all growed up!  And, well, technically, Stephen King, too.

Just after 9:00 this morning, a post went up on Stephen King's website announcing the tentative release date of King's new novel Dr. Sleep.  The bad news is that you're going to have to make some other reading plans for awhile: the release is scheduled for January 15, 2013 (ouch, huh?).
So let's cut to the chase: Dan Torrance, now a middle-aged adult coping with his own demons (for official details on said demons, see The Shining) meets Abra Stone, a teen with the most brillian shining Dan has ever seen.  Enter also a tribe calle The True Knot: "They look harmless--mostly old, lots of polyester and married to their RVs." Unfortunately, they're also quasi-immortal, and live off the essence produced when children with the shining are tortured.  Snazzy, huh?
Sit tight, folks--I'll bring more information as it becomes available.

Literary News: Maurice Sendak

Maurice Sendak, beloved author of children's books, artist and the inspiration behind several of my most memorable childhood nightmares died early this morning in Connecticut as a result of complications following a stroke.  He was 83 years old and for many will be remembered as the pioneer in children's literature.  More details about Sendak's life, influence and creations are available on The New York Times Book page.

Newly Notable -- Let's Pretend This Never Happened

In case you happen to be a fan of the Bloggess (and I'm convinced that the only people who aren't are the ones who haven't heard of her yet), check out the book trailer for her memoir Let's Pretend This Never Happened:



Because hey, an Elizabethan mouse? Who can resist that?  Now you KNOW you want to read it, don't you?

Facebook Boot Camp

Join us for a power tour of Facebook*. 

Friday, May 4 9:30-11:30am
Saturday, May 12 9:30-11:30am
Thursday, May 17 2-4pm
Monday, May 21 6-8pm



Timothy Haines will be leading participants through the in's and out's of the Facebook profile, pictures, timeline, friends, privacy, and more.  Meet in the lower level computer lab.  Limited seating available.  Contact the Reference Department (616.355.3720 or reference@herrickdl.org) for more information.

*Active Facebook account required. 

Attention Book Groups

Here is a non-fiction choice for your book group.

The Swerve: how the world became modern by Stephen Greenblatt

One of the world's most celebrated scholars has crafted both an innovative work of history and a thrilling story of discovery, in which one manuscript, plucked from a thousand years of neglect, changed the course of human thought and made possible the world as we know it. This book is the winner of the 2011 National Book Award for non-fiction. It is available as a Book Group to Go bag.

What Pulitzer?

Here's a first...
Well, not actually a first--it happened once before. In 1977. The Pulitzer Awards were announced yesterday and, no kidding: they didn't award one for fiction this year.
The three books on the finalist list were: Train Dreams by Denis Johnson, Swamplandia! by Karen Russell, and The Pale King by David Foster Wallace.
The Pulitzer gave only the statement, "The three books were carefully considered, but in the end, none mustered the mandatory majority for granting a prize, so no prize was awarded."
C'est la vie. For more information on the other awards that were granted this year, see the 2012 Pulitzer Awards page.