Friday Fun
May 2, 2008 by Stefanie
A few bookish goodies for you on this fine Friday.
But before we get to the books, all you Dead Heads out there may be interested to know that the band’s more than 30 years of memorabilia will be housed at UC Santa Cruz. My husband still has peace signs he gave out at Grateful Dead concerts. I wonder if UC Santa Cruz wants some?
Now for the books. Thank you to everyone for all of the armchair traveling book suggestions. I will be putting them all in a tidy list and will post them so everyone’s TBR pile can get bigger.
If you are wondering what books teenagers liked best last year, here’s a list of nominations for the 2008 Teen’s Top Ten, a teen choice award for books.
I’m not sure what to think of the UK Telegraph’s list of 50 best cult books. I’ve read and enjoyed a good many of them. Does that say something about me, the books, or the Telegraph and their definition of “cult book?”
And to conclude this brief posting, a video of the Austin, TX library cart drill team. They won the state competition and will not be competing at the world championships at the ALA convention next month. When I’m librarian, I think I might have to join a drill team just so I can get a hat.
And in case you didn’t catch the words to that last song, it is called “Librarian” by Haunted Love, a New Zealand band. And here is the music video. It both creeped me out and made me laugh.
I loved the library cart drill team routine! I’m going to share that with my husband when he comes home from work. The music video was funny too. Definitely a little creepy too! Haha Thanks for sharing!
I hated the Telegraph’s list of cult books. I wouldn’t define most of those books as “cult.” But they also lose points for making that list in the first place.
I loved the drill team, and loved the video even more!
Stefanie:
I LOVED the “Librarian” song, and the thing is… I found the two librarians to be very sexy. But, I am not sure that they were SUPPOSED TO BE sexy.
This is disturbing, now.
[...] Telegraph has a feature on the “50 Best Cult Books” (via So Many Books). I thought the comments on the feature were interesting, given I had never heard of most of the [...]
Thanks for sharing those lists. I like book lists. In part its a smugness at looking down and ticking off the ones I’ve read, but also the hope of spotting new ones I’ve missed.
I’m happy to dip into teen reads from time to time, its always good to learn what authors think teens would/should enjoy. Although I havent heard of most on that last.
I’ve read and enjoyed quite a lot of the cult books, although I read a lot of them when I was younger and I wonder in part if I didn’t like them only because I thought I should because they were considered cult books.
I’ve read 13 books off the cult book list — not so bad! There is a lot there that is interesting, but I do wonder why some are cult books. I mean, I loved James Hogg’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner, but is it a cult book???
Thanks for sharing the videos - that song is hilarious yet somehow creepy, as you say. Although I must say I’ve thought about using compact shelving in that way before…
[...] and catchy nerdster tune from a band from New Zealand. Via So Many Books, a new blog to me, which immediately hits my bookmarks if for no other reason than they have an [...]
LK, I had no idea library book carts could be so versatile!
Brandon, ha! Their definition of cult leaves something to be desired. Yeah, and they lose points for just making the list.
Sylvia, I think I might have to go on a search for music about librarians
Cip, I think the librarians were supposed to be sexy and creepy at the same time so don’t be worried
Jem, I’ve not heard of any of the teen reads either. Many of the cult books I read when I was younger too but not all of them. Somehow I don’t think of To Kill a Mockingbird as a cult book…
Dorothy, several of their choices on the cult list made me go huh? I remember your posts about Hogg’s book. It didn’t sound cult-y to me.
Melanie, maybe I am paranoid, but when I am looking for a book in the middle of a long row of compact shelving, I worry a little about being squished. Remind me never to get on your bad side
It does seem rather counter-intuitive to make a list of cult books, but its always fun to look over a list and try and figure out why certain books were chosen. I’ve also read a bunch from the list and can see why they might qualify - others seemed a bit strange!
The library cart folk are a hoot! Coming to a library near you soon, I hope! I’d read a lot of the books on that list. Cult is an interesting choice of word and I’m not sure they really mean it, but I’m also not sure what to put in its place.
Looking at the cult books list, it sort of reads like an enthusiastic round-up of any liberal arts education with some pop culture thrown in. I might add, I’ve read many of these (and enjoyed almost all of them!). Cult? Maybe not so much. However, as a summary of some darn fine books, seems like a good list.
I’ve read probably 5 or 6 of the cult books but I have at least 5 or 6 more on my TBR shelf. Some interesting items on that list.
Librarian… drill teams?! All I could do was stare in amazement…
Verbivore, I agree with you. I can’t resist lists even if all I do is argue with them!
Litlove, cult is an interesting word choice and their definition is rather vague but it makes for a curious grouping of books. And if I ever end up on a library cart drill team, I will be sure to post video
Daphne, yes, several of those books I read in school. I like your description of the list as an “enthusiastic round-up”
Bibliophylia, I have many of the books on my shelf too.
Errantdreams, yup, librarian drill teams. And there is a world championship too