Friday, January 24, 2014
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
2014 Renovation
Library renovations begin
January 27.
Our goal is minimal disruption to patron services while renovations are underway.
The renovation will take up to 6 months to complete.
We will continue to offer regular programming during the renovations. However, special programs like our Princesses & Popstars Day will be cancelled. Call the Library if you have any questions regarding these cancellations.
Please be patient with us.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
ACMA Nominees 2014
Congratulations to the Boom Chucka Boys.
The Sylvan Lake band are up for FIVE
Association of Country Music in Alberta music awards!
They are nominated for:
Group of the Year
Fans' Choice
Song of the Year
Album of the Year
Rising Star of the Year.
The awards will be handed out on Saturday, January 25, at Westerner Park in Red Deer.
Copies of their albums are available through the Parkland Regional Library System.
RBC Taylor Prize Shortlist Finalists 2014
The RBC Taylor prize for non-fiction has announced their shortlist of finalists for 2014. The winner will be announced in March and receive a $25 000 prize. The finalists are:
The Massey Murder: A Maid, her Master, and a Trial that Shocked a Country by Charlotte Gray
Novels about Canadian true crimes by Margaret Atwood (Alias Grace) or Lynn Crosbie (Paul's Case) might capture public attention, but this book by one of Canada's top biographers and historians (Gold Diggers) captivates as an evocative and eye-opening history lesson. Set in the bourgeois world of 1915 Toronto, the expertly-paced procedural follows the fate of an English-born servant, Carrie Davies, whose characteristic "hard, hard life" as one of the city's nearly 12,000 domestics underwent a sudden and radical transformation when she shot Charles Massey, the scion of an influential family, claiming he'd ruined her character. Depicting rapidly changing Canada as a place "riddled with anachronisms and paradoxes" where "seams of hypocrisy and prudery ran deep," the story winds from the Toronto's Women's Court in the heyday of maternal feminism and warring newspapers to a bitter, alcoholic defense attorney, self-important judicial functionaries, courtroom mobs filled with morbid curiosity, and families with unchallenged patrician attitudes. The unfolding drama was a welcome distraction from the "pitiless meat grinder" of war in Europe. While the two-day trial featured competing "gothic horror story" theatrics, the jury of Carrie's 12 social peers eventually obeyed a peculiar logic, reflecting the nation's shifting values.
The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas King
The Inconvenient Indian is at once a "history" and the complete subversion of a history--in short, a critical and personal meditation that the remarkable Thomas King has conducted over the past 50 years about what it means to be "Indian" in North America. Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, this book distills the insights gleaned from that meditation, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other. In the process, King refashions old stories about historical events and figures, takes a sideways look at film and pop culture, relates his own complex experiences with activism, and articulates a deep and revolutionary understanding of the cumulative effects of ever-shifting laws and treaties on Native peoples and lands. This is a book both timeless and timely, burnished with anger but tempered by wit, and ultimately a hard-won offering of hope -- a sometimes inconvenient, but nonetheless indispensable account for all of us, Indian and non-Indian alike, seeking to understand how we might tell a new story for the future.
The Once and Future World: Nature as it was, As it is, As it could Be by J.B. MacKinnon
The Once and Future World began in the moment J.B. MacKinnon realized the grassland he grew up on was not the pristine wilderness he had always believed it to be. Instead, his home prairie was the outcome of a long history of transformation, from the disappearance of the grizzly bear to the introduction of cattle. What remains today is an illusion of the wild--an illusion that has in many ways created our world. In 3 beautifully drawn parts, MacKinnon revisits a globe exuberant with life, where lions roam North America and 20 times more whales swim in the sea. He traces how humans destroyed that reality, out of rapaciousness, yes, but also through a great forgetting. Finally, he calls for an "age of restoration," not only to revisit that richer and more awe-filled world, but to reconnect with our truest human nature. MacKinnon never fails to remind us that nature is a menagerie of marvels. Here are fish that pass down the wisdom of elders, landscapes still shaped by "ecological ghosts," a tortoise that is slowly remaking prehistory. "It remains a beautiful world," MacKinnon writes, "and it is its beauty, not its emptiness, that should inspire us to seek more nature in our lives."
The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan by Graeme Smith
For readers of War by Sebastian Junger, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch, and The Forever War by Dexter Filkins: The Dogs Are Eating Them Now is a raw, uncensored account of the war in Afghanistan from a brilliant young reporter who for several years was the only Western journalist brave enough to live full-time in the dangerous southern region. The Dogs are Eating Them Now is a highly personal narrative of our war in Afghanistan and how it went dangerously wrong. Written by a respected and fearless former foreign correspondent who has won multiple awards for his journalism (including an Emmy for the video series "Talking with the Taliban") this is a gripping account of modern warfare that takes you into back alleys, cockpits and prisons--telling stories that would have endangered his life had he published this book while still working as a journalist. From the corruption of law enforcement agents and the tribal nature of the local power structure to the economics of the drug trade and the frequent blunders of foreign troops, this is the no-holds-barred story from a leading expert on the insurgency. Smith draws on his unmatched compassion and a rare ability to cut through the noise and see the broader truths to give us a bold and candid look at the Taliban's continued influence--and at the mistakes, catastrophes and ultimate failure of the West's best intentions.
Arthur Erickson: An Architect's Life by David Stouck
Not available in the Parkland Regional System at this time.
"This first full biography of Erickson, who died in 2009 at the age of 84, traces his life from its modest origins to his emergence on the world stage. Grounded in interviews with Erickson and his family, friends and clients, Arthur Ericksonis both an intimate portrait of the man and a stirring account of how he made his buildings work. Brilliantly written and superbly researched, it is also a provocative look at the phenomenon of cultural heroes and the nature of what we call "genius."" from douglas-mcintyre.com (January 16, 2014).
The Massey Murder: A Maid, her Master, and a Trial that Shocked a Country by Charlotte GrayNovels about Canadian true crimes by Margaret Atwood (Alias Grace) or Lynn Crosbie (Paul's Case) might capture public attention, but this book by one of Canada's top biographers and historians (Gold Diggers) captivates as an evocative and eye-opening history lesson. Set in the bourgeois world of 1915 Toronto, the expertly-paced procedural follows the fate of an English-born servant, Carrie Davies, whose characteristic "hard, hard life" as one of the city's nearly 12,000 domestics underwent a sudden and radical transformation when she shot Charles Massey, the scion of an influential family, claiming he'd ruined her character. Depicting rapidly changing Canada as a place "riddled with anachronisms and paradoxes" where "seams of hypocrisy and prudery ran deep," the story winds from the Toronto's Women's Court in the heyday of maternal feminism and warring newspapers to a bitter, alcoholic defense attorney, self-important judicial functionaries, courtroom mobs filled with morbid curiosity, and families with unchallenged patrician attitudes. The unfolding drama was a welcome distraction from the "pitiless meat grinder" of war in Europe. While the two-day trial featured competing "gothic horror story" theatrics, the jury of Carrie's 12 social peers eventually obeyed a peculiar logic, reflecting the nation's shifting values.
The Inconvenient Indian: A Curious Account of Native People in North America by Thomas KingThe Inconvenient Indian is at once a "history" and the complete subversion of a history--in short, a critical and personal meditation that the remarkable Thomas King has conducted over the past 50 years about what it means to be "Indian" in North America. Rich with dark and light, pain and magic, this book distills the insights gleaned from that meditation, weaving the curiously circular tale of the relationship between non-Natives and Natives in the centuries since the two first encountered each other. In the process, King refashions old stories about historical events and figures, takes a sideways look at film and pop culture, relates his own complex experiences with activism, and articulates a deep and revolutionary understanding of the cumulative effects of ever-shifting laws and treaties on Native peoples and lands. This is a book both timeless and timely, burnished with anger but tempered by wit, and ultimately a hard-won offering of hope -- a sometimes inconvenient, but nonetheless indispensable account for all of us, Indian and non-Indian alike, seeking to understand how we might tell a new story for the future.
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The Once and Future World: Nature as it was, As it is, As it could Be by J.B. MacKinnonThe Once and Future World began in the moment J.B. MacKinnon realized the grassland he grew up on was not the pristine wilderness he had always believed it to be. Instead, his home prairie was the outcome of a long history of transformation, from the disappearance of the grizzly bear to the introduction of cattle. What remains today is an illusion of the wild--an illusion that has in many ways created our world. In 3 beautifully drawn parts, MacKinnon revisits a globe exuberant with life, where lions roam North America and 20 times more whales swim in the sea. He traces how humans destroyed that reality, out of rapaciousness, yes, but also through a great forgetting. Finally, he calls for an "age of restoration," not only to revisit that richer and more awe-filled world, but to reconnect with our truest human nature. MacKinnon never fails to remind us that nature is a menagerie of marvels. Here are fish that pass down the wisdom of elders, landscapes still shaped by "ecological ghosts," a tortoise that is slowly remaking prehistory. "It remains a beautiful world," MacKinnon writes, "and it is its beauty, not its emptiness, that should inspire us to seek more nature in our lives."
The Dogs Are Eating Them Now: Our War in Afghanistan by Graeme SmithFor readers of War by Sebastian Junger, We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families by Philip Gourevitch, and The Forever War by Dexter Filkins: The Dogs Are Eating Them Now is a raw, uncensored account of the war in Afghanistan from a brilliant young reporter who for several years was the only Western journalist brave enough to live full-time in the dangerous southern region. The Dogs are Eating Them Now is a highly personal narrative of our war in Afghanistan and how it went dangerously wrong. Written by a respected and fearless former foreign correspondent who has won multiple awards for his journalism (including an Emmy for the video series "Talking with the Taliban") this is a gripping account of modern warfare that takes you into back alleys, cockpits and prisons--telling stories that would have endangered his life had he published this book while still working as a journalist. From the corruption of law enforcement agents and the tribal nature of the local power structure to the economics of the drug trade and the frequent blunders of foreign troops, this is the no-holds-barred story from a leading expert on the insurgency. Smith draws on his unmatched compassion and a rare ability to cut through the noise and see the broader truths to give us a bold and candid look at the Taliban's continued influence--and at the mistakes, catastrophes and ultimate failure of the West's best intentions.
Arthur Erickson: An Architect's Life by David StouckNot available in the Parkland Regional System at this time.
"This first full biography of Erickson, who died in 2009 at the age of 84, traces his life from its modest origins to his emergence on the world stage. Grounded in interviews with Erickson and his family, friends and clients, Arthur Ericksonis both an intimate portrait of the man and a stirring account of how he made his buildings work. Brilliantly written and superbly researched, it is also a provocative look at the phenomenon of cultural heroes and the nature of what we call "genius."" from douglas-mcintyre.com (January 16, 2014).
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
100 Greatest Books
of All Time.
Final Top 100...according to Sylvan Lake Municipal Library patrons and staff!
It's been a year in the making, and the votes have been counted.
Is your favourite book in the Sylvan Lake Municipal Library's Top 100 Books of All Time?
We'll save the best for last. ;)
Drum roll please!
100. Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
99. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
98. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penney
97. The Client by John Grisham
96. The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
95. The Mystery of the Hidden House by Enid Blyton
94. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
93. Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
92. The True Story of the Three little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
91. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
90.My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
89. People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
88. Boy vs. Beast by Mac Park
87. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
86. Lara by Bertrice Small
85. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Macguire
84. Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf
83. A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle
82. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
81. Loser List by Holly Kowitt
80. Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
79. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
78. Blood Red Road by Moira Young
77. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
76. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
75. Switched by Amanda Hocking
74. Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
73. Full Metal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
72. Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle by Clamp
71. Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto
70. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
69. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
68. Fire World by Chris d'Lacey
67. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
66. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
65. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
64. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
63. Little House int he Bog Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
62. The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
61. Contest by Matthew Reilly
60. After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley
59. Cupcake Diaries by Coco Simon
58. The Birth House by Ami McKay
57. City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
56. Curious George by Margret & H.A. Rey
55. 13 by Kelley Armstrong
54. Dying to Sin by Stephen Booth
53. Being in Balance: 9 Principals for Creative Habits to match Your Desires by Wayne Dyer
52. Revenge of the Lawn by Richard Brautigan
51. Among the Shadows by Lucy Maud Montgomery
50. Food for the Eagle by Bert Williams
49. Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind
48. Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
47. My Name is Mina by David Almond
46. Fever series by Karen Marie Moning
45. Ida B by Katherine Hannigan
44. Maximum Ride series by James Patterson
43. Snow White by Brothers Grimm
42. Why I Quit Zombie School by R. L. Stine
41. Atlas Shrugged by Ann Rand
40. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
39. Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey
38. Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
37. Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park
36. Parvana's Journey by Deborah Ellis
35. Shogun by James Clavell
34. Cathcing Fire by Suzanne Collins
33. Dracula by Bram Stoker
32. Warrior Cats series by Erin Hunter
31. Kylie Jean series by Marci Peschki
30. Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
29. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
28. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
27. The Wars by Timothy Findley
26. Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
25. Creepover series by P.J. Night
24. 1984 by George Orwell
23. Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction by One Direction
22. Curse of the Spider King by Wayne Thomas Batson
21. Geronimo Stilton: The Mystery in Venice by Geronimo Stilton
20. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
19. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
18. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
17. Shellseekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
16. Animal Farm by George Orwell
15. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
14. Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
13. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
12. Snow by Tracy Lynn
11. Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
10. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. Divergent by Veronica Roth
8. Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
7. Pokemon series by S.E. Heller
6. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
5. The Bible
4. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
2. The Stand by Stephen King
And the BEST book of all time is.......
We'll save the best for last. ;)
Drum roll please!
100. Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
99. Heidi by Johanna Spyri
98. How the Light Gets In by Louise Penney
97. The Client by John Grisham
96. The Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
95. The Mystery of the Hidden House by Enid Blyton
94. Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
93. Enders Game by Orson Scott Card
92. The True Story of the Three little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
91. The Help by Kathryn Stockett
90.My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell
89. People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau
88. Boy vs. Beast by Mac Park
87. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
86. Lara by Bertrice Small
85. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Macguire
84. Someone Named Eva by Joan M. Wolf
83. A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle
82. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
81. Loser List by Holly Kowitt
80. Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill
79. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
78. Blood Red Road by Moira Young
77. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
76. Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
75. Switched by Amanda Hocking
74. Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
73. Full Metal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
72. Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle by Clamp
71. Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto
70. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
69. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
68. Fire World by Chris d'Lacey
67. His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
66. Ordinary People by Judith Guest
65. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
64. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
63. Little House int he Bog Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
62. The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
61. Contest by Matthew Reilly
60. After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley
59. Cupcake Diaries by Coco Simon
58. The Birth House by Ami McKay
57. City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
56. Curious George by Margret & H.A. Rey
55. 13 by Kelley Armstrong
54. Dying to Sin by Stephen Booth
53. Being in Balance: 9 Principals for Creative Habits to match Your Desires by Wayne Dyer
52. Revenge of the Lawn by Richard Brautigan
51. Among the Shadows by Lucy Maud Montgomery
50. Food for the Eagle by Bert Williams
49. Wizards First Rule by Terry Goodkind
48. Twilight by Stephanie Meyers
47. My Name is Mina by David Almond
46. Fever series by Karen Marie Moning
45. Ida B by Katherine Hannigan
44. Maximum Ride series by James Patterson
43. Snow White by Brothers Grimm
42. Why I Quit Zombie School by R. L. Stine
41. Atlas Shrugged by Ann Rand
40. Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
39. Satanic Bible by Anton LaVey
38. Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan
37. Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park
36. Parvana's Journey by Deborah Ellis
35. Shogun by James Clavell
34. Cathcing Fire by Suzanne Collins
33. Dracula by Bram Stoker
32. Warrior Cats series by Erin Hunter
31. Kylie Jean series by Marci Peschki
30. Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
29. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
28. 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
27. The Wars by Timothy Findley
26. Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
25. Creepover series by P.J. Night
24. 1984 by George Orwell
23. Dare to Dream: Life as One Direction by One Direction
22. Curse of the Spider King by Wayne Thomas Batson
21. Geronimo Stilton: The Mystery in Venice by Geronimo Stilton
20. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
19. Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon
18. Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
17. Shellseekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
16. Animal Farm by George Orwell
15. Lord of the Flies by William Golding
14. Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
13. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
12. Snow by Tracy Lynn
11. Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
10. Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. Divergent by Veronica Roth
8. Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
7. Pokemon series by S.E. Heller
6. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
5. The Bible
4. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
2. The Stand by Stephen King
And the BEST book of all time is.......
1. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
Thanks to everyone who participated. It was fun.
Curious about any of the books in the list? Borrow them from the library.
You can search the Library catalogue here .
You can search the Library catalogue here .
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