I promised to report back about my luck in tracking down some Danish and Finnish mysteries. Well, it has been a mixed bag. Although the Danish mystery field is very active, none have been translated into English. I had a bit more luck with an author from Finland - not only is it virtually the only one translated into English, it was actually available in the system. The book, Stone Murders, by Matti Joensuu, is definitely on the dark side of the traditionally dark Scandinavian mysteries. Years ago during a Winter Olympics, there was one of those get to know the people clips about a pairs couple from Finland. The theme was how depressed and glum the Finns are (in spite of having tons of tango halls where lots of people hang out and glumly dance the tango). Apparently melancholy is beautiful to the Finnish soul.
This book is nothing if not melancholy. It was a bit choppy - I would guess it all depends on the translator - but I would read others in the series. What was unique about this mystery as compared to other in the genre is that the police in the story were frightened. Although they carry guns, these police were characterized as being scared of the rough crowd, or too frightened to enter a dark tunnel. Maybe it is just more honest than most other police fiction.
There was also a sense that they could never get ahead of crime - as in protecting the public - rather they were there to clean up the dreary mess. Missed opportunities came back to punish them with the unhappy results they would have to live thinking about. Life is filled with alcholism, spousal abuse and physical abuse of children. Everyone is tired and feeling overwhelmed and hopeless. And yet it's always the US being held up as being such a violent place.
But it is a beautiful country and I browsed through the Wikipedia links about Finland marveling at the differentness of their architecture. Take a moment to browse - it is fascinating.
Book: Leney, Terttu - Finland
Movie: Scent of a Woman
Monday, November 26, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Creating a Bookmobile Community . . .
Last spring, a patron came on board to return the selection for this year's One Book, One Community. She said she had enjoyed the book, but was that all there was to One Book? I was caught by surprise, not sure what to say. Sure, most libraries have book discussions and programming concerning the One Book selection, but we didn't have the venue to do so and just promoted the reading of the title. But it got me thinking - how could we make it possible to do more with One Book? After some thought - and a felicitous class on Web 2.0/Library 2.0 - I decided the only way to bring together our users, scattered as they are all over the county, was to do something online.
So I turned to my computer guys for advice and thus was born the idea of the Bookmobile Community, a cyber community that would make interaction between us all possible. We decided to use our new website as the base, start an informal blog and then a discussion forum. This blog is interactive - you can make comments anytime and I will post them for all to read. Most exciting and with the most potential to really be interesting, useful and interactive is the forum - and it is ready for you to try now.
It has been named As the Wheels Turn to keep with the whole bookmobile theme and it is an easy to use venue to talk books. There are currently just a couple of discussions going on, but anyone can start a new one. Need a new author? Post the question and watch for recommendatons. Want to discuss a specific book with someone else? Start the discussion and see who jumps in. Hated a book and want to warn people off? Go for it! And you don't have to leave home.
It is a really easy process (thank you Randy) but full directions are on the webpage (thank you Robyn) - just select As the Wheels Turn from the menu on the right. To get directly to the forum, just click on the icon on the main page - it's the one that looks like a bookmobile.
So I am really hopeful that this turns out to be just the thing to spark some talk with all of you. If you have friends, neighbors, co-workers and family that might be interested in taking part - invite them to join. It isn't just limited to us bookmobile people, we are just the core. Go on, give it a try!
Book: Book Club cookbook, by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp
DVD: The Carol Burnett Show
So I turned to my computer guys for advice and thus was born the idea of the Bookmobile Community, a cyber community that would make interaction between us all possible. We decided to use our new website as the base, start an informal blog and then a discussion forum. This blog is interactive - you can make comments anytime and I will post them for all to read. Most exciting and with the most potential to really be interesting, useful and interactive is the forum - and it is ready for you to try now.
It has been named As the Wheels Turn to keep with the whole bookmobile theme and it is an easy to use venue to talk books. There are currently just a couple of discussions going on, but anyone can start a new one. Need a new author? Post the question and watch for recommendatons. Want to discuss a specific book with someone else? Start the discussion and see who jumps in. Hated a book and want to warn people off? Go for it! And you don't have to leave home.
It is a really easy process (thank you Randy) but full directions are on the webpage (thank you Robyn) - just select As the Wheels Turn from the menu on the right. To get directly to the forum, just click on the icon on the main page - it's the one that looks like a bookmobile.
So I am really hopeful that this turns out to be just the thing to spark some talk with all of you. If you have friends, neighbors, co-workers and family that might be interested in taking part - invite them to join. It isn't just limited to us bookmobile people, we are just the core. Go on, give it a try!
Book: Book Club cookbook, by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp
DVD: The Carol Burnett Show
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