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The Core A New Newsletter for Librarians and Media Specialists |
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January 2010
CONTENTS
Fiction Core Collection (formerly Fiction Catalog) We like to think of Fiction Core Collection as a big community of readers—I mean enthusiasts—I mean fiction buffs—I mean those people who eat novels for breakfast. We find out what they are reading and pass the information on to you. Here is how we do it. We have a team of librarians who are fiction buffs themselves in some of the premier public libraries of the country sending us titles. Week by week, month by month, they recommend new novels to us, things they have liked and things their users have liked. To a remarkable degree their recommendations match up. (Maybe that’s not so remarkable.) These are the titles that we add to Fiction Core Collection—daily, weekly, monthly. These are the titles that librarians can confidently buy for their collections and recommend to readers. What about that quirky off-beat novel that deserves a break? What about the sleeper? We like them too, and if the reviewers are kind and we have a reliable recommendation, they get listed in Fiction Core Collection. The annotations will let you know if a book is experimental or eccentric. And then there are the specialists, readers who read extensively in mysteries, romances, Westerns, science fiction, etc. For them we have a backlist of the best titles in the various genres, as well as what is new. And then there are the classicists. For them we have Jane Austen and Henry James and Edith Wharton—in new and improved editions wherever possible. In other words, Fiction Core Collection on WilsonWeb is the ideal fiction collection, solid as a rock and always up to the minute. Every four years, to coincide with a new print edition, we go through an exhaustive weeding process and delete from the database titles that are no longer either the best or the newest. This weeding process is also done on the advice of our fiction-buff librarians. Many librarians then base their weeding on our weeding. If it makes the cut in Fiction Core Collection, it’s a keeper. This month (January 2010) we are bringing out a new edition of Fiction Core Collection in print, the Sixteenth. Two New Titles recently added to the Core Collections Don’t miss these Must Have books. NEW in Fiction Core Collection:
Think of this book as a collage of Proust, Lolita, and The Confessions of Zeno. Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2006, has given us a story of love and obsession set in the milieu of wealthy, Westernized Istanbul. Lindsey Schwoeri writes in BookPage, (November 2009): “We view Istanbul in the tumultuous 1970s and ’80s through the lens of a doomed love affair. Kemal is happily engaged to a beautiful, intelligent woman of his own social class, Sibel—and yet, he falls deeply, irrevocably in love with a poor, distant relation, Fusun. When Kemal refuses to leave Sibel, Fusun disappears. Inconsolable, he returns almost daily to the scene of their lovemaking, cradling the objects she once touched as though they still contain some trace of her. He descends deeper into despair, alienating everyone around him except Sibel, now bound to him as much by love as by the shame that she will face should they break off their engagement. But Kemal cannot forget Fusun, and will dedicate his life to possessing her—or at least, the objects that remind him of her—even to the point of destroying himself, and those he loves most.” Karen R. Long writes in The Cleveland Plain Dealer (October 25, 2009): “Pamuk is brilliant at the human parade, and especially at humiliation in its masculine forms, frequently played out in Istanbul along East-West tensions.” Maureen Howard writes in The New York Times Book Review (November 1, 2009): “Orhan Pamuk favors short chapters that lead the reader from one entry to the next, turning back to correct or amend. He is directorial in ‘The Museum of Innocence,’ his enchanting new novel of first love painfully sustained over a lifetime. . . . Maureen Freely’s translation captures the novelist’s playful performance as well as his serious collusion with Kemal. Her melding of tones follows Pamuk’s agility, to redirect our vision to the gravity of his tale.” Iyer Pico writes in The New York Review of Books (November 19, 2009): “For most readers, I suspect, what will bring the long, slow romance to life is the much more particular love story hidden within it, of the author’s real passion, for Istanbul. The engaging and somewhat awkward Kemal and his beloved, out of ‘old Persian miniatures, sometimes feel like archetypes; the uncertain, semi-cosmopolitan Istanbul of Pamuk’s upbringing is so specific, it comes to seem universal. Pamuk’s great feat, in this novel, is to evoke the particulars of a society built on received ideas. The people of high-society Istanbul chatter about Harrod’s and go on skiing trips, and bring back parasols from Nice and meet at the Cercle d’Orient. One character customarily dismisses others by calling them ‘too “a la Turca.” ’ . . . Every detail, in short, speaks of a culture of quixotic aspirations.” Orhan Pamuk’s The Museum of Innocence has 8 Starred Reviews:
Publishers Weekly (September 14, 2009) and is on two Best Lists (so far):
Amazon Best Books of the Month (November, 2009)
Stitches: a memoir In this graphic novel David Small tells the story of his dysfunctional family, with a radiologist father who was distant, an angry mother who expressed her anger in eloquent silences, and an older brother who played drums a lot to express his frustrations. When he was eleven, Small had a lump, a growth, on the side of his neck. Nothing was done until he was fourteen. He thought he was going in for a minor surgery to remove the cyst from his neck; instead, there were two surgeries, and when he woke up, he had no voice. A vocal cord was removed, and at home he discovered a huge, long scar on his neck and throat. He later learned he had cancer, something his parents refused to discuss. After he finds his mother in bed with another woman and his father confesses that he exposed him to x-rays when he was very young, Small leaves home at age sixteen, with little except his dreams that his art could be his life. In one early scene, Small shows the indignities wrought upon his body by his father, including an enema. In another scene, young Small and his older brother look at their father's medical books and see a woman’s breast and a man’s penis; towards the end of the book, Small draws his grandmother stripping all her clothes off and dancing wildly after setting her house on fire. Other than these few images, Small's depictions of his horrible childhood and teen years are quiet and low-key.
Kirkus Reviews (June 15, 2009) says:
Douglas Wolk writes in Bookforum (September/October/November 2009): David Small’s Stitches: A Memoir has 5 starred reviews:
Kirkus Reviews (June 15, 2009) and is on four Best Lists (so far):
Booklist Editors' Choice: Adult Books for Young Adults (2010) Representative American Speeches 2008-2009
Edited by Brian Boucher
How do we determine which to include? For one thing, we always keep our ears open for good speeches. Then our editors confer with one another on what some of the major issues in the national discussion were. We generally arrange the speeches into five chapters. This year the chapters are the Obama Administration, the future of journalism, the energy crisis, the federal bailout of General Motors (GM) and Chrysler, and the state of the American city. Once we determine what topics to cover, we look to present a diversity of speakers, both in terms of background and ideology, so that readers receive a balanced and thorough examination of the subject. Our latest volume begins with President Barack Obama’s inaugural address, delivered “amidst gathering clouds and raging storms,” as well as assessments of his early tenure in office. The speeches we selected juxtapose the president’s soaring rhetoric with the familiar voice of former vice president Dick Cheney, who offers both a pointed critique of the new administration and a broad defense of the George W. Bush White House. Of course, not all the speeches are the work of political heavyweights. In one entry, David Simon, the creative force behind the acclaimed HBO series The Wire, turns his gaze to the state of journalism, issuing a stinging denunciation of both the newspaper industry and the so-called new media. Fritz Henderson, the former CEO of GM, discusses the company’s future following its bailout by the federal government, pledging “to make sure the immense sacrifices that have been made have been worth it.” Shirley Ann Jackson, the president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), considers the “twin challenges” of “energy security and global climate change.” In our chapter on the American city, we include addresses by two mayors faced with starkly different challenges. On one hand, there’s Seattle’s Greg Nickles, who heads a growing and dynamic metropolis and is focused on promoting sustainable development and green innovation. On the other, there’s Youngstown, Ohio, mayor Jay Williams, whose vibrant hometown has been rapidly shrinking due to declining industry and must struggle to adjust its budgetary priorities. Presenting a broad range of voices on important subjects, Representative American Speeches 2008-2009 offers readers what we believe is a brief rhetorical history of the years in question, as well as a glimpse at the people and issues that will dominate tomorrow’s headlines—whether or not newspapers are still around to print them! BEST LISTS The year-end Best List roundup continues Another month and the Best List tsunami will become a trickle—after all the ALA lists become available. Several lists may be of special interest this month. Quill & Quire, published their annual best list of best adult and children’s books from Canada. We would like to find more Canadian lists. If you know of any contact us (rbarber@hwwilson.com). There are a number of best lists specializing in cookbooks. Also included are Best Lists from National Public Radio, and the start of the Amazon and Barnes and Noble lists. It will take until late spring for the Core Collection editors to comb through these lists and find books we missed that should be in most libraries. In future issues of the newsletter we will report on the books that made the most lists. BEST LISTS FOR CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG ADULT BOOKS Amazon Top 10 Editors Picks Middle Readers (2009) Amazon Top 10 Editors Picks Picture Books (2009) Amazon Top 10 Editors Picks Picture Books (2009) International Reading Association Children’s Choices (2009) International Reading Association Teachers’ Choices (2009) International Reading Association Young Adults’ Choices (2009) Smithsonian Notable Books for Children (2009) Time Top 10 Children’s Books (2009)
BEST LISTS FOR GRAPHIC NOVELS About.Com Best Continuing Series Manga (2009) About.Com Best New Manga (2009) Amazon Top 10 Editors’ Picks Comics and Graphic Novels (2009) Barnes and Noble Best Graphic Novels (2009) Kirkus Reviews Graphic Spotlight (2009) Library Journal Best Comics for Kids (2009) Manga Critic The Best Manga (2009)
BEST LISTS FOR ADULT BOOKS Amazon Best of the Month (2009 December) Amazon Top 10 Editor’s Picks Science (2009) Associated Press Tech Books That Enlighten (2009) Book Beast Best Art Books (2009) Barnes and Noble The Best Books of 2009: Editors’ Picks Booklist Top 10 Craft and Hobby Books (2009) Entertainment Weekly Best Books (2009) Entertainment Weekly Stephen King Best Books
(2009) History Today Favorite Historical Experiences
(2009) Independent Booksellers Indie Next List (2010 January) Kirkus Reviews Best Books (2009) Library Journal Best Books (2009) Library Journal Reader’s Shelf Favorite Books (2009) NPR Best Books for a Book Club (2009) NPR Best Books for a Book Club (2009) NPR The Best Debut Fiction (2009) NPR Best Foreign Fiction (2009) NPR Best Gardening Books (2009) NPR Best Young Adult Fiction (2009) NPR Fresh Air Best Books (2009) New Yorker Books of the Year (2009) James Wood New Yorker Reviewers’ Favorites (2009) New Yorker Top 10 Books (2009) Quill & Quire Best Books (2009) People Top 10 Books (2009) The Week Books of the Year (2009) USA Today Best Business Books (2009)
BEST LISTS FOR COOKBOOKS Epicurious Best Cookbooks (2009) Food & Wine Best Cookbooks (2009) Good Morning America Best Cookbooks (2009) BEST LISTS FOR AUDIOBOOKS Library Journal Best Audiobooks (2009) BEST LISTS FOR MUSIC (POP AND ROCK) New Yorker Best Recordings (2009) People Top 10 Music (2009) Paste Best Albums (2009) BEST LISTS FOR MUSIC (CLASSICAL) New Yorker Ten Exceptional Recordings (2009) Alex Ross David Patrick Stearns’ Best in Classical Music for 2009 BEST LISTS FOR VIDEOS AWARDS FOR MYSTERIES Private Eye Writers of America Shamus Awards (2009) AWARDS FOR CHILDREN’s AND YOUNG ADULT BOOKS ALA YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Finalists (2010) SCHOOL-LIBRARIES.NET A year-end Report School-Libraries.net is the world’s directory of school library home pages. Looking back at 2009:
We are still recruiting coordinators, with the goal of having one from each state and country. The coordinators check the links once or twice a year, report inactive links and attempt to find new links, and generally act as an advocate for School-Libraries in their area. Once we have more coordinators we can start adding features such as school library/media certification programs and a complete listing of state book awards. To volunteer, send an email to rbarber@hwwilson.com. Web Site of the Month
Web Site of the Month Award goes to http://www.gps.edu/pages/Library-Media-Services/ It was a difficult choice to pick out one outstanding school library home page from among 30 new sites sent in this month, but the Lynn Hocker Holland Library at the Girls Preparatory School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, jumped right out at us with its organization and use of space and color. Then there was their innovative use of WORDLE. (We all stopped work to play with WORDLE!) And their use of Shelfari, a social network to publicize books. Congratulations Marty Vaughan. Be sure to check out her newsletter http://www.gps.edu/pages/Turn-The-Page/ As you see, we have developed a special logo to honor our School Library Home Page of the Month. A Core Collections Search Tip Sorting by Dewey Decimal Classification (Ascending) One of the most useful ways of searching the Wilson Core Collections on WilsonWeb is by a range in the Dewey Decimal Classification. It makes sense. In print the Core Collections (other than Fiction) have always been classified rather than alphabetical lists. Think of sports. If you want to match your sports collection against the books in one of the Core Collections, you don’t want to have to think of every possible subject heading: baseball, basketball, golf, hockey, lacrosse, roller skating, skateboarding, tennis, volleyball, and on and on. Instead query the database for a DDC range: from 796 to 799.99. That will be your data set, all the books on sports. Like any other data set, it displays by input order, descending. That is, the most recent addition to the database is at the top. To display the data set by DDC number, click on “Customize Display” at the top of the WilsonWeb screen. Under Sort Options choose Dewey Decimal. And then click: Ascending. (Please forgive our computers for being a little bit unforgiving, but everything in the world sorts descending except Classification numbers. You have to tell it you want the Dewey numbers going up rather than coming down.) Next click Save Changes at the bottom of the screen. This will take you back to your data set, and PRESTO it is in DDC order, starting with 796. View Full Display, and you will see the DDC numbers together with the full record.
Did we say HAPPY NEW YEAR? Our wish for the New Year is that
your library Have a happy, healthy,
mind-expanding,
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© 2010 The H.W. Wilson Company® |
The Core,
is an online newsletter providing information about H.
W. Wilson’s Core Collections and related resources and services—and
a forum for the exchange of ideas from librarian to librarian.
Fiction Core Collection Hits the New Decade at Full Speed
The
Museum of Innocence
NEW
in Three (3) Core Collections
Though
the Oughts, the Naughts, the Zeros, the Oh-Ohs—whatever you want to
call them—have come to an end, the 2008-2009 installment of Wilson’s
renowned Representative American Speeches series keeps the focus on
the past, albeit with one eye fixed on the horizon. The volume,
edited by Brian Boucher, contains 22 of the most compelling,
prescient, and important speeches of the last two years.