by Kevin McGuire
This is a limited edition hand-printed and bound book released locally in Peoria, IL. The author, Kevin McGuire, is a local avid runner.
An article about it appeared in Community Word, a local Peoria newspaper, In November 2012.
The book is available from Gold Quoin Press.
Monday, July 22, 2013
Friday, July 19, 2013
Machine Man
by Max Barry
from Random House:
Synopsis:
Scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident. It's not a tragedy. It's an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. He begins to explore a few ideas. To build parts. Better parts.
Prosthetist Lola Shanks loves a good artificial limb. In Charlie, she sees a man on his way to becoming artificial everything. But others see a madman. Or a product. Or a weapon.
A story for the age of pervasive technology, Machine Man is a gruesomely funny unraveling of one man's quest for ultimate self-improvement.
About Max Barry:
Max Barry began removing parts at an early age. In 1999, he successfully excised a steady job at tech giant HP in order to upgrade to the more compatible alternative of manufacturing fiction. While producing three novels, he developed the online nation simulation game NationStates, as well as contributing to various open source software projects and developing religious views on operating systems. He did not leave the house much. For Machine Man, Max wrote a website to deliver pages of fiction to readers via email and RSS. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and two daughters, and is 38 years old. He uses vi.
Wired review of Machine Man. Max Barry’s Crazy Experiment: Machine Man by Jonathan H. Liu.
Lots of reviews on Goodreads.
Be sure to check out Max Barry's website. http://maxbarry.com/machineman/
from Random House:
Synopsis:
Scientist Charles Neumann loses a leg in an industrial accident. It's not a tragedy. It's an opportunity. Charlie always thought his body could be better. He begins to explore a few ideas. To build parts. Better parts.
Prosthetist Lola Shanks loves a good artificial limb. In Charlie, she sees a man on his way to becoming artificial everything. But others see a madman. Or a product. Or a weapon.
A story for the age of pervasive technology, Machine Man is a gruesomely funny unraveling of one man's quest for ultimate self-improvement.
About Max Barry:
Max Barry began removing parts at an early age. In 1999, he successfully excised a steady job at tech giant HP in order to upgrade to the more compatible alternative of manufacturing fiction. While producing three novels, he developed the online nation simulation game NationStates, as well as contributing to various open source software projects and developing religious views on operating systems. He did not leave the house much. For Machine Man, Max wrote a website to deliver pages of fiction to readers via email and RSS. He lives in Melbourne, Australia, with his wife and two daughters, and is 38 years old. He uses vi.
Wired review of Machine Man. Max Barry’s Crazy Experiment: Machine Man by Jonathan H. Liu.
Lots of reviews on Goodreads.
Be sure to check out Max Barry's website. http://maxbarry.com/machineman/
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World
by Todd McLeish
Visit author Todd McLeish's blog at http://narwhalslefttooth.blogspot.com/
to learn more about Narwhal whales.
Also, visit the author's website at http://toddmcleish.com/
for more information about the book Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World, author bio, photo gallery, a list of the author's upcoming appearances, info on his other books, and links to other resources.
Book description from the publisher:
Among all the large whales on Earth, the most unusual and least studied is the narwhal, the northernmost whale on the planet and the one most threatened by global warming. Narwhals thrive in the fjords and inlets of northern Canada and Greenland. These elusive whales, whose long tusks were the stuff of medieval European myths and Inuit legends, are uniquely adapted to the Arctic ecosystem and are able to dive below thick sheets of ice to depths of up to 1,500 meters in search of their prey-halibut, cod, and squid.
Join Todd McLeish as he travels high above the Arctic circle to meet:
Teams of scientific researchers studying the narwhal's life cycle and the mysteries of its tusk.
Inuit storytellers and hunters.
Animals that share the narwhals' habitat: walruses, polar bears, bowhead and beluga whales, ivory gulls, and two kinds of seals.
Visit author Todd McLeish's blog at http://narwhalslefttooth.blogspot.com/
to learn more about Narwhal whales.
Also, visit the author's website at http://toddmcleish.com/
for more information about the book Narwhals: Arctic Whales in a Melting World, author bio, photo gallery, a list of the author's upcoming appearances, info on his other books, and links to other resources.
Book description from the publisher:
Among all the large whales on Earth, the most unusual and least studied is the narwhal, the northernmost whale on the planet and the one most threatened by global warming. Narwhals thrive in the fjords and inlets of northern Canada and Greenland. These elusive whales, whose long tusks were the stuff of medieval European myths and Inuit legends, are uniquely adapted to the Arctic ecosystem and are able to dive below thick sheets of ice to depths of up to 1,500 meters in search of their prey-halibut, cod, and squid.
Join Todd McLeish as he travels high above the Arctic circle to meet:
Teams of scientific researchers studying the narwhal's life cycle and the mysteries of its tusk.
Inuit storytellers and hunters.
Animals that share the narwhals' habitat: walruses, polar bears, bowhead and beluga whales, ivory gulls, and two kinds of seals.
Sunday, July 14, 2013
The Snow Child
by Eowyn Ivey
The Snow Child discussion group questions:
Please beware that questions may contain spoilers for the book.
From BookBrowse.com
From LitLovers
Book reviews:
Lit Lovers
Goodreads
Amazon
Book Addicts discussion of the book on GoodReads
Book description from the publisher:
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.
This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.
The Snow Child discussion group questions:
Please beware that questions may contain spoilers for the book.
From BookBrowse.com
From LitLovers
Book reviews:
Lit Lovers
Goodreads
Amazon
Book Addicts discussion of the book on GoodReads
Book description from the publisher:
Alaska, 1920: a brutal place to homestead, and especially tough for recent arrivals Jack and Mabel. Childless, they are drifting apart--he breaking under the weight of the work of the farm; she crumbling from loneliness and despair. In a moment of levity during the season's first snowfall, they build a child out of snow. The next morning the snow child is gone--but they glimpse a young, blonde-haired girl running through the trees.
This little girl, who calls herself Faina, seems to be a child of the woods. She hunts with a red fox at her side, skims lightly across the snow, and somehow survives alone in the Alaskan wilderness. As Jack and Mabel struggle to understand this child who could have stepped from the pages of a fairy tale, they come to love her as their own daughter. But in this beautiful, violent place things are rarely as they appear, and what they eventually learn about Faina will transform all of them.
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Beard on Food: The Best Recipes and Kitchen Wisdom from the Dean of American Cooking
by James Beard
Book description from Amazon:
In Beard on Food, one of America's great culinary thinkers and teachers collects his best essays, ranging from the perfect hamburger to the pleasures of oxtails, from salad dressing to Sauce Diable. The result is not just a compendium of fabulous recipes and delicious bites of writing. It's a philosophy of food-unfussy, wide-ranging, erudite, and propelled by Beard's exuberance and sense of fun.
In a series of short, charming essays, with recipes printed in a contrasting color (as they were in the beloved original edition), Beard follows his many enthusiasms, demonstrating how to make everyday foods into delicious meals. Covering meats, vegetables, fish, herbs, and kitchen tools, Beard on Food is both an invaluable reference for cooks and a delightful read for armchair enthusiasts.
For more information about James Beard, the James Beard Foundation, delicious recipes complete with recipe finder search, James Beard awards and much more visit www.jamesbeard.org
Book description from Amazon:
In Beard on Food, one of America's great culinary thinkers and teachers collects his best essays, ranging from the perfect hamburger to the pleasures of oxtails, from salad dressing to Sauce Diable. The result is not just a compendium of fabulous recipes and delicious bites of writing. It's a philosophy of food-unfussy, wide-ranging, erudite, and propelled by Beard's exuberance and sense of fun.
In a series of short, charming essays, with recipes printed in a contrasting color (as they were in the beloved original edition), Beard follows his many enthusiasms, demonstrating how to make everyday foods into delicious meals. Covering meats, vegetables, fish, herbs, and kitchen tools, Beard on Food is both an invaluable reference for cooks and a delightful read for armchair enthusiasts.
For more information about James Beard, the James Beard Foundation, delicious recipes complete with recipe finder search, James Beard awards and much more visit www.jamesbeard.org
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Just My Type
by Simon Garfield
Just My Type is a book of stories about fonts. It examines how Helvetica and Comic Sans took over the world. It explains why we are still influenced by type choices made more than 500 years ago, and why the T in the Beatles logo is longer than the other letters. It profiles the great originators of type, from Baskerville to Zapf, as well as people like Neville Brody who threw out the rulebook. The book is about that pivotal moment when fonts left the world of Letraset and were loaded onto computers, and typefaces became something we realized we all have an opinion about. And beyond all this, the book reveals what may be the very best and worst fonts in the world – and what your choice of font says about you. -- from www.simongarfield.com
To read an extract from the book visit Simon Garfield's website.
Just My Type is a book of stories about fonts. It examines how Helvetica and Comic Sans took over the world. It explains why we are still influenced by type choices made more than 500 years ago, and why the T in the Beatles logo is longer than the other letters. It profiles the great originators of type, from Baskerville to Zapf, as well as people like Neville Brody who threw out the rulebook. The book is about that pivotal moment when fonts left the world of Letraset and were loaded onto computers, and typefaces became something we realized we all have an opinion about. And beyond all this, the book reveals what may be the very best and worst fonts in the world – and what your choice of font says about you. -- from www.simongarfield.com
To read an extract from the book visit Simon Garfield's website.
Monday, July 8, 2013
The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements
by Sam Kean
See what critics say about author Sam Kean's work.
Visit Sam Kean's website to read an excerpt from The Disappearing Spoon.
More reviews and synopsis of The Disappearing Spoon available here.
See what critics say about author Sam Kean's work.
Visit Sam Kean's website to read an excerpt from The Disappearing Spoon.
More reviews and synopsis of The Disappearing Spoon available here.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Nine Stories
by J.D. Salinger
The Stories:
The Stories:
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" (1948)
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" (1948)
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos" (1948)
"The Laughing Man" (1949)
"Down at the Dinghy" (1949)
"For Esmé – with Love and Squalor" (1950)
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" (1951)
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" (1952)
"Teddy" (1953)
Summary and Analysis for:
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish"
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos"
"The Laughing Man"
"Down at the Dinghy"
"For Esmé – with Love and Squalor"
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes"
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period"
"Teddy"
The Stories:
The Stories:
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish" (1948)
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" (1948)
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos" (1948)
"The Laughing Man" (1949)
"Down at the Dinghy" (1949)
"For Esmé – with Love and Squalor" (1950)
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" (1951)
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" (1952)
"Teddy" (1953)
Summary and Analysis for:
"A Perfect Day for Bananafish"
"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos"
"The Laughing Man"
"Down at the Dinghy"
"For Esmé – with Love and Squalor"
"Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes"
"De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period"
"Teddy"
Friday, November 2, 2012
The Age of Miracles
by Karen Thompson Walker
For more information on the book, author, reviews, and readers' guide, visit the website for the book The Age of Miracles.
Questions to consider after reading The Age of Miracles. From The Age of Miracles website.
1. As readers, why do you think we’re drawn to stories about the end of the world? What special pleasures do these kinds of narratives offer? And how do you think this element works in The Age of Miracles?
2. Julia is an only child. How does this fact affect who she is and how she sees the world? How would her experience of the slowing be different if she had a sibling? How would her experience of middle school be different?
3. How much do you think the slowing alters Julia’s experience of adolescence? If the slowing had never happened, in what ways would her childhood have been different? In what ways would it have been the same?
4. Julia’s parents’ marriage becomes increasingly strained over the course of the book. Why do you think they stay together? Do you think it’s the right choice? How much do you think Julia’s mother does or does not know about Sylvia?
5. Julia’s father tells several crucial lies. Discuss these lies and consider which ones, if any, are justified and which ones are not. Is lying ever the right thing to do? If so, when?
6. How would the book change if it were narrated by Julia’s mother? What if it were narrated by Julia’s father? Or her grandfather?
7. Why do you think Julia is so drawn to Seth? Why do you think he is drawn to her?
8. Did you identify more with the clock-timers or with the real-timers? Which would you be and why?
9. The slowing affects the whole planet, but the book is set in southern California. How does the setting affect the book? How important is it that the story takes place in California?
10. How do you feel about the way the book ends? What do you think lies ahead for Julia, for her parents and for the world?
11. The slowing throws the natural world into disarray. Plants and animals die and there are changes in the weather. Did this book make you think about the threats that face our own natural world? Do you think the book has something to say about climate change?
12. If you woke up tomorrow to the news that the rotation of the earth had significantly slowed, how do you think you would respond? What is the first thing you would do?
For more information on the book, author, reviews, and readers' guide, visit the website for the book The Age of Miracles.
Questions to consider after reading The Age of Miracles. From The Age of Miracles website.
1. As readers, why do you think we’re drawn to stories about the end of the world? What special pleasures do these kinds of narratives offer? And how do you think this element works in The Age of Miracles?
2. Julia is an only child. How does this fact affect who she is and how she sees the world? How would her experience of the slowing be different if she had a sibling? How would her experience of middle school be different?
3. How much do you think the slowing alters Julia’s experience of adolescence? If the slowing had never happened, in what ways would her childhood have been different? In what ways would it have been the same?
4. Julia’s parents’ marriage becomes increasingly strained over the course of the book. Why do you think they stay together? Do you think it’s the right choice? How much do you think Julia’s mother does or does not know about Sylvia?
5. Julia’s father tells several crucial lies. Discuss these lies and consider which ones, if any, are justified and which ones are not. Is lying ever the right thing to do? If so, when?
6. How would the book change if it were narrated by Julia’s mother? What if it were narrated by Julia’s father? Or her grandfather?
7. Why do you think Julia is so drawn to Seth? Why do you think he is drawn to her?
8. Did you identify more with the clock-timers or with the real-timers? Which would you be and why?
9. The slowing affects the whole planet, but the book is set in southern California. How does the setting affect the book? How important is it that the story takes place in California?
10. How do you feel about the way the book ends? What do you think lies ahead for Julia, for her parents and for the world?
11. The slowing throws the natural world into disarray. Plants and animals die and there are changes in the weather. Did this book make you think about the threats that face our own natural world? Do you think the book has something to say about climate change?
12. If you woke up tomorrow to the news that the rotation of the earth had significantly slowed, how do you think you would respond? What is the first thing you would do?
Monday, October 29, 2012
Same Kind of Different as Me
by Ron Hall & Denver Moore with Lynn Vincent
For more on this book visit www.samekindofdifferentasme.com
Also, an excellent book review on the Teen Ink website
For more on this book visit www.samekindofdifferentasme.com
Also, an excellent book review on the Teen Ink website
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Fahrenheit 451
by Ray Bradbury
Magill Book Review: Guy Montag, a fireman whose job it is to burn books, begins to doubt his society's high-speed, hedonistic way of life when he meets Clarisse McClellan, a young girl whose family lives a slower, more graceful existence. Clarisse shares her values with him until the McClellans mysteriously disappear.As Montag's dissatisfaction increases, he seeks out a retired English professor named Faber for support. However, Montag's chief, Beatty, correctly suspects Montag of being a secret reader and book collector. After Beatty burns down Montag's house, he must flee civilization and, on Faber's advice, find a group of outcasts who have dedicated themselves to memorizing whole books while their society destroys itself in a pointless war. Though the novel focuses on a book burner, it is more than a diatribe against censorship. Rather, it pictures a society, not far removed from our own, in which books and the leisure, thought, and tolerance necessary to enjoy them are no longer valued. The firemen simply enforce the will of a people who desire only conformity, unrelated facts, and immediate gratification. The most frightening aspect of the story is the portrayal of Montag's wife, Mildred, and her friends, who live through electronic entertainment devices. The debasement of the quality of life through the misuses of technology and the neglect of literature is a persistent theme in Bradbury's fiction, but this novel remains his fullest treatment of the subject. The lyric power and symbolic richness of the book make this Bradbury's most satisfactory long fiction and a classic of speculative literature. The title of the novel is derived from the combustion temperature of paper: 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
Questions for discussion
1. How do the contrasting personalities of Mildred and Clarisse depict the essential conflict of Montag?
2. What are the contradictions within the character of Captain Beatty? How does he represent the fallacy of censorship?
3. What is the symbolic significance of the sieve and of "Denham's Dentifrice"?
4. How is reading portrayed as a subversive act? How does the solitary experience of reading create a role for an individual within larger society?
5. The novel envisions a futuristic dystopia, a popular setting in other notable books of the era such as George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four (published a few years earlier, in 1945). How is Bradbury's vision significantly different from Orwell's and what does it say about censorship?
6. What does Beatty's argument about "minorities" share with the contemporary debate on censorship and "political correctness"?
7. How do Granger and his men remind us about the origins of stories and storytelling?
8. Bradbury is generally classified as a writer of science fiction. How does the novel challenge the definition of science fiction?
Magill Book Review: Guy Montag, a fireman whose job it is to burn books, begins to doubt his society's high-speed, hedonistic way of life when he meets Clarisse McClellan, a young girl whose family lives a slower, more graceful existence. Clarisse shares her values with him until the McClellans mysteriously disappear.As Montag's dissatisfaction increases, he seeks out a retired English professor named Faber for support. However, Montag's chief, Beatty, correctly suspects Montag of being a secret reader and book collector. After Beatty burns down Montag's house, he must flee civilization and, on Faber's advice, find a group of outcasts who have dedicated themselves to memorizing whole books while their society destroys itself in a pointless war. Though the novel focuses on a book burner, it is more than a diatribe against censorship. Rather, it pictures a society, not far removed from our own, in which books and the leisure, thought, and tolerance necessary to enjoy them are no longer valued. The firemen simply enforce the will of a people who desire only conformity, unrelated facts, and immediate gratification. The most frightening aspect of the story is the portrayal of Montag's wife, Mildred, and her friends, who live through electronic entertainment devices. The debasement of the quality of life through the misuses of technology and the neglect of literature is a persistent theme in Bradbury's fiction, but this novel remains his fullest treatment of the subject. The lyric power and symbolic richness of the book make this Bradbury's most satisfactory long fiction and a classic of speculative literature. The title of the novel is derived from the combustion temperature of paper: 451 degrees Fahrenheit.
Questions for discussion
1. How do the contrasting personalities of Mildred and Clarisse depict the essential conflict of Montag?
2. What are the contradictions within the character of Captain Beatty? How does he represent the fallacy of censorship?
3. What is the symbolic significance of the sieve and of "Denham's Dentifrice"?
4. How is reading portrayed as a subversive act? How does the solitary experience of reading create a role for an individual within larger society?
5. The novel envisions a futuristic dystopia, a popular setting in other notable books of the era such as George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-four (published a few years earlier, in 1945). How is Bradbury's vision significantly different from Orwell's and what does it say about censorship?
6. What does Beatty's argument about "minorities" share with the contemporary debate on censorship and "political correctness"?
7. How do Granger and his men remind us about the origins of stories and storytelling?
8. Bradbury is generally classified as a writer of science fiction. How does the novel challenge the definition of science fiction?
Friday, March 16, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
The Night Circus
by Erin Morgenstern
Please visit the author's website for more information.
http://erinmorgenstern.com/the-night-circus/
Please visit the author's website for more information.
http://erinmorgenstern.com/the-night-circus/
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Friday, December 16, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Shades of Grey
by Jasper Fforde
Visit the author's website for information on this new novel, Shades of Grey.
Visit the author's website for information on this new novel, Shades of Grey.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
The Other Wes Moore
by Wes Moore
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Peoria Reads by reading and participating in the One City, One Book program. For more information visit http://bigreadpeoriareads.org/
Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Peoria Reads by reading and participating in the One City, One Book program. For more information visit http://bigreadpeoriareads.org/
Moonwalking with Einstein
by Joshua Foer
Named one of the ten best books of 2011 so far, and #2 in nonfiction by Amazon.com.
Visit the author's website at http://joshuafoer.com
Available at all locations of the Peoria Public Library.
Named one of the ten best books of 2011 so far, and #2 in nonfiction by Amazon.com.
Visit the author's website at http://joshuafoer.com
Available at all locations of the Peoria Public Library.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
The Great Gatsby
This book is also this year's choice for The Big Read: Peoria Reads program for 2010. For more information to go www.bigreadpeoriareads.org
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
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