Birmingham Public Library Blog

This fall, the Birmingham Museum of Art will host the exhibition Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness: American Art from the Yale University Art Gallery (October 4, 2009 - January 10, 2010). This major exhibition includes 230 masterpieces of American art, including John Trumbull 's iconic painting, The Declaration of Independence , which has appeared in nearly every American history textbook and on the back of the $2 bill. Dr. Graham C. Boettcher, PhD, Curator of American Art, gives an illustrated talk about this important exhibition,and shares the fascinating stories behind the works of art. Wednesday, October 7, noon. Feed your body and mind at BPL's Brown Bag Lunch Programs . You bring the lunch and we'll bring the drinks. Wednesdays at noon in the Arrington Auditorium located on the 3rd floor of the Linn-Henley Research Library, 2100 Park Place.

Author and Alabama historian Virginia Van der Veer Hamilton discusses and signs her new book, Teddy's Child: Growing Up in the Anxious Southern Gentry Between the Great Wars: A Family Memoir . Details When: Sunday, October 18, 2009 Time: 3:00 p.m. Where: Central Library, Linn-Henley Bldg., Arrington Auditorium, 3rd floor

“It has fallen upon me, now and again in my sojourns through the world, to ease various evil men of their lives.” – Solomon Kane In the world of graphic novels, Dark Horse Comics has for the last few years been spearheading a Robert E. Howard revival. Best known as the creator of Conan the Barbarian , Howard, in his all-too-brief career as a writer (he died at the age of 30), left an undeniable imprint on American adventure fiction. Howard’s characters were so primal and iconic that even his lesser-known heroes need little introduction or explanation for a reader to instantly understand who they are. One such character was the 16th century Puritan avenger Solomon Kane . Featured in seven stories that appeared in the pulp magazine Weird Tales between 1928 and 1932, as well as two others published long after Howard’s death, Kane was a grim, wandering adventurer with an unshakeable moral code who traveled the world destroying evil (whether mortal or supernatural) wherever he f...

One of the services the Birmingham Public Library provides is storytime and programs for children of all ages. This is a time when children hear and watch their favorite stories come to life. Storytellers partner with parents and teachers to help children achieve the early learning skills they need. Children are introduced to the literary world, filled with imagination and wonder. But storytellers put a lot of planning and research into their craft. One of those avenues are swaps where they come together to learn, share and borrow ideas from each other. Materials include anything from homemade props to songs -- anything that helps to make storytime and learning more enjoyable for children. After all, as you will see, storytellers are really children at heart. North Birmingham Public Library , one of the regional libraries, hosted the swap on Monday, September 28. As with all swap workshops, there was a theme. This swap's theme was on Holidays. Each regional library take turns hosti...

There's a lot of chatter about Lorrie Moore's first book in 15 years, A Gate at the Stairs . It has received positive write ups in The New York Times , The Washington Post , Vanity Fair , and many other publications. What it's about: In her best-selling story collection, Birds of America (“[it] will stand by itself as one of our funniest, most telling anatomies of human love and vulnerability” —James McManus, front page of The New York Times Book Review ), Lorrie Moore wrote about the disconnect between men and women, about the precariousness of women on the edge, and about loneliness and loss. Now, in her dazzling new novel—her first in more than a decade—Moore turns her eye on the anxiety and disconnection of post-9/11 America, on the insidiousness of racism, the blind-sidedness of war, and the recklessness thrust on others in the name of love. As the United States begins gearing up for war in the Middle East, twenty-year-old Tassie Keltjin, the Midwestern daughter of a ...

Have you ever read something and come away feeling that your world is larger, more marvelous and mysterious than you’d previously suspected? It’s a rare event and it’s made me a bit evangelical. Feel I have to share it. It’s the cover story of the New York Times Magazine (July 12, 2009): “ Watching Whales Watching Us ” by Charles Siebert . One reason I was so stunned by this is that I know a fair amount about whales, though I’m nowhere near the talking head level. After I started reading I wondered: “Are they even more intelligent, more human-like than I thought?” I hoped so. To sum up: they are. Sometimes the scientists who study them (cetaceans) wonder just who’s examining who. (This phenomenon’s being going on with dolphins and their researchers for decades, but it’s new to the whale beat). Gray whales , for example, swim up to recreational boaters and small-boat fishermen. If the people react favorably the whales return with their calves. Apparently the adult whales are sizing up ...

In the video above, Thagg the Caveman advances past hunting and gathering. He learns that reserving, by placing a hold, is the fastest way to get the library material he wants. Using his library card, he can place a hold on almost any book, DVD, music CD or audio book the library owns. Even soon to be released titles can be reserved. Once the item becomes available, Thagg is notified so that he can pick it up. You too can place a hold on library materials. Click here to begin.

Some of you might have seen the funny video comparing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to Forrest Gump . I didn’t pay attention to the mawkish similarities while weeping through Benjamin Button and I don’t care to now. I haven’t bawled this much since I watched Russell Crowe ’s pectoral-perfect Maximus stagger around a Roman coliseum in Gladiator , pushing open an imaginary heavenly gate that led to his dead wife and son. By the time an elderly Cate Blanchett sat rocking a baby, I jumped off the couch and ran down the hall to the bathroom, where I sat with the door shut for a 10 minute sob. In fact, I didn't even watch the ending until later when I watched it on YouTube, safely settled back into my it's-only-a-movie cocoon. Little wrinkled Benjamin Button is born one stormy night in the swampy humidity of New Orleans , and his socially prominent biological father leaves him on the doorstep of an old folks’ home, unable and unwilling to raise such a freak of nature. He is ...