About the Roundtable

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Jefferson County, Alabama, United States

The Jefferson County Public Library Association (JCPLA) was founded in 1974 for the improvement of librarianship and for the advancement of public libraries in Jefferson County. The public libraries of Jefferson County form our cooperative system, the Jefferson County Library Cooperative (JCLC). Membership in JCPLA provides an organizational structure for staff training countywide.

The Reader's Advisory Roundtable is open to all library workers in the JCLC Community. If you love reader's advisory, need help honing your skills, or are looking for new tools/ideas, please consider joining us. JCPLA and the Roundtables are a great way to share resources, connect with other libraries in the county, network with your colleagues, or just take a break from the daily grind and get some fresh perspective!

Questions? Send an email to jclcraroundtable [at] gmail [dot] com

Join JCPLA!

JCPLA is the local professional organization for libraries in Jefferson County, AL. Membership is $5 and is only open to those employed by a public library in Jefferson County. JCPLA manages the local Round Tables for professional connection and development in different areas of librarianship, and organizes workshops and professional development conferences annually. Click here for a membership application!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Nonfiction of Choice

Our next meeting will be Wednesday, April 13th at 9am at the Emmet O'Neal Library and we will be discussing Graphic Novels!

Every Man’s Marriage: An Every Man’s Guide to Winning the Heart of a Woman by Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker with Mike Yorkey
Authors Stephen Arterburn and Fred Stoeker pull from real life experiences to illustrate how every man can fulfill the secret desires of his wife through love, trust and effective communication. This book covers sound biblically based principals that can divorce proof any marriage such as mutual submission and loving your wife like Christ loved the Church. Also covered in this book is how the Christian man can effectively lead as the spiritual head of the family and certain marital no-no’s that can often lead to strife in a marriage. Filled with many Bible scriptures relating to marriage and thought provoking end of the chapter review questions, this book is a winner.
Andrei, Five Points West

Cesar’s Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide To Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems by Cesar Millan
Is available in book, audiobook, and downloadable audiobook. Cesar explains his philosophy for dogs and dog training including what it means to be a "calm assertive" pack leader and how to accomplish this task. Sprinkled with stories from his show and his personal life the book is an enjoyable read. However, readers should not expect this to be a "what page number does he tell me how to fix behavior" but rather expect a good foundation and philosophy for how to understand and improve your relationship with your dog.
Gina, Gardendale

Merle’s Door: Lessons From a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote
Patrons can find this book in print, LP, audiobook, and downloadable audiobook from JCLC. This book tells the story of Merle, Kerasote's dog and their time together. Kerasote provides his own philosophy on dogs and there are lots of places in the book where he disagrees with Milan's approach (e.g. Kerasote believes his dog should never be forced to do anything he doesn't want to do) and a lot of places where they both agree (that dogs need lots of exercise and work to do to
be well adjusted). It is a nice book to read in conjunction with Cesar's Way because of their differences. This book also provides a lot of historical facts and statistics about the dog and his long history with humans. It is really a fascinating and educational read with a "how I fell in love with my dog" story to boot! What more could you ask for.
Gina, Gardendale

The Dangerous Book for Dogs: A Parody by Rex & Sparky with the assistance of Joe Garden
Available in print only from JCLC. A parody of the dangerous book for boys, it provides humorous chapters such as "creative pee stains," "how to make your owner look like an idiot," "squirrels," "how to pick a pill out of peanut butter," and other humorous skills every dog should know. Sure to amuse the true dog lover.
Gina, Gardendale

The Complete Dog Book by the American Kennel Club
This is the breed guide for the hardcore dog aficionado. It lists the dog breeds that have been officially recognized by the American Kennel Club and gives the complete standard by which each breed would be judged in dog shows, along with sections on “Living With Your Dog” and a guide to canine first aid. For the casual dog owner this book might be overkill, but for patrons interested in breeding and showing dogs it is invaluable. Check for the latest updates because several breeds have just been recognized by the AKC, which makes this edition of the guide obsolete.
Mary Ann, Southern History

The Dog Breed Bible by D. Caroline Coile
This is an attractive and user-friendly guide for the average would-be dog owner who is interested in purebred dogs. There is a color photograph of each breed, along with ratings for characteristics such as energy level, friendliness toward other pets, friendliness to strangers, ease of training, and grooming requirements. This guide also supplies a brief history of the breed and points out potential health concerns. As with The Complete Dog Book, check for updated editions because new breeds are added almost every year.
Mary Ann, Southern History

These delightful little books are the “quick and dirty” version of the dog breed guide, with a short descriptive paragraph, a trivia section, and a page of photographs and paintings for each breed. The paintings are an interesting twist because the breeds as they are represented in artwork often look strikingly different from the dog as we see it in everyday life. These books would be useful for patrons just beginning their breed research but also for readers, especially younger ones, who just like “dog books.”
Mary Ann, Southern History

Southern Dogs and Their People – photographs by P.S. Davis ; edited by Roberta Gamble ; with an introduction by Clyde Edgerton
This is a “just for fun” book that will strike a chord for anyone who grew up in the South and spent time just hanging out with dogs of every variety. As Edgerton points out in his introduction: “I did not grow up in a culture of dog shows. I grew up in a culture of Dog. There is a difference.” This book of candid photos with accompanying literary passages draws the reader into the “culture of Dog” as it flourishes in the American South; dogs are presented in their various roles such as hunters, guardians, babysitters, clowns, tricksters, philosophers, and just plain members of the family. A patron who doesn’t own a dog may find himself wanting one after browsing through this book.
Mary Ann, Southern History

This book of archival photographs with accompanying commentary highlights three decades of social change in the city of Birmingham. Barton begins the segment for each decade with a short essay on the era and has composed annotations for each photograph, giving the reader a real feeling for the sights and happenings of Birmingham during that time. The result is a handsome book suitable for either straightforward reading or simply browsing at random, especially for patrons who remember the featured decades.
Mary Ann, Southern History

Mary Ann also mentioned that her inspiration for most of the books she brought today is the fact that the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show will be held next week and it will be an excellent time to put out a display of dog books!

Up until this court case, in most cases dogs seized from fighting rings were euthanized. The court used Vick’s financial resources to care for and rehabilitate an amazing number of the over 40 dogs seized from the property. Several of them are now licensed therapy dogs for a variety of causes. There is graphic detail about dog fighting and the barbaric treatment fighting dogs receive at the hands of those who profit from fighting, so sensitive readers beware. This is a wonderful story about the resilience of animals and the boundless generosity of the volunteers determined to help them.
Holley, Emmet O’Neal

Josh and his partner Brent, Dr. Brent Ridge of Martha Stewart show fame, sort of bumble into buying a historic mansion in the picturesque town of Sharon Springs, New York. They quickly get in a bit over their heads financially and personally in an epic quest to create the perfect weekend farm. A cross between Funny Farm and The Money Pit, in book form, The Bucolic Plague is everything that bad reality television is not…poignant, actually real, and funny!
Holley, Emmet O’Neal

Shannon, Hoover

Mr. Sheff’s son, Nic, also wrote a book about his addiction to meth, Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines. The film rights to Tweak and Beautiful Boy have been acquired by Paramount. Mary mentioned a similar title by the son of Bill Moyers, William Cope Moyers, titled Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption.

Prof. Davies recounts the revenge murder of Catholic priest,James Coyle, by a minister named Edwin Stephenson. Stephenson was upset that Coyle had married Stephenson's 18-year-old daughter Ruth – who had secretly converted to Catholicism three months earlier – to Pedro Gussman, a Puerto Rican migrant and practicing Catholic. Having all but disappeared from historical memory, the murder of Father Coyle and the trial of Rev. Stephenson that followed are vividly resurrected by Davies. The case laid bare all the bigotries of its time and place: a simmering hatred not only of African Americans, but of Catholics and foreigners as well. Placing this story in its full social and historical context, Davies brings to life a heinous crime and its aftermath, in a brilliant, in-depth examination of the consequences of prejudice in the Jim Crow era. (copied from her website)
Mary, Emmet O’Neal

Brooke Newman’s memoir centers on the warm and most unlikely friendship which developed between her father, James, and Jennimae Harrington, the young black maid who came to work for the rather chaotic family in 1948 and remained for 21 years. He was a mathematical genius, author of The World of Mathematics, frequent government consultant, friend of such as Einstein and I.F. Stone, and inveterate womanizer. Jennimae was an illiterate, overweight black lady with an affinity for numbers. She gambled regularly –and unusually successfully—with numbers which came to her in her dreams. It is engaging to watch such a respectful, yet tender, relationship develop between two such very different persons.
Mary, Emmet O’Neal

Hedges, author and former foreign correspondent, bemoans what he considers the impending death of the traditional liberal class. He contends that beginning in the 1930s the liberals( whom he sees as the defenders and supporters of the working class and the downtrodden) in academia, labor unions, media and church have sold out to a pervasive culture of corporate greed and unfettered capitalism. The ever fewer voices against these excesses, such as Ralph Nader and Michael moor, are being silenced. The result he fears throughout the world is the gradual establishment of oligarchical governments and neo-feudalism. The book is thought-provoking, though rather difficult to read and follow his train of thought.
Mary, Emmet O’Neal

Ellen, Avondale

Ellen, Avondale

Bonnie, Warrior

NPR’s Fresh Air host Terry Gross interviewed Rebecca Skloot in February 2010. Click here to listen to the interview.

Darnita, Avondale

Leigh, North Birmingham

Jason, Trussville

Jason mentioned an episode of This American Life in which Ira Glass interviews Scott Carrier, a man who has spent 12 years trying to chase down antelope using nothing more than his own two feet. It is archived here on This American Life’s website. Mr. Carrier has written about this and other running stories in his book, Running After Antelope.

Happy reading!
Holley

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