Daley wins again

Chicago mayor Richard Daley won his bid for reelection last night. If he finishes his next term he will be the longest-serving mayor in Chicago history.

If you want to know the secret of the Daley clan, check out our books on the Daleys.

Ruth Rendell podcast

The Guadian's newest books podcast is an interview with the acclaimed British mystery writer Ruth Rendell.

Rendell's newest book is End in Tears

100th post!: Kiriyama Prize

Welcome to our blog's 100th post!

Today, the finalists were announced for this year's Kiriyama Prize an award for "outstanding books that promote greater understanding of and among the nations of the Pacific Rim and of South Asia."


The finalists include

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin



Kirin Desai The Inheritance of Loss



Lois-Ann Yamanaka Behold the Many



The winners will be announced on March 27th.

Books from this week's New York Times Book Review

Commander in Chief: How Truman, Johnson, and Bush Turned a Presidential Power Into a Threat to America's Future by Geoffrey Perret (review)



Nixon and Mao: The Week That Changed the World by Margaret MacMillan (review)

Books reviewed in this week's Chicago Tribune book section

Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties by Michael Levy (review)



The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu (review)



Measuring Time by Helon Habila (review)

Why are we doing this blog anyways?

The Librarians and Libraries Rock blog have some great reasons why we and other libraries are/should be blogging.

Wimbledon

Ever since my English neighbors introduced me to the joys of eating strawberries and cream while watching Andre Agassi, I've been a huge fan of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. I can barely play tennis myself but I always manage to spend hours watching the tourney every summer.

However, I've always been irked that Wimbledon openly paid its female contestants less than the men. Well yesterday Wimbledon finally entered the 21st century, announcing that women and men will be paid equally.

For those that can't wait until June for their English tennis, you can watch our copy of the movie Wimbledon starring Kirsten Dunst.

Taylor Branch

I have many reading goals in life, one of them, which I will do someday (!) is to read Taylor Branch's trilogy on the life on Martin Luther King Jr. At several hundred pages apiece, it will be quite the feat. But those I know who've read them say that it is well worth the effort.

The last book of the trilogy is Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-1968 and has been nominated for several awards including the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography.

The Circle's blog, Criticial Mass, has a great summary of the book as well as links to several reviews.

Would you like your adventure in a library's building or books?

Germaine Greer weighs in

And we thought our job was hard

Diary of a Iraqi Librarian

Autism

A study released yesterday says that 1 out of every 150 children in the U.S. have autism. The library has a number of Autism resources including the books Realizing the College Dream With Autism or Asperger Syndrome: A Parent's Guide to Student Success and Could it be Autism?: A Parent's Guide To The First Signs and Next Steps.

Magazine and Video Sale

This is the start of our magazine and video sale, it runs through Sunday and there are great bargains to be had. More details can be found here

33 Reasons why Libraries and Librarians are still extremely important

Google who?

What to do with those Bears Super Bowl Shirts?

Send them far away.