Collection

How to Get Through NANOWRIMO

Published: November 9, 2012

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” – Ernest Hemingway

Books and films to help you get inspired, break through your creative roadblocks, and figure out what to do when you’re done writing:

Getting Started…

No Plot? No Problem!
by Chris Baty

A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days. Written by NANOWRIMO’s founder, this is a great how-to guide for participating, with insights and tricks from both professional authors and successful participants. Also includes tips for the practicalities involved in surviving a month of novel writing.

Writing Down The Bones: Freeing the Writer Within
by Natalie Goldberg

Aimed at new and aspiring writers, to help make writing a regular habit. Goldberg’s insights and tips are also helpful to anyone seeking to write more, for whatever reasons.

How Fiction Works
by James Woods

Meta-analysis of how fiction and stories work. While an essential text for anyone interested in the mechanics of fiction works, its points are not broken down into easy to read chunks like most “how to” books.

Working Through the Problems…

On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
by Steven King

King’s two part meditation on the craft of writing – the first section recalls his career as a writer, the second contains a meditation into the craft of writing. Offers invaluable insights into the craft of writing.

Help! For Writers: 210 Solutions to the Problems Every Writer Faces
by Roy Peter Clark

Help! For Writers contains 210 solutions to problems writers can encounter. While the entries are shallower then Clark’s other books, the book’s 210 solutions can help writers get over nearly any roadblock in their creative process.

An Angel At My Table
DVD [2005]

Having a hard time writing? Re-kindle your inspiration with the true-life story of Janet Frame, New Zealand’s most distinguished author. The film follows Frame from a poverty-stricken childhood to a misdiagnosis of schizophrenia and electroshock therapy to, finally, literary fame.

You’ve got 50,000 Words – Now What?

The Artful Edit: On the Practice of Editing Yourself
by Susan Bell

Long-time editor Susan Bell shares her tips and systems to help with editing your own work.

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing
by Marlyn Ross and Sue Collier

Everything You Need to Know to Write, Publish, Promote, and Sell your Own Book” Includes information on various types of self-publishing (including e-books), how to get your book to market yourself, and promote it once it’s for sale.

Writers Market 2012
by Writers Digest

Writers Market is the essential reference book covering America’s publishing industry. Writers Market contains multitudes of information about the book business in the United States, including agent and publisher information, and is an authoritative guide to publishing through traditional channels.

Stranger then Fiction

DVD [2006]

Ready for a break? Kick back with Kay Effiel, an author writing her latest novel about an isolated IRS agent. Except her protagonist turns out to be a real person, who suddenly starts to hear Kay narrating his life – inside his head.

The Persian Cinderella

Published: October 15, 2012

Book Bubble: Sitara’s Story

Told with the help of guest puppeteer, Cecilia Cackley.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLueBJ-TmpE[/youtube]

Learn more about Norooz…

Babak and Friends: A First Norooz
DVD [2005]

Babak who is not familiar with the traditions of the Persian New Year Norooz. When his cousins Saman and Sousanne come to visit, little Bobby realizes that he is missing out on the Best Day of the Year! With the help of Amoo Norooz and Haji Firooz and a trip to the ancient capital of the Persian Empire, Persepolis, Babak learns about Norooz and rejoices in the rich culture of Iran.

Got Yarn?

Published: June 3, 2012

Celebrate World Wide Knit in Public Day – Wednesday, June 13

Beginner and expert knitters / crocheters are invited to join us throughout the day at the Westover Branch Library. Drop by for just a minute, or work all day!

And for knitters in need of inspiration or new patterns, try these fun suggestions:

Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair

by Laurie Beasley Perry

“I was a thirty-something woman living alone with four cats. I was probably going to be divorced. I was on the short bus to crazy.” As only most knitters will understand, Crazy Aunt Purl (aka Laurie Perry) finds some sanity through knitting.

Knitting Beyond the Edge: Cuffs & Collars, Necklines, Corners & Edges, Closures

by Nicky Epstein

The essential collection of decorative finishes, by one of the most famous knitting designers. It’s amazing how much a more intricate edge adds to any garment. Get this book and learn how to add them to yours.

One More Skein: 30 Quick Projects to Knit

by Leigh Radford

A follow-up to One Skein, this book provides lots of choices for those among us who tend to buy a skein here and there without having a plan for what we’ll do with the yarn when we get home. If you have a crate full of one-skeins, this book is for you.

Seaside Knitters Mystery Series

by Sally Goldenbaum

Six books into this mystery series, it may, indeed, be time for the residents of this quaint seaside town to get over being shocked by local murders, but the characters are likeable and the stories move along. Added bonuses: you’ll be inspired to cook new things based on their Friday night gatherings, and each book includes a pattern.

Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook

by Debbie Stoller

Stoller founded the first Stitch ‘N Bitch group in NYC and has since written several books using the term in the title. This, her first, is chocked-full of basics on needles, yarn, what to knit when, and lots more, all with a generous dose of wit. Read it, and then check out the others she’s written.

For Children:

Extra yarn

by Mac Barnett; illustrated by Jon Klassen

A box of yarn that seems to go on forever provides Annabelle with enough yarn to knit clothing for everyone who crosses her path. You’ll have to read it for yourself to see what happens when an ill-meaning archduke steals the box for himself.

For Teens:

Knitgrrl: Learn to Knit with 15 Fun and Funky Projects

by Shannon Okey

A great book for teens of all ages. Reviewers call the book “lively” and the patterns “enticing.” If you’re in the market for an iPod cover or other short projects to hone your knitting skills, you’ll have some fun with this book.

From Our Archives: Arlington Postcards

Published: May 29, 2012

As a certain fictional ad virtuoso from the 20th century would say, an old postcard “takes us to a place where we ache to go again.”

Any old postcard works. But it’s the ones from home–maybe just a block away but with a distance of decades–that tug the most. A “Colorchrome” backstory can again make vibrant the most familiar, forgotten or repurposed neighbor.

The art deco Chrysler/Plymouth dealer becomes a Gold’s Gym. Small, boxey Clarendon Trust on McKinley now belongs to the fourth largest bank in the country. And even a century back, sightseeing could overwhelm judging by a Luna Park visitor’s handwritten anguish: “Wish I was home am so tired/Momma.”

View Arlington in Postcards

Arlington Public Library’s Virginia Room has assembled an engrossing digital collection of local historic postcards–some from the Library’s holdings and others from collectors who generously wished to share their materials with the community.

Enjoy.

And note to Google Street View: Take a new trip down North Randolph . The former Super Pollo-Roy Rogers-Hardees-Red Barn is now lost to history, just like $1.29 “complete” fried chicken dinners for two.

The Library’s postcard collection was featured in the Washington Post Magazine on Dec. 5, 2012.

Through the Library website, our archives are always open. Find this collection and more online in our Arlington’s Story Digital Archive.

From Our Archives: I Saw Lincoln Slain

Published: April 12, 2012

She found herself in Washington like millions before and since, a young woman from somewhere else—in this case Connecticut—quickly taken with her newfound closeness to the pomp of the Federal seat of government.

Back in 1865, Washington was also capital of a nation split by a brutal civil war entering its last months. Sarah Russell, a minister’s daughter, would twice see President Lincoln with her own eyes—at the White House on the evening of his second inauguration, March 4, and a few weeks later on Good Friday, April 14, Ford’s Theatre.

Currier & Ives

Jump ahead four decades to a roomy two-story home with picket fence on Lee Highway in the East Fall Church neighborhood. Sarah Norton Russell Eastman (1847-1939), mother of two impressive young men and wife of a Union veteran, is placing her memories onto the modest lines of a composition book. Points of popular history supplement her recall and at times a fact or two come out wrong.

But it’s Mrs. Eastman’s brief glimpses of Lincoln, both in celebration and mortally wounded, that shine like well-kept heirlooms.

“His shirt was open showing blood on his chest.”

Arlington Public Library’s Virginia Room is home to the Eastman-Fenwick Collection, a large mix of personal papers, Civil War and World War I front-line correspondence, photographs, maps and other materials that include Sarah Eastman’s, and those of several generations including her granddaughter’s husband, Virginia delegate, state senator and gubernatorial candidate Charles R. Fenwick. The Arlington Democrat was a key proponent of regional mass transit and his name is attached to Metro’s Yellow Line span of the 14th Street Bridge. Fenwick was also a political intimate of John and Robert Kennedy.

The Eastman-Fenwick House, 6733 Lee Highway, is still a family home.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A transcription of Sarah Eastman's account of seeing Abraham Lincoln during March and April 1865:

My Recollection of the Assassination of

President Abraham Lincoln.

In January 1865, before the close of the

Civil War, I came to Washington to live, and

witnessed many of the exciting scenes of

that period.

I saw President Lincolns second

Inauguration and helped dress my Sister to

ride in a float in the parade, which was

an impromptu affair. Thirteen girls dressed

in white with red white and blue, carrying

flags rode on the float.

That evening I attended the reception to

President Lincoln’ second inaugural reception

The President at the White House. At the

front door a certain number of persons were

admitted at a time, and when the door was

closed the crowd surging back actually

lifted me off the my feet. After entering, persons

passed through the hall into the Blue

Room, and after shaking hands with the

President and Mrs. Lincoln passed into

the East Room, making their exit through

[page 2]

one of the windows onto a platform extending

from the windowsill to the front fence, then

down a few steps to the pavement.

My father had been a minister in

Connecticut, and was opposed to the Theatre, so it

was after long urging and the argument that

Ford's Theatre, April 1865

General Grant was to be at the Theater with the

President that evening, that he gave his consent

to my going. I sat in the dress circle nearly

opposite the box in which the President was seated.

The play was Our American Cousin. When the

Presidential Party came in, Lord Dundreary was

just asking the conundrum [“]Why does a dog

wag his tail[?”], and after the applause given the

President he repeated it. The play went

on, then at a moment when the stage was

clear there was a pistol flash and John Wilkes

Booth jumped from the box in which the

President was sitting onto the stage. In jumping

his foot caught in the flag decorating the box

and he apparently sat for an instant on the stage.

Rushing across the stage, about in the middle,

he turned, brandishing a dagger that glistened

[page 3]

in the gas light, and calling out “Sic Semper Tyranus [sic]”

was gone into the alley where a boy was holding

his horse. Being familiar with the Theater he

knew how to arrange the passages so that nothing

would obstruct his course.

For a moment every one was dazed, there was

quiet, but almost immediately word spread

around The President has been shot. Then the

confusion was awful. Women fainted, some tried

to climb over the backs of chairs, men rushed on to

the stage, some climbed to the box with water,

Laura Keene came on the stage and with arms

outstretched implored the audience to be calm.

Twice she came out in that manner. After that

she was in the box with Mrs. Lincoln.

In going out I reached the top of the stairs just

as the President was being carried down on a

stretcher. Laura Keene was following calling

[“]Make way for Mrs. Lincoln,[“] who was crying

[“]Let me get the assassin, Oh take me to him.[“]

His shirt was open showing blood on his chest.

He was taken to a house opposite where he

died the next morning.

[page 4]

There was a plot to assassinate some of

the Cabinet that night. Secretary of State Seward

was attacked, on his sick bed, and seriously

injured, his Son having a tussle with the assassin.

Secretary of War Stanton was an intended

victim but was not found where the plotters

supposed him to be. General Grant who was

advertised to be at the Theater was suddenly

called out of the city.

Accompanying the President and Mrs. Lincoln

was Major Rathburn [sic] and Miss Harris – afterward

married.

There were six persons in the plot

Mrs. Surratt, at whose house on H St near 5^thNW

their meetings were held, her Son John H. Surratt,

Payne, who attacked Secretary Seward, Harrold [sic],

Atzerolt [sic] and Mudd. After trial three were

executed - hung – on the grounds of Old Capitol Prison.

(The ground now occupied by the New Senate Office Bldg.)

Mrs. Surratt, Payne, Atzerolt. The others were

banished to Dry Tortugus [sic].

A few words about Miss Keene

[page 5]

The performance that evening was

advertised as a Benefit, also her last night.

The President, with a full house must have

been an incentive to do her best. She was

gowned in white satin brocaded with pink

roses and green leaves, cut with tight bodice,

low neck, short sleeves and full shirt, in

which she made a pleasing picture.

I quote from a program which I have preserved.

Playbill. Smithsonian Institution

Benefit and Last Night of Miss Laura Keene

the distinguished managerist [sic], authorist [sic] and

actress. Supported by John Doytt and

Henry [sic] Hawk, in Tom Taylors celebrated eccentric

comedy. As originally produced by Miss Keene

and performed by her upwards of 1000 nights

Entitled, Our American Cousin.

Copied into this book February 1905.

Sarah N. Eastman.

Eating Well for Lent, Passover and Easter

Published: March 8, 2012

Are you eating vegan for your Lenten fast, or abstaining from meat on Fridays? Need help planning a gluten-free Passover, or hosting your entire family for Easter?

Get great recipes and ideas from our cook book collection:

Easy Vegan Cooking: Over 350 Delicious Recipes for Every Occasion

by Leah Leneman

Dairy-free, meat-free dishes from around the world.

Vegan Holiday Kitchen: More Than 200 Delicious, Festive Recipes for Special Occasions

by Nava Atlas

Includes a special section on Jewish holidays including Passover, as well as a section on Easter cooking.

The Neelys’ Celebration Cookbook: Down Home Meals for Every Occasion

by Pat Neely, Gina Neely, with Ann Volkwein

Recipes and secrets for entertaining year-round, with new spins on classic menus for holidays yer round, including Easter Sunday.

Let my people eat! Passover Seders Made Simple

by Zell Schulman

Takes you step-by-step through the Seder, with six different Seder menus to suit your religious background, your diet, your budget, and your time.

Fresh from the Market

by Laurent Tourondel and Charlotte March

Recipes based on the seasonal-market; spring recipes include Easter Sunday Brunch.

Gluten-Free and Vegan Holidays: Celebrating the Year with Simple, Satisfying Recipes and Menus

eBook by Jennifer Katzinger

Entertaining friends and family can be a challenge when you’re vegan and gluten-free. It can be even trickier when you’re not, but a family member or close friend is….

New from the Local History Archives: Wakefield's Signs of the Times

Published: March 8, 2012

War, drugs, sports and the Film Club showing of “Dracula.”

All were on the minds and walls of Wakefield High School as the ’60s became the ’70s in South Arlington.

It’s an era preserved in the Library’s Virginia Room archives, featuring a wealth of bold, silk-screened works by student-artists who had neither PowerPoint nor Facebook to push daily happenings to their fellow Warriors. The Wakefield poster collection, some 90 pieces in all as donated by alumnus David Crist (’70), has now been digitized and made fully searchable, thanks to support from the Friends of the Arlington Public Library.

[iframe width=”100%” height=”500″ scrolling=”no” url=”http://libcat.arlingtonva.us/iii/cpro/EmbedSlideShowPage.external?lang=eng&sp=l3&suite=def” frameborder=”0″]

The Virginia Room officially preserves the County’s history as made – and interpreted – by people like the students of Wakefield High School, 1969-70. With our growing digital tools, Arlington Public Library is making that history more available than ever before.

Through the Library website, our archives are now always open. Find this collection and more online in our Arlington’s Story Digital Archive.

See More Posters from the Collection

Yearning for Snow?

Published: February 9, 2012

Help satisfy a hunger for snowy landscapes with the book Blizzard: The Storm that Changed America, by Jim Murphy.

In this gripping account, Murphy narrates the Great Blizzard of ’88, which hit the East Coast for 4 days in March of 1888. From the Chesapeake Bay to Maine, the blizzard brought down 40-50 inches of snow, caused snow drifts up to 50′, and killed over 400 people.

The devastation resulting from the Great Blizzard was so severe that it led to massive changes in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Washington, D.C., then precursor to our present-day United States National Weather Service (142 years old today!).

Suitable for readers grades 5 and up.

Featured blizzard image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Photos From the Archives: Arlington on the Eve of Integration

Published: February 8, 2012

Look back on the lives of African Americans in Arlington during the years between Jackie Robinson’s big league debut and the arrival of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King on the national conscience.

The Ernest E. Johnson Collection, 1948-1955, from the Library’s Virginia Room, features remarkable images of those everyday and special activities as created by the Arlington Department of Parks and Recreation’s “Negro Recreation Section.” Johnson was a vital figure in the County’s African American community and ultimately oversaw the desegregation of Arlington recreation in the early 1960s. He went on to serve the County for two more decades.

The Ernest E. Johnson Collection measures .21 linear feet and includes 76 black and white photographs. The collection was donated to the Library in September 2001 by Johnson’s wife, Mignon.

[iframe width=”100%” scrolling=”no” url=”http://libcat.arlingtonva.us/iii/cpro/EmbedSlideShowPage.external?lang=eng&sp=l1&suite=def” frameborder=”0″ ]

The Virginia Room officially preserves the County’s history as made–and captured–by people like Ernest E. Johnson. With our growing digital tools, Arlington Public Library is making that history more available than ever before.

Through the Library website, our archives are now always open. Find this collection and more online in our Arlington’s Story Digital Archive

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love YA

Published: February 7, 2012

There’s a phenomenon we see more and more these days…

An adult walks quickly into the YA room, bashfully grabs a book and then races away, trying to pretend she (or he) was never here.

Folks, your Teen Librarian is here to tell you: We See You. And we want you to stop being ashamed! Adults can – and should – read Young Adult Lit.

Why?

Talent. There’s a lot of great writing aimed at teens these days. Authors like John Green, Melina Marchetta, Laini Taylor and others bring serious literary chops to the genre.

Genre jumping. Something about writing YA Lit gives authors the freedom to mix things up in a way you don’t often find in books aimed at adults. They may start a story in realistic fiction, and by the time they’re done you’ve crossed through the boundaries of sci-fi, fantasy or paranormal and back again. Great YA authors also write books in different genres, which is perfect for teens (who are often willing to read across the borders), but is also the perfect way for adults to stretch their literary tastes.

Here are some books we think any grown-up should be proud to read, even on the metro:

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

This is a book about falling in love, and about going on a fantastic and life changing trip, and it’s about recognizing the small things in life. In a word, this book should be: Cheesy. But, though this is a book that needs a SERIOUS crying-while-on-the-metro warning, there is not one page of cheese. And for that you have Mr. Green to thank. Read more.

If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman

17-year-old Mia seems to have a pretty charmed life. She’s an amazing cello player, who is on the cusp of possibly going to Julliard. She has this wonderfully quirky, supportive family and a hot rocker boyfriend who’s way into her.

As If I Stay opens, Mia’s biggest dilemma is whether or not to go to Julliard or stay with her boyfriend. Then she goes for a drive with her family and everything changes. She has one choice left. The book follows this one day in her life, alternating back and forth between the life she had and this intense choice she must make.
Where She Went follows Mia’s boyfriend three years after the events in If I Stay. Adam is now a famous musician (the kind that paparazzi follow around every corner) but he can’t seem to enjoy the fame he’s worked so hard to find. This novel follows one more night for Adam that will be almost as life altering as that day in the snow.
More about Gayle Forman, an author we adore…

The White Cat by Holly Black

Cassel Sharpe lives in a world where everyone wears gloves to protect themselves from the curseworkers: people who look just the same as everyone else, but might twist your memories or emotions just by touching you with their bare hands. Cassel comes from a family of enforcers for a crime boss who will make you really wish you’d paid your loan on time. But Cassel doesn’t have powers, he’s just trying to get through a year at boarding school. Which is all fine and good, until one night he wakes up suddenly and he’s staring down at the student quad, from the roof of his dorm… Read more.

The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzack

Living with her foster family in a small town in Nazi Germany, Liesel begins stealing books even before she can read them. Her accordion-playing foster father uses that first stolen book, The Gravedigger’s Handbook, to teach Liesel to read. A remarkable cast of characters populates this brilliant, compelling, breathtaking book, including Max, a Jewish refugee who finds unlikely shelter with the family. But in the end it is Liesel who will stay with you well after you turn the final page – which might be in the middle of the night, as it is impossible to put down. Read more.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

A bevy of beauty queens falls from the sky. Onto a deserted (or is it?) tropical island. There is mystery, terror, irony, self-realization, pirates—very hot pirates, romance (see pirates), a pinch or so of politics, and mostly hilarity. Read it and weep. From laughter, mostly. Read more.

And we’re not the only ones who think this is a golden age of YA, and that adults have every right to dip in; the New York Times, the LA Times and Library Journal are all on board as well.

Featured heart image by cthomasbower, used under CC license.

Alert

Collection

“There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.” – Ernest Hemingway

Getting Started…

Working Through the Problems…

You’ve got 50,000 Words – Now What?

Book Bubble: Sitara’s Story

Learn more about Norooz…

More stories about cool princesses…

Celebrate World Wide Knit in Public Day – Wednesday, June 13

For Children:

For Teens:

As a certain fictional ad virtuoso from the 20th century would say, an old postcard “takes us to a place where we ache to go again.”

Are you eating vegan for your Lenten fast, or abstaining from meat on Fridays? Need help planning a gluten-free Passover, or hosting your entire family for Easter?

War, drugs, sports and the Film Club showing of “Dracula.”

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman

The White Cat by Holly Black

The Book Thief by Marcus Zuzack

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

News

Operations Updates

Center for Local History

Director’s Blog

Recent Comments

Footer

About Us

Administration

Support Your Library

Our Mission