[3] The recent release of Mark Twain’s uncensored autobiography [4] has set the literary world ablaze. And that excitement was in the air a few weeks ago at the Central Library, when one of the editors of Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 1 [5], Robert H. Hirst, came to give a presentation before a crowd of nearly 450 “Twainiacs.”
[7] What’s fantasy, you ask? There’s no single, accepted definition, but the giveaway is usually magic. Whether it’s The Lord of the Rings or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, if the world described in the book features some difference from Earth that is the result of magic or other unexplained phenomena, you’re probably holding a fantasy novel.
[9] For Garry Kasparov [10], life really does imitate chess. The top-ranked chess player in the world for nearly 22 years, Kasparov retired from international competition in 2005 and took on an even more challenging career. He entered Russian politics and became the leader of the opposition movement, playing democracy’s white against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s black.
[12] For many people, job searching today is a full-time, well, job. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics [13], nearly 15 million Americans are out of work. Kansas City’s unemployment rate, while better than the national rate, is an unsettling 8.5 percent [14], and area job seekers face many challenges, from negotiating public transportation to navigating the online employment maze. The Central Library’s H&R Block Business & Career Center is here to help.
[16] A few weekends ago, I had the pleasure of attending the Second Annual Book Lovers and Book Clubs Conference. For this local event’s first year, founder and organizer Kim Riley held the gathering at a small community center and was overwhelmed with the positive response. This year, Kim looked to her local library for assistance, and the Kansas City Public Library was happy to oblige.
Links:
[1] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/KC+Unbound/feed
[2] http://drupal.org/node/11816
[3] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/kc-unbound/video-night-mark-twain
[4] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/kc-unbound/gospel-mark-twain
[5] http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/MTP/publications.html
[6] http://www.kclibrary.org/comment/reply/11376#comment-form
[7] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/kc-unbound/11-best-fantasy-books-2010
[8] http://www.kclibrary.org/comment/reply/11365#comment-form
[9] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/kc-unbound/grandmaster-garry
[10] http://www.kasparov.com/
[11] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/kc-unbound/grandmaster-garry#comments
[12] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/kc-unbound/how-library-keeps-kansas-city-working
[13] http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm
[14] http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm
[15] http://www.kclibrary.org/comment/reply/11354#comment-form
[16] http://www.kclibrary.org/blog/kc-unbound/book-lovers-descend-library
[17] http://www.kclibrary.org/comment/reply/11351#comment-form
[18] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113
[19] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113?page=98
[20] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113?page=95
[21] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113?page=96
[22] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113?page=97
[23] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113?page=100
[24] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113?page=101
[25] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113?page=102
[26] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113?page=103
[27] http://www.kclibrary.org/print/113?page=112
