Books

Quilt Wraps Up $1,500 For Kids Reading

by The Editors on June 21, 2010

Friendscheck 1

The Children’s Department of Carlsbad City Library received a check for $1,500 from the raffle of a handmade quilt at the Friends of the Carlsbad Library’s Better Book Sale in May.

The quilt was sewn by Caroline Barnes in memory of Connie E. Costantino, a former children’s librarian. From left, Vicky Tarulis, a member of the Friends of the Carlsbad Library board, and Anne Linehan, a member of the Carlsbad Library and Arts Foundation board, presented the check to Barbara Chung and Marsha Weeks, both senior librarians in the library’s Children’s Department.

{ 0 comments }

Carlsbad Library’s Spring Better Books Sale

by The Editors on April 14, 2010

Library Sale
Holly Moyer (left) and Kitty McMahon sort through books to find the best of the best.

The Friends of the Carlsbad Library volunteers are busy lately sorting and pricing books in preparation for the group’s Spring Better Books Sale, according to Publicity Chairman Tiffany Porter.

The sale is set for May 1-2, 2010 in the Community Room of the Georgina Cole Library, 1250 Carlsbad Village Drive. It will feature the best of the best – hundreds of like-new volumes that have been culled from donations to the Friends of the Library used book store throughout the year. . . . “These books deserve a special look,” said Marianne O’Leary, coordinator of the event, as she prepared items for the sale, assisted by volunteers Kitty McMahon and Holly Moyer.

Without giving too much away let us say this: we know there will be some amazingly good books in this sale because we nearly cried when we dropped some of them off.

For more information on the sale follow the jump.
[click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }

Carlsbadistan Reads: Travels With Charley

by The Editors on March 17, 2010

TravelswithcharlieJohn Steinbeck is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and we as Californians can be very proud that he is ours. The Carlsbad Library is celebrating Steinbeck in the month of April as the community reads Steinbeck’s classic road book Travels With Charlie: In Search of America.

In 1960, author John Steinbeck took a cross-country road trip with his poodle, Charley, to reacquaint himself with the America he’d written about all his life. The result was “Travels With Charley: In Search of America,” an intimate look at one of America’s greatest authors. . . . Other events scheduled for April include a Steinbeck film series; a program on the travels of early Carlsbad residents, presented by the Library’s Carlsbad History Room; a travel writing workshop; and Carlsbad Playreaders presenting “The Grapes of Wrath.”

Steinbeck’s son Thomas Steinbeck wlll discuss his legendary father in person on Saturday, April 24, 2010. If we can get if for our Kindle app, we’re on it.

For more information on all the Steinbeck events in April follow the jump.
[click to continue…]

{ 1 comment }

Sanchez Tells Stories From The Watercooler

by The Editors on November 9, 2009

SanchezCarlsbadistan’s emmy award winning radio and television news reporter Elizabeth Sanchez has a new self-published book out titled Watercooler: Behind the Scenes and Off the Record, the Untold Stories of Broadcasters, according to a story in the North County Times.

“I had experienced so many things myself, and colleagues were always saying what had happened to them, so I finally decided to approach a variety of reporters and have them write something,” said Sanchez, a Carlsbad resident who is now host of the PBS series “A Place of Our Own.” “There have been a lot of journalists who have written books about events they covered, but never a collection.” . . “There’s a lot of inspiration, adventure, humor, triumph and tragedy,” Sanchez said. “It’s not just a book for journalists, but a book for anyone who enjoys a good true story from someone trying to do a job under sometimes very trying circumstances.”

[Link: North County Times]

{ 0 comments }

Carlsbad’s Dove Library Turns 10

by The Editors on September 21, 2009

Dove-LibraryOn Friday, September 25, 2009 the Carlsbad City Library will be celebrating its 10th year anniversary with a free celebration from 3:30 to 4:30 PM in the courtyard.

Highlights include music by guitarist Patrick Berrogain, children’s activities, then-and-now displays, and refreshments. Carlsbad City Library is located at 1775 Dove Lane in southern Carlsbad.

Follow the jump for more information or call 760-602-2012 or visit www.carlsbadlibrary.org.
[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

Working At Home Secrets From Carlsbad

by The Editors on March 29, 2009

3D Bookcover72Sml.JpgIn their new book Undress For Success: The Naked Truth About Making Money at Home (released last week by John Wiley & Sons), Carlsbadistan based writers Kate Lister and Tom Harnish explain the ins and outs of working from home.

Do you dream of working from home? Are you sick of the work-at-home scams and the miscreants who pretend to show you the way? Are you tired of the ‘make money while you sleep’ ads? . . . Undress for Success delivers a real-world, step-by-step guide to how you can earn a living as a home-based employee, freelancer, or entrepreneur. . . If you’re bummed out, burned out, and stressed out and eager to trade your business suit for a sweatsuit, we’ll show you the way home.

Sounds like exactly what we’re looking for. We haven’t read the book yet, but hopefully they’ll answer the biggest question we’ve been having lately: how do you get any work done at home when you live in the most beautiful city in the world and the beach is just a short walk away?

[Link: Undress For Success]

{ 1 comment }

Carlsbad Man Writes Midwest Memoir

by The Editors on December 7, 2008

BacktobarronCarlsbadistan resident and former English professor Daniel Van Tassel, 61, has recently self-published a 140-page book of short essays about growing up in Barron, Wisconsin in the 50s. It’s called Back To Barron: The Heartland At Mid-Century.

Six years ago, while recovering from an ankle injury, Van Tassel started writing the essays. The subjects included being in the Boy Scouts, competing in spelling bees and going ice skating. . . “It came together in the next year or two, but I kept adding and revising,” he said. Van Tassel lined up North Star Press of St. Cloud, Minn., to print the book. So far, he’s sold nearly 1,000 copies. Most of the books have been purchased in Barron County, but he’s sold some across the Midwest, and said he’s pleased with the responses he has received.

Seems quite a few Midwesterners end up in Carlsbadistan. If you did, then check out Van Tassel’s book by clicking here.

[Link: TMCnet.com]

{ 0 comments }

Carlsbadistan’s Self-Help Hay Maker

by The Editors on May 3, 2008

04Hay01 190Self-help goddess Louise Hay, 81, is one of the best-selling women writers in history and her publishing company Hay House Publishing is based in Carlsbad.

The New York Times is featuring a comprehensive profile on the woman who is responsible for a self-improvement empire that works with some of the biggest names in the business.

Today the company turns out books, CDs, calendars and card decks by many of the titans of the large world that booksellers are now calling “Mind/Body/Spirit,” a category that includes the literature of psychics/intuitives, angel therapy, positive thinking, New Thought, water therapy and motivational speaking. Wayne Dyer, Suze Orman, Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Sylvia Browne and Doreen Virtue are all Hay House clients. Last year, Hay House — which is owned jointly by Louise Hay and the company president, Reid Tracy, 45 — sold 6.3 million products, taking in $100 million, 8 percent of which was profit.

Selling solutions to those who hunger for help sounds like a great market, huh? Click the link for the rest of the Hay House story.

[Link: New York Times]

{ 0 comments }

The No. 1 Ladies’ Writer In Carlsbad

by The Editors on April 25, 2008

Amsline2-1By 5:15 PM yesterday the line for tickets to see popular fiction writer and Carlsbad Reads author Alexander McCall Smith snaked across the front of Carlsbad’s Dove Library, around the corner, and all the way into the back of the parking lot.

“This is like a rock concert or something,” one woman said as she and her friends searched for the end of the line.

And she would have been right if rock concerts were attended almost exclusively by women in their late 50s to early 60s. Something about McCall Smith’s easy reading novels captures a demographic that Tolstoy might have described as “women who are not yet old.”

Amc1

By 7 PM everyone with a ticket had filed into the the Ruby G. Schulman Auditorium and the George and Patricia Gowland Meeting room where the overflow audience could watch the lecture on closed circuit TV. When the stage curtains parted there was the jolly Scot Alexander McCall Smith in his suit jacket, tie, and kilt. Exactly as most everyone expected.

[click to continue…]

{ 0 comments }

McCall Smith At Carlsbad Library Thursday

by The Editors on April 24, 2008

1506AlbFans of the The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Precious Ramotswe will be standing on line at the Carlsbad Library on Dove Lane this afternoon waiting for free tickets to hear Scottish law professor/best-selling author Alexander McCall Smith speak as part of Carlsbad Read Together.

Some who have heard McCall Smith speak say he is one of the most entertaining, enlightening speakers they have heard and that his lecture should not be missed.

Tickets to the Ruby G. Schulman Auditorium event will be distributed first-come first-served starting at 6 PM, however, library staff claim “you’ll have to come much earlier than that if you expect to get in.”

Bring a chair and a couple McCall Smith books and join the lit line party.

{ 0 comments }