The following items are new at The Cambridge Libraries and Galleries. For a list of everything new at the Library, click here.

In the Company of Angels by Thomas E. Kennedy
published by Bloomsbury
Imprisoned for teaching political poetry to his students, Bernardo Greene has suffered months of torture in Pinochet’s Chile when he is visited by two angels. They make a promise to him that he will survive to experience beauty and love once again. Months later, the Chilean exile is in Copenhagen for treatment and befriends Michela Ibsen, herself a survivor of domestic abuse. In the long nights of summer, these two damaged souls struggle to heal, to forgive those who have left them damaged, and to trust themselves to love.

Deep Shadow by Randy Wayne White
published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Many dangers can be found in the deep – the worst of them are human. Thirty minutes into what should have been an easy, beginners-level dive in a remote Florida lake, the rim of a cave collapses, trapping two of Doc Ford’s friends. Ford himself manages to escape and quickly surfaces to find help – but that’s when his troubles only begin. Two men are waiting for him on the shore, and they are not the kind of men you want to meet at anytime. Murderers and ex-cons, they’re intent on diving to the bottom of the very deep lake and uncovering the remains of a legendary plane wreck there, supposedly loaded with Cuban treasury gold.

Hush by Kate White
published by Harper Collins
When Lake Warren learns that her husband, Jack, is suing for full custody of their two kids four months after their separation, she’s pretty certain that things can’t get any worse. The upside is that she’s working with the Advanced Fertility Centre as a marketing consultant, alongside the attractive, flirtatious Dr. Keaton. But the morning after their one night stand, Lake finds Keaton with his throat slashed and discovers that things can indeed become worse – they can become deadly. So as not to jeopardize her case for custody, Lake is forced to lie to the police.

House Rules by Jodi Picoult
published by Atria Books
Jacob Hunt is a teenage boy with Asperger’s syndrome. He’s hopeless at reading social cues or expressing himself well to others, and like many kids with AS, Jacob has special focus on one subject – in his case, forensic analysis. He’s always showing up at crime scenes, thanks to the police scanner he keeps in his room, and telling the cops what they need to know…and he’s usually right. But then his town is rocked by a terrible murder and, for a change, the police come to Jacob with questions. All of the hallmark behaviors of Asperger’s – not looking someone in the eye, stimulatory tics and twitches, can look alot like guilt to law enforcement personnel. Suddenly, Jacob and his family, who only want to fit in, feel the spotlight shining directly on them.

You can learn to speak Mandarin Chinese at the Cambridge Libraries!

The Confucius Institute and the library are partnering to bring you a beginners conversational Chinese course at our Clemens Mill location.

The course will help people who have no previous knowledge of the Chinese language develop basic listening and speaking skills in Mandarin Chinese. The experienced instructor is from Renison University College and Nanjing University, China. The class is intended for anyone 13 years of age and older.

The 10 week course will be held every Wednesday starting March 31 from 6:45-8:15pm at our Clemens Mill location at 50 Saginaw Parkway in Cambridge.

There is a course fee of $50.00 (payable in cash or cheque only).

Are you interested? Then fill out this registration form, and mail or hand-deliver your registration and payment by March 29th to:

Cambridge Public library
Attn: Betty Wilson
1 North Square,
Cambridge, Ontario, N1S 2K6

Need more information? Please contact:

Anthony Yao, Language Instructor
519-591-0513
Email: anthonyyao@live.com

Register early as space in the course is limited. Applications are accepted on a first come first served basis.

What is Black and White and Re(a)d All Over?   It is our new book display at the Queen’s Square Library!  Black covers, white covers, red covers –this whimsical collection has something for everyone.

Black covers abound, and it is tempting to declare that they are preferred for serious (In My Father’s Shadow: a Daughter Remembers Orson Welles), disturbing (Mop Men: Inside the World of Crime Scene Cleaners) or practical (Black and Decker’s Complete Guide to Dream Kitchens) books.   This generalization only goes so far, however.   Sock Monkeys, with its delightful black and white pictures of 200 wooly creatures, is definitely none of the above and is simply adorable.

White seems  an obvious choice for books like Real Simple Cleaning, Peace: 50 Years of Protest, 365 Simple Reminders, or Too Posh to Wash, but it is also a favourite simple background, along with a  punchy  graphic, for books on every topic.    Check out the simple but effective covers on Blink: the Power of Thinking without Thinking, Bonk: the Curious Coupling of Science and Sex or Shrink Yourself: Break Free from Emotional Eating Forever.

Red books are often about strong subjects; you’ll be sure to notice Death from the Skies!, The Survivor’s Club, or The Art of Romance. Don’t let a red cover lead you astray, however.  Heloise from A to Z, What We Ache For: Creativity and the Unfolding of Your Soul, and Not Buying it: My Year without Shopping are not at all sensational — just entertaining, worthwhile, and with their red covers, really noticeable!

Black.  White.  Red.  Take your pick.  With three colours to choose from, can you tell a book by its cover?

The following items are new at The Cambridge Libraries and Galleries. For a list of everything new at the Library, click here.

Cassandra’s Dream
DVD (2007)
Two London brothers are hard-up for cash, and both have girls to look out for, too. When rich Uncle Howard comes to town and agrees to help them out, he admits his finances are under investigation, and he asks them to do him a favor and “take care of” an old business relation to keep his trouble under wraps – he says that they’re family, and since he always takes care of them, the least they could do is help him out this once, as they’re the only ones he can trust. The film follows their struggle with the immorality of this request and how each brother chooses to deal with it.

Iron River by T. Jefferson Parker
[PLAYAWAY]
This time around, Hood is running the California-Mexico border with the ATF, searching for the iron river the massive and illegal flow of handguns and automatic weapons that fuels the bloody cartel wars south of the border. Gunrunners by nature aren’t exactly ethical, but the lengths they’ll go to, and the innocent lives they’ll risk, are shocking even to Hood. Most shocking of all is the close personal connection Hood finds wrapped up in events south of the border a connection that shakes him to his core.

BlackBerry: the inside story of Research in Motion by Rod McQueen
published by Key Porter books
For over a decade, business leaders and politicians have proudly said they cannot live without it. And now, even soccer moms and teenagers rave about it. Oprah Winfrey, reigning queen of daytime TV, declared on air that the BlackBerry smartphone is one of her “favorite things.” From its relatively modest debut in 1999, BlackBerry has become one of the most popular technology products in the world. Research in Motion – the phenomenally successful company behind the BlackBerry – has already sold over 75 millions smartphones and nearly half in the last year alone. Founded in 1984 with a loan of $15,000, RIM now generates annual revenues of approximately $15 billion and Fortune magazine recently ranked it #1 on its list of the 100 Fastest Growing Companies in the world.

Money to Burn by James Grippando
published by Harper Collins
At thirty-one, Michael Cantella is a rising star at Wall Street’s premier investment bank, Saxton Silvers. Everything is going according to plan until Ivy Layton, the love of his life, vanishes on their honeymoon in the Bahamas. Fast-forward four years. It’s the eve of his thirty-fifth birthday, and Michael is still on track: successful career, beautiful new wife, piles of money. Reveling in his good fortune, Michael logs in to his computer, enters his password, and pulls up his biggest investment account: Zero balance. He tries another, and another. All of them zero. Someone has wiped him out. His only clue is a new e-mail message: Just as planned. xo xo.

The following items are new at The Cambridge Libraries and Galleries. For a list of everything new at the Library, click here.

Apologize, Apologize: a novel about the family that puts the personality in disorder by Elizabeth Kelly
[PLAYAWAY]
Collie Flanagan, a son at the centre of a wildly eccentric and wealthy Massachusetts clan, must find his own way in the world after a tragic afternoon outing shatters the family that he has always taken for granted. Collie was named after his mothers favorite breed of dog. His brother, Bingo, was named for an Irish setter. Their names are the least of their worries because they’re Flanagans, members of a wildly wealthy, impossibly articulate family that also includes a philandering father, pigeon-racing uncle, radical activist mother, and domineering media mogul father whose own daughter has accused him of being a murderer.

The Calligrapher’s Daughter by Eugenia Kim
[PLAYAWAY]
In early-twentieth-century Korea, Najin Han, the privileged daughter of a calligrapher, longs to choose her own destiny. Smart and headstrong, she is encouraged by her mother—but her stern father is determined to maintain tradition, especially as the Japanese steadily gain control of his beloved country. When he seeks to marry Najin into an aristocratic family, her mother defies generations of obedient wives and instead sends her to serve in the king’s court as a companion to a young princess. But the king is soon assassinated, and the centuries-old dynastic culture comes to its end.

The Bag Lady Papers by Alexandra Penney
published by Hyperion
Throughout her life, Alexandra Penney’s worst fear was of becoming a bag lady. Even as she worked several jobs while raising a son as a single mother, wrote a bestselling advice book, and became editor in chief of Self magazine, she was haunted by the image of herself alone, bankrupt, and living on the street. She even went to therapy in an attempt to alleviate the worry that all she had worked for could crumble. And then, one day, that’s exactly what happened. Penney had taken a friend’s advice and invested nearly everything she had ever earned – all of her savings – with Bernie Madoff.

The Wild Zone by Joy Fielding
published by Doubleday
This is how it starts. With a joke. Two brothers-Will and Jeff-and their friend Tom are out one night at their favorite South Beach bar, the Wild Zone, and decide to make a bet on who can be the first to seduce a mysterious-looking young woman drinking by herself. Pretty, dark haired, blue eyed Suzy has an innocent, almost ordinary girl next door way about her. “Just waiting for Prince Charming to hit on her,” Jeff says. But Suzy isn’t as naive as she seems. And she has an agenda of her own. Soon another challenge is born, only this one proves lethal.

Poems and songs – you write them and you stick them in the back of your notebook or stuff them under your bed.   Well, not anymore!  Time to crack those notebooks out and strut your stuff at our brand new, teen only, Open Mic event.   We know Cambridge is bursting with talent and we want you to show off your creativity!  Our brand new, totally teen poetry event is for aspiring poets and singer songwriters.   Oh, and no worries, we won’t pull a Simon Cowell on you – Open Mic won’t be judged – we’re just interested in having an awesome time.

Open Mic will be held at the Groove Kitchen & Music Room in Preston (www.thegroovekitchen.com) on Monday, April 26.  The Kitchen will be open at 7:00, the Teen Open Mic event will begin at 7:30 and end at 9:00.

If you are 12 to 17, you are welcome to join in. Everyone will be performing their own original work.

To sign up for this new event, email Linda Foster at lfoster@cambridgelibraries.ca with a copy of the words of your performance art.

And we know you believe too.   That is why we are confident that you will want to check out Olympics themed material now on display at the Queen’s Square Library.

For the next two weeks we will be featuring books and DVDs about all aspects of the Winter Olympics.  Choose material about the history of the Winter Olympics, read about famous Olympians and find out more about winter sports of all kinds.  With the right resource you can improve your own snowboarding, figure skating or skiing technique, or just develop a greater appreciation of the athletic prowess necessary to be a champion at any of these or other Olympic challenges.

Young Olympics enthusiasts will want to visit our children’s department where we have displayed some of the most interesting recent books about the Winter Olympics.  Many of these titles are also on the children’s   Winter Olympics booklist; Olympics boosters of all ages will find something of interest here.

As you follow the sports events in Vancouver and Whistler, you may find yourself equally consumed by thoughts of travel to these beautiful destinations.   British Columbia and especially Vancouver and the west coast will have a lot to offer tourists this year.   Plenty of travel guides and other books about this fascinating part of Canada are on display so you can plan your BC getaway while you cheer our Olympic athletes.

The following items are new at The Cambridge Libraries and Galleries. For a list of everything new at the Library, click here.

Weather Girl
DVD (2009)
Sylvia, approaching 35, is the “sassy weather girl” at a Seattle TV station. On a live broadcast, she castigates her boyfriend Dale (who’s the show’s anchorman) for sleeping with his co-anchor; then she quits. She’d been living with Dale, who explains himself by saying she’s cold, so she moves in temporarily with her younger brother Walt. His neighbor Byron, a computer programmer, is always in Walt’s flat working. While Sylvia looks for a job, Byron offers himself as a no-strings-attached rebound-sex partner, with the condition that she not tell Walt. How will she respond, and what about finding work, living with her brother, sorting things out with Dale, and being cold?

Brava, Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
published by Harper Collins
As Brava, Valentine begins, snow falls like glitter over Tuscany at the wedding of Valentine’s grandmother Teodora to her longtime love, Dominic. Valentine’s dreams are dashed when Gram announces that Alfred, “the prince,” Valentine’s only brother and nemesis, has been named her partner at Angelini Shoes. Devastated, Valentine falls into the arms of Gianluca, a sexy Tuscan tanner who made his romantic intentions known on the Isle of Capri. Their delicious romance heats up, fueled by Gianluca’s heartfelt love letters, but more than an ocean keeps them apart.

Box 21 by Roslund-Hellstrom
published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Three years ago, Lydia and Alena were two hopeful girls from Lithuania. Now, they are sex slaves, lured to Sweden with the promise of better jobs and then trapped in a Stockholm brothel, forced to repay their “debt.” Suddenly they are given an unexpected chance at freedom, and with it the opportunity to take revenge on their enslavers and reclaim their lives and dignity. What will happen now that the tables are turned and the victims fight back.

Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg
published by Simon & Schuster
Kevin Brace, Canada’s most famous radio personality, stands in the door of his luxury condominium, hands covered in blood, and announces to his newspaper delivery man: “I killed her.” His wife lies dead in the bathtub, fatally stabbed. It would appear to be an open-and-shut case. The trouble is, Brace refuses to talk to anyone – including his own lawyer after muttering those incriminating words. With the discovery that the victim was actually a self-destructive alcoholic, the appearance of strange fingerprints at the crime scene, and a revealing courtroom cross-examination, the seemingly simple case takes on all the complexities of a hotly contested murder trial. Meantime, much to everyone’s surprise, the Leafs are making an unlikely run for the Stanley Cup.

With our new Playaways listening to a book is easier than ever. Playaways are audiobooks that play an entire book at the touch of a button. There is no need for a separate player, and you don’t have to worry about several cassettes or CDS… all you have to do it just press play!

These electronic gadgets are light, easy to use and are no bigger than a deck of cards so you can take them to the gym, shopping, on the bus or on the move. They’re perfect for people of all ages and give you the portability to catch up with a good book wherever you are.

The collection includes over 100 adults, teen and children’s titles, such as The man you’ll marry by Debbie Macomber, The perfect 10 diet by Michael Aziz, Night World by L.J. Smith, and Beyond the grave by Jude Watson. Click here to search all the available Playaway titles today!

FEBRUARY 21-27, 2010

“A free press can be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom a press will never be anything but bad.”

-         Albert Camus, Author, Nobel Prize Winner for Literature

Freedom to Read Week is an annual event that encourages Canadians to think about and reaffirm their commitment to intellectual freedom.  Over the years, individuals and groups have tried to restrict the access to or remove books, journals, music, DVDs in schools, libraries and bookstores.  Freedom to Read Week reasserts the idea that censorship smothers creativity and prevents open debate of controversial issues.

At the Cambridge Libraries, we have provided a display of books that have at one time been challenged or banned.  We encourage you to wander past the display and scoop up a book or two.  

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

-         United Nations The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19

For this 26th Freedom to read Week, We invite you to support Freedom to Read and Freedom of Expression. Here’s how:

1. Select a book from the display and check it out or place a book on hold.

2. Express your opinion about the selected book on this blog post. We love hearing from you.

3. Read more! Check this list to read more banned books.

For more information on Freedom to Read and censorship, please check out these websites:

American booksellers Foundation for Free expression http://www.abffe.com/bbw-booklist-detailed.htm

Banned Books Online http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/banned-books.html

Banning and burning in history http://www.freedomtoread.ca/links_and_resources/bannings_and_burnings.asp

Challenged Books and Magazines http://www.freedomtoread.ca/docs/challenged_books_and_magazines.pdf

PEN Canada http://www.pencanada.ca/

Canadian Journalists for Free Expression http://www.cjfe.org/

Kidspeak http://www.kidspeakonline.org/

Movie censorship http://www.pictureshowman.com/articles_genhist_censorship.cfm#

History of censorship http://www.beaconforfreedom.org/about_project/history.html

Libraries and intellectual freedom IFLA http://archive.ifla.org/faife/faife/presen.htm