The Best Kisses in Literature

GONE WITH THE WIND (1939). [Photography]. Retrieved from Encyclopædia Britannica Image Quest.http://quest.eb.com/images/144_1567396

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Flavorwire rounds up the most swoon-worthy, spectacular kisses ever committed to print.  Did your favorites make the list?

Check out the list here at Flavorwire! - 10 of the Greatest Kisses in Literature

Black History Month: GALILEO resources

Romare and Nanette at the Neighborhood Arts Center. Neighborhood Arts Center photographs series. Jim Alexander collection. Archives Division, Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History, Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System, presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.

Ranging from the Civil Rights Digital Library to Community Art in Atlanta, GALILEO has pulled together a great collection of its resources to highlight video clips, timelines, historic photographs, biographies and articles relating to Black History Month.

For the full list, follow the link: GALILEO Resources for Black History Month

Review of "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan

God is Love. Crazy, relentless, all-powerful love. This is the theme from Francis Chan's most famous book, Crazy Love. I really like this book because Francis Chan points out the flaws in the modern day church and how to fully live out God's true purpose in your life. He digs deep into Christian theology and helps us figure out the amazing love God has for us; to help understand that God, Himself, is the embodiment of love. Francis writes on how the storms that are allowed to swell in our lives are there so that we will turn our eyes to our Heavenly Father, but we are so focused on the problem that we don't notice. God is relentless and He will never give up on you, and all of this is backed up by research and Scripture. I recommend this book to everyone.

Randy Smith

A Review of Ted Dekker's "Thr3e"

This book was incredibly captivating; it had many twists and turns in it and I never saw the ending coming. There’s a young man, named Kevin, who is becoming a preacher at a Christian school; on his way home one evening, he gets a strange phone call where a man tells him a riddle and then informs him that if he cannot solve the riddle in 3 minutes his car will be blown up. The man also states that Kevin needs to confess his sins to the world by solving the riddle. Confused, but not taking any chances, he manages to cause mass chaos trying to get his car off of the road before it explodes. The caller calls again and tells him that this was only the first of a series of test. Before he knows it, he’s wrapped in a life surrounded by agents of different companies around the country who all want to catch a well known serial killer known as the “Riddle Killer”; one of the agents is a female CBI agent who is also Kevin’s best friend, Sam, and one other is an agent from the FBI who is the sister of the Riddle Killer’s last victim, Jennifer. They must dive into Kevin’s past where they discover his family’s abuse, his friendship with Sam, the young Riddle Killer and most all his sin. Together the three of them get wrapped in a world full of confusion, bombs, riddles and the killer’s obsession with the number three all in order to obtain one goal: to keep Kevin alive. The book was constantly keeping me guessing and changing my mind about who the riddle killer was. I would definitely recommend this book.

Lisa Smith
PALASA President

Black History Month: Monumental Speeches

We're starting off Black History Month one day early, by highlighting a series of powerful speeches in African American history.  Ranging from the historic words of Sojourner Truth up to the present day with President Barack Obama, this selection features speakers who through their bravery, charisma and conviction helped shape the course of American history and civil rights.

Speeches are available in audio, video and text forms.

Sojourner Truth
Speech: Ain't I a Woman? (1851)

Jackie Robinson "This I Believe..."

Frederick Douglass 
Speech: What to the Slave is the 4th of July? (1852)

W.E.B. Dubois
Speech: Niagra Movement Speech (1905)

Jackie Robinson
Speech: This I Believe... (no date)

Martin Luther King Jr.
Speech: I Have a Dream (1963)

Malcolm X
Speech: Speaking Out on Race (1964)

Shirley Chisolm
Speech: For the Equal Rights Amendment (1970)

Barack Obama
Speech: Inaugural Address (2008)

Technology Tuesday: Online Audiobook Libraries

As a child of the eighties, I still slip up from time to time when I'm talking about "books on tape."  Of course, there's now a huge variety of ways to hear a book without having to drag our your old cassette player - and it's getting easier to get your hands on audio books every day!

First - and most recently - we have Audiobooks.com, who as of today are rolling out a new service that will let you access as many audio books as you want - out of their collection of 11,000 - for a fixed monthly fee.  This is new in the online world of audio books - usually there's a cap in how many recordings you can tap into each month.  For anyone with a long commute - this could be a lifesaver!  Read more about it on Mashable.

For those of you who want the audio book experience for free, there are alternatives!  Books with expired copyright can be recorded and shared online without charge.  Ranging from Sherlock Holmes books to stories by Edgar Allan Poe, you might be surprised by what you can find here.  For some quality book and short story recordings, you can check out LibriVox (where you can both record and listen to audio books), Verako, or the Telltale Weekly.

LibriVox: http://librivox.org/
Verako: http://verkaro.org/
Telltale Weekly: http://alexwilson.com/telltale/catalog/


Are you an audio book fan?  Where do you go to download your favorite books?

Book Review: Now You See Her and Tick Tock by James Patterson

by Michelle Silver

Now You See Her is a fast-paced moving mystery about how the mistakes we make in our youth can come back to bite us.  An innocent young girl on spring break makes a foolish mistake - now she is running for her life.  An up-and-coming attorney in the big city enjoys a respectable life with her daughter.  She has worked hard to provide a good life for her child and a promising career for herself.  How can trying to save an innocent man from death row change everything you have worked so hard to accomplish?  Will the past not only ruin your career but cost you your daughter and possibly your life?  Love, lies, and murder - or was it?

Tick Tock is a part of one of James Patterson's most popular series, relating the stories of Detective Mike Bennett, a single parent of ten adopted children from different backgrounds.  He is a devoted father and hardworking officer who, with the help of a nanny and an old priest, effectively fights some of the hardest cases New York has ever experienced.  In Tick Tock, a bomb in the library, an explosion at Grand Central Station and a homicide in an industrial area bring Detective Mike Bennett to the scene of crimes that resemble past serial killers.  Taunting messages directed at the detective make it almost seem personal.  Are these cases the work of one man or a cult?

James Patterson is a great author who introduces characters we can relate to.  In his novels, the main characters are well-respected people that you get to know personally.  I have read just about everything he has written and have never been disappointed.  The books are a fast read and move swiftly along so as not to allow boredom or loss of interest.  I would highly recommend any James Patterson novel.