And the band played on...

The 100th anniversary of the Titanic is coming up and in honour of that awful tragedy, I put together a list of books that are inspired by or based on the Titanic.

The Band that Played On by Steve Turner looks really interesting. It's a book all about the eight musicians that played on the Titanic as it was sinking. Survivors say that they heard music up until the very end. All eight musicians sunk with the ship.

If you're interested in learning more, try one of the books above or ask your local branch about Titanic history.

flippable non-fic

I haven't posted about non-fiction in a while. A lot of blogs/twitter feeds have published books, the first of which was maybe PostSecret. The books below are books that are fun to open to any page and read aloud.

On PostSecret.com, People write down their secrets on postcards and send them in anonymously. Some are funny, some are heartbreaking, some are in between. Check out their first book or write your own secrets and mail them in.

More blogs have put out very readable and funny books like Cake Wrecks - (blog | book ) and Awkward Family Photos (blog | book), since other people's awkwardness is always fun to laugh at.

Other People's Love Letters and Other People's Rejection Letters are what they sound like: a compilation of other people's letters. Like PostSecret, they range from touching to hilarious to sad. It's fun to flip to a random page and read aloud to friends. 

Of course there's lots of books that are more fun to look at than actually read. Kat Von D's High Voltage Tattoo comes to mind. We also have lots of books on street art, more traditional art, photography, travel, etc. etc. etc.

So next time you're in the library, take a browse through the non-fiction collection. You might be surprised at what catches your eye.

New Non-fic

It took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the non-fiction section of my library wasn't (entirely) boring (I did learn this lesson before I became a librarian but not very long before). If you want to learn how to do pretty much anything, chances are there's a book on it. If you're having trouble with your life, there's probably someone who's been there first and written about it. If you want to impress that cute classmate with your worldly knowledge, there's lots of books to help you out.

(and there's not just books. There's DVDs and e-books and all sorts of other things too. I'm just a book lover at heart).

I know I've already talked about non-fiction but when I was flipping through the new non-fiction titles, I saw some stuff with teen appeal and thought I'd draw your attention to it.

100% Gleek - if you're into the show Glee, you'll want to check this one out.

Acting Bible: the complete resource for aspiring actors - If you're looking to try out for your school play or musical, check this out first.

Dear Diary, I'm Pregnant - ten real life stories of teens who have been through it.

Great Movies III - Robert Ebert's idea of some good movies.

How to Get Published - I know a lot of you are writers. Have an interest in making money some day? This might help.


I.D.: Stuff that happens to define us - anecdotes about things that make us who we are.

Lady Gaga: Behind the Fame - how do you get to be Lady Gaga? (I know I'm curious)

(and that's after only flipping through half of what came in in the last 30 days!)