Probably the most popular vampire books right now are Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series. These novels are written for teens, but I’ve had plenty of adults come in raving about them. One mother even guiltily admitted to me that she needed to borrow the library copy of Twilight because she’d picked up her daughter’s copy and got so engrossed reading that her daughter started complaining about wanting her book back. Here’s the list of Ms. Meyer’s novels in order: 1. Twilight, 2. New Moon, 3. Eclipse, 4. Breaking Dawn.

Another recent addition to the vampire phenomenon comes from an old source. I Am Legend came out in theaters in 2007. While the movie monsters weren’t exactly vampires, many people went back to read the 1954 Richard Matheson book of the same name. In this book, the monsters are far more recognizable as vampires, though they do have some zombie characteristics as well. The book is more thought-provoking than the movie and has a very different ending, so even if you’ve seen the Will Smith adventure, the book is worth reading.

One of my favorite vampire novel series is the Undead series by MaryJanice Davidson. Basically chick-lit with vampires, the main character Betsy is 30, single, newly unemployed and even more newly undead. She has a phenomenal designer shoe collection and some remarkable abilities that make her seem to be the prophesied Queen of the Vampires. An irritatingly hunky vampire and a tacky nemesis make for more than enough drama.

1. Undead and Unwed
2. Undead and Unemployed
3. Undead and Unappreciated
4. Undead and Unreturnable
5. Undead and Unpopular
6. Undead and Uneasy
7. Undead and Unworthy

Christopher Moore has another particularly funny take on vampires with his two book series - Bloodsucking Fiends: A Love Story and You Suck: A Love Story. With a crew of late-night grocery store stockmen who love to bowl with frozen turkeys, a homeless man known as the Emperor of San Francisco, and a goth girl minion there’s a little something for everyone in these two. Don’t read it if you want dark, brooding vampires.

Stay tuned for even more vampire novels in the next couple of days.

I have several people who come to the desk to ask for books about vampires. Vampire books are so hot right now. For the people out there who’ve been wanting something new and haven’t asked yet, here’s the beginning of the list I’ve been working on. I’ll get to some newer, more obscure books in the next couple of days.

Let’s start with the classics. If you didn’t read Bram Stoker’s Dracula in high school, you’ve likely seen the movie. This edition of the classic novel is hauntingly illustrated. While Dracula wasn’t the first book about vampires, it was, and remains, a hit.

After Bram Stoker, I always think Anne Rice.  Maybe you saw the blockbuster Interview with the Vampire starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt? It was a book first, and an entertaining one at that. Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles series starts with Interview with a Vampire, and continues:

2. The Vampire Lestat
3. The Queen of the Damned
4. Tale of the Body Thief
5. Memnoch the Devil
6. The Vampire Armand
7. Merrick
8. Blood and Gold: or, The Story of Marius
9. Blackwood Farm
10. Blood Canticle

Personally, the only chicken I like is the one on my plate. I’ve decided that, while I do enjoy the small, cute, chattery yard birds, anything bigger than a pigeon just kind of grosses me out. Other people, however, do like chickens. And we have books about it, of course.

I’ll admit that Extraordinary Chickens and Extra Extraordinary Chickens are kind of cool.  These two books are filled with gorgeous pictures of unusual fowl. They will knock your socks off. I’ve never seen such interesting, unexpected, extraordinary chickens. Maybe if most chickens were this fancy, I wouldn’t find them so disturbing.

I’ve been assured that aside from providing delicious dinners and the eggs for lovely breakfasts, keeping poultry has other benefits. Apparently chickens eat all manner of bugs and creepy-crawlies. Chickens help gardens by providing chemical-free pest control! I was unaware of that. I thought they ate corn. See? Even librarians learn something new everyday.

To help people who already understand the positives of chickens, we have a whole slew of books about keeping chickens. Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens seems to be a classic. You could also check out Storey’s Illustrated Guide to Poultry Breeds if Extraordinary Chickens has inspired you. Living with Chickens: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Flock and Keep Chickens!: Tending Small Flocks in Cities, Suburbs and Other Small Spaces both appear to be good choices for many people around Fairborn who want to have a backyard flock. We have a relatively new book about housing chickens called, of all things, Chicken Coops: 45 Building Plans for Housing Your Flock.  We also have a book called Hen and the Art of Chicken Maitainence: Reflections on Keeping Chickens if you’d like a little more philosophical approach to the whole endeavor.

Click here for a more complete list of books about chickens. If I keep looking at these books, maybe I’ll even change my mind about chickens.

But I doubt it.

“Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.”
-Sir Arthur Eddington English astronomer (1882 - 1944)

One nice thing about being an adult is that generally you aren’t forced to learn about things that bore you. If I’m not interested, I don’t have to read whole books on botany or articles about the role of archivists in state government. I can spend my free time reading all of Stephen King’s books or learning how to grow perfect roses. On the other hand, it is easy to get stuck only learning about the couple subjects that most interest you and ignoring everything else. There are some strange things out there, that you may not even have imagined exist.

The library has books about subjects so wild we thought you might have overlooked them. Maybe one of these new things might pique an interest you didn’t even know you had.

The Girl Who Gave Birth to Rabbits by Clifford A. Pickover

Jumbo’s Hide, Elvis’s Ride, and the Tooth of Buddha by Harvey Rachlin

  The Family That Couldn’t Sleep by D.T. Max

Special Cases: Natural Anomalies and Historical Monsters by Rosamond Wolff Purcell

Ghost Lights and Other Encounters with the Unkn own by E. Randall Floyd

The Two-Headed Boy, and Other Medical Marvels by Jan Bondeson

Ghosthunting Ohio by John B. Kachuba

Mutants, On Genetic Variety and the Human Body by Armand Marie Leroi

Here’s the situation: someone, maybe one of your kids, has something overdue. You call the library and politely ask that they tell you what it is so that you can go look for it. AND THEY WON’T TELL YOU WHAT IT IS! They tell you that YOU have to have the library card number so YOU can find out what your own kid needs to bring back so that YOU don’t run up a bunch of fines. Whose idea was this?

Well…we have this policy about not revealing to anyone (at least without a court order) what anyone else happens to be reading or watching. That means we won’t tell parents what their kids are reading, and we won’t tell kids what their parents are watching. The policy is based on a philosophy that goes clear back to Saint Lawrence the Librarian, who was martyred in A.D. 258 for refusing to tell the Roman authorities who was checking stuff out of the Church library. After all, if the Romans had a list of borrowers from the Church library, they would have a list of Christians all ready to persecute. One stop shopping.

Anyway, Saint Lawrence wouldn’t squeal, and, according to legend, the Romans were so angry that they grilled him, literally (which is why he’s also the patron saint of cooks). Supposedly, at the moment of his death he told them (this is so cool) “Assum est, inquit, versa et manduca,” or, “This side’s done, turn me over and eat!” The moral of the story is, sorry, we can’t tell you what anyone else has checked out. If you want to keep track of your kids’s stuff, or even your parents’, write down their card number so you have it.

The Feast Day of Saint Lawrence is August 10^th, and if you feel like celebrating along with the library community, we recommend that you throw a barbecue. Here’s a good barbecue recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook:

Snappy Barbecue Sauce

1 cup catsup
1 cup water
¼ cup vinegar
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. celery seed
2 or 3 dashes bottled hot pepper sauce

Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Use to baste pork, beef, or poultry. Pass any remaining sauce. Makes about 1 ½ cups.