Summer Blockbusters

Check out Summer Hits from years past.

Ever since Jaws jumped out of the water to the horror and delight of audiences in June 1975, Hollywood studios have been realeasing their crowd pleasing films during the summer.  I remember going to the Swap Shop Drive-In in Ft. Lauderdale (which is still there by the way) in the summer of 1994 to see Speed.  Watching Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock navigate that bus through the streets of LA kept us all on the edge of our lawn chairs (much more comfortable than sitting in the car). If you want to relive great memories of summer favorites, check out the DVD display on the library’s first floor.  These Summer Blockbuster include, to name just a few:

• Star Wars
• E. T.
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Iron Man
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes

 

Happy Birthday Will!

Today is William Shakespeare’s birthday (born April 23, 1564).  Oddly enough it is also the anniversary of his death (died April 23, 1616).  Other odd facts about Shakespeare:

He has a whole library dedicated just to his works (The Folger Library in Washington, DC.)

Shakespeare wrote 11 plays set at least in part in Italy.  While some speculate Shakespeare spent time in Italy, there is no hard evidence, he ever visited the country.

“Although he wrote plays that championed the rights of the poor and the needy, archived documents show the playwright was actually a wealthy landowner repeatedly dragged before the courts and fined for illegally stockpiling food and threatened with jail for evading taxes”. (Shakespeare ‘dodged tax and hoarded food’.” Daily Mail [London, England] 1 Apr. 2013: 21. Biography In Context. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.)

Shakespeare’s plays are “good for your brain, Researchers at Liverpool University in England observed heightened brain activity in 30 people reading the bard’s original plays, compared with when reading them in modern English. The theory: Shakespeare’s inventive use of language, grammar, and syntax creates a puzzle for modern readers that excites the brain”. (“Your brain on Shakespeare.” New York Times Upfront 11 Mar. 2013: 3. Biography In Context. Web. 16 Apr. 2013.)

Why not celebrate the bard’s birthday by watching one of the Lynn Library’s Shakespeare on Film DVDs.

The Most Controversial Book of 2013 (so far)

Sheryl Sandberg’s interview on 60 minutes touched off a storm of controversy.   Sanberg contends that women unintentionally hold themselves back from leadership in the workplace.  This argument seemed to touch a nerve.  Forbes featured a story, Don’t Lean In. Walk Out.  The Pittsburgh Post Gazette complained that “the super-successful Sandberg seems ignorant of the reality of a non-rich life.”  Blogger Carey Goldberg writes,  Sandberg has a central blind spot, a striking omission. Her push for women to work full-time in high-powered jobs, even through motherhood, seems to willfully ignore this fact: A great many of us don’t want to, not when our children are young. We want — often desperately — to cut back. If we can possibly afford it.

Facebook’s CEO

So now you can read “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead” for yourself.  Ask for the Library’s copy at the Information Desk.

Happy Birthday Bach!

J. S. Bach 1685-1750

Today is Johann Sebastian Bach’s 328th birthday.  (This is the Old Style date—Bach is one of those people who lived through the change from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar so you may also see his birthday listed as March 31.)  You could celebrate by coming to the library to check out one of the many CDs we have which feature Bach’s music.  Some suggested titles are:

• Live Elmar Oliveira: the violin concerti of J.S. Bach.
• Bach / Canadian Brass
• The well-tempered clavier
• Sacred cantatas

Also you can listen to Bach’s music online via the Naxos Music Library.

Going Mobile….Need your help

If you tried to use the library website from your mobile phone in the past, it was undoubtedly a bad experience.  So we are in the process of building a new mobile site for the library and would love your feed back.  Simply go to www.lynn.edu/library on your smart phone then leave a comment here or email Leecy Barnett at lbarnett@lynn.edu with suggestions.  Remember this site is only in development so many links have not yet been added.  Please help us have the best mobile presence possible.

Confessions of a Downton Addiction

Downton Abbey Season 3

Why is January 6th a notable date.  In the Christian calendar it is the celebration of Epiphany which commemorates the coming of the Magi (wise men) to Bethlehem with gifts for the infant Jesus.  It is also the birthday of many famous people from Joan of Arc to Khalil Gibran.   But this year January 6 is important for a new reason.  It is the start of the third season of my favorite television series, Downton Abbey.  Apparently, I am not alone in my admiration for the show.  Recently Downton was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Drama Series.  Last fall I found out there are many other Abbey Addicts right here in Boca Raton when I spoke on The World of Downton Abbey to the friends of the Boca Raton library (you can see the Prezi I made for the talk.)  The library has the DVDs of the complete first and second seasons if you need to catch up.  Also we have many of the books I used to learn about the social and historical background of the show.  Stop by the library first floor to see the Downton Abbey display.  (You might want to bring a coat because as I write this, the library air conditioner is stuck on full blast and it is colder than winter in Yorkshire (home of Downton Abbey)).

Book TV/C-SPAN is coming to campus

Dr. Watson

Book TV/C-SPAN is coming to the Lynn University campus to film Dr. Robert Watson, Coordinator of the American Studies program,  discussing his latest book Wednesday, December  5 at noon in the Amarnick-Goldstein Concert Hall.

The book, Affairs of state: the untold history of presidential love, sex, and scandal, 1789-1900 gives an historical perspective to all the charges and counter charges we saw in the 2012 election.

This years’ scandals may have been mild compared to the furry surrounding Andrew Jackson’s marriage, the revelation of Grover Cleveland’s illegitimate son or Lyndon Johnson’s multiple affairs carried on right under Lady Bird’s nose.

The entire Lynn Community is invited to the Book TV filming.

October Library Student Worker of the Month

Morgan Goldstein

The Lynn University Library has just instituted a Library Student Worker of the Month program.  Morgan Goldstein, a freshman from Andover, Massachusetts,  is the first student worker recognized as Student Worker of the Month.  Veselin Bozhilov, student worker supervisor, said Goldstein was chosen because she is reliable, enthusiastic and was very helpful to everyone who came into the Library in the days surrounding the Presidential Debate.

Lincoln

I am really excited about tonight’s Lynn-only advanced screening of the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln.  The movie is based  in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of rivals: the political genius of Abraham Lincoln.    Ms. Goodwin spoke about her research on Lincoln when she visited the Lynn University campus in 2008.  Team of rivalsis  a fascinating account of how Lincoln appointed the men he had edged out for the Republican nomination to his cabinet.   Lincoln was able to win over most of his rivals, but one, Salmon P. Chase gave him continual grief.  Chase repeatedly threaten to resign from his post as Secretary of Treasury.  Chase was surprised when Lincoln accepted one of his letters of resignation and perhaps more surprised when Lincoln graciously appointed him as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

The Lynn Library has the Team of Rivals and many other fine books on Lincoln in our collection.  Outstanding among these are Honor’s voice: the transformation of Abraham Lincoln  by Douglas L. Wilson which focuses on Lincoln’s personal formation as a young adult, Eric Foner’s Pulitzer Prize winner,  The fiery trial: Abraham Lincoln and American slavery and Carl Sandburg’s massive biography, Abraham Lincoln: the prairie years and the war years.

                        

50 Years Ago

In honor of Lynn University’s 50th Anniversary, the Lynn Library has a display of books and movies from 50 years ago.  (The display is on the first floor across from the popular magazines.)  1962 was a great year for both literature and the cinema.   Nobel Prize winner, Alexander Solhenitsyn, published his first major work, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which exposed the harsh treatment of political prisoners in the Soviet Union.  Madeleine L’Engle’s children’s classic, A Wrinkle in Time made  its debut.  Other popular fiction works included: The Reivers by William Faulkner, Letting Go by Philip Roth, We have always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess  and Youngblood Hawke by HermanWouk.  Non-fiction favorites included two classic tales of War:  Terrible Swift Sword (The Civil War) by Bruce Catton and The Guns of August (World War I) by Barbara Tuchman.

Many of the movies from 1962 are considered classics today.  Two of the top three movie heroes of all time were in films released in 1962:  Atticus Finch played by Gregory Peck in  To Kill a Mockingbird  and James Bond as portrayed by Sean Connery in Dr. No.  Lawrence of Arabia  has been consistently listed as one of the top 10 American movies of all time.

One 1962 movie has special memories for me.  That summer our family took a road trip from Wisconsin to California stopping at Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone Park, the Grand Tetons and Yosemite along the way.  In San Francisco, we went to How the West was Won which was shown on the huge Cinerama  wide screens.  The characters shot the river rapids, crossed the plains in stage coaches, had a shoot out on a train  all in the half of the country we had just traveled across.  I highly recommend watching How the West was Won on a big screen TV.