birdHere's another of our great Riley bird artists. Jamie's piece is on the back wall by the teen section.

What is your name? -- Jamie Lewis.

What is your favourite kind of bird? -- For some weird reason that I can't quite pin down, I absolutely love red-winged black birds. However, I also love crows, magpies, ravens and Macaws.

What book are you reading? -- "Inkspell" by Cornelia Funke, for the third time. I'm a little obsessed with the trilogy.

What colour makes you happiest? -- Indigo! Totally my favourite color.

What is your website? -- You can find information on my commissions on http://j-lewis-creations.webs.com

As opposed to the book snob, I read the stuff that's thinner than the white pages and has a happy ending. In fact, I'm so lazy I often listen to stories instead of sitting down to read them. It's good to have something loose, light, and episodic to listen to in the car. Tina Fey's Bossypants fills the need with humour and honesty. A string of anecdotes about the comic writer's life, it's the perfect driving companion. With a denser story, I sometimes concentrate so hard on memorizing the characters' names that I miss my turn. Suddenly I am the outskirts of the city wondering where my library went!

Underneath the jokes about Tina's life, there's an underlying thread of feminism. Tina was the first female head writer at Saturday Night Live. She discusses her comedy sketches about Sarah Palin, and how the media reacts to powerful women. Then she details her life as the boss at the TV show "30 Rock." She also takes on the "being a mom vs. having a career" balance.

I wouldn't recommend this for my book club since it's more a series of jokes than a well written story. However, as a bookcd it made me laugh. It's HAPPY, so it deserves a spot on this blog (and in your car's CD player).

Cheers!

I have only recently discovered the novels of George Eliot but I can already say she is one of my favourite authors. What took me so long to get around to reading her? I guess in my youth I had the mistaken idea that novels written in previous centuries would be boring. Perhaps I needed to wait until I could appreciate her work. Then, even when I was ready, I needed to have one of those happy accidents when, looking for a book to read, I opened it up, read a few paragraphs and was hooked.

2011 marks 150 years since the publication of Silas Marner. I can see why some modern readers would find the pace slow, the language difficult, the moral message too strong and the story too neatly tied up. That will happen if you insist that a mid-19th century novel be judged by early-21st century standards. I don't understand why some people refuse to read a book on it's own terms, but insist that the book conform to their terms. It's like they live in a city with great restaurants that represent every type of food in the world, but they only ever go to the steakhouse.

To me the story of the miserly weaver who loses his riches but discovers a greater treasure is one of the great novels of any time. The story itself is not so powerful as the incredibly deep insight the author has for what motivates human behaviour, particularly bad behaviour. Often while reading I was reminded of William Faulkner because both authors had a particular talent for exposing how people find self-righteous justifications for greedy actions. While Faulkner reveals hypocrisy in a darkly humorous way, Eliot shows compassion for all her characters, no matter how flawed, and one gets the sense that her novels are presided over by a kind and forgiving God. The novels of George Eliot do not simply instruct us in proper behavior (for who wants to be preached at?) but give an example of a kind loving attitude that is needed much more today, I think, than it was 150 years ago.

birdWhat is your name? Susan Fae Haglund

Why do you paint birds?

Birds are fascinating to watch and to learn from, they have similar habits as humans. Birds are hardworking, sociable creatures that rely on their flock and their individual instincts for survival. Much like us, only not us, their body structures allow them to do things we can’t. Wings and feathers stimulate my imagination.

Flutter, Feather, Flurry and Fun are motivating words in my vocabulary and encourage a bird image for me.

What is your favourite kind of bird?

The American Robin has the most beautiful song and a regular visitor to my yard. Yet, it’s a blue bird in the shape of a Robin that you’ll find in my paintings (artist licence); they flash a spot of joy where ever they are.

Who are your favourite artists?

The old masters such as; Georges Braque, Van Gogh, Monet, Di Vinci. Living Artists: Bev Tosh, my parents; Myrna & Wayne Haglund, Shantal Slieght, many more.

What book are you reading? Lust for Life

What colour makes you happiest?

Purple and all variations of Blues and Reds mixed together. Green makes me happy too.

What’s your favourite section of the library? Audio

What is your website? http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheArtTree?ref=si_shop, www.thearttree.biz

Favourite ‘Read Aloud’ books from the Ladybug Lass:

Carle, Eric. Dream Snow

Cousins, Lucy. I’m the Best

Ehlert, Lois. Snowballs

Feiffer, Jules. Bark. George

Harper, Wilhelmina. The Gunniwolf

Meade, Holly. John Willy and Freddy McGee

Munsch, Robert. Stephanie’s Ponytail

Schmid, Paul . A Pet for Petunia

Seeger, Pete. Abiyoyo: based on a South African lullaby and folk story

Stinson, Kathy. Red is Best

Name? Connie Christensen - doo wadda wadda art.

Why birds? I don't really know! I paint robins, chicks, chickens, seagulls and bluebirds of happiness. They often have an attitude.

Favourite bird? I like robins. Sometimes I paint them in something that looks like a snowy background. To me they represent hope.

What book? I just finished 'Breaking Night-A Memoir of Forgiveness, Survival, and My Journey from Homeless to Harvard' by Liz Murray. Got it out of the library! Now I am reading 'The Cellist of Sarajevo' by Steven Galloway.

Happiest colour? Hmmmm. I like colour. Lots of colour. If I had to pick one, I'd pick yellow. . . or gold. . . or red. . .

Favourite section of library? The HOLD section. When a friend recommends a book, I easily look it up in the library catalogue using my home computer, put a hold on it, it's sent to the library of my choice and then I go get it. Easy.

My website? www.paintingsbyconnie.blogspot.com

What is your name? Mary Sanche

Why do you paint birds? The sight of a flock of birds flooding the sky is just so crazy and unfathomable for us fleshy grounded humans. Birds, though they are very real and all that, have that touch of fantasy that makes them quite a good subject.

What is your favourite kind of bird? Magpies, because I love how they hope and how fat they can be, and pigeons, just because they coo. I love that I get to see them all the time!

Who are your favourite artists? Way too many. But I am a fan of Yago Hortal, Alphonse Mucha, and... well, anybody, really.

What book are you reading? "Zooey" by J. D. Salinger (in the 'Franny and Zooey' book - but I've finished 'Franny')

What colour makes you happiest? A nice, warm brown. So cuddly.

What’s your favourite section of the library? Any part that smells like books.

What is your website? mary.nsdev.org (or, for a spot of light reading and things i like, thoughtsupnorth.tumblr.com)

Leviathan is an alternate history of World War I. It is about what the world would be like if electricity was never used as the main power source. I think it would be good for kids ages 10 to 14. It is a war book with lots of chases and battles. The two main characters are a young Austro-Hungarian prince named Alek and a British girl air force officer disguised as a guy. It is written by Scott Westerfeld.

S.M. (age 10)

Thousands of Calgarians use the Louise Riley Library every week but how many know about Louise Riley herself?

Louise Riley was born in Calgary on November 8th, 1904. Her parents were among the first citizens of our city - the family homestead including the current location of the Jubilee Auditorium. Her father, Ezra Houndsfield Riley, was a founding member of the St. Barnabas Anglican church and donated the land on which it stands. The family also donated the land for Riley park.

Louise Riley became the Children's Librarian in 1930 and quickly became a major force in promoting children's literacy not only in Calgary, but across North America. She received a Carnegie fellowship from the American Library Association for a study on school libraries and forged very strong ties between the public library and schools. There are still many Calgarians who remember her coming to their school to read stories. She reached an even wider audience when she organized a weekly radio broadcast; "The Children's Story Hour", and was a permanent panel member on the CFAC program "State Your Case." In the 1950's Louise Riley was one of the biggest proponents of a new Library for the downtown.

She was also an author. She wrote three books for children and one adult novel. All of her work is still available for library members to check out from our branch.

Louise Riley left us too soon, passing away on August 8th 1957. In her too-short life the impact she had on the cultural life of Calgary is immeasurable. It seems natural then that a library branch that opened only two years after her passing, in the very community her family homesteaded, bear her name.

In 1963 Mrs. Paul Gishler, sister to Louise Riley, commissioned artist H. G. Glyde to paint a portrait of Miss Riley. This painting, pictured here, still greets visitors to the Louise Riley Library to this day.

Welcome to our branch blog! We're enthusiastic about reading and want to share our favourites with you. We'll be posting about happy books that our book clubs loved, and serious literary fiction that your high school English teacher would approve of. We'll share interesting new music CDs and great holiday movies. There are big fantasy fans working here, and someone who only reads what's realistic. There will be some picks for kids too, including that perplexing topic- books that boys like. Written by a boy. We read everything, and want to share our thoughts with you.

There will also be some community news, and profiles of the local artists that have lent us bird art to display on our walls.

Please stop and chat with us next time you're in the branch, or drop us a comment online. If you comment about the last three books you enjoyed, we will think of another book to try!

Cheers, the Riley staff