Why Does My Cat Do That?

February 17, 2016January 26, 2016 / Mary / Leave a comment

Why is the cat doing that?

We ask this question all the time in my house. We have two cats. One is a calm, loving lap cat. The other is a manic, race-around-the-house blur of fur who swings from the drapes, knocks over lamps, and creates general havoc. The funny thing is, these cats, both female, are litter mates, adopted together at 5 weeks old.

We were stumped, so we hit the books at the library to discover how to deal with our Tasmanian devil of a cat.

We found Cats Behaving Badly by Celia Haddon and learned some good tricks for dealing with a crazy cat. Turns out, most cats are simply responding to their environment. Indoor cats, which our two are, need to be kept busy. They are dependent on their human pets… um, owners, for all their activities. Some cats respond to a lack of stimulation by eating and sleeping and, consequently, gaining too much weight. Others misbehave in an attempt to break the boredom void. We have one of each.

The solutions? Provide vertical spaces such as tall cat condos or shelves for your cat to climb and perch on. Hide catnip mice (or just a little catnip) around the house and let your cat discover it. Cats love to hunt and their sense of smell is very keen. And the best thing? A good, old fashioned cardboard box. Cats LOVE boxes. Change the location and size occasionally and your cat will play happily for days.

Above all else, play with your cat. Cats need a toy that moves to engage their hunting instinct and that involves you. Throw that toy mouse. Dangle that string. Shoot nerf discs down the hall. (Yes, we do this.)

Need some more keep-the-cat-happy ideas? Try these titles:

The Secret Life of Your Cat: Unlock the Mysteries of Your Pet’s Behavior by Vicky Halls

Starting from Scratch : How to Correct Behavior Problems in Your Adult Cat by Pam Johnson-Bennett

Cat Sense : How the New Feline Science Can Make You a Better Friend to Your Pet by John Bradshaw

The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats : a Journey into the Feline Heart by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson

Cats on the Counter : Therapy and Training for Your Cat by Larry Lachman & Frank Mickadeit

Getting In On The Games – Fiction For and About Gamers

February 15, 2016February 10, 2016 / Sharon Tyler / Leave a comment

Video games, whether on computers, consoles, tablets, or handheld players are fun diversions for many people of all ages. For serious players the worlds within games offer an escape, communities of like-minded individuals, and mild (or not so mild) obsessions for the players. It is no wonder that authors have used video games as subject matter, setting, plot device, or even characters in their work. Here are some great novels, divided into children’s fiction and young adult fiction, that might particularly appeal to gamers and those that lose them to the games.

Children
My Life as a Gamer by Janet Tashjian
Derek Fallon gets the chance of a lifetime when he is asked to test software for new video games, but he soon discovers that his dream job isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Game Over, Pete Watson by Joe Schreiber
When video game obsessed Pete Watson discovers his dad is not only a super-spy but has been kidnapped and is now trapped inside a video game, he has to use his super gaming skills and enter the game to rescue him.

Game On! by D.J. Steinberg
When Old Fogey escapes from prison and creates a video game that physically sucks the players into the game, it is up to Daniel, aka Loud Boy, and his friends to call upon their superpowers to rescue the captured players.

More children’s books that video game fans and players might really enjoy include:The Time Hackers by Gary Paulsen, Deadly Pink by Vivian Vande Velde,Close Encounters of the Nerd Kind by Jeff Miller, Only You Can Save Mankind by Terry Pratchett, Brainboy and the Deathmaster by Tor Seidler, Herbert’s Wormhole by Peter Nelson, and Game On! by Jennifer L. Holm & Matthew Holm.

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Young Adults
Playing Tyler by TL Costa
Tyler MacCandless feels trapped caring for his older brother in rehab and working at McDonald’s, until he is introduced to a new video game that could earn him a place in flight school, but may also be very different than it appears.

In Real Life by Cory Doctorow
Immersing herself in an online role-playing game where she enjoys fantasy heroics, Anda confronts a difficult choice when she befriends a disadvantaged Chinese kid who works illegally to collect valuable objects and sell them to other players for real money.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Immersing himself in a mid-twenty-first-century technological virtual utopia to escape an ugly real world of famine, poverty, and disease, Wade Watts joins an increasingly violent effort to solve a series of puzzles by the virtual world’s creator.

More young adult books that video game fans and players might really enjoy include: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, Neuromancer by William Gibson, The Peripheral by William Gibson, For the Win by Cory Doctorow, Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, In Real Life by Lawrence Tabak, The Eye of Minds by James Dashner, Erebos: It’s a Game: It Watches You by Ursula Poznanski, Epic by Conor Kostick, Insignia by S. J. Kincaid, The Improbable Theory of Ana & Zak by Brian Katcher, and Guy in Real Life by Steve Brezenoff.

Our Year in eBooks

February 13, 2016February 13, 2016 / Louise / Leave a comment

We had a lot of eBook readers at Cheshire Library in 2015! Over 1000 unique users checked out close to 8000 eBooks from our main digital catalog, OverDrive.

Here’s a breakdown our year in eBooks:

Kindle was the preferred download format by a wide margin, and Go Set a Watchman was far and away the most downloaded eBook in our OverDrive collection in 2015.

Although OverDrive has our largest collection of eBooks, don’t forget that we also have ebooks available for download (with your Cheshire Library card) from our OneClick Digital and hoopla catalogs. Our “eLibraries” are open 24/7, you can check out books, movies, music, and magazines right from home whenever the mood strikes, and the items return themselves, so there’s never a late fee! Head to the “Download It!” link on our website to learn more about our digital collections.

Great Non-Fiction Reads of 2015

February 11, 2016January 7, 2016 / Linda / Leave a comment

books

2015 was a banner year for great non-fiction publications. But if you’re like most people, life probably got in the way of being able to read them all. Highlighted below are some of the non-fiction books of 2015 that garnered extra positive attention.

Hammer Head: the making of a carpenter – Nina MacLaughlin – Combining sage advice from Ovid and Mary Oliver with practical descriptions of tools and varieties of wood, the author, who quit her desk job to become a carpenter, shares her joys and frustrations of learning to make things by hand in an occupation that is 99% male.

Thunder & Lightning: weather past, present, future – Lauren Redniss – Focusing on the intricate nature of the world around us, as well as the personal relationship we all have to the weather, a National Book Award finalist and visionary writer—combining personal stories with history, interviews, scientific research and full-color photos—explores the transformative power of weather.

Notorious RBG: the life and times of Ruth Bader Ginsberg– Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik – In a lively illustrated biography of the feminist icon and legal pioneer, readers can get to know the Supreme Court Justice and fierce Jewish grandmother, who has changed the world despite the struggle with the unfinished business of gender equality and civil rights, standing as a testament to what a little chutzpah can do.

Witches of America – ALex Mar – Examines paganism and the occult, from its roots in 1950s England to its current American mecca in the Bay Area, and from a gathering of more than a thousand witches in the Illinois woods to the New Orleans branch of one of the world’s most influential magical societies.

The Monopolists: obsession, fury, and the scandal behind the world’s favorite board game – Mary Pilon – Tracing back to Abraham Lincoln, the Quakers, and a forgotten feminist named Lizzie Magie, and presenting a remarkable social history of corporate greed, the inside story of the world’s most famous board game reveals how Monopoly came into existence.

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble – Zac Bissonnette – In the annals of consumer crazes, nothing compares to Beanie Babies. With no advertising or big-box distribution, creator Ty Warner – an eccentric college dropout – become a billionaire in just three years. And it was all thanks to collectors. The end of the craze was just as swift and extremely devastating, with “rare” Beanie Babies deemed worthless as quickly as they’d once been deemed priceless. Bissonnette draws on hundreds of interviews (including a visit to a man who lives with his 40,000 Ty products and an in-prison interview with a guy who killed a coworker over a Beanie Baby debt) for the first book on the most extraordinary craze of the 1990s.

The Folded Clock: a diary – Heidi Julavits – A critically acclaimed author discovers her old diaries in a storage container and reacquaints herself with a much younger version of the person she became, musing on time, self, youth, friendship, romance, faith, fate and betrayal.

Clementine: the life of Mrs. Winston Churchill – Sonia Purnell – A portrait of Winston Churchill’s extraordinary wife and her lesser-known role in World War II discusses her relationship with political mentor Eleanor Roosevelt, her role in safeguarding Churchill’s health throughout key historical events, and her controversial family priorities.

Two Hours: the quest to run the impossible marathon – Ed Caesar – Delving into the science, physiology and psychology involved in running so fast, for so long, a first-of-its-kind book on marathons invites readers into the world of elite runners, showing us why this most democratic of races retains its savage, enthralling appeal—and why we are drawn to testing ourselves to the limit.

Sinatra: The Chairman – James Kaplan – Presents a behind-the-scenes examination of the life and career of the legendary performer that offers insight into his prolific accomplishments, multidimensional character, and complex relationships.

We Were Brothers – Barry Moser – The author recalls his youth with his brother, considering in prose and illustrations how he and his brother came to be such very different people, and eventually became completely alienated from one another, before finally reconciling in spite of their differences.

Hunger Makes Me A Modern Girl – Carrie Brownstein – The guitarist and vocalist of feminist punk trio Sleater-Kinney presents a candid and deeply personal assessment of life in the rock-and-roll industry that reveals her struggles with rock’s double standards and her co-development of the comedy “Portlandia.”

Sources: Huffington Post, Kirkus Reviews

Front Row Seating

February 9, 2016February 5, 2016 / Susan O. / Leave a comment

“The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king.” – Hamlet, Act 2, scene 2

Back in the 80’s, when we still had a Shakespeare Theater down in Stratford, CT, there was a performance of Shakespeare’s Macbeth that was put on for all the high schools to come and see. Of all the plays, Macbeth seemed like it would be the most interesting, with witches and murder and blood, and big velvety Elizabethan costumes. I was excited – anything for a field trip and a day out of class. Until we got there. Some idiot had decided the best way for 1,500 rowdy high school kids to understand Shakespeare was to imagine it, with a play that had no scenery and no costumes – the entire set was draped in billowing soft blue nylon fabric, like the green-screens of modern movie-making, and the actors all wore tight-fitting outfits of the same blue, as if they’d just escaped from some monochromatic ballet. That was it. It was a total disaster. The audience was so bored and riled you couldn’t hear the dialogue for the catcalls. That is NOT the way to introduce children to Shakespeare.

The good thing is, you don’t have to be a Shakespeare scholar to enjoy a good play. Whether you’ve had to suffer through drudging high school productions of Thornton Wilder’s Our Town or been dazzled on Broadway by Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellan performing Waiting for Godot, a play is not a bad thing. Perhaps your only exposure to waiting-for-godot-ian-mckellen-patrick-stewart theater has been dragging yourself through Oedipus or Antigone in school, not caring a flying duck about the role of the Chorus in Greek tragedy, just glad you scraped by and passed the test. The real tragedy of teaching plays as literature is that they are meant to be performed, not just read in a monotone like a stumbling seventh-grader who has no idea how to pronounce 15th century British comedies, let alone understand them. When performed, they come alive, like listening to a good movie on the television from the next room over. Even my five year old, with occasional explanations, could follow the movie version of Romeo and Juliet.

So if you’re a theater lover, or just a student struggling to understand Ibsen, Cheshire Library is ready to help! Our newest precious addition is a 25-volume audiobook collection of 250 plays and dramatic adaptions by L.A. Theaterworks. You won’t just hear the play, you’ll feel it, as you were meant to. The plays aren’t just read to you, but fully performed by an all-star cast of more than 1,000 actors you are probably familiar with – George Clooney, Calista Flockhart, Dan Castellaneta, Mark Ruffalo, Richard Dreyfus, Jean Stapleton, John de Lancie (who also wrote one of the Doyle adaptions), and so many, many more. Leonard Nimoy performing War of the Worlds with fellow Star Trek actors? Yeah, that’s in there too. Neil Simon, Chekhov, O’Neill, Miller, Shakespeare, Sophocles – they’re all here, ready to keep you entertained for a solid year of performances. Listen to one or listen to them all – you’ll be glad you did.