The Best of the Millennium

The Millions selected fifty-six people for a special panel. Each panelist could name up to five books available in English with a publication date no earlier than January 1, 2000. Books were ranked according to number of votes received. The SCC Libraries have a few of these books available for you to check out and enjoy.

#16. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides PS3555.64 M53 2003

#11. The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz          PS3554.I259 375 2008

 #2. The Known World by Edward P. Jones PS3560 .04813 K58 2003

#1. The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen PS3556. R352 C67 2002B

Do you agree or disagree?

I ask you, what are the best books of fiction of the millennium, so far?

www.themillions.com

Fahrenheit 451’s Discussion Questions from the Big Read

1. Montag comes to learn that “firemen are rarely necessary” because “the public itself stopped reading of its own accord.” Bradbury wrote his novel in 1953: To what extent has his prophecy come true today?
2. Clarisse describes a past that Montag has never known: one with front porches, gardens, and rocking chairs. What do these items have in common, and how might their removal have encouraged Montag’s repressive society?
3. “Don’t ask to be saved in any one thing, person, machine, or library,” Faber tells Montag. “Do your own bit of saving, and if you drown, as least die knowing you were headed for shore.” How good is this advice?
4. One of the most significant of the many literary allusions in Fahrenheit 451 occurs when Montag reads Matthew Arnold’s poem “Dover Beach.” What is the response of Mildred’s friends, and why does Montag kick them out of his house?
5. It may surprise the reader to learn that Beatty is quite well read. How can Beatty’s knowledge of and hatred for books be reconciled?
6. Unlike Mrs. Hudson, Montag choose not to die in his house with his books. Instead he burns them, asserting even that “it was good to burn” and that ”fire was best for everything!” Are thres choices and sentiments consistent with his character? Are you surprised that he fails to follow in her footsteps?
7. Beatty justifies the new role of firemen by claiming to be “custodians of [society's] peace of mind, the focus [the] understandable and righ dread of being inferior.” What does he mean by this, and is there any sense that he might be right?
8. How does the destruction of books lead to more happiness and equality, according to Beatty? Does his lecture to Montag on the rights of man sound like any rhetoric employed today?
9. Why does Montag memorize the Old Testament’s Ecclesiastes and the New Testaments’s Revelation? How do the final two paragraphs of the novel allude to both biblical books?
10. Are there any circumstances where censorship might play a beneficial role in soceity? Are there some books that should be banned?
11. If you had to memorize a single book or risk its extinction, which book would you choose?

from the National Endowment for the Arts

Horror Books @ SCC Libraries

Grab a Horror Book from the SCC Library and Prepare for a Thrilling Tale.

Creepers by David Morrell

PR9199.3. M65 C74 2006

The setting of this novel is a cold night in October and the story revolves around five people who are planning to break into the Paragon Hotel, which used to be a fabulous establishment. However, what these people do not know is that the hotel has an array of evil forces wating on them.

 

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

PR5397. F7 1991

Shelley’s classic tale of Dr. Frankenstein’s experiment on teh dead that goes much too far is one of the classics of horror literature. When the doctor puts together variour body parts from the dead and is able to bring to life a human from those body parts, it begins to wreak havoc on all who cross its path.

Midnight Voices by John Saul

PS3569. A787 M53 2003

Widow Carolina Evans believes her life is made when she marries handsome, successful attornery, Anthony Fleming. However, when she and her children move into his apartment, her son becomes skeptical of the place and other inhabitants, and her daughter begins having nightmares. Soon, a horrifying secret is revealed about the apartment and they must all attempt to escape.

Finding a Horror Book in the SCC Library’s Catalog is Easy:

www.library.sccsc.edu

• Select “Library Catalog”
• Type your search term in the search box – horror & click “Search”
• Click title from the list that appears

Books by M.T. Anderson @ SCC Library

PZ7 .A54395 AST 2008	2008
The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing : traitor to the nation : taken from accounts by his own hand and other sundry sources. Vol. 1, The Pox party    Being purchased by the Spartanburg Community College Library.

 

PS3551 .N347 A88 2008	2008
The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing, traitor to the nation. v. #2 The kingdom on the waves  1st ed.    1 item available at Spartanburg Community College Library in Popular Fiction.

Booklist Video: M. T. Anderson’s 2009 Printz Speech.

Engberg, Gillian (author).

FEATURE. First published September 30, 2009 (Booklist Online).

There’s no question that the Printz Honor–winning Octavian Nothing duet presents readers with an intellectual challenge. In his National Book Award acceptance speech for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v.1: The Pox Party, Anderson himself described the books as a “900-page two-volume historical epic for teens, written in a kind of unintelligible 18th-century Johnsonian Augustan prose.” Here, in his impassioned acceptance speech for The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation; v.2: The Kingdom on the Waves at the 2009 Michael L. Printz Awards (administered by ALA’s Young Adult Library Services Association and sponsored by Booklist), Anderson speaks right to adults about the importance of providing rich reading challenges for kids. Here are some memorable lines that earned some loud applause:

“No child naturally hates knowledge. No toddler comes into the world saying, ‘Don’t tell me about how stuff works. I don’t give a shit. Everything about the world sucks.’ . . . It takes an adult to make a child hate knowing things. The fact is that kids don’t believe that thinking isn’t fun until we tell them so.”

Just as in his books, Anderson shows in his speech how the unsettled complexities of Octavian’s time flow right into today. And he reminds us that thinking deeply about things is what makes life “vivid and full.” And fun. What, according to Anderson, is the “one remaining taboo left in YA literature”? Listen to his speech to find out. http://www.blip.tv/file/2586115

September 28th – “Fahrenheit 451″ by Ray Bradbury

Below are the discussion questions for the Book Chat (September 28 and October 1 from 6 pm to 7 pm).

1. When was the last time you read Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451″?

2. Can you imagine a society without books or libraries?

3. Ray Bradbury wrote “Fahrenheit 451″ in 1953; to what extent has his prophecy come true today?

4. What do you think happened to the children in Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451″?

5. Why did Montag start reading and hiding books in his house?

6. If you had to memorize a single book, which book would you choose?

7. If you had to burn a single book, which book would you choose?

8. If you had to rename “Fahrenheit 451″, what would you name it?

2009’s Top 10 Favorite Authors

During the Welcome Back Bash, students were asked, “Who is your favorite author?”

Below are the results from the survey.

Nicholas Sparks

Stephenie Meyer

Steve Harvey (non-fiction)                   

Stephen King

Zane                 

Terry McMillan

J. K. Rowling

Janet Evanovich

Mary Higgins Clark

Joyce Meyer (non-fiction)                           

These authors can be found at the SCC Libraries.

 

Quote by Ray Bradbury

“Libraries raised me. I don’t believe in colleges and universities. I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money….I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

Science fiction author of Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury

New York Times, June 19

All About Romance

Share your love of romance with other romance fans on this website http://likesbooks.com/home.html

After more than ten years online, All About Romance is the premiere destination of romance readers. Our longevity, our unabashed love for romance books and our unbiased, intelligent, and often irreverent writing about romance fiction makes us unique on the Web. (from the website)

Fall 2009 – Book Discussion Schedule

Fall  2009 Schedule

Book – Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Book Discussion – September 21

12:30 pm – Cuppa Cabeana (Library Learning Resource )

Online Book Discussion – September 28

7:00 – 8:00 pm

Look at Special Links

Click on: Facebook.com (SCC-Central Campus Library)

Log in and Click on the Discussions tab

or

Book Chat (on your right)

2009 Hugo Award Winners

Familiar names dominated the 2009 Hugo Awards for the world’s finest sci-fi and fantasy, with Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book winning Best Novel and earning him a new statue to go along with his 2002 Hugo for American Gods. Nancy Kress won a Best Novella for her tale The Erdmann Nexus. Some cool newcomers also picked up Hugos, which wrapped August 10 in Montreal at the 67th World Science Fiction Convention (Thill).

The Spartanburg Community College Library has the following book available for check out:

Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book (call number PR6057. A319G73 2008)

 

Thill, Scott. “2009 Hugo Awards Honor Gaiman, Dr. Horrible, More. Undwire. Wire.com, 10 August 2009. Web. 13 August 2009. <http://www.wired.com/underwire/2009/08/2009-hugo-awards-honor-gaiman-dr-horrible-more/>.