What’s New @ AFPLS

Fulton County voters will be called to the polls one more time on Tuesday, December 2, 2008. The four undecided races on the ballot are as follows:

• Jim Martin vs Saxby Chambliss for US Senate
• Jim Powell vs. Lauren W. McDonald Jr. for Public Service Commission
• Kimberly Esmond Adams vs. Mike Wallace for Superior Court Judge (Non-Partison)
• Sara Doyle vs. Mike Sheffield for Court of Appeals (Non-Partisan)

Regular voting will be held at your normal precinct polling place. If you are unsure where to go you can check the Poll Locator from the Secretary of State’s Office here.

Absentee voting will be available, but you must fill out the application first in order to have a ballot sent to you. Please be aware of the time constraints involved and have these applications mailed in ASAP! Also, even if you did not vote in the general election, as long as you were registered on or before October 6, 2008, you may vote in the runoff. However, it is too late to register now.

Early voting will happen the week prior to the election from November 24-26. Be aware that this is Thanksgiving week and therefore Government Centers will only be open Monday-Wednesday of that week from 8:30 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. The three early voting locations are as follows:

Fulton County Government Center
141 Pryor St. S.W.
Atlanta, GA 30303

North Fulton Service Center
7741 Roswell Road, NE
Atlanta, Georgia, 30350

South Fulton Service Center
5600 Stonewall Tell Road
College Park, Georgia, 30349

Happy Voting!

Now that Fall feels like it has officially arrived with leaves falling off trees, overcast skies, and blustery breezes, the desire for comfort foods has set in. If you’re anything like me you crave steaming bowls of yummy homemade soup, stew, chili, and my personal favorite, gumbo, all winter long. But this year I’ve decided I need a little inspiration to try a few new recipes to spice up my old favorites. Here are a handful of excellent cookbooks to help us all create that perfect bowl of comfort. As always, you can check the AFPLS catalog here for these and other titles. Bon appetit!

• The Daily Soup cookbook
      Vitetta-Miller, Robin
• The ultimate chili cookbook : history, geography, fact, and folklore of chili
      Jameson, W. C.
• Simply chilis, chowders, and stews
      Munson, Carol
• Real stew : 300 recipes for authentic home-cooked cassoulet, gumbo, chili, tagine, curry, minestrone, bouillabaise, stroganoff, goulash, chowder, and much more
      Wright, Clifford A.
• All-time favorite soup & stew recipes
      Liles, Jean Wickstrom
• Fresh from the vegetarian slow cooker : 200 recipes for healthy and hearty one-pot meals that are ready when you are
      Robertson, Robin (Robin G.)

Looking for something warm to drink to go along with your meal? Check out these titles for some tasty ideas. Cheers!

• Hot drinks : cider, coffee, tea, hot chocolate, spiced punch, spirits
      Heiss, Mary Lou
• Some like it hot : 50 drinks to warm your spirits
      Burrows, Holly
• Green tea : 50 hot drinks, cool quenchers, and sweet and savory treats
      Heiss, Mary Lou

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Sisikala Penumarthi will host a Kuchipudi workshop on Wednesday November, 12 at 2:00 pm on the 1st floor of the Central Library.   Originally a dance of drama and devotion performed only by men of the Brahamin caste in southern India, the classical Kuchipudi style is now open to all learners.

Ms Penumarthi is a teacher and lead performer who has toured many countries.  She is a recipient of  the Master Artist Award from the Georgia Arts Council and the National Foundation for the Advancement of Arts.

Come and try the graceful and very quick moves of Kuchipudi. Or if you prefer, come and enjoy the workshop by just watching. 

Contact the Global Access Department at 404.730.1915 for more information.  All events are free and open to the public.

Today is your last chance to find information on the candidates before election day! Here are some links that could help you make those last minute voting decision. Don’t forget-polls are open tomorrow, November 4, from 7 am - 7pm. To find out where your polling location is, click here.

For nonpartisan info on the preseidential candidates, including indepedent and write-in candidates, Project Vote Smart has a great site which includes voting records and campaign finances.

Fulton County Sample ballots

Fulton County Department of Registrations and Elections

The website for Georgia’s Secretary of State (Fulton County’s Karen Handel) has links to information on candidates running for statewide offices and the statewide referendums.

CNN has an election center online and will keep up to the minute updates on important races nationwide. Fox News has a similar online election focus as well.

If you want to help your kids get a better understanding of what is going on amidst all the election craziness, Scholastic News breaks the process and candidates down and makes it simple and easy to read and age appropiate-that might actually be a good thing for adults to read, too!

Hopefully this information will help you make the best of your vote. Enjoy your election day!

The Global Access Department is presenting a post-Election Day treat.  Coming at the end of Hispanic Heritage Month (okay, a little past the end) is the group Havana Son. 

Havana Son is lead by Cuban native Rene Herrera, an award winning composer and arranger who brings the music to life through his use of piano, vocals, guitar and TRES (Traditional Cuban Stringed Instrument).

His wife Lilian Herrera is of Cuban heritage and has sung professionally in the classical music world as well as with many Latin bands. Havana Son plays authentic Latin rhythms such as Salsa, Merengue, Son, Cha Cha, boleros, bachata, vallenato, cumbia and more.

Havana Son will perform on Wednesday November 5th at noon on the 1st floor of the Central Library.   Call the Global Access Department at 404.730.1915 for more details.  All programs are free and open to the public.

USA Today is celebrating the fifteenth anniversary of it’s Best-Selling Books list. The list first appeared on October 28, 1993. Let’s see…I was a junior in high school at the time-how time flies!! The paper has compiled a list of the books that were the best sellers of the best sellers. All the Harry potter novels appear, along with The Da Vinci Code, Rich Dad, Poor Dad, Devil in the White City, Twilight appear, along with many others. It’s an interesting trip down faded memory lane and there are many books I have been meaning to read for years!! You can find the complete list here.

You can check the AFPLS catalog here to see which titles are available at your local library or you can put a title or two on hold.

If you happen to be in Atlanta this Halloween, the Global Access Department of the Central Library has much and in many languages to frighten and delight.  We have ghosts, witches, epic struggles between good and evil, a few of the walking dead and some who are simply possessed (on page or screen, that is).

Books

Check Ðêm buom ma: tuyên t•âp truyên ma Viêt Nam by Ngô Tu Lâp (Vietnamese)
Kyoden kaiicho by Takahashi Katsuhiko (Japanese)
Li kuei hsien hsing ki by Chang Shou-lee (Chinese)                                                                                                   

Poe és kóvet”oi: rémiszt”o történetek, translated by Csaba Hunyadi (Hungarian)
Treize fantomes by George Langelaan (French)
Vlast’ karmy: roman by Theresa Weir (Russian)
Youisa ui haru by Yi Yu-jin (Korean)

DVDs

Darna zaroori hai (Hindi)
Fear  (Hindi)
Vellinakshathram (Malayam)
Viy (Russian)

Check the library catalog for these items and more.  Don’t be a zombie.  Get into the spirit and take possession of some of these great finds for Halloween.

Mr. Jesse Franklin will continue his lecture-tour through Latin America as he shares his insights into the history and diversity of Venezuela, Mexico, Columbia, Panama and Puerto Rico on Wednesday October 29 at 2:00 pm in the 4th floor meeting room at the Central Library.    Mr. Franklin has charmed library audiences previously with his insights into the cultures of Latin America.

This event is sponsored by the Global Access Department.  Please call 404.730.1915 for more details.  All events are free and open to the public.

Sometimes I find things that I think our readers would find interesting but they are not really related. So this is one of those posts where I just list a bunch of book and library-related links and info. Enjoy!

World Book Day, designated by UNESCO as a “worldwide celebration of books and reading,” is celebrated in over 100 countries accross the globe. In the UK and Ireland this annual event has sparked the World Book Day team to come up with a list of books, both fiction and non-fiction, that not only entertain but also provide further food for thought and discussion. They asked publishers large and small to submit titles they felt worthy of being talked about and have whittled down a list of 50 from the thousands of suggestions they received. Now, I know this is yet another list of books, but what is really interesting about this one is that a lot of the books don’t even sound familiar to me. It’s a list of things we here on the other side of the pond might not have come up with ourselves and so provides the opportunity to discover both new titles and authors at the same time. Exciting, right?!

The full list, Spread the Word: Books to Talk About, will be voted on by the public and narrowed down to a shortlist of 10 titles, with a final winner announced on March 5, 2009. To see the list and get in on the voting visit the site here. Then check the AFPLS catalog to see which of these titles have been hiding in our very own stacks!

Thanks to About Contemporary Literature for the article and links.

For more information about World Book Day and its origins, visit this page from UNESCO, here.