Thursday Thirteen #15

13 sites with free ebooks

Seeing as how the grand prize for the Adult Summer Reading Program is a Sony Ereader, and we will soon have ebooks available through the catalog (coming eventually), I decided to list 13 sites from which you can legally download free ebooks. In most cases, the files are available as PDFs and can be downloaded to your computer (if you don't have a dedicated reader). They are:

1) Amazon's Kindle Store's Free Books Collections- including Limited Time Promotional Offers and Most Popular Classics. Don't have a Kindle? Never fear there are Kindle apps you can download free for just about any device, listed here.

2) Internet Archive- Interesting assortment of collections from dance manuals from 1490 to 1929 to Harvard Classics to a collection of cookbooks and books on home economics.

3) Open Library- the seemingly endless list of subjects one can browse includes astronauts, Texas, diaries, Riots, Assam, Pleistocene, Colette, Carpentry, Accessible Books (and those are just the examples from their home page).

4) Project Gutenburg- which we all know and love. :)

5) Many Books .Net- where you can search by authors, titles, languages, and genres (which includes such things as audiobooks, banned books, Canadian Literature, cooking, correspondance, Creative Commons, espionage, nautical, occult, and pirate tales among many more).

6) Suvudu's Free Library-Science fiction and fantasy site, regularly updated, so if you don't see anything you like, you might want to subscribe to their monthly updates.

7) Barnes & Noble Free ebooks- You have to create an account to download the books, which doesn't take long (just remember your password).

8) Classic Authors .Net- not just novels, but essays, poems, plays- no longer will you need to worry that the library's only copy of Oedipus Rex is checked out.

9) World Wide School Library- I haven't had much chance to explore this site, but what I have seen was really cool, in all subjects: literature, history, geography, science, social sciences, other languages.

10) Bookyards- Includes biographies and other pertinent information with author pages.

11) Free Ebooks .Net-The first screen for each title gives you the option of reading it online, read as a pdf, read on mobi, and read as an epub.

12) Free-Book 58 Search .Com- Yes, it does have free ebooks, but their subject headings are rather confusing, leading to unrelated titles or to dead ends. I looked up books on the history of the Holocaust and got a book titled The Writings of George Washington. Got into Fiction, click on Westerns, and then click on Louis L'Amour, and pull up The Songs of the Ridings by Frederic Moorman. It wouldn't be my first choice, but if you can't find something specific on any other site, you might try here.

13) Fictionwise- Despite the title of this website, much of its offers are nonfiction, even the free titles: which include The Iraq Study Group Report, Oxford Paperback Thesaurus, Oxford Concise Medical Dictionary, and Oxford Dictionary of World History.

Thursday Thirteen #14

Thirteen Steampunk Novels

Steampunk is an interesting amalgam of science fiction and history, one where the science and technology are powered by steam or spring driven. The best movie examples of steam punk would be Wild, Wild West with Will Smith, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and the newest Sherlock Holmes. The covers look interesting, the stories sound intriguing, and the summer is the perfect time to try out a new genre.

I know, technically the first book is not a novel but an anthology. I like anthologies because they're a good way to discover new authors without the commitment of a full length novel. Enjoy

1) Steampunk- edited by Ann Vandermeer

2) Not Less Than Gods by Kage Baker3) Soulless by Gail Carriger- several people have recommended this series to me, and the covers caught my eye at the book store. I might end up getting this, and the one after it.
4) I have both of her books- on the mountainous collection known as to be read.
5) I love these covers- I grew up fascinated with derigibles ever since hearing that my mom saw the Hindenburg fly over her apartment building just prior to its explosion.
6) I love her vampires and her dragons- haven't read this yet.
7) More Derigibles :)
8) The twenties are a fascinating time period- still healing the wounds of the first ww, yet slowly setting the stage for the second. 9) Cool cover
10) The blurb drew me into this one.
11) Steampunk books are also being written for teens and children
12) The combination of historical England and technology is classic steampunk.
13) a steampunk mystery- definitely a to be read.

Thursday Thirteen

13 Things to Do and See in Hampton Roads
1) Colonial Williamsburg- http://www.history.org/
2) Virginia Air & Space Center- http://www.vasc.org/
3) Virginia Aquarium- http://www.virginiaaquarium.com/Pages/default.aspx
4) Yorktown Battlefield- http://www.nps.gov/york/index.htm
5) Jamestown Settlement/ Yorktown Victory Center- http://www.historyisfun.org/
6) Northwest river park- http://www.chesapeake.va.us/services/depart/park-rec/nwrp/index.shtml
7) Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge- http://www.fws.gov/northeast/greatdismalswamp/
8) Chesapeake Planetarium- http://www.cps.k12.va.us/departments/planetarium/index.html
9) Children’s Museum of Virginia, Portsmouth- http://www.childrensmuseumva.com/
10) Chippokes Farm & Forestry Museum- http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state_parks/chf.shtml
11) Endview Plantation- http://www.endview.org/
12) Fort Monroe- Casemate Museum- http://www.virginia.org/site/description.asp?AttrID=11681
13) Nauticus/Battleship Wisconsin- http://www.nauticus.org/

Thursday Thirteen #12

Thirteen Tools for Job Hunters at the Chesapeake Public Libraries



1) Learning Express- with GED test preparation, job search & work place skills (where you'll find sections on business writing, job search,resumes, and interviewing), as well as Jobs & Careers (licensing, certification, and aptitude practice tests).

2) Business and Career Resource Center- lets you search by company or by industry (by SIC or NAICS codes or by industry description), search for articles, or even search the contents of a specific publication.

3) Reference USA- provides detailed information on more than 12 million US businesses and 683,000 US health-care providers.

4) Microsoft Word- with wizards that help you format both your resume and your cover letter, as well as spell check and grammar check, Word helps you prepare that all important first impression. One warning though: spell check only tells you the word is spelled correctly, not if it is the write word.

5) Fax Machine- It's free and self-service.

6) Computer classes- times and days vary by library.

7) Job club- times and days also vary by library

8) Notary- availability depends on staff schedule, you may want to call your library first.

9) Internet Access- now with a first come/first serve sign up kiosk.

10) Books- to help research businesses, resume writing, fighting stress, or a relaxing read to get away from it all.

11) Audiobooks- whether they are CDs, MP3s, or playaways- these are books to enjoy on the go.

12) Music CDs/DVDs- nothing should take all of your time- even job hunting.

13) Helpful Staff- we can get you started on the computers, lead you to websites, help you find the answers to (most) questions, and even recommend a good book or movie.

Thursday Thirteen #11

Thirteen Books about Gardening

Spring has come, the days grow longer, and people begin to plan... gardens. And we have lots of books to help. These thirteen are all available at the South Norfolk Memorial Library (unless someone else has since checked them out). Enjoy. (This list is presented in no particular order).

1) Crops in Pots by Bob Purnell

2) The Container Gardener's Bible by Joanna Harrison3) All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew
4) Organic Gardening for Dummies by Ann Whitman
5) The Complete Planting Design Course by Hilary Thomas
6) Outside the Not So Big House by Julie Moir Messervy
7) Birds in your Backyard by Robert J. Dolezal
8) Low Maintenance Gardening by Andi Clevely
9) Waterwise Gardening by Ian Cooke
10) Water Gardens by Eleanor Lewis
11) Intimate Gardens by C. Colston Burrell
12) Family Garden by Lia Leendertz
13) Organic Kitchen Garden by Juliet Roberts

Thursday Thirteen #10

Thirteen Things About LearningExpressLibrary

1) It is updated regularly. Some of the new tests are: Electrical, Plumbing, Air Traffic Controller, and Military Aviation.
2) It not only has GED practice tests, it also has preparation courses, some in Spanish.
3) It has improvement courses for elementary school, middle school, and high school.
4) There are an assortment of college prep courses and practice tests: ACT, SAT, CLEP, AP, PSAT, THEA, CUNY, and TOEFL.
5) It also has a section for college students, with sections for improving math skills or reading, grammar, or vocabulary skills.
6) The college section includes practice tests for grad school admissions: GRE, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT.
7) The Jobsearch and Workplace Skills will help you get a job, with a better resume and cover letter, as well as interviewing tips. It also gives tips for success in your new job.
8) Under Jobs and Careers, there are practice tests for career licensure: air traffic controller, commercial drivers license, cosmetology, ems and firefighter, and many others.
9) There is a seperate section of Skill Building for Adults.
10) There is a test preparation section for the U.S. Citizenship exam.
11) One section is resources in Spanish.
12) The ebook section has over 100 titles of study guides, with 24 new titles added in January.
13) And all of this is no charge with your handy, dandy Chesapeake Public Library library card.

Thursday Thirteen #9

Thirteen Things You Can Do Using NovelList

1) You can search by author, title, series, or describe a plot (for instance if you type in vampire and Las Vegas you get 17 titles).

2) You can browse the award winners and get a list of (almost) every book award out there, or search by specific award or genre. For example, searching under Romance brings up the Quill Book Award, the Rita (presented annually by the Romance Writers of America), and the Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards.
3) You can browse the author read a like lists, which has a wide assortment of authors- for example: Deborah Crombie, Jennifer Crusie, Clive Cussler, and MaryJanice Davidson (which includes Katie MacAlister, Julie Kenner, Carrie Vaughn, Michelle Rowen, and Kim Harrison on her list).

4) For authors like Anne Perry, who has more than one series, or J.D. Robb, with 36 titles in her one series- clicking on the series title produces a printable list of the titles in that series (in order).

5) If you search for Dakota Cassidy- it also pulls up Angie Fox and says that her books will appeal to fans of Dakota (and I would agree having read them both).
6) There are also a variety of book discussion guides, for adult books and teen's books, as well as booktalks for the older kids (9-12).

7) The featured articles provide lists of books, based around a theme, for both adults and young adults. Some of the YA lists include: Beyond Happy Endings; Beyond Harry Potter; Misfits and Free Spirits: Teen fiction looks at the nonconformist; and Things that Matter: Fiction from Down Under for Teens.

8) You can find other themed book lists under recommended reading.

9) Each of the reviewers also does a monthly write up under What We're Reading.

10) In the children's section, there are Curricular Connections- lists of fiction and nonfiction books on specific topics, such as animals in folklore, the fifty states, Canada, and also further breaks it into preschool and elementary through middle and high school.

11) NovelList also has a list of links for the curriculum standards for all 50 states and most of the provinces in Canada.

12) For anyone stuck coming up with a storytime, there are picture book extenders. Using one picture book as a starting point (for example- All You Need for a Snowman), they give you a list of discussion questions, a list of activities and crafts, and a list of other titles that could be read with it.

13) Most pages have the print option, as well as the add to folder; some pages also let you save it, email it to yourself, or bookmark it to any of a hundred social media sites (blogger, Facebook, google reader...).

Feel free to check it out for yourself (if you have a Chesapeake library card), your library might have a subscription too.