Rapid Reviews - Library Books

Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum: This is a collection of the cool webcomic I've been reading and enjoying for awhile now. This is a solid first collection that introduces us to the characters. While all the strips appear to be available on-line, it was particularly fun to check this one out from the library. For obvious reasons. And I enjoyed it quite a bit, too.

Of particular interest to me was the October 18th 2002 strip which contains untranslated Braille. Yes, I did go and hunt for information until I could roughly translate it. No, I'm not going to tell you what it says.

A fun book for anyone, but it hits home particularly well for anyone who works with the public.

Unshelved: What Would Dewey Do? by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum: Special guest star librarian action figure Nancy Pearl! Another great collection of a really cool webcomic.

Pretty much all of the book was good, but I liked the extras in the back from a library conference and the "how we make the strip" comic. I also liked their Banned Books Week storyline in which patrons of the library could ban any book they wanted to. There was also a fun "Patriot Act" storyline.

Overall, an excellent collection, and one that any librarian ought to read.

By the way, this is the last strip in the second book. So, once you've read both books, just click forward and you can get up-to-date on the strip. But I recommend getting the books. I sure will once I have some money again.