This is a super long post, but I hope it's helpful for some of our frustrated scanners. smile.
At the volunteer telephone meeting this morning one of the topics discussed briefly was the challenge in finding books to scan that would be good additions to the collection but are at the same time unlikely to be replaced by publisher quality scans. I mentioned that over the last five years I've complied a list of books that I thought would make good additions to the collection. They are books I read in printed form, back when I could, that I thought were good, or are books that have been recommended to me by various sources (friends, librarians, through old book reviews and the like) that I couldn't find on Bookshare. I had no idea this could be helpful to anyone else, but I found out this morning that it might be. smile. So I'll be slowly posting, one hundred books at a time, my personal "Hoped Safe To Scan And Good Books to Boot List." I'd post the sections faster, but I want to include a short synopsis of each one, and make sure none of them are already in the collection as well. That takes some time. If anyone wants to help with that, contact me off list, as I'd love some help with it. smile.
These are not books that I'm requesting to go on the wish list. That list is for books that members requested that they specifically want to read themselves. Instead these books are purely suggestions to scanners for anyone who is interested, based on the following:
1. I can't guarantee that they won't be replaced by a PQ book, but I think it's highly unlikely that they will ever be given to Bookshare in a publisher quality format, even if they were originally printed by a publisher that currently gives books to Bookshare. 2. They are older books, mostly published from 1990 back through the early 1950s, most likely to be found used or in a public library. 3. They're a hodge podge of genres, and reading levels range from children's to adult. 4. While everyone has different tastes and opinions for what makes a good book, I or someone whose opinion in books I respect thought they were good reads. But that doesn't mean that they'll be liked by anyone else. 5. They're biased in topics towards stuff I find most interesting, so this is by no means a balanced list. Some genres aren't on it at all. The completely missing ones are horror, erotica and romance novels. There is only a handful of nonfiction religious books, and a smattering of Christian fiction as well. Those genres that are missing aren't on this list because they're not my taste in reading. It's not a commentary at all on whether or not those genres are full of good books as well. 6. If these first 100 don't appeal, wait for the next list as it will probably be a totally different mix of types of books. This first list, for example, is very heavy on children's horse-themed books. That's because I'm going alphabetically through the first section, and and certain authors like C.W. Anderson wrote a whole lot a good quality horse-themed books in the 1950s and 1960s for children and middle-school readers. Bear with me! smile. My master list of Hoped Safe To Scan And Good Books to Boot at this point includes well over 1,000 titles. One entire section includes a list complied by friends and acquaintances that serve in the military, including one of Top Gun's former top officers and a recently retired nuclear aircraft carrier chief operations officer, on the books they thought were the best ever written about the military, both fiction and nonfiction. Trust me, there isn't a horse-themed book to be found in that entire section of my list! grin. 7. I've checked to make sure these books are not in the collection, but I make mistakes. Also, I haven't checked them against any of the other lists like the "being scanned" list. So please double-check all the usual places to avoid getting burned any time you use this or future lists. 8. Each book is listed as follows: Author, Title, Category, Synopsis. The categories are Fiction, Nonfiction, children's, middleschool, YA for young adult, SF for science fiction, fantasy, biography, western, and probably a few more. 9. I have my original list in a spreadsheet. However, the consensus from us volunteers was that spreadsheets are often such a pain to open across all our different software that a document is better. I'll attach each list as RTF document, and I'll paste the list at the bottom of the email in text, too. If you'd like a spreadsheet version, contact me privately and I'll send it to you in that form.
Whew. That's it! smile. Judy s. *Hoped Safe To Scan And Good Books to Boot List, Books 1-100* (from Judy s.), August 1, 20121. Aardema, Verna, The Riddle of the Drum, Children's, Children's story set in Mexico. To keep his daughter from marrying, a king says suitors must guess the kind of leather used in a wizard's drum.
2. Aardema, Verna, What's So Funny Ketu?, Children's, After he saves a snake, Ketu gets rewarded by being able to hear animals think.
3. Adams, Julia Davis, Mountains are Free, Childrens, Fictionalized story of William Tell.
4. Adams, Julia Davis, Vaino A Boy of Finland, Children's, The story, underlaid with the folklore of Finland, of a Finnish student during the WWI revolution that freed Finland from Russian rule.
5. Adler, Bill Jr, Outwitting Critters, Nonfiction, Outwitting critters that have become pests in your yard or garden.
6. Adler, Bill Jr, Outwitting Squirrels, Nonfiction, Outwitting Squirrels that have become pests in your yard or garden.
7. Agee, James, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Fiction, During the Great Depression, the author and and photographer Walker Evans went to Alabama and spent several months living with three tenant farmers to paint a portrait of their lives.
8. Ainslie, Tom, Body Language of Horses, Nonfiction, How horses communicate via their body language.
9. Anderson, Ann Kiemel, And With the Gift Came Laughter, Middleschool, Biography of a Christian wife and mother who adopted two boys under special circumstances after having multiple miscarriages.
10. Anderson, C. W., A Filly for Joan, YA, Joan gets a Thoroughbred filly for her birthday because she had outgrown her pony, and the filly Gallant Lady grows up to be fast enough for the racetrack.
11. Anderson, C. W., Favorite Horse Stories, YA, Favorite Horse Stories.12. Anderson, C. W., Great Heart, YA, When Dan acquires a new jumper, he shortens its name to G.H. instead of Great Heart just in case it can't win, but Great Heart lives up to his name after Dan has a serious accident.
13. Anderson, C. W., High Courage, YA, A Maryland girl trains her horse for the steeplechase.
14. Anderson, C. W., Phantom, Son of the Grey Ghost, YA, A young girl gives her horse the love and confidence needed to make him a champion.
15. Anderson, C. W., The Horse of Hurricane Hill, YA, Stephen Slade is given an unbroke colt to train when he finds the colt after it escaped from a barn fire.
16. Anderson, Libby, A New Horse for Marny, YA, Written by international dressage judge, the story follows 16-year-old Marny after she loses her horse following a tragedy.
17. Anderson, Margaret J., The Brain on Quartz Mountain, Middleschool, Dave's father, Professor Botti's, experiments with growing chicken brain cells, which secretly help Dave become a whiz kid.Dave is thrilled with the attention and perks, until the brain becomes malevolent.
18. Anderson, Poul, Beyond the Beyond, SF, Short stories. 19. Anderson, Poul, Explorations, SF, Short stories.20. Anderson, Poul, Fire Time, SF, The alien culture of a planet with a widely elliptical orbit intersects with the arrival of humans who don't understand what it means.
21. Anderson, Poul, Guardians of Time, SF, A set of four stories from the author's "Time Patrol" series.
22. Anderson, Poul, Planet of No Return, SF, Humans need room to expand in the universe--but should they?.
23. Anderson, Poul, Tau Zero, SF, When the ship Christina attains light-speed, tau zero itself, the disparity between ship-time and external time becomes almost impossibly great as the crew speed into the unknown.
24. Anderson, Poul, The Circus of Hells, SF, Lt Flandry series book.25. Anderson, Poul, The Dancer from Atlantis, SF, Four strangers from different ages and lands are snatched up by an out of control time machine and stranded in 1400 B.C.
26. Anderson, Poul, The Earth Book of Stormgate, SF, Chronicle from the winged Ythri of mankind's encounters with their civilization over 4000 years.
27. Anderson, Poul, Time and Stars, SF, Short stories.28. Anderson, Poul, Trader to the Stars, SF, Wily old Trader Nicholas van Rijn ran a wide empire, but sometimes even his backing and experience didn't stop inhabitants of certain planets from getting out of hand.
29. Angelo, Valenti, Nino, Fiction, A 1938 story set in Tuscany of the childhood of an artist.
30. Anno, Mitsumasa, The King's Flower, Children's, There was once a king who had to have everything bigger and better than anything else...
31. Ardizzone, Edward, Little Tim and the Brave Sea Captain, Children's, A stowaway boy's adventures as he gains the trust of captain and crew and survives a violent storm.
32. Arkin, Alan, The Lemming Condition, Childrren's, Bubber can't figure out why his fellow lemmings are so eager to rush off of a cliff to their deaths... Is it his fate, and what motives all the lemmings to do it?.
33. Arnold, Alan, Once Upon a Galaxy, Nonfiction, Making of the Empire Strikes Back.
34. Bahr, Robert, Blizzard at the Zoo, Children's, All about how the Buffalo zoo kept the animals alive and fed during the blizzard of 1977, one of the worst snowstorms in American history.
35. Balch, Glenn, Indian Paint, Children's, When his pinto pony disappears with a wild herd, a young Indian boy sets out to find him.
36. Balch, Glenn, Tiger Roan, Children's, Hugh Darnell finds and tames an escaped rodeo bronc, but must find a way to keep the horse from being returned to rodeo life after Hugh is sent to prison.
37. Balch, Glenn, White Ruff, Children's, A smart valuable collie, a skilled ranch sheep dog, is stolen and tries to find his way back home.
38. Balch, Glenn, Wild Horse Tamer, Children's, When Ben and Dixie see a black horse on a rodeo newsreel, they are certain it is their missing ranch horse King, but don't know what to do.
39. Balzao, Honore de, Le Pere Goriot, Fiction, Set in Paris in 1819, the story follows the intertwined lives of three characters: the elderly doting Goriot; a mysterious criminal-in-hiding named Vautrin; and a naive law student named Eugène de Rastignac.
40. Barich, Bill, Laughing in the Hills, Nonfiction, Bill Barich's inside account of the in-track world of thoroughbred racing. .
41. Bartholomew, Barbara, Mirror Image, YA, To escape being in her twin sister's shadow, Brooke spends the summer on her aunt's farm in Oklahoma, where she falls for handsome Brett, and helps a frightened rodeo horse.
42. Bawden, Nina, The Peppermint Pig, YA, During a particularly hard spot, the antics of a runt "peppermint" pig keep two children going.
43. Beach, Edward L., Cold is the Sea, Fiction, The USS Cushing encounters a Russian sub during a secret mission to the Arctic Ocean to determine whether her nuclear missiles are effective when fired from beneath the ice.
44. Beach, Edward L., Dust on the Sea, Fiction, Sequel to Run Silent, Run Deep. The most destructive subs in the U.S. Navy are dispatched to Bungo Suido in the Yellow Sea to harass and destroy enemy troop ships--a near-suicide mission in the very heart of Japan's home waters.
45. Beach, Edward L., Run Silent, Run Deep, Fiction, Considered by many submariners the best book ever written on USN submarine operations in the Pacific in WWII. A U.S. submarine commander becomes obsessed with sinking a specific Japanese ship.
46. Bechdolt, Jack, Trusty, The Story of a Police Horse, YA, After Trusty is frightened by an incident on the city streets he is bought by the Mounted Police who rehabilitate him .
47. Bemelmans, Ludwig, Golden Basket, Children's, Newbery honor book 1936. Two sisters stay at the Bruges Golden Basket hotel in Belgium.
48. Benedict, Diana, Horse Trivia, Nonfiction, Horse trivia.49. Bennett, Jill, Days Are Where We Live and Other Poems, Poetry, Children's poetry.
50. Bennett, John, Pigtail of Ah Lee Ben Loo, Children's, 1929 Newbery honor book. 18 fairy-tale type stories and poems.
51. Berger, Terry, Ben's ABC Day, Children's, A small boy is carries out activities that each begin with a letter of the alphabet.
52. Berry, Erik, Winged Girl of Knossos, Middleschool, Newbery book. A reimagining of the escape of Theseus from the Labrinth and the Minataur, who is assisted by the book's main characgter, a tomboy celebrated for her skill in bull-vaulting.
53. Best, Herbert, Garram the Hunter: A Boy of the Hill Tribes, Children's, 1931 Newbery honor book. Set in Africa. Garram must go into exile to protect his father.
54. Besterman, Cathrine, Quaint and Curious Quest of Johnny Longfoot, The Shoe King's Son, Children's, The story, based on a Polish fairy tale, of a shoe king's son who outwits fierce animals and is sent on a quest for gold and seven-league boots by a cat.
55. Bialk, Elisa, Jill's Victory, Middleschool, A 1950s story about an expert young equestrian, Jill, who learns about the underpinnings of the 4-H program when goes on a summer stay at the farm of her 4-H club member cousins, Cissie and Jack.
56. Bianco, Margery Williams, Winterbound, Middleschool, Newbery honor book, by the author of the Velveteen Rabbit. Two girls, still in their teenage years, are called upon to assume adult responsibilities in caring for their young siblings, when the parents have to go away suddenly.
57. Bielfeld, Horst, Guinea Pigs, Nonfiction, Excellent book on guinea pigs and their care.
58. Bishop, Claire Huchet, Pancakes-Paris, Children's, Newbery honor book When Charles is given a box of pancake mix by 2 American GIs for helping them find their way in Paris, he is determined to find a way to understand the directions so that he can his family crepes and bring back a shimmer of the hope of pre-World War II Paris.
59. Blixen, Karen, Seven Gothic Tales, Fiction, Seven Gothic mysteries, in the tradition of writers such as Goethe, Hoffmann, and Poe.
60. Bodker, C. Silas, Silas and the Black Mare, Middleschool, A fiercely independent 19th century thirteen-year-old boy over comes several problems to keep a black mare he won from a greedy horse trainer.
61. Bond, Ann Sharpless, Adam & Noah and the Cops, Children's, Adam and Noah become mixed up in an adventure that includes a stolen boat, drug smugglers, a runaway horse, and a woman about to give birth on the top of a twenty-story building with a broken elevator.
62. Bond, Nancy, A Place to Come Back To, Middleschool, After Oliver's life is shattered by the death of his guardian, he turns to his friend Charlotte with urgent demands she finds herself unprepared to meet.
63. Borge, Victor, My Favorite Intermissions, Biography, Victor Borge's autobiography.
64. Bowman, James Cloud, Pecos Bill, Children's, 1938 Newberry Honor Book. A compilation of Pecos Bill stories. .
65. Bradford, Richard, So Far from Heaven, Fiction, The adventures of a disillusioned executive who flees his life in the city for a New Mexico cattle ranch.
66. Brand, Max, Devil Horse, Fiction, Big Red was the only man who could handle a horse than hated men. 1922 Western.
67. Brandeth, Gyles, Famous Last Words and Tombstone Humor, Nonfiction, Slightly twisted take on gravestone humor and last words that linger.
68. Bridgers, Sue Ellen, All Together Now, YA, A young girl befriends a special man who had the mind of a child over the summer months.
69. Bridgers, Sue Ellen, Home Before Dark, YA, A coming-of-age novel named the "New York Times" Outstanding Book of the Year and American Library Assn. "Best Book for Young Adults," this is about Stella Willis, who has spent most of her 14 years living out of a station wagon as her family loops from one picking station to another, following the crops.
70. Bridgers, Sue Ellen, Notes for Another Life, YA, Tom Jackson's mental illness is difficult for his entire family, especially for his sixteen-year-old son Kevin who wonders if he has the same affliction.
71. Bridgers, Sue Ellen, Permanent Connections, YA, Rob is forced to spend a semester helping relatives in rural North Carolina, partially to move him away from his drug and alcohol laden life.
72. Bridgers, Sue Ellen, Sara Will, YA, A North Carolina woman living in the mountains struggles against the "powers that be" to get a bridge built to an island that was created by the construction of the Fontana Dam which happens to contain her family cemetary. .
73. Brooks, Bruce, The Moves Make the Man, YA, Black basketball player Jerome Foxworthy moves to an all white school and builds a close friendship with Bix, a white natural athlete and excellent baseball player whom Jerome secretly teaches to play basketball. .
74. Brown, Dee, Creek Mary's Blood, Fiction, Novel by the author of Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee about a Creek/Cherokee woman and her descendants, set from the Revolutionary War through to Wounded Knee.
75. Brown, Diana, The Emerald Necklace, Fiction, Leonora is married against her will to save her father from debts to Etienne.For his part, Etienne is very much in love with his wife and tries to please her but Leonora is a childish and selfish young girl, unable to find any contentment in her marriage despite the fact that she does have an attractive and attentive husband.
76. Brown, Evelyn M., Kateri Tekakwitha, Religion, The life of Kateri Tekakwitha, the first Native American who will be canonized in the Catholic Church, which will happen in October of 2012.
77. Brown, Marc & Krensky, Stephen, Dinosaurs, Beware!, Children's, Sixty safety tips are demonstrated by dinosaurs for home, meals, camping, in the car, and other places.
78. Buff, Mary & Buff, Conrad, Big Tree, Children's, 1947 Newbery Honor book. A giant five-thousand-year-old Sequoia called Wa-No-Na tells its life story.
79. Bulla, Clyde Robert, Old Charlie, Children's, Two young brothers save an old horse from being sent to the factory to be made into cat food.
80. Burglon, Nora, Children of the Soil, Children's, An early Newbery Honor Book. The story of two Swedish children and their folk beliefs.
81. Burton, Philip, You, My Brother, Children's, Colorful historical novel based on the life of William Shakespeare and his younger brother Edmund.
82. Butler, Beverly, A Girl Named Wendy, YA, A young Indian girl is torn between her heritage and life as a white American.
83. Butler, Beverly, Song of the Voyageur, YA, Fifteen-year-old Diane exchanges the comfort and security of her Massachusetts home for a one-room log cabin in the wilderness that was Wisconsin in the early 1830s.
84. Byars, Betsy, The Winged Colt of Casa Mia, Children's, Uncle Coot had been a hero in the movies, but he refused to play that part in real life.Charles had nothing in common with his uncle, until a mysterious colt with wings is born that they must help together.
85. Caffrey, Nancy, Lost Pony (aka Somebody's Pony), Children's, Two children find a pony and convince their parents to let them keep him until they find his owner.
86. Calvert, Patricia, Money Creek Mare, YA, Fifteen-year-old Ella Rae Carmody has been trying to hold her family together since her mother left. When her father brings home a crippled racing mare, Ella decides to steal a breeding to her neighbor's prize stallion and sell the foal. When caught, Ella faces some suprising consequences and choices from the aftermath of what she's done.
87. Calvert, Patricia, Snowbird, YA, Following the murder of her parents Willanna faces an uncertain future.She and her younger brother move from Tennessee in 1883 to the Dakota Territory where she trains her first horse.
88. Calvert, Patricia, Yesterday's Daughter, YA, Sixteen-year-old Leenie is bitterly determined not to let the mother who left her as an infant back into her life, but a tentative friendship with a young photographer helps her see the situation from a new perspective.
89. Campbell, Stu, Let it Rot, Gardening, How to compost.90. Carr, Jayge, Leviathan's Deep, SF, A novel woven out of the conflict that occurs when humans encounter an alien species on a world where the females are taller, stronger, fiercer and more intellectually developed than the males.
91. Carter, Forrest, Gone to Texas, Western, The Union Army killed Josey Wales family and tricked his friends into a deadly trap.The Civil War is over, but Josey is just starting his own personal war against those who took the lives of his loved ones.
92. Carter, Forrest, The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales, Western, The sequel to Gone to Texas.
93. Carter, Forrest, Watch for Me on the Mountain, Western, A novelization of the life of the Apache leader Geronimo.
94. Cavanna, Betty, Spurs for Suzanna, Middleschool, With an ill father, and a working Mother, Sue's summer stretches ahead of her in Philadelphia. After her mother's old friend invites Sue for a month on her horse farm, Sue discovers that perhaps the country mouse isn't the one who needs to learn manners and that a work ethic isn't to be sneered at after all.
95. Chambers, John W., The Colonel and Me, YA, Gussie's unwanted summer riding lessons from Colonel Meslenko change her whole approach to living.
96. Chant, Joy, Red Moon, Black Mountain, Fantasy, Three children are drawn into another world where a fierce conflict for power is waging.
97. Cherryh, C. J., Rimrunners, SF, Loki, a mercenary ship and bounty hunter, becomes the site of a cat and mouse hunt for Bet Yeager, an elite Earth Company Marine whose side lost.
98. Cherryh, C. J., Heavy Time, SF, Amnesiac pilot Paul Dekker is accused of murdering his crew, and must get help from renegade miner Morris Bird to find the truth.
99. Christopher, John, Empty World, YA, Apocalyptic novel following a teenaged boy trying to survive in an empty England after a deadly virus kills off most of the world's population.
100. Christopher, John, The Guardians, YA, England has evolved into two distinct cultures: the modern, overpopulated "Conurbs" and the aristocratic "County" who model their life after 19th century aristocrats.Rob, a young conurb, becomes part of both worlds and must choose which--if either--is right.
