Pegleg Parley

The pirate primer : mastering the language of swashbucklers and rogues / George Choundas.

Ahoy! Here's luck and a fair wind to you. That's a pirate's way of saying hello! The book "The Pirate Primer" will give you an introduction into the language of pirates. The author looks at a variety of different sources in literature, movies, and television to construct a book of common pirate phrases and meanings complete with terms, pronounciations, and parts of speech. This book is a neat way to pick up a few phrases to make you sound like a 'scavenger o' the seas' (one of the many terms used for a pirate). Don't forget, September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Don't be the only one of your friends to sound like a 'mutton-headed landloving ninny' instead of a 'swashbuckling privateer'.

If you are serious about learning the language of the seven seas, check out LPL's Mango Language database. They have an entire interactive course on how to talk like a pirate!

Jenny R - Reference

Pose Prose

Enlightenment for idiots:  a novel. 
By Anne Cushman

I am a student of yoga (a perpetual beginner) and am always looking for good fiction on this subject.  This novel is one of my favorites:  light but not silly; intelligent but not ponderous.  The protagonist, Amanda, is a young yoga teacher who also freelances as a writer for a 'dummies' book series. She is charged with traveling to India to research the 'simple' project of reaching enlightenment.  Her editor suggests she research it and write it in a few months:  it's a hot topic and she needs it finished soon!

Amanda, is self-deprecating and witty, but is having serious problems with a boyfriend who won't commit.  In India she encounters many crazy and interesting people and meets and becomes close to an American traveler, Devi Das.  Devi is a true enlightment seeker but is also a sweet and supportive friend to Amanda.  Local interest note:  the author characterizes him as having been a religious studies student at KU! Amanda and Devi travel through India, from one guru and ashram to another in order to investigate various paths to enlightenment.  (All of the adventures are entertaining, but the tantric yoga episode is especially funny.)

The author, Anne Cushman is a contributing editor to Yoga Journal and Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, and is the author of From here to Nirvana:  the Yoga Journal Guide to spiritual India, so she knows her stuff.

How Amanda manages travel in chaotic India, comes to terms with her confused personal relationships, and finds her own version of enlightenment makes for an easy, but rewarding read.

Tricia - Tech Services

Tis the Season

Friday Night Lights:  A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger
I love the TV series, and the book did not disappoint. Pulitzer Prize winner H.G. Bissinger lived in Odessa, TX, among high school football champions for one year in the late '8os, and here tells their story with the same unfeigned love and critical honesty that made the show so fabulous. He confronts race, class, education, politics, and still makes you agonize over who the heck's gonna win the Friday night football game. Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose!

Rachel - Programs