Books

?Fountain of Trevi ? Love Poems,? a book by Ankin Timourian, is small ? the size of a thin paperback, but it contains nearly 100 poems divided by topic into four sections. The pocket size is handy for slipping into a purse and reading on the run, while the poems are lightweight and short. Scores of full color photo illustrations enhance the reader?s visual pleasure. The first section, which Timourian titles ?Heaven on Earth,? holds poems rich in romance, passion and erotica.

Unprecedented may be the best word to describe the 2009 season turned in by the Hoover High boys? water polo team and its best player, Hakop Kaplanyan. Never before has a Tornadoes squad advanced as far as the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division VI playoffs, as this one did, and never before has a single scorer been so prolific in one season in state history. Hoover?s historic postseason run and Kaplanyan?s season for the record books were intertwined storylines that ran their course on the very same day, with the sophomore utility scoring his record-breaking 227th goal in the second quarter of the Tornadoes?

For the last several years, Frank Corona, along with his wife, Heidi, have maintained the Halo 13, in the Burbank Town Center that sells everything from comic books, antique figurines, action figures, shirts and DVDs. But don’t call Halo 13 a comic book store; call it more of a collectible toy store, he said. “We get a lot of collectors here,” Frank Corona said. “Mostly people looking for that one-of-a-kind item.” Halo 13, although similar to the name of the video game, has nothing to do with the popular series, he said.

Ask your local neighborhood smarty pants a question about English grammar or usage ? any question at all ? and chances are she?ll give you an answer. Ask any gathering of two or more smarty pantses the same question and chances are they?ll give you conflicting answers, then spend hours arguing about whose is right. But ask a copy editor ? a person who?s paid to know such things ? the very same question and, nine times out of 10, he?ll do something surprising: He?ll reach for a book.

BURBANK ? Standing in front of a classroom of third-graders, Burbank Unified Supt. Kevin Jolly asked how many children wanted to ride in a limousine. The room lit up. He asked how many children like reading. The room grew brighter. And before exiting, he asked how many students would read a book even without a limo ride and lunch at Warner Bros. By their reactions, the students must have been hungry. The Burbank Unified School District is engaged in a reading competition that rewards students with a voracious appetite for books.