An Embarrassment of Riches

The Blind Side - by Deb

Welcome to our new contributor Deb, a youth librarian and consumer of just about anything readable. In her words, "I like to read all sorts of things, especially young adult novels, speculative fiction and oddball fantasy, pop science essays, nonfiction that reads like fiction, tales set in places I’ve been or hope to visit, glimpses into other cultures, retold fairy tales, wry memoirs, and field guides. Also anything my sister recommends."

I grew up in an active family. We hiked, gardened, went camping, and (in between reading) generally were seldom idle. What we did not do is play organized sports, and so I never learned how. In elementary school I found that the other kids already knew the rules to the games, whereas I, in confusion, would invariably kick the ball or smack the puck or flubble the gimlet to exactly the wrong person and everyone would holler at me in disgust. Unsurprisingly, in my own personal iteration of that familiar bookworm's story, I developed an aversion to sport. It wasn't until my Ultimate Frisbee days in graduate school that I tapped my latent athletic streak.

This is all to say that I do not read sports books. I am not versed in sports strategy or history, my heroes aren't sports figures, and sporty play-by-play bores me. So hear me, my people, the sporty and the unsporty alike, when I tell you that to my astonishment Michael Lewis' book The Blind Side -- a book about football* -- was one of the best books I read in 2008.

I understand that the movie (I haven't seen it yet) plays up Sandra Bullock's role as the mother who takes in a disadvantaged young football player, but in the book her whole family's role, while interesting, is merely part of the framework for the real meat of the story. Or should I say, stories: One thread follows the unlikely tale of Michael Oher, a huge and athletically talented African-American kid (and a natural left tackle, even though he doesn’t know it) who grew up destitute in the Memphis ghettos and through a weird series of events was essentially adopted by a rich white family. The other thread -- and I kid you not, sports non-fans, it's absolutely fascinating and clear as a window -- explains the development of the passing game in football, and why it led to quarterback sacks (usually by the pass rusher), which in turn led to the increasing importance of the left tackle, whose job it is to guard the quarterback’s blind side.

I can see your eyes glazing from here, non-football fans. But trust me, and treat yourselves, and get in line for a copy of The Blind Side. (Both the book and the downloadable audiobook are available at the library.)

* So why did I pick up a book about football in the first place?, I hear you cry. Because I saw it listed among the Alex Awards of 2007, and I have found that the Alex Awards can point you toward some very fine reading.

The Dreaded "Author Reading" by Nicola Are you turned off by the phrase “Author Reading”? I was until I actually went to one. The phrase conjured up a picture of authors standing at a podium reading word for word from their latest book for an hour or more. That seemed terribly boring to me. Since going to that first “reading” I have been to a number and only one author spent most of the time reading from her latest book. 

Actually, many of the authors are rather entertaining. They will often tell you something about the book and read a short passage before they open up the floor to questions. Two of the authors of culinary mysteries each baked up a recipe included in the book they were “reading” and shared the goodies with the audience. Talk about going the extra mile…

Now, I haven’t had a chance to read the following two books, but I thought that I would share what I learned.

I went to a very entertaining author reading by Douglas Preston. His latest book, written without Lincoln Child, is Impact. In it, three different people in three different locations, Maine, Cambodia, and California, are involved in three different facets of the story. Yes, he does tie all of the parts together in the end. Listening to him speak about his experiences in life, you realize that his inspiration comes from his own, rather interesting life. Not only has he written thrillers, but he has contributed a variety of articles to publications such as Audubon, Smithsonian, National Geographic, Harper’s, Natural History, New Yorker, and Travel and Leisure. His brother is Richard Preston, who has also written thrillers.

On January 27^th, I heard  Elizabeth Kostova, whose latest book is The Swan Thieves. She read some of the book to us. It involves two artists, one a young woman, Beatrice, and Olivier, her uncle.  She is very attracted to Olivier and feels that she has to fight that attraction. The novel takes place in France, where Kostova went to research the book. Her use of language is quite appealing. She said that the authors who influenced her the most were Dickens, Tolstoy, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf.  Like her first novel, The Historian, Swan Thieves is rather long, but it sounds quite interesting.

The next book I've read. You may find that you will enjoy it despite the fact that it may give you goose-bumps.

I  searched the Bram Stoker award winners (horror) to find a book to read outside my “area of comfort” and found Creepers, by David Morrell. Creepers are urban explorers who get pleasure from wandering around in abandoned buildings in an urban setting to see what they can find (through breaking and entering).  In New Jersey, a small group of people chose an abandoned hotel that at one time housed the eccentric owner, an agoraphobic who also had hemophilia. He was a recluse somewhat reminiscent of Howard Hughes. Early on it is evident that some of the “creepers” are not who they represented themselves to be when their adventure began. Soon they realize that they are not alone. They encounter the son of the former owner who turns out to be quite the villain and they encounter yet another small group of “creepers” who give them cause for concern. The book straddles several genres - horror, thriller and adventure - for you see, the villain really “puts them through the wringer”.

Here at the library authors come to talk about their work in a program called Writers Talking. Attend one and maybe the phrase "author talk" will become a cause for celebration.

Whole New Worlds - SF and Fantasy - by Heidi

Welcome to our new contributor Heidi, an SF and fantasy aficionado. Look for her recommendations on great authors in these genres. 

Locked Up - by Jen Oh, my.

It's been too long since I've felt like locking my kids in a closet so I could finish a book. I do the next best legal thing, which is give myself an extended bathroom break. That door is so rarely locked that it brings momentary stunned silence to the yelling and swirling vortex of boy energy I seldom escape.

"Mama?"
"Mama!"
"Mommy! I can't find my spelling words and I hurt my knee!"
"What are you doing in there?"
"What's for dinner? I hate Brussels sprouts, so I hope it's not those Brussels sprouts on the counter!"
"Mama! Hold you and READ THIS BOOK!"
"Mama?"
"Mommy? Why aren't you answering me?"

The noise swirls from tentative to insistent and back to tentative as small fists tap an impatient rhythm on the door and smaller fingers poke beneath it like the legs of exploratory spiders. The spiders push Maisy Cleans Up, a book I have read 437 times in the last week, under the bathroom door. I know it's 437 times because I have been carving decorative marks into my own arm at each reading like a prison tattoo. I ignore the cheerful white mouse and her vacuum cleaner and her cupcakes and her crocodile friend Charley. (Why do they mop and vacuum the floor BEFORE eating cupcakes? And why doesn't Charley just eat Maisy and put me out of my misery?)

The New York Times has already told you to read this book that is inspiring me to neglect my children, so you probably don't need me telling you as well. But I'll tell you anyway because I can't stop myself and really it's no use trying.

Read The Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore. Yes, you may wait a long time for a library copy. But you will wait longer for another book that will knock your fictional character-driven socks off. I want to weep when I read a novel this compelling, this rich. It gives you that elusive combination of both story and story-telling when so often these days you get one or the other and maybe not so much of either most of the time.

It gives you a gift. So open it. And ignore the fat little finger worms wiggling under the door for a few minutes. It won't be hard.

It's Never too Late (or too Early) to do your Holiday Reading - by Ruby

Yes, I know it's the middle of February, but I just can't wait till December to tell you about the U. K.'s poet-laureate, Carol Ann Duffy's Christmas poem, Mrs. Scrooge.  Duffy and her illustrator Beth Adams serve us a mashup of Dickens' classic story with a contemporary twist: Mrs.S., in modern dress, is a practicing environmentalist of the 21st century. But she's still a bit of a Scrooge - with a green stripe.    

She hated waste, consumerism, Mrs. Scrooge, foraged                                                                                 in the London parks for chestnuts, mushrooms,                                                                           blackberries,                                                                                                                                             ate leftovers, recycled, mended, passed on, purchased                                                                 secondhand,                                                                                                                                         turned the heating down and put on layers, walked
everywhere
drank tap-water, used public libraries, possessed a wind-
up radio,
switched off lights, lit candles (darkness is cheap and
Mrs. Scrooge
liked it) and would not spend one penny on a plastic bag.

The story opens with Mr. S. (who was beloved) described as "doornail-dead" and Mrs. S. living all alone in a building scheduled for imminent demolition. She's begun to lose heart about her belief in the possibility for great change. As night falls, she, as Ebenezer before her, visits the Christmases past, present and future and experiences a similar renewal of hope. Duffy's language is light and crisp, the narration reminiscent of Alan Bennett. Don't miss it, even if you decide to read it in summer. I had a great experience once reading A Christmas Carol in the middle of July! Oh, and by the way, in this story the word humbug refers to the lovely striped candy.

The Great American Cow...Girl - by Alison

If I say 'women in the wild west' what do you picture? For me it's an image of a beautiful young woman tied to the railway tracks as the train looms, a villainous mustachioed man lurking somewhere in the background. And that's too bad because there are plenty of Wild West stories with female characters who determine their own destiny.

True Grit was a great read long before John Wayne rode into the film version as Rooster Cogburn.  As a young teenager I reveled in the story of Mattie, a 14 year old girl who enlists the mean as dirt U.S. Marshal to help her find her father's killer and avenge his death. For girls growing up in the late 60's and 70's, female characters with gumption were few and far between, with the exception of Pippi Longstocking. It was a relief to see that there was room in the world for characters like Mattie Ross.

Another story of the vengeful female protagonist is the strangely compelling Caprice by George Bowering. A school marm turned vigilante sets out to avenge her brother’s death at the hands of two-bit criminals. Caprice is a stunning red head, over 6 feet tall, and a fine hand with a bull whip. She saddles up and chases the perpetrators across the west, circa 1890’s. The book is both a satire of the traditional western and a celebration of it, complete with no good varmints, honorable gentlemen and two Native American characters who observe the goings-on and provide philosophical commentary.

If there's any theme here, it's that women can be just as vengeful as their male counterparts. Jane Fonda starred in the incredibly campy Cat Ballou in 1965, an era in which women rarely played the lead role in a western. Cat hires a gunman to protect her father's ranch, and then later to avenge her father's death. When the hired man fails miserably at his job, Cat takes matters into her own hands. In between scenes, a comical pair summarize the plot in song.

If you're looking for a less satirical picture of women in the west, take a look at Molly Gloss's The Hearts of Horses. Set in 1917, when many of the men in Eastern Oregon have gone to war and ranch hands are in demand, Martha sets out to find work breaking horses. But her method is not to ‘break’ them so much as gentle them. Martha begins as an outsider, drifting in and out of the lives of people as she works with their animals. Eventually she becomes connected to the people and must let go of her comfortable perch as an observer from the saddle.

Lawyers and Solicitors and Barristers, Oh My! - by Ruth All of my siblings are attorneys which means that the conversation at family gatherings can be a bit contentious and peppered with legalese. This talk, coupled with the law classes I took as an undergraduate in political science, has at least given me a decent grounding in the American legal system. Most everything I know about the English judicial system, however, has come from mystery novels and television.  A patron recently introduced me to a great but, alas, short mystery series starring some young London legal eagles and an Oxford professor. I am sometimes baffled by all of the lawyerly terminology, but that hasn't prevented me from enjoying the banter that goes on amongst the five principal players including Cantrip who has an "inferior" education (Cambridge rather than Oxford) and Julia, who gets her knickers in a twist on a fairly regular basis. The Shortest Way to Hades finds them investigating the death of a young woman who has turned greedy and demanded 100,000 pounds in exchange for her signature on a document that will allow an heiress to avoid massive taxes on a multiple million pound inheritance. Was the girl pushed over the balcony or was it suicide?  As Hilary Tamar (the Oxford professor) points out, if it was murder, then the wrong girl died. For more judicial antics, try the Rumpole of the Bailey series by John Mortimer. While not the first in the series, Rumpole and the Penge Bungalow Murders provides the back-story on Horace Rumpole's early years. For a wonderful television show about an English law firm and some courtroom drama, watch Kavanagh Q.C. starring the fabulous John Thaw. Any other great stuff out there to amuse me while also increasing my knowledge of law in Great Britain?

The Tudors, Season 2, Haiku too - by Steve

A son? No. A son?
Not quite yet, Your Majesty.
Get me a new wife!

Tudors: The Complete First Season

Tudors: The Complete Second Season

Tudors: The Complete Third Season

For the first season Haiku review, click here.

Now a Major...Book - by Helen

I rarely watch movies or TV but I thoroughly enjoyed Either You're In or You're in the Way, a book about the making of the independent film, Touching Home (to be released March, 2010).

Twin brothers, Logan and Noah Miller, are determined to honor their father by making a movie about his battle with homelessness and alcohol. They have written the screenplay, but know nothing about acting or making movies so they go to the bookstore, "to make a battle plan, devise a strategy for the road ahead. We wanted books by people who had acturally made movies, not academic works on movie-making, but practical experience from frontline soldiers. We walked over to the entertainment section and plunged in."

The book is written in a unique voice - a combination of the two brothers thinking as one. I love their dogged determination, persistence and can-do attitude.  They need to film spring training in Tuscon this year, not next year: "We had to be an adaptive force. Flexiblilty and quick thinking would be essential: make immediate decisions and act upon them - and work with the consequences, painful though they may be."

Next, the boys need an old car for the scene where they're on their way home from Tucson, canned from baseball. Their friend Shady comes to the rescue. Doesn't this description paint a vivid picture in your mind?

"We drove the Perfect Car around the block. It swayed and creaked. It had no license plates. (Shady had a great story for that one.) The upholstery looked like you kicked a lion in the balls and then threw him inside. The rear window was busted out, looked like you threw a horse inside after the lion. The backseat was portable, the radio had been ripped out, and there was a Cadillac hubcap in the trunk in case you felt like going to the club."
   
They decide that Academy Award nominee, Ed Harris should play the part of their father. They ambush him as he leaves a stage and, talking a mile a minute, win his trust and commitment.

This is a funny and touching story about overcoming many obstacles and never giving up. I admire their determination to keep a promise to their father.  I can't wait to see the movie.
 

Twisted Fiction - by Steve I've been a fan of Chuck Palahniuk since I first read Invisible Monsters years ago. His twisted sense of humor makes his stories such great reads. I've been lucky enough to see him speak a number of times.  He said that the process of turning Fight Club into a movie was so horrible that he now writes books with the intention of making them so twisted that no one would want to make them into a movie. I actually maintain the library's "If you like Chuck Palahniuk…" booklist so I'm always on the lookout for bizarre writing. I guess it was only a matter of time until I picked up a book from the iconoclastic and provocative Eraserhead Press. When I saw a copy of the mildly-titled Shatnerquake by Jeff Burk, I just had to check it out. Burk is a Portland author who tells a tale of a world where every character William Shatner has ever played comes to life, and seeks to destroy the actor. He's running for his life. They're running after him.

New Year's Reading Resolutions: More Murder! - by Ruth 2009 was not a banner year for me, reading-wise. I didn't even average one book a week and I didn't really enjoy a majority of the forty-five that I did read. This year I've made the following reading resolutions:

1.  Read more.
2.  Read more of what I like.
3.  Read new (to me) authors and series.

To make sure I got in the spirit of things early (and to maybe actually keep my resolutions), I've started out with a bang. One of my favorite genres is British mystery, and I've read three in the past 15 days. I was looking forward to The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill not only because I liked the dark and brooding cover (yes, I DO judge a book in part by it's cover), but it is the first in what looked like a character-driven mystery series.  I was hoping that it might be a good read-alike for Elizabeth George fans. Oddly, DCI Simon Serrailler, the detective after which the series is named, isn't featured much in the first book; rather it's Freya Graffham, a detective in his department, who takes the lead in trying to solve a series of disappearances in the fictional English cathedral town of Lafferton. There are many, many characters to keep track of, and if I hadn't just gulped it down in a few days, I might have had some trouble keeping all the threads straight. On the whole, it was a satisfying mystery (although I'm a bit peeved at the author for one particular part which I'll not mention here to avoid spoiling the plot) and I plan to read the other three books in the series later this year.  

I generally like to read mystery series in order, but I made an exception for Dark Mirror, the latest Brock and Kolla police procedural by Barry Maitland, because it's about murder in the library - how very Clue™-ish!  A beautiful young woman who looks much like the Pre-Raphaelite women she is studying, is poisoned with arsenic and keels over in the London Library. Per usual, plenty of suspects appear, all with good reasons for wanting her dead. I really enjoyed this book with the exception of the way the librarians at various libraries in London seemed to hand over patrons' reading records willy-nilly! If you like to read mysteries in order, the first in this series is The Marx Sisters.  I plan to now go back to the beginning and read from there.

The third in my January mystery triumvirate is Fear of Drowning by Peter Turnbull, the first title in the Chief Inspector Hennessey series. Hennessey is with the North Yorkshire Police, and as I've been to York several times, it was fun to recognize some of the places mentioned. The banter between Hennessey and his sergeant, Yellich, is witty, but other than that, I wasn't all that keen on this mystery. Maybe it was because all of the other characters in the book, including the victims, were not very likeable.  I think fans of British police procedurals will like it, but I'm not sure yet whether I'll go any further with the series.

So far, I am well on my way to achieving my reading goals for 2010, but if anyone has good suggestions for what I should read in this genre, please let me know!

Crock, or Crock Not. There is No 'Try'* - by Jen

My New Year's Resolution is to read more books that do not involve adorable insects driving pickle cars or underpants-clad superheroes telling poop jokes. For a good majority of the people reading this (I'd say 5 out of the 6 of you), I suspect that would hardly constitute a challenge. But trust me, it's a worthy goal within my personal sphere. My other goal is to get a handle on the food shopping and cooking in order to have more time for reading. So my work for the year is here, and has been here for quite some time, huddled in a neglected corner like a freezer-burned chicken.

On my food-as-literature battlefront is the graphic series Oishinbo, a la carte by Tetsu Kariya. Journalist Yamaoka Shiro is entrusted with the task of designing the "Ultimate Menu" for the publishers of the Tozai News to commemorate the newspaper's 100th anniversary. The series builds on the expected cast of characters: handsome but unmotivated anti-hero, beautiful and loyal sidekick, clownish co-worker, forbidding nemesis who also happens to be the hero's father. Think Luke versus Darth Vader, if only the Rebel Alliance was battling the Empire for bragging rights to the finest sashimi in the star system and Obi-Wan Kenobi had lines like, "In the old days, shaving the katsuobushi was the children's job" and "I'd rather DIE than eat a farm-raised sweetfish that has no flavor or scent to it!!" Each installment of the series is specific to a particular food with chapters building to the inevitable "Ultimate" versus "Supreme" menu showdown reminiscent of my favorite Food Network program, Iron Chef. The best thing about Iron Chef was the frequently ridiculous dialog, and Oishinbo does not disappoint with its liberal dashes of awkward Japanese-to-English translation. (Where else will you read the smell of vinegar-soaked kelp described as "touching?")

In one scene, blond women (or the cloned ideal that substitutes for the stereotype of an attractive female lifeform in manga) dressed as cowboys offer sushi at a "California Rice Promotion," triggering a discussion of rice as import commodity versus rice as national identity. The series is rife with nationalistic and egocentric comments about the superiority of Japanese cuisine and details about the featured foods are painstakingly minute. If you like reading about the food and culture of Japan and don't mind doing it in an amusing comic book form, then Oishinbo is indeed "a fascinating, addictive journey." Crave rice balls, you will.

If Yoda was a Crockpot Master, he would be proud of his apprentice Stephanie O'Dea and her book Make it Fast, Cook it Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cooking. This appealing cookbook is filled with uncomplicated yet tasty-sounding recipes. As a bonus, the recipes are written using gluten-free ingredients with ordinary substitutions suggested and easily made. The book contains no pictures; this does not detract as it might for other sorts of cookery books, and actually makes the book even more appealing with clean lines and most recipes fitting into a single page. (And in the introduction, the author promises that readers can go to her website for pictures and descriptions if desired.) The book began as a personal blogging challenge to use a crockpot every day for a year, and the website contains the entire chronicle of successes and failures. She offers the honest reactions of her three- and six-year-old to the recipes in the book and her own ideas for things she might do differently the next time. She even includes some creative things to do with crockpots and kids that have nothing to do with dinner. Who knew you could make crayons and Shrinky Dinks in a slow cooker?  

This resourceful cookbook author is firmly behind the idea of experimentation and using what you have immediately available. I'm thrilled with a book containing recipes I might have ingredients for without requiring a special shopping trip. It is the difference between turning the house upside down with an exhaustive yet fruitless search for flashlight batteries and just using the light-saber Child the Elder left lying on the stairs. It works. And if it doesn't, call for pizza. The Force is with you.

*My sincere apologies to Jedi Master Yoda.

What We're Reading Now

Dan is reading Two of the Deadliest: New Tales of Lust, Greed and Murder from Outstanding Women of Mystery, edited by Elizabeth George. He is particularly enjoying the story "Paddy O'Grady's Thigh", by Lisa Alber, a tale of graveyards and grave desecration.

Dan is a clerk at the Central library.

Based on a True Story - by Felicia

Movies based on real people or events have always interested me because they add another element to your viewing — the awareness that something like this actually happened. I'm often disappointed but there are some films that I really love and have watched many times. Here are just a few of them.

To Die For is loosely based on the Pamela Smart story. In 1990, Pamela Smart hired her teenage lover to kill her husband. This dramedy stars Nicole Kidman in one of her best performances. The cast also stars Matt Dillon and Joaquin Phoenix (who is fabulous in Walk the Line, another based-on-true-events film I highly recommend). I laughed out loud in parts, you never forget the seriousness of the situation. The buildup to the murder is scintillating and suspenseful and will have you holding your breath. And the way the murder plot is discovered is equally riveting.

I first saw Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures. She plays Juliet Hulme, who along with Pauline Parker (played by Melanie Lynskey, the hilarious, crazy neighbor on Two and a Half Men — also recommended, but nowhere near true life), plot to kill Pauline’s mother. The film is fantastical and has some of most interesting cinematography I have ever seen. There is a sexual tension between the girls that drives their decision to kill. The girls’ families are realistically portrayed. You can understand their concern that the relationship between their daughters is too intense. They just want them apart. The most interesting part of this story is that the real Juliet Hulme is a well-known author, who writes murder mysteries. Ever heard of Anne Perry? That’s her, and yes the library carries many of her books.

Truman Capote’s book In Cold Blood is a classic, so it’s hard to live up to the hype when creating a film version. But the classic 1967 version is fantastic. Robert Blake plays Perry Smith, one of the killers (who could have foreseen how dead on that casting was?). If you’ve read the novel, you will see that Blake's portrayal is exactly as Capote described Smith. Along with Richard Hickock, Smith killed all five members of the Clutter family. Watching Smith’s character unfold will keep you guessing — is he telling the truth? Did he kill everyone? Did he kill no one? Some of those questions are still unanswered to this day.

What’s Love Got to do With It? came out, and everyone knew Tina Turner’s secret: She had been a battered woman for years. Angela Bassett makes us feel every punch, every slap and every degrading word that Ike Turner (played by Laurence Fishburne) unleashes. This film takes us through the journey of abuse; how it starts and why it continues. I will say that it’s hard to watch some of the scenes, but I came away from this film so proud of Tina Turner for finally standing up to Ike and leaving.

What We're Reading Now

Jim is reading Philip Levine's collection, News of the World: Poems, the latest by this great and prolific American octogenarian poet who grew up in Detroit, lived in Fresno for years, and now loves living in Brooklyn.

Jim is the librarian who oversees the John Wilson Special Collections, where the library's rare books collection is housed.