Montmorency on the Rocks by Eleanor Updale

The year is 1885. Lord George Fox-Selwyn is worried about his friend, the mysterious man who calls himself Montmorency. Both are back in London after spending five years in foreign secret service, and Montmorency has developed an addiction to drugs while posing as an underworld figure. Fox-Selwyn enlists London's most controversial physician Robert Farcett to help the man that Fox-Selwyn knows the doctor will recognize as a former criminal upon whom he practiced his craft as a young surgeon. To reintroduce the men, Fox-Selwyn takes them separately into northern Scotland away from the turmoil of London. They will not be gone long, for the British Home Secretary will need them to capture an Irish terrorist who has bombed King's Cross Station.

Montmorency on the Rocks: Doctor Aristocrat Murderer? by Eleanor Updale is the second of a series of historical thrillers set in the Victorian Era. Aimed at teenage readers, these books may be enjoyed by adults who like fast-paced stories loaded with sympathetic characters. What I particularly like about these books is Updale's ability to twist the plot just when it seems clearly established. She also loads her stories with situations that make separating good and evil difficult. Many of the characters had committed crimes or betrayed some trust in the past. Who should be trusted in the future? Who was worthy of being forgiven?

The Montmorency series evokes a fascinating period when industrialization and urbanization were making cities dark and polluted. The rule of the British Empire is drawing people from all over the world to London. It seems to me very much the world of Sherlock Holmes. These books deserve more readers.

Updale, Eleanor. Montmorency on the Rocks. Scholastic, 2004. ISBN 0439606772

My Favorite Rides at the Theme Parks in Orlando

We spent a week in the Orlando area celebrating our daughter Laura's finishing her classwork at the University of Iowa. In that time, we rode many rides at Universal and Disney World and took a side trip to the Kennedy Space Center. Here are my favorite rides.

1. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey (Universal Islands of Adventure) - Hermoine casts the spell that allows you to fly on an enchanted bench. Harry and Ron (who ride broomsticks) lead you around Hogwarts' towers and surrounding forests, quidditch stadium, and mountains. Watch out for dragons, a whomping willow, and dementors. You feel like you are really part of the story. We rode five times in three days.

2. Star Tours (Disney Hollywood Studios) - We were at Hollywood Studios late Sunday evening after the crowds had left. It was Star Wars Weekend to relaunch the updated ride. It is now 3-D and has a different destination each time you ride. The ride through the frozen planet of Hoth was especially thrilling. Again, you really feel part of the story. We rode five times in one evening.

3. Kilimanjaro Safaris (Disney Animal Kingdom) - Though the script is essentially the same for this trek through the African landscape, every ride is different. Much depends on the quality of the driver. Will he stop at the great scenes or keep the vehicle bumping away? Will she actually tell you where to look? Frommer says to avoid the middle of the day when the animals are inactive and the lines are long. We found the lines moved well and plenty of animals were about at that very time. Frommer says the best views for photographers are on the left, but the animals were mostly on the right the three days that we rode.

4. Splash Mountain (Disney Magic Kingdom) - You ride a hollow log through a mountain and past many scenes from the life of Brer Rabbit. You might get very wet or you might not depending on your seat placement and the timing of water effects. You'll leave singing. We rode twice.

5. The Cat in the Hat (Universal Islands of Adventure) - If you love the story, you'll love the ride. There is so detail, we rode three times to see it all.

6. Expedition Everest (Disney Animal Kingdom) - This is a fast roller coaster ride through the mountains worth repeating. Beware of the Yeti! We rode twice.

7. Astronaut Training Experience (Kennedy Space Center) - While we all want to be astronauts, this is as close as most of us will get. As you prepare for your simulated launch into space, you hear stories from real astronauts at every turn of the ramps and in the waiting area. I could feel my skin flapping.

8. Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (Disney Magic Kingdom) - This is a game as well as a ride. You have to learn to spin your car as well as shoot. I'd like to go back right now.

9. The Amazing Adventures of Spider Man (Universal Islands of Adventure) - You wear 3-D glasses in this action-packed ride through a city being torn apart by powerful super-criminals. I rode twice.

10. It's a Small World (Disney Magic Kingdom) - Have you seen an 18-month old girl react with pure joy? It's the best part of the ride, which actually is a much better ride than it used to be. While the refurbished ride is still high on cuteness, it looks much brighter and is not so sweet as it was fifteen years ago.

Having and using Express Passes at Universal and Fast Passes at Disney is essential to enjoying the parks. We got these for staying at the official resorts, which also let us into the parks early and late. It was a great week. More on other aspects of the theme parks in posts next week.

The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton: A Biography by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge

I am curious. I have just finished reading The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton: A Biography by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, which is marketed as juvenile reading. I don't find anything juvenile about it. It is the story of an author who did not write for children. She never had or wanted children of her own. She was once a very lonely child herself, taught by a governess while often abroad with her parents, but she is an adult by page 34 of this book. Much of the book is about Wharton's failing marriage and divorce. Why is this book considered juvenile?

Of course, the easy answer is that it is slightly oversized book, filled with pictures, and under 200 pages and written by a former teacher and school librarian. There are many biographies of this size and shape aimed at the school and public library markets, and The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton is a Clarion Book, a children's imprint from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. But nothing in this book besides the catalog in publication says that it is for younger readers.

I am not the only reader to ask my question. In School Library Journal, the reviewer indicates the book is aimed at grades 6 to 9, but then goes on to say that it is a "sometimes charming title that may struggle to find an audience." The publisher's website indicates that the title is "7th grade +."

Having had a daughter who read well above her grade level and bristled against being given books that were too easy, I do not in any way want to advocate holding books back from children. Still, I wonder what child in elementary or middle school would want to read about Edith Wharton. I think the reviewer in VOYA got it right in calling The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton "a high school biography." Students might be reading Wharton stories and novels in high school, and a book on her life seems to fit there, in my opinion.

Formatting and marketing, however, seem to have succeeded in getting the book into a good number of children's collection. Only a few public libraries seem to have put the book in their young adult or teen collections and one added it to its adult collections.

For the record, I enjoyed the book very much. Wooldridge recounts Wharton's life concisely with just enough detail to put it into a context and make the reader sympathetic to the novelist's views. The pictures are well-chosen and support the story line. The biographer offers only a small amount of literary analysis but does keep the reader informed as to what books were important in each stage of Wharton's life. I think it could easily be put into adult collections, but I think its best home might be collections for older teens.

What do you think? Is there a good reason for calling The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton a juvenile book? I ask respectfully.

Wooldridge, Connie Nordhielm. The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton: A Biography. Clarion Books, 2010. 184p. ISBN 9780547236308.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

I have a problem with reviewing The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. It seems to me that if I say any of the things I want to say, I will give away secrets. I don't want to spoil the mystery, but I want to say something.

I can tell you that the mystery is set in the village of King's Abbot, where Hercule Poirot has retired. Gardening proves an unsatisfactory substitute for detective work, and he is a little lonely. He misses his friend Hastings who has moved to Argentina almost as much as he misses employing his little gray cells to solve mysteries. Of course, a murder case rescues him from retirement. I will verify that Roger Ackroyd is the victim. To do otherwise would be throwing you a red herring. I'll let Christie throw those instead. But I can't remember there really being any in The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Every little observation Poirot makes seems relavent in the end.

I will also say that The Murder of Roger Ackroyd may be the best of the Christie mysteries that I have read. (May be Murder on the Orient Express.) I look forward to discussing it at book group.

Christie, Agatha. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Black Dog & Leventhal, no date. ISBN 9781579126278.

The Visitor, written and directed by Tom McCarthy

As we head toward the summer blockbuster movie season with its annual parade of movies that reflect studio executives' profit dreams more than any desire to make good movies, I suggest finding some low-budget independent films more likely to inspire and entertain. Bonnie brought home such a film recently, The Visitor, written and directed by Tom McCarthy. Film fans may remember McCarthy's The Station Agent, an offbeat comedy from 2003. The Visitor features another socially awkward protagonist who seeks to be alone. Professor Walter Vale (Richard Jenkins) has not done any real work in years. He teaches only one class so he will have time to write his book - a book that he has been writing for a long time. Being a widower and truly missing his wife, he is disconnected from nearly every one. The dean of the department, however, decides that Vale is the one person free to present a paper at a conference in New York City, where Vale happens to own an apartment that he has not visited in years.

When Vale enters his apartment late at night, he finds a foreign couple who have been living there thinking that they have been paying rent to the legitimate owner. After they leave, Vale find an item they left behind and pursues them. Seeing their need, he invites them back for a few days. What follows is a story that could be true. In fact, I hope some people do act as nobly as Vale, the couple, and the young man's mother, played by Hiam Abbass who was recently in the Israeli film The Lemon Tree.

I do not want to give away the plot, so I'll just add that the acting is superb. When the film ended, I enjoyed checking on the actors' credits in the Internet Movie Database. Most are known for their work in television instead of film, especially the actress who played an elderly piano teacher. She was a frequent guest on all the classic TV shows of the 1950s - Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, etc.

The Visitor. Anchor Bay Entertainment, 2008. ISBN 9786312314776

The Oscar Wilde Collection

Depending on which biographies you read, Oscar Wilde died a broken man or simply publicly disgraced but certain himself of his legacy. I like to think the later, particularly after listening to his four plays on four consecutive days. Each was an hour or more delightfully spent, laughing at the embarrassing situations in which British aristocrats lowered themselves. Best of all, Wilde was the master of satirical statements, which flowed from many of the characters. Many are quotable, such as these from An Ideal Husband:

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

Lord Caversham: What are you doing here, sir? Wasting your time, as usual?
Lord Arthur Goring: My dear father, when one pays a visit, it is for the purpose of wasting other people's time and not one's own.

Gertrude, it is not the perfect, but rather the imperfect who have need of love.

Life is never fair, Robert. And perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

Laura: The higher education of men is what I should like to see. Men need it so sadly.
Lady Markby: They do, dear. But I'm afraid such a scheme would be quite unpractical. I don't think man has much capacity for development. He has got as far as he can, and that is not far, is it?

I listened to the plays on compact discs from The Oscar Wilde Collection from L. A. Theatre Works, which include the voices of many great actors, such as Miriam Margolis, Martin Jarvis, Jacqueline Bissett, and Alfred Molina. The production quality is very high, and I always knew what was going on without any narration or visuals. I could in my mind create the action. I imagined drawing rooms with players in period costumes. The plays are great audio theater.

Some critical conversations with directors are also included on the discs. Michael Hackett calls The Importance of Being Earnest the pinnacle of Wilde's career. He says that it drew from Shakespeare and led to the writing of P. G. Wodehouse and eventually to Monty Python. I'll grant that it was excellent, but I favor A Woman of No Importance and An Ideal Husband, which seemed to be a bit more serious about exposing hypocrisy and the fragility of relationships. I can not decide which is better. Why should I? I recommend both to anyone who likes witty conversation and situation comedy.

The Oscar Wilde Collection. L. A. Theatre Works, 2010. 10 discs.* ISBN 158081753X

*A dramatization of The Picture of Dorian Gray is also included, but I chose not to listen and review it, as I was having so much fun otherwise.

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow by James Sturm and Rich Tommaso

Legendary Negro League baseball player Satchel Paige was born about one hundred years ago. No one is exactly sure when because the state of Alabama was not really concerned with keeping accurate records of African Americans at the time. It was the era of Jim Crow laws, and Paige had few options in life other than picking cotton or playing baseball. Neither offered an easy life, but baseball payed the few players who could withstand the rigors of barnstorming better than working in the cotton fields. Among the tough players, Paige, with a smoking fastball and wicked curve, excelled.

In the graphic novel Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow, author-illustrators James Sturm and Rich Tommaso, who are affiliated with The Center for Cartoon Studies in Vermont, recreated pre-civil rights Alabama with its share-cropper shacks, dusty roads, smoky trains, and segregated baseball fields, where whites got the shaded grandstands and blacks stood in the sun beyond the outfield. Only on the field of play did the black players get any recognition. Even the whites knew and repeated stories about Satchel Paige's unbelievable talent. Some over-confident whites wanting to prove racial superiority even arranged to play baseball against him and his teams.

Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow is a fictional work, not a biography. The authors have taken some familiar stories about Paige and created a visit by him to fictional Tuckwilla, Alabama, the home of men whose dreams have failed. One is a young black man who made the Negro Leagues only to suffer an early career ending injury. He has to work in the fields belonging to the Jennings twins, brothers who played two years of minor league baseball before being released by the St. Louis Cardinals. Having formed a strong local team, the brothers challenge Paige's team to a game.

Aiming to sell their graphic novel to an educational market, Sturm and Tommaso included four pages of historical notes to explain their illustrations and story. While I am obviously beyond elementary and secondary school, I enjoyed the well-written, quick read. The proud, impudent Satchel Paige is a great character who will appeal to anyone who likes to see bullies brought to justice. For school and public libraries, it would also make a good gift to young readers.

James Sturm and Rich Tommaso. Satchel Paige: Striking Out Jim Crow. Hyperion, 2007. ISBN 9780786839001.

Laura's Senior Recital

My final music report of the week is about attending my daughter Laura's senior recital at the University of Iowa. Being a voice major getting a degree in music therapy, she had chosen a recital as her senior project and seemed calmer than her parents on the appointed afternoon. With some of our friends and dozens of her fellow students, we dashed through outbursts of rain to get to the recital hall, a new facility built in a shopping mall on the edge of campus after the floods of 2008 destroyed the music building. It was comfortable and dry, and we settled in for nearly an hour of music.

Accompanied by very talented graduate piano student Seong-Sil Kim, Laura sang selections from Italienisches Liederbuch by Hugo Wolf, a selection of American songs by Harold Arlen and Cole Porter, three French songs by Camille Saint-Saens, and four Spanish songs by Fernando Obradors. I enjoyed them all, but I was particularly impressed by the Spanish pieces "Del cabello mas sutil" and "Chiquitita la novia" which required Laura to sing a lot of notes high and low, soft and loud. The recital was not recorded, but you can find other performances of the songs on YouTube. I was an undeniably proud parent before, during, and after the recital.

I suspect Laura's favorite moment was hearing "You passed" from her voice teacher. We all celebrated with pizza afterwards.

Tragedy to Triumph: The Story of Artemisia by Linda M. Smith

We try to schedule a variety of acts for Friday at the Ford, the coffeehouse-styled concerts at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library, but we have never had anything like Tragedy to Triumph: The Story of Artemisia by Linda M. Smith, which included her original songs along with a multimedia presentation of the paintings of Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1652). With Robert Arendt (bass, guitars, and vocals) and Eugenia Elliott (flute, guitar, and vocals), Smith presented an hour-long cycle of songs that related to the paintings and life of the woman who distinguished herself in the male-dominated world of Renaissance art. It was a mesmerizing performance with its Ken Burns-like use of moving illustrations.

In performance, the song cycle itself was twelve contemporary songs (fourteen on the CD) between which Linda and Eugenia narrated the life of Artemisia, which included rape, a public trial, and an arranged marriage, as well as later recognition of her great talent. The songs varied widely in tempo and mood in accord with the images projected - Old Testament figures and gods and goddesses of classical mythology - the subjects available for Artemisia to paint. "Susanna - The Story of Susanna and the Elders" and "Stolen Gem - The Story of David and Bathsheba" focus on specific paintings. Even without any historical knowledge, audiences can understand the moods of the songs and sympathize with the painter. All the songs express deep emotions.

Smith has performed Artemesia at several of libraries, as well as other venues in the Chicago area, and is completing a new work based on selkies, creatures of Celtic mythology. The singer/songwriter said she particularly enjoys playing to library audiences who are attentive and thoughtful, and she answered questions from enthusiastic listeners after the performance. Several told me afterwards how much they enjoyed the concert and appreciated the handout that identified the art work shown. I'd gladly recommend Smith and her band to other libraries wanting an artful and educational musical presentation.

An Evening at the Opera

Let this be musical performance week. I am catching up with my thoughts about concerts and recitals that I have hosted or attended. I'll begin with An Evening at the Opera, an annual program hosted by the Thomas Ford Memorial Library and funded by the Pauline and Elmer Kennedy Family. Each year four members of the Lyric Opera Chorus sing selections from the next season at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. This year they sang from The Magic Flute, Rinaldo, Aida, Tales of Hoffmann, Lucia di Lammermoor, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Showboat, which will be performed by the opera company in its 2011-2012 season. This was the fourteenth year that the library has hosted this preview, which is too big for any of our library meeting rooms. We assemble instead at the nearby First Congregational Church of Western Springs.

The library facilitates this event by providing publicity, printing the programs, writing the checks, and purchasing the flowers. I also serve as host, welcoming the audience and introducing the narrator. All the artistic decision making is done by Janet Mensen Reynolds, mezzo-soprano, her fellow singers, and narrator Roger Pines, dramaturg of the Lyric Opera. Janet also arranges use of the church (her church) and submits publicity to Chicago's community music calendars. We have done this so many years now that it seems easy to do our part at the library. Thomas Ford adult services librarian Anne Van de Ven set up the program with Janet and hosted the first five years. Though she now lives in Door County, Wisconsin, she always returns to Western Springs for the concert.

Many people make a habit of coming and later discussing the performance with me at the library. They are impressed by the beautiful voices, pianist Patrick Holland's accompaniment, and the gowns worn by Janet and soprano Rose Guccione. A fair number of the attendees are Lyric season ticket holders, who enjoy arias, duets, laments, and such, and they appreciate getting an idea of plots and musical styles of the operas. I particularly liked the dramatic "Qui del padre ancor respira" from Lucia di Lammermoor, sung by tenor Kenneth Donovan and bass Keven Keys. The "Barcarolle" from Tales of Hoffmann sung by Rose and Janet was perhaps the prettiest piece. What I found myself humming later was "Can't Help Lovin' Day Man" from Showboat.

Not many smallish libraries are so fortunate as to have ready access to opera singers and someone willing to fund such a program. A lot of people contribute to make this event possible. Thanks to all of them.

Elsie & Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front by Diane Atkinson

British women were expected to support their men when their country entered World War I in 1914. They could write encouraging letters, knit socks and hats, and prepare bandages. They were not expected to actually go to the battle front, but motorcycle club chums Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm, who obviously had already proven themselves un-ladylike, immediately volunteered as ambulance drivers. After a couple months of mechanic's training, they were in the thick of it, according to Diane Atkinson, author of Elsie & Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front.

The two bold women turned heads right away by disobeying commands and driving right into the battles, pulling the injured right out of the rubble and outrunning enemy shells to get soldiers to the hospitals. Knocker was particularly bothered when their efforts were in vain and their patients died. She believed moving the injured too quickly decreased their chances, so she established aid stations just behind the trenches, where she and Chisholm stabilized patients before moving them. For months at a time, they stayed within range of mortars and poisonous gases, winning the admiration of common soldiers, British newspaper readers, and the Belgian Royal family.

In Elsie & Mairi Go to War, Atkinson does more chronicle the lives of brave women. She describes an almost forgot era, when gentleman bought military commissions, volunteers tended to soldier's medical needs, and the rules of war were rapidly changing. Based on the women's diaries and other sources, the text sometimes seems a bit detail heavy and filled with characters who appear once, but the dedicated history reader will find much to enjoy.

Atkinson, Diane. Elsie & Mairi Go to War: Two Extraordinary Women on the Western Front. Pegasus Books, 2010. ISBN 9781605980942

Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile and Reference Is Dead

Like many children, Dorothy had aspirations for her future. She would be a librarian with "a fine brick library" in the center of a town square, such as the one she frequented as a child in Massachusetts. She got the library degree and was ready for the work, but then she married and moved to the base of Mount Mitchell in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. There was no library and Dorothy was sad, but there were many people who wanted to read. You can read the rest of the true story in the children's book Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile by Gloria Houston and illustrated by Susan Condie Lamb.

While Houston's book is intended to teach children about perseverance and the privilege of reading books, it has another lesson that recent library school graduates and even old librarians should contemplate - things often turn out differently than we planned. What we imagined as youths may never come to pass. For example, I always thought that I would eventually work as a reference librarian in a major metropolitan library with a huge room dedicated just to the reference books. I assumed that our economy and society's demand for education and ready knowledge would always grow, and there would always be funds for large subject encyclopedias, huge atlases, and expensive scientific handbooks. With a large team of librarians, I would spend my days finding the answers to difficult questions, such as "What were the religious beliefs of the pharaohs of Egypt?" or "What is the most effective treatment for dengue fever?" I also thought I would have an hour for lunch, during which I would walk home, eat, read the newspaper, and nap for a few minutes. Life would be idyllic.

Needless to say, my life is much different. But it is great the way it turned out for me. I work in a suburban library with educated clients, and with a small but sharp team of librarians, I help people cope with contemporary problems, which may include finding answers to difficult questions about history and science. More often we help people identify toll-free numbers for consumer assistance, get instructions to fix appliances, print tax forms, and request books for the book clubs. We spend countless hours instructing young and old in the use of computers, the Internet, photocopiers, ebook readers, and other technology. Just last week, I had a senior who had been directed by her Internet provider's technical troubleshooter to take her laptop to the closest public library where there would be wireless service and a knowledgeable librarian to help him help her.

Which brings me to "Geeks Are the Future" with its statement "Reference is dead." In saying that reference librarians need to be fired to make room for IT professionals, Eli Neiburger seems to have fallen into the contemporary "either or" trap. Reference or IT? It seems unfortunate thinking to me, especially his feeling a need to attack a traditional library service, one that many of us believe gives added value to our collections of content. It also seems that his position is an "either or" choice of clients. Is he saying that we can only serve the technologically hip and forget the people who are not embracing the online world?

Of course, we need technologically savvy people to design websites and apps, but we still need reference librarians to help clients access the collections. My recent experiences from hiring librarians is there are many people with both sets of skills. They can tweak HTML code and find obscure facts about the Founding Fathers, troubleshoot PCs and find population statistics, explain the use of ereaders and recommend horror fiction to eager readers. These are talented, dedicated people. There is no "either or" choice to make. The key is to get energetic, well-rounded people to serve our libraries and their clients - modern Miss Dorothys with their dreams of being librarians.

Houston, Gloria. Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile. 2011. ISBN 9780060291556

The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell

Kurt Wallander observes his sixtieth birthday at the beginning of The Troubled Man, the latest and probably the last of a series of highly acclaimed mysteries by Henning Mankell about the Swedish policeman. It is not a celebration, for the years have been hard on Wallander. His bad eating habits have worsened his diabetes and now his memory seems to be failing. He is living alone, no longer wanting his ex-wife Mona back, and very aware of his being alone each morning when he wakes. Not everything is bad. He has moved out to the country where he has a view of the Baltic Sea from his porch, and he has acquired a dog, only the second he has ever had. Best of all, his daughter Linda is living nearby and checking nearly daily on his moods and welfare.

Linda is pregnant and invites her father to meet her partner and his family. Wallander has plenty of time to go to Stockholm for a seventy-fifth birthday party for Linda's prospective father-in-law, Hakan Von Enke, a retired Swedish naval officer and expert on submarine warfare, because he has been temporarily suspended for losing his service revolver. At the well-attended party, where Wallander feels terribly out of place, he observes that Von Enke is agitated, possibly scared. Readers soon learn why.

The Troubled Man is like many of the Wallander books in that its story revolves around a Swedish mystery with international factors. To this title, Mankell adds the issues of aging, seeing the deaths of contemporaries, and wanting a better life for progeny. This skillful and tender farewell to a character is not in any way predictable. Mankell resists formulaic endings. Wallander fans and new readers will enjoy this great book.

Mankell, Henning. The Troubled Man. Knopf, 2011. ISBN 9780307593498