ricklibrarian

First Family: Abigail and John Adams by Joseph J. Ellis

2012-02-01T08:10:00.000-08:00

Long before Bill and Hillary or Barack and Michelle, couples who closely collaborate in politics and policy, there were John and Abigail. If you call them "the Adams family," as Joseph J. Ellis sometimes does in his dual biography First Family: Abigail and John Adams, I think of Gomez and Morticia (Addams, but you do not hear the extra d when listening to the audiobook), but if you say John and Abigail, I know just who you mean. Their relationship is one of the most celebrated in American history, thanks to their roles in the American Revolution and early republic and to the survival of their many letters. Many authors have mined those letters to write books. Ellis's work is a fine example of well-chosen pieces to tell how a serious farmer/lawyer and his wife from New England helped shape and lead a new nation.

Few couples write so many letters as did John and Abigail, but they were often apart for months and sometimes years, as John served as a delegate to the Colonial Congress that wrote the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. He also travelled to Paris, Amsterdam, and London as a representative of the new republic, seeking aid and negotiating treaties. Meanwhile, Abigail raised their family and tended the farm, where she wrung the necks of chickens, split logs, and bought more land. In her letters, Abigail reported on the family business and advised John on the best ways to handle Benjamin Franklin, French aristocrats, British spies, rival Democratic Republicans, and his own cabinet.

With such good sources, Ellis probably found the book almost wrote itself (except it must have been difficult to pare down to under 300 pages). If you are like me, you'll find it compelling to read.

Ellis, Joseph J. First Family: Abigail and John Adams. Knopf, 2010. 299p. ISBN 9780307269621 or Books on Tape, 2010. 9 compact discs. ISBN 9780307737786.

Below Stairs: The Classic Maid's Memoir That Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey by Margaret Powell

2012-01-30T08:30:00.000-08:00

When poor British school girl Margaret Powell was thirteen, she won a scholarship to continue her education, but when her parents discovered it would be five more years before their daughter could earn a wage, they said "no" to the offer. She was pulled out of school and hired as a day maid that year. When she turned fourteen, she was hired by a laundry that fired her a year later because a fourteen year old could be paid less. Within another year, her mother placed her as a kitchen maid in a big house, where her duties included making the morning fires, polishing the brass railings and door knockers, and ironing her employer's shoe laces before anyone in the great family was awake. Then she was all day in the kitchen. Being in the lowest of low positions, working for next to nothing, she was at least sheltered and no longer a mouth for her parents to feed. Some children worked as hard in the 1920s as they had in the time of Charles Dickens.

Having been a good student and a constant reader, Margaret aspired to leave service from the beginning, but it took her a couple of decades. In that time, she advanced through a number of kitchen positions in houses big and small, meeting many lifelong servants with many stories to tell. She recounted these times with humor and a sense of outrage in her 1968 book Below Stairs, just now published in the United States. The subtitled for the new edition claims the British book inspired the writing of scripts for both the 1970s TV series Upstairs, Downstairs and the new series Downton Abbey. Statements from creators of both series are found on the book jacket as proof. Fans of either or both series will delightfully recall many scenes as read.

For a book that is touted to have had such an impact, it is fairly short and quick to read. Discussion groups might like to pair it with episodes of either series or the movie The Remains of the Day.

Powell, Margaret. Below Stairs: The Classic Maid's Memoir That Inspired Upstairs, Downstairs and Downton Abbey. St. Martin's Press, 2012. 212p. ISBN 9781250005441.

Fresh Air with Terry Gross: Just for Laughs

2012-01-27T08:00:00.000-08:00

Comedy is serious business, and interviewing contemporary comedians is like stepping into a minefield. A journalist could easily blunder and sound like a fool. Would you want to be stung by a Stephen Colbert or Don Rickles putdown? National Public Radio's Terry Gross, however, seems to relish the opportunity to question the men and women who make us laugh. She even requests an insult from Rickles in Fresh Air with Terry Gross: Just for Laughs. As the title suggests, there are many funny moments, but this is not all. The three CD audiobook is also filled with surprisingly frank discussion about dysfunctional families, racial and sexual stereotyping, societal hypocrisy, religion or lack of, and personal pain - all the putty from which comedy is made.

Not being a regular follower of celebrity news, I learned a lot about Steve Martin, Joan Rivers, Will Ferrell, and Tina Fey that others may have already known, but I doubt there are many interviews as candid about their lives good and bad. Saturday Night Live and 30 Rock comic Tracy Morgan both nearly melts down and nearly explodes. Sacha Baron Cohen speaks as himself instead of one of characters. George Carlin explains why he uses the seven forbidden words. Trey Parker and Matt Stone amusingly tell how they do the voices for South Park. I enjoyed every interview regardless of whether I actually care for the comedians' work.

My favorite track was Gross's interview of groundbreaking political comedian Mort Sahl, who actually wrote lines for both presidential candidates John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan (but not for Richard Nixon). Though liberal politically, he has enjoyed the company of many politicians and believes that former Secretary of Defense Alexander Haig was the funniest man he ever met. His entertaining interview adds history and emotional perspective to this wonderful collection.

Fresh Air with Terry Gross: Just for Laughs. HighBridge, 2010. 3 compact discs. ISBN 9781598878974.

Fifth Avenue, 5 A. M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman by Sam Wasson

2012-01-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

Audrey Hepburn did not like Danish pastries, but she ate a sugary roll while wearing an elegant little black dress in front of the window of Tiffany's. She also insisted on playing respectable women in her films, but here she was as Holly Golightly, the quirky call girl created by Truman Capote in his novella Breakfast at Tiffany's. As a dedicated actress, she did what she had to do, but there was much about the movie adaptation that seemed awry. How had she come to be on location in Manhattan before daybreak? Film historian Sam Wasson recounts the story in Fifth Avenue, 5 A. M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman.

As Wasson tells the story, a slew of ambitious people had a hand in creating the famous film, and many of them were dismayed by the result. Probably no one was more disappointed than Truman Capote. His sad story was transformed into a light romantic comedy with a happy Hollywood ending. Screenwriter George Axelrod was angry that director Blake Edwards did not follow his script and added tangential scenes with new characters. Edith Head was upset that she was getting credit but not actually picking the clothes. Mel Ferrer was upset that his wife was playing a tart. One of the producers did not like the music, especially the song "Moon River." Only Edwards really seemed happy in the end, for he had created a crowd-pleasing movie that bumped him up the studio ladder. He'd get better movie assignments in the future.

Was Breakfast at Tiffany's a great cinematic achievement? Is it hard to assess fifty years later? Wasson slyly never really answers these questions, but in telling his episodic story, he gives readers much evidence with which to judge. Critics charged that the sources were disregarded, the plot was weak and nonsensical, and many people were offended by Mickey Rooney's role as Mr. Yunioshi. Many young women, however, saw Holly Golightly as a forerunner of the new woman, free to live alone, play the field, and buy elegant clothes despite a lack of societal status.

Regardless of what camp the reader joins in the debate, Fifth Avenue, 5 A. M. is a quick moving and entertaining window into the late 1950s and early 1960s. Boomers and anyone who studies film history will enjoy Wasson's book.

Wasson, Sam. Fifth Avenue, 5 A. M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's, and the Dawn of the Modern Woman. HarperStudio, 2010. 231p. ISBN 9780061774157

The Foremost Good Fortune: A Memoir by Susan Conley

2012-01-23T08:00:00.000-08:00

While compiling my best biographies and memoirs list of 2011, I noticed that the Washington Post included The Foremost Good Fortune: A Memoir by Susan Conley. In it, the American novelist recounts her two years in Beijing with her banker husband and their two young sons. Knowing that I usually enjoy Americans-abroad stories and expecting a novelist to tell a good story, I borrowed it from the library. My expectations were well met.

In The Foremost Good Fortune, Conley describes the strangeness of her new urban life, seeing the Chinese city cleaned and polished to receive hundreds of thousands of visitors for the 2008 Olympics, while she searched through the international community for someone to be her friend and confidant. Struggling to learn Mandarin and feeling lost in Chinese markets, Conley often felt displaced, while her husband and sons thrived. They had a bank job and schools to attend each day, while she stayed in their cavernous eighth floor apartment or ventured out into the confusing Beijing neighborhoods. Then she discovered the lumps in her breasts.

Admitting her faults and fears, Conley draws readers close to her crisis. They listen to her deliberations, weigh the merits of her decisions, and celebrate her survival. They may also wonder how they would fare immersed in another culture. The Foremost Good Fortune would be a good choice for book discussion groups.

If you visit Susan Conley's blog, you can see some photos from her Beijing stay.

Conley, Susan. The Foremost Good Fortune: A Memoir. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 276p. ISBN 9780307594068.

The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris by David McCullough

2012-01-20T08:30:00.000-08:00

"Who would not be an art student in Paris?" Robert Henri, 1888

Americans have been traveling to Paris for almost as long as there have been Americans of European lineage. Some made a special point of going to the French capital in the 1770s when they wanted to quit being British subjects. That Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson went to ask the French to aid their cause is celebrated in many histories. The American Revolution might not have succeeded without French military and financial assistance, but after the war was won, French-American relations cooled somewhat for several decades.

In The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris, historian and frequent bestselling author David McCullough recounts the second great era of American pilgrimage to Paris, a period stretching from the 1830s to the beginning of the 20th century. The United States had firmly established itself as a nation with an expanding frontier and healthy economy, but some of the sons and daughters of the wealthy sought learning and pleasure that could only be found in Europe. Ignoring the prevailing sentiment against the Old World, young medical students, lawyers, writers, and artists boarded crowded wooded ships (and later steamships) for the long and dangerous voyage across the Atlantic to spend months or years away from family in Paris.

I was surprised to learn that in the early 19th century, Paris was the world's center for medical education. If they could prove worthy of admission, foreign students could attend any of the various hospital-based medical schools for free. Oliver Wendell Holmes and dozens of other Americans enrolled and learned about evidence-based diagnosis and other modern trends in the practice of medicine. Their generation then established their own medical schools in America.

McCullough profiles many individuals in the course of his epic book. Many of their names are familiar, such as James Fenimore Cooper, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Mary Cassatt, and John Singer Sargent. My favorite story, however, is about a lesser-known figure, Elihu B. Washburne, a former U.S. congressman who was sent by President Grant to be ambassador to France in 1869. Washburne was in his post at the start of the Franco-Prussian War. He helped many Americans and Germans escape the country before the Siege of Paris and personally directed humanitarian efforts throughout the war. He risked his own liberty and fortune to feed and rescue many innocent victims of the war. He also helped negotiate the peace agreement.

Readers who have enjoyed McCullough's award-winning biographies will find the author focuses sequentially on many figures in this new book, but he retains the intimate perspective of prior work as he uses many diaries and letters to let the individuals speak for themselves. Readers will, of course, also learn much about the character of Paris and Parisians. Now that it has dropped off the bestseller lists, there should be plenty of copies available in libraries.

McCullough, David. The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris. Simon and Schuster, 2011. 558p. ISBN 9781416571766.

also, Simon and Schuster Audio. 16 compact discs. ISBN 9781442344181.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Season One

2012-01-18T08:30:00.000-08:00

It had been over 40 years since I had seen an episode of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. when a friend posted on Facebook a link to the TV show's theme music. The music came with a mix of stills and video from the show and rekindled my desire to see the old show. I had tried several years back and had not found any episodes on video, cable, or the Internet. This time I found the entire first season available in DVD from a neighboring public library. I placed a hold.

Once the big case with 29 episodes on 11 discs arrived, I was almost reluctant to look. Would the show be as cool as I remember? Would it be embarrassingly bad? How would I deal with that? Just laugh? I hoped to be pleasantly surprised.

Being the kind of person who starts at the beginning, I started with disc one, watched the pilot, and found myself in crisis mode right away. The plot was really weak, and Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo seemed to be smirking all the time. The sets seemed almost bare. David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin was hardly present. How could the executives at NBC have chosen to buy the series based on this pitiful effort? Either the 1960s were a more optimistic time or NBC must have thought we'd watch just about anything. Well, we would, if I remember correctly.

Thinking it had to get better, I watched the next three episodes, shown on NBC in the fall of 1964. I am happy to report that there was improvement. Napoleon Solo became more likable, and Illya Kuryakin became a bigger part of the story. The plots (while fairly simple) were at least easier to accept. As I watched, I started to think that the show resembled the first season of Star Trek (which debuted two years later). Both shows had rather plain, bare sets, except when the action moved outdoors. As in Star Trek, outdoor sequences were shot in California. In one scene, I almost expected to see Klingons come over the hill. And in every episode, Solo, like Captain Kirk, met a beautiful young woman who helped him foil Thrush and other international criminals. (Unlike Kirk, Solo refrained from any romantic attachment, but Kuryakin seemed interested in episode three.)

Like spy shows of any era (and Star Trek for that matter), The Man from U.N.C.L.E. displayed cutting-edge technology. In the intro to episodes two through four, Solo entered headquarters and flipped a switch that set lots of lights flashing on a mainframe computer. In one scene, the chief put a data card into a little window of a console and a slide show with audio then told the agents about a plot to use a gas that induced panic to overthrow an Eastern Bloc nation. The beautiful young secretaries in U.N.C.L.E. headquarters set up slide projectors in other scenes. While in the field, Solo had a communicator that he extracted from a cigarette case. He also had a small Polaroid-like camera that took pictures in the dark, revealing the image of the spy looking into Solo's large but bare motel room. Of course, the villains always had some newly developed secret weapon that Solo and Kuryakin had to disable or destroy.

I am not going to watch 25 further episodes, but I am general entertained by my trip into the past. The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is fun to watch even now.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E., Season One. Warner Brothers DVD/Turner Entertainment, 2008. 11 DVDs.

George Harrison: Living in the Material World by Olivia Harrison

2012-01-16T09:00:00.000-08:00

It has been eleven years since guitarist, singer, songwriter, movie producer, and gardener/landscaper George Harrison died of cancer. I did not know about the gardening and landscaping part of his life until I read George Harrison: Living in the Material World, a photobiography by Olivia Harrison. He began gardening in 1970 when he purchased a rundown estate called Friar Park. What did a young man raised in streets of Liverpool know about shrubs and trees? Was it just natural to love plants? Was he impressed by the gardens of India while there seeking spiritual knowledge? Olivia Harrison doesn't tell, but she does include photos of the estate grounds before and after his work.

By the way, George Harrison was a Beatle, too, but he downplayed that after the band disbanded. Until his son Dhani was seven, he thought his dad was a gardener. He only learned of his father's fame from other kids at school. In her book, Olivia does document the Beatles years with photos, letters, and quotes, but her aim is to show it as a time of hard work and insanity more than a wonderful experience. She portrays Beatle George as a young man who struggled with his values and post-Beatle George as a man who sought peace within himself and with others in a troubled world. She includes many accounts and photos of his collaborations with Ravi Shankar and the international musicians in his band Dark Horse.

While George Harrison: Living in the Material World is primarily a photo album, with many of the photos coming from George's own camera, there is plenty to read as well. Allow yourself at least a couple of evenings to enjoy a tour through his unorthodox life.

Harrison, Olivia. George Harrison: Living in the Material World. Abrams, 2011. 397p. ISBN 9781419702204.

Grandfather's Journey [and] Tree of Cranes by Allen Say

2012-01-13T08:27:00.000-08:00

I have checked out and read more books by Allen Say, having enjoyed Drawing from Memory, and am glad that I did. Grandfather's Journey and Tree of Cranes illustrate other parts of Say's family story.

Grandfather's Journey tells how his grandfather immigrated from Japan to California to live in the San Francisco area with ready access to many beautiful places. He marries his childhood sweetheart and brings her to America, and they have a daughter. As he ages, he longs to see his homeland again and returns to Japan with his family. Though the story is sketchy, the illustrations give it depth. Each is filled with calm beauty.

The daughter in the first book is the mother in Tree of Cranes. Having grown up in California, she misses its celebration of Christmas, which is not celebrated in 1930s Japan. Say is just a boy. He watches with wonder as she decorates a small evergreen with origami cranes. Say illustrates the warmth of his home against the cold of Japanese winter.

Both books foster respect for family and people of different origins, and adults may enjoy them for the colorful landscapes and portraits. Look for them with other picture books at your library.

Say, Allen. Tree of Cranes. Houghton Mifflin, 1991. ISBN 039552024x.

Say, Allen. Grandfather's Journey. Houghton Mifflin, 1993. ISBN 0395570352.

Terry Jones' Barbarians

2012-01-11T10:05:00.000-08:00

Who were the Barbarians? According to Terry Jones of Monty Python fame, the Barbarians were, by ancient Roman definition, all the peoples of the earth who were not Romans. The Romans, as you might know, regarded other people who did not conform to their ideal culture as inferior, brutal, uncouth, unrefined, crude. Add dangerous, violent, chaotic, blood-thirsty, ravenous, and other such terms, and the Romans had good reason to strike preemptively to protect their nation and way of life. The word barbarian has survived with many negative connotations. And because the Romans were the victors and wrote the histories, their views of the ancient world have been preserved and accepted as fact.

Were the Celts, Goths, Vandals, Huns, Persians, and other ancient societies really so terrible? Terry Jones and a community of historians and archeologists now question the Roman view and have found copious evidence that the Romans have misreported many events, including the nail-hammering Sack of Rome. The Barbarian cultures were often wealthy and technologically ahead of the Romans, who were really great as soldiers, lawyers, and builders, but less known for their arts, literature, math, and science. Women in Barbarian cultures had more rights than those in Rome, and Barbarians were more accommodating to foreign cultures. Unlike Rome, most of the Barbarians did not maintain standing armies. Jones and the historians that he consults pose that the Barbarians were often less likely to rape and pillage than the Romans. So, just who was more civilized? Who was just posing to overthrow governments and steal other cultures' wealth?

Jones presents his views in a very entertaining set of BBC programs Terry Jones' Barbarians, with a companion book Terry Jones' Barbarians. I was not quite sure at first how serious he was, for he is still an excitable, highly animated performer strutting on screen, giving us a smile and a laugh. He even slips a few Python lines into the script. But he takes viewers to the battlefields, archeological sites, and museums, and he lets the experts make their case that the Barbarians deserve reconsideration. Jones even contends that many British and Americans people owe their Celtic ancestors more respect.

Terry Jones' Barbarians was shown on the BBC in 2006 and does not seem to have gotten much attention in the U.S. Only the first four episodes appear to be available via DVD. The only evidence I have found that there were more episodes is the Internet Movie Database entry for the series. I'd love to see them.

Terry Jones' Barbarians. Koch Vision : Distributed by Koch Entertainment, [2007], 2 DVDs. ISBN 9781417229932.

Jones, Terry. Terry Jones' Barbarians. BBC Books, 2006. 288p. ISBN 9780563493181.

London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets

2012-01-09T07:56:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Citizen Reader who recommended this book.

London is like an iceberg. There is more than meets the eye, and much of that is below the water line. Because of the might of the Thames River, there is always water to consider. Forgotten tributary rivers that have been paved over, Roman walls and foundations, ancient catacombs, subterranean prisons, utility tunnels, sewers, and the most famous commuter trains in the world lie below the city's streets, buildings, and parks. Most residents and visitors fail to consider how extraordinary these features are. All are remarkable feats of engineering completed at great cost and some loss of lives, and without them London would not be the great historic city that it is, according to prolific British historian Peter Ackroyd in his recent book London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets.

While London is considered by many to be a pleasant place to live now, it was at various points in history miserable. Before modern sanitation, the smell in the streets and on the Thames was horrendous. Disease epidemics killed many residents. Ackroyd recounts how many centuries of tunneling eventually got the city to its less than perfect present. Huge rainstorms can still cause the forgotten rivers to flood. Even without extreme acts of nature, pumps have to run full time to keep the underground from flooding and the city from sinking. Generally, the complex system of sewers and floodgates works, and millions of people move about underground, avoiding gridlock in the streets.

Underground London has played a major role in history, especially in the World Wars. Ackroyd recounts stories of how Londoners worked, sheltered, and even entertained below the city when it was besieged by German bombs. There were even 52 lending libraries in the underground as Londoners tried to make the best of their hardships.

London is a small book with thirteen illustrated chapters that can be read in a couple of evenings. London Under will interest any reader who has been to London or wishes to go.

Ackroyd, Peter. London Under: The Secret History Beneath the Streets. Nan A. Talese, 2011. 228p. ISBN 9780385531504.

Feynman by Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick

2012-01-06T08:30:00.000-08:00

Graphic novelist Jim Ottaviani has taken on big topics before, including the early history of paleontology, the development of the atomic bomb, and the space race. Now he has turned his attention to celebrated physicist Richard Feynman (1918-1988), who never fit the mold of serious scientist. Feynman was brilliant and even won the 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in quantum electrodynamics, but he also was a mischievous, unruly character who tested the patience of mentors, employers, and national security agencies. One of his hobbies was safecracking. No secret could be kept from Feynman.

In this graphic novel biography Feynman, Ottaviani and his artist friends Leland Myrick and Hilary Sycamore take a traditional narrative path. They start with a scene from Feynman's adult career and then step back to Feynman's childhood to tell a mostly youth to death story. They throw in a few flashbacks and flash-aheads, but readers mostly find an understandable and entertaining chronological account. Readers do not have to understand complicated scientific theory to read Feynman. Some readers may want to skip the lengthy explanation of quantum electrodynamics. Overall, the authors focus as much on Feynman the person as Feynman the scientist.

Of course, Feynman's long and varied career is hard to fit into only 262 pages. I would have liked a few more clarifying panels in some of the stories. If I had not already read about Feynman, I would certainly want to read more. Offer Feynman as an introduction or supplement and have Feynman's own books Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!, What Do YOU Care What Other People Think?, and The Meaning of It All ready for the curious.

Ottaviani, Jim and Leland Myrick. Feynman. First Second, 2011. 262p. ISBN 9781596432598.

Maphead: Charting the Wide Weird World of Geography Wonks by Ken Jennings

2012-01-04T08:00:00.000-08:00

I love maps and atlases, and I believe maps are a great way to dress up walls. Atlases are a great diversion. Whenever I need to see where a story that I am reading took place, I turn to one of our atlases (if the book did not come with its own maps). Sadly, the world atlas often does not have enough detail. Then I'll go to the Internet seeking maps that are more focused on the obscure places that interest me. It seems to me that any place that is worth writing and reading about ought to be on a map, and I want to see it. That makes me a little bit of a maphead, but I will not pretend to be so fanatical as Ken Jennings, author of Maphead: Charting the Wide Weird World of Geography Wonks.

From early in childhood Jennings saved his allowance to buy atlases. He asked for them for birthdays and Christmas. He kept one by his bedside lamp. And he has never grown out of his map love. Luckily for him, he has been able to turn his fascination with maps, trivia, and all of the world's knowledge into a career. It helped that he won tons of money on Jeopardy, and that experience helped launch his writing career. Being a writer has allowed him to seek out mapheads around the world, many of whom he describes in Maphead.

Opportunities for mapheads have expanded greatly in the past several decades with the development of personal electronics and the introduction of global positioning services. Jennings tells about becoming one of the enthusiasts who chases geocached treasures and seeks confluences. Confluences are the exact spots where lines of longitude meet lines of latitude. With your own handheld GPS, you can find the spots where the minutes and seconds are all zeros. The difficulty is that these spots are often on the side of a cliff or (even worse) on private property.

While embracing the new technology, Jennings also rues the loss of free gas station maps and the feeling that there might no longer be blank spots in human geographic knowledge that still need exploring. Maphead is a very personal report that should entertain and enlighten many readers.

Jennings, Ken. Maphead: Charting the Wide Weird World of Geography Wonks. Scribner, 2011. 276p. ISBN 9781439167175.

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

2012-01-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Who exactly was Rin Tin Tin? From her childhood, Susan Orlean remembered the 1950s television show and a German shepherd figurine on her grandfather's desk, but like many Americans, she had not thought much about Rin Tin Tin in decades. The mention of his name in the late 1990s, however, sparked her writer's curiosity, and she began to revisit her memories to discover a broader context. She did not intend her investigation to last ten years and result in a book. Because she became personally involved with her subject and committed to preserving the story, we now have Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend.

Of course, the simple answer to Orlean's initial question is that Rin Tin Tin was a dog, but not the dog that she imagined. There were numerous Rin Tin Tin's before (and after) the one she thought she knew from The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin which debuted on ABC in 1954 and was dropped by CBS in 1965, and none of the dogs used in the television series was ever the official Rin Tin Tin of the time. The original was a puppy found by American soldier Lee Duncan in the ruins of a World War I battlefield in 1918. Duncan nearly lost this dog before shipping home, but a sympathetic officer intervened to allow the puppy on board the troop ship. A broken leg and a failed screen test nearly kept the original from becoming a silent movie actor, but Duncan persevered, and Rin Tin Tin became a movie sensation.

In the early movies, Rin Tin Tin played dogs with other names. Later, dogs with other names played Rin Tin Tin doing things that he never actually did. Reality was especially ignored in nineteenth century stories of the Wild West. German shepherds were not introduced as a breed (in Germany) until the late 1890s, and very few were brought to the United States before the end of World War I. Rin Tin Tin became in many ways a myth and trademark instead of a real dog.

The constant throughout the story with its many Rin Tin Tins is Duncan and his chosen successor as protector of the Rin Tin Tin legacy, film producer Bert Leonard. While Duncan was a loner and Leonard was a fast-spending lady's man, both were dreamers devoted to the idea of dog movies and incapable of protecting their own families from financial ruin. Leonard died amid many lawsuits, some aimed at a Texas dog breeder who thought she owned the Rin Tin Tin name by virtue of owning some of the descendant dogs.

I listened to Orlean read her wide-reaching biography/history in which readers learn about dogs in war, silent movies, German shepherds in America, the Baby Boom, early television, dog breeders, and the collectibles industry in the age of eBay. She sounds natural and at times confessional, as her book is also a memoir. Her story is compelling throughout and deserves the many readers it is getting.

Orlean, Susan. Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend. Simon and Schuster Audio, 2011. 10 compact discs. ISBN 9781442344969.

Best Biographies and Memoirs of 2011: Eleven Lists

2011-12-30T07:19:00.000-08:00

Another year and another list of best books. In fact, many lists of best books, for many book reviews, online bookstores, and book blogs seem to issue them at this time of year. I've gotten into the act, too. I have gone through some of the major lists and identified the biographies and memoirs therein. The result is my fourth annual best biographies and memoirs master list.

I have been pretty liberal with my definition of biography. You might say I chose anything biographical. Some readers might quibble that a few are really histories with biographical elements. It seems to me that a book that has a person's name in the title is biographical enough for the list and certain to interest a biography reader.

As always, the lists agree and disagree. Every list has titles that all the other lists have overlooked or excluded. The biography Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable is included in eight of the eleven lists. Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie is in seven lists, and In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson appears in six lists. The most recognized memoirs are Blue Nights by Joan Didion and Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III, both making six lists.

Some review sources thought there were many notable biographies and only a few worthy memoirs, while some others were more taken with the year's memoirs. The result is there should be something here for everyone.

Compiling this master list has become a little more difficult as some of the review sources have generated their lists in pieces. If you see a mistake, please let me know and I will correct the master list.

As always, I hope this help you in your book selecting this winter. Enjoy. Happy New Year.

Amazon Best Books of 2011

Biography

(I did not stick to Amazon's categorizations. Some of these titles were in its history list instead of the biography list.)

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Memoirs

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Jacqueline Kennedy: Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything by Joshua Foer

My Korean Deli: Risking It All for a Convenience Store by Ben Ryder Howe

Then Again by Diane Keaton

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III

Audiofile's Best Audiobooks of 2011

Biography

Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Malcolm X by Manning Marable

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Memoirs

Chapters from My Autobiography by Mark Twain

Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela

No Biking in the House without a Helmet by Melissa Fay Greene

Barnes & Noble Best Books 2011

Biography

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Hedy's Folly: The Life and Breakthrough Inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the Most Beautiful Woman in the World by Richard Rhodes

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Machiavelli: A Biography by Miles J. Unger

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter by Mark Seal

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz

Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein by Julie Salamon

Memoirs

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Reading My Father: A Memoir by Alexandra Styrom

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III

What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes

Wilder Life : My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie

Booklist Editors' Choices 2011

(Some titles were in categories other than biography)

Biography

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

The Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock by David Margolick

Huston: Courage and Art by Jeffrey Meyers

The Mirage Man: Bruce Ivins, the Anthrax Attacks, and America's Rush to War by David Willman

Obama on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President by Justin A. Frank

The Paper Garden: An Artist (Begins Her Life's Work) at 72 by Molly Peacock

Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark by Brian Kellow

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orlean

Verdi's Shakespeare: Men of the Theater by Garry Wills

Memoirs

Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon by Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa and Mim Eichler Rivas.

The Map of My Dead Pilots: The Dangerous Game of Flying in Alaska by Colleen Mondor

Goodreads Choice Awards

Biography

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Dressmaker of Khair Khana : Five Sisters, One Remarkable Family, and the Woman Who Risked Everything to Keep Them Safe by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon

Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O'Reilly

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Man in the Rockefeller Suit: The Astonishing Rise and Spectacular Fall of a Serial Imposter by Mark Seal

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother by Janny Scott

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

Memoirs

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua

The Chronology of Water by Lidia Yunavitch

The End of Boys by Peter Brown Hoffmeister

Girls Like Us: Fighting for a World Where Girls Are Not for Sale, an Activist Finds Her Calling and Heals Herself by Rachel Lloyd

Here Comes Trouble: Stories from My Life by Michael Moore

Life Itself by Roger Ebert

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business by Dick Van Dyke

The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels - A Love Story by Ree Drummond

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma

Seal Team Six: Memoirs of an Elite Navy Seal Sniper by Howard E. Wasdin and Stephen Templin

A Stolen Life: A Memoir by Jaycee Dugard

Stories I Only Tell My Friends by Rob Lowe

Then They Came for Me : A Family's Story of Love, Captivity, and Survival by Maziar Bahari

This Is Gonna Hurt : Music, Photography, and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx by Nikki Sixx

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

Tolstoy and the Purple Chair: My Year of Magical Reading by Nina Sankovitch

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III

Two Kisses for Maddy: A Memoir of Love and Loss by Matthew Logelin

Wilder Life : My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie

Kirkus Book Reviews Best Nonfiction of 2011

Biography

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story by Jim Dent

Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports by Mark Ribowsky

Jane Fonda: The Private Life of a Public Woman by Patricia Bosworth

Lennon: The Man, the Myth, the Music - the Definitive Life by Tim Riley

Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution by Mary Gabriel

Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America by David S. Reynolds

Tolstoy: A Russian Life by Rosamund Bartlett

Wendy and the Lost Boys: The Uncommon Life of Wendy Wasserstein by Julie Salamon

Memoirs

Bento's Sketchbook by John Berger

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III

An Unquenchable Thirst: Following Mother Teresa in Search of Love, Service, and an Authentic Life by Mary Johnson

Witness to an Extreme Century: A Memoir by Robert Jay Lifton

Your Voice in My Head: A Memoir by Emma Forrest

Library Journal Best Books 2011 Top-Ten

Biography

Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid That Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz

Library Journal Best Books 2011 More of the Best

Biography

Becoming Dickens: The Invention of a Novelist by Douglas Fairhurst

Everything Is an Afterthought: The Life and Writings of Paul Nelson by Kevin Avery

Nica’s Dream: The Life and Legend of the Jazz Baroness by David Kastin

Memoirs

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Library Journal Best Books 2011 Memoirs

Cabin: Two Brothers, a Dream, and Five Acres in Maine by Lou Ureneck

Fiction Ruined My Family by Jeanne Darst

The Girl's Guide to Homelessness by Brianna Karp

I Wore the Ocean in the Shape of a Girl: A Memoir by Kelle Groom

Love at First Bark: How Saving a Dog Can Sometimes Help You Save Yourself by Julie Klam

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir by Meir Shalev

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III

Library Journal Librarians’ Best Books of 2011

Memoirs

The Long Goodbye by Meghan O'Rourke

The Orchard: A Memoir by Theresa Weir

New Yorker's Reviewers' Favorites of 2011

Biography

The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe by Peter Godwin

George F. Kennan: An American Life by John Lewis Gaddis

Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India by Joseph Lelyveld

The Inner Life of Empires: An Eighteenth-Century History by Emma Rothschild (about the Johnston family)

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Mightier Than the Sword: Uncle Tom's Cabin and the Battle for America by David S. Reynolds

Modigliani: A Life by Meryle Secrest

Molotov's Magic Lantern: Travels in Russian History by Rachel Polonsky

Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark by Brian Kellow

Memoirs

What It Is Like to Go to War by Karl Marlantes

New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2011

Biography

And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields

Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane by Andrew Graham-Dixon

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Clarence Darrow: Attorney for the Damned by John A. Farrell

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

George F. Kennan: An American Life by John Lewis Gaddis

Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India by Joseph Lelyveld

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

The Keats Brothers: The Life of John and George by Denise Gigante

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Pauline Kael: A Life in the Dark by Brian Kellow

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orleans

Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith

Memoirs

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

The Boy in the Moon: A Father's Journey to Understand His Extraordinary Son by Ian Brown

The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt

My Song: A Memoir by Harry Belafonmte

One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina

[sic]: A Memoir by Joshua Cody

To a Mountain in Tibet by Colin Thubron

Publishers Weekly Best Books 2011

Biography

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961 by Paul Hendrickson

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution by Mary Gabriel

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend by Susan Orleans

Memoirs

Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Bossypants by Tina Fey

Life Itself by Roger Ebert

The Long Goodbye: A Memoir by Meghan O’Rourke

One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavanga Wainaina

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

Townie: A Memoir by Andre Dubus III

Washington Post Best Books of 2011

Biography

And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut: A Life by Charles J. Shields

Branch Rickey by Jimmy Breslin

Caravaggio by Andrew Graham-Dixon

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

Charles Dickens: A Life by Claire Tomalin

Deng Xiaoping and the Transformation of China by Ezra F. Vogel

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

Endgame: Bobby Fischer's Remarkable Rise and Fall - From America's Brightest Prodigy to the Edge of Madness by Frank Brady

Hemingway’s Boat: Everything He Loved in Life, and Lost, 1934-1961 by Paul Hendrickson

The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens, and the Search for the Good Life by Bettany Hugh

In the Garden of the Beast: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

Love and Capital: Karl and Jenny Marx and the Birth of a Revolution by Mary Gabriel

Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention by Manning Marable

Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden

A Singular Woman: The Untold Story of Barack Obama's Mother by Janny Scott

Sleeping with the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War by Hal Vaughan

Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson

The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic by Michael Sims

The Triple Agent: The al-Qaeda Mole Who Infiltrated the CIA by Joby Warrick

Van Gogh: The Life by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith

Wild Bill Donovan: The Spymaster Who Created the OSS and Modern American Espionage

Memoirs

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

The Foremost Good Fortune: A Memoir by Susan Conley

The Last Resort: Taking the Mississippi Cure by Norma Watkins

Life Itself: A Memoir by Roger Ebert

The Memory Palace by Mira Bartok

Small Memories: A Memoir by Jose Saramago

Tiger, Tiger by Margaux Fragoso

ricklibrarian's Books That Matter 2011 and Year in Review

2011-12-28T10:09:00.000-08:00

Each year I pick which books and movies I liked best. Because I mostly read nonfiction and hardly any fiction, there is little in the fiction category this year. Toward the end of the year most of my favorite books were written for children.

I did not attend any conference in 2011, so I have no reports to offer. I did reflect on what I now do as a reference librarian in a series of posts in March. We had some great concerts and author presentations at the library, of which I report.

I look forward to more reading, viewing, and listening in 2012. The stack of books and CDs on my desk is already getting tall.

Recent Nonfiction

The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey

Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick

Here on Earth: A Natural History of the Planet by Tim Flannery

Atlantic by Simon Winchester

Horoscopes for the Dead: Poems by Billy Collins

The President is a Sick Man by Matthew Algeo

The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan With Doctors Without Borders by Emmanuel Guibert

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

Recent Fiction

The Ginseng Hunter by Jeff Talarigo

Great Old Books

Courtship: Valentine's Day: 1918: Three Plays from the Orphans' Home Cycle by Horton Foote

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Children's Books

Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson

Drawing from Memory by Allen Say

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Audiobooks

The Last Hero: A Life of Henry Aaron by Howard Brandt

Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

Author Events

An Evening at the Library with Michael Perry

Films and Television

Double Indemnity

Shaun the Sheep:Season One

Micmacs, a Film by Jean-Pierre Jeunet

The Visitor, written and directed by Tom McCarthy

Autism: The Musical

Music

Tom Kastle at Friday at the Ford

An Evening at the Opera

Are Compact Discs Disappearing? What Do I Do?

Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado in Iowa

Jason Deroche at Friday at the Ford

Readers' Advisory

Life Stories: A Guide to Reading Interests in Memoirs, Autobiographies, and Diaries by Maureen O'Connor

Library Issues and Services

Miss Dorothy and Her Bookmobile and Reference Is Dead

What Do Reference Librarians Do? Reference, Of Course!

What Do Reference Librarians Do? Select Library Materials

Weeding Biographies and Memoirs from the Library to a Tune from the Mikado

ZooBorns Cats! The Newest, Cutest Kittens and Cubs from the World's Zoos by Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland

2011-12-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

ZooBorns Cats! The Newest, Cutest Kittens and Cubs from the World's Zoos looks so slight. I was not expecting anything more than a pleasant collection of cute baby animal pictures, but authors Andrew Bleiman and Chris Eastland use the photos (from many zoo photographers) to instruct readers on the state of the world's wild cats. The words "endangered," "vulnerable," and "threatened" appear repeatedly in their brief descriptions, which note than many of the world's wild cats suffer from habitat loss, poaching, and competition from feral animals. Some may disappear from the wild soon because their plight has only recently discovered. These secretive, often nocturnal cats are so poorly understood that conservationists are uncertain what efforts will be effective in saving them.

ZooBorns Cats! may also be one of the most extensive publicly available lists of wild cat species. I had never heard of several of these cats, including the rusty-spotted cat from India and Sri Lanka, the Iriomote cat from Japan, and Guina from the Andes Mountains of Chile and Argentina. The authors claim to have some of the only pictures ever published of some of these little-known cats. In presenting the photos as they do, with some zoo spaces, equipment, and personnel evident, the authors introduce the idea that zoos have species survival plans that involve selected breeding and protection of habitats.

Despite the serious underlying message, you may still look through ZooBorns Cats! for pleasure. My favorite cats are the little snow leopards, sand cats, and Canada lynx. What are yours? You may see more zoo babies at Bleiman and Eastland's website ZooBorns.com.

Bleiman, Andrew and Chris Eastland. ZooBorns Cats! The Newest, Cutest Kittens and Cubs from the World's Zoos. Simon & Schuster, 2011. 149p. ISBN 9781451651904.

The Father Christmas Letters by J.R.R. Tolkien

2011-12-23T09:09:00.000-08:00

Did you know that Father Christmas can fill about a thousand stockings per minute? He is fast, but he still needs all the time zones to get gifts to children round the world. He has to plan ahead. He is helped by the elves, of course, but his primary assistant is North Polar Bear. Sometimes, North Polar Bear suffers untimely accidents, adding much drama to the annual toy distribution, but he is a loveable old bear who fixes the sleigh and cares for the reindeer. I know all of this from reading The Father Christmas Letters by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Tolkien began writing annual letters that his children would find on Christmas morning in 1920 when his son was only three. For the next twenty years, they read Father Christmas's stories which were often accompanied by colorful illustrations in envelops with unique North Pole postal stamps. One year the price of postage was two kisses. I can imagine the excitement of finding these letters each year. They must have been read and reread and discussed by John, Michael, Christopher, and Priscilla Tolkien.

When you read them (as you must), notice that the North Pole is a little like Middle Earth. There are Goblins, Elves, and Men (Snowmen and Snowboys). It is also like 1920s England, where Father Christmas, North Polas Bear, and the bear cousin celebrate St. Stephen's Day and Boxing Day. In 1931, the world at large is acknowledged, as Father Christmas explains that he sent fewer toys as he spent much of his time helping poor and starving people.

I wish I had thought to follow Tolkien's example when Laura was little. I hope there are still storytelling parents and grandparents to take up the task. I'm sure there are children who might enjoy charming Christmas stories. Read The Father Christmas Letters for inspiration.

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Father Christmas Letters. Houghton Mifflin, 1976. ISBN 0395249813.

Dying to Meet You by Kate Klise

2011-12-21T09:00:00.000-08:00

I've always enjoyed a good ghost story, especially one on the humorous side. Dying to Meet You written by Kate Klise and illustrated by her sister M. Sarah Klise certainly fits the bill. It is set in a rundown Victorian mansion in Ghastly, Illinois. The address is 43 Old Cemetery Road. Ignatius B. Grumply moves there to find the quiet he requires to overcome twenty years of writer's block and pen the 13th volume in his Ghost Tamer series. To his surprise, an eleven year boy, his cat, and a ghost also live in the house. As the Rolling Stones would say to Ignatius (or Iggy), "You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need."

What is particularly fun about Dying to Meet You is that it is cleverly told through notes, letters, legal documents, and newspaper articles instead of traditional prose. In the process, readers are introduced to a number of secondary characters, such as E. Gadd and Frank N. Beans. It is as much fun for adult readers as kids.

Dying to Meet You is the first in the 43 Old Cemetery Road series. In the second book Over My Dead Body, Dick Tater tries to remove the boy Seymour Hope from the mansion to send him to an orphanage. It sounds promising.

Thanks to Dana who reviewed Dying to Meet You on Thommy Ford Kids.

Klise, Kate. Dying to Meet You. Harcourt, 2009. ISBN 9780152057275.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

2011-12-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

I have not seen a more beautiful book all year. The dust jacket of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin shows a Chinese peasant girl riding on a deep red dragon through a deep dark blue lake. Above and below are intricate borders filed with magical creatures and letters. Single color sketches start each chapter, and for key scenes, there are beautiful framed full color sketches. Before I read a word I was charmed.

I'd like to read Where the Mountain Meets the Moon to a child sometime, for it would be ideal for nap or bedtime. With its stories inside the story there are many natural places to stop and promise more later. The story of Minli is so captivating, however, that the reader and the listener are not going to want to stop. I imagine we might read the book a second or third time. It's so good. I'd also like further stories, particularly about the twins A-Fu and Da-Fu. In the meantime, I will have to check out some of Grace Lin's other books.

Thanks to Uma who reviewed Where the Mountain Meets the Moon at Thommy Ford Kids.

Lin, Grace. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. Little Brown and Company, 2009. 278p. ISBN 9780316114271.

Illumination in the Flatwoods: A Season with the Wild Turkey by Joe Hutto

2011-12-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

In November, Bonnie and I watched a marvelous episode of PBS Nature called My Life as a Turkey. It was not specifically intended to be a Thanksgiving Day program, but the timing may have been good anyway. It recounted a year that artist/naturalist Joe Hutto hatched and raised a clutch of wild turkeys at Wren Nest, his North Florida plantation turned nature preserve. In the program, Hutto showed how wild turkeys are quick and inquisitive, perfectly suited for life in the wild, far different from fat, immobile domestic birds raised for holiday dinners. As you might guess from the title, it was personal and somewhat humorous, though it had tragic moments.

Wanting to know more, I borrowed Hutto's book about his wild turkey project, Illumination in the Flatwoods: A Season with the Wild Turkey. In 1991, he imprinted two clutches of wild turkey poults on himself and then acted as parental bird until the turkeys were ready to live on their own. It is a great story full of drama, humor, and fascinating observations about nature. It also is a touching memoir about the attachments that naturalists can form with their animal friends. The Nature episode captured the tone of the book well until near the end. I think the book is ultimately more heart wrenching.

While the episode has the advantages of film, the book is filled with Hutto's attractive drawings of the turkeys and all the creatures that they encounter, including insects, deer, rodents, and snakes - lots of snakes. The book explains in more details the science behind his project while also being more philosophical. I am glad to have both viewed the film and read the book.

Hutto, Joe. Illumination in the Flatwoods: A Season with the Wild Turkey. Lyons Press, 1995. 240p. ISBN 1558216944.

PBS Nature. My Life as a Turkey. You may watch the episode.

A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos by Dava Sobel

2011-12-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

Copernicus was a man with a serious problem. He knew from his observations and mathematical calculations that his church's teachings on the nature of the universe were wrong. The earth was not a stationary center around which all heavenly bodies rotated. To speak out, however, would invite charges of heresy for which he could be ostracized, imprisoned, or even executed. It is no wonder he hesitated for decades to let anyone other than his closest friends know what he had discovered. The friends, however, did not keep secrets well. The drama that ensued is the subject of Dava Sobel's latest science history A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos.

High drama is exactly how Sobel see the story. She has written a short play about Copernicus and the risks that he choose to take when young Georg Joachim Rheticus from Wittenberg arrived at his doorstep in Varmia in 1539. This play is the core of her book, around which she recounts the history of planetary astronomy. The central event is the publishing of On the Revolutions of the Heaven Spheres, a book which the Roman Catholic Church embraced for its calendar math and scorned for its unbiblical view of the solar system. The rising of the Protestant Reformation adds extra layers of tension to the story. Ironically, Martin Luther agreed with a series of popes in insisting that the earth was the body around which all others passed.

Readers looking for historical insight into current debates in which politics complicates scientific debate need look no further.

Sobel, Dava. A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos. Walker & Company, 2011. 273p. ISBN 9780802717931.

The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music by Steve Lopez

2011-12-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago I tried to watch The Soloist, a movie about a Los Angeles Times columnist befriending a homeless musician on L.A.'s Skid Row. I was in a jumbo jet somewhere over the Pacific Ocean, and the pervasive engine noise made understanding the dialogue difficult, so I gave up. The beauty of the soundtrack and the images of the character played by Jamie Foxx playing a cello stuck with me. Wanting to get back to the story, I recently downloaded the audiobook The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music by Steve Lopez to my iPod.

I regret that the audiobook does not also have a soundtrack, for down-on-his-luck ex-Julliard student's Nathanial Ayers's beautiful words about Beethoven and Brahms seem to call for a little music to bridge chapters. If I'd have been smart, I would have kept a pad nearby to note the pieces that I wanted to hear. I have no regrets, however, about listening to the fascinating story mixing elements of investigative biography with an examination of mental health care methods. By writing about Ayers in his newspaper, Lopez becomes closely involved in the schizophrenic's daily life. Feeling that he must not simply exploit Ayers for a story, Lopez strives to hasten his new friend's rehabilitation, but he learns that his offers of shelter, counseling, and medications only cause the mentally ill man to suspect he will somehow be trapped in an institution. Ayers explodes in angry profanity as often as he praises the classical music masters.

What keeps Lopez on Ayers's better side is his ability to get donated instruments and sheet music for the talented man. The reporter also arranges visit to Walt Disney Concert Hall, surprising close to Skid Row, and reintroduce Ayers to his former Julliard classmate Yo-Yo Ma. Patience and persistence win the day but do not really supply a happy ending. The quality of Ayers's days varies greatly from day to day. The story does not really even end. A sequel is conceivable. In the meantime, The Soloist is a fine book for a reader who enjoys complex characters.

Lopez, Steve. The Soloist: A Lost Dream, an Unlikely Friendship, and the Redemptive Power of Music. G. P. Putnam, 2008. 273p. ISBN 9780399155062.

Blue Nights by Joan Didion

2011-12-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

Joan Didion has survived two great losses. Survived may not be the right word, for it suggests either luck or inner strength. Didion would probably not claim either and prefer to turn back the clock. She would like to have her husband and daughter back. She would like not to be the one turning old and calling a taxi to take her to hospital in the middle of the night. She tells about her second loss in her new book Blue Nights.

In The Year of Magical Thinking, Didion told about the sudden loss of and grieving for her husband author John Gregory Dunne. Part of that story was the life-threatening illness of their daughter Quintana Roo. Blue Nights continues that subplot, recounting Didion's life from Quintana's death in 2004 to a day in 2009 when Didion contemplated her daughter's wedding anniversary. As in The Year of Magical Thinking, she goes around and around her topics, repeating key phrases, several of which were her daughter's words. The effect is mesmerizing.

Didion skillfully uses details, describing the light of the night, their many houses, and the inevitable hospitals. I was struck by her describing dresses that she wore in the 1960s which are still in her closet, for I have a family that keeps old clothes. Didion write for many of us. Many parents will identify with her desire and inability to truly protect her child. Many too will consider whether they would prefer to be the one to die or the one to be left behind. Ultimately, Blue Nights is a painful book that takes a little courage to start but demands reading.

Didion, Joan. Blue Nights. Knopf, 2011. 188p. ISBN 9780307267672.

Never the Hope Itself: Love and Ghosts in Latin America and Haiti by Gerry Hadden

2011-12-07T07:09:00.000-08:00

Be sure to read the comments, too.

I propose that we recognize National Public Radio reporter memoirs as a sub-genre. Getting a frontline position with NPR seems to set up correspondents and anchors alike with eventual book deals. I challenge you to name a longtime NPR reporter who has not written a book about her or his efforts to gather the news. For years, I have enjoyed remembering past events and reading about the lives of reporters, such as Scott Simon, Tom Gjelten, Bob Edwards, and Michele Norris. I feel that I get to know both the world and the trusted voice better.

I do not remember Gerry Hadden, author of Never the Hope Itself: Love and Ghosts in Latin America and Haiti, but he was an NPR reporter covering Latin America from 2000 to 2004. While much of his time was spent in Mexico, he flew at a moments notice to Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Panama, and especially Haiti. He interviewed many government officials, rebels, entrepreneurs, peasants, priests, and foreign aid workers about the events that were making headlines: natural disasters, contested elections, corruption, drug cartels, and illegal aliens. When he started in 2000, much official American attention was directed at the problems of Latin America, but that changed on September 11, 2001. During his later years on the Americas beat, he filed storied stories that were often overshadowed by headlines from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Reporters in turmoil-torn countries always seem to take risks and find themselves in dangerous situations. Hadden seemed to be particularly prone to getting himself positioned in the street between riot police and protesters. He also seemed inclined to follow migrant workers into the jungle were gangs waited to beat and rob them. Several times criminals were so surprised to find him stumbling into a trap for others that they just shook their heads and let him go. He must have had a guardian angel.

Mixed in with the news stories are accounts of Hadden's personal life, which some readers may doubt. Did he really see ghosts in the old house that he rented? Did he really not see the drug problems his own staff had when he was reporting on the ills of the region? Did he not consider where his love life was headed? In writing Never the Hope Itself, Hadden seems to have left nothing self-mortifying out. Readers who enjoy very confessional memoirs will be enthralled.

Hadden, Gerry. Never the Hope Itself: Love and Ghosts in Latin America and Haiti. Harper Perennial, 2011. 343p. ISBN 978062020079.

Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart

2011-12-05T06:59:00.000-08:00

Before email took over long distance communications, I used to write and receive handwritten letters. While some were written on stationery, others were simply on lined notebook paper. A few were in greeting cards. Those from overseas often came on blue lightweight airmail paper stamped "par avion." I enjoyed finding any of these letters from friends or family in our mailbox. Now I often forget to look in the mailbox. There is rarely anything other than bills and solicitations from charities. The era of the letter to read and reread is gone, but there is a way to go back - reading collections of letters from your library.

It does not matter that letters in collections were not written to me - I enjoy them as if they were. I can easily slip into the role of friend and lose myself in a world of the writer. It is even better when the letters are read aloud by a professional reader. I say this as I am currently enjoying Letters of a Woman Homesteader by Elinore Pruitt Stewart, read by Kate Fleming. I am sure Fleming is channeling the spirit of Elinore, who would have been a good friend to have.

In 1909, widow Elinore Pruitt left Denver with her two year old daughter to take a job as a housekeeper on a ranch near Burnt Folk, Wyoming, near the border with Utah. She planned to earn enough money to make her own land claim and escape the drudgery of doing laundry in a city. She succeeded beyond her dreams. She also found beautiful country full of deserts, forests, and mountains, which she described to her friend Mrs. Coney in Denver, who seems to have kept all of the letters. Of course, life on the frontier was not easy, but Elinore met many people who worked with her to make a good life. In her cheerful letters, she tells many stories about the cattlemen, shepherds, farmers, and other frontier folk.

Letters of a Woman Homesteader make wonderful reading and would serve as a great introduction to the world of letters.

Stewart, Elinore Pruitt. Letters of a Woman Homesteader. University of Nebraska Press, 1989. 281p. ISBN 0803251939.

In Audio, 2003. 4 compact discs. ISBN 1584724722.

Before the Frost by Henning Mankell

2011-12-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

Like father, like daughter. At least, it is that way in the world of Kurt Wallander. In Before the Frost by Henning Mankell, Wallander's daughter Linda has just finish police school and is about to join the Ystad Police. Like her father, Linda can not keep from breaking the rules. In fact, she starts breaking them before she actually joins the force. Like her father, she is drawn into dangerous situations without adequate preparation.

As in many of his other Wallander books, Mankell describes the Swedish village of Ystad as a place that is provincial with petty problems, but it is also a magnet for international troubles. He begins the book in 1978 with a story about an unnamed man escaping the mass suicide at the People's Temple, Jim Jones colony's in Guyana and finding his way to Cleveland, Ohio. The setting then shifts to fall 2001 and a small flat where Linda is staying with her father until she begins to earn a salary. Wallander is an unpredictable and hot tempered housemate, who at least does know how to apologize after each outburst. Linda hangs out with friends to kill time until one of them disappears. She then begins to discover some very odd people in strange places, and readers eventually begin to see the significance of the initial story.

Wallander mysteries are not by any means cozy, and Before the Frost describes some very grisly crimes. Fans enjoy them for their intricate puzzles and their intensity. Reading them in order is ideal but not absolutely necessary. Try any one that you find on the library shelf.

Mankell, Henning. Before the Frost. New Press, 2005. 383p. ISBN 1565848357.

My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir by Meir Shalev

2011-11-30T06:52:00.000-08:00

When I was a boy, my paternal grandmother did not use the vacuum cleaner. Instead, my grandfather did the vacuuming. Meir Shalev's maternal grandmother in the Israeli village of Nahalal did not use a vacuum either. She got on her knees daily (or assigned the task to a daughter or grandchild) and scrubbed the tile floor until the water mopped up clear. She did this despite owning a vacuum. In fact, she had a top of the line GE canister vacuum, but it sat locked in an unused bathroom. Shalev tells the reconstructed story in his entertaining book My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir.

Other than not using the vacuum, Grandma Tonia was not much like my grandmother. Shalev's grandmother was obsessed with the cleanliness of her house to the point that she hardly let anyone in. Most cooking and eating were kept on the back porch. Small cloths were kept on doorknobs so there would be no dirty fingerprints. The nice furniture was stored in rooms that she kept locked. The modern bathroom was also kept locked, and family and visitors were directed to the shed out back. The bathroom served as a storeroom for nice things, and the vacuum that was sent by the uncle who abandoned socialism to become an American capitalist sat there wrapped to stay free of dust. The family, of course, longed to get into these rooms.

As you might guess, Grandma Tonia was a fierce woman of strong and often uncommon opinions who ruled the family. Shalev contends that she was the originator of the phrase "You talkin' to me?" Other familiar words included "Want me to take a chunk out of you?" and "She is no longer, and it was a terrible death." My grandmother never said anything like this.

I imagine My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner could be turned into a movie set against the early decades of Israeli independence with the nation building struggles in the backing up the domestic comedy. Until such a film is made, enjoy the book.

Shalev, Meir. My Russian Grandmother and Her American Vacuum Cleaner: A Family Memoir. Schocken Books, 2011. 212p. ISBN 9780805242874.

Instant City by Steve Inskeep

2011-11-28T08:12:00.000-08:00

What do I know about Pakistan? It separated from India when the subcontinent gained independence from the British Empire in 1947. It has fought with India over border issues since then and lost its eastern section when Bangladesh broke away in 1971. It is a Muslim country that has a mountainous border with Afghanistan over which the Taliban often travels. The Pakistani army has dissolved the elected government several times. A former prime minister was executed, and his daughter was assassinated when she ran for the top office a third time. Pakistan has been an unsteady American ally. Osama Bin Laden hid there for many years.

What did I know about Karachi before I read Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi by NPR reporter Steve Inskeep? Not much. I knew the name, but I could not place it on an unlabeled map. I did not know that it had been the country's capital before Islamabad was built. Seeing the burning buses on the cover of the book I guessed that it was a dangerous place.

How did the former British colonial port become a battleground? Despite the reassurances from founding statesman Muhammad Ali Jinnah that Pakistan would be a secular society with opportunity for all, the Hindi majority fled Karachi and was replaced by various Muslims groups from India and rural Pakistan. City planning and services could never keep up with the flow of refugees, mostly illiterate rural people with no modern labor skills. Most public lands intended for parks and development were overrun with illegal encampments. Ethnic groups formed parties to press their own needs; they often resorted to violence to get their way. Wave after wave of people settled in Karachi. According to Inskeep, Karachi mushroomed from about 400,000 people at the time of independence in 1947 to over 13 million by 2010.

Inskeep lets us know all of this in his accounts of the events of 2009 and 2010, when a series of bombings rocked the city. I appreciate how he links incidents and histories to landmarks and neighborhood of the city, making the story immediate and understandable. Instant City makes the news from Pakistan a bit clearer. It joins a growing collection of great books from NPR staff that may be found in many public libraries.

Inskeep, Steve. Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi. Penguin Press, 2011. 284p. ISBN 9781594203152.

Black Friday at ricklibrarian: Real Lives Revealed Deal

2011-11-25T08:45:00.000-08:00

I am not sure if this really is related to Black Friday but I noticed that my book Real Lives Revealed is now on sale for half the list price at ABC-Clio/Libraries Unlimited. Here is the link to see that what was $65 is now $32.50. I can only speculate as to the meaning of this for future sales. Whatever, if you were wanting a copy but were unhappy with the price, you can now get it at a better price.

I see that ABC-Clio's move has not affected Amazon or Barnes and Noble, which still want full price. They had offered discounts when the book was new. Used book sellers want as much as $92 for it.

The reason that I had looked my book up is that I had noticed some new Libraries Unlimited titles being offered as ebooks. I was hoping that my book would now be an ebook as well, but it has not happened.

Enjoy Black Friday in the manner of your own choosing!

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

2011-11-23T08:10:00.000-08:00

I have been following Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson on Facebook for the past year. Using some of the same sets and locations, he is currently filming The Hobbit in New Zealand and occasionally posts photos and videos showing how the project is progressing. The videos are particularly fun as Jackson is witty and charming as a guide to cinematic Middle Earth. I also like being introduced to the actors and seeing how the makeup and costumes are created. I don't think it will lessen the magic of the film to have seen these little documentaries. I have already read the book several times.

A couple of weeks ago, I actually ran out of library books, so I decided it was time to revisit The Hobbit, which we have on a prominent shelf in the living room. The story held few surprises, of course, for I knew it too well, but I did notice some things about the writing. The first is that it really is much easier to read than the Lord of the Rings books. There is much less description and fewer references to the history of Middle Earth. Second, some of the scenes that I remembered as long were not. After finding the ring in the caves under the Misty Mountains, Bilbo gets away from Gollum in only a few pages. The hike along the elf trail through Mirkwood may be unending for the dwarves and Bilbo, but the reader is led through pretty quickly. Even Smaug's attack on the lake town of Esgaroth and battle of the five armies are briefly told - especially when compared to similar events in the trilogy.

I also noticed how Tolkien introduced a very modern ethical dilemma after Smaug was slain by Bard. What would have been a fair distribution of the treasure that had long been kept in the Lonely Mountain by the dragon? The dwarves could claim the mountain but the dragon had stolen from many, including people and elves. Could previous owners of the pieces have been identified? Could the losses of the victimized be tabulated? It seems that only Bilbo and Bard could clearly see that there was plenty of gold for everyone. What really mattered more was the repairing of buildings and gathering of food before winter. But sharing seemed so difficult to do when everyone wanted their part. Only the rise of the common enemy from the North brought the disputing sides together. This sounds a lot like contemporary problems.

Aimed at younger reader, The Hobbit is truly a great book for any age. I enjoyed my return to Middle Earth immensely and now await the late 2012 release of The Hobbit, Part One. I know it will be spectacular.

Tolkien, J.R.R. The Hobbit. George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., 1937.

So Big by Edna Ferber

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

One of the advantages of belonging to a book group is being introduced to books that you would not otherwise consider reading. So Big by Edna Ferber was off my radar. I once spent a couple of years trying to read selections from great American authors, but Ferber had not made my list. If I had to choose a Ferber title, I might have instead taken Giant, which is set in West Texas where I grew up. But Ferber's 1924 novel So Big was the democratically chosen title for our November discussion, and read it I did.

I quickly found I had a geographic interest in So Big, which I knewwas set in Chicago but did not know it would also include chapters set in High Prairie, Illinois. High Prairie is fictional Dutch immigrant farming community based on South Holland, a suburb south of Chicago. When I came to the Chicago area, I worked and lived near South Holland, a well-tended village with many Dutch Reformed Churches. It was interesting to read about its farming days when the community supplied the Chicago market with vegetables, especially cabbages and onions. One of the protagonists of So Big makes her mark by growing asparagus and raising pigs.

I say one protagonist because the first two thirds of the book focus on Selina Peake who when orphaned at eighteen takes a teaching position in High Prairie. She only teaches one year before marrying a handsome but poor farmer. While working hard along his side, she discovers he is unwilling to take risks that might improve the farm and their finances. Trying to get him to drain the marshy fields, she shows him government farming pamphlets, but he will not change. His death gives her the responsibility and opportunity to do better. And she does. Readers come to admire her for her studious perseverance and the maturing of her regard for the community that had once made fun of her. Her story is the best part of the book.

The final third is about her son Dirke, who had been called So Big as a toddler. His mother's success allows him to go to college to become architect, a profession for which he really has no talent or commitment. He instead in given a position in banking which he rides to wealth. His life, however, proves shallow. Ferber does not predict the 1929 crash of the economy, but the reader can fit her story into history quite well.

Being easy to read and feeling very authentic, So Big is a good choice for a book club that will read classics.

Ferber, Edna. So Big. Grosset & Dunlap, 1924.

Google Ngram Viewer

2011-11-19T12:13:00.004-08:00

I have been playing with the Google Ngram Viewer, which measures the use of words and phrases in books through time. It is a byproduct of the Google Digitization Project. It is easy to use and free to anyone.

Question One: What is the most written about sport in America?

I entered baseball, football, basketball, and hockey into the search box and chose American English. I wanted to eliminate publications from the British Commonwealth where football is the game Americans call soccer. My assumption was that I would see baseball overtaken by football in the 1960s. What I found is here: The Results.

It is not what I thought at all. Football was the more popular topic through most of the 20th Century. Baseball passed it in the late 1980s but football caught back up.

Question Two: Who's more written about between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones? How far behind would the Beach Boys be?

I suspected the Beatles would win. I was not sure how the writing would vary over time. I searched between 1960 and 2008 (last year for which Google has searchable content). Here is the result: Click Here

It appears that the fame of the two British bands peaked around 2002 or 2003 when the Beatles were five times more written about the Rolling Stones and ten times more than the Beach Boys.

Question Three: Which Beatle has gotten the most attention in books?

Here is the result: Beatle Measure

George Harrison gets an early lead, which probably means there was another person with the name. This shows a shortcoming of the Ngram idea. Still, I was surprised how much more attention John Lennon has gotten.

You can do this, too. To learn how Ngram can be used for real research watch this TED lecture.

Jason Deroche at Friday at the Ford

2011-11-18T08:58:00.000-08:00

We don't have to look far and wide to find talented performers for our Friday at the Ford concert series. For our latest concert we welcomed Jason Deroche, a classical guitarist from La Grange who not only enjoys playing standard guitar pieces but also likes to tackle works not intended for six strings. For example, he started his performance with selections from Vivaldi's L'estro Armonico, which were originally written for violins and cello. Jason took transcriptions of these written for keyboards by J. S. Bach and rendered them beautifully on guitar. Next, he played his own versions of a couple of Johannes Brahms's Intermezzos usually performed on piano. I had already been quite impressed when he then revealed his lively guitar covers of Wedding Day at Troldhaugen and March of the Trolls by Edvard Grieg.

For the second half of his concert, Jason turned from Europe to South America, highlighting the works of Agustin Barrios, each evoking a new mood. I especially like Muzurka Passionata. Showing that he also enjoys popular music, he closed with his take of the Beatles In My Life. For an encore, he played a familiar Spanish guitar classic Leyenda by Isaac Albeniz, which everyone in the audience seemed to recognize.

54 people attended the concert, and Jason sold all of the copies of a CD that he recorded with the harpist Mark Brewer called Bach to Brazil. I got the last one and have been listening as I commute. He hopes to record another CD featuring his growing collection of transcriptions for guitar. I want one when he does.

You can learn more about Jason, his music, his teaching, and his projects at his website.

Signing Their Rights Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed The United States Constitution by Denise Kiernan and Joseph D'Agnese

2011-11-16T09:28:00.000-08:00

Just who were the men who signed the United States Constitution? While a few are very famous, as a group they seem to get less attention than the group who signed the Declaration of Independence eleven years earlier. They have not been remembered with a musical like 1776. Because the document that they created is considered nearly sacred over two hundred years later, one would expect the 39 to be more celebrated. Denise Kiernan and Joseph D'Agnese address this oversight in their recent collective biography Signing Their Rights Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed The United States Constitution.

Signing their rights away? The whole idea of coming up with delineated powers for a government was not popular at the time. The focus of the Declaration and the Revolution had been liberty. Many Americans were leery of having any authority over them. They wanted weak states and virtually no nation, but that had lead to economic and political chaos. The Constitution was going to be a hard sell. These men were taking great political risks when they proposed compromises on personal liberty.

In their small volume, Kiernan and D'Agnese profile each of the 39 men, working their way south from New Hampshire to Georgia. They give each a title, such as "The Signer Who Was Ruined by Drink" or "The Signer Who Went to Debtors' Prison." This is where the misfortune mentioned in the title comes in. Signing the Constitution was not a career boost for anyone. A large number of the signers lost their fortunes speculating on western lands, and two died in duels. Like current representatives, most did not understand running an economy. Yet they somehow hammered out an enduring foundation for our government.

Signing Their Rights Away will be a helpful title to have for our next wave of history students. It is an attractive and entertaining book that should be in most public and school libraries.

Kiernan, Denise and Joseph D'Agnese. Signing Their Rights Away: The Fame and Misfortune of the Men Who Signed The United States Constitution. Quirk Books, 2011.254p. ISBN 9781594745201.

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

2011-11-14T06:09:00.000-08:00

Author Laura Hillenbrand's second book Unbroken, about former Olympian and World War II prisoner of war Louis Zamperini, was highly anticipated. Her previous book Seabiscuit was a wonderful book that spent years on hardcover and paperback bestseller lists. Could she possibly match her success? It was not even fair to expect it, but somehow she has succeeded. Unbroken is a blockbuster that promises to be in circulation among readers for years to come. Hillenbrand tells a great story that pretty much circles the earth and spans the twentieth century. Readers are taken to Nazi Germany before the war and to Japan during and after. They also visit poor 1920s immigrant neighborhoods, 1930s Stamford University, and post-war-boom suburban America where some veterans struggle to overcome addictions brought on by horrible war experiences. Throughout, they follow the life of the irrepressible Zamperini, a man who was famous and then mostly forgotten.

Libraries hardly have to promote this book. My library has numerous hardbound copies (no paperbacks have been published yet), as well as large print, audiobook on compact disc, audiobook download, and downloadable ebook. I especially liked the audiobook well read by accomplished actor Edward Herrmann. My week listening to Unbroken was a week well spent.

Hillenbrand, Laura. Unbroken. Random House, 2010. 11 compact discs. ISBN 9780739319697

The Handy Presidents Answer Book by David L. Hudson, Jr.

2011-11-11T06:31:00.000-08:00

I still consider myself a reference librarian. Because I work away from the reference desk attending to other duties half of the time, I appreciate finding a reference book that will help me answer questions clearly and quickly. So, The Handy Presidents Answer Book, Second Edition by David L. Hudson, Jr. is just my kind of book. It is even written in question and answer format. With its beginning chapters focusing on the powers and election of the president and subsequent chapters profiling each of the men who have served as president, I can find many answers as quickly by scanning as by using the index.

Hudson keeps every chapter to twelve pages or fewer. George Washington and John Quincy Adams get the longest spreads. I would have thought Franklin D. Roosevelt might have gotten the longest. Whatever, each chapter answers basic questions about the family, the education, and the early career of a president, and then identifies highlights of each his presidential administration. Most questions and answers are brief. Readers wanting detailed stories will have to seek presidential biographies.

While entertainment is not the primary intent of The Handy Presidents Answer Book, it can be fun to browse. Anyone who has taken a class in American history will recognize the names, but I'll wager that many have forgotten what they ever knew about Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Chester A. Arthur, and William Howard Taft. Taylor was a veteran of four wars, whose nickname was "Rough and Ready." He died of gastroenteritis while in office, making Fillmore, a lawyer from Buffalo president. Fillmore sent Commodore Matthew Perry to Japan to force the closed society to open its markets to the United States. Arthur was the former beneficiary of a political appoint to a plum job who later as president signed the Pendleton Act which required civil servants to be hired according to merit. Taft was a trust buster who battled Standard Oil Company and American Tobacco Company. He became chief justice of the Supreme Court eight years after being president.

Because many libraries are reducing their reference collections, The Handy Presidents Answer Book will increasingly be found in the circulating stacks. It should be popular with students.

Hudson, David L., Jr. The Handy Presidents Answer Book, Second Edition. Visible Ink, 2012. ISBN 9781578593170.

The Big Year, Directed by David Frankel

2011-11-09T06:17:00.000-08:00

I am not contemplating making 2012 be my "Big Year." Even if I was, I would not tell you. The odds of winning the race to see or hear the most bird species in a year are better if no one knows you are running. "Running" is the correct word. Competitive birders run for planes, run through money, and run toward the sound of a bird. That you will learn in the movie The Big Year, directed by David Frankel, loosely based on the 2004 book The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik.

In the original book, Obmascik recounts January 1, 1998 to December 31, 1998, a year in which three men independently set out to break roofing contractor Sandy Komito's one year bird spotting record for the North American continent. One of the men was Komito himself. The others were successful businessman Al Levantin and insufficiently funded software engineer Greg Miller. Obmascik's book is a serious story with humorous overtones. Readers come away from the book learning how only a person willing to give up everything normal could do a Big Year. The movie stays pretty true to the book in spirit, though it plays for more laughter. You expect this with comic actors Owen Wilson (as Kenny Bostick), Steve Martin (as Stu Preissler), and Jack Black (as Brad Harris).

As a very laid-back birder, I found much to like in the movie. The scenery is great, and many real birds get walk-on (fly-on) roles in the entertaining story. The producers even worked with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to make the birding as authentic as possible, and all 745 birds spotted by the top birder are quickly shown during the credits. Of course, you don't have to like birds to like the movie. It's a romp across America with three funny men, one of whom pays a terrible price to win. Not yet available in DVD, but it will be popular when it is.

Drawing from Memory by Allen Say

2011-11-07T09:52:00.000-08:00

How cool it would have been to have had an apartment at age twelve. No parents around. All the space just for me.

How cool it would have been to apprentice to one of Japan's top cartoon illustrators. Just go ask him, draw a horse to show my skill, and be accepted. No charge.

How cool it would have been to wander post-World War II Tokyo with newly-made friends, seeing the city and society rebuild. No parental curfew.

In his colorfully illustrated memoir Drawing from Memory, Allen Say makes most of our childhoods seem really dull. Few of us are given such freedom and responsibility at such an early age. He seems to have lived a charmed life at a time when his homeland was challenged to reconstruct. He saw his opportunity to learn from a master and even became the model for a character in a daily newspaper comic. It is a wonderful story, aimed at middle school readers, but it is appropriate for all ages - a kid's book adults will enjoy.

Say, Allen. Drawing from Memory. Scholastic Press, 2011. ISBN 9780545176866.

The Way of the Panda: The Curious History of China's Political Animal by Henry Nicholls

2011-11-04T06:24:00.000-07:00

In the twenty-first century, the giant panda serves as an international symbol for wildlife conservation. The attractive black and white bear of China is beloved by fans worldwide who flock to zoos where they buy panda T-shirts and plush toys. They also donate to panda conservation efforts. A world without pandas is hard to imagine, yet, according to Henry Nicholls in The Way of the Panda: The Curious History of China's Political Animal, it was only in 1869 that the Western world learned of the shy bear's existence. Incredibly, before the 1860s, most Chinese people had not heard of the panda either. Nicholls says there are no clear reference to pandas in any historical Chinese texts and no images of pandas in thousands of years of Chinese art. So panda-monium is still relatively new phenomena.

In The Way of the Panda, Nicholls recounts about 140 years of human-panda relations. Politics figures heavily in the story. The panda was discovered in a period when China was overrun by European powers wanting to exploit the old nation's wealth. Fortune seekers trekked to the western frontier of the country for pandas, but the bears were very difficult to find. It was 1921 before a British adventurer was able to shoot one and 1936 before a live cub was brought to America. World War II and the Chinese Communist Revolution stopped the hunters just at point when they had gotten their bearings. After the war, the panda become a highly protected political symbol of the Chinese people, and live pandas became diplomatic poker chips in international relations.

I particularly enjoyed reading Nicholl's account of the advancing science of panda management in China and in zoos around the world. I remember parts of the story from the news and watching nature documentaries. Then the last chapters focus on the prospects for maintenance of wild panda populations and the difficulties of reintroducing captive born individuals to the wild.

The Way of the Panda is a quick read for nature loving people with a little familiarity with conservation concepts. Nicholl's throws in a few puns, too. A good selection for most library collections.

Nicholls, Henry. The Way of the Panda: The Curious History of China's Political Animal. Pegasus Books, 2011. ISBN 9781605981888.

Every Thing On It by Shel Silverstein

2011-11-02T06:01:00.000-07:00

Talked my head off

Worked my tail off

Cried my eyes out

Walked my feet off

Sang my heart out

So you see,

There's really not much left of me.

(from Losing Pieces by Shel Silverstein)

When Shel Silverstein died at age 68 in 1999, he left many unpublished poems and drawings. A committee of his family has spent years reading and discussing them with the idea of publishing another book for children. Every Thing On It, also the title of a poem with illustration about a surprising way to fix a hot dog, is now available and ready to join Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and Falling Up on home and library bookshelves.

In a story on National Public Radio, family members explained that Silverstein would not mind their effort. He took great care in the selection and sequencing of poems in his books, leaving out many polished worked just because they did not have a place in his themed collections. Many would have eventually been used. As a result, Every Thing On It is less focused, but the title itself seems to allow for that.

As with any collection of verse, there are poems I like and ones that I don't. "Man-Eating Plant" on page 53, "Unhappy Here" on page 56, "Jimmy-Jack-John" on page 88, "Rainbow Thrower" on page 135, and "Mer-Maid" on page 171 are among my favorites. They range from happy to sad, showing Silverstein in many moods. There is something for just about everyone in this collection, especially for kids who like snappy, irreverent verse. Of course, we are all still kids.

When I am gone what will you do?

Who will write and draw for you?

Someone smarter - someone new?

Someone better - maybe YOU!
(from When I Am Gone by Shel Silverstein)

Silverstein, Shel. Every Thing On It. Harper, 2011. ISBN 9780061998164.

Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans by Kadir Nelson

2011-10-31T07:05:00.000-07:00

"Most folks my age and complexion don't speak much about the past," begins an aged narrator in Kadir Nelson's new book Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. "... No parent wants to tell a child that he was once a slave ..." Of course, the narrator does tell the story of blacks in the United States from 1565 when African laborers entered Florida with the Spanish colonists to the election of President Barack Obama. She explains slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Civil Rights Movement, as well as the achievements of great leaders, such as Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, Ida Wells, Duke Ellington, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King. Throughout, she expresses pride in her heritage.

Heart and Soul is an excellent introductory historical narrative. All the highlights of black history are recalled. What distinguishes Nelson's book, however, are his illustrations, many of which are of museum quality. His work reminds me not only of painters Thomas Hart Benton and George Caleb Bingham but also of photographers Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange. Nelson is careful with authentic detail and packs a lot of emotion in each picture. I'd enjoy going to a Kadir Nelson exhibit.

Heart and Soul is intended as an introduction to black history for young readers, but I think we are all young enough to enjoy the book. Like his prize winning We Are the Ship, it should be in libraries everywhere.

Nelson, Kadir. Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans. Balzer + Bray, 2011. ISBN 9780061730740.

The Circus Fire: A True Story by Stewart O'Nan

2011-10-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

Our book group was unanimous. None us liked the idea of paraffin and gasoline as a coating on the bigtop. In this era, what Stewart O'Nan told us about the fire that burned down the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus in Hartford, Connecticut on July 6, 1944 seems very hard to believe. We are now so much more safety conscious and have so many rules and regulations. 167 people died in a tragic fire that need never have occurred. What were the circus owners and managers thinking? Did they even care?

We were not so unanimous in accessing O'Nan's book The Circus Fire: A True Story. Many thought it was not an engaging book. The narrative is strictly and unbendingly chronological, and each paragraph may take the reader to a different scene. There are also so many names to learn. On page 24, O'Nan provided a list of some of those names, but he does not warn the reader to take notes. He did not include an index, which might help readers double check who did what. Instead, O'Nan wrote a journalistic, comprehensive book, the book he would have liked to have found when he had his first questions about the fire. Members of the book group would have preferred a better flowing narrative with few characters. We liked the large collection of photos.

The flaws in the book (real or perceived) make it a better title for a book discussion. Nothing draws people out more than having something about which to differ. Also, reading The Circus Fire will make you check for exits next time you go in a theater or stadium. It is worth reading just for that.

O'Nan, Stewart. The Circus Fire: A True Story. Doubleday, 2000. ISBN 0385496842.

A Nomadic Student in the Libraries of the University of Texas

2011-10-26T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here is my postcard shot of the heart of the University of Texas campus showing the iconic tower. What many people do not realize is that the tower is a library. When I was an undergraduate, it was the Main Library on campus. I learned on my orientation tour that only graduate students and professors could climb the stairs to the many floors loaded with books. I had to request titles at the main desk and wait for them to be delivered later. I was encouraged instead to spend my time at the Undergraduate Library located in the Main Library's morning shadow.

As I started my freshman year at UT, I almost daily passed the Renaissance tapestry to settle into a study carrel of the Undergraduate Library where I could look out at rows of students at tables and carrels or turn to look at the ever-present pigeons outside the windows. For a break I might go upstairs and look at the Earle Stanley Gardner desk and typewriter. There was also an audio lab where I could request headphones and a music selection. Constant student traffic and the appealing diversions, however, made the Undergraduate Library a less than ideal spot to study.

I took my books and wanderlust on a campus tour trying to find the perfect place to study. While I never found it, I did enjoy the shade of trees, bird songs, and vistas from grand staircases. I also discovered a wealth of libraries. I remember studying in the following at some point in my tenure as a student:

The Physics and Math Library
The Engineering Library
The Chemistry Library
The Catholic Student Center Library
The Art Library
The Geology Library
The Communications Library
The Reference Room of the Main Library
The Library School Library in the Harry S. Ransom Center
The Perry Castenada Library (which became the new main library when I was a graduate student)

There may have been more libraries that I do not now remember. I did not spend much time in my room. Instead, I was out looking for an open table, comfortable chair, quiet, and academic atmosphere - a place that fit my romantic desire for scholastic immersion.

The tower is now the Science Library, and I am now a student far far away.

The Howson Branch of the Austin Public Library

2011-10-24T06:40:00.000-07:00

I'm just back from a trip to Texas. While in Austin, I had a few free hours and the use of a car, so I visited the branch library where I had my first library job. The Howson Branch of the Austin Public Library has changed a bit since I worked there as a desk assistant from 1976 to 1978 while I attended library school. The change was obvious as I approached.

When I worked at the Howson branch, the lawn was just grass. There may have been a few close-trimmed shrubs around the building and trees close to the street, but it was not the garden it is today. There are numerous perennials rated for the Austin climate dressing up the place. It would be nice to sit outside the library and read now.

Of course, the inside of the library has changed. We used a camera-based checkout system when I worked at the Howson branch. We would photo the patron's card with the book pockets and the numbered date cards. If the card did not return, the microfilm would be checked months later, and a notice to return the book would be mailed to the patron.

We had no online catalog. I'm not sure that we even had a card catalog for the branch. Every six months, the main library sent us a newly printed paperbound book catalog. If my memory is clear - a big if - we had one big floppy volume for authors, one for titles, and another volume for subjects. Covers were gray or pale blue or pastel pink.

There was a small collection of vinyl record albums. CDs and DVDs did not exist. Now there are plenty of both, as well as downloads from the website. There were no public use computers like there are now. We had the red version of The Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature - the edition with fewer titles. We had lots of large print books and mysteries. I remember reading Sports Illustrated and The New Yorker on my breaks. There was a big meeting room which sometimes hosted the library trustee meetings.

My favorite memory is helping Sally Ann, the children's librarian, with the puppet show production of Strega Nona. Children laughed as the yarn flew everywhere. Poor Big Anthony!

The least-expected coolest thing I found on my visit was the electric auto recharging station in the library parking lot. Recharge your mind and your electric car at the same time at the library.

No one knew the branch librarian Marian Laws, who I remember fondly. I have since discovered that she died September 28, 2010. I hope she saw the refurbished library.

The Story of Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic by Michael Sims

2011-10-19T07:30:00.000-07:00

You might think that writing a children's book would have been an easy task for an acclaimed poet and essayist like E. B. White. During his career of writing for literary magazines, especially The New Yorker, he was quick and prolific. Though he wrote about what he knew well - farmyard animals - it took him seven years to write Charlotte's Web. Michael Sims recounts the effort in The Story of Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic.

The Story of Charlotte's Web is divided into three parts, the first two being accounts of White's childhood and career as a writer. They are titled "Elwin" and "Andy" for the names to which he answered at different ages. Friends and family never called him "E. B." The first half of the book serves as a good biographical introduction to the author's life up to the point he wrote his classic children's novel. Then Sims tells about the writing of Stuart Little and Charlotte's Web.

I particularly liked learning about the collaboration of author, illustrator, and editor in creating the books. Stuart Little was illustrator Garth Williams first children's book, and he was well known by the time he tackled the difficult assignment of drawing a realistic and sympathetic spider. Editor Ursala Nordstrom of Harper & Brothers fostered and defended the books, both of which drew heavy criticism from New York Public librarian and Horn Book Magazine reviewer Anne Carroll Moore. Nordstrom had an accomplished career as editor for Margaret Wise Brown, Margret and H. A. Rey, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, and many others. I also liked reading about White's lifetime love of wildlife and being outdoors.

The Story of Charlotte's Web is the kind of book that is a pleasure to read and makes you want to read others. It belongs in many public libraries.

Sims, Michael. The Story of Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic. Walker & Company, 2011. ISBN 9780802777546.

Journal of a Prairie Year by Paul Gruchow

2011-10-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

"I crossed an old fenceline. The fence had been gone for five years, but its ghost lurked in the bluegrass that choked out all native growth along its path. Another century might pass before the line of the fence was no longer visible. The prairie was created over millennia and lasted for millennia; once it was wounded, its bruises were also slow to heal."

I had not heard of Paul Gruchow before I found his books on the regional publications shelves at the shop at Open Book in Minneapolis. I learned of Milkwood Editions when I attended the Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis in 2008, and I have enjoyed much natural history writing in the past, so I bought Journal of a Prairie Year, first published in 1985 and brought back in print by Milkwood in 2009. I took it back to my daughter's apartment and finished before I boarded my plane home three days later.

Journal of a Prairie Year is a fairly small book in size - only 138 pages of text - but it is filled with natural drama and philosophy. Gruchow went outdoors in all types of weather to check on the flora and the fauna, the sky and the soil, the wind and the state of his soul. He admitted that the great prairies of the Midwest had been mostly plowed, but he thought their natural force of earth and atmosphere had not been tamed. The gray and cold of winter could force him indoors, and the unreachable horizon always verified his small role. Still, he found joy in the inevitable spring and the lives of the wildlife that survived the bitter wind, hail, and floods that came each in their season.

Gruchow was a literary reader as well as naturalist and farmer, and he features quotes from other authors. Wallace Stevens, Annie Dillard, and D.H. Lawrence influenced him, as did Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Gruchow could write a good sentence and paragraph himself. Readers of essays and natural history will enjoy his work.

Gruchow, Paul. Journal of a Prairie Year. Milkweed Editions, 2009. ISBN 9781571313188.

Lyndall Gordon Interview on Biography

2011-10-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

Thanks to LISNews, I learned yesterday about Lyndall Gordon on Biography, a Five Books Interview from The Browser. Librarians who suggest books to readers may want to browse through these interviews with "experts" who each identify five defining books in their field. Gordon is a biographer who has written about Charlotte Bronte, T.S. Eliot, Emily Dickinson, and Virginia Woolf. In her interview, she names five books that stretch the definition of biography in some way. The article which stretches over four web pages will especially interest anyone who likes literary biography, as the subjects are Eliot, Dorothy Wordsworth, Anton Chekhov, Eva Hoffman, and Jane Austen.

Gordon says the emphasis on facts separates biography from fiction, but the good biography has to go beyond the facts and probe the unknown life. Her favorites seem to include some thoughtful speculation. She also says that they focus on a particular time or phase of the subjects' lives. There is a place for straight documentation, she says, but biographies that are focused are usually better reading.

It appears that there is a Five Books Interview nearly every day. Recent topics include Spanish and Moorish cooking, memoirs, border story fiction, and elementary education. "Orson Scott Card on Science Fiction" should interest many readers and librarians.

Burma Chronicles by Guy DeLisle

2011-10-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

If you are an artist and you are attached to a mission of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) in a Third World nation for over a year, how would you choose to tell your story? Cartoonist/animator Guy DeLisle chose to write and illustrate a graphic novel titled Burma Chronicles. In six panels to a page, he recounts his time in Myanmar taking care of his infant son while his physician wife Nadege went on medical missions out of the capital Yangon (formerly called Rangoon) into regions where rebels were trying to overthrow the dictatorship. Left in Yangon with his son and a housekeeper, Guy wandered the streets, made new friends, and tried to make sense of the Burmese culture. It was easy to be accepted as long as he had his child. Without him, he was little noticed.

Yangon proved to be a city in transition with big department stores and beggars on the streets, fast computers from Japan but unreliable electricity, many friendly people and ever-present uniformed military carrying weapons. Dogs nipped at Guy's heals as he rode his bike through the streets at night, coming home from another party at an embassy or headquarters of an NGO. He always hoped to find the air condition working in the little house that his family rented. The hot, humid night were almost unbearable for a Canadian.

Readers follow Guy everywhere he goes - famous temples, the Australian Club (where Guy goes swimming in the rain), and mansions where expatriates meet for play groups. They even gets to tag along on a couple of MSF missions to villages where regular medical care is nonexistent. Burma Chronicles is quirky, surprising, fascinating journey that you can find or order through your public library.

DeLisle, Guy. Burma Chronicles. Drawn and Quarterly, 2008. ISBN 9781897299500.

Rat Island: Predators in Paradise and the World's Greatest Wildlife Rescue by William Stolzenburg

2011-10-10T05:52:00.000-07:00

In our throw-away society, we do not make things to be fixed. It's easier and cheaper to buy a new (fill-in-the-blank) than take it to a repair shop - if you can find one. The (fill-in-the-blank) is probably out of date anyway. A person has to be clever and driven to fix almost any mass manufactured gadget, appliance, or machine. Just think how much harder it is to fix an environment. The prevailing feeling has been "once spoiled, always spoiled."

In Rat Island: Predators in Paradise and the World's Greatest Wildlife Rescue, science beat journalist William Stolzenburg reports on a growing dissatisfaction with environmental fatalism. Starting in the 1960s, some naturalists in remote area conservation have studied islands overrun with invasive species that have driven native species to eradication and planned counterattacks to save or restore wildlife. They have used old-fashion hunting skills or newly manufactured highly-targeted poisons to eliminate entire populations of rats, weasels, feral cats, goats, and pigs. On some islands off the coast of New Zealand, Alaska, and Baja California, the naturalists have actually succeeded.

As you might imagine, there have been some failures as well. Even more common have been some campaigns that have met their primary objectives, such as killing all of the rats on an island, but have had unexpected side effects, such as a significantly large number of bald eagle dying on an island that had only a handful of resident bald eagles. Some animal rights groups have opposed the campaigns arguing that their methods and objectives are cruel and their objectives arbitrary.

In classic storytelling style, Stolzenburg recounts the history of the island-saving movement episode by episode, profiling key scientists and describing difficult campaigns. I particularly enjoyed learning about many places that I will probably never visit. Having also written Where the Wild Things Were, Stolzenburg is a promising young author. More libraries should add his books.

Stolzenburg, William. Rat Island: Predators in Paradise and the World's Greatest Wildlife Rescue. Bloomsbury, 2011. ISBN 9781608191031.

Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Build by Peter Goodfellow

2011-10-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

Like many people, I admire birds. Perhaps envy.* I'd love to fly and be able to travel annually to distant continents. I'd like to be able to sing as well as some do. I'd enjoy being able to build nests as cleverly as they do, too.** British teacher Peter Goodfellow focuses on that latter talent in his recent book Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Build.

You will notice that the word "nest" is not in the title. The subject of avian architecture includes many other kinds of structures built for breeding and raising young. Goodfellow describes them all, starting with simple scrape nests, caves, and holes and ending with the elaborate theaters built by bowerbirds to attract mates and avian food storage structures of woodpeckers. In each chapter, he provides blueprints for standard structures and step-by-step illustrations of birds at work. He also explains the benefits of the structures that are designed for specific purposes in challenging environments. What is particularly impressive is that the birds accomplish so much with just the material at hand, usually twigs, grasses, and mud. Some birds build quickly, while some others take months. And they do this all with just their beaks, breasts, and feet.

The highly illustrated text portion of Avian Architecture is just short of 150 pages when you subtract the title and verso pages. You may skim it pretty quickly, but I recommend taking the time to read the text and captions to learn some incredible facts about species worldwide. Either approach, however, will be pleasurable, as Avian Architecture is a beautiful, well-illustrated book.

Goodfellow, Peter. Avian Architecture: How Birds Design, Engineer, and Build. Princeton University Press, 2011. ISBN 9780691148496.

*Maybe just fruit and seed eaters. I wouldn't want to eat insects or worms and regurgitate them for my young.

**I still like playing with Lego's, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, etc.

The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media by Brooke Gladstone

2011-10-05T07:29:00.000-07:00

Many people have low opinions about media and the reporters and commentators that they read, hear, and see. That's actually not a new phenomena, according to NPR's Brooke Gladstone. Regard for media moves in cycles. In her new nonfiction graphic novel, The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media, she recounts how the bearers of bad news have often been singled out for vilification throughout history. Ironically, she also shows how the public has continued to harken to the news, no matter what the era, technology, or message. We want to know what is happening and how it will effect us, though we may choose to disregard news and analysis that does not fit our political or philosophical views. The global digital age has made our contradictions more glaring and possibly more dangerous.

Gladstone includes many topics and trends specifically about media in The Influencing Machine, but in a sense her book is really about everything from the workings of the brain to our way of life. The back cover says that she is "visionary and opinionated," which I think she would accept readily. She discusses the longing for fair and unbiased reporting, but she holds that because reporters and media people are just people like everyone else, they can not be totally disinterested in the news they broadcast. Reporters at the war front are in the protection of the military; White House reporters need access to the White House; advertising revenue pays for the reporting of all news, including news of business and commerce; and most reporters do sympathize with their own countries and governments. No one is truly disinterested. Also, being fair does not mean the media has to repeat opinions from the uninformed equally with opinions from experts. For example, a scientist knows more about science than a politician.

Illustrated by Josh Neufeld and looking like a comic book, The Influencing Machine is entertaining and difficult to set aside. It will probably make some people on both ends of the political spectrum uncomfortable. Gladstone ends with eight double columned pages of source notes supporting her arguments.

Gladstone, Brooke. The Influencing Machine: Brooke Gladstone on the Media. W. W. Norton, 2011. ISBN 9780393077797.

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin by Erik Larson

2011-10-03T08:45:00.000-07:00

With Isaac's Storm, his well-spun story of the 1900 hurricane that destroyed Galveston, Texas, Erik Larson established himself as a leading author of narrative history. He followed with the highly praised The Devil in the White City, a book that wove together the stories of a visionary architect and a mass murder at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Interest in Thunderstruck, his story about the development of radio and the capture of a murderer, waned rather quickly, but with In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin, Larson has recaptured the attention of readers. The book has been on many best sellers lists since April, and reserve lists at libraries are long. I enjoyed all four books.

I have heard readers say that In the Garden of Beasts takes a little more effort to read and that they needed more breaks in reading than they needed for previous books. I suspect this might be true as there are many German military and government officials, foreign diplomats, and U.S. State Department officers introduced in the first half of the book. A reader with prior knowledge of key players in German and World War II history will have an easier time remembering who was assisting and who was opposing the work of academically-minded American ambassador to Germany William E. Dodd, a man who hoped to quietly help the German government rid itself of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. His flirtatious daughter Martha also had a large number of friends and suitors. A reader who can accept not remembering every name will enjoy the story more.

In In the Garden of Beasts, Larson takes readers back to 1933 and 1934, a time when few people in the international community were concerned about Hitler and the Nazi Party. Ambassador Dodd anticipated an easy assignment. The State Department was mostly concerned with the German government paying its debts to American financiers. The American public wanted to recover from the Great Depression and paid little attention to foreign news. Those who did read the news saw Nazi restrictions on Jewish life as little different than Jim Crow laws in the U.S. The seriousness of the situation slowly dawned on Dodd, but officials in Washington were not sympathetic to his reports. They would not even issue travel warnings when American citizens were being beaten by Storm Troopers.

With the mass executions of June 30, 1934, Hitler revealed his full intent to govern Germany absolutely. As Larson tells the story, I wondered how the world could still doubt Hitler's dictatorial abilities and mad ambition. In the Garden of Beasts is a revealing look at a time that is mostly forgotten.

Larson, Erik. In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin. Crown, 2011. ISBN 9780307408846.

Life Stories: A Guide to Reading Interests in Memoirs, Autobiographies, and Diaries by Maureen O'Connor

2011-09-28T07:33:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid, the best thing to come in the mail was the Christmas catalog from Sears Roebuck & Company. I could look through its pages at games, toys, and sports equipment for hours. I'm like a kid again, for I received Life Stories: A Guide to Reading Interests in Memoirs, Autobiographies, and Diaries by Maureen O'Connor. Memoirs and autobiographies are among my favorite books - I'm not alone in this - and Maureen has fully described 655 titles and identified another 2800 read-alikes to go with them. I have already spent several hours browsing through the guidebook spotting intriguing titles. My reading wish list is going to get really long.

Like other books in the Real Stories series*, Life Stories groups the books in chapters according to categories. Chapters range from lighter reading, such as "Travel and Adventure" and "Celebrities," to darker accounts, such as "Life at War" and "Surviving Life." Each chapter has subsections, such as "Adventurers," "From Rags to Riches," "Foodies," "Expatriates," and "Breaking the Cycle." Each book description includes bibliographic information, availability of audiobook, large print, and e-book formats, an informative review of the book, book awards, subject headings, and titles to try if you liked the book. I was pleased to find numerous books that I have already enjoyed profiled, including Warm Springs by Susan Richards Shreve, Funny in Farsi by Firoozeh Dumas, Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam, and I Had a Hammer by Hank Aaron.

Maureen supports historical as well as contemporary reading in her up-to-date guide. (Books from early 2010 are included.) Near the beginning of each chapter, after the definitions, she identifies five classic memoirs that are well known and should be widely available. "Classics" include what Elaine Showalter calls "instant classics," so not all of these books are really old. River-Horse by William Least Heat Moon and Days of Grace by Arthur Ashe appear in the classics lists. Chapters end with a "Consider Starting With ..." list and "Fiction Read-Alikes."

I'm sure many people are going to skip the Introduction to get straight to the reading suggestions, but I recommend serious readers set aside some time to return to this important part of the book. Maureen not only tells how the books were selected and how to navigate through the chapters, she explains the reading appeal of the memoir and autobiography. She also recounts recent controversies concerning the veracity of autobiographical writings and constructs a history of the genre. Besides gaining some new insights into literature, readers may find more titles that interest them.

Maureen identifies more titles that she could not fit into the main text in "Appendix A: Classics." She then identifies memoirs that have been discredited in "Appendix B: Controversial Titles." Lists of awards for memoirs, an author-title index, and a lengthy subject index complete the genre guide.

With the current popularity of memoirs and the need for discussion groups to find titles, Maureen's extensive new guide belongs in public libraries across the U.S. and Canada. It is an especially good investment for libraries emphasizing readers' advisory.

O'Connor, Maureen. Life Stories: A Guide to Reading Interests in Memoirs, Autobiographies, and Diaries. Libraries Unlimited, 2011. 723p. ISBN 9781591585275.

*My book Real Lives Revealed is in this series.

The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates by Wes Moore

2011-09-26T13:06:00.000-07:00

What has made the difference in your life? Why is it as good or as bad as it is? Was your family comfortable, secure, and happy? Did you have good role models? Were you left alone with too much opportunity for trouble? Was your neighborhood dangerous? Did someone care enough to correct you when you messed up? How many chances did you get? Did you have a last chance and not recognize it?

Was the idea that you had a chance for a better life ingrained at an early age? Was an inner quality more important than all of the external factors?

When the author Wes Moore was studying on a scholarship in South Africa, he read in a letter from his mother in Baltimore that another youth from Baltimore named Wes Moore had been arrested for his role in a robbery and murder. Found guilty, the other Wes Moore was sentenced to life in prison, while the author went to Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, served in the army, and became an assistant to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. After the author had to read about the other Wes, he felt compelled to meet him.

That much I knew before I read The Other Wes Moore. What surprised me was how similar their childhoods, neighborhoods, and friends were. I did not expect the line separating them to be so thin. In his chapter narrating parallel periods in their lives, the author recounts how two boys turned into men in periods of great inner city turmoil. Poverty, gangs, and drugs seemed almost inescapable dangers, but the author did get help to get out.

At only 180 pages of actual text, The Other Wes Moore is a quick read well suited for book discussion groups. Moore streamlines his story to stick to his theme and never tells the reader what to think. Our book group spent nearly two lively hours debating the universal issues that Moore's book raises. Having been a best seller, it is available at many libraries.

Moore, Wes. The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. Spiegel & Grau, 2010. ISBN 9781588369697.

The Dog Who Came in from the Cold by Alexander McCall Smith

2011-09-23T06:18:00.000-07:00

In London in a once-stately building called Corduroy Mansions, where the residents of various flats pass each in the lobby and occasionally share cheese and a glass of wine, there lives a Pimlico terrier named Freddie de la Hay. While on most days, the people go their separate ways selling wine, publishing books, attending art appraising classes, marketing herbal medicines, and psychoanalyzing clients, the trusting dog waits for William to come home, take for him a walk, and give him a decent meal. Freddie hasn't always gotten food that he enjoyed. A previous owners tried to make him a vegetarian, but William is kind, as well as a bit sad and lonely. For Freddie life is good until MI6 arrives to ask William to volunteer Freddie to serve his country as The Dog Who Came in from the Cold.

The Dog Who Came in from the Cold is the second of Alexander McCall Smith's serialized novels in the Corduroy Mansion series. In 78 short chapters, McCall Smith continues the stories of the residents of Corduroy Mansions, including psychiatrist Berthea who is writing a very critical biography of her own son Oedipus (a member of Parliament), book publisher Barbara who is shepherding Autobiography of a Yeti (supposedly nonfiction), and herbalist Dee who wants to market a sudoku remedy. They come and go unaware of the incredible dramas unfolding one floor up or across the hall. They certainly do not know how Freddie is working to protect Great Britain's security and prosperity. Lucky readers get to observe it all. It's great fun.

Readers who enjoy McCall Smith's Corduroy Mansion series will also want to try his 44 Scotland Street series, which features an unusual cast of characters set in beautiful Edinburgh.

McCall Smith, Alexander. The Dog Who Came in from the Cold. Pantheon Books, 2010. ISBN 9780307379733.

Is the Biography in Decline?

2011-09-22T04:52:00.000-07:00

According to British biographer Michael Holroyd, the biography is in decline. Making his statements at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, he points to few full life biographies because "people are writing parts of lives" instead. As a reader, I think that is actually a good trend, for I like the narratives that focus on the most dramatic points in lives. What do you think? An article by Charlotte Higgins about Holroyd's comments is in the Guardian of August 18, 2011.

Thanks to Bonnie, a great reader of great newspapers, for spotting this article.

Autism: The Musical

2011-09-21T06:17:00.000-07:00

What is autism? I have just watched the documentary Autism: The Musical, and I am having trouble pinning down a definition without referring to a dictionary. I know it is a neurological disorder that interferes with a person's ability to communicate and socialize, and it may manifest itself many ways, as shown in the film which follows five elementary and middle school age children. The four boys and one girl have very different abilities. Henry knows much about dinosaurs and sounds like a professor telling others what he knows. Highly verbal Wyatt seems to understand everything that is going on among the people around him yet not be able to join in; he tells his mother exactly what will happen if his is mainstreamed at school. Adam can play the cello but is highly excitable and may start running in circles. Neal is non-verbal but shows great promise with a keyboard speaker. Lexi can sing songs by Joni Mitchell yet has trouble putting together a sentence of her own. Autism must be a large family of disorders to cover these five children.

Educator and drama coach Elaine Hall is the mother of Neal. She had the idea that he and other children could put together a musical performance after starting the Miracle Project, a theater program that mixes typically developing children with those with special needs. Such a program would challenge the children and show others how not to underestimate them. Filming the work must have been a given from the start, for Hall has been coaching child actors for television. Many of the parents of the children also have television and entertainment ties.

Like Mad Hot Ballroom and Young @ Heart, the cameras show much more than rehearsal and performance. Viewers meet the children and their families in their homes, some of which have had marriages torn by the pressures of raising special needs children. The upcoming musical actually seems to be an almost forgotten plot element at times, as the stories of the children dominate our attention. And that is just fine. We do see some scenes from the musical at the end, which are important but probably less so than the story of its creation. Autism: The Musical, which won numerous film festival awards, deserves being in many library DVD collections and is a good title for film discussion groups.

Autism: The Musical. Docuramafilms, 2007. ISBN 1422907996.

Insiders' Guide to Twin Cities by Jay Gabler

2011-09-19T06:42:00.000-07:00

Planing trips is almost as much fun as taking trips. In the dream phase, many things are still possible, and making the hard decisions, such as "Do I have the time?" and "Should I spend so much?" can be put off for another day. In such a state, I spent several hours looking through Insiders' Guide to Twin Cities, 7th edition, by Jay Gabler, preparing for a long weekend in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area visiting my daughter Laura.

I have been to Minneapolis-St. Paul several times before. In each case, I had only a limited amount of time to see the sites and saw just enough to know I wanted to see more. So I enjoyed the well-organized and frequently updated Insiders' Guide. I read with interest the overview, history, and architecture chapters. Then, because I am going to sleep on a futon in my daughter's apartment, I totally skipped the accommodations chapter. We will want to eat out some of the time, so I skimmed the restaurant listings to get just a general idea of the variety of cuisines; I will let Laura suggest where we eat, as she always has good nose for delicious food. Skipping nightlife and shopping, I sharpened my pencil and settled in to study the attractions, events, arts, and parks and recreation chapters. From these I made a list of places I'd especially like to visit.

Minnehaha Falls in Minneapolis - I love the name and always enjoy seeing water falls. This one inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow to write "Song of Hiawatha." Visiting will feed both my love of history and of literature. The park should be bright with fall colors when I get there.

Open Book in Minneapolis - A "literary arts complex" according to Gabler. I'd like to see the book printing and binding, attend a literary reading, and peruse the book shop. Maybe we will eat lunch or have dessert in the cafe.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts - I have been once before alone, and it will be fun to go back with Laura. MIA is a large general art museum with every major movement and continent represented. I really liked the Asian collection and the period rooms. There are also fine European and American paintings. It is free to visit! Because it is close to Laura's apartment, we could go many times.

Walker Art Center and Minneapolis Sculpture Garden - Laura likes modern and contemporary art and will appreciate me buying the tickets. I like the pieces that are big, colorful, or humorous.

Minnesota State Capitol in St. Paul - I have been to state capitol buildings in Texas, Massachusetts, Illinois, and Wisconsin. I always enjoy statues, gigantic paintings, and historical plaques, as well as domes and colorful stone columns. Maybe we'll spot some famous politicians.

Mounds Park in St. Paul - Prehistoric woodland people lived in Minnesota and left six mounds that can still be seen.

Como Zoo in St. Paul - I have been to the wonderful Minnesota Zoo already, so this time I'd like to see the Como Zoo, which is one of the few municipal zoo in the country that is free. Gabler likes it. I especially want to see the snow leopards and black-footed penguins.

Minnesota Landscape Arboretum in Chaska - The state's largest public garden has lots of trees indigenous to the northern woods, as well as a maze. It sounds like my kind of place.

There is enough in the Twin Cities for several trips. Perhaps I should read Gabler's chapter on relocating to the great Midwestern metropolitan area. I'd love to go to Twins games regularly no matter where they are in the standings and have my picture taken on Kirby Puckett Lane. I hope the weather is fair.

Gabler, Jay. Insiders' Guide to Twin Cities, 7th edition. Insiders Guide, 2010. ISBN 9780762757039.

Pete Dunne on Bird Watching: The How-to, Where-to, and When-to of Birding by Pete Dunne

2011-09-16T08:58:00.000-07:00

Pete Dunne is a New Jersey-based naturalist and director of the Cape May Bird Observatory with many books to his credit. The latest are Prairie Spring, Bayshore Summer, and Arctic Autumn, each of which features Dunne's entertaining and thoughtful observations of ecosystems in particular seasons. While birds and other wildlife figure heavily in the books, people are also a big concern. Dunne wants people to enjoy the outdoors without upsetting nature's balance. He also hopes people who make their livings outdoors (fishermen, farmers, and native hunters) can continue to do so. I have read and enjoyed books two and three (both of which I reviewed for Library Journal), plan to read book one, and await the inevitable book four dealing with winter. Where will he set this book? I long to find out, but in the meantime I have found another of his books, Pete Dunne on Bird Watching.

Being a very amateur birder, I can use lots of advice from Dunne. In his 2003 book, he drew from his decades of experience to address the needs of novices and experts alike. He tells how to attract birds to backyards with feeders and landscaping, choose binoculars and scopes, choose bird guides for the field and books for study, spot and identify birds, and keep birding records. He also writes about whether bird listening is bird watching. Most of his advice is timeless, but birders might enjoy a new updated edition that deals with aps for iPhones and iPads and expands his recommendations for birding websites. One of his central messages is one that will trouble loners like me. To really learn birding, birders need to apprentice themselves to experts, join clubs, and go on outtings.

Most people will not read Pete Dunne on Bird Watching straight through, as much of the text is instructive or for reference use, but each chapter starts with a story. Read the parts that interest you now and others later as you need.

Dunne, Pete. Pete Dunne on Bird Watching: The How-to, Where-to, and When-to of Birding. Houghton Mifflin, 2003. ISBN 0395906865.

Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970 by David Browne

2011-09-14T08:49:00.000-07:00

If ever there was a book aimed at a target audience, Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970 by David Browne is the book, and I am the part of the audience. In fact, I am probably the bullseye. The book recounts the lives of the musicians named in the subtitle during a year that was pivotal for all of them. The Beatles broke up for good, as did Simon and Garfunkel for all practical purposes. Crosby, Still, Nash, and Young broke apart for the first time eighteen months after forming, and James Taylor with hardly any effort at all showed the rest the way of the solo artist. In telling his story, Browne tells about the making and selling of four albums: Let It Be, Bridge Over Troubled Water, Sweet Baby James, and Deja Vu. I still have all four in vinyl!

I'm not so sure the story was lost in any way. I was not one to read Rolling Stone or listen to radio late into the night. Still, I knew the basic facts even in the early 1970s, though there were many backstage and offstage details that I did not know. Browne's achievement is brings all the information together into a story that shows how eleven different personalities suffered some very similar problems and outcomes. Too much money, recreational drugs, artistic egos, jealousy over women (Joni Mitchell, Rita Cooldidge), jealousy over song credits on albums, and even more drugs play heavily in the plot. Each man (they are all male) has his finer points and grave faults, and Browne portrays no one as evil. If you want to maintain shining knight images of these musical icons, this is not your book, but if you want a deep understanding and get some clues to meanings and importance of songs, Fire and Rain is a good reading choice.

Luckily for me, I have all the music on CD and my iTouch, too. I have plenty to listen to while rehabilitating my knee.

Browne, David. Fire and Rain: The Beatles, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, CSNY, and the Lost Story of 1970. Da Capo Press, 2011. ISBN 9780306818509.

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

2011-09-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

In her first book, The River of Doubt, former National Geographic editor Candice Millard took readers back to 1913 to join Teddy Roosevelt on a dangerous journey through Brazil's Amazon rainforest. The expedition disappeared for several long months and was late arriving at the mouth of the mysterious river. The American public feared that the former president and his son had died and would never be found. The fear was totally justified, and the story of how they survived brutal terrain, vicious diseases, and attacks by indigenous tribes is great reading. Could Millard's next book be compelling?

The time to judge Millard's second book is at hand. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President will be published September 20. USA Today has already listed it as one of the top books of the fall publishing season, but Baker and Taylor has not stocked many copies for sale to libraries. Perhaps the book distributor expects less interest in a story about James A. Garfield, an almost forgotten president, than one about the ever popular Teddy Roosevelt. While there is logic to Baker and Taylor's position, it will be unfortunate if the new book is overlooked. The assassination and slow death of President Garfield is a story that Millard tells very well.

At first glance, you might not see how similar Millard's new book is to its predecessor. Much of River of Doubt is set in an incredibly dangerous and remote jungle, while Destiny of the Republic is set mostly in the White House in Washington, D.C. The Amazonian expedition was out of the public eye, while Garfield's medical condition was reported daily. Still, infection was the ultimate enemy in both stories. Garfield was surrounded by doctors, but they had all rejected the antiseptic theories of Joseph Lister. In their street clothes, they all poked about the president's wound with unwashed fingers, laughing at the idea that invisible organisms could be introduced into a patient. As a result, Garfield filled with infection and swelling that his proud and inflexible primary physician called natural. It took him two and a half painful months to die.

As in her previous book, Millard has filled Destiny of the Republic with finely-portrayed characters, including the insane drifter Charles Guiteau who believed shooting the president would help him get an appointment to a federal job (from the grateful next administration), congressman Roscoe Conkling who strove to block Garfield's every political act, Garfield's devoted wife Lucretia, and Alexander Graham Bell who devoted two months to invent a device that would locate the bullets still in the president's body. Millard also introduces us to Vice President Chester Arthur, a man who was unprepared to be president. The focus, of course, is Garfield, an articulate speaker and champion of reform whose worst enemies are from his own party. He bore his suffering with great courage, according to Millard.

Destiny of the Republic joins The President is a Sick Man by Matthew Algeo in the growing literature about nineteenth century medicine in the White House. Both will appeal to history readers interested in American presidents.

Millard, Candice. Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President. Doubleday, 2011. ISBN 9780385535007.

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith

2011-09-09T09:41:00.000-07:00

In a discussion about mystery fiction at the library, a couple of my colleagues agreed that they like their mysteries gritty and tension-filled. One person said having a murder take place before the story opens and then be investigated and revealed is not enough for him. There need to be multiple murders, the criminal needs to be dangerous and on the loose, the violence needs to be on stage, and the sleuth needs to be a target. No cosy mysteries for him. I, on the other hand, like my mysteries a bit lighter. No one has to die. My favorite series is set in Botswana, where there is lots of sunshine and traditional civility is still valued. The sleuth is Mma Ramotswe of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, a woman who excels at finding mercy and forgiveness as well as justice.

I have just read The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party and now am up to date with the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series. This twelfth book is classic, as Mma Ramotswe and her associates take on a very serious case concerning the killing of cattle (the most important symbol of wealth in her country). Mma also becomes interest in a paternity case and seeks to find the ghost of a white van. As always, solving the mystery is just the first step to resolving a case. She wants no innocents to be hurt in the administration of justice. Like Poirot before her, Mma will settle for reforming the guilty if it seems better than filing charges and requiring arrests.

There is much to like about all the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books. I enjoy the Third World setting, the well-defined characters, and the unpredictable twists in the stories. Readers can feel the love that McCall Smith has for Botswana. Remarkably, my library still have readers just discovering the series, as well as many faithful readers. We'll have a big McCall Smith shelf for a long time.

McCall Smith, Alexander. The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party. Pantheon, 2011. ISBN 9780307378392.

Unfamiliar Fishes by Sarah Vowell

2011-09-07T08:45:00.000-07:00

Sarah Vowell previewed Unfamiliar Fishes, her recent history of the American annexation of Hawaii, at the Public Library Association Conference in Portland, Oregon, in March 2010. I was among a thousand or so attendees who remained for the closing ceremony, for which Vowell was the key speaker. I remember at the time that there was among the audience a feeling of disappointment. Many of the librarians had hoped to end the conference with either inspiration or laughter. Vowell, however, was serious about history and was not there to simply entertain. She read from her work in progress, recounted her research, and expressed more sympathy for all the parties in her narrative than I expected. I don't know how many left wanting to read Unfamiliar Fishes once it was available, but I did.

I was predisposed to like Vowell as I had enjoyed audiobooks of Wordy Shipmates and Partly Cloudy Patriot. Because she read these books herself, I was familiar with her voice. So my reading the hardbound version of Unfamiliar Fishes was a new experience for me. I wondered before starting whether I would mentally recognize or generate her voice as my eyes passed over the words. I think I did hear her at first but then the story itself took over, and I became mostly involved the action and the characters. Perhaps her pithy statements jump out more in audio, but I think Vowell was more restrained in voicing her judgments than in previous works. I am sure I laughed less and learned more.

How the independent nation of Hawaii became first a territory and then a state in the United States is not a story many Americans probably know. Many of the details would probably not pass the approval of the Texas School Book censors, which is precisely why the book should be read and debated. Perhaps Barrack Obama was not born in the United States because Hawaii is not a legal state.

Readers will enjoy learning about many unusual people, including Hawaiian monarchs, missionaries, plantation owners, and ship captains. The challenge for the reader is figuring out the pronunciation of Hawaiian words. Maybe the audiobook is the preferred medium for Unfamiliar Fishes. I'd love to hear the many lyrical names, such as Liliuokalani and Kamehameha.

Vowell, Sarah. Unfamiliar Fishes. Riverhead Books, 2011. ISBN 9781594487873.

Understanding 9/11

2011-09-06T07:42:00.000-07:00

We have a fairly big display of books about the events of September 11, 2001 in our library this month. We realize that some people will not want to be reminded, as the pain is still sharp, and we are living daily with the consequences of that attack and our reactions to the attack. We are, however, going to be reminded everywhere we look in the coming week. The anniversary will be featured on most news media in print, on the air, and online. At the library, we can not choose to ignore the anniversary. We hope that our display offers a wide range of accurate and thoughtful reporting and that it balances some of the shallow "news bite" reporting from various camps of the media.

The Internet Archives has put together an interesting collection of videos from about 20 television networks worldwide called Understanding 9/11. There is reported to be 3000 hours of footage from 2001 which the user can pinpoint by the minute. A collection of essays about the events is also posted.

The anniversary seems to be an opportunity to revisit and reassess our recent history. It may be too much to hope for a lessening of polarized political positions, but I'm hoping anyway.

Life Sketches by John Hersey

2011-09-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

There are so many authors that I sometimes mix them up. When I discovered Life Sketches by John Hersey during our massive book shift, I set it aside to read, thinking at the time, "I enjoyed A Separate Peace." I persisted in this thinking as I read the initial essay about George Van Santvoord, the headmaster of Hotchkiss School. I thought that I could see where Hersey got some of his ideas for the novel about boarding school boys. Then I was surprised to notice A Separate Peace was not in Hersey's credits. A quick catalog search showed me that John Knowles was the author.

They shouldn't have both been named John! And they did confuse things by both going to boarding schools.

Whatever. I did enjoy most of Life Sketches, which is a collection of essays about people John Hersey knew, much like Six Men by Alistair Cooke. As a journalist and novelist working between the 1930s and 1980s, Hersey knew some interesting and important people, including Sinclair Lewis, Alfred A. Knopf, Henry R. Luce, James Agee, and Erskine Caldwell. He was assigned to meet others, including Harry S. Truman. He went on a morning hike and swim with Truman in 1950 while the Missourian was still living in the White House. The Secret Service did make the president vary his morning walk location and suggest isolated spots, but Truman was out and about with little protection. He was also in great shape and wished he could open the White House pool to the public.

Hersey also wrote about people involved in the events of his times. The best was about Varsell Pleas, a Mississippi black who tried to register to vote in 1964, the year many Ivy League college students went south to march for civil rights. Pleas was an astute man who had built a successful farm and taught his children the importance of effort in work. He knew the importance of voting and was not going to be denied for long. I also enjoyed the account of seventy-five year old Jessica Kelley being rescued during the hurricane that hit Connecticut in 1955.

Hersey is now dead and mostly forgotten, but his book of biographical essays is still a good look back at the twentieth century.

Hersey, John. Life Sketches. Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. ISBN 0394577841.

Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects by Amy Stewart

2011-09-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

"Nobody loves a maggot."

Amy Stewart's got that right. No one I know loves mosquitos, ticks, lice, or stink bugs either. These creatures all do have roles in the kingdom and can be appreciated for their contributions, but that is not Stewart's theme in Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects. She is out to remind us why we shun insects, arachnids, and other small creatures that invade the spaces we try to claim for ourselves.

Early in the book Stewart points out that there are many more of them than us, both in numbers and (even though they are small as individuals) in total weight. We can not and should not try to eliminate them. Several of her stories show how we do greater harm to ourselves when we over-react with physical and chemical attacks on our small companions. A British study has shown that in only three percent of insect related automobile accidents did an insect actually sting a driver or passenger. The other ninety-seven percent of accidents were caused by driver reactions to the presence of the insects. So, we need to stay calm and focused when dealing with bugs.

In some ways, Wicked Bugs is a reference book with entries for many common and exotic little creatures. There are also side topics, such as what creatures harm books (book lice and silverfish, but not book scorpions which eat the book lice and silverfish) or which insects can be used to make poison arrows. Because Stewart tells so many interesting stories, it also makes good listening as an audiobook. This is not a claim many reference books could make. You may, however, not want to listen to the audio or read the print during meals or right before going to bed.

Stewart, Amy. Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects. Tantor Audio, 2011. ISBN 9781452602608.

Worldometers.info

2011-09-01T13:56:00.000-07:00

Christine Bulson at Points of Reference, the reference services blog at Booklist Online, reported this week on the website Worldometers: Real Time World Statistics. Christine suggests the site as useful for people needing statistical estimates on how many or much there is now, not three years ago, of people, money, natural resources, books, websites, and other quantifiable concepts. For someone used to looking at statistics that have set points in time, however, it is a little disconcerting. How do you even read the numbers that are constantly changing? Of course, the reality is that statistics are always a bit fuzzy.

With the print and online Statistical Abstract of the United States being threatened by the federal budget cutters, Worldometers and sites like it may become our new standards. There are links from each reading describing the method and source of the numbers. I'll try to remember this site to help students and business clients.

Branch Rickey by Jimmy Breslin

2011-08-31T07:19:00.000-07:00

I was very happy to see Branch Rickey by Jimmy Breslin. Breslin is a no-nonsense author who gets quickly to the heart of the matter in his many books, and major league team owner/general manager Rickey is a complicated and important figure in the history of baseball. I am also encouraged to see that it is a new title in the Penguin Lives series. It has been four years since Viking has issued a new hardcover title in this series that asks acclaimed authors to write short biographies of important cultural, political, and historical figures. Among my favorites are Elvis Presley by Bobbie Ann Mason, Charles Dickens by Jane Smiley, and Buddha by Karen Armstrong. These talented authors tell key stories that describe essential characters and reveal why their subject remain important long after their lives. (Only George Herbert Walker Bush still lives.)

Breslin does not disappoint. In his distinctive voice, he first apologizes for only meeting Rickey once and having to rely on other sources for his stories. But he found people who had first-hand knowledge (or close to it) and makes Rickey come to life for the reader.

Of course, a story about Branch Rickey is a story about Jackie Robinson and the breaking of the "gentleman's agreement" to exclude black players from major league baseball. Breslin admires Rickey's great deed without idolizing the man, whose Brooklyn Dodgers did benefit greatly from being the first team to draw from an obvious talent pool. Rickey also made a lot of money as the partial owner of the Dodgers. By pitching the act as just good business instead of good deeds, he was eventually able to sway his banker, manager, players, and competitors to his way of thinking - seven years before Brown vs. the Board of Education and seventeen years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Some historians argue that the integration of baseball was a key landmark in progress of race relations, which is not to say that it was an easy and immediately successful experiment. It would be another three decades before a black became a manager.

At only 146 pages, Brancy Rickey can be read in an evening. It is also easy to carry and will pack nicely on a trip. Whatever, it is worth making time to read.

Breslin, Jimmy. Branch Rickey. Lipper/Viking, 2011. ISBN 9780670022496.

Poets & Writers on the State of Book Reviewing:

2011-08-30T08:06:00.000-07:00

The September/October 2011 issue of Poets & Writers has an article that should interest any librarian or reader interested in current trends in book reviewing. Back From the Dead: The State of Book Reviewing by Jane Ciabattari does not consider reviews generated by libraries and librarians but does a good job of reporting on the transformation and survival of the book reviewing "establishment," the reviews in industry journals, newspapers, magazines, media, and big-time online. There are numerous links so an interested reader or librarian can revisit review sources that he or she may have neglected of late. (I have neglected many of late.)

Ciabattari mentions in her article that in 2010 there were three million new book titles of which two-thirds were self-published or print-on-demand. I'll bet few from that two-thirds ever get mentioned in the sources the author cites.

Are Compact Discs Disappearing? What Do I Do?

2011-08-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

Just about six weeks ago I had the thought "I certainly won't be buying many more music CDs." I was beginning to believe the omens of the compact disc's demise.

Many new cars no longer come with CD players.
I had trouble finding a decent portable CD player to purchase recently.
Many of the stores selling CDs have closed.
Big box stores still selling CDs have poor collections.
Internet downloads are said to be taking over.

While I have had iTunes on my computers for about five years, I have still never purchased anything from the iTunes store. It seems like such a bad precedent to set. Instead, I have loaded many of my CDs into iTunes and from there put some of these onto my iPod. As nice as it is, I have never really listened to this music much except during the short, intense spring gardening season or on a trip. I seem to use the iPod more for listening to free podcasts that I download and audiobooks that I borrow from libraries. I still like my CDs in the car or in my portable player. It just seems the right package to me.

Still, I heard the death bells ringing and thought "I have plenty already. I really never need another CD. I can rotate what I have as long as I am still able to get a player." Enough is enough.

Of course, this is not an absolute pledge. I host the Friday at the Ford concerts at my library. We have a great variety of very talented musicians come, and they almost all bring CDs to sell. I have built a nice collection of CDs of musicians that I have not only heard live but have met and like as people. I know that I will continue to get several every year as long as musicians hand sell their CDs.

So I spoke with one of our library's shelvers the other day. When did he last buy a CD. At sixteen years of age, he has never purchased a CD. I hear a deep resonant dong.

So, what have I done since I had my thought?

In mid-July, I attended a free Sunday afternoon concert at Cantigny Gardens in Warrenville with friends. (There was a fee to enter the park.) The attraction was Guitarra Azul, a contemporary flamenco-inspired band with two guitars, a bass, and three percussionists. Their original music was really exciting, and I bought two CDs, Mariposa and Oasis. They sound really great in the car. They'd make a great soundtrack to a road trip.

Early in August, Bonnie and I went with friends to the Bristol Renaissance Fair in Bristol, Wisconsin. I was rather disappointed by the lack of live music. There used to be constant music from various minstrels and consorts on several stages all day.
Now, there are mostly comedy acts. As we headed toward the exit, however, we discovered a shop with Renaissance and Medieval games, DVDs, and music CDs. There was a vast selection of CDs featuring different countries, instruments, and forms of music. I could have spent the whole afternoon looking through them. As it was, I bought two: English Madrigals and Songs from Henry VIII to the 20th Century by the Oxford Camerata and Elizabethan Songs and Consort Music by the Rose Consort of Viols with Catherine King, mezzo-soprano. Both please me much.

Then, a week later, I discovered that our local music resale shop was going out of business and everything was 60 percent off. That made already well-priced CDs even less expensive. I restrained myself and only bought five titles:

Classic Masters by Gordon Lightfoot - really early songs three of which were new to me.
Greatest Hits: Shining Like a National Guitar by Paul Simon - a 2000 title that draws from about 25 years of his career.
In the Wind by Peter Paul & Mary - the photo on the back has them singing in front of the Washington Monument at a civil rights march. All the songs are classic PP&M.
Reasons Why by Nickel Creek - my daughter introduced me to this group.
Songs & More Songs by Tom Lehrer - Everyone should hear these outrageously clever political songs from the 1960s.

So, the CD may be endangered in some habitats but it is thriving at our house. Perhaps I will declare the property as a CD preserve. Maybe I can take in a few more CDs. I know some titles I'd still like to have.

I wonder what my next crazy thought will be?

Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds

2011-08-26T07:47:00.000-07:00

On our trip to Iowa City several weeks ago, we visited Prairie Lights, one of our favorite bookstores. Browsing the long display of recent books on the main floor, I discovered Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds edited by Billy Collins with paintings by David Allen Sibley. Collins and Sibley are two of my heroes, and I was pleased to find their collaboration. Collins, a former poet laureate of the United States, chose the poems, and Collins contributed paintings of birds doing what birds do - wading, flying, and perching. Collins wrote an introduction, which includes a poem the reader will not want to miss. I am not certain who wrote the captions below the paintings; I suspect Sibley for the most part because they give the kinds of facts that he highlighted in his famous The Sibley Guide to Birds; Collins may have written some that refer to the poems that follow.

The poems come from the historical parade of poets, back to the Roman lyricist Catullus and up to contemporary poets, including Kevin Stein, Dorian Laux, and Collins himself. The book could serve well as a topical introduction to the world of poetry, which includes, John Keats, the Brownings, Emily Dickinson, Thomas Hardy, Sylvia Plath, Mary Oliver, and many other well-known poets. Collins said in his introduction that he purposely avoided overused titles, "The Swans" by Yeats and "The Raven" by Poe, but there is still an excellent representation of the masters.

Collins starts the collection fittingly with a tribute "John James Audubon" by Stephen Vincent Benet.

Of course, collections will always include some poems with which I don't connect, but Bright Wings has plenty of poems I did like and admire. My favorites include the philosophical "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver, a humorous portion of "Woody's Restaurant, Middlebury" by Greg Delaney, and the nightmarish "A Barred Owl" by Richard Wilbur. I enjoyed the rhyming in Elizabeth Bishop's "Sandpiper" and the story told in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "The Emperor's Bird's-Nest." Slogging through a few titles I did not like was worth the effort, for I found much that I did enjoy.

Bright Wings is an attractive book that should be found in many public libraries. It would also make a nice gift to a literate bird-loving friend.

Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds edited by Billy Collins, paintings by David Allen Sibley. Columbia University Press, 2010. ISBN 9780231150842.

The Crossley ID Guide by Richard Crossley

2011-08-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

The Red-bellied Woodpecker is badly named, Richard Crossley admits on page 295 in his new Crossley ID Guide. The red on its belly is "barely noticeable." Such an admission seems rare for a bird expert, but Crossley seems more realistic in his expectations of birders. He also seems willing to try something new to help them, which is apparent looking at his new guide. Right off the bat I noticed that the parade of birds does not start with the Common Loon. Crossley groups birds more by habitats and behaviors, and the loon does not appear until page 84.

The biggest and most obvious radical departure is the way Crossley illustrates the birds. Most bird guides have drawings or paintings of birds isolated from their natural surrounding or close photographs that eliminate most of the background. The birds in these pages are very easy to see, but birds in the wild are rarely so cooperative. To model what he has seen in the wild, Crossley has taken samples from his vast collection of photographs and combined them to create highly-populated illustrations that may have dozens of images of a species in a single picture. The guidebook user finds, for instance, over thirty Red-breasted Mergansers in the picture on page 77. There are a female and male clearly visible on the water in the foreground and others young and mature birds diminishing in perspective back on the water to the distant marsh grasses. There are also birds flying near and far. Some are hardly identifiable, but that's the point. They are how you will really see them.

I notice the word "bird" is not on the title page anywhere, but on the cover are the words "Eastern Birds." I also notice the Pinyon Jay and the Clark's Nutcracker on page 307, both very western birds. 640 species are included. Maybe there is an eastern tilt.

The Crossley ID Guide is flexible and opens easily, but it seems a bit large for carrying into the field. Casual birders may not be willing to lug the guide, but dedicated students will adapt by using a big-enough pack. Its size might also encourage staking out good birding spot and less hiking about. It might be nicely kept at a sheltered blind. Public libraries with local bird enthusiasts will want a copy.

Crossley, Richard. The Crossley ID Guide. Princeton University Press, 2011. ISBN 9780691147789.

The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan With Doctors Without Borders by Emmanuel Guibert

2011-08-22T07:16:00.000-07:00

Back in 1986, the U.S. public was not really paying much attention to Afghanistan. We had already boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, and it had been as long since CBS news anchor Dan Rather had reported from the front where the Afghani Mujahideen were fighting Soviet soldiers. The valleys of Afghanistan were remote, mostly unknown in the West, and very dangerous. Among the few outsiders deep in the country were CIA spies, intrepid reporters, and the French volunteers of Medecins Sans Frontieres, known to the English-speaking world as Doctors Without Borders. Wanting the world to see the desperate need for humanitarian assistance, Medecins Sans Frontieres hired a young photographer, Didier Lefevre, to accompany a mission to Zaragandara in the Valley of Yaftal, in the northeast region of Afghanistan, near Tajikistan. It took more than a month to travel by donkey caravan from Peshawar in Pakistan through many mountain passes, many over 1600 feet. Lefevre took photos all the way.

In 2003, French graphic artist Emmanuel Guibert, his friend Lefevre, and colorist Frederic Lemercier published the first of three installments of Le Photographe, which combine Lefevre's original photographs with Guibert's drawings to tell of Lefevre's nearly-fatal adventure, a story that he had told only to his closest friends for years. It was not a story that he wanted shared as long as he intended to return to Afghanistan, which he often did before September 11, 2001. The English translation The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan With Doctors Without Borders was published to critical acclaim in 2009.

Now in 2011, after American and other NATO troops have spent nearly ten years in Afghanistan with little prospect of beating Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces, The Photographer is very relevant. Not much other the names of the foreign forces has really changed in the situation. In the book, Lefevre is almost naive in his outlook, committing himself to months of hardship for the sake of his profession. The poverty, prejudice, injustice, and sheer danger of the Afghani countryside only become apparent to him after he passes a point of no return. Through the pages of The Photographer, readers learn as Lefevre learns.

The drawings are easier to comprehend than the photos in some cases. They give the photos context. The photos give the book impact. It is a particularly effective presentation that should move many readers.

Guibert, Emmanuel. The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan With Doctors Without Borders. First Second, 2009. ISBN 9781596433755.

Long Way Home: On the Trail of Steinbeck's America by Bill Barich

2011-08-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

Bill Barich had spent eight years living in Ireland when he came across a used copy of Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. He remembered how impressed he had been with the book as a youth and how it contributed to his hippy days in California. Being a writer, he soon felt the call for a road trip to rekindle the spirit of his youth and reconnect with his homeland. And, of course, there would be a book, which has turned out to be Long Way Home: On the Trail of Steinbeck's America.

Barich chose, however, not to recreate Steinbeck's trip in detail. He would start from the East Coast and end on the West Coast, but the actual cities and highways would differ. Like Steinbeck, he would try to stick to the backroads and small towns as much as possible, but he did not have the unlimited time that the highly successful Steinbeck had. He could not afford a camper, either. And most importantly, he would not take a dog, despite the protests from friends that it was essential.

In the six weeks that Barich was on the road he did notice many dogs and sometimes in his loneliness wished that he had one. Not everything went well. Food and accommodations were bad. Some rural communities were depressed. He even began to sour a bit on Steinbeck at times, as he realized that Steinbeck did not always really try very hard to talk with the locals. But then he would find a place that he loved, such as Jefferson City, Missouri, where the people were friendly and he could walk in to the state capitol without a security check.

The 2008 presidential election and the bad economy serve as subplots during Barich travels. He talks to many people about their voting plans and even attends a Sarah Palin rally, where he talks to the political button salespeople. He is disturbed by the great number of people who pay more attention to the rumors than the actual facts. Unlike Steinbeck, he does not, however, despair over the political process and future of the country.

Long Way Home may appeal to readers who enjoyed Bill Bryson's I'm a Stranger Here Myself, another story of an expatriate's tour.

Barich, Bill. Long Way Home: On the Trail of Steinbeck's America. Walker & Company, 2010. ISBN 9780802717542.

Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd by John Bengtson

2011-08-17T06:08:00.000-07:00

Twenty-first century news media seems to relish stories about cities allowing film producers to shoot blockbuster movies on their streets. The stories get feature billing in newspapers, and television news anchors promise on-the-spot reports to keep viewers watching to the end of their news programs. Having Matt Damon or Sandra Bulloch on your streets is a big deal. This does not just happen. Producers have to sign contracts with cities to allow use of the streets. Back in the 1920s, however, Harold Lloyd seems to have had ready access to Los Angeles streets, as can be seen in Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd by John Bengtson. First as a star for Hal Roach Studios and then as the head of his own company, Lloyd seems to have shot scenes all over Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and Long Beach in film after film. Then, in one of his most ambitious films Speedy, he took on Manhattan and Brooklyn.

I have never actually seen a Harold Lloyd film, and I have never been to Los Angeles or New York, so I found a lot to discover in Silent Visions. Harold Lloyd's granddaughter Suzanne Lloyd wrote a brief introduction, and film historian Kevin Brownlow added a two-page foreward, but biographical details are at a minimum in Silent Visions. Mostly Bengtson takes readers through a large number of film stills, historical images, and recent photographs to document how and where the films of Harold Lloyd were made. With few pages having less than five photographs, some having as many as ten, there must be far over a thousand illustrations in this 304 page book. With captions and the use of many arrows and circles, the author recreates the making of many key scenes.

While film students will find the work fascinating and instructive, people interested in 1920s Los Angeles and New York may benefit even more. Lloyd just shot the street scenes as they were with very minimal alteration to locations. Viewers of his films and readers of this book can see what buildings stood in the 1920s and even learn what businesses were at specific addresses. Many aerial views are included, showing the development of Los Angeles through the decade, when new numerous buildings were completed. Readers can also learn about social attitudes, occupations, transportation, fashion, and recreation of the time.

Of great interest to people who have seen Lloyd's films will be the sections on his daredevil stunts. There was no digital enhancing of the films in the 1920s. There were specially built sets on tops of buildings to make it appear Lloyd was hanging high over the streets and doubles were used on the actual climbing of walls, but Lloyd (who had already lost a thumb and finger when a fake bomb proved to actually have a charge) did still take considerable risks.

Of course, Lloyd was not the only star in Hollywood at the time. Bengtson also includes photos from films made by Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, the Little Rascals, and others using many of the same locations. There are even shots of Bruce Willis from the TV series Moonlighting with Willis high in the air above some of the same buildings.

With its great amount of detail requiring much looking and comparing, Silent Visions will get only glances from readers with casual interest in its subjects of film history and urban history. Those who are truly interested will see what an achievement the book is. It should be particularly popular in Southern California and in libraries buying film history.

Bengtson, John. Silent Visions: Discovering Early Hollywood and New York Through the Films of Harold Lloyd. Santa Monica Press, 2011. ISBN 9781595800572.

Church People: the Lutherans of Lake Wobegon with Garrison Keillor

2011-08-15T06:10:00.000-07:00

The definition of the book is being questioned in these days of evolving electronic formats. What some of the debaters may have missed is the definition has been challenged before with audiobooks, first on cassettes and then on compact discs. Oral performance has allowed publishers some options that the printed page did not. Some texts are read like plays using a variety of voices, and music sets a background for some narratives. And publishers market these performances as books. Librarians have gone along. (We would have had to create a new category if we hadn't.)

While gardening on Friday morning, I listened to Church People: the Lutherans of Lake Wobegon with Garrison Keillor, which is a two disc collection of monologues, radio dramas, and songs from A Prairie Home Companion. I enjoyed it immensely but I hesitate to add it to my books-that-I-have-read list. I could say that it is a book because I found it in a "book" section of the library. It might also be compared with some literary collections, which might throw together theme-related magazine essays, poetry, humorous pieces, and plays. But I would feel like I am just padding my list. At 2.25 hours of listening, it is just over the length of a regular Saturday PHC show.

I guess it would help to settle the question "What is reading?" Some people say that listening to an audiobook is not reading. They would say that the reader's eyes have to fix on the words on a page. (Or fingers on braille characters.) That argument can be countered with the tradition of oral readings. People read stories to their children at bedtime. Lectors read to congregations at churches. Writing is an offshoot of oral narration, and the result of learning the story is the same.

It might also be pointed out that people who enjoy The Prairie Home Companion are for the most part bookish people. Keillor certainly revels in the use of words and often recites poems. So Church People: the Lutherans of Lake Wobegon is certainly in the spirit of a book - one that made me laugh frequently. But still I hesitate to label it so.

What do you think?

Keillor, Garrison. Church People: the Lutherans of Lake Wobegon. HighBridge Audio, 2009. 2 discs. ISBN 9781598879292

Weeding Biographies and Memoirs from the Library to a Tune from the Mikado

2011-08-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

As some day it must happen that some books must be withdrawn
I've got a little list - I've got a little list
Of dreary, old, and tattered books that might well cause us to yawn
And that never would be missed - they never would be missed!

There are pestilential memoirs from loud politicos
Their long and suspect narratives will surely make you doze
And tales by business gurus who sail around in yachts
And adolescent rock stars who now have been forgot
And all the friends of friends who say they saw the starlet kissed
Their books would not be missed - they'd none of them be missed

(chorus)
He's got 'em on the list - he's got 'em on the list
And they'll none of 'em be missed - they'll none of 'em be missed

And there are Watergate conspirators who've enjoyed their prison times
And the lawyers who tried O.J. for his assorted crimes
There are television comedians who shows all got the ax
And haute cuisine chefs who now sell frozen snacks
Add long-haired bearded wrestlers to this distinguished list
Their books would not missed - they never would be missed

(chorus)
He's got 'em on the list - he's got 'em on the list
And we don't think they will be missed - we're sure they'll not be missed

And there are unauthorized biographies that now have grown quite stale
Kitty Kelley comes to mind - I've got her on the list
And tales about baseball players who should have gone straight to jail
These books are on the list - and they never will be missed
Annoying people, too - Rosie O'Donnell - Dennis Rodman - Jesse Ventura - and many more
Their times have all flit - now their books just sit - they'll none of 'em be missed

(chorus)
You may put 'em on the list - you may put 'em on the list
And they'll none of 'em be missed - they'll none of 'em be missed!

Librarian's Day at the Bristol Renaissance Faire

2011-08-10T04:47:00.000-07:00

Was it Librarian's Day at the Bristol Renaissance Faire on Saturday, August 6? Bonnie and I went with our friends Nancy and Glenn. That's four librarians. We parted for a while, and Glenn later reported seeing three librarians that he knew from the suburbs of Chicago. At home in the evening I verified another wearing a T-shirt stating "librarian" in a photo of the Moonie show. I wonder how many more there were.

So, what draws librarians to a Renaissance fair? My first thought is fantasy. We read lots of books that take us to other worlds and enjoy going beyond the pages for a bit of magic and make-believe. What better place than the BRF? The performers, vendors, and much of the paying public are decked out as lords and ladies, knights, vikings, monks, witches, wizards, minstrels, and peasants from the time of Queen Elizabeth I. You also get a stray Klingon or hobbit, but no one seems to mind the disconnect. People speak like Shakespeare and pledge their loyalty to the queen. They even get up on horses and joust. What librarian would not want to be a part of the fun?

Knowing librarians, they are probably also drawn by the food and drink. Turkey legs, tempura, crepes, calzones, shepherd's pie, garlic mushrooms, fruit ices, and many confections are sale, as are all sorts of wines, beers, teas, and soft drinks. Servings are often good for sharing so you may try several dishes. I never go away hungry.

What I used to go for was the music. There used to be half a dozen stages at which musicians traded places every half hour. Madrigal singers wandered the fair. There was also a long table loaded with all sorts of recorders, crumhorms, lutes, whistles, and such under shady trees; musicians jammed all day. I would often spend most of my day listening to dance music and folk songs. That all seems to be gone, and I attend less regularly.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a shop with a great selection of early music compact discs, many of which were imported from the United Kingdom. There were entire shelves devoted to music of particular countries, periods, and instruments. I purchased discs on madrigals and consort music. The shop also had a big selection of board games based on events from history. Medici anyone? How about Armada?

Summer afternoons at the BRF can be rather hot, but there are many shady trees. Even the stands at the jousting field now have canopies. Cold drinks are readily available. With just the slightest breeze, it is a fine place to be.

La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith

2011-08-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Because I always seem to be getting behind, I try to keep a list of the Alexander McCall Smith books that I still want to read. I somehow missed adding La's Orchestra Saves the World in 2009. Because it is not in any of his mystery series nor is it one of his serialized novels, it is set apart in many ways. So I was curious when I found it on our library shelf, and I wanted to read it, of course.

All previous McCall Smith fiction seemed to be set in the present time, but La's Orchestra Saves the World is historical, set mostly in the late 1930s and during the second world war. Its central character La (short for Lavender) is a young woman who is saved from a disastrous marriage by her in-laws who see their son's errors. Given a cottage in rural Suffolk, La moves from London to make a new life. There she meets the local farmers, the policeman, the clergyman, the tradespeople, and eventually pilots who fight the German air invasion. Many of them join her amateur orchestra that pledges to play through the war. It is just the stuff of which many Masterpiece Theater dramas are made.

While many reviewers noted La's Orchestra Saves the World as a departure, many McCall Smith qualities still shine through the narrative, including his thoughtful descriptions of quiet moments and the gentle humor shared by compassionate people. I suspect many readers will enjoy this little gem.

McCall Smith, Alexander. La's Orchestra Saves the World. Pantheon, 2008. ISBN 9780307378385.

The Last Innocent Year: America in 1964 by Jon Margolis

2011-08-05T04:57:00.000-07:00

Our country changed in many ways in 1964, according to Jon Margolis in his book The Last Innocent Year: America in 1964. He says there really was no innocence to lose, for there has always been a mean and selfish undercurrent in American culture, but it was the last year that our society could pretend that we were going happily working together to make a better world. Having read the book, I am not certain that he really supports this statement, but his book held my interest. I vaguely remember many of the events of that year - the first year that I remember dating my school papers.

Readers may be surprised to find that Margolis's year is not bound by the standard calendar concept of a year. He poses that 1964 really started on November 22, 1963 when President John Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. On that day Jacqueline Kennedy became a widow, Robert Kennedy became the head of his clan, Lyndon Johnson was sworn into the office of president, and Barry Goldwater nearly decided to drop the idea of running for president. Nelson Rockefeller, Hubert Humphrey, Martin Luther King, and George Wallace were clueless to the transitions that they were about to make. The stage was set for the decline of the Democratic Party, a shift in the power in the Republican Party, the passing of the Civil Rights Act, a backlash against civil rights, the start of the Women's Movement, the disillusionment of college students, and radicalization of many in all parties. And in winter the Beatles landed at the newly renamed John F. Kennedy Airport in New York.

The central character is Lyndon Johnson. I was surprised to learn that he was only 55 years old when he was sworn in as president. I had always thought he was a really old man. Margolis portrays him sympathetically in the early chapters, but it seems that Johnson's good intentions declined as the months went by. He began to distrust his seemingly very loyal aides and long for approval from everyone he met. Robert Kennedy, on the other hand, seems to start low and improve as the book progresses. Most people profiled seem to have their strengths and weaknesses. The one person who seems to have no redeeming qualities is FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

I was also struck by how at the beginning of the presidential primary season, none of the major contenders had actually declared as a candidate. Few of the states had public primaries at the time, as caucuses of party regulars had control and often pledged their votes to "favorite son" candidates, who would later throw their votes to contenders in political deals made at the conventions. Johnson feared that his support would evaporate at the Democratic Convention, while the heavy-handed control exerted by the Goldwater forces to supress discussions during the Republican Convention played badly to the American public. Margolis's year ends with the election in November.

How winners can be losers and losers be eventual winners is the irony that Margolis explores in this fascinating book which will appeal to Baby Boomers and political history readers.

Margolis, Jon. The Last Innocent Year: America in 1964. William Morrow, 1999. ISBN 0688153232.

Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado in Iowa

2011-08-03T03:59:00.000-07:00

Bonnie and I are just back from a five-day trip to Iowa and Minnesota. We had two reasons for the trip. The first was to see our daughter Laura in the University of Iowa Department of Performing Arts production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado at the nicely restored Englert Theater in downtown Iowa City. The second was to then move Laura to Minneapolis for her upcoming internship in music therapy. We succeeded in meeting both objectives.

Being proud parents, we did as we did for Laura's high school musicals and saw The Mikado three times. By the third performance, we knew well when Laura, a member of the chorus, was on stage. She was easy to spot in her yellow kimono, singing and dancing through many scenes. She had no lines, but she had moments, such as when she helped braid Yum-Yum's hair and when she danced with a long red ribbon. I was reminded of her years in ballet, tap, and rhythmic gymnastics.

Sitting in the first, second, and third rows, we had a great view of the staging and choreography. I liked the repeated decorative use of colorful fans in the backdrops. The stage was relatively small, but the set designer used what there was well. The company was a whirl of color as it deftly moved about from left to front and back and forth. Most impressive was their snapping of fans along to the music. Laura said there was a lot of fan practice. Making them snap was not hard because of their weight, but holding on with sweaty hands was a trick.

Three days later, I still have the songs running through my brain. The words are often quite silly (as is the plot) but the melodies are great. A highlight was the Lord High Executioner Ko-Ko's "I've got a little list" song, which by tradition is modified to include current and local subjects. There were many people who could be beheaded and not be missed, including the musical director for miscuing some notes, Donald Trump and Michele Bachmann for just being as they are, and anyone who stands behind TV reporters to wave.

We are back in Downers Grove now and returning to our everyday lives, but I think I'll have a little extra bounce as I hum Mikado melodies and recall fine performances.

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith

2011-08-01T06:25:00.000-07:00

A long time reader of this blog will have noticed that I enjoy books by Alexander McCall Smith. Fan that I am, I still sometimes get behind. I have just now finished listening to The Unbearable Lightness of Scones, the fifth of the 44 Scotland Street series books. As expected, I liked it very much. Six-year-old Bertie is still struggling with his overbearing mother who makes him take yoga, psychotherapy, and Italian lessons. He is still besieged by his annoying classmate Olive who is determined that he will be her boyfriend. The lass (this is a Scottish book) has even decided when they will marry and that she will dictate everything they do together. Bertie longs for escape and hope to find it in the Cub Scouts.

McCall Smith must have a lot of fun writing these books. He lovingly describes his city of Edinburgh and makes places along its streets the settings for much of the action. He gets to comment on many aspects of modern life that to him seem ridiculous - spending way too much for exotic wines, buying modern art, and being politically correct without really examining the reasons why. He even takes the liberty of working his friend, the real mystery writer Ian Rankin, into the plot. The author gives us much to think about while making us laugh.

The one hundred chapters of The Unbearable Lightness of Scones were originally run as a serial in The Scotsman newspaper. Each is short, and our attention is often diverted to other characters as McCall Smith weaves many stories together. The ending is a summation but not an end. The stories will all continue in later books, which I will undoubted read with joy.

McCall Smith, Alexander. The Unbearable Lightness of Scones. Recorded Books, 2009. 12 discs, 14 hours. ISBN 9781440731792.

Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff

2011-07-29T06:29:00.000-07:00

Cleopatra may be the most famous woman in history, according to Stacy Schiff, author of Cleopatra: A Life, but little is certain about the character of the Egyptian queen. Schiff notes that we should think of Cleopatra as a Greek, for she was the last of the rulers descended from Alexander the Great. Though she was probably the richest, most powerful, and best educated woman of her time and is reported to have written many letters, none of her writings has survived to give us a true account of her thoughts and motives. She was also the subject of many paintings and statues, but again none survive. We only have Egyptian and Roman coins to show us her profile, and the coins are not flattering. She is to us a mystery about whom we want to know more. Through the ages, many writers have tried to oblige our curiosity, and we are left with legends that Schiff says are easy to dispute.

So what is left for a biography? Cleopatra was truly a central character in the struggle for control of the Roman Empire (as the men involved all wanted access to Cleopatra's wealth) and was profiled by numerous Roman historians. Schiff warns readers that to these ancient writers Cleopatra was always a foreigner and an enemy, and they had no sympathy for her. Through their books many of Cleopatra's actions are known, and from these, much can be inferred, the author asserts. It would be easier, however, if the accounts agreed and had Cleopatra acted in a more consistent manner.

The life of Cleopatra seems to be the glue that holds the book together, but Schiff seems to tell us more about Julius Caesar, Cicero, Mark Antony, and Octavian (later to call himself Augustus) than about the queen. We also learn a lot about lesser characters, such as Brutus, Herod, and Cleopatra's children. Luckily for me, I knew many of Schiff's characters by name already, which helped me follow the story. Someone without a previous introduction to Roman history may have more trouble. Some readers may also be put off by the lack of anyone to like or admire.

While listening to the audiobook nicely read by Robin Miles, I remembered reading the plays of Shakespeare and watching I Claudius on PBS. It was having these connections that made the book interesting to me.

Schiff, Stacy. Cleopatra: A Life. Hachette Audio, 2010. 12 discs. 14 hours 30 minutes. ISBN 9781607887010.

Grand Slam Gazette: Fan Newspaper from the Kane County Cougars

2011-07-27T05:51:00.000-07:00

When I attend a baseball game, either major or minor leagues, I do not expect much from any free team-related magazine or newspaper that I am given at the gate. These publications are often filled with advertising and not much else. I just hope for basic information about the facility and the players. With low expectations, I was genuinely surprised by the July 2011 issue of Grand Slam Gazette that we got at a Kane County Cougar game. Bonnie said I should look it over, and she was right.

I enjoyed "Behind the Plate Then ... In the Dugout Now," an interview with Cougar manager Vance Wilson that starts on page 8. Wilson is a former major league catcher who retired in 2009, but few fans will remember him, for he spent more time in the bullpen and dugout than on the field. He did not get into a game the first time he was called up to the Mets. First time he got to bat he had been in the bullpen and had to run through the tunnel in cleats to just get to the on deck circle in time. When with the Tigers, he got to meet and listen to Al Kaline talk about baseball in the 1950s and 1960s. Wilson seems to be a man with firm opinions and the ability to tell stories. I wonder if he might be capable of writing a book.

I also liked "Affiliation 101," a primer to the relationships between major league teams and the partnerships that run minor league teams. This Q&A spells out how a minor league team comes into being and who pays for what. While the article asserts that some great players have passed through Kane County, it is honest in mentioning that some players are released after their KCC season. I was surprised to learn that Adrian Gonzalez was a former Cougar. The Marlins traded him to the Rangers before he debuted in the majors. I checked the scorecard for the game that we attended in 2002; Gonzalez was out of the lineup that day.

Looking at the roster and at the "Top 10 Prospects" page, I see for the first time players that are younger than my daughter. Boy, do I feel old. Still, I think I ran the bases well after the game.

"Big League Dreams" states that 111 former Cougars have made it to the majors in the minor league teams in KCC's first twenty years. (Bonnie and I missed seeing at least one game only one year.) The article identifies players in the Oakland As organization who are close to promotion. The Cougars are now affiliated with the Kansas City Royals, so we should see a stream of players debuting in the next several years.

I am reminded that we saw Aaron Cames pitch a no-hitter at Elfstrom Stadium in 1997 by the story "Sugar Ray and Chas Throw Some Pizzazz." There have now been seven Cougar no-hitters.

Now that I have finished reading the Grand Slam Gazette, I will put it away in my baseball card closet. It will be even more more fun to read ten years from now.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

2011-07-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

How many horcruxes and how many hallows? Where were they all to be found? How did Harry, Ron, and Hermione beat the Dark Lord? I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling twice back in 2007, but there was so much I had forgotten. When I saw the final Harry Potter movie a week ago, I felt almost like an HP newbie. I knew what the outcome would be, but many plot details had been deleted from my memory. Wondering afterwards how closely the script writers had followed the book (and wondering how porous is my brain), I chose to reread the 759 page book.

Now I can report that the script writers (1) stayed relatively close to the book in intent and (2) strayed a little farther in detail, and (3) my brain has some pretty big holes.

(1) The action of every chapter after the death of Dobby is reflected in the movie. The beginning of the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 can be found around page 480 in the book. The sequence of scenes after that point is pretty much the same. The same people live and die. Those who survive rebuild the wizarding world.

(2) Some details were changed. In the movie, Hermione decides the brave trio of young wizards should ride out of Gringotts' vaults on a dragon; in the book, it is Harry's idea. In the movie, Luna recommends that Harry ask the ghost Helena Ravenclaw about the location of her mother's lost diadem; in the book, Harry himself realizes that only a ghost would know but does not know which to seek until told by Peeves. The scene that takes place in a boat house in the movie is set in the Shrieking Shack in the book. In the movie, Ron has to coax Hermione to destroy one of the horcruxes, while in the book she does it readily.

(3) I did not remember the part about Ariana Dumbledore being in the picture in her brother's tavern at all. I forgot the sequence of events involving the diadem. I was surprised to see Mrs. Weasley in the battle. I had forgotten how Harry learned Snape's secrets. I did not remember all the stone statues defending the bridge. My memory loss since 2007 was major.

Now that I have that all straight (though I still have to think hard to count off the horcruxes), I can hardly wait for the movie to get to the Tivoli Theater in Downers Grove, our favorite place for a second viewing.

Rowling, J. K. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. 2007. ISBN 9780545010221.

Traveling Literary America: A Complete Guide to Literary Landmarks by B. J. Welborn

2011-07-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

What is a normal response to a knee injury? Read a travel book, of course. After I hurt my knee, I spent several days on the couch with an ice pack, ibuprofen, and a stack of books, including Traveling Literary America: A Complete Guide to Literary Landmarks by B. J. Welborn. I have enjoyed reading one-to-two page descriptions of houses and other sites where our great American authors wrote their poems, novels, and other works. Some I remember, having been to Louisa May Alcott's Orchard House in Concord, the Longfellow House in Cambridge, the Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati, Mark Twain's childhood home in Hannibal, the O. Henry House in Austin, and most of the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites. Still, there are so many more to see.

Here are my priority sites:

The Mark Twain House in Hartford, Connecticut
The John Adams Birthplace in Quincy, Massachusetts
Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts
The Mount (Edith Wharton's home) in Lenox, Massachusetts
Stone House Museum (Robert Frost home) in South Shaftbury, Vermont
Walt Whitman House in Camden, New Jersey
Green Hills Farm (Pearl Buck home) in Perkasie, Pennsylvania
Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta, Georgia
Eudora Welty House in Jackson, Mississippi
Rowan Oak (William Faulkner home) in Oxford, Mississippi
Monroeville Courthouse (Harper Lee site) in Monroeville, Alabama
Will Rogers Birthplace in Oologah, Oklahoma
Jack London Ranch in Glen Ellen, California
John Muir House in Martinez, California
Steinbeck House in Salinas, California

I notice that this list tilts heavily to the eastern regions, as does the book, but I guess it makes sense. The East has been more populated through much of the country's history and thus has had more famous authors. Not every place I'd like to go was in the book, however. I'd like also to see the Flannery O'Connor house in Milledgeville, Georgia. Still, there are hundreds of sites. My knee needs to keep getting better so I can hit the road.

Welborn, B. J. Traveling Literary America: A Complete Guide to Literary Landmarks. Jefferson Press, 2005. ISBN 0971897425.

From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kennedy

2011-07-20T06:32:00.000-07:00

I find many forgotten reading-worthy books as I inventory and weed the library's collections. A couple of weeks ago I came across From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kennedy by Nellie Connally and Mickey Herskowitz. Connally was wife of Texas governor John Connally and in the car in the seat in front of Jacqueline Kennedy when President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963. In her quick reading book she described the political mood of the times and events of the day that the U.S. was stunned by the gunshots left its president dead and the Texas governor severely injured.

Remembering the day myself and having been to the museum in the old Texas Schoolbook Depository overlooking Dealey Plaza, reading Connally's account reminds me of what a different time the early 1960s were. The Secret Service was not happy with the motorcade through Dallas, but the troubles that had been expected were loud-but-harmless demonstrations by right-wing Texas Democrats who objected to taxes and the national debt. On that sunny autumn day, however, the detractors seemed to have stayed away and the people of Dallas lined up along the street cheered as the two young couples past in the open car. The shots rang out just seconds before the cars would have sped away to a luncheon. Like many Americans of the time, Connally allowed herself to wonder "what if" the timing, weather, and arrangements had been just slightly different.

My favorite chapter is the one Connally drew from her three children, who were public school students in Austin at the time. They would have met the President that evening at a banquet in the state capital. Each tells how he or she learned of the events and their concerns for their father who spent weeks in a Dallas hospital recovering from bullet that passed through one lung and into an arm. Seventeen-year-old John Connally III disobeyed his mother and talked a Texas official to fly him to Dallas to be with his parents. His mother then sent him to Washington, D.C. to represent the family at the presidential funeral. He stayed with President and Lady Bird Johnson and walked with them in the funeral procession. Some pictures of the day misidentify him as an unknown Secret Service agent. Just days after attending classes at school, he stood among the nation's and world's leaders. His story should be rewritten as a book for teens.

For people interested in how memoirs are written, Connally reproduced the "notes" she wrote in 1963 at the back of the book. She also included the texts of the two speeches that President Kennedy did not get to make the day he died. While optimistic, they refer to Cold War concerns and tough economic decisions.

With the 50th anniversary of the assassination fast approaching, we are keeping From Love Field in the collection. In the meantime, I'm going to put it on the staff favorites display.

Connally, Nellie and Mickey Herskowitz. From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President John F. Kennedy. Rugged Land, 2003. ISBN 1590710142

Bird Watch: A Survey of Planet Earth's Changing Ecosystems by Martin Walters

2011-07-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

According to Martin Walters in his new atlas Bird Watch: A Survey of Planet Earth's Changing Ecosystems, birds serve as "beacons or barometers" to the health of the environment. Though avian species thrive when conditions are favorable, they are quick to decline when habitats are damaged. People should watch birds not only because they are beautiful but also because their presence in good numbers reflects the state of the environment. By protecting birds, we protect other vulnerable species, ecosystems, and our own future.

What threatens birds? Early in the text Walters describes the causes of bird population loss according to specific types of habitats. Shorelines are polluted by chemical runoff and spills. Predatory snakes and rats are accidentally introduced to islands eat eggs and fledglings. The clear cutting of forests for lumber or to plant cash crops destroys breeding grounds. Raptors accumulate pesticides used in agricultural areas. It seems any number of human actions that transform habitats harm birds. The main danger can be summed up as habitat loss. Brilliantly colored tropical birds are also captured for the illegal trade in endangered species. Walters goes on to identify specifically what birds are most at risk in each ecosystem.

The largest part of the book is the Endangered Birds profiles and lists, arranged by families in the usual systematic sequence, beginning with flightless kiwis, tinamous, and cassowaries and then advancing past water birds and raptors, and finally ending with songbirds. The lists are international, color coding all 1,227 species on the International Conservation of Nature Red List as "critically endangered," "endangered," or "vulnerable." Students or researchers may use Walters' work to learn the names of birds they should study, but they will have to then use other resources to learn more about the species, such as appearance, location, and habits.

Walters ends Bird Watch with conservation recommendations and a list of birding hotspots for international travelers. Other than students with assignments, this attractively illustrated book will interest very serious birders and conservation professionals.

Walters, Martin. Bird Watch: A Survey of Planet Earth's Changing Ecosystems. University of Chicago Press, 2011. ISBN 9780226872261.

No Biking in the House Without a Helmet by Melissa Fay Greene

2011-07-15T09:56:00.000-07:00

Melissa Fay Greene is a journalist who does not shy away from getting closely involved with her subjects. She obviously chooses to write about topics that interest her, such as Third World poverty and international adoptions. She and her husband Donny began to consider adoption when the eldest of their four children headed for college in the 1990s. Greene then began to research the ways of adopting foreign-born children and the issues surrounding the movement now so popular among well-to-do Americans. She also began examining her own motives. The result was several major writing assignments and the addition of five children to her family. She tells about the adventure in No Biking in the House Without a Helmet.

Readers will guess from the title that Greene has a humorous side to her writing, and there are many very funny stories in the book, but she is still a serious journalist. She observed disturbing situations in some of the mega-families that she visited in various American states and wonders at what point a family with numerous international adoptions turns into "a group home," her term for an institution where children are better off than when they were orphans but not adequately nurtured. She also reveals the burdens that some families take on without full consideration when they adopt under-nourished and unresponsive children who may have never had personal attention in the overcrowded orphanages in which they spent their infancy. Neither does she leap or shrink when considering adopting first a boy from Bulgaria and then four children from Ethiopia (not all at the same time). She adopts, adapts, and discovers how much her new children have to offer her family and community.

I laughed a lot and didn't really want the book to end. I'm sure there are many future adventures for Greene's family about which I'd like to learn.

Greene, Melissa Fay. No Biking in the House Without a Helmet. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2011. ISBN 9780374223069.

The President is a Sick Man by Matthew Algeo

2011-07-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

The health of a president is always of interest to the American public. Citizens expect to know if their leader is fit for the job, but a look at history shows that many serious medical conditions have been hidden by presidents and White House staff, often with the cooperation of a friendly press. Presidents Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan to varying degrees publicly projected good health and vigor while fighting serious diseases. Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke 17 months before the end of his second term and was hidden from the public and Congress by his wife and top aides for most of his remaining time in office. Less known is that President Grover Cleveland, a politician applauded for honesty and openness, also hid what could have been a life threatening condition and the operation performed to save him.

According to Matthew Algeo in his book The President is a Sick Man, Cleveland discovered a lesion growing inside his mouth, on the side where he regularly chewed expensive cigars, just after starting his second term in 1893. Consumed by the Panic of 1893, he ignored the growth for a couple of months. At the time of his illness, he was leading a fight to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, which was forcing the U.S. Treasury to buy large amounts of silver monthly with funds it did not have to prop up silver-backed currency. Banks and big corporations were closing daily. The vote in Congress promised to be very close. Cleveland felt he would lose what support he had should the state of his health be known.

So, on July 1, he quietly left the White House with an advisor, secretly rode a train to New York, and boarded a friend's yacht, on which a team of surgeons and a dentist were assembled to remove the cancer, as well as four teeth and a large portion of the roof of his mouth. At sea, the doctors and the dentist were sworn to secrecy, and the press reported that Cleveland was on vacation. How Cleveland and his staff managed the ruse, what they did to deny a news story, and how the story became known many years later are parts of Algeo's story.

Readers seeing the title may expect a political diatribe, but The President is a Sick Man is a well-told history that reveals much about the country in the late 19th Century. With its comments about future administrations, it might also be a good choice for book groups who like the history of medicine and politics.

Algeo, Matthew. The President is a Sick Man. Chicago Review Press, 2011. ISBN 9781569763506

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa by Peter Godwin

2011-07-11T08:51:00.000-07:00

Near the end of When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa, the author Peter Godwin in New York ends a phone conversation with his sick father in Harare, Zimbabwe.

I chat on about tobogganing with the kids in Central Park and the Hudson being thick with ice floes. And when I run out of news, he says, "OK, well, good-bye, then." The phone clicks off, and all I can hear is the buzzing of distance. And instead of hanging up, I leave it at my ear, listening to the audio signature of the long lines to Africa, something I have listened to much of my life. I imagine the lines looping from pole to pole across Harare, with paradise flycatchers and blackeyed bulbuls and masked weavers perched on it as it strings through jacaranda and musasa trees until it swoops down past the Hindhead hawkers and over our garden, over the aloes and papyrus reeds, the monkey puzzle and Jain's kapok tree and onto the Dutch gables of the house, where my mother is up to her elbows in crappy sheets, and Dad is toppling off his bed, and Gomo is padding quietly about the kitchen.

In a moment, Godwin has seen and shown his world to us. He has physically escaped the dangers of living in Zimbabwe, but his heart is still there with his parents. His mother, a nurse, is devoting her time to caring for his dying father. Neither will even consider moving out of the country they consider home. Amid the daily threats of robbery and murder, there are still the beautiful birds and gardens. Their friends are all dead or exiled, but to flee would be admitting defeat. Where would they go and what would they do at their age?

When we discussed When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, several people in our book group were very upset with Godwin. They thought he should have taken charge and made his parents leave Zimbabwe. I can not imagine that he could ever have succeeded. Being able to write beautiful prose is not enough to sway the hearts of parents. Few of us can ever dictate to our parents. Few of us even want to. Instead, we go our way, living far away, feeling regret and loss and helplessness.

I think When a Crocodile Eats the Sun will strike a cord with many readers.

Godwin, Peter. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa. Little Brown and Company, 2006. ISBN 9780316158947

1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History by Charles Bracelen Flood

2011-07-08T03:35:00.000-07:00

While I was reading 1776 by David McCullough, I was also listening to 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History by Charles Bracelen Flood. Not simultaneously, of course, but during the same days. It is sometimes risky business mixing books, but I kept the plots and characters apart fairly well despite the similarities. Both books are set in times of war, describe battles, assess their outcomes, and focus on the actions of an American leader. In the case of 1776, it was George Washington, the commander of the colonial army, a man who would later become president. In 1864, it was the standing president, Abraham Lincoln. In both books, the readers learn about the leader's circle of subordinates. What sets 1864 apart from 1776 is the detail to which Flood describes these men and their relationships with Lincoln. There are also more battles and more politics, and it is a much longer book.

What I most enjoyed were Flood's descriptions of the everyday Lincoln, hanging around the telegraph office at the War Department or admitting any citizen who came to the White House into his office for a chat. He was at times irritated by the constant stream of personal requests for government appointments or for stays for military deserters sentenced to die, but personal, sincere appeals often softened him. He wrote many notes of admittance for job seekers and granted many mothers' requests to save their sons. He also put himself at great personal risk, being shot at late one night when he was riding his horse alone back to the Old Soldier's Home summer retreat. Bullets also whizzed past him when he stood on the walls of a Fort Stevens watching the Jubal Early's approach Washington, D.C.

Flood's Lincoln was not always an ethical man. He traded political favors in ways that would now be condemned, and he demanded campaign contributions from his cabinet and many federal workers. He believed the Union would not hold if any other candidate won the 1864 election and was willing to do almost anything to win himself.

At 521 pages or 19 1/2 hours of audiobook, the size of 1864 is daunting, but it flows easily and will satisfy readers who like in depth history. It is a great account of a terrible time and should be available at most public libraries.

Flood, Charles Bracelen. 1864: Lincoln at the Gates of History. Simon & Schuster, 2009. ISBN 9781416552284

1776 by David McCullough

2011-07-06T12:00:00.000-07:00

I did not plan to do so, but I finished reading 1776 by David McCullough on July 4. That would be more appropriate if McCullough had described the scene of the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which someone might expect in a book with this the title. The author, however, tells a different story in his book. Instead of focusing on the political developments, he focuses on the military campaign and the leadership of George Washington. 1776 is pretty much an account of Washington's year in Boston, New York, and New Jersey as head of an ill-defined and untrained army. It's a story we do not hear as often as the story of the delegates drafting the Declaration of Independence, but probably it is just as important. The entire revolution could have failed early in the struggle if the British had pursued the rebels after battles or if the colonists had not regrouped several times.

1776 could almost be classified biography, as Washington is thoroughly described and remains the focus throughout the book. He was relatively inexperienced as a commander and made mistakes by not taking advice on several occasions. Readers also learn about his staff, especially Nathanael Greene and Henry Knox, and McCullough recounts the battles at Bunker Hill (1775), for New York and Long Island, and around Trenton, New Jersey. I was particularly struck by how the colonials got by without clothes, boots, food, ammunition, and pay. Hanging on was either a miracle or the sign of a big failure by distracted British commanders. General Howe rarely saw anything as urgent.

Readers who have enjoyed McCullough's biographies of Harry Truman and John Adams should try 1776, too. It is a closely-drawn character-center story which should please them.

McCullough, David. 1776. Simon and Schuster, 2005. ISBN 0743226712.

China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors by Frances Wood

2011-07-04T07:10:00.000-07:00

While I am weeding our history collection (removing books that are out of date, duplicates no longer needed, or damaged), I sometimes find books that are surprisingly pristine because no one has ever borrowed them. It does not happen often, but when it does I feel a bit sad. I know as a book selector that I can not unfailingly know what will interest future readers, but I regret finding books that have not been read even once. Such is the case with China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors by Frances Wood. I found it unspoiled by readers' fingers. It looked pretty interesting to me, and I probably was the librarian who purchased it, so I checked it out.

Wood is the head of the Chinese Department at the British Library and author of several books about China. As such, she is in a position to know much more about the history of China than most of us, and she recognizes that we do not make the mental connections that the Chinese do when they see the Great Wall or the Terracotta Warriors found buried in Shaanxi province. They are sights of wonder to us. To the Chinese, they are potent historical symbols that remind them of the legendary First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi (258-210 BCE). He is a key figure in Chinese history, credited with expanding the empire, starting great public works, urbanizing the nation, and creation of a bureaucracy that made China strong for over two thousand years. Despite all of these accomplishments, he is not exactly revered by the modern Chinese, for ancient stories tell of his great brutality. Many peasants and soldiers died following his orders.

In China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors, Wood claims that Qin Shi Huangdi's reptation may not be a fair assessment of his true character. She points out that no first hand accounts of his life exist and all that is known about him was written by enemies. Contrary to many claims, he did not build the Great Wall; sections were in place for as much as two hundred years before his reign; he constructed some of the links and improved inadequate sections.

The title is misleading. Wood does not really tell much about the Terracotta Warriors. Still, it is a book worth reading. Readers learn about the struggle between Confucianism and Legalism, ancient Chinese society, and the emperor's disregard for the environment. They also read about how Mao Zedong admired the First Emperor, especially the latter's trying to wipe out the past through the burning of books and other records. China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors is a short book (only 159 pages of text) and a good start for anyone wanting to learn more about the legacy of the ancient country.

Wood, Frances. China's First Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors. St. Martin's Press, 2007. ISBN 9780312381127.

Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs

2011-07-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

Some audiobooks are more than just readings of writings. They are performances in every way. Take the Selected Shorts audio collections on CD. I just listened to the Even More Laughs set, which featured eight short stories read by theater, film, and television actors before live audiences at Peter Norton Symphony Space in New York. Among them are Stephen Colbert, Parker Posey, and Alec Baldwin. How could you go wrong?

I joyfully listened to all three discs on a Saturday morning while I gardened. If anyone walked by, I did not notice them, but I am sure they heard me laughing at Parker Posey telling how she taught swimming in a landlocked community with a population of three and no pool. Her reading of "The Swim Team" by Miranda July seems just like stand-up comedy. So did Stephen Colbert's reading of T. Coraghessan Boyle's story "The Lie" in which the narrator tells how a fib to excuse himself from work got totally out of control.

I probably laughed the most at Thomas Meehan's "Yma Dream" read by Christine Baranski, but I can't tell you why and give it away.

I see the collection is called Even More Laughs becasue there already was Lots of Laughs. I think I will request that CD set, too.

Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs. 3 CD. ISBN 9781934033142.

Wild Africa by Alex Bernasconi

2011-06-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

Wild Africa by photographer Alex Bernasconi is a stunningly beautiful book. The jacket describes Bernasconi as a seasoned landscape and wildlife photographer with a shelf full of nature photography prizes. I can believe this is true just looking at the 270 pages of his new book. There is little text. Pictures tell the stories very dramatically. On page 174-175 for example, we see the moment of death for a wildebeest in the jaws of a lioness. The victims eyes are wide open and his teeth bared. Bernasconi reminds us that Africa is as cruel as it is beautiful.

My favorite photos are many. I especially like the leopard lounging on a burnt sienna rock across pages 60 and 61. Behind the leopard is a sky full of dark clouds fringed with orange. He may have been relaxed moments before, but he is now gazing intently to something to the left. On pages 142-143, a lone elephant wades through a marsh. The water is deep blue and the grass vivid green. He casts a shadow three times longer than his bulk. Where is he going? On page 160-161, a lone oryx stands among yellow tufts of grass set in the reddist dirt I've ever seen. In each case, the great image is a combination of animal in a dramatic landscape.

In the acknowledgements, Bernasconi states that these pictures taken in Kenya, Uganda, Botswana, and Namibia represent many years of work. As an occasional traveller, I envy the oportunity the photographer had to see all that he captured on film. Perhaps, I would not have wanted to spend the years he spent getting them. But then again, maybe I would.

Bernasconi, Alex. Wild Africa. Firefly Books, 2010. ISBN 9781554077724.

Sky Sailors: True Stories of the Balloon Era by David L. Bristow

2011-06-27T07:27:00.000-07:00

I wonder how I first became aware of balloons. Not those decorating parties, but big balloons that take people on adventures high above the earth. Could it have been in a children's book? Was it from a movie, such as The Wizard of Oz or Around the World in Eighty Days? I don't remember, but I do recall feeling wonder and wanting to float in the sky.

People have regarded balloons with wonder since 1783, according to David L. Bristow, author of Sky Sailors: True Stories of the Balloon Era. Many, such as the Montgolfier brothers or John Steiner, thought a balloon filled with hot-air or helium was the vehicle of the future, offering fast, smooth travel to distant destinations. If only someone could steer one and keep it afloat. The men and women featured in the stories of this book risked their lives trying to advance balloon technology or apply balloons to their needs, such as studying the atmosphere or escaping from besieged cities. Sadly, they never made ballooning safe, as the harrowing tales in this book attest. They did, however become heroes of their times, and their stories still make fascinating reading for young and old.

Bristow, David L. Sky Sailors: True Stories of the Balloon Era. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2010. ISBN 9780374370145.

Code of the Woosters by P.G. Wodehouse

2011-06-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

When I start reading a P. G. Wodehouse book, I am never quite sure whether I have already read it. Wodehouse reused numerous characters and plot devices throughout his writing career, and to complicate matter, I have seen all of the Bertie and Jeeves episodes on Masterpiece Theater. While I greatly enjoyed the performances of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Frey, I long to read the original and complete stories, rich in outrageously comical details. And reading them two or three times seems even better when I am in need of a laugh.

So, as I was reading The Code of the Woosters, I thought it seemed familiar. The story started in Bertie's London apartment, of course, and then moved to a large country home, just as readers expect. I knew all the characters by name and reputation. Gussie Fink-Nottle, Madeline Bassett, and Roderick Spode at this point in my reading career seem like real people to me. (I wonder if they are on Facebook.) What surprised me was how many people were trying to get Bertie to nick or hide items. Everyone seemed to be in on the robberies. At one point, the locations of a notebook filled with poisonous comments, a cow-shaped creamer, and a policeman's helmet all seemed to be in Bertie's unwilling possession. I was uncertain how Jeeves would get Bertie out of all the trouble.

After I finished the book, I did check my reading database. Yes, I read it back in 1998. Maybe I will read it again in 2024.

Wodehouse, P. G. The Code of the Woosters. Vintage Books, 1975. ISBN 9780394720289.

Historical Fiction with Leah White: A Program for Summer reading

2011-06-22T05:59:00.000-07:00

As Readers Services Librarian for the Morton Grove Public Library, Leah White says that she is one person who really gets to use her English major. She has got “the bookiest job ever.” She visited the Thomas Ford Library on Monday night to discuss topics and trends in historical fiction, the genre that we are highlighting with our summer reading program Another Time and Place. Before a circle of readers, she defined the genre, described some of its categories, and suggested books that readers would like.

What passes for historical fiction is not simple. Readers might think it is just fiction that takes place in a past time. Leah says there are other considerations. To pass as historical fiction, (1) a novel has to have been written at a later date than the action, (2) the author has to have researched the time and place, and (3) the author has to have included vivid details of time and place as part of the setting and plot. If the main characters could be pulled from the setting and thrown into another time and place without changing the story, then the book is probably not really historical fiction.

Asked how a reader would know that an author did research, Leah replied that authors will usually let you know in their acknowledgements by thanking librarians, archivists, and other keepers of history. She also said novels with maps and genealogies usually required research.

Leah pointed out that few libraries ever sticker novels as historical fiction, for too many titles would qualify. Many novelists utilize historical settings and details, making learning history more fun for readers than reading textbooks. As a rule, most historical novels are atmospheric and lengthy, demanding a commitment to read. If well written, readers can immerse themselves in other times for days or weeks.

Besides asking your friendly librarian (which is always a good tactic), Leah suggested four tools for identifying historical novels:

The website HistoricalNovels.info
The blog Reading the Past
The book Historical Fiction II: A Guide to the Genre by Sarah Johnson
The database Novelist Plus, available on many library websites

In her presentation, Leah described the following historical fiction novels:

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosney
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky (example of book that does not fit the historical fiction definition above)
The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
True Grit by Charles Portis
The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell
The White Queen by Phillippa Greory
The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear
Rise to Rebellion by Jeff Shaara
The Terror by Dan Simmons
Stonehenge: 2000 B.C. by Bernard Cornwell
Mexico by James Michener
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

With warmth Leah succinctly described each book, placed it in a category (or two), and described why readers would enjoy it. In doing so, she kept the circle of readers engaged and responded thoughtfully to questions throughout the discussion. I enjoyed listening and recommend her to other libraries wanting someone to discuss fiction with staff or in public programs.