First into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Prisoners of War by George Weller

Chicago Daily News reporter George Weller broke all the rules when he went into Nagasaki about four weeks after it had been blasted by the second atomic bomb dropped on Japan. He escaped his military escort, rode a still-running Japanese train, and pretended to be an American army officer. The ruse worked to the point that he obtained official Japanese cooperation, but his on-the spot reports were snagged by General MacArthur's censors and destroyed. The carbons from his typewriter were found in 2003. First into Nagasaki is the first publication of most of the stories from his months in and around Japan in the fall of 1945.

Why were Weller's reports suppressed? His accounts were not sensational. In fact, the military accounts of destruction and loss of life were higher, and most of his pieces dealt with soldiers and civilians who had been Japanese prisoners of war. In a memoir that he wrote later (also in this book), he surmised that MacArthur and his staff wanted full control of the story, which the reporter threatened.

The prisoner of war stories are more interesting than the Nagasaki story, which is as much about Weller's adventure as about the military event. The reporter spoke with hundreds of service men who had spent years in brutally hard work camps, often recording their own words. First Into Nagasaki should have an index so the descendants of these men could more easily find their stories.

From his interviews, Weller also learned much about the Pacific theater of war, and this book includes stories about Wake Island, the Philippines, and Japanese prisoner transport ships. World War II readers will want this book.

Weller, George. First into Nagasaki: The Censored Eyewitness Dispatches on Post-Atomic Japan and Prisoners of War. Crown Publishers, 2006. ISBN

The ricklibrarian Guide to Losing Your Wallet

Losing things. Sunglasses, hats, umbrellas, and jackets are among the things I have lost. I am not alone losing things. Library users often lose diskettes, school assignments, library cards, reading glasses, bookmarks, sweaters, gloves, and their own books. The items pile up in the lost and found.

I have a story. The past two weeks have been extraordinary. My daughter sang in her final high school choir concerts, her grandparents came to visit, we visited Chicago tourist sites, we attended the graduation ceremony, and we threw her a party. In the middle of the festivities, I lost my wallet.

I noticed that I did not have my wallet when Bonnie and I stood in front of a supermarket display of flowers. We were on our way to the last choir concert, and I had at the last moment changed my mind about which pants to wear. I assumed the wallet was in the other pants at home. I asked Bonnie to drive the rest of the evening. We attended the concert and went for dessert before going home.

When I got home, I found the wallet was not in the other pants. It was not on the bed, under the bed, behind the bed, on the dresser, in the dresser, on the bookshelves, in the closet, on the window sill, or on the night stand. It was not by the computer, in a jacket, by the front door, in the kitchen, or on the dining room table, nor was it in the recycling, in the waste baskets, in the clothes hamper, in the flower beds, or in the cat's litter box. I searched both cars completely. I looked everywhere and then I looked everywhere again.

I called the supermarket early in the search. The woman at the customer service desk checked the lost and found and then called around other departments. It had not been found, but she recommended calling back in the morning as there was a chance the overnight custodial crew would find it.

I cancelled my credit card. The agent said there was no indication that it had been used that day, and I would get a call about any further charges that appeared. Then I started trying to remember everything that I had in the wallet - my driver's license, library cards, health insurance card, Morton Arboretum pass, museum memberships, voter's registration, supermarket cards, a note with some little used passwords, emergency contacts, and a little cash.

I also remembered that my Social Security card was in the wallet. Bonnie said that I should not have been carrying it around. Of course, she was right, as the number is exactly what a dishonest person would like to find. I last showed the card to an employer fifteen years ago. It should not have been there.

I called the supermarket again in the morning, but it had not been turned in to the customer service desk. I searched the house, car, and yard again. I got a ride to the driver's license facility and for an hour watched bad public service in action. I came home, double-checked some unlikely spots in the house, and gave up the search.

Two days later, I attended my daughter's graduation ceremony. As I made my way out of the stadium, a woman called to me, "Mr. Roche, do you know the supermarket has your wallet?" She said that it was in a drawer at the camera department, which happens to be about ten feet away from the flower display.

We went straight to the supermarket, and I went in to the camera counter. I asked the woman behind the counter, who replied that she had not heard about a lost wallet. She opened several drawers and then consulted with another employee who said all wallets are supposed to go to the customer service desk. So I went to that desk. The agent there opened a drawer and pulled out my wallet, for which I thanked her. She said that she had tried to call me but that my phone was not in service. (Perhaps she misdialed.) I quickly checked and found all the cards and cash undisturbed. I was greatly relieved.

As I think back on the episode, I have two questions that will never be answered. How did I manage to drop the wallet from my button-closed pocket? Where was my wallet the two times I called the supermarket?

Here are my hard-learned lessons for those who lose things.

Lesson 1: When you discover something is missing, look around your immediate location. Do not assume it is somewhere else. If I had turned around, I would have probably seen the wallet on the floor behind me.

Lesson 2: Do not give up the search too quickly. I should have made a third call to the supermarket.

Lesson 3: Do not carry your Social Security card. Put it somewhere safer.

I also have advice for supermarkets, shops of all types, restaurants, community centers, schools, and libraries.

Lesson 4: Have one place that lost and found items go.

Lesson 5: Make sure everyone on the staff knows the lost and found place.

Lesson 6: When the owner of the item can be identified, call more than once.

People will continue to lose things, some of which are important. With care and consistency, we can reduce their distress and help them find what they have lost.

Ladybookbug: A New Anonymous Book Reviewer

Ladybookbug has joined the ranks of librarians writing reviews of the books she reads. Her blog is titled "On the Bookshelf," and her latest review looks at The Road by Cormac McCarthy. She would not have read the book if she had not heard the author interviewed, but then she was glad that she had.

So far, all but one of her books have been fiction, and most are top sellers. My favorite review, however, was of a first novel, Summer People by Brian Groh. I hope that she tackles more lesser-known authors to help us learn about them.

I added her URL to the Librarian's Book Revoogle, but none of her reviews appear in results yet. It appears that Google does not rank her blog yet. Visit her blog to help it out.

Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson

As Walter Isaacson explains in Einstein: His Life and Universe, Albert Einstein was a key figure in the history of the first half on the twentieth century. Not only did he pose revolutionary theories in physics, he became involved in many of the public issues of his time. Frequently relocating in his most active period, he renounced nationalism and claimed to be a citizen of the world. He supported Jewish settlement in Palestine, but insisted he was opposed the formation of a Jewish state. He preached pacifism until the Nazis took control of Germany. He refused all invitations to visit Russia, which he charged violated the precepts of socialism. He was frequently asked for his religious beliefs, which were reported widely.

His enormous fame did not come easily. He was a lowly-paid patent clerk in 1905, unable to get an academic appointment, when he wrote five scientific articles that challenged Newtonian physics. From these came the field of quantum physics and the concept of relativity. As Isaacson tells the story, it would still be another six years before the great thinker could afford a home with electricity. An ironic note is that Einstein would later regard his patent clerk days as his most creative.

Isaacson includes physics theorems in the biographical narrative, but he explains the concepts step by step as Einstein discovered them, and most readers should understand. They can elect to skim or skip these discussions of energy, matter, atomic structures, speed of light, and relation of space and time, but sticking with them enriches the text and gives a deeper appreciation of Einstein's life.

Isaacson also includes much detail of Einstein's family life, which was always strained and somewhat sad.

I listened to the actor Edward Herrmann reading the book on my iPod, which I enjoyed. Listening might be a good alternative for readers who are bogging down with the print edition.

Einstein is selling well, making the hardcover best seller lists in numerous newspapers. Every library should have it.

Isaacson, Walter. Einstein: His Life and Universe. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007. ISBN 9780743264730

18 compact discs. Simon and Schuster Audio. ISBN 9781428149342

Librarians Beware Chicago O'Hare

In a few weeks many librarians will be flying from Chicago O’Hare Airport to Washington, DC for the American Library Association Annual Conference. Because there is construction in and around the terminals and the parking garage, they should allow extra time.Here is what I saw yesterday (June 5, 2007) when I went to pick up relatives in for my daughter Laura’s graduation.

• At noon, the main garage and valet parking were full.The entrance to the parking garage was blocked by barriers and a couple of police cars.
• Cars congested the arrivals drive. Many people stood by their cars. They were apparently watching for friends, family, etc. coming from the baggage claims areas.
• Signs directed drivers to park in remote parking lot E.
• Signs at remote parking lot E said that it was full. New signs directed drivers to remote parking lot G.
• Buses from remote parking lot G to remote parking lot E to catch the tram to the terminals were full. I did get on.
• From the tram I saw that the parking lot for the International Terminal was full.
• Terminal 2 there is a down escalator but no up escalator from the bridge level down to the departures level. (From the tram, you enter at the bridge level.) Any one going up has to take an elevator.
• The departures area of level 2 was full of people. Most were in lines backed to go through security to go to the gates. I unofficially heard that the lines were 30 minutes long.
• Most of the escalators from the departures level to the baggage claim level have been removed. I found stairs at one end of the building and an escalator at the other end. (I don’t remember if it was up or down.)
• Luggage began arriving at baggage claim 25 minutes after the plane reached the gate.
• There was a line to take the elevator up to the bridge level to catch the tram back to parking lot E to get the bus to parking lot G.
• The buses were loaded to parking lot G.

It will be a long summer at Chicago O’Hare.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Some books are remarkable not for what they say but for how they say it. Such is the case with American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, a graphic novel about the son of immigrants trying to assimilate in an American school. The message of the book can be reduced to "Be yourself," which is a common theme in literature, but there is much more to the book.

American Born Chinese at first appears to be three stories in rotation - a Chinese folk tale about the Monkey King, the story of Jin Wang moving into a new school, and the story of Danny being embarrassed by his very stereotypical Chinese cousin. The Monkey King is angered by the prejudice of the Chinese deities, who will not allow him to join the party in heaven because he does not wear shoes. He transforms himself into a revengeful warrior who attacks the hosts of heaven, for which he is punished by being locked under a mountain of rubble until he learns his lesson.

Jin Wang is the central character. He tries to transform himself into an average American teen with increasing embarrassing results. The story of Danny is mostly in the background until the end when he confronts his cousin. At that point, all the stories come together cleverly.

American Born Chinese is aimed at teens, especially boys. It is at times violent in a comic book way, but it is a serious treatment of an ethnic experience that should be considered for library collections.

Yang, Gene Luen. American Born Chinese. New York: First Second, 2006. ISBN 1596431520

Baseball Haiku: American and Japanese Haiku and Senryu on Baseball

waiting to bat
the hitter swats
a swarm of gnats
Sylvia Forger-Ryan

Nearly two decades after Horace Wilson introduced baseball to Japan in 1872, Masaoka Shiki wrote the first baseball haiku.

spring breeze
this grassy field makes me
want to play catch

Jack Kerouac is often credited with writing the first American baseball haiku, and Beat poets continued the cause.

How cold! - late
September baseball -
the crickets

Baseball Haiku edited with translations by Cor Van Den Heuvel and Nanae Tamura includes a history of baseball haiku, sections of American haiku and Japanese haiku, a short history of baseball, a booklist, and an index of poets. Most of the works included do not adhere to the old 5-7-5 syllable standard. Some even have fewer than seventeen syllables. Senryu count morae (sound units familiar to the Japanese) instead of syllables.

cold day
the traded catcher's
empty locker
Cor van den Heuvel

Poets must not be talented players as there are several last-player- picked or not-even-picked haiku.

the last kid picked
running his fastest
to right field
Mike Dillon

the boy not chosen
steps over home plate,
picks up his books
Edward J. Rielly

Yes, that last haiku had a comma, the only one I noticed in the book.

While many haiku dealt with the play of the game or its viewing, some dealt with the ballpark and the lack of a game.

game over
all the empty seats
turn blue
Alan Pizzarelli

Get it.

Baseball Haiku: American and Japanese Haiku and Senryu on Baseball edited with translations by Cor Van Den Heuvel and Nanae Tamura. W. W. Norton, 2007. ISBN 9780393062199

"Hot Reads for the Summer": An Aid to Book Selectors from the Chicago Tribune

When I saw that the Saturday Books section in the June 2, 2007 issue of the Chicago Tribune included a list "Hot Reads for Summer," I expected a list of light reading in paperback to take to the beach. Wow, I was really wrong! Kristin Kloberdanz lists 150 new and soon to be published books that voracious readers will enjoy. Readers are already asking libraries for some of these books (a look at my library system's catalog verifies), and as more are published in the next three months, they will return to the request desk.

The list includes 150 titles, fiction and nonfiction, and takes four pages. The fiction appears to include literary novels, short stories, first novels, and a few sure bet best sellers. I know that I want to read The Maytrees by Annie Dillard and The Entitled: A Tale of Modern Baseball by Frank Deford. About one third of the list is nonfiction, and I see many titles to add to my reading list, including Chasing Kangaroos by Tim Flannery, Deluxe: How Luxury Lost It's Luster by Dana Thomas, At Large and at Small by Anne Fadiman, and Fanatic: 10 Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die by Jim Gorant.

The reviews in this week's Books again feature new works by authors attending this year's Printers Row Book Fair. If you are not in the Chicago area, you can watch C-Span2's live coverage of the book fair on June 9 and 10.

I think you will be able to see the Books section as a pdf at the Chicago Tribune online without registering. It is worth a look. I ordered 18 books after I did.

Raney by Clyde Edgerton

When Maggie of Maggie Reads quoted the Raleigh News and Observer, which said that the novelist Clyde Edgerton was "the love child of Dave Barry and Flannery O'Connor," I quickly placed a reserve for Raney, his first novel. I expected something strangely humorous. I was not disappointed.

An engagement announcement from the Hansen County Pilot on the opening page of the novel tells us that Raney is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thurman, the owner of a combination bait shop and grocery and a housewife. Raney is to marry Charles C. Shepherd at the Bethel Baptist Church. Charles is the assistant librarian at the Listre Community College and is full of liberal ideas that are going to shock his Bethel Free Will Baptist bride's world.

Charles had introduced himself to Raney at a Christmas dinner for faculty at the college. She had sung for the event, and he asked her to sing with him and his banjo. They fell in love without ever talking about their deeply set beliefs.

What we read is Raney's closely kept diary, in which she tells us of the wedding and their first year of marriage. You can bet she never intends anyone else to see it. Nearly every page includes an account of humorous incident, like Charles's reluctance to eat okra or his infuriating tendency to prefer reading books to visiting with her folks, but the novel is really very serious. It would be a great book discussion selection. Look for it in your library.

Edgerton, Clyde. Raney. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1985. ISBN 0912697172

Bread & Steel: Illinois Poets Reading from Their Works

I am listening to Bread & Steel: Illinois Poets Reading from Their Works. This is my fourth time through the twenty-four poems on the CD, and at this point I am developing favorites. The lead track "Benediction" by Stuart Dybek is mighty fine, full of sharp images, flash and sound. I marvel at how in "Oceans of Grass" Edward Hirsch can tell such a moving story in only sixty-eight seconds. "Bath" by John Knoepfle remembers a story about Abraham Lincoln, very appropriate for an Illinois poetry collection. In "Sufficiency of the Actual" Kevin Stein tells us the lessons we can learn from injured crickets and the members of the rock group The Who. Martha Vertreace-Doody brings Chicago and Bagdad dangerously together in "Walking under Night Sky."

Bread & Steel reminds me of a sample record album I acquired from Atlantic Records when I was a teen. On it were songs by Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Cream, the Young Rascals, and others. Like that album, Bread & Steel has a variety of voices, rhythms, moods, and messages. Like the album, I enjoy listening over and over again. I hear something new every time.

For centuries, poetry has been collected in and retrieved from books. Since poetry should be read aloud and heard, it seems to me the audio-formats deliver what books can not. Perhaps, at this point in history, publishers should start to include a CD of the poet reading with every print volume of poetry. We could all listen while we drive or garden.

In the meantime, public libraries, especially in Illinois, should get Bread & Steel, which is for sale by Bradley University.

Now Batting, Number ...; The Mystique, Superstition, and Lore of Baseball Uniform Numbers by Jack Looney

As we get deeply into the major league baseball season and our favorite teams sink in the standings, it is a good time to turn our attention away from the daily games and toward some baseball books. New at my library is Now Batting, Number... by Jack Looney, a big book about uniform numbers.

Now Batting, Number ... may be intended as a reference book, but I recommend circulating it to readers, for they will need more time to look at it than they will be willing to spend in the library. The main section of the book is "Team Rosters," a team-by-team, year-by-year list showing every player that wore a uniform number, 1916-2005. Other reference sections of the book are "Retired Numbers," which lists for every team the uniform numbers that have been removed from use to honor great players, and "Players by the Numbers," which lists every player and his numbers. The book also includes some sections that are intended for reading, including "Early Innings: A Brief History of Uniform Numbers" and "The Caretakers: Equipment Managers."

Browsing the book, I realize that not many players ever get through their careers with only one uniform number. The great players who stick to one team, such as Stan Musial and Carl Yastrzemski, and the "one cup of coffee" players get only one. Some players who move to a second team late in their career, such as Robin Yount and Eddie Murray, have the clout to demand their favorite numbers, but most have to take new numbers with new teams. Some greats, such as Cal Ripken and George Brett, only got their good low numbers after a couple of seasons wearing high numbers.

Larry Yount (Robin's brother), who only went to the pitching mound once, where he injured himself throwing warm up pitches, who never actually played in a game, wore two numbers in his short season with the Houston Astros.

Don Zimmer has worn fourteen uniform numbers as a player, coach, and manager.

If you you want to continue with the subject of baseball uniform numbers, seek out Baseball's Retired Numbers by Thomas W. Brucato, which includes data about about players in both the major and minor leagues. If you want to see how the uniforms have changed through time, check out Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century by Marc Okkonen, which shows the designs for all the major league teams.

Looney, Jack. Now Batting, Number ...; The Mystique, Superstition, and Lore of baseball's Uniform Numbers. New York: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2006. ISBN 1579125751

The Impressionists: A BBC Miniseries

When Monet, Renoir, Bazille, Manet, Degas, and Cezanne revolutionized painting in the nineteenth century, they were ridiculed by the French press and rejected by the judges of the Salon, the most prestigious of France's art exhibitions. Because few art dealers would buy their paintings, they were always in debt, often buying paints before paying their landlords and grocers. Recognition and admiration were decades away.

Seen on BBC and PBS television, The Impressionists is a three episode miniseries full of light and color, just like the paintings of these impressionist painters. Based on letters, diaries, and interviews of the time, this dramatization shows an aged Monet (played by Julian Glover) remembering the lives of his friends. Much of the film appears to have been shot at historic locations (or good recreations), as viewers are shown both settings and the resulting masterworks throughout the presentation.

Teachers might consider showing the miniseries to their students, as the characters discuss their methods and philosophies. Viewer learn much art history effortlessly. One of my favorite scenes has a young Monet (played by Richard Armitage) at his easel in a field painting his family standing among the wildflowers; they will not stay put while he works, so he paints them in two spots on the canvas. I also really liked the scene of Monet running from canvas to canvas as the light changed on haystacks.

Readers who enjoyed The Judgment of Paris by Ross King should see this three hour miniseries. Viewers might also like Un Dimanche à la campagne (A Sunday in the Country), a beautiful French film about an aging impressionist painter remembering his life work.

Impressionists. Koch Vision, 2002. 2 DVDs. ISBN 1417229527.

Our New Camera Captures Hudson the Polar Bear

Bonnie and I took our new camera to the zoo today to see Hudson the Polar Bear, a cub who was born late last year. He was in the water entertaining the crowd. Here he is pouncing on his red toy. Having upgraded from a 3x to a 10x zoom, we were able to get much better polar bear pictures than ever before.

To see all the photos of Hudson that were worth keeping, go to the Hudson the Polar Bear set on my Flickr site. You may view as a slide show if you like.

The increase zoom and faster shooting time is going to make a big difference in our photos. The camera is ready for our trip to the American Library Association Annual Conference in Washington, DC next month. We will have lots of photos.

The Teammates by David Halberstam

The reference staff at the Downers Grove Public Library recently discussed sports books at one of its weekly department meeting. For its continuing staff nonfiction genre discussions, Bonnie read and reported on The Teammates by the late David Halberstam. Knowing my love of good baseball books, she then recommended it to me. She said that I would like it, and she was right.

After Ted Williams died in 2002, Halberstam sought out the former Boston Red Sox outfielders' closest friends. Among the former Red Sox players that the author visited were Dominic DiMaggio, Bobby Doerr, and Johnny Pesky, men with whom Williams had been friends for over sixty years. Using these interviews and research for his 1989 book Summer of '49, Halberstam wrote this portrait of the quartet, telling about their origins, careers, and families. Readers will notice how strongly the author admired the four men and see how DiMaggio, Doerr, and Pesky lent stability to the emotionally explosive Williams.

The Teammates is a book about lasting friendship, and baseball is simply the setting. Vintage photographs and career statistics were added for sports fans, but loving sports is not a requirement to enjoy this book, which is widely available in public libraries.

Halberstam, David. The Teammates. New York: Hyperion, 2003. ISBN 140130057x

Update on the Saturday Chicago Tribune Book Section

This is the second week of "Books" in the Saturday edition of the Chicago Tribune. Already the number of pages has fallen from sixteen back to twelve. It still looks really nice because there is essentially no advertising. Several of the reviews get a full page and photographs. There is a good regional flavor to the issue.

There are two more things that I notice about this week's issue.

• Almost all of the reviews are for books whose authors will be at the Printer's Row Book Fair, which the Tribune sponsors, June 9 and 10.
• The first four big nonfiction book reviews are negative. The reviewers are ultimately disappointed or unsatisfied.

So, I wonder if the authors at the book fair will be defending their books.

Core Biography Survey Results

Maggie of Maggie Reads reminded me that I have not reported the results of my survey about biographies in the public library. Six weeks ago I asked, "what famous persons should have books in the biography section?" I suggested a few important people and posted a survey box for readers to submit other names.

Thirteen people accepted the invitation and submitted 108 names. Sacagawea, Golda Meir, Nelson Mandela, Stephen Hawking, Malcolm X, Sigmund Freud, and Jim Henson are just a few of the interesting names. Some readers agreed, so Cleopatra, Joseph Stalin, Andy Warhol, Al Gore, Frank Sinatra, and Benjamin Franklin were submitted more than once.

Click here to see the Zoho Creator table with the names.

I will keep these names in mind as I work on further biography projects. Thanks.

Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised the Nation by Cokie Roberts

When I went to the University of Texas many years ago, I was impressed with the variety of U.S. history classes, which all took the same eras and portrayed them in different ways. There were social histories, diplomatic histories, ethnic histories, etc. I enjoyed studying colonial and early U.S. history over and over again and met my academic requirements without ever getting past the Civil War. Later I realized that the same variety lives in U.S. history books, and some of those classes that I took were versions of my professors' books. With that in mind, I listened to Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised the Nation by Cokie Roberts, which tells what women were doing for the cause during the American Revolution and early years of the nation.

The women were very busy. Abigail Adams was running the farm and dealing with John's legal affairs. Mercy Otis Warren was ghost writing pamphlets and plays in support of liberty. Eliza Pickney was managing cotton and indigo plantations. Martha Washington was feeding and comforting the American troops. Many were advising their husbands on national affairs. They were all raising children.

Some women in New Jersey were even voting. The New Jersey constitution passed in 1776 made no reference to gender in requiring voters to be worth 50 British pounds. Single women and widows who owned property discovered that they had the right to vote and no one stopped them until 1807 when the members of the state legislature passed an act to limit voting to men.

Founding Mothers is somewhat chronological, so each woman's story is started, suspended, and continued in the many chapters. Readers who know their names well already will have no trouble, but other readers might benefit by keeping a list of characters.

Being a National Public Radio fan, I felt very comfortable listening to Roberts read. Though the chapter are longer than any of her radio reports, they had the same "this is what I've learned and it's a really good story" quality. Listeners can tell that she is enjoying reading the book.

Library Thing members are not as positive about the book as I am, giving it only a 3.23 out of 5 rating. I give it 4 stars.

Librarians should recommend Founding Mothers to readers of history, biography, and women's studies. The audiobook is a good companion in the car or the garden.

Roberts, Cokie. Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. New York : William Morrow, 2004. ISBN 0060090251

6 compact discs. New York, NY : HarperCollins Publishers, c2004. ISBN 0060527870

Virginia Woolf's Nose: Essays on Biography by Hermione Lee

"Biographers Gone Bad" could have been the title of this book. Instead, Hermione Lee chose Virginia Woolf's Nose, reflecting her complaints about how Woolf is portrayed in the book and film versions of The Hours by Michael Cunningham. She argues in the second of four essays in this book on literary biography that Woolf was actually a humorous, charming person, not Cunningham's drab, unappealing character. She rues that The Hours has now colored the author's public reputation adversely.

In the first essay in the volume, "Shelley's Heart and Pepys's Lobsters," Lee berates biographers for omitting vital facts from their books to simplify their narratives to conform the biographers' viewpoints. She uses many stories of what became of the poet Shelley's heart after his death and cremation to illustrate her point. She also shows how biographers use a Samuel Pepys quote without ever giving it proper context.

In the third essay, "Jane Austen Faints," the essayist tells about how the Austen family controlled the portrayal of the author successfully for a century by having relatives write biographies. With most of the evidence of the author's life destroyed intentionally, modern biographers now speculate on her life, often unfairly.

In the final essay, "How to End It All," Lee shows how biographers bend the truth in telling death scenes to make the final moments sum up their lives tidily.

Virginia Woolf's Nose is an entertaining book that should make readers very cautious.

Lee, Hermione. Virginia Woolf's Nose: Essays on Biography. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005. ISBN 0691120323

Origami cicada

Origami cicada
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Anne, our director, brought us instructions to make origami cicada today. She made plenty of copies and put them at the reference desk with paper squares in many colors. Knowing that clients may ask for help, I made two in advance. This photo shows the second attempt, which came out much better than the first. Now I am taking a copy of the instructions home to my daughter. We have some nice origami paper there, which we can use for some fancier cicada.

Watch here for more cicadamania.

Today's Word: tulle

Tulle [tool] n. - Hard to find netting made of acetate, nylon, or rayon, rumored to be available in Chicago area fabric stores. Useful for wrapping young trees and shrubs during an outbreak of seventeen year cicada to keep the cicadas from laying eggs in pencil thin limbs. When brightly colored tulle is used to wrap trees, landscapes are transformed ala Christo.

The cicadas have come today as predicted. As I drove this morning , I saw three kids and a mother examining the trunk of a trees that had cicada crawling upward. I have seen several dozen so far. There will be more. Many more.