The Chicago Tribune's Saturday Book Section

The Chicago Tribune rolled out its new Saturday book section today, as it announced weeks ago. The good news is that Books has expanded to sixteen pages, up from twelve. The bad news is that it is in the Saturday paper, which has many fewer readers than the Sunday paper. The good news is that it looks really sharp, with more books reviewed in a layout that resembles the New York Times Book Review. The bad news is that it looks so good because there is very little advertising to clutter the pages; the penny counters in the newspaper's business office certainly won't want to continue a section that does not raise advertising revenue.

Today's book section has an interesting mix of titles, including serious and light fiction, a couple of large biographies, history, true crime, and children's books. Several of the books have Chicago area appeal. The book that I am putting on my reading list is Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction is Changing Men, Women, and the World by Liza Mundy. I am glad to see my library has it and someone is already reading it.

Just three weeks ago the New York Times ran an article about the death of book sections in newspapers across the country. Will the Chicago Tribune book section long survive? Let's hope for a miracle.

The Biography Book: A Reader's Guide to Nonfiction, Fictional, and Film Biographies of More Than 500 of the Most Fascinating Individuals of All Time

I am seeking a core list of biographies . My purpose is to identify famous people whose biographies should be in most public libraries. I wonder if anyone has ever prescribed such a list by famous name, not by book title. I have not found such a list yet, but I have found The Biography Book by Daniel S. Burt.

The Biography Book's content is very impressive. For each of the 509 historical figures, all deceased, Burt provides a one paragraph profile, notes autobiographical and primary sources, and identifies recommended biographies (usually two or three), other biographies (often not as comprehensive as the recommended titles), biographical novels, fictional portraits, juvenile biographies, and films and plays portraying the figures. In his introduction, the author says that he chose the figures by searching through the catalogs of the public and academic libraries of Connecticut. The historical figures that made his book had at least thirty books about "their lives, work, or achievement" in these libraries. He included only biographical titles in this reference book. Books of literary criticism, histories of political administrations, and illustrated art books were excluded.

I think the resulting list must reflect the academic collections in Connecticut more than the public collections, as there are numerous figures I do not consider necessary for small public libraries. Names that surprised me included Aubrey Beardsley (English illustrator and writer), Coco Chanel (20th century fashion designer), Thomas de Quincey (19th century English essayist), Michel de Montaigne (16th century French essayist), and Ivan Turgenev (19th century Russian novelist). The list includes many writers, artists, classical musicians, and English monarchs.

I was surprised also by some names that are not included. Presidents James Polk and James Buchanan, the explorer Meriwether Lewis, sports figures Babe Ruth and Jim Thorpe, actors Mary Pickford and John Wayne, and musician Louis Armstrong. I expect students and general readers to ask for biographies of these famous people.

To be fair, most essential names that I checked are in this reference book. It can be used to study library collections, but librarians will have to use their good judgement whether biographies should be acquired. Readers' advisory librarians also could use Burt's book to create some interesting booklists matching biographies with novels.

The book has title, nationality, occupation, time period, and subject indexes. It should be in academic and large public libraries.

Burt, Daniel S. The Biography Book: A Reader's Guide to Nonfiction, Fictional, and Film Biographies of More Than 500 of the Most Fascinating Individuals of All Time. Westport, Connecticut: Oryx Press, 2001. ISBN 1573562564

Buildings of the District of Columbia by Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee

By this time last year, I had reviewed four books about New Orleans. This is my first look at Washington, DC books in preparation for attending the American Library Association Annual Conference in late June. My own need for study is a little less this year, as I have been to DC in the past and have seen most of the major sites. Still I want to be an informed visitor, so I plan to read and skim a few books in the next month.

I am starting with Buildings of the District of Columbia by Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee, published in 1993. Of course, there are new buildings in Washington since that date, such as the Holocaust Museum, but most of the architecture of the city is old and preserved for the citizens and visitors to see. This book, which includes both public and residential buildings, is still useful for tourists with architectural interests. It is arranged by neighborhoods, starting with the Mall, and describes hundreds of buildings, some in great detail.

For example, Scott and Lee devote about three pages to the Thomas Jefferson Building of the Library of Congress, 1871-1897. They tell readers that it was "the first building in Washington to express fully the tenets of the Beaux-Arts system of architecture." They explain that the architects modelled the building on the Paris Opera House of 1861-1875, replacing the theater with a reading room. They also describe the external and interior ornamentation, saying that like many Victorian era buildings, the art and sculpture is very symbolic. In the end, they state that the decoration is overdone and criticize the columns on some staircases as being poorly proportioned.

Black and white photos and maps are included. A glossary of architectural terms is included, just before the index.

Buildings of the District of Columbia was the first book in the Society of Architectural Historians Buildings of the United States series. The series is intended to be a comprehensive survey of all the architecture of the Unites States with a volume for every state and Washington, DC. Fourteen years later, there are ten volumes, adding Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, Rhode Island, Virginia, and West Virginia. The Virginia volume appears to be only a portion of the state, so there may ultimately be more than fifty-one volumes.

I purchased three volumes for our library back in 1996, thinking that we would build the set. Because our Iowa and Michigan books have never been borrowed, I have refrained from buying more. In our small library we do not have the readers to match with these books. The set, if ever completed, should be added to large city, college, and university libraries. Most public libraries should get their own state. This volume for Washington, DC may have more appeal than most other volumes.

Pamela Scott and Antoinette J. Lee. Buildings of the District of Columbia. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. ISBN 0195061462

Good Poems for Hard Times Selected and Introduced by Garrison Keillor

A funny thing happened at our book group last night. As I sat down on the couch, I discovered that my school bus yellow book jacket stuck out among those of dark blue. I read the wrong book! What's funny is a moment later two others came in with the same wrong book. As it worked out, it was not a problem. In fact, it made the evening better.

The assigned book was Good Poems selected and introduced by Garrison Keillor. What three of us read was Good Poems for Hard Times, a sequel with a whole new collection of poetry.

After a few laughs, Nancy, our host, read portions of two book reviews from the April 2004 issue of the journal Poetry. In "Title Tells All" Dana Gioia of the National Endowment of the Arts admires the book as "slightly subversive" and "an admirable mix of familiar and unfamiliar poems." He commends the collection for "quality, freshness, and diversity." It is okay with him that the book will appeal to many readers who usually do not like poetry. Then Nancy read from "No Antonin Artaud with the Flapjacks, Please" by the poet August Kleinzahler. He suggests that American forces in the Middle East use audiotapes of Keillor reading poetry as a weapon against terrorists. The collection "isn't poetry at all but prose arbitrarily broken into lines masquerading as poetry." He complains about wholesomeness and whimsy. Kleinzahler says that Keillor's "boosterism" will sell books but do nothing to turn "the better animals in the jungle" to poetry.

Of course, being the average Midwesterns that we are, we all liked the books. We spent the evening reading and discussing our favorite selections. After Amy read "The Summer-Camp Bus Pulls Away from the Curb" by Sharon Olds, I said that I really enjoyed it. Monique observed, "You have a daughter going off to college. That's why." She was right. I find the poem reassuring, which, despite Mr. Kleinzahler, is okay.

Poems in both collection were read by Keillor on his five-minute program The Writer's Almanac. Postcasts are available daily.

Both collection should be in most public libraries.

Good Poems. New York: Viking, 2002. ISBN 0670031267

Good Poems for Hard Times. New York: Viking, 2005. ISBN 0670034363

Changing Call Numbers on Books: The Evolution from "Never" to "Right Away"

You might think that I am a dinosaur. I got into libraries just before computerized circulation systems became popular. I worked for two libraries during data entry projects for their first computers. I remember their microfilm-based checkout systems; it took these libraries six months to notice an item had not returned, develop the microfilm record of the checkout transaction, and send an overdue notice.

I am actually one of the small mammals that saw the dinosaurs die off. Opportunists, we evolved into a dominant species, computer-savvy librarians. Computers and their software led us to change more than just our library practices and procedures. They let us change our attitudes.

When I started working in libraries, few librarians would ever consider changing the call number on a book. Too much work had gone into assigning the call number and processing the item. Changing it would require not only slapping a new label on the spine, but also pulling all the catalog and shelflist cards, using buff-colored whiteout on the old numbers, lining up the cards in a typewriter to type new numbers, and refiling all the cards. The prevailing attitude was that libraries had to live with the old call numbers no matter how bad they were.

I think the seeds of change were planted by word processing software. The idea that a document could be saved and easily modified at a later date was revolutionary thinking. The real opportunity for change came when libraries closed their card catalogs.

Here is what I have seen. I will not name libraries as my intention is not to criticize. Many libraries were like them.

In my first job I worked in a city library system with numerous branch libraries. All cataloguing was done in the central library and catalog cards were filed in two buildings (the central library and the appropriate branch). Every six months branch libraries received two floppy book catalogs (produced from punch cards run through a mainframe computer). The two large paper-covered books let readers browse (if they were up to the effort) for authors or titles in libraries throughout the city. In this situation, no one would ever request a call number change. The paperwork would take months.

In my second job the situation was similar. The library served three counties, and there was a three month cataloguing/book processing backup in the best of times. No one had time to change a call number.

My third job was in a moderately small suburban library that was part of a growing consortium that was building a computerized checkout system. Call number data had not been entered into the system. The small library had its own cataloguer, who was willing to change call numbers if requested, but it was still a lot of work pulling and refiling catalog cards. We changed numbers rarely, but we did actually do it to update several call numbers that Dewey authorities had changed.

Fast forward past this increasing tedious litany to the exciting present.

The Thomas Ford Memorial Library was Library 2.0 user-friendly before the label was ever used. In the mid-1990s we began slowly changing call numbers when we found our books on topics shelved in numerous Dewey locations. Our thinking that was that our collection was too small to allow us to leave the books separated. When we had only two or three books on a subject, we needed them together. Our readers needed them together so they would find them. We did this even when it meant editing cards, refiling, and updating a computer record.

When we disposed of the card catalog, we increased our effort. We massively changed call numbers in the literature section to simplify access. Now all poetry books by an American author are at 811 with no era-related decimals added. (We took the idea from the Downers Grove Public Library.) We reorganized the books on painters, which were a mess. Claude Monet had had three call numbers. We also reworked the gardening and landscaping areas. Before this effort readers could find books on roses under four call numbers. Thomas Ford staff has been great throughout the effort. We discuss what needs to be done and then do it. Current technology makes it possible, so "Why not?" We have a developed a "right away" staff culture, which goes beyond just changing call numbers.

I said that we have seen the dinosaurs die off. I am not sure that they have all died as yet. Are you a dino or a quickly evolving mammal? How are your library's call numbers?

The Longest Journey by E. M. Forster

This is the centennial year for The Longest Journey by E. M. Forster, an early novel by the author of A Room with a View (1908), Howard's End (1910), and A Passage to India (1924). Though it is less known today than these other novels, Forster often said that it was his favorite work. Through the characters of Frederick (Rickie) Elliot and his friend Stewart Ansell, he works some of his own school and writing experiences into fiction and expresses his misgivings with the British class structure.

Forster took his title from the Shelley's poem "Epipsychidion," which suggests people sometimes live out their lives with the wrong partners and companions. He could have titled the novel No Great Expectations, as in youth the lame Elliot is sheltered by his mother, who intends just to keep him home. Once she and her estranged husband die, Elliot is sent to live with an aunt, who sends him to day school. He finds his first friends later at Cambridge University, where he is a mediocre student, and after graduating he marries more for pity than love. He tries to write little stories while teaching at a second rate school. Family revelations worthy of a soap opera follow, and the end is slightly heroic but tragic. E. M. Forster fans will love it.

As in other Forster novels, action revolves around moments of misunderstanding and betrayal. Scenes are well-drawn and characters are complicated. It should be adapted for Masterpiece Theater. I listen to an audiobook version read by Nadia May. It was a good companion while gardening.

Forster, E. M. The Longest Journey. New York: Vintage Books, 1993. ISBN 0679748156.

9 compact discs. Ashland, OR : Blackstone Audiobooks, p2000. ISBN 0786197323.

The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith

It is getting hard to review the books of Alexander McCall Smith without repeating myself. It is like reviewing episodes of a recurring television series. Each installment has many of the same positive qualities.

I just finished The Good Husband of Zebra Drive, which continues the story of Mma Ramotswe and her friends in Botswana that started in The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I enjoyed this eighth book of the series very much. I do not want to spoil the story, so I will only say that the agency juggles three cases, while the mechanic's apprentice Charlie tries to start his own business. With an agency office problem added into the mix, I count five parallel plots. Readers will have to keep reading to sort it all out.

What I thought would be interesting is to see how other readers rate the book. I looked at Library Thing, where I found that 100 readers have added the new book to their online catalogs. Of that number, 18 have rated it so far. This Library Thing chart shows readers liking the book so far.

Other books in the series have gotten similar member ratings: Blue Shoes and Happiness (3.9), In the Company of Cheerful Ladies (4.09), The Full Cupboard of Life (3.91), The Kalahari Typing School for Men (3.83), Morality for Beautiful Girls (3.83), Tears for the Giraffe (3.87), and No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency (3.82).

For contrast, I checked Amazon to see how its customers rate the book. So far, 41 have rated it, with the average rating being slightly over 4 stars. Amazon does not provide as specific a statistic as Library Thing nor does it have the nice green bar chart.

If you are planning to read No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Series books, I urge that you do start with book one, which has lent its name to the series. It sets the groundwork for the series. Other books are better read in order, too, as there are developments that are easier to understand chronologically.

I will end with a question. Does anyone know the name of the younger apprentice at Tlokweng Road Speedy Motors?

McCall Smith, Alexander. The Good Husband of Zebra Drive. New York: Pantheon Books, 2007. ISBN 9780375422737

Happy Mothers Day!

Newly Planted Containers
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

I hope everyone is enjoying Mother's Day. We have been planting flowers for days and are now sitting back looking at the new beds and containers, imagining what the results will be in another one and two and three months.

Not every mother is free the whole day. Ironically Bonnie and the two other mothers in the reference department at the Downers Grove Public Library are working today. If you are away from your Mom and happen to be in the area, you could celebrate by dropping in DGPL and asking a mom to help you with a reference question or choose a good book. They will enjoy helping you.

Express you appreciations to mothers everywhere. Happy Mothers Day!

An Evening with E. L. Doctorow: The Big Read Finale

You could have heard a pin drop, as E. L. Doctorow paused in his reading from his National Book Critics Circle winning novel The March. Hundreds of readers from eight libraries listened to his tale about the final months of the American Civil War. In the story about Sherman's march through Georgia and South Carolina, the English journalist Hugh Pryce had just pulled a small, thin slave named David onto his swaybacked mule, and they left the ugly scene of Union soldiers beating and raping a plantation owner's daughter. Pryce said to himself, this is not your country. This is not your war.

After reading two sections of his novel, the author answered questions from the listeners. Though most members of the audience were over forty years of age, the best question about the story came from a high school student who asked why the author thought it was important to write about the Civil War now. Mr. Doctorow said that Sherman's march was an innovation in warfare. To move quickly the army did not carry provisions and lived off what it found in its path. As it destroyed towns and plantations, freed slaves and many whites no longer had homes and followed the army north. In the process a culture was destroyed, embittering its survivors and descendants. The scars of the Civil War remain today as we still have racism and regional hatred. Doctorow added that when you write about the past, you also write about the present.

The author answered questions about his methods of writing. He said that he was initially slowed down by computer word processing, as he found it too easy to revise his text. He just kept revising and not finishing until he started working from printouts instead of from the monitor. He writes facing a blank wall to avoid distractions. He avoids most quotation marks. He said that they are like ants on a page. He claimed that if an author writes well the reader knows what is speech and who is speaking without them. (In his spirit I have not used quotation marks in this report.)

The presentation by E. L. Doctorow was the final program in a two-month long series from eight libraries in the western suburbs of Chicago. The Big Read 2007 featured book discussions, fashions from the Civil War, portrayals of famous people, an army encampment, quilt displays, musical performances, movies, and slideshows about Lincoln and Chicago's role in the war. Most of the programs were well attended and the libraries have heard many grateful comments.

In about a week, librarians from Clarendon Hills, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Indian Prairie, Lisle, Thomas Ford, Westmont, and Woodridge start planning for 2008. What should we read next year?

On Tea and Books

I keep reading about tea. In A Country Year by Sue Hubbell, she serves tea when a friend visits her farm in the Missouri Ozarks; she probably uses some of her own honey to sweeten it. Greg Mortensen, author of Three Cups of Tea, drinks tea with practically every person he meets in Pakistan; it is a common courtesy. I am now reading The Good Husband of Zebra Drive by Alexander McCall Smith; whenever a client comes to the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, Mma Ramotswe serves tea.

I was visited by a salesman yesterday. I chose a table in the public area for us to sit, as I do not have a private office and the board room was in use. He needed a surface for laying out his documents and nothing was confidential, so it did not seem a bad place to meet. Halfway through the conversation, I suddenly thought that if we were in Pakistan or Botswana, we would be drinking tea. I felt ungracious as we sat there in stiff chairs.

I resolve to change the way I meet with my appointments.

• I will offer tea, coffee, or cocoa. We have a machine that makes beverages in an instant.
• I will chat before getting down to business.
• I will select a less public spot for meeting if possible. I will clear off my desk in the workroom if necessary.
• I will try to meet international standards of courtesy.

As several of the authors in The Book That Changed My Life say, every book changes me. I am sometimes slow to comprehend.

Dewey Decimal Local

Personalization and localization of web services is an Internet trend that has been growing for several years. Why don't we take the same principle and apply it to Dewey Decimal Classification? Why don't we create Dewey Decimal Local?

"Wait!" you say. Independent thinking librarians have been playing loose with Dewey numbers for years. Former library school students, who got grades of B and C because they could not match the numbers that the cataloguing instructor wanted, have been putting books under locally appropriate call numbers for decades. What is the new idea?

Dewey is a massive scheme that takes four volumes in print. It seems to me that it would be helpful for someone (not me, I don't have the time or skill) to take an electronic version and filter it to allow local decision making. A questionnaire of preferences would let the local library personalize the scheme.

To make the scheme work best, each library would first have to identify its types of clients and rank them. This would require some polling of the community and fit into long range planning. The resulting group rankings would then direct call number selection.

What groups are borrowing library materials? If the library has more travellers than architecture students, then books on regional architecture would go in the travel section where they might be borrowed more frequently. If the library has more parents than psychology majors, materials on child development would join the parenting collection.

If a library has significant Jewish, Muslim, or other religious populations, the Dewey Decimal Local would reassign the 200s to give these groups larger ranges.

If it makes no difference (and is in fact confusing) to local readers whether a poet is American or English, the new DDL would combine them. They all write in English (usually).

Can some tech-wise librarian design a mashup to do this? Could it be called Dewey 2.0?

While someone works on this, lets all think about our local clients and how they find materials and try to set them in their paths.

A Country Year: Living the Questions by Sue Hubbell

When Sue Hubbell wrote her first book A Country Year: Living the Questions, she had been living on her farm in the Missouri Ozarks for twelve years. Her husband had been gone five years, and she had mastered beekeeping and become an adept naturalist. When not working with her bees and their hives, she was observing plants and creatures around her. Nothing missed her notice; in her essays, she wrote about opossums, coyotes, a variety of snakes, wild orchids, brown recluse spiders, cedar waxwings, house termites, wild roses, bobcats, her dogs, and honey bees. Unlike many of her neighbors, she enjoyed and tolerated the wildlife, even the species with bad reputations.

Though she spent much of her time alone, Hubbell was not a hermit in the Thoreau tradition. Frequently she visited her local junkyard man to find parts for her old truck that she had named Press On Regardless. She winched the mail truck out of the mud. She invited area beekeepers to an annual party on her farm. She gave her old tractor to a neighbor on the condition he maintain it and mow her brush. She opened her doors and heart to the VFW members who witnessed a friend's suicide at the local picnic grounds.

A Country Year has become a classic on rural living. It is more down-to-earth than Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Readers who enjoy Jane Brox's Here and Nowhere Else will enjoy its sense of place. It appears to be the most popular of Hubbell's books, if you measure by copies owned by Library Thing members, who give it a high reading rating (see chart above).

Listening to A Country Year on compact discs is a good choice while tending your garden.

Hubbell, Sue. A Country Year: Living the Questions. New York: Random House, 1986. ISBN 0394546032

5 Compact Discs. Charlotte Hall, MD : Recorded Books, p1989. ISBN 1419321323

Twentieth Century Lives: Biography Panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

Every Thursday I receive an email with highlights of the upcoming C-SPAN 2 Books TV schedule. I rarely make time to watch TV but I scan the announcement to see if there are books that my library should acquire being discussed. Two weeks ago I noticed a program that I wanted to see. Because it was already Friday when I read the message, I called Bonnie and she recorded the live presentation of Twentieth Century Lives: Biography Panel at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

Yesterday I watched the panel discussion.

According to A. Scott Berg, who was leading the discussion, it was the eleventh year for the biography panel. On this year's panel were Anthony Arthur, the author of Radical Innocent: Upton Sinclair; Neal Gabler, author of Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination; Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe; and Harold Zellman, coauthor of The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship.

Gabler had just won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography. When asked about why he chose to write about Walt Disney, he said that none of the current works about him were comprehensive or well-documented, and he thought Disney was an import figure that had been disregarded. Gabler got unprecedented access to the Disney company archives and interviewed studio animators and family members. He suggested that a writer has to be crazy to take up biography, as it is easy to become addicted to one's subject; he spent seven years reading Disney's letters and company memos.

Zellman said he and Roger Friedland had to have been crazy to start a book on Frank Lloyd Wright, as a visitor to any Wright site gift shop will find many books on the architect still in print. In their book they planned to have one cahpter to focus on the interns at Taliesin and Taliesin West. That chapter grew and became a book. Sounding a bit uncertain whether such exists, Zellman called The Fellowship a "group biography." (Group biographies do indeed exist, Mr. Zellman. Ask a librarian.)

Walter Isaacson described Albert Einstein as a patent clerk who was a slow learner who became the man of the twentieth century because he was rebellious, creative, and willing to challenge conventional thinking. Isaacson had long been fascinated by Einstein and jumped into writing when the scientist's papers were unlocked in 2006. He found it ironic that the story of Einstein is used by many to justify the difficulty of understanding science (you have to be a genius) when in fact the lesson of his life is that anyone with curiosity can understand. Einstein once said jokingly, "I'm no Einstein."

Anthony Arthur said Upton Sinclair is a mostly forgotten figure now. The Jungle is the only title most people remember, and many of them say that Sinclair Lewis wrote it. Arthur said that Sinclair stayed connected with important people throughout the century until his death in 1968, and he met Disney, Wright, and Einstein in his Los Angeles years.

If librarians were watching, Arthur made them cringe. He spoke at length about the Lanny Budd series, which Sinclair wrote late in life. As an aside, Arthur claimed that the Los Angeles Public Library had disposed of all of its copies of the eleven books in the series. This is not true, as a look in the library's catalog shows multiple copies of each of the titles in the central library. (Did Arthur have trouble with the catalog?) (Did he mean the County of Los Angeles County Public Library? The books are there also.)

The discussion was varied and random, so it is difficult to make any observations about the state of the art of the biography. As Gabler said, authors are possessed by their subjects, which is what makes them interesting speakers. I enjoyed an hour with them.

Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart

I recommend having a friend nearby as you read Flower Confidential by Amy Stewart, as there are so many interesting statements to share. You will keep saying, "Did you know?"

Did you know that eighty percent of the cut flowers sold in the U.S. are imported? Did you know that the largest number of them come from Colombia, which we give favored nation status to encourage flower farming as part of the unsuccessful war on drugs? Did you know we get the most roses from Ecuador, which sends its high-end roses to Russia? Did you know most flowers imported into the U.S. come through Miami, where sample containers will be inspected for disease, insects, and illegal drugs?

Did you know that the trend toward outpatient surgery has hurt flower sales in the sympathy segment of the market? Did you know that two thirds of all cut flower sales in the U.S are gifts? Stewart tells us much about cultural trends and their influence on flower sales.

One of our gardening speakers at Thomas Ford recommended Flower Confidential to me, saying it was tremendous book. She was right. It reveals much about an industry most of us do not even notice and makes the reader think about the ethics of buying flowers.

The American flower industry has been slow to respond to concerns about labor issues and use of pesticides and preservatives. The corporations that control the market say that regulations would hurt profitability. They say that they can not guarantee what workers in Central and South America (or even California) are paid. Meanwhile in Europe, flowers are graded and certified for human rights; the author says the flowers there are of higher quality and cost the consumer less.

Like independent bookstores, individual flower shops are threatened by developments in our economy. Many have shut their doors as supermarkets, discount stores, and Internet sales have cut away their customers, many who think only of price. The customer often gets an inferior product that wilts sooner.

Stewart takes the reader on a tour of the world, visiting farms in California and Ecuador, the airport in Miami, the flower auction in Amsterdam, and several retailer shops around the U.S. She interviews many industry experts as well as the workers in the fields. She never lets the book get dry and boring. It should be in most public libraries.

Stewart, Amy. Flower Confidential. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2007. ISBN 1565124383

Digging for the Truth: One Man's Epic Adventure Exploring the World's Greatest Archaeological Mysteries by Josh Bernstein

Digging for the Truth by Josh Bernstein is part memoir and part television show companion. The TV program, also called Digging for the Truth, takes Bernstein to exotic locations around the world to ask experts about historical mysteries. Among his questions are:

"How did the Ice Man found in the Alps die?"

"Who was the real Queen of Sheba?"

"Were there ever cities of gold in the Amazon?"

"Why did the Vikings abandon their American settlement? Was there more than one?"

Of course, none of the questions can definitely be answered and stirring up debate among the experts is half the fun. The other half of the fun is having Bernstein do something dangerous, like standing on a small iceberg or scaling a cliff to get to a monastery.

Embedded in the narrative are lessons on building snow houses, starting a fire with flint, treating ant bites, and catching fish with your hands.

Digging for the Truth is adventure entertainment with a bit of ancient history thrown in. It will appeal to adventure and travel readers. I enjoyed listening to the audiobook while gardening.

Bernstein, Josh. Digging for the Truth: One Man's Epic Adventure Exploring the World's Greatest Archaeological Mysteries. New York : Gotham Books, c2006. ISBN 1592402771

Audiobook: 6 compact discs. Tantor Audio, p2006. ISBN 1400103444

Prelinger Library

If you subscribe to LISNews, you may have seen the Prelinger Library already. The reason it was highlighted at LISNews is that in its May 2007 issue Harper's wrote about the "appropriations-friendly" library, which exists physically in San Francisco and virtually on the Internet with 2098 books. The Prelinger is a research library that free for anyone to use and holds many unusual items. The focus is "landscape and geography; media and representation; historical consciousness; and political narratives from beyond the mainstream." It sounds like a nice place to spend an afternoon.

Right now it is the free to view eBooks that impress me. Take a look at The Bird Book by Chester A. Reed (1914). On the left of the description page is a box with viewing options. I really like the simplicity and easy use of the flip book version, which is much nicer than netLibrary books, but the display is a little small. The DjVu version has a larger display and works almost as easily. Both version make reading a book from a computer with a 17-inch monitor possible. Avoid the PDF version, which takes a long time to load.

There are many items that will interest readers of history. Having grown up in Texas, I might want to come back and read Sam Houston: Colossus in Buckskin. (Maybe not, as it glorifies Houston without criticism.)

It looks as though the online library is really a collaboration with other online collections. The digitization of the book I chose may not actually have been Prelinger Library work, as there is an Internet Archive logo in the top left corner of the webpage and links to other institutions in the navigation. For the reader, the origin of the book probably does not matter. The Prelinger Library website provides the portal.

I am making a bookmark.

"Are Book Reviewers Out of Print?" in the New York Times

Many major newspapers in the U.S. are reducing or eliminating their book sections at a time when blogging about books is rising. In "Book Reviewers Out of Print?" in the May 2, 2007 issue of the New York Times, page B1, Motoko Rich asks authors and bloggers about the situation and whether there is a cause-and-effect relationship. The bloggers say "no." They do not want to replace the newspaper reviewers, who are career writers or academics. Many of the authors think the threat comes from newspapers intent on cost cutting. They are mostly unaware of bloggers.

The idea that newspaper reviews are too stodgy, serious, and academic is discussed. They often print long reviews of books that have little public appeal. I see the Chicago Tribune each week and wonder if this is a fair complaint. To the newspaper's credit, it is often highlighting little known books that should get more exposure. However, I am then surprised (or used to be surprised) by how few requests we get at my public library for the books reviewed in the Chicago Tribune Book Section.

Authors in the article claim that the newspapers in question (Atlanta Constitution, San Francisco Chronicle, and Los Angeles Times) need to remember their role in promoting regional literature.

The article is interesting and provides links to literary blogs. Here is a link to the article, which may require you to start a free NYT account.

Narn I Chîn Húrin: The Tale of the Children of Húrin by J.R.R. Tolkien

Warning for librarians: the title on the jacket does not agree with the title page. This has already caused confusion placing reserves. Booksellers and the press are using the cover title. Some library catalogs are using the title page title.

The story of Middle Earth continues, as Christopher Tolkien has edited more of his father J.R.R. Tolkien’s early writings and gives us Narn I Chîn Húrin: The Tale of the Children of Húrin. Húrin is lord of Dor-lómin in a hard time when men and elves fight the evil strength of Morgoth, the dark lord of the north. Morwen is his wife and mother of Túrin, Urwen, and Niënor. After her husband is captured by Morgoth, she sends her son Túrin to live with the elves in the hidden realm of Gondolin. These events take place long before the events in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Readers of the Silmarillion may remember the outline of the story, which I will not reveal. In The Children of Húrin the story is greatly expanded and readers learn why Túrin and Niënor wander into the dangerous lands of the west. In the new work (a really old work) there are also dwarfs, orcs, and a dragon that does not fly, but no hobbits. Compared to the Silmarillion, the new book is easy reading, as there is a constant narrative and clear line of action. There are many names, as every major character has several, but readers are clearly told when names change. Christopher Tolkien provides a glossary of names in the back of the book.

Tolkien fans will enjoy the epic story and the great writing. They may come to agree with Beleg, an elf of Doriath, who says, “Alas! Child of men, there are other griefs in Middle-Earth than yours, and wounds made by no weapon. Indeed I begin to think that Elves and Men should not meet or meddle.”

Readers will also enjoy the wonderful illustrations of Alan Lee.

Every library should have this book.

Tolkien, J.R.R. Narn I Chîn Húrin: The Tale of the Children of Húrin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007. ISBN 0618894640

Ukridge by P. G. Wodehouse

"Oh, I feel in my bones that something is bound to go wrong!"

Something is always going wrong in the ten closely-related stories about the get-rich schemes of Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge in Ukridge by P. G. Wodehouse. "Can't miss" horses miss. The boxer Wilberforce "Batting" Billson, on whom our hero has bets, feels sorry for his opponents and won't hit them hard, or he gets religion and swears off boxing. Creditors appear at unfortunate times, as do bobbies in blue helmets. Aunt Julia disowns the overweight young man when he could do with a little luck. "Upon my Sam, it's all a bit hard."

Of course, Ukridge never has any doubts that his fortune is around the corner. It is his friend Corky (Jimmy Corcoran) who states his doubts about the wisdom of kidnapping parrots and borrowing old schoolmates fancy cars. In the meantime, Ukridge borrows sixpence or a fiver to see him through, as well as a pair of socks and a clean shirt from Corky's wardrobe.

Wodehouse readers may recognize Ukridge from Love among the Chickens, 1906. The book Ukridge, 1924, collects stories that predate the fowl novel. In the stories Stanley is unmarried and trying to stay that way. When he is engaged, Corky is trying to get the prospective in-laws to break it off.

If you like silly British comedy, Ukridge is the stuff.

Wodehouse, P. G. Ukridge. Hampton, NH: BBC Audiobooks, 2005. 6 compact discs. ISBN 0792735013

Print versions are rather scarce. The book is also called He Rather Enjoyed It. The stories are also in collections.

A Visitor from Australia at Thomas Ford

Michelle McLean came to Thomas Ford! If you do not know Michelle, she is the Australian librarian who toured American libraries to learn about their library 2.0 services. She works at the Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation, a public library outside Melbourne, and blogs as connectinglibrarian. At her blog you will find detailed reports on all her library visits and her experiences at the Computers in Libraries conference in Washington, DC.

Thomas Ford was Michelle's last stop. She had already been to Princeton Public, Darien Library, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County, the Ohio Public Library Information Network (OPLIN), Webjunction, St. Joseph County Public Library, Ann Arbor District Library, and Hennepin County Public Library. Looking at all these libraries' websites and reading Michelle's reports would make a good virtual lesson in web services and design. We were honored to be added to the list.

We spent much our time around PCs looking at the front ends and back ends of websites, trading ideas. Several things that we at Thomas Ford want to do include in our redesign:

• putting news feeds from blogs for each of our primary audiences (youth, teens, and adults) on our new home page
• let members of our film discussion vote via the web on some upcoming films
• try a new statistics plug-in
• write our publicity for upcoming events well in advance and preset it to post at the moment we need to replace publicity as events pass

Our conversations did not stick to libraries all day. We learned that contrary to rumor, Australia is not overrun with poisonous snakes, and it is safe to visit. Koalas sleep most of the time. Winter temperatures are mild. American and Australian suburbs and libraries are much the same.

One difference that Michelle did notice was the U.S. has far fewer independent shops selling music CDs. Big chain stores and the Internet have taken down American music shops but many still remain in Australia. Independent book sellers in Australia are in as much trouble as they are in the U.S.

Michelle said that Australian librarians would like for a lot of us to visit, especially Michael Stephens. Shall we charter a jet?

Domestic Violence: Poems by Eavan Boland

It is the final day of poetry month and I just now have a book to recommend. I started five or six other poetry volumes in the past two months and never got past page 20. I was not the right reader and they were not the right books. Finally, I found Domestic Violence: Poems by Eavan Boland, which I absorbed in two days.

Boland is direct and visual. Reading her poems calls forth many sharp images, as in her poem "How It Was Once in Our Country":

"In those years I owned a blue plate,
blue from the very edge to the center,
ocean-blue, the sort of under-wave blue
a mermaid could easily dive down into and enter."

In "Irish Interior" she describes an old drawing in which a woman spins and a man stands by his loom. They are permanently separated, unable to touch each other. Many of her poems express sadness for what has been or never been.

"And Soul" may be my favorite poem in the collection. Boland links the moisture of atmosphere and ocean to the liquid content of the human body. I read it during a thunderstorm, hearing the rain on my roof and windows. I think I began to perspire. Water is also the key element in"On This Earth" and "In Season."

Boland is Irish and writes much about her island and its history. She decries violence against women and the enslaving of workers to drive the Industrial Revolution. She remembers the Irish poets and describes the Book of Kells. Her book will appeal to readers sympathetic to Irish causes. Many public libraries should add this book.

Boland, Eavan. Domestic Violence: Poems. New York: Norton, 2007. ISBN 0393062414

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations - One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Serving tea is an important social custom in Pakistan, according to Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea. It is a courtesy offered before any conversation or business deal. Before you buy cement or lumber, you share tea. When you visit a village elder, you drink tea. Even with your kidnappers, there is tea. Mortenson, who spent years in the country building schools for village girls, drank a lot of tea.

Building schools for girls in remote regions of a poor Islamic country is not what he intended to do when he first went to Pakistan. He was there to climb a mountain. Coming down after failing to reach the summit, he lost his way and was separated from his team. Cold, hungry, and exhausted, he stumbled into a village. The villagers treated him as an honored guest, saving his life. Trying to think of a way to repay them for their kindness, he promised to build a school.

Mortenson knew nothing about building a school and was not in a position to finance the job. He was a part time emergency room nurse, only working enough to finance his climbing. He had no permanent address, much less a savings from which to draw, but he had a promise to keep.

Three Cups of Tea tells how Mortenson built first one and then many other schools where the Pakistani government has never ventured. To do so, he had to learn not only about construction but also about local customs and politics. It is a dramatic story, including accidents on mountain roads, caring for Afghan refugees, and crossing hostile borders. He experienced a side of Islamic culture not known in the West and sees up close the impact of American foreign policy on the region.

Readers who enjoyed Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder will enjoy this important book that proposes peaceful means to stop the rise in terrorism.

Mortenson, Greg and Relin, David Oliver. Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations - One School at a Time. New York: Viking, 2006. ISBN 0670034827

11 compact discs. Tantor Media, 2006. ISBN 1400132517

Library Dream #4

As I have said in a couple of other pieces, I dream about libraries. I just had a dream that was a bit different than any others that I remember.

In this episode, I have gone back to college (a frequent element) and am going to be living in a dorm again (again not an uncommon dream). I am setting up the room with one of my old roommates, who has since gone on to become an architect and designer. We are both our current ages. We decide to create instant art for our walls with heavy art paper and calligraphy pens. I try to cover one sheet with large, meaningless, fancy script. We are going to stick it above a bookcase. When I have finished, my roommate holds it up and I step back to look. In the middle in very clear letters, I am surprised to see, is the word "Reference."

I am what I am, even in my sleep. I cannot get away from it.

Here are Dream #1, Dream #2, and Dream #3.

What do you think?

Unshelved on Readers' Advisory

Many librarians and other "people in the know" read Unshelved daily. If you haven't seen the comic strip, now is a good time to look, or if you have been neglecting it, now is a good time to return, as Bill and Gene are spoofing readers' advisory this week. Start with Monday and advance forward.

The guys have put out a couple of collections that you should check out, including What Would Dewey Do? and Library Mascot Cage Match. I recommend them for those days that absurdities of public service get you down.

Library of Congress Blog

It must be really inspiring to work at the Library of Congress. Matt Raymond has been there for seven months. He attends meeting on lofty topics, such as World Digital Library and the National Book Festival. He wanders hallowed halls and sees great architecture out his window. He meets authors and hears bits of their works in progress. He hears about upcoming exhibits. Now he writes the Library of Congress Blog.

Today Matt is asking whether blogs are serials and should they get ISSN numbers. (One comment is that there should be an IBSB or International Blog Serial Number.) He also has some day-in-history information, including the fact that it is Frederick Law Olmsted's birthday.

I have enjoyed the first week of Library of Congress Blog and look forward to more.

America in Bloom: Great American Gardens Open to the Public

Maybe I'm slipping into sentimentality. As I find old books that are candidates for weeding, I keep wanting to save them instead of removing them from the collection. Well, not all of them, as I do get satisfaction from weeding out ratty and out-of-date items, but when I find a nice condition book with timeless content, I want to put it into the path of an appreciative reader - who might actually be me.

Today I found America in Bloom: Great American Gardens Open to the Public with photos by Murray Alcosser. Though it was published by Rizzoli in 1991, I suspect the gardens all still exist. I would not rely on the phone numbers in the back of the book, but I look at the gorgeous color photos with longing to take a cross country trip. Thirty-eight gardens are featured, of which four are in the Chicago area. Most of the gardens are on the west or east coasts. With little text, readers mostly learn that the gardens exist and see how glorious they are, but that is the point of this coffee table book. For that purpose, the book still works. I will save it for another weeding day.

America in Bloom: Great American Gardens Open to the Public. New York: Rizzoli, 1991. ISBN 084781326.

Biography: A Brief History by Nigel Hamilton

Just when you think I have exhausted the topic of biography, Bonnie* brings me another very interesting book with many advantages for the reader interested in the topic. The book is Biography: A Brief History by Nigel Hamilton.

Readers will enjoy this book for these reasons:

• It is new. Many of the books on biography as a literary form are twenty or thirty years old. Hamilton brings the subject to the present. The controversy of A Million Little Pieces by James Frey is included.
• It expands the idea of biography beyond the traditional printed biographical book. Hamilton discusses cave paintings, Greek and Roman art, religious texts, the biographical and autobiographical trends in fiction, the popularity of celebrity media, documentaries, made-for-television movies, reality television, biographical films, museum exhibits, graphic novels, and blogging.
• It identifies books, art work, and films important in the development of the biographical form. Monty Python's Life of Brian even makes the discussion. I placed some reserves during my reading of the book.
• It is well-written and thought-provoking. Hamilton even mentions writing teachers as listeners to the autobiographical thoughts of students, an issue exposed in the aftermath of the killings at Virginia Tech.

According to Hamilton, biography is essential in a democratic society, pointing out that the form is repressed and abused by dictators. He also tells how biography has been the most dangerous literary form to write throughout history because of dangerous politics and strict libel laws. Until the last half century, biographers have almost always written about the dead, who could not sue them. Since the release of the Pentagon Papers and the Watergate hearings, biography has increasing focused on the living.

Biography: A Brief History should be in many libraries.

Hamilton, Nigel. Biography: A Brief History. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2007. ISBN 0674024664

*Behind many a good blogger is a person who inspires and feeds the writer good material.

Back to the Sixties on YouTube

Just for fun, go back in time with me, to hear old music. Click on these little time machines.

Do You Believe in Magic by the Lovin Spoonful - You just don't see rockers playing autoharp any more.

Baby Love by the Supremes - Looks like Bandstand.

Light My Fire by the Doors - Great organ music!

My Girl by The Temptations - Very smooth.

Downtown by Petula Clark - With well-dressed BBC dancers.

Along Comes Mary by the Association - On the Smothers Brothers Show

Paint It Black by the Rolling Stones - Mick wears a tie.

Volunteers by Jefferson Airplane - You have to join!

Revolution by The Beatles - Don't you know it's gonna be alright?

I hope you had fun.

La Dame d'Esprit: A Biography of the Marquis Du Chatelet by Judith Zinsser

I am trying another review format. This is a book that many libraries missed.

Zinsser, Judith. La Dame d'Esprit: A Biography of the Marquis Du Chatelet. Viking, 2006. 376 pp. Bibliography; Index; Notes in back; Photos. ISBN 0670038008

What would you do if you were bored with your marriage? Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil, the marquise Du Chatelet, wrote treatises on mathematics and physics, translated Newton's work into French, and started an affair with the great author Voltaire. The author reassesses the short but exciting life of an unconventional woman who has been ridiculed by historians.

Subjects: Du Chatelet, Gabrielle Emilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil; France; French Enlightenment; Genius; Mathematicians; Physicists; Women Scientists

Story Elements: Controversy; Reassessment of life; Romance; Whole life

Tone: Admiring; Sympathetic

Style: Scholarly; Narrative

Now Try: Naked in the Marketplace: The Lives of George Sand by Benita Eisler, a story of a French woman who competed with men in literature instead of science. She was also infamous for her love affairs. For more on the Du Chatelet-Voltaire relationship, try a book with a really long title, Passionate Minds: the Great Love Affair of the Enlightenment, Featuring the Scientist Emilie Du Châtelet, the Poet Voltaire, Sword Fights, Book Burnings, Assorted Kings, Seditious Verse, and the Birth of the Modern World by David Bodanis.

Messages from My Father by Calvin Trillin

I am rescuing old books again. I found a sweet memoir by a well-known author among the books that have not been borrowed in years. It is small (maybe easy to overlook), easy to hold, a quick read. It has an attractive cover with a sepia photo. There are more old family photos in every chapter. There are no horrible stories of drug abuse, domestic dysfunction, or desperation, which are so common in many recent tell-all memoirs. It is a gentle story (but not sappy) about how immigrants become Americans. Many readers should enjoy and identify with this family story.

The well-known author is Calvin Trillin, and the book is Messages from My Father. In it he tells how a boy with his "feet stuck in the mud" outside Kiev becomes a Midwesterner who aims to send his son to Yale, a very American university. After immigrating via Galveston around age two, Abe Trillin grew up in St. Joseph, Missouri and later moved to Kansas City where he raised his family and operated grocery stores and restaurants and invested in real estate. Calvin describes him a stubborn, quirky father who could embarrass his children, but whose "messages" turn out to foresee the future accurately.

Famous for his essays in The New Yorker, Trillan has written many lightly humorous autobiographical books. Many readers have recently enjoyed About Alice. They would like this book, too. Librarians should recommend it.

Trillin, Calvin. Messages from My Father. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1996. ISBN 0374208603

CIL2007: Computers in Libraries

The bloggers at Computers in Libraries 2007 are busy, so you do not have to be there to learn from the presentations. Here are a few items so far:

Web 2.0 and What It Means to Libraries - The Shifted Librarian seems to transcribe almost every word of presentations.

Information Design for the New Web - Ellyssa Kroski's pre-presentation blog and comments by Nicole Engard.

Weblog Zonder Haast - Follow the conference in Dutch.

Alternative and Customized Search Engines - Mary Ellen Bates lists engines to try, as reported by Caroline (last name unknown).

Computers in Libraries cartoons - Flickr set by Madinkbeard.

You can find more reports by searching for "CIL2007" at Technorati.

Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey

Every book on the history of biography that I have read has pointed to Eminent Victorians by Lytton Strachey as the first modern work of the literary form. Strachey shocked the book world and cultured society with this book that was not laudatory of the dead. He is credited with giving biographers the charge to sketch out characters instead of chronicle all their deeds and to tell the truth. Of course, the truth was a problem for Strachey, too, as his methods and exclusions have been questioned ever since. Imperfect as the book is, the historians agree, he changed the form and tone of biography.

Strachey wrote Eminent Victorians during World War I, and it was published about four months before the end of the war. "The End of General Gordon" doubles as biography and a criticism of the British military. Other chapters portray three other seemingly random British citizens of the Victorian era. In his introduction, Strachey indicates they were just people who interested him.

The first chapter profiles Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892) who left a prominent position in the Church of England to ultimately become a Roman Catholic cardinal and important person in both London and Rome. Strachey describes Manning as mostly a political figure who was not especially concerned about theology. On two occasions Manning betrays his close friend John Henry Newman, who also became a cardinal. Newman dies a somewhat forgotten figure.

The second chapter profiles Florence Nightingale (1820-1910). Strachey tells how she could manipulate people and influence public policy, but he actually seems to admire her. He tells much about her youth and her years after the Crimean War.

Strachey does not admire Thomas Arnold (1795-1842), who is famous as a Victorian historian and educator. The author describes Arnold as a headmaster of Rugby School who had very little interaction with his students other than his lengthy Sunday sermons. For his students, he rejected the study of physical science and modern languages and did not think the archaeology of Pompeii significant or interesting. Moral and religious education was all that mattered. He sounds a dullard.

The last chapter tells the story of General Charles George Gordon (1833-1885) who died in Khartoum after a long siege by Sudanese warlords wishing to expel the British and Egyptians. The chapter seems to really be more history than biography, as we learn little about Gordon other than his imperialistic attitude, overwhelming confidence in British forces, and feeling of guilt for executing two unsuccessful Egyptian officers.

Strachey says in his introduction that readers know very much about the Victorian era and wrote with that assumption. Of course, ninety years later that is no longer true. Twenty-first century readers will get lost in some sections, as they have little idea of what Strachey writes. Skim or skip. When the author gets to the action the stories become lively.

Eminent Victorians will be enjoyed by "Great Books" readers.

Strachey, Lytton. Eminent Victorians. New York: Oxford World Classics, 2003. ISBN 0192801589

Pew research on Public Knowledge on Public Affairs

The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press has released a new report Public Knowledge of Current Affairs Little Changed by News and Information Revolutions: What Americans Know: 1989-2007. In this report, statistics show that knowledge of current events and names of public officials is no better now than in 1989, despite the fact there are now many more 24-hour news sources. You can look at the figures and say that knowledge has fallen, though the commentators we heard on National Public Radio today cautioned against making that judgement.

What Bonnie and I found interesting were the scores according to what news sources people cited as their regular sources. Viewers of the Daily Show and the Colbert Report tied with readers of major newspapers for the highest percentage in the highest knowledge category. Users of online news services are down the line. Viewers of Fox News are nearly at the bottom of the list, beating only viewers of morning television shows.

I expect there will be more analysis of these finding in the next few days.

Akimbo and the Crocodile Man by Alexander McCall Smith

As I indicated in my post yesterday, I seek out books about Africa. High on my list of favorites are books by Alexander McCall Smith in his No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. In these books that mix insight into real African problems, gentle humor, and hope for the continent, the author creates wonderful characters who seek to act morally and to live good lives. American readers are late learning about the author's books. McCall Smith has been writing for decades. In the 1990s he wrote several series for young readers, among which was another set of books set in Africa.

I just finished Akimbo and the Crocodile Man, third in a series that has just recently been released in the United States. Akimbo is a boy who lives with his family in a national park where his father is chief ranger. In his adventures, Akimbo learns much about the wildlife in the park and invariably gets involved in typical conservation problems, such as stopping poachers or trapping animals that attack domestic animals outside the park. In Akimbo and the Crocodile Man, he helps a scientist studying the survival rates of crocodile hatchlings and must respond quickly in an emergency.

Young readers will enjoy how a preteen can act independently and make a difference in his world. They will also learn effortlessly about wildlife conservation. More public libraries should add these books, which show Africa in a positive light.

McCall Smith, Alexander. Akimbo and the Crocodile Man. New York: Bloomsbury Children's Books, 2006. ISBN 1582346925

Plunk Biggio

A number of library bloggers have posted recently about the non-library blogs that they read. In contrast, I read very few blogs other than library related ones. (I guess I am old - I'm reading books and wishing I had more time for reading books.) I could say that all the book blogs are not library related, but for me they are. I can think of one non-library blog that I read regularly - seasonally - Plunk Biggio.

Plunk Biggio is rather silly in a way. How can someone write for years about whether or not Houston Astros second baseman Craig Biggio will or will not get hit by a pitched ball when at bat during a game? Well, there is the fact that Biggio is second on the all time list for being hit by a pitch. Also, baseball fans can gather statistics and analyse the game to infinity. Being a big Biggio fan, I find it very entertaining.

So, all summer long, the career baseball record that I will be watching (instead of the other record bound to be broken) is hit by pitch.

A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah

When I first looked at the audiobook of A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, I was not sure whether I wanted to listen. I have been to several very violent movies lately - Pan's Labyrinth, The Last King of Scotland, and Flags of Our Fathers - all of which were good and I recommend them all - but I feel somewhat shell shocked. I imagined that listening to A Long Way Gone might just worsen my feeling. Could I stand to listen to over seven hours of jungle war?

I want to know what is going on in the world and I am especially interested in anything about Africa, so I started the first disc, knowing that I could stop at any time. I found that the chaos and heartbreak start very quickly, but I also discovered a great story that reminds me of the novels of Charles Dickens, in that the plot takes many unexpected turns and a young boy is saved time and time again by new benefactors. I can almost imagine A Long Way Gone being serialized, with each episode ending with Ishmael in trouble again. Of course, it is different in that Dickens novels were never so bloody, but like the classic English author, Beah has a topic to expose to the public - the sorrow of boy soldiers.

I have been surprised by how popular A Long Way Gone is. Since I do not drink coffee, I do not go in Starbuck's and did not see it prominently on sale at its shops everywhere. I hate to see bookstores losing sales to other corporate interests, but the bookstores may have benefited from the publicity for the book this time. Starbuck's certainly got an unlikely book to many readers.

If you want to know more before reading the book, you can read an interview with Beah at Powells.com. If you want another book about boy soldiers, try the novel Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala.

Beah, Ishmael. A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN 0374105235

Audiobook: 7 CDs. Santa Ana, CA : Books on Tape, p2007. ISBN 1415938032

Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography

On six successive Monday nights in the cold early months of 1985, six noted biographers lectured in the Trustees Room of the New York Public Library. What they said about their work and the literary form is reproduced in Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography, slightly edited by William Zinsser to make the lectures more readable.

The lineup was great:

"The Unexpected Harry Truman" by David McCullough

"In Search of Emily Dickinson" by Richard B. Sewall

"The Adams Women" by Paul C. Nagel

"Living with Walter Lippmann" by Ronald Steel

"The Real Reasons" by Jean Strouse (mostly about Alice James, sister of Henry and William)

"Lyndon Johnson and the Roots of Power" by Robert A. Caro

The idea of reading lectures may sound dreary to some readers, but Extraordinary Lives is far from dull. The six authors apparently spoke as well (or better) than they wrote, and each lecture reads rather quickly. The authors told selected stories about their subjects and described how they researched them. Readers learn much about the issues and methods of biographical writing effortlessly while they listen to the good stories.

If these lectures had been given recently, they would have been on Book TV.

You might enjoy the book just for the stories. I finished wanting to add many books to my reading list.

Extraordinary Lives: The Art and Craft of American Biography. New York: American Heritage, 1986. ISBN 0828112061

The Fifth Beatle: A Book Proposal

I just saw this item from the BBC in which Neil Aspinall is called "the fifth beatle." What luck! I have a little book proposal ready.

This is a book proposal. Anyone who wants to write the book may have the idea.

One of the best books that I read in 2003 was We Are Lincoln Men by David Herbert Donald. The noted Lincoln scholar told about six men important in the career of the 16th President. I know there have been many similar books, such as The Best and the Brightest, in which David Halberstam tells about John F. Kennedy's advisers. Group biography can be interesting.

I propose this type of book be written about the people who contributed to the success of the Beatles. It could be called The Fifth Beatle, which might catch the attention of fans. Of course, there are some obvious characters to include. Pete Best is the most obvious because he actually was a Beatle before Ringo Starr, replaced him at the drums just before the group became famous. How he was fired and what became of him would make a good chapter.

Another chapter could profile the assorted players from the Quarrymen and early versions of the Beatles, especially Stu Suttcliff, who went with the band to Hamburg.

A third chapter should focus on Brian Epstein, whose management made the Beatles a successful working band.

George Martin should get a chapter. He was an important creative force in the sound of the group.

One chapter could profile the main technicians with whom the Beatles worked at EMI studios.

I am now going to make some suggestions that might stir debate among Beatles fans.

Billy Preston was added to the mix for the Let It Be/Get Back recordings. He could have a chapter.

Yoko Ono became a frequent visitor to recording sessions in the final years of the Beatles. Her merits as a fifth Beatle could be examined.

There could also be a fantasy chapter. The premise could be that the remaining Beatles replaced Paul McCartney when he left the band. The candidates could be profiled, including Eric Clapton and Graham Nash, who were groupless about that time. Perhaps it is a stretch, but the new direction of the band could be imagined.

Want to write the book? Many would read it. Send me a copy when you're done.

*****

I see the term "fifth Beatle" has been used before in a few publications. In The Beatles: Untold Tales by Howard A. Dewitt, there is a chapter "Bob Wooler: the Fifth Beatle." Wooler was a Liverpool DJ who worked as a stage manager for the group. There is a DVD Brian Epstein: Inside the Fifth Beatle. Also the video The Best of Eddie Murphy Saturday Night Live has skit called "The Fifth Beatle." The idea is out there.

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier by Thad Carhart

Walking his children to school down the narrow streets of Paris, American Thad Carhart discovered a window display of piano repair tools and hardware. Behind the display was a mysterious shop into which he had never seen anyone enter. After weeks of wondering, he opened the door and began a musical adventure, which he describes in The Piano Shop on the Left Bank.

What was not apparent from the street was that the small shop opened into a large and ancient showroom full of grand and upright pianos, some in pieces, others ready for sale. The instruments came from many eras and surrounding countries. The charming but secretive shopkeeper rekindled Carhart's desire to own and play piano and introduced him to strange and curious community of French piano lovers.

I enjoyed the world into which Carhart draws his readers. It is filled with wonderful personalities and details. I especially had to laugh when I learned that the Cistercian monks of Citeaux build sitars. (Say that out loud.)

The Piano Shop on the Left bank is part memoir and part microhistory. It will appeal to anyone who loves music, wants to learn more about pianos, or wishes that they could live in Paris.

If you like this book, try Guitar: An American Life by Tim Brookes, which is also a mixture of memoir and musical microhistory. You might also enjoy Time Was Soft There: A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & Co. by Jeremy Mercer, which tells about expatriates hanging around a Paris bookstore. After reading, you may want to listen to piano sonatas by Beethoven, Chopin, Mozart, and Scarlatti. In Real Story, Sarah Statz Cords recommended this book to readers of A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel.

Carhart, Thad. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank: Discovering a Forgotten Passion in a Paris Atelier. New York: Random House, 2001. ISBN 0375503048