The Abbess of Crewe: A Modern Morality Tale by Muriel Spark

I am reading old forgotten books again. The Western Springs Library Friends have more books than they can store at the moment and have a table loaded with free books. I found The Abbess of Crewe: A Modern Morality Tale by Muriel Spark, one of my favorite novelists, a couple of weeks ago and chose it to take on my trip to Minneapolis. I started it in a coffee shop yesterday after the closing session of the Public Library Association at 1:00 p.m. and found time to finish it just after takeoff of my 6:45 p.m. flight to Chicago. At 116 pages, it is a delightful quick read.

The story takes place in a convent of nuns in Great Britain in which the old abbess has died and a new abbess is elected. In the period of mourning before the peers select their new leader, who will exchange her black robes for white, a thimble is stolen from a nun's sewing box. The box itself is a highly debated subject among the sisters, as it is a bit grand for a nun who has renounced all worldly possessions. That young nun has also frequently missed attending Matins and Lauds, and the gossip is thick.

The 1974 copyright date is significant. I do not want to spoil surprises, but I will say that Spark skillfully relocated highly reported events of 1972 to 1974 to her fictional nunnery. Anyone who lived through those years will recognize the replay by the end of chapter one. The book is wickedly funny, and Spark's insertion of classical poetry as the new abbess's theatrical asides is masterful.

I have not actually figured it all out. Can someone tell me who Sister Gertrude is and why she is flying around the globe visiting remote cultures?

Spark, Muriel. The Abbess of Crewe: A Modern Morality Tale. Viking Press, 1974. ISBN 0670100293

Off Your Seat and On Your Feet! Proactive Reference Customer Service

Jodi Lee and Christopher Korenowsky of the Columbus Metropolitan Library, Ohio, confused an audience of librarians at the Public Library Association today. It was not that their proposal was misunderstood. It was very clear that they are eliminating their reference desks and having their librarians roam, float, wander, hover, whatever. What was confusing was their presentation. At moments they seemed to be saying that the action is a very radical idea, but at other moments they reassured the audience that they are not really changing that much.

Korenowsky also lost many of us with his "three-tiered research phase" portion of the talk. He did not tell us any of the research findings. What did "knowledge vs data" refer to? How are Starbucks, Blockbuster, and Nordstroms relevant? I know I've had lackluster service at each of these stores, and they still have big service desks.

I think the duo make a mistake in organizing their program around dispelling myths. We now know a lot about what they are not doing and not really that much about what they are.

I am sounding very cranky, but I am actually very sympathetic to the idea. Our library has a huge desk that separates the librarians from the clients. I want our reference librarians up and about helping people when there are people to help. I wish they would have given me more solid arguments for redesigning service areas and changing working procedures. They could have talked more about the smaller desk designs and the working of the headsets. I think they missed an opportunity to be really helpful.

Also, the mantra "stop doing things that don't need to be done" to address the work that librarians do at service desks when not assisting clients is not realistic in small libraries where there are not centralized services to do all the non-client assistance work. Lee and Korenowsky are limiting their ideas to larger libraries unnecessarily with this approach. I hope they revisit and revise what can be a liberating idea.

Minneapolis Skyway Hike Slide Show

For those unable to visualize the PLA 2008 experience, here is a slide show of my walk from the Radisson Hotel to the Minneapolis Convention Center. There are a few tricky turns.



My best time was twelve minutes.

Down the escalator at the end of the Skywalk was a really nice convention center, where we had a really good conference.

Girl Scout Cookies on Sale in Late March!

Girl Scout Cookies on Sale in Late March!
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

I knew there was a reason to come to Minnesota in late March besides the beautiful weather. On Wednesday, March 26, there were three tables along the Skyway, selling lots of cookies to conference visitors and office workers of Minneapolis. There seemed to more parents than actual Girl Scouts, who must have been in school. Several of my friends at the conference were thrilled to hear that there were cookies for sale. I gave directions.

No Snow in Minneapolis

The forecasts were for rain and snow in Minneapolis yesterday, but we got a beautiful day instead. It was a good day filled with meetings, three of which I reported on PLABlog:

Readers' Advisory Toolkit III, with ideas about how to get books off the shelves and into the hands of others and how to have the books when the readers want them
Technozoo with Leonard Souza, which featured news about Web 2.o Internet sites and gadgets that will may work their way into libraries
21st Century Library Design, with many out of the box ideas

I also recommend Cat William's report on John Wood's opening session speech. She gets in a lot of quotes I liked.

I expect more to report today.

What Does It Take to Be Good at Reference in the Age of Google?: A PLA Presentation by Joseph Janes

Joseph Janes, Associate Professor of the Information School at the University of Washington, Seattle, spoke today about "What Does It Take to Be Good at Reference in the Age of Google?" It is a natural topic for Janes, one he has discussed well many times before. The topic keeps changing and he keeps up. He was particularly entertaining and thought-provoking this morning. (It was the fifth time I have heard him speak. Does that make me a groupie?)

Janes began with an old quote, as he usually does. This time he quoted librarian Margaret Hutchins from 1944 to emphasize that good reference does three things for the client:

• saves money
• saves time
• ensures possession of facts which by themselves they could not obtain

He came back to these numerous times through the presentation.

According to Janes, what Google and other search engines do is provide ready reference. The services is "free, quick, easy, good enough." He says that reference librarians lose on free and often lose on quick and easy, if the information need is really ready reference. Where the librarians win is at good enough. We do much better than good enough and we need to market that.

The professor said that as librarians we will continue to do ready reference, but it is not what we should emphasize in marketing. When we put out publicity saying we can find the capital of Nepal or the number of seats in a stadium, people interpret that as the limit of our abilities and think "I can do that with Google." Instead we should be saying what Margaret Hutchins said:

We save you time and money and find information that you can not find on your own.

Janes said that we are seriously challenged by the search engines for the attention of the public, but we do have many strengths. Librarians beat them at the following:

• gathering
• selecting
• evaluating
• deciding
• understanding
• helping
• depth
• accuracy

Librarians rule when it comes to print and fee-based information. Google is just an ad agency with a search agency attached.

What is most essential for librarians is that they do good reference interviews, whether they be face-to-face, telephone, virtual, IM, email, or whatever. Search engines will never do this as well, though they are trying to establish question services. The fact that they keep trying indicates they know that are still lacking.

Janes says that we must be the best users of the search engines, knowing all the Google tricks, such as inurl: and filetype: and view:timeline. We need to learn to use the slidebars in Live Academic and Yahoo.

The public library is at a great advantage, as it is the only point in many communities for the citizens to connect to the Internet. We should leverage this to our political advantage. Let people know how happy we are that they come for our computers. Never put up unnecessary blocks.

We should also remember that many of the people who ask questions only do so because they have failed to find an answer themselves. They are as a last resort asking a stranger in public. Other professions have private offices for giving out information.

Janes said again that print collections are our strength and we should market them. This advantage will fade in it time, but we still have it.

Librarians need to be tool makers. He still likes creating virtual pathfinders. It is one of the ways we add value to our collections. He also said that we need to take over Wikipedia instead of crabbing about it.

Near the end he said that as good as we are in person we have to be even better online. Our websites have to be compelling, effective, and high quality. Our virtual reference and IM need to be great. If not, we will be quickly cut off.

He finished by saying that librarians are first among the professions. If we include archivists in our midst, we keep the culture civilized. The human record is in our care. We are essential.

Travel's in the White Man's Grave by Donald MacIntosh

Working as a forester in western and southern Africa from the 1950s to the 1980s, Scotsman Donald MacIntosh saw more than trees. He witnessed two changes in the African landscape: African nations gained independence and lumber companies destroyed many of the ancient rain forests. He tells about his happy and sad experiences during this time in his book Travels in the White Man's Grave.

MacIntosh refers to the White Man's Grave as that portion of the African continent in which many Europeans met their end due to malaria and other diseases for which they were not prepared. It is often hot, humid, and rainy. Until recently this area had many forests filled with valuable hardwood prized in Europe and America for making furniture and floors. When he arrived in Africa, harvesting of these woods was a slow and selective process. The introduction of chainsaws, monster trucks, and corporate dictates to deliver supplies quickly denuded forests and destroyed the economies of local tribes.

Travels in the White Man's Grave is not just a book about what has gone wrong. MacIntosh tells many humorous and many harrowing stories of the old way of life. He survives floodwaters, snakes, driver ants, and face-to-face meetings with leopards and forest buffalo. His story about a buffalo stamping out his campfire is very funny and reminiscent of the 1980s film The God's Must Be Crazy.

Travels in the White Man's Grave is not an easy to find book, as all the print editions are English or Scottish. Recorded Books has issued an audiobook on compact discs. If you like good African stories, it is worth the effort to interlibrary loan.

MacIntosh, Donald. Travel's in the White Man's Grave. London: Abacus, 2001. ISBN 0349114358.

7 compact discs, Recorded Books, 2002. 1402529228.

John Wood, Nancy Pearl, and a Day at PLA

The first day of programs at the Public Library Association National Conference in Minneapolis is over. I have written reports on Book Buzz with Nancy Pearl and the opening address by John Wood, author of Leaving Microsoft to Change the World. You may find these and other conference reports at PLABlog.

After today's session, I decided to see how John Wood's book about building schools and libraries in Asia and Africa is doing in the SWAN catalog of the Metropolitan Library System (outside Chicago). I see that readers are not checking out Wood's book the way they are Greg Mortenson's Three Cups of Tea. Both were tourists who made promises to help rural communities in the Himalayas, and in both cases, the one act led to many more. Wood's organization skills are much stronger than Mortenson's and his Room to Read organization appears to have actually accomplished more to date. Both men have been on Oprah. So, why is Mortenson's book more popular?

I believe the answer is Mortenson is more of a story teller. Rather, his coauthor David Oliver Relin is more of a story teller. Wood's book appears to have more in the way of statistics and rhetoric. Also, Mortenson started trying to help when he was an impoverished nurse and accident prone climber. Wood was already a wealthy man who risked less to quit his job to help the needy. Book groups have taken up Three Cups of Tea because they like stories.

Still, I think librarians as a profession should do all they can to help Wood by promoting his book. We should display, review it, and suggest it to book groups. His goal includes building 20,000 libraries and training 40,000 librarians in third world countries by 2020.

*****

I learned today that you really can get around downtown Minneapolis without ever going outside. I left my coat in the hotel and took the Skyway to the convention center. My best time so far is twelve minutes from room to center.

Nancy Pearl did not actually speak much at the Book Buzz program. She introduced the program and let the spokespeople from several publishers promote their forthcoming books. I was most interested in Milkweed, a small nonprofit press from Minnesota.

Tomorrow the regular presentations start. I have a very full schedule.

American Association of University Women

American Association of University Women
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

I did not realize that the American Association of University Women owned buildings other than the headquarters in Washington, D.C. I found this lovely building across the park from the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts yesterday. According to the local AAUW website, the group has programs in this center, including an upcoming series on civility. I am impressed.

Nancy Pearl in Minneapolis

PLA 2008 - Tuesday 024
Originally uploaded by Fremont Librarian.

Here is a photo from Freemont Librarian which reminds us that Nancy Pearl is speaking at PLA today from 10:00 a.m. to noon. FL took a whole series of these photos around the city, which you can find at his Flickr site.

Go to Flickr and search the tags for PLA2008 and you will be able to see all the latest photos from attendees.

Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Today I arrived safely in Minneapolis to attend the Public Library Association's National Conference. With an afternoon to myself before obligations, I walked down to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, which is seven blocks directly south of the Minneapolis Convention Center. I then spent several hours wandering through the classically beautiful museum.

I think the strength of the MIA is the Asian collection. I was most impressed with its four traditional Asian rooms, including the 17th century Chinese reception room with its twelve paneled painted screen and a Japanese tea garden. The serenity of the rooms is very appealing. Other highlights of the Asian rooms are many elegant Japanese prints and scrolls, large horse sculptures from the Near East, and sculptures of the Hindu gods and goddesses.

As a full-purpose art museum, the MIA has rooms with Egyptian, Greek, and Roman art and artifacts. There is an entire room of Roman busts in which only one still has a nose. The museum also cover the full history of European art, including one room devoted to the Italian Renaissance. I especially liked the two paintings by Fra Angelico. Bonnie would have liked some of these paintings, particularly the one with colorful angel wings.

I did not see any item in the museum that I already knew from looking at art books (if you do not count the Monet haystack), but there were nice pieces nonetheless. Pastoral Landscape by Claude Gellée (called Le Lorrain), Fanatics of Tangier by Ferdinand-Victor-Eugène Delacroix, and Portrait of Mlle. Hortense Valpinçon by Edgar Degas were my favorites. There were numerous works by Vuillard and Corot.

In the decorative arts area were beautifully done period rooms with antique furniture and wall coverings. I really liked the dark paneling in the Queen Anne's room.

If you are ever in Minneapolis and if you enjoy art, the MIA is a must to see. It is free everyday. There is a #11 bus to the museum, so you do not have to walk as I did. Schedule about three hours, allowing time for a snack in the coffee shop.

Bound for PLA in Minneapolis

Tomorrow I am flying to Minneapolis to attend the Public Library Association's 12th National Conference. While I am there, I will write for PLA Blog as well as posting news, reports, and photos here. So far, I know that I will attend Nancy Pearl's Wednesday morning Book Buzz program and the opening session keynote by John Wood. Then it gets tough deciding what to attend. I will focus on programs about reference, readers' advisory, and technology.

To find other PLA reports from bloggers, try searching for PLA2008 in Technorati.

I'd better finish packing. See you in Minnesota.

The Good Rat by Jimmy Breslin

Jimmy Breslin keeps bad company in the new crime biography The Good Rat.

At age 72, mobster Burton Kaplan became a rat. He had been a stand-up criminal all his life, accepting his punishments without naming names. Knowing that he might become the scapegoat of an ongoing FBI investigation of organized crime and wanting to reduce a sentence that he was already serving, he became an informant in the case against two Mafia cops. It was not anything personal that made him do, as he said from the witness stand.

"About a month later Steve Caracappa came to my house with a box of cookies, and he says, Is it okay if we talk? And I says sure. I like Steve. I liked him then. I like him now. I am not doing him any good by being a rat, but I always liked him."

Caracappa is one of two bad cops that Kaplan often hired to kill mobsters that crossed him. From their squad car, they would pull the victims off the street or road, tell them that they were going to police headquarters, and then go to an auto chop shop to complete their contracts. Caracappa and his partner Lou Eppolito were efficient murderers, but they never earned enough to quit their day jobs. Kaplan was a tough negotiator.

Using sworn testimony and his observations of the court case, Breslin explores the character and methods of Kaplan and his associates, men who killed without regret. The journalist says that their Mafia world is now impoverished, as government run lotteries have taken away most of their business. Most of today's mobsters are losers who don't like to do real work. Being a man who enjoyed work and pinching a penny, Kaplan manipulated the mob well without being a "made member" for years.

True crime readers will enjoy Breslin's entertaining and economic prose.

Breslin, Jimmy. The Good Rat: A True Story. Harper Collins, 2008. 270p. ISBN 9780060856663.

Pulitzer Prize for Biography Publishers, 1917-2007

I have been working on my biography book again. Actually, I never stop. Right now I am going through all the lists of awards given to biographies. When I cut and paste all the authors and titles from the Pulitzer Prize for Biography list, I am left with just years and publishers names in the original document. It looks pretty cool, all the bold dates among the publisher names. It also pretty interesting to see how frequently some publishers' names appear. The more recent dates are links that will take you to book titles and prize amounts. If you want to analyze this information, feel free.

1917 (Houghton) 1918 (Putnam) 1919 (Houghton) 1920 (Houghton) 1921 (Scribner) 1922 (Macmillan) 1923 (Houghton) 1924 (Scribner) 1925 (Little) 1926 (Oxford Univ. Press) 1927 (Knopf) 1928 (Doubleday) 1929 (Houghton) 1930 (Bobbs) 1931 (Houghton) 1932 (Harcourt) 1933 (Dodd) 1934 (Dodd) 1935 (Scribner) 1936 (Little) 1937 (Dodd) 1938 (Little) 1938 (Bobbs) 1939 (Viking) 1940 (Doubleday) 1941 (Macmillan) 1942 (Lippincott) 1943 (Little) 1944 (Knopf) 1945 (Knopf) 1946 (Knopf) 1947 (Macmillan) 1948 (Little) 1949 (Harper) 1950 (Knopf) 1951 (Houghton) 1952 (Macmillan) 1953 (Harvard Univ. Press) 1954 (Scribner) 1955 (Harper) 1956 (Oxford Univ. Press) 1957 (Harper) 1958 (Scribner) 1959 (Longmans) 1960 (Little) 1961 (Knopf) 1962 no award 1963 (Lippincott) 1964 (Harvard Univ. Press) 1965 (Harvard Univ. Press) 1966. (Houghton) 1967 (Simon & Schuster) 1968 (Little) 1969 (Oxford Univ. Press) 1970 (Knopf) 1971 (Holt) 1972 (Norton) 1973 (Scribner) 1974 (Little) 1975 (Knopf) 1976 (Harper) 1977 (Little, Brown) 1978 (Harcourt) 1979 (Macmillan) 1980 (Coward, McCann) 1981 (Knopf) 1982 (Norton) 1983 (Congdon & Weed) 1984 (Oxford U. Press) 1985 (Harper & Row) 1986 (Alfred A. Knopf) 1987 (William Morrow) 1988 (Little, Brown and Company) 1989 (Alfred A. Knopf) 1990 (Princeton University Press) 1991 (Clarkson N. Potter) 1992. (Grove Weidenfeld) 1993 (Simon & Schuster) 1994 (Henry Holt) 1995 (Oxford University Press) 1996 (Alfred A. Knopf) 1997 (Scribner) 1998 Alfred A. Knopf) 1999 (G.P. Putnam's Sons) 2000 (Random House) 2001 (Henry Holt and Company 2002 (Simon & Schuster) 2003 (Alfred A. Knopf) 2004 (W.W. Norton) 2005 (Alfred A. Knopf). 2006 (Alfred A. Knopf) 2007 (Doubleday)

Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy

Readers of Profiles in Courage by John F. Kennedy will realize that there is another rarely mentioned loss due to his assassination in 1963 - he did not write more books. Known as an engaging speaker, he also wrote well and had five books to his credit. As youngest president, he might have had many years of writing after his administration. Of course, that is only speculation, as he also had many serious physical problems. He might have died young anyway. He did not get the chance and we will never know.

Profiles in Courage was Kennedy's best known book. In it, he praises the courage of eight U.S. senators, many of whom he would have disagreed with politically. Each of these men risked their political careers to support unpopular positions in which they believed. The first was John Quincy Adams who broke rank with his Federalist colleagues to support President Jefferson's embargo of British goods in retaliation to impressment of American sailors. He also tells stories about Daniel Webster, Thomas Hart Benton, Sam Houston, Edmund G. Ross, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, George Norris, and Robert A. Taft. For all, the struggle was voting according to their conscience or according to the directives of their parties and constituents.

Sometimes, the personal details struck me as very interesting. I know that it is very obvious, but I had never realized before that John Quincy Adams, who was the son of a president and lived to be very old, knew Benjamin Franklin and George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas.

In his introduction, Kennedy said something very interesting about party politics of his time:

"The two-party system remains not because both are rigid but because both are flexible. The Republican Party when I entered Congress was big enough to hold, for example, both Robert Taft and Wayne Morse - and the Democratic side of the Senate in which I now serve can happily embrace, for example, Harry Byrd and Wayne Morse."

What Kennedy implied was that there was not much real difference in the parties. There was more difference in the people who served within the parties. While that seems to have changed much in the fifty years since the publication of Profiles in Courage, it is still difficult to go against the dictates of one's party.

I had to look up Morse, who turns out to have been a progressive who left the Republican Party in protest over Eisenhower choosing Nixon as his vice president candidate in 1952. He served in the Senate as an independent for several years and then ran against Kennedy for the Democratic nomination for president in 1960.

I first read Profiles in Courage on the couch in my grandmother's house in the late 1960s. It is just as good now.

Kennedy, John F. Profiles in Courage. Harper & Brothers, 1956.

Andrew Keen: Provocateur and Nothing More: A LibrarianInBlack Report

The LibrarianInBlack attended a symposium at the University of California-Berkeley called "Is the Web a Threat to Our Culture?" The two speakers were Andrew Keen, author of Cult of the Amateur, and Paul Duguid, an adjunct professor at the UCB School of Information. Sarah quickly produced a lengthy and thought-provoking account of the evening, including questions from the audience and her own thoughts. Librarians interested in the impact of technology on their work will find the account helpful. I recommend her report.

Chasing Kangaroos: A Continent, A Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature by Tim Flannery

We live in the Age of Kangaroos, a time when roos dominate the plains, deserts, and forests, if you recognize an Australian perspective. (If you do, you probably also like the world maps with the South Pole at the top.) We missed the Age of the Koalas and the Age of Wombats, when large creates browsed and grazed across the island continent. The evidence is in the fossils discovered by Tim Flannery, author of Chasing Kangaroos: A Continent, A Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature.

In this part-memoir/part-kangaroo history, Flannery tells us how a natural scientist seeks evidence of species both living and long dead to complete an evolutionary understanding of a continental ecosystem. Though much of the work is out in the field, some of the methods will surprise you. Early in his career, Flannery was taught by British paleontologists that the easiest way to find fossils in Australia is head to the local pub for a pint of strong brew. Look behind the bar and you'll usually find a row of interesting rocks and bones. The bartender will tell you who found them and where to head. Take some bottles to go, for it will be hot where he sends you.

Flannery also has some unique fossil cleaning skills. When fearful that his tools might break a small specimen, he pops it in his mouth and lets his tongue work at removing ancient grit.

Flannery has been successful in his work, having identified and named four Australian species of tree kangaroos. His book is also entertaining and insightful. Look for it in your library.

Flannery, Tim. Chasing Kangaroos: A Continent, A Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature. Grove Press, 2007. ISBN 9780802118523.

The Times Club in Iowa City

The Times Club
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

Iowa City is literarily a pretty interesting place. I knew about the Iowa Writer's Workshop, which began in 1936. Scores of famous novelists, poets, playwrights, essayists, and nonfiction authors have attended the workshop. I did not know about the Times Club until I read about it in an exhibit about the Writer's Workshop in the basement of the Old State Capitol. We then found the room in the Prairie Lights Bookstore. It is now a coffee shop and deli, which is somewhat in keeping with the history of the room that was visited by the likes of Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Langston Hughes, and e. e. cummings, as well as artists like Thomas Hart Benton and Grant Wood. The room is a historically inspiring place to read.

The Prairie Lights Bookstore has racks full of famous author postcards for sale. I have not seen them anywhere else.

Off with Their Heads! A Cover Art Mystery Stalks the Book World by Nara Schoenberg, Chicago Tribune

I was always told not to cut off feet when taking photos. It is a rule that probably goes back to nineteenth century studio portraits of ladies and gentlemen, politicians, generals, and outlaws. I was told that it was alarming or at least awkward to view people whose legs ended somewhere just above their ankles. According to this thinking, a photo without a head would be shocking. Well, look at the book covers of many recent novels for a shock.

According to Nara Schoenberg of the Chicago Tribune in her article "Off with Their Heads! A Cover Art Mystery Stalks the Book World" in the Wednesday, March 12, 2008 issue of the newspaper, the headless woman is a fad in cover art for fiction. Her article includes ten examples for readers to see. The cover of Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty shows a young woman in high boots slouching on a couch. The paperback of The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro has a headless woman on a towel on a beach. Prama by Jamie Ponti shows three headless teens in prom dresses. Even the historical novel Jane Boleyn by Julia Fox shows a woman in Tudor dress only up to the neck.

"Why?" Schoenberg asks. Of course, being a journalist she asks people in the book marketing industry, and many reasons are offered. One of the most interesting explanations is that without the face, readers (mostly women) can more easily imagine themselves as the heroine.

Where are the headless men? Schoenberg says that a few they can be found on some of steamy romance paperbacks.

Now I have something else to do at PLA in late March. Instead of asking vendors about database features and the best button makers, I'll be looking for headless book cover art.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

A drive into Chicago in March will collaborate the message of The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. The expressway is pitted with potholes. The train trestles are rusted. The windows are all broken in abandoned factories. Brush is growing behind the warehouses. Houses need painting. Shingles need replacing. Everything is trying to return to a natural state. Without people maintaining the architecture, the prairies and woodlands would soon return.

Weisman has done a lot of thinking about what would happen to the earth if people disappeared, and his conclusion is that the planet would adapt and survive. Many of the plants and animals that depend on humans for their existence (pets, farm animals, rats, hybrid crops, etc.) would also soon disappear, but wild species would recover. In some ways, the planet would benefit greatly, and the sooner the better. The role of humans on the planet is that of virus, and the earth is seeking a cure.

The author's descriptions of the earth without us almost make the reader wish it would happen. That is not his intention. The point is that the forces of nature have these tendencies and we should work with instead of against them.

Weisman includes some warnings:

• When a major earthquake hits Istanbul, the destruction will be worse than when the hurricane hit New Orleans.
• Plastic debris is breaking up into tiny bits that choke microorganisms and are threatening the food chain.
• All of the atomic power plants will become like volcanoes if they are abandoned.

Near the end of the book, the author offers some prescriptions for a sustainable future with humans. The largest point is that the human population needs to be managed and reduced dramatically.

Reading The World Without Us is like seeing the earth from space for the first time and it will change many readers. It would make a great discussion book. It should be in every public library collection.

Weisman, Alan. The World Without Us. Thomas Dunne Books, 2007. ISBN 9780312347291

Volver: a Film by Pedro Almodovar

Do you believe in ghosts? Raimunda (Penelope Cruz) does not. She is a modern women trying to raise a daughter in a culture that persists in its superstitions. Even a move to the city has not helped her escape in the Spanish film Volver by director Pedro Almodovar. Yet, there is a mystery that she can not explain, if only she will notice.

Volver is a film about women. The initial scene is a cemetery full of old and young women polishing tombs and headstones. There is not a man to be seen there nor in the next several scenes. I began to wonder if the whole movie would be devoid of men. They seemed very irrelevant to the plot. I eventually I realized that it was the sins of men that created all the problems that the women in this film suffered. The only sympathetically portrayed male is a young man from a film company who hires Raimunda to serve the film crew lunch.

Throughout Volver are touches of Alfred Hitchcock. The way Raimundo mops up the blood from around a body and the way she throws the corpse into a freezer remind me of Psycho. The way the plot slowly reveals itself reminds me of Rear Window. How the director makes something real out of something that could not be suggests Vertigo.

When looking at the cover, disregard the claim that the film is a comedy. It is a very serious film with a few humorous movements. There are some story elements that will disturb sensitive viewers near the ending.

I am pleased to see many libraries in my area already own the DVD. I recommend it highly.

Major League Baseball vs Bloggers: A Librarian's Perspective

Nolan Ryan Pitching to Ryne Sandburg
Originally uploaded by ricklibrarian.

I posted this photo of Nolan Ryan pitching to Ryan Sandburg on this blog once before. The reaction to it was "Wow, two hall-of-famers! I wish I had been at the game." That is a natural fan reaction, and my posting the photo is free marketing for Major League Baseball. What could be wrong with that?

In his column in the Chicago Tribune on Wednesday, March 5, Internet critic Steve Johnson reported that Major League Baseball is ready to clamp down on bloggers, who they think are stealing from them when they blog about the games that they attend. According to Johnson, they are following the misguided lead of the National Football League. MLB seems most concerned about photos. Johnson reports from sports industry sources that the league will restrict bloggers to posting seven game related photos from a game AND they must be taken down within 72 hours.

Who would ever want to take a photo down? The fact that MLB is letting any posting at all must mean there is debate within the ranks of the executives. Someone there must see how fans naturally want to share their excitement. The bloggers are their friends, if they would only realize it, but greed has blinded their eyes.

This makes me think about library conferences. Association executives could take the viewpoint that bloggers should be repressed. "Why let someone who did not pay for the conference know what was said?" Fortunately, librarians love to share and are concerned with the education and development of the whole profession, including those who can not afford to attend conferences. Reports from conferences do make some want to attend subsequent events.

Librarians should count their blessings that they do not have to contend with the millionaires and billionaires of Major League Baseball. They're no fun anymore.

Members of my family will be in Arizona soon and are attending a Cubs spring training game. I am not getting to go this time, but I look forward to seeing fan photos on Flickr. There are lots of fan photos on Flickr. Don't tell MLB.

The Warmest Room in the House: How the Kitchen Became the Heart of the Twentieth-Century American Home by Steven Gdula

Butter was once a USDA food group, according to The Warmest Room in the House: How the Kitchen Became the Heart of the Twentieth-Century American Home by Steven Gdula, a microhistory of 20th century American food culture. Though I can not seem to find the statement now, I am sure he said that butter was the eighth of eight groups and that the USDA said that you needed to eat some every day (at least until margarine was invented).

There are many other startling statements in the book. On page 84, Gdula quotes FDA Commissioner George Larrick, who in 1956 said, "Our industry will not have done its job until housewives buy most of their meals as packaged, ready-to-serve items." That was government policy in support of corporate agriculture.

Though the author says that the kitchen is the topic of The Warmest Room in the House, the focus seems broader to me. How the kitchen transformed from a hellishly-hot sinkhole to a shiny, comfortable room where you entertain guests is one of the major plots, but there are many others. He chronicles trends in meat eating and vegetarianism, the appliance industry, government food regulation, the restaurant industry, and food habits displayed through motion pictures and television. He also concentrates on the history of cookbooks and the home economics movement, as well as diet crazes through the century.

That is a lot to cover in 209 pages. Gluda's text is economic in that he tells his stories relatively quickly and then tells more. I especially enjoyed reading about the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, mentally reliving my childhood through food memories.

Gluda's book is packed with provocative details and would be a good discussion book.

Gdula, Steven. The Warmest Room in the House: How the Kitchen Became the Heart of the Twentieth-Century American Home. Bloomsbury, 2008. ISBN 9781582343556

Finding Grace: The Face of America's Homeless: Photographs by Lynn Blodgett

I have mixed feeling about the new book Finding Grace: The Face of America's Homeless, a big photo collection by Lynn Blodgett. To its credit, it is large and impossible to miss as it sits on the new book display. Within its pages are between ninety and a hundred portraits of people from outside shelters across the United States, many from warmer states like Arizona or California. An introduction by Marian Wright Edelman gives a quick report on homelessness in our country, which should help spread the message that the homeless need help.

What bothers me is the selection of subjects and some of the photographs. Blodgett tells in his postscript how he asked some of the subjects to remove coats and shirts to get striking photos, showing the true person. The result is some very scary photos. I have not seen people who look this menacing at the shelters where I have volunteered. I can imagine some people would think twice before going into a room with these people. I do not think Blodgett meant to do this. Perhaps his sense of photographic art mislead his sense of mission.

Edelman in her introduction and Blodgett in his postscript highlight that there are many children and families seeking shelter and food, and the photographer does include some photos of families and children. There are also a few photos of people who do not look homeless at all. I wish there were more of these, as I think they represent a larger portion of the people in need than Blodgett has allotted.

The book might be good for discussions. I am sure people will disagree with me.

Blodgett, Lynn. Finding Grace: The Face of America's Homeless. Earth Aware, 2007. ISBN 9781601091055

The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family by Martha Raddatz

The Long Road Home by ABC news correspondent Martha Raddatz is not a book for sensitive readers. It is a graphic, profane, and yet respectful account of what was expected to be another routine day of peacekeeping in Sadr City, Iraq.

On April 4, 2004, as the U.S. 1st Cavalry prepared to start its year of patrols, Mahdi militia attacked a lightly armored patrol that had been escorting a fleet of trucks carry human fecal matter. Totally surprised, the soldiers found themselves blocked from returning to base. After their transports were disabled, they dashed down an alley and broke into a home to await their rescue. Several squads that then tried quickly to rescue the soldiers found more streets filled with debris to impede their efforts. They were attacked by well-armed militia shooting from rooftops, windows, and alley ways. By the time the incident was over, eight American soldiers and countless Iraqi militia and citizens were dead.

I listened to Long Road Home on audiobook, dramatically read by Joyce Bean. I doubt that the print reading experience is quite as startling. The first disc sets the story up, including the accounts of families back at Fort Hood in Texas. The next five discs tell the battle story, and the final two discs tell of the mop up, of medical treatments, and about the procedures for the informing of family members of the casualties.

In the hardcover book, there are pictures that are missing, of course, from the audiobook. Some are rather sad to see after hearing the story.

In telling this story, Raddatz spares no feelings and offers no opinions. She lets the reader decide the merits of the U.S. occupation. The closest she comes to analysis is the final statement: "Moqtada Al-Sadr continues to be a significant problem for U.S. forces in Iraq, as he gains both political and military power through his armed militia."

Raddatz, Martha. The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family. G. Putnam's Sons, 2007. ISBN 9780399153822

audiobook, 8 compact discs: Tantor, p2007. ISBN 9781400104468

Jeeves Intervenes: A Play from First Folio

When the eager-to-wed Gertrude Winklesworth-Bode thinks that you have potential (i.e. you are spineless, defenseless, and malleable to her designs), you need someone with a bit of gray matter to save your sweaty neck. When Sir Rupert Watlington-Pipps is threatening to cut off your allowance and send you to the jute farms of India, you need someone with a talent for strategy. If you are Bertie Wooster and his pathetic friend Eustice Bassington-Bassington (pronounced baa-sington bay-sington), you turn to the greatest of British superheroes - (pause for dramatic effect) - Jeeves.

Based loosely on the P. G. Wodehouse short story "Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg," Jeeves Intervenes is classic comic theater. Bonnie and I attended a very intimate performance of the First Folio Shakespeare Festival performance on Friday night at the Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook, Illinois. The stage was set for the six-character play in the old estate's wood-paneled library. With the stage at one end of the room and risers wall-to-wall, about eighty were seated for the play. Always smart, Bonnie had gotten our tickets in advance online. There were no empty seats.

The entire cast was top drawer. I think we had seen all of them in other First Folio productions. We were laughing nearly the moment the lights went up. Jim McCance as Jeeves calmly stepped forward with solutions to impossible problems just in the nick of time. Christian Gray was just the wastrel that Bertie should be, and Kevin McKillip was hilarious as his dim-witted friend Eustace.

I would recommend that you go, but the last performance was yesterday. What I can recommend is that you try other First Folio productions, especially the summer Shakespeare performances. We've been going for years.

You can find the original "Jeeves and the Hard-Boiled Egg" online at Classic Reader.

Author Fakes Holocaust Story

Libraries will again have to decide how to handle a nonfiction title that has turned out to be fiction. Misha Defonseca has admitted that her story of escaping the Nazis during World War II and living with wolves was a fabrication. Misha: A Memoire of the Holocaust Years has been translated into eighteen languages and made into a film in France. The New York Times has the story.

It is hard to believe that it has already been two years since the A Million Little Pieces controversy. At that time I argued for keeping the item in nonfiction because moving it would require us to start weighing the veracity of many other nonfiction books, some of which I named. I think I would still stick with that position. What do you think?

Wrigley Field's Last World Series: The Wartime Chicago Cubs and the Pennant of 1945 by Charles N. Billington

The Chicago Cubs played their first Cactus League game yesterday against the San Francisco Giants and won. Could it be a pennant season? A world championship season? It has been 100 years since the Cubbies won the World Series and 63 years since the team was even in the Series. It seems a good time, while hopes are high, to suggest Wrigley Field's Last World Series: The Wartime Chicago Cubs and the Pennant of 1945 by Charles N. Billington, a close look at the last season that resulted in a National League Championship for Chicago.

The author first sets the scene with an account of all the National League teams during the World War II years. President Franklin D. Roosevelt wanted baseball to continue through the national struggle, so people on the home front, including families of soldiers and defense industry workers, would have something other than just war on the radio and in the daily papers. What the president did not offer to teams were deferments, and many of the sport's top players ended up in military service. This left major league rosters loaded with older and younger players, a few with strange injuries, and some who had war effort jobs in the off season, including farmers.

Because federal transportation regulators imposed travel limits, the Cubs held 1945 spring training in French Lick, Indiana. Few player appeared at the camp in the initial week, which was just as well, as the fields were flooded from heavy rains. Team management was uncertain who from the previous year was available, as draft boards were reassessing their previous 4-F decisions and several players were holding out for better salaries. The situation was so bad that the Cubs actually allowed walk-ons to take part in intra-squad games.

The bulk of the book is a daily account of the season with profiles of many of the players, like Andy Pafko, Phil Cavvaretta, Stan Hack, Claude Passeau, and Hank Borowy. Billington describes key games and tells how the results of each series with the other National League teams. The team won a lot of games in the summer and won just enough in September to edge out the St. Louis Cardinals for the pennant.

The story of the 1945 World Series against the Detroit Tigers will remind Cub fans of every other time their hopes have been dashed against the brick wall behind outfield ivy.

Wrigley Field's Last World Series is a bit too detailed for someone with only a passing interest in the game, but true fans will find it a very interesting read. All Chicago area public libraries should have this book. Other libraries with large baseball collections should consider it.

Billington, Charles N. Wrigley Field's Last World Series: The Wartime Cubs and the Pennant of 1945. Lake Claremont Press, 2005. ISBN 1893121453

54

Born in 1954, I am 54 today. It was not a Leap Year. I was told many times as a child that I was almost a Leap Baby, but I grew up to be a reference librarian. I look these things up.

When I was 42, I remember thinking about how my dad died at 63 and my grandfather at 84. I wondered whether I had reached the midpoint of my life or whether I was two-thirds done. Now, that I'm 54, I again hope I'm only at the half-way mark.

I was born at 6:00 a.m. and have been an early riser ever since. I was up before my birthday moment this morning as usual. Four years ago, I attended the Public Library Association Conference in Seattle. Even then I was up before 4:00 a.m. to greet the moment. I did not go back to sleep. It was exciting becoming 50.

I can say with authority that I am not obsolete. I can not even imagine retiring, as I am still trying new things:

• I am writing a readers' advisory book, my first book.
• I have recently learned a lot about coding webpages.
• I will be blogging at PLA.
• I want to learn to make various types of visual presentations to attach to websites.

In my family, you die with your boots on. Retiring is a silly idea.

Bonnie gave me my gifts this morning, including a box of Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. The first bean out of the box was soap, which was not bad. I then visually identified vomit, dirt, and earthworm, but did not actually eat them. Then I found buttered popcorn, a good flavor to start my day.

Bonnie also made a carrot cake, my favorite, which I am taking to work. If you drop by early enough, you might get a piece. It'll be going fast.

Teen Services in the Latest Issue of Public Libraries

On Monday afternoon, I received the January/February 2008 issue of Public Libraries from the Public Library Association. The entire issue deals with services, programs, and materials for young adults in public libraries. Here are a few quick thoughts:

Page 17: In the article "Get Ready for Teen Tech Week 2008," an online music-making program called Splice Music is described. No downloads are required. It sounds incredible and fun. You can load your sounds and mix them and create mp3s to share. You can listen to the work of others and even make new friends.

Page 39: Laura Crossett of the Meeteetse Branch of the Park County (Wyoming) Library tells about teens in her library. As always, she gets right to the heart of the matter.

Page 61: There appear to be only two boys among around twenty girls in the tutor.com Teen Tech Week Webinar add. There also seems to be an adult male in the back. You'd get the idea that only girls use the library. That is not true here at Thomas Ford.

Page 56: "Bringing Books to Life for Teens by Having Teens Give Life to Books" tells how the Lexington Public Library in Kentucky connected teens with the local actors guild to make a play out of The Sledding Hill by Chris Crutcher.

Make sure your teen librarians know about this special issue. Give then some time to read it.

American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau by Susan Cheever

Ralph Waldo Emerson was the essential person in the creation of a remarkable community of authors in Concord, Massachusetts in the mid-nineteenth century, according Susan Cheever in American Bloomsbury. Many of the other authors who settled in the village (or in the cases of the Alcotts and Hawthorne who came and left repeatedly) came at Emerson's invitation, which was often supplemented with an offer to pay their rent. This might not have happened if Emerson's first wife had not died and left him a fortune. But it did and this collective issued The Scarlet Letter, Walden, Little Women, and Moby Dick, the core titles of American literature.

You may notice that Melville is not listed in the subtitle. He was more of a visitor than a resident, but his stay with Hawthorne transformed his writing from good old fashioned sea stories to something much deeper and more disturbing. In his case, the price of success was personal dissatisfaction.

Margaret Fuller was also a visitor, never having her own place in Concord. Her appearance always stirred the affections of Emerson and Hawthorne, both married men. She is now the least recognized of the group, but she may in a sense be the most known, as she was Hawthorne's inspiration for The Scarlet Letter and for Henry James for Portrait of a Lady. As a journalist, editor, and irrepressible character, she was an inspiration for the early feminist movement, and her tragic death unsettled the community.

Emerson, Alcott, and Hawthorne lived for years within rock-throwing distance of each other. They were in and out of each other's houses. Thoreau lived with Emerson for several years, even though his family lived nearby. He also built a little shed and lived by the pond until the new railroad made it less comfortable.

The title of the book is meant as a compliment, but it seems a little odd to me. The Concord community predates the London set. Perhaps there should be a book Concord in London. Still, American Bloomsbury is a quick read introduction to a fascinating group of people who transformed American literature. Any library that missed getting it in 2006 should make amends.

Cheever, Susan. American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau: Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Simon & Schuster, 2006. ISBN 9780743264617

PLA Virtual Conference

It is just about a month until the Public Library Association Conference in Minneapolis. If you are unable to attend, there will be a first ever PLA Virtual Conference, with panel discussions, interactive workshops, and virtual poster sessions. Andrea Mercado reports on the upcoming virtual aspect of the conference on PLA Blog. She also provides a link to register.

Even though you are at home, you can be more than just a virtual attendee. You may also submit a specially created website, powerpoint, or other electronic formats to the virtual poster session. Kathleen Hughes gives more details with instructions for application. This is a good opportunity for you to share anything special that you have done at your public library.

There should also be a lot of blogging from the conference, which begins with preconferences on March 25. PLA Blog will be one obvious source. You can also watch ricklibrarian, as I plan to be there.

At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman

I was excited when I saw that Anne Fadiman had a new book, At Large and At Small. Several years ago I enjoyed Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader immensely. I thought that I had reviewed that book here on my blog, but I can not find it. Perhaps I reviewed it at the library instead. Whatever, it was a great read.

I was pleased when I finally got the new book to see how it physically resembled the older title. Both are undersized and have attractive woodcut illustrations on the cover. They look nice shelved together, which I am sure pleases the book-loving author. They are easy to carry around and read at lunch or in bed at night.

As I said in my little piece yesterday, Fadiman's new book is a collection of familiar essays, a literary form that she says is endangered. This type of essay blends qualities of the critical essay with the personal essay. Most readers will not bother thinking about such distinctions, but will instead just enjoy her reflective writing. I most enjoyed her essay "Ice Cream" in which she mixes the history of the dessert with her personal experiences and thoughts. I laughed when she suggested that eighteenth century physician Filippo Baldini, who wrote about the benefits of eating Italian ices, might write her a prescription for Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk. (I might need a prescription for B&J Cherry Garcia.)

As in Ex Libris, loving books comes up again, as does living in New York. Fadiman also reveals her outdoor experiences, first as a child who collected insects and later as a guide for the rugged National Outdoor Leadership School, which she says was much tougher than Outward Bound. Every essay pleased me, except "Coffee," but my dislike of the drink is more at fault than her writing.

Not many libraries in my area have added the title yet. Perhaps my writing about it two days in a row will help. It is a charming, lively, entertaining book.

Fadiman, Anne. At Large and At Small: Familiar Essays. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007. ISBN 9780374106622.

On the Joy of Reading Mail and Email, with Notes on Elephants

This morning, as I rode our stationary bike, I read an essay "Mail" by Anne Fadiman from her collection of familiar essays called At Large and At Small. According to Fadiman, familiar essays stake a position midway between critical essays and personal essays, taking elements of both and mixing them. Through history such essays have often had titles starting with the word "On." They might be serious, as "On Going to War with Thoughts of Peace" or "On the Passing of an Old Friend." They might be light, as "On Shopping for Silk Ties" or "On the Sinking of a Toy Boat." (Those were not real titles, so do not expect them in Fadiman's book.)

In the essay "Mail" Fadiman tells us about her father who eagerly anticipated receiving an extra large delivery of mail everyday by watching for the mail carrier to lift the flag on his jumbo mailbox. He had a large desk heavier than a refrigerator on which he would sort and answer the letters that brought surprises to his routine of reading and writing. From there Fadiman tells about the history of the British postal service. Before the reform of 1939, the recipient (not the sender) paid for the mail. Her hero Charles Lamb (who wrote familiar essays) was fortunate to work at a firm that would pay his postal fees, for it could drive you toward bankruptcy to receive lots of mail. The reform with its simplifying of fees was an important move for the development of the economy and culture of Great Britain. Fadimon turns then to her own joyous story of mail and email to complete the essay. Being sentimental, she has the stamp dispenser and the copper waste basket that her father used at his desk.

After reading the essay, still riding the bike, I picked up the newsletter from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which Bonnie receives via email as a foster parent of an orphan elephant in Kenya. I immediately realized that I was experiencing a joy of correspondence much like Fadiman. Bonnie and I look forward to the elephant news every month. The January newsletter is particularly interesting. Dr. Dame Daphne Sheldrick assures us that the political troubles in Kenya have not reached the elephant sanctuaries. Fewer visitors have come, but those who do have ready access to the orphans. Sheldrick tells us that an eye specialist came to examine the blind orphan rhino Maxwell and diagnosed that an operation would not restore his sight. The keepers are making a special enclosure for Maxwell for his health and safety. To help him still feel part of the community, they are bringing in dung from other rhinos. Isn’t that sweet! The newsletter also tells about a walk in the bush with young elephants and their guardians. When a leg from a warthog fell from a tree, they realized that they were right under a leopard and his dinner. They beat a hasty retreat. We never have stories like that in our library newsletter!

With her newsletter, Bonnie also gets excerpts from a keeper's diary to let her know how her orphan Zurura is doing. Lately he seems to be a regular cut-up, a bit of a show-off. He has also been taking lots of mud and dust baths. There were lots of great photos with the report but none of Zurura this time. She is hoping to see him in action if Animal Planet will ever show the second season of Elephant Diaries.

You may also get this entertaining email by adopting an elephant at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust website. It will add nicely to your letters from family, friends, and lovers.

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner

I kept wanting to write about The Geography of Bliss by NPR correspondent Eric Weiner as I read, but I resisted. I thought it was better to think about it as a whole at the end. I may have taken the wrong tactic, as I now find it hard to decide what to write. Weiner's text is so full of interesting data and ideas, it is difficult to know what to bring up, especially since the book comes to no grand conclusion. He never really finds happiness in a place.

The quest was grand. He was both courageous and a bit silly to go all the places that he went, asking people whether they and their neighbors were happy and why. Of course, many people thought he was a bit strange. His accounts are delightfully comic and insightful. I marked lots of pages with little orange tabs.

On page 45, Weiner tells us that Americans are alone in preferring that our ice cream shops have over fifty flavors. Most of the world is happy with about ten varieties.

On page 54, he tells us how his daughter really wants his undivided attention, which really makes her happy. Perhaps a key to being truly happy is being able to pay attention or receive attention. We are often multitasking and not feeling one bit happier for all our accomplishment.

On page 87, he comments on Americans having to have dual climate controls in cars and different comfort setting for the sides of mattresses. Through a lack of practice, we have lost our ability to compromise. This has frightening ramifications.

On page 128, the author reveals that he hoards camera bags, tote bags, and briefcases. He has a closet full of them, some unused. In view of what he says in the rest of the book, he might find happiness by donating them to a good cause. Possessions rarely make us happy unless they connect us mentally to people or places.

On page 130, he tells how studies show that out of work people are not satisfied with welfare, even when it is generous. They would rather work. The good life is not languid.

On page 211, he reports that people in helping professions, like clergy, nurses, and firefighters are happier than lawyers, bankers, and doctors. Of course, some people could argue that lawyers, bankers, and doctors are helping professions with more pay.

Funny, I seem to have marked thoughts that reflect back on Americans and not the stories about other cultures. It is the diving-into-another-culture stories that make the book worth reading.

Weiner gives us much to think about and deserves its popularity. It is in libraries everywhere.

Weiner, Eric. The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World. Twelve, 2008. ISBN 9780446580267

Raising Sand by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss

It sounded like a strange idea when I first heard about it: Raising Sand, an album combining bluegrass artist Alison Krauss with Led Zepplin's Robert Plant. Krauss is a very versatile singer and fiddle player unbound by categories and Plant has always stretched the limits of rock, still it sounded unlikely. Of course, I remember that Zepplin used to do some electrified folk songs, like "Gallows Pole." The project was brought together by T Bone Burnett. Mike Seeger is brought in on auto harp for the final song "Your Long Journey." It sounded more interesting the more that I thought. So, I placed a hold at the library.

Well, I have been listening and want to report that it works very well. I do not know how to classify what Krauss and Plant do, but it is good. I hear rockabilly, folk, blues, country, metal, and even French art songs mixed together. Many of the songs are from the 1950s or 1960s, penned by the Everly Brothers, Gene Clark, Tom Waits, Naomi Neville, and Mel Tillis. The Hinsdale Public Library has its copy in the folk display. iTunes has it as country. It does not matter so long as you can find it.

I was not really sure it was Robert Plant singing when I started listening, as he is fairly mellow in the first couple of songs, but as I kept listening, I started to hear familiar patterns to remind me of his Led Zepplin days. When other older rock stars are singing American standards, trying to sound like Sinatra, I like it it that Plant is taking on roots music instead. I particularly like "Polly Come Home," "Gone Gone Gone," and "Please Read the Letter." "Fortune Teller" reminds me a little of "Love Potion No. 9." Krauss and Plant do everything but opera on this album.

I know what I'm going to put on my birthday list - Raising Sand.

My Face is Black is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations by Mary Frances Berry

Here is another book to recommend during Black History Month.

Callie House was washer woman in Nashville, Tennessee with five children when she was elected as assistant secretary of the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association in 1898. She and many ex-slaves were financially stricken and disenfranchised by recently enacted Jim Crow laws and violence led by the Ku Klux Klan. In the face of overwhelming odds, she led a call for the federal government to repay slaves for their unpaid labor.

According to Mary Frances Berry in her book My Face is Black is True, the campaign was at first ignored by federal authorities and discouraged actively by Booker T. Washington. Eventually fearing that her call could gain widespread support, the Justice Department declared that her organizing activities were fraud and persuaded the postmaster to ban her literature, with the result that she was arrested and imprisoned for one year for using the postal service.

After her release from prison in 1918, House again spent ten years as a poor washer woman in Nashville, which was then a magnet for black migration. Her movement was broken, but she was later an inspiration for Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

Berry, Mary Frances. My Face is Black is True: Callie House and the Struggle for Ex-Slave Reparations. Alfred A. Knopf, 2005. ISBN 1400040035.

Special Orders Don't Upset Us at Thomas Ford

Lately, I have been making numerous special orders to get books not available through Baker & Taylor, Barnes & Noble, or Amazon. I'm finding most of these items through news stories or features in the Chicago Tribune. Today the item is My Fall From Grace by James J. Laski, which is touted in a column by John Kass. The columnist says that in the book "Laski discusses crooked Chicago politics, Mayor Richard M. Daley's selective memory, and the mayor's private advice to Laski on the use of 'buffers' just like in 'The Godfather' movies." The place to order this self-published book is a website called Author House.

Stop the presses: Now the book is on Amazon. I'm sure it was not there earlier. Well, pretty sure.

Earlier in the week, the book was A Mile Square of Chicago by Marjorie Warville Bear. According to columnist Eric Zorn, it is "a sprawling and meticulously detailed remembrance of the neighborhood of Bear's youth -- the area on the West Side between Ashland and Western Avenues, from Lake Street on the north to Harrison Street on the south, just after the turn of the 20th Century." In his Sunday column, Zorn reported that Bear finished the book 38 years ago and died 26 years ago. The only way to get this posthumous publication is through Google Base. I ordered the book Monday, and it was here on Wednesday.

A month ago, the book was Life is Delicious: A Collection of Recipes from the Hinsdale Junior Women's Club, which was reviewed in the "Good Eating Section" of the Tribune on January 9. Hinsdale is a neighboring suburb of Western Springs, so we wanted the book. The book is available via the organization's website. I called the toll free number and a member hand delivered the book a couple of days later.

All of these books are of local interest. We want to have as much as we can about the Chicago are for students and general readers who grew up in the area. With the library credit card and our Internet access, we continue to watch for items like these.

"Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce, special orders don't upset us."

Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat

Stories from Haiti seem to always involve tragedy, and Brother, I'm Dying by Edwidge Danticat is no exception. The final quarter of the book will break your heart. It may also anger you, for much of what happened to Danticat's very elderly and harmless Uncle Joseph was the result of what appears to be totally unjust U.S. immigration policy toward Haitian refugees. The author suggests that if her uncle had been Cuban, he would have been welcomed into the country. Instead, unbending INS officials finished the work of the Haitian gangs.

Danticat is never sentimental but there is much charm in her storytelling. Readers come to admire both her father who immigrated to New York when she was small and admire her uncle who raised her in Port-au-Prince until she was twelve, at which time she joined her parents in New York. When she arrived, the American city seemed just as dangerous as the capital of Haiti, as her cab-driving father was attacked and threatened on several occasions. His calm, peaceful nature always saved him.

I listened to the audiobook on compact discs read by actress Robin Miles, who does an excellent job with voices and frequent Creole phrases. It is an excellent addition to any library's audio collection and should get many checkouts.

Danticat, Edwidge. Brother, I'm Dying. Knopf, 2007. ISBN 9781400041152

Audiobook on 7 CDs. Recorded Books, 2007. ISBN 9781428166318

Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl

Thanks to Nonanon, who recommend this wonderful book about a month ago.

Kiss Kiss by Roald Dahl is like a case full of boxes of Cracker Jacks. There are lots of surprises inside - at least one in every story. As a reader, I never knew what was going to happen next, nor how the story would end. As a reviewer, I don't want to give those surprises away. I'll just say that they are sometimes darkly amusing, sometimes horrible or even shocking. If you're the kind of reader who likes Edgar Allan Poe or watching Arsenic and Old Lace, you'll definitely want to finish every one of these stories.

As readers of his memoirs or his children's books knows, Dahl wastes no words. There is an economy to his storytelling, and he chooses his words well. Within a page, the reader will be in another time and place following the misadventures of marginal members of society. His victims are usually newcomers, petty crooks, lonely housewives, and other sad people. Babies suffer in these stories.

What is my favorite story? That is hard to say, but perhaps I'll say "William and Mary,"in which a husband wills his brain to science so that he can continue conscienceness in a bowl. "Royal Jelly," with the beekeeper reversing the decline of his infant daughter is a very close second. It is definitely not "Pig," which is too horrible to contemplate. Do not read "Pig" right before going to bed!

Kiss Kiss appears to be out of print. Over 800 libraries still have it, according to Worldcat. Libraries should not withdraw it from their collections, as it is every bit as powerful now as it was nearly fifty years ago. Some of the stories are in The Best of Roald Dahl, but you want to read them all.

Dahl, Roald. Kiss Kiss. Knopf, 1960.

The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles

It may seem hard to believe now, but novelists Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos were once friends. They met in Schio, Italy during World War I, where they both were ambulance drivers evacuating a field hospital. Two years later they were together in Paris, living cheaply, meeting Joyce and Stein, and reading each other's work daily. Later, back in the U.S., Hemingway introduced Dos Passos to the woman that he would marry, and the new couple would visit the Hemingways in Key West and Havana annually. So long as both were promising authors, their friendship seemed strong. Success, however, sowed seeds of jealousy.

In The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of Jose Robles, Stephen Koch tells a sad story about how the two novelists went to Spain supposedly to work on a film in support of the Spanish Republican cause. What neither knew was that they were dupes of the Communist Party, who had already made the film. Hemingway did not really care. He was in Spain to find inspiration and to conduct a love affair with Martha Gellhorn. He spent most of his time drinking and unknowingly hanging out with Soviet agents.

When Dos Passos arrived several weeks later, he found that his good friend Jose Robles was missing. Robles's wife told him that her husband had been taken in the night by Spanish soldiers months before and no one in the government would acknowledge whether he was in custody or dead. Dos Passos began questioning every official he could meet, which annoyed the Soviet puppet forces, who were preparing to assassinate most of the true Spanish Republicans. Hemingway had no sympathy. He told Dos Passos "people die - get over it - quit embarrassing us with your questions." The two old friends had a very public argument over whether Robles was a Fascist, a suggestion Hemingway accepted because his Soviet friends told him so.

According to Stephen Koch, Dos Passos met George Orwell in Barcelona and helped repentant American Communist Liston Oak escape the Soviets. He generally acted bravely and responsibly, but lost much of his faith in socialism in Spain. Hemingway, on the other hand, betrayed his wife, his friend, and every principle he ever espoused, but he found inspiration for For Whom the Bell Tolls. His success was hollow, however, and Koch suggests that he never forgave himself for all his sins.

The Breaking Point is for anyone interested in Hemingway, Dos Passos, the Spanish Civil War, or Soviet agents in the West before World War II.

For the Relief of Unbearable Urges by Nathan Englander

Nathan Englander's collection of short stories For the Relief of Unbearable Urges was published in 1999, but it was released as an audiobook in 2007. I do not know why it took so long, but it was worth the wait. As read by Susan Denaker, Paul Michael, and Arthur Morey, the nine stories about Jewish experience are riveting.

Among my favorite stories are the first two, both of which are historical. "The Twenty-Seventh Man" takes readers back to the Soviet Union of the 1930s, when Stalin was purging the country of dissidents, including Jewish radicals. Twenty-six famous Jewish writers are brought to a camp for execution. With them is one unknown writer. They all know they are going to die, but they continue to compose stories to tell up to the end.

In the second story, "The Tumblers," Nazi soldiers bring hundreds of Jews to a train station to ship them to death camps. A circus train pulls into the confusion and a group of Jews from a ghetto accidentally get on board. They soon discover their good fortune will end if they can not come up with an acrobatic act.

The rest of the stories are contemporary, set in either New York City or Jerusalem. My favorite New York story is "Reb Kringle," which tells about a Jewish Santa who has serious problems with his seasonal department store job. The book ends with "In This Way We Are Wise," which intimately recreates the experience of witnessing a suicide bombing in Jerusalem.

What sets these stories apart from lesser stories is Englander's elegant descriptions of desperate situations. At times, the stories are somewhat humorous but there is always a soul or many souls at stake. In most of the stories the need to follow Jewish law is also a complicating factor in the plot. This New York Times Notable Book is a good item to recommend to readers who like literary fiction.

Englander, Nathan. For the Relief of Unbearable Urges. Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. ISBN 0375404929.

6 CD. Books on Tape, 2007. ISBN 9781415938096.