The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case by Alexander McCall Smith

Chat shorthand for this blog: BBHGB. "Bonnie brings home good books." I say that often. The latest is The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case by Alexander McCall Smith with illustrations by Iain McIntosh. McCall Smith has written a No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency book for young readers. I see that the Downers Grove Public Library copy identifies it as 3rd-4th grade reading. I liked it, too.

To be specific, it is a pre-No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency book as it tells the story of the first mystery that Precious Ramotswe solved as a school girl in Botswana. I hope more are to come. I learned more about the sleuth and her revered father Obed Ramotswe, who tells a wonderful story early in the book. Teachers will like The Great Cake Mystery, too, as it has discussion questions, a short glossary of geographical terms, and curriculum suggestions in the back.

It would be fun if someone would write young Miss Marple or young Poirot mysteries. There are young Sherlock books.

BBHGB.

McCall Smith, Alexander. The Great Cake Mystery: Precious Ramotswe's Very First Case. Anchor Books, 2012. 73p. ISBN 9780307949448.

Special Exits: A Graphic Memoir by Joyce Farmer

I have forgotten who recommended Special Exits: A Graphic Memoir by Joyce Farmer. I think that it was one of my friends on Goodreads or Facebook. If you remember who you are, accept my thanks. Once it reached the top of my stack of books to read, I read from it every chance that I had.

I suspect many people who would really appreciate Special Exits have not seen it. Boomers taking care of their elderly parents are not as a group very aware of graphic novels. That's too bad, because the book dramatizes a situation in which they may find themselves - trying to respectfully manage the lives of people who have lost the ability to care for themselves. The complications are many: bad health, poverty, delusions, loss of memory, reluctance to accept help, etc. The demands are many: sacrifice time, negotiate calmly, tolerate idiosyncrasies, lose battles gracefully, and learn to guide the elderly to make the decisions that you know that they have to make.

Special Exits is presented as a true story for which all the names have been changed. The daughter taking care of her father and stepmother over the course of four years makes some mistakes and only slowly learns what she can and cannot accomplish. We can all hope never to be so challenged as the daughter, but we should probably all be ready to step up to do what we have to do. Reading Special Exits beforehand may help.

Farmer, Joyce. Special Exits: A Graphic Memoir. Fantagraphics Books, 2010. 200p. ISBN 9781606993811.

Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles: A Muppet Sketchbook by Alison Inches

Our library has had several requests for books about Muppet founder Jim Henson lately. A new generation of teens is interested in puppetry, animation, and television and coming to our desk seeking instruction and inspiration. Through interlibrary loan I found Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles by Alison Inches to be a helpful title. With access to the Jim Henson archives, the author discovered many sketches showing the energetic muppet master's creative process. She arranged them into chapters recounting Henson's early career, his construction of muppets, his production of commercials in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and his efforts to get his own television show.

I enjoyed seeing early sketches showing the birth of characters who were only fully realized years later. Oscar the Grouch started as orange instead of green. Bert and Ernie came after a series of short-and-tall friends. Even Kermit was not a frog in the beginning.

Boomers can appreciate the book for different reasons than the teens. The author includes biographical and historical details that will remind them of their own early years. The publisher should should bring this fun book back to print.

Inches, Alison. Jim Henson's Designs and Doodles: A Muppet Sketchbook. Harry N. Abrams, 2001. 127p. ISBN 0810932407.

Portuguese Irregular Verbs by Alexander McCall Smith

If I had Silly Fun Awards to grant, I'd probably give the first to Monty Python's Flying Circus and then bestow one on Gary Larson for his The Far Side comics. Then I'd give one to author Alexander McCall Smith for Portuguese Irregular Verbs series. I just listened again to Portuguese Irregular Verbs, the first book in the series in which readers follow the ridiculous life of philologist Professor Doctor Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld. He is occasionally called Maria.

The learned professor is famous for his 1,200 page text titled, of course, Portuguese Irregular Verbs, of which nearly 200 copies have been sold in a decade. At one point in the story, he discovers that only two copies have sold in the previous year, and he worries so much about whether a colleague bought a copy, he schemes to get in the fellow's apartment to check his bookshelves. Book sales aside, he is famous enough in the world of philology to receive constant requests that he speak at conferences. At each, like all of the other philologists, he repeats the same lecture. He is greatly excited when a new member of the brotherhood presents a new topic.

My favorite story is about the professor falling in love with his dentist who so skillfully and quickly relieves his toothache. Can you guess what he gives her as a thank you? If you can, you may also foresee the result of his courtship. In another chapter he recalls a trip to rural Ireland as assistant to a professor studying old Irish vulgarities. The moral of this story is be careful where you leave your transcriptions. 

Portuguese Irregular Verbs is wonderful in print or audio, as read skillfully by Paul Hecht. It is followed by The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs and At the Villa of Reduced Circumstances.

McCall Smith, Alexander. Portuguese Irregular Verbs. Anchor Books, 2005. 128p. ISBN 1400077087.

4 compact discs. Recorded Books, 2004. ISBN 1402590504

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt

Narrated by Edoardo Ballerini, The Swerve: How the World Became Modern by Stephen Greenblatt is pleasurable listening. I really enjoyed hearing Ballerini's pronounciations of the many Roman and Italian names that were a part of the story of the discovery and copying of On the Nature of Things, a poem by the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius. The Epicurean poet would approve, as the seeking of pleasure is a central theme to his first century B. C. poem that posed that all matter was made of tiny atoms.

One of those great Italian names was Poggio Bracciolini, a personal secretary to an overthrown pope. Poggio (Greenblatt always calls him by the first name) used the freedom he had after losing his job to visit out of the way monasteries to see what forgotten classical texts he could find. As soon as he found a ninth century copy of On the Nature of Things, he recognized it as an important missing text. Because he could not borrow the book, he hired a scribe to make a copy, which he sent to a friend who contracted the making of copies in a better hand.

Greenblatt contends that Poggio's discovery was a key event of the Renaissance, for the ideas contained in the poem were spread to dissenters who eventually broke the power of the Roman Catholic Church to restrict scientific investigation and discussion. The idea of atomic particles was considered by church officials to be a direct attack on the miracle of the eucharist. Poggio escaped being punished because he worked during a brief period of liberal thought but many others were burned at the stake later when the church tried to suppress the poem.

The story told by Greenblatt is epic in size, including Greek, Roman, Medieval, and Renaissance history. The conclusions even include William Shakespeare, Thomas Jefferson, and Charles Darwin. The Swerve is a bestseller worth reading and keeping.

Greenblatt, Stephen. The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. Recorded Books, 2011. 8 compact discs. ISBN 9781461838227.

Steve Justman Plays Friday at the Ford

Steve Justman is a collector of songs, and like many collectors, he likes to show others what he's found. That's what you'd expect from a folksinger, a role Steve plays well. In his Friday at the Ford concert at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library, to the delight of the audience, he pulled 18 songs out of his big bag. Many were familiar without being from a predictable playlist of the past, each ripe for rediscovery. A few old songs from outside the mainstream of popular music were revelations. "High on a Mountain" by the Appalachian singer/songwriter Ola Bella Reed is the best example of something old that was totally new to most of the listeners.

Steve is also a historian of American song. For almost every song he provided a context, often noting singers and songwriters, but sometimes adding personal reflections. What became obvious is that he has crossed musical genres all his life. It seems natural that he was able to sing Dean Martin's "Memories Are Made of This" to his between two country classics. People sand along, as they did with Steve Goodman's "The City of New Orleans." My favorite of the night was "You Got Me Singing the Blues," sung more in the sty;e of Guy Mitchell than Marty Robbins.

I enjoyed talking about music with Steve while he packed his guitars and banjo away, being just hours away from a trip to Minnesota to play bass for June's Got the Cash, a June Carter and Johnny Cash tribute band. He's be back in the Chicago area soon, playing for senior centers, farmers' markets, and libraries. See his website for the schedule.

Karen Cries on the Bus a film by Gabriel Rojas Vera

We have all imagined, if only for a moment, the lives of strangers. Most of us guess a few stereotypical details and drop the matter quickly. Colombian film director Gabriel Rojas Vera, however, after seeing a woman quietly crying on a bus in Bogata, wrote and directed the film Karen Cries on the Bus, the story of a timid woman trying to break away from her marriage to find a more satisfying life. From the opening scene of Karen on a late night bus, viewers know something has gone wrong in her life.

Dressed nicely, if somewhat plainly, she seems out of place on the bus and in the poor neighborhood in which she drags her rolling suitcase. In the dark, she pleads for a room and overpays. In the morning, after she discovers the filth and insects, she begins her search for a job with which to support herself. The quest is, of course, difficult for a woman who has never worked outside the home, and her resolve is quickly tested by offers from her mother and husband to let her return to where they want her.

The director has said that he was quite astonished by the strong response to his film by women in his country. He thought he was telling an individual's story, but many women of Colombia and elsewhere identify with Karen's struggle against the demand that she return to the role her family had assigned her as a youth. Our film discussion group at the library was sympathetic and appreciated the artful storytelling. Karen Cries on the Bus is a good addition to foreign film collections.

Rojas Vera, Gabriel. Karen Cries on the Bus. Film Movement, 2011. ISBN 9781461843849.

Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time by Mark Adams

Mark Adams had not slept in a tent since childhood - and rarely then - when he decided to hike through the Andes Mountains of Peru to follow the path of the archeologist Hiram Bingham III, whose National Geographic articles one hundred years ago sparked international interest in Machu Picchu. With Australian guide John Leivers and a small Peruvian support team, he visited a network of holy Inca ruins connected by the surprisingly intact Inca Trail over high mountains and into deep valleys. He reports on his discoveries about the Incas, Bingham, and modern Peru in his highly descriptive travel memoir Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time.

"Discover" is an often misused word, according to Adams, especially when used with explorers. Machu Picchu had never actually been lost. Local villagers had always known it was there in an emerald valley sometimes described as a jewel box. To his credit, Bingham and National Geographic made the world aware and in awe of the Inca city, probably saving it from destruction.

I am surprised to see relatively few libraries have added Turn Right at Machu Picchu (according to Worldcat which can sometimes be a slow indicator). I enjoyed Adams report which recounts Peruvian history from the times of the Conquistadors to the present. I had not known about the lawsuit over antiquities between the nation of Peru and Yale University Museums or about the landowners who claim Peru never paid them for the nationalization of their property. Even more I enjoyed his account of hiking to great Andean vistas. I hope Adams plans more adventures and books.

Adams, Mark. Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time. Dutton, 2011. 333p. ISBN 9780525952244.

Room for Improvement: Notes on a Dozen Lifelong Sports by John Casey

I could count if I knew what to count, but I don't. What are the twelve sports to which John Casey refers in his new book Room for Improvement: Notes on a Dozen Lifelong Sports? I don't see a list on the cover or in the preface. There are 24 chapters whose titles are not "Number 1: Swimming," "Number 2: Hiking," and so forth. Is survival training a sport? Do we differentiate between canoeing and sculling? He mentions throwing a shot-put once - do I count it? Do I count hunting and fishing? Maybe teasing readers?

Casey is a novelist, so maybe he is trained not to be so obvious as to include lists in his autobiographical essays. As readers we are supposed to discover his story of sport a little at a time, cheering as he turns his law school era fatness into hard and lean fitness and then staying actively athletic for fifty years. Most of that time is spent outdoors, and many of his activities are extreme. Would you run-walk 50 miles on your 50th birthday? Casey recounts his efforts with enthusiasm and vivid detail. The most gripping story is about his three weeks spent with Outward Bound off the coast of Maine. It is all what-does-not-kill-you-makes-you-stronger stuff.

I enjoyed Room for Improvement but not enough to reread to count the sports. If you can count them, let me know.

Casey, John. Room for Improvement: Notes on a Dozen Lifelong Sports. Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. 229p. ISBN 9780307700025.

A Noble Radiance by Donna Leon

Readers' advisory expert Joyce Saricks has always said that readers do not have to start mystery series with the first book. I wanted an audiobook and found a handful of Commissario Brunetti Mysteries by Donna Leon on the shelf at the Downers Grove Public Library. I took the one with the oldest copyright home (after checking it out, of course).

Over several days while driving and gardening, I enjoyed listening to Samuel Gillies read A Nobel Radiance, a cold case mystery in which Venice's police detective Guido Brunetti seeks to discover who killed the young heir of a shipping fortune. Two years after his kidnapping, a body had been found in a field. Wondering why the criminals would leave a valuable signet ring beside the bones, Brunetti restarts the investigation.

A Nobel Radiance is a leisurely-paced procedural mystery in which readers spend almost as much time learning about Brunetti, his family, his colleagues, and the city of Venice. In the course of several weeks, the detective learns much about the victim and his family without discovering a suspect or a motive. Readers won't mind, however, for just following the life of Brunetti is entertaining. They will learn that Brunetti is persistent and finally recognizes without hard evidence the situation leading to the crime.

After finishing the book, I checked and found A Nobel Radiance is actually the seventh title in what is soon to be a 21 book series. That is good for me, as I'd like to read more.

Leon, Donna. A Noble Radiance. Penguin, 2003. ISBN 0142003190.

7 compact discs. Clipper Audio, 1999. ISBN 1402545118.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach

Being a big baseball fan, I also enjoy a good baseball novel every now and then, such as The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. It tells the story of Henry Skrimshander, a college shortstop who loses his confidence right at the point that he ties a national record for the most games without an error, a record held by his idol, former St. Louis Cardinal Aparicio Rodriguez. The Art of Fielding is the title of Aparicio's collection of quotes about the philosophy of playing shortstop, a book that Henry reads constantly.

Henry's breakdown comes at terrible time for the surging Westish College Harpooners and four others on the campus by the shores of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin. Subplots involving the president of the college, his daughter, the Harpooners' catcher, and Henry's gay roommate divert readers from the shortstop's struggles for chapters at a time.

Baseball is only one of the elements of the unpredictable story. Literary readers will enjoy the discussions of architecture, philosophy, women's rights, campus promiscuity, drug use, and environmentalism. The writings of Emerson, Thoreau, and Melville are quoted alongside the words of Aparicio Rodriguez. Like many others who have reviewed The Art of Fielding, I was greatly entertained.

Harbach, Chad. The Art of Fielding. Little, Brown, and CO., 2011. 512p. ISBN 9780316126694.

Hachette Audio, 2011. 14 compact discs. ISBN 9781611132106.

21: The Story of Roberto Clemente: A Graphic Novel by Wilfred Santiago

I wanted to like 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente: A Graphic Novel by Wilfred Santiago, but I wanted a fuller biography of the Hall of Fame baseball player. The art work effectively evokes the poverty of Puerto Rico and the grit of industrial Pittsburgh, and I think Santiago succeeds in dramatizing the big games, but 21 is just highlights from the great Pirate outfielder's life with lots of gaps. Turn a page, and years have passed without explanation. Knowing baseball history, I am able to fill in the gaps, but I can't imagine a young reader can.

21 is still an attractive introduction to learning about baseball of the 1950s to 1970s. I hope it encourages young readers to probe further. A more complete profile of the Pirate can be found in Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss. Dismiss the "last hero" idea though as there have been many worthy players after Clemente.

Santiago, Wilfred. 21: The Story of Roberto Clemente: A Graphic Novel. Fantagraphic Books, 2011. ISBN 9781560978923.

The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story Of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret by Kent Hartman

Do you know what "The Boxer" by Simon and Garfunkel, "California Dreaming" by the Mamas and the Papas, "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire, "Help Me, Rhonda" by the Beach Boys, "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra, "Up, Up and Away" by the 5th Dimension, "Close to You" by the Carpenters, and most of the early recordings by the Tijuana Brass, Monkees, the Union Gap, and Grass Roots all have in common? The same drummer, Hal Blaine. "How could this be?" you might ask. While some of the acts above obviously needed back-up musicians, other were supposed to be self-sufficient bands playing their own music. Was Blaine in all of the music groups above? The answers to these questions are found in the new history The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story Of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret by Kent Hartman.

The unofficially-named Wrecking Crew were a couple of dozen or so studio musicians whom record producers used to improve the singles that they were releasing in the late 1950s, 1960s, and early 1970s. While well paid by the standards of the era, most were never credited on album covers or in the press. Particularly with groups like the Beach Boys, Byrds, Doors, Association, Grass Roots, and Union Gap, the record company marketers and the groups themselves did not want it known that they had had help making their records sound good. Fans might have been disappointed to learn the boys in the magazines were not really playing on the records.

In The Wrecking Crew, Hartman tells a fairly chronological story about what went on in the recording studios around Los Angeles with a few side trips to London, New York, Chicago, and Nashville. Each chapter is named after a song, such "The Limbo Rock" or "Classical Gas," and recounts the unfolding of musical discovery against studio politics. Central characters include Blaine, Glen Campbell, Phil Spector, Jimmy Webb, and Carol Kaye, the sole woman in the Crew.

I could hardly put The Wrecking Crew down, but I am a Boomer who was enthralled with the music described. With so many names, it will be a tough read for someone from a younger generation. Still, there is a lot to learn for anyone and a nice list of songs in the appendix to help. I'm sure they are all on You-Tube.

Hartman, Kent. The Wrecking Crew: The Inside Story Of Rock and Roll's Best-Kept Secret. Thomas Dunne Books, 2012. 292p. ISBN 9780312619749.

Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

What role does expectation play in a reader's satisfaction with a book? I only read Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home by Rhoda Janzen because my book club chose it for April. I knew it was well received by book critics and popular with the reading public at large, but it had not made my to-read list. I'm not sure why as I have enjoyed memoirs of women who radically changed their circumstances, including The Dirty Life by Kristin Kimball and Claiming Ground by Laura Bell. I think I anticipated not liking an everything-is-a-joke tone but was pleasantly surprised to find I enjoyed Janzen's humorous story telling and rich language.

Others in the book group expected more from Mennonite in a Little Black Dress and were disappointed. They found they could not understand why Janzen remained so long in an abusive relationship when she was so smart and had the means to withdraw. Several thought she was unkind in descriptions of others, including family. Some even distrusted her account. So many memoirs have been exposed as false lately that this is inevitable.

The story rang true to me, as I know people who never act to improve their situations, holding on to hopeless relationships until the others leave. As for being unkind, I would not wish to be assessed by Janzen, but i think she is as critical of herself, and I think there is merit in telling the story as she does. I hope friends and family will forgive her. Maybe they shake their heads and say Rhoda is just being Rhoda.

Through humor and self-exposure, Janzen tells a story that both entertains and philosophizes. Entering her world for several evenings is time well spent.

Janzen, Rhoda. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress: A Memoir of Going Home. Henry Holt, 2009. 241p. ISBN 9780805089257.

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson

Train Dreams by Denis Johnson is one of the finalists that did not win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction this year. None of the finalist did, which is what has stirred a debate. What has not risen, at least in the libraries that I monitor, is an interest in the book. I found it on the shelf in my library and see numerous other copies just sitting in the libraries around the Chicago suburbs. That's too bad, for it is quite a good book.

Some of the Pulitzer board seems to have thought Train Dreams too small to win a big prize. I'd counter that their prize for poetry often goes to very thin books and that the language of narration in Train Dreams is superb - almost like poetry. Of course, the quality of narration is all in the eye of the individual reader. Train Dreams was also first published in The Paris Review in 2002, which may have turned some board members against it.

I like historical fiction and entered the world of the Idaho Panhandle in the early 20th century willingly. Men were still working in lumber camps, hauling trees with horses, and floating them down rivers. If they could not afford a train ticket, losing their money to gamblers or prostitutes, they walked days to get home after the camps break. Winters were severe and forest fires deadly. People were lost and never found. In this land, Robert Grainer faced a great family tragedy. Hardly anyone noticed him as he spent most of his time in the woods.

Whether Train Dreams should have won the Pulitzer Prize is not really worth debating. What I hope is that readers notice and enjoy this excellent novella.

Johnson, Denis. Train Dreams. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. 116p. ISBN 9780374281144.

Andy Young at Friday at the Ford

What is gypsy jazz? Chicago musician Andy Young answered that question for about sixty listeners at Thomas Ford Memorial Library's March 9 Friday at the Ford concert. Gypsy jazz or gypsy swing is music that rose in clubs in 1930s Paris. Director Woody Allen included some pieces in his recent film Midnight in Paris, one of which Young played on hammered dulcimer accompanied by guitarist Al Tauber. Hammered dulcimer is not an instrument usually associated with tunes that may make listeners think of old French films, but Young's interpretations delighted our appreciative audience, including some children awe-struck with the hammering.

We already knew Young for his Celtic music, some of which he performed on the dulcimer, tin whistle, and Irish flute. Andy and Al kept our feet tapping with an abundance of reels, some of which were nameless. It was good pre-St. Patrick's Day listening.

Since the concert, I have been listening to his latest CD L'Accroche-Pieds, which mixes Celtic tunes and gypsy jazz in a measure similar to the concert. The CD features a number of other musicians and even includes the sound of Irish step dancing. It is mostly cheerful music good for home or mobile listening. You can learn more about Andy Young at his website.

On Writing Book Reviews for Booklist

For the past two years, I have been writing book reviews for Booklist, the review journal for public libraries from the America Library Association. Every month or so, I get a package from Adult Books Editor Brad Hooper with one, two, or (once) even three review copies of forthcoming books. Most have been science and nature books aimed at general readers. Early on, I received a series of human-animal interaction books - a man and his pet grizzly kind of books. I also got collections of thoughtful essays on human stewardship (or lack of) of our environment. I enjoyed all of these books immensely.

Then, I started getting books about the seas and oceans. Perhaps there is a boom in this field of publishing. I was not expecting it, but I am starting to feel I could test for some college credit in marine biology. I am sure I can now talk very knowledgeably with my old biology major apartment mate Joe about microorganisms and fisheries. Here is a list the marine-related titles that I have read and reviewed to date:

• Demon Fish: Travels through the Hidden World of Sharks by Juliet Eilperin
• Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid by Wendy Williams
• Sex, Drugs, and Sea Slime: The Ocean's Oddest Creatures and Why They Matter by Ellen Prager
• Bayshore Summer by Peter Dunne
• Arctic Summer by Peter Dunne
• The Great White Bear: A Natural and Unnatural History of the Polar Bear by Kieran Mulvaney
• Fraser's Penguins: A Journey to the Future of Antarctica by Fen Montaigne
• Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms by Richard Fortey
• Overfishing: What Everyone Needs to Know by Ray Hilborn
• Ocean of Life by Callum Roberts
• Floating Gold: An Unnatural History of Ambergris by Christopher Kemp
• Horseshoe Crab: Biology of a Survivor by Anthony D. Fredericks
• In Pursuit of Giants: One Man's Global Search for the Last of the Great Fish by Matt Rigney

The books at the bottom part of the list are not yet available in stores, but I have gotten to read them already. That is half the fun of being a book reviewer.

I have also found my reviewing has helped at parties. I go to very few, but I actually found myself in a conversation at one about the books of biologist Richard Fortey and was able to say "I've read his forthcoming book." Maybe I will now get more invitations. Everyone wants to know a book reviewer.

Lulu in the Sky: A Daughter of Cambodia Finds Love, Healing, and Double Happiness by Loung Ung

It has been seven years since I read First They Killed My Father and Lucky Child, books in which Loung Ung vividly recounts life and death in the labor camps of the Khmer Rouge in 1970s Cambodia, her escape through Vietnam to Thailand and then to Vermont, and her struggle to assimilate in America. She continues her immigrant story in Lulu in the Sky: A Daughter of Cambodia Finds Love, Healing, and Double Happiness.

"Lulu" was the name Loung used with her school friends in Vermont. She hoped to seem less foreign and more like a regular American girl, which was made difficult by the strict rules enforced by her older brother and sister-in-law with whom she lived. Primary among their rules was "no dating." Her family expected that they would arrange a marriage for Loung to another Cambodian. Never openly defiant, while in college she secretly began a relationship with a tall and handsome American from Cleveland. The development of that relationship over time - a long time - is the central story line of Lulu in the Sky.

Parallel to the love story is Ung's account of her need to find purpose or a calling, which she does first through social work and then by becoming a spokesperson for the international effort to ban the use of land mines. This work allowed her to travel internationally, giving her an opportunity to visit her family still living in and around Phnom Penh. I especially enjoyed her visits with her Chinese grandmother, who would, of course, have been very familiar with the symbol for "double happiness."

Readers can start with Lulu in the Sky, as Ung provides enough detail for them to understand her journey. Those who recoil from stories of brutal oppression may only want to read this new love story, but I recommend most readers start with First They Killed My Father to get the full story of the Cambodian genocide.

Ung, Loung. Lulu in the Sky: A Daughter of Cambodia Finds Love, Healing, and Double Happiness. Harper Perennial, 2012. 330p. ISBN 9780062091918.

The Great Northern Express: A Writer's Journey Home by Howard Frank Mosher

I think I like the idea of The Great Northern Express: A Writer's Journey Home by Howard Frank Mosher better than I like the actual book. The problem may be my own expectations more than the author's writing. I am sure some other readers will like the book well enough, and I liked parts of it very much. I enjoyed how Mosher starts the book with a memory of listening to Yankee-Red Sox baseball games with his father and his father's best friend on a car radio in a spot on  mountain where they could get a signal. I appreciate how he told me of his cancer and then said that the disease would not be the focus of the story. I enjoyed all of the parts about his marriage, teaching school, and life in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. The story about moving a piano is particularly funny.

What disappointed me about The Great Northern Express were some of the chapters about his three-season driving trip around the U.S. to promote a novel at 100 bookstores. He does warn readers that he uses literary license and folds into the account incidents from previous book tours. So I knew that not everything he was going to say was literally true, but I was not expecting obviously fictional conversations with literary and personal ghosts. Perhaps fans of his fiction will like these fantasies, but I wanted to know more about his actually experiences. I would have liked to have read more about the bookstores and the real people he met.

As The Great Northern Express winds down, it gets really good again. At least, Mosher pleased me by writing about what I wanted him to write at the end.

The best part for me may be the quotes from his friend, the poet James Hayford. That's who I want to read now.

Mosher, Howard Frank. The Great Northern Express: A Writer's Journey Home. Crown Publisahers, 2012. 246p. ISBN 9780307450692.

City of Scoundrels: The Twelve Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago by Gary Krist

Chicagoans rang in the new year with optimism in 1919. The world war was over, and the influenza epidemic had subsided. The city's industrial infrastructure was expanded, and the mayor was determined the city would develop architect Daniel Burnham's visionary plan for the lakefront and central city. If everyone worked together, the future was bright. 1919, however, proved to be a difficult year, according to Gary Krist in his new history City of Scoundrels: The Twelve Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago.

Tragic might be a better term than difficult. No one seems to have realized that the end of the war lessened the call for industrial production, and with soldiers returning, the labor force was expanding. During the war, thousands of blacks from the South had come to fill the labor shortage. Racial tension was bound to increase as everyone competed for jobs. Manufactures hoped to keep or reduce wages, while unions demanded raises, as did transportation workers. Chicago already had a history of labor violence. The situation was explosive, literally, as whites began bombing the homes of blacks in the late winter and spring, just as the vote came for the election of mayor.

Mayor William Hale Thompson, the key scoundrel in the story, pursued a political path that increased divisions among the many parties. His story ran in all the daily newspapers, along with headlines about the murder of a child, a terrible airship accidents, the start of Prohibition, race riots, and a transit strike. Later, members of the Chicago White Sox conspired to lose the World Series. Krist weaves the many plots together, focusing much of the book on the hot days of July when the riots tore through the South Side.

As a reader, I am not really sure how Chicago was changed by these events. Corruption, violence, and prejudice were at high levels before and after that year. Perhaps pessimism grew, but Chicago was becoming modern long before 1919. Nonetheless, Krist tells a great story, and I enjoyed learning about the many players in the tragedy, not all of whom were scoundrels. City of Scoundrels is a quick read for anyone interested in American history.

Krist, Gary. City of Scoundrels: The Twelve Days of Disaster That Gave Birth to Modern Chicago. Crown Publishers, 2012. ISBN 9780307454294.

Settled in the Wild: Notes from the Edge of Town by Susan Hand Shetterly

When Susan Hand Shetterly left the city with her family to move into a cabin in rural Maine in 1971, she had some experience with nature. She had always enjoyed a walk in the woods, but she had not yet heard the many sounds of stormy nights, seen predation, or stepped into sucking mud from which there seemed no escape. She recounts her own survival and the plight of wildlife in an increasingly suburbanized coastal community in Settled in the Wild: Notes from the Edge of Town.

Shetterly's notes are short, quick-to-the-point essays about the forces of nature. She tells us about the run of the alewives, the cracking of ice, the paving of an old country road, and the care of injured birds. I particularly enjoyed her tribute to a dead tree that served as home to many birds and insects. While not so spiritual as Annie Dillard, Shetterly still takes us with her into the marshes, woods, and shallow waves offshore to discover something worth preserving. 

Settled in the Wild is a book I'd like to send to friends.

Shetterly, Susan Hand. Settled in the Wild: Notes from the Edge of Town. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2010. 240 p. ISBN 9781565126183.

Dear Mr. Jefferson: Letters from a Nantucket Gardener by Laura Simon

Thomas Jefferson was an avid gardener. For 58 years, even when he was in Europe in service to his country, he kept gardening diaries. In his letters home, he always asked for detailed accounts about the gardens and the harvest of fruits and vegetables. He often commented on the varieties of plants that he found while traveling. He even smuggled seeds out of Italy.

It seems natural that author and gardener Laura Simon feels akin to Jefferson. Every winter she receives dozens of seed catalogs, and wanting to try new varieties in her large Nantucket garden, she orders from many of them. Then she turns her guest room into a greenhouse to start her seeds. Like Jefferson, she keeps annual gardening plans, ledgers and journals. Her actually writing letters to the long deceased Jefferson is not surprising.

In Dear Mr. Jefferson: Letters from a Nantucket Gardener, Simon recounts one gardening year in Nantucket. In the process, she also lovingly comments on all that she has learned from reading Jefferson and visiting Monticello. Published in 1998, it is still a delight to read. Add it to your list.

Simon, Laura. Dear Mr. Jefferson: Letters from a Nantucket Gardener. Crown Publishers, 1998. 224p. ISBN 0609600974.

Worm: The First Digital World War by Mark Bowden

I confess that I have paid little attention to the Malware Wars. It seems that attacks come at fairly regular intervals and the world never ends. I am not alone. As a society, we are pretty immune to news about viruses and worms, but we should be more concerned, according to Mark Bowden, author of Worm: The First Digital World War, which tells how an alliance of volunteers from around the world fought the Conflicker worm in 2008-2009.

Bowden begins his book with a bit of history. It seems there have been pranksters since the beginning of the Computer Age. Brilliant geeks have always found satisfaction in surprising their colleagues by pirating their monitors and sending clever messages buried in software. Then criminals discovered they could send viruses via email that could crash computers or steal personal information and account numbers from unsuspecting victims. Through the decades, the menace has grown. Now terrorists or nation-states can imbed code in millions of computers to make them slaves to their bidding. Personal computer owners might never know they are harboring and assisting malicious attacks on corporate and government websites.

The Conficker story is now out of the headlines but the battle continues. The worm still lives in millions of computers that have not loaded Windows updates properly. To date not much has really happened as the master of Conflicker seems to be biding his time. He has leased the botnet at least once to purveyors of email spam, but the potential for much greater harm, such as attacks on utilities or military command stations, still exists.

Worm is certainly an eye-opening book. I suggest readers with an interest in technology try the audiobook read by Christopher Lane.

Bowden, Mark. Worm: The First Digital World War. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011. 245p. ISBN 9780802119834.

Also, Brilliance Audio, 2011. 6 compact discs. ISBN 9781455825233.

Chicago Music Scene at Thomas Ford

What do musicians Sam Cooke, Corky Siegel, Jim McGuinn (later known as Roger), Ramsey Lewis, and Dean Milano have in common? They all played Chicago clubs in the 1960s and 1970s, when there were many venues offering a variety of live music in the Chicago area. Milano, with his guitar and laptop in hand, lovingly described the time in a slide presentation as a part of our spring Elmer Kennedy History Lecture Series.

Milano, as author of Chicago Music Scene: 1960s and 1970s, has amassed a large collection of photos to accompany his fond memories. Many of the images that he included in his presentation were from his 2009 book, but he had some extras that he included while recounting the intersecting circles of folk, country, rock, blues, and jazz musicians. Showing an old musical friend on the screen, he often stopped the narrative to sing a verse and a chorus from one of that artist's songs. Most of them were instantly recognized as national hits, such as Sam Cooke's "Cupid" or the Buckingham's "Hey, Baby, They're Playing Our Song."

Milano has taken his presentation to numerous libraries and organizations around the Chicago area. We were glad to get him. I know I went home wanting to hear more music from old CDs or YouTube.

Jane Goodall: 50 Years at Gombe: A Tribute to Five Decades of Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation

Jane Goodall is one of the planet's most revered scientists. Because of National Geographic coverage of her studies of chimpanzees in Tanzania in the 1960s and later, and because of her global campaign for humane treatment of all animals, she is known by adults and children worldwide. Many want read about her and her continuing work. Because some biographies of Goodall are over 500 pages, requiring a commitment of many days for most readers, I am glad to find Jane Goodall: 50 Years at Gombe. At 144 pages and filled with many color photos, it highlights Goodall's life and explains her most important work with both economy and enthusiasm. Readers are introduced to the most prominent of the chimpanzees that she studied and are given contacts for contributing to Goodall's causes. It is a good book for both libraries and fan collections.

Another good way to learn about Goodall's work is to view the DVD Jane's Journey.

Goodall, Jane with the Jane Goodall Institute. Jane Goodall: 50 Years at Gombe: A Tribute to Five Decades of Wildlife Research, Education, and Conservation. Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2010. 144p. ISBN 9781584798781.

Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line by Martha A. Sandweiss

Geologist Clarence King was a famous man in post-Civil War America. He led the 50th Parallel Survey, helped establish the U. S. Geological Survey and was its first head, and penned the bestselling book Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada. His close friends included historian Henry Adams and Abraham Lincoln's former secretary John Hay. He toured Europe, started an art collection, and belonged to prestigious clubs. But, according to author Martha A. Sandweiss in Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line, King never really liked being a part of high society. He escaped to far flung places whenever he could and when he could not, he slipped away from his high class hotel and enjoyed the company he found in poor ethnic neighborhoods. He even pretended to be a mulatto Pullman porter named James Todd and married a former slave named Ada Copeland.

Passing Strange is a dual biography of Clarence and Ada that investigates their secret relationship. With a rich dose of 19th century history to give her story context, the author recounts how Clarence led a double life by being a person who was often "away," keeping a distance from people in both of his worlds. For at least thirteen years and until his death, he succeeded in keeping his secret, but at a tremendous cost to his career and fortune.

Instead of stopping at King's death, as many biographers have before, Sandweiss follows the lives of Ada and the children that she bore for King, showing the successes and failures of his idealistic plans. A subsequent court case for King's estate heard thirty years after his death reveals much about the state of racial relations at the time. Read by Lorna Raver, it is a great audiobook for listeners wanting a mesmerizing epic. Those who enjoy Passing Strange may also like The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed.

Sandweiss, Martha A. Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line. Penguin, 2009. 370p. ISBN 9781594202001.

Tantor Media. 12 compact discs. 14.5 hours. ISBN 9781400141517.

The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes

Children can be thoughtlessly cruel just to have what they think is a little fun. We probably all remember incidents from our school days when popular girls or boys teased individuals who were not fashionable or were in some other way different. Others went along with the teasing. Such is the case in the children's classic The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, illustrated by Louis Slobodkin. Peggy and Maddie notice that shy Wanda wears the same blue dress to school every day. When confronted by Peggy, Wanda claims that at home she has a hundred dresses and describes them. As Peggy asks Wanda each day about the dresses, Maddie feels increasing guilt but never says anything to stop Peggy. Then Wanda quits coming to school. Maddie wonders if they have driven the girl away.

There is a fine line between teasing and bullying, and bullying is a hot topic in education and parenting circles these days. Every few weeks there seems to be a story about a teen who commits suicide to escape relentless bullying. Prevention efforts need to start at an elementary level, which is why books like The Hundred Dresses are important. The book seems a bit old-fashioned and the story develops slowly, but I believe it could still be effectively used with some elementary students. National Public Radio agrees and chose the old book for its Backseat Book Club for young readers and their parents. NPR paired it with Shooting Kabul by N. H. Senzai in February. Click here to learn more about the club.

Estes, Eleanor. The Hundred Dresses. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1944.

The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways by Earl Swift

We use interstate highways to cross the United States all the time but rarely marvel at them as we should, according to Earl Swift, author of The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways. Usually we just buckle up and guide our cars across the plains and through the mountains with little worry, not recognizing the largest and most expensive public works project in history. If we have any historical sense at all, we thank President Dwight Eisenhower for letting us bypass curving rural roads and small towns that would slow us. Eisenhower did have a role, the author admits, but he is given much more credit than he is due. Swift argues that driving clubs and engineers had been designing national roads for four or five decades before the former general was president, and President Franklin Roosevelt had extensive federal plans drawn early in his administration. Eisenhower just came along at the right time to secure the funding for a system that he did not actually understand.

There are other myths that Swift dispels. One is that the interstate highways are designed to allow military aircraft to land almost anywhere in the country. Military concerns were considered in early designs, but civil engineers quickly realized that there would be no way to clear the roads of traffic before plane landings. Another myth is that the system's primary aim is to get military forces and supplies across country. This myth helped secure the support of some legislators, but the designers really had travel and commerce in mind when plotting routes.

Back to Eisenhower. He believed that the interstates would be strictly rural, coming close to but not actually entering cities. That had been the original idea when they were first conceived as no one wanted to rip cities apart to insert multilane highways. But as more people bought cars, the cities became gridlocked, and drivers and car manufacturers began demanding expressways. Accommodating this demand increased the costs tremendously and led to urban clashes as poor neighborhoods were often chosen for the highways. Swift highlights the difficult history of Baltimore.

In telling this history, Swift profiles many of the people involved, including engineers, politicians, and community organizers, and recounts the history of companies, such as Howard Johnson Inns, Stuckey's Pecan Shoppes, and Holiday Inn. He also bring readers up to date with the state of the highway system and its desperate need for repairs. His discussion is lively and I learned much about why we now have a mixture of free and toll roads. I am glad that I heard the author on National Public Radio's Science Friday and checked out his book.

Swift, Earl. The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. 375p. ISBN 9780618812417.

Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey

On the back cover of the audiobook case for Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey, Kirkus Reviews is quoted “Move over Alexander McCall-Smith. Ghana has joined Botswana on the map of mystery.” This seems to me an unintentionally misleading statement because the only common factor between mysteries of McCall Smith and Quartey is the African setting. They are otherwise very different. McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency books are gentle and filled with humor, while Quartey’s Inspector Darko Dawson Series mysteries are violent and serious. Inspector Dawson, who loves his marijuana, violates police protocol frequently, and beats a couple of suspects after charging other cops with brutality. Mma Ramotswe would never act like Dawson.

Now that you are forewarned about the differences, I suggest that you try listening to Wife of the Gods if you enjoy flawed cops like Kurt Wallander or like learning about foreign cultures while trying to solve a mystery. The author Quartey evokes a tropical Ghana filled with superstition and bad cops. The plot also has a good supply of twists that will be a challenge to foresee. It will be interesting to see how Inspector Dawson develops in subsequent titles.

Quartey, Kwei. Wife of the Gods. Tantor Audio, 2010. 8 compact discs. ISBN 9781400113415.

House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by Anthony Shadid

"The whispers of Isber's age were everywhere in Marjayoun. They spoke of a time in which I never lived but had envisioned so often that, to me, it was almost more familiar than the present. It was the era whose fragments and civilities - the remnants of the Ottomans and the Levant - had originally drawn me to the Middle East."

Much about House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East by Anthony Shadid is revealed in this passage from page 133. Isber was Shadid's great grandfather, a man who after 1900 built a stately house on a hill to claim his membership in the society of Marjayoun, a vibrant town of Christian and Muslim merchants in Southern Lebanon. The wealth and tolerance of the community soon disappeared in the upheaval following the dismantling of the Ottoman empire after World War I. Isber sent his children to the United States and Brazil to escape violence, and he then died prematurely. His widow lived in the house until the 1960s after which it began to crumble. It was occupied by an Israeli agent during the 1982 war and was struck by a small missile. Shadid, who grew up in a Lebanese community in Oklahoma, took a year off from his job with the Washington Post to rebuild the house, hoping to rebuild his family as well.

In House of Stone, Shadid retells stories from his family while describing the slow restoration of Isber's house and gardens. Throughout there are strained relations with his foreman and various craftsmen who have a very different sense of time than Shadid. He also visits relatives and prominent citizens of the community. My favorite is Dr. Khairalla, a wise retired hospital administrator who gives Shadid cuttings for his garden. The doctor was convicted of treason (but never sentenced) for having dealt with the Israelis during the occupation, something he had to do to keep the hospital open.

Shadid was a winner of two Pulitzer Prizes for Journalism and is nominated again this year for his coverage of events in Syria. In February 2012, he died from an asthma attack while clandestinely crossing the Syrian border from having interviewed Syrian rebels. His book was published in March. Like his great grandfather, his stay in the house was short.

Shadid, Anthony. House of Stone: A Memoir of Home, Family, and a Lost Middle East. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. 311p. ISBN 9780547134666.

420 Characters: Stories by Lou Beach

"420 characters are a lot for even the most epic of novels," I thought, "and this book is rather thin." But I discovered the characters were letters, numbers, symbols, punctuation, and spaces, and 420 Characters: Stories by Lou Beach is a collection of very short short stories. They debuted on Beach's Facebook page, which at the time of their writing limited posts to 420 characters.

What can you do with so little? Beach as a professional illustrator working for magazines was already adept at conveying a message quickly. His job was to catch the eye and support the message of each article. In a similar vein, his little stories are really pictures made from a handful of words. They are truly stories, too, as each has characters and plot. Some even have settings. A few could be used as luring opening paragraphs for standard-length stories or novels.

You have to be in the right mood to read Beach's pieces. Some days I opened the book and was greatly entertained, but on other days I did not comprehend them at all. They are sort of like poetry. Being relaxed helps. Don't read more than a few at once. Some of Beach's mysterious illustrations are inserted between the stories.

You can find some of the stories read aloud by Jeff Bridges, Ian McShane, and Dave Alvin at 420characters.com.

Beach, Lou. 420 Characters: Stories. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011. 169p. ISBN 9780547617930.

You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon

Why do I forget that I enjoy short stories? Tending to read mostly biography, history, and science, I rarely venture to the fiction shelves. Luckily for me, Bonnie left You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon on my night stand. This collection of stories describes the lives of soldiers and their families stationed at Ft. Hood outside Killeen, Texas during the years of the Iraq War. Because soldiers do twelve month (or longer) tours abroad and because most of the combatants are still men, many women and children populate the gigantic base, where there are schools, churches, shopping centers, hospitals, libraries, and such. Rarely having to ever leave the base, 40,000 women are absorbed into a regimental culture. Not all join willingly.

The author knows of what she writes. While her husband served two tours in Iraq, she lived at Ft. Hood, observing the life around her with the eye of a writer. She emphasizes in her notes that the stories are fiction. The specific plots may not be true, but the emotions that drive the conflicts between women and between married couples are authentic. Times of deployment, disastrous attacks in Iraq, and reunion are particularly stressful. A sign near one of the base gates warns "You Survived the War, Now Survive the Homecoming." That is also the title of one of the stories.

Each story stands by itself, but it is fun to identify a few characters that appear in more than one story. The two longest stories are about forty pages. The stories should be popular with readers of contemporary fiction. 

Fallon, Siobhan. You Know When the Men Are Gone. Amy Einhorn Books, 2011. 226p. ISBN 9780399157202.

The Story of the Weeping Camel

This week's final nature film is a docudrama called The Story of the Weeping Camel. Like Winged Migration, the producers use artistic license in the creation of this film, arranging scenes to tell the story that they want to tell, a sort of Mongolian legend in which traditional music is used to manage a problem associated with a rare white camel calf*. I don't want to tell you what as to save the surprise.

While the plot may be scripted, the setting is authentic. Viewers see nomads from Mongolia's Gobi Desert raising their camels, goats, and sheep and living in their gers. We observe the daily life of four generations who seem to be quite prosperous. Inside their gers, are colorful blankets and painted furniture. They may not have been moved recently. Outside the scenery is stark and dry, but the herds seem large and healthy. Camels drive the pump that lifts water from their well. The herders trim hair off the camels to weave their own ropes. The scene seems timeless, except for some bright plastic barrels and the radio that the grandfather keeps. We learn late in the film that they could have a television, but the elders fear the children would waste their time.

The pace of the movie is slow compared with Hollywood fare, but that is a big part of the charm. You can learn much more about the film and life in Mongolia at the National Geographic website.

The Story of the Weeping Camel. New Line Home Entertainment, 2005. 87 min. ISBN 078065014X.

*In the film, the baby camel is referred to as a colt, but I found that zoos consistently use the term calf in their postings on the website ZooBorns. National Geographic also uses calf in its website description of the film.

Jane's Journey

We continue nature film week with Jane's Journey, a biographical portrait of Jane Goodall, who has become a champion of conservation and the ethical treatment of animals. At nearly two hours, this documentary recounts the primatologist's long career, showing her childhood, early chimpanzee studies in Gombe National Park in Tanzania, and global campaign for a variety of environmental causes.

Thanks to Goodall's father, who was an early advocate of home movies, we are able to see her as a child, and she was comfortable in front of cameras when National Geographic arrived at her compound on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the early 1960s. The magazine articles and television specials that National Geographic produced made young Goodall an international hero quickly. The first half of Jane's Journey describes her years of primate study, her failed marriage with photographer Hugo Van Lawick, and the loss of natural habitat for the wildlife of Africa. The second half shows Goodall as ambassador to the world. A subplot throughout is her strained relationship with her son Hugo, known to people worldwide since his birth as Grub.

Because her causes are now her life, we travel to many troubled places in the later part of the film. The saddest may have been in the United States, as Goodall visited a Native American reservation where poverty and lack of hope have led to many adolescent suicides; her Roots and Shoots program is supporting community gardens to improve nutrition and create civic pride there. Her visit to a Congolese refugee camp was also quite moving. There, as in many places, she is surrounded by people eager to transform their lives and environments.

Jane's Journey will be appreciated by her fans worldwide.

Jane's Journey. First Run Features, 2011. 111 min.

Winged Migration

As I mention in my review of Himalaya with Michael Palin a few weeks ago, we got a flat-wide-screen television which excels at showing nature programs. To celebrate, I am making this nature film week at ricklibrarian. Today we start with one of my favorites, Winged Migration by director James Perrin. This film about the world's birds, many of whom travel great distances seasonally, is filled with dramatic forests, mountains, beaches, and deserts against which the colorful birds are strikingly beautiful. With little dialogue, the film records flocks of birds traveling north to breed and south to escape the winter. In some sequences we simply hear wind, waves, and the flapping of wings. Sometimes new age music accompanies the birds in flight. It is wonderful viewing.

Like many films that we have seen on PBS's Nature or National Geographic Specials, Winged Migration is the story of a year. What distinguishes this film, which was a feature attraction in theaters, is the point of view. We are close flying alongside the birds crossing spectacular landscapes. To get such shots, the producers had to go beyond the rules followed by many nature filmmakers who record unscripted events. Perrin and his crew hatched flocks of migrating birds that imprint well and taught them to accept the sounds of motor boats, ultralights, paragliders, trucks, and motor scooters. We do not hear motorized sounds or the calls of bird keepers, all of which were edited out of the scenes. In the special feature Making-of, the producers admit that their film is not real life but stress their recreation of nature.

Over 450 people worked on the film, 17 pilots and 14 cinematographers. Shooting took three years and another year was spent editing. Each minute of the film represents about two months of a crew on location. The movie was release in the U.S. in 2003 and is still stunning. Viewers with new televisions should borrow Winged Migration again.

Winged Migration. Sony Pictures Classics, 2003. 89 min. ISBN 9781404923096.

Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts

Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts, a photo by ricklibrarian on Flickr.

During my lunch break at the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia yesterday, I visited the Pennsylvania Academy of the Arts , which is right across the street from the convention center. The museum has a small but impressive collection of works, many from artists associated with the city. Anyone who has read books about American Colonial or Revolutionary history will recognize some original paintings by Gilbert Stuart and Charles Willson Peale of George Washington. There are paintings by many members of the Peale family, as well as by Thomas Eakins, George Bellows, John Singer Sargent, Childe Hassam, and members of the Hudson Valley School. I was able to see the paintings and still had time to get a sandwich in the Academy's cafe. A great small museum.

Busy Day at PLA

Hi, everyone. I have just finished another full day at PLA. I'll write up some reports later, but here are links to two of my reports from yesterday.

For The Reader's Advisor Online, I wrote about Authors and Books: The Top 5 of Another 5. I have a lot  of titles to add to my to-read list after attending this program.

For PLABlog, I wrote about A Librarian's Field Guide to Near Field Communications. I had never heard of NFC tags before coming to Philadelphia, but I now know what you can do with an NFC tag and an enable smartphone.

I skipped lunch and went to another art museum. More about that later.

iPads in the Library: From Tech Programming to Staff Productivity

Joel Nichols, soon to be the driver of the new Tech Mobile at the Free Library of Philadelphia, has been using iPads in his children's story time presentations. He believes there are numerous other applications that may also be made throughout his library, which he described in his well-attended PLA presentation "iPads in the Library: From Tech Programming to Staff Productivity."

To start, he briefly identified the differences between current smartphones, e-readers, and tablet computers, pointing out that tablets have the greatest potential for library use. Then he limited his discussion to iPads and iTouchs with which he has experience. He began with use in children's programming. His first point was, of course, that librarians may read from iPads to children, but he cautioned us about this application. An oversized print book is easier to share with a group of more than two or three listeners, but the iPad is still a good device for Kamishibai stories told with pictures that a presenter has assembled using PowerPoint or the Slide Shark ap. With a supply of iPads, all the kids could create their own picture-based stories and then share them.

iPads may better serve in secondary roles in programs. Should the librarian or other presenter need music or sound effects, they can quickly be stored, cued, and played from an iPad or iTouch. A tablet could also be used as a digital display for photos, animations, or web pages that could be passed around to attendees during presentations. iPads could provide reference help during cooking lessons or craft programs, used by presenters or participants. Last, but not least, programs could be recorded easily using a tablet's camera and microphone and then quickly loaded to YouTube.

According to Nichols, there are over half a million aps for iPhone and iPad, which may be purchased through the iTunes store. These might provide content or be productivity aps. He showed stills from his work with Puppet Pals. He recommended checking user ratings at the iTunes store as well as checking Flipboard, a magazine for educators using aps. If libraries have complicated procedures to make credit card purchases, he recommend using iTunes gift cards. Most aps cost under $5.

Beyond programming, reference librarians may use iPads to access the library catalog, web pages, and online databases while roving the library. He recommended strapping an iPad to the hand to become an object of curiosity. He has found librarians in a public setting reluctant to carry iPads that they might drop or lose. A strap might help with the carrying. School librarians might carry iPads instead of laptops when going to help in classrooms.

A librarian at the program reported that the District of Columbia Library has developed an ap to assist weeding collections.

Because they display photos so nicely, Nichols said mounted iPads would be good in public displays. iTouchs with cameras may be used to read QR codes posted around the library for patron self-guided tours.

He said that their use instead of laptops in projected programs has been problematic so far because special connectors have to be used and some equipment seems incompatible. It might be better in some situations to use Apple TV for presentations. Some members of the audience reported having no problems connecting an iPad to a projector.

Finally, he said with an ap to record handwriting, the iPad is a great devise on which to take notes during conference programs. Nichols has put the slides to his presentation on the web at tiny.cc/nicholsPLA.

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Philadelphia Museum of Art, a photo by ricklibrarian on Flickr.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a big Van Gogh exhibit. I did not go because I had limited time and did not want to wait in long lines. I really wanted to see the American art wing, with lots of Thomas Eakins and the Peales, who were from the city. I also saw 4 John Singer Sargent works that I had not seen before! After seeing the American art, toured the medieval and renaissance art wing, which had huge doorways from cathedrals and a cloister from a monastery, as well as lots of alters and such. It was overwhelming. Then in the Asian section there was the interior of a temple to Vishnu and a Japanese tea cottage. Later I found whole rooms full of period furniture from European countries. Great place.

I also went to the opening of the exhibits at the Public Library Association conference today. I ended my day with a great meal at the Down Home Diner at the Reading Market. The mashed potatoes were smooth and creamy and the cast iron fried chicken reminded me of my grandmother's chicken.

Monument to Honor Scottish Immigrants

Monument to honor Scottish immigrants, a photo by ricklibrarian on Flickr.

I'm in Philadelphia now to attend the Public Library Association Conference. Coming a day early, I was able to walk around the historic district on Tuesday. Close to the Delaware River, I was surprised to find this monument to Scottish immigrants. I do not recall ever seeing such celebrating the Scots, who must be among the most under-appreciated of American immigrants. I think Bonnie will like this monument.

I toured Independence Hall yesterday. I wish it could have been self-guided, as for the first time ever I found the park ranger guide annoying. He kept asking us questions instead of informing us in a pleasant manner. People don't like to speak up in big tour groups (80 per tour). He seemed like a pompous teacher who likes to belittle his students. I hope you don't get him as your guide if you visit what has to be one of the most important American places. I would have preferred sacred silence.

Today I visit art museums before I attend the opening of the conference mid-afternoon.

ricklibrarian to PLA in Philadelphia

Today I will fly to Philadelphia to attend this year's Public Library Association Conference. I am looking forward to seeing friends in the field (not the grassy field) and attending a bunch of programs aimed at public librarians. I also am eager to see my new book Read On ... Biography which is scheduled to debut at the conference. I like that Jane Goodall is one of the figures on the cover. I will be with Joyce Saricks and Barry Trott at a signing event at the Libraries Unlimited exhibit (too big to call a booth) on Thursday from 4 to 5 p.m. Come by if you are at PLA.

In the meantime, I will be trying to see as many historical sights and American Art as I can before the conference officially begins.

Once the conference begins I will be reporting on programs and exhibits here at ricklibrarian and at PLABlog. I will also be sending a report or two to Sarah at RAOnline.

Read On … Audiobooks: Reading Lists for Every Taste by Joyce Saricks

This week I'll focus on the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia. Joyce will be at the conference. You learn where to spot her in the next to last sentence of this post.

  Spring approaches and I will soon be gardening. It is a fortunate time to borrow Read On … Audiobooks by Joyce G. Saricks. I am browsing and creating a listening list for my hours with the flowers.

Like all of the guides in the Read On … Series, Joyce's book is divided into five sections according to the appeals of reading. The order, however, differs from other books in the series. She starts with language/voice and follows with mood, which are numbers 4 and 5 in other guides. Then she adds story, character, and setting. I turn to the last first because I enjoy new or unusual settings, and I immediately find the list "We Are So Not Amused: The Dark Side of Amusement Parks." I have already enjoyed Something This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury in audio. Maybe I will like The Rabbit Factory by Matthew Karp or Native Tongue by Carl Hiaasen. Maybe I will be laughing wickedly as I rip weeds from the soil.

I like Joyce's comment in her introduction that audiobooks appeal to us because we were weaned from having others read to us at too early an age. Some of us do still hear Bible passages read at church, but we hear little else read live. I remember fondly enjoying my fourth grade teacher reading Johnny Tremain aloud while we sat at our desks. It is hard to imagine such stillness in a schoolroom today. 

Joyce will be at the ABC-Clio/Libraries Unlimited exhibit at the Public Library Association Conference in Philadelphia this Thursday signing her book. If you are at PLA, come by at 4 p.m. Barry Trott and I be there, too.

Saricks, Joyce G. Read On … Audiobooks: Reading Lists for Every Taste. Libraries Unlimited, 2011. 145p. ISBN 9781591588047.

Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

In December, National Public Radio chose Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu for its Backseat Book Club. The club asks kids between 9 and 14 years old and their parents to read books and send to the club their comments. I heard the end of the month report on an NPR podcast and was impressed with the observations made by numerous students. Hearing that The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis inspired the recent work, I borrowed a copy and started to read.

"It snowed right before Jack stopped talking to Hazel" seems a rather modest first sentence, but having finished the book, I see much is introduced by these nine words. The statement launches a tale that at first seems very contemporary but then turns magical. Hazel is an 11 year old adopted by American parents from India and brought back to Minneapolis. She and her best friend Jack share an interest in reading, fantasy games, and the Minnesota Twins, but they do not agree about other 5th graders. Jack has a wide circle of friends, but Hazel is only interested in Jack. A snowball in the back marks the start of a series of events that leads the two to a dangerous place far beyond their neighborhood.

The author obviously knows and loves fantasy literature, and like-minded readers will recognize references to genre classics, such a The Hobbit and The Wizard of Oz. What I especially like is how Hazel draws on her reading to understand her own challenges. Of course, not every thing is as it first seems in Breadcrumbs. Readers of all ages will have fun sorting the good from the evil with Hazel.

Click here to learn more about the Backseat Book Club.

Ursu, Anne. Breadcrumbs. Walden Pond Press, 2011. 312p. ISBN 9780062015051.

Himalaya with Michael Palin

I envy and admire Michael Palin. I so wish I could wander the planet as he does in his great travel adventures. At least he kindly takes us with him to the world's most amazing places, especially in his 2003-2004 journey Himalaya. In six months, he visited the heights of Pakistan, India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Bhutan, and Bangladesh, ending where snow-melted waters of the Ganges pour into the Bay of Bengal. I cannot imagine getting to all of the remote places any other way than going with Michael.

While Palin made the trip so easy for us, we see how difficult and dangerous the going was for him. The BBC, of course, worked to keep him safe, but the narrow mountain roads and rocky footpaths left little room for mistakes. He suffered from altitude sickness and bitter cold, but the grandeur of the mountains drove him on. In Nepal, one of his guides was kidnapped by Maoist insurgents for a couple of days, but he was released unharmed after a couple of days.

Throughout Himalaya, affable Palin was the perfect guest, able to accept the hospitality of rich and poor alike, eating anything put before him. I loved the scenes of him in a yurt making yak butter. He took tea with local celebrities, holy people, academics, porters, and fellow travelers. He could strike up a conversation with almost anyone.

With our new flat screen television, we were wonderstruck by the towering mountains, crystal blue lakes, ancient temples, and colorful prayer flags. All six 50-minute episodes are a feast for the eyes. I would not mind seeing it again. A daily diary with many photos is on the web at palinstravels.co.uk. There is also a companion book.

Himalaya. Warner Home Video, [2005]. 3 DVDs. ISBN 141981303X.

The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire by Jack Weatherford

That women held power in the age of Genghis Khan is a secret, according to Jack Weatherford in his book The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire. Pages telling of feminine leaders were cut from the Mongol records, probably by men who did not want their stories told. The author, however, has been able to reconstruct a bit of their history from accounts by the Mongols' enemies and by reexamining historical artifacts. His finding is that for nearly three centuries Khan's daughters, granddaughters, and their female descendants took part in defending and defining the Mongol empire.

Readers unfamiliar with Asian history (most of us?) will be surprised by Weatherford's characterization of Genghis Khan. He has been described by many histories as a barbarian, a destroyer of civilization. The records, however, show that he had many progressive ideas. He degreed that women could not be traded for animals or property, and, Weatherford claims, Khan even established his daughters as rulers over four of the regions in his empire. They were as ruthless as and more successful than his sons.

As interesting as the plot is, The Secret History of the Mongol Queens was not a hit with our book discussion group. In the first two sections of the history, there are far too many people and place names and far too few developed stories for most readers. Interest in reading wained for many. Only in the final section of the book was Weatherford able to write a sustained narrative with well-developed characters.

Interestingly, the Field Museum of Chicago has just opened an exhibit on Genghis Khan. The promotional materials mention Khan and his sons but not his daughters. Have they read this book? It will be interesting to compare the accounts.

Weatherford, Jack. The Secret History of the Mongol Queens: How the Daughters of Genghis Khan Rescued His Empire. Crown Publishers, 2010. 317p. ISBN 9780307407153.

Bill Cunningham New York directed by Richard Press

Who's that man in the blue windbreaker taking candid photos of people on the streets of New York? Why do so many people seem so unconcerned when he lopes ahead or behind them, snapping shots from many angles? Do they know him? Yes, many do. He's Bill Cunningham, fashion photographer of the New York Times, and for decades he's been taking their pictures for his Sunday fashion column. Many Manhattanites dress up hoping Bill will notice their wild hats, capes, shoes, earrings, purses, and vests, and they are quite pleased when their photos show up in the newspaper. They strut for Bill, who is the subject of the intimate 2010 documentary film Bill Cunningham New York directed by Richard Press.

There are many surprising things about Bill, including his age. At over 80, he dashes between his Manhattan assignments on a bicycle regardless of the weather. At several points, I thought he might get hit by a cab, but he seems to be protected by a guardian angel. He also lived at the time of the filming in an old artist apartment at Carnegie Hall without a closet, kitchen or bathroom. Most of the space was taken with filing cabinets holding his photo archive. His bed was a mattress propped on boxes wedged between cabinets. He always eats out - the cheaper the better. Despite his total lack of pretension, he receives invitations to many of the most exclusive society affairs in the city, where he never accepts even a drink of water while others wine and dine.

Before our film discussion group viewed Bill Cunningham New York, I couldn't imagine being interested in a fashion photographer, but Bill is a totally free spirit who seems to enjoy nearly every minute. In the serious moments of the film, you will discover that he works very hard to remain independent. Whether he is a viable model for living is a good topic for any discussion group - after they stop laughing.

Bill Cunningham New York. Zeitgeist Films, 2010. 84 minutes.