Pardonable Lies: A Maisie Dobbs Novel by Jacqueline Winspear

While on vacation in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone, I started listening to Pardonable Lies, the third of the Maisie Dobbs novels by Jacqueline Winspear, read by Orlagh Cassidy. It was good company when I woke in the night and did not want to turn on cabin lights. With early to bed and early to rise, with much else to do while up, my prospects for listening to much of the book were small. But I am sometimes restless in the night, so I listened to about two thirds of the book over the nine days. I finished after we came home.

"Restless" is also word that can be applied to the character of Maisie Dobbs. It was only through determined and unceasing effort that she escaped being a domestic servant and became a private investigator in 1920s London. By the beginning of her third book, she has made a positive impression on a superintendent at Scotland Yard and is called in to help with the interviewing of a young country girl who was forced into prostitution and is charged with murder. Two other cases come her way within days. It is much to handle, but even when she is weary or ill, Miss Dobbs pushes forward with her investigations.

In Pardonable Lies, Maisie Dobbs has three cases to solve, two of which require she return to France where she worked as a nurse during the war. She also encounters some mysteries beyond her official investigations. A series of accidents especially needs her attention. Finding the truth behind these is vital to her very life.

As with the first two Maisie Dobbs novels, I found that I enjoyed the gradual unveiling of facts and the details of a world long past. Luckily for me, there are still another seven novels, and I will be rooting for Maisie Dobbs for years.

Winspear, Jacqueline. Pardonable Lies: A Maisee Dobbs Novel. Henry Holt, 2005. 342p. ISBN 0805078975.

audiobook: BBC Audiobook America, 2005. 9 compact discs, 11 hours. ISBN 0792737490.

On Re-reading A Wedding in Haiti: The Story of a Friendship by Julia Alzarez

For a book discussion I read A Wedding in Haiti: The Story of a Friendship by Julia Alvarez a second time. I don't often re-read books, for there are so many that I have not yet read, but it is a pleasure I will get five more times in the next year. Our church book club voted for six books that I helped nominated last June.

Upon re-reading, I found my general view did not change from the review of A Wedding in Haiti which I wrote last year, but I noticed many wonderful character details and lovely quotations that I did not remember. It was like seeing a movie for a second time. I think I concentrated more on learning the story first time through and enjoyed the descriptions and the language more in the second pass.

I had thought that Alvarez wrote much about her aging parents in this book, but I see now that her account of their story and their current (2010) situation was brief but powerfully moving. Likewise, neither of the trips was long in duration, and her account was economical, but the last impression was of a trip of epic importance.

The underlying challenge that Alvarez offers readers can be summed up as "once you have seen, what is your obligation." In a world filled with people in need, not just in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, determining how we will meet our obligations is a task easily sidestepped with excuses. Alvarez frets that she does not do enough. Do many of us do even a portion of as much as the author and her husband have?

The general consensus of the book discussion group was that A Wedding in Haiti is a good introduction to Alvarez, and several expressed an interest in reading her novels and poetry. The most agreed criticism was that the black and white photos were too small to really show whatever it was that the author wanted to illustrate.

I have five more books to re-read. I hope that I benefit as much as I have with the beautifully written A Wedding in Haiti. Still, next year I may try to nominate from my list of books not yet read.

Alvarez, Julia. A Wedding in Haiti: The Story of a Friendship. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2012. 287p. ISBN 9781616201302.

Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation by Robert Wilson

Mathew Brady is a curiously ill-remembered historical figure. Author Timothy Egan groups him with painter George Caitlin and photographer Edward Curtis as among the artists most responsible for our image of 19th century America. The three men also shared singular visions that they pursued without regard for their wealth, and all died bankrupt. In his book Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation, historian Robert Wilson shows that Brady got more and less credit than he deserved for his place is photographic history. He is credited with many images of the American Civil War that he did not actually take. Some were taken by his employees, while others were purchased for his galleries in New York and Washington. He once attempted to take battlefield photographs himself, but his narrow escape from personal danger convinced him that others would do better work in the field.

Why then do people in the 21st century look at Civil War scenes and say "Brady"? To his credit, he taught his photographic methods to most of the men who followed the armies, and he financed the printing and distribution of much of their work. That many of their images carry the Brady stamp was more a marketing act than Brady trying claim credit that was not his to claim. As the executive of a sort of photo bureau, Brady advanced the development of photojournalism.

Where Brady gets less credit is in defining the photographic portrait of his time. Many of the photos we still see in histories and biographies were from Brady's studio. Almost every statesman, general, industrialist, actor, and literary figure from the late 1840s into the 1870s had a Brady portrait. How many of these he actually took or assigned to his stable of photographers is a subject of debate.

While Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation is biographical, it is tempting to call it a history. In the account of the Civil War particularly, Brady nearly disappears while the storyline follows field photographers as they negotiate the hazards of war. Readers learn much American history and relatively little about Brady's personal life. The author points out that Brady became a celebrity without sacrificing his privacy. Historians are still trying to pinpoint Brady's birth and untangle the finances of his studios and galleries. 

Author Robert Wilson says that he wanted to fill a historical gap and expose myths with the writing of his book, and he has done so well. His book is now in many public libraries.

Wilson, Robert. Mathew Brady: Portraits of a Nation. Bloomsbury, 2013. 273p. ISBN 9781620402030.

The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan

Michael Pollan has been on my to-read-again list since earlier this year when I heard entertaining New York Times Book Review and NPR Books interviews of the author. He had just published Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation, which sounded as though it would interest anyone who cooks or eats. I have not borrowed the new title yet, but when I found a library audiobook of The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World available, I downloaded it instead.

The Botany of Desire was published in 2001 and predates Pollan's biggest bestseller The Omnivore's Dilemma. In The Botany of Desire, Pollan tells stories about four prominent plant families in the context of agricultural cultivation, attributing to each different qualities that people crave.

• sweetness - the apple
• beauty - the tulip
• intoxication - marijuana
• control - the potato

Each plant gets a lengthy chapter full of botanical information, cultural history, and personal accounts of Pollan's gardening efforts. His story about growing marijuana is both suspenseful and somewhat comic.

Pollan first, however, considers the apple, which in America is closely associated with the folk tales of Johnny Appleseed. The author profiles 19th century pioneer John Chapman, the real person on whom the Johnny Appleseed legend is based. Pollan spends much of the chapter myth-busting. The apple trees that grew from the seeds Chapman planted or sold produced apples that were usually not good for eating. Instead, they were bitter and small, only good for making hard cider - what most 19th century Americans actually wanted from apples. Apples were rarely eaten before Prohibition. Ironically, because apple seeds are genetically very unpredictable, Chapman's mass distribution of seeds established the U.S. as the country with greatest genetic diversity, which has led to all of today's great eating apples. The irony is that these varieties have to be maintained by grafting, not by seed planting.

Throughout the chapters, Pollan works the idea that the plants are really in control, using humans to assist their survival and development. By giving humans what they desire, the plant families prosper and adapt to new regions. Without humans, apple, tulip, marijuana, and potato populations would decline drastically.

Like the plants, The Botany of Desire satisfies human cravings - those for wickedly good stories and those for learning. It is still good a dozen years after its publication.

Pollan, Michael. The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World. Random House, 2001. 271p. ISBN 0375501290.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

When Cheryl Strayed finally reached the Bridge of the Gods across the Columbia River, ending her trek up the Pacific Crest Trail, she was both happy with her accomplishment and sad that her adventure was at an end. She had found strength that she did not know she had, survived dangerous situations, and encountered a great variety of people, many of whom helped her reach her destination. Her feet were sore, and she relished the idea of eating well again, but she wondered what she would do with her life, still almost penniless and without a plan.

I too am a bit happy and sad having now finished her book Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. I knew that she would survive and was pretty sure that she reached her goal by the fact that she had written her book, but I was still relieved to get to witness her completion. I hoped as I read that she would remake her life, associate with more sensible people for a change, overcome addictions, and find meaning in her life. But I will miss her story telling, which made me long to take off on such a trip myself, despite the heat, cold, hunger, and sheer difficulty of the hike. That's not to say I would do things her way. I'd have funds to eat better when I got to the "resorts." But she did not have that luxury.

I listened to Wild read by the winner of 2009 Best Voice in Mystery and Suspense, Bernadette Dunne. Luckily for me, I had much late season gardening and a fairly long drive to attend a meeting, so I could finish the eleven discs in six days.

Though she finishes with a quick what-has-happened-to-me-since, I think she may have a good story about how she got on with her life. It might be harder to write and not as easy to sell to the reading public, but little was really resolved just by the hike. There must be more. Her collection of essays Tiny Beautiful Things might suffice in the meantime.

Strayed, Cheryl. Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. 315p. ISBN 9780307592736.

Hans Memling: The Complete Works by Dirk de Vos

When Bonnie and I visited New York in May, we discovered the 15th century German painter Hans Memling. We had seen a few Memling paintings before at various museums around the country, but it seemed as though his works were everywhere in New York. We saw our first in the Frick Collection and then a couple very prominently displayed in John Pierpont Morgan's personal study at the Morgan Library. Later we found that the Metropolitan Museum of Art owns eight! Liking the richly-colored portraits particularly, I became a fan and made a mental note to borrow a book on Memling when I was home.

Well, more than three months later, I finally borrowed Hans Memling: The Complete Works by Dirk de Vos, a big beautiful book including a catalog with 93 works attributed to Memling. 93 is a substantial number, considering that the paintings have survived over 500 years, but I will argue the output is even greater, as many are diptychs, triptychs, and other multi-paneled works. Many of these served as portable alters or stations for devotion. Sometimes, there were paintings on two sides of folding panels, perhaps showing religious scenes on the inner panels and the donor, his family, and some saints on the outer panels. Many wealth patrons contracted for Memling's work.

An appendix shows that there are other works that might be Memling's, and a second shows works that have now been proven not to be his. I also found a city by city list of museums containing Memling works interesting; I have another reason for some travel. As beautiful as the paintings are in Hans Memling: The Complete Works, they have to be seen to be fully appreciated.

There are not many books on Memling to be found in our area libraries. He is not one of the artists that is often mentioned these days. I am grateful that the Hinsdale Public Library had this one.

Vos, Dirk de. Hans Memling: The Complete Works. Fonds Mercator Paribus, 1994. 431p. ISBN 9789061533115.

Cotton Tenants: Three Families by James Agee

58 years after his death, James Agee has a new book joining his classics Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941) and A Death in the Family (1957). Written as an article for Fortune magazine in 1936 but never published, Cotton Tenants: Three Families is a look at Floyd Burroughs, Bud Fields, and Frank Tingle, three Depression-era white tenant farmers and their families in Hale County, Alabama. The text was thought to have been lost but was found among papers given by Agee's daughter to the University of Tennessee Special Collections Library in 2005.

From reading the editor's notes by John Summers and an introduction called "A Poet's Brief" by Adam Haslett, it sounds to me that the publishers of Cotton Tenants wanted to be very sure there was not another later version of the text before publishing. None has been found. It seems likely what is now published is what Agee intended. Haslett says no reason for Fortune's refusal to publish was ever made clear. While Agee was preparing his article, the editors eliminated the Life and Circumstances department of the magazine to which the article was bound. Anyone can speculate that the editors did not want to offend their Southern readers with Agee's hard assessment of the landed class's role in the plight of the poor.

There seemed to be no escape from the poverty that Agee described. It was no surprise that bright children faded into drab, nearly lifeless adults. The tenant farmers were people without hope.

Fortune paid for famous photographer Walker Evans to accompany Agee to Alabama in 1936. Thirty of his photographs of the farmers, their homes, and cotton fields are included with the article text to make a small but impressive book that can now serve as an introduction to the writings of Agee for a new generation of readers.

Agee, James. Cotton Tenants: Three Families. Melville House, 2013. 224p. ISBN 9781612192123.

Chicago's Sweet Candy History by Leslie Goddard

In the 1860s and 1870s, Chicago business people began to make candy, usually hard candies that would not melt or spoil in those days before air conditioning. As markets grew, small kitchens gave way to factories, and thanks to its central location with a strong network of railroads headed to all parts of the country, Chicago became the national center of the candy industry. Many of the biggest candy companies began or grew in Chicago, including Curtiss, Brach, Wrigley, and Mars. Librarian Leslie Goddard recounts the history through pictures in her Images of America book Chicago's Sweet Candy History.

Readers of Chicago's Sweet Candy History are in for some surprises and perhaps some laughs. I was particularly amused by how hard some of the candy makers promoted their sweets as healthy foods. On page 39 is an advertisement by Bunte Brothers telling how their healthy candies were empowering American soldiers in World War I. The two ads on page 82 suggested athletes perform better after eating candy. Some people just needed a bit of candy to get through a work day, as seen in an ad on page 81. "Candy is delicious food - enjoy some everyday" was the slogan pushed by the National Confectioners Association in 1938. It was no coincidence that Chicago also became a center for advertising agencies.

I enjoyed reading about candies that disappeared, such as Alexander the Grape, the Amos 'n' Andy Bar, the Lindy Bar, Fluffy Ruffles, and the Reggie Bar. I also liked learning the history behind some of my favorite candies. Did you know that the original Three Musketeers had three pieces? Each had a different filling - chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla. That would be worth traveling through time to try.

Many Images of America books are of interest only to the communities they celebrate, but Chicago's Sweet Candy History should have more national appeal, for former children everywhere will remember eating Cracker Jacks, Milk Duds, Tootsie Rolls, Butterfingers, Lemonheads, Snickers, and Atomic Fire Balls.

Goddard, Leslie. Chicago's Sweet Candy History. Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 128p. ISBN 9780738593821.

Professor Gargoyle by Charles Gilman

Robert Arthur was unhappy to discover that he had been transferred to Lovecraft Middle School, despite its new state-of-the-art building, abundant technology, and student amenities. When his old school closed, his friends went to school across town. He would not know anyone, except the bully Glenn Torkells to whom he frequently paid a dweeb tax. Most of the teachers proved okay, but then he met Professor Goyle. How would he survive science class? At least he could find refuge in the library. Now just how big was that library? A student could get lost, and its dusty attic with the strange leather bound books was rather uncharacteristic of a new library reportedly stocked with all new books. Something was really weird about Lovecraft Middle School.

In Professor Gargoyle, the first book of Tales from Lovecraft Middle School, Charles Gilman recounts what Robert discovered in his first few weeks in his shiny new school about the building, the strange professor, and his own ability to cope with dangerous situations. In doing so, he assembled a surprising group of allies. Their story is just what young horror-loving readers will enjoy. It is also fun reading for anyone of any age who likes haunted houses and strange creatures.

Professor Gargoyle ends with a new challenge to Robert and his friends. Will they survive The Slither Sisters, book 2 in the series?

Gilman, Charles. Professor Gargoyle. Quirk Books, 2012. 168p. ISBN 9781594745911.

NPR Sound Treks: Birds

My focus on all things birds continues today with a quick review of NPR Sound Treks: Birds, an audiobook adapted from radio instead of print. In this case, the public radio network has harvest some of its best pieces from programs such as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. NPR listeners will recognize some of the reporters, such as Melissa Block, Steve Inskeep, and Renee Montagne, on this enjoyable one-hour, one compact disc program.

I was glad to find three tracks with licensed bird rehabilitator Julie Zickefoose, whom I regard highly after having read her Letters from Eden and The Bluebird Effect. My favorite story in the NPR collection is the final track in which she tells about raising four orphaned hummingbirds. I love the image of her being followed around her backyard by hungry little birds.

Several of the stories involve Chicago, where the lights of skyscrapers are a hazard to night flying birds and invasive species, such as starlings, have chased away natives. Zickefoose tells about rescuing a stunned yellow-throat warbler, and Davis Shaffer tells about Chicago's successful building of houses for purple martins along its Lake Front.

Alaska, Australia, and Guatemala are settings for other stories in this collection, that also features a story about British musician F. Schuyler Mathews who in the 19th century transcribed many songbird songs to sheet music. Bird lovers should definitely seek out NPR Sound Trek: Birds.

NPR Sound Treks: Birds. HighBridge Audio, 2010. ISBN 9781615730605.

songbirdsongs by John Luther Adams

While preparing for last week's integrated advisory discussion at ARRT, I discovered a wonderful compact disc called songbirdsongs by composer John Luther Adams. Included on the CD are 10 bird inspired pieces that Adams wrote between 1974 and 2006. A quick description of them is that they are experimental contemporary music. Of course, that does not sound like much fun. The pieces are more pleasing, rooted in both the sounds of nature and classical music.

The lead instruments on songbirdsongs are piccolos and flutes, which are supported by percussive and string instruments in small chamber groups. The first nine pieces grouped as "songbirdsongs" are performed by the Callithumpian Consort and the final piece is "Strange Birds Passing" performed by the New England Conservatory Contemporary Music Ensemble. My favorite pieces are "Wood Thrush" and "Joyful Noise."

What may chase some listeners away is there are no catchy tunes. On first hearing, the pieces may seem without any structure, just a fusion of random sounds. Those listening to the recording a second or third time, however, will likely recognize that there are themes and definite rhythms in these atmospheric pieces. 

Adams, John Luther. songbirdsongs. Mode Records, 2009. 45:24 running time.

Stick Out Your Tongue by Ma Jian

Upon finishing the fifth of five stories in Stick Out Your Tongue by Chinese dissident Ma Jian, I was not sure that I would write a review. The book felt important, but I did not know what to say. The stories are so strange and disturbing, and I was afraid I'd write something foolish. Maybe I still will. Then I read the Afterward by Ma Jian telling about the writing and banning of these stories in China. It took overnight, but I think I understand.

Ma Jian took a trip to Tibet in 1985 that shocked him. He had expected to find gentle people and enlightenment but instead found gray poverty and ignorance. The country had been under the control of Chinese Communists for over thirty years, and much that was beautiful had been suppressed or chased away. He wrote these stories that were accepted by Chinese literary magazines and then was luckily out of the country when they were published. They were only translated into English in 2006.

All of the stories have settings that feel ancient and timeless into which modernity invades. In "The Woman and the Blue Sky," the narrator mentions that he arrived in the province by army truck, but then he becomes a wanderer, walking through valley and villages, looking to witness a Tibetan sky funeral. In "The Smile of Lake Drolmula," a son back from two years of school in Beijing wanders hopelessly trying to find his nomadic family. In the fifth story, "The Initiation," the Buddhist monks must be those who remain in Tibet after the Chinese takeover, practicing a corrupt religion.

After both the first and second stories, and even in points mid-story, I considered closing Stick Out Your Tongue, but I persisted. I had heard praise for the stories, which were fascinatingly filled with strange cultural details, and saw that the time investment was short. I am glad I did get to the end, as the pieces make more sense together. I am left with a justifiable sense of horror. It is no wonder they are banned in China.

Ma Jian. Stick Out Your Tongue. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. 93p. ISBN 0374269882.

ARRT Whole Collection Reader's Advisor Program Wrap Up

Thanks to everyone at today's ARRT Whole Collection Reader's Advisory Program at the Deerfild (IL) Public Library for your warmth and great suggestions. Many of you had splendid ideas about how to advance the cause of connecting materials from all areas of the library (and beyond) and getting them into the hands of readers/listeners/viewers.

Thanks also to the participants who suggested books for my reading. I have a copy of Summer and Bird by Katherine Catmull is hand and have placed a hold for Beware the Tufted Duck by Lydia Adamson. I think that I will enjoy both. The prospects are promising.

For those who were not there, let me report that I shared a panel with Joyce Saricks (author of many books and general cheerleader for RA) and Nanette Donohue of the Champaign (IL) Public Library. Melissa Stoeger of Deerfield Public Library moderated. We had a lively discussion and then each presented a sample topic to show how library materials in many formats can be joined for readers' advisory promotion. Joyce took on Adventure, Nanette spoke about Urban Lit, and I featured items for bird lovers. It was privileged to share the spotlight.

ARRT will soon have copies of the presentations on its website.

The Birders Kit: A Display for Integrated Advisory Service

On Thursday, August 22, I will be part of an Adult Reading Round Table panel discussing integrated advisory service in public libraries at the Deerfield (IL) Public Library. The concept is that librarian know more than books and are ready to help clients with DVDs, music, magazines, or whatever else may give them pleasure.

To illustrate how a librarian could help a client with a specific interest get a variety of items in various forms, I have created a slideshow called The Birder's Kit. The aspect ratios for a couple images are a bit distorted, but you can see the slideshow via Google Drive.

The following is a long list of items related to birds from which I made the slideshow. The list has a bit more than the slideshow for some topics.

Field Guides

Peterson's Field Guide to Birds of North America by Roger Tory Peterson

The Sibley Guide to Birds by David Allen Sibley

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America by Jon L. Dunn and Jonathan Alderfer

The Crossley ID Guide by Richard Crossley

Birds of Illinois by Sheryl DeVore, Steven D. Bailey, and Gregory Kennedy

Bird Feathers: A Guide to North American Species by S. David Scott and Casey McFarland

Travel Guides

Illinois Bird Watching: A Year Long Guide

Global Birding: Traveling the World in Search of Birds by Les Beletsky

Birds of Heaven: Travels with Cranes by Peter Matthiessen

Photography 

Atlas of Rare Birds by Dominic Couzens

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

Earth Flight: Breathtaking Photographs from a Bird's-eye View of the World by John Downer

Egg & Nest by Rosamund Purcell, Lennea S. Hall, and Rene Corado

Owls by Marianne Taylor

Poetry

Bright Wings: An Illustrated Anthology of Poems About Birds edited by Billy Collins

Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays by Mary Oliver

Biography

John James Audubon: The Making of an American by Richard Rhodes

Life List: A Woman's Quest for the World's Most Amazing Birds by Olivia Gentile

Roger Tory Peterson: A Biography by Douglas Carlson

Memoirs

The Bluebird Effect: Uncommon Bonds with Common Birds by Julie Zickefoose

Corvus: A Life with Birds by Esther Woolfson

A Supremely Bad Idea: Three Mad Birders and Their Quest to See It All by Luke Dempsey

Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien

Children's Books

Even an Ostrich Needs a Nest: Where Birds Begin by Irene Kelly

Mythical Birds and Beasts from Many Lands by Margaret Mayo

Pale Male: Citizen Hawk of New York City by Janet Schulman

Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes by Eleanor Coerr

Novels

Beware the Butcher Bird by Lydia Adamson

The Bird Catcher by Laura Jacobs

Bird's Eye View by J. F. Freedman

A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson

High Island Blues by Ann Cleeves

Snapper by Brian Kimberling

Essays

Songs to Birds: Essays by Jake Page

Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen (Not all of the essays are about birds, but a birder wouldn't want to miss the ones that are.)

Magazines

Audubon

Bird Talk

Birds & Blooms

Wildbird

Audiobooks

The Big Year: A Tale of Man, Nature, and Fowl Obsession by Mark Obmascik

Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95 by Phillip M. Hoose

NPR Sound Treks: Birds

Bird Guides on CD

Birding by Ear: Eastern Central (Peterson Field Guide)

Music CDs

Firebird Suite by Igor Stravinsky

Flute Concerto in D, RV 428 "The Goldfinch" by Antonio Vivaldi

Organ Concerto "Cuckoo and the Nightingale" by George Frideric Handel

Songbirdsongs by John Luther Adams

Movies on DVDs

The Big Year (Steve Martin, Jack Black, Owen Wilson)

Fly Away Home (Jeff Daniels, Anna Paquin)

Hoot (Luke Wilson)

The Birds (Alfred Hitchcock)

Documentaries on DVD

March of the Penguins

Winged Migration

Wings of Life

TV on DVD

Extraordinary Birds (PBS Nature)

John James Audubon Drawn from Nature

Life of Birds (BBC series by David Attenborough)

My Life as a Turkey (PBS Nature)

Secret Life of Birds (BBC)

Apps

Audubon Birds $9.99

Audubon Birds of Central Park (free)

iBird Yard $2.99

Peterson Birds $14.95

Peterson Backyard Birds (free)

Sibley eGuide to the Birds of North America LITE (free)

Podcasts

Birdnotes with Dwight Davis (free)

BirdTalk Radio by Wild Birds Unlimited (free)

Laura Erickson's For the Birds (free)

Ray Brown's Talkin' Birds (free)

This Birding Life/Bird Watchers Digest (free)

Websites

Cornell Lab of Ornithology 

IBC: The Internet Bird Collection

Illinois Audubon Society

Triple Play: items in three formats by the same authors

"Birds of Paradise" National Geographic (December 2012)

Winged Seduction: Birds of Paradise (National Geographic Channel DVD)

Birds of Paradise: Revealing the World's Most Extraordinary Birds by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes

Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis by Rober M. Edsel

War has always left death and destruction in its wake, but advances in weapons technology and transportation made World War II particularly horrific. Whole cities were flattened and burned by the air forces of Allied and Axis countries. Civilians died in staggering numbers. Understandably, the fate of centuries of art was of little concern to many people who were trying to survive, but a few Allied leaders thought that saving art could foster goodwill, peace, and prosperity in the post-war world. The great paintings and sculptures symbolized shared cultural achievements and were the pride of their nations. With the support of President Roosevelt and General Eisenhower, a branch of the U.S. Army known as Monuments Men were ordered to do what they could to save masterworks of art and architecture. They faced a very great challenge when Allied forces began a campaign to liberate Italy. Robert M. Edsel tells the story in Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis.

If the words "Monuments Men" seems familiar to you, you have either heard of Edsel's previous book The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History or the upcoming movie of the same name starring Matt Damon and George Clooney, which is based on Edsel’s book. Saving Italy is a continuation of that story, focusing on efforts to protect the art of Naples, Venice, Rome, Pisa, and Florence. The complicating factor was that the Germans were allies of the Italians and could not steal art as blatantly there as in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, despite Mussolini’s disregard for art. At times there were partisan Italians, Allied agents, and two factions from the German military vying to gain control of displaced paintings, sculptures, pottery, jewelry, and rare books.

Saving Italy is filled with fascinating characters, including dueling American art experts Deane Keller and Fred Hartt, conflicted Nazi S.S. Commander General Karl Wolf, and the unflappable American spymaster Allen Dulles. The fate of paintings and sculptures by Michelangelo, Donatello, Raphael, Leonardo, Botticelli, and many other masters was in their hands. I listened to Saving Italy read skillfully by Edoardo Ballerini and found it an exciting read from which I learned much about World War II in Italy.

Edsel, Robert M. Saving Italy: The Race to Rescue a Nation's Treasures from the Nazis. Norton, 2013. 454p. ISBN 9780393082418.

Recorded Books, 2013. 10 compact discs. ISBN 9781470371296.

The DiMaggios: Three Brothers, Their Passion for Baseball, Their Pursuit of the American Dream by Tom Clavin

While I was reading The Inventor and the Tycoon by Edward Ball, I was also reading The DiMaggios: Three Brothers, Their Passion for Baseball, Their Pursuit of the American Dream by Tom Clavin. I mention this because both are to some extent San Francisco stories, especially in their early chapters, and both authors describe the city and its inhabitants, many of whom came from the East Coast or abroad. Though set half a century apart (with a little overlap), both stories feature people restarting their lives, trying through hard work to prosper.

Sicilian fisherman Giuseppe DiMaggio arrived in California in 1898 and then in 1902 brought his wife Rosalie and one child born in Sicily to Martinez, a town northeast of San Francisco. From there they started a large family and eventually moved into San Francisco, where to Giuseppe's initial horror, three of his sons became baseball players. Little did the father know that his sons' success at sports would bring the family a fortune and fame.

As the book jacket states, The DiMaggios is about the three sons Vince, Joe, and Dominic, their baseball careers, and their complicated relationships. It also includes a surprisingly full portrait of Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams, who like the brothers began his baseball career in the highly competitive Pacific Coast League. Williams becomes Joe's greatest baseball rival while becoming Dominic's close almost-brotherly friend. The fifth focus in the book is on young actress Marilyn Monroe and her short marriage to Joe.

Aimed primarily at sports readers, the book includes descriptions of important games, accounts of seasons, and statistics. That all fades away in the latter chapters as the brothers deal with their lives after baseball and the continuing dynamics of the DiMaggio family. Here the author has unpleasant myths to dispel about Joe, and he does satisfactorily. Still, many readers will form strong opinions about the conduct of the brothers and judge who was more loyal. The DiMaggios should be considered for book discussions that enjoy discussing complicated characters.

Clavin, Tom. The DiMaggios: Three Brothers, Their Passion for Baseball, Their Pursuit of the American Dream. Ecco, 2013. 320p. ISBN 9780062183774.

Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by Jennifer Worth

Most of the British television series that Bonnie and I have watched over the last several decades seem to be based or inspired by books. That holds true with the recent import Call the Midwife, of which two seasons have aired on PBS. As often is the case, the original book, Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times (first published in Britain in 2002), has proved worth reading.

I wondered how faithful I would find the adaptation to television and am pleased to report it is most definitely in the spirit. Most of the nuns, nurses, and other characters are recognizable, except for Cynthia who seems almost totally opposite of her portrayal on television and for Jennifer's admirer Jimmy who is rowdier and more trouble in the book than the sweet young man on the screen. The book also includes a cook at the Nonnatus House who spars frequently with the caretaker Fred; she could have added nicely to the show.

Viewers turned readers will find more stories in the book than were worked into the television series and less emphasis on the profiling of the nuns and nurses, except for Sister Monica Joan, who merits several chapters. Of course, you learn much about the author, for it is her voice telling the story, but the focus is usually on the pregnant women who need the wives service.

I see most libraries are shelving Call the Midwife with pregnancy books at Dewey 618.2. I hope the book is not lost there after the TV series fades from public memory, for it is about much more than childbirth. It is a vivid portrait of the East End of London during the late 1950s and early 1960s and should not be missed by readers interested in that time and place. I think the book and the series can be viewed in either order. Neither should be missed.

Worth, Jennifer. Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times. Penguin Books, 2012. 340p. ISBN 9780143123255.

The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures by Edward Ball

At the heart of this complicated story was a simple question. When horses ran, did they always have at least one foot on the ground, or were there points at which horses were airborne? Former governor of California Leland Stanford was certain that he saw all of his racehorses' feet off the ground at points in their races. Fellow horse owners disagreed. Stanford was certain and wanted proof, so he turned to a photographer who was in his hire and demanded evidence. Edward Muybridge initially said that he could not produce such a photo, but Stanford persisted, and in 1872 at Standford's expense, Muybridge built an array of cameras with trip wires at the former governor's stables in Palo Alto. On glass plates covered with a special fast emulsion that he concocted Muybridge caught the desired images. More than a bet was settled. Putting the series of photos together in a projector that he invented, using tricks learned from magic lantern shows, Muybridge started the motion picture industry.

How Stanford and Muybridge came to California, how Stanford helped Muybridge beat a murder accusation, and what became of them afterwards is the subject of Edward Ball's fascinating dual biography The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures. I remembered the author from his excellent books Slaves in the Family and The Sweet Hell Inside. As he did in those books, Ball brings the world of the 19th century into sharp focus in his latest book.

Ball also shows how some men reinvent themselves in pursuit of dreams. Muybridge is an almost perfect example for a discussion of ever changing characters. He was born Edward James Muggeridge in England in 1830. By the time of his death in 1904, he had also been known as Edward Muygridge, Eduardo Santiago Muybridge, Helios, and finally Eadweard Muybridge. He had lived in London, New York, outside Milwaukee, Paris, Guatemala, and San Francisco, and had been a bookseller, banker, photographer, and inventor. Stanton had been a farmer, grocer, governor, and railroad tycoon, and is a prime example of a powerful man who never finds happiness. He is now most remembered for establishing Stanford University as a memorial to his son.

Readers will go many places and through much of the 19th century in The Inventor and the Tycoon. It is a trip worth taking.

Ball, Edward. The Inventor and the Tycoon: A Gilded age Murder and the Birth of Moving Pictures. Doubleday, 2013. 447p. ISBN 9780385525756.

Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women by Harriet Reisen

Louisa May Alcott's life continues to be rewritten, as scholars discover new facts about the author many years after her death in 1888. At the Houghton Library at Harvard University in the 1950s, a researcher looking at letters found that Alcott had written pulp stories under the name A. M. Barnard. More recently, medical experts have discounted the theory that mercury given to treat pneumonia contracted during while nursing Civil War soldiers caused Alcott's poor health over the last half of her life. After reading her journals and letters and seeing a painting in which the artist put a slight butterfly pattern across her face, they think she may have had lupus erythematosus. According to Harriett Reisen in Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, scholars are also still seeking missing genre stories that Alcott wrote before her great success with novels for children.

What continued to impress me as I read through this biography of Alcott was how she was connected to many of the leading figures of the mid-19th century American literature. In early life, she knew Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, and abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and John Brown. It would not be possible for most young women growing up in poverty to have met all of these people. But the Alcott brand of poverty was a strange condition born of her father's attempts to live a pure life, untainted by owning property, trying to shape a new society from an old order that resisted his ideas. He had followers, but his Utopian experiments always failed, leaving his family hungry and sometimes homeless until friends and rich relatives offered help.

Reisen's lively biography of Alcott is a companion to the documentary shown on PBS's American Masters, for which Reisen wrote the script. It is an entertaining read for anyone who has read Alcott's books or who enjoys 19th century history and biography.

Reisen, Harriet. Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women. Henry Holt and Company, 2009. 362p. ISBN 9780805082999.

11 compact discs. Tantor Audio. ISBN 9781400144457

The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People by Neil Shubin

Joni Mitchell was right when she sang "We are stardust ..." in her song "Woodstock." According to University of Chicago professor Neil Shubin in his recent book The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People, the human body is composed of elements that were forged by the stars. There had been a point when there was only hydrogen, helium, and lithium. The process took billions of years, and it may have been only five to ten million years ago that the right elements in the right quantities under the right conditions allowed our species, or at least its predecessors, to evolve on earth. No knowing about elsewhere. 

So what contributed to our appearance on earth? Our solar system had to absorb stellar matter, form spheres, and establish orbits, and the earth had to stabilize with a temperature in a receptive range for life. We need to thank Jupiter and its gravitational pull for keeping us viable. Warm water had to foster the growth of single cell organisms, some of which had to develop photosynthesis to build up available oxygen reserves for a great variety of spiny and spineless creatures to evolve and spread over the planet. There were many other contributing factors. Even the break up of the super continent was necessary to get the balance of elements right. 

Shubin has written popular science before. His Your Inner Fish was awarded best book of the year by the National Academy of the Sciences in 2009. The Universe Within expands on the themes he introduced in that book, starting with the Big Bang and ending with the age of DNA research. He tells a great story with many interesting characters, some of them human. Look for it in libraries with the earth sciences books. 

Shubin, Neil. The Universe Within: Discovering the Common History of Rocks, Planets, and People. Pantheon Books, 2013. 225p. ISBN 9780307378439.