My Father's Tears and Other Stories by John Updike

Looking back is a common theme in many of the stories in John Updike's final collection My Father's Tears and Other Stories, published several months after his death in 2009. A story that stands out to me is "The Walk with Elizanne" in which the Olinger High School class of 1950 holds its 50th reunion in a restaurant in West Alton, Pennsylvania. Before joining his class, David Kern and his second wife Andrea visit his classmate and cancer patient Mamie Kauffman, who has been in the hospital for six weeks. Mamie was a key organizer of their periodic reunions and secures a promise from David to deliver several messages that evening.

As in several of Updike's stories in My Father's Tears, readers discover in "The Walk with Elizanne" a main character who has spent most of his adult life many states away from his childhood home, gaining a perspective those who stayed put do not have. Most importantly, because he has been elsewhere, his memories of the school days are more detailed, not compromised by later events in the town. Still, his memory is imperfect. Several conversations reveal romantic opportunities that he never noticed. He, of course, then wonders what could have been and whether he took the better path. The plot is somewhat conventional. What is extraordinary is the Updike's layered storytelling.

Updike's sad reunion story, which was first published in the New Yorker, will resonate with older readers who have themselves attended reunions and have dreamed alternate narratives. Younger readers may infer the message that it is usually better to move away.

I never thought I was an Updike fan, having not cared for his novels. But having read some essays and poems from his final years, I am having a change of heart.

Updike, John. My Father's Tears and Other Stories. Alfred A. Knopf, 2009. 292p. ISBN 9780307271563.

Rose Kennedy's Family Album: From the Fitzgerald Kennedy Private Collection, 1878-1946 by Caroline Kennedy

As much as I complain about how many Kennedy family books have been published, I do seem to enjoy them when I read then. I just finished Rose Kennedy's Family Album: From the Fitzgerald Kennedy Private Collection, 1878-1946 by Caroline Kennedy, which I downloaded onto my iPhone through eRead Illinois, a new digital download service being set up in Illinois libraries. I was curious how well a photo album would work on a smartphone.

While I know I would see more detail in the photos in both print and tablet reading, I have been pleasantly surprised. The images are sharper than in some of our older print photobooks, especially those sold cheaply at the big box bookstores in the past. Because images come in both portrait and landscape formats, I turn the iPhone occasionally to get maximum size, but that is not hard to do. A few of the photos in the essay sections were out of ratio no matter which way I turned them, but most were right. The weakest element is the presentation of handwritten letters. Sloppy handwriting and small reproduction make a few of them nearly unreadable.

Sloppy from the elegant and sophisticated Kennedys? The Kennedy sons may have been sent to private schools, but their penmanship and spelling were sub-standard.

I think presenting the Kennedy story through photos is quite effective. In the early chapters, seeing lots of fairly typical beach and backyard photos, they seem almost like any other twentieth century family, just super-sized. Then they start visiting the king at Buckingham Palace, the pope at the Vatican, and the pyramids at Giza. By the time I saw the photo of seven year old Teddy Kennedy watching Mussolini's troops march in early 1939, I knew the Kennedys were not ordinary.

Caroline Kennedy ends this account with 1946 when John F. Kennedy wins his first Congressional election. I wonder if there might be a second volume coming. I am now more curious about Joseph Kennedy, the tea-drinking son of a saloonkeeper. Perhaps I will seek the recent book about his years running Hollywood film studios. Can you imagine that after me complaining about too many Kennedy books? 

Kennedy, Caroline. Rose Kennedy's Family Album: From the Fitzgerald Kennedy Private Collection, 1878-1946. Grand Central Publishing, 2013. 351p. ISBN 9781455544806.

The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari by Paul Theroux

With The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari, I am starting at or near the end of the long line of books by Paul Theroux, who has been traveling the world for over fifty years. In his subtitle, ultimate means last, not maximum or greatest. He states that he will not be going on another bus and train trip through Africa's most disturbed states. Readers can certainly see why he has come to this difficult decision. Though he has been able to deftly cross borders and mingle with rural people around the world for decades, at his current age he is an obvious target for criminals or other desperate individuals. On his trip through South Africa, Namibia, and Angola, angels guided him through threatening situations to safety. He says he will not take such risks again.

Theroux was somewhat hopeful for the places he visited in the initial parts of The Last Train to Zona Verde. He found that conditions in some of the townships around Cape Town had improved since his previous visit a decade earlier. Sadly, new shantytowns have appeared outside the improved places, but they too would eventually improve he surmised. His subsequent trip through Namibia was more difficult, but he still found that most rural people welcomed strangers.

Everyone warned Theroux not to visit Angola, which ironically encouraged him to go. He was aware but still somewhat surprised by the despair and cruelty he encountered there. He found Angola is not a poor country. It is filthy rich with money from oil and diamond companies, but almost none of that money trickles down. There is little surviving wildlife and nearly total deforestation. Most people live in slums. Unemployment is 90 percent, as foreign companies bring their own employees. He suggests that the government is totally corrupt. There is little hope anywhere in Angola.

Theroux reports that Angola does not allow tourism or visits by foreign journalists. Theroux essentially snuck in by arranging to teach some English classes. With little reporting about the corrupt state, Theroux's story takes on more importance.

As I said, I am starting near the end. I thought that I had read some of Theroux's writings, but I find no titles in the database I have kept since 1989. Maybe I read a couple of books before that. Maybe I read some of his journal articles. Whatever, I enjoyed his storytelling and analysis in The Last Train to Zona Verde and will try his other travel adventures.

Theroux, Paul. The Last Train to Zona Verde: My Ultimate African Safari. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 353p. ISBN 9780618839339.

The Photographs of Edward S. Curtis

Bonnie and I enjoyed listening to Timothy Egan when he spoke about his writing Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis last summer at the American Library Association Annual Conference. We both also enjoyed Egan's book. What would be great now is to see the original prints or the twenty volumes of The North American Indian, his encyclopedic work on the native tribes of the continent.

My original intent today was to review The Art of Edward S. Curtis: Photographs from The North American Indian by Tom Beck. Bonnie requested it and I enjoyed looking at it. Beck introduces readers to the story of Edward Curtis and includes a selection of Curtis's photographs. I think the book is particularly useful because the author explains that Curtis was sometimes more interested producing art than in accurate ethnographic information. He was totally dedicated to the cause of the American Indians but he could be misled by his subjects and spread misinformation.

Looking at the book I felt a bit disappointed in the quality of the reproductions. Of course, it is a nearly 20 year old inexpensive publication and the paper is not of high quality. I wondered if I could find better images on the web. And I could. In fact, Northwestern University has digitized set number 458 of the limited editions of The North American Indian. You can read the whole thing or just look at the pictures online. Go to curtis.library.northwestern.edu.

So, I've gotten what I wished. I can look at it all. Will I find the time?

Actually, I would like to hold and look in an actual print volume, too.

Beck, Tom. The Art of Edward S. Curtis: Photographs from The North American Indian. Chartwell Books, 1995. 128p. ISBN 0785804102.

Field Notes from a Hidden City: An Urban Nature Diary by Esther Woolfson

In 2012, I enjoyed Corvus: A Life with Birds by Esther Woolfson, in which the author told about rescuing birds, mostly from the Corvid family, with the intention of returning them to the wild. Some of the birds, however, proved not to be candidates for release. Instead, they became lifelong residents of Woolfson's home, almost siblings to her children. I think it is an excellent book which reveals the mind of an unconventional woman devoted to nature.

Now I have read Woolson's Field Notes from a Hidden City: An Urban Nature Diary in which the author recounts a year in Aberdeen, Scotland, a small city on the North Sea. There are many yearbooks in natural history literature, mostly set in rural, natural settings. In contrast, Woolfson's story is set in the gardens, streets, and industrial lots of a cold, moist city where many people do not often linger outdoors. Woolfson, however, walks daily, observing how wildlife survives even this challenging climate and altered environment. In her brief daily posts and her lengthy seasonal essays, she champions common and unloved species that most people label as pests. Seagulls, rats, pigeons, spiders, squirrels, and even slugs seem beautiful and admirable to her. Without them, she muses, Aberdeen would be bleak and truly dead. 

While Woolfson does not list reforms for urban living, she certainly challenges mindsets that support eradication campaigns based on what she argues are myths and misconceptions. After reading Woolfson's diary, you may better appreciate the life in your neighborhood.

Woolfson, Esther. Field Notes from a Hidden City: An Urban Nature Diary. Counterpoint Berkeley, 2014. 368p. ISBN 9781619022409.

Trains and Lovers: A Novel by Alexander McCall Smith

Helping people find books to read, I often find something for myself. This happened again a couple of weeks ago. I was showing a reader where the Alexander McCall Smith books are shelved, telling her how most part of series, when I spotted a book I did not know, Trains and Lovers: A Novel. It is not in a series and had somehow eluded me. When the reader did not take it, I did.

Does McCall Smith have an infinite reserve of characters in a file, or has he met many people on whom he can base characters? He never seems at a loss to shape new men, women, children, and even dogs. In Trains and Lovers, he creates three men and one woman who meet on a long train ride from Scotland to England. One is leaving Scotland, while another is going home to England. The others are an American and an Australian. The four begin to talk, and three tell love stories.

Trains and Lovers is definitely a gentle read, just what McCall Smith fans expect. Still, the author surprises us with how the stories develop and leaves us with questions. Is love any less real for never being spoken or ending too soon? When should we trust our feelings of love? Are we changed by love?

Like most McCall Smith books, Trains and Lovers can easily be a discussion book. Now is a good time to read. Libraries should display copies around Valentine's Day.

McCall Smith, Alexander. Trains and Lovers: A Novel. Pantheon Books, 2012. 240p. ISBN 9780307908544.

Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Back Yard by Annette LeBlanc Cate

The American Library Association announced its children's book awards this week, including the highly-entertaining Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Back Yard by Annette LeBlanc Cate. This illustrated introduction to bird watching was named an honor book in the Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Awards. Knowing I enjoy bird watching, Heather Booth handed me a copy of the book. It was instant love. After work I brought the book home and started reading right away.

Of course, I am a bit older than the target audience, but I must propose that Look Up! would be a great beginning bird book for any age reader. Anyone over nine years old can benefit from a look at this book. The author/illustrator introduces almost every important topic of interest to birders, including how to distinguish field marks, how to read range maps, how to observe behaviors, ethical bird watching, and scientific classification. She even advocates for scavengers, birds that some people dislike. She accomplishes this in 52 illustrated pages.

Like naturalist/journalist Pete Dunne, Cate urges birdwatchers to learn to sketch birds in the wild. The discipline makes the bird watcher note the field marks. Maybe I should take this advice.

Now that Look Up! has been honored by the ALA, look for it in more libraries.

Cate, Annette LeBlanc. Look Up! Bird-Watching in Your Own Back Yard. Candlewick Press, 2013. ISBN 9780763645618.

Letters from Nuremberg: My Father's Narrative of a Quest for Justice by Christopher J. Dodd

Fire often erases historical records and links to our families' pasts when it destroys buildings. The children of Thomas J. Dodd thought they had lost most of what he and his wife Grace had left them when a warehouse in Rhode Island burned. In the late 1980s, however, daughter Martha, brother of Christopher J. Dodd (the senator), discovered her parents letters in her basement. These included letters that Thomas Dodd had written to his wife from Nuremberg in 1945 and 1946, when he was a lawyer prosecuting Nazi officials for war crimes. It was a great find for the family and for readers.

Christopher Dodd organized and edited these letters to publish Letters from Nuremberg: My Father's Narrative of a Quest for Justice. His father had written almost daily for much of his 15 months, telling of the conditions in Europe, his loneliness, and the prosecution of the trial of 21 men accused of the following:

1. conspiracy to wage aggressive war
2. crimes against peace
3. war crimes
4. crimes against humanity

Other books on the trial at Nuremberg have more details about the defendants and actual accusations, but Dodd excels at describing the trial and the conduct of lawyers, judges, the press, and the public reacting to the news. His letters also describe the relationships between the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union (Dodd almost always says Russia) at a point before the Cold War had been recognized.

I enjoyed reading Dodd's intimate accounts, full of daily experiences and personal opinions. He comments on the fires that burned Europe's cities during the war. His letters will appeal to anyone who enjoyed Cronkite's War: His World War II Letters Home.

Dodd, Christopher J. with Lary Bloom. Letters from Nuremberg: My Father's Narrative of a Quest for Justice. Crown, 2007. 373p. ISBN 9780307381163.

The 34-Ton Bat: The Story of Baseball as Told Through Bobble Heads, Cracker Jacks, Jock Straps, Eye Black & 375 Other Strange & Unforgettable Objects by Steve Rushin

The 34-Ton Bat: The Story of Baseball as Told Through Bobble Heads, Cracker Jacks, Jock Straps, Eye Black & 375 Other Strange & Unforgettable Objects is an awfully long title. Reading just the title, I wondered how good the book could be. It sounded both humorous and random. I suspected it might be a silly collection of tidbits, not something worth finishing unless you are crazy for baseball trivia. I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the author Steve Rushin has written an entertaining yet serious book with stories that connect to make a point.

The message of Rushin's book is that baseball has evolved over time in ways that can not be seen just in the stories of seasons, teams, and players. When you look at the equipment, stadium food, promotions, and other things associated with baseball, you learn how the sport has been shaped by social and technological trends, and at the same time, you see how the sport has contributed to the culture. Ruskin makes this point well by weaving stories about key innovations with accounts of his own experiences as a young employee of the Minnesota Twins.

Sports fans are the prime audience for The 34-Ton Bat, but it could serve as an interesting introduction to American culture as well. I liked it a lot.

Rushin, Steve. The 34-Ton Bat: The Story of Baseball as Told Through Bobble Heads, Cracker Jacks, Jock Straps, Eye Black & 375 Other Strange & Unforgettable Objects. Little, Brown and Company, 2013. 343p. ISBN 9780316200936.

Among the Islands: Adventures in the Pacific by Tim Flannery

As an author, Tim Flannery belongs with a group of popular nature writers, including Farley Mowat, Peter Matthiessen, and John McPhee. These authors always entertain while spreading their conservation message. With his gift for storytelling, Flannery can write big topic books, such as Here on Earth: A Natural History of the Planet, or he can recount professional experiences, as he did in Chasing Kangaroos. In Among the Islands: Adventures in the Pacific, Flannery does the latter, taking readers back to the 1980s when he traveled across the South Pacific conducting wildlife surveys on isolated islands.

Flannery's main goal was to discover mammal species that had reached islands before the arrival of humans. Some might have been stranded after the Ice Age when rising waters cut off islands from the continents to which they had belonged. Others may have floated in on debris. To identify these species, Flannery first studied the mammal collection in many major natural history museums. Then he led researchers on field trips looking for fossils and living species.

In Among the Islands, every field trip seems to have been an adventure taken at some risk. Many locations were remote, travel in small boats or planes was dangerous, and weather was often bad. While some islanders were welcoming, Flannery and his team inadvertently found themselves among rebels, criminals, and other hostile people. Even friendly people demanded they eat unappealing foods and participate in strange rituals. It was often a relief to get into the forest or onto a mountain where they could string their mist nets.

Readers will learn how and why naturalists take risks. They will also hear how development, especially unregulated mining and forestry, is endangering wildlife of the South Pacific. Among the Islands is quick reading and can be a good introduction to the literature of nature studies.

Flannery, Tim. Among the Islands: Adventures in the Pacific. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2011. 246p. ISBN 9780802120403.

John Brown's Spy: The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confessions of John E. Cook by Steven Lubet

More than 150 years after his attack on the federal armory at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, the actions of abolitionist John Brown are still being debated. Looking back, the venture looks ridiculously bound to fail. How could fewer than two dozen men expect to take the armory, distribute its weapons, and start a slave rebellion? They would have had to be highly effective men. But they were not. Steve Lubet profiles a key player in the event in his book John Brown's Spy: The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confessions of John E. Cook.

Cook had been the youngest child of a wealthy Connecticut family, raised mostly by indulgent sisters, never exposed to hardship. A bit of a dreamer, Cook was interested in poetry, adventure, guns, and women. Not succeeding as a lawyer, he was lured to Kansas by the abolitionist call for men to fight against pro-slavery raiders in the period leading to the vote on whether the state would be a slave state. There he met John Brown, who later sent him to assess the security of the Harper's Ferry armory and the likelihood that Virginia slaves would rise in revolt if encouraged. Not a serious spy, Cook spent a year in sport and pleasure, then told Brown what the abolitionist wanted to hear.

Much of John Brown's Spy focuses on the period after the attack: the chase to capture suspects, the trials of the accused, clemency petitions, and subsequent executions of those found guilty. The author recounts a couple of months of 1859 during which Cook's wavering allegiance to Brown was headline news.

Of course, the events at Harper's Ferry were still very much on the minds of American voters in 1860 when they elected a new president. John Brown's Spy is a welcomed addition to the library of books about the causes of the American Civil War.

Lubet, Steven. John Brown's Spy: The Adventurous Life and Tragic Confessions of John E. Cook. Yale University Press, 2012. 325p. ISBN 9780300180497.

Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life by Graham Nash

Graham Nash has led a rather charmed life, if I am reading his autobiography Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life correctly. He was a founding member of the Hollies and then a member of Crosby, Still & Nash (and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, of course). He has enjoyed numerous romantic relationships, most famously with Joni Mitchell. He has a loving family, has raised millions of dollars for charities and political causes, and has been a successful entrepreneur, having starting a business to print digital art. He was even awarded an OBE by Elizabeth II. There have been a few hardships in his life but never despair.

I think Nash's buoyancy is worth noting because many around him have not fair so well, particularly Stephen Still and David Crosby, both of whom have had terrible drug and alcohol problems. Nash seems to have tried every drug ever offered to him but claims to never have been addicted. He has done foolish things but seems to have survived and prospered. Why? He states in his book that music was always more important to him than drugs and that his passion for song carried him through troubles. It was music and friendship that kept him reuniting with Crosby and Stills and even Neil Young, despite their many differences. He says that he is addicted to the joining of their voices.

Nash also states that Crosby, Stills & Nash have never dissolved their partnership. Their agreement has always allowed for members having solo project and to play with other bands. Years apart are forgotten easily when they reunite.

"Tales" is an important part of the title, as Nash always has stories about event, songs, and people. I particularly liked reading about Nash's early life in Northern England with his working class family and his school pal Allan Clarke, learning to play guitar and saving meager wages to attend an Everly Brothers concert. He happily recounts stories behind the Hollies songs and playing on venues with the Beatles and other British musicians.

As a reference librarian, I was pleased to find Nash (or his publisher) included an index. In my experience, many contemporary autobiographical writings do not have indexes.

I was surprised to read so much about Cass Elliot and Jackson Browne, whom I did not associated with Nash. I am sure other readers will find other surprises as well. Wild Tales is an upbeat story that will appeal to many music fans.

Nash, Graham. Wild Tales: A Rock & Roll Life. Crown Archetype, 2013. 360p. ISBN 9780385347549.

This Boys Life by Tobias Wolff and The Duke of Deception by Geoffrey Wolff

In November, I listened to This Boy's Life by Tobias Wolff, a memoir that appears on numerous key autobiography lists. Under a spell, I listened to this story every chance I got through a fairly busy week. Still, it was hard to understand. How could anyone live the way Tobias (who took on the name Jack for his adolescent years) and his mother did? I never found the clarity to write a review.

Now I have also read his brother Geoffrey Wolff's book The Duke of Deception: Memories of My Father. I have much more of the story now, as Tobias's story starts about halfway through Geoffrey's book. It helps me to learn about their mother's childhood, which was dominated by her strange father. I can see why she would later make such bad choices. It also helps to learn about their father's string of deceptions to see how Tobias could so calmly pull off deceptions of his own.

Geoffrey's story is itself a classic coming-of-age memoir with many points at which all hope for a better life could have been lost. I can not help but think his father could not have succeeded with his cons in the computer age, when his resumes and credit references would have been easier to check. Would his being caught have helped or hindered Geoffrey in the long run? How would Geoffrey and Tobias have faired under foster care?

Both books could be called miracle stories. Both boys escaped the bonds of their childhoods. Now I need to read further to see how they have fared as adults.

Wolff, Tobias. This Boys Life. Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989. 288p. ISBN 0871132486.

Wolff, Geoffrey. The Duke of Deception: Memories of My Father. Random House, 1979. 275p. ISBN 0394410521.

Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen

Born in Moscow's Birthing House No. 4 in 1963, Anya von Bremzen grew up like many Soviet children who longed for more and better food to eat. From an early age, she stood for her family in lines for bread, fish, meat, or whatever was being offered at official Soviet stores. Her family was also known to deal in the black market to get something on the table. She immigrated to America with her mother in 1974 and grew up to write cookbooks and appear on cooking television shows. She tells her story in Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing.

In her book, Von Bremzen also describes the lives of her ancestors, profiles important Communist figures (Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, Brehznev), and illustrates everyday life in Russia and the Soviet Union decade by decade through the twentieth century. Food, its scarcity, and official cookbooks play central roles in the story. The cookbooks are particularly interesting, as they were important vehicles of Soviet propaganda. A 1954 edition of The Book and Tasty and Healthy Food, from which all Stalin quotations had been purged, states "Capitalist states condemn working citizens to constant under-eating … and often to hungry death." (page 124 of this memoir) In truth, Soviet farming was failing to meet its citizens needs.

Von Bremzen's chapter about touring the Soviet Union as it broke apart is particularly interesting. The compassion of strangers helped her immensely.

While I am not left with a longing to sample many of the Soviet foods - too many strange fish - I do feel I know more about what was eaten by the privileged and the unfortunate. Readers who are intrigued by the food can read the stories and recipes in the appendix, most of which do sound appetizing.

Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking was included on several book lists for 2013 and can be found in many libraries.

Von Bremzen, Anya. Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing. Crown Publishers, 2013. 338p. ISBN 9780307886811.

Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water by Asia Bibi with Anne Isabella Tollet

The story of Asia Bibi spread internationally in 2010 when the Pakistani Christian was sentenced to death for her part in an incident in a field where she was harvesting falsa berries. She drank from a cup that she did not know was reserved for Muslims. It was a hot day and Bibi was thirsty. She did not consider the implications of her drink, to which a group of Muslim women responded with outrage. Words were exchanged, and Bibi's were interpreted as blasphemy by Pakistani law. For this, she was imprisoned and eventually sentenced to death.

Bibi is still in prison under the threat of execution. In cases like hers, the formal execution often never takes place because a guard or another inmate assassinates the condemned person. A reward for Bibi's assassination has already been posted by a Pakistani cleric. Two prominent Pakistanis who spoke up for Bibi's innocence have been assassinated already. Her family is hiding.

Bibi is illiterate. According to journalist Anne Isabella Tollet, the journalist has received secret dictated messages from Bibi from which she has written Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water, which was translated from French into English in 2012. It was only published in the U.S. in 2013, more than two years after the French edition.

Along with I Am Malala, Blasphemy paints a very disturbing of Pakistan. It should be in more public libraries.

Bibi, Asia with Anne Isabella Tollet. Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water. Chicago Review Press, 2013. 137p. ISBN 9781613748893.

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

On October 9, 2012, two Taliban gunmen stopped a small school bus in Mingora, Pakistan and shot three schoolgirls. Most seriously injured was Malala Yousafzai, the target of the attack. Though she was shot in the head at close range, she survived. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban is a bestselling account of her life before and after the shooting which made headlines worldwide.

Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Pakistani state of Swat, where Malala's family lived was somewhat idyllic. Though everyone was poor, life was mostly peaceful. War in Afghanistan unfortunately drove Taliban combatants into the area, leading to conflict and environmental degradation. Masala's father stood out as a leader for starting schools for both boys and girls. One of the Taliban's fundamental beliefs is that women (including girls) should not be seen in public and should not receive schooling. Before 2009, children were killed mostly as bystanders, but then the Taliban began a campaign to close schools for girls. They began bombing school buildings, attacking school buses, and assassinating teachers. Fifteen year old Malala was targeted for her public speaking for the rights of girls to receive an education.

The later part of the book is about Malala's recovery and international fame.

While over 300 pages, Malala's story is quick reading and serves as a good introduction to the issues of women's rights in Third World countries, as well as a specific account of conditions in Pakistan, a country with which the United States has been allied since the 1960s. Readers may also be interested in Instant City: Life and Death in Karachi by NPR's Steve Inskeep or I am Nujood, Age Ten and Divorced by Nujood Ali.

Yousafzai, Malala with Christina Lamb. I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. 327p. ISBN 9780316322409.

A History of Britain in Thirty-Six Postage Stamps by Chris West

When I collected postal stamps as a boy, I just enjoyed them as colorful bits of paper and tried to fill my stamp book pages. I did not realize that every stamp had a story, nor did I know that each had to be conceived, designed, and approved. To my credit, I did notice that most of the stamps depicted famous people or historical scenes. I did not continue collecting past my school days.

British author Chris West obviously kept up his stamp collecting and studied his stamps' origins. In his new book A History of Britain in Thirty-Six Postage Stamps, he used what he learned to recount modern British history, starting with the coronation of Queen Victoria and continuing to the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. In the process of reading his clever book, we learn about the reign of monarchs, the Industrial Revolution, the rise and fall of the British Commonwealth, the rise of the British middle class, Britain's reluctance to join in European Unions, the death of Princess Diana, and the development of digital communications. The Post Office and its royally-appointed postmasters had a role in all of these developments.

While West's book focuses on Great Britain, it should find many appreciative readers in the United States, people who can both reaffirm what British history they know and learn something knew. Its 36 short chapters can be parceled out as dessert reading over many days. A History of Britain in Thirty-Six Postage Stamps is worth checking out.

West, Chris. A History of Britain in Thirty-Six Postage Stamps. Picador, 2013. 277p. ISBN 9781250035509.

Sorry! The English and Their Manners by Henry Hitchings

The first of the year, when many are trying out new resolutions, is a wonderful time to bring up the subject of manners, those rules that govern social interaction. British author Henry Hitchings does so in his new book Sorry! The English and Their Manners. Not an etiquette book, Sorry! is a history of English social behavior that also has many references to manners in a certain former British colony on the west side of the Atlantic Ocean.

After reminding us of how offended many English tennis fans were by John McEnroe's antics at Wimbledon in 1977, Hitchings takes us back to Medieval times to examine behavior at palaces and in villages of England. Noting that the word "courtesy" is derived from "court," he describes the code of conduct required of the assembly in the palace. From there he works his way up to the present when we puzzle over proper behavior on the Internet.

Throughout Hitchings is entertaining but at the same time serious. Behind every story is a question about the intent of the rules. The driving quest is to discovery why we encourage use of manners. Do we want to foster a fair and pleasant society? Do we just want to get along with others? Do we want to manipulate others?

Do we need manners just to keep us from killing each other?

Some reviews suggested this would be of interest to viewers of Downton Abbey, and I would agree, but I also want to emphasize that Hitchings' book is not about ruling class control of working class. It is broader and of interest to anyone who every talks to anyone else. I urge many more public libraries to add this book.

Hitchings, Henry. Sorry! The English and Their Manners. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013. 392p. ISBN 9780374266752.

Best Biographies and Memoirs of 2013

Here we come to the end of another year, and best of year book lists are being announced. As usual, I have combed through the lists to identify biographies and memoirs. What to include is tricky. Some books hang between biography and history. I am lenient and include most, feeling that they can at least be described as biographical, especially if it was important to include a person's name in the title.

As usual, the experts do not agree, which is actually good. There is a great range of biographical reading from which readers may choice with some assurance that someone deemed it worthy to read. In the end, what matters is whether the readers enjoy the books.

If you are like me, your wish list is getting longer every year. I am hoping many of these will be available in audiobooks to help me make my way through my list.

Enjoy 2014 as a great reading year!

Amazon

Biographies

Between Man and Beast: An Unlikely Explorer, the Evolution Debates, and the African Adventure That Took the Victorian World by Storm by Monte Reel

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearnes Goodwin

A Curious Man: The Strange and Brilliant Life of Robert "Believe It or Not!" Ripley by Neal Thompson

Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune by Bill Dedman

Lawrence in Arabia: War Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson

Nilsson: The Life of a Singer-Songwriter by Alyn Shipton

Pilgrim's Wilderness: A True Story of Faith and Madness on the Alaskan Frontier by Tom Kizzia

Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever by Reed Albergotti

Memoirs

After Visiting Friends: A Son's Story by Michael Hainey

Coming Clean by Kimberly Rae Miller

Detroit: An American Autopsy by Charlie LeDuff

A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story by Qais Akbar Omar

A House in the Sky: A Memoir by Amanda Lindhout

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove by Questlove

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala



Booklist

Biographies

Beethoven: The Man Revealed by John Suchet

Bolivar: American Liberator by Marie Arana

Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearnes Goodwin

Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince by Jane Ridley

Jack London: An American Life by Earle Labor

Jim Henson by Brian Jay Jones

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson

Wilson by A. Scott Berg

Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan


Memoirs

Darling: A Spiritual Autobiography by Richard Rodriguez


Kirkus

Biographies

The Battle of Bretton Woods: John Maynard Keyes, Harry Dexter White, and the Making of a New World Order by Benn Steil

Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore

The Brothers: John Foster Dulles, allen Dulles, and Their Secret World War by Stephen Kinzer

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearnes Goodwin

Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns by David Margolick

Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington by Terry Teachout

Fosse by Sam Wasson

The Great Dissent: How Oliver Wendell Holmes Changed His Mind - And Changed the History of Free Speech in America by Thomas Healy

Hammarskjold: A Life by Roger Lipsey

How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate by Wendy Moore

JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President by Thurston Clarke

Johnny Cash: The Life by Robert Hilburn

Kansas City Lightning: The Rise and Times of Charlie Parker by Stanley Crouch

The Red Man's Bones: George Catlin, Artist and Showman by Benita Eisler

Robert Oppenheimer: His Life and Mind by Ray Monk

Useful Enemies: John Demjanjuk and America's Open-Door Policy for Nazi War Criminals by Richard Rashke

Memoirs

After Visiting Friends: A Son's Story by Michael Hainey

Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 2 by Mark Twain

The Book of My Lives by Aleksandar Hemon

A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story by Qais Akbar Omar

Fresh Off the Boat: A Memoir by Eddie Huang

A House in the Sky: A Memoir by Amanda Lindhout

I Dreamed I Was a Very Clean Tramp: An Autobiography by Richard Hell

I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place by Howard Norman

The Joker: A Memoir by Andrew Hudgins

Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward

Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove by Questlove

My Mistake : A Memoir by Daniel Menaker

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala

The Wolf and the Watchman: A Father, a Son, and the CIA by Scott C. Johnson

The World Is Moving Around Me: A Memoir of the Haiti Earthquake by Dany Laferriere



Library Journal (Various lists)

Biographies

Francis: A New World Pope by Michel Cool

How to Create the Perfect Wife: Britain's Most Ineligible Bachelor and His Enlightened Quest to Train the Ideal Mate by Wendy Moore

Jack London: An American Life by Earle Labor

Memoirs

Drinking with Men by Rosie Schaap

Her by Christa Parravani

Holding Silvan: A Brief Life by Monica Wesolowska

Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh

I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malal Yousafzai

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

My Foreign Cities by Elizabeth Scarboro

Playing House: Notes of a Reluctant Mother by Lauren Slater

Son of a Gun by Justin St. Germain

Unremarried Widow by Artis Henderson

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala


National Public Radio

Biographies

Fosse by Sam Wasson

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson

Memoirs

After Visiting Friends: A Son's Story by Michael Hainey

Drinking with Men by Rosie Schaap

I Hate to Leave This Beautiful Place by Howard Norman

Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward

The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen Year Old Boy with Autism by Naoki Higashida

Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division by Peter Hook

You Don't Know Me But You Don't Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes by Nathan Rabin

Zen Confidential: Confessions of a Wayward Monk by Shozan Jack Haubner


New York Times: 100 Notable Books

Biographies

The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary J. Bass

Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearnes Goodwin

Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House by Peter Baker

Empress Dowager Cixi: The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang

Heir Apparent: A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince by Jane Ridley

Jonathan Swift: His Life and His World by Leo Damrosch

Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson

Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson by Jeff Guinn

Margaret Fuller: A New American Life by Megan Marshall

Patrick Leigh Fermor: An Adventure by Artemis Cooper

Those Angry Days: Roosevelt, Lindbergh, and America's Fight Over World War II, 1939-1941 by Lynne Olsomn

Memoirs

The Boy Detective: A New York Childhood by Roger Rosenblatt

Country Girl: A Memoir by Edna O'Brien

A House in the Sky by Amanda Lindhout and Sara Corbett

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

Wave by Sonali Deraniyagala



Publishers Weekly

Biographies

Fosse by Sam Wasson

Johnny Cash: The Life by Robert Hilburn

Karl Marx: A Nineteenth-Century Life by Jonathan Sperber

The Last Cowboy: A Life of Tom Landry by Mark Ribowsky

Memoirs

For a Song and a Hundred Songs: A Poet's Journey Through a Chinese Prison by Liao Yiwu

A House in the Sky: A Memoir by Amanda Lindhout

Italo Calvino: Letter, 1941-1985 by Italo Calvino

Mastering the Art of Soviet Cooking: A Memoir of Food and Longing by Anya von Bremzen

Men We Reaped: A Memoir by Jesmyn Ward

Shocked: My Mother, Schiaparelli, and Me by Patricia Volk


Washington Post

Biographies

Blackett's War: The Men Who Defeated the Nazi U-Boats and Brought Science to the Art of Warfare by Stephen Budiansky

The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide by Gary J. Bass

Bolivar: American Liberator by Marie Arana

Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism by Doris Kearnes Goodwin

Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House by Peter Baker

The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos and the Age of Amazon by Brad Stone

Gabriele D'Annunzio: Poet, Seducer and Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

Margaret Thatcher: From Grantham to Falklands by Charles Moore

Norman Mailer: A Double Life by J. Michael Lennon

The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy by David Nasaw

Queen Bee of Tuscany: The Redoubtable Janet Ross by Ben Downing

The Short Strange Life of Herschel Grynszpan: A Boy Avenger, a Nazi Diplomat, and a Murder in Paris by Jonathan Kirsch

Memoirs

The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy

A Fort of Nine Towers: An Afghan Family Story by Qais Akbar Omar

I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malal Yousafzai

Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

The Spark: A Mother's Story of Nurturing Genius by Kristine Barnett

Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton

The Wolf and the Watchman: A Father, a Son, and the CIA by Scott C. Johnson

The World's Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette's, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family by Josh Hanagarne

Books That Mattered 2013 and Year in Review

Here are the books, music, and movies I liked best in 2013. As in previous years, it is an eclectic collection of titles, so there is something here for many tastes in reading, listening, and viewing.

I wish you much great reading in 2014.

Recent Nonfiction

Birds of Paradise by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes

Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore

The Days Are Gods by Liz Stephens

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

The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe

I Don't Know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance by Leah Hager Cohen

Vivian Maier: Street Photographer by Vivian Meyer

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed


Recent Fiction

Astray by Emma Donoghue

The Importance of Being Seven by Alexander McCall Smith

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan


Great Older Books

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer (2009)

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey (1949)

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear (2003)

Children's Books

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce

Mr. Tiger Goes Wild by Peter Brown

Mr. Wuffles! by David Wiesner

The Tapir Scientist: Saving South America's Largest Mammal by Sy Montgomery




Audiobooks

The Hare with Amber Eyes by Edmund de Waal

One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson

NPR Sound Treks: Birds

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

Travels in Siberia by Ian Frazier


Film and Television

42

American Scream

Henry IV Part 1

Searching for Sugar Man


Music

Chris Vallillo at Friday at the Ford

Minnesota Beatle Project

Time Ain't Got Nothin' on Me by Mark Dvorak


Readers Advisory

Are Books Your Brand? webinar

The Birders Kit: A Display for Integrated Advisory Service

Memoirs That Will Last

True Stories into the Hands of Readers


Library Matters

Collection Development & Community Expectations

Down the Rabbit Hole: The Diary of Pringle Rose by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

My daughter Laura introduced me to Dear America books when she was in elementary school. Together we read several of these fictional diaries about girls living in pivotal periods of American history. I particularly liked stories that could have been those of my own ancestors. Looking at the display shelves in our youth services department, I recently found a new title, Down the Rabbit Hole: The Diary of Pringle Rose by Susan Campbell Bartoletti.

I was attracted by two cover elements. First, a girl is shown in front of a burning city. Second, the setting is identified "Chicago, Illinois, 1871." While I did not actually have any ancestors in the Chicago area in the 1870s, I have moved into the area and have read about the historic fire that burned much of the city in 1871.

Once I actually began reading, I discovered numerous interesting story elements. Pringle Rose is the orphaned daughter of an industrialist who fought the coal mining union in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Her mother, before her death in an accident, cared for her Down's syndrome son during a time when sending such children to asylums was the norm. Pringle attended a prestigious boarding school until the tragic accident that made her the ward of an uncle and aunt. Reading from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland is one of Pringle's retreats from reality. It is only in the second half of the book that Pringle reaches Chicago.

Like other books in the Dear America series, which began in 1996, Down the Rabbit Hole features a strong-willed girl who writes about the daily events of her life. Historical detail is rich in the novel and explained in essays in the appendix. I was not disappointed by my choice and will alert my adult daughter that the series lives on.

Bartoletti, Susan Campbell. Down the Rabbit Hole: The Diary of Pringle Rose. Scholastic, 2013. 245p. ISBN 9780545297011.

White Christmas, a Song by Irving Berlin

"White Christmas" as recorded by Bing Crosby may be the highest selling single ever. Billboard and other charting services can only speculate because they had not begun tallying sales in 1942, the year that the original 78 RPM single was released by Decca Records. Crosby had sung the song the previous Christmas Day on his NBC radio show. His impression at the time was that "White Christmas" was just another holiday song, but it proved particularly popular with radio listeners, many of whom had family signing up to serve in the military. Its popularity was also helped by appearances in the films Holiday Inn and White Christmas.

In his book White Christmas: The Story of an American Song, author Jody Rosen reports that Irving Berlin had at first conceived of the song as a satire. He started the song with a verse describing a sunny day around a swimming pool in Southern California, but that verse is now seldom sung. Instead, the song starting with the second verse was embraced as a sincere expression of longing for Christmas tradition by someone far from home.

"White Christmas" may be one of the most often recorded songs. Bad Religion, Kelly Clarkson, and Leona Lewis are among the artists releasing new versions in 2013. My library has the following versions in its collection (ready for checkout, of course).

Bing Crosby Recordings

Bing Crosby. Merry Christmas. MCA Records, 1961.
Crosby is accompanied by a lush orchestra and a chorus. He sings with some vibrato as was popular at the time and whistles a bit. There is no date for the recording , but it might be the original. 3:03

Now That's What I Call Christmas. EMI/Universal, 2001.
This is Crosby's 1954 recording with a shorter intro, produced because the original master was wearing out. It is only slightly different from the previous version. 2:57

Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Nat King Cole. It's Christmas Time. LaserLight Digital, 1992.
Here is a short rendition from a radio broadcast with a chorus and orchestra. Crosby sings in a plainer style with no whistling. 1:33

Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. Christmas Sing with Frank and Bing. LaserLight Digital, 1996.
This is a duet of Sinatra and Crosby singing a medley of "The Christmas Song" and "White Christmas." Crosby starts the "White Christmas" part, and Frank joins in for the final verse. 3:52

Other Performers

Louis Armstrong & Friends. What a Wonderful Christmas. Hip-O Records, 1997.
Louis Armstrong performs "White Christmas" with Gordon Jenkins & His Orchestra. He sings with gruff, jazzy vibrato. Sadly, there is no trumpet solo. 2:37

A Motown Christmas. Motown, 1999.
Diana Ross and the Supremes sing "White Christmas." Ross and the Supremes trade off singing lead and harmonizing in a traditional arrangement with a lush orchestra and a bit of tinkling piano. Sleigh bells are added at appropriate moments. 3:53

New Kids on the Block. Merry, Merry Christmas. Columbia Records, 1989.
Jonathan Knight sings lead vocal with lots of boy group harmonizing. There is a slow beating drum and synthesized accompaniment. 3:37

Chipmunks. Christmas with the Chipmunks. Capitol Record, 2010.
The album has recordings from 1962 and 1963. On the last track, David Seville sings lead and the Chipmunks never interrupt as we all expect. At the end, Alvin tells Dave that he has gotten his wish and it is snowing. 2:33

The Three Tenors Christmas. Sony Classical, 2000.
Carreras, Domingo, and Pavarotti take turns and harmonize with a full orchestra. Fans will know each by his voice as he takes his turn. 2:47

Kenny Rogers. Christmas. EMI America, 1987.
A very smooth rendition, not Rogers' usual country sound. 2:47

Glenn Miller. A Christmas Concert. LaserLight Digital, 1996.
Glenn Miller conducted a military orchestra during World War II. During a Christmas broadcast, the orchestra and vocal solo performed "White Christmas" at the end of a long medley.

Kenny G. Miracles: The Holiday Album. Aristra, 1994.
Kenny G's rendition is suited for late night as the fire is just burning down. Relax and have a happy holiday.

Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity by Lester R. Brown

The news media may not be paying much attention, but there are more hungry people than ever before. The problem is everywhere, in countries rich and poor. Unless we demand reform of economies and food policies, the situation is going to steadily get worse, according to Lester R. Brown in his recent book Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity.

There are many disturbing developments. One of them is that prices of many staples, including corn and rice have risen sharply, beyond the means of many nations and their poor. One factor in the corn price is its use in the production of ethanol. State and federal laws designed to reduce the use of petroleum have mandated oil companies include ethanol in gasoline. Because of this, less U.S. grain is available to export. While this may make some energy policy sense, it has been a disaster for many of the world's poor, many who have days on which they do not eat.

The population explosion and global warming are also big factors. Rainfall patterns have changed and aquifers are being depleted. Many nations that used to produce sufficient crops to feed their people are now having to import staples. Science is no longer developing miracle crops that will save the day. Richer nations are buying land in poorer nations to raise crops for export, sometimes leaving the locals unfed. Conflict within and between nations is inevitable as the supply of salt-free water and fertile land diminishes.

Full Planet, Empty Plates is an important book that will not take you a long time to read. I suggest that instead of rushing through, however, read just a chapter at a time and let the data sink in. Brown ends with suggestions to reverse trends. None of the reforms will be politically easy.

More libraries should own this book.

Brown, Lester R. Full Planet, Empty Plates: The New Geopolitics of Food Scarcity. W. W. Norton, 2013. 144p. ISBN 9780393344158.

Jeeves and the Wedding Bells: An Homage to P.G. Wodehouse by Sebastian Faulks

The family of P.G. Wodehouse hopes to bring the world of Bertie Wooster and his valet Jeeves to a younger generation. Whether that effort will succeed, I do not know, but I (being of a certain age) liked the new estate-approved novel Jeeves and the Wedding Bells by Sebastian Faulks. The new author for the series mixed all of the traditional Wodehouse elements very well. As a reader might expect, Bertie agrees to help one his pals from the Drones Club obtain permission from an aged guardian to marry the girl of his dreams. Of course, Bertie's efforts hinder more than help and Jeeves is there to save the day.

In his introduction to Jeeves and the Wedding Bells, Faulks pledges to keep to the spirit of Wodehouse without resorting to parody, plagiarism, or predictability. One difference from the original series that I noticed is that Bertie actually has a few serious thoughts, such as when he appreciates the beauty of the English countryside which could have been lost if Britain had lost the war (that war being World War I.) If I remember correctly, Wodehouse always kept Bertie carefree and unaware of current events. Wodehouse never revealed a year. Faulks in a very subtle way has introduced a bit of identifiable historical detail.

That said, don't worry that Bertie will become serious or scholarly. He is still the model for all lovable upper class twits and is ever dependent of Jeeves, even in their reversal of roles included in Jeeves and the Wedding Bells. Experienced readers are in for some surprises, which I will not reveal. Read it soon.

Faulks, Sebastian. Jeeves and the Wedding Bells: An Homage to P.G. Wodehouse. St. Martin's Press, 2013. 243p. ISBN 9781250047595.

I Don't Know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn't) by Leah Hager Cohen

It has happened to all of us. Topics about which we know nothing are introduced into a conversation, and everyone else seems to be very knowledgeable. Then someone turns to us and asks our opinion. What do we do? Reveal our ignorance? That is often what we should do, according to Leah Hager Cohen in her four-part essay I Don't Know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn't).

The settings in which we hesitate to admit a lack of knowledge are many, if we are like Cohen, who writes from experience. One of the most common is the college classroom. Students are there to learn, but many competitively pose that they already know everything when they don't. Sadly, opportunities for learning are lost when insecure students won't lower their shields of preconception. Admitting ignorance frees us from pretense and opens our minds. But only secure people seem to have the ability to say "I don't know."

I like the story of a reference librarian using his lack of knowledge as a good starting point to helping his clients. See pages 95-96. I also love the ending in which Cohen tells about being a girl walking home from the library with her mother in a snow storm.

I Don't Know is a book that I would enjoy giving to friends - because it is good reading not because they need reforming. It is surprising how few libraries have it yet. I imagine that reading Cohen's novel The Grief of Others would also be worth reading.

Cohen, Leah Hager. I Don't Know: In Praise of Admitting Ignorance (Except When You Shouldn't). Riverhead Books, 2013. 116p. ISBN 9781594632396.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Humanity's Lost Masterpiece, a Film by Werner Herzog

In 1994, the timeline of human art lengthened dramatically. In fact, it doubled when three explorers discovered a wealth of ancient paintings in a cave above the beautiful Ardeshe River in rural Southern France. Radiocarbon dating identified the horses, bison, lions, bears, and other images found on the limestone walls to be approximately 32,000 years old. To preserve the paintings, the cave has never been opened to the public and even access to scientists has been strictly limited. Luckily for us, veteran German film director Werner Herzog and his cinematic team were given a few hours in Chauvet Cave to film the wonderful art, resulting in the documentary Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Humanity's Lost Masterpiece.

Unlike many ancient figures, the animals painted in Chauvet Cave are not by any means simple or crude. The artists were keen observers of nature and very skilled at drawing. Their figures display an understanding of anatomy and evoke motion. The artists were even able to use the curves and hollows of the walls to enhance the vitality of their elaborate scenes. I find it fascinating that so much was done so cleverly by flickering firelight.

Herzog interviews many scientists inside and outside the cave. They tell us how the ancient mouth of the cave collapsed, how cave explorers located fissures evicting cave air, how the painters worked, and what is being done to preserve the art. Lovingly, the cinematographer dwells slowly on the images, letting us see the cave's most famous images again and again.

Herzog, Werner. Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Humanity's Lost Masterpiece. IFC Films, 2011. ISBN 9780788614156.

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom

Corrie ten Boom's clockmaker father traveled by train from Harlem to Amsterdam once a week to "get the time" from the naval observatory. He faithfully brought the official time back to his clock shop, where his daughters learned from him to respect truth, tolerate people of many faiths, and give to those in need, virtues that served them well when their country was overrun with Nazis in World War II. She told their story in her now classic spiritual memoir The Hiding Place.

Ten Boom and her sister Betsie were in their forties and living with their aging father when the German army invaded the Netherlands in 1940. The family had recently celebrated the 100th anniversary of the clock shop, an event that attracted Harlem's Christians and Jews, who had long lived in peace. The family was distressed when the Nazis began restricting and arresting their Jewish neighbors. Learning of her brother's ties to the Dutch Resistance, the sisters joined and began harboring Jews in their home, a violation of Nazi rules for which they and their father were eventually arrested.

In her book, ten Boom split the family story rather equally into its time of refugee work and its time in jails and concentration camps. Throughout she focused as much on her family, their guests, fellow prisoners, Nazis, and Dutch collaborators as on her own conduct. She found many people to admire and, at the insistence of her sister Betsie, sought to understand their oppressors, not condemn them. Many of the episodes recounted show how the sisters used their time of imprisonment as an opportunity to spread their faith.

Seventy years after the events, ten Boom's classic memoir still resonates and can encourage people facing injustice. Luckily for us, it is still easily found in bookstores and libraries.

Ten Boom, Corrie. The Hiding Place. Holt, Rinehart, Winston, 1963. 218p.

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

One of the most talked about books of 2013 is Life after Life by Kate Atkinson. The author could have called it "The Many Lives of Ursala Todd." The premise is that a British woman born in 1910 is caught in a loop, much like the repeating days of Bill Murray in the movie Ground Hog Days. The difference is that Ursala may live for days or decades before dying and starting again at birth. Unlike Ground Hog Days, Life After Life is not comic.

Though born into the upper class, Ursala lives through many hard times. Readers will get to know some of these times well, as Ursala returns to pivotal events, making different choices and subsequently living differently than in her previous attempts. Throughout she frequents the dangerous waves along the British seashore, a dark road of near her parent’s house, the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919, a circle of women attached to Nazi officials in 1930s Germany, and the streets of bomb-shattered London during World War II. Slowly, subtly, she begins to recognize patterns and identify a purpose for her lives.

While not comic, Atkinson does have some fun with some of Ursala's encounters, especially a young girl’s discussions with a child psychiatrist who is hired to evaluate her tendency to make forecasts that seem to come true. More often, however, Ursala is locked into terrible relationships with dire consequences. Readers may begin to hope Ursala will die again soon and get a chance to start over.

Atkinson has created a fascinating world that resembles ours in many ways. Surrounding Ursala with many well-drawn characters and historically-accurate details, she presents a new way to look at the early 20th century. Life After Life is book worth discussion.

Atkinson, Kate. Life After Life. Little, Brown, 2013. 529p. ISBN 9780316176484.

The Americans: 11 True Stories of Challenge and Wonder narrated by Michael Holmes

When we think of self-publishing, I suspect most of us think of books. In the past these would have been short-run paper books, and more recently they would tend to be ebooks, which might be marketed through any number of online vendors fostering the self-publishing industry. Of course, people also self-publish zines, short for "magazines," or they give their writings away in blogs. What you don't think of is audiobooks. Who has the ability conceive, record, and market high quality audiobooks?

Advertising producer/entrepreneur Michael Holmes has the ability to make his own audiobooks. (Maybe he is more small press publisher than self-publisher because of his company.) He must also have a love for American history and biography. I do not know the back story, but he has recorded biographical profiles for twelve figures from American history. He lightly added a little music and occasional sound effects and called them collectively The Americans: 11 True Stories of Challenge and Wonder. 

Because one of the profiles describes the heroic lives of a couple, runaway slaves William and Ellen Craft, there are eleven stories in The Americans. The profiles run between slightly less than ten minutes to nearly twenty-three minutes. At 9:45, the story Amelia Earhart seems too brief to me, just as her real life must have seemed to her fans. Otherwise, I enjoyed the profiles narrated by Holmes. I especially appreciated learning about some lesser-known characters, including the aforementioned Crafts, dentist William Morton, Civil War spy Lafayette Baker, and the first woman to be licensed as a physician in the United States, Elizabeth Blackwell.

Other figures profiled were Butch Cassidy, Annie Oakley, Samuel Clemens, Dorothea Dix, P.T. Barnum, and Francis Scott Key. The only quality that I know they all shared was being memorable characters. That we have such a diversity in our country may be the point. I think a short audio introduction about the collection as track one would be a nice addition if there are further editions.

There is a 5 minute sample on Holmes' website.

The Americans will be enjoyed by regular listeners to audiobooks or podcasts. I do not see that any libraries yet have the audiobook, but it is found at Audible.com or through Amazon.com (which owns Audible.com). Amazon also has the title as an ebook.

The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones

Among the most interesting stories of 2013 was that the body of King Richard III was discovered under a parking lot in Leicester, England, not far from where he had died in battle on Bosworth Field. How he was found and what his remains tell scientists and historians are explained in The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds by Philippa Langley and Michael Jones.

The debate about the crimes and character of King Richard III has raged since his death in 1485. William Shakespeare's popular play Richard III vilifying Richard has set generations against him. Langley and Jones, however, argue that much of what is believed about the king who ruled England for slightly over two years and died at age 32 was fabricated by the Tudor court that followed his death. Henry VII needed to belittle Richard to justify his own shaky claim to the crown.

The skeletal remains found in Leicester clearly show that Richard was not a hunchback and did not have a withered arm. Historical period documents suggest that he was probably well-liked in his time, especially in Northern England, where he had been an effective and compassionate regional administrator. He was not more violent or crueler than his contemporaries and might have been an effective ruler if he had lived longer.

Of course, the most asked question is whether Richard III killed his nephews in the Tower of London. The authors disagree on this point. Their positions are included in a special appendix, that also points out that both Henry VII and Henry VIII imprisoned and disposed of young royals who might challenge their crowns. Neither has been so vilified as Richard.

Using alternating chapters, the authors tell both the story of finding Richard III's remains and the story of his life. They also include two useful sections of photographs and maps. Look for The King's Grave in the British history section of your library.

Langley, Philippa and Michael Jones. The King's Grave: The Discovery of Richard III's Lost Burial Place and the Clues It Holds. St. Martin's Press, 2013. 288p. ISBN 9781250044105.

Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, A Film by Jon Foy

Image that you are walking in a city, such as Philadelphia, Chicago, or New York. You have to cross a street. In doing so, you notice what appears to be a plaque imbedded in the street. Do you read it? If it made no sense to you, would you even think about it later?

Young high school dropout/document courier/artist Justin Duerr and his friends in Philadelphia began noticing strange tiles in the streets in the 1990s. The recurring message intrigued them.

Toynbee Idea
In Movie '2001
Resurrect Dead
On Planet Jupiter 

What was that about? They had to know and started an investigation, culminating in the documentary Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles.

Ten of us gathered at the Thomas Ford Memorial Library on a Friday night this fall to view and discuss the 2011 documentary, which Roger Ebert had included in his best documentaries list for that year. We have seen many unusual films in our over ten years of meeting, and Resurrect the Dead scored high on our weird scale. (I wish we really had a formal weird scale so I could report the score.)

We were captivated by the unrelenting efforts of Duerr and his friends Steve Weinik and Colin Smith to discover 1) who was making and laying the Toynbee tiles, 2) what they meant, and 3) where were all of the tiles. The third question was the easiest to answer, as people from Boston to Kansas City had noticed tiles and shared their pictures on the Internet. A large concentration were in Philadelphia. A small scattering of tiles had also been discovered in South America, one of which included a Philadelphia street address. Much of the film shows the researchers trying to answer questions one and two.

Our group of film fans was riveted to the screen, eager to learn the research teams latest discoveries. Look for the documentary at your library or request it through interlibrary loan.

Foy, Jon. Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. E1 Entertainment, 2012. ISBN 9781417235858.

Lost Austin by John H. Slate

I was recently in Austin for less than 24 hours. I had a few morning hours with which to visit an old haunt or two, but it was raining, so I went to a new haunt instead, Book People, an independent book store. Before I got my cookie and hot chocolate, I looked around at books. There is a prominent section featuring books about Austin and the state of Texas. I found and bought Lost Austin by John H. Slate.

Lost Austin is a title in the Images of America series from Arcadia Publishing. Like almost every other book from this company, it features 128 pages of local history photos with captions. Black and white, of course. In this case, the topic was what could no longer be seen in Austin, including buildings, institutions, and companies dating from the founding of the capitol city in the 19th century to the 1980s. As a 1970s era University of Texas student, I recognized numerous buildings and stores in the photos. I read with a mixture of pleasure and regret.

It is hard to decide whether I liked Chapter Two: Lost Austin Institutions or Chapter Three: Lost Food, Drink, and Fun more. Chapter Two includes photos from Eyeore's Birthday Party (originally a children's event that transformed into a student beer bash), images of The Rag newspaper, pictures of Armadillo World Headquarters, and photos of hippie vendors selling their crafts from blankets spread on the sidewalk in front of the University Co-op. Chapter Three shows 2-Js Hamburgers, the Rome Inn, and Les Amis restaurants, the Saigon Egg Rolls carts, and the Varsity Theater. There is a lot to remember.

I appreciate that Lost Austin verified some of my memories. The psychedelic black-light ice cream shop was named Nothing Strikes Back and the beloved record store was Inner Sanctum Records. I am sure I am not the only person missing them.

Slate, John H. Lost Austin. Arcadia Publishing, 2012. 128p. ISBN 9780738596136.

Out on a Limb: What Black Bears Have Taught Me about Intelligence and Intuition by Benjamin Kilham

As I was reading Out on a Limb: What Black Bears Have Taught Me about Intelligence and Intuition by Benjamin Kilham for a Booklist review, Bonnie and I were preparing for a September trip to the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone national parks. I read some of the author's descriptions of bear-human encounters with great interest. In the back of my mind - not very far back - I was thinking, "I do not want to have to use any of this knowledge."

I remember thinking that it would help to have Kilham along on our hikes, as he is very attuned to bears, able to see signs of their proximity and read their facial expressions and posture. His knowledge comes from 20 years of serving as a foster parent for orphaned black bears in northern New Hampshire. As a bear mom, he not only insured the cubs survived their being orphaned but also taught necessary skills for their being returned to the wild. Kilham has returned many bears to the wild and maintains good relations with some of them, particularly Squirty, who has allowed him to observe her raising her own cubs. He often walks among the bears who remember being taken for walks by him.

Out on a Limb is Kilham's second book about his work with bears. The first was Among the Bears (2002) in which he recounted his taking young bears on walks to learn to forage, hunt, and avoid dangers. While some of the dangers were natural, others were the result of human invasion into the realm of the bears. In many cases, it was human actions that resulted in the young bears being orphaned and brought to Kilham. In his second book, he recounts what he has learned from his continuing studies of bears in the wild. With the intuition that he believes that he has, honed by his dyslexia, he claims to have made new discoveries about bear behavior. Some scientists dispute his findings.

Out on a Limb is part natural history and part memoir and always interesting. Kilham is devoted to his bears which he thinks can serve as models to compare with early primates in terms of social behavior. Many will find his book inspiring.

By the way, we obviously returned from Bear Country safely, seeing bears only at great distance or from our car. It was exciting enough.

Kilham, Benjamin. Out on a Limb: What Black Bears Have Taught Me about Intelligence and Intuition. Chelsea Green Publishing, 2013. 248p. ISBN 9781603583909.