Top 5 of the Nonfiction 5 at the Public Library Association Conference

At every conference I try to attend at least one program focused on readers' advisory. My second in Indianapolis (having also attended the Ann Patchett Book Hour) was Top 5 of the Nonfiction 5. The idea was that five librarians would present five lists for five nonfiction genres. Three of the lists (Must Know  ____, New ____, and Personal Favorite ____) would have five titles each. Classic ___ Authors would have five authors. Trends in ___ would have five trends, which could have any number of titles. If it had been 5 x 5 x 5, it would have 125 book titles (if you ignore any overlap), but it was more complicated than that. It would take too long to count how many titles the five book savvy librarians identified. Since there was no way to describe all in one hour, Rebecca Vnuk from Booklist posted all the lists and slides at Shelf Renewal.

That also means there was much too much for me to mention here, so I'll just note some books I really want to read, which will suggest to you the great variety offered. You should visit Shelf Renewal and print the lists for collection development, frontline readers' advisory, and developing your own reading lists.

Rebecca began with Memoirs. From the trend We Put the FUN in Dysfunctional, I'd like to read Disaster Preparedness by Heather Havrilesky, and from the Rebecca's Personal Favorites, Late Bloomers' Revolution by Amy Cohen.

Barry Trott from the Williamsburg Regional Library followed with Science and Nature. This is a genre that I really enjoy, and there were too many titles for even a year of my reading. On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History by Nicholas Basbanes from the Microhistories trend and The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert from the Last Things trend are my top picks to add to my wish list.

Third was Kaite Mediatore Stover from Kansas City Public Library with Pop Culture. From her lists of books, some with dazzling covers, I want to read Five Came Back: A Story of Hollywood and World War II by Mark Harris from the Back-Story trend and Watching the English by Kate Fox from Kaite's Personal Favorites.

David Wright of Seattle Public Library drew the Self Help assignment. While I like David and enjoy his humor, I have never enjoyed reading self help books, but it is good to know about them since we buy them and get them into the hands of willing readers. I might try When You Come to a Fork in the Road, Take It! by Yogi Berra from David's Personal Favorites.

Finally, Jessica Moyer of the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin presented lists for the Food and Home genre. I was glad to see she included Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting by Michael Perry, one of my favorite authors, in Must Know books. I have long intended to read Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky in her Classic Food and Home.

This just scratches the surface. I'll repeat, go to Shelf Renewal and see the slides and lists.

Public Library in the Marketplace: The Business of Digital Content

The afternoon session Public Library in the Marketplace: The Business of Digital Content came at the time I needed a nap, but there was a tension in the room that kept me awake. Librarians still have issues with ebook publishers and the vendors that provide their ebooks. So the Q and A between librarian Vailey Oehlke of Multnomah County Library and the duo of Skip Dye from Penguin Random House and Steve Potash of Overdrive was of great concern. Everyone on the platform was well behaved, if not in agreement.

Everyone seemed to agree that the library ebook situation is better than two years ago. Dye posed that all of the major publishers are now selling to libraries, but Oehlke reminded us that a couple of these publishers were doing so in a very limited way and only selling to a few select "test" libraries. Dye did agree with librarians that some of the pricing was too high. He and Potash both suggested that market factors would eventually bring prices down.

Potash said that the past two years have been great for adult readers of fiction ebooks. He added that the next two years will focus on increasing the availability of children's ebooks. Books for youth have lagged as few schools have adopted ebooks for instruction, but he and Dye both think that is about to change as publishers work out models for leasing many copies of curriculum titles for simultaneous use.

Dye praised the Library Reads monthly booklists campaign, saying that it is a loud voice that publishers hear and appreciate. He thinks it will bring publishers closer to librarians, making the point that libraries make or break new authors. It is easier to discover a new author at the library than online.

Dye also thinks that Lonely Planet's model of providing ebooks to libraries through Overdrive has been noticed by other travel book publishers who are now contemplating lower prices and better terms to libraries. He thinks this is a sign of the future, but warns that there will still be numerous pricing models tried before the market settles.

Potash believes that Overdrive will be helping libraries load local and self-published works onto their ebook platforms in the near future. His statement, however, was not a 100 percent promise. Potash also said that he believes that Amazon will in the near future make all of its publishing available to Overdrive. He pointed to Scholastic's new contract with Overdrive for low cost metered access as a sign that more publishers will be cooperative.

The room became a little tenser when Potash spoke about portability of titles when libraries leave the Overdrive service. He said that Overdrive will gladly transfer the titles if publishers let the company do so. But he also pointed to its contracts to protect publisher's content, saying the publishers have to be satisfied that whatever platforms libraries provide meet their copyright protection concerns.

Throw Out the Map: Sustainable Thinking for the Future of Libraries

On Friday morning at the Public Library Association conference in Indianapolis, author and speaker David McRainy said that our memories can not be trusted. On Friday afternoon I attended Throw Out the Map: Sustainable Thinking for the Future of Libraries, a program presented by Rebekkah Smith Aldrich, a consultant for the Mid-Hudson Library System. Now, on Sunday evening back in Illinois, I wondered why the program was in the Administration tract instead of Marketing tract. When I looked at the conference guide, I saw how wrong I was. The program was labelled Leadership. McRainy was right.

On further thought, I think Leadership is a good classification for Aldrich's program, though it had elements of administration and marketing as well. The key word in the program title is "Thinking." Aldrich was most concerned with our thinking. We have to think positively in order to survive and thrive. We have to believe we have a strong future to lead the way.

The speaker admitted that the past five years of funding cuts and increased demands have been tough on libraries. Some nonusers of libraries, having read government cutback stories, even think that we have disappeared. (Or was this said at a different program, my memory is suspect.) She says we need to shout out what we do more. Let the public at large know that we are doing well. (I know she said that for its in my notes.) A call for joyful noise was a part of her program.

Aldrich pointed to signs of our continued success:

• There are more library card holders than Netflix subscribers. 
• Many new owners of tablets and ereaders thought of going to the library for help without being told to do so. 
• Libraries are on the frontline of the do-it-yourself movement. 

I liked that Aldrich displayed a bit of revolutionary spirit. She suggested that we learn from political movements that have taken to the streets. Stating that we can not remain as we are, she quoted Seth Godin, "Revolutions destroy the perfect and then they enable to impossible." She also liked the proclamation from one group that reads "The Corrupt Fear Us, the Honest Support Us, the Heroic Join Us." She thought this would be a great library rallying cry.

Aldrich likes the new things that some libraries or librarians are doing, such as marketing their help to technology setups and providing reference service at festivals, such as South by Southwest. This is thinking big even we do something small. We build community through our aid to individuals.

At the beginning of the program, the audience responded weakly when the speaker wanted to hear us reply to her questions. By the end, we were as loud as the air horn in the program next door.

Big Ideas with Megan McArdle, David McRaney, and Clive Thompson at the PLA Conference

When I saw that today's events at the Public Library Association conference started with three author in a one hour time slot, I wondered how it would work. Were they going to be on a panel? Luckily for us, the answer was no. They each got about 15 minutes to speak. It occurs to me now that their concise presentations were like TED Talks.

Megan McArdle, author of The Up Side of Down: Why Failing Well is the Key to Success, started by saying that when she was a child, she asked her parents if she could move to the library (without them implied). They won't let her. It was just the first of many things in her life that did not work out as she planned. With humor, she said that an investment professional friend always wanted to know where she worked so he could avoid investing in that doomed company. While not liking her failures, she now sees how each was a lesson and a step toward success. She recounted historical failures that led to important developments and wondered how our companies, governments, and society will ever see such developments again now that failure is ostracized. Nothing risked, nothing gained.

David McRaney, author of You Are Not So Smart and You Are Now Less Dumb and other books, gave us a number sequencing test. He started by giving us 2, 4, 6 and then 10, 12, 14. When we knew the rule we could lower our hands. We almost all lowered right away. and we were all wrong. He then talked about how we often tend to accept logical fallacies if they prove what we want to be right. Our memories are bad, our perceptions are flawed, and we really can not improve much. For this reason, we should ask questions,check facts, and get help. We need others. (At least, that is what I perceived as his message. I could be wrong.)

Clive Thompson, author of Smarter Than You Think, showed us a series of photos of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Actually, it was the same photo except another member of Stalin's cabinet disappeared in each subsequent image. Stalin was alone in the final image. This was done by expert photo developers before Photoshop. Now almost anyone can do this with cheap or free software. With other low cost technology, we can publish our own ebooks, make our own video games, do our own science research, study word frequencies in classical literature, fact check our leaders, and start revolutions. The trend in technology is to inform and empower us.

There was not time to say how this all applied to libraries, but we can work it out.

Technology's Future at Public Libraries: Staying Relevant in the Digital Age: a PLA Program

Most of the news is good when it comes to technology and libraries, according to the latest report from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Contrary to the idea that new technology would displace libraries, Lee Rainie of the Pew Charitable Trust reports that Americans are still in love with their libraries. What's even more remarkable is that people who have taken to new devices like libraries more than people who have not. Most of the tech savvy have not abandoned libraries. Instead, they keep libraries as one of their channels of content.

Rainie was the first presenter at Technology's Future at Public Libraries: Staying Relevant in the Digital Age, a program at the Public Library Association conference in Indianapolis, Indiana. He presented findings from the report From Distant Admirers to Library Lovers, which was released Thursday morning. He showed a pie chart of various categories of users and nonusers of public libraries. 91 percent at some level still support and want public libraries. Some of these people report that they do not actually use libraries, but they want them to be available for others and for the betterment of their communities.

More about the results can be found in these articles:

Turns out most engaged library users are also biggest tech users from the PBS News Hour

Love libraries? Then you’re probably ahead of the technological curve. from the Washington Post

Are Library Users Happier People? from Time

Jackie Nytes, Chief Executive Officer of the Indianapolis Public Library, reports that increased door count in her city's libraries goes along with the growth of use of digital library content. Growth in Facebook and Twitter following has accompanied increased library traffic. And for the first time in 2013, the virtual branch of the library had more checkouts than any of the physical library branches.Bricks and mortar go along with digital services in her city.

A representative from the mayor's office reported that the city sees support of the library as a good investment in making the city attractive to families with children. The city already is seeing growth in the migration of young singles into the city and hopes to keep these people as they marry and mature.

This is all news to like.

Filtering Out Internet Censorship: Advocacy, Professional Ethics, and the Law

In light of a couple situations in libraries in the Chicago region in the past year, I decided it was a good time to refresh my knowledge of issues surrounding Internet filtering and censorship. The Public Library Association had a program just for this purpose, Filtering Out Internet Censorship: Advocacy, Professional Ethics, and the Law. The speakers were two librarians who are experts on the subject,  Deborah Caldwell-Stone from the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom and Sarah Houghton, director of the San Rafael Public Library in California, also known for her blog Librarian in Black.

I left the program reassured with the knowledge that no public library has been forced by a court of law to start filtering its Internet content. According to Caldwell-Stone, since the passage of the Child Internet Protection Act (CIPA) in 2000, the most significant case has been Kathleen R. v. the City of Livermore, which ruled that the library was a portal for content and had no legal obligation to filter. The library had a clear policy stating that parents were responsible for monitoring what their children saw, and the mother who sued the library had signed a form acknowledging this policy.

The libraries that have run into legal problems were those who filtered beyond the dictates of CIPA, which only requires that libraries that accept federal funds for providing Internet filter their Internet content. In these case, over-filtering may have been the libraries' choice of policies or it may have been the result of the workings of the filtering companies that they hired.

The other strong message of this program is that Internet filters still do not actually work, even in 2014, a couple of decades after they were introduced. CIPA requires that the libraries that filter do so to block obscene images and child pornography. Tests have repeated shown that the pixel identification processes used by Internet filters have about a 40 percent success rate in blocking these images. They also sometimes block images that are not obscene.

Houghton told how Internet filtering is actually censorship. None of the companies that sell filters will explain how they work, claiming that their methods are trade secrets. In her previous position as head of digital services at the San Jose Public Library, she tested filters and saw that most block text, which is not called for in CIPA. Furthermore, they often block constitutionally protected subjects, including sex education, gay rights, transgender issues, and abortion. A library that buys filtering has surrendered some of its ability to provide information to silent companies. Sadly, this situation most affects the poor, people most in need of a public source for Internet service, as their libraries are the ones most in need of federal funds.

Better Websites Make Happier People: Web Management Essentials Beyond Visual Design

With the trend toward responsive web design, which is the making of websites that automatically adjust themselves to fit desktops, laptops, tablets, or smartphones, there is a new emphasis on text on websites. Fewer graphics are being used and a bit more text may be needed. But the text itself must be visually pleasing, friendly, and concise. This was one of the key points of the program Better Websites Make Happier People: Web Management Essentials Beyond Visual Design.

Richard Kong of the Skokie Public Library (formerly of Arlington Heights Public Library) began the session by discussing the importance and methods of user testing. He urged libraries to avoid massive redesigns if possible, making incremental tested changes, always being in a state of subtle reconstruction. For testing, he recommended watching members of the library public try to accomplish assigned tasks, such as find the hours or send a message to library staff. The test conductor should, of course, emphasize that the website, not the volunteer, is being tested.

Anne Slaughter from RAILS (formerly of Oak Park Public Library) talked about having a content strategy from the beginning of a website design. Too many sites work on the look and the structure first, with the result that content is then wedged in. The overall consideration should be that the website is a platform for providing information and services. Only pages that serve the goals enumerated in the content strategy should be created.

Brodie Austin of Skokie Public Library (formerly of Des Plaines Public Library) made the observation with which I started this report. He said that websites heavy with images load slowly on mobile devices and tablets, so reducing the number of them serves everyone well. Cleaner design aids with simple, effective text is the new goal. To help web writers, there are new simple word processors, such as Draft and Prose.

In the questions period, Kong described an exercise that he had website stakeholders do to identify the reduced number of items to get space on a library's main webpage. It involved giving each person ten post-its, each marked 10 cents. Once all the proposed main webpage items are posted on a board, each person sticks her post-its on their preferred items. The items with the most post-its make the cut.

Austin agreed that many library website users are seeking links to other services, such as library catalogs, ebook platforms, and other online resources. More than most other websites, a good library website with have a high bounce rate.

Simon Sinek's Big Idea on the Leadership

Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action and Leaders Eat Last, launched the Public Library Association's lecture series called Big Ideas with a lively talk that focused on how ours bodies work to create natural circles of safety in which we can survive and thrive. In doing so, he told us why our bodies produce endorphins, dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and cortisol, the dangers of an imbalance of these chemicals, and how good leaders take advantage of our biochemical tendencies to develop safe working and living environments for their communities.

Being an incredibly down-to-earth speaker, Sinek made this complex-sounding topic understandable and relevant to all of us. He did this by starting with a story about a pilot fighting in the war in Afghanistan in 2002, the point of which was that the pilot took great risks with his life because he belonged to a community that inspired such dedication. He compared this willingness to sacrifice with the lack of brotherly concern within some corporations and then asked whether the difference was good people and bad people. His answer was "no." What mattered was the quality of environments, which is to some degree created by their leaders.

The gist is that leaders need to create environments where community members feel safe enough to themselves be creative. They must know their leaders will fight for them and protect them even at sacrificial cost to themselves. Then employees will work faithfully and beyond call for their leaders.

Sinek emphasized that rank is not the same as leadership. Leaders may emerge at any level in a community. In times when charity is needed, leaders give more than money. They give non-replaceable commodities, such as time and effort. This is why they are admired.

Sinek also posed that diversity in a community is important for more than just equality for diverse types of people; having people of diverse experience (which will come from people of diverse ethnicity) will provide a community with valuable diverse thoughts.

Quotes worth remembering: "Leadership is a choice that comes with a cost" and "Everyone of us has the ability to be the leader we wish we had."

Bryan Stevenson of Equal Justice Initiative at PLA

Public Library Association conference planners planned for inspiration for today's opening session by booking Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit organization working for reform of courts and prisons. They hoped for some of the magic of his famous TED talk. He was nearly as good, telling some of the same stories and addressing some of the same issues today.

Like many previous conference speakers, Stevenson began by thanking librarians for their role in his education, crediting their advocacy of service for people of all races for helping him in his career and with his mission. He also praised us for fostering and conserving viewpoints that differ from our dominate culture. The library may be the only place to find some out-of-the-mainstream ideas.

He asked four things of librarians. His illustrating stories featured criminal justice issues, but librarians will know issues of their own.

Maintain our proximity. By being local we know and can help our communities. Too much of what is decided in our nation comes from far away and often makes no sense. Sentencing laws in particular are remote from the situations to which they are applied.

Change the narrative. Too often the status quo is maintained. Things have to be the way they are because they are the way they are. We operate from fear instead of creativity. We need to imagine new ways and outcomes. Here he talked about the injustice of charging children as adults and about terrorism against blacks being a long-running American tradition, not just an aspect of life after 9/11.

Commit to being hopeful even when situations are most hopeless. Here he told a story about a bigot with an incredible change of heart.

Commit to doing the uncomfortable intentionally. Nothing will change unless risks are taken, such as those taken by civil rights workers in the 1950s and 1960s.

He told the same Rosa Parks story that you can hear on the TED talk. He also said that he discovered that he works with broken people because he is broken, too. Aren't we all.

Ann Patchett Book Hour at the Public Library Association Conference

The snow storm in Indianapolis has not materialized. Starting around 9:15 a.m., I saw flurries out my window, and snow was still swirling at 12:15 p.m., but there has been no accumulation. Still, the wind and weather upset air traffic, and Ann Patchett arrived about 50 minutes late from Nashville for her Ann Patchett Book Hour program. PLA staff provided an entertaining impromptu quiz show to fill the gap, but some people bailed before the bookstore owner/author arrived. Remarkably, many stayed and enjoyed hearing Patchett push books that she did not write.

I saw Patchett do this type of program last summer the ALA conference in Chicago. She had a different list of books then and prefaced with different personal stories. She was again entertaining, and I came away wanting to read titles that I had not considered. I will go to hear her a third time if the opportunity arises.

Like in Chicago, Patchett passed out a postcard identifying her Nashville bookstore Parnassus Books and ten books that she wanted to promote. The titles are as follows:

Nonfiction 
When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron
Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton
The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Men We Reap by Jesmyn West
Act One by Moss Hart

Fiction
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride
Dirty Love by Andre Dubus
Fools of Fortune by William Trevor
Thunderstruck by Elizabeth McCracken
The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert

After printing the cards, Patchett decided that she also wanted to tell us about two books by Joan Wickersham, Suicide Index: Putting My Father's Death in Order (nonfiction) and News from Spain: Seven Variations of a Love Story (fiction).

My favorite part of the program was the latter part when Patchett fielded questions from the audience. She told about researching State of Wonder in the rainforest, enjoying her mother's books, and picking out their dog Sparky, who is on the postcard.

Patchett also spoke about the importance of the right book that a person will appreciate at the time you offer it. It was a program worth the wait.

Biography Reading Up in Public Libraries

There are some interesting statistics about biography reading in public libraries in the Library Journal article "Materials Shift/Materials Survey 2014" by Barbara Hoffert. In circulation of nonfiction books, libraries responding to the survey put biography now at third highest category, after cooking and health/medicine titles. On the nonfiction ebook downloads chart, biography is in first place.

There is more good news about the circulation of library materials in the article. It is worth reading.

Ricklibrarian Reporting from Indianapolis

Greetings. I have arrived in Indianapolis in time for the start of the 2014 Public Library Association Conference. In the next four days I will attend programs on various topics of interest to those of us working in public libraries. I will share reports here on my blog for those of you who would like to but can not attend. The notes will also help me recall what I heard when I get back to my library.

I have been to most of the PLA conferences since the event in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2000 and have some fond memories, not particularly just about the programs.

Charlotte, 2000 - Great soul food restaurant to which we returned for a second meal.

Phoenix, 2002 - Last conference at which I could read attendee name tags, before lanyards that dropped them to the region of the navel. I used to count states from the name tags. It is impossible now without bending over awkwardly. I saw librarians from over 40 states in Phoenix.

Seattle, 2004 - I saw Nancy Pearl everywhere.

I missed PLA in Boston in 2006.

Minneapolis, 2008 - Girl Scout cookies a month after they were sold at home.

Portland, 2010 - Snow-capped mountains and waterfalls along the Columbia River.

Philadelphia, 2012 - So many historical sites and great art museums.

What will I remember about Indianapolis? Two candidates are 1) tomorrow's possible snowstorm and 2) the Big Ten basketball tournament that is competing with PLA for hotel rooms and restaurant seatings.

Stay tuned.

My Mistake: A Memoir by Daniel Menaker

"Still, if we give our lives any thought, especially when we are drawing near the end of them, we try to marry the opposites into a coherent whole. A life story that comprehends and supersedes its contradictions and says Ecce Homo, or maybe Echhh Homo - almost certainly both."

Daniel Menaker wrote this statement about his life as he entered his seventies and joined the ranks of people struggling with cancer. Appropriately it is near the end of his book My Mistake: A Memoir, which sounds as though it might be a sober, serious book. In its way, it is a serious account of his life, but he tells stories about himself with humor and joy as well as with sadness. Though memoirs are often suspect writing, I am left feeling Menaker is honest. Who but an honest man would admit to mistakes.

Menaker is known to book industry people and somewhat to readers of The New Yorker where he worked for decades, rising from the position of fact checker to an editor of fiction. Early on he was told by magazine editor William Shawn that "we" wanted him to look for another job. "We" wouldn't fire him in the meantime but he was not really made of New Yorker stuff. Menaker did look but only left decades later when Tina Brown wanted him out of the way. Then he worked as a book editor for Random House and HarperCollins publishers.

Obviously readers looking for insider stories about The New Yorker and big publishing houses are going to want My Mistake. Readers who are not so interested in publishing may enjoy the first section in which he humorously sketches his Jewish childhood in and around New York, but may then lose interest. But then again, they may not. His accounts may turn them on to the subject of pitched and nuanced inner office rivalries among now legendary literary figures. I enjoyed every page.

As for the mistakes, they come in many forms. For good and bad, they shape his life, and this generous telling makes him one of us.

Menaker, Daniel. My Mistake: A Memoir. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. 234p. ISBN 9780547794235.

Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World - From the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief by Tom Zoellner

One month ago I reviewed The Last Train to Zona Verde by Paul Theroux. Last week it was The Last Train: A Holocaust Story by Rona Arato. Today, it is Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World - From the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief by Tom Zoellner. You must suspect that I like trains. I do, but more in fantasy than in experience. I have only once been on Amtrak, I have also ridden a classic train into the Adirondacks on a one day excursion, and twice I took day trips out of London. Otherwise, I have only been on commuter trains. This is pitiful compared with noted travel writers like Paul Theroux and Michael Palin who have been on trains all over the world. After four nonfiction books on various topics, Chapman University English professor Tom Zoellner joins these other noted writers in staking a claim in the literature of trains.

In Train, Zoellner reports on seven trips chosen to help him tell the history of the rail industry, especially its travel service. He begins appropriately in Great Britain where rail service was invented. During his trip from the northern most tip of Scotland to the coast of Cornwall, he notes riding the bed (not original tracks) of the original Stockton & Darlington, the location of the world's first passenger train service. Ironically, the conductor with whom he spoke had no inkling of the history beneath their feet. Luckily for readers, Zoellner did his homework. We get a lively account of the origins of train travel and its spread across the planet, as well as descriptions of the current state of the trains and the places they go.

Zoellner also road trains in India, the United States, Russia, China, Peru, and Spain. In his chapter on Spanish rail service, he took a bullet train between Barcelona and Madrid and discusses the successes and failures of high speed trains in France, Japan, and the United States.

Zoellner is not as daring in his travels as Theroux, but he is entertaining and informative. His book Train will please pleasure readers as well as help students. It might even sway a few more travelers toward travel by trains.

Zoellner, Tom. Train: Riding the Rails That Created the Modern World - From the Trans-Siberian to the Southwest Chief. Viking, 2014. 346p. ISBN 9780670025282.

Save on Readers' Advisory Books at ABC-CLIO's Booth at the Public Library Association Conference

If you happen to be attending the Public Library Association Conference in Indianapolis next week and you would like to buy some books on readers' advisory, go now to the Citizen Reader blog to get a coupon for 20 per cent savings on ABC-CLIO readers' advisory titles. Print the PDF and take it with you to the conference and look for the company's booth on the exhibits floor.

My Read On Biography is among the books offered on the coupon. You can save $8.00. Other titles are from the Genreflecting, Real Stories, and Read On series, focusing on topics such as women's fiction, travel, sports, and graphic novels.

You do not actually have to attend the conference to get the savings. The PDF has a code that you can use to order by mail, phone, or online. You can pre-order Read On Romance by C. L. Quinlen and Ilene N. Lefkowisz this way.

I'll be at the conference and hope to see many library friends.

Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey by Emma Rowley

If you snagged a copy of Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey by Emma Rowley before the broadcast of season four, did you foresee any storyline developments? Did you guess who the men in tuxes following the Earl of Grantham on page 32 could be? One of them is later shown dancing with Lady Mary on page 175. Did you imagine what would develop between publisher Michael Gregson and Lady Edith shown together on pages 106 and 107? Did you notice the tense conversation between Mr. Bates and Anna being filmed on the lawn on page 36? Did you laugh when you saw Daisy with the electric mixer on page 136?

It is, of course, much easier to know the stories behind these pictures now that season four is run. Teasing the faithful viewers was not really the intention of Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey. The book does not spoil any surprises for those yet to see the episodes. Instead, it is a lavish documentary of the making the series, all four seasons. Author Emma Rowley and photographer Nick Briggs recount how the series was cast and story lines developed and, more than anything else, how much effort is made to design authentic looking sets and clothing.

I was struck by the wisdom of what producer Julian Fellows says on page 122 about props. He states that a house in 1922 would not have all new 1922 things. Being authentic is not being cutting-edge up-to-date.

I also liked the photos and captions of the kitchen on pages 130 and 131. The author explains that kitchen scenes might be shot one week and the dining room scenes weeks later, but the roasts and pastries have to look exactly the same for continuity. Likewise, if in a scene an actor eats some of the food on his plate and the scene is retaken, he has to eat the same amount, sometimes again and again. A lot of food is cooked and never eaten, which is understandable as it is prepared more for appearance than taste.

I also learned that black ties were more casual than white ties in the 1920s and that it was improper for an unmarried woman to wear a tiara.

Knowing what I have learned from Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey, I now wish to see season four again. Maybe I'll try to notice hair styles, clothes, music, and how much food is on the plates.

Rowley, Emma. Behind the Scenes at Downton Abbey. Harper Collins, 2013. 286p. ISBN 9781250047908.

Started Early, Took My Dog: A Novel by Kate Atkinson

I have been very impressed by novels written by Kate Atkinson, so I was pleased when our book group chose Started Early, Took My Dog: A Novel, as it moved another of her books to the top of my to-read list. In this book, private detective Jackson Brodie makes his fourth appearance. After our lively discussion, I feel the need also to read One Good Turn and When Will There Be Good News?, as some of the other members have. These Brodie stories and Case Histories connect to Started Early, Took My Dog, which leaves some issues unresolved. Will there be more Brodie books?

There are many characters in Started Early, Took My Dog. Some of us resorted to making lists to keep them straight, especially all of the policemen. In our discussion, we debated what roles, if any, some really played in the story. One of us always found a reason for fringe characters, even Tilly the actress. We talked about how Atkinson assembles a cast in ways similar to Agatha Christie and the producers of Downton Abbey and then devises parallel developments in characters' lives.

One of our questions was whether Started Early, Took My Dog is a literary novel or a mystery? I'd say both. Why do we have to choose? I enjoy Atkinson's sense of humor and ability to use lines of poetry in telling her story. Some of the situations in which the characters find themselves are both comic and dramatic. That seems literary to me. At the same time, I was always concerned with the uncovering of the mystery, more so than in some books labeled mysteries.

Whatever, Started Early, Took My Dog is good reading that makes me want more. If you have not yet, also try Life After Life.

Atkinson, Kate. Started Early, Took My Dog: A Novel. Little, Brown and Company, 2011. 371p. ISBN 9780316066730.

The Last Train: A Holocaust Story by Rona Arato

On April 13, 1945, when American soldiers found a German train filled with dirty and starving Jewish prisoners, one of the Americans said that he had refused to believe the stories that he had heard about Nazi-run death camps. Suddenly he knew it was all true. Rona Arato tells a survivor's story about the Holocaust in the children's book The Last Train: A Holocaust Story.

Brothers Paul and Oscar Auslander, Jewish boys from Karcag, Hungary were on that train with their mother, aunt, and cousins. For nearly a year, they had been moved by trains to various camps, sometimes forced to work on a farm, always guarded by gun-toting soldiers with vicious dogs. Several times the brothers thought they were about to be killed. Through a crack in the side of the boxcar, on that day in April 1945, Paul had seen several German soldiers setting up guns aimed at the train when an American tank appeared. The German soldiers ran away. The Americans then opened the boxcars and set the prisoners free.

The Last Train is a story told from the boys perspective. It starts where you would expect, just before the family is forced from its home by the Nazis, and what I really like is that it goes way past the point at which some authors would have stopped, the day of rescue. Arato tells how hard it was for the family to reunite and get back to Hungary and how Cold War Hungary was nearly as bad as during World War II. Then she tells even more.

The author got the story because she is now Paul's wife, though it took him nearly 40 years to tell her. What is amazing is how finally revealing the story to her and his children led to his meeting the soldiers who set him free.

The Last Train introduces the story of the Holocaust to elementary grade students through a voice much like their own, one that describes the horror of war but remains hopeful that troubles will end. Parents will enjoy this well-told story, too.

Arato, Rona. The Last Train: a Holocaust Story. Owl Kids Books, 2013. 142p. ISBN 9781926973623.

Suffer the Little Children by Donna Leon

I am reading the Donna Leon's novels featuring Commissario Guido Brunetti out of order, getting whatever I can find on audiobooks read by David Collaci. I imagine Collaci now as the voice of the Venetian commissario, and greatly enjoy hearing Italian personal and place names flow from his lips. Venice, where people, streets, and buildings have such beautiful names, is now higher on my travel priorities list.

I know many libraries shelve the Commissario Brunetti books in their mystery sections, but I think I would rather call Leon's works novels that include mysteries. I just finished Suffer the Little Children, in which the identities of people who commit questionable acts are known right away. Gustavo Pedrolli, a pediatrician, admits rather early that he bought a child, and everyone agrees that the carabinieri, a sort of Italian swat force, used excessive and unnecessary force in arresting the doctor. The doctor lies in the hospital for weeks, most charges are dropped, and the case seems to fade away. Some readers may at a point in the middle of the book wonder where Leon is going with her story, but the commissario is still curious and slowly pieces together the rather surprising reasons the carabinieri stormed into the sleeping doctor's bedroom.

Leon's story is especially rich with her descriptions of Italian social classes, the city's institutions, and, of course, food. There is always a variety of classic Venetian dishes, desserts, and Italian wines consumed in the leisurely telling of Brunetti's cases. I often hardly care whether the case is solved. Putting the solution off lets me stay with the commissario and his delightful family longer. Sadly, the books do end, but there is a good supply of them. Look for them at your library.

Leon, Donna. Suffer the Little Children. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007. 264p. ISBN 9780871139603.

7 compact discs: BBC Audio, 2007. 8 hrs 14 min. ISBN 9781602830370.

Shakespeare's Restless World: A Portrait of an Era in Twenty Objects by Neil MacGregor

William Shakespeare is like Abraham Lincoln and Mark Twain, a character about whom there can never be too many books. There is always something new for readers to discover about each. So, naturally, I was very interested to read Shakespeare's Restless World: A Portrait of an Era in Twenty Objects by Neil MacGregor, author of A History of the World in 100 Objects.

Shakespeare differs from Lincoln and Twain in that there is much less documentary evidence of his life, so less is truly known. In fact, a few scholars even argue that he was only an actor and not the author of all the plays attributed to him. To discover who he was, therefore, numerous authors have written about the playwright's environment, and Shakespeare's Restless World is a good example of such a book.

Shakespeare lived at a rapidly changing time. Sir Francis Drake had just circumnavigated the earth, and England (not yet Great Britain) was taking to the sea to become an empire. Naming a theater The Globe was a reflection of the vision that the English would see and possess the world. A wooden ship model, a clock, a rapier, relics of Henry V, and several books are among the objects of the time that spark the essays about Shakespeare's world.

What I take away from MacGregor's book is that Shakespeare was a well-informed man who knew the latest news and incorporated totally contemporary issues into his plays. Because it was dangerous to comment on the royal court publicly, he had to be very artful and indirect in approaching some topics, especially the question of who would inherit the throne of Elizabeth I. It was illegal to discuss the queen's successor, but many of Shakespeare's histories and tragedies are about succession, a topic on nearly every mind at the time.

Heavily illustrated, Shakespeare's Restless World is a fairly quick read that will interest theater goers, history buffs, and people who enjoy museums. MacGregor is director of the British Museum in London. Look for the book in your library.

MacGregor, Neil. Shakespeare's Restless World: A Portrait of an Era in Twenty Objects. Viking, 2012. 320p. ISBN 9780670026340.

Polar Obsession by Paul Nicklen

Bonnie and I recently attended a National Geographic Live presentation at the Goodman Theater in Chicago, this time to hear polar photographer Paul Nicklen. Nicklen is a frequent contributor to the magazine, having spent much of his life in the Arctic and Antarctic regions studying and photographing wildlife. He told some hair-raising stories that night, some of which are repeated in his beautiful photobook Polar Obsession.

What struck me first at the presentation and in his chapter introductions in Polar Obsession is Nicklen's love for the coldest places on earth. Then I noted how in his effort to take wildlife photographs that no one else takes, Nicklen risks his life. To capture extraordinary images, he has to move close to his subjects. (Telephoto shots are inferior in Nicklen's mind.) Of course, getting close to polar bears, leopard seals, elephant seals, and narwals can be dangerous, and not due just to their abilities to attack. Thin ice and near freezing water have caused Nicklen more trouble than the animals. The photographer says that all his risks are calculated and that by his efforts he can record behaviors that show these polar species are key species in their environments, doing what they need to survive. No predator should be vilified.

I recognize many of the incredible photos from the presentation in Polar Obsession. I especially like the polar bear leaping from one ice floe to another on page 16. Nicklen often speaks out about global warming destroying polar bears habitat. The photo on page 77 of two bears on a floating piece of glacier ice reinforces his message. There is a beautiful arctic fox on page 54, and I love the photo of the ivory gull on page 139. There are some delightful photos of penguins, and just as many showing penguins in the jaws on leopard seals.

Not many libraries have added Polar Obsession. More should. You may have to get it through interlibrary loan or buy your own. The last full article in National Geographic by Nicklen that I found is about Inuit hunters in the August 2007 issue. He also wrote the cover story on Arctic diving in the June 2007 issue. You can find a short interview and photo of Nicklen in a wet suit in the June 2013 issue, pages 44-45. His photo of a grizzly bear above and below water is in the February 2014 issue, page 138.

Nicklen, Paul. Polar Obsession. National Geographic, 209. 239p. ISBN 9781426205118.

The Boy in the Suitcase by Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis

NPR Books podcasts recently introduced me to another Scandinavian mystery series. Set in Denmark and other points in Eastern Europe, this series is written by the team of Lene Kaaberbol and Agnete Friis and features the nearly-anorexic, time-obsessed Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse, mother, and defender of the weak and powerless. I started with The Boy in the Suit Case.

In this first book of the series, as a favor to a friend, Nina Borg retrieves a mysterious suitcase from a train station locker and is instantly involved in a very dangerous case of human trafficking. Of course, as a reader you wonder what kind of a person would agree to fetch an unexplained suitcase. You also ask why the friend would trust Borg with the case and its contents, a three year old boy. Borg has her questions that need quick answers. The genius of the story is that there are always questions that need answering.

Borg is not the only character that we follow. Nearly every chapter draws our attention to some other player in the drama. It could be confusing if the authors did not draw their characters so well. The mother searching for the boy gets nearly as many pages as Borg.

With its short chapters and intense setting, The Boy in the Suitcase will be a very quick read for many mystery fans. I found it hard to put down, as I continually thought "I can read the next short chapter now, too." Having finished, I now wonder how Borg, not a natural investigator, will again become involved in mystery and crime.

Kaaberbol, Lene and Agnete Friis. The Boy in the Suitcase. Soho Crime 2011. 313p. ISBN 9781569479810.

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.