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Five Book Friday!

August 7, 2015 peaadmin

I admit it…I’m cheating with this week’s Five Book Friday, because the library recently acquired a dvd that has been getting riotous acclaim from a number of different reviewers in plenty of different countries. Horror aficionados will find a lot to like here, but this film is as much a cultural statement as it is a vampire flick…

Otherwise, here are some selections from the wealth of new books lining our shelves. We hope you find something to tickle your literary fancy! Happy Friday, and have a smashing weekend!

A Girls Walks Home Alone at Night: Officially the first Vampire Western to come out of Iran, Ana Lila Amirpour’s film is a sensationally atmospheric, beautifully shot and crazy genre mash-up that will change the way you think about horror. In the ghost town of Bad-City, lonely souls wander every streets. But what few realize is that a vampire also stalks the streets, looking for those most worthy of her vengeance….For those who enjoy Iranian cinema, this film is a treat, and if this is your first introduction, you found a darn good place to start! Be sure to check out the trailer here.

Dark Places of the Earth: The Voyage of the Slave Ship Antelope: In 1820, the Spanish slave ship Antelope was spotted floating off the coast of Florida. Since the US had ceased taking slaves from foreign traders, the 300 Africans on board were considered illegal cargo, however the profit that stood to be made was considerable enough that the issue over their humanity was brought before the Supreme Court–where these souls cargo, or free men and women? Jonathan M Bryant traces the eight year battle that took place over this issue, and emphasizes with heartbreaking clarity just how central slavery was to the United States culture and economy in this fascinating (and often wrenching) new book.

Piano Lessons Can Be Murder: Perhaps the best thing about this fall’s upcoming Goosebumps Movie is that a whole new generation of readers can be exposed to R.L. Stine’s wonderfully creepy, relentlessly tense, and somewhat ridiculous Goosebumps series–and those of us who read them when they were first being released have a chance to relive each story anew! In this installment, Jerry is intrigued by the dusty old piano that he finds in the attic, and delighted by his parents’ offer to pay for lessons…But his teacher, dr. Shreek seems….odd. Then he starts hearing stories about other students who went to lessons–and never returned. Cue the creepy music, the flickering lights, and get ready for a blast from the past that, for once, is totally worth every minute!

Out of Orange: A Memoir: Hundreds of thousands of people have binge-watched Netflix’s hit series Orange is the New Black, based on Piper Kerman’s book. Now, Catherine Cleary Wolters, the real-life Alex Vause tells her own story that not only fills in the details of Kerman’s story, and offers some answers for fans, but also provides some genuinely fascinating insight into Wolters’ life in the drug trade and within the prison system. This is a must-read for series’ fans, but also for those looking for a far-from-conventional view on the justice system.

In the Time of Butterflies: Have you heard of The Big Read? Simply put, this is a program funded by the National Endowment for the Arts that supports organizations across the country in developing community-wide programs which encourage reading and participation by diverse audiences–and the Library is one of those organizations! For our Big Read, we’ll be reading Julia Alvarez’s timeless tale of life in the Dominican Republic under Gen. Rafael Leonidas Trujillo’s rule. The story is told through the eyes of four sisters, all beautifully real, flawed, honest, and utterly empathetic, and all members of Las Mariposas, the leading group working against Trujillo. This is the story of the sisters’ imprisonment in torture, but it is also a story about their loves, their dreams, and their memories, left behind in their surviving sister Dedé. Don’t miss this spectacular story, or all the great programs organized around it. Check out the schedule in the link above…or right here!

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Summer Concert Series: Molly Pinto Madigan

August 6, 2015 peaadmin

Get ready for the upcoming performances in the library’s Summer Concert Series! Concerts are at 7 p.m. every Thursday night in July and August at East End Veterans Memorial Park. Every week, Free for All will offer an article about, or interview with, the band of the week. The following is an interview with Molly Pinto Madigan.

What made you decide to become a musician?
I’ve always envied people with a strong sense of purpose — the Mozarts of the world, who have been writing symphonies since they were in diapers, who never doubted the path they were destined to walk (granted, one could argue that, in Mozart’s case at least, purpose doesn’t always equal happiness). I know musicians who have always known that music was it for them. And I envy that. I’ve always been the kind of person who has many interests. When I was younger, I was fully prepared to juggle a plethora of careers — paleontologist, rock star, farm vet, professional baseball player, actor/director, the next Great American Author, and the owner of my own zoo. And all at the same time, of course. I had a sense of purpose, but not focus. Somewhere along the way, music happened to me. It seeped into my bones, until I realized that making music had always been a constant in my life, and I wanted to pursue it seriously. I still have many interests — this month I’m into ballroom dance, preparing for my inevitable stint on Dancing With the Stars, and I’m currently writing my fourth novel — and that’s the great thing about eking out a career in music: it allows me some flexibility. And as long as I’m being creative, I feel fulfilled.

How would you describe your sound?
That’s hard. Indie folk, maybe? Acoustic, Celtic-flavored modern folk with a dash of Americana and a dollop of poetry and a splash of rock.

What is your songwriting process like?
For the past year and a half, I’ve been sticking to the schedule of writing at least one new song each month, which keeps me productive. So, the end of each month is a frenzy of panicked songwriting that typically results in a song. I tend to write the music first, the lyrics last, although right now I’m finishing up a concept album that switched the process up a little bit. Usually it goes like this, though: chords, melody, lyrics. The lyrics take the longest to develop, and many trees lose their lives in the struggle (because I’m old school and write on paper).

Which artists have been your biggest musical influences, and what is it that draws you to their music?
That’s tough. Growing up, my favorite band was The Beatles. Actually, it still is. My mom listened to a lot of vaguely folky stuff like Cat Stevens, The Cranberries, Simon and Garfunkel, Queen (modern folk?), etc. I liked what she liked. I still do. In my teens, I went through a phase where I mostly listened to traditional folk — Child ballads, and Celtic laments, and Appalachian mountain songs. Now, I listen to a bit of everything and am lucky to live in a hotspot for modern folk, and some of my best friends are also the songwriters and musicians I idolize most. (Check out the rest of this concert series, and you’ll see some of them!)

Please tell us about any albums you have available or in production.
My first album, “Outshine the Dusk,” came out in 2013. I released my newest one, “Wildwood Bride,” a couple of months ago at this library! Both are available on iTunes and Amazon and CD Baby and Bandcamp. You can check out my website (www.mollypintomadigan.com) for more info.

What should people expect when they come to your concert on Thursday night?
I perform solo — just me and guitar. I will probably make some bad jokes and play a song about a serial-killing mermaid. Fun times.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers?
I’ve been coming to this library since I was 15 months old (according to my mom), and I feel like I’ve grown up here. I’m so grateful to be a part of this community.

More about the Summer Concert Series:
Concerts will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday evenings in July and August at East End Veterans’ Memorial Park. Bring a blanket or folding chair, and maybe even a picnic dinner, and enjoy live acoustic music from a new performer each week. East End Veterans’ Memorial Park is located at 45 Walnut Street. The concert schedule is as follows:

July 9th: Damn Tall Buildings
July 16th: Hoot and Holler
July 23rd: Colleen White and Sean Smith
July 30th: Semi-Aquatic Rodent
August 6th: Molly Pinto Madigan
August 13th: Eva Walsh
August 20th: Ian Fitzgerald
August 27th: The Whiskey Boys

Please note: In the event of rain, Summer Concerts will be held in the Sutton Room at the Peabody Institute Library and food will not be allowed.

For more information, please call 978-531-0100 ext. 10, or visit the library’s website at www.peabodylibrary.org.

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“…when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life…” A Londoner’s If/Then…

August 6, 2015 peaadmin

I report to you today, Beloved Patrons, from London, a city with perhaps more literary connections than any other in the world–or, at the very least, the English speaking world. I think it might be an interesting challenge to attempt to walk down a street in this great city, and not find some literary reference. Watson provided a map of the city for readers to follow in his reports of Sherlock Holmes’ adventures; the opening of Dickens’ Bleak House perfectly captures not only the chaos of the bustling street, but the dismally wet autumnal weather around Lincoln’s Field Inn; Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway is set so consciously in Westminster that her heroine and setting seem inseparable; even James Bond walked these stories streets, perhaps along with his less ostentatious colleague, Smiley, from John Le Carre’s immortal spy novels. This is a city made up of words and tales, of shadows and mysteries that beg to be unravelled.

What I find truly interesting is how many different Londons there are in literature. Some authors, like Zadie Smith or Monica Ali, focus on the real and the tangible, pulling their stories from the world directly outside their windows. Historical mysteries delight in the fog-shrouded streets and dark alleys of the Victorian city, not in the least because of the legend of Jack the Ripper–which seems to have survived, despite the intercession of modern science. Personally, my favorite versions of London are the fantastic ones seen by Neil Gaiman or Susannah Clarke, where magic and reality blend and mix. If there is anywhere I could believe in separate world below ground, or magicians who could alter reality, it would be in London.

So for the next few weeks, I’ll try to post some blog-ish postcards from this storied city–beginning as soon as the jet-lag fully wears off. For now, however, take a look at some stories set in this storied city, and get your imagination spinning….

The Skin Map: The first scenes of Stephen Lawhead’s incredibly imaginative time-travel/epic fantasy mashup series known as the Bright Empires begins in contemporary London, and the utter banality of his protagonist’s existence provides the perfect foil to the adventures that he is soon to begin. As he rushes to catch a train, Kit Livingston finds himself dragged into an adventure that not only changes his life, but may very well change history. Because Britain’s ‘ley lines’ are not merely fictional…they exist beneath the streets and in the shadows, and offer those with knowledge of thier power to travel at will. Kit’s great-grad-father nearly died to keep the knowledge of the ley lines a secret–will Kit be able to measure up to his expectations.

The Blood Detective: Dan Waddell published the official guidebook to accompany the hit series Who Do You Are, so it makes sense that the hero of his two-book series is a genealogist, hired by Scotland Yard to help piece together a grisly murder investigation from the National Archives in Kew. As the killer continues taunting the police with cryptic messages, Nigel Barnes realizes that this crime has ties to a Victorian serial killer whose legacy is still very much alive. Barnes continues his work Blood Atonement, which provides some great character development for him and his team, including a look into his adorably quirky London flat, furnished with the most unlikely of antique curios.

A Madness of Angels: Kate Griffin’s paranormal adventure begins where most cop procedurals end–with the bad guy being brought down. But in this case, Griffin’s hero, Matthew Swift, returns to London–and to his body–two years after his death. This is a terrific, and often challenging book, not in the least because Griffen uses the their-person plural for her narrator’s vision (her most commonly used pronoun is ‘we’, not ‘I’) that emphasizes her hero’s bizarre predicament inside his own skin. Though a little jarring at first, this style is wonderfully appropriate to this tale, and adds another level of weirdly bizarre to this tale of London and the shadows that cling to it.

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Wednesdays @ West: Literatea, August Edition

August 5, 2015 peaadmin

This morning was the August meeting of Literatea. The tea of the month was iced white tea with strawberries. For a list of this month’s highlighted books, check out the August Newsletter.

Need even more suggestions? Here’s what the lovely bibliophiles of Literatea have been reading and talking about:

Invisible City by Julia Dahl

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd

The Shoemaker’s Wife by Adriana Trigiani

The Queen of the Big Time by Adriana Trigiani

Flowers of the Field by Sarah Harrison

Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

World Without End by Ken Follett

The Boston Girl by Anita Diamant

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

I am Pilgrim: a thriller by Terry Hayes

All I Love and Know by Judith Frank

My Grandfather Would Have Shot Me by Jennifer Teege

The Girls of Atomic City by Denise Kiernan

The Silver Star by Jeanette Walls

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Card Catalog Display: For the Love of Dogs

August 4, 2015 peaadmin

Dog lovers, rejoice: this month’s card catalog display is all about man’s best friend. Anyone who’s owned a dog knows that the bond is like no other. Dogs become our most loyal and trustworthy friends, our confidantes, our family. Owning a dog can bring so much comfort and joy to a person, and truly complete a family. You give them a happy home, and in return they’ll give you endless love. A dog will not complain or talk back, and they will listen without judgment or interruption. And they’re always happy to see you – whether you’ve been gone for ten minutes or two weeks.

The Dog Days of Summer

Dogs have this incredible ability to help humans both emotionally and physically. There are stories from September 11 of guide dogs leading their blind owners down tens of flights of stairs in the World Trade Center as the buildings collapsed. I’ve seen families with children who suffer from seizures who own service dogs that alert both the child and parents of seizures before they occur. Comfort dogs visit hospitals and rehabilitation centers to provide hope and support to patients – in fact, Massachusetts’ first comfort dog, Lydia, visited the West Branch this past winter. There are also search and rescue dogs who are able to find missing people or victims of natural disasters in ways humans cannot, and there are police and military dogs who help protect us.

After a bad day at work, coming home to a dog is the best. They shower you with love, always seem to know how you’re feeling, and have this innate desire to make you happy. Even after they eat your new shoes or poop on the expensive carpet, they pull out those puppy-dog-eyes and look so guilty and remorseful that it’s hard to stay upset long. The love of a dog is undying and pure in a way humans can only try to emulate. Personally knowing a dog’s love, it’s not surprising that so much literature exists on dogs.

These are just a few of my favorite rescue tales, but there are also mysteries about dogs, such as those by Shannon Conant or David Rosenfelt, and various memoirs by dog owners such as the touching tale of Oogy, or the popular book-to-movie Marley and Me.

The Rescue at Dead Dog Beach by Stephen McGarva

Adrenaline junkie moved with his wife to Puerto Rico in search of adventure and a break from their every-day life at home. While relaxing at a beach called Playa Lucia, McGarva finds an emaciated, bloody dog who he initially believes is dead, until the dog starts wagging his tail. In his mission to rescue this pup, he learns that the beautiful Playa Lucia, also known as “Dead Dog Beach” to the locals, is a popular place to dump unwanted dogs, or satos. McGarva begins a two year journey in which he would come to save hundreds of dogs, all while putting his marriage, sanity, and life at risk. Inspirational yet heartbreaking and occasionally morbid, this memoir is ideal for any animal lover.

The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption by Jim Gorant

The world was shocked in 2007 to learn that football player Michael Vick was the leader of a dog fighting ring. As Vick’s trial progressed, people questioned what would come of these pitbulls. Many thought the animals should be euthanized, as their brutal upbringing showed they were past rehabilitation – even PETA thought these animals would never be capable of love! Yet the ASPCA and public support saved these dogs, and they went on to live happy, love-filled lives, many in families and one even as therapy dog. This book exposes the horrors of dog fighting, chronicles the lives of these loveable pitbulls, and offers beautiful insights into the power of love and redemption.

Going Home: Finding Peace when Pets Die by Jon Katz

The hardest part of having any pet as a family member is saying goodbye. It’s so unfair that our companions’ lives are so much shorter than our own. I recently lost my chocolate lab, Chewie, who’d been with me since adolescence, and I found it comforting to hear others’ experiences regarding their pets and loss. Katz encourages readers to accept their grief and celebrate the lives of our pets. You’ll find yourself realizing that you gave your dog the best life you could have, that you made the right decisions in the end, and that though your dog isn’t with you any longer, you’ve experienced love and companionship in one of its most innate and beautiful forms. I miss Chewie every day, but I’m so grateful that I got to spend 12 amazing years with such a loving and devoted dog, and proud that his life was one most humans only dream of. If you are grieving the loss of a beloved pet, Katz, a renowned writer on dogs, provides comfort and hope through the stories he shares.

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Leaving on a jet plane…

August 4, 2015 peaadmin

Summer is a time for adventures, both the far-away and the stay-at-home kind. But this week, beloved patrons, we are talking about airplane travel–not only because so many of you are headed off into the wild blue yonder, but because several of your favorite library’s staff are also headed off on adventures, as well.

I don’t know about you, but I hate airplanes–the smell of them, the constant, droning noise of them, the numbness and boredom that ensues after one has been crammed into those little seats for so long…the delights really are endless. But there are perks: a wide-open swath of time to read in relatively uninterrupted quiet, especially if you’re like me and downloaded some 50 or 60 books from the NOBLE Overdrive website–because Heavens forbid you should be without a good selection of things to read! Overdrive also offers audiobook downloads, for those who enjoy listening to a scintillating book on your journey. Alternatively, you can enjoy a few hours to catch up on a tv show or film without worrying about all those things you should be doing in the real world, 35,000 feet below.

Not only is the library full of stories to take with you on your next adventure, we have a wide selection of items that can best be summed up as “misery loves company”–books and films that deal with the joys and pitfalls of travel that can often make the weariest, footsore traveler feel comparatively fortunate…or, at least grateful that someone else is having just as rotten a time as they are! So here are some suggestions for those of you thinking about jetting off in these waning months of summer, or for those looking for an excuse to enjoy the pleasures of home during an well-deserved ‘stay-cation’.

Airplane!: A film that gave us some of the most oft-quoted lines in cinematic comedy, this is a perfect film to remind us all of the absurdities involved in plane travel (it’s nice to know some things never change, I suppose). In this disaster movie spoof, a commercial flight is terrorized by bad fish and an incompetent crew (headed by the delightful Peter Graves). Surely the only person capable of landing the plane is an ex-pilot afraid to fly. But don’t call him Shirley. This film was apparently Leslie Nielsen’s first foray into comedy, which gives us another reason to revere it, but no airline other than Aeromexico has ever paid to play it as part of the in-flight entertainment….go figure.

Lost: This probably isn’t the best suggestion for those of you who would rather forgo flying, but it has become the modern definition of the worst-case scenario for air travel. When Oceanic Airways Flight 815 breaks apart in mid-flight, some 48 survivors are left stranded in a mysterious jungle full of mysterious monsters and miles away from any hope of rescue. What they endure, and the startling realizations about what has actually happened to them, was the stuff of many TV-addictions during the show’s run. Say what you will about the series finale, there is little doubt that once you start with this show, you’ll be on tenterhooks until the final scene has played.

Frozen In Time : an epic story of survival, and a modern quest for lost heroes of World War II: Again perhaps not for those a bit squeamish about flying, this is nevertheless a fascinating account of a little-known piece of history and a remarkable piece of travel writing. In 1942, a US cargo plane and the B-17 crew sent to rescue them, crashed into the Greenland ice cap. When a third rescue party vanished in a storm, the nine man crew of the B-17 were forced to endure for 148 days on the frozen tundra before being rescued by the famed explorer Bernt Balchen. This book not only tells the harrowing detail of their ordeal. but also recounts the 2012 naval expedition sent to investigate the mystery of the vanished plane, and the secrets still hidden in the Arctic ice. This is a read for history buffs and adventure-lovers alike, and Mitchell Zuckoff’s engaging writing style keeps the pages turning at a remarkably quick clip.

Four Past Midnight: There are few authors who can make the time pass faster than Stephen King, which makes his books a sure-fire bet for getting through a flight with your sanity intact. This book of short stories features some gems from this prolific author, including “Secret Window, Secret Garden”, which became the basis for the film starring Johnny Depp. But it also features “The Langoliers”, a tale about a red-eye flight from Los Angeles to Boston, and the terrifying journey they take when the sleeping passengers awake to find that they are the only souls on board the plane, which is flying on autopilot. King revels in the fears of childhood in this story, presenting monsters who still lurk in the shadows of our imaginations to plague his travelers–and his readers, as well.

Not Now, Voyager: For centuries, people have been fascinated by travel, from the exploits of Marco Polo to the fate of Amelia Earhart. In this spellbinding book, Lynne Sharon Schwartz considers the reason behind that fascinating, while contemplating the meaning of journeys in her own life. This is a marvelously accessible work of philosophy, anthropology, memoir, and travel narrative that offers some heartfelt and stunning insight on why we travel, and how it shapes the lives of travelers, and a sensational read for those suffering with wanderlust, or those looking for an imaginative journey through both time and space.

Whatever you adventures, beloved patrons, be safe, have fun, and bring us back some good stories!

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The Romance Garden!

August 2, 2015 peaadmin

Here is the monthly update from the Romance Readers of your library staff, bringing our love of romance into the light of day, and reveling in that dirt that so helps our minds to grow….

Bridget:

Hot and Bothered by Kate Meader

I am a loyal devotee of the Food Network, especially the shows that allow you to go behind the scenes and see how a restaurant functions, how a kitchen comes together to produce culinary masterpieces, or delicious comfort food. Also, I like eating things. Especially scrumptious things. So, naturally, I am also drawn to any romances that feature chefs, cooking, and food in general. And it doesn’t get much spicier, or sweet, than Kate Meader’s Hot in the Kitchen series.

Each of the three books in this series has a good deal to recommend it, but I was particularly fond of the third book, Hot and Bothered, featuring two loyal best friends who find a way to become even more together. Wine bar owner Taddeo DeLuca and Jules Kilroy have been best friends since Jules ran away from London to be with her family in Chicago after finding out she was pregnant two years previously. Tad may enjoy plenty of female attention, but after losing both his parents, he knows how important friendship is–and how unworthy he is of Jules. But when her friends convince Jules to join an online dating site in order to meet some new people, Tad realizes that he can’t bear the idea of anyone else romancing Jules, or helping to raise her son, Evan. But can he convince her–and himself–that they can be more together?

I find the best-friends-to-lovers trope a particularly tricky one. It’s a very difficult line to cross, and not all authors pull it off well. Meader is an exception, however. She embraces the awkwardness and difficult of Jules’ relationship with Tad, while still reveling in those moments where everything works perfectly. This isn’t an easy road for either character. Jules has been hurt before, not only by her son’s father, but also by Tad, who is dealing with the weight of his own guilt and self-doubt about being the man Jules deserves. At the heart of their relationship, however, is a world of respect, trust, and vulnerability that makes their eventual revelations that much more powerful. The fact that their friendship remains tantamount to this story is what makes the romance so meaningful.

Also, there is food. And wine. This is another series to which you will want to bring plenty of fortifying snacks. Bon appetit, readers!

Kelley:

Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens

Being relatively new to the world of romance novels, I decided to take a look at some lists of classics of the genre. In my search, I stumbled on romance writer Sarah MacLean’s Read More Romance page, and couldn’t resist her recommendation of Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens.

Devil’s Bride is the first of Laurens’ well-known series, The Cynster Novels, which now includes more than 20 books. Through Devil’s story, we’re introduced to the Cynster family, dominated by a group of six elegant, commanding, and completely rakish male cousins known around the ton as The Bar Cynster. The Cynsters are known for pushing society’s standards of acceptable behavior to the limit, but the family is wealthy and powerful, and the men of the Bar Cynster command a sense of respect as much because of as despite their wild behavior. Despite their reputations, above all else, the Cynsters value family, and it’s common knowledge that the only thing Cynster men fear is the strong-willed group of Cynster wives. In the Cynster novels, Laurens tells the stories of each man meeting his match.

At the head of the Cynster clan stands Devil, the Duke of St Ives, a man who earned his ominous nickname as a child and has never been called anything else by anyone but his mother ever since. At the opening of the novel, when forced to take shelter from an impending storm, Devil Cynster and Honoria Prudence Anstruther-Wetherby find themselves caught in a compromising situation. Having spent the night together in an abandoned cottage, the only acceptable thing for them to do is get married. For his part, Devil knew Honoria would be his wife the moment he saw her, so he is eager to do the right thing. However, Honoria cares little for society’s opinion of her, and has no desire to get married to anyone let alone a man she has just met. Before they can be together, Honoria must come to terms with a great loss in her past, and Devil must reconcile his uncomfortable feelings for, and prove himself to, the woman he wants to be his duchess. Devil’s Bride is a beautifully developed romance that explores the growth of two strong-willed characters, clearly meant for each other.

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free." ~Frederick Douglass