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Five Book Friday!

And a very happy birthday to author and academic, Judith Butler!

Though perhaps not a widely known theoretician, Butler is revered and oft-discussed in the field of gender and women’s studies for her study of gender performance.  It’s a notoriously difficult concept–essentially, trying to determine whether we behave as “women” or “men”, and relate to each other as such, as a result of biological factors or cultural expectations.  Or both.  Which means we can’t not act that way, because there is no room to do otherwise (unless cultures change to make it possible, in which case, we have to start the process over again).

In the end, however, as I explain to my students (those poor kids), what Butler’s arguments all boil down to, is “what makes a life worth grievable”?  What characteristics of a life make it worth remembering, worth defending?  And what qualities make it forgettable, expendable?  And that question, I think, pulls us out of the realm of academia and forces us to confront the ties that bind us all together and that, ultimately, make us, and everyone around us, and in contact with us, and on the planet along with us, human.  It forces us to think about the act of empathy, and why we can walk in some people’s shoes, but refuse to try on others.  And, just maybe, it might make us willing to try to forge new connections, and realize how we are all, really, fundamentally, connected.  To use her words, from Gender Trouble, “Let’s face it.  We’re undone by each other.  And if we’re not, we’re missing something.” (19)

And the beautiful part is that Butler extends this lesson not only to our current day existence, but to literature, as well.  In one of her more recent books, Frames of War, Butler talks about poetry, and why poems written by prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were destroyed under the allegation that they were a threat to national security.  And her answer is that poetry, as an art form and a personal statement, is a way of not only documenting the harm done to the body, but also it’s ability to survive.  Writing about your condition, and allowing another to read your words, creates a bond that makes for a grievable life:

The words are carved in cups, written on paper, recorded onto a surface, in an effort to leave a mark, a trace, of a living being – a sign formed by the body, a sign that carries the life of the body. And even when what happens to a body is not survivable, the words survive to say as much. (59)

Which is just one of the reasons we are so grateful, every day, to be able to share stories with you.  And why we celebrate Judith Butler today.

And, speaking of books…..here are some new ones that skipped onto our shelves this week and are eager to meet you.

Stalin and the Scientists: Scientists throughout history, from Galileo to today’s experts on climate change, have often had to contend with politics in their pursuit of knowledge. But in the Soviet Union, where the ruling elites embraced, patronized, and even fetishized science like never before, scientists lived their lives on a knife edge. The Soviet Union had the best-funded scientific establishment in history. Scientists were elevated as popular heroes and lavished with awards and privileges. But if their ideas or their field of study lost favor with the elites, they could be exiled, imprisoned, or murdered. And yet they persisted.  In this fascinating tale, Simon Ings traces the lives of some of the USSR’s most noted scientists, from the beginning of Russia’s revolutionary period in 1905 until the death of Stalin in 1953.  Though it is a story of incredible triumphs, breakthroughs, and globally-significant discoveries, it is also a heartrending story of folly and ignorance, as Ings looks at Stalin’s power over his intellectuals, and the damage he inflicted on scientists and their field by refusing to give up outdated notions of biology (and, for a time, denying the existence of genes), and punishing those who refuted him.  The book is not only one for those looking to learn more about the vagaries of Soviet history, but also for science enthusiasts who are looking for the compelling human side to some of the 20th century’s most notable breakthroughs.  Ings’ work has already been nominated for several non-fiction awards, and the UK’s Sunday Business Post said in it’s review, “[Ings] has an eye for the interactions between the worlds of the laboratory, the print room and the corridors of power . . . Stalin and the Scientists is a fascinating read. Well researched and written in a lively and engaging style, it grips like a good novel would.”

Shining City: Tom Rosenstiel’s debut thriller has been getting thumbs-up from a number of fellow authors and critics alike for it’s twists, turns, and unrelenting pace.  Peter Rena is a “fixer.” He and his partner, Randi Brooks, earn their living making the problems of the powerful disappear. They get their biggest job yet when the White House hires them to vet the president’s nominee for the Supreme Court. Judge Roland Madison is a legal giant, but he’s a political maverick, with views that might make the already tricky confirmation process even more difficult.  But while Rena and his team put all their efforts into investigating the judge–and thwarting the attempted interventions of Washington’s elite–a series of seemingly random killings begins to overlap with their case, and it seems Judge Madison is the intended target.  Rosentiel himself is the executive director of the American Press Institute, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and founder of the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, so he certainly knows his politics, his personalities, and how to tell a gripping tale.  Though this is his first foray into fiction, Library Journal didn’t hesitate to give the book a starred review, saying it “shines with page-turning intensity that will make readers hope that this book is the beginning of a new series. Highly recommended for legal and political thriller junkies and fans of David Baldacci and John Grisham.”

The Possessions: Another debut here, this one dealing with death, desire, and the lengths that both will force us to go.  In the world that Sara Flannery Murphy has created, people (known as ‘bodies’) are employed to embody the deceased, by wearing their clothes, and taking a pill called lotuses to summon spirits and dampen their own thoughts.   Edie has been a body at the Elysian Society for five years, an unusual record. Her success is the result of careful detachment, and a total refusal to get involved in her clients’ lives.  But when Edie channels Sylvia, the dead wife of recent widower Patrick Braddock, she becomes obsessed with the glamorous couple. Despite the murky circumstances surrounding Sylvia’s drowning, Edie breaks her own rules and pursues Patrick, moving deeper into his life, even as her own begins to unravel.  An unsettling, unexpected, and totally gripping tale of secrets, lies, obsession, and loss, this book is getting wild reviews from a wide audience of critics, writers, and readers, including Publisher’s Weekly, who gave it a starred review, and called it “Suspenseful….a beautifully rendered, haunting page-turner.”

Cannibalism: A Perfectly Natural History: There.  That got your attention, didn’t it?  For centuries scientists have written off cannibalism as a bizarre phenomenon with little biological significance. Its presence in nature was dismissed as a desperate response to starvation or other life-threatening circumstances, and few spent time studying it. A taboo subject in our culture, the behavior was portrayed mostly through horror movies or tabloids sensationalizing the crimes of real-life flesh-eaters. But the true nature of cannibalism–the role it plays in evolution as well as human history–is even more intriguing (and more normal) than the misconceptions we’ve come to accept as fact.  In this work, Bill Schutt, a professor of biology at Long Island University delves into both science and history to look at why certain species consume themselves, and what significance that carries.  The result is a bizarre and wonderful genre cross-over that spans continents and species to look at a practice that has been much discussed, but seldom truly considered.

The One Inside: Another debut…of a sort….this is Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard’s first long work, and deals, as so many of his plays have done, on issues of memory, death, and the distance between the past and the present.  We begin in a man’s house at dawn in rural America, as the man himself tries to follow the journey of his life, but the more he travels, the more his perspective begins to shift; first from his life to that of his late father’s, from his home to the broader landscape of the American midwest, and from his individual life to that of his father’s young girlfriend, with whom the man was also involved.  Filled with references to the places the man has been, the sights he’s seen, the culture (and drugs) he’s ingested, and the scars he bears, this is a haunting dreamscape of a book that is poignant and haunting and utterly unique.  Kirkus Reviews agrees, calling Shepard’s work “An elegiac amble through blowing dust and greasy spoons, the soundtrack the whine of truck engines and the howl of coyotes. . . . It’s a story to read not for the inventiveness of its plot but for its just-right language and image.”

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!

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Five Book Friday!

And a very happy Free For All birthday to Sadegh Hedayat, Iranian author, poet, and intellectual, who was born this day in 1903.

Hedayat was raised in an aristocratic family with many ties to the French imperial government and, as a result, was sent to Europe to receive a “western” education at a fairly early age.  Initially, he planned to become an engineer, but after falling in love with the architecture of Paris, Hedayat decided to become an architect…and later a dentist….in the end, he returned to Iran without a degree, and held a number of jobs while devoting his life to studying Iranian history, prose, folktales, and myths.

He produced a considerable body of work, including short stories, poems, travel pieces, and literary criticism, all of which attempted to move Iranian literature into the ‘modern’ world.  At the same time, he began heavily criticizing what he perceived to be the two major causes of Iran’s decimation: the monarchy and the clergy, and through his stories he tried to impute the deafness and blindness of the nation to the abuses of these two major powers.  His most well-known work, The Blind Owl, is a startling piece of modernism that confronts human beings’ inherent lack of ‘civilization’, while also confronting head-on the anguish of living under repression.  The book was originally published with a stamp that read  “Not for sale or publication in Iran.”, but was serialized there after the abdication of Reza Shah in 1941.  Sadegh Hedayat committed suicide in Paris in 1951, leaving behind a body of work that is still striking today for its insights and its impact, and a legacy of being the first modernist in Iranian literature.

And speaking of literature….here are some of the books that trudged through this week’s snow to make it onto our shelves this week!

 

Universal Harvester: If the holographic cover on this creepy little tome doesn’t catch your eye, then I certainly hope the blurb will.  John Darnielle takes the current literary love of nostalgia and turns it into something dark, disquieting, and subtly spellbinding.  The story is set in the late 1990’s in the tiny town of Nevada, Iowa, where very little ever happens, and where Jeremy works at the local Video Hut.  But his quiet routine is disrupted when a local school teacher returns a movie with an odd complaint–that there’s something on the tape that shouldn’t be there.  When several more such complaints come in, Jeremy risks taking one of the videos home…and discovers that there is, indeed, something recorded in the middle of the film.  Each interruption is dark, disturbing, sometimes violent, features no faces, but shows enough landmarks for him to tell that they were filmed right outside of town.  And trying to track down just what is behind these strange scenes will lead Jeremy and his friends deep into their own landscapes, and on a journey that stretches into both the past and the future, with consequences that no one ever imagined.  This  novel is getting a heap of praise from a number of outlets, including Booklist, who gave it a starred review and hailed, “Darnielle’s masterfully disturbing follow-up to the National Book Award-nominated Wolf in White Van reads like several Twilight Zone scripts cut together by a poet . . . All the while, [Darnielle’s] grasp of the Iowan composure-above-all mindset instills the book with agonizing heartbreak.”

Autumn: From celebrated author Ali Smith comes the first in a proposed  “seasonal quartet”—four stand-alone books, separate yet interconnected and cyclical (as the seasons, after all, are)–that will consider what it means to live in a specific time and place, as well as what it means to live at all.  At the heart of this story is the relationship between Daniel, a 100-year-old man, and his neighbor Elizabeth, born in 1984.  We see these two together at different stages of Elizabeth’s life, from her childhood to the present day, and, through them, get a look at the world that is forming around them, and shaping their everyday existence.  Smith dived headfirst into the anguish, turmoil, and anger that is fueling our world today, and uses her characters as a lens through which to mourn, to contemplate, and, perhaps, to offer a little bit of hope for an honest human connection in the midst of….all of this.  It’s not an easy book to explain, but it’s an enormously significant one, and a gutsy move from an author who has never been afraid to push the proverbial envelope.  This book, which is being hailed as the first ‘post-Brexit’ novel to engage with the Brexit debate, is making waves on both sides of the pond, with The Guardian calling it “a beautiful, poignant symphony of memories, dreams, and transient realities; the ‘endless sad fragility’ of mortal lives.”

Dust Bowl Girls: At the height of the Great Depression, with dust storms ravaging the mid-west, and financial hardship touching–or ruining–over a third of the US population, Sam Babb, the charismatic basketball coach of tiny Oklahoma Presbyterian College, began dreaming.  He traveled from farm to farm across hundreds of miles, offering young women a free college education if they would play for his newly-formed basketball team, the Cardinals.  While these women were remarkable simply for taking the risk of leaving their home and pursuing a dream that would daunt many, they also accomplished something remarkable as a deeply-devoted team: they won every game they played.  In this beautifully-told and thoroughly-researched history, Sam Babb’s granddaughter, Lydia Ellen Reeder tells about the Cardinals, their rise to athletic dominance, and their showdown with the reigning champions of basketball (a team led by none other than Babe Didrikson).  Though a story, ultimately, of triumph, she also discusses the intense scrutiny, suspicion, and condemnation to which these women were subjected, and the prevailing myths and lies that they also defeated in the course of their remarkable athletic careers. Library Journal gave this book a big nod, noting that it is “Equal parts social history and sports legend come to life . . . Of special interest for students of women’s studies and a strong contender for a film adaptation. With high appeal to sports fans and historians, this hidden gem of a story deserves a place in all public library collections.”

Civil Wars: A History in Ideas: “Civil War” is a concept that, I would argue, most of us think we understand.  But in this fascinating little tome, historian David Armitage walks his audience through the many, many forms that civil wars can take, and just what the consequences are for labeling a conflict as such–for example, the potential for any other powers engaging, profiting from, or controlling the outcome of one.  From the American Revolution to the current-day way in Iraq, and journeying via philosophy, economics, biography, and history, Armitage’s book considers wars on the ground, as well as the theory of war itself, arguing that, no matter how many times we try to end wars, violence seems to be an inherent part of the nation-state system, and our best defense is to understand how and why specific forms of violence occur.  Publisher’s Weekly gave this book a starred review, and called this work “Learned…Indispensable…a model of its kind: concise, winningly written, clearly laid out, trenchantly argued…His conclusion is sobering: human societies may never be without this kind of conflict, and we’re better off trying to understand it than ignoring its problematic nature. It’s hard to imagine a more timely work for today.”

The Evening Road: Another historical fiction piece set in a small town, and another that is receiving critical acclaim from a number of outlets.  At its heart is Ottie Lee Henshaw and Calla Destry, two determined women whose lives have been shaped by prejudice and violence, who meet by chance one dark day in the 1920’s.  Ottie Lee, her husband, and her lecherous boss are traveling to a planned lynching, and pick up Calla, who has been waiting for a meeting that never happened.  Though infused with violence, bigotry, and sheer human horror, the real power of this novel comes from the tiny moments of intimacy–shared, appreciated, or otherwise–that define these relationships, and the depth of character with which Laird Hunt infuses each of his characters.  This is a challenging read, not only because of its structure, but because of the realities it forces readers to face, but for those very same reasons, it’s an important one, and most definitely one that will linger for long after it’s been finished.  Kirkus Reviews agrees, saying in their starred review “Hunt finds history or the big events useful framing devices, but he is more interested in how words can do justice to single players and life’s fraught moments. Hunt brings to mind Flannery O’Connor’s grotesques and Barry Hannah’s bracingly inventive prose and cranks. He is strange, challenging, and a joy to read.”

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Five Book Friday!

Due to some weather-related difficulties, we weren’t able to post yesterday’s stunningly glorious post, dear readers, and for that, our apologies.  But have no fear, we are safe, the Library is open, and, though we are all a bit stuff from shoveling, we are ready to go with today’s selection of new books!

The Freedom Broker: Readers looking for a fast-paced, action-packed adventure have a new author to add to their list…K.J. Howe’s debut novel introduces us to Thea Paris, an elite agent with Quantum Security International, a black-ops corporation that deals with highly sensitive rescue missions .  Abducted herself as a child, Thea thought she knew all about kidnapping–until her oil-tycoon father is kidnapped right before her eyes, right before the biggest deal of his career.  Now, thrown into the most important mission of her life, Thea is baffled by the lack of evidence before her.  There is no ransom note, no demands…only obscure and foreboding texts written in Latin sent from burner phones.  Enlisting the help of everyone at Quantum, Thea goes after the case with everything she has–but will it be enough to keep her family from devastation?  Howe defies conventions by providing readers with a smart, highly capable female lead in this series, and doesn’t skimp on tension or twists.  RT Book Reviews agrees, noting “Howe gives readers a handily twisted plotline, rife with tension and intrigue, that is sure to keep the pages turning. Overall, this is a strong start to a series that will appeal to fans of Stephanie Pintoff’s Eve Rossi and Lee Child’s Jack Reacher.”

The Impossible Fortress: 80’s nostalgia has been a strong current through a lot of recent fiction, and Jason Rekulak is gleefully swimming through it in this love letter to the early age of video games, processed foods, and neon.  For three young friends, self-declared nerds and video-game enthusiasts everyone, Playboy magazine represents all that they do not have–namely, women.  So they devise a plan to steal it, thwarting police, a locked building, guard dogs (really, it’s a Shih Tzu), and alarm systems.  But when each attempt ends in utter failure, they decide to swipe the security code to Zelinsky’s convenience store by seducing the owner’s daughter, Mary Zelinsky. It becomes Billy’s mission to befriend her and get the information by any means necessary. But Mary isn’t your average teenage girl. She’s a computer loving, expert coder, already strides ahead of Billy in ability, with a wry sense of humor and a hidden, big heart. Can Billy go through with the plan, or betray his best friends for the girl of his dreams?  A charming, big-hearted look at first loves that positively drips with vintage nostalgia, Rekulak still delivers a story that, as Booklist notes in its starred review ” the end the plot manages to magically subvert the time period while also paying homage to it. An unexpected retro delight.”

From Bacteria to Bach and Back : The Evolution of Minds: We all know that human beings (and a lot of other animals) have brains…but how did we develop minds?  Minds that could create, explain, rationalize, reason, and invent?  In this slightly ponderous, but significant book, Daniel C. Dennett goes beyond DNA and neurons to show how a comprehending mind could in fact have arisen from a mindless process of natural selection.   Part philosophical whodunit, part bold scientific conjecture, this landmark work enlarges themes that have sustained Dennett’s legendary career at the forefront of philosophical thought.  The result is a study of science, culture, evolution and human nature that will provide readers with as many thought-provoking questions as it answers about our place on the proverbial food-chain, and what we can really do with the eight-or-so pounds of matter in our skulls.  As Publisher’s Weekly notes, Dennet’s work is dense, but is also “Illuminating and insightful. . . . [Dennett] makes a convincing case, based on a rapidly growing body of experimental evidence, that a materialist theory of mind is within reach. . . . His ideas demand serious consideration.”

Amberlough:  Alternative histories!  Spies!  Intrigue!  If any of these words gets your heart fluttering, then be sure to check out this stylistically superb debut adventure from Lara Elena Donnelly.  Covert agent Cyril DePaul thinks he’s good at keeping secrets, especially from Aristide Makricosta. They suit each other: Aristide turns a blind eye to Cyril’s clandestine affairs, and Cyril keeps his lover’s moonlighting job as a smuggler under wraps.  But when Cyril’s newest case ends in disaster, both he and Aristide find themselves on the run, facing mounting government backlash of a professional and personal variety.  Enter streetwise Cordelia Lehane, a top dancer at the Bumble Bee Cabaret and Aristide’s runner, who could be the key to Cyril’s plans―if she can be trusted.  Donnelly has crafted a sensational 1920’s setting for her characters that is as heartbreaking as it is dazzling.  As her leading men deal with the rise of Fascism and the threat that poses not only to their livelihoods but their lives, the real essence of the times becomes clear–not only the freedom and joviality, but the inevitable loss that lends this book its urgency and emotion.  Publisher’s Weekly agrees, giving this book a starred review and noting ““Donnelly blends romance and tragedy, evoking gilded-age glamour and the thrill of a spy adventure, in this impressive debut. As heartbreaking as it is satisfying.”

Four Weddings and a Sixpence: Just in time for Valentine’s Day comes an anthology from some of Avon Book’s most beloved authors.  Employing the old rhyme “Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and a Lucky Sixpence in Her Shoe”, each author spins a tale four friends from Madame Rochambeaux’s Gentle School for Girls who find an old sixpence in their bedchamber and decide that it will be the lucky coin for each of their weddings.  In these historical romances of loves lost and found, challenged and regained, fans of each author will find plenty of delights in a single-serving size, while those looking for some new names to read would do well to check this book out for future reference.  Booklist agrees, giving this book as a whole a starred review and cheering “Each love story in this superbly crafted anthology is expertly imbued with the distinctive literary DNA of its creator, and the end result is a wonderfully witty, sweep-you- off-your-feet romantic experience for long-time fans as well as readers new to these marvelously gifted writers.”

 

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!

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Five Book Friday!

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And a happy February to you all, dear readers!  According to Punxsutawney Phil, the fattest groundhog I ever saw, we have six more weeks of winter before us…and do you know what that means?!

Magic Weather-Predicting Rodents!

More time for books!!

I think I might be in the minority about being excited for more winter, but if you’re looking for some fun days about which to be excited during the coming, apparently wintry weeks, here are a few quirky holidays in the month to keep your spirits:

February 7: National Periodic Table Day

On February 7, 1863, English chemist John Newlands published one of the first table of elements, which divided the known 56 elements into 11 groups based on the “Law of Octaves.” This suggested that any one element will have similar properties to elements eight places before and behind it on the table (Dmitri Mendeleev amended this table in 1869, placing the known elements by atomic weight, which is the table we use today).  So take some time to appreciate a neon sign today, or take a deep breath of air, made up of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and enjoy!

February 14: National Ferris Wheel Day

Along with being Valentine’s Day, the 14th is also the birthday of George Washington Gale Ferris, the man who invented the eponymous Ferris Wheel for the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893.  Ferris was inspired by a challenge laid out by the fair’s director, Daniel H. Burnham, who wanted a centerpiece to the fair that will rival the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  He got the idea in a Chicago chop house, and sketched out his first draft on a napkin.  If you’d like to learn a bit more about Ferris, his wheel, and the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, check out Erik Larson’s Devil in the White City, or any of these other selections!

February 23: National Toast Day

If you, like me, believe that toast may perhaps be the greatest of all foods, then turn your eyes to the toaster this day, my friends, and hold your jam pots high!  National Toast Day was started in 2014 by The Tiptree World Bread Awards in the UK, but has found a following in the US.  And this year seems like the perfect one to make this a Thing.

February 26: National Tell a Fairy Tale Day

Though I can’t track down the origin of this day, there are any number of outlets that advocate this holiday as one to celebrate story-telling and imagination.  So take a day to spin some magic with a fairy tale from your childhood, or one of your own making!  If you need some help, you know the Library is full of stories just waiting to be shared.  Which leads us to….

The books!  Here are some of the shiny new books that climbed up onto our shelves this week.  It’s a week of fiction here, dear readers, so gather up your imaginations and enjoy!

4 3 2 1: Paul Auster’s newest release has the book-world all abuzz, and is already being called one of the best books of the year.  Though inspired (somewhat) by Auster’s childhood in Brooklyn, this novel centers around Archibald Isaac Ferguson, who is born on March 3, 1947.  From that single beginning, Ferguson’s life will take four simultaneous and independent fictional paths, with differing fortunes, talents, and experiences.  Each Ferguson falls under the spell of the magnificent Amy Schneiderman, but each in their own way.  Utterly realistic and yet wonderfully fantastical, this is a book about life in all its variety, vagaries, and fundamental truths.    Kirkus agrees, giving this book a starred review and noting, “Auster’s sense of possibility, his understanding of what all his Fergusons have in common, with us and one another, is a kind of quiet intensity, a striving to discover who they are. . . . [He] reminds us that not just life, but also narrative is always conditional, that it only appears inevitable after the fact.”
And just a note: if you try to look this up in NOBLE, you will need to enter a space between each number.

Snowblind: The market for Icelandic mysteries doesn’t seem to be shrinking any time soon, and this debut novel from Ragnar Jonasson is guaranteed to keep all of you who love the dark and mysterious north delighted.  Set in a quiet, remote fishing village, accessible only by a mountain tunnel, our detective is Ari Thor, a rookie policeman on his first posting, haunting by his past and yearning for his girlfriend in Reykjavik.  When a young woman is found lying half-naked in the snow, bleeding and unconscious, and a highly esteemed elderly writer falls to his death, Ari finds himself forced to work in with a community he doesn’t trust (and who doesn’t trust him), in a land that knows how to hold its secrets close.  This book is a smart twist on the classic ‘locked room’ mystery, and is drawing a number of comparisons to Agatha Christie, making it a great choice for classic mystery readers, as well.  The Washington Post has declared it “A chiller of a thriller…It’s good enough to share shelf space with the works of Yrsa Sigurdardottir and Arnaldur Indridason, Iceland’s crime novel royalty.”

No Man’s Land: J.R.R. Tolkien took inspiration from his time as a a stretcher-bearer during the First World War when crafting The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (anyone who recalls passages about the mud and the muck and the mire might not be too surprised by this).  Now, the author’s grandson, a novelist in his own right, has penned a story inspired by his grandfather’s experiences on the Western Front.  His hero’s name is Adam Raine, a boy born into poverty in London at the turn of the century.  When his mother is killed, Adam’s father moves them to a coal-mining village in which Adam never quite fits in.  When he finally finds love and earns a scholarship to Oxford, he begins to believe the future may be brightening–until the outbreak of war in Europe.  Tolkien’s book isn’t the kind of sentimental story we so frequently hear about the First World War, where everything is beautiful and happy until 1914.  This book delves into the gritty reality of life in England during the Edwardian period, from its poverty to its brutal classist mentality, and shows that life for many was no better at home than at the front, even if war experience did change them forever.  The result is a tour-de-force that is surprising and moving and deeply insightful, and which NPR called ” a page-turner, an opera, a costume drama to binge watch. Simon Tolkien knows how to keep a story moving, and he does it well.”

Bookburners: I panicked when I saw the title of this book, but it actually turned out to be a sensational read that absolutely panders to those of us who have ever felt consumed by a book.  Originally part of a Serial Box, this single collection brings together all the stories of Team Three of the Societas Librorum Occultoru, a Vatican-backed operation that seek out the dark magic hidden in demon-haunted books around the world.  Our heroine is Val Brooks, a woman whose brother was attacked by just such a book, and who joins Team Three in order to save others.  With stories by Max Gladstone, Margaret Dunlap, Mur Lafferty, and Brian Francis Slattery, there is a whole lot of fun to be had.  RT Book Reviews agrees, calling this book ” funny, unsettling, and downright creepy by turns, but also strangely touching.  The format of the bookallows the protagonists as well as minor characters become fully realized, and each interaction with Team Three are described with haunting sympathy, ensuring that each tale will hold readers rapt and eager for more.”

Caraval: Here is another book that is garnishing quite a bit of attention lately, and will hold great appeal for fans of The Night Circus.  Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father.  But when she learns she is to be married, Scarlett decides to enjoy one night of freedom by visiting Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show.  She’s received her invitation–but no sooner is she whisked off to the show by a mysterious Sailor than Scarlett learns that Tella has been kidnapped by the show’s organizer, Legend, and the winner of Caraval will be the one who finds Tella first.  Though she’s been told that everything about Caraval is a performance, that everything around her is an elaborate fiction, Scarlett finds herself immersed in a dangerous and enticing world of magic, romance, and heartbreak, caught up in the race to find her sister before the show closes and steals her away forever.  This is escapism at its finest, and Stephanie Garber’s book is winning huge praise from critics, including Kirkus, who said of it “Caraval delights the senses: beautiful and scary, described in luscious prose, this is a show readers will wish they could enter. A double love story, one sensual romance and the other sisterly loyalty, anchors the plot, but the real star here is Caraval and its secrets. Immersive and engaging…destined to capture imaginations.”

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!

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Five Book Friday!

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Happy Hermitage Week!

We are deep into Hermitage Month here at the Library…Lady Pole came up with the idea of turning what I had always known as Hermitage Week into Hermitage Month, and I, for once applaud her genius.  There is nothing more restorative and restful, after the stress of the holiday season, and little more comforting during the dark days of winter than a good old fashioned grown-up blanket fort.  As we noted here last year, “Without expectations or anticipation, there was finally time to settle down, appreciate and recover from all the business and social activities that the holidays brought with them, and, of course, read all the books.“.  And that was the inspiration for Hermitage Week/Month (celebrate as you see fit, dear readers)–a time just for you to wind down, to recover (especially if, like me, you have been struck down with Whatever Is Going Around), and to indulge in a good book…or several…or discover some new books that might just become old favorites.  Or even to binge-watch some new shows via Hoopla, or on DVD…or knit that shawl you’ve been itching to get on your needles…or pet the cat and daydream… The possibilities, truly are endless.

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You are never too old for a blanket fort

And, in case you need help stocking your blanket fort, here are some of the sensational books that have ambled up onto our shelves this week.  For even more book fort recommendations, stop by the Main Library and check out our Card Catalog Display of books guaranteed to be bigger (and better) than any snowstorm!

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3858754The Cold Eye: I am so excited that this book has arrived!  The first book in Laura Anne Gilman’s Devil’s West series was one of my favorite reads of last year, and this follow-up is just as weird, creative, and wonderful an adventure.  At the heart of it all is Isobel, a young women pledged to serve as the Devil’s Left Hand across the territories of the American West.  Along with her mentor, Gabriel (an enigmatic, earnest, and fascinating character in his own right), she is traveling through Flood in order to meet those under her jurisdiction, and being to discover just what her title requires of her.  But when Isobel comes face-to-face with a natural disaster…and a very unnatural power that is killing livestock and draining the area of its magic, she and Gabriel will both realize the limits of their powers, and the terrible force that is threatening to unravel the entire Territory.  This is a series in which to wholly lose yourself–you feel the heat of the sun and the dust of the road on your skin while reading, and while this land is full of otherworldly powers and wildly outlandish creatures, it is also a world that is totally accessible, full of characters who are real, honest, and empathetic, making this series one that I cannot wait to read, and read again.  Publisher’s Weekly agrees, saying of this book, “Gilman crafts a fascinating vision of a magic-infested continent, set in an unsettled and unpredictable time. As she expands upon the imminent conflict among the various factions inhabiting North America and delves into the supernatural structure of the setting, she lays the groundwork for her increasingly capable heroine to come into her own.”

3839440Books for Living: I mean, seriously–if there was ever books designed for Hermitage Month, this would be chief among them.  Journalist and Will Schwalbe’s newest book talks about why we read, why we read what we read, and how those books can help us with issues in today’s highly connected and all-too-fast-paced world.  Each chapter deals with a different book, from Stuart Little to The Odyssey, to The Girl on the Train, and talks about what each book helped him to learn or accomplish (everything from napping to trusting).  Though playful in its choice of literature, this book is an earnest, and often heartfelt exploration of books, their meaning, and their place in our lives and souls.  It’s always a really powerful experience to see how another reader sees the world because of literature, and this book is no exception to that rule.  Booklist agreed, saying in its starred review, “Each chapter about a beloved book—Stuart Little, David Copperfield, Song of Solomon, Bird by Bird—is a finely crafted, generously candid, and affecting personal essay… In this warmly engaging, enlightening, and stirring memoir-in-books and literary celebration, Schwalbe reminds us that reading ‘isn’t just a strike against narrowness, mind control, and domination; it’s one of the world’s greatest joys.’”

3854031Quicksand: In January 2014, Henning Mankell, author of the Kurt Wallander mysteries, received a diagnosis of lung cancer (he passed away in October 2015).  This book is a response to that diagnosis…but not, perhaps in the way you’d think.  Instead of dwelling on loss, or fear, or anger, Mankell instead takes the time to explore his life in a series in intimate sketches and vivid vignettes, from the chill of a winter morning in his small Swedish home town, to living hand-to-mouth in Paris as a struggling young writer, to his love of art, to his dreams about poisoned gas and the First World War.  There are elements of this book that are jarring for being so very personal, but also incredibly inspiring, because Mankell isn’t, by and large, discussing a life that the rest of us will never live.  He talks about what it means to experience the world as an ordinary human being, but in a way that shows just what an incredible opportunity that is for all of us.  As the Financial Times noted in their review, “Quicksand defines life not by its ending but by the creative and humanitarian content that filled—and fulfilled—Mankell’s life. . . . The essays sharpen with resounding poignancy.”

3841524The Death of Kings: If you’ve ever read Charles Todd’s First World War mysteries, or enjoyed Dennis Lehane’s historical fiction, you need to be reading Rennie Airth’s John Madden series.  Set in Britain during the Interwar period, these books are phenomenal in their historic detail, with characters that come out of the book and live alongside you while your reading.  In this fifth series installment, a stunning actress is found murdered on the estate of Sir Jack Jessup, a close friend of the Prince of Wales.  Though the case is quickly brought to a close, in 1949, the appearance of a piece of jewelry related to the case appears, throwing the previous conviction into question.  Though happily retired, John Madden is persuaded to take on the case anew, only to find that nothing about the case is quite what it seemed.  If it’s not already clear, I hold a bit of a torch for Madden, who is a genuinely honorable man with plenty of human foibles to keep him grounded.  This installment expands the world of the series considerably, taking Madden onto the streets of postwar London–which is a fascinating contrast to his earlier adventures after the First World War.  The New York Times Review of Books loved this novel, noting “It’s the tactics and the terrain, the morale and the characters that make the difference between an average thriller and one as good as this.”

3839457The Boy Who Escaped Paradise: It isn’t often that we get a novel set in North Korea that isn’t a spy caper or political thriller–but J.M. Lee’s book, part mystery, part love story, part history, and totally fascinating–is one of the rare exceptions.  When an unidentified body is discovered in New York City, with numbers and symbols are written in blood near the corpse, the police investigation focuses immediately on Gil­mo, a North Korean national who interprets the world through numbers, formulas, and mathematical theories.  Angela, a CIA operative, is assigned to gain his trust and access his unique thought-process.  Gilmo once had a quiet life in Pyongyang, but when it was discovered that his father was Christian, he and Gilmo were immediately incarcerated.  There, he met Yeong-ae, the girl who became his only friend, and the girl for whom Gilmo would risk everything, escaping the camp and braving the world of East Asia’s criminal underworld, eventually bringing him to the strange new world in which he finds himself today.  Scattered through with math problems and numerical riddles, this is a book that is both wildly imaginative in its outlook, and deeply insightful about its unique characters.  Library Journal  loved this book, giving it a starred review and praising, “Channeling timeless quests from The Odyssey on, while highly reminiscent of the contemporary cult classic Vikas Swarup’s Q&A (the literary inspiration for celluloid sensation “Slumdog Millionaire”), Lee’s latest should guarantee exponential growth among savvy Western audiences searching for a universal story with global connections. In a phrase, read this.”

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Five Book Friday!

Welcome, dear readers, to our first Five Book Friday post of the New Year!

I don’t know about you, but the holiday season, though lovely, just gets a bit….relentless….at times.  Which is why we at the Library love Blanket Fort Reading, about which, much more later.  But that doesn’t mean that we can’t celebrate, right?  So here are some holidays in January that can be savored without a great deal of fanfare:

January 8: National Argyle Day

We all know the diamonds-and-stripes pattern of argyle from socks, golf sweaters, and Bert’s sweaters on Sesame Street.  But do we know why they are so familiar?  The argyle pattern is actually the clan colors of Clan Campbell, from Argyll, in western Scotland.  Though familiar in Scotland for centuries, it first gained popularity in the United States after the First World War.  As the US was a military ally of Great Britain, the American media began focusing heavily on the royal family and their doings.  And King George loved to wear argyle sweaters while golfing.  So today, sport a little Clan Campbell pride today!

January 13: National Rubber Duckie Day

And speaking of Sesame Street….according to the 1973 Sesame Street Calendar, January 13 is the birthday of Ernie’s very best pal. Rubber Duckie, who made his television debut in 1970.  The rubber duck has quite a history, as you can see here, but today, it’s ok to have this song stuck in your head…

January 20: National Cheese Lovers’ Day

All hail cheese!  Though I haven’t been able to dig up why we celebrate those who love cheese on this particular day, I am not going to let such as auspicious occasion pass.  Cheese, after all, is one of the oldest foods mankind has sampled, with records going back into prehistoric times.  If you are really a devotee of all things cheese, then you can feast on this fact: The world’s largest cheese was presented at the 1964 New York World’s Fair, weighing in at over 34,000 pounds.

January 23: National Pie Day

Oh, happiest of days!  For all those who, like me, believe pie to be the most perfect of all foods, may all your crusts be ever flaky, your fillings be piping, and may your epicurean delights be unending!  Like cheese, pies, in some form or another, have been around since approximately 9500 BC.  The pie-in-the-face gag has been around since Ben Turpin received one in Mr. Flip, a silent film from 1909.

And, since every day in the Library is New Book Day, here are some of the books that danced their way onto our shelves this week for your delight and enjoyment:

Five Books

3842521Lady Claire is All That: Maya Rodale’s latest Keeping Up with the Cavendishes novel is a nifty spin on the old Pygmalion story, with the “creator” falling in love with his “creation” (and vice versa), but also a great tale about learning to appreciate yourself and your uniqueness in a world of conformity.  Lady Claire is a brilliant non-conformist who has dulled suitors to tears with her talk of mathematics.  While on the hunt for a newly married Duke with whom she intends to discuss equations, she encounters Lord Fox, an athlete and recently jilted suitor whose interest in math is nil–but whose interest in Claire is quite high.  Because Fox has made a bet that he can transform Claire into the bell of the season.  But Claire has plenty of other ideas in mind for her lessons with Fox–and soon their conniving leads to a love that neither ever expected.  Rodale is a master of funny, feminist romances, and this simmering tale of opposites attracting is another jewel in her metaphorical crown.  Publisher’s Weekly agreed, giving this book a starred review and saying “Romance readers weary of insta-love stories will glory in the slow, eminently believable development of physical and emotional intimacy between Claire and Fox. Rodale expertly blends sensuality and genuine admiration in this superb romance.”

3794617Avid Reader: A Life: You might not know his name, but I can guarantee you that you are aware of the enormous influence that Robert Gottlieb has left on publishing.  He began his career editing The Columbia Review, and working in the greeting-card department of Macy’s before landing a job at Simon & Schuster, and becoming the first head of Alfred A. Knopf 12 years later.   He was responsible for publshing Catch-22, among other bestsellers, and has worked with such noteworthy authors as Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, John le Carré, Michael Crichton, Lauren Bacall, Bill Clinton, and Miss Piggy.  While this book is about his life, and his later work as editor of The New Yorker, Gottlieb’s book is also very much about the act of reading, the art of publishing…and his love of dance.  While inspiring in his success, Gottlieb’s work is also enthralling because of his sheer love of what he does. The New York Times Book Review had a similar observation, noting “Robert Gottlieb’s buoyant memoir of his indefatigable editorial career proves Noel Coward’s observation that work is more fun than fun.”  …Would that we can all be so lucky.

3859810Piano Tide: Do we belong to the Earth or does the Earth belong to us? The question raised by Chief Seathl almost two hundred years ago continues to be the defining question of our age–and in Kathleen Dean Moore’s debut novel, it sparks a startling confrontation in the wilds of rural Alaska.  Axel Hagerman has made his fortune in the forestry and fishing industries, and has recently decided to add to his takings by selling the water from a salmon stream, a quest which brings him face to face with Nora Montgomery, who has just arrived on the ferry with her piano and her dog.  Nora is eager to disappear into the Alaskan landscape, having left everything about her life in the continental United States behind.  But as Axel’s business operations move to more dangerous ventures–namely, a bear pit, Nora finds herself more and more involved, and increasingly ready to take a dangerous stand.  Moore is an award-winning naturalist, philosopher, activist, and she brings all her talents to bear in this novel, creating a story that is very much about nature, mankind’s violence towards it, and the dangers such acts pose.  But it’s also a brilliant character study that is as engaging as it is thought-provoking.  As Booklist notes in its starred review, this novel is “Moore writes so eloquently and with such passion about the natural world, from tiny tide pool inhabitants to giant grizzlies and towering hemlocks, that she leaves the reader in wonder and awe.”

3789497Selection Day: Aravind Adiga was awarded the Man Booker Prize for his novel The White Tiger, and this novel, a deeply moving coming-of-age novel set in the slums of Mumbai, is receiving similarly rave reviews for its insight, wisdom, and impressive scope.  Fourteen-year-old Manjunath Kumar knows he is good at cricket–if not as good as his older brother Radha.  But their obsessed father drives both boys nevertheless, determined to make cricket stars of them both, regardless of Manjunath’s love of science and all things related to CSI.  And when Manju meets Radha’s great rival, a mysterious Muslim boy privileged and confident in all the ways Manju is not, he is forced to come to terms with who he really is, and what that will mean for his family, as well.  A funny, heartfelt story that deals as much with privilege, class, and global ideologies as it does with inter-family relationships, this is book was lauded by The Atlantic‘s Mark Greif, who called it “The best novel I read this year… In its primal triangle of rival brothers and a maniacal father, hell-bent on success in cricket in India, Adiga grips the passions while painting an extraordinary panorama of contemporary sports, greed, celebrity, and mundanity. As a literary master, Adiga has only advanced in his art since his Booker Prize-winning The White Tiger.”

3783817Taste of Persia: In this stunning cookbook, Naomi Duguid takes us on a culinary and visual journey through Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, and Kurdistan, reveling in their religious, ethnic, cultural and geographic diversity, and celebrating all their delicious tastes.  The photos in this book are truly breath-taking, and Duguid has a knack for writing about food, its preparation, and its deeply personal meanings, in a way that is both hunger-inducing and surprisingly emotional.  This book has been named the Best Cookbook of the Year by The Boston Globe, Food & Wine, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal, and is definitely one that needs to be seen to be fully appreciated.  The Wall Street Journal also notes “With one foot in the old world and one in the new, Ms. Duguid does a beautiful job of translating complex concoctions into accurate, easy-to-follow recipes that reflect not just the flavors but the spirit of the countries that once made up the Persian Empire.”  As ever, we at the Library stand ready and willing to taste any of the culinary delights produced from these recipes.

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading, and happy new year!

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Five Book Friday!

And welcome, beloved patrons, to our final Five Book Friday of 2016!  We hope that the Free for All, and the Library have provided you with a safe, comforting, and inspiring space (both virtually and physically) during this troublesome year, and we look forward to making our collective 2017 a bright and fulfilling one!

I, personally, am not a New Year’s type of person.  As a little kid, for some weird reason, countdowns in general sent me into a panic, and I’ve never really recovered fully.  That shouldn’t stop you, however, from ushering 2016 into the history books with some sort of grand gesture or traditional celebration.  In fact, here are a few ideas from around the world to get your New Year’s Celebrations off to a good start:

  1. “Ring Out The Old, Ring In The New,”
    In Sweden, Alfred Tennyson’s old poem “In Memoriam”  (More generally known as ‘Ring Out, Wild Bells’) has been read out at Stockholm outdoor museum Skansen since the mid-1890s, usually by a famous actor.  You can have your own reading by following this link here.
  2. Tossing Crockery
    In Denmark it is a good sign to find your door heaped with a pile of broken dishes at New Years. Old dishes are saved year around to throw them at the homes where their friends live on New Years Eve as a sign of brotherhood and friendship.  Those houses with the largest pile of broken dishes outside their doors are the people who have the most friends.
  3. Eat Your Lentils
    In Brazil, lentils are considered a source of good luck, so most dishes are served with them.  If you’re not really into lentils, Austrians celebrate with green peppermint ice cream.
  4. Ring Out, Wild Bells
    In Japan, bells are rung 108 times in alignment with the Buddhist belief that this brings cleanness. It’s also considered good to be smiling going into the New Year, as it sets the tone and brings good luck with the coming year.
  5. Visit the Library
    This is a tradition I just invented, but if you wanted to start your New Years by paying us a visit on January 2, 2017, when we re-open, you would be most welcome, and wished a very happy new year.  And, to help you look forward to your adventure, here are some of the books that you will find waiting for you!

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3844967The Man With the Poison Gun: In the fall of 1961, KGB assassin Bogdan Stashinsky defected to West Germany. After spilling his secrets to the CIA, Stashinsky was put on trial in what would be the most publicized assassination case of the entire Cold War, and would have lasting effects within the KGB and its leadership.  Stashinsky’s testimony, which openly implicated Kremlin rulers in political assassinations outside of the borders of the USSR, upended international politics, and confirmed some of the more outlandish Cold War fiction plots.  It would go on to inspire plenty more, as well, including Ian Fleming’s last James Bond novel, The Man with the Golden Gun.  Serhii Plokhy’s expertly researched and marvelously well-told history reads like one of Bond’s adventures, revealing the absurdities and the horrible truths of Cold War espionage, and the lengths that both the US and the USSR were willing to go to keep their secrets safe.  Kirkus gave this book a rave review, saying “With gusto and verve, Plokhy details Stashinsky’s intelligence work…. A thrilling, well-researched tale of espionage that has all the spycraft hallmarks of a blockbuster movie.”

3779012The Feud: Vladimir Nabokov, Edmund Wilson, and the End of a Beautiful Friendship: The world does not lack for books on the infamous and furious feud that flared up between Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov  and literary critic Edmund Wilson–their letters have been published, along with several histories.  But Boston Globe writer Alex Beam loves his subject so much, and brings such linguistic insight to his work that this book is a welcome addition to this rather bizarre story.  Wilson was Nabokov’s first patron, and a true friend when Nabokov and his wife were newly-arrived immigrants, struggling to make ends meet.  He introduced them to the right people, supported Nabokov’s work, and praised his intellect.  In return, Nabokov provided Wilson years of correspondence, intellectual discourse, and support for his own work.  But with the publication of Lolita, and Nabokov’s translation of Eugene Onegin, which Wilson savaged in reviews, and their once great friendship collapsed into highly intelligent, and bitterly savage wordsmithery.  Beam brings his own passion for literature and keen journalistic insight to this story, making it into something very human, very funny, and wonderfully engaging.  The Boston Globe, unsurprisingly, gave this book a rave (but wise and thoughtful) review, noting that Beam “has a keen sense of the absurd and is mischievous but not malicious in exposing the foibles of these frenemies. He also, while he’s at it, has some Nabokovian fun as he laces his narrative with wordplay and faux-scholarly flourishes…his book mostly leaves you asking yourself how prideful and pig headed even the smartest men can be. If there’s a broader application to The Feud, it stems from that question, which doesn’t bode well for any of us.”

3858755Love In Vain: Robert Johnson 1911-1938, The Graphic Novel: Robert Johnson wrote some of the most enduring and formative songs of the original blues era, songs that would go on to help shape the birth of rock ‘n’ roll in the 1960s.  Despite his death at the age of 27, and his somewhat late start on the road to fame–Johnson started as a traveling musician in the American North, but really only gained fame after he returned to the deep South, Johnson’s career was incredibly prolific, and an enormous collection of myths emerged about his talent and his productivity (perhaps the most famous of which is that he sold his soul to the Devil to be able to play the guitar).  In this hauntingly beautiful and well-researched graphic novel, J.M. DuPont and illustrator Mezzo bring Johnson’s career and very real, flawed, and fascinating life to light in a book about which Publisher’s Weekly intriguingly wrote: “The basics of Johnson’s brief life are detailed in a dark and almost succulent level of prewar woodcut-style detail by artist Mezzo. Dupont’s intimate and prying narrative tracks Johnson’s life closely from his dirt-poor Mississippi youth through his later vagabond years as a womanizing roamer and guitar slinger…The key question of the devil’s involvement is left for readers to decide.”

3512560To The Mountaintop : My Journey Through The Civil Rights Movement: On January 20, 2009, 1.8 million people crowded the grounds of the Capitol to witness the inauguration of Barack Obama. Among the masses was Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who had flown from South Africa to witness an event that was for many the culmination of the generations-long Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Hunter-Gault uses this event to reflect on her own involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, from her youth, where she was one of two black students who forced the University of Georgia to integrate, and through some of the most pivotal events of the last forty years.  Her narrative is striking for its historical importance, and deeply effective as a personal journey, and the addition of a wealth of photographs further enhances this journey.  Booklist gave this title a starred review, calling it a “powerful complement to the civil rights canon draws a compelling line from the beginnings of the movement to the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which opened the door to the long corridor that led to the White House in January 2009.”

3800720Food Anatomy : The Curious Parts & Pieces of Our Edible World: Julia Rothman’s Anatomy series provides irresistibly fun and fascinating journeys through bits of pieces of everyday life, focusing on those tiny details we often miss–texture, color, cultural significance–to bring the world around us to life in a whole new way.  This newest addition to the series is all about food (hooray!), from short-order cook’s lingo to the countless ways potatoes are fried and consumed around the world (and the myriad sauces into which they are dunked), to how and why the croissant was invented.  This is a book for foodies, bakers, cooks, and the curious alike, and her quick-wit and delight in her subject make this book a treat to read.  Just…bring a snack with you!  Food Republic ate this book up (hardy har har), saying in their review, “It’s a beautiful thing when food and art come together. Julia Rothman is definitely familiar with this notion. In the third book of her Anatomy series, Rothman enlists the help of James Beard Award-winning journalist Rachel Wharton and illustrates nearly everything there is to know about food. Not only is Food Anatomy easy on the eyes; it’s also educational. Within its pages readers can find the percentage of butterfat in different dairy products, how popcorn pops, how to make tofu, short order lingo for egg orders and more.”

 

Until next year, beloved patrons–happy reading!