Five Book Friday!

And once again, beloved patrons, we arrive at another Friday, and another round-up of some of the fascinating books that are frolicking on our shelves, eager to go along with you on a weekend adventure.

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And speaking of this weekend, don’t forget to stop by the International Festival this Sunday, September 11, from 12-6pm!  There will be plenty of entertainment, activities, arts, and, naturally, a smörgåsbord of food from Greece, Brazil, China, Poland, Portugal, to name only a few.  And lastly, don’t miss your chance to visit the Friends of the Library Booth, where you may just have a chance to meet the remarkable Lady Pole in person!  Free Parking & a Shuttle service will be available from Higgins Middle School or Northshore Mall parking lot (by East Boston Savings Bank).  Look for the Council on Aging Vans with International Festival Signs, and have a safe, wonderful, and delicious time!

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3757349The NixThis book has been gracing any number of “Best of 2016” lists, and getting rave reviews from critics, authors, and readers alike.  A Nix, in Norwegian folklore, often appears as a white horse, and steals away children.  In Nathan Hill’s debut novel, a ‘Nix’ is anything that is loved–and lost.  For Samuel Andresen-Anderson, college professor and would-be writer, that ‘Nix’ is his mother, who abandoned him when he was a child, and, in 2011, suddenly re-appears, the alleged perpetrator of an outlandish crime that is attracting national media attention.  Though his mother is being portrayed as a radical, amoral hippie, Samuel has always held a memory of a kind, young, and very, very ordinary woman–so which version of his mother is true?  To find out, he embarks on a journey into his family’s past, from the Chicago riots in 1968 to Norway, and the mythical Nix itself, resulting in a big, sprawling, and emotionally impactful book that earned a starred review from Kirkus, which called it a “sparkling, sweeping debut novel that takes in a large swath of recent American history and pop culture and turns them on their sides. . . .A grand entertainment, smart and well-paced, and a book that promises good work to come.”

3773362The Pigeon Tunnel: John Le Carré created the Cold War spy novel, raising espionage from the land of magazine tales and pulp novels and crafting a genre that is still selling millions of copies today.  This newest release is his first memoir, detailing a life that seems equally as interesting and surprising as any of his fiction.   Le Carré himself worked for British Intelligence during the Cold War, and, both in that capacity and in his literary work, has travelled to some of the most extreme places, and met with some of the most extraordinary people (and parrots), on earth (the parrot could perfectly mimic machine gun fire and sing the opening to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony at will, in case you were wondering).  From Rwandan genocide museums to meetings with international heads of state, from preparing television adaptations to living in a bunker with a female German terrorist,  Le Carré’s incisive, insightful style brings each of these tales to life in a way that will make you think you, too, have acquired all the stamps he has in his passport.  Publisher’s Weekly agrees, saying, “Always insightful, frequently charming, and sometimes sobering, the memorable tales told by master storyteller le Carré about his life will surely delight both longtime fans and newcomers.”

3772824The FortunesPeter Ho Davies’ newest book re-imagines America’s history through the eyes of Chinese immigrants, a group of people who had an enormous and crucial impact on American culture and society, but whose story is so seldom considered in literature.  Intertwining the tale of four lives: a railroad baron who unwittingly launches the Chinese Labor Movement to a Chinese actress who is forbidden from kissing white men on public or on screen, to a hate-crime victim whose death mobilizes other immigrants, to a biracial writer who travels to China in the hopes of adopting a baby, this Davies spins stories that are heavily influenced by actual historic events, and deals with issues of identity and community, belonging and isolation, loss and hope in a way that is beautfully empathetic and relatable, not to mention surprisingly funny and genuinely touching.  Publisher’s Weekly also loved this book, giving it a starred review and cheering, “The book’s scope is impressive, but what’s even more staggering is the utter intimacy and honesty of each character’s introspection. More extraordinary still is the depth and the texture created by the juxtaposition of different eras, making for a story not just of any one person but of hundreds of years and tens of millions of people. Davies…has created a brilliant, absorbing masterpiece.”

3788996True Believer: Stalin’s Last American Spy: Noel Field was a British-born American who moved back to the US following his father’s death, and attended Harvard University.  He was hired by the U.S. State Department in the late 1920’s, and went to work for the League of Nations in 1936.  This was around the same time that he began working as an operative with the Soviet NKVD.  A devout Communist and staunch believer in the Soviet Union, Fields was arrested in 1949 by the Soviets, interrogated, tortured, and held for five years in solitary confinement.  Nevertheless, he remained devoted to the Communist cause until his death in 1970.  In this new biography, Kati Marton not only details Fields’ startling life, but also analyzes his beliefs, trying to understand what makes a person so loyal to a cause that has treated him with such inhumanity.  The result is a powerful and engaging book that is proving a hit with critics and readers alike.  Library Journal also notes that “Marton’s own parents were the only Western journalists to ever interview Field and his wife, Herta Field. . . . The conspiracy, subterfuge, and cataclysmic destruction of Field’s family and friends are all addressed in this well-researched book.”

3788978We Eat Our OwnIn 1980, an Italian horror film called Cannibal Holocaust, which tells the story of a documentary film team that traveled to the Amazon to find cannibalistic tribes, and was widely thought to be a ‘snuff film’ (a film where the murders or suicides portrayed are real), and which is still banned in many places.  Kea Wilson’s debut novel takes that film as inspiration to tell the story of a down-and-out actor who gratefully (and a little desperately) accepts a job for a film being made in South America.  But he never dreams of the very real dangers that lurk around the set, from the area’s dyng economy, drug traffikers and guerilla fighters to the jungle that surrounds the cast and crew.  Playing with concepts of time and identity and truth, Wilson’s book has been making quite a splash already, with Kirkus Reviews noting ” Wilson shows impressive command of a narrative that weaves back and forth and back again in both time and locale; much like the viewer of a pseudo-documentary horror movie (ever seen The Blair Witch Project?), you wonder throughout whether you should trust whatever it is you’re told—and jumping to the end won’t help at all. You shouldn’t anyway, because Wilson’s writing style is hypnotic, tightly wound, and harrowingly evocative of the story’s stifling, bug-heavy atmosphere. Even the sunniest skies of this ill-starred shoot are thick with menace and portent. Keep telling yourself, ‘It’s only a novel, it’s only a novel'”.

 

Until next week, beloved patrons–happy reading!

A (Belated) Postcard from Far Away: Where the Wilde Things Are

via Shadowgate
via Shadowgate

I am among the world’s dorkiest tourists.  I don’t go where the tour books recommend…I perform book pilgrimages, often to some genuinely remote and not-very-picturesque places.  Once, I wandered around a rural Dublin neighborhood for two hours trying to figure out in which house Bram Stoker was born.  I gagged down an egg cream in New Mexico, because I was reading Harriet the Spy at the time, and wanted to taste her favorite drink (Harriet and I have very different tastes in soda-fountain faire…)

So during this trip, I decided to make another book pilgrimage.  The Eurostar–that train that links England to mainland Europe via a tunnel under the English Channel–was having a sale, so I decided to visit Oscar Wilde’s grave.

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Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde the Irish writer, playwright, and poet

We all have stories that save us, and Oscar Wilde provided many of those stories for me.  His poems taught me how to feel poetry;  I still am not good at the academic analysis of verse, but Oscar didn’t much care if you “got” it, as long as you felt something…and feel something, I did.  His plays made me laugh during my high school years when nothing else seemed particularly funny at all.  But most of all, his life story taught me that it wasn’t just ok to be different–that you had an obligation to be honest with yourself, and be the person you want to be–and to respect others for being honest, as well.  That hypocrisy was the worst crime, and beauty was the highest achievement, whether that was a beautiful piece of art, a beautiful friendship, or a beautiful life.  I was, and continue to be inspired by Oscar’s bravery and intellect and sense of humor–I named by cat after him, for Heaven’s sake, is there any higher honor?

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Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde the cat, slayer of bluejays and lover of mashed potatoes.

So, anyways, I have made a number of pilgrimages to Oscar…I creeped out some nice London residents when I was in high school by lurking outside the house he once owned on Tite Street.  I convinced by really very kind cousin to take me up to Portora School in Enniskillen so I could see the school he attended as a child.  And this time around, I made it to his grave.

unnamedWhy Paris?  Oscar Wilde was sentenced to two years’ hard labor in 1895 for the crime of ‘gross indecency’ (homosexual activity, which was illegal in England until 1967).  The trial was such an overwhelmingly large media event that it destroyed Wilde’s name and reputation.  His wife was forced to divorce him by her family; his young children had their surnames legally changed to distance themselves from their father; many of his former friends refused to have anything to do with him.  When he was released from prison in 1898, Wilde left England forever and moved to Paris where he could live in relative anonymity.  He died in Paris in 1900, and his best friend, Robbie Ross (another of my personal heroes) arranged for him to be buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery.  Eight years later, Ross had received some two thousand pounds from an anonymous donor to build a marker for Wilde’s grave.  He chose American sculptor Jacob Epstein, who moved in the same circles as Ross.

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Epstein encountered any number of difficulties in completing his assignment; the French government refused to recognize it as “art”, and therefore charged £120 before Epstein could transfer his work to Wilde’s grave.  He had to bribe police officers to look the other way as he worked at the grave site, because he was crafted a nude, and was constantly running the risk of being prosecuted for lewdness.  The officials at Père Lachaise kept trying to cover up bits of his nude figure so as to avoid offending the public, making Epstein so furious he refused to attend the unveiling.

..So, back to my story: Père Lachaise itself is an enormous (110 acres), and very well-known cemetery, serving as the resting place for a number of very famous people (other than Oscar), including Frederic Chopin, Jim Morrison, Marcel Proust, Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, and Eugène Delacroix.  I know about Delacroix, especially, since a not-very-happy Frenchman chastised me for walking right by Delacroix’s grave without paying him proper attention (I apologized to Delacroix, by the way).

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Oscar Wilde is buried towards the Porte Gambetta side of the cemetery (number 1 in the map above), and, for all the trouble Epstein had in crafting his monument, the thing itself is remarkable, and makes the gravesite a visually arresting one, surrounded as it is by very traditional late-19th century monoliths and tablets.  I should have been expecting the big plexiglass barrier around the grave; for years, people have been coming up and kissing the monument, leaving big lipstick marks all over it, and the chemicals in the cosmetics were actually damaging the stone of the grave irreparably, making this “kiss proof guard” a necessity in 2011.

What surprised me most of all, though, were the number of people who were there.  There wasn’t a throng by any means, but I had brought my lunch with me to eat with Oscar, and in the 45 minutes or so that I sat on the stump near his grave, I was never alone.  One man even came up with a bunch of flowers and dropped a red rose over the kiss barrier so it lay on the grave.  People came, just to sit near Oscar’s grave, to talk with their companions about his works, or his life, or what those things meant to each person, specifically.

For decades after Oscar’s death, his plays were not performed, his poems were not read, and it was assumed by many that his name would fade away eventually, or remained forever tainted by the scandal that surrounded his imprisonment.  It was for that reason that a quote from his poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol was carved onto the back of his grave:

And alien tears will fill for him
Pity’s long-broken urn,
For his mourners will be outcast men,
And outcasts always mourn.

But what I saw, instead, were a lot of other people whom Wilde had saved, paying their respects out of love and respect, not pity.  And that made the whole pilgrimage worthwhile.

Wednesdays @ West: Midwives Calling!

midwifephotoAnyone who works with me, follows me on Goodreads, talks to me regularly about books or comes to Literatea will know that I have a number of quirky reading interests.  I simply cannot read enough about tiny houses, nuns, the Amish and … midwives.  And if a book combines more than one of these, well than, it is pretty much guaranteed a top place on my To Read list.

callthemidwifebookMy fascination with midwife literature (Is that an actual genre?  If not, I guess I just created it) was, most unusually for me, inspired by a television show.  In 2012 when I was going through my annual television slump after a season of Downtown Abbey ended, I saw that PBS was debuting another British period piece first aired by the BBC.  Call the Midwife sounded intriguing and I tuned into the first episode.   Immediately, I was hooked.  The series was originally based on the memoirs written by Jennifer Worth about her experiences as a midwife in the East End of London in the 1950’s.  Worth worked with an order of nuns midwives (are you starting to see the appeal?) to deliver babies in a poverty stricken section of London.

I have eagerly followed the Call the Midwife series through five seasons.  The television show has moved beyond the material covered in Worth’s memoirs and the plot lines are now created solely by an extremely talented group of writers.  Even if you don’t share my peculiar interest in nuns and midwives, I can tell you that you will fall in love with the wonderful period details, the gripping stories and the amazing array of characters in the show.  If you don’t trust my recommendation, you may take heart in knowing that the show has the enthusiastic endorsement of a number of ladies who regularly attend Literatea!

Once you’re hooked by Call the Midwife, you will undoubtedly want to delve deeper into the world of midwives.  Here are some reading suggestions to help you along the way.

First, even if you watch the show, Jennifer Worth’s original three books are well worth reading.  Many of the stories she tells are told in the first few seasons of the show, however, Worth’s first person versions add a richness and detail that will deepen your appreciation of the midwives, nuns and families of the East End.  You may also want to consider listening the audiobooks.  Nicola Barber’s narration is excellent and brings out the humor in the many bittersweet stories Worth tells.  By now I have watched, read, listened to and rewatched these stories and the tales truly never get old.

midwifesstoryIf you find yourself pulled in by the real life aspect of Call the Midwife, there are a number of other good memoirs written by midwives.  One of the first I read was A Midwife’s Story by Penny Armstrong.  Armstrong trained as a midwife in Glasgow and then worked as a midwife for many years to an Amish community in Pennsylvania.  Her recollections provide a fascinating glimpse into both the world of midwifery and the lives of her primarily Amish patients.

bluecottongownAnother midwife turned author is Patricia Harman.  She has written two memoirs.  One, Arms Open Wide details her early adulthood, living in rural America, becoming a mother, living in an eco-concious commune and becoming a midwife.   The other, The Blue Cotton Gown shares her later life when she and her husband open a women’s health clinic, where she continues to “catch babies.”

midwifeofhoperiverInterestingly, Harman did not stop writing once she had shared her own adventures in midwifery.  She followed her memoirs up with two novels: The Midwife of Hope River and its sequel, The Reluctant MidwifeAlthough fictional, these stories share much in common with Call the Midwife.  While thoroughly American, they have a strong sense of both time and place.  Midwife Patience Murphy serves her Appalachian community during the Great Depression, but like the midwives of East End London, she battles poverty and the prejudices of her time, while still serving soon-to-be mothers with a fierce determination.

secretsofmidwivesWhile my favorite midwife books, both novels and memoirs, are period pieces that combine the stories of both the midwives and their patients, I still found The Secrets of Midwives by Sally Hepworth quite enjoyable.  Set in the current day and focusing more on the relationships between a daughter, mother and grandmother, this novel of three generations of midwives offers an interesting look at three women who approach their midwifery work vastly differently.  It also tosses in some compelling family secrets just to keep you reading.

What all the memoirs and novels featuring midwives that I’ve read have in common is their portrayal of strong women rallying to help other women on their journeys to become mothers.  The stories are often heartrending, but almost always beautiful too.  And definitely worth reading.  I was pleased to discover that there is another season of Call the Midwife coming in 2017, but until then I shall continue to seek out and revel in books about midwives.  Feel free to join me!

 

 

 

The Romance Garden!

It’s the beginning of a new month, dear readers, and that means another review of the best books that our genre devotees have found this month.  We hope it inspires you to try something new, and revel in all things romantic.  Because, as we always say, every mind needs a little dirt in which to grow….

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Elizabeth von Arnim

Bridget: The Chocolate Touch by Laura Florand

3425399For reasons that we shall discuss a bit later, I had Paris on my mind a little while back, and whenever that happens, I always turn to Laura Florand’s work.  Her books are always fun, always clever, full of terrific descriptions….there’s only one drawback, which will become evident shortly…

Jaime Corey, the younger sister of the owner of Corey Chocolate (fans of this series will know all about this fictional American mass-market chocolate company), has spent years trying to compensate for her privilege by helping those less fortunate.  But after suffering a severe trauma, Jaime decides that the time has come to take care of herself.  So she decides to travel to Paris for a little ‘chocolate therapy’.  And it is there she discovers Dominique Richard’s chocolate boutique, and simply can’t stay away.

Dominique has clawed his way from nothing to become Paris’ top chocolatier, and his bad-boy reputation only adds to his enormous reputation.  But nothing can keep him from noticing the young woman who has started coming to his boutique everyday–for reasons he can’t quite define.  And soon, Dominique finds himself crafting chocolate concoctions specifically for her, delighting in surprising her with his invention.  But Dominique is a big, imposing person with a temper, and is terrified that he will develop into his abusive father if he lets himself care too much about anyone–can he and Jaime overcome their mutual fears to find their way together?

This book was a bit darker than the other books in Florand’s Chocolate Romances, but she handles both Jaime’s issues and Dominique’s with admirable grace.  The romance here was also a bit less fiery and wild, and more intimate, gentle, and deeply felt, giving this story a beautifully different, and wonderfully unforgettable feel all the way through. I can’t tell you how tired I am of aggressive alpha-males in romances, and Dominique’s willingness to put all his own privileges aside to win Jaime was precisely what I needed.

The only problem?  Florand’s books leave me starving.  Her description are so vivid and visceral…I dare you to read this book without making an emergency run for some chocolate.  Consider yourself warned!

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Kelley: A Season of Ruin by Anna Bradley

3781540Looking for a short but sweet tale to fill a late summer afternoon? Anna Bradley’s A Season of Ruin delivers a can’t-put-it-down romance in just over 300 pages! Don’t be fooled by the book’s length though; the characters are well-developed, the wit is sharp, and the romance is just as passionate as in any longer tale.

When perfectly proper Lily Somerset goes to London for her first season she is not looking for love or passion; her goal is to simply make a practical match with a gentleman of impeccable reputation, no matter how boring he may be. However, Lily’s plans quickly get complicated when she mistakes a room containing none other than Robyn Sutherland, London’s most notorious rake, for the ladies’ salon.

In order to save Lily from ruin, Robyn reluctantly becomes her escort for the season. We quickly learn the reason for Lily’s inhibitions and extreme propriety, and Robyn might be just the person to convince her to come out of her self-imposed shell. But will Lily be able to show Robyn that he is capable of better than the life he has chosen to lead up until now?

A novel of hidden passions and awakened potential, the second in Bradley’s Sutherland Scandals series is definitely one to check out.

Until next month, dear readers…keep your heart happy!

Mary Cassatt
Mary Cassatt

Saturdays @ the South: Happy Labor Day!

Text Illustration Featuring Construction Tools That Represent Labor Day

The Labor Day holiday is one of the two (the other being Memorial Day) where the library shuts down for an extended period of time. Library staff get to briefly luxuriate in the glories of a long weekend. While this may be somewhat of an inconvenience for our wonderful patrons who rely on our services, rest assured that a little rest will make us that much brighter and bushy-tailed to serve you when we re-open on Tuesday.

But what’s life without a touch of whimsy? So this week, in celebration of the holiday that encourages no work, I offer books with “work” in their titles.

2911785Body Work by Sara Paretsky

Paretsky is a somewhat underrated crime novelist. This is one of her books with the central character of V. I. Warshawski, a tough, female P.I. whose storylines often feature a social commentary embedded within the mystery. In this book, a shooting in Chicago embeds Warshawski in the politics of the Gulf War as a veteran accused of the murder hires her to clear his name. If you’re a fan of J.A. Jance, Sue Grafton, Faye Kellerman or Val McDermid, you may want to give Paretsky a try.

1474038Blood Work by Michael Connelly

Unlike Paretsky, Connelly is a sure-fire favorite with the South patrons. This is one of his older works in which doesn’t feature Harry Bosch. Instead, ex-FBI agent Terrell McCaleb is forced out of retirement by a woman who begs him to help solve her sister’s murder.

2078538Dirty Work by Stuart Woods

Stuart Woods is an acquired taste, but for those who love him, they simply can’t get enough. While most of his content, were it on the Internet, would be classified as NSFW (not safe for work), he knows how to thread a suspenseful tale. In this book, series star Stone Barrington goes undercover to prove infidelity in a young heiress’s marriage.

2910080Work Song by Ivan Doig

It’s not particularly common to find Westerns in the library and while Doig’s book isn’t in the tradition of Spaghetti Western movies, this one captures some of the American spirit found in most Westerns. Morrie Morgan seeks his fortune in copper mining in 1919, but finds himself clashing with the major mining company in the area and getting involved with the mining workers disputes.

3545947Dirty Work by Gabriel Weston

This is a debut work by Weston, who writes of an obstetrical surgeon in crisis as she botches a surgery and puts her patient in a coma, but rather than making this a novel of suspense, it ends up a deep character study as the doctor revisits her life. Weston manages to make palpable the tension as the doctor worries about her future in her profession and she faces a tribunal to decide whether or not she will get to keep her license after her mistake.

Till next week, dear readers, I hope you are able enjoy the Labor Day holiday and don’t forget, even when the library is closed, you can always borrow ebooks and audiobooks on Overdrive and now you can watch movies on Hoopla, so the library is never truly closed…

Five Book Friday!

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This is my idea of a perfect long weekend….

And a very happy start to the long weekend!  We hope each and every one of you, dear readers, has a delightful holiday weekend, full of good food, good cheer, and plenty of good books.  This time of the year is a particularly fruitful one for publishers, as everyone is technically gearing up for the holiday shopping season (already.  I know!), and that means that we here at the Library get to reap the rewards of that big push with lots and lots of new books, many of them award winners or nominees, and all of them very eager to be a part of your next upcoming literary adventure!  Here are a few that have ambled onto our shelves this week for your reading pleasure:

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3783001The Glorious Heresies: The winner of the 2016 Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction has at last arrived on our fair shores, and critics (and readers) are wasting no time at all singing Irish writer Lisa McInerney’s praises.  Her book focuses on Irish society in the immediate aftermath of the global economic collapse, starting with Maureen, an grandmother who inadvertently commits murder when she hits an assumed intruder in her home with a Holy Stone.  Her attempts to cover up the incident will quickly embroil five lonely outsiders, from her estranged son Jimmy (who is one of the most feared gangsters in Cork), a fifteen-year old drug dealer and his alcoholic father, their colorful next door neighbor, and a young sex worker who has turned to a born-again sect in order in an attempt to get clean.  As bizarre as all of this might sound, McInerney’s huge talent makes each scene of this book compelling, wonderfully relatable, and dryly, acerbically, wonderfully funny, all at the same time.  The Economist agrees, cheering, “Lisa McInerney’s first novel takes off like a house on fire and doesn’t stop until it has singed the reader’s heart. Love, crime, and cockeyed redemption meet on a hardscrabble housing estate in County Cork, Ireland, in a rare blend of heartbreak and humour. . . . Ms McInerney is a writer to watch.”

3773405Eye of the Sixties: Richard Bellamy and the Transformation of Modern Art:  Richard Bellamy was an enormously influential patron of pop art, minimalism, and conceptual art, and, beginning in the late 1950’s  was the owner of the Green Gallery on Fifty-Seventh Street, an institution that gave a number of modern artists their first big break. In this consideration of Bellamy’s life and work, Judith E. Stein doesn’t merely give us a biography, but takes us through the world of modern American art to understand the changes that Bellamy helped to usher in.  Through interviews with his friends, fellow movers-and-shakers, and the artists he helped, she also traces the enormous influence that his distinctive eye for art, and unflagging dedication to new artists had on the art world–and on the way we look at images and art today.  The New York Times gave this book a glowing review, saying, “With Ms. Stein’s biography . . . the secretive spirit of the ’60s becomes at last a concrete and real person with a permanent place in art history. The character that emerges is of an impossible, improbable, irresponsible, irresistibly innocent sophisticate who many found to be the hero of the masterpiece that was his life.”

3742835War and Turpentine: Urbain Martien was an artist and a veteran of the First World War who died in 1981, leaving behind two notebook filled with memories and records of his life.  In this hauntingly beautiful story, Martien’s grandson, Stefan Hertmans recreates Martien’s life through imagination, empathy, and a huge amount of narrative skill that transforms one life into something extraordinary.  As Hertmans deals with his grandfather’s life, his loves, his failures, and his successes, he also grapples with his own place in this story, giving us a truly touching and insightful cross-generational story that has been getting attention from critics even before it hit shelves, with Britain’s Sunday Times saying “Wonderful, full of astonishingly vivid moments of powerful imagery. . . . moving moments of mysterious beauty. . . . Hertmans. . .brilliantly captures the intractable reality of a complex man.”

3787393The Perfect Horse: In the last days of the Second World War, with empires crumbling and exhausted soldiers trying to salvage what order they could from the world, a small group of American soldiers captured a German officer, and found in his briefcase a number of photos of stunningly beautiful white horses–which were being stockpiled in Germany in order to make a kind of ‘master race’ of horses.  Knowing that abandoned horses could and would be quickly slaughtered for food, these Americans banded together to locate and rescue these horses who were trapped across enemy lines.  Elizabeth Letts tells their story with an eye to character and detail, bringing the utterly bizarre landscape of Europe–and all those who were left standing–with vivid descriptions and deep humanity, making this a book for war buffs and animal lovers alike.  Kirkus Reviews gave this book a starred review, noting that Letts, “a lifelong equestrienne, eloquently brings together the many facets of this unlikely, poignant story underscoring the love and respect of man for horses. . . . The author’s elegant narrative conveys how the love for these amazing creatures transcends national animosities.”

3773107We Come to Our SensesThough these stories are works of fiction, each of Odie Lindsey’s tales deal with the very real issues of American veterans, and their experience of returning home…in this case, to the South.  From an vet turned office clerk whose petty obsessions and compulsion threaten to derail not only her life, but her death, to issues of assault and the sexual politics of warfare, Lindsay’s incredible humanity and deep empathy makes each of these stories more than records despondency, loss, or alientation.  They are alive and funny and very, very real, making for a book that is both necessary and accessible.  Booklist gave this work a starred review, saying that Lindsay, “artfully portrays the American South….Lindsey’s lyrical, frenetic prose …imparts a grim and pitying hope to his characters.”

In Memoriam

“So what will happen to your consciousness [after you die]? *Your* consciousness, yours, not anyone else’s. Well, what are *you*? There’s the point. Let’s try to find out…However far back you go in your memory, it is always in some external, active manifestation of yourself that you come across your identity–in the work of your hands, in your family, in other people. And now listen carefully. You in others–this is your soul. This is what you are. This is what your consciousness has breathed and lived on and enjoyed throughout your life–your soul, your immortality, your life in others. And what now? You have always been in others and you will remain in others. …This will be you–the you that enters the future and becomes part of it.”

(Boris Pasternack, Dr. Zhivago)

All the discussion this week about Gene Wilder, his wholly unique talent, and his genuine compassion for those with whom he came in contact, has somewhat cushioned the blow of losing another human person who made this world a better place to be.

THE BELL SYSTEM FAMILY THEATRE -- "The Trouble with People" -- Pictured: Gene Wilder as Ernie in "The Office Sharers" -- (Photo by: Art Selby & Al Levine/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
Gene Wilder as Ernie in “The Office Sharers” — (Photo by: Art Selby & Al Levine/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)

And when people pass away from us, I always recall the above quote by Boris Pasternack, which reminds us that none of us can truly disappear.  That the memory of our actions, our words, our creations, and our presence will outlive us in the memory of others.  So, bearing that thought in mind, I wanted to take a moment to add to the memory-making of Gene Wilder, in the hopes of holding on a little longer.

I never knew Gene Wilder.  I had the entirety of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory memorized, and coveted his jacket with a near-physical pain, but that was as close as I ever got.  However, I spent nearly two years living in London, and I spent a considerable amount of that time walking around the city with an audiobook, absorbing stories as I learned my way around my adopted home.  Of all the books I listened to in the course of that time, the one I remember most vividly was a short novel that Gene Wilder wrote in 2007 entitled My French Whore: A Love Story.

2397104Set in the closing days of World War I, the book follows Paul Peachy, a first-generation American, Minneapolis railway employee and amateur actor, who decides to escape his lackluster life by enlisting in the American Army.  There, he meets other children of immigrants who are all eager to serve as American soldiers, and begins to dream of the adventures and escapades they’ll have in Europe.  War, however, is nothing like Peachy or his friends imagined, and it isn’t long at all before he is captured by the Germans.  With nothing left to lose, Peachy–who speaks fluent German–decides to impersonate the German Army’s most famous spy.  Because ‘Harry Stroller’ is more myth than man, the deception seems to work.  Peachy is treated to a hero’s welcome, wined, dined, and provided with anything he could wish for–including women.  And it is then that Annie Breton, a young and strikingly beautiful courtesan, comes into Peachy live, and changes everything.

Now, Gene Wilder was not an historian, and this book is not the kind of novel you read if you want to learn more and accurate facts about life during the First World War, or behind the lines.  What it is, though, is one of the most earnest and human books I have ever read.  Even at its silliest moments, this book is so conscious about the value of Peachy’s life, about the deep, lasting meaning that his relationships have on him, and the way that all our human interactions shape us indelibly, that is ended up being a truly powerful little book.

And it took a very special, insightful, and humane person to write a book that was so deeply focused on what it meant to be human, in such a simple, accessible, and infectiously charming manner.  It is Pasternak’s theory about the soul, told in a strikingly simple, but disarmingly honest way that I still carry with me.  And if Pasternak was right, then what a beautiful kind of immortality that is.

Gene Wilder wrote several historical novels, as well as a collection of short stories, and memoir, all of which are available at the Library, or through NOBLE.

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