Tag Archives: Being a reader

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Saturdays @ the South: In Transit

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While there are many parts of the Internet that can be rabbit-holes designed to suck your free time away from you without you even noticing, there are many other parts of the Internet that I can’t imagine living without. Fun, interesting blogs like this one, and others that we’ve mentioned here where anyone can find cool, bookish topics are a continual source of joy. Pinterest straddles the line for me between time-suck and “what did I ever do without you?” But part of the wonderful randomness of the Internet involves coming across stories like this one, in which this year on World Book Day (which takes place every April) volunteers took to the public transit system of Sao Paolo, Brazil and gave out, not just free books, but free books that each came pre-loaded with 10 subway rides on an RFID card embedded on the cover. Commuters could not only bring their books along with them on their commute, but they could actually use those books to enter the subway system. Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, the covers were inspired by subway maps. I’m just going to let the awesomeness of this idea wash over you for a bit because it took me a while to fully grasp its genius.

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Seriously, how cool are these book covers?!

We’ve talked a bit on the blog before about books allowing free transit passage in Romania, but we haven’t talked about that particular quality of books that can make a commute fly by and possibly make us miss our stop. There’s something about a public transit commute that welcomes the opportunity for reading. There’s no need to focus on driving, the train/bus often has other readers so there’s a sense of camaraderie and (maybe this is just me) the repetitive motion instills a sense of meditative calm which can easily induce a good state of mind for absorbing words on the page. To be fair, it’s been a while since I’ve commuted by public transit, so I may be romanticizing it a bit. I do, however, have several friends who regularly commute via MBTA and I polled them for some ideas. In addition to some very cool title choices which will be revealed below, one of them kindly let me in on one of her secrets, and I’m willing to bet it’s one many of us surreptitiously share:

“I’m going to reveal my dark secret…reading over peoples’ shoulders (unbeknownst to them) is my favorite train, subway, and bus material.  Whether it’s the white-haired grandmother surreptitiously reading Fifty Shades of Grey on her kindle, the college student devouring the latest in George R.R. Martin’s saga or the businesswoman lost in the Wall Street Journal, I love glancing over their shoulder to catch a sentence here or a phase there. We sit, the miles falling behind us as the pages flip by, engrossed in a particularly compelling character like Maya in “I know why the caged bird sings” or a thrilling Grisham storyline, united through a long commute and a love of books. You just can’t get that experience in a car.”

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We’ve all done it at some point…

Since we’re having a bit of True Confessions: Books Edition here, I’ve always had a similar approach when I commuted on the train. I loved to take a look at what everyone else was reading and not necessarily read over their shoulder, but make a mental note of the cover or title to check out later. Clearly, the daily commute is not only a way to catch up on your reading or improve a country’s literacy rates, it’s a great way to gather reading suggestions as well! In that spirit, here are some books that may just make your commute go by a little faster:

3188153Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple

This recommendation comes from the aforementioned, self-admitted “over-shoulder reader,” lest you think she only reads the bits and snatches she catches from other people. According to her, this light, funny, epistolary novel made for a great commuting read. It was engaging and went by quickly.

thirteen-ways-of-looking-fictionThirteen Ways of Looking by Colum McCann

This was recommended by our wonderful regular blogger Arabella who is also a transit commuter. This is a book consisting of 4 separate novellas that are easily digestible in a trip or two. According to her: “there is a very nice sense of accomplishment that comes from being able to read a whole story in one commuting session” and she would recommend any type of short story collection for commuting. Apparently George Saunders’ books make good choices as well because “his stories are like little baby novels in terms of depth, if not length.”

2920463One Dance with a Duke by Tessa Dare

Another recommendation from Arabella who also enjoys romance novellas on a commute “because they are like little bite-sized pieces of escape.” Most of Dare’s novellas are available through the library in ebook format, but we’ve got this full-length novel in paperback available here at the South. And really, when you’re crowded like a sardine or waiting in the cold/snow/rain/etc., who couldn’t use a bite-sized piece of escape?


2974211As Always, Julia edited by Joan Reardon

I know I just mentioned this book just a couple of weeks ago, but it’s great commuting book. None of the letters in this book are more than a few pages long, which makes it ideal for reading in bits and snatches if you’re trying to fit some reading in before the next stop. The overall arc of the book, however, is engrossing so you can read longer to get a great sense of the evolution of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and the friendship between Child and deVoto.

2404022Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Lest we forget those who commute by car, audiobooks are great for a car commute. As a matter of fact, many of our wonderful South Peabody patrons are fellow commuters who, like me, prefer to spend their driving time productively. Audiobooks allow you to safely “read” while you’re driving which I think is the best possible kind of multitasking. This book is brief but beautiful with the added bonus that it’s narrated by the author in all of his wonderful Britishness and delightful characterizations. Gaiman is not a man who is afraid to “do the voices” of his characters which makes any audiobook he narrates an engaging read, but this one is particularly well-suited for shorter commutes as the narrative is easily picked up again from short snatches. Plus, Gaiman’s prose is so immersive, it’s nothing to dive right back in where you left off.

Many thanks again to my wonderful friends who always manage to indulge me when I put out a call for suggestions. Till next week, dear readers, I hope your commutes are uneventful in the best of ways, but your reading during that time is exciting !

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Saturdays @ the South: Books I’m Thankful For

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Yes, Thanksgiving is over and we’re likely all still a bit drowsy from Thursday’s turkey-coma (or possibly the Black-Friday shopping coma; no judgment), but I still think this weekend is a good time to reflect. It’s early enough in the holiday season that we can still take a breath and pause. Besides, once the holidays really get going, we’ll barely have enough time to read, let alone reflect on our reading lives.* With that, dear readers, I give you a brief list of books that I haven’t yet mentioned but I’m thankful to have read. The list isn’t exhaustive and these books haven’t all been published in 2015, but they were all devoured by your devoted Saturday blogger at some point this year:

7873989As Always, Julia edited by Joan Reardon

I didn’t love Julia Child as a kid. While I would occasionally tune in with my grandparents if “The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show” got preempted and we were killing time before “Candlepin for Dollars,” on a Saturday, she didn’t win my young heart the way she did so many Americans. My grandmother found her diction insufferable and considered some of her television cooking practices to be wasteful. However, the more I learned about Julia Child through biography, cookbooks and memoirs, the more she grew in my esteem. Let’s face it, Julia Child was an immensely cool lady and this book highlights her tenacity, entrepreneurship and humor wonderfully. The evolution of a friendship through letters is a hugely satisfying way to get to know someone posthumously and this book gets more delightful with each passing correspondence.

23705512You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

It’s a rare treat when I can devour an entire book in one sitting. The book has to be both compelling enough to keep me page turning and light enough to not bog me down. This book fit the bill perfectly. As a Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan, I recognized Day from her recurring role in the seventh and final season, and her show The Guild has been in my Netflix queue for over a year, but I had no idea how smart and interesting she was overall. She’s well rounded, eloquent and entirely relatable. This is an easy but satisfying read as you look into the life of someone who isn’t afraid to share her neuroses and a few humorous anecdotes but still remain genuine and vulnerable as you keep turning pages.

18594409Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? by Roz Chast

This book is an amazing, honest, humorous work that can appeal to anyone who: a) has parents; b) has conflicting commitments; c) worries about the future; or d) enjoys a good belly laugh. Chast’s memoir, told graphic-novel style looks at her relationship with her parents during their final years and the joy, stress and heartache it can cause. Like most good humorists, she delves into the pain and difficulty of those times, but manages to temper it and find the laugh in a sometimes impossible situation. Be prepared for some genuine tears mixed in with your laughter, but it’s definitely worth the read.

23848124A Wild Swan by Michael Cunningham

This is a great book hangover cure. It’s a quick read of re-told fairy tales, but with dark, modern twists. Cunningham blends time and genre as he peels back the curtain and speculates: what might become of these fairy tale characters in modern times?; what happens after the traditional ending we all know? or even what some well-known characters motivations might have been? It’s not a long book, but its beautiful, haunting prose and modern themes give you a lot to think about.

20981000The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer

OK, so I’m sort of cheating here as this book has been mentioned on the blog before, but it hasn’t technically been reviewed here. If possible, I *highly* recommend reading the audiobook as it has exactly the type of bonus material we at the blog love. It’s narrated by Palmer and the listener winds up with a deep sense of intimacy with the subject and the author. Plus, she sprinkles some of her music into the narrative which gives a broader perspective of the content in general. I walked away from this book wanting to be a more open, trusting and hopeful person and, really, couldn’t we all use a bit of that in our lives?

This year, I’m thankful for all the books I’ve read, listened to, finished and given up on (yes, that happens even to the most devoted of readers…) as they weave into the fabric of my reading life and become a part of who I am. I’m thankful for the incredible friends in my life to whom I can talk about books (and just about anything else) and get fantastic recommendations that I might not have considered otherwise. I’m also deeply thankful for all of you: the readers, watchers, listeners, patrons who make the Peabody Library such a wonderful place to be. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving weekend!

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*Don’t worry; you’ll still be able to come to the blog for all things bookish, interesting and wonderful during the holiday season. We at the library always make time for reading, even if it’s carving out just a few minutes in a day.

 

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Genre Talk: On magic, dragons, and friendship…

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I just finished this book. You have to read it. Right now. No, like, right now.

Good friends…they aren’t easy to find in this world.  But good friends are often the ones who show you the sides of yourself that you didn’t know were there, and introduce you to books you might never have read.

Take, for example, an exchange between myself, and our fabulous Saturday Blogger, who goes by the name of Lady Pole.  Unsurprisingly, books are involved in a fair bit of our conversations (and, one book in particular, if you haven’t noticed…).  But after our discussions about genre fiction a few weeks back, Lady Pole, in all her splendidness, went and created a Pinterest board titled “Fantastic Fantasy“, showcasing the fantasy novels we’ve discussed here at the Free For All.*

When she first told me about this board, I was delighted, but also surprised.  Because if you had asked me five minutes beforehand, I would have told you that I wasn’t a big reader of fantasy books at all.

But the longer I looked through the books on our list, the more I began to appreciate just how diverse the fantasy genre really and truly is.  Up until Lady Pole’s intervention, I would have told you that fantasy novels were ones with dragons in them.  Possibly warlocks. And unicorns.  But that was about it.

In the interest of full disclosure, it appears that my definition was limited by the fact that I believe that magic, ghosts, fairies, leprechauns, necromancers, and pyromancy are all completely real–and there’s nothing wrong with this.  But it did impede me from seeing all these great elements as part of an enormous and hugely varied genre that incorporates more than I had personally ever imagined.  (Just a note: these things are real.  Never let a leprechaun hear you say that you think they aren’t real).

So, with that in mind, I thought I’d offer us both a little primer of some of the “subgenres” of fantasy so that you and I could both become a little more familiar with all that fantasy has to offer, and really come to appreciate a genre that re-invents fiction on a daily basis.  (We’re going in alphabetical order here, so as to be fair to all the dragons and leprechauns and unicorns)

2641675Dark Fantasy: This subgenre walks a fine line between fantasy and horror, incorporating elements of both to make for a story that is intentionally frightening, unsettling, and generally creepy.  Charles L. Grant, a pioneer of the dark fantasy genre, defined it as “a type of horror story in which humanity is threatened by forces beyond human understanding”, though it has also come to be associated with stories from “The Monsters’ Point of View”.  Think H.P. Lovecraft, Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, and China Mieville’s Kraken.

x1280542a_mHigh Fantasy: Here’s where the dragons and warlocks generally show up.  High fantasy books are generally set in a completely different world from our own; worlds with their own rules and population, that generally tend to be pretty epic in their scope (Tolkien invented a language for his characters).  These are the kind of books that tend to get the “Fantasy” stickers with the glowing unicorn on their spines.  Think J.R.R. Tolkien, Terry Brooks, and C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia.

2751021Historical Fantasy: Now this is a subgenre with subgenres, making it a bit of a tricky category to cover quickly.  Very broadly speaking, these books tend to take place in a past full of magical/fantastical/paranormal elements.  Sometime that can be a familiar past, like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, or an alternative past, like Keith Roberts’ Pavane, which is set in a world where the Spanish Armada defeated the Elizabeth I.   They can also deal with fairytales and folklore, as in Bill Willingham’s Peter and Max.  Steampunk, which usually imagines a Victorian world where steam, rather than electricity, became the dominant source of power, also falls generally within this genre.  Check out: Aurorarama by Jean-Christophe Valtat, Neil Gaimain’s Stardust, or V.E. Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic.


3153256Urban Fantasy: Fantasy set in a city.  Obviously.  To be more specific, though, these books tend to resemble in many ways the noir detective stories of the mid-20th century: they frequently feature detectives, private eyes, or guns-for-hire who deal in the paranormal, and they often deal with the grittier side of life, and life in the city.  Case in point:  Mike Carey’s near-perfect Felix Castor series, P.N. Elrod’s Vampire Files, as well as Joseph Nasisse’s Eyes to See.   Interestingly, urban fantasy is increasingly becoming a genre of heroines.  Sometimes they find a hero along the way, and sometimes they don’t, but this subgenre is fast carving out a space for female heroines–and authors–to break all the rules, with some fantastic results.  For examples, look for Adrian Phoenix’s Makers Song series, Kat Richardson’s Greywalker novels, and Chloe Neill’s super-terrific Chicagoland Vampire series.

It’s also really important to remember that these classifications are by no means hard and fast.  George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones is as much high fantasy as it is historical fantasy.  Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files are urban fantasy, but they can be shelved in mystery, as well.  A vast number of steampunk books are shelved as romances, rather than fantasy at all.  My hope here is to help you and me to realize that genres can be as vast and unpredictable and wonderful as the people who read them–and the friends who recommend more!

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*This is also a great time to remind you to check out all our nifty Pinterest boards!  You can click the link at the top of this page, or go right here!

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On Bibliotherapy


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As many of you lovely patrons know, I am a student of the First World War.  Now, this is not a topic that is generally applicable to everyday life…unless you use a spork on a daily basis.  Because they were first conceived of and developed by the American Army in 1917.  The more you know.

3445458But there are times, rare magical times, when being a First World War historian comes in handy.  Like this week, when The New Yorker published an article titled “Can Reading Make Your Happier?”.  The article is centered around a lovely little book called The Novel Cure: From Abandonment to Zestlessness, written by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin…who are trained bibliotherapists.

What, you might ask, are bibliotherapists?  They are, essentially, practitioners in the art of healing people through books.  Bibliotherapy can take many forms.  Some Churches hold reading circles; prisons offer classes in literature for inmates; nursing homes have book clubs for patients suffering from dementia.  But at the heart of all these groups is essentially the same: to “put new life into us”.

Bibliotherapy has existed, in some form, since the time of the Ancient Greeks, who inscribed over the doors of the library at Thebes that this was a “‘healing place for the soul”.  Freud used literature with his psychotherapy patients (though, admittedly, he was just as concerned with Hamlet’s psychological make-up as he was with his patients…).  But bibliotherapy actually came into its own, and got its name, during the First World War.

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Many military hospitals, particularly those in the US, were equipped with libraries, and doctors actually prescribed reading to their injured soldier-patients as part of their treatment.  This practice was particularly used for shell-shocked patients (men who suffered from the condition we now call PTSD), whose minds were trapped by their memories.  But there are records of doctors prescribing reading course of treatment for civilians, as well.  The New Yorker describes a “literary clinic” that was run in 1916 out of a Church by a man named Bagster.  I was particularly drawn to the description of a man who had “taken an overdose of war literature,” and required bibliotherapy to calm him down.

download (1)There is no cold hard science behind bibliotherapy, but each practitioner offers a similar ideology.  According to the good Mr. Bagster, “A book may be a stimulant or a sedative or an irritant or a soporific. The point is that it must do something to you, and you ought to know what it is.”  According to Régine Detambel, an award-winning author who consciously writes pieces to be used in bibliotherapy, “We are all beings of language…There’s a certain rapport between the text and the body that must be considered” she explained, “Books are caresses, in the strongest sense of the term!”

Shirley Jackson wrote in The Haunting of Hill House, “No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality.”  And I think, at its heart, that bibliotherapy seeks to offer an antidote to that reality.  For the men like those Bagster mentioned, who had read too much war literature–literature that describes in graphic detail the very real chaos, fear, and anger of the First World War–there was Jane Austen, whose work is not only light and fun, but marked by manners, rules, and justice.

3110938Bibliotherapy also counters reality by offering empathy.  Berthoud mentions a patient of who was struggling with being the single father of a baby.  For him, there was To Kill A Mockingbird, a novel that features another single father, who has to navigate some of the most challenging issues a parent can face.  George Eliot is said to have overcome her grief over her husband’s death by reading fiction with a young friend of hers…who later became her second husband.

Ultimately, bibliotherapy emphasizes one of the most basic purposes of fiction–to remind us that we are not alone, even when the world seems big and scary and overwhelming.  To give us the chance to connect, not only with characters who can help us grow, or help us calm down, or help us learn, but to connect, as well, with other readers.  I owe some of my favorite relationships in this world to books (many thanks, Jonathan Strange), and some of my favorite memories to the stories we shared.

So please know that, no matter how big the world may seem, and how sadder, the library is here to help.  We can’t make it better out there, but we can offer a bit of an escape from the reality outside.  We may not have answers, but we have shelves and shelves of books, filled with countless characters, who are all quite eager to let you know that you are not alone.  We may not have answers, but we have books.  And sometimes, that is enough.

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Saturdays @ the South: On Fantasy, or Don’t let magic scare you away from a good story

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Occasionally when someone comes into the South Branch looking for something different to read, I have to catch myself from evangelizing some of my favorite books, remembering that not everyone has the same taste in books as I do and that offering advice to readers means focusing on their preferences instead of my own. All that goes out the window, however, when someone (patron, friend, random stranger) asks me what I’ve ready lately, in which case I start to gush about some of the books that have just been brimming up inside me waiting for this exact question to spill forth. I often find myself recommending these books just by talking about them so excitedly, but when I do, I’ve noticed that some of my suggestions come with caveats. A common one is some version of “don’t let the magic scare you off; it’s so [insert enthusiastic adjective here], you won’t even notice.”

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I’ve often wondered why I feel the need to hedge such a genuine offering. I stand behind every exuberant recommendation I’ve given  (either in person or here on the blog), recognizing that while it may not be everyone’s taste, my excitement for the book is honest and heartfelt. So why should I add a trigger warning for a caveat that might not have been an issue in the first place? I think part of it stems from books with magic in them being classified as “genre” reading. Similar to romance novels (which we’ve learned from the Library’s regular blogger often garner the misnomer of “trashy”), books with “magic” or supernatural element or different worlds in them, commonly referred to as fantasy books, are often looked down upon as not being “literary,” which, in book-snob terms usually means not good enough for people who take their books seriously.

Well, I say hogwash! I’ve already expounded upon the right to read whatever you enjoy, and I don’t think we should discount books just because authors are brave enough to dream up worlds beyond our own. However, I also don’t think that just because an author has dared to think outside our regular laws of physics, logic, or anything else that might ground us in so-called “reality” automatically discounts them from being a talented storyteller. Plenty of “fantasy” or other types of genre writers take pride in their craft and work to hone their skills. Many of these authors have profound things to say about our world, about life and even about writing. They just choose to make the hard topics more palatable by removing them a degree or two (or five) from our version of reality.

amazing-fantasy-book-1920-1080-6884It’s generally accepted that kids’ books can be magical or fantastic. The venerable Dr. Seuss often made up plenty of worlds (Whoville, the Hoober-Bloob Highway, or whatever world the Sneetches lived in) and used them to introduce kids to topics like war, environmental destruction and stewardship, and the commercialization of Christmas. It seems that because these books and specials were meant for kids, it’s OK that Geisel’s imagination ran wild and so they can be considered classics. Yet, when adult books tackle similar topics through similar means, it somehow becomes less OK and more “mainstream.” Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being mainstream or writing (and reading) books that have a simple, enjoyable plot. Where my bone of contention lies, is when books are dismissed as not having depth simply because they aren’t realistic enough, as though magic somehow detracts from a wonderful story with powerful themes.

So in the spirit of enthusiastic recommendations and embracing both magic AND a good story, here are some books that will take you away and still leave you pondering:

3248464The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

This blog’s much-adored author deserves yet another mention because his books are precisely the blend of magic and depth that I’m talking about today. His most recent novel for adults deals with families, childhood, memories and overcoming fear. The characters are infinitely entertaining, the dialogue is charming and quick-paced and the inner workings of the main character are simultaneously child-like and relatable on an adult level. If previous mentions of Gaiman’s works haven’t enticed you before, this may be a good place to begin his oeuvre.

3690594The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

I mentioned this book a mere two weeks ago as an ideal Halloween read, but this recommendation goes beyond seasonal appeal. The protagonists in this story are transported into a world of history and exploration, but they also learn about friendship, sacrifice and the impetuousness of youth. While this books isn’t as heavy as Bradbury’s more famous Fahrenheit 451, it still deals with themes that belie a simple story.

2248593Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

The late, great Terry Pratchett was a virtuoso satirist and like so many satirists, he took a view of our world and spun it with a masterful combination of acerbic wit, keen observation and downright silliness. In this book, he examines bureaucracy, the question of whether a person has the ability to fundamentally change himself and how a simple idea can change the world. These themes, however, tend to be overlooked as they’re explored in a made-up world where the planet is shaped like a disc that is carried around the universe on the backs of four elephants which are, in turn carried on the back of a giant turtle. Pratchett insisted that any of his Discworld books can be read in any order, so even though this isn’t the first, it’s a good place to start as it introduces several recurring characters and has a delightful mini-series adaptation that can help you visualize Pratchett’s amazing creations.

2191702The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

It’s difficult to ignore the depth of a book that was so incendiary it incurred a fatwa on the author and many involved in the book’s publishing. While the political ramifications of the book often overshadow the actual text, make no mistake that this is a beautiful work that deals with so much more than faith. When the library’s Classics group discussed it earlier this year, several members found passages life-changing. Many might not recognize how truly funny sections of this book can be while Rushdie deals with the ideas, concerns and challenges of emigration, being different and being an outsider with pin-point accuracy.

3637426After Alice by Gregory Maguire

Maguire is a master of re-imagining fairy tales and finding hidden depths in worlds that have already been created. In his latest work, he brings us into Wonderland on the heels of Alice’s childhood friend Ada and behind the looking-glass through the eyes of Alice’s sister Lydia. In doing so, he discusses themes of discovering one’s independent spirit, plumbing the depths of womanhood and even tackling evolution and imagination. Don’t let the short length of the book or the child’s story base fool you, Maguire packs a big punch into a brief text.

Sometimes in order to help us understand our own world or our inner lives, we need to gain context in the guise of another world. So this weekend, dear readers, don’t let magic scare you away from a good story. You never know what you might be able to uncover!

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Saturdays @ the South: Diversity in Books

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This past week, various social media channels exploded over a controversy about the representation of marginalized children in literature. Some were saying that there are plenty of books out there about diversity, while many others decried that, despite what is out there already, there are not nearly enough. I won’t reproduce the arguments or participants here, as some of the links I provide will give you some background so you can decide for yourself how you feel about it. What I’d like to focus on instead is the concept of voices in literature and the rights of all readers to relate to someone in a story. This isn’t the same as banning books. Banning means stifling voices that are already out there. Today’s post is about voices that haven’t been heard yet, voices that often don’t appear on people’s radar to prompt a challenge.

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Earlier this year, Myles Johnson, not finding quite the right story already out there, and instead of waiting for the world of literature to catch up, created his own story. Johnson led a successful Kickstarter campaign to publish his book Large Fears about a young African-American boy who loves pink and in an attempt to seek acceptance wants to journey to Mars. Many are finding this story a breakthrough because it’s a unique voice that hasn’t been represented (or if it has, it hasn’t been represented enough) in books. Blogger Crazy Quilt Edi was one of them and wrote an impassioned entry about what this book meant to her and her community at large. And she talked about voices and young people not having the tools to sustain themselves during tough times because books with relatable voices weren’t there to help them.

Voices in literature are important. Regardless of who they represent, they are the voices we cling to when we need comfort  or need to see something of ourselves in the world when it seems like the world doesn’t recognize who we are. I’ve been extremely lucky in my reading life to have found voices that seem like they speak directly to me, or offer to take me away into a world where it didn’t matter that I was different because differences either didn’t matter or were celebrated in that book’s world. Sometimes those voices were from people just like me; other times they were from characters who were nothing like me, but still somehow seemed like they understood me just the same. These were the books that sustained me, the stories that helped me through the difficult times in my life and the voices that carried me across the threshold of difficulty into something more hopeful. I am fortunate because I found these voices and every bit as fortunate to know that these voices were already out there for me to find.

Not everyone is as lucky as I have been to find voices who sympathize, who understand or who simply echo some of your own thoughts. These are the voices that give us the tools to deal with some of the joys and hardships that life throws our way. The world is vast and despite technology making it smaller, that doesn’t mean that every voice has been heard. The world of literature is almost as vast, but that doesn’t mean that every voice has spoken. People are entitled to a vast array of opinions, but that doesn’t mean that every voice has been recognized. Readers have the right to find a piece of themselves inside a book. Children deserve to see a face they recognize in a picture book. Teens deserve to recognize their own problems in characters’ struggles. Adults deserve to recognize pieces of their life in literature. If that voice isn’t out there yet or isn’t spread far enough for people to hear it, then somewhere there’s a reader who hasn’t found their literary connection and that’s tragic. Not necessarily because that reader hasn’t found a favorite book (although that is heartbreaking to me) but because that reader hasn’t been able to find an emotional tool to sustain themselves when they truly need it the most.

Some of us are lucky to be sustained by voices in books that have already been heard or accepted, but that doesn’t mean that everyone can find relatable literature out there. We need diverse books because we owe it to ourselves and to everyone to encourage new voices to be heard. Literature doesn’t need to have an agenda to connect with readers. It only needs to have a voice that others can share or use for themselves when they feel like they have no voice of their own.

In the spirit of unique and underrepresented voices and diversity in literature, here are some selections to consider that are in no way definitive or exhaustive:

3554591A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James

This 2015 Man Booker Prize-winning novel presents a different perspective in award-winning literature, becoming the first Caribbean writer to win the esteemed and coveted prize. James’s epic novel looks at Jamaica over the last three decades, giving a new, modern voice to to the Kingston of the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

3652539Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson

In this collection of honest essays, Jenny Lawson becomes a new voice for mental illness, expounding upon her philosophy to live live “furiously happy” enjoying the moments when she can live life to the fullest and forgiving herself when that can’t happen. She looks unflinchingly at her problems in the hopes that others might benefit from her struggles and be able to “come out the other side” but does so in an irreverent, hysterically funny way that forces anyone reading it to reconsider the stigma of mental illness. In laughing and encouraging us to laugh with her she creates a safe, palatable space to consider some of life’s darkest thoughts.

3514048Jacob’s New Dress by Sarah and Ian Hoffman

This empowering picture book of a little boy who likes traditional “girl things” in addition to traditional “boy things” speaks not only to those who are gender nonconformists, but also to those who don’t understand some of the struggles they face. It takes a realistic look at those who want everyone to conform to their ideas of what people “should” be and those who want to be free to explore their individual tastes unencumbered by stereotypes.

3171183Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

This heartfelt tale of identity tackles issues of family, homosexuality and Mexican heritage, while giving voices to those still struggling to find their place in the world. Saenz writes “to be careful with people and words was a rare and beautiful thing.” This is precisely why diversity in books needs to be encouraged and why this multiple award-winning book should be recognized for it.

2435655Code Talker: A novel about the Navajo Marines of World War II  by Joseph Brunchac

This novel takes the view of two Navajo teens enlisted by the Marines to become Code Talkers, using their native, ancestral language that was disparaged throughout much of their youth, to send secret messages during World War II. Though this story is fiction, it’s based on the real Code Talkers who helped end the war in the Pacific with their uncrackable code.

This weekend, dear readers, I encourage you to seek out a book that has an unexpected or underrepresented voice. The recognition of diversity breeds understanding and compassion and those are qualities we can never have enough of. You never know, you may find something in that new voice you didn’t even know was within yourself.

 

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Saturdays @ the South: Mood Reading

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“I don’t know what to read next…“

This is a pretty common statement we hear at the library and it always presents a delightful challenge to the library staff. Delightful because it gives us the opportunity to open up a conversation about books; challenge because the reasons why a patron might be stumped on what to read next are as astronomically varied as our wonderful patrons. Sometimes it’s because they’re waiting on the next book by their favorite author and are looking to read something similar; sometimes it’s because they’ve tired of a genre and they’re looking for something completely new; sometimes it’s because they need to recommend a book that will appeal to everyone in their book discussion group. I could go on, but I think you get the idea…

How do you pick when you have choices like this?
How do you pick when you have so many options?

These conversations can be lengthy or brief but when done well, the patron will walk away with a smile and a new book to enjoy. These can be some of our most rewarding conversations as very often, the person working at the desk will also come away from it with a smile and book recommendation or two. Many times these conversations will hone in on what you’re in the “mood” to read. Are you in the mood for something fast-paced? A light, relaxing read? Something you can really sink your teeth into on these increasingly chilly autumn nights? These types of mood indicators can often help us pick out a book for you that maybe you hadn’t considered, but are still likely to enjoy.

But, what if you’re at home browsing the catalog for something to put on hold? Or the library is closed (we don’t like to, but it does happen occasionally)? Or maybe you just can’t quite articulate what you’re looking for enough to have a conversation with someone at the desk yet. Well, we at the library love helping people, and sometimes that means helping people help themselves. So this week, instead of recommending specific books I’d like to introduce you to a great (free!) tool the library offers, which can put together some book recommendations. You can access this tool anywhere you have an Internet connection, and it can help you along during those times you’re stuck on what to read next.

Go to the library’s homepage, go to the “eLibrary” menu and select “Articles/Databases.”Screenshot 2015-10-07 11.48.23


This will take you to our databases page. At the top there will be a dropdown menu where you select: “Readers/Literature Resources” and click “Go.”

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There are all sorts of cool tools on this page you’ll end up on, but the one pertinent one for this post is NoveList Plus.

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The NoveList Plus page is pretty fascinating all on its own because you can find authors or titles similar to ones you just read, browse through articles about books, and more. But if you’re looking for a book to fit your mood, you’ll want to click “Browse By” then “Appeal.”

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Once you’ve navigated your way to what NoveList calls the “Appeal Mixer” you can really have some fun!

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For example, I was still a bit caught up on comfort reads from last week and found that many of the books I talked about have well-developed characters, a richly plotted storyline and a leisurely pace. So I plugged that combination of characteristics into the three drop-down menu options, clicked “Find Titles” and it even picked one of my comfort reads!

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George Eliot’s Middlemarch is right there, along with at least a dozen other books that have similar characteristics (clicking the blue arrows will get you to more selections). There are dozens of combinations you can pick, including books with bold illustrations, books with a creepy tone (just in time for All Hallows Read), books in which authors exhibit an accessible writing style and so much more. You can even pick only one or two options and see what pops up. Maybe you have a child that can’t decide what to read? You can click on the tab for the appropriate age group and create an appeal mix for something he or she is in the mood for. If you scroll down from the mixer, there are some suggestions for mood to get you started like “Leisurely paced and Atmospheric” or “Menacing and Suspenseful” and maybe this is all you need to find a new book that will suit your mood.

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So if you’re just not sure what to read next, try exploring this tool and discover something you might not otherwise have picked. Of course, you’re always welcome to come to the library where we will love to talk books with you and do our best to recommend something that will appeal to you, whatever your mood!