Library Leaves

WAR DANCES: short stories by Sherman Alexie

2010-02-28T14:45:00.003-05:00

I often call short stories the “popcorn” of literature. But that doesn’t mean I read short stories as light ephemeral pieces of work! No, short stories can offer quite a bit to mull over and chew on.

Take today’s collection by Sherman Alexie as an example…

The opening story of WAR DANCES could be ripped from any town’s headlines - a man is alone in his house when he hears someone breaking into his basement, confronts the intruder and unintentionally kills him. By taking us into the guilt ridden conscience of the young homeowner, Alexie gives us so much more than just a sad story – we’re offered the chance to commiserate (and agonize) with one man who has killed another (in this case the intruder into his home). Though he is not charged with any crime, the protagonist we suffer with our protagonist as he feels remorse and self-anger at what he sees as the cupidity and randomness of the situation in which he finds himself.

The title story, “War Dances” gyrates between a young father’s mounting concerns over his sudden hearing loss and memories of his father’s recent death in a sterile modern hospital. The suddenly hearing impaired young father rediscovers the comforts of his Native American traditions even as his father lay dying.

Yet another short story in this collection, “The Senator’s Son” plunks us smack into a tense exchange between a US Senator with presidential ambitions and his lawyer son. The son’s act of random violence committed against, ironically, his best childhood friend, sets up a tense interchange of blame and guilt, climaxing with this riveting statement: “If it is true that children pay for the sins of their fathers, is it also true that fathers pay for the sins of their children?”

In WAR DANCES Sherman Alexie writes from his experience as a Native American living in modern day Seattle , writing in a way that invites all of us into his stories. He is a great example of writing fluidly and expressively from one’s own experience – and in so doing allowing the rest of us to experience a world view that may not be our own but is nonetheless compelling and interesting.

I join with other reviewers and critics in finding Alexie’s work eclectic, intriguing and page-turning. Perhaps a reviewer for the Seattle Post put it best when she wrote: “Sherman Alexie mixes up comedy and tragedy, shoots it through with tenderness, then delivers with a provocateur’s don’t-give-a-damn flourish. He’s unique, and his new book, War Dances, is another case in point.” — Mary Ann Gwinn, Seattle Times. I hope you give Sherman Alexie a read and see if you don't agree!

STEP BY STEP: A pedestrian memoir by Lawrence Block

2010-02-28T13:54:00.004-05:00

Many of us know Lawrence Bloch through one (or more) of the many quirky characters he has created in his many mystery novels: international spy Evan Tanner, New York City private detective Matthew Scudder, hit-man-for-hire John Keller or my favorite - almost-reformed burglar/used bookstore owner Bernie Rhoddenbar. In today’s book, Block introduces us to an equally fascinating character – himself! STEP BY STEP is a delightful read of the journeys of a modern American life – the pedestrian memoirs of an inquiring mind.

Block is as charming, wry and as folksy as ever when writing about his life as a observant pedestrian and as a skilled runner – from his youth to the present day, offering us ample stories of the many marathons, races and journeys he has taken across the country and the world - check out his memories of the 3 month, 650 mile journey over the Pyrenees – the famed Camino De Santiago. It's a great one-chapter example of his writing, observation and walking skills. Too, I hope you'll take the time to read the chapter in which Block and his wife decide to pursue the elusive towns named Buffalo - and end up touring the American countryside - by foot and by car - from Florida to Colorado and beyond.

More than a "pedestrian" read, STEP BY STEP may set us all on our won open-eyed wanderings across the continent and beyond!

A HOMEMADE LIFE : a great read from Molly Wizenberg

2009-12-28T10:13:00.004-05:00

With "A Homemade Life" author Molly Wizenberg continues a trend first successful with the book “Julie and Julia” – a foodie blog brought to life in book form. Like “Julie and Julia” Wizenberg writes invitingly about her years in the kitchen and the many life-happenings that result from her delight in cooking. But unlike its successful predecessor, “A Homemade Life” takes us on a world-wide food journey, grounded in Wizenberg’s growing up years in Oklahoma, her college years in San Francisco and her contemporary life with husband (and fellow foodie Brandon) in Seattle - but spanning the Atlantic to take us on an extended visit to Paris - city of lights, food and romance - as well.

Meandering with Wizenberg in these pages we’re treated to many mouth-watering homemade recipes - the stuff most of us grew up eating and enjoying – and glimpses into Wizenberg’s life and travels as well. She takes us deep into the heart of her family, sharing the many joys (her romantic encounters both in the US and abroad, in Paris, are delightful reads for example) and, as this is a book based on real life, we share the sadnesses of her family too.

Holiday notes abound in the book but you won’t find one chapter devoted to Christmas or any other one holiday. Nor will you find the traditional “meats and poultry”, “fish”, "veggies", or "desserts"….type of organization either (albeit there is a nifty index in the back). Instead we DO find a wonderful mish mash of goodies that have brought joy or special meaning into Wizenberg’s life – and of course, hopefully into ours!

And hey, there’s a hint of Indiana in these pages too – check out the recipe for “Hoosier Pie” early on in the book – and have a bottle of high class bourbon on hand – Wizenberg assures us it’s a key ingredient for this Hoosier named treat!

In the end Wizenberg’s is an upbeat tale, featuring an author and a family that celebrate the good times with conviviality and with food - a book that only gets better the more we read.

For a special treat check out the blog that started it all: http://orangette.blogspot.com/

and catch her monthly column in "bon appetite" magazine (available at the WL Public Library).

Worked in a service job? You'll enjoy WAITER RANT....

2009-10-06T12:20:00.004-04:00

Yes, hot on the heels of the books JULIE AND JULIA and Anthony Bourdain’s KITCHEN CONFIDENTIAL we have a new, engaging – if cynical – insight into the world of lower income service jobs – WAITER RANT.

WAITER RANT reads as much as a contemporary confessional novel as the nonfiction rant of a thirty something waiter it claims to be. And this story-telling is what raises WATIER RANT from a mere collection of blog posts to an engaging, page turning read. The author’s well honed writing skills – he’s been writing a waiter blog for years - and it's on display often in these pages.

Our nameless author pulls us into his tale from the start, relating to us his disaffection with his efforts to become a priest at a seminary where he grew cynical about the ways of the contemporary church; leaving his path to the ministry our author next offers us his erstwhile attempt to offer ethical, caring care to the mentally challenged, a series of jobs which left him still in his 20’s and fed up with duplicity of the health care system. Down on his luck, willing to take just about any temporary employment as a way to make money – we get to the core of this tale – our authors’ fiery plunge into the world of waiting tables in the world of New York City’s fine dining – an experience that he relates with humor and not a little sarcasm.

Our author goes on to become the manager of a new fine dining establishment in a nearby upscale town – he labels it “The Bistro” in his blog and this book – and finds that managing a restaurant is more daring and challenging that he at first thought. As we read we’re offered his thoughts on any number of dining topics – some of the most cutting and hilarious revolving around the less than stellar impact on American dining life caused by the success of the FOOD CHANNEL and its 24 hour/7 day a week superstars and the development in the American dining world of a type of diner our author labels “foodies”.

WAITER RANT ends, appropriately enough, with “in your face” recommendations to those of us who dine out - a part of the book not to be missed!

All of this said let me give you fair warning – WAITER RANT is NOT for the faint of heart – the language can be salty, the subjects at times more “adult” than “family” and this former seminarian proves his cynicism with his sometimes caustic view of humanity.

Yet for all its 21st century sarcasm, WAITER RANT is as one critic wrote “never overbearing and certainly never self-righteous”. One critic of the book even compares it favorably to the runaway-hit TV show THE OFFICE… ”parts of the book were just flat out funny, in that kind of way that Office Space is funny to those who work in the corporate world.”

As is becoming usual, if you’re intrigued by my review of WAITER RANT I invite you to launch yourself into the reviews found at the major internet book sites – some these folks are writing their OWN books as they review this one – WAITER RANT is that inspiring to some readers! Maybe you'll feel that way about WAITER RANT too?

Listen to the review here WBAA radio website.
Listen here: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wbaa/.jukebox?action=featured

Do you like bugs?

2009-08-26T13:31:00.001-04:00

If so you will be fascinated with our “500 Insects: a Visual Reference” by Stephen A. Marshall. Like all the Firefly Books I have read it is a well done reference book. Marshall leads off with a good introduction, explaining the incredible number of identified insect species (over 1 million) compared to the estimated number of insect species (1.7 million) and leading it to the explanation of the taxonomy of insect names. Even with this amazing number of insects, he explains that they fall into 4 recognizable orders: Diptera (flies), Hymenoptera (wasps), Coleoptera (beetles) and Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). He explains how you will find similar species around the globe in similar habitats. He rounds out the introduction with sections on collecting and photography as well as basic bug biology and structure. All that before we get to the beautiful photographs that make up the bulk of the material.

The photographs are grouped by orders, families and sub-families, with one page dedicated to each insect. In addition to the close-up photograph of each insect you find some interesting information about the order and family.

1942 - Pearl Harbor as it might have been? by Robert Conroy

2009-08-21T12:26:00.003-04:00

It's 1942 and the Japanese have successfully invaded and taken Hawai'i, making it part of the Japanese empire.

Americans in occupied Hawai'i, the halls of power in Washington DC and the military labs of California respond with cunning, out-of-the-box action and a dash of on-the-run romance. Their Japanese counterparts meanwhile learn that winning a battle is only the beginning of the struggle to hold onto what they've won. With fictionalized appearances by President Franklin Roosvelt, Admiral Yammamoto and a cast of other significant - if fictional- characters 1942 is a novel of nonstop action and romance.

1942 may be "alternative history" but it rings true with its' characters very human emotions of love, patriotism, greed, and evil.

What a read!

Reading from the old "Axis of Evil"

2009-08-18T12:04:00.004-04:00

Presidents and foreign policies may change but I still get a kick out of reading books about cultures we in the West don’t study much – while we may not refer to an "axis of evil" in 2009 we're still not likely to know much about North Korea, Libya, Cuba, and a few other nations not deemed to be good friends of the USA.

So to learn more about those places that often shrouded in mystery in the past couple of years I’ve dipped my toes into such books as “Literature from the Axis of Evil” and “In the Country of Men” by Hisham Matar – the latter novel is set in modern day Libya.

My newest read took me to the so called “hermit kingdom” of North Korea – by way of a mystery/detective story related by one Inspector O, a detective in the North Korean People’s Security Service. Written by a former Western “operative” stationed in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, the book rings true in its depiction of life in a closed society.

The world in which Inspector O works is a world of shadows and shifting shapes, a world in which not much is what it seems to be, where the Inspector and those with whom he works must be vigilant for the slightest of telltale signs – warning flags as O succinctly calls them.

O is given a case by the higher-ups in the People’s Security Service that he finds implausible at first – a daring daylight robbery of Pyongyang’s only bank. But the more O investigates the bank robbery – and soon two murders – the more O becomes aware that he has two stark choices: solve the bank robbery and the murders quickly or be sucked into a maelstrom of evil that he will need more than luck and skill to survive. In a land where the surface often hides a murky depth, HIDDEN MOON takes O much deeper into the violent world of North Korean politics than the police inspector ever wished to go.

The character of O is drawn with care and discerning by author James Church. A man truly committed to his work, O lives as keenly when out walking his beat as when in his sparsely configured office – O’s apartment, in a building overseen by a gruff and inquisitive female gatekeeper, is an afterthought in a very thoughtful life. And since there is not a lot of radio or TV going in O’s life (nor, I suspect from the book’s presentation, not in North Korea as a whole), O has time to think about stuff – and while thinking O’s favorite way to focus is by stroking, sanding or carving odd pieces of wood he has picked up over the years.

Allow me to note that there is no internet to intrude into O's world either (heck, O has trouble figuring out his cell phone much less the vastness of the ‘net – not a lot of folks seem to have cell phones in North Korea and O’s frustration with his own phone finds little solace from the few other North Korean officials who DO have one of the government issued noise makers).

O’s life is filled with characters, as any good detective novel will have. There’s Min, O’s chief - a man whose natural inclination to worry is reinforced by his weekly immersion into the People’s Republic’s political bureaucracy; the lovely Miss Chon, a mysterious banker from that aforementioned bank that was robbed – Miss Chon claims to hail from the Central Asian nation of Kazakhstan but O learns Miss Chon has no official background – no “file” in the North Korean police bureaucracy – unheard of for a woman not native to the fatherland. And top it all off we come to a hulking fellow from Scotland. He introduces himself to O as a detective newly arrived in Pyongyang to handle security for a soon-to-be-visiting British dignitary – sent because our Scotsman is a European with some limited Korean language skills. He makes Inspector O’s life (and O's crime investigations) yet more complicated with his larger-than-life personality and presence.

The North Korea portrayed in HIDDEN MOON is a human-ized land. Yes, there are plenty of moments when one realizes we’re not reading a mystery set in Tokyo, or New York, Paris, Rio, Cairo or Beijing. But that said there we read of young lovers sitting together at sunset on benches along the city’s river; Club Blue offers enough vice and underworld action to fit into any good detective story.

Yet at the same time Pyongyang is portrayed as having an obviously limited evening social life (though there IS an after hours bar scene), not many plane flights in or out (the arrival of a key character – the Scotsman - on a private plane throws off O and his boss who are accustomed to the weekly arrival and departure of visitors not the sudden appearance of a foreigner!), and the threat of a immediate posting to the “countryside” or the mountains (far from urban Pyongyang in more ways than just geography) is a real threat that looms in the background of O and the men and women with whom he interacts.

HIDDEN MOON is the second in what is now a continuing series of detective novels set in the North Korean capital – and we know the series is doing well when we learn that the newest Inspector O novel is available now in large print as well as regular print size.

Inspector O is a fellow I’ve come to appreciate – the kind of guy I might want to have a beer with – if I enjoyed drinking beer!

NOTE: You can listen to my book reviews on WBAA radio. Go to the "Arts and Culture" section of the website. Let me know what you think of my comments!

The Ruin of the Roman Empire by James J. O'Donnell

2009-06-30T17:02:00.006-04:00

James J. O’Donnell’s ancient Rome is quite different from the Rome we all learned about in school – this is a Rome of complexity, of a vibrant – if ultimately corrupt and leaderless – political life even in its waning days.

This is a story of the Rome that lost its major breadbasket (North Africa) to invading peoples its wiser rulers and generals had earlier attempted to co-opt into the Empire in centuries past. This is a Rome so taken up with chauvinism and religious disputes over the merits of this or that form of Christianity that its people and its leaders failed to see the opportunities for compromise and inclusion that the so-called barbarian Christians offered; a Rome that now labeled as “barbarian” the very same peoples it had so assiduously courted in past centuries to settle its frontiers and staff its vastly superior armies.

Like the most famous of Western writers on the subject of Rome – Gibbon’s monumental “Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire” - O’Donnell too has a point of view to get across to his reader- a point that urges us to learn from the glories and the mistakes of the past so that we are not doomed to repeat them in our time. And O’Donnell’s point of view is as timely now as it ought to have been in the 5th century CE.

O'Donnell's point of view? It is this: Rome did not “fall” because of barbarian invasions or too much lead in their urban water pipes. No, the great and mighty Roman empire of old fell in large part because it refused to respond positively to the changes forced upon it – Ancient Rome clung too often to its storied past so tightly that it failed to grasp the opportunities for fresh points of view and fresh chances to strengthen itself through the energies of the so-called barbarians that Gibbons and others since him have blamed for the fall of the “cultured” Romans. The “illegal immigrants”/”barbarian invaders” of ancient Rome could have been the saviors of the Empire!

To drive his point home, O‘Donnell spends two chapters writing about these lost opportunities with chapters titled “The World that Might Have Been” and “Opportunities Lost” …. it can’t get much more direct than that.
Harkening back to his introductory chapter comments, O’Donnell points out in not so subtle prose that arguments waged and opportunities lost by the ancient Romans loom large in our modern world today – religious arguments over dogma, refusal to see immigration as a blessing rather than a curse, rigid concern with making society reflect the values of the past rather than the emerging values of a more prosperous future – O’Donnell infers again and again that we need to learn today what the ancient Romans did not.

Yes, THE RUIN OF ROME can suffer from too much detail at times – while we’re not confronted with dates galore – the glaring annoyance of many a student of history – we ARE presented with Roman and barbarian names enough to fill a modern city! But here’s my advice - If you read THE RUIN OF ROME for the sweep of the story that is told in these pages you will NOT be disappointed.
Though it is a work of nonfiction, the arc of THE RUIN OF ROME is not unlike that of a novel; we open with a chapter describing the late Roman Empire as it was titled “The World in 500”, move forward with chapters that take us into the last great flowering of Western Roman empire with what many see as “barbarian” rule under Emperors Odoacer and Theodoric and then the final rise of Roman might and glory under the great Byzantine-based emperor Justinian.
Our denouement to this once great world empire comes with the chapter “Learning to Live Again” and concludes with “The Debris of Empire” and “The Last Consul”; in closing giving us one last glimpse at a world with one last cautionary tale for our modern times as well, for this last look at Rome is through the eyes of a man O’Donnell describes as the last great leader of ancient Rome, a man who sought to hold together a world fast unraveling and a man who prophesied the end of great Rome; indeed, this last great leader of the ancient world was the prophet of….wait for it…..the biblical end of time itself – pronounced by the man now known as Pope Gregory the Great.

The irony of course is that while Pope Gregory – the last great ruler in the ancient Roman empire - was pessimistically engaged in self-described futile efforts to hold Rome together for what he “knew” would be the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth a quite different world was a-borning – a world where the memory of the Roman Empire would live on until our day – but too a new world that saw not the coming of God on earth but the final decay of Western Roman civilization into what we now call the “Middle Ages”.
History is written by the victors – or by those who survived - and so any one point of view must be seen as only of many. And so it is with the interpretation offered in THE RUIN OF ROME.

That said, In his Epilogue O’Donnell sums up this incredible –and true – tale with these words……”Old errors are easy to reenact…Today, as in the sixth century, a calm sense for the long view, the broad view, and a pragmatic preference for the better rather than the best can have a hard time overcoming the noisy anxiety of those who would transform – that is, ruin – what they do not understand. Civilization is a thing of the calm, the patient, the pragmatic, and the wise. We are not assured that it will triumph."

Available as a Podcast with additional excerpts from the book on the WBAA radio website.

THE DEEP Denizens of the Deep Seas

2009-04-06T11:11:00.011-04:00

I cannot tell you how HAPPY I am to tell you about today’s book!

I’m sure you are aware – as am I - with humankind’s fascination with the oceans. In the past fifty or so years we’ve had any number of feature films built around the premise that there is wonder and fearful stuff “out there” in the oceans – and just about 100 years ago Jules Verne scared the heck out of his audience with his science fiction novel 10,000 Leagues under the Sea.

THE DEEP, however, is not a scary book. THE DEEP is a BEAUTIFUL book to behold – and read. Indeed, I would say that beauty and wonder are the twin reasons for reading – and looking through – THE DEEP.

The deep sea denizens photographed in THE DEEP are as bizarre and weird as any science fiction movie (or novel) you may have seen or read. Consider: 250-year-old red and white tube worms are seen waving slowly in the dark ocean depths; fish with lanterns above their heads swim into view and crab-like creatures that look for all the world like giant fleas move slowly through the deep gloom. Tiny Octopi with strange new abilities and giant 25+ foot squids that are more afraid of whales than whales are of them float by in close-up photos (the giant squid eye photo has to be seen – imagine what that experience would be like in real life!

There are photos and essays depicting the strange new (to human knowledge at least) worlds of the warmer water smoke-stacks and the cold methane flows, truly otherworldly places in the deep oceans where not photosynthesis but chemosynthesis is the engine for myriad life forms previously unknown and unimaginable even by most if in the science fiction world

And speaking of wonder, what about the possibilities that we may yet find remnants from the past …prehistoric monsters still living and even thriving far away from our human eyes? THE DEEP devotes a chapter to this possibility.

The essays themselves vary in readability. All are thoughtfully written by experts in their field – and, interestingly, are international in scope with authors from Japan, Europe, and North America all represented. But the enjoyment one derives from reading beautiful prose is not to be found in most of them.

Too, because this is a collection of essays there is repetition in the book – we learn again and again a bit about how the earth’s continents are moving about the planet, how volcanoes erupt more in certain areas of the world’s oceans than in others and about the importance of “organic rain” (dead animals and plants from the ocean above) sinks slowly down as nutrients to these denizens of the deep.

But, all that said, THE DEEP is an experience not to be missed – as a field guide to the deep oceans it is a wonder to peruse. Our author reminds us that the variety of life found in the deep oceans is thought to hugely outnumber the forms of life found on land and in the air – life forms we’re all most familiar with.

It is written more than once in THE DEEP that we’ve only begun to discover all the different forms of life the deep seas nurture – like the ongoing search for beetles and other insect life on dry land the oceans undoubtedly hold so many more wonders to behold. And as peek into the wonders and otherworldly beauties of “inner-space” as the oceans have been labeled THE DEEP is time well spent. Posted by Nick Schenkel, West Lafayette Public Library. Also available as a podcast WBAA website

ALONE in the KITCHEN with an EGGPLANT

2008-08-22T11:18:00.000-04:00

Can dining alone be a highlight of one’s day? Can preparing vittles for one’s own consumption – be it served on china with silver or devoured over the kitchen sink or partaken of leisurely in bed – can this really be the stuff of wit and satire and enjoyment? The authors of today’s book think so!

Many of the essayists are either young 20 something essayists or reminiscing about their youth – and I must say after awhile I did tire of yet another “ah…it was my first apartment in the big city. Small as a postage stamp, it yet fulfilled my yearning for a life on my own and my cooking and dining grew with me as I explored this brave new world called adulthood.” Yes, yes, enough with the “I’m finally an adult” stories!! (In fairness, the book seems inclined to favor such stories with the first few essays – once you get past these, by reading or skipping lightly – you get into more mature tales of eating alone – tales which may, I realize not interest the 20-somethings nearly as much as they do me!

But to return to our stories….as good nonfiction will sometimes offer, these stories of cooking (and dining) for one can be as engaging as a good fictional short story. And why not? Both these essays and much fiction revolves around character driven stories – and characters abound in ALONE IN THE KITCHEN WITH AN EGGPLANT – be it the narrator or the foods they prepare!

There are stars of the food and literary world in this collection: MFK Fisher shares her secrets to enjoying dining alone (and if you’ve not read MFK Fisher yet – get on the stick!). Nora Ephron writes of potatoes and love, and Ben Karlin regales us with a tale of his cooking for members of an equally young Italian rock band for whom moma’s home cooking reigned supreme until THAT fateful evening.

But my favorite from ALONE IN THE KITCHEN WITH AN EGGPLANT is an essay by Holly Hughes, “Luxury”, a tale of the bittersweet travails of cooking for a suburban family and the delights of dreaming of dining alone.

Whether you’re single, involved, or just curious about how best to enjoy the dining experience with only yourself I think you’ll enjoy this collection of essays.

Listen to Nick's review as a podcast from WBAA radio by clicking here.

Vienna Prelude

2008-08-22T11:07:00.001-04:00

Written by Bodie & Brock Thoene and first book in the Zion Covenant series, this book takes us into the heart of Europe on the eve of Hitler's Anschluss of Austria. We meet a young violinist named Elisa Linder - obviously Aryan with her blonde hair and blue eyes. But Elisa harbors a terrifying secret. Back home in Berlin, she is Elisa Lindheim, daughter of a Jewish war hero and target for German hatred. While her own identity is safe in Vienna because of her Aryan stage name, her Jewish friends in the Vienna Symphony Orchestra are being increasingly targeted by those that would destroy their race. As she struggles to help save her friends while keeping her own identity a secret, even to them, her father is captured as he tries to flee Germany and placed in the infamous Dachau Concentration Camp. Elisa's life begins spinning out of control as Hitler's inches ever closer to Austria.

Meanwhile, a young American journalist named John Murphy discovers Elisa and her secret, and begins to find ways to help fight this one small battle against Hitler. Elisa and John begin to fight in the Jewish Underground Resistance, and together their lives intertwine in the race to stop Hitler before its too late.

I read this book when I was in high school, and I was so fascinated by the story and the writing that I was prompted then and there to study history when I finally went to college. This book is beautifully written and rich in detail; I highly recommend it!

Check it out @ your library: Vienna Prelude by Bodie & Brock Thoene

Interred With Their Bones

2008-05-23T10:57:00.000-04:00

"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
- William Shakespeare, from Julius Caesar.

Written by Jennifer Lee Carrell, this book is a delicious romp through the history and lore of Shakespeare, all thrown in to a daring mystery that takes place in today's world. Kate Stanley, a scholar of cult Shakespeare, is the first American woman to conduct Hamlet at the Globe in London. During rehearsal, her old PhD professor, Roz, shows up - a most unwelcoming surprise for Kate. Her former mentor gives her a gift and tells her that she has found something big. They set a time to meet after rehearsal, and when Roz doesn't show, Kate feels sure that Roz is again leading her on. But off in the distance, Kate notices something sinister in the air - a dark cloud is spilling forth from the earth, in the direction of the Globe. Terrified that her beloved theater is burning, on the same day and date as it did in 1613, Kate runs towards the Globe to find out that only the offices were ablaze. Relieved, Kate enters her office to find a gruesome spectacle - Roz, dead. Kate realizes that whatever Roz had in store for her is in the gift, and she most follow where it leads - for Roz's sake.

Thus begins a bold adventure taking the reader all around the world and into the heart of the desert south west on the quest for Shakespeare - not only for the man, but for a supposed lost play. But the bodies keep piling up as her quest progresses and Kate can't help but feel she is somehow leading the people that help her to their deaths. The ending is one as shocking as you are likely to find!

Check this book out @ your library! Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell

IN EUROPE: the 20th Century across a continent

2008-04-22T09:42:00.000-04:00

A sweeping journey across a continent and across time, IN EUROPE is an incredible journey across an incredible continent.

Beginning with the Paris World’s Fair in 1900, author Mak takes us from a Europe where war was a distant sound of gunfire from long, long ago through a century that all too soon saw two major world wars ravage a landscape and destroy peoples, peoples who yet rose from the ashes - twice - to remain one of THE leading political, cultural, and economic powers in the world.

Assigned by his Dutch newspaper to bring a continent’s century long story to its readers, journalist Mak takes us on his journeys across Europe on the cusp of a new century.

IN EUROPE is what I mean when I talk about a “page turner”. IN EUROPE is graphic, awe inspiring, sad, and riveting. This is the TRUE story of a continent in a time of radical change, the story of people buffeted by war, elated by peace, ground down by politics over which they seem to have no control, buoyed by the liberation of D-Day, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of dictatorships in the South. Often told through the lives of "everyday" people who lived through and now relate the events of this incredible century, IN EUROPE is compelling reading.

Listen to Library Director Nick Schenkel's review on WBAA radio or http://www.wlaf.lib.in.us

Mistress of the Art of Death

2008-04-09T14:07:00.000-04:00

A killer is on the loose in Cambridge, England. The body of a young boy, Peter of Trumpington, has been discovered, mutilated in the most horrible fashion. Being as the time is the early 1100s AD, the Jews of Cambridge are blamed for the killings. King Henry is distressed by the accusal of his Cambridge Jews, because they are some of the most profitable subjects in his entire kingdom. He sends an urgent message to his friend, the King of Sicily, to send him a master in the art of death.

Flash forward: we are watching a group of pilgrims traveling back to Cambridge. In a cart in the back of the group are three very strange individuals: a Jew, a Saracen, and a woman. This troupe, we soon come to learn, has been sent by the King of Sicily himself to discover the murderer of children.

We again also learn that the King of Sicily did not send a master of the art of death; he sent a mistress. And again, because it is 1100 AD England, the mistress can be condemned as a witch for healing the sick, and especially for investigating the corpses of murdered children. It is under this pretense of secrecy and fear that the band of three must search for the Cambridge child-killer, before he strikes again. They have everything to loose, most especially, their lives.

This novel has been hailed by reviewers as the CSI of the Medieval Ages.

Check it out @ your library: Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin

What's Up with Inspirational Books?

2008-04-01T11:14:00.000-04:00

April 1, 2008

What’s up withInspirational books?

Public libraries (and the librarians who run them) collect and make available all kinds of books on all kinds of topics. It’s what we do and what we like to do.

But there is one genre of book that is destined, it seems, to languish on the shelves – with a few bright and popular exceptions – the Inspirational book.*

We’ve had a colorful selection of these books on our special book display shelves at the West Lafayette Public Library for the month of March and lo and behold, those authors we already know are popular checked-out of the Library. The lesser known authors – we had hoped to spark some interest in readers since these lesser known books were on the display shelves – just sat and waited and waited, and waited to be taken home and read.

Sadly this is the same situation with our Library’s Inspirational book collection in the Library’s mainstream shelving areas. Popular authors circulate but there is little interest in serendipitous browsing to find “new to me” authors or titles.

Worse, from a Librarian’s perspective, when Inspirational books move from their twelve month sojourn in the “new books” area to the mainstream fiction (or nonfiction) bookshelves they pretty much drop from the checkout lists! So if it’s not a new Inspirational title, there is not much interest in our Library’s holding on to it our experience seems to say (unless our Library has unlimited space of course.).

I’ve talked with librarians from other libraries about this over the years and they have offered a couple of opinions: “yep, same experience in our library” and “seems if the author or book is recommended by a minister’s wife it circulates a lot – if not, not much if any circulation.”

Fascinating! In my twenty plus years of library work in Indiana I’ve noticed this trend with only one other genre – Western fiction – which is not terribly popular (whether new or older) here in the Midwest.

Our demographics say that Inspirational books ought to be popular with public library users in Indiana. If it’s not a new title though, forget it. Out of sight (not staring out at you from the new book shelves), out of mind it seems!

I’ve always wondered if focusing library patron's attention on the Library’s Inspirational books would prompt a larger circulation – given our month long experience just completed this is evidently not the case. Any thoughts about this?

Nick

*By "Inspirational" books I am referring to books written by authors such as Phillip Gulley, Jan Karon, Max Lucado, Janet Oke, etc.- they are sometimes these are referred to as "Christian romances" or "Christian fiction". They are, inevitably, written with a more conservative Christian theme and demur from the use of language or actions that could be read as anything but "G" rated.

The Trader Joe's Adventure

2008-03-06T17:58:00.000-05:00

Mention Trader Joe’s to (almost) any friend locally and I can imagine them launching into a soliloquy of the joys of shopping at the funky grocery store – and then ending their spiel with a plaintive cry for a Trader Joe’s closer than north Indianapolis and perhaps a sigh and a tear that their dear grocery is not closer at hand. If YOU are such a fan, how could you NOT enjoy today’s paean to that bestest of all grocery shopping experiences – Trader Joe’s?

We know we’ve got the “right” book in hand when we spot the book’s cover art with its Hawaiian tropical shirt theme! A quick perusal of the chapters lets us know we’re in for a fun ride – there’s a chapter on the famous “two buck Chuck” wine phenomenon and chapter after chapter lauding the friendly, surprise-around-every-aisle atmosphere of a Trader Joe’s grocery.

Trader Joe’s success as a retail market seems to be both exquisitely simple and thoroughly thought through. Trader Joe’s success is simple: the company works hard to provide a customer friendly – and staff friendly environment which not only brings customers back and keeps employees working hard but encourages both customers and staff to engage in “free” and powerful word-of-mouth advertising that brings even more folks into the Trader Joe’s orbit.

Their success is more thoughtful because of Trader Joe’s efforts to keep stock fresh and ever changing by buying out end-lots or odd-lots of discontinued merchandise AND of searching the world for the oddball but delicious delicacies that appeal to its diverse customer base. And let’s give props to Trader Joe’s management for making the effort to continually learn about their customer’s sense of adventure and putting that knowledge to work in the service of grocery capitalism!

The Trader Joe’s Experience is written by a fellow who has spent his career writing about business for trade magazines, proving once again that journalists often write very readable books – and proving that one can write a reasonably skeptical book without becoming too taken up with either praise or skepticism.

Listen to Library Director Nick Schenkel's review on WBAA radio or http://www.wlaf.lib.in.us

ALCATRAZ vs. THE EVIL LIBRARIANS by Brandon Sanderson

2008-02-14T11:51:00.000-05:00

Harry Potter may have wrapped up HIS story but the story of Alcatraz Smedry has just begun!
Alcatraz, you see, is a young freedom fighter when we meet him. An orphaned boy, Alcatraz is growing up in modern America - better known in our novel as “the Hushlands” - a land secretly ruled by a cabal of evil librarians.

Unlike other boys his age, Alcatraz has a bizarre talent – Alcatraz often breaks things he touches…and as a result he has been shuttled from one foster family to another. A life time of impermanence has convinced the young teen that love – for him – is impossible; what family could possibly love a boy who breaks what he touches – how do you live with such a boy much less come to love him as one of your own?

Then one day something even stranger happens. Alcatraz is visited by a jolly old man dressed in a tuxedo. The man shows an unusual knowledge of Alcatraz’ life heretofore and introduces himself as Alcatraz’ grandfather – come from a hitherto unknown part of the world - "the Freelands" - and tells the young teen he has come to engage Alcatraz in the adventure of a lifetime – an adventure that will spell the fate of those lands not yet under “evil librarian” rule – the heretofore unknown Freelands!

And so without missing a beat, our would-be heroes are off on an adventure of a lifetime, an adventure that takes them deep into the bowls of that fortress of evil in the modern world, the downtown city Library! Joined by three diverse characters from the Freelands in their assault on the cabal of evil libarians that holds "our" world in their thrall, Alcatraz and his grandfather don their freelander glasses and Alcatraz discovers the incredible usefulness of his Freeland heritage; it turns out breaking things can be a useful – downright life saving - talent!

Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians will appeal to all readers of adventure and certainly to readers in upper elementary and junior high school. The story’s fanciful take on the far reach of society-wide censorship, the power of conventional wisdom, and the often humorous interplay between older and younger generations gives ample interest for young adult and adult readers as well.

Listen to Library Director Nick Schenkel's review on WBAA radio or Check it out @ your library: Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson

A BOY NAMED SHEL

2008-02-14T11:20:00.000-05:00

A BOY NAMED SHEL by Lisa Rogak

Shel Silverstein was a fellow who hugged the tree of life and shook it for all it was worth!
A native Midwestern boy – Chicago by birth and upbringing – Silverstein learned early in life to follow his bliss, even using his required army experience to discover his talent as a cartoonist.

Silverstein’s love of life only grew as he worked his way back into civilian life. He refused to fit into the business life of his father – the newly civilian Silverstein had plans of his own and those plans took him from the offices of the newly minted men’s magazine Playboy where he convinced editor Hugh Heffner to publish his cartoons. With published work to his name, Silverstein quickly moved on to New York City, working his way into the publishing world. Immersed in the post war culture, Silverstein reveled in the developing beatnik culture, writing his own music and penning not a few plays over the years.

What about those children’s books? Silverstein is best known as the author of best selling titles including “A Light in the Attic”, “Falling Up”, The Giving Tree” and many others enjoyed by children, teens, and adults, folks of ALL ages. The books were in part a venue for Silverstein's life-long habit of "people watching", a habit he put to good use in developing the wacky but loveable characters that populate his often hilarious and often emotionally charged writing.

Too, Silverstein was a peripatetic fellow, keeping homes in Chicago, New York City, Key West…. And everywhere he lived he collected books – books of fairy tales, books of short stories, and books of writers he just plain enjoyed.

Never married, Silverstein was what one could refer to as “a ladies’ man”; he had lifetime friendships to show for it – not to mention, we’re told, any number of less lengthy get-togethers. Indeed, A BOY NAMED SHEL makes note (often) that our poety/playright/musician was a frequent guest at the Playboy Mansion in hometown Chicago. Silverstein was also a well known visitor in “music city” Nashville, and in San Francisco (where he was an early adopter of the “flower child” movement in the 1960’s).

A multi talented man whose work lives on in the hearts, the ears, and the eyes of many, A BOY NAMED SHEL is a delightful look at a beloved author’s life and times.

Listen to Library Director Nick Schenkel's review at WBAA radio's archive or Check it out @ your library: A BOY NAMED SHEL

My Enemy's Cradle

2008-02-12T11:39:00.000-05:00

As the threat of the Nuremburg Laws begin to descend upon the Jews of Holland, Cyrla and her cousin Anneke have their own problems. Anneke has gotten pregnant and is to leave for the Lebensborn, a maternity home for girls carrying German babies. But Anneke's soldier has disappeared, and the only people who can claim the babies are the fathers - or the baby is taken away. Anneke can't stand the depression of her soldier leaving her and the shame she has brought to her father. She takes her own life and leaves her cousin to flounder in the wake of her loss. And the neighbors have begun to whisper. Because Cyrla, though she looks the Aryan, is Jewish. Her father sent her from her home in Poland to live with her non-Jewish family in Holland. But someone knows what she is and her life is in grave danger. After her cousin's death, Cyrla and her aunt decide that she needs to take Anneke's place in the Lebensborn. But can Cyrla, who is nearly identical with her cousin, fool the doctors and nurses and escape before her treachery is discovered?

Check it out @ your library: My Enemy's Cradle by Sarah Young

Michael Tolliver Lives!

2008-01-29T10:24:00.000-05:00

Hooray for Mouse! A key star of Armistead Maupin’s beloved series “Tales of the City” which chronicled life in 1970’s and 80’s San Francisco comes back to tell us his story in the millennium. Michael is older – he’s 55! And as with many of us aging boomers, Michael Tolliver is concerned more with domestic life than with the fabled escapes of his youth.

Gone from “Michael Tolliver Lives” are the ‘70’s and ‘80’s cultural references to the Mary Tyler Moore Show, to pop music and to the free wheeling pop culture world that made the original “Tales” so gossipy but endearing. But worry not dear reader, still with us – and robust as ever – are landlady and beloved transsexual Anna Madrigal (now in her 80’s!) and Brian Hawkins – our ladies man/playboy turned waiter turned doting father. We get updates on Anna’s daughter Mona, and we delight again in the topsy-turvy world of the city by the bay – strolling with Michael Tolliver from the (still) gay Castro district to tourist-ridden Fisherman’s Warf.

We look in on the (now increasingly middle aged) counter culture. And, this being a novel by Armistead Maupin, we’re introduced to a charming group of new San Francisco characters – from Brian’s hip (one might say bleeding edge) daughter/journalist to Jake, Michael’s furry little gay landscape co-worker who holds secrets from his life past in Tulsa Oklahoma. We get to know Ben, Michael’s 30 something partner in life who provides Maupin – and all of us - with ample opportunities to look at our new century through the eyes of someone NOT familiar with the free wheeling 70’s. AND, Maupin takes us deeper into the life of Michael Tolliver’s family in Florida – when Michael (with Ben in tow) travels back to his dying mother’s bedside and plunges once again into his earlier life with his older – and oh-so-straight brother Irwin and his evangelical Christian (and leader of her church’s puppet ministry) wife, Lenore. I’ll leave you to imagine the fireworks and the pathos!

Surely NOT a book for the faint of heart - there is enough sex, drugs – but no rock and roll - in any one chapter of “Michael Tolliver” to please ANY reader of today’s saucy minded novels. But, as the always wise Anna Madrigal tells Michael late in the novel “You don’t have to keep up, dear. You just have to keep open.” Keep an open mind with YOU and you’ll delight in reading “Michael Tolliver Lives”!
Listen to Library Director Nick Schenkel's review at WBAA : or Check it out @ your library: Michael Tolliver Lives! by Armistead Maupin

Salt: a World History by Mark Kurlansky

2008-01-28T15:23:00.001-05:00

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like without salt? We use it at the table but Kurlansky explaines in his fascinating biography of the mineral the many impacts this product has had on our civilization. Did you know that salt was so valuable in the ancient world that the Roman soldiers were paid in salt? Our word salary comes from the Latin word for salt, sal. Salt enabled civilizations to expand when it was found that meat and fish could be salted and preserved for later use. Traders and travelers could go farther and faster when they could carry their own preserved food rather than live off the land. Salted cod allowed sailors to cross oceans rather than stick to the coast. Read this interesting book and learn how salt is collected and why it comes in different colors, find out about the salt mines near Saltzburg, why wars were fought over the mineral, and many other salient facts.

Check it out @ your library: Salt by Mark Kurlansky

Shadow of the Wind

2008-01-23T12:33:00.000-05:00

One morning, in 1945 Barcelona, a young boy wakes from his dreams, screaming. His father comes in to comfort him, and the boy tells him that he can no longer remember what his mother looked like. In order to ease his pain, his father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and tells him to pick one book, any book, that he likes from the shelves. The boy finds solace in his choice, a book named Shadow of the Wind and written by one Julian Carax. He enjoy the book so much that he goes in search of Carax's other works, only to discover that someone has been destroying every copy of every book that Carax wrote. The boy desperately tries to stem the purge, only to discover to his horror that to own the book dooms him to the same destruction. But the book is impossible to forget, and he can't quit the search, no matter how dangerous. Because to discover the author's secrets he will learn the truth behind an unforgettable mystery of murder, mayhem, and a tragic lost love.

This is my all-time favorite book. I invite you to read the prologue, and tell me that it didn't give you goosebumps. And if it did give you goosebumps, you are in for the read of your life!

Check it out @ your library: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN by Hisham Matar

2008-01-15T16:32:00.000-05:00

A story without borders or time, this is the tale of a nine year boy whose family and the larger world around him is torn apart by a modern day Revolution.
IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN unfolds as two stories – the engaging story of a young boy as he explores the family and urban world around him and, at the same time, the darker story of a society slowly repressed by a leader intent on imposing his own brand of revolution on the nation.
When we first meet Suleiman the nine year old narrator is living happily with his mom, dad, and friends in Tripoli, the North African seaside capital of Libya, a city already well populated in the time of the Roman Empire.
His life is like that of many nine year old boys – he navigates the changing moods of his mother and father, and is not above pouting to gain his own selfish ends (tales of Suleiman’s manipulation of his young mother on market days are priceless reading! ).
He delights in exploring the ins and outs of his newly built neighborhood with his best friend, enjoys swimming in the nearby Mediterranean Sea, and is excited when asked to join his friend on a visit to the nearby Roman ruins. Too, like many youngsters throughout the world, Suleiman acts as his lonely mother’s companion during those many days when his father is away on “business”.
But danger looms in his young world. First Suleiman’s best friend’s father and soon enough his own father disappear into the maw of the Libyan Revolutionary guards, falling out of sight “behind the sun”. Neighbors spy more openly on neighbors and his (almost) picture perfect world plunges into darkness (though not despair) as the Libyan Revolution comes crashing into their homes on – of all places - Mulberry Street.
This slowly unfolding doom is a strong reason why this novel is so much more than “a day in the life of a nine year Libyan boy”. And as we read on, we find the reason for the title – we focus increasingly on the men in Suleiman’s life – those close to him and those from afar (members of the Libyan national government); we discover it is the men, by far, who are responsible for the growing tumult and pain in Suleiman’s life.
Yet In the midst of this danger and mounting anxiety, we are treated to author Hisham Matar’s beautiful writing - his marvelous facility with English prose.
Nominated for a Mann Booker Prize (which celebrates the best fiction of the year by a member of the British Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland) this semi autobiographical tale is a story worth reading and pondering.
In early 2006 I strongly recommended the book LITERATURE FROM THE AXIS OF EVIL, a collection of stories which includes short stories from Libyan authors permitted to publish by their government. IN THE COUNTRY OF MEN is a different kind of “literature”, written by a Libyan author at work in England. It is no less powerful and moving on its own uncensored authority. Reviewed by Nick Schenkel on WBAA radio and on Library Leaves. Listen to an extended review of this book on the WBAA radio archives link elsewhere on this page!

Find it @ your library: In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar

The Covenant

2008-01-02T16:25:00.001-05:00

When her family - husband Jonathan and daughter Ilana - are kidnapped from their home in Jerusalem, Elise frantically calls her Bubbee (grandmother) Leah for help. Soon Leah and her four friends, now grandmothers and great grandmothers, band together to help Elise. The four women made a covenant when they were in Auschwitz that if they survived the war, they would do anything and everything within their power to make sure that they each lived happily for the rest of their days. As the women reunite to help find Elise's family, we learn of more serious problems plaguing Israel - the threat of Hamas and the lives that are destroyed at the hands of terrorists. And we discover, most importantly, that not just Jews are harmed in the fighting. A great, powerful novel.

Click here to find a copy @ your library: The Covenant by Naomi Ragen

The Golden Compass

2008-01-02T16:23:00.001-05:00

I felt the need to read this book with all the recent hype surrounding the movie. If you liked The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, you will definitely like this book! Young Lyra lives at Jordan College in Oxford, but we realize that the Oxford she inhabits is in a time very different from ours. In her world, some mythical group called The Gobblers are kidnapping children. No one knows what is really going on, but Lyra intends to find out. Her adventures take her to the very northern regions of the world on a quest to discover who the Gobblers are, what they are doing to children, and stop them at all costs.

This was a great adventure, and like I said, much like CS Lewis' works. Read it for the sheer joy of reading and adventure!

Check out a copy @ your library: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman