Today we talked about books/topics outside our comfort zones. This made for an eclectic bunch, that's for sure.
Poetry Speaks: Hear Poets from Tennyson to Plath Read Their Own Work, Expanded Edition with poet/poem introductions narrated by Charles Osgood
(librarian's review) I have a tough time reading poetry. I remember really like the Shel Silversteins of the world when I was a young child, but poetry for adults, for me, is a tougher sell. It's just different. Different content, written for a different audience. The cadences, allusions, and references are all harder to grasp. I picked up this book fairly casually, thinking it would be cool to hear poets read their own work. I had no idea what a game changer this would be! The book comes with 3 audio CDs, beginning with the very first audio recordings, made about 10 after Edison invented wax phonograph cylinders. They are tough to understand so you need to read along in the book while listening to the audios, but persistence will net you recorded readings by Alfred Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, and Walt Whitman. Very rare indeed. The other CDs offer a treasure trove of personalities, topics, and earworms for your pleasure and enlightenment, like Langston Hughes, Gertrude Stein, William Carlos Williams, Carl Sandberg, Sylvia Plath, and many, many more. After listening to these, I'm on the lookout for other recordings of poets reading their own work. You know, as you listen, that you are now hearing it read just as the poets heard it in their own minds as they composed the work. What an experience!
Holley, Emmet O'Neal
Long Man by Amy Greene (Audiobook narrated by Dale Dickey)
(librarian's review) Long Man is Amy Greene’s second novel and like the first, Bloodroot, it leaves you wanting her to hurry up and write another. They are not a series, but her stories take place in Appalachia and her characters are finely and richly drawn.
Long Man is also the old name for the river that runs near the town of Yuneetah in East Tennessee, and is the lifeblood of the people who live along and above its banks. The TVA has built a dam and the valley (and town) are set to be flooded to bring electricity to the area. Most of the people are complacent about being relocated to a new place with more fertile land and new job opportunities, but there are a few holdouts. One of the staunchest is the orphaned Annie Clyde Dodson, who is determined that her 3 year old daughter, Gracie, will grow up on their family farm. She runs off the government men with a shotgun, thus making it difficult to even discuss relocation. Annie’s husband, James, has left to establish a job and home for them up north, but she won’t budge. Even the sympathetic local law officer can’t soften her, though he grew up with her mother and Aunt Silver and has known her for years. Aunt Silver lives alone further up the mountain and she isn’t eager for her only remaining kin to leave either, but she’s not close to Annie. She is close to Amos, a one-eyed drifter who washed up in a flood as a four year old child and was rescued and raised by the local granny woman. Now Amos has come back, and no one knows exactly why he’s back in the valley; Annie sees him talking to Gracie by the corn field and is frightened. The day before the town is to be flooded, James comes back to collect his family, but after supper they discover that Gracie is nowhere to be found. The few remaining townspeople search frantically for her while the government man tries to delay the flooding and Silver tries to find and clear Amos.
The writing is clear and beautiful and evokes the spirit of Appalachia during the 1930s, but what made this book perfect for me was Dale Dickey’s narration. Ms. Dickey played Merab, Thump Milton’s woman, in the movie, Winter’s Bone, but she’s probably better known as Patty the Daytime Hooker from the My Name is Earl television show. Her voice and accent are perfect for telling the story of Annie Clyde, Silver, and Amos, just the right amount of Southern with resignation and resilience coming through on every word. Southerners know a fake Southern accent and it can ruin an otherwise fine performance for us, but Ms. Dickey nails it because she knows it. She sings life and truth into Greene’s characters in a way no written word could do and the result is strong and unapologetic. Even if you’re not a fan of audiobooks, give yourself a treat and try this one.
Kelly Laney, Springville Road
GENERAL DISCUSSION: Another great audiobook with stellar voice talent is Ruby Dee's narration of Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. She truly makes the work sing! We also discussed the sometimes difficulty of the classics, specifically Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and Ann Radcliffe's Gothic novel The Mysteries of Udolpho. On the comic side of classics, there is an hilarious Tumblr,called One Star Reviews of Classic Literature, devoted to the oft-misguided bad ratings of classics on Amazon. An honorable mention is the LiveJournal, Bizarre Victoria, where you may benefit from the funny, exhaustive research of one PhD candidate's quest to learn more about the Victorian time period.
Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine
(amazon.com) Shocked by the commerce in everything from pet cloning to patriotism, frightened by the downward spiral of her finances and that of the trash-strewn earth, Judith Levine enlists her partner, Paul, in a radical experiment: to forgo all but the most necessary purchases for an entire year.
Without consumer goods and experiences, Judith and Paul pursue their careers, nurture relationships, and try to keep their sanity, their identities, and their sense of humor intact. Tracking their progress -- and inevitable lapses -- Levine contemplates need and desire, scarcity and security, consumerism and citizenship. She asks the Big Questions: Can the economy survive without shopping? Are Q-tips necessary?
Not Buying It is the confession of a woman any reader can identify with: someone who can't live without French roast coffee or SmartWool socks but who has had it up to here with overconsumption and its effects on the earth and everyone who dwells there.
For the humor and intelligence of its insights, the refreshment of its skepticism, and the surprises of its conclusions, Not Buying It is sure to be on anyone's list of Necessities.
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History
To Buy or Not to Buy: Why We Overshop and How to Stop by April Benson
(amazon.com) Are you a shopaholic?
• Do you use shopping as a quick fix for the blues?
• Do you often buy things that you don’t need or can’t afford?
• Do your buying binges leave you feeling anxious or guilty?
• Is your shopping behavior hurting your relationships?
• Have you tried to stop but been unable to?
If so, you are not alone. Nearly 18 million Americans are problem shoppers, unable to break the buying habits that lead them into debt, damaged relationships, and depression. If this describes you, or someone you care about, the help you need is here.
Drawing on recent research and on decades of working with overshoppers, Dr. April Benson brings together key insights with practical strategies in a powerful program to help you stop overshopping. As you progress through this book, you’ll take back control of your shopping and spending and create a richer, more meaningful and satisfying life. To learn more about the author, visit her website, Stopping Overshopping.
Mary Anne, BPL Southern History
Baby, Let's Play House: Elvis Presley and the Women Who Loved Him by Alanna Nash
(amazon.com) Thirty-three years after his death, Elvis Presley's extraordinary physical appeal, timeless music, and sexual charisma continue to captivate, titillate, and excite. Though hundreds of books have been written about the King, no book has solely explored his relationships with women and how they influenced his music and life . . . until now.
Based largely on exclusive interviews with the many women who knew him in various roles—lover, sweetheart, friend, costar, and family member—Baby, Let's Play House presents Elvis in a new light: as a charming but wounded Lothario who bedded scores of women but seemed unable to maintain a lasting romantic relationship. While fully exploring the most famous romantic idol of the twentieth century, award-winning veteran music journalist Alanna Nash pulls back the covers on what Elvis really wanted in a woman and was tragically never able to find.
Mondretta, Leeds
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future: Twists and Turns and Lessons Learned by Michael J. Fox
(amazon.com) Michael J. Fox abandoned high school to pursue an acting career, but went on to receive honorary degrees from several universities and garner the highest accolades for his acting, as well as for his writing. In his new book, he inspires and motivates graduates to recognize opportunities, maximize their abilities, and roll with the punches--all with his trademark optimism, warmth, and humor.
In A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future, Michael draws on his own life experiences to make a case that real learning happens when "life goes skidding sideways." He writes of coming to Los Angeles from Canada at age eighteen and attempting to make his way as an actor. Fox offers up a comically skewed take on how, in his own way, he fulfilled the requirements of a college syllabus. He learned Economics as a starving artist; an unexpected turn as a neophyte activist schooled him in Political Science; and his approach to Comparative Literature involved stacking books up against their movie versions. Replete with personal stories and hilarious anecdotes, Michael J. Fox's new book is the perfect gift for graduates.
Mondretta, Leeds
GENERAL DISCUSSION: Mondretta's favorite quote from the book (attributed to Hall of Fame basketball player/coach John Wooden) is, "If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"
The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
(amazon.com) "My name was Salmon, like the fish; first name, Susie. I was fourteen when I was murdered on December 6, 1973."
So begins the story of Susie Salmon, who is adjusting to her new home in heaven, a place that is not at all what she expected, even as she is watching life on earth continue without her -- her friends trading rumors about her disappearance, her killer trying to cover his tracks, her grief-stricken family unraveling. Out of unspeakable tragedy and loss, The Lovely Bones succeeds, miraculously, in building a tale filled with hope, humor, suspense, even joy.
The major motion picture version of THE LOVELY BONES is directed by Peter Jackson and stars Rachel Weisz, Susan Sarandon, Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, and Saoirse Ronan.
Mondretta, Leeds
Jon, Avondale
Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. by Rob Delaney
(amazon.com) NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY E! ONLINE
Rob Delaney is a father, a husband, a comedian, a writer. He is the author of an endless stream of beautiful, insane jokes on Twitter. He is sober. He is sometimes brave. He speaks French. He loves women with abundant pubic hair and saggy naturals. He has bungee jumped off of the Manhattan Bridge. He enjoys antagonizing political figures. He listens to metal while he works out. He likes to fart. He broke into an abandoned mental hospital with his mother. He played Sir Lancelot in Camelot. He has battled depression. He is funny as s***. He cleans up well. He is friends with Margaret Atwood. He is lucky to be alive. Read these hilarious and heartbreaking true stories and learn how Rob came to be the man he is today.
Lauren, Hoover
With Violets by Elizabeth Robards
(amazon.com) Paris in the 1860s: a magnificent time of expression, where brilliant young artists rebel against the stodginess of the past to freely explore new styles of creating—and bold new ways of living.
Passionate, beautiful, and utterly devoted to her art, Berthe Morisot is determined to be recognized as an important painter. But as a woman, she finds herself sometimes overlooked in favor of her male counterparts—Monet, Pissarro, Degas.
And there is one great artist among them who captivates young Berthe like none other: the celebrated genius Édouard Manet. A mesmerizing, breathtaking rogue—a shameless roué, undeterred and irresistible—his life is a wildly overgrown garden of scandal. He becomes Berthe's mentor, her teacher...her lover, despite his curiously devoted marriage to his frumpy, unappealing wife, Suzanne, and his many rumored dalliances with his own models. For a headstrong young woman from a respectable family, an affair with such an intoxicating scoundrel can only spell heartbreak and ruin.
But Berthe refuses to resign herself to the life of quiet submission that Society has dictated for her. Undiscouraged, she will create her own destiny...and confront life—and love—on her own terms.
Maura, Trussville
Fevre Dream by George R. R. Martin
(amazon.com) A THRILLING REINVENTION OF THE VAMPIRE NOVEL BY THE MASTER OF MODERN FANTASY, GEORGE R. R. MARTIN
Abner Marsh, a struggling riverboat captain, suspects that something’s amiss when he is approached by a wealthy aristocrat with a lucrative offer. The hauntingly pale, steely-eyed Joshua York doesn’t care that the icy winter of 1857 has wiped out all but one of Marsh’s dilapidated fleet; nor does he care that he won’t earn back his investment in a decade. York’s reasons for traversing the powerful Mississippi are to be none of Marsh’s concern—no matter how bizarre, arbitrary, or capricious York’s actions may prove. Not until the maiden voyage of Fevre Dream does Marsh realize that he has joined a mission both more sinister, and perhaps more noble, than his most fantastic nightmare—and humankind’s most impossible dream.
Maura, Trussville
One Soul by Ray Fawkes
(amazon.com) Eighteen individuals throughout history whose entire lives unfold simultaneously. Comprised entirely of double page spreads split into eighteen panels with each panel featuring one character's life, cartoonist Ray Fawkes has artfully crafted eighteen linear stories into one non-linear masterpiece. Nominated for the 2012 Eisner Award in the "Graphic Album: New" category.
Maura, Trussville
GENERAL DISCUSSION: We don't seem to talk very much about graphic novels outside of teen manga and comic book series but there is a lot of great material out there in lots of different subjects. The illustrated classics series of books also seem to not be on just everyone's radar as a great gateway to get kids interested in the classics. Even nonfiction topics get great graphic treatment from time to time. Jonathan Hennessey and Aaron McConnell's graphic adaptations of both the U.S. Constitution and the Gettysburg Address will knock your socks off!
His To Command by Opal Carew
(amazon.com) Kate is a modern businesswoman who knows exactly how to run her well-organized world. But underneath her professional exterior lurks a secret that she’s been running from for years—a fierce desire to be dominated that both exhilarates and terrifies her. And there’s only one man who’s ever tempted her to lose control.
Powerful executive Matthew Pearce gave Kate her first taste of what it means to surrender completely at the hands of a dominant man, and she's never been able to forget. Though she’s spent years trying to outrun her feelings for him, a chance encounter changes everything . . . and this time she might not be able to escape. Deciding to give in to her deepest desires, Kate agrees to spend a week at Matt’s mansion exploring her submissive side under his masterful instruction. Just when she starts to fall deeper and harder for him than ever before, a terrible secret from his past threatens to tear them apart, and Kate must decide whether to finally trust Matt with her heart . . . or leave him behind forever.
Samuel, BPL BST
Male Model by Dave Benbow
(amazon.com) In his sizzling debut novel, Daytime Drama, Dave Benbow took readers inside the sexy, catty world of soaps. Now he goes behind the seams—and under the covers—of LA's fashion district, where a man's body is his business, and one man’s exquisite face and form are about to take him straight to the top, into the arms of an unlikely lover...and into the crosshairs of a deranged killer...
Samuel, BPL BST
Summer Cruising by Dave Benbow
(amazon.com) Sweeping romance and steamy sex are the daily activities for the hunky passengers of the RMS Princess Diana, as they set sail on a rollicking all-gay cruise through the sun-drenched Mediterranean and its stunning ports of call...But this idyllic holiday abruptly ends when a calculating psychopath sets in motion a dastardly plan to send the luxurious liner to the bottom of the sea. Soon daring escapes, personal sacrifices, and heart-pounding rescues replace romance and the men of the Diana struggle to survive the sinking ship and each other...
Samuel, BPL BST
GENERAL DISCUSSION: Math gets the star treatment and actually becomes entertaining in actress Danica McKellar's great series of books designed for the faint of math heart!
- Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail
- Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss
- Hot X: Algebra Exposed!
- Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape
Bridges That Changed the World by Bernhard Graf
(amazon.com) Whether they span rivers or harbours, cultures or countries, bridges have long been a symbol of man's ingenuity, perseverance and thirst for exploration. Starting with ancient bridges built by the Mongol and Roman Empires through future bridges that exist only in blueprints, this volume travels the globe to examine 50 of the world's most important bridges and the history, legends and people behind them. In two-page spreads containing photographs, plans, drawings and text, this architectural and historical journey explains why bridges continue to fascinate us, both as examples of engineering genius and artistic vision. It reveals little-known facts that should deepen our appreciation of the science and technology of bridge-building, introduces historic events in which bridges have played a central role, and offers re-examinations of some of the world's most familiar bridges. From the glory of the Golden Gate, San Francisco, to the grace of the Ponte Vecchio, Florence, the imposing presence of London's Tower Bridge to a stone structure in Afghanistan's Quala Panji that is still used today, this volume is a celebration of our steadfast desire to connect with and discover the world around us.
Samuel, BPL BST
Why Buildings Stand Up: The Strength of Architecture by Mario Salvadori
(amazon.com) Between a nomad's tent and the Sears Tower lies a revolution in technology, materials, and structures. Here is a clear and enthusiastic introduction to buildings methods from ancient times to the present day, including recent advances in science and technology that have had important effects on the planning and construction of buildings: improved materials (steel, concrete, plastics), progress in anti-seismic designs, and the revolutionary changes in both architectural and structural design made possible by the computer.
Samuel, BPL BST
Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace
(amazon.com) To European explorers, it was Eden, a paradise of waist-high grasses, towering stands of walnut, maple, chestnut, and oak, and forests that teemed with bears, wolves, raccoons, beavers, otters, and foxes. Today, it is the site of Broadway and Wall Street, the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, and the home of millions of people, who have come from every corner of the nation and the globe.
In Gotham, Edwin G. Burrows and Mike Wallace have produced a monumental work of history, one that ranges from the Indian tribes that settled in and around the island of Manna-hata, to the consolidation of the five boroughs into Greater New York in 1898. It is an epic narrative, a story as vast and as varied as the city it chronicles, and it underscores that the history of New York is the story of our nation. Readers will relive the tumultuous early years of New Amsterdam under the Dutch West India Company, Peter Stuyvesant's despotic regime, Indian wars, slave resistance and revolt, the Revolutionary War and the defeat of Washington's army on Brooklyn Heights, the destructive seven years of British occupation, New York as the nation's first capital, the duel between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, the Erie Canal and the coming of the railroads, the growth of the city as a port and financial center, the infamous draft riots of the Civil War, the great flood of immigrants, the rise of mass entertainment such as vaudeville and Coney Island, the building of the Brooklyn Bridge and the birth of the skyscraper.
Here too is a cast of thousands--the rebel Jacob Leisler and the reformer Joanna Bethune; Clement Moore, who saved Greenwich Village from the city's street-grid plan; Herman Melville, who painted disillusioned portraits of city life; and Walt Whitman, who happily celebrated that same life. We meet the rebel Jacob Leisler and the reformer Joanna Bethune; Boss Tweed and his nemesis, cartoonist Thomas Nast; Emma Goldman and Nellie Bly; Jacob Riis and Horace Greeley; police commissioner Theodore Roosevelt; Colonel Waring and his "white angels" (who revolutionized the sanitation department); millionaires John Jacob Astor, Cornelius Vanderbilt, August Belmont, and William Randolph Hearst; and hundreds more who left their mark on this great city.
The events and people who crowd these pages guarantee that this is no mere local history. It is in fact a portrait of the heart and soul of America, and a book that will mesmerize everyone interested in the peaks and valleys of American life as found in the greatest city on earth. Gotham is a dazzling read, a fast-paced, brilliant narrative that carries the reader along as it threads hundreds of stories into one great blockbuster of a book.
Samuel, BPL BST
Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton
(amazon.com) Based on the blog with more than four million loyal fans, a beautiful, heartfelt, funny, and inspiring collection of photographs and stories capturing the spirit of a city
Now an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, Humans of New York began in the summer of 2010, when photographer Brandon Stanton set out to create a photographic census of New York City. Armed with his camera, he began crisscrossing the city, covering thousands of miles on foot, all in an attempt to capture New Yorkers and their stories. The result of these efforts was a vibrant blog he called "Humans of New York," in which his photos were featured alongside quotes and anecdotes.
The blog has steadily grown, now boasting millions of devoted followers. Humans of New York is the book inspired by the blog. With four hundred color photos, including exclusive portraits and all-new stories, Humans of New York is a stunning collection of images that showcases the outsized personalities of New York.
Surprising and moving, printed in a beautiful full-color, hardbound edition, Humans of New York is a celebration of individuality and a tribute to the spirit of the city. With 400 full-color photos and a distinctive vellum jacket
Samuel, BPL BST
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
(amazon.com) At the staid Marcia Blaine School for Girls, in Edinburgh, Scotland, teacher extraordinaire Miss Jean Brodie is unmistakably, and outspokenly, in her prime. She is passionate in the application of her unorthodox teaching methods, in her attraction to the married art master, Teddy Lloyd, in her affair with the bachelor music master, Gordon Lowther, and—most important—in her dedication to "her girls," the students she selects to be her crème de la crème. Fanatically devoted, each member of the Brodie set—Eunice, Jenny, Mary, Monica, Rose, and Sandy—is "famous for something," and Miss Brodie strives to bring out the best in each one. Determined to instill in them independence, passion, and ambition, Miss Brodie advises her girls, "Safety does not come first. Goodness, Truth, and Beauty come first. Follow me." And they do. But one of them will betray her.
Samuel, BPL BST
Wonderland Creek by Lynn Austin
(amazon.com) Alice Grace Ripley lives in a dream world, her nose stuck in a book. But happily-ever-after life she's planned on suddenly falls apart when her boyfriend, Gordon, breaks up with her, accusing her of living in a world of fiction instead of the real world. Then to top it off, Alice loses her beloved job at the library because of cutbacks due to the Great Depression. Fleeing small-town gossip, Alice heads to the mountains of eastern Kentucky to deliver five boxes of donated books to the library in the tiny coal-mining village of Acorn. Dropped off by her relatives, Alice volunteers to stay for two weeks to help the librarian, Leslie McDougal. But the librarian turns out to be far different than she anticipated-not to mention the four lady librarians who travel to the remote homes to deliver the much-desired books. While Alice is trapped in Acorn against her will, she soon finds that real-life adventure and mystery-and especially romance-are far better than her humble dreams could have imagined.
April, Pinson
While We're Far Apart by Lynn Austin
(amazon.com) In an unassuming apartment building in Brooklyn, New York, three lives intersect as the reality of war invades each aspect of their lives. Young Esther is heartbroken when her father decides to enlist in the army shortly after the death of her mother. Penny Goodrich has been in love with Eddie Shaffer for as long as she can remember; now that Eddie's wife is dead, Penny feels she has been given a second chance and offers to care for his children in the hope that he will finally notice her and marry her after the war. And elderly Mr. Mendel, the landlord, waits for the war to end to hear what has happened to his son trapped in war torn Hungary. But during the long, endless wait for victory overseas, life on the home front will go from bad to worse. Yet these characters will find themselves growing and changing in ways they never expected and ultimately discovering truths about God's love. . .even when He is silent.
April, Pinson
Patricia Briggs' Mercy Thompson series
(patriciabriggs.com/books) Mercedes is Volkswagen mechanic living in the Tri-Cities area of Washington. Her Native American heritage has gifted her with the ability to take the form of a coyote at will. She's surrounded by far more powerful supernatural beings, including werewolves, vampires and an assortment of fey.
1. Moon Called (2006)
2. Blood Bound (2007)
3. Iron Kissed (2008)
4. Bone Crossed (2009)
5. Silver Borne (2010)
6. River Marked (2011)
7. Frost Burned (2013)
8. Night Broken (2014)
Jon, Avondale
