A Different Kind of Fix, by Bombay Bicycle Club

Closing this week’s reviews is a musical selection written by Mandy.

In her review of the Civil Wars’ CD Barton Hollow, Charlotte discussed her susceptibility to earworms—“those catchy snatches of melody that get stuck in your head for hours on end, sometimes for days.” Last fall, I encountered an earworm in the song “Lights Out, Words Gone,” the second single off of A Different Kind of Fix, the third album from British quartet Bombay Bicycle Club. I stumbled upon the song while driving home from work one night and instantly loved it, but, much to my chagrin, the announcer never gave the name of the song or the artist. This song, with its lovely, haunting intro and gently brooding lyrics, was stuck in my head for weeks until I was able to identify the group and check out the album.

Since the release of their debut album in 2009, Bombay Bicycle Club have received numerous accolades in England, including Best New Band at the 2010 New Musical Express Awards, and their second album Flaws was nominated for the Ivor Novello Award for Best Album. In addition, the group performed during the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony concert in Hyde Park.

I discovered Bombay Bicycle Club through “Lights Out, Words Gone,” and was happy to find that the rest of A Different Kind of Fix lived up to the promise of that single. It’s a tightly-focused collection of guitar-driven rock that’s quite catchy and very accessible. Along with “Lights Out, Words Gone,” standout tracks include “Your Eyes,” “Bad Timing,” and the irresistibly jaunty “Shuffle.”

Fans of alternative rock groups such as Phoenix and Two Door Cinema Club who are looking for something new might want to check out Bombay Bicycle Club’s A Different Kind of Fix.

Check the WRL catalog for A Different Kind of Fix. 

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Escape from Camp 14: One Man’s Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West, by Blaine Harden

Today’s review is written by Nancy.

A few months before the headlines were filled with news of North Korea’s military actions and potential nuclear threats, I came across this intriguing book. Being an avid fan of old war movies, I thought this might be a book about POWs and the Korean War. When most people think about labor camps, political prisoners, and the atrocities reported, they picture the German death camps and POW camps during WWI, WWII, the Korean and the Vietnam Wars. It only took reading the jacket notes inside the front cover to realize this was a modern day story of a young man born in a North Korean political prison camp in 1982.

Blaine Harden, serving as the East Asia Bureau Chief of the Washington Post, tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk, a boy subjected to unfathomable physical and emotional torture, his extraordinary escape at age 23, and Shin’s current struggle to survive in the outside world. This intriguing story gives the reader insight into the secretive world of the most repressive totalitarian state still in existence today.

As I read Shin’s story and watched current news events in North Korea, it made his harrowing experience come to life, albeit gruesome at times. It was emotionally painful to realize that these types of atrocities continue to this day. Detailed accounts of torture, brainwashing by way of isolation from civilization, and the teaching of young minds to be snitches to protect their own lives. Families were simply forced to be in competition for food. Shin was made to witness the killing of his mother and brother to show him what happens to those who even speak of escaping. Being raised with such a lack of human affection made these horrifying situations more bearable at the time but has caused great difficulties in his current life.

Generations of families were held in the camps for the crimes of distant relatives to ensure that descendants would not rise up against the government. Shin is the only known person born in the camps who is also known to have escaped.  His story will not only open your eyes to the struggle of one young man but also to the struggle of over 200,000 people still being held in the camps to this day. Although the camps have been aerially photographed and documented, the North Korean government continues to deny their existence. In an interview Shin was quoted as saying “I am evolving from being an animal.”

Check the WRL catalog for Escape from Camp 14.

It’s also available as a CD audiobook, read by the author.

 

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The Grace of Silence: A Memoir, by Michele Norris

Today’s review is written by Tova.

“How well do you know the people who raised you?”

Journalist Michele Norris presents this question to the reader in the epilogue of her book The Grace of Silence: A Memoir. In her work—as much an investigation of the painful historical realities of race in America as a memoir—Norris reaches deep into the depths of her own family history and illuminates this country’s racial past along the way.

Originally intent on writing a book about the “hidden conversation” on race taking place in a supposedly “postracial” America in the wake of Barack Obama’s election to the Presidency, Norris changed course when she discovered that the conversation on race within her own African American family had not been honest. She discovered two family secrets: her maternal Grandmother Ione had been a traveling “Aunt Jemima” in the Midwest, and her father Belvin Norris had been shot in the leg by a white police officer in Birmingham shortly after his discharge from the Navy at the conclusion of World War II. Uncovering these secrets shakes Norris’s sense of her identity: “These revelations suggest to me that in certain ways I’ve never had a full understanding of my parents or of the formation of my own racial identity.” The majority of the book is devoted to discovering who her parents really are and, by extension, who she herself is. Why did her parents intentionally keep these secrets from her?

Most jarring about these revelations, for Norris, is that they are incongruous with her conception of her parents. Norris writes of her father: “how could a man who always observed stop signs, a man who always filed his taxes early and preached that jaywalking proved a weakness of character have been involved in an altercation with Alabama policemen? . . . Why would he impart life lessons to us about looking the other way, turning the other cheek, respecting those who lived across the color line in spite of insults hurled our way, when he himself had not?”

What Norris discovers along the way in her journey to answer these questions is surprising, revealing, uncomfortable, and thought-provoking for both her and the reader. I found myself getting emotional at times while reading the book. My eyes watered when Norris described brutal attacks on African American World War II veterans and their families. I found myself groaning inside when a relative of one of the officers involved in the shooting of Belvin Norris remarked to the author, “I don’t have anything against [African Americans], only the ones who are snooty or trying to prove themselves,” and then referenced President Obama as an example. But that’s what this book does. It hits you in the gut. I suspect that no matter your racial or cultural background, this book will “ping” your emotions in many different ways.

While this is not an “easy” book—as it challenges you emotionally and makes you think about certain ugly truths that some would rather not acknowledge—it has its moments of levity. You will smile wryly at the ingenious ways in which Norris’s mother foils the attempts of her neighbors to sell their houses and flee the neighborhood after the Norris family integrates it. You will also be touched by the loving relationship Norris has with her father. In a sense, this book is an extended love letter to her father. Even while championing an open dialogue about race, Michele Norris appreciates that her father early-on made the decision to remain silent as part of a strategy to ensure that his children would not be hindered by bitterness and acrimony in their struggle to achieve.

When I read the premise of the book, I was immediately drawn to it. I, too, am African American. I am familiar with the silences surrounding family secrets dealing with race. As a result, I found myself constantly comparing the strategies adopted by Norris’s family in dealing with racism to those of my own family. Norris’s mother and father concerned themselves with trying to be “model minorities.” My mother, a single parent and Black Power activist, made a different choice and took a different route in raising her children. My mother, just like her father, taught us that we should be angry about racism. This anger provides the fuel for my activism. Norris’s book exposes a particular truth, that we, as African Americans, have adopted multiple and varying strategies for navigating within a racially hostile world.

In the end, Norris suggests that we can come to a fuller understanding of who we are individually and as a nation by being more open about race. One thing Norris discovers is that white families also have their racial secrets and silences. Most of the families of the police officers involved in her father’s shooting either had no clue of their family member’s involvement in the shooting, or the family members did not want to talk about the incident.

How many of our families, regardless of our racial or cultural backgrounds, harbor secrets relative to race? What do these silences tell us about the state of race in America? Norris’s work, The Grace of Silence: A Memoir, is a call to all of us to sit down and ask questions. If we are to truly move racially forward as a nation, we must hear our family stories. We must question our elders, and we must listen to not just what is said, but what is not said.

Check the WRL catalog for The Grace of Silence. 

It’s also available as a CD audiobook, read by the author.

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The Absolutist, by John Boyne

Today’s review is written by Alan.

John Boyne is best known for The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a morality tale set in a concentration camp that was made into an award-winning film in 2008.  Although that book was written for children, seven of his nine novels are for adults, including his newest, The Absolutist, published in 2012.

The Absolutist is also a morality tale, but most of its action takes place in a different kind of hell-hole of man’s devising—the trench warfare of World War I, where soldiers rotted and were maimed both physically and emotionally and died brutally and senselessly. The main characters are Tristan Sadler and Will Bancroft, English teenagers, who meet in boot camp in England and are sent to France as infantrymen to fight in the trenches. The book chronicles what happens to them physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

Like most good books that deal with soldiers and war, The Absolutist is not a war story, but rather a study of and meditation on what war does to average people who are thrust into an inhuman and insane environment and how they cope to make sense of their situation, come to terms with it (if possible), and survive (if possible). The war setting serves as the backdrop to deal with issues of physical and moral bravery, moral cowardice, ethical dilemmas, self-deception, self-knowledge, and knowledge of others.

In just over 300 beautifully written pages the author concerns himself with some of the great human issues and poses questions as to what it means to be a fully functional human (in the best sense of the word) in an inhuman and insane world and also in the real (normal) world.

Check the WRL catalog for The Absolutist. 

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Wench, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez

This week’s reviews are written by the Circulation staff.  Today’s post is written by John.

This provocative novel narrates a gripping story of white masters and their slave mistresses during the early 1800s prior to the Civil War. The four main characters are from separate southern plantations, but Lizzy, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu vacation with their white masters in a free-state resort in Xenia, Ohio each summer. Over the course of several summers, the group forms a complex sisterly bond, based on both mutual need and mutual distrust. While we do read of events on the plantation on which Lizzie, Phillip and Drayle, their master, live; the novel mostly focuses on their collective Ohio experiences. There the women struggle to balance their longing for freedom with both the subtle and blatant ways slavery debases them. Though the work is entirely fiction, the resort’s site is historically accurate. According to the historical research I found, rumors of white masters with slave concubines gradually caused the resort’s decline and closing. In 1856, the resort was purchased by the Methodist Episcopal Church to become a school for free blacks. Later, it became the site for Wilberforce University, which continues to this day serving as an institution of higher learning.

That the site eventually becomes a school serves as an ironic counterpoint to one of the plot’s main topics—can Lizzy convince her master to educate and free their son. The novel’s main focus is Lizzy, Drayle and his childless wife, Fran. The author describes Lizzy’s “seduction” and builds with how she and others on the plantation all confront the many conflicts which ensue. But the novel mostly details how each of the women in Wench suffer emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their “owners.” Each finds herself gradually and systematically worn down, able to escape only in dreams of freedom—her own and her children’s. Although each woman has a unique relationship with her respective master, Lizzy, Reenie, Sweet and Mawu constantly carry the common bond of slavery and mistreatment. In spite of the seeming benefits over all the other slaves at their home plantations, each still finds herself trapped—sometimes in snares of her own making. The novel vividly depicts the heart-wrenching decisions, emotional turmoil and tragic pain each woman must endure as she struggles to save herself physically, spiritually and emotionally. Not only must each bear terrible ordeals, she must also walk a fine line because harsh consequences always follow if she fails to please her master. The women exist in perpetual turmoil. The fact that they summer in a free state puts freedom within each woman’s grasp. The central question becomes should she seize it or submit?

Perkins-Valdez uses such riveting and poetic language in telling her story, that, in spite of shocking and difficult passages, the reader learns to find sympathy where it is least expected. Unlike any other novel I’ve read about this period, never before have I found myself drawn into the minds of the characters caught in this life. Indeed, many times I wanted to look away. Parts of the novel were too raw and real. Yet Perkins-Valdez kept me engaged because she presents real people ensnared in unspeakable tragedy. Because the characters are so believable, we care about what happens and read on.

The novel explores several complex relationships. For me, the most complex was the relationship that gradually develops between Lizzy and her master’s wife, Fran. Not only is it unexpected, but it is key to understanding the novel’s climax. As the plot progresses, Lizzie’s indecisiveness becomes central to understanding the novel. The author lets us suffer along with Lizzy’s ambivalence about what action to take because it is fundamental to her character’s predicament. Just as she had to face what to do early in the novel, when confronted with knowledge of a planned run away, Lizzy’s trap is always her never changing reality. Is her chief duty to herself or to her children? We understand and sympathize with this inner battle because the author succeeds in making her character authentic.

The very reality of the characters makes the novel hard to put down. Rarely does a novel capture one’s attention the way Wench does. After starting, I found any excuse possible to find time to read. I felt conflicted about it, too, because the novel covers such an ugly chapter in our history. Yet the author takes such care in telling the stories of these four slave women that you find yourself longing to know what becomes of Lizzie, Sugar, Reenie and Mawu. The novel’s strongest element for me was that while the white master’s actions were unspeakably cruel, the women always handled themselves with a grace and dignity beyond imagining. At the end one is both shocked and relieved, but also longing still to know the rest of these absorbing stories. In a postscript at the novel’s conclusion, the author says she doesn’t plan a sequel. Instead, she invites readers to imagine the war gradually coming and with it a fuller promise of freedom for both the women and their children. I see her point, but found these stories too compelling to end here. If you read Wench, I think you will agree.

Check out the WRL catalog for Wench.

Or try it on CD audiobook.

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The Gift, by Richard Paul Evans

This one is from Nancy :

 I’ll be the first to admit I love a feel good Christmas story any time of year. Richard Paul Evans’ book The Gift does not disappoint. Make no mistake, the characters of the book face everything from personal tragedy and physical pain, to public scorn and hatred. Thus begins the journal and the story of Nathan Hurst, a man who has grown to hate Christmas and yet finds healing from the most unexpected places. Enter fate…a holiday weekend, a snowstorm, a cancelled flight, and Collin and his mother and sister stuck in the same airport overnight. As the days pass from Thanksgiving to Christmas the story tells of the special healing powers of young Collin, the curse that comes with each healing, and the greed and overwhelming desperation of mankind when it comes to their own mortality. The innocence of one healing creates an onslaught of public outcry for help regardless of the consequences. Nathan becomes a guardian for his new friends and in the process he receives both physical and emotional healing.

I highly recommend this in audio book form as well. The narrator makes it possible to envision the innocents of the young miracle worker and the desperation of those seeking his touch. Also recommended is Evans’ Finding Noel which tells the story of Macy, adopted as a young child, and her search for her biological sister. A healing of sorts results as well for all those involved.

Check the WRL catalog for The Gift

Or look for it as an audiobook on compact disc

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Shallow Grave

Before he won the Academy Award for directing Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and became the artistic director for the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Summer Olympic Games, Danny Boyle distinguished himself in the mid-‘90s as a director of edgy, highly stylized films, including A Life Less Ordinary (1997), Trainspotting (1996), and Shallow Grave (1994), his feature film directing debut.

Set in Edinburgh, Scotland, the plot of Shallow Grave centers around three cynical and self-absorbed friends who share a spacious and well-appointed flat: David (Christopher Eccleston), an accountant; Juliet (Kerry Fox), a doctor; and Alex (Ewan McGregor), a tabloid journalist. They’re in need of a new roommate, and the film opens with a series of disastrous interviews in which prospective roommates are cruelly appraised, then rejected. Finally, Juliet personally interviews one intriguing candidate, a mysterious man named Hugo (Keith Allen) who says he’s returning to the city to write a novel. Juliet and Hugo make a connection, and she convinces David and Alex to take Hugo on as a roommate. The arrangement seems ideal until the morning after Hugo moves in. After he fails to join them for breakfast, the concerned roommates go to his room and discover him dead on his bed. Searching for answers, Alex discovers a suitcase full of money under the bed. Juliet wants to report Hugo’s death to the police, but Alex objects, arguing that if they call the police they’ll have to report the money as well. He proposes hiding the body and keeping the money. I do not want to give away too many details in this review (although readers of this blog can connect the dots based on the title and my brief summary); however, I do not think it is revealing too much to say that a seemingly foolproof plan becomes complicated when fractures in the friendship, not to mention Hugo’s past, begin to catch up with the roommates.

Shallow Grave is not a traditional murder mystery. The suspense is not focused on ‘whodunit’; instead, the suspense is generated from the ways in which the roommates, especially David, internalize their actions and the cumulative effect these actions have on the friendship. A subplot involving Hugo’s associates is not quite as well-developed, but it does help to tie events together at the end.

I first saw Shallow Grave back in 1996, and I think the film has held up surprisingly well. Ewan McGregor brings a lot of charisma to the role of Alex and arguably has the film’s most memorable lines, but Shallow Grave’s real chills come from Christopher Eccleston’s carefully crafted performance as the seemingly milquetoast, but ultimately unstable David. At 93 minutes, Shallow Grave is taut and fast-paced, and it is a good showcase for the talents of director Danny Boyle who, in the 18 years since the film’s release, has produced a diverse and impressive body of work.

Check the WRL catalog for Shallow Grave

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gods in Alabama, by Joshilyn Jackson

Today’s review is from Nancy in Circulation Services:

“There are gods in Alabama: Jack Daniel’s, high school quarterbacks, trucks, big tits, and also Jesus.”

Joshilyn Jackson grabs you with her opening line and has you chasing her words through a wonderfully funny, exciting, eye-opening, and suspenseful journey. Her frequent “Southernisms” will keep you in stitches no matter what part of the country you’re from, and for those of us born and bred below the Mason Dixon Line, you’ll catch yourself acknowledging your Southern Belle tendencies with an uncontrollable smiling nod.

Arlene Fleet has fled her home town of Possett, Alabama, for the big city of Chicago in hopes of escaping a tiny little mistake made in her sophomore year of high school… killing the senior star quarterback and dumping his body over a cliff. Her pact with God is that if he will let her get away with this small error in judgment by not letting the body be found, she will keep three promises: never tell a lie no matter the cost, stop fornicating with every boy that crosses her path, and never return to her hometown of Possett. Ten years later, fate steps in as her African American boyfriend declares “I want to meet your family or it’s over.” One by one her promises are challenged, leading her back to Possett and the array of special family and friends. This good-hearted group includes her Southern Baptist, Bible toting Aunt Florence, her slightly “touched” crazy mother, a family tree of happy racists, and her unconditionally loving best friend Cousin Clarice. With her past catching up with her, the future seems too scary to face. Arlene remembers and reveals the events of her life that tell the story of the murder but keep the reader guessing until the end as to what really happened that night.

The story covers tough issues such as sexual abuse, teenage promiscuity, and a bit of racism mixed with denial, and in the same light expresses the strong bond between best friends and family. It’s a story of self awareness, soul searching, and acceptance of differences that will make you sad, angry, and relieved, while allowing you to laugh out loud at the antics and expressions of the eclectic characters you will come to love.

The audiobook, read by Catherine Tabor, a Georgia native, captures the diction and accent of the Alabama southerner. gods in Alabama is truly brought to life!

I recommend this first work of Joshilyn Jackson as well as her next book, Between Georgia. Another great read or listen!

Check the WRL catalog for gods in Alabama.

Check the WRL catalog for gods in Alabama in audiobook format.

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The Witness, by Nora Roberts

We close this week’s posts with a blog from Christine in Circulation.

Abigail Lowery, formerly Elizabeth Fitch, is a successful computer programmer and business woman running a private security firm from her home in the Ozarks.  With her faithful dog by her side and a secluded home tucked securely into the hills of the Arkansas Ozarks, Abigail has finally settled down and started her new life hiding out but no longer running from the Russian mafia.  But Brooks Gleason, local police chief, won’t let Abigail settle for too much longer.  As Abigail tries to create a quiet life and stay under the radar she only accomplishes the exact opposite.  After a year of politely rebuffing the locals’ conversations, keeping to herself, and shopping online rather than in town, Abigail’s actions only fuel the interest of the police chief and her small-town neighbors.  Following his gut, Brooks sets out to discover Abigail’s secrets.

The other night I caught a brief snippet of a show on HGTV that was talking about set design on the drama “The Good Wife.”  One of the designers made a comment about how the set design was based on the sensibilities of movies from the 1940’s and 1950’s where sets were opulent and grand in order to heighten the senses of the viewer.  Everyday life for most people is not filled with plush offices with designer furniture, boldly-colored accent walls, and elegantly sophisticated bric-a-brac.  So when you tune in to “The Good Wife” you are instantly drawn in by the world that the writers, set designers, and actors have created and are willing to come back for more.

So how does this tie-in with “The Witness?” When the designer made this comment, I couldn’t help but think about this book.  From the moment I picked it up to read I found myself unable to put it down.  The world and the characters Roberts created are grand and amplified.  The heroine is brilliant surviving on wits and instinct for years as she builds a life on the run.  The hero is charming and intelligent with a keen intuition. Abigail and Brooks are reminiscent of other memorable duos, i.e. Nick and Nora, Bones and Booth, but with their own style. The backdrop of the Ozarks and the sense of community and family bring the story full circle.  The fact that Roberts’ focuses on the couple and not the threat of Abigail’s past only enhances the suspense.

Roberts’ 200^th title incorporates all her hallmarks of writing but it all comes together so seamlessly that reading this book was effortless fun and rates this book in the top three of Roberts’ oeuvre for me.  If you’re looking for the familiar with a little bit of over the top for your spring and summer reading, this is the book for you.

Check the WRL catalog for The Witness

Or listen to The Witness on audio CD

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Left Neglected, by Lisa Genova

Today’s post is written by Jeanne in Circulation.

Multitasking while driving seems to have become the norm for some people, including the main character in the novel, Left Neglected, by Lisa Genova.  Sarah Nickerson is a Harvard-educated MBA who enjoys excelling at everything in life.  She and her husband have three young children, named after Peanuts characters: Lucy, Charlie, and Linus.  She works at least 80 hours a week for a consulting firm, has two mortgages, daycare, and private lessons for the children.  Needless to say, Sarah and her husband lead a very expensive lifestyle in a rather expensive Massachusetts city and the two take pride in the life they’ve built and their busy careers.

During a normal commute into work, Sarah, while reaching for her cell phone, careens out of control and crashes her car seriously injuring herself.   Suffering a traumatic brain injury, surgeons are forced to cut into her brain to relieve the swelling.  Unfortunately, the right side of her brain is affected, causing a syndrome known as left-neglected.  Sarah has no idea of the left side of anything.  She does not know that the left side of her plate has chocolate, her favorite food.  She thinks that her left arm and left leg have been amputated. It’s only through physical therapy that she is aware of her left side’s existence.

Now, faced with endless physical therapy, expiring insurance, and caring for their three children, Sarah’s mother is back in the picture.  Long ago, when Sarah was younger, her brother drowned, devastating her mother, who essentially stopped all communication with Sarah.  Sarah resents her mother’s return as it jeopardizes her dream of becoming “normal” once again and returning to her life.  She is faced daily with the challenges of this syndrome, while trying to cope with her family and her mother.

Although it took a while to get involved in this story, I really got interested in her progress and needed to know how her situation would be resolved.  I sympathized with Sarah during her recovery, including all of her frustration at performing life’s seemingly simple tasks.  The next time I reach for my cell phone while driving, I’ll try to reconsider and let it go.  I’ve never read Genova’s other book, Still Alice dealing with Alzheimer’s, but judging from the caliber of this story, I plan to do so soon.

Check the WRL catalog for Left Neglected

Or listen to Left Neglected on audio CD

 

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Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, by The Sundays

Today’s post is written by Mandy from Circulation Services.

Recently, I’ve been feeling rather nostalgic for music from the ‘90s, no doubt influenced by the number of ‘90s-era singers and bands who are either reuniting or releasing new material.  Earlier this year, The Cranberries released Roses, their first album in 11 years, and this month Garbage will release Not Your Kind of People.  Luscious Jackson reunited last year, and Fiona Apple will release a new album next month.  Come to think of it, No Doubt is scheduled to release an album this year, too.  For my contribution to BFGB this week, I thought it was only fitting to write about a lesser-known band from the ‘90s, The Sundays, and their 1990 debut Reading, Writing and Arithmetic.

From 1990 to 1997, the English band The Sundays released three albums to modest success in the United States and abroad.  The band is often associated with a style of music known as shoegazing, and their sound carries many of the hallmarks of the style: layered vocals against a backdrop of guitars.  The term “shoegazing” comes from the performance style of many of the acts associated with the style; during live performances, the musicians would stand still as if they were looking at their shoes.  Other notable shoegazing bands include Lush and Ride.

Reading, Writing and Arithmetic opens with “Skin & Bones,” a nice introduction to guitarist David Gavurin’s low key style and Harriet Wheeler’s lovely, almost fragile-sounding, vocals.  The next two songs are only singles released from the album, “Here’s Where the Story Ends” and “Can’t Be Sure.”  In “Here’s Where the Story Ends,” Harriet Wheeler looks back on a failed relationship, and sings:

 “It’s that little souvenir of a terrible year

which makes my eyes feel sore,

Oh I never should have said the books that you read

were all I loved you for.”

The remaining tracks continue on in the same stylistic vein, particularly my two favorite songs, “You’re Not the Only One I Know” and “Joy.”  At 10 songs and 40 minutes, Reading, Writing and Arithmetic is light and airy and perfect for spring.  The Sundays quietly faded from public view following the release of their 1997 album “Static & Silence” (which, incidentally, was their highest charting U.S. release), but fans of early ’90s alternative music might enjoy The Sundays, especially their debut.

Check the WRL catalog for Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

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Will in the World, by Stephen Greenblatt

Today’s blog is written by John from Circulation.

April, which was also “National Poetry Month,” had me thinking about my favorite poets. Of those I love, and there are many, my two personal giants are Homer and Shakespeare. Homer made an ancient world forever new with glorious words, even though he probably never knew how to read or write. Shakespeare dragged the world into a new way of thinking, even though he himself had little formal education and never attended university. His facility with words amazes me. Many scholars think most of us can get by on a vocabulary of about 9,000 words. Shakespeare’s vocabulary exceeded 28,000 words. Of course, that is because he seems to have felt quite at ease in inventing new words! April 23, 2012 marked Shakespeare’s 448 birthday. That such an eminent poet’s birthday occurs in the midst of “National Poetry Month” makes sense. That it is still cause for celebration is remarkable. Only a handful of writers are remembered centuries after they cease working. Perhaps that is because the work they produced while living never stops working in us. Shakespeare’s influence on literature is enormous. Characters he invented generate more speculation and analysis than many historical figures. His accomplishments are so remarkable that simply referring to him as “The Bard” is enough to identify who one means. Yet precious little is known about his life.

Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World sets out to change that. But it is an unusual “biography” because it narrates Shakespeare’s life through descriptions of the world he lived in and how the  poetry and characters he created reflected that world. Greenblatt is a noted Shakespearean scholar and professor of Humanities at Harvard, but this biography is anything but dry. It is a readable, lively, witty, and utterly engaging look at events we know happened in Shakespeare’s life and times—but always through the lens of what he wrote. Thus, Greenblatt makes some brilliant observations about Shakespeare’s marriage based almost completely on the marriages we see in his plays. Along the way, as Greenblatt progresses play by play, we enjoy similar observations on humor, last wills, witchcraft, property, ambition, depression, joy, in short a whole world wholly created by a master craftsman.

Although it’s not his primary objective, Greenblatt ends up making a compelling argument for Shakespeare as the sole author of the plays. Great art, he argues, although it can be influenced by learning and discipline, sometimes simply appears out of truly gifted individuals with the talent, desire and opportunity to present it. By showing how Shakespeare keenly observed the world in which he lived and worked, Greenblatt presents a new dimension to Shakespeare’s genius. That world, in turn, influenced Shakespeare’s art, craft, and stagecraft. Those cross connections demonstrate just how Shakespeare evolved into a great playwright. Like all great writers, he wrote about what he knew and because he had lived it, it rang true.

Although Greenblatt bases many observations and conclusions on deduction and supposition, he also draws intelligent and accurate conclusions about Shakespeare.  At times he speculates (mostly hitting the mark but not always convincingly) on how Shakespeare used the world that formed him to, in turn, form his great works. Greenblatt also explains some popular Latin works which Shakespeare often used including some basic plot elements. This is not unlike the Greek playwrights of their era, who relied so heavily on Homer and the myths for their source material. With Shakespeare, the two greatest sources for much of his work, in addition to the Holinshed Chronicles for historical facts, were mythology and the Bible.

Like historians, biographers draw conclusions from evidence informed by the bias of their time. This is true of Greenblatt’s work. Nevertheless, he makes many significant observations and his insights into Will’s world will leave you thinking about the plays and sonnets in a whole new way. Ultimately, that’s the value of a cultural and historical biography like Greenblatt’s. While many of the details of Shakespeare’s life are sketchy, fortunately we have his great plays, even though they have been through many hands and editors over the years. These masterworks continue to resonate with great insights about human nature. Greenblatt’s book will reshape your thinking about the genius behind  Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, and The Tempest. Of course, there will be times you’ll find yourself in total disagreement with him. But that’s the draw of a great biography—to create an atmosphere where discussion adds new fuel to the fire of interpretation and insight.

Check the WRL catalog for Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare

Or try this book on audio CD

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The Eloquence of Blood, by Judith Rock

AnnMarie from Circulation Services ends the week with this review:

Historical fiction can take you back in time to other eras, and historical mysteries can take you back in time while you stay up late trying to find out “who did it.”  “Staying up late” is exactly what happened to me when I read The Eloquence of Blood by Judith Rock.  This historical mystery combines interesting characters (both real-life and imagined), an intriguing murder-mystery, and wonderful historical details into a book that was hard for me to put down.  It is set in Paris in 1686—the Paris of the people, not the Paris of the glittering court of Louis XIV.  The hero and detective is Charles du Lac, a former soldier, who is studying for the Jesuit priesthood and is a teacher at the Louis le Grand, a Jesuit school for boys.

Despite being part of the Jesuit holdings, the school could use an infusion of funds and there is a rumor that a bequest to the school from the Mynette family will become available.  While on a visit to a local family, Charles du Lac meets Martine, a young woman who also has a claim on the same inheritance, though the papers proving her claim as an adopted daughter have gone missing.  The next day Martine is found murdered. Her murder incites anti-Jesuit sentiments and protests against the school.

Father Le Picart, head of the school, asks Charles to help the police discover the murderer.  While the motivation of Le Picart is to preserve the school’s and the Jesuits’ reputations, Charles’ motivation is to find justice for a murdered young woman.  During Charles’ journey to find the killer, he encounters quite of range of Parisian society, from respectable and not-so-respectable businessmen to street people begging on every corner.  One of the real-life characters in the book is Nicolas de La Reynie, the first head of the Paris police, with whom Charles develops a friendship.

As a student of dance history, I especially enjoyed reading about the Jesuits and their role in the development of Baroque dance (the beginnings of modern ballet). The Jesuits believed in developing both the minds and the bodies of their students and dance was considered essential training for future gentlemen. Their students regularly participated in productions featuring music, choral works, drama, and dance.

The Eloquence of Blood is Rock’s second book featuring Charles du Lac.  His first adventure is The Rhetoric of Death.  I haven’t read the first book yet, but that did not diminish my enjoyment or cause any confusion by reading The Eloquence of Blood first.  I’m looking forward to reading the first book as well as Charles’ future adventures!

Check the WRL catalog for The Eloquence of Blood

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In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote

Alan continues the Circulation Services week with this review:

You would think it somewhat odd and improbable that one of America’s greatest books of crime reportage was written by an author known as much for his precious public persona as for his mastery of various literary genres.  However, this is exactly what Truman Capote achieved with In Cold Blood,  published in 1965.  The book’s subtitle, “a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences,” neatly outlines the story Capote tells, a story that is banal, cruel, senseless, evil, and inevitable.  In its most basic form the book recounts how two small-time drifters, Richard Hickock and Perry Smith, killed Herbert Clutter, his wife, and their two teen-age children during a robbery in their home in Holcomb, Kansas, on November 15, 1959, their subsequent flight, eventual capture, trial, and execution.

However, what makes In Cold Blood so compelling and a classic of its kind (besides the quality of the writing) is how Capote used and shaped his material to construct a narrative that achieves the literary outcome he envisioned.  He did not wish to write a lurid true-crime story, but rather a  tragedy, both moral and human, that affected all who came into contact with the crime and its aftermath—the victims, the townspeople, the law enforcement personnel, and the killers.

Capote’s research was extensive and unusual.  He spent time in Holcomb getting to know the town and its inhabitants, the law enforcement personnel involved in the investigation, and friends and acquaintances of the murdered family.  He was also given access to the killers and gained their trust to such a degree that he was able to obtain much information about their upbringing and formative years, private papers, psychiatric evaluations, and day-to-day thoughts and experiences during the period immediately preceding and following the night of the murders.

Because Capote never met the victims, they do not come across as vividly  and “alive” as the people he did meet and get to know.  Rather, they serve as a tragic backdrop in the story of their own hideous personal tragedy.  The most fully drawn and human characters are Alvin Dewey, the lead criminal investigator, and the two killers.  What is most striking about Hickock and Perry is the utter paltriness, baseness, shabbiness, futility and waste of their lives.  In different ways the four victims and the two killers were doomed.  On one level (that of a Greek tragedy) it is almost as if Capote believed that these six people were fated to be brought together.

But read the book for yourself to see what a master can do with the material at hand.

Check the WRL catalog for In Cold Blood

 

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The Chronicles of Harris Burdick

Mandy of Circulation Services provides today’s review.

I enjoy the work of children’s book author and illustrator Chris Van Allsburg, particularly his 1984 book The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.  This is not your average children’s picture book; instead, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick is a series of 14 exquisitely detailed, black and white illustrations, each accompanied by an enigmatic title and caption. Alternately whimsical and haunting, the illustrations in this book inspired me (and countless other readers) to invent stories to explain what was going on in the pictures.  Recently, I had the opportunity to revisit a cherished part of my childhood by reading The Chronicles of Harris Burdick, an illustrated short story collection in which 14 authors, including Stephen King and his wife Tabitha King, Sherman Alexie, Lois Lowry, Gregory Maguire, and Cory Doctorow, have contributed stories inspired by the illustrations in The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

All of the stories are original to the collection with the exception of Stephen King’s “The House on Maple Street,” which originally appeared in his 1993 book Nightmares & Dreamscapes.  The stories themselves are not linked by any recurring characters or situations, so readers shouldn’t feel that the stories need to be read in any specific order.  Like Van Allsburg’s illustrations, each story has its own unique tone and style; some are dark, like Jules Feiffer’s “Uninvited Guests,” while others, such as Louis Sachar’s “Captain Tory,” are sweet and poignant.

One of my favorite stories in the collection was M.T. Anderson’s “Just Desert,” the tale of a boy named Alex who, on the eve of his 10th birthday, discovers that nothing in his world is as it appears. I felt the authors did a fine job of capturing the surreal atmosphere found in Van Allsburg’s illustrations.  Lemony Snicket’s introduction is also a real hoot.  Readers who are unfamiliar with The Mysteries of Harris Burdick will find Van Allsburg’s introduction to the 1984 book as well as the illustrations and captions in this collection.

The Chronicles of Harris Burdick is a good, quick read that should appeal to young adult (and, for that matter, adult) readers who grew up intrigued by The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.

Check the WRL catalog for The Chronicles of Harris Burdick

Check the WRL catalog for The Mysteries of Harris Burdick

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The French Revolution: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité

Lisa of Circulation Services provides today’s review:

The History Channel has, at times, strained the bounds of what can be considered historical topics in the shows they air. A portion of the shows put on, however, are worth watching, and luckily, many of these shows are released on DVD.

In 2005, the network aired a documentary, The French Revolution: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, which examined events leading up to and during the French Revolution. The documentary can be broken into two sections; the first illustrates the causes of the French Revolution, while the second discusses the events of the Revolution.

Narrated by Edward Herrmann, this documentary illustrates the influence of the Enlightenment on the Revolution, notably the concept that people could improve their lot in life, something that had not previously been an option for the majority of the population. And while this wave of change brought new ideas and people to the forefront of French politics, it also brought the Terror.

Historians throughout the film explain the role of the French Revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries. Many revolutions in the Western hemisphere in the 1810s and 1820s were sparked by the same flame that swept France a few decades earlier. The ideals of 1789 also also gave rise to movements that would pave the way for revolutions elsewhere into the 20th century.

A few criticisms of the film include the failure to adequately transition into the period of Napoleon. While the focus understandably remains on the Revolution and its immediate aftermath, a bit more should have been included to illustrate how the country shifted from a surge of democracy and republicanism into rule by an emperor. The Napoleonic era requires another documentary altogether, but a transition to demonstrate how the events of the French Revolution led to the rise of Napoleon would have been instructive.

Additionally, the failure to mention the newly formed United States gives an incomplete global view of the French Revolution. While the American Revolution was in a class of its own, it did help to influence the way in which events in France would gain momentum in the inevitable landslide toward revolution. The assistance which France provided to the United States during the American Revolution contributed to the already destitute socioeconomic situation in France. The American point of view also demonstrates the mixed feelings that the Revolution evoked. The newly formed country stood divided in its view of the French Revolution, particularly once the Reign of Terror began. Some Americans felt that France deserved complete support, while others were reluctant to support what they considered to be a bloodbath as the 1790s progressed—an intriguing perspective coming from a new nation emerging from a revolution against a monarchy. The film does not pay these topics much, if any, lip service, but would benefit from their inclusion.

The documentary, taken as a whole, definitely merits viewing. It gives a thoughtful presentation of the French Revolution without getting too bogged down in minute details, which can drag a film down (and should probably be saved for historical monographs).   At 100 minutes, the film would be an alternative for the classroom, or just an informative film for those who find themselves enjoying the delights that a night of documentary-watching and monograph-reading can offer.

Check the WRL catalog for The French Revolution: Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité

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Macbeth: the graphic novel

John of Circulation Services starts the week off with a graphic novel:

The other day, while putting away some graphic fiction in the young adult section, an illustrated version of Macbeth caught my eye. Its cover announced that the play was available in three versions—the original, plain text, or quick text. The one I held was the original and I was intrigued to see that it promised to be the unabridged original play in full color. When I was a boy, (and I’d rather not say how many eons ago that was) the old Classics Illustrated series gave me my first taste of Homer, Virgil, Shakespeare, Dickens, and other greats. They opened up new worlds for me before I heard from anyone that these writers were challenging and hard to grasp. I was just a boy seeking new adventures and willingly paid my fifteen cents (almost a third of my weekly allowance) for the thrill. But however remarkable those texts were, they never delivered the full work. That had to be left for future discovery. Could this new Classical Comics series fulfill that high goal? The answer, at least for Macbeth, is a resounding yes.

The book starts with an illustrated “Dramatis Personae” that helpfully introduces each character’s image. The authors also provide a brief introduction to the play’s action to help the reader understand both the time period and the political turmoil that is the play’s unspoken “back story.” Then, with a flash of lightening, we’re on the heath with the three witches and the play’s opening question, “When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?” In that very instant you know you’re in for a treat—Shakespeare’s words married flawlessly to a cinematic flow of brilliant illustrations in vivid color.

One might ask what makes a graphic novel better than watching the play on DVD.  I would offer that the reader controls the pace. Didn’t quite catch a line? One can re-read. Didn’t understand the action? One can study the picture. And happily even the meaning of unfamiliar words is often revealed in the illustration’s context.

Each act and scene has a title, making the play’s progress easy to follow. Shakespeare’s use of dramatic technique is handled simply but clearly. When a character is speaking aloud, the lines are in solid bubbles. If a character is speaking only to himself, the bubble is wavy. If a character is thinking, but not speaking aloud, the bubble is curly. If a character is whispering or speaking to another, but not heard by all present, the bubble is dotted. Musical notes in the bubble reveal lines that are meant to be sung. This technique allows for a closer study of the play’s soliloquies. The soliloquy moves frame by frame with various cinematic angles or close-ups. So, instead of just “hearing” a character think, the reader sees clues in the illustration to what the character feels. Thus, a series of frames gradually reveals Macbeth’s growing fear, desperation and submission to evil in the “Is this a dagger?” soliloquy.

The same is true in all the play’s famous scenes. We see Lady Macbeth’s bloodthirsty ambition, Banquo’s loyal devotion, and the gatekeeper’s drunken description of hell itself. We admire Macbeth’s courage, but fear his growing descent into reckless evil. Later, when his wildest fears begin to be realized, we still hope for his return to the better man he was. This is so poignantly revealed in the way the illustrations portray Macbeth’s “Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow” soliloquy. His trap is set, he knows the doom is of his own making, yet he faces what is to come with all the dignity he can muster.

Macbeth is always a tough play to stage. Over the years I’ve seen four or five sort of satisfying versions. Staged versions often have to leave out something. Director’s insights or points of emphasis might eliminate scenes or important lines. There are two film versions, one directed by Orson Welles and the other by Roman Polanski. Both are very good, but also heavily influenced by the director’s vision. There are several filmed staged versions on DVD. There are excellent recorded versions. Verdi even wrote an operatic version. This slight book might seem humble in such company, but I would have to rank it right up there with the best. It’s true the reader may miss a great actor’s interpretation of a line, but Jon Haward’s illustrations and Nigel Dobbyn’s coloring and lettering help the reader to grasp the character’s core, to see the action, to reveal the motives, and to catch the play’s sweep.

There are many stunningly illustrated passages, but one of my favorites is a scene often left out of staged versions. In it, the witches are scolded by their queen Hecate for revealing so much to Macbeth. In a scene of wild fantasy and demonic maneuvering, they plot a way to draw Macbeth in closer and thus seal his doom. This scene occurs right after Macbeth has seen the ghost of Banquo, the friend he had murdered to seal his hold on the throne. In the final frame of that scene, we see the images of the three witches behind Macbeth leering at his climatic realization that he is “…in blood stepp’d so far, that, should I wade no more, returning were as tedious as go o’er.” That one frame brilliantly ties both scenes together.

In addition to the play’s full text, there are end articles on Shakespeare’s life, the historical background behind the play, and an insightful history of Shakespeare’s version of the events and the political reasons he may have altered key facts. There is also a fascinating article on how the pages of this book were prepared and how the lines were worked into the illustrations. The book illustrates the difference in the three different versions—original text, plain text, and simple text. I must confess, the book made me long to be a teacher again. How wonderful it would be to have a resource like this to introduce young readers to Shakespeare’s glories.

Check the WRL catalog for MacBeth: The Graphic Novel

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This is Spinal Tap

Mandy Malone from Circulation Services provides this review:

The year is 1982. The members of the British heavy metal band Spinal Tap–Nigel Tufnel, David St. Hubbins and Derek Smalls–have reunited and recorded a comeback album titled ‘Smell the Glove’. Marty DiBergi, a television commercial director and longtime Spinal Tap fan, is on hand to film the events surrounding the album’s release and accompanying tour for the documentary, or ‘rockumentary’ as DiBergi calls it, This is Spinal Tap.

At this point in my review, I should issue a message of caution: music fans who have never heard of Spinal Tap shouldn’t rush out and scour the WRL catalog for the album. It doesn’t exist. Originally released in 1984, This is Spinal Tap is in reality a brilliant and hilarious parody of the heavy metal genre starring Christopher Guest as Nigel Tufnel, Michael McKean as David St. Hubbins and Harry Shearer as Derek Smalls. Marty DiBergi is played by Rob Reiner, who also directed the film.

In true documentary style, DiBergi follows Spinal Tap from England to America as he offers a no-holds-barred look at the history of the band and their promotional work for the new album. In candid interviews, the band members discuss Tufnel and St. Hubbins’ childhood friendship, early incarnations of the band called the Originals and the Thamesmen, and the untimely deaths of all their drummers. Along the way, Spinal Tap’s comeback is met with several potential setbacks: their record company hates the album’s cover art; at one venue, the band members get lost backstage; and a Stonehenge-themed performance goes awry when the key prop fails to measure up to expectations. Throughout the film, the band’s indefatigable optimism remains intact, even when it looks like the comeback is in danger of falling apart.

This is Spinal Tap does a great job of spoofing the pretensions and excesses of the heavy metal genre without being mean-spirited. Much of the credit for this goes to the stars of the film. They are also responsible for developing the concept of the film and writing the screenplay, and I think they created a group of memorable, well-developed characters. The members of Spinal Tap are so likable and sincere, if a little misguided at times, that you can’t help but root for them to succeed in their quixotic quest to reclaim their former glory.

In the years since the release of This is Spinal Tap, Christopher Guest has gone on to write and direct several other successful documentary-style parodies including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind.

Check the WRL catalog for This is Spinal Tap

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