Books Blog : reviews

What do you get the person who has everything?

bookchick@evpl — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:46:00 GMT

What do you get the person who has everything?

These days of instant gratification ensure that when shopping for your loved ones you will be certain to get them something that they went out and bought for themselves on Black Friday or Cyber Monday because the sales were just too good to pass up. Then there are the post Christmas long return lines to wait in if you can even find the receipt that you carefully stored somewhere you would be sure not to forget.

No longer! I can guarantee that they won't have this! The solution is right in your own home, sleeping on your pillow, sitting on a windowsill or possibly coughing up a hairball for you to find later, in the dark, in your bare feet.

Your cat!

Crafting with Cat Hair: Cute Handicrafts to Make with Your Cat by Kaori Tsutaya is no joke and they don’t use hairball hair. These crafts are made by first brushing your feline friend and storing the hair until you have enough to felt. Then you use the felt as you would any other felted animal hair such as sheep’s wool, alpaca, and etc. It’s very clever and very eco-friendly.

The projects are small gift type things because, well, cats are small so you don’t get as much fur. There are finger puppets and scarf embellishments, pins, and a little felted cat to cover that hole in your favorite sweater because you didn’t want it to smell like moth balls. (Really, who could blame you?)

In between projects are tidbits of information such as suggestions for grooming a reluctant cat, keeping cats happy and healthy, and the origin of the author’s using cat hair in the first place. If you are a true cat lover your favorite part will undoubtedly be the bios or all the “contributors.”

If you want more check out her blog, http://nekoke.com/ (The Cat Hair Craft Room) but remember that unless you can read Japanese you’ll simply have to enjoy the pictures but there are some really cute projects in those pictures.

"Catcher in the Rye" one of the most censored books of the 20th century

MediaPhile@evpl — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:26:00 GMT

Reclusive novelist and short story writer J. D. Salinger died on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at the age of 91.

"Catcher in the Rye" the penultimate novel of teen angst -- first published in 1951 -- has sold 65 million copies worldwide and over half a century later still sells 250,000 copies each year.

"Catcher in the Rye" has been the object of many censorship efforts through the years. Pamela Hunt Steinle in her book "In Cold Fear: The Catcher in the Rye, Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character" (Ohio State University Press, 2002), reported that the novel "had the dubious distinction of being at once the most frequently censored book across the nation and the second-most frequently taught novel in public high schools (after John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men.")

Salinger hated celebrity and fought mightily to keep himself out of the news, even though his works continued to generate both literary and mass appeal. His last published work was "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenter and Seymour: an Introduction," two novellas that had originally appeared in the "New Yorker" and were published in book form in 1963.

Salinger refused to give interviews, and his veil of secrecy has really only been punctured twice, by a long-ago lover, Joyce Maynard in "At Home in the World: a Memoir" (Picador, 1998) and his daughter, Margaret Salinger in "Dream Catcher: a Memoir" (Washington Square Press, c2000). Both revealed intimate details about the author and man that were less than flattering. Others have disputed many of the claims in these two exposes.

Rumors are that Salinger continued to write after his "retirement" from the world. One wonders if some long-buried Salinger masterpieces will soon see the light of day.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie

evillebibliophile@evpl — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:20:00 GMT

What a delicious piece of fiction! A truly precocious eleven year old girl delves into the gory details of a murder in her family's cucumber patch with the zeal and insight of Sherlock Holmes. The year is 1950 and Flavia de Luce lives in a giant manor house with her older sisters and her reclusive father. But Flavia is no ordinary little girl. She has a knack for chemistry and a penchant for poison, spending most of her time performing experiments in the manor's giant chemistry lab.
When a man breathes his dying breath into her face, exhaling a smelly "Vale!" as he expires, Flavia realizes that the man was murdered - she could smell the poison on his breath. Knowing that she is smarter than everyone around her, she throws herself into discovering the secrets surrounding the murder. She is Sherlock Holmes, in manner and intelligence, in a little girl's body.
What a truly fun read! And good news! There are to be six more in the series!

AND! If you are uber-nerdy, there is a Flavia de Luce fan club:
http://flaviafanclub.ning.com/

"John Dillinger : the life and death of America's first celebrity criminal" by Dary Matera

MediaPhile@evpl — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:16:00 GMT

Because of the Indiana connection, I've always been somewhat interested in John Dillinger. But it was only after watching Johnny Depp bring the notorious bankrobber to life in his latest flick, that I decided to check out the details. This book was just the ticket.

Here are some brief FAQs of his short but infamous life:

He was born in Indianapolis. His father was a grocer who believed in harsh discipline, and his mother died just before his fourth birthday. He attended school through 7th grade, then quit to work in a machine shop. He started getting into trouble and his father moved the family to rural Mooresville to avoid the urban temptations. It didn't help.
His first arrest -- and first real crime -- was at age 19, for auto theft. He enlisted in the Navy but was soon dishonorably discharged. He returned to Moorseville, got married and stayed somewhat settled until the marriage ended in divorce when he was 26.
Shortly thereafter, he robbed a grocery store clerk of $50 and was convicted of assault & battery, then sentenced to 10 to 20 years in the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He was still a really inept criminal but he became friends with quite a few of his fellow prisoners, many of whom made a career of crime. After 8 years he got parolled, then was immediately re-arrested following a couple of bank heists -- in Ohio -- and sent back to prison. He escaped four days thereafter with the help of the first "Dillinger Gang." Two guards were killed in the process, which meant he had moved a step up the criminal justice chain.
Of course we all know what followed -- dozens of bank robberies during a legendary cross-country crime spree that captured the imagination of the nation, even though it only lasted about a year. The chase very much resembled the Keystone Kops, with much of the population rooting for Dillinger. The heist that sealed his fate was one in East Chicago, Indiana (that he may not have even been at) where a policeman was killed. Now he was a cop killer.
He was finally captured in Tuscon, Arizona, and shipped back to Indiana to be charged with murder. Media descended on the small northern Indiana town of Crown Point to interview the famous criminal. His gang within a matter of days "busted him out" -- embarrasing the state of Indiana even more than they already were -- and the gang headed to Chicago. That was basically their downfall since they crossed the state line in a stolen car, bringing down the official wrath of the DOI, the agency which soon became the FBI.
Dillinger's last few months were spent hiding and scrounging, and he was even forced into getting a real job as a clerk. The DOI eventually tracked him down to the Chicago area. Agents gunned him down at the Biograph Theatre in Chicago's Lincoln Park on July 22, 1934.

Having grown up in "da Region" (northwestern Indiana), I was happy to see the award-winning Indiana Welcome Center open there a few years ago. But I never bothered to plunk down a few dollars to visit the Dillinger Museum that is part of it. Next time I'm "home" I will.

Spenser creator Robert B. Parker dead at age 77

MediaPhile@evpl — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:24:00 GMT

Prolific and beloved mystery/suspense author Robert B. Parker died suddenly on Monday, January 18. He was at his desk working on his latest Spenser novel.

Parker actually wrote three different series, as well as a number of unrelated titles, but his most well-known character was, of course, Boston P.I. Spenser. Spenser (whose first name was never revealed) was the centerpiece of 38 mysteries, many of which were made into TV movies. The mystery series was also adapted into the TV series "Spenser for Hire" which ran on ABC from 1985-88, with Robert Ulrich playing Spenser.

Here is a list, from Robert B. Parker's website, of his series and the titles in each series:

The Spenser Series

Back Story
Bad Business
A Catskill Eagle
Ceremony
Chance
Cold Service
Crimson Joy
Double Deuce
Early Autumn
God Save the Child
The Godwulf Manuscript
Hugger Mugger
Hundred-Dollar Baby
Hush Money
The Judas Goat
Looking for Rachel Wallace
Mortal Stakes
Now and Then
Pale Kings and Princes
Paper Doll
Pastime
Playmates
Potshot
The Professional
Promised Land
Rough Weather
A Savage Place
School Days
Small Vices
Stardust
Sudden Mischief
Taming a Seahorse
Thin Air
Valediction
Walking Shadow
The Widening Gyre
Widow's Walk

The Sunny Randall Series
Blue Screen
Family Honor
Melancholy Baby
Perish Twice
Shrink Rap
Spare Change: A Sunny Randall Novel

The Jesse Stone Series
Death in Paradise
High Profile: A Jesse Stone Novel
Night and Day
Night Passage
Sea Change
Split Image
Stone Cold
Stranger in Paradise
Trouble in Paradise

Other Books
All Our Yesterdays
Appaloosa
The Boxer and the Spy
Brimstone
Chasing the Bear: A Young Spenser Novel
Double Play
Edenville Owls
Gunman's Rhapsody
Love and Glory
Perchance to Dream
Poodle Springs
Resolution
Wilderness

Ancient Gonzo Widsom: Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson

Bufkinite@evpl — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:56:00 GMT

I've been a Hunter S. Thompson fan since I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas back in college in 1973. The completely drug-soaked, high speed narration of a trip to Las Vega in search of "the American Dream," was a breakthrough, a new style of writing that I found entertaining and entralling.

Thompson's fame grew as he began applying his unique style to his correspondant reportage, beoming in the process the "Father of Gonzo Journalism," a style of journalism which is written subjectively, often including the reporter as part of the story via a manic first-person narrative. His first book of such reportage was Feath and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail 1972, his take on the Nixon/McGovern race for the White House.

He kept at it for years, as political and sports correspondent to Rolling Stone magazine, and published a raft of books compiling these articles periodically, usually to coincide with a particular presidential term in office. He must of sensed at a very early age that his writings would be sought-after, for he kept most of his correspondence, and began, with Pround Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-67, to put most of these early letters between hard covers.

In the same vein Ancient Gozo Wisdom, compiled and edited by his widow, Anita Thompson, is a compilation of interviews, arranged chronologically from 1967 through May of 2005. The interviews range widely from the obscure (a 1972 interview on WBZ 1030 AM Radio in Boston) to the very well-known (an All Things Considered interview on NPR in 1997), and a host of magazine, radio, and television interviews in between. Topics covered include the publication of most of his books, correspondence he had with everyone from presidents to pop stars, his failed bid for sheriff of Woody Creek, Colorado, and his ruthlessly iconoclastic tendancies.

Anyone familiar with Thompson's life and writing will enjoy the reviews compiled here. Onward!

Recent Chick Lit Reads

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 21:33:00 GMT

In the past few weeks since my last blog post, I have been on a chick-lit rampage. I have been speed-reading through recent releases like I don't have a hundred other things to do. Laundry piled up, kitchen didn't get cleaned, and packing for my move didn't happen. These three books are part of the reason that I have been slacking.

Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn takes place in Brooklyn's prosperous Park Slope neighborhood. The lives of four women intersect as they deal with husbands, children, and playground politics. Not earth-shattering reading, but worth a chance if you have the time.

Mercury in Retrograde by Paula Froelich has a cover strikingly similar to Prospect Park West. Froelich's novel takes place across the bridge in Manhattan where three women who are down on their luck join forces to get their lives back in order. The ending is pretty predictable, but it is an enjoyable read.

Going across the pond to England, Sophie Kinsella's latest book, Twenties Girl, introduces us to Sadie, a wild flapper from the 1920s and her great-niece, Lara, living in present-day London. Sadie has passed away alone in a retirement home, but her spirit remains on Earth pushing Lara to find who stole Sadie's prized possession. True to Kinsella form, this book is laugh out loud funny and highly recommended.

Happy Reading!

The Library: An Illustrated History by Stuart A. P. Murray

Bufkinite@evpl — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 23:01:00 GMT

This very readable and lavishly illustrated book is a survey of libraries, from the earliest gatherings of clay tablets in the library at Nineveh to the present grandeur of the Library of Congress. It is full of the characters of library history as well: from King Assurbanipal in 700 BCE, Mansa Musa, the sultan of Mali in Timbuktu in the 1300s, and the Mughal emperors Akbar in the late 1500s, to Thomas Bodley, Melvil Dewey, and Andrew Carnegie. All of themhave anecdotes attached to them which help to illustrate and flesh out the development and evolution of those institutions we call libraries today.

The Library: An Illustrated History tends to focus on Europe and the United States, but spends a chapter discussing Asia and Islam and their influence on the history of the book and libraries, and another, called "People of the Book," discussing the interplay between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the history of library development.

One of the themes running through this book is how the libraries of the victors are enlarged and enriched throughout history by the pillaging of the libraries of the vanquished. The Bibliotheque nationale de France, the Vatican Library, and the British Library have all broadened their substantial collections in this fashion. Another theme mentioned frequently was how war influenced which ideas were given currency in a given culture and time: "It was usually the sword that decided whose teachings would be supreme in any given land."

In this regard, this book compliments the message in Matthew Battles's book Library: An Unquiet History, but that book is only marginally illustrated, and does not bring the reader the wonderful survey of world libraries with which Murray's book ends. Anyone wanting a good overview of library history would find their time well spent reading this book.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:04:00 GMT

When I went home a little while back, I saw a copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in my little sister's room. Feeling a bit nostalgic, I went home and started reading the battered copy on my bookshelf. I don't know how many times I have read this book (almost as many as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird), but I always come away feeling like I have just read it for the first time.

Betty Smith published A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in 1943 and it was an immediate success. The story focuses around Francie Nolan, a young girl growing up in the early twentieth century with a fun-loving, but alcoholic father, realistic mother, and younger brother. Struggling against poverty and isolation from her peers, Francie finds solace in the library where she plans to read every book in the collection. The story continues over the next five years of Francie's life. Her struggle to gain her mother's love, her desire to better her own life, and finding love are all issues that Francie encounters growing up in Brooklyn.

I don't want to give away too much of the story for those of you that haven't read it because A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a book that I believe everyone should read at least once. Francie and her family have struggles that many people can relate to, and you can't help but wish to be the friend Francie so desperately needed. If you are wandering around the library one day searching for something to read, remember to grab a copy of this book.

Lost Boy by Brent W. Jeffs

Bufkinite@evpl — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:08:00 GMT

Anyone familiar with John Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven will be familiar with the polygamous, Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (FLDS). In that book Krakauer recounts how religious polygamy was often used as a cover for pedophilia, and how anyone who questioned the motives of the church leaders often paid in "blood atonement."

The last name of the author of Lost Boy, Jeffs, may be familiar to anyone who has followed the saga of the FLDS, which has been in the news a lot in the past five years. Warren Jeffs, the "prophet" of this splinter cult off of the mainstream Mormon church, is the uncle of the author. The author's grandfather, Rulon Jeffs, was the "prophet" before him, and this book recounts the power struggles that took place within the FLDS, as well as the power struggles that went on within his own family - his father had three wives and 12 children, a small family by FLDS standards.

In a church like the FLDS, where men are guaranteed a "seat in the Kingdom" when they achieve "a quorum," or three wives, young men tend to be seen as "in the way" by older men in looking to complete their quorum with younger - often much younger - women.

The book is divided into four sections called "Before," "During," "After," and "Fighting Back." Brent Jeffs recounts how, as a very young child - just a boy of six or seven - he was forcibly and brutally raped by Warren Jeffs, as were at least two of his brothers. He recounts how young men were singled out for "discipline" for the slightest infractions, and made to feel like they didn't and couldn't belong to the church because of their unsanctified ways.

He recounts how, upon assuming the mantle of leadership of the FLDS, Warren Jeffs began to transform it from a faith - a fringe faith, yes, but a faith - into a cult. Outlawing such small things as pet dogs, the color red, any sort of clothing that was "worldly," and a host of other everyday things like videos of popular television shows like The Simpsons, or name brand clothing or running shoes.

He recounts how his own father was expelled from the the church by his brother, and the life they led trying to keep at least part of their family together. (Warren Jeffs had the authority to "reassign" the wives of expelled church members, and broke up hundreds of families this way in his struggle to maintain power.) He details his and his brothers slide into alcoholism and drug addiction, as they became marginalized from the only community they'd ever known.

Finally though, we are told about his long struggle to return to sanity, and even to filing a Civil suit in 2004 accusing Jeffs of abusing him.

Ultimately, this book is an uplifting look at how people can find happiness and meaning in life, even those who have had truly horrific and demeaning experiences.

Link to the segment of NPR's "Fresh Air" where Terry Gross interviews Brent Jeffs.

The Ripest Moments by Norbert Krapf

Bufkinite@evpl — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:00:00 GMT

The Ripest Moments is a simple pleasure to read. While reading this memoir of growing up in the 40s and 50s in Jasper and rural Dubois County, Indiana, I found myself reminded over and over again of my own childhood in northern Indiana, and the cousins, aunts, and uncles we'd often visit in Ohio and West Virginia.

While this is primarily a book about place, and family, it's also a book about community, and the work ethic that built communities like Jasper - and like Evansville, for that matter - with materials and stock that, in the author's words, were "one generation removed from the farm, two or three generations removed from Germany, and a hundred years beyond the wilderness."

As the title suggests, there's quite a bit remembered about the importance of gardens, orchards, and farms in this book. Family garden plots were central to the survival of pre-suburban, working families. "Summers on the Farm," "The Rye Field," and "The Garden and the Strawberry Patch" are just a few of the more mouth-watering chapters.

If you were born & raised in southern Indiana, you'll find something familiar, and likely something warm, in this book. But even if you're a transplant, this book may speak to you. Quoting the author's preface: "I have always believed that any story set deeply in one time and place, if told well, speaks for other times, places, and people. To put it another way, a sense of time and place travels well. A life lived deeply anywhere resonates beyond the context of its specifics."

This one resonated with me.

The author's website.

Torture: Does It Make Us Safer? Is It Ever OK?: A Human Rights Perspective

Bufkinite@evpl — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 21:41:00 GMT

While I find it appalling on so many levels that we even need a such a book as this in the 21st Century US, I'm glad that I had the chance to read this. Torture is divided into two sections, the first being about international torture - it's history, putative usefulness, the exporting of torture from one country to another, the long-term effects of torture on its victims and perpetrators, and negotiating with torturers - and the second being about torture in the United States - including essays on practices banned by the State Department (but nevertheless recently authorized by the Department of Defense), command responsibility for torture, and torture in US prisons.

A particularly moving chapter, for me, was the one on the need to respect the Geneva Conventions (dismissed by former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld as "quaint") written by Senator John McCain, himself a victim of torture during the Vietnam War.

While not easy to read, the book clearly answers both rhetorical questions in the title with a resounding "NO!" and provides factual information and ammunition to those wanting to reclaim for the United States the moral high ground in the treatment of dissidents, prisoners of war, and other "enemies of the state."

Commencement

KickinLibrarian@evpl — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:47:00 GMT

It is sometimes hard to believe that I graduated from USI over five years ago. That may seem like no time at all for some people, but sometimes I still feel like I am 21 again. Sometimes I forget that I am a "grown-up" with a "grown-up" job and bills, house payments, etc. Many of my favorite memories involved my roommates and friends from college walking to class, throwing a frisbee outside the apartments, and staying up late to talk about the future.

When I read the premise behind Commencement by J. Courtney Sullivan, I knew I had to read it. After waiting a few weeks because of all the holds (I wish librarians got priority sometime!), I stayed up late in the night reading this book. I connected with the characters created by Sullivan because I could see a bit of myself, and my friends, in each of the four main characters.

Set in the late 1990s at Smith College, Celia, Sally, Bree, and April are put together as hall-mates. On first glance, the four seem to have nothing in common and have no desire to befriend one another. As they go through the early days of college, however, they learn to rely on one another and form a bond that lasts through their college years. The differences come to head in their early twenties as the four split off to separate lives.

At Sally's wedding a few years later, an argument occurs that leaves a rift between the four best friends. Gradually, they all begin to realize that life isn't as easy without each other and when one of the four goes missing, they come together to search for their missing link.

One of the best things about this book was that most of us can relate to an argument between friends. I just happened to get this book when one of my closest friends and I seemed to be constantly at odds. After reading Commencement, I realized that life without her wouldn't be the same and emailed her an apology. Growing up and getting older isn't simple, but it is easier to manage with great friends.

Love As Always, Kurt: Vonnegut As I Knew Him, by Loree Rackstraw

Bufkinite@evpl — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:21:00 GMT

In September of 1965 Lorree Rackstraw was a graduate student in her second year at the Iowa Writer's Workshop, apprehensive about her new teacher, a relatively unknown writer named Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut had published just three books: The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, and Cat's Cradle. He'd also finished writing God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater the previous spring, and was struggling to get onto paper what he referred to as his "Dresden Book."

Love As Always, Kurt, recounts the friendship that began that summer, and lasted over 40 years, until Kurt Vonnegut died in April of 2007. To call it a friendship cheapens the care that this memoir makes clear they shared with one another. Rackstraw is now Professor Emeritus and the University of Northern Iowa & former editor of The North American Review.

This memoir of Rackstraw's forty-year relationship with Kurt Vonnegut is a very personal and deep look into both the human and the writer behind the name Kurt Vonnegut. We see clearly how, as a writer, he labors in draft after draft of everything he wrote from Slaughterhouse Five to Man Without a Country, and down to the speeches he gave at countless colleges, universities, graduations, and memorial services. We see, just as clearly, how he champions common humanity, and simultaneously enjoys the company of the famous and relatively well-to-do. We see how, despite periods of darkness and cynicism, this relationship buoyed Vonnegut, and provided Rackstraw with an escape from the pressures of her academic career as well.

We see, most plainly, a deep and abiding friendship that transcends all normal definitions. Was it love? Definitely. What it friendship? In the most useful meaning of the word, yes. But it was more: it was a collegial relationship - Vonnegut sent her page proofs of everything from Slaughterhouse Five forward; it was an intimate relationship, certainly: "Kurt and I toured the town of Key West, hand in hand like kids, and took photographs of each other beside somebody else's catch of a huge fish... Later, we danced barefoot under moonlight on that beach, to ragtime music from the piano bar;" and ultimately, it was a lifelong relationship, that saw a parting of the ways only in the death of one.

Being a long-time Vonnegut fan, I loved this book. It represents a first-hand account of four decades of his life by someone who he consistently loved, and who loved him in return. A tender portrait.

"The Angel's Game" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

MediaPhile@evpl — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 04:13:00 GMT

If you read and enjoyed Ruiz's international bestseller "Shadow of the Wind," you should probably read his newest (and related) novel "The Angel's Game." This is the second in a series of novels that will all link back to the fictional Cemetery of Forgotten Books featured in "Shadow."

"Angel's Game," set in gothic 1920s Barcelona, centers around an impoverished pulp fiction writer, David Martin, who unwittingly sells his soul to the devil. He finds, of course, that he has made a terrible bargain and must pay a price.

The plot is labyrinthian. Either read this one really carefully the first time, or plan on reading it twice in order to grasp all the threads. I read it twice, and am glad I did.

The author's website is full of intriguing tidbits, including downloadable Barcelona wallpaper and original soundtrack music composed by the author.