Monthly Archives: October 2016

Uncategorized

Saturdays @ the South: The Unshushed Library – A Frightening Tale

unnamed-2

As our regular readers are already aware, we here at the Free for All are celebrating All Hallows Read all month long. In that spirit, I thought I’d tell you a scary story here today. So “gather ’round while I elucidate…“**

It happened one weekday afternoon. There were the steps, the door, the gateway to… what? Some say knowledge and infinite possibilities. Others say silence and restrictions. Her feet froze, indecisive. Should she enter into the unknown? What will she find there? Would the rows of seemingly indecipherable letter and number combinations overwhelm and eat her alive? She’s heard stories about the gatekeepers; the shushing magnates that peer down from their high perches and squint grudgingly upon those who found it necessary to enter their guarded territory. Every fiber of her being shouted “Beware!” She took a deep breath and slowly put one foot in front of the other, walking hesitantly into the undiscovered frontier. 

OK, so this story is a thinly-veiled analogy for the library. I’m sure most Free for All readers found it somewhat absurd, but library anxiety, much like book anxiety, is a very real phenomenon as seen here, and here. It involves having the feeling of being intimidated, overwhelmed or otherwise enervated by libraries or librarians. It is most common in learners who come to the library for a project and don’t know where to start (or who to ask about it), but it can also be found in varying degrees by people who just don’t know how to navigate a library, don’t think the library has anything for them or find the library to be a frightening place because of bad experiences they’ve had at a library in the past. While psychological anxieties should not be taken lightly, I think certain library stereotypes have been propagated by some well-meaning but misguided myths.

Late Books

Books sometimes come back to the library late. This is a fact to which pretty much every library worker has resigned themselves. People get busy, misplace books, forget the due date. It happens to the best of us. I don’t want people to think that bringing a book back to the library late is the end of the world or a reason to avoid the library. Don’t get me wrong; we love seeing our books again. (Mini bibliophile confession:  Sometimes I’ll check in long-overdue books and greet them like a lost friend.) If a book is a popular hold, it’s respectful to bring it back on time so the next person in line isn’t waiting longer than necessary. Patrons bring them in sheepish and apologetic. The sentiment is appreciated, but we don’t want patrons to become so embarrassed that they feel they can’t come back to the library. If you find a long overdue book, you can bring it back knowing that you will receive the same high-quality level of service as someone who has never returned a book late in their life (though who this mythological person may be, I don’t know). Also know that your account will be cleared and once you have paid the late fees on the book it will not show up on your account again. There is no secret Library Illuminati that monitors people who bring their books back late or some scarlet letter B etched onto your account. We consider it water under the bridge and want you to feel comfortable returning to the library to check out books again. Consider our due dates to be a friendly reminder or a fuzzy request like this:

6a6d50910d69ae37e32435eb56f752a4

and not a threatening warning like this:

fef98c24bb32d398fd1f407f4a9187ae

or this:

pearls20110916

Overdue Fees

Ah, the dreaded late fine. Much like overdue books, this is something that happens to the best of us. The fine for the Peabody Library is minimal ($0.05 per item, per day) and while other libraries make their own fine determinations that the Peabody Library must honor, I don’t believe you should have to break the bank to return a library item. The whole point of loaning out items is to give access to people who may not otherwise have it. That said, like overdue books, we appreciate it when people pay their fines, but we also recognize that not everyone can pay them on the spot. This is why we allow you to carry a balance on your card (not many people know this). Your account is considered in good-standing if it has fines less than $10.00. We also understand that not everyone carries cash with them in this increasingly credit-based world. Fortunately, NOBLE has worked it so that people who manage their accounts online can also pay their fines online via a credit card. Again, we’d prefer that there not be a shaming, anxiety-ridden response to overdue fines, so we won’t come after you like this:

pb100823
Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis

Shushing

Out of all the possible anxiety-inducing stereotypes of libraries, this is the one that irks me the most. While a library should have quiet places for reading and reflection that pays homage to the preference of people who like to read in quiet solitude or among like-minded book people who are too introverted to actually want to talk to the like-minded book people (been there!). But to say that the entire library should have a morgue-like pallor of silence hanging over it defeats the purpose of the modern library as a place for discovery. Information is rarely acquired in a vacuum. Knowledge is something that goes far beyond mere information and hard facts. We propagate knowledge through books, media, programs and making the library a lively, welcoming place. We cannot be a community center without inviting the community in. We can’t assess the needs of a community by telling them to remain quiet. Un-shushing the library makes us a better place that can serve our patrons by tailoring what we offer to the patrons needs, which can only be done by listening to the sounds that they make. So please, don’t approach your library staff members with a fear of a wrath akin to this:

dont-make-me-shush-you

Instead, know that we enjoy when our patrons speak up to us and understand that we are here to help and even bend the rules if the appropriate situation arises.

tumblr_l3eyisnspo1qzn8edo1_1280
Rose is Rose by Don Wimmer and Pat Brady

Library anxiety can be caused by more reasons than listed here; often they are deeply personal, but I hope that anyone who feels any type of anxiety centering on the library can work up the courage to come in and chat with us. Yes, we like our items to be returned and our patrons’ accounts to be in good standing, but that doesn’t mean that we’re not reasonable people who understand that sometimes people get into unfortunate situations. We try to make our collections as accessible as possible (hence the transfer of the West and South Branches to BISAC). So if you know someone (or if you yourself) is unsure about returning to the library, or stopping in for the first time, I hope this article will turn what could be a scary story into one that has a happy ending. Till next week, dear readers, know that we’re here for all your needs, including alleviating library anxiety!

**Full disclosure: I watch The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (from which this quote was taken) every October together with It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and Garfield’s Halloween Adventure for a delightful, retro Halloween movie marathon, and I’ve always wanted to start a spooky story that way. Thanks for indulging me Free For All readers!

Uncategorized

Five Book Friday!

So it’s fall, dear patrons, and a lovely one at that.

Jericho Lake, photo by Jim Salge, newengland.com
Jericho Lake, photo by Jim Salge, newengland.com

Did you know that the drought in New England is actually making the fall colors brighter?  Because the leaves have less water in them, the sugar in them concentrates–and it is the sugar that makes the leaves turn colors…more precisely, it’s the chlorophyll leaving the leaves that takes the green away, but the color that remains is determined by the type of tree and the glucose levels in the leaves.  The higher the sugar content, the higher the reds and purples we see.   Nerd alert.

Here at the library, we are seeing a bumper crop of new books on our shelves, offering plenty of hours of reading pleasure for the lengthening nights.  And don’t forget to check out our All Hallow’s Reads displays to keep you in the Halloween spirit!  Here are just a few suggestions for you from the new book harvest this week:

81036_fivebooks_lg

 

3788990Indelible Ink: The Trials of John Peter Zenger and the Birth of America’s Free Press: It’s been a pretty interesting few weeks in the world of journalism, which makes it even more interesting to understand how the concept of “the freedom of the press” came to be established in the United States.  In this fascinating work, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Richard Kluger examines a 1733 incident when a a small newspaper, the New-York Weekly Journal, printed scathing articles assailing the new British governor, William Cosby, calling him corrupt and abusive.  The paper’s publisher, an impoverished printer named John Peter Zenger, had no hand in the words or ideas behind that paper, but it was he who was prosecuted for the attacks on Cosby.  Zenger faced down the attacks, however, spending over a year in prison before finally facing a jury in a case that would lay the foundations for the rights journalists still claim today.  This book is not only winning over readers, but scoring big points with historians and critics as well for its insightful, well-researched, and expertly-told story.  The New York Times Book Review, to note one example, said that it is full of “vivid storytelling built on exacting research, a knack for animating the context and an exquisite sense of balance that honors this country’s essential press freedom without romanticizing its champions.”

3795671Permanent Sunset: Fans of the unlikely sleuth Sabrina Salter will delight in her newest outing, set on the idyllic villa in the Virgin Islands.  A former television meteorologist, Sabrina has just begun to relish her new life in the upscale rental business when the body of a woman who was set to marry the soon-to-be-former owner of a villa Sabrina was in the process of buying, a discovery that puts her once again at the center of a murder mystery that will call on all her cunning and quick wits to solve.  Those of you pining for the return of lazy summer days will love the detailed setting of these books, and there is no doubt that C. Michele Dorsey knows how to produce a mystery full of twists, turns, and shocks that will have fans riveted.  Publisher’s Weekly agrees, saying that this second book in Sabrina’s series is an “Outstanding sequel… The ensuing mystery, chockablock with unanticipated plot twists, complex supporting characters, and terrific dialogue, makes for mighty good page-turning fun.”

3762090The Angel of History: In this small-scale epic novel, Rabih Alameddine presents one night in the life of a Yemeni-born poet named Jacob, who is passing the time in the waiting room of a psych clinic, side-by–side with the specters of Satan, Death, and 14 saints, who all wait with him has he ponders his life, from his early years growing up in an Egyptian brothel to the confines of his wealthy father’s home, to the struggles and triumphs of living as a gay Arab man in San Fransisco during the height of the AIDS crisis.  Though heartbreaking and deeply profound, Alameddine is one of those rare talents that is able to bring humor into the depths of his characters’ turmoil, making for a book that is drawing comparisons to Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, and calling forth enormous praise from readers and critics alike.  Library Journal gave the novel a starred review, saying “How does the mind grapple with transition, change, loneliness, and deterioration? Alameddine’s body of work is an extended meditation on this central question . . . With humor and wit, Alameddine reconfigures the self in exile and all its implications.”

3743138The Adventurist: How many times have we seens cubicle workers equated with drones, “desk jobs” described as “mindless”?  In this wonderfully insightful novel, J. Bradford Hipps peeks below the assumptions about corporate office life to study the existence of one man.  Harry Hurt may be mired in work-related responsibilities and worries, particularly as his software company’s budget begins to skid, but he is also a man in search of love, a brother, a potential lover, and a man who has decided, once and for all, to live his life adventurously…or, at least, to try.  The very real, very human story that Hipps tells within the monotony of corporate life is a real surprise, perhaps because we’ve come to see so many existences astwo-dimensional.  Publisher’s Weekly agrees, and gave this book a starred review, noting that Harry is “self-aware and observant, the perfect narrator for a story that feels like the slow-motion collapse of a man who’s already on the edge when the reader meets him. But rather than leaving him to wallow, the novel ends on a sense of hope predicated on the potential in a clean break and a fresh start. Deeply human, at times funny, and laced throughout with reflection on the crushing weight of the familiar, this novel is an engaging and nuanced exploration of life.”

3785518Moscow Nights: The Van Cliburn Story–How One Man and His Piano Transformed the Cold War:  The full title is something of a mouthful, but Nigel Cliff’s gripping story of the Texas-born Van Cliburn is a wonderfully readable modern history of music during the largest standoff in modern history.   Cliburn traveled to the Soviet Union in 1958 to compete in the First International Tchaikovsky Competition–a competition that Soviet leaders had already determined would be won by a Soviet pianist.  But the moment that the shy 23-year-old began to play, audiences fell in love with his talent and his sheer love of his art.  In the end, Cliburn was awarded top prize on orders from Khrushchev himself, creating a moment of shared joy in the midst of worldwide fear and darkness.  Cliff’s account captures the tension of the Cold War, but also the marvel of Cliburn’s talent, and the marvelous connection that all of us, as humans, have to music, making for a book that is both educational, and unexpectedly hopeful.  Booklist gave the work a starred review, hailing it as “A thrilling delight…compulsively readable…a biography for music lovers, Cold War devotees, and all readers seeking a true feel-great story.”

Until next week, beloved patrons…..happy reading!

 

 

Uncategorized

Breaking News: Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize for Literature!

Bob Dylan becomes the 108th Nobel Prize Winner in Literature!

You can watch the announcement here live:

(The announcement itself is in Swedish, but the crowd’s reaction at around :50 is rather priceless)

bob-dylan-2016This is actually a pretty radical decision for the Nobel Prize people—the award has, rather famously, not gone to American authors, traditionally speaking (the last American to win was Toni Morrison in 1993), and  Bob Dylan is not strictly a novelist, or a poet, or a short-story writer, which are typically the kind of writers that the Nobel favors.  Instead, they recognized his radical additions to American song-writing and poetry, comparing Dylan to Homer or Sappho, whose works were composed to be performed orally.  In giving the award to Dylan, whose birth name is Robert Allen Zimmerman, the Nobel also seems to be attempting to bridge a theoretically and cultural gap between “high literature” and “commercial literature”; in other words, they want this award to mean something to everyone, a goal in which they certainly succeeded by choosing a man whose music has meant so much to so many for the past forty years.  As the Academy noted: “Since the late 1980s, Bob Dylan has toured persistently, an undertaking called the ‘Never-Ending Tour.’ Dylan has the status of an icon. His influence on contemporary music is profound, and he is the object of a steady stream of secondary literature.”

Mr. Dylan’s other awards include Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe awards, as well as an induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

When asked to recommend a work to introduce new listeners to Bob Dylan’s work, Sara Danius, the Swedish Academy’s permanent secretary and a professor in literature at Stockholm University, recommended his 1966 album “Blonde on Blonde,” saying it contained “many examples of his brilliant way of rhyming and putting together refrains and his pictorial thinking.”

We couldn’t agree more, but feel free to come into the Library and check out some other selections from America’s newest Nobel Prize Winner!

Uncategorized

All The Nobel Prizes!

In a world that currently bears a god resemblance to a little child preparing to hold its face until it turns blue or gets a cookie, it’s nice to remember that there are some really impressive, inspiring, and creative things going on out there.  And this week, we got to see some of the most impressive, inspiring, and creative things in the form of the Nobel Prize Awards.

photo

From their wonderfully informative website, “Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has been honoring men and women from all corners of the globe for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and for work in peace. The foundations for the prize were laid in 1895 when Alfred Nobel wrote his last will, leaving much of his wealth to the establishment of the Nobel Prize.”  Alfred Nobel himself was born in Stockholm in 1833 into a family of engineers.   After enduring bankruptcy, Alfred’s father moved the family to St. Petersburg where he started a mechanical workshop for the manufacture of land mines.  Alfred was drawn to chemistry from a young age (in addition to conversant in five languages),and was able to mix and mingle with some of of the smartest brains in the western world.

alfred1Unfortunately for his family, the end Crimean War in 1856 meant that Europe didn’t need a great deal of war materiel, and the family company went bankrupt again.   Alfred’s parents and younger siblings moved back to Sweden, while Alfred and his older brothers remained in St. Petersburg and began trying to put their business affairs back into order.  It was at this time that one of Alfred’s tutors reminded him of the enormous potential of nitroglycerine, which had been discovered (developed?) in 1847; according to historic legend, the tutor by pouring a few drops of nitroglycerine on an anvil, striking it with a hammer, and producing a loud bang. But only the liquid that came into contact with the hammer exploded. The rest of the liquid was not affected.  Alfred decided to take the potential of this new substance and run with it, conducting a number of highly dangerous experiments that ended with him finding a way to combine nitroglycerine and gunpowder in a single device that kept the two separate until they were ignited, resulting in….dynamite.

For a family that made its fortune (several times over) on weaponry and tools of destruction, Alfred’s invention proved lucrative indeed, and he never looked back, even after a major explosion at the Nobel factory in Stockholm in September 1864 claimed the lives of Alfred’s brother Emil and four other people.  He continued to work on his dynamite, perfecting the weapon, and developing new forms of gelatin-based explosives.

However, Nobel was also something of a philosopher, and his writings reveal a man who truly believed that the study of science should lead mankind to better itself, and the world around it.  He had long considered the idea of giving his considerable fortunes away on his death, but in 1888, his brother Ludvig passed away.  Several French newspapers (Nobel was living in France at this point) published obituaries naming Alfred in error.  One particularly note-worthy headline read “Le marchand de la mort est mort” (“The merchant of death is dead”).  Alfred was deeply troubled by the headline and its implications, and even moreso by the rest of the article, which read, in part: “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.”  And so, in a effort to put his legacy to rights, Nobel decided that, upon his death, his money would be used to to establish a prize that would be awarded without consideration of nationality to those who used science, literature, and action to better the world, and prevent conflict.  While the endowment he left was considerable (1.6 billion British Pounds in 1895), good management means that the Noble Prize currently has a capital of around $472 million or 337 million Euros.

Though there are plenty of reasons to see the Nobel Award as a kind of historical eraser to the damage that Nobel’s inventions did and continues to do  on the world and its population, it is also important to realize the enormous impact that its winners have had on the world, and the influence it extends to those who make a difference.  So let’s take a moment today to celebrate the good stuff, and congratulate this years’ Nobel Prize Winners, listed below:

*Note: The Nobel Prize in Literature will be announced on Thursday.  This post will be updated to reflect that award on announcement, so watch this space!

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2016

David J. Thouless, F. Duncan M. Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz

“for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter”

1431974Essentially (to my very non-mathematically oriented brain), these three gentlemen used quantum physics to make predictions and insight into matter that is so thin as to be considered two dimensional, as well as material at absolute zero (when molecular movement ceases).  Ultimately, these calculations will be useful for new generations of electronics and superconductors, or in future quantum computers.  To learn more, you can read this publication by the Nobel Society, or check out Edward Abbott’s Flatland, an 1884 novel that Abbott wrote for his students to teach them about dimensionality and geometry.  It’s surprisingly funny, fascinatingly insightful, and actually provided the impetus for these three Nobel Prize winners to begin their study.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016

Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa

“for the design and synthesis of molecular machines”

2615212Though the mechanical engine has been around for roughly two centuries, humans really haven’t evolved the device beyond its initial configuration.  Not only have these three chemists made huge leaps towards making tiny, tiny, tiny engines (thousands of times smaller than a human hair!), they also bring the mechanical engine closer to a living, or at least organic thing that can perform controlled tasks (rather than running themselves until they break down like a car engine).  These findings could lead to new kinds of batteries, as well as tinier and tinier computers.  To learn more, you can check out this information provided by the Nobel Committee, or check out the writings of Richard Feynman.  Himself a Nobel Prize winner, Feynman first introduced the idea of evolving the engine into smaller and more productive forms, and give this years’ winners the inspiration.  

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2016

Yoshinori Ohsumi

“for his discoveries of mechanisms for autophagy”

2755516The word autophagy originates from the Greek words auto-, meaning “self”, and phagein, meaning “to eat”. Thus,autophagy denotes “self eating”…but not like cannibalism.  Instead, Dr. Ohsumi radically evolved our understanding of how the cell recycles its content.  Though studying yeast cells, Ohsumi realized that there was a cellular process that promotes cellular degradation and regeneration, making healthier, stronger yeast.  The same process is present in humans, (visible when you have an infection, and the body breaks down its infected cells and makes new, healthy, potentially immunized ones, or when fat cells are broken down during exercise and muscles develop).  Though we have known about this process, Dr. Ohsumi’s research has provided insight onto how we might learn to recognize and regulate this process to potentially help treat conditions like diabetes and Parkinson’s Disease.  For more information, you can read this publication from the good Nobel People, as well as Rebecca Skloot’s incredible The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which gives an unforgettably human face to the history of human cellular research. 

The Nobel Prize in Literature 2016

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature has not been awarded yet. It will be announced on Thursday 13 October, 1:00 p.m. CET at the earliest.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2016

Juan Manuel Santos

“for his resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end”

3104018As the President of Columbia, Juan Manuel Santos has worked to find a peaceful end to his country’s 52-year civil war, reaching a peace agreement with the Farc rebel group last month, which has since been rejected by voters in a referendum.  Nevertheless, a definitive ceasefire has been negotiated with Farc, originally established as an armed wing of the international Communist party, which has been maintained during continued negotiations.  On Twitter, Farc leader Timochenko said: “I congratulate President Juan Manuel Santos, Cuba and Norway, who sponsored the process, and Venezuela and Chile, who assisted it, without them, peace would be impossible.”  Santos announced that he will be donating all of the $1 million prize to conflict victims.  To read more about Columbia’s half-century of violence, check out The FARC: The Longest Insurgency, by Garry Leech, and try the work of Nobel Prize-winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez if you are itching for a little armchair wandering through literary Columbia.  

Uncategorized

Making Magic: On Fear and Why You Should Start There

*This post is part of Free for All’s “Making Magic” series, which will focus on Kelley’s exploration of the opportunities in the library’s Creativity Lab.

Recently, I’ve been listening to the audiobook of Neil Gaiman’s The View from the Cheap Seats. In the essay I heard on my drive home yesterday, he said, “Try to tell the stories that you cannot help but tell, the stories you would be telling yourself if you had no audience to listen. The ones that reveal a little too much about you to the world.” Pretty awesome advice, right? As readers we know that the best stories are the honest ones, the ones that reveal the deeper truths. As writers and artists, we know that creating the work that touches on those deeper truths can be terrifying.

When a friend published her first work of fiction, the first thing I told her after congratulations was that I admired her for being so brave. Every work we create reveals a piece of ourselves, and the courage it takes to share those pieces is, in my opinion, the most essential core strength of the best writers and artists. The fact is, sometimes it’s when we step completely out of our comfort zones that we create our best work. Which brings me to this week’s Creativity Lab adventure.laser cutterIn the Creativity Lab, there is a fire extinguisher next to the laser cutter. It is there for a reason, a good reason, and you can probably guess what it is. The laser is a very narrow beam of controlled fire. When we built the lab, one of the biggest design hurdles was the installation of the duct work we needed to put in place to vent the machine. The result is an unassuming looking metal box that says “Full Spectrum Laser” attached to a wall of broad piping that looks more like it belongs in a factory than a library. My first thought was, “It’s nice that we have this machine available for people to use.” My second thought was, “I am never going anywhere near it.”

Fast forward to now, two years later, when I decided to write this series for Free for All. Exploring the tools in the Creativity Lab means exploring ALL of the tools in the Creativity Lab. Always being one to jump off the diving board to get the shock of cold over with right away, of course I chose to start with the tool that scared me the most.

The laser cutter is a tool that requires training in it’s use, so the first thing I did was sign up for a class to learn the basics of operating the machine. The instructor gave us a demonstration of how the machine works, both for etching and cutting, along with essential operating and safety instructions. With the limited time leftover, we were given the opportunity to find a photo or draw a simple design ourselves, so that we could each laser cut a project of our own before the class ended. My design was thrown together quickly in Adobe Illustrator, a simple and unimpressive flower, but I really wanted to get in there and try the machine for myself. What surprised me was that, even though I was completely underwhelmed by my simple design, it felt pretty incredible to see that flower get carved out of wood by the laser beam. Actually, I was so excited that I made a video of the process:

Since that class, I am obsessed. I started a Pinterest board of more laser cutting projects than I will ever have time to make, and have spent more than one lunch break laser cutting during Open Lab. I’ve cut earrings and necklaces, etched trees on wood and cork coasters, and even etched on a piece of driftwood that my dad found at Crane Beach. If you went to the library’s Starry Starry Night event, you might have seen the earrings I made for sale there. In my search for new projects, I found that the things people laser cut also include Christmas tree ornaments, wall art, placemats, and journal covers. You can even use the etching feature to decorate jeans!

jewelry
Starry Starry Night Fundraiser Jewelry

This little machine is capable of a lot more than most people realize, and if you have a creative eye and a little bit of experience with Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape, it provides a fantastic opportunity to explore new ways to use your original art. Remember, before the class, I not only hadn’t used the laser cutter before, I also found it intimidating. In the end, I learned that the laser cutter is easier to learn and safer to use than I ever expected. Most importantly, by stepping out of my comfort zone, I was introduced to endless new possibilities that have re-energized my enthusiasm for making good art.

Would you like to learn more about the laser cutter and how to use it? Check out the Creativity Lab’s Events Calendar for a list of upcoming classes. Intro to Laser Cutting, offered multiple times each year, is a required class for those who want to use the laser cutter during Open Lab time and, if you’d like to try your hand at a specific project, I’ll be teaching a class on how to laser cut bamboo bookmarks this winter. Hope to see you there!

Uncategorized

On Sundays, We Talk Books

Lady Pole and Arabella
Lady Pole and Arabella

One of the nifty things about being friend with Lady Pole, among myriads, is her excellent taste in literature, and her openness about discussing books.  So a little while ago, we came up with the idea of a book discussion here at the Free For All where we could air our real views about some of those “classic” books that everyone is “supposed to read”…and supposed to value/treasure/enjoy. 

The truth of the matter is that even when two people read the same book…no two people read the same book.  They bring their lives with them into the text, and that totally influences how they perceive, digest, and remember the book.  And this was something Lady Pole and I discovered as we chatted about some of those classics that we had encountered in our lives.  So here is a much more mature, adultish version of that discussion for you to enjoy.  While we are very pleased with our own opinions, what we really hope you, dear readers, take away from these discussions is the realization that: 1) Reading “classics” can be really fun and meaningful and significant (that’s part of what makes them “classics” after all!), 2) That you are under no obligation whatsoever to enjoy the classics that you read, as you’ll soon see, and 3) That your own story is critically important to how you read any book.  So here is our chat–we sincerely hope it encourages you to have a conversation of your own!

Our first book in this series is Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, published in 1868. 

2335435

 

First Encounter
Lady Pole: I was a senior in college when I finally read Little Women as part of an American Literature course. Alcott was in good company here; this was the class where I learned to utterly adore Moby Dick, finally read (and enjoyed) Stephen Crane’s Red Badge of Courage, got to revisit Edgar Allan Poe’s Narrative of A. Gordon Pym (in which I had an eerie experience of remembering memories and images I created when I first read the book) and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, among other books that are less memorable. What this brief history of my college experience is meant to elucidate is that Little Women wasn’t surrounded by books I didn’t like or I was somehow predisposed to dislike it because it was assigned reading. But I did dislike it. Perhaps not a burningly intense dislike that other books have instilled in me, scarring me for life (I’m looking at you Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance & Catcher in the Rye), but this was definitely not a favorite from that course.
Arabella:  I actually spent a great deal of my childhood in Concord, where Louisa wrote Little Women.  It was my grandmother’s favorite book, and when she and my Grandfather found a plot of land right behind Orchard House (where the book was written), she negotiated the price of the land down by telling the seller (who was, incidentally, Margaret Lothrop, whose mother wrote The Five Little Peppers series) how much she wanted to live near Louisa May Alcott.  I never got to meet my Grandmother, so when my Grandfather told me about her love of the book, and Concord, I decided to read the book as a way to be closer to her (I have her copy of the book, published in 1947, too!)

orchard_house_from_little_women
First Impressions
Lady Pole: For me, Little Women was sappy and a bit drawn out. Perhaps it was because I was nearing full-adulthood when I read it and didn’t have the fond childhood memories of this book that so many others have experienced. Maybe Alcott’s work is better appreciated by those in a younger mindset, or at least not an academic mindset, but I definitely didn’t appreciate it the way many others do. I didn’t like many of the characters, but the fact that I didn’t identify more with the heroine, Jo I think is what surprised me the most. Jo is a contrarian, determined to follow her own path, which bears a strong resemblance to my personality, particularly when I was in college. I should have loved her. I wanted to love her. I didn’t love her. Maybe I found her to be overshadowed by her fairly annoying sisters or maybe I spent so much of the book waiting for the scenes that I already knew about (more on that in a bit), but I didn’t have the pleasurable experience reading this book that I often get when reading classics, or books with strong women.
Arabella: In the interest of full disclosure, I grew up as an (introverted) only child, who attended Catholic grammar school, which really emphasized being quite and doing what you’re told, which are two things I am not highly skilled at doing.  So to have a book that deals heavily in strong, functional sibling relationships fascinated me from the beginning.  What I took away from this book, though, that has meant an incredible amount to me growing up, was it was ok to want to be different from those around you (indeed, there could be virtue in it), and that it was ok to be angry.  When Marmee tells Jo that she is angry nearly every day of her life, and that Jo could be, too, as long as she learned how to deal with it properly, meant more than I can say growing up.  That she said it to Jo, who was the tall, awkward, literary figure in the book, was huge for me, a tall, awkward, bookish kid.  The validation that all the girls in this book get for their choices in life really did give me a lot of courage and confidence growing up.  I think a lot of this also had to do with knowing how much my grandmother (whose middle name was Josephine) loved this book, and reading it felt like talking to her.
Also, Theodore Lawrence was my first love.  And the man against whom I still measure most men in my life.  And I am not ashamed to admit that.
louisa_may_alcott
Outside Influences:
Lady Pole: I have to say I think outside influences had a fair amount to do with my enjoyment (or lack thereof) with this book. This being a 150-year-old classic (give or take), I knew at least a few things about this book so spoilers abounded. I’m not opposed to spoilers as a general rule, and when it comes to classics, they’re pretty hard to avoid, so this didn’t bother me. However, this was one of the few situations where I think a spoiler altered my potential enjoyment of the book. I knew that Beth the “sickly” sister dies, but I was under the impression that she dies fairly early on, or at least somewhere in the middle of the book. So in addition to the fact that I found her self-righteous prattling incredibly annoying, I spent much of the book asking the pages “WHY HAVEN’T YOU DIED YET SO WE CAN GET ON WITH THE STORY.” I ended up being so preoccupied with preparing myself for the death of this major character I really didn’t like to begin with, that it ended up consuming my consciousness during a large portion of the text. I also had seen parts of the Little Women movie starring Winona Ryder and I wasn’t a fan. I have a feeling that Ryder’s portrayal of Jo may have influenced my dislike of a character I might have otherwise identified with more.
Arabella: I spent a lot of time at Orchard House (where the book was written), because it basically across the street from my Grandfather’s house, and worked there for years as a historic re-enactor (nerd alert….).  And I actually portrayed Elizabeth Alcott (on whom Beth was based) for years.  So for me, a lot of outside influence was historic research and getting behind the characters to the women on whom they were based.  As a result, a lot of the pontificating and moralizing in the book didn’t affect me, because I knew a lot of it was because Alcott was writing in the 1860’s, and you couldn’t write a book for children without morals, so I skipped these parts….although, that being said, Alcott’s very frank discussion on hitting children and being lazy are two things that I still carry with me….
Recent Reflections
3498767Lady Pole: In recent years, I’ve come to admire Alcott’s other work (her little-known Long Fatal Love Chase is well worth a read). With respect to Little Women, while I’m not quite sure I’m up to the challenge of trying to read it with fresh eyes, I have come to greatly appreciate Alcott’s stand on not having Jo end up with the “popular” choice, Laurie, despite reader and editor pressure. Considering Professor Bhaer was actually one of my favorite characters, I liked that Alcott had the two of them marry and highly respect the author’s decision to follow her instincts as a writer. I will say that my impressions of the book will not prevent me from encouraging my future, hypothetical children from reading it if they desire, and I’m very grateful to know someone who has such a different opinion of the book, so I have a resource for them to turn to if they love it and simply want to gush in excitement, rather than examine the pros and cons. While it might not change my view, this type of disagreement allows for a deeper understanding of the text by being able to see it through different eyes, so I’m always appreciative when someone can broaden my perspective.
Arabella: Initially, I was devastated that Laurie and Jo didn’t get together, but the older I get, the bigger my crush on Professor Bhaer grows.  This was helped a good deal by Gabriel Byrne’s performance in the most recent film, and I won’t pretend otherwise.  But his encouragement of Jo and belief in her, without being smother-y or paternalistic about it still feels remarkable to me.  Having also worked in a library that held Louisa May Alcott’s fan letters from school children around the country, I’ve also been really fascinated by how much this book has meant to readers for generations.  The older I get, too, the more Beth’s death breaks my heart–I don’t think I could grasp the enormity of such a loss when I was young.  But Beth’s quote to Jo, in their final chapter together, remains my favorite in the book, because it encapsulates the acceptance and encouragement that I found in Little Women: 
“You are the gull, Jo, strong and wild, fond of the storm and the wind, flying far out to sea, and happy all alone.”
houghton_ac85-a%e2%84%93194l-1869_pt-2aa_-_little_women_title
Uncategorized

Saturdays @ the South: Haunted Humor

pumpkin
Image created by The Introverted Wife

Ah, dear readers,  it’s fall. The crisp cool nights and warm-ish days have arrived and I couldn’t be happier to welcome my favorite season. I also couldn’t be happier that our wonderful blogger-in-residence Arabella got the ball rolling on All Hallows Read. For those of you who remember our celebrations last year, I hope that you will enjoy this year’s posts as well as we revel in things spooky, horrific and creepy.

I thought I’d start off the Saturdays @ the South festivities a little lighter. Sometimes horror books can be taken extremely seriously because it is a genre based on the emotion of fear. Horror can tap into some of our deepest fears  including death and the unknown. As Arabella has mentioned previously, it’s healthy to explore these fears in a safe space  and books give a perfect outlet to do just that. That doesn’t mean, however, that books that scare us can’t have other emotions tied to them. Romance is arguably the closest genre to horror because they both deal with strong emotions and horror books can have a romantic element in them.

'Mummy, can you please pull the curtain and make it dark please? I'm scared of the light...'
‘Mummy, can you please pull the curtain and make it dark please? I’m scared of the light…’

A reaction that seems diametrically opposed to horror, however, is laughter. And yet, there are some great books out there that masterfully blend both elements of horror and humor. The two aren’t quite as disparate as they seem. If horror allows us to safely explore our fears and provide an outlet for our worst-case scenarios, humor allows those fears to be put aside and made that much less powerful by making them absurd. Voltaire once prayed “O Lord, make mine enemies ridiculous,” because this is precisely what takes away their power. The marvelous Mel Brooks adapted this philosophy by making the horrible figure of Hitler a ludicrous one in The Producers. Both horror and humor can lessen the impact of something fearsome, loathsome or otherwise horrific.

To that end, I’d like to recommend some books that blend the elements of humor and horror, to varying degrees.  Some of them might scare the pants of off you (as a couple of these titles did for me) but give you a chuckle in the process, while others consider humor their job first, and adding horror elements as a way to move the story forward. The spectrum here is broad, so hopefully there will be something for all to enjoy:

2344748A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore

Moore is one of those authors who doesn’t shy away from a silly fart joke but can also make some interesting commentary on the more serious aspects of life. In this book, he takes on death, parenthood and a coming apocalypse all with his characteristic light touch. Charlie Asher has inadvertently become the Grim Reaper and if that wasn’t hard enough, he’s worried that he may end up passing it along to his child. Hilarity ensues as he tries to shield his daughter while saving the world.

3605662Cat Out of Hell by Lynne Truss

If anyone can bring humor to a grim subject, it’s the author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves which brought a sense of humor to a treatise on grammatical mistakes. In this fiction tome, Truss writes of a cat, Roger, who speaks to Alec Charlesworth and tells him frightening tales of recent deaths that may be linked to dark forces. If a talking cat doesn’t undercut a terrifying situation with humor, I don’t know what does.

3143872The Postmortal by Drew Magary

If sarcasm in the face of horrifying events is more your take on humor, then this book may be more your speed. John Farrell gets “The Cure,”  a death cure that renders someone impervious to old age and theoretically, won’t die. That is, unless some other outside force kills him. He and several others have taken part in this illicit treatment, but find it increasingly difficult to keep it under wraps as more people try to gain immortality. But can the world handle the load on its resources if an entire population doesn’t die? He’s sure to live long enough to find out. I’ll be honest, this book has some great one-liners in the humor department, but it successfully scared the daylights out of me!

3794357The Last Days of Jack Sparks by Jason Arnopp

Speaking of one-liners and books that terrify me, this take on horror is a non-stop, gripping ride take takes a somewhat epistolary approach to horror. Jack Sparks is a loud-mouthed social media presence who is quick with a quip and was researching a book on the occult when he died. This is the story of how he died in the process of researching that book. The humor here comes in with Sparks, who isn’t shy about mocking much of what he sees (some of these lines made me laugh out loud) and the terrifying part comes in with just about everything else.

3553458The Supernatural Enhancements by Edgar Cantero

This book is similar to The Last Days of Jack Sparks in that it has some fantastic one-liners that can definitely break the tension of a gripping read, it’s told in an epistolary style with records and transcripts from a stay in a haunted house and it scared the pants off of me. I also couldn’t stop thinking about this book long after it ended. A. (we know him as nothing else)inherits a house from a distant relative in West Virginia and stays there with companion Niamh only to discover that the house hides secrets about his family, about the area and about its inhabitants. It’s a bit indescribable. You’ll just have to read it for yourself. But be sure to lock doors before you do…

Till next week, dear readers, I hope you find your own balance of humor and horror during this month of All Hallows Read.