NOW We're Talking!

Gasoline prices got you depressed? Ruined your vacation plans? Well, forget all about that. What you need is the Bibliochaise, a literal reading chair produced and sold by an Italian company called Nobody & Co. (Go to the upper right for Products, then find Bibliochaise. Click on the chair and cushion to change colors.)

How cool is this? Of course, nowhere on the site does it mention the price. (Never a good sign.) But it looks pretty tempting, huh? Although I think it should probably have a beverage holder somewhere. Maybe you could have a matching end table with a few _____________________________ novels (pick your least favorite author) stacked up with a hole drilled through large enough to house a can or bottle. (Just an idea, Nobody & Co, just in case you're reading.)

In case you're curious, the chair holds about 16 feet of books. (You can also buy a Bibliofootstool that holds a few.) I'd probably put a little bit of everything in mine: short story collections, a few classics, current books, maybe a few reference books. Ah, the possibilities! So what books would you put in your Bibliochaise?

Sorry, We're Closed

As many of you know, I've been selling used books online (mostly on Amazon, but some on eBay also) for four years, but as of today, I've shut the business down. With all the library hours I'm getting, plus writing, plus stuff going on at church, I just don't have time anymore. Plus sales had been dropping for some time now. There comes a point at in any business (especially if you're the only employee) where it all but takes over your life. Mine was getting close to that.

If you're thinking about getting rich selling used books on the Internet, I'm here to tell you, its not that easy. First of all, there are tons of people out there selling. If you don't believe me, just go to any Friends of the Library Book Sale and see how many people are using scanners to check how much a book is selling for on Amazon. Go to thrift stores when they're putting books out. Some places just dump a shopping cart full of books into the book room and run to escape the feeding frenzy. It really is brutal.

When I started selling online, a book I read estimated that 50,000 people were selling on Amazon alone. And that was four years ago. Competition is rabid and if you don't keep up, you'll be stuck with a houseful of books you can't unload.

But you can also make some pretty good money if you know what you're doing and know where to get books cheap. If you're good, you don't even need the scanner. I see people all the time whipping out their scanners checking every single book in a thrift store. Those people waste a lot of time because they don't know what they're looking for. I didn't buy winners every time, but I had a pretty good sense of what to buy and what not to buy.

There were a lot of headaches, but it was also a lot of fun, especially the hunt. You really never know what you'll find. I came across several signed first editions, several collectible books and some books so rare I've never been able to find any information on them anywhere.

And I've found some weird things in weird places. While walking my dog, I once found a military book on treating injuries during battle. I found it in a doggie poopie station. (Nothing else was in there; I checked.) Got $50 for it.

People always ask if I've ever found money inside a book. Yes. I once found $220 dollars in cash inside a book.

I've found bookmarks, airplane boarding passes, candy wrappers, library slips, greeting cards and photos. I even found one photo of a dead woman in a casket.

The oldest book I ever found was an Arthur Conan Doyle book printed in 1895, which really isn't that old.

The most I ever got for a single book was $365 for an extremely technical book on (I believe) particle acceleration.

One of the more interesting titles I've run across is Santa Claus, Last of the Wild Men: The Origins and Evolution of Saint Nicholas Spanning 50,000 Years by Phyllis Siefker. (I never sold it, but plan to read it one day.)

The books I've seen the most (and are completely worthless for reselling): A Civil Action, What to Expect When You're Expecting, The Firm.

Mostly it was a lot of fun, but I'm glad it's over. Real glad.

It's a Busy Monday, So Here You Go...

It may not look like much of an innovation right now, but check out the new hydrogen car from Honda.







However, in the case of The Fall, looks may be everything. Take a look at the stunning trailer. Plus any movie that uses the second movement from Beethoven's Seventh Symphony has to have some redeeming value.

Twilight Zone Graphic Novels

For all you old-school kids who remember the original series, Walker Books for Young Readers is coming out with graphic novel editions of The Twilight Zone. Two of the original first season episodes, Walking Distance and The After Hours go on sale September 16, 2008. Another Zone classic, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, will be released on December 23, 2008, just in time to make it to your stocking. I really hope these turn out to be good productions. I'm not familiar with the artist Dove McHargue and it's hard to tell much from the covers, but at $9.95 each, I'm guessing the inside pages will be in B&W. Anyway, I think it's pretty cool to see the Zone in a new incarnation.

Living with Books: The Biography of Andy Wolverton

Okay, I admit it. I take great, voyeuristic pleasure in looking at the way other people display their books. (Sick, I know.) I guess that's why Living with Books by Alan Powers is such a treasure.

I love everything about the book: the photos, the ideas it gives you for creative storage solutions and even diagrams. (Although I've been told by Cindy that there's no way I'm allowed to build the staircase bookshelves on page 51.) This may not be a book you'll want to purchase (but then again, maybe it is), but it's lots of fun to look at. See if your local library has it. Get some ideas, go nuts. Just save enough room on those stairs so you can walk.

New Kid in Town...or on the desk, anyway

Ah, the first post from our new 20" 2.66GHz, 320GB hard drive iMac! So far everything is absolutely wonderful! More later after lots of exploration.

Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal by Mal Peet

You hear a lot these days that YA books are flying off the shelves and they are, but what a lot of people fail to realize is that a huge number of adults are reading YA. Apparently many grownups have become frustrated with adult fiction and just want "a good story," something that keeps the pages turning and wraps up nicely at the end. That's not to say that it has to be simple. It can be well-written, intellectually and emotionally satisfying, challenging, creative, descriptive, effective, powerful and still appeal to both YAs and adults. Tamar is one of those novels.

The odd thing about Tamar (and possibly a selling point for adults) is that most of the book is not written from a teenage point of view. William Hyde, a former WWII British undercover operative in Holland, has apparently committed suicide in 1995, fifty years after the end of the war. Before his death, he leaves a box for his 15-year-old granddaughter Tamar (also Hyde's code name in WWII). Inside, Tamar finds maps, coded messages, photos and other seemingly unrelated objects from her grandfather's past. Slowly she begins to unravel the mystery of why her grandfather, a war hero who helped liberate Holland from the Nazis, would kill himself.

Again, most of the book is told from the point of view of either Hyde or his partner Dart (both not much older than young adults themselves) as they parachute into Holland and work undercover, trying to send messages to the Allies while avoiding detection by the Nazis. Peet does a masterful job of linking the past with the present without falling into the traps and cliches of a multitude of wartime novels. The writing is fresh, the details vivid and the characters multi-dimensional. Highly recommended for YA and adults.

Actually Glad It's Monday...

Man, what a weekend, which thankfully ended this morning at 1:00AM when Cindy and I finally made it home from Chicago. Thanks to the fiendly skies of United, we missed our 10:30 (yes, that would be AM) flight, were unable to get on any Baltimore flight, eventually got on a flight to Philadelphia (but first had to wait in line for 54 other flights to take off before ours), rented a car and drove from Philadelphia to the Baltimore airport where our luggage awaited us (from a standby flight that we'd missed). Total wasted time: 12 hours. No airports in my immediate future, thank you. And thanks, United, for laying off even more employees who probably could have gotten us (and everyone else headed to Baltimore) on our way on time.

Anyway, enough of that. Our visit with our new niece Alex was very good, as was the Printers Row Book Fair, where I picked up a few books, including a signed copy S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders.

More later after a little time in recovery.

May Books Read

Not a bad month for reading, ten books: four YA/J-Fic, three non-fiction, two short story collections and only one novel (but it was a huge one). Although they're not included in my yearly count, I'm now also keeping up with graphic novels at the end of the post. So here we go:


The Bush Tragedy (NF 2008) - Jacob Weisberg
Believe it or not, author Jacob Weisberg (editor-in-chief of Slate) does not have an ax to grind with The Bush Tragedy, even though he freely admits the failure of the George W. Bush presidency is a foregone conclusion. He's more interested in a serious examination of Bush's motivations than in bashing the 43rd president.

Before you laugh out loud at Weisberg's comparisons between Bush and Shakespeare's Henry V, thinking that the book's title should be The Bush Comedy, read just a few pages about George W.'s competition with his father George H.W. Bush and consider the son's eagerness in trying to avoid the father's mistakes (especially during the Gulf War). Then consider how a hard-drinking, low-ambition Yale student got religion, orchestrated a campaign that landed him in Austin, and mounted an unlikely run for the White House.

What really drives Bush? The sibling rivalry with his brother Jeb? His religious convictions? Or the advice of members of his inner circle such as Dick Cheney, whom Weisberg calls the most powerful vice-president in the history of the United States?

The Bush Tragedy is a fascinating read, regardless of your political affiliation.





The Last Lecture (NF 2008) - Randy Pausch
You've probably seen Pausch on Oprah or on YouTube, and if you have, you've only seen part of the story. Pausch was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2006 and has written a "last lecture" for his students at Carnegie Mellon, but more importantly for his children. This could have been a really sappy, weepy book, but it's filled with humor, courage and insight.






Sunstroke and Other Stories (2007) - Tessa Hadley
I've already discussed this book here, but I can safely say this collection was the month's most satisfying fiction experience. Highly recommended.








The Talisman (1984) - Stephen King and Peter Straub
I read this book over 20 years ago and was captivated by it. (Back then it was the first encounter I'd had with Straub and was responsible for my reading some of his mid-80s novels like Koko and Mystery.) When I saw it on audiobook at the library (all 24 discs), I thought I'd revisit it. It's still a very good story and quite an epic, but I doubt I'll read it again or the sequel Black House.







This is What I Did: (YA 2007) - Ann Dee Ellis
Eighth grader Logan Palorey has just moved to a different part of town, which means a new school and new friends. But a new environment can't change the terrible thing Logan witnessed several weeks ago, an incident involving his best friend Zyler. Logan is tight-lipped about the whole thing. His parents want to help but don't know how, his brothers could care less and all the kids at his new school think he's a freak. All, that is, except an odd girl named Laurel who wants to change her name to Laral because she loves palindromes.

Logan's mom suggests going to see a counselor. Logan's dad suggests Boy Scouts. Logan has his own idea: trying out for the school musical Peter Pan. (After all, Laurel's in the musical.) Each of these three situations provides learning experiences for Logan, but none of them turn out to be quite what he expected.

This is What I Did: reminded me a lot of the Laurie Halse Anderson novel Speak, another book about a troubled teen who doesn't want to talk to anyone. This is What I Did: is a quicker read with more humor, but it's definitely not a "light" version of Speak for boys. It packs a real punch and a satisfying ending.






Unaccustomed Earth (2008) - Jhumpa Lahiri
It seems that everybody is on the Jhumpa Lahiri bandwagon. I mean, it's pretty big news when a literary short story collection lands at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. But I have to tell you, I'm not on the bandwagon.

Lahiri is a fine writer and often creates interesting situations between and among generations of families who have immigrated from India to America. The title story about a father visiting his Americanized daughter after the mother's death was both touching and memorable, but all of the stories follow the same themes of family, clash of cultures, etc. For me, there's just not enough at stake for the characters, not enough conflict and tension. It's not that I expect bodies to fly through windows in every story, but something has to happen. For me it mostly didn't.






Bird Lake Moon (J-Fic 2008) - Kevin Henkes
A book that might get overlooked due to a weak title and an unappealing cover. Two boys meet at a lake one summer, one dealing with the separation of his parents, the other dealing with the death of a brother. Probably best for ages 8-12.









Burger Wuss (YA 1999) - M.T. Anderson
Another exceptional work from my favorite YA writer, M.T. Anderson. Some thoughts on the book here.










Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game (NF 2003)
How did the 2002 Oakland A's baseball team manage such an impressive record with a player payroll that's near the bottom of Major League Baseball? (And 2002 wasn't the first or last time it happened.) How does general manager Billy Beane defy conventional scouting wisdom, find players no one else wants and turn them into indispensable parts of highly functioning unit? The story itself is fascinating, yet so are the stories-within-the-story of young players who were ignored by scouting reports until Beane discovered them. If you've ever wondered just how baseball scouting, statistics and drafts work (or don't work), Moneyball is for you.











Sunrise Over Fallujah (YA 2008) - Walter Dean Myers
This one's a real toss-up for me. On the one hand, Myers has done a great job of showing teens the utter confusion and hopelessness of a war fought by soldiers caught up in the midst of something they just don't understand. But I thought the language was watered down and the characters not as fully fleshed out as they could've been.









GRAPHIC NOVELS


Marvels (1994/2004) - Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross
Beautifully painted art combined with a well-thought premise: the world of Marvel Superheroes from the viewpoint of ordinary people. Some excellent moments. This hardcover anniversary edition includes an enormous amount of drafts, scripts and sketches (about half of the book's 400 pages) which had limited appeal to me. This new edition at 248 pages may be the way to go for more casual readers.









Torso: A True Crime Graphic Novel (2000) – Michael Bendis and Marc Andreyke
Recommended to me by my friend Kangas, this graphic novel combines stark black and white artwork with photographs to tell the story of Eliot Ness, fresh from his victory over Al Capone, as he tackles crime in Cleveland in 1935. Things get a lot tougher when a serial killer begins decapitating and dismembering his victims throughout the city. Grim and brutal, but good storytelling.


That's it for May. Now go and read something.

May Books Bought

It's been so crazy around here this month, I only bought a few books. Actually six, which is pretty remarkable for me. Here they are with justifications for their purchase. I'm also including a new feature: how much I spent for each book. (Yikes!)




A few weeks ago I helped a patron with a "What Should I Read Next?" mystery/crime fiction search and Ian Rankin's name came up. I'd heard of Rankin, seen his titles around, but never picked one up until now. (Yes, working in a library can be a dangerous thing.) Knots & Crosses is the first in a series of novels featuring Edinburgh Detective Sergeant John Rebus. By many accounts, Knots & Crosses is not the best entry in the series, but it is the first and I do like to start a series at the beginning whenever possible. This is a British edition for sale at one of my favorite haunts, Daedalus Books. Mass Market Paperback - Price: $3.98



I discovered Mal Peet's Tamar in a Reader's Advisory workshop a few weeks ago. Participants paired up and described a book they really enjoyed, including the specific aspects of the book they liked. The other participant's assignment was to find similar books using various library resources. My partner did a great job of convincing me to read Tamar, a YA novel subtitled "A Novel of Espionage, Passion and Betrayal." It's also winner of the Carnegie Medal. (If you're interested, the book I talked about was Jeffrey Ford's The Shadow Year.) Hardcover - Price: $4.98


Good-Bye Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson appeared on a list of VOYA's best graphic novels from the last several years. Okay, I admit it, I saw it at Daedalus and acted on impulse. Trade Paperback - Price: $3.98








I really like Washington Post writer Michael Dirda's writing. Classics for Pleasure is clear, concise, full of wit, imagination and passion. (Passion about books, that is.) Dirda can take a title you have absolutely no interest in and convince you in two pages that it's a book you must read. Another dangerous guy to have around. Hardcover - Price: $7.95





Healing for a Broken World: Christian Perspectives on Public Policy by Steve Monsma is the text for a class I'm planning on taking this fall. It's really more of a study than a class, a group of people interested in how Christians can make a difference in the culture. Trade Paperback - Price - $11.55








Culture Shift: Engaging Current Issues with Timeless Truth by R. Albert Mohler, Jr. is a thin book packed with lots of thoughtful ideas on how Christianity impacts (or doesn't impact) our cultural climate. (And yes, I'm spending a good bit of time thinking about Christianity and culture.) Hardcover - Price: $10.49





Total Spent on Books in May: $42.93

Next time: The books I actually read in May

Absolutely Crazy

(This post is for all three of you in my worldwide audience.)

Sorry about a lack of posting, but things have been absolutely crazy lately with our 12th wedding anniversary, last weekend's church retreat, books, work and other stuff. During the next two weeks, I plan to:

Visit my new niece in Chicago
Interview for a full-time job at the library
Buy a new computer (a Mac - may Microsoft perish in flames)
Work on a major church project
Revise two chapters of my YA novel
Send out a new story
Take my first golf lesson
Read two more YA novels (besides mine)
Work

Plus tonight's two-hour season finale of Lost, the only television I consistently watch. More when things slow down including Books Bought and Read for May.

Burger Wuss (YA 1999) - M.T. Anderson

Burger Wuss reminds me of some of those early John Hughes movies from the 80s like Sixteen Candles and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, only smarter and funnier. Anderson either remembers what it's like to be a teenager or he's very observant. Or maybe both.

Sixteen-year-old Anthony has just lost the love of his life to Turner, a sadistic four-time Employee-of-the-Month at a fast-food joint called O'Dermott's (which has many similarities to a certain unnamed franchise that features a large yellow letter of the alphabet between L and N). The best way to exact revenge, Anthony decides, is to get a job at O'Dermott's working right alongside Turner. But since this is not only fiction, but teen fiction, things can go wildly off-course.

It's not long before Anthony finds himself in the middle of a fierce rivalry between O'Dermott's and cross-town fast-food rival Burger Queen (in one of the funniest softball games ever captured in print). He also strikes up a friendship (or is it a partnership?) with Shunt, a homeless co-worker seeking to topple the restaurant's corporate structure, if at all possible, by anarchy. Add to the mix two clueless parents, two sickeningly in-love coworkers and a manager with way too much corporate spirit.

Burger Wuss is a hilarious, yet sympathetic look at teenage love and revenge, filled with clever dialogue and authenticity. All of Anderson's novels are wildly different from one another, but they all feature top-notch writing. For newcomers, Burger Wuss is a great, entertaining place to start.

A Few Thoughts on YA Novels

I'm on track to finish reading at least four YA/J-Fic novels this month, which is by no means a huge amount, but compared to most months, quite significant for me. What I'm discovering is that some writers remember what it was like to be a teen and can transfer those memories into the here-and-now of the 21st century. But some don't and can't. (I certainly don't want to fall into that category.)

M.T. Anderson either remembers what it was like to be a teenager or he's very observant of teenagers (or maybe both). I'm almost finished with Burger Wuss, a tale of teenage revenge at a fast-food restaurant. Even though the book is nearly ten years old (which qualifies as ancient history in YA literature), Anderson's portrayal of teen angst, betrayal, injustice, humor, satire and the general rollercoaster of emotions are spot on. He understands.

So does Ann Dee Ellis. Her debut novel This is What I Did: rings true to what I've seen in encountering teenagers in 15 years of teaching.

But I've sampled other novels that are disappointing in their portrayal of teens, some of which feel like Wally and Beaver have been dropped into 2008 America. While the characters aren't perfect, they're a little too noble and unrealistic, children of parents who stepped out of a Father Knows Best episode. The stories themselves aren't bad, but appear to have been written by good writers who maybe haven't been around kids for awhile.

The lesson for me as a writer is to observe teens more, to try to understand their motivations, desires, needs (You get the opportunity to do that at the info desk, believe me.) and make that appear on the page.

As a reader, I'm finding that the literature is as broad as in any genre. It's all over the place and seems to be expanding further every day. That's probably a good thing, if you can find the time to discover more of it and separate the wheat from the chaff.

The Weekend, VOYA and Rejection

Quite a weekend. Cindy played a great concert last night with the McLean Symphony and successfully finished a half-marathon today. Medieval Mania went over quite well at the library yesterday (I dressed up as a monk - hopefully pictures to follow) and a great time was had by all. Plus I read a pretty good YA book, This is What I Did: by Ann Dee Ellis.

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I'm strongly considering buying a subscription to VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates): The Library Magazine Serving Those Who Serve Young Adults. I flipped through an issue yesterday at the desk when things were slow. Sure, the library gets the magazine and I could read it for free at the desk, but it's probably something I'll want to have at home as well. From what I saw, the articles and reviews are quite impressive.

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Ah, it feels like old times: Yesterday I got my first rejection letter in several weeks. I just haven't been sending much out lately, but I'm hoping to change that with a couple of new stories, hopefully one new story a month. That's not a huge amount, but it's better than I've been doing. Plus the novel is still moving right along.

Boys and Reading

The other night a boy who looked about twelve or thirteen came up to the info desk looking for a book like the one he’d just read, Stetson by S.L. Rottman. I asked him what he liked about the book and he told me it has a boy narrator and features cars. He also said he likes books that are set in the real world, preferring them to fantasy or science fiction (which completely cuts out what little expertise in the J-Fic/YA areas I have).

So I went to one of our databases that gives book recommendations based on books you’ve already read and enjoyed. The first search produced mostly books by or about girls (maybe because Rottman is a woman) and the patron wasn’t interested in any of them. I couldn’t really blame him; none of them exactly matched his interests.

Of course databases aren’t perfect, so we tried another one. The only book this one found similar to Stetson was Stetson.

“I also like spy stories,” he said, sensing that he probably wasn’t going to find what he really wanted. We found a few spy books and he seemed content. But I wasn’t.

I was disappointed with the database experience, but mostly disappointed with my lack of knowledge in the area of boys’ books. The database searches I’ve used in the past are usually very good and quite accurate, so I wasn’t sure if this was a database glitch or what. (I also found two reference books on books for boys. For both, the latest editions were ten years old. There is a recently published book on good reads for boys, but it's $45.)

The next day I related this story to a librarian. She just nodded and said, “There just aren’t that many books written for boys that age.” This led to a discussion on why boys tend not to read as much as girls, how that drives the market, and lots of other things.

I recently listened to a Washington Post Book World podcast that cited a study done in Wisconsin on the reading habits of children. The study cited that on average, third-graders read about 40 books a year. By the time those kids reach high school, they’re only finishing four books a year. (Of course you have to consider that most books on a third-grade level are fairly thin.) What the study didn’t show was a breakdown by sex.

Okay, so I think we can assume that as boys get older, they read less. Is that due to sports, video games, attitudes that “Reading isn’t cool” or all of the above? Whatever the reasons, it’s frustrating.

I guess that’s one of the reasons I wrote a YA novel. (Yeah, I’m still revising….) Although it’s fantasy, it’s the type of story that I would have liked as a YA reader. Maybe someone else will like it. (Let’s first see if a publisher will like it.) I’d sure love to see more YA books with boy protagonists, but is there anybody out there to read them? The Harry Potter series is finished. The Series of Unfortunate Events is also finished. Are boys reading other books or simply moving on to sports and video games? And can you do anything about it?

Frustrating.

Sunstroke and Other Stories by Tessa Hadley

I first heard of Tessa Hadley through a podcast of The New York Times Book Review (or maybe it was the Washington Post Book World podcast - I subscribe to both). Although she has published three novels, Sunstroke and Other Stories appears to be her first collection. All of the book's ten stories are narrated by women in middle to upper-class British settings. There's certainly nothing unusual in that, but what is unusual is how Hadley explores relationships.

All of the relationships in the book are problematic for one reason or another. In the title story, one of two married women on holiday considers an affair with a visitor. In "The Surrogate," a young college student falls in love with her professor, but settles for an affair with a man who simply looks like the instructor. In "Mother's Son," a woman who hears her son's confession that he's cheating on his girlfriend finds herself confronted by the girlfriend herself.

Each story includes a "moment of truth" in which a decision of some kind has to be made. There's little time to consider the immediate consequences of those decisions, but many years (sometimes decades) to reflect on their aftermath. And in some cases second chances present themselves.

Much of Hadley's work is focused on those dizzying moments of indecision when what we want is waging a war against what we know is wrong. Hadley knows that when you're in the midst of such moments, it's almost impossible to balance desire, pain, regret, joy and sorrow. But reading these stories makes it clear that she's been there.

Ten short stories (few are over 20 pages) covering 177 pages - Well worth your time.

Cranking Up Lost and Listening to Annoying Singers

Some people really give me a hard time when I tell them we don't have cable TV. I tell them the only TV show I watch is Lost, which has really been interesting lately. I'm also glad it now comes on at 10PM EST on Thursdays, giving me a little unwind time from late shifts at the library.

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While we're waiting for Lost to roll around on the ol' tube, check out The Ten Most Annoying Singers.

Library Encounters

This is the stuff I love:

I'm at the information desk yesterday when a man - probably in his early 60s - walks in, takes a look around like he's lost and slowly approaches the desk.

"What can we do for you today?" I ask.

He leans in close like he's afraid someone besides me will hear him. "My son says I should come in and get a library card, use the library. I've never even been in a library before."

"Well, I'm glad you came in," I tell him and help him get started with the application for a library card. He provides all the correct information and in a couple of minutes we're done.

"That was quick," he said. I hand him his card and explain the different types of material we have, how long he can check them out. I tell him how he can use his card to access the Internet, renew/place holds online, etc. I stop when he looks a bit overwhelmed.

"I don't really know how to use a computer."

"We can get you started," I tell him. "We offer one-on-one training on how to use the Internet, search the catalogue, our library databases," etc.

"How much does it cost?"

"It's free. Would you like for me to sign you up?"

He's still got a little uncertainty, but I can see that he's beginning to realize coming to the library wasn't such a bad idea, that maybe his son has been on to something all this time.

He signed up and looked like a kid who'd just won a lifetime supply of candy. I gave him a welcome packet, explained the essentials and told him to let us know if he had any questions. He walked out beaming.

I've only been working at the info desk for a few months, but this isn't the first time I've had such an encounter. I guess we tend to forget that most library patrons come to the library as kids, get a card and come in on a more-or-less regular basis. It's a big step for an adult with grown children to come in and want to change something about their lives, even if it's only getting a library card and signing up for computer training. Maybe it's just the geek in me, but it's exciting to see.

Okay, end of Feel-Good Story #523

Introducing the "No-Nabokov-Before-Breakfast" Rule

Helpful Writing Tip - It's always a good idea to read Nabokov after you've done your writing for the day, otherwise despair will set in. (And these are the early stories I'm reading.)

I'm also reading Tessa Hadley's collection Sunstroke and Other Stories. I'd never heard of Hadley until I listened to a podcast (either the New York Times Book Review or Washington Post Book World, I can't remember - but you should check out both) that featured the author.

April Books Read

April turned out to be a pretty good reading month, not as intense as March, but definitely respectable, especially considering that I am not a fast reader.


Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA (NF 2007) - Tim Weiner
Discussed earlier here.











What Jesus Demands from the World (NF 2006) - John Piper
Just who is Jesus and just what does he expect from people? All people? Piper always does a great job of making theological issues clear and simple without watering things down. My men's group read this from February to April and while we questioned a couple of Piper's thoughts, we all found the book enlightening.




Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets (NF 2008) - Sudhir Venkatesh
You might remember Venkatesh from one of the chapters in Freakonomics. He's the sociology grad student who walked into one of Chicago's worst neighborhoods carrying a clipboard with questionaires asking people "What's it like to be poor and black?" without getting killed himself. Venkatesh's book is eye-opening, entertaining, sad, and impressive all at once, giving the reader an idea of how a gang actually operates. You might be surprised by what you read. My only problem with the book: Vankatesh just couldn't be as naive as he portrays himself.



The Dangerous Act of Worship: Living God's Call to Justice (NF 2007) - Mark Labberton
Labberton calls Christians to extend their worship of God beyond the worship service, beyond the walls that separate us from the homeless, the heart-broken, the needy - the people we either can't or don't want to see in our lives. A very bold (and convicting) book.






A Clockwork Orange (1962) - Anthony Burgess
A modern classic and rightfully so, o my brothers. This futuristic tale of violence run amok and the oppressive means to control it became both a blessing and a curse in Burgess's lifetime (Be sure to read his Foreword in the Norton edition.) and even more so after Stanley Kubrick's film version in 1972. Don't be put off by the slang used in the book; you'll get used to it as you go along.





The Black Ice (1993) - Michael Connelly
Connelly has become one of my favorite crime fiction writers during the past few years. This is the second book (after The Black Echo) in the Detective Harry Bosch series, finding Bosch trying to solve the apparent suicide of a fellow police officer.







Mister Pip (2006) - Lloyd Jones
Shortlisted for the 2007 Booker Prize, Mister Pip is a coming-of-age story set on an unnamed tropical island in the 1990s. Young Maltilda discovers the Pip of Charles Dickens's Great Expectations from the teachings of her classroom instructor Mr. Watts, the only while man on the island. While I enjoyed much of the book (especially watching Matilda encounter the love and power of the printed word), the presence of the invading redskin soldiers and the aftermath of their invasion felt too manipulated. Still recommended, though.





No Country for Old Men (2005) - Cormac McCarthy
This was even better the second time I read it. While I think Blood Meridian is a better book (possibly even a masterpiece), No Country for Old Men may be my favorite McCarthy book. If you've only seen the movie, you owe it to yourself to read the novel. While the two versions share many similarities, there are some very interesting differences.




Free for All: Oddballs, Geeks and Gangstas in the Public Library (NF 2007) - Don Bochert
A hilarious and sometimes sad look at the strange and wonderful things that happen in a public library. Bochert was part of the Los Angeles County library system, which is quite different from ours, but I still found myself nodding in several places thinking, "I can relate, man, I can relate."





Like the Stars: Leading Many to Righteousness (NF 2004) - Glenn Parkinson
A great look at how Christians can impact the culture without taking it by force. (More on this topic in the future.)









Ella Minnow Pea (2001) - Mark Dunn
Definitely the most fun I've had with a novel this month. A few thoughts on this novel in letters here.





That's it for April. Go read something.