Elusive Memory

Memory, and specifically loss of memory, is a subject that is especially meaningful to me as I deal with my aging parents. My mother has exceptionally strong memories that she relates in stories about her childhood and her early professional career. I have been curious whether through the process of storytelling her memories become more entrenched. What makes certain memories stick and others slide away? How can playing brain games keep the “story” memories alive or do they just help with the short-term memory?

There are many books — fiction and non-fiction– that examine memory loss or amnesia as well as some really good movies.

Here’s my On Memory book/movie list.

Best Books of the Year Lists

I am compiling the Best Books of 2011 list from various sources — mostly by using LargeheartedBoy.com’s links to lists. At least 30 of the books are on at least 3 different lists, but I’ve only read 4 of them.

I looked back at the award lists — Man Booker, Orange Prize, National Book Award, Pulitzer and more — and I haven’t read very many of those either. Does that say more about me or about the award judges?

Maybe for this year’s challenge I’ll try to read more on some of these award lists. The Orange Prize — UK’s award for women writers — had Bel Canto and Poisonwood Bible as winners, so I might like some of theirs. Two of my favorite books, Empire Falls and Middlesex, won Pulitzers so that is another place to start.

Our book pot luck will be held on February 4 this year, so send in your suggestions by January 20 so I order copies of the books.

I will have read 108 books by the end of the year. 7 of them were nonfiction, so I still need to boost that category. The classic book I read was Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane. I am sure I read it in high school, but that was quite a while ago. It is really well written. My favorite book was probably The Power of One (our February evening book discussion book.)

Music Advisory: What one library is doing

Jacksonville Public Library, in Florida, has begun a Music Advisory service that creates personalized playlists for patrons of its library. I am in awe! I’m not sure how you can tell what music one person will like based on what else they like. It seems easier to me with books. You can usually judge the pacing, characterization, writing style, atmosphere and plot of a book, even if you haven’t read all of it.

Check out the postings of the Jacksonville lists at jplmusicadvisory.wordpress.com.

Do you agree with their suggestions?

We have many patrons who order music through the system, but we have only a small collection (and only limited shelf space.) If we rearranging some collections, we hope to purchase more music.

What music do you think we should add to the collection?

On the 100 book front: I hit 100 books as of Thanksgiving weekend. I may get my book on cd done by Thursday, Dec. 1, in which case I’ll have gotten to 101 with a month to go! Favorite book so far has been Bruce Courtenay’s The Power of One which we will be reading for book discussion this winter.

Good book combination: Sarah’s Key, Vintage Affair and Train in Winter (by Caroline Moorehead) all feature France during WWII and concentration camps, informers and secrets.

What makes a library?

Recently I have found myself in conversations — with individuals or in reading — about what books should be in a library. The main character in Ivan Doig’s book Work Song feels that a library without Caesar’s Gallic Wars is just a storehouse for trashy books (he names H. Rider Haggard and Mary V. Terhune, this being a historical novel.) Richard Russo, author of the great Empire Falls, finds himself resentful when he has to read something, rather than rereading a favorite such as Little Dorrit.  One patron was pleased to see our October display of Award Winners (which included Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners) rather than more popular fiction.

Yet, the books with long hold lists are not the award winners (except maybe Laura Hildenbrand’s Unbroken.) Instead, they are the page-turners or character-driven novels that allow us to escape our own problems and think about someone else’s. Series novels give us someone to root for as we would for a sports team. Romances give us that surge of emotion that can be missing from our lives. Mysteries give us problems with solutions, unlike real life.

If a book is well-written, all the better. Then you enjoy the language as well as the plot. Both of our November book discussion books fit this description. Neither will be “classics” in fifty years, but they are both thought-provoking and took me away from my other concerns.

What do you think should be in a library? Books that are circulating or books that are on the “best” lists? This isn’t even discussing nonfiction which is also subject to the question of “outdated” information.

By the way, we do not own Gallic Wars, but we do own Caesar’s Civil Wars.

My personal book count is up to 90 books with 2 months to go.  I don’t think I’ll finish Les Miserables, however, which I was trying to do. I got farther this year than I had before.

Stories of Amazing Women

I was privileged to attend “They Called Me Lizzy… from slavery to the White House” at the Attleboro Art Museum. It was a one-woman show about Elizabeth Keckley, a slave who earns her freedom as a seamstress and becomes the “modiste” for Mary Todd Lincoln. Stephanie Jackson, the actress, made the pain and the triumphs of “Lizzie” come alive. The story does not end happily — for either Mrs Keckley or Mrs. Lincoln — and was all the more moving because of this. Keckley’s grave has only recently been rediscovered.

In October, Rhode Island (many different organizations within the state) is celebrating Louisa May Alcott with Living Literature performances, showings of the movie Louisa May Alcott: the Woman Behind Little Women and book discussions of Harriet Reisen’s biography. Louisa May Alcott was much more than a children’s book author. She was a nurse for a short time during the Civil War, a European traveler, a writer of “pot-boilers” and the mainstay of her family.  I look forward to seeing the Living Literature performance, since I am “portraying” Alcott for the Attleboro Area Civil War Commemorative Committee’s Nov. 5th program at the First Baptist Church in North Attleboro.

If you would like to read about Elizabeth Keckley — or have your children read about her — check out these books.

For Louisa May Alcott, try Harriet Reisen’s book.

For books about Mary Todd Lincoln, try this one by Jean Baker.

I’m only up to 83 books for the year. The George R. R. Martin book I’m reading, A Dance with Dragons, is over 900 pages. I am probably going to have to bring it back unfinished and check it out again later. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to read 17 more books in the next 3 months. I’m listening to Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh which I hope to have for our December Evening discussion. I just hope it doesn’t become too popular so that we can’t get the copies I’ve placed on hold!

 

Learning Languages Resources

People frequently come to the library looking for the Rosetta Stone language software. Unfortunately, the company does not support library use copies and we’ve never been able to successfully borrow them from anywhere.

There are other language resources available, however.

The best way to look in the catalog is to use the subject search terms: <language you want> self-instruction.  For example “Spanish self-instruction” comes up with 6 resources just in Richards Memorial’s collection.  Using the audiobook search and adding “discs” in the Keyword field, you will find 51 Spanish instruction cds in the SAILS system.  If searching for dvds, you use the dvd search and put “Spanish self-instruction” in the Keyword field. However, you do get a lot of ESL material.

Another place to check out is Overdrive (sails.lib.overdrive.com). I found downloadable audiobooks in a lot of languages.

• On the Move series — The Lively Audio Language Program for Busy People — offers French, Italian and Spanish.
• Global Access — general social- , travel- and business-related conversation–has French and Spanish.
• Hear-Say for Kids has French, Spanish and English.
• All-Audio by Living Language has German and Italian.
• In-Flight also by Living Language has Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Ingles, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai and Turkish.

Finally, you may want to try one of the two Spanish classes through Universal Class (access is on the RMLonline website. ) There is Spanish 101 and Spanish for travelers. There are also some ESL classes.

Working on the 100th book: I will probably get up to 75 books by the end of August. That leaves me 3 more months to reach 100. The goal is in sight!

Historical Fiction Look at Police and Justice Systems

I have been listening to a Victoria Thompson mystery, Murder on Sisters’ Row, set in late 19^th century New York City. One of the most interesting features of the story is the look at how the police operated during that time. Crimes were solved by those who could pay to have them solved and the upper-class, rich criminals were not brought to justice. Teddy Roosevelt is police commissioner, set upon rooting out corruption, in the early books of the series.

It made me think of other historical mysteries and books that deal with the development of our system of justice as we know it today. While the police departments didn’t come into existence until 18^th and 19^th centuries, there were other people in government who were assigned the task of meting out justice.

Early Civilizations

Saylor, Steven             The Gordianus the Finder mysteries take place in 1^st century BCE Rome. The first book is Roman Blood.

Robinson, Lynda        Lord Meren is the Eyes and Ears of Pharoah, in this case King Tut. The 1^st book is Murder in the Place of Anubis.

Reed, Mary                 John the Eunuch is the chamberlain of Emperor Justinian in 6^th century Byzantium. Emperor Justinian decided that existing Roman law be collected into a simple and clear system of laws, soon called Justinian Code. The 1^st book in the series is One for Sorrow.

Middle Ages

Doherty, P. C.             Hugh Corbett is a clerk to the King Edward’s chancellor in 14^th century England and Scotland. The 1^st one is Satan in St. Mary’s.

Tremayne, Peter          Sister Fidelma is an Irish brehan, or judge, in 7^th century Ireland. The Irish or Celtic Catholic law is different from the Anglo-Saxon and  Roman Catholic law that she sometimes comes into conflict with. The 1^st book is Absolution by Murder.

Franklin, Ariana          Adelia, an early medical examiner called a Master of the Art of Death, is sent for by Henry II, who is reforming the justice system of England. The 1^st book is Mistress of the Art of Death. The author has recently died.

Sedley, Kate               Roger the Chapman is a former monk turned peddler in  The 1^st book is Death and the Chapman.

Peters, Ellis                Brother  Cadfael was made into a wonderful PBS series. The monk solves mysteries during the English war with Maude and Stephen in the 12th century.

Van Gulik, Robert      Judge Dee is the magistrate in 7^th century imperial China. The 1^st is The Chinese Maze Murders.

Renaissance

Alexander, Bruce        Sir John Fielding is a blind magistrate and brother to Tom Fielding who founded the Bow Street Runners in 18^th century England. The 1^st book is Blind Justice.

Buckley, Fiona            Ursula Blanchard, during the time of Queen Elizabeth, is a lady-in-waiting and an investigator for Elizabeth’s secretary of state. The 1^st book is To Shield the Queen

Rowland, Laura Joh    Sano Ichiro series, an samurai detective for the 17^th century Japanese shogun. The 1^st book is The Fire Kimono.

Victorian Age

Perry, Anne                 William Monk and Hester Latterly and Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. The politics of the police force is a major character in the books set in Victorian London. The Pitt family series starts with The Cater Street Hangman and the Monk/Latterly series begins with Face of a Stranger.

And, of course, Sherlock Holmes.

Early 20^th Century

Winspear, Jacqueline Maisie Dobbs works with the police, using psychology, to solve mysteries in post-WWI Great Britain. The 1^st book is Maisie Dobbs.

Thompson, Victoria    Sarah Brandt and Sgt. Frank Malloy solve problems in late 19^th century New York City. The 1^st book is Murder on Astor Place.

A new nonfiction book that might be interesting is The Big Policeman by J. North Conway. It is the story of a New York City policeman, Thomas Byrnes, who became “one of the most celebrated detectives in American History, and paved the way for modern-day police methods, both good and bad.”

Book count: I’m up to 69 books for the year, but I’ll probably finish another one by Sunday. I feel like I’ve started a lot more, but didn’t enjoy them much. Still no classics read this year, however.

Environmental Fiction

I just finished Ann Patchett’s State of Wonder, which uses the story of a pharmaceutical company investing in a fertility drug in the Amazon as the background to a story about the choices we make and the losses we face. While not as good as Bel Canto, this book does have some twists and turns that are unexpected.

It got me thinking about other authors who used our relationship with the environment as a major “character” in the story. Sometimes these novels can become too preachy, but a good author can teach and entertain at the same time.

Here are a few authors which environmental concerns:

Barbara Kingsolver: Especially Prodigal Summer, but also her earlier ones such as Bean Trees.

Ruth Ozeki: All Over Creation takes on genetic modifications of food plants and has some great characters.

Tawni O’Dell: Many of her novels are set in coal country which warps both the miners and the mine owners.

John Grisham: The Appeal and Pelican Brief

Erin Brockovich (yes, the one the movie was made about): Rock Bottom

Maeve Binch: Whitethorn Woods

Edward Abbey: The Monkey Wrench Gang

Nevada Barr: Ill Wind

Robin Cook: Fever

Carl Hiaasen: Skinny Dip (and some of his others)

Donna Leon: Death in a Strange Country

Marcia Muller: Cape Perdido

Michael Palmer: Fatal

Sara Paretsky: Blood Shot

Barry Siegel: Actual Innocence

Check out this list for more titles:

http://www.istc.illinois.edu/info/library_docs/other_pubs/Environmental-Novels.pdf

I’m only up to 58 books so far, so I’m still not keeping up with the 100-books-a-year rate. The best book I’ve listened to so far is The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon. I’ll probably put it on the book discussion list.

Results of the Adult Programming Survey

Thank you to the 45 people who filled in our Adult Programming Survey. It’s not too late to add your 2¢.

The five most popular topics for adult programming are history, book discussions, cooking demonstrations, gardening and movies. We already have some history programs in the works supported by the Attleboro Area Civil War Commemorative Committee.

For movies, people favored documentary and classic films. We are going to have a summer afternoon classics film series at the library in conjunction with the Council on Aging.

It is hard to have cooking demonstrations without a kitchen, but I’ll try to find some more “non-bake” programs that we can do.

The best times for programs were clearly evening and Saturdays so we’ll plan more programs for Saturdays.

On the book count front, I’m up to 48 books with 6 more days in May. I’ve been reading Michael Connelly’s books for the 1st time and they are definitely hard to put down.

Reading Unlikeable Characters

Brock Clarke, author of An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England and Exley, wrote an editorial in the Boston Globe (4/17/11) called “They love me; they love me not.” He is reacting to someone saying that “‘I just don’t feel like going to Brock Clarke’s reading and dealing with all his [expletive.] Does this make me a bad person?’”

Clarke then talks about fiction, including his, that are populated by unlikeable characters. That set me to wondering if 1) I would like his books (I read the first chapter of the Arsonist and it is pretty funny) and 2) I finish books when I don’t like the characters.

Recently I began listening to Chang-rae Lee’s book Surrendered which is full of unlikeable characters in pretty horrific situations. I didn’t finish it; I didn’t care enough what happened to any of the three main characters. This disappointed me because I really liked the characters in his book, A Gesture Life, even though the main character did not always make good choices. Joseph Kanon’s book,  Alibi, also has characters that didn’t make good choices and weren’t really likeable, but the plot was interesting enough that I kept reading. Certainly Dostoevsky’s books are filled with unlikeable main characters, but again the plot and the philosophical/ethical questions keep you reading (at least when you are in your twenties.)

Nowadays, I find that the characters are the major reason I keep reading a book. I frequently want to get back to find out how these people are doing. A thrilling plot will also keep me reading even if the characters are a little wooden. In a recent book discussion choice, The Beach Street Knitting Society and Yarn Club, the characters weren’t unlikeable; They just weren’t interesting.  Lisa Scottoline’s latest, Save Me, has a great plot, but with a first person narrator who keeps thinking the same thoughts over and over, I found it boring. (I usually read Scottoline for the the funny dialogue and twisty plots.)

Are there any books you like that have unlikeable characters but you still like the book?

PS: This has been a slow month. I am only at 36 books for the year. I’ve brought home at least 4 books in the past month that I started but did not finish. I’ve loaded a mystery along with Les Miserables on my Kindle for an upcoming vacation which won’t get me much further in my list. I will get to play a lot of games with my family and that will be fun.