Sarah Vowell Live!

Hi folks! Greetings from L.A., where I'm currently on vacation. In the midst of my museum-hopping, I made a little time to stop by a local book store called Book Soup, where Sarah Vowell was doing a reading & signing.

I don't know about you, but I'm a bit of an author groupie. In addition to Sarah, I've checked out bookish events featuring Sandra Cisneros, Bruce Campbell, Anne Rice, David Sedaris, & most recently Elizabeth Gilbert. It's hard to top David Sedaris live, but Sarah Vowell did not disappoint.

For those of you unfamiliar with Sarah's work, she writes about historical events from a personal (& often snarky) perspective. The first book I read of hers, Assassination Vacation, is about her tour of the U.S. seeking out places & facts about the first 3 presidential assassinations. In the book she was reading & signing last night, The Wordy Shipmates, she's writing about the Massachusetts Bay Colony, specifically her two main 'characters', John Winthrop (of the 'city on a hill' sermon) & Roger Williams. Don't call it her book about the pilgrims! She is specific that the Pilgrims were a different bunch of folks. She is writing about the Massachusetts Bay Colony, after the pilgrims' landing & before the Salem Witch Trials.

Sarah is careful to call herself a reporter rather than a historian. Don't expect to find a lengthy bibliography in her works. She reads first-person accounts & interprets for herself. You are more likely to find interviews with park rangers & asides about friends & family (particularly her nephew Owen) she has brought with her to collect information than more dense scholarly sources.

Last night, Sarah read from her book & fielded a lot of questions. She's a very entertaining speaker, her wit as dry in person as in her books. Anyone who can make folks want to read about assassination & Puritanism has got to be something special! Look for her next book, which apparently will be about Hawaii & missionaries. Owen has discovered video games now, but he's still traveling around with his aunt & knows more about King Kamehameha than most ten-year-olds.

Happy Birthday, John Le Carré!

Enjoy a good spy novel? So do we! In honor of John Le Carré's birthday, please consider this list of espionage novels you might have missed! (John Le Carré is the pseudonym of David John Moore Cornwell, born 19 October 1931.)

Bloodwood by Gillian Bradshaw
Assassination Day by Clive Egleton
Killer Instinct by Joseph Finder
The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean
Witch Hunt by Ian Rankin
Visibility by Boris Starling

Happy Birthday, Ntozake Shange!

Where there is woman there is magic.

--Ntozake Shange

Ntozake Shange is an African-American poet, playwright & author, most famous for her choreopoem For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. I also recommend her children's book about jazz, Ellington was Not a Street, and her adult novel Sassafrass, Cypress and Indigo, about 3 artistic sisters from North Carolina. Ms. Shange is also a Poet Hero! Among her many awards are an Obie, a Los Angeles Time Book Prize for Poetry, and a Pushcart Prize.

Alaska Day

In 1867 the United States took possession of Alaska from Russia for a cost of $7.2 million and is celebrated every year as Alaska Day. From the library catalog a keyword search looking for information on the 49th state will get you a return of five-hundred and ninety three books where the word "Alaska" is featured! Though many derided William Seward for his decision to purchase this land one-hundred and forty-two years ago it turned out to be a wise choice after all. Alaska has become a treasure to our country and judging by the myriad of choices of books and videos available to the library we will be able to spend a fair amount of time learning more about the state often called "Land of the Midnight Sun".

The newest titles the library has to offer is "Fifty Miles from Tomorrow: A Memoir of Alaska and the Real People" by William L. Iggiagruk Hensley, or the DVD about the Iditarod "Toughest Race on Earth" and the new Kate Shugak novel by Dana Stabenow called "Whisper to the Blood". Also if you click on the "Download Digital Media" link on the main page and use "Alaska" in the search box you will find six downloadable movies and two audiobooks. If you are interested in learning more about Alaska point your mouse to the library catalog and search the huge array of books that will feed your curiosity.

Celebrate Diwali!

'Tis the season for festivals of light around the world. Consider reading up on Diwali (also called Deepavali), an official holiday in India. Arts Alliance has an article about the East Indian community in Albuquerque that includes a discussion about Diwali.

Book on the Side: Week 2

Hope you are enjoying the book! Here are some discussion questions for you to consider as you read. Don't miss the link to the interview with the author that follows!

Agnes begins to break the mold when she buys new clothes and gets her hair bobbed. Makeover shows are popular on television today, and people often say that “this has changed my life.” Do you believe them? Are appearances really that powerful?

Clothing is mentioned a great deal in the novel. In what ways are the characters in Dreamers of the Day defined and/or influenced by their clothes? How do Agnes, Mumma, Gertrude Bell, and T. E. Lawrence use their fashion choices as indicators of their attitudes? Is your clothing a tool or a disguise or just something to cover your nakedness?

What does Rosie embody for Agnes? Is her attachment to her little dog “pathetic,” as she suggests? How does Rosie's existence color the novel and influence its chain of events?

Interview with Mary Doria Russell about Dreamers of the Day

Happy Birthday, P.G. Wodehouse!

Boyhood, like measles, is one of those complaints which a man

should catch young and have done with, for

when it comes in middle life it is apt to be serious.
--P. G. Wodehouse

Sir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (15 October 1881 – 14 February 1975) is the author of several series of comic novels. I've been reading his Jeeves & Wooster series since my teenage years--great light comedy for when you need a break! Now you can also watch episodes from this series on DVD, starring the inimitable Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie.