In Otherworlds

                One character learns to navigate the afterworld with the help of a sexy Vedic death god. In a very different book, the character uses a pen and old fashioned journal to cross over into the alternate reality. One novel celebrates the diversity of current YA literature; the other focuses on the brief output of Sylvia Plath. Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld is a huge and fast-paced double story. Belzhar by Meg Wolitzer is quietly and beautifully devastating. While they are very different books, both use the literal act of writing as a way to explore the very real power of stories.

                The first thing you notice about Afterworlds is that it is structured in alternating chapters, helpfully marked with black and white bands on the pages. The black pages tell the story of Lizzie, a girl who survives a terrorist attack and learns she has powers to enter the world of ghosts. She does this by repeating the words of the 911 call she made during the attack at the airport. Once she enters the flipside, her guide is Yamaraj, a Hindu death god. Combining ideas borrowing from the Vedas, traditional crime fiction and supernatural stories, these sections sample many of the themes that take YA fiction beyond the confines of real life. In contrast, the white pages are a realistic story of how Darcy Patel (herself only 18) wrote this book-within-a-book, and describes her life as the rising star in the YA world. For me these were the best sections, with lots of literary scenes: meeting fellow authors at book parties, touring with a John Green-like celebrity (“there were a dozen YouTube channels about his YouTube channel” p. 165), acting as “flap - monkey” at book signings, joking about YA heaven where the NYT bestsellers get to wear black robes with red trim while the Printz winners get the sparkly tiaras, and even the seemingly mundane task of choosing a pen for signing copies (“Take three of each, and a Sharpie for casts, show bags and body parts.” p. 567).

                The very names of Darcy and Lizzie are part of the fun, but alas, there were no further connections to Pride and Prejudice. There are also characters named Carla and Sagan (as they joke, the odd against them knowing why their names are funny together are “billions and billions to one” p. 206). And although it is a minor part of the plot, it is refreshing to see a mention of Aboriginal tales as part of the global range of literary influences.

                As you can tell from my previous run-on sentences, this novel crams in so many ideas. I haven’t touched on half of them – I should mention the lesbian love story, the quest for the best ramen in New York City and the scenes of simply sitting down to write. Afterworlds itself is as huge in size as it is in scope. It does bog down a bit under its own weight, but on the whole, provides a satisfying, entertaining read.

                Saying too much about Belzhar would do the book a disservice. From the beginning Wolitzer is in perfect control; readers are like a thread wrapped around her finger as she reels the story in with her subtle plot line. When the story starts, you think you know how it will go. By the end, you are devastated in ways you never expected.

                When Jamaica, called Jam, is utterly crushed because of a boy, her parents try everything they know, then finally send her to The Wooden Barn which is described as a boarding school for “emotionally fragile, highly intelligent” teenagers. The boy is Reeve Maxfield, an exchange student from England, smart, slouchy, pale and lean, with (of course) a killer accent. Jam falls in love, then he is gone and she can’t cope. At the Wooden Barn, she is put into a class called Special Topics in English, which focuses entirely on the works of Sylvia Plath.

                Jam and the 4 other students of the class are given journals and assigned to write in them twice a week. After writing nothing but a sentence, exactly 5 pages of the journal fill up automatically and the writer is taken to a place where his or her life is restored. Casey can walk again. Sierra has her brother. Marc and Griffin go back to a time before their lives changed and Jam can be with Reeve again, kissing on the grass behind the school. They call this state “Belzhar,” a form of the words "bell jar."

                Then one of the group counts the number of pages in the journal and works out that they will run out of pages right at the end of the semester. What will happen on the last visit? And how can they extend the visits to a place where they are finally happy?

                Writing is the link to the alternate reality. Stories have healing power. Great writing does make a difference. Words matter. With this short novel, Meg Wolitzer makes the most compelling case ever for a class such as Special Topics in English.

               

Messing about in Boats, by our guest blogger

Time and tide and the vagaries of my Seattle Public Library hold queue simultaneously washed up three books related to boats. And so I have spent the last few weeks at sea, drifting away on the sea of words. I have no special knowledge of boats, or of the sea, but as an armchair sailor, these three titles delivered hours of entertaining reading.                

For years, literally, friends have been recommending The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown, but I kept putting off reading it. Non-fiction books about sports and Nazis are, quite frankly, pretty much at the bottom of my interest list. The recommendations, however, kept coming and finally it was just easier to read the thing than listen to another word of praise. I can’t believe it took me so long. This book is remarkable! The story of the underdog University of Washington crew team and their bid for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics is exciting by itself. Add to this the historical background of Seattle during the Depression and the rise of Hitler’s power in Germany and the book takes on a larger dimension. But what the author does best of all is get into the minds and aching muscles of the crew. The heart-breakingly difficult personal story of Joe Rantz gives a sharper focus to the historical background. Brown’s vivid writing elevates the book beyond the ordinary sports account and brings each oar stroke, each race, and each triumph dynamically alive for the reader.

The Plover, by Brian Doyle, is a very different sort of book, a kind of road trip by boat across the Pacific. It starts out with one man, Declan O Donnell, escaping his life in Oregon and ends up with nine passengers, not counting the resident herring gull, tiny warbler, snails and all the other creatures who attach themselves to the tiny Plover. All in need of healing. Some are literally burnt, all emotionally scarred. The most touching character is the little girl Pipa, damaged in a bus accident and silent for 4 years until  the herring gull magically, mystically, “opens” her and she is able to speak again. Literary in its roots (think Melville, Stevenson and Coleridge), and peppered with quotes from Declan’s favorite writer, Edmund Burke, The Plover could easily sink under the weight of its concept, but Doyle keeps it flowing smoothly with his lyrical writing style and humorous asides. The gull is especially useful for comic relief as when Declan address the gull at the beginning of the story: “You are most definitely not a metaphor, my friend.” Though not as rich and complex at Doyle’s earlier novel, Mink River, The Plover is a heart-felt celebration of life’s various journeys.

Before it became a cannibal-rat infested ghost ship (really, you can Google it!) I had the pleasure of taking a cruise on the Lyubov Orlova. Though the plight of this modern ship generated some media interest, it is a far cry from the sensation the derelict ship Mary Celeste caused in 1872. The ship was found unmanned and abandoned, but still in seaworthy condition with plenty of food onboard. Taking as her starting point what little is known about the historical ship, Valerie Martin mixes fact and imagination to explore ideas of loss, grief and the power of storytelling in her speculative novel, The Ghost of the Mary Celeste. In her book, as he did in real life, the writer Arthur Conan Doyle hears the mystery of the Mary Celeste while at sea and uses it as the basis for a fabricated story. That story is read by the American psychic Violet Petra, who later meets Doyle to tell him that his story is incorrect and that she knows the family involved. In her possession is the journal, written by Sarah, the wife of the missing captain. These various stories are woven together by Valerie Martin into a multi-layered and complex text, switching back and forth in time and from the various characters. It is complex and rewarding reading.

Now go look up cannibal-rat infested ghost ships. You know you want to.

Book Fair!

It's day two of The Bush School's semiannual book fair. Our amazing volunteer chairman, Julie P., works with the incomparable University Book Store to provide a huge selection of great books for all ages. I'm going up in a few minutes to do a little holiday shopping, but it has gotten me to thinking about buying books.

When my children were young, I bought books all the time. I always attended the public library sales, we scoured the second hand stores, and no gift-giving opportunity was complete without beautiful new books. I love books. I love the look, the feel, the smell. I want to own them. I've been known to buy copies out of recognition and pity. "Oh! I love this book! No one will find you here and appreciate you like I can!" (Said at Goodwill or some sketchier thrift store.)

Now, however, the kids are grown and have moved out (taking some of their books with them). It's just the husband, me, and many linear feet of books that seldom get opened. I have had to re-evaluate my book buying habits. Unless it's a book I know I'll read again, I seldom buy it. I figure that's what libraries are for.

So who am I shopping for? Luckily I have many young people in my life and I continue to believe that a child just can't have too many stories in their life. Actually none of us can, although adults have more mobility and can get out to bookstores, libraries, plays, movies. But kids -- they need choices close at hand.

Hmm, let's see. Maybe Boys in the Boat for the high-school boy, and one of the Bone books for the second grader. Now, what about those toddlers?

Lila, by Marilynne Robinson

Oh my goodness, I am reading and L-O-V-I-N-G Lila, by Marilynne Robinson. Every night, I think -- oh good, it's time to read some more Lila. It's dense though, and so far, I'm only reading it before sleep, so I am forced to take it slowly, which is unusual for me and in this case, good.

Why am I so entranced? Lila, herself, is such a compelling character. A young woman, maybe in her 20s, she's been homeless nearly her whole life. At 4, she was taken away from the people she lived with by the only person who ever showed her any tenderness, a disfigured woman called Doll, and they spent the next 10-15 years "running" from those folks. Eventually Lila walks into a church and feels an immediate and deep connection to the old man up front. Meanwhile preacher John Ames, a widower in his 60s, looks up and notices this woman. She's not pretty, but there is something about her that grabs him. Kismet?

The books starts with their connection and builds out -- Lila's life with Doll, her love for John Ames, Doll's death, how she survived on her own, their marriage, her confusion around faith and existence. It asks the big questions and the small ones. It's funny and heartbreaking and always surprising. Lila is continually distracted by wondering what happened -- to Doll, to her mother, to the folks they traveled with some, to the folks they ran from. Doll would never answer. "Never you mind," was her constant refrain. Her wondering helps her (and the reader) reconstruct or at least imagine the past she was first too young to remember and then was too much a child to question.

I both look forward to seeing Lila through her search for identity and dread coming to the end of the book. When was the last time that happened? I can't think of a time.

"I'll Take Australia YA Novels for 300, Please"

From our guest blogger, Yvette:

                Having read all of Melina Marchetta’s wonderfully engaging work, I went in search of more young adult novels set in Australia. As readers, we all have our quirks, and I am always on the lookout for books with a vivid setting. While not as important to my reading experience as good writing and believable characters, a setting which I can picture in my head as I read really does add to the interest of a novel. As it turns out, YA novels from Down Under feature the same themes of coming into your own, making friends, rebelling against parents, finding love and having fun, not necessarily in that order. But what sets the best ones apart are a strong sense of place and liberal application of Aussie slang.

Here are three recently published novels that fit this category:

Zac and Mia by A.J. Betts

                Two teenagers in the cancer ward of Perth hospital first communicate by knocking on the wall between them, then by Facebook messenger. But before you can say “The Fault in Our Southern Hemisphere Stars”, the scene shifts to an olive farm in rural Western Australia. Zac, leukemia patient from room 1, is back at home after a grueling bone marrow transplant, using golf clubs to smack away roo poo, clearing the paths before the arrival of paying weekend visitors. In addition to olive oil tastings and an alpaca petting zoo, the farm has sheep and emus. A fox hides in the woods, waiting. When Mia, leg tumor patient from room 2, arrives at the farm a few weeks later on crutches, she is a broken, angry, runaway. While the plot has some twists, the end is predictable. However, the characters are strong and well drawn and the author does not shy away from their pain and fear. Watching a sunset, Mia thinks, “I know these colors well. Puckered pinks and flaming reds, hot and soft to the touch. Scarlet smearing the horizon. A symphony of infection and pain” (p. 200). Hospitals are the same the world over, but the scenes on the farm help set this book apart from other cancer dramas.

               

Love and Other Perishable Items by Laura Buzo

                This is not one of those books where the teenagers overcome obstacles and find happiness together. This is a book in which the statistical probability of young love lasting is zero from the very beginning. It simply won’t work. We know it. The title has the word “perishable” in it. The characters themselves know their relationship won’t work. There, I gave away the ending. But don’t worry about spoilers. This book is as fresh and as funny as they come, and the many pleasures of reading it are in watching the very real characters struggle, learn, communicate, and grow.

                Chris is 21. He attends classes at uni, likes to party, is recovering from the departure of a serious girlfriend. He lives at home, and works at Coles, a grocery store. He calls it the “Land of Dreams”. His is warm and engaging and always seems to twinkle. He can get away with saying “whillikers!” Here is Amelia on Chris:

                Each conversation with Chris seemed to prompt an exhausted mix of excitement and forehead slapping embarrassment at my inability to keep up with the references and in-jokes…. I wasn’t used to talking to boys at all, let along grown-up ones with university essays to write and incredible charisma. So, so far out of my depth (p.11).

Amelia is 15. She is literate, passionate about feminism as she defines it and lives at home with her baby sister, overworked mother and often absent theater-director father. Here is Chris on Amelia:

                She demonstrates an advanced-level single-eyebrow raise. She’s amusing – all frizzy-haired and fiery. I suspect she can, like, construct sentences and read books. Here’s hoping she will go a little way toward Amelia-rating the vacuousness of her chain-smoking fifteen-year-old cohorts….She hasn’t developed the ability to see past her own nose yet – takes everything seriously. Oh, adolescence, how much I don’t miss you (p. 42).

 Oh, and she is madly in love with Chris.                

                Chris calls Amelia “The Youngster” and is her staff trainer at Coles. They engage in witty banter. He explains the end of “Great Expectations” and lets her know about the alternate ending, the one in which Pip and Estella don’t get together. They agree this is a much better ending. (Alert readers will highlight this one, and write foreshadowing in the margin.) They write long letters back and forth. They share a pizza. Things look promising. Then, at a party, he kisses her. She says “I love you”. He calls the next day to apologize for his rude drunken behavior. In the end, both characters learn that you don’t always get what you want. Sometimes you get something better.

Girl Defective by Simmone Howell

                This got me right from the cover, which you really have to see. The title is a word play on both the detective plot line and teen angst. Of the three books reviewed here, this was my favorite by far, with its great set of characters, vivid setting and incredible writing.  

                Skylark Martin is 15, curious, trying to figure out who she is. She lives with her brother Gully (short for Seagull; her mother liked birds) who has “social difficulties”; in this case meaning he constantly wears a pig snout mask. Their mother has run off to “find herself” and be a performance artist; their father is addicted to beer and records and runs the vinyl shop over which they live. Enter “tragi-hot” Luke and the story of “just-plain tragic” Mia (a very different Mia from the cancer patient character) who drowned before the story opens. There is Nancy the older, not-very-good-influence friend. As Sky notes, “Before Nancy, I never smoked or drank; what I knew about sex, you could ice on a cupcake” (p. 12).

                St. Kilda’s, where the book is set, features almost as another character. It is a real place, not far from the center of Melbourne, but with a very different in feel. St. Kilda’s is a seaside playground, with beaches, palm-lined boardwalk and Luna Park. Built in 1912, it still features the Laughing Face entrance (you walk through the open mouth) and classic wooden roller coasters. The heat from the beach and the crowds in the amusement park are described in this book in such a way that you really feel present. As an entertainment district St. Kilda’s has its seamier underbelly, but “the red light district was not the wilderness of discarded condoms and push-up bras I’d imagines. Instead it looked positively family. Old workers’ terraces nestled against modern townhouses. I saw prayer flags, droopy camellias, kids’ bikes” (p. 125). Sky and Gully are on their way to interview “prossies” as part of the investigation about the brick chucked through the window of the record shop. Aussie slang is all about diminutives, as the word Aussie itself suggest, featuring words like “sunnies” (sunglasses) and “toasties” (for breakfast). Although the story wraps up, if feels as if Simmone Howell is not done with these characters. But that could be wishful thinking on my part, because I would love to hear much more about this bunch.

                As Nancy would say, “Your turn”. What other YA books have you read, set in other countries? Did the setting help enhance the story, or was it a distraction from the plot. Let us know!

Other titles that fit this list which I have not yet read:

Does My Head Look Big in This by Randa Abdel-Fattah

The Sweet, Terrible, Glorious Year I Truly, Completely Lost It by Lisa Shanahan

A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley

Audio Books

How do you read? Do you prefer reading with your eyes or your ears?

I like print. I like going at my own pace, noise from the rest of the world doesn't affect me, and I can see how names are spelled (which helps me remember them). I do listen to books, but I've taken to noting in my reading log which books were listened to because I'm never sure how much of what I enjoyed (or didn't) was because of the format.

I have started using audio books strategically because apparently I'll listen to anything. (Yes, I am one of those people who listen to public radio pledge drives.) I find I can persevere with listening in a way that I can't with sight reading. For example, for years Middlemarch had been on my to-read list. I had read and loved George Eliot's Silas Marner as a teen so I knew I liked her writing. Her epic story of a small English community with an independent woman as its central character seems like it would be right up my alley, but I tried two or three times and never got past book one. "What? You immerse me in Dorothea's story and then Lydgate? Fred and Mary? Who are these people? Where's Dorothea?"

When The Toast suggested a Middlemarch book club last year, I was determined to participate, and the audio book on CD got me over my reluctance, all the way to the realization that the book is called Middlemarch, and not Dorothea, for a reason. At some point I became impatient, grabbed a print copy and just finished it, but truly, I wouldn't have gotten there without the engagement that first came by listening.

And so, audio books are my go-to for non-fiction that I want, or need, to read. It's how I read the fascinating story of Henrietta Lacks and Norman Maclean's analysis of the 1949 Mann Gulch Fire. The Worst Hard Time informed my understanding of my parents' Kansas childhoods and Hawaii's history gained new poignancy for me through Sarah Vowell's distinctive voice.

Sometimes I'll tire of the pledge drive, grab a novel on CD off the library shelf to get me through, and a brilliant narrator will bring a story to life in a way that can't compare to the voice in my head. Neil Gaiman reads his own Graveyard Book and Alan Bennett his Uncommon Reader. They are masterful! Stephen Briggs knocks Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett out of the park. Currently Lisa is listening to The Book Thief and reveling in the reader's rendition, to the point that, though she's engaged enough to want to switch to reading print (it's faster), she can't, because she'd miss out on his narration.

Isn't it great that we have all these options? CDs, books, digital. What and why do you choose what you do?

Book Club Suggestions

I was chatting with a parent volunteer today, helping her find some new books to read-aloud with her 3rd grader, and admitted that I love to tell people what to read, but totally dislike being told myself. It's why I can't be in a book club. 

Sure doesn't stop me from telling YOU what YOUR book club should read next, though!

Here are some books I've read that I would have loved discussing when I finished them:

Unless, by Carol Shields

Reta Winters -- contented mother, wife, writer, translator -- finds herself thrown for a loop when her daughter drops out of college to beg on a Toronto street corner with a sign reading "goodness." I think it's because Reta and I must be close to the same age and when I first read the book, my children were about the age as hers in the novel, but I cannot get enough of this book. I've purchased other Carol Shields books, but I haven't read them yet. I'm just not done with Unless. The structure, the mix of tragedy and comedy, the language -- there is so much in this slim volume.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
An unusual selection from me as I don't read a lot of non-fiction, but I'm trying to be inclusive here. This was on all the best seller lists a couple years ago. Did you read it then? Do you know the story? Henrietta Lacks was a black woman in Baltimore who developed cervical cancer. A researcher trying to grow human cells for research took a sample of hers and they grew unlike any collected before. Okay, interesting questions of patient rights arise, but it doesn't stop there. Her story intersects with the polio vaccine and the Tuskegee Institute, among other mid-century focal points. Skloot did a great job of representing all the voices in this fascinating, and controversial, history.

Gemini, by Carol Cassella
Another medicine-based story, this is a well-written novel by a local doctor/writer. I loved all the main characters, even as they infuriated me. The writing and language are good. The plot twists are surprising, yet realistic. Two different stories unfold in alternating chapters -- a contemporary drama and a kids' friendship about 20 years earlier. It makes for a good structure for the story arc as a whole.

The Spare Room, by Helen Garner
This novel from Down Under gives you a medical drama without the financial concerns. I know, right? That's not something you get with American novels. Narrator Helen offers an old friend a place to stay while she is in treatment for stage 4 cancer. It turns out that Nicola is in total denial and her specialist is a quack. Fascinating, funny, horrifying, the reader reels from the disconnect of seeing Nicola in her self-absorbed dysfunctional state while hearing what a wonderful, generous, creative friend she was. We only get glimpses of the true Nicola -- she has been possessed by a desperation so fierce that she is lost to her friends and to herself.

An Untamed State, by Roxane Gay
"Once upon a time, in a far-off land, I was kidnapped by a gang of fearless yet terrified young men with so much impossible hope beating inside their bodies it burned their very skin and strengthened their will right through their bones." So begins Mireille's story of imprisonment, torture, surrender, betrayal, and the nearly impossible climb back to life. It's a hard read, but Gay is a generous author; she gives us hope and love and prose so beautiful you will weep. 

Middlemarch, by George Eliot
Is your group in the mood for a classic? This fits the bill, plus gives you passion, feminism, hypocrisy, greed, vanity, love, snark and glorious writing. It's oh so meaty and many, many writers owe Eliot their careers.

I'd love to hear what you think of this list! What's on yours?

Poets Society - Seattle Style

Poets Society – Seattle Style

A review of Jumped In by Patrick Flores-Scott

Number 7 is the tricky one. A lot of slackers totally screw up number 7.

7. Listen.

That’s right. Listen to everything.

Sam is never late to class. He never looks the teacher in the eye. He develops a blank stare and never raises his hand. In short, he has the rules to slackerhood down. Until a new kid with a scary scar on his neck arrives in his English class and the teacher decides to hold a poetry slam. Reluctantly Sam begins to work on a poem with Luis and in doing so, his world opens up.

Does this sound a bit like Dead Poets Society? Sure. Replace New England in the fall with Seattle in the rain. Switch the uniform of gray flannel jackets and striped ties to hoodies and jeans. Change the sound track from Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” to Nirvana’s “Scoff”. Translate “carpe diem” to “YOLO”. Mix in Hispanic characters. Keep the inspiring English teacher, determined to do what he or she can to insure that the boys succeed. Jumped In might echo the movie, but it is also rooted in experiences that the author had as a public school reading specialist.  Themes of finding a voice, coming into your own, friendship and loss are staples in young adult fiction and Patrick Flores-Scott has found a fresh way to tell such a story.  

As they work on the project together, Sam slowly gets to know more about Luis.

“Who’s the real Luis?” I ask him. “This tough guy I see at school? Or the royal dork scheduling my poetry practice on a dirty napkin?”

They work together making sure their poem is perfect and practiced. Sam is nervous about speaking out loud but draws inspiration from a video image of Kurt Cobain singing to a wall. Singing to a wall to focus on the words. So he is not distracted by anyone. Because he wants to get it right. Sam tries the same technique and finds it helps. Around the same time, his grandfather tells him the story of his friend, Tex Johnson, and how Tex barrel rolled a 707 Boeing jet. Grandfather Bill passes on to Sam a prize possession, the control knob off that very 707, given to him by Tex himself. Slowly Sam finds the inspiration and the courage to perform the poem he wrote. He is ready for the slam. He nails his performance in class. He has his own nirvana moment. The only trouble is, Luis has disappeared.

The chapters in this book are short and designed to pull even reluctant readers along. After every few chapters are samples of Luis’s poetry – raw and designed to be read out loud. Swear words are used liberally but honestly. Readers will relate to the setting and feel propelled forward by the story. Perhaps they will even be moved by the ending. Let’s just say that John Green is not the only writer who can construct a teenage tear jerker.

Jumped In is on the long list for the 2014 Washington State Book Awards in the Young Adult category. Check back October 10^th to see if it won. Meanwhile, let us know of other books which have inspired you to read or even write your own poetry. 

Bush Staffers Share Summer Reads

In his back to school letter to faculty and staff, new headmaster Percy Abram talked about two books he read this summer and invited us to share what we had read. Here's a sampling of responses, starting with what Dr. Abram had to say about his recommendations:

  Whistling Vivaldi: and Other Clues to How Stereotypes Affect Us, by Claude Steele
Dr. Steele explains through first-hand accounts the effects of "stereotype threat" on students' academic performance and sense of self, and how they overcome these 'threats' and succeed in spite of them. I really enjoyed the book, and felt it illuminated the experiences of many students.
  I have also been reading The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics by Daniel James Brown as a way to learn more about Seattle and the surrounding area. This rich, historical narrative paints a dramatic picture of life in western Washington in the early 20th century, and documents the rise to prominence of the University of Washington's men's crew team.

Michael, 7th grade science teacher

  The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest, by Timothy Egan

It is a great book that gives historic and current history to the places and people of the Northwest. Great way to get some perspective on the natural and historical parts of this region. 

Melissa, college counselor

  My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor

It’s ridiculously inspiring.

Beatriz, MS Spanish teacher

  Our America: a Hispanic History of the United States by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto.

I read this with the thought of creating an elective based on the topics discussed.

Meggan, Admissions administrative assistant

  How Children Succeed by Paul Tough

-         A great look at the education gap that doesn’t focus solely on socioeconomic status or IQ.  It’s a very informative and well written book for both educators and parents.

  Whatever It Takes by Paul Tough  

-         A wonderful book about the amazing Harlem Children’s Zone and Geoffrey Canada. It highlights and celebrates the school and its founder from the highs to the lows, the issues, and the achievements. It’s a well-rounded snapshot of an amazing group of educators and students.

 Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford

Set in Seattle, this book jumps from 1986 in the Paramount Hotel to the 1940’s during WWII. It’s an unlikely love story that demonstrates the best and worst of human interactions.

Susan, Development director

  A Fighting Chance by Elizabeth Warren

If you’re inspired by women who overcome the odds, challenge the status quo, and fight for social justice, then this is a book to read. Elizabeth Warren is matter of fact, funny, and warm in telling her story of growing up in a small town in Oklahoma, watching her parents struggle when her father loses his job and her mother shoulders the family’s financial burden by taking a job at Sears. Elizabeth manages to get through college, go to law school, and become a professor at Harvard deeply committed to research around bankruptcy. She led the Bankruptcy Review Commission and headed the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program and in 2012 defeated incumbent Republican Scott Brown for a seat in the U.S. Senate. She is feisty, honest, and inspirational! 
  Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

This is a sweet, intelligent, and romantic novel about love by e-mail. A multi-degreed college addict finally takes a job at a newspaper reading flagged e-mails at night and sending warnings to employees who use the system improperly. He is drawn into the lives of a reporter and an editor (both women, one married, one with a questionable boyfriend) whose emails are regularly flagged for language, and is so charmed by their lives that he never reports them – but he keeps reading their messages. If you’re looking for a little escape, take this book to your happy place and read it.

Jen, teacher-librarian

  I had a great time reading a wonderful array of children's and young adult books over the summer. For several years, I wanted to read young adult author A.S. King. This summer, I did just that – with four of her novels! Have you read any of her books? If not, I recommend any of those I read: Please Ignore Vera Dietz, Ask the Passengers, Reality Boy and Everybody Sees the Ants. Ms. King’s ability to share such rich realistic themes was impressive. There was certainly no sugar coating of the issues – for the teens or the adults in their world. Powerful and intense books. It made me think a lot about the adults’ challenges and how those challenges impacted the children in their lives. I would be remiss if I didn’t recommend a few wordless books as well. I adore them because they are accessible to so many people. A few favorites – Mirror by Jeannie Baker, Chalk by Bill Thomson, Wave by Suzy Lee, South by Patrick McDonnell and Journey by Aaron Becker. 

Summer Reading Recap, Non-Fiction Edition

More summer reading from Lindi. This time it's non-fiction! I know -- that's rare for me, but it does happen from time to time that I pick up a book from the numbered part of the library. Sometimes I even read a few chapters.

But... but... but... I actually read two this summer, start to finish! Windows on Nature: The Great Habitat Dioramas of the American Museum of Natural History, by Stephen Christopher Quinn, and Old Books, Rare Friends: Two Literary Sleuths and Their Shared Passion, by Madeleine B. Stern and Leona Rostenberg.

Quinn seduced me with his coffee table book full of gorgeous photos -- historical shots of people and workshops, full color photographs of landscapes and dioramas, and frankly who isn't pulled in by the magic of a diorama? So, yes, I was intrigued by the subject and figured something with that many pictures would be fun to thumb through. But captions with the recurring name of Carl Akeley piqued my interest. On one page he's bandaged after having been mauled by a leopard, on another it's after an elephant crushes his lungs. I had to read the book to find out who this guy is and why he's going back to Africa over and over again? Along the way I found out Akeley pretty much single handedly invented modern dioramas and perfected taxidermy. I found out that the paintings on those curved backdrops are seriously distorted up close and that pretty much everything in the displays was collected in the field and preserved through a variety of methods. I found out that the museum dioramas of the late 19th century were instrumental for preserving wildlife habitats around the world. Turns out Windows on Nature is a fascinating book!

One reason Carl Akeley was interesting to me was his lack of formal education. He grew up on a farm and loved the outdoors. He apprenticed with a taxidermist which led him to his life's work -- preserving animal specimens in the service of educating the public. His work in natural history museums and in establishing wildlife preserves was a clear case of following his passion to find a career. Stern and Rostenberg recount their similar paths. Unlike Akeley, they went to high school and college and, in fact, Rostenberg continued on through graduate school. But their careers, while bolstered because of their educational background, really came about outside the "usual" trajectories. Or should I say usual for men?

Stern taught high school English for many years, and Rostenberg toiled for her Ph.D at Columbia, only to have her completed dissertation rejected by her advisor who had wanted her to research something else. It was right after World War II. She got a job with a Viennese rare book dealer who had fled the Nazis and set up shop in New York. On their own time, Stern and Rostenberg continued to research their passions -- Stern's for 19th century womens' lives and Rostenberg's for early print literature. Stern wrote and published important biographies, including one of Louisa May Alcott, and in fact researching that book uncovered Alcott's pseudonym. Scholars had long believed Alcott wrote the kind of sensationalist stories that Jo March does in Little Women, but no one had a clue until Rostenberg found a reference to "A.M. Barnard" with other notations of payment for writing.

Meanwhile Rostenberg continued collecting and researching her beloved early print literature, ultimately opening her own rare books business. Both women regularly published their findings in literary and trade journals with the occasional biography from Stern. That they were discouraged from the usual academic research positions mattered not. They have never stopped questioning, searching, learning and sharing through their writing, and Old Books, Rare Friends is but one example of their perseverance and generosity.

A Reader Responds...

Lindi has written about darkening her days of summer with heavy books, and makes a good case to pick these up when the sun arrives early to erase any dark thoughts caused by reading about violence and grief. But for me, summer reading remains more indulgent. While propped uncomfortably in a tent, trying to get the headlamp to illuminate the words, nothing but a lurid mystery will do. When faced with a weekend with the extended family, several generations talking all at once in the same space, then a YA novel with urgent plot lines and breathy incomplete sentences is the only thing I can focus on. And when the nights turn sticky and the open windows bring no relief, well, then it is time to turn on the TV and hope for the best.

Winter, on the other hand, is the time for sturdier stuff. Well researched historical fictions in which characters scheme and drink flagons of white mead take my mind off car pool rotations, homework supervision and menu planning. Three part Victorian tomes fill the long nights, stretched on the couch, nearly napping. Chapters of award winning novels fill the minutes of waiting in a pick-up line. Reading about polar explorers stuck on the ice in fierce blizzards put my own struggles to drive up the slightly snowy hill into perspective. I’m looking forward to all of that. Winter is coming!

Of course, the best books are those that have no season, those that are well written and memorable as well as being entertaining. I read two this summer that stand out among the rest: Longbourn by Jo Baker and Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan.

It would be easy to say that Longbourn is the downstairs to the upstairs of Pride and Prejudice, but that summary misses that point of this original and fully imagined novel. Think of a household with 5 daughters in the days before maxi-pads. Guess who had to wash the rags! When Elizabeth Bennett famously sets off to Netherfield in the mud, Sarah the housemaid knows the pink Persian silk dress will be ruined. When Mr. Collins arrives at short notice for his twelve day stay, Mrs. Hill the housekeeper knows there is no time to properly air and buff the guest chamber and so makes do with a spray of evergreen and berries in a vase and goes off to roast a hen with parsnips. James grooms the horses and takes the family to the balls and dinner parties. But the book is not merely about cold mornings and chilblains and cooked chicken. The characters are all fully realized with secrets of their own. The writing is a dream to read and the plot pulls you along. While it probably helps to have read Pride and Prejudice, this novel stands on its own. Rest assured the story of Sarah and James is as romantic as anything Jane Austen can pen.

Mr. Penumbra is also a romance of sorts, illuminating the way old books and high tech can mingle and support each other. The plot is a bit farfetched - employees of the titular bookstore race across the country to discover secret reading rooms, arcane book societies, hunt down type punches (the literal printing fonts) and make book scanners out of cardboard and computer chips. Somehow the goose chase of a plot doesn’t matter because it is such fun to read about the discoveries. Written with wit and imbued with creative ideas, this book zips along breezily, until the final emotional punch at the end. Unlike The Circle by Dave Eggers which is a heavy handed screed against Google, Mr. Penumbra enthusiastically embraces all kinds of reading. So, if a heady combination of topics as unrelated as Aldus Manutius, rock climbing, fantasy fiction, secret societies, research, type fonts, 3-D models, and tall ladders hold any interest, this is a book for you.

Today it is warm, but rainy. The days are getting shorter, but it is definitely still summer. Back to my mystery.

Summer Reading Recap, Grown-Up Edition

Hey y'all!

It's summer! And what a glorious summer Seattle is having this year! Temperatures consistently in the 80s with a few 90+ days sprinkled in, day after day of sun. It has been one for the books... and I mean the record books.

But as long as we're talking about books, let me bend your ear about what I've been reading. People talk about "beach reads" and "chick lit" for the summer, and yeah, I read my share of what I call popcorn, but I also tend to reserve my dark and serious books for these bright days. Don't want to be reading depressing stuff when it's dark at 3:30 in the afternoon, oh no.

So what stands out for me in the grown-up fiction realm this summer? Number one is definitely An Untamed State, by Roxane Gay. Followers of this blog will remember that last May I was eagerly anticipating its publication. [Quick plot recap for those who need it, Mireille is a Miami woman kidnapped while visiting her parents in Haiti and held for 13 days before she is released.] The novel exceeded my expectations. It's harrowing and there are some scenes where I just had to pretend I didn’t know what was going on. It’s also authentic, hopeful and compassionate. Gay very skillfully writes about violence without titillation of any kind. I can imagine a person reading some of the torture scenes in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and, well, getting off a little. You know? It's hard to resist the push of our culture's misogyny and glorification of violence. I mean, look at Fifty Shades of Grey. But Gay does not allow that in her writing. Mireille has had a bad thing, a series of bad things, happen to her. They are done by men, and Gay's not giving the reader anything but the ugly truth about that. One Goodreads reviewer said that for her, “An Untamed State is about what a woman absorbs.” That’s succinct and true, just like Gay’s beautiful writing. Another theme that stands out in An Untamed State is the notion of before and after in a life. Mireille's imprisonment and recovery both are dark and hard. The after isn't necessarily her release from the kidnappers.

The second novel I loved this summer is The Possibilities, by Kaui Hart Hemmings, a thoughtful book of grief and resilience. Hemmings is probably better known as the writer of The Descendants, which was made into a George Clooney movie a few years back. Like her more famous book, The Possibilities is about relationships’ complexities. Here’s my Goodreads review: “You know how you know and love someone; you think you know them better than themselves maybe even? And you love them, deeply, warts and all? And then they do something surprising. Not out of character, because that suggests they're an actor. Just something that you didn't see coming. That's how this novel is. Hemmings has written a book about long-time friendship and love and family, and I thought I could see where it was going, but then she surprised me with moments so perfect, so unexpected -- the whole novel captures that essence of how complicated and multi-layered people are.”

Stay tuned for more mini-reviews of what we read this summer. Now back to the sunshine… where’s my book?

Anticipation

What are you looking forward to reading this summer? On the top of my list are Roxane Gay's An Untamed State and Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch. I've got my hands on a copy of the latter, but it's enormous! And I just don't think the short intervals of reading time I currently have available will accommodate its heft. It will be nice to have time to savor this book that won Ms Tartt the Pulitzer and that several friends have pronounced fabulous.

An Untamed State has just been released and I'm on the reserve list at Seattle Public Library. I've been following Roxane Gay on Twitter for some time. Have you heard of her? She writes a lot, and teaches at an Illinois university, and did I mention she writes a lot? She's smart, articulate and provides a perspective I have not seen before. She always makes me feel smarter, because she's clearly intelligent and I understand what she's writing. You can read an utterly heartbreaking essay about loneliness and love and reality television in yesterday's NY Times here, a pointed criticism of bell hooks criticizing Beyoncé's feminism here, and a spirited defense of unlikeable female protagonists here.

In her new novel, Gay is gathering glowing reviews for her writing, characters and honesty. Mireille is a wealthy Haitian woman who is kidnapped. This is, apparently, kind of business as usual in Haiti -- people are kidnapped; their friends and family pay the ransom; everyone wins. But that doesn't happen for Mireille. Her father refuses to pay and, oh dear. Now it's bad. Privilege and power, wealth and class, how to overcome devastating trauma -- Gay addresses some weighty issues here. It sounds utterly harrowing, and I don't usually do harrowing, but it also sounds too good to miss.

On a lighter note, Rainbow Rowell's fourth book, her second novel for adults, is due out in July. Landline follows a couple having marital trouble -- like who doesn't a few years and couple kids down the line? -- but Georgie may have busted the relationship for good this time. Until she stumbles on an unusual way to communicate with her husband that can maybe make a difference. Rowell's characters are true to life and they have great (and believeable) conversations. The books are funny and wise and sexy. I'm going to click on over to SPL right now and see if it's too early to put Landline on reserve.

What's on your summer reading list?

E-Books

We recently weeded our non-fiction collection and shifted things a bit to make more room in fiction. It is a school library, after all, and by far our fiction collection gets the most action. The shelves are so pretty now, with room for expansion and display. I occasionally visit those stacks just to delight in a job well done.

As I shifted the Frances Hodgson Burnetts and the Hilary McKays and the J.K Rowlings, there were the odd adult authors -- Tolstoy and Steinbeck and Bronte. It occurred to me that these shelf hogs are taking up valuable real estate! If we bought them through Overdrive, our digital content provider, we would have them to read and we get shelf space for more great children's literature -- win, win.

Do you use an ereader? Have you checked out our catalog online? It includes our physical collection as well as the Overdrive titles. See a librarian to learn how to download our digital content.

Boosterism

Hey sports fans! The countdown is ON! Superbowl Sunday is almost here! Who are you rooting for -- Denver or our home town favorite, Seattle Public Library? That's right, 12th readers! We are headed to a smackdown! Tweet what you are reading to @SPLBuzz with the tag #SEAreads and/or #ReadingBowl. Show that Seattle is the most literate city!

And whil we are choosing sides, are you Team Bronte or Team Austen? Do you cheer for Edward & Bella or Beka Cooper? Or maybe you're a Katniss backer.

Does Cinderella (Ever After, Just Ella, Ella Enchanted) bring you to your feet or are your hurrahs for Rapunzel (Tangled, Book of a Thousand Days, Zel, Rapunzel's Revenge)?

Is your armchair quarterbacking aimed at the Donner Party or the American Revolution or the Civil War (Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales)?

Which game could you have changed?

Fan Fiction

I heard Marcie Sillman interviewing Tom Keogh on KUOW recently about why Sherlock Holmes is such an enduring character and he called the modern day BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch glorified fan fiction. Cool! Fan fiction is totally getting its day in the limelight!

You know what it is, right? It's pretty self-explanatory -- fans of published stories (books, games, movies) take the characters and settings, and play with them. It's been around for ages, but the Internet made it possible for amateur writers to easily share their vision with others. Some of those stories have been picked up and published in their own right. The fan fiction world I'm most familiar with is Jane Austen -- there are numerous web sites and I daren't actually go there! But I do know that a number of the Austen spin-offs (Pamela Aidan's trilogy and Sharon Lathan's series, for example) started as writings online that gained enough of a following that book deals resulted. Cassandra Clare (The Mortal Instruments) got her start writing Harry Potter fan fiction and E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey started out on a Twilight fan fic site.

I love that people can hone their writing skills and get immediate feedback from readers. I am intrigued that the phenomenon can lead to publication. As a reader who loves living in my book worlds, it is appealing to have more access to my favorite characters. I may not agree with how another author imagines Miss Anne Elliot, for example, but I'm happy to visit her version.

What do you think -- is it cheating? Is it plagiarism? These characters were developed by writers who make a living by publishing books; why is it okay for others to use them? That's the question Cath in Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl has to answer for herself. In her mind, her stories are kind of like taking Star Wars action figures and making up new adventures, but that logic doesn't fly with her college writing professor. Does the fact that virtually all fan fic is written by fans for other fans and that money is not part of the equation matter?

Something to think about...

Unlikable Characters

Roxane Gay, my most recent writer crush, has a very thought-provoking article in Buzzfeed about unlikable characters, specifically unlikable women characters. That link is here, but this is the most awesome defense of characters we love to hate by Claire Messud, from the Gay essay:

In a Publisher’s Weekly interview with Claire Messud about her recent novel The Woman Upstairs, which features a rather “unlikable” protagonist named Nora who is bitter, bereft, and downright angry about what her life has become, the interviewer said, “I wouldn't want to be friends with Nora, would you? Her outlook is almost unbearably grim.” And there we have it. A reader was here to make friends with the characters in a book and she didn't like what she found.

Messud, for her part, had a sharp response for her interviewer. “For heaven's sake, what kind of question is that? Would you want to be friends with Humbert Humbert? Would you want to be friends with Mickey Sabbath? Saleem Sinai? Hamlet? Krapp? Oedipus? Oscar Wao? Antigone? Raskolnikov? Any of the characters in The Corrections? Any of the characters in Infinite Jest? Any of the characters in anything Pynchon has ever written? Or Martin Amis? Or Orhan Pamuk? Or Alice Munro, for that matter? If you're reading to find friends, you're in deep trouble. We read to find life, in all its possibilities. The relevant question isn't ‘Is this a potential friend for me?’ but ‘Is this character alive?’”

Wow! Just wow! Isn't that the truth? What would Charlotte's Web be without Templeton? Boring, that's what! 

I often say that I have to love the characters to love a book. Like Messud's hapless interviewer, it's often because I want them to be good people. On my first reading of Emma, for example, I was horrified. Reading about Jane Austen's privileged young woman meddling in her neighbors' lives was terribly uncomfortable for me. I was embarrassed for her. As I have grown as a reader though, I have to come to realize that having to love a book's character/s is not so much about goodness, as it is about recognizing these people, and more importantly, recognizing myself in them. 

My favorite books have characters that I believe in, that I can trust to behave authentically, whether or not I want to share a pie with them. Furthermore, my favorite characters have something to show me about myself. Sometimes that's a good thing and sometimes it's really unpleasant, but in the end I am always glad I made their acquaintance.