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?