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By Beth, September 1, 2010

The Mysterious Howling
By Maryrose Wood

A Whole Nother Story
By Dr. Cuthbert Soup

When You Reach Me
By Rebecca Stead

Sometimes you just want to feel like a kid again.  If you like gloomy mansions, governesses, orphans, and sly humor, try The Mysterious Howling.  If hilarious wordplay, Lemony Snicket, and The Mysterious Benedict Society are more your style, try the madcap romp A Whole Nother Story.  And if you want a nostalgic 1970’s-era time travel story, try Newbery-winner When You Reach Me.

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By Crystal, August 31, 2010

24 Postcards in Full Colour
by Max Richter

In addition to Independence Day and National Hot Dog Month, July marked Cell Phone Courtesy Month.  Let me challenge you to celebrate year round!

If ring tones were more sonically pleasing, perhaps it wouldn’t matter if we forgot our manners and failed to silence our cell phones in public places.  Enter composer Max Richter.  Richter’s 2008 album 24 Postcards in Full Colour is a collection of dreamy and atmospheric musical moments, composed with the intention they be used as ring tones. The longest track is a mere 2 and a ½ minutes.

Richter was born in Germany, but his family moved to the UK when he was a young lad.  Growing up he listened to a whole lot of Philip Glass, Pink Floyd, The Clash, and artists in the electronic music scene such as Kraftwerk.  After completing studies in composition and piano, Richter spent time in an ensemble that played works by composers such as the aforementioned Philip Glass, Brian Eno, and Steve Reich.  Richter eventually began to focus on his own compositions releasing solo albums in the 2000’s, which brings us back to 24 Postcards.  Some music snobs will say these very brief compositions are a creative cop-out, I say don’t forget it’s a concept album!

The album name, 24 Postcards in Full Colour, not only refers to the 24 tracks, but to the 24 accompanying photos in the liner notes.  These snapshots, some of which were taken by Richter, add more facets of insight and enjoyment to the listening experience.   He has also scored films, including last year’s Waltz with Bashir.

So always remember to practice cell phone courtesy.  And the next time you decide to assign a new ring tone, think of Max Richter.  Or consider John Cage’s most famous composition…

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By Beth, August 25, 2010

  Big Fan

Just in time for football season, check out this character study of obsessive New York Giants fan Paul Aufiero (comedian Patton Oswalt, in a remarkable performance).  After some overzealous stalking of his favorite player leads to an assault, he has to decide where his loyalties lie.  Some of the best moments are the nightly calls he makes to his local sports radio show, as well as his rivalry with another frequent caller, Eagles fan Philadelphia Phil.  Highly recommended even for non-sports fans (it was a Sundance favorite last year, and was directed by the screenwriter of The Wrestler).

-Beth

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By Kyle, August 24, 2010

Actor Sean Connery, born in 1930 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and celebrates his birthday on August 25th.

Although best known for portraying James Bond in six feature films (1962-1971), Connery has maintained a successful career post-Bond. He has portrayed four different kings: King Daniel Dravot in The Man Who Would Be King (1975), King Agamemnon in Time Bandits (1981), King Richard in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and King Arthur in First Knight (1995). He won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar and Golden Globe for his role in The Untouchables (1987). Connery was awarded Knighthood of the British Empire in the 2000 Queen’s Millennium Honors List for his services to Film Drama. His latest feature film role was Allan Quartermain in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003). Connery lives in the Bahamas.

Check out movies with Sean Connery

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By Beth, August 18, 2010

Need some new recipes in your repertoire?  Check out these four cookbooks for some quick, easy, and delectable ideas. 

Cooking Light: Fresh Food Fast

The Frugal Foodie Cookbook

Southern Living Complete Quick and Easy Cookbook

Nigella Express: Good Food, Fast  

-Beth

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By Bryan, August 9, 2010

Gentlemen Broncos

Fifteen year old Benjamin (Michael Angarano) is an aspiring SF writer whose manuscript is ripped off by Chevalier (Jemaine Clement) his aging literary hero.  Getting his manuscript back is hilarious business as Benjamin also has to moonlight for mother’s custom nightgown business to make ends meet. Chevalier isn’t only person that wants Benjamin’s story. A local film production company is also trying to pervert his precocious novel. Gentlemen Broncos is a story within a story. Besides Benjamin’s quest to get his words back, we see his book, The Yeast Lords: The Bronco Years, envisioned by three different minds on three different budgets. Yes, The Yeast Lords is as funny/awful as it sounds. Imagine the rad doodlings of Napoleon Dynamite’s notebooks come to life. Brought to us  by the same creative team behind Napoleon Dynamite, Broncos hilariously spoofs pompous SF writers and their geeked-out conventions (both literary and hotel-bound). You’re allowed to laugh if you are a nerd. Come to think of it, you probably won’t get it otherwise. I laughed the covers off my paperbacks.

The opening credits are a buzz inducing collection of trash surreal SF paperbacks with the lettering altered. If you appreciate that kind of thing you might enjoy:

Good Show Sir: Only the Worst Sci-fi/Fantasy Book Covers
The name says it all.

Awful Library Books
Yeah, the worst books ever offered up to be chortled over before hitting the dustbin. All genres, but tends to lean to outdated nonfiction.

Rad Book Covers at My Library
My own blog feature interesting (sometimes good, but mostly corny-bad) design found on book covers at NPL.

- Bryan

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By Phil, August 2, 2010

Let it Bleed: The Rolling Stones, Altamont and the End of the Sixties
By Ethan A. Russell

Whoah! Quite a gripping and sometimes harrowing work with many of the photographs being simply stunning (and never before seen).
Reading about the Stones’ 1969 tour (with Mick Taylor & Ian Stewart on board) – Mick Jagger lamenting about being “so old” back then – is time travel at it’s best.
You get a sense of the evolving chaos from various perspectives, including photographer Ethan Russell, the band members, security man Tony Funches (who knocked out two Hells Angels and lived to tell about it) and others.
The book builds to the final concert, a huge festival held at the Altamont Speedway in northern California on December 6th. I had a really chilled, near visceral reaction to the firsthand accounts of what transpired here, with the Hells Angels providing “security” and ultimately stabbing a fan (who had a gun) to death near the stage.  A detail is dropped in then a few pages later you see a photograph and instantly “get it”.  A thousand words many times over, indeed.
The parallels mentioned to getting out of Vietnam by helicopter were right on as this concert was often a scene of mayhem, violence and general disorder. Not a happy scene.
Some of the photographs capture fans – some oblivious, many high, some focused on what is happening – from the stage, where the crush of humanity must have been stifling at best. The photo of a stunned looking Bill Wyman in the helicopter about to take off after the show is a real shocker, a moment in time.
The polar opposite of Woodstock, I’m not sure how anyone can argue that this event didn’t clearly “end the sixties”.

-Phil

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By Bryan,

Blood and Guts in High School
by Kathy Acker

Kathy Acker is a burning hot razor blade. She can disembowel you. She can purify you. Defining the aboutness of her books is a difficult task due to her aggressive methodology, but here goes: Blood and Guts in High School is nominally about Janie Smith, who begins life as a sex slave to her “father” in Mexico, only to escape (or be abandoned) to New York were she discovers true poverty and punk rock. From there, her life lapses through a dream sequence of enslavements and rebellions by and against various masters and complexes of power. She goes to Paris, and then north Africa, stumbling closer and closer to Egypt, the womb of Western civilization. Where she goes to die.

It’s the story of a woman’s body flung into textile mill of capitalism: body as natural resource, controlled by others. It is also a metaphor for being trapped in cycles of repetitive behavior due to our childhood experiences. Who can related to that? How ’bout everybody! Each episode has a dream-like repetitive quality reminiscent of the “psychodramas” of 1950s experimental films. Times merge. Every lover/father/hero/boss figure bleeds into the next, as if they are just a place holder in macrocosmic template. Even Acker/Janie’s literary outlaw hero Jean Genet loves/betrays her in equal measure. Seeking the secret to this cycle of use and abuse, birth and death, leads her to Egypt.  Perhaps she has to die to learn the secret. Perhaps she has to die to have any relief. Perhaps she has to die to be free.

Having no choice, being born into this organism/machine/economic-system/psycho-biological myth complex, Janie is more free/happier when she rebels, even if such rebellion is, literally, self-abortive. Doing what she wants with her body and mind always takes its toll. There are only so many natural resources to go around. Literally bleeding/bursting through the text is visual dream material. No matter how oppressive the physical circumstances, one’s inner life pulses on though it might be distorted, perverted, altered. Despite the roles we inhabit on our social relationships our inner life is always churning with psycho-mythic dough. Blood and Guts in High School exhibits Janie’s PTSD-suffering physical and mental state.

Acker is a sex-positive feminist and her words and pictures will affront some readers. Especially those feminists who feel her methodology is, well, self-abortive.  There is a large potential for misinterpretation, especially by men. This is why Acker’s work is dangerous. A female person, any person, can be silent (erased), or write (do) what they want and prepare themselves for the consequences. Of course the deck is rigged, the possible consequences are predetermined, so why not rip it up? The form of Blood and Guts in High School echoes it’s function. Acker writes:

As far as I know, “terrorists” are people who use chance methods to hurt people in a society in order to get the rest of that society to realize a particular political situation. I’m not sure you do that with books. I’ve never taken someone by chance and hurt them, or killed them, in a way that would wake a society up. What I did in Blood and Guts in High School was to attack a certain relation between a political situation and literature. It seemed to me that in high culture there were certain presuppositions behind high culture and these were political presuppositions that had a lot to do with class structure. What I was interested in was attacking the very close relations between a fairly rigid class and structure and high literature. I don’t think that’s terroristic. That is, I wasn’t kidnapping someone by chance. (Milleti, 2004)

The book is actually quite funny in parts, offering hilarious send ups of both Erica Jong and Nathaniel Hawthorne. To appreciate all these aspects you do actually have to read the book, as opposed to just flipping through the pages and scoffing at the “dirty” parts (much like librarians used to do with Mark Twain). Spoiler alert: the killer is you.

If you enjoy a challenging read like Blood and Guts in High School you might be interested in the Down the Rabbit Hole Book Club here at NPL. We read avant-garde texts, cult classics and literary graphic novels. Click the link for more info. Cut.

- Bryan

Milletti, Christina. ”Violent acts, volatile words: Kathy Acker’s terrorist aesthetic.” Studies in the Novel 36.3 (Fall 2004): 352(22).

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By Amanda, July 31, 2010

Ok, raise your hand if you went to the recent Paul McCartney concert. Now keep your hand up if you thought the tornado was gonna get you before security let you in.  Yep, that’s my hand you see in the air.  Definately an interesting beginning to the night, but Paul still managed to put on a great show – as if there was ever any doubt.  I hope I can rock as hard when I’m his age. 

Anyway, for those of you whole missed all the fun, just wanted to let you know that we’ve got a few albums from Sir Paul that you can listen to instead:

These are just a sampling of the Paul.  We also have several Beatles albums in our catalog. (Unfortunately, no Beatles songs are available on freegal, just FYI.) 

Now if you’re saying, “But Amanda, I don’t like to rock out,” that’s fine.  Paul also has a couple of classical albums as well.  Take a listen:

True Paul fans also know that he’s been playing around in a group called The Fireman, and here at NPL, we’ve even got one of their CDs for your listening pleasure:

By the by, I think this one might be available on freegal, but I haven’t downloaded it myself (yet.  Oy, so many downloads so little time!).

So for all of you who got to see the former Beatle, it was nice to spend an evening with you – severe weather and all.  And if you didn’t make it this time, you better get listening, so when he comes back (in 30 years), you’ll be ready…there might even be a quiz.

Amanda

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By Jenny, July 30, 2010

From The Ground Up: the Story of a First Garden
by Amy Stewart

I recently came across this book and had no real intention in actually reading it but once I started glancing through it, I was hooked. It didn’t matter that the location of the garden was in California – gardens everywhere have the same enemies or challenges: weeds, animal life, too much or not enough sun, water, or good temperature.

For all of us who have looked at a bare spot of land and dreamed big only to realize the dream wouldn’t come to fruition for several years, this is the book for you. It had me thinking about all the ridiculous mistakes I made starting my garden – most embarrassing, but now so nice to know that I wasn’t alone.

- Betsy

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By Bryan, July 26, 2010

The Vinland Sagas

The Norse colony in North America always fascinated me. Why not go right to the source? These documents were once thought legendary, then proved to be (at least partially) true by the archaeological record. Included in this collection of “Vinland Sagas” are the Book of the Icelanders and the Book of the Settlements, which chronicle of the colonization of Iceland; and the Greenlanders’ Saga and Eirik the Red’s Saga, which chronicle the colonization of Greenland and subsequent excursions to North America.

Written in 13th century, I was afraid these would be dry and boring, but boy was I wrong. They are full of personal details and fascinating anecdotes, only occasionally bleeding into the fantastical. There’s a lot killing and a lot ice. The texts are rich enough that we are transported into another world. A world that existed a millennium ago. We learn about what the Norse wore, ate, and worshiped. Most fascinating are the tensions between the traditional religion and Christianity. The conversion of Europe to Christianity happened so long ago, it is often just a line or two in a school book, but in these sagas we have records of what that conversion was like, the tensions it caused, and how communities dealt with said tension. Did I mention the killings and the ice?

Another surprise was that the Iceland sagas we’re often more interesting than the Greenland ones. In these we find majority of material about the pagan-Christian problem. Did you know there were people (not the Inuit) on Iceland before the Norse? Did you know Iceland had a parliamentary government centuries before other European countries? This is not to take anything away from the Greenland sagas. As is pointed out in the brief notes which accompany it, the Eirik the Red’s Saga is a masterpiece of European literature.

If you have a library card, Vinland Sagas is downloadable for free from Netlibrary with no DRM-restrictions. They are read by Norman Dietz and the inimitable George Guidall.

I can recommend two novelizations of the same material. The first, William Vollmann’s The Ice-Shirt, focuses on Eirik the Red’s daughter Freydis and her role in founding of the North American colony. This is the first of Vollmann’s Seven Dreams sequence which explores the European conquest of the North American continent. It includes ink drawings by the author and contemporary accounts of his travels through Greenland.

The second is the award winning Voyage of the Short Serpent by Bernard de Boucheron which imagines what the dwindling Norse colony on Greenland must have been like in the 14th century. You can read my original review here.

For those not book oriented there is Severed Ways, Tony Stone’s dreamy yet realistic portrayal of two Vikings stranded in Newfoundland. Even if your not interested in the Norse, this is one of the best, truly independent, American films I have seen in recent years.

None of these titles are for the squeamish.

- Bryan

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By Amanda, July 24, 2010

The Prayer Cycle
Composed by Jonathan Elias
Performed by Alanis Morissette, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt, and more

Need another reason why free downloads are fun?  You get to explore and hear music to which you might not otherwise be exposed.  I was puttering around in freegal the other day and came across this hidden gem.  It was listed in the classical genre, by Alanis Morissette (under A for Alanis, naturally) – so I was intrigued.  And for good reason. 

I had never heard of this work before, so I Googled it.  According to Wikipedia, The Prayer Cycle is a nine movement piece that was originally used in the ABC documentary, The Century.  Along with Morissette, it features other big pop names in more classical settings:

I. Mercy (Alanis Morisette)
II. Strength (Richard Bona)
III. Hope (Alanis with The American Boychoir)
IV. Compassion (the now-deceased Nusrat Fatah Ali Khan)
V. Grace (James Taylor)
VI. Innocence (Salif Keita)
VII. Forgiveness (Nusrat)
VIII. Benediction (Linda Ronstadt)
IX. Faith (Alanis and Nusrat)

The piece is sung in twelve languages, but the only bad thing about downloading it is that I cannot find a complete translation of the Elias-penned text anywhere.  Maybe that’s good though.  Maybe that means I just have to be more Zen about it and simply experience it for what it is without analyzing everything.  (That said, if you can find a complete version, please let me know.)

 Sometimes such an eclectic collection of artists can come across as cheesy or overly commercial. But this album is everything you want it to be – relaxing, poignant, hopeful, yet powerful and haunting, all at the same time.  It’s definately not something you put on to dance around the house to. And I probably wouldn’t recommend it for driving either…you might get too relaxed.  But it would be excellent for that quiet, introspective evening in.

Intrigued yet?  Well, don’t take my word for it.  Log on to freegal yourself (here’s how) and check it out.  If you don’t want to download all nine tracks, just listen to the 30 sec. samples to get an idea of what I’m talking about.  Since our new limit is 5 songs a week (still better than nothing, folks, let’s be honest), it will take you two weeks to get the whole thing.  But, it’s worth it.

Trust me.

Amanda

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By Phil, July 21, 2010

The Avett Brothers introduce Emotionalism

This 2007 disc was my introduction to this excellent band, featuring the brothers Seth and Scott Avett who play a multifaceted, often joyous, plain-spoken, freewheeling mix of Americana ballads, love songs (one of their specialties are the “Pretty Girl from ___” songs), folk, country, bluegrass and flat out rock.  Their harmonies are often spot on and you’ll have no trouble understanding the lyrics (almost unusual). Their  stellar banjo and guitar interplay is also quite impressive.
They may be tough to categorize but are very easy to enjoy!  I know there was quite a buzz among a few of my coworkers as they eagerly sought tickets for their upcoming shows at the Ryman. I can see why –  this would be a fun group to see live! No pretentions – just good songs played with enthusiasm and wit here.

I’d be remiss to not point out some  possible influences I hear (as I usually do when listening to anyone “new”). The pop bliss of The Reivers comes to mind (another great North Carolina band from the late ‘80’s early ’90’s), The Delevantes, The Band and even John Prine a bit on “Salina”.  Their inclusion of a phone message from Gabriella (“Pretty Girl from Chile”) is great; reminds me of the Replacements. But this is a band that doesn’t seem derivative at all – just very talented and refreshing.
This CD is in heavy rotation in my car system (along with the likes of Marshall Crenshaw’s “What’s in the Bag?”) and is great for summer listening. Give them a whirl – if you like great pop-tinged folk songs you should like this one a lot.

-Phil

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By Bryan, July 19, 2010

Born to Run: a Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World has Never Seen
by Christopher McDougall

You don’t run. You hate sports. You should read this book anyway. Not focusing on running celebrities or ego-maniac endurance athletes, McDougall profiles the Tarahumara tribe of northern Mexico. With a cultural tradition of ultra-distance running (i.e. 50-100+ miles), the Tarahumara are some of the best runners in the world and seem to do so simply for the joy of it. He compares the Tarahumara with a handful of American ultrarunners who have a similar approach, and, you guessed it, are some of the best in world. People who choose to run 50-100+ miles are kind of nuts. Born to Run is a kaleidescope of lovable whack jobs (in this it shares some resemblance to John Waters’ recent Role Models).  We meet Zen kickboxers, self-declared Victorian sports experts, and sex cultists. One such turned-on-tuned-in-dropped out runner, “Caballo Blanco” dreams of organizing a race between the Tarahumara and like-mined Americans. The story of the race is an inspiring as best sports tales without devolving into the pity fest cliches which ruin so many other true life sports stories.

A significant portion of Born to Run is a lot of science about human physiology and nutrition. McDougall aims to prove we are literally born to run. Many of the ideas are controversial within running circles. McDougall makes a good argument but definitely presents only one side of the evidence. I’m neutral towards the science. Much of the nutritional evidence is backed up in Racing Weight by Matt Fitzgerald, though said book is coming from a diametrically opposed philosophical direction. I don’t know if we were born to run. I’m not an evolutionary biologist. Isn’t it obvious though our lifestyle and food choices have sky-rocketed rates of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease? As was pointed out in the 1970s when running exploded with popularity, running helps prevent the aforementioned diseases. An uninterested reader could skip these passages and stick to the dramatic narrative about the race and larger-than-life racers.

As someone who has ran until I hallucinated and loved it, I loved this book. An ode to the joy of running, this book will not only inspire you to run more and have more fun doing it, but motivate you to get off your tukhus and accomplish other goals you thought were impossible.

- Bryan

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By Crystal, July 13, 2010

We’re in the midst of summer now, and for me that means sitting in the shade while reading a great novel, enjoying the amazing taste of homegrown tomatoes, and listening to summer-worthy pop music.  For your listening pleasure I present my top five songs to inspire your travels, cool down your hot summer nights, and create timeless summer memories…

Ramble On is the best tune to start off any road trip, even though the lyrics speak of Autumn.  Buckle your seat belt, and obey all speed limits.   “The time is come to be gone.”

My high school BFF Amy and I used to ride in my old Oldsmobile, windows down since it had no AC, and sing along to my cassette tape of Depeche Mode’s Never Let Me Down Again.   “I’m taking a ride with my best friend…”

Heroes may be Bowie’s best song ever.  Guaranteed to generate inspiration and motivation even during the hottest day in August. “We can be heroes just for one day.”  (A version of Heroes from Bowie’s Reality Tour can be downloaded at freegal!)

Any Bob Marley song is worthy of a summer mix, but my favorite is Redemption Song.  “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery.  None but ourselves can free our mind.”  What a lovely reminder to let go of your burdens.

For those that want to stir up a little summer romance, Jeff Buckley’s Lover You Should Have Come Over is sure to melt anyone’s heart, and ice-cream!  “So I’ll wait for you…and I’ll burn.  Will I ever see your sweet return?” (A live version of Lover You Should Have Come Over, included on the compilation Grace Around the World, can be downloaded at freegal!)

So be safe and have fun the rest of your summer.  If you’re looking for more ideas for entertainment,  my colleagues and I have  put together a display of movie alternatives to the summer blockbusters.  Stop by the Main Library and check out our suggestions!

-crystal