With the film version of the book Twilight opening this week, vampire fever seems to have descended on the nation. “Vampy” fiction is in high demand and library hold lists are building. While you wait, why not spend some time learning about real vampires? They are very strange, interesting and often connected to your everyday life.
Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures is an entertaining introduction into the natural history of sanguivores (creatures that consume blood). Author Bill Schutt, a biologist with joint positions at Long Island University and the American Museum of Natural History, seems to have had quite a bit of fun in the process of learning about his topic and he has a lot of knowledge to share. His enthusiasm is contagious!
Dr. Schutt starts out with a bang, beginning with a deliciously thrilling description of field research at it’s finest. Schutt, his wife Janet, and a Trinidadian scientist explore the massive, abandoned ice house at Wallerfield, the former US military base. Seeking vampire bats in the decaying building, Schutt’s evocation of the claustrophobic ruin (and an elevator shaft filled with water and bat guano) are vividly described.
Blood feeding is a hard way to survive and Schutt’s description of various evolutionary hypotheses on how assorted sanguivores may have developed is satisfyingly detailed. Besides the infamous (but misunderstood and endangered) vampire bats, other well-known obligate sanguivorous creatures such as leeches, ticks, fleas are covered. The addition of creatures new to me (such as the “vampire finch” of the Galapagos — primarily a seed-eater) and digressions into the history of medicine (did you know George Washington died after his well-meaning but misinformed team of physicians nearly exsanguinated him?) keep things rolling along.
The professor is a funny fellow, with a lot of amusing anecdotes, funny footnotes and some groaningly-bad puns. His book is far-reaching, though a bit uneven, rambling from the folklore of vampires to the chemical composition of blood, touching on colony collapse disorder and mentioning his many aunts named Rose. Gorgeous illustrations by Patricia J. Wynne accompany the book. Ms. Wynne also provided art for Schutt’s handsome Dark Banquet website, which contains a not-to-be missed collection of Blood Recipes.
November 18th, 2008
Barbara - Alicia Ashman
Valerie Martin is a wonderful writer. Somehow she grabs you from the first sentence, makes you love her characters, and holds your interest to the very end. Each of her novels is different: Mary Reilly features the maid of Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde, Italian Fever is a ghost/mystery story; and Property involves a slave and her owner before the Civil War (she won the Orange Prize for this one, beating Zadie Smith and Donna Tartt). Yet Martin brilliantly mines the intimate relationships of her characters and her writing is always hypnotic.
In her newest novel, Trespass, Martin explores a woman’s reaction to her son growing up. Chloe and Brendan Dale are a middle-aged parents of Toby, a student at New York University. Chloe has been hired to illustrate a new edition of Wuthering Heights; Brendan is working on a history of the Crusades. Chloe has a fabulous studio (well, I think it’s fabulous) out in the back acreage of their rural home, heated by a wood stove and frequented by the local fauna and her hunter cat Mike. Her peace is disturbed, however, by a man who hunts these animals on her private property. That, the impending Iraq War, and her son’s new girlfriend have set her completely on edge.
I found it difficult to understand why Chloe doesn’t like Salome - I thought she was cool. She’s a student at the university, from Louisiana, where she, her father and brother escaped to from Croatia during the Serbo-Croatian War after her mother was killed. Salome is beautiful, sensuous, direct, and very mysterious. Toby is totally smitten. Chloe thinks he’s making an awful mistake - to Chloe, Salome is obviously a golddigger - and can’t hide her feelings. So when Salome gets pregnant and the couple decide to marry, Chloe is furious and says some awful things to Toby.
But then all hell breaks loose. Salome goes missing right after she and Toby elope. She’s decided her mother was not dead, and goes to Croatia to find her. Toby can’t stand being away from his pregnant wife, understands why she wants to be with her mother, and so quits school to join her. Soon Brendan is there also, trying to get the kids to come home.
I have a couple of minor complaints about Trespass, but don’t let them keep you from reading it. Martin ends the story a bit too neatly and abruptly, and it seems to me, sacrifices a character to wrap it all up. And I had wished she had drawn a stronger connection between the horrors of the 2 wars that provide the backdrop of the novel. But there’s more to this story than what I have covered. Salome’s dad, Branko, and her brother, Andro, are interesting characters, and a compelling narrative of the Bosnian War give a chilling record of that hideousness. A great read.
November 17th, 2008
Lisa - Central
Quentin Jacobsen is your average teenager. Among his fellow classmates in the Orlando-area high school he attends, he pursues some usual adolescent vices and joys: hanging out by the band room, trying to convince his parents to let him use the car, trying to attain some medicoum of popularity, dreaming about the future. But in one aspect of his life, Quentin has always known that he is extraordinarily lucky: he lives next door to Margo Roth Spiegelman.
Witty, popular, and something of a badass, Margo and Quentin were close friends before a time and life caused them to drift apart. But just before graduation, Quentin is suprised by Margo’s appearance outside his bedroom window. For one night, he joins her in a set of wild pranks as she settles scores. The following morning, Quentin hopes that there’s a chance to revive their friendship. But Margo has disappeared. At first, Quentin isn’t surprised. Margo had run away before, only to turn up without much explaination in nearby Mississippi. But as graduation approaches, Quentin grows increasingly concerned about Margo’s whereabouts, and begins to suspect the worst.
Author John Green blends mystery, road trip antics and ruminations on identity in his latest young adult title, Paper Towns. The title refers to places on a map that don’t actually exist, but are used by mapmakers for copyright reasons. Quentin learns that Margo has something of an obsession with the concept, and he tries to track down the nonexistant town where he thinks she is hiding. But as he pieces together clues, he finds that the question is not so much where Margo is, but whether he even knows who she really is. When Quentin and Co. hit the road, the action becomes an increasingly manic whirl in desperate pursuit of Margo.
Green has traveled smart boy/enigmatic girl territory before in his Printz Award-winning Looking for Alaska. What was a winning combination in that book works with a lighter tone beautifully in Paper Towns. Green has a pitch-perfect ear for dialogue, and his cast of characters throw off zingers with aplomb (”getting you a date to prom is so hard that the hypothetical idea itself is actually used to cut diamonds”). But under all the humor and pranks, there’s the looming question of the fate of friendships as childhood comes to a close. This is my second Green title, and I’m once again impressed by how adroitly he blends humor and wit with the sometimes painful aspects of growing up. I’m already waiting impatiently for his next title.
November 15th, 2008
Katie H.
One of the reasons I read books is to learn about places that I’ve never been. Russia is one of those places. Fortunately, there are a number of Russian detectives that have provided me insight into and knowledge of this vast and diverse country.
It all started with Gorky Park. Three bodies are discovered in Gorky Park. Renko, a Moscow chief inspector is reluctant to get involved in a case that interests the KGB. Yet he is drawn in due to the death of his partner. There are many complications, yet the cynic Renko perseveres. So far there are five more in the series. The latest is Stalin’s Ghost. I like Renko for his stubborn determination and his patient ability to cut through all the crap to find a bit of justice and to survive.
Another series I enjoy is Stuart Kaminsky’s Inspector Rostnikov mysteries. So far there are 15 books in the series. Although you don’t have to start with the first one, Death of a Dissident, I’ve found it interesting to see how the characters have changed over the years. Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov is a Moscow policeman who in the first book tracks down the killer of a dissident while trying to stay out of the way of the KGB. This bear of a man with a bum leg tries to find justice and protect his family in spite of the odds against him—corrupt leaders, cunning criminals and an ingrained bureaucracy. With each new outing I look forward to finding out how he and his team are doing and seeing which untouchable case they have been assigned. The relationships between the team members are one of the things that I like best about this series.
In his latest People Who Walk in Darkness, Chief Inspector Rostnikov and his team are scattered across Russia trying to solve within nine days various crimes, including murder, drug and diamond smuggling. The existence of the Office of Special Investigations where he and his staff work depends on their success. Rostnikov and his assistant Emil Karpo are sent to Siberia to investigate the murder of a Canadian geologist in a diamond mine. The death was apparently caused by the ghost of a little girl. Two team members, Elena and Sasha, are off to Kiev to investigate the murder of a drug smuggler, and the other two team members, Iosef and Zelach, are left in Moscow, trying to investigate the murders of two Africans who may have been smuggling diamonds from Botswana. I enjoyed seeing how Rostnikov and his team resolve this high stakes investigation and I look forward to their next case.
Lastly, Boris Akunin, the international best-selling author, has two late 19th century Russian detectives. One is Erast Fandorin, a young naïve Moscow policeman, a bit of Holmes and a bit of Clousseau. Erast was introduced in The Winter Queen, the first of five books. Akunin’s other series stars Sister Pelagia, a young nun in a remote Russian province. Her bishop discreetly uses her deductive skills to solve crimes. I’ve read the first one Sister Pelagia and the White Bulldog, but haven’t gotten to the second one yet, Sister Pelagia and the Black Monk.
If you’re an armchair traveler like me, here’s your chance to visit our neighbor to the east.
November 13th, 2008
Kathy K. - Central
Are you an animal lover? Library lover? Lover of all that is good and sweet and wholesome? Maybe looking for a little heartwarming adorableness? Look no further than Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron. This delightful book will renew your faith in humanity, and sometimes you need just that.
Dewey Readmore Books was found stuffed into the after hours book drop of a small public library in Iowa on the coldest night of the year, with temperatures dropping below minus 15 degrees. Only a few weeks old, the little grey kitten was frostbitten, and desperate to be saved. Library director Myron gave the ice cold kitten a bath to warm him back up (and wash his grey fur into orange and white tabby), and from that point on Dewey warmed the hearts of the library staff, the residents of the town, and legions of fans worldwide. He resided at the Spencer Public Library for 19 years, until his death in 2006.
There is no disputing the fact that Dewey was an extraordinary animal - handsome and winsome and bright. And while some might argue that having a cat in a library poses more problems than positives (allergies, kitty litter, and fur balls to name a few), Dewey served as an official library ambassador in the small farming town of Spencer and helped the community rally together during a very difficult time. Dewey came to live at the library during the height of the 1980s farm crisis. The residents of Spencer were hurting, the family farms were collapsing and the economy took an abrupt downturn. The public library was busier than ever with residents using the job bank, scouring the papers for job notices and making use of free books, magazines, videos and programs for enrichment and entertainment.
During that tough time, the library was a more vital community center than ever. It was also at this time that the Spencer Public Library was fighting for a much needed renovation. Director Myron urged her City Council to appropriate more funds with this speech:
“Newly paved roads are nice, but they don’t lift our community’s spirits. Not like a warm, friendly, welcoming library. Wouldn’t it be great for morale to have a library we’re proud of?”
And so it was that Dewey started to make the argument on behalf of the library. Because of this remarkable cat, visitor numbers were up, people were staying longer and leaving happier and spreading the word that the library was the place to be. Before long the renovation was approved and Dewey the Library Cat lived on for almost two more decades, keeping the residents of Spencer, Iowa, entertained and in touch with the community spirit while the library met their information needs.
November 12th, 2008
Molly - Central
I’m not, nor have I ever been, a teenage boy, but after reading Joanne Proulx’s novel Anthem of a Reluctant Teenage Prophet, I think I can almost imagine what it might be like. Luke Hunter considers himself the epitome of average. He doesn’t think he’s particularly smart, funny, or good-looking, and he spends most of his free time in the basement hanging out with his stoner friends. One night, when he has a vision of a his good friend Stan becoming the victim of a car/skateboard accident, his life is suddenly not so ordinary. He shares this experience with his friends, but he assumes it’s some sort of strange hallucination; he doesn’t think he’s developed any kind of psychic power, until the accident actually happens, exactly as he sees it - and so do others.
This is an utterly engrossing novel that impressively manages to be universal and relatable, despite the far-fetched plot. Though Luke’s situation isn’t something every teen faces he does deal with the familiar - namely, problems with girls, friendships, school, and family. The wry honesty with which he deals with his thoughts and feelings is refreshing and funny, even when dealing with subjects as dark as death. Proulx does an excellent job foretelling the consequences of Luke’s reactions to his premonitions. She really made me care about this lost but good-hearted kid. And I have to say, I’ve always wondered what goes on in those basements full of teenage boys…
November 11th, 2008
Kylee
… is the title of the latest Kate Atkinson novel. And you may be asking yourself the above question as the book progresses.
Why? Mayhem, murder, kidnapping (maybe), train wreck, life threatening injuries: its all here in sort of a pile-on fashion. So why didn’t I find it to be grim? Its the tone of the main characters. They seem to just take it as it comes. Roll with it. Survive and thrive. Carry on. Even when their lives get more difficult. They’re both admirable and realistic.
Dr. Joanna Hunter is the lone survivor (at age eight) of a major act of violence that killed her siblings and mother. She’s married now, with a baby of her own. Her babysitter Reggie is a 16 year old smarty whose mother has recently died and who’s brother is a criminal. She’s plucky (and loves Dickens) and has found a way to get support via Dr. Hunter (’Call me Jo’), the Pakistani family that runs the corner store, and her former English teacher that’s prepping her for college. And neither Jo nor Reggie has told the other of their losses. They keep that to themselves, as it isn’t what either of them wants to be ‘known for.’
Add to that mix the duo of Louise and Jackson, an Inspector and a Private Eye, who’ve appeared in two previous Atkinson novels, and you’ve got a great cast of characters. When the dark forces listed above come after Jo and Reggie (separately), you feel quite sure Louise and Jackson will ultimately sort it all out.
Did I mention this book (and the others starring Louise and Jackson) are set in Scotland? I loved the culture references that are so different from our own (Tesco and Topshop stores), Paddington station, the Paki corner store. Another winner from this outstanding author.
November 10th, 2008
Liz - Central Library
Lewis Black is probably something of an acquired taste for most of us. He’s achieved most of his fame as a stand-up comedian and social commentator of the angry rant style of delivery. Whatever his topic, it doesn’t seem to take long before he’s twitching, sweating, and shouting (complete with F-bombs) his way to what might eventually become a major-medical claim against his health insurance provider. The man is intense. And it ain’t pretty. So when I saw that he wrote a book called Me of Little Faith, ostensibly about religion, I had to check into it to see what, if anything, he could add to the reasoned discourse about religion after recent works by Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens and Sam Harris seemed to make questioning established religious beliefs acceptable. Or, if not acceptable, they at least made somewhat scholarly investigations of certain aspects of widely established systems of belief. Could Lewis Black, not just the acerbic comedian but also Master’s graduate of Yale University, add anything valuable to the debate?
Not really.
There’s very little scholarship here. No citations or footnotes. Some of the critiques he levels against established religions like Judaism, Christianity, or Mormonism, have already been done. Lewis Black’s critiques are more anecdotal in nature. His disappointment at being given a dreidel at Hanukkah while his Christian friends receive cooler toys makes for somewhat amusing reading, but it doesn’t prove anything except Christmas toys are probably more fun than Hanukkah toys. His tours of the Mormon Tabernacle, Heritage USA (the property of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker), or observations of televised performances by Pat Robertson, Oral Roberts, Billy Graham, or Jerry Falwell, give him starting points from which to develop a premise that he hopes will either bemuse or outrage readers. But they probably won’t convince anyone whose faith has any real depth. Black seems to believe that if he states his opinions as facts, he doesn’t need to offer proof. Indeed, he seems to be asking for faith-based dis-belief.
And by the way, he explicitly refuses to do any sort of examination of Islam. Nothing to say about it except that he has nothing to say. The implied joke being that some followers of Islam won’t tolerate humor and will express their displeasure in a violent way, and he’s much too savvy to say anything that might give offense and isn’t he clever to avoid falling into that trap? No “fearless sifting and winnowing” for this brave soul. Assuming he has a soul, of course.
Yet, when it comes to faith, “the belief in things not seen,” Black seems to want to have it both ways, as when he talks about the death of his beloved brother, and the coincidental (or not?) boost to his own career that seemed to take place once his brother was dead. He also seems to have a different sort of faith when he talks about a psychic (you read that right, a psychic) who has an uncanny ability to make vague observations about the course of Black’s career prospects before knowing him personally or without having any advance knowledge of what’s happening in Black’s life. Black seems to think this is all the more believable because he has never given the man any money. Take it on faith, I guess.
So it’s a little hard to treat this as any sort of serious religious critique. Believe me when I tell you, there’s nothing faith-shattering here. It’s entertainment for the type of people who won’t be offended by this sort of treatment of established religions. And, of course, for fans of Lewis Black. Everyone else can probably find better uses for their time.
The book is also available as a recorded book and might be a better choice for those familiar with and appreciative of Lewis Black’s brand of humor. I’ve read and listened to both versions and think the recorded book is superior, although he doesn’t manage to get himself wound up into an apoplectic state for most of the reading. He is just reading a book after all. There is a short play called “The Laundry Hour” included at the end that was commissioned and produced by Joseph Papp of Public Theater fame that Black co-wrote and performed with Mark Linn-Baker. Mark Linn-Baker joins with Lewis Black to reprise the stage performance in the audiobook.
November 7th, 2008
Dennis - Central
Edna Buchanan, author of the Britt Montero series, returns with a new character in her latest book, Legally Dead. Michael Venturi is a deputy U.S. Marshal with the Witness Protection Program until a witness in a union corruption case commits murder after being relocated to a small New Hampshire town. Before he can quit the program in protest, Michael becomes the scapegoat and is fired.
Venturi’s new life leads him to Florida where he and former Marine buddy Danny Trado assemble a secret group of friends to create new identities for innocent people whose lives have been ruined and deserve fresh starts. Their clients include wrongfully convicted molesters, a threatened judge and a wealthy widow whose children want her declared incompetent so they can collect her fortune. Venturi and his friends fake deaths, create new names, appearances and identities and relocate people to obscure locations overseas.
This scheme remains successful until complications occur. Informants Venturi placed in the Witness Protection Program start turning up dead. In addition, the identities of the recent “legally dead” clients are discovered and they begin to die. The race is on to find the murderer before more innocent people are killed.
The scenarios for creating these new lives were clever and really moved the story along. But there were too many coincidences and friends with just the rights skills at the right time to make this a total rave.
November 6th, 2008
Lesley - Central
Richard Russo excels at describing life in decaying industrial towns. He did so in Empire Falls (winner of the Pullitzer Prize for fiction in 2002), and does it again in Bridge of Sighs. Both of these books seem to elicit strong opinions from readers. Everyone that I have talked to who has read this book either loves it or dislikes it, there doesn’t seem to be a middle ground. I am in the former group. I listened to the audiobook and thought it was very well done .
The plot in Bridge of Sighs unfolds slowly (a bit too slowly according to those who liked it less) and is a multi-layered epic tale that covers more than 50 years. This is the life story of Lou C. “Lucy” Lubins, the proprietor of Ikey Lubins Corner Market. Lou has spent his entire life in Thomaston, N.Y. where there was a large tannery for many years. That tannery was a major polluter of the river and there is now an extraordinary amount of cancer among the residents; its victims include Lucy’s father.
Bridge of Sighs is also the story of Lou’s best friend, Bobby Marconi, known as Noonan as an adult. In contrast to Lou’s happy family, Bobby’s situation was less then ideal. He has an abusive father and his mother constantly tries to run away but is always found by his father and returns home. Bobby is a gifted artist and eventually finds his way in life as a renowned painter.
Both Lou and Bobby are interested in Sarah; we know from the beginning that Lou ends up marrying her. We also learn a lot about Sarah’s life; she, like Bobby, is drawn to the Lubins family because of her own family situation. Her parents are divorced and her father is the English teacher at the local high school.
The life stories of these three main characters are interwoven, and we slowly learn about their childhoods, their families, and their life choices as adults. Bridge of Sighs was featured on many “best books” of 2007 lists and it deserves its place on them.
November 5th, 2008
Mary K. - Central
Previous Posts
Dark Banquet: Blood and the Curious Lives of Blood-Feeding Creatures is an entertaining introduction into the natural history of sanguivores (creatures that consume blood). Author Bill Schutt, a biologist with joint positions at Long Island University and the American Museum of Natural History, seems to have had quite a bit of fun in the process of learning about his topic and he has a lot of knowledge to share. His enthusiasm is contagious! 
