Somewhat complicated and pretty entertaining

I'm a sucker for Nancy Perl's book talks and this is one I heard her do on NPR--in fact, while at the annual library conference in DC this June, I was on a tour of NPR and actually got to watch the beginning of the interview she did with Steve Inskeep in which she reviewed this book. You can read her well wrought and much more plot-informative preview here. The Grand Complication by Alan Kurzweil was well worth the read and the most succinct description I can provide is that it's very clever. Not only does this story about a watch end exactly on page 360 (as in degrees!) but its protagonist is an obsessive compulsive reference librarian. Not that this would recommend it to everyone, and sometimes it's not even enough for me; however, this novel offered stories within stories (one character's family crest includes a book within a book), and deceit upon deceit. The cleverness ranges from the bawdy to the sublime, or to put it another way, from humor that will be apparent to all--to insider librarian humor (no that is not an oxymoron). On one end we have the crucial clue ostensibly tattooed on someone's butt and the dialogue goes like this, "So all this time Kucko's been sitting on the evidence? Cheeky bastard." At the other end, when Zander (our librarian protagonist) "borrows" a book from the conservation room of the library, he replaces it with one of equal weight so the loss won't immediately be apparent; the replacement item is a tome on bibliokleptomania. When one character tells Zander that he can't return the book because he's sent it out to have the boards repaired, our librarian whines that the conservator "keeps a detailed condition log. He's bound to notice." Anyway, if these puns are too obscure, there will still be plenty to engage and entertain you.

A taste for the supernatural?

I really don't like scary books or movies. I've never been able to watch Aliens or Silence of the Lambs without having to cover my eyes for parts of them and I just refuse to read The Exorcist or most of Stephen King's books. Nevertheless, I enjoy more modulated fantasy and sci fi and frequently get occasion to do so as a result of reviewing books for young adults (YA). Recently it seems I've read a handful of books about vampires and other fantastic creatures ...here's a quick rundown. Kim Harrison's For a Few Demons More gives us a world where everyone knows there are werewolves, witches, vampires, elves and pixies among us. Although this is apparently the 5th in a series with bounty hunter Rachel Morgan in the lead, the author is new to me and it was a fun read--especially likable is Jenks, her pixie sidekick, who has his hands full placating his wife and keeping track of all the pixie kids. My pal Dale turned me on to some books by Christopher Moore. Bloodsucking Fiends tells of a life turned upside down by an extraordinary mugging...nothing is stolen, but Jody is now a vampire and this presents some serious logistical problems. Practical Demonkeeping also takes a pragmatic and humorous approach to mere mortals coping with the immortals. How does one keep finding worthless human beings to feed a hellish demon accidentally released from a church candlestick. In Tantalize, Cynthia Leitich Smith, a well-respected YA author, weighs in with her own version of vampires, who aspire to take over Austin, Texas by infiltrating a new vampire-themed restaurant called Sanguini's. Normally I would say they can have any part of Texas they want, but I understand Austin is a nice town. Another YA novel with a supernatural twist is The Alchemyst by Michael Scott, starring 15-year old twins Sophie and Josh, who inadvertently find themselves in the midst of a battle between ancient forces of good and evil, from golems to goddesses. Continuing along this line are the books by Rick Riodan, also with a young protagonist, Percy Jackson. In The Lightning Thief, Percy discovers that the reason he's been shipped from one boarding school to another is not because of his behavioral problems, but to keep him out of the hands of certain Olympian gods who are hunting down the offspring of their rivals. Let me know what you think if you decide to read any of these.

Running away with the circus

It was never a particular fantasy of mine, but I still found Water for Elephants a fascinating read. I love it when I can learn something new and get engrossed in a good story at the same time. I went to an authors' tea at the library conference in January and, although Sara Gruen didn't make it, I did get a copy of her new book. Set predominantly in the depression years, and told as memories of now 93-year-old Jacob Jankowski, it is a well-researched and not flattering story of a train circus that travels all over the country. The owner wants nothing more than to be better than Ringling and so buys an elephant, Rosie, from another circus that has gone belly up in those hard times. Jacob is the new de facto veterinarian who feels he's lost his whole life and purpose, until he fall in love with Marlene. The beautiful young equestrienne, however, is married--most unfortunately--to the alternately charming and cruel ringmaster. Various characters are occasionally kind, sometimes unbelievably cruel, and even commit murder, sometimes without repercussion, and sometimes not. After I finished the book, I suddenly remembered a woman friend of mine from years ago who told me she had once traveled with a circus. She was a tiny woman and I was surprised to learn that she worked as a roustabout. Of course, if Sara Gruen's portrayals are still true today, there are only two classes of people in circuses--performers and workers--and they don't mix. Anyway, she lived in the cab of a semi which helped move the circus from place to place and she also apparently helped setting up the tents, shoveling animal poop and anything else that needed done. She said it was a hard existence, but she loved being around the animals. That's what keep Jacob going, too, and he gets to run away with circus, not once but twice.

Thanks again to Sara

This is a post script really to the previous one about poetry. I finally followed up on my friend Sara's recommendation to sample Jane Kenyon's poetry, starting as suggested with Otherwise, and moving on from there. I liked Learning in the First Grade; it just reinforces my view that the education system-atically squelches curiosity and learning. The muttered rebellion at the end is probably too soon lost for most. You can read some of her poems here: http://www.izaak.unh.edu/exhibits/kenhall/KENYON.HTM
and even hear others reading her works at the "Celebration" link. She died of leukemia over 10 years ago, making Otherwise even more poignant. Sara also recommends Names of Horses by Donald Hall, Kenyon's husband. It's also linked from the site above. Maybe you should just go to Sara's blog and find out what she has to say: http://thinkinginair.blogspot.com/

A tolerance for poetry

Sounds pathetic doesn't it. I mean, people LOVE poetry, right. But somehow, in all my years of education, no one ever really taught me about poetry in a way that I GOT it or fell in love with it or even learned enough to talk about it intelligently. But I am gradually trying to build up my tolerance for poetry. So last night I read a whole book of poetry by Jane Hirshfield, After, and enjoyed these fleeting little moments of awe at a turn of phrase or a tweak of recognized emotion. My beloved sister-in-law has tried giving me poets to read, like Mary Oliver. And my friend Sara, herself a poet, keeps nudging me along with suggestions. It still feels a little like spinach when I was a kid--good for me but not something I'd necessarily seek out if I was hungry. Of course as an adult I have discovered fresh spinach--in salads and soups and stir-fry--so I should be able to alter my perceptions about poetry, too, I tell myself. I was inspired by the author of a book I recently reviewed, Nancie Atwell. She's written a whole book about getting middle schoolers hooked on reading--through poetry. It's called, Naming the World: A Year of Poems and Lessons (2006) and she convinced me more than I was already that poetry can be really important for kids as well as adults. And then I just collaborated on a review of 5 multicultural poetry books for young people, soon to appear in the Journal of Poetry Therapy, and I've been doing all this reading about multicultural children's lit which talks often about poetry. It is all moving me along...you know how it goes when things just start to converge because you picked up that snowball and sent it down the hill.