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Staff Picks Book Reviews
December 2008
The
Conquest: a novel By Yxta Maya Murray
(Reviewed by Heather)
F MUR (adult fiction)
The thing I enjoy most about Murray’s novels is the historical
detail and strong-willed women. In this case the history of an Aztec
woman is revealed by Sara Gonzalez, book restorer at the Getty museum
in Los Angeles as she studies and restores a 16th century manuscript.
The manuscript is thought to be fictional, but Sara is convinced
otherwise. Meanwhile, her obsessive work schedule keeps her from
the man she loves, Karl, as he plans to marry another. Great adventure
and history lesson.
Zwartboek
= Black book [videorecording-DVD] , Directed by Paul
Verhoeven
(Reviewed by Dave)
DVD 791.43 BLA
The heroine of this movie has that magical blend of innocence and
experience. She’s a Jewish refugee in Nazi-occupied Netherlands
who’s staying in a farm house that’s bombed; her next
move is to join a resistance group, and that’s when the excitement
begins. Though some dramatic moments, this is an action film through
and through, and the lead actress carries it seemingly with ease.
A pleasure to watch for the visual experience and the exciting sequences
– I highly recommend it!
Hugo!
: the Hugo Chavez story from mud hut to perpetual revolution
by Bart Jones
(Reviewed by Dave)
B Chavez
Hugo Chavez is misunderstood, a misunderstanding that has been relentlessly
constructed by the media, both in America and his own country of
Venezuela. He’s portrayed as a dictator, a clown, a thug,
as crude, etc. This image is said to give him the populist appeal
that keeps getting him elected (in democratically held elections…dictator?),
where the barrios come out in droves to vote like they never have
before. He seems to channel the late great 18th/19th century revolutionary
Simon Bolivar, which the people love. But don’t let the populist
appeal fool you, Chavez is also a technocrat, a compulsive reader,
a workaholic, an unusually effective diplomat (if you don’t
count George W. Bush, whom Chavez refers to as Mr. Danger, an alcoholic
and a donkey for his ignorance). His concern and care are directed
toward the poor majority of Venezuela, and he has the skill to implement
this concern into policy. Bart Jones details his story from the
poverty of the barrios to his presidency, a fascinating read about
a fascinating politician.
November 2008
The
Rug Merchant
By Meg Mullins
(reviewed by Linda)
CD F MUL
Ushman Khan, an Iranian rug merchant living in Manhattan, falls
in love with a young college woman after his beloved wife in Iran
leaves him for another man. He also develops a love/hate relationship
with one of his customers. The tale is well written with excellent
character development and provides insights into Iranian culture
and the rug trade. The narrator’s voice is clear and easy
to understand.
A
Problem From Hell: America and the age of genocide
By Samantha Power
(Reviewed by Zeb)
304.663 POW
This book follows the U.S.’s policy of non-intervention in
genocide and human atrocities throughout the 20th century. Ralph
Lemkin’s creation of the term genocide in 1944 is examined
as well as his tireless effort to have a genocide prevention act,
which was unanimously passed by the UN General Assembly in 1948.
It took the United States an embarrassing 38 years to ratify the
UN Genocide Prevention Act, being the 98th Nation to do so. During
that time Sen. William Proxmire gave 3,211 speeches, daily for 19
years, starting in 1967 urging the U.S. to do so. This same period
also saw the rise of the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot in Cambodia and
their vast reign of terror, with only Vietnam intervening to help
stop the killing, as well as the start of Iraq’s gassing,
slaughter and relocation of Kurdish Iraqis. After the Act was ratified
by the U.S. the Hutu butchering of Tutsi’s in Rwanda took
place as well as the Bosnian Serbs’ ethnic cleansing of Muslims
and Albanians. With the 1988 passing of the Genocide Convention
Implementation Act the U.S. become legally responsible to help prevent
future atrocities, though adding a clause that said “only
the United States would decide whether it would appear before the
World Court. It was the equivalent of requiring an accused murderer
to give his consent before he could be tried.” (Power, p.
164) This clause thus negated much of the power the World Court
held in persecuting those responsible both for these crimes and
those standing idly by while they took place.
October 2008
The
Broken Window: a Lincoln Rhyme novel
By Jeffrey Deaver
(Reviewed by Trish)
Fiction
F DEAVER
Jeffrey Deaver’s new Lincoln Rhyme novel is the most fascinating
mystery I have read in a long time. Rhyme, a quadriplegic forensic
consultant for the NYPD, and his partner, Detective Amelia Sachs,
become involved in an investigation of a serial killer who is using
information from a Data Mining service to target his victims and
to fabricate evidence so that completely innocent people are charged
with the crimes. The story is made even more compelling as Ryhme
discovers the huge volume of information that is being collected
and analyzed by the Information Service Company, and by how many
companies, non-profits and organizations are purchasing your personal
information. Although I have no idea if the information in the book
is all true, it is definitely a terrifying thought that some evil
person or group could manipulate your personal information to turn
you into a “perpetrator” or a “victim” of
some heinous crime.
Arranged
[videorecording-DVD] / Film Movement and Cicala Filmworks ; story
by Stefan Schaefer and Yuta Silverman ; written by Stefan Schaefer
; produced and directed by Diane Crespo and Stefan Schaefer
(Reviewed by Trish)
Feature Film
DVD 791.43 ARR
This Award Winning independent film tells the story of two young
public school teachers in Brooklyn who form an unlikely friendship.
Rachel, an Orthodox Jew, and Nasira, a Muslim, find they have more
in common with each other than with the other teachers in the school.
Both of these modest young women are trying to fit in with American
culture, yet keep their own deeply held religious beliefs and cultural
backgrounds. While their families are in the process of arranging
marriages for them, Rachel and Nasira’s friendship grows and
they help each other through this difficult time. It is a beautiful
and touching story that proves “Friendship Has No Religion”
as it says on the DVD cover.
September 2008
We
wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families
: stories from Rwanda by Phillip Gourevitch
(reviewed by Zeb)
Non-Fiction
364.15 GOU
During the Rwandan genocide the Hutu majority slaughtered the Tutsi
minority, using mostly machetes, at a rate nearly three times faster
than Jews were executed during the Holocaust. The Hutus killed Tutsis
all day, working in shifts; when they couldn’t kill anymore
they cut the Achilles tendon of their victims so they couldn’t
run away, that gave them time to rest and return again later to
resume the genocide. The whole country took part in the killings
with neighbors killing neighbors, coworkers killing coworkers, all
while “civilized” nations stood idly by even after many
signed the UN genocide prevention accord in 1948. Eventually the
RPF (Rwandan Patriotic Front) was able to retake the country from
the Interhamawe and Hutu Power Movement, forcing the génocidaires
into refugee camps in Zaire (now the DR of Congo), Uganda, Burundi
and Tanzania. The nations that stood by during the genocide set
up and financed these camps, providing a safe heaven from judicial
repercussions for those responsible for the genocide. From these
camps the Hutu Power Movement and Interhamawe were able to regroup
and launch attacks within Rwanda, killing more Tutsis and those
Hutu’s they thought might mention details of the genocide.
Gourevitch explores how this genocide came to be, what drove average
citizens to want to slaughter their fellow citizens and what influence
western powers had on creating the so called tribal dispute between
the Hutu and Tutsi. He also explains how so many nations stood by
while this happened, and essentially provided the finances and arms
to let it continue to happen into the late 90’s.
Racial
paranoia: the unintended consequences of political correctness
by John L. Jackson Jr.
(Reviewed by Dave)
Social
305.80 Jac
The cultural theorist Slavoj Zizek criticizes political correctness
as a wrong, mystifying approach to the real problem of racism that
focuses on tolerance rather than the more politically challenging
issues like education, economy, legal fairness, etc. In this book,
John Jackson Jr. goes along this theme while adding an extra dimension
– not only does political correctness mystify racism, it suppresses
its expression into implicit actions, such as body language, tone
of voice, even the quality of customer service, actions that cannot
be proven or verified due to plausible deniability. This has created
what he calls racial paranoia in the black community, and he uses
this phenomenon to interpret current events such as Mel Gibson’s
and Michael Richard’s racist outbursts, Dave Chappelle’s
sudden departure to Africa, racial focus in the media, hip hop;
and he contextualizes these events with a brief but focused history
of slavery to the civil rights movement. The book is written clearly
and concisely and, for me, was hard to put down.
August 2008
Compañero:
the life and death of Che Guevara by Jorge G. Castaneda
(Reviewed by Zeb)
Biography
B GUEVARA
Che Guevara to many is simply known as the face of
revolution. This book takes you from his childhood in Argentina
to his death in Bolivia. The time he spent travelling in South America
and mistakenly glorified as when his political ideologies developed
is portrayed more accurately. Che is followed through his meeting
with the Cuban 26th of July Movement in Mexico and his involvement
in the overthrow of the Batista government in Cuba. His relationship
with Fidel Castro and his influence on the start of a new Cuba is
examined as well as his eventual turn against the USSR and socialist
states in Eastern Europe. After his renunciation of his Cuban posts
and citizenship Che’s unsuccessful struggle in the Congo is
followed, with his eventual return to Cuba before his final disastrous
campaign in Bolivia. Though at times hard to keep track of all the
individuals involved, an incredibly interesting book, dispelling
many misconceptions, and showing whom Ernesto “Che”
Guevara actually was, what he stood, and died for, and how his views
developed and evolved.
Pillars
of the earth by Ken Follett
(reviewed by Rebecca)
Books on CD Fiction
CD F FOL
The graphic and realistic movement of this twelfth century novel
kept my ear keenly tuned in. Follett brilliantly flows between the
themes of power, love, and righteousness as he tells the stories
of individual characters involved in the building of a cathedral.
Although this audio book is 32 disks long, I was completely captivated
to the very end.
The
film club by David Gilmour
(Reviewed Trish)
Biography
B GILMOUR
Canadian author and television personality, David Gilmour, recounts
the story of dealing with his unhappy teenage son and his struggle
with school. They strike a deal that allows fifteen-year-old Jesse
to quit school as long as he watches three movies a week with his
dad. I found the agreement to be even more unconventional in that
Jesse was not required to get a job or pay rent during this time
period, something I probably would have insisted upon. As a knowledgeable
and professional film critic, David selected all the films they
watched and discussed together. Since I love movies and have experienced
first-hand the trials of raising teenagers, I couldn’t resist
reading this book! It is a quick read, fascinating and disturbing
in equal measures. The book flap says that the Film Club moves towards
an inevitable conclusion, but I was quite surprised at the ending.
I definitely give the book a “Thumbs Up” for an enjoyable
and thought-provoking read!
July 2008
The
gravedigger: a novel by Peter Grandbois
(reviewed by Linda)
Fiction
F GRA
Like his father and grandfather before Juan Rodrigo is the grave
digger for a small village in Andalucia. In this whimsical tale
the grave digger plays a more important role than just one of manual
labor. The recently departed speak to him as he digs their graves.
It is then Juan Rodrigo’s duty to relay the messages to family
and friends. At times he faces a moral dilemma in deciding which
parts of the message to reveal and which may be better left in the
grave.
Games
people play : the psychology of human relationships
by Eric Berne
(reviewed by Dave)
Social Psychology
301.11 Ber
The pop-psychology term “passive aggressive” is thrown
around all too often these days, or so it seems to me. Whatever
its viability might be, Eric Berne’s Games People Play is
a veritable case book of passive aggression. The book never makes
use of the term but expounds the concept with wit and brutal honesty.
Couched in a colloquial language making it accessible to almost
anyone, it already has more going for it than the vague term “passive
aggressive”.
Three
Colors Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski
(reviewed by Dave)
DVD 791.43 THR VOL 1-3
The Three Colors trilogy, by acclaimed director Krzysztof Kieslowski,
is a great series, subtly intertwined and delicately moody. My favorite
of the three is Red, about a young model who by chance meets an
older man who could be the old, broken equivalent of her current
boyfriend, a fractured mirror image. And though it’s a story
with internal parallels, the dots still take a good measure of imagination
to connect, somehow making the movie feel more realistic. It’s
part of our growing foreign film collection and very much worth
the watch!
June 2008
Ramona
Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
(Reviewed by Heather)
Juvenile Fiction
JF CLE
From the first day of third grade, when Ramona Quimby meets her
eventual nemesis Yard Ape, life moves on at its usual wild pace--usual
for the boisterous Ramona, that is. Soon she is accidentally squashing
a raw egg into her hair at the school cafeteria, being forced to
play Uncle Rat with her annoying young neighbor, and, worst of all,
throwing up in her classroom. The responsibilities of an 8-year-old
are sometimes daunting, especially in a family that is trying to
squeak by while the father goes back to school. But Ramona is full
of too much vim and vigor to ever be down for long.
Happy
Birthday, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle by Betty
MacDonald and Anne MacDonald Canham
(Reviewed by Heather)
Juvenile Fiction
JF MAC
Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is back with a brand-new bundle of wonderfully
magical cures for any bad habit—from watching too much TV
to picky eating to fear of trying new things. With a little help
from her pets, Wag the dog, Lightfoot the cat, and Lester the pig—and
a trunk full of magnificent powders and potions—she can solve
any problem, big or small. And while Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle is working
her magic, the children are working some of their own, planning
a boisterous birthday bash for everyone's favorite problem solver!
May 2008
Parenting,
Inc.
by Pamela Paul
(reviewed by Robin)
Non-Fiction
649 Pau
As an expectant first-time mother of limited financial means, I
found this book to be remarkably reassuring. Paul’s thesis
is that in recent years the time honored task of child-rearing has
been transformed into the multi-billion dollar industry of “parenting.”
The result of this has been increased societal pressure on parents
to show their love for their children by spending, an impulse catered
to by hundreds of companies hawking baby gear (luxury and otherwise)
and “educational” products and lessons. What’s
the good news for parents like me, according to the research cited
by Paul? The box that fancy educational toy came in is probably
more stimulating to my baby’s imagination and development
than the toy itself. I recommend this book to all expectant parents,
especially those who face a trip to Babies R Us with more dread
than anticipation.
The
Monsters of Templeton by Lauren Groff
(reviewed by Robin)
Fiction
F GROFF
The Monsters of Templeton had two main characters, Willie Upton
and her hometown, Templeton NY. After a disastrous summer, Willie
returns to Templeton an emotional wreck. The day of her return,
the long-rumored monster of the lake rises to the surface, dead,
and the next day Willie’s mother decides to reveal a long-held
secret. This secret sends Willie on a quest through the town’s
archives, searching for answers about her ancestors who founded
the town, as well as her more recent ancestors. The story is told
mostly from Willie’s perspective, but every few chapters the
point of view switches to one of the ancient town founders. This
is an interesting, attention-holding debut novel from Groff.
The
Shadow of the Wind
by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
(reviewed by Pam)
Fiction
F RUI
The story takes place in Barcelona in 1945. Daniel, the son of an
antiquarian book dealer, becomes enthralled with a mysterious book
called The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. When eh tries to
find other works by the author he finds out that someone has been
systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written.
It’s a story of mystery and doomed love to hold your interest
on several levels.
April 2008
Dreams
From My Father : a story of race and inheritance by
Barack Obama
(Reviewed by Pam)
Biography
B OBAMA
Who is Barack Obama and where did he come from? These questions
are answered thoroughly and insightfully in this compelling memoir.
It’s the record of a boy’s search for his father and
the meaning for his life as a black American. You will be able to
understand his character and convictions.
Wild
Swans: three daughters of China by Jung Chang
(reviewed by Robin)
Biography
B CHANG
Wild Swans eloquently tells the story of recent Chinese history
through three generations of women. The author’s grandmother
was raised in a China where women’s feet were still bound,
and became a warlord’s concubine. Her mother, fighting against
the Japanese, was a young revolutionary for the communist movement
and Mao. Eventually she became disillusioned with the Cultural Revolution,
and passed her disdain on to her daughter, the author. Chang describes
her early life chafing under the control of the communists, and
eventually becomes one of the first Chinese citizens allowed to
attend university outside the country. This book taught me more
about recent Chinese history than I’ve ever learned from a
history course, and the women’s stories are as gripping as
many novels I’ve read.
Love
in the time of cholera By Gabriel Garcia Marquez
(Reviewed by Heather)
Fiction
F GAR
While delivering a message to her father, Florentino Ariza spots
the barely pubescent Fermina Daza and immediately falls in love.
What follows is the story of a passion that extends over 50 years,
as Fermina is courted solely by letter, decisively rejects her suitor
when he first speaks, and then joins the urbane Dr. Juvenal Urbino,
much above her station, in a marriage initially loveless but ultimately
remarkable in its strength. Florentino remains faithful in his fashion;
paralleling the tale of the marriage is that of his numerous liaisons,
all ultimately without the depth of love he again declares at Urbino's
death. In substance and style not as fantastical, as mythologizing,
as the previous works, this is a compelling exploration of the myths
we make of love.
March 2008
Blackbird
House
by Alice Hoffman
(reviewed by Robin)
Fiction
F HOF
Blackbird House briefly enters the lives of the people who inhabit
a single clapboard home on Cape Cod, Massachusetts over several
hundred years. The book is set up as a collection of short stories,
some of which are connected tangibly to each other by generations
of characters belonging to the same families. Other stories are
connected only by the setting when new families purchase and leave
the house quickly. All the stories share a bleak mood; though some
are ultimately uplifting and confirm the power of love, others focus
on themes of death and obsession. Despite the book’s overall
darkness, I found it to be great bed-time reading because of the
short story format.
The
Bookwoman’s last fling: a Cliff Janeway novel
By John Dunning
(Reviewed by Heather)
Fiction
F DUN
This book is the fifth mystery featuring Cliff Janeway, a former
homicide detective who has found a second career as an antiquarian
book dealer. Janeway receives an invitation from wealthy horse trainer
H.R. Geiger to come to Idaho to appraise his book collection, but
by the time Janeway arrives, his host is dead. He winds up tracking
down some rare volumes that have vanished and probing the decades-old
death of Geiger's wife, a wealthy heiress who collected valuable
juvenile fiction. –Exciting read.
The
Ancestor’s tale: a pilgrimage to the dawn of evolution
by Richard Dawkins
(Reviewed by Pam)
Non-Fiction
576.8 DAW
This book takes you on a pilgrimage through 4 billion years of life.
It’s a different take on evolutionary theory because it starts
with humans and works back through 40 “rendezvous points”
to a common ancestor. I found it a fascinating history of biology
and life on Earth.
February 2008
Black
books
(reviewed by Trish)
Adult DVD
DVD 791.45 BLA
Black Books is an award-winning BBC television comedy about Bernard
Black, an eccentric Irish bookshop owner in London. Manny, an aging
hippie who works at the store, and Fran, who owns the shop next
door, are his only friends. Bernard has a fondness for the bottle
and his books, but not for his customers. The stories, like the
American comedy, Seinfeld, aren’t really about anything except
the daily life of three very quirky characters. The library owns
three seasons (18 episodes) of this amusing show.
Intuition
: a novel by Allegra Goodman
(reviewed by Robin)
Fiction
F GOO
Robin suspects her fellow postdoctoral researcher (and ex-boyfriend)
Cliff of falsifying data related to his high-profile discovery of
a cancer-fighting virus. Sandy Glass, the charismatic principle
investigator of their research laboratory, is swept up in the excitement
of Cliff’s findings and does not take Robin’s concerns
seriously, leading her to go public with her suspicions. Goodman
nails the dynamics of a research lab, including many of the different
highly-driven personality types often seen in this profession. A
good fictional read for anyone interested in scientific ethics and
the day to day workings of a research lab.
Shadow
catcher by Marianne Wiggins
(reviewed by Merry)
Fiction
F WIG
Marianne Wiggins teaches at USC and was married for several years
to Salman Rushdie. Her books are quirky and odd and interesting
with unique characters and unusual circumstances. Shadow Catcher
uses the structure of parallel stories and although it has received
mixed reviews, I thought it was brilliant and satisfying. Wiggins
is one of those writers who can craft a sentence that takes your
breath away.
In the present-day narrative, a novelist named Marianne Wiggins
is in L.A. showing her recently completed novel about Edward Curtis,
the photographer who captured "the vanishing race," the
Native Americans of the American west in the early years of the
twentieth century, to a Hollywood agent. While she is there, she
receives a telephone call from a Las Vegas hospital, telling her
that her father, whom she considers to have been dead for 30 years,
is gravely ill and asking for her. The novelist gets into her car
and heads for Nevada, intent on finding out who this person can
be.
The earlier narrative centers on Clara Phillips, a young woman from
St. Louis who meets and falls in love with the young Curtis in Washington
Territory at the turn of the century. The novel moves back and forth
between these two narratives in an engaging, if not always seamless,
way. The theme of the book is the restless movement that has always
driven American life. A phrase is repeated often in the book: "...the
sound my nation makes." At the end, Wiggins describes it as
"the stubborn, uninterrupted susurration of lives stirring
from the shadows toward sustaining light."
January 2008
Eat,
Pray, Love: One woman’s search for everything across Italy,
India, and Indonesia by Elizabeth Gilbert
(reviewed by Trish)
Biography
CD B GILBERT
This book is part travelogue, part journey of self-discovery and
healing. After a divorce and the end of a love affair, Gilbert travels
to Italy for the pleasures of eating delicious food and drinking
fine wine, then to India for meditation and spiritual growth, and
last to Indonesia to learn how to balance both. Beautifully narrated
on CD by the author, Gilbert bares her soul about her life and struggle
with depression, but her self-deprecating humor and funny observations
make this book a pleasure!
Bobby
written by Emilio Estevez
(reviewed by Trish)
Adult DVD
DVD 791.43 BOB
Bobby is a film based on the last day of Robert F. Kennedy’s
life. This unexpectedly entertaining movie centers around the stories
of the people and staff at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on
the day of Kennedy’s assassination in 1968. Most of the important
issues of that time period are explored, such as, drugs, immigration,
racism, communism, and the Vietnam War. Although the ending was
never in doubt, hearing Kennedy’s incredibly inspiring speech
brought tears to my eyes and a feeling of deep sorrow for the future
that might have been if his life had not been cut so tragically
short.
Psychopathology
of Everyday Life by Sigmund Freud
(Reviewed by Dave)
Non-Fiction Psychology
150.19 FRE
Although the term “Freudian Slip” didn’t originate
from this book (or from any of Freud’s books) this is the
book that describes what it’s all about. Often referred to
as Freud’s most accessible book, it’s chuck full of
witty anecdotes about slips of the tongue, slips of the pen, misrememberings,
misreadings and more seemingly innocent stumbles of everyday life.
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