Freegal Favorites

With the library closed and many of us self-isolating, I hope library patrons are taking advantage of the library’s digital offerings as much as I am. I’m a music fanatic, so use Freegal pretty regularly. I like to collect music, both physical and digital, and have a large amount of music stored on my computer. For those new to Freegal, it’s a service available to City of Dubuque Library card holders, where you can download 5 free songs a week and keep them. My family and I often browse what’s available and download songs on each of our cards weekly.

Freegal has a wide variety to choose from with a collection of over 3 millions songs. There are a lot of newer material as well as obscure releases. I download both. Here are some of my recent favorite albums I've collected.

Fetch the Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple

This is the new album from Fiona Apple. Apple came to the public eye in the mid 90s with the release of her first album, Tidal, and has continued to release strong albums that blend pop, jazz, and other forms with smart, personal, and often biting lyrics. This new album is getting a ton of positive reviews. It’s no wonder why – so far, after just a couple listens it's blown me away. It's very demanding of my attention. The arrangements are interesting, with Apple's voice and the piano often at the center with jazzy, and often understated, percussion and other effects—dogs barking, and lots of vocal overdubs. If that seems like an odd combo, it all blends together perfectly. I’m excited to continue to listen to this album.

The New Abnormal by the Strokes

This is the ambitious new album from the New York band, the Strokes. I was a big fan of this band when they came out in the early 00s. This album follows the trend in popular music of incorporating all things 80s. There’s a lot of synthesizers and electronic effects on the vocals. I’m liking it a lot so far. At times  it's similar to Daft Punk and other times it channels the rock side of the 80s, like Billy Idol. They are self-aware of their influences and embracing them unashamedly. Even with the apparent influences the album still sounds fresh while retaining that classic Strokes sound. Just take a look at one of their new music videos with animation sure to attract the children of the 80s. 


Someday My Prince Will Come by Miles Davis


This is an early 60s release from Miles. This might be one of his classic albums to fans, but it was new to me. The songs are very relaxed, romantic, and perfect to wind down to. The titular piece is an excellent instrumental rendition of the 1937 song from the Disney movie Snow White. The way that melody comes through on the trumpet gives me chills.






The Unexplained by Ataraxia

Ataraxia is the name of a project from musician/composer Mort Garson. Apparently Mr. Garson was a big producer of easy listening albums in the 50s and 60s. He was also a pioneer of the Moog synthesizer and did some incredible compositions of a wide variety including occult themed ones like this, a series of albums for each sign of the zodiac, a satire of the Wizard of Oz (The Wozard of Iz), and an album to play to your plants (Mother Earth's Plantasia—I know it sounds goofy, but this album is a lot of fun. I recommend checking it out!).

The Unexplained is a series of songs centered around different meditations (song titles include "Tarot," "I Ching," "Seance," "Cabala"...). This album came out in 1975 and sounds like the soundtrack to a horror or epic fantasy movie from the 70s or 80s. It's fun music to work to, or perhaps to accompany a board game with friends (or perhaps D&D?).


Halloween III: Season of the Witch Soundtrack by John Carpenter & Alan Howarth

I was on a kick of early electronic music for awhile. Here's another on the spooky side. I love John Carpenter movies and one of the main reasons is the music he (and frequent collaborator Alan Howarth) compose for them. They set a very distinctive mood and are very much of their time—but also stand outside of time in an odd way. I somehow never watched Carpenter's Halloween movies all the way through until I recently checked them out at the suggestion of a friend. This movie has nothing to do with Michael Myers. It ended up sticking with me though, and I would say it's my favorite of the three (I prefer science fiction horror over slasher films). Whether you've seen the movie or not, the soundtrack is great! I've noticed that Freegal has a lot of music soundtracks for both recent popular movies as well as older ones.

Old No. 1 and Texas Cookin' by Guy Clark

I love Guy Clark and these are two of his most popular albums. He’s an influential folk/country musician who helped to define the Americana style. These albums are his first two from the 70s, but he made albums up until his death in 2016. His lyrics are poignant and witty. Lyric-wise I can only think to compare him to Townes Van Zandt and John Prine. I play these albums a lot. They’re perfect for a lazy Sunday Morning.






There's such a wide variety on Freegal, enough to satisfy any taste. What gems have you downloaded?

~Ben, Adult Services

The Varsity Was the Smallest

One of the laundromats near Loras College used to be a movie theater. Rich and Kay Manternach managed that theater, the Varsity at 1111 Loras Boulevard, during the 1950s.

The Varsity movie theater circa 1954. Photo contributed by Rich and Kay Manternach.

Rich says, “Ray Duttle was the guy who originally put up the buildings on Loras, a theater and a grocery store.”

“My father, Gus Manternach, had a grocery store on Locust Street. He bought the new building on Loras from Ray Duttle, and opened Manternach’s Market.”

“Paul Weitz bought the theater. Weitz ran it for a while, but then sold it to my dad for about $14,000.”

“A man named O’Rourke, I can’t remember his first name, leased the theater from my dad. O’Rourke had a fire in the late 1940s, and he decided to get out of the movie business, so he subleased the Varsity to me.”

“That sublease from O’Rourke was kind of a thorn in my side,” Rich says. “I could have gotten a better deal from my dad. The Varsity had been completely renovated after the fire, though. It had a new screen, new drapes, and fresh paint.”

“I was at Loras College on the G.I. Bill around that time, from ‘48 to ‘52. I majored in economics with a minor in accounting. Since I was getting into the movie business, my thesis at Loras was The Monopolistic Practices of the Movie Industry.”

“You see, all the big movie theaters in Dubuque, like the Strand, Avon, and Grand, were owned by one person,” Rich says. “The smaller theaters, like the State, RKO Orpheum, and the Capitol on the north end, were owned individually.”

Kay says, “The Varsity was the smallest.”

"Well, wasn’t the Capitol about the same size as the Varsity, Kay?” asks Rich. “Up by your neighborhood by 22nd and Central, on the corner where Hartig's is?”

Kay says, "I thought the Capitol was a little bigger, but I could be wrong."

Rich says, “The Varsity had 205 seats. When you first walked into the theater, we had a box office up front, a popcorn machine, and there were steps up to the projection room. Inside, the seats sloped down toward the screen, which was all the way in the back.”

“Tickets were 14 cents for a child and 40 cents for an adult," Rich says.

Kay says, "The Varsity only ran evening movies. The only matinees were Saturdays and Sundays. We were closed on Wednesday nights."

"We had two changes of movies each week,” Rich explains. “Movies would run for three days, usually one main feature and a cartoon, maybe short subjects and previews of coming attractions.”

“They were all second-run films, sometimes the third and fourth run, because there were so many theaters in Dubuque,” Rich says.

“We had From Here to Eternity, with Ernest Borgnine and Frank Sinatra and . . . who was that guy who died, Montgomery Clift?” asks Rich.

Kay says, “Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful, I think that was the first movie we ran. That was a big hit.”

"And Frankenstein was a big movie, a big draw.” Kay says. “One Halloween we paid someone to dress up as Frankenstein, but we hadn't advertised it. When the time came, Rich lowered the lights, and Frankenstein came down the middle aisle, and the people shrank toward the walls. I remember that."

Rich laughs, "Since Kay is younger than me, she remembers quite a bit!"

Rich and Kay Manternach. Photo by Michael May.

Kay says, “Gregory Peck and To Kill a Mockingbird. James Cagney was popular, and we had a couple of his movies. There were a lot of musicals, which they don't have today."

Rich says, "I liked The Three Stooges. Kay didn't like them, but they were so crazy!"

Kay says, "Oh, you know what else was popular? The cowboy movies. Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. I remember those."

Rich says, "I know one thing that kept people coming back. The Strand was noted for serials. They'd show The Lone Ranger for 15 minutes, and then the following week they’d have the next episode.”

“They'd get all the kids in there on Saturday afternoons. Their mothers would give them 15 or 20 cents to go away, to go to the movies down at the Strand. Kids from all over wanted to go.”

“The cartoons were good back then, too. Bugs Bunny and, uh . . . ." Rich looks at Kay.

Kay says, "Road Runner."

Rich says, "Popeye, you know. They were good back then. I loved 'em.”

"Cartoons and features were separate,” Rich continues. “Our distributor was out of Des Moines. They'd have a salesman who'd come around, and he'd want to sell you the films.”

“If it was The Lone Ranger or something, it'd be $12.50, or maybe $15 for a three-day showing. Higher-grossing movies would be around $17.”

“If it was something like Gone with the Wind or From Here to Eternity, they put it in on a percentage basis, like 20% or 35% of the gross,” Rich says.

The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)

“To keep you honest on that, they'd take the number off of your ticket stock. They had a key to the theater, and they'd come in and drop off the reels in steel cases with handles.”

“Long films would have four or five reels, in 35 mm. We had two projection booths. The projectors were Simplex. You had to switch reels over with a pedal on the floor,” Rich says.

“As the film would progress near the end, there'd be a dot on the right hand corner, and that was when you'd start the other reel going. When the second dot came, you'd hit the pedal, and that switched you over to the other machine.”

“If the film broke, you'd pull the reel out and restart it on another reel. When you got through, you'd take that over and splice it with glue. They had a splicing machine, and you'd just glue it up there and put it back in, and it didn't delay the movie.”

“Simplex projectors were popular,” Rich says. “They had carbon-arc lamps. You had to put the carbons into them and they were self-fed. I don't think they use those, anymore.”

"I did everything upstairs.” Rich says. “I was in the projection room most of the time. They had a buzzer downstairs in case of trouble. Once in a while Kay would say I dozed off."

Kay says, "He'd fall asleep and the screen would go dark, and the buzzer wouldn't wake him up. We had a broom downstairs, and I’d take the broom handle and bang on the ceiling.”

"I worked full-time in an office after I graduated in ‘52,” Kay says, “but I'd go up to the Varsity at night and sell tickets for Rich, because I was free help."

Rich says, “I'd give her popcorn, but no money.”

Kay says, “Yeah, he didn't pay me.”

“Before the Varsity, Kay worked at the RKO Orpheum, where Five Flags is now.” Rich says, laughing. “She used to get me in free!"

“I worked at the Orpheum for about a year and a half when I was a kid,” Kay explains. "I was 15. I lied about my age to get the job. We wore uniforms. I was an usher.”

“It was fun,” Kay says. “A big deal. 40 cents an hour. We got two free passes a week and all the popcorn you could eat, if you saved the original box.”

“My sister Phyllis helped me at the Varsity, too,” Rich says. “Phyllis was held up at gunpoint one night when she was working as cashier.”

Rich pulls out an old newspaper clipping about the robbery. “They got away with $65. The police never caught them.”

Kay says, "The Varsity was a good family theater. We had a good clientele. A lot of youngsters."

"We never had any controversial films,” Rich says. “Dubuque was a very Catholic town at that time."

"I can remember a lot of the guys,” Rich says, “guys I went to high school with. There was one guy, I won't mention his name, he used to come down . . ."

Kay says, "Don't say his name. He’s very well known, today."

Rich continues, "He would sneak in after they closed the box office. I'd go down and politely ask him to leave, because, you know, he had money. I'd see him up at Timmerman's. He'd come up and pat me on the back, and we were still good friends."

“Another thing,” Rich says, "we never had central air. Back then that was not uncommon. When I grew up my folks just had a window unit on Alta Vista, and Kay's house never had it.”

“When we finally put air conditioning in at the Varsity, that was a big plus on hot summer nights. Everything is changed, now,” Rich says.

Kay says, “Yeah, we had a lot of traffic, but it got to the point where TV just killed the neighborhood theaters.”

“A franchise called Jerrold’s brought cable TV to Dubuque in the late ‘50s, and they started robbing the picture attendance,” Kay says. “We had to close the Varsity soon after, because we really couldn't make ends meet.”

“A lot of people started going to Cinema Center on the west end. Oh my God, that was a beautiful theater!” Rich says. “Both of my kids worked there."

"I went to work for Rainbo Oil Company. I worked in the office for them for a couple or three years, and then I managed a Super Station up there on 20th and Elm,” Rich says.

“Then Rainbo sold that property and it became a Pizza Hut, so I worked for a company out of Des Moines. I was in sales for most of my time.”

The Varsity laundromat at 1111 Loras Boulevard in Dubuque.

“My father’s market stayed open into the ‘60s, and he turned the Varsity into the laundromat,” Rich says.

"When they put the laundromat in, they had to raise the floor, you see, because it was sloped. They put in some side windows. The upstairs stuff was taken out, the Simplex projectors, and somebody must have bought them, but I don't know.”

“I don't know,” Rich says again. “Where were we when they did that, honey?”

Kay shrugs.

“We were probably cryin’ the blues,” Rich says, laughing.

Michael May is a librarian at Carnegie-Stout Public Library where he shows free movies and selects titles for the Blu-ray and DVD collections. His email address is mmay@dubuque.lib.ia.us.

Thanks to Bryce Parks at Dubuque365.com for including this article in the April 24--May 7, 2014 issue of 365ink.

Read Alike: The Hobbit

The Hobbit: an unexpected journey, the first film in Peter Jackson's planned trilogy, opens in U.S. theaters today. The film is an adaption of J.R.R. Tolkien's novel, The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again. The book's popularity led to Tolkien's trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, which was, in turn, the source of Jackson's first popular Middle-earth trilogy.

Many of you have probably seen all or part of Jackson's film adaptions of The Lord of the Rings, and hopefully you've read the books as well. If you haven't yet, we definitely recommend picking up The Hobbit whether or not you'll be going to the theater this weekend. If you're curious about how the book became the movie, check out this interview where Peter Jackson talks about some of the decisions he made in the process of filming.

If you've already read The Hobbit a dozen times and are looking for something new, we've pulled together a few suggestions for you. Of course, it's easy to argue that most modern fantasy owes a debt to Tolkien's influence, and because this upbeat adventure novel has appeal for readers young and old, we've included titles from the youth, young adult, and adult collections! 

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K Le Guin
A fantasy classic that remains popular with readers from tween to adult. Earthsea is a world dominated by the seas, and where names hold great power. The story follows Ged as he grows in his skills as a wizard from a boyhood as a goatherd to his time as a student in the wizard's school. Much like Bilbo, Ged's journey teaches him to think beyond himself to the larger threats of evil in the world.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien met while teaching at Oxford and formed a friendship that shaped their literary careers. Lewis and Tolkien shared a love of mythology, and that love shines through in different ways in each of their writing. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia has adventure, a battle between good and evil, and is popular with younger readers. You can read more about Lewis and Tolkien's friendship here.

The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
Alexander's Prydain Chronicles have a solid appeal for younger readers, but the suspenseful adventure, the details from Welsh mythology, and a touch of humor hold up well. There's a colorful cast of characters including Taran, assistant pig-keeper, Eilonwy, runaway witch, Doli the dwarf, and, of course, Hen Wen the oracular pig. The heroes find themselves in a battle against evil that spans five books. 

Dune by Frank Herbert
Frank Herbert is best known as the creator of the Dune series, which, after his death, was carried on by his son Brian. Though the setting for Dune is vastly different from Tolkien's Middle-earth, Herbert's detailed worldbuilding, epic story, and descriptive language capture a similar appeal. Although younger readers might find be uncomfortable with some of the issues raised, adults older teens who are willing to try science fiction should give this series a try.

More for Tweens
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Redwall by Brian Jacques
Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
Small Persons with Wings by Ellen Booraem

More for Teens
The Once and Future King by T.H. White
The Tiffany Aching books by Terry Pratchett
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper

Adults should take a look at our Read Alike post for Robert Jordan, which has a mix of modern fantasy authors. You might also enjoy Andrew's review of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I'd like to thank Andrew and Emily for their help with this post!

Did you already attend a midnight showing? Give us your movie review in the comments!

Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Read Alike: The Wettest County in the World

Shia LaBeouf's new movie, Lawless, is scheduled for release next week. The story tells of three brothers who make their living in the violent world of Prohibition era bootlegging. The plot is based on the Depression era ancestors of author Matt Bondurant. Mr. Bondurant used their story in his suspenseful 2008 novel, The Wettest County in the World.

When you add in the recent excitement around Western inspired novels, many of which have been adapted to the big screen in recent years, you wind up with today's list of reading suggestions.

For more on the Prohibition and the rise of organized crime during the Depression, check out Boardwalk Empire: the birth, high times, and corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson (974.985 JOH). This nonfiction title about the rise of Atlantic City and the powerful men behind the city served as the basis for the HBO drama of the same name.

No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Mr. McCarthy is not a cheerful author. His menacing novels delve into the dark sides of humanity and our propensities for violence. He's known for setting his stories in the Southwest, whether in the lawless past, or the lawless future. No Country for Old Men is the story of Llewelyn Moss, who gets himself caught up in the violence of drug trafficking in the '80s. The 2007 film adaptation starring Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin received the Academy Award for Best Picture.

True Grit by Charles Portis
In his career, Mr. Portis has been both a journalist and a novelist. In fact his second novel, True Grit, was originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post. This engaging, suspenseful novel takes its cues from the Western genre, but creates something unique. A dialog-rich story told from the perspective of 14 year-old Mattie Ross, and her quest for revenge on the man who killed her father and the not quite upstanding men who join her in her quest. This novel has seen multiple film adaptations, from the 1969 version with John Wayne to the 2010 version, which also stars Josh Brolin.

Doc by Mary Doria Russell
Ms. Russell's most recent novel is, like her earlier works, richly detailed and character-driven, as she plays with genre conventions. Ms. Russell is known for experimenting with genre, often combining science fiction elements with historical settings. Doc is the story of the infamous Doc Holliday and how he came to meet up with Wyatt Earp in Dodge City, Kansas, though not the infamous shootout at the OK Corral. While there is no movie adaption for this title yet, rumor has it there might be an HBO series in the works.

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
Mr. deWitt's second novel, The Sisters Brothers, has garnered quite a bit of positive attention, including winning The Morning News' 2012 Tournament of Books. It's a gritty and darkly comic novel of the California Gold Rush. Eli and Charlie Sisters, brothers and hired guns of fearsome reputation, are on a mission to kill Hermann Kermit Warm. Eli, the narrator, begins to question their violent life. While there is no movie yet, John C. Reilly's production company has purchased the film rights.


Readers who enjoy stories about living on the wrong side of the law in a lawless land should also check out Joyce Saricks' recent Booklist column on books with a Western inspiration. It's a creative field, whether you prefer something historical or fantastic, violent or less so. Which was your favorite, Deadwood or Firefly?

Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

Harry Potter for Adults

Are you an adult who loved the Harry Potter series? Trust me you are not alone. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 is being released this Friday (June 15^th) in movie theaters. This marks the end of the Harry Potter saga on film however author J.K. Rowlings has created the Pottermore website that will build an online experience around the Harry Potter books. Registration for the website begins in October. In the meantime to fill the Harry Potter void, I put together a list of Harry Potter read-alikes for adults. What is it that you like about Harry Potter’s story? Do you enjoy the “coming of age” aspect? The humorous fantasy? The adventure, action and suspense? The magic and magical creatures? Or do you like how Harry’s magical world exists within our own “real” world? Included is a handy guide to help you find a book that includes the aspects of Harry’s story that appeal to you.

Handy Guide

C = coming of age

H = humorous fantasy

A = adventure, action & suspense

M = magic & magical creatures

MR = magic within our “real” world

In our Adult Science Fiction collection:

Running With the Demon, A Knight of the Word, Angel Fire East by Terry Brooks (C, A, MR)

Young Nest Freemark is discovering her magical heritage just in time for a battle with evil in Hopewell, Illinois.

Storm Front by Jim Butcher and the rest of the Dresden Files series. (H, A, MR)

Harry’s a wizard and a detective, but his last name’s Dresden, not Potter, and he lives in Chicago, not England. A modern-day mage and consultant to the police finds his stale life suddenly enlivened by the presence of a rival in the black arts.

Magician by Raymond Feist and the rest of the Riftwar Saga (C, A, M)

The orphan Pug came to study with the magician Kulgan, but Pug's strange sort of magic would one day change forever the fates of two worlds. For dark beings from another world opened a rift in the fabric of space-time.

Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind and the rest of the Sword Of Truth series (A, M)

Richard Cypher and his trusted companions, the beautiful and mysterious Kahlan and the sorcerer Zedd, begin their quest to destroy Darken Rahl, an evil mage who bids to control the world by using his dark, magical powers.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan and the rest of the Wheel of Time series (C, A, M)

Three young friends, Rand, Matt and Perrin, are attacked by monsters, but with the help of Lady Moiraine, the boys flee their homeland and begin an adventure across a fantastical world of strange and deadly wonders.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin and the rest of the Song of Ice and Fire series (C, A, M)

The cold is returning to Winterfell, where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime. The Stark family has long anticipated this shift of seasons, but are they prepared to deal with the treacherous Lannister family?

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (C, A, M)

A hero named Kvothe, now living under an assumed name as a humble inn proprietor, recounts his transformation from a magically gifted young man into the most notorious wizard, musician, thief, and assassin in his world.

In our Adult Fiction Collection

Lord Foul’s Bane by Stephen R. Donaldson (A, MR)

Because of the magical and fantastic strangeness of the Land and his place in it, Thomas Covenant finds it hard to believe it even exists. Thus, he calls himself "The Unbeliever" and does not realize the perilous fate of the world.

The Magicians by Lev Grossman (C, A, MR)

Preoccupied with a magical land he read about in a childhood fantasy series, Quentin Coldwater is unexpectedly admitted into an exclusive college of magic and educated in modern sorcery.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein and The Lord of the Rings trilogy (C, A, M)

Bilbo Baggins, a respectable, well-to-do hobbit, lives comfortably in his hobbit-hole until the day the wandering wizard Gandalf chooses him to take part in an grand adventure from which he may never return.

The Once and Future King by T.H. White (C, A, M)

Here is the magical epic of King Arthur and his shining Camelot; of Merlin and Owl and Guinevere; of beasts who talk and men who fly, of wizardry and war. It is the book of all things lost and wonderful and sad.

(Annotations courtesy of NoveList and Barnes and Noble.)

If you are looking for more reading suggestions to fill the Harry Potter void, please see author and book critic Lev Grossman’s article “Curing Harry Potter Withdrawl.” Mr. Grossman's book list includes His Majesty’s Dragon by Naomi Novick. You can see Michelle’s review of His Majesty’s Dragon on the adult services blog as well as a read-alike post for George R. R. Martin's latest release in the Song of Ice and Fire series A Dance with Dragons.

Remember these titles are located in the adult fiction and science fiction areas of the library so the subject matter may be darker and contain adult situations and language.

Please stop by the Recommendations Desk on the first floor, check out NoveList Plus on the library's website, or visit W. 11th & Bluff next week for more reading suggestions. Or submit a Personal Recommendations request, and we'll create a reading list just for you!

A Review of Rules of Civility by Amor Towles

One of my favorite characters in Rules of Civility is Fran Pacelli, a five-foot-nine City College dropout from North Jersey who "unsettled the prim at the boardinghouse by wandering the halls without a shirt on and asking loudly if they had any extra booze." Another favorite is Evelyn Ross, a "surprising beauty from the American Midwest." When Evelyn passes out drunk in a New York City alley, the only clue to her identity is the library card the police find in her coat pocket.

A rebellious sort, Evelyn insists on reading Hemingway by "skipping ahead to anywhere but the beginning" because doing so puts "bit characters on equal footing" and "frees the protagonists from the tyranny of their tales." The protagonist in Rules of Civility is twenty-five-year-old Katey Kontent—pronounced Kon-TENT, "like the state of being." Bored with her job and attracted to a banker she meets in a jazz club, Katey "embarks on a journey from a Wall Street secretarial pool through the upper echelons of New York society," and inevitably drifts away from interesting bit characters like Fran and Evelyn, the ones I would have liked to read more about.

At one point, Katey recalls an old family story about her father, a deceased Russian-immigrant who used to cook "closed-kitchen eggs" for Katey when she was a girl. According to her uncle, Katey's father burned his remaining Russian currency in a soup pot when he first arrived in New York, even though "the ruble was as widely accepted as the dollar in some neighborhoods." Katey goes on to burn her own currency, so to speak, encouraged by her father's obstinance and her rebellious friends. But since Katey turns out to be so reluctant and cautious, her own awkward path toward self-actualization is not terribly exciting.

Rules of Civility attempts to be "an implicit celebration of happenstance," a recognition of the potential and poetry of "spur of the moment decisions" and "chance encounters." But it's a bit overdone, much in the same way that New York City is explicitly romanticized as the place where these chance encounters are most likely to take place. It's hard to take seriously the character who laments, "The problem with being born in New York is you've got no New York to run away to."

I do like the emphasis on books and authors, though, from Ernest Hemingway to Agatha Christie. The title Rules of Civility is taken from George Washington's schoolboy primer consisting of 110 maxims on everything from table manners to obeying parents, the last and most profound of which is, "Labour to keep alive in your Breast that Little Spark of Celestial fire Called Conscience."

When Katey finds a reprint of Washington's Rules of Civility in the banker Tinker Grey's apartment, she adopts it as sort of a philosophical approach to her own life. This complicates her relationship with Tinker, who relies on Henry David Thoreau's Walden as his guide, a book which thoroughly rejects social conventions. Can young lovers overcome such conflicting literary tastes?

And there are very interesting similarities between Rules of Civility and F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby. Both are set in and around New York between the world wars, and both use first-person narrators who reflect on past events. Both include car accidents and gas stations, old grieving fathers from the Midwest, party crashing at mansions overlooking Long Island Sound, and name changes: James Gatz to Jay Gatsby, Katya to Kate, Teddy to Tinker, and Eve to Evelyn.

In The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald writes, "The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty in the world."

And in Rules of Civility, Amor Towles writes, "For however inhospitable the wind, from that vantage point Manhattan was simply so beautiful, so elegant, so obviously full of promise—you wanted to approach it for the rest of your life without ever quite arriving."

But in the end, The Great Gatsby immortalizes a fall from civility and grace, while Rules of Civility tries to describe an ascent to it. The Great Gatsby will "gut you like a fish," while Rules of Civility manages "a semblance of rhythm and a surfeit of sincerity."

~Michael May, Adult Services


Rules of Civility: A Novel, debut literary fiction by Amor Towles, will be published on July 26, 2011 by Viking Adult.

This review was based on the digital galley obtained from Penguin Group USA through NetGalley.com at http://netgalley.com/.

Please visit author Amor Towles's website at http://amortowles.com/.

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

I may have my nerd-card revoked for admitting this, but I have an astonishingly hard time finding fantasy novels that I can tolerate, let alone like. I don’t dislike the genre. I’ve played Dungeons & Dragons for years and am more than happy hold forth on gnomish subspecies or the relative merits of wizardry and sorcery (in fact, every time I go to the reference desk I’m secretly hoping that today will be the day someone comes in with a meaty question about orcs or displacer beasts). After some consideration, I’ve determined that the problem is usually one of tone. Many authors seem to confuse “epic” with “self-serious.” Others veer in the opposite direction and produce novels that are just long strings of dwarf and elf jokes. In The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss strikes a refreshing balance between dour and frivolous and spins an engrossing tale of monsters, magic, and intrigue.

As the book opens, we learn that the main character, Kvothe, is a man of legendary power, known by such awed appellations as “Kvothe the Bloodless,” “Kvothe the Arcane,” and “Kvothe Kingkiller.” However, fate has turned against him and, following some undisclosed calamity, he’s holed up in a backwater hamlet waiting to die. When he’s discovered by a collector of legends, Kvothe agrees to relate his story and the book takes off, careening through forests, alleys, taverns, and palaces, detailing the creation and destruction of a hero.

Rothfuss balances self-importance and self-effacement in a very concrete and effective manner. The young Kvothe of the main story is clever and ambitious, convinced of his own brilliance and eager to prove it to the world. At the same time, the older Kvothe of the framing story is all too aware of the tragic folly of his younger days and undercuts the heroics with a wry fatalism. This duality is riveting, drawing the reader in for both the vicarious thrill of success and the train-wreck voyeurism of defeat.

Not that anyone knows the full extent of Kvothe’s power or the exact nature of his downfall. The Name of the Wind is the first book of a trilogy. The second book, The Wise Man’s Fear, was published in March of this year. The final book, tentatively titled The Doors of Stone, doesn’t have a release date and can’t come soon enough.

~Andrew, Adult Services