Staff Review: Birdseye by Mark Kurlansky

I can't say that I loved reading a book about the man behind the frozen food industry. It wasn't at all my usual sort of book, but I'm very glad that I pushed beyond my comfort zone to read it.

I checked out Birdseye by Mark Kurlansky because I wanted to read a book for the microhistory category in the Great Reading Challenge. I don't read very much nonfiction of any sort and have never tried a microhistory, so this seemed like a great way to Challenge my Reading habits.

Kurlansky is known for his microhistories (nonfiction books that go in depth on one, relatively small, topic in history), and his books often focus on food-related topics (yum!). However, the most important factor in my choice of Birdseye was the fact that an eBook was available in OverDrive at ten p.m. and I could start reading right there on my couch.

Happily, this was not a strenuous read. Kurlansky didn't expect me to have any special knowledge or familiarity with the history or science behind the development of frozen foods. I learned some interesting facts and enjoyed some amusing anecdotes about Clarence "Bob" Birdseye's colorful life. This is exactly the sort of book that my 70-something father would love, and I can see the appeal. In fact, I'll probably track down a copy to give my father so that we can have a nice chat about frozen vegetables over the holidays.

Am I glad that I checked out this book? Yes! Am I now a devoted fan of microhistories? Not so much, but I'm definitely willing to check one out the next time I need a brain break from my usual Science Fiction and Romance!

~Sarah, Adult Services

Staff Review: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger

One of the great things about working in a library is that you get to track the books that everyday readers -- not reviewers, prize panels, or critics -- genuinely love, titles like The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah or All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr or, recently, just about every title released by Frederik Backman. I always take note of these books, so I can recommend them to others but also so I can eventually get to them myself. Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger is one such book.

Published in 2013, it's beautifully written, warm-hearted, poignant, and suspenseful. It's a standalone work by an author best known for his Cork O'Connor mystery series set up in northern Minnesota, a series that is also well-loved. Krueger is known for his evocative descriptions of landscapes and places and his incorporation of Native American characters and culture into his books, both features prominent in Ordinary Grace.

The novel relates the events of one hot summer in Minnesota in 1961. Kennedy is president and the mood of the country hopeful, but the sleepy town of New Bremen experiences a series of unfortunate -- no, make that tragic -- events.

We see these incidents unfold through the eyes of thirteen-year-old Frank Drum, son of the town's Methodist minister, whose family is a happy one despite the usual assortment of disappointments and challenges: Frank's mom, an aspiring singer, isn't thrilled to have landed in a backwater leading a church choir; Frank's spiritually gifted younger brother struggles with a stutter; Frank's brilliant older sister bears the scars of a surgically repaired hairlip; Frank's father conceals psychic scars from the second World War. All five family members are very well drawn and the large supporting cast of townspeople is rendered just as skillfully.   

Frank begins the summer a regular kid, pre-occupied with baseball and the usual early-teen boy things. Then, a series of three unrelated deaths occur that cause his world to crack open. These deaths set off a chain of further unfortunate events, perhaps to an extent that stretches the reader's credulity just a bit. I was willing to suspend my disbelief because Krueger writes so well, in such convincing detail, and with so much compassion. He keeps the reader turning pages too, to find out who did what to whom. But what he really examines through these plot detonations is the harsh truth that awful things do happen to good people, but those people can find the strength and courage -- and enough ordinary grace in this world -- to go on.

There's nothing saccharine about Krueger's cast or facile in the ways they cope in the aftermath. Krueger offers no easy answers. His people are flawed, they spend nights in the drunk tank, they make big mistakes, they can't always forgive. But they are caring and authentic and thoughtful. In the end there is something so life-affirming in the world Krueger creates. His book is exquisitely graceful.

~ Ann, Adult Services    

NaNoWriMo Coming Soon!

Hello, my literary friends. It's that time again - leaves, freshly fallen, cool night air, bonfires and snuggling under blankets to read on a cozy afternoon. In other words, it is almost November - which means time for frantically trying to meet your daily word count to finish writing an entire novel in 30 days. Right? Sound familiar?

In case you hadn't heard, November is officially National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. Once a year, a bunch (like thousands!) of wild-at-heart folks try to write an entire book in 30 days. It might seem crazy, it might not seem possible, but people do it every year. When you complete a novel of 50,000 words (or more) you become a winner. Awesome, right?

The goal of NaNoWriMo is to get people writing daily, but with no editing, no second-guessing, just get the words out on paper. When you complete the NaNoWriMo challenge, you have written a novel. You get to say, officially, that you are a novelist - because, hey, you just wrote a book!

Some of us try this every year and don't make it very far (*cough *cough, self) But the real point here is - like so many other things in the world - at least we tried! Its a fun experiment. You never know where it will take you or what you'll end up with in 30 days. Carnegie-Stout is listed as an official "Come Write In" location. This means we are encouraging you to stop by and write your novel at the library! Also, three Sundays in November, the 6th, 13th and 20th, from 1-4 PM, we will have a room dedicated to participants. You can come and write and chat/commiserate with other folks.

For more information about NaNoWriMo, click here.