Staff Review: Feel Free by Zadie Smith

In one of the pieces in novelist Zadie Smith's new essay collection, Feel Free, she writes that knowledgeable people -- educated people who not only pursue a craft or profession, but are also connoisseurs of Baroque music, say, or Renaissance art or French wine -- intimidate her, cause her to feel an almost-existential angst.

This seems odd because the overwhelming impression one has after reading Smith's new collection is "How can one person know so much?" Really. Smith writes (a lot), she travels, she teaches, she gives speeches, she's got a mate and a couple little kids. How does she do it?

What's even more remarkable is that she can write about so many different subjects, highbrow to low, without ever seeming pretentious, condescending, or dull. Rather, she seems down-to-earth, self-deprecating, just plain nice.

The topics of Feel Free's essays, many of which were originally written for New York Review of Book, New Yorker, and Harper's, run the gamut from Brexit to Jay-Z, British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye to Justin Bieber, portraitist Bathasar Denner to installation artist Sarah Sze. She writes about Key & Peele, Orson Welles, Billie Holiday, and Mark Zuckerberg. There are also book reviews and essays on joy, despair, optimism, climate change, writing, gentrification, and more.

Smith's a wonderful writer and her essays are engaging and personal because she's passionately engaged with life and acutely worried about the state of the world. If you're like me, reading her collection may make you feel like a bit of an underachiever, but you'll know a lot more when you finish than you did at the start and that's a small achievement in itself, right?

~Ann, Adult Services



 

Bingeworthy TV: New Girl

Are you a fan of the TV show Friends? New Girl reminds me of Friends. Except, New Girl is more awkward and a touch more racy. Both shows are, however, hilarious and both celebrate the depth and true meaning of friendship and how hard adulting can be sometimes. New Girl is about a group of mismatched oddballs who live together in a large loft apartment. Also similar to the Friends and their New York City apartment - the group in New Girl would scarcely be able to afford their big Los Angeles apartment.

Jess Day (Zooey Deschanel) is the lead. She is energetic, super-awkward, very earnest yet still endearing. She talks her way into living in an apartment full of men (hence the name "The New Girl," much to their chagrin). As a teacher, she is at heart an optimist. Opposite her is Nick Miller (Jake Johnson) - a bartender, opposite in so many ways and ever-dissatisfied with life. Together, their chemistry is perfection and their witty banter is lightning-fast.

Whoever did the casting is genius! Jess, Nick, Schmidt, CeCe, Coach, Winston - they are a group of great characters with unique personalities and the actors fit their parts perfectly. For all the underlying angst, this is a pretty lighthearted show. We get to laugh at their jokes and cringe at their relationships and complicated interactions with each other and the world at large. Somehow, they always end up in the midst of ridiculous and hilarious predicaments.

I think it is a great update to the Friends model.

The show is still being produced. Carnegie-Stout owns the first five seasons on DVD. Season 7, which is the final season, premieres this spring on television. The library will purchase the last two seasons when they are available.

~Angie, Adult Services

Staff Review: "Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos, and Me" by Lorina Mapa

I recently lost several family members in a car accident so the first few pages of Lorina Mapa's graphic memoir were emotionally intense for me. Most of her memoir, Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos, and Me, is about her experience growing up in the Philippines, but she frames her story with the death and funeral of her father who also died in a car accident.

I didn't know very much about the Philippines before I checked this book out, and so I appreciated Mapa's exploration of culture, religion, food, and history. The section on the peaceful downfall of the Marcos regime was particularly interesting, especially if all that you can remember is that Imelda Marcos owned a very large collection of shoes.

Mapa came from a family of wealth and privilege, so it may not be surprising how many cultural touchstones she shares with Americans who were teens in the 1980s, from music to movies. I appreciated the way she incorporated one of her favorite structural elements from one of her favorite novels, and readers are likely to enjoy her discography at the end.

I enjoyed Mapa's art, which is minimal, often featuring simple backgrounds. She includes enough detail to give a sense of place and time, and her people are very distinctive and convey emotion well. The book does tend to be a little text heavy, but it makes sense for a nonfiction work. Overall this is a fascinating glimpse into another culture and time from a deeply personal perspective likely to appeal to readers who might not normally read comics.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Bingeworthy TV: Jessica Jones

There are a lot of television shows based on comic books these days, and it often feels overwhelming to try to keep up with them all (even before you consider the movies and comics...). I'm happy to say that you can watch and enjoy Jessica Jones without watching any other Netflix or Marvel TV series. You certainly shouldn't feel any pressure to read Brian Michael Bendis's comics that introduced the character, as the entire story has been altered, updated, and, in my opinion, improved.

This is not a series for young viewers. Bendis's original comic was part of an effort to break out of the restrictions imposed by the Comics Code Authority, and the TV series includes sex, violence, sexual violence, drug use, swearing, and alcohol abuse. When I read the comics, they often felt sexist and dated in a way that left me uncomfortable. In comparison, the TV series is an exploration of abuse, recovery, and revenge that feels very real.

Jessica Jones stars Krysten Ritter as the title character. Jessica gained superpowers in a tragic childhood accident, and as a young adult she was inspired to use those powers to help others. Unfortunately, this brought her to the attention of a manipulative, superpowered villain who abused and broke her.

Jessica copes with her trauma in unhealthy ways, primarily by drinking too much and isolating herself. Instead of a flashy career as a superhero, she uses her skills as a Private Eye, though she can't resist helping those in need. When a case suddenly provides a clue that might allow her to bring down the villain who hurt her, Jessica suddenly has a new and dangerous focus.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Announcing a New Shelving System at Carnegie-Stout Public Library

Carnegie-Stout Public Library is closed today, Sunday, April 1, but you should expect big changes when we open on Monday at 9:00 a.m. We're always exploring new ways to better serve our community and we're excited to announce a new shelving system designed to better facilitate browsing and discovery.

"Often readers will be looking for a book and they can't remember the title or the author, but they do know the cover is blue. Our new shelving system is going to help those readers and it will allow library staff to re-shelve returned materials twice as quickly," librarian April Foole stated.

The new shelving system, designed by leading library design consultant Roy G. Biv, has also been applauded for its visual appeal and has rapidly grown in popularity with readers across the globe.

"While the aesthetics are a nice benefit, we made the choice for practical reasons. Common wisdom might say that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but you can learn a lot from a book's cover!" Foole continued. "Mysteries tend to be darker, humorous books tend to be brightly colored, Romances are often pink. This new system is just sensible."

Bingeworthy TV: The Office

The Office, based upon the BBC series of the same name, brings us the antics of a paper company called Dunder Mifflin in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  While the show initially featured Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, John Krasinski, Jenna Fischer and B. J. Novak as the main cast, towards the end of its run there were numerous changes to the ensemble. I have to thank The Office for introducing me to the delightful Mindy Kaling (The Mindy Project, Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?) who, along with B. J. Novak, was also a writer and producer for the show.

The Scranton branch, for some reason, is the subject of a documentary about office workers.  Through nine seasons we get to see the everyday lives of these workers.  What goes on in this office is absurd, and you often wonder how any of these people still have jobs.  The employees take their cue from the top. Michael Scott is perhaps the world's worst boss (but he thinks he is the world's best boss).  He is socially awkward, has terrible people skills and no filter, and is really not very intelligent. Just about everything he says and does is offensive; people tell him he is being offensive, but he is just completely clueless. Dunder Mifflin is Michael Scott's life and he thinks of most of the employees as his friends and family.  He does stupid, inappropriate, ridiculous things, but he does it out of love for his job and the people who work there.

Much of the series also focuses on the rivalry between the sales people, usually Dwight and Jim. One day Comedy Central was running a marathon and I happened to see one of my favorite episodes: Dwight is using one of those exercise ball chairs and being...well...Dwight.  Jim, his desk mate, gets seriously annoyed and punctures the exercise ball with his scissors.  Every time I see that episode, I laugh-out-loud.

To simulate the look of an actual documentary, the show is filmed in a single-camera set-up without a studio audience or laugh track. The documentary crew films confessional style interviews with most of the office workers and this allows us to see what they really think and feel about what happens in their place of work. Additionally, the characters often look directly at the camera, especially during the antics of Michael or Dwight. 

The day-to-day life of a paper salesman should be pretty uneventful unless of course you happen to work in an office full of Michael Scotts, Dwight Schrutes, Jim Halperts and Pam Beasleys.  Though The Office is at times politically incorrect (purposely so, I think) and many of the characters can be annoying, it is still one of my go-to binge-watching shows.  

~Amy, Adult Services