Victorian Survival is Just Weird

I enjoyed the article "125 years of a LEGACY: Local artists, aficionados celebrate Grant Wood" by Tia Carol Jones in yesterday’s Telegraph Herald. Here's some more info.

On February 18, 1942, a few days after Grant Wood died, the TH described how years earlier the Carnegie-Stout Public Library Board purchased The Appraisal for $350 and Victorian Survival for $800.

At that time in 1934, the article says, the library board also had the opportunity to purchase Wood's satirical painting, Daughters of Revolution, but they decided it was too controversial, and actor Edward G. Robinson ended up buying it.

While The Appraisal below doesn't seem controversial, the library board might not have known that the woman holding the chicken in the painting was actually a man, Cedar Rapids gallery director Ed Rowan.

The other painting, Victorian Survival, was one of Grant Wood's favorites. He would only sell it to the library board if they agreed in advance to lend it back to him for future exhibitions. Thankfully, they agreed.

There are different theories about Victorian Survival. The main one seems to be that the old-fashioned lady resents the new-fangled telephone. But could it be the other way around? Is she trying to hide her fondness for it?

Art professor R. Tripp Evans puts it this way in his 2010 biography of Grant Wood:

Lying in shadow behind Aunt Tillie, whose concealed right hand itself indicates a note of treachery, the telephone is more accomplice than opponent--an offstage voice, whispering something salacious (and apparently mortifying) into Aunt Tillie's overscaled ear.

I agree with Tim Olson's assessment, "Victorian Survival is just weird." Weird and cool! And we're so lucky to have it in Dubuque!

~Mike, Adult Services

---

Note:

Grant Wood visited Dubuque several times. Here's an announcement of one visit from the TH arts column, "'Mid Pallettes and Clefs," from March 6, 1932:

I wonder if this irregular column, which sometimes was signed by "Be-Be," might have been written by John Mulgrew, the original "Jazbo of Old Dubuque."

Our Favorite Books of 2013, part one

It's time once again for the staff of Carnegie-Stout Public Library to pick our favorite books of 2013. It's a mix of books new in 2013, and books new to us in 2013. And if you just can't get enough of librarian reading suggestions, check out the Twitter hashtag #libfaves13 for the favorite reads of librarians across the nation and around the world. We'd love it if you'd share your favorite books from this past year in the comments!

You can browse our favorite books from past years here:
Staff Picks 2011, new books
Staff Picks 2011
Staff Picks 2012, part one
Staff Picks 2012, part two

 

Andrew, Adult Services: I’d love this book even if it was just a chunk of paper bound together as an excuse to print the clever title, but it quickly becomes apparent that Ryan North knows Hamlet very well and is quite aware of the bizarre genius of making a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book out of what may be the most famous example of literary indecision. North’s humor is gleeful and smart, alternating between Dungeons & Dragons references and insightful critique of the play. His wry commentary on the treatment of Ophelia is particularly enjoyable. I’ll be playing around in these 600+ pages for some time to come!

Jackie, Circulation: Drinking and Tweeting by Brandi Glanville is exactly what I expected it to be and more! It is an honest, sad, hysterical, sarcastic account of Brandi's life. This book shares her ups, downs, and everywhere (and I do mean everywhere) in between! It is a candid account of her life before Real Housewives of Orange County and her separation from her cheating husband (Eddie Cibrian). She speaks openly about dealing with the loss of her relationship, having a woman move in on her life and children (LeAnn Rimes), reinventing herself, and getting back into the dating world. She briefly discusses her spot on the Real Housewives show but it is not the driving force of the book by any means. This is a great, funny, quick read! If you have ever had relationship blunders you will surely relate to Brandi!

Mary, Youth Services: My favorite read in 2013 was The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat by Kelsey Moore. Excellent book with touching stories and a big splash of humor. It's about the enduring bond of three high school friends though the ups and downs of life. Reminded me of the nostalgia settings in the Fannie Flagg's books.

Laura, Circulation: The Legend of Broken by Caleb Carr. This is a truly unique historical novel with the feel of a fantasy even without any supernatural elements.  Although mostly speculative, it feels natural and believable, mysteriously set . . . somewhere . . . in a post-Roman Europe, in a dangerous culture that has maybe sown the seeds of its own destruction.  Precise, flowing prose and a jaw-dropping plot twist made this my favorite book of the year.  I've never read anything else like it!

Mike, Adult Services: A book I enjoyed this year was Mississippi Solo: A River Quest by Eddy L. Harris. It was published in 1988 and is out of print, so I bought a used paperback copy on eBay. When he was 30, Harris canoed the length of the Mississippi River by himself, and his book takes readers along on the three-month journey, from camping on sandbars to locking through dams to exploring quirky river towns like Dubuque, where Harris ate Yen Cheng egg rolls under the Town Clock. Harris's bubbliness is weird, and he goes overboard with his anthropomorphic descriptions of the river, but his book reminded me of my younger days when I lived three blocks from Ol' Man River in Savanna, Illinois, especially the days I spent with friends in flat-bottom boats. Now at 60, Harris is raising money to paddle the river again, this time with documentary filmmakers in tow: www.eddyharris.com. If Harris makes it back to Yen Cheng, his crew is bound to shoot some interesting footage. If not, he has at the very least inspired one aging river-rat wannabe to save up for a canoe.

Allison, Adult Services: I picked up Love in the Time of Global Warming by Francesca Lia Block expecting a standard YA end-of-the-world survival story, with some teenage love drama thrown in. While there is a world-ending catastrophe and romance, the book was anything but standard. Drawing on Homer's "Odyssey" (which, I'll be honest, I only skimmed in high school. It isn't necessary to be familiar with the tales, but, I appreciated Block's book more after a little review) the story begins when a cataclysmic earthquake destroys the West Coast and a wall of water sweeps seventeen-year-old Penelope's family away. After narrowly escaping death at the hands of looters, Pen sets off on a perilous journey to find her family, encountering human-devouring giants, sirens,  lotus-eaters and witches, and gathering three companions to aid her quest. Magic and the fantastic is woven throughout the narrative, which skims back and forth from Pen's present journey to her life before the Earth Shaker, when she was just on the precipice of discovering her sexuality. Even though the book wasn't at all what I though it was, I was enchanted by the magical realism and love that suffused the story.

Lisa, Circulation: Historical fiction is my favorite genre, so I really enjoyed Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jaime Ford. I learned about part of American history that I never really knew about before. Set in Seattle during World War II, the story centers around the evacuation of Japanese Americans to internment camps hundreds of miles away from their homes. They are denied their belongings and the lives they have established there. It is a story of a shamful part of American hisotry, but also of family ties and bonds between fathers and sons. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction. 

Amy, Youth Services, The Ruby Red Trilogy by Kerstin Gier (Ruby Red, Sapphire Blue, and Emerald Green): Gwen has inherited the time-travel gene from her ancestors.  She travels through time in London with Gideon, another time-traveler, to search for the "Circle of Twelve" which are other time-travelers and find out what her own destiny is.  She is the Ruby in the Circle of Twelve and once all the pieces of the puzzle are put together, her own destiny will be revealed.  These books were very interesting and had a refreshing story that separates it from all the similarly written dystopian YA novels of this year.

Pennies from Heaven Was Not Filmed in Dubuque

Christopher Walken in Pennies from Heaven

Thanks to Bryce Parks at Dubuque365 for including my article "Pennies from Heaven Was Not Filmed in Dubuque" in the latest issue of 365ink.

If you're interested in watching Pennies from Heaven, you can check it out on DVD from Carnegie-Stout Public Library.

~Mike, Adult Services

---

Here's the full text of the article from https://partners.dubuque365.com/ink/365ink193.pdf#page=29.

Pennies from Heaven Was Not Filmed in Dubuque

In a recent discussion on the Facebook nostalgia page “You know you grew up in Dubuque, Iowa if you remember,” several people mentioned that the movie Pennies from Heaven was made in Dubuque, and as proof they cited IMDb.com, aka the Internet Movie Database.

Pennies from Heaven (1981) is an R-rated musical set in Depression-era Chicago. Steve Martin stars as a financially and sexually frustrated sheet-music salesman who seduces a seemingly naïve school teacher played by Bernadette Peters. The movie also stars Jessica Harper, Christopher Walken, Vernel Bagneris, and John McMartin. It is directed by Herbert Ross.

IMDb includes Dubuque as one of the filming locations for Pennies from Heaven, but if you watch the movie carefully, Dubuque does not appear on screen. Outdoor scenes which look vaguely like Dubuque’s Historic Millwork District were actually filmed around the 4th Street Bridge in Los Angeles.

According to Telegraph Herald articles from when the movie was made, a second unit film crew from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer did come to Dubuque in April 1981. The MGM crew spent “into six figures” in Dubuque on 50 hotel rooms plus food, gas, and phone bills. Out of 350 tri-state residents who answered the call for extras, about 50 were chosen and paid $40 a day, given 1930s haircuts, and fitted for costumes.

But unlike the Sylvester Stallone drama F.I.S.T. (1978) or the beer comedy Take This Job and Shove It (1981), Dubuque did not make the final cut of Pennies from Heaven. The single scene planned for Dubuque, of vintage cars crossing the Dubuque-Wisconsin toll bridge, was canceled because of overcast, rainy weather.

Filming did take place in nearby Galena, Illinois, on Main Street and at a farmhouse outside of town, but those scenes are very difficult to spot in the movie. The TH reported that because of the overcast weather, much of the footage was used by MGM only as “inspiration for building sets back in Hollywood.”

A couple of scenes in Pennies from Heaven supposedly show Steve Martin’s character driving on Illinois Route 1 from Chicago to Galena. In reality, Illinois Route 1 runs south of Chicago, not west to Galena. The road in the movie was actually filmed outside of Bakersfield, California. It is the same road made famous in the crop-duster scene with Cary Grant from Alfred Hitchcock’s 1959 thriller, North by Northwest.

Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters were not at Galena during the filming of Pennies from Heaven. Their characters were played by stand-in actors from Chicago, which probably was a good thing. Around this time Steve Martin referred to Terre Haute, Indiana as “No Place, USA” and “The Armpit of America.” There’s no telling what he might have said about Galena.

In the bonus features on the out-of-print Pennies from Heaven DVD, MGM art director Bernie Cutler tells a funny story about filming in Galena. The curbs on Galena's Main Street were red, and there were no red curbs in the 1930s, so the film crew hired a painter to paint out the curbs. After the crew left for the day, they got an urgent call from the painter who said he had been arrested and taken to jail. The film crew had forgotten to tell the Galena Police Department about the curb painting.

Economic boosterism might explain why people believe that Pennies from Heaven was filmed in Dubuque. In the 2001 TH article “Area Reels in Cash from Film Projects,” Steve Horman, then president of the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce, said, “It’s safe to assume that anytime a company is filming we’re talking tens of thousands of dollars from the smallest commercials on up.”

According to the article, the Chamber’s Film Bureau published a pamphlet for “prospective film industry clients” called “Discover Variety in Dubuque” which included Pennies from Heaven on a list of films “produced” in Dubuque. And more than a decade later, in 2013, the new non-profit Dubuque Film Office still lists Pennies from Heaven under “Productions Shot In Dubuque” on its “Made in Dubuque” webpage.

Other examples of this appear online. A 2009 post on the Des Moines Register blog includes the entry “1981 – Pennies from Heaven, Dubuque” on its list of “Movies filmed in Iowa.” Also from 2009, when Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy of Dubuque was asked about the Iowa Film Office scandal, Radio Iowa reported that “the 1981 movie Pennies from Heaven starring Steve Martin includes scenes from Dubuque.” The Iowa Film Office eventually closed over misused tax credits, but has since reopened under a new name, Produce Iowa, not to be confused with the Iowa State University Extension website, Iowa Produce.

The words “filmed,” “made,” “produced,” and “shot” may contribute to the confusion. If a film crew came to town, hired extras, and spent a lot of money on hotel rooms and gas, maybe the local film bureau could be excused for including the movie on its website, even if the local scene was canceled due to bad weather. IMDb, however, has specific guidelines about “filming locations.” Their guidelines say that “filming locations” are “where the filming took place.” While Galena meets this criteria, Dubuque should not be listed at IMDb as a filming location for Pennies from Heaven.

This is not to say that Dubuquers should skip Pennies from Heaven. It is strange and elegant and all the more wonderful for almost having been made in Dubuque.

Pennies from Heaven was adapted by screenwriter Dennis Potter from his 1978 BBC television series of the same name. The American version features disillusioned and depraved characters in elaborately staged dance scenes who lipsync popular songs from the 1920s and 1930s like “Love Is Good For Anything That Ails You” by Ida Sue McCune, “I Want To Be Bad” by Helen Kane, and “Let’s Misbehave” by Irving Aaronson & His Commanders.

This was Steve Martin's first dramatic role in a film, and his first movie after his breakout appearance in The Jerk (1979). But because so many people expected another comedy instead of an oddly moving, dark musical, Pennies from Heaven flopped, costing $22 million to make while only earning $9 million at the box office.

When asked about the film's box-office failure, Steve Martin said, "I'm disappointed that it didn't open as a blockbuster and I don't know what's to blame, other than it's me and not a comedy. I must say that the people who get the movie, in general, have been wise and intelligent; the people who don't get it are ignorant scum."

Fred Astaire was one person who “didn’t get it.” A clip of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers dancing to "Let's Face the Music and Dance" from the 1936 musical Follow the Fleet appears in Pennies from Heaven, but Astaire was not impressed. He complained, "I have never spent two more miserable hours in my life. Every scene was cheap and vulgar. They don't realize that the thirties were a very innocent age, and that Pennies from Heaven should have been set in the eighties – it was just froth; it makes you cry it's so distasteful."

Even so, Astaire is said to have complemented Christopher Walken on his bartop striptease in Pennies from Heaven. Walken plays the tap-dancing pimp who will “cut your face.” The rest of the cast deserves high praise, too, especially Vernel Bagneris for his eerie interpretation of the title song. As The New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael said, "The dance numbers are funny, amazing, and beautiful all at once; several of them are just about perfection."

Besides the Busby Berkeley-style musical numbers, Pennies from Heaven includes a series of tableaux vivants, surprising scenes which replicate famous works of art, such as the 1942 painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper and the 1936 photograph Houses in Atlanta by Walker Evans (which in turn features the iconic billboard for Carole Lombard’s movie Love Before Breakfast from 1936).

You won’t spot Dubuque in Pennies from Heaven, but there are a lot of other remarkable things to see in this movie while you try.

Michael May is a librarian at Carnegie-Stout Public Library.

TV Show Read Alikes

You may've seen our blog post earlier this year suggesting read alikes for three popular comedic TV shows: Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, and Warehouse 13. This week we're taking a stab at suggesting books for fans of three popular dramas.

Mad Men
The much anticipated sixth season of AMC's popular series about the social changes of the 1960s and '70s through the lens of a New York advertising agency will begin airing on April 7th.

If that's not soon enough for you, there's more than a few books to tide you over. The New York Public Library has created several reading lists and various bloggers track the books the show's characters read. We'll limit our suggestions to four titles.

If you tune in for the relationship drama, infidelity, and changing gender roles and expectations, try Richard Yates' 1961 novel about life in the suburbs, Revolutionary Road. The novel also served as the basis for a 2008 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Similarily, Penny Vincenzi's More Than You Know follows a contentious divorce and custody case in 1960s London that delves into classicism, sexism, and the drama of relationships.

If you're intrigued by Don Draper's rise through the cutthroat ranks of the advertising world, try An Object of Beauty by the witty Steve Martin. Lacey Yeager claws her way to the top of the '90s art market in New York City. Or more directly, check out Mad Men Unbuttoned by Natasha Vargas-Cooper, which provides a historical context for the show, from profiles of the characters to comparisons with actual 1960s ad men.


Revolution
This on going NBC series about life after the apocalypse taps into the current popularity for dystopian landscapes. Specifically, in this future humanity no longer has access to electricity, and American society has fractured in the attempt to survive. The series focuses on the efforts of a family who may have the keys to restore power to the world, and particularly on the older sister's quest to keep her brother safe from a dangerous militia.

Because the first season is still airing on television, no DVDs have been released that can be added to C-SPL's collection, but luckily there's no shortage of books! You've probably heard about The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, which will have a second movie out in theaters later this year. We've put together two read alike lists for this series (here and here), but Revolution fans should be sure to check out Ashes by Ilsa Bick about a teen girl struggling in a world where all electronics suddenly stop functioning. Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling also explores life in a world where electronics have all failed. There's little mystery behind civilization's collapse in Mike Mullin's Ashfall, but Dubuquers will get a special thrill reading about a teen trying to survive and find his family after the volcano under Yellowstone explodes turning North Eastern Iowa into a dangerous wasteland.

Person of Interest
This CBS crime thriller is currently in its second season. The plot follows a vigilante team as they attempt to stop crimes before they happen. The team was organized by a mysterious computer genius who designed predictive surveillance equipment for the government.

Phillip K Dick's 1956 story Minority Report explores the ramifications of a technology that allows the authorities to identify criminals before they commit a crime. This fast-paced story served a loose basis for a film adaptation starring Tom Cruise.

If you enjoy the deductive skills and detective work employed by the show's characters, you can't go wrong with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories of Sherlock Holmes. Alternatively, the crime fighting skills of Batman might be more your style. Try Scott Snyder's Batman: Court of Owls, which presents Gotham City's hero with a gritty murder mystery or the Birds of Prey series, which features a team of superheroines including Black Canary and Batgirl.


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!

Best Books of 2012 - Staff Picks, Part I

It probably comes as no surprise that people who work in libraries love to read. While we don't have time to read at work, sadly, we do manage to squeeze reading into our schedules. Our interests cover a wide range - from history to sci-fi, graphic novels to young adult. We've picked out the best books that we've read in 2012 and listed them here. Some are new, some are old, but each are memorable in their own ways. Enjoy!

Mike, Adult Services:
My favorite book this year was a 1948 Penguin paperback edition of W. Somerset Maugham's novel, Cakes and Ale. The flimsy copy I found by chance is inscribed, "Don T. Anderson, August, 1948, London." The story is a roman à clef about English writers at the turn of the century. While I didn't understand all of the allusions, Rosie, a married woman who dates a lot of men, was a very compelling character, and I especially enjoyed the chapters in which the narrator Ashenden returns to his childhood village on the Kentish coast:

It was cold and cheerless in the commercial room where I ate my dinner alone at a large table laid for six.
I was served by the slatternly Katie. I asked if I could have a fire.
"Not in June," she said. "We don't 'ave fires after April."
"I'll pay for it," I protested.
"Not in June. In October, yes, but not in June."

Lisa, Circulation:
I think I will probably have to say (my favorite is) Still Alice by Lisa Genova. Even though it is a work of fiction, the author's experience and research in the field of Alzheimer's disease gave a very believable and valuable perspective. As someone who has a person close to me living with this disease, I really found it valuable to hear an account from the diseased person's point of view. The narrative, while heart-breaking, gave much insight as to how the progression of Alzheimer's disease affects the person, and sheds light on how the person copes with the daily struggles, from minor, to debilitating in the later stages. I chose this book because of its lasting value and relevance.

Sarah, Adult Services:
Lauren Beukes' Zoo City has wormed its way into my imagination. Months after reading it, I'm still thinking about the strange, yet familiar world Ms. Beukes created. The Zoo City of the title is a slum region of Johannesburg, South Africa inhabited primarily by the animalled. The plot is a hard-boiled mystery with twists, betrayals, muti, and a flawed, reluctant detective. (Read Sarah's full review here).




Abbey, Technical Services:
Letters from Berlin : A Story of War, Survival , and the Redeeming Power of Love and Friendship, by Margarete Dos and Kerstin Lieff . When Kerstin Lieff encouraged her mother to speak about the past, she had no idea what an epic story she would uncover. This book provides a fascinating and unsettling glimpse of life in Germany during the Third Reich and World War II, as well as the uncertain times immediately following the war.






Amy, Youth Services:
The best book I read this year was Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. It’s definitely not a new book, but it was so good. It’s a time travel, action packed, historical, and steamy love story set during the 1700’s in Scotland. I’ve never read anything like it, and couldn’t wait to read the sequels. I really fell in love with the characters in this story. There are 5 books in this series and they are all about 900 pages each, so you need to read these when you have some time. They are worth it.




Andrew, Adult Services:
Nao of Brown by Glyn Dillon. Beautiful, intelligent, and moving, Dillon's graphic novel tells a quiet and honest story of modern life intercut with an intriguing fable of magic and war. Read my longer review here, but even that doesn't manage to spell out all the things that made this book my hands-down favorite of the year.






Becca, Circulation:
I just read The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan. It was very good, but I hate cliff hangers and this one ended in a literal cliff hanger. So now I am impatiently awaiting the next book in the Heroes of Olympus series.








Jackie, Circulation:
Mystic City by Theo Lawrence. If Hunger Games and Matched had a baby, it would be Mystic City!









Amy, Adult Services:

G.A. Aiken's Dragon Kin series is a paranormal romance series about - you guessed it - dragons! Dragons who can take on the form of human beings and live in an alternate reality future (or possibly past, hard to tell) where there are all kinds of wars going on and battle hardened generals with really horrible names (like Annwyl the Bloody). There is magic, a lot of bloody battles and really strong female characters. What I loved most about this series is the laugh-out-loud funny dialogue. I'm not kidding, I really did laugh out loud in all of the books. Make sure you read them in order because there are some really crazy character names and somewhat complicated family relationships that won't make much sense if the books are read out of order.

Come back next Monday when we'll have more of our favorite books of 2012! In the meantime, what was your favorite read of 2012? Tell us in the comments below, or on Facebook, G+ or Pinterest!

Books for the apocalypse

As anyone who knows me or who follows my blog postings, I'm a fan of the apocalypse. No, I'm not looking forward to it, nor do I believe in it*, but I am a fan of all the books that have been written about the subject.

There's been a wave of books that take place in some sort of future dystopia, places and worlds where, after some great cataclysm (known or unknown) humanity has remade itself. Many of these new books are written for young adults, but by no means limited to them.

I could go on, but since we're supposedly facing the end of the world this Friday, here are some highlights from some of the best apocalyptic fiction I've read this year:

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War & The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks - I'll admit, I'm not a big fan of zombies. I avoid books and movies about them, since they tend to emphasize the gore factor a bit too much for my taste. But then I heard that a movie was being made based on the book, and that fans of the book were up in arms about it. I had to read it.

World War Z (the book) is told, true to it's subtitle, as an oral history. Divided into chronological sections, the story is told through interviews with survivors of the war. The people interviewed range from military to doctors to ordinary people, and follow the spread of the plague, the governments' responses (or lack thereof) and how people managed to survive and, ultimately, beat back the zombie hoards. The first-person narration is gripping and brings you to the heart of the crisis. The raw terror, the helplessness and the desperation are tangible, as is the toll both the war and the terrible solution that won it took on what remains of humanity.

Brooks' companion nonfiction book, The Zombie Survival Guide, is referred to a few times as a "civilian survival manual" during World War Z and is written as such. Offering practical advice from where to go to what to bring with you, the guide is written in the same world as World War Z. It also offers more information about the virus that causes people to turn and a retrospective of recorded attacks dating back to 60,000 B.C. to the attacks that set off the global war. I'd recommend reading it after you've finished World War Z, as the history, advice and scenarios will hold more meaning.

Wool: Omnibus & the Shift series by Hugh Howey
The Wool series began as a one-off Kindle single by science fiction writer Howey. But, as the novella became a best seller, fans demanded more. Wool: Omnibus collects the five novellas that have been published so far. Howey has also written two short stories in a planned trilogy (the Shift series) that fill in the history of the world of Wool. Once the third book is published, Howey has promised to continue with Wool 9, and the Shift series should definitely be read after Wool: Omnibus. As a bonus, the Kindle edition of Wool 1 is now free!

Wool takes place in an underground silo where generations of people have lived after an unknown global catastrophe made the surface of the planet uninhabitable and deadly. The story of Wool 1 begins with the sheriff of the silo, Holston. Beyond that, it's difficult to describe further without giving major spoilers. One hint, though: people do leave the silo for "cleaning," however, they do not come back. And often times, they volunteer.

The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster - Written in 1909, this short story is amazingly prescient. Forster imagines a world in which people live in vast underground structures and have lost the ability to live independently. People are dependent on the Machine, which cares for their every need, and the vast majority of life is spent in isolated cells. Exile from the Machine means death and very few question the Machine's existence or actions. The story follows Vashti and her son Kuno, who wants to see the world outside of the Machine. And, as the Machine begins to malfunction, Kuno might get his wish. It's a great story, especially considering it was written 103 years ago, and it's available for as a PDF EPUB or Kindle book. (Hat-tip to Mike for recommending it!)

Good luck and happy reading!

~ Allison, Adult Services

* Although if anyone wants to buy me a spot in one of these, I won't object.

Bestsellers for the week of November 11th

It's a good time to be a rock star with a book, it seems. Over past few weeks, more and more memoirs and biographies by and about rock 'n' roll stars have appeared on the bestsellers list. This week, for instance, four artists have spots on the top 10:

Bruce: The Innocence, the Darkness, the Rising  by Peter A. Carlin, an authorized and painstakingly researched biography of the Boss. Drawing on exclusive interviews with members of the E Street Band, including Clarence Clemons’ final interview, and unrestricted conversations with Springsteen’s family, friends, manager Jon Landau, and Springsteen himself, Carlin gives his life the definitive treatment. Carlin also wrote a similarly sweeping biography of Paul McCartney - Paul McCartney: A Life - in 2009.

Rod: The Autobiography, the self-penned story of two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee's rise to fame that recounts his youth, his years with on tour with The Jeff Beck Group and The Faces and his three marriages and decades as a solo performer.

Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippie Dream by Neil Young. The early anticipated memoir recalls his childhood in Ontario, to his first gigs with the Squires as they traveled Canada in his 1948 Buick hearse, his spur-of-the-moment move to California in 1966 and the brief but influential time with Buffalo Springfield to his solo career and work with Crazy Horse and Crosby, Stills and Nash. Young also delves into his personal life, recounting the influence his wife and three children have had and finally coming to rest in the contemplative natural beauty of Hawaii.

There have been a few other biographies written about Young, including Shakey: Neil Young's Biography by Jimmy McDonough (2002), Neil Young Nation: A Quest, an Obsession, and a True Story by Kevin Chong (2005) and Neil Young: The Definitive History by Mike Evans (2012), but this is the first memoir penned by the artist himself.

Who I Am: A Memoir by Pete Townshend - The lead guitarist and founding memoir of The Who tells the story of his life in this memoir - a book that has taken him nearly a decade to write. A candid recollection of his difficult childhood in West London, the beginnings of his career with Roger Daltry and his struggles with the trappings of drugs, sex and fortune that inventively come with the lifestyle of a rock star.

Last week also saw Peter Criss' Makeup to Breakup: My Life In and Out of KISS, In the Pleasure Groove: Love, Death and Duran Duran by the band's co-founder John Taylor and How Music Works by David Byrne, which is less of an autobiography than an exploration of the evolution and meaning of music.

For a full list of this week's fiction and nonfiction bestsellers, visit us on Pinterest!

Book Title Trends

Today I was reading a pamphlet on great books for book discussion groups and I thought for about the 100th time, "Why do so many books have (insert word here) in the title?"  Recently, the title trend that always catches my eye is books with "The Art of" in the title.  Here are just a few books with that title:

The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television and by listening closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. On the night before his death, Enzo takes stock of his life, recalling all that he and his family have been through, hoping, in his next life, to return as a human.

The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
At Westish College, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for the big leagues until a routine throw goes disastrously off-course. In the aftermath of his error, the fates of five people are upended and Henry's self-doubt threatens to ruin his future. College president Guert Affenlight has fallen unexpectedly and helplessly in love. Owen Dunne becomes caught up in a dangerous affair. Mike Schwartz realizes he has guided Henry's career at the expense of his own. And Pella Affenlight returns to Westish after escaping an ill-fated marriage, determined to start a new life. As the season counts down to its climactic final game, these five are forced to confront their deepest hopes, anxieties, and secrets.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Phillips Sendker
A poignant and inspirational love story set in Burma, The Art of Hearing Heartbeats spans the decades between the 1950s and the present.  When a successful New York lawyer suddenly disappears without a trace, neither his wife nor his daughter Julia has any idea where he might be - until they find a love letter he wrote many years ago to a Burmese woman they have never heard of. Intent on solving the mystery and coming to terms with her father’s past, Julia decides to travel to the village where the woman lived. There she uncovers a tale of unimaginable hardship, resilience, and passion that will reaffirm the reader’s belief in the power of love to move mountains.

Please do not get me started on all the titles similar to/or parodies of Fifty Shades of Grey. Since the success of E.L. James trilogy there have been a slew of parodies and books with the title of "Fifty Shades of __________".  Beloved classic literature and fairy tale characters have gotten the Fifty Shades treatment (Mr. Darcy and Alice in Wonderland, I'm looking at you).  If you don't believe me, go to Amazon and type in "Fifty Shades of" and see how many results you get.  Many of these are self-published or only available as an e-book.

Are there any book title trends that you have noticed? There are a lot of sound-alike titles out there, check out the library's Sounds the Same board on our Pinterest page.  Please feel free to leave a comment.

Amy, Adult Services

The Unwritten by Mike Carey & Peter Gross

"This week a co-worker came up to me with a crazed look in her eye and said “Yesterday I was shelving some comics and started flipping through the first volume of The Unwritten. Before I knew it I’d read all five volumes the library owns. When will there be more?” It’s always great to watch someone enjoy something I liked a lot. It’s even more fun when their excitement borders on the maniacal." Andrew, from No Flying, No Tights.

As the co-worker in question, I cannot dispute Andrew's description of my excitement over The Unwritten. I'm still new to graphic novels, and, Andrew's selections for the Graphic Content book discussion are always interesting.  What drew my attention to this particular selection was the very last chapter, which imagines (or exposes, as the story would have it) the life and career of Rudyard Kipling, who, despite being a talented writer in his early days, did not come to fame without the assistance of a mysterious cabal of powerful men who seem to influence - if not determine - the course of  world events. (Mark Twain makes a special guest appearance, too.)

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The full title of the first volume of the on-going series by Mike Carey and Peter Gross is The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity. The Tommy of the title is the main character in a highly popular series of books written by the reclusive author Wilson Taylor. The Tommy Taylor series is modeled on the Harry Potter books (with Tommy as Harry) complete with wizards, wands and made-up Latin spells. The authors give a nod to Rowling's work in the first chapter, which completely won me over to the series.

There is another Tommy in the story, however, the "real" one (perhaps). Tom Taylor, son of Wilson and on whom the character was modeled (or maybe not). Tom has grown up in the spotlight and shadow of his father's fame. With his father's mysterious disappearance after the release of his last book, Tom travels the convention circuit reluctantly, having failed as a musician, actor and author. It is at one of these "TommyCons" that a young woman calling herself Lizzie Hexam publicly casts doubt on Tom's identity and whether or not he is Wilson Taylor's son.

The notion that Tom is a fraud creates an explosive amount of controversy, with a level of emotion only devoted fans can muster. Tom becomes a pariah, and on his way into hiding, is kidnapped by a crazed attacker pretending (or is he?) to be Count Ambrosio, the Lord Voldemort to our Tommy. With all of the internet watching, Tom survives and is suddenly elevated to  messianic status, something that turns out to be nearly as bad as being universally reviled.

But Tom's fortunes are about to change, again. Tom - now doubting his own past - begin looking for answers of his own. The search takes him to his childhood home of Villa Diodati in Switzerland (not coincidentally, this is also where Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein - the novels are filled with these bits of literary trivia and seeming coincidences.) Tom, joined by Lizzie, finds more questions than answers, though, along with a map, a crystal doorknob and more than a few dead bodies. It seems that Tom's activities have caught the attention of some very dangerous people who don't seem to be fans of Tommy Taylor.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this novel are the secrets that are hidden within. Hints and clues are sprinkled throughout for the sharp-eyed reader, allowing us to participate in Tom's search for the truth. Much like our hero, if we look deeper into the story, we can perhaps find out what's really going on. Some of these clues - such as Tommy Taylor's name being printed in blue - might turn out to be nothing (this isn't repeated in the later novels). However others - especially those that feature Tom's pursuer Mr. Pullman and what becomes of objects he touches with his wooden hand - provide excellent foreshadowing.

Sue Morganstern and Mr. Pullman -
The letters that appear in the clay seems to spell
"man made vessel". Hmm.

I went back and re-read the first five volumes in the series not once, but three times, each time searching for further clues, especially in light of what happens in later novels. Of course, sometimes a cigar is only a cigar. Some passing knowledge of literature helps, and I found myself referring to Wikipedia and Google Translate more than a few times during my re-reading. It was well worth it.

The sixth volume in the series, Tommy Taylor and the War of Words, is set for release in October. In the meantime, we'll be talking about The Unwritten at the next Graphic Content book discussion on Tuesday, August 14th at 7:00 p.m. Come join us and find out if, in the words of Count Ambrosio, stories are the only thing worth dying for.

~ Allison, Adult Services