Posted on Wednesday, January 2, 2019 by Reading Addict
It has been another stellar year of reading. I love looking back at what I have read and analyzing the various books and the tangents that I went on for the year.
I overshot my goal of 100 by just a little — I managed to read 170. I was all prepared to be really impressed with myself but when I took a closer look it just means that I read shorter books than last year. For example, the shortest book I read was a book that my daughter brought back to me from her visit to Atlantis Books in Greece called “Unpacking My Library” by Walter Benjamin. It was a slight 23 pages long. And the longest book I read was “Mencken: The American Iconoclast” by Marion Elizabeth Rogers at 662 pages, which is still about 300-400 pages shorter than my longest books for previous years.
Our library took part in Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge for 2018 and so, of course, I couldn’t resist. I even took the challenge a step farther in reading only books by women in the hopes that I might get a little closer reading at least half of my total books for the year by women. How did I do with that goal? I read 110 books by women!!! That is my first time ever breaking (or really even getting near to) this goal of reading 50% by women authors. And how has that affected me overall? I have to admit that I have much less patience for old white men now. I hope to keep this trend of reading more women up in the coming year and I’m already planning out my Read Harder Challenge for 2019.
I have made a list of my FAVORITE books read for the year if you would like to take a peek. I don’t know where next year’s reading will take me but I know it will take me through a lot of excellent books, and I’m excited to go there! You can join me at the library for the 2019 Read Harder Challenge and we can journey together.
Here we are again. December. The start of the holiday season and the end of another year. It feels like 2018 just rushed by and now it’s definitely beginning to feel a lot like winter. So while you’re huddling under the covers to keep warm, here are some books to keep you company. They are best enjoyed with a dog (or cat) on your lap and a hot beverage of your choice. And, as always, visit our catalog for a longer list of titles (though ’tis the season for publishing to slow down, so the list is only ten books long).
A time-travelling murder mystery in which middle-aged librarian Shona McMonagle is recruited by the founder of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls to travel back in time to czarist Russia. As a former head girl at the school, Shona’s education has prepared her for such a mission, with skills ranging from martial arts to country dancing and quantum physics. Her mission: to “prevent a gross miscarriage of romance, and — in any spare time — see to it that only the right people get murdered,” (from the publisher).
When several members of the Fire-Sky tribe go missing from their reservation in New Mexico and a young woman linked to them commits suicide, reservation police sergeant Nicky Matthews is assigned the case. Nicky is familiar with the traditions and history of the reservation, which aid her in the investigation, even as she deals with departmental politics and personal difficulties. And when her instincts and mystical visions convince her the suicide was actually murder, she runs up against opposition within the force and begins to suspect that her new partner may not be entirely trustworthy.
Posted on Wednesday, December 26, 2018 by Decimal Diver
The Loud family from the documentary “An American Family” (left) and actors portraying the Loud family in “Cinema Verite” (right).
Some documentaries are so compelling that you don’t want them to end. Fictional films can expand upon a documentary in unique and surprising ways, including scenes and people that didn’t make it into the original. Check out these docs that have inspired feature films:
First debuting in 1973 over twelve episodes, viewers were introduced to the William C. Loud family and the dramatic life events that unfolded during seven months of documentary shooting. This DVD edition is a two hour compilation of the series’ best moments. The documentary series inspired the fictional film “Cinema Verite” released in 2011. Continue reading “Imitation Game: Docs That Inspired Feature Films”
“Fitter, happier, more productive
Comfortable
Not drinking too much
Regular exercise at the gym
Three days a week
Getting on better with your associate employee contemporaries”
If you want to get a glimpse of a real life dystopia not far from your home, I suggest you visit a gym in the first couple months of the year. Gym memberships notoriously spike around the new year, and it isn’t pretty. It’s like “Mad Max,” except instead of everyone battling it out for water, they’re fighting over the last available treadmill. The year’s end is often a marker that prompts people to look back at the year with regret and that regret motivates them to get a gym membership or do other crazy things. Continue reading “Know Your Dystopias: Fitter, Happier, More Productive”
I have a chronic sweet tooth, so my favorite part of the holidays is baking and exchanging cookies, cakes, pies and other treats. Having some dietary restrictions, however, I sometimes get left out. Allergies, intolerances, ethics, religion — there are many reasons someone could have dietary restrictions. While most people want to accommodate everyone at the table, learning to bake in an entirely different way can be daunting. Luckily, these specialized cookbooks have you covered! They not only offer recipes for holiday sweets, but also walk you through how to substitute certain common ingredients. Using those tips, you could even tweak your own family recipes to make them suitable for everyone on your holiday gift list.Continue reading “Inclusive Holiday Baking”
The inside flap of “Rough Animals” by Rae DelBianco proclaims “From a dazzling new voice in fiction, a propulsive rural thriller for fans of “Breaking Bad” and “No Country for Old Men.” Perhaps it seems unlikely, given the abhorrent behavior demonstrated by the bulk of the players in the aforementioned tales and my own highly polished manners and reasonably polished monocles, but I enthusiastically recommend both stories. There are few advertisements one could slap on a book flap that would make me more likely to peruse the contents. After a perusal, I read the novel.
First, I agree that fans of the aforementioned works are more likely to enjoy “Rough Animals.” Second, if, like me, you sometimes roll your eyes at Cormac McCarthy’s prose, you’re going to want to ensure you’re eyes are sufficiently lubricated before commencing this novel. Third, if, also like me, you eventually fall into a rhythm with McCarthy’s style, then I venture you’ll find plenty to enjoy in DelBianco’s debut novel. Continue reading “The Gentleman Recommends: Rae DelBianco”
I enjoy making gifts. I’ve made big things such as quilts and small things like ornaments. I’ve made things out of fabric and things that are edible. I’ve put together photo albums and scrapbooks. When I make a gift, I can personalize it and design it to reflect the interests of the recipient. This year I made book bags for my grandchildren and felt ornaments for several family members. I have plans to make cookie dough bon-bons for my daughter-in-law who loves chocolate chip cookie dough. It’s not too late for you to make something to give this season. Check out some of these books from the library for inspiration:
Posted on Wednesday, December 12, 2018 by Decimal Diver
Here is a new DVD list highlighting various titles recently added to the library’s collection.
“Long Strange Trip” Website / Reviews
Playing at the True False Film Fest in 2017, this film examines the long career of the Grateful Dead featuring new interviews with the surviving members of the group and never-before-seen footage of the group’s performances. This is the first full-length documentary to explore the fiercely independent vision and perpetual innovation that made the Bay Area band one of the most influential musical groups of their generation. Continue reading “New DVD List: Long Strange Trip, Blackkklansman & More”
Oftentimes, words alone can only communicate so much. Prose authors will explore the limits of their medium by weaving together literary techniques like metaphor and personification for deliciously descriptive passages. Take for example this description of monsoon season from Arundhati Roy’s “The God of Small Things:”
“Heaven opened and the water hammered down, reviving the reluctant old well, greenmossing the pigless pigsty, carpet bombing still, tea-colored puddles the way memory bombs still, tea-colored minds. The grass looked wetgreen and pleased.”
We are living in an age of inequality and injustice, made worse by an increasingly divisive political atmosphere. Politics aside, some injustices are so ingrained in our society that we are desensitized to them. If they don’t directly affect our lives, we may forget they exist. But, as a society, we should not allow ourselves to forget that injustice is a part of our world and that we cannot sit idly by and allow it to continue.
“[T]he character of our society … cannot be measured by how we treat the rich, the powerful, the privileged, and the respected among us. The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned. We are all implicated when we allow other people to be mistreated. An absence of compassion can corrupt the decency of a community, a state, a nation.” — Bryan Stevenson, “Just Mercy”
Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer dedicated to representing those on death row and the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative. He may be the best known advocate for compassion and reform within the American justice system. His book, “Just Mercy,” is a powerful examination of the injustice prevalent in our justice system. Stevenson humanizes prisoners, even those who have spent years on death row. He focuses on the case of Walter McMillan, a young black man on death row for a murder he did not commit. Stevenson relays, in heartbreaking detail, the obstacles and challenges in getting an innocent man off death row, a process that takes years. He reveals the biases that influence decisions and the convoluted workings of the courts which keep innocent people trapped in the system. Continue reading “Literary Links: An Age of Injustice”
