Beginning May 22, PBS is hosting The Great American Read, “an eight-part series that explores and celebrates the power of reading, told through the prism of America’s 100 best-loved novels.” (Sorry nonfiction readers.) To choose the 100 novels, a public opinion poll surveyed approximately 7,200 people and the list was narrowed to the top 100 responses, filtering for just one title per author and combining series titles into one. You can find the list of 100 here. Over the course of the PBS series, there will be a nationwide vote to choose one book as America’s most loved novel.
I was surprised about many of the books on the list and wondered how in the world they made it. There are many on the list that I love and many that I just really didn’t like. I have seen, in post after post, people say they think they have to read them all. I have personally read 55 of the 100, and I will probably try to read a few more during the course of the series, but I resist the inclination to HAVE to read all of them. There are some that I just have no interest in reading. So, I have come up with a few alternatives. Continue reading “The Great American Read: Some Alternate Reads”
It’s May, the season for flowers, graduations and assessing your progress on the Read Harder Challenge. I’m sure there are a handful of overachievers who have zipped through all 24 categories on the checklist already. The rest of us, however, still have several titles to curate. Here are a few suggestions for challenge number three — a classic of genre fiction.
Science Fiction: Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” has also been published under the title “Blade Runner.” It has inspired a movie, a TV show and a series of graphic novels. The novel is an android-filled contemplation on the nature of consciousness. Sort of. Any androids reading this? If you were an android, would you know?
“The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin is a book about walls: physical, psychological and social. The story begins with a physicist crossing a wall that contains the only “no trespassing” sign on his entire planet. Le Guin’s science fiction has space ships and cool technology, but it’s less about the wow factor of the technology than about its effect on societies and individuals. Continue reading “Classics of Genre Fiction: Read Harder 2018”
It’s neat when a novel reminds you of the practically limitless possibilities of fiction. It’s also neat when it reminds you of the practically limitless possibilities of reality. If you’d like to be reminded that one can not only write a fictional account of a race of super-intelligent monster dogs, but that, given the time, brilliance, resources (robot arms, 19th century Prussian fashion, etc.) and willingness to ignore a slew of ethical concerns, one might even create a race of super-intelligent monster dogs, read “Lives of the Monster Dogs” by Kirsten Bakis.
As a gentleman who is nearly as enthusiastic about dogs as I am about cravats and monocles, Bakis’ debut novel seems engineered to appeal to me. But while there are plenty of dogs dressed in the fashion of 19th century Prussian aristocrats, there is also a fair bit of animal murder, human murder and gruesome experimentation. One cannot build a race of dog soldiers without first trying and failing to attach wings to a squirrel or swapping the rear and front legs of an unfortunate cow. So, a century before the monster dogs make their home in Manhattan, Augustus Rank experiments wildly on all sorts of critters. Fortunately for the reader, rather than follow this path to its natural culmination of serial killing, Rank begins to achieve success and earns a patron. His patron funds him, and eventually, as an adult, Rank sets up an outpost in the Canadian wilderness where he can nurture a cult, mandate that the cult maintains 19th century Prussian customs, and continue to follow his dream of creating a race of dog super soldiers complete with robot arms and robot voice boxes. Though he dies before achieving his goal (but not before promising he would return from the dead when the time was right), his followers eventually complete his goal for him. Continue reading “The Gentleman Recommends: Kirsten Bakis”
This summer, the Daniel Boone Regional Library wants to applaud the awesomeness of libraries all over the world with the Summer Reading theme “Libraries Rock!” To celebrate this theme, I’ve compiled a list of books that are sure to strike the right note if you love music as much as I do. Our Summer Reading program is free, and we have versions for all ages. Sign-up begins May 30.
For Ages 0-5
Do you love the song, “The Wheels on the Bus”? Then you should try reading “The Wheels on the Tuk Tuk” by Kabir Sehgal. Drive around with the tuk tuk wala (driver) to see the fine sights India has to offer. As you sing along to the familiar tune, you will absorb tidbits of Indian culture, tradition and vocabulary.
What do you get when a cute little kitten paws at a piano? Musical history! In Lesléa Newman’s book “Ketzel, the Cat Who Composed,” composer Moshe Cotel tries his hand at a music contest but is feeling uninspired. When he’s about to give up, a stray kitten ambles across his piano, producing a compelling melody. Moshe quickly jots the notes down, and together he and his new companion compose an award-winning piece that captures the hearts of all who listen. Continue reading “Literary Links: Summer Reading 2018”
Here is a quick look at the most noteworthy nonfiction titles being released in May. Visit our catalog for a more extensive list.
TOP PICKS
David Sedaris, the master of the humorous essay, returns this months with “Calypso.” Including darkly funny musings on aging, his inability to enjoy his newly purchased beach house and the antics of his quirky family, this new collection should please his many fans as well as anyone looking for a nonfiction beach read. Continue reading “Nonfiction Roundup: May 2018”
There are a lot of wonderful debuts coming to DBRL in April, especially if you are a fan of historical fiction! Please visit our catalog for a longer list of authors making their debuts this month.
After the Indian Wars, the “savage-taming” Stover School was created to assimilate the children of nearby reservations by robbing them of their language, customs, and even their names. Asku — renamed Harry Muskrat — was once the most promising student at the boarding school, but is now accused of murdering a federal agent.
Alma Mitchell, a childhood friend of Asku’s, convinces her lawyer husband to defend him, believing that he could never commit murder, no matter how cold and bitter he has become as an outsider in two worlds — the white world and his own. But to help Asku, Alma must revisit the painful secrets of her childhood.
Societal upheaval caused by environmental changes is not a new subject for speculative fiction, but as concerns over climate change increase there is a parallel increase in dystopian novels about it. The label “Cli-Fi” has been adopted for these explorations of the consequences of climate change. This subgenre imagines how the predicted and unpredictable effects of climate change will alter our maps, our systems of governance, social customs and methods of survival. These stories are dystopian in a literal sense — they are the flip side of utopian dreams. It turns out that the industrial revolution and the subsequent technological advances that have made amazing improvements in our lives come at a cost — oops! What follows is a sampling of some of the best writing in this fast-growing genre.
In “The History of Bees” Maja Lunde approaches the pace and scale of climatic changes by taking the reader through the past, present and future of three generations of beekeepers. In the future people must hand-paint pollen onto fruit trees because there are no more bees to pollinate them. Sadly, that detail isn’t science fiction. It is already starting to happen, and Walmart just filed a patent for robotic bees. Continue reading “Know Your Dystopias: Cli-Fi”
Practicing meditation probably won’t make you have superpowers, but it can help with anxiety, depression or just feeling constantly rushed. If you’ve considered meditating but need to be convinced about the benefits, pick up Richard Wright’s recent book “Why Buddhism Is True: The Science and Philosophy of Meditation and Enlightenment.” Wright writes with the depth and clarity one would expect from a Princeton professor and Pulitzer finalist, but also is a practitioner of meditation and brings levity to this examination.
As a gentleman more concerned with sufficiently starched top hats, photographs of cats, and the total dearth of responsibility for young humans and the constant bowel movements that accompany them than I am with propagating my lineage, one might presume the full impact of Samanta Schweblin’s “Fever Dream” (translated from Spanish to English by Megan McDowell) would be lost on me. This would be an erroneous presumption, as I, like all true gentlefolk, am not only capable of empathy, but indeed often overwhelmed by it. So, when the ceaseless dread generated by Schweblin’s powerful and brief jolt of a novel occasionally crescendos and a child is in peril (or a mother imagines her child to be in peril), my heart pounds and my worry kerchief is vigorously applied to my creased and dread-sweat blighted brow. I paused in the consumption of this terrifying story only to swap one sopping worry kerchief for the next temporarily dry portion of silk.
Hey, everyone! We’re back once again for another installment of Quintessential Comics. In honor of the overwhelming success of Marvel’s Black Panther film, we are going to take a look at five of T’Challa’s best appearances in his own graphic novel. Let’s get right into it, as we don’t want to keep the King of Wakanda waiting.
Starting us off is a story by Ta-Nehisi Coates in which T’Challa must deal with a terrorist organization called “The People.” As Wakanda finds itself under attack, Black Panther must discover who is truly behind the suicide bombings that are throwing his home into chaos. Struggling to maintain order and unity, T’Challa’s mettle is truly tested in this installment. How can a King be respected if he can’t protect his people? Be sure to check this one out for your fill of familiar foes, difficult choices, and epic altercations. Continue reading “Quintessential Comics: Top Five Black Panther Graphic Novels”
