Canadian writer Helen Humphreys doesn't just love dogs; she loves a particular breed, rather rare, called a vizsla. They were originally bred in Hungary for hunting. In this autobiography, Humphreys gives the reader her life story, as well as stories about her dogs. Interspersed among her life stories are excerpts from her journal describing how training Fig is going. (Cue the puppy teeth!) As a bonus, Humphreys interweaves stories about other writers and their dogs: Sylvia Plath, Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, E.B. White, James Thurber, and more. These are accompanied by black-and-white photos. The second bonus is her use of training a puppy (she got Fig after the death of another beloved vizsla) as a metaphor for writing. Chapter titles include Character, Structure, Setting, and Pacing. Regardless of readers' interest in dogs, there is something here for cat lovers as well!
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You are likely familiar with Tim Rice's lyric collaborations with musicians such as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Elton John. However, he also collaborated with his wife to produce Eva Rice, a writer of fiction. I found her novel The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets to be a delight. From its opening pages it is clearly written by someone in England. I wish I could describe the sense of those words; even without the British spellings, it's clearly not from any other nation. Set in 1955, when wartime rationing had not yet fully ended, it tells the story of an innocent eighteen-year-old, still trying to write papers on Shakespeare, who is swept up by a more well-to-do and eccentric family of a mother with two young adults. Her own family includes a mother who was widowed by World War II and never recovered from her loss, as well as a younger brother who plays guitar and wants to be the next Elvis Presley. The interactions of these characters form the plot. Veteran journalist Gay Talese, borrowing his title from the Herman Melville short story about a man who “would prefer not to,” tells three long-form true stories. Part I is “A Story of Wall Street,” which describes the people in his early newspaper life, while Part II deals with his frustrated efforts to interview Frank Sinatra and write a profile for Esquire. The third part, “Dr. Bartha’s Brownstone,” focuses on a building in New York City’s East 62nd Street. Readers learn of the unhappy Dr. Bartha and his decision to destroy his home rather than sell it to accommodate a divorce settlement. Talese is an effective writer and guide to the people around famous people and to the New York of long ago. This delightful collection of 31 essays (some previously published elsewhere) edited by Natalie Eve Garrett is grouped into four sections: Growing Pains, Loss, Healing, and Homecoming. Most of the writers were new to me; I don’t read a lot of contemporary material., but found these to be well worth reading. A bonus: every essay includes a recipe, which can range from basic to complicated. The book is attractive, with illustrations that are colorful and remind me of Matisse's cutouts. The subtitle of this book tells it all: "a searing memoir of the battle to integrate Little Rock's Central High."
This isn't my usual reading fare, but my book club assignment was to read a book set in the 1950s. Nothing much in fiction appealed, but a friendly librarian said she had a book in the YA (young adult) section, and went to get it for me. As I read, I was continually horrified by what awful people we can be, even as teenagers, taught to hate difference. But I was also deeply moved by Beals' courage and the faith her family demonstrated. The title of the book comes from something her grandmother told her. Eventually the 1954 Brown vs. Board of Education ruling was obeyed. But today I read that hate crimes in schools have increased, and Blacks are the most frequent target. Kate Saunders has crafted a lovely amateur sleuth in Laetitia Dodd, a widow whose brother is a lawyer famous for not losing a case. He’s interested in facts; Mrs. Dodd is intuitive and relies on “feelings” she gets. Set in mid-nineteenth century London, the book is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield, a work Saunders much admires. (True confession: If I’ve read it, I’ve forgotten it.) Multiple murders, multiple infidelities, multiple names—tracking it all with Laetitia and her landlady is a delightful read. How could I resist a title like that? This volume by Michiko Aoyama and translated by Alison Watts, is set in Aoyama’s native Japan. It’s a series of five charming interlinked stories in which the characters find just what they didn’t know they needed with the help of an enigmatic reference librarian at a local community center. When not busy, she makes felted wool figurines that she gives to the patrons along with a book list to aid their quest. Each book list also includes one unexpected title that seems irrelevant. Having very little knowledge of Japanese literature, I’d wondered if the books were real. Yes--there’s a book list in the back of every title she and the other characters discuss. My only regret is that her other works are not available through local or Ohio libraries. Perhaps more will be translated soon! If you’re looking for a new mystery series, do consider those by M. E. Hilliard, featuring Greer Hogan. Although in her late thirties, she calls herself “girl detective,” likening herself to Trixie Belden (preferable to Nancy Drew, because Trixie got into more trouble) and applying lessons from her favorite detectives—everyone from Hercule Poirot to Harriet Vane. She is by profession, I hardly need to say, a librarian, working in a small town’s public library. The first book in the series, which I gobbled in two days, in entitled The Unkindness of Ravens. (The village is called Ravens Hill, and the library is in an old mansion donated for a library, full of old house noises—and the occasional dead body. There are to date four books in the series, and I’m planning to read them all. If you wanted to write an homage to Nora Ephron's beloved film When Harry Met Sally, where would you begin? Emily Henry sticks to a college meeting between two people with different perspectives, lives, and goals, from the same town in Ohio. (Henry lives in Cincinnati.) Despite their differences, they begin to take vacations together, slowly and reluctantly falling love. As Poppy gets her dream job working for a travel magazine, these vacations become more elaborate in upscale destinations. A graduate student and then a teacher, Alex gets a free ride, which he "pays for" in emotional, platonic investment. The novel details ten years of trips, interspersed with Poppy's present-day trip, designed to undo the damage to their friendship two years previously. I'm not a fan of jumbly timelines in a novel (or life!), but the effort to read in the order Henry wanted me to paid off. Henry has several novels, all good for romantic escapism. Like Nora. The subtitle of Heather Lende's book summarizes it very well--Family, Friendships, and Faith in Small-town Alaska. Lende, who is also a commentator for NPR, writes for a local newspaper, sharing in fifteen chapters the stories of her friends and neighbors. They are poignant, sometimes sad, sometimes laugh out loud funny.
Lende shares her own experience of being hit by a truck while riding her bicycle, which provides a framework for the book. The incident and her treatment and healing are referred to frequently. Readers will also learn of the Tlingit people of Alaska and of the land and wildlife. An Episcopalian, Lende also subtly shares her faith, sometimes expressed by singing while snowshoeing. I intend to find more of her books and read them all! |
What I’m ReadingI began working in libraries as a seventh grader, courtesy of scoliosis. My orthopedic surgeon wrote me a pass to miss gym class, so I began working in the school library to feed my love of reading. Even after my surgery to correct the curvature, I kept getting out of gym to work in my high school library and then in my college library (for pay, at last!).
So began my eventual career as a college reference librarian—after a detour into teaching high school English. Later I worked for an educational publisher before going back to libraries.
I have a reading and writing life now. I devour both fiction and nonfiction, and will tell you about some of my favorite reads, both old friends and new discoveries.
Here's some library-themed music to get you in the mood.
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