This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 37

For the Children Within Us All:
Mortgages.  Car repairs.  Root canals.  Taxes.  Wrinkles.  New aches and pains.  Retirement planning. Sweaters when it hits 68 degrees.  Is that a gray hair?  Where’d I put my stupid keys?  Wait, where’d I park the car?  All of this either has or will happen to you.  Why?  Because you’re an adult and you’re getting older by the second!  You are being stalked by old man time himself.  Rip Van Winkle was make-believe,  Peter Pan was a fairy tale, the fountain of youth is bull-hockey, time stops for no one and that just plain sucks. But, wait…what’s this?  Is it magic?  Why, yes, yes it is.

Do you want to feel the vigor of youth again shoot through your brain without thought of needing a nap?  Do you want to giggle like a gap-toothed school girl?  Do you want to have the aged curmudgeons in your life look at you like you’ve lost your mind?  Well, then, Pixar Short Films Collection, Volumes 1 and 2 (both available at Acorn), are here to save you from becoming your parents!  In fact, if you can watch these without a single moment of childlike glee coursing through your oh-so-grown-up self, then it’s just too late for you.  Don’t let it be too late!  Go now.  Save yourself.  Just don’t trip on your way…you might break a hip.

Danielle - Tech Services

The Silver Star by Jeannette Walls:
I finally got around to reading Walls’ first novel this past weekend. I read it within a day and I couldn’t help but embrace Walls’ rejection of strong female characters. Characterization of the fairer sex can be a bit daunting in books and movies (see this great article by the New Statesman) and we get used to the old stereotypes. The characters of Bean, Liz, and their Mom, Charlotte, all start out being typical “strong females”. But by the end, these women have defied that role and have been vulnerable, scared, incensed, forgotten, and annoyed. The relationship between Charlotte and her daughters is a strained one (to say the least) - yet the power struggle between them is so level that it is hard to tell who’s the mother and who are the daughters. But the fact remains: these women are real. They make mistakes, they sometimes don’t know what to do, and end up living out the consequences of their choices. You’ll end up rooting for them, even when they are completely in the wrong. The Silver Star is available on our Hot Copy display or holds can be placed through SWAN.

-Judy, Reference

Gabriele D'Annunzio: Poet, Seducer, Preacher of War by Lucy Hughes-Hallett:
Gabriele D'Annunzio was, as the subtitle suggests, a multi-dimensional figure. Hughes-Hallett can easily have added "psychopath", "monster", or "fascist" to her title. That fact that she does not do so is impressive and it benefits her storytelling. D'Annunzio, for those who are unfamiliar, was an Italian poet, playwright, and novelist who almost single-handedly led the Italians to war on the side of the Allies. The proto-fascist did it for glory, not for any noble reason. As a fervent nationalist, he was a precursor to Mussolini and actually made himself dictator (Duce) of Fiume (in Yugoslavia) for 15 months.

Hughes-Hallet chose to write on a series of non-chronological themes and events that shaped D'Annunzio. It is a puzzling look into the creation of a monster in a society that was rapidly going mad itself. If you’re interested in 20th century European politics, art, or the Great War you need to read this book. It can be found on our New Books shelf and is available through SWAN.

-Mike, Reference

Days of Heaven
This 1978 movie is a singular tale of struggle and love, American style. Richard Gere plays Bill, a volatile steelworker who flees 1916 Chicago for the Texas Panhandle after a violent encounter with his boss. He brings his sister, Linda, (the excellent Linda Manz), as well as Abby (Brooke Adams), his girlfriend who poses as his other sister for the sake of propriety.

They begin working for a young farmer (Sam Shepard), a man in possession of a great fortune and a gloriously madcap Queen Anne mansion. He's also in want of a wife, and quickly falls in love with Abby. Tension, deception, and tragedy mythically unfold.

Though it was panned upon its release, it is now regarded as a masterpiece, as well as one of the most beautiful films ever made. Indeed, director Terrence Malick and his cinematographers turn everything they observe--trains, blast furnaces, horses, storms, artificial light, oceanic wheatfields, human frailty--into resolute poetry. Acorn owns Days of Heaven, and it can be requested from SWAN.

-Megan, Reference

This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 36

Solitude, Peace, Beauty and Truth
Everyone, at one time or another, has wished for the world to disappear, if only for a moment. We’ve wished for space to breathe, for a clarity only available when the harsh glare of the everyday disappears, for a silence so clarion in its call that time slows as we try to discern the meaning in an absence. The experience of these moments is fleeting in our modern world of cacophonous resonances that echo everywhere, endlessly.

But, perhaps, it isn’t as endless as it seems. The unironically entitled documentary, Happy People (available at Acorn), is about a group of people happily living the most basic of existences in the Siberian Taiga. The main focus is on a trapper and the life he ekes out for himself and his family in one of the harshest biomes in the world. The unforgiving nature, and the unrelenting beauty, of the area act as touchstones by which to measure the true nature of human existence, peace and true happiness.

For me, however, the ultimate definition of true solitude, peace, happiness and beauty comes by the way of a man named Dick Proenneke. He left the world behind and never looked back. He spent decades living alone in the Alaskan wilderness and he captured it all in a series of diaries and on film. Alone in the Wilderness and its sequel, Alaska, Silence and Solitude, capture the heart of humanity laid bare. What truths the human heart and mind and body hold are all here: the meaning of living versus existing; the power of true beauty to blur the human eye and touch the human heart in unimaginable ways; the triumph of the spirit when survival is at stake; and the ingenuity and resourcefulness inherent to the unbroken, billion-year line of human heritage that connects us all.

So, join me in a celebration of spirit, solitude, beauty and peace, if you will…oh, wait, you already have.

Danielle, Tech Services

A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen
An international bestseller recently released in the US, A Street Cat Named Bob tells the real-life account of a recovering heroin addict barely scraping by as a street musician in London, when he comes across a wounded stray cat in his apartment building. Bowen (who charmingly resembles a cleaned-up Kurt Cobain with a thoughtful-looking cat perched on his shoulder on the book's cover) can hardly take care of himself and initially resists the added responsibility and expense of caring for a pet, but quickly the two form a unique and remarkable bond. Their relationship inspires Bowen to continue putting his life back together after several years of addiction, poverty and feelings of inadequacy and invisibility. Though Bowen's circumstances are not entirely relatable for everyone, his feelings and emotions are, as is his bond with Bob. You can follow Bob on Facebook and Twitter, and pick up this great read at Acorn!

-Jen, Youth Services

A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links between Leadership and Mental Illness by S. Nassir Ghaemi
Ghaemi makes some pretty interesting claims in this 2011 nonfiction title. He thinks world leaders with mental illness or those that have a history of mental illness lead better under duress that those who are considered normal. While those who have mental illness are more unpredictable in their behavior, their point of view is more realistic and complex, allowing for them to solve problems more successfully.

While I’ve only listened to part of it so far, Ghaemi writes about the mental history of famous figures in a very intriguing way. He makes examples of Churchill and Chamberlain, Robert E. Lee and General Sherman, and even George W. Bush. (Apparently George W. was unsuccessful as president because he was too sane. Go figure.)

It’s an enlightening point of view to hear especially because it talks about the positive aspects of mental illness, something that we definitely do not hear about nowadays. It’s available as an eBook & eAudiobook through Media On Demand and through SWAN.

-Judy, Reference

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann
I’ve only read a third of the book, but it’s been an interesting read. The first lesson to take is that much, if not most, of what you learned about pre-Columbian America is not considered inaccurate. Important discoveries have been made in pre-Clovis sites in South America, the hemispheric population was potentially more than that of Europe, and disease may have killed nearly half of the population before the first successful settlements were established. Mann is a journalist, not a historian and the book is written for a wide audience. If you’re interested in pre-Columbian history, it is a great place to start. Bonus: The nonfiction book club will meet to discuss it on September 5th at Olivers Bar and Grill. We have copies available at the Reference Desk. It is also available as an ebook.

-Mike, Reference

This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 35

The Room
I have to recommend this movie solely on the basis of it being the worst movie ever made (at least, as far as I know of). It’s like a train wreck: horrible to watch but you just can’t look away. There is some horrible acting, plot twists that don’t make sense, inconsistencies galore, and just really REALLY bad acting (I can’t emphasize this fact enough). Tommy Wiseau - who is the writer, director, and lead actor for the film outdoes anything you’ve ever seen. If you’re a glutton for punishment, The Room is what you need to watch this weekend. It’s available through SWAN.

-Judy, Reference

Laughter
I’m using my favorite thing of the week as a shameless plug for next Thursday’s “Laughter Jest for the Health of It” program, which you can (and should) register for at the Circulation Desk. Kathy O’Brien is a RN and Certified Laugh Leader who will demonstrate the positive effects of laughter. We had Kathy come to the Library last year and I still think about what she said on an almost daily basis.

I may not be the most neutral advocate for the program; anyone who knows me can tell you that I laugh a lot - at just about anything, whether it’s appropriate or not. All I can do is tell you to consider coming because you will leave smiling and, possibly, sore from laughing so much. If you can’t make it, just remember Kathy’s advice to make smiling or laughing a part of your morning ritual.

-Mike, Reference

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell
I've been listening to Cheap on audiobook. It delves into various aspects of America’s obsession with discount culture—including its often irrational psychology, sociological and environmental implications, and controversial inception in the 1920s. Shell is a fiery and provocative guide who forces you to consider all sides of a complex issue that has both local and international implications. It’s available from SWAN and as an eAudiobook from Media On Demand. And, really, what goes better with that ice-cold lemonade and those breezy summertime tunes than a sobering diatribe?

-Megan, Reference