This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 48

The De-Textbook: The Stuff You Didn’t Know About the Stuff You Thought You Knew by Cracked.com
Here are a few things I learned from The De-Textbook:

• Velociraptor looked more like “knee-high, flamboyant little monkey birds” than the terrifying man-sized predators depicted in Jurassic Park.

• Thomas Edison was kind of like the Shia LaBeouf of his day in that he shamelessly pawned off other people’s inventions as his own.

• Science is not totally sure how many planets are in our solar system as new objects are continually being discovered within our asteroid belt.

• Abraham Lincoln was like a giant with superhuman strength who not only carried massive “stone-filled crates, weighing between 1,000 and 1,200 pounds,” when he was a mere stripling but also, at his first campaign speech, literally lifted a disorderly audience member off the ground and threw him.

• And while we are on the topic of U.S. presidents, John Quincy Adams believed the earth was hollow and wanted to use taxpayer dollars to dig into the North Pole, hoping to find a subterranean colony of mole people.

According to popular humor website Cracked.com, much of what you know is just flat-out wrong. Do you remember your favorite teacher from grade school? You know, the kindly one who always smiled and handed out gold stars and watermelon-flavored Jolly Ranchers whenever you answered a question correctly? Yeah, well, she was a stone-cold liar. Don’t worry though, Cracked.com’s The De-Textbook will you straight and undo all the misinformation that the educational system fed you throughout the years. Now a word of warning: If you are not familiar with Cracked.com, there is a strong possibility that its irreverent and vulgar brand of satirical humor will offend you. If you dislike that kind of humor, are easily offended, and object to profanity, I highly suggest you to stay far, far away.

Now, having said all that, I would be remiss in my duty as a librarian if I did not tell you that The De-Textbook is not an authoritative resource for factual information. In fact, I would highly advise you to be a little skeptical of anything you read in The De-Textbook. That’s not to say that many (if not all) of its factual claims are true, but I would highly advise fact checking anything you learn from it before citing it in a scholarly research paper. After all, the book’s purpose is to entertain and make you laugh; learning anything in the process is just an added benefit.

-Zach, Reference


The World’s Strongest Librarian: A Memoir of Tourette’s, Faith, Strength, and the Power of Family by Josh Hanagarne
I’m sure none of you will be surprised to hear that this is a book about a librarian who enjoys strength conditioning, but that is a description that only scratches the surface of this work. Josh Hanagarne is a man who suffers from Tourette’s, and he hasn’t always enjoyed employment at a public library. Before settling into that position, he spent many years bouncing from job to job because of the daily stresses of his disorder. He recounts some of these stresses--both during his childhood and his adult years--and we learn his life story in the process. He talks of his Mormon faith, his dedication to training with weights and kettlebells, and his bond with his parents and siblings as well as his wife and child and how all of these people and things have both helped and agitated his Tourette's. And, of course, he talks about his job as a librarian. He describes unique events that occur while he is working and incorporates a lot of humor that we as members of a library staff can understand. However, perhaps my favorite part of this book is how Josh continually uses references to both popular and not so popular literature to make his story relatable. It is in these moments that I find myself wanting to rush to the library to see if the books he mentions are on the shelf. His story is sad, happy, entertaining, intelligent, witty, and sarcastic all at the same time. A great read and it is available at Acorn and through SWAN.

-Donna D., Reference


Bloom: Finding Beauty in the Unexpected by Kelle Hampton (available through SWAN)
This is one of those books that makes you feel like you are sitting right next to the author listening to her story.  I laughed; I cried.  She describes the journey of pain and growth when she gave birth to a daughter who has Down Syndrome.  I recommend this book so you can get a glimpse of the emotional roller coaster for any parent who has to come to terms with a child's disability.  The hopes and dreams change, but the love does not.  As a special part of the book, the pictures of the author's two daughters are so precious and beautiful.  May all of us cherish our relationships!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Janice, Youth Services

This Week's Staff Favorites: Volume 47

The Pianist by Wladyslaw Szpilman
This is the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman, a Polish-Jewish pianist who, through luck and divine intervention, survived the German occupation of Poland. The book begins by describing a very memorable scene: Wladyslaw playing Chopin’s Nocturne in C#Minor live on the radio. His piece is interrupted halfway through by German shelling. And so begins his journey of survival. Slowly he and his family are forced into Jewish ghettos and eventually are made to board a train to Treblinka, a Jewish concentration camp. However, just before Szpilman gets on the train, he is recognized by one of the officers, separated from his family, and pulled out of line--an act that saved his life. He would find later that his parents and siblings did not survive their time in the camp. Wladyslaw seeks help from various friends who all give him temporary shelter, but soon he has nowhere else to go. He finds himself living in abandoned buildings and eating whatever food he can find. One day he discovers a piano and cannot resist playing Chopin. A German military officer discovers him but instead of turning him in, he brings him food and clothing--another act that would save his life. When Szpilman is finally able to come out of hiding after the war, he discovers that the German military officer who helped him has been captured and is in a prisoner of war camp. However, Wladyslaw had never asked his name and was not able to find him until it was too late. The book ends with Szpilman resuming his live radio rendition of Chopin’s Nocturne in C#Minor. This story is incredibly sad, but one worth reading. And it’s available in SWAN.

-Donna D., Reference


The Soldier’s Wife by Margaret Leroy
When Vivienne de la Mare’s husband is sent away to fight in the English army during World War II, she has no idea just how much her life will change. Vivienne struggles to take care of her two daughters and mother-in-law as the island of Guernsey, part of the Channel Islands, becomes occupied by German soldiers. When a couple of the soldiers move in to the house next door to hers, she finds herself falling for one of them, a German named Gunther. It becomes obvious that Vivienne has not been happy in her marriage for a long time, and Gunther seems to make her feel things that she hasn’t in a while. However, trying to keep her relationship with him a secret on a small island is something Vivienne finds difficult to do. In the end, she must decide whether this man is worth all of the risks and shame that come along with an affair with the enemy.

Although I don’t often read historical fiction, this one was very hard for me to put down. I felt many different emotions throughout the entire book, and it helped me to see what life may have been like in a different part of the world during World War II. I highly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys a good love story with some historical details thrown in. It is available through SWAN.

- Lynn, Reference


Wool by Hugh Howey
Any fan of dystopian fiction needs to read Wool, the start of a fantastic science fiction series by Hugh Howey.  Wool was originally self-published as a series of 5 e-novellas in 2011.  The setting depicted in the novel is familiar to many readers; it resembles our current society, though because the environment has become uninhabitable and the air toxic, humans live in a silo, built hundreds of feet into the ground.   Everything to sustain life takes place in the silo, from hydroponic farms, to the IT center.  One day, the silo's sheriff, Holston, expresses the one sentiment that is punishable by 'cleaning'- he wishes to go outside. 'Cleaners' are sent out of the silo, in a suit constructed as best as IT can configure to withstand the noxious environment as long as possible (which isn't very long), to clean the sensors on the outside of the silo, and then make their way into the unknown. Holston's replacement as sheriff is an unlikely candidate, Juliette, from 'down deep.'  Juliette has no interest in being sheriff, but she does wonder what would cause Holston, a seemingly sane man, to want out of the silo. Juliette's investigation results in sinister realizations about the silo, its history, and the uninhabitable outside.  I can see why this series did so well that it was able to make the leap from self-e-publishing to print.  Though dystopian fiction is a flooded genre at this point, this series is fresh and intriguing with many well-developed characters.  Wool is followed by two more books, Shift and Dust, and is available through SWAN.

-Jen, Youth Services