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The Worst Fear

posted by: December 1, 2014 - 7:00am

Cover art for The FallCover art for On ImmunityAsk parents to share their deepest fear and, inevitably, it involves something tragic happening to their child. In Diogo Mainardi’s The Fall: A Father’s Memoir in 424 Steps, Mainardi writes about the intersection of grandeur and error which led to his son’s disabling cerebral palsy. On Immunity: An Inoculation by Eula Biss examines modern medicine’s sometimes controversial practice of vaccination.

 

424. That’s the number of footsteps taken by Tito Mainardi as he and his father walk to Venice Hospital where he was born, and where physician error resulted in his brain injury. It’s also the number of brief passages that make up this small memoir in which Mainardi finds connections between art, architecture, music and history, and relates them back to Tito and his illness. Profoundly moving and structured by concentric links, The Fall demonstrates that tragedy and beauty may not be such a dichotomy after all.

 

Red-faced and screaming or silently stoic: either way, it can be tough as a parent to put a child through the often painful series of recommended inoculations. Even more difficult would be wondering if your child’s autism was triggered by a vaccine or passing on those shots only to see a child hospitalized with whooping cough. Biss looks at the varied reasons behind a parent’s decision to decline immunizations, which include African and Middle Eastern Muslim fears of a western plot to harm their children via the polio vaccine to American concerns about greedy pharmaceutical companies or political agendas pushing unnecessary and invasive medicine — all of which compromise the “herd immunity” protecting communities from disease outbreak. On Immunity provides a thoughtful view on the impact of vaccines on contemporary public health.


 
 

Life Lessons

posted by: November 28, 2014 - 7:00am

Cover art for Don't Give Up, Don't Give InWar hero and Olympian Louis Zamperini died last July at the age of 97, but was able to finish Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In: Lessons from an Extraordinary Life with co-author David Rensin. This inspirational volume is filled with Zamperini’s wisdom and insight garnered from a long life of remarkable experiences.

 

Zamperini was an American World War II prisoner of war survivor, an Olympic distance runner and, in his later years, a popular, inspirational speaker. His remarkable life has absorbed readers in both his autobiography, Devil at My Heels and Laura Hillenbrand’s bestselling Unbroken. Don’t Give Up, Don’t Give In is not a rehash of prior books. Instead readers learn more about the man, his personality and his will to endure from previously untold stories. Faced with one horrific event after another, including a plane crash and a brutal Japanese prisoner of war camp, Zamperini refused to give up and chose to view hardships as challenges. After the war, the adventures continued and even included a showdown with Frank Sinatra! Zamperini is honest in answering the questions he received repeatedly from fans and in revealing his secrets to living an honorable but exciting faith-based life.

 

Zamperini’s incredible life story will be brought to the big screen next month with Angelina Jolie’s adaptation of Unbroken. Watch the trailer of this film, already generating award buzz, written by the Coen brothers and featuring Jack O’Donnell.
 


 
 

We asked our bloggers to tell us about the books for which they are most thankful. Here's what they said:

 

Doug Beatty
I am thankful for Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I discovered this book in high school and it introduced me to Christie's obsessive detective Hercule Poirot and his little grey cells. It turned me into a lifelong Christie fan, and I reread her novels to this day – even when I know the ending.

 

Regina Rose
The book I am thankful for is Persuasion by Jane Austen. The heroine of this novel, Anne Elliot, finds happiness with her true love after overcoming quite a few obstacles on the way. This story taught me to never give up, to believe in myself and not to be easily persuaded by other people.

 

Cover art for Persuasion

Lori Hench
Years ago, my friend Andrea and I started a book club. The first book we read was roundly disliked and we worried that none of our friends would return. And so I am thankful for the second book we read, Barbara Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer. Our club loved it and 14 years later, we are still going strong.

 

Randalee Gross
I'm thankful for the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. Anytime I need a nice light read I reach for one of these books and, because I've read them all, it doesn't matter which one I grab. They are perfect for vacations or just a quick pick-me-up.

 

Elizabeth Reinker
Some people have comfort food; I have comfort books. When I’m really stressed, I love to reread Julie Garwood’s historical romances, especially The Bride. It’s soothing to lose myself in Jamie and Alec’s familiar story, and the best part is that a happily ever after is guaranteed!

 

Cover art for The Westing GameMaureen Roberts
Ellen Raskin’s The Westing Game is the book that made me a lifelong reader, and for that I am eternally grateful. It is the first book I can remember not wanting to end and the first book that I immediately re-read. I still turn to it to today, and it always brings back the memory and magic of falling in love with reading.

 

Matthew Hill
I am thankful for The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan. It's smart, funny and fast, but what really makes me thankful it exists is knowing that it's going to inspire a new generation of readers, historians and archeologists.

 

Meghan Menon
I am thankful for The Architecture of Happiness, written by Alan De Botton and narrated by Simon Vance. At the time I read — or rather, heard — it, I was working in a white-walled basement, lit by florescent overheads and conspicuously lacking in windows. While not the most likely structure to inspire happiness, my surroundings acted as the perfect blank foil against which to explore De Botton’s meandering philosophy of the relationship between architecture and contentment. What makes a place special? What makes us feel at home in a place we’ve never before visited? What indelible impressions might we leave in a place where we have dwelt for many years? De Botton first raised these questions for me in that basement and I have been discovering the answers, bit by bit, ever since.

 

Thomas Schley
I’m thankful for Aimee Bender’s The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake because it was my first leap into literary fiction. I remember shelving it over and over again at the Towson Branch back in 2010, and eventually I decided to read it myself because the cake on the cover looked so appetizing. I was slow and careful in my approach (as I would be with cake, so I could savor every bite) but I ended up devouring the book in a week — which is really fast for me — and talking about it with one of my favorite librarians. Bender has a knack for weaving the perfect touch of fairytale magic into her ebullient, wispy and enchanting prose, which makes every one of her stories a wondrous read.

Cover art for The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

 

Leanne Farrell
Of all the hundreds of books I’ve read over the years, I’m most grateful for Carolyn Keene’s Nancy Drew series. Every week, as soon as I got my allowance, we went straight to bookstore so I could purchase the next book in the series. Nancy instilled a life-long love of reading, and a particular passion for mystery.

 

Laura George
I’m thankful for Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. I first read Pride and Prejudice in high school. I’ve reread it countless times since, and it gets better each time!

 

Cynthia Webber
I’m thankful that E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web was around when I was a kid. I can remember being in bed and leaning against the wall, worried that Wilbur would die but so glad he had Fern and Charlotte on his side. It’s a magical journey about friendship and the passage of time.

 

Todd Krueger
The book I’m thankful for is Dominion by Matthew Scully. Prior to reading it I had a general, superficial understanding of animal welfare concepts. But Scully’s even-handed explanations of the philosophical and moral responsibilities humans have for animals opened my eyes to this critical issue of our time.
 

 

 


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Leslie Knope Approved This Message

posted by: November 25, 2014 - 7:00am

Cover art for Yes Please by Amy PoehlerAmy Poehler wants you to know that writing a book is very, very hard to do. She handles the pressure well in her memoir, Yes Please.

 

Delving into her deep-rooted love for all things comedy, Poehler shares hilarious stories from her performing past. She shares how, as a 10-year-old playing the role of Dorothy in a school production of The Wizard Of Oz, she was able to get her first audience to laugh and how she has been chasing that feeling ever since. From her college years through her work with improv troupe (and later Comedy Central show) The Upright Citizens Brigade, Poehler stresses the value of hard work as the source of her success. Fans of her work on Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation will not be disappointed either — several chapters share inside jokes, back stories and funny mishaps on the sets of both beloved shows.

 

Her vast work experience isn’t the only engaging part of this memoir: Poehler also gets personal. Her reflections on motherhood and raising her two boys, Archie and Abel, demonstrate her creativity in parenting. She doesn’t directly address her divorce with comedian Will Arnett, but does offer a hilarious chapter on some divorce books she would like to someday write, such as “I Want a Divorce! See You Tomorrow!” and “The Holidays Are Ruined!” There are lots of stories about her friendships with recognizable names, like Tina Fey and Louis C.K. Best friend Seth Meyers also contributes a short chapter.  

 

Inter-chapters feature some interesting “advice,” and the book shows off some great keepsakes: a letter from Hillary Clinton welcoming Archie into the world, a signed photo of The Wire’s Michael K. Williams and many photographs and relics from her childhood, including poems she wrote when she was little.

 

This memoir is perfect for any fan of Amy Poehler, her work or comedy in general. Her wealth of experience in a variety of venues and acts will inspire and educate those looking to “break into the biz,” and her ideas about everything from performing sketch comedy nine-months pregnant to how our cell phones will eventually kill us will amuse and entertain any reader. After reading, pick up some of her best work, like Parks and Recreation or Saturday Night Live: The Best of Amy Poehler on DVD.
 


 
 

Everyone, Beginning with Anyone

posted by: November 24, 2014 - 7:00am

Three Hundred MillionBlake Butler’s 300,000,000 is a jungle; readers require courage and a literary machete to traverse this five-part psychological horror story. Told through the mediums of a manifesto left in the wake of a heinous murder spree, a first-hand account of the police investigation into the atrocities, and a disjointed recollection stitching the pieces together with plenty of room for the viscera to seep out, 300,000,000 is filled with rare glimpses of toxic and transcendent ravings.

 

Gretch Gravey is 300,000,000’s patient zero of homeland terror, supplicating and drugging teenage metal heads in his city to transform them into thralls of murder. He releases his ever-expanding army of brainwashed husks into the suburbs to kidnap people and bring them back to his house to be killed and buried in a sub-basement crypt. Gravey’s ultimate goal is the utter decimation of America by its own pudgy hands, and his successes are unhindered despite his eventual incarceration. Investigating police officer E.N. Flood feels himself being consumed by Gravey’s residual evil and attempts to chronicle his descent into madness in his notes, which are actively redacted by other members of the force who have succumbed to Gravey’s will.

 

As if Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club and Damned were chewed up and spat out in a bilious, meaty mass, 300,000,000 is disgusting and schizophrenic, yet somehow delicious in its depravity. Readers who enjoy wandering through their pitch-black houses when it’s so late that it’s actually early will be tickled by the way Blake Butler makes them question their sanity. 

Tom

Tom

 
 

From Ranch Hand to Hollywood

posted by: November 21, 2014 - 7:00am

Cover of Falling from Horses by Molly GlossAward-winning author Molly Gloss’ newest novel has a transitional setting that begins on a ranch in Oregon in 1938, but the narrator looks at the past and whispers of present day. Falling from Horses is a layered work of fiction that strategically weaves together a man’s whole life by looking at the events that helped define it.

 

The protagonist, Bud Frazer, is the son of humble tenant ranchers. His upbringing instilled in him a way of life that Bud decides to use for a career, though not in the way his parents anticipated. Upon leaving home as a new adult, he tries his hand in the rodeo circuit before deciding to move to Hollywood and become a stunt rider for Western films. Eager to rub elbows with all the big names of the day, Bud packs his bags and hops a bus south. En route to Hollywood, Bud meets Lily, an aspiring screenwriter, and in their short time together on that bus trip they fall into a platonic relationship that spans a lifetime.

 

Those that have enjoyed Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses should pick this one up and give it a go. Like McCarthy, Gloss’ work is a character-driven narrative of a young man trying to find his path in the twisting and turning maze of life.


 
 

National Book Award Winners

posted by: November 20, 2014 - 12:40pm

Cover art for Redeployment by Phil ClayCover art for Age of AmbitionCover art for Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline WoodsonCover art for Faithful and Virtuous NightLemony Snicket (aka Daniel Handler) hosted the the 65th annual National Book Awards last night in New York City. Redeployment by Phil Klay was the surprise winner of the Fiction Award and the Nonfiction Award went to Evan Osnos for Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth and Faith in the New China. Jacqueline Woodson won the Young People’s Literature Award for Brown Girl Dreaming and Louise Gluck was the recipient of the Poetry Award for Faithful and Virtuous Night.

 

Klay’s debut collection of short stories is centered on the war in Iraq, while Osnos used his experience as a Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker in writing his award-winning tome. Woodson’s memoir in verse of her childhood proved that the third time is indeed the charm, “I'm so grateful to be here. It's my third time a finalist, my first time a winner."

 

British author Neil Gaiman presented Ursula K. Le Guin with the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters for work spanning half a century. LeGuin, a fantasy and science fiction writer, brought the house down with her impassioned acceptance speech which included a defense of science fiction and a screed against Amazon.

 

The National Book Awards, sponsored by the National Book Foundation, are one of the most prestigious literary awards in the United States and are chosen by a panel of judges, many of whom are writers.


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Belzhar

posted by: November 20, 2014 - 7:00am

Cover of Belzhar by Meg MolitzerMeg Wolitzer received the attention of most of the top ten books lists of 2013 with her stand-out novel, The Interestings, which tells the story of a group of adults who befriended each other at an arts camp decades before. Now she is getting into the Young Adult literature game with her new novel Belzhar.

 

Jam Gallahue thought her life was perfect: She was very much in love with her handsome British exchange student, Reeve Maxfield. When Reeve dies suddenly, Jam is thrown into an emotional tailspin and is sent to The Wooden Barn, a boarding school for “emotionally fragile, yet highly intelligent teens.” At The Wooden Barn, Jam is surprised to be enrolled into a class called Special Topics in English. She’s even more surprised when there are only five students in the class.

 

The teacher, Mrs. Quennell, has hand-selected each of these five students to participate in the class because they’ve experienced a deep trauma: There’s Casey, bound to a wheelchair; Griffin, who is carrying a horrible secret; Mark, suffering from his parents’ divorce; Sierra, whose brother has gone missing; and, of course, Jam. The class is to study the work of Sylvia Plath for the entire semester. She gives each student a red leather journal and requires them to write in it twice a week. Jam is especially hesitant to write her feelings, but when she does, strange things start happening. Reeve appears and things are better than ever between them, but Jam knows their time is limited. Is she really able to connect with him again on the other side?

 

As each of the characters in Special Topics reclaim the part of the lives they are missing through the mysterious red journals, they meet in secret to try to get answers about traveling to the place they call Belzhar: What happens when the journal runs out of pages, and what happens if they never want to leave?

 

The obvious choice to pair with this novel is Silvia Plath’s classic The Bell Jar. The influence of Plath’s work is on every page, even beyond the group discussions of her work in the Special Topics class. Fans of Plath will be excited that a new generation of readers, through this novel, can discover her genius for the first time. Perfect for teens experiencing a tough break up or adults who remember those adolescent pangs, Belzhar speaks to the part of our hearts that have trouble letting go.


 
 

Sick Lit with a Twist

posted by: November 19, 2014 - 7:00am

Cover of Zac and Mia by A.J. BettsA.J. Betts' first U.S. published book Zac and Mia follows the sick lit trend popularized recently by the success of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. However, Zac and Mia are very different from Green’s characters in both personalities and stories. Zac is in isolation in a cancer ward after receiving a bone marrow transplant, when his life is made vastly more interesting as Mia moves into the room next door. On her first day in the ward, Mia comes in yelling at her mother and blasting pop music, causing Zac, a cancer veteran, to reach out with her through their shared wall, the only way he can while in isolation.

 

After knocking on the wall for a while and having nurses pass notes to the other, the two teens become Facebook friends. Then, they begin chatting each night at 3 a.m. when neither can sleep. Zac tries to reach out to Mia and help her come to terms with her diagnosis, but she keeps everyone at a distance, not even admitting to her friends that she has cancer. Their friendship ends abruptly when Mia goes into surgery, and Zac is released after his isolation finishes. They spend months apart until one day when Mia shows up on Zac’s doorstep, traveling across Australia to see him. Together again, Zac must try to break down the barriers Mia has been putting up her entire life and find out why she’s at his door.

 

Zac and Mia is an incredibly realistic book, featuring characters who face their cancer in vastly different, but equally realistic, ways. Betts has created characters that seem like they could be real teenagers, often unlikeable, but ultimately characters that you root for. Fans of The Fault in Our Stars will enjoy this new addition to the sick lit genre.


 
 

Her Face Is a Map of the World

posted by: November 18, 2014 - 7:00am

Cover of The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill LeporeWas there ever a superhero created to save the day quite like Wonder Woman? Superman and Batman may have been made for pure entertainment, but Wonder Woman was always supposed to help usher in a new age of feminism where women reigned supreme over men and everyone got tied up a lot. This is The Secret History of Wonder Woman by Jill Lepore, and it's going to be a wild ride.

 

Wonder Woman had three main creators. Psychologist William Moulton Marston was the grandstanding inventor of the lie detector (though not the polygraph). His wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, was a professional editor and the main breadwinner in a family of three adults and four children. Olive Byrne was the third member of their triad, the niece of Margaret Sanger, and likely the comic's ghost writer. Obviously, this concept wouldn’t have gone over so well in 1940s America.

 

The Margaret Sanger link is important. The Marstons had very close–but hidden–ties with the women’s rights movement. William Marston conducted psychology experiments at Harvard. He put himself through college writing movie scripts. His attempts to get people to recognize the value of his lie detector got an innocent man a life sentence, got lie detectors permanently thrown out of court and put him on the FBI's watchlist. Wonder Woman comics contain the history of several eras, as reimagined by a self-important huckster.

 

The Secret History of Wonder Woman brings all the different pieces of history together – of early psychology, education reform, suffrage and feminism from several decades. Everything is illustrated with panels from the Wonder Woman comics. From the Harvard psychology professor who became Wonder Woman's first villain to Wonder Woman's real world run for president after her creator's death. History shaped Wonder Woman, and then Wonder Woman rewrote history.


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