May Day, Beltane

May Day is a pagan festival to mark the return of spring in ancient Celtic/Gaelic traditions. Quarter day festivals mark the change of seasons, each with special rituals and symbols (Imbolic, Beltane, Lagnnasadh, Samhuinn). May first was the first day of summer (hence the solstice June 21st is Midsummer), and many bonfires were lit to mark a time of purification and transition. The community bonfire also supplied the flame to renew each home hearth with hope of good harvest, health and to bring good luck. It was the second most important festival of the Druids.

Various traditional May Day celebrations included the gathering of wildflowers and green branches, the weaving of floral garlands, Morris dancers (who wake Jack in the Green), crowning the queen of May, and decorating the Maypole, around which people danced. This holiday with its roots in the fertility celebrations of pre-Christian Europe is associated with much raucous activity. May Day, is a day on which you should wash your face with morning dew at sunrise to keep yourself looking young and beautiful. You should also gather wildflowers and green branches, make floral garlands and bouquets with ribbons to decorate your home and village. May baskets were a particular charm, small bouquets that were left anonymously on a doorstep (if you caught the person, you got a kiss). Lily of the valley and violets were often used; the lily of the valley is also commonly called May flower and is a lucky charm.

At Oxford University, otherwise intelligent young scholars jump off the Magdalen Bridge into a section of the Cherwell River that is two feet deep, even though the bridge is closed off as a precautionary measure. At St. Andrews in Scotland, students gather on the beach the night before May Day, build bonfires, and then at sunrise they run (occasionally naked) into the frigid North Sea. In Edinburgh Scotland, it is customary to climb Arthur's Seat to greet the sunrise (and the all important dew), with dancing Druids and song. Since the late 1980s, there has been a Beltane Society which revived and developed Beltane as a Community Arts Project with street performances, including bonfires, drumming and revelry on Calton hill. Over 15,000 people annually attend. In the United States, the Puritans frowned on this celebration, but many customs are still followed on the east coast. In Hawaii, there's hula dancing to the "May Day is Lei Day" song. In Minneapolis, there's the May Day Parade that marches south down Bloomington Avenue. It's organized by the In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, now in its 37th year and attracting about 35,000 people.

Europe christianised many pagan holidays, but not this one. To celebrate this popular holiday, workers stayed home against their employers' wishes. It became known as a people's holiday. A conference of world Socialist parties held in Paris voted May 1, 1890, as a day of demonstrations in favor of the eight-hour day. May first is also the Feast of St Philip and St James, so they became the patron saints of workers. May Day is also called Labor Day for much of the world, a day to commemorate the economic and social improvements of workers. In the US, President Cleveland moved Labor Day to September to disassociate it with the radical left as it evolved from the 1886 Haymarket Square riots. In 1958, U.S. Congress under Eisenhower proclaimed May 1 "Loyalty Day" and also "Law Day" - two holidays that have not caught on. May Day is still a prominent holiday in communist countries like Cuba and the People's Republic of China.

NB the international distress signal code word "Mayday" has nothing to do with Beltane. It's derived from the French m'aider, meaning, come help me.

Friends, Author Visits

A wonderful long time friend of the library has donated a video camera (digital) to our communications liaison person (Ginny Verbe). Within the space of 4 days there were already 32 videos created. We have several interesting video clips of the Volunteer Recognition Programme that the Library put on for the Friends. There are several clips on the RACE exhibition process/documentation, as it is being put together. Yes, we DID get the full recording of Robert Alexander's lecture last week! We hope you will be able to view these shortly! There is a wonderful potential to have these and other clips available online. And we hope to have them in the Library as well. Watch this space!
Ginny has been instrumental in keeping the Friend's blog, website and facebook pages up and running. She is also responsible for the Library's monthly newsletter, which I recently heard a patron exclaim that he finds that calendar and then plans his monthly schedule because there are so many wonderful programmes in the Library.

Rochesterfest, Amuzing Race, Library Foundation

AMUZING RACE
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Rochesterfest Event

Competitors are being sought for the Rochester Public Library Foundation's 4th annual Amuzing Race, being held on Saturday, June 19, 2010.

The Amuzing Race is designed to mimic the popular television show – The Amazing Race (Sunday evenings on CBS). Teams of 2-4 individuals work together to solve clues to reach destinations or "legs". At each leg, they receive new clues; some legs involve completing a task or a cooperative challenge.

The Race will begin with check-in at the Rochester Public Library at 7:30 AM, and orientation at 8:15 AM. The Race itself will begin promptly at 8:30 AM. Teams will compete for 3-4 hours in a series of exciting and challenging legs around the Rochester area.

Proceeds from the Race will be used to help fund the library’s online homework assistance program.

Check out the Library website, link onto the Foundation page and receive more information and updates!

Shakespeare!

Today is the birthday of William Shakespeare! We have most of his works in various forms in the Bookstore, at incredible prices! Stop in and pick up a copy of the one you want to read now. Or preview the play/performance you will see later this summer in Winona, Twin Cities, Chicago, Madison, Canada, England... ;-)
And if you can find these books (outside of the Library!) I thoroughly enjoyed Robert Nye's take on Shakespeare both the Late Mr Shakespeare, and Mrs Shakespeare. They are gritty but full of historical detail in a new voice. The PBS special that Michael Palin did is still my favourite television programme about Shakespeare.
If any one is going to be in Chicago before the 6 June, the Chicago Shakespeare theatre is performing The Taming of the Shrew. It is brilliantly done, one of the only performances I have seen with a frame story (not the original, but a modern version written by Neil LaBute). There isn't a bad seat in this small theatre (on Navy Pier).

Earth Day at the Friends' Bookstore

Today is Earth Day, and it is the 40th anniversary of the movement that started with an oil slick off the coast of California. Today we have a worse ecological disaster off the coast of Australia, destroying the Great Barrier Reef. There has never been a better time to learn about your environment, and DO something.
The Bookstore has any number of nature books, environmental books, outdoor writings at fantastic prices. Then join the local Nature centers and organisations and get involved! Your grandchildren will thank you.

Earth Day at the Friends' Bookstore

Today is the birthday of John Muir, scottish writer and american activist for nature (founder of Sierra Club). Celebrate earth day by reading one of his books - they lovingly detail and describe nature, as many of us will never see it, in all it's reality. Better than television!
Activist and writer Bill McKibben has written several pertinent books e.g. The end of nature, the age of missing information and latest Eaarth. I also liked the list of books he recommended reading recently: Collected essays by Wendell Berry, Desert Solitaire Edward Abbey, Richart Nelson Heart and Blood, Gary Snyder Practice of the Wild, Lester Brown Plan B and Terry Tempest Williams Refuge. These are all powerful voices with brilliant prose. I have seen many of the books in the Friends' Bookstore too!

Earth Day at the Friends' Bookstore

Earth Day is THURSDAY so celebrate ALL week - go green and shop local! buy our new or used books in the Friends' Bookstore!! Like all independent bookstores, we champion not just trendy authors, and carry a wide variety of fiction and nonfiction books. ALL of our books are donated: recycle and reuse for Earth Day. There is also a serendipitous element of browsing through our book collection. Relax and enjoy our friendly environment and staff. We also have the cheapest prices in town-in fact it seems like no where else has our low low prices!
OR check out our online sales for fantastic deals on Old or Collectible books. See the Friends website for quick links! Save the gasoline, reduce your carbon footprint, especially for Earth Day!

ebooks, iPad, New Yorker

Ebooks are making themselves known! How many people have a kindle, ipad, sony reader or other device?? What are your best books/reads?

New Author! Bio of Jane Austen

OK all you Janeites!! there is a new (ish) biography that it utterly fascinating!
Jane's Fame by Claire Harman (2009) How Jane Austen conquered the world. Well written, interesting critique, well researched, such that I am in search of her other three books now too. How did I miss the one on Robert Louis Stevenson?? She is prize winning author and a Fellow of the Royal Society of LIterature (2006) from her noted work : Sylvia Townsend Warner, Fanny Burney and Myself and the Other Fellow: A life of Robert Louis Stevenson.

Paraphrasing from my reading: "two hundred years and tens of thousands of books on Austen later... her fame and readership continue to grow." the Dawn of janeism was around 1870 with Margaret Oliphant. In 2007 Pride and Prejudice was voted the book the UK couldn't do without (the bible was 6th)...Til then Jane was an author "a critic's novelist - highly spoke of and little read" in the 1830s-60s. Many people liked that there were no letters, no private information of either her or Shakespeare to keep the mystery and make the work more important.....
enjoy reading, and then peruse the footnotes, the biography, and be inspired again.

Friends' Breakfast for Library Staff Appreciation

Today, and all week, the Library is celebrating National Library Week. The Friends hosted a breakfast as part of a Library Staff Appreciation - we can't thank the Staff enough for all the wonderful work that they do, in so many ways, supporting so many facets of our community. THANKS, we look forward to working together for many many more years ;-)

Mark your calendars:


On Saturday May 8, join the Friends' Bookstore in the Rochester Public Library foyer for the "Coffee with Coffee Table Books Sale." Each coffee table book is only $5.00. Sale goes from noon till 4:00 PM.

BOOK SALE SUNDAY

Remember the Friends of the Library are having a great book sale on Sunday in the Library Auditorium from 1.30 to 4pm. (April 18th)
We also have a number of free books, library discards that are older than 1990 available in front of the bookstore. What a weekend!

Webster's Dictionary 1828

From the Writer’s Almanac: April 14, 2010.
It was on this day in 1828 that Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language was published. Webster wanted to put together a dictionary because he wanted Americans to have a national identity that wasn't based on the language and ideas of England. He said: "A national language is a band of national union. Every engine should be employed to render the people of this country national; to call their attachments home to their own country; and to inspire them with the pride of national character. However, they may boast of Independence, and the freedom of their government, yet their opinions are not sufficiently independent; an astonishing respect for the arts and literature of their parent country, and a blind imitation of its manners, are still prevalent among the Americans." And the problem wasn't just that Americans were looking to England for their language; it was that they could barely communicate with each other because regional dialects differed so drastically.
Noah Webster grew up in Connecticut, went to Yale, and became a schoolteacher because he didn't have enough money to go to law school. As a teacher, he was frustrated with the state of education in the years just after the Revolution. There wasn't much money for supplies, and students were crowded into small one-room schoolhouses using textbooks from England that talked about the great King George. His students' spelling was atrocious, as was that of the general public; it was assumed that there were several spellings for any word, which only increased the difficulties people had in understanding each other.
So in 1783, he published the first part of his three-part A Grammatical Institute, of the English Language; the first section was eventually re-titled The American Spelling Book, but usually called by the nickname "Blue-Backed Speller." The Blue-Backed Speller taught American children the rules of spelling, and it simplified words. It was Webster who took the letter "u" out of English words like colour and honour; he took a "g" out of waggon, a "k" off the end of musick, and switched the order of the "r" and "e" in theatre and centre.
He began compiling his dictionary in 1801. Part of what he accomplished, much like his textbook, was standardizing spelling. He introduced American words, some of them derived from Native American languages: skunk, squash, wigwam, hickory, opossum, lengthy, and presidential, Congress, and caucus, which were not relevant in England's monarchy.
His project had plenty of critics. After he announced his plans for his dictionary, one newspaper wrote: "If, as Mr. Webster asserts, it is true that many new words have already crept into the language of the United States, he would be much better employed in rooting out those anxious weeds, than in mingling them with the flowers." Another newspaper satirically referred to the project as "a nue Merrykin Dikshunary."
But nothing deterred Webster, and he spent almost 30 years on his project. It took three years for the dictionary to be set into type, and finally, on this day in 1828, it was published. The criticisms of it had diminished, and it was greeted with great respect. But unfortunately, it cost 15 or 20 dollars, which was a huge amount in 1828, and Webster died in 1843 without having sold many copies.
But then two brothers from Springfield, Massachusetts, stepped in: Charles and George Merriam. They bought the rights to the dictionary and the unsold copies, sold it at a low price, and changed the company to "Merriam-Webster" because Webster had such name recognition. They printed the first Merriam-Webster dictionary on September 24, 1847, for a cost of six dollars.

Volunteers

The Rochester Public Library and the Friends are looking for more volunteers or (and) Friends! We currently need additional volunteers to act as docents for the RACE exhibition that starts next month (and runs all summer). The Friends' Bookstore also needs volunteers for 1) Art Walk (the first Thursday of every month) 2) Saturdays (to increase our hours) and 3) for Book Sales (see this Sunday, plus Rochesterfest!).
We have many volunteers, in all niches, shapes and sizes. We appreciate your talents! A great deal of fun is often had by all. Please consider joining our team!

Friends' Book Sale!

Remember Sunday the 18th April, the Friends of the Rochester Public Library will host a special Spring cleaning sale of overstocked books!! We have LOTS of wonderful books again! Friends are able to browse half an hour early, so join now (or at the event). Come early for a great selection (1.30 to 4pm).

2010 booklist (so far)

2010 Book List
Nonfiction
Caleb Carr. The lessons of terror : a history of warfare against civilians : why it has always failed, and why it will fail again
Henry James : a life in letters Ed Philip Horne,
Leonard Maltin 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen (on my kindle)
A passion for books (ed Dale Salwak)(1999)
A passion for books : a book lover's treasury of stories, essays, humor, lore, and lists on collecting, reading, borrowing, lending, caring for, and appreciating books.
(1999) Eds Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan.
Amy Stewart (2001)Flower confidential. The good, the bad and the beautiful in the business of flowers. (2009) Wicked Plants
Donald Worster A Passion for Nature: the life of John Muir. (2008) \
Donald Worster Rivers of Empire : Water, aridity and the growth of the American west. (1985).
Poetry
TS Eliot Four quartets

Mysteries, Fiction
Emily Arsenault (2009) The Broken Teaglass
Stephanie Barons. A flaw in the blood. The White Garden
Martin Davies. The conjurer's bird. Mrs. Hudson and the Malabar rose.
Gerald Elias. (2009)Devil's Trill.
Quintin Jardine (2009) Fatal Last Words.
Elizabeth Kostova. 2010. The swan thieves.
Hilary Mantel. 2009. Wolf Hall
CJ Ransom. Dark fire, Sovereign
Olen Steinhauer (2009) The Tourist
Andrew Taylor (2009) Bleeding Heart Square.
Roth Trilogy (four last things, Judgement of Strangers, Office of the Dead), the Lyndmouth Series, Blaines Trilogy and Dougal Series.
A stain in the silence, The Barred Window, Raven in the water, The American Boy.

Biography
Edna O’Brien Byron in love: a short daring life


Science Fiction
Richard Morgan (1995) The Steel Remains,13 thirteen, Altered carbon “ the Future isn’t what it used to be since Morgan arrived on the scene.”

Literature/Fiction
Barbara Cleverly (2006) Tug of War.
Ali Shaw The Girl with Glass Feet (2009)

Sandor Marai Casanova in Bolzano (1940, translated 2004)

DVDs
MI-5 (season 7)
Big Ban Theory (season one)


2010 Book List
Nonfiction
Henry James : a life in letters Ed Philip Horne, who is a James scholar in England. I loved reading such articulate letters, starting with those to people I knew (RL Stevenson, Edith Wharton etc) , then went to the letters that mentioned people I knew (Hopper, etc) then just read them for the sake of the sentence construction, argument, sense of time and historical value, then for the human insights.
Caleb Carr. The lessons of terror : a history of warfare against civilians : why it has always failed, and why it will fail again. I had had no idea that he was so involved in military history, various journal articles/editor. Perhaps that was why there were only four novels, but I sincerely hope he continues with Sherlock Holmes!

A passion for books (ed Dale Salwak)(1999) 19 essays on books – the future of books, a celebration of the value and importance of reading, role of collectors in the preservation of books. Salwak also has a long list of books ‘reference guides’ to other authors (e.g. Kingsley Amis, Braine and Wain), Cronin, Pym, Carl Sandburg, and others). There are enough book quotes in here to last me a decade. “People find the books they need, writes Lance Morrow: (he could have stopped there, but went on) ‘to escape, to edify and impress, to keep sane, to touch other intelligences, to absorb a litte grace.’ Well said.
I need to buy this book. (Kindle?) Ruined by Reading (Lynne Sharon Schwartz) Literature without Books? Laurence Lerner The Sad Demise of the Personal Library (James Shapiro) The Pleasures of Reading Joseph Epstein, Other Worlds to Inhabit John Bayley. Books in my life G Thomas Tanselle.
Anatole Broyard, life in Greenwich Village: ‘it was as if we didn’t know where we ended and books began. Books were our weather, our environment, our clothing. We didn’t simply read books; we became them. We took them into ourselves and made them into our histories….books gave us balance….books steadied us….they gave us gravity.’
(this title was from Lawrence Clark Powell’s 1958 volume; Rabinowitz/Kaplan have also used it 1999).
Old books like old friends are always the best of companions Michael Korda.

A passion for books : a book lover's treasury of stories, essays, humor, lore, and lists on collecting, reading, borrowing, lending, caring for, and appreciating books.
(1999) Eds Harold Rabinowitz and Rob Kaplan.
It is always nice to meet people for whom buying a book is a necessity not a luxury.
60 essays on various books and authors, by authors themselves, telling their stories of creating the book/plot/story. I love that Ray Bradbury wants to be buried with books “Sharkespeare as a pillow, Pope at one elbow, Yeats at the other and Shaw to warm my toes. Good company for far travelling.” Onward we go. Fellow sufferers of bibliomania (?)! suffering?? Robertson Davies!! ‘my real admiration is reserved for people who collect books because they love them.’ But he loved to talk about the people who were ‘weak’ and stole the books they coveted! I was intrigued by his transportation back to the time of the book – how valuable, important that was as he was reading ancient texts. (this essay was from his Enthusiasms). “There are 10,000 books in my library, and it will keep growing until I die. This has exasperated my daughters, amused my friends, and baffled my accountant. If I had not picked up this habit in the library long ago, I would have more money in the bank today; I would not be richer.’ Pete Hamill, D’Artagnan on Ninth Street.

Amy Stewart (2001)Flower confidential. The good, the bad and the beautiful in the business of flowers. (noted columnist and author) narrative style, easy to read, very informative – feel her love of plants, which only falters a few times in the industrial wasteland of the business. Disillusioning to say the least. Loved the history of her flowers and people, interspersed with her flower bix.
CA has 60% of all American Roses, but Valentines Day has 110 million roses imported from South America over this three day buyout.
5% of farm workers in CA were born in America, and 95%rest only 5% have health insurance.
Visiting a flower farm is like visitng a chocolate factory. In many ways, it’s the most ordinary run of the mill operation, with warehouses and machinery and people…looking forward to their coffeebreaks. But the products itself is magical, transcendent and utterly distracting. A lot of her writing needs editing ‘like’ is everywhere.
Wicked Plants (2009) “200 plants that have damaged, killed, intoxicated, with menacing botanical illustrations and splendidly ghastly drawings” – how could you not read this? Quite entertaining, but mostly just snippets (short book) – history, medicine, science and legend about a page a piece.

Donald Worster Rivers of Empire : Water, aridity and the growth of the American west. (1985). I can’t believe I missed this book 25 years ago. I have since learned all of its contents in various other journals, magazines, etc. But he wrote this, not just as history or a retelling of events, but as a warning. Unheeded, drastically so. Appallingly so. Water is the commodity of the 21st century – but always has been beyond the 100th meridian of the USA. The politics are appalling, the wealth and greed, the local struggle, the inhumane arguments are all categorized here. We aren’t going to listen to the global warming cry now (Fox news says let’s wait 25 years! We have in this book and it is so much worse. He says let us assume that the nest stage is not a mere continuation of the present…. well, that didn’t happen…. Water or oil, the results seem the same. Inevitable? I begin to understand why old people aren’t afraid to die, you can’t take any more of what we do to the planet. Hope yes, but it will never be the planet it was, especially in our lifetime. I wish (almost) that I couldn’t remember the ancient stands of trees and the smell of fresh air, or the peace of a quiet plain or forest or ocean.) I am just depressed. Well researched, as are all his books.

Poetry
TS Eliot Four quartets I loved the Burnt Norton. “time present and time past are both perhaps present in time future. ….only through time time is conquered…. Of timeless moments. So, while the light fails On a winter’s afternoon, in a secluded chapel History is now and England.” In the Week, this was recommended by Ian Rankin, and one of the best 10 books he was reading. Poetry can be so short/thin book, and so profound, moving, absorbing, challenging. Deep thoughts for days on passages, images and comparisons in my life. I need to live more.

Mysteries, Fiction
CJ Ransom. Dark fire, Sovereign I so continue to enjoy the story of Tudor England and the hunchback lawyer. Intrigue, mystery, history, and human fraility is to…. Unpleasant too.

Stephanie Barons. A flaw in the blood.
This is a very interesting account of ‘what if’ – It is an extremely unflattering portrait of Queen Victoria, but full of British/Royal/Aristocracy pretension. Lovely portrait of the youngest son, Leopold, who was also hemophiliac. The story races between several of Victoria’s children with insight, affection, …. Based on an idea that Alfred committed suicide (not typhoid, tho possibly stomach cancer or perforated ulcer). He was aghast at the genetics of the disease (wonderful description of the first woman doctor!) that possibly meant Victoria’s hereditary rights belonged to someone else and his family would have to abdicate. She could never tolerate that, her ‘peculiar childhood to the role she must fulfill/her only purpose in life’ driving her to be a ruthless ruler, and then deceptively lead a ‘sad life’ waiting for her children to take their ‘rightful places among the kingdoms of the world…holding sway for centuries to come’…. Interesting picture, and completely believable!
Martin Davies. The conjurer's bird. I just loved this picture. Joseph Banks, great name of my botanical history, plus a modern day piece of a puzzle together to create a new story. I liked that it was a story well known within one family, but of course not available to history. It is only by connecting dots, and seeing some coincidences, that a possible truth is discovered. And what a lovely story. I liked all of the characters (although the back and forth between centuries is not always the best venue for readability).
Reminded me somewhat of Andrea Barrett’s short story of Linneaus. Both tragic, both romantic, both atmospheric. And such beautiful prose or turn of phrase.
Mrs. Hudson and the Malabar rose He is writing Sherlock Holmes, with the housekeeper as crime solver! I loved the time frame – these are light, fast reads, not meant to be Holmesian. Delightful. She isn’t flustered by anything (of course not, she’d have to be intelligent to put up with Holmes or to be kept by him).
Gerald Elias. (2009)Devil's trill This was a debut novel, written by an amazing violinist, who is also an avid mystery writer! Concert Master for Utah Symphony, Music Professor, Violinist with the BSO. Graduate of Yale. The first, but will be a series. Almost a bit formulaic in having the tragic antihero, the twisted plot, the race to prove innocence, the locked room of course! the florid writing that nearly gushes at some of the musical passages (but I loved it-imagine other music lovers will also like the descriptions), with all the history, the revelatory insiders view of musical exploitation of children (like beauty pageants)… lurid musical underworld, shady violin dealers, venal patrons, backstabbing teachers and parents.
The writing is thoroughly engaging – you know he (author) is setting you up too.
Daniel Jacobus, blind, young, bitter, chainsmoking, reclusive violin teacher (went blind at pinacle of career when offered concertmaster to BSO but rare genetic eye disease permanently blinded him.) But many of his students ‘love’ him, and eventually go on to become amazing musicians. Every description of playing, notes, scores is both instructive and moving (I would close my eyes and listen to the words/music). Jacobus attends the Grimsley Competition held every 13 years at Carnegie Hall to children/prodigies younger than 13; the winner gets cash, symphonic appearance and use of the world’s only ¾ size stradivarious legendary Piccolino. And the plot begins. After the winner plays it the violin goes missing, the teacher is murdered and the finger points to Jacobus of course.
Quintin Jardine (2009) Fatal Last Words. Edinburgh Book Festival in August, with fantastic descriptions. I have always wanted to return to this event (only went once when I lived there). Murder of an author, the 19th Skinner novel; not my favourite character anymore, but the detail was important to me. Pity I didn’t like the people who live there in his world.


Elizabeth Kostova. 2010. The swan thieves.

Hilary Mantel. 2009. Wolf Hall [compact disc : a novel] Booker Prize I enjoyed the novel, but liked listening to it more. Perhaps because it was SO graphic on the page. I could distract myself visually with the everyday life while still listening to the story. I can see where it won the awards, and was glad of the dense numerous pages to keep me in winter reading. A perfect escapist book, but a brutal portrayal of English life. It dragged in places, she is extremely descriptive. I read it twice.

Olen Steinhauer (2009) The Tourist. Previously nominated (finalist) for Edgars, (as well as all sorts of other awards) so have to find the rest of his Eastern European crime series/ books! He was raised in Va now lives in Budapest. What a find. Complex, fast paced, classic espionage. Great plotting, dark unusual intelligent characters. Very reminiscent of LeCarre but totally modern/ contemporary in Eastern Europe. Milo Weaver is an undercover agent CIA, now retired from the ‘field’ to a NYC desk. So many intricacies, and unexpected twists, I still wonder if he really knew who is father was. I for one will never understand his mother! Clever portraits of previous life, current state, and what could have been. Not pleasant upon thinking through the plot, actual story (e.g. our governments, global politics and general spying!). Absolutely compelling read. George Clooney has options the film rights!

Andrew Taylor (2009) Bleeding Heart Square. 1934 England. Mrs Lydia Lanstone seeks refuge in 7 Bleeding Heart Sq, London because her father lives there and she is fleeing her husband. But a story that seems decades older begins to unravel (only four years) with her arrival. We know of the next war, the fascist/Nazis and the hardships that are about to come. We see the loss of class structure and the thin veneer of aristocracy, as well as human decency. This book is enveloped in historical detail, quite convoluted plot, presence of true evil in the world. Yet. Yet, we have the future hope and we are living in the present. The story is more about Rory Wentwood too = his struggle to get a job, after returning from India, without an anchor in a country he doesn’t recognise. The writing is compelling and the first account is horrifying (esp as he writes of mobs, the changes in england, and begins to find his vocation). Society isn’t pretty. This reminds me of PDJames (not quite as well written, but historical atmosphere, intricate people, decisions have far reaching consequences). His first novel won the John Creasey Award, shortlisted for the Gold Dagger and Edgar. He is the only author to receive CWA Ellis Peters Historical Dagger Award twice. Lives in England and has so many more books published:: Roth Trilogy (four last things, Judgement of Strangers, Office of the Dead), the Lyndmouth Series, Blaines Trilogy and Dougal Series. Can’t wait!!
A stain in the silence, The Barred Window, Raven in the water, The American Boy.

Emily Arsenault (2009) The Broken Teaglass
This reminded me of the Secret History – (Donna Tartt’s first book) This is also a first book, but that might prejudice the reading of this novel. Set in New England, and the old NE façade, but also an academic façade. 2 recent college graduates work in a dictionary company as lexicographers, with a dry sense of humour and budding romance. Numerous dark twists to each character, some completely out of place or unnecessary (you can tell it is a first novel). Oh, to have a job looking for new expressions, new words, same words but new meanings, and just write them on chits, to pile up the number of chits, to eventually put it into the dictionary. Paid to read newspapers, magazines, etc. Not at all sure I would recognise the words/phrases if I saw them, but then, they are solving a mystery, hunting for the clues hidden in the chits – citations from a book that doesn’t exist. Billy Webb seemed too young, esp with the Billy, not Bill, not Will, and it didn’t fit at all with his run in with mortality; so unusual with teenagers. Off beat mystery cum coming of age novel. ‘Sweet and charming’ – not really my description of it. I found myself laughing, but also shaking my head feeling old. These kids have no concept of what they need to do to survive, live and thrive. Wake up!

Biography
Edna O’Brien Byron in love: a short daring life I am still surprised I can write about this short book. I was hoping for fewer of the lurid details and perhaps a greater understanding of why he did some things. She was extremely fair and concise, but I learned more of Byron then I ever wanted to know, and I already knew too much. Worse that it was all true. (I was hoping for some exaggerations). It has been one of the reasons I don’t read a lot of biography – I would rather lead a full life than have too many details (which I hope no one ever wonders or reads about my life!). I am appalled at how much detail some people find necessary to write about/discuss a person. It feels like dirty laundry of the literary type. Was it necessary to know to read his literature? Hunger for love; manic depressive, stage show. Died in the Greek fight for independence of malaria, helped by supposed medical care (bleeding). Still, her writing was astonishing: ‘fierce intelligence trapped in child’s magic and malice’ a destructive genius. ‘Embodiment of everyman, human, ambitious, erratic, generous, destructive, dazzling, dark and dissonant’ ‘ something that eludes us they buried a poet and resurrected a legend’.
‘the other guests were frightful, facetious, and frivolous’. So many lines with wonderful alliteration.
Donald Worster A Passion for Nature: the life of John Muir. (2008) This was a prize winning nonfiction last year (09), which is how I noticed it. This was a great bio, analytical, detailed, interesting, riveting in places, providing a good perspective, informative for our age and well researched. Captures some of the essence of what must have made this man – he was so well liked, so well known, although only later in life. He dedicated his life to making people see the beauty of nature and the absolute desperation to preserve/conserve the natural environment, against huge odds even then. I read this book with a sigh, a what if, all the time….think of what places would look like, if we had saved them, if we had started water conservation back then, if we had NOT put the automobile in so many places, if we had educated more people…. He was also truly a scotsman and made things up to suit him. I liked his daughter Helen ;-)
Yes, I will now start, and read all that Worster had written. How did I miss him? Prof of American History at Univ Kansas. A River Running West, The wealth of Nature: Environmental history and the ecological imagination, Dust Bowls: the southern plains in the 1930s (won Bancroft Prize).

Science Fiction
Richard Morgan Altered carbon
Richard Morgan (1995) The Steel Remains – stunning re-invention of the fantasy that ‘a dark lord will rise’ – Ringil Eskiath (Gil), one time war hero or washed up mercenary, definitely cynic/world weary, with quick temper and quicker/swifter sword (ravensfriend), squabbles with his aristocratic family, but inevitably / honourably does the right thing and helps. Has two sidekicks Egar and Archeth (female) almost the three muskateers ;-) But these are people I know, would like to know.
Reminded me of Dave Duncan; perhaps faster, more violent. Incredibly graphic, but fascinating imagination.
I laughed when the corpse mites attacked and one particularly got to his jerkin ‘that was clean on today you little shit’ as he kills it. An odd sense of humour throughout. I would like to read more about the author, especially ‘brooding excesses and antisocial abandon of Morgan the Barbarian’ as he described himself.
Richard K Morgan
13 (thirteen) “ the Future isn’t what it used to be since Morgan arrived on the scene.” How true that is; all-purpose anti-hero Takeshi Kovacs (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels, Woken Furies; won Philip K Dick Award). Market Forces introduced Chris Faulkner, ‘war for profit’ and wasn’t that a bite into our times? Won the John Campbell Award). 13, however, combines all the previous books/concepts. Genetic engineering (taking the primal survival skills civilisation has supposedly erased; softer maybe but I haven’t noticed a nicer generation(s). 13s the ultimate military fighting force; of course exiled, but then wanted when things get out of hand. It was kind of hard to think that they were ‘the last true humans, not a variant’. I liked the space shuttle details (need to tell Scott). So many sentences I laugh, enjoy the detail, love the wit/satire. In any world, this works.

Literature/Fiction
Barbara Cleverly (2006) Tug of War. 1926 in Britain and France. Wonderful story of French woman who husband goes to war and she takes on the vineyard – and has to make a go of it when he goes missing (presumed dead for 10 years). I liked Scotland Yard Joe Sandilands too (traveling with his niece this time) – my first introduction to him although he has many other novels that take place in India (and won Historical Dagger awards).
Reminded me of the recent Anne Perry novel, plus the Charles Todd. Women coming into their own, against historical expectations. I loved that it was Reims, one of my favourite places and champagne! Full of intrigue, detailed places and a long lost morality (?) that sense of time and place. It was him afterall, ‘he smiled a smile worth waiting for.’
Couldn’t believe that Gail had recommended this to me the day before, and I opened my box from Daedulous Books and there is was (the 99cent trade ppk).

Ali Shaw The Girl with Glass Feet (2009)
I loved this book. It reminded me so much of the Elegance of the Hedgehog. I was captured at the first chapter with the photographer who understands that he is chasing light to capture image. Midas, then Ida, then the real and imagined world. You believe in the fairies that changed her life – killing her by degrees, changing her to glass. A race against time, ending tragically, yet unbelievably hopeful. So destined for tragedy, yet transformed by it. So sudden an end, yet a possibility.
For a first novel, this was amazing. Absolutely breathtaking, magical descriptions. I kept thinking it must be in the Hebrides because of the island isolation, the local superstitions, but it is so very English.

Sandor Marai Casanova in Bolzano (1940, translated 2004) library book
Another rediscovered masterpiece from the author of Embers: an erotically charged novel; written within the framework of historical reality -about Casanova ‘s fateful encounter with the woman who finally defeats him. In 1756 Giacomo Casanova escaped from the dreaded cells of Venice’s most infamous jail. The Lead, from the lead roof ducal Palace.
Stopping to rest at the Italian village of Bolzano, Casanova secures (extorts 6 gold pieces!) a loan to rebuild his life, and resumes his art of seduction. But there is another reason he has come to this particular village: the memory of a duel he fought long ago with the duke of Parma over a girl named Francesca. Casanova lost the fight; Francesca became the duke’s wife; and the duke spared Casanova’s life on condition that he never set eyes on her again. Now an old man, the duke arrives at the inn with a love letter he has intercepted from his wife to Casanova. He could kill Casanova on the spot but instead makes him an irresistible offer, one that will ultimately be the downfall of the notorious lover. Brimming with the richness and psychological tension
October 31, 1756: the incorrigible playboy and roving gambler Giacomo Casanova escapes from a pestilent Venetian prison. Aiming for Munich, he stops near the Austrian border at an inn in Bolzano. The imperious septuagenarian duke of Parma, Casanova's victorious former rival for the hand of Francesca then a teenager, now the duchess of Parma, and still in love with Casanova just happens to live nearby. To prevent another duel, the duke blackmails the legendary womanizer: either he seduces Francesca, breaks her heart and leaves, thereby curing her of the "infection" that is Casanova, or he risks being killed or turned in to the authorities. The fervent colloquy echoes the centerpiece that structures Embers, Marai's only other novel to be translated into English. Unlike Embers, however, this book fizzles out; an austere and poignant exposition on the inexorability of fate that has been building for over 200 pages collapses into an intolerably tedious, long-winded rant by Francesca as she tries to persuade Casanova to run away with her. The harangue makes it hard to believe that anyone would fight over her and makes the reader wonder why another Marai (1900 -1989) work was not translated before this one.
151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen (on my kindle)
By Leonard Maltin
Film critic, historian and USC film-studies Professor Leonard Maltin has published his famous Movie Guide annually since 1969, but it isn’t a place to go for selectivity. So now Maltin has written Leonard Maltin’s 151 Best Movies You’ve Never Seen. In this new book, Maltin unearths 151 films that he thinks have been unfairly under-rated, and he explains why. Reading this book will inspire you to see all of the films described here and you won’t be disappointed in any of them.
Maltin’s still king of the succinct review, making this book a handy reference for cineasts who think they’ve seen it all.
I have his 2008 movie guide (for the dvds) but it is SO dense. I truly need the 100 best, or the 10 best in each genre, or the 10 best per year! This is a perfect book for Kindle, a reference book that you can bookmark, put on your phone (e.g. when buying access!) and also just look up when you are ‘wasting time’. I also sampled a couple of others – e.g. for the best extras on dvds etc. I await digital downloads, but I love the extras too.

Book Sale, Coffeetable books

Mark your calendars:

" On Saturday May 8, join the Friends of the Library Bookstore in the Rochester Public Library foyer for the "Coffee with Coffee Table Books Sale." Each coffee table book is only $5.00. Sale goes from noon till 4:00 PM. "

Don't forget our big Spring 'overstock' sale NEXT Sunday (April 18) in the Library auditorium?

Libraries, Carnegie Library, Rochester Public Library

On April 9th, in 1833 America's first tax-supported public library opened, in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Today, there are more than 9,000 public libraries in the United States, including the Peterborough Town Library, which is still going strong.

Continuing with our previous Scottish theme, many libraries built with money donated by Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. More than 2,500 Carnegie libraries were built, between 1883 and 1929, (1,689 were built in the United States, 660 in Britain and Ireland, 125 in Canada, and others in Australia and New Zealand, Serbia, the Caribbean, and Fiji). The first of Carnegie's public libraries opened in his hometown, Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1883. As well as Carnegie's name, the building displays a motto - "Let there be light" - and a carving of the sun over the entrance. When the last grant was made in 1919, there were 3,500 libraries in the United States, nearly half of them built with construction grants paid by Carnegie.

Books and libraries were an important part of Carnegie's life, beginning with his childhood in Scotland. There he listened to readings and discussions of books from the Tradesman's Subscription Library, which his father helped create. Later, in the United States, while working for the local telegraph company in Pennsylvania, Carnegie borrowed books from the personal library of Colonel James Anderson, who opened the collection to his workers every Saturday. In his autobiography, Carnegie credited Anderson with providing an opportunity for "working boys" (that some said should not be "entitled to books") to acquire the knowledge to improve themselves. Carnegie's personal experience as an immigrant, who with help from others worked his way into a position of wealth, reinforced his belief in a society based on merit, where anyone who worked hard could become successful. This conviction was a major element of his philosophy of giving in general.

"The Carnegie Formula" required matching contributions from the town that received the donation. The town was required to: demonstrate the need for a public library; provide the building site; annually provide ten percent of the cost of the library's construction to support its operation; and, provide free service to all.

The Libraries also created an opportunity for people to browse and discover books on their own. "The Carnegie libraries were important because they had open stacks which encouraged people to browse....People could choose for themselves what books they wanted to read." Before Carnegie, patrons had to ask a clerk to retrieve books from closed stacks.

While hundreds of the library buildings have been converted into museums, community centers, office buildings and residences, more than half of those in the United States still serve their communities as libraries over a century after their construction. For example, Carnegie libraries still form the nucleus of the New York Public Library system in New York City, with 31 of the original 39 buildings still in operation. Also, the main library and eighteen branches of the Pittsburgh public library system are Carnegie libraries. The public library system there is named the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh. The Historical Society of Washington, D.C. is located in a former Carnegie library and is on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

In December 1865, library service began in Rochester, when interested citizens organized the Rochester Library Association. The sum of $1,000 was raised by subscription for the purchase of books, which were housed in the store owned by W.W. Ireland on what was then known as the Haney Block
A catalog of library holdings published in 1881 runs to 35 pages. In 1883 the Library Association was reorganized as the Free Library and Reading Room Association. Entertainments provided the source of income for the library until 1886, when the City Council voted an appropriation of $200 annually for its support.
In 1895 the Rochester Public Library was officially established under a state statute providing for the organization of public libraries. The population of Rochester in 1895 was 6,843.
In 1895 the collection contained 3,318 volumes and an assortment of unbound periodicals. The first Annual Report indicates that circulation in that beginning year of operation was 10,744 volumes. By 1917 the library was providing small collections of books housed in the schools, since at this time there were no school libraries.
The bookmobile finally became a reality on October 24, 1966, when the first vehicle costing $22,418 went into service with a rotating collection of 5,000 volumes.
Today we have nearly 500,000 library materials, with a circulation of over 1.6 million in a town with over 100,000 people.



Perhaps no place in any community is so totally democratic as the town library. The only entrance requirement is interest.
Lady Bird Johnson

Friends's Bookstore, Book Sale, Special Sale!

The Friends of the Rochester Public Library Bookstore Committee has been brainstorming ideas lately on two major initiatives. One is related to advertising and marketing. The survey results show that the vast majority of our customers found the store by simply walking by, and we'd like to make everyone in the community more aware of the store.
The second initiative is related to increasing the number of volunteers we have working in and for the bookstore. We'd love to have the bookstore open all day on Saturday with two shifts from 10 to 1 and from 1 to 4 in the winter. If you have any ideas on advertising and marketing or any ideas on how to increase the number of volunteers, let me know! mary.barrett@charter.net

Don't forget the Spring Overstock Sale on Sunday, April 18 from 1:30 to 4:00. Friends may enter the sale at 1:00 PM.

On Saturday, May 8, the bookstore will be having a coffee table book sale in the Library lobby – complete with coffee!

Scottish Authors - Saltire Awards

SALTIRE AWARDS
*Ali Smith Free Love
*William McIlvanney The Kiln
Kate Clanchy Slattern
Bernard MacLaverty Grace Notes
Robin Robertson A Painted Field
Alan Warner The Sopranos
Christopher Wallace The Pied Piper’s Poison
Dennis O’Donnell Two Clocks Ticking
George Bruce Pursuits
*Michael Faber Rain Must Fall
Ronald Frame The Lantern Bearers
Douglas Galbraith The Rising Sun
Hamish Henderson Collected Poems & Songs
*Liz Lochhead Medea
Meaghan Delahunt In the Blue House
Janice Galloway Clara
*Liam McIlvanney Burns the Radical
*Louise Welsh The Cutting Room
James Robertson Joseph Knight
Martainn Mac an t-Saoir Ath - Aithne
*Andrew Greig In Another Light
*Peter Hill Stargazing
*Kate Atkinson Case Histories
John Aberdein Amande's Bed

*denotes books and authors that I particularly enjoy.

Tartan Day in America

Tartan Day

Tartan Day celebrates the existing and historical links between Scotland and Scottish descendants overseas. In the United States there are over 11 million people who claim Scots descent, and most take pride in the transatlantic connection. In North America, Tartan Day is held on April 6, the anniversary of the date on which the Declaration of Arbroath was created in 1320, whereas in Australia and New Zealand, it is held on July 1, the anniversary of the repeal of the Act of Proscription in 1782.

Tartan Day was first proposed by Jean Watson, who petitioned throughout Canada for its recognition. Nova Scotia was the first to celebrate in 1987, with gradually all provinces recognising the day/event. In 1998, the US Senate officially recognised the date of 6 April as a celebration for the contribution made by generations of Scots-Americansto the foundation and prosperity of modern America.

The date is significant as it commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Arbroath in 1320, the first known formal Declaration of independence. Not only was the United States Declaration of Independence modelled on that document, but almost half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were of Scottish descent and the Governors in 9 of the original 13 States were of Scottish ancestry.

Tartan Day is now firmly part of the North American calendar. Supporters of the event call it a signal of the strengthening Scots-Canadian/American relationship in the 21st century. The Tunes of Glory Parade in 2002 saw 10,000 pipers and drummers march through the streets of New York. Each year, pipers prepare for this event! They are the centrepiece of the event where thousands of Americans celebrate their links to Scotland. One of Scotland's national treasures, William Wallace's sword, left Scotland for the first time in 700 years and was flown to New York for the Tartan Week celebrations of 2005. Equally large events are held in Washington DC and other places in the US and Canada.

Comic Books, Humour, Humor, Funnies

Today is April Fools' Day, a holiday celebrating practical jokes of all kinds. The British collection of folk wisdom known as Poor Robin's Almanac(1662) says: "The first of April, some do say, Is set apart for All Fools' Day."

One theory about the origin of April Fools' Day is that it started in France in 1582. Up until then, New Year's Day was celebrated on April 1st, but when Europe adopted the Gregorian calendar, New Year's Day was moved to January 1st. At the time, news of such things traveled slowly, and it took many years for everyone to get up to speed. People who continued to celebrate New Years on April 1st came to be known as April Fools.

John Updike said, "Looking foolish does the spirit good."

On this day in 2004 that Google released Gmail to the public. Many people thought it was a joke: It offered a whole gigabyte of storage, which was exponentially greater than what was offered by other free e-mail services at the time.

Gmail has played a number of memorable pranks on April Fools' Day. On April 1, 2006, Google announced a new dating service, called Google Romance. They said, "When you think about it, love is just another search problem."

The news media have been responsible for some of the greatest April Fools' Day pranks in history. In 1977, the London newspaper The Guardian published a seven-page supplement commemorating the anniversary of the independence of San Serriffe, a completely imaginary small island nation located in the Indian Ocean. The article described the geography of the nation - it consisted of two main islands, which together formed the shape of a semi-colon; the northern one was called "Upper Caisse" and the southern one, "Lower Caisse."
The island's natives were of "Flong" ethnicity, but there were also the descendents of Europeans settlers who had colonized the nation: "colons." The two groups had intermarried over the years; their offspring were "semi-colons."
The capital of the nation was Bodoni and the national bird, the "Kwote."
In the supplement, there were even advertisements from real companies. Texaco announced a contest whose winner would receive a two-week vacation to the island's Cocobanana Beach. Kodak placed an ad saying, "If you have a picture of San Serriffe, we'd like to see it."
The Guardian was flooded with calls for more information. Travel agents complained to the editor because the news had been disruptive to their businesses - customers refused to believe that the islands were only imaginary. The Guardian has reused the prank on a few other April Fools' Days - in 1978, 1980, and 1999 - and each time the island has changed location, moving from the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea to the North Atlantic.

On this day in 1992, National Public Radio announced that Richard Nixon was running for president again. The news came on the show Talk of the Nation and included excerpts of Nixon's speech announcing his candidacy, in which he said, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." It also featured analysis from real political experts. Manypeople expressed their indignation. In the second half of the show, it was revealed a practical joke, and that Canadian comedian Richard Little had impersonated Nixon.

We have many excellent joke books, a good humour/humor section, and much more in the Friends' Bookstore. See you there!