Julie's Journal : My Life in Books

I copied this idea from another blog - @RoofBeamReader.  The goal is to answer the prompts with books you read this year.  These aren't necessarily my favorite reads of the year, just the ones that I could make fit.

In high school I was: Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (Mindy Kaling)

People might by surprised (by): What She Knew (Gilly MacMillan)

I will never be: The Duchess (Danielle Steel)

My fantasy job is: The Paper Magician (Charlie N. Holmberg)

At the end of a long day I need: Roses (Leila Meacham)

I hate it when: And Then You’re Dead (Cody Cassidy and Paul Doherty)

Wish I had: The Rose Garden (Susanna Kearsley)

My family reunions are: Pandemonium (Lauren Oliver)

At a party you’d find me with: Only the Lucky (Linda Castillo)

I’ve never been to (an): Island of Glass (Nora Roberts)

A happy day includes: God’s Gift (Dee Henderson)

Motto I live by: Get Well Soon (Jennifer Wright)

On my bucket list is: The Book Jumper (Mechthild Glaser)

In my next life, I want to have: The Never Ending Story (Michael Ende)

Coding/Robotics - Ozobots

We finished up our very first coding class yesterday!  Every Wednesday this fall our class has met and learned how to program Ozobots.

The tiny robots lend themselves well to learning to code, using a block style of coding.  We've been remiss at taking pictures because our classes went so fast.  There was just so much to learn!  

We had our end of class party yesterday.  The Friends of the Library rewarded the class with Ozobots of their very own!

The kids were thrilled, of course, and wanted to know what was coming next.  Well....  we're going to be learning to create computer games using Scratch!

Scratch is a free programming language from MIT and is perfect for furthering our coding education.  We will be working on getting together projects for the class from now until January 24th, when classes start again. 

Our plan for the spring is to have two classes.  Jason Baxter, Julie's husband and a fifth grade teacher, will be teaching the Ozobots class.  It is open to any student over 8 years old with an interest in coding.  Please sign up soon as spaces are limited.

Julie will be teaching the Scratch class, which also has a few spots available to students over 8 who have a little bit of prior coding experience.  Spaces are very limited in this class as well, so be sure to sign up soon.  

We hope that Mr. and Mrs. Dunn will again be available to help.  Both classes will be on Wednesday afternoons at 4:00 and last about 45 minutes.  Classes begin January 24th!

Tom's Two Cents: Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

The publication of a new and substantive biography of Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson has coincided with the sale at Christie's Auction House this week of the only Leonardo still in a private collection for $450 million--yes, that's $450 million--the highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.  The painting is "Salvator Mundi," (Fig. 83 in the book), a painting of Christ as Savior of the World.  Its authenticity has been questioned by some experts, but the fact is that, as far as we know, there are only fifteen known Leonardo paintings in the world and this is the only one not in a museum.  So it's not so much a question of Leonardo being the greatest painter of all time as it is the rarity of his artistic work.  Leonardo was a universal genius, so far ahead of his time that painting was, for him, almost an incidental skill.

Isaacson's biography, therefore, concentrates not just on Leonardo's art, but on the complexity of his mind and the fields of endeavor that he explored, especially in science and anatomy. In fact, in virtually all his biographies (he is a professor of history at Tulane University) Isaacson's principal area of interest is the nature of genius--hence his books on such widely diverse men as Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Steve Jobs.  Although his subject matter is heavy, Isaacson's approach to his subject is essentially light--a kind of populist biography, if you will.  I'm not suggesting that it reads like a novel, yet it certainly is true that Leonardo's life and times were anything but dull, and so Isaacson presents them.

This is one heavy book, and I mean that quite literally.  At 524 pages with high quality paper and superb illustrations, it will not rest comfortably in your lap or be held in your hands--so look for something stable to rest it on.  There are 33 chapters, many complete in themselves, and even if you choose not to read the text, flip through the book and look at the illustrations.  They are indeed a wonder.  Not for everybody, but surely not for those only interested in art, either!

Giving Tuesday

Chance's Corner: Justice League Review

As a film, Justice League is a hot mess. However, as a comic book film, it's pretty awesome. Comic book panels seemingly come to life with fast transitions, leaps in plot and bombastic battles during a running time of just two hours. This leaves very little room to breathe, which sounds like a complaint, but I was left more breathless than overwhelmed. Now, I'm not saying that Justice League blew my socks off. It's good. Not great. Honestly, I feel that there's a better film laying on the cutting room floor somewhere, just like there was with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Superman II. In fact, I know there's a film laying on the cutting room floor, a film that reflects director Zack Snyder's true vision. Snyder stepped away from the film after his daughter's suicide, which left the Justice League open to studio interference (the imposed two hour limit) and "screenwriter" Joss Whedon's reshoots and rewrites to "lighten-up" the overall tone. They claim that Whedon didn't change much, but his screenplay credit proves that more than 33% percent of the screenplay was altered, and it seems that nearly every scene with Superman (Henry Cavill) has been reshot - the mustache-be-gone CGI being the tell-tale sign. Also, Whedon had Snyder's usual collaborator and original composer, Junkie XL, replaced with Danny Elfman to lend Justice League a more classical score. Elfman gave me goosebumps with the nods to the John Williams' 1978 Superman score and Elfman's own 1989 Batman score, but there's not a lot to rave about beyond that. So, is there a Zack Snyder Cut in store for us in the near future? I sure hope so.

Justice League's main problem lies in its lack of depth. I was particularly concerned with how the Justice League haphazardly came together and the big baddie Steppenwolf's motivation. Who even is Steppenwolf? I have no idea, other than he's the nephew of the king of all evil, Darkseid. It took a Google search to find that out. Out of all the villains I've seen so far in the DC Extended Universe, Steppenwolf is definitely the least fleshed out. As for the Justice League itself, some characters are more developed than others. The real MVP is The Flash (Ezra Miller). He's like a kid in a candy store, and he has some truly great moments, like when he realizes Superman can keep up with his super speed. Out of all the Whedon jokes cracked, The Flash's land the most. As for the other teammates, Aquaman (Jason Momoa) is kind of just there - essentially eye candy. I was really surprised by the importance of Cyborg (Ray Fisher) to the team. If I expected anyone to be glossed over, it would have been him. The already established characters, Batman (Ben Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) and Superman, add welcome familiarity to the host of fresh faces.

Overall, Justice League feels more like a setup for things to come, rather than a complete film, which is easy to understand knowing that this was originally conceived as a two-parter. If you're wondering what is to come, be sure to stay and feast your eyes on the post-credits sequence!

Julie's Journal : What I've Been Reading

Yesterday, I finished The Lying Game, by Ruth Ware.  I have read both of Ms. Ware's two previous books, In a Dark, Dark Wood and The Woman in Cabin 10.  Of the three, I enjoyed The Woman in Cabin 10 the most.  In the psychological suspense genre, I expect a little more suspense than I got in The Lying Game.  Isa is a new mother and a civil service lawyer.  She lives in London with her partner, Owen and their child.  One day, in the middle of the night, she receives a cryptic three word text - "I need you".  It is from her childhood friend, Kate.  She immediately packs up her baby and heads for Salten, where she had gone to boarding school for one brief summer the year she was 15.  At Kate's home, she is reunited with their two other boarding school friends, Thea and Fatima.  They have supposedly come back for their 15 year reunion dinner, but in fact a body has been found.  They must figure out what their story will be about the night Kate's father disappeared.  The suspense in this book has to do more with the why's of the events rather than the events themselves.  I felt like too much was revealed too soon, and the suspense never had a chance to build.  I never felt like I was hanging onto the edge of my seat.
 

Another recent read, Emma in the Night, by Wendy Walker, was a more satisfying psychological suspense book.  Three years ago, Emma and her sister, Cass, disappeared.  Emma's car was found along the shore, along with a pair of her shoes.  The only trace of Cass was a single hair in the car.  The authorities never discovered what happened to them.  Now, only Cass has returned.  She begins telling a story of an island and a home with a couple who advertised that they "help" teenage runaways.  Her constant refrain to authorities is "Find Emma; you must find Emma."  We also get Cass and Emma's backstory.  We learn of their very dysfunctional childhood.  Their mother is narcissistic and after their parents divorce, life with their new stepfather and brother is anything but idyllic.  I enjoyed the way the past and present were woven together to give the reader a full picture of what happened. 

Do you watch Homicide Hunter on the ID channel?  Joe Kenda is a retired detective from Colorado Springs, and tells the stories of his most interesting cases.  His book, I Will Find You, gives details about his life, how he became a homicide detective, and the toll working on murder cases for over 20 years took on him.  He gives additional details about some of the stories that have aired on Homicide Hunter as well as telling new ones.  The book is full of his trademark dry, somewhat morbid, sense of humor.  I enjoyed this book, but be aware that it contains very bad language, and graphic details from crime scenes.

After finishing The Lying Game yesterday, I picked up The October List by Jeffrey Deaver.  I am reading it based on the recommendation of Reavis Wortham during his author visit last Tuesday.  The books is written completely backwards. It opens with the climactic chapter.  Gabrielle is sitting in an apartment waiting to find out if her daughter Sarah is safe.  Sarah was kidnapped about two days before and a ransom is being paid.  Each chapter goes back in time anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours.  We see several different view points and begin to put together the events that have led up to the final moment.  I am about halfway through this quick read, and beginning to wonder if any part of what I think I know about Gabrielle, Sarah, and the people helping them is correct.  Mr. Wortham said that as soon as he finished the book, he reread it, this time looking for clues as to the outcome he knew was there.  He says it is a masterful book.  I am trying hard not to succumb to temptation and read the last (first?) chapter early. 

Poet's Perch : Solitude by Alexander Pope

Solitude

Happy the man, whose wish and care

A few paternal acres bound,

Content to breath his native air

In his own ground.

Whose herds with milk, whose fields with bread,

Whose flocks supply him with attire;

Whose tress in summer yield him shade,

In winter, fire.

Blest, who can unconcernedly find

Hours, days, and years slide soft away

In health of body, peace of mind;

Quiet by day.

Sound sleep by night; study and ease

Together mixed, sweet recreation,

And innocence, which most does please

With meditation.

Thus let me live, unseen, unknown;

Thus unlamented let me die,

Steal from the world, and not a stone

Tell where I lie.

Alexander Pope

Tom's Two Cents : Home: A Memoir of My Early Years, by Julie Andrews

One of the special joys of going to the library is finding books you don't know about: one such this past month was a Julie Andrews memoir of her "early years," those being from birth to about the age of 25.  Hard as it may be to believe, Andrews starred on Broadway in "My Fair Lady" when she was only 21, with already another Broadway success, "The Boy Friend," behind her at 18.  She went on very quickly to achieve another, "Camelot," with the great actor Richard Burton, then to become an Academy Award winner and household name in Walt Disney's "Mary Poppins" by the time she was 25.  Whew!  Did success spoil Julie Andrews?  The answer to that is a whopping NO!   Ultimately she went on to create what was perhaps the most memorable role of her film career, Maria in "The Sound of Music."

Not surprising to read that Julie Andrews came from a family performance tradition. Both her mother, a seasoned and very talented pianist, and her aunt, a dancer and dance teacher, as well as her stepfather, a singer from Canada, contributed to her early life on the stage.  By the time she was five, she was totally comfortable there and in the process of developing a clearly phenomenal voice that went up to a high-F.  (If you don't know how high this is, try it sometime!). Even before her teens she was singing the famous "Polonaise" from "Mignon".  (Listen to it on Youtube and prepare to be astounded.)  If she lacked anything by the time of creating Eliza Doolittle, it was only a Cockney accent, which she had to learn, and a certain insecurity in her acting, which she credits Alan J. Learner himself for helping her to overcome.

This memoir takes Andrews through her rise to stardom and ends with her arrival in Hollywood with first husband Tony Walton and baby daughter Emma, to take on the role of Mary Poppins in the film that brought her fame and a much wider audience than those brilliant Broadway musicals ever would have.  The memoir is at its most interesting, however, when it tells the story of the development of those Learner and Loewe musicals that made history, even as Rogers and Hammerstein had done two decades earlier.  The team of L&L, along with their great director, Moss Hart, is truly the stuff of Broadway legend, and Julie Andrews was there in the thick of all of it.  Her movie career, her late loss of her voice, and her career as a children's author with her daughter, Emma, is the stuff of yet another story.

Two Tired Librarians

You are looking at a picture of two exhausted librarians.  Lisa and Julie spent all day today unloading shelves of books upstairs.  Today was the first step to the fulfillment of the grant we received to replace all of the shelving upstairs as well as some of the other furniture.  When we got to work this morning, the main room upstairs looked like this:

By the end of the day, the main room upstairs looks like this:

And the end room is now FULL of books:

Now, on to step two - having the old shelving removed and the carpet cleaned in preparation for the new shelving's arrival.  Be sure to make note of our adjusted hours for the next couple of weeks as we work to complete this project.  Hours are posted on Facebook and on our front door.  

Chance's Corner: Stranger Things

You better prepare yourself because things are about to get really, really strange at the Franklin County Library! Yes, that's right, THE hottest television/streaming show of 2016, Stranger Things, has finally made its way to DVD.

Set in late 1983, Stranger Things takes place in the small town of Hawkins, Indiana, where a young boy, Will Byers (Noah Schnapp), goes missing. His mother, Joyce (Winona Ryder), is desperate to find him, but she isn't taken very seriously by Sheriff Jim Hopper (David Harbour) or anyone in town because she has "a past". Her running around with an ax and claiming her son is trying to communicate with her through Christmas lights doesn't really help her case. While her boy is missing, another child is found roaming in the nearby woods, a girl known only as Eleven (Millie Boddy Brown). Eleven can do things - things with her mind - and for some reason, the people at the nearby U.S. Department of Energy laboratory are itching to get their hands on her. Oh yeah, the "Department of Energy" also might of let a creature from another dimension (The Upside Down) loose. It's just another normal day in Hawkins!

Stranger Things is a blast from the past - a perfect mixture of nostalgia, Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment films, e.g. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, The Goonies, Poltergeist, and a combination of numerous other horror/science fiction flicks of the '80s. The score is a synthy dreamscape of whimsy and danger, and is unlike anything you've heard since the '70s and '80s. Well, unless you've seen recent horror films Starry Eyes and It Follows, but for a television show, it's still phenomenal and original. While Stranger Things certainly has moments that might make you consider leaving the lights on while you sleep, it's not too overbearing in its scares, so don't be too afraid to give it a try.

Be prepared to enter The Upside Down, because Stranger Things: Season 1 is now available for check out!

Tom's Two Cents : A Farewell to Hemingway

In the past five years or so, I've re-read most of Ernest Hemingway's major work, and I'm very sorry to say (especially in print!) that I don't think it's standing the test of time very well.  Of course I'm aware that artists, musicians, and writers, great ones, go in and out of fashion: a hundred years ago some museums had their Rembrandts stored in the basement. In his own children's time, or shortly thereafter, Bach all but disappeared from the classical repertory; and now certain so-called "great" writers are being re-evaluated.  Fitzgerald, for example, did not receive great recognition in his own time. Now "Gatsby" at any rate is up there with the best of them.

I'm one of those who, in the 50's, grew up under the spell of Hemingway's style and tried for much of my limited writing career to emulate him.  Of course I was never a Hemingway man: I didn't hunt or fish or run with the bulls in Pamplona or go on African safari, but I suppose I bought into the Hem legend of being (or wanting to be) a "Hemingway Man."  The Hem Man lived fast and loose, attracted both women and men, wrote with disciplinary precision, and, perhaps most important, faced danger and death heroically and stoically.  Hemingway did all or most of these things, except tragically he did not die young.  It seems the one thing he could NOT face was old-age disability and psychic and physical impotence.  If he had died in war or been gored by a bull or torn apart by an African lion, his death would have doubtless been considered heroic.  Instead, he put a shotgun in his mouth and killed himself.

Nonetheless, he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in the 50's, principally for his then-considered powerful style and his late novella, "The Old Man and the Sea."  Neither of these is greatly admired today.  Hemingway's machismo persona comes across as rather comical, and his lean, journalistic style has been so often imitated and parodied that today it seems clichéd. 

What is left?  Maybe "A Moveable Feast," Hemingway's recollections of Paris in the 20's, which I do remember reading fairly recently with great respect.  As to the three great novels, "The Sun Also Rises," "A Farewell to Arms," and "For Whom the Bell Tolls," I leave it for future generations to decide.  Hard to believe that his earliest work is now approaching its 100th anniversary!

Federal Trade Commission Pamphlets

Protect Yourself

The Christmas season is fast approaching -

I can already hear the ding of the cash registers and the obnoxious honk-honk of the card readers. Protecting yourself should be in the back of everyone’s mind all year long.  Identity theft, compromised credit and bank cards, fraud, scams and data breaches have unfortunately become a way of life in the digital age. 

The library has free information on how to protect yourself and what to do if you fall victim to these crimes.  We recently received materials from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on the following topics:

Identity Theft – A Recovery Plan

Living Life Online – A Teen’s Guide to Life Online

Child ID Theft – What to Know, What to Do

Data Breaches – What to Know, What to Do

Charity Fraud

“You’ve Won” Scams

Grandkid Scams

Tech Support Scams

IRS Imposter Scams

Online Dating Scams

The best defense is a good offense!

Protect yourself and have a plan.

Julie's Journal : My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier

As a teenager, Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier was one of my first introductions to the gothic novel.  The spectre of the first Mrs. de Winter, the remote Manderley, the overbearing housekeeper, and the shy, uncertain new bride made for a deliciously dark, romantic, mystery.  Rebecca and, having read it at about the same time, Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre whetted my appetite for dark and mysterious suitors with secrets in their pasts.  

   

It seems strange to me that I had never read anything else by du Maurier.  My Cousin Rachel caught my attention this year because it was made into a movie and I saw the trailer.  It looked like an interesting gothic story.  I finally got around to reading the book this past week, and it did not disappoint.  It is, though, a very different story from Rebecca.  

24 year old Phillip Ashley has been raised by his bachelor cousin, Ambrose, in a household comprised only of men.  When Ambrose travels to Florence and meets Rachel, falls in love, and marries her, Phillip cannot be more surprised.  Very quickly Ambrose falls ill, and within a short period of time, he dies.  Meanwhile, Phillip has received some somewhat cryptic messages from Ambrose and believes that Rachel may have played a part in his death.  When the new widow decides to visit Phillip and the family home, Phillip resolves to have his revenge on her.  His plans are thwarted however, when he discovers that Rachel is not the evil crone he has pictured, but rather a small, pretty, charming woman only a few years older than himself.  In spite of himself, Phillip is drawn to her and quickly turns from being set on revenging himself on her, to falling in love with her. 

Rachel's thoughts, feelings, and motives are a little harder to figure out.  Is she the grieving widow of Ambrose, come to his home to return his personal effects to Phillip?  Or is she conniving, and, having been left out of Ambrose's will, coming to charm Phillip into giving her an allowance, or better yet, his entire estate?  Did Ambrose die of a brain tumor, and the insanity that seems to run in the family?  Or did Rachel help him along by using her knowledge of herbs to poison his tea?  

For much of the story, I was convinced that Rachel was simply manipulating the gullible and naive Phillip.  I wanted him to wake up and see past her charms, to the calculating, murderous woman within.  However, du Maurier is a skilled storyteller, and just when Phillip realizes that Rachel is not the woman he thinks she is and sets out on an irrevocable course of action, du Maurier casts doubt on Rachel's guilt.  The book ends cryptically with both Phillip and the reader left confused about who Rachel really is.  For myself, I think that she was manipulating Phillip for both his money and property, but I am not sure she is a murderess.  I am sure that the uncertainty is what Daphne du Maurier intended.  Now, I have to watch the movie to see how it compares to the book.

My Cousin Rachel is available as an e-book on our Overdrive app.  FCL also has the movie available for check out.  

Chance's Corner: Bigger Than Life Review

Caution! This nuclear family is in the middle of meltdown!

Ed Avery (James Mason), the core of the Avery nuclear family, suffers a complete collapse due to hardening veins, but his family doctor may have a solution to ease his pain and prolong his life - the "miracle" drug called cortisone. It's still in the experimental phases, though, so the side effects are relatively unknown - other than a few bouts of depression. Under close supervision, Ed is administered varying dosages of cortisone at the hospital to see how strong of a dosage he needs to relieve his pain, which takes place during one of the greatest and most informative graph montages ever conceived. Once the right dosage is found, Ed is released to return back to his loving wife, Lou (Barbara Rush), and his son, Richie (Christopher Olsen).

Just one more pill...

Ed has never felt better in his entire life. He's spry as a schoolboy and he picks up the habit of tossing around the ole pigskin with his son - a pigskin that once sat deflated on the fireplace mantle. Ed becomes a little too gung-ho, though, and starts spending money he just doesn't have, much to his wife's dismay. After an argument that ends with a mirror being shattered (not by Ed!), Ed has an emotional breakdown and decides that he only needs to up his cortisone dosage to solve his emotional problems. Oh brother...

Even Ed's shadow looms over his wife and son.

Once Ed becomes addicted to the cortisone tablets, his life spirals completely out of control. He calls his students morons in front of their parents during an open house meeting, he harasses the milkman for "intentionally" making the glass bottles "jingle jangle", he turns football into torture for his son, and he thinks he is intellectually superior - hence the title Bigger Than Life. Ed remarks that he feels ten feet tall after getting out of the hospital. The camera seems to agree, as a low angle makes him appear taller than the school he teaches at. His best friend, Wally (Walter Matthau), punctuates the point by saying that Ed has become a big shot - "he even looks bigger!"

Lou argues that it's only the pills that's making her husband say and think such ugly things, but I disagree. Before his collapse, Ed remarks that everyone he knows is dull, and the travel posters plastered on every wall in the house reflect his desire for a bigger and better life. The cortisone injections may have driven Ed to become a homicidal maniac, but every "superior" thought, every annoyance, was just festering inside of him from the get-go as that silent voice in his head that he always told to shut up. Lou is quick to forgive, but I wouldn't be, especially after he came after me and my son with a pair of scissors. Director Nicholas Ray tries to paint a picture of hope at the end, but the doctors point out that Ed will have to continue taking cortisone if he wishes to live. Ed, Lou, and Richie may be hugging each other at the end, but I bet Lou's telling a very terrified voice inside her head to shut up.

Poet's Perch : If by Rudyard Kipling

If

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too:

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

Or being hated don't give way to hating,

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim,

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same:

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, 

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings,

And never breathe a word about your loss:

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: "Hold On!"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much:

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

Rudyard Kipling

Where We Were - September 11, 2001

This morning the news was showing footage from September 11, 2001.  I (Julie) saw again footage of the planes flying into the World Trade Center and the towers collapsing, the explosion at the Pentagon, and the plane crash in Pennsylvania.  They then cut to today's memorial.  Every year, the family members of the victims gather and read aloud the names of everyone lost in the attacks.  Even today, 16 years after the event, the reading of the names is emotional and poignant.

I asked everyone working today to write a brief paragraph about where they were when they heard about the attacks. (Lisa is out of town, so her story is not included.)

Julie:  I was a 21 year old newlywed, living in Commerce.  I had gone to the laundromat to do laundry and as I was getting out of my car, someone else was sitting in their car listening to the radio and I heard bits and pieces of what was happening.  After I started my laundry, I too sat in my car and listened to the reports.  Later, watching the coverage on TV, I felt great grief for the families of the victims and for our country.  It felt like the world was shifting around me.  I knew that the United States would never be the same.

Christian:  When I heard the news, I was on my way home from work, planning to change clothes and go to class.  As I was flipping through radio stations, I heard the news about the 1st plane.  I was floored.  When I got home, I told my parents what happened, and we immediately turned on the television.  At that point the 2nd plane had crashed into the Twin Towers.  I remember feeling shock, confusion, and overwhelming sadness.

Chance:  I was in intermediate school.  I remember that the bell rang for class to start, but the teacher wasn't in the classroom.  All the teachers were in the hallway murmuring about something.  Everyone in the classroom started to murmur too.  After a little bit, our teacher came into the classroom, and we could all sense that something was wrong.  What had we done?  Our teacher then said, "You probably don't know what this means, but the World Trade Center has been attacked."  She was right, I had no idea what that meant.  It didn't take too long after that when everyone's parents started coming to the school to pick us up early.  The news was on when I got home, and I got to see just exactly what was going on.  I was confused, and terrified, and I learned what a terrorist was that day.

Chance's Corner: Mildred Pierce Review

Joan Crawford, considered to be "Box Office Poison" in 1938 by the Independent Film Journal because her high salary didn't reflect in her bankability, looked to restart her career at Warner Brothers, and after submitting herself to a screen test, she landed the lead role in Mildred Pierce. It seemed to a be a low point for Joan, but as we all know now, it would turn out to be one of her highest highs.

Mildred Pierce is essentially a melodrama that was retooled as a film noir, and the two genres blend extremely well. This unique blend allows a strong, female character (that's not a femme fatale) to take the lead in a rather dark, murderous plot, and the plot here may be the most sinister of all. Mildred Pierce is about a single, hard-working mother (Joan Crawford) who tries to make ends meet, while also pampering her two daughters, Veda (Ann Blyth) and Kay (Jo Ann Marlowe). It's not just a matter of spoiling them, though. Mildred wants to provide a life for them that is devoid of the economic hardships that she has faced. Unfortunately, Mildred's hard work is hardly suitable to her oldest daughter, Veda. With every great film noir, there is a great femme fatale, and Mildred has found hers in her own daughter.

Joan Crawford, no matter what you may or may not believe about her, was without a doubt a phenomenal actress dedicated to her craft. Mildred Pierce may have netted Joan her one and only Oscar win for Best Actress, but it solidified her star status for all time. She's not the only great thing about Mildred Pierce, though. There's also Michael Curtiz's sharp direction, the beautifully dark shadows overcast with cigarette smoke, intense mother-daughter slaps, Eve Arden's crackerjack performance (that should have won her the Oscar), and so much more. Mildred Pierce really does spoil its viewer, and unlike Veda, we appreciate it.

Julie's Journal : Gone at 3:17

Wow.  Living my entire life in East Texas, I had of course heard about the New London school explosion, the worst school disaster in American history.  I knew that natural gas had built up in the basement of the school, and that the resulting explosion is the reason that gas is now injected with the sulphuric rotten egg smell that we are all familiar with.  That was about the extent of my knowledge about the explosion.

Gone at 3:17 brings to life the real people who lived through the explosion and it's aftermath.  Gone begins with the story of the discovery of oil in Rusk county in 1930.  That discovery resulted in a boom that brought thousands of people to the area.  Kilgore, Henderson, and other small towns in the area became big towns overnight.  New London became rich with oil money and was able to build a new state of the art school in 1934 - a school that would be blown to bits in 1937 on March 18th, at 3:17 p.m., when a teacher flipped a switch, which ignited a spark and set off the explosion.

The first chapter of the book is titled 3:16 and is heartrending.  It details the tiny decisions made by people that day that determined whether they lived or died.  Bill Thompson traded seats with a girl in his class during the last few minutes of a class period.  He lived, she did not, and he lived with the guilt of trading places with her for the rest of his life.  Two girls had been pulled out of class to do some extra studying for a contest that was taking place the next day, and they survived when most of their classmates did not.  Another student survived because he was taking out the trash for his teacher.  Yet another had left his band uniform at home and was given permission to go get it because of a band contest that was happening just after school.  Perry Cox had tried to skip school, but his father caught him, paddled him, and sent him to school.  Mr. Cox never got over his son's death.

The chapter detailing the actual explosion is hard to read, but reading about the aftermath was even more difficult.  As soon as the explosion occurred, people from miles around began heading toward the school.  Men and women began digging through the rubble, pulling out survivors and victims.  Many parents found their own children in the debris.  More and more victims were pulled from the site and were taken to several towns in the area as both hospitals and morgues were filling up.  Parents made the rounds of all the places where kids were taken, hoping to identify their children.  Mother Francis hospital in Tyler was slated for its grand opening on Friday, the 19th, but opened a day early to receive victims.  Reporters, including a very young Walter Cronkite, showed up hoping for a scoop, and instead found themselves pitching in.  Many would say it was the worse scene they ever reported on, including those who reported later on WWII.  The total death toll remains uncertain, but is somewhere between 300 and 350.

Monument at the site of the explosion.

Gone at 3:17 is a very difficult book to read, but also an important one.  So many of the safety measures that are in place today in our lives were precipitated by unfathomable tragedy.  The oil boom of the early 30's brought wealth and prosperity to many people during the Great Depression, but countless lives were lost in the process.  It is important to remember the sacrifices of those who have gone before us.  So many of the luxuries and technologies that we enjoy today were purchased with the lives of those who worked to bring them to existence.

Julie's Journal : Psychological Thrillers

This summer, I have had fun recommending books to Sydney and Kristin, our summer helpers.  They both have enjoyed several books in the popular genre of psychological thrillers.

Try one out and see what you think!  Guaranteed to keep you guessing!

Exciting News! - Katie Hamilton Book Launch Party

Chance's Corner: What is a "Good" Movie?

I get asked to recommend movies all the time here at the library, and while I enjoy doing it, sometimes it proves to be no easy task. Movies are a form of art, and the appreciation of art has always been based on opinion. So, for example, when people ask me to recommend me a good comedy, I have to wonder what they consider to be "good". Are they Adam Sandler and Melissa McCarthy types? Do they prefer dry, black, toilet, screwball, satire, or slapstick? It's usually easy to figure out once I ask them what they like. However, you also have the ones that ask me to recommend them just a "good" movie. Oh dear. There's all sorts of possibilities there. Should I walk them over to the classic section or pick out the 17th (ha) Transformers movie?

Luckily, whenever I'm put in that situation, I have some movies that I can fall back on. One of them is called The Straight Story. No, it's not called The Straight Story because it's one of David Lynch's most straight-forward films. Yes, I'm talking about the same David Lynch behind some of the most enigmatic, freaky and surreal films ever made. The Straight Story actually gets its title from the true story of Alvin Straight, and his 260 mile journey on a '66 John Deere lawnmower to see his ailing brother in "party-town" Wisconsin. The Straight Story is more or less a family film, not one of Lynch's eerie masterworks, but his trademarks are still all over the film, adding complexity and symbolism as only Lynch can. I do warn that the film is slowly paced, but overall it's a very touching story and worth the wait (and tears).

The Straight Story is available at the Franklin County Library.