Chance's Corner: Florence + The Machine

I have a short list of musicians I'd like to see in concert, and last week my list got even shorter when I got to see Florence + The Machine live and in-person. Florence + The Machine is an English indie rock/alternative band that caught my attention way back in 2008 with the release of their single "Dog Days Are Over". Since then, Florence + The Machine has soothed my soul with other hits such as "Sweet Nothing", "Shake It Out", "Only If for a Night", "Breath of Life", "Seven Devils" and their contribution to The Great Gatsby soundtrack "Over the Love".

As all my concert experiences have been, thus far, I've gotten to sit through some pretty interesting opening acts. ZZ Top, Semi Precious Weapons, Courtney Love, and now... Grimes. Her style of music is what I'd call "experimental" electronic, a blend of all genres cranked up a notch. She comes off sweet and meek, but wow... she's a powerhouse packed in a small body. Probably one of the most interesting opening acts I've seen. I would definitely call it a rave atmosphere.

Grimes

The main act, however, was more of a spiritual experience. The lead singer, Florence Welch, has an extraordinary vocal talent. I was covered in goosebumps the entire time and transfixed at her limitless energy as she ran and bounced around the stage (barefooted!). At one point she left the stage, and I was like... where did she go? Next thing I know, she's running towards me and passes right by! My knees nearly buckled.

Florence

After the concert, basking in afterglow, I flipped through the concert program and discovered that Florence has her own book club! It's called Between Two Books. Past reads include Fates and Furies, Their Eyes Were Watching God, The Great Gatsby, The Goldfinch and many others. I've always known that Florence was inspired by literature, catching references in her lyrics, so getting to know which books inspire her is very cool!

Julie's Journal : Book Challenges - Anne of Green Gables

One of the book challenges that I signed up for this year was the 2016 Anne of Green Gables Reading Challenge by purpleinkstudios.net/.  I've been keeping on track with this one, which means I just finished book five of the series, Anne's House of Dreams.


The Anne books take place on Prince Edward Island. Anne is an orphan who finds a home with the elderly brother/sister pair of Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. Through the series we get to watch Anne grow from a precocious eleven year old, to a beloved teacher, and finally to a mother who delights in her own children. I love Anne and all her adventures.  Her life has not always been easy, but she keeps a sunny outlook and finds joy in all the simple pleasures of life.  She is always ready to make new friends and is adored by all who know her.  She is funny, wise, loving, and kind.   I've read the books many times and never get tired of going back to P.E. Island to visit.

Since there are only 8 books in the main series, and 12 months out of the year, the challenge asks us to read at least two other books by L.M. Montgomery.  I am choosing to read The Blythes are Quoted, which I've never read before.  It is a collection of stories and poetry written by Anne and her family.  I also think I will read the Emily of New Moon trilogy.  It doesn't center around Anne at all, but is also about an orphan.  I've never read it either, so it should be interesting.

I'm finding this challenge easy to keep up with.  Others on my challenge list are little more difficult.  I'll be updating my progress on those soon.

2016 Summer Schedule

Poet's Perch : There Is No Frigate Like a Book by Emily Dickinson

There Is No Frigate Like a Book

There is no frigate like a book

To take us lands away,

Nor any coursers like a page

Of prancing poetry.

This traverse may the poorest take

Without oppress of toll;

How frugal is the chariot

That bears a human soul!

Emily Dickinson

Image from: http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/2016/03/no-frigate-like-a-book.html

Chance's Corner: For Movie Lovers

When you walk in a library you expect books, right? Well, as all our usual patrons know, the Franklin County Library has plenty of movies, new and old, to choose from! I'm pretty sure that we're the cheapest movie rental place in town... because it's free! Unless the movies are turned in late, of course. Tsk, tsk, tsk!

By sitting at the front desk, I know that some people have some pretty strong opinions about the movies they check in and out here at the library. Some are good, some are bad, and some are mixed. That's just how it goes in the movie-making business. I use a lot of these verbal reviews to help guide people on what they should watch next. The reviews also help me out when other people hold up a movie and ask, "is this any good?"

Other places I gather reviews are the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and Letterboxd. Both use user-generated reviews to formulate an overall rating, instead of relying on professional critics, which I often disagree with. But what's the difference between the two websites?

IMDb is the go-to place to look up anything you ever wanted to know about a movie. Who is in the movie? Who directed it? What was the budget? When was it made? What's some interesting facts about it? IMDb has all that and more.

I just recently joined Letterboxd, so I'm still getting to know the website, but overall it's a site where an individual can log and review movies in a diary-type format. You can also review movies you've already seen, but they won't be logged into your diary. It's a great place to connect with other people who share the same movie tastes as you.

If any of you movie lovers are interested, you should join and let your opinions be known! Would love to see you on either site.

Tom's Two Cents : House of Cards on Netflix

I never expected to be admitting to anyone that I've been binging on a TV series, much less one about politics.  It's bad enough to binge on anything, chocolate maybe, but television?  Well, my cousin Doug tricked me into it by coming down from Dallas a few weeks ago, shopping with me for an Apple TV remote and then conveniently installing the darn thing.  A couple of episodes of "House of Cards" and I was hooked.  Admittedly I had seen the British 3-episode series with the great Ian Mackellan first, but the American version with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright, now at the end of its fourth season, has gone to 52 episodes and is still running strong.  Why?  Well, it's superbly written, acted, directed and produced, but it's very, very dark, and, if you take it too seriously, not just as a piece of entertainment, but as a rather true-to-life slice of America's political pie, then it's positively scary.

"House of Cards" is the story of Francis Underwood, U.S. Senator and Majority Whip from South Carolina, and his wife, Claire, both deeply driven and ambitious individuals, enmeshed in the political machinations of the nation's Capitol.  And what machinations they are!  Alongside Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright is a superb ensemble cast with a Machiavellian plot line that allows very little time, if any, for kitchen or bathroom breaks (no commercial interruptions--aha!) each episode filled with twists and turns that may or may not be unraveled until later in the season.  The series as a whole traces the rise of the Senator from South Carolina from Majority Whip to Secretary of the Treasury to Vice-President to President, while his equally ambitious wife conspires both with and against him to create her own ascendancy from U.S. Ambassador to the UN to his running partner in next year's (i.e. Season's) forthcoming presidential election.  By the end of this fourth season, if not long before, you know this couple will stop at--well, nothing, actually, to achieve their path to power.

Does this show descend into melodrama, murder and mayhem, and explicit and sometimes pointless sexuality?  Yes--at times, but for the most part it walks a finely rugged line in appealing to mass audiences and prurient interests.  Believe it or not, the best comparison I can make is to Shakespeare's "Macbeth," even to its use of an old dramatic technique, the aside to the audience.  At their common core both works are about the corruption of power in high places and the inevitable fall of those who get there.  After four seasons of devious and malevolent ascent, I predict that "House of Cards," like "Macbeth," can go only downward, into death and destruction.  Attributed to Euripides (but in fact erroneously), the statement "Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad [with power]" could easily be the watchword of this show.

Chance's Corner: The Bell Jar

I've been struggling to find a good book to keep my attention, so in times of great need, I always turn to the classics. One classic that's been in my to-read pile for quite a while is Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar. I knew going into it that it wasn't going to be a fun read. The blurb on the back, by Robert Scholes of The New York Times, clearly states that it's "the kind of book [J.D.] Salinger's Franny might have written about herself ten years later, if she had spent those ten years in Hell." Oh, joy....

The Bell Jar starts off on a dour note, the electrocution of the Rosenbergs. Something the main character, Esther Greenwood, becomes somewhat obsessed about, to her own dismay. She's also dismayed to be in New York, wearing fancy clothes, socializing with girls her own age, and attending swanky events hosted by the fashion magazine she's working for during the summer. She tries to fit in, and plays the part as best she can, but overall she's so blasé about the whole ordeal. She knows she shouldn't feel that way, but honestly she just can't help it.

As the story goes along, the indifference, and keenness to the macabre, turns into madness. Suffering from depression, she crawls under her mattress to blot out the light, continuously ponders on how to kill herself, and actually attempts to kill herself via several methods. After a few failed shock treatments, Esther is finally confined to a mental hospital. Throughout this whole experience, you're in her head, hearing her maddening thoughts, and feeling that maybe you're going a little mad, too.

The ending is a little uncertain, not the happiest of endings, but it is hinted at earlier on in the book that Esther grows older and lives a normal life with a child. However, knowing that The Bell Jar is a semi-autobiographical look at Sylvia Plath's own early life, it's clear that it all ends in tragedy. Plath killed herself in 1963, one month after The Bell Jar was published.

Despite the subject matter, and lingering sadness, The Bell Jar is beautifully written. The images that Plath conjures, about New York, especially, are enticing. One of my favorite lines is:

"My secret hope of spending the afternoon alone in Central Park died in the glass eggbeater of Ladies' Day's revolving doors. I found myself spewed out through the warm rain and into the dim, throbbing cave of a cab... "

Would I ever suggest this book to someone? I'm not sure. It offers great insight into how a depressed person would feel, but it's very, very heavy. If you're willing to give it a try, you can check it out here, at the Franklin County Library.

Julie's Journal : Fantasy

I've said before that I read just about anything.  I like good fiction of all sorts, biographies and narrative nonfiction, young adult books, classics and children's classics, and some science fiction.  Lately, I've been on a bit of a fantasy kick.

I've been asked several times what the difference between science fiction and fantasy is. We shelve the two together, but they are not necessarily similar.  Science fiction usually incorporates some sort of advanced technology or scientific capability.  The story might have robots, or clones, or space travel.  On the other hand, fantasy normally incorporates magic and supernatural powers.  Star Wars is more science fiction, while Harry Potter is fantasy.

I have read three fantasy books lately.  The first was awful.  The second was a re-read because I was desperate for something good to read.  The third was new-to-me and very enjoyable.


I read The Magicians because I heard that there was a show based on it airing on the SciFi channel.  I always like to read the books before I watch the show or movie, and after reading this book, I will not be watching the show.  I don't understand why people love this book.  (And they do.  Just read the reviews on Amazon.)  The main character, Quentin Coldwater, discovers, as he is finishing high school, that magic is real and becomes a student at a secret magical university in upstate New York. After finishing at the University, Quentin and his friends discover that books they had loved in childhood are based on a real place in another world and they travel there to visit.  The first part of the book draws heavily from Harry Potter, and the second part from Narnia.  The author seems to have taken both of those stories and tried to make them darker and more adult.  He only succeeds in proving that his world building is not as compelling as either J.K. Rowling's or C.S. Lewis's.  My biggest problem with the book is that Quentin and his friends are entirely unlikable.  They are always depressed, spend lots of time either getting drunk or recovering from hangovers, and when a decision needs to be made, they can be counted on to make the wrong one.  Obviously, I do not recommend The Magicians, but if you wish to read it, it and its sequels are available at FCL.

Eragon is a re-read for me.  Written when the author was just a teen, Eragon is the beginning of an epic adventure.  Our title character, Eragon, discovers a strange blue stone in the mountains near his village.  The stone quickly reveals itself to be an egg when a dragon hatches from it.  Eragon's uncle is killed by creatures know as Ra'zac and Eragon, his dragon Saphira, and an old storyteller named Brom set off on an adventure to try and find the Ra'zac and avenge Eragon's family.   There are four books in this series and we get to travel along with Eragon as he and Saphira learn what it means to be dragon and rider.  They battle forces of evil, learn magic, and help unite humans, elves, and dwarves in the battle against evil.  Do not bother with the movie as it does not do justice to this story.  The entire series is available at FCL.

I finished The Name of the Wind this weekend.  Kote is an innkeeper, with his friend Bast, in a tiny village off the beaten path.  Trouble abounds in the countryside and a spider-like creature called a skrael is menacing the area.  We discover quickly that Kote is an alias for Kvothe, a legendary hero and magician.  Chronicler has discovered Kvothe's whereabouts and has come to try and convince the legend to tell his story in his own words.   Kvothe was born to a family of troupers and spent his early life traveling from town to town as an entertainer.  At one town they picked up a man called Abenathy (Ben) who began to teach Kvothe on a variety of subjects including Sympathy in preparation for sending him to the University.  Eventually Kvothe's family is killed and after much hardship, he comes to the University to learn more about Sympathy, magic, and the Chandrian who killed his family.  His curiosity gets him into trouble a few times, but he is a prodigy and advances through the ranks very quickly.  He learns to use his musical skills to make enough money to pay his tuition and survive, but remains very poor.  Occasionally the story breaks and returns us to the little country inn, but for the most part we hear about Kvothe's time at the University.  I am excited about reading the next book in this series.  The library does not have physical copies of this book, but I found it on our e-reading service, Overdrive. 

Did you know? : Cookbooks

The library has a TON of cookbooks available for checkout.  I brought a few down and made a display, but this is only a fraction of what we have.

Come check out a cookbook and get creative in the kitchen today!

Poet's Perch : Boa Constrictor

I wanted a poem on the lighter side today so I chose Boa Constrictor.  I loved this poem as a child for the imagery it produced in my mind.  Enjoy!

Boa Constrictor

Oh, I'm being eaten
By a boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
A boa constrictor,
I'm being eaten by a boa constrictor,
And I don't like it--one bit.
Well, what do you know?
It's nibblin' my toe.
Oh, gee,
It's up to my knee.
Oh my,
It's up to my thigh.
Oh, fiddle,
It's up to my middle.
Oh, heck,
It's up to my neck.
Oh, dread,
It's upmmmmmmmmmmffffffffff . . .

Shel Silverstein

Movie Matinee : The Intern

If you aren't busy Friday afternoon, why not come by the library and watch The Intern with us.  We will be showing it at 1:30 in the meeting room upstairs.  Light refreshments will be served.  There is no cost to attend this event.

Robert DeNiro plays Ben, a retired widower who jumps back into the workforce as an intern at the successful new online fashion site owned by Jules (Anne Hathaway).  I haven't seen the movie, so I can't give a review, but online reviewers bill it as sweet and funny.

The Intern is rated PG-13. 

Chance's Corner: Children's Graphic Novels

We have a lot to offer at the Franklin County Library, but most people don't know about one of the hidden gems we offer -- graphic novels for children.

Graphic novels are comic-strip style, illustrated adventures that are usually stand-alone, instead of being released serially, and have a more complex plot. Our selections of graphic novels cover both the fiction and non-fiction genres that cover a range of subjects from superheros to mythical heroes, from the history of Indiana Jones to the history of the American Dust Bowl, and from Boxcar Children mysteries to Scooby-Doo mysteries.

The fascinating thing about graphic novels is the artwork put into them, which is oftentimes just as enthralling as the story itself. In the right hands, a graphic novel can be a work of art and can convey more than any words could ever do. With the examples below, which we all have here at the library, you can see that no drawing style is alike.

If your child, or your child at heart, would like to read a graphic novel, they can all be found in our juvenile section. Check them out today!

Tom's Two Cents: "The Ambassadors" by Henry James

Last week when our little book club finished Henry James's next to-next to last novel (and the one he thought his best) we all pretty much asked ourselves, "Why?"  Why did he think so?  Why did at least some of (but not all) the literary critics think so?  Why does James rank so high in most literary circles?  "The Ambassadors" is not, in my opinion, worth all the fuss.  In fact, none of the last three of his novels are even accessible to the general reading public.  One has to work too hard to hack through his jungle of words and freakish syntax (a subject is hardly ever in sight of a predicate in a typically obtuse and lengthy James sentence) to make any sense at all of what he is saying, and even when one does, it rarely seems worth the trouble.  So then why am I bothering to write this review?  Because I think James is well worth reading, but not the later James.

First, a few words about the author himself.  A fussy, privileged New Englander, he spent most of his life abroad in Europe, especially France and England, where he eventually acquired a country home in Rye, Sussex, and entertained many men and women of letters.  He wrote and published a great many novels, short stories and wrote hundreds of letters, but his forays into the theatre were not successful, and no wonder--he had little or no ear for the dramatic or theatrical, and action, or plot, the fundamental element of a successful turn-of-the-20th century play, was of little or no interest to him.  What did absorb him was the more subtle play of personality against personality, hardly ever in any open conflict, but quietly sparring with each other beneath the surface of events--hence his reputation for being one of the first "psychological" novelists of the 20th century.  What he says is rarely as provocative as what he means, and what he means is often uncertain and ambiguous.

The short story "The Turn of the Screw" is probably his best short work, and certainly a good example of the ghost story genre.  Reading James's short stories has merit in itself because it is the best way to escape his long windedness.  Yet one of his finest works is a novel, "Portrait of a Lady," which revolves around his favorite theme: the American abroad.  Of course the American in this case is a privileged young lady, Isabel Archer, who becomes hopeless entangled in a European social milieu.  Another Jamesian limitation here: like most good writers, he wrote about what he knew, but what he knew was pretty much limited to the upper stratum of high, cultivated society, especially in Europe.  Edith Wharton, his latter-day friend and American author/compatriot, wrote more about the same world in America, and to my mind her work comes off better, because it is more incisively critical of that society.

Should I say read old Henry at your own risk?  That depends on who you are and what you want in a good book!  Mercifully, we are all different, so James will continue to be read and taught, but in my estimation not widely appreciated.

Julie's Journal : Susanna Kearsley

A few months ago, I discovered a new author.  Well, new to me anyway.  Susanna Kearsley began publishing in the mid 90s.  Her books are marketed as romance, but I have found that they are so much more.

I first found The Rose Garden on Overdrive, our e-book app.  It begins with our heroine Eva, returning, after the death of her sister, to the place she feels most at home.  She travels to an Trelowarth House on the Cornish coast in the extreme southwest of England where she spent her childhood summers.  Early in her visit, she begins to experience strange visions.  Although at first she chalks them up to grief and fatigue, the visions continue to become more and more real to her and she gradually comes to realize that they are, in fact, actually happening.  She is slipping through time to an era almost 300 years before her own. 

The early 1700's are a dangerous time.  England is dealing with the Jacobite uprising and Eva meets Daniel Butler, a man working as a free-trader, or smuggler.  He lives in Trelowarth House and uses a cave in the coastline as his headquarters.  I won't give too much away, except to say that eventually Eva must decide whether to remain in her own time or live permanently in the 1700s with Daniel.

The Rose Garden is difficult to review because of how complex it is.  The characters from the Jacobite era are based on real historical figures.  The writing is smooth and transitions seamlessly between time-periods.  The earlier time flows smoothly in part because of the descriptions of clothing and food and food preparation.  And in spite of a premise that seems unbelievable, I fell into the story without hesitation.  There were no moments that caused me to "come out" of the story and question how something was possible. 

In short, I devoured this book and immediately looked for more by Ms. Kearsley.  Eventually the library purchased all of her books.  I immediately recommended them to Christian who became hooked, and together we've been recommending them to all our patrons!  You can find most of them on the Overdrive app as well.