Friday, July 25, 2014

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry



In the 1970’s India suffered through a period of social upheaval and political oppression. Prime Minister Indira Ghandi imposed a State of Emergency on the country. She did this mainly to retain political power (ruthlessly purging and arresting opponents and other government officials.) She also tried to forcibly modernize the country. Her thugs, enforcing her policies, inflicted misery on the poorest citizens. Often they were forcibly rounded up and bussed to political rallies to increase crowd size. Men were kidnapped off the streets and subjected to involuntary vasectomies in appalling conditions. People were left homeless and even killed in a careless, poorly-planned effort to eradicate slums.  This is the society in which the four protagonists of A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry, struggle to survive.
Dina, a widow resisting remarriage, tries to retain her independence and her own home by starting a dress-making business. To this end, she hires two itinerant tailors, Ishvar and his nephew Om.  They belong to the Untouchable caste and are fleeing violence in their own state. Dina also takes a boarder, Maleck, a young student from the north of the country. At first the arrangement works for all involved. Ishvar and Om are happy to have work; Maleck is pleased to have a place to live. And Dina is thrilled to have established a successful business that enables her to maintain her independence.  But their little haven of tranquility is soon disrupted when corrupt and powerful politics interfere with their daily lives. Eventually Maleck, unable to coexist with the pervasive violence in Indian life, leaves the country. But Dina, Ishvar and Om cannot leave. They must learn to accept the harsh circumstances of their lives. Despite their suffering, including hunger, homelessness, illness, and eventually, forced sterilization, the two tailors retain a heart-breaking acceptance of whatever hardships they must endure.  And Dina never allows disappointment destroy her sense of decency. They have found the fine balance needed to survive in Indira Ghandi’s India.

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenstrom



A baobab tree is an enormous species of tree native to, among other places, South Africa. In Expedition to the Baobab Tree by Wilma Stockenstrom, an unnamed slave woman in an unspecified time (the Dutch began importing slaves into South Africa in 1658) is forced to take shelter in the hollow trunk of a baobab tree after she finds herself alone in the African bush. When her master and his wealthy friend had set out on an expedition to find a mysterious inland city, she accompanied them. The unknown territory they ventured into proved to be more dangerous than thought. One by one the members of the party die or disappear, eventually leaving the woman alone. Unfamiliar with the veldt, she does not venture far from the baobab tree. Knowing little about living off the land, she uses her time to scrounge for food and water. While sheltering within the tree, she recalls her past life in a series of non-chronological flashbacks, ending with her childhood abduction by slave traders. A beautiful woman, she was used as a sex slave, purchased by one wealthy man after another. Her life was not as physically difficult as some slaves’, but nevertheless, it was slavery.  Her time and her body were not her own and her children were sold. A South African poet, Wilma Stockenstrom is able to describe the dehumanizing horrors of slavery in a measured tone. Expedition to the Boabab Tree tells a harsh story with gentle language. 


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

The Wives of Los Alamos by Tarashea Nesbit


In The Wives of Los Alamos, Tarashea Nesbit tells the story of the creation of the atomic bomb through the experiences of a group who knew nothing about the work, the wives of the scientists recruited to develop a project they called the “Gadget.”

Families began arriving in Los Alamos in 1943 when it was a city still under construction. Although the wives were a diverse group, coming from various backgrounds and various parts of the country, they quickly became a group, a neighborhood and a sisterhood, united by isolation from friends and family, physical hardship, patriotism, and keeping secrets when they didn’t even know what secrets they were keeping. For this reason, the author’s choice of telling the story through the first person plural, the communal “we,” works very well. Most of the wives were young, newly married college graduates. Their names were changed and their letters home censored. They were assigned to live in hastily constructed apartments with army-issued home furnishings. The roads and yards were either mud or dust. Sometimes there was no water or power. They tried to lead ordinary lives: cooking, cleaning and raising children. They formed friendships and helped each other. They formed book clubs and held dances. They argued and gossiped. After August, 1945, when everyone in the world learned what their husbands had been working on in Los Alamos, they were free to return to normal life. Some stayed in Los Alamos, their husbands taking jobs with the National Laboratory. Some left, their husbands taking teaching positions or jobs in private industry. Some felt pride and some felt guilt about the bomb. They resumed their middle-class American lives, but for a few years they had been part of something that changed the history of the world.

Friday, July 11, 2014

Model Home by Eric Puchner



When Warren Ziller moved his family from Wisconsin to the West Coast, he hoped to exchange a comfortable Midwestern life for an even better one in California.  But his wife and children adapted to life in Southern California with varying degrees of success. Seventeen year old Dustin fits right in. He becomes that stereotype of a 1980’s California adolescent: a handsome surfer and garage-band musician. But his brother and sister, eleven year old Jonas and sixteen year old Lyle, don’t fit in quite so well. Warren’s wife, Camille, works for a small film company and tries to maintain a normal family life. But she worries that her husband is keeping a secret from her and that secret is an affair. Warren is keeping a secret from his entire family, but it is not an affair.  His secret is possibly even more destructive. He has risked and lost all the family’s wealth on a failed housing development in the desert. While the family struggles with their problems, big and small, an actual tragedy occurs: their gated-community house explodes and Dustin is badly injured and disfigured. Within a year they are the only family living in Warren’s failed development, forced there by poverty. Eventually they adjust to their new circumstances, but the family cannot hold together. Model Home by Eric Puchner shows a family broken by mistakes and bad luck.  It can happen to anyone.

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

My Mother Was Nuts by Penny Marshall


Celebrity memoirs fall into two categories for this reader: those who you feel you could be best friends with, and those who live lives so differently from you, it's best to admire them from afar. Penny Marshall spans both of these categories in her memoir My Mother Was Nuts. From her childhood in the Bronx to her days starring on Laverne and Shirley to her directing days Penny Marshall gives snippets of many parts of her life.

Famous friends pop up in just about every chapter, and she is frank about her family, past marriages and health issues.Whether you are a fan of Laverne and Shirley or a League of Her Own, behind the scenes stories will have you turning the pages. Reading the book was like having a long conversation about life with Penny Marshall, and it is easy to assume the the audio book read by the author would be an amazing listen.

Check out My Mother Was Nuts @ the library!

Friday, July 4, 2014

Happy Fourth of July!


While the library is closed for the long holiday weekend, celebrate your freedom to read! From the serious, to the illustrated, the library has many books about American history. We'll open on Monday July 7th at 9 AM to help you find the right book about America for you!

Pictured: The Great American Documents a graphic novel that illustrates important American Documents starting in 1620! Available for check out @ the library!

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Poems That Make Grown Men Cry edited by Anthony and Ben Holden


Both men and women should read POEMS THAT MAKE GROWN MEN CRY: 100 MEN ON THE WORDS THAT MOVE THEM. This anthology in which poems have been chosen by one hundred men with backgrounds in the arts and literature gives the reader a diverse selection of poetry. Poetry lovers can read the book cover to cover.  Readers with a more casual interest can search out the verses they might find particularly appealing. Stars of stage and screen as well as writers, editors and college professors are among the men who have selected poetry for this volume. English and American poets are well represented but Indian, Japanese and Spanish poems have also been chosen. Although this poetry can make grown men cry, it is not only about the death of loved ones. Some poems are about looking for work, the inevitability of war, political oppression, the love of imperfect parents or children, unrequited love and separation. The beauty of nature and other happy events can bring people to tears as well. Some of the more well-known men who selected poems for this book are Salman Rushdie, Hugh Bonneville, Ken Follett, Daniel Radcliffe, and Sir Patrick Stewart of “Star Trek” and “X Men” fame. Some poems are pages long and some only a verse or two. Gifted poets can express honest emotion in any number of words or lines. Perhaps the most poignant work in this book is the shortest, written in 18th century Japan by a woman whose son had died:
“Dragonfly catcher,
Where today

Have you gone?”