Hungry Heart: Adventures in Life, Love, and Writing by Jennifer Weiner

Jennifer Weiner, most well-known for her popular chick-lit novels like Good In Bed, In Her Shoes, and Who Do You Love, takes a big jump into the world of non-fiction in this hilarious collection of essays. With no holds barred she takes raw, personal stuff from her own life and offers the reader a glimpse into her world. Starting with her lonely childhood, Weiner writes of the desertion she grappled with when her father left her family and just exactly what if felt like to be the "Lane Bryant outtake in an Abercrombie & Fitch photo shoot." Moving from her childhood to adolescence to life as a twenty-something, Weiner writes about her first job as a journalist to publishing her first novel Good In Bed to having her book adapted for a movie. Along the way, Weiner candidly writes about life as a wife, mother, and writer.

With candor and humility, Weiner's Hungry Heart doesn't stray from topics like feminism, sex, marriage (and divorce), body image, her mother's recent lesbianism, and everything in between. With parts that are literally laugh out loud funny and others that are extremely touching, it's easy to see Weiner's personality shining through this book like it does in her works of fiction.

Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature by Betsy Bird, et al.

The world of children's books is easily imagined as an idyllic place full of fluffy bunnies. The authors should always be upstanding, proper citizens, and the books they write are happy, moral teaching tombs that will both stand the test of time and entertain audiences of all ages. Yeah right.

Three bloggers, Betsy Bird, Julie Danielson and Peter D. Sieruta bring to light the stories and the history behind some of the biggest names and books for children. From picture books being called subversive to authors of theses works choosing to live adult lives, no stone of scandalous behavior in and out of print, is left unexplored.

Fans of authors like Shel Silverstein may be surprised that he started out writing for Playboy, and Mary Poppins author may have more in common with E.L. James than most parents would care to share with their children. Beyond sex, there are issues of subversive themes in picture books, the private relationships of popular authors, and even those lovely books that booksellers,Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature by Betsy Bird, et al. librarians and teachers love, yet children are not drawn to (and vice versa).

Teachers, and those who work with children will want to check out Wild Things, and maybe learn a bit of the scandalous history behind the books we love to share with children.

Check out Wild Things: Acts of Mischief in Children's Literature by Betsy Bird, Julie Danielson and Peter D. Sieruta @ the library!

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith

Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott are back in a new mystery!  Approximately nine months after solving the Lula Landry case, things are looking slightly better for gritty private investigator Cormoran Strike.   He’s now sleeping in the flat above his office (instead of *in* the office itself) and has a steady stream of rich socialites who have hired Strike to spy on their wives/husbands/girlfriends.  But Strike is bored.  Soon, a shabby, mousy woman arrives at the office saying that her husband has gone missing.  Leonora Quine insists that though Owen may be an unfaithful husband who often disappears for days at a time, he would never leave for too long because of their daughter.  Owen Quine is a has-been writer known for novels of a very graphic nature.  The newest book that he’s just finished and is ready to publish, Bombyx Mori, is more of the same or so it first appears.  Cormoran’s gut tells him that this is no ordinary case and is soon on the hunt for the missing Quine.

After a visit to Quine’s agent, Strike learns that the new novel is more than it seems.  Apparently Quine has based the characters in his book on many of his friends and coworkers in the publishing industry.  After being told that his book was unpublishable due to possible libel lawsuits, the author threatens to publish it himself as an ebook, gathers up every last scrap of the manuscript and disappears.  When Quine is discovered murdered in a way that mirrors that of the main character in Bombyx Mori, even more questions arise.  Who had a chance to read the manuscript?  Quine had dirt of a lot of people, but who would go so far as to commit murder?

Like The Cuckoo’s Calling, the first book in the Strike series written under J.K. Rowling’s pseudonym, The Silkworm jumps right back into the middle of Cormoran and Robin’s world of mystery and crime.  There is more character development: Robin’s fiancée Matthew still hasn’t come around to Robin’s career choice and Stike is still struggling with his latest breakup with Charlotte.  And yes, there is still a lot of unvoiced tension ala “Why don’t Robin and Strike just date each other?  Then they wouldn’t be so darn miserable!” which is half the fun of these books.  Readers who enjoyed The Cuckoos Calling will not be disappointed by The Silkworm and the fact that Galbraith has left plenty of room for more Cormoran Strike novels in the future.

Check out The Silkworm @ the library!

The 40s: The Story of a Decade by The New Yorker

            When current events seem overwhelming, it can be instructive, even comforting, to read about the courage and resilience of previous generations. In The 40s: The Story of A Decade, The New Yorker has collected many articles from that dire decade when The Great Depression persisted and the entire world went to war. Begun in 1925 as a magazine of humor and local interest, The New Yorker became, during the decade of the 1940’s, a national powerhouse of reporting and opinion, employing the greatest writers of the time. These writers lived in London during the blitz, landed on Iwo Jima with the Marines and crossed the Channel on D-Day. Other well-researched articles cover subjects familiar to all Americans today: John F. Kennedy and his PT boat; the Monuments Men; and the Berlin airlift. John Hersey’s famous work, Hiroshima, about six survivors of the atomic bomb, was first published on August 31, 1946, and occupied nearly the entire issue.  

            But The New Yorker articles were not devoted solely to matters of historical and political importance. The best of the movie, book, music, fashion and theater reviews have been reprinted in this book. Alas, no cartoons! Here also are the best poetry and short stories of the 1940’s. Shirley Jackson’s famous The Lottery was first published in The New Yorker. As in many modern magazines, there were articles about celebrities of the day. Such diverse personalities as Walt Disney, Eleanor Roosevelt and Walter Winchell were featured in various issues.  Human interest articles have not been omitted. Of particular interest to all readers might be the report on the 1949 Miss America contest. The simplicity of the contest and contestants stands in stark contrast to the sophistication of the current event. Three of the forty-eight states did not send contestants. All contestants were required to compete in donated Catalina swimming suits, Catalina being a pageant sponsor. In a parade rolling down the boardwalk, each contestant, wearing an evening gown, sat on a float pushed by a couple of men.  As for talent, there was the usual singing, acting and musical instrument playing. However, Miss Nevada’s talent was raising purebred Herefords. She had wanted to bring one of her cows, but pageant officials would not allow it. And the lackadaisical Miss New York State, the contestant featured in the article, gave little thought to her talent. “Her act, as she planned it, was going to consist of getting up in her nurse’s uniform and making a little speech about her nursing experience…All I know how to do is give a good back rub.” Who would not root for this young woman!

Check out The 40s: The Story of a Decade by The New Yorker @ the library!

Elsewhere by Richard Russo

Richard Russo is the author of many popular novels about upstate New York and the failing economy of its small towns. But Elsewhere is a memoir in which he recounts his life with his mother, a rather difficult woman. Russo grew up in Gloversville, New York, a blue-collar town built around the glove making industry, including the tanning of hides to make leather gloves. Having divorced Richard’s father, Jean Russo was a single mother in the 1950’s, a time when such a life style was rare. During his childhood the presence of his grandparents and other relatives helped to blunt the effect his mother’s strange personality (black moods, fits of anger, ingratitude, anxiety and compulsions) had on him.

At the age of eighteen, Richard left New York to attend college in Arizona and his mother, seeking a new life, accompanied him. Unfortunately, she brought her problems with her. She did not find the new life to be a better life and the new surroundings did not improve her mental health. In Arizona he alone dealt with his mother’s crises and compulsions. A pattern was set. She would try a new job or new apartment. Something would go wrong, forcing her to quit or move. She would return to New York, then back to Arizona. Whenever things went wrong, she could not cope and expected her son to help her pick up the pieces of her life. Richard Russo is a successful man. He earned a PhD and became a college professor. He married an understanding woman and started a family. He became a very successful author whose books were made into movies. But his mother’s unreasonable needs were always in the background of his life. She moved wherever he moved. She had exacting requirements for job, apartment and home furnishings and could tolerate nothing less. She relied on him from his boyhood until her death when he was in his sixties. After her death, he realized that she had probably suffered from an actual mental illness, obsessive-compulsive disorder. Russo’s book expresses the frustration those living with difficult family members feel. His observations are not a guide on how to deal with a mentally ill relative but rather an explanation of the difficulties a family in such a situation faces.

Check out Elsewhere @ the library!