Improbable Libraries

Improbable Libraries: A visual journey to the world's most unusual libraries / Alex Johnson 240 pgs.

Tiny libraries, big libraries, mobile libraries, animal libraries...you see the thing in common here, right?  This book covers a LOT of slightly unusual libraries.  I say "slightly" because all of them have some things in common.  Books, frequently they offer services, and all are fun to read about and view.  What is cooler than the camel library that serves kids in Mongolia?  Maybe the floating library (a boat) that serves kids in Laos.  Clearly a book for all library nerds to explore.

Furiously Happy

Furiously Happy: A Funny Book About Horrible Things by Jenny Lawson, 329 pages

Jenny Lawson, better known in the blogosphere as The Bloggess, has made a name for herself writing rambling, often laugh-so-hard-you-cry essays about everything from taxidermy to her cats (who are not dead yet, but are often talked about with the same degree of love and amusement as her many taxidermied creatures) to her eye-rolling husband's reactions to her shenanigans to lifelong struggle with various mental illnesses.

Furiously Happy is that and more. In this book, she muses on everything from cat rodeos (which she plans out late at night when she can't sleep, and involve the aforementioned cats and taxidermied creatures) to her failed attempt at meeting with a financial planner to her trip to Australia. All of these things are hilarious. But in this book she also offers up some serious insights into her depression and anxiety, which hit so hard that they almost make you cry.

Basically this book makes you cry.

But that's a good thing. It's real and personal and, yes, rambly, but it's awesome. I highly recommend the audiobook, which Lawson reads herself, which really brings the scatterbrained feel of the book to life (but again, in a good way). Listen to it. It's great.

Major Pettigrew's last stand

Major Pettigrew's last stand / Helen Simonson 358 pgs.

Major is a bit of an old school guy, he is very "proper" and quite lonely since his wife dies.  He strikes up a friendship with Mrs. Ali, a shop owner in town who has also lost her partner.  In many ways, this is the entirety of the story...they interact with each other and others and the results are often enjoyable.  The major is clearly falling for Mrs. Ali but he is stifles his feelings so well, we are not sure she will notice.  I won't spoil it for you but this multicultural, multi generational story is a delight.

"Spain In Our Hearts: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939" by Adam Hochschild

You can hear the undulating pulse of a world headed to global conflict throughout the pages of “Spain In Our Hearts.”

In it Adam Hochschild puts forth a convincing argument that the Spanish Civil War was in essence the prelude for World War II. At the heart of his argument is the rudimentary belief that that this conflict, which

pitted Franco’s fascist state (with more than a little help from Hitler and Mussolini), against Spain’s government.

For most our understanding of the civil war’s three years stems from the writings of George Orwell, Ernest Hemingway and the writings of those who pilots, nurses, doctors and soldiers felt a personal call to fight for Spain.

Until now most of what we’ve understood about the conflict culturally and historically has been shoddy, wrong or simply outdated. Fortunately the stories of those not so famous Americans who left their homes to bring freedom to a faraway land have been saved for posterity thanks to Hochschild’s concise narrative, which has been pieced together from letters, documents and newly available archives.

As Hochschild shrewdly observes, The Spanish Civil War was something new for it’s time, a media event for a thirsty American press looking for sensational stories of bravery and adventure and an opportunity for the Imperial powers of Europe to test their advanced war machines on a broad scale.

Initially most Americans thought the Spanish Civil War was an insignificant cause embraced by leftists and Commies. However as things dragged on and the violence escalated the tenor of alarm, horror and resentment settled into the American public, causing even more Americans to become involved.

It also was an interesting affair in that it was the first modern war covered by writers, journalists and artists who were intimately involved in their subject matter. The battles, skirmishes and massacres left in its wake also left a lasting affect on Picasso, Dorothy Parker, Dashiell Hammett and other intellectuals of the day. 

Eighty years on, the Spanish Civil War remains a convoluted era in time, a moment that is conflicting, confusing and controversial. While its legacy of brutality and bloodlust haunt Spain to this day. For most Americans however, the hostilities remain a lost era whose heroes have toiled in relative obscurity. As a result we’ve never really known of the valor exhibited at home and abroad by ordinary citizens, until now.

The Everything Box

The Everything Box by Richard Kadrey, 352 pages (advanced reading copy)


Coop is a career criminal who specializes in stealing magical items that are protected by everything from your standard combination safe and swinging axe booby traps to curse tripwires and demons that masquerade as small children. Fresh out of prison, Coop is hired to steal an innocuous-looking box, which is then stolen again, and again, and Coop is hired to steal it back, again, and again. His job is made infinitely harder by competing demonic cults, a host of mysterious bad guys, and the obnoxious meddling of the government Department of Peculiar Science (DOPS, which is pronounced "dopes,"), who are all attempting to steal the box, which may be the key to starting the apocalypse, or it could just be really lucky. Who knows.

I had a blast reading this book. It's like Christopher Moore and Jim Butcher decided to get together and write a heist novel. It's silly, full of crazy creatures and characters, and it's a heist! And I'm a sucker for a heist. This is theoretically the first in a series; if so, I can't wait for the next one!

The Taxidermist's Daughter / Kate Mosse, 412 pp.

I enjoyed Mosse's Winter Ghosts and was also pleased by this, her latest.  She favors remote settings and stormy weather in her stories; in this case, the novel is set in a small town in Sussex, by the sea, amid downpours and flooding.  Connie Gifford is the daughter of the town 'animal stuffer' as he refers to himself.  She and her father live in a remote old house by the water and are largely shunned by the locals because of murky events in Gifford's past.  When Connie witnesses a bizarre ritual in the gloomy churchyard one evening and a young woman is found drowned in the marsh near their home, Connie tries to piece together her lost memories from a childhood accident.  Standard spooky- story stuff and a nice claustrophobic atmosphere make this a quick, fun read.  Especially recommended for those who like a village story that's definitely not cozy.

Look Evelyn, Duck Dynasty wiper blades. We should get them.

Look Evelyn, Duck Dynasty wiper blades. We should get them. / David Thorne 203 pages

Fewer work related essays and almost no drawings, this collection of David Thorne's essays seem a little more personal and tell of his childhood, his house and neighbors.  There is also the revealing story of helping Simon (his work place Dwight) cope with a cheating girlfriend.  Does David Thorne have a soft spot in his heart for Simon after all?

In one of the essays set at work, David and co-worker Kevin are tasked with first interviews for a new designer.  The questions they come up with are fabulous and, of course, entirely inappropriate. A must read for hiring managers.

The Husband's Secret

The Husband's Secret / Liane Moriarty 445 pgs.

An intersecting story that revolves around three women.  Cecilia, the expert mother, wife and person you want on every committee. Tess, outwardly confident and successful but actually suffering from social anxiety. And Rachel, a loving grandmother and school secretary whose daughter was murdered as a teenager.  Each one of these women, as well as their husbands have secrets.  The biggest ones affect many lives and are responsible for misery.  How can you ever know what someone else is dealing with?  Love, lust, revenge, and bitchiness...this book has it all.  Recommended.

Persuasion

Persuasion / Jan Austen 271 pgs.

In the shortest summary ever, this is the story of Anne Elliot who had a love, lost him, then found him again.  Yea, yea, yea, lots of other stuff goes on but this is the very basic premise.  Anne was young and inexperienced when first engaged to Frederick Wentworth, but he was poor and the match didn't work out after family pressure.  Now years later, they reconnect in the way that all of these stories work, it takes awhile before they can express their feelings.

This was Austen's last complete novel and was published after her death.

Every Heart a Doorway

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, 173 pages

Nancy is a new resident at a boarding school, where all of the students once crossed over into an alternate world and have returned to parents who aren't so pleased with the kid who came back. (Kinda like Narnia or Wonderland, but not quite; McGuire offers an amusing and eviscerating description of Narnia that makes the reader quite clear that none of those in the boarding school have ever gone to Narnia.) Nancy, who visited the Halls of the Dead, is still learning her way around when students begin dying in horrendous ways, and finds herself one of the prime suspects in their murders.

It's a short book, and it gives me much pleasure to describe it as Gaimanesque, in that it's spooky, unsettling, magical, and strangely real. This is the first book I've read by the Hugo-nominated McGuire, and I'll definitely be reading more by her. This was fantastic.