John Updike Remembered
January 30, 2009
The death of John Updike (1932-2009) on Tuesday has brought forth a plethora of obituaries to remind us of his contribution to American literature. We recommend that you read something, anything, he wrote–novels, poetry, essays, criticism; your choice. No really. Don’t just put it on a to-do list. Do it. We grow complacent that such gifts will always surround us and we need do nothing to nurture their existence. It is occasion for intellectual pursuit, no, more than even that, for the development of character, at any age or stage of life, to tear open such nourishment and hungrily devour the vitamins within. Most of us will admit, even if only to ourselves, that the preponderance of daily thought is centered on fairly banal stuff. Hear the call to do, and be, better. Let us honor Updike’s devotion to, and capacity for, lifting us higher out of the proverbial mud.
Read excerpts here from Nicholson Baker’s U And I, an essay on his adoration of Updike. Baker, no literary slouch himself, describes Updike’s ability to speak “in swerving, rich, complex paragraphs of unhesitating intelligence…” And a caution: “He was, I felt, the model of the twentieth-century American man of letters: for him to die would be for my generation’s personal connection with literature to die, and for us all to be confronted at last with the terrifying unmediated enormity of the cast-concrete university library, whose antitheft gates go click-click-click-click as we leave, dry laughter at how few books we can carry home with us.”
Borders website offers an audio clip excerpt of Updike’s speech at the 2006 Book Expo of America on the power of books.
Read Updike’s obituary from The New York Times.
Neil Gaiman Wins The Newberry Award
January 29, 2009
It just keeps getting better for Neil Gaiman. The film version of his graphic novel Coraline will open on Friday, February 6th (you can’t make it that night because you’ll be at the Library listening to Chad Floyd’s architecture lecture) and he won the Newberry Award this week for The Graveyard Book. Gaiman has called the novel a twist on Kipling’s The Jungle Book, except that hero Nobody Owens is “somebody who gets raised by dead people” instead of animals, and “Bod” is mentored by a man called Silas, who is not quite like the other ghosts.
Shelf Awareness caught up with Gaiman for a quick interview yesterday and we quote a portion below:
Before Monday morning, did you know what a Newbery Medal was?
Oh of course! When I was eight years old maybe I picked up my Puffin copy of Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time, and I loved it enough that it registered as a Newbery. In the years that followed, I read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh; From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Lloyd Alexander’s The Prydain Chronicles, because they won the Newbery. So yes, I never imagined it would be an award that it would be my lot to ever take home. I’m awed by it.
So what do you think about children’s books?
They’re terrible; they should be banned. What kind of question is that? I think they’re wonderful. When I was a kid, I was a kid with a book. As far as I was concerned, had you asked me at the age of seven what the most important things in the world are, I’d probably say the first six Narnia books, the first three Mary Poppins books. . . . Had I discovered The Hobbit yet? Not yet. The books that took pride of place on my shelves were Stig of the Dump by Clive King, Tales of Ancient Egypt by Roger Lancelyn Green. I was the kind of kid who, during my summer holidays, would persuade my parents to drop me off at the library in the morning, and I’d spend my day there. Sometimes I’d pack a lunch. At 6:30 when they closed, I’d walk home.
Children’s fiction, for me back then, was the most important thing there is. It has a holy place and position that adult fiction doesn’t have. Adult fiction is a wonderful thing and enriching to the soul and mind, and it takes you to great places. But children’s fiction can change the world and give you a refuge from the intolerable. It can give you a place of safety and show you the world is not bounded by the world you live in–there’s more than that.–Jennifer M. Brown
Gwen Ifill’s new book The Breakthrough: politics and race in the age of Obama was finally published last week. You’ll recall the publicity it received when she moderated the only Vice-Presidential debate last fall between Senator Joe Biden and Governor Sarah Palin. The book isn’t primarily about Barack Obama–he’s one member of a group of breakthrough African-American politicians in their 30s, 40s and 50s who “inherited the hopes of the civil rights movement without having to go through its confrontations.” So far, the book is winning praise from reviewers.
Book TV airs on C-Span 2 from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Monday and focuses on political and historical books as well as the book industry. David Brooks, on After Words, will interview Ifill this weekend: Saturday, Jan 31st at 10p.m.; it will re-air on Sunday at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., Monday at 3 a.m. and Sunday, February 8, at 12 p.m.
Centerbrook Architecture Series Continues With Chad Floyd
January 18, 2009
Join us again at the Library on Friday, February 6th at 7p.m. when Chad Floyd, FAIA, partner at Centerbrook Architects will present “Where Land And Water Converge.”
Chad Floyd received his undergraduate and Master of Architecture degrees from Yale University in 1966 and 1973, respectively. He was awarded Yale’s Winchester Traveling Fellowship in 1973 and used it to journey to India. Before joining Centerbrook in 1975, Mr. Floyd received a National Endowment for the Arts Individual Grant to research American celebration places.
Mr. Floyd’s design awards include the American Institute of Architect’s 1998 Architecture Firm Award and four AIA Honor Awards–for the Watkins Glen Pier Pavilion in New York, the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, a private house in Connecticut, and the Watkins Glen Waterfront Plan. He was advanced to Fellowship in the AIA in 1991.
He is currently working on an addition to the historic Addison Gallery of American Art at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts; an expansion of Tower Hill Botanic Garden in Worcester, Mass.; new academic buildings in Virginia and Pennsylvania; a corporate headquarters in Toledo, Ohio; and an expansion of the Eugene O’Neill Theater in New London.
6th Annual Essex And The Sea Programs
January 18, 2009
The Essex and the Sea series is back for a sixth year and is expected to be as popular as ever. All of the events will be held at the Essex Town Hall. Please register in advance by calling the Library at 767-1560 or emailing at staff@ essexlib.org Here is the lineup of events:
February 1: Solo ‘round the world sailor and fine artist Brek Morgan speaks about his adventures and shares slides of his photos and paintings.
February 8: Editor in Chief and creator of new quarterly RIVER AND SHORE Erik Hesselberg tells the stories behind the stories from Connecticut’s first coastal-lifestyles magazine.
February 15: Salem’s Peabody Essex Museum Associate Curator Sam Scott presents an arm-chair tour of the museum’s world-class collection of maritime art, plus previews of coming shows.
February 22: Popular meteorologist Dr. Mel Goldstein of WTNH Channel 8 returns to do a special presentation on “Weather at Sea”.
Ode To John Mortimer
January 16, 2009
John Mortimer, 85, has died, as reported in the International Herald Tribune. Mortimer was a barrister, taking over his father’s law practice, but was more famous as the author of numerous Rumpole Of The Bailey books. To quote the Tribune:
“Mortimer created the character Rumpole of the Bailey, an endearing and enduring relic of the British legal system who became a television hero of the courtroom comedy.
To read Rumpole, or watch the episodes is to enter not only Rumpole’s stuffy flat or crowded legal chambers, but to feel the itch of his yellowing court wig and the flapping of his disheveled, cigar ash-dusted courtroom gown.
Rumpole spends his days quoting Keats and his nights quaffing claret at Pommeroy’s wine bar, putting off the time that he must return to his wife, Hilda, more commonly known as She Who Must Be Obeyed.
Using his wit and low-comedy distractions, Rumpole sees that justice is done, more often than not by outsmarting the “old sweethearts” and “old darlings” of the bench and revealing the inner good – or at least integrity and inconsistency – of the accused, including clans like the Timsons, whose crimes have kept generations of police officers busy.”
Mortimer also adapted Brideshead Revisited, written by Evelyn Waugh, for television. Click here to put a hold on the many Rumpole books and Mortimer’s novels and autobiography in the LION catalog.
Martin Luther King Day Inspirations
January 13, 2009
Martin Luther King Jr. Day is fast approaching — on Monday, January 19th. Plenty of distractions abound, not the least of which is the inauguration of Barak Obama on Tuesday. There are many fine books which provide inspirational documentation of King’s life, work and accomplishments. We encourage reading about Dr. King, a pivotal figure in united States history, not just in honor of his birthday but year-round, for sufficient motivation to stand up for the prize he sought. If you’re looking for ideas on how to carry on, go to the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Of Service website.
To Read:
A Knock At Midnight: inspiration from the great sermons of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.
The Dream: Martin Luther King Jr., and the speech that inspired a nation by Drew Hansen
Martin Luther King, Jr.: a life by Marshall Frady
M.L.K.: journey of a king by Tonya Bolden
and the Taylor Branch trilogy:
Parting The Waters: America in the King years, 1954-63
Pillar Of Fire: America in the King years, 1963-65
At Canaan’s Edge: America in the King years, 1965-68
Grammy Nominations For Best Spoken Word Album
January 12, 2009
The nominations are in for the 2009 Grammy Awards for Best Spoken Word Albums for both the adult and kid’s categories. Winners of the 51st Grammy awards will be announced on Sunday, February 8th. The 2009 Grammys recognize albums released between October 1, 2007 and September 30, 2008.
For Adults:
• An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore
read by Beau Bridges, Cynthia Nixon & Blair Underwood
• Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
read by Steve Martin
• I Am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
read by Stephen Colbert & Various Artists
• Life Beyond Measure by Sidney Poitier
read by Sidney Poitier
• When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris
read by David Sedaris
For Kids:
• Around The Campfire
read by Buck Howdy With BB
• The Big One-Oh by Dean Pitchford
read by Dean Pitchford
• Brown Bear And Friends by Bill Martin
read by Gwyneth Paltrow
• The Cricket In Times Square by George Selden
Tony Shalhoub
• Yes To Running! Bill Harley Live
read by Bill Harley
Beef Up Your Understanding Of The Economic Crisis
January 8, 2009
If anyone can help explain the details and background of the current economic crisis, it’s Harvard economic historian, Niall (pronounced neel) Ferguson. His new book: The Ascent Of Money: a financial history of the world, is the basis of a new documentary on PBS of the same name which will air on Tuesday, January 13th at 8p.m.–check your local listings. There will be an expanded 4-hour version on PBS later in 2009.
Ferguson’s book tracks the evolution of finance from Italy’s merchant princes up to the current crisis. Included are clear and articulate definitions of key phrases, descriptions of people who’ve played major roles as well as a close look at the current “marriage of convenience” between the United States and China. Other books by Ferguson include: The War Of The World: twentieth-century conflict and the descent of the west, Colossus: the rise and fall of the American empire, and Empire: the rise and demise of the British world order and the lessons for global power.
Sharpen Your Pencils For The First Annual Justus Paul Memorial Crossword Puzzle Contest
January 5, 2009
Saturday, January 31st at 1p.m. In the meantime, start practicing. We provide free copies of the New York Times Sunday puzzles at the Circ Desk. If the first thing you turn to in the paper is the crossword puzzle, have we got an afternoon for you! Puzzles, prizes and fun for all. Match wits with your neighbors in this great new event.
