Join us for Acupuncture and Health: a Holistic Experience, presented by Chris Hammond, Licensed Acupuncturist at Tai Sophia Institute. 

Chris Hammond is a licensed acupuncturist currently practicing in Laurel, MD. A graduate of the Tai Sophia Institute, he became interested in alternative medicine while living in South Asia for five years. Chris treats people with the perspective that the body is wise and its symptoms are teachers. Too often we ignore our body’s signals and wait until things become serious. Acupuncture helps heighten awareness and access the body’s innate intelligence to heal; patients report feeling relief from a variety of symptoms.

Come see what relief acupuncture may have to offer you at Howard County Central Library on Wednesday, March 17 at 7:00 pm. Register online or call 410.313.7818.

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

I listen to Fur and Gold (and the follow-up, Two Suns) all the time. Singer Natasha Khan (aka Bat For Lashes) has said in interviews that she wants to "convey the fine line between passion and violence" in her music. I don’t think she’s talking about guns, or knives, or fighting, but about the passion behind emotions that cause us to do horrible things we later regret.

My favorite song of hers, though, has very little to do with passion or violence. Instead, it’s about the opposite — indifference or more appropriately — what happens when we lose passion. In the somber and very surreal sounding "What’s a Girl To Do," Khan is singing of how much she still wants to love, but the feelings have gone and to where she has no idea. I don’t think any song has ever so beautifully captured the pain of falling out of love with someone else.

And while the passion is gone, all the things that takes its place (guilt, sadness that the person who once was your world now sparks so little in you) are crippling. As for the rest of the album, one word can sum it up – wow! Every song is a stunner, and her cover of Bruce Springsteen’s "I’m On Fire" is a revelation!

Angie Engles – Central Library

Gilda Joyce is my kind of girl. Some might describe her as "quirky," but that’s too easy. I like to think that Gilda is more of a combination of Olivia and Harriet the Spy. Gilda loves her typewriter, which was given to her by her late father. She also loves dressing up in outrageous outfits, and trying to communicate with "the spirits" — an activity she took up after her father died. Gilda somehow manages to talk her way into (and sometimes out of) the strangest situations. She invites herself into the home of a distant relative in San Francisco, simply because she told people she would be going to San Francisco over the summer. It turns out this relative has a mystery he needs solving! Well, Gilda thinks it needs to be solved. This can’t be a coincidence! (Or maybe it could.)

Something I love about Gilda is the way she thinks. She’s a dramatic optimist, something the world needs more of. This book is light, but not fluffy; funny, not absurd; and sweet, not saccharine. Gilda also appears in several fantastic sequels by author Jennifer Allison, including Gilda Joyce: The Ladies of the Lake, Gilda Joyce: The Ghost Sonata, and the latest in the series, Gilda Joyce: The Dead Drop, which features Gilda traveling to D.C.’s own International Spy Museum. Pick these books up when you want a fun series to get you through the lull of your favorite author taking three years to come out with a new book.

Jennifer Smith – Glenwood Branch

“A soul could be captured through a shadow. It was in the Ojibwe language. Waabaamoojicchaagwaan — the word for mirror can also refer to shadow and to the soul: your soul is visible and can be seen. Gil had placed his foot on Irene’s shadow when he painted her. And though she tried to pull away, it was impossible to tug that skein of darkness from under his heel.”

The title of Louise Erdrich’s Shadow Tag comes from a game in the Native American traditions in which participants win by stepping on the shadows of other players. The shadow is seen as standing in for one’s soul.

Even though I think it is dark and somewhat depressing, what kept me reading this author’s new novel is the spare prose that pulls you in. Irene America discovers that her husband, Gil, has been reading her diary, so she decides to manipulate him by keeping the real “blue” diary in a safe place while leaving the fictional “red” one where he will find it. The story alternates between the two diaries along with some third-person narration, making it a haunting read.

Gil is an artist who achieves substantial success painting portraits of Irene, some of them deeply disturbing. Irene resumes her doctoral thesis on a 19th-century Native American painter whose subjects have died soon after being painted. The two have been married for approximately 15 years, and realize that something is missing from their relationship. They have three children: Florian, Riel, and Stoney, who look forward to the few times that their parents are getting along. Irene is dealing with her alcoholism, while Gil realizes that his fear of losing Irene may force him to create the defining work of his career. The complex relationships in this dysfunctional family can possibly serve as a warning to some, and those looking for an uplifting read will not find it here. The ending, as well as the whole story, is quite bleak, but the writing will keep you reading until the very end.

Michele Happel – Miller Branch

Howard County Book Connection invites you to join tea master Masako Soyu Miyahara in experiencing the Japanese tea ceremony, a practice — actually, an art form — dating from the mid-sixteenth century and still observed today as part of Japanese social, cultural, aesthetic and even religious customs. The tea ceremony combines architecture, gardening, ceramics, textiles, Japanese calligraphy, flower arranging, and Japanese cuisine. Witness firsthand the rich and nuanced ritual of an authentic Japanese tea ceremony by a master. Learn all details of preparation and serving tea, as well as guests’ appropriate conversation methods and the final completion rituals.

In preparation, why not read up on Japanese green tea in Michael Harney’s The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea? (Full disclosure: I’m a Harney tea fan of many years.) My all-time favorite tea book, James Norwood Pratt’s New Tea Lover’s Treasury, gives a comprehensive overview of the history of tea as well as descriptions of all the major teas and tea regions of the world. Norwood Pratt, who possesses an encyclopedic knowledge of tea, writes with wit and personality about his love of the drink and how to brew it properly. His last chapter, "Tea as Something to Do," discusses the Japanese tea ceremony.

This event is presented in partnership with Howard Community College and sponsored by HCC’s Office of Student Activities. Monday, March 15; 1:00 – 2:30 pm at Howard Community College Monteabaro Hall, 10901 Little Patuxent Parkway Columbia, MD 21044-3197 Seating is limited. Please contact HCC’s Office of Continuing Education to register at 410.772.4823.

Lisa Bankman – Administration Office

PS. If you’re a tea aficionado, what’s your current favorite cuppa? I’m partial to Keemun, but also love South African rooibos and the tarry taste of Lapsang Souchang, which instantly transports me to a campfire under a starry sky high in the Himalayas.

Betty Feathers (formerly known as Elisabeth Macintosh, and born in Tientsin, China) is a survivor of the Japanese internment camps in Shanghai. She is also a passionate gardener and church flower arranger — the classic tweed-and-pearl British wife of a bygone era. Jane Gardam’s The Man in the Wooden Hat is the engaging story of her 50-year marriage to Edward Feathers and of the mysterious strand of "guilty pearls," as she calls it. Barely an hour after receiving Edward’s written proposal of marriage in Hongkong, she meets Terry Veneering, a married man and Edward’s arch enemy in court. They have a brief affair, with consequences reverberating throughout their lives.

Edward’s side of the story came out in Gardam’s earlier novel Old Filth. The impeccable barrister evolves into the much respected judge Sir Edward Feathers QC, known to friends and foes alike as Filth: Failed In London Try Hongkong. He tried Hongkong and flourished. Edward was brought up by an amah in Borneo and was sent "home" to England when he could hardly speak a word of English. Betty and Edward endured the harshness of their childhood in resolute silence. "She doesn’t speak about it," as Edward would tell their friends about Betty’s time in the internment camp and "one doesn’t intrude." Betty and Edward are "Raj orphans," born in distant colonial outposts — remnants of the once and powerful Empire.

The Man in the Wooden Hat and Old Filth intertwine and enrich each other into a well-worn tapestry of the Feathers’ childhood memories and the effects of time (and will) on their marriage. Both books were written with wit, candor and old world elegance. Gardam is a master of observation, giving the reader such a sense of place with the sultry and humid tropics of Borneo to the dampness and coldness of Wales. She slowly chips away at the polished and very stiff upper lip of her characters, revealing their passions, fears, secrets, and betrayals. Jane Gardam, now 78 years old, twice winner of the Whitbread prize, has not lost her distinct charm and unique voice in captivating her readers. She writes with kindness and intelligence, the passion and durability of romance within marriage and without.

Cristina J. Lozare – Central Library

Terry Gilliam’s movie 12 Monkeys is the ultimate in time travel science-fiction, and tells the story of James Cole (Bruce Willis), a prisoner in an alternate near-future. Humanity has been decimated by a man-made plague, and Cole is sent through time to the 1990s in an effort to avert the disease’s release.

Gilliam puts a number of factors into play to keep us off balance. The future, of course, is a dystopian confusion of strange technology and abandoned cities. The past that Cole encounters during his time travels is not much easier to live with. He is institutionalized, socially isolated, and wanted by the police. The currents of time bring Cole into repeated contact with Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) and psychiatrist Dr. Kathryn Railly (Madeline Stowe) as he gathers information about the plague and relays it to the scientists in the future by means of voicemail. All is not what it seems, however, and the pitfalls associated with time travel become critical to the narrative.

In following James Cole’s time-bending quest, Gilliam creates a comprehensive fictional world within which he explores issues of science and technology, philosophy, and morality from a unique perspective. Keep one eye open for the Army of the 12 Monkeys. 

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

I have to admit a certain fascination with ancient Rome — it has always seemed larger than life. Robert Harris’ Imperium offers all the things that I love best about that time period: political intrigue and scandal, a tradition-bound daily life, and an overwhelming sense of being in the middle of everything.

In Imperium, Harris produces a comprehensive look at Marcus Cicero, and his famous oratory and infamous politics at a time when Rome stood at the center of the Mediterranean. Cicero’s slave and secretary Tiro narrates the story, which adds a certain immediacy to the proceedings. The first part of the book covers the moment that Cicero leaps into the spotlight with his prosecution of Gaius Verres, an influential politician who was robbing Sicily blind during his term as governor. It’s a legal thriller equal to anything written by Scott Turow or John Grisham, but it’s true.

After serving in Sicily, Cicero heads to Rome full of grand plans. Rome held its political figures in great esteem, and the way to fame and fortune walked straight through the Senate. This section of the book offers insight into the formation of the first triumvirate — which Cicero opposed passionately. Cicero advocates strongly for the strength of the Roman Republic and all it represented, detesting the idea of any sort of dictatorship.

Readers delight in watching Cicero go from tongue-tied legal student to Consul of Rome. Other important historical figures such as Pompey, Crassus, and Julius Caesar also come to light. It helps to have prior familiarity with the prominent cast of characters, but isn’t necessary.

I enjoyed this novel on audiobook, especially the stirring speeches. I’d find myself sitting in my driveway waiting for chapters to end. The second book, Conspirata, was recently released, and I’m looking forward to more of Cicero’s intrigues.

Kristen Blount – Administration Office

Before Amy Hempel’s four slim volumes of short stories were squished into one glorious whole, they were hard to come by. My utter adoration of Hempel’s writing began when I discovered the Library’s sole copy of her 1990 collection At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom. Determined to own a copy, I eventually found a paperback on eBay, which, given it’s appearance, was likely run over by an airplane and attacked with a railroad spike. Hempel can say more in five words than I could ever say in thousand. Each story, many of which aren’t any longer than this review, is a universe.

From her first volume (Reasons to Live — 1985),  The Man in Bogotá (just over a page in length) remains indelibly etched into my conscience; I tend to recall it when frustrated with my circumstances. At the Gates of the Animal Kingdom gave us the brilliant And Lead Us Not Into Penn Station and Rapture of the Deep. Tumble Home (1997) sports the memorable Church Cancels Cow, and Hempel’s first novella, bearing the title of the book. Reference #388475848-5, from her most recent The Dog of the Marriage (2005), will make you think twice about the eccentric, awkward people of everyday life. What’s so remarkable about her writing is that when she sets out to make you laugh, you’re in stitches. When she intends to make you cry, she will take you there by the hand.

Read this book like you would cook with saffron, or drink a vintage wine.

Dan Curry – Savage Branch

There’s nothing better than a well-written memoir. They’re evocative, provocative, and powerful. They provide a glimpse into someone else’s life, and insights into how the author sees himself or herself. The best memoirs also tap into something universal as they’re exploring something very specific, and move the reader to reflect on their own life from a new perspective or a different direction. Mary Karr’s memoirs do all this and more.

The Liar’s Club is a memoir of Karr’s childhood in Texas and Colorado in the early 1960s. The club of the title is the informal social group that includes Karr’s father, and is named for the tall tales spun by members as they spend their time together one-upping one another, reminiscing and embellishing their stories. The club serves as an entry point to the complex and challenging story of Karr herself. Karr presents the unpredictable adults in her world to the reader the way that she saw them, with her domineering grandmother, alcoholic mother and intermittently-present father looming large. The book pivots around a traumatic event that is at first hinted at and later fully addressed. This event casts a long shadow that falls across much of the rest of the book.

Cherry, Karr’s follow-up to The Liar’s Club, is altogether different in tone. Here Karr taps fully into the universality of her experience, documenting her passage to adulthood with a vibrance and power that will surely appeal to anyone who has ever been a teenager. This is the story of Karr forcefully asserting her independence, and breaking away from the world of her childhood as an independent person.

Karr’s latest, Lit, is the story of her adulthood, her battles with alcoholism, and her religious conversion. Start at the beginning of Karr’s story, though, with The Liar’s Club and Cherry.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch