“Reading is often a solitary pursuit. But imagine if everyone in Maryland read the same great book at the same time. What kind of conversations could you have…?” This is the question raised by Maryland Center for the Book, in announcing the 2010 choice for the One Maryland One Book: Outcasts United by Warren St. John.

Outcasts United explores the story of one woman’s work to change her community through soccer, and how ultimately, the community changed her. Luma Mufleh, a female immigrant from Jordan, was shopping when she came upon a large, sweaty group of boys engaged in a passionate and joyful game of barefoot soccer. Unlike sports games in her home country, the players were of different ethnicities and skin hues. She didn’t know that the federal Department of Immigration was settling refugees from the world’s most troubled countries — Somalia, Bosnia, Republic of Congo, for example — in Clarkston, Georgia, Luma’s adopted hometown.

This initial contact led to the formation of a community soccer team for boys — and to her unexpectedly growing commitment to a group of needy refugees, their families, and the greater community, as the teams encountered discrimination from the community, other soccer clubs, and inner dissent from boys of different cultural backgrounds. "I thought I would coach twice a week and on weekends — like coaching other kids,” Luma said. “It’s forty to sixty hours a week — coaching, finding jobs, taking people to the hospital. You start off on your own, and you suddenly have a family of a hundred and twenty.”

The Maryland Humanities Council says, “Outcasts United is ultimately the story about a changing community, and how that community grapples to create connections and a sense of unity despite incredible differences between its citizens. I think the story has relevance in any place that is undergoing change, particularly changes that create greater diversity, whether ethnic, religious, economic, etc.”

At 300 pages and with an engaging writing style, the story of the Fugees would be good reading for adults or teens. Soccer teams may enjoy reading it together, as author Warren St. John is an experienced sports writer for the New York Times.

Howard County Library’s book club leaders offer four discussion opportunities for book lovers. You are welcome to join the discussion of your choice; no registration is required. All discussions begin at 7:00 pm.

• Reader’s Tea at 10 at Glenwood Branch; September 1   (410.313.5577)
• Eclectic Evenings at Central Library; September 14      (410.313.7850)
• Non-Fiction at Savage Branch; October 20                   (410.880.5980)
• Tea and Tomes at Miller Branch; November 18             (410.313.1950)

Also, as part of Howard County Library’s Meet the Author series, Warren St. John will speak at East Columbia Branch from 4-6pm on September 26. All are welcome, but please register to ensure your seat. 

Jeanie Pfefferkorn – Central Library

When you’re heading to a sporting event, how early do you arrive for the game? Do you get lunch beforehand? Do you stay over the night before? Or are you devoted enough to arrive days ahead of the game, so that you can tailgate for 72 hours or more before kickoff? Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer tells the story of the community of RV-driving faithful who follow the Alabama Crimson Tide across the south and across the country.

Warren St. John is the embedded reporter who grants us a look at the heart of this world. Granted honorary membership of the RV fraternity based on his Alabama childhood and his meeting with coaching legend Paul “Bear” Bryant, St. John is credentialed further by his purchase of “the Hawg,” a broken-down motor home that costs more to repair than it did to purchase. Appropriately steeped in the lore of the team, and equipped with a home on wheels, St. John joins the caravan for a season, and shares what he finds about the devoted fans he encounters.

This is a lively, sparkling look at the life of the seriously committed fan. Among St. John’s new friends are a couple who missed their daughter’s wedding because it coincided with an Alabama game; a ticket agent who must read the market and follow the team’s ups and downs to predict, as the week begins, how many tickets he’ll be able to sell by game day; and a sports broadcaster, Paul Finebaum, who criticizes the team for a living, and risks the wrath of the faithful every time he opens his microphone. Beginning with the RV-ers, St. John explores many aspects of Alabama fandom, sharing and showing us his subjects’ enthusiasm for the team.

Warren St. John is also the author of Outcasts United, the 2010 selection of the One Maryland One Book initiative. Outcasts United is the story of a soccer team of refugee boys — the Fugees — from war zones in Liberia, Congo, Sudan, Iraq and Afghanistan; their coach, Luma Mufleh; and their formerly quiet southern town, Clarkston, Georgia. Warren St. John joins us to discuss Outcasts United at 4:00 pm on Sunday, September 26 at East Columbia Branch. A number of our book discussion groups will also review Outcasts United this fall — we’ll have more information tomorrow about the book and the discussion groups scheduled. In the meantime, get a feel for Warren St. John’s immersive approach to the sociology of sports with Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Learn how to protect, conserve, and determine when professional assistance is appropriate for archival restorations of family keepsakes. Archival restoration examples will be shown. Presented by Camellia A. Blackwell, Ph.D., Fine Artist/Art Restoration Specialist & Executive Director, ICAD: International Center for Artistic Development, Inc. This class will be held at Howard County Central Library on Wednesday, September 8; 7 -8 pm.

Shown here is just one before/after example of the difference restoration can make. Register for this exciting program online, by phone at 410.313.7800, or in person at any Howard County Library Branch.

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

These classic movies have stood the test of time. In my house, they have even stood the test of teenagers – who complained bitterly about watching "old stuff," only to be mesmerized.

I think that’s the heart of these movies — they tell stories that we become immersed in, without any special effects other than excellent acting and superb cinematography.

How Green Was My Valley

Director John Ford focuses on life in a Welsh mining town, with all its grand tragedies and small triumphs. Maureen O’Hara plays Angharad Morgan, who married for position and comes to understand the power of love. Local lad Huw Morgan, Angharad’s youngest brother, is the narrator who introduces us to his family and the local village. We get to know everyone from the landed mine owners to the women-folk waiting for their men to come singing home each evening.

The music for this film is haunting, setting the mood along with the dramatic lighting. John Ford did more with lighting and framing shots in black and white than most directors manage in the digital age. When I find this showing on one of the classic movie channels, I know how my next two hours will be taken. It’s worth every second.

The Quiet Man

Most often viewed on St. Patrick’s Day, The Quiet Man is a joyous, riotous celebration of Ireland. Shot on location (a stunning concession from the studio), the country is as much a character as John Wayne’s Sean Thornton and Maureen O’Hara’s Mary Kate Danaher. Sean has returned to his native County Mayo after a prize-fighting career in the States, which he left in shame after accidentally killing a man in the ring. One of the first persons he notices is Mary Kate Danaher, bringing the sheep in from the field.

Mary Kate’s brother is the local squire and something of a bully, who doesn’t want to give his sister’s dowry to a man he doesn’t respect. The movie’s tensions are resolved in one of the best brawls, which is avidly followed by the townsfolk while Michaeleen is making book. If you’ve never seen it, you’re missing a gem of a movie — a romance, a comedy, and a loving look at the Old Sod. Even if you have seen it, you can always watch this one again.

Kristen Blount – Administration Office

Prime numbers are divisible by one and by themselves; the smallest prime is two. Two is also the only even prime, which makes it quite an unusual number…

The Solitude of Prime Numbers, written by 27-year-old physicist Paolo Giordano, is a character study of Alice and Mattia, two friends whose separate traumas left them with physical and emotional scars. Giordano tells their story with the wisdom and depth of an old soul, using an economy of words and beautiful language.

As a child, Alice’s father forced her to take ski lessons, where she seriously injured her leg. Now a teen, Alice limps, has trust issues, and suffers from an eating disorder. Mattia was protective of his twin sister, yet felt isolated from his peers and embarrassed by her behavior, resulting from unnamed developmental delays. In a desperate attempt to attend a birthday party by himself, young Mattia abandoned his sister in a park. She was never to be seen again. Mattia copes with his guilt and loss by inflicting injuries upon his hands.

In high school Alice is attracted to Mattia, to whom she feels an immediate connection. The chapters alternate between the "twin primes," examining them and their relationship with a mathematical perspective. Mathematicians call them twin primes; pairs of prime numbers that are close to each other, almost neighbors, but between them there is always an even number that prevents them from truly touching. …Mattia thought that he and Alice were like that, twin primes, alone and lost, close but not close enough to really touch each other.

We follow their relationship through the years and wait to see if the two can ever meet as one.

Andrea Misner – Administration Office

I love riding trains and seeing glimpses of people’s lives through open windows — a moment in time forever frozen in my mind. I get the same feeling reading the latest book by Sue Miller. It unfolds with the play, Lake Shore Limited, named after a train that connects Boston and New York to Chicago. The playwright, Billy, drawing on her own experiences, writes about a man who was about to leave his wife when he discovers that she may have died on the Lake Shore Limited train bombing.

Leslie, the elder sister of Gus, the lover of Billy, who died on a plane on September 11, is attending the play’s opening with her husband, Pierce. Gus was the beloved son that Leslie and Pierce never had. The two women have remained friends through the years, though Billy feels trapped in the grieving widow role. Rafe, the lead actor in the play, is weighed down, both by taking care of his wife who is afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s disease, and in fighting the attraction between himself and Billy.

Sue Miller’s talent has always been her dead-on depiction of characters constantly in flux, ruminating about their pasts and present circumstances, and needing either resolution or absolution. She draws you in slowly, stealthily, and before you know it, you get embroiled into their daily lives. Lake Shore Limited is one of those rare works of fiction that deals with September 11 and its aftermath in a subtle, unobtrusive way. Sue Miller writes of the lives left behind, the collateral damage of such raw, unexpected deaths, and how those impacted have grappled with their loss. This is vintage Sue Miller—- with sharp, perceptive observations, nuanced characters, and prose that conjure images of loss and love and the shadows in between.

Cristina J Lozare – Central Library

Invictus, by John Carlin, uses the 1995 Rugby World Cup Final as a lens through which to view the emergence of South Africa in the post-apartheid years. Carlin, who was the South Africa bureau chief for The Independent newspaper from 1989 to 1995, observed the process of transition closely, and explores the personalities and processes involved in the transition in great detail.

Carlin’s book takes us through the negotiations between the Botha / De Klerk government and the African National Congress, and explores the motives and actions of the die-hards on either side of the political divide. The author examines Nelson Mandela’s political skill in detail, emphasizing his ability to create a positive impression, change minds, and build bridges. It is through this lens that events surrounding the Rugby World Cup begin to assume a greater significance. Mandela’s government could have chosen to change the team’s name, and their kit, in order to erase controversial symbols of the apartheid era. Instead Mandela got behind the team and encouraged others to do the same in order to retain the support of moderate whites and to bring the country together. This fascinating decision had the intended widespread repercussions as the country got behind the team, which began to exceed everyone’s expectations.

Invictus was recently released as a movie starring Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar and Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. The movie has a much tighter focus than the book, setting the scene quickly and then showing us Mandela’s management of the Springboks and the Rugby World Cup as an act of statesmanship. The movie focuses on the moment when the Springboks beat the highly rated New Zealand All Blacks to claim the 1995 Rugby World Cup, and explores the final third of Carlin’s book to illustrate the transcendent moment when the new South Africa truly became a single nation. Matt Damon gives an engaging performance as Francois Pienaar, and Morgan Freeman is spectacular as Mandela. You don’t need to be a rugby fan to enjoy Invictus. Check out the book or the movie today!

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

The year is 1960 and Kennedy is running against Nixon for President. Nixon’s people want Sterling Cooper to market Nixon — but Nixon isn’t the only one who uses Sterling Cooper. Their client list includes Lucky Stripe Cigarettes, Right Guard, Bethlehem Steel, Liberty Capital Savings, even the Israeli Tourism Bureau. 

Enter the world of Mad Men, a group of Madison Avenue advertisers who weave dreams to hock a product, and stop at nothing to land the next big client. And the king of the ad men is Don Draper — cool, sophisticated, and confident enough to get the client to commit to Sterling Cooper, the ad agency where he works. Draper seems to have it all: a beautiful wife, a powerful position at Sterling Cooper, and a good life in the suburbs. But he harbors a secret that could tear it all apart.

The second season takes place in 1962 and leads up to the Cuban Missle crisis. Season three is set in 1963 and ends with the Kennedy assassination. There is an irony within the history. The guys think Nixon can beat Kennedy. People are encouraged to smoke. Children play with "dangerous" toys. The mom drinks while she’s pregnant. But I think that’s what makes it work — history is what it is.

Mad Men gives us an honest portrait of life in the 1960s through the eyes of flawed characters. There is the family man who also is having a number of affairs. There is the ambitious secretary who knows she is as smart as the men. The rich kid that wants to make it on his own. The closeted homosexual who tries to fit in to keep his job and home life intact. And the office manager who is tired of fooling around with the boss and just wants to settle down.

Critics love Mad Men, winner of several Emmy and Golden Globe awards. And now you can love it too. From the complex characters to the turbulent times, you will be sold on Mad Men.

Robert Bates – Glenwood Branch

Words.

I’m surrounded by thousands of words. Maybe millions. … But only in my head.
I have never spoken one single word. I am almost eleven years old.

Melody was born with cerebral palsy. Her doctors diagnosed her as profoundly retarded. Refusing to accept this diagnosis, Melody’s parents work with her and find a caregiver who believes in the person trapped inside. In fact, Melody is highly intelligent with a photographic memory — but no way to communicate.

The reader is privileged to hear Melody’s strong, sassy, fiercely independent "voice" as she makes her way from the restricted special needs classrooms, slowly mainstreaming, is assigned an aide to communicate for her, and finally…

Melody is assigned a biography project, chooses Stephen Hawking, and realizes she can give herself an outer voice to match her inner one. Sadly, she finds many of the people around her prefer their conviction that her physical disability is matched by mental disability. Claire, a classmate, says "I’m not trying to be mean — honest — but it just never occurred to me that Melody had thoughts in her head."  Soon Melody is a member of the fifth grade Whiz Kids team, but then disaster strikes.

Did I say this book is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny? Multiple Coretta Scott King award winning author Sharon Draper gives us a character that we can laugh with, cry with, cheer for, and carry with us long after we have closed Out of My Mind.

Shirley ONeill – Administration Offices

A Note to Readers from Author Sharon Draper from Amazon.com:

People often ask me, "What was your inspiration for Out of my Mind?" I reply, "All great stories emerge from deep truths that rest within us." But the real truth of a story often can be found in places that not even the author has dared to explore. I suppose the character of Melody came from my experiences in raising a child with developmental difficulties. But Melody is not my daughter. Melody is pure fiction — a unique little girl who has come into being from a mixture of love and understanding. Out of my Mind is the story of a ten-year-old-girl who cannot walk or talk. She has spirit, determination, intelligence and wit, and no one knows it. But from buildings that are not wheelchair-accessible to classmates who make fun of her she finds a strength within herself she never knew existed.

I was fiercely adamant that nobody feel sorry for Melody. I wanted her to be accepted as a character and as a person, not as a representative for people with disabilities. Melody is a tribute to all the parents of disabled kids who struggle, to all those children who are misunderstood, to all those caregivers who help every step of the way. It’s also written for people who look away, who pretend they don’t see, or who don’t know what to say when they encounter someone who faces life with obvious differences. Just smile and say hello! 

Sharon M. Draper

Art often comes out of emotion, and The First Days of Spring by Noah and the Whale is a CD about heartbreak and loss, with much of the creative process apparently prompted by vocalist/guitarist Charlie Fink’s separation from fellow performer Laura Marling. The CD has an interesting narrative arc, pulling the listener into Fink’s despondent mood and attitude, and reflecting on universal themes of romantic loss.

There are a couple of key tracks that confront critical moments with blunt honesty. Both the first instrumental track and the song it leads into, "The Love of an Orchestra," are artificially upbeat, suggesting that the speaker is attempting to paste on a smile and move past the heartbreak. These are immediately followed by "Someone," a confession about the inevitability of, and trauma surrounding, getting close to someone new after a breakup. The first track provides a jarring change of both pace and tone, and is deliberately rendered ridiculous and revealed as a lie by both melody and lyrics. This fake happiness is further exposed by the intimacy of the despondent and confessional follow-up.

The band produced a film as a companion piece for the CD, reflecting and illustrating a complex narrative for the songs, and you can watch The First Days of Spring – A Film By Noah And The Whale on Vimeo. In the meantime, check out the excellent CD. 

John Jewitt – Savage Branch