David Rhodes

Words, Wisconsin, the setting for this 2008 novel by David Rhodes, depicts a farm town in a region called “the driftless” — a part of the land that escaped drifting glaciers. The town is on the brink of economic collapse, yet in this year of downturns nationwide, it’s rocked by more than the economy.

As in a Dickens novel, the story lines are numerous and the characters are drawn with a glorious array of eccentricities. They include July Montgomery, a single guy slipping into town with a mysterious past, but whose solid character somehow holds the town together; a couple barely making ends meet on their dairy farm, who blow the whistle on a corrupt milk co-op; and an idealistic young pastor looking for transcendental “oneness,” though not necessarily with people. Other stories similarly recount the extreme hardships and also the resilience of this farming community.

Driftless makes you think twice about the so-called “Heartland” shown in campaign ads, and, instead, gives us the complex characters and interactions of people in crisis. The novel also conveys the natural beauty and intense conditions of the region. In one bone chilling scene, for example, parents search for their children in a powerful blizzard that forces their arms out to their sides as they tramp through a white fog of wind and snow.

Rhodes’ tale left me wanting to read more by this gifted storyteller.

Ginny Leslie – Miller Branch

F. Paul Wilson 

Can the tale of a repairman be worth a whole book, let alone a series? It depends on what the man repairs, of course. While his clients tend to be honest enough, Repairman Jack fixes the kinds of problems that they might be extremely reluctant to bring to the police.

The Tomb, the first in a series of Repairman Jack books by F. Paul Wilson, starts off in a deceptively slow and prosaic manner. In The Tomb, Jack is asked to recover a necklace. It sounds like a pretty unrewarding job, and, against his better judgment, Jack accepts with an “I’ll give it a try” shrug.

One thing leads to another and a simple task develops unexpected complications. By the midpoint of the book, the events that are happening get a bit strange and surprisingly dangerous. Meanwhile, the pace of the book has moved from a walk, through a trot, and well into a full-scale gallop. At this point, you just cannot put down The Tomb or any other Repairman Jack book.

As the series progresses, Jack finds himself ever more deeply involved in a struggle with a nonhuman force referred to as the ”Otherness.” Like the peeling of an onion, Jack’s world is gradually revealed volume by volume. Indeed, It’s not until the third book Conspiracies that Jack himself first hears about the Otherness, a force behind the events of The Tomb and its sequel.

Ultimately the series is scheduled to end with some sort of Gotterdammerung. There are a few more Repairman Jack novels to go before we find out the final (and still uncertain) fate of both Jack and the Otherness. I’m dying to find out. If you start reading Wilson’s series, I guarantee you will be hooked, as well.

Joe McHugh – Administration

Ta-Nehisi Coates

In his powerful childhood memoir The Beautiful Struggle, Ta-Nehisi Coates skillfully details life in a very unconventional household on Baltimore City’s turbulent west side during the 1980s. His father Paul Coates fathered seven children by four different women – two of whom he married. Coates, a Vietnam veteran and former Black Panther leader, was an indomitable, larger-than-life icon, especially in the eyes of his sixth child.

Reading and research played a pivotal role in young Ta-Nehisi’s life as he watched his father finish college, complete graduate studies in library science, and build Black Classic Press, a successful publishing company — while raising seven children with their respective mothers. The reader also "travels" with Ta-Nehisi as he navigates the often brutal, misguided world of middle school boys from rough-and-tumble neighborhoods. At the beginning of the book, there is a handy family tree and picturesque map of west Baltimore.

The author effortlessly captures the essence of his father, including his attributes and character flaws. His prose is so lyrical that the words quite literally dance off the pages of this book. This is a gem of a memoir that delivers a walloping psychological punch.

Click here to learn what the author has to say about his life and his book.

Author Ta-Nehisi Coates and publisher Paul Coates will discuss The Beautiful Struggle. Join us as we welcome this gifted young writer and his father. Books are available for purchase and signing. Register online for this event.

Father and Son:  Publisher and Author
Wednesday, February 11; 7:00 pm
Howard County Central Library
10375 Little Patuxent Parkway
Columbia, MD 21044

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

Do you live and breathe photography? Is your camera your constant companion? If so, join us as we review the hobby from a unique angle. Since the introduction of photography in the early nineteenth century, Marylanders have captured moments in time with increasingly advanced cameras and methods. Using old pictures and postcards of Maryland, Michael Dixon, adjunct professor at the University of Delaware and affiliated with the Historical Society of Cecil County, will examine the role photography has played in depicting people and landscapes in the state since the 1800s. Dixon’s presentation concludes with tips on preserving family collections and using them to interpret the past.

Made possible by the Maryland Humanities Council, Maryland Through the Lens will be presented at the Miller Branch in Ellicott City on Tuesday, February 3; 7:00 pm. You may register online or by calling 410.313.1950.

Fritzi Newton – Miller Branch

Season 4 of the new Doctor Who just hit the shelves. This long-running BBC science fiction show was recently re-imagined by producer Russell T. Davies. In its latest incarnation, the Doctor is the last of the Time-Lords, and a survivor of the most recent great time war. His experience makes him both more decisive and introspective than previous incarnations of the character. Season 1 gets the show off to a great restart with Christopher Eccleston in the title role, and Billie Piper as companion Rose Tyler. In seasons 2 and 3, David Tennant hits exactly the right note as the Doctor, who is mysterious, dangerous, powerful, and yet funny at the same time. He’s joined by Piper as Rose, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, and Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones.

The format of the show has been updated. The four episode mini-arcs of my childhood, which ended with a cliffhanger each Saturday night, are gone. Instead, each season develops a story-arc that sheds some light on the Doctor’s situation and circumstances. Clues and evidence from each episode contribute in some small way to our understanding of the character.

The format and budget of the show have also been stretched to allow for stories that have different perspectives, and are ambitious in scope. "Turn Left" (Season 4, Disc 5) is particularly impressive. The sets and alien costumes are no longer constructed from recognizable household objects — no more cries of “That guy’s got an egg box on his head!” Instead we’re into big-budget special effects. 

So is it still Doctor Who? The answer is yes! The reinvention of the show has successfully integrated the history of the character, but taken the Doctor off in new and dramatic directions, revitalizing a great series. Although different in tone, Doctor Who is up there with Battlestar Galactica on the list of recent well-written, exceptionally well-produced TV science fiction. If you haven’t had chance to see it yet, take a look.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Michael Crichton

In this techno-thriller mixed with social commentary, attorney Peter Evans assists scientist John Kenner in preventing an environmental organization from creating a global natural disaster. The suspense begins with a murder and ends with a tsunami.

State of Fear examines the complex relationship between government, scientists, and celebrities. It’s also a commentary on global warming and other environmental issues. Crichton has included notes at the end of the book that, although sometimes overwhelming to read, are interesting because they offer the reader a glimpse into the author’s point of view.

Chrichton’s tale really resonated with me because it is so different from the typical Michael Crichton novel. In many of his books, the story is central, while the social commentary is secondary; however, in State of Fear, Crichton focuses more on the social commentary, letting the plot support his beliefs. Contrary to the popular idea that the world is coming to an end unless humans change their ways, Crichton argues that science is inconclusive and fear is unnecessary.

Other good stories by Michael Crichton dealing with social issues include Disclosure, which delves into sexual harassment in the workplace (with a twist), and A Case of Need, an earlier book dealing with the medical profession and the issue of abortion prior to Roe v. Wade.

Robert Bates – Glenwood Branch

Janet Dean  

Normally in literary circles, this is the kind of stuff you eat up in a few hours and admit to loving feverishly only in private. Yet I’m not ashamed to say I adored every page of Courting Miss Adelaide. The cover jumped out at me when I was browsing new paperbacks one day last week. I hadn’t read a romance in years and had never once touched inspirational fiction, so I thought, "Why not?"

I’ll warn you ahead of time that Love Inspired Historicals are not for the cynical crowd, but if you like puppies (who do not necessarily appear here), children, and still miss Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, you’re going to really like Janet Dean’s wonderful debut.

Courting Miss Adelaide centers around the title character, a 31-year-old "spinster" (the author’s words, not mine) living in 1897 who realizes she has waited too long to get married, but hasn’t given up hope on becoming a mother. Obviously, planned single parenting is an almost unheard of idea for this time period and Janet Dean uses that to her plot’s advantage.

The thought of a caring, resourceful woman who could possibly be a better parent than some of the more conventional married couples in town tugs at your heartstrings as she is sternly rejected by the committee matching prospective parents with kids just in from the orphan train.

How she deals with the rejection, the townspeople and falling in love with the editor-in-chief of the local paper (the tough, but tender male lead of the story, Charles Graves) all mingle to create quite a charming read. In the world of romance novels, Courting Miss Adelaide is what you call a "keeper."

Angie Engles – Central Library

Robert Samuelson

Enmeshed as we now are in a frightening economic crisis, Robert Samuelson’s book, The Great Inflation and Its Aftermath: The Past and Future of American Affluence, is a cautionary tale that relates how we got into, and out of, an earlier economic mess.

The focus of this book is the low-growth/high-inflation stagflation economy of the 1970s. The 1970s remind us that the road to hell really can be paved with good intentions. The inflationary doldrums that blighted that era resulted directly from economic policies meant to eliminate recessions and maximize employment.

In the 1960s and 1970s, economic consensus theory suggested that inducing inflation “would lower unemployment and thereby boost the economy." There really was something to this theory but, in the real world, making it work required an ability to fine-tune an economy that policymakers hadn’t mastered.

As a result, the economists of the era were flat wrong. By the time they faced up to this, though, America was already into the era of stagflation and needed to find a way out. Unfortunately, the economic consensus also said that only an extremely harsh recession could eliminate stagflation and that the cure would be worse than the disease.

Despite this environment, Paul Volcker, head of the Federal Reserve, deliberately induced the recession of the early 1980s. In doing so he demonstrated that the economic consensus was only half right. His cure for stagflation was very harsh indeed, but it really did work. Moreover, once stagflation ended, the resulting sound dollar and stable prices laid the basis for several decades of prosperity.

Still, all economic booms carry within them the seeds of their own destruction, and the prosperity of recent decades has now come to an end. As we are currently facing different problems, there is little in Samuelson’s book that can directly be used to address our present situation.

The Great Inflation did teach us two important things though — economic consensus can be seriously wrong, and there are times when a painful cure is the only cure.

So, if you ever happen to notice that "all the economists" believe in a particular economic solution and, happily, the solution carries no pain in its wake, you can certainly hope they’re right. However, a little skepticism may be in order.

Joe McHugh – Administration

Michel Faber

British novelist Michel Faber provides a backstage pass into the red-satin world of Victorian prostitution and all its societal implications in his lush, nine-hundred page epic, The Crimson Petal and The White.

Don’t let the length overwhelm you though. Faber’s present-tense narrative is so energetic, readers will be breathing hard just to keep up with the exquisite period details, let alone the compellingly seductive plot.

And if that is not enough, there are the characters — rendered with an almost camera obscura intimacy:

William Rackham is a bored and wealthy perfumier with an hysterical, yet scheming invalid wife, and a penchant for whores. He also struggles to find the backbone necessary to take on his domineering father. Meanwhile his overly moral brother, Henry, fights his attraction for the driven Miss Fox – a lady and a socialist, bent on salvaging the prostitutes of St. James Park.

There are Dickensian villains as well: William’s obnoxious, class-conscious father-in-law and the vampiresque madame, Mrs. Castaway.

But Faber’s star is Sugar, a 19-year-old prostitute with a brain. Each and every night, long after she has “serviced” her last client, Sugar peels off her sweat-soaked camisole, bitterly taking stock of the dye stains on her fragile, peeling skin; (Sugar is plagued with dermatitis). She is so exhausted her bones nearly throb. But Sugar refuses sleep until she has made time to “enter her secret world,” sitting down at a small escritoire and scratching out yet another chapter in a bitter memoir of the life she detests and the men she despises even more.

The Crimson Petal and The White is stunning and opulent, and challenges both the reader and voyeur in all of us.

Aimee Zuccarini – East Columbia Branch

What’s better for a winter’s evening than traveling to France vicariously and learning to use Library resources to plan a trip to the land of truffles, wine, cheese, the Louvre, and Provence?

Join us in the meeting room of the Central Library at 7:00 pm on Wed., Jan. 21 for an evening of French culture.

You’ll see excerpts from travel DVDs by Rick Steves and Rudy Maxa. You’ll hear about engrossing novels set in France and nonfiction travel memoirs as well.

We’ll also mention how to find cookbooks and language-learning tapes.

Experience armchair travel and sample some refreshments that night, as we wish you "bon voyage".

Register online or by calling 410.313.7860.

Jean Salkeld – Administration Office