An American sex symbol is found floating in the Hudson River and the newspapers are reporting that it’s a murder. A famous author known for his detective series claims he will get to the bottom of the mystery. Is this another episode of Castle? No, it’s the true story of the murder of Mary Rogers, and Edgar Allan Poe’s attempt to solve the crime.

In The Beautiful Cigar Girl, Daniel Stashower captures New York’s political climate of 1841. "The beautiful cigar girl" is Mary Rogers, a sales clerk and local celebrity — many of New York’s famous men frequent the cigar store for a glimpse of her. Mary’s behavior made her a darling of the media and her death precipitated a call for reform. Also present is Edgar Allan Poe, a once famous writer for the literary magazines, now looking for his next story. Although considered brilliant, his brutally honest book reviews and erratic behavior have alienated him from society. 

I enjoyed The Beautiful Cigar Girl because of the mystery. Who did kill Mary Rogers? And why? In The Mystery of Marie Roget, Poe attempts to answer these questions through deductive reasoning. I equally enjoyed the story’s history, as well as the author’s inclusion of Poe’s biography. Stashower tells Poe’s story, from his turbulent childhood though his untimely death in Baltimore. The telling of Poe’s life is critical to both the mystery and the reason why he would care so much about writing Mary Roger’s story.  In some way, they are kindred spirits, each bent on the same destination.

Robert Bates – Glenwood Branch

Haven Kimmel’s A Girl Named Zippy is a uniquely engaging biography. As the author tells her tales of "growing up small in Mooreland, Indiana,” we’re transported 30 years back in time and encouraged to remember what is important in life. Zippy’s world is, at first, a small one, but her concerns and cares are large and important. Kimmel does an incredible job of recalling her childhood experiences with the eyes of an adult, but communicating them to us from the perspective of her younger self. We hear about Zippy’s friends Julie, Rose, and the exotic out-of-town transplant Dana from Los Angeles. We focus on Edith, the less than kind but elderly neighbor, and on Petey Scroggs, the boy next door who is cruel to animals. Through Zippy’s eyes we share her childhood fascination with the mysteries of adulthood. Most of all, though, we imagine Zippy flying down Broad Street on her bicycle, heading to the drugstore for a Lemon Phosphate. This exceptional nonfiction is an experience all its own.

Kimmel’s sequel to Zippy, She Got Up Off the Couch, is equally engaging and remarkable. This second visit to Mooreland reunites us with the Jarvis family and provides a second chance to savor Kimmel’s signature style of narrative nonfiction. Zip is growing up now, and from her more mature perspective she sees some of the contradictions and complications in her life that she previously assumed to be “normal.” As her point of view changes, we learn more about Zippy’s friends and siblings. Most significantly, though, we get to know her father Bob, and follow her mother Delonda out of the Jarvis household and into the wider world.

Both A Girl Named Zippy and She Got Up Off the Couch are available as audiobooks read by the author — Kimmel’s stories are even more stirring and emotionally involving when she’s the narrator. Whether in print or audio, these two autobiographical stories are can’t miss nonfiction. I’m mad with myself for waiting this long to read them, and I can pretty much guarantee that once you read A Girl Named Zippy, you’ll wonder what took you so long, too!

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Author Helene Cooper is the White House correspondent for the New York Times. Prior to her current assignment, she was a diplomatic reporter and assistant editorial page editor for the same paper. The House at Sugar Beach chronicles her youth and coming-of-age.

Helene’s paternal and maternal ancestors were among the free blacks who emigrated from the U.S. to Liberia during the early 1800s. Helene was born and spent her first 14 years there. She and her siblings lived a relatively well-to-do life. Both of her parents were educated abroad, and her family owned homes in Monrovia and Spain. She attended private school and enjoyed regular family trips to the U.S. and other countries. Her story seems to be one of privilege as a member of the "Congo" tribe that was in power in democratic Liberia. Her family even took in Eunice, a "poor" girl from the Bassa tribe. Eunice, a few years older, became an "adopted" sister and confidant to Helene and her younger sister Marlene.

Excerpt:
Our house at Sugar Beach was a source of pride and of pain. It was a testament to the stature of my family in a country where stature mattered, sometimes above all else. Liberian society rivaled Victorian England when it came to matters of social correctness. In Liberia, we cared far more about how we looked outside than about who we were inside. It was crucial to be an Honorable. Being an "Honorable" – mostly Congo People, though a smattering of Country People were sometimes pronounced educated enough to get the title – meant you were deemed eligible to hold important government posts. You could have a Ph.D. from Harvard but if you were a Country man with a tribal affiliation you were still outranked in Liberian society by an Honorable with a two-bit degree from some community college in Memphis, Tennessee. Daddy was an Honorable with a proper college bachelor of science, but being Hon. John L. Cooper Jr. was a hell of a lot more important than whatever degree he got in America.

However, a coup in 1980 shattered the somewhat serene life of the Cooper family. Soldiers enter their home, and the unthinkable happens to Helena’s mother. War is hell. Once you start reading about this remarkable journey, you will continue until it is complete. Ms. Cooper’s memoir has rekindled my interest in learning more about the history of Liberia.

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

In so many ways Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury reminds me of the feelings and events of my childhood. Set in 1928 Illinois, it is an admittedly semi-autobiographical novel. Composed of a series of stories, Dandelion Wine centers around 12-year-old Douglas Spaulding, and the friends, families, and folk tales in which they all seem to play, at least, peripheral roles. Every facet of a childhood summer is touched upon…the joys, ponderings, mysteries, tragedies, questions, fears, anticipations, sights, smells, and of course, the taste of dandelion wine.

Each story (some of which weave throughout the book, while others stand alone and have a singular moment of glory) serves as a visceral snapshot of some sort of universal human experience. I found myself sympathizing with different characters at different times: Leo, the creator (and eventual destroyer) of the Happiness Machine; Grandpa, aghast at the idea of a self-cutting lawn; Colonel Freeleigh, the human Time Machine; and of course, The Lonely One, who may or may not be right behind you waiting for his moment to strike.

There is not one particular emotion that monopolizes this book. It quite often takes you into deep sadness and fear, only to bring you to the top of a mountain laughing hysterically, as in the tellings of the Green Machine (owned and “operated” by Miss Fern and Miss Roberts), and my personal favorite, the banishment of Aunt Rose.

Better yet was reading the book aloud to a loved one, just as the summer warmth was beginning to take hold. And like the final days of summer, inaugurated by the display of school supplies in the shop windows, I mourned the passing of the last page.

Dan Curry – Savage Branch

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to grow up in a family with a multitude of siblings, 12 to be exact? The constant chaotic vying for attention competes with the everpresent clutter of clothing, mismatched socks, and mounds of school books – not to mention the unending hum of major/minor squabbles. James McBride’s poignant memoir The Color of Water offers a panoramic view – from the Depression through the turbulent 60s and beyond — inside the life of one such remarkable family.

In writing The Color of Water, the author attempts to explore his Jewish mother’s hidden past. As a result of his persistence, McBride’s mother Rachel tells her story, simultaneously allowing McBride to gain a greater understanding of himself. Rachel was the daughter of a strict, distant Orthodox Jewish rabbi and a loving, meek mother. Years of childhood sexual abuse led Rachel to run away and literally reinvent herself. How she raised her brood with a surprising blend of "chutzpah" and grace was truly amazing to me.

After reading McBride’s latest book Song Yet Sung, I decided to purchase The Color of Water on audiobook. Told from alternating points of view by McBride and his mother (Momee), actors Andre Braugher and Lainie Kazan create an unforgettable audio production.

This memoir had me quietly crying one minute and laughing the next. Pick up a copy of the book or the playaway – I guarantee you will be moved.

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

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

Alexander Masters

Alexander Masters’ biography of Stuart Shorter details his experiences with alcohol and drug abuse, homelessness, and crime. The triumph of Stuart: A Life Backwards is that Masters never loses sight of Shorter’s humanity, even when describing the most horrific moments of his very challenging life. As depicted by Masters, Stuart Shorter is not a victim of the system, a criminal, or a one-dimensional caricature, but rather a person who has been repeatedly pushed to society’s margins, and has tried to cope by using the limited means available.

Masters leads the reader into the story through his friendship with Stuart, and authentically renders his subject’s voice and unique perspective. Episodes from Stuart’s past are interwoven with discussions with Masters about writing the book, and with broader discussions of the social policy and system that repeatedly fails Stuart. The two even collaborate in activism to draw attention to the plight of the homeless, and to the circumstances surrounding Cambridge’s Wintercomfort shelter in particular.

By reversing the timeline of his story, Masters reduces the emphasis on the event that would have concluded any conventional biography, and adds weight to the earlier events that defined Stuart, limiting his options and choices even in childhood. I recommend Stuart: A Life Backwards by Alexander Masters as a deft look at the difficult topics of homelessness, mental illness and addiction.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Lisa See, best known for her novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, started out as a non-fiction author, telling the story of her own family in the magnificent On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family. Thanks to family stories and government records, See has a remarkable knowledge of her family and is able to comprehensively recreate the lives of her ancestors as far back as her great-great-grandfather. See’s family story is dynamic, vital and engaging. While many of our ancestors were working the same piece of land or living in the same town from generation to generation, See’s ancestors were building a series of successful businesses in California, traveling to visit relatives in China, and striving to build a foundation for future generations on “gold mountain.”

See begins her narrative with her great-great-grandfather Fong Dun Shun, an herbalist supporting the Chinese laborers working to construct the trans-continental railroad, and continues with the story of her great-grandfather, Fong See, and his arrival in the United States. Fong See established himself as a businessman in Sacramento, whose factory making undergarments for prostitutes was gradually transformed into a large import business bringing antiques and furnishings from China. The main instigator of this transformation was See’s great-grandmother, Letticie Pruett, a white woman born in Oregon in 1876, who set out for California on her own, and met Fong See while she was looking for work.

We spend a great deal of time with the children of Ticie and Fong See, the author’s great grandparents and great-great aunts and uncles. The “one hundred year odyssey” referred to in the subtitle is really that of Milton, Ray, Eddie, Benny and Sissee’s generation. These are the people who the reader follows from childhood to old age, through World War II, through the economic conditions of the mid-to-late twentieth century, and through the family negotiations around separations, business disagreements and accommodations with their father’s other family in China.

Although this is a family history, it is also a detailed social history of California and of the broader U.S. in the later nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Working on these multiple levels, On Gold Mountain is an outstanding, rewarding and uniquely constructed work of non-fiction, notable both because See knows so much about her family, and because their experiences were so extraordinary.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Glenwood Branch’s new book club, Biography: People Past & Present, will meet Wednesday, May 7 at 7:00 pm to tackle the formidable Clare Booth Luce.

My friend and colleague, Amy DeGroff was fascinated by Rage for Fame: the Ascent of Clare Booth Luce and recommended it when she heard about our new book group:

Rage for Fame is a delicious glimpse into New York culture between and during the Wars, with a focus on a woman that, from many accounts, filled up a room like none other. Claire Booth Brokaw Luce was a formidable woman who lived several lives during the span of one life time. She was a wife, mother, writer, executive, socialite, and eventually (not covered in this book) a diplomat.

Much is left unanswered, however, in this biography. While Ms. Luce left behind many notes, and detailed correspondence, her soul, her feelings are tough to detect. Some messages slip out from her creative writings — evidence of trauma and sadness are found, but I left this book still wondering — "who was she and how did she do it and did she like it?" I am not sure if she was happy. I am not sure if her sarcasm and her tremendous wit was a delight to her or a burden.

You will read this book quickly and want more – more photos, more detail, more information. However, read it . You will think differently about the pre-feminist era and you will re examine your labels or feelings for mom, wife, executive, woman. – Amy Begg De Groff

I thank Amy for her input and invite you all to learn more about "People, Past & Present."

Barbara Cornell — Glenwood Branch

Will in the World is far from a standard biography of William Shakespeare. Stephen Greenblatt takes a great approach to his subject, looking at Shakespeare’s life experiences and cultural exposure to make educated guesses about how his plays were inspired. There’s a lot that we don’t know about Shakespeare, since he left no personal papers other than a will, and there are times when he’s invisible in the historical record. Much of what we do know has been inferred from Shakespeare’s plays, and Greenblatt structures his chapters to suggest parallels between the plays and the playwright’s personal situation. There is some supposition on the part of the author, but the background information is comprehensive enough to make even Greenblatt’s speculative conclusions intriguing.

Against a background of the bubonic plague and the religious disagreements that convulsed England in the late Tudor period, Greenblatt reconstructs Will’s early life and suggests reasons that he might have moved from Stratford to London via Lancashire. One popular story has Shakespeare overstepping his bounds by poaching a deer from local landholder Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote. Greenblatt suggests that Shakespeare’s Catholicism and the deterioration of his father’s social standing may be a more likely motivator for Will’s relocation.

Greenblatt’s chapters are dense and rich with information, but remain accessible. There’s lots of interesting stuff here about Shakespeare the businessman, first as a shareholder in the company of players, and later as a part owner of the theater where they performed. In later life, Shakespeare also invested heavily in land in and around his native Stratford, attempting to secure a stable future for his children. His relationship with his wife, however, was unusual and provides Greenblatt with some of his best material, including Shakespeare’s oddly insignificant bequest to Anne Hathaway of “my second best bed with the furniture,” while the bulk of his lands and wealth were shared with his daughters.

This is a lively and comprehensive effort to re-create the cultural milieu of the late sixteenth century. Many of the prevailing cultural references, concerns and activities are remote for us today, but Greenblatt brings them to life with anecdotes, examples, and multiple references to Shakespeare’s own works. We are provided with a systematic tour of Shakespeare’s intellectual sphere, and a look at how he was able to synthesize life experiences, existing literature and wider cultural influences into plays that remain relevant four hundred years after they were first written. To experience a creative and new take on the works and world of Shakespeare, take a look at Stephen Greenblatt’s Will in the World.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch