I don’t remember how I first heard about Coop, but I’m glad I found it. Author Michael Perry, a native of Wisconsin, tells the story of being on 37 acres of farmland with fallen fences and overgrown fields, wanting to raise pigs and chickens. In the midst of all this, his pregnant wife has plans of delivering their baby at home.

By trade Perry is a writer — the contributing editor to Men’s Health, with articles appearing in other publications, as well. This, as he says in the book, is his "bread and butter." While working on Coop, he was busy writing; occasionally performing in his band; trying to raise his own chickens and pigs; but above all, being a good husband and father.

I love the way Perry writes about his childhood — the many children his parents took in to raise in addition to their own; their simple life on the farm; and the quiet faith that gave them a solid grounding. One example that stands out in my mind is "Sunday Popcorn." Mike’s mother would make popcorn in a pan on the stove while the family gathered around the kitchen table to help with passing plates of food, mixing up Kool-Aid, and salting the popcorn. During the second part of this Sunday night tradition, everyone was allowed to bring a book to read at the table (prohibited at any other time). Even today, members of the grown families still return to their parents’ house to participate in "Sunday Popcorn."

Perry seems like a down-to-earth, "real" person; he doesn’t put on airs, writing about both his mistakes and his achievements. Once in a while he throws in words I’d never heard before (like "tatterdemalion"), but he covers mundane things, as well as humorous stories — being bitten in the butt while wrestling a pig, accidentally killing one of his chickens by dropping a whole bale of chicken wire on top of it, and explaining how his father once drove home with a "giant lactating Holstein tethered to the bumper of his Ford Falcon."

Coupled with his writing from the heart, covering topics such as the birth of his daughter, and the death of a good friend, Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs, and Parenting is a title you won’t want to miss.

Michele Happel – Miller Branch

I am a sucker for dragons. I’ll read just about anything that has dragons, although I prefer them to be intelligent creatures instead of marauding predators. I was thrilled when Tanya Huff introduced me to cool new dragons in The Enchantment Emporium. These dragons are suave, debonair fellows, except when they get bored — and they tend to have short attention spans.

When Allie Gale inherits her grandmother’s antique and yo-yo shop in Calgary, she moves to Canada because she’s at loose ends. Plus, Allie’s family has certain talents to charm (literally) the world into going their way, and she’s not entirely sure that all is what it seems. She has good intuition because she quickly befriends a homeless leprechaun, discovers her attraction to a reporter who writes about the arcane, and deals with her wild-child cousin Charlie.

When you mix all these elements together with dragon lords who like to fly over the shop, you get a story that runs on non-stop action and surprises. Huff has a talent for entertaining her readers with snarky banter and hysterical situations. There’s one scene in which a bar fight doesn’t go exactly how anyone planned (do you plan bar fights?). And if this weren’t enough, twelve Gale aunties arrive for the final showdown between good and evil…beware the pie.

If you enjoyed The Enchantment Emporium, Huff has also written several series. Keeper’s Chronicles begins with Summon the Keeper, another fun urban fantasy featuring a kick-butt young witch, a particularly vocal cat, and Hell in the basement. Her military sci-fi series Confederation follows the career of Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr as she saves the universe and keeps the recruits in line.

Kristen Blount – Administration

If, like me, you’re convinced that cats know more than they’re letting on, and that maybe, just maybe, they’re the ones who are behind the scenes pulling the strings, this is the book for you. I Can Has Cheezburger by Eric Nakagawa is an outgrowth of the Web site of the same name. This book provides a forum for photographers who have been fortunate enough to catch their cats deep in conspiratorial thought. The collection of images proves beyond a doubt (cough), that cats are running the show.

Each picture includes an appropriately comical caption in first-person cat-speak. Cats, it appears, have their own grammatical conventions, lexicon, and particular style of writing known as lolspeak. They also have a unique set of concerns revolving around food, self-image, and the appropriate application of their abundant power. Sometimes the cats focus on important members of their community, such as monorail kitteh and ceiling cat, and often they’re preoccupied with food, especially the titular cheezburger. The revelation that cats like burgers, though, is just the tip of the cat culture iceberg.

Take a look at I Can Has Cheezburger to discover the true extent of this feline conspiracy. You’ll be shocked! 

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Good Enough is a window into the world of Asian American high school teens striving to find true happiness in life, reacting to high-pressure parents, and dealing with the racism around them. It is Paula Yoo’s first teen novel after her picture book biography Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story (2005). The author introduces us to Korean culture by interspersing ethnic recipes and famous Korean figures into the story. Who would have guessed that Koreans love Spam? A lot of what Yoo writes in this novel likely mirrors her own life experiences.

Using light-hearted humor, the author touches on the issue of racism in school and in the community.  Patti Yoon, the protagonist, is told by her parents to never “rock the boat”, which she takes to mean “never stand up for yourself” when encountering name calling. This advice is given to avoid any potential consequences from “rabble rousing” behavior that could possibly jeopardize Patti’s chances of getting into “HYP” (HarvardYalePrinceton)!

Yoo’s story replicates the lives of numerous Asian American teens of immigrant families. The expectations on these children to attend the best colleges often increases stress and strain in family relationships. Many high school seniors will probably relate to Patti’s life of SAT prep, college applications, and resume building. Good Enough’s laugh-out-loud humor but deep issues will hit home with a wide range of readers, parents included.

Mai-Leng Ong – Administration Office

When it comes to fiction, I tend to love any title that’s both humorous and tells an engaging story. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate a good tear-jerker, but it’s harder to make me laugh out loud than it is to make me burst into tears. (Just kill off a kid or a dog and I’m a river.) I saw a book returned to the library that had an interesting cover and a weird title, so I picked it up. Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy had me laughing so much I was scaring people around me, and then scaring them even more when I followed them saying, "No, no, let me just read to you this one part; it’s fantastic!" I took the book with me on vacation and was sad whenever I had to leave it in my hotel room, unfinished.

The story focuses on 12-year-old Stephanie, niece to Gordon Edgley, a reclusive author who has just died. A mysterious man clad in a fedora, scarf, and trench coat is at the reading of the will, and thus enters our hero. Stephanie inherits her uncle’s estate, and the story jumps on a roller coaster ride from there. Skulduggery Pleasant is the fedora-wearing stranger whose sense of humor is so wonderful; I truly wish I could have him as a friend.

An extra fun bonus was reading the author’s information on the back sleeve — "The reason Derek writes his own biographical blurb is so that he can finally refer to himself in the third person without looking pompous or insane." To let readers know, this is a young adult book, but I recommend it for both teens and adults. If you’re looking for something light and hilarious, Skulduggery Pleasant is one title you just might like to pick up.

Jennifer Johnson – Glenwood Branch

I remember watching Frasier on TV when it first aired in 1993, and I’ve loved it ever since. The show features Frasier Crane, played by Kelsey Grammer, who is recently divorced from his ex-wife, Lilith (Bebe Newirth), and returns to his hometown of Seattle, Washington. He must learn to live with his father, a retired police officer (John Mahoney), his father’s dog, Eddie, and Daphne, his father’s physiotherapist (Jane Leeves). Frasier is a psychiatrist who graduated from Harvard (something he mentions every time he gets a chance). In Seattle, he has his own radio show at KACL where his trademark phrase is, "I’m listening," while dispensing psychiatric advice.

Niles, Frasier’s brother, also a psychiatrist, is even more haughty and uptight than Frasier, while Martin is nothing like either of his sons. He enjoys simple things like ballgames and beer, as opposed to opera and fine wine. The brothers and their father are like oil and water, but every now and then, they give in and try something they don’t like, just because they’re family. If you do decide you like it, there are ten seasons of the show to keep you busy.

The vignettes of everyday life in Frasier are so appealing that, most likely, you’ll want to come back for more.

Michele Happel-Miller Branch

I love book titles. So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish by Douglas Adams is a great exit line. The Celery Stalks at Midnight by James Howe is one of my favorites, deliciously ironic, since I have a manic aversion to celery. And, of course, a recent discovery, Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians, by Brandon Sanderson. Now, I ask you, how can you not love something with evil librarians in the title? But that’s another story.

This is about another great title: Stop Dressing Your Six-Year-Old Like a Skank And Other Words of Delicate Southern Wisdom by Celia Rivenbark. I saw the book when it came out, chuckled at the title and thought I’d give it a read later.

Recently, two women approached me asking if I could help them remember a bizarre title. They giggled a little as they said it had something about "six-year-old" and "skank" in it. "Oh, wait!" I said, "I know exactly what you’re talking about!" And then proceeded to find the book in the catalog and procure copies for both of them. They were quite amazed and very excited. After they left, I put a copy on hold for myself, thinking I that I needed to finally read it.

Celia Rivenbark is an award-winning newspaper columnist from North Carolina who is often compared to Dave Barry. I discovered that Rivenbark’s daughter’s name is Sophie (so’s mine) and seemed about the same age as mine. I thought I could relate. Rivenbark’s account of her horror over the selection of clothing in the girls’ size 7-16 department, her experience of being a slacker mom, and her campaign to have her daughter be a flower girl plunged me into hysterics. The author’s description of how her husband handled inquisitive kindergarteners on a zoo field trip asking about what the baboon was doing was priceless. (The baboon "was [involved] in amorous activities that didn’t involve a partner".)

While there is a strong Southern flavor to her writing, Rivenbark’s insights about kids, celebrities, vanity, husbands, and, of course, the South, ring true for all. Reading the book was like chatting and giggling with a close friend for hours. Just warn friends and family about the snorts and tears that may result from uncontrollable laughter. Be sure to visit Celia Rivenbark’s website to read her weekly columns.

Enjoy!

Stacey Freedman – Miller Branch

One morning while Eric Nuzum sleepily munched his Count Chocula at breakfast, he realized he was surrounded by vampires. Not literally, of course. News stories, advertising, television shows—it seemed vampires were everywhere. Motivated by curiosity, this National Public Radio employee decided to research people’s fascination with the mythical blood sucker, resulting in The Dead Travel Fast, a very humorous research/travelogue title.

Nuzum first decided to attempt to watch every vampire movie ever made. He details how Nosferatu and Bela Lugosi’s Dracula were made, providing interesting reading for film buffs. The list also includes Samurai Vampire Bikers from Hell, Rockabilly Vampire, and Atom Age Vampire. There are a surprising number of interesting facts interspersed with the narrative, particularly about Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. Nuzum and his very skeptical wife travel to England, tracing the locations mentioned in the book. Stoker was a stickler for setting. Nuzum gives a nice background about what may have motivated Stoker to write his classic horror story, and how it’s been interpreted and reinterpreted through the years. The chapter in which he travels by tour bus through Romania to research Vlad Tepes (the “real” count Dracula, who was very pro-impalement) is the funniest travelogue I’ve read. Think you’ve had a bad family vacation? Nope. Nuzum’s travelling companions included Butch Patrick, "Eddie" from The Munsters—who spent most of his time asleep. The trip included a dog bite, an infected mosquito bite, sinking boats, an emotionally disturbed monk, and lots of vomiting. After eating a Romanian “American-style” pizza, which included fried eggs, venison and goat cheese, let’s just say things were a bit messy on the bus.

One thing missing from this book is an index. Other than reading the entire book, there’s no easy way to discover such trivia gems as the fact that Roger Daltrey (of the band The Who) acted in the 1996 celluloid stinker, Vampirella.

A caveat to potential readers: there are swear words aplenty. If reading foul language makes you uncomfortable, this book may not be your cup of tea. Or vial of AB negative…

Karen Marks – Elkridge Branch

Newly single, 50-something, Gwyneth Berke and pals navigate the waters with the "aging but young-at-heart set" in Toby Deven’s debut novel My Favorite Midlife Crisis (Yet). They tackle issues including online dating, elderly parents,and the perils of dating younger men. This book is really a hoot and witty to boot. It’s urban fiction (street fiction) for the over-fifty crowd! Not for the faint-hearted.

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

Although Ilf and Petrov’s American Road Trip sounds like a really bad summer teen flick, this book is actually an easy to read, entertaining, and sometimes biting travelogue.

In 1935, Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, satirical writers, came to America for two months, rented a Ford, and drove from New York to San Francisco and back. (Perhaps this inspired Nabokov to send Humbert Humbert on a tour with Lolita…) This book is a kind of political/social commentary journal, but it’s no boring laundry list of tourist traps.

Most of the chapters are titled geographically , such as “The Small Town,” “The Desert” and my personal favorite, “Hollywood.” Also included are chapters on “Native Americans” and “Advertising.” The chapter “Negroes” contains an excruciating Borat-style transcript of a conversation with a young man.

Although the style is more acerbic than charming, I often laughed out loud at how they described their situations. Visiting a Mexican restaurant:

“A bonfire caught fire in our mouths and burned for at least three days.”

The authors lived before Stalin’s terror purged many writers, but to help avoid hotel Gulag Archipelago they sprinkled some political statements throughout the book, mostly on the order of Communism=Good, Capitalism=Bad.

They complained Americans valued mindless, vapid entertainment, something heard even today:

“You can graduate from twenty schools and universities and after a few years of regular cinema attendance turn into a total idiot.”

They were in awe of America’s technology but were astounded at the social inequality and the lack of curiosity people had toward them. They mused, why, in a country with so much technology and wealth, there were so many poor. They were two communist writers for Pravda traveling through America, and no one asked them questions.

Ilf took some snapshots along their journey. The reproductions aren’t top quality, but it doesn’t matter too much since Ilf was no Ansel Adams. Imagine giving your six-year-old a camera to record the family vacation. Nothing is framed, posed or even has a slice-of-life look. The photos are oddly static, like a drawing of a plant or bird in Meriwether Lewis‘ journal, but the book would not have as much impact without them.

I highly recommend this title for anyone who appreciates dry, sarcastic humor—it’s a fine ride.

Karen Marks – Elkridge Branch