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

Meet Jasmine Cox Larson Bush — a conniving, hateful, scheming young woman, and the main character in Lady Jasmine: a Novel by Victoria Christopher Murray.  Jasmine will walk all over your dead body to get what she wants. Surprisingly, she has a wonderful, loving husband (Hosea) who is the assistant pastor at a mega church in Harlem, NY and the host of a wildly successful Christian television program. Jasmine is also the mother of a beautiful, young daughter, Jacqueline and the family enjoys a luxury apartment in one of the finest neighborhoods in New York City.

Suddenly a brutal act of violence lands her father-in-law (chief pastor) in a coma for weeks, and Jasmine will use any means to assure that her husband is installed as senior pastor. With dreams of becoming "First Lady," Jasmine is determined to accomplish this at any cost — unscrupulously employing her computer skills and enlisting help from "shady" friends.

Jasmine reveals many past indiscretions in this delicious read. However, she harbors a deep, dark secret that she has not revealed to her husband. Many church parishioners do not approve of Jasmine’s plans to become "First Lady," and eventually she receives several anonymous messages indicating knowledge of her secret past.  Will she locate the source without further violence?

For more of Jasmine’s antics, read A Sin and a Shame, Too Little, Too Late , and Lady Jasmine: a Novel. Sassy Jasmine re-appears in Victoria Christopher Murray’s latest novel Sins of the Mother,  just released in June 2010.  Ms. Murray has received numerous awards including the Golden Pen Award for Best Inspirational Fiction and the Phyllis Wheatley Trailblazer Award for being the pioneer in African American Christian Fiction.  In 2008, Victoria won the African American Literary Award for best novel (Too Little, Too Late) and Female Author of the Year.

Join us for a fascinating discussion with author Victoria Christopher Murray at 7 pm on Wednesday, July 14 at Central Library.  Books available for purchase and signing. Register online, in person, or by calling 410.313.7860.

Elaine Johnson – Central Library

Meet Richard Castle (played by Nathan Fillion), a (fictional) popular mystery writer who, having killed off his last beloved character (named Derrick Storm), is following New York Police Detective Kate Beckett (Stana Katic) for inspiration in developing his new character, Nikki Heat. Reluctantly, she agrees to let Castle shadow her. The two previously met when Beckett was investigating a series of murders that were similar to plotlines from Castle’s books. Castle was brought in as a consultant and helped Detective Beckett solve the case.

Fans of the Castle television series will enjoy Heat Wave, the novel that mirrors ABC’s show, and introduces Nikki Heat as she investigates the murder of a real estate tycoon during an oppressive heat wave. As she follows the murder trail, she finds more secrets — secrets to die for. To further complicate her investigation, the commissioner has assigned Jameson Rook, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist, to follow her for a story on the NYPD. Can Nikki Heat hide the heat between her and Rook?

The two detectives who help Beckett and Castle in the television series are also characters in the book, which reads as if Richard Castle had actually written it. Adding to the fun, throughout the series, the characters make reference to the book, while actual authors appear on the show. Castle, for example, plays poker with famous writers James Patterson and Stephen J. Cannell. Fillion and Katic have good chemistry as Castle and Beckett — two reluctant partners in crime solving.

If you enjoy audiobooks, Johnny Heller is the reader for the book on CD.

Robert Bates – Glenwood Branch

Flight of the Conchords (Jermaine Clement and Bret McKenzie) are "New Zealand’s fourth most popular comedy-folk duo." On the back of this questionable level of domestic success halfway across the globe, they’ve decided to reach for the big time, and this mockumentary style HBO show documents their efforts to make it big in the New York City music business. In addition to professional success, Jermaine and Bret are looking for love, and plots often revolve around their efforts to meet women. 

Much of the humor here develops from the duo’s naiveté. They’re confounded by the city, mis-managed by the incompetent Murray (Rhys Darby), exploited by strangers they meet, and (perhaps worst of all) regularly mistaken for Australians. Murray, who juggles his responsibilities to the band with his day job at the New Zealand Consulate, has the band’s best interests at heart but is clearly out of his depth. When he isn’t misleading the Conchords deliberately, Murray gets the guys into trouble by accident. Any career move proposed by Murray is frequently over before it starts.

Thankfully, the Conchords know a couple of other people in the city. They are supported/obsessively stalked by their one fan, Mel (Kristen Schaal), who goes to all their concerts and spends a suspicious amount of time on the sidewalk outside their apartment. They can also turn to local pawnshop owner Dave (Arj Barker) for the unvarnished truth about their situation and circumstances.

The show plays with the format of episodic television, as each of the duo’s adventures dissolves into a musical number that furthers the plot. These pitch-perfect parodies are the hook that keeps the viewer coming back, as the Conchords spoof David Bowie, 60s euro-pop, or The Beatles to tell us more of their story. Particular stand-outs are the chemical-fueled Pretty Prince of Parties, Foux da fa-fa that takes us through the duo’s double-date with the ladies from the croissant shop, and Leggie Blonde, a performance piece documenting Murray’s unrequited love for Jessica, the embassy’s contractor from IT support. Howard County Library owns both season one and season two of Flight of the Conchords, as well as I Told You I Was Freaky, the band’s music CD from season two. Catch up with Jermaine and Bret today!

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

The BQE by Sufjan Stevens, is a meditation on the United States in the mid-twentieth century. According to Stevens’ record label, Asthmatic Kitty Records, this composition is "a cinematic suite inspired by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Hula-Hoop." These seemingly disparate ideas are contrasted in the extensive liner-notes of the CD, which frames an elaborate battle between "Captain" Robert Moses, urban planner and engineer, and the Hooper Heroes, hula-hooping advocates for freedom, connection, circular motion, and face-to-face interaction. Their values, of course, cannot be fully expressed from a speeding car. For more on the battle between the Hooper Heroes and Captain Moses, take a look at The BQE.

This CD/DVD set is a fascinating counterpoint to other works about highways. Kerouac’s On the Road, for instance, directs us to travel into the wide open spaces of the west at high speed. William Least Heat Moon’s Blue Highways travels those same wide-open spaces at a pace designed for meaningful social interaction. That’s not the sort of motion that’s under consideration here as we crawl the outer boroughs in heavy traffic on a highway that Moses’ critics say destroyed as many neighborhoods as it connected.

We house The BQE in the Library’s music collection, but I would encourage you to experience it first by watching the included DVD. Stevens’ triptych visuals first establish the intrusion of the expressway, and then enliven the grim truth of urban traffic with kaleidoscopic visual effects. The movie also balances the traffic backups with interludes of cyclical, organic movement courtesy of the Hooper Heroes. Later tracks play with reflections, mirror images, and other visual effects to find the hidden beauty in the highway. Take a ride on (OK, sit in traffic with) The BQE today.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Bram Stoker really started a trend when he wrote Dracula in 1897. Who could have guessed that over the next century, vampire books would become a whole sub-genre of horror literature?  The Strain (the first book of a new trilogy) by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan is the latest entry in the field.

In recent decades, both movies and books have given us any number of new and different slants on the bloodsuckers we find so fascinating (and scary).  We’ve had comic vampires (remember Love at First Bite?) and romantic vampires (the Stephenie Meyer books). We’ve also had vampires with a yen for self-revelation (see Interview With the Vampire by Anne Rice). You name it, we’ve had it. I’ve not yet run into a book about vampire space aliens, but I’m sure they’re out there somewhere.

As for The Strain, it goes back to original principles. The vampires portrayed in this book are relentlessly predatory and downright terrifying. Humans have blood and vampires drink it. Period. With the crowd of bloodsuckers in The Strain, there’s no such thing as skipping a meal.

Paradoxically though, The Strain is also a remarkably modern take on the vampire myths. The hero is a doctor who works for the Centers for Disease Control.  As a scientist, he begins with no more belief in vampires than he might have in the Tooth Fairy.  However, as a scientist, the existence of the undead becomes utterly logical to him when he discovers there’s nothing magic or supernatural involved in their creation. What is involved is a virus. Unfortunately it is a very powerful and fast acting virus. Neither Holy Water, the Cross, nor antibiotics will work against it.

The book begins with a plane full of dead passengers landing at Kennedy Airport. Only they’re not exactly dead. As this last reality becomes clear, the action spreads to the rest of the New York metropolitan area while the doctor and his associates attempt to contain what has quickly become an epidemic.

How do they deal with it? Can they deal with it? Maybe yes and maybe no. It will take two more books before the reader can know for certain.  Personally, I can’t wait for book two.

Joe McHugh – Administration Office

Updating Broadway with one stroke, Jonathan Larson’s Rent manages to combine rock music and musical theater to create a modern, vibrant, and challenging show that is great fun to watch. Focusing on a community of artists living on the lower East Side of New York City, Rent documents their efforts to survive and produce relevant and worthwhile art. Meanwhile, their community struggles to deal with gentrification in the neighborhood and the spread of AIDS at the close of the 1980s.

Rent recently closed on Broadway after twelve years and more than five thousand performances. The final performances were filmed, and Rent filmed live on Broadway looks and feels like a stage play. The bare set, with band platform and multi-purpose tables, comes alive as the actors inhabit various locations. A great final performance of "Seasons of Love" unites members of the original cast with the current performers.

After almost a decade as a successful musical, Rent was adapted into a movie, directed by Chris Columbus and released in 2005. This slightly abridged form of the story includes many of the original Broadway cast, as well as Tracie Thoms as Joanne, and Rosario Dawson as Mimi, both of whom excel. The movie seamlessly blends theater and cinema, and takes up more space to tell the story. Thoms and Idina Menzel’s version of “Take Me or Leave Me,” for instance, is staged as a walk and talk that fills up an entire building.

You can listen to Rent too, of course. The original Broadway cast recording dates from 1996, and features, amongst others, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Anthony Rapp, Jesse L. Martin, Taye Diggs and Menzel. This selection includes the complete show, and spans two discs. The movie soundtrack omits a few numbers from the stage show, but includes all of the major songs. If you’d like to know more about the history of the show, take a look at the libretto for Rent, which includes comprehensive behind-the-scenes information, photographs, and details about its development in addition to the lyrics and script for the early performances. Watch or listen to Rent today. You’ll love it.

John Jewitt – Savage Branch

Sloane Crosley’s I Was Told There’d Be Cake is a catalog of the trials of life in modern Manhattan. This isn’t Carrie Bradshaw’s Manhattan either, although Bradshaw’s world can be glimpsed on occasion from a distance. Crosley’s personal observations on the journey from childhood to independent adult are biting, incisive, and true, yet painfully funny in a confessional way. What’s new here is that there’s a conscience and brutal honesty behind the Seinfeld-like yuks. Crosley bares her soul to expose the difficulties of life as a twenty-something in the new millennium, somehow finding humor in the ruins.

Crosley’s short essays deal with episodes from her life. Just for something to say, she nervously hits up new boyfriends for ponies, and then twinges with karmic angst after the breakup as she decides what to do with the toys she’s been given. She walks us through the misunderstood gift of baked goods she presented to her boss, against the larger backdrop of 9/11. In true “Manhattan” mode, she details a disastrous moving day in which a journey three blocks north may as well have been a coast-to-coast trek, and tests her social conscience as she considers volunteer assignments and deals with one that goes disastrously (but hysterically) wrong.

Walking the line between comedy and tragedy, romance and heartbreak, Crosley muses on friendships, relationships, religion, work, and childhood with a unique and fresh voice that is both funny and strangely unsettling. For a skewed take on singledom in Manhattan, check out Sloane Crosley’s I Was Told There’d Be Cake.

John Jewitt – 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

It has been years since the publication of Sister Souljah’s last literary masterpiece The Coldest Winter Ever. Souljah, a gifted storyteller and social commentator, is much wiser than her earthly years. As an educator/advisor to at-risk urban youth, she is an ardent spokesperson. Her latest offering Midnight: A Gangster Love Story represents a fictional account of a handsome Sudanese youth’s complex adjustment to the often brutal life in the slums of New York City.

When just seven years old, Mayonaka and his pregnant mother Uumma are sent to America by his father to avoid the political strife and human devastation in Sudan. Prior to the civil unrest, their family enjoyed a life of wealth and relative tranquility. Mayonaka’s father, educated abroad, was a brilliant advisor to Sudan’s Prime Minister. His father taught him how to conduct himself with dignity, guard his family at all costs, and practice the Muslim faith.

Once in New York, Mayonaka is responsible for protecting his mother and baby sister, while dealing with the cultural shock of American urban life (gang violence, disrespect of the elderly, crooked police). Through all of his trials, Midnight – dubbed this name as he frequently played basketball well into the night — remains calm, thoughtful, and courageous. While working at a fish market in New York’s Chinatown, 14-year-old Midnight meets 16-year-old Akemi, a stylish Japanese student in the U. S. on an art scholarship. The two forge an instant friendship, although Akemi does not speak English.

Midnight will send chills up and down your spine. The more you read, the more you will be shocked and amazed. The author cleverly uses the first person narrative to heighten suspense. Because of the myriad of issues that are covered, this is a wonderful novel for book discussion.

Excerpt:
"Everything you have ever seen or heard about Africa is wrong. My African grandfather taught me that the storyteller is the most powerful person in the world after God. My grandfather said be careful who you listen to and what they are saying. The storyteller is clever and masterful and has already decided exactly what he wants you to think and believe."

Author Sister Souljah scores another hit right out of the ball park with her latest tour de force. Awesome! Bravo! (Due to its range and explicit language, Midnight is recommended for sophisticated readers.)
 
Elaine Johnson – Central Library