History of Libraries in the Western World

Probably one of the last books I will ever have to read for school...wow. This history by Michael H. Harris was very readable and I enjoyed learning more about the rise of libraries, especially in the United States. It seems as if the people that live here have always valued (well, for the most part) libraries and have gone to great lengths to start them and keep them up and running. Good news for me!

Strange Piece of Paradise

This is why I love working with librarians who can make book recommendations! Jenn steered me to this true crime book by Terri Jentz. It was so good! Back in the summer of 1977, Jentz and her Yale roommate were bicycling across Oregon when they were brutally attacked one night while camping in a park. Someone ran over them with their truck, and then jumped out and went at them with a hatchet. Jentz remembered the whole attack, her roommate did not, and to this day suffers partial blindness because of the attack. Fifteen years later, the crime still unsolved, Jentz returns to Oregon to see if she can solve the crime herself, even though the statute of limitations no longer makes it a crime that can be prosecuted (Oregon has since changed the limitations on attempted murder cases). She discovers a town that is hiding a secret--everyone "knows" who did it, there just wasn't enough evidence to convict him. It was a great true crime, and she tells it in such a compelling way. Even though it happened to her, sometimes she seems very detached. It was great, even without a neatly tied up happy ending.

Revolt of the Eaglets and Give the Boys a Great Big Hand

"Revolt of the Eaglets" by Jean Plaidy is her second in the Plantagenet series. I read the first one awhile ago, and then was stymied when neither my library or the next one over had the second one. So now that I'm going to the second next closest library I'm thrilled that they have almost all of Plaidy's books, and I can pick up where I left off. This one is about King Henry II and his wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their four rebellious sons: Henry, Richard, Geoffrey, and John. They all hate their powerful father, especially since he still treats them children. They rebel against him constantly, and even plot to kill him. Henry (the son, not the dad) dies of a fever, and Geoffrey is killed in a jousting accident. When Henry (the dad this time) dies at the end of the book, Eleanor is thrilled because now her favorite son Richard will be king of England, and release her from the prison her husband had been holding her in for years (they didn't get along very well). I like Plaidy's books: they're fairly accurate historically and quick, easy reads. Not great literature, but fun.
"Give the Boys a Great Big Hand" was a reread from Ed McBain. Once again, I thought I hadn't read it, but once I started rereading, I realized it was awfully familiar. It was good: the boys of the 87th precinct have to deal with a body that's being delivered to them in pieces, starting with the hands. There's a woman involved, a stripper no less, along with a couple of men, one of whom got jealous and well, the rest really figures itself out, doesn't it?

Lizzie

It took me about 75 pages to realize that "Lizzie" by Evan Hunter (a.k.a. Ed McBain, of the 87th precinct series fame) sounded awfully familiar. I thought I hadn't read it before, since neither the library where I work nor the next closest library that I frequent own it, but I guess at some point in the last 15 years they did, and in the interim have discarded it (or it went missing) and that was why it didn't show up in the catalogs and made me think that I hadn't read it. I had, so I reread it, which was fine, because it had been so long I kinda remembered it but not word for word. It's a fictionalized account of the Borden murders that took place in Fall River, Massachusetts, on August 4, 1892. The Borden murders have long been a fascination of mine: I've read everything I can get my hands on about it (and Lindbergh, and Jack the Ripper. Those are my three favorite true crimes). Hunter has an interesting take on the case: he posits that back in 1890, when Lizzie went to Europe with three friends, she met a lady named Alison, who introduced her to the pleasures of lesbianism (not exactly a far stretch: later on in life, after the trial where she was acquitted, there were many rumors that Lizzie was a lesbian, mostly because she hung out with theater people). Upon returning to Fall River, Lizzie is so miserable with her life without Alison that she eventually takes up with Bridget, the Borden's maid. On that fateful day in August when her stepmother catches the two of them together, Lizzie, in a fit of anger, smashes her skull in with a candlestick. When her father returns home and finds the body of his dead wife, he accuses Lizzie of having done it, and she goes at him with a hatchet. It's a terrific idea, and explains all the problems the prosecution had in finding blood spattered clothes or the murder weapon. Oh, and for the record, I don't think Lizzie did it, but I think she knew who did and let them in, covered for them. One book I read a long time ago had a great theory that her half-brother, Mr. Borden's long neglected bastard son, did it. I liked that book. One day, when I have time (ha!) I fully plan to go through all my old book journals and make a spreadsheet of all the books I've read (well, since I started keeping track. I think I was 14 or so). That will be a good after-I'm-done-with-grad-school project.

Dexter in the Dark

Okay, so I had to go to a library I had never been before (but have been wanting to go to, anyway) to get a book for school (no, really, that's why I went) and guess what they had checked in and waiting for me? The third (and last, so far) Dexter book by Jeff Lindsay. Oh, happy days! So, Dexter's Dark Passenger is frightened away by an ancient demon more vicious than him, leaving Dexter unable to kill. Yikes! Not a good spot for a serial killer to be in. In addition to that, he is trying to plan a wedding, and mentor his fiancee Rita's children. Turns out they have little Dark Passengers of their own (ah...how sweet). So he's trying to hunt down the guy who is burning and decapitating people, hoping in the process he can find a way to get his mojo back, so to speak. Hilariously funny, although I did miss the whole process of him killing people. The ending was really perfect. Can't wait for the next one!

Dearly Devoted Dexter

So, the second Jeff Lindsay book in the Dexter series was hilarious! A crazy butcher is on the loose in Miami: he cuts off pieces of his victims but leaves them alive (if you want to call the state they are left in "alive"). A shadowy guy from Washington named Kyle comes in to take over the case, first infuriating Deb, until she falls for him. Unfortunately, he is kidnapped by the butcher (who they call "Dr. Danco") and his finger with his diamond pinkie ring is mailed back to her as a warning. Dexter takes the finger into the crime lab, but hangs onto the ring, thinking Deb might want it. Then, in a hilarious mix-up, his girlfriend, Rita, finds the ring and thinks he was planning on proposing! Can you imagine? Dexter, married? Oh, that crazy guy. It was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to get my hands on the third one. It might be tricky. My library does own one copy, but there is a bit of a wait for it. I would go buy it, but it came out in hardcover last September and hasn't been released in paperback yet, so all the hardcovers are gone by now. I might have to order a used copy online or something. We'll see. I read a preview of the first two chapters online and it's just too good to wait for it!

Hit Parade and Darkly Dreaming Dexter

I'm in the mood for serial killers, I guess! "Hit Parade" by Lawrence Block is the third book about Keller, Block's surprisingly lovable hit man. He is sent out on different hits that usually don't end up being straightforward. For instance, in one, he goes out to Detroit and is met by men who work for the man he was supposed to kill, and they take him to his intended victim, who informs him that he took care of Keller's client and is sending Keller home unharmed. Later, he calls up and asks Keller to take care of someone for him. Very surreal, but interesting and surprisingly funny.
"Darkly Dreaming Dexter" by Jeff Lindsay was hilarious. It's ironic: I subscribe to Showtime, but I never watched the show "Dexter" that is based on the books until CBS started airing the first season a few months ago. Dexter is a serial killer who also works for the Miami police department as a blood spatter expert. He often has hunches which lead to the capture of dangerous killers, because he thinks just like them. In this first book, there is a killer on the loose whose style Dexter greatly admires. Even more so when the killer starts leaving Dexter presents at home and at the crime scenes. The ending was really great, and I bought the second book today (in all fairness, my library doesn't own it, so I had to buy it) and am dying to dive into it.

Light Years

Last night I finished reading James Salter's "Light Years". I was doing some cataloging at work and ran across this book. The cover reminded me of William Faulkner (for a very good reason: Vintage International published this edition, and they've done a lot of Faulkner's books as well), so of course after I saw that he won the PEN/Faulkner award I had to check it out.
While beautifully written, like "Lolita" (another good one I haven't reread in awhile...hmm), with lovely, descriptive language, the story itself was sad in a not so good way. It's a story of a married couple. Right from the beginning you sense they are not happy in their marriage, although it's hard to understand why. They both seem like nice people, and they have a lovely house and wonderful kids, friends, pets, the whole package. They also have affairs, and after twenty some years of marriage they get a divorce. The wife, Nedra, is always searching for something to make her life complete, and can never quite grasp it. Other men, traveling, all these things she thought she wanted while married to her husband don't make her happy once she has them. At least Salter didn't have her trying to get back together with him after some realization that leaving him was a big mistake. It seemed pretty realistic, but I just didn't care for it.

Red Dragon and Top of the Heap

Yesterday I finished rereading "Red Dragon" by Thomas Harris. I caught part of the original movie, "Manhunter", on TV Saturday night, which made me want to both watch the remake (I love Edward Norton!) and reread the book. It's a great book, really creepy. Dr. Lector just plays a very small role in it; it's mostly about Francis Dolarhyde and Will Graham. I like the Graham character in this book, how he struggles to understand the killers he chases, why he feels so close to them. Both the movies actually follow the book very closely, which is what makes them so good, I guess. I loved "Silence of the Lambs" (both the book and the movie), and the book "Hannibal". The movie didn't impress me very much. I loved the ending in the book; I thought it was perfect, though I understand the controversy and why they changed it for the movie, but I don't like it. "Red Dragon" is a good one, though, and I think I read somewhere that Harris based the character of Graham on John Douglas, the famous FBI profiler. I've read all of his books, too.
Moving on to something new! "Top of the Heap" by Erle Stanley Gardner is one of those "Hard Case Crime Series" books, where they reprint a lot of crime noir stuff that's older and out of print, like this one. I love Gardner's "Perry Mason" series (speaking of which, I haven't reread any of those in a while! It might be time...) and this one was pretty good. It was convoluted and complicated, like all good detective fiction usually is. I really liked the character of Donald Lam. He was interesting, and a man's man without being obnoxious about it.

In the Stacks and How to Make Money Teaching Online

"In the Stacks" edited by Michael Cart was a book of short stories about libraries and librarians. There were a few stories I really liked. One was called "Summer Librarian", about a college student who returns to her hometown during the summer to run the library so the librarian can go on vacation (where is this library that the librarian gets the whole summer off? I want to work there!). One of the local high school boys develops a crush on her and starts following her around. It was cute. Another one was a mystery story involving the Library of Congress classification system, which I thought was the coolest idea ever, cataloging nerd that I am :-) Some of the stories weren't so great, but I liked most of them. After all, it seems pretty logical that published writers probably spent a lot of time growing up in libraries, and it had a strong influence on them. Stephen King, for instance, has mentioned libraries and librarians in several of his works. They're usually men; I don't know why. Doesn't he know women rule this profession?
"How to Make Money Teaching Online" by Danielle Babb and Jim Mirabella completely dispelled any notion one might have that it is "easy" to teach online. I certainly never thought that; I was just curious as to how one might get started doing it. I always thought I might like to teach at a college level, and since I've taken all these online classes for my master's degree, I understand a bit about how distance learning works and how it really can be a valid degree if you go to the right school. Of course, my master's degree is completely worthless for teaching online (they even say so, just a few pages into the book!) but it was nice to know exactly what's involved and what is expected of you, if I ever decide to pursue this line of work. What I think I would like most about teaching online is that I could still work my day job as a librarian and just teach a class or two in my off-time. When I went to community college I was so inspired by the teachers there I decided if I ever did teach, I wanted to help give back to the community like they did. Well, it gave me something to think about, if nothing else!