Book Review: Revenge of the Librarians by Tom Gauld

Revenge of the Librarians
by Tom Gauld (741.5 Gau)

For the past several years, I’ve been seeing the wry, comic art panels of artist Tom Gauld regularly showing up in my Facebook feed, shared by many of my friends…especially those with a love of literary humor. Gauld’s comic strips (frequently seen on the online features of The Guardian) feature simple, uncomplicated art, with “characters” that are often little more than stylized stick figures. His works always appear as variations on the traditional “comic strip” format — long horizontal boxes that can sometimes be just a single box, but can also be subdivided into the traditional 3 or 4 boxes that are reminiscent of newspaper comic strips, but he also frequently uses the space to create a multitude of tiny art boxes.

 

Gauld’s humor is dry, wry, slightly sarcastic, and pokes fun at tropes and established traditions. This particular book collects dozens of his strips that all share a thematic connection — books, reading, libraries, writers, publishing and more along these lines. I absolutely adored this entire collection, and will be looking to purchase a copy for my own personal library. If you, too, appreciate the ability to have fun with literary traditions, you’ll appreciate this collection as well.

 

( official Tom Gauld web site )

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

Book and Audiobook Reviews: The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (Compact Disc Benedict)

Working in a library, as I do, I tend to flag any new books with “library” in the title, for my personal reading enjoyment. Sometimes they end up as duds, but sometimes you find a gem. This falls into the latter category.

The Personal Librarian is historical fiction, based mostly on historical fact. Born Belle Marion Greener, to black parents, under her mother’s influence, Belle changed her name to Belle da Costa Greene, and as a light-skinned woman of color, managed to pass her self off as “white” in early 1900s society. While working at the Princeton University Library, Belle was encouraged by a nephew of the great financier, J. Pierpont Morgan, to apply for the position as Morgan’s “personal librarian” at the eponymous library he was establishing to house his collection of rare manuscripts and art work. She was hired for the position, despite her young age.

 

This novel, based on what historical records have survived, explores Belle’s life and experiences as she helps J.P. Morgan create one of the world’s foremost libraries, and her efforts to continue their work after his passing, all while she has to conceal her true heritage from the world at large. This is 50% “love letter” to the passion for the preservation of knowledge, and 50% about Belle’s personal life and the challenges she faces maintaining a public persona that differs from her true self.

 

All in all, I enjoyed The Personal Librarian quite a lot. There are lots of great “moments” or “scenes” throughout the book, though in the end I felt that the driving central plot was a bit lackluster. I found Belle’s on-again/off-again relationship with a distant suitor to be a bit tiresome and overwrought. Fans of historical fiction, and of literature exploring the sacrifices made by those of African-American descent in order to fit into a racist and demeaning society, will both find much to appreciate in this one. I listened to the book-on-CD audio adaptation of The Personal Librarian, narrated by actress Robin Miles, and she does a terrific job with this novel.

 

( US publisher’s official The Personal Librarian web page ) | ( official Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray web sites )

 

Recommended on audio by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

When twenty-six-year-old Belle da Costa Greene interviews with J. P. Morgan in 1905 for the position of personal librarian to help collect rare manuscripts and art for his private Pierpont Morgan Library, she has to speak carefully. In part, she is hiding her limited library experience working at Princeton University Library and her teacher’s education. However she also is hiding a much bigger and dangerous secret. Belle is not who she seems. Her middle name is not da Costa and she doesn’t get her dark complexion from a Portuguese grandmother. Belle da Costa Greene is actually Belle Marion Greener. Her heritage is African American and her father was the first Black graduate from Harvard and a vocal advocate of equal rights. Although the book is fiction, authors Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray create a story of what it must have been like for real-life Belle Marion Greener to work with the out-spoken Morgan, act as an intelligent and witty competitor in a world of men, and all the while keep her true identity protected. Some women celebrate her accomplishments and use her as a model as they fight for equal rights; others would prefer to see her fail. In addition, she has to keep her romantic relationship discreet because of his heritage and her employer’s dislike and competition with the man.

 

As a historical fiction novel, I enjoyed the opportunity to learn more about this strong, clever, and inspiring woman, as well as the rare manuscript and art collection she helped assemble and eventually make available to the general public. Although there was always the underlying threat that Belle might be discovered, I didn’t feel an overwhelming urgency to the story. I didn’t find myself racing to get to the next chapter. Perhaps the two authors felt that it was important to put together a book to educate its reader rather than entice. I will say that if you are a lover of historic fiction, this is one to put on your reading list just to learn about this inspiring woman.

 

(If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Paris Library by Janet Skeslian Charles or The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin.)

 

Recommended in print by Cindy K.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

Have you read or listened to this one? What did you think? Did you find these reviews helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide Blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

DVD Review: The Public

The Public
[DVD Public]

The Public was a passion project for Emilio Estevez, who not only wrote and directed this film but who also starred in it. Estevez plays Stuart Goodson, a librarian with the main downtown Cincinnati Public Library. During a brutal cold streak one winter, the homeless and transient users of the library end up staging a “sit-in” or takeover of the library — non-violently refusing to leave at closing time, for fear of dying from the outdoor conditions. Goodson and other library employees wind up locked inside the library with a large group of the homeless — barricaded to prevent the police from coming in to remove them from the library.

This film explores a lot of important issues, including what the library’s role is in serving the public, where do the lines get drawn in how much support the library staff can provide to people with physical and mental issues, and what does it mean to be a functioning and contributing member of society. But it’s also a character study — mainly of Goodson (who has some secrets that are revealed as the plot progresses), but also of his library co-workers. There are some excellent performances, including Alec Baldwin as a crisis negotiator, and several of the actors portraying the homeless men and women who take over the library.

As a librarian, I appreciated the in-depth look at some of the kinds of issues I and my co-workers encounter on a daily basis. As a movie fan, I can strongly recommend this a well-made, thought-provoking drama.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official The Public web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewer’s recommendations!

How I Fell In Love With a Librarian and Lived to Tell About It by Rhett Ellis

How I Fell in Love with a Librarian and Lived to Tell About It
by Rhett Ellis

Robert Smith is the 37-year-old unmarried pastor of Shiloh Baptist Church in fictional Clegmore, Alabama. He’s an avid library user for his sermons, especially the nonfiction section, so he’s eager to meet the new librarian, Myra Findley. Miss Findley is 24 years old and a recent library school graduate who’s eager to update the library. Robert is immediately smitten.

But there’s something a little, um, shall we say, off, about Miss Findley. As Robert and Myra sort out her issues and their relationship, someone is leaking info about Myra to City Council member Langston Long who is threatening to blackmail our new librarian so he can cut library funding.
A short read at 101 pages, this book is ideal for those who like light Christian fiction, uncomplicated mysteries, and happy endings.

[ Amazon.com’s Rhett Ellis author page ]

Recommended by Charlotte K.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?  
New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Unbound by Jim C. Hines

Unbound
by Jim C. Hines

This is the third of Hines’ “Magic Ex Libris” quartet of novels — the fourth one is already out as well but I’m a little behind on my fantasy reading! As a result of the events of the second book, Michigan librarian/magic-user Isaac Vainio has had his physical connections to magic use stripped away from him, and he has been been ejected from the organization of magic users he belonged to. Simultaneously, a young protege he was supposed to protect has been taken by dark forces, and the two squabbling groups of “good guys” are finding themselves being defeated on multiple fronts by the ancient evil magician. Isaac’s quest in this novel is to try to find and rescue his missing protege, recover his stolen magical abilities, and stop the spread of evil in the world — all with limited resources and almost no allies to speak of. On top of that, but in this contemporary fantasy series, set in our modern world, the existence of real magic and the people who make use of it has now been revealed to the general public, making things even more complicated.
Though a lot happens in the course of this book, it still felt a little like a “bridge” volume in the series — an entry that carries the reader from the major events of volume two and connects with the connecting final volume. If you’re following Isaac’s journey, you won’t want to miss this, but Unbound is definitely not a place to jump into this series. None-the-less, I look forward to the final volume, Revisionary, which is high on my to-be-read pile right now!

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Libriomancer, Codex Born, and the concluding volume Revisionary, all by Jim C. Hines]

[ official “Magic ex Libris” page on the official Jim C. Hines web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?
New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Codex Born

Codex Born
by Jim C. Hines

In Codex Born, the second of the Magic Ex Libris series of modern fantasy novels, author Jim C. Hines ramps up the action from the first book Libriomancer. These novels are tremendously fun — Hines has created a magical system unlike any I've seen in fantasy books before. The magic users here base their skills on works of literature — they can literally tap into other written works to find the tools, spells, equipment and/or energy necessary to practice their own magic. For this adventure, our hero, librarian Isaac Vainio has settled into his role a magical researcher, and is still getting used to his intense relationship with the Dryad Lena Greenwood. When attacks on the local supernatural community force Isaac to become more of a participant and less of an observer, he quickly discovers that there are serious threats to the magical world — threats he may not have the allies and resources to effectively counter. Although this novel definitely feels like a storyline set in the middle of a much larger plot, it still moves that plot along effectively, introducing new twists to Hines magical worldview. Fans of the works of Jim Butcher or Rachel Caine should enjoy this series. I really enjoyed the way the author looks at the character of Lena Greenwood — who was pulled into Isaac's world as a stereotypical "character type" from a pulp novel, but who is now self-aware and knows that she was "written to be a certain way". I highly recommend this series. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [ see Scott's Reviewer Profile and more of his reviews ]

[If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Libriomancer, the first book in the series.]

[ official Jim C. Hines web site ]

Have you read this? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Libriomancer

Libriomancer
by Jim C. Hines

Fantasy author Jim C. Hines has slowly been building a reputation for himself as the master of humorous fantasy – territory dominated by the likes of Terry Pratchett, Robert Asprin and Christopher Stasheff. Despite meeting Hines myself two years ago, when he was Author Guest of Honor at the second ConStellation NE scifi convention here in Lincoln back in 2011, I had not yet read any of Hines' novels or short stories, when I recently saw Libriomancer on display at a bookstore. The concept of a magic-using librarian caught my attention, of course, considering my career path, and I quickly devoured this first book in Hines' new series. As a long-time fan of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, I have to say that Libriomancer feels a little like Butcher-lite, but that's actually a compliment, considering how much I love that more-established series. The writing is strong, the characters, particularly Isaac Vainio (the protagonist) are well-realized and likeable. And, most important, Hines has created a magic-using system for his world that is intriguing and fresh – quite an accomplishment considering the glut of contemporary urban fantasy novels currently on the market. In Libriomancer's universe, certain individuals have the ability to physically reach into the content of published books and pull forth the items described therein for use in our world, before returning the items to the books' pages – items such as Arthur's sword Excaliber from Le Morte d'Arthur, or a laser blaster from a pulp scifi novel, or a miracle plague cure from a medical thriller. In other words, as all lovers of literature already know...books are magical, and true lovers of books have the ability to tap into that magic. The physical sizes of the books limit the physical sizes of the retrieved objects, and certain books are "locked" to prevent objects of great or deadly power from being manipulated in the "real world" – no Sauron's Ring in the hands of somebody in Middle America, if you please! In this volume, in addition to establishing the world Vainio lives in – filled with vampires, golems and power-mad magicians, Hines sets in motion a far-reaching and deadly plot for Isaac to confront. The pleasures of this book are in the fresh take on magic, and the witty banter between the characters, though I found some of the action sequences a bit muddled. I recommend it for fans of Butcher, Rachel Caine or Patricia Briggs. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Codex Born, the second volume in the series, which just came out in September 2013.]

[ official Jim C. Hines web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

File M for Murder

File M for Murder

by Miranda James

Rare books librarian Charlie Harris of Athena College again uses his librarian skills to help solve the murder of his daughter's ex-fiance, quite an unlikable man. Of course, Charlie's cat Diesel, a Maine Coon, features prominently in this continuing series. The assorted cast of characters grows book by book, as one gets to know Charlie, his family, his boarders, and his friends. [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try Murder Past Due, and Classified as Murder.] -- recommended by Carolyn D. - Polley Music Library

[ official Miranda James web site ]

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New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide

website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.

Adventure Out West '11 stops in Lincoln!

The Bennett Martin Public Library had a visit on Saturday from two librarians from Illinois (near Chicago), who were on a summer road trip with a literary theme.

They've been traveling with a stuffed "Owly" (see him at the Nebraska State Capitol Building!) and cardboard cutouts of Frankie Pickle and Argyle, two kids lit characters, and visiting libraries and other literary sites as they head "out west" during the summer of 2011. They take videos and still photos to chronicle their trip, often with Owly, Frankie or Argyle in them, sharing their adventures with fellow reading enthusiasts.

Our own Glory B., profiled here for the BookGuide reviewer profiles recently, got captured on camera by these roving librarians during their visit to the downtown library, and her contribution to the Lincoln portion of their trip can be seen here:



Check out their Flickr photo feed and their blog to see their other Lincoln stops -- there are a LOT of their photos on Flickr, and to continue to follow their library-loving adventures over the course of this summer! It's always fun to see visitors' impressions of things here in our fair city!

This Book is Overdue!

This Book is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All
by Marilyn Johnson [020.23 Joh]

Since I had really enjoyed Johnson's earlier book, The Dead Beat, and I've worked in libraries for 30 years, I presumed I would love her look at the world of today's librarians. Oddly, I found this one a bit disappointing, but perhaps that's an "insider's" perspective. Johnson touches on the history of librarianship, but primarily focuses on the world of libraries and, specifically, librarians of today...a world of constantly changing information-based landscapes and services. As with her obits book before, Johnson's greatest strength is her ability to find the quirky and expand what could have been a mere anecdote into a story with substance. In this book, the best parts for me were about blogging librarians around the world, a distance-learning program to assist Third World librarians, the virtual world of Second Life libraries, and an exploration of the difference between librarians and archivists. If you're curious about why librarians are still necessary in the days of Google, ebooks and diminishing fiscal resources, give this one a try! [If you enjoy this, you may also wish to try The Dead Beat, the earlier book by this author.] -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library

[ official This Book is Overdue! web site ]

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide web site. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month.