Explore the curious world of Digital Natives

So You've Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson

This should be required reading for anybody with an internet connection, and for anybody in journalism 101. I'm definitely assigning it as a text book if I ever teach social media 101*. Jon Ronson investigates several recent episodes of frightening public humiliation such as Jonah Lehrer's made-up Bob Dylan quotes in Imagine, and Justine Sacco's tweet in poor taste that cost her the job of her dreams and earned her death threats and a waking nightmare. His examination of the disproportionately high price some have paid for a bad joke that went viral, and the possibility of forgive-and-forget in the digital age, is insightful and riveting.

*A distinct job possibility in this day and age.

Dataclysm by Christian Rudder

This book is a fascinating look at all of the things our data trail says about us. The author is co-founder of OKCupid, a popular matchmaking website, so much of his data comes from his own customers (he openly admits to having experimented on them). Full disclosure: I met my mate on OKCupid several years ago. We are not just a couple of people who met on the internet now-- we are Data. We exist in some endless spreadsheet of profiles and preferences, probably being salivated over by marketing gurus who want to sell us very specific, irresistible things. OKCupid is an attempt to find a formula for kismet. It's free, and makes it easy to find a like-minded, introverted companion, especially if you're the sort of person who needs an algorithm to get a date (like me). The result of making life decisions in such an instantly graph-able way is that all of my demographic information, along with my clicks and "likes" and mouse hovers, and digital whatevers, all get added up to create a prediction of what people like me are like, and what we like to "like". It's creepy, and yet somehow comforting. Rudder's methods and conclusions are fascinating, and he applies just enough wit to make this highly readable.

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari

This book about dating in the digital age is basically Dataclysm with a sense of humor (Rudder is credited in the acknowledgements). The most memorable part of the book for me is his opening anecdote, one that those familiar with his act will know, which is possibly the best illustration ever of the cliffhanger anxiety brought on by the text ellipses used to indicate that your partner in textversation is typing a response (...): Ansari meets a single woman at a party and they bond over many common interests including a shared love of the band Beach House (I can relate--Beach House is everything, check out their album, Myth, if you don't believe me). They swap numbers, they text. Soon after meeting, he invites the woman to a Beach House concert. It looks like she's about to respond ...there's those three little dots...then...crickets. Nothing. No response. Dead air.
The audio book is great, especially if you love Ansari--he reads it--but I found the text to be surprisingly dry and a bit academic at times, lightened with bouts of that trademark Aziz Ansari comic tenderness.

Cold enough for you? You've got plenty milk and bread, make sure you have enough books to read!

I was briefly without electricity this week so naturally I began contemplating the end of everything, up to and including me. Fortunately it was sunny enough to read so I made it through but I came up with a list of dire winter reads for those stuck indoors with a snow day who might like to compound a wintry situation.

In the Kingdom of Ice: the grand and terrible polar voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides

This was my hottest (hah!) no-fail nonfiction to recommend last year. So far everyone has raved about it. Forget "cabin fever"!  Try getting "Arctic fever" and join a team of late 19th-century Arctic explorers marooned a thousand miles north of Siberia without taking off your slipper socks.  If "grand and terrible polar voyage" doesn't grab you, well, then you might not be that into it.

The Indifferent Stars Above: the harrowing saga of a Donner Party bride by Daniel James Brown

Did you raid your neighborhood market last weekend in preparation for the snow? Hoarding bread, milk and eggs? Lock your doors and look out for hungry neighbors--you're probably tender and delicious by now! Sorry, cabin fever breeds corny cannibalism jokes. Most people are familiar with the near mythical saga of the Donner Party and their ill-fated journey over the Sierra Nevada Mountains. But how much do you really know?

Pilgrim's Wilderness: a true story of faith and madness on the Alaska frontier by Tom Kizzia

This is one of those crazy stories that stick with you. A charming, musical family with 15 children, modern homesteaders in a way, settle in tiny McCarthy, Alaska. Papa Pilgrim, as the the family's patriarch is known, begins a battle with the National Park Service, revealing his dark past and the troubled and terrifying home life of his family.

Into Thin Air: a personal account of the Mt. Everest disaster by Jon Krakauer

Adventure journalist Jon Krakauer's personal account of the ill-fated Everest climb that left eight people dead. This is one of my go-to nonfiction recommendations when asked for "something really good?", right next to Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Alive: the story of the Andes survivors by Piers Paul Read

A straightforward, unsentimental account of what happened when an amateur rugby team and family and friends crash landed in the Andes mountains. Some were killed in the crash, others survived in the harsh cold and snow for 70 days, resorting to cannibalism to stay alive.

The World Without Us by Alan Weisman

Ever ponder what your street would look like if everybody stopped shoveling their walks or raking the leaves, every pothole was left to reach its full potential, the weeds went unplucked, houses unpainted, roofs untended, and so on? This thoughtful puzzler explores the inexorable breaking down of the man-made world if man were to suddenly cease.

I wonder what Richmond will look like once we thaw out.

Food and Drink Reads: Hibernation Instinct Edition

I know it is still hot as blazes but leaves are falling all over town and you know Fall is in the air when the pumpkin ales start taking over local taps.
Speaking of taps, and ales, and fall produce...

The Complete Beer Course: Boot Camp for Beer Geeks

This book was sitting on my desk the other day and I can't tell you how stoked I was to see that the book fairy knows what I like. If you have been meaning to develop your palate to keep up with Richmond's habit of opening a new brewery every 10 days or so and be able to hobnob with the hopsnobs you'll want to crack open this text book and get to studying, er, tasting. The book is broken into 12 "classes" in which you will learn to appreciate all varieties of beer, from ales to pils to sours. This is a crash course in knowing what you are drinking and why. Bonus points for coverage, depth, and readability, but I have to take away points for repeated use of the word "mouthfeel". That is a gross word, food nerds.

Apples of Uncommon Character:123 heirlooms, modern classics & little-known wonders
Behold, the humble apple, red or green, oft-forgotten and unwanted brown bag lunch staple. But oh my there is so much more to know and love about this curious experiment in fruit, far beyond Johnny Appleseed, more than cider even! Have you ever been to an apple tasting? Me either, but I desperately want to now. I am a long time apple devotee but I had no idea there were so many varieties. Expect lively apple history, appetizing photographs with details about individual varieties, and even pairing and cooking tips in this book.
Pro-tip from this apple fan: Try making a grilled cheese sandwich with plenty of Gouda, caramelized onions, and slices of Honeycrisp apple on Billy Bread sometime. Add a little bacon if you need it. Then read this book while eating that sandwich. You'll thank me.

The B.T.C: Old-Fashioned Grocery Cookbook: Recipes and Stories from a Southern Revival

Truthfully, I like reading about Southern cooking and the idea of Southern food more than I actually enjoy cooking or eating it. If you feel the same way, or if you really like making biscuits and gravy and need a new recipe, then this is for us! The writing and the pictures are great and the recipes are actually interesting; some are twists on traditional Southern dishes and others less traditional. I'm totally sold on the curried cauliflower soup, southern yellow squash casserole, and tomato caper cream cheese!

I also might have hunker down with a series this fall. I tend to avoid books in a series because I hate waiting (flash back to the AGONIZING wait for the final book in the Maddaddam trilogy and the way I totally lost interest in the Strain trilogy by the time the second book came out) but the Southern Reach trilogy is about all published now so I can safely go ahead. My favorite quote from the mostly super positive reviews so far: "If the guys who wrote 'Lost' had brought H.P. Lovecraft into the room as a script doctor in the first season, the Southern Reach trilogy is what they would've come up with." Totally perfect because I also waited until Lost was over and done with before watching the whole series.  And how better to spend a blustery fall weekend than huddled under a blanket with a savory snack and an unsavory trilogy, and some apples? Lots and lots of apples. Or should I finally read Lev Grossman's Magician trilogy? If you've read either or both trilogies, what would you recommend? What series have let you down, left you hanging, or made you beg for a prequel?

Gotta love Fall!

RPL nominates for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

Did you know that Richmond Public Library is a nominating library system for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award?  

It's true!

The award, which "aims to promote excellence in world literature", was established in 1994, the first prize being awarded in 1996. Past winners include City of Bohane by Kevin Barry (2013), Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann (2011), and My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk (2003).  Nominations on the basis of "high literary merit" are made by hundreds of libraries in major and capital cities worldwide. 

The team has met, read, debated, discussed, read some more, discussed more, again with the reading some more, and finally we voted.  Now we proudly share with you our final 3 picks for the books published in 2013 which we felt were literary achievements worthy of this award  (drumroll, please):

The People in the Trees
By Hanya Yanagihara

This astonishing debut novel purports to be the memoir of Dr. Norton Perina, a scientist who seeks the secret to the apparent immortality of a primitive Micronesian people, with devastating consequences for them, and ultimately, for himself.  Although the narrator is despicable and his story unrelentingly pessimistic, this novel will haunt its readers long after they put it down.

The Good Lord Bird
By James McBride

Little Onion, a 10 year old slave boy, is mistaken for a girl after being freed by abolitionist John Brown and his raiders, and becomes an unwitting (and unwilling) participant in Brown's quixotic fight to end slavery.  His colloquial, tall-tale prose offers a humorous, irreverent perspective on the historic mythologies and realities of racism, and what happens when good intentions and good words are not enough.

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

by Karen Joy Fowler

Equal parts funny and heartbreaking, Karen Joy Fowler's sixth novel "starts in the middle" and takes the reader back to the murky world of 1970s behavioral psychology experiments through the unreliable memories of a young woman recalling a childhood trauma that drastically altered her and her family.  The novel deftly explores ethics, memory, animal rights issues, and the meaning of family.  With a knockout twist that the author masterfully conceals, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is a breathless joy to read.

The nominating team assembled at Cask to discuss their favorites to win.  There was much to toast about.

Get your passport stamped on another plane this summer (with science fiction!)

I just finished Changing planes by Ursula K. Le Guin and it got me thinking about all the traveling one can do with science fiction without ever leaving the couch or spending a dime (unless you bring your books back late, then it's a dime--still the best deal in town).  I'm also looking for something to get my mind off the creepy invasion of monster underground insects about to happen any day now.  You won't believe how many cicadas are about to envelop the East Coast.  What better distraction than say, reading about creepy invasions of monster insects from other worlds. Am I right?!  So where am I going and where have I just returned from?  Some new places, some old favorites:


Changing Planes: Using Cincinnatian Sita Dulip's method of utilizing the extreme discomfort of traveling through airports to slip off to other planes, one woman visits 15 other worlds and describes interplanary life and leisure.  This book is well worth a visit, in my humble opinion.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep by Phillip K. Dick
Originally published in 1968, this novel served as the inspiration for Blade Runner (1982), which is also an awesome movie.  How often does that happen?

Just go there with him: it's a fantastic journey. I just (finally) read this one and that's all I'm going to say about it.

The Long Earth and The Long War (due out in June) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
Another story of interplanary travel, this time from Discworld creator Terry Pratchett.  This was recommended to me by my go-to-sci-fi-librarian-friend so I have high hopes although so far the review from the other side of the sofa is kind of "meh" but we'll see how it turns out.  I have the ebook on my phone.


MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood (COMING SOON!)
I can't say enough for this series.  Oryx and Crake and Year of the Flood are two of my favorite books.  I'm so excited for the final book this fall, and I am aware that I have posted about these before thank you.  That's just how good they are.
The new film adaptation of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is hitting cinemas soon so I need to hurry up and finally read that (Oh shh! I was getting to it!)


The Cave by Jose Saramago.  Not exactly sci-fi though his books often take on supernatural themes and he does such a marvelous job of unsettling the reader by taking them someplace real, but not quite real.   The Double had such a satisfyingly disturbing ending that I can hardly wait to explore The Cave.  


Also making me pause to pick it up every time I walk past it, over and over until I finally break down and check it out, (and geez I already have a lot of books checked out) is Pure, the first book in a trilogy of the same name by Julianna Baggott.  I just spied Fuse, which is book two, on the new books shelf.  Here we go again...

Let me just say that I am a fan of the idea of downer vacations: traveling to places far worse than home to make going home feel like a vacation.  Why not travel to a dystopian alternate reality to make us appreciate how few actual zombies we have to deal with in Virginia in 2013?

Reading YA with Amanda

Teen Reads with a Twist! Inspiration for a story can come from anywhere as long as an author has an open mind and a ready pen.  My suggestions for June share that common theme.  Falling for Hamlet and Between the Lines would also make great beach reads. Happy reading:)

Falling for Hamlet by Michelle Ray

Ophelia is just like any other teenage girl, who just happens to be in an on again, off again romance with the Prince of Denmark.  Falling for Hamlet is a modern day retelling of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet told from Ophelia’s point of view. Told in three parallel stories; Ophelia tells you what really happened, what she tells the public and what the government thinks happened. After the King’s death, Hamlet descends into madness, convinced that it was not natural causes that killed his father. As Hamlet spirals deeper out of control, Ophelia is torn between duty to herself and her family and her love of Hamlet.

What I loved the most about Ray’s retelling is that she didn’t just take the story and retell it from a different point of view. She updated it to what it would be like if it happened today; with the paparazzi and the media, and the frenzy that follows the royal family. Those who are familiar with the original play will appreciate that Ray left the names the same. Having not read Hamlet before, I appreciated this because I was able to look up the story and compare it very quickly. A great story for a mother and daughter to share with each other!

Ray, Michelle. Fallingfor Hamlet. New York: Poppy, Hatchette Book Group, 2011. ISBN-13: 978-0-316-10162-2. (hardback). Ages 14+

 Jefferson’s Sons by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Thomas Jefferson was a great man and a founding father. Yet, like all men, he had his secrets. Over the years many have become fact. You have heard for years about the relationship that Thomas Jefferson is rumored to have had with his slave, Sally Hemings. But how often have you sat back and considered what the lives of his children that he may have had with Sally were like? What does it mean when the man who wrote “all men are created equal,”owns slaves? Kimberly Brubaker Bradley has tried to answer these questions and more in this fictionalized look at the last twenty years of Thomas Jefferson’s life as told by three young slaves at Monticello.  What impressed me the most was the amount of research that Bradley put in to make the story as historically possible as she could. As you read it, remember, “it could have happened that way.”          

 Bradley, Kimberly Brubaker. Jefferson’s Sons: A Founding Father’s Secret Children. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2011. ISBN-13: 978-0-803-73499-9. (hardback). Ages 8-12+

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

Conor’s mother has cancer, and since she started treatments he has been having a recurring nightmare that keeps him awake at night. His father has remarried and moved to America, and he can't stand his grandmother, the only other family he has. As his mother's health gets worse, the kids at school treat him like the kid who you can catch “dying parent” cooties from. Then one night a monster wakes him up and demands something that Conor is unwilling to give. But Conor is not afraid of the monster. This is not the same monster from his nightmares. So the Monster makes a deal with Conor. He tells Conor three tales to teach him that the lines between good and bad, right and wrong are not always clear; and that speaking the truth will set you free.

 Ness, Patrick. A Monster Calls. Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd. Illustrated by Jim Kay. Somerville, Mass: Candlewick Press, 2011. ISBN-13: 978-0-763-65559-4. (hardback). Ages 12+

The Notorious Benedict Arnold: a True Story of Adventure, Heroism, & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin

 Benedict Arnold: Traitor. This is all the history books tell you. But there is so much more to the man then just the name and the title. Benedict Arnold might have been America’s first traitor, but he was also our first war hero. America could not have won the war without him, though they have tried to erase him from history. Steve Sheinkin has spent years researching and uncovering the truth about who Arnold really was and what made him tick. Told from varying points of view through information learned from records, letters, and journals, Sheinkin gives you insight into the climate of the country and also of those closest to Arnold himself. Awarded the 2011 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2012 YALSA’s Best Nonfiction Read for Teens.

Sheinkin, Steve. The Notorious Benedict Arnold: a True Story of Adventure, Heroism,& Treachery. New York: Flash Point, 2010. ISBN-13: 978-1-596-43486-8. (hardback). Ages 11-14+

I had the privilege to hear Steve Sheinkin speak at a Children’s and Teens Literature Symposium last spring and found him fascinating. He started out as a history textbook writer, and made it his goal to find interesting and true stories to include because we all know how dry textbooks can be. Though every time he found a great little side story, it was edited out due to space or content. It was his desire to make history come alive and his large pile of true fun stories that inspired him to write the books “King George, what was his problem?” about the American Revolution and “Two Miserable Presidents” about the Civil War. It was during this time he spent writing textbooks that he became obsessed with Benedict Arnold, since almost every text book contained all of two sentences about him. “The Notorious Benedict Arnold” is Sheinkin’s latest book and the result of this obsession! For a good true story, I recommend all of Sheinkin’s books.

Special Sneak Peak
Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer
"What happens when happily ever after ... isn't?"

Delilah is just like everyone other 15 year old girl, just trying to survive high school and find her place in the world. One day, she finds a misshelved book in the school library and decides to check out the fairy tale for herself. Feeling a connection to the book, she finds she can't put it down. Having read it over and over, she begins to notice little changes and wonders if there is more to the story then just the words on the page.

Oliver is just like any fairy tale prince, any prince that knows he is just a character in a book that is. He is not in love with the fair maiden, and is tired of living the same story over and over. For him, there is no happily ever after because there is no "after" and he wants out. When he and Delilah realize they can hear each other, they begin plotting to get Oliver out from between the lines and into Delilah's world.
But can love really conquer all?

Expected Publication Date: June 26, 2012.
Young Adult, Ages 12+
ARC ISBN 978-1-4516-7557-3 used for review.

(my complete review )