Westport Public Library BOOK blog

His book is called Panther Soup.

His guide was Putnam Flint, an eighty-something-year-old Bostonian who had landed in Marseille with his tank destroyer battalion, nicknamed The Panthers, during the war.

Join them both as they travel across some of the most spectacular landscapes in the world, and through the modern cities that have risen from smoldering ruins.

From Marseille and France, then on to Germany and eventually south through the Alps into Austria, Gimlette reveals the ways in which the war is remembered, with recollections from Flint and the colorful cast of characters they meet along the way: former enemies, refugees, resistance fighters and child survivors.

The Library also has (or has on order) several titles in the Greenline Historic Travel Series, which includes two World War II guides, The 25 Essential World War II Sites: European Theater and The 25 Best World War II Sites: Pacific Theater.

These two books serve more as traditional guidebooks and include directions and driving distances to battlefields, monuments, and museums.

There are a number of travel agencies that provide guided tours.

World War II Tours of Europe offers a 13 day fully escorted tour that covers 5 European countries and their battlefields for $2699 – land only.

Matterhorn Travel offers an 8 day immersion in World War II in the Pacific with a stay in San Francisco and then on to Hawaii. $3195 – land only.

“Visit the ships, see the aircraft, review the battles where the Greatest Generation fought across the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo.”

If neither of these is within your travel budget this year or your Greatest Generation parents or grandparents aren't up to an international travel tour, the National WWII Memorial is just a few hours away in Washington DC. It's a bit of a hike from the Metro, but the Tourmobile service will take you in a bit closer.

To give it "a burl" is to give it a try, and if you like your mysteries set in more unusual locations, here’s one for you, mate.

Part-Aborigine Emily Tempest returns to her tribal home in the beautiful wilds of Central Australia after being educated and traveling abroad in Adrian Hyland’s debut novel, Moonlight Downs, which won the Ned Kelly Award, Australia's highest crime fiction prize.

Emily is no sooner settled in when her best friend’s father, a highly respected community leader, is found strangled and missing a kidney and the bizarre nature of the crime points to the local sorcerer, Blakie Japanangka.

Author Hyland, who worked in remote Aboriginal communities, has woven Aboriginal spirituality into an intriguing tale that also touches on political issues and racial conflict between the ill-disposed "whitefellers" – who provide a lengthy suspect list after doubts arise about Blakie’s guilt – and the "blackfellers."

Included are two helpful glossaries, Australian and Aboriginal, to help you figure out what all the “blokes and sheilas” are “yabbering” about.

Shaken by a scrape with death, big-city detective Joe Cashin is posted away to a quiet town on the South Australian coast where he grew up.

When a prominent local is attacked and left for dead in his own home, the evidence points to three boys from the nearby Aboriginal community – whom everyone is eager to blame.

But Cashin – who has Aboriginal cousins – is unconvinced, and soon begins to suspect that the crime is far more complex than a simple robbery gone wrong.

Author Temple is also a Ned Kelly Award winner.

If you attended our author series when Elinor Lipman spoke about her book My Latest Grievance (2006), you will recall she told us that one of her previous novels, Then She Found Me was slated for film with Helen Hunt directing and starring. It's the story of a young woman whose birth mother pops up in the middle of her already complicated life. Authors often mention the possibility of their books becoming films, but usually with an implicit or explicit “I’ll believe it when I see it.” Well, it has happened! Helen Hunt has been ubiquitous in the media talking about the film. Hunt co-wrote the script and directed and acted in the film. It has been a ten-year project for her. In case you've missed the publicity, here's a recent interview.

Elinor Lipman writes smart novels about contemporary society. Two of her other books have been optioned by Universal Studios. Any of her novels is a good read.

I did a quick Google to see if I could solve the mystery of her true identity and found out that there is quite a flap in the book world over the name because it turns out there is already a Danish mystery writer named Inger Wolf – no “e” at the end.

Several of the major blogs are abuzz about it. If you want to join the fray, check out Scrivener's Error and Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind.

One of the comments posted on Confessions reminds of us a similar debacle in the past. Kenneth Millar started writing books as John Macdonald and then switched to John Ross Macdonald, and finally to just Ross Macdonald when John D. MacDonald cried “foul.”

The title of Wolfe’s book is The Calling. PW called it a “bracingly original mystery” but none of the review journals seem to have picked up on the lack of originality of her name.

In a remote Ontario town, 61-year-old Detective Inspector Hazel Micallef is trying to come to terms with a surprise divorce and a critical 87-year-old mother. When a lifelong acquaintance is murdered Hazel and her team are pressed into action, only to find that similar disturbing murders – a serial killer is leaving his victims with faces distorted into screams – are taking place in sleepy hamlets across the wide Canadian expanse.

In 1919 there were 3500 libraries in the United States. Half of them were funded by Andrew Carnegie. Books were always important to Carnegie from the time of his childhood in Scotland to his eventual fame as a wealthy American industrialist and philanthropist. One important feature of Carnegie libraries was the “self-serve stacks.” Library users were allowed to browse, instead of requesting that certain books be retrieved. We’ve come a long way!

The Westport Library was not established as a Carnegie Library. We are not sure why Mr Carnegie’s largesse was not accepted. But, of course, Morris Ketchum Jesup funded the 1908 birth of The Westport Library.

Now, in our Library’s 100th year, we welcome the President of the Carnegie Corporation as the speaker at the Sixth Annual Malloy Lecture on April 29. Vartan Gregorian , president of the Carnegie Corporation, has a distinguished career in education and as President of the New York Public Library. Born in Tabriz, Iran, Gregorian has served on numerous boards, has been decorated by foreign governments, has been given 56 honorary degrees and has been awarded many honors, including the National Humanities Medal by President Clinton and the Medal of Freedom by President G.W. Bush.

You may still register to hear Vartan Gregorian on April 29 at 7:30 pm at Bedford Middle School.

The Malloy Lecture is made possible by the generosity of Susan Malloy.

His two mystery novels to date, Christine Falls and the recently released The Silver Swan are darkly set in 1950s Dublin and both feature pathologist-cum-detective Garret Quirke.

Christine Falls is one of this year’s Edgar nominees.

I thought Black cleverly chose his pseudonym because it is a print font, but in a Village Voice interview he explains that he was going to use Benjamin White after a character in some of his very early books, but chose Benjamin Black on the advice of his publisher who said, "We think Black looks better, sounds better . . . It'll get nearer the top of the librarians' purchase lists, which are all alphabetical.”

Her character, Hannah Wolfe, is a private investigator in London.

There are three titles in the series, written in the early 1990s, the second of which, Fatlands, won the Silver Dagger Award for Crime Fiction in 1993.

In the first book, Birth Marks, Hannah sets out to investigate the death of a ballet dancer who is eight months pregnant, and is drawn into a gripping story involving the ethics of surrogate motherhood.

The ballet theme brought to mind a classic from the fifties, Death in the Fifth Position, by Edgar Box – a pseudonym of Gore Vidal.

All three of the Box mysteries sold well and actually garnered a few good reviews from unwitting critics who had earlier refused to review his literary novels written under Vidal's real name.

This week’s top ten most popular books…with a little something about each author.
For reviews of the books, click each title to go the catalog.

1-Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Lahiri has three Masters Degrees from Boston University in English, Creative Writing & Comparative Studies in Literature and Arts. She also has a PhD in Renaissance Studies.

2-The Appeal by John Grisham
Grisham served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983-1990.

3-Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
Picoult lives in Hanover New Hampshire with her husband, three children, two Springer spaniels, two donkeys, two geese, three ducks, six chickens and an occasional Holstein.

4-Lush Life by Richard Price
Price has written numerous screenplays (Color of Money, Sea of Love, Shaft among others) and is often featured in cameo roles in the movies he writes.

5-Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman
Kellerman has a PhD in psychology with a specialty in treating children.

6-Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
Mortenson grew up on the slopes of MT Kilamanjaro where his father was founder of a medical center and his mother founded an international school.

7-The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller
Miller entered Radcliffe College at age 16.

8-Beautiful Boy: a Father’s Journey through his Son’s Addiction by David Sheff
Sheff is mortified that he ever found Hunter S. Thompson funny.

9-Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
Follet plays bass guitar in a band called Damn Right I Got the Blues.

10-Ten-Year Nap by Meg Wolitzer
Wolitzer was published at age 11 and appointed a guest editor of Kids magazine.

How much do you know about 1908? Here are the clues:

1-What was Morris Jesup’s original gift to support a new Westport Library building?
2-The President of the United States…a large Ohio influence?
3-"Be prepared" to recognize Robert Baden Powell’s organization.
4-No more pigtails in ink pots; the new-fangled writing implement?
5-Hotel visitors found something new in the nightstand drawer.
6-Where were the 1908 Summer Olympics?
7-Singing Take Me Out to the Ballgame was not a charm for the Yankees’ season.

Check your answers here.

Want to learn more? Check out these links to the Library catalog :

1-Morris Ketchum Jesup
2-William Howard Taft
3-Boy Scouts
4- Fountain pens
5-Gideons (wikipedia)
6-Olympics history
7-Baseball & the song

Have you noticed the newest addition to our display tables? Stop in Monday through Friday
after 1 pm and see what new books were added to the Library collection that day.

Often I am asked how books are selected. A committee of fifteen reads reviews in journals like Library Journal, Publishers Weekly and Kirkus Reviews every week. Then, we meet to make the selections and discuss our decisions. The order is placed and always includes other books that have been requested by Library users. When the books arrive from our vendors, they are cataloged and processed. After “revision” (a check that all the data is correct), the books go to the circulation desk to be checked in. Books with holds are put on the hold shelf and the rest go to the display table – “Today’s NEW Books”

You will find a wide range of topics and genres. Our general goal is to cover all subjects of interest and all points of view. Here are some "Today’s NEW Books" on Tuesday April 15:
The White King: a novel by Gyorgy Dragoman – an 11-year-old boy narrates…set in Romania, these interconnected stories are based on the author’s experience as a member of the Hungarian minority in the totalitarian state that was his home…the joys and humiliations of growing up… a child’s-eye view in riveting prose.

That Little Something: Poems by Charles Simic – The nineteenth collection of our current Poet Laureate…”the strange interplay between reality and imagination….”

Mistress of the Revolution: a novel by Catherine Delors – a love story set in turbulent Revolutionary France at the court of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette.
(Read it to set the scene for an author talk at the Library on Monday April 28 at noon, when Susan Nagel speaks on her book Marie-Therese: Child of Terror:the Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter.)

Flying High: Remembering Barry Goldwater by William F. Buckley, Jr. – key episodes from the history of the conservative movement and the presidential campaign of a political visionary…the poignant "Acknowledgments" was written a short time before Buckley’s death.
(John Dean & Barry Goldwater, Jr. have created another biography of the conservative movement’s standard bearer- based on Goldwater’s journals and letters, Pure Goldwater has been ordered.)

Michael Connelly’s blurb, which is posted on amazon.com reads: “With its clever plotting and blood-and-guts characters, Quiver will certainly put Peter Leonard on the map. This is the start of something special.”

A crime caper set in and around the Leonard family’s home turf of Detroit, the book centers on a recent widow struggling with her teenage son when her first love, an ex-con, reappears, setting into motion a series of events culminating in a life-and-death confrontation with a gang of killers.

PW announced that the book had been sold to Thomas Dunne/St. Martin’s Minotaur in April of 2007, adding that “The elder Leonard, who was reportedly unimpressed with a short story his son wrote in college, has enthusiastically endorsed this new literary effort.”

The recent PW review was not so good, however: “A muddled plot, one-dimensional characters and a predictable ending will leave readers hoping for better things in Leonard’s next novel.”

Also like father, and in his case, mother, Jesse Kellman is the son of best-selling novelists Jonathan and Faye Kellerman.

Of his latest – and third – book, The Genius, also due in May, PW wrote, “Kellerman has a gift for creating compelling characters as well as for crafting an ingenious plot that grabs the reader and refuses to let go.”

Not bad at all, young man!

In an interview on bookpage.com Kellerman fils discusses how he feels about meeting expectations: "… there will inevitably be comparisons either in one direction or another: in genetic degradation, Kellerman fails to live up to his parents, or, as I'm sure my parents are waiting to hear, Kellerman surpasses his parents! We're just laughing about it. They're certainly not threatened by me. And if I were threatened by them, I would have been a lawyer."

Were you among the 2200 people who came to the Library Birthday party last Sunday? What a happy combination of nostalgia, appreciation and anticipation from the 1908 artifacts to the plans for the Westport Library building of the future. In the 1908 room, I was surprised to learn that the Meyer lemon was introduced to America in 1908. I have been hearing about these wonderful “new” lemons lately (on sale at Balducci’s for $2.99/lb.) It turns out they have been around as long as our Library!

Nostalgia: Did you see all the Howard Munce drawings that graced our Library publicity through the years? Did you notice the picture of a very young Jonathan Sheffer at a Library party in 1958? Did you chuckle at the creative titles on the books being read in the Whitney Darrow artwork? Did you reminisce about the renovations and the new building as you looked at the construction photos? If you missed this stroll down memory lane, take some time to look at the art kiosks on your next trip to the Library.

Appreciation: Often people love the Library for the latest books, the interesting programs, the collection of DVDs, the café, the quiet, the conversation, the research assistance, the latest magazines, the wi-fi, the children’s librarians or that special spot for studying or writing. Local authors shared some of their appreciation about the Library. What do you appreciate about the Library ?

Anticipation: Did you meet architect Henry Myerberg and hear about his ideas for a new Library building? Did you see his sketches? And Imagine 2108! Some of Westport’s younger residents created and illustrated the Library of 100 years from now. Imagine robots, swimming pools and jets landing at the Library of the future!

The Wife by Meg Wolitzer was my first choice. After 40 years of marriage, Joan Castleman has decided to leave her award winning writer-husband. In a series of flashbacks we come to understand what her marriage has been like, and what led her to this decision. This book is well written and witty, but sad. Book groups will have much to say about Wolitzer’s characters. The Ten Year Nap, her latest novel about marriage, motherhood and female ambition already is in great demand. I definitely want to read it, but I may wait for my next vacation so I don’t have to rush it.

Tom Perotta’s The Abstinence Teacher was my second vacation read. I loved Little Children and his latest book did not disappoint. Perotta captures the suburban lifestyle in this story about a health education teacher and her daughter’s born-again Christian soccer coach which deals with some timely issues. It is humorous, but thought provoking. Perfect material to generate a lively discussion at any book club.

How to be Lost by Amanda Eyre Ward was the last book I packed for my trip. It is the story of the Winters family, who seem to have it all until their five year old daughter disappears. Fifteen years later a photograph in a magazine inspires Caroline, the oldest sibling to begin a search for her lost sister. Caroline’s journey is as much about finding herself as it is a search for her little sister. Ward’s characters are both compelling and identifiable. This is a beautifully written and touching story. I really enjoyed it.

So that’s what I read on my vacation this time. Do you have any reading suggestions for my next trip?

There were cities in the vicinity by the 1st millennium BC.

21st century Beijing will host the 2008 Summer Olympics from August 8 to August 24.

Some events will be held outside the city, namely soccer (in Qinhuangdao, Shanghai, Shenyang and Tianjin), equestrian events (in Hong Kong) and sailing (in Qingdao).

The official website includes a wealth of Olympic info plus a sidebar just for travelers. There are recommended itineraries and links to all of the co-host cities mentioned above.

The Library has added lots of new guidebooks to both Beijing itself and greater China in anticipation of increased travel there for the games.

If you are planning to go, check out TravelChinaGuide.com, a comprehensive website that will answer any questions you may have and help you find just the right itinerary for yourself.

Lonely Planet has a city guide on-line that also has an all-you-need-to know quality to it.

They describe Beijing as “a new millennium rollercoaster... where the mojo of MTV and mobile phones has eclipsed the magic of Mao.”

“I am probably one of the most excited old women in the world.” So says Florence Wolfson Howitt in the foreword to The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel. The book’s subtitle is “reclaiming a life through the pages of a lost journal.” The life reclaimed is that of a highly intelligent, adventurous, thoughtful and beautiful teenager in 1930s Manhattan. Koppel, a New York Times reporter, found the forgotten diary and traced the owner, now in her nineties, to Westport. The book weaves quotations from Florence’s diary into lush descriptions of her privileged life and transports the reader to a very different time and place, where music, art, reading and theater as well as
the latest fashions filled the time and attention of this young woman. Here is a preview of the wonderful pictures in the book which attest to the beauty and vitality of the young journal writer.

Lily Koppel and Florence Howitt will be speaking at the Library on Wednesday April 9 at noon in the McManus Room.
Newly released copies of The Red Leather Diary will be available for sale and signing.

This book will be the featured title for the Usual Suspects discussion next Sunday, April 13th, in honor of the Library’s 100th birthday.

This will also be the first anniversary of the Usual Suspects.

An outgrowth of the Victorian melodrama, the genre includes several Golden Age mystery writers and influenced a diverse list of authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald.

The phrase "The butler did it", a popular mystery cliché, originated with Rinehart's novel The Door, in which the butler did do it, although that exact phrase never actually appears in the work.

Rinehart (1876-1958) was a prolific author and is often called the American Agatha Christie.

Dorothy B. Hughes, crime critic and novelist, has called her “the most important American woman mystery writer.”

The HIBK school was parodied by Ogden Nash in a poem called Don't Guess Let Me Tell You:

“Sometimes it is the Had I But Known what grim secret lurked behind that smiling exterior I would never have set foot within the door,

Sometimes the Had I But Known then what I know now I could have saved at least three lives by revealing to the Inspector the conversation I heard through that fortuitous hole in the floor.”

Hope you can join us on Sunday at 2. New members are always welcome.

Phone 291-4821 for a copy of the book. Call 291-4836 for more information on The Usual Suspects.

Every day new books are added to the Library collection. You can find them on the New Book shelves. Browsing there can lead to wonderful discoveries of topics of new interest or authors you have not encountered before. Now we have made it even easier to get a first look at the newest books! Don’t miss the very first display table near the circulation desk to see each day’s new books as soon as they are available for check out. Happy discoveries!

What you will not see on display there are the books most in demand. Because they have so many holds, these books are usually part of the Express collection. Express books are duplicate copies which may not be reserved. Instead they are loaned on a first-come basis for 3 days. Or you may keep them past the 3 days for 25 cents per day for each book.

Wondering what people are reading these days? Here are the current most popular titles:

1-The Appeal by John Grisham
2-The Senator’s Wife by Sue Miller
3-Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult
4-New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
5-Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
6-Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
7-Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett
8-Remember Me? By Sophie Kinsella
9-Compulsion by Jonathan Kellerman
10-Lush Life by Richard Price

Is there a book you think we should add to the collection? Let me know.

We just can’t help ourselves: librarians like to keep count.
Over 1500 people have participated in WestportREADS 2008!

Thanks to all who planned, read, volunteered, sang, dressed up, discussed, partied and listened as we indulged in the fun & fantasy and the learning & discussion of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. (If you did not get a chance to read it, we still have copies to borrow or buy at the Library. If you missed some of the events, check the podcasts on the Library website.)

After six years of WestportREADS, some questions:

• Do you have an idea for the next WestportREADS selection?


• Which was your favorite selection?


• Do you think a non-fiction book would be a good choice?


I would love to hear from you!
Please send me your comments, as we begin to consider WestportREADS 2009.