Library Talk.

Darkfever, by Karen Marie Moning

MacKayla is a beautiful and pampered young woman, the product of a happy childhood in comfortable Ashford, Georgia.  Her world is comprised of doting parents and older sister, handsome young men at parties, clothes and shopping and the perfect pink nail polish.  Then the unthinkable happens; her sister travels to Dublin to study and is murdered a few months later.  Mac's world falls apart as she listens to Alina's last frantic phone message before her death, to a sister who's frightened and calling on Mac to help her.  Wracked by guilt she decides to go to Ireland to discover what really happened and to harangue the local police until they find the killer.

But Ireland is not what Mac expects.  Not only have the police proven to do everything they can, but Alina's life turns out to be full of mystery and oddities.  Clearly Alina had changed over the months and now Mac must delve into her life not only to solve the murder but to understand her sister's erratic behavior.  As she searches for clues, Mac begins to see strange things; a Dublin full of magic and mystery, strange creatures only she can see, vast deserted areas where people no longer live but nobody seems to notice, and powerul beings who can kill with a thought.  When Mac runs for her life she stumbles in to an amazing bookstore owned by the handsome and enigmatic Jericho Barrons, but his answers only cause the mysteries to deepen and Mac doesn't know where to turn to find her sister's killer.

Which love story will not be true to you?

A. Bacon: a Love Story: a Salty Survey of Everybody's Favorite Meat
B. True North Strong and Free: A Love Story
C. Married to Africa: a Love Story
D. Aesop's Mirror: a Love Story
E. Late Edition: a Love Story

Come to the Bellevue Library November 14th, 2pm to learn from Mary Jane Beaufrand, teen author.  MJ will give us the basics on what makes a character memorable. Get some tips to make your fictional characters deeper and well rounded. After all, zombies have feelings too. Beaufrand is the author of Primavera, a young adult novel.

Space is limited so please register at www.kcls.org or call the Bellevue library at 425-450-1765. 

This event is for students in grades 6-12.

Sponsored by the Bellevue Friends of the Library

Like many people, I enjoy cooking, and I love to eat. I always thought I had a passion for good food and cooking, but after reading this book, what I call passion seems lukewarm.

La Cucina is the story of Rosa Fiore, a woman who used cooking as a kind of therapy throughout her life. And no one in could blame her for needing some therapy. After Rosa's first love was murdered by his own father (who happened to be involved with the mafia), she locked herself in la cucina and prepared all types of pastas: rigatoni, ravioli, spiralli, cannelloni, linguini. She baked ciabbata and focaccia. She brewed sauces of tomatoes, anchovies, saffron, and pine nuts. She bottled fruits and jams, cured meats, and made ricotta by the barrel. Then, when she had cooked everything on their estate, she packed up a few clothes and her parrot, and left to become a librarian in Palermo.

It wasn't until twenty five years later that another man entered her life, a foreigner. L'Inglese, an English chef, arrived at her library and awakened desires and passions didn't even realize she possessed. As they spent the summer cooking and discovering each other, anyone could see that it was too wonderful to last...and besides, disaster always seemed to follow Rosa.

Fans of Like Water for Chocolate and Joanne Harris may enjoyLa Cucina by Lily Prior.

Charles Darwin was not given to rash decisions. When he was nearly thirty and needed to decide whether to marry, he sat down, drew a line down the middle of a piece of paper and made a list of pros and cons. On the plus side, marriage would offer the benefit of children ("if it Please God") and an object of affection, "better than a dog anyhow." On the minus side, he would miss the "conservation of clever men at clubs" and might not be able to read in the evenings.

His decision to take the leap and marry his cousin Emma Wedgwood is the subject of Deborah Heiligman's 2009 National Books Award finalist  Charles and Emma: the Darwin's Leap of Faith..

Darwin was a pragmatist, an agnostic, and a scientist. Emma was his intellectual match and yet devoutly religious. Theirs was a true love story--a match of wits and wills, of science and religion. Despite her reservations about Darwin's theories, Emma helped edit her husband's work.She honestly feared for his soul and at the same time bore him ten children, three of whom died before the age of ten.

Heiligman is a skilled nonfiction writer. The Victorian Era is brought to vivid life through the couple's letters and other primary sources. This setting is the backdrop for one of the great marriages of history. Although originally published for the teen market, Charles and Emma will equally engage adult readers, who will know something more about the ups-and-downs of married life than its intended audience.  

It is a story that might have turned out quite differently if Darwin had decided to settle for the company of that dog after all. 

  

Mission Control, This is Apollo: the story of the first voyages to the Moon
by Andrew Chaikin and Alan Bean

Chaikin, an NPR Morning Edition commentator and the author of A Man on the Moon, profiles each of the Apollo Missions, including the legendary Apollo 11 Mission which celebrated its 40th Anniversary this year. Each chapter briefly outlines the mission (dates, commanders, pilots, objectives, mission patches, etc), but also includes stories about the people involved. Armstrong, for instance, didn't spend a lot of time pondering his historic words; he was too busy avoiding craters! Of course, not all missions were so successful, as discussed in the chapter on the infamous Apollo Thirteen. Vintage photos show the jury-rigged filter that helped save the astronauts lives and another grainy photo shows the crippled module. Brief sections explore the finer points of space travel, from the rather discomforting physical side-effects as described in "The Dark Side of Zero-G" and "When You Gotta Go, You Gotta Go" to technical details like those in "The Moon Rocket" and "Clothes Make the Moonwalker". The brief introduction outlines the preceding Mercury and Gemini programs.

In addition to the wonderful photographs, Alan Bean contributes his amazing paintings to the book. Bean, who landed on the moon with Apollo Twelve and knows what he paints, brings a unique perspective to the book. An entrancing mix of color, light and texture, these paintings bring the lunar landscapes alive. A chapter at the end of the book explains how Bean paints, a process that includes small models astronauts, replica moon-boots and even fragments of capsule heat shields and foil insulation. Informational, but also celebratory, Mission Control, This is Apollo, is a treat for history and space buffs of any age.

I bet you think that feminism and pacifism were invented in the 60s. Not so. I'm not exactly sure when they first appeared but I can give you an example of a very early appearance of both: Lysistrata, a Greek comedy written by Aristophanes and first performed in 411 B.C. That's right, B.C....as in 2,400 years ago. But don't be put off the antiquity or the "loftiness" of the play. Earthy, racy, provocative, and laugh-out-loud funny...Lysistrata is a complete hoot!

The play is set during the then-current war between Athens and Sparta, just after the disastrous loss of Sicily by the Athenians. The war was not going well for Athens and the growing sense of futility in it all provides the backdrop for this play. The main character, Lysistrata, comes up with a radical idea: if all women from both sides of the conflict agree to refrain from having sex with their husbands, then they will be forced by their sheer ardor to capitulate to the women's demand, which is an immediate end to all hostilities. Of course, Lysistrata has a little trouble convincing her compatriots of her plan...it seems they have desires of their own...but in the end they all take an oath (a scene that is hilarious), take over the Acropolis, and proceed to hold out on their warrior mates. As the men's frustration increases, so too does Lysistrata's determination, though she does have a tough time keeping her female co-conspirators in line. One of the most amusing scenes occurs near the end when Lysistrata has to intercept a number of women that are driven both to distraction and defection by their own impulses. But in the end...well, you'll have to read the play to find out.

There were a couple of things that really struck me about Lysistrata. First of all, the various translations of this play (and, presumably all of the ancient Greek plays) differ greatly in terms of language. I read two versions: one was a personal copy translated by Benjamin Bickley Rogers from 1955 and the other was a KCLS copy from 1991 translated by Nicholas Rudall. The gist of the material is the same in both versions but on a line-by-line basis they differed greatly. For laughs, some of my friends did a reading of a few pages from the play, using at least three different translations. Though there was great variation in the verbage used, the meaning and the humor came through all the same. Here's the moral: if you don't like one translation, try another.

Another interesting facet of Lysistrata is, well, it's steaminess. Believe-you-me, those Greeks weren't all contemplating the ideal plane and that comes through loud-and-clear in this play. There are numerous instances of double-entendres, course language, and sexual explicitness. Clearly, Aristophanes wasn't an elitist; he was obviously aiming his work at "the masses" and he succeeded gloriously, for I found myself able to relate to the general tenor of this play in a way that I could not with other "classic" works. In a word, Lysistrata is universal.

So if you're in the mood for some burlesque that really makes you think, don't be afraid to check out Lysistrata!

As intermission ends at Teatro la Fenice, the third gong strikes.  The opera goers return to their seats, eagerly awaiting the final act of La Traviata.  But the orchestra does not begin to play.  Suddenly, from behind the curtain, the artistic director steps out, announcing that Maestro Wellauer is unable to conduct, and the assistant director will finish the performance.  Wellauer will never conduct again.  The police are called, and when they arrive (by boat, as this is Venice), Commissario Guido Brunetti enters the dressing room and finds the body. Maestro Helmut Wellauer, the most famous conductor in Europe, lies contorted by the effect of cyanide in the coffee he'd begun to drink.  Who could have wanted the esteemed maestro dead?

In  Death at La Fenice, it's Brunetti's task to find out, and he's an expert at detection.  At first there appears to be no possible motive, but as the investigation deepens, an array of secrets, rivalries, and intrigue is uncovered.  Was it the assistant director, hoping to eliminate a rival?  Or the soprano, who's hiding a secret only Wellauer knew, that could destroy her career?   It couldn't be his young and beautiful wife, apparently devastated by his death.  And what about the rumors that Wellauer, a German, was a Nazi sympathizer during WWII, a strong motivation for revenge?

As Brunetti investigates, we meet a unique cast of characters:  his vain, insufferable boss, Vice Questore Patta; faded opera star Santina, now living in cruel poverty; his lovely wife Paola, a daughter of Venice's aristocracy.  We come to know his family, and savor the delectable extended meals they share at mid-day.  But the most distinctive character is Venice.  As Brunetti prowls the canals, calles, piazzas, and cafes of his native town, we acquaint ourselves with this ancient and mysterious floating city.

Donna Leon has woven together a fascinating tale that's sure to please lovers of opera, Italian life, and detective fiction. This is the first novel of the Guido Brunetti mysteries; her most recent installment, About Face, is 18th in the series.  Throughout these novels, Commissario Brunetti exposes the seamier side of life in Venice, battling corruption as he brings the truth to light.

With NaNoWriMo, (National Novel Writing Month), lurking just around the corner, my attention has turned to books about writing. There are many to choose from, including books on motivation, some that emphasize certain techniques and some that focus on selling your material once it's finished.

Break Into Fiction by multipublished authors Mary Buckham and Diana Love uses popular films to demonstrate the points of each technique they discuss. They've also provided templates for important story elements such as developing a story premise, creating believeable, motivated characters, strengthening conflict, and raising the stakes.

Many writers struggle with the beginning of a story, not knowing where to start. When facing the blank page, it can be a challenge. These successful authors suggest that the frustration can often be traced to a lack of preparation. If you have insight into the goals and motivation of your main character, it can be easier to get the words on the page. Taking the time to understand the story arc, how conflict must be escalated and the story question answered can help the beginning writer move beyond fear and into the flow of the narrative.

If you are interested in learning more about Power Plotting, NaNoWriMo programs offered throughout the library system will include workshops with Mary Buckham.

Making your house, (apartment, room or whatever) into your home is always exciting and fun. Jill Butler's book, Create the Space You Deserve:  An Artistic Journey to Expressing  Yourself  Through Your Home is an inspirational book that got me thinking in a different way about my living space.  

It is easy to find ideas on home décor and stores are relentless in their push to sell you the latest thing that you absolutely need for your home. Create the Space You Deserve takes a different  approach  by tapping into the emotional process of designing space. This book inspired me to look at my living space with a fresh eye. Your living area can be a powerful expression of who you are and in these hard economic times I find myself in the nesting mode more than ever. For me it is the little things that tend to make me happiest...like sitting at home in a comfy chair, sipping tea and watching the clouds.