History and Mythology of Great Cities

There is something special and magical about a good history of a great city which captures moments in time and allows the reader to witness and feel the hopes, dreams, fears, and aspirations of  an entire city. A good city history, while always remaining true to the facts, should bring the people of that city to life and allow modern readers the chance to imagine ‘what was it like…’ scenarios. When done well, histories of great cities can equal and rival any work of fiction.

Another important aspect of a great history of a city is the ability to connect an ancient or distant place to our modern identity, creating that ‘ah ha’ moment, when we say ‘so that’s where that idea comes from…’ A good example of this would be James Carroll’s Jerusalem, Jerusalem: how the ancient city ignited our modern world.  Another excellent example of this theme is Simon Sebag Montefiore’s Jerusalem: the biography.  

History and myth, reality and the ideal, these elements are always entangled and can be found and leisurely unwound in Robin Waterfield’s, Athens: a history – from ancient ideal to modern city. For a more speculative take on what Athens could have been like in the time of Socrates, as well as what happened to Socrates himself, there is Bettany Hughes’ The Hemlock Cup: Socrates, Athens and the search for the good life.
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Entering the more modern period and moving west, there is Alistair Horne’s Seven Ages of Paris  and Colin Jones’ Paris: biography of a city.  And once in London, there are few others that capture it as Peter Ackroyd does in London: the biography and Thames: a sacred river.

Of course, no history of the world’s great cities is complete without a mention to New York (that wonderful town…).

Start with Kenneth T. Jackson and David S. Dunbar’s Empire City: New York through the centuries.  And if your taste is for the classic and nostalgic, try E.B. White’s Here is New York.

Whatever city or mythical place you want to escape to, there is also a historical place where a writer’s imagination and research can take you. Bon voyage…

Phil

Playlists for Books

The other day, I was sitting on the bus reading Delirium by Lauren Oliver on my iPod, while listening to Adele’s latest album 21.  The music was a perfect backdrop to the raw, emotional, and wrenchingly heartbreaking story of a dystopian world where love is treated like a disease.  Adele has described her own musical style as “heartbroken soul,” and when her amazing smash-hit Rolling in the Deep started to play, I couldn’t help but notice that the music and lyrics fit the tone of the book to a “T:” “we could have had it all….”

More and more, books and music seem to have this symbiotic relationship going on.  Of course, there are soundtracks to movies that are based on books, but nowadays, authors are also coming out with playlists for their novels.  Especially authors who write for teens.  Which makes sense, given the white earbud epidemic that seems to have spread among the adolescent population. 

One of the first YA authors to do this was Stephenie Meyer who created a Twilight playlist.  Meyer says that she can’t write without music and that the playlist is composed of the music she hears in her head while reading the book.  Mostly, it’s a collection of alternative rock (Coldplay, Muse, My Chemical Romance), and I think it works quite well.

Maggie Stiefvater has also created playlists for her novels Shiver and Linger.  Maggie says, “I have to have music playing non-stop while I write, or I can’t focus. All I can think about is doing laundry, taking a walk, making cookie dough, or laying on the floor. So I create focused playlists for each book, every song picked to reinforce the mood or help me through a scene.”  Stiefvater’s lists have that alternative feel as well, but its more Folk Festival than Rock on the Range with tunes from Rufus Wainwright and Fleet Foxes.  Fitting, nonetheless. 

I love this idea of pairing music with books (it’s almost as natural as cake & ice-cream, chips & dip or macaroni & cheese), and I think this only the beginning.  As ebooks become more mainstream, it seems only natural to listen to some tunes while reading a good book.  And hey, if it means I don’t have to listen to that crying baby on the bus while I’m trying to read, I think that’s a good thing.  Music most definitely has the power to influence mood, and it can really enhance your reading experience.  So why not put together your own book playlist, and see what you can come up with!?

Some other really cool book playlists?  John Green’s Paper Towns playlist, Becca Fitzpatrick’s Crescendo playlist, and Laurie Halse Anderson’s Wintergirls playlist.

~ Lindsay

Hollywood’s reading list

My daughter is anxiously counting down the days until the release of the movie The Hunger Games (March 23, in case you don’t have an obsessed tween in your house.) As well as constantly re-reading the books by Suzanne Collins, she regularly searches the web for new trailers, snippets of gossip, and pictures about the film, and she’s already purchased tracks from the movie’s soundtrack from iTunes. You might think that this behaviour can simply be put down to adolescent excitability, but really, she gets it from me.

When I find out a treasured book or comic franchise is being adapted for the big screen, I tend to get more than a little excited (imagine my daughter’s activities, multiplied by a few hundred). I’m sometimes rewarded for my enthusiasm with awe-inspiring, delightful movie experiences (any of the Lord of the Rings movies, Captain America, The Help); sometimes, I’m left disappointed (Iron Man 2, The Lovely Bones, Aliens vs. Cowboys). But whether I’m seeing a good or bad movie, I still enjoy the new visual interpretation of events and favourites characters.

I believe 2012 is going to be another great year for movies based on books. Here are some of the ones I’m most looking forward to:

One For the Money, based on the Janet Evanovich novel of the same name, stars Katherine Heigl as Stephanie Plum, an unemployed department store buyer forced to take a job working at her cousin’s bail bond company. Due out on January 27.

The Woman in Black, due out on February 3, is based on Susan Hill’s moody horror novel. Harry Potter actor Daniel Radcliffe stars as a young lawyer who travels to a remote English village where he discovers the vengeful ghost of a scorned woman is terrorizing the locals.

On March 2, Dr. Seuss’s birthday, get ready for The Lorax. In the outskirts of his town, a young boy discovers a beautiful environment he’s never seen before — and a mysterious figure who’s destroying it. What unfolds is the story of the Lorax, a snarky but endearing forest creature who fights to protect his trees. Danny DeVito plays the iconic title character of the Lorax, with Zac Efron, Taylor Swift, and Ed Helms all lending their voices to the film.

The Avengers opens May 4, directed by Joss Whedon. (Insert high-pitched fangirl squeal here.) Nick Fury and the international agency S.H.I.E.L.D. bring together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to help save the Earth from Loki & his army. I can always count on Marvel Studios; without fail, they release a new movie in time for my wedding anniversary.

Opening on December 7 is the musical adaptation of Les Misérables. Hugh Jackman will play Valjean, with Anne Hathaway starring as Fantine and Russell Crowe as Javert.

On December 14, I’ll certainly be amongst the crowds catching The Hobbit. Martin Freeman stars as Bilbo, and Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom are reprising their roles from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Finally, Yann Martel’s 2001 bestseller, Life of Pi, is finally coming to the big screen on December 21. Directed by Ang Lee, the film will also feature Suraj Sharma, Tobey Maguire, Gerard Depardieu and Irrfan Khan.

- Barbara

To tweet, or not to tweet…..

I got a Twitter account several years ago and found that I rarely used it – perhaps because I found it difficult to condense what I wanted to say into 140 characters. And it also seemed to me that not only did you need to condense what you wanted to say into 140 characters, but you then had to try and be witty at the same time. So, my account languished. I also predicted that Twitter really wouldn’t catch on- so why start using something that probably didn’t have lasting power anyways?

Well, my aptitude at making predictions about technology obviously isn’t very accurate, since Twitter has grown in popularity and is obviously going to be around for a very long time. In December the library launched a Twitter feed @wpglibrary (we’d love it if you followed us!) and I seem to have become a Twitter convert. Twitter is much more than celebrity tweets by people like Ashton Kutcher (who, incidentally, has more people following him than there are on a small continent) although I do have to confess to following a celebrity or two. No matter where your interests lie, you can find lots of individuals or organizations to follow. As a librarian who is interested in film, music and technology, I’ve found lots of interesting people to follow who keep me up-to-date on the things I like. Interested in hockey? You can follow your favorite team (the Jets) or your favorite player (connect with Evander Kane).  Interested in cooking? You could follow Jamie Oliver, the Food Network or Bon Appetit magazine. There are Twitter feeds for job hunters, and Twitter feeds for vampire hunters. No matter what you’re interested in, there’s something for you.

What if you’re interested in the idea of tweeting, but perplexed by some of the Twitter jargon such as hashtags? If you need more information about Twitter and how it works, the library can help you out. Twitter for Dummies will teach you everything you need to know to get started with Twitter, as will Twitter: Tips, Tricks and Tweets. And it’s never too late to learn how to tweet- Facebook and Twitter for Seniors for Dummies will have you tweeting in no time.

If you own a business, you might want to consider using Twitter for promotional purposes.  Twitter allows you to market your product to your followers but also allows you to tap into what tweeters are saying about your business.  Positive comments can be retweeted for extra publicity while negative tweets can be addressed by responding directly to the person.  Often, someone will tweet about a business and the company will respond to the person fairly quickly via Twitter.  If you want to use Twitter for business promotion, the library has several books that would be useful to consult. Get Rich with Twitter: Harness the Power of the Twitterverse and Reach More Customes Than Ever Before might help entrepreneurs attract a larger customer base.  Twitter Marketing for Dummies provides good basic information on how to successfully market and promote your product or organization using Twitter.  

There are also books that deal with altruistic uses of Twitter.  Social Media for Social Good is a guide for non-profits on how to make use of Twitter.  Twitter for Good: Change the World One Tweet at a Time is a well-reviewed book which outlines ways in which Twitter can be used to  further causes and campaigns, and clearly get a message out.  Recently, I’ve read several news stories about a homeless woman in the United States who started a Twitter account at her local library, and began tweeting as a way to deal with her mental illness and to chronicle what it’s like to be homeless.  This woman has now received assistance from people she met through Twitter and she’s no longer living on the streets.

Some days, though, I’m just in need of a good laugh and Twitter often provides me with that.  The day that Wikipedia was down in protest of SOPA, the hashtag #factswithoutWikipedia was born.  Some of the gems I found were: “Bacon is good for you” (wish that one was really true!), “97% of the earth’s surface is covered by Beefaroni” and, lastly, my colleague’s favorite, “Pasta lovers can now plant a spaghetti tree in order to reduce their carbonara footprint.”

Theresa

Things you can’t do with an e-reader…

Last year, Bloomberg Business Week printed a story about a man who began having rather apocalyptic nightmares after his son was born. He envisioned the bookshelves in his compact Japanese home falling on his new baby, burying the child in books. So he did what any prudent parent would do: he bought a scanner and converted his 850 books into PDF files.

 Now, you may be gripped by New Year’s resolution-induced clean-ups, or perhaps you are still enamoured with your new e-reader. But if you find yourself with extra books on your hands—the old-fashioned kind, with pages and covers—there are a few ideas for what to do with them.

The Repurposed Library: 33 Craft Projects That Give Old Books New Life by Lisa Occhipinti offers an array of  projects for old books. These accessible crafts range from shelves constructed from books to wall decorations made by folding book pages. Some highlight books as a form, and others capitalize on the monochromatic appeal of the printed book page. Perhaps the most ironic inclusion is a Kindle book holder, described on Amazon as being for “those who want to replicate the sensation of holding a “real” book.”

Playing with Books: The Art of Upcycling, Deconstructing, and Reimagining the Book by Jason Thompson edges from craft into art with a similar approach to the same medium. The gallery section of the book highlights some beautiful works, including that featured on the book’s cover: a dress made of telephone book pages.

One artist frequently highlighted in exhibits or publications dealing in book art is UK artist Su Blackwell, whose detailed artworks are fascinating in their meticulous detail. Her gallery shows intricately-cut book pages assembled as sculptures. Perhaps the most clever ones use books as both subject and medium, such as those featuring scenes from Wuthering Heights or Alice in Wonderland.

 Another artist highly accomplished in the realm of paper art is based in Scotland, but remains anonymous. In spring 2011, a librarian discovered a small, detailed paper sculpture of a bird’s nest and eggs. It was accompanied by a note, saying”This is for you in support of libraries, books, words, ideas…” By November, a total of ten such sculptures had turned up at libraries and museums in Scotland. The final note said that the sculptures were thank yous for the kind of “special places” where they had been left.

If perhaps you are not ready to part with your books in such a permanent way, two older books highlight some storage choices. Living with Books by Alan Powers has a range of appealing ideas, including the highly impractical (and dangerous) stacking of books along the edge of a staircase. It also includes a whimsical “coffee table book table”, comprised of glass sandwiched between–yes, coffee table books. While more traditional in its approach, House Beautiful: Decorating with Books by Marie Proeller Hueston does feature a dramatic, three-foot pile perilously wedged across the full expanse of a mantelpiece.

Books Make a Home: Elegant Ideas for Storing and Displaying Books by Damian Thompson can provide some further storage ideas. Whatever style of home you prefer, books can add something to your interior, whether they are the honey-coloured leather covers lining your Italian villa, or the identically slipcovered tomes in a modernist condo. (Does anyone except designers actually do this?) In a great variation of the recliner with pockets for the remotes, this book features the Biliochaise, where you can surround yourself with five linear metres of your favourite reading material.  

In the end, there is a solution for the Japanese man who consolidated his collection but might miss the ambience his books provided. A designer has come up with wallpaper printed to look like an array of bookshelves. But given the design’s sagging shelves, homeowners may never be free of their nightmares about collapse!

Time to get On The Same Page, Manitoba

On The Same Page, an initiative of The Winnipeg Foundation and the Winnipeg Public Library, is a province-wide book club that encourages all Manitobans to read the same book and share the same story. This year’s choice is J.R. Léveillé’s The Setting Lake Sun / Le soleil du lac qui se couche.

Borrow a copy from the Library in print [Eng / Fr] or ebook format [Eng /Fr], or buy one at a local bookstore. We’re also giving away free copies at locations around Winnipeg from the Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art to the Centre culturel franco-manitobain — or attend the events below for a chance to pick one up.

Then come celebrate the book with us at one of these free events that will bring it alive!

Programmation en français

Rencontre d’auteur: Rencontrez J.R. Léveillé, écoutez-le lire des extraits de son roman et faites signer votre exemplaire.
Bibliothèque de Saint-Boniface, 131 boul. Provencher, porte 100 – mercredi 18 janvier à 11h30

Une culture vivante: Denis Gagnon, titulaire de la Chaire de recherche du Canada sur l’identité métisse à l’Université de Saint-Boniface, parle de la culture métisse et de sa survie – un compte-rendu sur l’histoire et sur les raisons pour lesquelles cette culture est une part essentielle de la vie d’aujourd’hui.
Chapelle du Musée de Saint-Boniface, 494, av. Taché – vendredi 3 février à midi

Events in English

A Cut Above: Printmaker and teacher Gary Styrchak will demonstrate the process of creating woodcuts, show examples of his own work, and talk about the history of this ancient artform.
Millennium Library’s Carol Shields Auditorium, 251 Donald St. – Tuesday, January 24 at 12:10 p.m.

Found in Translation: Discuss the art of translation with author J.R. Léveillé, S.E. Stewart, award-winning translator of The Setting Lake Sun, and local literary translator Mark Stout.
McNally Robinson Booksellers, 1120 Grant Avenue – Tuesday, January 31 at 7 p.m.

Building a Poem: In this workshop on haiku, J.R Léveillé will talk about the Japanese poetry form which inspired some of his own work. Try your hand at creating one and share the results with the group. Limited to 12 participants. To register, call 986-6779.
Millennium Library’s Buchwald Room, 251 Donald St. – Saturday, February 4 at 11 a.m.

“Frozen Music”–Architecture as Art: Grant Van Iderstine of Smith Carter tackles the big questions: Is architecture an art form? Can it be compared to other arts like sculpture or music? What makes a building into a work of art?
Millennium Library’s Carol Shields Auditorium, 251 Donald St. – Friday, February 10, 12:10 p.m.

Meet and Greet: Drop in and chat with J.R. Léveillé at the Bibliothèque Somerset Library.
289 Carlton Ave., Somerset, MB - Friday, February 10, 4 – 6 p.m.

Author Appearance: Meet J.R Léveillé, hear him read from The Setting Lake Sun, and have your copy signed.
Millennium Library’s Carol Shields Auditorium, 251 Donald St. – Monday, February 13 at 12:10 p.m.

Want to know more about the book or any of these events? Visit OnTheSamePage.ca for more information (don’t forget to count yourself in the Reader’s Tally!) or call the Library at 986-6779.

Best House and Garden Books of 2011

“A comfortable home is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.” Sydney Smith

If one of your resolutions is to spruce up your humble abode, this column will lead you to the pick of the litter of  titles to inspire you.

In a round-up of the notable interior design titles of 2011, a distinct trend emerges. “Undecoration” using thrift store, found and salvaged items is a response to mass-produced objects as espoused by IKEA and other big box furniture stores which cater to owners of McMansions. The relaxed design trend highlights the display of personal collections, art and found objets and is a homemade, do-it-yourself, budget friendly aesthetic which is accessible to all. In this “more is more” doctrine, however, the need to curate these items appropriately is crucial and dusting could be daunting.

No one could say he wasn't interested in listening.

It seems to be a backlash to the forbidding, minimalist, uncluttered interiors spoofed at Unhappy Hipsters which juxtaposes images from magazines like Dwell  with captions that mock design snobs.  The book  It’s Lonely in the Modern World ,  subtitled “an essential guide to form, function and ennui,”  is a manual on the “discipline, vision and willingness to live without upper kitchen cabinets” and takes modernists down a peg or two. This inclination for decluttering and an adherence to the “less is more” ethos exist alongside a perverse fascination with TV shows like Hoarders. In the January/February 2012 issue of Elle Decor magazine, antiques dealer Richard Shapiro suffers from “Modernism malaise,” a decorating trend that has run its course.  Although beautifully recreated in the HBO series Mad Men, Shapiro  condemns the “monotony of one midcentury room after another, all with predictable, gratuitous, gimmicky accessories.” He espouses collecting pieces from different periods and styles that  personalize a space.

Here is a sampling of some of the standout design books featured in 2011 in the Library’s Book News House and Garden Newsletter (see the end of this post for more info). The titles reflect this trend towards the celebration of  the “perfectly imperfect.”

Design*Sponge at Home      

   Live, Love, & Decorate

 

The Perfectly Imperfect Home

 

  

A Perfectly Kept House is a Sign of a Misspent Life 

 

Shabby Chic Inspirations and Beautiful Spaces

  Upcycling

 

Hand Made Home: Living with Art and Craft

  Undecorate

On the 15th of every month, newsletters featuring a selection of top book picks of the month—as chosen by Winnipeg Public Library staff—are sent out to all of our subscribers. The lists feature book jackets, summaries, and direct links to our Library catalogue so that you can request these hand-picked new titles. If you’d like to get a monthly batch of the highlights of the latest design books added to our collection, go to BookNews, check off  “Home and Garden” and enter your email address.  Everything for the home is included in this newsletter, from home decorating and remodeling to landscaping and crafting.

See you at the next church jumble sale!

Jane

Advice from the Writer in Residence’s Desk

“Read with passion, emotion, enthusiasm. Keep in mind the things we’ve talked about. Unity. Insight. Point of View. Intuition. The importance of Story. And Setting. Beginnings. Endings. The Well‑made Sentence. Using the Subconscious. As you know, these and others following were our signposts pointing to different roads. Travel them all. They lead to the same place. We have that destination in common. But getting there will be our measure. Characters are not slim imaginings, not illusions or imitations. They are blood and bone, richly alive ‑‑ caring for, and cared for in their worlds. They live on. Neither Ulysses’ life nor Penelope’s ended with Homer’s final sentence. Do you think you could kill them if you tried? No one would believe you. Dickens is dead but his characters aren’t. And too, Ahab is still searching, still sailing, Lear still Learing. Writing is not made of words, it is made of lives. But words are the cloth and coat of these lives — her nose, the knocking of his knees. Learn to love words and choose them with excitement and care. If the right word doesn’t arrive one day, go back and try it the next. It’s there. It will wait for your meeting with the same anticipation you have.”

Upcoming workshops with Terry Jordan

Songwriting (with Vanessa Kuzina of Oh My Darling)
Millennium Library
Tuesdays, January 17, 24, and 31
7 – 9 p.m.

The lyric and creative side of songwriting: getting started, using different structures, rhyming schemes, use of language, common pitfalls, marrying mood to melody and awareness of rhythm.  To register, call 986-6779.

Memoir Writing
St. James-Assiniboia Library
Wednesday, February 8
1 – 3 p.m.

You’ve got a story; in fact, everyone does. Do you need help finding a way to write it down? Don’t know where to start? Terry will use inspired examples of autobiographical writing and particular exercises to help you find your writing voice. 

Please bring a small object of some personal importance along with you to the workshop. Call 986-3424 to register.

Livin’ on the Edge

“People say that life is the thing, but I prefer reading.”

Logan Pearsall Smith

We’ve all heard the cliché that opposites attract. I’m living proof of that, a fraidycat  homebody couch potato, (even though I’m more of a carrot shape) who finds herself intrigued by people who are the complete opposite, people who choose to leave all the comforts of home and family to live in hazardous conditions, endure a lot of pain, take terrifying risks and sometimes lose their lives, all in the name of adventure.

Into Thin Air  by Jon Krakauer is his account of summiting Mount Everest in 1996. His words brought me along on a terrifying journey, which literally left me breathless. Other climbers who were on the mountain at the same time have also written about their journey, including Left for Dead: My Journey Home from Everest by Beck Weathers, and The Climb: Tragic Ambitions on Everest by Anatoli Boukreev.

Winnipegger Don Starkell had a clear-cut goal in mind, to travel by canoe from Winnipeg to the headwaters of the Amazon River. Such a simple statement to make, such an astonishing accomplishment. Paddle to the Amazon was one of the first true adventure books I’ve ever read, and it remains a favourite to this day.

Having spent most of my life on the prairie, the ocean holds a particular fascination for me. The Wave by Susan Casey discusses the immense, enthralling, unpredictable power of the ocean, and the irresistible attraction it holds for surfers. Going from the surface of the ocean to its depths, The Last Dive chronicles the lives and premature deaths of a father and son scuba diving team.

Thanks to writers and space travelers like Jim Lovell, Mary Roach and Roberta Bondar, I have felt weightless, conducted experiments in outer space, discovered just how cramped those capsules really are, and learned what to do when Houston is too far away to solve a problem.

Even something as mundane as going for a walk can be an extreme adventure. Take A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. His goal was to travel the entire Appalachian Trail by foot, a distance of more than 3200 kilometres.  In a similar spirit, Will Ferguson walked over 900 km in Northern Ireland, a journey he documented in Beyond Belfast.  If you’re A. J. Jacobs, you don’t ever have to leave home to have an adventure. A. J. has dedicated a good part of his life to such esoteric pursuits as living his life as closely as possible to the teachings of the Bible for an entire year, and reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. While these adventures don’t take the author far from home they do demand a lot of him mentally and emotionally, and yes, physically.

Reading books by adventurers like these connects me to a worldview vastly different from my own. At times I want yell at the authors, and ask them why they would willingly persist in going to such extremes, literally risking life and limb, going on expeditions that have a high danger factor, and an even higher failure rate, to achieve a goal that in most cases has no tangible reward. At other times, I share in the joy and adrenaline that these intrepid souls seek out.

Although I get a lot of enjoyment from these and other vicarious expeditions, at the end of the day I find myself agreeing with Logan Pearsall Smith. I still prefer reading.

Lori