"You Will Not Be the Same"

photo by Manfred at thisfabtrek.com

This year's theme of Summer Reading Clubs at DPPL is Have Book Will Travel. I think this an excellent concept to associate with reading: not only can you visit faraway lands and learn about new cultures inside a book's pages, but you can also embark on a journey within yourself when you become engaged in a book. There is a terrific exchange between Bilbo and Gandalf in the film The Hobbit: An Expected Journey where Gandalf mentions that Bilbo might have a tale or two to tell when he comes back from his upcoming quest. Bilbo asks, "Can you promise that I will come back?" Gandalf responds with great gravitas, "No. And if you do... you will not be the same."

Do we ever return to who we were when we finish our reading journeys? In most cases, this question may seem a bit melodramatic, but in a very few cases it is incredibly appropriate. For any avid reader, there has been at least one book, one quest undertaken, that has transformed their perception and expectations of the world (and books) going forward. Stephen R. Donaldson provided one of those moments for me.

A gigantic turning point in my reading life was the first time I went through the double trilogy of Donaldson's the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. The titular character was in constant flux and a complete moral mess - bitter and heartbroken, defensive yet defenseless, making despicable choices and eschewing forgiveness. Covenant's depth was stunning and I was captivated from the start. After finishing those books, I was hungry for another greatly conflicted, angry-at-the-world-yet-angrier-at-himself type of character. I found one in Severus Snape, who made me rip through the Harry Potter books one by one, just to see if he actually ended up being a good guy or a bad guy. I still enjoy majorly-flawed characters (one of my later discoveries has been Jack Taylor in Ken Bruen's mysteries) but the watershed moment for me remains my experience with Donaldson's Covenant books.

What biblio-journeys have you been on recently? Has your life, reading or otherwise, been irrevocably changed by what you've read?

Incidentally, Adult Summer Reading is humming right along here on the third floor of DPPL. We have a trivia contest that awards weekly prizes as well as a reading program where you can fill out a free contest entry for every book you read. The grand prize is an iPad Mini which is funded, along the weekly trivia prizes, by the generosity of the Friends of the Des Plaines Public Library.

Incidentally Part II, the Return of Incidentally, we also have a Teen Summer Reading Program for teens entering grades 7-12. Sign-up for that is online or here on the third floor as well. We will be showing a movie for teens, the aforementioned The Hobbit: An Expected Journey, this Thursday, June 20 at 5.30pm in Meeting Room C on the first floor.

Armchair Travel... to Thailand

Where in the world will summer reading take you?

Have book, will travel is the theme this summer. In the pages of a novel we can explore places we may never venture to in real life. This summer, pull up an armchair (or a hammock) to visit Thailand.

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  Grandad, There's A Head on the Beach
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  The Fear Artist
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  The Windup Girl
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  Paying Back Jack
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  Fieldwork
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  Noble Lies
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  Sightseeing
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  The Coroner's Lunch
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  Bangkok 8
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  The Thai Amulet
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  Smoking Poppy
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  The Beach

Have (Funny) Audiobook, Will Travel

There is something romantic about the idea of tackling the open road in summer. A warm breeze on your skin as you ride along the interstate, the music blaring as you sing along...if you can only make it through an hour or so of congested Chicagoland traffic.

For those of us with a more realistic sense of what driving in Illinois can be like (painfully gridlocked or utterly boring), audiobooks can help bring some serenity (now) to summer road trips or even just the daily commutes. Especially if those audiobooks can actually make you laugh while stuck in traffic.

 If listening to whole novels seems daunting or even more tedious than the traffic, try some of the great comedic memoirs and recordings in the nonfiction section. A little laughter can help speed along a not-so-pleasant journey, and make you less likely to think ill of fellow drivers. Plus our collection ranges from the best of NPR's Car Talk to Adam Carolla to Tina Fey. They also fit in well with our summer reading theme "Have Book, Will Travel" which starts on June 8th this year.

Whether you are going to the beach, downtown Chicago, or just to work, here are some great comedic audiobooks that can make the trip just a little bit easier:

Condensed Comedy for the Commute

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  Dave Barry Is Not Making This up
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  A Marriage Made in Heaven-- Or, Too Tired for An Affair
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  The Life and times of the Thunderbolt Kid
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  Not Taco Bell Material
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  The Best of Car Talk
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  Seriously-- I'm Kidding
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  I Feel Bad about My Neck
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  Bossypants
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  The Guinea Pig Diaries
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  Is Everyone Hanging Out without Me? (and Other Concerns)
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  Let's Pretend This Never Happened
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  Buddy
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  Half Empty
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  Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls
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  Dan Gets A Minivan

Unputdownable (yes, it's in the dictionary)

I get it. Summer is here and you're looking for a book you can read without too much effort: people in the reading business call this phenomenon a "good book". Maybe you weren't aware of the question, but we have the answer. The following is a list of books that you shouldn't pick up if you don't want to read a book you can't put down:

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Recently released from prison, Shadow faces a different kind of life then what he envisioned: his wife is dead and he discovers that forgotten gods exist in North America. Leprechauns wear denim jackets and mesh baseball caps, genies drive taxis, and the goddess Easter has picnic lunches in a park in San Francisco. But new gods such as Technology and Media are threatening elimination of the old ones. Like the coin tricks that Shadow had become adept at performing in the clink, nothing is what it seems in today's world. Amidst all of this uncertainty, only one truth is known: the storm is coming.

The Alienist by Caleb Carr
Dr. Laszlo Kreizler is investigating a series of brutal killings in 1896 New York City. He puts together a team of investigators to delve into the dark underworld of the city, using techniques that were state-of-the-art at the time, such as fingerprinting and profiling. The detailed description of New York City and its people (including historical cameos by Theodore Roosevelt and J.P. Morgan) on the verge of the 20th century is clever and entrancing. Lovers of Sherlock Holmes will thoroughly enjoy his American counterpart.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
In a Barcelona that is still recovering from the Spanish Civil War, a boy named Daniel becomes enthralled by a book named The Shadow of the Wind written by an obscure author named Julian Carax. However, as he searches for more of his books, he comes to discover that someone is systematically destroying every book written by Carax. Daniel realizes that the identity of this mysterious author lies at the heart of a tale filled with such intrigue, murder, heartbreak, and madness that someone is willing to go to any lengths to keep it hidden.

Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
When the new Mrs. DeWinter comes to Manderlay Estate, she discovers that the frosty housekeeper and the sometimes distant new husband are nothing compared to the specter of the original Mrs. DeWinter that is still casting a pall over those who live there. Published in 1938 but timeless in its impact, Rebecca has become the archetype of a dark suspense novel filled with themes of passion and betrayal.

Do you have some books that cannot be set aside once started? Let's hear about 'em!

Summer Fun

Summer reading is known for its playful and escapist qualities, and in honor of that, roll the metaphorical dice and come play Greenopoly on the 3rd floor.

Our summer trivia game acknowledges the greenness of our fair city along with the diversity of materials on the Readers' Services floor.

It's simple to play and each week through August 1st there are 8 new questions to answer. That means many chances to win a $25.00 gift card to one of the "green" retailers in our area. Many thanks to the Friends of the Des Plaines Library for supporting this program.

Here are some details.

OBJECT OF THE GAME:
Celebrate the abundant natural and other green gifts of Des Plaines.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED:
The 3rd floor of the Des Plaines Public Library.

DIRECTIONS TO PLAY:
Pick a question about a Des Plaines Park or other Des Plaines location and find the corresponding “board piece” on the 3rd floor. Answer the question and drop it in the TOP HAT.

PRIZES:
Gifts cards to Pesche’s Flowers, Lurvey’s Garden Center, Joe Caputo & Sons Fruit Market and the Des Plaines History Center.

New Questions and Prizes Every Week! Stop by the Information Desk on the 3rd Floor for more details.

Greenopoly and Summer Reading Club 2010 are made possible by the generous sponsorship of The Friends of the Library.

Wild at Heart Trivia Question

Have you been following along with our weekly literary odd couples? We've had Oliver and Jenny from Love Story, Christine and Erik from The Phantom of the Opera, and other mismatched-but-destined-for-each-other lovers. Let's see how you do with this week's clue:

HE is impetuous, sensual, wealthy, and trapped by duty in a bitterly unhappy marriage.

SHE is small, plain, frank, and hardworking (and based on the author herself).

Film versions of this classic gothic novel have starred Timothy Dalton, Anna Paquin, Joan Fontaine, George C. Scott and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Think you know the answer? Stop by the third floor to fill out an entry and check out our other summer reading contests. Or email us the answer at Readers2@dppl.org. Be sure to include your name and phone number, too. The winner of the drawing for this contest will receive a $25 gift certificate to the newly re-opened Sugar Bowl! (Prizes will be awarded after Summer Reading ends, on August 2nd.)

More Summer Reading Suggestions!

A couple more summer reading suggestions!

Check out Grub by Elise Blackwell, inspired by George Gissing’s 1891 novel New Grub Street. Set in New York City, this imaginative update concerns the literary strivings of several (mostly) twentysomethings. Blackwell turns her satirical eye on writing conferences, hacks, absurd literary theories and more.

Another fun read—but one with some depth, too—is How to Be Good. Nick Hornby hilariously addresses the question of how to be a good person when a formerly cynical newspaper columnist morphs into an excessively altruistic do-gooder, whose new lifestyle alienates his wife and daughter. (Just be patient with the first 50 pages or so, as it doesn’t really hit its stride until DJ GoodNews shows up.)

Feel free to chime in with your own suggestions or to let us know your thoughts on any of the titles and authors mentioned here on Positively Ellinwood Street!

Oooooh, our first comment! Summer reading suggestions, you say? First, here are seven big books coming in July (go ahead and click on the links to place your holds in the catalog):

Hit and Run by Lawrence Block
Swan Peak by James Lee Burke
Damage Control by J. A. Jance
Silent Thunder by Iris Johansen
Tribute by Nora Roberts
Moscow Rules by Daniel Silva
The Last Patriot by Brad Thor

We always keep this list of Coming Attractions for next month at the third floor desk. If you want a treasure trove (over 300 !) of staff recommended titles, visit our Staff Picks Database.

About that July list; Hit and Run is fourth in a series; maybe you'd rather start with the first book, Hit Man? Or if you'd like another drily witty crime novel, why not try the Dortmunder series by Donald Westlake? And if you like Iris Johansen, you might also like the romantic suspense novels of Tami Hoag and Catherine Coulter.

Or if you're curious what kids are reading these days, check out the summer reading lists of our local high schools at the bottom of the library's teen page.

I just returned Here If You Need Me, the lovely, droll and moving true story of the first chaplain in the Maine Game Warden Service. Several of the staff just read and raved about Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler, a story about a young woman who goes to live with her godmother, a best-selling mystery writer who has doll-sized crime scenes all over her house, and whose characters may or may not be real people. I could (and will) suggest books all day long, so I'll stop, but if none of these are to your taste, please email us and we'll come up with other suggestions. Stop by the desk too, we're all more than ready to talk about books!