Need Help Concentrating? OR Nature Sounds

Whenever I hear an Elvis Costello song, I think of my college roommate, who studied and wrote to My Aim Is True, among other Costello albums. A brilliant student, she'd blast music while she did her homework, turning it down with an embarrassed smile whenever someone entered the room. (She was considerate as well as brilliant.)

Although I also love music, I rarely listened to it when studying: I can't really play "background" music while writing or studying, since it usually claims my attention over whatever I'm working on. But sometimes, particularly as a student, I'd wish for a little white noise to tune out distractions: the students chatting next to me at the library, the sound of a neighbor's television through the walls.

Too bad I didn't know about the library's Sounds CDs back then. Today they're my secret weapon: I listen to them whenever I need to tune out the noise around me and concentrate. For example, as I write this, I'm listening to Thunderstorm, an atmospheric, 60-minute CD of, yes, a thunderstorm: rain pouring down punctuated by distant thunder. Do you prefer your rain without thunder? Check out Summer Rain, part of the Atmosphere Collection, which also includes Island Jungle, Waterfall and A Month in the Brazilian Rainforest, among others. But my favorite of all our sounds CDs is The Sea: waves crashing on a shore, distant seagulls, and the occasional, subdued foghorn.

The Sounds CDs are located between our Rock  and Television Music CDs. Just stop by the Readers' Services desk and we'll help you locate them.

What's your preference when writing or doing homework? Music, white noise, nature sounds, the sounds of silence or something else?

Why So Sad?

Have you ever been deep in a book, joyfully immersed in its pages and soaking up each word, then it's as if you hear the Jaws theme in your head and you realize that this is not going to end well. You have been led into a dark place where no happy ending can live. You've been betrayed by a book.

Usually, this realization smacks into me when I reach that vicious twist in the final pages. I still recall finishing the story The Lady, or the Tiger? and throwing the book against a wall. Sometimes, though, that sense of betrayal can creep up on you because the darkness begins at word one. You know the book is melancholy but the writing is so luminous or the tale so engaging that you are tricked into believing there must be light at the end of the tunnel. But no, hope really is lost and all you are left with is unrelenting sadness.

But if readers didn't get anything out of a tear-jerker, the last one published would have been Where the Red Fern Grows back in 1961. Inexplicably, we are drawn to heartbreak, even without the possibility of redemption.

Here are some books that have made me want to crawl back into bed and stay there:

• Bambi: A Life In the Woods - Yes, it's a children's book, but don't read this classic by Felix Salten if you want a dose of Disney magic.
• Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes  - It teased me with the promise of miracles but only delivered tears. 
• Swamplandia! by Karen Russell - Everything about it, from the exclamation point in the title to its off-beat humor and plucky teen aged heroine, fools you into leaving your tissues in the other room.
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness - I cried through nearly every page and somehow still loved it. 
• The Road - Cormac McCarthy's writing is radiant. I read it twice but the relentless despair makes it hard to suggest this book to others.
• 1984 - George Orwell's bleak vision is politically powerful because it is so personally tragic. 
• Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates - As a book or a film, it is equally devastating.

Of course, movies have the same power to lead us into a voluntary state of depression: 

• City of Angels - billed as a date movie, back in the late '90s my date ranted at me for what felt like hours after being ambushed by the surprise ending.  
• Awakenings - Starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, this film is amazing, but it's the emotional equivalent of Flowers for Algernon.
• Requiem for a Dream - I have it on good authority that this is not a film for the fragile psyche.
• Life is Beautiful (La Vita e Bella) - I challenge anyone to walk away unmoved. 

So what is the appeal of the sad stuff? I don't know. All I know is that I am not alone in loving stories that break my heart.  I guess sometimes it feels good to feel bad. Can it be that simple?

What makes you say, "I want to read (or watch) something that is going to make me cry until my eyes are puffy and my nose runs?"

Soñar en Cubano

Tradition is one of the most powerful forces of human nature--the desire to assimilate can be equally powerful under the right circumstances; this is one of many themes set forth by our November Thursday evening book discussion pick. Set in both Cuba and New York, Dreaming in Cuban, Cristina García’s debut novel, tells the stories of the lives of three generations of Cuban women. It is a novel full of beautifully evoked images which tells a story of the strength of family and the strong influence of politics and superstition. García capitalizes on the profound internal struggle between where we’ve come from and where we’re going when the traditions of our ancestors come into contrast with the realities of modern life.

Please join us on Thursday, November 8th at 7:30 in the evning as we discuss this acclaimed title; we will have the unprecedented opportunity to Skype with the author during the discussion. Special guest Esther Santana, associate professor of Spanish from Northeastern Illinois University, will be in attendance, and authentic Cuban desserts will be served as we discuss the book, and celebrate the rich cultural heritage of Cuba.

You can register online, or at the Readers' Services Desk on the third floor of the library. Copies of the book are also available at the third floor desk--hurry, though, they're going fast!