Still Alive and Reading....

It is sad, but life has gotten in the way of my blogging for the past two months. I've still been reading away slowly but surely.

In May I read six books:

• Whisper of a Scandal - Nicola Cornick
• French Lessons - Ellen Sussman
• I'd Know You Anywhere - Laura Lippman
• Revolution- Jennifer Donnelly
• Three Cups of Tea - Greg Mortenson (June Book Club)
• Peach Keeper - Sarah Addison Allen

In June I read  four and a half books:

• The Sisters Brothers - Patrick deWitt
• One Was a Solider - Julia Spencer-Fleming
• South of Superior - Ellen Airgood
• Lone Gone - Alafair Burke
• and started Queen by Right - Anne Easter Smith

I hope to post at least mini-reviews of these books before I head out on my honeymoon next month.


Reading Challenges Progress

Cannonball Read III: 30 of 52 complete

Off the Shelf: 2 of 15 complete

Heroines Bookshelf: haven't started

Outdo Yourself: 30 of 70 complete

Conference Happenings - Philadelphia & New Orleans

Last month I was fortunate enough to travel to both SLA 2011 conference in Philadelphia and ALA 2011 conference in New Orleans.  Below are my musings on the sessions and events that I attended.  Enjoy!

SLA 2011 - Philadelphia

Sunday

In the morning, I attended the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) where the chapter and division leaderships gather to hear updates from the President, Treasurer and other leaders across the association.  This session is open to anyone interested in serving in a leadership role in SLA.  The main topics discussed were SLA’s 2015 strategic vision, a possible revamp of the continuing education (CE) programs at conference, the association’s financial picture, upgrade of the chapter, division & caucus websites and the results of the James Kane’s loyalty survey.   Also the SLA Board candidates did a quick talk on their reason for running for office and their goals for the association if elected.  You can read about the candidates and their responses on the SLA blog.   The candidates for President-Elect are also coming to DC for a meet and greet in August.  I found attending last year’s session was helpful in just seeing how each candidate presented themselves.

Sunday afternoon I attended the News Division tour of Rosenbach Museum & Library.  This museum was located in the lovely and quaint neighborhood of Rittenhouse Square.  The Rosenbach brothers were rare book & antique collectors.  Being originally from the Philadelphia area, it was interesting to learn about some local celebrities as well as see their collections. 

I also attended the opening session where New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman spoke.  He talked about globalization and the impact on information technology.  His book, The World is Flat, came out in 2005 and a lot of changed in the past 6 years.   Donald Hawkins wrote a nice summary of the talk for Information Today. 

I ended the day with a nice celebration at the National Constitution Center with other leaders and conference attendees.  

Monday

I attended a “fun” session called CSI Philadelphia where Gene Lanzillo from the Philadelphia FBI Office Evidence Response Team walked through a series of (fake) crime scene photographs and explained how he would approach the scene.  

In 1992, the Evidence Response Team was created.  The team members are part-time collecting evidence at scenes.  The rest of the time they are solving national security cases.  For every incident, the team members ask two main questions are 1) What is the context? 2) Is there a legal authority to be at the scene?

All FBI agents get one week of evidence training at Quantico.  Evidence Response team members get furthering training after they start their job.  The guiding principle they use is that when any two objects meet they leave evidence.

The rest of the day I prepped and ran a committee meeting and then went to the Mid-Atlantic Reception.

Tuesday

In the morning, I had breakfast with a library student and attended a few sessions. 

In the afternoon, I went to a session called Alternate Uses of a Library Degree.  A panel of 5 people was moderated by Ruth Wolfish.  Each panelist was given a set list of questions and they presented their answers to the attendees.  Overall all panelists identified that people who are able to be flexible, open minded and not afraid of change, have good communication skills, and can be resourceful are more likely to succeed at a non-traditional job.  A few other key points that surfaced were ‘Always say yes!’ and ‘Opportunities come through networking’.

Kim Dority wrapped up the other panelists and reminded us of some basic career development guidelines:

• The nature of our profession is that we support each other
• We are all self-employed
• Change is always heading our way
• The investments you make in yourself will define your career opportunities
• Be planting seeds all the time
• Forget about perfection, focus on resiliency

In the evening, I took a little time out from conference activities and went to see the Phillies. 

Wednesday

First thing, I moderated a Technical Standards Update session with Todd Carpenter from NISO and Margie Hlava from Access Innovations. 

After that I tried to go to another session, but the room was full so I headed to the Reading Terminal Market for some lunch.  Before heading home to DC, I attended the closing session to hear James Kane speak again.  His slides can be found here.

ALA Annual – New Orleans 

Thursday

I arrived in New Orleans and found my hotel with no problems.  First conference activity ended up being on the famous Bourbon Street at the Royal Sonesta Hotel.  Linda Crook, incoming NMRT President, and I represented NMRT at the Spectrum Scholar Professional Options Fair.  Divisions and Roundtables from across ALA and other organizations as well gathered in a ballroom to share what opportunities and activities they could provide for these diverse group of librarians.  For me it was a good challenge to get my NMRT elevator speech perfected as well as a great opportunity to meet some new folks.  I was so inspired by the event, that I’m already brainstorming how the same concept could be applied for NMRT members and other first time conference attendees with our orientation programs.

Friday

Unfortunately, I came to New Orleans with a little cold and had to take it slow in the morning.  But in the afternoon I did attend the first of two conference orientation sessions that NMRT provides.  It was great to meet some new librarians/library students as well as see what information is given at the orientation sessions.  My first conferences I did not attend one of the sessions and after hearing the session I kinda wish I had gone to one. 

In the afternoon, I attended the opening session with Dan Savage.  Prior to Dan speaking, Roberta Stevens, the President of ALA, provided a status on some of her initiatives as well as gave out awards to different librarians.  Also the mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu, came out and spoke a bit about how the city is revitalizing itself and to thank ALA for being the first organization to hold a conference in New Orleans after Katrina hit.

Dan Savage’s talk was focused on how the It’s Get Better project got started.  It was really inspiring and heartbreaking at the same time to hear the statistics and stories that he shared.  I’ve heard Dan Savage speak live before, but it was as a “guest” on This American Life.  The session was in a huge auditorium and it was great to see that very few seats were empty.

In the evening, I went to the NMRT Mentoring Social.  I signed up to be a conference mentor for the first time this year.  I ended up being assigned two mentees and coincidently meet one of them on Thursday night.  As with every NMRT event, it was good to meet new librarians and library students and hear what issues are on their mind.  The job market is still tough for entry level positions and taking a risk to find that first library position is tough.

Saturday

Early morning start to attend the second NMRT orientation session.  I was glad to see a tad bit more interaction between participants and the panel at this session.  

After that session it was time for the NMRT Executive Board meeting.  We had a nice group of existing and new board members (and guests) join us.  We presented Past President Courtney Young with a thank you/birthday gift.  Current President Deana Groves was also presented with a thank you gift.   The incoming board was tasked with reviewing NMRT’s strategic plan to align it with ALA’s 2015 strategic plan.

I took a short break for lunch at the Riverwalk shops next to the convention center and then went to the NMRT President’s Program which focused on professional involvement at the local and national level.  The panelists were very enthusiastic and helpful about how they found opportunities to serve on committees and grow their skills.

Next up I went to hear a presentation on linked data within authority lists and vocabularies at the LOC booth.    The presentation walked through LOC’s experimentation with surfacing their authority lists & vocabularies via linked data. Linked data was definitely one of the buzz words/topics at conference this year.  I heard that one linked data session had over 200 people interested in it (via the conference scheduler), but the room only held 100 people.  

A new session for NMRT was a joint discussion group with LLAMA.  Three panelists gave 8-10 minute talks on how they became new leaders and/or leadership topics.  After that the attendees broke up into small groups and discussed the topics that the panelists had talked about.  Again it was a nice way to meet and network as well as share experiences with leadership.  I’m excited that NMRT & LLAMA are starting up a partnership and I’m looking forward to more opportunities to network between the two groups.

In the evening, I went to the Scholarship Bash at the World War II museum.  It was a nice atmosphere to mingle and enjoy the museum as well.  The highlight of the evening for me was the two musical groups – a small jazz ensemble and a trio of women who sang songs from the WWII era.

Sunday

This day was my busiest of the whole conference.  In the morning I had two meetings regarding possible partnerships with NMRT.  As incoming NMRT Vice President, it was a different conference experience for me since I had to split my conference activities between NMRT activities/discussions, professional development sessions and author related sessions. 

In the afternoon, we had a NMRT membership meeting.  While the group that gathered was small, it was helpful to hear what interests, concerns and questions they had about ALA, conference and the library world.  I was impressed with how eager they were to volunteer and learn more about NMRT & ALA as a whole. 

After a quick Starbucks trip, I attended the ALA President’s Program with Sue Gardner from the WikiMedia Foundation. She used to be a producer for the CBC so there was an interesting journalism twist to her talk.  We’ve had Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales speak at work a few times, so it was also good to hear Wikipedia spoken about from a different perspective as well.

In the evening, I went to two back to back receptions for NMRT.  First up was the Student Reception where the Student Chapter of the Year award was presented as well as the NMRT Video award.  After that I headed over the NMRT/Merritt Fund Reception at a local art gallery.  The space was quaint, but unfortunately the band playing made it almost impossible to talk and network. 

Monday

It was an early morning again to attend the Legislative Assembly meeting to represent NMRT.  While I was aware of ALA’s Washington Office, I wasn’t aware that legislative representatives from across the organization meet to report on their activities at conference.  I learned a lot and there are some good opportunities for NMRT members to become involved in legislation activities.

The rest of the day I got to listen to three different authors back to back.  First up was Marilyn Johnson who wrote a wonderful non-fiction book about librarians last year.  She is active in ALTAFF’s “Authors for Libraries” program.  She shared how she came to write a book about librarians as well as how writers need libraries as much as libraries need writers.   After that I briefly sat in Jeff Jarvis’ talk about privacy versus public in the digital age.  He has a new book coming out in September called Public Parts: How Sharing in the Digital Age Improves the Way we Work and Live.  Last, I went to a reading by Eleanor Brown of her first book Weird Sisters.  I read an advanced reading copy of this book a few months ago and loved it. Eleanor has a lovely personality and even though the crowd was small for her reading, I enjoyed her talk immensely. Even though I have a copy of her book already, I stood in line for her to sign a hardcover copy. 

In the afternoon I went with a group of librarians to tour an independent jazz radio station – WWOZ.  It was fascinating to see how a local radio station archives their collection and operates.  It turns out that WWOZ is digitizing their CD collection in a similar method that NPR is using for our commercial music collection.  The Library of Congress also helped to archive and preserve some performances they had on DAT tapes and other older formats so that WWOZ could reuse in the future. 

The last session of the day was Battledecks 2011 which challenges participants to get through a random 10 powerpoint slides with 5 minutes while talking about the future of libraries.  I’ve heard about this event at past conferences, but I have never attended in person.  Definitely a fun way for conference attendees to “let their hair down” at the end of the conference and just have some fun.

Tuesday

Last day in New Orleans started out with the closing session with SNL alumni Molly Shannon.  She wrote a children’s book called Tilly the Trickster.  Molly talked about how she became interesting in acting, comedy and finally ended up at SNL in New York.  She explained how skits are written and chosen for the live show.  She called her time there a comedy boot camp.  While Molly was clearly a little nervous, her reading of her book at the end was a lovely way to wrap up this conference.

I  spent the next 4 hours or so being a tourist – riding the streetcar and exploring the French Quarter a bit – before heading to the airport.   

Review: Beautiful and Pointless - David Orr

Full Disclosure: Received a copy of an ARC from Harper Collins

I picked out this book from Harper's ARC list for Patrick, my fiance, because I knew that he enjoyed poetry.  He kindly agreed to write a little review for this blog as well.  Enjoy!

I have always liked poetry. In my mind it has usually been a term reserved for lines with perfect rhythm and rhyme, but I can appreciate free verse in the hands of a master. Yet on those occasions when I’ve picked up an avant-garde anthology with hopes of being swept into the future of poetry, I’ve always reacted with the feeling that I must not have what it takes.


New York Times poetry reviewer David Orr, in the introduction to Beautiful & Pointless, gives me the comfort of knowing that my reaction is all too common: “It’s easy to feel that your response to the art is somehow wrong, that you’re either insufficiently smart or insufficiently soulful,” Orr writes. He suggests that modern poetry is a bit like a foreign country. To paraphrase: Expect confusion. Indeed, Orr’s introduction gave me high hopes that he would give me the sort of Fodor’s Guide to Modern Poetry, that I was the ideal reader for this travelogue, and that at long last my heart and mind might be moved by those one-word, arrhythmic, non-rhyming, non-punctuated lines.

Orr’s book is really a collection of essays on topics that he considers in reviewing a modern poem. He resists overall thumbs-up or thumbs-down judgments (de gustibus and all that) but can at least tell a potential reader whether a poem is interesting. He approaches this question from a few different angles, each of which receives an essay within Beautiful & Pointless: How is the poem personal to either the poet or the reader? Is there a political message? In what ways does the poem adhere to (or reject) established poetic forms? Is the poem “ambitious”? And (in a chapter called “The Fishbowl”), what does the poem tell us about the modern state of the poetry world?

As for “ambition”, Orr argues that a poet’s pursuit of capital-g Greatness may be counterproductive, primarily using a comparison of contemporaries Robert Lowell and Elizabeth Bishop. Lowell’s comparatively bombastic work was praised as it rolled off the presses, but Bishop’s more modest words and themes appear to have earned greater posthumous appreciation. I enjoyed the discussion and Orr’s insight, but wondered if Lowell/Bishop might be a selective example.

I had a few frustrations with the essays in the middle of the book. One was that I did not come away with a clear picture of how Orr defines “modern” poetry, as opposed to its opposite (classical?). Aside from the section on form, it wasn’t clear where “classic” poetry ended and “modern” poetry began. At times, Orr seems to count W.H. Auden, T.S. Eliot, and Robert Frost among “modern” poets because of the time period when they worked. However, I tend to think of “modern” poetry as the inaccessible type, and those three poets are rather accessible to me, perhaps because I studied them in school.

Another frustration was that Orr told so much about the landscape of his foreign country without telling us what he thought was good or bad. For example, in wrapping up the “Ambition” section, he responds to his own question about what ambition means in modern poetry: “The answer, as I hope you’ve seen, is that we just don’t know. There is no ‘true’ way to be ambitious, just as there’s no ‘proper’ way to write poetry; instead, we exist in a flurry of possibilities that will bring to mind either snowflakes or bullets, depending on your disposition.” Similarly, pointing out that many modern poets use traditional forms earnestly, many use them playfully, many use them partially, and many do not use them at all, Orr concludes: “We have either a gorgeous mosaic or a big mess, depending on whom you ask.” Such statements give deference to the reader, but more deference than the target audience of casual poetry readers would like. We would tend to ask the professional reviewer: Well, is it snowflakes, or bullets? A mosaic, or mess?

My third recurring frustration was that, for someone who cares about modern poetry, Orr doesn’t seem to like modern poets. If you imagine a room where a poetry reading is occurring, Orr is constantly walking us in and out of the room: In, to let us listen to the poets, then out, to tell us how crazy they are. They are entitled: “One of the poetry world’s favorite activities has been bemoaning its lost audience, then bemoaning the bemoaning, then bemoaning that bemoaning, until finally everyone shrugs and applies for a grant.” They are self-important: “Possibly you doubt that it really matters, politics-wise, whether somebody gets a poem published in a magazine with a circulation in the low hundreds…. This is why you are not a poet, or at least not a particular kind of poet.” They are intolerantly and ineffectually liberal: “There are maybe five conservative American poets, not one of whom can safely show his face at a writing conference for fear of being angrily doused with herbal tea.” And on and on. They are ivory-tower intellectuals, they are false martyrs, they are petty, they are jealous, they make mountains of molehills. The putdowns are funny, but they undermine Orr’s larger task. Whether the characterization of poets has a general ring of truth, I do not know. But it does not make me want to spend time reading modern poetry.

And that – the question of whether or why I should spend any time with modern poetry – is the topic of the book’s final, redemptive essay: “Why Bother?” After struggling to internalize most of the book, I found this final chapter to be wonderfully convincing and personal. Orr will not argue for reading poetry over spending discretionary time on any other given activity, but he tells us what it has meant in his own life. He recounts the magical experience of having a line (from Philip Larkin’s “Water”) resonate with him for the first time. And in the final few pages, he describes what poetry could, and could not, accomplish as his father fought cancer. There are no illusions of grandeur here. There is only a gifted prose writer who is grateful for the role of poetry in his life.

April Reading Summary and Challenge Update

I'm finally posting a monthly summary post within a few days of the end of the month!


April was another slow month due to wedding planning and work commitments. I read 2 1/2 books.

The Metropolis Case by Matthew Gallaway

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant

The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown


Reading Challenges Progress

Cannonball Read III: 19 of 52 complete

Off the Shelf: 2 of 15 complete

Heroines Bookshelf: haven't started

Outdo Yourself: 19 of 70 complete

CBR-19: The Weird Sisters: Eleanor Brown

You don't have to have a sister or be a fan of the Bard to love Brown's bright, literate debut, but it wouldn't hurt. Sisters Rose (Rosalind; As You Like It), Bean (Bianca; The Taming of the Shrew), and Cordy (Cordelia; King Lear)--the book-loving, Shakespeare-quoting, and wonderfully screwed-up spawn of Bard scholar Dr. James Andreas--end up under one roof again in Barnwell, Ohio, the college town where they were raised, to help their breast cancer–stricken mom. The real reasons they've trudged home, however, are far less straightforward: vagabond and youngest sib Cordy is pregnant with nowhere to go; man-eater Bean ran into big trouble in New York for embezzlement, and eldest sister Rose can't venture beyond the "mental circle with Barnwell at the center of it." For these pains-in-the-soul, the sisters have to learn to trust love--of themselves, of each other--to find their way home again. The supporting cast--removed, erudite dad; ailing mom; a crew of locals; Rose's long-suffering fiancé--is a punchy delight, but the stage clearly belongs to the sisters; Macbeth's witches would be proud of the toil and trouble they stir up. - Publishers Weekly

I found it was easy to relate to the sisters and there were familiar themes throughout the book.  I'm not familiar with a lot of Shakespeare, but found it interesting how the quotes were worked into the dialogue.  I was a tad disappointed that all three sisters' plot lines were resolved neatly.  It would have been interesting to see a little more diversity and strife for them to adapt to. 

Most of the book was written in first person plural which at times was a little confusing. The book was a good look at university and small town life.  I liked that Bean was able to adjust and become the town librarian and I was slightly jealous that she got to be a solo library in a little town.  I always felt that I would like to be a solo librarian in a small town one day.  I also related to the whole family bringing a book to read when going out.  I am known to always having some type of reading material with me in case I get stuck somewhere and need to occupy myself. 

CBR3-18: The Red Tent - Anna Diamant

The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery.

"Like any sisters who live together and share a husband, my mother and aunties spun a sticky web of loyalties and grudges," Anita Diamant writes in the voice of Dinah. "They traded secrets like bracelets, and these were handed down to me the only surviving girl. They told me things I was too young to hear. They held my face between their hands and made me swear to remember." Remembering women's earthy stories and passionate history is indeed the theme of this magnificent book. In fact, it's been said that The Red Tent is what the Bible might have been had it been written by God's daughters, instead of her sons - Amazon.com

This book is the book club pick for April/May.  It was suggested that we read the passage in the Bible that this book was based on first before starting the book.  I remember the basic story of Jacob and Esau and the many sons of Jacob, but it was good to have a refresher before jumping into this book.  I've never read a book based on an Old Testament book before.  I have read books based on passages in Revelations. 

Diamont stayed pretty true to the Genesis passages but embellished where the details were lacking.  I appreciated seeing how Dinah's life changed when she moved to Egypt versus how it was with her family.  The cultural practices and differences were highlighted even more.  I had forgotten how much idol worshping was part of life back then.  Also there was a strong enforcement of heritage and remembering where you can from back then as well. 

CBR3-17: The Metropolis Case - Matthew Gallaway

In his ambitious debut, Gallaway jumps backward and forward in time between two cities, spiraling in on four characters connected by music: Lucien, an opera singer coming-of-age in mid-19th-century Paris; Anna, an opera singer reaching the height of her career in 1960s New York; Maria, an extraordinarily promising young singer but a difficult student; and Martin, an aging lawyer whose love of music might save his life. The ties between them are at first so tenuous that readers may wonder when, how, or if their narratives will converge. But Wagner's Tristan and Isolde touches each in some way, as does, eventually, eternal life, a device that allows Gallaway to chronicle 1860s Paris and 1960s New York through the eyes of one character. Gallaway, a former musician, gives music a literary presence, intertwining opera and punk by illuminating their shared passion and chaos. But ambition sometimes gives way to pretension (particularly with chapter titles such as "Fashion Is a Canon for this Dialect Also") and purple prose, but the story remains grounded by characters grappling with love, in some cases for eternity - Publishers Weekly

I was intrigued with an opera being the center of a book's plot.  As I read this book, I was impressed with how the author moved between the different stories, but still "moved" the overall plot forward. All of the characters seemed not to care about the consequences of their actions, but simply lived life to the fullest.

Gallaway's portrayal of the typical New Yorker reacting to the events of 9/11 through Martin definitely resonated with me.  While I wasn't in New York that day, I lived in within an hour of the city at the time of the attacks.  I saw many of my coworkers and friends react and try to cope with the what happened that morning.

I had a hard time relating to Anna and felt that she was the least developed character.  I expected to learn more about her as the book progressed. Maria was an interesting character, but continued to be troubled even as an adult. 

Lucien provided a good perspecive on life in a different century and how the focus back then was on different priorities - building new places and cities. It's easy to forget that the grandeur of Europe wasn't there initially and it had to be developed.

I found a hard time relating to most of the characters and found that if there hadn't been the mystery of the opera's influence on their lives I would have had a hard time reading this book.