“Friday Reads” is a weekly blog written by reference librarian Faith Lee about great books, magazines, and the occasional reference work.  Topics may be new titles added to the library, selections from the Staff Picks shelf or about something she recently read.  Admittedly, there is a definite slant toward nonfiction, because, well, she’s a reference librarian and likes to learn new things.  Guest bloggers take a turn sometimes too.  No matter the source, good reads are featured here. 

Today’s blog is written by Christine Lynch, Falmouth Public Library employee and free-lance writer who knows a good book when she reads one.  You can usually find her at the service desk upstairs.

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A year or so ago while working on FPL’s Service Desk,  I picked up
a book that I saw being checked out numerous times.  After reading a review of
it, I grabbed the copy for myself.  I’m so glad I did because I am a nature lover
and really appreciated Peter Wohlleben‘s book, The Hidden Life of Trees:  
What They Feel, How They Communicate:  Discoveries from a Secret World.

For those of you who haven’t read it, there are abundant facts that just might
make you say, “Wow!”  I’ve talked with others who have read it and we all agree
we’ll never look at trees and their surroundings in the same way.  For people who
enjoyed the Wohlleben book, I’d like to make a recommendation.

I recently read another review of a lovely book entitled Overstory by
Richard Powers. This is a new novel, just out in 2018.  I am yet to read it, but
will check it out after it’s circulated a bit.  The premise of this book spins a
fable-like tale where trees are able to summon a group of people together in

mysterious ways in order to correct many of the world’s ills and to greatly
improve the quality of life on Earth.

Knowing what I now know from reading The Hidden Life of Trees, I believe
in the untold power of trees.  Overstory is another book that lets us know how important
trees are to our planet’s survival and that we humans should do everything to protect them.

Photo: Peter Wohlleben by Gordon Welters for “The New York Times”

“Friday Reads” is a weekly blog written by reference librarian Faith Lee about great books, magazines, and the occasional reference work.  Topics may be new titles added to the library, selections from the Staff Picks shelf or about something she recently read.  Admittedly, there is a definite slant toward nonfiction, because, well, she’s a reference librarian and likes to learn new things.  Guest bloggers take a turn sometimes too.  No matter the source, good reads are featured here.   The blog below was written by Reference Librarian, Donna Burgess.

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Friday Reads: The Seabird’s Cry: the lives and loves of the planet’s great ocean voyagers

by Adam Nicolson

In the introduction we learn that the author’s father had purchased in 1937, with funds left to him from his grandmother, the Shiant Isles, a cluster of “three small specks of grass and rock, each about a mile long, a total of 500 uninhabited acres, with one rat-ridden bothy (a small cottage) for £1300.

At age eight the author accompanied his father on an “unforgettable trip” to the Isles to observe nesting seabirds. Since then Nicholson has pursued the birds around the world, reaching out across the “great widths of the ocean.”

Ten chapters, each describing a different bird: Fulmar, Puffin, Kittiwake, Gull, Guillemot, Cormorant and Shag, Shearwater, Gannet, Great Auk and its Cousin Razorbill, Albatross, and the Seabird’s cry. And “each displays a different facet of the central question: how to exist in all three elements. They are the rarest form of creation, the only animals at home on the sea, in the air and on land.”

In the Guardian, a British newspaper, a reviewer wrote , “the author Adam Nicolson says this ‘paean to the beauty of life on the wing’ began when he read a Seamus Heaney lecture exploring French philosopher Simone Weil’s aphorism: “Obedience to the force of gravity. The greatest sin.” It says everything about this gorgeous book: a poetic, soaring exploration of 10 species of seabirds: gull, guillemot, gannet and so on – which revels in the way they “float like beings from the otherworld.”

Replete with photos of the birds, occasional lines or stanzas from poems, maps, and several pages of notes, this book is not just for ornithologists but for anyone with a fascination for birds, especially ocean going ones.

Look for The Seabird’s Cry on the New nonfiction shelf, Call # 598.17 NIC

“Friday Reads” is a weekly (almost) blog written by reference librarian Faith Lee about great books, magazines, and the occasional reference work. Topics may be new titles added to the library, selections from the Staff Picks shelf or about something she recently read. Admittedly, there is a definite slant toward nonfiction, because, well, she’s a reference librarian and likes to learn new things. Guest bloggers take a turn sometimes too. No matter the source, good reads are featured here. This week’s blog was written by Jill Erickson, head of reference and adult services and one of two librarians who run the library’s fiction book club.

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Last week the library fiction book group, also known as “Books on the Half Shell,” met to discuss our most recent selection in our six-month series of books having to do with the ocean. We have already read The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje and Claire of the Sea Light by Edwidge Danticant in this series, and the June book was The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan.

The novel focuses on a young newlywed, Grace Winter, during the summer of 1914, just two years after the Titanic sank. Grace is on an ocean liner with her new husband, Henry, crossing the Atlantic when the ship has a mysterious explosion. Henry is lost and Grace ends up in an overcrowded lifeboat. The story revolves around the lifeboat, and also the trial that occurs as a result of Grace’s time on the lifeboat.

In no time at all, we were all discussing the fact that Grace is one of the most unreliable narrators ever! The New York Public Library Literature Companion describes an unreliable narrator in this way:

“A narrator whose judgment is suspect.  Narrators may be untrustworthy for a number of reasons; they may be dishonest, self-serving, or self-deceiving, deranged or of questionable sanity, or naïve and unaware of the full significance of the events they relate. Such narration forces readers to bring their own critical capacities to bear on the account in question.”

Much of our discussion was about our narrator, and if we could believe ANYTHING she wrote. Her story is told primarily through the record she has been asked to write by her lawyer of everything that happened on the lifeboat and the events that led up to the lifeboat. As Richard Eder wrote in his Boston Globe review of the novel:

“In her account of the lifeboat and subsequent talks with her lawyer and a psychiatrist, Grace is not specifically unveiled as a self-server with secrets. Rogan has done something more complex. The veil remains; only hints come through; enough to leave the reader – intrigued, yes, and also frustrated – in doubt somewhere short of certainty. And indeed the writer has performed a fictional equivalent to a phenomenon in sub-atomic physics: that observing a phenomenon can make it slip away and alter.”

This book also introduced us via the author’s epigraph to the myth of Atrahasis. The epigraph reads: “I shall sing of the flood to all people. Listen!” Upon a bit of sleuthing, The Oxford Companion to World Mythology by David Leming informed us that Atrahasis was: “An Akkadian-Babylonian version of the ancient Mesopotamian flood myth, which influenced the Noah story of the Torah, features the flood hero Atrahasis.  One of the great things about our book group is that every month we learn something new, as well as have a great discussion.

The book group reviews were definitely mixed on this particular novel, with probably half the group really loving the book and half the group barely able to finish it.  Of course, that is the mixture for a great discussion!

Next month reference librarian Donna Burgess will lead a discussion of Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet.  New members are always welcome.  Pick up a copy of the book at the reference desk and join us on either Wednesday, August 15 at 7:00 PM or Thursday, the 16th at 10:00 AM in the Hermann Foundation Meeting Room for a rousing hour talking about mermaids in a Caribbean island resort.  Sounds like fun.

Our Fact & Fiction book group at the East Falmouth Library embarked on a literary journey to Iceland recently.  Snowblind by Ragnar Jónasson was the first stop.  This mystery is a police procedural that is the debut for the Dark Iceland series.  The setting is Siglufjordur, an isolated fishing village that is about 25 miles from the Arctic Circle.  The village is accessible by an 800 meter tunnel that can get blocked by snow in the winter.  Despite reading about the geographical hardship of the area, I was intrigued.

The next stop was a step back to the 19^th Century in Iceland in the book Burial Rites by Hannah Kent.  This is an historical fiction and murder mystery. Agnes Magnusdottir is accused of killing her master and is awaiting execution.  Historically, this was the last execution in Iceland.  The initial reaction from the members of the Fact & Fiction book group was one of apprehension.  Did we really want to read this dark episode in the history of Iceland?  Our conclusion was that the writing was so engaging that we were pulled right into the drama of life during a cold bleak time.  The author opens with a quote from the Laxdaela Saga: “I was worst to the one I loved best”.  This saga that involves a love triangle is said to be one of the most romantic of the Icelandic sagas. In addition to being introduced to a new saga, there was vocabulary to learn.  It seemed like most of the action in the story took place in the badstofa, which is a sleeping area with built-in beds where everyone that was working the land slept together.  In this literary work, the stage was set with precision and the characters appeared life-like.

The Fact & Fiction book group has moved on to new endeavors, but The Man who Stole Himself: the slave odyssey of Hans Jonathan by Gisli Palsson is on my reading list.

From the summary:

“The island nation of Iceland is known for many things–majestic landscapes, volcanic eruptions, distinctive seafood–but racial diversity is not one of them. So the little-known story of Hans Jonathan, a free black man who lived and raised a family in early nineteenth-century Iceland, is improbable and compelling, the stuff of novels…”

As you can see, I enjoy books with interesting settings and historical significance.

Meg Borden
East Falmouth Branch Librarian

“Friday Reads” is a weekly (almost) blog written by reference librarian Faith Lee about great books, magazines, and the occasional reference work.  Topics may be new titles added to the library, selections from the Staff Picks shelf or about something she recently read.  Admittedly, there is a definite slant toward nonfiction, because, well, she’s a reference librarian and likes to learn new things.  Guest bloggers take a turn sometimes too.  No matter the source, good reads are featured here. 

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Today, May 18, 2018, is the 13^th annual Endangered Species Day.  Proclaimed by the U.S.  Congress in 2006, the day “is a celebration of the nation’s wildlife and wild places and is an opportunity for people to learn about the importance of protecting endangered species, as well as everyday actions they can take to help protect them.” (Chase’s Calendar of Events, 2018 p. 280).

In recognition of the day, I am highlighting a stunning new coffee table style book we are adding to our oversize collection today titled, Endangered, featuring the work of British animal photographer Tim Flach and text by Professor Johnathan Baillie and writer Sam Wells.  Flach writes in the introduction, “ … this book is something of an experiment:  I have tried to bridge that otherness and instead invite sameness by creating portraits of animals that emphasize their personality, while incorporating abstracts and landscapes that show the material aspects of their ecosystems.”  In doing so, he endeavors to connect the viewer emotionally with his subjects.  He shows their sameness to us through vivid and compelling photographs in the hopes that we will be moved significantly enough to fight for their preservation.  The golden snub-nose monkey looks pensive against a black ground; the beluga sturgeon resembles a tired, old traveler; and the black and white ruffed lemur evokes thoughts of a maestro with his outstretched arms and focused expression.  Pictured, is the Bengal Tiger shaking water off his head much like a house cat.   Photos are accompanied by short passages describing the predicament the species is in and other important facts.

This book is a must-view for all ages.  You can find it with the new oversized books.

P.S. The book is international in scope.  If you are curious about the status of wildlife in Massachusetts, here is a link to the “MESA List,” the Massachusetts Endangered Species Act list of endangered, threatened, and special concern species from the Mass.gov website.  There are “427 native plant and animal species” on this list.  I am pleased to  report that the American Horseshoe Crab Limulus polyphemus, for which I have a great fondness, is not included.  The coast is not clear for them however, as species that eat the crabs and their eggs are in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service  endangered species database.

photo:  Bengal Tiger, Tim Flach, Endangered, page 237

“Friday Reads” is a weekly blog written by reference librarian Faith Lee about great books, magazines, and the occasional reference work.    Topics may be new titles added to the library, selections from the Staff Picks shelf or about something she recently read.  Admittedly, there is a definite slant toward nonfiction, because, well, she’s a reference librarian and likes to learn new things.  Guest bloggers take a turn sometimes too.  No matter the source, good reads are featured here. 

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This month the Narrative Nonfiction Book Club started a new 6-month session with the theme, “Connect the Dots.”  Readers will be asked to identify some small, but interesting likeness between the first book in the session and the second book, and then another connection between the second book and the third, and so on.

To start off our new session I chose American Fire:  love, arson, and life in a vanishing land by Monica Hesse because it has a connection with last month’s book, Oneida:  from free love Utopia to the well-set table by Ellen Wayland-Smith.  In Oneida, there is a lengthy discussion of the mysterious burning of the Oneida Community’s archived historical papers.  Why were the papers burned?  Who did it?  What is the significance of fire?  The dots (fires) were easy to connect with American Fire:  love, arson and life in a vanishing land.  Future connections will be smaller and subtler.

American Fire, published in 2017 to rave reviews and nominated for an Edgar award from the Mystery Writers of America, tells the true story of a rash of fires that consumed a struggling rural county on the Eastern Shore of Virginia a few years ago.  Abandoned buildings that signified a more prosperous past were set ablaze almost nightly for months before the arsonists were discovered.  A troubled but truthful man confessed to setting all 62 fires, at the urging of his girlfriend, whose love he was desperate to keep alive.

Part mystery, part love story, part vignette of this nation’s changing economy, American Fire is a well-researched, compelling narrative that made for a lively book discussion.  Some of us were convinced by the author about the motivation for arson and were sympathetic to the culprits, but others in the group didn’t buy-in to the explanation.  Professional reviewers said, “Hesse is a lovely stylist.” (Jennifer Senior, New York Times), “The book has the brisk diligence of big-city journalism (…) and the languid chattiness of the small town …” (Karl Vick , Time), a “vivid depiction,” (Ilana Masad, NPR.org) and “One of the year’s best and most unusual true-crime books.” (Randy Dotinga, Christian Science Monitor).  Give it a read and post your thoughts on the book here.  We’d love to know your reaction.  Were you convinced?

Edgar Award winners will be announced on April 26, 2018.