Another fun, fast read

Vigilante by Stephen J. Cannell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Not intellectual fare, but wonderful fun and distraction and a great way to recontextualize whatever you're dealing with lately. "You think you have problems?" Cannell's recurring hero Shane Scully is up against an evildoer you can picture easily enough in your mind, a lurid "Reality TV star" whose mission in life seems to make life miserable for police. One measure of a well written story is the solutions you think you have drawn as you move toward the conclusion, telling yourself how good it will feel, and how vindicated you as reader will be, when it turns out you had already solved the mystery. Then you find out... well, no spoilers here, just a suggestion that if you like a really fast and fast-moving read, this is a good one.

View all my reviews

A Wonderful Author, A Great River

Ann Hood gave a wonderful author's talk at the Thomas Crane Public Library on Wednessday night, November 28th. I just checked out her blog and found the entry below.  It touched off such memories for me as she described riding a train along the Hudson. From 1962-1965 I lived in Garrison, NY, directly across the Hudson from West Point, and went to Highland Falls High School, adjacent to West Point, on the other side of the river. The Bear Mountain Bridge was 7 miles south of Garrison, so twice a day we had bus rides along both shores of (actually on roads high above) the Hudson River Valley, truly "God's Country" as portrayed by scores of the world finest landscape painters. This was such a treat (although I may have been the only one on the bus noticing it...) Then for my first year at Manhattan College in NYC I commuted 50 miles by train. Sometimes the engineer let me ride in the cab with him. The New York Central follows the shoreline of the Hudson almost the entire way. Thanks Ann, for the memories, and for your wonderful presentation in Quincy, and for signing my copy of The Knitting Circle to: Harry The Librarian.

annhood.us: The Hudson: What a breathtaking train ride I just took from Albany to Manhattan! We hugged the glorious Hudson the entire way, and I had to stop what I ...

Brendon Burchard is "Charged!"

I just discovered that when "reviewing" a book for your "To Read" shelf on Goodreads, you don't get the automatic html to paste into your blog. So I have manually copied the book cover as well as my "review": I have to return this to the Library today - "renewal limit reached" - but will get back to it and finish it. I really like Brendon Burchard and his excitement for us to get really "Charged" about our own lives. I read a bunch of it while waiting to testify in court this morning, and the juxtaposition was jarring, to see so many whose lives are in utter chaos while reading about lives of quiet desperation, or bored comfort, and a great-to-be-alive alternative.

Wait: The Art and Science of Delay by Frank Partnoy

For some reason I have been unable to get the image and the links to my Goodreads review into this entry, but here's what I wrote: My first professional job as a Librarian was in 1972 at the Worcester Public Library, with long hair and a beard and fire in my belly to save the world with equal access to information. Library Director Joseph S. Hopkins described an administrative strategy of never making any decision until forced to do so. I was not the only one who thought this showed a lack of courage, rather than good judgement. As the years have gone by I have been forced to reconsider many of my youthful value judgements. Partnoy really vindicates Joe Hopkins on page 174, "The best professionals understand how long they have available to make a decision, and then, given that time frame, they wait as long as they possibly can." Wow! Partnoy also adds a twist to an attractive description of the skilled ball player. I had heard descriptions - written when computers were a bit more primitive - that "If you filled the Empire State Building with computers, it would still take them a week to do all the calculations required to catch a high fly ball." The implication was that it is only by letting go of any conscious control, through practice and then reflex, that humans are able to make the catch. Partnoy shares experiments that show that more is going on, that the good hitter actually spends much more of the ball's (admittedly extremely short) travel time taking in data, and then at the very last millisecond reacts with a swing. I described this to an old timer (even older than I) who immediately gave an example of a baseball great who would swing "just about when the ball was in the catcher's glove." This was a fun read and I'm glad I took the time to enjoy it.

Thanks to Will Manley & American Libraries Magazine

Trust in Your Trustees | American Libraries Magazine

On receiving the November/December issue of American Libraries I immediately turned to the last page, as always, to see what Will Manley had to say.  This excellent reminder of our most dedicated allies is quite timely for me.  Last week I was asked to give a professional reference for a colleague who is ready, in my not so humble opinion, for leadership in our profession.  The caller was a Trustee/Search Committee member.  While pointing out that his younger (than me) professional had proven himself in the ranks and leading at the departmental level, I am confident that his readiness to take the helm is enhanced by his years of service as a Trustee in the community where he lives.  During the conversation I remarked how I have been saddened by the comments of some Library Directors who seem to see their Trustees as some enemy force, gathered to undercut them.  For all the reasons Will Manley states, Trustees have a different kind of credibility in the eyes of municipal and other leaders than we purveyors of "mumbo jumbo jargon."  I have a similar respect for those from whom we must seek our funding, and this makes it easier for them to be a receptive audience to my pitch, but there is no denying that I have a vested interest in "my turf."  When I say "the community needs the Library," they may see me as self-serving.  When dedicated volunteer advocates say the same thing, it adds to my credibility and our success.  Thank you Will Manley!  Thank you Trustees!

A wonderful little book.

Why Read Moby-Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to the audiobook edition first, nicely read by author Philbrick. Then I checked out the print version to read the following quote from page 111 at the Library's "Booked For Lunch" program.
"As Melville has already shown in chapter 99, 'The Doubloon,' in which just about every member of the Pequod's crew provides his own interpretation of what is stamped on the gold coin nailed to the mast, in the end a doubloon is just a doubloon. So don't fall into the Ahab trap of seeing Moby Dick as a stand-in for some paltry human complaint. In the end he is just a huge, battle-scarred albino sperm whale, and that is more than enough."
If you find that sentiment, and the kind of language and thinking to fashion and share it, to be attractive, you will love this book. It is not just about a literary masterpiece, it is about loving literature as a life stance, or perhaps I should say an aesthetic.


View all my reviews

More thought provoking than fun

The Great Stagnation: How America Ate All the Low-Hanging Fruit of Modern History, Got Sick, and Will(Eventually) Feel Better by Tyler Cowen
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a really small book - 111 pages including notes, index and "About the Author." I found it irresistable sitting on the New Books shelf, but it took a while to get through it. I would read a chapter, then read something else, but I kept returning. A lot of what Cowen has to say is sobering, but it is not hopeless. One mistake we seem to keep repeating is to assume that today's "breakthrough" will necessarily have the kind of world-shaking and quality-of-life improving impact that some 19th and 20th Century inventions had.

View all my reviews

Maybe Next Year

Ayn Rand Nation: The Hidden Struggle for America's Soul by Gary Weiss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After several starts (and renewals - thank you Thomas Crane Public Library) I only reached page 15. I think the topic of "selfishness and private enterprise versus public enterprise and public good" is important and in flux over the last few decades. I often speak and write about the Public Library and Public Education movements as practical "barn raising" endeavors by people who intuitively know that not all enterprises need to be shared in the same way. However, I returned and re-read those fifteen pages and never developed any momentum with the book. Maybe next year.

View all my reviews

Maybe After I Retire

Under the Dome by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one was quite good for the first 73 pages. It was too fat to take on vacation on the airplane. After renewing it and coming home to it I realized I just don't have time right now to another 999 pages. (No joke. It's 1072 pages without the Author's Note at the end. Stephen King is an excellent writer and storyteller, but I am just too busy and am trying to learn to not kid myself about how much reading time I have available. Maybe after I retire?

View all my reviews

Fun reading in Massachusetts and Arkansas

A for Argonaut by Michael J. Stedman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Before: Mary at the Reference desk called and said "There's a man here who wants to meet you and donate his book." Michael Stedman presented me with a copy for the Thomas Crane Public Library and we chatted for about 20 minutes. Soon after he left my office I purchased the Kindle version to take on my vacation. Why would someone as thrifty as I purchase a book when I had a copy in hand? Because I read the reviews on Amazon, and then Mr. Stedman's biography. I'll post here and on Goodreads when I've finished it but I'm really looking forward to an exciting read!

After: I finished the book (Kindle edition but Goodreads doesn't have an option for it on this title) on vacation in Arkansas and enjoyed it a lot. The hero is almost unbelievably good while also painfully vulnerable, so the outcome is always in question. I recommend this one.

View all my reviews

Thrifty man buys e-book

A for Argonaut by Michael J. Stedman


Mary at the Reference desk called and said "There's a man here who wants to meet you and donate his book." Michael Stedman presented me with a copy for the Thomas Crane Public Library and we chatted for about 20 minutes. Soon after he left my office I purchased the Kindle version to take on my vacation. Why would someone as thrifty as I purchase a book when I had a copy in hand? Because I read the reviews on Amazon, and then Mr. Stedman's biography. I'll post here and on Goodreads when I've finished it but I'm really looking forward to an exciting read!

View all my reviews

Quincy Daily Photo: Author Talk

Quincy Daily Photo: Author Talk: Meet Christopher Klein, author of Discovering The Boston Harbor Islands, who gave a superb book presentation this week at the Thomas Cran...
This is an excellent blog if you are interested in Quincy, Boston Harbor, travel or just beautiful photographs. Thank you slim!

Well worth the time - a great read.

The Legend of Bagger Vance: A Novel of Golf & the Game of Life by Steven Pressfield
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A week ago I was telling my grand-nephew of the two jobs I ever did for just one day each - bus boy (which he just began doing successfully, that's what got me started) and caddy. So it was not likely I would feel motivated to read a book "about golf." However as a reader who thinks Steven Pressfield is one of our great living thinkers and writers, I was more than ready to accept that this was more than a "sports book." This book is more than mind-boggling - it is a meditation on so many things about what it means to be a man and a human. I recently read The Shack, by William P. Young, which tries to convey a similar "incarnation" to the one herein, and found it interesting but not nearly so involving. I am so grateful that I took the time to experience this powerful little book, and recommend you do the same.

View all my reviews

FrankenNet

The Fear Index by Robert Harris
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

People sometimes ask what Mozart could do if he had synthesizers. This book answers the question, what would Mary Shelley do if she had computers and the Internet. I enjoyed this and found it to be quite a page-turner.

View all my reviews

I was holding my breath!

The Protector by David Morrell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A great story, especially one with this much action, requires suspension of the reader's disbelief. I realized how skilled Morrell is in accomplishing that effect, at least in this reader, when I turned to my wife and said, "Have you ever been reading a book that is so exciting that you realize you have been holding your breath?" This is not a new book, but it sure still packs a punch.

View all my reviews

A Fast and Rewarding Read

The Innocent by David Baldacci
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Can a cold-blooded killer be a sympathetic character? If he’s the hero in a David Baldacci novel, the answer is yes. This is so episodic that it could be called “a chapter book for grownups.” The dust jacket calls Will Robie a “hit man,” but “government operative” is more accurate. Robie’s moral dilemmas are just as compelling as his adventures, and I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next. A fast and rewarding read.

View all my reviews

Farewell, Maurice Sendak

Where the Wild Things Are, 25th Anniversary by Maurice Sendak
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What sad news that Maurice Sendak has gone to that library described by Jorge Luis Borges. I "discovered" this book (it was brought to my attention) when I transferred from the Business/Science/Technology Dept. of the Worcester, Mass., Public Library to the Children's Room in the 80's. It is one of my top three for reading at Story Hour. I so love it that all of my profile pictures are of me holding this book in an ALA "Read" poster. Farewell, friend to children of all ages. Rest in peace.

View all my reviews

"Spiritual" book with joy, aha's and some tears

The Shack by Wm. Paul Young

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I approached this with quite a bit of skepticism, but it was recommended by a good person who thought I might enjoy it. As I started reading I was in critic mode, finding fault in the narrator and his introduction of our "hero." By the end, as I was wiping tears, I wondered what happened in 253 pages. I won't try to summarize this, there are plenty of summaries. I will only suggest that whatever your experience and preconceptions, you may find some joy, some aha's, even some tears, if you read this. I am posting this review 3 years after reading the book because I stumbled on my notes and realized I had never shared it.



View all my reviews

It takes a lot for me to call a book "the worst."

The Weight Loss Cure "They" Don't Want You to Know About by Kevin Trudeau
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Promises, promises. He's a master at whipping up excitement and then breaking the very promises he made. To use the words "all natural and effortless" to describe (in the cover copy) what is within goes beyond exaggeration. I read much more than I should have before putting it aside. I decided to enter this before giving it to the Friends of the Thomas Crane Public Library for their bookstore. It sat on my shelf for nearly a year and the only thing this is good for is creating an extra inch on my bookshelf and maybe making a buck for the Friends.

View all my reviews

Brockton Symphony "Love" Concert

Here is an embedded player from Podbean, with my WXBR AM-1460 radio commercial for the "Love" concert. Below the player is the text of the ad.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

The Brockton Symphony Orchestra concludes its Sixty-fourth season with a celebration of “Love,” at 3:00 PM, Sunday, May 6th, at the West Middle School Auditorium. Thrill to the magic & romance of Ina Zdorovetchi’s harp as she performs Rodrigo's Concerto de Aranjuez. Savor the orchestra’s performance of Delibes' Sylvia Suite, and immerse yourself in Dvorak's Symphony No. 8. Adult tickets are Twenty dollars, seniors and students fifteen, children five dollars, and are available at Brockton Symphony dot org, or by calling the Symphony at 508-588-3841. That’s 3:00 PM, Sunday, May 6th, at the West Middle School Auditorium, 271 West Street in Brockton. The Brockton Symphony Orchestra – Beautiful Music in the City of Champions! Sponsored by Harbor One Credit Union.

Delightful little book bulging with inspiration!

The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life by Marion Roach

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I give this five starts, which in the language of GoodReads means "It was amazing." What is amazing about Ms. Smith's accomplishment is that she has fit about 400 pages of information and ideas and inspiration into a mere 114 pages. I read some of it on the Red Line going to the State House or Boston Public Library, laughing out loud or exclaming "Wow!" enough to make my fellow passengers wonder, "What's with this guy?" I won't try to summarize it, I'll just wholeheartedly recommend this - not just to would-be writers, but also to readers who wonder how some authors are able to get through to us so easily. Just as a teaser, I'll conclude with one quote, guaranteed to appeal to a librarian, in the enticingly-titled "THE MYTH OF THE WRITER'S BLOCK," on page 42: "The inability to move forward melts when you open a reference book." Call me a major fan of Marion Roach!



View all my reviews

Who Needs Libraries? We All Do!

I was at the world premier of this wonderful video at the Massachusetts State House this morning as part of Library Legislative Day. Enjoy!

Free Family Concert

Click the player to hear my radio ad for the Brockton Symphony Orchestra's Free Family Concert this Saturday. It's been playing all week on WXBR AM-1460.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Here's the ad copy: The Brockton Symphony Orchestra invites you to their FREE Family Concert on Saturday, March 31st at 3:00 at the South Middle School. March, dance, and tap your toes as we play rousing favorites. Experience Zlatomir Fung, a Feinberg Youth Competition Winner, playing Haydn's Cello Concerto #2. Listen to the Oliver Ames Chamber Orchestra, and the Kennedy School Chorus. Get to know the Instruments of the orchestra at the petting zoo. Bring the kids for face painting! This is a free concert to introduce children and their families to classical music. That’s 3:00 PM, Saturday, March 31st, a special day and location for this concert at the South Middle School Auditorium, 95 Keith Avenue Extension in Brockton. The Brockton Symphony Orchestra – Beautiful Music in the City of Champions! Sponsored by Harbor One Credit Union.

Another page-turner by Stuart Woods

D.C. Dead by Stuart Woods

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Woods' prose invokes "the voices," one saying "No one is that lucky or has that much libido," the other shouting "Shut up, I want to see what happens next!" In spite of all that noise, this is a page-turner. Fun to read and very relaxing.



View all my reviews

Ad for Feb 26 "Life" Concert

You can click this link to visit my PodBean site and see a player for this and other recordings I've made: Ad for Feb 26 "Life" Concert
Or you can just click on this embedded player to hear my newest ad for the Brockton Symphony Orchestra:

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Too much guilt?

It's All Too Much: An Easy Plan for Living a Richer Life with Less Stuff by Peter Walsh

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I would mark this 4 stars, "Really liked it," except for the attendant guilt of not "fully implementing it." I listened to it on CD and enjoyed it. I also borrowed the book, thinking to use some of the lists, but returned it before the guilt got even worse. Jody and I implement the subtitle pretty well by not acquiring quite so much stuff (we are both thrifty, and I am "blessed with a wife who really doesn't enjoy shopping!") but stuff accumulates nonetheless... If you are ready to bite the bullet and really air out your environs, this is a great guide. Walsh almost makes it sound like fun. Recommended in either print or non-print format.



View all my reviews

Chamber Concert

Here's my ad for the Brockton Symphony Orchestra's chamber music concert this Sunday.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

I just couldn't keep reading

Blinding Light: A Novel by Paul Theroux
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

On December 1st I started reading Blinding Light, fascinated by the possibilities for a story about an author dealing with writer’s block and the remnants of 60’s consciousness issues. Ten days later, on a Saturday, I wrote that I had read much of the day’s Boston Globe, and a few more pages of Blinding Light. Three days after that, “I was thinking this morning of posting on GoodReads that I have read over 100 pages of Blinding Light, admire the author’s style and craft with words, yet feel very little motivation to keep reading.” It took nearly another month, and several renewals, to make it to page 137 and return it to the Library, having never found that motivation to finish it. This might be a more helpful “review” if I could tell you exactly what was the problem, but I can’t put my finger on it. I guess I just didn’t want to spend any more time with his cast of characters.

View all my reviews