The Giver of Stars

Moyes, Jojo. The Giver of Stars. New York: Viking 2019. Print.

First Sentences:

Listen.

Three miles deep in the forest just below Arnott's Ridge, and you're in silence so dense it's like you're wading through it. There's no birdsong past dawn, not even in high summer, and especially not now, with the chill air so thick with moisture that it stills those few leaves clinging gamely to the branches.


Description:

Who can resist a title like The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes? And those wonderfully descriptive first sentences shown above? And then you find out the plot focuses on library books and the women who deliver them on horseback (actually, muleback) to families buried deep in the woods of Appalachia. Even better, you learn this novel is based on a real-life library system...well, how can you not pick this historical novel up and gobble it down?

Alice, an British woman living England in the 1930s, meets and falls in love with Bennett Van Cleve, a wealthy American coal baron. They marry and move to a small town in Kentucky to live with Bennett's father near the coal mines he and Bennett oversee with a cold hand.

As Alice becomes more bored with her subserviant, sequestered life expected by these two men, she decides on a whim to join several women starting a Books by Mule program. Started by Eleanor Roosevelt as part of the Works Progress Administration to provide Depression jobs, this program employed women to deliver library books to poverty-stricken families living deep in the woods of Kentucky hills. (Note: This was an actual program in the 1930s, developed and completely operated by women.)

Alice learns to ride a mule -- her first -- and navigate the twisting, rocky, unmarked trails in all weather, forming friendships with families along the way. Children love the picture and alphabet books she brings, while mothers are grateful for the spare time Alice provides them while she reads to the youngsters. 

Bennett and his father naturally do not approve of this occupation, feeling it unsuitable for a woman to leave her home responsibilities to ride off into the wilderness and intermingle with people who are not her status. As their marriage becomes more distant, Alice begins to blossom in her new job. Together with the other women, they organize the library holdings and expand their routes to reach more readers.

And of course, there are complications with other townspeople, her husband, other townswomen, and even some of the backwoods residents. Love relationships enter and leave so naturally throughout the plot.

The writing, like the characters, is wonderfully rugged and beautiful at the same time. And coupled with the local phrases, the atmosphere of the book seems Both delightful and honest. 

- That Mack McGuire, he makes my heart flutter like a clean sheet on a long line.

- It's hot enough out here to fry a snake.

Sometimes you just need a good, solid book with admirable characters leading realistic yet challenging and loving lives. The Giver of Gifts is such a book. Highly recommended.

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Doig, Ivan. The Whistling Season.   

A Chicago woman in 1909 answers an advertisement for a housekeeper for a widower and his three young sons living in an isolated Montana town. She writes that she "Can't cook, but doesn't bite," and gets the job sight unseen (by both of them). She brings her brother with her on the train and he reluctantly becomes a unique schoolteacher. Simply wonderful, a great read not to be missed.  (previously reviewed here)

Summer Hours at the Robbers Library

Halpern, Sue. Summer Hours at the Robbers Library. New York: Harper. 2018. Print

First Sentences:

What you need to know about him back then is that if the police put seven college students in a lineup looking for the one who played trombone in the marching band, Calvin Sweeney would be picked, ten times out of ten.

And the funny thing is he did play trombone in the marching band, which is how we met. 

Description:

Things are pretty quiet in the life of head librarian Kit Jarvis at the Robbers Library. Nestled in the tiny town of Riverton, New Hampshire, the library and its regulars are content with their daily routines and familiar faces. But one summer the library experiences two newcomers, Sunny and Rusty. These newcomers eventually work their way into the library's everyday world in Sue Halpern's humorous, unexpectedly compelling novel, Summer Hours at the Robbers Library.

Sunny is a young teenager arrested and convicted for theft -- of a dictionary. The judge rules her community service to work off her crime is to work in the Riverton Robbers Library for one summer. With no experience, no real desire to be there, but a curiosity about the world of books and the library's off-beat patrons, Sunny begins to grow on the reclusive librarian Kit. (Anyone see the obscure film, Party Girl with Parker Posey with a similar premise? Wonderfully funny movie!)

No one thinks being a librarian is as awesome as being a neurosurgeon, but I always thought I was doing something valuable, putting books in he hands of readers. Books can save lives, too. I really believe that ... Like mine.

Kit and Sunny's curiosity is aroused when the other newcomer, Rusty, begins a daily routine on some sort of project with the computers in the library. He is well-dressed, carries an expensive briefcase, drives a Mercedes, and keeps completely to himself. Naturally, Sunny has to find out everything about him and uncover whatever keeps him so occupied.

As long as there are are secrets, there are going to be mysteries....As long as someone has something she wants to keep to herself, someone else is going to want to find out what it is. I guess that's human nature.

A simple story so far. But author Halpern has a few secrets up her capable sleeve, as do each of her characters. What brought Kit to this lonely town? What made Sunny steal a dictionary of all things? And what the heck is Rusty researching so diligently? The answers for these questions are only grudgingly given up by the characters. And once out there, these answers drive the plot to a new level of mystery, curiosity, and friendship.

This is a quiet book with no explosives (imagine that in a story about a library!), no squirming sex scenes, and no car chases. What makes a reader like me stick with this book and turn its pages is the strength of these interesting people who hide their personalities and secrets from the world in the quiet of a library. Unraveling the mysteries about their lives and unfolding events that occur once their secrets emerge are enticing incentives for readers to keep reading.

People who don't think the rules apply to them...are surprised and offended when others don't recognize and honor their exemption.

Halpern is a master storyteller, creating fascinating characters, clever dialogue, and situations that make Summer Hours at the Robbers Library a solid read full of unpredictable plot twists. Give it a shot. You won't regret poking around in this little gem.

If you're not loved for who you are, you cease to be real. Definitely for the other person, and maybe for yourself, too.

Happy reading. 

Fred

Other book recommendations
About The First Sentence Reader blog

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Johnson, Marilyn. This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All.  

Funny, intelligent, curious, and sometimes sad stories about the lives, staff, and people of public libraries. (previously reviewed here)

America's Library

Conaway, James. America's Library: The Story of the Library of Congress 1800-2000. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2000. Print.

First Sentences:

On a cold day in December, 1800, in the north Atlantic, a dozen trunks toss in the hold of a vessel named for the country toward which it sails.

In the trunks are books, according to the document accompanying them, sent "by the Grace of God, in good Order, and well conditioned ... upon the good Ship call the American" and protected against all but "the Act of God, the King's Enemies, Fire, and all and every other Dangers and Accidents of the Seas, Rivers, and Navigation, of whatever Nature and Kind."

Description:

OK, I know, I know. Another recommendation about some book-themed title. What can I say? I'm a former librarian, insatiable reader, and love what I love...which happens to be non-fiction books about books. So here is another fine offering to my favorite subject: James Conaway's America's Library: The Story of the Library of Congress 1800-2000.

Libraries were rare in the 1700s in America. Benjamin Franklin had started the first one in 1731 in Philadelphia. But Congress realized the value of having a private collection available for elected representative, so in 1789 they voted $1000 (and $500 annually after) to identify and purchase from England a "catalog of books necessary for the use of Congress," as well explore constructing a building to house them.

Imagine having to decide which books would be the most useful to understand governing a new nation, world history, social problems, biographies, business practices, classical works, and anything else deemed vital. Thus the Library of Congress was created.

From there, author Conaway describes, the construction of the building and collection, the resistance by Congress to its expense, the burning of the Library by the British in the War of 1812 and the Library's subsequent rise again with the purchase of Thomas Jefferson's personal library. Amazingly, the Library was completely burned or threatened with flames repeatedly throughout its history, with culprits including candles left burning or stopped up chimney flues.

But this glorious collection survives. Added to the original books-only library are now treasures such as Stradivari violins, Houdini's collection of magic and spiritualism, one (of only three known) perfect copy of the Gutenberg Bible, The American Memory Project of digitized Civil War photography, radio recordings, movies, historical documents, rare maps, and so much more

Along the way, Conaway inserts tidbits about the Presidents, directors, and collection donors who protected and moved the Library of Congress to new heights. There are also sidebars to provided historic color with events occurring during various periods of US history such as the Lewis and Clark exploration of the Louisiana Territory and the War with Mexico.

America's Library also includes photos and descriptions of the restoration of the Jefferson Reading Room to its original glory, a project recently completed that I saw in person and marveled at.

Maybe you are not so interested in books, buildings, collections, or the history of the United States. But this book and our Library of Congress show in words and photos that large numbers of people have struggled to create and preserve a rich collection of the wisdom of mankind and the United States for all of us to enjoy. We can all be proud of the Library of Congress, a symbol of intelligence, beauty, and ideas.

It is the duty of every good citizen to use all the opportunities which occur to him, for preserving documents relating to the history of our country." (Thomas Jefferson, 1823)

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

The Library of Congress. The Card Catalog: Books, Cards, and Literary Treasures

Who would have thought the story behind the development and implementation of the library card catalog would be a fascinating read? From ancient book lists to the first Library of Congress catalog to the current MARC online access system, the card catalog has a rich history. If nothing else, this book contains great photos of libraries and people important in this history, along with photos of original catalog cards and the jackets of first edition books they represent. (previously reviewed here)

Johnson, Marilyn. This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All

Wonderful interviews and stories about all things librarian, from individuals dedicated to providing information in all formats while protecting privacy, even if it means standing up to the federal government. They create computer-based research and tools, answer questions more accurately than any Internet search engine, have launched Banned Book Week, One Book One Community, and Radical Reference to provide online information to activists, journalists, and organizations. A great profession thoroughly and appreciatively explored. (previously reviewed here)

The Map Thief

Blanding, Michael. The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps. New York: Doubleday. 2015. Print.

First Sentences:

E. Forbes Smiley III couldn't stop coughing...

The glass fishbowl of the reading room at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript library at Yale University was quiet except for the low hum of the air-conditioning and the clicking of fingers on keyboards, making Smiley painfully aware of the noise he was making.

At one point, he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket to muffle the sound. As he did, an X-Acto knife blade wrapped inside fell softly on the carpeted floor. 

Description:

Michael Blanding in his carefully documented The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps tells the true story of E. Forbes Smiley and his thefts of rare maps from the libraries of the world. A map dealer himself, Smiley was considered one of the most knowledgeable men in that field. His persistent research on maps, mapmakers, paper, and history made him a trusted expert and a successful dealer.

But he lived a grandiose lifestyle, buying and selling items on credit, until his debts began to mount. A quick, unplanned theft of a rare map one day provided an easy resolution to his financial problems. With his expertise, he knew the rarest (and most salable) maps, and which one were only loosely tucked into dusty books and unlikely to be missed. After building up a clientele of buyers along with the trust of map librarians worldwide who allowed him to search their fragile collections unobserved, the temptation and reward were too great for him to ignore.

Smiley is caught by police in the opening pages of The Map Thief, freeing the narrative to uncover fascinating background details about Smiley's life, his expertise in maps, and his decision to become a thief. Smiley eventually admitted to stealing over 90 maps and rare documents although experts believe he stole hundreds more.

Author Blanding gives a fascinating history of world exploration, maps, map-making, and even map theft throughout the book. He discusses how maps evolve from their first printing to the next, building on new knowledge and exploration as well as art techniques over the years. Blanding points out the details and design of famous maps, and includes illustrations and photos that give these documents value and unique qualities that lure collectors and thieves alike.

Smiley's story provides a new layer art theft that I had not anticipated: exactly how does a library identify an item that  cannot be stamped, tagged, or otherwise marked (and therefore ruined) by typical ownership methods? It is by the vigilance of people. Blanding reveals that it is often a suspicious map dealer who recognizes the rare item and contacts the library that owns the map to see whether it might be missing. Clever librarians in one case matched up bookworm holes in the stolen map with those existing on previous pages of the book.

Fascinating, scary, historically illuminating, and riveting in its narrative of both the map thief and the worlds that created the irreplaceable documents of history he stole for profit. Highly recommended.

Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Dolnick, Edward. The Rescue Artist

Scotland Yard's unique art crime division unravels the theft of Edward Munch's painting, The Scream and other art thefts. (previously reviewed here)

Boser, Ulrich. The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft

Investigation and conclusions about the unsolved art theft from Boston's Isabel Stuart Gardner Museum. 

Running the Books

Steinberg, Avi. Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian. New York: Anchor. 2010. Print.

First Sentences:

Pimps make the best librarians.

Psycho killers, the worst. Ditto con men. Gangsters, gunrunners, bank robbers -- adept at crowd control, at collaborating with a small staff, at planning with deliberation and executing with contained fury -- all posses the librarian's basic skill set.

Scalpers and loan sharks certainly have a role to play. But even they lack that something, the je ne sais quoi, the elusive it. What would a pimp call it? Yes: the love.

Description:

Avi Steinberg, author of Running the Books: The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian, was on his way to nowhere. After college he was drifting, not really looking for anything, killing time writing some local news articles and obituaries for the Boston Globe. Then he came across a Craig's List ad: 

Boston, Prison Librarian, full time, union benefits.

Who could resist any full time position with benefits? As for the "prison" part of the ad, Steinberg felt that "switching from the corpse beat to prison work would be, from an existential perspective, a lateral move." Steinberg soon finds himself standing in a Boston prison as the new librarian and art of the Education Department. He is to oversee the prison collection of reading materials and give classes to inmates on writing and reading. He will be taking over for a highly-organized, "pinky-ring autocrat" librarian, completely the opposite of Steinberg and his loose ways, but Steinberg feels qualified, if a bit apprehensive. Of course, he is completely unprepared for the environment and people.

This is not a story of prison violence, riots, protests, danger, or hopelessness. It is Steinberg's memoirs of meeting and working with unique characters on both sides of the bars including:

• Coolidge, the inmate who provides legal advice from his "office" he sets up in the back of the stacks;

• Dice, an inmate librarian and former pimp, who "stayed sane during two years in the hole [solitary confinement] at Walla Walla by memorizing a smuggled anthology of Shakespeare's plays;

• Solitary, a female inmate (Steinberg worked with women from a separate section of the prison) who only stared out the window during every class, hoping for a glimpse of the son she gave up at birth and who was now incarcerated in the same prison;

• Pitts, another inmate librarian, a "sharp and flamboyant dresser ... on a quest to discover the true nature of the early Church;"

• Too Sweet, the former pimp who will be released soon and provides Steniberg with loads of insider and streetwise information.

The prison library has its own nature and power inside the prison:

In the joint, where business is slow, the library is The Spot. It's where you go to see and be seen.

The library becomes a communication center as well, with "kites" (notes) left in books for friends. Steinberg finds collecting these notes an interesting task:

I would walk around like a shell collector the a beach, gathering up legal documents, love letters, queries, manifestos, grievances, marginalia, scribbled receipts, remnants of illicit transactions, betting lines, greeting cards, prayers, incantations, and lists...

Steinberg is warned by guards about the power of books in a completely unexpected way:

Hardcover books could be fashioned into body armor. Placed in a bag and wielded as a battle flail. Taped together and used a weights. Used to hide contraband. Books could be mined for paper or illustrations ... [but] some people even used books to read.

There are fascinating tales of daily events such as "skywriting" where the male and female prison inmates signal to each other with their hands and arms in a kind of semaphore communication system, but often picking up signals not intended for them as well that lead to jealous words. Steinberg also notices the heartbreaking relationships between prisoners and their families. He sees one woman visitor waiting in line outside the prison who holds up her baby to a man to see from his cell window. It is not unusual to see children playing in dreary prison waiting areas to see a parent.

And the inmates themselves often, after years of abuse physically, emotionally, and sexually, often displayed the same emotional age as these children. Running the Books includes stories of both male and female inmates and their silly pranks, clumsy lying, acting out, thumb sucking, and even playing with dolls.

A fascinating book told through the words of an outsider-become-insider to the prison world and its inhabitants. Real people in real situations, full of humor, anger, childishness, politics, and general confusion on both sides of the bars and books.

By the way, I love the cover of this edition that shows Steinberg's face as created by date stamps commonly used in checking out library books. A neat touch.


Happy reading. 

Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

____________________

If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Bates, Laura. Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard

Memoir of an English teacher who enters the solitary confinement area of a maximum security prison to teach Shakespeare to inmates, with fascinating results and acceptance. (previously reviewed here)

This Book Is Overdue

Johnson, Marilyn. This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. New York: Harper Collins. 2010. Print.

First Sentences:

Down the street from the library in Deadwood, South Dakota, the peace is shattered several times a day by the noise of gunfire -- just noise.

The guns shoot blanks, part of an historic re-creation to entertain the tourists. Deadwood is a far tamer town than it used to be, and it has been for a good long while.

Its library, that emblem of civilization, is already more than a hundred years old, a Carnegie brick structure, small and dignified, with pillars outside and neat wainscoting in.

Description:

It's a pleasure to read books about your chosen profession. As a librarian, I was completely engrossed by Marilyn Johnson's in-depth look at all things librarian in This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All.

Sound boring? Wrong! Believe me, there is a lot more to librarians than the stereotypes portrayed in film and television. The librarians who Johnson interviews are a diverse population of individuals dedicated to providing information while protecting privacy, even if it means standing up to the federal government. There are cybrarians involved with computer-based research and tools, reference staff who answer questions more accurately than any Internet search engine, and librarians who create avatars and set up libraries for meeting spaces and questions in Second Life.

These are people who have launched Banned Book Week, One Book One Community (where an entire city reads, discusses and participates in activities around a specific book), and Radical Reference to provide online information to activists, journalists, and organizations. In This Book Is Overdue Johnson describes librarians as:

natural intelligence operatives....with all the skills and characteristics required for that work: curiosity, wide-ranging knowledge, good memories, organizational and analytical aptitude, and discretion.

It has not been an easy road for librarians. Johnson details ongoing struggles with computerization of data, fighting the FBI to protect the privacy of readers' choices, creating creating remote access to collections and reference services, and dealing with the dangers and demands of peculiar in-library readers. Throughout all challenges, these individuals have stood tall.

The profession that had once been the quiet gatekeeper to discreet palaces of knowledge is now wrestling a raucous, multiheaded, madly multiplying beast of exploding information and information delivery systems.  

Johnson provides plenty of quirky fun librarians face daily. There's the reference question one librarian received for "a book on bootyism" that couldn't be answered to the reader's satisfaction by Google. Turns out that, under skilled questioning, the reader actually was looking for a book on "Buddhism," not bootyism. Librarians are known for their  humor that is "quirky, sardonic, and full of wordplay" as well as "self-mockery" as demonstrated by the elaborate, precision book-cart drills for competitions at conferences.

This Book Is Overdue is chock full of other great stories of unusual librarians, tattooed librarians, the 89 libraries in the NYPL system, a dog library, the Digital Experience Group (to create a site to make online library resources accessible and readers could comment on anything), what materials should be saved in libraries, and so much more. 

A library is a place to go for a reality check, a bracing dose of literature, or a '"true reflection of our history," whether it's a brick-and-mortar building constructed a century ago or a fanciful arrangement of computer codes. The librarian is the organizer, the animating spirit behind it, and the navigator. Her job is to create order out of the confusion of the past, even as she enables us to blast into the future.

And that is why I was a librarian and why I love the concept and changing reality of libraries. I hope this book will inspire you in the same way about the people who preserve and make available the world's information.

Who can we trust? In a world where information itself is a free-for-all, with traditional news sources going bankrupt and publishers in trouble, we need librarians more than ever.

Happy reading. 


Fred

www.firstsentencereader.blogspot.com

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If this book interests you, be sure to check out:

Hanagame, Josh. The World's Strongest Librarian

Memoirs of a 6' 7" public librarian who incidentally has Tourette;s Syndrome. Funny, compassionate, and challenging as readers follow Hanagame's struggles and triumphs in his personal life and librarianship. (previously reviewed here)