Altered Books

There's been a thread in one of my social networks about "altered books". It sounded intriguing, but I had never heard of "altered books" before. The first thought that ran through my mind was, "Is that like altered pets? How would one alter a book?" So, being a librarian and in need of a fun research challenge, I went in search of more information. Here's what I found:

There is a large community of altered book artists, with individuals featuring their own and others' work. (Do they alter book artists, too?) Wikipedia has published an article, and images on many web sites illustrate the artists' rich imagination. There is an International Altered Book Artists Society. And they have defined an altered book as follows:

It is any book, old or new that has been recycled by creative means into a work of art. They can be ... rebound, painted, cut, burned, folded, added to, collaged in, gold-leafed, rubber stamped, drilled or otherwise adorned...

Examples from a group of altered book artists are featured on this Altered Books site, which expains thusly:

Cut the bindings off of books found at a used book store. Find poems in the pages by the process of obliteration. Put pages in the mail and send them all around the world. Lather, rinse, repeat.

A simple Google search yields even more examples at the British art e-zine Altered Books Cam, and instructions for creating your own altered book at Altered Book.com, and even a lesson plan for middle school students from Princeton Online.

Is this a book form the library might collect? Probably not. Or maybe. Depending. We do have books about altered books.

I'm still struggling with the idea because of the hard lesson delivered to my back-side as a toddler after I color-coded the table of contents in my Real Mother Goose. Times change, I guess!

TheGoingGreen's altered book image is used with permission.

Behind the Scenes: Book Nook & Book Bulletins

This is the staff room on the 5th floor of the Central Library. The window is one of several that comprise an "art in public places" work called "Geometric Progression."

The books in the window are publishers' pre-publication galley proofs sent to our local newspaper to be reviewed, and passed along to the library. We can't add them to our collection, nor can they be sold by the Friends of the Library. I found the "Tale of Despereaux" amongst them last year, and discovered the recent works of two talented Jamaican authors, Andrea Levy and Lorna Goodison. Because they are not cataloged, I have picked up titles far outside the usual range of books I would normally choose, and have been challenged to read outside my comfort zone.

If you are also interested in discovering new reading interests without any financial outlay, try our Book Bulletins for adults and kids. Just click a topic and provide your e-mail address to receive a monthly announcement of recent titles in that area. There's a link on our web site - just click on the Book Bulletin graphic to see the list and sample the titles before subscribing. Titles on the lists are selected from our collection by Sacramento Public Library staff.

Nearest Book Meme

Something fun to try: please post yours as a comment by clicking the "comment" link at the end of this post.

The man grabbed the steering wheel with arms as big as my legs and snarled, "I ain’t gettin’ out!" (Thompson, “Verbal Judo”)

Rules:
* Get the book nearest to you. Right now.
* Go to page 56.
* Find the 5th sentence.
* Write this sentence - either here or on your blog.
* Copy these instructions as commentary of your sentence.
* Don’t look for your favorite book or your coolest but really the nearest.

Saw this on Stephen’s Lighthouse this evening, and thought I’d better jump on it before it gets old. Noticed it also on a colleague’s facebook page. Fun, fun fun!

Hooked on Books: Bookstore Independence Springs Forth in Colorado

Colorado Springs, Colorado, is a nice place to visit. Its quaintness and warmth bely a population of 320,000. Each 'Springer' need only turn their head to the west for a breathtaking view of Pike’s Peak and Cheyenne Mountain. A great spot to take in such scenery is the parking lot of one of the city’s oldest and most established bookstores, Hooked on Books, an independent enterprise which opened in 1982.

The store’s history is a special one. Its owner, Mary Francis Ciletti, founded the store with a two-year-old daughter in one arm and a hammer in the other. Through the decades, Hooked on Books has girded itself with customer-centered service and an eye on building relationships with patrons. Ciletti had a dream and saw it through. Hooked on Books is a literary staple and citizens in the ‘Springs’ know it. In fact, the virtual world knows Hooked on Books too; in the last few years, the Internet has provided plenty of showcasing space for the bookstore. It's also availed patrons - worldwide - to a plethora of first editions, rarities, and reasonable prices. The store's online identity is Aamstar Books, operated chiefly by Mary's husband, James Ciletti.

This Sacramento Librarian visited Ciletti’s store a few weeks back. Like our previous trip to Powell’s of Portland, our sense of smell is prompted: the aroma of used books, new books and cedar book shelves, built by Ciletti and her employees years back, provide the bibliophile with a serious olfactory rush. The store has numerous strengths, but its collections of local and military history are special. But that is a wee bit of the story; there are genres aplenty to be browsed through. The store's narrow and high network of shelves reminds one of a land of literary fjords with the occassional falling volume to keep the reader on his or her toes.

The Holiday Season has been good to Ciletti and her staff of 4. They believe in what they do and have fun doing it. A big band CD may be helping staff to whistle while they work and sounds of giddy staff-patron rapartee freely waft through the store. They understand the power of the written word and how it can influence a community. Ciletti has a close relationship with the Pike's Peak Library District, serving at one time on the system's Friends Board and has consistently supported literacy programs in the Colorado Springs area. Hooked on Books even helped out ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with a healthy donation of books for a local family that was featured on the program.

Hooked on Books is a gem, built and maintained by real people. When in the Springs, don't pass up a visit. These people know their books, know their community, and want to know and help you.

Review: The Ghost Writer

The Ghost Writer by John Harwood. Harcourt, 2004.

The suspense builds slowly in this gothic thriller. As a shy teen living in Australia, Gerard discovers a ghost story written by his grandmother, and he establishes an intense and passionate correspondence with Alice, a pen friend in England. Both seemingly unrelated events inexplicably upset his mother, who suddenly stops talking about her home and childhood in England, declaring that one of her mother's ghost stories came true. She becomes more and more paranoid, fearful, and controlling until her death several years later.

Gerard, now an adult and employed as a librarian, determines to find out about his mother's life and family in England - and to meet the elusive Alice, with whom he has continued to correspond. Horrifyingly, past and present begin to fuse, blurring the border between normal and paranormal. Murder and madness are revealed, and spirits and ghostlike voices drive this author's first novel to its satisfying and unexpected conclusion.

Fan Club Feedback - Bill Bryson

One of the reasons we began a Central Library blog is to get your feedback, so we're going to add a new feature--Fan Club Feedback! We'll highlight a particular author and then ask that you add your comments regarding your favorite title and why you read him/her. Here at Central we have a large staff following of Bill Bryson fans. When a new title is being published, we all rush to get on the hold list and then we share our favorite parts, laughing all the way, of course!

Therefore, let's start with Mr. Bryson. My favorite title is A walk in the woods : rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail. Where else can you read about an adventure traveller who is afraid of the very adventures he undertakes? Bryson's biggest fear is that he will meet up with a bear along the Appalachian Trail and won't survive the melee. He does take his friend Katz along on this ambitious journey, but you'll soon discover why Katz won't be any help at all!

Now, dear readers, it is up to you to weigh in on why you like Bill Bryson. Just below this posting you'll see a link for comments. Please post yours today!

It's "One Book" Night!

Tonight, from 6-8 p.m., local mystery author John Lescroart will discuss his latest book, "The Suspect". The program will be held at Central Library in the Library Galleria. Doors open at 5:15 p.m. You can find program details in the Event Calendar and in Library News on page 6, or call Telephone Reference at 916-264-2920 after 10 a.m.

The Sacramento Bee published an interview with Lescroart last week that makes it sound like tonight's program will be very interesting. Local bookstores are offering a 30% discount on the title - a list is available in the Bee article - and copies will be available for sale at the program this evening .

Sacramento Public owns copies in print, large print, CD audiobook, and downloadable e-audiobook formats. Add your name to the wait list by clicking the "request" button on the screen that pops up when you click your preferred format.

I Read Banned Books

September 29-October 6 is Banned Books Week.

Since 1982, the American Library Association (ALA) has been helping libraries maintain standards of intellectual freedom, insisting that "Free People Read Freely." To that end, most public libraries, Sacramento among them, subscribe to the Library Bill of Rights.

On this year's Banned Books Week web site, ALA says, "BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met."

These are the 100 Most Challenged Books of 1990-2000, according to ALA records - how many have you read?

Book Review: Where They Lay: Searching for America's Lost Soldiers

Where They Lay: Searching for America's Lost Soldiers, Earl Swift, Houghton Mifflin, 2003.

I've not seen a single episode of television's CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), but I'd guess that if one took the show out of its sexy LA and/or Miami confines and mixed in a Texas-sized mud pie, poisonous reptile, unbearable humidity, and a million or so fire ants, you might come close to understanding the worldwide quest of the U.S. Military's Central Identification Laboratory (CILHI), an organization tasked to find and identify the nation's lost soldiers. Telling the tale is Earl Swift, a Virginia journalist, who journied to Laos in 2001 to surveil the group and their hunt for a crew of missing Army aviators, whose helicopter went down near the Vietnam/Laos border in 1971.

The engine of Swift's story is human interest. In not much time, you know the crew. From the spitshined complexion of the chopper commander to the muscle car-loving door gunner, the author brings you into their quirky, homey, chain-smoking world. Then he rips them from you; Their steel machine crashes and they are gone. But, at this point, you're in, part of the search team, walking just behind Swift down some dusty Degar hunting trail, and you'll accept even the slightest form of proof: a helmet, a manufacturing i.d., bullet casing.

At the beginning of the account, Swift asks us if it's worth it: spending $100 million a year to find our fallen sons and fathers. By the time the collective fate of Jack Barker, Johnny Chub, Johnny Dugan (see photo above) and Will Dillender is decided, you have your answer.

Book Review: Disgrace

reviewed by V. K. Ehrenreich

Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee

The hero of Disgrace is a real “b_ _ _ _ _ _.” The Booker Prize winner, J. M. Coetzee provides us with a portrait of the new Afrikaner who is forced to interact with blacks on an equal often humiliating basis. The balance of power is in flux in the new South Africa. What galls Communications Professor David Lurie is the knowledge that a black man (actually 3 blacks) can rape his daughter and get away with it. What escapes Lurie is the similarity between his alleged rape of his young female student and the violent act of the black youths.

The dynamics of the rapes differ in the “how”. On a rainy day in Cape Town, Lurie invites his young student into his house. Under the spell of Eros, the professor partakes of his dessert from a limp, passive student. When the girl’s boyfriend threatens Lurie and tells the girl’s prominent family, the prof loses his job and seeks refuge in his disgrace at his lesbian daughter’s Eastern Cape flower farm/ dog kennel. On a Wednesday morning, three black youths ask to use Lucy’s phone; once inside they lock Lurie in the loo (bathroom) and partake of Lucy’s desserts. Under the spell of hatred, the three blacks plunge their violent disturbing revenge for centuries of abuse into the limp, passive Lucy. Is passion out of lust more acceptable than passion out of hatred?

Lurie nearly manages to redeem himself in his determination to protect his daughter from the “bywoner” (tenant farmer) Petrus. Having knowledge of the planned rape/theft and the rapists, one of whom is his nephew, Petrus is eager to annex Lucy’s property to his small farm. Although not overtly stated, Petrus believes the land belongs to the blacks and he is reclaiming what belonged to his people before the invasion of the whites. Again the dynamics are in the “how”. Petrus is very polite with his long pipe and smile but his deeds are those of the greedy white man. Symbolically, the lives of the two races are inextricably linked in the child Lucy now carries. While seeking to dissuade Lucy from accepting Petrus’ offer of protection and marriage, Lurie is helpless to protect his daughter in the new South Africa. The only explanation/redemption for Lurie’s initial act of disgrace lies in his belief that, “Every woman I have been close to has taught me something about myself (p 70).” Lucy complains to her egocentric father that everything is about “you”. She is right on.

Coetzee, J. M., Disgrace, 1999, New York:Viking.

Veronica Ehrenreich holds a MFA in Film and a MLIS. She taught Film Studies at California State University, Sacramento, and is an on-call librarian at Sacramento Public Library and California State University, Sacramento.

J. M. Coetzee has won several literary awards for his fiction and non-fiction works. Coetzee is the only writer to have won the Booker Award twice.

Book Review: Sacramento : Indomitable City

"Sacramento: Indomitable City" by Steven Avella. Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, S.C., 2003.

Whether you're new to Sacramento or a long-time resident, a look at Steven Avella's effort is worth your time. This history of the city, from its Native American roots to its current-day challenge with affordable housing, is presented in a highly readable form; it's also laced with a number of great photos.

A large portion of Avella's research interests dwell in the early history of the Catholic Church in the American Midwest and California. In this regard, his treatment of the development of institutions of worship in the city is particularly strong. An additional strength rests in his discussion of the city's early growth in the context of disasters, both natural and manmade. Fire, flood, and famine are all integral features of the city's heritage and Avella's ability to deliver the essence of this history without burdening the reader with needless verbage is refreshing and effective.

Avella is a professor of history at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and is currently working on a biography of Sacramento Bee newspaper editor C.K. McClatchy (1883-1936).

Book Review: "The Suspect"

"The Suspect" by John T. Lescroart. New York, Dutton 2007.
The entire story takes place between the time Stuart returns home from Lake Tahoe to discover his wife has drowned in their hot tub, and the grand jury hearing at which he is accused of her murder. With exquisite detail, Lescroart draws a bead on first one character then another, as the attorneys battle it out before the judge.

This is the One Book title that will be discussed in October as part of the Sacramento Public Library's sesquicentennial celebration. I thought I'd get a head start on this year's book because I fell in love after the fact with a previous One Book title, "Epitaph for a Peach." I really regretted missing the author talks, and wanted to be ready for this year's events.

Book Review: The Hobgoblin of the Good, Bad and Ugly: Jack London's John Barleycorn

Jack London's John Barleycorn: or Alcoholic Memoirs (R.Bentley: Cambridge, MA, 1978).

The Bay Area's iconic working-class scribe, Jack London, proved all too human in his autobiographical John Barleycorn. London was a life-long slave to alcoholism, an afflication whose roots go back to his early years as a "Oyster Pirate" in the San Francisco Bay, where his trips to saloon after saloon and close affiliation with any number of free-drinking immigrants sold the young writer on the "fruit of the vine." The significance of the saloon for London is paramount; cool in the summer, warm in the winter, and a temple whose altar London was more than ready to kneel at. Although it's seldom that he ever comes close to calling it a problem, London's ruminations are enough for us to understand the subtle concern he carries for his well-being. In this regard, the reader gains a unique window into London's troubled, traveled soul.

It bears mention that London, on more than one occassion, and under the spell of booze, seriously considered suicide; perhaps the most notable was his swim in the Carquinez Strait when a final decision to live only came after drifting by Crocket. How different American Literature would have been had London opted to do himself in. Overall, the complexity and paradox of the Socialist-Spendthrift, Racist-Humanist is revealed in a lucid prose that only the short-lived London could deliver...