Puppies, a Coke and Thirteen Reasons Why

Not many books can make you realize how interconnected people are as viscerally as Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Clay Jensen, the narrator, returns home to discover a package on his front porch- he is excited about his find… but not for long. The package was sent to him by the now-deceased Hannah Baker, his ex-coworker and first love. Inside the cardboard box he finds seven cassette tapes documenting thirteen stories of the people Hannah blames for her death. But Clay was always friendly to Hannah, why is he on the tapes? Find out by reading this page-turner that brings us through Hannah’s tale in the course of a night. 

After reading this book, I feel like buying everyone a puppy and a Coke… so if you need a favor, you know who to look for!


Jenny C - Children's

Six Month Old Leftovers

(In case you haven't already read it...)

Here’s the deceptively intriguing premise of Tom Perrotta’s 2011 hit, The Leftovers:  A Rapture-like event has left a gaping hole in the world’s population – maybe an eighth of all people have suddenly vanished (my guesstimate – I don’t think any numbers are offered).  There’s no pattern or demographic trend to be gleaned from those that have departed.  They run the gamut from newborn to active senior, evil-doer to Boy Scout.  The disappearances cannot be explained through logic or a prophesized grand exit.  Just poof.

Exciting, right?

 

The weeks and months immediately following such a cataclysmic event would assuredly be a riveting time of mass hysteria - plane crashes, explosions, governments toppling.  It would also be a time of harrowing life-saving efforts and historic acts of leadership (not to mention lots of caution-to-the-wind hooking up).  It would be the makings of an epic page-turner of a novel.  But that’s not what this book is about.

 

The Leftovers examines the calm after the storm, the new normal.  Perrotta (Election, Little Children) places his sixth novel in the small Northeastern town of Mapleton, which functions as a case study in the mass existential funk that settles over the left behind.  Many people are unable to continue their past trajectories when the normalcy of their previous existences is irreconcilable with the current set of circumstances. Some leave their families to join one of the myriad new cults.  Others withdraw into deep depressions or self-destructive behavior.  But most just get on with their lives, forming softball leagues and taking the SATs, doing their best to resolidify the bonds of family and community.  Ho-hum.

But was it aliens!?

The Leftovers’ lack of pizzazz is sort-of what gives it its character.  Perrotta depicts the resiliency of the human spirit by showing that regardless of the trauma, we’ll always bounce back to boring.

Ransom - Reference

A Bun in the Oven

I’m pregnant!  So, like any good librarian (or pregnant woman), the first thing I did was look for books to lead me through this new experience.  Of course the Library has lots of the standards, the books every woman refers too: What to Expect When You’re Expecting, The Girlfriend’s Guide to Pregnancy, etc.  But I’ve already got the basics covered and was looking for something new and exciting.  I found some fascinating stuff, so over the next couple months, check the blog regularly for my pregnancy and parenting book posts.

The first book I grabbed off the shelf:  One year to an organized life with baby: from pregnancy to parenthood, the week-by-week guide to getting ready for baby and keeping your family organized.   This is a great book to get as soon as you know you’re pregnant because author and organizational guru, Regina Leeds, bases the weekly projects on your weekly progress.  She gives you easy tasks in the first trimester when you are likely feeling under the weather and saves the bigger stuff for later when your energy returns.  For instance, in week 10, Leeds assigns the creation of a baby album and recommends you put your sonogram pictures directly into it.  My initial thought was, “Really, isn’t it organizational overkill to start a photo album so early on?”  But it was one of the few tasks I could consider taking on as the nausea washed over me, so I did it.  Now, thanks to this book, I have a baby album (this from a woman who has yet to create her wedding album).

It’s overwhelming thinking about everything you have to do and consider when you’re pregnant.  The great thing about this book is you no longer have to worry about what to do when and how you will fit it all in; Leeds does that for you and all you have to do is follow her schedule and do what she tells you.  Perhaps this sounds weak and dependent, but I’m fine with being able to concentrate on the substance rather than the logistics of the tasks.  By the time the baby comes, I’ll have handled all the pregnancy related stuff (maternity clothes, birth plans, finances, nursery, child care), but also organized my filing system and closet (weeks 9 and 14), prepared my kitchen and cleaning supplies (week 20 and 23), made new friends and maintained old friendships (week 29+), and found ways to care for myself as well as my baby (week 40) among other things.  Once the baby comes, the tasks continue for another 20 weeks.  After that, you’re on your own, but by then, Leeds will have walked you through creating the systems that will keep you going.

Rebecca - Reference

If you like The Hunger Games...

If you're a fan of Suzanne Collins's The Hunger Games, you might enjoy some of these dystopian reads as well:

	The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she's sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must decipher the message before the lights go out on Ember forever!
	The Giver by Lois Lowery Given his lifetime assignment at the Ceremony of Twelve, Jonas becomes the receiver of memories shared by only one other in his community and discovers the terrible truth about the society in which he lives.
	The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer In a future where humans despise clones, Matt enjoys special status as the young clone of El Patron, the 142-year-old leader of a corrupt drug empire nestled between Mexico and the United States.
	The Maze Runner by James Dashner Sixteen-year-old Thomas wakes up with no memory in the middle of a maze and realizes he must work with the community in which he finds himself if he is to escape.
	Uglies by Scott Westerfeld Just before their sixteenth birthdays, when they will will be transformed into beauties whose only job is to have a great time, Tally's best friend runs away and Tally must find her and turn her in, or never become pretty at all.

Don't let the cover fool you: this isn't a book about football.

When Joe Drape left his Kansas City home to work his way up as a sports journalist for The Dallas Morning News, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and then The New York Times, he probably didn't imagine he'd one day return to the Midwest and fall in love with a 1.2 square mile rural farming community just shy of 1700 people.  At it's heart, Our Boys is a love story.

When Drape arrived in Smith Center in the fall of 2008, he counted himself an objective journalist.  He assured the head coach that a defeat wouldn't spoil the book he was planning to write about the Redmen, and might even "be better for the narrative of the book."  But by the time the playoffs were in full swing, he found himself fighting to keep his emotions in check, cheering for the Redmen as heartily as the football moms and dads.

Our Boys is the story of Smith Center, Kansas: a close-knit community that nurtures its boys, teaching them about teamwork, love, respect, and becoming men.  It's about Coach Barta's nearly new-age sayings and mantras; the father / son conflict between feisty running back Colt Rogers and his dad, coach Mike Rogers; senior Marshall McCall gradually easing into the shoes of team captain and leader.  It's also about Smith Center's Second Cup Cafe and the charming octogenarian society, the "As the Bladder Fills" club, and it's about the Tucker, Overmiller, and Roush families, all working hard to keep the tradition of Kansas family farms alive.

In Our Boys there is none of the harsh critique that can sometimes creep in when an outsider pens objective third-party nonfiction.  Instead, Drape has taken a page out of Coach Barta's book, and returned respect with respect, love with love.  The result is a beautiful, bestselling book that might just inspire you to be a little kinder to your neighbor.

And for you, football fans?  Don't worry -- Drape easily slides in play-by-plays of some of the Redmen's most exciting games, dissects the Redmen's fascinating winning strategy, and gives a complete glimpse into the "NASA lab" where Coach Barta and his colleagues analyze the reels from week to week,  converting even the most casual bystander into just a little bit of fan.  Trust me, I know.

Joe Drape flies in from New York to appear at Lawrence Public Library tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m., and will be speaking at libraries around the state as part of Kansas Reads 2012.


Rachel - Programs