August 31 - Anniversary of the White Chapel Murders

August 31 is the anniversary of the first Whitechapel Murder. In 1888 Mary Ann Nichols (Polly) a prostitute in the Whitechapel area was found with her throat cut and several cuts to her abdomen. Possibly ten more murders, with sometimes increasing degrees of mutilation, were to follow. Because of the mutilations, some formed a theory that the murderer must have possessed some level of medical or anatomical knowledge.

There have been some wacky theories over the years about Jack the Ripper's identity. Over times suspects have included Prince Albert Victor (grandson of Queen Victoria and once heir to the throne), Sir William Gull (surgeon), Walter Sickert (artist), Lewis Carroll and Sir John Williams (Queen Victoria's physician). None of these theories have been substantiated.

In recent years a document has been uncovered belonging to Chief Inspector Donald Swanson (see History Today September 2006). He states that the last murder was witnessed. The suspect was a violent mentally ill man. The witness lost heart and wouldn't testify. The suspect was later remanded to a lunatic asylum and died there.

Occurring in a time when world wide communication was becoming easier, this case became an international sensation selling many newspapers. Things have not changed much. Many have speculated in fiction and fact(?) about the identity of the killer. As time passes the stories become less about the people involved and more fanciful. So while trying to work out the clues, feel free to enjoy the time travel, the vampires and the paranormal as well.

Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye
The Dracula Dossier by James Reese
Key to Conspiracy by Talia Gryphon
The Frightened Man by Kenneth Cameron
Jack's Shadow by Pamela OldfieldBroken by Kelly Armstrong

Solo Adventures

The news this week was reporting the story of a 13 year old Dutch Girl - Laura Dekker - who has been (temporarily at least) prevented by the courts from embarking on her quest to become the youngest person to sail around the world alone. The current record is held by 17 year old Mike Perham from the UK, who just completed his voyage on Thursday. When I was 13, I lived in PEI and I remember taking the ferry to New Brunswick on my own, and I think that was about enough for me in terms of solo travel. But I'll be curious to see what happens with Laura's quest.

People might want to make their adventures alone, but they sure like to tell everyone about it in book form when they're done. Perhaps the most famous solo-circumnavigator of the world by sea is Joshua Slocum, who was the first man to sail solo around the world and a Nova Scotian to boot. His memoir of his adventure is called Sailing Alone Around the World.

Slocum disappeared on a later solo sailing trip, and was presumed lost at sea. It's an eerily similar fate to Amelia Earhart, who disappeared while trying to circumnavigate the world in a plane. Earhart had previously become the first woman to make a solo flight across the Atlantic in a plane - 5 years after Charles Lindbergh's historic first solo flight. Letters from Amelia, collects some of Earhart's own writing from the years when she was making her historic flights. The Spirit of St. Louis is Lindbergh's own account of his solo voyage.

You don't have to fly or sail to travel solo - your feet will take you just fine. Walking the Yukon by Chris Townsend chronicles that author's solo trek through the Canadian North.

More often travels requires a variety of vehicles: Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik is one such tale - chronicling Marie Javis' adventures across Africa. For a lighthearted look at a solo adventure try Round Ireland With a Fridge in which an Englishman accepts a strange bet - to hitchhike around Ireland with a refrigerator. He meets a lot of people on his way - so it's not a truly solo journey - but still a worthwhile and fun read.

Get Your Reading Glasses Ready

April may be the cruelest month, but for books, September (at least September 2009 anyway) is the blockbusterest month!

The biggest of the blockbusters? Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol which is due out September 15th.

Although Quill and Quire magazine recently posted an article on how some publishers have scrambled to change release dates to avoid getting swept up in the tidal wave that Robert Langdon's next adventure is sure to be, not everyone is so nervous.

Here's a few of the big names that will be releasing books this September. (Get your name on the hold list now...)

Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay: everyone's favourite serial killer (did I really just write that?) returns September 8th.

An Echo In the Bone by Diana Gabaldon: Ladies, Scottish heartthrob Jamie Fraser returns in the latest Outlander novel on September 22th.

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks: the latest family drama from this bestselling author is released September 8th.

Lost Art of Gratitude by Alexander McCall Smith: McCall Smith is so prolific that a new book is almost not news anymore, unless of course you've been waiting for the latest installment in the Isabel Dalhousie series, which arrives September 22

Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood: CanLit queen Atwood doesn't need to fear her reign being impacted by Brown, her latest hits shelves on September 8th.

Namedropper Fiction

Namedropping - we all know some one who does it. Mentioning someone well known - maybe even famous - and hope the glow of their fame or notoriety will some how rub off a little bit. It's considered bad form in social circles - particularly if you do it too much - but fiction writers seem to use it once in awhile. Sometimes the famous person alluded to in the title is a character in the story, but often they're more of a concept or a plot point.

I feel like I'm dating myself somewhat by mentioning that the first such title that really caught my eye was a chick lit title from a couple of years ago called Getting Over Jack Wagner, where the lead character's modern day dating life is having a hard time living up to the idealized version of her romance, heavily influenced by her childhood crush on the '80s soap star and musician Jack Wagner.

In a similar vein - in its focus on romance and rock 'n roll lifestyles - is Goodnight Steve McQueen by Lousie Werner. The Steve McQueen in this book isn't the one you're thinking of - in fact the eponymous McQueen doesn't even go by "Steve", but rather by "Danny" - so this is name dropping in its essence (although the does book get positive reviews, compared by some to Nick Hornby, an interestingly, by the former front woman of a UK band called Sleeper).

Here's a few more - not in the chick lit vein:

Anton Chekhov Was Never in Charlottetown by J.J. Steinfeld: This namedropping somehow works on me, I'm incredibly curious about these short stories from a PEI author

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie : Balzac himself doesn't make an appearance, but his books are important in this beautifully written story of life in China during the Cultural Revolution

Millard Fillmore Mon Amour by John Blumenthal: quirky and humourous story of love and life of a socially awkward millionaire who happens to be writing a ten volume biography of a largely forgotten US president.

Staff Picks - The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway

The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway.

Galloway addresses the question,"How does war affect ordinary people? ". The Siege of Sarajevo lasted four long years killing nearly 10 000 people. Galloway was inspired by Vedran Smailovic, a cellist in the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, who played his cello in acknowledgment of twenty two people who were killed while waiting for bread.

The cellist was actually a minor character is this novel. His actions, his twenty two days of performing, linked the stories of the three main characters involved. Kenan is a family man who makes the perilous journey to fetch water for his family. Dragan works at a bakery and his family has fled the city. Finally, there is Arrow, a girl who excelled at target shooting and who unwilling became a soldier and a sniper.

There are no labels to define nationalities. There is the we/us in the city and "the men on the hills" who shoot us. No one seems to understand why this is happening. Everyone's lives have been ripped away. When society falls apart how do we act? Kenan stays focused on the future. As he trudges home under his burden, narrowly missing the snipers bullets, he thinks about his children and how their family life will be different - going out for ice cream and counselling his daughter about the dangers of boys. Dragan looks to the past. He remembers what life was like and does not want the world to see his city like this. And Arrow, Arrow is the grim reality of the present.

Yann Martel has been sending Stephen Harper books. Reflecting on stillness, Martel concluded that in order to read we must be still and in order to reflect upon life we must be still. Watching Prime Minister Harper's busyness he vowed to send him books that have been "known to expand stillness" The Cellist of Sarajevo was number 21.

I came across another book that seems to have some similarity to The Cellist of Sarajevo. Pretty Birds by Scott Simon tells the story of Irena Zaric, a spirited teenager who has all the usual celebrity crushes and enthusiasm for basketball. Her girlhood is abruptly brought to an end by this war. Her new life as a sniper strikes a chord with readers as we feel for her (as we did for Arrow's) loss of innocence.

A review for The Cellist on the CBC website referred to the book as "Book Club Catnip". I certainly understand what they meant. There are plenty of issues to address. Appropriately, the Spring Garden Road Library book club will be reading this book in September. Details are found in the Library Guide or on the website.

Why Can't Everyone Just Get Along?

Who knew the literary world could be so combative? Sure a bit of a rivalry really ups the tension in a book, and can keep the plot rolling along - but I was surprised of late the number of books I could find that lay that competition out right from the get go. Oh well, at least you know what you're getting into:

Eleanor vs. Ike by Robin Gerber: alternative history that explores what might have happened if Eleanor Roosevelt had run against Dwight Eisenhower in the 1952 US Presidential Election.

Bear v. Shark by Chris Bachelder: I like the way this quote from Publishers Weekly sums this book up: "Reading like Don DeLillo on acid, Bachelder's brilliant, bizarre debut is a futuristic one-joke novel about a whimsical confrontation between two unlikely predators."

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World by Bryan Lee O'Malley: the second title in the graphic novel series with a local connection. Author Bryan Lee O'Malley used to live in Halifax, and Scott Pilgrim - the rocker whose romantic antics form the basis of the series - is named after a song by Halifax 1990s band Plumtree.

Somers v. Somers by Julie Ellis: Somers and Somers are husband and wife, he a popular Democratic politician, she the wife that has stood behind him. When he ditches his political party AND his wife shortly before the election, the two face off against each other in a novel that mixes emotional and political tensions.

State versus Justice by Gallatin Warfield: the murder of a child and an old rivalry between two lawyers form the basis of this novel. Throw in some cold war politics and the fact that the accused is a known criminal and you've got the makings of a compelling legal thriller.

TV & Books: The Best of Both Worlds!

The Emmys are coming, the Emmys are coming! This year's September 20th broadcast is bound to make up for last year’s travesty, as they’re being hosted by the delicious awesomeness of Neil Patrick Harris (or NPH, affectionately).

In preparation for the Emmys, and because I both watch a lot of television and read a lot of books, I’ve been thinking about how television and books overlap. There are television shows based on books, books based on television shows (tie-ins), behind the scenes looks at television shows, as well as shows that reference literature and famous authors so much that they make bibliophiles all tingly. (Of course, there are also lots of actor/performer biographies and autobiographies.)

In the first category, we have the obvious shows like Bones (based on Kathy Reichs’ popular Temperance Brennan series), and True Blood (based on Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse mysteries). There are also Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter novels and Cecily von Ziegesar’s Gossip Girl series which have both spawned tv shows of the same respective book title. In November, the second season of The Legend of the Seeker will premiere; it’s based on Terry Goodkind’s fantasy series, The Sword of Truth.

As for tie-ins, there are tonnes of books based on shows like Buffy, The X Files, Heroes, and Supernatural; they’re essentially fan fiction which builds on or creates new storylines using the same characters as the shows. There are also companion books, which often provide episode guides, like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation companion or The Book of Shadows: the unofficial ‘Charmed’ companion. Perhaps more useful is something like The Biggest Loser Family Cookbook: budget-friendly meals your whole family will love.

A popular subgenre of the tie-in is the ‘academic’ book: a more scholarly look at the science of a show or its place within pop culture. Examples of this are Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy: knowledge here begins out there, Planet Simpson: how a cartoon masterpiece documented an era and defined a generation, or The Daily Show and Philosophy: moments of Zen in the art of fake news.

What I find most fascinating is the behind the scenes look. Just out this year is Street Gang: the complete history of Sesame Street by Michael Davis. Another one I’ve found really interesting is Live From New York: an uncensored story of Saturday Night Live by Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller. For all you Corrie fans, here’s one option: Access All Areas: behind the scenes at Coronation Street.

Now, as for that last category, I’m primarily thinking of Lost. Within the online culture of Lost fandom, the show’s literary references are often a huge point of discussion, as clues to the everyday and the ultimate mysteries are sought within the pages of the books mentioned or read on Lost.

Characters are given names of famous philosophers, Sawyer’s reading material often parallels the current storyline, and, just to further make our heads explode, one book (Bad Twin) has been both created for and referenced on the show. The online Lostpedia has a page devoted to these literary references: http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Literary_works

To tie everything back to the sublime NPH, if you’re a fan of his hilarious sitcom, How I Met Your Mother (HIMYM), you will want to check out a copy of Barney’s guide to being an awesome wingman, The Bro Code, by Barney Stinson and Matt Kuhn.

Whither Hurricane Bill

While we wait and track and stock up on all those canned goods take some time to read some windy blustery fiction and take heart that it won't be this bad. I can feel it in my bones.


The Map of Moments: A Novel of Hidden Cities by Christopher Golden - Six months after Hurricane Katrina, history professor Max Corbett returns to New Orleans for the funeral of an ex-lover and is presented with a map which sends him to a hidden city.

Babylon Rolling by Amanda Boyden - A portrait of five urban families in New Orleans in the year leading up to Hurricane Katrina.

Toros and Torso by Craig MacDonald - Leaving New Orleans we go back in time to the great hurricane of 1935 in Florida. The hero Hector Lassiter rescues a woman only to find that she becomes the victim of a serial killer.

City of Refuge by Tom Piazza - Two families, one black and one white, try to piece their lives back to together after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.

The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke - Dave Robicheaux is deployed to New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina to find looters who picked the wrong house to pilfer in order to save their lives.

Rough Weather by Robert B. Parker - A wedding, a kidnapping, a murder and a storm are the backdrop for Spencer's latest case, which is complicated the by return of his old nemesis - the Gray Man.

First the Dead by Tim Downs - Forensic entomologist Nick "Bug Man" Polchak discovers that several Hurricane Katrina corpses were dead before the storm hit. Was someone using this disaster to mask a terrible crime?

Murder in the Rue Chartres by Greg Hernon - Devasted New Orleans is the backdrop for gay detective, Chance MacLeod's, latest case.

Staff Picks: The Food of a Younger Land edited by Mark Kurlansky

I came across this book a few weeks ago when I was writing another post for the Reader about food related books. Anything with Mark Kurlansky's name catches my eye. The author of Cod and Salt is a big name in the microhistory genre - an author that is credited with a lot in terms of the rising popularity of the genre.

The title struck my attention too - but maybe not for the most flattering reason, and it wasn't the title but rather the subtitle. I couldn't image how a book managed to get published with such a cumbersome subtitle. The full title is:

The Food of a Younger Land: A Portrait of American Food - before the national highway system, before chain restaurants, and before frozen food, when the nation's food was seasonal, regional and traditional - from the lost WPA files

Despite its unwieldy length, the title is actually perfectly descriptive of what's included, although it's helpful if you know that the WPA was the Works Progress Administration, set up in the USA as a part of the New Deal in 1935. It was tasked with providing work to millions of unemployed Americans following the Great Depression. Many of the WPA jobs were on infrastructure projects or assisting in the distribution of food and clothing to needy families but a major wing involved keeping America's artists employed.

The Federal Writer's Project existed in 50 states and employed such now famous writers as John Cheever, Studs Terkel, Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty and Richard Wright. An early project involved the creation of travel guides to the then 48 states. However, it's because of a later - and unfinished project - that we get Kurlansky's book. America Eats was to have been a Writer's Project collection on the food habits of Americans. Writings were compiled and collected, but the project was never finished. Kurlansky's book brings together a large number of the writings that are in the project archives and makes them available to readers.

The result is - as the subtitle promises - a portrait of American food at that time before huge highways and mass produced food. From "Pop Corn Days in Nebraska" to an introduction to "A Los Angeles Sandwich called a Taco" to competing recipes for clam chowders and Mint Juleps, the book highlights delicacies, delights - and writers - long forgotten.

With Kurlansky at the helm, introducing the pieces and setting the context (including a much more detailed and interesting introduction to the Federal Writers Project than the one I give above), the book is a delightful compendium of writings from a time that is fast disappearing from the collective consciousness.

(oh and if you're interested in a snapshot of the works from the Writer's Project guidebook project, the library also holds a title called Remembering America: a sampler of the WPA American guide series).

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

27 days, 14 hours, 22 minutes and 25 seconds .... 24, 23, 22... until The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown will be released. Seriously. The Lost Symbol has its own website counting down the seconds until the book will be available. How's that for marketing?

Brown has waited six long years for his sequel to The Da Vinci Code, building excitement in his legions of fans. The Dan Brown marketing phenomenon has been examined in a marketing text book by Stephen Brown called The Lost Logo. It is written in the style of Brown's books calling itself a Management Thriller. It deals with the formula that makes his books phenomenal successes and makes particular mention of luxury product placements, which he predicts will be even more prominent in The Lost Symbol.

The publishing world is gearing up for this release. Publishers have strategically timed other books' releases so as not to compete with Brown. They are planning a print run of 6.5 million copies. Of some controversy has been the timing of the release of the ebook. The Guardian had this somewhat alarming headline a few days ago:
"Could Dan Brown's new novel spell the end of the printed word?"

I would hope not, but the article does make a good point about the ability to flip from text to Internet to look up references. Very handy, I would imagine with a Dan Brown thriller.

I'm sure it will be worth the wait. If you need a few suggestions in the meantime (to fill in those 27 days) Novelist has a great article suggestions author readalikes for Dan Brown which includes John Case, Daniel Silva and Michael Crichton.

Double-take Titles

Titles seem to get a fair bit of attention here at the reader: Maureen recently wrote a post about the Bookseller/Diagram Prize for the Oddest Title of the Year, a prize which (as the name pretty much tells you) honours the truly odd in book titling. And back in the early days of this blog, I did a post about books being released in different countries with different titles. I'll admit to being the sort of person who judges a book by its cover - particularly its title. A well crafted title can really grab me, where as a poor one can put me off of even the most interesting book.

It's hard for me to pin down exactly what appeals to me in titles. Certainly humour helps. A book that jumped off the shelf at me recently is Horsemen of the Esophagus: competitive eating and the big fat American dream. I like a nice play on words in my titles. Food books seem to be embracing the play on words in their titling of late: The United States of Arugula: how we became a gourmet nation definitely first caught my eye because of it's play on words, as did Love in the Time of Cholesterol: a memoir with recipes.

Nonfiction titles usually have long subtitles to give you a clue about the book beyond the quirky main title, but fiction titles can be a little harder to figure out. A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian sounds more like a textbook than a novel, as does a favourite book of mine Special Topics in Calamity Physics. Just so there wasn't any confusion (and maybe any lawsuits?) Stephen Clarke added the helpful subtitle "a novel" to his debut An Arsonist’s Guide to Writers’ Homes in New England.

I admire authors that take chances with their fiction titles. I can tell you from experience that people have a hard time remembering convoluted book titles, as I've seen a hundred times with people looking for books like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and The Curious Incident of the Dog in Night Time: but I love it when you finish reading a book and you understand why the convoluted title was perfect for it.

Simplicity in a book title can work for me as well, though. Why Things Break: understanding the world by the way it comes apart struck me when I first came across it as a book that would be interesting and straightforward. Candour doesn't hurt either: I'm sure that Your Call Is Important to Us: the truth about bullshit owes a certain percentage of its popularity from its title. Sometimes a title doesn't hit the mark for me though, for example, Fish That Fake Orgasms and Other Zoological Curiosities just seems to be trying to hard.

Memoirs can be a great place for interesting titles, particularly comic ones: We Thought You Would be Prettier by Laurie Notaro, When You are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris or Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda are all good examples. Looking back, I have to wonder how much Dave Eggers should take credit and/or blame for this kind of convoluted titling: as I suspect the runaway success of his 2000 memoir A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius made awkward titles seem commercially viable.

That Time Traveling Librarian

The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger originally published in 2003 is making news again with the release of the movie starring Eric Bana and Rachel McAdam. This is a story of two lovers caught in a temporal trap. Henry is a librarian who involuntarily travels through time. He and Claire pursue a love affair despite this obstacle. The Toronto Star says of the film, "The Time Traveler's Wife belongs to the realm of romantic fiction where hoochie-coochie meets hocus-pocus." Book reviews from the time of its publication frequently mention the books cinematic qualities and predicted it being picked up as movie.

Have you seen it? Do the purists amongst us feel that they have done a reasonable job communicating the spirit of the story?

Aside from the love story and the movie tie-in, we library people love to read about other library people. We applaud when the profession is portrayed realistically and groan when they haul out the buns and the sensible shoes.

An Imperfect Librarian by Elizabeth Murphy - Carl Brunet finds himself displaced in St. John's Newfoundland working at a university library amongst sometimes territorial and competitive librarians.

The Gold Bug Variations by Richard Powers - Librarian Jan O'Deigh works with a computer programmer and a geneticist to unlock the secrets of DNA.

The Grand Complication by Allen Kurzweil - Alexander Short, a sometimes complaining librarian, is drawn into a mystery involving stolen treasure.

The Witch's Grave by Shirley Damsgaard - Ophillia Jensen, librarian, begins to let her hair down (!) with a well-known crime writer and finds herself in danger of her life.

Nice Girls Don't Have Fangs by Molly Harper - Um, how to put

this. Recently fired children's librarian Jane Jameson goes on a bender, finds herself shot and wakes up a vampire.

The Incident Report by Martha Baille - Bizarre public behavior in chronicled in incident reports in a Toronto Public Library.

The Order of Things by Lynne Hinton - Andreas Jay Hackett, university librarian and lover of order, finds her world falling out of order and herself a resident in a psychiatric hospital.

Now, I have read none of these books. I think I have a hold on The Incident Report. OK, library folks. Which ones have you read, and which are most realistic. My money is on the vampire one.

Vamps vs Zombies

I recently read a blog post that suggested vampires were ‘out’ and zombies were ‘in’. I’m not sure I agree; yes, zombies have experienced a resurgence in popularity, but I think vampires are definitely still alive and kicking (er, dead and biting?). HBO’s fangtastic (they said it, not me) series, True Blood is ultra popular, Twilight is still all the rage, and I see magazine articles and new books coming out every week that feature vampires and our ongoing fascination with them.

Whatever the case, the popularity of both has resulted in an excellent crop of books for vampire and zombie fans.

For zombie lovers, I've been informed the BEST title is World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks.Written as a piece of nonfiction, Brooks’ book purports to be a report based on interviews and first hand testimony of survivors of the war with the undead. This “epochal event” has changed the landscape of the world and the course of humanity.

- For further reading suggestions check out this Zombie list at Vancouver Public Libraries

If you're looking for other fantastical creature, Kelley Armstrong has been writing a great series about werewolves, witches, and demons. Her Otherworld series begins with Elena the Werewolf narrating her novel, Bitten. Subsequent titles arenarrated by other characters with varying powers and levels of ‘humanness’, capped with another Elena title, Frostbitten, coming this fall.

Should you need more vampires in your life than Edward, and Bill (or Eric, depending on your team), try one of these titles:

Joss Whedon has carried on the wonderful Buffy television series, but in comic book form. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 has been collected into four (so far) graphic novels: The Long Way Home, No Future for You, Wolves at the Gate, and Time of Your Life. All of the characters (except Anya *sob*) return and are excellently represented in the illustrations. Carrying on where the series left off, Xander and Andrew have become watchers and the Scooby gang has spread out across the globe, seeking out and training new slayers. There may be surprise appearances from beloved characters who have moved beyond our mortal coil.

The Buffy comics initiate a cross over comic, Fray by Joss Whedon, featuring a more futuristic vampire slayer, named, obvs, Fray. Whedon has also continued the Angel story inAfter the Fall.

Suck it Up by Brian Meehl bears resemblances to True Blood in that the main character is “out” as a vampire, drinks from synthetic blood rather than humans, and there are strong allegorical connections to the gay and lesbian community. It’s also a dark comedy.

You might also try Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse series, upon which True Blood is based, the Blue Bloodsseries by Melissa de la Cruz, or the House of Night series by P.C and Kristin Cast. If you really want to be on the ball, pop culture-wise, you should start reading Darren Shan's Cirque Du Freak series now, before it hits the big screen, with John C. Reilly and Salma Hayek, in October.