Columbine

It's hard to believe that last month it had been ten years since the school shooting at Columbine High School. It's even harder to believe that in that ten years it never really sunk into public knowledge that the plan was not really for only a school shooting, targeting members of specific groups against which the shooters had a grudge, but for the destruction of the school with the highest body count possible. In Columbine by Dave Cullen, you'll find out that much of what we thought we had learned about Columbine in the days and weeks just after the shooting has been disproven by FBI investigation even though the public perception has remained unchanged. Far from the bullied outcasts who snapped that they have been portrayed as, the shooters were the bullies: a textbook sociopath who had been plotting violence on a grand scale for years, and a depressive with angry outbursts who ultimately went along with the massacre as a method of committing suicide. Although graphic descriptions of violence make it not for the faint of stomach, this book is enlightening, especially for anybody who was a high school student, teacher, or parent of a high school student at the time of Columbine and remembers the fear and constant rumors that "something" was going to happen on a certain day that persisted for the rest of that school year. Pictured is the Columbine Memorial - click the image to visit the site.

-- Kristen, Main Library

The Greatest Generation

The U.S. National World War II Memorial opened to the public on April 29, 2004. The memorial sits on the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. It was constructed mostly with private funds after Roger Durbin, a WWII veteran from Toledo, Ohio asked his local Congressperson why their didn't yet exist such a site. The legislative and bureacratic processes involved in the construction of the memorial were fast-tracked by the U.S. Congress because we are losing WWII vets at a rate of 1000 per day. Every vet should have a chance to visit their memorial but many can't afford it. Fortunately, the Honor Flight Network will fly them to Washington, D.C. for free. If you or a vet you know isn't interested in making the trip, you might want to check out Douglas Brinkley's The World War II Memorial: A Grateful Nation Remembers. It's a large full-color book with many great photos of the memorial and a few chapters about the war as well.

Beware of Sharp Objects

Try not to read this thriller, Sharp Objects, before bedtime; but be aware that it will completely absorb you. Gillian Flynn’s debut novel draws you in to the life of Camille Preaker, a second-class reporter from a third rate newspaper in Chicago. Struggling to leave her dysfunctional upbringing behind her, she is barely succeeding. Until, of course, she is sent to her hometown, a tiny community in Missouri, to cover the murders of two little girls. With the details of victims’ deaths and the torturous existence of small town life in Wind Gap, Missouri, Camille is reliving the worst of her past. Her attempts to self-anesthetize with whatever alcohol comes to hand are not nearly enough to stop her from seeing parallels between her own life and that of the murdered girls. Torn between the longing to fit a normal life within the confines of her tempestuous family relationships and the desire to slough off the past along with the words excised on her skin, Camille reassures us that our life could always be much, much worse.

"... and the best of me is diligence"

If you’re like a lot of people, you may be curious about the giant King Lear statue in Courthouse Square. Naturally the Dayton Metro Library can help you find the play (check in the Classics Collection first, where it will be shelved next to copies of the Cliff Notes), but we also have other resources that can introduce you to the story, if not necessarily explain the sculpture.

The newest DVD of King Lear stars Sir Ian McKellen, best known in America for the Lord of the Rings and X-Men movies. Filmed for PBS Great Performances, it isn’t at Dayton Metro yet, but requests can be placed. PBS provides video and articles about the production on their website.

If you like a visual introduction but you’d rather not jump into watching the performance, try William Shakespeare’s King Lear: A Graphic Novel by Gareth Hinds.


Or if you’re already familiar with the story but you’re interested in a new twist, try Fool by Christopher Moore, a parody from the perspective of (of course) King Lear’s Fool.


-- Kristen, Main Library

Herbs: A Country Garden Cookbook

If you are looking for a book to help you learn about herbs this Spring, Herbs: A Country Garden Cookbook is it. It begins with a glossary that tells you all about planting, growing, harvesting and gathering. Included as well is information on storing and drying. The glossary describes the herbs used in the book, including pictures. The “openers” section begins with a recipe for carrot soup with dill cream. A Pear and Pecan Salad uses lemon balm and raspberry vinaigrette. An “accompaniments” chapter follows, giving recipes for herb infused vinegars, oils, honeys marmalades and butters. The “main courses” chapter begins with a recipe for Penne with Golden Marinara Sauce and Italian Herbs. A tomato tart is included. There is a recipe for Roasted Cornish Hens with Lemon Thyme and Oregano. The book concludes with a chapter on beverages. Recipes for tea infusions include Iced Spearmint Tea with Strawberry Nectar French Lavender Lemonade. Happy gardening!

-- Mary Ellen, Main

Lost on Planet China

As travelogues go, Lost on Planet China is a good one. You get the usual history and statistics mixed with descriptions of visits to some of the most famous sites in the country. There is adequate space devoted to the thoughts of native citizens about their land as well. The real value of Lost on Planet China, though, is it's unsparing frankness and candor. The author does not hold back his opinions about the terrible air pollution in urban China, the chaos of auto traffic and taxi queues, or the variety of the Chinese diet, as is clear from this book's subtitle: "the strange and true story of one man's attempt to understand the world's most mystifying nation, or how he became comfortable eating live squid." Troost also visits Tibet on his journey and he paints a thorough picture of the views on each side about China's occupation of the region. The book is funny throughout and does a good job portraying the sheer mass and diversity of China, but the author's complaints about the traffic and the air become repetitive and contribute to an impression of cultural superiority. Lost on Planet China is not perfect but it is certainly worth your time.

If you like Troost's style, check out his previous book, also a travelogue, Getting Stoned with Savages: a Trip Through the Islands of Fiji and Vanuatu.


-- Steve, Main Library

The Unincorporated Man

The Unincorporated Man by Dani and Eytan Kollin is a political and financial science fiction story of the twenty-fourth century. After The Grand Collapse, the solar system-wide economy is rebuilt with each person being incorporated at birth. Five percent of their stock goes to the government, twenty percent to their parents, a percentage to each sibling, and it is further sold off until people work for decades to become majority stockholders in themselves, if they ever do. Then Justin Cord, who placed himself in cryogenic storage in the twenty-first century, is awakened and becomes the only unincorporated person alive.

This is science fiction as a genre of ideas similar to Robert A. Heinlein’s novels. As in much of his work, our protagonist’s education about society makes up the bulk of the book. Although the action moves along at a sufficient pace to keep things interesting, Cord’s conversations with his friends and enemies are as significant as anything else that happens. The pacing at the end does feel slightly off, which interestingly is also a problem suffered by many of the Heinlein novels that this book brought to mind. Let’s hope that the Kollin brothers’ next book is at least as thought-provoking and that they write many more over which to work on small improvements.

-- Kristen, Main Library