Rediscovering “a good read”

By Rosemary Dorsa, vice president for partnerships and strategic initiatives at the Central Indiana Community Foundation, Inc., and current Indiana Humanities Council chair-elect.

As a kid I read like crazy – The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys – all the serial books, regardless of gender-targeting.   I loved going to the library and taking out a stack of books.  The scent of old paper, the smooth slide of the card catalog drawer (yes! the card catalog) were wonderful.  Some favorites I would re-read often.   I read The Swiss Family Robinson every summer for at least five years, much to my family’s amusement.  In college, I would always treat myself to a big, fat novel the minute finals were over.

In recent years, perhaps influenced by the 24-hour news cycle and the constant barrage of information, I have gravitated more toward non-fiction.  I’ve read lots of history, politics, social commentary, economics, etc.   While I’ve learned a lot and would make a good Jeopardy contestant, it’s only been the past few months that I realize how long it’s been since I have savored a really great “can’t-put-it-down-lose-yourself in the story” book.  And so, I am now on a quest to rediscover the pleasure of “a good read.”

I had attended two really great events in the past months which have assisted my quest.  The Indiana Humanities Council hosted two author panels last week at the Meredith Nicholson Home in conjunction with the Bouchercon Mystery Conference.  This was a very special opportunity to be part of exclusive, intimate talk with seven nationally-acclaimed mystery authors.  It was such a delightful evening of animated, spirited interchange among the panelists and with the attendees and it exposed to authors I had not read.  I picked up several books, including Hallie Ephron’s Never Tell a Lie which I started reading that evening.  It is a terrific book with a really strong narrative where each chapter draws you into the next.  I am now about to start on Charles Todd’s A Test of Wills, which is the first in series of mysteries, set in England between the world wars.  I was intrigued to find out that “Charles Todd” is actually Charles and Caroline Todd, a mother-son writing duo.

The other event was the inaugural Eugene and Marilyn Glick Indiana Author Awards dinner, very appropriately held in the beautiful Indianapolis-Marion County Central Library.  Nine Indiana authors were recognized for their contributions to the literary landscape in Indiana and across the nation.  I left with several books, and have finished Dear Mrs. Lindbergh by Kathleen Hughes.

And while I am enjoying discovering new books, I must confess that I still like rereading some old favorites.  The other day in an airport I picked up East of Eden by the incomparable John Steinbeck, which means I will soon be on to my favorite book of all time, Theodore Dreisier’s An American Tragedy.  Now that’s “a good read.”

What-are-you-reading-Wednesday: National Book Awards

By Kristen Fuhs Wells, communications director at the Indiana Humanities Council

I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t read any of the books up for the 60th National Book Awards, which are six National Book Award-Winning Fiction books from 1950-2008. But if you have, go to www.nbafictionpoll.org to vote for your favorite. It’s the first time the vote has been opened up to the public in the award’s history.

The nominees are:
The Stories of John Cheever, John Cheever
Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison
Collected Stories of William Faulkner, William Faulkner
The Complete Stories of Flannery O’Connor, Flannery O’Connor
Gravity’s Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty, Eudora Welty

Which one should be tops on my list?

What-are-you-reading-Wednesday – Dying for Chocolate

Last weekend I read a mystery novel by Diane Mott Davidson, Dying for Chocolate. I was going through the Indiana Humanities Council’s collection of books for reading and discussion groups, looking for novels related to food. This book was one of several titles containing the word “chocolate” (Like Water for Chocolate, Chocolat), so I decided to give it a try.

First of all, it was a lot of fun. But I also discovered that Dying for Chocolate is a prime example of a subgenre that has become very popular in the last few decades – the culinary mystery. Like all detective fiction, it offers the satisfaction of an intellectual puzzle, on the one hand, and a morality play, on the other. The master detective solves the crime, and the wicked are caught and punished.

The culinary mystery, however, adds some delightful and delicious ingredients to the basic mix. Like other “cozy” mysteries, it often takes place in an idyllic setting, such as a small town or village, populated by easily recognizable characters, whether eccentric, endearing, or just ordinary. The detective is usually a woman who is a caterer, innkeeper, or other purveyor of food. In Dying for Chocolate, the heroine is a caterer and single mother who has to track down her boyfriend’s killer while coping with demanding clients and gourmet menus. Culinary mysteries often include recipes for the dishes described, and it’s hard to imagine the book group that could discuss this novel without at least a package of store-bought frosted brownies on hand.

The setting for Dying for Chocolate is Aspen Meadow, Colorado, but the Council’s collection also has culinary mysteries from other regions of the country. Joanne Fluke’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder is set at the Cookie Jar Bakery in Lake Eden, Minnesota, owned by Hannah Swenson. Tamar Myers’ No Use Dying Over Spilled Milk features Magdalena Yoder, Mennonite proprietor of the Pennsylvania Dutch Inn. Nancy Pickard’s The 27-Ingredient Chili Con Carne Murders takes sleuth Eugenia Potter from her New England base to her ranch in Arizona. As small business owners, these women have a lot on their plates.

For those who can’t consume just one, most culinary mysteries are part of a series of novels. Like Agatha Christie herself, these writers are very prolific. They also have a penchant for puns in their titles. My favorites: Tamar Myers’ The Crepes of Wrath and the next book by Diane Mott Davidson, The Cereal Murders.

Also recommended (by Keira Amstutz): Julie Hyzy’s State of the Onion (White House Chef Mystery series).

What-are-you-reading-Wednesday: Prodigal Summer

By Kristen Fuhs Wells, communications director for the Indiana Humanities Council

I awoke to the sound of crickets outside today, about 20 minutes before my alarm clock was scheduled to do that job. Normally, a natural wake-up call would be cause for irritation, but I can thank Barbara Kingsolver for the peace — not anger — that overcame me. Just like a class on non-fiction writing caused me to be a different kind of reader, Kingsolver’s Prodigal Summer  has caused me to be a different kind of observer.

All of the lead characters have an appreciation for nature — whether it’s moths, birds or apples — and by spending just a couple of hours with these characters, it’s given me a greater appreciation of the natural world as well. I’m in awe not only of Deanna’s ability to distinguish every piece of flora and fauna in Appalachia, but also Kingsolver’s research that went into developing Deanna’s knowledge. And, this morning, that made me think twice about shutting the window on the crickets. Were they mating calls? Simple conversational exchanges? I wanted to be Deanna so that I could understand the language of nature.

But this novel is so much more than natural observances — it’s Kingsolver’s prose and story that intertwines three summer love stories that pit human predators vs. human preys. I have a hunch everything will work out, but in nature, isn’t that always the case?

Read the book? Check out a reading discussion guide here.

What-are-you-reading-Wednesday: The Cellist of Sarajevo

By Kristen Fuhs Wells, communications director for the Indiana Humanities Council

I was embarrassed by how long it took me to wade through All the Kings Men, so I decided to go for something much shorter this time around! Not only did the book’s title and description lure me in, but I have to admit the short length and short size of the pages was a deciding factor. This was a book I could tackle on a vacation.

Author Steven Galloway exposes us to a life many of us can’t imagine–fighting to stay alive as enemy snipers pick off neighbors and mortar shells destroy homes. He does so by employing beautiful imagery in his bloody and horrific descriptions; in his flawed, but human characters; and in the heart of the somewhat-true story–a concert cellist who risks his life by playing his cello for 22 straight days in the middle of the bloodshed, in tribute to 22 lives lost.

Although we know little about the cellist, we find out about three others impacted by his beautiful, selfless quest: a sniper named Arrow sent to protect him; Kenan, a father who traverses the city to get clean water for his family and his neighbor; and Dragan, an older man who sent his family away before the war broke out.

Galloway interviewed several survivors for the book, and it clearly provided excellent background. He captures the fears and desires of his characters so simply, yet so eloquently, that I wasn’t yet ready to give them up when I finished the last page.

It was a fitting read for Independence Day, and made me appreciate my American lifestyle. What books make you appreciate your life? Certainly The Kite Runner is one for me, as is A Thousand Splendid Suns.

What are you Reading Wednesday: Dracula–When a Vampire was a Vampire

By Andrea Cohn, head cataloger at the Indiana Humanities Council

Have you noticed that Vampires have been getting a lot of good press lately? They are the Hollywood it thing at the moment. And, I must confess, ever since “Interview with a Vampire,” I haven’t quite been able to shake the image of Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as smooth-talking, well-dressed night stalkers. But something has happened lately to the Vampire — he/she has been made more human than horror.

There is now a vampire for everyone, not just the horror crowd or the “Goth” click. They even have the Twilight saga, a cleaned-up version of the charming, unavailable, yet “only eats animals” type of vamp that even a teenage girl and her mother can love. HBO has the “TruBlood” series in its second season, which is also a series of novels by Charline Harris. This is much more adult fare, but the vampires are still humanized and morally complex individuals who can opt to dine on synthesized blood instead of snacking on humans (lucky us!). Of course, I am a fan of all of the above, including the Anne Rice novels which the “Interview with a Vampire” movie was based on.

Yep, even before Hollywood picked up on the craze, I was a “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” devotee, an Anne Rice fan, and a big friend of horror movies featuring my favorite undead characters. So, it may surprise some to know that I have just now gotten around to reading the origin of all vampire sagas, the 1897 Bram Stoker classic Dracula. I don’t know why I put it off for so long. but I’m glad that I finally made the effort. It is a slow read at first, as the entire book is written as journal entries, diaries, and letters between the main characters. I didn’t really find the book frightening (unless you count the treatment of the female characters in the book, but that is blog discussion for another day!), but I did find it refreshing to see the Father of the Vampires was a despicable, gruesome, loathsome individual deserving of the title. Here is a description of the Count from early in the book: 

“I was conscious of the presence of the Count, and of his being as if lapped in a storm of fury. As my eyes opened involuntarily I saw his strong hand grasp the slender neck of the fair woman and with giant’s power draw it back, the blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champing with rage, and the fair cheeks blazing red with passion. But the Count! Never did I imagine such wrath and fury, even to the demons of the pit. His eyes were positively blazing. The red light in them was lurid, as if the flames of hell fire blazed behind them. His face was deathly pale, and the lines of it were hard like drawn wires. The thick eyebrows that met over the nose now seemed like a heaving bar of white-hot metal. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he hurled the woman from him, and then motioned to the others, as though he were beating them back.”

Now that, my friends, is a Vampire you can sink your teeth into!

Who are your favorite vampires? Dracula? Edward from the Twilight series? Or are you more a fan of vampire-slayers?

What-are-you-reading-Wednesday: Any Best Books of Indiana?

The Best Books of Indiana Competition had a record-tying 62 entries in 2009. Are you reading any of them? http://www.in.gov/library/bbi09.htm

If so, share your thoughts.

What-are-you-reading-Wednesday: All the King’s Men

By Kristen Fuhs Wells, communications director at Indiana Humanities Council

Somehow, I escaped college and high school without reading many of the classics—a feat I thoroughly enjoyed at the time, but one that I now regret. So, I am constantly trying to weave in a few of those with my ever-expanding list of “new” novels. My current classic is the Pulitzer Prize-winning “All the King’s Men,” by Robert Penn Warren.

Set in the South during the 1930s, the story follows the rise and fall of Willie Stark—a farm boy turned governor, narrated by Jack Burden, Willie’s right-hand man. What I love most about this book is not it’s overarching themes—original sin, responsibility, love, hatred, etc.,–it’s that each sentence Warren writes is ripe with imagery—whether it’s Willie’s stump speech, an apartment building or his mother’s demeanor towards men.

Willie Stark is bigger than life–so big, in fact, he has to be fiction. Or is he? Some say he’s patterned after politician Huey Long, and we can all pull a few traits out of ol’ Willie that have infected even our favorite politicians. But what about Jack Burden? Anne Stanton? Like any good novel, the characters are bursting with fictional and non-fictional experiences, choices and thoughts.

There are many classics that I avoid reading, some for sheer length, but this should not be one of them. “All the King’s Men,” is a great, timeless novel that offers a one-of-a-kind glimpse into 1920s and 1930s politics in the South. History? Check. Poetry? Literature? Check, check. Politics and law? Check, check. Entertainment? CHECK.

Does Warren present an accurate portrayal of what you think  politics were like in the South during the 20s and 30s? Why should we continue to read about fictional politics from the past?

What-Are-You-Reading-Wednesday

In this weekly series, we’ll touch base with Council staff members, board members and friends to discover what book is on their nightstand. This week, intern Christian Hines catches up with Orwell.

As a student of the English language and literary tradition, I’m ashamed to admit that I’m just now getting around to 1984. I’ve read my Bradbury, I’ve read my Huxley, and I even made it through Ayn Rand’s tirade at the end of Anthem. But not having read 1984 is akin to being on the outside of an inside joke. So much of Orwell’s phraseology like “Newspeak” or “Doublethink,” and even the adjective “Orwellian,” have assimilated into the English vernacular. Even a scant familiarity with figures like Big Brother functions as a sort of cultural currency in American society. 

Though I’ve only completed roughly 70 percent of the novel, Orwell’s frightening vision strikes me not so much for its political, but for its historic import. It is not necessarily the story’s plot, but the story’s mood, that has left an indelible impression upon the literary world. The book was published only four years after the close of World War II, right as the Cold War embers were beginning to glow. And though Orwell creates a terrifying villain in the government of Oceania, there is still an element of satire and humor to the work.  The Capitalists, according to the government’s history textbooks, were barbaric industrialists who created monopolies, suppressed the poor, and always wore top-hats. Like all humor, there is truth in such a depiction, and Orwell recognized that one need not abstain from poking fun at the propaganda of radical politics even as it destroys a society. 

Despite Orwell’s subtle humor, 1984’s influence has persisted because of its prophetic critique of radicalism and authoritarian intervention. Perhaps I’m too young to really be frightened by his vision, but I still recognize the biting accusation against the pattern of political and societal revolution which, in this case, led to the dystopian world of 1984. The paradox, of course, is that it takes a revolution to undo a revolution.  “If there is hope,” Winston mutters, “it is in the proles” (short for Proletariat). Though society produced a monster in its discontent, it is discontent, once again, which must overturn the beast. Orwell’s most prominent work, therefore, is not only an admonition against a certain type of government, but against the excess, folly, and capricious passion of the masses.

Have you read 1984? If so, what book should I check out next? And, if you haven’t, what’s stopping you from pulling the book off the shelf?

Time and Again

Since today is Groundhog Day, we were thinking of watching the movie. This movie is so well-known that “Groundhog Day” has entered the cultural vocabulary as referring to a particular type of time travel: being caught in an infinite loop and reliving the same experience over and over.

What is your favorite movie about time travel? Mine would probably be “Back to the Future,” “The Final Countdown,” or perhaps “The Lake House.” Of course, there are many others, including “Somewhere in Time” and the classic, “The Time Machine.”

“The Time Machine” was adapted from the novel by H.G. Wells which defines the genre, but in American literature there is another very fine example: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. I have always enjoyed the chapter where Hank, the Yankee, is trying to explain the concept of inflation to sixth-century peasants who think a penny is an excellent wage for a day’s work. Film cannot possibly capture the fun of the verbal slapstick in Twain’s dialogue as Hank predicts a time in the future when a mechanic’s average wage will be an astonishing 200 cents a day.

In 1890, the year after Twain’s book came out, Ambrose Bierce published a short story entitled “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.” This tale set the standard for journeys through compressed time, wherein a character lives a lifetime in a single moment of imagination.

All of these forms of fiction illustrate the mystery of time and the magic of literary and cinematic art. A good book is, after all, a time machine in itself.