As I write this the library roof is undergoing replacement. Be forewarned: This is a noisy project. If your idea of a cozy afternoon involves reading at the library, you will be in for a shock. There have been several surprises along the way. The first surprise required a crane to remove an unusually heavy rooftop air conditioner unit. I can only hope that it will require the services of said crane to restore the unit when the roof is finished.
For your information: the taking of brief naps is permitted in the library. Snoring is forbidden.
Due to the impending arrival of my first grandchild (and my subsequent absence), Kathy, good sport that she is, handled book club this month. I didn’t even read the book and for that I feel guilty. The book was The Outlander. From what I’ve been told, it was a little hard to get into, but well worth the read. We still have copies available, if you are interested.
Now, surprise, surprise! Josephine Pearl Ehlers arrived October 19, 7 lbs. 11 oz. in Raleigh, North Carolina. She is, of course, the country’s most beautiful baby girl. Her parents are wavering on whether to call her Jo or Pearl. I offered up my own childhood copy of Little Women as a bribe to call her Jo, but, I suppose her mama will cast the winning vote. Before she was 12 hours old I had bought every teeny, tiny pink baby outfit in Fort Dodge. Including the cutest little pink suede boots, size 2. I made a similar run-through at Witz End before I left town to meet baby. I’m sure you aren’t surprised to learn that she is my very first grandchild?
Almost as important as deciding what to call baby, is what to call me….Grandma? Gran? Gram? I’m leaning toward Gram at the moment.
Coincidentally, the book for the November Humboldt Reads! book club is March by Geraldine Brooks. It was the 2006 Pulitzer prize winner in the fiction category. This is the story of the Civil War years told through the eyes of March, a Union chaplain. He is the mostly-absent father in Little Women. This book was suggested by a high school English teacher. I’m always a little wary of a book loved by an English teacher. Do I want to read something that’s good for me? Do I want to learn anything? We’ll see. Sometimes those less-loved stories make for the best book discussions. Copies are available now at the library. The discussion will be November 17 at Rustix at 5:30pm. Join us!

A Mixed Bag

Often (every week?) I tell you that the very best part of my job is the opportunity to buy almost any book I’d like to read. Even better than that, I can also buy ones that I want to page through. Books that I won’t read, don’t need, but am curious about. We have a whole bunch of those on the shelves right now.
75 Chinese, Celtic & Ornamental Knots by Laura Williams and Elise Mann. I’ve never needed to know how to tie fancy knots, but this book is beautiful to behold. Even if I didn’t work here, I’d have taken this one home to page through in admiration of the folks who were patient enough to invent these knots and in awe of the ladies who compiled the pages of this book. The knots in this book are designed to be used as jewelry.
Gudrun’s Kitchen: Recipes from a Norwegian Family by Ingeborg Baugh, Irene Sandvold, Edward Sandvold and Quinn Sandvold. I am decidedly not of Norwegian heritage. I never even met anyone who was until I moved to Humboldt. This book made me wish I had a Gudrun of my own. This one didn’t hesitate to take shortcuts…pancake mix for fried chicken batter, canned tomato soup in her chili. One recipe that intrigues me is an orange jello salad with shredded carrots and onions. Carrots with onions?
The Concussion Crisis: Anatomy of a Silent Epidemic by Linda Carroll and David Rosner. With all the evidence in today’s news about the danger of sports-related concussions, it’s a wonder any of us (or our kids) can ever have a cogent thought or a coherent conversation. Nowadays, new parents can’t leave the hospital with their offspring unless he or she is buckled safely into a car seat. Will football helmets be the next requirement?
Can’t: No Such Word by Mervin D. Chantland. This, of course, is a local author. Sweet book full of vignettes from his life.
How To Sell Your Crafts Online by Derrick Sutton. Have you heard about Etsy? It is a gift and craft store operated online. 40,000 sellers use Etsy to peddle their wares. You can find almost anything you can imagine at www. etsy.com. This is the perfect book to make your Etsy “shop” stand out and attract customers.
Beach House Style is also new on our shelves. Pale colors, simple styles and casual, easy living are all part of a new trend in home décor. Page through this one now, and again next winter when we are knee-deep in snow. The rooms are as cozy and relaxed as beach living should be.
Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: Forty Years of Funny Stuff by Calvin Trillin. He’s a columnist for The New Yorker and just about the funniest guy in print today. This is a collection of his columns. You can read just one or two, or read it cover to cover. It brings a smile to my face just thinking about it sitting out there on the “new non-fiction” shelf.
And, just in time to put you in an appropriate Halloween mood, The Best Horror of the Year edited by Ellen Datlow. This one is a collection of twenty, or so, of the spookiest, most scary horror stories of the year.
The Guardians by Andrew Pyper. This is fiction. It’s one of those trade paperbacks that I’m always encouraging you to try. Usually I have no patience for ghost stories but it lured me in with a plausible story for one hundred pages or so before the spooks crept in. I had a very busy week, so it took me an unreasonably long time to read such a short, well written book. It would go down great on a chilly, fall evening when you’re home alone.

2011 Ehlers Family Christmas BOok

I read lots and lots of mysteries. I’m not choosy. I like police detectives, private detectives, detectives that cater, preach and practice medicine. Give me a book with a big, fat question mark by the end of the first chapter and I’m happy.
I read lots of other novels, too. About those, I am more selective. I want a tightly woven plot. I don’t want lots of characters who come in and out of the story for no apparent purpose. I don’t like books that confuse me with flashbacks or portents of the future. Just tell me a story. Make the characters vulnerable enough that they seem human. Everyone has flaws; so, author, show me where your hero acted less competently, less wisely, just human. If I don’t care about what happens to the characters, I often don’t remember to finish the book. I’ll just put it aside somewhere…..my bedside table, coffee table or car seat and abandon it.
I also like books with good stopping places. Books with chapters fifty pages long don’t fit into my stop-and-go lifestyle. If I’m ready for work early, I may read a few pages before leaving home. I read through my lunch hour. We do have a library staff policy that says if one is within ten pages of the end of a book, the staff member is allowed to finish the book before reporting back to work. I read until I fall asleep at night. I need chapters that have something to say and wrap it up succinctly.
Well, I just read the best book! I was looking for my annual Christmas book. The one that I give all my kids in the hope that they will have fodder for a sane and civil discussion amongst themselves. It’s a hard task to find a book that all my kids will read. My oldest child is about to become a first-time father, the middle two are employed and lead busy lives and my baby just started law school. It must be a truly remarkable book to interest all of them.
Not only does it need to be a book that they will be interested in, it must be something interesting enough to have caught my attention in the first place. About all the five of us (seven, if I add in my daughters-in-law) have in common is a ridiculous love of all canines and shared passion for summer sports. They spent as much time in the bleachers watching one another play baseball and softball as they did on the playing field.
The 2011 Ehlers Family Christmas Book Award goes to The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach. It has a baseball thread running throughout to tie all the characters together, but it isn’t about baseball. It is about life. About the challenges each of us faces, about the quirks and foibles we all possess. About parents, children, goals and growing up.
Library staffer Demi and I have vastly different reading tastes. But, we do share a great fondness for a few particular books. I told her that the characters in this book aren’t as miserably messed up as in Memory of Running. Not as magical as in A Prayer for Owen Meany . Nor as innocent as in Boys Life, but they make for just as good a book. It’s one of the handful of books that I will read again every few years.
Give it a try. We ordered extra copies for you at your library.