The Top Shelf

Were you expecting Long Island Iced Teas? Sadly, so was I.

     Our prompt this week was to answer the following question: “Who are the great authors writing today?” Thankfully, there was a second prompt. 

     What I mean by this is the fact that I don’t necessarily feel as if I read enough to be able to answer that kind of question. When I was a teenager I used to read all of the time. Even in the early years of my marriage, when the plant used to shut down for a week here or there during the slow season, I was able to lie around the apartment, reading to my heart’s content. Eventually, as life became more hectic, I was only able to read my favorite authors' new releases. Now, I am attempting to read more, but it is a discipline that I am having to master. If I had the time I would read so much more.

     Our secondary prompt was: “Who are your favorite authors writing today?”

     Now we’re talking…

[caption id="attachment_3245" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="A view of one shelf"][/caption]

As I mentioned there was a time when I was only able to follow my favorites. Over the years that list has included: Stephen King, the late Michael Crichton, Patricia Cornwell, Michael Slade, Clive Barker and Pat Conroy. 

     Citing Stephen King as a favorite author is like rock bands citing The Beatles or Led Zeppelin as influences, but in my case it is still a fact. I must say that I do not read everything that Uncle Stevie puts out. As prolific and as varied as he is, I tend to examine each novel and see whether it strikes my fancy before putting it into my cart or e-cart. I love when people tell me that they refuse to read his work because it is too creepy, frightening, etc. Of course, that’s when I ask them whether they liked The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me or The Green Mile. When they answer that they loved those films, that is when I rock their world.

     My favorites in the cannon that is Mr. King would be The Stand, Pet Sematary, Misery, The Dark Half, Gerald’s Game, Bag of Bones and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. The latter is a particular favorite of mine, and not because of the baseball references. I like it because of the young girl's strength and determination as she deals with finding herself lost in the deep woods.

     Michael Crichton was brilliant at filling his fiction with so much science that by the time he was done, none would question whether it might be possible for dinosaurs to roam the earth. Some might suggest that it was too much, but I think it gave his work so much believability. I thought Congo and Sphere were good books, but the terrible films really put a bad taste in my mouth. Uncle Stevie's fans can say the same about some of his as well. I was fairly dedicated between those two and Airframe, although it and Disclosure were very similar. I did not read again until Prey and State of Fear.

[caption id="attachment_3246" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Some Slade for your day."][/caption]

Patricia Cornwell hooked me with her Doctor Kay Scarpetta Series. My wife and I have followed religiously since Postmortem. We have followed her, FBI Profiler Benton Wesley, Detective Pete Marino and Scarpetta's niece Lucy, through the highs and lows of their lives as well as the peaks and valleys that is Ms. Cornwell’s creativity. There have been some great ones, a couple of lackluster ones, but for the most part she keeps us coming back for more.

     Which brings us to Michael Slade. I did a guest post on this subject just recently (http://wickedwriters.com/2010/06/16/special-x-thrillers/), so I will not bore the Wicked Readers with a rehash; however, I will say that he should be given a chance, especially if one likes their horror on the cutting edge. Why he remains largely undiscovered after all of these years, I still cannot figure out. Those of us who do know Slade enthusiastically consider ourselves “Sladists”.

     “Everybody is a book of blood; wherever we’re opened, we’re red.” So began my interest in Clive Barker. You may recall Pinhead from the Hellraiser series of films. That’s him. I started with his collection of shorts, Books of Blood. Eventually I followed him along from The Damnation Game, The Great and Secret Show, Imajica, Everville and The Thief of Always. I highly recommend that last one. It is a fable and suitable for children. I read that one to my two boys while they were growing up.

     Lastly, I will leave you with Pat Conroy. Writers of every flavor very often like to show off their mastery of the English Language. As a reader, we can easily find ourselves tripping up and losing interest in the characters, plot and ultimately in the book itself. Pat Conroy is not one of those. His prose simply must be some of the most beautiful ever published; reading his sentences just has to be like fine dining at it's finest. I have an image in my head of a non-wine drinker, tasting the bouquet that are his sentences and falling in love immediately with the vintage.

     This past year I did a book review over on my blog on Mr. Conroy’s latest release, South of Broad (http://jamesgarciajr.blogspot.com/2010/05/sunday-morning-musings_15.html). In it, I answered the following: “How did a horror enthusiast end up reading Pat Conroy?” I explained that a sister-in-law highly recommended what I would call his masterpiece, Beach Music. I had proclaimed that I never read anything unless someone died in the first chapter. As it turned out, the first page recounted the story of how Shyla McCall leapt from the Silas Pearlman Bridge in Charleston, South Carolina, setting off an amazing and unforgettable chain of events. Encompassing many years, multiple characters and almost too many subplots to count, it is simply the finest piece of fiction that I have ever had the pleasure of reading. I have read it many times and sometimes pick it up not necessarily intending to finish. I’ll grab it off of my bookshelf as if the intent is to give myself a delightful snack. It’s that good. How he tied every loose end into perfect and beautiful little bows, I’ll never know, and could only hope to be able to emulate.

     It is so good that I refused to read any of his other works, fearing that they would be such a colossal let down. In the end, I finally buckled and have read a few more, though I have yet to work my way through his bibliography. I have also read The Prince of Tides, and Conroy’s memoir, My Losing Season. I have not been disappointed as of yet. He is a fantastic writer.

     We read different things and we read them for different reasons. This was not an exhaustive list, but a list. What might be on your list? What might you recommend? I'd love to hear what others think. Hopefully, you can leave me with something new to discover as I hope I have left you.

[caption id="attachment_3247" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Thorn Birds? How the hell did that get there?"][/caption]

I would like to thank Julie Musil for commenting two weeks ago during our contest then about being interested in reading my e-book, Dance on Fire. You, my dear, are getting that chance. Thank you for participating. I hope you enjoy it.

Education Unbound

Years ago, soon after I’d first moved from Texas to Washington, D.C., I was riding in a car with a good friend and her two-year-old son on the outskirts of the capital, in suburban Virginia. My friend was driving and I was navigating, which of course explains why we were, er, a bit lost. At one point, bewildered, I asked her, “is this Lee Highway?” Before she could answer, a tiny voice behind us asked, “Lee Highway? As in Robert E. Lee?”

I was floored, and turned to my friend, who explained, “we go to the library a lot.” That little tyke, back then a massive consumer of anything related to the civil war and the solar system, is now a brilliant, articulate college student, who rest assured, is not only a future leader, but already a successful leader at the age of nineteen. Sure, he’s smart, driven, and has great parents who want only the best for him, but he also had this amazing local resource that opened up new worlds and fed his enormous curiosity and enthusiasm to learn.

While it’s easy to underestimate the role of libraries in American life, this week forced me to dig deep and examine a pillar of our daily life. My own daily life, that is. I now live in suburban Virginia myself and check my library card online at least several times a week to put books and movies on hold for myself and my family, check my overdue status (not that bad, really), and see what’s new. At this particular moment, our family has 36 items out on loan. And yet, our library is so much more to us than a place to check out free stuff. I’ve even had to start limiting our visits there as time stands still once we walk inside.

Sure, they offer a lot more than books. We get the latest movies (we finally canceled our Netflix subscription after we found our library offers most of the same movies, albeit with huge waiting lists), free Internet, and even the educational computer games my kids love. (My four-year-old is particularly hooked on one where she has to map the route to hidden treasures. It’s helped her math and geography skills more than her expensive preschool has been able to accomplish toward the same goals.)

This past month, my seven-year-old walked in and asked the librarian for books about “Middle English.” I was skeptical. I’d remembered studying Old English back in college, but Middle English? Would our community librarians even know the term? As it turned out, we walked out with several stacks of books that took three of us to carry. A couple of them were marked up with post-it notes, highlighting notable chapters on history, linguistics, and famous literature. Oh, and needless to say, we didn’t spend one red cent. On our way out, I was reminded of an earlier  evening (and some thirty bucks) wasted at Chuck E. Cheese to keep the same kiddos sufficiently entertained.

A couple nights ago, I attended a community service meeting at my daughter’s school. I’d arrived early as did one other mom. We made small talk, admiring our fine school library, when she said, “you know, when my daughter came home on the first day of school raving about this library, I knew we were off to a good start.”

True enough. We get so much more from our libraries than just books, don’t we?

Endangered Community Libraries

Monday I was out on The Neverending Shelf, a blog I recently added to my watch list, and happened upon The Fate of Our Libraries, a guest post by Courtney Webb, a children's librarian and blogger at Stiletto Storytime. I was so impressed by Courtney's post, I got permission to repost it this week.

But first, I'd like to mention the State of America's Libraries Report 2010, released by the American Library Association (ALA) on Monday. The picture to the left in no way represents the state of our libraries today. Just thought it's a fun picture that shows you can't stop people from going to the library under any circumstances.

Now back to the library report. Before you even get to it on the ALA website, this statement reaches out and begs for your attention.

Recession drives more Americans to libraries in search of employment resources; but funding lags demand.

In the press release, you'll find that we are flocking to our libraries for more than media. And Americans' opinions show that we know the value of our libraries.

The report shows the value of libraries in helping Americans combat the recession. It includes data from a January 2010 Harris Interactive poll that provides compelling evidence that a decade-long trend of increasing library use is continuing—and even accelerating during economic hard times. This national survey indicates that some 219 million Americans feel the public library improves the quality of life in their community. More than 223 million Americans feel that because it provides free access to materials and resources, the public library plays an important role in giving everyone a chance to succeed.

Yet, my community voted down a tax increase for needed improvements to our libraries, and I'm still bitter about it. I'm there at least once a week and we support paying higher taxes towards such a valuable community resource. Opposition would say libraries take donations. Support them that way. Well, we do that too. Unfortunately, I've done more than my fair share of fundraising for worthy causes, and trying to get people to donate during hard economic times ain't so easy unless they're backed in a corner as you'll see in Courtney's post. It's a mad catch-22, folks.

And now, here's more for you to think about on the state of our libraries from Courtney Webb. I ask you to remember her post and the State of America's Libraries Report the next time you find yourself in the voting booth, faced with a decision to increase funding to your library district.

The Fate of Libraries

by Courtney Webb

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="137" caption="Courtney Webb, Children's Librarian and Stiletto Storytime Blogger"][/caption]

In the last year we have all been affected by the recession whether personally or through our business and financial investments. We’ve all had to cut back a bit or at the very least know people who have. Unfortunately in the budget crisis for communities often the first thing to go during tough times is funding for libraries.

For example take the Charlotte, NC Public Library system, which announced recently that due to a reduction in the Mecklenburg County budget was told to shut down 12 library branches and lay off over 140 employees. This was a rather personal case for me since this is the system in which I started my library career. My first job as a children’s librarian was at one of their most needed branches in a low-income area of Charlotte. A branch that was so dear to the community for a plethora of reasons. The computer lab provided access to an area where most individuals could not afford a home computer. This meant quite simply no access at the library equaled no computer access period. Imagine the effects of that when kids could no longer do homework or research, adults could not work on improving their computer skills or even search for jobs in this critical time. This branch was also across the street from the local high school and provided a refuge for teens after school keeping them out of trouble and in a safe environment.

Unfortunately it was also a community whose children were the least introduced to books and the magic of reading. Storytimes and programming were crucial to that though it was often hard to make parents understand the need. There were Summer Reading Programs were I had children come simply because I offered food and they had not had lunch that day because they had simply been dropped off at the library. This library was a haven in this community and was to be shut down within a few weeks of the announcement. The community was stunned.

However that did not happen and the reason is that the people spoke. The residents of Charlotte protested and gave their own money to try and help the library budget in a grassroots effort that saved the 12 libraries from closure and some of the staff from unemployment. Unfortunately the majority of those let go were librarians since they had the larger salaries because of their educational background and experience. This was also because the libraries were now trying to focus on the most basic of services. This generally is circulation and simply getting books in and out, something which requires only a high school degree and which has a much smaller hourly wage. All of the county’s libraries will now also run on reduced hours and all employees took a large pay reduction. And yet the future is still not clear since predictions are that the budget will once again go down in 2011.

What does this say about the future of libraries and librarians? To me it says that when times get tough sometimes our leaders are willing to sacrifice what we need most. They will let go of what does not make a profit and looks like a loss on a spreadsheet. Libraries and librarians may not look good on a spreadsheet but chart their efforts and contributions to the community. Libraries are the ultimate equalizer. They provide information to everyone and information is power. These libraries that have been saved may be open but with far less qualified employees running them. When a patron enters a library they may not realize that there are very few actual librarians. Librarians are trained individuals with Masters Degrees in Library Science who have studied the art of knowledge and the keys to finding it. It’s sad they are now being laid on the altar in the name of saving a few dollars. The library may be open but at what cost? Who is now doing the story time or running the reference desk? Are they qualified and are you and your family getting the best service possible?

This Library Week I ask you to remember the library, library staff and librarians in your communities. Please use your voice and make sure that everyone knows their worth so that the travesty that has taken place in Charlotte does not happen in your community.

* * * * * *

Thanks so much to Courtney Webb for allowing us to repost The Fate of Libraries, and thanks to Kate over at The Neverending Bookshelf for all your help in making this repost possible.

Don't Miss My Writer Wednesday Blog Tour

Hurray for Libraries

In the mid-1950s, concerns were raised about Americans’ reading habits. Research showed that citizens were spending far more on radios, televisions and musical instruments than on books.

Sound familiar? Replace “radios, televisions and musical instruments” with “cell phone, computers and laptops” and it becomes clear.

Now, you can see why we need National Library Week and why we should have National Library Month.

Back in 1954, the American Library Association and the American Book

[caption id="attachment_2184" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Library service, Oregon, 1950s"][/caption]

Publishers formed a nonprofit citizen’s organization called the National Book Committee. The NBC strove to encourage reading in leisure time. The goal was to “improve incomes and health” and develop a “strong and happy family life.”

Yeah, it does sound like Leave It to Beaver, but, seeing society today, that might not have been so corny.

Anyway, by 1957, the NBC had developed a plan for National Library Week (NLW). They hoped that once people were motivated to read, they would support and use libraries. With the help of the Advertising Council, the first National Library Week – with the theme “Wake Up and Read!” – was observed in 1958.

The NLW was so successful that it was done again in 1959. The NBC disbanded in 1974, but the ALA stepped in and assumed sponsorship.

This week (April 11-17, 2010), libraries across the country will observe National Library Week. This year’s theme is “Communities thrive @ your library” in a nod to today’s technological advances.

Fortunately for us, many school libraries will celebrate the entire month of April as School Library Month. Sponsored by the American Association of School Librarians (a division of the ALA). Also, Wednesday will be National Library Workers Day. Far from the smoldering brunettes who longed to take off their glasses, let their hair down and throw themselves at Humphrey Bogart, librarians and other library workers perform a valuable service to our communities. They play a big role in the education of our next generations, despite efforts by this and older generations to budget them out of existence.

So, let's do our part and support our libraries. Visit them. Get your kids away from the television and computer and cell phone. Take them to a library so they can get lost in books.

Personally, I may have been heavily influenced by Creature Double Feature on TV, but I was stimulated and motivated by books at the library, to the point that I walked miles there and back. Even when I didn't have school assignments.

Hopefully, we'll have libraries around for many decades to come.

For more information on National Library Week and the ALA, visit their website at www.ala.org/@yourlibrary.

Volunteer - It's Not Just a Word

This week here at Wicked, we're dedicating a our posts in honor of National Library Week. Our nation's libraries are an incredible resource, one most communities often take for granted.  I wanted to talk about something besides the books--I wanted to talk about the people at the heart of our libraries.

There's an old African proverb (a previous first lady also used it as a title to book) which means a lot to me:

It takes a village to raise a child.

I live my day-to-day life by this proverb. If I see your kids acting badly and you aren't around to correct them, rest assured, I will (and I'll even try to do it politely, I swear).  I won't tolerate bullying, vandalism, cruelty to animals, or sass from a child, and I will speak up when I see it happening.

Where is one place you always seem to see a lack of such bad behavior from children? Our libraries.

The safe haven and quiet setting call out to old and young alike. There are no social boundaries, no class distinctions, no separation of race, gender or age--nothing other than the love of books and learning when you cross the threshold.

I'm not a person who is comfortable with organized religion. Before you judge me too harshly, let me state that I believe in God and I believe religion is personal, just like politics. The feeling I've always had when I enter a library is the same feeling most people equate to church. I feel welcomed. I feel at ease. The general silence seeps into me the moment I arrive and I feel transported into a place and time where books, and the knowledge they contain, are a world unto themselves.

Why did I head this post talking about volunteering? Because it needs to be something people do and not just talk about. The people who run the libraries aren't paid a lot. Yes, the work environment is sublime being surrounded by all the books, and it's a pretty quite place--but it's not a job most consider in college. These men and women call out to me on a base level.

They are always polite, helpful and informative.  They add book and non-book programs for the patrons to keep the community active and get them involved. They organize reading programs and offer storytimes. The libraries even allow groups free use of the space to gather for meetings or teaching in available rooms.

Last year, I volunteered for half the year at my daughter's elementary school in the library for 90 minutes each week. For those of you who know me, and for those of you just getting to know me, there's one thing you'll find. I don't talk. I do. I stopped volunteering when my health got worse and I needed to focus on getting better. But that time in the library each week--rubbing elbows with the quiet, peaceful ladies who ran a tight ship and making sure every child was involved--meant a lot to me and my child.

She saw me not just donating books, as we usually do, she saw me volunteering my time in a place that held value to me. And I can now say I understand the Dewey decimal system perfectly and children should be happy they don't have to use card catalogs anymore like they did when I was growing up.

Don't just donate books to the library. Donate your time--do a reading for kids, participate in a poetry reading for adults or teens, lead a book club. Above all, get involved. The library is the community center of our future and I'm proud of every moment ours lets me come in and help.