Bishop's Book Speak (Tony Horwitz's A Voyage Long and Strange reviewed), Installment 5

Click here for Mr. Bishop's podcast review of Tony Horwitz's A Voyage Long and Strange, an enthralling exploration and travelogue of discovery in America, including many of the seemingly forgotten who have been lost to the greater mythology of origin and place in America.

The following titles are also suggested:

Blue Latitudes: Boldly Going Where Captain Cook Has Gone Before
Tony Horwitz
910.45 HORW

Confederates In The Attic: Dispatches From The Unfinished Civil War
Tony Horwitz
973.7 HORWITZ

Skeletons On The Zahara: A True Story of Survival
Dean King
916.48 KING

- Christopher Bishop

New Fiction Titles In The CFL

The Carlyle Fraser Library is always buying new fiction titles for the collection to suit the needs of a wide cross section of readers here on campus. New titles are added weekly to a cumulative list that includes both book covers and a short synopsis. The New book page also features an RSS feed for those who use an aggregator to keep up with sites of interest. Enjoy!

Books For Everyone

I have slowly come around to the idea of reading books online, especially when something I'm interested in is not easily available in print or I do not have a copy of the book I am reading with me. Other than convenience, I also like the idea of reading books online when a community is available to share interests, ideas and book recommendations. One of the coolest resources for reading books online, joining communities based around interest, joining discussions and discovering new titles is BookGlutton. Users can sign up with BookGlutton to create a personal account tracking favorites, books read and group memberships. Visitors do not have to create an account to search and read full-text titles or to look at possible discussion groups. Available titles include everything from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to the obscure such as Frank Norris' McTeague. Titles can be searched alphabetically or by specific title.

There are a number of other Web 2.0 sites featuring networking and discussion forums for finding new books and reader suggestions that work similarly to BookGlutton, but without the full-text.

goodreads
An attractive and easy to use site for both personal and community interaction that includes a price comparison for online retailers when viewing a title.

LibraryThing
The granddaddy of social networking book sites. Great for book recommendations and cataloging your personal print collection, should the librarian in you find a need.

shelfari
The visually appealing interface and ability to see covers for all of the books you have read is the coolest feature of this site.

StoryCode
The site requires a login for searching but features helpful readalikes and suggestions.

What Should I Read Next
A simple interface allow users to input a title and author to receive recommendations based on users suggestions. I found the returns to be quite accurate.

Whichbook.net
A very interesting site that uses mood questions to compile a list of recommended titles. I think this may be the most interesting recommendation site out there.

Image courtesy of The Guardian UK

- Christopher Bishop

Kimberley Barker reviews The Host

Bishop's Book Speak (Rob Sheffield's Love Is A Mixtape reviewed), Installment 4

Click here for Mr. Bishop's podcast review of Rob Sheffield's Love Is A Mixtape, a truly moving exploration of love set to mixtapes capturing the quickly changing soundscape of the early nineties. I also suggest visiting the following websites...



Muxtape
A site for creating and sharing mixtapes on the internet


Love Is A Mix Tape Official Site


Art Of The Mix
A site for submitting and sharing mixtapes


Mix Tape - Wikipedia entry
This is a great entry detailing the history, culture, and enthusiasm surrounding mixtapes

Lost In The Library, Installment 6, Howard Finster: Stranger From Another World

I first became acquainted with Georgian Howard Finster, Baptist preacher turned artist, during my teen years while watching a PBS special dealing with folk artists in Georgia. I loved the undisciplined sincerity of his paintings and sculptures often created with objects from his surroundings, works so opposed to the rules often associated with formal art practices and the confines we are taught regarding artistic merit. Here was a man who captured all the wonderful, but quickly changing, aspects of rural life in Georgia including religion, family, and community life in his own unique way. A trip to the High Museum cemented my love of Howard Finster's art after viewing pieces of his work kept on permanent display. I'm always on the lookout for more Howard Finster sources so the discovery of Howard Finster: Stranger From Another World in the CFL was a welcome find.

The book contains a wealth of photos displaying various paintings and sculptures from Howard Finster's entire life. The accompanying text includes Howard Finster's observations concerning his art, religion, and the world as he saw it. Oftentimes art collections are accompanied by a critic's voice describing an artist's intentions and influences, this collection allows the reader to hear Howard Finster describe his work in a way only someone this unique could. An inscription from Howard Finster's painting number "1000 and 48" is appropriately placed before the title page of this collection. The inscription reads, "I am Howard Finster a stranger from another world. My father and my mother, my sisters and brothers, my wife, my children, my grandchildren have really never figured me out for my kingdom is not of this world. Only my father in heaven knows me on this planet and that's why I have been strong and happy. When my work is finished I will go back to my other world." Howard Finster truly was from a world all his own, a world presented fully by Howard Finster: Stranger From Another World.

In addition to a number of well researched and representative sites listed below, the CFL contains an excellent collection of books detailing outsider and folk art.

- Christopher Bishop

Books of Interest in the CFL Collection:
Flying Free: Twentieth-Century Self-Taught Art From The Collection of Ellin and Baron Gordon
Ellin Gordon
709.73 GORDON

Passionate Visions of the American South: Self-Taught Artists From 1940 To The Present
Alice Rae Yelen
709.75 YELEN

Raw Creation: Outsider Art and Beyond
John Maizels
709.04 MAIZELS

Souls Grown Deep: African American Vernacular Art of the South.
Paul Arnett
Ref. 709.73 SOULS v.1

Websites of Interest:

The Official Homepage of Howard Finster

Howard Finster's Paradise Gardens Park and Museum
"The mission of Paradise Gardens is to restore and preserve the work of folk artist Howard Finster; perpetuating his legacy - promoting education in the arts and providing expansive communityinvolvement, and enrichment through its unique spirit, setting, and message."

The David Leonardis Gallery
"The DLG houses one of the finest collections of Howard Finster pieces in the world, including concrete, shelf pieces, wood cutouts, paintings and prints."

The Outsider Art Pages
A collection of works by various outsider artists

Youtube: Howard Finster's Vision House

Lost In The Library, Installment 5, Kites: Sculpting The Sky by Tsutomu Hiroi

Spring is a time for enjoying beautiful weather while spending time outdoors. Since I was young I've always enjoyed flying kites but never really thought about where they originate from or how I might build one. The CFL's copy of Tsutomu Hiroi's Kites: Sculpting The Sky is an excellent resource for kite enthusiasts, especially those interested in Asian and Japanese kite history and construction. The book begins with a concise history dating the first kites to China around two thousand years ago. The first kites were made of wood and cloth until the invention of paper in China around 105 A.D. Many of the early kites were used for military or scientific purposes due to the knowledge needed to build and fly the contraptions. Around 1000 A.D. the kite became a popular recreational pastime among the Chinese. The popularity of the kite in China caused it to spread to the rest of Asia as a scientific and military tool, and as a leisure outlet. In Europe the first instance of a kite is noted by Hiroi as being 230 B.C. The kite followed a similar path to popularity in Europe as it did in China and Asia.

Hiroi's book is translated from Japanese with a heavy emphasis on the kite's cultural history in Japan. Japan even has multiple contemporary and historical kite centers throughout the country. Hiroi uses images and diagrams extensively to give the reader an idea of the artistry and detail present in kite construction and presentation. The photographs are most extensive when exampling the three types of Japanese kites including the northern which migrated directly from the Asian continent and is examples by the Goto Islands baramon, the south pacific derived Nagasaki hata which is triangular, and the indigenous originating solely in Japan and examples by the Managu.

Hiroi's kite construction section is the highlight of the book with detailed step by step directions and easy to follow diagrams. After a brief introduction concerning aerodynamics Hiroi moves into needed materials and equipment for kite construction including kite line, paper and decorating, frames and glue, and sketching patterns with additioanal ideas included. The step by step portion shows the construction of a box kite, gunya-gunya kite, and building a bamboo frame. There is also a section of what I would call crazy kites including extremely large and ornate examples. The last section of the book examines kites from other parts of the world along with some construction ideas.

If you have an interest in kite flying and construction come by the library for a look at Kites: Sculpting the Sky.

- Christopher Bishop

Websites of Interest:

Google kite directory
Kite links galore

Japanese Kite Collection
Tons of links and images covering the gamut of kite interests

The Drachen Foundation
An organization dedicated to promoting kite culture with excellent links and a bibliography of kite resources

Books of Interest in the CFL Collection:
Wings: A History of Aviation From Kites To The Space Age
Tom D. Crouch
629.13 CROUCH

The Art and Craft of Paper

Faith Shannon

745.54 SHANNON

Lost In The Library, Installment 2, India: Art and Culture, 1300-1900

This week's choice for Carlyle Fraser library's hidden treasure was influenced by the recent Indian art exhibit at Emory's Carlos Museum. Previously, I knew little about Indian art but appreciated the rich colors and detail present in many of the works I had seen. After the exhibit I wanted a collection of images representative of the works on display at Emory. I found such a resource in our library's copy of India: Art and Culture, 1300-1900, a collection of images from New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art which hosted an extensive exhibition of Indian art in 1986. The book features two hundred ninety-six illustrations in vivid detail along with sectional overviews of various periods In India's art history including "The Great Tradition," "Tribe and Village," "The Muslim Courts," "The Rajput World," and "The British Period." The accompanying text also highlights the historical context of the works with rich detail and a comprehensive bibliography. This collection serves as a rich introduction and overview of one of the most beautiful collections of art found in the world.

Websites of Interest:

Indian Circle
Portals for every aspect of Indian art

Art of India
A rich collection of images from various time periods

Books of Interest in the CFL Collection:

Hindu Art and Architecture
George Michell
704.9 MICHELL

Indian Court Painting, 16th-19th Century
Steven Kossak
751.7 KOSSAK

Bishop's Book Speak (Neal Bascomb's Red Mutiny reviewed), Installment 3

The mp3 file above plays Mr. Bishop's podcast review of Neal Bascomb's historical study of the 1905 Russian battleship Potemkin uprising, Red Mutiny. For additional podcast book reviews by Mr. Bishop click here. Red Mutiny is owned by the Carlyle Fraser Library. Additional titles owned by the CFL that may be of interest include:

Blue Latittudes

King Leopold's Ghost

Germs, Guns, and Steel

George Lamplugh "The Book That Changed My Life"

History teacher Dr. George Lamplugh shares his experience with a book that profoundly impacted him.

"Many years ago, in grad school, I was reading the preface to a book about Kentucky politics after the American Revolution and noted that the author had good things to say about Kingsley Amis's Lucky Jim, a novel set in a backwater college in England after World War II. Amis follows the stumbling academic career--and love life-- of the title character, a historian who has very little good to say about either college teaching or historical research. I was so taken by the description of the novel that I found a copy, read it--and laughed myself silly. Then I put it down and forgot about it until I had been at Westminster for a few years.

At that time, the politics of this place were pretty brutal, and each year brought a series of bizarre events. Trying to navigate these conflicts and crises proved very stressful. One summer, anticipating with dread the crazy events the new school year would no doubt have in store for me, I picked up Lucky Jim and re-read it. Once again, I could hardly stop laughing; then it occurred to me that, having experienced in Amis's fictional academic setting a place that made Westminster seem almost "normal" by comparison, I might now be better prepared to return to work in the Fall. And I was! Pleased with the results of this literary therapy, I made it a practice over the next decade or so to re-read Amis towards the end of every summer. It never failed to prepare me to cope with the new school year!"

Thanks to George Lamplugh for sharing this! If you're interested in contributing a post on the topic of "The Book That Changed My Life", please contact Librarian Barker: KimberleyB@westminster.net

Roy Lovell "The Book That Changed My Life"

"The way Jay Leno acquires motorcycles, I acquire books: excessively, unceasingly, unapologetically, driven by some mysterious internal force that aligns me with these particular material objects and hounds me until I possess them. I have boxes and boxes of books in my attic, too many to display, too many to read, yet I keep buying more. Asked to name one "book that changed my life," my first impulse is to compile a lengthy list. But one book, not a list, is requested here. So…

When I was a senior in high school, I was taking physics from a nice gentleman-chemistry major-who had earlier taught me a solid chemistry course. Pressed into service as a physics teacher, and being therefore out of his area of expertise regarding "subject matter knowledge," he was soldiering on, teaching a course that was fairly shallow, uninspired and tentative. Nevertheless, I was intrigued by physics.

Before there was internet commerce, there were (and in some places, still are) used bookstores-places where, for the price of one new book, one could walk away with an entire armful of "finds." It was in such a place I found a little paperback that had been published in 1946. The title page identified the author as a "professor of theoretical physics" (whatever that was) named George Gamow. The book was called One, Two, Three…Infinity. This book opened up a whole new world for me, heretofore undreamed of-the world of advanced mathematical and scientific reasoning. In this book, I encountered for the first time, expressed in lively, lucid prose, numerous mathematical and scientific ideas that have continued, ever since, to puzzle, amaze, and challenge me: Cantor’s transfinite arithmetic, Euler’s imaginary numbers, "pure" vs. "applied" mathematics, number theory, "geometry without measure" (i.e., topology), "curved space," "four-dimensional distance," relativity of spacetime, presocratic atomism, subatomic particles other than protons, neutrons and electrons, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle, Bohr’s Complementarity Principle, quantum superposition, matter waves, positive electrons (i.e., antimatter), cosmic ray showers, nuclear fission and fusion, "atom smashers," entropy, absolute zero, statistical fluctuations, the "riddle of life," the galaxy of stars, the universe of galaxies, stellar evolution, the expanding universe, and the cosmic singularity, to name a few.

I asked my physics teacher to explain some of these topics to me, but he only shrugged and said he didn’t know about any of that. At that time I resolved to learn about these things, and I am still doing so. Along the way I acquired a passion for the work of passing on the profundities of math and physics to the next generation. I am still doing that too. The book is yet in print from Dover Publications, though the enclosed photo depicts the original cover."

Many thanks to Roy Lovell for sharing this experience with us. If you're interested in writing a post about a book that changed your life, please contact Librarian Barker: KimberleyB@westminster.net

Maggie Davis "The Book That Changed My Life"

Art Department Chair Maggie Davis shares several books.

"There are three books that had a lasting impact on my life. Two revolve around water, one released the writer within.

The Phantom Deer, author escapes me. I was about 10 when I checked it out of the Sayville Public Library on eastern Long Island, my refuge from home. I checked it out because there was a hand colored photograph of the Seven Mile Bridge in the Florida Keys. The bridge spans seven miles over the most beautiful azure blue water I had ever seen. The story was captivating, about a young boy who finds an orphaned Key deer and raises it then releases it. The word images of the Florida Keys captured my imagination. I thought they must be the most perfect place on earth and it set up a longing to go there one day. Which of course I did, long after the book had been returned and I had grown up.

Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea. I was in my 20's when I read it. Having grown up on Great South Bay and the north Atlantic, spending time with my father fishing on the rock jetties on Fire Island, Hemingway's description of the struggle of this fisherman rang true for me as a young person. The story recognized the power of nature and the fragility of life, something that has been a life theme in my work as an artist.

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg (just celebrated 20th anniversary of the publication of this book). I collect books about writing but never thought I was a writer until I read Nate's book. Read it cover to cover on a flight from Miami to New York City. When I got off the plane I knew I wanted to be a writer. I took the book with me to the Metropolitan Museum and followed her writing practice while sitting in the Temple of Dendur. I spent the day writing in different rooms of the msuseum, stopping only when my stomach was growling loud enough to be noticed by passers-by. That book led me to study with Natalie in New Mexico on a sabbatical 2004-05. I started a writing group using her technique. We self-published a small volume of stories and poetry called " Evenings at Lily's". Lily was my white standard poodle who listened patiently to all the many stories that unfolded in my living room that winter and spring.

And then there is A Death in Venice by Thomas Mann; The Time it Takes Falling Bodies to Light by William Irwin Thompson and many more "change my life books", books that kept me breathing when I didn't really want to. To this day I still look forward to bedtime when I can curl up with plump pilows, soft light and the "I can't wait to get back to that book" on my night stand (currently The Prince of the Marshes, Rory Stewart which I will donate to the library when I am finished)."

Many thanks to Maggie Davis for sharing her thoughts with us. If you're interested in writing a post about The Book That Changed Your Life, please e-mail Librarian Barker: KimberleyB@westminster.net

Book Review Beret-- Episode 3-- "Breakfast with Buddha"

Librarian Barker reviews "Breakfast with Buddha" by Roland Merullo. She likes it, she really likes it!

Book Review Beret, Episode 2, Pandora's Daughter

Kimberley reviews Iris Johansen's monumental waste of time, Pandora's Daughter.

Bishop's Book Speak (Michael Ondaatje's Divisidero reviewed), Installment 2

The mp3 file above plays Mr. Bishop's podcast review of Michael Ondaatje's book Divisidero. For additional podcast book reviews by Mr. Bishop click here. The book is owned by the Carlyle Fraser Library. Books owned by the CFL that may be of additional interest include:

The English Patient

A Thousand Splendid Suns

The Yiddish Policeman's Wedding

Water For Elephants

Bishop's Book Speak (Brad Meltzer's Identity Crisis reviewed), Installment 1

The mp3 file above plays Mr. Bishop's podcast review of the graphic novel Identity Crisis. For additional podcast book reviews by Mr. Bishop click here. The book is owned by the Carlyle Fraser Library. Other books owned by the library that may be of interest include:

Green Lantern: Rebirth
Superman On The Couch: What Superheroes Really Tell Us About Ourselves and Our Society
Eternals
The Sandman Presents Thessaly: Witch For Hire
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: A Novel

An Old Timer's Lit Picks, Installment 1

The CFL's Jane Vickers reviews the book So Big by Edna Ferber. Click here to access the podcast from podomatic.com.

For more books with a glimpse of American life in the past I suggest O Pioneers and My Antonia by Willa Cather.

Book Review Beret, Episode 1, Ghostwalk

Features a review of Ghostwalk, by Rebecca Stott.