When Pigs Fly and When Actors Write

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Academy Awards, Celebrity Authors

With the Academy Awards coming up this weekend, many of us are considering the impressive talents of some of Hollywood’s brightest actors.  A trained thespian can take a script and make us laugh, cry, dream, despair, or just generally ponder the state of humanity.  We love them (or we love to hate them) for the characters they portray and the art they’ve mastered.  Many of them are more successful than the rest of us could ever dream to be, but some of them – at least those who win Oscars – seem to deserve acclaim for what they do.

But can they write?

These days it seems every other TV or movie star has attempted to pen her own biography (though she’ll most likely call it a memoir), or even a children’s fiction book.  GoodReads, a social media site for readers, has compiled a list of some of the latest and most popular works by celebrity authors.  Memoirs by Keith Richards, Carrie Fisher, and Tina Fey have enjoyed high status on bestseller lists in recent years, and Steve Martin and Madonna are actually writing fiction.  These books are on this list because they’ve been successful, but do they deserve to be?

Are we reading these authors’ books because of their fame, or because their talent on screen can translate into talent on the page?  As non-Hollywood types, it may be difficult to judge acting talent, but as avid readers we can sure say a few things about books that are worth our time.

Check out some of the latest celebrity books and decide for yourself:

1. Shockaholic by Carrie Fisher;

 

 

 

2. Bossypants by Tina Fey;

 

 

 

3. Life by Keith Richards;

 

 

 

4. An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin.

Brooklyn Hopes to Build a “100 Story House”

It all started with books, of course. Documentary film producer Julia Marchesi saw piles of them, left on Brooklyn brownstone steps, creating an informal book-borrowing system within the borough.

But when she saw a picture in the New York Times of a tree trunk carved out to create bookshelves, Marchesi got the idea for a project that is a continuation of Brooklyn’s book-lending tradition: part public art, part interactive whimsy, with an undeniable creativity built in.

The project is called the 100 Story House, and is a planned mini-brownstone building in Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill Park, which will house a “give-a-book, take-a-book” collection that extends the front-stoop tradition.

Kickstarter, a funding platform for creative projects, is helping to back the project.

100 Story House logo, Design: Leon Reid IV

Valentine’s Day: A Reflection on Love and Insanity

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History, Saint Valentine, Valentine's Day

Valentine’s Day is coming up!  Do you have your gifts purchased?  Your plans made?  A skip in your step and a flutter in your heart?

Or do you plan on closing the blinds and keeping your sanity as safe as your credit card?

A recent Time article lays out the quantities of dollars, time, and effort Americans will spend to impress their loved ones this year.  $17.6 billion will be spent on candy hearts and restaurant bills, and 4 million people will be part of a marriage proposal (some as spectacular as this).  But not everyone jumps for joy on February 14.  Some, in fact, wish for the holiday to be cancelled altogether.  (Well, not really, but it’s a funny way to think about it).

Whether you’re a lover or a cynic, there’s a lot to consider about the history of love and the (often questionable) behavior it inspires.  A particularly sharp entry in the World News Digest almanac sums up the matter of Valentine’s Day very nicely.  (What else did you expect from a librarian?)

Did you know that the modern holiday began way back in Roman times with the festival of Lupercalia?  And that this festival involved animal sacrifices to the god Lupercus and public whippings of celebrants?  (The more lighthearted might be happier to know that this pagan festival also began the tradition of wearing your sweetheart’s name on your sleeve).  The holiday was then claimed by Christians in the third century A.D., when two Romans named Valentine made gallant efforts on behalf of lovers (which were much more family-friendly).  They became martyrs on February 14, 289.

The article goes on to reflect on the subject of love in the arts and popular culture – from Shakespeare to Humphrey Bogart to Princess Diana.  It also provides a rather encouraging bar graph of the rising divorce rate in the United States.

But what kind of librarian am I??  Read!  Read on for yourself.  You know where to come with questions.

Our Fowl Neighbors

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Canada Goose

Anyone who has spent more than 30 minutes in Naperville is already all-too familiar with the Canadian goose.  They’re spread out over every grassy surface.  They form tight perimeters around every pond.  They stop traffic while idly crossing in long, straight lines.  And – oh, please no – sometimes they fly directly over your parked (and freshly washed) car.  Where did they come from?  Why haven’t they flown south?  And why oh why did they pick Naperville?

Well, some of us might actually like our feathered neighbors.  It’s possible.  We don’t judge.

Either way, all we can do here at the Library is learn about them!  (Hey, maybe we’ll learn to love them).  A brief exploration through our online resources can get us to appreciate Naperville’s avian residents a little more:

• Science Online reminds us that geese are related to swans, that they mate for life, and that their feathers stuff our pillows and down blankets;
• The Naperville Sun amuses us with the sheer number of local goose-related articles, and reminds us that goslings are as adorable as all babies;
• Today’s Science teaches us that you can get any goose to fly south if you would only lead the flock in your airplane (Remember Fly Away Home?).

If none of this has charmed you yet, take a look on the shelves at Flights of Fancy by Peter Tate to consider the goose in folklore, or, better yet, The Audubon Society Encyclopedia of North American Birds by John K. Terres.  Nobody admired the bird world more than Audubon.  Through his eyes, the goose is almost elegant.  (I said almost).