Any friend of the Public Library is a friend of ours, which is why we’re friends of the Friends of the Public Library. Not to mention I can’t tell you the number of times some keen-eyed Mercantile Library patron has called me from the awesome paradise of used books The Friends run (as pictured to the right from the New York Times on Dec. 27th) to request whether we’d like this or that, including mid-1800s publications of Ye Olde Young Mens’ Mercantile Library Association. Imagine, therefore my delight to find The Friends featured in an article about the great debate raging across America over the plight and changing role of public libraries. The New York Times further encourages readers to join the debate over “Do we still need libraries?” The answer seems pretty obvious, but it makes for an interesting conversation on the civic and cultural life of our fair nation, as well as what we stand to gain or lose by allowing political and economic pressure to turn that bastion of the free exchange of ideas and information into something more akin to a retail bookstore. Talk amongst yourselves. -Ed Scripsi
Friends of the Public Library in the NY Times
Weekend Reading for Slackers: Shameful end to the year
Still stinging from the discovery that The Power Broker was unavailable to download to the Kristmas Kindle Fire (and what a sweet piece of machinery that is) we lugged home the slightly smaller An Instance of the Fingerpost in book form, having been reminded in a conversation with the Elusive Screenwriter how we liked The Dream of Scipio better than 99.5% of all the literary novels we have plowed through in our slacker life. (Elusive Screenwriter was the first of our circle to realize how right we were to recommend The Ascent of the A-Word, by the way, Tweeting about it before he had made it through the first chapter). To our great irritation the Fingerpost failed to grab as quickly as we were hoping. Fortunately when we whined about our disappointment, Mrs Wolfe was nearby and able to point to Don Winslow’s The Kings of Cool which we had brought home and forgotten and which we were able to read in the time it takes our constipated toaster oven to do its number on an English muffin, soon to be a banned substance as we plunge into The South Beach Diet. Niftily set in Orange County, Winslow territory might turn out to be sort of a reliable suburban commute from CraisConnellyJeffersonLand. That will be handy.
-Nemo Wolfe
“There is a pretty good car chase and a lot of very bad dialogue… Nearly every conversation is stilted and lame, laden with the kind of repartee that might strike you as witty if you had no sense of humor.”
We at Stacked are huge fans of scathing reviews. Furthermore, our editorial position has been one of extreme skepticism regarding the ability of the diminutive Tom Cruise to convincingly play Lee Child’s 6′ 5″, 200 lbs+ Jack Reacher. So, it is with great pleasure that I link to A. O. Scott’s review of the new film Jack Reacher.
In the interest of balance, though, note that Stacked is HUGELY in favor of Werner Herzog cashing in whenever possible. So there’s that, at least.
-Norm De Plume
A Childish mistake
We were at the dermatologist to assess the damage from a largely unscreened lifetime when our dermatologist jumped straight into Serious Book Talk, something that our other doctors feel free to do, never noticing or caring that we do not bill them for our professional literary assessments. The dermo was in a swivet about the bizarre casting of squeaky-voiced small but perfectly formed filmstar Tom Cruise as author Lee Child’s six foot six two hundred fifty pound defender of oppressed small Midwestern towns Jack Reacher. The doc, a thriller fan, had, like us, read all of the Childs. We said we were seriously concerned. The dermo said he had been in a cinema with about twelve other slackers when the trailer for the Reacher film came on. When he realized what Hollywood had done he let out an audible groan that was seconded by an even louder and more anguished moan from several rows back. Mr Child seems not to be distressed, but we don’t trust his judgments. He will blurb anyone who hands in a manuscript.
-Nemo Wolfe
eReaders at the Merc
We’ve added a couple of eReades to our collection, and so far, patrons seem to like them. We went with Barnes and Nobles’ “Nook Simple Glow” and so far, both devices are loaded with Killing Lincoln by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard (it should be noted that this book has come under fire for a number of historical inaccuracies that allegedly contribute to conspiracy theories), The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green, as well as January’s First Wednesday discussion book, The Enormous Room, by E.E. Cummings, although the edition we have loaded on our Nooks, from gutenberg.org, doesn’t include Cumming’s sketches, or translations of the French phrases that occur throughout the text. We encourage you to come check out our Nooks and let us know what books you’d like to read on them. -Ed Scripsi
Employment opportunity
Wanted: Busy Librarian/baby caretaker who doesn’t have time to take on 1,300 page books seeks someone to read Robert Caro’s The Power Broker aloud each evening while he, the Librarian, changes diapers, cleans bottles, and shuffles around the house in a sleep-deprived stupor. Applicant should have just a totally dulcet voice, as well as the ability to do spot-on Robert Moses, Al Smith, Jimmy Walker, etc. impersonations as required by the text. Availability during 2 a.m. baby soothing sessions is a must.
While this is an unpaid position, you will have the opportunity to read Robert Caro’s The Power Broker, which I understand is an excellent book.
Applications accepted in the comments section below.
-Norm De Plume
Caro Nome et al.
At the 2012 Niehoff Lecture (Seamus Heaney, God bless him) a hint was floated about the 2013 Lecture. The hint was that the lecturer would have a Dear Name. Several people called the Library to win the pair of tickets to the 2013 Harriet Beecher Stowe Lecture for having solved the puzzling clue. Interestingly, all the callers thought the Library had engaged Kim Il Sung, even though the North Korean despot had long since gone to his reward, so no prize was awarded. The word is out now, announced to the public last week at a gala event where winter spiced mixed nuts were dished up prior to the multi-media extravaganza the Library considers appropriate for its most important happenings. Rather than having anything to do with the man whose life was Gangnam Style before Gangnam Style was cool, “Dear Name” was a direct translation from “Caro Nome” the showstopping aria in Act 1 Scene 2 of Rigoletto. The Lecturer will be Robert Caro. We know. You should have gotten that.
Robert Caro! Only the best historian/biographer in the Western Hemisphere. Possibly on the solar system, Save the date: November 2, 2013.
Watch this space for the rest of the season announcements later this week.
-Nemo Wolfe
“Its time to inject some adrenaline straight into the heartland of this country, in the form of a needle filled with thousands of us nerds.”
It looks like a bunch of big time comic book artists, including Tony Moore (The Walking Dead, Battle Pope, etc.), are Kickstarting a ComiCon right here in Cincinnati. In fact, it looks like it’s already funded (although you can – and should- still contribute).
This is great news, and I imagine something of a big deal. See you there. And no, that won’t a Dr. Who costume I’m wearing. I’m an old timey librarian. I always dress like that.
-Norm De Plume
