Book Talk

January, 2009

We are patiently awaiting the deluge of books that a new budget year brings, but don’t worry, we have still have enough new books to keep you busy.

The author of the popular Reading Lolita in Tehran, has written Things I’ve been Silent About.  Azar Nafisi chronicles her life growing up in Tehran surrounded by secrets, both personal and political.  This is another entry into the excellent body of work by Middle Eastern writers published recently.

When Jordan King was seven months old, his father, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King, was killed by an IED near Baghdad.  He left behind a journal he had written for his son in the event of his death. Dana Canedy, Jordan’s mother, has turned that journal into the story of their lives, together and separately, in A Journal for Jordan: a Story of Love and Honor.

The name Brooke Astor conjures up a fairytale life of wealth and luxury, an American dynasty of privilege.  Three generations of Astors led gilded lives. Brooke was the last, ending her days in a nightmare of law suits and betrayal. Her son was sued by her grandson for  the mistreatment of Brooke, and he was indicted after her death for the looting of her estate. Read about the unraveling of a family in Mrs. Astor Regrets: the Hidden Betrayals of a Family beyond Reproach, by Meryl Gordon.

Another kind of gilded age was created by Florenz Ziegfeld; a man who realized that sex sells and created a show around it. From the powerful biceps of Eugen Sandow to the American beauties clad in little more than a smile, Ziegfeld produced spectacles. Ethan Mordan takes us back to the days of Fannie Brice, W.C Fields, Eddie Cantor and other icons in, Ziegfeld: the Man who Invented Show Business.

Usually when we talk about the lost generation we mean the one between the two world wars, immortalized by Hemingway, but in The Elfish Gene: Dungeons, Dragons and Growing Up Strange, the lost Generation is the 20 million boys who lived in the fantasy world of D&D.  Mark Barrowcliffe recalls his teen years in Coventry, England (and sometimes Middle Earth).

From the male fantasy world of D &D to the male fantasy world of Playboy in Mr. Playboy: Hugh Hefner and the American Dream by Steven Watts. Whether one likes it or not, Hefner has been at the center of several cultural shifts. From the sexual revolution to the Woman’s Rights Movement, the playboy ethic was a catalyst.

Next update I’ll find something for the ladies…

Happy and healthy New Year!

Virginia Cooper
Adult Services Librarian