My Secret Vice

December 13, 2007

I made a mistake a few months back and bought a cheese grater from Williams-Sonoma on the internet. Now they have my address and have been shipping me catalogs. I am about to go nuts. We have a modest amount of discretionary money, certainly not enough to peruse their catalog with credit card in hand. It is like putting Imelda Marcos in charge of the shoe department in Saks. I would love to get my hands on one of their knives…just one, not even a whole $3000 set.

I love to eat and cook as well, not so much the cleaning up though. I will try most anything once, even rattlesnake. When we went on our cruise in Feb, the waiter knew that when he wanted to push something weird, to ask me first. I have an adventurous palate, although I draw the line at organ meat.

I just read Garlic and Sapphires, by Ruth Reichl, and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I came away thinking that most New Yorkers eat liver and sweetbreads and brains on a regular basis. Otherwise I believe I would eat anywhere with her. She liked to eat in dives, and I have found some of the best food in dives, in fact, Andy’s Shrimp in Hawaii was basically a take out stand made from a decommissioned delivery van, and that was the best meal I have ever had. I was sad because we really weren’t hungry, and it only cost about $5 or $10. I actually found a friend who had eaten there, but another friend tried to find it recently, and it seems to have closed. What a loss.

On a recent trip to Colorado, someone took me to Whole Foods. I am considering moving closer, so I can shop there. The cheese selection alone boggles the mind. Once again, it is probably just as well. By the way, Williams-Sonoma has a cheese of the month club…Now I am not pregnant any more and I can enjoy it with wine too!

So now I get a catalog tempting me with all sorts of wonderful (and for Nebraska, unusual) things to taste, and cook with. I keep the catalog between the mattress and box springs on my side of the bed. It seems like the most appropriate place to store it

All I Want for Christmas

December 6, 2007

This looks to be a long night, Baby Zach is wanting to be loved, and definitely not wanting to sleep.

Today we went to a party where Santa made an appearance.  Lydia told me it was a guy in a costume, not the real Santa.  I told her not to spoil it for anyone else.  All three of ’em sat on his lap and enjoyed it.  Zach slept, looking back on it, maybe I should have got him up for the occasion.  Since we don’t get Nickelodeon or Disney or anything like that, my kids are at a loss as for what they “should” want for Christmas.  Lydia asked for a train engine to pull her Daisy train car around, and her own set of tracks, the second part is not likely to happen, but maybe we can add to what we already have.  Sarah asked for, get this, a goldfish.  I am thinking we can swing a goldfish, not sure where to hide him though.  I really should get a satellite dish.  Santa had a gift for each child, we got Connect 4, Chutes and Ladders, and Memory. 

Three new games inspired me to clean out the game closet.  We have a zillion games, and didn’t have any of those we received.  I found all sorts of things, the hat from our Monopoly game and the missing piece from the Barbie puzzle which has been lost since Kari put it together 10 years ago.  I got rid of some games that the step-kids have received.  I moved them to a less accessible closet.  The games fit in their two shelves like one of those puzzles where you have to put the tiles in the right order by sliding them around.  Only I can get anything out of the closet.  I did leave the Jenga and Dominoes towards the front, because those are favorites to use as blocks.

My husband did a lousy job of shopping for my birthday present this year.  I am not a huge snob about getting gifts, but when someone says, “I need ideas, and it has to be something I can get between 9 and 10 on Sunday morning” you know you are in for something special.  Especially when your birthday is Tuesday.  I made him go though, because I made a big deal about gift shopping for him with the kids.  His b-day was Friday of the same week mine was.  I got a notepad with flowers on it.  I had asked for stationery, like what I could use for thank yous and such, but I guess I will just use a plain envelope.  Today I looked through my Williams-Sonoma catalog, and circled a few things, (I am hoping for the knife) and wrote “Christmas Ideas” on the cover with a magic marker then left it on his dresser.  If they have overnight shipping, I guess I could come out ok this Christmas.  I still don’t know what to get him though.  At least I am thinking about it now.

Algorithms and book groups

January 3, 2023

One of my readers, a book group member, felt the urge to write a guest column after reading my column about algorithms a couple of weeks ago. You may read it below in quotations, followed by my comments.

“Another thing algorithms do is feed you suggestions about more of what you just read. If you read a news article, you will get suggestions about more of what you read. Therefore you are not exposed to a variety of ideas or opinions, only more information that reinforces the opinion you already hold. So much for social media.

Which brings up the idea of book clubs. Many, many members of book clubs, including Food for Thought, at Gering Public Library say, ‘I joined this book club to read books that I wouldn’t ordinarily choose.’ There is a wide variety in the selections. Not everyone enjoys every book. Some admit they didn’t finish the month’s book. But many times people admit they really liked the book and would never have chosen it off the shelf. They are often happy to have found a new author’s works to explore.

Book clubs monthly offerings are usually chosen from lists made up by members who have read or want to read a book, suggestions from the library staff, or books currently being discussed by the public. Some are long (January reading), some are short (maybe during November), some are nonfiction and some are fiction with discussable characters and situations. But there is always something to talk about by people interested in lively discussion. 

An algorithm choosing similar books would not satisfy the intellectual curiosity of this book club.”

On the topic of books people might not choose on their own, I want to share a story. The Food for Thought group read “Far From the Tree: parents, children, and the search for identity” by Andrew Solomon. Solomon discusses how children are different from their parents. He covers topics such as mental illness, deafness and a variety of other physical conditions. Other chapters involve children who become prodigies, or criminals, or were conceived in rape. This book has nearly 700 pages, and each chapter stands alone. I suggested that book group members find a chapter or two that appealed to them and then be prepared to discuss what they read. It was an opportunity to learn about things we were curious about, like transgendered people.

After the discussion one of the book group members discovered that a close relative had been diagnosed with a condition that was covered in the book. She checked out “Far From the Tree” again to read that particular chapter. She would not have selected this book from the shelf for her personal reading. If she hadn’t been in our book group, she would have had no idea that sort of information was available.

Algorithms have made our lives easier, but relying on them too much limits our knowledge, our choices, and ultimately our experiences.

Why adults read children’s books

January 17, 2023

I just finished reading a teen book from 2018, “Darius the Great is Not Okay” by Adib Khor­ram. Darius lives in Portland, OR. His mother is Iranian and his father is “Teutonic,” but Darius doesn’t feel like he belongs to either culture. He is struggling to make friends at school and also to connect with his father. The things that are easy for Darius are tea and Star Trek. When his grandfather in Iran becomes ill, Darius’ family travels to spend some time with his mom’s family in Yazd, Iran. 

I love to learn things, and this book had me on my phone pulling up images of various places in the Yazd area as well as reading up on Zoroastrianism and Baha’i. I learned about tea and a lot of different Iranian food dishes too. I love the crunchy rice you can order at some restaurants, but I didn’t know what it was called or how to make it. When I read this book I learned it is called ‘tah dig,’ and I found a recipe online. I also plan to try ‘sekanjabin,’ a minty drink which can also be used as a dip for lettuce leaves.

Darius worries about being able to communicate with his family in Iran, and what it will be like to meet his grandparents in person for the first time at age 14. He finds connections with his grandparents as well as finding a hidden talent. He even makes a friend.

“’Everyone wants you here. We have a saying in Farsi. It translates ‘your place was empty.’ We say it when we miss somebody.’

I sniffed.

‘Your place was empty before. But this is your family. You belong here.’”

A couple of our adult patrons are big fans of childrens’ books.  I asked each of them why they read childrens’ and teen books. Both of them are retired teachers.

“In a well written children’s book, you always learn something. Authors make it a point to write information into books that are part of the story. Something that doesn’t feel like learning, so you absorb information in an easy way that doesn’t feel like a schoolbook.” 

My second reader said when she was a teacher, she read a lot of picture books and she felt like she missed out by not reading many chapter books at this time. She likes the historical aspect of many children’s books.”They are good, with good morals and they’re often funny. What more can you ask for? Kids build friendships and do adventurous things.”This reader looks for a catchy title, but also takes recommendations. She also mentioned that she isn’t up for reading a 500 page book any more when she can read a good story in two or three hours.

“Darius the Great” hit all of the points these readers brought up. I learned about Iranian culture, religions, food and some history too. Travel to another country is always an adventure, and Darius made a close friend while in Yazd.

Reading children’s books isn’t a sign you aren’t a serious reader- a good book is a good book. If you want to try out a teen book, I would recommend “Darius the Great is Not Okay,” located in the teen section of the Gering Library. Most of the children’s book award winners including the Newbery Award, and the Golden Sower selections are well-written and interesting. In the children’s section I recommend “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate” by Jacqueline Kelly.

Wikipedia

January 24, 2023

I was watching TV the other night and was reminded of a book I read years ago. It was a mystery with a female investigator who I think was a rabbi. I typed some search words into my phone and lo and behold, Wikipedia had a page called “List of female detective characters.” How handy! I narrowed it down to two possibilities. Nowhere else in the world could I find a list like this. Thanks, Wikipedia!

Wikipedia has another side though.While anyone can add a page consisting of a list of female detective characters in popular culture, anyone can edit Wikipedia pages. According to Wikipedia, “Editing most Wikipedia pages is not very difficult at all. Simply click on the “edit this page” tab at the top of a Wikipedia page (or on a section-edit link). This will bring you to a new page with a text box containing the editable text of the original page.”

While researching this column, I came across several Wikipedia pages about articles Wikipedia themselves believes might be hoaxes and those that have been proven to be hoaxes. You can follow links to the decision-making process editors used, for example, “Strong delete – Not only is this not notable, but I have strong suspicions that this may be a hoax (and who knows why the article has been in existence for 12 years!)”

 In 2009 a couple of college students made a handful of edits to the Amelia Bedelia Wikipedia page after a night of partying. They mentioned that the character was based on a maid from Cameroon and that the author, Peggy Parish, had an extensive hat collection. Those changes remained on the Amelia Bedelia page until the author found it quoted in 2014. The amateur editor admitted what he had done on social media.Wikipedia swiftly banned him from editing pages. By then the fake facts had been cited in everything from social media, to lesson plans, to book reports. 

Nobody claims that a published encyclopedia is error free. The difference between these two sources of information is the motives of the editors making the mistakes. Encyclopedia errors tend to be oversights that fact checkers missed in the editing process. Wikipedia errors are often meant to be either funny or malicious.

I found a “Bored Panda” article about 64 noteworthy Wikipedia edits. At one point, the Thermodynamics page stated, “The first law of thermodynamics is do not talk about thermodynamics.”

Malicious editing is sometimes called revenge editing. Several years ago Wikipedia changed its editing policies for the pages of people who are still alive to prevent malicious editing. In the past, actor Jeremy Renner has been listed as a velociraptor. Actor Karen Gillen, of Dr Who fame, was said to have had 68 children, and Singer Solange was listed as Jay Z’s 100th problem. Many people have been listed as dead on their pages when they were still alive.

The temptation to edit Wikipedia remains though. At one point some local high school students edited the Gering, Nebraska Wikipedia page. When the school administration found out the changes were deleted.

Rather than using Wikipedia as a source, you can scroll to the bottom where the original sources are located. Click on them to find links to the original information. However, it’s wise to keep in mind that nobody maintains the links, or regularly updates Wikipedia pages. Just because it’s posted on Wikipedia doesn’t mean the information is still current. I found outdated information and broken source links on some of the author pages I recently viewed.

It took me several weeks to write this article because I kept going down Wikipedia wormholes. All those links to more information! Please use Wikipedia responsibly. Think of it as amateurs providing information to amateurs, or like a Yelp review. Fun to read, but not necessarily reliable. Wikipedia is useful to a point, but you can often find better online resources, some are even available through your local library. 

None of this would have happened if Prince were alive

February 7, 2023

The title of Carolyn Prusa’s book caught my eye, “None of This Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive.” Ramona has a lot on her plate. It’s 2016 and Hurricane Matthew is headed towards Savannah, Georgia.  She is juggling a new job and family responsibilities. When shows up at home early, she discovers her husband with another woman.

With Matthew looming and her heart and mind in chaos, Ramona packs up her two children, a neighbor kid and the class hamster, Clarence Thomas, and evacuates. From there she makes the kind of decisions someone who is in shock would make. While her decisions may seem ill-advised, that is how your brain works when your life has turned upside down.

The main story happens in present time, but the timeline shifts back through Ramona’s college memories and the early years with her husband as well. This serves to give the reader more perspective on Ramona’s relationship with her husband as well as what she was like before the book takes place. Here Ramona reflects on her job as project manager:

“I don’t miss painting. I’m not resisting a desire burning under my skin to create; sitting at a computer doesn’t feel like wearing a straitjacket….

What I do miss, maybe: the way making art made me feel-capable, resourceful, peaceful.

Without art, I feel like I can’t make anything happen. Like I can’t make something beautiful.” 

I don’t have any way of knowing if the details about Savannah are accurate, but the author lives in the area, and the details feel real.

While this book tackles heavy subjects, it was a quick and light read. I think readers of Sophie Kinsella, Jennifer Weiner and Laurie Gelman might enjoy “None of this Would Have Happened if Prince Were Alive” by Carolyn Prusa. You can find this book on the new book shelf at the Gering Library.

The Library: a fragile history

February 7, 2023

When I go on vacation, I like to visit libraries. It’s interesting to see how different communities provide this service to their constituents. Knowing this, a friend loaned me a book called “The Library: a fragile history” by Andrew Pettegree and Arthur der Weduwen. I learned a lot in this book, and I wanted to share some of it with you. 

Fernando Colon (son of Christopher Columbus) had an extensive library. He was one of the first to put books on shelves with the spines facing out. Prior to that (and because the idea didn’t catch on, for quite a while afterwards) books were often stored flat in trunks or cupboards.

When writing about the large book collections that private citizens like Thomas Jefferson accumulated, the authors said, “One man’s passion project would be nothing but a burden to those to whom the responsibility of curation was passed on.”

Many precious books and libraries have been destroyed in wars, starting even before Caesar burned Alexandria, Egypt. Although Belgium was neutral during WWI, the Germans burned the university library at Louvain. The Treaty of Versailles required Germany to replace the books they had destroyed in Louvain, and the Germans did so within three years. Less than 20 years later they destroyed the Louvain library again. WWII was hard on libraries, not only were the Nazis burning books in the streets, both the Allies and the Axis bombed libraries throughout Europe. Many libraries and private book collections on both sides were destroyed.

I also learned why “Middlemarch” by George Eliot is so doggone long. England in the 1800s didn’t have any state-supported public libraries, but lots of literate citizens who couldn’t afford books. Entrepreneur Charles Mudie formed a private circulating library in the 1850s. He stocked a large number of books then charged an annual subscription of one guinea per year. A single book at that time cost around a guinea. Mudie would then charge a penny per checkout. 

Through this business model, he created a near monopoly in the fiction market. He would purchase 1,500 copies of a new book by a popular author to lend to his customers in London. By the end of the 1800s Mudi’s collection contained over seven million books. Because he purchased so many books, publishers catered to him, and sought authors who could meet his writing requirements.

Popular fiction authors of that time included Dickens, Eliot, Thackery and Disraeli. Mudie looked for books that were 200,000 words in length, which adds up to around 700 pages. (Think “Moby Dick.”) Most popular novels today are around 300 pages. These titles were published in a three-volume format, so to read the entire book, you had to check out three separate volumes, at a penny a checkout. According to Pettegree and der Weduwen, authors struggled to fill the second volume and often resorted to inserting “a convoluted (though chaste) love story between two marginal characters in the novel’s middle passage.” 

This is just a tidbit of the information I found in the 400 pages of “The Library: a fragile history.” The Gering Library does not have this particular book- but you can find “The Library Book” by Susan Orleans on the shelves, and it covers some of the same material. If you would like to read “The Library: a fragile history” we can order it through interlibrary loan.

We think of libraries as free, but through the ages, libraries have rarely been free to the public. Early libraries were restricted to the owners, either religious orders or wealthy private citizens. Books were expensive to make but useless to those who could not read and those who had different political or religious ideas. Without community champions, libraries can fall prey to political pressures, apathy, and societal conflict.

“It is the randomness of books, of taste and curiosity that ensures that libraries remain a place where a broad cross-section of society can drop in, wander, browse, and leave when they like. It is the randomness that marks out the library from other public shared space; and the search for something uplifting, whatever it may be.”

Paperback books

February 1, 2023

I discovered one of my favorite authors in the Omaha airport. No, I didn’t see Alex Kava waiting for a plane in the terminal. A clerk at Hudson News and Gifts recommended “A Perfect Evil.” “The author is from Nebraska, and her character, Maggie O’Dell, is so tough- I want to be just like her!” I bought the paperback and read it on the plane-and every spare moment on my vacation.

Paperbacks were invented due to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Hardback books were expensive to produce and difficult to market. While looking for something to read on the train, Allen Lane came up with the idea for paperback books. He could print quality books with a lower production cost in a portable size. In 1935 Lane launched Penguin books in England. Penguin books featured distinctive colored covers which coordinated with the contents. Orange books were fiction, blue was for nonfiction and green for mysteries. 

The first paperback books published included The Mysterious Affair at Styles by Agatha Christie, Madame Claire by Susan Ertz, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, Poets Pub by Eric Linklater, Carnival by Compton Mackenzie, Ariel by Andre Maurois, Twenty-Five by Beverly Nichols, The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy Sayers, Gone to Earth by Mary Webb, and William by E.H. Young. 

You probably recognize some of these titles and authors. These books were reprints of popular hardback books of the time. The success of paperbacks stems from the fact that they are published after the hardback books have come out. Lane marketed his paperbacks not in bookstores, but train stations, newsstands and department stores across the UK. 

In 1939, U.S. publisher Robert de Graff launched Pocket Books. His first title was “The Good Earth” by Pearl S. Buck. Pocket Books used colorful illustrations on their covers to attract readers. In the U.S. Penguin marketed their books in bookstores. de Graff distributed his books to newsstands, subway stations and drugstores to reach populations Penguin was missing.

During WWII soldiers appreciated the portability of paperbacks. According to the Saturday Evening Post, one soldier had picked up “Death Comes for the Archbishop” by Willa Cather, thinking it was a murder mystery (it is not). Upon having finished it in his foxhole, “he discovered, to his amazement, that he liked it anyway.”

Paperback books come in a couple of different sizes. The smaller books are called mass-market paperbacks. They measure 6.75″or 7″X 4″. These are often reprints of popular titles.  The font is smaller and the paper is lower quality than trade paperbacks. Some varieties of books, like romance, are often published only as paperbacks. You are likely to find mass-market paperbacks for sale in a supermarket, newsstand or airport. They are distributed by magazine wholesalers.

Trade paperbacks measure 8.25″X 5.25″ They have the same size of print as hardback books and are more often sold in bookstores. Trade paperbacks are distributed by book wholesalers. The idea was never for paperbacks to replace hardback books, but to make books more affordable. Libraries are more likely to purchase trade paperbacks to add to their collections because they are constructed of better materials and are likely to last longer.

In the 1930s, paperbacks were about the price of a pack of cigarettes. Since then, paperback book prices have gone up faster than cigarettes, but they are still affordable, and readily available to travelers. One nice thing about traveling with paperbacks is you don’t have to worry about misplacing them. On my last vacation, I bought “The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race” by Walter Isaacson at the airport. I had a lot of airplane time, and this 530 page book was just the ticket.

Newbery and Caldecott Awards

February 21, 2023

I made a goal for myself in 2010 to read all of the Newbery Award books. The American Library Association (ALA) awards the Newbery Medal “to the author of the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.” You might recognize some classics like, “A Wrinkle in Time” by Madeleine L’Engle, and “Holes” by Louis Sachar. My idea was not to read them all in one year. The Newbery award was first presented in 1922 and has been awarded to 101 books as of 2023. Three years ago I buckled down and finished reading the last of them, so now I only have to read one a year to stay on top of things. 

This year’s Newbery went to “Freewater” by Amina Luqman-Dawson. Our Youth Services Librarian, Miss Kira assured me she ordered it and it’s on its way, so I haven’t read it yet, but according to Kirkus, 

“Twelve-year-old Homer and his little sister, Ada, become separated from their mother as they attempt to flee enslavement on the Southerland plantation. They are rescued by Suleman, who takes them deep into the Great Dismal Swamp, where they join Freewater, a community of people who successfully fled from slavery and children who were born there…. Set in a fictional community but based on real stories of those who fled slavery and lived secretly in Southern swamps, this is detailed and well-researched historical fiction.”

The ALA awards the Caldecott to “the most distinguished American picture book for children.” The award goes to the illustrator, not the author. Knowing our dog is skittish and nervous, Miss Kira gave me “Hot Dog” written and illustrated by Doug Salati to read. It was an interesting look at mental health and personal care (how to relax) from the viewpoint of a dog. A woman is running errands in a big city with her dog. The dog becomes overwhelmed with the noise, the heat and the busy-ness of the day. When he sits down and refuses to go any further, the woman hails a cab and takes the dog to the beach where he runs around and unwinds. The art is charming and I think kids could place themselves in the dog’s position and sympathize with what he is going through. Miss Kira said, “I love the art in this book, I was so happy it won.” 

Only one author has won both the Newbery and the Caldecott. In 1941 Robert Lawson won the Caldecott for “They Were Strong and Good,” and in 1945 he won the Newbery for “Rabbit Hill.” Some of the classics don’t stand the test of time, and I would include “They Were Strong and Good” in this group. Writing about your family history is a great idea, even if your family did some less than honorable things. When your ancestors owned slaves and fought for the South, calling them “Good” just doesn’t stand the test of time. 

Of the 100 + Newbery winners, only a handful of them were clunkers, so I think most award winning books do stand the test of time. I have started making my way through the Caldecott winners. The Caldecott was first awarded in 1938, so I have fewer books to read, and they are picture books, so most of them are pretty short. I enjoy reading children’s books, and I have already read 25 so I only have 60 left to read. 

Mexico

I have two stories that I think are Moth-worthy. This is the first.

When I was eleven my parents decided to take us to Mexico for Christmas. If you are picturing snorkeling, you are mistaken. My mom’s parents lived in Tampico, which is on the eastern coast and is considered the Beaumont, Texas of Mexico, with an economy based on oil refineries and tire plants rather than tourism.

We packed our suitcases with clothes for three different seasons since we were driving. I know we had a car of some sort, probably a little station wagon, but for some reason Dad wanted to take the pickup. Toyota had come out with a small pickup which would seat two people somewhat uncomfortably, and he was excited to take his on a road trop.

Dad’s idea was that he would get a fan to blow the heat from the front of the pickup through the back window into the bed where John and I would be riding. Believe it or not, kids riding in the back of a pickup on the highway was legal at that time. He borrowed a topper from someone, filled up an air mattress and threw in a couple of sleeping bags. We were off.

The day we left on our 1600 mile journey, the high was around 30. My brother and I complained of being cold and Dad told us to be quiet. He hadn’t thought his heating plan out very thoroughly, but John and I found the flaws pretty fast.

  1. Dad is a big guy, and it doesn’t take much heat for him to be warm. When he was warm, he shut the heat off in the cab so he wouldn’t be uncomfortable.
  2. The topper was not insulated.
  3. Air doesn’t hold heat, so our air mattress and the uninsulated topper meant our conditions were the same as riding in the bed of a pickup in December, except we were out of the wind.

It was so cold my brother and I couldn’t even muster the energy to fight. We huddled in our sleeping bags breaking snotscicles off our noses until we hit the middle of Texas.

I recently spoke to all of my family members about this trip. John said, “I just remember the endless cold.” Mom said, “Oh, it’s not like you were the first people to ride from Nebraska to Mexico in the back of a pickup.” That may be, but we might have been the last. When I asked Dad, he got misty eyed and said, “I was worried about the quality of the diesel I would find in Mexico.” Nobody knew why we had taken the pickup instead of a car.

We always got books for Christmas. That year I read mine on the way home. They were about a girl named Laura whose father often traveled with the whole family, in a covered wagon.

Since then, I have traveled a lot, my parents both still like to travel, and my brother has probably filled two passports, so I guess what didn’t kill us made us adventurous.

We still have that darn pickup.