Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada

I recently finished reading and highly recommend Every Man Dies Alone by Hans Fallada.  Fallada's this novel detailing resistance by a very ordinary couple to Nazi power. Written in 1947, the book was only recently translated into English.

Fallada was a troubled, but moderately successful German novelist who chose to stay in Germany when many others left, a decision led him to an ambiguous dance with Nazi authorities. In the National's review by Sam Munson - Unlucky Hans - Fallada is described as "vacillating unhappily between rebellion against and co-operation with Hitler's regime."

Fallada's was inspired (if that is the right word) by the true story of Otto and Elise Hampel, who scattered postcards advocating civil disobedience throughout war-time Nazi-controlled Berlin. The story takes the reader inside the the lives of ordinary Germans living under the Nazi regime - and much of it is not pretty: Pervasive fear, exploitation of the weakness of others, informing - not to mention brutal beatings, sadistic torture, and execution by guillotine for those swept up in the regime's system of control.

Comparing Every Man Dies Alone favorably to Thomas Mann's Doktor Faustus, Munson concludes that "The book's treatment of the Gestapo is perhaps the ultimate source of its particular greatness...the dismal everyday that Fallada chronicles so well and so relentlessly: the quantities of booze drunk by the miserable officers, the number of blows delivered in interrogations, the dimensions of prison cells, the colour and details of police and military uniforms, train schedules, back room low-level party meetings. Where Mann might use the police headquarters on the Prinz Albrecht Strasse as a chance to explain the dialectic between modern and medieval German architecture, Fallada sees only petty human evil in action..." 

You can borrow this excellent book from your local library with a short wait at most (there are currently 8 holds for the 111 copies held in the SCLS system). http://www.linkcat.info/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=793764

Photos from Ireland

Mayor Bob sent along these two photos. He knows I am a huge fan of the late author J.G. Farrell, who drowned at the spot shown in in 1979. Farrell authored a smashing trilogy on the British Empire. As described on the NYRB Classics website:

THE SIEGE OF KRISHNAPUR
Introduction by Pankaj Mishra
Farrell’s Booker Prize winning novel takes place in India in 1857, the year of the Great Mutiny.
 
TROUBLES
Introduction by John Banville
It’s 1919 and Ireland is experiencing the mounting violence of “the troubles” while outside the order of the British Empire totters. Troubles was recently awarded the “Lost” Booker Prize.
 
THE SINGAPORE GRIP
Introduction by Derek Mahon
It’s 1939, and the eve of World War II, in this novel that is a love story and a war story as well as a tragicomic tale of a city under siege and a dying way of life.

 

Monona Public Library and the Komen Foundation

From Toni Streckert, Monona's most excellent Outreach Coordinator (at our very own 2010 WLA and SCLS Library of the Year):

For the second year in a row the Monona Public Library was a Komen for the Cure-Madison grantee recipient. Funds (described in detail below) went to support the continuing development of the Susan G. Komen special collection of the Monona Library, as well as to fund related outreach activities. This is a unique opportunity and honor for the library and it recognition of the wonderful work the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation does, we are again forming a library team to Race (or sleep in) for the Cure.




Website Info:

Support the Cure


Support the Monona Library's Susan G. Komen Special Collection

Monona Library has a team in the June 4th Race for the Cure, Madison. We are a 2011 grant recipient from Komen for the Cure - Madison.

http://madison.info-komen.org/site/TR/RacefortheCure/MSN_MadisonAffiliate/2063616982?pg=team&fr_id=2090&team_id=167611

Collection:

Monona Public Library

Monona Library Komen Collection

Monona Public Library will continue to build and enhance the core Susan G. Komen for the Cure special collection of breast health and breast cancer related materials at the Monona Public Library. This unique collection brings together in one place, a wide variety of current high quality materials in multiple formats. The collection includies bilingual materials, children's materials, patient guides, memoirs and autobiographies, cookbooks, nutrition and well-being/movement information, self-care and stress management, and creativity and self-expression materials, parenting (with a serious illness) guides, and CDs , DVDs and audiobooks. The collection is accessible at any SCLS member library (over 50 libraries throughout south central Wisconsin to anyone with a library card). Grant monies will also help to establish rotating satellite collections at the nonprofit cancer patient support organizations, Gilda's Club and Breast Cancer Recovery.

Madison Borders Store is Closing

The Borders bookstore on University Avenue in Madison is closing. Sortable list is here:

http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/st_borders0216_20110216.html

Three other Wisconsin stores are closing. Below is Wisconsin list from court document. (As you can see, the state abbreviation is botched as 'WS' and "W!".)

Milwaukee 101 West Wisconsin Avenue Milwaukee WS 53203


Greendale 5250 S. 76th Street Greendale Wl 53129

Madison 3750 University Ave Madison Wl 53705

Fox Point 8705 N. Port Washington Fox Point W!



 

Book Review: The Ruby in Her Navel

Barry Unsworth’s The Ruby in Her Navel: A Novel truly is a novel of love and intrigue as the dust jacket promises. The book is an erudite historical mystery driven by Unsworth’s superb story-telling skills. It is quite simply one of the very best books I've read in years.

The tale is set in 12th century Sicily during the rule of the Norman kings (said rule was certainly news to me). The Norman King Roger II uses Muslims in some high offices and our heroic protagonist Thurstan works for one of the most highly placed Muslims, Yusuf, ‘Lord of the Diwan of Control' (chief financial office). In 12th-century Palermo, all races and creeds lived and worked in relative harmony and peace. But the Second Crusade has just crashed and there are those who want to end the Muslim influence. (The Second Crusade's chief champion, Bernard of Clairvaux - the guy who nearly crushed Abelard of Heloise and Abelard - was, shall we say unrepentant in the wake of the Crusade's failure.)

The failure of the Crusade also returns to Sicily Lady Alicia, the woman whom Thurstan loved in his early years. Thurstan’s expectations of becoming a knight and Alicia becoming his Lady had been demolished years earlier when his father suddenly gave his land to the Church. Now suddenly she is back and rekindles an improbable love. Alicia, however, is not the most remarkable woman in Unsworth’s tale; that special place is reserved for Nesrin, the dancer with the ruby in her navel.


Christ Crowns King Roger II of Sicily

Unknown Artist

Chiesa di Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio. Palermo (Sicily) (Italy)

12th century


Unsworth delivers layers within layers of intrigue. I was got off guard by the coup de grace – even though after it happened I realized it should have been obvious. The Ruby in Her Navel is historical fiction raised to its pinnacle. Highest recommendation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

***

 
Interview with Unsworth: http://www.kwls.org/lit/kwls_blog/2008/06/intensity_of_ilusiona_conversa.cfm
 
Another Second Crusade link: http://timelines.com/topics/second-crusade
 
Another H & A link: http://classiclit.about.com/cs/articles/a/aa_abelard.htm
and one more: http://www.abelardandheloise.com/Story.html

Bookmarks

I recently hit upon the idea of making bookmarks from images available on the Internet that relate to the subject of the book I'm reading at the time. The project has possibilities, but I have already found they can be more than one bargained for.

I'm reading Zoo Station by David Downing, the first in a series of books featuring an English journalist living in pre-war Berlin. It's an historical spy novel. One of his ways of making ends meet is tutoring German children in English, especially Jewish children. I began looking around for images of identification papers required in Nazi Germany.

Some especially compelling images can be found at German History in Documents and Images (GHDI) "a comprehensive collection of original historical materials documenting German history from the beginning of the early modern period to the present." The website includes a large section on the Nazi period. The materials I used are in the racial politics section. The descriptions are verbatim from the GHDI.


 

Figure 1 Front and Back Covers of a Compulsory Identification Card for Jews, Issued in Berlin (1939)

The “Third Proclamation on Compulsory Identification Cards” [3. Bekanntmachung über den Kennkartenzwang] was issued on July 23, 1938. According to this new regulation, Jews were obliged to apply for an identification card before the end of the year. Starting on January 1, 1939, they were to present this card, without being asked, whenever they visited government offices or had dealings with authorities. In August 1938, the Reich Ministry of the Interior issued a list of officially approved "Jewish" forenames. According to the “Second Decree on the Execution of the Law regarding the Changing of Surnames and Forenames” [Zweite Verordnung zur Durchführung des Gesetzes über die Änderung von Familiennamen und Vornamen] of August 17, 1938, Jews whose names failed to appear on the government-approved list had to adopt either "Israel" or "Sara" as additional forenames. This decree also took effect on January 1, 1939.



 

Inside of a Compulsory Identification Card for Jews, Issued in Berlin (1939)




Aryanization of a Jewish-Owned Business (c. 1938) http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=1945

© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz

The Nazi regime exploited the Jewish population economically through an increasingly systematic program of expropriation. Under pressure, Jewish owners sold their shops, factories, and land to "Aryan" businessmen at prices far below market value. After the Night of Broken Glass [Kristallnacht], the Aryanization of Jewish property entered its final phase. On November 12, 1938, Göring issued the “Decree on the Exclusion of Jews from German Economic Life," according to which Jews were forbidden to own retail stores and workshops and to sell merchandise and services. Jewish businesses were confiscated by the state, closed, or transferred to "non-Jewish" ownership. This photograph shows one such “Aryanized” business, a rubber goods store in Frankfurt am Main. As the sign indicates, the store was formerly called “Gummi Weil” (or “Weil Rubber Goods”), but now went by Stamm & Bassermann, presumably the names of its new “Aryan” owners.

 




Photographer: o .Ang

© Bundesarchiv

Bild 146-1993-051-07

Table of Colored Classification Symbols for Prisoners in Concentration Camps (1939-1942)

http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=3761

In 1935-36, individual commanders of various concentration camps began forcing newly admitted groups of prisoners to wear badges indicating the alleged grounds for their incarceration. Starting in the winter of 1937-38, these classification symbols were standardized for all camps.

Additionally, colors were introduced to differentiate different prisoner groups: red for political prisoners, green for criminals, blue for emigrants, purple for Jehovah’s Witnesses, pink for homosexuals, and black for “asocials” [Asoziale] or “work shirkers” [Arbeitsscheue]. Inmates wore triangles of fabric in the assigned color on their prison uniforms (left side of the shirt, right pant leg) along with their number and any required additional markings (e.g., potential escapee). Jewish prisoners also wore a yellow triangle that formed a Star of David when placed over the other badge (see below). The origin of non-German prisoners was indicated by the first letter of the German name of their native country (e.g., “P” for Polen [Poland] or “T” for Tschechoslowakei [Czechoslovakia], as shown in the photo,). The cynical social Darwinist classification and hierarchical ranking of the prisoners by the SS intensified the competition among prisoners in the daily struggle for survival.

 



© Bildarchiv Preußischer Kulturbesitz

Deportation to Theresienstadt: Air Mail Communication Sent through the Foreign Service of the German Red Cross (September 15, 1942)

http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=1968

In this air mail communication from September 15, 1942, Max Jacobson, a Jewish resident of Leipzig, informs his daughter and son-in-law in New York City of his “departure” for Theresienstadt. Apparently, his daughter had emigrated to the U.S. early enough to avoid the Holocaust. Nothing is known of Jacobson’s fate, but it must be assumed that he was murdered in Theresienstadt. It is unclear how much he knew (or suspected) about his coming fate. Likewise, the question of whether he actually believed that he would see his family again – as he writes in his note – remains open. In many cases, people destined for deportation had no chance to tell their families where they were being sent. Often, relatives only learned of their fate years after the end of the war.

This communication was sent through the foreign service of the German Red Cross, which hid its knowledge of the concentration camps and fell silently in line with the Nazi regime. For this reason, the organization has been strongly criticized in recent historical studies.

Jacobson’s message to his family reads: “Dear Children! Before my departure to Theresienstadt in Bohemia, I send you warm greetings and wish all of you all the best. In the hopes that we will see each other again. Father.”



 The following document, Hitler's "Decree on Euthanasia", is on the University of Minnesota's Center for Holocaust & Genocide Studies website.




http://www.chgs.umn.edu/histories/documentary/hadamar/the_occurrence.html

Adolf Hitler's "decree on euthanasia", Berlin 1939
Written on his private stationary



"Officially "the systematic killing of inmates of psychiatric hospitals in the German Reich began with Hitler's "Decree on Euthanasia ". Mass killing of sick people had, however, taken place before in Pomerania and Western Prussia. The debates on the implementation of the "extermination of life unworthy of life "did not start later than July 1939. Only in October of the same year did Hitler sign the authorisation as a secret decree on his private stationary, thereby evading all legal rules and governmental agencies. Upon his urging, a copy of this document was handed to Dr. Franz Gürtner, Reich Minister of justice, only on 27th August 1940 by T4 leader Philipp Bouhler.

Dating back the "decree" to 1st September 1939 was done on purpose: since the war was also the beginning of the extermination of European Jewry, it was easier to trigger a "campaign" against sick and disabled persons for whom there should be no room in the victorious Reich. The "decree "did not have any legal force. It is true that there were debates on a law concerning "euthanasia in the case of incurably sick persons" until the autumn of 1940. However, the proposal was then rejected by Adolf Hitler who wanted total secrecy in this matter. Although this killing operation was illegal according to Nazi law, the courts - with the exception of a few courageous but unsuccessful judges - did not intervene.

The following image is located at http://www.dpcamps.org/slaveCampsIntro.html, a website about slave laborers in Nazi Germany.




All Ostarbeiters had to have an employment identification document, called an "Arbeitsbuch" (work book) in German. Persons from Ukraine were classified as subhuman or "untermenshen" under Nazi racial ideology. The Ostarbeiters were required to wear the 'OST' sign on the right lapel.

I never did get around to making that bookmark.



Potter Fest Returns to the Monona Public Library - December 29

Potterfest 3

This Wednesday

December 29, 2010
Wednesday 2:30 to 6pm

The Monona Public Library, 2010 Wisconsin Library of the Year, and the Teen Advisory Board present our third annual Harry Potter Fest Saga. Planned and hosted by teens this event is for those in grades 6 to 12. Registration can be done online, by phone: 608-222-6127, or in person 1000 Nichols Road, Monona Public Library.

Potterfest 3

December 29, 2010



Wednesday 2:30 to 6pm

Three Recommendations for History - and One for Laughs

Submitted for your consideration are three books of history. The first two relate to Wisconsin and both involve the UW's Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History William Cronon. The third, being about the decline of British aristocracy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, doesn't.

Wisconsin's Past and Present: A Historical Atlas by Wisconsin Cartographers' Guild with an Introduction by William Cronon. An astonishingly excellent collection of maps. Most of the maps are the creation of six Wisconsin cartographers that are uniquely insightful.

The atlas is particularly strong on ethnic histories. Just an example, the series of maps on the native nations of Wisconsin helped me understand - at last - where the tribes came from and where they lived in Wisconsin.

You can sample the book on Google Books.

(One disappointment is the woefully inadequate & inaccurate assessment of railroads in the state.)

***

Cronon authored my second recommendation:

Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (New York: W. W. Norton, 1991).

I've pitched this book before. It's a great read. It's won just a few prizes.
Bancroft Prize for 1992

Chicago Tribune's Heartland Prize for best non-fiction work of 1991

One of three nominees for the Pulitzer Prize in History, 1992

George Perkins Marsh Prize for 1992 for Best Book in Environmental History published in 1990 or 1991 given by American Society for Environmental History

Charles A. Weyerhaeuser Award for 1993 for the best book in forest and conservation history published in 1991 or 1992 given by the Forest History Society

Award for Outstanding Achievement Recognition to Nature's Metropolis by the Wisconsin Library Association Literary Awards Committee

Honorable Mention for 1992 to Nature's Metropolis in the John Hope Franklin Prize competition, American Studies Association

Geographic Society of Chicago Publication Award for 1991

A review:

http://www.duke.edu/~ekb6/Review,%20Nature's%20Metropolis-3.pdf.

A critical assessment of the book.

A summary of the book.

***

My third offering is The Decline and Fall of the British Aristocracy by David Cannadine. This intensely factual forms around a simple thesis: The British aristocracy plunged from the top of the world primarily because of the collapse of agricultural prices in the 19th century (circa 1880) and secondarily, the almost concomitant extension of suffrage to ever greater numbers of common people. The British aristocracy was a landed elite. Their wealth was almost entirely in the value of their lands for agriculture and the rents the lands could generate. I found the simplicity of the explanation very attractive; how many big things are really just that simple?

As described here:

In 1880, Cannadine informs us, the members of the British aristocracy (which he defines as landholders with 1,000 acres or more) were the "lords of the earth." They were a tiny minority, only 7,000 families in a country of millions. Yet this "tough, tenacious, and resourceful elite" owned four-fifths of the land in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Cannadine richly details the various ways in which the decline manifested itself. The fall was swift - it started and was completed within the span of a single lifetime. They had to sell, sell land, sell art, sell houses, sell it all. (When the going gets Toff, the Toffs get selling.)

At times the meticulous exhaustive detail can get to be a bit much, but the occasional skimming along to the next topic is permitted. His accomplishment is collecting such a vast amount of information, compiling it, and still managing to present it in an interesting the fashion.

One wonders why anyone would bother to write another book on the topic.

More books by Cannadine.

The book was written in part during a time of intense grief for Cannandine and his historian wife Linda Colley. The dedication to Cannadine's Aristocracy gives the stark facts: 'In memory of Harriet Fenella Saffron Cannadine, born 3 February 1988, died 19 March 1988.'

'With a cot death,' Colley goes on, 'you have no time to contemplate or prepare yourself. It's not like an illness, where someone is not very well, then getting worse, then at risk of dying. With this, 20 minutes ago your child was alive and now she's dead. You're left with the feeling that there must have been a mistake. Harry must be all right. In a couple of hours somebody will bring her round.'


Cannadine felt exactly the same. 'I kept thinking, this is all a dream, I'm going to wake up and everything will be all right. And of course it isn't. It changes your life for ever.'

He recalls that time: 'We emigrated, sold a house, and had the birth and death of Harry all within six months. We grieved in different ways. You felt as though all your skin had been torn off and the nerve endings exposed, and all social interaction became unbearable. It has left me with a permanent sense of the random risk of catastrophe in life. I don't think I shall ever forget that. You lose all sense of the natural order of things - for instance, that it's natural for children to outlive their parents - even though you've only got to read Dickens to know that that's not necessarily true. It's not fear, but a recognition of the transient nature of the human condition.'

Colley takes up his thread: 'It made us different people. Once you know how completely and suddenly the earth can open up at your feet and the worst can happen it also, paradoxically, leaves you more afraid of everything else. David began to suffer very badly from vertigo, which he never had before. I would worry terribly if ever he was late. I'd think, the car has crashed, he's dead, he's been mugged. Yet at the same time you're not afraid of anything because you think, the worst has already happened

.

***

Finally, if you want a good laugh at the expense of the British aristocracy, try out a goodish bit of PG Wodehouse, like the new paperback Just Enough Jeeves: Right Ho, Jeeves; Joy in the Morning; Very Good, Jeeves.

Stock-Jobbery and Murder

Here is my  review of A Conspiracy of Paper: A Novel by David Liss (at Liss's website: http://davidliss.com/?page_id=49)

A Conspiracy of Paper was David Liss's first work of historical fiction. The book is set in London during the early 1700's and centers around the South Sea Company or more precisely, the South Sea Company's stock and its struggle against the Bank of England. In it the reader first meets Benjamin Weaver, a Jewish thief-taker and former boxer. Weaver is the central character in this book as well as The Devil's Company: A Novel, The Coffee Trader: A Novel (Ballantine Reader's Circle), and A Spectacle of Corruption: A Novel.

Liss excels in the details of time and place, which allows him to achieve a realistic and factually accurate picture of London during the early stock-jobbing days, Exchange Alley, the Jewish `quarter', Newgate prison, and the most famous - or I should say infamous real-life thief-taker of them all, Jonathon Wild see also http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/lpop/etext/newgate3/wild.htm.

Thief-takers caught criminals and turned them over to the State earning a handsome fee in the process. Our man Weaver was one of the few honest thief-takers. Wild's imaginative business plan, on the other hand, earned him the title, Thief-Taker General as he played both sides of the street. He employed crooks and thieves and then `peached' them when their future value fell below the government's price offer.

Jonathon Wild

Liss sets Weaver to solve the murder of his estranged father and one of his father's business associates neither of whom appeared to have been murdered on the face of it (one died in an accident, the other by his own hand). Weaver soon finds himself caught between some of the most powerful forces in 18th century England: the Bank of England, the South Sea Company, and Wild.



Liss spins an engaging tale with marvelously rich historical detail. Unfortunately, he also has a taste for overly complex plotting. Liss drops heavy hints first that the bank was behind all Weaver's troubles and then that the South Sea Company was his nemesis. And then the bank, the company, the bank - you get the idea. Mix in a healthy dose of Wild and clues strongly suggesting his alliance with one or the other and the reader feels that the game isn't quite a fair one. Still, Liss's works are high quality historical fiction and well worth a read.

***

Henry Fielding, the great 18th century author of the picaresque novels Joseph Andrews and Tom Jones, also wrote a black comedy about Jonathon Wild.

***

Of course, the South Sea Company is rarely mentioned these days without adding the word 'Bubble' on the end. You can view some wonderfully detailed and grotesquely hilarious engravings in Het Groote Tafereel der Dwaasheid (The Great Scene of Folly), a Dutch book published n 1720 just after the Bubble burst. The following photos from the text are found on blaques_jacques photostream

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjacques/with/30975_66915/

Go to the next picture for the full engraving - and an explanation.



To understand what the heck is going on here,
go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/bjacques/3097566905/in/set-72157611015946994/



Dark and Dirty Snow

And now for a  palate-cleansing interval.

This review is from: Dirty Snow (New York Review Books Classics) (Paperback)


[I previously posted about Simenon on my book blog.]

Dirty Snow is Georges Simenon's noir masterpiece of one corner of Occupied Europe. And it is truly noir. As William Vollmann notes in the Afterword, the noir tag has gotten a bit overused and applied to pretend noir, but Simenon delivers the real deal.

The protagonist, Frank, is a youth of the urban slum, the Occupied urban slum (no country is specified). He lives with his mother - who runs a bordello. He hangs around in a shady bar and wants to kill someone just - just why? Just to do it, to be known to have killed, who knows? He picks a disgusting low-level German officer as his victim. He gets involved in the black market, committing some heinous offenses in the process; offenses that would seem even worse were his victims worthy of sympathy. He falls in love, as much as he can anyway, and betrays this naïve young girl.

Inevitably, the Occupiers stick Frank in a nasty little school-turned-jail; not, however, for killing the German officer. Frank's black-market work for a German general was well paid, but it turns out the general got the money to pay Frank by stealing it from his own HQ and that is very much a cause for concern. This details sounds quite important and so it may seem I give away too much of the story. You'll have to take my word that it is just an insignificant part of Frank's story. Because now, subjected to lengthy interrogations, Frank has moved into another world that no one from his old world could grasp, if they even suspected its existence. Simenon's tale calls to mind other notably dark and simply notable works such as Victor Serge's The Case of Comrade Tulayev (New York Review Books Classics), Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon: A Novel, and Robert Littell's The Stalin Epigram: A Novel.

Brilliantly disturbing. Be forewarned that Dirty Snow is not a Maigret story.

 

***

 
For a dissenting view on William T. Vollmann click here.

Mystery Book Post

Simenon was also prolific with women.

Go to my book blog to check out a mystery book post. No, it's not the mystery news about Monona, it's a post about Georges Simenon, the prolific Belgian author the Inspector Maigret books as well as a number of weightier romans durs ("hard novels").

Memorial Gathering for Demita Gerber

A memorial gathering for our dear friend and Monona public library director Demita Gerber will take place this Saturday, July 31, 2010, at 9 a.m. in the Atrium at OLBRICH BOTANICAL GARDENS, 3330 Atwood Ave., Madison.

All are invited to come and share memories of Demita. She is much missed, but her remarkable spirit lives on in the hearts of those whose lives she touched.

Previous: http://mononadoug.blogspot.com/2010/07/obituary-for-demita-anne-gerber.html

Previous: http://mononadoug.blogspot.com/2010/06/monona-library-director-demita-gerber.html

Bloggy

Thunder, rain, and lightning have made me bloggy. I even caught up with some posts on my book blog. Incredibly clever title of mononadougbooks. You will want to rush right over.....go....now....

New posts on:

Mayhem by Robert Janes

OpenLibrary

Scipio Africanus: Greater Than Napoleon by Sir Basil Henry Liddell Hart

The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71 by Alistair Horne  What? I read a book by Bush's favoritie historian and liked it - a lot?

OK, hop to - stand not upon your order of going, but go at once!

http://mononadougbooks.blogspot.com/

Obituary for Demita Anne Gerber

I have excerpted parts of the obituary for Monona's late library director Demita Gerber ran in this past Sunday's Wisconsin State Journal.

The complete obituary is here:
Obituary for Demita Anne Gerber


Madison

Demita Anne Gerber, director of the Monona Public Library, died June 12, 2010, in HospiceCare of Madison....

....She was born Demita Anne Ashley on Oct. 8, 1942, in Phoenix, Ariz. Demita....obtained a B.A. from City College of New York in 1966, along with a master's in library science from Columbia University in 1968. She began her lifelong career as a librarian in 1970.....Demita devoted her working life to the ideals of public librarianship, persistently striving to adapt library services to the changing demands of an increasingly high-tech information age, extend them to broader groups of people in the communities she served, while instilling a positive, enthusiastic spirit in her coworkers and patrons. In 1993, she became library director in the town of Greenburgh, N.Y., where she spearheaded several successful and innovative projects, such as a cybermobile for underserved neighborhoods, "Teenburgh" programs for young adults, and the construction of a new, award-winning library building....

Demita embraced her new job and the greater Madison area wholeheartedly, valuing the opportunity to escape the political intrigues and intense pressures of Greenburgh in favor of a more supportive, people-oriented community with greater proximity to her grandchildren. Her energetic efforts inspired her staff and helped the Monona Library improve circulation by 10%, the number of library cards by 8%, and program participation by 25% in 2009. She was also a dynamic fundraiser for the library, recently helping to secure over $153,000 in donations for its "Booked for Life" endowment fund drive. To honor Demita's contributions, the Monona Library plans to inaugurate a "meditation and mindfulness reading nook" in her memory and to name a part of its new garden space after her.

Demita loved her job both for its challenges and for the opportunity it gave her to contribute to people through providing library services. She was equally giving outside of work. She had a rich spiritual life as a practitioner of Siddha yoga, and she was a leader in the vibrant Siddha yoga community of Madison. She took great pleasure in being an active part of her children's and grandchildren's lives. She also enjoyed politics, the opera and symphony, travel, exploring new ideas and experiences, and visiting with friends, both locally and around the country.

Demita spent her final weeks surrounded by devoted family, friends, and members of the Siddha Yoga community of Madison.

She is survived by her son, Theodore Gerber of Madison and his wife, Molly Wesling; her son, Matthew Gerber of Longmont, Colo., and his wife, Heather; four grandchildren, Nicholas and Oliver of Madison, and Victor and Elizabeth of Longmont; brothers, Fred Ashley of Cherry Hill, N.J., and Russell Ashley of Riverdale, N.Y.; sister, Diane Dokos of San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; former husband, Dean Gerber of Santa Fe, N.M.; and many dear friends in New York, Arizona and Wisconsin.

A memorial meeting will be held on Saturday, July 31, 2010, at 9 a.m. in the Atrium at OLBRICH BOTANICAL GARDENS, 3330 Atwood Ave., Madison. All are invited to come and share memories of Demita. She is much missed, but her remarkable spirit lives on in the hearts of those whose lives she touched.

Monona Author Richard Chamberlin Releases New Book

Monona Author Richard Chamberlin releases his new book, "The Cybernetic Possum" on Friday, June 18th at the Ground Zero Coffee House at 7 pm.

He previously authored Hitchhiking From Vietnam.

Monona Public Library Summer Reading Program Returns

From Karen Wendt, Youth Services Coordinator at the Monona Public Library:

The kickoff of the Monona Public Library’s "Set Sail to the Library" summer reading program is coming soon! This year we are making the registration process easier than ever and enabling patrons to begin earlier. Registrations for all summer reading programs and activities may be completed online. Click, call, or come in to sign up.



1. Go to the Monona Library Web site [http://www.mononalibrary.org/]

2. Click on the "Set Sail to the Library" button to register for the summer Reading Adventures.

3. Click the Sign Up link and simply complete the online form. Complete registration by printing out or picking up a reading log.

4. To print a reading log, go to the "Set Sail to the Library" webpage to download the appropriate age/grade level Reading Log.

All Ages Welcome to Set Sail to the Library!

The summer reading program is open to all children age birth through grade 5, teenagers entering grades 6 through 12, and adults including those graduating from high school in 2010.

The theme for the children’s program is “Make a Splash: Read!” and will feature games, crafts, storytimes, Wild Wednesday presenters, scavenger hunts, and more. Children will learn about camping out, conserving water and staying safe when swimming. They can create bubbles and sand crafts and participate in the July 7 Sea Creature Fashion Show and the July 28 finale Catch the Last Wave Hawaiian Luau.

The kickoff event will be held June 16 and will feature The NoiseGuy, Charlie Williams, a vocal sound impressionist. Enter your checkout receipt to have a chance to win great door prizes.

Teens may participate in “Make Waves @ Your Library”. Adult patrons are invited to join the “Water Your Mind, Read” program. See our website for more information.

The Monona Public Library is open Mondays through Wednesdays from 9:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., and Saturdays from 9:00a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Any interested patron in need of assistance with online registration, without Internet access at home, or with any other questions relating to the summer reading program may visit the library or call (608) 222-6127 during regular business hours. Additional information can also be found on Monona Public Library’s website [http://www.mononalibrary.org/]

***

Spanish Storytime Friday, Jun. 4, 10:00 to 10:30a.m.

¡Hora de Cuentos en Español para toda la familia!

Spanish/English story time for the whole family!

10:00 - 10:30 a.m Cada Viernes en Junio; Every Friday in June. Con Karen Craig

Karen habla español y puede ayudarte a conocer todo lo que la bibilioteca le ofrece a tu familia. ¡Todos son bienvenidos! Everyone is welcome! Drop-in. No registration required. Free. Es completamente gratis.

Sad News from the Monona Public Library

The news that has slowly spread around town became official last Friday when the Monona Library Board announced Director Demita Gerber has taken indefinite medical leave due to very serious and sudden health problem. The Board appointed Erick Plumb as Acting Library Director (Promoting Erick to assistant director was just one of the many positive moves that Demita made for our library since she arrived in 2006.).

Drop off a card for Demita at the library and if you really want to honor her, while you're there check something out (seriously).

You can post comments here also as long as you promise to check stuff out from the Monona library too. You can always place a hold at LinkCat and pick it up at the library later.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monona Public Library
Contact Erick Plumb at 608-216-7455 or eplumb@mononalibrary.org
May 7, 2010

Monona Library Director Demita Gerber on medical leave; Acting Director appointed

The Monona Public Library regrets to announce that Library Director Demita Gerber is on indefinite medical leave following emergency surgery for a brain aneurysm.  Gerber was admitted to an area hospital on Monday, April 26, and underwent surgery the following day.  She remains hospitalized in serious but stable condition.  Her family anticipates a lengthy recovery. 

Gerber was named Director of the Monona Public Library in 2006 and has overseen numerous improvements to Library service. She was a driving force behind the recently completed "Booked for Life Endowment Fund Drive" that raised $153,000 for the Library's future vitality. She has also worked closely with the staff and board to improve patron access to technology, establish new early literacy initiatives, launch online tutoring, and foster a new teen program. Library circulation under her leadership has reached record highs.

In anticipation of Gerber’s extended absence, Assistant Director Erick Plumb was appointed Acting Library Director by the Library Board at a special meeting on Friday, May 7.  Plumb also joined the Library in 2006, and was named Assistant Director in late 2008.  "We're obviously concerned for Demita's health and her family's well-being," Plumb said. "Demita's absence will be difficult for Library staff as she provided outstanding leadership on a daily basis. But she has built a tremendous team over the last four years, and our patrons should continue to expect the same great service."

Library Board president Andrew Taylor said, "We are all shocked and saddened by Demita's sudden health concerns. And I know the whole community will share our hopes for her quick recovery. In the meanwhile, the board has absolute confidence in Erick and the entire library staff to carry on Demita's high standards of service."

Gerber’s family is welcoming cards and well-wishes. Please send them to the Monona Public Library at 1000 Nichols Road, Monona WI 53716, or drop them off at the library's Main Desk, to be forwarded to Gerber and her family. The hospital care unit does not allow flowers or plants.

Monona Public Library - Children's Events

Karen Wendt, the best children's librarian in the history of libraries or at least in Dane County passed along some information about upcoming children's events at the Monona Public Library. Check out the Kids & Families on the library web site.

***

This year the library has online registration (Sign up now!) for the summer reading program.

They have also set up a storytime on our website at http://www.mononalibrary.org/youth/storytimelive.html with help from the Winnequah 5th graders and Jill Jensen, music instructor.

***

May 9-13 is National Children's Book Week

Youth Services News!

PICK A BOOK! Give the Gift of Literacy- Buy a book for the library, in the name of your child, from our wish list.

A revolutionary way you can support the library AND get the books you want, too! Celebrate National Children’s Book Week (Note: I added this link)

• Order a book the Library needs
• Be the first person to read it!
• Feel good because you've helped the Monona Public Library!

HERE'S WHAT TO DO
Step 1: Look over the bulletin board. These are books that the Library is in need of. Choose the books you would like to donate to the Library and take the booktags to the circulation desk.

Step 2: Fill in your contact information and the name of the person you want to have added to the Nameplate (please print). Pay for the book(s).

Step 3: Your order will be processed as quickly as we can. We will place a hold for you on your book when it has been ordered!
It's that easy!

MORE NEWS

Dr. Seuss Returns! 

Dr. Seuss & Friends Storytimes for families, particularly ages 2 to 6. Infants welcome.

Celebrate a week of Dr. Seuss. Some elements of the storytime may be repeated, however, there is a good chance you will hear a variety of books if you come to more than one Dr. Seuss storytime this week. We'll be reading Dr. Seuss books and other fun Beginning Reader books, including some picture books that are great for beginning readers.

Dr. Seuss Readings!

• 05/11 Tuesday 4:30pm
• 05/12 Wednesday 9:30am
• 05/12 Wednesday 10:15am
• 05/13 Thursday 9:30am
• 05/13 Thursday 10:15am

 
Dr. Seuss Read-a-Thon May 14.
Friday, May 14 Drop in for special guest readers Dr. Seuss Read-a-Thon! 
Check the Google calendar on our website for times & readers.

Horton Hears a Who Scavenger Hunt May 15. 

Saturday, May 15 Horton Hears a Who do it yourself "Who Hunt". Drop in from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. to play.

--
Karen Wendt
Youth Services Coordinator
Monona Public Library
1000 Nichols Road
Monona, WI 53716
608-216-7453

www.mononalibrary.org

A Book, A Play, A Movie, and a Legacy

Tobacco Road was Erskine Caldwell's most highly regarded book; hailed by the likes of William Faulkner and Saul Bellow. A 2006 Slate magazine review (Erskine Caldwell's greasy hairball of a novel. - By Dwight Garner - Slate Magazine) called it "one of the sickest and most lurid books to have emerged from the literature of the American South. It's about as nutritious as a plate of pork cracklings. You're going to feel a little ill when you get up from this table. And I mean all of this, I think, in a good way."

Tobacco Road depicts the Lester family as the "poorest, whitest, trashiest, horniest family in rural Georgia." They are about as lowdown as human beings can get. Lazy, shiftless, and dishonest, violent, and sex-obsessed. In some ways, Tobacco Road is the anti-Gone with the Wind; no magnolias and romantic chivalry in Caldwell's South. It is also an anti-Grapes of Wrath. The Lesters are stuck in the Depression too and about to be kicked off their land, but it's hard to work up any sympathy for them.

Tobacco Road was turned into one of the most successful Broadway plays of all time by Jack Kirkland and later a movie (starring the alluring Gene Tierney as Ellie Mae Lester). The movie recently aired on TCM and is showing on the Fox Movie Channel on March 26, 2010 8:00 am ET and April 14, 2010 7:00 am ET. The movie (directed by John Ford, who also directed Grapes of Wrath) turns the story into a hillbilly comedy.




The Georgia Encyclopedia entry had this to say about the movie:

Ford and screenwriter Nunnally Johnson (a Georgia native) attempted to preserve the caustic comedy and social protest of the book and play, but the studio overruled them on central issues, specifically the tragic ending. The result was a sentimental burlesque that Caldwell himself disavowed.

Nevertheless, the movie retains enough of Caldwell's sharp edge to draws the viewer in. The characters created by Caldwell became enduring cultural stereotypes of white Southern hillbillies. And it does provide a window into a time and place not too far over the historical horizon, but nearly unimaginable for many.

Netflix: Tobacco Road

History and Mystery on Campus

The UW-Madison Continuing Studies program offers many opportunities for learning long after your formal schools days are a hazy memory. My favorites so far are the Continuing education (noncredit) classes and in particular the excellent and expanding offerings of the History  Department.  In the previous years I've taken a short course on the effigy mound builders of the Four Lakes region (including a field trip to mounds in the area in an old yellow school bus). I've also taken several courses in medieval history.

This year, I'm taking History and mystery: the evolution of the private eye novel:

In this class we trace the history of the private eye novel, beginning with the British Golden Age in Agatha Christie’s The Mysterious Affair at Styles, followed by the American response with Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep. We then move to the second Golden Age with Walter Moseley’s Devil in a Blue Dress, and end with literary fiction: Jonathan Lethem’s Motherless Brooklyn.

Instructor: Helene Androski

In mid-April, I get a dose of English history and Shakespeare in the course, Shakespeare’s history cycle: the Henry plays

This course examines Shakespeare’s celebrated cycle of plays dramatizing the troubled reign of Henry IV, who usurped the throne, and the evolution of his son, Prince Hal, from youthful prankster to England’s famous warrior king, Henry V. We encounter Hal’s companion Falstaff, who may be Shakespeare’s greatest comic character, and discuss the role of comedy in Shakespeare’s understanding of history.

Instructor: Michael Hinden
T, Apr 20-May 4, 7-9 pm, Chazen Museum, 800 University Ave, 0.6 CEU, $35, Program #5711
Registration print form
Registration online

Monona's own Jim Draeger is a perennial lecturer on Wisconsin architecture. My schedule has never matched his class so I have that pleasure to look forward to. His current offering is What’s In Store: The History and Evolution of Wisconsin Commercial Buildings

Commercial areas of communities reflect the economic vitality of cities. In an historical sense they illustrate the rise and fall of commercial activity, the evolution of building materials and technology, and periodic changes in public tastes and consumption patterns. This class will explore the architectural and historical evolution of commercial buildings in Wisconsin from early statehood to the mid-twentieth century through three slide-illustrated lectures.

Instructor: Jim Draeger
T, Mar 23-Apr 6, 6:30-8 pm, Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St, 0.5 CEU, $35, Program #5716
Registration print form
Registration online

It's the Wisconsin Idea at work - or leisure.