A.D. : New Orleans after the deluge

Neufeld, Josh. A.D. New Orleans After the Deluge. New York: Pantheon Books, 2009. ISBN: 9780307378149. Call Number: F379 .N553 A26 2009.

Sometimes pictures are more powerful than words. In the graphic novel A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge, Neufeld tells the markedly different stories of seven Crescent City residents who survived Hurricane Katrina through vivid drawings and text.  Attempting to give a diverse picture of what New Orleanians experienced during the storm and its aftermath, the author follows the stories of people from different socioeconomic and ethnic backgrounds, some of whom evacuated before the storm, and some who stayed - whether for excitement, or because they had no other option.

This graphic novel gives the reader a look at some of what the media did not tell us about the storm: the camaraderie among the “refugees” at the superdome and stories of neighbors risking their own lives to save each other. For those who left, we see the painful homesickness they felt for their city after evacuating, and the even bigger devastation of returning to destroyed homes where everything was lost.  Within the intensity of the story, Neufeld does an incredible job showing the strength and resilience of the people of New Orleans.

Liz Cashman, Development and Outreach Coordinator

Eco, Umberto Baudolino. New York : Harcourt, 2002.
ISBN 0151006903.
Call Number: PQ4865 .C6 B3813 2002 (1 copy).

In this piece to fiction that is as mythically epic as any of Eco’s work, the Italian Professor reminds us of the most important lesson of history: The only absolute part of truth is its malleability.

Set amidst the sacking of Constantinople (not Istanbul) in the second crusade, the title character recounts his life story, even as the city burns, to a court historian, Niketas. The adoptive son of Fredrick Barbarossa and a self-confessed liar, Baudolino tells a fabulous story about his life-long search for the mythical ruler known only as Prester John. John, who was largely invented by Baudolino, is said to rule over a vast christian nation far to the east full of fantastic creatures and strange phenomena including a river of tumbling stone. Over time, even Baudolino’s companions, who helped conceive of this Prester John, begin to believe in his existence.

Playful and accessible, Baudolino presents a world that is simultaneously recognizable and yet somehow skewed, and in doing so points a finger both at belief and our preconceptions of history.

-Jonathan Gallaway, Blackboard Manager

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Shaun of the dead / Universal Pictures, Studio Canal and Working Title Films present a WT2 production in association with Big Talk Productions produced in association with Inside Track 2, LLP ; produced by Nira Park ; written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright ; directed by Edgar Wright.

DVD-001127

Shaun of the Dead is an apropos watch during the Halloween season. This comedy is a homage to the zombie movie subgenre. In the midst of a zombie outbreak in London, Shaun fights zombies while simultaneously fighting for the heart of his ex-girlfriend. A whiney salesman, Shaun is an unlikely hero. Before proceeding with this review, there is one caveat: I hate horror movies. I am quite squeamish and I have never understood the popular fixation with zombies. Several of my friends recommended this movie to me over the years, but I could not compel myself to watch even a mock horror movie. Two factors contributed to me finally viewing this movie. First, I recently watched the superbly silly British television series Spaced. Created by overlapping visionaries, this show also features several of the actors who later starred in Shaun of the Dead. The Spaced characters are so loveable and quirky that I softened to the idea of a comedic zombie movie starring their actors. Second, I spotted Shaun of the Dead the first time that I perused the Monroe Library DVD collection. In addition to the blood, gore, and the undead munching on corpses, Shaun of the Dead has all of the dysfunctional relationships, moral indifference, and general cluelessness that was so entertaining on Spaced. Shaun of the Dead is worth viewing even if you do not like zombies.

- Malia Willey, Information Literacy/Learning Commons Librarian

May (2002)

May; a Lions Gate Films release ; 2 Loop Films presents a Loopy production ; a film by Lucky McKee ; produced by Marius Balchunas and Scott Sturgeon ; written and directed by Lucky McKee.

Lion’s Gate Home Entertainment [2002]

Call Number: DVD-001158

Just in time for Halloween I give you two unconventional horror flicks for this holiday season.

First selection is May, the story of an awkward, shy girl and her sewing machine. May’s only wish in life is to make new friends. When her social skills fall flat, the time comes when she must rely on her crafty talents to make the perfect friend. Stitch-stitch.

Black Sheep (2007)

Black Sheep; produced by Phillipa Campbell; written and directed by Jonathan King

Genius Products [2007]

Call Number: DVD-001111

Next up is Black Sheep, a horror/comedy about the dangers of animal husbandry and genetic engineering. Yes, we’re talking killer sheep. Anything with teeth and a killer appetite can be horrific, even baby lambs. It’s off-beat, way off-color and covered in gobs of blood, with the occasional environmental message. You’ve just got to love those New Zealanders and the special effects wizards of the WETA workshop.

Enjoy and Happy Halloween.

-Michelle Melancon, Bindery Specialist (Baking with Medusa at Blogspot)

The Life You Save May Be Your Own is a spiritual biography of four well known Catholic American writers who were active in the mid-twentieth century. This could make for a book whose target audience is rather narrow, but Elie’s fluid writing style reveals universal themes of the modern experience: uncertainty, disillusionment, and an unwillingness to fit into  standard societal parameters.

Three out of four of the authors chronicled were actually converts to Catholicism (only Flannery O’Connor was born into the faith.), and the book provides a brief look at how the Catholic church took root in the U.S.–as the church of the poor, the outsider. This is a great shift in perspective to someone who grew up in the New Orleans area, where the Church is as much a part of everyday life as the mid-afternoon summer shower. Although religion is central to the book, it is not required that the reader have any interest in either Catholicism or Christianity to enjoy it. The glimpse into the creative lives of some of the greatest writers of the last century is fascinating, and it seems that Elie has portrayed their inner workings just as well as their public lives.

–Beth West (Interim Public Services Librarian)

Hans Eijkelboom’s book Paris - New York - Shanghai is subtitled “A book about the past, present, and (possibly) future capital of the world.”  In it, Eijkelboom showcases the end (or near-end) result of his “Photo Notes,” where the photographer would head into each town and photograph as many of certain type of people (people carrying kids, cops, guys wearing striped polo shirts, business women on their morning commute) within the space of about two hours.

The final product is a book that is really three books. There is a separate volume for each city, but they are bound together in sort of a tri-fold format, which allows the viewer the choice of viewing each book separately or folding the whole thing out to do a city-by-city(-by city) comparison.   There are no captions anywhere in the book—the only explanation comes by way of a short essay included in the front pocket– but it soon becomes apparent that the format of each ‘volume’ is exactly the same, with each group of photos presented in exactly the same order in each city.  Though the individual photos aren’t particularly spectacular alone, when grouped together they have a huge impact, as they both anesthetize the reader to the realities of city life (much in the same way that actually living in the city would) and provide the reader with startling photographic evidence of the creeping homogenization of the world we live in.

-Aimee Cabrera, Learning Commons Day Manager

Fénéon, Felix. Novels in Three Lines. New York: New York Review of Books, 2007.
ISBN: 9781590172308
Call number: PQ2611 .E565 N613 2007

In 1906, French anarchist, art critic, and former clerk Felix Fénéon went to work for Le Matin, a Paris broadsheet, where he wrote the small news clips known as “faits divers” - sometimes translated as “hard facts”. Never more than a few lines, they covered the outliers of the everyday: oddities, obituaries, and accidents. Today, we would call these “Short Takes” or “News in Brief” and they’d be in a sidebar or tucked away on A17.

Fénéon’s faits divers are, instead, a world unto themselves. Consider this example:

On the bowling lawn a stroke leveled M. André, 75, of Levallois. While his ball was still rolling he was no more.

Or my favorite passage, this one:

The sinister prowler seen by the mechanic Gicquel near Herblay train station has been identified: Jules Ménard, snail collector.

There isn’t much to say, to add, to this work. Fénéon himself wrote anonymously, these stories saved only by the attention of his mistress who clipped them from the paper. He never published any of his own work in his lifetime, despite being closely tied to the vibrant intellectual culture of Paris and championing artists like Georges Seurat and Paul Signac. It stands to reason that one could easily read these works as trifles or period pieces. Just as easily, however, can they sit with Nietzsche’s aphorisms of The Gay Science or Stein’s poetic experiments of Tender Buttons.

And by way of final recommendation, allow me to direct you toward the Fénéon Twitter feed, which is, in its own way, nearly perfect.

-Phil Rollins, Learning Technologies Developer (prllns on Goodreads)

If you love mysteries, Victorian period pieces, or horror of an implied nature, then I have a film for you.  Picnic at Hanging Rock is an Australian film directed by Peter Weir, released in 1975.  The film closely follows the book of the same title by Australian authoress, Lady Joan Lindsay.

It’s St. Valentine’s Day, 1900, rural South Australia.  A party of upper class school girls and two teachers, from Appleyard College, are taking a day trip to Hanging Rock.  The field trip ends in tragedy, when three girls and one teacher mysteriously disappear somewhere on the rock.  To avoid spoiling the mystery, that’s all I will reveal plot-wise.  The narrative itself is worth the viewing, but the film has much more to offer.  Picnic at Hanging Rock is an excellent interpretation of Victorian ideals and attitudes, and how ill-suited they were to rural Australia.   Besides, all those pious, pretensions, unnatural and restrictive social rules of conduct, prove to be fertile ground for horror and high tension.   The ever present portraits of Queen Victoria loom down from practically every corner of the Appleyard School.  The constant pressure of potential impropriety builds upon itself, infecting the school, the town, and everyone affected buy the disappearances.

Australia is key to the story.  It could also be considered a character onto itself, perhaps even a corruptible element.  Many ambiguous avenues are explored, including the supernatural.   This is definitely the kind of film that leaves you with more questions than it answers.  The film is not without it’s over-the-top moments.  A few hysterics almost seem appropriate though, when portraying a tightly wound, oppressive culture.  Trying to enforce the confined, restrictive, Victorian ideals of England on a landscape as vast and wild as Australia, proves ultimately to be a lost cause.  Beautiful landscapes aside, photography is utilized to its greatest advantage throughout the film.  Images are used to set the stage as well as convey narrative and mood.  Costumes and set pieces are spot on, making it easy for the viewer to dissolve into the past.

Hanging Rock is an actual geological formation about an hour north of Melbourne.  Lady Joan Lindsay was herself a privileged school girl in Melbourne in the early 1900’s.   She is known to have based Appleyard College on her own school girl remembrances.  Even though the narrative is pure fiction, the historic everyday details feel quite true to life.  It’s also worth mentioning that this was one of the first Australian films to enjoy international distribution, with both acclaim and commercial popularity.  Picnic at Hanging Rock is so beloved that it is still screened annually on the grounds at Hanging Rock, Victoria, on St. Valentine’s Day.

-Michelle Melancon, Bindery Specialist (Baking with Medusa at Blogspot)

Image from Amazon

Adiga, Aravind. The White Tiger. New York : Free Press, 2008.
ISBN: 9781416562597
Call Number: PR9619.4 .A35 W47 2008

Aravind Adiga’s debut novel, winner of the 2008 Man Booker Prize, is an angry yet absorbing tale of ambition in twenty-first century India.

The White Tiger follows protagonist Balram Halwai from his village in rural India, known in the novel as “The Darkness,” to the city. Born a member of a caste of sweet makers, Balram finds a position as a personal servant in the rapidly developing India of call centers, air conditioned high rises and shopping malls. The reader follows Balram as he recounts the indignities, sacrifices, schemes and crimes he endures - and perpetrates - along his relatively modest rise.  Balram is an engaging and often hilarious narrator, and his tales of shifting hierarchies and tumultuous power dynamics make for page turning reading. For all of its humor, however, The White Tiger is at its heart a serious look at injustice and poverty. Adiga suggests that while the rapid ascent of India in the global economy of the twenty-first century has its beneficiaries, the cost to the soul of the nation will be very steep indeed.

-Trish Nugent, Special Collections Librarian/Archivist

Thompson, Craig. Blankets. Marietta, GA: Top Shelf. 2003.
ISBN: 1891830430.
Call Number: PN 6727.T48 B58 2003.

A self-described “illustrated novel”, Craig Thompson’s Blankets is more widely considered to be highly autobiographical rather than fictional, the events of the story being obviously derived from his childhood and first love as a teenager. The book chronicles his younger self’s struggles with relationships:with his brother, parents, friends, and his first girlfriend. While this alone would make for an interesting story, the work also describes Thompson’s undulating relationship with religion and Christianity, giving the book a depth and multidimensionality not always found in graphic novels. Although some describe the content as “whiny”, I find it to be an extremely accurate depiction of the actions and inner-workings of adolescents.

In addition to the content, the graphics are poignant, gripping, and at times distractingly beautiful. At first they seem almost simplistic, just black and white sketches, but the emotional range that Thompson conveys through them is astounding. It does seem that this could have been broken into two stories: the first of his growing up and relationship with his brother and the second of his relationship with Raina. However, Thompson chose to put the two stories together, possibly to use his religious beliefs as a tie throughout, almost as a narrative frame. Because of this, Blankets is rather long for a graphic novel, weighing in with almost 600 pages. This makes reading the book even more enjoyable because it allows for character development and back story not often found in shorter works. In general, this book is a great read for people who think graphic novels are just for superhero fans and teenage boys. It really explores the possibilities of a genre that is enjoying wider readership than ever.

–Beth West, Interim Public Services Librarian (bethwb on Goodreads)