As the Page Turns (the Book Thread)

[Prancer]

FYI for those of you who borrow ebooks from libraries--expect those wait times to get longer:

Libraries are fighting to preserve your right to borrow e-books

Creating barriers to access to e-books, which is what publishers are doing to resist dominance by Amazon, says Jessamyn West, disrupts the public good libraries were created to serve. Public libraries exist in large part because they are necessary to a functioning democracy, West writes.

www.cnn.com

 

[Prancer]

Not really a reading topic, but a side issue I think is interesting--many libraries are adding social workers to their staffs:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/librarians-facing-tasks-crisis-catalog-64882595

 

[oleada]

Not really a reading topic, but a side issue I think is interesting--many libraries are adding social workers to their staffs:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/librarians-facing-tasks-crisis-catalog-64882595

I’ve heard about this. Sounds like a cool job to me; if there was one around here I’d totally apply.

 

[Prancer]

I’ve heard about this. Sounds like a cool job to me; if there was one around here I’d totally apply.

One of the libraries here is adding a social worker. The main library at my college could definitely use one--it can be pretty exciting there sometimes.

But the comments on the local hire? People think it's all some stupid liberal thing that wastes money and makes no sense at all. I assume that the people who make such comments haven't actually been to the library in a few years.

 

[MacMadame]

I think it makes more sense to hire a social worker than to pretend librarians are trained social workers.

 

[Prancer]

I think it makes more sense to hire a social worker than to pretend librarians are trained social workers.

I don't think most people have a clue what goes on in a library. I cannot tell you how many people I've talked to who are stunned to find that librarians have to have master's degrees. My son has a certificate of some kind because he tackled a psychotic crackhead at his library branch one day and held him until the police arrived, and people are always that something like that happened at the library. Aside from the violence of it, that was not unusual.

Of course, a lot of the same people won't go to the main branch of the library because of all the homeless people who are there all day . But they don't see why the library is responsible for dealing with social problems--as if the library has a choice.

 

[Artistic Skaters]

Our metropolitan library started offering a new cultural service this year. You can now check out passes for the art museums, the state historical center, the conservatory and other such places. I believe you can check out a pass with your library card and it's good for four people for several days or a week. I really like this because when I used to take inner city kids on trips when I was in college, they didn't even know they were allowed to go inside the art museums. Then it was free, but today a lot of them would not be able to afford to pay the admission costs.

 

[genevieve]

Who has read The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead? I'm familiar with Whitehead and his prolific writing career. He's won many awards, but I don't recall hearing about him winning the Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for The Underground Railroad. I haven't read it yet, but it's on my current reading list.

I love Colson Whitehead. Have you read any of his other books? There is often more than a little magic realism in his stories, which can be challenging when the book centers on real history. But I thought The Underground Railroad was amazing. Looking forward to reading The Nickel Boys, even though I'm sure it will take a year before I get it from the library.

 

[aftershocks]

I love Colson Whitehead. Have you read any of his other books? There is often more than a little magic realism in his stories, which can be challenging when the book centers on real history. But I thought The Underground Railroad was amazing. Looking forward to reading The Nickel Boys, even though I'm sure it will take a year before I get it from the library.

I started to read Whitehead's, The Intuitionist years ago, but I never got into it completely. I may not be in the frame for reading magical realism. I was probably just distracted for some reason from settling in to the story. I decided to get back to it another time, but I haven't yet. These days I generally read more nonfiction than fiction. And I also enjoy reading poetry.

Recently, I read Jesmyn Ward's award-winning novel, Sing Unburied Sing. Wow, it's really powerful and beautifully written. Somehow, I found it hard being faced with the hard facts of the story, but at the same time, I was mesmerized by her evocative writing. She's the kind of storyteller where you feel right there, inside the story itself and one with the characters. Ward also wrote the memoir, Men We Reap.

Whitehead is the kind of writer where I say, I must take the time to really try and read his work, but then I don't get around to it. After hearing him talk about writing The Underground Railroad, I am planning to take the plunge. He did say in the talk that I linked how he felt 'magical realism' would not work as well for that book, so he didn't use the technique for that book. It is a difficult tale, so I have to be in a frame of mind for it.


Regarding social workers being employed by libraries, I read about that trend awhile ago, specifically in a San Francisco library. I can understand the necessity with a lot of homeless people frequenting libraries as a place to hang out. I see the situation at my local library, but it hasn't become noticeably rampant to the point where they have yet decided to employ a social worker. They do employ security guards. There are a lot of social services available in this area, in any case. A library security guard once told me that he's aware of some homeless people killing squirrels and rabbits in order to survive on the streets.

 

[dinakt]

Whitehead is the kind of writer where I say, I must take the time to really try and read his work, but then I don't get around to it. After hearing him talk about writing The Underground Railroad, I am planning to take the plunge. He did say in the talk that I linked how he felt 'magical realism' would not work as well for that book, so he didn't use the technique for that book. It is a difficult tale, so I have to be in a frame of mind for it.

It made a strong impression and the images stay with me... Definitely recommend, but as you say, a difficult tale.

 

[aftershocks]

It made a strong impression and the images stay with me... Definitely recommend, but as you say, a difficult tale.

That's why I mentioned Sing Unburied Sing, by Jesmyn Ward. It's an equally difficult tale (as are many of Toni Morrison's novels -- only The Bluest Eye have I found easily accessible of Morrison's works -- I do immensely enjoy Morrison's essays, and she was reportedly a brilliant teacher and editor). As I said earlier though, Ward's latest book is also very compelling and mesmerizing. Even though I didn't grow up in the country on a farm, I could identify in a unversal way with the story she was telling, on so many levels. The ending is absolutely brilliant, stunning, redemptive and tearjerking. When Ward writes, the Gods and the angels must be speaking through her heart, soul, mind, and fingertips.

 

[Prancer]

Our metropolitan library started offering a new cultural service this year. You can now check out passes for the art museums, the state historical center, the conservatory and other such places. I believe you can check out a pass with your library card and it's good for four people for several days or a week. I really like this because when I used to take inner city kids on trips when I was in college, they didn't even know they were allowed to go inside the art museums. Then it was free, but today a lot of them would not be able to afford to pay the admission costs.

We have that, too, and I think it's marvelous; I just wish they had more passes to go around.

 

[millyskate]

I finished My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante, and it was indeed the best thing I've read in a long time. Quite amazing in it's analysis of the friendship and feelings, who strike a chord I'm sure with so many readers' personal recollections of teenagehood. And it made true my wish for a contemporary novel written with a linear storyline - no juxtaposition of multiple timelines!

 

[genevieve]

I started to read Whitehead's, The Intuitionist years ago, but I never got into it completely. I may not be in the frame for reading magical realism. I was probably just distracted for some reason from settling in to the story. I decided to get back to it another time, but I haven't yet. These days I generally read more nonfiction than fiction. And I also enjoy reading poetry.

Whitehead is the kind of writer where I say, I must take the time to really try and read his work, but then I don't get around to it. After hearing him talk about writing The Underground Railroad, I am planning to take the plunge. He did say in the talk that I linked how he felt 'magical realism' would not work as well for that book, so he didn't use the technique for that book. It is a difficult tale, so I have to be in a frame of mind for it.

That's very interesting he would say that, because the major conceit of The Underground Railroad involves similar magical realism, or at least bending of reality, to The Intuitionist. I think if you found that distracting in The Intuitionist, it could distract here. It's not a straightforward historical novel.

I'm reading The Paris Diversion now, and it keeps referencing what happened in The Ex-Pats, which I read so long ago that I can't remember the details. It's annoying. I always enjoy Chris Pavone's writing, but this makes me realize that his plots just don't stick in my mind.