Oh No! Catching up on this 30 day challenge has got me all over the place! I just realized that I skipped one!

Everyone has read this book or seem the movie, right? 

It’s an amazing book, and an interesting take on the life of Geishas. However, it is fictitious and misrepresents parts of the Geisha lifestyle and profession. The book was loosely based on one particular Geisha though, who wrote her own biography:  

“Geisha, A Life” is about Mineko Iwasaki, one of Japan’s most celebrated Geisha’s. Mineko goes to great lengths to clarify what the exact role of a Geisha is, and the roles that they play in traditional Japanese culture. These women are artists, performers, and textbook examples of poise and grace. It was also a palatable way to learn about the culture, without being bored to death. 

Maybe this book isn’t exactly what everyone would choose to combat ignorance, but I can honestly say I though a lot after I finished this book. First, “The Color Purple” is a highly contested book that often comes under fire, because it discusses some incredibly difficult topics, such as racism, abuse, poverty, rape, substance abuse, sexuality, I mean the list goes on and on, making it a perfect target for those who would like to sweep these issues under the carpet, rather than grow as a society and face the truth. The truth is: horrible things happen all the time regardless of how good someone is, what color they are, their religion or orientation, or where they are from. Hardships befall even the best of people. Having said that, the true measure of a person’s character is their actions, especially when one finds him / herself in the worst situations. Celie is a perfect example of the strength that someone can have to endure.

I won’t lie, this book is heartbreaking. I cried more than once, but it brings up so many topics that are so hard to confront, that it would be an injustice to not read on. Celie ha such heart, such determination, that you want her to find happiness and peace the whole way through. With each bruise she receives, each heartache, each hurdle, you urge her one, and wonder at how she actually does. I dare anyone who reads this book to not understand the love that Celie and Shug share, or the wrong in how Celie is treated, or feel awe when they see the integrity that she shows, despite all that she has endured, and know that she is still a woman of incredible fortitude and grace.

Winsor McCay is one of my favorite comic artists. His most famous work was the serial comic “Little Nemo, Adventures in Slumberland” which focuses on a little boy who flies to a dream land on his bed nightly. I fist came across Little Nemo when I was a child, because they had turned the story into a children’s movie, and a video game for Nintendo. I was completely obsessed with both, and played them constantly. As a teenager I stumbled upon a reprint collection of all the Nemo series, and realized that the game and movie I loved so much were based on something far more substantial. 

I bought the book, and fell in love. 

Sadly, most of the books go in and out of print, so it can be years before the produce new books.The truly fantastic part about McCay is that these were newspaper comics from the early 1900’s. Given the fact that printing processes back then were far more rudimentary than they are today, and that these images were developed quickly, consistently, and only by McCay’s own hands… well, that is special. I’m not knocking illustrators of today by any means, but I think they have a bit of a leg up in comparison to those working in the past. Part of that is due to technological advances, and part is due to concept exposer. By that I mean that, because of our widespread exposure to an everlasting stream of images, art, and information, it is a lot easier to bounce off of another’s ideas. If you go further back in time, you see some pretty fantastical stuff floating around out there in the ether, but in a way there are more organic and original, stemming from the hopes and dreams of one mind. Sometimes I feel like the collective consciousness that we always hear of has become the internet, tv, and the constant stream of repetitious images we see in ad campaigns, but McCay’s images will always be his own. 

It is a commonly known fact that movies are hardly ever better than the book. Sorry, that’s just the way it is. The most recent one to leave me totally pissed though, was:

I love the Harry Potter series, and this book was one of my favorites in the series. They shortchanged the living shit out of it. There was so much drama in the book that was only touched on in the film. Dumbledore was such a huge figure in Harry’s life, and the dynamics between Snape, Harry, and Dumbledore is a paramount aspect of the storyline. It just could have been done so much better. I’m still miffed. lol I remember that I walked out of the movie after it was over with very colorful language tumbling from my lips.  

Ok, I had a hell of a time deciding what to put for this one, so I’m going with a top 3, in no particular order…

1. 

“Gone With The Wind” was an amazing book and an amazing movie. Historical southern dramas don’t get any better than this!

2.

I like a lot of Stephen King’s books, even though some of his stuff is a little on the fluff side. He will even be the first person to tell you that too. However, this book (which came out in series issues) has such depth. I cried during the movie and the books at least once or twice. It was really one of those tales that pulls at your heart strings. I will always have a soft spot for Jon Coffee. Stephen KIng is also a huge supporter of libraries, and has done a ton of great work to build up the libraries in Maine and support them politically. He get’s a double thumbs up for that.

and 3….

So, I know it isn’t a “movie” but I think that doesn’t matter. I think producers made a good call when they went with making this into a series instead. I just started reading the first book of the series and the show follows the book’s plot (which is amazing and well written) to a tee. If you haven’t watch Game of Thrones yet, stop, stop, stop what you’re doing, and RUN TO THE TV. It’s epic. 

This book is actually a re-print of his “Hokkaido Highway Blues” but anyway, it’s awesome. Take one giant, pale Canadian, plus the country of Japan, and throw in hitchhiking (which is a completely foreign concept to the Japanese) and you have one hell of a good story. This book was lent to me by a friend with impeccable taste (and I’m ashamed to say I found it the other day, so Bianca, if you’re reading it’s in mint condition, and you can have it when you come down from Canada, lol sorry to be “that girl”). I seriously considered going to Japan for a few years to teach English, but I’m glad I didn’t go, or I’d be a goner right now, but I digress. It was a great way to read about some of the cultural nuances, and was extremely funny. There is just something about this giant, goofy, white guy squeezing his way into tiny cars and towering over people that just gets me every time. 

It honestly made me want to go to Japan even more. Then again, maybe it’s in the blood. My grandfather always said that if he had stayed over there just a little bit longer he would have brought home a wife. Perhaps when the nuclear disasters are over, and the tsunami situation is better I’ll head to the land of the rising run. 

I know it’s a kids book, but I truly believe that if everyone had to read, and then write a comprehensive exam on this paper, it would cut down on at least 30% of the asshole population. As children we might pick up this book, and love it, perhaps even comprehend the depth of out actions, but as adults those words can fade and become forgotten. It is important for people to remember that if you continue to take selfishly from something, that there is a damn good possibility that you will kill what you previously coveted. Children must be taught to respect their surroundings, and then have that principle reinforced in their adulthood.

Let me give you a prime example, and this is a bit of a library rant so be forewarned. I was working in the children’s section the other day, and had spent my entire shift organizing the collection. Why do we do this? So that patrons can find what they are looking for. We spend an ungodly amount of time each day making sure that the books are in order and flush with the shelves, because it increases the chances of locating an item within a batch of hundreds of thousands of books. Sure, it looks pretty, but there is a purpose behind it. Also, just incase you didn’t know, it is better for the books. When they are stacked on a shelf, flush with one another, it keeps the books from becoming warped or damaged during their time spent there. My point? Don’t, for the love of God, smush the shelves, or (since I’m laying it out there) re-shelf books yourself. Chances are you don’t you what you are doing, and I would rather you set the book aside nicely, than just ram it into the shelf. *Pant Pant* OK, having said that…

So there I was, knee deep in kids books with all their tiny ass call numbers that wrap half way around the book (Megan, my co-worker can tell you just how annoyed I get with those), slaving away to ensure that your chubby little booger-eater can get their Fancy Nancy book. I walk away for ten seconds. Ten. I return and ALL HELL HATH BROKEN LOOSE. Books: EVERYWHERE, pulled off the shelf and cast to the floor like a pile of little literature corpses, and THERE, yes THERE rests a pair of tiny, purple, glittered flip flops. >.< I instantly go on the hunt for a barefooted booger-eater. She is sitting at a table (on the other side of children’s)  with another little girl coloring, and of course cute and looking completely harmless. I turn to two mothers who are chatting near the children.

Me: Ladies? Are those your daughters?

Mom 1: Yes.

Me: One of them left their flip flops over in the isle, I wouldn’t want her to loose them… (in other words, this is my nice way of motivating you to see what a catastrophe your child has created and an indication that you need to teach her some fucking library manners)

M1: … Oh, I’ll pick them up in a minute (and through body language dismisses me)

Twenty mins later, the books are still all over the floor (I left them there so she would see), the mother is still chatting, and the kids dirty ass shoes are still all over the isle. Fucking REALLY? I picked up the shoes and brought them to the little girl, and told her I didn’t want her to loose her shoes, so here you go, and exacted all my will not to curb stomp the mom.

The reason this infuriates me so much is not because of the child, but because of the mother. If parents do not teach their children to respect things, like the library, then they grow up to be adults who do not respect anything but their own needs. News flash, people: Libraries are one of the few institutions that freely protect your constitutional rights to information, education, and protection from being mindless fools whose intellectual level raises no higher than Sesame Street. Think for a minute if you lost your job, and your phone, putting you without internet access and a telephone. You’re fucked. How are you going to look up the majority of your job listings? Call employers? Write a resume and send it to them? Where are you going to go for help? Some might go to friends and family, but there are a lot of people who come to the library for help. They learn computer and job hunting skills, and they are provided a haven in which to better themselves if they so choose to. I want you to think long and hard about whether there are other places that offer that kind of help every day, no string attached, for free. Sure you can go to the unemployment office, but how much are they going to help you there? You might find something that will get you through, but where is the opportunity to excel? That comes with knowledge.

Libraries are also the one major institution that protects the rights of people to not be censored or fall victim to prejudice. It is our responsibility as librarians to ensure that everyone, culturally, politically, religiously, or otherwise is represented in our collection. For the teen who has recently come out of the closet? There are books to help them through it, and others that they can relate to. For the person interested in Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Scientology, or even just Science, there are books for them. Communists or Democratic, Fiction fluff or serious doses of information can all be found any time, at any library, and there are people working day and night to ensure that YOU always have the right to know whatever it is your heart desires. Libraries are the information Giving Trees of our society. Pick an apple as much as you need to, but remember that they also need care and support to survive, and that without it, they will wither and die.

While this isn’t the exact edition that I loved so much as a kid, the illustrative work of Yerko is amazing! They remind me of a modern rendition of International Gothic style. It has all the raw depth of Gothic art with the refinement of modern realism. I love it.

“The Snow Queen” is a Fairytale written by Hans Christian Anderson. I was (I think) 1st or 2nd grade when I smuggled this book home from my school’s library, and it still gives me butterflies! It is a story about two children, Kai and Gerda, who’s love runs to the bone. The story is broken into seven sub-stories, the first which tells of how a troll (sometimes referred to as the Devil himself) makes a mirror that changes everything you see to appear horrible and cruel. The troll, through his own folly, shatters the mirror and casts pieces of the evil glass throughout the world. Two pieces, as small as gains of sand, ends up in Kai’s eye and heart. His heart turns frozen and cold, his eyes see only the worst causing him to turn on everyone, but Gerda knows his heart, and knows it is not him, that something is wrong. One day, Kai hooks his sled up to a great white sleigh (the Snow Queen’s), and his whisked out of the town. The Snow Queen persuades Kai to stay by kissing him once to numb him to the cold, and another to make him forget everyone he has ever loved. When Gerda finds out that Kai is gone, she sets out to bring her friend home.

It is a wonderful story about such a tenacious little girl. I can remember wanting to be just like her, and to ride a reindeer and spend time with a gypsy princess. I remember wishing I could draw pictures like the ones in the book. I also remember crying for Gerda when she struggled and urged her on with every page I turned. I read it over and over, and when I grew up I still wanted to draw my dreams and ride reindeers. It stayed with me always, and was actually part of what I wrote about for my statement of purpose for admittance into graduate school (the other book was Aesop’s Fables). It is books like these that honestly shaped my whole world, and have led to becoming a librarian.    

This book wore me out. I recently read it as part of my Young Adult Materials graduate class. While I think it was well written, and that it very important for books like this to be published and read, it also broke my heart. Angelou goes through some very difficult experiences. She deals with being raped at nine, being shuffled from one place to the next, racism, violence, poverty… It was moving to read her frank depiction of her life, but on the other hand I felt such sorrow that it was hard to get through. No child should have to experience the things she did, and if nothing else, maybe enough people will be affected by the book where they will fight to make positive changes in society. Having said that, it was still a very emotional and difficult read. Perhaps it is because I turn to reading to help me escape from my daily stresses, that in a way I almost felt like my own sanctuary was being encroached upon. I’m not sorry I read the book, and I am thankful that she has the backbone to tell her story, but it just isn’t the best bathtub reading for me. Sorry Lou. 

Just as in life you find that you will have many love affairs, the same can be said about how a librarian feels about books. Sorry, I know you wanted to hear that I had “The One” wrapped up in silk, and squirreled away safely, but no. It is safe to say that there is no “The”. I will, however, tell you about a recent love affair I had…

I loved this book. It is about a girl named “Star Girl” who carries a mouse named Cinnamon in her pocket and plays the ukulele. She was previously home schooled, and now wants to attend high school. She meets a boy named Leo, and the story follows their relationship. The story explores the pitfalls of being different and the strength it takes to be yourself. Jerry Spinelli is an amazing writer, and Star Girl is a wonderful example of what human beings should be. Read it.