A.D.: New Orleans After the Deluge

By Josh Neufeld
Grades 10+

This is a stunning graphic novel that tells the tale of Hurricane Katrina in the true stories of six survivors. It is overwhelming to think of your home town destroyed and you having to bear witness to the horrors. This book describes that horror.

A.D. follows each of the six from the hours before Katrina struck to its horrific aftermath. Here is Denise, a sixth-generation New Orleanian who will experience the chaos of the Superdome; the Doctor, whose unscathed French Quarter home becomes a refuge for those not so lucky; Abbas and his friend Mansell, who face the storm from the roof of Abbas’s family-run market; Kwame, a pastor’s son whose young life will remain wildly unsettled well into the future; and Leo, a comic-book fan, and his girlfriend, Michelle, who will lose everything but each other. We watch as they make the wrenching decision between staying and evacuating. And we see them coping not only with the outcome of their own decisions but also with those made by politicians, police, and others like themselves--decisions that drastically affect their lives, but over which they have no control.

Overwhelming demand has propelled A.D. from its widely-read early Internet installments to this complete hardcover edition; it shines an uncanny light on the devastating truths and human triumphs of New Orleans after the deluge.

Vampire Forensics

Uncovering the Origins of an Enduring Legend
by Mark Collins Jenkins

In Vampire Forensics, Mark Jenkins probes vampire legend to tease out the historical truths enshrined in the tales of terror: sherds of Persian pottery depicting blood-sucking demons; the amazing recent discovery by National Geographic archaeologist Matteo Borrini of a 16th-century Venetian grave of a plague victim and suspected vampire; and the Transylvanian castle of "Vlad the Impaler," whose bloodthirsty cruelty remains unsurpassed.

Mark Jenkins’s engrossing history draws on the latest science, anthropological and archaeological research to explore the origins of vampire stories, providing gripping historic and folkloric context for the concept of immortal beings who defy death by feeding on the lifeblood of others. From the earliest whispers of eternal evil in ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, vampire tales flourished through the centuries and around the globe, fueled by superstition, perversion, mystery, fear of disease and death, and the nagging anxiety that demons lurk everywhere.

Jenkins navigates centuries of lore and legend, weaving an irresistibly seductive blend of superstition, psychology, and science sure to engross everyone. Some parts were grotesque but I still couln't put it down. I was horrified and titilated.

Marilyn Monroe by Barbara Leaming

This was an interesting and detailed account of Marilyn's career in Hollywood (rather than her earlier life). The information is taken largely from primary texts and the information is incredibly detailed. The result is a retelling of events that occurred and an insight into the reasoning behind the events.

Even if you haven't seen a Marilyn Monroe movie, you know who she was and you are familiar with the iconic image from the movie The Seven Year Itch (white halter dress getup). The name is synonymous with beauty and charisma. But the real Marilyn-Norma Jean-struggled with depression, alcohol and substance abuse, self esteem, paranoia, and chronic fear that she would not be taken seriously. What came across in the book was that Monroe was needy and mentally unstable. Monroe surrounded herself with people who she thought would help her become a serious actress. It seemed that most people in her life wanted something from her, in particular her dramatic coaches.

 I felt quite sorry for her by the end. Marilyn, while bringing on much of the illness herself, did have a few very painful things to overcome. First, she was always living in fear that she would go insane like her mother who was institutionalized for most of Marilyn's life. Second, she suffered from endometriosis, a condition in which the lining of the uterus attaches to other stuff in the abdomen, and grow, causing pain, irregular bleeding, and, in severe cases, infertility. Several times Marilyn had to take time off to undergo gynecological surgery  Third, she had a series of emotionally and physically  traumatic miscarriages during her marriage with Arthur Miller. Not to mention the amount of pressure put on Marilyn to perform and do well from production companies, directors, and foremost, herself. Marilyn was a beautiful and troubled woman.

I would like to have had more details on Marilyn's constant sickness and early childhood. However the book is already more than 400 pages. So, I guess the early childhood and constant illness is another book completely.

The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Elizabeth Kostova's first book, The Historian (a story about the infamous Dracula), met public acclaim quickly and hit right before the Twilight vampire craze began. This, Kostova's second work of fiction, is a story of obsession, mental illness, the power of art, and the human ability to hope and love.

Psychiatrist Andrew Marlowe is a psychiatrist who lives by himself, paints on the evenings and weekends, and likes his solitary, simple life. This order is destroyed when renowned painter Robert Oliver attacks a canvas in the National Gallery of Art and becomes his patient. In response, Marlowe finds himself going beyond his own legal and ethical boundaries to understand the secret that torments this genius, a journey that will lead him into the lives of the women closest to Robert Oliver and toward a tragedy at the heart of French Impressionism.

I am going to get my gripe out right off the bat. I've got to say it but I don't want to dwell; this book was really long. I listened to it and it was 17 audio discs. The book is 564 pages. Aside from the Bible, I think this might be the longest book I have ever read. I should have know that the book was going to be so long because The Historian was so long. At times, the book felt slow (when too much information was dispursed) and then at times it flew by (when Kostova didn't tell you everything and you HAD TO FIND OUT. I am of the mind that less is more!). It wasn't until the last disc (about the last 50 pages) when it is revealed the reason behind the title, which was kind of frustrating.

Ok. That aside, Kostova does an excellent job of creating believable characters and characters with whom the reader would want to be friends. As the reader, I was able to listen to the characters grow. Creating realistic characters is quite a feat and one that I apprecaite.

Another excellent aspect is the amount of research I know it took to write this book. The acknowledgements at the end of the book are mammouth. Kostova did research on psyciatry, 19th century authors, art school, being a professor, modern day psch wards, the medical profession, being an artist...There are so many things to discuss with this book and it would make a great book club book if the book club members can get past how long the book is.

There were great plot twists and the ending was a surprise to me. Good book. Very good listen.

Kabul Beauty School by Deborah Rodriguez

Age: Grades 9-12

I heard about this book several years ago on NPR. I had wanted to read it right away, but here I am several years later...at least I remembered I wanted to read it. This is a true story about Debbie Rodriguez, an American who got out of an abusive relationship and went to Afghanistan to help with humanitarian aid. After several epiphanies, Debbie decided to open a beauty school in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Now when I think of a beauty school, I think of superficial things and negative aspects of being a woman. But really, a beauty school is empowering to women. It is a women centered organization, run, and staffed by women. In Afghanistan, men are not allowed in a beauty parlor because women have their heads uncovered (actually if men are caught in a beauty parlor it will hence forth be considered a whore house). In a beauty parlor, it is the one place where women can be themselves and be successful business women. What Debbie did was see that there was a need and work to fulfill it.

Anyhow, being that Debbie was a beautician and not a writer, I was concerned that the book wouldn't be well written. However, it is fabulous! I went on Amazon and saw that there was another writer listed, likely writer who could help Debbie organize her thoughts. Well, that other lady did a great job!

Debbie is a fighter. She barrels into Afghanistan and wants to help everyone. Later, she realizes that her American 'Can Do!' sensibility has often hurt other's feelings and she is able to reflect and accept why--which is hard for anyone to do. When she hears the horrible stories of the Taliban, she wants to jump to action. But that is not the way of things in Afghanistan.

One story, I LOVED and also HATED was when Debbie when to the market and a creepy man groped her. She did what an American woman would do. She punched him and yelled out that she was being assaulted. This behavior was so embarrassing to Debbie's Afghan friend who accompanied Debbie, that she vowed to never go to market with Debbie again. In Debbie's mind, she was protecting herself. In Debbie's friend's mind, Debbie was humiliating herself. This is a vast cultural difference that makes me furious, but at the same time, these women's perspectives are not any less valid than mine because they are different.

At one point Debbie visits a women's prison. The overall experience was utterly depressing. When she spoke with the women in prison, she found that many were in there for running away from abusive husbands or for being raped. Debbie herself had just escaped an abusive husband. According to Afghan law, she should be in prision for that offence. It was a very moving moment in the book.

I guess what I am trying to get at, is there are ways you can work within a system that is dysfunctional and make people's lives better. The women Debbie helps would be lost with American women's independence. Many women had never made a decision on their own before. It would be a trial to just pick out what to wear in the morning (having only had the decision between a blue burqa or a black burqa in the past). What Debbie did was go behind the lines and make a difference immediately. Sometimes you can't want for a culture or whatever, to change. How many of these women would have starved or been killed before the culture made a change allowing them to be independent? Who can wait for that?

It is an incredible book. It blows my mind. I was born in America. What if I had been born in Afghanistan? That could be my life.

I, Claudius by Robert Graves

Grades: 9-12

I have undertaken the mammoth responsibility of reading I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Now, the book isn't even really that long. I guess it is like 400 pages. That is not the problem. And it's not that the book is dry or boring, it is just a commitment. I am entering another time, a time before watches, computers, cars, electricity, radio, Nike shoes...really, there is more that that world didn't have (that I need and use in everyday life) than what that world did have. The book is just epic.

It is the "auto-biography" of Claudius the grandson of Augustus Caesar (Octavian), or the great-grand-nephew of Julius Caesar. The book is based on the historical accounts of the time. However, it is important to not that the historical accounts wildly vary. History at that time is more relative. I mean, Homer's Odyssey is, for the most part, considered a historical piece--you know the whole thing with the sirens and the cyclops. So while this book is definitely historical fiction, it is still mostly fiction. There is just no way we can know for sure what happens.

Claudius is an unexpected hero. He stutters, has a permanent limp, drools, and is frequently ill. It is amazing that he lived at all. Think about the kind of medical care he would have received. Basically, none. Sure they had doctors but they didn't know anything. Plus, he is born into a family that is famous for the "accidental" deaths, back stabbing, immorality (despite Octavian's insistence of the old school moral code), and borderline incest.

I mean look at this family tree! This family tree is ridiculous. When you have to list the number of times a person is married and who that person had affairs with, the family tree gets very confused. Basically, you might be a redneck if your family tree needs a key. But, let's keep in mind that marriage is a different thing then.

Double click on image to see full display.

Now this could be very confusing because everyone basically has the same name. Rome is a culture of nick names because of this fact. But Robert Graves writing as Claudius is very clear when he mentions someone. But, it's still confusing.

But, it is not at all boring. Look at that family tree! HOW COULD IT BE BORING! You have Tiberius and Caligula as characters. If you don't know anything about those two, then you are in for a scandalous surprise. Tiberius hated being emperor. He built a pleasure palace in Capri. There he holed up and when not participating in demented and strange activities, he spent his time being paranoid.  He was able to run away to the country because of the momentum of the economy that Augustus left behind. When it was discovered the kinds of things he was doing there, it is thought that he was murdered by his great-nephew, adopted son, and successor Caligula (although it is not clear exactly what happened. Tiberius was in his 70s. He could very well have died of old age.).

Now, Caligula was just about as bad but he was just stinking crazy. At one point, while fighting in England, he ordered his troops to charge the ocean. He was just crazy. Although, he is considered moderate a moderate ruler for the first few years of his reign. After these relatively peaceful years it is thought that Caligula suffered from the end stages of syphilis which caused his insanity. But you have to think about how Caligula would have been effected by Tiberius's peculiar tastes as they spent a good deal of time together. Make a long story short Caligula is assassinated and our good Claudius becomes the emperor!

So it is sooo not a boring book, but as you can see complicated.

EPIC!

Eli The Good by Silas House

I know we've always been told not to judge a book by its cover, but when I saw the cover of Silas House's newest novel I knew I was going to love it. Just look at it. . .that gorgeous sunlight flowing through that leafy canopy. Stare at it for awhile. Can't you just smell the earthiness of it?

Okay, so I'm going to love this book. That's what I told myself, but, wait a minute--it's about the Vietnam War. For someone who majored in History that shouldn't be a problem, but I have a bad history when it comes to reading books having to do with the Vietnam. They're always too depressing (think In Country) or gory (think The Things They Carried), and they tend to give me nightmares. Silas House, how could you do this to me? And with your Young Adult debut?! After much anguish, I mustered up the courage to read Eli the Good, and I loved it!

It's the summer of 1976 and the whole of the US is finding itself in a paradox. The Bicentennial has everyone in patriotic celebration, but the anger and disillusionment from the Vietnam War still pain the country. Ten-year-old Eli Book realizes this all too well. His father, Stanton, was one of the men who survived the conflict physically, but was mentally scarred instead with post-traumatic stress syndrome. To make matters worse, Eli’s war-protesting aunt comes to stay with the family. While her free-spirited, music-adoring lifestyle is a welcome refreshment, she is hiding something that casts another shadow over the family. The bitter resentment Stanton feels toward his sister’s protests of war increases the tension in the household. Despite this palpable bitterness, Eli’s own sister begins to call the war into question—further fueling the conflict. Eli also has questions, but they are ones he does not think he can ask. He feels a distance between himself and his mother, and he knows his father will never talk about what happened to him in Vietnam. For solace, Eli turns to his best friend and neighbor, Edie, who is also struggling to cope with familial turmoil. In this delicately handled and endearing coming-of-age tale, Silas House has managed to take on the burdensome confusion and hurt carried by children of Vietnam War veterans while exerting the universal truths of love and hope. Eli the Good just might make me read another book about the Vietnam War. So, sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.

The Time-Traveller's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century by Ian Mortimer

Grades: 8-12
I have to confess that I am a little bit of a reality TV addict. I am just very interested in how people live. This interest spreads into a general interest in people and culture. I love books that are journal format (Dear America, Bridget Jones Diary, Ophelia, etc) because I feel like I get to eavesdrop. Isn't that like the most fun in the world?

Well, this book combines all those reality TV guilty pleasures with actual history. It is a "history" book but it is written like a travel guide. It breaks down every principle to the basic ideas and then expounds upon them. Very informative while being sooooo interesting!

Medieval England's social structure is completely different from the modern world we know and love. Even the basic "Christian" beliefs are different. Not only was deodorant not invented yet, it was thought that taking a bath could kill you. Think about life without indoor plumbing, toothpaste, band-aids, Advil. The average person lived to be 38. 38? That is not that old. How old are your parents right now. My Dad is 59. He likely would have been dead for the past 21 years.

I am always amazed that people could live at all without modern conveniences. I just don' t know how a person could even consider living without a microwave. Why would anyone WANT to do that. It just seems unfathomable. But that is history. Everyone has ancestors who were alive at that time. I don't know where mine were, but they very likely could have been in England not bathing and dying at age 38. Who knows?

This book used facts and historical events to capture my imagination more than Survivor EVER has.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

Grades 8+

Christopher John Francis Boone knows all the countries of the world and their capitals and every prime number up to 7,057. He relates well to animals but finds it hard to understand other people. When he discovers the suspicious death of a neighbourhood dog, he decides to solve the mystery and write a detective thriller about it. As in all good detective stories, however, the more he unearths, the deeper the mystery gets–for both Christopher and the rest of his family.

Autism is purportedly on the rise although the cause is not really known. People with autism, mild to severe, can be difficult to understand. The story explains some behaviors and gives a thought process to this boy's adventure.

This is a very exciting book and is just good.