Two Musical Titans – Two Terrific New Bios

Recent months have seen the publication of biographical studies of two very different musical geniuses:  Country music icon Jimmie Rodgers, and the legendary jazz composer and pianist Thelonious Monk.

Barry Mazor’s MEETING JIMMIE RODGERS – HOW AMERICA’S ORIGINAL ROOTS MUSIC HERO CHANGED THE POP SOUNDS OF A CENTURY, offers a fascinating account of how the legacy of “The Singing Brakeman” has filtered through the decades via artists like Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, and Hank Williams through Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and Beck.  The original shape-shifting rebel-tramp, singer of “Blue Yodel” and “In the Jailhouse Now”, Rodgers’ persona, as much as his music,  is alive and well, nearly eighty years after his untimely death from tuberculosis at age 35.

On the other hand, Robin D. G. Kelley’s THELONIOUS MONK – THE LIFE AND TIMES OF AN AMERICAN ORIGINAL, digs beneath the well-known persona of the key creator of the Be-bop style. Known for his eccentric berets and hats, his tortoise shell glasses and goatees, Monk composed some of the most enduring jazz classics: “Round Midnight”, “Ruby My Dear”, “Straight, No Chaser”, “Well, You Needn’t”, and many others. While Monk is often written off as a “primitive genius”, Kelley, through deep research and hundreds of interviews with family, friends, and colleagues, shows that Monk was anything but “primitive” – a genius, yes, but one with a deep knowledge of classical music, art, and literature.  Often overshadowed by the great Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, this terrific biography restores Monk to his rightful place in the jazz pantheon.

Both books are available through branches, or in the Popular Culture division at Main Library.

Beatrix Potter is on the Case!

Did you know that Beatrix Potter moonlights as a detective? At least her fictional self does in Susan Wittig Albert’s Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter series. 

Other real-life people working as fictional sleuths include Eleanor Roosevelt, Elvis Presley, Pliny the Younger, and Queen Elizabeth I.  

 

And coming soon will be Leonardo da Vinci’s third case A Bolt from the Blue by Diane A.S. Stuckart.  

 For more  historical personages working as detectives, click here for Popular Culture’s list. 

  

 

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Some recent books run the gamut on all things football.

How Football Explains America looks at football as a sociocultural phenomenon.  Yet another social aspect, the integration of football, is told by the players themselves in Gridiron Gauntlet : the Story of the Men Who Integrated Pro Football in Their Own Words. 

Brian Kinchen found out life can take strange twists as related in The Long Snapper : a Second Chance, a Super Bowl, a Lesson for Life.  Turning to Ohio, a legendary football coach’s story is told in Paul Brown : the Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Football’s Most Innovative Coach.

As to the game itself, you can test your football IQ with Super Football Challenge : 600 Trivia Quizzes to Test Your Football Knowledge. Before taking a quiz refresh your knowledge with Football Outsiders Almanac 2009. And, finally, if you feel like reviewing the game in pictures, try Sports Illustrated’s The Football Book.

These and many other books about football are available at the Akron Summit County Public Library.  Call Popular Culture at 330-643-9035 for assistance.

Let the Great World Spin wins National Book Award

Irish author Colum McCann won the 2009 National Book Award in fiction for Let the Great World Spin, his novel focusing on the lives of various New Yorkers on the day in 1974 when French trapeze artist Phillip Petit walked a tight rope between the World Trade Center towers. McCann dedicated his award to recently deceased “Angela’s Ashes” author Frank McCourt saying, “I think he’s dancing upstairs.”

The nonfiction winner was T.J. Stiles for The First Tycoon: The Epic Life of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who reminded the audience as he accepted the award that “the book lies at the heart of all of our culture.”

Pedal Power

People bike for many reasons – fitness, basic transportation, reducing their carbon footprint, competition, and recreation.  And of course bikers sometimes write books about their passion.

In Pedaling to Lunch area resident Stan Purdum introduces us to 20 of his favorite bicycle tours through small towns and the countryside in Northeast Ohio. Each tour includes detailed maps, mileage notations, precise directions, and Stan’s recommendations for lunch halfway through the rides.

Bicycling Beyond the Divide tells of  two journeys by Daryl Farmer. His first was as a twenty-year-old two-time college dropout who headed west. Twenty years later and seventy pounds heavier, with the yellowing journals from that transformative five-thousand-mile bicycle trek in his pack, Farmer set out to retrace his path. The years altered the man and the West, and Farmer’s book muses on these changes—as well as on what lasts.

Romagnoli is known for his writings on Italian culture and cuisine, but he steps away from that subject to relate his World War II experiences as a teenage messenger for the Italian Resistance in The Bicycle Runner: a Memoir of Love, Loyalty, and the Italian Resistance.  While dealing with Fascist and anti-Fascist Italians and Germans, he still found time for romance and other aspects of teenage angst.

Finally, in Bicycle Diaries Talking Heads frontman David Byrne reflects on his bicycle jaunts around Detroit, Istanbul, London, San Francisco, Manila, New York — you name it. He cycles through cities bike-friendly and bike-hostile, musing on the myriad advantages (and disadvantages) of getting around on two wheels.  Even if the last bike you rode had three wheels, you’ll enjoy Bryne’s thoughts on the freedom afforded by a bicycle.

Contact Popular Culture at 330-643-9035 about these and many other books about bicycling, including biking tour routes.

2012: the End of the World?

The movie 2012, now in theaters, is not the first fictional treatment of the prophecy (based on the Mayan calendar) that claims the world will end on December 21, 2012.  Recent novels on this topic available at the Akron Summit-County Public Library include:

 The Twelve by William Gladstone. 

As a child, Max Duff was given twelve names in a vision.  As an adult, Max ventures on a journey of destiny to discover the importance of the twelve names, and  learns the secret behind the ancient Mayan prophecy.

Apocalypse 2012 by Gary Jennings. 

In this historical thriller, scientists discover the Aztec-Mayan End-Time Codex, which foretells the end of the world in 2012, and they must struggle to crack the code before it’s too late.

Meanwhile, Jessica Andersen puts a more romantic spin on the end of the world with her paranormal series Final Prophecy, which currently consists of 3 books: Nightkeepers, Dawn keepers, and Skykeepers.

Chick Lit is Not Dead!

Chick lit may be dissed by “serious” book reviewers, but what’s not to like about a story told in a confiding, personal, humorous tone,  like having a best friend tell you about her life?  While it doesn’t grab headlines as much as in the days of Bridget Jones, there are still plenty of authors writing new chick lit.

Sophie Kinsella’s Twenties Girl and Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner were fun summer reads.  Some titles to look forward to this winter are Rich Again by Anna Maxted and The Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes.

For more suggestions, take a look at Popular Culture’s recently updated Chick Lit booklist.

The Supremes

The chief justice and the eight associate justices of the U.S. Supreme Court  often have strong opinions.   Some recent biographies of past and present justices reveal how those opinions developed and helped shape our laws.

Lewis D. Brandeis, A Life is a comprehensive biography of an American legal giant known for his progressivism.

American Original: the Life and Constitution of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia describes the influences that helped shape one of the most outspoken and colorful current justices.

Rehnquist: a Personal Portrait of the Distinguished Chief Justice of the U.S. is a tribute by journalist Herman J. Obermayer to his friend Chief Justice William Rehnquist — who served as a Supreme Court justice for a third of a century and headed the federal judiciary under four presidents.

Popular Culture also has biographies of other current and former justices, including Clarence Thomas, Sandra Day O’Connor, David Souter, Earl Warren, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.,  and Thurgood Marshall.

BookLetters at the Library, Part 2

Do you ever wonder how people find out about the next big bestseller?  One way is through BookLetter’s Fiction Preview newsletter.  Each month we list forthcoming titles that we expect will be popular, like the latest book by Sue Grafton, for example.

Click here to see and subscribe to some of the other BookLetters lists that the library offers.

Tennis, Anyone?

He dyes his hair, pierces his ears, dresses like a punk rocker. By the time he turns pro at sixteen, his new look promises to change tennis forever, as does his lightning-fast return. But now, Andre Agassi says he hates tennis. Find out why in his new book Open: An Autobiography.

If tennis is your game, check out these other recent tennis autobiographies: Getting a Grip by Monica Seles and On the Line by Serena Williams.