Stand Up by Jethro Tull

How do I love this album? Oh, let me count the ways!! First of all, there's the cover, which I love so much that I got a t-shirt with it on the front. It is a drawing done from woodcuts off all four Jethro Tull members, which at the time consisted of vocalist/ flutist/acoustic guitar player Ian Anderson, bassist Glenn Cornick, drummer Clive Bunker and (then) new guitarist Martin Barre. The combination of yellows and browns and the leaves in the background and the band members' attire give the cover a very woodsy feel, which suits the music to a t...shirt. The artist even gives Ian Anderson an extra finger, maybe to better help him play his flute! Secondly, I like how if you put the last three song titles together without any commas (We Used to Know Reasons for Waiting for a Thousand Mothers) that you get a sentence! Third, I have some very pleasant memories of my walk back from the music store after buying this on vinyl in the summer of 1980. Fourth, and most importantly, there are the songs themselves, which I adore; even some of the lesser ones, like Back to the Family and For A Thousand Mothers, have one or two things to recommend about them.

The blues (which was all over the Tull’s debut album, This Was) still shows up on the album’s opening number, A New Day Yesterday, where Ian Anderson plays both harmonica and flute. Great tune - I think it sounds a bit like early Black Sabbath (Tony Iommi was in Jethro Tull for a few weeks before Martin Barre and I am now thinking that perhaps he had a hand in creating this song). Tull’s jazzy rendition of Bach’s Bouree is a pure delight, with Ian Anderson singing, breathing, sneezing and grunting into his flute. It also features a short but memorable bass guitar solo. Look Into The Sun and Reasons For Waiting are two overlooked and very folksy sounding tunes, both of them full of beautiful and sad vocal melodies, the latter featuring a string section and guitarist Martin Barre on flute. Nothing Is Easy is an up-tempo, bluesy hard rock number, during which each band member gets a chance to show off on their respective instruments. Fat Man, which shows off Ian Anderson’s unique sense of humor, sees Tull experimenting with world music and has balalaika and bongo drums on it.

Elsewhere, We Used to Know has a chord progression that Ian Anderson says The Eagles later stole for Hotel California (I think that's bollocks myself!) and is a fun song to play on guitar. Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square is a short, but odd number, with Ian Anderson playing mandolin and guitarist Martin Barre once again on flute. The other two previously mentioned tunes, Back To the Family and For a Thousand Mothers are a bit too sloppily produced and played for my liking, but they still rock out quite a bit.

Overall, I think Stand Up is one of Jethro Tull's finest albums. It may not be as sophisticated musically and production wise of some of their later albums, but it is still a great record. And it's more than worth having on vinyl, as well, especially if you can find an original pressing, which comes with a pop-up of the band members! - Reviewed by Rich

Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Mostly True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka by Jon Scieszka

Every single page of this book made me laugh with unadulterated delight at the antics and adventures Jon grew up with that shaped his life and his work. It also made me extremely glad that I didn’t have to grow up with five brothers...wow, it sounds dangerous!

I don’t think anyone could come away from this book without enjoying (vicariously) growing up in the Scieszka household. His mom was a nurse with a wild sense of humor plus a determination to give her boys a good education and encourage them to excel, however hard they might try to avoid it. Their father, a principal in a school on the other side of town, was “more of a quiet joker” but had the best tool for raising a pack of boys - being a respectful listener. It was he who dubbed the pack “knuckleheads” – it was easier than saying all 6 of their names when he needed to get all six of their attentions! Jon’s life was filled with sparring, broken bones, jokes, pranks, one-upmanship, hand-me-downs, fun, learning experiences (LOTS of learning from mistakes and bad behavior!) and humorous affection.

No one who went to Catholic school, as all six of the Scieszca boys did, could come away without lots of crazy stories about nuns and their particular style of teaching. Many of them were extremely frightening, but there was one nun, Sister Helen Jude, who was convinced that loving attention works much better than fear when teaching children. Jon gets to prove that with his grateful (and hilarious) chapter on schooling.

The chapter titled “Crossing Swords” gets my vote for “most hysterical”. Six boys, finally in the car, ready for church. One HAS to go pee, (“No, urinate” says Mom, who wants her children to grow up intelligently). Of course then the next one has to go and the next and the next. O.K. so, it takes way too long for them to go one at a time, so...well you’ll have to read it to believe it...

It’s hard to describe the general hilarity of this book with my own words, so I will just entreat you - if you need to have renewed faith in the world, if you want to know what kind of a life makes a writer like Jon Scieszka, if you could just use a really good laugh, then pick up this book and read it! You won’t regret it. - Reviewed by TCPL staff

World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

This is, quite simply, one of the more interesting books I've read in the last year. It’s not exactly a novel - somewhat in the spirit of The Good War - it’s a collection of (fictional) reports about an outbreak of zombie-ism that nearly wipes out the human race. Ten years after humankind manages to survive this worldwide effort to wipe out the living dead, a U.N. worker is compiling these oral histories into a report on what happened - for better understanding of the events and to prevent them from reoccurring.

While it would seem that dozens of stories might get confusing, or at least not give a very clear picture of the war, the author makes it easier by setting things up linearly, moving forward in time from the earliest signs of the upcoming plague, through the sudden massive outbreaks, the disastrous first responses, the turning point, the end, and the aftermath of the war. One can get a clear impression of the general order of the plague and the war.

While a zombie "novel", if one can call it that, the focus isn't actually on the zombies. They are omnipresent, of course, but these are very human stories. Stories about how doctors failed to understand the problems at first. Stories about government corruption. Stories about panic. Stories about heroism, villainy, triumph, and failure, about tough moral choices and about how morality can go out the window in times of difficulty. In short, the horror in this book is less about the zombies and more about the humans.

And above all, the human stories are so real. While one or two may force you to suspend disbelief (in particular, a blind swordsman) most are quite realistic, perhaps even painfully so. People head north because the zombies tend to freeze in cold temperatures, forgetting that, frankly, so do humans. A company releases a placebo vaccination that people buy by the scores - even after it’s revealed it doesn't work, just for that glimmer of hope. And so on, and so on. Almost every action taken, good or bad, you completely believe that the human being there might have taken it.

Another strong point of this book is that while all the stories are written by one man, he manages to give the individual people telling their stories their own voices. Each story doesn't just read like the same person telling it, a great danger in this kind of book. What lapses there are can be easily explained by the fact that one man is collecting the stories, but all in all the rural Chinese doctor and the hardline Israeli soldier and the scared Japanese youth all sound different enough for it to be believable.

This book doesn't exist in a vacuum, it has a companion, somewhat more lighthearted book called How to Survive a Zombie Uprising which I admittedly have not read, and there is an audio-version of World War Z, with different actors playing the parts, which is supposedly brilliant (I've not listened to it yet). It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it can appeal to a far wider audience than just "the horror crowd", because it’s a human story. – Reviewed by John

The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness

I have just finished The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, a YA novel by a new American author living in the UK. It was reviewed in the Financial Times as a book that should be read by adults and not allowed to sit buried on the YA shelves. The reviewer said that like The Golden Compass, it would appeal to adults. It is one of the fastest paced books I have read and once I got into it, I found it difficult to put down. The language takes some getting used to. The graphic design of the novel is important and one must pay attention to it. It requires one's full attention when reading. The book is the first in what is planned to be a trilogy. I can't wait for the next book to be published. I finished this one feeling like I was almost falling off the edge of a precipice. I almost regret reading it as I so desperately want to know what is going to happen next. The story is about a boy running away from the community where he has been living where there are no women, and everyone can hear everyone's and everything's thoughts. From the incessant thoughts of men, animals, strange swamp creatures, the noise is everywhere and palpable.

I am really hoping our Teen Librarian will arrange an adult/teen book discussion group to discuss this novel. - Reviewed by Sally

Celebrate! by Sheila Lukins

Ms. Lukins has written a cookbook that features menus for celebrations throughout the year. The first section of the book is A Year of Celebrations. It begins with a buffet, Ring in the New Year , which includes pork tenderloins and a “platter of plenty” that has a wide array of roasted and blanched vegetables. This dinner is topped off with a pineapple upside down cake. She ends the holidays with A Toast to the New Year complete with recipes for Sparkling Crab Salad and chocolate truffles. She provides the recipes and suggests the music, drinks and table settings for the occasion. In her introduction to each holiday, she gives us a quick overview of the holiday and its special meaning or traditions.

The second half of Celebrate! is dedicated to Celebrating Our Lives. Recipes and ideas for occasions such as The Big Raise, A Gracious Housewarming and my favorite, Celebrate a Ripe Tomato. Her recipe for the Garden Tomato Tart uses frozen puff pastry which makes this easy to make. Recipes for appetizers, main dishes and desserts are plentiful and easy to make. This is a delightful cookbook/ party planner which is fun to read and even more fun to use. Celebrate! - Reviewed by Deb

The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan

This book transported me to India in the 1500’s. This is the fictionalized story of a real woman named Nur Jahan. She was born to a poor Persian nobleman and his wife. After suffering through a great many difficulties, her family’s luck began to change. As a beautiful young woman, she experienced life in the Imperial harem (the zenana) and began to understand the role of women and the power that they exerted. While there, she falls in love with Prince Salim, but unfortunately is required to marry a cruel Persian soldier, Ali Qui. We follow the parallel lives of Prince Salim and Nur Jahan through their marriages and births of children to the conquest of an empire.

Indu Sundaresan engages the reader of this historical romance through the use of vivid descriptions of clothing, food and customs. She gives the reader a peek into the daily life of both the poor and nobility. I am looking forward to reading the sequel, The Power Behind the Veil. - Reviewed by Deb

The Touch by F. Paul Wilson

In the third entry in the Adversary Series (the first being The Keep, the second one being the first Repairman Jack novel, The Tomb), a caring and compassionate doctor by the name of Alan Bulmer is given the ability to heal people by just touching them. This ability, called The Touch, or Dat-tay-vao, unfortunately comes with a price, which I dare not reveal here, as it one of this book's many wonderful plot twists.

I love this book. The main character may be the sweetest and most sympathetic main character of any book I have ever read, which makes all the bad things that happen to him even more tragic. The book moves at a fast pace, but the author also allows enough time for character development and does his best to make everyone as three dimensional as possible. There is a villain in this story, but even he is not drawn out to be totally evil. And one supporting character who starts out as being a bit aloof and anti-social eventually mellows out and turns out to be quite a nice guy in the end. The plot twists are absolute genius and the story is very unpredictable. It is also a very fast read. I plowed through it just one day!

Though the front cover makes this out to be a horror novel, it is really a medical thriller, with elements of horror and the supernatural thrown in. There is even a sweet romance in the book. A very touching and moving book. I think it is one of F. Paul Wilson's best books ever. A must read! - Reviewed by Rich

Dewey: a Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

What’s not to like about this New York Times bestseller? A true story about a cat which was found almost frozen in a library book-drop on January evening, adopted by the library staff, beloved by everyone who used the library, and who eventually became known around the world? Too cute for words - yet I fell I love with Dewey, identified with the daily routine at the Spencer Public Library and admired Vicki, who was the library director at Spencer for twenty years. Vicki’s personal history of her family, along with the history and values of Spencer made this book more than just a story about a personable and appealing feline. Recommended. - Reviewed by Janet


Vicki Myron was interviewed on the Charles Osgood Sunday morning show television program and a friend of mine called me to tell me to look at it. When I listened to the interview and saw that she wrote a book about an orange cat(my favorite type), I just had to read this book.

This is a very touching story not only about the cat Dewey and the Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa but about the town, its people, and the changes it has been through over the last two decades.

The author shares a lot with us about her life with all its challenges and ups and downs. This book made me cry and laugh and this was fine. It’s a wonderful story not only for those of us who work in public libraries.

I heard it will be made into a movie with Meryl Streep that I am looking forward to watching. - Reviewed by Patricia

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

I feel I should start this review with a disclaimer: I am not the target audience for this book. Perhaps if I were, my review would be quite different, since the popularity of this book indicates that the writing holds appeal to one group or another.

That said, Twilight is a strange book. Now, I love a good vampire story, I really do. I also love a bad vampire story, because let's face it - vampires are awesome. The modern-day vampires are monsters, and that appeals to the tough little kid in all of us, and they are tragic romantic heroes, and that appeals to the wide-eyed and full of wonder little kid in all of us. But Twilight isn't so much a book about vampires as it is about restraint. So much restraint perhaps, that it approaches the idealized courtly love of a medieval story from a young adult book of the early 21st century.

The story centers around Bella Swan, a young lady (high school junior) who moves back to the Pacific Northwest to get away from her mother and her mother's new boyfriend. The first third of the book must be much maligned in the Pacific Northwest, because the major feature of that section of the book is discussing how much the Pacific Northwest is terrible. Bella really honestly hates it, until she spots Edward, whose major personality feature seems to be that he's gorgeous and that he doesn't want to hang around with Bella.

After a rocky start and some admittedly decent set-up, Bella realizes Edward is a vampire and their courtship starts. It basically consists of Bella wanting to know Edward better (in every sense of the word) and Edward insisting he's dangerous. Edward's claims of danger are undermined by his a. inability to leave Bella alone and b. the fact that nothing about him seems dangerous in any way. His thirst for blood is under control. His reaction time is so inhumanly fast that nothing can hurt him (or anyone with him). He insists that if he lost control he could really hurt Bella, but his control is so exacting we never believe him. He doesn't even burst in to flame in the sunlight... he just sparkles. In the end, we're left wondering what the downside is to being a vampire, and why he's so dead-set against allowing Bella to become one.

There's really not much to recommend for this book or the series. The book is paced oddly, spending most of the book on set-up of the world they live in and what vampires are. The characters are often one-dimensional; Bella is inhumanely distant emotionally, and inhumanly clumsy physically. Edward doesn't have much going for him, in terms of personality. Bella's father seems to exist only because she has to have one parent or another to live where she does. And most of the other humans in the book (with the possible exception of the Native Americans) are written in such a way as you feel they do nothing but compare, poorly, to the vampires...

And yet...I can’t help but want to know what happens to these characters next. I can't explain why. But I'm very, very interested in reading the rest of the series. Which can only mean that even if I can't identify it, there must be something right about this series. Off to read New Moon now. - Reviewed by John

Without the King: the Shocking and Astonishing Story of the Kingdom of Swaziland

In 2006, when filming took place, Swaziland was the last absolute monarchy in Africa and one of 4 remaining worldwide. King Mswati III was chosen from the 250 children of the 110 wives of his father to inherit the throne. Though he is educated and well-spoken, he appears to be unable to comprehend the facts of life that most of his subjects face daily. Swaziland has a 69% + poverty rate, an incredible HIV rate of 42.6% of its 1.1 million people and more than 80,000 AIDS orphans. Interviews with the king’s first wife and oldest daughter are compelling. You will never forget the image of Princess Pashu shaking the hands of very young children orphaned by AIDS. It’s obvious they would have much preferred being given a piece of bread. - Reviewed by Nancy