Wanderlust: a love affair with five continents

If your passport has been gathering dust in a drawer and the only jets you see are twinkling lights in the night sky, you'll enjoy this book of wandering. It begins in British Columbia where Elisabeth Eaves--still a high school student--is newly in love. Her boyfriend Graham, instead of taking the more traditional college route, decides to travel around the world. Because he's a year or two older than Eaves, she starts to live vicariously through his adventures. As soon as she graduates, she starts planning her own.

Along the way she starts school at the University of Washington in Seattle, but the summer between freshman and sophomore years, she hurries over to Moraira, Spain where she works as an au pair. It was a pretty demanding job, seven days on, but soon Elisabeth realizes that if she works hard all day, she can escape after hours and have fun. Fun translates into riding around on the back of Pepe's motorcycle and partying into the wee small hours. (Graham is still in the picture but as Elisabeth's mom said, "They are two ships passing in the night.")

The next big trip occurred during junior year. Elisabeth, who had been studying Arabic, chose Egypt for her year abroad. She learned to dress modestly, but it still rankled her when men yelled catcalls at her. Also, she learned that even poor Canadians were were treated like the higher echelons of Egyptian society, but a woman's ability to travel alone or even walk in the public squares was severely limited. Somewhat rebellious, she did not enjoy that her freedom was being constricted or that her social world was limited by her class. But she loved being in the Middle East, especially on the short trips she took into the desert area or to small towns.

Shortly before leaving she and a girlfriend visited Yemen. Elisabeth described her trip there as stepping back into time--centuries. Both girls donned burquas and walked out on their own. Although it's hard to believe that they fooled anyone, it was a brazen move and one that could have gotten them into serious trouble.

Next, she traveled to Pakistan where as a college intern, she actually became the point person for environmental issues for the American embassy. Until this posting, she had been planning a career in the foreign service, but this gig convinced her that she wouldn't be able to handle the red tape or bureaucracy.

Many other adventures followed--five continents, right? Eaves tells a good yarn and writes fluidly. Her account of a long hike in the jungle of Irian Jaya is particularly absorbing.

She has a knack for exploring out-of-the-way places and for connecting with the locals. She also manages to find romance often. The book describes her odyssey from a young girl with little confidence to a strong woman living life fully, taking risks, and really experiencing the world. For compelling arm-chair travel writing in the spirit of Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, try this wonderful book.

New Poetry Books for the New Year

Here are a couple more poetry books that I’ve been enjoying lately.


Jane Hirshfield’s Come, Thief is an inviting and intriguing book by one of our best poets. Her poems are on the small side with lots of white space but they are packed with so much insight and punch, that they more than satisfy. To her poems Hirshfield brings an eye for nature, wisdom for relationships and a Zen philosophy. Here’s the beginning of “Fourth World.”




A friend dies.
A horse dies.
A man dies over and over again on the news.

Without them,
the fourth-world continues.
Waking fox-red on the flanks of the mountain….

She writes about the most ordinary things and makes them extraordinary. Look at these opening lines from “My Luck” about finding a penny: “My luck / lay in the road / copper side up / and copper side down / It shone / I passed it by / I turned around….”

If you want life-affirming poems that also delve deeply into the “flood topics” (as Emily Dickinson once called the important ones--life, love, birth, and mortality) try this collection or any of Hirshfield’s work.


Speaking of mortality, The Sin-Eater, Thomas Lynch’s new collection focuses on the hero of an Irish myth, Argyle, a man who comes and dines by the newly dead. The widowed and the parents of dead children welcome him because they know that when they provide him with a nice repast, he will feast but also take away the sins of the dead with him.

These twenty-four poems have more of an old-fashioned feel than Hirshfield’s—Lynch incorporates rhyme more, for example. The poems, almost all the same size, are also nicely illustrated with photographs of Irish scenes by Lynch’s son, Michael. Here are the closing lines to “His Ambulations”

The memory of a woman’s company
would bring his ambulations to a halt
to aim his gaping face due heavenward,
the dewy air her touch, her taste, sweet salt.

Lynch knows his subjects well: love, death, loss, and, in particular,grieving. For more than forty years, he’s worked as a funeral director, one of the more unusual day jobs for a poet. The book also has a captivating introduction where Lynch speaks of his mother’s wish for him to become a priest, his boyhood, his Catholicism, and his deep ties to Ireland. For those who like their poems to tell stories and give a real taste for a foreign land, try this collection by Lynch.

For a final taste of his work, here’s the ending to “He Weeps among the Clare Antiquities”: “Among old stones a calm came over him / as if the dead beneath them held their own / redemptions on their journeys heavenward, / like wild flowers gathered out of bones, / their sweet bouquets a comfort beyond words.”

Winter Reading Program 2012!

Adult, high school and middle school readers are encouraged to participate in our annual Winter Reading Program. It's easy to enter - read a book, submit an entry. Every week, winning names will be drawn to receive prizes. At the end of the Winter Reading Program, we'll choose three lucky names from all the entries submitted to receive the grand prizes - new e-readers! The more books you read, the more chances you'll have to win.

Enter anytime between January 15 and March 11 at any library location - Main, Ellettsville or the Bookmobile - or online.

Need help finding a great winter read? If you haven't already, check out MCPL's online book lists. Whether you are craving contemporary British novels, non-fiction about cold places or Swedish Crime Fiction - we've got you covered.

Night Circus Readalikes

Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus tells the story of two competing magicians trying to outdo each other in the creation of an enchanted circus. Whether you've read it and want more of the gothic atmosphere, period charm, and dazzling detail, are on the holds list for it, or just enjoy a bit of whimsy and dark Victorianism, these books should be of interest.

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, a tale of the resurgence of English magic in the early 19th century, is just as dense and immersive as the equally thick Night Circus, and like that novel features a period writing style and a fully realized magical world-within-a-world.

Her Fearful Symmetry shares the formal, slightly sinister tone and otherworldly atmosphere of The Night Circus. Twin sisters inherit a house abutting London’s Highgate cemetery, and the mysterious aunt who left it to them continues to wield an influence from beyond the grave.

Mechanique takes place in a futuristic/steampunk postapocalypse, where a circus made up of mechanical people travels the harsh landscape. Its author’s care for detailed and striking visual description and the overall gothic atmosphere are very akin to The Night Circus, and despite the time period there is an old-fashioned flavor to it.

The dueling magicians in Robert Priest’s The Prestige become not lovers (as in The Night Circus) but ever fiercer competitors, and their unbelievable secrets and magical/scientific tricks ratchet up the stakes in this elegant, tense novel. The Victorian writing style is taken even further here, and the gothic atmosphere and magic-related drama are very reminiscent of The Night Circus.

The dramatic black and white world of the lushly illustrated The Invention of Hugo Cabret could easily stand side by side with Morgenstern’s circus. At the turn of the century Hugo is living in a Paris train station and is obsessed with mechanics and automata--one of which might carry a secret message. The dark whimsicality and period charm are similar to The Night Circus.

Likewise, Amphigorey, a collection of odd, gothic works by Edward Gorey, offers a more overt visual component. Gorey’s careful, old-fashioned, twisted style could have perfectly captured Morgenstern’s circus world, and the overall dark, Victorian cast of the stories is parallel (if a bit more humorously done).

The Winter Sea by Susanne Kearsley

The Winter Sea by Susanne Kearsley.

Is genetic memory just a theory or does it actually occur, or maybe the protagonist in this novel just has a really good imagination?

American historical novelist, Carrie McClelland journeys to Scotland to research her new book concerning an early planned Jacobite invasion in 1708. Her story and her research focus on Slain's Castle, now open to tourists, which was the center of much of the plotting in 1707 and 08. Carrie is soon dreaming of her ancestors who were involved in the intrigue. Is she channeling her long ago many times over great grandmother, is her new romantic interest also a descendant or is it her writer's imagination at work.

The first half of the 18th century in England was a tense political time. The last of the Stuarts, Queen Anne, was on the throne, but with no direct heirs, the crown would pass to the Hanover's of Germany. England and Scotland had been united in 1707, but much tension and dissent remained.

Kearsley brings all this to life through the use of ordinary people caught up in a hopeless cause. The Winter Sea is recommended by the librarian's on the FictionL listserv and other library sources.

For more information on the history of Scotland try these titles:

How the Scots Invented the Modern World by Arthur Herman and The Scottish Nation: 1700- by T. M. Devine.

The Wandering Falcon

Afghanistan and Pakistan are areas that are in the news...a lot. The Middle East has its problems, but what about its culture and traditions? In Jamil Ahmad's book, The Wandering Falcon, the reader gets a short glimpse into the Tribal areas of the border lands between Pakistan and Afghanistan. 

Through a weaving train of stories, the reader gets to know the culture of wandering tribal families and individuals. The story starts after WWII, by my calculations, with the birth of Tor Baz and the tragic story that accompanies his earliest years. From this point the story wanders along with different individuals who work for the government in these lands and people looking out for their family, themselves, and their tribes. It's about outcasts and people trying to make it through life in the mountains and plains, finding happiness in those around them or disappointment in the lot life hands them. Ahmad loosely ties these stories together through a "Where's Waldo" with the character Tor Baz. He shows up in almost every story playing minimal roles or just sticking his head in. 

Ahmad is a storyteller. He knows how to introduce characters and situations without much back story and flag down the reader's interest. Although the names could be confusing, it was not hard to follow. The stories were short and to the point without much pomp and circumstance. Often these stories abruptly ended, but Ahmad made it work. As the reader, perhaps you never figured out the full story, but maybe you're never supposed to. The characters are surprising. In many stories, the women speak their minds and are unguarded. You meet people who are looking out for what's best, and some who are looking out for their best interests. I found myself surprised and amused unexpectedly throughout the book.

The physical book is a little thing, small enough to fit in your back pocket (not quite, but close) and about 250 pages in length. For those who enjoy literary short stories, want a look into tribal life in the Middle East, or are curious readers, give this book a read. 

One Book One Bloomington 2012

Last night, the 2012 One Book, One Bloomington Community Read title was announced on WFHB's Interchange radio program.

This year, the community voted for Room by Emma Donoghue

Jack is a typical five-year-old who enjoys watching TV, reading, and playing games with his Ma. But he has lived all of his life in a single room. The room is his world, shared with his Ma, and occasionally with Old Nick, a mysterious and unnerving nighttime visitor. Told from the perspective of Jack, the novel explores not only survival in captivity but also what happens when captivity ends and the world expands beyond the four walls of Room.

"Room is beautifully written as a first-person narrative from Jack’s perspective, and within it, Donoghue has constructed a quiet, private, and menacing world that slowly unbends with a mother and son’s love and determination." - Booklist

"Gripping, riveting, and close to the bone, this story grabs you and doesn't let go. Donoghue skillfully builds a suspenseful narrative evoking fear and hate and hope—but most of all, the triumph of a mother's ferocious love." - Library Journal

Please visit www.mcpl.info/onebook for upcoming information on public book discussions and a related film festival. Or listen to the podcast of last night's Interchange radio broadcast on the WFHB website.

Check out Room today…join our Community Read this spring!