Staff Picks

Longtime Companion by Sonny & the Sunsets [Music CD]

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Step one after a break up is to write and record a country album. San Francisco native Sonny Smith has followed this guide, only he’s unexpectedly added a little bounce, shuffle and humor. I saw Sonny & the Sunsets on the Longtime Companion tour at Flywheel in Easthampton, MA and he played a number of songs from this record alongside his usual catchy, sometimes surfy, melodic fair. He also took off his pants.

Smith’s deadpan delivery over the groovy “I See the Void” had me sold on his version of country music. He and the Sunsets played a mini set of their hip take of twang with nods to Buck Owens, The Flying Burrito Brothers (the self-titled number takes me to that “Hot Burrito no. 2″ place with steady soul bass over a simple chord change) and even a little Beachwood Sparks.

For a record dealing with heartbreak and separation, Sonny & the Sunsets offer the listener an enjoyable experience and while forging new ground within a classic genre.

Dodger by Terry Pratchett [Book]

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Dodger is the latest novel by Sir Terry Pratchett, best known for his satirical Discworld series of fantasy novels. Pratchett’s usual wit and love of language shine through in this historical piece set in Victorian London and with a cast of characters that includes Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, Angela Burdett-Coutts, and Queen Victoria.

Dodger takes place above and below London, with the city’s ancient Roman sewers playing a prominent part. Much of the drama comes from the meeting of the upper and lower classes, the rich and poor, and the politics of the street vs. the politics of the state.

Pratchett has, very consciously, taken liberties with the setting and refers to the work as a historical fantasy, not a historical novel. The most obvious example is the inclusion of the almost certainly fictional Sweeney Todd. Less noticeable to most readers will be the the adjustment to the lives of Sir Robert Peel and John Tenniel whose careers did not, in fact, overlap as suggested in the novel. These changes may bother some, but if you take them in stride you will find Dodger to be a very enjoyable adventure story brought to life by its rich setting and colorful language.

The 100 year old man who climbed out the window and disappeared by Jonas Jonasson [Book]

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I picked this up because of the intriguing title and because it was Swedish without being a grim, dark thriller.  It does have crime though, so you won’t feel deprived.  Anyhow, this crazy old character escapes from a nursing home and goes off on a series of adventures that recall his long and fascinating life.  It’s ironic, absurd, clever and surreal, populated by unique and sometimes famous figures from the past and present.  It shares the unlikely Forrest Gump just-happened-to-be-in-the-right-place-at-the right-time premise, so be prepared to suspend your disbelief once and for all.  Once you do, it’s wickedly entertaining, fast paced and very funny.

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple [Book]

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A couple of creative, perceptive and witty misfits star in this novel.  Mother, wife and lapsed architect Bernadette lives in Seattle with her high-tech superstar husband and too-smart-for-social-success teenage daughter.  They live in a beyond weird old house and can’t cope with their perfectly privileged and PC neighbors or private school.  The format is as original as the characters: the story unfolds through letters, emails, diary entries and school documents.  Maria Semple wrote for TV’s Arrested Development, so you’d expect the dialogue and plot twists to be hilarious, and they are; there are scenes that would be fabulous onscreen.  There’s also sincerity and real character development in these quickly-turning pages.

This is How You Lose Her by Junot Díaz [Audiobook]

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The audiobook is read by the author, Junot Diaz, to wonderful effect. We follow the life and romantic misadventures of Yunior, from the time his family immigrated from the Dominican Republic to his life as a professor in Cambridge — although not in a straight chronology. Diaz’s language is in turns brash and lyrical, peppered with slang. Yunior is not always an easy guy to like, and that he becomes a sympathetic character at all is due to Diaz’s genius (as further evidenced by his being named a MacArthur Fellow in 2012). The version of the audiobook I listened to was further interspersed with latin music, helping to set the mood and carry me away.

Birth House by Ami McKay [Book]

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This book made me think about the births of my children as well as family tales I’ve heard from my mother and grandmother about their very different birth experiences. The clash between midwifery and “modern” medical care is at the center of this engaging story. The author does a great job of weaving in historical events and of setting the story during the nineteen-teens in a remote Nova Scotia village.

Waking Sleeping Beauty [DVD]

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In Waking Sleeping Beauty, we go behind the doors of the Disney animation building and see an equal display of creative brilliance and management melodrama.  As the 1970’s drew to a close, the legendary animation studio was producing anemic box office returns (by Disney standards) and those in charge of the purse strings viewed its limping continuation simply as a tribute to Walt’s legacy.  Shifts in corporate leadership created new challenges to the once easy going, hippie-ish department and as a result, the company reached a range of highs and lows.

This film features interviews with animators, directors, composers and executives.  In addition, the curtain is lifted and we’re granted access to all sorts of behind the scenes footage.  We see the animators at work and goofing around, early film cuts and cells, actors recording voice-overs, corporate lectures, between take banter of Michael Eisner’s television introductions and even funeral speeches.  Waking Sleeping Beauty is a film for anyone who is interested in the history of the Disney empire and ever wondered how the magic is really created.

The Woman Who Died A Lot by Jasper Fforde [Audiobook, Book]

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This latest entry in the Thursday Next series of genre-bending literary absurdist fantasy adventure novels is immensely satisfying.  Fforde doesn’t miss a chance for a farcical or pun-driven punchline; the twists and knots and mobius strips in the overlapping plot lines make perfect sense in the impossible logic of his alternate world, despite (or because of) which, they still provide surprises.  Thursday has been pushed into semi-retirement but nevertheless manages to be at the center of the action, valiantly trying to save the world from Goliath Corporation (mission statement: to own everything and control everybody), the smitings of a wrathful deity, asteroid collisions, overdue library books, and genetically engineered fake versions of herself.  The reader on this Recorded Books version has done a brilliant job of voicing the many characters and pacing the reading with a deadpan nonchalance.

California Split [DVD]

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George Segal and Elliott Gould star in California Split, my all time favorite Robert Altman film and one of the best from the 1970’s. This dark, buddy comedy is centered around Bill Denny & Charlie Waters, two men who get sucked into the world of gambling. After Bill falls deep in debt to his bookie, he sells off several possessions so he and Charlie can make an all-in trek to Reno.  They eventually find themselves in a tacky casino and in a dramatic, high stakes poker match.

Segal and Gould are the ultimate on screen duo with a perfect comedic volley and excellent chemistry. Additionally, this 1974 movie comes in when Altman was on top of his creative game. The director’s signature usage of wide range audio recording gives the picture an incredible depth and a real sense of place. The conversations from the extras and bit characters are always audible and usually rather interesting.

Ultimately, the story of California Split asks, does money really equal happiness?

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay [Book]

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This emotionally laden story starts off with two alternating voices. Julia Jarmond is an American-born journalist, who has been living in Paris for 20 years, complete with a French family, and a marriage that is increasingly unstable. She is tasked with writing the story of the 1942 Vel d’Hiv Jewish roundup by the French police on the 60th anniversary of that difficult but little known episode in French history. We also see the roundup from the perspective of Sarah, a 10-year-old who is taken to the Vélodrome d’Hiver with her family, but without her younger brother. The stories of these two lives converge, with a key unlocking many long-buried secrets. This is a story that will stay with you.

Kisses on the Bottom by Paul McCartney [Music CD]

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It’s been an awfully long time since Macca has been discussed on the Forbes Library staff picks blog.  So, here I am to recommend a romantic offering from the melodious, ex-Beatle. Kisses on the Bottom, Paul’s tribute to the music he heard around the house as a boy, is a marvelous collection of standards with two originals tacked on for good measure.  Diana Krall, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Robert Hurst, John Pizzarelli and Karriem Riggins are among the many fine musicians who make up McCartney’s backing band.

The title comes from a lyric from the opening tune, “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” by Fats Waller.  The introduction’s syncopated piano line, upright bass and brushes on the drum kit, set the tone for this swinging affair.  Recorded at the famed Capitol Studios on Hollywood and Vine, Paul, singing with Nat King Cole’s microphone, taps into the crooning spirit of yesteryear.

Highlights include “It’s Only a Paper Moon”, “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive”, “My Valentine” (a Paul original), “The Inchworm”… well, I recommend ’em all!

Midnight in Peking by Paul French [Book]

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In 1937 foreigners and native Beijinger’s alike were shocked when the mutilated body of a young woman was found just outside of of Beijing’s Legation Quarter. Clearly, a terrible crime had been committed, but what had happened? The investigation was complicated by the bureaucratic system that made it difficult for law enforcement in the Legation Quarter and in Chinese Beijing to work together and the detectives in charge of the case struggled with a lack of information and communication—and what seemed all too often to be pure obstructionism from above. Paul French’s Midnight in Peking offers a fascinating glimpse of China at beginning of the Second World War, a time when powerful Europeans were leaving China, and many refugees were arriving in Beijing and nearby cities, fleeing from the USSR and Nazi Germany, and from the increasingly hostile and militaristic presence of the Japanese within China.

French’s narrative follows both the official investigations, and the unofficial investigation conducted by the victim’s father. There are some surprising twists along the way, and French takes advantage of them to keep the reader on her toes. An engaging read, but not for the squeamish or those who prefer to read stories in which justice is fulfilled.