Odyssey of the Heart

Homer’s Odyssey: A Fearless Feline Tale, or How I learned about Love and Life with a Blind Wonder Cat by Gwen Cooper (636.8 COO Main)

Reviewed by Jeanne

I need to confess something up front: I am very reluctant to read a real life story about an animal in which the animal dies at the end. I’m sorry, but I don’t like to get emotionally invested and then bawl my eyes out. I did read the wonderful Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (636.8 MYR Main & Avoca, SSB 636.8 MYR Main) but mostly because I knew about Dewey while he was still alive. I had even bought Dewey’s postcards and the video “Puss in Books,” but reading the book was more difficult because I knew how it was going to end.

So it was with an easy heart that I picked up Homer’s Odyssey and discovered a delightful new feline hero because I knew Homer is still alive and purring.

Gwen Cooper was a newly single girl with two cats when Patty, a local veterinarian, called to ask if she would like to adopt a third cat. No. Definitely not. Not only was she currently living in a bedroom in a friend’s house, but she knew that a single woman with three cats was in “crazy cat lady” territory. No way.

The vet was persistent. This kitten was special. He was only four weeks old, an orphan with a severe eye infection. He’d been brought in by good Samaritans who felt the kindest thing would be to put him down. The kitten was sweet, scrappy, and other than the eye infection, healthy. Patty had decided to take a chance, remove the infected eyes, and find him a home. That was where Gwen came in.

Reluctantly, Gwen agreed to take a look, just for courtesy’s sake. She’d stop by, give Patty the bad news that two cats were enough for her, and leave with a clear conscience. But when the tiny scrap of fur with the plastic cone tried to climb her sweater to rub his face against hers, she was lost. Over the kitten’s purrs she found herself saying, “Wrap him up, I’m taking him home.”

Named Homer after the blind Greek poet who wrote The Odyssey, the kitten turned out to be an adventurer with a zest for life. Gwen’s two resident cats, Scarlett and Vashti, were unsettled and bewildered by the newcomer, but Homer never let that stand in the way of having a good time. Gwen was amazed at Homer’s fearlessness, his boundless love and most of all, his joyful nature.

Life with Homer has been an adventure indeed. The bond between Gwen and Homer has survived numerous changes in households; a cross country move; a burglar; the attack on the Twin Towers, when Gwen was unable to get back to her apartment to retrieve the cats; and even a new romantic relationship for Gwen.

I went into this book hoping it would be entertaining. It most certainly is that, but it’s also a non-preachy lesson in bravery, love and acceptance. It’s heartwarming but not in a sugary way; there are places when I laughed out loud, startling my own cats, and places when I cried. Most of all, I felt uplifted and inspired by Homer. Remember “Our Town”? In the final act, Emily the ghost asks the Stage Manager if anyone ever really lives in the moment, ever really appreciates what it is to be alive. The Stage Manager replies, “The saints and poets, maybe—they do some.”

I’d add Homer to that list.

Homer’s Odyssey is well written and a joy to read. Cooper did a wonderful job of selecting quotations from the “The Odyssey” to incorporate as chapter headings, illustrating some of the things this Homer encounters. I was sorry to see the book end.

The good news is that I can keep up with Homer, Scarlett, Vashti and Gwen through Gwen’s blog at www.gwencooper.com. There are also more photos of Homer and the rest of the family.

Highly recommended!

Picture This. . . TVA

TVA Photography: Thirty Years of Life in the Tennessee Valley by Patricia Bernard Ezzell (779.9333914 EZZ Main)
Reviewed by Jeanne

I am fascinated by old photographs. I enjoy seeing these little slices of life from bygone days, wondering exactly what the people were thinking at the time or what became of them, noticing details of everyday life that now seem quaint or exotic. For me, too, there’s something about black and white photos (and movies, for that matter) that commands my attention in a way that color pictures never do.

Author Ezzell provides a very good description of the history of the TVA in her introduction, including information about the men who were charged with documenting the changes being wrought by the coming of dams and electricity to largely rural areas. The heart of the book, though, are the wonderful black and white photos depicting people at work and at play, of crowds gathered for events, or bare, dusty streets. One of my favorites was taken in Blount County, Tennessee: a group of children gathered around an old pickup that serves as a bookmobile. Another favorite depicts a family enjoying the benefits of electricity: the parents are determinedly ignoring the photographer, intent on tasks made possible by light from the electric lamp while their daughter stares directly at the camera, smiling sweetly. I could go on and on about these, but I’ll stop so that you can appreciate them for yourself.

I wonder if Melon would look good in black and white. I think I still have a roll of b & w film. . . .

Happy Halloween from the Bloggers at BPL!

(Momcat is one of our circulation staff and today she brought in her kitten!)

Let’s Return to Those Days of Yore……

By Doris

When you were a kid, did you read the Nancy Drew mysteries or the Hardy Boys? I never did. I did not like Nancy Drew, and my experience with the Hardy Boys was Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy in their teeny bopper Hardy Boys TV series. So why have I developed a new interest in the Hardy Boys now? It originates with one of our patrons, of course!

Mr. F. is a charming older gentleman with a resoundingly deep voice and twinkling eyes. You can just imagine him as one of those radio announcers in the 30’s or 40’s whose voice filled the night as he spun marvelous tales. A few months ago he brought me a list of all the Hardy Boys books and asked me to find the first four for him. I made some comment about a grandchild visiting and wanting to read the books. He blushed just a tiny bit and confessed the books were for him. He decided to re-read all the books because he had loved them as a child. We laughed and talked about “second childhoods,” and I found his books for him at the Mosheim branch of the Greene County Library. Soon he was knee deep in the adventures of Joe and Frank as they solve the mysteries of The Footprints Under the Window or another of the more than one hundred titles in the series. Every couple of weeks Mr. F. would come in and request the next three or four books on the list. This week he requested the last four books. Both of us are sad. He has really enjoyed reliving a part of his youth, and I have enjoyed talking with him about the books. We both have enjoyed discovering which library in our consortium will be sending the books. Evidently the Mosheim Library has a complete set, and they have been very generous in loaning them to us.

Pause here for a commercial, please. Being able to borrow books from the other libraries in the Watauga Regional Library consortium is a real benefit for our patrons. If we do not have a requested item, chances are one of the other libraries will. Always ask us to check and see if a book is available from another library if we do not have it. The service is FREE!

Edward Stratemeyer who also created Nancy Drew, Tom Swift, the Rover boys, and dozens of other characters created the Hardy Boys in 1926. He outlined the stories and hired Canadian writer Leslie McFarlane to write the books. McFarlane wrote the books under the name of Franklin Dixon.

In case this piques your interest, I’ll tell you that the first three books are The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff, and The Secret of the Old Mill. These were released originally on May 16, 1927, by publisher Grossett and Dunlap.

Did you know the Hardy Boys is the best-selling and longest running series of books for boys in the world? They have been translated into more than 25 languages.

The book series morphed into comic books, television series, movies, games, video games, and all types of collectibles. Original editions of the books can be quite valuable.

Wondering what to put in a child’s stocking this Christmas? How about a vintage Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew mystery?

Or, if you have been very good, maybe Santa will bring you one of these great classics to enjoy all by yourself.

A Goat of a Chance

Reviewed by Nancy

Picture this:
• An army general trying to walk through walls (unsuccessfully)
• supersoldiers trained in acute powers of observation and the ability to make decisions intuitively (psychically)
• an army master sergeant who has the ability to stop the heart of a goat, just by thinking about it

These are just some of the things you will learn about when you read The Men Who Stare At Goats (355.3434 RON Main) by Jon Ronson.

I guess this book got my attention because I have spent some time envisioning the atoms, the molecules, the electrons, neutrons, the protons, and the spaces between them. I have conceptualized being able to work the spaces in between all those minute particles in my body into the spaces in between all the minute particles in a wall and, thus, to walk through the wall. Unlike Major General Albert Stubblebine III, I never got so carried away with all this conceptualizing that I actually walked into a wall and banged my nose. If I ever did get anywhere with this I am sure it would be my luck to just half-way pull it off. There I'd be, extended leg and face in one room, other leg and rear end in the room I was attempting to exit, internal organs somewhere in the middle. At any rate, General Stubblebin didn't pull it off, and neither have I.

Who knows what the military is up to? It might be better to float along in a state of blissful ignorance, but if you'd like a clue, try this book on for size. It seems that modern warfare has gone well beyond the fundamental concept of popping up out of a fox hole and firing a gun in the direction of the enemy. Now we're trying to learn to "think them to death." On the one hand, it all seems pretty crazy, but on the other hand, I guess we'd darn well better learn to do it before our enemies do.

In The Men Who Stare At Goats, Jon Ronson, a documentary filmmaker and journalist, takes us on a journey through all this madness, starting way back in the seventies and bringing us to the present with accounts of the shenanigans at Abu Ghraib Prison and Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. So if you want to know, if you think you have the heart to know, here it is. And by the way, there was one guy who did actually learn to kill a goat just by staring at it, so they say. Rest easy. Your tax dollars are at work. A LOT of your tax dollars are at work.

And just when you think it can’t get any stranger, the book is made into a movie starring George Clooney as one of the soldiers and Ewan McGregor as the reporter who stumbles onto the story. According to the movie poster, it also stars “Goat,” presumably as the goat.

What is “a psychospiritual dimension” anyway? I've been psycho, and I've been spiritual, but I'm not sure I've ever been psychospiritual.

Maybe I should work on it. And that wall thing too.

plus ca change. . .

First-Person America edited by Ann Banks (973.91 FIR Main)

Reviewed by Susan Wolfe

Wow. The more things change, the more they stay the same…

This is an old book. But boy, oh boy, is it ever appropriate for today. I ran into it earlier this year because a local book club chose it as their read. I patiently (sort of) awaited for it to become available, and then couldn’t put it down.

People are people regardless of their surroundings and times. Last fall the stock market crashed. People have been concerned how (or if) they can survive this economic downturn. That is the magic of this book. It reminds us that hard times may appear on the horizon, but it has all happened before. That this nation is a mosaic of survivors who have seen change shape and guide their lives. We survive. We can both live and enjoy our lives regardless of the larger environment.

This book chronicles 80 life histories of men and women who lived during the late 1800s and through the 1930s depression. In fact, this book is a creation of the Federal Writer’s Project, which was created to help young writers survive during the economic disaster of the 30s. Some of these writers went on to become famous themselves – Jack Conroy. Ralph Ellison. Some of these oral histories became the basis of characters in their later writings.

The plan of the Federal Writer’s Projects was to provide a portrait of the country by interviewing people from all backgrounds and occupations. This book is a wonderful collection of life stories. Some of which span a lifetime, others cover only a short period of a life. There is a whole section devoted to workers. Armor foods at one time would fire their workers after they turned 40. People would lie about their age. “Momma” was fired because she gained 15 pounds. She cussed ‘em, and was told that they were doing her a favor because she would die otherwise because of her weight. Others chronicle their role in the beginnings of organizing labor. Several stories come from tobacco farmers. Stone workers. Musicians. Even a prostitute down on her luck. Hardship. Happiness. Devotion. They are stories of both good and tough luck. In other words…life. You will see yourself in some of their stories. I certainly found shared feelings and thoughts.

Several of these oral histories are developed around what they considered the most important events of their life. Like Mrs. M.F. Cannon. She grew up on an Eastland County, Texas stock farm and was interviewed at the Masonic Home for the Aged. She shared her youth, falling in love and starting life with her new husband. Another good story is about Bernice Gore. He told about the hard economic times in New York City. How when the rent was due, neighbors were invited to a get-together with music, food and corn liquor and charged an entrance fee of fifteen cents. He recalled “You couldn’t walk down Lenox Avenue without hearing music from a dozen rent parties.”

Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom has been a blockbuster book recently. It is about one old man sharing his wisdom with a young man. A dynamite book. First-Person America is every bit of that but multiplied by 80.

Birds of a Feather

The Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson
F DRA Main
Reviewed by Jeanne

For years, Mr. Malik has gone to the meeting of the birdwatchers group, dutifully noting the various species of birds. For years, too, he has longed to get up the courage to ask Rose, the group leader and guide, out on a date. This year, the quiet widower has made up his mind: he will ask her to the most important social occasion in Nairobi, the Hunt Club Ball. Just as he is ready to make his move, his childhood rival drives up in his flashy car, wearing his expensive clothes, smiling that white toothed smile and in general being everything Mr. Malik is not. Naturally, the suave and sophisticated Harry Khan decides that he will ask Rose to the Ball. Thus begins a competition, a gentleman’s agreement: whoever spots the largest number of bird species in one week’s time will earn the right to escort the lady to the dance.

Fans of Alexander McCall-Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency should also enjoy this gentle, romantic tale seasoned with humor and a very British sense of social standing and proper behavior. Characters wrestle with very human dilemmas, with temptation and with honor, but most of all, with love and longing. They also hold some surprising secrets, which gives the book depth. You don’t have to know anything about birds (or East Africa, for that matter) to enjoy delightful novel!