Fashion and Passion

Karen Harper, The It Girls (NY: William Morrow, 2017)

We think the term “It” is new, is hip, but there were “It” Girls and ideas in the late 1800s. Karen Harper brings two charming, ambitious, and highly successful Sutherland sisters out of obscurity and into the limelight in her newest novel. Both sisters marry well, at least on the surface, but their lives are anything but fairy tales. Lucile is a fashion designer for the rich and beautiful people of London, New York, Chicago, and Paris. Her couturier business, complete with living manikins (the forerunner of runway models), flourishes in the 1880s until WWI. Her sister Elinor defies social and class convention to write torrid romance novels that make the Brits blush and a newly founded Hollywood eager to put on the screen.

Harper weaves a tight story of friendship and sisterly rivalry, of hopes achieved and dashed. You’ll be drawn into the descriptions of clothing, the hints of scandal, and the passion that lies beneath the story. 

The It Girls is a satisfying addition to historical fiction that spans the 19^th and 20^th centuries. Once you enter this magical world, you’ll want to read to the very end.

If you like the idea of "It", check out "Nine Women, One Dress" by Jane L. Rosen (2016), about the most fabulous dress of the season.

Crete and its secrets

I guess I'm in a learning mode through mysteries and historical fiction. This book A Most Extraordinary Pursuit (#1 Emmeline Rose Truelove Series) by Juliana Gray, teaches the reader all about archaeological excavations, Knossos https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knossos, and Greek mythology.

This unusual mystery revolves around anachronism, but it's really about the search for a lost heir, a lost hero, and the discovery of the truth behind the myth of the Labyrinth at Knossos, Crete. Each chapter begins with an installment of the story of Theseus and the Minotaur or Theseus and Ariadne.

Truelove and Lord Silverton search for Maximilian Haywood, missing heir of the Duke of Olympia. The story thread unravels as Truelove and Silverton sail the Aegean looking for Haywood and, well, Ariadne. From the Palace of Knossos to the caves of Skyros, our intrepid travelers seek the truth about the Minoan murals and the secrets they reveal. The story is a little magical and has a few anachronisms thrown in, but mostly, it’s a great romp through the seas on a steel yacht in 1906.

Written in a 1906 British style, you'll fall in love with Truelove and her companions. 

If you want to know more about deciphering the language, Linear B, that the archaeologist mentions, check out Margalit Fox The Riddle of the Labyrinth 

Learn all about maps and book collecting, and a little theft thrown in

What a wild romp through the NYPL map collections, the research libraries, and bibliomania.  As a librarian who teaches about rare books and worked at NYPL (a long time ago), I couldn't put this book done. I had to stay up late to find out what wonderful twists and turns Fairstein put into the 11th book in her series "Lethal Legacy" (2009).

Fairstein mentions all the important collectors and thieves including E Smiley Forbes, aka Eddy, and the Waldseemuller map, all 12 parts of it, the rarest map in the world https://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/waldexh.html

If you want to read more about Smiley, check out the most recent book about himby Michael Blanding The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made Millions Stealing Priceless Maps (2015) http://amzn.to/2vYDOON  Blanding's book is about Smiley and also about the history of map making.

If you want a different perspective, that of the history of map theft, you should read Miles Harvey Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime (2000) http://amzn.to/2uYgxrI

 
Back to Fairstein's book. Since I've been reading through the series and know that Det. Mike Chapman is labeled the historian of the intrepid trio. I was surprised that Fairstein portrays him as never having been to the main NYPL research libraries and that he didn't know the names of the stately lions (Patience and Fortitude for those who don't know). Chapman didn't seem to know how research libraries work. If he graduated Fordham, then he should know. That was the only unbelievable part of the entire book.

Lethal Legacy revolves around a murder, book theft from NYPL, and the search for the Waldseemuller map. The dynamic trio, Chapman, Wallace, and Cooper meet many of the big name collectors in NYC, trustees of NYPL, explore the research library from top to bottom and everywhere in between as they search for the killer(s) and for the map. There are some great scenes of curators pulling books from the collections and searching for 'treasures.'

Book and map lovers will love this book as much as those who are intrigued with NYPL and the history of Manhattan. You'll learn a lot and want to know more. Take a look at the reading list in the acknowledgement pages. Oh my, my reading list just grew longer.

Life-long learning should become a habit

Matthew Rascoff and Eric Johnson present interesting suggestions for encouraging students and universities to nurture life-long learning in their Chronicle of Higher Education article (Aug 28, 2016) entitled "Reimagining College as life-long learning" http://www.chronicle.com/article/Reimagining-College-as-a/237588
 They reimagine college as a continuum that lasts from 18 until 120, that encourages individuals to return to learning and education again and again. If this is the case, then libraries and other cultural institutions are perfectly positioned to add to life-long learning. In fact, most cultural institutions offer classes, workshops, and plenty of opportunities to education oneself throughout a lifetime. So what's the big deal? The article is a reminder that education and learning don't end just because you get a degree or finish a course. There's plenty to continue to learn in a field, in a specialty, or in a hobby.

As librarians, archivists, and information professionals, we need to continue to educate ourselves, grapple with new topics and new skills, foster learning in others, and spark that desire "to know," or to answer all the "why" questions. 

So today, while you are thinking about it, plan to reading a new book, watch an intriguing video, or begin to learn something new. That's what life-long learning is all about.

On to more books.......

Other places to see my reviews

I write reviews for lots of organizations including

The Columbus (OH) Dispatch (no longer taking reviews as of 2018)

The Book Loft of German Village - and their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/bookloftcolumbus

Ohioana Library Association  

Audiofile Magazine (Audiobooks)

And several professional journals.

Learning about Politics and How it Works

The birth of the modern political campaign

The Triumph of William McKinley: Why the Election of 1896 Still Matters by Karl Rove

This is the year for politics, judging candidates, and deciding who will be the next president. Karl Rove’s newest book The Triumph of William McKinley was released in paperback just in time for the Republican National Convention in Cleveland Ohio. In this fascinating history, Rove describes how McKinley ran the first modern political campaign using newspapers, social networking, and public opinion. Wait a minute! McKinley campaigned for president in 1896, stomping and barnstorming for votes at the Republican National Convention in Chicago, then on to the White House. Today’s politicians still campaign using McKinley’s techniques.

Read about this staunch Republican, an Ohio native, a US Representative, Ohio Governor, and the last president to have served in the Civil War. He was a master at working the political machine, at networking, and currying favor across the state and later the country. McKinley stood for protectionism, for keeping import tariffs high and buying American. As a politician, he weathered the Depression of 1873 and the Panic of 1893, long years of unemployment, failed banks, and failed businesses in the midst of rising monopolies and industrialization. Sound familiar? McKinley faced many of the economic problems we face today and he campaigned successfully throughout it all.

You don’t have to be a Republican to read this book. Rove’s book is fascinating no matter your political persuasion. Election buffs will love the political wrangling, horse-trading, and maneuvering. Historians will delight in the history of political, economic, and societal issues of the United States from the end of the Civil War to the end of the century. Readers will savor the details Karl Rove provides about this Progressive Era politician who is still relevant in the 21^st century.

Shakespeare on the stage and off

In the spirit of Shakespeare, Mary Sharratt’s The Dark Lady’s Mask is an enchanting fictionalized biography featuring Shakespeare and Amelia Lanier, a Renaissance poet. In 1593, the life and fortunes of Amelia Bassano Lanier, the great female Renaissance poet, intersects with Shakespeare's. They collaborate on his early plays while traveling in Italy, she seeking her inheritance, Shakespeare, an adventure. The enchanting work of historical fiction is full of poetry and passion; Shakespeare’s passion for plays and Lanier’s for poetry. The sumptuous language and descriptions will draw you into Lanier’s life and loves in Elizabethan England.

Karen Harper’s Mistress Shakespeare (NAL, 2010) is another book about Shakespeare with a feminine twist. In 1583, Shakespeare marries first Anne Whateley, whom he loves dearly and the very next day, Anne Hathaway who is carrying his child. Whateley, a merchant’s daughter, moves to London to escape her broken heart and run the family business. Of course, her life intersects with Shakespeare and the theater and, their smoldering love affair sparks passion and great poetry. Grab your book of Shakespeare Sonnets and read along as Shakespeare and Whateley spout phrases and poems at one another. Timeless and beautiful, the poetry is at the heart of this romance.

If you are in the mood for mystery, check out The Roaring Boy: A Nicholas Bracewell Mystery by Edward Marston. It features a play about a recent murder. When an actor dies in the first scene, then another, the Roaring Boys are forced to continuously rewrite their play and solve the mystery. Here, playwrights who compose plays and edit on the fly, and imagine that Shakespeare did the same until his plays were ‘perfect.’

These books provide wonderful descriptions of London of the late 1500s, from cold rooms and warm clothes, to theater and romance.