Amber’s recommendation for holiday cheer celebrates our unique American history and appeals to our can-do spirit against all odds, just like the pioneers.
I love everything about the Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books, but I especially love holidays in the Ingall’s household. These collections of Christmas stories, A Little House Christmas and A Little House Christmas Vol. 2, bring together all my favorite Little House moments: Maple Syrup candy hardening in the snow, Laura and Mary secretly making a button string for Carrie, the beautiful fur cape and muff from the present tree that Laura wished so hard for, and many others. This is Christmas at its purest and best.
Hello Bedford Falls!
Bill’s choice for favorite holiday escape is a beloved classic. Since it is largely set during the austerity of the Great Depression and World War II, it reflects many of the same economic hardships we’re experiencing now – and shows that there’s always something to be grateful for.
The 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life frequently appears on lists of the top 100 movies of all time (sometimes it ranks in the top 10) for a reason…it’s good. It’s a feelgood story from an innocent American age, when all that was needed was black and white celluloid and a good script. I suppose it doesn’t hurt to have the Tom Hanks of the World War II era on your payroll either.
We can relate to George Bailey’s existential questioning. It has a happy ending for the holidays. Finally, its over-the-air broadcast is a free local television tradition that serves as a much-needed respite from the brutal Iowa winter, people jockeying for your last cent, and familial stresses.
And in case you were wondering, young Zuzu is no longer six years old. She will be 70 next year.
Behold a Star by the Nova Singers
The Christmas/End-of-Winter holiday season is a wonderful time of year but sometimes it’s easy to get lost in the chaos and endless to-do lists. The librarians here at the Davenport Library Info Cafe blog offer some reasons for making time to stop and make the season “merry and bright” with their favorite holiday movies and books.
I’ll get things started with my favorite Christmas music. Firmly rooted in tradition (there’s no “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer” here!) but with a fresh and modern approach, the Quad City-area-based Nova Singers offer some of the most beautiful music of the season.
The Nova Singers is a 20-voice ensemble with a nationwide reputation and are known for their creative song choices and virtuoso performances. They’ve produced six recordings, three of which are made up of Christmas music. All of them are beautiful but Behold a Star is my favorite partly for the Nova Singer’s version of “The 12 Days of Christmas” (you can tell they’re having a lot of fun with this) and partly because of the inclusion of “A Shoot Shall Come Forth” a gorgeous and unusual carol that speaks of renewal and peace and promise, exactly what the Christmas season is about.
The best part is that you can see the Nova Singers perform right here – they put on 8 concerts a year, divided between Galesburg and the Quad Cities. Their Christmas concerts this year will be held December 18 and 19. Be sure to check their website for times and locations. Then treat yourself and go – you’ll be glad you did!
Backyard Chickens
City officials in Davenport, Iowa City and Cedar Rapids aren’t the only ones to be considering how to deal with the recent vogue of urban chickens. The locovore movement and a struggling economy have combined to produce the “It” Bird, as Susan Orlean calls chickens. There are those that say that the Obamas should have a few at the White House. You can even find plans on the internet for building a coop out of Ikea furniture.
Orlean, author of the Orchid Thief, turns her eye to small-time chicken raising in the September 28th New Yorker. She traces the history of keeping fowl in America, how they went out of favor in the fifties and how they were gentrified by Martha Stewart’s gourmet chickens and pastel eggs. You may or may not know that Iowa is the home to the “largest rare-breed poultry hatchery in the world.”
Orlean herself finds the perfect solution for her needs…just a few chickens (guaranteed to be hens) and a small plastic coop. ( A British company called Omlet manufactures the Eglu).
If the subject intrigues you, check out The Joy of Keeping Chickens by Jennifer Megyesi, Living with Chickens: Everything You Need to Know to Raise Your Own Backyard Flock by Jay Rossier, and, of course, Raising Chickens for Dummies.
Right of Thirst by Frank Huyler
After his wife’s death, successful cardiologist Charles Anderson volunteers to assist with earthquake relief in an unnamed and impoverished Islamic country in Right of Thirst. At the relief camp, he joins a young German woman doing DNA research as well as a local soldier assigned to them, presumably because he speaks excellent English. Though they wait patiently and try to keep busy preparing, the refugees never come. However, the volunteers do visit a local village where they find a young girl with a mangled foot, which Charles later amputates. This scene is particularly credible, perhaps because the author is himself an emergency-room physician.
The fact that the author, Frank Huyler, has also lived extensively abroad (including Iran, Brazil, Japan and the U.K.) seems to serve him well in describing cultural differences. For example, one character explains that giving water to travelers is one of oldest laws in their religion. They call it the “right of thirst”, and that is why offering tea is an obligation, not simply a social pleasantry.
The book’s plot takes a sudden turn when artillery fire is heard along the country’s border. It’s assumed that spies have mistaken the relief tents for army ones, so a quick escape is planned for the relief workers, traversing dangerous mountainous terrain. A tragic accident occurs, further tainting the doctor’s good-will expedition. This is a book that will make you think; it may also make you a bit sad, or perhaps it just might make you question relief efforts in general. It also qualifies as a good choice for a book discussion group as there are ample opportunities for opposing viewpoints, such as the doctor’s role in his wife’s death.
Frugal Librarian #17: Can I get a Woot Woot?
The constant struggle to find the best deals keeps the Frugal Librarian indoors, as does a general disdain of people. The perfect solution…online shopping. Woot has focused on single deals for some time. Launched just a couple days ago, however, is a companion site, deals.woot.com. If you want a product in general, such as an iPod Nano, type it in and count on the fact the returns are input by the thousands of ravenous altruistic online dealhounds out there as opposed to a computerized best guess. They’re kind of like cataloging librarians solely focused on the categorization and classification of retail savings. And if you take it for a spin, you’ll see they are really good at it.
Focus on deals.woot.com as a pretty good site to fill out your list. You’ll get the cream of the crop from all the online deal sites in one condensed, easy to use, accurate package. You’ll beat your fellow shopper using competitive intelligence, and the mailman will like the business from delivering your packages. And you don’t even have to brush your teeth or put on shoes.
Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper
Homer’s Odyssey by Gwen Cooper is a closely observed tale of a tiny black kitten who lost his sight early in his life.
Beginning his life as a stray in South Beach, Homer’s eyes became so infected that his eyes had to be removed when he was eventually rescued and treated by a vet. The vet, after many failures, finds Gwen who instantly bonds to Homer, only a few weeks old.
His new owner has her own set of challenges, not only adapting her household physically (eliminating obstacles and clutter and padding sharp corners) but also integrating the kitten with the two already ensconced feline inhabitants.
The author clearly adores the newest member of the family, but also studies Homer with a scientist’s eye for detail, as she works to understand the needs of her new kitten. She describes how his sense of hearing and touch compensate for his lack of sight.
Parts of the story are heartbreaking but Homer is the very essence of resilience. The author is careful not to attribute human attributes to her cats but obviously admires Homer’s bravery and his will to survive and thrive.
The book, Cooper says, is written for “those who think that normal and ideal mean the same thing.” They will come away with an appreciation of the “slightly left of…normal.”
DVDs for December
December 1
Night at the Museum : Battle of the Smithsonian – Ben Stiller, Amy Adams
History is larger than life, and twice as funny, in this monumental comedy sequel. Larry Daley is a former night watchman at the Museum of Natural History, where the exhibits come to life after dark. Now Larry’s nocturnal friends are being retired to the archives of the Smithsonian Institution, luring him back for a hilarious, all-out battle against museum misfits who plan to take over the Smithsonian, and the world.
Terminator Salvation – Christian Bale
John Connor’s path into the future is altered by the appearance of Marcus Wright, a stranger whose last memory is of being on death row, and he must decide whether Marcus has been sent from the future or rescued from the past. As Skynet prepares its final onslaught, Connor and Marcus embark on an odyssey that takes them into the heart of Skynet’s operations, where they uncover the terrible secret behind the possible annihilation of mankind.
December 8
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – Daniel Ratcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint
Harry Potter returns to Hogwarts for another year of schooling and learns more about the dark past of the boy who grew up to become Lord Voldemort. There was a time when Hogwarts was thought of as a safe haven, but thanks to Voldemort’s tightening grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds, that simply isn’t the case anymore.
Julie and Julia – Meryl Streep, Amy Adams
Julia Child’s beginning in the cooking profession is intertwined with the life of thirty-year-old Julie Powell, who decides to cook all 524 recipes in Child’s first book in one year to escape from the monotony of her daily life.
December 15
Inglourious Basterds – Brad Pitt
During World War II, a group of Jewish-American guerilla soldiers led by Lt. Aldo Raine, known as ‘The Basterds,’ are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish woman who runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers. A plot is set in motion to kill the Nazis at the theater’s movie premiere, including Adolf Hitler.
December 22
Twenty years ago, aliens from another planet made contact with Earth. Now, the refugee camp they are forced to live in has deteriorated into a slum-like ghetto. When field operative Wikus van der Merwe is put in charge of evicting the aliens, he contracts a strange virus that changes his DNA to match that of the refugees. As his body begins to mutate, he becomes a hunted man, and the aliens’ only hope for freedom.
Mother’s Best by Lisa Schroeder
We finish up our week-long look at new cookbooks with a look at comfort food – always in season!
The winter holidays bring us back to home, to memories and to traditions. Now, even if you no longer go to grandmother’s house for you family dinner, you can bring some of those traditional foods to your own kitchen with the help of Mother’s Best by Lisa Schroeder.
Although leaning toward Southern favorites (pulled pork, biscuits and gravy, crab cakes) this book is filled with favorites from many different traditions and is based on a popular Portland, Oregon eatery. Recipes range from hummus to creamed spinach to french toast to tofu scramble. An entire chapter is devoted just to macaroni and cheese, the ultimate comfort food. Don’t dismiss these recipes as fuddy-duddy though – they’re written for the modern cook with straightforward instructions and lots of tips and hints. It’s almost as good as having Mom helping you out in the kitchen!
Happy Thanksgiving!
The Davenport Public Library will be closed today in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. We’ll be open again tomorrow, 9:30am to 5:30pm.
Here’s hoping you and your family and friends enjoy a safe and wonderful holiday!