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Reading Rescue, May 2008:
Remembering Through Books
 By Anne Allen and Mary Anne Fulmer
It has become a tradition for the Reading Rescuers (no
boring books here!) to set aside May to review a few of the memorial
books purchased to honor our patrons and/or their family members. It is
also a way to express our gratitude for this generosity and to give you
an idea of the variety of books added to the collection. Be assured this
is a small sampling!
One gentleman comes in every year with the request "My
wife loved to read. Buy some books you think she would have liked." A
recent purchase was the latest in the Puzzle Lady series, The Sudoku
Puzzle Murders by Parnell Hall. Cora Felton, AKA the Puzzle Lady,
may be out of her depth with crossword puzzles (niece Sherry does all
the work), but she is a genius with Sudoku puzzles. A Japanese publisher
has come to Bakerhaven to sign her to a book contract, and this innocent
business transaction leads to the robbery of an antique store, two
murders, trouble with Sherry's ex-husband, and, of course, several of
the trademark puzzles. In this outing, Will Shortz (puzzle editor of the
New York Times) contributes two Sudoku puzzles to add to the fun. This
is a light and lively read with a group of likable characters and no
need to have read earlier books in the series.
Dorling Kindersley is noted for publishing books with
high quality paper and gorgeous photography. Beaded Jewelry
(745.58 BRE) makes wonderful use of these attributes. Author Maya
Brenner, a well-known jewelry designer, walks the reader through basic
beading techniques, choosing beads, and selecting tools. She has
patterns for bracelets, necklaces and earrings at three different skill
levels, includes ideas for theme projects, and touches on restoring,
repairing, and recycling. This is a large format book, with swooningly
beautiful photographs of beads, all kinds of beads, combined in amazing
ways. If this book doesn't bring out the beader in you, probably nothing
will!
It can be difficult to purchase financial books as a
memorial, but an easy choice this year was The Biography of the
Dollar (332.4 KAR) by Craig Karmin. Mr. Karmin is a writer for the
Wall Street Journal, with an engaging and easy to read style. His book
is divided into six chapters, which include sections on the wild and
woolly world of international currency trading, a look at Ecuador's
conversion from its own currency to ours, and an explanation of why
foreign countries hold such large reserves of the dollar. Probably the
most fascinating chapter deals with the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing. Karmin tells about insider thefts, how the Bureau changes the
bills to deter counterfeiters, and about the Mutilated Currency Division
where the employees spend their working days piecing together currency
that has been burned, eaten by animals, and damaged in more ways than
you can imagine. His brief history of the central bank is fun to read,
with characters like Paul Warburg and J. P. Morgan. This is an enjoyable
book and you will come away with a greater understanding of how money
works.
Most of us have used Roget’s thesaurus, but how many
know anything about the man who created it? The Man Who Made Lists
(92 ROGET) by Joshua Kendall is a biography of Peter Mark Roget, who was
born in London in 1779, the son of a Swiss Huguenot minister married to
the daughter of a wealthy jeweler. Raised by an emotionally unstable
mother, Peter began making lists at an early age, lists of scientific
observations, lists of events, but most importantly, his lists of words.
Kendall tells us of a quirky man obsessed with classifying knowledge,
one who traveled to France in the early 1800's and had to escape from
Napoleon, a man of science who did early experiments with laughing gas.
He also gives a brief history of thesauri and an interesting explanation
of how Roget determined to organize his effort. First published as a
resource for scholars in 1852, the thesaurus became a huge hit in the
U.S. in the crossword puzzle craze of the 1920's. This book was
purchased as a memorial for an avid crossword puzzler and it is highly
recommended for anyone with an interest in words.
The life and wives of England's King Henry VIII continue
to fascinate us, as demonstrated by recent television programs and
films. In Alison Weir's Innocent Traitor, Lady Jane Grey takes
the center stage. The daughter of Henry's niece, Jane Grey has Tudor
blood and an ambitious family. Close in age to Henry's son and heir
Edward, Jane's parents are disappointed she is a girl, but before long
the Greys begin planning a match that will put their daughter on the
throne. Weir has done extensive research to tell the story of the "9
days queen", a girl who was manipulated and betrayed, but went to the
executioner's block at age 16 with dignity intact. It's a rousing story,
with schemes and plots, love and adultery, powerful men, plenty of
beheadings, and two royal princesses waiting in the wings for their turn
on the throne. If you have read and enjoyed Philippa Gregory's novels,
don’t miss this book.
Don't forget the Summer Reading Program, with
registration scheduled to start on June 2. And on May 29, David Miller
from the Bushy Run Battlefield will visit the library to speak about the
battle. His talk is sponsored by Pennsylvania Humanities. The Friends of
the Library send a big thank you out to everyone who helped make their
spring used book sale a big success. We, the Reading Rescuers, also say
thanks to all the people who made memorial contributions in the past
year. Your help is greatly appreciated. As always, please send questions
or comments to mfulmer@pennlib.org
or phone at 724-744-4414.
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