Posted in A&I

Book Review: War Librarian

by Bonnie Tollefson

War Librarian, Addison Armstrong, Thorndike Press, 2022.

Historical Fiction is not my favorite genre, so I resisted reading this book for several months. However, as a retired librarian I finally gave in and am I glad I checked it out!

War Librarian intertwines the stories of Emmaline Balakin and Kathleen Carre. In 1918, Emmaline is working in the dead letter office in Washington DC. World War I is raging in Europe and a letter crosses her desk that moves her to become a volunteer librarian at a hospital in France near the front lines. In 1976, Kathleen is working a dead end job for a dentist while she dreams of attending the United States Naval Academy. Kathleen is selected as member of the very first class to enroll women.

While Emmaline falls in love with a soldier who is a friend from childhood and makes a friend who becomes as close as a sister, she also finds her voice in standing up for what is wrong, be it segregation or censorship. Kathleen finds it a man’s world at the Academy and while losing her beloved Nana who raised her, also finds within herself the strength and determination to make friends, trust others and succeed. While the primary characters in this book are entirely fictional other events and characters are based on fact which the author discusses at the end of the book. Highly recommended even if Historical Fiction is not your favorite.

This book is available from the RVM library in large print.

Caleb and the Bakelite phone

by Eleanor Lippman

My son Rob and his family were living in an interesting house in Riverside, California; an old house that appeared to have been improved, endlessly remodeled, and added to over the years. The small back yard had a swimming pool which was unusual in that neighborhood. Obviously, the kitchen had been remodeled and enlarged probably more than once to make it more modern and user friendly. Unchanged was the front of the house because an enormous tree dominated the front yard and prevented any expansion in that direction.

One curious aspect in the kitchen area was a small, low desk-like area between two kitchen cabinets. A telephone jack was on its wall so it was actually intended be used as a desk. With their son Luke just learning to walk and exploring everything in his path, it wasn’t practical to plug a modern telephone into that jack as the desk was just low enough for their toddler to get his hands on anything sitting on the desk and as kids do, pull things on to the floor. He would either damage a phone or leave the hand piece and the phone body separated, making the phone go “live” with the possibility of the adults not being aware their phone would be unable to take incoming calls. To get around that problem, Rob acquired a very old black, and very heavy Bakelite rotary dial telephone, one that a toddler could not easily disturb. That old Bakelite telephone was their communication with the outside world.

Amy and my grandson, Jaylin, came from Las Vegas to visit us. It was during the summer and very hot, of course it was better to spend the day at Rob’s house so young Jaylin could swim in the pool than with me, Grandma, living in a boring house with no swimming pool and nothing to do. So, Amy and Jaylin invited Jaylin’s friend, Caleb, join them so the boys could play together all day.

As afternoon began turning into early evening, we adults sat around the pool and decided to order a pizza delivery for dinner and, of course, we invited Caleb to join us.

“Well,” he said happy for the invitation, “I have to ask my mother” which was just what we hoped to hear him say.

Rob told him that the telephone was on the desk in the kitchen and Caleb went into the house to call his mother.

After what seemed to me to be him taking a very long time to talk to his mother, I found Caleb standing by the phone with the saddest look on his face.

“Oh, Caleb,” I responded, “Don’t you remember your phone number?”

“I do.” he said. “Of course I do.”

He pointed to the antique black Bakelite telephone. “I know you are supposed to put your finger in one of the little holes but I don’t know what to do afterwards.” He had never seen a rotary dial telephone before in his life.

Caleb’s response reminds me when cellular telephones became popular, of elderly grandparents trying to deal with communicating with their children and grandchildren. Some things in life never change.

New, different, how does this darn thing work?  Maybe also, old, different, how does this darn thing work?

Embroidery

Louise Ekerson Embroidery

Louise Ekerson has been embroidering since she was a child. Above are samples of her work.

 

Concerts and Performances January – March 2024

submitted by Mary Jane Morrison

Manor Auditorium 7-8 p.m.  

Events listed in italics are tentative

Links connect to performer bios and/or programs

Programming subject to change.    Programs will NOT be broadcast on Channel 900.

Manor Express available until 8:00 p.m.  Call Security for transportation after  8:00 p.m.

 

Thursday               01/11         Sitkovetsky Piano Trio  (CMC-sponsored)

Thursday               01/18         Dan Fellman Jazz Trio  

Thursday               01/25         Tiana & Joseph Wong:  Piano recital  

Thursday               02/01         Shannon Rio: Birding at the Manor

Thursday               02/08         Junghee Spicer:  Piano recital

Thursday               02/15          YSSO Chamber Groups

Thursday               02/22          Duo Jette:  Palzewicz/O’Scannell

Thursday               02/29          Southern Oregon Jazz Orchestra

     TUESDAY            03/05             Angelucci:  “Songs of Workers”

Thursday               03/07          Ellie Alexander — Ashland mystery author

Thursday               03/14          Tutunov piano students recital

 

 

 

 

 

Concerts and Performances December 2023 – January 2024

submitted by Mary Jane Morrison

Manor Auditorium 7-8 p.m.  

Events listed in italics are tentative

Links connect to performer bios and/or programs

Programming subject to change.    Programs will NOT be broadcast on Channel 900.

Manor Express available until 8:00 p.m.

     

 

 

      Tuesday          12/12        Kirby Shaw Singers

Thursday               12/14         Jaron Cannon:  Piano

      Tuesday          12/19         (3 p.m.)  Joyful Voices

Thursday               12/21         Rogue Valley Brass Quintet

Thursday               12/28         Trio La Forza: piano/clarinet/bassoon

Thursday               01/04         Jim Sitter/Marisso Trujillo:  guitar/vocal

Thursday               01/11         Sitkovetsky Piano Trio  (CMC-sponsored)

Thursday               01/18         Dan Fellman Jazz Trio  

Thursday               01/25         Tiana & Joseph Wong:  Piano recital  

 

 

 

December in the Library: Scandinavian Noir and More

by Anne Newins

Last December, we set up our usual holiday book display and snuck in a few Scandinavian Noir (aka Scandinoir) novels.  Somewhat to our surprise, they were more popular than the traditional holiday tales.  So, this year we are reversing the subjects and placing the major focus on Scandinavia, including Iceland.  Many thanks to Janice Williams for compiling the bibliography.

Scandinavian mysteries are popular year round at RVM, so we will be including books by  Jo Nesbo, Helen Tursten, Arnaldur Indridason, Henning Mankell, David Lagercrantz, and others.  But Scandinavian literature is more than dark drama.  Some other books that may interest you include:

Only in Iceland: a quirky chronicle, by RVM resident Asifa Kanji
Asifa describes her trip to Iceland, including hikes from ice caps to volcanoes, and noting many unexpected and curious details of Icelandic life, folklore, culture, and history.

The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, by Margareta Magnusson
Magnusson uses Scandinavian humor to help the process of cleaning out unnecessary belongings and encourages readers to embrace minimalism.

The Spectator Bird, by Wallace Stegner
Stegner’s revered novel recounts the life of a retired literary agent who is “just killing time until time gets around to killing me” and then returns to the journals of a trip to his Danish mother’s birthplace.

The Man with the Silver Saab, by Alexander McCall Smith
No book by McCall Smith will ever fall into a noir category.  In this one Ulf Varg and the other Swedish detectives in the Malmo’s Department of Sensitive Crimes investigate a series of crimes against an art historian.

For traditionalists, a few books about the holidays will be on the table.

From all the volunteers at the library, best wishes for a happy holiday season and good new year!

Indian Artifacts

photocollage by Reina Lopez; collection from Louise Ekerson
Indian Artifacts

Ekerson Indian Artifacts

This collection of artifacts belongs to Louise Ekerson. The arrowheads were given to her by her father many years ago. She doesn’t know where they came from or why he collected them. But her father lived in Salem, Oregon, so they may be either Chemeketa or Kalapuya.  

The pieces below the arrowheads are Navajo. In the top two items, the lines you see are actually human hair. Louise believes the bottle is made from a turtle shell.

 

Hawaiian Lei

photo display by Reina Lopez

The traditional Hawaiian Lei  is a necklace — often a long one — of fresh flowers threaded together.  The lei is important to Hawaiians and to Hawai’i residents as a common symbol of love, friendship, celebration, honor, or greeting — in other words, it is a symbol of  the concept of “Aloha.” 

Its importance to Hawaiian culture is commemorated by the celebration of Lei Day on May first every year. The writer Grace Tower Warren was credited with the saying “Mayday is Lei Day.”  Lei Day was established as a Holiday in 1929.  At the 81st Annual Mayor’s Lei Day Celebration in 2008, Honolulu set the record for the World’s Longest Lei. Unofficially, the lei measured 5,336 feet (1,626 m) in length, more than a mile.

Leis are commonly incorporated into special occasions such a graduations, weddings or birthdays, office promotions, anniversaries, or any special event. In such cases, honorees may be almost buried in flowers (example at left).  Women may also wear shorter circlets of flowers as headdresses or bracelets.

Specific types of leis may be associated with particular events or celebrations, and leis need not be made with just flowers and leaves, as seen in the example at above at right.  Kukui nuts, shells, beads, ribbons, and other media  — including artistically folded paper money — may be used. Candy leis were popular when my granddaughter graduated from high school on Maui, as in the example on the right.

Perhaps needless to say, transporting the lei tradition from tropical Hawai’i to more temperate locations can be problematic because of the seasonal lack of flowers. This means that dedicated lei-makers must be creative about using alternative materials.  Manor resident (and former Hawai’i resident) Bob Ichimura and others have solved the problem by creating flower substitutes from colorful ribbons.  Some of Bob’s ribbon lei creations are shown below. Bob Ichimura's lei

Bob Ichimura’s Lei

One final note: you don’t need a special event; a lei can be worn for no other reason than to enjoy the fragrance, take pleasure in the beautiful flowers, or simply, to celebrate the “Aloha Spirit.”

The Art of the Insult

compiled by Bob Buddemeier

 

The true Word Nerd yearns for the Golden Age in which insults and critical commentary were art forms rather than tiresome strings of inappropriate adjectives and threadbare expletives.

The following examples were culled from two books by John Winokur, “The Portable Curmudgeon” and “The Portable Curmudgeon Redux.”  Some of them originated fairly far in the past – but consider the audience.

Any similarity to contemporary situations or people is entirely coincidental.

 

People, generic and specific

She was good at playing abstract confusion in the same way a midget is good at being short.  Clive James on Marilyn Monroe

I did not attend his funeral, but I wrote a nice note saying I approved it.   Mark Twain

Mr. Atlee is a very modest man.  But then he has much to be modest about.  Winston Churchill

He mistakes verbal felicity for mental inspiration.  Aneurin Bevan on Winston Churchill

In Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Canada has at last produced a political leader worthy of assassination.  Irving Layton

Taft meant well, but he meant well feebly.   Theodore Roosevelt on William Howard Taft

Places and their populations

London – Crowds without company and dissipation without pleasure.  Edward Gibbon

Strip away the phony tinsel of Hollywood and you’ll find the real tinsel underneath.  Oscar Levant

The English instinctively admire any man who has no talent and is modest about it.  James Agate

California:  It is the land of perpetual pubescence, where cultural lag is mistaken for renaissance. Ashley  Montagu

What a glorious garden of wonders the lights of Broadway would be to anyone lucky enough to be unable to read.  G. K. Chesterton

The arts and entertainment

Television – a medium.  So called because it is neither rare nor well done.  Ernie Kovacs

He writes his plays for the ages – the ages between five and twelve. George Jean Nathan on George Bernard Shaw

Most rock journalism is people who can’t write interviewing people who can’t talk for people who can’t read.   Frank Zappa

I didn’t like the play, but then I saw it under adverse conditions – the curtain was up.   George S Kaufman

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.   Dorothy Parker

The scenery in the play was wonderful, but the actors got in front of it.  Alexander Woollcott

This is not at all bad, except as prose.  Gore Vidal on “Winds of War,” by Herman Wouk

Aging

It is after you have lost your teeth that you can afford to buy steaks.  Pierre August Renoir.

As you get older the pickings get slimmer but the people don’t.  Carrie Fisher

Child-Proof Bottle Tops:  Allen Ginsburg said that he saw the best minds of his generation destroyed by madness.  I have seen the best minds of my generation go at a bottle of Anacin with a ball-pein hammer.  P. J. O’Rourke

 

November in the Library: Perspectives on Aging

by  Anne Newins

As 2023 winds down, some literary perspective on getting older seems appropriate.  One of the first things I heard after moving to the Manor in 2015 was “getting old isn’t for sissies.”  Pushing nine years on, I have to agree.  All of us have witnessed examples of bravery, fortitude, and wisdom.   We also see our fellow residents enjoying life and seeking new experiences and knowledge just as often.

What I did not expect was how many books in our library reflect these outlooks and events.  Although this  month’s display will focus on aging, it also will showcase a wide range of genres, including literary fiction, memoirs, mysteries, and non-fiction.

Although our library’s collection is primarily recreational reading, it contains a number of books about caregiving, dementia, and facing death.  Although these are difficult topics, not all of our other books are stressful reading.

Some of our residents have written memoirs about their fulfilling lives, including the late Jim Stocker, Jean Dunham, and Nils Nilsson.  Highly respected authors have written novels that have older characters at the forefront, such as Joan Didion, Jhumpa Lahiri, Julian Barnes, and John Updike. Biographies of Alan Alda, Jimmy Carter, and David Sedaris will be included.

And finally, not all sleuths have to be young and fit.  There are several series whose detectives are well into retirement.  Besides Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple, Richard Osman’s Thursday Murder Club mysteries have been a hit.  The protagonists live in a retirement community that occasionally sounds reminiscent of RVM and keep busy solving crimes.

There should be a book for all tastes in this month’s display.

Pictured below:  Patron Steve Harris checks out a Thursday Murder Club mystery.