Snockgrass [CD]

Snockgrass by Michael Hurley

Fact: Michael Hurley (a.k.a. "Snock") is a drastically, under-appreciated American folk singer.  With a voice reminiscent of Hank Williams and a songwriting style rooted in country & western, bluegrass and the blues, Hurley has been issuing stellar material since the early 1960's.  Recent years have seen a new appreciation for the musician.  Artists such as Vetiver, Lucinda Williams, Cat Power and Matloaf have cited Hurley as an influence.

1980's Snockgrass (album not pictured here due to singer's risque cover painting) is classic Michael Hurley.  There's plenty of swinging numbers, reflective waltzes, weirdo lyrics and country-fried boogies with the mood volleying from serious to sardonic to silly.  "The Midnight Rounder", "O My Stars" and "Watchin' the Show" are excellent starting places for someone just beginning their Snock obsession.

The Might Have Been

The Might Have Been by Joseph M. Schuster
Edward Everett Yates had his dream come true, he had been called up to the majors. After a decade playing in the minor leagues—years after most of his peers have given up—he's still patiently waiting for his chance at the majors. Then one day he gets called up to the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally the future he wanted unfolds before him. During an away game in Canada, Yates is having the game of his life, until he sustains a devastating knee injury, which destroys his professional career. Yates continues to hang on to baseball, and we witness the next thirty years of his life. Although this novel has baseball has a common thread throughout the story, it is really more about the choices that we make (or are made for us) as we go through life, and what different pathways that can create for us. This is about the life that we have, and the one that might have been.

The Story of English in 100 Words

The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal


The Story of English in 100 Words, by Welsh linguistics professor David Crystal, is a refreshing word book. With short easy to read chapters, it is a quick read, especially once you have caught Professor Crystal's contagious enthusiasm.

I say The Story of English in 100 Words is refreshing in part because it is an easy enjoyable read, but also because it is different from other word books. Too many word books are based on anecdote and folk etymologies. You won't many of those in The Story of English. Instead, you will find the stories of words and revealed by known facts. When did a word first appear? How was it spelled? How was it used at the time? How did its meaning change? What words were used similarly? There may be some guessing involved, but the answers to these questions are based on research, and we learn much about the English language in answering them.

Does this approach sound overly academic? Don't worry. The examples are surprising and amusing, and the text is never bogged down in details. Most of the chapters are just a couple of pages, and include many illustrative examples. The examples are drawn from throughout the history of the language, from Old English, to new Internet coinages. This is a book about the history of English, and therefore a book about how English grows and changes. A very fun read!

Map Of Ireland

Map Of Ireland by Stephanie Grant

Recently we had a display of books by Massachusetts writers and this particular book caught my attention. Set in the South Boston busing crisis of 1974, it is the story of Ann Ahern, a high school junior and her growing awareness of her surroundings as well as her personal coming out as a lesbian. Through her growing infatuation with her beautiful substitute French teacher Mademoiselle Eugenie who hails from Paris and is of African descent, she is drawn into the conflict of her times - both personal and political. An overall impressive view of a young woman caught in the struggle of identification as a Southie as well as her initial exposure to the world beyond her limited family and neighborhood.

Stay Hungry

Stay Hungry a film by Bob Rafelson

There's just something about the "New Hollywood" films of the 1970's...  The budgets were smaller, but the films seem to resonate so much more than your typical, bloated Hollywood picture.  With less resources, the directors of these movies focused on telling stories. 

Bob Rafelson's Stay Hungry tells the story of a recently orphaned grown, southern man named Craig Blake (Jeff Bridges).   The opening shot is of the beautiful Blake estate and the narration of a letter read by Craig's uncle advising his nephew to continue the family tradition and get into steel business.  The younger Blake ignores his relative's advice and teams up with a group of shady real estate sharks to buy out the businesses in a downtown building to may way for an office high-rise.

His colleagues are quickly successful in securing the property and they impatiently await Blake's seizure of the last independent establishment, a local gym.  Here Blake meets a cast of interesting characters including the beautiful, small town receptionist Mary Tate Farnsworth (Sally Field) and the zen body builder/fiddle player Joe Santo (Arnold Schwarzenegger).  After visiting on several occasions trying to get the nerve to make an offer from the manic gym's owner, Blake, a man who recently lost those close to him, finds a surrogate family with the regular gym rats and also eventually falls for Mary Tate.  

The struggle to seize the gym, a conflict between the various classes of wealth depicted, an upcoming Mr. Universe pageant, the sometimes troubled romance of Craig and Mary Tate and an exceptionally strange and lengthy fight sequence, make Stay Hungry a wonderful comedy/drama piece.  The principle actors all give some of the best performances of their careers and the film is full of unforgettable featured players. 

The Rook

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley
The body you are wearing used to be mine. 
So begins the letter Myfanwy Thomas is holding when she awakes in a London park surrounded by bodies all wearing latex gloves. With no recollection of who she is, Myfanwy must follow the instructions her former self left behind to discover her identity and track down the agents who want to destroy her.  Set in an alternate London, Myfanwy discovers that her former self was/is a high-ranking officer of the secret organization, the Chequy, which battles supernatural forces in Britain. She quickly scrambles to (re)learn her job, while trying to figure out who in the organization wants to kill her. The character of Myfanwy is wonderful, and she handles her unusual situation with a wry wit.

Sita's Ramayana

Sita's Ramayana text by Samhita Arni; art by Moyna Chitrakar.

Moyna Chitrakar is an artist from the Patua scroll painting tradition. The paintings in this book have been adapted fit the page, but they are rendered in a style that wasn't meant to be confined to such a small space—Patua scrolls are large and complex. Significantly, the Patua artist traditionally tells the story through song while unrolling the scroll and gesturing to images. Keep this in mind as you read Sita's Ramayana. The images sometimes feel cramped on the page, and the juxtaposition between text and image is often awkward, but remembering the traditional manner of presenting these paintings will help you see past these small annoyances to appreciate the elgeance of Chitrakar's art.

Sita's Ramayana presents the Hindu epic the Ramayana from the perspective of Rama's wife, Sita. In this version Rama's noble character is taken as a given—even when Sita suffers as a result of Rama's actions her love for him does not falter. Samhita Arni's Sita does not tell us why she loves Rama. Instead she tells what happened, and how she felt about it. She tells us about her doubts and fears, and about the suffering she saw on both sides as Rama's army made war on Lanka.

Sita's Ramayana's is a quick retelling of the Ramayana, and differs from the classic version in ways that may make you eager to explore this famous story's many variations. Moyna Chitrakar's art is beautiful, and while more care might have been taken in the page design, lovers of traditional art and myth will find something to appreciate in this book.