Gardening

With the spring planting season in full swing, keep in mind that the library has a great selection of gardening books to help you. Whether you are a grower of vegetables, shrubs, trees or flowers, we have lots of books and even DVDs that you will find informative and interesting. You will find them in the non-fiction section in the 635s, or ask at the Information Desk, and we'll help you find exactly what you need. Happy gardening!

ACADEMY AWARDS ANNIVERSARY

Unlike today's Hollywood extravaganza, the first Academy Awards were announced at a dinner in the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on May 16, 1929, with only about 270 people in attendance. The winners were chosen from 12 categories and the Best Picture for that year went to the silent film Wings. A committee of only 20 members selected the winners. The awards were first televised in 1953.

To read more about the awards, try this VCL title:

60 Years of Oscar: The Official History of the Academy Awards by Robert Osborne

May Book-A-Month Challenge

This time around, the theme for the Book-A-Month Challenge is "Mother". I decided to read Jenny McCarthy's book about her fight to help her autistic son. The book, Louder than Words : a mother's journey in healing autism, is heart-wrenching. At the age of two, McCarthy's son Evan is diagnosed with autism after having suffered seizures. McCarthy berates herself for having ignored the signs for so long, but becomes resolute, risking and challenging everything to bring her son back. Because that's what moms do - we're the most tenacious of protectors, equipped with instincts that defy conventional explanation. McCarthy's story is every mom's story - the mainstream, the special needs, the well and the sick. It's just that some of those moms have been lucky enough to sit on the sidelines and cheer, and others are in the arena fighting. McCarthy is one of the fighters.

Readers of McCarthy's other books are unlikely to find the laughs they've come to expect from her. This time, they'll find honesty and raw emotion. McCarthy spends a lot of time thanking God and Google for her successes - at times this distracts the reader from the heart of the story, but its a minor point. This wasn't a fun book to read; but it is an important story for anyone touched by autism, and for all moms who have or may have to fight for their kids.

Stories such as this remind us moms that we're always tougher than we know, and we're never alone.

Recent Additions to Our Music CD Collection

I think it was a recent article in the Rockland Journal News that brought the gospel group, "Sweet Honey in the Rock" to my attention again. Since I am a fan of gospel music, this was all I needed to inspire me to add some gospel CDs to the collection. For example:

Experience 101, by Sweet Honey in the Rock. This exemplary vocal ensemble steeped in African choral traditions and backed by rhythmic percussion dates back to the 1970s. Some 30 years later, the group's basic approach and rich harmonic sense remain intact, though there has been a good deal of turnover on the personnel. This album was a 2007 Grammy Award winner in the "Best Musical Album For Children" category. (I guess I'm just a child at heart.)

Oh Happy Day, by Lou Rawls. I chose this album because I love his rendition of "I Don't Feel No Ways Tired." This is one of my favorites in the gospel repertory, and I prefer it to be sung (Rawls) rather than spoken (Clinton). Rawls was blessed with a four-octave vocal range and was a consummate master of African-American vocal music.

In other, but related, genres, we have just added:

Live a la Blue Moon, by the Lost Bayou Ramblers. Ever since I saw the movie, The Big Easy I have loved Zydeco/Cajun music. This one won a Grammy in 2007 for Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album, and contains some pieces I have never heard before.

When the Soul Is Settled: Music of Iraq, by Rahim Alhaj. In case you know as little as I did about Iraqi music, I will quote what http://www.allmusic.com/ had to say about this album: "On his latest solo album, he explores an Arabic musical form called the maqam, in which a set of pitches is prescribed but not laid out in a specific order or rhythm. Instead, certain rules of exposition and variation are indicated: direction of melodic movement and certain chordal relationships between the pitches. As with jazz, Celtic music, and the South Asian raga, performances are judged by the degree to which the performer is able to create interesting variations within the rules set by the particular maqam. The very helpful liner notes lay out the pattern of each maqam on this disc, and also analyze Alhaj's improvisations and interpretations and those of his accompanying percussionist, Souhail Kaspar. Those who simply want to close their eyes and enjoy the gently rippling melodies and exotic tonal characteristics of Alhaj's playing will find themselves effortlessly transported by this music — but those who go to the extra effort of following along and paying close attention to the structure of his performances will find themselves fascinated as well. Highly recommended.

This CD won a Grammy award in 2007 for Best Traditional World Music Album.

Nelson Mandela - May 9, 1994

On this date in 1994, Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first black, post-apartheid President of South Africa. During his years in office Mandela helped win approval of a new consitution that provided for all-race participation in the political process and worked to restructure the political, economic, and educational systems.


Born into a royal family from the Transkei region, Mandela joined Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo to form the Youth League of the African National Congress (ANC). In 1952 he and Tambo opened the first black law partnership in South Africa. He began organizing against the government's racial policies and his arrests for protesting and treason began. After the police opened fire on unarmed demonstrators in Sharpeville in 1960, his activities continued but turned to "controlled violence." In 1963 he was one of eight people convicted of sabotage and conspiracy to overthrow the government and was sentenced to life imprisonment. He served 27 years in maximum security prisons including 18 years of hard labor at Robben Island, South Africa's Alcatraz.

On February 11,1990 a South African government committed to reform released Mandela and legalized the ANC. As ANC President, Mandela played an active role in negotiating the end of aprtheid. He worked with South African President F. W. de Klerk for four years to establish a representative government. The two men were jointly awarded the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize for their accomplishments.

Nelson Mandela also set a precedent when he quietly left office at the end of his 5 year term in 1999 at the age of 80 and passed "the baton" to a new generation leaving behind a reputation untarnished by corruption and brutality that has been the unfortunate legacy of other African leaders. Mandela went on to become a negotiator in conflicts around the world and in 2007established a group of retired political figures who will work together to try to solve global problems. Among others this group, called "The Elders", includes Jimmy Carter, Desmond Tutu, Kofi Annan.


To learn more about Nelson Mandela read his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom: The autobiography of Nelson Mandela. Other biographies at the Valley Cottage Library include Alan Sampson's Mandela: The authorized biography and In His Own Words: Nelson Mandela edited by Kader Asmal.


For background on what it was like to live in South Africa during apartheid, read Kaffir Boy: The story of a Black youth coming of age in apartheid South Africa by Mark Mathabane or The Cape of Storms: A personal history of the crisis in South Africa.

Other titles provide more details about the history of South Africa and the political process that brought about the end of apartheid:

• Anatomy of a Micracle: The end of apartheid and the birth of the new South Africa by Patti Waldmeir. 968.064/Wal
• No Future without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu. 968.065/Tut
• The History of South Africa by Robert B. Beck. 968/Bec

The Madonnas of Leningrad

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean is a heartbreakingly beautiful novel that shifts seamlessly between present-day America and Russia during World War II. It is the story of Marina, a Russian emigre who at the age of 82 is attending her granddaughter's wedding, but is losing her grip on the present and retreating into memories of the past. In 1941 she was a young docent at the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad. When the city came under siege by the German army, the art masterpieces were removed from their frames, hastily packed up, and transported to a safe hiding place. The employees of the museum and their families took refuge in the Hermitage's basement. During the terrible, freezing months of starvation, with chaos and death all around, Marina survived by creating in her mind a "memory palace" of the paintings and rooms she knew so well. It is back to these memories that her mind carries her as she battles Alzheimer's. Intertwined is the love story of Marina and Dimitri, who are separated during the war but find each other again, marry, emigrate to the US and raise a family. Dimitri is a loving caretaker who is by her side until the end.

I highly recommend this book to lovers of historical fiction, lovers of art, and anyone whose life has been touched by Alzheimer's disease.

R.M.S. LUSITANIA

British luxury liner, The Lusitania, was owned by the Cunard Steamship Co. and built by John Brown & Co. of Clydebank, Scotland. She was christened and launched on June 7, 1906 and met a disastrous end as a casualty of World War I when she was torpedoed by the German Submarine U-20 on May 7, 1915.

Carrying many Americans, the great ship sank in just eighteen minutes, eight miles off the coast of Ireland, killing 1,198 passengers. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany. This is often considered by historians to be the second most famous ocean liner disaster after the sinking of the Titanic.

To learn more about this deep sea disaster, please check out this VCL title:

Seven Days to Disaster: the sinking of the Lusitania