Author: Tracy Dimond

Five Rave Reviews from 2017 Adult Summer Challenge Participants

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

Check out five reading recommendations from our 2017 Adult Summer Challenge participants.

Gregory B. (Central Library) on The Pale King by David Foster Wallace: The unfinished, and perhaps unfinishable, novel of the great master of late-20th-century fiction. Taking as its subjects the themes of boredom and dread, this selection of posthumously arranged chapters recount the experiences of a set of characters employed in a fictionalized IRS office in the mid-1980’s, in which the rise of computerized mechanization threatens the established order. Combining the meta-fictional commentary of 18th-century English novels with the minutely observed realism of 19th-century Russian fiction, Wallace creates a deeply imagined world of entwined narratives that gesture toward a grand plot without ever fully coalescing.

Pearl K. (Forest Park Branch) on White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide by Carol Anderson: This book is an eye-opener on the historical tension between blacks and whites from slavery to current day. The painful truth stirs many emotions. The author captures and highlights the many obstacles that African Americans have fought and overcome to rise to their current level.  It is a book to be read by all. Dr. Anderson provides well-researched documentation on the historical policies and laws that propagated the divide. Her insight causes her to wonder what could have been, had justice been handled differently by courts and the laws that caused many restrictions.

Laurel B. (Govans Branch)  on Commonwealth by Ann Patchett: The need for love and family and the repulsion from the realities of day-to-day family life are at the heart of the tragedy of Commonwealth. Two families, brought together by an affair, divorce and remarriage, must take on new identities and carry the burdens of old pain. Through the life stories of parents and children, the hybrid question of “who must change/who can change?” is posed and posed again as the common wealth of their experiences threatens to overwhelm at every turn. When a famous author discovers the family’s story and takes more than his share of it, the people who lived through it must examine it with fresh eyes. A tale of many times and many places, Commonwealth leads you on a journey that surprises even as it feels like home.

Cornelia B. (Light Street Branch) on We Are Never Meeting In Real Life by Samantha Irby: This hysterical and poignant essay collection is the most entertaining book I’ve read all year. Put on your stretch pants, pop a multivitamin, and enjoy Irby’s book about living in Chicago, premature aging, and her mischievous cat.

Michael T. (Roland Park Branch) on Jesus’ Son by Denis Johnson: Wow is this a good book. It violates so many “rules” of writing that I’ve learned and flaunts them delightfully. I never knew which way a story was going or why it went that way and I couldn’t have been happier. I’m going to have to avoid copying the style in my own writing, at least for a while.

For a chance to win fabulous prizes, submit an entry to the Adult Summer Challenge here.

Pools, Picnics, and Protests: Notes on the History of African American Travel, Recreation, and Leisure

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

by Emily Sachs, Librarian, African American Department

July is my favorite month.  It’s the heart of summer, which evokes childhood memories of family road trips to the beach, afternoons swimming and playing H-O-R-S-E at the park, and washing the day’s sweaty adventures down with a slushie or a snowball. A powerful nostalgia surfaces when I recall these youthful experiences of relaxation and recreation, but a closer look at materials in the African American Department are a reminder of a related yet quite different chapter in history: the fight to end discrimination and segregation in recreation and leisure venues around the country. Of particular interest–and inspiration–are the local stories of community empowerment and acts of social protest that defined this period.  

While many Americans take summer travel for granted, not all citizens enjoyed the luxury of the leisurely road trip punctuated by the occasional rest stop to stretch their legs or get a cold drink.  In order to avoid discrimination and sometimes violent harassment during the Jim Crow era, African Americans often consulted the Negro Motorist Green Book, a guidebook published between 1936-1966 that listed hotels, restaurants, gas stations, taverns, and other businesses that welcomed African American travelers. Flip through our copy of the guidebook to find the local establishments that opened their doors to African American travelers–many of them located on Baltimore’s famed Pennsylvania Avenue.  

The integration of public parks was a watershed moment in history. At the library you can dig into our extensive digital archives of the Baltimore Afro-American and Baltimore Sun newspapers to uncover articles chronicling local protests, including a July 1948 interracial tennis match at Druid Hill Park that ended in 24 arrests (and an infamous steaming indictment of the state’s segregation laws by Baltimore icon H.L. Mencken) and the 1956 integration of the city’s public swimming pools.

The Free State gets several nods in Victoria Wolcott’s Race, Riots and Roller Coasters: the Struggle over Segregated Recreation in America. Wolcott’s book traces the history of racial discrimination at amusement parks and other entertainment facilities around the nation and highlights acts of resistance. Locally this includes protests at Glen Echo Park in Montgomery County, where a group of Howard University students led a famous sit-in at the park’s carousel and at Gwynn Oak Park in Baltimore County, where a series of demonstrations involving a number of Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish clergy culminated in the arrest of over 260 people in July 1963 and led to the park’s integration that same year.    

In addition to protesting and picketing at segregated facilities, African Americans developed their own community spaces for recreation and leisure. In Patsy Mose Fletcher’s Historically African American Leisure Destinations around Washington D.C., photos abound of African American beach communities in Maryland such as Highland, Sparrows, and Carr’s beaches in Anne Arundel County, and smaller resorts such as Eagle Harbor in Prince George’s County and Seagull Beach in Calvert County. The largest of these venues hosted shows by famous musicians touring the “Chitlin Circuit,” the colloquial name given to the collection of performance venues considered safe for traveling African American entertainers. Veteran Pratt library employee Doris Thompson remembers visiting Carr’s Beach in the1960’s to see Jackie Wilson, Diana Washington, and James Brown. “When the stage shows came on in the evening, they’d kick us kids out back to the playground, but we’d just jump in the water, circle around behind the adults and find our way back in. Those were good times,” reminisces Thompson. Thumb through Fletcher’s book to see pictures of  pleasure seekers, from early residents who boarded steamships in their summer finery to visit African American resorts along the Potomac to swimsuit clad citizens parading, picnicking and partying at black-owned beachfront communities on the Chesapeake Bay.

To learn more about the history of African American travel, recreation, and leisure, or a variety of other topics, stop by the African American Department on the first floor of the Enoch Pratt Central Library Annex to investigate the Eddie and Sylvia Brown African American Collection. Sandwich it in between a trip to the pool and your local snowball stand, and call it a perfect summer day.     

Eight Great Reviews from 2017 Adult Summer Challenge Participants

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

Our 2017 Adult Summer Challenge participants have discovered some fantastic summer reads. Here are some:

Latanya C. (Central Library) on Fun Home : A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel: This was the first time I ever read a graphic novel.  It was really fun and interesting.  The story was amazing.  To live with someone all your life and not know that they are living a secret life is mind-blowing.  I saw a lot of me in the author.  Even though the story was a comedy, you could feel her pain.  I recommend this book to everyone.

Catherine H. (Govans Branch) on Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman: A great read with a fascinating lead character, this story explores what happens when a woman accustomed to a life of isolation begins to make meaningful connections with others. Both funny and heartbreaking at times, Honeyman manages to strike a balance that keeps Eleanor from being too quirky or too sad.  By the end, you’ll be cheering for Eleanor and reveling in her transformation.

Mark C. (Govans Branch) on Born a Crime by Trevor Noah: An incredible memoir of the Daily Show host growing up in Apartheid and post-Apartheid South Africa. What a life! Easy to read and very engaging, filled with a mix of humor, poignancy, critique of Apartheid, history, and celebration of his mother.

Jenna H. (Hampden Branch) on A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman: A good read to help you think deeply about people and how to make a positive change in the lives of others.

Michael D. (Light Street Branch) on A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914-1918 by G. J. Meyer: Consider this book as a beautifully researched update of Tuchman’s Guns of August. And then the history goes on for many readable pages, emphasizing European events on the battlefields of the Great Powers as well as some lesser events on the ground, giving general coverage to events at sea and in the colonies of the warring power through the end of 1917.  The author clearly benefited from the five decades of more released information since Tuchman. He will cover the impact of America’s entry into the war in the next volume…which I look forward to.

Nicole M. (Orleans Street Branch) on And Then There Was Me by Sadeqa Johnson: Great book! All women can relate with family, children, friendship, marriage, and infidelities.

Holly T. (Staff) on Dying To Be Me by Anita Moorjani: Anita Moorjani’s Near-Death Experience and complete recovery from stage 4 cancer is amazing and wondrous! It’s also hard to believe. But it’s a beautiful story. “I want to believe” as Fox Mulder’s UFO poster says.

Yvonne M. (Walbrook Branch) on The Shack by William P. Young: What a great read. The Shack makes you contemplate everything you’ve been taught about religion.

For a chance to win fabulous prizes, submit an entry to the Adult Summer Challenge here.

A Tribute to Prodigy

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

by Will Johnson, “The Uncommon Librarian,” Northwood Branch Manager

Hip Hop has lost another legend. Albert Johnson, also known as “Prodigy,” succumbed to his battle with Sickle cell disease at the age of 42. One half of the Mobb Deep duo, Prodigy was known for his poignant rhymes, storytelling, and bringing the struggle of growing up in Queens, New York to life.  Baltimore isn’t Queens, but Mobb Deep’s music spoke about the grittiness of growing up in Queensbridge Housing Projects, the biggest housing project in North America. His music also spoke to the struggle a lot of young black men deal with across the country.

Prodigy began his rapping career at the age of sixteen. His first album was called Juvenile Hell.  The album was not a commercial success however; it prepped Mobb Deep for their critically acclaimed second album The Infamous. The album produced four singles that reached billboard status; “Shook Ones Pt. II“, “Survival of the Fittest“, “Temperature’s Rising“, “Give Up the Goods (Just Step)“.  Rolling Stone listed “Shook Ones Pt. II” on their list of 50 Greatest Hip Hop Songs Of All Times.

Over the year’s Prodigy released five albums as a soloist and seven albums as a member of Mobb Deep. He also authored four books, including: My Infamous Life: The Autobiography of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy, H.N.I.C: An Infamous Novella and Commissary Kitchen: My Infamous Prison Cookbook.

Click on the images to link to materials in the library catalog.

You can also listen to a podcast of his 2011 Writers LIVE program.

R.I.Paradise,  Prodigy.

Seven Selections: Reviews from the 2017 Adult Summer Challenge Participants

Posted on by Tracy Dimond

Check out these reading recommendations from participants in the Adult Summer Challenge:

Bobbi O. (Central Library) on Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple: Mothers in particular will relate to this book—or any woman who has experienced loss or just tries her best to look, feel, and be her best self. Witty, funny, poignant.

Melina T. (Govans Branch) on Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi: This is Ms. Gyasi’s first novel and it has so much to offer. The story follows two half sisters from Ghana and eight generations of each sister, one who remains in Africa and the other who is sold into slavery. I really like how Ms. Gyasi structures the book, with stories from each sister and then each successive generation. The sections dealing with West Africa are so lovely, lyrical, and painful. The second half of the book, in America, does not have as developed characters or insights, but still such an awesome first book and I know Yaa Gyasi will be an important voice in the future!

Robert B. (Light Street Branch) on Scars of Independence: America’s Violent Birth by Holger Hoock: So, here we are with another book discussing those familiar times and resonant with the names of America’s founders — Franklin, Washington, Hamilton, et al. You might wonder what could possibly be said that hasn’t been said before. This is where Hoock’s Scars of Independence distinguishes itself. Most of us believe that the American Revolution was a reasonably moral and ethical one with no resemblance whatsoever to some of the truly bloody upheavals that followed thereafter, such as the French Revolution. Hoock’s exhaustive research proves that our revolution is replete with examples of violence and cruelty, on the part of both Patriots and Loyalists, Americans and British. If you enjoy reading history, you won’t want to miss this one!

 

Jeannette T. (Pennsylvania Avenue Branch) on Bahama Love by Khara Campbell: Breathtaking! Full of fire and desire. […]It was good to the very end and kept you on the edge. It had a beautiful ending. Read the book!!! You won’t be disappointed.

Yvette J. (Reisterstown Road Branch) on All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou: A biography woven together with rich history, humor, colorful imagery and emotion.

Rob G. (Southeast Anchor Library) on Night Film by Marisha Pessl: So exciting I finished it in one day!

Lisa G. (Staff) on Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders: Abraham Lincoln, Buddhism, and ghosts: what more could you want from a novel?  I loved this!

For a chance to win fabulous prizes, submit an entry to the Adult Summer Challenge here.