The last year has been incredibly busy for me, since I've been working at the local library in a number of positions. I haven't had much time to sit down and write the kind of long articles I would like to (and after that insanely long review of
The Green Knight you're probably thankful. But don't get comfortable, I fully intend to subject you to a deep dive into Jurassic Park and the writing of Michael Crichton in the future). This month also experienced the bane of every librarian's existence: bad eyesight, which significantly cut down on my reading and writing. However, I have new glasses and what's more, July was my birthday month (was, since I'm finishing this up in August).
At our library, every month there is a staff birthday, the said birthday staffers get to take over one of the displays with their recommendations. I thought it'd be fun to discuss my recommendations and my reasoning behind them-- what appealed to me about them and what may appeal to you. As explained by NoveList, a book database from EBSCO, "Appeal is a way of determining why people enjoy the books they read."
[1] So, why did I enjoy these books, and why might you enjoy them? This list is in no particular order, and I was obviously limited to only books at our library, so consider this a list of what I might recommend if you were to stop me at work and ask me for a random suggestion.
Note: while we were allowed a potential 10 items, only a few would be chosen by the person in charge of the display due to space available. I've included the books that got on the shelves. I was also informed that I could not, in fact, display the CPR dummy from the Library of Things as one of my staff recommendations, so consider this my endorsement of our vinyl and polyurethane friends dedicated to CPR education.
The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin, Jr.
This book is, most simply put, an animal fable starring a rooster and his barnyard fighting against evil. At the beginning of creation, God sealed an evil creature called the Wyrm underground, but now it's out and it's up to Chaunticleer and the other animals to defeat this literal hell breaking loose. The main character, Chaunticleer, as well as his wife Pertelot, and the fox Lord Russell, all come from Chaucer's "Nun's Priest's Tale," and the book draws inspiration from John Milton's epic Paradise Lost, Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, and the Bible. The title refers to the Dun Cow, a legendary creature from English folklore, as well as sharing its name with a real (though unrelated) medieval Irish manuscript, Lebor na hUidre. Wangerin weaves a unique cosmology and musings on the nature of God, good, evil, and leadership into what at first seems like a standard Redwall or Watership Down -style animal novel. While it is based in part on Christian scripture and tradition, it doesn't beat the reader over their head and it can be enjoyed regardless of religious interest.
I recommend it to readers who: like allegory, comparative literature, Early Modern poetry, and warrior chickens. Must be in the mood for a story more intense than Narnia since it gets dark. Also be ready to take notes.
Vampire Hunter D by Hideyuki Kikuchi
The source for the 1985 OVA Vampire Hunter D, which has become a cult classic of both anime and horror in general, is the long-running novel series of the same name. The series is a mixture of horror, science fiction, and western-- taking place in the far future of our world, after the rise and fall of our vampire overlords. The eponymous D is a mysterious, miraculously powerful and handsome dhampir (half vampire, half human) who occasionally lends his vampire hunting services to the people of the Frontier. The worldbuilding is endlessly fascinating and expanded upon throughout the series-- and has plenty of Easter eggs for fans of horror, like "Summers Montague" and "T. Fisher" being authors of books on vampires (based on the real-life folklorist and apparent vampire believer Montague Summers, and Terence Fisher, the Hammer Horror film director). D himself is a great protagonist -- stoic, steadfast, and equipped with a deadly blade and a wise-cracking second face in his left hand. He's a gunslinger (or swordslinger?) who hunts monsters rather than outlaws.
I recommend it to readers who: enjoy vampire media like Dracula, Hellsing, and Castlevania, like sci-fi elements and futuristic westerns. Liking cool, stoic male protagonists is a plus. Must be looking for a fast-paced ride through the weird and the wonderful.
How to Bake an American Pie by Karma Wilson
It certainly has been... a few years here in my home country of the United States. While I won't discuss politics or current events, suffice it to say it can sometimes take some work to remember the things we're promised about America when we're young -- liberty, equality, unity. Wilson's picture book is a rhyming set of instructions for the baking process, guided by an adorable dog and cat team. Raúl Colón's soft, colored pencil-style artwork perfectly accompanies the text, with such ingredients as a "crust of fruited plains" and "spacious skies" (like in the song "America the Beautiful," get it?), as well as more intangible things like meekness and might. Perhaps we should review this recipe and adjust our baking as needed.
I recommend it to readers who: like baking, American history, and children's books, especially those with intricate rhymes and complex ideas. It will probably appeal to you if you have a likewise complex view of patriotism, or would just like to see a cat and dog baking.
Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt
Midnight In the Garden is a nonfiction-novel that not only is a cult classic for fans of true crime and Southern Gothic, it's been so influential in Savannah, Georgia, that it's known simply as The Book. The setup is simple: Berendt travels to Savannah to write a magazine feature on the work of historical preservationist Jim Williams – who, partway through the book, is accused of murder. This introduces the outsider narrator, and the audience, to the world of Southern Gothic – the houses are old, the characters are eccentric, everyone has secrets, Spanish moss hangs from the trees, and there’s hoodoo to be done. Savannah is portrayed vividly, so much that the Book is often attributed with more than doubling tourism to the city[2]. It’s the perfect mix of literary true crime and American regionalism and is a quick read (I read it in one sitting) that never the less will leave an impression.
I recommend it to readers who: like true crime that centers on one event, Southern Gothic and Southern Regional literature, and stories with unusual characters where the narrator is the straight man. Also recommended as a relatively short book that won't take too long to read.
Japanese Ghost Stories by Lafcadio Hearn
Finally, we return to horror and myth with an anthology of Lafcadio Hearn's work on the kaidan, or strange stories. Hearn was an unusual character -- born on a Greek island, raised in Ireland, and spending time in the French East Indies and United States as a journalist before finally settling in Japan, he had a deep interest in folklore and ghost stories. This collection is a crash-course in the best of Japanese weird tales, including Hoichi the Earless; yuki-onna, the snow woman; and Botan-Doro, the Peony Lantern. These will be familiar to readers interested in Japanese culture, especially Hoichi the Earless, which is the basis for the 1965 film Kwaidan. Hearn's strengths lie in his eye for detail and his interest in the very nature of fear-- he takes a whole chapter to reflect on his own childhood experiences of the sensation. However, there is no explanation for why the cover of this book appears to have a decapitated Bobby Hill.
I recommend it to readers who: enjoy folklore, Japanese culture, and good old-fashioned ghost stories. The chapters can be read on their own, so it's good for when you just want a quick read.
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[1] “Appeal Terms,” EBSCO Help, accessed July 30, 2022, http://support.ebsco.com/help/?int=novp&ver=live&lang=en&feature_id=Appeal.
[2] W.C Wertz, “20 Years After Midnight: A Look Back,” South Magazine, October 7, 2017, https://www.southmag.com/20-years-after-midnight-a-look-back/.
