Tag Archives: Grand Rapids Public Library

On the shelf: ‘Feed Your Pet Right’ by Marion Nestle & Malden C. Neshiem

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By Steve Maesen, Grand Rapids Public Library, Van Belkum Branch

 

Within the “I didn’t know I needed it until I read it” genre Marion Nestle and Malden C. Neshiem’s Feed Your Pet Right: The Authoritative Guide to Feeding your Dog and Cat is an informative overview on pet nutrition as well as an interesting look inside the multi-billion dollar a year pet food industry.  Investigating both the widely available commercial foods and the less common, though growing, holistic/organic/natural/raw pet food movements, what they discover about what goes into our pet’s food is surprisingly comforting.

 

Throughout the book the authors provide detailed descriptions of the different kinds of pet foods, treats and supplements on the market: where they come from, why they are used and whether or not they should be used in pet food. Looking into such controversial ingredients like animal by-products the reader may well be surprised by their conclusions. Acknowledging the various issues many people have with feeding their pets “commercial” grade food, they engage the reader in a discussion about what roles personal ethics and morals play in selecting pet foods.

 

Worth the read, if only for the brief but fascinating history of pet food in America, the book also serves as an informative and objective reference for any pet owner who wants to make sure they are doing the best they can for their four-legged friend.

 

On the shelf: ‘My Cross to Bear’ by Gregg Allman

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By Lisa Boss

Grand Rapids Public Library

 

Born in 1947, Allman looks back on a long life, having beaten the odds, so to speak. In a career field where sex and drugs are ubiquitous, he stood out with six ruined marriages and decades of heroin, coke and alcohol addictions. In 1995, after an embarrassing speech at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Gregg went into his last rehab. In 2010 his liver had deteriorated so badly from the Hepatitis C that he received a transplant. But wait, it’s not all bad news!

 

His memoir is a fascinating chronicle of the twists and turns of the Allman Brothers band, forging a new sound back in the sixties — “southern rock”, a mix of blues, rock and country. It’s also an honest, revealing look at a man remembering a life filled with triumphs and failures. Some of the material about his mom and brother Duane is just kind of heartbreaking, and the photos underscore the sense of love and loss.

 

An interesting twist for me was that when I had finished the book, I checked out the library’s collection of Allman Brothers music, and found that I really liked the CD, Low Country Blues — that Allman recorded at the age of 63 — best. He went back to the blues roots that he loved, and the tracks have that haunting, powerful sound. So, maybe getting clean and finding religion was the best thing he ever did musically…

 

On the shelf: ‘In Pharaoh’s Army: Memories of the Lost War’ by Tobias Wolff

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By Lisa Boss, Grand Rapids Public Library

 

After reading Jon Krakauer’s new book, Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, (which is an excellent book!), I remembered that Tobias Wolff had also been in the Special Forces during the Vietnam era, and that both Tillman and Wolff were unusually honest in their thoughts about the military.  While Krakauer’s work about Tillman’s life trajectory from childhood to pro-football to Afghanistan is contemporary, Wolff needed a lot more time to distill the essence of his experience.

 

He begins his memoir at the wheel of his armor-plated truck, rolling along towards a chaotic street scene. He honks a warning — another one — and then, since the villagers do not get their bicycles out of the road, Wolff runs right over them.

 

“Seven months back, at the beginning of my tour, when I was still calling them people instead of peasants, I wouldn’t have run over their bikes. I would have slowed down or even stopped until they decided to move their argument to the side of the road, if it was a real argument and not a setup.    

 

“But I didn’t stop anymore. Neither did Sergeant Benet. Nobody did, as these peasants — these people — should have known.”

 

The parallels between then and now are thought-provoking, because while Wolff’s slim volume was written almost 30 years after his military experience of 1967-68, one wonders if it could be yesterday in Iraq or Afghanistan.

 

Wolff’s ultimate take on the Vietnam war was, “Here were pharaoh’s chariots engulfed; his horsemen confused; and all his magnificence dismayed.”  By contrast, Krakauer, an excellent writer and journalist, leaves us to draw our own conclusions, as to where we are headed in Afghanistan.

 

On the shelf: ‘Incidents in the Night’ by David B.

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By Drew Damron, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main 

 

I’ve been a huge fan of David B.’s comics since I first read Epileptic a few years back, and I think this new title is my favorite of his so far. I really like the surreal nature of Jorge Luis Borges’s stories, and David B.’s comics often share the same fascination with dreams and labyrinths. This book in particular takes a very dreamlike, scholarship-as-labyrinth, style of storytelling and simultaneously remixes it with a textbook on the history of religions and a pulpy crime novel.  It’s a very strange story but it’s very captivating.

 

What I love most about David B.’s comics is the way he is able to create such metaphor-rich visuals.  Every panel of his features some interesting iconic juxtapositions done up in a noir-ish flavor, and this particular book offers a very surreal, yet sophisticated aesthetic. Each drawing clearly presents his technical proficiency, yet his lines are executed with a shaky rhythm that kind of reminds me of the older Peanuts comics from Charles Schultz, and I think this little suggestion of sloppiness gives the dreamlike imagery its authenticity.  All of my dreams are fuzzy and often difficult to remember, so it seems to me that this story would be interpreted very differently if done up with very sleek line work.

 

If you’re in the mood for something new and a bit different, then definitely check this one out!

 

 

On the shelf: ‘French Milk’ by Lucy Knisley 

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By Karen Herringa, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main 

 

In the throes of becoming an adult, Lucy Knisley has an idea: she and her mother shall move to Paris. For a month. For both of their birthdays. Through some planning and words lost in translation, the mother-daughter trio start their adventure.

 

Knisley gives the reader a look into what it would be like for an American to uproot life for a month and travel to a foreign country. Visiting museums and visiting the Eiffel Tower are obvious places they visited, but buying gourmet cheeses and delicacies only found in Europe are also highlights. Filled with intricate drawings and photographs, Knisley creates a unique story that will make the reader want to move to a foreign country themselves.

 

On the shelf: ‘Dead Ex’ by Harley Jane Kozak

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By Laura Nawrot, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

 

Sometimes it’s too difficult to select a single book to review. Dead Ex, Firefly Lane, and The Red Queen’s Daughter have nothing in common except for the fact that they’re my most recent reads and well worth recommending.

 

Dead Ex

I really enjoyed author Harley Jane Kozak’s pace and intrigue in Dead Ex, a mystery that could come from the script of a daytime soap opera and actually involves a cast of characters that are part of a fictitious soap whose producer turns up murdered. Set in California, the story takes the reader back and forth between locations while the bodies pile up and the main character, Wollie Shelley, tries to protect her best friend, Joey who only happens to be the main suspect.

 

Readers are introduced to Wollie as she muses over her living arrangements; she is currently between homes and living from a suitcase parked in the immaculate closet of her FBI boyfriend, Simon. Wollie’s state of disarray, the quirky humor and the numerous plot twists were just some of the things I really liked about the novel. I was only disappointed by the fact that it took me until page 145 to find out what “Wollie” was short for, something I should have figured out on my own.

 

Firefly Lane

It’s been a really long time since a book has brought me to tears, but I found Firefly Lane to be worth several tissues. This novel, by Kristin Hannah, follows the relationship of two girls who grow into that once-in-a-lifetime bond that makes them closer than sisters. Set in the Seattle area beginning in the 1970’s and moving to the present, the reader is drawn into the lives of Kate and Tully as they fumble along trying to grow into their respective places in the world. While the story line sounds kind of cliché, I could really feel the connection between two very different women, and that in itself is what made the book so successful for me. If you’re in the mood for a relationship story, Firefly Lane is a must read.

 

The Red Queen’s Daughter

And now for something completely different; The Red Queen’s Daughter, a historical novel by Jacqueline Kolosov, exploring what could have been the life of Mary Seymour, the daughter of Katherine Parr who was King Henry the Eighth’s 6th wife. The author makes it clear in her notes that the story is merely speculation, but is historically accurate in capturing the era of Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen of England. The reader gets a sense of what it must have been like to live in a time when social custom dictated the course of a young woman’s life typically directly into marriage and motherhood at about age sixteen. Even the sounds and smells of life at court are described well enough to give a sense of presence to the reader. The Red Queen’s Daughter is categorized as young adult fiction, but I think it could easily be placed in adult fiction as well. This novel is well written and successfully conveys the essence and mysticism of England during a period of religious upheaval and healing.

 

 

On the shelf: ‘Chess Story (or The Royal Game)’ by Stefan Zweig

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By Drew Damron, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

 

“Chess Story, also known as The Royal Game, is the Austrian master Stefan Zweig’s final achievement, completed in Brazilian exile and sent off to his American publisher only days before his suicide in 1942. It is the only story in which Zweig looks at Nazism, and he does so with characteristic emphasis on the psychological.

 

Travelers by ship from New York to Buenos Aires find that on board with them is the world champion of chess, an arrogant and unfriendly man. They come together to try their skills against him and are soundly defeated. Then a mysterious passenger steps forward to advise them and their fortunes change. How he came to possess his extraordinary grasp of the game of chess and at what cost lie at the heart of Zweig’s story.

 

This new translation of Chess Story brings out the work’s unusual mixture of high suspense and poignant reflection.

 

Hands down it’s one of the best stories I’ve ever read. It’s a clear, riveting novella, which not only reaches very extreme psychological depths, but also offers a poignant new understanding of Nazi Germany—a period in history which already has a multitude of perspectives and analysis.

 

Stefan Zweig makes use of the game of chess as both a character in the novel and as a metaphor for his life as he perceived it at the time. Within this narrative, chess is described as, “the game among games devised by man, which rises majestically above every tyranny of chance, which grants its victors the laurels only to a great intellect, or rather, to a particular form of mental ability.” It is a game where there is no element of chance. Where the players are in absolute control and may dispose of their pieces as they like, while on a board with very little room for creativity or mercy.

 

Zweig utilizes this understanding of chess to a profound degree in order to illustrate how it feels to be someone trying to escape the grasp of a war that will inevitably get to you. It’s a story from an incredibly talented writer about the necessity for creativity to have a place in our lives and the adverse differences between an uncaring ‘intellect’ and a manic, but human, mind.

 

If you’re in the mood for a quick, and thoughtful read, then you should definitely check this gem out.

 

Local Dyer-Ives poetry contest open for submissions

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WKTV Staff

 

The annual Dyer-Ives Poetry Competition, a program managed by the Grand Rapids Public Library, is now accepting original and unpublished poetry submissions from residents of Kent County and college students attending classes in Kent County.

 

The competition is free to enter, but only one poem per person is accepted. Submissions begin Feb. 1 and close March 1 at midnight.

 

The Dyer-Ives Poetry Competition was started in 1968 by poet James Allen at the urging of John Hunting, the founder of the Dyer-Ives Foundation, to “encourage excellence in writing and to provide recognition for local work of high quality,” according to supplied information.

 

The annual contest is open to poets ages 5 through adult, separated into three categories. Winners selected in three age categories have their poems published in Voices, receive a cash award, and participate in a reading during the Festival of the Arts in June, held at the Grand Rapids Public Library main library.

 

The judge for this year’s competition is Oliver de la Paz, author of three collections of poetry, Names Above Houses, Furious Lullaby,  and Requiem for the Orchard; winner of the Akron Prize for poetry chosen by Martìn Espada. He co-chairs the advisory board of Kundiman, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of Asian American poetry, and teaches at Western Washington University.

Divisions are K-8th grade, high school through undergraduate college, and post-graduate students and adults.

 

For more information, including the various ways and library locations to submit poems, visit grpl.org/dyer-ives .

 

On the shelf: ‘Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Meth Addiction’ by David Sheff

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By Lisa Boss, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

 

“Before Nic Sheff became addicted to crystal meth, he was a charming boy, joyous and funny, a varsity athlete and honor student adored by his two younger siblings. After meth, he was a trembling wraith who lied repeatedly, stole money from his eight-year-old brother, and lived on the streets.”  (Book jacket)

 

What’s different about Meth? Why is it worse than, say, cocaine or heroin? Why did all the drug recovery experts sigh so deeply when they heard that the “drug of choice” was Meth?  David Sheff found his answers to these and many other questions concerning one of the latest drug scourges to reappear.  Like a medical thriller, the story weaves many plot and research lines into a complex tapestry.  And like a horror story, the drug takes on a persona:  a vampire feeding on its willing victim, who seeks out the source that is draining them of life.

 

Drug addiction of any kind can bring families to their knees, leaving wreckage far beyond the principal player.  Al-Anon has their 3 C’s: You didn’t cause it, you can’t control it, and you can’t cure it.   The author, resistant at first, finds the family support groups an unbelievable source of comfort.  Who else will understand when a parent says that they are happy that their child is in jail?

 

Sheff’s work grew out of a piece that he wrote for the New York Times Magazine, “My Addicted Son”,  which won the American Psychological Association’s award for “Outstanding Contribution to Advancing the Understanding of Addiction”.

 

To tell the truth, I didn’t know if I’d like it so much — it sounded like a real downer. Once I started, though, I found it an extremely compelling book. It’s not just about one family’s tragedy, but it connects to every aspect of our own lives. Sheff constantly involves all of us in his Dantesque journey — seeming to ask, without putting it so bluntly, “so you think this does not, will not, ever touch you?”

 

As an example, while the author is staying at yet another hotel, waiting for yet another rehab visit with his son, he begins reading the epigraph from Where Angels Fear to Tread by E.M. Forster, “Every little trifle, for some reason, does seem incalculably important and when you say of a thing that ‘nothing hangs on it’ it sounds like blasphemy. There’s never any knowing–how am I to put it–which of our actions, which of our idlenesses won’t have things hanging on it for ever.”

 

The author ponders this late at night, “I read it and read it again…. I am almost shaking. I think, ‘How innocent we are of our mistakes and how responsible we are for them.’”  

 

The narrative alternates with his research into every aspect of drug addiction: the rehab industry, support groups, crime statistics, environmental damage and the neuroscience of the brain physiology.  And the history — Meth was synthesized from amphetamine in 1919 by a Japanese pharmacologist. It was commercially available and marketed as a bronchodilator for asthma or an appetite suppressant, among other things. Ads featured slogans like, “Never again feel dreary or suffer the blues.”  Used by the military in World War II, mild formulations were still sold over the counter until 1951, when it was finally upgraded to a controlled substance.  Well, who knew…?

 

If you ever buy “Sudefed” for allergies, you’ve experienced how diligent the selling, signing for, and tracking of, this product has become — due to its main ingredient, pseudoephedrine. Here’s a real surprise though. According to the author, while he is laying out how the mom and pop labs have been essentially preempted by international drug cartels, operating their own “super labs”:  “Only nine factories manufacture the bulk of the world’s supply of ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, but pharmaceutical companies — and legislators influenced by them — have stopped every move that would have effectively controlled the distribution of the chemical so they could not be diverted to meth super labs.”

 

Meth seems to be a particularly unfortunate drug, since while all the drugs of abuse affect the dopamine reward circuit; Meth quickly causes more serious harm to the brain. The dopamine system becomes so ravaged that it takes months for partial recovery, and a full two years for an almost normal brain PET scan. In the meantime, in the first weeks of recovery attempts, when a Meth user is without the drug, the areas of the brain that light up are the ones that are active when people experience intense pain.

 

At one completely chilling point in the story (and there are many of these) another parent tells him that the only thing that will get him through is God; and the author says he’d like to believe, but he’s just never been able to. “Before this is over,” they reply to him softly, “you will.”

 

The cover quote by Anne Lamott says, “This book will save a lot of lives and heal a lot of hearts.”

 

If any book could discourage a person from trying drugs, this would do it.

 

 

On the shelf: ‘At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream’ by Wade Rouse

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After chronicling his escape from rural life growing up gay in the Ozarks with his memoir, America’s Boy, Wade Rouse finds himself on three acres in the middle of the woods just outside of Saugatuck, Michigan. While vacationing in Michigan, Wade and his partner, Gary, decide on the spot to leave their hectic urban life in St. Louis, build a home and create “Wade’s Walden.”

 

Wade faces raccoons (literally head-on), wild turkeys (which he comes to adore), his addiction to tanning, cable and lip gloss and his real relationship with Gary.  In the end, he finds himself disgusted with the tourists who act . . . exactly like he did when he first arrived in the country.  Reading and re-reading Thoreau, Wade sets out to learn ten life lessons along the same path as Walden.

 

At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream is a funny, heartfelt, sincere memoir that will appeal to anyone, gay or straight, who finds themselves outside of their comfort-zone.

 

On the shelf: ‘America’s Boy: A Memoir’ by Wade Rouse

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By Lisa Boss, GRPL Main
And heeeeeere’s “Miss Sugar Creek”!!

Summers in the late ’60s, with the extended family at the idyllic log cabin on Sugar Creek in the Missouri Ozarks, always include a special 4th of July beauty pageant. Wade, now age 5, has always been a judge, when what he really wants to be is a contestant. So, taking matters into his own young hands, when his family comes back from fishing he announces in all his finery, “I am Miss Sugar Creek!” He’s decked himself out in his grandma’s red heels, his mom’s bikini (fitted with duct tape), jewelry, and has a tin foil crown, sash and scepter.

“The moment my family comes in, I wave my scepter and graciously thank them for their decision. They stare at me, blinking in slow motion, trying to act like nothing is wrong, like it is perfectly natural for me to be standing there in a bikini and heels, like a tiny boy Phyllis George.”
 

Eventually, his adored older brother, springs into action:

“Todd, a true country boy, moves toward me, shaking his head, grabbing the scepter from my hands and motioning with it for me to walk the length of the cabin.

“There he is, Miss Sugar Creek,” he sings off-key.”

I liked Rouse’s memoir so much that I read it twice in one week. It’s a short book, telling the story of one of those families that are both ordinary and extraordinary.

You might be fooled into thinking it’s just a humorous book at first, because Rouse is just rib-achingly funny, but, much like Bill Bryson’s Thunderbolt Kid, it’s an extremely well-written look at another time in America, involving three generations and their interactions within their changing culture. I hate to say trite things like, “I laughed, I cried”, but that’s exactly what I did. A must read!

On the shelf: ‘Agent 6’ by Tom Rob Smith

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By Lisa Boss, GRPL-Main
The final novel of Tom Rob Smith’s Soviet trilogy (Child 44, The Secret Speech), Agent 6 spans the time from the Cold War through the Soviet Union’s disastrous invasion of Afghanistan. Smith’s combination of a lightning plot and a cautionary tale, added to the history and psychology, create an engrossing read.
Leo Demidou, former KGB agent, has tried to put past regrets behind him, and now lives for his wife and daughters. When they take part in a goodwill trip to the U.S. and his wife is the victim of a terrible incident, Leo vows to find out the truth. His attempts to get to the bottom of this deep-rooted scheme entwine throughout the rest of the book, although he has been banished to Afghanistan.
The complicated plot races along, with Leo reminiscent of a Camus or Kafka anti-hero struggling in his bleak universe. The irony of Leo’s Afghan assignment is that he is to help create a secret police force for them when he has come to believe in the malignant harm it does to a society. He sees his younger self in the idealistic young woman who is his chief aide, and believes fully in the destruction needed to create a new order.

On the shelf: ‘Okay for Now’ by Gary Schmidt

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A good, hearty stew prepared with the right combination of vegetables, spices and meat can combine into a gourmet winter delight, tasty from the first bite to the last. Gary Schmidt’s youth book Okay for Now is like wonderful winter comfort food. The ingredients of this story combine to produce a most hearty read, from the first page to the last.
Fourteen-year-old Doug Swieteck has no choice when his family relocates to a small town in upstate New York. His troubles stay with him, like a bad aftertaste. His emotionally abusive father, his delinquent brother, and a reality he soon loves to hate. The people who surround him are so often completely caught up in their own pain that they are unable to reach out to him. Doug meets townspeople who take a special interest in him, and in turn, he begins to take an interest in others. He stumbles into the local library where expensive Audubon art prints and drawing lessons are savory tidbits that begin to transform his life, forever.
The author artfully stirs together an emotional but satisfying mix of humor, pain, redemption and hope into a memorable story. This combination of humor and pain create that same scrumptious blend of a sweet and salty dish.

Okay for Now is one of those books that cross generational lines. After you devour this novel, please recommend it to a teen you know, perhaps a grandchild or a friend — you will be full and completely satisfied!

On the shelf: ‘At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream’, by Wade Rouse

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 By Marie Mulder, GRPL-Main
After chronicling his escape from rural life growing up gay in the Ozarks with his memoir, America’s Boy, Wade Rouse finds himself on three acres in the middle of the woods just outside of Saugatuck, Michigan. While vacationing in Michigan, Wade and his partner, Gary, decide on the spot to leave their hectic urban life in St. Louis, build a home and create Dz Wade’s Walden.
Dz Wade faces raccoons (literally head-on), wild turkeys (which he comes to adore), his addiction to tanning, cable and lip gloss and his real relationship with Gary. In the end, he finds himself disgusted with the tourists who act . . . exactly like he did when he first arrived in the country. Reading and re-reading Thoreau, Wade sets out to learn 10 life lessons along the same path as Walden.
At Least in the City Someone Would Hear Me Scream is a funny, heartfelt, sincere memoir that will appeal to anyone, gay or straight, who finds themselves outside of their comfort zone.

On the shelf: ‘American Salvage’ by Bonnie Jo Campbell

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By Tim Gleisner, GRPL Main

Imagine a world of broken down cars, underemployed people, dreams deferred, and you will get an idea of the National Book Award finalist American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell — a collection of short stories of various characters and settings strewn across Southwestern Michigan. Within these stories and characters are the forgotten people, the people consumed with just getting by, with finding enough work to put food on the table, finding enough love to get through another day.

American Salvage shares its title with one of these stories. Within this story one is taken to a junkyard on the outskirts of Kalamazoo. Here the reader is introduced to the Junkman King and his nephew Johnny. They take in only American cars to be scrapped and sell the pieces off for a profit.

Each car is broken down. Little love or attention has been given to these machines in a long time. Yet, within each vehicle are parts that are still like new, that still have value in the eyes of the Junkman and his nephew. Much like the cars, the people throughout this book are flawed, beaten down, and beat up by the many valleys of life. And, much like the vehicles they strip each person still has a redeeming part of them that is virtually left untouched by the struggles of life. It is these parts that the author, Bonnie Jo Campbell, skillfully unveils and reveals to the attentive reader.

‘An Unquiet Mind’ by Kay Redfield Jamison

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an-unquiet-mindBy Lisa Boss, GR Main Library
A beautiful, compelling memoir about an exceptional life and a relentless disease, Jamison’s fast-paced story of her struggle and triumph over manic depression opens a window onto a mysterious and ever increasing diagnosis. If you have ever wondered why someone with a serious mental disorder won’t take their medication, Jamison hits this issue full-on, as she weighs the euphoric seductions of the hypomanias against the sometimes punitive and toxic effects of the drugs.

Her memoir is especially fascinating because she has a dual perspective; having studied and become an academic expert in Bipolar Illness and Mood Disorder, while experiencing the devastating effects of it in her own life. Oliver Sacks says about An Unquiet Mind, that “It stands alone in the literature of manic-depression for its bravery, brilliance and beauty.”

On the shelf: ‘The Alzheimer’s Family: Helping Caregivers Cope’ by Robert B. Santulli

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alzheimers-familyBy Lisa Boss, Main Library 
Many of us are close to a friend or relative with Alzheimer’s these days, and over the years, as my relative’s spouse has gone from “mild cognitive impairment”, to a more drastic descent through the middle stages of AD, I’ve become more concerned and worried. What exactly is happening, and why?

I liked the tone and the way Dr. Santulli presented the information in this book. It fel like a compassionate, wise friend/expert was there to help chart a course in frightening waters. A geriatric psychiatrist, and Director of the Dartmouth Memory Clinic, he’s distilled over 20 years of specialization in treating Alzheimer’s patients into his guide. He explains how the different symptoms are tied to physical pathology, and thus certain strategies will be more effective in each case.

The Forgetting: Alzheimer’s: Portrait of an Epidemic by David Shenk is another book I found helpful, as was The Last of His Mind: A Year in the Shadow of Alzheimer’s by John Thorndyke. Olivia Hoblitzelle’s memoir, Ten Thousand Joys and Ten Thousand Sorrows: A Couple’s Journey Tlast-of-his-mindhrough Alzheimer’s is one not to be missed, applying a culturally different understanding of illness, through Tibetan Buddhism. Each loved one, their support system and disease manifestation, will be unique, so it’s natural that some writers will resonate more, and a wide choice of knowledgeable authors is preferable.

ten-thousand-joys-sorrows-book-coverAs I often read, “when you’ve met one person with Alzheimer’s, you’ve met one person with Alzheimer’s”, and that is probably true for most medical and mental health conditions. With Grand Rapids Public Library’s large and in-depth medical and caregiver collections, there will be sure to be ones that speak to you, if or when needed.

On the shelf: ‘Reaching For A New Potential: A Life Guide for Adults with ADD From a Fellow Traveler’ by Oren Mason M.D.

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reaching-for-a-new-potentialBy Karen Thoms, Main Library
I was gently spouting off my views about kids with ADD to a patron. It turns out that she was a teacher with an opposing view. She gently challenged me to read Oren Mason’s book Reaching for a New Potential.

Immediately I put the book on hold at the library, and to say my views have completely changed after reading it would be an understatement. Mason is no ordinary medical doctor. He suffered with ADD for years and made a surprising discovery while reseaching ways to help his two sons. Not only did his sons have ADD but he had the very symptoms he was reading about. He started medication and all areas of his life began to improve. He began treating more ADD patients as his passion for the condition and its treatment developed. Within three years he switched his practice over to exclusively treating ADD patients in Grand Rapids, Mich.

It is against this personal and professional back drop that Mason wrote Reaching for a New
Potential. The book is divided into three parts. The first third deals with medications. After years of homeschooling in the 1980s and 1990s and reading about the surge in children being diagnosed with ADD and put on medication, I was certain that doctors were too quick to label kids as having ADD. This was the opinion I was sharing with the library patron a couple of months ago.
Mason refutes that opinion right out of the gate. He states that not only is ADD not over-diagnosed, he believes it is under-diagnosed! And not only that, he believes that medication should be the first line of treatment once a person has been properly diagnosed, not the last resort.
I am not one to quickly change my opinions but Mason’s easy-to-understand arguments made complete sense. Mason unequivocally recommends that medications are the most important step to normalize the life of a person with ADD. He spends two chapters talking about the kinds of medications used in the treatment of ADD, highlighting their strengths and weaknesses. After a lengthy explanation, he had me convinced that generic drugs are usually not the way to go when treating ADD.
The middle of the book covers the care team a person with ADD needs to assemble to live the best life possible. He assumes that the patient is now on medication and asking what more they can do to help their brain function optimally. Many who are opposed to treating ADD with drugs start here.

Mason believes all these pieces — diet, exercise, sleep, no smoking and definitely no drinking the first two years of ADD treatment are extremely important. But the main reason that he doesn’t believe in starting here in the treatment of ADD is because he feels an unmedicated person with ADD is going to have a hard time addressing these pieces because most of them require planning — something in a short supply with ADD patients.

His other supports for the ADD patients toolbox are: good physicians, support groups, therapists, coaches, professional organizers and financial planners. The chapters in this middle third of the book will give the patient hope for change. The last chapter in this section, ‘Learning How to Treat Others’, will jumpstart the patient’s social skills, a skill the
loved ones of ADD sufferers will welcome.
The last third of the book delves into how the patient can fit in with other people in their lives especially at home and work. One whole chapter is devoted to the kinds of jobs that a person with ADD may be best suited for. The last two chapters of the book cover topics near and dear to the author’s heart: faith and healing.
At the end of the book Mason cautions against impatience with the healing process timeline. Getting the medicines tweaked correctly, gathering a support team and implementing the many suggestions for living in a world as a person with ADD will take years.

But he says, “The first milestone in the healing of ADD is the appearance of hope… Your hope is the reason I sat down to write this book. Far more important though, I suspect it’s the reason you finished it.”

On the shelf: ‘No Angel: My Harrowing Undercover Journey to the Inner Circle of the Hells Angels’, by Jay Dobyns

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no-angelOn the Shelf Book Review
 
By Lisa Boss, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

When the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms decided to infiltrate the Arizona Hells Angels and clean house they knew it wouldn’t be an easy job. Lengthy, complicated and expensive (think tax dollars), this sting holds one’s attention, as we wait to see what will ultimately be revealed when the nets are pulled up.

The most interesting part for me was the state of mind of the author/agent, as he descends into a violent, criminal culture that he finds increasingly attractive. We follow the transformation of Jay Dobyns, ATF undercover agent, into Bird, aspiring Hells Angel, over a 2-year period.

It raises the questions that police, military and even psychologists face, when they are trying to infiltrate or befriend “the enemy”. How much of our personality and our values are reflections of the culture we are in, rather than uniquely “us”? Where do the criminals stop and we begin… Dobyns invokes the lure of the free, macho brotherhood at first, but as time passes he shows us that it doesn’t really age so well.

Some of it was unintentionally funny. Who knew that there is a very strict, fussy code to get into the Hells Angels, and that their charters are filled with rules and “do’s and don’ts”. One crazy scene involves an impromptu opportunity for ATF, when the Hells Angels stay at a swanky Vegas hotel, supposedly arranged by Bird’s mysterious boss. ATF then needs an out-of-town police operative to play this “Mr Big”, and at the last minute they have to get a substitute, with surprising results.

Things are not as they would seem on the surface, but then, they never are.

On the shelf: ‘Life’, by Keith Richards

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lifeOn the Shelf Book Review
By Lisa Boss, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

The dark, working man’s engine of the Rolling Stones comes across as a modern Odysseus, relating his memoirs. Looking back at 66, he doesn’t pull many punches. All the Stones gossip is here, and the great musical history, but there’s also a wealth of unexpected human experience that adds up to a compelling memoir.

Born in 1943 near London, Keith grew up a mum’s boy, an only child with a pet mouse for company, who sang soprano, and was a devoted boy scout. Surrounded by a bevy of women — mum, aunts, and girl cousins — he “learned about women” early on, much to his later advantage. His grandfather, Gus, a former band leader, used to take him on outings to escape all those females, and sparked his passion for music. Richards combines a unique voice with the storyteller’s art. His ghost, James Fox, did an excellent job of organizing the material, so the result flows like a personal conversation.
The way-of-the-rock-star is known for egregious excess of course, and there were a lot of casualties along the way. Maybe he came out alive, but the betrayal of the 60’s creed of the “free” life, including his struggle with heroin, and the death of friends, relationships, and even his infant son, could hardly leave Richards unscathed. Why he should be left standing is a mystery. He has his theories, but Richards lets his life speak for itself.

On the shelf: ‘Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close’, by Jonathan Safran Foer

Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, , , , ,
extremely-loudOn the Shelf Book Review
By Rosie Rincones, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main 
There are novels that can be opened up to any part of the story and once you get a few pages in you may be able to put together pieces of the plot and, in general, know what’s going on.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close does not allow you this privilege. Each chapter can differ from the one before in mood, narrator, and time period. A harmonious mixture of words and images, this book carries you swiftly through the ups, downs, in’s, and out’s of young Oskar Schell’s life — told by himself.
Two years after his father is killed in the World Trade Center attacks, Oskar finds a key that had once belonged to his father and embarks on a relentless journey to find the lock it will open.
Reminiscent of Holden Caulfield and Harriet the Spy, Foer has created a character that breathes life into a tragic situation. Alongside Oskar’s tale of adventure and discoveries, we learn of the somber and complex past of his grandfather who survived the World War II bombing of Dresden. All at once warming and breaking your heart, the stories come together in a sobering sort of way to level the ground between the humor and tragedy in the characters’ lives.
Enthralling and moving, Foer has written a story to linger in the minds and hearts of all who choose to read it.

On the Shelf Book Review: ‘The Dollmaker’, by Harriette Arnow

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the-dollmakerOn the Shelf Book Review
By Karolee Gillman, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

Originally published in 1954, The Dollmaker begins with a very emotional scene of an Appalachian mother desperately trying to save her youngest son’s life, and the roller coaster of emotion doesn’t stop.

This book is very descriptive and worded so beautifully, you can see the story come to life. The book is very long and when the characters speak, they do so in the Appalachian dialect. I had to often read the conversations out loud to comprehend what was being said.

Gertie Nevels is a strong, compassionate woman, with a passion for whittling. Her one dream is to buy her own farm in the backwoods of Kentucky and live there with her husband and children. But World War II intervenes, and as a good wife she must take her children and follow her husband to Detroit, where he has been put to work in a war factory. In the city, Gertie fights desperately to keep her family together, maintain their rural values while they stuck in a Cracker-Jack-box housing development in a world far away from Appalachia.

Read The Dollmaker to see how Gertie handles tragedy and betrayal and makes the ultimate sacrifice to save her family. You will smile and cry right along with her.

On the Shelf Book Review: ‘Cleopatra: A Life’, by Stacy Schiff

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cleopatraOn the Shelf Book Review
By Amanda Bridle, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main
Fact is better than fiction.
Fictional portrayals of Cleopatra write her off as a mere seductress, not worth much more than her looks. In truth, Cleopatra wasn’t all that good-looking (we can tell from the portraits on coins she herself approved and from the snide comments made by her published detractors) but instead attracted the men in her life, Julius Caesar and Mark Antony, with her brains. Author Stacy Schiff, reveals a portrait of a daring, complex and politically savvy woman in her new biography Cleopatra: A Life.
The well-researched book plunges us into another time and place with lush descriptions of lavish royal events and in-depth discussion of the culture and politics that shaped Cleopatra’s life. To understand her is to understand the how her Greek family came to power in Egypt and how they fought, intermarried and murdered amongst themselves.
To know her is to know the status of women in Alexandria and how shockingly different that was from Rome. To appreciate her life and her choices is to understand the power struggles and politics of Roman leaders as they attempted to gain control of more and more of the world and function, or dysfunction, as a democracy.
Painstakingly researched and beautifully written, readers will enjoy a book that is equal parts history, politics, romance, and tragedy.

On the Shelf Book Review: ‘When You Are Engulfed in Flames’, by David Sedaris

Books, Citizen Journalism, Entertainment, , , , ,
when-you-are-engulfed-in-flamesOn the Shelf Book Review
By Lisa Boss, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main

When David Sedaris, the famous humorist, was in Grand Rapids last spring, the Grand Rapids Press reviewer summed up his type of comedy as “NPR funny”— an excellent term, which perfectly describes an addictive style that touches on the poignant absurdity of life.

Along the lines of Woody Allen and James Thurber, with a bit of Jack Benny and Phillip Roth thrown in, Sedaris takes the melancholy and self-absorbed male to new heights. He’s honed an intense, but not mean-spirited voice over the years, and it is quite unique.

With a self-depreciating eye, he looks over topics like his childhood, family life, a checkered career path, being obsessive, being gay, travel, and his long-term relationship with his partner, Hugh, among others. If the topics seem a little mundane, it’s really about what he does with them.

If you haven’t discovered Sedaris yet, try a couple of his more recent works. One of my favorites is Dress Your Family in Denim and Corduroy, which has the small chapter, The End of the Affair, where David and Hugh take in a movie. It becomes clear to Sedaris that watching romantic movies is just plain dangerous, for reasons that may not have ever occurred to you. These four pages alone are worth the price of the book, and of course his works are available in print or audio at the library for free.

On the shelf: For Keeps: Women Tell the Truth About their Bodies, Growing Older, and Acceptance edited by Victoria Zackheim

Books, Entertainment, ,
forkeepsBy Michele Montegue
The 27 stories in “For Keeps” remind me of the spontaneous, intimate conversations that can happen between women when we share experiences and discover common ground. The common ground here is our bodies. Body image and acceptance, illness, surgery, chronic pain, weight, depression, aging. If you’ve ever waited anxiously in an examination room, argued with your mother about clothes, dreamed of the perfect body, or simply hated your nose, you will feel a
connection to these stories.
Each memoir is short, personal and readable. Some are tragic: a debilitating injury or a diagnosis of cancer. Others are celebratory, such as, “Making Love and Joy in Seasoned Bodies,” a story of injuries, aging and happiness. Many fall within
the realm of common experience: finding clothes that fit, caring for a dying husband. A couple are downright provocative: the author of “Divorcing My Breasts” wrote, “I’d been unhappily married to my breasts for as long as I could remember.”
The stories all have one thing in common: they’re written by women with
the advantage of age and experience. There’s a thread of wisdom throughout as each author cultivates an instinct to separate the truly important from the merely
cosmetic. There is little “fluff” here; the details are plain-spoken, sometimes even blunt, and the insights are grounded and realistic.
Most readers will find themselves somewhere among these stories and perhaps,
like me, learn from them as well. Like life itself, they are painful, enlightening, humorous, and enjoyable.

On the shelf: ‘Haatchi and Little B’ by Wendy Holden

Books, Entertainment, , ,
haatchiBy Lisa Boss
Anyone without a heart of stone will be moved by this brave boy and the fateful circumstances that brought Owen and the Anatolian together. Born with a genetic time bomb, Owen belongs to of one of those clubs that no one wants to join — those with very rare diseases.
Eventually diagnosed with Schwartz Jampel Syndrome, Owen’s muscles could not relax normally, causing pain and deformity.
At the same time that Owen was realizing the extent of his disability, withdrawing, and withering under the stares of strangers; not far away, a five-month-old puppy
was fighting for its life.
The puppy was the size of a large dog already, since he was one of the Turkish working guard breeds, bred for size, fearlessness, and the loyalty to never abandon their flock. A man had clubbed the puppy and left him for dead on some London train tracks. He was run over and grievously injured, but a series of incredible interventions saved him.
How the life journeys of these two fighters came together, along with the people, families, and institutions that supported them, really makes for a thoughtful, and incredible read. Yes, they’ve been featured on YouTube, and in several magazines, but you really want to read the whole story.
The book’s cover features a very small boy, holding on to a towering dog with gentle eyes, and Owen’s quote about his friend, “When Haatchi came, I wasn’t scared… he changed my life.”

On the shelf: The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery

Books, Entertainment, , ,
pigBy Lisa Boss
I’m always afraid that a book with an animal on the cover will not offer more than a superficial helping of cuteness, so perhaps I was scared off from “The Good Good Pig,” imaging a type of “Green Acres” horror. But now I am kicking myself for waiting so long to enjoy such a wonderful read!
Part of the great appeal is the author’s style, then the wide ranging subject matter, and the rest is up to Christopher Hogwood himself, who carries a small memoir very well. Born a runt among runts, he was adopted out to the author and her husband when he was so small that he fit into a shoebox. But he was a pig with a powerful heart and will, and he grew up, fulfilling his dharma, and touching many lives in unexpected ways.
Fans of James Herriot, Temple Grandin, or Bill Bryson, may enjoy Sy Montgomery, as she combines a page-turning story with historic, scientific, and cultural
asides. A naturalist, author, and screen writer, Sy has gone to some of the world’s most unique areas to unravel ecological puzzles. She has passed through dark places in her life and travels, which makes her writing all the more insightful, and her love of her bucolic town in New Hampshire all the more special.

On the shelf: Into the Beautiful North by Luis Urea

Books, Entertainment, , ,
north2By Jen Andrews
Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the U.S. to find work. Recently, it has
dawned on her that he isn’t the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village — they’ve all gone north. While watching “The Magnificent Seven,” Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men —
her own “Siete Magnificos” — to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the
bandidos who plan on taking it over.
Luis Urrea took a serious issue, the U.S.-Mexico border, and wrote a comic, terrifying, uplifting book about it. His descriptions of places are vivid and his characters colorful and memorable. The reader will fall in love with each of them, laugh at them and root for them until the end.
Urrea tells a great story that is hard to put down.

On the shelf: ‘Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness’, by Alexandra Fuller

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cocktail-hour-under-the-tree-of-forgetfulnessOn the Shelf Book Review
By Lisa Book, Main Library
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness completes a cycle that the author began with Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood, and Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier, spanning a time from the last throes of white-rule Rhodesia, to majority-rule Zimbabwe.
Cocktail Hour comes full circle, and instead of a child’s point of view of the family’s struggles, it’s the author as an adult, looking back on her parent’s long journey. How and why did they come to Africa? Did they really think that there was a place for them there?

“…[T]hose who shed our ancestry the way a snake sheds skin in winter… We white Africans of shrugged-off English, Scottish, Dutch origin…”

There were accidents, assaults, near death and actual death, all against the backdrop of the implacable African landscape, and laced with an extraordinary amount of alcohol.

If you like memoirs like The Glass Castle, Angela’s Ashes or All Over But the Shoutin’, this is another one of those rare tales of family hardship and pain, but also of love and courage, with a generous amount of black humor.

‘Día de los Muertos: Family Day’ is Oct. 30 at the Main Library

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2013dayofthedead

 

Altars are on view Thursday, Oct. 27 to Tuesday, Nov. 1

 

Bring the whole family to the Grand Rapids Public Library — Main, 111 Library St. NE in Grand Rapids on Sunday, Oct. 30 and learn about the Day of the Dead holiday. You can explore the altars, decorate sugar skulls, have your face painted and do a craft. The day will include bilingual story times, live music, food from El Granjero, Lindo Mexico and Pan de Muerto provided by Panaderia Margo.

 

Family Day Schedule:  1:00 pm – 4:30 pm | Main Library

  • 1:30 pm  | Live music with Cabildo  | Ryerson Auditorium  | Level 3
  • 2:15 pm  | Bilingual Story Time  | Reading Room  | Level 3
  • 2:45 pm  | Live music with Cabildo  | Ryerson Auditorium  | Level 3
  • 3:25 pm  | Bilingual Story Time  | Reading Room  | Level 3
  • Ongoing  | Face Painting  | Children’s Library  | Level 2
  • Ongoing  | Sugar Skulls and Crafts  | Children’s Library  | Level 2
  • Ongoing (while supplies last)  | Food Sampling  | Fiction area  | Level 2
  • Ongoing  | Altar Viewing  | Ryerson Auditorium  | Level 3

 

See our previous story on Dia de los Muertos altars here.

‘Día de los Muertos: Build an Altar’ deadline is Oct. 19

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dayofthedead-altars

Want to honor a deceased loved one — a person or a pet? Consider building an altar at the Grand Rapids Main Public Library for Día de los Muertos.

 

Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos) is celebrated in Mexico between October 31st and November 2nd to remember deceased loved ones and honor them. Contrary to U.S. funerals, which are mainly somber affairs, Day of the Dead is a festive occasion and colorful holiday—a celebration of lives who have passed on.

 

Building an altar is an integral part of celebrating the holiday. Traditionally, families will build altars in their homes during the weeks leading up to November 1st. These are often quite beautiful creations, constructed with love and care.

 

There are no hard and fast rules about how the altar should be made; just create it from your heart. Make something that looks attractive and is meaningful to you. Altars are also meant to welcome returning spirits, so they include both personalized and traditional elements—including several dating to the Aztecs—that will guide an honoree on his journey from the land of the dead.

 

day-of-the-dead-altars-300x265Whether simple or sophisticated, Day of the Dead altars and ofrenda all contain certain basic elements in common. Here are the ofrendas that you will typically see on a Día de los Muertos altar:

  • Candles – Candles are lit to welcome the spirits back to their altars.
  • Marigolds – These yellow-orange flowers, also called cempasúchitl, symbolize death. Their strong fragrance also help lead the dead back to their altars. Marigold petals may also be sprinkled on the floor in front of the altar, or even sprinkled along a path from the altar to the front door, so that the spirit may find her way inside.
  • Incense – Most commonly, copal incense, which is the dried aromatic resin from a tree native to Mexico. The scent is also said to guide the spirits back to their altars.
  • Salt – represents the continuance of life.
  • Photo of the deceased – A framed photo of the dead person to whom the altar is dedicated, usually positioned in a prime spot on the altar.
  • Pan de muerto – Also known as “bread of the dead”, pan de muerto is a symbol of the departed.
  • Sugar skulls – As symbols of death and the afterlife, sugar skulls are not only given as gifts to the living during Day of the Dead, they are also placed as offerings on the altar.
  • Fresh fruit – whatever is in season—oranges, bananas, etc.

dayofthedeadaltar-1-283x300If you’re interested, please download an application today (aplicación en español). Altars can be built on October 26 and will be on display from October 27 to November 1 at the Grand Rapids Public Library Main Branch, 111 Library St. NE, Grand Rapids, MI.

 

Deadline for reserving space is Wednesday, October 19 at 6:00pm.

 

Book Review: Columbine by David Cullen

3-bottom, Books, Entertainment, , , , ,
columbineTen years after two high school students killed thirteen and critically injured 27 others, journalist Cullen creates a comprehensive look at the tragedy in Columbine. Cullen draws on hundreds of interviews, police reports and the killer’s journals and video tapes to piece together what occurred before, during and after the attack on April 20, 1999.
Right after the attack, and for years afterwards, many rumors and misinformation have been widely reported as fact. In an attempt to correct these, Cullen details the lives of Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris — they are not loners, not a part of the Trench Coat Mafia, not targeting jocks or Christians. Cullen purports that Klebold and Harris were on the surface pretty normal high school kids. They had a group of friends, went to prom, held part-time jobs, played sports, applied to college. But underneath the surface, Harris was a
psychopath, demonstrating nine of the ten trademarks of one. Klebold was depressive and suicidal. Over the two years that they planned and practiced for the attack, their goal was to be bigger than Oklahoma City. And if they had been better bomb makers, they might have succeeded.
Cullen looks at errors made by law enforcement, public reaction, and the healing that took place for the survivors, the injured, the community and the world. He examines Harris’ and Klebold’s parents, who have never spoken publicly about the attack before this book was released, but who are largely blamed for what their children did.
In the vein of Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” “Columbine” is a chilling look inside the minds of those who kill, a reminder to be watchful of those around us in a world that is often not what it seems.

On the Shelf: French Milk by Lucy Knisley

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cvr9781416575344_9781416575344_hrFrench Milk

By Lucy Knisley

In the throes of becoming an adult, Lucy has an idea: she and her mother shall move to Paris. For a month. For both of their birthdays. Through some planning and words lost in translation, the mother-daughter trio start their adventure.
Lucy gives the reader a look into what it would be like for an American to uproot their life for a month and travel to a foreign country. Visiting museums and visiting the Eiffel Tower are obvious places they visited, but buying gourmet cheeses and delicacies only found in Europe are also highlights. Filled with intricate drawings and photographs, Knisley creates a unique story that will make the reader want to move to a foreign country themselves.
– Karen Herringa, Grand Rapids Main Library
On the Shelf book reviews are provided by the Grand Rapids Public Library. For a list of locations, programs and other good reads, visit grpl.org.

On the Shelf: a few spring break offerings

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1395807-198x300By Kayne Ferrier

Grand Rapids Yankee Clipper Branch 

 

Blue Heaven is the latest action packed book from C.J. Box. It tells the story of several retired, corrupt cops from Los Angeles and how they almost successfully cover up two major felonies, including a murder. But several factors contribute to their undoing: two little kids, a retired good cop from L.A. and an honest older rancher. The story has a lot of verisimilitude and a great ending. I recommend this book.

 

Another of Box’s book, Winterkill is one of the game warden Joe Pickett books. Box’s books always start off with a bang (no pun intended) and you’re off and running. Corrupt bureaucracy and good hearted, honest people butt heads in this tale of tracking down a murderer and blaming it on the most convenient suspect. Joe works to catch the real murderer and makes some new friends and enemies along the way. It all comes to a satisfying conclusion.

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Real Life and Liars, by Kristina Riggle, is truly a book for adults, the older ones of us, that is. It takes place in Charlevoix, Michigan, over one weekend. Mira’s children are all in town to help her celebrate her 35th wedding anniversary. However, she has learned that she has breast cancer and Mira uses this time to review what her life has meant and what will come of it in the future. Philosophical questions that begin to nag at us as we enter middle age are the meat of this novel.

 

On the shelf: A book review of Dan Harris’s “10% Happier”

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Anchor Dan Harris and his new book.
ABC News “Nightline” Dan Harris and his new book.

10% Happier: 

How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found Self-Help That Actually Works – A True Story

 

by Dan Harris

 

Review by Karen Thoms

Grand Rapids Main Library

 

“I just want you to be happy.”

 

Parents say this to their children because they know how quickly day-to-day stresses can  sap life of happiness. If declining happiness is a fact of most lives, maybe becoming 10%  happier is a worthy goal.

 

Harris is a climb-the-ladder faster kind of guy. He made a rapid ascent at ABC News, but not without occasional kicks from his mentor, Peter Jennings. According to Harris, “Working for Peter was like sticking your head in a lion’s mouth: thrilling, but not particularly safe.”

 

Harris’ rise had a lot to do with his upbringing. Son of an oncologist father and pathologist mother, he absorbs his father’s “wisdom” from an early age: “The price of security is insecurity.”

 

He acts on it brilliantly in his career by over-thinking and volunteering to cover stories putting him in harm’s way–anything to gain more air time.

 

By the time he’s in his early thirties, Harris is covering breaking news stories from Iraq, Afghanistan, and the West Bank.

 

However, the light from his rising star is almost extinguished in 2004 when he has an on-air meltdown, fueled by years of drug abuse. Harris tells millions that cholesterol-lowering  drugs have “cancer production” effects. Before the cameraman has time to cut away, Harris has implied to millions that cholesterol-lowering drugs cause cancer! Not long after this on-air blunder, Jennings gives him a new beat to cover. Religion. His rise, his fall, and his new assignment all happen in the first chapter of the book.

 

The remainder of the book alternates between Harris’s visits to his psychiatrist to try to  get his mental health stabilized and the evolution of his religion stories for ABC  News.   

 

At the beginning of this religion beat he covers only sensational stories that make Christians look like lunatics. He might have kept filing stories filled with caricatures had he not met mega-church evangelical pastor, Ted Haggard.

 

His developing friendship with Haggard causes him to lower his defenses and piques interest in his own spiritual life. He chooses the kinds of stories he will pitch to his superiors based on his growing spiritual interests. His personal reading begins to inform whom he will interview, and he frequently chooses advocates of a more Eastern approach to religion. In time, he starts his own mindfulness and meditation practices, including going to weekend retreats.

 

As these experiences begin to shape a less driven, less anxious life, Harris finds himself wanting to share what he is learning with others. He is dismayed to find that people aren’t  interested and sometimes even chide him. Late in the book he accidentally stumbles upon  a winsome way to open discussions with others.

 

10% Happier is not a how-to book. It is a chronicle of the highest and lowest points to date in the life of Dan Harris. He believes that if he was able to tame the voice in his head and reduce stress while not losing his edge, you can, too. You can be 10% happier.

 

On the Shelf book reviews are provided by the Grand Rapids Public Library. For a list of locations, programs and other good reads, visit grpl.org.