The Undateable - by Sarah Title

August is Read-A-Romance month, and since I can't resist a good aptonym I chose Sarah Title's book about a young librarian who gains her 15-minutes of fame (or infamy) by becoming a meme - the Disapproving Librarian for this genre challenge.

When her sour puss goes viral Melissa "Bernie" Bernard reluctantly agrees to be part of a makeover project for the online magazine Glaze.com, and to prove that she isn't "undateable" by being set up on 30 dates in 30 days.

With all the requisite allusions to calico, sensible shoes, and cardigan sweaters it is also made clear that Bernie is no shrinking violet. Even as she submits to spending hours trying on "foundation garments" (things I previously only knew as bras and underpants) as well as additional time having her hair and makeup done, we see a person with plenty of agency. And, like any good librarian, she is also an advocate of free speech.

Few of Bernie's dates go well, and any reader will guess early on who she will end up with. Furthermore, it wasn't surprising to this librarian that it wasn't her new fancy duds that ultimately landed her a lover, but rather her brains. Bernie's very first date is an early fail when she discovers that not only does Pete (her date) not read, he's proud of it. I expect Bernie takes seriously John Waters' admonition that “If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!”
In this case she was able to most efficiently dispatch with the advice by discovering the disinterest in books over dinner. No need to waste time by going home with the guy.

I must admit that I did enjoy reading this. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that I will be reading any more romance novels before next August. So many books, so little time.

Americanah - by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Adichie's book tells the story of Ifemelu, a Nigerian woman who immigrates to the United States, and then, after becoming a U.S. citizen, returns to Nigeria. As a smart, savvy young woman it should go without saying that Ifemelu is also a library user.

Ifemelu and her boyfriend Obinze first use the library only as a place to meet, but she becomes a more active user after she moves to the United States for college. Obinze (an "Americophile") sends her a reading list of American writers he believes she should read. After already having found The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn "unreadable nonsense" she wasn't expecting to find an author she liked, but

She hungered to understand everything about America...Obinze suggested...American books, novels and histories and biographies. In his first e-mail to her...he gave her a list of books. The Fire Next Time was the first. She stood by the library shelf and skimmed the opening chapter, braced for boredom, but slowly she moved to a couch and sat down and kept reading until three-quarters of the book was gone, then she stopped and took down every James Baldwin title on the shelf. She spent her free hours in the library, so wondrously well lit; the sweep of computers, the large clean, airy reading spaces, the welcoming brightness of it all, seemed like a sinful decadence...in those weeks...she discovered the rows and rows of books with their leathery smell and their promise of pleasures unknown...

Well, who needs a man?

Ifemelu is not the only one in this story who uses the library. There are at at least three other characters who are clearly patrons. One of these is Blaine, a boyfriend in her adult years, who not only uses the library, but also defends a library employee at Yale, where Blaine is a professor of Political Science. Blaine is a friend of Mr. White, a "rheumy-eyed" security guard "with skin so dark it had an undertone of blueberries". When a white employee mistakenly suspects that Mr. White is involved in a drug deal and calls the police Blaine organizes a protest after the university responds to the incident with a statement that it was "a simple mistake that wasn't racial at all".

An especially curious passage to read in the summer of "Permit Patty", "Bar-B-Q Becky" and "Coupon Carl".

I think that perhaps Adichie's last mention of the library in this work is my favorite of all time. Ifemelu applies for a research fellowship at Princeton University. When she reads her acceptance, hands shaking, she discovers that "the pay is good, the requirements easy: she was expected to live in Princeton and use the library and give a public talk at the end of the year." All I could think was that the only thing I could think of that would be even better than having a job as a librarian, would be to to be paid just to use the library.

Eligible - by Curtis Sittenfeld

The cover tells us that this is "A Modern Retelling of Pride and Prejudice". Like so many others, I read Austen's P&P in college. Not only that, but I wrote my own "modern retelling" of the tale for a writing assignment. I don't remember the novel very well, nor much of what I wrote in my own version; however, I do recall writing about some "scandalous" affair involving a teen pregnancy and a hasty marriage (based on the true woeful tale of a girl in my high school, and her catholic-school boyfriend). Like Austen's novel this one revolves around a gold-digging mother (well, let's call her "upwardly mobile") wanting to marry off her five daughters.

Eligible is written by someone with a lot more writing experience than I had as a college freshman. She also has a lot more material to work with in the 21st century than I would have even known to consider in 1986. This is to say that Sittenfeld's has written a richer and funnier story than I did, with more interesting characters.

Sittenfeld's classic biting critique of modern life is as evident in this as it is in her other works. And also like her other works, the library is part of the scene, but doesn't necessarily play a role. The favorite daughter, Liz, works for a women's magazine. Her first job in publishing had been as a fact-checker for a prestigious magazine, where she first met her (married) boyfriend, Jasper.

They had started their job using computers with spotty Internet connections, back when fact-checking  meant visiting the public library or waiting anxiously for the return of phone calls.

Mr. Bennet frequents Cincinnati's Mercantile Library to do research and explore the genealogy of his family. And Liz uses the public library to check out an audio book she hopes will keep her parents occupied on a long car drive.

One need not have read the original Pride and Prejudice to enjoy this wicked version. Fans of the Austen's work will find all the expected characters including Mr. Bingley (here a reality television star) and Mr. Darcy (a surgeon). An excellent summer read. I will have to revisit the original now.

The Library - by Sarah Stewart

A story in rhyme accompanied by beautiful illustrations tells the tale of Elizabeth Brown, book hoarder. I know some bibliophiles don't think you can have too many books, but they are wrong. One should have just enough books. Books are meant to be read, having them stacked all around prevents them from being used to their fullest potential, and makes them especially difficult to share. If people who have a lot of books want more books they should go to the library. This allows them to read more books without accumulating them.

I am happy to report that in The Library Ms. Brown ultimately does the right thing with all her books.

Riverdale (Season 2, Episode 4) "The Town that Dreaded Sundown"

If you are not yet aware of the television series Riverdale (a noir adaptation of The Archies cartoon series) I highly recommend it (currently available on Netflix streaming). Archie, Veronica, Betty, Jughead, Moose and the rest of the gang (with the sad exception of Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) show us the dark underbelly of the town that '70s kids wished they lived in. It isn't all fun and games just hanging out at Pop's Chock'lit Shoppe and making fun of Miss Grundy and Principal Weatherbee, for Riverdale's wholesome facade masks murder, mayhem, and mobsters.

As much as this show attempts to destroy some stereotypes, others just don't seem to die. The uptight librarian who helps Jughead check out some books about serial killers not only looks the part as she stands behind a sign reading "Shhhhh...Quiet please" she actually gets rather judgmental, questioning Jughead's reading choices. Real librarians would never stand for such behavior.

This episode also features Betty returning with Jughead (her lover!) to the same library to check out a book on Nancy Drew ciphers when she receives a coded message from the Black Hood - Riverdale's own "Jack the Ripper". 

Not convinced yet to watch this? Well, let me say this:

Luke Perry as Archie's father

Molly Ringwald as Archie's mother

And just wait until you hear Josie and Veronica sing Schoolhouse Rock's "Sufferin' till Sufferage". Late Baby Boomers, Gen Xers - I'm talking to you.

A Time to Fall - by Jess Vonn

The last time I wrote a post about a romance novel (A Knight to Remember), I prefaced it with this statement "I don't always read romances, but when I do they are about librarians". So now I must make an amendment: I will also read romances authored by those on whose tenure committee I served. And, as Vonn's book also clears my low bar (of mentioning a library at least one time) for inclusion on this blog, it gets a review here, too.

Fleeing from a bad break up,  Winnie Briggs leaves Chicago and moves to Bloomsburo to take a job as editor of the local newspaper The Bloom. After literally running into her landlady's most dapper son, Cal Spencer, Winnie attempts to keep her distance from him so she can focus on herself. Cal, likewise, had no interest in falling for his mother's quirky new tenant. Sexual hijinx ensue.

Winnie is intelligent and dedicated to her work. So much so that on a Sunday night at 11:00, she was writing a tedious story about a county planning and zoning commission meeting even though "her brain hurt and she wanted to curl up in bed and read the latest Julia Quinn novel she just picked up from the library."

For those of us who pay attention to such things as how libraries are presented in works of fiction, this one actually packs some punch. After all, this wasn't just any Sunday night: this was the Sunday just one week after Winnie Briggs arrived in town. So what we learn from this is that Winnie Briggs is not simply "kind and smart and funny and lovable as hell" as well as "sexy...and competent". Winnie Briggs is also a person who knows that one of the first things a person does when they move to a new place is to get a library card. And really, there is nothing hotter than that.

Julie of the Wolves - by Jean Craighead George

Sometimes you find libraries in the most unexpected places. I had never read this Newberry-award winning book, although I had heard a lot about it, and I remembered my sister reading it back in the '70s. She told me, as the title suggests, that it was about a girl who lived among the wolves in the Arctic Circle. I didn't expect to find any libraries in this book, but what I didn't realize was that Julie (aka Miyax) didn't always live with the wolves. Before running away she had lived with her father, then her aunt, and then was married at age 13. She attended a mission school, and used the mission library in Barrow, Alaska where she read letters from her pen pal (Amy) who lived in San Francisco. After leaving her husband's family Miyax had planned to visit Amy but lost her way. In finding the wolves she discovers herself, and her own strength.

I picked this book as my July read (a book set in a cold climate) for the Baltimore County Public Library #BWellRead challenge.