April, 2012 - Bookends on Main

Bookbites Book e nds on Ma in News le t t e r

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay Suzanne Collins’ blockbuster trilogy has percolated up, starting with middle schoolers who studied it and then taken up by mothers, older teens, college students and grandparents. It’s a fastpaced story, a dystopian nightmare set in a North America shrunken by rising seas. The ruling class in the Capitol, somewhere in the Rockies, maintains severe control of people by harsh and sadistic means, including the annual “games.” At least one parent has described the story with chagrin as about teenagers

killing one another, so for Here’s Bookends on Main’s those uninitiated, you get the Hunger Games background drift. reading/viewing list: But the book has other top“The Lottery,” Brave New ics to engage readers’ attenWorld, Lord of the Flies, TV tion, including survivalism, reality shows; ancient mytholingenuity, rebelliousness and ogy including stories of teen love. Diana, Actaeon & Atalanta; Collins, an history of Roman gladiators; army brat Atwood’s Oryx & Crake; Cinwhose father derella and other fairy tales, taught at Disney’s warrior heroines. West Point, Allusions to other titles will was inspired come to mind as you read. by military Collins has adopted the tactic history, myused in movies for kids by thology, and a host of welladding tidbits known works —see the backfor older readground reading list below. ers that might She has been writing for go over the children for twenty years and head of has had a lot of success (e.g., younger readTV’s “Clarissa”) before writers. ing the Hunger Games series.

April 2012

Inside this issue: Why Neibuhr Matters, Bill Laine

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Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Bill Laine

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Kids’ interactive 3 books Easter and Pass- 3 over Wild review

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Spring poem

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“Dragon Tattoo,” con’t

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Chicks Night Out April 19, 3-8 Shop, socialize and snack at Chicks Night Out. Register in each of the 25 participating businesses for over $1,000.00 worth of prizes. Shop: Examine the latest women’s fashions. Inspect salons for chic styles. Search for that perfect gift. Leaf through new and kindly used books. Rummage around an antique store. Receive a gift with a purchase. Explore a funky store with unique gifts and home décor. Inspect national sports gear. Save lots and lots of money at all of the sales. Socialize: Participate in a free beading class. Enjoy games with in store prizes. Book a party on custom painting or quilting and sewing. Pick an egg to win a prize. See live chickens. Gain knowledge about a not-for-profit financial services organization. Understand safe tanning. Try Nail Fraud. Snack: Explore a new bakery. Nibble on food samples. Pamper yourself with gourmet cuisine, pizza, or burgers. Consume at a free Nacho bar. Sip Mayan chocolate. Learn about herbal wellness products.

Books are delightful society. If you go into a room and find it full of books - even without taking them from the shelves they seem to speak to you, to bid you welcome. ~William Gladstone~

Why Niebuhr Matters, review by Bill Laine Why

Niebuhr Matters (2011) by Charles Lemert is the latest in Yale University Press’s Why X Matters series. Lemert says that Martin Luther King was enamored of Niebuhr but plunged into confusion by him. John McCain and Barack Obama have said they were influenced by Niebuhr. Niebuhr was a preacher, theologian, social critic, activist and teacher. He co-founded Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). In 1915, he became pastor of Bethel Evangelical Church in Detroit, where he learned about racism and poverty and was theological liberal. Observing Henry Ford’s greedy capitalism, however, Niebuhr rejected liberal optimism. Tending toward pacifism during WW I, Niebuhr accepted the necessity of WW II. His theology became neo-orthodox, and he propounded “Christian realism.” He believed in Original Sin, the sin of selfishness that is in each of us. Groups are

even more susceptible to pride and selfishness than individuals, as Niebuhr argued in Moral Man and Immoral Society.

In 1928, Niebuhr left Detroit to become Professor of Practical Theology at Union Theological Seminary in New York until 1960. In The Nature and Destiny of Man, Niebuhr wrote, “Equality as a pinnacle of the ideal of justice implicitly points toward love as the final norm of justice; for equal justice is the approximation of brotherhood under the conditions of sin.” Yet, he recognized that “All social coop-

His theology became neoorthodox, and he propounded “Christian realism.” eration on a larger scale than the most intimate social group requires a measure of coercion.” Social justice can’t be left to individual acts of brotherly love.

Of The Irony of American History, Lemert writes, “No modern society has so boasted of its democratic principles while so severely denying them to its

own people. In the United States, in contrast to Europe, rights and freedoms have long drowned out appeals for social and economic justice.” Niebuhr said, “Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” Thus, in the battle between The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness,” Niebuhr wrote, “The preservation of a democratic civilization requires the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove. The children of light must be armed with the wisdom of the children of darkness but remain free from their malice.”

I found Lemert’s book difficult reading. Whether Niebuhr’s changes in thinking or Lemert’s explanations caused my confusion, I am not sure. I do not like Lemert’s style. For example, he facetiously compares the pulpit to a condom, through which the dissemination of the preacher’s message occasionally leaks. He also switches confusingly between masculine and feminine pronouns in his effort at political correctness. His introduction to Niebuhr’s thought, however, is a useful overview, before one decides which of Niebuhr’s many books, sermons and articles to read.

Movie Review: Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Bill Laine The U. S. version of “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” is another dark film, dimly lit. Even when the investigators gain enlightenment on the mysteries, the scenes do not lighten much.* The film ends at night. Also, scenes seem randomly to fluctuate among winter, fall and spring. As disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist, Daniel Craig gives another

bland performance, making one wonder why the remote Lisbeth Salander, played effectively by Rooney Mara, falls in love with him. Despite her repellant appearance of an outcast, Lisbeth gains one’s sympathy more and more, for she has overcome much suffering to love and to become a heroine. The conclusion of the story is poignant with heartbreak. Much has had to be omitted from the long, verbose novel, which seems two novels, two stories stuck together: the

mystery of Harriet Vanger and the story of how Blomkvist’s career was ruined. I question the omission of the childhood connection between Mikael and the Vanger family, because it serves to engage his interest more to accept the job of investigating her disappearance. *A Bookends on Main footnote:The Swedish version tells more of the story, uses more authentic settings, and can be viewed with subtitles, a great improvement over the mumbled dialogue that no amount of increased volume remedies. (con’t p. 4) Page 2

Kids’ Interactive Books After the invention of the novel, credited to Samuel Richardson for his Pamela, 1740, novels started a craze that is still pretty strong. As a rule, novels were meant to be held in the hands and read. In nineteenth century England, before mass-literacy, people gathered in pubs and listened to someone read the latest installment of a popular novel. Here we are in 2012 when the means of delivery and handling of books has become varied and ingenious, no more seductively than in children’s books.

Giving “interactive” a broad definition, there are kids’ books that combine story and a variety of sensory elements: books with tactile additions, books that float in the bath tub, books that have pop-up pictures and sound effects.

Some plastic books come with floatable bath tub toys.

Woody Guthrie’s lyrics provide the inspiration for a delightful book with and move-

Still, the most popular “interactive” books at the bookstore are those that adults can read to kids sitting on their laps, and those that older kids read to themselves, letting their imaginations run with the story.

Easter and Passover Passover and Easter religious traditions: plenty of books and objects to help celebrate them. Read Exodus. Read Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.

Ishtar, ancient Babylonian fertility goddess, is said to have a connection to “Eostre,” the month celebrating the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring.

Lost, then Found: Wild by Cheryl Strayed Featured on the cover of the April Indie Next list, Wild is one of those books that interests you from the first sentence. When the author presented her book at last fall’s Midwest trade show, enthusiastic booksellers said they couldn’t wait to read it. It’s a painfully candid memoir but the author doesn’t

able images.

wallow in either self pity or guilt for having “gone wild” after the loss of her mother, aged 45, Cheryl 22. The central motif is the author’s solo thousand+ mile hike over the Pacific Crest Trail. She meets plenty of extremesports types along the route, and anyone who remembers doing something pretty stupid that turned out all right, or maybe something gauchely redemptive, might identify with Strayed’s im-

A silly story that kids might “interact” with only figuratively is “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick,” no doubt inspired by the “Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.”

The egg was part of numerous ancient spring festival traditions. The European paper mache version is a fun substitute for the Easter basket. As for the origin of the Easter bunny, the symbol of the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring Eostrewas the hare.

pulses. But never mind, the book holds its own as comic and evocative, a brilliantly written story. The subtitle, “From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail” suggests the ending, but it takes a lot to get to that point. This book is definitely a book-club book. Wild is Strayed’s second book, and she has also published a number of short stories. Her third book is due out soon. Most of her early years were lived in a very rustic cabin in northern Minnesota and she is apparently one course short of getting her degree from the U of M, a non-trad person from the get-go. Page 3

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Dragon Tattoo, con’t The computer hacking and hackers contribute much to the fascination with the book but their role is diminished in the US movie, and the ending is changed. The book is far and above better than the US movie and of course tells the whole story that both Swedish and American versions have to condense. Read the books, appreciate the sleuthing, sympathize with Lisbeth. On a different note, one wonders how it is that so many Scandinavian novels about violent crime have achieved so much success, indeed were written at all in countries where violent crime hardly exists. “The winters are long and dark,”

one writer has offered as a rationale. And why the frequent occurrence of the secret Nazi sympathizers? My husband was from Sweden and it happened once or twice that someone muttered that an old neighbor was a Nazi. It might have been true, but I wondered if it was a sort of urban myth, a way of putting down a neighbor one didn’t much like. Other thriller & crime books from Sweden: Henning Mankell, The Man From Beijing, The Return of the Dancing Master, The Man Who Smiled and many others

Camilla Lackberg, The Ice Princess, The Drowning, The Stranger, The Preacher, The Stonecutter

From Iceland: Arnaldur Indridason, Jar City