Staff Picks Blog

It’s  that time of year for many of us when we actually have a little time to spend on ourselves. I have been indulging myself on several new items here at the Iowa City Public Library. First, I have been reading two wonderful book the last few weeks. Cheever by Blake Bailey is a long but wonderful biography of writer John Cheever. I have talked about my love of Cheever in this blog before but I also like to read about the lives of people who create. Cheever was troubled and talented and this is one of the best biographies I have ever read. Pick it up and do take the time because it is worth it. The second book I want to talk about is The Girls From Ames by Jeffery Zaslow. Zaslow is a writer who also helped write, The Last Lecture and has taken 11 women who grew up in Ames and looks at their lives as they are in mid life. I will admit I was leary about this book for you see I grew up in Iowa, graduating the same year as these woman and am the same age as they are. This book is about 11 friends but its also about me and many of my friends who have had very similar journeys over the years. This book will make you laugh and cry. I know I will be giving it as a gift to many of my friends this year. Another addition to the collection that made me smile is the addition of the classic television series, All In The Family, to our DVD collection. Just to see the episode where Edith Bunker send a coupon into a prune company to get a quarter back and they keep sending her more and more money and to watch how Archie responds to it sent me back to childhood and sitting with my grandmother on Saturday nights watching this classic program. Be warned that much of what made this show so special probably would not be allowed on politically correct televison today. And finally I have been listening to two CDs. Morning Glory The Tim Buckley Anthology, has been out for a few years but to hear the beauty of the mans voice and the poetry of his lyrics makes me sad that we never got to hear him as he aged. The other CD I am listening to is ear and eye candy of another sort, Defying Gravity by Keith Urban is a nice effort not his best work but it contains one the best songs he has ever written the haunting and sad, Til Summer comes Around, if he could write every song like this he would leave Country Music behind and be a bigger player in the music world. So there is where I have been I”ll be back with more picks soon.