Library Blog

Ann Sandefer, Philanthropy & Volunteer Associate, recommends A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

A Man Called Ove is a book about routines and the unexpected, happiness and sorrow, love and loss, youth and aging, life and death.

The book begins with a very grumpy, 59-year-old man with principles as deep as his daily routines who’s been having a rough time. Ove had always seen the world as black-and-white with his now deceased wife providing the only color for him. He’s mourning the loss of his wife and has recently found himself forced into early retirement. Lacking any purpose or direction in his life, he plans to die by suicide. The day of his first well-planned attempt to leave this world is interrupted by a young family moving in next door who flatten his mailbox with their U-Haul.

As Ove’s relationship with his wacky neighbors develops, his backstory unfolds, which is heart wrenching and yet endearing. His life is turned upside down with the new neighbors. The book becomes a heartwarming story of down-on-its-luck cats, unlikely friendships, societal misfits, and a neighborhood and community that finds itself reevaluating the person they thought for sure they had figured out. 

This is a rich story that slowly develops, peeling back the layers of a man’s life in an empathetic way, tackling sorrow, aging, and depression while revealing the reasons behind the grumpy exterior.

The new neighbor, Parvaneh, sets out to give Ove the purpose he’s lacking, asking him to help with small tasks: teaching her to drive, watching over her two young daughters, and taking in a stray cats. 

Eventually Ove “picks his battles” by convincing a father the importance of standing by his son and fighting an attempt by the government to remove his long-forgotten friend and neighbor, Rune, to an unwanted facility as his Alzheimer’s has deteriorated. Ove ends up successfully rallying the entire community around his cause. In the process, Ove forms emotional bonds with his neighbors, discovering a new sense of belonging for the first time since his wife died. 

Ove forms emotional bonds with his neighbors, discovering a new sense of belonging for the first time since his wife died. 

As it turns out, Ove has a “too large heart” which is rather ironic given his lifelong inability to show affection for others, except his wife. By the end of the story, Ove has evolved from a lonely, angry man intent on suicide to being a central part of a close-knit community around him. Four years after the death of his wife, he dies in his sleep, leaving everything to his neighbors. At his funeral over 300 people celebrate the grumpy old man who once had no friends.

I loved this book as it tells the story of so many people in society that project an outside personality which may not reflect what’s going on inside. This is a rich story that slowly develops, peeling back the layers of a man’s life in an empathetic way, tackling sorrow, aging, and depression while revealing the reasons behind the grumpy exterior. 

One never knows what is going on inside another, you can never judge a book by it’s cover nor a person by first impressions. The book also heavily tackles “right” and “wrong” in society and interpersonal relationships and human dignity and decency.  The book will make you laugh as well as cry and tell a profound story of one man’s life and death that is very relatable and relevant.

Find it in print, ebook, eaudiobook, and DVD here.

The film, A Man Called Otto, starring Tom Hanks, is basked on this book. Find the DVD here.

Regional History Museum Librarian, Olivia Terry, recommends The Sewing Girl’s Tale: A Story of Crime and Punishment in Revolutionary America by John Wood Sweet.

Lanah Sawyer is a name not known by many today. But on a summer evening in 1793, the seventeen-year-old seamstress is raped in a New York Brothel by a man above her in class. She does something nearly unthinkable for the period; she charges him with the crime.

The trial that ensued sent shock waves across Revolutionary America, sparking debates about class, power, and sexual double standards. But even when Lanah herself was alive and at the center of the monumental trial, her name and her story became an afterthought in the countless publications and arguments that sensationalized the trial. Soon, the story of her rape appeared to be no longer hers at all.

During the actual trial, the finger of blame was first unsurprisingly pointed at Lanah: Did she invite the attack? Did she fight back? Did she report it in a timely manner? Then, shortly after the verdict was announced, the finger moved to the woman who owned the brothel the crime occurred in, Mother Carey: Did Mother Carey lie in her witness account for the defense? What business did a woman have running a house that thrived on the destruction of feminine virtue? Blame spiraled into anger leading to mass riots that destroyed Mother Carey’s house and personal property, as well as other women’s homes who ran similar businesses.

The way we think about, talk about, and administer blame and punishment for cases of sexual assault is a thread that remains largely unripped from the time of Lanah Sawyer.

Curiously though, the blame is never directed at the accused rapist Harry Bedlow, a man born into privilege, or the men who kept Mother Carey’s brothel open and thriving. In fact, Harry Bedlow goes on a campaign to retaliate against Lanah and her family, declaring himself a victim of character assassination. Eventually, Bedlow does face the consequences for his crime but not in the way expected.

John Wood Sweet makes this nonfiction just as captivating as a fictional drama by paying tremendous attention to historical details of the trial and the real people involved. He provides the political and social context of the time that reveal the complexities the case was entangled in.

Upon reading The Sewing Girl’s Tale, I was first struck by the egregiously apparent injustices of 18th century law. After finishing it, I thought about the parallels to today’s justice system and the social discourse surrounding rape cases.

The way we think about, talk about, and administer blame and punishment for cases of sexual assault is a thread that remains largely unripped from the time of Lanah Sawyer.

Find The Sewing Girl in MAIN Nonfiction here.

Director of Operations, Nicole Lichtenberg, recommends Modern Mending: How to Minimize Waste and Maximize Style by Erin Lewis Fitzgerald.

I really, really hate breaking in new clothes. I once wore this weird velveteen knit sweater until the sleeves only went partway down my arms, and I think my mom ended up disappearing it in the night. I also harbor, like many of us, feelings of guilt about the amount of water and other resources that go into the production of textiles that I don’t always translate into action.

Enter Modern Mending. This book explores a variety of ways to fix up clothing and other cloth goods such as dog bandanas and tea towels. It covers common mending materials and tools (pretty much the same as the contents of your grandma’s cookie tin), methods such as patching and darning, and provides numerous helpful and interesting case studies.

One of my favorite case studies is a shirt dubbed “Large Marge,” which was in tatters when it came to be in the author’s mending pile. Using such exotic materials as old underpants (they are great because they are usually really worn in and soft, I gather) and some basic techniques, Lewis-Fitzgerald breathes new life into a beloved garment.

Using such exotic materials as old underpants … and some basic techniques, Lewis-Fitzgerald breathes new life into a beloved garment.

What I like about Modern Mending is that it does a good job covering traditional mending styles as well as modern ones, and it has enough information that someone who doesn’t have a background in sewing or knitting would be able to jump in. One thing I appreciate about fiber arts is the wide range of possibilities that exist, and Modern Mending brings that spirit to a more commonplace medium.

So, go find a moth-eaten sweater, or a shirt with armpit holes, or a tea towel you burned, and try mending it. The stakes are low. If you do a really bad job, all you have to do is try again.

Find it in MAIN Nonfiction – 646.6 LEW.

 

Cándida Miniño, Outreach Librarian, recommends the film, Bullet Train.

This action-packed dark comedy film follows the hitman (code name Ladybug) who believes he is the unluckiest in the world because his jobs, though successful, usually end up becoming harder than expected. 

His handler gives him the job to retrieve a suitcase on board the Shinkansen, the Japanese bullet train.  

What starts as an easy job starts becoming increasingly difficult as different hitmen converge on the train for reasons that intersect in the end. 

The first half of the film introduces all these characters and their mostly violent backgrounds. After that, the story unfolds, showing how the characters are interconnected, why they are aboard the train, and how karma plays its part for a satisfying ending. 

I found this bloody, funny movie and its memorable assassins like Lemon, who “reads people” by comparing them to the engine characters in the Thomas and Friends series, very entertaining. 

Find it on DVD here.

Find the book on which the film is based here.