Books FICTION • NONFICTION • POETRY • TR ENDS
A gusher of Gulf disaster books At least six books relating to the Gulf disaster are in the works, with several more under consideration. They include oceanographer Carl Safina’s book for Crown about the environmental effects and business columnist Loren Steffy’s focus on BP for McGraw-Hill. But the first is likely to be from OR Books, “Deepwater Horizon: The Oil Disaster, Its Aftermath and Our Future.” Authored by Peter Lehner and Bob Deans, it’s targeted for September.
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Sunday, July 25, 2010
TOP 10 LOCAL
Books-A-Million best-sellers, Jan. 31
HARDCOVER 1. “Women, Food, and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything” by Geneen Roth 2. “Private” by James Patterson 3. “The Obama Diaries” by Laura Ingraham 4. “The Search” by Nora Roberts 5. “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett 6. “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest” by Stieg Larsson 7. “The Overton Window” by Glenn Beck 8. “Sizzling Sixteen” by Janet Evanovich 9. “Lowcountry Summer: A Plantation Novel” by Dorothea Benton Frank 10. “The Glass Rainbow” by James Lee Burke
Thomas Day’s fascinating legacy 19th-century cabinetmaker created a treasure-trove of creative and elegant furniture B E H
Special to the News & Record
PAPERBACK
1. “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson 2. “Eat, Pray, Love: One Woman’s Search for Everything Across Italy, Inda and Indonesia” by Elizabeth Gilbert 3. “The Girl Who Played with Fire” by Stieg Larsson 4. “Under the Dome” by Stephen King 5. “The Shack” by William P. Young 6. “South of Broad” by Pat Conroy 7. “Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together” by Ron Hall and Denver Moore 8. “Are You There Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea” by Chelsea Handler 9. “My Horizontal Life: A Collection of One-Night Stands” by Chelsea Handler 10. “Take Four” by Karen Kingsbury
LYNN HEY/News & Record
A representation of what a 19th-century woodworking shop would have looked like is on display at the N.C. Museum of History in the exhibit devoted to master cabinetmaker Thomas Day. He mechanized his shop, employed a number of workers and, by the 1850s, had the state’s largest cabinet shop.
PIECES BY THOMAS DAY AT THE N.C. MUSEUM OF HISTORY
NATIONAL Key: F-Fiction; NFNonfiction; H-Hardcover; P-Paperback 1. “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo” by Stieg Larsson (Vintage) (F-P) 2. “The Girl Who Played With Fire” by Stieg Larsson (Vintage) (F-P) 3. “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert (Penguin) (NF-P) 4. “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest” by Stieg Larsson (Knopf) (F-H) 5. “Women Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything” by Geneen Roth (Scribner) (NF-H) 6. “The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner” by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown) (F-H) 7. “The Search” by Nora Roberts (Putnam Adult) (F-H) 8. “Fly Away Home: A Novel” by Jennifer Weiner (Atria) (F-H) 9. “Private” by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro (Little, Brown) (F-H) 10. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee (Grand Central Publishing) (F-P) 11. “Breaking Dawn” by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown for Young Readers) (F-H) 12. “Eclipse” by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers) (F-P) 13. “Charlie St. Cloud: A Novel” by Ben Sherwood (Bantam) (F-P) 14. “The Obama Diaries” by Laura Ingraham (Threshold Editions) (NF-H) 15. “Under the Dome” by Stephen King (Pocket) (F-P) 16. “Sizzling Sixteen” by Janet Evanovich (St. Martin’s) (F-H) 17. “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett (Putnam Adult) (F-H) 18. “The Lucky One” by Nicholas Sparks (Vision) (F-P) Source: USA Today
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A brief ad in an 1862 issue of the Greensboro Patriot shows up in a new book about Caswell County craftsman Thomas Day. It illustrates how his shop fell on hard times after an economic WANT TO downturn in READ IT? 1857, Day’s death in 1861 and the onset of the Civil War. “An Engine for Sale,” the headline reads. “I will “Thomas Day: sell a No. 1 Master Craftsman Steam Enand Free Man gine, of six horse power, of Color” by on fair terms. Patricia Phillips Everything Marshall and Jo about it com- Ramsay Leimenstoll plete.” (University of North Similarly, Carolina Press, 320 the ad directly above pages, $40 cloth) it illustrates the matterof-fact cruelty of the era, when people bought and sold human beings just as easily as they bought and sold steam engines: “For Sale: A likely and valuable MULATTO BOY, of about 18 or 19 of age. For further particulars inquire of James E. Thom, C. G. Yates, or Robert M. Sloan, Greensboro.” But even Day, a free black man born in 1801, owned slaves. It was a complex era in American history, full of contradictions and unfortunate choices. According to the lavishly illustrated new book
“Thomas Day: Master Craftsman and Free Man of Color,” Day navi-
Photos courtesy of N.C. Museum of History
Thomas Day charged Green D. Satterfield of Roxboro $25 to make the wardrobe from poplar and yellow pine in1854. Day made the walnut lounge for Gov. David S. Reid of Rockingham County in 1858. The side chair, of mahogany, mahogany veneer, rosewood veneer and poplar, was made for the James Poteat family of Yanceyville. Day often embellished his furniture with detailed carvings. (The upholstery on the lounge and chair is not original.)
Local writer wraps grief, gain in Southern ambience B C W
one of those suits with a mouth, the description applies to this novel, “By Accident.” Cheating’s redemptive, and It handles big topics with a there goes the tree-lined neighsoft touch. Not frivolously. Not borhood. These two notions superficially. Restraint graces help drive Susan Kelly’s new this fiction. Sentences dance novel. One is an act, and the until they reach their periods. I other a metaphor. The metadon’t think there’s a misstep in phor of tree destruction covers all 304 pages. It’s emotionally a lot of ground. It encompasses in check, never over the top. paralyzing grief and small This is Kelly’s fifth novel. and large betrayals as it saws Even before I finished it, I bethrough a subdivision. gan to wonder about all those “By Accident” by Kelly lives in Greensboro, writers who live in Hillsborand the novel is set in GreensSusan Kelly (Pegasus ough. How is it possible that boro. The setting though is most are better known than she Books, 304 pages, middle-class, white Southis? Then I remembered. This is $24 hardcover) ern ambience. It’s not a place not a just world. you drive by like, say, the Biff Here’s a nice example of Burger on Lee Street. But you the middle-class ambience she can sense it. The ambience is a place, creates. The narrator is at a party at a too. It’s an emotional space where peohouse under construction: ple, in this case fictional characters, do I’d lost social navigation skills; had what they do. forgotten the feints and back-and-forths In basketball season, if you watch but of the social fray, the jabs and sexual inone game on TV, you’ll hear an overpaid nuendoes. courtside commentator describe one “Guess this is the closest I’ll ever get of the centers as a big man with a soft touch. As much as I hate to borrow from See Kelly, Page H5
Staff Writer
WANT TO READ IT?
gated those complexities and contradictions just as artfully as he made furniture and architectural woodwork. For a time he operated the biggest shop in the state, making creatively daring furniture and architectural woodwork for rich tobacco planters, a former governor and the University of North Carolina. “His approach to his business and his approach to his clients was very much like any successful businessman today,” said Patricia Phillips
See Furniture, Page H5
Library can satisfy anyone’s reading taste — even salty The next time you want to only reads “clean books.” She see a detective in action, head likes a well-written book, but to your nearest library and say, she prefers no profanity and no “Can you help me find somegraphic sex scenes. thing good to read?” But other older adults may Like a good sleuth, the librarprefer a tawdry novel peppered ian will ask you a series of queswith salty dialogue that would tions, looking for the clues that make my mother blush three reveal your particular reading shades of red. The savvy librarSTEVE preferences. And, like a seaian is trained to uncover these soned detective, librarians can unique reading preferences and SUMERFORD be a bit sneaky: To win your to never pass judgment on anyDecimal Points trust, they’ll talk knowingly one’s reading tastes. about books they’ve never read and don’t When it comes to reading preferences, intend to ever read. Beth has seen and heard it all. Beth Sheffield, the “popular material” “Some readers love books with long, librarian for the Greensboro Public Lidescriptive passages,” she says. “Others brary, is particularly good at this. prefer fast-paced action. Some romance “The first question I ask is a simple readers want books with happy endings. one: ‘What’s the last book that you really Others might call that kind of book ‘too enjoyed?’” sweet.’ Our job is to make them all satisBut that question alone might not profied repeat customers.” vide all the clues needed to ensure that Talking face-to-face with a librarian the customer goes home with a book who is skilled at what we in the book he or she will enjoy. What Beth is rebusiness call “readers advisory” can be ally listening for, she says, are the clues a transformative experience. that reveal why the customer liked that “I’ve had people tell me that they particular book. It could be its pacing, don’t like science fiction, but after I congenre, plot, setting, characters or style. For example, my 79-year-old mother See Library, Page H5
Cutting out public libraries an assault on our democracy B M J Los Angeles Times
LYNN HEY/News & Record
The “Behind the Veneer” exhibit at the N.C. Museum of History features nearly 70 pieces of master cabinetmaker Thomas Day’s work. Shown in the recreation of an antebellum parlor are a card table, side chairs, a lounge, a pair of pier tables with mirrors, a center table and a rocking chair. Day’s furniture was in demand among wealthy farmers and merchants who wanted to show refinement and gentility in their homes.
Furniture Continued from Page H6
Marshall, who co-wrote the book with UNCG professor Jo Ramsay Leimenstoll. “He provided a niche in the marketplace — he provided his clients with something that they wanted, and his dealings with them were always in a very dignified, respectful manner. He was never subservient to them. If you read the letters, you would not know that Thomas Day was a person of color in this time period. No hint whatsoever. They address him ‘Dear sir;’ they sign off on their letters, ‘Very respectfully yours.’ They listen to him as the expert.” Marshall, serves as curator of furnishings and decorative arts for both the N.C. Executive Mansion and the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh, which opened a new exhibit in May to coincide with publication of the book. It is the museum’s first major exhibit of Day’s work since 1996, and it includes about 70 pieces of furniture spread out over 6,000 square feet, from tables and chairs to bureaus and bedsteads. “When I got to the museum in 1992, we had approximately 23 pieces of furniture,” Marshall said, speaking after a recent reading at Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill. “I have now more than doubled that. We have about 52 pieces.” Marshall, an Ohio native who has also worked at museums in Kansas and Georgia, began researching Day’s furniture and personal history shortly af-
Kelly
Continued from Page H6 again to a pair of studs,” Sally Grainger joked. She was standing in the framework, a lumber jail, whose crosspieces bore flickering votive candles. “What’s it like being an empty-nester?” Maria Davidson asked Tim Holland. “Is it so much fun? Do you and Carrie run around with no clothes on all the time?” “All the time,” Tim repeated. “We had to get dressed just to come over here.” The main character in “By Accident” is a mother in her early 40s. She is numb with grief. She has withdrawn into herself, closed the door and turned off the light. Her teenage son, just graduated from boarding school, has been killed in a traffic accident. “He had just memorized his Social Security number for college. …” She spends her days looking out windows. You learn that she’s been unable to function for months and months. It takes a toll on her young daughter and husband. But when a new neighbor moves in next door, her light comes on and the door opens, all at the proper pace,
CALENDAR
Photo courtesy of N.C. Museum of History
Co-authors Marshall (left) and Leimenstoll ter she came to North Carolina in 1992. She learned about his life and work by combing through family letters, old newspapers, census records and insurance archives. Marshall’s eventual co-author, a professor of interior architecture at UNCG, operated on a parallel path. Leimenstoll, a native of Maryland’s Eastern Shore who moved to North Carolina when she was in high school, specializes in historic preservation. She was hired as a consultant to help preserve Day’s old home and workshop after it was nearly destroyed in a fire. “I first heard about Thomas Day when I got a call to come look at the Thomas Day House/Union Tavern in Milton back in 1992,” Leimenstoll said during a recent interview at her home in downtown Greensboro. “I’d never heard of him before.” As she helped shore up Day’s shop, Leimenstoll gradually became aware of the scope of his work. “People kept telling me, ‘You need to come by and see my mantel,’ or my staircase, or whatever,” she said. “His stuff
of course. He’s 28; she’s 41. But it doesn’t last long. Betrayal follows betrayal. It’s as if a big storm topples one tree and a chain reaction of falling trees begins. Then, chain saw-wielding workmen show up to take out the rest, denuding the neighborhood. Something like this happens. It’s a nice metaphor, all splintery, like the stumps of this family. I wondered though how anybody could survive such a year as this character endured. You’d need to eat Prozac and Valium like popcorn. It is shattering; something falls on her head each time she gets a breather. But this character steps fairly agilely through the debris once she’s righted herself. Well, she’s a mother, and they’re tough. This one’s cast iron. More bothersome is the final chapter. The narrator, let’s call her Laura like the author does, steps out of time. The tone shifts ever so slightly. She summarizes what has happened since her marriage fell apart. Kelly, I think, should have resisted that impulse. The novel ends too tidily. Life is messy. Charles Wheeler is a News & Record copy editor. This review first appeared on the newspaper’s books blog, Page Turners.
TODAY
AUG. 1
Bob Rogers, 1-4 p.m. Borders, 3605 High Point Road, Greensboro. Author of “Will and Dena: Love and Life in World War II.” 218-0662.
Brett Webb-Mitchell, 2 p.m. Aug. 1. McIntyre’s Books, Fearrington Village, U.S. 64, Pittsboro. Author of “Beyond Accessibility: Toward Full Inclusion of People With Disabilities in Faith Communities.” www.fearrington.com. (919) 542-3030.
North Carolina Poetry Society Series, 2 p.m. McIntyre’s Books, Fearrington Village, U.S. 64, Pittsboro. Featuring Joan McLean, Richard Krawiec, Malaika King Albrecht. www.fearrington.com. (919) 542-3030.
AUG. 5
Susan Hasler, 7 p.m. Aug. 5. Barnes & Noble, 3102 Northline Ave., Greensboro. Author of “Intelligence.” 854-4200.
was just amazing to me, the woodwork. It became clear that there was a lot more of this out there than people knew. The architectural survey that had been done was exteriors. There were no more than 20 buildings that people say Day had done some woodwork in at that point. My list is now 80.” The homes Day worked on are spread across northern North Carolina and southern Virginia. Sometimes Leimenstoll had to rely on friendly locals to help her gain access: “It took me 15 years, but it was very exciting.” Day used certain motifs on both his furniture and his architectural work, such as S-shaped curves, according to Marshall. “He loved to play with light and shadow,” Leimenstoll added. “It’s so robust. It’s not for wimps.” Leimenstoll and Marshall originally began work on separate books, but UNC Press eventually brought them together to collaborate on a single volume. It contains dozens of color and black-and-white photos of Day’s furniture and architectural creations, which included ornate stairway accents and door frames. To show the work in its best light, Preservation North Carolina raised money to hire acclaimed architectural photographer Tim Buchman out of Charlotte. “He’s expensive because he’s so good,” Leimenstoll said. “But there was no question that was who we wanted to do the photography. I really enjoyed taking him to all these places to take the photographs, because he loved it, too.” Contact Eddie Huffman at ehuffman@triad.rr.com
Library Continued from Page H6
vince them to read something by Greensboro author Orson Scott Card, they discover a whole new genre of books,” says Beth. During vacation season, Beth likes to ask customers where they’re going and then recommend books, fiction and nonfiction, set in that place. “I love to hear a customer say that the book I recommended enhanced their vacation experience,” she says. Modern-day librarians realize that we live in a “DIY” culture where many people prefer to find everything they need on the Internet. So the Greensboro Public Library has created a variety of online tools to help readers locate books that will appeal to them. You can find blogs and even subscribe to monthly e-newsletters that can help you discover new books. “You will encounter bestsellers and obscurities alike on our Book Lover’s Blog,” says William Hicks, the reference librarian who maintains the site. He and colleagues write compelling reviews of a variety of titles. For example, right now you can find books about everything from angels and Mozart to outliers and wild places. After reading the reviews, I found myself wanting to read all of the recommended titles, including books I would have never thought I’d be interested in. One of our most popular enewsletters is “North Carolina Reads.” This is an ideal, timesaving resource for readers who love anything Tar Heel. If you’re a busy parent and you aren’t sure what you need to be doing to help your child become a lifelong reader, subscribe to “Raising Readers.” Created by children’s librarians, it’s packed with tips to help you find books for your children.
LOOKING FOR A GOOD READ? Go to www.greensborolibrary.org and click on Books & Reading. Have a teen who thinks that he “hates reading”? Subscribe to “Teen Books.” You’ll find descriptions of gripping myteries, wildly hilarious comedies, true adventures and sports books, all hand-picked for teens. (By the way, some wellread librarians feel the best literature can be found in the teen section; so even if your teen years are but a distant memory, you might want to consider this e-newsletter.) Another very powerful online tool is a database called “NoveList.” It contains summaries of more than 150,000 fiction titles that can be searched by plot, setting and reading level. For readers like my mother, you can even search by “cleanliness.” One of the more popular search engines is “Author read-alike,” where you can plug in the name of your favorite author and find other authors who are similar. “NoveList” also contains more than 4,000 custom-created articles and lists, free first chapters, professional reviews and book discussion guides. So, if your reading habits are in a rut, or if you’re looking for a new reading adventure, walk in, or log in, to your favorite library and let a library detective guide you to a great read. “Nothing is more satisfying,” says Beth Sheffield, “than to have a customer come back a week later and say, ‘I loved that book you recommended last week. Now I need another one.’” Decimal Points is a regular feature provided by the Greensboro Public Library. Steve Sumerford is the library’s assistant director (Steve.Sumerford@greensboronc.gov).
The United States is beginning an interesting experiment in democracy: We’re cutting public library funds, shrinking our public and school libraries, and in some places, shutting them altogether. These actions have nothing to do with whether the libraries are any good or whether the staff provides useful service to the community. This country’s largest circulating library, in Queens, N.Y., was named the best system in the United States last year by Library Journal. Its budget is due to shrink by a third. Los Angeles libraries are being slashed: The doors will be locked two days a week with at least 100 jobs cut. And until it got a six-month reprieve June 23, Siskiyou County almost became California’s only county without a public library. Such cuts and close calls are happening across the country. We won’t miss a third of our librarians and branch libraries the way we’d miss a third of our firefighters and firehouses, the rationale goes ... but I wonder. I’ve spent four years following librarians as they deal with the tremendous increase in information and the many ways we receive it. They’ve been adapting as capably as any profession, managing our public computers and serving growing numbers of patrons, but it seems that their work has been all but invisible to those in power. I’ve talked to librarians whose jobs have expanded with the demand for computers and training, and because so many other government services are being cut.
Not ‘core’ public service? The people left in the lurch have looked to the library, where kind, knowledgeable professionals help them navigate the government bureaucracy, apply for benefits, access social services. Public officials will tell you they love libraries and are committed to them; they just don’t believe they constitute a “core” service. But if you visit public libraries, you will see an essential service in action, as librarians help people who don’t have other ways to get online, can’t get the answers they urgently need, or simply need a safe place to bring their children. I’ve stood in the parking lot of the Topeka and Shawnee County Library in Kansas on a Sunday morning and watched families pour through doors and head in all directions to do homework or genealogical research, attend computer classes, read the newspapers. I’ve stood outside New York City libraries with other self-employed people, waiting for the doors to open and give us access to the computers and a warm
and affordable place to work. I’ve met librarians who serve as interpreters and guides to communities of cancer survivors, Polish-speaking citizens, teenage filmmakers, veterans. The people who welcome us to the library are idealists, who believe that accurate information leads to good decisions and that exposure to the intellectual riches of civilization lead to a better world. The next Abraham Lincoln could be sitting in their library. While they help us get online, employed and informed, librarians don’t try to sell us anything. Nor do they turn around and broadcast our problems, send us spam or keep a record of our interests and needs, because no matter how savvy this profession is at navigating the online world, it clings to that old-fashioned value, privacy. Public libraries represent the best civic value out there, an army of resourceful workers that can help us compete in the world.
Worth fighting to save But instead of putting such conscientious, economical and service-oriented professionals to work helping us, we’re handing them pink slips. The school libraries and public libraries in which we’ve invested decades and even centuries of resources will disappear unless we fight for them. The communities that treasure and support their libraries will have an undeniable competitive advantage. Those that don’t will watch in envy as the Darien Library in Connecticut hosts networking breakfasts for its out-of-work patrons, and the tiny Gilpin County Public Library in Colorado beckons patrons with a sign that promises “Free coffee, Internet, notary, phone, smiles, restrooms and ideas.” Those lucky enough to live in those towns, or those who own computers, or have highspeed Internet service and on-call technical assistance, will not notice the effects of a diminished public library system — not at first. Whizzes who can whittle down 15 million hits on a Google search to find the bits of useful and accurate information, and those able to buy any book or article or film they want, will escape the immediate consequences of these cuts. Those in cities that haven’t preserved their libraries, those less fortunate and baffled by technology, and our children will be the first to suffer. But sooner or later, we’ll all feel the loss as one of the most effective levelers of privilege and avenues of reinvention — one of the great engines of democracy — begins to disappear. Marilyn Johnson is the author of “This Book Is Overdue!”
Ken Follett novel released as iPad Amplified version The Associated Press
NEW YORK — The latest in the new, electronic world of book publishing: The Amplified Edition. Penguin Group (USA) and Starz Entertainment have collaborated on an Amplified version of Ken Follett’s blockbuster “The Pillars of the Earth,” featuring video and audio clips. The e-release, available on Apple’s iPad, iPhone and iPod for $12.99, is timed to Starz’s eight-part, 8-hour miniseries based on Follett’s historical epic. The first episode aired Friday, with seven more installments following throughout the summer. The Penguin-Starz project combines the full text of the book with extensive excerpts from the TV production, added weekly as the miniseries progresses. Also included are interviews with the author, sketches of the set, selections from the soundtrack and a family tree
that offers background on the various characters and videos of the actors discussing their roles. “The Amplified Edition offers a truly integrated multimedia experience of Ken Follett’s imagined story,” said Molly Barton, Penguin’s director of business development. “The Amplified Edition brings you the imagery, architecture, music and clothing from the time period while also offering readers the chance to explore the process Ken Follett went through with (miniseries producer) Ridley Scott to bring his story to life on screen.” Penguin and numerous other publishers have created multimedia projects in recent years as they seek to find new and bigger audiences online. An Emeryville, Calif.-based company, Vook, has created video books, combining text and film clips, out of everything from fitness guides to a collection of stories by Franz Kafka.