Another Trip Through Another Kind of Monday

As per my reading resolutions, I’ve been revisiting books I read in my childhood. My latest trip down memory lane took me back to Another Kind of Monday by William E. Coles, Jr.

The Pittsburgh-set young adult novel opens at the fictional Moorland High School library.  Our protagonist, Mark, finds three crisp hundred dollar bills in the library’s copy of Great Expectations. Along with the money is a note from a mysterious benefactor inviting Mark on a scavenger hunt that takes him all over the city—a steel mill in Braddock, the observatory on the North Side, an abandoned church in East Liberty.  As the clues become more difficult to solve, the amount of money that Mark is rewarded increases.  Eventually, the clues request that he enlist the help of a “co-quester,” someone of the opposite sex and with whom he is not already friends. I remember the ending confused me when I was a high schooler reading it.  I won’t spoil it, but it still confused me, almost ten years later.

Just the dreamy quality of the title has stuck with me ever since I read it in high school.  It’s possible that part of my enjoyment comes from the fact that I know every location mentioned, from Highland Park to Morningside.  I instantly wanted to go to each place and dig for buried treasure.  Maybe I’ll reread it with a pen and paper handy to map out each site go on my own scavenger hunt. It’s almost like if John Green’s Paper Towns had been set in Pittsburgh.

Reading it now, however, gives me another added delight as CLP – Main is featured heavily as a place Mark goes to research and decipher the clues left behind by the benefactor. The Pennsylvania Department and CLP – South Side make appearances as well.

Aside from the mystery aspect of the book, it also serves as a mini-history lesson; it touches on all aspects of Pittsburgh’s past, from the Homestead Steel Strike to the life of John Brashear to the story of Katherine Soffel and Ed and Jack Biddle, which was popularized in the 1984 movie Mrs. Soffel.

Published in 1996, some of the book is dated (there’s a Michael Jordan reference). If it were published today, Mark could just search Google—or any of our fine databases—to solve the clues.  But I liked the fact that he had to do physical research. He is assisted by a friendly librarian—is there really any other kind?—cleverly named Mrs. Harbinger.

As far as young adult novels set in Pittsburgh, I’d rank it behind The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.  Still, it’s a quick read and it’s the perfect book to elevate a boring Monday to another kind of Monday.

Have you read the book or do you have a favorite Pittsburgh-set young adult novel? Let us know in the comments!

–Ross

On Reading 100 Books (Actually, more like 50)

On January 21, 2014, I shared this picture on social media with the accompanying caption positing that I would attempt to read one hundred books during the year.

I’m so artsty it makes me sick.

Almost as soon as my fingers pounded out the goal, I realized that reading one hundred books was out of the question; it was already practically February.  So instead I said that reading fifty would be more likely.  I don’t have a calculator in front of me, but that’s like one every week or something.

As of writing this, I’ve read fifty-one books and am on my way toward finishing number fifty-two.

Now, I realize that this isn’t a great accomplishment by any means.  Still, I was impressed with myself for setting a goal and achieving it.  While I’ve always enjoyed reading–I do work at a public library after all–there was something almost stifling about knowing that I had to finish this goal.  In fact, almost as soon as I posted the picture, one of my friends commented that it’s better to keep the goals that you set to yourself because announcing the goals tricks your mind into thinking they have already been completed.

There were many times when I started reading a book and just couldn’t get into it, and wanted to stop.  For instance, I started reading The King in Yellow after watching True Detective over the summer, but I didn’t finish it until early December.  That’s outrageous! The book is only 256 pages.  I should have been able to knock that out in a weekend.  So I set it aside and read other books.  All the while I had this nagging feeling in the back of my head that the time I put into reading those hundred or so pages would be worthless unless I finished the book in its entirety.

So I pressed on toward my goal’s end.  I knew I had to, but it wasn’t just because I’d already put it out there on the Internet. I had to do it because if I don’t finish a book, I feel like I’m disrespecting the author.

When I first take a book in my hands, open the cover and feel the paper, crisp and dry between my fingers, I’m entering into an agreement with that author and into a relationship with that book.  For however many pages, I belong to that book and it belongs to me. When I put it down, even for a few days, I feel like we’ve abandoned each other. By not being interesting or not grabbing my attention, the book has recanted its agreement with me.

A recent study showed that putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, such as when you read fiction, improves your ability to show compassion.  Maybe that’s why I have trouble abandoning those books—because I know inside those pages, I’m someone else, maybe even someone better, if only for 300 or so pages.

Please save your psychoanalyses until the end, thankyouverymuch.

I’ve listed the fifty-one books on the next three pages, broken into three categories:  Good, Godawful and Great (because I like alliteration. If I liked assonance, I’d call them All Right, Awful and Amazing).  I briefly thought about ranking them, but then I realized that my rankings would do nothing to sway you if you’d already read a particular book and loved it and vice versa.  All I can say is that I highly recommend all the ones that I’ve put in the Great category.

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New Beginnings and Back to Basics

It’s that time of year again. Back to School (and Library card sign up month!). This is only the third fall that I am not going back to classes, and it is a whole new experience. So in honor of back to school, I picked out some of my favorite books that I would read during the school year and that anyone can request with a library card.

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I first read this book when I was a Sophomore in high school and it is a book that I have actually read over again, and I do not do that often. It’s a well-written book with an excellent story and so many lessons for any reader to take into consideration. Oh and to make this book even better, it’s on the list of Banned Books but is still read widely.

1984 by George Orwell. 1984 is a dystopian novel, and one of the first ones I ever read. It is a big reason why I continue to read dystopian novels. It is a great book that makes the reader think about a lot of different possibilities and is another banned book (are you seeing a pattern?)!

Last but not least, Looking For Alaska by John Green. Many readers would know John Green because of his book The Fault In Our Stars. It was a great book in my opinion and Looking for Alaska is another great book in his collection. It’s the story of a boy and his adventures and lessons during his time at school. If you are looking for other recommendations, you don’t have to look very far because CLP has a Back to School, Teens page!

Whether these are repeat reads for some or new recommendations for others, I hope this post inspires you to pick up a new book in celebration of the new school year.

— Abbey

Hollywood of the East: A Top Ten List of Pittsburgh-filmed Movies

With Josh Boone’s adaptation of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars opening in theaters across the country today, the long history that Pittsburgh has with film continues to grow. In case you didn’t know, the movie was filmed around here last year in places like Oakmont, Bellevue and a soundstage in the Strip, just to name a few spots. Sadly, this isn’t a review of that film. I guess I’m not a prolific enough reviewer yet for theaters around here to give me advanced screening tickets and whatnot.

Anyway, I’ve previously mentioned Pittsburgh’s history with film and how much I love seeing our city on film. It seems like every week a new project is green lit for Pittsburgh and I couldn’t be more excited about all of it. The city is becoming so well known for its films that bus tours of filming locations throughout the city started on May 31.

And with good reason. Seriously, our city is beautiful.

 

All the talk of tours, Foxcatcher gaining early Oscar buzz and great reviews at Cannes and Aaron Paul and Amanda Seyfried chilling at Jack’s on the South Side got me thinking about all the Pittsburgh-filmed movies I’ve seen. So if you didn’t get any advanced screening tickets like me or can’t get out to the theater this weekend to see the latest addition to Pittsburgh’s filmography, maybe you can check out one of the following.

This is my list of the top ten films filmed in and around the Pittsburgh region.

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Things That Have Made Me Cry (Lately)

Me and Sarah McLachlan. Bringing you down like a champ.

I cry over everything. Or as my best friend put it so eloquently, “I feel all the feels.” If you live in Pittsburgh you may know that the sun hasn’t come out in like eleventy months. The whole city of Pittsburgh (including me) has looked like this forever:

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We have a city-wide depression going on. Everyone I know is miserable. When it started snowing again Monday night, I burst into tears.  All I want to do is sleep and eat potatoes. I am longing for Spring and bike rides and reading outside and swimming and sunshine and fresh vegetables…

Hah! None for you.

But since that’s a million years away and I enjoy going from one extreme to another, let’s talk about things that have made me cry lately (besides everything).

1. This insanely quotable book: The Fault in Our Stars, John Green

You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices.

Angsty, funny teenagers. Cancer. Dream trip to Amsterdam to find the author of a favorite book. First love. Friendship. Death. Grieving. Coming out in movie form (filmed in Pittsburgh!) on June 6. See the trailer here. See a ton of librarians watch it en masse and cry together. See me cry if someone says “okay” in a certain tone of voice. 

2. This movie: Blue is the Warmest Color

But I have infinite tenderness for you. I always will. All my life long.

Blue is the Warmest Color was awarded the Palme d’Or at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. In an unprecedented move, the award was granted to not only the director (Adbellatif Kechiche), but also the to the lead actresses, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux. Based off of the graphic novel by Julie Maroh,  and showing at the Hollywood Theater, Blue follows the life and love of two young lesbians. It beautifully captures that obsession you feel when you first fall in love, when you can’t stop thinking about it and your world revolves around them. And then. There is also a break-up scene that is harrowing in its realism and flat-out pain and fury. Did I mention I saw this on Valentine’s Day?

3. This song: Say Something by A Great Big World

Say something, I’m giving up on you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t get to you.

I know, I know. Don’t judge. I’m not the only one. Oh the tears! Other songs making me cry recently include: Song for Zula by Phosphorescent, All I Need by Radiohead and Love Out of Lust by Lykke Li. I dare you to listen to any of these and not want to get under the covers until April.

4. This photo of Otis smiling:

I don’t know why this makes me teary-eyed. I’m fragile. He’s cute.

5. This text from my best friend:

I love u and ur awesome!!

Because we all need to know we are loved and awesome.

Here’s to spring flowers and blah, blah, blah-

suzy, the saddest librarian

Nerdfighters, Assemble!

Image obtained from Hannah Lindgren’s documentary website.

Being a librarian is, in my mind, all about making the world a better place, one book recommendation, reference question, or computer assist at a time. Our professional honor society, Beta Phi Mu, takes as its motto the Latin phrase Aliis inserviendo consumor, or, “consumed in the service of others.” I take that pretty darned seriously, in an exuberantly joyful way, and it feels good to go home at night knowing that I did my bit to improve the general quality of the universe, as opposed to, say, pumping a lot of chemicals into the environment or making cheap plastic doodads that will end up in a landfill.

This is why I love Nerdfighters. A group of people from all over the world, dedicated to the overall improvement of things, inspired by the joyful zaniness of the VlogBrothers, John and Hank Green, united by the magical internet, and unabashedly nerdy to boot? What’s not to love?

Here’s a more comprehensive explanation of Nerdfighters, courtesy of the Green brothers themselves:

If you’re smiling now, you won’t want to miss the Pittsburgh screening of the Nerdfighters documentary, A Film to Decrease Worldsuck, a documentary in which self-proclaimed “Nerdfighters” explore what and who a Nerdfighter is, where Nerdfighters came from and what they do. Produced, directed and edited by Hannah Lindgren as her senior honors thesis, this film is comprised of convention footage gathered by two primary videographers as well as crowd-sourced interviews and video from dozens of Nerdfighters.

When and where? Sunday August 18th, 5-8 p.m., in the Carnegie Museum of Art Theatre (use the museum entrance in the Main Library/museum parking lot). The Pittsburgh Area Nerdfighters group will be collecting non-perishable food items for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, so rummage around in your pantry and pack a bag for them (feed people, starve worldsuck). If you go, you’ll also be treated to the sound stylings of Lauren Fairweather and Matt Maggiacomo, plus Tonks and the Aurors. You’ll even have a chance to show off your trivia chops after the film, possibly netting yourself a copy of its poster with your mad skills. French the llama*, it’s going to be exciting!

And if you can’t make it? Please, spread this post around on Facebook or Twitter, using the hashtag #nerdfighterdocPGH. Prefer something more personal? Compose a sea shanty and sing about the film on your next Port Authority jaunt. Do an interpretive dance while holding up a sign in Schenley Plaza. Write the information in pen on your forehead and go make some new friends in a coffee shop. Or, you know, make up something that suits your own particular nerdy idiom. Heck, do all those things even if you can make it (but remember — pics, or it didn’t happen).

DFTBA,

Leigh Anne

*If that phrase gave you pause, you clearly skipped the video. I agree with John that it should become a thing.