Random reads

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, March 2017; written by Lisa Pearson.

Usually when I write an Ad-Lib column, I like to have a theme - however tenuous - that ties everything together. But this has been such a crazy couple of weeks with the snowy weather that I thought I would abandon order and organization and write about 4 random titles from our New Book shelves.

“The shepherd’s view: modern photographs from an ancient landscape” by James Rebanks is one of my favorite type of armchair travel books. The pages are dotted with over 80 photos, mostly color, of the hills, fields, and farms of the English Lake District. It is comforting to know that the rural beauty in these images still exists in 21st-century England. Even more interesting is his detailed account of what it is like to be a shepherd. For anyone who has enjoyed British stories set in farm country, this behind-the-scenes glimpse of what is entailed in raising sheep is fascinating. He covers breeding, livestock shows, farm cooking, sheepdogs, slang terms, and growing up on a farm, and throughout the book you feel as if you are sitting down for a chat with an amusing friend over coffee. This book will have you looking up the cost of flights to Heathrow.

“Rowdy: the Roddy Piper story” by Ariel Teal Toombs and Colt Baird Toombs is a heartfelt biography of one of the more colorful characters in the World Wrestling Federation cast. Told by “Rowdy” Roddy’s kids, this is actually a nice story about a dedicated husband and father who worked his way up from small-town wrestling matches to a solid presence in the Pacific Northwest wrestling circuit and on to WWF and Hollywood. His WWF persona was that of a villain, but his fellow wrestlers liked and respected him, and he was a great showman. There’s no great literary prose here, or deep insight into the world of professional wrestling, but it’s a fun read if you ever had a chance to watch Rowdy Roddy and Playboy Buddy Rose battle it out in front of the T.V. cameras at the Portland Sports Arena.

“Mary Astor’s Purple Diary: the great American sex scandal of 1936” by Edward Sorel reads more like a novel than a biography. A large part of this is due to Sorel’s colorful sketches. A cartoonist whose work has appeared in the New Yorker and Vanity Fair, Sorel was inspired to write this book when he stumbled upon a cache of newspapers from the scandalous child custody trial between Hollywood star Astor and her ex-husband, Dr. Franklyn Thorpe. Thorpe used excerpts from her diary - a truly juicy piece of work - to claim that she was unfit to be a mother, a ploy that might have worked had his own serial infidelities not come out at the trial as well. In the end, Sorel’s portrait of Astor is that of a woman who overcame the domination and rapaciousness of her father and husband, who worked hard (she appeared in over 100 films), and was determined to succeed.

“Cat castles: 20 cardboard habitats you can build yourself” by Carin Oliver is the perfect book for a long, snowy Spring Break. I’m not sure a cat would be especially drawn to a miniature cardboard food truck, locomotive, submarine, or airplane as a place to curl up. I think he would be perfectly happy with a plain cardboard box with a cozy blanket in the bottom. But this isn’t a book for cats - it is a book for cat owners. So, if you would enjoy putting together a scratching post of cardboard scraps, a tri-level condo, or a turreted castle complete with drawbridge, it is an entertaining way to get rid of that collection of cardboard you have stashed in your garage. You could even scale these projects up for your preschooler, or get your school-age children involved.

If you are looking for things to do with your family over Spring Break, there are daily events going on at the public library for all ages. Plant seeds, eat ice cream, play board games, make terrariums, create with LEGOs, build forts, and watch Moana. Check out the calendar on our webpage, or check Facebook. We’ll see you at the library!