#BookBingoNW2018: A book that takes place in the area where you were born

Chicago

Vietname

Brooklyn

Cleveland

Ethipia

India

Minnesota

Yukon-born Pierre Berton’s advice to aspiring authors that they get themselves “born in an interesting environment,” was facetious, but based on some sound evidence. Consider authors such as William Faulkner, Louise Erdrich, Jim Lynch – you can safely assume their story will be set in Mississippi, Minnesota, and Washington state, respectively.  I would argue that these places are no more interesting than other places; but if you were born there, your opinion may differ.

#BookBingoNW2017: Read a book adapted into a movie

Not to be overly critical of a billion dollar industry or anything, but I think Hollywood has an originality problem. Books with any kind of following are immediately optioned for films – think Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, and The Martian. In other words, we’re not lacking for books that will satisfy the “Adapted into a Movie” book bingo square.

And if you’re like me, if you’ve loved the book, you’ve got some high expectations for the film. The titles I’ve suggested here are complex books made into films that didn’t disappoint.

Daniel Woodrell’s Winter’s Bone follows 17-year-old Ree Dolly through a poverty-stricken Ozarks landscape on a desperate quest to find her father. The highly acclaimed southern gothic film directed by Debra Granik featured Jennifer Lawrence in her breakout role.

Seattle Rep’s ROZ AND RAY: Beyond the Theatre

Seattle Repertory Theatre presents ROZ + Ray by Karen Hartman from October 14 – November 13, 2016. Librarians at Seattle Public Library created this list of resources to enhance your experience of the show: Seattle Rep’s ROZ AND RAY: Beyond the Theatre

I was a small child when the AIDS crisis broke, but I still recall a general sense of panic and confusion in the air. AIDS was mysterious and terrifying. Despite my limited scope of knowledge, I understood that blood was at the center of this crisis. Karen Hartman’s new play, Roz and Ray, explores the tragedy of contaminated blood used in the treatment of vulnerable hemophiliacs. Ray, the father of twin boys with hemophilia, and their doctor, Roz, will do almost anything to save them.

Treatment for hemophilia was just beginning to be revolutionized in the 1970s by the blood-clotting plasma concentrate, Factor VIII, when it was discovered that the blood supply was contaminated with the AIDS virus in the mid-1980s. For three years after the first case of HIV/AIDS was discovered in a hemophiliac patient, the blood supply remained contaminated and untested. This was enough time for nearly half of all hemophiliacs in the United States to be infected. Ryan White was 13 when he contracted AIDS from a blood transfusion to treat his hemophilia. Learn more in his autobiography, Ryan White, My Own Story.

The rescued photos of Allen and Sachtleben

Join us in the Central Library Microsoft Auditorium on July 11^th at 7 p.m. as we welcome bicycle historian, David V. Herlihy, author of The Lost Cyclist: The Epic Tale of An American Adventurer and His Mysterious Disappearance and Bicycle: The History. Herlihy will present a selection of historical photographs of early bicycle tourists, Thomas Allen and William Sachtleben, from UCLA’s special collections.  

In addition, the author will provide a glimpse into the life and times of adventurous 19^th century “wheelmen,” young men who could withstand bone-jarring discomfort in exchange for the excitement of cycling. Herlihy’s recent book tells the story of one of those young men, handsome bookkeeper Frank Lenz, who decided to set out on his own to circle the globe. His method of travel was a new “safety,” the straightforward term for bicycles as we know them now, with wheels of the same size.