Library & Literary Miscellany

Bad Monkeys by Matt Ruff (2007)

Omnes mundum facimus
(We all make the World)

Omnes mundum facimus is a central belief of the branch of a secret crime-fighting organization known as the Final Disposition of Irredeemable Persons (nickname: Bad Monkeys). The Bad Monkeys department works alongside other branches of the organization such as the Department for Optimal Utilization of Resources and Personnel (nickname: Cost-Benefits) and the Department of Ubiquitous Intermittent Surveillance (nickname: Panopticon) to expunge evil from the world by whatever means necessary.

Bad Monkeys kicks off with Jane Charlotte, a woman claiming to be a Bad Monkeys operative, narrating her story from within the walls of the psychiatric ward of the Las Vegas Clark County Detention Center. Dr. Vale enters “the nut wing” to interview/interrogate her, ostensibly to determine her sanity. Jane obligingly recounts for him all of her experiences leading up to her present position in the nut wing (in addition to possible insanity, she’s being held for murder).

Jane tells Dr. Vale that her actions with the Bad Monkeys organization have all been for the express purpose of ridding the world of evil. As Bad Monkeys personnel, she has the authority and the intel to eliminate “bad monkeys” who have evaded society’s usual modes of justice.

Jane’s conversation with Dr. Vale shifts back and forth between present day dialogue and flashbacks of Jane’s J.D. (juvenile delinquent) youth. Jane details her life pre-Bad Monkeys as well as her experiences after joining the Bad Monkeys.

As Dr. Vale listens to Jane’s story, he frequently requests clarification and points out incongruities. While Jane always has a ready answer, readers are left to wonder about the veracity of Jane’s tale and about the very existence of the Bad Monkeys organization.

Organization tools such as the N.C. (natural causes) gun nudge the book over into the realm of science fiction, but there’s a great deal of psychological drama and suspense here as well. In a book replete with plot twists and page turning events, just who’s a bad monkey and who’s not Ruff leaves up to debate until the book’s final pages.

Bad Monkeys is an adult book that may well also enthrall many young adults. For those looking for more, there’s always Ruff’s other works and/or the Bad Monkeys super secret website to explore (shhhh…). Or you could try choosing a book from one of the following booklists:

Overbooked: Psychological Suspense Crime Fiction Booklist This list contains “Darkly atmospheric stories, disturbing mind games, engrossing and compelling characters - stories that generate a sense of unease . . .” which seems to aptly match up with the ambience of Bad Monkeys.

Hennepin County Library: A Child’s Look into an Adult World: Quirky Psychological Fiction “This list is made up of books that deal with heavy subjects but are narrated by children, offering a somewhat innocent look at the highs and lows of modern life. If you appreciate a good mystery told from a psychologically unique perspective, some of these books are absolute winners!” (Note: the books on this list are Bad Monkeys read alikes in the sense that they contain psychological drama, but, by and large, they don’t have as much emphasis on the crime and/or suspense aspect).

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Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde (2007)

Being as this book marks the fifth book into the Thursday Next series, one would imagine that Jasper Fforde might be running out of new ideas for his BookWorld and his characters. But that would be wrong thinking indeed as Thursday Next: First Among Sequels is every bit as inventive and delightful as the first four books in the series: The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, and Something Rotten. First Among Sequels is set 14 years after the last novel, Something Rotten, and, as usual, all is not right in the BookWorld and Thursday Next is needed to save the day.

To briefly, insomuch as possible, elucidate the world on which the series is based Fforde has basically created an alternate England where the BookWorld is more than just words on a page. Thursday works as a Jurisfiction literary detective for the Special Operations Network (or SpecOps); in this position, her raison d’etre is to investigate and correct anomalies in the literary world.

In First Among Sequels, Thursday, as usual, has quite a full plate what with her family problems, her issues with her proteges/replicas/clones, and the BookWorld dilemmas. To briefly elaborate:

• Family problems: Since SpecOps has been largely disbanded, Thursday has been working undercover as an Acme Carpets carpet layer. She has been omitting the truth about her daily activities to her struggling writer husband Landon. Her son Friday remains mired in the apathy of adolescence and shows no signs of embracing his predestined role as leader of the Chronoguard (the time travel force) anytime soon. One of her three children may not, in fact, exist. Her pet dodo Pickwick has lost its feathers and requires a knit sweater for warmth. Enough said.
• Protege/replica/clone issues: Thursday has had her adventures written up in a series of Thursday Next books which means that other versions of her exist in the BookWorld. Thursday has been charged with training both Thursday 5 (wimpy with a good heart) and Thursday 1-4 (nasty with plans of BookWorld domination) to become competent, productive agents of Jurisfiction.
• Bookworld dilemmas: There are many, but to name a few, the read rates are plummeting as the public gravitates to reality TV-watching, the Goliath corporation is mucking about trying to enter the BookWorld again with its probes, and a serial killer is on the loose who takes out series’ main characters, effectively killing the character and the series (Sherlock Holmes being just one of the characters to take a hit). The Council of Genres (COG) has been coming up with inane solutions in attempts to stem the plummeting read rates (e.g., Pride and Prejudice as a reality TV-like book (horrors!)).

Whew, and all that above really only touches the surface of what Fforde has going on in the book. Be warned that this book does spend more time outside the BookWorld than many of the previous books, but (for the most part) even these parts are amusing and inventive. Still, it’s the BookWorld activity that really makes the pages worth turning. First Among Sequels is zany, clever, and replete with unresolved plot lines that leaves room for additional forthcoming adventures with Thursday and her clan in the BookWorld.

Quotes I’d be Remiss to Miss:

“One of the odd things about the BookWorld was that when characters weren’t being read, they generally relaxed and talked, rehearsed, drank coffee, watched cricket or played mah-jongg. But as soon as a reading loomed, they all leaped into place and did their thing.”

“There was a distant hum and a rumble as the reading approached. Then came a light buzz in the air like staic and an increased heightening of the sense as the reader took up the descriptive power of the book and translated it into his or her own unique interpretation of the events–channeled from here through the massive imaginotransference Storycode Engines back at Text Grand Central and into the reader’s imagination. It was a technology of almost incalculable complexity, which I had yet to fully understand. But the beauty of the whole process was that the reader in the Outland never suspected there was a process at all–the act of reading was to most people, myself included, as natural as breathing.”

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Sky Village Book 1 (Kaimira) by Monk & Nigel Ashland (2008)

“Human hatred for meks and beasts ran deep…After decades of war followed by only a few years of uneasy peace, humans had learned to stick with their own kind.”

In a post-Trinary War world, Earth is populated with meks (machines), beasts, and humans. With meks and beasts constantly warring and pillaging, it’s all humans can do to find a place to call home. Some are laying low on ground or underground and others have taken to the sky.

Mei is one of those who (reluctantly) takes to the sky when her father sends her off to live in the Sky Village. Hovering high above China, the Sky Village is a community tied together through a maze of interconnected hot-air balloons and a shared history; Mei is forced to do some serious adjusting–both in her balance and in her life outlook. Half a world away in what remains of Las Vegas Rom fights his own demons (literally). In an attempt to save his sister, he enters the Demon caves where he finds himself embroiled in a gladiator-style competition against demon hybrids for the entertainment of the masses.

With Mei above Earth in China and Rom below Earth in Las Vegas, the two find themselves joined through the Tree Book. The Tree Book is a book of stories and other wonders that that their parents have always guarded. They have never before seen inside its pages. Now with their parents absent from their lives, Mei and Rom take the Tree Book into their own hands and find each other. In their friendship, they develop a certain sense of stability in the midst of a world of uncertainty. In the Tree Book, they find the beginnings of answers to their past and more enigmas about the future.

Mei and Rom discover that they are both carriers of the Kaimira gene–a genetic mutation endowing them with characteristics of human, beast, and machine. The Kaimira gene provides an intriguing basis for the plot for this story and for the future of the series.

In Sky Village, the Ashlands combine elements of future story, fantasy, survival, adventure, identity, and culture. The series reminds me a bit of Philip Reeve’s Hungry City Chronicles (Mortal Enginesand the like). Although Reeve’s series is aimed at a slightly older audience than the Kaimira series, both grapple with ideas about Otherness and possible ways of interacting with those who are different from ourselves.

Takeaway quote: Mei’s mother once told her, “If you know your enemy as you know your friend…then there is hope your enemy will become your friend.”

*review based on an advance reading copy

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A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Soldier Boy by Ishmael Beah (2007)

“My imagination at ten years old didn’t have the capacity to grasp what had taken away the happiness of the refugees.”

Two years later, twelve-year-old Ishmael Beah is “touched by war,” and he no longer has to imagine the misery and desolation wrought by war. Ishmael sets out from home in Mogbwemo to perform at a talent show in the town of Mattru Jong with his brother and friends as a boy full of youth, mischief, and dreams of fame as a rap star; he winds up traveling down the path to become a soldier boy whose innocence, home, and dreams are quickly and irrevocably destroyed.

After the boys find out the Revolutionary United Front rebels have struck their village, they set out together, but they soon became aware that others regard them with suspicion: “People were terrified of boys our ages”. The longer Ishmael and his friends wander facing constant suspicion and imminent starvation, the more susceptible they become to recruitment into the role of child soldiers.

After a protracted period of wandering full of fear and uncertainty, Ishmael enters a town full of Sierra Leone Army soldiers. These soldiers offer him drugs, brainwash him, and set him on a certain course–merciless killing. The lieutenant tells the boys the rebels are the enemy: “They have lost everything that makes them human. They do not deserve to live. That is why we must kill every single one of them. Think of it as destroying a great evil. It is the highest service you can perform for your country.” and “We are not like the rebels, those riffraffs who kill people for no reason. We kill them for the good and betterment of this country.” From age thirteen to sixteen, Ishmael places his faith in these beliefs and he kills gratuitously and without remorse.

When Ishmael is sixteen, members of UNICEF pluck him out of the army and set about releasing Ishmael from his life’s destructive path. At first, he is unhappy to be rescued and separated from his squad and his gun, “My squad was my family, my gun was my provider and protector, and my rule was to kill or be killed.” However, he is sent to a rehabilitation center in Freetown where he receives care and counseling enough that he recognizes how the soldiers lied to him, what evil he had committed against his fellow humans, and how he needs to break free in order to have a chance at a humane, sane future. As Ishmael begins to rediscover who he was before he was turned into a child soldier, he finds himself faced with a new task–to go before the United Nations and illuminate the realities of life for child soldiers.

Beah’s candid reporting of the extremes of brutality and depravity make the memoir all the more gutwrenching and disconcerting. After he concludes his memoir, Beah provides historical context for the events he recounts noting how Sierra Leone suffered a fate similar to other former British colonies upon gaining freedom–civil strife, corruption, and military brutality reigned supreme and the children, along with everyone else, suffered because of it.

Unfortunately, recently the veracity of details of Ishmael Beah’s experiences have come into question by a reporter for The Australian (citing factors such as chronological anomalies); see Peter Wilson’s Thanks for the Memories for more information. Beah has issued a rebuttal statement that addresses some of these criticisms.

In the end, while the details of Beah’s reporting of events are not above dispute, his story still serves as a not-at-all gentle reminder of the atrocity that is the existence of child soldiers. The existence of child soldiers is without dispute, and Beah’s text–his sparse recounting of such flagrant violence by ones so young–precludes reader’s complacent thought in this regard.

For those who wish to read more fiction and/or nonfiction relating to African wars, Sierra Leone, and/or child soldiers, a few suggestions follow:

Fiction–Moses, Citizen & Me by Delia Jarrett-Macauley (African Wars, child soldiers), Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English by Ken Saro-Wiwa (African Wars, child soldiers), or Ancestor Stones by Aminatta Forna (African Wars, Sierra Leone), Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (child soldiers, Card’s other books such as Ender’s Shadow and Speaker for the Dead speak to child soldiers as well)

Nonfiction–Children at War by P.W. Singer (African wars, child soldiers), Child Soldiers, Adult Interests: The Global Dimensions of the Sierra Leonean Tragedy by J. Peter Pham (African wars, child soldiers, Sierra Leone), Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Ugandas Children by Grace Akallo (African wars, child soldiers), Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go to War by Jimmie Briggs (child soldiers), Machete Season: The Killers in Rwanda Speak by Jean Hatzfeldor (African wars), or One Day the Soldiers Came: Voices of Children in War (P.S.) by Charles London (African wars, child soldiers)

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In honor of the forthcoming National Library Week (number 50, it’s a biggie), this post highlights “Coming Soon” book days of April:

• World Book and Copyright Day on April 23
• National Library Week from April 13-19
• Poetry Month April 1-30

World Book and Copyright Day

Since 1995, April 23 has been designated as World Book and Copyright Day. The date commemorates the births and/or deaths of many famous authors–from Cervantes (death), Shakespeare (birth and death), and more. Read the Wikipedia article about World Book and Copyright Day to find out more about its origins and about how it is recognized in various locales around the world.

National Library Week

Yes, it’s the 50th! This year National Library Week 2008 runs from April 13-19, and the theme is “Join the circle of knowledge @ your library.” In honor of this day the American Library Association (ALA) has been publishing promotional videos.

Videos include:

• National Library Week: Introduction
• National Library Week: Reference Desk
• National Library Week: Game On
• National Library Week: Super Sized
• National Library Week: Vending Machine
• National Library Week: Go Fish
• National Library Week: People Magazine
• National Library Week: Monkey Wars

While they’re all entertaining, my favorite is the one at the reference desk. A particularly clever feature of all of these videos is that while the credits are playing, numerous popular and not-as-popular books are providing the background images (subtle reader’s advisory, I’m lovin it (see Super Sized for more McDonald’s spinoff humor…)).

The National Library Week fact sheet also specifically marks Tuesday as National Library Worker’s Day: “National Library Workers Day, celebrated the Tuesday of National Library Week (April 15, 2008), is a day for library staff, users, administrators and Friends groups to recognize the valuable contributions made by all library workers.” Sounds good to me . In addition, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) has designated the month of April as School Library Media Month.

National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month has been around since 1996 (it has a ways to go to hit 50). Read the Wikipedia article about the history and purpose of National Poetry Month.

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The Secret History of Tom Trueheart by Ian Beck (2006 in Great Britain, 2007 in US)

“‘You’ll need courage,’ is what the crow had said, courage. That meant he would really have to face danger and trouble, and he was frightened of danger, and he was frightened of trouble. But they seemed to have come calling anyway, both for him and his brothers.”

Our “once upon a time, long ago” story begins with Tom Trueheart on the brink of turning 12, the age when he’ll be eligible to follow in the footsteps of his six brothers–Jack, Jacquot, Jacques, Jackie, Jackson, and Jake. His brothers “were very tall, very beefy, very brave, and very noisy young men”; they are all famous adventurers in the Land of Stories.

Just before Tom’s birthday, his brothers are all called away on their respective adventures which all turn out to be familiar stories such as Cinderella, the Frog Prince, Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel, Snow White, and Jack and the Beanstalk. So off they go with promises to return in time for Tom’s birthday celebration while Tom remains behind with his mother (his father has been lost somewhere in the Land of Stories long ago which just cries sequel doesn’t it?).

Left behind as usual, Tom suffers from bad dreams about scary adventures, diffidence in himself, and worries about a secret he keeps locked up tight inside–”He was not at all brave“. When his brothers do not return, however, he is forced to confront his fears.

The normal way of things is that the Story Bureau assigns the adventurers a story with a beginning and the adventurers enter the Land of Stories to complete the tales. Unfortunately, this time Tom’s brothers have not returned because of the diabolical scheming of one Story Bureau writer, Julius Ormestone. Ormestone decides that he’s sick and tired of creating beginnings for which the adventurers get to complete the stories and he takes drastic measures to change things (i.e., kidnapping assorted adventurers with the last name Trueheart).

Fortunately, the Master of the Story Bureau appoints Tom to his brothers’ rescue. When the Story Bureau assigns a Trueheart a story, a Trueheart steps up to the task and discovers an ending for the tale. So Tom enters the Land of Stories where he will need all of the courage he can muster in order to save his brothers from the man who is trying to destroy his family and the Land of Stories itself.

The Secret History of Tom Trueheart is full of adventures and adventurers, of familiar tales and new twists, of nefarious plotters with wicked schemes and helpful comrades with ready aid, of evil and of good, of greed and of generosity, of cowardice and of courage. For those who enjoy The Secret History of Tom Trueheart, the sequel, Tom Trueheart and the Land of Dark Stories, was published on March 06, 2008 in the UK and the US edition will be available May 27, 2008. Read the Times Online review for more on the sequel.

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March has passed and has left in its wake a hearty dose of book-related action; this post briefly mentions just a few pieces of that action–the March Madness Tournament of Books, PLA’s convention and related-handouts, and ALA’s new season of Step Up to the Plate.

Tournament of Books

It’s March Madness, so fans are rooting for their favorite book. Didn’t I mean basketball team? Well, there is that too (and I, for one, am a huge fan of NCAA tournament action), but there’s also a more recently established Tournament of Books. Currently in its fourth installation, the 2008 tourney is winding up. The Tournament of Books is sponsored by Powell’s Books; brackets and standings can be found on the Morning News.

As the Morning News website puts it, “The Morning News Tournament of Books, sponsored by Powell’s Books, is an annual battle royale amongst the top novels in ‘literary fiction’ published throughout the year” (read more about the tournament). As this year’s tournament approaches fruition, Remainder by Tom McCarthy and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz are facing off for the title.

PLA Handouts

In non-tournament related book action, the Public Library Association (PLA) held it’s 12th National Conference in Minneapolis, MN on March 25-29. While it would have been great to attend, what’s even greater is that PLA has made available a great number of handouts and resources from its sessions.

Click here to view the full list of handouts including handouts from sessions such as When the Story Is True: Practicing Nonfiction and Readers’ Advisory Readers’ Advisory Tool Kit III: Market Driven Readers’ Advisory -Three More Skills to Increase Your Effectiveness as an RA Librarian.

ALA’s Step Up to the Plate

Lastly, the American Library Association (ALA) just launched Season three of Step Up to the Plate @ your library. Read the press release or play the trivia game that’s found on the program’s website. Or view the booklist of baseball books which includes books for those in Little League (grades 1-6), Minor League (grades 6-12), and Major League (18 and over) while also including films and reference sources.

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April 2 has been International Children’s Book Day since 1967 (this ties it in with Hans Christian Andersen’s birthday). International Children’s Book Day is “celebrated to inspire a love of reading and to call attention to children’s books.” Each year the day is hosted by a different National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and each year the day has a different theme.

A list of International Children’s Book Day National Sections and themes from 1995-2008 is available at the IBBY site where you’ll be see that this year’s host National Section is Thailand and the theme is “Books Enlighten: Knowledge Delights.”

And as long as we’re talking about special book-related times and themes, don’t forget to celebrate April as National Poetry Month.

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