Pinch: Chapter 11

“We entered into a contract, of sorts, Mr. Willowtree and I.” my aunt continued. “To save the Admiral, I had to give Felix something. I gave him the same gift he gave my precious cat: life. When Felix saved the Admiral, who will live on to see his 100th birthday, it gave him a guaranteed 100 more years as our “family ghost.” My dear, while he may certainly save you in a pinch, it will cost you far more in the long run. He feeds on our silly need for permanence. Our need for control. Our times of weakness.”

Mrs. Crumpet stopped momentarily, with an indecipherable look in her eyes. “Whatever kind of pinch you may find yourself in soon, Hannah, do not call on Mr. Willowtree.”

Abruptly, she stood up and left the room. The Admiral did not follow suit; instead he kept his territorial glare fixated on me. His distaste was palpable. Snob.

I let myself out of my aunt’s apartment, and traipsed up the staris to my own. I had to gather my thoughts and prepare myself for my next encounter: back to the library to get my, uh, uncle’s side of the story.

After fueling my body with 2 large bowls of cereal and a brief moment (2 episodes) of Netflixing, I headed back out to the library. To my surprise, Cindy was not perched at the circulation desk. My new uncle, as per usual, was relaxing in front of the fireplace. He looked as thought he’d been waiting for me.

I walked up to him, warmly greeted by a smile and a cup of coffee, and sat down.

Ohio Library Council Chapter Conference – Staff Training Day 2015

Continuing education and staff development are important aspects of any job. As a library worker, this is especially true. We work daily to maintain our standard of service in our community, keep up with literary and technology trends, offer fun and fresh programming, and learn about best practices for providing library service.

This year, our staff went to the Ohio Library Council Northwest Chapter Conference in Toledo, OH. It was a day full of learning and I, for one, am back in the office with a head full of ideas that I can hardly wait to try in our community.

I attended the following four sessions:

1. Creating Connections, presented by Amanda Bennett, Director at Ada Public Library

Amanda was an awesome presenter; energetic, genuine, relatable, and inspiring. She made me want to go out and plant a tree or something. She gave examples of successful programs done in the Ada community that involved reaching out and partnering with community businesses/entities.

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2. 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten, presented by Cindy Romick, Children’s Manager at Findlay-Hancock County Public Library

I LOVED this program. I can hardly wait to get it started at our Branch. The program is simple, but Cindy gave us details about exactly how her library runs it. The first part of my library system’s Strategic Plan is written as follows: “Create Young Readers: Early literacy. Children from birth to age five will have programs and services designed to ensure that they will enter school ready to learn to read, write, and listen.” (Paulding County Carnegie Library Strategic Plan 2014).

1,000 Books Before Kindergarten is exactly aligned with this part of our plan, and I hope it will be a great success in our system. Look for it this fall!

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3. Trivial Pursuits®: Quiz Shows as Off-Site Programming, presented by Jesse Henning, Youth Services Librarian at Westerville Public Library

This was a super captivating and fun session to attend. Jesse has charisma, and I am sure his quiz shows are great fun. The idea of off-site programming is really important and something I want to implement in our small town of Payne, OH. It provides an opportunity to collaborate with local businesses and to reach more people in our service area. I’m naturally a “behind the scenes” person, but I think hosting a quiz show at a venue in our town is something I would maybe possibly really enjoy. Who doesn’t love trivia!?

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4. Food: A Tasteful Trend in Programming, presented by: Jen Downing, Upper Arlington Public Library; Bill Meltzer, Worthington Libraries; Erin Huffman, Westerville Public Library; Luke Powers, Delaware County District Library

We offer a Cookbook Club at our Branch–next meeting is Monday, May 4, at 6:00 pm!!–and have had success, but we wanted to find more ways to entice new members. The four presenters gave many new (to us) and delicious ideas for offering food programming. Bill said something in his presentation that I really liked: “While food is fundamental for life, the sharing of food is fundamental in forming community.”

Again, I have many ideas of community collaboration in mind. Keep an eye on our Facebook page for all upcoming events!

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Overall, I think our team had a nice time and absorbed a lot at the conference. I know I did!

-Suzi

Pinch: Chapter 8

I skipped up the steps to my building and stepped inside.  Almost immediately the door to apartment 2A opened and Mrs. Crumpet waved me down.

“Hannah!  Hannah you must come join us!  It’s the Admiral’s birthday!”

Sighing, I trudged into her apartment, wincing at the click of the door closing behind me.  Trapped indefinitely.  I had spent the better part of my morning looking for that skinny fur ball and now I was stuck celebrating his birthday.  Ugh.

The “birthday boy” was perched regally on the back of the ugly flowered sofa, glaring down at me.

“The Admiral and I are so happy you could join us, Hannah!” Mrs. Crumpet called from the kitchen.  “His birthday is such a special occasion, and to think he might not have been with us if you hadn’t found him this morning!”

“Happy to help, Mrs. Crumpet!” I called back, flipping the bird at Admiral Rumples.  He hissed and jumped down from the sofa.  “So Admiral Rumples must be what, fifteen by now?”

“Oh no, dear,” she said, carrying in what looked to be a cake made entirely of canned tuna.  “The Admiral is celebrating his half century.”

I stared blankly at her.  Surely she didn’t mean….

“Dear Admiral Rumples is fifty years old today!”  She patted her lap and the cat jumped up and curled up on her legs.

“What?” I laughed  “No way!  You mean in cat years, right?”

“Absolutely not,” she sniffed, stroking the cat’s head.  “My late husband gave me the Admiral when we were newly married, back in 1965.  Arnold was leaving for a tour of duty in Vietnam, you see, and he didn’t want me to be left alone.  He brought home the Admiral and it was love at first sight.”

She stared wistfully down at Admiral Rumples, who was by now snoring softly on her lap.

“But Mrs. Crumpet,” I began, “how in the world could a cat possibly live to be fifty years old?  It just doesn’t make sense!”

She stared at me for several long moments, and then nodded as if coming to a decision.

“I suppose I can tell you,” she said, shifting slightly in her seat.  “The Admiral and I are getting so old now, it doesn’t seem right to keep it a secret any longer.”

She cleared her throat and stared at me with intense, glittery eyes.

“Fifty years ago, someone did something extraordinary for me.”  She paused and looked down for a long moment.  “Well, I say extraordinary, but looking back I’m not so sure that’s the appropriate word.  Awful might be the better word.  Extraordinary, yes, but equally awful when I think of the events that happened after.”

She reached out and gripped my hand.  “My dear, have you ever heard the name Felix P. Willowtree?”

Pinch: Chapter 4

F.P.W.?  Seriously?  Could I really have bumped into, of all people, the mysterious Felix P. Willowtree?  I had to find out more about this guy.  He was practically stalking me, for Pete’s sake!  Okay, stalking was probably taking it too far, but this was too weird!

Netflix momentarily forgotten, I sat down at my computer and quickly brought up the internet.  Google wouldn’t let me down, surely!  But after trying several variations of his name, and even after entering in the catchphrase “call when you’re in a pinch,” I had zero hits.  That’s right.  Zero.  Zilch.  Nada.  It was like he didn’t exist!  Blast you Google!

I sat back with a sigh.  I suppose I could just call the number on the card, but if there was one thing I hated it was talking on the phone, especially when I didn’t actually know what to say once someone picked up!

I stood up and stalked away from the computer.  After no less than half a dozen trips around my tiny apartment I was no closer to figuring him out.  I was going to have to suck it up and call the number.  I pulled out my phone and the business card and reluctantly dialed the number.  It rang 3 times, and then a voice mail message started playing.

“Felix P. Willowtree.  Call when you’re in a pinch.”

That was it.  No office hours, no address, and spoken in a generic computer generated voice.

“Um, hi, this is Hannah Brewer, from the bar?  You left your card in the tip jar last night and I’m pretty sure you plowed me over on the street just a little bit ago.  Um, at least I think it was you.  I found this button stuck to my boot?  It had your initials on it so I’m assuming it was you.  Anyway, I don’t know what you do or why I’m calling or where your office is, but if you want to call me back my number is 555-9810.  Uh, thanks.  Bye.”

Another dead end.  There was only one person to go to when you wanted to find out about absolutely anyone in this little town.  My mom.

The Kraken Project

Hi. Remember us? We’ve been busy as bees at the corner of Main and Merrin, and haven’t blogged in quite some time. But even the busiest blogger bees find time to read. I just finished The Kraken Project by Douglas Preston. While I’m partial to Preston–he and Lincoln Child co-author my favorite series of all time–this book is seriously so good. So, before I give my review (spoiler alert: it’s FANTASTIC), I have a few questions for you to help determine whether or not this book is for you.

1) Are you a person?

2) Are you a super smart self-modifying Artificial Intelligence program?

If you answered “yes” to either of the above questions, read on…

The Kraken Project is book four in Douglas Preston’s “Wyman Ford” series. While it is a great series, this Sci-Fi novel can be read as a stand-alone. It is the story of NASA computer programmer, Melissa, and her life’s work: an AI program she lovingly calls Dorothy. Dorothy’s mission is to be sent on an exploration to the largest sea on Saturn, the Kraken Mare, in hopes of discovering potential for inhabiting life. As one might expect, things go terrifyingly wrong.

Dorothy is eerily humanlike. She appears to have feelings: anger, vengeance, fear. All feelings that are frustrating to have as a human, but even more complicated for a computer program that technically cannot even experience feelings. Dorothy has declared a new mission for herself: to rid the world of the “disgusting human race.”

I won’t give anything away, but in typical Douglas Preston fashion, the story spirals in directions that my brain would have never even imagined. It is just outrageous enough and just possible enough that it will leave you slightly unsettled, paranoid, and all the way out on the edge of your seat waiting for the next book in the series.

There are two print copies, one Audiobook, and one Playaway available in the Paulding County Carnegie Library system. Check out your preferred format today!

-Suzi

I Love You More

I just finished I Love You More by Jennifer Murphy and could not wait to share my thoughts. It is seriously so good. Like Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl meets a Lifetime movie good.

Oliver Lane had three wives, three families, three totally separate and secret lives. That is, until he was murdered at his beach house. You can probably guess who did it, right? With his three scorned wives, it really isn’t too tough to point your literary crime-solving finger at the prime suspect(s). I could not turn the pages quickly enough.

I love when a book is narrated by multiple characters. If you’ve read my previous posts, you’ll know how much I invest in a book’s characters. I had quite a return on my investment in this case. Each chapter was told from the point-of-view of the three main (living) characters: Picasso, the 11-year-old daughter of wife #1, Kyle Kennedy, the lead detective with a questionable rapport, and The Wives, a collective perspective of Oliver’s three wives.

It’s been a while (ok, since Gone Girl) that a murder mystery has made me think about more than “whodunit?” This book made me think about relationships, humanity, right vs. wrong, being a mother and a wife and a woman. It is rich with book-discussion possibility. Evoked in the reader is the moral-tipping question, “what would I do?” Aside from all the thinking and sympathizing, the story moves at a fantastic pace filled with enough supplement to the main plot that I just wasn’t quite sure what was going to happen. And, let me tell ya, the twists and turns and shock factors of Ms. Murphy’s story are top-notch.

I highly recommend this book. Walk, run, SPRINT to your library and check it out for the weekend. Sorry, our copy is already checked out!

-Suzi