New This Week
April 12, 2010
Column: At the Library
From: Cranbrook Public Library
By Mike Selby
Chuck Thompson, the author of the highly acclaimed SMILE WHEN YOU ARE LYING, is back with another truthful account of holiday destinations. His trips range from the Congo, India, and even an excursion to Walt Disney World. His reports are as shocking as they are comical, and no one is more surprised than Thompson when places fail to live up to their stellar reputations.
With the surprising success of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES, Seth Grahame-Smith follows that book with ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER. Teens should enjoy this take on the 16th President of the United States, who"instead of splitting rails uses his axe to rid his country of this supernatural threat.
Preschool Story Time this Wednesday at 11:00 am, 1:15 pm, & 6:30 pm, and Toddler Story this Friday at 10:30 am will be all about Kites!
Two short-listed authors of this year’s BC Book Prize will be visiting the Cranbrook Library next week. Sylvia Olsen (author of COUNTING ON HOPE), and Fred Wah (IS A DOOR) will be reading from the works on Tuesday, April 20th at 7 pm. There will be book sales and signings at this exciting event, as well as a chance to meet both authors.
The Friends of the Cranbrook Public Library and the College of the Rockies will be showing their latest Travelogue on Monday, April 19th, 2010 in the Lecture Theatre (Room 250) at the College. Australia: A land with amazing diversity. John Przeczek will be presenting Australia for 20 days (Melbourne to Adelaide and the Flinders Ranges) and Northern Tasmania for 10 days. John drove the Great Ocean Road, visited 3 wine regions, caught the edge of the Outback and scrambled to the top of the 5th highest peak in Tasmania (Cradle Mountain). Ecologically he traversed semi-desert to cool temperate rainforest and from sea level to the alpine. Presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. Doors open 6:30 p.m. Admission is by donation, and please remember seating is limited. For more information, please call Sheila at 489-8207.
Don’t forget to come and see Bob Pearce’s Wilderness paintings, currently on display.
Just a reminder that this month’s BOOK BITES meet on Thursday, April 15th.
ADULT NEWLY ACQUIRED SHELF:
Living Oprah " Robyn Okrant (791.45028)
Quesadillas " Donna Kelly (641.815)
The Value of Nothing " Raj Patel (338.521)
People of the Land: Legends of the Four Host First Nations (398.2089)
The Solar System " Alexander Gordon Smith (523.2)
Rumi’s Tales from the Silk Road " Kamla K. Kapur (398.20955)
Martial Arts Made Easy " Peter Lewis (796.815)
China’s Megatrends " John Naisbitt (330.951)
Your Guide to Government Financial Assistance for Business " Ian Williamson (658.15)
Top 100 Finger Foods " Annabel Karmel (641.56222)
Your Baby’s First Year Week By Week " Glade B. Curtis (649.122)
Ecoholic Home " Adria Vasil (640)
What’s Good Bad and Downright Awful in Canadian Investments Today " Rob Carrick (332.6)
Now Eat This " Rocco Dispirito (641.5635)
Healing Touch for Children " Mary Atkinson (615.822)
To Hellholes and Back " Chuck Thompson (910.4)
Flakes, Jugs, & Splitters: A Rock Climbers Guide to Geology " Sarah Garlick (550)
The Socially Included Child " Laurie LeComer (618.925882)
Complete Book of Astrology " Kris Brandt Riske (133.5)
Frommer’s Las Vegas 2010 (917.93135)
Exclusive " Fern Michaels (fic)
Black Magic Sanction " Kim Harrison (fic)
The Sheen on the Silk " Anne Perry (fic)
Caught " Harlan Coben (mys)
A Night Too Dark " Dana Stabenow (mys)
Slow Fire " Ken Mercer (mys)
The Pallbearers " Stephen J. Cannell (mys)
The Last Illusion " Rhys Bowen (mys)
If Books Could Kill " Kate Carlisle (pb)
Homicide in Hardcover " Kate Carlisle (pb)
Dark Lady’s Chosen "Gail Z. Martin (pb)
The Prisoner " Carlos J. Cortes (pb)
Light at the Edge of the World (DVD)
Secrets of Body Language (DVD)
Dance and Be Fit: Hip Hop Cardio (DVD)
Love in the Time of Cholera (DVD)
Is Anybody There (DVD)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (DVD)
The Reader (DVD)
Angela’s Ashes (DVD)
The Boleyn Girl: BBC Edition (DVD)
YOUNG ADULT & CHILDREN’S NEWLY ACQUIRED ITEMS:
Green " Laura Peyton Roberts (ya fic)
Fang " James Patterson (ya fic)
Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (ya fic
Snow Queen " Emma Harrison (ya fic)
Fade " Lisa McMann (ya fic)
Princess Forever " Meg Cabot (ya fic)
Antsy Does Time " Neal Shusterman (ya fic)
The Vinyl Princess " Yvonne Prinz (ya fic)
The Heights " Brian James (ya fic)
The Hobbit Graphic Novel " J.R.R. Tolkien (ya fic)
Destination Solar System Volumes 1 to 4 " Giles Sparrow (j 523.4)
Bitter Ashes: The Story of WWII " John Wilson (j 940.5371)
Magic Handbook " Joe Fullman (j 793.8)
Tim Horton: From Stanley Cups to Coffee Cups " Don Quinlan (j bio)
The Cabinet of Wonders " Marie Rutkoski (j fic)
The Girl Who Could Fly " Victoria Forester (j fic)
Just a Little Sick " Mercer Mayer (j easy)
The Rise of Iron Man " Michael Teitelbaum (j easy)
The Invincible Iron Man " Michael Teitelbaum (j easy)
Dinosaur Detectives " Peter Chrisp ( j easy)
I Am A Backhoe " Anna Grossnickle Hines (j pic)
The Princess and the Frog (DVD)
MIKE’S BOOKNOTES:
Of all the things Jack Kerouac wrote, one item continues to grow in its notoriety, often times eclipsing the dozens of books and poetry collections he is famous for: his will.
Kerouac was born in 1922 to French-Canadian parents in Lowell, Massachusetts. Excelling at sports, he won a football scholarship to Columbia University. It was here he began to be disillusioned with life, and dropped out with fellow students Allan Ginsberg and Lucien Carr. While they all began to write experimental poetry and fiction, Kerouac was first to be published with THE TOWN AND THE CITY. However, this book made no money, and Kerouac experienced a decade of rejection letters until ON THE ROAD was bought in 1957. This became one of the most important books of the 20th century; defining Kerouac as a major literary talent, and ushering a host of ‘beat-generation’ authors and poets.
ON THE ROAD was also the undoing of Kerouac. The sudden good fortune and celebrity was too much for him after being rejected for so long. He found he could not live up to his new reputation as a literary pioneer. He began drinking heavily, and lost all sense of moral character. With his health ruined by alcohol, he died at his mother’s house in 1968. He was 47.
Kerouac left his entire estate"conservatively estimated at about $20 million"to his mother. When she died in 1973, her will transferred the estate to Kerouac’s third wife, Stella Sampas. All this appeared straightforward and legal until 1982, when Kerouac’s daughter suddenly showed up. Jan Kerouac was the daughter of Jack and his second wife. He denied that she was his, and although a blood test proved she was, had nothing to do with her his entire life. Regardless of how he felt, Jan was very much her father’s daughter. Not only was she the spitting image of him, but she was also a writer, having had two books published.
While Jan filed court papers against Stella, a writer named Gerald Nicosia"Kerouac’s biographer discovered that the will which Jack’s mother left everything to Stella, was a fake. While waiting for a judge to rule on the estate, Jan Kerouac, still her father’s daughter, drank herself to death. She was only 44.
Now if you are still with me, Jan’s will left any future judgment in her favor to the biographer Nicosia. This was then contested by Jan’s ex-husband, who suddenly shows up and launches his own lawsuit. Matters are more confused when Stella, who had previously faked Kerouac’s mother’s will, passes away. Since she had not been ruled against yet, the estate is transferred to all 5 of her siblings.
And before anyone gets too comfortable, Kerouac’s nephew Blake, a homeless drifter, appears with a letter from Jack Kerouac, stating he wishes his entire estate to go to Blake. Inexplicably, the letter turns out to be authentic.
This brings us to 2009, when a Florida state judge rules that the Kerouac’s mother’s will is indeed a forgery. Since most of the players in that case are deceased, the ruling has little effect. Another judgment of just who is actually entitled to the monetary holdings of the estate is set for sometime next year. Who knows what the outcome will be, what new claimants will appear, or more importantly, what Kerouac’s true wishes really were.
