Plymouth Staff Choices

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby
Adult Biography - Upper Level - Bauby

While “Elle” magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby was familiar with fashioning words for his articles, the creation of “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” was an altogether different undertaking. On December 8th, 1995 Bauby suffered a stroke that left him in a coma for 20 days. When Bauby awoke, he found that he had all his mental faculties in tact but he was suffering from “locked-in syndrome” which rendered him unable to move most of his body. It was from this state Bauby began working on this recollection of memories and his day-to-day struggles after the stroke. While the book itself is a lyrical testament to the power of the human mind, the creation of the book itself is nearly as interesting.

The entire book was written by Bauby blinking his left eyelid, which took ten months (four hours a day). A transcriber repeatedly recited a French language frequency-ordered alphabet (E, S, A, R, I, N, T, U, L, etc.), until Bauby blinked to choose the next letter. The book took about 200,000 blinks to write and an average word took approximately two minutes. With this laborious procedure Bauby was able to create an eloquent journal of his thoughts that captured his spirits unwillingness to let his condition destroy him. Unforutanetly Bauby died of pneuomnia two days after the release of his book. However, the book itself and the Academy Award nominated movie that spawned from it ensure that his spirit will live on.

For the film:

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Foreign Film DVD's - Main Level - DIV

The Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan.
Teen Zone New Fiction – Main Level - MCKERNAN

Adolescent Aiden Lynch and his younger sister Maddy are in dire straits on their Kansas farm in post Civil War America when they meet a charismatic stranger named Jefferson J. Jackson. Jackson is leading a wagon train to the west and offers them a place with the group in exchange for Aiden’s promise to work as a logger in Washington Territory. With their whole family deceased and almost certain death facing them due to starvation, Aiden and Maddy agree to join this adventure.

An adventure it is with interesting new friends, beautiful landscapes, sickness, accidents, harsh weather conditions, Indians, and smallpox also known as “the devil’s paint.” Along the way, Aiden makes friendships with Indians from the Nez Perce tribe and tries to help save them from smallpox. Meanwhile, Maddy finds herself wanting to become a doctor at a time when women were expected to keep their place and get married. Will these two very young Americans be able to achieve their dreams in spite of harsh realities?

The Devil’s Paintbox by Victoria McKernan is a very rich and deep novel. McKernan expertly ties a sad part of White/Native American history, the fact that Native Americans were not allowed to be vaccinated against smallpox during the post Civil War era, into the deep belly of her plot. This novel does not sugar coat how harsh life was for such pioneers as Aiden and Maddy who were basically facing the threat of death every single day of their lives. Still there is a hopefulness to the book in the fact that both teens find inner strength to cope with the demons that surround them. Their humanity is universal and will touch all readers because no matter what the time period is, we all face the same weaknesses of the human spirit. If you are a fan of thought-provoking historical fiction, then this is the novel for you.

The Flirt by Kathleen Tessaro
Adult Paperbacks – Upper Level – TESSARO

Imagine yourself finding that the spark has gone out of your marriage. You’d like to get things going again, but since part of the problem is that you’re not feeling amorous, either, you’re not sure where to start. If you are a man in London, enter the hired flirt, a “professional massager of the female ego”, who will conduct a chaste yet thrilling flirtation with your wife. She’ll start being excited about herself, and you’ll start being excited about her. On the other hand, if you are a woman in a similar position, you could visit Bordello, and have the proprietress make seductive yet subtle custom lingerie, such that you won’t look like you’re trying at all, but your husband will nevertheless find you irresistible.

These are the two businesses that we are introduced to at the beginning of this book, along with a mélange of characters. There’s Hughie, an out-of-work actor, applying for the job of professional flirt, and his love of the moment, Leticia Vane, proprietress of Bordello. Hughie’s running up a tab at the local café, where Rose, a young single mother, is the waitress. Sam, a regular there and a plumber is called to fix a problem at Bordello. Rose interviews for a household job at the home of Olivia, a rich and sad American, but Olivia takes her for an up-and-coming artist instead. Jonathan works for Olivia’s wife Arnaud, a tennis ball billionaire. Not only is Arnaud an impossible boss, but Jonathan’s wife Amy is pregnant for the fourth time and both of them are wondering what happened to their dream of domestic bliss. The interlocking characters and plot lines rise like beaten egg whites to make a delightful meringue of a book, filled with comic situations and bittersweet chocolate reflections on the messiness of love and the fleeting nature of romance.

Boys Will Be Boys By Jeff Pearlman
Adult Nonfiction - Upper Level - 796.322 P

The Dallas Cowboys of the 1990’s, a dynasty by any definition, put together one of the greatest championship runs in the history of professional sports by capturing 3 Super Bowl titles in 4 seasons. What led to their meteoric rise and similarly rapid decline are detailed in this excellent account by Jeff Pearlman. But this story has much more to do about what happened off the field than what actually occurred on it.

Rising from the ashes of a disastrous 1-15 campaign in 1989 was a young, fierce squad ready to conquer the league. Team owner Jerry Jones and head coach Jimmy Johnson assembled a young and talented roster that flourished on the field, but was fueled by the off the field lifestyle that came with being a Cowboy. Their all night partying, drug use, and womanizing are notorious, but these activities accurately portrayed the attitudes and beliefs of their owner, Jerry Jones. The team went so far as to purchase a large home in suburban Dallas, known as the White House, where teammates could openly engage in the debauchery that made them famous.

Despite all of this, the team thrived on the field. After back-to-back Super Bowl victories, Jimmy Johnson realized the tension between him and the owner was too much to handle, so he resigned. While the team was able to capture another Super Bowl with Barry Switzer at the helm, the Cowboys were never the same. The lifestyle that made them a dynasty also led to their downfall, ending literally in a pool of blood during the team’s training camp in 1998. The inside information gathered by Pearlman allows him to present a fully detailed account of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty. Highly recommended for any football fan.

Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Youth Fiction – Lower Level – Barry

For anyone looking for a story of magic and adventure, may I suggest Peter and the Starcatchers? This fast-moving adventure with a sense of humor takes us back to a time when Peter Pan was just Peter, an orphan with a dismal and probably short future. Peter, still the leader of a small gang of orphans, is being sent to a barbarian king on a faraway island, onboard a small and dingy ship. Also onboard is young Molly, apprentice Starcatcher. Apparently, when stars fall on earth, the starstuff causes magical mutations, often harmful, so that it must be removed from earth by the Starcatchers before it can cause too much damage. Sure enough, a large and leaky chest of starstuff features prominently in the plot, as does the evil Captain Stache and his pirate crew. The plot will keep you on the edge of your seat and the characters are charming and believable. The book, for me, restored the magic of Peter Pan that was missing when I reread the original, with its old-fashioned mores. It's an origin story well worth reading.