I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: ALICE RUSSELL-Tiny Desk Concert #288 (July 15, 2013).

I read the name Alice Russell and pictured some kind of folk artist.  Boy, was I surprised to see a woman with  bleached blonde hair, a leather jacket and a funny t-shirt.  And then her band started playing low groovy soulful music.

Turns out:

Russell is a classic soul-infused singer — close your eyes and it’s easy to hear a Southern drawl, but truth be told, she’s a Brit. American-style R&B from Britain has a long history dating back to the 1960s with Dusty Springfield and on up through 21st-century artists like Adele. As for Alice Russell, she’s been making great soul music for 10 years, and her arrangements on To Dust often include a dose of electronics.

I didn’t love her voice when the first song “To Dust” started.  But as soon as the chorus kicked in I was hooked–wow, what a great voice she has and with the full band playing behind her it sounded amazing (the sampled backing singers was a bit flat, but otherwise OK).  And by the second chorus, man she is belting out the song—it’s great.  The Adele comparisons are spot on.

Then she hit Bob’s gong at the end of the song and told us that it was an ode to the taxman.

“For a While” is a great big soul song.  The drummer gets some great sounds out of that one drum he has.  And they keys sound great too.  I love the middle part where there’s some seriously long pauses in between beats–they are all wonderfully in sync.  At the end of the song she yells “I didn’t gong!” and then makes a peculiar hand gesture about a turtle.

“Heartbreaker” has such a classic-sounding riff it’s hard to believe it’s a new song.  I like it a lot (although I don’t care for the chanted “when it falls, when it breaks” by the guys).

I have to agree with this blurb about her:

To Dust is Russell’s fifth album, but the hiatus that followed 2008’s Pot of Gold may be the reason too many people don’t yet know what she’s doing. This stuff is as powerful as the work of any American singer making soul music in the 21st century. If you haven’t heard of her yet, think of this as a well-overdue introduction.

[READ: May 15, 2016] I Kill the Mockingbird

I bought this book from the bookstore in Bethlehem, PA.  I don’t buy too many books these days but I saw this one in the PA authors section (and it was 20% off) and the title sounded intriguing.  So I grabbed it.

And I’m I glad I did. This book was outstanding.  I loved it from the first chapter and was thrilled that the ending was also very satisfying–not easy given the way the story was heading for a conclusion that could have gone in many different directions.

So what’s this about?  Well, there are three kids, Lucy Elena and Michael.  They are at the heart of the story.  I loved loved loved that these three were great friends who’d known each other forever.  And they were all big big big readers. Such an awesome start to a story.

The three of them all go to St Brigid’s school where Lucy’s dad is the principal.  Michael’s mom is a policewoman and Elena’s parents are dead so she lives with her uncle–a book store owner.  Lucy’s mom has recently battled cancer and is recovering at home.  (there’s a very sweet section where she says she was not battling cancer–she didn’t want to fight it.

Chapter Two introduces us to Fat Bob.  Fat Bob is a teacher who recently died (yup, lots of death in this book).  Everyone loved Fat Bob. He was their English teacher (and claimed to have been a professional wrestler).  Fat Bob used to write WWFBD? and would probably have just assigned them to read To Kill a Mockingbird.  But their new teacher has given them a pretty big list to choose from.

It turns out that Mockingbird is Lucy’s all time favorite book.  She has several passages memorized.  Since Elena’s uncle owner a bookstore, she is well versed in many books.  And even Michael comfortably talks about novels.

They talk about favorite opening scenes from books.  Michael argues that the opening to David Copperfield is genius and that Dickens novels are like roller-coasters–you have to enjoy the ride.  Elena argues that the opening if Charlotte’s Web is far better: “Where’s Papa going with that ax?”

But Michael is not swayed by axes.  he states that

Mobs would gather at the station waiting for Dickens’ next installment.
Mobs?
A mob.  A horde.  A multitude.  A throng.

Michael is also a baseball player–a very good one.  And that subplot plays into the story as does the fact that Elena tells Lucy that Michael likes her (Lucy).  They have been friends forever, but Lucy is realizing that she really like him too.

Lucy’s mother’s cancer does not become a plot point per se, but it does inform the story and really helps to flesh out Lucy–I loved her mother’s attitude.

But the main plot has to do with To Kill a Mockingbird. Lucy loves the book and feel that everyone would love it if they would just read it.  So she and her friends (with inadvertent help from a mall book store employee) decide to do some creative accounting of the novel.  They decide to move all the copies of the book to different places in the store–hidden behind other books or under things–never stealing anything, just moving.  This will make the inventory seem incorrect and that they would have to buy more.  And they keep doing it.  Then they created a website ikillthemockingbird.com about the missing books which slowly gained media attention.

Their website talks about their project–no details of course–but they want to make sure people know that they are doing this to get people to read the book–it is not meant to give people license to steal.

And it catches on–really big!  Wil Wheaton blogs about it and some other authors get involved too.

And then they lean that Mockingbird copies in other states are going missing as well.  It becomes a nationwide sensation.

Some very funny moments involve a wiener dog with the name of a Norse god, and the mention of Chuck Wendig, Cory Doctorow and Neil Gaiman.

But there are also some really sweet and tender moments like the scene where Lucy’s mom talks to her about her cancer.  She tells Lucy that she is going to die–not today, probably not tomorrow but some day–and she intends to live during the time she has left.

I also thought that Michael’s thoughts about wanting something were pretty great: When you want something it’s like admitting that your life has a hole in it.

But back to the plot–the plan is gaining traction and may even be spiraling out of control–how are they going to stop it if it has gotten so big? There were several ways this book could have gone and I am delighted in the way that he chose.

I stayed up really late to finish it and didn’t want to put the book down.  I will now of course have to read more by this author.

Especially since the end of the book features a Q&A with Acampora, and he seems genuinely funny and a nice guy.  And the story about what happened on the day his first book was published is really wonderful.