Man in the Woods and other great reads

This one gets a big thumbs-up.

Jean Spencer enrolled in the memoir-writing class I teach back in 2006, shortly after her husband Charlie died. “I was feeling low,” she said. “I hoped maybe your class would help.” Hanni and I walked Jean to her bus stop after class that day, and along the way I asked her about her kids. She has two children, Michael and Lisa, from her first marriage, and Charlie had a son, too. “Charlie’s son Scott is a writer,” she said. “His newest book just came out. “ When I asked her what sort of stuff Scott Spencer writes, I heard a quiet little laugh. “You might know one of his books,” she said. “Endless Love?”

Yes. that Endless Love. The Endless Love that sold over 2 million copies. The book that sparked the famous Brooke Shields movie and Diana Ross song (although neither one has much at all to do with Scott Spencer’s original bestseller).

Jean Spencer is still in my memoir-writing class, and before I left for the Seeing Eye in November she urged me to get an audio copy of Scott’s latest book, Man in the Woods. She described the book something like this: A guy named Paul is taking a quiet walk in the woods. He comes across a recluse beating his dog. Paul tries to intervene. The man won’t listen. Paul resorts to violence himself. He accidently kills the recluse. “It’s fantastic,” Scott’s biggest fan Jean told me.

Hmm. I was dubious. But it turns out Jean wasn’t the only smart reader who liked this book so much. The New York Times published a favorable review. So did Publisher’s Weekly. After hearing Terry Gross gush over Man in the Woods during a Fresh Air interview with Scott Spencer, I decided to give it a try.

The rest of the book is not what you’d expect. Paul isn’t exactly on the run from the law – no one seems to care that this man has died. But the reality of what Paul has done sinks in, and his secret about the murder affects Paul and everyone around him. The dog is the only witness to the crime, and even though Paul realizes the dog could be used as evidence, he also realizes the dog has been through enough. So he keeps the dog, names him Shep, and Shep becomes his confessor. Like my friends over at The Bark magazine like to say, “Dog is my Co-Pilot.” And a note from an insider: Scott Spencer’s wonderful stepmother tells me the author has three dogs at home, and one of them is named…Shep!

I stayed up until three o’clock in the @*#)* morning finishing Man in the Woods.. The ending did not disappoint. This is the third Scott Spencer book I’ve read, and for sure my favorite. So many of the characters were perfectly flawed in such a real-life way. And speaking of perfectly flawed: with Harper attached to me for most of the read, I found myself thinking, well, hey, maybe Paul didn’t do such a bad thing, sacrificing a swindler to save poor Shep from all that abuse.

An intense book. And while I loved the intensity, I knew I needed a break from it, too. Last week a good friend from my Easter Seals job suggested Crossing California, a witty novel by Adam Langer about all-American Jewish teenagers coming of age in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago in 1978 and 1979. Crossing California was Langer’s debut novel, and just like Scott Spencer, Langer left Chicago for New York years ago. I’m only in the first chapters of Crossing California, but am already enjoying the half-forgotten history and pop culture references to Astroturf, bean bag chairs and…cassette tapes.

It’s only this past year that I gave up listening to books on cassette tape. I’ve joined the 21st century, downloading books from audible.com and the National Library Service’s Talking Book program. And while I still miss the romance of making music tapes for parties and friends back in the late 70s, fading one song into the next, carefully selecting tunes so that the ebb and flow of the music would be just exactly right, well, I gotta say: I love downloading these books! And thanks to all you sighted folks out there listening to books on iPods and mp3 players, the market has grown. Publishers are providing oh so many more audio books for all of us to enjoy, and I can usually download them right when they come out in print, no more waiting like in the old days.

And so, if any of you out there have any book suggestions, please leave them here in the comments section. I’m all ears.

Audio and Braille Books

South Carolina was swell. Our presentation at my sister Bobbies’ Book Club was well-received, and it was downright refreshing to go outside without a parka and boots on.

It would’ve been hard to return to cold and windy Chicago if we didn’t know Mike was there waiting for us. And to add icing, pardon the weather pun, to the cake, there was also a VERY cool new blog comment waiting at home on my talking computer. It was a response to Hanni’s Happy Birthday blog:
“I am a 26 year old totally blind musician from New York. I’m thinking about getting
a guide dog as soon as I get a place of my own…”

This blogging thing is cool. The musician went on to ask where she could get copies of my book. It made me think, gee, now might be a good time to blog about how folks can get copies of both “Long Time, No See’ and “Safe & Sound” in special formats for the blind. The following is “borrowed” directly from my web site:
“Long Time, No See” is available free of charge on cassette or in Braille from the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically handicapped (NLS).
Through a national network of cooperating libraries, NLS circulates Braille and audio materials postage-free to those prevented from reading due to blindness or physical handicap.

Eligible borrowers can contact NLS and ask for call numbers RC56482 (cassette) or BR14821 (Braille).

Please note that NLS cassettes are recorded on a slower speed and are unusable on standard tape players. If you do not have a special NLS tape player and feel you qualify for the NLS program, special tape players can be obtained by phoning the national Library Service for the Blind and Physically handicapped at:
1-888-NLS-READ (1-888-657-7323). More information is also available at
http://www.loc.gov/nls

As for the children’s book, Blue Marlin Publications has teamed up with Seedlings Braille Books for Children to produce a number of copies of “Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound” in a special print-Braille (no pictures) format. Braille words appear directly under the printed words, providing visually-impaired children and their sighted parents a wonderful way to enjoy learning Braille. Print-Braille books are also very popular with blind adults (or older children) who enjoy reading to sighted preschoolers.

To order a copy of “Hanni And Beth: Safe & Sound” in print-Braille, link to
http://www.seedlings.org.
Back to me. I was extremely pleased when my friends at Blue Marlin Publications decided to donate a portion of the proceeds from sales of the standard print-only version of Hanni and Beth: Safe & Sound to Seedlings Braille Books for Children. Blue Marlin’s generosity will help this non-profit, tax-exempt organization continue providing high quality, low cost Braille books for children.

Land of Lincoln, Land of Libraries

Just got back from Springfield, Illinois where Hanni and I gave a presentation at the Illinois Library Association Conference. My friend Jenny chauffeured me to Springfield and back. She works at The Book store in Glen Ellyn, IL. The Bookstore received a special advance order of “Hanni and Beth: Safe & sound” – Jenny carted a boxload along to sell after my presentation.
It was a 3+ hour drive, and we arrived in Springfield Tuesday night just in time to grab some snacks at the hotel bar. And guess what? Wine and beer is cheaper in Springfield than it is in Chicago. We had fun! Hanni enjoyed her time, too, snatching the kernels of popcorn that’d fall on the floor from time to time.
The next morning Jenny, Hanni and I visited the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum before heading back to the conference to give my talk. My session was called “More Than Meets the Eye: Teaching Children about Blindness” and librarians from all over the state were in the audience. I was especially happy to find out that some of the audience members were from the Library of Congress Talking Book Service.
I first found out about the National Library Service Talking Book program back in 1985, while I was in the hospital enduring surgeries the doctors hoped would save my eyesight.
A hospital social worker brought me a big plastic box one day—it was the size and weight of a Chicago phone book. Twenty years later, I still use that oversized tape recorder from the Library of Congress to listen to books.
All I have to do to get books on tape is email my Talking Book librarian to order them. The National Library Service tapes are mailed to me in special containers. When I finish listening I simply flip an address card on the container over and slip the whole thing into any normal mailbox to return it free of charge.
An essay I wrote earlier this year about the Talking Book Program won a contest in Woman’s Day magazine. The essay is featured on the American library Association’s “I Love Libraries” web site — you can check it out at www.ilovelibraries.org .
I am, and have always been, a huge fan of books and libraries, and it was a great feeling to be in Springfield surrounded by the people in Illinois who make the library system run as smoothly as it does.