Review: All Facts Considered by Kee Malesky

I, like most readers I know, am a huge fan of random facts and who better to deliver them to me than one of NPR's many reference librarians. Kee Malesky's book, "All Facts Considered," is written as a series of interesting facts grouped together under three main categories (History, Science, and Art). Each fact is explained in a few paragraphs or less. Malesky says that librarians have to be well versed in a wide range of facts because on any given day they are questioned about countless unrelated subjects. Now, that's an idea I can get behind. I majored in liberal arts - I appreciate a broad interest in knowledge and learning.

There's a great jacket quote from "Wait, Wait ... Don't Tell Me" host, Peter Sagal, saying in reference to his relationship with Malesky, "every one of us 'media figures' who appears smart or well prepared in public has somebody standing behind the curtains, knowledge at the ready, covering for our ignorance." Reading this book is like having a knowledge mouse perched in your pocket ready to dazzle friends and foes alike with interesting factoids. And you don't have to be a 'media figure' to enjoy the man behind the curtain - little old you can experience a sense of intellectual superiority through this "Essential Library of Inessential Knowledge."

I loved this book. I learned a lot and definitely refamiliarized myself with things I have known and forgotten. Malesky's chosen format makes this great for casual reference or an afternoon of nerdy reading. Bonus, every fact has at least one source listed that you may use to delve deeper into the subject. As the author states in her introduction to the source material, "the not-so-hidden agenda of any librarian is to get you to read."

While reading is great, one of the best parts of reading a book is discussing it and this one prompted several discussions for me. I even called my mom one night to have her look up a reference in a book I knew she had. We stayed up talking about it until late that night. But the best, I must say, was having this conversation with my grandmother:

Me: Are you familiar with Abelard and Heloise?
Her (questioning look): Yes.
Me (dubious): Well, I want to read this to you anyway. "[Abelard and Heloise] fell in love, had a child, and were married (secretly, and over her objections) to protect the advance of his career. Her family sought revenge and arranged to have him castrated. Heloise and Abelard fled Paris, each taking monastic vows, and rarely saw each other again. But they did correspond by letters..." (a beautiful and tragic letter follows)
Her: That's so sad. ... I thought you meant Heloise the cleaning lady.

My grandmother. She's the best. Following this conversation she told me I must give her this book when I finish. If that's not a topnotch recommendation I don't know what is.

Nonna's Review: Swamplandia by Karen Russell

My Nonna (it's Italian for grandmother which is weird because her family is German) is awesome. Seriously, upon meeting her you will wish that she was your grandmother. Nonna has a purse and a candy drawer from which she freely delivers gifts to her thirteen grandchildren, of whom I am obviously the best. She's 71, hysterical, and can do the Charleston like nobody's business. She also reads books and talks to me about them.

This is what she had to say about Karen Russell's "Swamplandia"

It was very different. A little suspense in there and a tiny bit of romance, not really romance but sweet moments, even between the sisters. I thought it was well written. It was just so different that it kept my interest - after the first 20 pages or so I really got more into it and it was hard to put it down. You really didn't know what was going to happen in the end. It was one of the first books in a long time I hadn't read the end first and I couldn't figure out what was going to happen. I really liked the way it ended. It was just different; I've never read one really like it. The story was told by a twelve year old girl. I was impressed once I got into it. I really enjoyed it; it just didn't catch me right off. I would recommend it to both young adults and older adults. It's a good book for anyone who likes to read for pleasure.

I know that's piqued your interest, so here's a basic sysnopsis of the book from Goodreads:

The Bigtree alligator wrestling dynasty is in decline—think Buddenbrooks set in the Florida Everglades—and Swamplandia!, their island home and gator-wrestling theme park, is swiftly being encroached upon by a sophisticated competitor known as the World of Darkness. Ava, a resourceful but terrified twelve, must manage seventy gators and the vast, inscrutable landscape of her own grief. Her mother, Swamp landia!’s legendary headliner, has just died; her sister is having an affair with a ghost called the Dredgeman; her brother has secretly defected to the World of Darkness in a last-ditch effort to keep their sinking family afloat; and her father, Chief Bigtree, is AWOL. To save her family, Ava must journey on her own to a perilous part of the swamp called the Underworld, a harrowing odyssey from which she emerges a true heroine.