A memoir of a World War II aviator

When I visited Seattle earlier this year, I had the chance to see the Museum of Flight. It was the first time that I spent any time in museum focusing on airplanes.

There was one fighter airplane that people could crawl into. I watched several young children get into it and have their picture taken. I was amazed at how small the sitting space was. I had no desire to squeeze into the cockpit. I feel claustrophobic just sitting in the seat of a passenger plane.

That visit sparked my interest in World War II history. What type of person would actually volunteer to be a fighter pilot?

Samuel Hynes helps answer that question. I happened across his autobiography, Flights of Passage: Reflections of a World War II Aviator.

Samuel Hynes grew up in Minnesota, dreaming of flying airplanes. At eighteen, he left Minnesota and began his career as a Marine bomber pilot. He flew more than a hundred missions against the Japanese at Okinawa and Ulithi.

What surprised me about Hynes is how he seems to almost downplay his role in WW II.

If you have any interest in World War I and II, be sure to plan a trip to the Museum of Flight and check out this book.

Flights of Passage is on the second floor under the call number 940.5426 HYN.


c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Women artists have been underappreciated

If you asked people on the street to quickly list the women artists they know, you might not get too many. Georgia O'Keefe and Mary Cassatt might be mentioned because of all the calendars their artwork graces.

Even I really didn't know many until I worked as an intern at the Sioux City Art Center years ago. I was asked to put together a presentation on the history of women artists. I was very thankful that I had A History of Women Artists by Hugo Munsterberg to use. By the time I finished the project, I felt like I had completed another course in art history.

The book is a wonderful overview. However, there are some disadvantages. It was published in 1975, which means that several influencial current artists are not mentioned. Also, few reproductions are in color. But like I mentioned, it's still a good book that ranges from the Middle Ages to the mid 1970s. Prehistoric is also covered - but it would be difficult to identify any art piece being created by a woman.

A History of Women Artists can be found on the second floor under the call number 709.2 MUN.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

April showers bring ... April flowers

Just like everyone else I know, the flowers around the house are looking very sad. All of the daffodils are in droopy arches with their flower heads touching the ground.

Not all flowers are like that right now, though.

This past week I went to Hartman Reserve. The hepatica and spring beauty are looking pretty good. If you're not familiar with those flowers, take time to look at Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands by Sylvan T. Runkel and Alvin F. Bull. This is a handy resource that I have used ever since I became interested in native wildflowers in 1990.

The book is very easy to use, with two pages devoted to each flower. The left page has a full-color photograph. The right page has the written information: when and when you can find the flower; how to identify the flower; and a little history on how the plant was used in the past - if it was food or medicine for the Indians or early settlers.

Wildflowers of Iowa Woodlands can be found on the second floor under the call number
582.13 RUN.

Oh, if you do happen to visit Hartman Reserve, be aware that the flowers blooming right now are very small and delicate - only a few inches tall. It takes a little detective work to find them poking between the old leaves blanketing the ground. Later in the spring, the larger, bolder flowers will be blooming.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

The "National Enquirer" is now available!

OK, admit it. You've flipped through the "National Enquirer" while waiting at the checkout. And for those who claim they never have, I wonder how many of you are in denial or just conveniently "forget." Well, at least I will confess that I have looked them over, and I've purchased a few over the years. After all, who doesn't want to know the latest on who the real father of Anna Nichole Smith's baby is? Now you can come to the library and read it from cover to cover at your leisure.

When you come into the library to read them, take a little time to find and check out The Untold Story by Iain Calder. Calder was the editor-in-chief of the "National Enquirer" for 20 years. Under his direction, the "Enquirer" changed from a collection of gory car crashes and murder victims to a magazine highlighting celebrities. This tell-all autobiography is as shocking as the magazine.

Both, the magazine and book, are on the second floor. After going up the stairs, the magazine will be to your right, filed alphabetically with the other magazines. The Untold Story is shelved under the call number 070.172 CAL.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

Does it feel like spring, time for baseball?

Well today, March 4, may not feel like spring since the website, Weather Underground, says it's only 20 degrees outsided, with a windchill of -1. Still we need to be optimistic about spring, because that means baseball is here. While looking through the sporting books, I came across a book that I think many of you might enjoy. It's "Anson to Zuber: Iowa Boys in the Major Leagues" by Jerry E. Clark.

Before opening up the book, I thought it would be arranged like most encyclopedias that talk about athletes alphabetically with all the stats listed. I was wrong. Each chapter is devoted to a different time period. It's written more like a magazine or newspaper article, with the athletes' names in bold print.

The index is divided into two parts: "Index of Baseball Personalities" and "Index of Iowa Cities and Towns". That's a feature I really liked. Since I've lived in the Waterloo area all of my life, I was curious about what was listed for northeast Iowa.

Oh, and don't overlook the introduction, either (something I do quite frequently, I hate to admit). There are about nine pages of overview of baseball's long history.

"Anson to Zuber: Iowa Boys in the Major Leagues" by Jerry E. Clark can be found on the second floor under the call number 796.357 CLE.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

The wacky world of competitive Scrabble

Word Freak

by Stefan Fatsis

One of my husband's family's Thanksgiving traditions, after the obligatory gorging, is to clear off a table and start a Scrabble game.

I can hold my own, but I'm seldom the grand winner. Maybe someday I'll remember to look up some more words that use the letters J,Q, and X so I don't get stuck with them at the end.

Imagine my surprise a few years ago when I came across the book "Word Freak." The tag line on the cover reads "Heartbreak, Triumph, Genius and Obsession in the World of Competitive Scrabble Players."

"Competitive Scrabble?!" I said to myself. I picked up the book and paged through it, and before long I knew I had to read this.

There's a whole Scrabble subculture out there -- people who obsessively play the game and memorize wordlists, traveling around the country to compete in tournaments.

Fatsis begins his journey through the Scrabble world as an unranked amateur, but joins in tournaments as part of his "research."

If you're the type who can create words like "DYSTOCIA" and "KNURS" on the board, this books is for you. (And if you're curious "Dystocia" means "difficult or abnormally painful childbirth, and "Knurs" is a "knot on the trunk of a tree."

Find this book on the 2nd floor, 793.734 FAT.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007

You had to be brave to be a settler

That Dark and Bloody River
by Allan W. Eckert.

Most of us today really have no understanding of what our ancestors went through to settle this country, nor do we ever really think about what white settlement patterns did to the Native American societies already living here.

The Shawnee, Mingo, Miamis, and Wyandot tribes, among others, were long-established in the Ohio River Valley. Villages were often found at the junctures of the Ohio and its numerous tributaries, and room was made for tribes, such as the Delawares, who were pushed west as European settlers took over their former lands in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania.

These tribes, used to dealing honorably, if not always peacefully, with one another were put under tremendous stress in dealing with the incoming settlers, most of whom didn't understand the Indians, and thought they were savages. Given the disgusting behavior of some of the settlers, that was the pot calling the kettle black.

The British, and later the United States government proved to be incapable of controlling the movements of their citizens, who consistently broke treaties that were made with the tribes. Although they tried for a time to live in peace with the incoming whites, the tribes eventually came to believe that they had to take a military stand and enforce the treaty boundaries.

They began to attack those who settled in their lands in violation of the treaties, and the relatively gruesome methods they used in these attacks terrified the white settlers. Soon the two groups were openly at war.

The British encouraged the fighting between the two groups, especially during and just after the Revolutionary War. They sent arms, ammunition and other supplies to the tribes to encourage them to continue fighting, hoping to weaken the newly-founded United States.

For an illuminating look at the struggles faced by both groups, I highly recommend this book. You can find it in the Non-fiction stacks on the 2nd floor, under 977 ECK.

c Waterloo Public Library 2007