The Truro Bear and Other Adventures by Mary Oliver

The poetry of Mary Oliver speaks to my soul.

Simple. Profound. Wise. Compassionate. Beautiful.

In honor of National Poetry Month, I wanted to share a collection of poems and essays by my favorite poet with you. Mary Oliver, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, has many published poems under her belt, but my favorite collection is “The Truro Bear and Other Adventures.”

Although originally from the Midwest, Mary’s poetry is heavily steeped in her adopted home of New England. Greatly influenced by Thoreau, she is known for her clear and poignant observances of the natural world. Her poems are filled with imagery from her daily walks near her home in Provincetown, Massachusetts: bears, moles, snakes, spiders, porcupines, humpback whales, hermit crabs, and, of course, her dog Percy (named for the beloved poet). Also featured in this collection is, “The Poet Goes to Indiana,” where she observes coyotes, deer, horses, and an owl – “such a fine time [she] had teaching in Indiana.”

I wish you many hours of pleasurable reading, exploring the natural world out your door with Mary Oliver. Be sure to chat with me on "Poem in Your Pocket Day" and I will be happy to share my favorite Mary Oliver poem with you.

Still Life by Louise Penny

I initially picked up Still Life by Louise Penny for Mondays are Murder, TCPL's newest mystery discussion group. Then something magical happened, I fell in love with the bucolic village of Three Pines and Armand Gamache, Penny's calm, courtly, thoughtful, compassionate and strong detective.

Set in the Canadian province of Quebec, Still Life features many hallmarks of a British whodunit, including murders by unconventional means, bucolic villages, large casts of suspects, red herrings, and a dramatic disclosure of the murderer in the last few pages of the book. Penny has been compared to Agatha Christie, and while there is a surface resemblance, Penny's novels delve deeper into characters and the darkness within. Her villains are regular people - they blend in, they're you and me and people we know. And that's the horror. Not that we're betrayed and attacked by perfect strangers, but that the attack comes from within.

And all this is happening in a perversely idyllic setting, making the darkness all the more stark. Three Pines is a tiny village in Quebec, close the border with Vermont. It's part French and part English, as is Quebec. Many say that Canada is not an exotic enough locale for U.S. readers - but Penny's novels do very well here. She says part of the appeal is the "French fact - It's romantic and gracious, the food is different, the culture is different... and yet it's close enough and familiar enough that Americans can relate." As a resident of a small village in Quebec herself, Penny's insight into the bilingual, bicultural aspect of Quebecois life rings true.

Another appeal is Penny's detective. Still Life introduces Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec and his team of homicide detectives. According to Penny, Gamache is partly based on her husband and partly on her idealized man. "He was created because I never wanted to tire of my main character... I needed someone I would choose to spend perhaps the rest of my life with. And so I intentionally created a man I would choose to marry. Superficially he was inspired by the heroes I had growing up. My grandfather, who taught me poetry, Walt Disney, Ben Cartwright, Walter Cronkite. Middle aged men who have a calm, and a decency." Gamache is a man with a moral center. A man who, while flawed, will always try to do the right thing, rather than the easy thing.

There is much to enjoy in Still Life - including a deftly plotted traditional mystery. I hope you enjoy your visit to Three Pines as much as I did!

Happy reading-
Sarah

Travel Trends, Helping Hands

Learning vacations and volunteer vacations are rising in popularity. People are turning to more hands-on, helping vacations, realizing that travel can be more than just luxury and consumption. Some new guides just out focusing on this type of travel include:

Volunteer Vacations Across America: Immersion Travel USA by Sheryl Kayne profiles more than 200 domestic programs for travelers of all ages and stages of life.

Volunteer Vacations: Short-Term Vacations That Will Benefit You and Others by Bill McMillon: is a comprehensive gathering of opportunities around the world for combining traveling and volunteering for participation in projects and organizations to aid in improving the welfare of the impoverished.

National Geographic's 100 Best Volunteer Vacations to Enrich Your Life includes listings for opportunities to excavate ancient artifacts in Colorado, monitor climate change on the Arctic Circle, and deliver food to children in Haiti.

Focus on Indiana

If you are an outdoor enthusiast:

Paddle Indiana, a guide to canoeing and kayaking in Indiana, is a must see. As is Nature Walks in Southern Indiana and Nature Walks in Northern Indiana, which offer suggested outings for both veteran and novice hikers.

National Geographic Guide to State Parks lists Indiana state parks as well as state parks in the Great Lakes region. For each park the guide lists what to see and do while at the park as well as camping and lodging details.

Focus on Indiana

For the traveler who enjoys local history:

My Indiana by Earl Conn started as a newspaper column, "Traveling Indiana," in the Muncie Star Press, and was compiled to create this travel companion to 101 interesting sites to see in Indiana. The sites are a mixture of highly visited Hoosier travel destinations and many little known nooks and corners around the state - including museums, state parks, historic sites, monuments, recreation areas, and more.

A great guide to historical Indiana is Alan McPherson's Journeys to the Past: A Traveler's Guide to Indiana State Historical Markers, which contains the driving directions and text to nearly 500 roadside markers that have been installed and maintained by the Indiana Historical Bureau. With this guide, you can easily find the locations of historical markers for Dan Patch, the famous racehorse, the Ohio River Lewis and Clark Expedition launch, and the birthplace of Wilbur Wright.

Focus on Indiana

There are several guides out there for the traveler who enjoys the offbeat:

Indiana Curiosities by Dick Wolfsie is for people who like the quirky, the offbeat, and the unusual. He profiles people and places you won't find in other guidebooks - like the Hair Museum, the Hallmark Ornament Museum, and the Exotic Feline Rescue Center.

Along these same lines is Weird Indiana by Mark Marimen - which, according to Mariman is a guide to Indiana's "best kept secrets, local legends, bizarre beasts, and more."

Focus on Indiana

We have many local and regional guidebooks available at the Library. Whatever your pleasure - there are guides for the foodie, the naturalist, the quirky traveler, the historian, and more!

Guides for the Food Lover:

Home Grown Indiana: A Food Lover's Guide to Good Eating in the Hoosier State by Christine Barbour and Scott Hutcheson. This is a guide to sources of local foods in Indiana. It highlights more than 400 producers, restaurants, farmers' markets, winemakers, brewers, and food festivals. In addition to profiles of Hoosiers who produce fabulous food in Indiana, the authors discuss topical issues such as grass-fed beef, raw milk, and pastured poultry and eggs and also include recipes from chefs who put local foods at the heart of their cooking.

While we're on the topic of food... Reid Duffy's Guide to Indiana's Favorite Restaurants is a culinary tour of restaurants all across Indiana and also includes a recipe sampler. He has a fun chapter on pubs, for example- if you wanted to go on a pub tour of Indiana.

Happy trails!