Welcome again to Page Turn: the Largo Public Library Podcast. Today’s podcast is a little longer than usual. In today’s Library Tidbit Largo Poet Laureate Wayne S. Williams took time out of his day to come in a give an interview. I hope you enjoy it. Please subscribe and tell your friends!
The Spanish Language Book Review begins at 1:04:55 and ends at 1:08:15
The English Language Transcript can be found below
Episode five’s Reader’s Advisory is Juliet Takes a Breath by Gabby Rivera. If you like Juliet Takes a Breath you should also check out: Ruby Fruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown, When We Were Outlaws by Jeanne Cordova, and Lost Boi by Sassafras Lowry.
My personal favorite Goodreads list Juliet Takes a Breath is on is Lesbian Beach Reads
Today’s Library Tidbit comes to us from Wayne S. Williams. Wayne works in the city’s marketing department and is also the City of Largo’s very first Poet Laureate. Thanks for coming on the pod Wayne. You can find Wayne’s book here or at the Largo Public Library call number 811.54.
Here are a few links to some poets Wayne mentioned and some links to other poetry performances.
Walt Whitman’s Specimen Days
Ken Nordine’s Webpage
Three Poems by Billy Collins performed by Billy Collins
Thomas Lux discussing poetry
ASL Poetry
Louder Than a Bomb Poetry Documentary
Rupi Kaur reading her own poetry
The 50 Best Ambient Albums
If you want to read some poetry head to call number 811.
Here is the English Language Transcript for Viajero de Libros, or Book Traveler:
This month’s book is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
First, a small synopsis of the book:
Using the excuse of Islamic terrorism, some theocratic politicians seize power and, as a first step, suppress freedom of the press and women’s rights. This disturbing plot, which could well be found in any current work, belongs to a novel written by Margaret Atwood in the early eighties, in which the famous Canadian author anticipated with a striking premonition a latent threat in the world today.
In the Republic of Gilead, the body of Offred only serves to procreate, imposed on her by the iron rules established by the Puritan dictatorship that dominates the country. If Offred rebels – or if she can not conceive – she faces death in public execution or exile to the Colonies where she will face a slow death due to toxic waste. Thus, the regime controls even the most intimate details of women’s lives: their diet, their clothing, their sexual activity. But no one, not even a despotic government can govern the thought of a person. And much less her desire.
Of all the dystopians that I have read, this is the one that has given me the most fear because this story (as the author herself says in the prologue) has little speculation. This is not the future. It’s the past, it’s the present. It is the reality of women. To a greater or lesser extent, but it is. It was. It will be.
Because this story warns us of something very basic that sometimes we forget: all those rights that we enjoy and that seem eternal and inviolable, in reality it is very easy for them to disappear if we do not defend them. If we get distracted. If we let them take them away from us. And there will always be someone who wants to take them from us.
It is written in a direct and heartbreaking way, poetic and almost allegorical. Each page is like a punch to the stomach. And yes, it is a feminist book. It is a book where women are the central characters, where their problems and their rights (or lack of them) are what move the plot.
The only “problem” I have with the novel is the end. I still do not know what I think, whether I like it or not. I do not mean the epilogue (which seems bright to me), but at the end of the maiden’s story. Do I thank you after so much drama? Do I believe it? Do I want to believe it? You need to decide for yourselves.
Apart from that, it is a great novel, as much a dystopia as a drama.
That is all for today. See you in the next edition of “Book Traveler”. Bye.
Thanks everyone for listening some upcoming library events to keep track of:
September 4 Ancestry Family Trees Pt 1 at 6:00pm in Local History Room
September 5 Introduction to Email and Internet at 3:00pm in the Computer Lab
September 6 Wii Warriors at 2:30pm in the Teen Room
September 10 Poets Live! At 6:30pm in the 1st Floor Quiet Reading Room
September 11 Learn a New Language with Pronunciator at 3:00pm in Jenkins Room A
September 12 Basic Microsoft Word 2013 at 3:00pm in the Computer Lab
September 13 English Conversation Club at 1:30 pm in Classroom 1
September 17 Classic Guitar from Around the World at 6:00pm in Jenkins Room B
September 19 Adult Sign Language at 6:00pm in Jenkins Room C
September 24 Cooking the Teen Way at 5:00pm in the Teen Room
September 24 Issues that Matter: Book Discussion and Food Drive at 6:00pm in Jenkins Room C
September 27, 28, 29 Friends’s of the Largo Library Book Sale in the Jenkins Room
Have a great day everyone we hope to talk to you again soon!
For everyone interested our intro music is by Break the Bans and the outro music is by Jahzzar, both artists can be found on Free Music Archive.
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