The London Restoration

Finished November 17

The London Restoration by Rachel McMillan

This novel takes place in the fall of 1945, with some flashbacks to earlier times during World War II. The two central characters are a married couple who must find their way emotionally to each other. They got married during the war and have only had a few visits since then, and have never lived together. Diana Somerville (nee Foyle) is a student of architecture, church architecture in particular. She loves the churches of Christopher Wren, but is interested in all churches. She is therefore a fount of information on the churches. Brent Somerville, her husband is a professor of theology at King's College in London. His specialty is the gospels by the apostles. The two met in a churchyard, where he was eating lunch and sketching his surrounding and she was admiring the architecture and made the first move in their relationship by approaching him. 

During the war, knowing that she would be bored by many of the tasks available to young women, one of Diana's professors recommended her for secret work at Bletchley Park. They preferred single women, so even though she recently married Brent, she signed up under her maiden name. There she worked on breaking codes, using her knowledge of German and other skills from her education. Brent knew that she worked for the Foreign Office, but wasn't aware of her secret work. He worked as a medic and orderly, transporting wounded, and near the end of the war was wounded himself. He still has trauma related to his experiences and hasn't shared the extent of his PTSD with Diana. 

At the end of the war, Diana's superior Simon asked her to do some work for him relating to a new challenge that he sees for the country, the threat of communism and Russian tactics. She has gone to Austria on this mission for two weeks, missing Brent's homecoming. 

With Brent not aware of what she has been doing, nor of what she was away in Austria for, there is a barrier that has been raised between them. With Brent not sharing his own war experiences, there is also a barrier from his end. The young couple are very much in love, and very smart people, but they must feel their way into this new phase of their relationship. 

When you add that Diana's recent actions may put them in danger, this novel offers a lot of suspense. I hadn't read this Canadian author prior to this and enjoyed the book.
 

Hawksmoor

Finished February 14
Hawksmoor by Peter Ackroyd, performed by Derek Jacobl

The novel moves back and forth between the early 1700s, where Nicholas Dyer, assistant to Sir Christopher Wren is tasked with building six churches in London, many of the rebuilt following the Great Fire, and the 1980s, where the London detective Nicholas Hawksmoor is investigating a series of uncanny murders on the premises of old churches. Hawksmoor struggles to make sense of the murders, and of the lack of any clues as to the identity of the perpetrator.
He finds himself drawn back in history and in the idea of religion in his search for motive. This is a story of character and of atmosphere. We learn a lot about Dyer, about his childhood, the loss of his family, and of his struggle to survive following that. We learn of his lifelong feeling of being apart, a man who builds churches, but doesn't have faith, or at least not for what one would expect. His nature is mephitic and his churches all have a dark secret at their center.
As the book moves back and forth, I often found myself unsure which time period I was in at any given time, and this is part of the book's nature. As Hawksmoor delves into the murders, he finds the world around him less distinct, and only the elements that don't belong to his time seem real, the tramps, the urchin children playing in the streets, and the historic buildings.
I felt the historic time strongly, with more of my senses, as Ackroyd used the details of history to bring this time to life. Dyer's words are of his time, and yet they flowed for me, seeming a bit formal but not unnatural. His wording sometimes took me a moment to understand the meaning as the words were less familiar, or used in ways different than today.
I read this book to follow the David Bowie book club promoted through his son, and this was the quickest copy I could get hold of. I have now bought a physical book version, which I will read to savour the story and words, to stop and think about what is going on, and to appreciate good writing.

If Venice Dies

Finished December 12
If Venice Dies by Salvatore Settis. translated by Andre Naffis -Sahely

Settis is an Italian art historian, and this book looks at not only the unique city that Venice is, but also at the nature of cities, their worth, and their future. With the rise of theme attractions based on cities does the original city lose its worth? Does it become an open air museum only populated by tourists who don't immerse themselves in true city life. Do cities like Venice become too expensive for ordinary people to live, priced out by those looking for trendy second home and by hotels. Is the city more than the sum of its parts. Does it have a soul.
Does the growing globalization of the world mean that cities become more and more like each other and lose their unique nature made up of their history, architecture, art, and culture. What are the responsibilities of governments at all levels to keep this from happening.
Settis is passionate about Venice in particular, and about retaining the culture each city has in general. He shows us how Venice has lost its citizens, now having only one resident for every 140 visitors. He talks about the power of money over culture and how and why we need to stand up for what is being lost, not only in Venice, but elsewhere.
An interesting read, sometimes becoming an academic lecture, but full of passion and knowledge.

Better Library and Learning Space

Finished May 30
Better Library and Learning Space: Projects, Trends, and Ideas edited by Les Watson

This book has contributions from 25 authors including Watson and covers public, academic, and school libraries. While the focus is on space, not services, several contributors touch on service issues. Part 1 looks at projects and trends with chapters focusing on libraries in the UK, US, China, Hong Kong, Europe, and Australasia. UK trends included open plans, technology-rich environments and increased opportunities for self-help. US case studies focused on renovations to older buildings, and trends included the need for flexible space, technology storage, modular furniture, connectivity and power sources, adjustable lighting, and security systems. The Chinese case studies discussed the different cultural history, and the gradual movement away from a book focussed environment. In Hong Kong the focus was the move towards outcome-based curriculum, technology, and interactive spaces. In Europe, libraries in the Netherlands and Germany were looked at, with strong conceptual designs as the focus. In Australia, the case studies included both urban and remote libraries and focused on social cohesion and gathering spaces, the relationship to the environment and technology, and the acknowledge of indigenous cultural.
Part 2 is a focused look at trends. The first chapter here looked at technology and change and asked the interesting question "What is the next form of technology that is the library?" a twist from the traditional way of thinking about technology and libraries. Topics included BYOD, big data, and robots as well as the move from technology in operational needs to technology in terms of user needs. The second chapter looked at digital and media literacy and discussed a participatory culture of learning. Chapter three looked at issues around library spaces. A survey reported that the top space issues were HVAC issues and noise. There was a nice quote from John Ruskin here "We seek two things of our buildings. We want them to shelter us. And we want them to speak to us." leading to a discussion on the need for areas of silence and solitude as well as areas for communal and collaborative activity. Noted here were the use of colour and graphics in addition to book stacks and furniture to define spaces. In discussing the now common reference to libraries as a third space, they noted that this is a combination of first and second places in creating a space of work, leisure, and learning with the feeling of home. The final chapter in this section looked at using a combination of rational and intuitive decision-making when designing spaces, consulting as widely as possible, and building for the future rather than the past. Mentioned here is a PEST analysis (Political, Economic, Social, and Technological) which was new to me. They suggested doing "day in the life" analyses for each type of user and staff member to show how they used new features. They also advocated for using temporary solutions as experiments. I was happy to see that we'd done a lot of these things at my library as we took new looks at our space and how to use it.
Part 3 is a collection of essays on different views of the future library. I found this section a real mix with some very academic writing and some more approachable. There were many different ideas raised here. One spoke of activity-led space usability approaches with a connection to library's USP (unique service proposition. They defined this USP as build and curate collections and disclose objects in those collections to people in support of public policy, specifically to disclose knowledge to users to enable learning in its many forms. Their view was that everything libraries do should derive from this. One writer brought up the issue of dynamic conservatism, the fight to remain the same and how it can slow change in libraries. Public service has seen move evolutionary change than revolutionary change, and this issue was illuminated with a 1980 quote from Peter Drucker "The greatest danger in times of turbulence, is not the turbulence, it is to act with yesterday's logic." Another writer looked as some examples from the Netherlands to show how architecture and community worked to connect with books in different ways at the Amsterdam Public Library and through the Architecture of Public Knowledge initiative. Another writer looked at the concept of P21 (Partners for 21st Century Skills) with a focus on information and media literacy, taking image as a starting place and using mashups and creative partnerships to move in a new direction. I liked the Steelcase scape table here. They did note that you need to be careful not to repackage analog associations in a digital form. Another view was that of the transformation from a 2D age to a 3D age. In 2D, the textbook is at the center with creativity curtailed by books, guidelines, and curricula like a giant human copier without passion. A 3D age has people learning from each other, bringing passionate talent with access to information. This age is about lifelong learning as an integral part of life. Other views included reconfigurable spaces to serve a multiplicity of functions, varied spaces, collaborative and social spaces, the importance of observational research, the concept of community, and acknowledgement of sightlines and circulation routes. Of prime importance was customers' interaction with staff, minimizing the front of house to eliminate old style fortress desks and move to integrated help points. Flexibility seems to be a common theme from space to furniture to displays.
I found the book had lots of interesting ideas that will lend themselves to any library space project.

Arsène Schrauwen

Finished June 6

Arsène Schrauwen by Olivier Schrauwen

This graphic novel tells the story of a period in the life of the author's grandfather. He left Belgium to go to an unnamed tropical Belgian colony where he joined a cousin of his.
On the way over by ship, he met a strange older man who warned him of various dangers associated with the country he was going to. These warning stuck with him and he adjusted his behaviour to a radical degree to avoid these dangers.
His cousin had an idea for a planned ideal community that would be build out by itself, and when his cousin had a medical emergency, Arsène was asked to take the lead on the trip with all the construction team to the chosen location and get things going. Arsène was drawn to his cousin's wife, whose father was funding the project, and fantasized about her.
The trip was not an easy one and Arsène encountered many of the dangers he was warned of along the way, but managed to avoid any long-term effects. 
Warning: contains graphic sexual content.

Very Interesting Read

Finished February 11
The Last Days of Old Beijing by Michael Meyer
This is a fascinating read, looking not just as the current day situation of architecture and urban planning (or lack thereof) in Beijing, but also at the history of the architecture of the city.
Meyer includes an extensive bibliography for further reading as well.
Meyer lived in a room in old courtyard housing in the Dazhalan area of Beijing, to better understand what was being lost with the destruction of these neighbourhoods. He found an active community that interacted with each other and knew their neighbours. Meyer volunteered to teach English at the local grade school and thus became part of the life of the neighbourhood. He made friends and gained insight into the people's lives. When necessary to better understand lives, he visited the areas that migrant workers came from, or followed workers as they did their work.
I learned so much about China, its people and its history.

Architecture

Finished December 13
50 Architects You Should Know
This is a good overview of the leading architects through history, arranged in historical order. It gives brief information about the architect themselves as well as the major buildings that they designed.
The pictures included are good quality and help to show the architect's work, but could have used more complete captions. I found that I sometimes had trouble orienting myself, especially when there was more than one picture of a building.
I would have liked to see more pictures, at least of all the buildings discussed for each architect. I found that when a building was discussed, yet no pictures included, I would have to go elsewhere to find out what the building looked like.
I also found the timelines not as useful as they could be, partly due to lack of explanation. The timelines ran across the top of every architect page, and included various historical events and lifetimes of artists, architect and designers. Sometimes I could see relationships between events and the architect whose page they were and sometimes not. Sometimes I could see influences cited to the artists and architects whose timelines appeared on an architect's page, sometimes not. But no pages included the life timeline for the given architect as part of this information. Separate information was given in a sidebar, but a life timeline would have made sense.
A good book to start with, but you will definitely want to use other sources of information as well.