Eminem: Still the best!

Love him or hate him, Eminem aka Marshall Mathers, is arguably one of the most successful, and with that, most controversial rap artists in history. Not only is he one of the first white rappers to be accepted into the hip-hop community, his career is continually subjected to intense media scrutiny. Multi-million record sales and multiple Grammy wins aside, he has enjoyed widely-covered confrontations with pop stars, on-going lawsuit battles with his ex-wife and mother, and has been called everything from being gratuitously offensive and violent to being branded as a serial homophobe and a misogynist.

Needless to say, these are not the reasons why I love his music. I came to know Eminem’s music about eight years ago, when the soundtrack to the movie 8 mile first came out, and may I just say, that for someone like myself, whose rap knowledge was almost non-existent, I was completely struck by the level of intensity of the music, with its raw edginess, sung in an unapologetic, “in-your-face” defiance – never had I heard such a profound visceral quality in any popular form. And unlike some the other rap artists I’ve heard, nothing compares to Eminem’s enormously distinctive style: there is melody, form and structure. His rapping style is very unique: with his signature nasal quality, his rhyming patterns, speech rhythms and word alliterations - even when emphasizing syllables and word accents, are characteristically “Eminem” – stylistically distinctive and very musical.

Aside from the clever cover art -- his portrait constructed mosaic-like from all kinds of prescription pills – Relapse: Refill remains somewhat of an autobiographical saga: part truth, part fiction, peppered with personal revelations. As long-time friend and producer Dr. Dre states, “It’s hard core, it’s dark comedy, it’s what Eminem has always been…” On this 2-disc set, many tracks chronicle his near-destruction by prescription and non-prescription drugs. Some begin with spoken-dialogue vignettes or scenes that melodramatic, comedic, violent, or horror-filled in nature, which sets the stage for the song that follows. That said, some tracks are definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Finally, in the words of another great legend, whose duet with Eminem in “Stan” was by far, one of the most memorable opening numbers in the history of the Grammy Awards ceremonies, Elton John sums it up brilliantly:

“Eminem is a true poet of this time, someone we’ll be talking about for decades to come. He tells stories in such a powerful and distinctive way. As a lyricist, he’s one of the best ever. Eminem does for his audience what Dylan did for his: He writes how he feels. His anger, vulnerability and humor come out. That’s why we look forward to listening to Eminem’s lyrics and finding out where the hell he’s headed next.”

Downloadable Audiobooks -- New at the Library

Members of the library can now download audiobooks and listen to them with their computers or portable music players-without leaving home.

More than 150 popular and award-winning audiobook titles of the most popular genres are now available for download. More titles will be added later this year. The collection will be shared by members of the libraries of Côte Saint-Luc, Dollard-des-Ormeaux and Pointe Claire, and is available 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Côte Saint-Luc is the first of the cities to launch the service. Pointe Claire is expected to launch on April 23 and Dollard-des-Ormeaux will launch later this year.

Library members need the free Overdrive Media Console software for their Windows or Macintosh computer. Once that is installed, members can visit www.elcslpl.org to browse or search the downloadable audiobook collection, select one, and proceed to checkout-just as one would at an online store. Members then download a small file, which the Overdrive Media Console software uses to download the audiobook files. Members can play and organize the audiobooks from inside the software.

The audiobooks are in the MP3 or WMA file formats. All files can be played on a computer and most can be transferred to and played on portable audio players, such as the iPod or Zune. Some audiobooks can also be copied to a CD data disc. The MP3 and WMA files are protected with digital rights management (DRM), which allows users to listen to the file for a limited time. Once the files expire, they won't work if you try to listen to them.

Library members can check out up to three downloadable audiobooks at a time and choose a 1-week or 2-week loan period.

The library has approximately 4,500 audiobooks on CD cassette. Downloadable audiobooks are the next step in the evolution of audiobooks.

Côte Saint-Luc Reads -- The Disappeared

I am so excited about this! The Disappeared is this years CSL Reads pick! It was not an easy feat choosing a book to follow Lawrence Hill’s The Book of Negroes, the CSL Reads book for 2009! Many a book was read, discussed and eliminated by staff members in the CSL Reads committee. Finally, we came across this book! It has all the elements that we were searching for in a CSL Reads book! Happy were we when the author Kim Echlin accepted our invitation to come speak to us about her book. She’ll be here at the library to Launch CSL Reads 2010 on the evening of Thursday April 29. Tickets are on sale at the Circulation desk. Get yours today before we run out!

When I was reading this book, I could not put it down. I actually read it in one sitting! Luckily it is not too big a book! It is so sad in places, I even cried. The story is set in the 1970s, first in Montreal, then in Cambodia, in the time of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. It is an amazing love story, written in the first person by Anne, a Montrealer, who falls desperately in love with Serey from Cambodia, who is studying in Montreal. Anne’s love for Serey shines through the pages, and you want them to be together, but you know that Serey’s urge to return to his devastated homeland makes it impossible. There’s a real sense of despair. At certain points, I wanted to reach into the book and tell Anne to wake up and move on as he was a lost cause!

I don't want to tell you anything more about the story - you have to read it for yourself. But I do have to say that Echlin's descriptions of the genocide and aftermath in Cambodia are heart-wrenching. I found myself feeling thankful for being born in Canada as I read this novel. I knew about the atrocities that took place in Cambodia on a superficial level, but The Disappeared made me familiar on a much deeper level. This novel will shake you up. It is well worth reading.