Running the Books by Avi Steinberg - BOOK REVIEW and GIVEAWAY {CLOSED}

Title: Running the Books:  The Adventures of an Accidental Prison Librarian
Author:  Avi Steinberg
Publisher:  Nan A. Talese, a division of Random House
Publish Date: October, 2010
Hardcover, 416 pages
Non-fiction
ISBN 10:  0385529090
ISBN 13:  9780385529099

From the publisher's website:

Avi Steinberg is stumped. After defecting from yeshiva to Harvard, he has only a senior thesis essay on Bugs Bunny to show for his effort. While his friends and classmates advance in the world, he remains stuck at a crossroads, unable to meet the lofty expectations of his Orthodox Jewish upbringing. And his romantic existence as a freelance obituary writer just isn’t cutting it. Seeking direction—and dental insurance—Steinberg takes a job as a librarian in a tough Boston prison.

The prison library counter, his new post, attracts con men, minor prophets, ghosts, and an assortment of quirky regulars searching for the perfect book and a connection to the outside world. There’s an anxious pimp who solicits Steinberg’s help in writing a memoir. A passionate gangster who dreams of hosting a cooking show titled Thug Sizzle. A disgruntled officer who instigates a major feud over a Post-it note. A doomed ex-stripper who asks Steinberg to orchestrate a reunion with her estranged son, himself an inmate. Over time, Steinberg is drawn into the accidental community of outcasts that has formed among his bookshelves — a drama he recounts with heartbreak and humor. But when the struggles of the prison library — between life and death, love and loyalty — become personal, Steinberg is forced to take sides.

"Running the Books" is a trenchant exploration of prison culture and an entertaining tale of one young man’s earnest attempt to find his place in the world while trying not to get fired in the process.

My Take:   It took me a while to get into this book; it was more than the usual "I'm coming off the feeling of the book I just read and now have to shift gears for this NEW book" ... while well-written, the first 1/4 of the book simply felt like mildly amusing, quirky, loosely-woven antecdotes about how Avi grew up strictly Orthodox, about his footloose and trouble-prone friend Yoni, and about the types of people he meets in the prison library, where he also runs Creative Writing classes for both male and female inmates.

But THEN, Avi gets personal.  He writes about his feelings on finding out that a former inmate has died, and suddenly, the whole novel opens up.  We meet a various cast of characters, including:

• Jessica (whom Avi names "Solitary" in his head) - she sits in his Creative Writing class staring out of the window and barely participating, resulting in the other women in class demanding to be able to sit and look out of the window at the yard (where the male inmates are).  Avi resents this until another inmate tells him the real reason why Jessica looks into the yard, and thus begins a tenuous friendship.
• Chudney - whose idea of a love poem is the recipe for Nestle Chocolate Chip cookies paired with a plate of cookies made by hand along with some flowers. He has a detailed Plan for when he gets out that ends up with him being the host of his own television cooking show
• Al - the businessman, who made money selling stars to people on the outside
• C. C. Too Sweet - who enlists Avi's aid in helping him write his story "The Memoir of a Pimp" and who has a flair for writing, as evidenced by the beginning of the following poem:

In Jail

Being in Jail is lonely at night,

It is waiting for letters that no one will write.

It is depending on people

You thought were your friends,

Waiting for letters no one will send ....

With a dry humor, and astonishingly almost judgment-free humanity, Avi chronicles what happens after he answers a Craig's list ad for a prison librarian, an ad he only answers because it is a union job with job security and benefits.

As you read through the various vignettes, you will find yourself thinking more and more in Avi's voice as you read, and you will experience both the simple highs and numbing lows , the self-realizations and observations he makes become your own.

As I closed the book, which ends as most episodes in our lives end, by changing to a "time after", I felt reflective and rather solemn.  I wondered where some of our characters ended up, and hoped for the best.

I'm glad I kept at it after what I felt was a rather shaky start, as I felt "fulfilled" at the end in the way that reading any good story will make the reader feel.  With these glimpses into someone else's life, I came away with a slightly changed perspective and with more empathy and understanding.

Sensitive Reader:  There is some profanity and a few sexual references, but not much and not glaring and out of context.

QUOTES:

There seemed to be endless ways to use books.  Hardcover books could be fashioned into body armor.  Placed in a bag and wielded as a battle flail.  Taped together and used as weights.  Used to hide contraband.  Books could be mined for paper or illustrations, or used to help prop things up around the cell. And for all of these functions, books became an item for barter.

On Shakespeare movie week at the library, when informing one of the inmates that "Macbeth" will be the first movie shown:

"Aw-man-that's-some-corny-ass-shit, man."
"Since when is murder and revenge corny?  And it's got one of the great crazy bitches of all time.  You'll love it, Dumayne."
"Shakespeare's-old!"
"You mean old school?" I said, fully aware of how lame I sounded.
"No-old, cuz.  Like boring."
"Did you know that Shakespeare's characters call each other 'cuz'?"
"No-but-I-do-know-that-Shakespeare-is-whack."

You are nonsensical while I, my brother, am ineffable.  In case you ain't mastered your diction, I'll break that down for you - ineffable, meaning:  I can not, and will not, be effed with."

Book Rating:  4 out 5 stars

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End Date:  Friday, November 19, at 11:59 PM EST

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Disclaimer:  I received a copy of this title from the publisher to facilitate my review.  No other compensation was received, and I was not required to write a positive review..