Did you know that our schools dismiss early every Wednesday for teacher in-service meetings? I can just see you now-slapping your foreheads like the guy in the V8 commercial. When school dismisses early for any reason, the public library is THE place to go. If your tolerance for hustle and bustle is low and your schedule is flexible, you might want to consider visiting another afternoon. The lines will be shorter, the climate more serene and staff tempers, well, more temperate.
Don’t forget to check out a wreath to help decorate the library for the holidays. You just come in, borrow a wreath just like a book or movie. Take it home. Decorate to your liking and return it to the library for display. After the holiday season, you may either “undress” the wreath and take your decorations home, or leave it decorated for us to use another season.
I usually write about books, but the library has all the latest dvds, too. We buy most newly released dvds of appropriate ratings. They can be checked out for three library days. That means that Sundays and holidays when the library is closed are “bonus” days. There is no charge for checkout. If, however, you wish to keep a dvd longer than three days, there is a one dollar per day “extended use fee”. We used to call them fines, but “extended use” just sounds more kind.
A library user of good standing may check out up to 15 items at a time. We do not limit the numbers of videos beyond that. You are welcome to check out 15 if you feel you can view them in three days. Rules for patrons with new library cards carry some restrictions for the first three months while we learn to trust you with our library materials.
We recently added some oldies, but goodies, to our dvd collection:
-Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me- both movies on one disk. Each is a film about troubled school students. Stand and Deliver involves a gifted teacher’s ability to motivate barrio kids to pass an advanced calculus placement test. Lean on Me is about a no-nonsense principal who turns his failing school around.
-Richard Simmons Sweatin’ to the Oldies-We have several versions of these. They are fun to watch, even if one doesn’t wish to participate.
-Lonesome Dove- On two cds. It’s based on the 1986 Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name. We have the book, too.
-Other westerns: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and True Grit
-Swing Dancing- Learn to swing in minutes! That’s what it says on the cover.
-The Graduate- Best Picture winner in 1967. The soundtrack is as good as the movie.
-Field of Dreams-the classic baseball movie filmed in Iowa. My kids wore out two vhs versions.
- Brigadoon –Starring Gene Kelly and Cyd Charisse. A Lerner and Lowe musical, famous for the song Almost Like Being in Love.
-Doctor Zhivago- We must have had more patience back in 1965. I tried to re-watch this recently and it moved so slowly. However, the breathtaking scenery and the story are just as beautiful as ever.
-Camelot- another Lerner and Loewe production. It’s hard to forget the line from the score of this movie “for one, brief, shining moment”. It has special meaning for those of us who remember that November day 45 years ago.
Grab a family-friendly movie on your way home tonight. Watch it between the parade, the turkey and the football. Your kids will thank you.
Friday, November 21, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Once the Halloween scarecrows left the library building we began to think about decorating for the holidays. A few years ago we discarded an old, bedraggled, artificial tree. It had been a donation from Target a decade or two ago. After the tree, none of us has been able to get very excited about holiday decorations. Suddenly, I was inspired!
Everyone so enjoyed the creativity and variety of the scarecrows, we decided to do it again. We briefly considered dressing the scarecrows as snowmen, but quickly abandoned that idea. We settled on wreaths. Within the next few days we will have a dozen or so evergreen-looking wreaths. Folks can check one out, dress it up as you please, and return it to the library the first week in December. They will grace the library until the first of January.
So, start thinking. Wreaths can be whimsical, traditional, charming or downright funny. We will appreciate and admire each for its individuality.
Don’t forget to buy your tickets for the Humboldt Area Arts Council Art Encore to be held on November 22. Tickets are available both at the library and at Sherree’s Hallmark.
Saturdays are the only times I work the checkout desk for a whole day. Other days are spent ordering books, paying library bills, attending meetings and other necessary, but less fun stuff. Every week on Saturday I get to spend the whole day talking to the people who actually read the books I buy. It’s my time to hear which ones you like, which ones you don’t like and which ones you wish I would buy. Unfortunately, if someone returns a book they just loved, I can’t resist taking it home with me. I usually cart home 5-10 books. I know that next week I will take home another armload and I know that I can’t possibly read even five books in one week. Even so, I keep hauling them home.
One book that has been repeatedly recommended to me is Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. I did take it home once. It is the story of two childhood best girlfriends. It started off well, but I was deep into another book and didn’t want to keep other readers waiting so I checked it back in unread. I confuse it with Firefly Cloak by Sherri Reynolds which I did read. It’s a bilungsroman, that word I like so much, that means a coming-of-age story. It’s the story of a young girl abandoned by her mother early in life. Well worth reading.
Among other bildungsroman at the library is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. That classic story of depression-era Alabama, of justice, race, class and the pain of growing up. I try to re-read it or watch the 1962 movie with Gregory Peck every five years or so. I never grow tired of it.
Another is Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham . This is the 1940s bestseller about one man’s search for enlightenment. Not really my cup of tea, but it’s available at the library should you choose to tackle it.
Stones of Summer was first published in 1972. Its author, Dow Mossman, is an Iowan. He wrote this one epic novel that earned him critical acclaim. Then, he disappeared into oblivion until a film maker fell in love with the book and produced a documentary recently. It might be worth reading if only to find out what so captivated book critics in the 1970s. Mossman still lives in Cedar Rapids.
Dive From Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer is one coming-of-age novel that I can heartily endorse. Amazon.com describes this book as a “journey of personal epiphany.” That seems a very good, if somewhat fanciful, way to describe all these novels. As a main character ages, he/she grows and matures in thinking until an answer or solution is reached. This one is the story of Carrie Bell’s life and how it is affected by an accident that paralyzed her fiancée.
One of the best parts of a librarian’s job is called Readers Advisory. That means matching a reader with the perfect book for just this very moment. Sometimes the same reader will be searching for humor, for tragedy, for drama. We love to help you find just what you are looking for. … a satisfyingly good read. Of course, if you’d rather look on your own, you can browse and sample all the books you like. Come on in!
Everyone so enjoyed the creativity and variety of the scarecrows, we decided to do it again. We briefly considered dressing the scarecrows as snowmen, but quickly abandoned that idea. We settled on wreaths. Within the next few days we will have a dozen or so evergreen-looking wreaths. Folks can check one out, dress it up as you please, and return it to the library the first week in December. They will grace the library until the first of January.
So, start thinking. Wreaths can be whimsical, traditional, charming or downright funny. We will appreciate and admire each for its individuality.
Don’t forget to buy your tickets for the Humboldt Area Arts Council Art Encore to be held on November 22. Tickets are available both at the library and at Sherree’s Hallmark.
Saturdays are the only times I work the checkout desk for a whole day. Other days are spent ordering books, paying library bills, attending meetings and other necessary, but less fun stuff. Every week on Saturday I get to spend the whole day talking to the people who actually read the books I buy. It’s my time to hear which ones you like, which ones you don’t like and which ones you wish I would buy. Unfortunately, if someone returns a book they just loved, I can’t resist taking it home with me. I usually cart home 5-10 books. I know that next week I will take home another armload and I know that I can’t possibly read even five books in one week. Even so, I keep hauling them home.
One book that has been repeatedly recommended to me is Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah. I did take it home once. It is the story of two childhood best girlfriends. It started off well, but I was deep into another book and didn’t want to keep other readers waiting so I checked it back in unread. I confuse it with Firefly Cloak by Sherri Reynolds which I did read. It’s a bilungsroman, that word I like so much, that means a coming-of-age story. It’s the story of a young girl abandoned by her mother early in life. Well worth reading.
Among other bildungsroman at the library is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. That classic story of depression-era Alabama, of justice, race, class and the pain of growing up. I try to re-read it or watch the 1962 movie with Gregory Peck every five years or so. I never grow tired of it.
Another is Razor’s Edge by Somerset Maugham . This is the 1940s bestseller about one man’s search for enlightenment. Not really my cup of tea, but it’s available at the library should you choose to tackle it.
Stones of Summer was first published in 1972. Its author, Dow Mossman, is an Iowan. He wrote this one epic novel that earned him critical acclaim. Then, he disappeared into oblivion until a film maker fell in love with the book and produced a documentary recently. It might be worth reading if only to find out what so captivated book critics in the 1970s. Mossman still lives in Cedar Rapids.
Dive From Clausen’s Pier by Ann Packer is one coming-of-age novel that I can heartily endorse. Amazon.com describes this book as a “journey of personal epiphany.” That seems a very good, if somewhat fanciful, way to describe all these novels. As a main character ages, he/she grows and matures in thinking until an answer or solution is reached. This one is the story of Carrie Bell’s life and how it is affected by an accident that paralyzed her fiancée.
One of the best parts of a librarian’s job is called Readers Advisory. That means matching a reader with the perfect book for just this very moment. Sometimes the same reader will be searching for humor, for tragedy, for drama. We love to help you find just what you are looking for. … a satisfyingly good read. Of course, if you’d rather look on your own, you can browse and sample all the books you like. Come on in!
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