Has it really been about 5 weeks since my last post?
Yes, indeed.
Thank you, Cindy for breaking the silence.
Good news: we will be hosting a book discussion AND a meet-the-author event this fall called Lorain County Reads.
Read An Open Book by Lorain-born author Michael Dirda and come to our book discussion on Tuesday, September 29. Not only is it a memoir, its about reading and libraries and how they change lives. Ask for a copy at the Reference Desk.
An Open Book: Chapters from a Reader’s Life ByDirda, Michael This funny, wistful memoir by a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic recalls the charm of growing up and the tenderness of one writer’s beginnings.
Publisher Comments
“AN OPEN BOOK is the exuberant, beautifully written story of how comics and adventure stories, poetry and Proust can change your life. Hailed by Morris Dickstein as “a glowing tribute to the world of books and the life of the mind,” “An Open Book communicates–as Eudora Welty’s “One Writer’s Beginnings once did–the thrill of great reading to a new generation. In its pages, literary journalist Michael Dirda re-creates his boyhood in Ohio, recalling his colorful family, friends, and teachers as he celebrates the great writers and fictional characters who fueled his imagination.
Meet the author here on Wednesday, October 28th at 6:30 pm.
Bad news: We will no longer be open on Sundays, starting this fall through all of 2010. We recognize that these were often the busiest four hours of the week. However, with state budget cuts here and all other options weighed, our Board of Trustees decided this would be the most fiscally responsible and least disruptive service cut. We are still open 64 hours a week.
We have been making difficult (but mostly invisible) cost cuts behind the scenes since last spring due to declining revenues. Its good we started early or we would be in a very bad spot today. However, we can’t cut our personnel, materials and technology budgets any more without short-changing our patrons, who expect and deserve quality service.
Tuesday, June 16 at 7 p.m. we will have a pre-release short showing of Clevelander Brad Ricca’s film Last Son about the Cleveland origins of Superman. Seems the Man of Steel was created right here in our fair city, back in the 1930s, by Glenville High graduates Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.
This film played at Ingenuity Fest last summer and at the Akron Film Festival. It’s not yet in general release, so there are few opportunities to see it. And along with the film itself (this version is about an hour long), Brad will be here to answer questions and talk about the research and filming of this Cleveland original movie.
This film is more than suitable for all ages of Superman fans.
As the summer winds down, we have a fun option for the whole family ready to roll!
Enjoy 1. a movie 2. on our lawn/patio 3. on a giant screen 4. after hours.
Movies start at 9 pm. Hey, it has to be dark out! Bring blankets or lawn chairs if desired (we’ll have a few chairs and benches as well), as well as refreshments.
Tomorrow, August 8th:
August (get it?) Rush
Freddie Highmore, Liv Tyer,
Keri Russell, Robin Williams
Warner Bros.; Directed by Kirsten Sheridan
Rated PG; 100 minutes; 2007
Two young musicians have a chance encounter but when they are torn apart they leave an infant in their wake. Young August Rush, orphaned by circumstance, uses his unique inherited musical talent to seek the parents from whom he was separated at birth.
Friday, August 15th:
Finding Nemo
Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneris
Walt DIsney Pictures; Directed by Andrew Stanton
Rated G; 100 minutes; 2003
A father-son underwater adventure featuring Nemo, a boy clownfish, stolen from his coral reef home. His timid father must then travel to Sydney, and search Sydney Harbour find Nemo
This Tuesday evening, June 17, this Library will be rockin’! Detroit Garage band The High Strung will be here to lead off our summer reading program with a few hot guitar licks! There will be no shhshing going on here that night (the concert will actually take place on our south lawn – bring your blanket or lawn chair).
With an opening act by Avon Lake’s own sensation, Alana Bilancini, this concert promises to be one of the big acts of the summer here in Avon Lake and is suitable for all ages. The audience will participate in improvising and performing a premier rock ‘n roll composition.
While you’re here, be sure to sign up for one of our three, count them, three, summer reading contests. We’ve got contests, and prizes, for children, teens and adults! And don’t forget our Picture You ReadingContest.
Last March, Volunteer Docent Joe Mayo came out to Avon Lake to do a program on the beautiful Holden Arboretum in Kirtland, Ohio. He left Kirtland in a blizzard to come to Avon Lake where the sun was shining and we expected a good turnout for his program. But you know what they say about the best laid plans! Only a small handful of folks showed up that afternoon for his slides and stories and literature. Joe was a good sport about it, but he told me that after the trip he made through snow covered roads, I had better make a trip out to Holden myself!
Last weekend, my husband and I finally made it. We strolled through the beautiful Butterfly Garden filled with lovely flowers and a proud Mama and Papa Goose with their two goslings. We enjoyed the lush Wildflower Garden with its several different ecosystems all in different stages of bloom. We wandered down a couple forested trails labeled “rugged” but quite moderate compared to most parks and studded with benches. I wish I had taken pictures to share with you, but I was too taken with reveling in the beauty to think to record it.
Holden Arboretum would make a beautiful day trip from Avon Lake. It’s about 48 miles from the Library. Much closer than some of the usual summer destinations many of us are foregoing this year. The Arboretum is child and adult friendly with lots of learning opportunities as well as the opportunity to enjoy a beautiful day. When you go, should you run into Joe Mayo, let him know Avon Lake Public Library sent you!
Please keep in mind our program on Farms and Foods of Ohio tonight at 7:30, here at the Library. Learn how to find the freshest foods close to home and get tips for cooking it in the most delicious way from author and cook Marilou Suszko.
This Wednesday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m., we’ll be welcoming local blogger and all-around techie Gregg Eldred for a program on social media and web 2.0.
Want to know what the buzz is all about? Blogs, wikis, Facebook, MySpace? Want to join in the conversation or just know what your kids are up to online? Are you concerned about your company’s presence on the web or looking for ways to promote your business?
Gregg will lead us into the thicket and onto the World Wide Web.
Our friends at TrueNorth Cultural Arts will be presenting The Creation by Joseph Haydn on Friday, March 14 at Avon Lake United Church of Christ and Saturday, March 15 at French Creek Nature Center, both at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased online at www.TNCArts.org or from any TrueNorth musician.
Just in time for 2008, we have all new book discussion groups, including an exciting new one for older teens. Our two longest-running groups will have a new format and we’ve got a newer one just for you Jane Austen fans. Joining one of these groups is a great way to share great books with your neighbors and even meet new neighbors.Our members frequently comment that they enjoy the opportunity to read and talk about something they wouldn’t otherwise pick up.Membership is always open – come for one month’s discussion or for every month in the series.
Both our Second Wednesday group (1:30 p.m.) and Third Monday group (7:30 p.m.) will now work with a different theme each month. Each member will choose one book on the designated theme (we’ll have a dozen or so good ones available at the Reference Desk) to read and talk about at the meeting. We’ll look for common themes and share what we loved or hated about each book. You’ll leave each meeting with a list of the best titles as recommended by the other members of the group.
Here’s the Winter/ Spring schedule for these two groups:
Wednesdays 1:30 p.m Theme Discussions
January 9: Crossing Borders: Immigrant Fiction
February 13: I Shall Survive!:Memoirs of Childhood
March 12: Novice Novelists: Award-winning First Time Novelists
April 9: To Be Young Again: Teen Fiction for Adult Readers
May 14: Wisdom and Aging: Memoirs of Elders
Mondays 7:30 p.m. Theme Discussions
January 21: Novice Novelists:Award-winning First Time Novelists
February 18: To Be Young Again: Teen Fiction for Adult Readers
March 17: It’s Not Easy Reading Green: Irish Storytellers
April 21: Reading Through Time: Time Traveler Fiction
May 19: Musical Notation: Novels About Music
Books for the January sessions are available now at the Reference Desk, so come by to choose one that appeals to you.
Meanwhile, the Jane Austen group will continue meeting on Second Wednesday evenings.This group always welcomes new Austen-philes! They’ll meet at 7 p.m. each month.On January 9, they’ll discuss Emma, on February 13, Pride and Prejudice. On March 12, they’ll meet early at 6 p.m. to watch Keira Knightly as Lizzie Bennett in the 2005 blockbuster of P & P.And they’ll wrap up the Spring Austen season with Mansfield Park on April 9.
And for those older teens mentioned above, we’re starting a new discussion group with some exciting books.This group is for mature teens, 16 and older.We’re hoping to put the fun and excitement back into reading good books – no vocabulary lists, essays or heavy analysis.Just reading, talking and eating!We’ll start off on Thursday, January 24 with Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, read A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess for February 14 (Valentine’s Day?!?) and read A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines for March 13.We’ll let the teens pick the book for April. The ones we’re starting with are all challenging (and challenged, in fact banned) books.They’re all filled with fascinating ideas to get us talking and arguing about the most important issues of life.And we promise: no tests!Just good food.
Posted by Gerry 
Posted by cindythelibrarian 
Posted by Gerry 
