Thomaston Library News

 

 

 

Intergenerational Book Club to

Discuss Norwegian by Night

 

 

 

On Tuesday, January 20th, at 2:30 PM, the Thomaston Public Library's Intergenerational Book Club will discuss Norwegian by Night by Derek Miller.

Miller's affecting debut, about a cantankerous Jewish widower transplanted to Norway who becomes party to a hate crime, is an unusual hybrid:  part memory novel, part police procedural, part sociopolitical tract, and part existential meditation. Native New Yorker Sheldon "Donny" Horowitz, 82, is a retired watch repairman living in Oslo with his granddaughter Rhea, an architect, and her new Norwegian husband, Lars. Rhea thinks her grandfather is slipping into dementia.

Haunted by his experiences as a Marine sniper in the Korean War and by his son Saul's death in Vietnam, Sheldon sometimes has trouble distinguishing between fantasy and reality. But he is more strong-willed, decisive and wily than his granddaughter thinks. When a stranger murders the immigrant woman who lives upstairs, Sheldon shelters and then escapes with her young son, fearing the boy is in danger, too. On the run with the boy, who doesn't speak English, the old man deftly talks his way into a pricey Oslo hotel, gives the boy a makeover to disguise him, steals a boat, and heads to Rhea's summer home. In close pursuit are the killer, an Albanian war criminal, and tough-minded Chief Inspector Sigrid Odegard.

Hovering over the narrative is Norway's roundup of its Jewish population during the Nazi occupation -- for which, the author points out, the nation didn't formally apologize until 2012.

On the third Tuesday of every month, the Intergenerational Book Club, a group of men and women of all ages, comes together to share their opinions and ideas about the book selection. Extra copies of the books are purchased by the Friends of the Thomaston Public Library from the Annual Appeal funds. We thank you for your donations. All are welcome at the Thomaston Library on January 20th at 2:30 p.m.

If you live in Thomaston and would like to attend but need a ride, please call the library at 354-2453 a week before the discussion date.

 

Saturday Morning Qi Gong Sessions Resume

Tim English is resuming the Saturday Qi Gong sessions at the Thomaston Public Library beginning Saturday, December 6th, at 11:30 AM. The sessions will take place in the Thomaston Academy gym.

For those who have never attended, "Qigong is an intergration of physical postures, breathing techniques, and focused intentions." It is a lovely, gentle practice, somewhat like Tai Chi.

The Saturday morning sessions are open to all.

 

Thomaston Public Library Creates

 "Writers' Corner" with $400 Rudman Grant

Thomaston Public Library received a $400 grant this year from the Rose and Samuel Rudman Library Trust of the Maine Community Foundation. The purpose of the grant was to enhance the library's collection in support of its 2014 youth and adult writers' series, a program that brought writers of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and children's literature to the library to read from their works and discuss the writing process. The series was intended to promote writing as enthusiastically as libraries traditionally promote reading.

Before applying for the grant, Head Librarian Ann Harris assessed the library's existing collection of resources for writers. "I found that we already had a fair number of the so-called writing classics, books on the craft, such If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland, Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg,  and Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.

"We had a few titles on grammar, usage, and punctuation, as well as some older titles on the more psychological or spiritual aspects of writing, topics like inspiration, imagination, and the demons of doubt that afflict so many writers. We had nothing current on editing, marketing one's work, or the publication process start to finish. It seemed to me that with a small investment, we could create a writer's-resource collection that would be outstanding."

Receiving the Rudman Library Grant allowed the library to enhance all areas of its writing collection. "We drew up a list of titles to purchase and solicited suggestions from local writers and teachers. The result is that we now have a fine collection of highly-regarded books on just about every aspect of the writing life, including brand-new 2015 guides to finding agents and editors and marketing your work.

"We have books on everything from editing and formatting to writing your life story, breaking through writer's block, and writing in the 21st century. Midcoast Maine is home to so many writers of all sorts and we want to be a first-rate resource for them."

With offices in Ellsworth and Portland, the Maine Community Foundation works with donors and other partners to improve the quality of life for all Maine people. To learn more about the foundation, visit www.mainecf.org.

From left to right Ann Harris, Jonathan Eaton, Mariellen Eaton, and Joanna Hynd.

 

 

Library Sets Up Tilbury Corner

The Thomaston Public Library has received a large donation of books – many brand-new -- from Thomaston's Tilbury House Publishers.

“Tilbury House offered us our very own selection of titles,” says Head Librarian Ann Harris. To make their selections, library staff first determined which Tilbury titles they already owned and were pleased to find almost 50 in the library's collection. “We then turned to the pleasurable task of choosing additional books. Jon and Mariellen Eaton presented us with even more than we asked for – for both adults and kids. We are thrilled and very, very grateful,” Harris reports.

Under new owners Tris Coburn and Jon Eaton, 40-year-old Tilbury House Publishers moved from Gardiner to Thomaston in November 2013. After settling into new offices over the Highlands Café, the staff got right to work with the help of frequent coffee runs downstairs, publishing 24 new books in 2014, including 12 picture books for children and 12 New England regional and general nonfiction books for adult readers. Tilbury House plans to publish another 22 books in 2015, including 17 books for children and young readers, and the Tilbury House staff thought that donating books for a “Tilbury Corner” in the library would be the perfect way to introduce the publishing house to its new host community.

Tilbury Corner is located just inside the main room of the library and all the books are available for check-out.

 

 

Saltwater Film Society Screening of

The Shop Around the Corner at the Library

On Thursday, January 22nd, at 6:30 PM, the Thomaston Public Library will host the Saltwater Film Society screening of The Shop Around the Corner. starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. The film tells the tale of two employees at a gift shop in Budapest who despise one another, yet find themselves unwittingly falling in love by way of an anonymous correspondence. If this sounds at all familiar, both this film and You've Got Mail (from 1998, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan) credit the same play, Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo, as inspiration for their screenplays.

The Shop Around the Corner was directed by Ernst Lubitsch in 1940 and has earned an 8.1 rating on imdb.com and a perfect 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

For more information about the Saltwater Film Society, please see their website, http://www.saltwaterfilmsociety.org/.

 

Cell Phone Use Class

Please remember that Thomaston Public Library's cell-phone-use classes will happen this week and next:

The first class will focus on iPhones and be held this Thursday, January 22nd, at 2:30 PM.

The second class will concentrate on Android phones and be held on Tuesday, January 27th, at 2:30 PM.

Both classes will take place in Room 200 of the Thomaston Academy building. Bring your device(s) with you.