Thomaston Library News

Intergenerational Book Club to Discuss The News from Spain

On Tuesday, January 21st, at 2:30 PM, the Intergenerational Book Club will discuss The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham.

The News From Spain is a collection of seven stories, or variations, by Joan Wickersham. Each of the stories is called The News From Spain, though none take place in nor really relate to the country, and as a whole they are concerned with heartbreak, regret, and intimacy. In one story, a paralyzed ballet dancer, married to an unfaithful choreographer, finds emotional respite with her caregiver. In another, a wife, discovering her husband is an adulterer, worries about how easily she and he are falling, in spite of everything, back into stride.

The collection is ultimately a nuanced look at relationships: at what makes them and what causes them to come apart.

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 21st at 2:30  p.m.

If you live in Thomaston and need a ride to the discussion, please call the library at 354-2453.

Friday Night Films are open to the public and free of charge, but donations are gratefully accepted.    The Thomaston Academy Building is handicapped accessible from the parking lot Light refreshments will be served. For more information call the library at 354-2453.

 Assistant Librarian, Joanna Hynd, reading to children.

Thursday is Children’s Story Hour

The Children’s Room has a number of new themes slated for Thursday Story Hour in January. We will be starting the month with a block party, that is, a party of building with blocks. Have fun finding hidden shapes in the Children’s Room and make your own picture frame. We will read a shape-finding story by Eric Carle. The next week join us for a fun pizza craft and to read Jamberry by Bruce Degen during a “yummy” themed Story Hour. We will play alphabet games and read about letters the following week. Then join us for a pajama party when we will be doing a glow stick/firefly craft. The last week in January we will be “Going on a Bear Hunt!” and eating a yummy panda bear snack.

            January 2^nd- What Shape is it?

            January 9^th- Yummy Yummy

            January 16^th- Now I Know My ABC’s

            January 23^rd- Tuck Me In

            January 30^th- Going on a Bear Hunt

The Thomaston Public Library is located at the old Academy Building at 60 Main St. in Thomaston. Parking is located at the rear. Story Hour is every Thursday starting at 11am. We request that all children under the age of 13 visit the library with a parent or guardian. Hope to see you there.

Bernard Langlais Art Reception

Friday, January 24, 5:00 to 6:30 PM

The Thomaston Public Library will host a reception on January 24th to display the wood-sculptured artworks of Maine artist Bernard Langlais, which were gifted to the library late in 2013 and will now be on permanent display. The pieces are wood-relief wall hangings, two of them abstract and three figurative.

In 2010, Colby College received a large bequest of artworks by Bernard “Blackie” Langlais (born in Old Town, Maine) from the artist’s widow, Helen Langlais, along with the couple's 90-acre property in Cushing. Recognizing the site's importance, Colby contacted Kohler Foundation of Wisconsin about possible preservation of the collection and site.

Colby made a gift of nearly 3,000 Langlais artworks to Kohler Foundation, who preserved and gifted these works, which include wood reliefs, paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, to non-profit institutions throughout Maine and the United States. Thomaston Public Library is pleased to be one of those recipients.

Kohler Foundation is also conserving the outdoor sculptures on the Cushing property. A portion of the estate will be preserved as a sculpture park and will be named in honor of Bernard and Helen Langlais. The Georges River Land Trust of Rockland, Maine, will take ownership of the property and will collaborate with the Colby Museum on programming at the site.

The reception at the library on Friday, January 24, will provide the first opportunity for the local community to see the Langlais pieces the library has acquired. The reception will also feature detailed information about Bernard Langlais's life and work.

 

 

 

Saltwater Film Society Screening of Waiting for Guffman,

 Thursday, January 23, 6:30 PM

The title an obvious reference to Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, Waiting For Guffman is a mockumentary film by actor/director Christopher Guest of Spinal Tap fame. The film centers on the fictional town of Blaine, Missouri. A group of delusional townspeople, led by the eccentric director Corky St. Clair (played by Guest), are preparing to put on a show entitled Red, White, and Blaine, a musical chronicling the town's history to be performed in honor of the town's sesquicentennial.

The film follows the comically disastrous results of St. Clair's attempts to put on a show with no talent and a shoe-string budget, with musical numbers like "Nothing Ever Happens on Mars," a reference to the town's one-time UFO visitation, and "Stool Boom," a song that explains the town's epithet, "the stool capital of the United States."

The film will be shown in Room 200 of the Thomaston Academy Building.

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

Library to Participate in 6th Annual MLK Jr. Food Drive
The Thomaston Public Library is pleased to be a collection point for the 6th annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Food Drive for Local Food Pantries. Starting Tuesday, January 21st, two large receptacles will be in place in the main room of the library for your nonperishable food items. We will continue to collect for the food drive through the end of February.

Anyone preferring to make a monetary donation can drop off checks at the library's Circulation Desk. Please make out your checks to Thomaston Food Pantry.