Thomaston Library News

Thomaston Public Library Tech Sale
 

Through the month of March, the Thomaston Public Library will be having a sale of our gently used but no longer needed technology .

The proceeds of this sale will go to the purchase of new technologies (i.e., E-readers, Tablets, and Computers.)

We will also be accepting any computer-related donations during this period, such as E-readers. Below are some of the items the library is looking to add to the overall services we provide to our patrons.

2 New Kindles (Fire or Paperwhite, bringing our total up to 6 available for borrowing)

4 Tablets (for children’s use and education programs)

6 New PC Terminals (2 additional upstairs and 4 to be located downstairs)

Intergenerational Book Club to Discuss The Art of Hearing Heartbeats

On Tuesday, March 18th, at 2:30 PM, the Thomaston Public Library's Intergenerational Book Club will discuss The Art of Hearing Heartbeats by Jan-Philipp Sendker.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats is a novel set in Burma between the 1950’s and the present day. It is a love story about a New York lawyer who spontaneously disappears while en route to a business conference, leaving a befuddled wife and daughter. The daughter, Julie, is finally able to shed a little light on her father’s disappearance when she discovers an old love letter written by her father to a Burmese woman. Mystified, Julia decides to uncover the truth by traveling to Burma.

During her journey, Julia discovers the story behind the romance as she listens to tales from her father’s youth. Unbelieving at first, Julia is slowly swept up in the story of a passionate romance between her father and a local girl named Mi Mi and eventually becomes convinced of the power of love.

The Art of Hearing Heartbeats was originally written in German by Jan-Philipp Sendker and has been translated by Kevin WIliarty. This is Sendker’s first novel.

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 March 18th at 2:30 p.m.

Photo by Vic Goldsmith

Working Decoys Carved by Thomaston Resident

Paul Perkins on Display through March

The carved and painted duck and shore bird decoys of Paul Perkins of Thomaston will be on display at the Thomaston Public Library through the month of March.Paul learned his craft from his father, Percy Perkins of Seabrook, New Hampshire, and has been carving and painting these replicas of working decoys since his teens. Working decoys were used by market hunters along the eastern seaboard during the nineteenth century.

Most hunters designed, carved, and painted their own decoys. Paul's and Percy’s decoys were used on the ocean and marshes in and around Seabrook. Neither Paul nor Percy ever dreamed that someday these decoys would become collector's items.

Poet Ellen Goldsmith

Poet Ellen Goldsmith to Read and Talk about the
Poetic Process on March 18^th, Vision and Revision

Two questions will guide this presentation.

• What sparks a poem?
• How do poems grow and develop?

After looking at the words of some poets about where their poems come from, what gives rise to their words, Ellen Goldsmith will read from her latest book, Where to Look, particularly focusing on the various sparks that gave rise to poems. In relation to a few of the poems, re-vision, will be explored.

Ellen Goldsmith is a poet and teacher, the author of Where to Look, Such Distances and No Pine Tree in This Forest Is Perfect which won the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center 1997 chapbook contest. “The Secret of Life” from Such Distances was read by Garrison Keillor on Writer’s Almanac. Recent poems have appeared in Antiphon, Connecticut River Review, The Inflectionist Review, Kin, The Mochila Review, Off the Coast and Third Wednesday. A resident of Cushing, Maine, she is a professor emeritus of The City University of New York.

Saltwater Film Society Screening of The Dish
Tuesday, March 20, 6:30 PM

Noteworthy for being the top-grossing film in Australia in 2000, The Dish is a lightly fictionalized account of transmitting images from the 1969 moon landing. Parkes Observatory in Australia is asked to function as the backup receiver for the satellite transmission of the moon landing.

The film covers the impact on a small group of technicians working out of a sheep field of transferring the live feed via satellite. Due to a change in the schedule of the Apollo 11 mission, the crew find themselves responsible for picking up the iconic feed. Sam Neill stars as Cliff Buxton in this comedy-drama.
 
The Dish takes a smart, witty, comical look at the differing cultural attitudes between Australia and the U.S. while revisiting one of the greatest events in history.

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