Thomaston Public Library Events

Author, Vicki Doudera

Mystery, Suspense, and Murder with Maine Crime Author Vicki Doudera

On Tuesday, May 6th, at 7 PM, the Thomaston Public Library will host an evening with Maine crime author Vicki Doudera, who has just released Deal Killer, the fifth novel in her Darby Farr Mystery series. Darby Farr is a smart and savvy real estate agent who solves crimes and makes sales -- even when deals go deadly!

Ms. Doudera is a realtor herself with a busy coastal firm handling luxury real estate. She will read from her new novel and discuss the writing process and the writing life. In addition to writing the Darby Farr mysteries, she has written very popular nonfiction books on relocating to Maine and retiring in Maine and articles for such magazines as Parenting, People, Reader’s Digest, Yankee and Down East.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In Deal Killer, Ms. Doudera's newest novel, Murder comes to Manhattan when Realtor-turned-sleuth Darby Farr arrives in the Big Apple and finds big trouble: her boyfriend Miles Porter’s a suspect in the brutal stabbing of a Russian businessman. Setting out to prove his innocence, Darby discovers that Central Park Place – the luxury residence where Miles lives – is a hotbed of wealthy tenants with well-guarded secrets. One of these tenants is Natalia Kazakova, a billionaire’s daughter and the victim’s not-so-distraught fiancée, whose investigative journalism has caught the attention of Russia’s shadowy security agency. With the looming threat of Soviet-era spies and a long list of rich and devious suspects, Darby must work fast to stop a killer who knows no bounds.

Ms. Doudera, who resides in midcoast Maine, says, "I very happily spend my days juggling two roles: Realtor and Mystery Writer. The extrovert in me loves meeting new clients, touring homes, and putting deals together, while the writer savors my time at my computer, letting my imagination run wild."

For more information about Vicki Doudera, please see her website at http://vickidoudera.com/. For more information about the event, please call the library at 354-2453.

 

 

 

Intergenerational Book Club to Discuss The Passion of Artemisia

 by Susan Vreeland

On Tuesday, May 20th, at 2:30 PM, the Thomaston Public Library's Intergenerational Book Club will discuss The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland.

In this stunning novel, Vreeland tells the story of a painter who transformed Renaissance Italy with the beauty of her work. The Passion of Artemisia chronicles the extraordinary life of Artemisia Gentileschi, the first woman to make a significant contribution to art history. At age eighteen, Artemisia Gentileschi finds herself humiliated in papal court for publicly accusing the man who raped her —Agostino Tassi, her painting teacher. When even her father does not stand up for her, she knows she cannot stay in Rome and begs to have a marriage arranged for her.

Her new husband, an artist named Pietro Stiatessi, takes her to his native Florence, where her talent for painting blossoms and she becomes the first woman elected to the Accademia dell'Arte. But marriage clashes with Artemisia's newfound fame as a painter, and she begins a lifelong search to reconcile painting and motherhood, passion and genius.

Set against the glorious backdrops of Rome, Florence, and Genoa, peopled with historical characters such as Cosimo de'Medici and Galileo, and filled with details of the life of a Renaissance painter, The Passion of Artemisia is the story of Gentileschi's struggle to find love, forgiveness, and wholeness through her art. At once a dramatic tale of love and a moving father-daughter story, it is the portrait of an astonishing woman that will captivate lovers of Gentileschi's paintings and anyone interested in the life of a woman who ignored the conventions of her day and dared to follow her heart.

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 May 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.

 

Artwork of Thomaston Painter Margaret McCrea on Display through May

Thomaston Public Library's primary display case features the lovely artwork of another member of the talented Thomaston McCrea family: painter Margaret McCrea, whose stunning and eclectic display is entitled Decades of Dabbling. Do not miss this impressive collection, which will be in place through the month of May.

Once she'd mastered her coloring books, Margaret McCrea started freehand drawing and by age 11 was taking her first oil paintings to an artist-neighbor for critiques. While dabbling with oil paints in the 1970s, she became interested in the resurgence of theorem painting, an art form practiced in young girls’ finishing schools in the early 19th century. She offered her work locally and in a national mail-order catalogue.

She switched from oils to watercolors in the 1990s while making extended cruises aboard Panacea, her family’s 32’ Freedom. Instead of a camera, she used brush and paint to record the color and images from different islands and countries visited, filling multiple journals and photo albums. In 2004 Down East published “Maine Sail,” a collection of work from her Maine cruising journals and watercolors painted on location.

As a long-time member of Spring Bull Gallery, Newport, Rhode Island, Margaret participated in numerous local, state, and national art exhibitions. She firmly believes art is all about enjoyment and having fun. To this end, she created several “Fakes” for an annual Fakes and Forgeries event, and participated in a statewide RI Tourism promotion (Rhode Island's home to Hasbro Toys) by creating an oversized Mr. Potato Head dubbed Spud Light.

Margaret is currently working on a wall mural of the Thomaston waterfront in her front parlor. Her marine-related watercolors may be seen at Art of the Sea Galleries in South Thomaston.

 

 

Saltwater Film Society Screening of The Thirty Nine Steps

On Thursday, May 15, at 6:30 PM, the Thomaston Public Library will host the Saltwater Film Society screening of the thriller The Thirty Nine Steps, directed by Don Sharp and starring Robert Powell as Richard Hannay, along with a supporting cast that includes David Warner and John Mills.

This 1978 film is the third film version of the 1915 novel The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan and is generally regarded as the closest to the novel.

The year is 1914 and Richard Hannay, a mining engineer visiting Britain for a short time before returning to South Africa, is shocked when one of his neighbors, Colonel Scudder, bursts into his rooms one night and tells him that Prussian sleeper agents are planning to pre-start World War I by murdering a visiting foreign minister.

Scudder is then murdered and Hannay is framed for the death. Fleeing to Scotland, Hannay attempts to clear his name and stop the agents' nefarious scheme.

Superior photography on location helps to make this version a real winner. Evenly paced, with fine performances by the entire cast, the whole film just flows. Excellent production values recreate the period flawlessly. This movie is for enjoying over and over again.

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

Thomaston Public Library Looking for Library Enthusiasts

Thomaston Public Library is looking for library enthusiasts to volunteer a few hours weekly this summer, in both the Children's and Adult's departments.

Summer is the library's busiest season and staff is now planning a big 40 Days of Summer program for kids that will include sack lunches, healthy snacks, books, and a host of daily, indoor and outdoor events. If you love children and want to share in the fun, please consider participating in this program as a volunteer.

The Adult Department would love additional volunteers too, to man the Circulation Desk, set up eye-catching displays, shelve books, and offer all kinds of general assistance. The library doubles as a community center and is a lovely place to spend a few hours assisting patrons, chatting with newcomers and neighbors, talking about books, and helping to keep the collection in order. The library offers training and a wide variety of tasks, depending upon your interests and skills.

If you like people and books; want to contribute to your community; and have a few free hours each week, please contact the library at 354-2453 -- or simply stop by. The library is located in the Thomaston Academy building at 60 Main Street in Thomaston. Parking and the library entrance are located at the rear of the building.

40 Days of Summer is coming to the Thomaston Public Library

In collaboration with our local farmers and the Federal Summer Food program, the library is hosting eight weeks packed with fun: art, crafts, games, great books, star-gazing, puppets, music, and free, healthy lunches.

Everyone is welcome and all kids from 4 to 18 are invited to participate for a day, a week, or all eight weeks, from 11 am to 1 pm Monday through Friday, with a yummy lunch provided and lots of activities for both sunny and rainy days. Parents who wish will also be invited to eat our family-style lunches and try their hands at bubbles, sidewalk-chalk drawings, gardening, puppet making, reading, and many other projects.

The Thomaston Farmers' Market will be a source for fresh produce, and, this fall, we'll harvest the pumpkins we've tended and watched grow over the summer in our pumpkin patch. Our special guests will include area people who can share their knowledge and skills: Jerry Schneider with his bat program; Tim English offering Qi Gong; Saco children's musician Rob Duquette in concert; and programs on astronomy, puppets, and art with the help of other talented local folk.

It’s all free for our kids though we welcome volunteers, sponsorships, and donations. Let’s have a simply wonderful summer beginning June 23^rd and running through August 15^th (no activities on the Fourth of July). Come join us for the fun. Sign-up sheets are available at the library and at Lura Libby and Thomaston Grammar schools.

For more information, please call the Thomaston Public Library (207-354-2453) or email 40daysofsummer@thomaston.lib.me.us.

 

Maine Author Event with Joan MacCracken

Tuesday, May 27th, at 2:30 PM

The Library will offer an afternoon author event with Maine novelist Joan MacCracken, author of The Winter House: A Season of Sharing, on Tuesday, May 27th, at 2:30 PM in Room 200 of the Thomaston Academy building.

The Winter House, a dialogue-rich read, tells the story of four older women who decide to live together in a large house on the coast of Maine over the course of one winter. Although the work is fictional, its topic is highly relevant today, especially here in Maine with its aging population: economically, socially, and practically, it makes real sense for people to join forces and live communally. The author, Joan MacCracken, will read from her book and speak about this novel living arrangement at Tuesday's event.

Dr. MacCracken is a retired physician who specialized in pediatric endocrinology and practiced in Bangor, Maine for twenty-three years. Her first book, The Sun, the Rain and the Insulin: Growing Up with Diabetes, was published in 1996. In 2005 she adapted a Nicaraguan folktale, creating the book Trisba and Sula, which was awarded Best Bilingual Children’s Book of 2006 by Skipping Stones magazine. Dr. MacCracken also edited and published Cracked Marbles, a collection of Maine stories by the late Dr. Tom Palmer of Bangor. For the past six years she has indulged her passion for writing by producing her small town’s quarterly newspaper, The Brooksville Breeze.

Dr. MacCracken's involvement with the At Home Downeast project, which supports the concept of "aging in place," stimulated her to think about those who prefer to remain in their homes as they grow older. She has two children and three grandchildren and lives with her husband and their dog on the Maine coast.



 

 

Dear Readers: Please excuse the format problems here.