Library Notes week of December 29

What wild weather we have been having!! Many of you know I moved from Central Washington three years ago to avoid snowy weather. Seems it happens here once in awhile. It may have been confusing if you tried to get to the library during the snow. Our policy here is to close when the La Conner School District closes due to bad weather. With most of our staff from areas outside La Conner it helps cut down on travel when the roads are bad. We also don’t want you risking life and limb to return that book or video. Don’t worry if you are late, we totally understand.

When you get out you might want to check out one of these new books.

Night of Thunder by Stephen Hunter. Nikki Swagger is seriously injured when a hit man runs her car off the road in Tennessee hill country. Despite Swagger's fears that the legion of enemies he's made over the years are responsible for the attack, the former marine leaves Nikki vulnerable to another attempt on her life in the hospital where she's being treated—an attempt foiled only by chance in the nick of time.

The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters by Lorraine Lopez. Lopez's engaging novel chronicles how four sisters' lives are shaped by the early loss of their mother and their belief that they were granted magical abilities upon the death of an enigmatic loved one.

Tsar by Ted Bell. Alex Hawke fights the leaders of a new and invigorated Russia, where Vladimir Putin has been locked up in a lethal prison built over a massive radioactive waste site. Evil mastermind Count Ivan Korsakov (aka the Dark Rider) is determined to return Mother Russia to her rightful place in the world order by reacquiring her former colonies, after which he intends to conquer Europe and reign as the new tsar. The only thing standing in his way is Hawke, who is more than up to the task of thwarting those who try to take over the globe.

Library Notes week of November 24

As we approach Thanksgiving, you might consider the myth of the pumpkin pie: “Early American settlers of Plimoth Plantation (1620-1692), the first permanent European settlement in southern New England, might have made pumpkin pies (of sorts) by making stewed pumpkins or by filling a hollowed out shell with milk, honey and spices, and then baking it in hot ashes. An actual present-day pumpkin pie with crust is a myth, as ovens to bake pies were not available in the colony at that stage”. Taken from the website, Whats Cooking America. (http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/PieHistory/PumpkinPie.htm) Even if it wasn’t a pie then, I plan to enjoy my pumpkin as a pie this year.

Stop in and check out our new books. Maybe one of these will be just the thing to sit and enjoy after your Thanksgiving dinner.

A Most Wanted Man by John LeCarre. When boxer Melik Oktay and his mother, both Turkish Muslims living in Hamburg, take in a street person calling himself Issa they set off a chain of events implicating intelligence agencies from three countries.
Heat Lightning by John Sandford. It’s a hot, humid summer night in Minnesota, and Flowers is in bed with one of his ex-wives when the phone rings. It’s Lucas Davenport. There’s a body in Stillwater—two shots to the head, found near a veteran’s memorial. And the victim has a lemon in his mouth. Exactly like the body they found last week.

Final Justice by Fern Michaels. The Sisterhood -- Myra, Annie, Alexis, Yoko, Nikki, and Isabelle -- have risked everything in the name of justice, including their own freedom. Their most recent mission promises to reward them with the ultimate prize -- a presidential pardon and a chance to leave their enforced exile. But as they've learned too many times before, life doesn't always turn out as planned.

Library Notes week of November 3

If you come in you will notice more changes. We are taking some of the paperbacks that are part of a series and placing them on the main shelves next to the rest of the books in the series. We have a new DVD spinner so the paperbacks have moved into the old metal spinner the DVDs and VHS tapes have occupied. We kept a small collection of VHS tapes which are on a bookshelf by the window. If you have trouble finding things, be sure to ask—we want you to find what you are looking for.

Check the new book shelves when you are in. Here are a few new titles you may find interesting.

Exit Music by Ian Rankin. It's late in the fall in Edinburgh and late in the career of Detective Inspector John Rebus. As he is simply trying to tie up some loose ends before his retirement, a new case lands on his desk: a dissident Russian poet has been murdered in what looks like a mugging gone wrong. Rebus discovers that an elite delegation of Russian businessmen is in town, looking to expand its interests. And as Rebus's investigation gains ground, someone brutally assaults a local gangster with whom he has a long history.

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. Sittenfeld tracks the life of bookish, naïve Alice Lindgren and the trajectory that lands her in the White House as first lady. Charlie Blackwell, her boyishly charming rake of a husband, whose background of Ivy League privilege, penchant for booze and partying, contempt for the news and habit of making flubs when speaking off the cuff, bears more than a passing resemblance to the current president.

Hot Mahogany by Stuart Woods. One night at Elaine’s, Stone Barrington meets Barton Cabot, older brother of his sometime ally, CIA boss Lance Cabot. Barton’s career in army intelligence is even more top secret than his brother’s, but he’s suffering from amnesia following a random act of violence. Amnesia is a dangerous thing in a man whose memory is chockfull of state secrets, so Lance hires Stone to watch Barton’s back.

Library Notes for the week of October 6

So many people have asked about beginning computer classes that we are running another series in November. These are designed for the very beginner with little or no experience with the computer. If you are interested call or stop by to sign up.

When you come in be sure to look at the new book shelf for these new titles.

A Spoonful of Poison by M.C. Beaton. When elderly Mrs. Andrews jumps to her death off the tower of Saint Odo the Severe during a church charity event in the Cotswolds village of Comfrey Magna, LSD-laced jam proves to be the cause. Agatha Raisin joins the local authorities in the investigation, which focuses on the six women who contributed jam to the church fete, including wealthy Sybilla Triast-Perkins. Agatha and Toni Gilmour, her young detective-in-training, soon find unmasking the lethal jam poisoner complicated by Sybilla's sudden suicide and a murder connected to the theft of the fete's proceeds.

Hounded to Death by Rita Mae Brown. Sister is busy showing her hounds in the hunting off-season. Then calamity strikes. At the Mid-America Hound Show in Kentucky, an unpopular master is shot dead with rat shot (aka bird shot). Back home in Virginia, a member of Sister's Jefferson Hunt Club disappears. When a veterinarian, despondent over her divorce, apparently commits suicide, Sister decides she can no longer leave matters to the police.

Blood Memory by Margaret Coel. After an attempt on her life, Catherine realizes she was far from a random target when Arapaho elder Norman Whitehorse informs her that she's one of us. Adopted as a child and still unsure of her identity and heritage, Catherine begins to understand the deep connection she feels to her latest story, about the 1864 Indian massacre at Sand Creek. Whitehorse and Cheyenne leaders call for the tribes' further compensation for Sand Creek, but when Catherine starts digging, she realizes that there's more to the land fight than meets the eye, and the trail leads all the way to Washington.

Library Notes for the week of August 25

In the next couple of weeks you will see some major changes in the library layout. We are trying to carve out some better space for our WiFi patrons and just better seating for those who come in to read the newspaper. We have received some new chairs and two small tables are on order. We already have some new electrical outlets under the windows and soon we will be replacing the public computers. We recently received some discarded shelving from Skagit Valley College which we will put to good use as well. We should have all the changes complete by mid-September. We hope this makes your visit to the library more comfortable. Oh, and if you are interested in a computer table, please stop by—we have three for sale cheap.

Come in and check out the new book shelf. Here are a few titles you may be interested in.

Host by Stephenie Meyer: Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

The Great Man by Kate Christensen: This novel is less about the great man of its title than the women Oscar Feldman, fictional 20th-century figurative painter, left behind: Abigail, his wife of more than four decades; Teddy, his mistress of nearly as many years; and Maxine, his sister, an abstract artist who has achieved her own measure of fame. Five years after Feldman's death, as the women begin sketching their versions of him for a pair of admiring biographers, long-buried resentments set the stage for secrets to be spilled and bonds to be tested.

Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein: Enzo knows he is different from other dogs: a philosopher with a nearly human soul (and an obsession with opposable thumbs), he has educated himself by watching television extensively, and by listening very closely to the words of his master, Denny Swift, an up-and-coming race car driver. Through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the human condition, and he sees that life, like racing, isn't simply about going fast.

Library Notes for the week of July 30

Summer is just flying by this year. We had a great time at our Fancy Nancy Party last week and here is a photo of the fun. Don’t forget to get your child to the Grand Finale of the Summer Reading Program. Thursday, August 7^th, Last Leaf Productions will perform Bayou Bug Tales. There will be three performances so you can go to Sedro-Woolley, Anacortes or Mount Vernon. They are wonderful and not to be missed. Get those reading minutes in so your child will be in the drawing for the end of SRP prize!

For the adults we have some new books in. If you are into biographical accounts, here are a few you may be interested in.

In the Frame: My Life in Words and Pictures by Helen Mirren. Helen's aristocratic Russian grandfather was sent to London by the Czar and found himself stranded and penniless by the Bolshevik revolution. He brought with him a trunk of papers and photographs. This memoir starts with the contents of the trunk, with evocative pictures of Helen's Russian antecedents. She has kept a rich seam of photographs and memorabilia from her life, and her parents, family life, childhood, teenage and early years as an actress.

My Stroke of Insight by Jill Bolte Taylor. On the morning of December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist, experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life, all within the space of four brief hours. As the damaged left side of her brain--the rational, grounded, detail- and time-oriented side--swung in and out of function, Taylor alternated between two distinct and opposite realties: the euphoric nirvana of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace; and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized Jill was having a stroke, and enabled her to seek help.

The Thief at the End of the World by Joe Jackson. On June 10, 1876, a self-styled explorer named Henry Wickham arrived at Liverpool having sailed from Brazil. He hastened to London and the offices of the Royal Botanic Gardens where he immediately presented the director with a sample of the precious cargo he had brought: 70,000 seeds of "the valuable rubber known as 'Pará fine,' " Wickham's story is interesting in and of itself, but obviously its ramifications go far beyond. "Biopiracy," at its core "is about power and its imbalance -- the historical fact that poorer countries have been high in resources, while richer nations want what they have."

Library Notes for the week of May 19th

We are looking forward to summer for a number of reasons. Summer Reading starts and we have all those wonderful programs for our young readers. Be sure to check the program page of our website for dates and times. We also are starting a program we are calling Baby ‘n Me. This will be a fun time for moms and their little ones—those too young for our toddler story time. Mom and baby will enjoy stories, songs and activities geared especially for the under 2 crowd. If you have a little one, or know someone who has one, join us on Friday mornings beginning June 6^th.

For some grown-up reading try one of these new titles off the new book shelf.
The Body in the Gallery by Katherine Hall Page. Faith's catering business has been slow with the downturn of the economy, so when her friend Patsy Avery proposes that she take over the café at Aleford's Ganley Art Museum, it seems like a not-to-be-missed opportunity. And Patsy has an ulterior motive—she discovers that the Romare Bearden piece she lent the museum has been switched with a fake and wants Faith to snoop around to find the culprit.

The Angel by Carla Neggers. When Keira Sullivan, a young Boston illustrator and folklorist, decides to travel to Ireland to research a Celtic legend about three brothers battling for a stone angel, she pays no heed to warnings not to go from antique collector Victor Sarakis, even after Victor drowns under suspicious circumstances in the Public Garden pond.

Deep Dish by Mary Kay Andrews. The Cooking Channel is looking to add a new show to their line-up and has two chefs in the competition. Gina Foxton is a 30-year-old chef with a health-conscious approach to classic Southern fare and Tate Moody is the “kill it and grill it” cook from a show called Vittles. The competition between Gina and Tate ramps up when the network decides to turn their competition into a reality show.

Library Notes Week of March 17

Some of you may notice activity around the library parking lot. We have a broken pipe under our parking area and digging, we hope, will begin soon to replace it. A side affect is we have no water to the building so you will find our restroom is out of order. We are sorry if this proves to be a problem during your visit. We hope it is resolved soon.

Biographies are always interesting reads. Here are a few of the newest ones to our library.

Born Standing Up by Steve Martin:

At age 10, Steve Martin got a job selling guidebooks at the newly opened Disneyland. In the decade that followed, he worked in Disney's magic shop, print shop, and theater, and developed his own magic/comedy act. By age 20 he was performing a dozen times a week, most often at the Disney rival, Knott's Berry Farm. Obsession is a substitute for talent, he has said, and Steve Martin's focus and daring--his sheer tenacity--are truly stunning.

Diana Ross by J. Randy Tarabarrelli:

There is only one Diana Ross. And this is her story. Drawn from hundreds of interviews conducted over four decades and featuring rare, never-before-published photos, Diana Ross paints an unforgettable picture of an extraordinary and often controversial legend, a woman who has distinguished herself as a Civil Rights trailblazer, a temperamental celebrity, a loving and very present mother, and a consummate entertainer.

Dark Victory: The Life of Bette Davis by Ed Sikov:

Bette Davis was a force of nature-an idiosyncratic talent who nevertheless defined the words 'movie star' for more than half a century and who created an extraordinary body of work filled with unforgettable performances. In Dark Victory, the noted film critic and biographer Ed Sikov paints the most detailed picture ever delivered of this intelligent, opinionated, and unusual woman.

Library Notes for the week of March 3rd

It was sudden brought to my attention that Daylight Savings Time begins Sunday March 9^th. With the change in daylight and weather you may not be reading as much. I know the garden begins to call about this time each year. Here are a few gardening books to inspire you.

Theme Gardens by Hazel White. A guide to distinctive garden styles with a wealth of ideas for your home landscaping. How to create garden vignettes that capture a look, evoke a mood or take your garden in a whole new direction.

Beautiful Bulbs by Georgeanne Brennan. This book contains simple, easy-to-follow directions for growing lovely flowers from bulbs indoor and out, for every season of the year. Includes tips on when and how to buy, force, plant, naturalize and store bulbs.

Country Living Cottage Gardens by Toby Musgrave. Evoke all the romance of a classic cottage garden with traditional and contemporary plants. Create a cottage garden that’s a haven of peace and tranquility and a place to escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

Glorious Indoor Gardens by Michele Driscoll Alioto. Explore a wide variety of planting possibilities and garden styles. Alioto focuses on the design, history, and family use of each site he showcases, from a magnificent desert garden in Arizona to a terrarium-filled Soho loft in New York.

Library Notes for the week of February 4

We had such excitement here at the library when First Gentleman Mike came to visit on his literacy tour of the State. Reading is so important and it was nice to see is it valued by the highest levels of our state government as well.

Have you picked up your reading record for the Winter Reading Program? Read three books and get a Literary Latte from The Next Chapter as well as a chance for a Booklover’s Bag of goodies. Maybe one of the following titles will end up on your reading record.

Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky. When she was writing Suite Française in 1940, Némirovsky, who died in Auschwitz in 1942 before turning 40, was also reworking this novel, newly discovered among her papers. In a leisurely narrative, middle-aged narrator Silvio recounts three interlocking stories of love and betrayal over two decades. These secret affairs, he says, can be explained only by fire in the blood, the intense passion that can overtake men and women when they are young, highly sexed and vulnerable.

A Free Life by Ha Jin. Nan Wu, a Chinese graduate student in Boston, drops out after the Tiananmen Square massacre. He would like to abandon his marriage, too, but his sense of duty toward Pingping and their young son is stronger than his desire for passion and the freedom to write poetry. So Nan laboriously progresses from busboy to chef, and purchases a small Chinese restaurant outside Atlanta, Georgia. He and Pingping work hard, live frugally, and strive to understand their baffling new world, including white friends who adopt a Chinese daughter.

The Air We Breathe by Andrea Barrett. In the fall of 1916, as the U.S. involvement in WWI looms, the Adirondack town of Tamarack Lake houses a public sanitarium and private cure cottages for TB patients. Gossip about roommate changes, cliques and romantic connections dominate relations among the sick—mostly poor European immigrants—when they're not on their porches taking their rest cure. Intrigue increases with the arrival of Leo Marburg, an attractive former chemist who has spent his years in New York slaving away at a sugar refinery, and of Miles Fairchild, a pompous and wealthy resident who decides to start a discussion group, despite his inability to understand many of his fellow patients.