Library Notes Week of June 15

School is out (or should be soon) and it is vacation time. I hope you plan on stopping
by the library and checking out a book, video or maybe an audio book. If you need help the staff can always give you a recommendation. Next week they are headed to a two day class where they will get some reference training. I am sure they will come back with lots of great ideas on how to serve our patrons better.

You Can Observe a Lot by Watching by Yogi Berra. Berra and coauthor Kaplan have penned this charming book about teamwork. In anecdote after anecdote about his legendary career with the Yankees, his not-so-legendary career as a manager, and his days growing up on the streets of St. Louis, Berra shows how respect and cooperation made him a success on the field and in life. Lessons include the importance of punctuality, owning one's mistakes, and a positive attitude.

What’s Age Got to do With It? by Robin McGraw. Robin McGraw, wife of television talk show host Dr. Phil McGraw, receives thousands of emails from women asking her what she does to look and feel so vibrant, energetic and healthy at the age of 55. It all started back in Robin's twenties and thirties when pivotal moments in her life made her realize that if she did not put her health and well-being first, no one else would.

The Woman Behind the New Deal by Kirstin Downey. Frances Perkins is no longer a household name, yet she was one of the most influential women of the twentieth century. Based on eight years of research, extensive archival materials, new documents, and exclusive access to Perkins’s family members and friends, this biography is the first complete portrait of a devoted public servant with a passionate personal life, a mother who changed the landscape of American business and society.

Library Notes week of May 4

I hope you remember to use our website from home. From our catalog you can check on when your books are due, renew books, and place holds from the comfort of your own home—24 hours per day!! We have other items on there as well. If you go to the program page you can see what some of the Summer Reading Programs are going to be. We have some great events scheduled. Oh and for you gals who attended our tea party last year we have scheduled another tea party for Sunday, May 31st. Look for more information soon!!

If you enjoy reading non-fiction, here are a few of the latest titles to arrive.

Selling Your Father’s Bones by Brian Schofield. This account of the Nez Percé's trials is a painful tale well told. British journalist Schofield writes a history of this Columbia River Valley tribe down to its present-day remnant, confined to a modest Idaho reservation. Casting a wide net, he also describes white settlement in the northwest, emphasizing its devastation of wildlife, soil, rivers and forests.

The Last Good Nights by John West. The Last Goodnights provides a unique, powerful, and unflinching look inside the reality of one of the most galvanizing issues of our time: assisted suicide. Told with intensity and bare honesty, John West’s account of the deaths of two brave people is gritty and loving, frightening and illuminating, nerve-wracking and even, at times, darkly humorous.

The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama by Gwen Ifill. Ifill argues that the Black political structure formed during the Civil Rights movement is giving way to a generation of men and women who are the direct beneficiaries of the struggles of the 1960s. She offers incisive, detailed profiles of such prominent leaders as Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, and U.S. Congressman Artur Davis of Alabama (all interviewed for this book), and also covers numerous up-and-coming figures from across the nation.

Library Notes week of April 27

Congratulations to the winners in the annual Tulip Poster raffle. The Friends of the Library had another successful raffle to raise funds for the library. There were lots of prizes besides the beautiful framed poster, I hope you were lucky enough to win one.

We are getting in lots of new books. Maybe one of these will interest you.

Death of a Witch by M.C. Beaton. The Scottish Highlands most stubborn bachelor returns to his home village of Lochdubh from a disappointing vacation to discover a witch stirring up trouble. To Macbeth's annoyance, the sex-starved local men have fallen under the spell of Catriona Beldame, who turns out to be a runaway bride with a shady past. Macbeth longs to prove she's selling illegal remedies for sexual dysfunction, and warns her to stop if she is. Macbeth gets a shock when someone murders Beldame and sets her house on fire—soon after Macbeth is overheard to say he'd like to kill her.

The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker. In an upstate New York backwater, Truly has a bleak existence with her depressed father and her china-doll–like sister, Serena Jane. Truly grows at an astonishing rate—her girth the result of a pituitary gland problem—and after her father dies when Truly is 12, Truly is sloughed off to the Dyersons, a hapless farming family. She befriends the Dyersons' outcast daughter, Amelia, and later leaves her beloved Dyerson farm to take care of Serena Jane's husband and son after Serena Jane leaves them. Haunting the margins of Truly's story is that of Tabitha Dyerson, a rumored witch whose secrets afford a breathtaking role reversal for Truly.

Cape Disappointment by Earl Emerson. A man and a woman, their coastal getaway interrupted, say goodbye on an isolated landing strip in Washington State. She then calls from the air. And he watches from the base of a lighthouse as the plane, with eleven people on board, plummets into the steely gray sea. The man remembering this tragic event is in a hospital room, the victim of a bombing weeks after the crash. In this extraordinary thriller by award-winning author Earl Emerson, Seattle private eye Thomas Black returns after more than a decade–and he must put together the shattered fragments of his life. His life and his country depend on it.

Library Notes Week of April 13

This is National Library Week. First celebrated in 1958, it is an annual celebration of the contributions of our nation’s libraries and librarians.

Secretary of State Sam Reed encourages Washington citizens to help celebrate National Library Week by visiting and using their local library. “Now more than ever, libraries play a crucial role throughout Washington and America,” Reed said. “They not only provide many useful resources and services, they open up new worlds and help make lifelong learning possible. What better way for people to celebrate National Library Week than by visiting a local library and taking advantage of the many services offered?”

Washington State Librarian Jan Walsh agrees, pointing out that libraries have tremendous civic, cultural and economic value. “Everyone benefits by using libraries, especially during these tough economic times,” Walsh said. “A library can save people a lot of money. Buying books, CDs and DVDs can be expensive. But these same books, CDs and DVDs are free if you have a library card.”

Walsh pointed out that libraries are much more than books. “They give people access to newspapers and periodicals, CDs and DVDs, computers and the Internet, historical documents and so much more.”

If you haven’t visited our library lately you are missing out!! Why not stop in today.

Ghost at Work by Carolyn Hart. When Bailey Ruth Raeburn and her husband die on their cabin cruiser during a storm, Bailey joins the heavenly host. Later, she returns to earth via the Rescue Express to help the rector's wife, Kathleen Abbott. After finding the body of a dead man on her back porch, Kathleen fears either she or her husband might be accused of the crime. Bailey Ruth helps her to move the body, inaugurating a search for the killer that proves difficult as the victim was despised by many. As Bailey Ruth uncovers more than one crime, she must contend with her own violations of the Precepts for Earthly Visitation and adjust to her powers on earth.

Fire and Ice by Julie Garwood. Sophie Rose, a tough and determined newspaper reporter, is the daughter of Bobby Rose, who happens to be a notorious big-time thief sought by every law-enforcement agency in the country. When the major Chicago daily where she works insists she write an exposé about her roguish father, Sophie refuses, quits her job, and goes to work at a small newspaper. Far from her onetime high-powered crime beat, she now covers local personalities such as the quirky winner of several area 5K runs whose trademark is goofy red socks.

Oolong Dead by Laura Childs. Indigo Tea Shop proprietor Theodosia Browning and her horse, Captain Harley, encounter murder most unsavory during the annual Charleston Point-to-Point Race. Shortly after clearing a jump, they're spooked by encountering the corpse of Abby Davis, an evening TV news anchor, who's been shot through the forehead.

Library Notes week of March 30

Are you curious about the President’s stimulus package? We had the document – all 1434 pages—donated to us. Stop in if you want to wade through it. Also, April is National Poetry Month. If you go to http://www.poets.org/ you can get a poem a day sent to your e-mail. What a great way to celebrate!

We have lots of poetry titles. Below are just a few of the most recent we have in our collection.

Ballistics by Bill Collins. Two-term U.S. Poet Laureate touches on love, death, solitude, youth and aging in this collection of poetry. His tongue-in-cheek assault on the gloom and doubt in our poetry is his remedy for the loneliness that (even for him) shadows all poems: this is a poem, not a novel, he laments, and the only characters here are you and I,/ alone in an imaginary room/ which will disappear after a few more lines.

The Blue Hour of the Day by Lorna Crozier. Lorna Crozier has become one of Canada’s most beloved poets, receiving high acclaim and numerous awards. In this definitive selection of poems, Crozier’s trademark investigations of family, spirituality, love’s fierce attachments, and bereavement and loss have been given a new framework.

The Way It Is by William Stafford. His widely anthologized "Ceremony," "Thinking for Berky," and "Traveling through the Dark" are here, along with others, including "Adults Only," which begins, "Animals own a fur world; / people own worlds that are variously, pleasingly bare." A writer of silence, loss, memory, and conviction, Stafford wrote a poem almost every morning, rising at four to eat toast and compose. This is a part of his myth that the Stafford industry--other poets, workshop leaders, old friends--agrees is admirable, the hard-working farmhand who beats the cows to the dairy barn.

Library Notes week of March 9

Have you visited the library website lately? We have great things available to you. Homework help, automobile repair on-line. We also have a new page about the Library Book Club that meets here the 4th Wed. of the month. The page has a list of books they have read and discussed. Try out one of the titles you might not be familiar with.

Come by the Library and check out one of these new books.

The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan. Before there was Marley, there was a gleefully mischievous boy growing up in a devout Catholic home outside Detroit in the 1960s and '70s. Despite his loving parents' best efforts, John's attempts to meet their expectations failed spectacularly. Whether it was his disastrous first confession, the use of his hobby telescope to take in the bronzed Mrs. Selahowski sunbathing next door, the purloined swigs of sacramental wine, or, as he got older, the fumbled attempts to sneak contraband past his father and score with girls beneath his mother's vigilant radar.

Stronger After Stroke by Peter Levine. This book puts the power of recovery in the reader’s hands by providing easy instructions for reaching the highest possible level of healing. Written for stroke survivors, their caregivers, and their loved ones, the book presents a new approach that is startling in its simplicity: stroke survivors recover by using the same learning techniques that anyone uses to master anything. Basic concepts are covered, including repetition of task-specific movements, proper scheduling of practice, challenges at each stage of recovery, and setting goals and recognizing achievements.

American Rifle: a Biography by Alexander Rose. In this solid history, Rose explores the development of the rifle, such as how it evolved in American history to become an iconic symbol of freedom and how it developed as an effective military instrument as well as a private citizen's firearm. Drawing on numerous primary sources, from letters and journals of ordinary soldiers to the writings of inventors such as Samuel Colt, Rose traces the rise of the rifle from its original use as a hunting tool and a means of defense and protection to its eventual use as an offensive weapon in wars of conquest.

Library Notes Week of March 2

The Skagit Libraries are all participating in “Skagit County Reads One Book.” We are encouraging all adults to read Three Cups of Tea and for the kids we have Alex and the Amazing Lemonade Stand. There will be programs throughout the county centered around these two inspiring stories of how one person can make a difference. Multiple copies of both books will be distributed to libraries and schools throughout the county. Liz Scott will be at the Friends of the La Conner Library meeting, Monday, March 9, 9 a.m. at the Retirement Inn, 204 First Street, La Conner. Consider attending to hear the story of little Alex Scott.

Stop in to the library and see what is new. Here are a few of our latest arrivals.

Thai Die by Monica Ferris. Among the many souvenirs Betsy's friend Doris Valentine brings home from a Thailand vacation is a stone Buddha to be delivered to a St. Paul antiques dealer. When Doris discards the dirty cloth the Buddha was wrapped in, Betsy rescues the cloth, which turns out to be valuable silk more than 2,000 years old. Has Doris become an unwitting pawn in an international antiquities theft operation? After someone ransacks Doris's apartment and murders the antiques dealer, Sgt. Mike Malloy of the Excelsior police and civilian detective Betsy find themselves involved in a case more complicated than any needlework pattern she's ever attempted.

Cross Country by James Patterson. When the home of Alex Cross's oldest friend, Ellie Cox, is turned into the worst murder scene Alex has ever seen, the destruction leads him to believe that he's chasing a horrible new breed of killer. As Alex and his girlfriend, Brianna Stone, become entangled in the deadly Nigerian underworld of Washington D.C., what they discover is shocking: a stunningly organized gang of lethal teenagers headed by a powerful, diabolical man--the African warlord known as the Tiger. Just when the detectives think they're closing in on the elusive murderer, the Tiger disappears into thin air. Tracking him to Africa, Alex knows that he must follow. Alone.

The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith. Smith delivers yet another delightful installment to his Scotland Street series. This time out, he focuses mostly on the irrepressible Bertie Pollock, a precocious six-year-old whose mummy, Irene, forces him to play a saxophone, converse in Italian, do yoga and see Dr. Hugo Fairbairn, a psychotherapist who looks a lot like Bertie's baby brother, Ulysses. As Bertie struggles to accommodate his nutty mummy and new brother, another crisis explodes for artist Angus Lordie, whose beloved dog, Cyril, has been thrown in the pound for biting someone. Cyril is innocent, and Angus, with Bertie's assistance, sets out to rescue Cyril before he's put down.