Library Notes Week of July 13

We have some great programs coming up. Don’t miss Kimmy the Clown, July 14, 10 a.m. at the library. Kimmy enjoys encouraging children and adults to explore their imaginations and creativity, thus bringing a multitude of smiles and laughter! Making people comfortable in social settings and filling the room with laughter has always been one of Kimmy's attributes. Her high energy and bubbly personality is one that can charm any crowd; babies, young children, teens and adults!

Then we have Jennifer Bradbury, July 22, 11 a.m. at the High School Library. Jennifer Bradbury is an English teacher living in Burlington. She has written a popular teen book called Shift. Jennifer will be doing a writing workshop for our teens.

KJ has supplied the reviews this week. If you have someone interested in Young Adult books, recommend one of these.

Miles to Go by Miley Cyrus. At a grand old age of 16, Miley Cyrus has written her memoirs (at least she recognizes she’s got a lot of life yet to live). This collection of her thoughts and memories is written in a chatty style reminiscent of notes passed in history class. Fans of Hannah Montana aka Miley Stewart aka Miley Cyrus will enjoy this glimpse into her real world.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. When Nobody Owens’ family is murdered, Bod was toddling out of the house into the nearby graveyard. He is raised and educated by ghosts and a guardian who moves between the worlds of the living and the dead. Gaiman was inspired by Kipling’s classic, The Jungle Book and the chapters are a series of episodes as Bod grows from a baby to a teen. The Graveyard Book combines ghost story with a coming of age novel to the delight of readers who like quirky and creepy fare.

Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty. The fifth and final installment of the McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series starts with her running into ex-boyfriend Marcus Flutie. This finale takes place at the Newark Airport and centers around Jessica and Marcus. It is the only book of the series that is told in the third person, giving the reader the opportunity to understand Marcus without Jessica’s filters. Most of the book is conversation and that may put off some readers, but most agree this is a satisfactory conclusion to the series.

Sign up now to get a part in the Teen Murder Mystery Party – Death of a Vampire. The party is Friday, August 7th, 6:30 p.m. at the La Conner Regional Library. Pizza, pop and frights will be part of the evening.

Library Notes Week of June 29th

We are looking forward to the 4th of July parade this Saturday. I think the Friends of the Library will have an entry pushing some book carts and with any luck we will have a couple of people holding the library’s summer reading banner to remind everyone that children need to be reading this summer. Hope to see you there!

Stop in and check out a book from our new book shelf. Here are a few you
might be interested in.

Knockout by Catherine Coulter. FBI agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock have their hands full when Savich is caught in a bank holdup near his Washington, D.C., home. The vicious attack leaves the criminal leader dead and his injured teen daughter swearing revenge. She manages to escape, leading the FBI on a bloody chase.

A Trace of Smoke by Rebecca Cantrell. It’s 1931 in Berlin, and though the Weimar Republic has begun to crumble, the celebrated decadence of the era remains in full flower. Hannah Vogel is a crime reporter, on intimate terms with Berlin’s underbelly, but that doesn’t protect her from the shock of seeing her brother’s picture posted in the police department’s Hall of the Unnamed Dead. She’s reluctant to make a formal identification until she knows what happened to him; scandal may lurk behind his death, as Ernst was a cross-dressing cabaret star whose list of male lovers included at least one Nazi leader.

Fugitive by Phillip Margolin. Oregon attorney Amanda Jaffe takes on the case of a lifetime when she is tapped to defend Charlie Marsh, aka Guru Gabriel Sun. Marsh was a prisoner whose freedom came when he saved the life of a guard during a riot. He then changed his name and published a book in which he spoke of how you, too, could achieve personal transformation. The public ate it up, especially the wife of a U.S. congressman. After the congressman’s murder, both his wife and Marsh stood trial for the crime. Before the verdict was read, though, Marsh escaped, landing in Batanga, Africa. When Marsh finds he might be caught for bedding one of the tyrant’s wives he realizes that a trial in the U.S. bodes better for him than punishment at the hands of Batanga’s cruel ruler.

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.