This Week - November 29th thru December 4th

We are officially in Christmas mode... We are festively decorated, the window candles are in place, cozy holiday books for children and adults are on display, the tree is up (waiting for your favorite reads)...... so... stop by!! Just felt that we needed to jump start this very busy season and get a head start... We are feeling it!!

Winter Open Hours have begun.... Mondays  10 - 1, Wednesdays 12 - 4, and Saturdays 10 -1 

And another reminder, as we prepare for winter, "Porch Side" pickup and drop off is continuing. You are welcome to email your requests to us and we will place your bag in the box on my porch... and we are always happy to pick out books for you!

Monday, November 29th - 10 til 12 - Fun Time! We have several families that enjoy meeting up each Monday at the library for a combination of inside and outside activities. Last week it was bicycles, scooters and a turkey craft...always fun! Now that we have snow perhaps we'll have XC skiing! And you are welcome to join the group... kids range in age from 2 to 8. 

Coming up... Tuesday, December 14th at 7 - Our friend and neighbor, John Allen, will read A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas. We are delighted to have this annual event back on the calendar. Seats downstairs in Merrill Hall are limited... we will be happy to reserve a seat for you. Do come and enjoy this special start to the holiday season.

Two novels by Sarah Blake have been added to our collection: 

• Grange House (2000) - part family saga, part ghost story, part love story... all taking place at a hotel on the Maine coast run by Miss Grange
• The Guest Book (2019 - Moving through three generations and back and forth in time showing the untold secrets we inherit and pass on, unknowingly echoing our parents and grandparents.
• The Postmistress (2010) - This novel, in our collection, has been very popular and well worth the read...1940, World War Two... America still cocooned in its inability to grasp the danger at hand and a Europe being torn apart by war. Ms Blake shows how we bear the fact that war goes on around us while ordinary lives continue.

We have a new novel by Elizabeth Strout to add to her Amgash series...

• My Name is Lucy Barton (2016) - a simple hospital visit becomes a portal to the most tender relationship of all - the one between mother and daughter.
• Anything is Possible (2017) - Lucy returns to her family after seventeen years of absence...
• Oh William! (2021) - Ms Strout explores the mysteries of marriage and the secrets we keep, as a former couple reckons with where they've come from, and what they have left behind.

And a few more...

•  Never by Ken Follett (2021) - an extraordinary novel, full of heroines and villains, false prophets and elite warriors, jaded politicians and opportunistic revolutionaries... filled with cautionary wisdom for our times.
• Marked Man by Archer Mayor (2021) - #32 in our very popular Joe Gunther series with more murder in nearby Brattleboro, Vermont...and you know who is a suspect!
• The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles (2021) - Spanning just ten days and told from multiple points of view with richly imagined settings, characters, and themes. (Amor Towles is also the author of Rules of Civility and A Gentleman in Moscow... both popular with our readers.

... with a visit to the library!  A Reminder... Please send us the title and author of your favorite read in 2021... We are making Christmas ornaments for our little tree! 

Thank you for keeping up with us... Susan and the Library Ladies

November.... Week of November 22nd, 2021

 

Thanksgiving Week has arrived and here I sit in confusion with part of my head ready to celebrate the joys of this coming Thursday and my other half anxious to get started on the next holiday. Why am I not patient you might ask.... because I know how fast December comes and goes and I want to be on top of the preparations rather than always running to catch up. So... our library is already partially decorated and my dining room at home is fully decorated. If I could only get going on my Christmas cards!!

Regular Open Hours this week.... Monday 10 - 1, Wednesday 1 - 5 and Saturday 10 -1. And a reminder that you can email us your request(s) and I will set your selection(s) in the box on my porch. Yes, we are still doing "porch side" pick up and drop off. We are well aware of your busy schedules!

Winter Hours Start December 1st.... Mondays 10 - 1 (no change), Wednesdays 12 - 4, and Saturdays 10 - 1 (No change).  

Monday, November 22nd - 10 til 12 - Family Fun! There is a surprise this week! Jane has a special craft for our little ones... a decoration for the family table. Inviting all our young families to join us for fun, games, and turkey making!! 

Wednesday and Saturday, November 24th and 27th during regular hours - We will be finishing up our Christmas decorating and you are invited to stop in and lend a hand. We plan to decorate our tree with ornaments depicting the favorite book each of us has read in 2021. Get your thinking caps on and decide what was your favorite book and email us the title and author. We are anxious for our very plain tree to be well decorated! 

Tuesday, December 14th at 7 - MARK YOUR CALENDAR!!! A  Christmas Holiday Treat as we gather in our downstairs auditorium to hear our friend and neighbor, John Allen, read A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas. This work is an anecdotal reminiscence of a Christmas from the viewpoint of a young boy, portraying a nostalgic and simpler time. Do come and enjoy this special evening.

Continuing.... All About Diversity collection of 12 picture books to promote discussion with your little ones and... our very popular Turkey Hunt!

Yellow Fiction - The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley, a new series starring some pretty neat fairy-tale detectives. Their first case? A roller-coaster ride of an adventure to stop a giant from destroying their new hometown. Can they do it? You will have to let me know!

Have you read Fifty Things That Aren't My Fault by Cathy Guisewite (creator of "Cathy")? This is her first collection of funny, wise, poignant, and incredibly honest essays about being a woman in what she lovingly calls "The Panini Generation". We are filing this book under "Aging" in our Body and Soul collection because Ms. Guisewite refers to the "big transition" and most of you know what she is referring to... a time when everything starts changing and disappearing without permission: aging parents, aging children, aging self stuck in the middle....an ideal read for mothers, daughters, and anyone caught in between.

Have you read Nowhere Girl, a Memoir of a Fugitive Childhood by Cheryl Diamond (2021) - If you ever feel your life is out of control, just read this memoir. Ms. Diamond was born into a family of outlaws fleeing from the highest international law agencies. By the age of nine, she had lived in more than a dozen countries, on five continents, and under six assumed identities. Surviving required her to escape... a riveting tale. 

My Project This Coming Week -  We have new books waiting to be catalogued... Computer problems last week slowed us down, hoping this week will be more productive!

... with a visit to the library! Send us the title and author of your favorite read in 2021 and have a lovely Thanksgiving Day as we all remember our many blessings.      Susan and the Library Ladies

November... Week of November 15th 2021

Regular Open Hours this week.... Monday 10-1, Wednesday 1-5 and Saturday 10-1 and.... Our Book Sale continues... lots of good choices and the donations go to support our "Button Up" project which will be starting the first of the year! We always appreciate your support and donations and we look forward to doing our part in lowering the heating bills!!!

Monday, November 15th - 10 til 12 - Family Fun!    We look forward to our young families gathering at the library again this week. It is a joy to see the little ones selecting books for the week ahead and enjoying each other's company. It is also a plus to see the parents getting more acquainted... You are welcome to become a part of this fun group which meets each Monday morning.

Saturday, November 20th - 10:30 til 11:30 - Thanksgiving Craft Time! - Come one, come all to Turkey Day at the Library. We will be making these adorable little turkeys for you to take home and decorate your holiday table.

Continuing.... All About Diversity! (A Collection of Twelve Picture Books) - This week I am highlighting the Usborne book, All About Diversity by Felicity Brooks and Mar Ferrero. There are several different sections with beautiful illustrations.... How are We Different, What Do We Wear, Different Kinds of Families, Celebrations and Festivals.... also a dictionary of diversity words, ways to say 'hello' in various languages and some notes for grown-ups..... A wonderful starting point for lots of discussion with your little ones.

Continuing.... A Turkey Hunt! Stop in, look around, and find ten turkeys doing yoga in our library... Find all ten and claim a prize!

Have an idea for something you would like to see happen?? Let us know!

A few days ago, I received an email inquiring about Byron G Merrill. "Julie", who currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia, had come across an old brass lantern with a glass chimney among her family treasures. She noticed that a name was etched on the chimney and she became curious about who is Byron G Merrill. When she googled the name, she discovered our library and contacted me.

 I was able to tell Julie about Mr. Merrill growing up in Rumney, his being present at the depot when the very first train came to Rumney, and his daughter's gift of our beautiful library to the town of Rumney in 1904 as a memorial to her father after he passed away. 

We so hope Julie will be coming our way so we can see the lantern in person. Meanwhile, here is a photo she sent.... and, as you can tell, we are beyond excited!!!

New Books for the Younger Set - Jane has just set out eight new books including the picture book Construction Site: Road Crew, Coming Through!, Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Big Shot, and The Beatryce Prophecy  For the complete list, click on Kid's Page and scroll down to November New Books. Enjoy!

And, of course, we have new books for our adult readers.... You might like to check out these titles!

• Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian (2021) - A young Puritan woman - faithful, resourceful, but afraid of the demons that dog her soul - plots her escape from a violent marriage in this riveting and propulsive historical thriller.
• The Last Train to London by Meg Waite Clayton (2021) - Set in the pre-World War II era, based on the true story of the Kindertransport rescue of ten thousand children from Nazi-occupied Europe - and of one brave woman who helped them escape.
• Cloud Cuchoo Land by Anthony Doerr (2021) - Dedicated to "the librarians then, now, and in the years to come"... a beautiful and redemptive novel about stewardship - of the book, of the Earth, of the human heart by the author of All the Light We Cannot See.
• Lydia's Charm by Wanda E Brunstetter (older but new to our collection) -  Back to the land of the Amish...
• Shaking the Gates of Hell by John Archibald (2021) - a moving and powerful book about growing up in the American South in the early 1960s.
• The Reckoning by Mary L Trump (2021) -  How can we―as individuals and as a nation―confront, process, and overcome this loss of trust and the ways we have been forever altered by chaos, division, and cruelty? And when the dust finally settles, how can we begin to heal, in the midst of ongoing health and economic crises and the greatest political divide since the Civil War?

.... with a visit to the library! Thank you for taking the time to catch up with what is happening this week at the library. We will be back in your mailbox next Sunday with another update. Wishing you a good week!

Susan and the Library Ladies