Beach library expansion discussed at Taste of Beach
Weekly Activities
Preschool Story Hour starts at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 19.
Knitting group meets Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
On Thursday, May 20, Dog Day from 4 to 5 p.m.
Taste of the Beach
It was fun hearing the comments of residents and visitors at ‘Taste of the Beach’ on Sunday as we had our model of the new library at the festivity. The overall feeling is that we are most definitely ready for the library expansion. Thanks to all who shared such encouragement and good-will.
Power of the Written Word
Russian novelist and historian, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, helped to make the world aware of the Gulag, the Soviet Union’s forced labor camp system. In 1945 Aleksandr was sentenced to eight years in the labor camps for criticizing Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in letters to a friend. He turned his experience into “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (SOL). See also “Readings on One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” (891.734 REA).
Solzhenitsyn’s works were banned and KGB surveillance made his life hell. Still he kept writing, secretly sending novels abroad. His work “The Gulag Archipelago” (365.45 SOL) so enraged the government that he was exiled abroad for 20 years.
In 1993, not long before he ended his two decades in exile, he delivered a rare public address in Vaduz, the capitol of Liechtenstein. He hinted in that address that though his works had presaged the collapse of Communist ideology and Moscow’s empire, the story was not finished. As one follows Putin and the current Russia, one wonders how relevant Solzhenitsyn was. His works deserve a reading.
The Past into Today via Biography
A biography is an account of a person’s life, and often, of the time/setting that the person grows in. What draws readers to the story is the person’s experience of these events, including at times an analysis of the person’s personality.
In the late 18th century, this interest was kept alive through Samuel Johnson’s terse lives of the English poets and James Boswell’s focus on the life of Johnson.
In recent years this interest came alive with A.S. Byatt’s “Possession” (BYA) which the Book Discussion group probed already in September, 2008. And now, four more novels approach the biography and really delve into the relics of one’s life. What is fascinating is how much the past steps into today.
Consider “The Brothers Boswell” (M BAR), “Vanessa and Virginia” (SEL), “The Bellini Madonna” (LOW) and “A Monster’s Notes” (SHE). Despite differences in form style, certain themes pervade childhood trauma, sibling rivalry, family idiosynacies and suicide, buried books, artistic creation. It seems that interest in biography is more alive than ever.
Library Hours
Don’t remember library hours? Call for information. When we are closed, a recorder gives the hours of operation, either on 765-8162, or on 765-8163. Except for holidays, which would be mentioned on the recorder, we are open Monday and Wednesday from 9-8, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9-5, and Saturday 9-1. We look forward to seeing you.