Check out summer reading at Beach Library
Activities This Week
Wednesday, July 29, 10:30 a.m. Preschool Story Hour in Kid’s Place multi-purpose area
Thursday, July 30, Getting Started with eBooks, 10:30 a.m.
Friday, July 31, Local Poems & Essays, 1:30 p.m.
Activity Details
eBooks newbie’s are encouraged to participate in the Getting Started with eBooks presentation on July 30. Helpful features and how-tos are included. Bring your e-reader to the class.
Local author wrob will share a variety of original poems and essays. It’s a relaxing time on July 31 as well as stimulus for appreciating some unknown works.
Upcoming
If you’re set to explore computer operation and features, consider signing up for the Basic Computers on Aug. 6, at 10:30 a.m. You can reserve via phone by calling 765-8162 or doing so at the Staff Assistance Station on the second floor in person.
Summer & the Collection
Staff has more time to explore what has been of particular interest in the recent past as well as having energy to check out new and upcoming titles. The pace of new materials coming in during the summer is high.
You’ll likely notice some changes in many areas of the collection as some titles are removed, others are added, and more emphasis is placed on assuring a collection that meets current interests and tunes to what the marketplace resources enable.
Bookstore
Are you among those who have noticed the many added titles occupying attention in Beachcombers Books? Carts of titles are heading to the bookstore to not only fill the shelves of fiction and mystery but also adding new treasures not there earlier.
Volunteers
If you can assist for 4 hours a week in the Friend’s bookstore, please fill out an application available on the first floor of the library or in Beachcombers Books.
Summer Reading
The sinking of the supposedly unsinkable Titanic has aroused keen interest since it occurred in 1912. A Night to Remember, first published in 1955, was the first history of the Titanic disaster. Using oral testimony, author Walter Lord was able to trace the Titanic’s last hours almost minute by minute, crafting a popular history that recreated all the suspense and drama of the events of April 14, 1912. Details that linger in the imagination are in this work: the iceberg that was spotted too late, the deadly proportion of lifeboats to passengers, the other ships which hovered nearby ignoring or misunderstanding the Titanic’s SOS calls, the band playing on as the lights went out. Lord spotlights the individuals at the center of the drama and takes us all over the ship, from the crow’s nest to the boiler room to the first-class saloon, pursuing acts of weakness and bravery.
As its title suggests, A Night to Remember (Travel Transportation Shipwrecks Titanic) closely follows the events of just one night. The book opens seconds before the sighting of the iceberg, about 11:40 p.m., and ends with an image of the rescue ship Carpathia steaming ahead to New York on April 15. This is history at its most focused and readable. The clarity and neutrality of Lord’s writing style only emphasize the bad luck, poor planning and hubris at the root of this tragedy.
The author is almost as interesting as the book. Born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1917, just five years after the sinking of the Titanic, Lord became interested in the disaster when he was nine years old and crossed the Atlantic on the Titanic’s sister ship, the Olympic. He was educated at Princeton and Yale and served in the Office of Strategic Services during WWII.
One challenge Lord faced when crafting his story was that the ending was already known. How could he write a gripping page-turner when everyone knows that the ship hits and iceberg and sinks?
In addition to this monumental work, there are many others on the Titanic. Put in titanic in word search and you’ll get a listing of many others in the collection.
Top Publishers
Pearson, Thomson Reuters, Relx Group (rebranded, previously known as Reed Elsevier), Wolters Kluwer and Penguin Random House are the top five on the Top Publishers World by Revenue, 2014 list. Of these five, Penguin is the one offering the most titles typically carried in public libraries. Penguin Random House remained the world’s largest trade publisher in 2014.
Challenging Fiction
If you want a fiction novel that brings you satisfaction and requires work, pick up The Adjacent by Christopher Priest (PRI). This intricate puzzle asks the reader to pay close attention to read not just the text but the subtext and its implications as well.
One might categorize this novel as cosmic roulette. The theory that is at its heart is that there are infinite possibilities and variations on every choice we make. Priest zeroes in on this idea through the eyes of a central cast of characters in three different storylines. There are a lot of clues along the way. It’s a thrilling, almost maddening read.
Hours
A recorder at 765-8162 gives the hours we are open if you call in when we are closed. Open hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesday 9 to 7; and Saturday 9 to 1. We look forward to seeing you.