There's plenty of time left this summer to go to the shore, so why not grab some beach reading to take with you? BookReporter has an interesting search page for selecting beach reading by categories such as mystery, armchair travel, and pop culture. Try it at http://www.bookreporter.com/summer/index.asp to find just the right book for you. In addition, on National Public Radio's Web site you can browse their own 2008 list of summer reading. Go to http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90677140
While you're at the Bernardsville Library finding your summer reading, you might want to try the Jersey shore mystery series by Chris Grabenstein. These mysteries, set in the ficticious shore town of Sea Haven, NJ, feature the police team of John Ceepak, an MP just returned from Iraq and his young partner, Danny Boyle.
The other day I sat down at my computer to view/listen to Professor Randy Pausch’s now famous “last lecture,” delivered in 2007 at Carnegie Mellon University, from which he retired after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. A young man with a family and beloved by his students and faculty alike, Pausch entitled his lecture, “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” He spoke for 120 minutes with infectious, gleeful energy about his childhood, the achievement of his own dreams, and how to enable others to achieve theirs. His skills as a caring, inventive teacher were evident throughout the lecture, and I would say he is the kind of instructor we would all wish to have. Randy combined the use of humorous props with imaginative approaches to exhort us to break through the “brick walls” that hold us back, to always have fun in what we do, and to live life now. This was an inspirational talk, not at all morose, but, of course, quite moving. I accessed this lecture via http://www.thelastlecture.com/ from which point you can select several means to view it. I watched it by Google video, and this worked very well. You can even use the pause button and come back to it later. Randy Pausch’s recently released book, The Last Lecture, builds on his lecture and is available at Bernardsville Public Library in both audio CD and book format.
Memoirs and Coffee, the Tuesday morning book group at Bernardsville Library, will discuss Greg Mortenson's bestseller, Three Cups of Tea, on July 22nd at 10:30 a.m. in the library's Community Room. Copies of the book are available at the circulation desk.
Three Cups of Tea recounts Mortenson's efforts to encourage education among the youth in the remote Karakoram region of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Over a period of ten or so years, Mortenson built 55 schools, many of them for girls, as a humanitarian effort and as an act of gratitude to the mountain people who had befriended him after his failed attempt to climb K2, the second highest mountain in the world. This is an inspiring story promoting peace and generosity in today's world.
Please join the group, even if you haven't finished the book, for an enjoyable morning's discussion.
photo source - Bernardsville Public Library
