Beach Reads

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. 

This Lecture Is For Your Own Good

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.

Coffee Drinkers To Try Tea

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.

Adult Reading Bugs Can Earn Prizes, Too!

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

The kids are busy collecting Bernardsville Library "bug bucks" for their summer reading program, but the adults haven't been overlooked. They, too, can join in the fun at Bernardsville Public Library by entering our weekly drawing for great prizes. All they need do is check out any three items at a time and fill out an entry form at the circulation desk. At week's end three names will be picked to receive three great prizes generously donated by local merchants and individuals. The prizes change from week to week and include such fabulous items as gift certificates to Williams Sonoma, Country Mile Gardens and Melan Shoes. The drawings will continue throughout the summer months, so stop by soon.

Thank You, Keiko

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

Keiko Matsuura, a volunteer in the Youth Services department of Bernardsville Public Library, is responsible for all the charming "reading bugs" that have taken up residence throughout the library. These adorable insects, posed with their books and magazines, mark the beginning of the library's summer reading program called "Catch the Reading Bug @ Bernardsville Library."
Although Keiko has had no formal art training, she is obviously very talented and possesses an artist's eye and imagination. Michaele Casey, Youth Services Librarian, reports that Keiko took her inspiration from the drawings of illustrator, Harry Bliss, bringing his bug illustrations to 3-D life. Using styrofoam balls, corrugated paper, and even some special packaging paper from Japan, Keiko sculpted and formed a variety of insects, turning them into the kinds of bugs we would actually like to have in the library! Keiko carved and sandpapered large styrofoam balls to create the facial structure of each bug and then hand painted them with vivid, eye-catching colors. Posed at ease in beach chairs and on sofas, these larger-than-life reading bugs surely know how to pass a lazy summer day - with a good book, of course!

Bernardsville Library has been so fortunate to have Keiko as a volunteer over the last two years. She moved to Bernardsville with her husband after leaving Japan, where she studied English, and it wasn't long before Keiko found her way to us. She has done children's programs on Japanese culture and origami and will be teaching origami in 3-D for teens on August 4th at the library.

Reading Bugs Make Great Patrons!

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library
photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

photo source - Bernardsville Public Library

Bugs of all kinds, gloriously colored and larger-than-life, have taken up residence in Bernardsville Public Library, marking the beginning of the library's summer reading campaign entitled "Catch the Reading Bug @ Bernardsville Library."

Children aged 2 1/2 years to Grade 6 may register to join the "Catch the Reading Bug" club where they will record their reading minutes, attend fun programming and earn exciting prizes. Teens entering Grades 7 to 12 are invited to participate in their own summer program, "Metamorphosis @ Bernardsville Library." Adults need not feel left out as they will once again be eligible for weekly gifts donated by local merchants if they check out three or more library items at one time.

While these programs begin this Monday, June 23rd, the library will celebrate the summer reading kick-off with a mime performance by Lluana Jones on Saturday, June 21st at 1:30 p.m. followed by an ice cream social sponsored by the Friends of the Bernardsville Public Library. Come join us and the "bugs!"

Come to Our Book Group Fair

Are you looking for a book group to join? Would you like to start one yourself? Does your current book group need some helpful resources to make organization and book selection easier?

Come to Bernardsville Public Library's Book Group Fair tomorrow, June 12th, for some great ideas to make book group planning a breeze. The library's Readers' Advisory Team will be on hand in the Community Room to demonstrate online resources which will enable you to find background and biographical information as well as book reviews and author interviews. Packets containing helpful Web sites, reading suggestions and many other great aides will be given to each visitor.

Our new "Book Group Bags" will also be on display - each one complete with ten copies of a book as well as packets of reference material on the book and its author. These bags, made possible by a grant from Jean Horton, may be checked out for four weeks at a time.

There is no charge to attend this fair and refreshments will be served. Please come between 11 and 2 p.m. or between 6 and 9 p.m. tomorrow, June 12th!

Grendel Invades the Halls of Bernardsville Library!

Saturday Samplers, a book discussion group meeting at Bernardsville Public Library, will take on Grendel, a masterpiece of modern fiction by John Gardner, at its next meeting this Saturday, June 7th at 3:30 p.m.

John Gardner was a medievalist, college professor, mentor to many authors, and a highly noted author himself. Some of his famous works include October Light, Nickel Mountain, The Sunlight Dialogues, and his last work, Mickelsson's Ghosts, written just before he died in a motorcycle accident while commuting to his teaching job in 1982.

The story of Grendel, while based on the poem of Beowulf, takes on its own narrative arc which divurges from the original Anglo-Saxon work. Here Grendel himself speaks his own mind while telling the story of his 12 years' war with the Danes. He is given a witty but cynical voice, and he is capable of great feeling and angst as he attempts to find his place in a world he sees as either "connected" or one of "mechanical nothingness."

Gardner wrote this short book with a great sense of imagery, humor, and a clever use of literary and philosophical allusions. Grendel is a one-of-a-kind, amazing reading experience. Join us this Saturday.

Graphic Novels On Display

For something different to read, why not try graphic novels? They are becoming increasingly popular among all ages (not just teens) and are finding their way onto many best seller lists. Illustrated or graphic novels combine pictures with a small amount of text to create an enhanced reading experience. Anyone who tries a graphic novel will immediately apprehend how easily the images and the words blend together into a powerful new creation. If a picture is worth a thousand words, graphic novels communicate a lot in a very few pages.

Bernardsville Public Library is currently displaying an interesting selection of its graphic novels which can be found in the lobby next to the circulation desk. Look there for the classic Sandman series by Neil Gaiman or the deeply affecting 9/11 memorial, In the Shadow of No Towers, by Art Spiegelman. For those of you interested in other cultures, try Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis, an autobiography of her childhood during the Iranian Revolution. Graphic novels for young readers and adults alike are available for check out. Please help yourselves to these items.

2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Junot Diaz's debut novel, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, was recently awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. A native of the Dominican Republic, Diaz is the recipient of numerous awards for his earlier collection of stories, entitled Drown. A graduate of Rutgers and having earned an MFA from Cornell, Junot Diaz is currently a professor at MIT.

In awarding the prize, the Pulitzer Board states, "Diaz immerses us in the tumultuous life of Oscar and the history of the family at large, rendering with genuine warmth and dazzling energy, humor, and insight the Dominican-American experience, and, ultimately, the endless human capacity to persevere in the face of heartbreak and loss." http://www.pulitzer.org/

Come in to the library to get your copy of this prize-winning book.

Bernardsville Goes Green

The Bernardsville Environmental Commission has instituted the Bernardsville Green Initiative (BGI) to advance energy efficiency based on the State of New Jersey's strategic plan. The initiative hopes to reduce operating costs of public buildings by promoting the environmentally responsible and efficient use of energy, water and building materials. In addition, BGI will provide local residents and businesses with helpful information on this matter. Bernardsville Public Library offers a number of excellent resources, as well. Look for the bright green BGI informational brochures at the circulation desk along with an extensive book list of suggested reading material on how to "go green."

ZZ Packer's Short Stories To Be Discussed

The library's book discussion group, Saturday Samplers, is now reading ZZ Packer's short story collection, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere. ZZ Packer's debut collection of short fiction has won numerous awards and international acclaim and is an enjoyable, thought-provoking read. Comprised of eight stories filled with lacerating wit, insight and memorable characters, this collection should inspire an interesting discussion when Saturday Samplers meets next Saturday, May 3rd, at 3:30 p.m. Copies of Drinking Coffee Elsewhere are available at the circulation desk, and anyone is welcome to attend the discussion. For more information about ZZ Packer and the Saturday Samplers book group, link to the Saturday Samplers blog here http://www.saturdaysamplers.blogspot.com/.

National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, and Bernardsville Public Library has been busy celebrating the art of verse all month. A number of New Jersey and local poets (including Sondra Gash, Susan Jackson and Dorothy Ryan) have given readings in the Community Room. In addition, a charming selection from the library's poetry collection has been included in our book display, entitled "Poetreats", which can be found in the nonfiction wing atop the Oversize Book area.Look there for an interesting array of poems to suit your every mood. Please feel free to borrow any of these poetry books. For information about New Jersey poets, visit the Academy of American Poets Web site at http://www.poets.org/state.php/varState/NJ.

Philip Roth on Writing

To learn more about Philip Roth and The Plot Against America, watch this PBS video.

Topical Book Discussion Next Week

Memoirs and Coffee, a Bernardsville Library book group, will offer a well-timed and, no doubt, spirited discussion of Irene Spencer's memoir, Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife, at the next meeting, Tuesday, April 22nd, at 10:30 a.m. As news of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Texas currently dominates the headlines, the issue of polygamy is surfacing once again as a topic for national discussion. If you have read Shattered Dreams or are reading it now, please come next Tuesday to share your thoughts. Copies of the book are available at the circulation desk.