Hoopla, A Lending Service Worthy Of Its Name

This month we're making a big hoopla about offering Bernardsville Library members free access to an exciting digital lending service called hoopla. Hoopla enables you to instantly borrow digital media which you can stream or download to a computer, tablet, or smartphone using the hoopla app. This product is also compatible with Chromecast and viewable on Apple TV.

One of the most exciting features of hoopla is that it allows you to borrow music, movies, audiobooks, ebooks, comics, and TV episodes without a waiting period. There are no holds lists with long waiting times. YOU are always first in line! Listen to more than 270,000 albums, watch thousands of TV episodes and movies, and take your pick from over 100,000 audiobooks, comics, and ebooks. And it's so convenient for you because your items will be automatically returned at the end of your loan period.

To begin your new adventure with hoopla, simply visit our website http://bernardsvillelibrary.org, click on the hoopla link, and sign up using your library card number. While you're on our website, please take advantage of our many other resources that will add value to your life. Among them are the Cloud Library for ebooks and audiobooks, Rosetta Stone for language learning, digital magazine lending through Zinio and Flipster, and our many research and collection resources.

Soon in June! What's Coming Up

How concerned should you be that the precious resource, water, is endangered? In jeopardy not only from the physical effects of climate change, water reserves around the globe are now being depleted, polluted, privatized, and commoditized. Who has a handle on this? Find out at our free screening of the award-winning documentary, "Blue Gold: World Water Wars," on Sunday, June 7, at 2 p.m. in the Community Room. This viewing is sponsored by the Bernardsville Green Team. Please tell your friends about it.

Also coming up soon, Bernardsville resident Alan Winter will discuss his new novel, "Island Bluffs," which is set in a Jersey shore community. The book features fictional characters who are compelled by personal need and secrecy to act in extraordinary ways, but the story is based on true events that include bits of World War II history. Copies of his book will be available for purchase and signing by the author at this book talk on Wednesday, June 10, 7 p.m. in the Community Room. This is a free event; please come!

 "Building a Confident Retirement: A Seminar at Bernardsville Library" will be presented on Monday, June 15, at 7 p.m. in the Community Room by Keith A. Smith, a Financial Advisor and Certified Financial Planner™ at Smith & Associates, a financial advisory practice of Ameriprise Financial, Inc. He will discuss how to bring your retirement dreams and goals more within reach; how to prioritize your retirement saving and spending plans to address what is most important to you; and how to identify risks that could throw your retirement plans off track. Sign up to attend and start now on the road to a more secure retirement! - http://www.bernardsvillelibrary.org/program/building-a-confident-retirement/.

Queen of The British Collection

Bernardsville Public Library's renowned collection of British films and television series continues to attract a borrowing public looking for shows with that special British humor, flair, historical interest and literary depth.  Staff member Susan Popper, a fan of  British film, recognized the public's growing demand for these items five years ago and created a section among our videotapes and dvds devoted entirely to the British material.  She named it The British Collection, and the rest was history.

Our customers can't get enough of these great series and films, and we can rely on them to return week after week for more viewing material.  They especially appreciate the broad selection of PBS and BBC productions as well as independent movies and television shows.  And there is so much variety to chose from, even within a particular theme!  For instance, ecclesiatical humor and charm bless those who watch the Ballykissangel, Father Ted, and The Vicar of Dibley series.  Medicine is served up with wildly different bedside manners in Doc Martin, Doctor Finlay, and All Creatures Great and Small.

Contrast the older family saga, Poldark, with the newer Monarch of the Glen.  Criminal inspector series such as George Gently, Midsomer Murders, Prime Suspect, and Inspector Lynley, offer a modern counterpoint to the many classic Sherlock Holmes, Miss Marple and Poirot films in the collection.  Hyacinth Bucket carries on her silly class humor in Keeping Up Appearances while the main character in the BBC series Lovejoy hones his eye for antiques, lovely ladies and intrigue, all at the same time.

Espionage and military themes appear in the series, Reilly, the Ace of Spies, and Foyle's War, but we also offer a number of BBC military histories and documentaries.  For the literary crowd, movies based on the works of Dickens, Austen, Thackeray, Bronte, and other noted authors are popular choices.  And don't forget those old PBS chestnuts, such as Upstairs Downstairs and Brideshead Revisited, which still contend with the newer productions.

For more information on what's available in The British Collection, click on this link to our catalog.

Religion Lite

photo source: Bernardsville Public Library

Join the many fans of British television series Ballykissangel, Father Ted, and The Vicar of Dibley who have "seen the light" and who thank heaven for a good laugh. Ecclesiastical humor, inspired characters, and heavenly scenery combine in these shows to provide a divine experience for faithful viewers. To have your own moment of conversion, check out a season or two of epidsodes, now on dvd at Bernardsville Public Library. You are sure to chortle, guffaw, and titter over these situational comedies which, more often than not, bring the headlining priests down from their pulpits and into the spiritual morass of village life. Father Ted and Ballykissangel take place in Ireland, and The Vicar of Dibley, featuring a female Anglican priest, is set in rural England.

photo source: Bernardsville Public Library

Look for these dvd sets in The British Collection, a specially designed area of Bernardsville Public Library's video section where BBC and other British film and television productions can be found. There are many temptations awaiting you there.

Here's A Staff Pick With No Questions Asked!

Susan Popper, staff member at Bernardsville Public Library, has written the following thumbs-up review of Q & A: a novel by Vikas Swarup:

So you think you have all the answers? For Ram Mohammed Thomas, it was his luck & misfortune that he did. By now the story is well known. Q & A is the basis for the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire and so has taken on a new life.

This book has a lot of heart. Set in the squalor of the largest slum in the world in Mumbai, India, it follows the early life of this uneducated but endearing young man who wins the fictional game show, "Who Will Win a Billion?". Q & A is a great read. It is a blend of farce, drama, and romance and holds your attention as you learn, through a series of flashbacks, how Ram managed to answer twelve random questions that made him the big winner.

Amidst the noise, filth, and squalor that comprise his existence, Ram encounters a cast of characters who use their desperate poverty to excuse themselves from ordinary standards of behavior. You can't help but root for this endearing character and share in his happy ending. As a bonus, Q & A provides the reader a deeper insight into today's India and reflects a country poised between its rich past and growing modernity. Ram, and the other young people in this book, personify this change.

I would recommend reading Q & A before seeing the movie. Already seen the movie? Read the book anyway. It's a celebration of the human spirit. Enjoy!
-Susan Popper

(Please note that Q & A will be available soon as a Bernardsville Public Library book group bag selection. A copy of the movie, Slumdog Millionaire, will be included in the bag along with 10 copies of the book and discussion questions.)

Newbery Medal Awarded to Neil Gaiman

The Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC) has awarded the 2009 John Newbery Medal for outstanding children's literature to Neil Gaiman, versatile British author of fantasy, science fiction, graphic novels and children's books, for The Graveyard Book. On its Web site, the ALSC, a chapter of the American Library Association, states the following about The Graveyard Book, "A delicious mix of murder, fantasy, humor and human longing, the tale of Nobody Owens is told in magical, haunting prose."

Furthermore, the Web site for The Graveyard Book offers this opening summary for the book, "Hear this tragic tale: a sleeping family, a talented murderer, and an adventurous toddler—orphaned, but not assassinated. Small and alone, by accident and luck he escapes the scene of the crime and climbs a grassy hill to safety. At the top of the hill the boy finds a fence, and on the other side, a dark, quiet place. "

The dark, quiet place, of course, is the graveyard, where the boy is raised by the spirits within. Although the Newbery Medal is targeted to children's books, The Graveyard Book can be enjoyed by adults, too. Coraline, another children's book by Neil Gaiman, has successfully crossed age lines as well and is currently being made into a film for popular release.

Are You Looking For Something Good To Watch?

Exasperated with the state of U.S. television, a number of patrons have discovered our very own antidote - The British Collection, featuring a wide selection of British television series and PBS adaptations. Assembled by staff member Susan Popper, the British Collection contains both dvds and videotapes of popular older British TV series such as All Creatures Great and Small as well as newer shows, including
Rosemary and Thyme, a series about female horticulturalists who take on amateur detective work

and Campion, showcasing the sleuthing skills of debonair Albert Campion. Bernardsville Public Library is happy to share these items with you. Come into our video section and look for the Union Jack stickers marking The British Collection.

Read It Before You See It

Hollywood has been relying heavily on popular novels and nonfiction as subject matter for its new releases this year. According to the August 25th edition of Publishers Weekly, a number of upcoming movies will be based on such notable books as The Road, a Pulitzer Prize winner by Cormac McCarthy, and The Soloist, a memoir by Steve Lopez. Why wait until everyone else is looking for these titles once the movies are released? Visit Bernardsville Library's display, "Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You, " to find these books before they become hot again.

Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees will be released on October 17th.

Marley & Me, a heartwarming nonfiction story by John Grogan, will open on Christmas Day.


Robert B. Parker's western novel, Appaloosa, will be appearing in film on October 3rd.

You'll find an interesting selection of books-to-film on our display shelf located in the video section of the library. Look for the large red movie ticket sign marking the location of the display, "Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You."