The Daily Grin

Book: The Sequel

“What is it? It’s a book that asks the world to write the first sentence for a yet-to-be-written sequel to any book ever published.”

Chris Bohjalian, author of Water Witches, this year’s Cheshire Reads selection, will be in Cheshire next Wednesday, April 22, to speak at the Senior Center at 2:00p.m. and at the Library at 7:00p.m.

Set in the Vermont countryside, Water Witches is the tale of the clash between progress and tradition, science and magic. In the midst of a nightmarish New England drought, cynical ski industry lobbyist Scottie Winston is trying to get a large ski resort the permits it needs to tap an already beleaguered river for snow. His wife, his little girl, and his sister-in-law - dowsers or “water witches” - all hope to stop him in this gentle, comic, life-affirming novel.

Chris Bohjalian is the author of eleven novels,including the New York Times bestsellers, Skeletons at the Feast, The Double Bind, Before You Know Kindness, The Law of Similars, and Midwives. Chris won the New England Book Award in 2002. Midwives was a New York Times bestseller, a selection of Oprah’s Book Club, a Publishers Weekly “Best Book,” and a New England Booksellers Association Discovery pick. His work has been translated into 25 languages and has sold over three and a half million copies. He has written for a wide variety of magazines, including Cosmopolitan, Reader’s Digest, and the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine, and has been a Sunday columnist for Gannett’s Burlington Free Press since 1992. Chris graduated from Amherst College, and lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

2:00 pm
Cheshire Senior Center
240 Maple Avenue

7:00 pm
Cheshire Public Library
104 Main Street

Pre-register at the Reference Desk by calling 203-272-2245, ext. 5304

Generous funding for this event has been provided by the Friends of Cheshire Public Library, the Cheshire Academy, and the Friends of Cheshire Performing and Fine Arts/Artsplace.

Saturday, April 18, 2009
10:00 am - 11:30 pm
Mixville Park Pavilion
(Rain date April 25, 2009
at the Lock 12 Pavilion)

Meet Dowser Bob Blair from Falls Village, CT. Enjoy the lecture and demonstration of techniques. Bring a picnic lunch and enjoy the park after this free event.

Please pre-register by calling the CPL Reference Desk, 203-272-2245, ext. 5304

USB, DVI, HDMI, coaxial, composite, component, …. computers, digital television, converters, audio, video, … it all starts to blur together after a while. This New York Times article and the accompanying slideshow will untangle it all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/16/technology/personaltech/16basics.html

Feeling the itch to get outside? Registration for The Great Park Pursuit opens on March 30th and runs through April 25, 2009.

During Saturdays in May and June, participating families get in free to the designated park on event day. Which means no parking fees, and no entrance fees from 9am-3pm.

“The Great Park Pursuit is a seven-week contest that will have you decoding clues, discovering parks, forests, historic sites and recreation areas across the state and participating in fun activities and challenges — all for a chance to win cool prizes.”

And don’t forget the library has year-round free and discounted admission passes to parks and museums. We even have a State Parks pass which gets you free parking in any State Park (including the beaches) from April until October.

Feel free to learn about our other great passes from our website. Who says family fun has to cost a lot of money?

[from today's edition of shelf-awareness.com, a newsletter for people in the book trades]

ReadingGroupGuides.com is surveying book club members about how they get their information, when they make selections, whether they’re interested in speaking with authors and how they’re using social and book networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, GoodReads.com and LibraryThing.com. “Publishers, booksellers and librarians always ask us about the latest book club trends,” said Carol Fitzgerald, president of the Book Report Network and ReadingGroupGuides.com founder. “We did our last survey in 2001, and so much has changed since then.”

The survey, which consists of 62 questions, has been promoted on book blogs, industry sites like EarlyWord.com and elsewhere on the Internet. In addition, Fitzgerald is asking booksellers and librarians to tell their customers and patrons about the survey and encourage them to take part. The goal is to have a minimum of 7,500 respondents.

Results will be shared with publishers to aid them in reaching out to reading groups and providing effective resources, as well as with booksellers and librarians to help with book club planning. “In light of the economy, we also are asking if clubs have changed their habits over the past year,” said Fitzgerald.

The survey is open until April 30, and participants are eligible to receive free books. Results will be unveiled at BEA in New York.–Shannon McKenna Schmidt

Tonight’s selections are Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin, and One For the Money by Janet Evanovich (postponed from last month). Copies are available on the Main Level of the library.

Tea and treats will be served.

To sign up please visit the Reference Desk or call Carrie at 272-2245 ext. 3053.

The Cheshire Public Library’s Sunday Showcase series continues on April 5 at 4:00pm with a concert by the Homegrown String Band. This free concert has been funded by the Friends of the Cheshire Public Library.

The Homegrown String Band is a “100% Natural Organically Grown” band, homegrown by Georgianne and Rick Jackofsky and their two daughters, Erica and Annalee. This “family that plays together” has been performing around the country, from the National Theatre in Washington, DC, to the Festival of American Music and Crafts at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, since 1997. During this time they have released four CDs and shared their music with hundreds of concert audiences throughout the US, taking listeners on “a rollicking ride through the sounds of American music.” Inspired by the rural string bands of the early 20th century, this 21st century incarnation of the traditional family band utilizes unique instrumentation including guitar, banjo, fiddle, dulcimer, mandolin, banjo-ukulele, harmonica, jawharp, doumbek, and percussive dance to put their own stamp on a repertoire drawn from the classics of rural American music, including blues, bluegrass, country, and folk.

Their original music has been lauded as “heartfelt, original, insightful, and impressive” by major music publications Sing Out! and Dirty Linen, and by music critic and author Bill Dahl. Homegrown String Band stage shows have been voted audience favorite at festivals around the country, including the Appalachian Fiddle and Bluegrass Association Bluegrass Festival at Wind Gap, Pennsylvania.

For further information, please call the library at 203-272-2245.

No, we’re not playing basketball in the library.  Speaking for myself only, no one would want to see that…what I’m talking about is our March loans:

Our total circulation was 43,186 items, or 5.7% higher than in March 2008.

As part of its constant mission to provide timely, relevant materials to Cheshire’s residents, the Cheshire Public Library is pleased to announce its “All Things Green” display.

The display, which is located in the lobby of the Library at 104 Main Street, Cheshire, includes books and other materials on topics such as Living a Greener Lifestyle; Buying Green; Clean Energy; Resource and Energy Conservation; Self-Sufficient Living; Climate Change; the Town of Cheshire’s Sustainability Initiative; and much more.  All materials are available for checkout by patrons.

“We intend to make our ‘Green’ display a permanent and larger fixture in the library,” says Ramona Harten, Library Director.  “Our staff constantly scour and devour current events to provide the most accurate information to our residents: Among our myriad other programs and services, the ‘All Things Green’ display is the latest, and it comes in response to high customer demand.”

Another feature of the “All Things Green” display is information about the upcoming “Cheshire Reads: One Book, One Town” program, which centers on Chris Bohjalian’s novel, Water Witches.  The themes of the novel include endangered species and the ecological impact of development.  Mr. Bohjalian will visit Cheshire to speak about his novel on April 22 and 23.  The library owns dozens of copies of the novel, which can be reserved and checked out by anyone with a current library card.

“The public library is the ultimate ‘green’ resource,” says Harten.  “Each year, the Library loans nearly half a million items to patrons.  By providing items that can be borrowed, rather than purchased at list price from bookstores, public libraries reduce paper and gasoline consumption and save taxpayers many millions of dollars annually.  We provide one-stop shopping for books, videos, music, magazines, family programming, book discussions, and much, much more.”  The library’s operating budget for the current fiscal year is $1,415,380, or approximately $49.00 per capita (less than the list price of two hardcover novels).

“The Cheshire Public Library is proud to be at the forefront of Cheshire’s sustainability initiative,” states Harten, who adds that “we were pleased to be able to install solar panels on our roof last autumn and to engage in dozens of other initiatives to help reduce resource conservation and encourage responsible environmental stewardship in Cheshire.”  A dedication ceremony for the library’s solar panels will be held on Saturday, April 18 at 10:00 a.m. the Library.