BOOKS, BOOKS EVERYWHERE

This Saturday, April 13, 10:00am to 2:00pm there will be BOOKS for sale at the annual Friends of the Library Book Sale.  Go to the Town Hall in Worthington and enjoy yourself - find bargains - meet your neighbors.  More than books will be available.  Cassettes, CDs, DVDs and Video tapes will also be among the selections.  But wait, there's more!  There will also be a bake sale with delicious goodies.  All the proceeds of the sale help the Friends of the Library provide the Summer Reading Programs for the children and more BOOKS for the library!

Speaking of BOOKS in the library, look for these on our featured and new shelf:
Bones are Forever by Kathy Reichs
Dick Francis's Bloodline by Felix Francis
The Queen's Lover by Francine du Plessix Gray
Return to Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs
The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann
Coming Full Circle: ancient teachings for a modern world by Lynn V. Andrews
The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherynne M. Valente
Winter of the World by Ken Follett  unabridged CD

Here are some reviews you may be interested in by our library reviewer:

Ship It Holla Ballas

Jonathan Grotenstein and Storms Reback

What a fast, fun book to read. Even if you have no knowledge about poker, either on line or in casinos, the high energy of the Holla Ballas crew never ends. They come together, misfits most of them, because of their obsessive playing of on line poker, sometimes playing five or six hands at a time. It all depends on how many computer monitors they have to view their games as they make and lose a lot of money. Eventually they end up in Las Vegas, though most of them are too young to play in the casinos. They run amok, spending thousands on alcohol, drugs, cars and lap dancers. How it all plays out makes for quite a story.

Princess Elizabeth's Spy                                               

By Susan Elia

Maggie Hope finishes training to become a spy for MI-5, gathering intelligence from abroad. Instead she is sent undercover to Windsor Castle as a math tutor for Princess Elizabeth as the Prime Minister fears for the royal family's lives. Struggling with disappointment, Maggie must rely on her wits, her skills and her determination to not only figure out who the good guys and bad guys are but deal with a successful kidnapping attempt that could cost a number of lives.  It is a very good read and made me want to read the first Maggie Hope book, Mr. Churchill's Secretary.

 

With the forecast storm on Friday through Saturday, the Friends of the Worthington Library have decided to postpone the annual Book Sale.  They will be setting a new date for sometime in the spring when the weather is less capricious.

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Music Together Comes to the Worthington Library

Saturday, February 16 at 11:30am, the Worthington Library will be hosting  a free session of Music Together, taught by Sondra Lewis.  Music Together is a music and movement program for children 1 - 6, their parents and caregivers.  Its premise is that children have the same capacity to learn music as they do to learn language.  Families will enjoy a fun-filled, experiential 45 minute session.  Sign up at the library, email theworthingtonlibrary@gmail.com, or call 413-238-5565 to reserve your space.

New Junior Non-Fiction Titles

From giant flying monsters to customizing your clothes, we have brand new books to keep you learning new things!  Series titles you will find include Be Creative, where you will discover tips for making cards, gift wrap and tags, or giving your bedroom or clothing a personal look. Learn to Draw will have you sketching dinosaurs, reptiles and insects as well as cats and kittens.  Prehistoric Safari takes you on a journey to discover and, sometimes, escape from some of the largest dinosaurs on land or sea.  Finally, What's Next?  explores the future of architecture, communication, medicine, space exploration, transportation and warfare.  There is something to interest all ages in these fascinating books.  Come in and check one out.

Totem Poles at the Library

On display at the Worthington Library is a group of fantastic totem poles made by the students at RH Conwell Community Education Center as part of their study of North America during December.  This was a mini-course that taught the children about the Native American way of life which included geography, a history of some of the tribes and culminated in a background of the totem pole.  Children from each class designed and built totem poles, the younger ages helped by the older until a whole community of totem poles had sprung up.  They have been on display at the school for several weeks and now they have come here.  Don't miss seeing the creativity and playfulness of the students' work.  Come into the library and head down to the children's room where the display is presented in all its glory.  This is the first of many displays from Conwell and each is sure to be a delight.
Upstairs on the walls are Althea Mason's beautiful nature-themed paintings and on the shelves you will find a collection of pottery by Valerie Babcock whose work runs from traditional to whimsical.  Everywhere you look, you'll find art!

Humor, Fantasy and More

On the New Shelf this week, you'll find the latest Thursday Next novel by Jasper Fforde, The Woman Who Died a Lot as well as a good selection of fantasy such as Todd McCaffery's Sky Dragons from the Pern series his mother made popular and the first two installments of a new series by a new author.  This promises to be quite good and definitely an author to watch for.  Look for The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss.  Others on the shelf are Hilary Mantel's second prize winner, Bring Up the Bodies, Michael McGarrity's Hard Country, Debbie Macomber's The Inn At Rose Harbor, John Sandford's Mad River and Jo Nesbo's Phantom.  The final (really!) Maximum Ride adventure by James Patterson can be found in Young Adult (if you're quick).  Look for Nevermore.
Two new non-fiction books are Nate Silver's The Signal and the Noise and Willie Nelson's biography, Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.
Don't forget we have great writers here in town, as well.  Join the Friends of the Worthington Library and The Worthington Historical Society at the Blackburn Inn on Tuesday night as they host this season's Writers Read.  Begins at 7:00pm on Tuesday, January 8.

Happy New Year from the Worthington Library!

To ring in the New Year, we have new books on our shelves.  This week's selection includes Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya's The Watch.  Here is a review:

The Watch       

By Joydeep Roy Bhattacharya

   The Barnes and Noble website calls The Watch a "heartbreaking and haunting novel" and I could find no better adjectives to convey the quiet, and then not so quiet, intensity of the story. It takes place at a lonely and isolated base in Kandahar. After a battle, a woman with no feet shows up, pushing herself along in a cart by her hands and stops outside the base demanding the body of her brother so she can bury him. She ultimately becomes a pivotal force as the soldiers and those in charge become annoyed, then confused, then angered by her presence and her persistence. First they think she is a spy; or maybe she is what she says she is; or maybe she is hiding a bomb. The inmates of this base, for they are imprisoned in their fort, end up stymied by what to do and not just because her brother's body is being held to be shipped out and displayed on television.  The voices of the different soldiers as they confront this anomaly, as their nerves and consciences get more provoked, offer a disturbing slice of the need to become less humane in order to survive as a soldier.

For the younger set, we have Chris Colfer's The Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell.

This fantasy, aimed at the tween age group, written by one of the actors on the television show Glee, was really enjoyable. Twins Alex and Conner Bailey are struggling with big changes in their lives; their father died unexpectedly and while their mother struggles to make ends meet, they are coping with their grief. Additionally, Conner is a good student and Alex is not- and the contrast, in the beginning of the story is a perfect set up for how they both grow in new ways further on in the plot.  In a kick off familiar to most, the children "fall into" fairy land through the pages of a story book of fairy tales. It was a book handed down from their grandmother to their father, who used to read it to Alex and Conner.

The children travel through the world of fairy tales and meet all the classic characters. But their lives in Fairyland are very different than the stories we all know; and Alex and Conner are faced with the seemingly impossible task of getting back home. They have to go on a quest to various parts of Fairy Land to acquire the tokens they need to escape.

Their adventures help them work as a team, despite having different strengths-and the conclusion of the story will be surprising for the youthful audience.

Also for younger readers, we have an excellent series Outdoor Adventures which contains seven books about various outdoor sports such as canoeing, hiking, hunting and fishing.  Well written and containing chapters on necessary skills, safety, environmental concerns and joy of the sport, these fill a much needed gap on our sports bookshelf.

For young adults, we have a selection of interesting and informative non-fiction:  Budgeting Smarts , Electric Cars, Manga, and a biography of Lady Gaga.  On the fiction shelves, find The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater and Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough.

Search for you ancestors at the library.  They'll be waiting for you on Thursday, January 3rd at 7:00 pm during our Genealogy Club. 

The Friends of the Worthington Library will again team up with the Worthington Historical Society for a winter Writers Read.  This one will be held on Tuesday, January 8 at 7:00 at the Blackburn Inn.  Don't miss it:  these are fantastic!

This month's Book Club is reading Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson. We will be discussing it on Thursday, January 24 at 7:00pm.

 

Remember that the library will be closed on January 1, 2013. We'll see you on Thursday!  Have safe and happy new year!