Our Centerbrook Architecture lecture series continues on Friday, March 6th with Centerbrook partner, Mark Simon, FAIA who will present his visual exploration of sustainable design entitled, “Endearing Is Enduring”.
Mark Simon received a Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, in 1968 from Brandeis University with honors in sculpture, and a Master of Architecture from Yale University in 1972. The son of sculptor Sidney Simon, he learned about design at an early age. He developed his own sculptural skills at Brandeis and, after graduation from Yale, worked as a cabinetmaker, developing a concern for architectural detail. In 1978 he became a partner in Centerbrook Architects and Planners. In 1990, he was advanced to the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows.
Mr. Simon’s practice ranges from private houses to commercial, institutional, academic, and religious projects. In 1986, Mr. Simon served as Chair of the American Institute of Architects Committee on Design. Though still enjoying residential projects, his practice includes larger work, notably Nauticus – the National Maritime Center in Norfolk, Virginia; Nortel Networks Executive Briefing Center in Raleigh, North Carolina; Shapiro Admissions Center at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts; the Chemistry Building and School of Business Administration at the University of Connecticut, Storrs; and the Prospect Place Modular Building for the Political Science Department at Yale University.
Friends Fundraiser: Saturday, May 16th
February 24, 2009
The Friends have begun planning their 2009 fundraiser: a festive cocktail party celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Library. It will be hosted at the new Oliver Jensen Gallery, located inside the venerable River Valley Junction Building (the Witch Hazel Factory).
We hope you will join us for cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and music as well as a raffle and silent auction with fabulous items, including vacation home stays, park hopper passes at any of the Disney resorts, and rounds of golf at prestigious Lake of Isles and exclusive Fisher’s Island courses.
If you would like to contribute something to our auction/raffle, are interested in volunteering or want to make sure you are included on the invite list, please feel free to contact Dominique Merrick at dom.merrick@comcast.net. We hope you will join us in enjoying an evening with your neighbors to help raise money and support our Library, “The Best Deal in Town.”
Let’s Dance! Swing With Us Beginning On March 5th
February 23, 2009
Waltz down to the Essex Library for a Taste Of Ballroom, four free evenings of dance classes taught by professional teacher Sharyn Farrell. We’ll learn Salsa and Swing Dance styles on Thursdays, March 5th, 12th, 19th, and Tuesday, March 24th, all at 7 p.m. Sign up early – this will fill fast!
If you’re eagerly awaiting the release of Rick Riordan’s new Percy Jackson And The Olympians book: The Last Olympian, you’re now one step closer. The book cover is now up on Riordan’s website. Check the website regularly for updates and teasers about the book which is scheduled to be released to adoring fans on May 5th.
Lincoln Prize Winners Announced
February 19, 2009
Two books will share the 2009 Lincoln Prize which is awarded by the Lincoln and Soldiers Institute at Gettysburg College for “the finest scholarly work in English on Abraham Lincoln or the American Civil War soldier or a subject relating to their era.”
James McPherson’s Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief and Lincoln and His Admirals: Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy and the Civil War by Craig L. Symonds will share the prize. Each author will receive $25,000. McPherson also won the Lincoln Prize in 1998 for his book: For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War.
New Overdrive Audio Titles For February
February 16, 2009
Our Overdrive audiobook service provides patrons with the ability to download up to 3 audiobooks every 10 days to their computers. From there, the books can be transferred to an MP3 player, possibly an iPod or iPhone or burned to CDs for easy listening.
Amazingly, we offer this service for free to anyone holding a LION-member Library card. To download, go to the LION catalog and click on the Overdrive button. You’ll arrive at the Overdrive site where you can search the listings for the titles you want. Follow the easy instructions for downloading and transferring titles to your portable device. You can be enjoying your selections in just a few minutes.
We use an MP3 player to listen to books while exercising, doing chores and driving in the car or on an airplane. It’s a terrific way to help pass the time AND enjoy a great novel, non-fiction best-seller or even learn a language. You’ll find many newly released titles here in audio that are already checked out and have long hold queues in the print format at Libraries. It’s just one more way we try to provide you with what you want, when you want it. Here’s a list of the audiobooks added to the Overdrive catalog in February:
Are You There, Vodka? It’s Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler
The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson
The Associate by John Grisham
Broken Open by Elizabeth Lesser
A Darker Place by Jack Higgins
Death of a Witch by M. C. Beaton
Eclipse by Richard North Patterson
The English Major by Jim Harrison
FDR by Anthony J. Badger
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker
Mounting Fears by Stuart Woods
Murder in the Mews by Agatha Christie
The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell
The Piano Teacher by Janice Y. K. Lee
Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich
Q & A (filmed as Slumdog Millionaire) by Vikas Swarup
The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman
Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
The Sculptress by Minette Walters
Too Fat to Fish by Artie Lange
The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss
A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink
Connecticut Nutmeg Book Awards Announced
February 14, 2009
The Nutmeg Book Award encourages children in grades 4-8 to read quality literature and to choose their favorite from a list of ten nominated titles. Jointly sponsored by the Connecticut Library Association (CLA) and the Connecticut Association of School Librarians (CASL), the Nutmeg Committee is comprised of children’s librarians and school library media specialists who are members of their sponsoring organizations. More than 30,000 students from more than 340 schools and libraries voted in total.
The winner of the Intermediate Level (grades 4-6) is MVP (Magellan Voyage Project) by Douglas Evans.
The winner of the Teen Level– grades 6-8– is Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin.
Other nominees in the intermediate level were:
Blood on the River by Elisa Carbone
Close Encounters of a Third World Kind by Jennifer J. Stewart
Eager by Helen Fox
Free Baseball by Sue Corbett
Golden and Grey by Louise Arnold
Gossamer by Lois Lowry
The Homework Machine by Dan Gutman
Shakespeare’s Secret by Elise Broach
Three Good Deeds by Vivian Vande Velde
The other nominees for the Teen level were:
Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko
Ask Me No Questions by Marina Budhos
The Case of the Missing Marquess by Nancy Springer
Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Day of Tears by Julius Lester
Heat by Mike Lupica
The Schwa Was Here by Neal Shusterman
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Wolf Brother by Michelle Paver
Looking For The Best 2008 Mystery And Crime Books? The Edgar Nominees Are Announced
February 12, 2009
The Mystery Writers of America, the premier organization for crime and mystery writers, has announced the 2009 Edgar Award nominees. The winners will be announced at the Edgars Award Banquet at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City on April 30, 2009. The nominees are:
Best Novel:
Missing by Karin Alvtegen
Blue Heaven by C.J. Box
Sins of the Assassin by Robert Ferrigno
The Price of Blood by Declan Hughes
The Night Following by Morag Joss
Curse of the Spellmans by Lisa Lutz
Best First Novel By An American Author
The Kind One by Tom Epperson
Sweetsmoke by David Fuller
The Foreigner by Francie Lin
Calumet City by Charlie Newton
A Cure for Night by Justin Peacock
Best Fact Crime
For The Thrill of It: Leopold, Loeb and the Murder that Shocked Chicago by Simon Baatz
American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, the Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century by Howard Blum
Havana Nocturne: How the Mob Owned Cuba and Then Lost It To The Revolution by T.J. English
The Man Who Made Vermeers: Unvarnishing the Legend of Master Forger Hans van Meegeren by Jonathan Lopez
The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher by Kate Summerscale
Best Young Adult
Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd
The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo
Paper Towns by John Green
Getting the Girl by Susan Juby
Torn to Pieces by Margot McDonnell
Costa Book Awards Announced
February 12, 2009
The Costa Book Awards is one of the most prestigious and popular literary prizes in the UK and recognizes some of the most enjoyable books of the year by writers based in the UK and Ireland. The Costa Book Awards has five categories: First Novel, Novel, Biography, Poetry and Children’s Book. The winner in each category receives £5,000. One of these five books is selected as the overall winner of the Book of the Year and receives a further £25,000, making a total prize fund of £50,000. It is the only prize which places children’s books alongside adult books in this way.
Since the introduction of the overall Book of the Year Award in 1985, it has been won seven times by a novel, three times by a first novel, five times by a biography, five times by a collection of poetry and once by a children’s book. Recent winners include The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon, Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson, The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman, Beowulf by Seamus Heaney, Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes, Small Island by Andrea Levy, biographies of Pepys and Matisse by Claire Tomalin and Hilary Spurling respectively and, most recently, Stef Penney’s first novel – The Tenderness of Wolves, and A.L. Kennedy’s Day.
This year’s category winners are:
Novel: The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry which also won the Book Of The Year
First Novel: The Outcast by Sadie Jones
Biography: Somewhere Towards The End by Diana Athill
Poetry: The Broken Word by Adam Foulds
Children’s Book: Just Henry by Michelle Magorian
If You Liked Twilight…
February 10, 2009
If you liked the Twilight vampire series by Stephenie Meyer and are having a hard time waiting for the release of the Twilight DVD (March 21st) you might enjoy reading some of the following while you wait:
Undead And Unwed by MaryJanice Davidson
Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz
Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Evernight by Claudia Gray
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
Blood And Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause
Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber
