Edgar Allan Poe Month @ the Sterling Heights Public Library begins in 10 days! The special month of activities centered around one of America's greatest authors runs from Oct. 1-31. Movies, a book discussion, a lecture by the president of the Poe Studies Association and a performance by a band are planned. Click HERE to check out our Web site for more information!
Friday, September 25, 2009
Spend October with Edgar Allan Poe @ the library!
Edgar Allan Poe Month @ the Sterling Heights Public Library begins in 10 days! The special month of activities centered around one of America's greatest authors runs from Oct. 1-31. Movies, a book discussion, a lecture by the president of the Poe Studies Association and a performance by a band are planned. Click HERE to check out our Web site for more information!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
What We're Reading: Tish
The Pout-Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen ; pictures by Dan Hanna.
The Pout-Pout Fish is a fun, rhyming picture book about a gloomy fish. With the help of a special friend, Mr. Fish turned his pout-pout face into a kiss-kiss face.
A Time Magazine's top 10 children's books of 2008, The Pout-Pout Fish is the 2009 Michigan Reads! selection.
What We're Watching: Alice
The Jane Austen Book Club - starring Kathy Baker, Maria Bello, Emily Blunt, Amy Brenneman, Jimmy Smits and Hugh Dancy.
S
ix Californians, five women, one man (Dancy), start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen, only to find their relationships begin to resemble 21st century versions of her novels. There's plenty of pride, prejudice, sense and sensibility in this critically acclaimed film which is sure to engage even reluctant Austen readers. As Kathy Baker's Bernadette exclaims , "Jane Austen is the perfect antidote to life!" Based on the book of the same name by Karen Joy Fowler.
ix Californians, five women, one man (Dancy), start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen, only to find their relationships begin to resemble 21st century versions of her novels. There's plenty of pride, prejudice, sense and sensibility in this critically acclaimed film which is sure to engage even reluctant Austen readers. As Kathy Baker's Bernadette exclaims , "Jane Austen is the perfect antidote to life!" Based on the book of the same name by Karen Joy Fowler. Tuesday, September 22, 2009
What We're Reading: Cathy
The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.
Connie is a graduate student at Harvard and needs to pick a dissertation project. While she's cleaning out her grandmother's house near Salem, she finds a key and a name inside an old family bible. This gives her not only a dissertation topic - if she can find an old spell book - but leads her on a search to find her family's history. Was Deliverance Dane involved in the Salem witch trials? Was she really a witch? Is Connie?
What We’re Reading: Mary
L’Amour Dure Trois Ans, by
Frederic Beigbeder
This French novel takes place during the mid - 1990’s. It’s a polemic on the state of “being in love,” and its allegedly short duration. The author’s initial premise, as the title states, is that love lasts three years. The author describes his own marriage, and its incumbent stages of deterioration. To paraphrase: The first year is great; the second year, people you meet on the street take your wife to be your sister; and the third year you can’t stop yourself from looking at “les demoiselles fraiches” who light up the street.
The author goes on to describe his festive debaucheries in celebration of his divorce; and then on to his slow slide into depression.
The tables turn somewhat when he meets the infatuation of his life at a funeral. (A fair amount of humor is blended into this whole discourse.) Then the author’s depression takes on a more concrete subject, as he becomes the victim of unrequited love.
The rest of this novel describes his back and forth situation as the sometimes accepted, sometimes rejected paramour, and eventually evolves into a relationship that continues for nearly three years. The last pages very touchingly, and poetically, describe the final countdown to the three year mark, and sum up the author’s feelings from this vantage point. Much food for thought here.
Frederic Beigbeder
This French novel takes place during the mid - 1990’s. It’s a polemic on the state of “being in love,” and its allegedly short duration. The author’s initial premise, as the title states, is that love lasts three years. The author describes his own marriage, and its incumbent stages of deterioration. To paraphrase: The first year is great; the second year, people you meet on the street take your wife to be your sister; and the third year you can’t stop yourself from looking at “les demoiselles fraiches” who light up the street.
The author goes on to describe his festive debaucheries in celebration of his divorce; and then on to his slow slide into depression.
The tables turn somewhat when he meets the infatuation of his life at a funeral. (A fair amount of humor is blended into this whole discourse.) Then the author’s depression takes on a more concrete subject, as he becomes the victim of unrequited love.
The rest of this novel describes his back and forth situation as the sometimes accepted, sometimes rejected paramour, and eventually evolves into a relationship that continues for nearly three years. The last pages very touchingly, and poetically, describe the final countdown to the three year mark, and sum up the author’s feelings from this vantage point. Much food for thought here.
What We're Reading:Edward
LOSING MUM AND PUP by CHRISTOPHER BUCKLEY
Becoming an orphan is never easy. As the only child of the conservative icon, William F. Buckley, Christopher knows this only too well. He lost both his parents within a year. This book is his story of that terrible year. He tells many revealing stories about his parents and his relationship with them. But his rapprochement with them allows him to lovingly dispatch their foibles. It shows his great skill as a writer that he can reveal so much in just a small volume. His parents and his experiences with end of life care tell us much about this current national debate on health care. But through it all this writer of many humorous books brings a light touch to the sobering end of his parent's lives. He makes you both laugh and cry. A must read!
Monday, September 21, 2009
What We're Listening To: Rita
Country Club: John Doe and The Sadies.
The songs are classic country, written by Waylon Jennings, Tammy Wynette, Roger Miller and the like, and recorded in the classic Bakersfield Sound by John Doe, founder of the punk band X, with backing by the Sadies. The Bakersfield Sound, a reaction to the slicker Nashville Sound, was popularized in honky tonk bars in that California city, and lends itself well to both Doe’s voice and to the material. These are “feel bad” songs of the best kind, about heartbreak, infidelity, loneliness, homesickness, and unrequited love. John Doe and the Sadies breathe new life into these standards and will have you crying in your beer (or other beverage of choice) by the end of last song, if not before.
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