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The Book Sale is Coming! The Book Sale is Coming!

by | | Something to do • Special Events • Topsham Tales

2014-09-27 11.36.20Do you like music? Do you know every year, the Topsham Public Library hosts Music in March – a series of FREE concerts that range from a capella, to bluegrass, to barbershop quartet, to folk, and even flute ensembles?

Do you like the discounted museum passes that the Topsham Public Library offers its patrons? Places like Portland Museum of Art, The Children’s Museum, The Maine Maritime Museum, and of course Maine Wildlife Park are wonderful places for exploration, fun, and thoughtfulness.

Do you like Big Truck Day? Summer reading programs? The annual fishing derby? All of these events and opportunities would not be possible if it were not for The Friends of the Topsham Public Library. This group of dedicated volunteers sponsors every one of these programs.

One way they fund these programs is through the annual book sale. AND IT’S ALMOST HERE!!!! I go to the book sale every year, and this year won’t be any different. I get so excited! Not only do I get to support The Friends of the Topsham Public Library through my purchases, but I get great books, cds, movies, and audio-books as well! Over time, I have collected the complete Harry Potter series in hardcover. And these books look just like new – no one would know I bought them used. (That is a HUGE savings compared to any other book seller!) I also have found a delightful collection of English ghost stories. And last year, I left the sale with a beautiful over-sized book titled Folk Tales of the Amur. I never would have seen that book anywhere else. There is always something unexpected and unique at the book sale. Have you found something unexpected at the book sale?

Enough of my gabbing – you want to know the details. If you are a member of The Friends of the Topsham Public Library, the book sale begins on Friday, September 25 at 5pm until 7pm. (If you want to become a member, click here. Also, memberships will be available at the door.) The book sale is open to the general public on Saturday, September 26, 9am-4pm and Sunday, September 27, 10am-2pm. Sunday is the $3 bargain bag sale!

We are still taking donations for the book sale, too! There is no better time to clean off your bookshelves than now. You may drop them off at the front desk next time you come to the Topsham Public Library.

Please note: The Topsham Public Library will not be open for normal business during the book sale hours.

We hope to see you there!!

Joy of the Pen

by | | Special Events • Topsham Tales

JOPThere once was a writer from Nantucket
who ran around town with a bucket,
and when asked, “why do you carry that thing?”
she just shook her head and said, “Do you not have any imagination?”

It’s just my first draft. I know, I have a lot of work to do. I only have until October 10, to polish my piece. What am I talking about? Well, on September 1, 2015, the Topsham Public Library began accepting submissions for the Third Annual Joy of the Pen Writing Competition.

We are fortunate to live in a community, and in a state, where writers of all levels abound, and we celebrate that here. Joy of the Pen is open to year-round Maine residents, and the categories are: poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. There is also a category for teen-aged writers, and new for this year – Maine-related non-fiction.

Not only do we live in a community of writers, we live in a community that supports and encourages writers. We want to thank our sponsors: The Cryer sponsors the Verdi L Tripp Award for fiction, the Margaret F. Tripp Award for Poetry, and the Richard F. Snow Award for Nonfiction; Just Write Books sponsors the Maine-Related Nonfiction Award; the TPL Teen Room sponsors the TPL Teen Scene Award, and the Friends of the Topsham Public Library sponsors the Honorable Mention Awards in fiction, nonfiction and poetry. Joy of the Pen would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. Please, check them out – see what they are about and thank them for their support.

Well, I need to go sharpen my pencil and get back to work. If you would like to submit your work, you can do so here.

 

 

Here are the answers to last week’s quiz – I know you all have been holding your breath-

1. Romeo & Juliet by William Shakespeare

2. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

4. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

5. Moby Dick by Herman Melville

6. Watership Down by Richard Adams

7. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell

8. The Crow Road by Iain Banks

9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

10. The Stone Diaries by Carol Shields

11. The Once and Future King by T.H. White

12. Rebecca by Daphne DuMaurier

13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling

14. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

15. The Gunslinger by Stephen King

And if you identified The Crow Road as containing Emma’s favorite first line, you get 10 bonus points!

Pop Quiz!

by | | Topsham Tales

pop quizThe countdown is on – only five more days until school begins on August 31! The first day of school is always a bitter-sweet moment for us at the Topsham Public Library because that means summer reading will soon be over and lazy summer days are quickly coming to an end. So, to help get our heads back in the game, I thought it would be appropriate to give you all a quiz. Don’t worry, and put your calculators away – no math is involved.

Below you will find a list of first lines from books. Some are from new books, some are from old books, some are from books I read for English class and some are from books I read instead of reading books for English class. You can earn 10 bonus points if you tell me which one is Emma’s favorite first line. (If you don’t know who Emma is, read last week’s post.) The answers will be available in next week’s blog.

1. Two households, both alike in dignity/In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,/From ancient grudge break                 to new mutiny,/Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

2. The Nellie, a cruising yawl, swung to her anchor without a flutter of the sails, and was at rest.

3. 1801 – I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbor that I shall be troubled with.

4. Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

5. Call me Ishmael.

6. The primroses were over.

7. Scarlett O’Hara was not beautiful, but men seldom realized it when caught by her charm as the Tarleton twins were.

8. It was the day my grandmother exploded.

9. There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.

10. My mother’s name was Mercy Stone Goodwill.

11. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays it was Court Hand and Summulae Logicales, while the rest of the week it was the Organon, Repetition, and Astrology.

12. Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.

13. Not for the first time, an argument had broken out over breakfast at number four, Privet Drive.

14. You better not never tell nobody but God.

15. The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed.

God Save the Queen!

by | | Topsham Tales

batman_logo_finalDon’t worry! Don’t worry! We have not been invaded! Periodically throughout the next couple of months, I am going to highlight a member of the Topsham Public Library staff. We see so many different faces every day, I thought it would be nice to introduce ourselves and help you get to know us a little better. So, let’s get started.

For those of you who don’t know, our Adult Services Librarian, Emma Gibbon hails from Yorkshire, England. Emma joined the library staff in 2011 and earned her Masters in Library Science in 2014. Enough of the boring stuff – let’s get to the good stuff.

Emma and I met together so I could conduct what I call a flash interview – I asked Emma a series of either/or questions, and she had only seconds to respond. This is the result.

Though she enjoys fiction more than non-fiction, Emma’s first favorite book was a children’s non-fiction book about dinosaurs released by Penguin Books. Now, I don’t mean to stir up any controversy, but Emma shuns ereaders for the hold it in your hand and flip the pages the old fashioned way honest to goodness book. But, make no mistake, Emma is no luddite; she is a master of Facebook and Twitter (but if she had to go without one of them, she would rather sacrifice Twitter than Facebook) and stays on top of the goings on in the tangled world of technology with her PC and not a Mac (little warning here – don’t get her started on Google).

Emma prefers the short story, but she is an avid reader of graphic novels especially the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. Now, there is one thing that is vital for you to understand when it comes to Emma, and that is that she believes with her whole heart that Neil Gaiman is practically perfect in every way, (the only fault she finds in him is his short story) so, it must be made very clear that it was only under duress that she answered my question when I asked her which she preferred – American Gods or Sandman. It took her time and periods of great anguish before I received a civil reply.

After she composed herself, we were able to carry on and I inquired about her hero preferences. DC comes in first for Emma, and that is due to the Caped Crusader – Batman. And if she could have her own super power, she would prefer to read minds than be invisible.

Of course, since Emma is from England, I had to ask – tea or coffee and yes, tea won. She prefers fried eggs to scrambled, salad to soup, and chocolate to vanilla. When Emma is not at the library, you can find her reading, writing, knitting, x-stitching, and avoiding housework. Oh – and she enjoys playing video games badly.

Stop by and say hi next time you’re in.

You’re letting the flies eat the trees? On Purpose!?

by | | TPL Gardens

Photo Aug 13, 1 05 46 PMaThat’s right! We’re just letting them…but for a very good reason.

Last week, one of our garden fairies (volunteers) pointed out that we have dogwood sawflies munching on the dogwoods in the birdsong garden. Her research indicated that, if tolerable, it’s not a bad idea to let the sawflies be because they are a great food source for early migrating birds. The damage to the dogwood from these “pests” usually occurs late enough in the season so that the plant is not overly harmed. Many of us try to plant gardens that are friendly to birds, pollinators & butterflies, but then we are upset when the plants are “damaged.” What a great reminder of how an ecosystem actually works!

What to Read Next?

by | | Topsham Tales

Photo Aug 01, 10 52 49 AMDo you ever find yourself in need of a book suggestion? Of course you do, we all do. Sometimes it’s hard knowing what book to try next. I find it especially hard after finishing a good book – nothing else quite matches up.

At the library, we are often asked for book suggestions, and we love to talk shop so please keep asking, but there are also some other resources available to you to help you find your next read.

One of the fun resources here at the Topsham Public Library is our Art Collab. Across from the circulation desk is a wall covered in suggestions from our patrons. Next time you come in, take a look and find a suggestion or two for your next read (and add one of your own suggestions). All age groups are represented on the wall. A few of the book ideas on the wall right now are: Bag of Bones by Stephen King, Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh, The Complete Father Brown Stories by G.K. Chesterton, and Give and Take by Adam Grant. Some of the suggestions for children include the Magic Tree House books, always favorites, but the Gregor the Overlander Series by Suzanne Collins (yes, she has written more than The Hunger Games) also has a growing number of supporters, and Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, is a timeless recommendation.

If you don’t find anything on our wall, there is a cart with staff picks in it, and it is full (well, we try to keep it full) of suggestions from the library staff. Also, the library has a display table with books which center around a theme that changes monthly that you could choose from (this month’s theme is Real Life Heroes).

There are also some online tools to help with book suggestions. If you are a mystery reader, Stop, You’re Killing Me is a wonderful resource. It offers book reviews as well as lists of mystery series that you can find either by author or by character. Another great place to find ideas is Novelist and Novelist K-8 (for children) found on Marvel, an online resource accessible on the Topsham Public Library’s website under Resources & Materials. (once on the Marvel site, you will notice the alphabet across the top. Click “N” and a list of databases that begin with N will come up. Click Novelist or Novelist K-8.) Some of you are already avid Pinterest fans, and if you haven’t used Pinterest you should think about it because the Topsham Public Library has a Book Lists board which has a plethora of lists from 10 Nonfiction Books That Will Define the Conversation in 2015 to Happy Ever After: 100 Swoon-Worthy Romances and everything in between. Have you checked out the library catalog (minerva.maine.edu) lately? It has some brand new features! If you scroll down on any book record you will find books in the same series, other books and authors you may like, appeal terms and reader’s reviews and ratings! Have a look at the record for our copy of The Fellowship of the Ring, scroll down and see!

And please, keep your eyes and ears open, as we are always looking for ways to help you find your next read!

 

National Book Lovers Day

by | | Topsham Tales

vidya-sury-inspiring-quotes-on-reading-books-8I learned something new today, and I wish I had known it sooner. Do you know there is a National Book Lovers Day? I did not know that! This Sunday, August 9, 2015 is National Book Lovers Day and I plan to celebrate.

First, I’m going to make sure I have piles and piles of books ready and waiting. Of course, I already do have piles and piles of books ready and waiting, but I will get a few more from the Topsham Public Library because there is no such thing as too many books, and I want to make sure I am prepared. (If you need to pick up a few more books to help celebrate your day, remember we aren’t open on Sundays so make sure you visit us before then.)

Secondly, I’m going to make sure my family knows that I won’t be cooking on National Book Lover’s Day. I don’t want to think about food, and I don’t want to talk about food. This is a personal preference and I’m sure many book lovers will cook on this great day. Perhaps they have a favorite cookbook from which they will make strawberry crepes or sticky buns or quiche or whatever their heart desires. But me, no cooking.

Then, I’m going to read. I will read inside, and I will read outside. I will read funny things, and I will read sad things. I will read to myself, and I will read to my children. I may read a poem or two to them like O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman (it brings tears to my eyes every time) or Casey at the Bat by Ernest Lawrence Thayer or Psalm 23. And I will ask them to read to me. Then I will read quietly to myself something I have never read before, and I will read out loud passages from old favorites like Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White.

That is how I will choose to celebrate National Book Lover’s Day, but there are many more ways one can celebrate it. Give a book to a friend. Give a book to yourself. Or, you could give a book to a stranger (at bookcrossing.com you can register a book and then leave it in a public place for someone to find). You could have book lover friends over, or go out together and talk books and read together. Discuss old books and new books and banned books and overlooked books.

Whatever you decide to do this Sunday, August 9, 2015, we hope you have a great National Book Lover’s Day!

 

Literary Day Trips

by | | Something to do • Topsham Tales

map-of-maine-citiesSummer is speeding on by and there is still so much to do! Are you aware of the literary adventures you can have in the State of Maine?

Naturally, your first literary adventures are right here in Topsham. Maine Fiberarts at 13 Main Street has a current exhibit running through September 30, 2015 titled Handmade Artists’ Books: One of a Kind that you will want to check out. Of course, here at the Topsham Public Library we have summer reading for all ages, a variety of programs, and a lovely garden where you can sit, contemplate and breathe deeply.

Each library has its own personality and you may want to consider visiting a few others. Head on up the coast and visit the Camden Public Library and Amphitheater as it was added to the National Historic Landmark registry in 2013. The Waterville Public Library is one of eighteen Carnegie public libraries in Maine or you could visit the Maine State Library in Augusta. Once you have finished there you could keep on traveling to Brewer, the birthplace and childhood home of Joshua Chamberlain who not only served during the Civil War but also wrote an account titled Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg as well as others.

If you have a few days in which you can play, you might think of traveling to Gotts Island which is off of Mount Desert Island. This was once the home of Ruth Moore whose book Spoonhandle, published in 1946, spent fourteen weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was made into a movie titled Deep Waters. Or, you could drive to the northern most part of Maine to the little town of Allagash, home of author Cathie Pelletier, and have a little lunch at Two Rivers Restaurant.

There are some literary adventures that are great for children, too! The Children’s Museum of Maine has an exhibit featuring the children’s book Down to the Sea by Chris Van Dusen or you could enjoy a Shakespeare play adapted for children on August 1 or August 2. Or you could read Andre: the Famous Harbor Seal by Fran Hodgkins (for a more adult telling of Andre’s story read A Seal Called Andre by Harry Goodridge) and travel to Rockport where it all happened.

This is just a small sampling of the numerous literary adventures waiting for you in our great state. If you need more ideas, the Maine Sunday Telegram, in conjunction with various humanities groups, have an online literary map of Maine that will provide you with many more options for enjoying a literary Maine.

Stay in the loop!

by | | Growing the Community • Information • Something to do • Topsham Tales

Photo Jun 25, 4 20 29 PM (2)croppedLibraries aren’t just about reading anymore, and that is certainly true here at the Topsham Public Library. Naturally, we are still big on books, but we also offer children’s programming, teen programming, adult programming, a job information center, and computer access for the public just to name a few of our services. Do you know, we also have a community bulletin board? This is another active way of keeping our community connected.

This community bulletin board is located on the wall beside the DVD collection, and you will want to check it out. It is full of useful information on upcoming events and opportunities for everyone.

Here is just a sampling of what is posted:

  • 2015 Scholarship opportunities with Maine Education Services (MES) is a list of educational scholarships for high school students AND adults. You can check out their website: www.mesfoundation.org
  • Bay Clay, Bay Brick, Bay Potter is a series of events centering on contemporary ceramic art. For more information and a list of events scroll down their website at www.merrymeetingartscenter.org.
  • Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park is hosting a variety of nature programs. In the Maine summer you want to be outside. Find events at www.maine.gov/wolfesneckwoods
  • Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program (mchpp.org) is offering free meals this summer to children ages 2-18, no questions asked, at Mt. Ararat Middle School, Faith United Methodist Church, and Harpswell Community School. (They are also in need of volunteers.)
  • Wednesday evenings on the Town Mall in Brunswick there is a concert series running from June 24 to August 26. Check out the schedule of performers here: www.brunswickdowntown.org

This is a small selection of the information posted on our bulletin board to help keep you in the loop, so check out the board when you visit the Topsham Public Library.

Don’t Miss the Fishing Derby!

by | | Something to do • Special Events • Topsham Tales

P1030779jenEven though I did not appreciate it so much at the time, some of my favorite childhood memories are of my dad and I fishing. One of my more vivid memories is of me standing on the bank of the Little Black. Dad was showing me how to flick my wrist just right, so that my line would sail out into the dark water. After he demonstrated the technique a few times, he handed the fishing pole to me. I flicked my wrist and heard a yell and felt a tug on my line all at the same time. I had caught something! I caught my brother. My mother had been applying the bug spray on him and when she was finished, he straggled up behind me at the exact moment I cast my line, and I hooked him behind the ear. But the rest of the fishing was fine.

Do you like to fish? Or perhaps, you have never tried fishing before. Maybe you have children or grandchildren who would like to go fishing. Your Topsham Public Library, in partnership with Topsham Parks and Recreation and the Topsham Solid Waste Facility, is hosting a fishing derby on Saturday, June 20, 2015 from 8-11 a.m. at the ponds on Townsend Way (approximately 2.5 miles down Foreside Road on the left, and once on Townsend Way, follow the fish signs to your destination). This is a free opportunity you do not want to miss! You don’t have a fishing pole, you say. Well, we do. The Topsham Public Library will have fishing poles available for our patrons to use for 30 minutes at a time! And not just on June 20. The fishing poles are a part of our permanent collection and are available anytime for checking out.

Troy Garrison, Topsham’s own professional fisherman, will be there as well, and there will be coffee and refreshments provided by the Friends of the Topsham Library, prizes for a variety of categories, and a raffle.

This event is open to all ages, and for this ONE DAY ONLY, people over the age of 16 attending THIS event, do not need a fishing license. THE FISHING DERBY WILL BE HELD RAIN OR SHINE.

And please, if you have a favorite fishing story, share it with us in the space below.