Coming this Fall: Dublin Reads Epitaph for a Peach

Calling all you gardeners, lovers of fresh food,  people who are interested in organic farming, and eating locally: we have made a selection for our next Dublin Reads and it is David Mas Masumoto’s Epitaph for a Peach.  From Mr. Masumoto’s website:

Epitaph for a Peach

“As pleasurable as a perfect peach, Epitaph for a Peach tells the passionate story of one farmer’s attempt to rescue one of the last truly sweet and juicy fruits from becoming obsolete in a world that increasingly values commerciality over quality. The story of Mas Masumoto’s Sun Crest peaches begins on the day he turns the bulldozers away from his orchards and vows to give himself four seasons to find a home for the fruits of his labor.

 

 

At once a deeply personal story, a sharp commentary about the state of American agriculture, a lighthearted rhapsody of nature, and an intimate glimpse into the Asian American experience, Epitaph for a Peach is about saving a peach, saving a farm, saving a family, saving a way of life–it is a story about finding “home.”"

Last year the Dublin Heritage Center co-sponsored Dublin Reads when we read Snow Mountain Passage.  We were not necessarily thinking  the Heritage Center would want to co-sponsor with us this year, since our selection is not historical.  However, this week I was having a conversation with Elizabeth Isles, the Director of the Center and I mentioned that we were doing Epitaph for a Peach.  Well, it turns out the Heritage Museum is going to have a new exhibit coming this Fall on farm life! 

Farm Life: a Century of Change for Farm Families and Their Neighbors is a traveling exhibit from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Mid-America Arts Alliance.  As we talked, Elizabeth and I realized this exhibit connects beautifully with Epitaph for a Peach!

For the library’s part we will offer again free drop-in book discussions, a showing of the film The Real Dirt on Farmer John , and we are currently searching for a speaker who can come and talk to us about our food….where it comes from, eating locally grown foods, what is community supported agriculture and related topics.  We hope also to offer a visit with the author.

The Dublin Friends of the Library will underwrite this special event by providing multiple copies of the book, sponsoring our programs and contributing to book discussion groups. 

Elizabeth is planning a fabulous array of programs at the Heritage Center to coincide with the exhibit.  More details on events will be forthcoming!

Dublin Reads will kick off at Day on the Glen, September 20 & 21st and continue until October 31st.

 

Timeless Reads: First Winner

Our first winner of the drawing for Timeless Reads is Carolyn Trent.  Congratulations Carolyn!  She wins a $15.00 Starbucks gift card. 

 

Summer @ the Dublin Library

The first day of summer arrived and I for one just love the idea of slower, warmer days, filled with thoughts of gardening, farmer’s market fruits and vegetables, sunshine, swimming, lazing around the patio with the family, watching the cat bliss out in a pot of catmint in the sun,  and just having more free time.  And if the economy and the price of gas are putting a dent in your vacation plans this year, the Library can offer at least some perks for a stay-at-home vacation.  The best perk of course, is that everything we offer is FREE.  The pick of our collection from dvds to summer beach reads is all available with your library card.  For all you readers out there we have reading programs for children, teens and adults. 

The kids are playing “Catch the Reading Bug” a bingo style board game.  For every 30 minutes a child clocks reading, he/she can get a spin of the dial, block out a character on their bingo board, and win prizes such as stickers, pizza coupons and the ultimate prize a free book!  Kids can earn bonus spins by doing some of the activitities on the kids summer reading blog at http://summereadingame.wordpress.com/

For teens the theme is Freak Encounters, Explore the Unexplained.  Teens can pick up a reading log at the Reference Desk, keep track of their reading and get a prize for each level they reach.  Read a total of 50 hours over the course of the summer and you also win a free book. 

Adults, we do not leave you out.  The adult program is Timeless Reads.  This is so easy and so fun.  Just read a book that you think has stood the test of time.  Enter the weekly drawing and win a $15.00 gift card.   We have a great display going in the library with some suggestions for timeless reads, but you can certainly offer your own.  When I think of timeless reads, what pops into my head are things like To Kill a Mockingbird, Prodigal Summer, Prince of Tides, Lord of the Rings,  Corelli’s Mandolin.  Share your timeless reads on the adult summer reading blog at http://summerreading4adults.wordpress.com/.  At the end of the summer we will put all the weekly winners in a hat and draw a grand prize winner for a gift card to a bookstore. 

Don’t forget to look to us for some special free programs.  This Wednesday is the start of Wild Wednesdays at the Dublin Library with programs for children scheduled for June 25, July 9, July 30 and August 6.  This Wednesday it’s Alex Ramon, the magician.  Alex is known as the “San Francisco Bay Area’s Best Stage Magician,” and is just returning from Mickey’s Magic Show tour with Disney Live. The first show is at 1:30 with a repeat performance at 3:00 p.m.  We start giving out free tickets one half hour before the program.  Looking ahead, on July 9th Python Ron will be here. Python Ron will bring bugs and spiders for a creepy crawling good time.

We will post more on events coming up in July very soon!

 

 

 

Get to Know Our Databases - Try Free Training Tours

For quick lessons on using some of the Alameda County Library’s databases, there are step-by-step tours (with audio) available for your review. These tours allow you to access training on key features of each database. Tours take approximately 15-20 minutes each to complete. Simply click on any of the links below and the tour will load in  a few minutes.

Biography Resource Center

Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center

PowerSearch

Science Resource Center

What Do I Read Next?

 

Anime and Manga Review: xxxHolic

I’m continuing my review of the Dublin Library’s anime and manga collection this month with xxxHolic, a popular manga series by CLAMP, the team that created Card Captor Sakura, Magic Knight Rayearth, and Tsubasa Chronicle.

xxxHolic is set in modern-day Japan, with occasional crossovers to the alternate universe of Tsubasa Chronicle. It’s a personal favorite of mine, and I’ve been enjoying reading Tsubasa Chronicle and xxxHolic in parallel.

As xxxHolic begins, orphaned high school student Kimihiro Watanuki is plagued by ghosts and demons, thanks to his extreme sensitivity to the spirit world. The unrelenting harassment by the supernatural is making him fear for both his life and his sanity.

Seemingly by chance, he stumbles across a strange little shop located in what he thought was a vacant lot. There, he encounters a beautiful, mysterious woman named Yuuko, a witch who grants wishes–for a price.

In return for shielding Watanuki from the harassment of the spirits, she demands that he come to work for her as a part-time cook and housekeeper.

Watanuki agrees to the bargain, but Yuuko’s solution proves nearly as troublesome as his original problem…much to Watanuki’s disgust, to fend off his spirit stalkers, he’s forced to keep company with his classmate and rival, Shizuka Doumeki.

Doumeki, who is tall, handsome, athletic, and rather taciturn, is the son and grandson
of powerful Buddhist priests, and a naturally talented exorcist in his own right.

Watanuki can’t stand his new bodyguard at first–not only is he wildly jealous of Doumeki’s calm, quiet confidence, but the girl that Watanuki has a crush on is also much too friendly with Doumeki, in Watanuki’s opinion.

Watanuki is a kind and compassionate person who’s suffered some terrible tragedies in his life, but he’s also extremely lonely and insecure, and his insecurities often manifest as childish temper tantrums. He’s a caretaker by nature, and as the series continues and his circle of friends slowly begins to expand, he starts bringing obento (boxed lunches) to school every day for his friends.

In Japanese culture, gifting someone with a bento lunch is a sign of affection and caring. Never very articulate when it comes to discussing his feelings, Watanuki shows his caring by feeding the people important to him.

Yuuko isn’t shy about take full advantage of her bargain with Watanuki (and of his excellent cooking skills), and keeps him busy running her household. She also begins to send Watanuki–with the faithful Doumeki tagging along–out on various errands to fix problems in the spirit world.

Watanuki’s kindness and compassion help to resolve most situations, and when they don’t, Doumeki stands ready to lend a hand with his stubborn loyalty and his exorcism talents.

The series has an X-Files feel about it at times, as the two boys go on various missions and encounter a variety of supernatural beings, from the friendly (such as the fox-demon family who own an oden stand and serve up helpings of their delicious stew to customers) to the utterly terrifying (a spider demon who believes in an eye for an eye, literally).

As xxxHolic progresses, Watanuki finds himself becoming friends with Doumeki against his will, and he also finds a soft spot in his heart for Yuuko, who is by turns manipulative and lonely. Twelve volumes into this continuing series, I also get the feeling that Yuuko is training Watanuki up as her successor in balancing elements and resolving conflicts in the many parallel universes that she guards in her role as the Witch of the Dimensions.

Some of these parallel universes, most notably the universe of Tsubasa Chronicle, intersect with xxxHolic, and characters from the two series appear at various points in each series’ storylines.

The artwork is lush and detailed, with CLAMP’s distinctive style of long, lanky figures, flowing hair, and gorgeously depicted outfits (especially Yuuko’s clothing, which ranges from traditional Japanese formalwear, to sophisticated evening gowns that make her look like a movie star from the Golden Age of Hollywood).

So, is xxxHolic appropriate for your child? The publisher rates this series as appropriate for ages 13 and up, and I agree with this rating.

The publisher has done a very good job translating the original text, keeping the original Japanese honorifics where appropriate to convey nuances of relationships between characters, and providing informative historical and cultural footnotes at various points in the text. xxxHolic contains no sex or offensive language, but there is some gory violence, and occasional disturbing and creepy paranormal story elements.

 

Celebrate National Building Safety Week!

During May 5th - 11th, the City of Dublin’s Building and Safety Division will observe National Building Safety Week. This year’s theme is Building Safety: Where You Live, Work and Play.  This event’s purpose is to raise public awareness of building safety by promoting the use, enforcement and understanding of building safety codes designed to protect lives and property. 

 

Drop by the Dublin Library’s Children’s Department to see the display of library materials related to safety issues and to get a free coloring book and stickers.

 

Here are some titles that may be of interest to you!

 

Fire Safety, Boy Scouts of America, c2004.  J369.43 FIRE

 

Stop, Drop and Roll, by Margery Cuyler, Simon & Schuster Books for Young    Readers, c2001.   JPB CUYLER,M

 

California earthquakes : science, risk & the politics of hazard mitigation, by Carl-Henry Geschwind, Johns Hopkins University Press, c2001.  

363.3495 Geschwind

 

No Dragons for Tea : Fire Safety for Kids (and dragons), by Jean Pendziwol, Kids Can Press, c1999.   JPB Pendziwol

 

 

 

2008 Pulitzers Announced

 

The 2008 Pulitzers were announced on Monday, April 7th.

  

Awarded by Columbia University annually since 1917, 

the Pulitzer Prize is considered to be our nation’s highest achievement

in print journalism and literature.  This year’s recipients continue a

strong tradition of excellence.

 

Former U.S. poet laureate and UC Berkeley English professor,

Robert Hass adds to his 2007 National Book Award in Poetry.  

 

He will be appearing tomorrow at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum

in Walnut Creek.

 

EVENT

WHO: Robert Hass

WHERE: Lindsay Wildlife Museum, 1931 First Ave., Walnut Creek

WHEN: 7 p.m. April 10

HOW MUCH: Free

CONTACT: 925-935-5395

 

Junot Diaz collects another award to share shelf-space with his

2007 National Book Critics Circle Award in Fiction

.

The following Pulitzer Prize winning books are available from the

Alameda County Library. 

 

FICTION:
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz)

 

 

 HISTORY:
What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848

(Daniel Walker Howe)

 

POETRY:
Time and Materials (Robert Haas)

 

 GENERAL NON-FICTON:
The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945

(Saul Friedlander)

 

 

 

Live Interactive Book Group Led by Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle

Beginning next Monday, March 3rd, Oprah Winfrey and Eckhart Tolle are starting an interactive online book club on the book A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Higher Purpose.  According to Oprah’s book club  website:

 ”For the first time ever, you can join Oprah and Eckhart Tolle, the best-selling author of The Power of Now, as they teach A New Earth in Oprah’s worldwide classroom live Monday nights on Oprah.com.By reserving your seat for this 10-week interactive webinar, you’ll be able to:

• Watch and participate in the live classroom webcasts
• Ask Oprah and Eckhart Tolle questions before and during class
• Connect with others who are seeking to become more aware of themselves—and the world around them
• Download and save your thoughts in an exclusive workbook
• Access the classroom video archives…and more!

How to Reserve Your Seat:
You’ll need to be a member of Oprah.com and Oprah’s Book Club.”

If you end up registering for this online version of a book club,  let us know what you think of the experience by commenting on this post.  The Library already has 65 holds on this book!
 

 

Being Thankful

I’m actually not in the library this week as I am spending Thanksgiving with my elderly parents.  In between all the tasks of taking care of my parents I’ve been thinking about this holiday and really studying in myself this business of giving thanks.  In the Library we have a beautiful bulletin board going that proclaims “We are Thankful!” and children have been writing their gratitude on colored paper leaves which are posted by the children’s services staff, Monica and Sue, every day. They say things like “mom” “family” “food like cream puffs” “the library(!)” “all the books” and more.

Driving to the city where my parents live, I am thinking about what I am grateful for and realize one of the things I really am feeling such gratitude for, are books I have read.  These books have given me strength, made me feel like I am not alone, help me understand that loss is universal and recovery is possible.  They have reminded me that humans are wonderful, crazy, complex, funny creatures, and I have found myself again in so many characters.  So here is a list of some of the books I am most thankful for right now. If you have any to add feel free:

Charlotte’s Web.  Have to start with this one; read to my 4th grade class by Mrs. Ludemann.  “Where is Papa going with that axe?”  from the first sentence I am riveted and it still moves me today.

The Hidden Staircase.  Nancy Drew….ok not being literary, I know, but pure child-sized entertainment and suspense, my first mystery and I devoured more.

Lassie Come Home.  Oh yes, I am dating myself, but I read this book so many times as a youngster I can’t even count. The courage, stamina, loyalty of this dog.  It helped that my Dad was a dog person and we had had our own version of a mighty collie in our home named Lad.   Hats off to all the wonderful dog stories I have treasured, to Lassie, Lad, Big Red, Wolf, Bruce, all the way up to Marley and Me (the one my Dad says is the best dog book he ever read.) Thank you , thank you to all of you have the ability to write their stories!  Please if you know a good dog book let me know!

Autumn Street by Lois Lowry.  I read this as a children’s librarian.  It’s an early Lowry before all the Anastasia books and The Giver.  It’s a crossover book: with themes of war, racism, first friendships and great loss it is a profound read for both a child and an adult.

The Human Comedy by William Saroyan.  I first met this book when I was on a retreat many years ago and got to sit, on a wonderful Fall afternoon, sunlight glancing off colored leaves and streaming into a wood paneled room,  listening, while the leader of the retreat read this book aloud.  It was really my first experience of having someone read aloud to me as an adult. He was fantastic and the book came alive for me; I went back and read it again and still go back to it when I need reminding about the fragility, the beauty of our human condition and the tenderness with which it can be rendered. If you have recently watched the PBS series on The War this book would be especially poignant now.

There are so many great scenes in this book opening with the little boy Ulysses examining a gopher hole, to the teenaged Homer waving at hobos on a passing train, to the treatise on the human nose, back to Ulysses visiting the public library with his friend Lionel.  “What are you looking for?” asks the librarian.  “Books,” whispers Lionel. “What books are you looking for?” “All of them.”

“All of them?  What do you mean?  You can borrow only four books on one card.”

“I don’t want to borrow any of them,” Lionel says.

“Well what in the world do you want to do with them?”

“I just want to look at them.”

Fair and Tender Ladies, by Lee Smith.  The story of Ivy Rowe born near the turn of the century, in Appalachia.  Ivy Rowe has a teacher, Mrs. Brown who thinks that Ivy has a “true tallent” and gives her books to read.  ”Do you like to read?” Ivy asks in an early letter. ”I like it bettern anything…”  and later, writing more about Mrs. Brown and her husband, as well as her own Momma and Daddy, she says, “I take a intrest in Love because I want to be in Love one day and write poems about it, do you?” “I want to be a writer,” she declares “it is what I love the bestest in the world.”  The only writing that Ivy’s long and eventful life allows her to do are these letters always ending with her signature ”I remain forever, Ivy Rowe. ” At the end she says, “I never became a writer atall, instead I have loved and loved and loved.” And somehow I feel in reading those lines that the two became the same thing.

This book became all the more poignant to me after I saw Lee Smith at an author event, and she said that while she was writing it, her mother was dying.

Well it is clear to me that I could keep going on this for a long time — Suffice to say I am so grateful for these writers and these books (and so many more) who have been true friends and teachers to me, reminding me to take an interest in love, fight for the underdog, and treasure your friends and companions past all obstacles.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

 

Dublin Reads @ the Heritage Center

“Think of America, I told myself this morning. The whole thing.  The cities, all the houses, all the people, the coming and going, the coming of children, the going of them, the coming and going of men and death, and life, the movement, the talk, the sound of machinery, the oratory, think of the pain in America and the fear and the deep inward longing of all things alive in America.”

With this great quote from William Saroyan in The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze, James Houston sets the tone for his novel Snow Mountain Passage as a drama of “inward longings” that prompted thousands to pack their lives up into a covered wagon and strike out for a better life. Early in the book Jim Reed exclaims to his wife Margaret, who suffers from chronic, severe headaches, “Suppose we could travel to a place where you would never have another headache?  Isn’t that worth considering?” And he eagerly reads to her from Lansford Hastings’ Emigrant’s Guide describing California, “a place free of pestilence, surrounded with pasturelands and sunny valleys where everything can grow and with unlimited water, no mosquitoes, no malaria.” As the wagons gather in Independence Missouri in 1846, ready to set out on the long journey west, these travelers felt “history gathering like a wind, like a river current that could not be resisted.” Jim Reed imagines that his wagon train will be among the earliest to arrive in California.  His wife lays out a tablecloth wherever she can find a patch of grass.  “We’re going to stay civilized,” she says, “no matter how far into the wilderness we may wander.”

If you are reading this wonderful novel and ready to talk about it with others, our next book discussion is this coming Saturday at 10:00 a.m.  We will meet at the Heritage Museum on Donlon Way, where Museum Director, Elizabeth Isles, and her volunteers will have for us a light pioneer breakfast of biscuits and bacon to set the mood.  After discussing the book, volunteer docents will be ready to give you a tour of the Museum an/or the Pioneer Cemetary.  It is so fitting to have a discussion of this book at the Museum where the permanent exhibit so carefully renders  the westward journey of Dublin pioneers.  Please join us Saturday morning!