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Shortlist for Orange Prize Announced
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Celebrating its 15th birthday this year, the Orange Prize is a literary
prize awarded to a female fiction author. See the list here.
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Greetings!
We hope you enjoy receiving this newsletter. We always welcome your comments and suggestions.
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Community-Wide Book Discussion
Please join us on Sunday, May 2 at 4:00 PM for a visit by distinguished
author, William M. Fowler Jr. as he discusses his book, Empires at War: The French and Indian War
and the Struggle for North America, 1754-1763.  This presentation is part of the year-long
series of events in town celebrating the 250th anniversary of the
incorporation of Amherst in 1760. There
will be a reception after the lecture during which Professor Fowler will be
available to sign books. The event is
part of a community-wide read sponsored by the Heritage Commission and the
Amherst 250th Celebration Committee in cooperation with the Amherst
Town Library. Copies of the book are
available for loan at the library.Register for this special event by calling 673-2288, emailing library@amherst.lib.nh.us or online through " Calendar of Events." |
Quick Reads for Busy Days
Even if you don't have a lot of time, you'll be amazed at how quickly you can read the titles on this list from cover to cover!
Listening is an Act of Love
 As heard on NPR a wondrous nationwide
celebration of our shared humanity. StoryCorps founder and legendary
radio producer Dave Isay selects the most memorable stories from
StoryCorps collection, creating a moving portrait of American life. The
voices here connect us to real people and their lives to their
experiences of profound joy, sadness, courage, and despair, to good
times and hard times, to good deeds and misdeeds. To read this book is
to be reminded of how rich and varied the American storybook truly is,
how resistant to easy categorization or stereotype. We are our history,
individually and collectively, and Listening Is an Act of Love touchingly
reminds us of this powerful truth.
Walking across Egypt: A Novel by Clyde Edgerton
Mattie Rigsbee, at 78, is slowing down. She plans her funeral so as not to be a burden; she supports the local Baptist church and entertains herself with hymns at the parlor piano; she tries not to meddle in her children's lives, though she does wish they'd marry; she longs for grandchildren. Then comes Wesley. Reared in an orphanage until he graduated to the reformatory, Wesley touches her heart, revives a life gone to seed. Just as he needs a grandmother's love and stability, so Mattie needs his challenge, dependence, and love. How she reconciles that need before family, neighbors, and church congregation is a beautiful story of determination, made more poignant by a Southern small-town setting.
Hardscrabble Chronicles by Laurie Morrow
Laurie recounts the stories of Hardscrabble, her arrival as a young bride, her involvement in town life and the town's unique place in the world and their love of the outdoors and nature. The tone is down home friendly, conversational and intimate. This is a book of dog stories and so much more. Laurie takes you into her world much the same way James Herriot took readers to his beloved Yorkshire. Hardscrabble is small town New England at it's best. The Hardscrabble Chronicles is an old fashioned book in the best sense--it's warm, funny and nostalgic. Laurie picks up the tales of Hardscrabble where the renowned outdoor writer, Corey Ford left off.
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
In Gibbons's classic tale, first published in 1932, a resourceful young heroine finds herself in the gloomy, overwrought world of a Hardy or Bronte novel and proceeds to organize everyone out of their romantic tragedies into the pleasures of normal life. Flora Poste, orphaned at 19, chooses to live with relatives at Cold Comfort Farm in Sussex, where cows are named Feckless, Aimless, Pointless, and Graceless, and the proprietors, the dour Starkadder family, are tyrannized by Flora's mysterious aunt, who controls the household from a locked room. Flora's confident and clever management of an alarming cast of eccentrics is only half the pleasure of this novel. The other half is Gibbons's wicked sendup of romantic cliches, from the mad woman in the attic to the druidical peasants with their West Country accents and mystical herbs.
A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by
Bill Bryson
Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill
Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking
the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine.
The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling
lakes--and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also
provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his
fellow human beings.
The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
Lovers
of mysteries are in for a treat. Meet Mma Ramotswe, the endearing,
engaging, simply irresistible proprietress of The No. 1 Ladies Detective
Agency, the first and only detective agency in Botswana. With
persistent observation, gentle intuition, and a keen desire to help
people with the problems of their lives, she solves mysteries great and
small for friends and strangers alike.
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Start Your Auto Repair Online
From plain old dirt to road salt and sand, your car takes a beating during the winter. For those who love their cars, the warm spring weather brings the chance
to scrub off winter's grit and grime and administer some well-deserved
TLC. If you are planning any do-it-yourself work beyond a trip through the car wash, take a look at the Auto Repair Reference Center before you begin.
Auto
Repair Reference Center is a comprehensive online guide to vehicle ownership and maintenance. AARC contains information on most
major manufacturers
of domestic and imported vehicles, with repair
information for
most vintage makes starting as far back as 1945.
Database content
includes factory drawings, step-by-step
photographs; technical service bulletins & recalls, wiring diagrams, as well as maintenance
schedules and a labor time guide and estimator.
To preview the database, watch a tutorial here. |
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Looking for a Good Friend
The Friends of the Library are looking for a Vice Chair for the upcoming year. The Vice Chair serves one 2-year term and then assumes Chairman responsibilities. The position can be shared by 2 people as co-Vice Chairs if necessary. The Friends meet once a month usually on the third Tuesday of the month from 1:00-2:30. Please contact Kim Ayers with questions at 249-9108 or kimberlyayers@comcast.net.
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Remember, the library is a happening place and your library card is your ticket to free books,
magazines, music, movies, Internet access, enriching programs and much more! If you missed one of our earlier issues you can view it here. As always, please feel free to contact us if you have suggestions for improving this newsletter or questions about any of our library services.
Sincerely,
Amherst Town Library
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