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Books get Oscar nods, too |
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Hollywood owes a lot to books, this year.
Not only were five of the nine Oscar nominations for Best Picture adapted from both fiction and non-, counting nominations for other categories (Costume Design, Best Cinematography, etc.), all told there were ten books whose adaptations made it to the big screen in 2012 (eleven if you count Skyfall, which isn't a novel, but features, of course, the famous 007 created by Ian Fleming way back in 1953).
Here are the films that started out in book (or essay) form:
Argo - Nominated for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), and Best Music (Original Score). Based on Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History, by Antonio Mendez and Matt Baglio
 Les Miserables - Nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Costume Design, Best Makeup, and Best Music (Original Song), from the book by Victor Hugo
Life of Pi - Based on the book by Yann Mantel, nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Cinematography, Best Music (Original Score), and Best Music (Original Song)
Lincoln - Based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, the film's nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay), Best Cinematography, Costume Design, and Best Music (Original Score)
Silver Linings Playbook - Based on the book of the same title by Matthew Quick, nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
 Anna Karenina - Based on Tolstoy's classic, nominated for Best Cinematography, Costume Design, and Best Music (Original Score)
Snow White and the Huntsman - Based on the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale, nominated for Costume Design
Mirror, Mirror - Ditto, also nominated for Costume Design
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey - based on J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, nominated for Best Makeup.
The Sessions - Based on an essay that appeared in the literary mag The Sun in 1990 - "On Seeing a Sex Surrogate," by paralyzed poet Mark O'Brien. The film is nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
Since the awards show doesn't air until Feb. 24, you still have time to read what you may have missed in the theater!
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Coming up at the Wallkill Public Library
Monday: School's closed, but the library's open! Come in and learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and see how in many ways his speeches of 50 years ago still ring true today! Also Monday, Mini-Masterpiece Art Club meets at 10:30 a.m. to paint a winter trees watercolor scene.
Tuesday: Book Buddies meets at 10:30 a.m. This week's daytime Story Time  theme is animal tracks. Author/Illustrator Story Time will take place at 4 p.m., featuring the works of Barbara Reid (whose Plasticine creations will serve as inspiration for Story Timers to create their own illustrations!). Books Alive! rehearsal for all ages will be held at Wallkill Reformed Church from 3:30-5:30 p.m. Textile Tuesdays are held between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. at the community room of the Town Hall. Bring a project and whatever equipment you need and come and go as you please between these hours!
Wednesday: Mommy and Me is offered at 10 a.m., followed by Toddler Story Time at 11 a.m. The Art Club meets at 4 p.m. to create some winter resist pictures (we'll create snowflakes using the resist method and wax and paint!). The Quilters' Circle has their meeting at 6:30 p.m.
Thursday: The Knit and Crochet Club meets at 6:30 p.m.
Friday: Lego Building will be offered at 4 p.m.
Saturday: Bill Robinson will present his Birds of Prey for a 2 p.m. show! Come see many of the same animals that have appeared on The Tonight Show, Good Morning America, Late Night with David Letterman, and the Today Show! |
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Books Alive! cast gear up for March
This year's Books Alive! actors have already been working hard to get ready for their March 16 performance. Here is a list of this season's talented cast members:
- Logan Adams
- Rose Barge
- Julia Barnett
- Piper Bo
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 | | Last year's Books Alive! performers. |
Zoey Calison - Alexandria Diemoz
- Ben Diemoz
- Luke Diemoz
- Emma Dove
- Antonio Foti
- Jillian Landsman
- Fernanda Manzanares
- Tori Meinsen
- Miles Moliterni
- Riley Morse
- Dominique Naparano
- Julieann O'Jea
- Izabella Purdy
- Lila Rydell
- Vincenza Secor
- Hailee Witherel
- Hailey Woodruff
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New children's books are here!
 Though the library receives books for every age throughout the year, a shipment of very popular children's material recently arrived that might interest your little readers! They include the We Both Read series, which makes the reading experience easier to share with children, using books that are divided into two sections: pages parents read out loud, and facing pages with simpler words and phrasing for the kids to read.
Some of the library's new arrivals include:
- Ivy and Bean
- Captain Underpants
- Lunch Lady
- Captain Awesome
- Fancy Nancy
- Vampire School
- Ready-to-Read
- Zombie Chasers
- Mermaid Mysteries
- Tim Green Sports Novels
- Squish
- Dork Diaries
- Club CSI
Be sure to let us know if you like these selections, and what you'd like to see more of. If a series is a hit, we'll be happy to order more of the same!
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New Brown book coming to shelves in May  Inferno, Dan Brown's new novel, will be hitting book stores (and libraries) May 14.
The book will once again cast Robert Langdon, hero of Brown blockbusters The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and The Lost Symbol as the lead character. Though Brown has been less than forthcoming about the plot of the book, details that have been released make it sound simliar to The Da Vinci Code, in that symbologist Langdon once again becomes embroiled in a mystery with far-reaching ramifications that involves a masterpiece (this time, Dante's work). Dante wrote The Divine Comedy between 1308 and 1321. In the epic poem, Dante is led by Virgil through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. |
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Ordered items have shorter turnaround  Just a reminder that there are now shorter hold times for items ordered from other libraries.
This means patrons have FOUR days from the time they get the phone call notifying them that the item they ordered from another library is in to pick it up. Though previously patrons had seven days in which to pick up their material, the shorter hold time is a way in which popular books, films, etc., can be kept in circulation, instead of lingering on a shelf for a week. If some extenuating circumstance prevents you from picking up your item on time, you can always call the library at 895-3707, and we'll happily extend your hold. |
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National Book Awards try to win fans  In an effort to gain ground with the pop lit culture, the National Book Awards announced this past week that the number of finalists for the prize will increase and the judges will be more diverse, possibly including critics, librarians, and booksellers in addition to the writers that typically make up the pool.
The goal is to emulate awards like Britain's Man Booker prize, whose shortlisted books typically see a benefit of tens of thousands of more sales. The NBAs will still be given to American authors published in the Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People's Literature genres, but now the finalist process will be split into two parts. A long list of 40 finalists (ten for each category) will be announced six weeks prior to the award, followed by a shorter list (about half the size of the original) four weeks later. |
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Website great resource for parents  Babble is a community for parents with advice, recipes, news, and resources. It was listed among Forbes magazine's top websites for women in 2012.
The site's articles focus on not only child-rearing, but pregnancy, home care and gardening, entertainment, lifestyle, and more. Anyone on the lookout for helpful hints on parenting and more will find the site a great resource. |
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Meltzer's hero battles assassin # five  The Fifth Assassin, by Brad Meltzer
From John Wilkes Booth to Lee Harvey Oswald, there have been more than two dozen assassination attempts on the president of the United States.
Four have been successful.
But now, Beecher White - the hero of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Inner Circle - discovers a killer in Washington, D.C., who's meticulously re-creating the crimes of these four men. Historians have branded them as four lone wolves. But what if they were wrong?
Beecher is about to discover the truth: that during the course of a hundred years, all four assassins were secretly working together. What was their purpose? For whom do they really work? And why are they planning to kill the current President?
Beecher's about to find out. And most terrifyingly, he's about to come face-to-face with the fifth assassin. |
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Evening computer classes starting up
If you'd like to get a firm grasp of computer basics but haven't found the opportunity to do so, now's your chance!
There are still spots available for Merle Bercow's evening class on computer essentials, which will be offered starting Jan. 30 at 7 p.m.
If you're interested in participating, call the library at 895-3707 and leave your name and number. |
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The legacy of Emma, a patron with class
 There is something so different about the generation raised during the WWII era. Something dignified and proud. You rarely if ever see octogenarians showing up in pajamas to collect their mail at the post office or going grocery shopping in their shabby gardening clothes. My mother, who turns 89 tomorrow, has told me that people in her day took pride in their appearance and liked to get dressed up for things, including simply going out in public to run errands, because chances are they would see someone they knew. It was important for them to look their best. To this day, Mom never leaves the house without lipstick and I don't think she owns a pair of sweatpants. Personally, I would like to hold a sweat pants burning in the town square - not even Heidi Klum could pull off looking good in those things - but I digress. I think it's pretty fair to say that we have lost a good bit of this sensibility over the years.
Attending church with Mom not too long ago I was amazed at how things had changed. (Yes, it had been awhile since I visited and feared the lightning strike the entire time.) During the communion procession, I looked at how people were dressed and wondered when we decided it was okay to come to certain places looking so incredibly casual, and dare I say, downright sloppy? Men were wearing torn and dirty jeans, Moms had on crew neck sweatshirts with college names emblazoned on the front, kids were in what we used to call "play clothes." I'm not advocating getting dressed in formal suits and dresses but clean and appropriate for the occasion would be nice. It means something that our seniors get but that generations since seem to have forgotten.
I know for a fact that if I were to go to the post office without having brushed my hair or my teeth and wearing my pajamas, I would see absolutely everyone I know in town. It would be frightening for all involved. It matters to me that that doesn't happen. It matters because I think it's important to look clean and nice because it leaves an impression - even if it is that people know I am not lazy. I hope it also says that I care. I think that's what has happened - we think we are being "casual" but we are really just being "lazy."
This past week, Wallkill lost one of its most lovely and well-attired women, Mrs. Emma Hammesfahr. Emma was 92 and up until a short time ago, she frequented the library every week. She would always walk in the door with her hair and makeup impeccably done and wearing a smart outfit. One day she had on black wool pants and a matching embroidered bolero jacket and she looked like she just walked off the pages of Town and Country magazine. It meant a lot to her to look nice when she went out in public. She took the time and effort and was the quintessential "lady." That is how I will remember her, looking so well put together, gently walking with her cane, laughing her deep little laugh, and smiling with those sparkly eyes of hers. What a lovely memory of a lovely lady. She will be missed. Emma was one of those who took pride in her appearance and the impression she gave to others. So many of these Grande Dames are passing now as they head into their nineties. We owe it to them to give some thought to how we face the world each day. We don't need to be gorgeous or thin or wealthy, just neat and clean and respectful. Dignified and proud - like Emma.
Mary Lou Carolan
Director
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