Books

Has anyone else noticed the glaring lack of information and/or publicity about this year’s Literary Festival? I’ve seen a couple of postings here but usually by this time I’ve received  not only a plea for money but a schedule of authors and events in the mail and via email. I haven’t seen any posters anywhere – not even at the library. I know a few months ago there was some confusion over the potential dates but since it’s right around the corner you’d think there would be some talk about it somewhere. I hope this doesn’t mean the Festival is beginning to fade out. It’s one of my favorite events in town and generally I have to try to juggle all the many wonderful authors that I want to go hear. I don’t even know who is participating this year.

Masters of the Short Story, a reading and discussion series will be held in the Brooks Memorial Library this fall on Monday evenings. The books and authors to be discussed, with dates, are:  Park City by Ann Beattie (October 5), Selected Works of Flannery O’Connor (November 2), Five Great Short Stories by Anton Chekhov (November 30) and Poetry and Tales y Edgar Allen Poe (December 7).  

The series discussion facilitator will be VHC scholar Dr. Richard Wizansky.  This is a Vermont Humanities Council (VHC) event with support from the Vermont Country Store.  Each Monday discussion group will be held at 7PM in the Library Meeting Room.

This fall, the Brooks Memorial Library will be hosting a number of book talks with Green Mountain Book Award authors. The Green Mountain Book Award (GMBA) is the Vermont Reader’s Choice Award for grades 9-12. Most teens in high school in Vermont are encouraged to read some of the books on the nominated list in their classes at school.

The first of these Skype talks will be held on September 28 @ 6:30 on the third floor meeting room in the library. This talk will be with author Andrew Smith about his book “Winger.”Andrew Smith is an award-winning author of several Young Adult novels, including the critically acclaimed “Grasshopper Jungle” and his Green Mountain Nominated Book, “Winger.” His most recent book, “Alex Crow,” is the ninth novel he has published. Andrew Smith lives in Southern California.

Please join Radha Buko today, Wednesday, September 9, 7:30 PM for a talk on her memoir. When Hitler invades Poland in 1939, newlyweds Józef and Marysia Buko are catapulted into a sudden and heart-wrenching seven year separation. Each faces life threatening situations demanding courage, faith, and resilience if the couple is ever to see each other again. The event is free and open to the public. 

Vermont author Tereska Buko and Brattleboro artist Lerna will be speaking about Ms. Buko’s newly published book, The General’s Barber and the Seamstress: A Polish Love Story (Red Barn Books of Vermont).

Author, educator and chef John Verlinden will speak in the Brooks Library Meeting Room on Wednesday, September 16 at 7:00 about his new book, To Cook is To Love:  Nuevo Cuban: Lighter, Healthier Latin Recipes.  Admission is free and the event is sponsored by the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library.

This work is a multigenerational cultural tapestry of Cuban history, life, food, wine and music.  Chef Verlinden will prepare and share “tasting samples” with the audience.

If you are ‘in the market’ for a primer that lays out in compelling prose the path humans have taken in our evolution, showing longstanding motives and habits, causes and effects of civilizations, and possible directions for the near and far future, I enthusiastically recommend “Sapiens”, by Yuval Noah Harari.

My post is titled facetiously, because here we have an inspiring and impressive handbook that breaks molds rather than follows formula. My title makes reference to the uncanny clarity and concision in which the author tackles immense and charged subjects.

Everyone’s Books is pleased to present four of the most exciting Science Fiction and Fantasy authors of the modern era at The Space at 118 Elliot St. at 6pm on Saturday, July 25th.

Local author Brian Staveley‘s  second book in the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne series,focuses on the three heirs to the Annurian Empire as they embark on different routes to the same goal. Adare, having discovered who killed their father, rallies the people, who believe she has been touched by a goddess; Valyn has allied with invading nomads; and Kaden, the rightful heir, has already infiltrated the capital. Read chapter one from The Emperor’s Blades here, and an excerpt from book two, The Providence of Fire, here.

Library technology: All Your Questions Answered! CANCELLED FOR JULY, RESUMING IN AUGUST (8/4 and 8/7). 

Join Reference Librarian Jeanne Walsh on the first Tuesday (4 PM to 6 PM) and first Friday (11 AM to 1PM) of the month for one-on-one help on the various aspects of library technology, such as downloading e-books and e-audio; accessing your library account to place holds, renew your items, suggest new titles for the collection, make lists of your favorite titles to share with your fellow library users. Get help with online tasks like filling out forms and emailing attachments.…and more. NO QUESTIONS ARE TOO SMALL OR TOO SILLY! Bring your devices if you have them: iPads, smartphones, laptops, etc.

Wednesday, June 10, at 7 PM, join writer, teacher, and journalist, Nan Levinson, for a reading and discussion of her latest book  War Is Not a Game: The New Antiwar Soldiers and the Movement They Built. Written with sensitivity and humor, War Is Not a Game gives readers an uncensored, grunt’s-eye view of the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, while conveying the equally dramatic struggles that soldiers face upon returning home. 

On July 23, 2004, five marines, two soldiers, and one airman became the most unlikely of antiwar activists. Young and gung-ho when they first signed up to defend their country, they were sent to fight a war that left them confused, enraged, and haunted. Once they returned home, they became determined to put their disillusionment to use. So that sultry summer evening, they mounted the stage of Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall and announced the launch of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

Come watch the parade and shop for some great books! 

The Friends of the Library’s June Book Sale will be held on Thursday, June 4 from 1PM to 6PM, Friday, June 5 from 10AM to 6PM and Saturday, June 6 from 10AM to 2PM. A great collection of hardback, paperback and coffee table books plus audio books, music CDs and DVD movies. Lots of fiction on sale and non-fiction titles include gardening, travel, sports, science, music and art, biography, history, how-to, cooking and much more! 

Please join writers  for an evening of readings, Wednesday, June 3, at 7 PM, in the Library’s Meeting Room.

Peter Gould is a writer, director, teacher, adjunct professor at Brandeis University and World Learning, and founder of “Get Thee to the Funnery” summer Shakespeare programs for teens.

His most recent book is Write Naked. Published by Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, it is a story of two Vermont teenagers who fall in love as they encourage each other to be honest, artistically expressive, and dedicated to fighting global climate change.

Join Reference Librarian Jeanne Walsh for drop-in hours at the Reference Desk on the first Tuesday of every month, 4:00-6:00 and first Friday of every month, 11:00-1:00.

Get started with downloadable e-books and e-audio, and learn about searching and placing holds in the library catalog. Access your library account to place holds, renew your items, suggest new titles for the collection, and make reading lists for yourself or to share with other library users. Get help with online tasks like filling out forms and emailing attachments…and more.

NO QUESTIONS ARE TOO SMALL OR TOO SILLY! Bring your devices if you have them: iPads, smartphones, laptops, etc.

Revenge: Explore this passionate and provocative human desire through drama, short stories, and novels with Vermont Humanities Scholar Richard Wizansky. Last title in the four-part series: The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks, Weds. May 27, 7:00-8:30 p.m. in the meeting room. Book are available for checkout at the circulation desk. The event is free and open to the public. Welcome! 

For more information contact Brooks Library by phone at 802-254-5290 ext 0, by email at info@brookslibraryvt.org, or on the web at brookslibraryvt.org. Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301. Location Meeting Room, 2nd Floor.

The Guilford Community Church, UCC will hold its annual Book Sale on Saturday, April 25, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Excellent current and collectible books will be offered, including a selection of children’s and young adult books. “Vermont.calm” T-shirts will also be available for purchase.

The sale helps support the many local and global missions of the church. From Route 5, just beyond the Guilford Country Store, turn left onto Bee Barn Road then right to 38 Church Drive.

For further information contact Pat Haine (802) 257-0626.

Revenge! What are the causes of revenge? What are the consequences? Is taking revenge ever justified? Explore this most passionate and provocative of human desires through drama, short stories, and novels. Join Vermont Humanities Scholar and long-time Brooks facilitator Richard Wizansky for an evening of engaged discussion on this universal topic. This week! Andre Dubus, Selected Stories, April 15, at 7 PM. Up next! Russell Banks, The Sweet Hereafter on May 27, 7 PM. Books can be borrowed from the Brooks Library. Join us!

Save the date for the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library Spring Booksale on Friday, April 10, 10 am to 6 pm and Saturday, April 11, 10 am to 2 pm. This year’s annual Friends of Library Big Booksale is coming early with Spring flowers.

Join your fellow community members and sift through the thousands of paperbacks, DVD’s, and audio books for the Big Spring Booksale, to raise funds for the support of the Friends of Brooks Memorial Library.

The books and other items are piling up for this important annual event. Remainders will be on sale during the month of April during regular library hours. 

Retired National Security Agency executive Bill Sullivan will discuss how the NSA works and consider the implications of the leaks of NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in a talk at Brooks Memorial Library in Brattleboro on April 1 at 7:00 pm.

His talk, “The National Security Agency: The Law, the Media, and the Legacy of Edward Snowden”, is part of the Vermont Humanities Council’s First Wednesdays lecture series and is free and open to the public. 

Sullivan will discuss the NSA’s foreign intelligence mission as well as its process, governance, and oversight, and examine media reports based on material provided by Edward Snowden.

Revenge– A Reading and Discussion Series on Wednesdays 7 pm – 8:30 pm. What are the causes of revenge? What are the consequences? Is taking revenge ever justified? Explore this most passionate and provocative of human desires through drama, short stories, and novels. Join Vermont Humanities Scholar and long-time Brooks facilitator Richard Wizansky for an evening of engaged discussion on this universal topic. First in the four-part series: Agamemnon. Books are available for checkout at the circulation desk.

The books, which will be available for checkout, are the following:
February 25, 7 PM: Aeschylus, Agamemnon
March 18, 7 PM: E.L. Doctorow, Welcome to Hard Times
April 15, 7 PM: Andre Dubus, Selected Stories
May 27, 7 PM: Russell Banks, The Sweet Hereafter

Philosophy scholar Susanne Claxton explores the key elements of the utopian republic envisioned by Plato and considers their adequacy.

Underwriter: Union Institute & University. Wednesday 4 February at 7 – 9 pm. Location Library Main Room.

For more information contact Brooks Library by phone at 802-254-5290 ext 0, by email at info@brookslibraryvt.org, or on the web at brookslibraryvt.org. Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301. The event is free and open to the public. 

Revenge: A Reading and Discussion Series at Brooks Library. What are the causes of revenge? What are the consequences? Is taking revenge ever justified? Explore this most passionate and provocative of human desires through drama, short stories, and novels.

Join Vermont Humanities Scholar and long-time Brooks facilitator Richard Wizansky for an evening of engaged discussion on this universal topic.