TR Packs the House

Bully!
Theodore Roosevelt historical interpreter, Ted Zalewski (pictured left), attracted a standing room only crowd to the library today, leaving no doubt that TR's remarkable life continues to inspire and enlighten.

Welcomed by the familiar strains of Hail to the Chief, Zalewski led off with one of TR's more comedic lines, "My son Kermit said I wanted to be the bride at every wedding, and the corpse at every funeral." Using TR's words, Zalewski then led the audience through Roosevelt's life as a rugged cowboy, Governor of New York, historian, naturalist, explorer, author, Nobel Peace Prize winner, and 26th President of the United States.

Zalewski looked no worse for the wear after his stunning performance, offering gracious comments while closing the event with a presidential receiving line.

YA's Read

YA Reads
"Gossip Girl" set in 1899 Manhattan? Try Anna Godbersen's Luxe -- all 448 pages of this first in a planned four-part series with next installment due in June. Into Project Runway or Tyra's America's Next Top Model? Try Rachel Maude's Poseur. Of course, there's the Stephenie Meyer books -- Twilight, New Moon, and Meyer's latest, Eclipse. Or try Jeff Kinney's Diary of Wimpy Kid, a "novel" take-off on Kinney's popular web comic.

There are series books galore at the library (Pendragon, Gossip Girl, Alex Rider, Darren Shan and Meg Cabot books) not to mention our growing collection of great "regular books" and graphic novels.

Hope to see you soon and just as we ask everyone else in our community, let us know how we can better serve your needs. Comment here or make us a friend on MySpace.

Fountain of Youth

Puddles of Shame?
Or so we have discussed after eating one too many low food chain sweets over the holidays...

A number of heath and fitness books have peppered the hardcover bestseller non-fiction lists of late. What better time to dream of spring and plan for a healthier you? These plus others are available at the library.

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollen
Pollen offers deceptively simple advice: "Eat food, not too much, and mostly plants."

The 12 Second Sequence by Jorge Cruise
Cruise is a spokesperson for Bally Fitness Centers and 'ballyhoos" his success stories online and in TV interviews. First in series of three planned books.

You: Staying Young by Michael F. Roizen, M.D., & Mehmet C. Oz, M.D.
The Roizen/OZ health and fitness franchise continues with an offering geared to those a little older than those (ahem) a little younger.

Living Well by Montel Williams
Popular talk show host Montel, who lives with MS day-to-day, describes his diet regimen. Briefly: "no white flour, white sugar, salt, anything bleached" and a preference for yams over potatoes. Sounds smart and yammy-yummy.

Who Knew?

Ukuleles Can Be Cool

Yes, they can. An inter-generational audience of near 80 people enjoyed the smooth sounds of the Jim Rosokoff Trio this afternoon at the library. The trio delighted the audience with familiar jazz standards and pop songs from the 30s though the 70's, as well as tunes that every child (or the child within you) knows by heart.

Rosokoff is a Glastonbury-based dermatologist who as Dr. Uke also leads the Glastonbury Ukulele Club. If you're a lapsed guitar player or a 'youngster' of any age who's looking to enjoy music and the camaraderie of others like you, give the club a try.

Special thanks to Jo Ann Ewing and the Senior Center crowd for coordinating a potluck luncheon to coincide with concert, which produced the "inter" in inter-generational enjoyment.

Laughing Out Loud

Colbert

Regardless of your point of view (we've got some whopper but always friendly differences on our staff), Stephen Colbert is good for a laugh.

Colbert's looney-funny book, I Am America (and So Can You) and his Best of the Colbert Report DVD, are both available at the library.

But we must weigh in on one particular Colbert DVD routine. To any of us in the credible information business, Wikilaity/Truthiness is a hoot and we librarians remain unafraid...

The Capital of Happiness

Finding Bliss on a Map
In The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World, former NPR foreign correspondent Eric Weiner takes us on a world tour with a twist. Off to Iceland, Bhutan, Qatar, Holland, Switzerland, Thailand and India he goes to try to figure out why residents say they're happy. The answers end up being simple (you might not be happy in Bhutan but the Bhutanese sure are) and this read is also simply well worth it.

Taking Home a Starbucks

...Cup of Inspiration, Two Creams, One Sugar
Starbucks ranked 16th on Fortune's 2007 "Top 100 Companies to Work For" list. Little wonder according to the latest in our library's Starbucks book corner.

How Starbucks Saved My Life
Michael Gill explains how he was born into privilege, was "downsized" out of his upscale career, divorced by his wife after the woman with whom he was having an affair became pregnant, and learned that he had a slow-growing brain tumor—all of which eventually led him to an entry-level job at Starbucks at the age of 64. A quick read about the healing power of a java job well done.

The Starbucks Experience
Joseph Michelle touts Starbuck's success, boiling company practices down to a portable canon of essential business advice. A hot cup of mocha frappuccino for your inner MBA.

Poet of the Month

January's Featured Poet
Elizabeth Bishop (1911-1969) was born in Worcester, MA, and grew up in New England and Nova Scotia. She lived also in Key West and Brazil. Each locale furnished vivid landscapes for her work. She taught at Harvard late in her life. She is an astute observer of the physical world, and finds in it metaphors for feeling she does not, without them, express in her poetry. “Late Air” is a good example of this:

Late Air

From a magician’s midnight sleeve

the radio-singers

distribute all their love-songs

over the dew-wet lawns.

And like a fortune-teller’s

their marrow-piercing guesses are whatever you

believe.

But on the Navy Yard aerial I find

better witnesses

for love on summer nights.

Five remote red lights

keep their nests there; Phoenixes

burning quietly, where the dew cannot climb.

Further Reading: Elizabeth Bishop, The Complete Poems, 1927-1979; available at our library.

Coming in February: Langston Hughes

Content developed by local resident and poet Leland Jamieson

Farewell Flashman

George MacDonald Fraser, 1926-2008
George MacDonald Fraser, creator of Harry Paget Flashman, that infamous swashbuckler of the 19th century British Empire, died of cancer on January 2. If you enjoy first-rate historical novels -- though politically incorrect by today's standards -- set aside some lounge chair reading time for the Flashman.

The Reavers, Fraser's last novel, will be published posthumously in April of this year.