Summe 2019 Friends to Friends Quately Newslete of Oconee County Friends of the Library

Where the bee sucks, there suck I; In a cowslip's bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. On a bat's back I do fly After summer merrily. Merrily, merrily shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. Song - Wm. Shakespeare from The Tempest - 1611

Here's An Event Not to be Missed - Let's Talk About It A free book discussion on How We Got to Now - Six Innovations That Made the Modern World from the New York Times-bestselling author Steven Johnson. The six book discussions are free and sponsored and supported by Friends of the Library. See the meetings of the sessions on page 2.

This book was the subject of a popular six part documentary series on PBS. The discussion series will be using Johnson's book which will be available as a loan to all participants during the term of the meetings but must be returned after the last session.

In the book, Steven Johnson explores the history of innovation over centuries tracing the development of six key technologies of modern

life [refrigeration, clocks, lenses, water purification, recorded sound, and artificial light] from their creation by amateurs and entrepreneurs to their astounding unintended historical consequences. Included are stories of accidental genius and brilliant mistakes. In the book you will read about:

The French publisher who invented the phonograph before Edison but forgot to include playback. The 19th century "Ice King" who shipped New England frozen water to Rio and Bombay. How pendulum clocks helped trigger the Industrial Revolution. How air conditioning caused the largest human migration to uninhabitable cities like Phoenix and Dubai. How glass was first discovered in an Egyptian desert from a meteor strike and was so rare that it was first used to decorate King Tut's tomb and is now used everywhere. How the printing press led to widespread use of reading material and caused people to realize for the first time that they needed reading glasses.

Each of the six episodes will be led by a Clemson University Scholar. The First Session will start on September 9th with the following sessions spaced about 3 to 4 weeks apart. [see page 2]

Hello and Welcome, New Members Inside Joyce Coleman - Salem Rose Destefano - Westminster Book Discussion schedule 2 John & Karen Dreher - Seneca Kahryn Epley - Salem Thank you, Ellen Plumpe 2 Jacqueline Hoshaw Seneca An Appeal 2 Ervie Lombard - Walhalla Dear Friend 3 Jamie Nimmo - Seneca Last Words 3 Kim & Stephen Wayne - Seneca Book Discussion Schedule and Information for the 6 Sessions

All discussions are at the Seneca Library at 300 E. South 2nd St., Seneca - 864-882-4855. All materials will be available at Seneca before the first session. They should arrive shortly after you receive this newsletter, by August 15. We suggest calling first to check with the library. All materials must be returned after the last session. The sessions are all on Mondays starting a 6:30 PM and ending at 7:50 PM.

Sept. 9 - Clean - April Pelt Nov. 18 - Cold - Christopher Benson

Oct. 7 - Light - Kathleen Nalley Dec. 2 - Glass - Kathleen Nalley

Oct. 28 - Time - April Pelt Dec. 16 - Sound - Cameron Bushnell

My Aunt Sarah, whom you will meet on page 3, was an avid advocate for book discussion groups. She believed she received as many insights from the other participants as she did from the discussion leader. She also once told me that her group always had a half hour organ recital before the group began: Me: Auntie, that is really a classy way to start a serious discussion. Auntie: Honey, you're missing my point. We talk about our organs for the first half hour.

Our session organizers, Libby Dunlap and Karen Graves, assure us that no organ recital will occur before our discussions.

Thank you, Ellen Plumpe! For your nearly 20 years of dedication as treasurer of Friends, accomplishing a remarkable job of tracking and tallying all of our numerous financial activities. But Ellen has only retired from one part of her work with Friends. Ellen still works tirelessly as a volunteer in helping to organize our shelves of 30,000 books in our sale area. She can always be counted on to suggest innovations that improve our income that is used to provide more reading services for our community. Ellen has dedicated many hours of her time in researching purchases for the Annual Wish List of our libraries. She continues to organize the lobby book sales at Walhalla, and helped organize the ongoing sale at Seneca. Her wealth of knowledge of children's books and their authors has helped greatly in our organizing the sales of these important books that are promoted to encourage reading in the young. So, Here's to Ellen - As beautiful and sweet as the orchids that she loves.

And Here's How You Can Help -To All Friends members and those who are considering to become members: You can volunteer as much or as little time as you wish.

If you love books and love reading - All you have to do is show up at any time between 1:00 and 3:30 PM on any Thursday at the County Library in Walhalla on Pine Street. You can help us shelve and organize the newly received books for our book shelves and carts.

And here is an added benefit - you can borrow any book you see and take it with you. Dear Friend, On Why Do We Read? Indeed, Dear Friend, why do we read? I would like your indulgence to mention again my Aunt Sarah Jean; and I'll arrive in short order at my conclusion. My sweet Aunt Sarah has two passions, reading and cooking; and her specialty in the latter is her cold borscht. Although she is not an especially ac- complished cook, my dear sweet Auntie always presents me with a bowl of her latest mixture, but she does rattle on to me, her favorite nephew, with a constant but quite coherent barrage of informa- tion, insights, and reflections that she gleans from her passionate reading.

Now my dyspepsia will only allow so much of this double invasion, and the borscht along with her machine-gun manner of talking does bring visions of me as an ancient Athenian calling for the exe- cutioner to hurry with the hemlock cup. But when Auntie asks, "Do you want my opinion?" I know that it is a mere formality. Whether I answer yes or no, I know I'm getting it anyway. We discuss reading; she regrets the addictive use of online games, texting, and netsurfing. She calls such be- havior "meandering in the meaningless maze of mediocrity," which I think is rather clever. I compli- ment the alliteration, but I quickly regret it. Auntie, with her sweet loving eyes, rewards me with an- other cup of borscht. Oh dear, but passionate undertakings are not required to end in virtuosity.

The author Ian McEwan, who can construct such remarkable sentences, calls life "this brief privi- lege of consciousness." Another unknown writer was pointedly concise about online diversions: "In a finite life, why should such a swath of time be spent with so little gain." And here I want to in- troduce a mentor, Harold Bloom, who writes of the reasons for reading.

"There is no single way to read well, though there is a prime reason why we should read. Informa- tion is endlessly available to us; but where shall wisdom be found? If you are fortunate, you en- counter a particular teacher who can help, yet finally you are alone, going on without further media- tion. Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you, because it is, at least in my experience, the most healing of pleasures. It returns you to otherness, whether in yourself or in friends, or in those who may become friends. Imaginative literature is otherness, and as such allevi- ates loneliness. We read not only because we cannot know enough people, but because friendship is so vulnerable, so likely to diminish or disappear, overcome by space, time, imperfect sympathies, and all the sorrows of familial and passional life." And, Professor Bloom, reading is also fun. And where else may we consistently enjoy the bril- liant, thoughtful, and entertaining minds both of the present and of the past? But he continues. "Let me fuse Bacon, Johnson, and Emerson into a formula of how to read: find what comes near to you that can be put to the use of weighing and considering, and that addresses you as though you share the one nature, free of time's tyranny." Well said, Professor. And, Dear Friend, we do need other in- sights from both friends and mentors. These others help us in ways to make the implicit explicit, that is, to explain what is implied and which may not be immediately apparent to us. As Always, Your Friend

Last Words - of searching for understanding The people along the sand/ All turn and look one way. They turn their back on the land./ They look at the sea all day………. The land may vary more;/ But wherever the truth may be — The water comes ashore,/ And the people look at the sea. They cannot look out far./ They cannot look in deep. But when was that ever a bar/ To any watch they keep? from "Neither Out Far Nor in Deep" Robert Frost [1875-1963]

I have always written of sweetness and light. There have been several complaints. P. G. Wodehouse [1881-1975] Editor- J. Simmons Friends would love to have you as a member.

Each new member and renewal receives a punch card that is worth 5 Book Bucks toward your next purchase of books after $25 is spent and recorded on the card. In addition, every member receives 1 Book Buck for each $10 spent for joining initially and for renewing. And with most books priced from 50 cents to $3, Book Bucks go a long way.

___ New Member ___ Renewal ___Donation

If you would like to volunteer, and we sincerely could use your help, check here______Annual Memberships: ____Individual $10 ____Family $20 ____Patron $50 ____Business or Organization $100 ____Donor $100 ____Benefactor $100 and up. Name______Address______City, State, Zip______Phone______Email______Clip and Mail to: Friends of the Library 501 West South Broad Street Walhalla, SC 29691

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