Center for the Book at the New Hampshire Book Notes State Library Spring 2007 Vol. 3 , Issue 1 Book Discussions: Something for everyone? By Katie Doherty try and the world. It seems that own reading discussions, some like Director of Learning Resources, people yearn to slow down a bit and the Wonderland Bookstore in New Hampshire Community talk about books. Gorham, are host to others’ groups. Technical College - Berlin In addition to their own book dis- Book groups have a long history. cussions, Wonderland also hosts the Mickey Pearlman in What to Read local AAUW (American Association These days I seem to hear about a tells that a group of women in of University Women) chapter’s different book discussion group Charlestown, Massachusetts in 1813 book discussions twice a year. wherever I turn in New Hampshire. formed a book club and in 1831 the There are groups for whole cities Female and Literary Society was The N.H. Community Technical Col- (Concord, et al.), regions such as the started by a group of African Ameri- lege-Berlin Fortier Library and the Mountain Washington Valley, and for can women in Philadelphia. Starting Berlin Public Library have a 25-year specific groups (kids, teens, in the 1870s and reaching their peak history of co-sponsoring book dis- homeschoolers, seniors), although in 1914 with 500,000 members cussions in the evening for the com- adults make up the bulk of book across the country, the Chautauqua munity, primarily with New Hamp- groups both in New Hampshire and Literary and Scientific Circles met to shire Humanities Council support and across the country. And they are discuss books. Robert Maynard funding. The Humanities Council has happening in an amazing range of Hutchins and Mortimer Adler of the a large number of book discussion venues: television (Oprah, etc.), ra- University of Chicago came up with series which groups such as libraries dio (NHPR’s recent Granite State an idea to encourage people to read can apply to for funding to help de- Stories have been very popular), the the classics and in 1947 the Great fray the cost of a discussion leader Internet, people’s homes, book- Books Foundation was formed. The and other expenses and there are gen- stores, and in scores of libraries foundation publishes inexpensive edi- erally copies of the books in these across New Hampshire. tions of works by Shakespeare and series available for loan from the others and encourages groups to State Library. Having a “trained” dis- What accounts for their popularity? form to discuss the Great Books and Sherry Evans, Head of Public Ser- even runs training sessions for dis- continues on page 10 vices at the Portsmouth Public Li- cussion group leaders. In 1962, the brary who has written an article on foundation added Junior Great Books for children. There are thou- INSIDE THIS ISSUE the subject for Public Libraries NH Books Column 2 (“But I Only Want to Read Books sands of Great Books groups around Celia Thaxter 3 with Happy Endings,” November/ the country including seven here in Children’s Poetry in Libraries 4 December 2003, p. 347-349), de- New Hampshire. Letters About Literature 5 scribed a book group at her library: Speculative Fiction 6 “People love to talk about books Bookstores around the state, from Portrait of a NH Book Seller 7 and have someone else lead the way. the very small to the very large, have One Book Projects 8 They love hearing different points of book groups. While many are open The Poetry Place 12 view and seeing a book from another to the general public such as the one Children’s Literacy Foundation 13 angle. Often I hear, ‘I would not have at Gibson’s Bookstore in Concord, IMPAC Dublin Award 13 finished this book except for the book there are specialized ones as well. Ladybug Picture Book Award 14 group, but I’m so glad I did’.” Book The Toadstool Bookshop in Milford Award Notes 14 groups help people connect with col- has a reading group for Reader Recommendations 15 leagues, friends, and neighbors as homeschoolers in grades four through Book Notes - The Blog 16 well as people from around the coun- six. While some bookstores run their Spring 2007 - 1 Center for the Book New Hampshire Books at the By Donna Gilbreth New Hampshire Authors Howard Mansfield and Sy State Library Montgomery of Hancock are a married couple who write very dis- Mary A. Russell, Director similar books from their shared home. Mansfield’s works concentrate 603-271-2866 on New England’s history and its changing culture. Montgomery, a natu- [email protected] ralist, travels the world studying and writing about exotic animals and habitats. They have recently published vastly different books written 2007 Advisory Board during the same general time period about their small corner of New Hampshire. In 2004 Mansfield’s The Bones of the Earth was published Chair and it was followed in 2006 by Montgomery’s The Good Good Pig. Deborah Watrous They are both enjoyable reading. NH Humanities Council The Good Good Pig is the humorous and sometimes poignant story of Vice-Chair the family’s pet pig Christopher Hogwood. He was given to them as a Becky Albert severely undernourished runt on the verge of death. Yet he survived and NH Educational Media Association as he grew ever larger over the next fourteen years he became a pam- pered member of the family and a local celebrity. Christopher was an expert at escaping the confines of the old barn, named Pig Palace. Mont- Andrea Thorpe gomery speculated that “…perhaps, we mused, Christopher broke out NH Library Association for the same reason as do many young males. Maybe he was looking for Van McLeod beer.” Christopher loved beer, and he loved Pig Spa, when his doting NH Dept. of Cultural Resources human admirers would groom him for hours. Christopher’s animal com- panions included eight black hens called “the Ladies” and an obsessive/ Dr. Lyonel B. Tracy compulsive border collie named Tess. Montgomery’s descriptions of feed- NH Dept. of Education ing Christopher, who weighed several hundred pounds as an adult, are vivid and quite funny: “Christopher surged out of his pen, bucking and Michael York snorting. Any chickens in the way burst like grouse from cover and flew New Hampshire State Library off in all directions. I ran ahead like a madwoman, struggling with the main slops bucket….” Food is definitely a central theme in this story. The Barbara Yoder book is also about how Christopher’s popularity helped Montgomery New Hampshire Writers Project overcome shyness and make many human friends. Interwoven with the Patricia Fargnoli story of Christopher’s life and death is also the story of Montgomery’s Poet Laureate of New Hampshire rocky relationship with her parents and their eventual deaths. This is a book for young and old alike. Carrie Thomas Colby-Sawyer College Mansfield’s book The Bones of the Earth also discusses the environs of Hancock. But the result is very different. This is a collection of essays Jackie Gardner, CHILIS exploring changes, not necessarily for the better, to this small corner of the world. Essays on the Boston Post Cane (given to a town’s oldest Sally Jones resident) and the evolving trends in decorating gravesites illustrate our NH Library Trustees Association changing approach to death. We are distancing ourselves from the reality of death. Modern cemeteries will not allow mourners to decorate and Pat Frisella Poetry Society of New Hampshire personalize the graves of their loved ones. Perhaps that is why roadside shrines at the site of fatal accidents have become more prevalent. Mansfield Eleanor Strang states “You have kept the dead nearby, just as we used to, and as some Urban Public Library Consortium cultures still do.” Other essays explore physical changes that reflect soci- etal changes, such as the beautiful old stone arch bridges once built with Willard Williams skill and care in New England and the small city once covered by a vast Toadstool Bookshops ancient lake. Another essay discusses Peterborough’s evolution from a working class mill town to a wealthier version of a quaint New England Katie McDonough village. These are all thought-provoking essays on our past and our cur- Kimball Public Library, Atkinson rent societal direction. New Hampshire’s Literary Treasures Revisiting Celia Thaxter By Alice Nye umn, As I Please: “As much as any jor prose works (Among the Isles rock star, Celia and her publishers of Shoals, An Island Garden, and Ten miles or so over the water east crafted that island image. In the most A Memorable Murder) as well as from Portsmouth Harbor are the popular photographs we see her samples of her poetry, letters to Isles of Shoals, the group of nine alone, often at her writing desk, or friends and family, and children’s sto- small islands that entered the national posing in her famous Appledore Is- ries. Here you can decide for your- literary consciousness through Celia land garden for American Impres- self whether Thaxter’s writings have Thaxter’s verse and prose. sionist Childe Hassam. In one popu- withstood the test of time or whether lar painting, she stands, not puttering they are dated and overdone as some When a child of five, Thaxter was on her knees in horse manure among literary critics suggest. Unsurprisingly, brought to those stark islands from the flowers, but erect and indepen- Older disagrees, suggesting that Portsmouth, where she was born in dent in a white gown like—well, like Thaxter’s poetry “demonstrate(s) a 1835.