February 2013 Newsletter Changes at the Library The Board of Trustees announces that The Cornwall Library’s long time director, Amy Worthington Cady, has offered her resignation effective February 1. After much contemplation Amy has decided to relocate to Manchester, Connecticut, to be with her husband, Scott Cady, who is pastor at the Emanuel Lutheran Church in Manchester. “Amy has been the mainstay of the Library for a decade,” said Marnell Stover, president of the Board of Trustees, “and we greatly appreciate her helping us to make the transition a smooth one. We shall miss her deep knowledge of the community and the Library, but we understand the difficulties of having one’s family in two different towns. We wish her and Scott all the best.” Amy joined the staff in 2003 and has been with the Library in its new building and location almost since the beginning. She has made an invaluable contribution to its growth as a center of Cornwall intellectual, social and cultural life. Under her stewardship, the Library’s collection has grown to some 29,000 print and non-print items, and the institution has offered a lively variety of programs, from talks and concerts to movies and storybook hours, appealing to the diverse audience that makes up the Cornwall community. To meet staffing needs the Board will post two positions: Director of The Cornwall Library and Associate Director of the Cornwall Library. The positions re-align some of the responsibilities of the Library staff and put new emphasis on library science and computer expertise. The immediate goal is to hire a new Director who, in turn, would hire the Associate Director. But rest assured, the Library is open for business as usual with staff and volunteers ready to serve you and your family. Winter Film Series The Library kicks off its Winter Film Series on Saturday, February 16 at 7:00 pm with a Fred Astaire Celebration. Please join us for an evening devoted to Hollywood’s great emperor of song-and-dance as we present three documentaries devoted to his career: first, Puttin’ On His Top Hat begins with his dancing in vaudeville and on the stages of Broadway and London with sister Adele, and then takes us through his partnership with Ginger Rogers at RKO; Change Partners and Dance is post-Ginger when Astaire danced with a dozen other leading ladies, including Eleanor Powell, Rita Hayworth and Cyd Charisse; and, finally, The Fred Astaire Songbook traces all the great songs written for Astaire by songwriters Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, the Gershwins, Jerome Kern and Harry Warren. The original 30 Pine Street • PO Box 126 • Cornwall, CT 06753 • 860-672-6874 [email protected] • www.CornwallLibrary.org PBS/Great Performances documentaries were written by John Miller. John Miller and Joy Boyum will host the evening’s presentation which begins earlier than usual because of the program length and desserts. Suggested donations are $6 per person or $10 per couple. Bring your sweetheart, as sweets and treats will be available for a late Valentine’s Day celebration. Mark your calendar for the other four films in the Winter Film Series: Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring on March 2; L’Avventura, directed by Michelangelo Antonioni, on March 16; The Fallen Idol, based on a Graham Greene story, on April 13; and The 400 Blows, the first film directed by Francois Truffaut, on April 27. All these programs will begin at 7:30 pm. Winter Jazz Night with Bob Parker’s Jive by Five On Saturday, February 23 from 6 to 9 pm, the Friends of the Cornwall Library hosts the fourth Winter Jazz Night filled with music by Bob Parker’s Jive by Five group. There will be dancing and fantastic southern and Cajun buffet. A cash bar will provide beverages to slake your thirst. Call the Library at 860-672-6874 or stop by to make your reservations. Tickets are $20 per person, or, better yet, make a donation of $50 to pay for your ticket and bolster the Library’s finances. Payment can be made at the door. As a special treat, a Robert Andrew Parker painting will be auctioned this evening! Toddler Play Group The Toddler’s Play Group continues on Thursday mornings from 10:30 to 11:30 am. Pamphlets for Seniors The National Institute on Health has sent books and pamphlets describing exercises and physical activities appropriate for seniors. These are free to those who would like them. Art at The Library Jane Worthington-Roth’s photographic exhibit “Faces of India” will be extended through February. The Edward Boulton exhibit, originally scheduled for January 29, has been postponed until the fall. Notes from the Book Selection Committee The Book Selection Committee was having a little libertarian tantrum. What it was about – if tantrums can be said to be about something – was reading. Required reading. Reading required by somebody else, in this case a book group. In student days, the Book Selection Committee had been amenable to book lists of all sorts: required course reading, reading suggested by this or that beloved person, even those lists that appear from time to time of the Hundred Books Without Which You Are a Philistine Wretch. The Book Selection Committee had made many happy discoveries that wouldn’t have occurred if reading had not 30 Pine Street • PO Box 126 • Cornwall, CT 06753 • 860-672-6874 [email protected] • www.CornwallLibrary.org been required. But that was then, when the Book Selection Committee was young and easy under the apple boughs. Time passes, responsibilities proliferate. Some of them are grave and essential, some of them small and silly, but all of them demand attention. The Book Selection Committee mostly kept up with them, spending dutiful hours on everything from household laundry to global warming. Now, however, had come this news from the book group. It wasn’t phrased as a requirement, but it felt like one. The Book Selection Committee, so starved for discretionary time, regarded it as the last straw and lost it, shrieking “Stop telling me what to read!” It’s not a pretty story, but perhaps it’s your story too and you just want to read what you want to read. The Book Selection Committee respects that feeling and only mentions in the most neutral and uninflected way that the Library is always acquiring new books and some of them may interest you, to wit: FICTION Jami Attenberg, The Middlesteins The disaster unfolding in this suburban family is the very likely death of Edie – wife, mother, lawyer – who is killing herself by overeating. In Attenberg’s skillful hands, this novel is not a grotesquerie but a wise look at the complexity of life. Stephen Carter, The Impeachment of Abraham Lincoln No, it did not actually happen; yes, this is an “alternate history” that imagines Lincoln surviving the night at Ford’s Theater only to endure impeachment by his political enemies. Ben Schrank, Love is a Canoe Imagine an inspirational work of self-help couples therapy that compares marriage to a canoe (and tells you to paddle in harmony, not rock the boat, etc). Now imagine the complications that develop as needy couples seek out the author of this (fictional) blockbuster. Barbara Vine, The Child’s Child Mystery writers are not always given the respect that their artistry should command. Vine – a.k.a. Ruth Rendell – is one of our most accomplished writers of psychological fiction, as this cross-generational novel amply demonstrates. NON-FICTION Jared Diamond, The World Until Yesterday: What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies? Diamond, the author of Guns, Germs and Steel, draws on his extensive field work to contrast traditional (once known as “primitive”) societies with modern industrialized ones. Sonia Sotomayor, My Beloved World A wise Latina tells of her journey from childhood hardships to eminence as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice. Peter Trachtenberg , Another Insane Devotion Not just another cat memoir (or meowmoir, as proposed by the Slate reviewer), but a full-scale discursive essay exploring the cat-ness of cats. 30 Pine Street • PO Box 126 • Cornwall, CT 06753 • 860-672-6874 [email protected] • www.CornwallLibrary.org Lawrence Wright, Going Clear A bold journalist’s thorough look at the Church of Scientology and its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. A Reminder: Winter Hours of Operation The Library is operating on winter hours: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday 10 am – 5 pm; Wednesday 2 to 7 pm; Saturday 9 am to 1 pm. Meetings The Board of Trustees meeting will be held Friday, February 8 at 3 pm. The Friends of the Cornwall Library will meet Friday, February 15 at 4 pm. 30 Pine Street • PO Box 126 • Cornwall, CT 06753 • 860-672-6874 [email protected] • www.CornwallLibrary.org .