One Book One Middletown is now One Book on the Riverbend

The One Book One Middletown Committee is excited to announce some changes for 2016.

We have partnered with the Cromwell and Portland Libraries so there is a name change for our group.
We are now called, One Book on the Riverbend, in order to include our sister towns.

The book for 2016 is To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. We will also be incorporating discussion of Go Set a Watchman, which was released last year.

"The goal of One Book on the Riverbend is simple…to get our communities to read the same book at the same time and then encourage them to talk about it. By doing so, we hope that more people (especially more young people) will grow to enjoy reading."

The first program will be a Book Discussion, at Russell Library, led by Indira Karamcheti on  April 5, 2016, at 7:00 pm – 8:15 in the Hubbard Room.

Author Liz Petry will speak on May 9th:
 NOT Liberty and Justice For All: The Criminal Case of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' in the Hubbard Room 7:00 pm – 8:15pm

Richard Alleva will lead two Film screenings & discussions one held in the afternoon, and one in the evening on Tuesday, May 17th.
 Hey Boo: Harper Lee and To Kill a Mockingbird, 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm Russell Library, Hubbard Room
To Kill a Mockingbird, led by Richard Alleva from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Russell Library, Hubbard Room

Copies of To Kill a Mockingbird will be available for patrons to check-out in the Russell Library lobby.

For more of the programs that will be going on in our communities check out the Wordpress page and Like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter...

Thank you for joining us at these great programs and engaging in the community conversations!

Are You Ready For "Ready Player One"?

One Book One Middletown Ready Player One Gaming Kick-off

Friday March 1 - 3PM-6PM  - Hubbard Room

Come play with us on the XBox 360 Kinect to celebrate the One Book One Middletown novel "Ready Player One" by Ernest Cline on Friday, March 1st from 3PM-6PM in the Hubbard Room at Russell Library, 123 Broad Street, Middletown.  We will be trying to achieve our own high scores on a variety of nostalgic 80s video games while enjoying pizza and other 80s sound bytes.  No registration is required. Copies of Ready Player One are available for check-out in the first floor lobby.

Start Reading Now: One Book events fast approaching

One Book One Middletown 2012

Thanks to the Book Bower store in the Main Street Market shops for this information.

The goal of One Book is simple...to get a lot of people in the area to read the same book at the same time and then encourage them to talk about it. By doing so, we hope that more people (especially more young people) will enjoy reading.

This year's selection is:

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption

by Laura Hillenbrand

Save the evening of Friday March 23rd [date has been corrected from original post] for a book discussion led by Middletown High School students. This will be one event among many in late March and early April that will feature discussions or presentations around the themes in this book - competitive running, WWII, survival in extreme conditions, food memories, and writing memoirs. Stay tuned for further details on these events or visit http://www.middletownrotary.org/OneBook.cfm to find out more.

More information about the origins of the concept of One Boo, One Community: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_City_One_Book

A Reason To Read

Thanks to The Book Bower in the Main Street Market for the following post.

The Book Bower is offering a "Spring Cleaning Special" from March 14th until April 2nd:

Buy 4 mysteries or romance novels and receive a 5th one for free (lowest price applies).

The Book Bower is also now selling used music CDs.

One Book One Middletown Event Notice Friday April 1, 6-8 pm This year's selection is "The Art of Racing in The Rain" by Garth Stein - a novel withEnzo the dog as a narrator. Enzo, who is a big fan of daytime TV, tells the story of his human family: Danny, a mechanic and race car driver, his wife, Eve and their daughter, Zoe as Enzo lives out his final days. When Eve becomes ill (which Enzo detects first) their lives dramatically change as they try to cope with tragedy. A book about living smart, with discipline, and intelligence. One Book One Middletown events will be taking place in late March and the first week of April. Set aside Friday, April 1 from 6-8 pm for a book discussion hosted by The Book Bower and the New England Emporium at the Emporium. Books are available at the Russell Library.

Elephants Can Paint (?!?)

I am avid user of Freecylce.Org which is a wonderful online bulletin board where you can post Offers for things that you want to get rid of, and Wanted ads for things you want. It's sort of like being able to shop at hundreds of private little tag sales and thrift shops all from your computer. There are many advantages to Freecycling. This is a great way to obtain something that you don't necessarily need new. Good examples of this are things that tend to get used just once and then tossed out, like party or holiday decorations . I have also encountered Freecyclers who are contemplating some purchase and want to find the thing used first to see if its going to work for them before spending the time and money to get a new one. If they do decide to get their own, they will probably Freecycle the used one again to someone else. On the opposite side of getting, there's the giving – where you can get rid of unwanted furniture, appliances, or bulky items without having to haul it off yourself (or pay the City's bulky waste pickup fee). That goes for everything that you offer up – the recipient is expected to pick it up from your house or meeting place, so there's even less work involved than taking things to GoodWill or the dump. Speaking of the dump, another aim of Freecycle.Org is to prevent perfectly useful things from landing there unnecessarily. Many times something just needs a minor repair and many recipients are willing to take an object in less than perfect condition if they can fix it up, since, after all, its free. You may think to yourself that you could try to sell something and make a little money rather than give it away for free. In my experience, there is a lot of work there too, in fielding phone calls and arranging meeting times or appointments with people who may or may not decide that they want the item. You have to ask yourself if the money you might be able to get is worth that effort. Freecycling is much easier than all that. There are, of course, a few common sense rules of etiquette for Freecycling. Be polite in your emailed responses, ask if the item is still available before assuming you are the only person responding, post ads in the standard format, describe the item clearly, and leave out unnecessary information (such as my pet peeve, reason why the person wants something or why they are getting rid of something). Above all else, don't be a no-show! The range of things listed goes from typical things that pop up constantly to the rare and obscure. Common postings have books and magazines, things for pets, housewares, kids things like clothes and toys, sports equipment, furniture, and small electronics and appliances. In the not as common category, I have seen antique tools, car parts, items from house projects and deconstruction like fixtures and countertops, and musical instruments.

Recently, I saw the most unusual thing I have ever seen on Freecycle, and something that I did not know existed in the world.

January 10, 2010 @ 6:15 pm

OFFER: painting done BY an elephant

I received a pretty large painting that was done BY an elephant. It's a fundraiser for an elephant sanctuary, where they have the elephants paint with paintbrushes in their trunk (I have the documentation that came with the painting that explains this). The painting is mostly polka dots of pink, lime green, and a medium blue. It is matted with white matting and in a blue frame.

It is still in the shrink wrap. Would look nice in a kid's room or play room.

January 10, 2010 @ 7:04 pm

TAKEN: painting done BY an elephant

I've never gotten so many responses so quickly to ANYTHING on Freecycle like I just did. HOLY COW. The taker is picking it up, and I have a list below her name if she's a no show =)

THANKS!

Seeing this ad made me giddy with laughter. I can't explain exactly why... maybe the image I got of an elephant with a paint brush in its trunk, the thought of what the painting might look like (Jackson Pollack-esque?), or getting started thinking about the concept of an elephant sanctuary. That got me to thinking about the One Book One Middletown book from last year: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, where a circus elephant was thought to be stupid until it was discovered by an observant man that she understood Polish rather than English. Here is the information about this year's One Book book - The Soloist. From an online search I found that there are elephant sanctuaries in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Thailand. I wonder if there are hippopotamous sanctuaries? Giraffe sanctuaries? Maybe I will post an ad on Freecycle.Org and see if anything turns up:

WANTED: Painting done by a rhinoceros ...

Happy Freecycling!

One Book 2010

In the crush of the Tree Lighting ceremony the day after Thanksgiving and the electrical glitches, you may have missed the Mayor's announcement of the "One Book One Middletown" selection for the new year.

The committee decided upon "The Soloist", the 2008 book by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez. Described by the publisher thusly:

"When Steve Lopez saw Nathaniel Ayers playing his heart out on a two-string violin on Los Angeles’ skid row, he found it impossible to walk away. More than thirty years earlier, Ayers had been a promising classical bass student at Juilliard—ambitious, charming, and also one of the few African-Americans—until he gradually lost his ability to function, overcome by schizophrenia. When Lopez finds him, Ayers is homeless, paranoid, and deeply troubled, but glimmers of that brilliance are still there.

Over time, Steve Lopez and Nathaniel Ayers form a bond, and Lopez imagines that he might be able to change Ayers’s life. Lopez collects donated violins, a cello, even a stand-up bass and a piano; he takes Ayers to Walt Disney Concert Hall and helps him move indoors. For each triumph, there is a crashing disappointment, yet neither man gives up. In the process of trying to save Ayers, Lopez finds that his own life is changing, and his sense of what one man can accomplish in the lives of others begins to expand in new ways."

I read the book a few months after its publication and could not put it down. It's not an easy read in that Nathaniel Ayers is such a complicated person and his schizophrenia can be scary. Despite the occasional setbacks and the roadblocks Ayers throws up, Steve Lopez never gives up.

"The Soloist" allows the "One Book" committee to create programs that revolve around mental health, homelessness in Middlesex County and beyond, the string program in the local schools, classical music presentations and more, including a screening of the movie version of the book released earlier this year and starring Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. The Russell Library will have multiple copies of the book available for loan and the schedule of events will be published early in 2010.

To find out more about the author and his fine book, go to www.stevelopezonline.com/.