The Library Will Be Closed November 11th

The Library Will Be Closed Wednesday, November 11th, in honor of Veterans Day.

Acupuncture Lecture at the Library

Join us on Tues., Nov. 17, 2009 at 7:00pm in the Library Lecture Hall for a lecture on Acupuncture in the United States with Alice Meattey. The lecture will cover a brief general history of acupuncture and the history, in particular, in the United States and in New Hampshire. She will explain various theories of how acupuncture works and will demonstrate the actual needling process. A sharp question and answer will follow!

Alice Meattey is an acupuncturist, nationally certified and licensed in both New Hampshire and Maine. She is a graduate of The City College of New York and a 1991 graduate of the New England School of Acupuncture in Newton, Massachusetts. Alice was the chairperson of a group that worked to license acupuncturists in New Hampshire, and she has been a member of the New Hampshire Board of Acupuncture Licensing since 1997. She lives in Dover with her long-haired dachshund, Rudy.

Attention Dog-Lovers

Three really enjoyable books have come out lately that are sure to appeal to dog lovers. Dean Koontz has written about his beloved Trixie, a Golden Retriever who retired from being an service dog and became the light of his life. Trixie's antics in Big Little Life: a memoir of a joyful dog are sure to win you over.

Fans of James Herriot may enjoy Bruce Coston's Ask the Animals. The book covers his years at veterinary school and cases from his practices in Pennsylvania and Virginia. The story of dogs, cats, and their owners are amusing and touching.

Dogtown, a no kill shelter in Utah famous enough to have its own popular television show on the National Geographic channel, now also has a book written about it. Dogtown: tales of rescue, rehabilitation and redemption by Stefan Bechtel highlights some of the desperate, touching cases that have come through their doors. Victims of pet hoarders, war, Katrina, and cruelty all find a loving home at Dogtown. Knightly, the grieving Weimaraner who lost his home and his family when his elderly owners couldn't care for him anymore is a story that you won't soon forget.

I enjoyed all three books, but especially Big Little Life. Trixie is a memorable character, and the depth of the love she and Dean shared is evident in every word. He also captures the charming goofiness that highlights life in any household that has a Golden Retriever in it. I highly recommend listening to this on CD, Dean Koontz narrates which adds an extra dimension.

HELP US PACK!

We need to clear the Children's Room for new carpeting.

BORROW AS MUCH CHILDREN'S MATERIAL AS YOU LIKE BETWEEN NOW AND THANKSGIVING AND IT WON'T BE DUE FOR A MONTH!

BONUS: no fines on children's materials that become overdue in December.

Rob Pattinson on a Stick

It was late Tuesday night and we were busy closing the Library when I noticed a man lurking in the Teen Loft. It gave me quite a turn because I didn't think anyone was in the mezzanine. When I looked more closely I realized it was Rob Pattinson's sweet face staring back at me, not moving. For those of you without teenage girls in the family, and untouched by the Twilight novels hysteria, I will explain that Rob Pattinson is the actor who plays Edward Cullen in Twilight.

The next day I asked our Teen Librarian about it and she explained one of the teen magazines had published a Rob Pattinson poster and suggested using it for a Halloween mask. She craftily put Rob on a stick and placed him in a book in the Teen Loft. Since then he has mysteriously been moving all around the Teen Loft. She never knows where she will find him next.

Best Books of 2009

We haven't even finished 2009, and already the best books lists are coming out. Publishers Weekly and Amazon have both released their lists. There is only one book they chose in common, Stitches by David Small. The Library will not be releasing our Librarians' Choice list until January so you will have to wait for that one! What do you think of their choices?

Looking for Some Good Historical Fiction?

Look no farther than Grace Hammer: A Novel of the Victorian Underworld by Sara Stockbridge. I swept away by the story of Grace, a skillful thief, who is supporting her four young children quite nicely by thieving in the Whitechapel area of London. This novel has frequently been compared to Charles Dickens' books. There are similarities; a large cast of quirky characters with unusual names, and the squalor of London is vivid. "She is a sly piece of work, Mrs. Mirabel Trotter, like a great flabby toad lurking under a dank rock, staring out from the gloom at her dinner."

Grace's easy life is threatened by the hulking, violent Mr. Blunt, from whom she had stolen a large ruby necklace at the beginning of her career. Will she be betrayed or saved by her vast circle of friends and acquaintances amongst the prostitutes, thieves, fences, and drunkards that inhabit the squalor of London in 1888. The many twists and turns through atmospheric 19th century England make it a very interesting journey to find the answer.

WE'RE MOVING....

...furniture, books, computers!

The library is getting new carpeting beginning mid-November and we need you to help us clear out.

This project may possibly last through mid-December and will inevitably cause some interruptions to our services and some inconvenience to you when some sections of the library are closed. Therefore we will be extending our borrowing periods for various materials in the library as they become inaccessible: we want you to hold on to them as long as possible so we don't have to pack and move them. So that you won't incur fines during the disruptions we will also charge no fines for items from the adult collections from November 16 -28, and no fines for items from the children's section for the month of December. While the Children's Room is being carpeted it will be closed for a few days.

Do You Dare?

Halloween has come early to the Library....

Remembering Wax Candy

Another candy themed post in honor of Halloween, from Bill Bryson's memorable and amusing "Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid". Bill reminisces about the candies he loved as a child in the 1950s.

"Perhaps nothing says more about the modest range of pleasures of the age than that the most popular candies of my childhood were made of wax. You could choose among wax teeth, wax pop bottles, wax barrels, and wax skulls, each filled with a small amount of colored liquid that tasted very much like a small dose of cough syrup. You swallowed this with interest if not exactly gratification then chewed the wax for the next ten or eleven hours. Now you might think there is something wrong with your concept of pleasure when you find yourself paying real money to chew colorless wax, and you would be right of course. But we did it and enjoyed it because we knew no better. and there was, it must be said, something good, something healthily restrained, about eating a product that had neither flavor or nutritive value."

Story Time @ DPL

Registration for their next session of story times for Dover children will begin on Monday, November 2.
Registration will be divided into two parts:

For 3-6 year-olds there are three different times to choose from:
Monday afternoon 1:30—2:15
Monday night 7:00—7:45
Tuesday morning 9:30—10:15

*Sign-up for the 3-6 year-olds begins at 9:00a.m. in the Children’s Room.
Phone call registration begins at 9:15a.m.
This 45-minute program (attended by the children only) includes stories, finger plays, songs and puppets. A theme related craft or film is also offered during each session.

For 2-year-olds (Toddlers) there are 3 different times to choose from:
Wednesday morning 9:30—10:30
Thursday morning 9:30—10:30
Friday morning 9:30—10:30

*Sign-up begins at 6:00p.m. in the Children’s Room for the toddler groups.
Phone call registration begins at 6:15p.m.
Toddler programs (attended by the children along with their parent or care-giver) include stories, finger plays and songs selected for a two-year-old’s developmental level.

Story times will begin the week of November 9 and continue for 5 weeks.