Book of the Week #18

White Apples and the Taste of Stone: Selected Poems 1946-2006 by Donald Hall. (Houghton Mifflin, 2006).


Since today is the final day of National Poetry Month I thought the book for this week should be poetry and the latest collection from the U.S. Poet Laureate seemed a perfect choice. This volume includes nine innings of baseball at its center and what could be better for spring in New England?

1. Kurt, last night Dwight Evans put it all
together, the way you made collage,
with an exemplary catch followed
by an assist at first base, a hit
in the seventh inning for the tie,
and another in the last of the
ninth to pull it out at Fenway Park
and win the game. The madness method
of "Baseball" gathers bits and pieces

(From The Fifth Inning, p. 227)

Book of the Week #17

I chose the book for this week in honor of Ice Out on Lake Winnipesaukee, which was officially declared on Monday, April 23, 2007 at 3:17 pm.

Images of America: The Boats and Ports of Lake Winnipesaukee by Bruce D. Heald. (Dover, NH: Arcadia Publishing, 1997).

Bruce D. Heald has written numerous books about New Hampshire history, particularly the Lakes Region, including several that are available from Lake Winnipesaukee Historical Society.

This volume "thematically represents the history of the lake's appeal, its surrounding mountain ranges, its harvest of steamboats, and its varied islands and port towns. As you linger through the pages within, you will witness the evolution of water craft that have graced the lake's surface, from passenger steamboats to working mailboats." (back cover)

Get out to your local bookstore!

There are lots of great events coming up at local New Hampshire bookstores including:

Author Alison McGhee will be at Water Street Bookstore in Exeter TONIGHT at 7pm. Alicia Erian, the author of Towelhead will be there May 1st, New Hampshire historian Olive Tardiff will visit on May 12th, and on May 4th is a program called "Better than the Red Badge of Courage."

In May River Run Bookstore in Portsmouth will host Meredith Hall, author of Without a Map on Thursday, May 3rd and Roderick Townley, author of The Red Thread will be there Tuesday, May 8th.

Local New Hampshire author K. Spirito, will read from and sign her newest book in the mystery series, La Rosa Chronicles at Borders Books in Nashua on Saturday April 21, 2007 at 2:00 PM .

John Stark: Maverick General

An interesting posting on Area 603 about John Stark Day (which is April 23rd) reminded me that author Ben Z. Rose will do a presentation about his new book John Stark: Maverick General at the New Hampshire Historical Society on Sunday, April 22, 2007 at 2pm.

Book of the Week #16

How to Publish Your Newsletter: A Complete Guide to Print and Electronic Newsletter Publishing by Carol Luers Eyman. (Garden City Park, NY: Square One Publishers, 2006).

Since our newsletter went out this week it seemed like a good time to choose this very useful book by the Outreach and Community Services Coordinator at the Nashua Public Library as the book of the week. As it happens, the Spring 2007 issue of Book Notes includes an article by Carol Eyman about Nashua Reads.

This book takes you through every aspect of the newsletter process from planning to distribution with clear explanations and lots of examples. I came across it at the NHWP Writers Day. It would have helped a lot two years ago when we launched Book Notes!

NH's 2007 Letters About Literature Winners

The letters have been read (50,000 of them from throughout the United States!) and the New Hampshire winners have been selected:

Marissa McCoo of Pembroke is the Level I New Hampshire winner for her letter to Frances Hodgson Burnett about A Little Princess. Marissa is a sixth grader at Three Rivers School.

Livie Lane of Dover is the Level II New Hampshire winner for her letter to Davida Wills Hurwin about A Time for Dancing. Livie attends Dover Middle School.

Rachel Arnold is the Level III New Hampshire winner for her letter to Anne Rice about Memnoch the Devil. Rachel is a junior at Milford High School.

Prizes are on the way to each New Hampshire winner and their letters will be posted on our Letters About Literature web site soon. Their letters have been sent on to represent the Granite State in the National Letters About Literature competition.

The New Hampshire judges this year were Ann Hoey, Youth Services Coordinator, NHSL; Author David Elliott, Michael Landroche, Dean of Faculty, Tilton School; NH Poet Laureate Pat Fargnoli; Nancy Christiano, Supervisor of the Family Resource Connection; and Elizabeth Walters of the Concord Monitor.

Congratulations to Elizabeth Knies

At a meeting of the Portsmouth City Council on Monday, April 16, 2007, Mayor Steve Marchand announced that Elizabeth Knies of Portsmouth is the new Portsmouth Poet Laureate. She was introduced to the city by former New Hampshire Poet Laureate, Marie Harris.

Book Notes: The Newsletter

Thanks to the volunteer efforts of Mary Martin, there are 2000 copies of the Spring 2007 issue of Book Notes on the way to dozens of libraries around the state for distribution to their patrons.

If you are a member of the Center you should have received your newsletter by mail about two weeks ago. If you are not yet a member of the Center you can pick up a free copy of Book Notes at many New Hampshire public libraries and a few bookstores.

This issue is our largest to date (16 pages) and includes several articles on book discussions and one-book projects; the first of a series of columns by Pat Fargnoli, NH Poet Laureate; a piece by Willard Williams of Toadstool Bookshops about how he became a bookseller; a profile of Celia Thaxter; and the latest on various NH Center for the Book projects. So, stop by your local library or bookstore next week and pick up your copy. If you like what you see you can join the Center and get the Fall issue mailed to you directly. Enjoy!

National Library Week is April 15-21, 2007

First sponsored in 1958, National Library Week is a national observance sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) and libraries across the country each April.

"It’s National Library Week - a time to celebrate the contributions of libraries, librarians and library workers in schools, campuses and communities nationwide - and the perfect time for our community to come together @ your library."

ALA does make the whole thing sound like a public relations gimmick-- but really, isn't it worthwhile to stop and think about how much your local library means to you?

Libraries help us to learn about things that interest us; they entertain us -- with novels, movies, and music; they answer our questions; they provide a place where you can go and hear someone read you a story (ok, you typically need to have a kid with you for this, but it is still a neat thing); they offer classes in everything from knitting, to using the internet, to English-as-a-second language; and they provide a place for communities to come together.

Some time next week -- during National Library Week -- take a little time to consider why libraries are important in your life. You might even want to stop in and thank your local librarians for all that they do.

Meet Tamora Pierce

Best-selling fantasy author Tamora Pierce will be at the Concord City Auditorium on Sunday, April 15, 2007 at 2pm. This free event is open to the public and is being sponsored by the New Hampshire Humanities Council as part of their year-long Speculate Series.

Pierce will discuss her work, take questions from the audience, and sign copies of her books which will be for sale in the lobby courtesy of Gibson’s Bookstore.

Fans of Alanna, Daine, Kel, Sandry, Tris, Daja, Briar, Alianne, and Beka won't want to miss this event!

David Carroll at BookEnds

Naturalist, author & artist David Carroll will present a slide show at MainStreet BookEnds of Warner this Friday night, April 13th, titled: “Ecology of Vernal Pools”. Famous for several classic best selling books, like The Year of the Turtle & Swampwalker’s Journal, David is also the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellow for 2006.

The show begins at 7pm (Friday, April 13th) and will be held in the attached barn/gallery at MainStreet BookEnds of Warner. They suggest that you arrive a little early to guarantee choice seating.

Our Dublin Nominee made the Shortlist

I received a letter this morning from the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award Board of Management informing me that Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, which was nominated by the NH State Library for the 2007 Dublin Award, has been Shortlisted for the 2007 Award. The New Hampshire State Library has been a nominating library since 1999 and this is the first time one of our nominees has made the shortlist. A Center for the Book committee, chaired by Alice Nye, selects our Dublin nominees each year.

The largest and most international prize of its kind, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, is presented to a novel of high literary merit written in, or translated into, English and published within a specified period of time. The 2007 award is for books first published in English during 2005 or first published in another language between 2000 and 2005 with the English translation first published in 2005. The award is a joint initiative of the Dublin (Ireland) City Council, the Municipal Government of Dublin City, and the productivity improvement company IMPAC. The 2007 winner will be announced June 14, 2007.

Book of the Week #15

Stripped: A Mystery by Eugenia Lovett West (Xlibris, 2004)

Starting out on a Connecticut estate this mystery novel features Emma Streat -- wife, mother, and former opera singer -- who finds herself plunged into the world of international illegal weapons dealing. Eugenia Lovett West is a Boston native and part-time resident of New Hampshire. This is her second published novel.

Poetry & Jazz in April

As the Madison Library pointed out last week, April is National Poetry Month and the Smithsonian celebrates it as Jazz Appreciation Month as well. This combination of art forms is celebrated here in New Hampshire at Jazzmouth. This seacoast poetry and jazz festival will be held in Portsmouth this weekend (April 12-15) and includes a Super Beat Night Extravaganza featuring Andrei Codrescu at The Music Hall on Saturday night.

Festivities begin on Thursday with Jazzmouth Film Night at Muddy River. Friday events include Poetry Coffee Break at Breaking New Grounds, a group reading with the Portsmouth Poet Laureate at Dolphin Striker, and Jazzmouth Jazz Fest at the Press Room. During the day on Saturday River Run Bookstore will host a young writers program and the Seacoast Writers Association will hold a workshop at the Press Room. There will be a Jazz/Poetry Brunch at The Library Restaurant on Sunday.

Congratulations to Tomie dePaola!

The Trustees of the Richards Free Library have announced that renowned children’s author and illustrator, Tomie dePaola, will receive the 2007 Sarah Josepha Hale Award for distinction in writing by a New Englander on October 27th at 4:00 p.m. at the Newport Opera House.

Book of the Week # 14

This book seemed like a good choice for this week since, if the game isn't called on account of snow, tomorrow is opening day for the NH Fisher Cats.

The Last Best League: One Summer, One Season, One Dream by Jim Collins. (Cambridge, Mass.: Da Capo Press, 2004)

"Every summer, in ten small towns across Cape Cod, elite college baseball players gather in hopes of making it to The Show. The hopes are justifiably high: The Cape Cod Baseball League is the best amateur league in the world,
producing one out of every six major league players, from Nomar Garciaparra and Frank Thomas to Jeff Bagwell and Barry Zito. In this meticulously reported and
brilliantly crafted narrative, Jim Collins chronicles a season in the life of the Chatham A's, perhaps the most celebrated team in the league. Set against the backdrop of a resort town on the bend of the outer Cape, the story charts the changing fortunes of a handful of players battling slumps and self-doubt in their effort to make the league playoffs and, more important, impress the major league scouts. There's Jamie D'Antona, a likable, party-loving, power-hitting third baseman from Wake Forest. Thomas Pauly, a Princeton pitcher who doesn't take his talent very seriously. And Tim Stauffer, an earnest player from Richmond and one of the country's most sought after right-handed pitchers. Who will make it? And why?We learn about everything from the physics of wooden bats and the physiology of elbows to the psychology of slumps and the lure of drugs. In the course of a single dramatic season, with euphoric wins and devastating losses, we come to know the intricacies of the major league scouting network and the rapidly changing profile of major league baseball. And the way one small town grows to love a group of young men on the brink of stardom. In the tradition of Friday Night Lights and The Boys of Summer, The Last Best League is about dreams fulfilled and dreams destroyed, about Cape Cod and the rites of summer, about coming of age in America. It offers a rare, unguarded view of celebrity-in-the-making. Diehard fans will revel in seeing baseball as it was meant to be played. The rest will at last understand what the game is all about." (From the book jacket.)

Jim Collins won the New Hampshire Literary Award for Outstanding Work of Nonfiction in 2005. An accomplished magazine writer and former editor of Yankee and the Dartmouth Alumni Magazine, he lives in Orange, NH.

D.E.A.R. on April 12

Mark your calendar,

write it on your to-do list,

whatever it takes
to remember:

April 12th is the day to

Drop Everything And Read.

National D.E.A.R. Day marks the birthday of Beverly Cleary and is a special reading celebration to remind and encourage families to make reading together on a daily basis a family priority.

There will be D.E.A.R. celebrations at the Aaron Cutler Memorial Library and the Chester Public Library.