The Fall Classic and some suggested reading

Well, it comes down to the Philadelphia Phillies and the Tampa Bay Rays in this year's World Series. I would have loved to have seen the Chicago Cubs play the White Sox (or better yet the Oakland A's), but the Cubs have insisted on staying true to their curse and bowed out in the divisional playoffs. That being said, the most entertaining book to come out recently on baseball has been Your Brain on Cubs, a collection of essays by neuroscientists and other knowledgeable types about why fans continue to support and believe in a team that last won a title over a century ago. And for you Phillies fans there is a book published this year about Phillies rookie catcher Chris Coste titled "The 33 year-old rookie : how I finally made it to the big leagues after eleven years in the minors." Sadly there are no books about the Tampa Bay Rays that I can suggest, but you just wait a few months and those predictable "worst to first" books are sure to hit the bookstores, and libraries of course. At least we don't have to list all of those Red Sox books as they seem to proliferate more than others, but I'll cry no tears over their demise this year and all I can say is "wait until next year, Charlie Brown ..." I'll see you at the Oakland Coliseum next April rooting for the green and gold. *Sigh*

Homework Center to open!

Yes, we finally have everything in place to offer our tremendously popular Homework Center again at West Valley library. The center is scheduled to open on Monday the 20th of October and again this year it will be from 3pm-6pm Monday thru Thursday. Our tutors from the past two years have moved on to other things and so we will have two new tutors beginning at the library this month. Come in to say "Hi" and get to know our new tutors and see what they can offer your budding scholars.

November Book Club selection

A little bit of historical fiction comes our way for the November book selection in the form of The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. The Seattle Times wrote about it: "Memory and the imagination are the gifts that keep on giving in "The Madonnas of Leningrad," an exceptional debut novel by Seattle writer Debra Dean. In this bifurcated story, an aging Russian immigrant living in Seattle loses her grip on the present and yields to the past, specifically the most intense period of her life: the years of deprivation and fear known as the siege of Leningrad. To her family, the old woman is succumbing to dementia. But to Marina Buriakov, the reward for her forgetfulness is the opportunity to revisit, room by room and painting by painting..."

So come on by on Wednesday the 12th of November at 6:30pm for our next gathering. We'll see you then.