Recycling Art in the Garden

On Wednesday, November 19th we will have a a volunteer from the UCCE Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County presenting fresh ideas for preserving salvageable objects likely destined for a landfill somewhere. The purpose of the class is to promote recycling while creating a sense of whimsy & beauty in the garden. Come join us for our last UCCE Master Gardeners events of 2008 in our Community Room at 7pm. The event is free and cosponsored by the Friends of the West Valley Library and the UC Extension Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County.

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.

October Book Club Title

The past week sent many omens, signals, reminders, whatever you may wish to call it, about the title we have chosen for our October read. From a variety of sources came gushing and strongly opinionated statements speaking to the importance and sheer humanity of this book ... and so it is and so we shall read this highly regarded title. We're confident that there will be an abundance of discussion when we next meet on Wednesday the 8th of October to talk about "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson. It's been a popular book club title for the past couple of years and hopefully it will inspire much when next we meet. Please join us on October the 8th at 6:30 pm and be a part of a great group of readers.

September Book Club ... "The Tender Bar"

We'll be reaching into the realm of personal memoirs and non-fiction with our September selection entitled "The Tender Bar" by J.R. Moehringer. A book that has garnered attention for it's descriptive language of a time (various) and a place (the neighborhood bar)that was formative to the development of a young man's identity. The New York Times Book Review wrote: “The Tender Bar is a beautiful, gravelly love letter to [an] amorphous father, a melancholy romance between a boy and a corner saloon that's as smoky and heart-crackling as a Sinatra 78.” Grab yourself a copy and join us on Wednesday September the 10th at 6:30pm when we gather next, not in a bar, sadly, but in our cozy library community room to talk about this unique title. We don't have a jukebox, but I can assure you we'll have some appropriate bar/lounge music to fill the background.

Book Club Update!

Ladies and gents, we have a title picked for the next two book club meetings, however, we will NOT be meeting in the month of July. The facilitator of the West Valley Book Club will be on vacation and so we're all taking the month off in case anybody else wants to get in a little R&R. OK then, the next meeting will occur on Wednesday, August 13th when we gather to discuss The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. The book has been described as "... perched on the cusp between grown-up and young-adult fiction ..." and it has been well-received by a wide readership. It's a long-winding epic of 552 pages so the extra month off will hopefully serve us well. Be a part of it and join us in August! And just so you all know about the September meeting, we've chosen to read a piece of non-fiction in the form of a 2005 book called The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer. We'll have more information about the September title posted later in the summer. See you in August!